Category Archives: Fam Time

I am not living under an ancient Chinese curse (Currently).

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Nope…it’s been pretty boring.

This came to light due to some earlier posts making a reader cry…and I realized I haven’t had much of that lately. Life has been quiet and relatively free of that ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. Which is okay. I have several web projects going (yes, go read your email. Call if confused), and other than a fight over whose doing the dishes and why (that me needing to do them as long as I can do them my way) life has been quiet.

There is Worldcon which I am nervously drafting a letter to get games for. Anyone want to run games for Worldcon speak NOW.

Then there is the novel. I had a little disaster…my character file became corrupted…so I have to read through the manuscript and type out the details I’ve lost. No more screwing around…they’re going into ywriter4.

For all the hoary masses….

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AWOL to put it mildly. Things have not gone as planned and have taken a further turn for the worst with the great stomach rebellion of 2007. The weekend started off well. We got up early on Saturday and drove to McDonald’s for Pooh Bunny party goodness.

Aia got out of the car…I started to then notice I was parked cock-eyed. With Aia safely on the sidewalk I straightened out the car.

Then she started jumping up and down.

I opened the door to, “Flat Tire Mom!!!”. Sure enough the rear passenger tire was flat. Not loosing air…not a lit out of air, but flat.

I then proceeded to ignore it…as it was time for party. It took a bit to round up everyone for this McDonald’s had a mysterious back room just for parties and a disturbing image of a girl looking down through the ceiling that gave you the impression you were in one giant happy meal.

The chicken nugget analogy was not lost on us.

Only 6 parents stayed for 13 kids. Luckily all the kids were good. For all of McDonald’s faults, they do parties well. Extra toys and hats for all the kids. Then play time while the food is being prepared, full on happy meals then a really good cake.

Of course this didn’t count that the girl ditched us halfway through, they lost my deposit, and couldn’t remember how much to charge me (I got a discount in the end). Overall though, the party itself was good. That’s what counts.

So then came the problem of the tire. M. and I wanted to do shopping so she whisked of A. and Aia to her house to wait for me.

A really nice man helped me change it. I could have done it but he had gloves and was very nice. I had to turn away the other guy. So we got it changed and I took it to the dealership where they fixed it for free.

Back at M.’s we sat for a bit, I let J. know we were going to be late. We hit B&N then Petsmart. We took A. to the grandma’s as he was about ready to collapse. Then we hit Target.

Where I found the perfect wine rack, which they did not tell me they did not really have until after they charged me. This took two hours to fix. With a bad phone call later I found no Targets have it. In fact, every single Target in Colorado ONLY has a display and no actual wine rack for sale.

No, they won’t sell the floor model.

So if you see a buffet sized cabinet with two drawers on the bottom, shelves on one side and a wine rack on the other actually for sale…please let me know.

So M. pleads bedtime…and I don’t blame her…we go back to her place I get my stuff while Aia plays her game. But on the way back we almost hit a guy…who thought that playing chicken in black on the dark part of 84th would be fun. I swerved, missed him, and then stopped the car. He ran way laughing.

Shaken and tired we got home. I put away the groceries and went to bed. Sunday was much more relaxed. I cleaned, cooked tortilla soup, went to the TGIO which was great, is small.

Monday was migraine city.

Tuesday included puke for lunch.

Wednesday I was just queasy. I’m still queasy but at work.

So I missed Japanese and Dnd has been canceled till after the 1st and M had to bow out for the week (which was good cause I was sleeping) and I’m still going to make writer’s tonight.

Jaa Mata

One Camera Cleaned Off

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I got one camera cleaned off. I’m working on the other other two.

I’ll have time with my own computer on Wednesday…and I’ll be taking it to Vegas with me….though their probably won’t be internet access there (they charge too much).

So maybe Wednesday night I’ll have Texas and even Mexico up. I really am working on it!

Home Again

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I have pictures and stuff that I have to download.

Basics with pictures and explainations to come later:

Car Fire
No Parking at DIA
Good Fast Flight
Baggage Wait
Hot
Rain
Gma
Swim
Wii Zelda
BnL Asshole
Snooky’s
Flighty Waitress, Nice Owner
Wedding
Rain
Wedding Inside version
Gift Table
Pictures
More actual Wedding
Londoner-Just Opened with Crazy Londoner Owner Included
Irish Rover with Curry
R’s House
Spec n’ Eddie
Chicken with the Gma
TGI Fridays
Sleep
Not Sleep
Plane
Not Plane
Back to Work!

Telling my Mother to Butt Out

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I learned a long to time ago not to let my mother call anyone for me.

In sixth grade I came home crying because a boy, who had been teasing me all year, had taken my library book then slide across the floor on it like a skate board.

At the time I was a little afraid of librarians. One I had in Elementary school once threw things at me because an eraser got lodged in the book as I pulled it from my back back as I asked to renew it.

Anyway, I came home crying. My mother happened to be there. I remember begging her to do nothing. She called the principal.

Too bad the principal was this boy’s Uncle.

I got sentenced to “special time” with other mentally disturbed kids where I was “evaluated” every other day. I was repeated ask to bring home forms for my parents to give permission for me to be transfered to various “helpful places”. I learned to forge my mother’s name. Later I learned they never talked to my parents about me.

Mostly we colored and talked. It was a lot of crap.

After sixth grade the principal left and they began experimenting with mixing 7th and 8th graders together. No more nut-job time but lots of teasing and I got to go to 8th grade twice while skipping 7th grade. That’s a whole nother weird story.

So my mother, who is trying to help in her own twisted way, called my Aunt to talk to the real estate agents who are giving me a hard time about my house not being cleaned by professionals yet. Since yesterday was and extremely upsetting dayCan’t say why yet…I promise there will be a whole blog post about it when this is settled., my mother’s declaration of calls ended with me screaming at her on the phone…frantically calling my aunt then apologizing to J. for all the drama. (He was incredibly sweet about the whole thing and got lots of hugs.) I don’t handle stress well. You should how bad it gets if I don’t take my thyroid medication.

Sigh.

I still suck at Super Mario Bros.

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Oh boy.

So I spent the holiday cleaning out J.’s house and setting up Aia’s new room. I manged to set up the old Nintendo and the Super Nintendo in her room with out too much stress. I still suck at Mario Bros though. I forgot you can’t kill Spineys in version 1.

I hauled out over 5 backs of trash and sorted about 50lbs of bulletsI never, in a million years, thought I would say that. J. has hurt his hip really bad so I set him up with the 5th Harry Potter and only bothered him to check on trash level and build a few things he could do while sitting. He cooked on a grill a bit but no lifting for him if I can help it. We now have a working guest room and a ready Aia room. The rest is contingent on getting a storage unit today and putting new flooring in next week. Gah.

We watched fireworks from Federal & 84th. You can see the fireworks in every city from Highlands Ranch to Broomfield and Green Valley Ranch to Golden from there. It was great. They all went on despite the wind, lightning and rain. Beautiful.

I found out that my sister will be moving today. I have mixed selfish feelings about this but nothing ill. I wish her well and will help with anything I can.

Tonight I have to meet with the realitor so my house can actually go on sale. It’s a lot to do.

Home Again

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I’m back from Playa del Carmen. It was a great trip. My family is still insane. We had nearly non-stop rain but that was great! No bugs and a nice even temp. And it made the waves in the ocean incredible.

Iberostar is a nice resort. We had to laugh beacause the nice smooth paths the cars used, but the rain soaked uneven stone walkways were still rain soaked uneven stone walkways when drunk. Which was quite often.

I managed to get stung by a jelly fish but it was a thimble jelly fish…which felt like a splinter but otherwise the mark doesn’t bother me. Aia didn’t want to leave, she was having too much fun with the grandparents.

The ruins, Chitzan Itza, were amazing. If you stand in a certain spot and clap, the pyramid sqeeks at you. I know, get the pictures off the camera.

My uncle was offered a small boy in town, he refuse. Barganing went well. Aia didn’t fuss about and even got herself some soveniers for a $1, down from 10$. Two was pretty, if Americanized. The food was wonderful, if fattening.

While there I kind of got charged up to study Japanese again. A quick search had a ton of online lessons…so we’ll see what happens.

M. had me try her Bare Minerals makeup while we were there. It’s nice stuff…I think I might buy some. Now it’s just getting back into the grove.

Busy, Rabid Bees Aside

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Mexico is next week! That’s right from Saturday till Saturday I’ll be in Mexico.

Too bad I’m so unprepared.

I need to get chapter 5 done by Mexico. That’s goal. This way I can take my notes for chapter 9writing them in order of POV to keep the tone current. Stop figeting. with me to Mexico and write on the beach. That an some drawing time should be for a good vacation.

HOD has finally got an event coming up. Don’t hit me. That’s a good thing. I’ve gotten an idea to mess with the website but that can wait. As soon as I get the details that event will be up.

The Pagan Pantry article has to be done by Friday. I’ve gotten the research done….just need to write the puppy and turn it in. My due date is really Wednesday but really I’ll be in Mexico.

Then there’s BenCon. I’ll have online registration up this week. I don’t know if all the events will be in because not all the events have been submitted. BenCon needs stronger coordination.

What else? Work stuff. Just notes and time cards. Some temp training but nothing big. I have a list of stuff I still need to buy for Mexico and all my bills must be paid before I leave. Due to the new pay schedule I won’t have any spending money for Mexico. Okay I might. I do the bills Wednesday (Really, why wait?), and then I’ll know. If a miracle happens and my paycheck is put in the bank Friday at mid night, I’ll dip. I get two paychecks by the time I get back. Too bad they’re all a country away. Otherwise I’ll borrow from the sister for one outing but pretty much the stuff I planned to stock up on is out. I’ll have to see though. Sometimes, life bites. Oh well at least the food, drink and room are paid for. My mother tried to help by telling me I don’t need to go out at night. She forgets that point is that I can this time. Last time I couldn’t got out not because of money but because I was still breastfeeding. I could only go out 1 night, my mother followed me everywhere and generally I wasn’t allowed out of anyone’s sight unless I was napping. Even then the darn ex hovered over me. So the list of things I wanted to do while there has dwindled to two major things with a heavy weight on one, if at all possible. Here’s to hopping I that I didn’t add correctly in my favor and/or my check is there Saturday morning.

Then when I get back I just need $200 for the loan, at least $100 for groceries, till the 15th. That’s not a problem since, even though I miss a week of pay, it’s an extra week. So by the 15th, with all my bills payed I’ll be much richer.

For the worse that could go wrong, it’s not that bad. :)

The Mexico Snaffu

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It is the day of snaffuing. The dawsp post wasn’t supposed to go there…but I’m leaving it.

My family is going to Mexico. This is good…more than 20 of us heading out to the Carribean for a good get away. Now I even get to bring a friend. I asked J. but his vacation is already taken up by the Carribean adventure he’s on this week. So I’m taking M.

We’re going to Playa del Carmen. Some of our family can’t come…like the 18 year old cousin who rather stay at home with her friendsShe’s going to regret this…poor girl. or the Peruvian aunt who is still in citizenship process and can’t leave the country.

Sucks to be them.

So we’ll go, have fun. I’m taking the pooh bunny too. She’s pretty excited.

I love Mexico.

Of Manga and Taroty Things….

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Last weekend was full. I fit more things in there than humanly possible.

So let’s pretend I’m superhuman, shall we?

I am now counting three days without pop. I made a counter on Traineo. I’ve managed to exercise every day…still feel tired and still getting headaches. Doc might be upping the dosage of synthroid…I’ll have to see.

Writer’s was just me and M. last week. I managed to get some work done. We apparently have competition with another writer’s group now. I don’t know what we’ll do at the moment. Next week will tell us if they’re there all the time.

I got my tires done. I go to the Saturn in Aurora. In that little triangle of land between Parker Rd, Iliff and Havana I found Dora’s. Best Fried Ice-cream Ever. Salsa was bland though.

Just across from that was Book World. This little antique bookshop scored me a Geiger art book and a how to paint fantasy book by Vallejo. Natch. Found a book on Wiccan covens…good group book in general really.

Afterward I went on a quest to complete my travel alter. I got the idea from Pagan Sojourn. Details and pictures will come later; when I have it finished…which mainly entails figuring out how to save the tarot cards from the incense. Paltry really, who knew altoids cans were so versatile?

This brought me to Isis. I don’t like going there…but for most pagan needs there is no better place in Denver. The vibe is just bad…always has been…probably always will be. If I want gifty, stone like or clothy I head to Spiritways, Herbs and funky implements Herbs and Arts…just about everything else (unless I’m making it myself) it has to be Isis…it’s only competition on that level was Wings. I miss Wings.

I digress. I know what I want at Isis a replacement for the small tarot cards I lost. I did find those but I also came away with the Manga Tarot by Selena Lin. In Isis’ faux import tarot section I found the Manga Tarot by Riccardo Minetti & Anna Lazzarini. Score! Riccardo Minetti is fast become my fav of the contemporary tarot creators. His decks are so rich in art and symbolism and he has a grounded knowledge of tarot lore and history. I firmly believe he is the next cannon in tarot. Marseilles, Waite, Crowley, Voyager, Minetti. Totally makes sense to me.

Reviews can be found here and here.

I managed to continue my quest to get all my altar accouterments made from stone at Herbs and Arts. My spirit altar now has an incense burner. My working altar incense burner is now an egg shaped one. How cool is that?

300 was a two hour long battle speech. That’s it, pretty, gripping…makes you want to go out and kill Persians. But in the end it was a speech. I still liked it. Even with the gore overdose it pleased my aesthetic senses. Frank Miller should do a tarot deck.

Aia woke up on Monday with a 101 degree fever. So that was a day of missed work. She was really sick this time, with the sleeping till 5pm and all. She’s missed three days so far…here fever keeps breaking then showing up again. I’m sure she’ll be in school tomorrow.

M. forgot about Tuesday. I got a little angry but got over it quickly she dropped everything to come over anyway. She missed prosciutto and goat cheese stuffed chicken with saffron rice and avocado pesto for dinner. The conversation was good…now I have to eat the extra food I made for the next three nights.

Recipe for Avocado Pesto is here.

What else? Not so much. Reading the book for the Pagan Book Group. Trying to sneak in a game here and there. That’s about it. J. leaves for the ‘rents this weekend, so lots of free time. I’ll wander off now.