Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Where Did all this STUFF Come From?


Really? Can one closet hold enough stuff for two closets. Apparently it can.


I am cleaning and de-cluttering each closet and cupboard. A little each day makes my life feel more in order. Well, at least the house will have order. Today's task.. this fine baby. What's in there you ask?


* Enough crayons and markers for a classroom

*Art paper for too many

* Party supplies

* Easter Eggs

* Bathroom Curtains

*Binders.. a WHOLE SHELF FULL with school work in each one of them

*Gift bags

*A Missing CD game: Age of the Empires


Shall I go on? Too Much Stuff. It's ridiculous. So, out it goes. So far, two garbage bags full and bins will organize what I must keep.


Ta da! The unorganized soul is getting herself whipped in shape.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Girls Night In

Angelina has been planning a Girls Night In for months... in her mind and quite often OUT LOUD, verbally, long dissertations of dialogue, with me. Finally, Finally, she was able to send her Evite and have a real live party! Great thing is, all the girls were able to make it. They brought their American Girl dolls, swim suit for spa-ing, and sleeping bags for talking, I mean sleeping.


She decided for dinner that breakfast was in order. So I made a nice spread of sugary sweet food with a twist of protein thrown in. Sugary sweet cereal, donuts, eggs, bacon, strawberries, bananas, and juice. The girls all wanted 1 favorite cereal so in the bowl went their names so I could draw the BIG WINNER.
Miss A was the winner. She loves the chocolate milk the Puffs make.

The girls all squeezed in a five person spa and made it a nine person spa.

And Ninja tag.. of course!

Silly Girls! They had a blast and I love seeing happy smiles on these sweet girls faces.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Skiing.. Loveland



The day was full of sun, wind and lots of skiing for the girls and boarding for Mr. T. It was a great day for the girls on the slopes with their daddy. I am Mrs. Lodge Bunny. This time I brought work with me in hopes to get something done as well as my Bible study. I worked a bit, studied a bit, and people watched and talked QUITE a bit. Met people from Texas, people from Boston, shared my table for lunch breaks. I drank some coffee and manned the table. Spring Skiing at it's best....

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Blind Tasting

Every so many months we gather with our friends for dinner and fellowship. What started off as "the men wanting the women to get to know each other" has turned into a very fun couples night out. This month The H Family hosted and did a blind wine tasting. Now this was no easy feat.. was it smooth, aromatic and spicy or deep red with a hint of bacon? We picked price category and region of the world too. It was way too much fun! Best of all was seeing the analysis paralysis or the spontaneous choosing among us all. I did fairly well, I'd say. Didn't win the contest but had fun trying!

Here are the 5 wines for the evening.... Number 4 was amazingly de-lic! My fav for sure.

We had breads and cheeses to cleanse ze pal.ate along.. Get a little wine tasting in and the humor starts coming out. Lots of great laughter makes the heart merry.


Spin, Swirl, Taste... Nah, it didn't help his game. But he sure looks good.

And then to finish of the evening, the kids did their own taste test with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. Angelina, our sugar cynosure, loved it!


Next time we host... there's already talk of Beer Tastings!


Oh. The best wine of the night, in case you were waiting for the punch line, a Merlot: Mangess from Napa Valley, CA and was $17.09. So there ya go. You don't even have to do a tasting to get a good recommendation. I did it for you. Enjoy!






Saturday, March 12, 2011

Woodpecker GO AWAY !



Every spring our friend, Woody, comes back for a brief visit. Brief as in a month or so. Not so brief in that he wakes us up O'Dark Early by pecking away on the metal stack to the fireplace. This pecking is his,"Hey Baby, springs here. I'm ready for ya!" call to all the local single Woodpeckers. But Woody is gonna have to find something else to peck to get his Sweetheart this spring. We being of greater intelligence and creativity, plan on him going away ... like today. So the husband got his genius cap on and made a protective screen so Woody can't get to our metal stack. I don't care if he visits a tree; goodness knows we have a TON out back! But, sleep.. now that's a commodity these days.
Bye Woody!

Sooo..Yeah.... I Don't Like it Anymore




I was totally snookered this time around. We got the amazing Lysol hands free soap dispenser. Loved it UNTIL it was time to refill. Lysol designed it in such a way you have to PRY off the cap or buy a new refill. Really Lysol?
Now let's be real here Lysol.... just how much plastic do you want in the earth? Considering how many of these bad boys are leaving the shelves, you truly aren't environmentally friendly. I'm not talkin' Green Peace here. I'm talkin' common sense.
Back to the pump and Soft Soap. Good-Bye Lysol Hands free gadget.

Monday, March 7, 2011

50 Nevered Looked so Good!


T and I escaped for 24 hours to celebrate his big 5-0 this weekend. I surprised him with a room at the Sheraton in Downtown Denver. Our view was amazing from the 17th floor.



You know you got it good when they have Starbuck's IN the room for the morning. And did we ever enjoy our first cup of Joe! Oh baby, it was so much better than generic morning hotel coffee.


We had dinner at the Yard House that night. It just so happen to be in the building of the Sheraton. It was out of this world de-lic-ious! This was T's entree..... delicious and pretty.

Our friends, the H couple, came with us to celebrate. They got T some fun gag gifts and treated us to an Improv night. We love having friends to celebrate with us.

The guys....


The Girls...

The next morning we mozzied out to breakfast and grabbed some Peets coffee. We took a turn with checkers at this wonderful table in the lobby. I, of course, lost a-gain. No surprise there. Enough said. We headed home to our girls who were waiting patiently for us to arrive. Boo made T his favorite Pineapple Upside Down cake. It turned out perfect!
After some feasting on steak and salmon, we went spaing and finally all the kids sang to their daddy. That's Bec on Skype, Gabe on the cell phone and the rest of us just hanging there. Oh technology, how it brings us together.

Happy Birthday Mr. Jones. 50 looks mighty fine on you.