Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Happy Birthday, Baby


Today is Alex's birthday. He hates it when I remind him. I think he would prefer to just ignore birthdays, anniversaries, really holidays of any kind. It has to do with becoming the center of attention, a place where he is truly uncomfortable. I can understand that, but I refuse to ignore things like this. I told him this morning that if he didn't cheer up and start acting like a good sport, then I'd email every single one of his coworkers and remind them of just what a special day this is.

Tonight is also an Avalanche home game, against the San Jose Sharks, so we'll be taking the little people and heading down to Denver for the game. I love going to the games, especially with this motley crew. It'll be a blast.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Gah!


Based on the way the last 24 hours have gone, you'd hardly be able to tell that I live a quiet little life, just my husband and me and the dog. Suddenly there are two teenagers, three dogs, and an out-of-commission septic system at my house. Thank goodness we can all crash at my mother's house this week while she is out of town.

The kids are normally no trouble, they're great and fun to have around. But since we moved up to the mountains, everything is just a little more complicated. On the one hand, the dogs love it because there is so much more room, and it's much more relaxed than being in town (leashes optional, etc.). On the other hand, the kids can't just catch the bus to school, so in order to get Joey to the high school on time, we have to leave my house by 7am. That means kids fed and dressed, dogs walked and fed, and of course all of my normal morning ablutions - all finished by 7. I think we could have done it, were it not for the minor problem of our septic system backing up last night. Oh no.

It could have been worse, it didn't actually back up into the house. However, we can't use the toilet or any of the sinks until we get someone up there to figure out the problem. Alex and I each showered at our respective offices today, luckily the kids both had showers yesterday before the problem. The boys took advantage of the situation and gleefully ran into the woods to pee this morning. I would have done the same thing ordinarily, but it was about 15 degrees when we left the house, and I just wasn't up for it.

The picture is of said dogs, resting in front of the stove in my kitchen.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

More Italy


Just because....this is a small castle in Alba (home of Nutella!).

Privilege, Right, Responsibility

I tried to find a banner ad from MoveOn.org, but couldn't locate one on their site. Oh well. In lieu of a pretty, colorful ad, I give you my own voice (well, my written voice).

GO VOTE!

If you've already visited your local polling place or voted via absentee ballot, thank you. If not, stop what you're doing right now and go vote, or at least commit to a plan to do it before your polling place closes tonight. I know that it's easy to wonder if your individual vote really matters, but it does. One of the best experiences about having moved from a large city (Los Angeles) to a small one (Boulder) is that you can really see, in numbers that seem real, how narrow a victory or loss can sometimes be. I've often found my voice on the losing end of an issue, but I'm never tempted to stay quiet. I believe that you never lose when you speak your mind.

I've been a member of MoveOn.org since the elections in 2000. I've been one of those people who sits outside a polling place to answer questions from voters. I've watched a stranger's child so that she could go vote. I've driven an elderly voter to her local polling place so she could make her voice heard. I truly believe that voting is not just a right, and is so much more than a privilege. It is the responsibility of every person. How can you live in our society and not care about how we are led?

I found a great quote recently, and it struck me as particularly relevant today.

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. -- John Quincy Adams

Friday, November 03, 2006

Scattered


Sometimes it takes an email from your oldest friend to remind you of when you're being a slacker. It's not that I don't want to post or don't have anything to say, rather that I'm feeling a little ambivalent about it right now. I have a lot going on at work and in my personal life, some of which I can talk about and some that I can't. This has made it difficult to post, since I don't want to bore you with what I had for lunch (because as we all know, no one cares what you had for lunch). Oh well, I'll do my best for now, you let me know how it goes.

One of the things that Alex and I have discussed since moving to the middle of nowhere is getting another dog, so that Ruby will have company while we're at work. The other purpose this would serve is to alert Ruby to when there is danger, whether it is a car or a coyote or mountain lion (yes, we have those here). I have mixed feelings about this, because Ruby is really our baby, and I would hate for her to feel jealous or think that we loved her any less. Plus, I know that it's a whole lot more work looking after two than one. But they would (hopefully) be friends and would bond much the way my mother's lab Daisy bonded when we brought Thor home to be with her. Those two are so happy together, it's hard to imagine one without the other. Ruby should be so lucky.

We haven't reached a decision on the whole second dog issue. We have a lot of work left to do on the house, and we're both working long hours to get ahead a bit on the extra mortgage, etc., so the idea makes us both feel a little overwhelmed. It may be that we have to revisit this in the spring, when we've made some headway with the work on the house and Ruby is fully adjusted to her new life as a mountain dog.

The photo is Ruby at our lake, on our last hike before it started snowing like a bitch two weeks ago. I'm guessing it'll be many months before Rube is ready to put one little dog toe in that cold water again.