The other night I had a message on my phone.  It was the first, of what I hope is many, calls from the niece-ette.   It went something like this:

"Hedo" 

   Translation:  Hello

"Hi Annie Barba"

   Translation:  Hi Auntie Barb

"Its Isbleth"

   Translation:  It's Elizabeth

"Call me"

I melted...in a puddle.  Message saved FOREVER.  2 year olds are so powerful.....

Ever since last night I've been overwhelmed with gratitude.  The feeling persists today.  

I was walking the dogs last night as the sun was setting and the sky was glowing pink over the flatirons.  The formations looked so incredible.  Chills went down my body as I was humbled with thankfulness for all I have....

Not just where I live, which is incredible.  Right at the base of the Rocky Mountains, nestled against the foothills.  But for my family, friends and health, which makes everything just right.

I have absolutely nothing to complain about...we are all healthy.  Happy.  No one has any drama.  I'm surrounded virtually and in person by positive loving energy.  Between yesterday and today I even received two calls from different friends from Puerto Rico saying hi....friendship and caring from miles and miles away.

I'm 5 years cancer free, and more fit, healthy and balanced than in my entire life.  I have a great job, great co-workers and I work for a company I believe in...

Last night I had pizza with my favorite 5 year old nephew-ette and his mom.  I moved boxes, unpacked things, lifted and shifted things, felt sweat run down my back, and all this was good.  I'm strong and alive. 

Big hugs to all of you today....and may peace and happiness be with you all.

I am drowning in stuff.  As a matter of fact the month of June has been all about stuff.  Here's the logistics...

I took possession of my new place in Boulder in the beginning of June.  I was desperate to escape the dumpy rental house, in spite of the delightful birds living in the soffit's.  I was also ready to get my stuff out of storage and feel settled after a year of living between Colorado and Puerto Rico. 

Here's the problem - the math just doesn't work.  Mountain House was big and spacious, and had 2 outbuildings for more places to store stuff.  The new place in town is 1/3 the size of Mountain House, not counting the out building.  The new pad, while in a stellar location with outstanding views, has no outbuildings or garage.  Barely any storage, unless you count the closet under the stairs.  Or the half bath.

When the movers delivered my stuff a few weeks ago I was decisive and brutal.  As they opened each vault I carefully directed only my most cherished possessions to be moved into the new place.  Everything else was re-crated and delivered to a recently vacated rental house I have in Longmont.  Most people who have rental property are bummed when they have a vacancy, me on the other hand celebrated.  Timing couldn't have been better.   I had a place for all the extra stuff.....approximately 2/3 of what I owned. 

So, just this week I was able to fully vacate the dumpy rental house.  I really only had stuff there I needed on a daily basis, or important papers. But somehow this turns out to be alot.  My free time will now be focused on selling, donating or giving away pretty much everything in the Longmont house.  I'll be having a few huge garage sales very soon.....once I open the boxes in the garage, which are floor to ceiling and wall to wall with only the smallest path for me to wiggle through.  Ugh.

This is what my dining area looks like right now.  I think I'll try and find a place for my bikes one of these days in my free time....

With all the needy people in the world I am embarrassed about this post, but it's how I'm livin' right now.  But not how I'll be livin' in the future.  Less will be more!!

It is just so crystal clear to me....why so many celebs are nuts, kooky, wacko, a few bricks short of a full load, psycho, and, well, I guess you get my point.....just not right.

It's the hair...as in extensions.

Yup.  For sure.  Absolutely.

As you know from my previous post I was volunteered to help out my stylist (who just bought her own shop - way to go girl!!!) practice extensions on me, including some training for the other stylists and model (haha) for before and after pictures.  All that went well.

Then I confirmed that I am just not girlie girl enough to manage that amount of hair.  Way to much maintenance.  My getting ready time increased exponentially.  I couldn't get my swim cap to stay on.  My bike helmet hurt as did my running visor.  Not to mention how hot and heavy all that hair is....oh, and did I mention sleep?

Impossible. 

Which to me explains why some celebs are koo-koo and drug dependent.  How can you not be if you don't sleep good ever?  All that for long hair....not gonna do it!

I thought I posted this last Wednesday, but apparently I only saved it (oops!!)....blog foul: 

The wonderful lady who normally styles my hair was looking for someone to use as a practice head....for hair extensions.  I'm usually up for these kind of experiments so I volunteered. 

After alot longer than I'd normally spend in the styling chair I now have long hair.  Really long hair. Longer hair than I've ever had....or ever will again I'm quite sure.  While I'm enjoying flipping my pony tail around and feeling sassy (wait, I usually feel sassy) the long hair thing might be way too high maintenance for me.  Time will tell. 

Good news is this is not a long term commitment! 

Someone in my circle (I'm not saying family or friend because I'll embarrass that person) is frequently talking about the price of gas.  I am frequently asked how much is gas in Boulder...and frequently I hear how much it is at the different stations around their town.  So when I came across this handly little link I decided to post it. 

If you type in your zip code it will come up with the cost of gas at the stations in that area, ranked from lowest to highest  I think this will be a HUGE hit with not only my person who loves to talk about gas, but for many of us.  There is a big swing in gas prices just in Boulder....$3.79 to $4.05

CLICK HERE to check it out....

Last night I was relaxing with a glass of Bogle Cabernet.  While I'm a big fan of their Chardonnay, I had never tried the red.  Given I am not a critic with the wine spectator I use a much simpler method of rating a wine....let's just say it is in the YUM category, and I'll certainly buy it again. 

So, I was kicked back doing some e-mail catch up, and one of the pooches smashed into my little side table.  Red wine, everywhere, well, not everywhere, but all over my favorite area rug.  I quickly called my girlfriend E, queen of spilled red wine, for advice.  One word was uttered....OxiClean.  Since I had way more wine on my carpet than in me, I dashed off the grocery store to get this miracle powder. 

WARNING:  this is where I'm going to sound like a commercial...but I swear, the OxiClean people have not paid me. 

I followed the directions on the tub of miracle powder, and in just minutes, there was NO EVIDENCE of red wine stain on my carpet.  Zero.  Nada. Zilch.  This morning I vaccuumed the section of the carpet treated with OxiClean and it looked brand new.  Wow.  Who would have figured. 

So at the end of the evening, the only wine disaster was wasting a nice glass of Bogle Cab.....

...but Leah was reassigned. 

Leah is a pilot for a charter company that frequently transports organs for transplant patients.  She got the call late afternoon that she needed to head to the midwest for a pick up....I was gonna get a chance to see my friend fly, in the jump seat, but unfortunately she was reassigned to another flight, with whole people, not just organs.

I'm bummed.  I had plans of spreading good energy in the plane to help the organ transition from one body to the next more easily. 

God rest who's ever soul passed today....and God be with the new recipient of such a gift. 

The pups and I continue to adjust to living in town in the miniature (rather dumpy) rental house.  This set up is only temporary and like everything there are positives and negatives.  

One of my favorite things about living here is the decaying soffits of the house and lack of trim on the windows.  The soffits are sagging, essentially pulling away from the roof structure.  The adjacent windows have no trim.  Why, you wonder, should this be one of my favorite things?  Well, it has provided great shelter for the birds to nest.  I have a number of families residing in and abouts the front trim-less window with the sagging soffets.  All day long I can enjoy the coming and goings of the mom and dad birds bringing in lunch.  In addition is the joyful yet deafening squawking of the little babies when food arrives.  I can't wait for flying lessons, I hope I'm hear when that starts. 

One other positive is that, other than ensuring I keep the place clean and free from damage, I have NO responsibilities to the property.  Very refreshing...especially given the amount of funds I'm going to have to drop into maintenance on one of my rental properties.  If I could just transition from being a responsible landlord to a slumlord I wouldn't have to worry about such things, but that isn't me. 

The downside for me is I want to garden...to dig in the dirt.  As much as I want to, this isn't the place for me to do landscaping.  (Did I mention there is no grass?  Only weeds and dirt)...  I'll be in my own place soon enough, and then I can get dirt under my fingernails.  Play in the soil. I'm thinking of some patio tomatoes to hold me over...they would be re-locatable to the new digs.

Regardless, the place has stunning flatiron views, which I could enjoy more freely if my landlord did not us the yard for storing his 3 trailers.  So, instead of an unadulterated view of the mountains, I can see the peaks, but I have a great view of a giant construction trailer.  At least I have the birdies!!
 

I know, Grandpets....we are "those kind" of people....

No way, somehow April just slipped by....life, work and family visits were pretty much all consuming.  I've missed my blog, so this is my kick start attempt to get back on track....here's what kept me busy:

*Two week long trips to Raleigh for work (yes, I got lost again....)

*My family out for a week long visit (Outstanding!)

*A plethora of maintenance problems at my rental properties (ugh)

*My first Passover dinner celebration (fun, and educational...gefilte fish must be an acquired taste....)

*ESRP's Today Show event (Yes, Al Roker seemed really nice....)

*The terriers keep escaping from the yard....mind you, they don't go anywhere but hang out in the front yard, but that is a no-no in the city.  Sometimes they even put themselves back into the fenced yard... (tough when your dogs are more crafty than you)

I guess when you put it all down on paper it really doesn't look like that much....maybe I was just lazy???

I usually pride myself on my wonderful sense of direction.....and we all know what happens when we have too much pride....yes, the universe concocts situations to show us too much pride isn't a good thing.

I've been to Raleigh and the Research Triangle Park area far too many times in the last year.  And, while the area is beautiful with all the trees, wide boulevards and nice expressways, there are NO LANDMARKS!  Hello people, trees do NOT count.  I must be have become overly dependent on the Rockies to aid in my navigational skills. 

In the first 24 hours of my arrival I headed the wrong direction on the freeway...three times.  West instead of East, East instead of West.  This morning was the most frustrating given I was confident - with out a doubt - which way to go.....and I was sooooo very wrong. 

Next time I go West instead of East I might just keep on driving back to Colorado...humbled.

Mountain House is schedule to close and be turned over to the new owners next Friday.  The last few weeks have been a roller coast ride, both emotionally and financially.  When you are attached to a place it makes haggling over the price and terms so much more difficult.  Yesterday was an important milestone day because we finalized on all inspection issues, and the buyers presented their loan commitment.

Which means for me the heavy work starts next week....packing and moving.  Not so much in a physical sense, but emotionally.  I had the actual good sense to hire professional packers and movers as one cannot easily undertake this task in a short period of time and be successful with out killing yourself.  They packing crew arrives on Tuesday, moving crew on Wednesday. This gives us one day of slack should we have a major blizzard closing the road....which is unfortunately possible.  Most of the household things will go into storage until things get sorted out.  The miniature house(by US standards) where the dogs and I have been living doesn't have the space for much, so I need to carefully select the things I want with me.....and most of that is gear - tri gear, camping gear, etc.

So, please do an anti-snow/wind dance next week to do your part !!  I'm not asking you to come pack boxes or lift furniture, just a little jig!!

....there was a cost.  I'm now even more nuts than usual.....

In addition to the antibiotic to fight the crud, I got a wondeful nasal spray that made me feel better in almost an instant.  It helped me through some really rough spots and let me breathe.  As I took a turn for the worse last week my doc doubled my dose of spray, and that helped the congestion, but it has made me C-R-A-Z-Y.

I am super sensitive to steroids, and this stuff is full of them.  It started out nice, like I had some extra energy.  I was super efficient and got lots done, like my tax paperwork.  Then I became exciteable at an annoying level, and finally I have become irritable.  Irritable to the point of wishing I could unzip my skin and step out of it so I don't even have to be with myself. 

It took me until this morning to figure out what was driving this behavior, but suffice it to say I will NOT be using this nasal spray any more.  I may not be able to breathe, but I'll be sane.  I hope the 'roids get out of my system soon....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  

       ----- from Mark Twain

I agree whole-heartedly.  Yup, it's the things we didn't do, as opposed to the things we did.  What do you wish you'd done differently??
 

We have a choice on how to live our life.  Even if we are facing imminent death like Randy Pausch, a young professor at Carnegie Mellon University with three young children. 

This video clip is 12 minutes long and worth every minute.  Go ahead, be a Tigger...I double dog dare you!

Randy Pausch Last Lecture Video Clip

For the past two weeks I've been locked into a battle with the Crud.  I'm confident I contracted this on my flight home from Raleigh where the aluminum flying tube was filled with people who would have been better off in bed.  The guy behind me was hacking so bad I could see (and feel) the germs looking for a new host body.....which they found. In me.

I get better, I get worse, better, worse, but I still continue to hack.  And, hack.  Hack, hack, hack. Mostly in the morning

Ok, enough complaining from me today, I'm going to get out and have some fun later today and leave my Crud at home.

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets.  So love the people who treat you right.  Forget about the ones who don't.  Believe everything happens for a reason.  If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.  If it changes your life, let it.  Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."

Author Unknown, but sent to me by my Mom.  Great Sentiments to remember!

As a result of three interactions yesterday the cold hard truth hit me....Emma is more popular with my friends than I am.

*****************. 

Scenario One:  I stopped by friends to get instructions on how to feed the kitty while they were out of town.

Me:  Hi Michael !

Michael:  Where's Emma ?

**************** 

Scenario Two:  I responded to an e-mail invitation to a cooking party.

Me:  Marilyn,  thanks, I'd love to participate.

Marilyn:  Make sure and bring Emma.

 **************

Scenario Three:  I received a text message Puerto Rico.

Text:  Hola!  How is Emma.

**************

I feel like I'm in third grade and I just realized I'm not cool.  

Last week I got a new pair of awesome dress pants at Nordstrom's rack.  They were a great price, a great fit, and even washable.  Unfortunately I didn't realize they were too long until I put them on this morning, just in time for an executive review meeting, 

I've never needed to have slacks hemmed....I'm not even sure how to go about it....guess I need to find a tailor, or get enough safety pins or duct tape and shorten them myself. 

In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren,
author of "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick Warren said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, In
a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last
forever,   and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my
heart is going to stop, and that will be   the end of my body - but
not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am
going   to spend trillion of years in eternity.   This is the warm-up

act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth
what  we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for
God, and until you figure   that out, life isn't going to make sense.  

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just

coming out   of one or you're getting ready to go into another
one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your
character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your
life holy   than He is in making your life happy. We can be
reasonably happy here on earth,   but that's not the goal of life.
The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness. This past year

has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with

my wife, Kay, getting cancer.   I used to think that life was hills

and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the

mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.  Rather

than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's  kind of like two

rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good

and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in

your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always

something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your

purposes, or....... you can focus on your problems. If you focus on

your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my

problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get

rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
 

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of

thousands of people,   God was not going to heal Kay or make it

easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God  has
strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other

people, given her a testimony,  drawn her closer to Him and to

people... You have to learn to deal with both the good and the
bad of life.  Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good
is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when
the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had   to deal with

before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety  for you to

own ego or for you to live a life of ease.   So I began to ask God

what He wanted me to do  with this money, notoriety and influence.

He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,

Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

  
First, in spite of all the money coming in,  we would not change our
lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.  

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary

from the church.
 

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiativewe call The Peace

Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders,assist the poor, care for the

sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years

since I started the church, and I gave it all   back.  It was liberating

to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures?  Guilt?

Bitterness? Materialism?  Or am I going to be driven by God's

purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the

side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done
today, I want to know You more and love You better ....   God

didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested

in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings,

not human doings.

(I cut and pasted this shamelessly from SonnyRadio.com)

Here I sit in Raleigh, again....on the other side of the big project, again.  I'm starting to think I'm a resident of N. Carolina.  Either that or Puerto Rico.  I'm beginning to stretch out my vowels and drop some consonants.  I'm even starting to believe that fried okra really counts as a vegetable serving.  Good thing I'm heading back to elevation tomorrow where the air is thin and the vegetables are lightly steamed.

An old friend forwarded me this 3 minute internet video clip.  Take time to reflect if your priorites are how you really want them to be...

Click here to watch "The Dash".

The last 6 months have found me in a variety of places.  Good thing I believe my dominant familial gene is Hungarian Gypsy otherwise this might be very unsettling to me (whether this is true or not I do not know but I like to believe this as it makes me feel "exotic" and explains my lust for travel and new experiences).  Many times I wake up wondering "where am I?"  and  "which way do I turn to the bathroom?" in the middle of the night.   I have bashed into more than one wall thinking I should turn left, as opposed to right...good thing I have already broken my nose once so I haven't disfugured anything.

I haven't wondered to much the last couple of days as I know where I am...waking up...gasping for air....8000 ft above sea level....at Mountain House.  Hello, where is the oxygen????

The pooches and I arrived back in Colorado Friday afternoon after an un-eventful 1200 mile drive from Coldwater Michigan where we spent the Christmas holiday with my awesome family.  We made our way up the mountain to find the drive way open thanks to the plow guy.  Unfortunately the plow guy did not shovel a path to the door, which I did upon arrival. And here we are....saying BRRR....gasping for oxygen.....

Tomorrow is the end of 2007, a tumutltious, yet blessed year to be sure.  Nothing serious like a health crisis (thank you GOD!), but lots of changes to be sure.  Maybe I'll write about those soon.   We'll see.  If I can get some oxygen. 

 As a side note I must say that my Nissan Murano is the most amazing vehichle to drive across country, or bounce across a private dirt road and long driveway riddled with potholes and snow drifts.  The drive was no where near as bad as I expected, and I give credit to the Murano, a gorgeous yet totally practical vehicle....my only BIG COMPLAINT is that I cannot get studded snow tires for the vehicle...apparently the designers at Nissan pretended that the Murano is only is a sport vehicle, not a sport UTILITY vehicle. which some people, like me, is an important feature.....and we might like that option...DUH!!!

My Sister was released yesterday after 2 days in the hospital for the Flu.  She is doing well well, likely because she got lots of rest and stayed hydrated during the worst of it.  She arrived home in time to watch us all eat pineapple upside down cake in honor of my Mom's birthday!  She didn't miss much on the cake...I made it (which is normally a good thing if I do say so myself), but I forgot to put sugar in the cake batter, so it was less than delicious, sorry Mom!

Let's hope she isn't contagious any more since we don't have any face masks.....

On the spur of the moment I decided to head east to Michigan for Christmas.....1180 miles east to be exact.  I loaded Mountain Andy, Mikey and Emma in the car and we took advantage of a window of clear weather across the plain states.  Our trip was uneventful, and while I was glad to have my furry friends along, they offered zero companionship....all three were asleep before we got out of the driveway. 

While I was resting comfortably at a Des Moines Motel 6 my sister was awoke to severe abdominal pains and other unpleasant events which I shall not mention here (you can all figure it out).  After some suffering she ended up in the emergency room, and was admitted.  After numerous tests she was diagnosed with the flu, even though she had a flu shot.  She is doing better today, but still in the hospital hooked up to IV fluids and "enjoying" her pain medication.  We hope she'll be well enough to come home tomorrow.  Below is a picture of my Mom, Dad and me today:

What's missing from this picture is my sister instructing us all to SMILE as she snapped the picture!  It was so good to see that she was getting her sense of humor back.....because it was certainly absent yesterday.  (I made her wear glove while handing my camera, I certainly don't want to get close to any of those nasty germs!)

Last Sunday I was invited to share in a Christmas ritual with my "psuedo" niece and nephew.  Yup, making Christmas cookies with the kiddos.

I do love to bake and was brought in as a subject matter expert.   The kids Mom is a great cook, but doesn't care much for baking....it was fun, she filled the role of sous chef, handing me ingredients, cleaning and all in all being my kitchen wench.  (If you've never had a kitchen wench I highly recommend it!)  I had the honor of helping Jack measure out the flour, sugar, and stir the ingredients.  He was a great help for oh, about 5 minutes, then it was off to do other 4 year old activities, that is until the rich, creamy, sugary and colorful frosting was ready.

We prepped the area and provided Jack his own little bowls of frosting, and a small portion of cookies.  His Mom is smart about this, I might not have realized the need to segregate the greater supply of cookies and frosting....after all he was spooning the frosting in his mouth like it was ice cream, and there was lots of double dipping going on....

Then, the near catastrophe - the blue frosting incident....

I was off speed frosting the other cookies because by now we were over 4 hours into this event.  Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Jack sharing.  Yup, how sweet, except he was sharing a huge gooey spoonful of blue frosting with Mountain Emma who was over participating in the baking experiene.  Things went in slow motion,

s

and not wanting to YELL at Jack since he didn't realize he was doing somthing very very very very bad I moved quickly, and quitely said, Jack NOOOOOOO!    Ok, so maybe I wasn't as "calm" as I wanted to be, but it was effective.  I mean, can you picture the little white dog hurling and then pooing out blue frosting for the entire month of December?  Lesson learned on my part....

I arrived back in Colorado very late Saturday night.  The last few days have been an adjustment as I spent over 3 months in Puerto Rico since July.  No, I'm not going to comment on the obvious ones, like Mountains vs Ocean, or Cold vs Hot, Elevation vs Sea Level, but the quirky ones that make my brain hurt just a bit....

Tall vs Not:  In PR I stand head and shoulders taller than so many of the people.   In PR, waiting in line at the grocery store I surveyed the check out lines and yup, I'm an amazon.  Not so in Boulder.  Sunday night I was at a party and scanned the room looking for my friend and was shocked to find that I'm not so tall here.....I couldn't see over everyone's head......more like average-ish at 5'7+"..... I know, I'm not short, but not an amazon.

Dodging Chickens vs Senior Citizens:  If you recall from a previous post I needed to be especially agile when running in La Parguera due to the prevalence of feral chickens.  *Cluck*cluck*cluck*  This morning I decided there was no time like the present to get my butt kicked running at elevation so I headed out to a cruiser trail with stunning views.  And, no chickens, which wasn't a surprise....instead I was busy dodging all the uber-active, lean, health conscious, freak of nature retirees who run in large packs and take up the entire trail as they ran towards me... (I will say that some of the senior runners legs did look a bit like chicken legs to me.....)

I'm sure more differences will strike me, and guess what, I'll probably share!!!

.....if you're going through Hell, keep going..............