Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays Family and Friends,

There's not a whole lot to speak of regarding this past week. The main things included tying up loose ends for Christmas, finishing the bathroom, and picking up Jennifer and Daniel from the airport.

I had dinner with my girlfriend, Brenda last Monday evening and then coffee with some girl friends on Wednesday night. Friday night we went to Mike Oshays, a local Irish pub for a quick drink with my girlfriend, Vicki; however, she left and we stayed. We always have such a wonderful time together whether we are alone or with others and this evening was no exception. We sat cocktail after cocktail, beer after beer, and talked about everything under the sun. Though our bill was way more than we had originally planned, it was worth it.

Jimi received his grades for all 5 of his classes and as suspected, got straight A's. With only one semester to go, he still holds a 4.0 gpa.

             

We finally finished redecorating the bathroom and are very happy with the results. I attached a picture for you to see a portion of it. We took down the old wall paper border, painted the walls white with grey trim, bought, and hung a new shower curtain. Jimi also painted the dresser and door the same grey color. I believe the only thing left is the art work. Jimi is going to print and hang one of his beautiful photos.


I spent the weekend cleaning house, doing laundry, and preparing for Jennifer and Daniel's visit. Jimi spent much of the weekend playing guitar hero and on his computer. All in all it was a productive weekend, yet a lazy one, as we didn't go anywhere but hibernated in doors for two whole days.

Movies we watched included "Gone With the Wind" and "Ride With the Devil", which are both Civil War movies. We also watched "The Matrix", which is a sci-fi movie.

We picked Jennifer and Daniel up from the Denver airport at 11:30pm Sunday night. It was 2am before we were settled and all in bed. I know that this week is going to be very busy and before I know it I will be writing you again. But, in the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful week of Christmas bliss.

Merry Christmas and God Bless you all!

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Christmas Parties

Family and Friends,

Hello everyone. This week was pretty full for Jimi and I.

Jimi finished his classes for the semester and now has a six week break before the next set begins. I don't think he has his grades yet, but I am confident that he will have finished again with straight As.



I worked at Crocs and for Cencorp, as well as finished some homemade Christmas gift projects.


Thursday night was the Cencorp Christmas party. It was merely a dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant in Boulder called Carellis. After dinner six of the eight of us went to a nearby bar called the Dark Horse. We each had a drink or two and then went home. I think we were home by 10:30pm. I have attached a group picture of us. Some of you know some of these folks.



Friday night we had to turn around and do it all over again, as it was the Crocs Christmas 

party. This party was held at the Boulder Theatre. My department went to dinner beforehand just down the street at the Cheesecake Factory. It was very yummy. The party was a lot of fun too. The live band called the Funkiphino was very good. We danced practically the whole evening and had a blast. Still we were home by 11:30pm or so. Attached is a picture of (from left to right) my closest friend Vicki, my boss Eric, my other close friend, Jennifer who is also rents my house, and then, me. This picture was fun because we were trying to get a serious picture of us, but Jimi kept snapping pictures one after the other, which only made us laugh and goof off more. After six goofy pictures, we finally got a serious one, but I thought it was more fun to send you this one.

 Also in this week Jimi made another you tube video. You have to watch this one; it is so funny. We began preparing for the making of it last weekend at our favorite local diner, and he finished it up later in the week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54AyGD0-1a8

We spent all day Saturday on the bathroom. We took down all the fixtures, towel racks, and medicine cabinet and then painted a couple of coats of the white paint. We also watched Pulp Fiction and reaxed a bit before bed.

Sunday the weather turned cold and snowy. We woke up to several inches of snow and below zero tempuratures. We stayed in the house ALL day. We painted some more on the bathroom; however, it is not finished. I did all the laundry, cleaned the house, wrapped a few presents, and worked for Cencorp. It was a great indoor day. 

That's about it for now. Hope all is well and you have a wonderful week.



Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Christmas is Coming!

Family and Friends,

Hello Everyone. This week we concentrated on getting back on schedule from our fantastic trip and getting into the Christmas spirit.

Jimi headed back to school each day he was scheduled and spent a large portion of the week preparing for final assignments. As of tomorrow, he has just one week of school left in this semester.

T

uesday evening we set up and decorated the Christmas tree. I spent many evenings wrapping presents and on Saturday we did some final Christmas shopping. I am done buying and wrapping with the exception of one or two last minute things that may come up. I have some homemade projects I am trying finish up still as well. I will continue to work on those.

Sunday we put Christmas lights up on the outside of the house, a wreath, and some candles in the windows. I tried to take a picture to send you, but because of the darkness it comes out blurry, and my camera will not adjust to take a long exposure picture. In any case, here is a picture of our Christmas tree in the living room.

I finally closed on refinancing my house in Mead on Friday morning. I didn't believe it would ever happen, but it did; although, I won't breathe freely until the loan funds… just because of all the hassles we have gone through. I was fortunate to get a 5.5% interest rate.

We had a blast at the mall on Saturday. We planted the fart machine in a flower planter and sat on a bench across the way. When unsuspecting people walked by or stopped there, Jimi would push the remote button. I know it may sound childish, but it is harmless, cheap entertainment. Most of the time passer buyers would not react to the grotesque noise. Other times they would glance over at the person next to them. Sometimes one person would begin laughing, but keep walking; however, the best was a little girl who was standing there with her parents. When she heard the noise, she walked over by her father and hit him on the butt and then she bent over and began pointing to her own butt. Her mother just ignored her as she was trying the put a coat on another child. It was all Jimi and I could do to stay in our seats we were laughing so hard.

Not much else happened here this week. We were pretty focused: Jimi on school and I on Christmas. I suspect this week will be much of the same.

Hope all is well and you have a wonderful week.

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

2008 Thanksgiving Family Tour

Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Jimi and I had a fabulous trip visiting family and friends in Nebraska, Michigan, and Illinois. We literally saw every family member we are close to, on both sides, with the exception of my dear Uncle Jim and Aunt Mildred. I will try to tell you about our trip the best I can without making it boring for you.

We left Longmont at 5:15pm on Friday evening, November 21st and arrived at my Sister's house in Overton, Nebraska around 11pm. There, we spent the night and made sure Miller was all set for his stay during our journey.

Saturday morning we headed out about 9am, stopping at Cabelas and Perkins in Kearney, Nebraska on the way; once back on the road we drove to Peoria, Illinois, where we got a hotel for the night.

Sunday morning after breakfast, Jimi bought flowers and we put them on his mother's grave in the cemetery. We spent rest of the day making our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan where we spent the evening with Jimi's old friend (thought of as a brother) Matt and his wife Alisha. We had a fantastic time. Before leaving town on Monday morning we stopped to visit Christa, Matt's mom, and once again, we had a very wonderful visit with her.

A couple of hours after leaving Christa's home, we arrived in Manchester, Michigan to visit Jimi's dad. We spent a lot of time looking through his pictures as well as some we brought and talking. The next afternoon we headed off to Round Lake, Illinois just north of Chicago to Jeff and Karen's house (Jimi's brother) staying there until Saturday morning; however, Wednesday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. That is an amazing place. There is so much to see: the best being an old captured German submarine, of course we did not see everything before the doors closed. After the museum, we met up with an old friend we both worked with at Cencorp, Darnell. We had a few drinks and an appetizer before making our way back North to Round Lake.

Thanksgiving was fabulous. Karen and Tracey initiated me right into the family by fixing my hair and plucking my eyebrows. It was a fun girls morning. Jeff, Jimi, and Bob hung around the house visiting and hitting golf balls into the woods. That afternoon we had a wonderful dinner celebrating everything we are thankful for. And rest of the evening consisted of a nap, eating-which never seemed to end, and lying around the house.

Friday, we set out for shopping. We spent several hours looking at various deals and fighting the crowds. It was crowded, but nevertheless, enjoyable to be with Jeff, Karen, and Tracey. Before heading back to the house, we stopped for pizza and then at their home a much needed nap. I think everyone slept for a couple of hours except for Jeff. The rest of our visit (consisting of that evening) went by fast.

We left Round Lake, Illinois at 8am on Saturday morning with a 12 hour drive a head of us; our destination being first Overton, Ne to pick up Miller and then finally my parents house in Stamford, Ne. It was late when we got in, about 10:10pm, but we made it.
We stayed up until midnight visiting and then up again early on Sunday morning to visit some more. Finally about noon, we decided it was time to head home. We arrived home about 5:30pm. I unpacked, did the laundry, and went to the grocery store before settling in for the evening.

We would like to thank everyone for their hospitality on our 2008 family tour trip. We thoroughly enjoyed every visit and every stay. I especially felt loved and welcomed into Jimi's family by everyone and that means a lot to both of us. We could not have chosen a better way to spend such a holiday with so much meaning of appreciation and thankfulness. We love you and are truly blessed and thankful to have each one of you in our lives. May God bless you.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Cold & Flu

Family and Friends,
 
The cold and flu season has officially arrived, at least for me that is. Tuesday morning I felt the onset of a head cold and began trying to fight it off. As the day went on I just felt worse and worse. By Wednesday afternoon I was miserable and left work about an hour early. I stayed in bed until Thursday afternoon, at which time I was feeling better. I got up and cooked supper, worked on my Spanish lessons, scrap booked our Taos trip, and made brownies; and I had plans to go to work on Friday. Doing those things was probably a bad idea considering by bedtime I had nearly gone through an entire box of Kleenex, had a throbbing head, and was coughing up a storm. Once again I was deemed to bed, but this time until Saturday morning.  I am still hanging on to the shirt tail of my cold, but I am back at work with a clear nose and head, yet an occasional cough makes its presence known.

Despite being sick and stuck in bed I managed to I spend some time attending to my online writing club and made significant progress on my Spanish lessons. I am almost caught up to Jimi.

Saturday morning we watched the movie "The Godfather" and later "Godfather II".

Saturday evening, we went to the University of Colorado football game. My girlfriend, Vicki from work, her boyfriend and son also went. We didn't stay for the whole game. It was cold the game was kind of boring; probably because we aren't really fans and not to mention because our home team was playing badly. 

Sunday we went shooting with friends, Brad and Ellen, at a shooting range in the mountains. We shot a 9 mm, a 22, and a 357 Magnum with both 38s and 357 bullets. Jimi also brought his 12 gauge shot gun, but he was the only one who shot it. We shot targets taped to boxes and full pop cans. We had a great time.

Sunday I helped Jennifer Nance take her dogs (Molly and Razor included) to the pet clinic for their annual shots. It was wonderful seeing the little dogs again and they were oh so excited to see me too.

Jimi worked on fixing the brakes on my car along with some other maintenance for our trip. He put in a new master cylinder and we sure hope this fixes the problem; however, just a few hours after the breaks were fixed something else went wrong and the idle was not high enough to even keep the car running. I am now driving the truck and he is trying to investigate what it wrong with the car.

Jimi won a contest making a poster advertisement for a local karate school and earned $100.  His first paid job.

We are preparing for our trip eastward bound later in the week. We are excited and looking forward to seeing friends and family. In addition, Christmas is approaching quickly and we are preparing for Jennifer and Daniel's visit.

I'm not sure if I will be writing next Monday, since we will be busy visiting loved ones. It may be that I will skip next Monday and catch up the week after when we return from Illinois and Michigan.
 
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

A week of photos.

Family and Friends,

 We hope you had a great week, as we did. Tuesday evening we sat in the living room with our eyes glued to the television, with anticipation watching for the outcome of the presidential election. “History in the making” are the words Jimi repeated to me. We were honored that we could witness this amazing and remarkable fate in history of our first black President.

 Wednesday night Jimi worked on his photos. I, on the other hand, was bored stiff. I had many things to do or many things that I needed to do, but I had no motivation. I was internally bored. I did manage to complete my first lesson in learning Spanish and I bought airline tickets for Jennifer and Daniel’s visit over the December holidays. Other than that, my evening was squandered.

We had tickets to the Minnesota Avalanche game for Thursday night, but we opted not to go and sold them. Rather, I worked while Jimi visited his friend Brad.

I completely forgot to mention Jimi’s adventure last week. On Thursday he went to a town near Vail, Colorado called Gilman for some urban exploration. This town was ordered by the EPA to evacuate in 1984 because of the mining operation polluting it with lead and zinc. Jimi parked his truck and hiked in to the town, as the main entrance is gated off. The exploration was really cool. The entire town abandoned, as something you would see in the movies and certainly not hitting so close to home.  The evidence left behind depicted a story with cars in the garage appearing as if they were undergoing repair at the time, people’s homes, a hotel, and school; some 85+ structures. Most of the interior of the buildings were bare. Traces of unwanted things left behind were laying around. Elements of weather claimed what was once a thriving mining town. Jimi took some really good pictures there, which was his main purpose, and his trip was good. With the wind blowing, the doors would bang loudly open and shut, which at times would freak him out a little, as he snuck around this abandoned modern day ghost town. 

This is what Wikipedia has to say about Gilman, Colorado.

Gilman is an abandoned mining town in southeastern Eagle County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1886 during the Colorado Silver Boom, the town later became a center of lead and zinc mining in Colorado, centered around the now-flooded Eagle Mine. It was abandoned in 1984 by order of the Environmental Protection Agency [1] because of toxic pollutants, including contamination of the ground water, as well as unprofitability of the mines.

This past Thursday, he went to DIA getting really close to the runway under the planes, as they were taking off and landing. He spent a good portion of the day there with some super successful picture taking. After words he went to visit our friend Brad for a while.

 Molly and Razor went to Mead for the weekend and it appears that they will now stay in their once forgotten home with their new owner. We may bring them to visit on occasion or take them to the mountains for an afternoon hike.

 Jimi and I spent the weekend in Taos, New Mexico. It was a last minute trip planned in an effort to detour us from becoming couch potatoes, which is what we have noticed happening lately. We first visited the Taos Indian Reservation. It was walking only, in a small area, but Jimi got some really good pictures. We had a really nice dinner and then sat in the hot tub at the hotel before thinking we would settle in for the night; however, just before bedtime, we unexpectedly decided to set out to find a well photographed church, so Jimi could take his own pictures of it. We were at the churches location for about an hour before heading back to our room and really settling in for the night. Sunday consisted of mostly site-seeing and touring via the car. We visited the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico. A Doctor from the area build the memorial after his son was killed in 1968 while in Vietnam. The memorial was especially emotional, yet we very much enjoyed our visit there. That evening after arriving back home, we watched the movie Full Metal Jacket.

            

Today, Monday October 10, 2008, my son turns 16 years old. It’s hard to believe, but true. Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

 I also failed to mention that my parents celebrated their 45^th wedding anniversary on October 23^rd. Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!!!

 My sister’s birthday was this past Friday, November 7^th. Happy Birthday Marie!!!

Until next week: sunshine and smiles.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Happy (late) Halloween to you!

Family and Friends,

Hello hello! We don't have anything overly exciting to report: this past week was simple. We had two fun events and otherwise it was nothing other than normal everyday stuff.

I worked for Crocs and Cencorp; and, Jimi went to school; nothing new there. Tuesday evening we were both at home working on various projects and things. Wednesday night Jimi watched his weekly shows on the Discovery channel and I went to the coffee shop with my girlfriends.

Miller finished his antibiotics. The growth on his gums did not go away, nor do we think it will; however, if it were infected, the infection should be gone now.

 Thursday night we went to the hockey game. The Avalanche played the Bluejays. Our seats were club level, and though our seats were awesome, the Aves did not play well. The final score was Bluejays 4 and Aves 2. Hockey is an exciting sport to watch; much better that football and basketball, in my opinion. Through most of the game we were on the edge of our seats, and despite the Aves poor playing, we had an awesome time.

Friday night was our Halloween costume party at the Moose. The evening started out 

a little slow, but once we moved to the back room and got into a few games of poker pool, before we knew it they were closing the place down. Tammy was Peter Pan and Greg was Hook. Brad was a Pirate and Ellen was his Wench. Of course, you already know that Jimi was a convict and I a sexy cop. When the Moose closed, all six of us headed over to the Red Zone, but we only got one drink in before they were also closing the doors on us there too. We felt we could do nothing else but to call it a night, or in this case call it a morning – hardy-har-har.

Saturday morning we met Brad and Ellen at Lucile's Creole Cafe for breakfast. It is one of our favorite places to eat breakfast. They pride on their Louisiana style dishes, including homemade condiments: hot sauce, ketchup, syrup, apple butter, and more. And to boot, they have the best biscuits and gravy anywhere. After breakfast, Brad and Ellen headed home to Denver. Jimi worked on my car, while I did laundry and putzed around the house. Since this would be the last weekend with Razor and Molly we took them on a very long hike. That night we watched a couple of movies: Saw II and Pay it Forward. If you have not seen Pay it Forward, we recommend watching it. It is a very moving movie with a message.

There is still no news on refinancing my house. I knew "ordering the documents" was just too good to be true. Where it stands now is the underwriter again pulled the loan back, because she does not want to accept my second income. I will continue to keep you posted.

Sunday morning we went to Café Luna for Cappuccinos and bagels. I scrap booked our Halloween pictures, Jimi talked to his dad for a while, and then we took the dogs on a picnic lunch. We stopped by the book store, where Jimi found a book he bought, and later that evening I went to the grocery store. To complete our day we watched Saw III.

Jimi attended a free clinic at the college a couple of weeks ago. It was a great opportunity for him to get checked out, since he does not have medical insurance. He received the results from his lab work back this week, but they are written in code (Doctor's language). He has done some research on the internet and thinks he has determined that everything came back normal.

I have added our Europe vacation scrapbook to our blog. Be sure to check it out and make sure you have plenty of time when you do, because it is a big one. I did a lot of research on the history of the places we visited. Unless you want to, it is not necessary to read everything.

Here's the link again: http://dogbonegraphics.com/blog/?page_id=218

The holidays are near: only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving and 7 weeks till Christmas. Have you started your Christmas shopping? We started ours online over the weekend. Talk to you soon.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi