Day of the Very Much Alive

Today was a cultural day for us. While Danimal slept off the muscle relaxer (his back is fortunately not fractured, but is badly bruised) the children and I went to the library. Geoffrey is starting to do research for a collage that is based on his heritage. We got a number of books about Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexicans. Bronte got a Shel Silverstein book, an Anansi tale and a couple books about dragons. Then we came home, picked up Dan and headed to Boulder.
When we got to Boulder we headed for the Fiske Planetarium. They were having a couple of cool programs today. Both were Mexicano origin. The first one was a program that combined traditional Azteca dancers and music with the creation stories that the Aztec had. They told about the 4 suns that came before the one we have now. Since it was at the planetarium they could project the various images up on the ceiling and have all sort of stars and things going on while the narrator was telling the stories. Then the dancers, who are a local troupe, would come out and do a dance or songs that were relevant to the story.
When they were done we went for dinner at Illegal Pete’s, watched some freaky street performers on Pearl Street, looked for a LaCross padded shirt for Dan. We went over to the new 29th Street Shopping area in Boulder just to check it out. While walking back to the car we ran into Dan’s parents. We chatted for a bit with them and then went back to campus.
The second program was a celebration of La Dia De La Muerte. The musicology department at CU brought in some ethnomusicologists from UNAM and they played their traditional instruments (many that they made) and sang traditional Mexican songs that were relevant to the Day of the Dead. A professor at CU was reading poems first in English and then in Spanish that were all about the day of the dead and then they would play. They were all wearing traditional skeleton masks so it was spooooky. They had people dancing, too. One of them made Dan dance with her, so he danced with the dead tonight. haha! The program was really beautiful and it made me really proud of my Mexican heritage. Click on the link above and check out the "traditions" tab. It’s pretty interesting how the one main tradition has so many different sub-traditions throughout Mexico.
I think we all had a really good time. The kids seemed to really enjoy it and it was really good research for Geoffrey's "Heritage Collage."

Weekend Surprises

On Saturday night we were fortunate enough to be given some really awesome hockey tickets to see the Colorado Avalanche. To make it an event the Danimal and I decided to surprise the children by not telling them that we were going. About 30 mins before we left I told them to go change into warm clothing because we had a surprise for them. Of course there were a lot of questions, but I gave no answers. Secretly a cab was called and the children were given further directions, “Go stand outside and keep an eye out.” “What are we looking for, Mom?” “You’ll know when you see it.” Up came the cab and off we went.
Rather than just going to the game we went to dinner (on the boss) at Brooklyn’s which is right next to the Pepsi Center here in Denver. We ordered drinks, apps, and then a full entrée for each of us. Despite our best efforts to kill some time (as we got there earlier than expected) we were still ahead of time. I ordered coffee and then went to the ladies room. When I came back to the table a Styrofoam cup of coffee was at my place setting. I’m not going to waste time being apologetic about this but that’s just fucked up. We spent $92 on dinner and I got a freakin’ Styrofoam cup?!? I asked the waiter about it in a joking manner and his rebuff was, “You get what you get. We only have about 20 cups here.” Are you kidding me? So, that will be the last time we’ll go there. Whatever. It didn’t ruin the night.
We went out of the restaurant and Bronte wanted to know where the cab went. We pointed to the arena across the street. She wasn’t excited. Her mood and expression changed though after we got settled and the action on the ice started. All in all the kids had a blast and so did the adults. I can’t wait until we can go again. Next time I’m holding out for a real coffee cup though. Haha!

By the way, a note to Brooklyn’s. The next night we went out to dinner at Duo, spent $22 less on dinner and I got an actual china cup. So FACE!!!

what to say

With the upcoming state elections I'm not really sure who I'm voting for yet. But I can assure you there isn't a chance in hell that I'm voting for THIS GUY. What in the hell? Eliminate the last semester of high school for "men?" Is he fucking kidding? Yeah, my vote is NOT going to Rick O'Donnell. I want my son to go through all of high school. Every day of school he can get before college to help prepare him for life. I want him to have every day possible to prepare him to think for himself so like fucknuggets like Bush and his sycophants like Rick O' here don't make it into office ever again is key. Yeah, so I know who I'm not voting for.

My Daughter is a Poet

Here is a poem my daughter wrote. She's a budding poet at the age of 8. Can you tell I'm proud?

The Princess Mirror
by Bronte W.

When the
Princess looks
In her magical mirror
A forest jumps out
Animals jump out
A party jumps out.
The Princess looks
In her magical mirror
She runs in the forest
She plays
with the animals
She has a party
In her palace
Magical Mirror
Magical Mirror

Dan will kill me for posting this.

I posted this on a private site, but I keep coming back to it giggling. It's just to funny to me to keep private though.

Today after test driving a very cool old car the Danimal and I were driving back home. He was fidgetting and then says, "My front leg hurts."

WTF? His front leg? I started giggling.

"I MEAN my left leg!! My LEFT leg!! It's in front when I skateboard." haha!! I had a completely different image in mind. Even so, just shows how much we skateboard. We don't do left and right any more. It's a front leg and a back leg. I guess if he says "middle leg" I'll know what he's talking about.

*snicker*

Only one word works in some situations...

There are moments in life where all you can do is say, “fuck” because quite frankly they are the kinds of moments that your brain can’t really wrap around easily. They are moments where you just are stunned and not sure what to do so that seems like a really good starting point. Last night around 9:30 was such a moment at my house.
Max and Lily, the boxers who we live with, tore threw the house and out the dog door. Max was first and then seconds behind went Lily. Moments after they went out the most ferocious snarling and growling began. It was nothing like I’d ever heard from one of my dogs. Dan went to the door and looked out. He quickly slammed the door shut and turned. “Fuck! Fuck! They have a skunk!” He grabbed the block to the doggie door effectively locking them out and within seconds it was evident that the skunk had sprayed.
“What do we do?” was repeated many times. They were locked out with an either very injured skunk or a dead skunk and we were going to have to figure out a solution to not only getting rid of the wild beast, but cleaning up our now very smelly “attack” dogs. After determining it was, in fact, dead Dan removed the carcass from the yard placing it in a trash bag. I looked up the solution to the smell and called the vet. Both agreed that 3% hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish detergent mixed into a solution are the only thing that really works on dogs or people. Dan headed to the store.
I think we finally got to bed around 12:30. The smell in the house was still overwhelming. The dogs still were not completely scent free after 2 washings. The deck was bleached but still pretty smelly.
I’m still sort of thinking “fuck” but that’s life. It’s funny and gross and overwhelming and you just never know what it’s going to bring along.

I *heart* Danimal.

Just in case anyone was wondering...

I love my boyfriend. He's awesome and he takes good care of me. He bought me some of these so I can not get bruised any more while trying to pursue my goal of dropping in before I'm 38.

Yeah, I really love my boyfriend.

Open letter to Mr. Bush

Dear Mr. Bush,

You’ve said that American shouldn’t trust the Democrats to run Congress. That being said I have a few questions for you. Should we trust the wire taps you are using arbitrarily to spy on innocent Americans? Should we trust the prison guards that are presently torturing people who are supposed to be protected under the Geneva Conventions we signed? Should we trust C. Rice~ a woman who doesn’t seem to be able to read clear titled correspondence or listen to people directly telling her that we are about to be attacked? How about us trusting Senators like Mr. Foley? Should we trust Rumsfeld? I hear other people in your own administration and even your wife don't trust him. Or maybe we should just trust you, Mr. Bush. After all, you only lied to us about WMD and about your motives to go into Iraq. Isn’t trusting you and your cabinet what Valerie Plame did? Yeah, so on that note I think I’ll pass on listening to you, Mr. Bush, for advice on who I should trust or not. I did not vote for you or your cronies and will continue to everything in my voting power to get your kind out of office.

Signed,
V.W.
~”dissent is the truest form of patriotism”- Thomas Jefferson

I love this man. He's my hootie.  

Some of the Rules I Live By

Live your life as if everything you do is going to be on the front headlines of the newspaper. If you wouldn’t want it there then don’t do it. If you aren't ashamed of it then who cares who sees what is going on in your life?

Always let the people you love know it. Never let someone you love wonder how you feel. Life is too short and those people are too important.

Fuck the bastards. If someone can’t be supportive of me through good AND bad times then they are not a friend. They might be a useful acquaintance, but that’s it.

Know all the rules so you know how to break them when you don’t agree.

Don’t live by other people’s standards and don’t compromise my own.

I am the queen of my universe and the at the center of my stage.

In Remembrance- Sept. 1, 1933-Sept. 13, 2006 

This just in....

Radio Shack has officially won the "Shittiest Move In Corporate America" of the Day Award. Or maybe it's the "We have electronics but no balls award." I don't know. What I do know is that I've lost even the most remote (heh..that's punny) interest I ever had at shopping with them. I never have really shopped at Radio Shack. I think I went in a about a year and half ago because I needed to replace a radio antenna. I just don't foresee myself going in again after this. How is it that they couldn't take a few minutes to lay these people off in person? What a loser move. Good going, Radio Shack. Maybe that's why you are still a shack and not even a shed or a garage yet.

So, how DID we get to this point?

Alright. It's really hard to keep track of all the dealings in Washington that have summed into a body count of 2639 U.S. soldiers, but here is a really great summary of part of it. A really important part of it. The part that outlines some pretty big, fat lies that the Bushistas don't want you to remember. READ IT!!

And since I'm feeling a little pushy just go ahead and bookmark that blog. It's a keeper.

Telepopmusik makes me smile

It's not new, but...

I brought you something close to me,
Left for something you see though your here.
You haunt my dreams
Theres nothing to do but believe,
Just believe.
Just breathe

Blame this rant on Rummy

I read this just a bit ago and here is what I came up with.


Here's my take on all these old coots in Washington. They don't have anything to lose at this point because they are fucking old and falling apart (Cheney is seriously going any minute and Rummy already looks like a skeleton) so they use their power to test their cockamame theories. If the false theories by some crazy miracle work then they end up having a grand legacy. If they fail then they don't give a shit because they'll be dead in a few years before the poo hits the fan anyway. Ultimately, they aren't basing anything they do on knowledge or fact or experience, but rather theory and belief. They want it to be true that their god/power/psychosis has made them right they move ahead on false pretense. And there’s an old saying in Georgia, I know it’s said in Georgia, that “you can want in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up faster.” Perhaps that is a good saying for them to move to Texas. Either way, that is where we are, our “leaders” with their hands full of shit and still insisting that they are right. Our country was built on a solid foundation that's been eaten away by greedy fuckers who want to prove that their beliefs and theories are the right ones. *sigh*

Alright. That's all I have to say for now.

Annetastic loves Devo! 

Thai Fried Rice

I'm not really sure what it is about the words "Thai Fried Rice" but they make my sweet Max into a very vocal bucking boxer. He responds by saying his very boxery "woooooohhhwooohwooh" and then hops around like he's on the PBR. Gooo Max! THAI FRIED RICE!!

sitting in the dark

Ain’t technology grand. We had a big thunderstorm a little bit ago and lost all power. Yet, here I am writing a blog. It’s kind of fun to be in my 1886 house using only candles to see by. I suspect this is how it felt back when the first owners of the house lived in it. Although, I suspect they had a few more light sources that didn’t require electricity in the house than what we have. I need to go buy more candles.

On another note, my legs are sore. Geoffrey and I got up and were at the skatepark by 7:15 and didn’t leave until sometime after 11. All the practice I’m getting in is really helping though. I actually am getting the idea of how to do turns in the bowls. Fun times.

Smile Maker!

I have a little challenge for all of you that read this. Here is the challenge and from where it stems.

Today I went for a little walk. When I was done I stopped in at Whole Foods to get some raspberries. The man behind me in line placed a chocolate bar down and only a chocolate bar. So, when it was my turn to check out I paid for his chocolate bar. I told him that everyone deserved a little free chocolate now and then and I hoped he had a fantastic day. I love to do this now and then because it makes my day to make someone elses.

So, the challenge- In the next couple of days treat a total stranger and report their reaction here. You can either be discrete about having paid for it or tell them that you’ve paid for it but either way do it. It doesn’t have to be expense (the chocolate was less than a dollar.) It’s really a lot of fun to treat someone that might take the inspiration and pass it along.

A poem for the "President."

Percy Shelley wrote this along time ago, but I think it's appropriate today. I would like to dedicate it to Mr. Bush.

OZYMANDIAS of EGYPT

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.
Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.