Cute pictures

I'm running out of things to say on my blog so I thought I would post some pictures of my nephews since I get to see them in 12 days. :) I think I might let the blog go and go back to phone calls and letters. It's been fun but I don't really keep up with it anymore. I know you are all disappointed so look at the pictures of the cute little ones and you'll feel a lot better. My family has very cute children, and then we grow up. :)






See, all better. :) Have a good night and happy holidays!!!

6 points makes him a 10

I'm really, really proud of Joey right now. As you know he is down in TX hunting with Kendall. Why am I so proud of him? Because he got a 6 point buck on his first day. :) Am I proud of him for hunting, no, not really. What I am proud about is the fact that he tried something completely new and did a great job. Hunting is not easy, not even close. So way to go Joey! It is awesome that he was willing to try something this foreign and even cooler that he was lucky enough to get in a really good shot. Yes, I know this makes me sounds like a complete country bumpkin but I am still really proud of him. That goofy boy means so much to me. I love you Goon.

May the Force be with me.

It's amazing to me how much security just having a job can give you. My paycheck is pathetic but even still there is something very satisfying knowing that no matter how broke I am, or how afraid of the future I might be, I am at least making some steps towards the light.

Joey is out of town for the weekend in Texas. He and Kendall are hanging out and he is getting a good dose of Koach's childhood. Lol, I hate not having him home because the apartment seems very large and empty without him wandering around but I figure that I had better get used to it since SF draws ever closer. Luckily this weekend I have plenty to distract me. I'm working tomorrow until close and then I am headed out to the movies with a few friends. Sunday I am fully intending on spending the whole day sleeping and relaxing. (Not really, I'll probably sleep till about 8 and then spend the rest of my time sending out my resume.) Life is good though.

Here is my current theme song. It probably won't make much sense to anyone but my mom but meh, it's a good song and it makes me happy to listen to.

There is a place, somewhere inside you
It is a place most never see
Where heaven and hell come together find you
To cut you down and set you free

Captain Courageous, lookin' for moonbeams
Facing his fears for he had to see
Out of the blue and into the black
With an eye on his soul and the wind at his back

Inside the box
We choose to carry all that we feel
So neatly tied
Untie the knot you cling to so madly
A part of you lives and a part of you dies

Captain Courageous, lookin' for moonbeams
Facing his fears for he had to see,
Out of the blue and into the black
With an eye on his soul and the wind at his back

There comes a time, some day, some hour
It is a time, you're truely alone
In the mirror you see your box spinning downward
Falling away, you're finally home

What's the haps?

Here is what's happening with the on going life that is mine:

Apartment: Joey and I sat down and did several exhaustive lists of what the financial benefits of moving to a one bedroom would be. We even set up a couple of excel spread sheets. The new apartment would be great because it has less rent but due to all of the fees associated with moving it probably wouldn't be worth it. So I guess we are going to stay here. We are both a little bummed because this place has had so many problems but at the same time a little relieved because no one likes to go through the hassle of moving. So that's that.

Job: My phone interview went really well for the marketing internship. They will be calling me for the face to face sometime this week. It would be great if I got it because it pays more than my current job but on the off chance I don't I am still submitting 3-5 applications a day. At the current job they love me and are really happy I started working there. I feel like a jerk knowing I'll probably leave them if I get something that pays more. I am debating working weekends there too even if I get a 9-5 so that they won't be in a lurch for the holiday season. It would make for long weeks but my conscience would be clear.

Love: Joey and I have hit a couple of snags lately as most of you know but things are going much better now. We are learning to work as team and slowly adjusting to the fact that we will have to be a long-distance couple for a few months. Our plan is to try and get a couple of webcams so we can talk to eachother at night. We both know that even when things are at there worst with us we still love one another whole heartedly.

Holidays: I'm really excited for the up coming stuff your face day. On Thursday we will be celebrating here with Joey's family and then on Friday we will drive down to see mine. It's always interesting to share a holiday meal with someone else's family and see how their traditions differ from your own. :) As for mine, I can hardly wait for Grandma's crescent rolls or the mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Mmmmm.... I am drooling at the thought. It should be a packed house at both places but I am hoping that I can still get away with some left overs. It's either that or I'll have to go out and buy the stuff for my own dinner here.

Onward with my day! Up up and away!!!! ( I can fly, just so you know)

Just a quick note to say I found an awesome apartment! I'm not positive I can get it yet but I am hoping it will all go through and I'll have the green light by my birthday. It is a sweet little one bedroom with a surprising amount of sq. footage. Okay, maybe the sq. footage isn't that great but it seems large. I am pleased. Plus there is a beautiful little fire place so I can curl up by the fire during the winter. I really like the manager too. He is a hockey fan which is an automatic gold star in my book. Anyone I can trade rants about the Avs with are good people. Toby (landlord/management) is going to get back to me on Monday with the details. After that it is just a matter of $75 to hold the apartment, giving my 30 days notice here and I am good to go. Woot!!!! My dog dreams will have to wait because it is a no dog zone but I can get a cat if I want. Normally I am not the biggest feline fan but I think I'll make an exception in this case. I really want someone/something living to come home to at night. Furball it is. Besides it is honestly more logical for me to get a cat instead of a puppy since I might end up working two jobs. Not much time to train a pup in that scenario where as a cat is pretty self-sufficient.

Alright I am tired, so I am going to bed. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzzzzz...ammmehamm...zzzzzzzzzzz

New hobbies

It's the little things in life that make each day great. I'm working in a kid's store at the moment and at this store they just throw away the toys that don't work and give the customer a new one. We are allowed to take broken stuff home if we want, most people don't. Yesterday I decided I would take home one of the broken toys and see if I could fix it. It's a toy that lights up and plays music when you hit the buttons. Not terribly advanced. However this one wouldn't light up or play the music. It didn't do much of anything except sit there and be yellow. Anyways, I took it apart and started working with it. It seemed like nothing was wrong, until I started looking closer at the soldering. One of the wires wasn't soldered perfectly so the wire was not connecting where it should which meant the electrical circuit wasn't making a full connection. All it took was a little bit of finagling and bending a few wires and BAM! Music and lights. Followed by me grinning and pumping the air with a fist and shouting "Yes!". It cracks me up how something so little and pointless can totally make my day. It's a good thing I have nephews to give this stuff to otherwise I would end up with a closet of toys meant for kids under 5. :) My dad says he'll have to get me a soldering gun for Christmas.

Speaking of the new job, I like it. It's fun to help people pick out stuff for kids and I am learning a ton of stuff that I will probably need to know some day. Lol, I can now break down and put together at least 6 different brands of strollers and I know the best toys for kids in varying stages. I enjoy my co-workers immensely even though I don't have much in common with them. They like me because I'm about about two inches taller than all of them and can reach the high boxes without getting a chair. I also don't argue when they make go fetch things and run around doing the jobs they don't want to. :) I like having something to do at work even if it is just the boring jobs no one wants. It makes the time go faster and then I feel like I am actually earning my paycheck. On Tuesday I have a phone interview for a paid Marketing Internship position. I think it is mainly doing office work for them but at the same time getting to learn a little bit which appeals to me and my sponge of a mind. Hopefully it goes well and I'll get the job. Having the two jobs would ease my mind financially speaking and help me sleep at night. If it doesn't work I have two or three other things floating around that might turn up something good and as always the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is send out more copies of my resume. Something will turn up. :)

My Saturday is going to be pretty simple it looks like. I'm trying to find a new apartment with lower rent so the remainder of my day will be spent looking at places and set up viewing appointments. With any luck I'll find a nice one bedroom place that isn't on the ground level. If people ever decided they want to break in I want them to at least have to put in some vertical effort. On the same subject of breaking in, and stolen things, Joey's scooter was recovered. It is going to take some effort to actually get it back but hey, some effort is better than no scooter. Who knows, if you combine my new found toy fixing skills and my car mechanic skills maybe I could get a scooter running. That is of course if the scooter is broken. He doesn't know yet.

Alright I am off to shower and begin calling places and people. I hope everyone has a good weekend and work week. For those in my family, I can't wait to see you at the end of this month!!! :) Only three weeks!

Happy Halloween Pictures etc.

I'm being lazy so this is just a picture update. We are going to start kind of backwards though...


For our recovery day Joey and I went to the Museum to see the new dinosaur exhibit. It was very cool. :) We both like Dinosaurs...

The party we went to had many colorful people, like Borat... I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how uncomfortable he was, he said he was actually okay... I have no idea how considering that was a thong.

Joey and I were a hit in our matching black and white costumes, which had no relevance to eachother other than the colors.

The Pinkerton children looked charming in their outfits, as I am sure they always have over the years.

Our friends had a great time too. Can you tell how happy they are, and not one bit creepy.

The best costume of the year award goes to my sister Nikki and her husband Jeff. Preggo the oven and The Bun Maker. Very awesome way to let their friends know about the baby. :) I love you guys!!!

Shotgun Willy's is on standby

Two blog updates in one day? Crazy I know. Well I have good-ish news. I have a job. Lol. Kind of... it's only part time and I will be making less than I have in the last 4 years but at least it's a start. :) I will be working in a fancy upper class baby store. Ha ha.. yeah, I know. Four years of college and I am back at doing what I did in high school only now I have to wear high heels. Oh goodie. I won't lie and say that I am not disappointed but as of this month every form of savings I had is tapped so all that really matters is that I can pay rent. Rent will be paid on time, bills will be paid and who knows what the future will bring. The running joke that I can always work at Shotgun Willy's still stands.

Other than that I got to see an old friend today that I haven't seen in many years. Ashley and I go way back, to 4th grade back. It was great to see her and catch up on the gossip from Pagosa. She is going to be my walking buddy. Yay for having a friend in Denver.

Surprise!!

Joey's surprise party/congratulations party went really well. Lots of family and friends there to cheer him on as it should be. :) Kendall made ribs and I got a Oreo ice cream cake so life was good. Lol, the hard part is that there is a ton of leftovers and our little fridge is packed to the max. I did not get any pictures but that is okay. We will suffice it to say that it was a success and Joey felt lots of love. He will be very missed when he moves but we are all still incredibly proud of him for what he has accomplished. We have two more months to enjoy his company and so enjoy it we shall. :)

I had some pictures that I meant to post on here awhile back but that I never had the chance to so the rest of today's Blog will consist of a couple pictures. Enjoy!

My pumpkin carving madness, which was later eaten by a squirrel on our balcony. Yes, I know it is blurry but the night function on my camera is not very good. You can still tell what it is though so I am satisfied.









Satisfying Joey's tattoo urges with sharpies. The Lion of Flanders is pretty cool. :)










The grandparents came to town. :) Pretty cute family aren't they?









Bob's birthday dinner. I was hanging half way off the balcony to get this picture, but it was worth it.










Joey and I playing the Mexican Train Game. I was introduced to it not that long ago. I think this was taken shortly after we both realized that we were going to lose. We took it like champs. :)





And that is all kids, I think you are pretty much caught up. I hope you all have a great day and I will talk to myself again soon.

Murphy the Magnet

This has been a fun week. On Tuesday I had a job interview and then I headed up to FoCo to visit my friend Al. We had a great time catching up and playing with her dogs. The above picture is of Murphy. When I headed home I had him in the back seat. I am puppy sitting for Al for awhile. I can help train Murphy and then I have someone to go on walks with. Granted our time is nearly over. I am taking him back tonight probably. It has been a lot of fun though. A puppy is a great way to pick up chicks. :) If I were trying to pick them up. I've got a wimpy upper body though so I leave them on the ground most of the time. However, all you muscled guys out there, get a puppy. Experimental studies show that you will attract women ages 5-95. I had another puppy related adventure yesterday. Murphy found a Blackberry/palm pilot thing. I called the first person on the list and got a very irritated Italian who is apparently pretty mad at his brother in-law. However after I explained that I had found the phone and just wanted to give it back he became a lot more friendly. I returned the phone and made a friend across the street. Good karma, come get me! Other than that life goes on. I am looking forward to tomorrow and the Soapbox Derby! It should be a blast watching artistic kinetic creations crash into curbside crowds.

Preggo??? Quoi?

This has been a very busy/strange/wonderful weekend. Full of family stuff both on Joey's end and mine. On my end... BIG NEWS!!!!! Whew, take a breath, find a chair, get a glass of something strong.... And GO--- BOTH OF MY SISTERS ARE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that is right... two of the Blackman girls are testing out their bun in the oven skills. Being the only un-pregnant Blackman girl, I feel left out. Really... Okay so I am joking. I am more than fine with giving my sisters the ENTIRE spotlight on this one. :) I might get a pillow and shove it under my shirt for pictures during the holidays so there is some symmetry but other than that I'm good. WOW! What a shocker.. and they both told me within an hour of one another. In a way, that is almost mean. Bad sisters... You are supposed to give me at least 24 hours to recover my emotions before the other one hits. Right now I am trying to pry my jaw off the floor. :) This is real right??? My family reunions suddenly just got a lot bigger. Go Sisters! So here is the back story:

This will be Mrs. Cora Shubert's third child. She is the one who is responsible for bringing my two handsome little nephews into the world. You know, the ones that I talk about all of the time and post their pretty little faces all over this blog. :) I kinda hope this one is a girl just to rattle her testosterone cage. Plus she would have no idea what to do with a girl. Humorous, no? I am sure it will go as smoothly as all of her other pregnancies have. She is a natural at this. If and when I ever have kids I hope I am half as good at it as she is.

Mrs. Nikkichelle Melin and Mr. Jeff Melin will be having their first and long awaited for bundle of joy. I have to admit I got pretty emotional when she told me the news. Lol, she was dropping hints so I asked if it had anything to do with a type of spaghetti sauce. (Yeah, I know you don't get it.) She and Jeff didn't either. So I'll explain. When Cora was about to have her first Nikki kept calling her Prego short for pregnant.. which makes me think of Preggo.. as in the spaghetti sauce... Still no takers?? I thought it was funny. Anyways, I laughed, I cried and I OMG-ed like a valley girl from the 80's more times then I can count. Then I told Nikki I had exciting news too... I have bangs now. :) Really not comparable but I was kind of babbling at that point. Thankfully she did not point out that it was a completely retarded thing to say in response to her giving life to another human being. My sister is very thoughtful like that. She finally shut me up by telling me she loved me too. Sometimes sisters just understand these things. The babbling stopped, the crying re-started: "I'm...(SOB)...so...(SOB)...happy....(SOB)...for... (Sob, Snort)...you both!!! (Hiccup)." Not really being a crier this was kind of surprising for me. Who knew that Nikki having kids would be one of my tear duct buttons?

Lol, later that night I called my mom. "Hey, mom, guess what? I'm pregnant!!!!" (I thought I might as well see if I could get my April Fools out of the way early.) I was expecting to hear the sound of a body hitting the floor as my mom passed out at the thought of all three of us having kids at the same time but she knows me too well. She just laughed and I could almost hear her rolling her eyes over the phone. Darn, next time I'll get her. Here's an idea... If I get a dog, I can put it under my shirt for holiday pictures.. "Can you feel him kicking and squirming? This one is a soccer player for sure!" Okay, okay.. all of my bad humor aside, I am thrilled for my sisters. My time will come some day I'm sure and then they can get me back but in the mean time, I get to be the person who gives their kids lots of candy and loud toys and then hand them back to dear old mom and dad. Being Tia is a pretty sweet gig. I love you my beautiful sisters and the little peanuts in your bellies! :)

Right now I am going to head off to bed with my book and Sampson the bear. Wow, life comes at you so fast some days. Just blink and everything is different. Wow... This has been a hell of a day! :) My face hurts from smiling and I think I might need to take a hit or two of my dad's O2. WOW! Can I get an Amen???

Extra, Extra Read all about it!!

Joey comes home today from a week long business trip to Miami. That means I get to drive to the airport and do the potty dance from excitement while I wait for him. He is all dressed up in business clothes which means I should probably get out of my old dingy track shirt and the blue boxers with fish on them . Maybe... we'll see... I like my track shirt. It is an extra large and it is red. I have had it for almost ten years so it is that special kind of soft that only comes with lots and lots of multi-time wearing and a million and one trips through the wash. The boxers are just funny.

I had a job interview today and it went really well. (No I did not wear my track shirt.) I was professional, didn't stutter and smiled when needed. They showed me around the office and I sat with one of the employees so she could give me a "tour" of their computer program. It looked like it would be interesting. The down side are the hours, 7am start time. Ouch... however all of those years of going into work at the bakery with my mom at 4 in the morning and then later in life getting up at 5 am to go run prepared me for this. I am a sick, sick person who actually kind of likes getting up that early as long as I have reason. Plus finding parking would be no problem, and I wouldn't have to drive in rush hour. Less traffic? Sign me up! Hopefully I'll get it, if not then it's not the end of the world. It was good practice for honing my interviewing skills.

Other than that Halloween costumes have come in. I am going to be Sherlock Holmes and Joey is going to be Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. We were planning on being Jack and Jill (you know the one that went up the hill) as a funny combo of the two, but I decided I didn't really feel like carrying around a pail all night. Plus this removes any possible chance of someone shoving me down a hill and laughing from the top while reciting the nursery rhyme. Maybe not the biggest deal to some but a pretty decent motivator for me.

I also went out to dinner with my friend Neven last night. We had a blast as we always do when we see each other. She is great whenever I need to just relax and be me. Plus she keeps me young. :) Meaning, of course, that she has a way cooler life than I do and I live vicariously through her adventures. This is a picture from a couple of Halloweens ago. I was Super Pipi-Longstocking, I really wanted to wear a cape so I improvised. Nev has a love of wing-ed things. That year she was a devil, with wings of course. Most years she has wings though. :) It's one of the weird things I like about her. Anyways, it was great seeing her and I here by state that I refuse to go for long periods of time without hanging out her ever again. (We have had really crazy lives lately, but that is no excuse!!!)

Enough from me, the red-haired peanut. I've things to do, places to be, and Joeys to hug.

SIDENOTE: Can you imagine if there was more than one Joey??? YIKES!!! The world would never be the same!

A musical weekend, and the Fall Crawl!

Another weekend come and gone, or mostly gone. We still have the rest of today to enjoy. Friday night Joey and I decided to stay in and be our typical dorky romantic selves. We made a nice steak dinner together, had a great bottle of wine with brownies for dessert. The whole time we cooked we listened to some Blues and then we ate out on the porch. It was wonderful. Before we went to bed I had the opportunity to hear one Mr. Pink play violin. :) The man never ceases to find new ways to make me fall in love with him.


Saturday brought a morning of sleeping in together and then off to join the crew for the Fall Crawl!!! :) It was a great time. We all got old beater bikes and met up with a huge group that was dressed to kill. We spent about an hour at each bar and then rode on to the next one. As the day/night progressed more and more people found our little group and we grew from 5 to about 8 or 9. It was a great time.



Joey even decided to get up and show off his Karaoke skills. And skills he does have... He brought down the house!



















Finally he decided that a piano solo would make the evening complete. Look at him go..... :)












And now today we are going to spend the day relaxing, spending time together and catching up on chores. We will probably end up folding laundry together on the living room floor while watching the game. Aren't we cute???

A wee bit -o-news

After years and years of careful consideration I have decided on a breed of dog, and have consented to allowing myself to actually get said dog. I grew up around Airedale Terriers and since my mom was a breeder I generally had about 8 puppies to play with in addition to the parents and a small little miscellaneous dog named Sassy. (This is not counting the cats, horses, goldfish and pet skunks we had hanging around too. ) Aka, lots of animals. Anyways, back to the original point of this entry. I have been tossing around various breed ideas for about 5 or 6 years now but I kept putting it off because I was so busy with school, work and moving all of the time. Well now that the majority of that is over I have decided that I should let myself have the furry companion I have been missing. So...dramatic music...I will be getting an Irish Terrier. This way I will have the personality of a terrier which I love, it will not be a huge dog so it can handle the apartment until I have a house to live in, and Joey will not be able to complain about shedding hair because they do not shed. That last part was not a very big deciding factor, just a perk. I'm pretty excited and I have started contacting breeders. Sadly it seems like no one in Colorado has ever heard of this type of dog so I will be going out of state to get it. It will probably be a couple of months before I actually get the pup due both to being able to afford one and wanting to know what is going with Joey/work/ San Fransisco. But.. at some point in the next year I will be bringing home a little red headed male to keep me company on my runs and brighten my happy little home. I promise to keep everyone up to date as I find out more, because I am sure you are all dying to know. Really, I know how important my blog is to keeping your daily lives flowing smoothly. :) Alright alright, I am off to go do those things that I do... meaning I am going to go put away laundry and hang out with the maintenance men until they finish fixing the never ending problems with our apartment. Maybe I'll throw a picture or two up of the scary things that have been growing in our apartment. Yikes..

Congrats for Joey and Rabbit Feet for Sara

Congrats are in order for Mr. Joey Pinkerton. He has once again made it through to the next round of interviews! On the 12th of Oct he will flying out to CA for the face to face portion. I'm sure he'll do a bang up job and make a great impression. Everyone keep fingers and toes crossed for him. It will make walking difficult but I'm sure every little bit helps when it comes to the superstitious good luck gods. :)

Other than that, I have nothing really going on. My life is in complete stand still. Sorry I am fresh out of humorous antidotes and stories to entertain you. Ummm... the country girl in me is coming out more and more lately. Apparently when I am stressed I revert back to my unrefined roots. Aka: I have been listening to lots of Patsy Cline and Faith Hill. Yes, you can laugh, I'm okay with that. Country music makes sense to me right now and makes me feel better. I was looking up stats the other day in an attempt to entertain myself. It made me smile a little. I grew up in a town with a population of 1,583 people and now I am living in a city with 588,349 people. No wonder I'm going through culture shock. Derf a derf derf. Blah, I am not nearly as much fun when I am sad. Is it bad when you start to annoy even yourself? It's comforting to know that nothing ever stays the same. I never would have guessed I would be here this time last year and who knows that will happen within the next month. Life seems to surprise you so much of the time. Alright, I'm going to go for my millionth walk along the creek path. Maybe a traveling circus will pass by and invite me to join them. I would be a fantastic bearded lady. See, I've already managed to grow a mustache. Just a few more years and the hair on my chin will fill in nicely. Ah, good days with good friends of years gone by and theme parties gone astray. Lol, here is my comical portion of the entry. Kirby, the guy next to me, had me draw on his mustache with a dry erase marker but it stained his skin so the next day he had to go to class with red eyebrows and a fake red goatee. It was awesome. Some times I miss the old house with all the guys. It was never dull, even when they bugged me I still had fun. Ah, well. Cheers to the future and the unknown. Maybe cross a finger or two for me too. I think I could use a little help because that four leaf clover and lucky horseshoe in my pocket don't seem to be getting the job done. I guess I could invest in a rabbit, then I would have four lucky feet too. Oh oh oh.. I know.. I could cross the rabbit's toes and make it oober lucky. Thoughts?

Sports make ya grunt and smell. Be a Thinker not a Stinker.

I'm back in Denver. Things are looking like they are going to be a lot better which is wonderful. To celebrate I went for my first "city" run today. Running on concrete is very different from the trails I am used to. There are no rocks to jump or log steps to push yourself on, there is no reason to keep an eye out for rattle snakes and there is no way I'll strip down to just a sports bra with that many people around but it wasn't half bad. It's a lot like running on a treadmill without the stale gym air. :) As with most new things it will take some adjustment but the important part is that I got out there and did it even though I was out of my comfort zone. You don't really think about how little changes can affect you until you are face to face with it. It's either that or I am really just an old fashioned bitty who is stuck in her ways. Lol, here is what I can do to make up for the things I miss about trail running. I can use park benches to launch myself off of rather then the old rocks. I will get a lot more air and people will be in awe of my "urban air assault". I can run up the steps of the Capital building and pretend I am Rocky when I get to the top, much better than old log steps. I can trade keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes for keeping an eye out for homeless guys laying on the ground. That will be funnier in a second.

EXPLANATION: ( When I first moved to Boulder I ran on the Boulder creek path once or twice before I found trails in North Boulder and one time early, early in the morning I was running full tilt around a tree to start heading back to my apartment. What I didn't see was a homeless guy leaning against the tree trunk with his legs sticking out. I tripped over his legs, and fell flat on my face. The whole thing surprised the hell out of both him and me. I kept saying sorry over and over again while he yelling at my disappearing back as I ran home as fast as I could.)

As for the sports bra thing, meh... I can live without it as long as it's not the middle of the day during the middle of the summer. Other than that it is on with the day and the show. I am going to go shower and then continue my pursuit of employment. Wish me luck.

Frustration, and silver linings

I've been making lots of changes on the blog-o-nater here. I figured it needed a pick me up and I was bored. My day has been a big disappointment today but that's mainly when I ignore the silver lining. Most of the day I spent working on my car. I love spending time with my dad this way. He teaches me, I learn, we laugh, it's fun. By working on my car I mean laying inside my trunk taking apart the stupid amp that someone put in. My speakers have not been working for two months or so and I couldn't figure out why. Today my dad and I found a hidden fuse that had blown and changed it out. The speakers worked, I was literally skipping down the hall to the kitchen to go grab some baking soda so I could clean the corosion off my battery while I was under the hood. After the battery was hooked up again and looking spanky clean I crawled back in the trunk to screw the amp back into the panel. Sparks flew, I yelped and the fuse blew again. We tried at least 8 times testing different theories as to why the fuse was going out but nothing. We ended up with a nice pile of fuses and a very frustrated Sara. The result of three hours of labor is that I have sound but only if the amp is not touching the metal of the car, and yes the amp is grounded. My dad and I have no idea why it is happening and he has a good 45 years of being a mechanic to back him up. Blah.. We have reach the "screw it" stage of labor. This means it is too dark outside to keep messing with and we are both bummed we couldn't get it working properly so we are going to grumble around the house for awhile. However the silver lining: on my drive back to Denver I will have music as long as the amp sliding around in my trunk doesn't loosen a wire. :)

Other than that today has been an emotional blow out as well. Some days I just feel like I don't have the skill set to deal with my emotions. BUT, I can't forget the silver lining. While I experience very strong emotions like anger, and sadness that threaten to consume I also fully experience happiness and joy with the exact same intensity which I wouldn't trade for the world. Someday I'll figure out how this all works. When I am old and gray. When I have seen it in all of the ranges the world has to offer. After which I am going to print a user manual so that everyone else can benefit from my grand, gray haired wisdom. That or I am just going to grin and let them struggle through it like I did. Struggling builds character. Think of the twisty tree, warped by the wind as it clings to the cliff. It survives and in it's warped form it is more beautiful than any straight tree could hope to be. So I shall survive to experience life another day, bring on the warped-ness and twisty trunk.

Trip, trip, tripping and stumbling back to Dgo. It seemed like as good of a time as any to go hang with those people who are forced to call themselves my relatives, so off I went in my little blue car. The drive down was beautiful. The plains have started to change colors and it was a patch work blanket of colors rich enough to make any painter jealous. It is times like these that I swear I could never be happy anywhere but Colorado. After the destination was reached the rules of the game were typical. I have spent lots of time talking with my mom and listening to her wisdom. I have spent lots of time picking up nephews and throwing them around without regard for their health or well being. I have spent lots of time curled up, hanging out with my dad. My dad, mom and I also went for a long drive today up La Plata Canyon. It was a blast seeing stuff that I haven't seen since I was a kid and being goofy with my parents. Some days I just have to shake my head and say "Yeah, this is where I get the weirdness from." Pictures will explain that below. I'm not sure exactly when I am going back to Denver. Probably sometime within the next week. Tomorrow I am hoping to work on my car (I have access to all of my dad's tools, NICE!), and maybe just spend a relaxing day enjoying being around him. Granted, the poor guy has to spend the morning at doctor's but maybe I can surprise him and get some stuff done at the house before he comes home.

Greco-roman style wrestling. Nice dodge Mom, I'll get you next time.









Dad and his good buddy Terran. That kid loves him. I think Dad must slip him candy or something when the rest of us aren't looking....








Awwww... you'd think we like eachother just a little. This is the only picture where neither one of us is sticking out our tongues to make my mom groan and say "NO! Take a nice picture. Don't do that...." We took about 10 of these before she got one.









See what I mean...















Cora making Fried Green Tomatoes... Mmm...
















Last but not least the beautiful sunflowers outside my sister's house. They are about 6 feet tall...

Tom, what kind of fruit do you like?

I feel like I should write something interesting but there isn't too much going on these days. Unless you want to hear about all of the books I've been reading lately. (Most likely not). Other than that I have been catching up with various important people in my life. Everyone who knows me knows that I suck at communication unless people are with in a pretty short range of my actual person. About the only person I do keep up with who lives far away is Tom, and that is just because the poor boy has been my best friend for so many years that there has to be some sort of compensation. I could send him a fruit basket I suppose but that requires money and a knowledge of what kind of fruit he likes... which I don't have either of. In fact I am such a crummy friend that I had to steal this picture of him. (I have pictures but most of them are from the days before I owned a digital camera. I wasn't kidding when I said we have been friends for a long time.) Since Tom is one of the six people I know who reads this blog it only seemed fair to put him on it. :) I mean really you have seen pretty much my entire family line-up, and a good deal of Joey's family and friends. So, blogger land meet Tom aka Tombo...Tom meet my invisible friends. Now shake invisible hands and play nice. Wasn't that exciting? The back story behind Tom starts with an unusual meeting. Tom and I met in the High Five movie theater when I was about 13 or 14. He was friends with my sister Cora (she's a year older than I am) and I believe he had a trench coat and a pony tail at the time. I was still living in Pagosa but we ended up chatting on instant messenger for a year or so until I moved to Durango to live with my dad. I pretty much stole his friendship from my sister, Oops. In the following years I spent a lot of time ditching school and hanging out at his apartment up on the hill. Our friendship is based around long walks, ice cream cones from DQ, and an ability to tell each other pretty much everything. It's very cool. If you don't have a friend like this I recommend you get one. You could scout out local theaters but I think that only works in small towns when you have a blond sister towing you around. It could be that I just got lucky. Maybe I should send a fruit basket to Cora? I have a vague idea of what she likes, or at least I know the ones she is allergic to. So, in conclusion to this rambling-no-point-blog, a message to Tom (which everyone else gets to read with invisible eyes in their invisible heads): Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for always listening to me ramble even when you know I am being stupid. Thanks for not telling me I'm being stupid. (You must have a lot of those moments stocked up). Thanks for accepting me no matter what, and no matter how many bad things you know about me. Now write me my letter damn it. You are a lousy pen pal! :) (That is said with love of course and if I get one in the mail in the next 24 hours, I'm very sorry)

We came, we saw, we camped.

Joey took to camping like a duck to water. I will never again underestimate him. Okay, it might happen again but if it does I will once again be very impressed with everything that is Joey. We left Saturday morning to find a campground that was not full. I was a little bit more pessimistic then I should have been about the whole thing but that is because I am used to the idea that you have to get to a site early on Friday otherwise all of the good spots will be taken. The first camp ground we checked out was full except for two spots that were completely exposed and not very exciting. So on to the next campground! Success!! Brainard lake was a beautiful place to go, with not one lake but three. We found a nice little spot with lots of tree coverage, up went the tent and then it was time to hike around and explore. There were lots of rocks to climb, creeks to cross, and stones to skip. It was a little chilly but not that bad. The most amusing part was having to trick the camera into taking pictures because SOMEBODY (me of course) forgot to charge the camera before we left. Bad Sara, no cookie. But since we are skilled and devious we managed to force a dying camera into taking not one or two photos but a whopping 32 pictures. Woot! The remainder of this post will consist of pictures with captions for your viewing pleasure. Don't worry you won't have to look at all 32. Enjoy.

This was something I hadn't seen before, vertical ground complete with trees. Interesting...








I like to climb rocks. It was fun. I think I impressed the little kids that were hanging around the shore... Not really. They probably were laughing at me. Mean little kids.


Joey had some mad Smore making skills, and a growl to go with them. His marshmallows were that perfectly golden brown, mine were flaming balls of sugary death. I like the taste of charcoal, plus I'm into instant marshmallow gratification.




We had hotdogs for dinner. My hotdog was also burned to a crisp. At least my campfire culinary skills are consistent.






During our hikes we found cool trees and played with them. Visualize a large tree trunk with a hole going straight through it. Then add two people with their butts sticking out of the hole and you have the gist of this picture. There was also an echoing giggle sound.












It was truly beautiful. Colorado at it's best with blue skies and clear water.

Weekend forecast/my computer is lame

Things need to thank my dad for: teaching me how to fix crap. My computer is busted again. This is the second time this year so it is once again in parts on my living room floor. I just ordered a new CPU fan which I think is the problem. Lol, I am hoping anyways. The fan that came with the computer is apparently defective and they don't sell it anymore so I am going out on a limb and trying a different one. It should be compatible. If not there might be some wire splicing on my part. I'll let you know in 4-8 days when after I get the new part. Until then I will be stealing Joey's, I mean borrowing, his computer. He's got decent taste in music. Right now I am listening to a song called Adiemus by Miriam Stockley. It's very pretty.. kind of reminds me of Cirque de soleil. Alright I have more important things to do then play on this thing. I'm off to pick up some camping equipment for the weekend. To celebrate being together for 6 months Joey and I are going to take of to the wilderness this weekend. It just goes to show that you can compromise over anything. I can learn to like city life and Joey is willing to try out his primal nature side. I promise to post pictures after we return. Just think.. Joey not showering or shaving his legs for three days??? Joey in the woods??? Joey running from bears and raccoons in the middle of the night screaming like a girl??? I cannot tell you just how excited I am about this. I never think it is possible but then I fall in love with him a little more. (Quit gagging, I'm done.)

The best news of all is that my dad has returned home from the land of uncomfortable cots and scrubs. He is back home and sounding down right chipper. He has to take it easy for awhile but my mom is going to go visit him this weekend so he has some company. I am very, very happy and relieved about all of this. While it was worrisome at the time everything was probably for the best because now we know things that will be important for the future. Plus I have an excuse to go back to my childish habit of calling him every morning. Poor man, you kind of have to feel sorry for him putting up with a kid like this but at the same time at least he is well aware of just how much I like him.

Sporty sport sport

As you can tell, this weekend revolved around sports. :) On Saturday a good friend of Joey's flew in from Las Vegas with his girlfriend for the annual CU/CSU football game. There was, of course, some friendly jabs as to who will kick whose butt. I was odd man out at the house since I was the only CU fan but I managed to hold my own. This year we sat on the CSU side but next year we get to sit on the good school's side. :) I have to admit being surrounded by a sea of green was not the best time in the world I got over it eventually. It was a good game. I would brag about whose school won but I really don't need to since it was obvious from the get go who was better. Ahem...go BUFFS! On Monday we went to a Rockies game, also very cool. The Rockies won. Lol, it was a hot day and we all opted to sit in the sun for some reason until we were all burnt to a crisp, then we moved to the shade. After the game we wandered down to taste of Colorado. Ironically Joey and I did not taste anything. We were waiting until we returned to the apartment for some tasty brats. They were awesome.

In other news my Dad had a less fantastic weekend/first week of Sept as he was stuck in the hospital for most of it, hopefully they let him go today. Not much fun for him. The way I am looking at it is that they liked him so much that they decided to keep him. I can understand why, he is a very likable man. I think I was more upset about it then he was to be honest. He takes this stuff in stride much more so then I do. I kind of stumble a little bit, then have to pick up the ball and carry on. My sister Cora is there right now to help him out with stuff. It is rough being this far away. I would much rather live close enough to go curl up in a chair in his room and play some good old blues for him. The good news is that he is okay. He got to the hospital in time and he was nice to all of the nurses. Keep your fingers crossed that they release him today so he can go home and relax in his own bed.

Weekend shanigins

Ah, the adventures of this weekend. The weekend was kicked off with Friday as usual, the only difference about this Friday was that Joey and I proclaimed it "date night". Apparently one of the symptoms of moving in together is a strange illness where two people who were once out going suddenly become plagued with a tendency to stay at home and forego public scenes in favor of curling up on the couch and watching movies. So to remedy this the aforementioned "date night" was agreed upon. We started out the evening by getting gussied up and heading out to a wonderful Sushi dinner. There was much Sake and rejoicing among the masses. After dinner we met up with Kendall and crew for a few rounds of pool. Out of four games Joey and I won three of them. (How I will never know because both of us are rather lacking in that skill.) During pool a game of chalking ensued. The rules to this game are simple. You take the chalk for the pool cue and you attack an unsuspecting victim leaving a circle or smudge of generally a bright blue or red chalk. If the person does not realize they have been chalked then you gain 10 points while they walk around looking less than intelligent. Exhibit A: Koach Kendall (Not my fault) . Exhibit B: JoePink (Okay, this one was pretty much all me) Exhibit B resulted from a promise made to Kendall that I would get Joey while he slept and then post the picture on this site. Lucky for me the boy sleeps like rock most of the time. He laughed while he washed it off and there were no hard feelings. I am still trying to train myself to sleep with one eye open at all times on the off chance that he feels a need to return the favor. One of the joys of our home is that we have maintained a playful atmosphere but if I can be ahead in this game I will. :) On Saturday "date night" evolved into "date weekend" with a trip to the Aquarium. I'm a big fan. It was a lot of fun and slightly ironic to go check out all of the pretty fish after having had Sushi the night before and then going out to lunch at Fish N Chips later that day. Joey wandering around wondering out loud how such and such a fish would taste. I have to acknowledge that he sparked my curiosity with that one. I have never before considered eating all of the little colorful sea decorations but now... you gotta admit, it could be tasty. Mmmmm... Dori from Finding Nemo with a pineapple sauce and a mango garnish. There is a whole untapped market there. Kids would love it. Maybe.... okay maybe not. Did they still like bacon after watching Babe? I really like this picture because it seems very dramatic. Maybe Joey was carefully considering the buffet for his next meal. We'll never know.

The weekend was concluded with the last race of the season. (Unless you count the RR the first weekend of September which I'm not because Joey isn't going.) In the morning we headed out to the blistering sun in order to watch Bob take 3rd in state for the 45+ league. Very proud moment with lots of clapping, yelling and Joey grinning. Aren't sunflowers a good look for Bob? I think he should carry some with him at all times. They just brighten his whole look up. :) Awwww.....




















And thus was the end of yet another wonderful weekend. Now it is on to the work week/job hunt/joey is out of town and I am going to be bored. Life is good. Blackman over and out.