A really fun shirt

For some reason, perhaps just because its Friday, but this t-shirt and the accompanying text made me laugh really hard. (the text is for the fire and water shirt)
Wear this shirt to: your Alchemy Club meetings.
Don’t wear this shirt to: a party at Earth & Air's place. They'll feel snubbed.
This shirt tells the world: "I'd rather be wet than on fire."
We call this color: Hot Wet Asphalt.

MUDD Volleyball

I love volleyball, it’s my favorite sport followed closely by football of course. I've been playing league grass volleyball since May, and court volleyball before that. It is really my sport of choice. And now I get to add a new dimension...Mud!! The March of Dimes has an annual MUDD volleyball tournament and I'm going to play in it this Saturday! I am really excited to get out there and get dirty for a good cause.
Of course the list of things we need is ridiculous...like shoes and clothes we are completely willing to throw away, and duct tape to keep our shoes on, and garbage bags or plastic for the seats of our cars...what kind of mud is this anyway!!!! Looks like I'll be suffering through a cold hose shower when I get home, cause I'm not cleaning that stuff out of my bathtub if they are telling me it wont rinse out of my shoes! Overall I am actually really looking forward to it, who doesn't like playing in a giant mud pit for a good cause!!!

Progress

The second image is after the second coat of finish!!! Hooray its almost done!

Projects

I am a very family oriented type person. There is nothing more important to me than my family, and by this I am including second and third cousins and great aunts and uncles because I know them all. So some people might think its strange that I spend so much time with my grandparents. But I enjoy it...so get over it ;-). My grandpa has a woodworking shop. It isn't huge, but its got enough toys that we can make pretty much any piece of furniture you could ever want (as long as it doesn't need apolstery). He hasn't been able to get into the shop for awhile so he wanted a small project to start back up again. Immediately I put in my request for a jewelry box. Basically there is a waiting list of projects, and it was my turn to have something made, however, getting the box in is cheating because he is starting on my real project (a cedar chest) as soon as we are done with this. So for the last month on weekends and evenings we have been making a jewelry box for me (in canary wood). And last night we finished the construction! All that is left for me is some sanding and putting the finish on. I also carved a wooden rose (in walnut, and yes it really was me that carved it! My first try at carving wood too!) to fix to the top of it. Its a lot bigger than we originally anticipated, and we even included a removable tray on the inside. All in all its a gorgeous box, and it was great that my grandpa and I made it. Now I will always have that from him. I couldn't have asked for a better project.

I shouldn't

Today is not what I would call one of my best days. This is largley because I had a moment of forgetfullness about why I don't go out on weeknights. My friend was in Denver yesterday which is great cause we haven't been able to hang out much lately. What began as having coffee turned into going with him to Westminster to hang with one of his friends. Under normal circumstances this would have been very awkward for me. I don't generally like to "hang out" with people I dont really know, and am usually very quiet and pretty much just keep to myself in these situations. However, one very strong vodka and cranberry juice tends to loosen even the most rigid of individuals up and I was soon laughing and talking freely with everyone. I actually had a good time (which kind of surprises me...its not that I'm not a nice person or that I don't like parties, its just that I tend not to be particularly accepting of people I don't know), and was rather shocked to look at the clock and see that it was already 11. Just a little side note for you kids, thats REALLY late for Rachel on a weeknight. So we loaded back up into the car (don't worry by this time I was perfectly sober) and drove our happy asses back home. Much to my friends surprise I didn't leave with anyone's number lol.
That little story leads me to my real point. I am completely worthless at work when I've had less than 5 hours of sleep. I am grouchy and feel unproductive, even though I am still getting plenty accomplished. I generally have a very negative attitude about all things in general, yea that's how I feel today. Perhaps the solution is that I need to stay out later more often, I am clearly out of practice.
Nah that wont work, I think my deep enjoyment of sleep would unanimously reject that option. Oh well once in awhile doesn't hurt, and hanging out with this particular friend is always worth it lol.

Things that make you go hmmmm....

There are several blogs that I read on a regular basis. Sometimes in my wanderings through the blog world of my chosing I come across something that lights my board, or makes me think. One such blog is by my...well she's not really a friend yet, more like an aquaintance, hopefully we will be friends but I digress...anyway her name is Ang. She posted a list of all the things she is grateful for, things that make her happy. This got me thinking about the things that brighten my world (its nice when posts can make you think of happy things). Her list included some deep things like religion, freedoms, and safety. These are all very good things. Unfortunately the more I thought about my list the more I realized the things that make me happy are much more random lol. Not to say that I am not thankful for all of my freedoms, and my relative safety, but in some measure I think I take these things for granted. I think the concepts of freedom and safety are too broad to really and truly make anyone happy. So in the interest of sharing...and in the interest of perpetuating good ideas from other blogs...here are some of the things that made my list (in no particular order):

1. Peanut Butter
2. comfy pj pants
3. really good wine
4. my motorcycle
5. Quarters
6. all of my closest friends (you know who you are...i'm not listing you here just to make you feel important lol)
7. glasses with fun swirly designs
8. anything sparkley or shiney
9. delicate glass objects
10. the complete randomness of the people I hang with
11. Sarcasm
12. Puke and Snot and Dead Bob (No I'm not explaining it...if you don't know I can't help you)
13. Turning any thought into something dirty lol...shut up it makes me smile
14. Oreos and Milk
15. The really squishy mud in river beds, even though it makes your feet smell like dead fish its still feels really cool

So there are some of my thoughts on the things that make me happy in life, the things I am grateful for having. Make your own list...even if you don't post it or comment on it. Just let your mind wander around the things that make you smile even when no one else gets the joke ;-)

The Rose - revised

Occassionally I like to dust off some of my old poetry and re-work it, keeping what I liked and changing what no longer worked....

The Rose
A lonely stone upon a hill
Dark with night as time stands still.
A saddened place in time and space
The final end to a great race.
See the mist around the ledge,
It hovers like a ghostly hedge,
Upon the ledge there lies in pose
A lonely single bloood red rose.
They weep to see the stone like fire
In the night, a darkened pyre.
It speaks of fear, the end, and grief
Only in final rest is there relief.
The only life to linger here
Is the one thing that sooths the fear,
Upon the ledge there lies in pose
That single lonely blood red rose.
It speaks of life and hope and love,
Lifts us up on wings of doves.
Reminds us all that life abounds
Even on the coldest grounds.
A fragile gift of deepest red
To adorn this lasting bed.
Look and you will see the glow
Of the single lonely blood red rose.

Cream Soda

My sister and I are prats. Granted we are prats that make each other, and sometimes even other people, laugh really hard. The most recent example of our odd behavior is a conversation we recently had about Cream Soda. Yes, I realize you may be asking yourself how a conversation about cream soda can make two people seem like goobers...but trust me it can. {{at times I may be paraphrasing what was actually said}}
Sister: This had better be fabulous cream soda
Me: Of course it will be...look at the bottle, it screams sophistication.
Sister: {{drinks}}
Me: And...
Sister: Hmmm a very smooth flavor {{smacks lips}} with a rich caramel after taste
Me:{{sips}} you're correct, with a frothy foamy head that is very pleasing, yet not overwhelming.
Sister: This could possibly be one of the best cream sodas I've ever had.
Me: {{pauses}} do you know how many people would think we are goobers for this conversation?
Sister & Me: {{laugh because we know exactly how many people think that}}

We also manage to have very amusing and in depth convsations about what to fix for dinner (so you want potatoes but are making stroganoff...that's too much white on your plate it will look boring, you should probably make a different veggie). One our best friends has a habit of just sitting and staring at us when we go off on tangents like this, she refuses to believe that two human beings can actually talk like that about things as boring as cream soda.

Update: I knew there was a reason I loved my friends...upon reading this post a friend said to me "indeed, i would declare that conversation of my particular caliber of interest and thusly, it seems one of an intelligable nature. i do declare, it is such a glorious achievement in verse that one might say that one's own former expectations of cream soda have been dramatically altered." Hahaha this is why we are friends.

Its sad how true this little poem is for so many people...

I'm sorry I'll never be thin enough for you



I'm sorry I'll never be perfect enough for you to care about me



I'm sorry I'm too short



I'm sorry my hair is not the right color



I'm sorry my nose is the wrong shape



I'm sorry my breasts are too small



I'm sorry I don't have all the money in the world



But mostly I'm sorry that you will never realize that a wonderful person just walked by you, even if she didn't look like your idea of perfect.

The Powers that Be

Currently my family and I are fighting the "powers that be." What this means is that we are trying to reincorporate the town in which we live (Franktown) to remove it from country rule. Essentially we are trying to make our town a self governing entity again. And the county commissioners are fighting us...very very hard. According to Colorado state statues any town that was legally recognized as a town prior to 1874 can reorganize and "re-awaken" their incorporation and bypass current state regulations. As it happens Franktown was formally recognized as a town by the territorial government in 1864, so HOORAY! we should be able to incorporate no problem, right? WRONG! The problem we have been slammed up against is that there are a number of "large landowners" in Franktown with more money than you can shake a stick at that don't want us to incorporate. To give you an idea of what we are doing, the original town of Franktown (then Frankstown) was a mile square...think about it people, all I'm talking about here is incorporating a mile square of land. This square mile has 20 "official" registered voters. However, the landowners up to 10 miles away from the area we are trying to incorporate have a BIG problem with what we are trying to do. So to stop us, they are using their financial weight to sway the commissioners to their side. These people, who haven't lived in Franktown for more than 5 or 6 years, and have no appreciation for what we are trying to do, are trying to kill our hopes of self government. Their reasoning...they don't want Franktown to grow...EVER. They don't want new businesses, or a change in the landscape that they can view from their quarter million dollar home in the trees. You may be wondering why I'm so totally opposed to their view of the situation. Let me elaborate. My family has lived in Franktown for over 100 years. So while these people are complaining that they don't want their view ruined, they fail to realize (or realize and don't care) that when the 3 story monstrosity they call a home they completely decimated the view from our house. They don't want to understand that by incorporating we are trying to save our town. Save it from being swallowed by Castle Rock, or Parker, or even Elizabeth someday. We want Franktown to stay Franktown, we don't want it to dry up and become a ghost town and we don't want it to lose its identity to one of the bigger cities that every day creeps closer to our borders. Franktown is still a small town, one of the few left this close to Denver, and now we might lose it forever. When we filed legal action in District Court a few weeks ago, the County Commissioners filed a petition with the State Secretary to abandon the town of Franktown, as well as several other small hamlets within Douglas County. They want to officially declare us non-entities, they want to say we are not now, nor can we ever be an "official" town. Perhaps its just me, but this is very reminiscent of a 3 year old throwing a fit. The citizens of Frankstown are standing together and telling the county seat that we wont be told what we can do with our land, or risk having our land condemned so that they wealthy newcomers can have a pretty park against the river (which is what they are threatening to do with my families land). And because we are a perceived threat to their autonomous power they are trying to say we never existed. It saddens me more ever day that our government can be bought. That it isn't always about the rights of the people, be they the few or the many, its about the rights of those with the deepest pockets. That people can have more respect for a dollar, then they do for a town with 120 + years of history that will just fade away into nothingness if we don't do something for it. I want anyone who reads this to ask yourself, what would you do to save your town. Is the place you live important enough to fight for? We know our town is worth fighting to save, even if we lose the fight in the end, at least we'll know we tried.

Perhaps you remember, or perhaps not, my mention of a date I was supposed to have back in December (wow that seems like a long time ago heehee) with Aaron. Well we are finally going to give that a go tonight. There will be pasta involved, and cheesecake...mmm cheesecake...and perhaps some random fun on his radio show afterwards. It should be a good time. You should listen in, it might be interesting!

Family Reunion

We had a family reunion today. Now most people would cringe and tell me how sorry they are that I had to attend such an event. However, I must tell you that I absolutely love when we all get together (well at least this side of my family). We laughed so hard all day that my face hurts. We also played a rousing game of lawn darts. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to have them anymore...but its still a fun game.

This is my uncle Rob...he was very good at lawn darts (I really suck by the way). We had second cousins, great uncles and aunts, girlfriends, and other various extended family members. Its a great time. So withouth further ado some more pictures of the day.

I got to be the grill master!!

The food was great. And there was a lot of it. In fact I think we still have a lot of it left.

Ya know, lawn darts really isn't that exciting to watch...but we tried.

Uncle Rob decided it would be a good idea to tackle Great Aunt Betty after she beat him in lawn darts. She was definitley winning at this point in the proceedings though.

It was a really good day. And I can't say anything bad about family reunions!

Sugar and Spice

So as it turns out I've been very angry lately. For no good reason, with no excuses to offer for myself I've just been angry. Between an ex that doesn't know how to quit while he's ahead and other vague and uninteresting problems with my life, there never seems to be a time when I can just cool down and simply enjoy things the way they are. One alarmingly noticable incident of my growing hostility came last week. I just wanted wine with dinner. Just a nice glass of white wine that I've been saving for the last 6 months for no special reason. It of course was not chilled. Fine! Stick it in the fridge and get dinner going, I have a wine chiller (which is a fabulous investment by the way) so its not a crisis situation. So 20 minutes later when my pasta is ready and salad made I take out the wine chiller. Clearly the bottle in the fridge is not ready so a quick round in the newest gadget is warranted. And low and behold the power cable is no where to be found. Are you kidding me?! I just used the thing 2 days ago and now the stupid cord has magically disappared! Long story short this episode turned into a 15 minute search for the cord, determined to find it. Still didn't find it, by that time dinner was completely cold and no longer appetizing at all (I made the meal to go with the wine, no wine...no meal). So I trashed the whole idea and that was that.
Yes, I realize looking back on it now, I may have over-reacted just a tad...okay a lot. But that gives you an example of my state of mind lately. And that is about average, there have been worse episodes and there have been less dramatic ones ( those usually involve me muttering insulting or unfriendly things under my breath to people who I'm not totally sure were trying to offend me in any way), but generally that's been about the norm. You can imagine how much fun this has been for my friends/family. But they love me anyway (mostly).
And then this weekend the awful feeling just kind of evaporated. I don't know where it went, and certainly don't want it back. Partially responsible for this change in mood is a...what I can only call acceptance...of the way things are. I spend too much time trying to fix things, line things up in neat rows so that I know what to expect and know for sure that I'm in charge. Then I realized I'm not in charge. Not all the time anyway. And every time I try to stack the deck, or make others play the game my way I lose, and I'm talking big time lose. So I decided, the hell with that. I'm happy with me, who and what I am. I love my job, despite all of the crap that can go on there. Life right now, for me, is pretty good. And once I let go of that need to know everything, things just felt better. I agreed to go on a double date with a guy I hardly know, which I have here to for refused to do because of previously mentioned reasons, and it was actually a lot of fun. And as he pointed out (and surprisingly it didn't totally piss me off) I was very friendly and very funny, and actually a sweet person when I wasn't trying to be such a bitch. So yay me!
So for any one who has noticed the increase in my vile moods, or had to suffer through hearing about them, I apologize. At least for the moment I am much better, and sincerely hope to remain that way, at least for awhile. I mean lets face it I can't be nice all the time...what would people think of me LOL.

Have you ever?

Its been one of those days. Nothing seems remotely interesting, and though I've run around like a crazy person all day trying to get crap done it feels as though I've accomplished absolutely nothing. Some days just turn out to be sadly unfulling, and usually leave you wanting more. There have been highlights in my day, I have a lifesize carboard image of D-Wade (he's a basketball player) and today my cube-mate Adam and I took turns shooting him with an airsoft gun, yea that was a good time. Just wondering if you've ever had one of those days, and any advice for getting out of that funk.

Lookey here!

Yup your eyes are true. I cut 7 inches off of my hair on saturday! Its super cute! Hooray! LOL

UPDATE: New Toy!!!

Here is a picture of me and my new bike!

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New Toy!!

Well, it's official. I bought a motorcycle this weekend. I know what you may be saying (something along the lines of crazy B$*%&). But I honestly do love it! At first I thought I was settling because it wasn't exactly the one that I was originally looking at buying. Then I took it out and learned to ride on it. And I must admit it is amazing!! I should be riding like a pro in no time. Well maybe not a pro, but at least really well. Everyone was very suprised, and very impressed that I learned to ride so quickly. I still need to get my permit, and then my motorcycle endorsment, but i should be ready for that in no time too! Anyway I was really excited (now that I've officially made the decision) so I thought I would share! Here are a few pics of what my bike looks like. Obviously they aren't my actual bike, but mine is the exact same color. I will have pics of me riding it soon!!

Just to make you smile

You can't look at this picture and tell me it's not totally precious!

Fitzy the Sloth

Once upon a time in a place not so far from here, there was a bornean tree sloth named edgar fitzgerald. Fitzy, as his friends (of which there weren't many) liked to call him, wasn't a handsome sloth, but he was kind and funny if you could pay attention long enough to hear the joke. Fitzy made his home in a very fine cecropia tree, with a big wide trunk and lucious green leaves. But the thing that made Fitzy different from all the other sloths was that he loved to sing. He had a deep baritone singing voice that should have made all of the girl sloths crazy, but more often than not just made them look at him oddly and whisper to each other about him. Now it could be that Fitzy's choices of songs weren't particularly popular, most sloths generally enjoy old ballads and soft lilting lyrics, but Fitzy had a style all his own. He had invented a kind of wild ride between jazz and reggae, it was fast paced and it was fun. No one really knows where Fitzy found the energy for these belting solos, but when the urge took him, nothing could slow him down. It was during one of these rousing performances that Fitzy sensed someone watching him. Not being the quickest of creatures, he looked around lazily, curiously trying to determine what might be making him feel this way. Then he saw it. A young leapord crouched in a tree, not 100 yards away from the boogying sloth. Unable to run away, Fitzy decided to try a different tactic. "Hey there spots!" he called out, "you got something hanging on your but." A low rumble started to eminate from the cat, and Fitzy had just about given himself up for dead, when he realized that he cat was laughing, swinging his majestic tail (the source of Fitzy's joke). The cat had actually been enjoying the music, for it is obvious that leapords are true swingers and love jazz, and had not even thought about eating this musical morsel. Jumping gracefully from one true to the other (a skill which the sloth envied very much) the leapord, whose name was Clarence, stalked over to Fitzy. Then with his tail he started thumping out a low beat on the trunk of the tree. Fitzy was overjoyed! He had never found someone that liked his music, let alone wanted to participate in making it. After several bars Fitzy started to belt out his favorite song. After five breathless minutes the song ended and the two of them slumped against the tree laughing. This was the life! Fitzy thought. Then the leapord said something remarkable. "I'm starting a jungle jazz club (the name of which is Jungle Jazz), and I would like you to headline for us!" Fitzy could only stare open mouthed at this huge cat, was he really offering him a chance to perform? "I will personally see to your transportation, and your safety," said Clarence. Well, as you can imagine, Fitzy could hardly pack fast enough. After several months Fitzy's popularity had grown to phenominal proportions, and he found a very attracitve monkey girlfriend named Lola. He never thought about those clueless sloths, who by this time were green with envy (and algea). Fitzy the star had arrived!