A Very Busy Week

Hello Friends and Family,
 
I decided to add half of this week to the update rather than sending it out last Monday. We are leaving for the West coast tomorrow; therefore, I will not write again until June 1st.
 
Whoa, as you will soon read, we did a lot this past week and a half. I don't know why we stay so busy; always having so many things to do. For me, I think I feel like if I do not do things then I accomplish nothing leaving me with nothing to show for the week.
 
Jimi finished ALL his classes with an overall gpa of 4.0 and degrees in Print and Presentation and Web Media. Monday, the 11th, he took me to a video expo at the Westminster Campus. It was really neat to see the students work and the diversity. You can check out some of his work (beyond photography) at www.jnicolaus.com.
 
Jimi sold one of his motorcycles within a few days of listing it last week and sold the other one this week. That was a huge weight off his shoulders. He bought all the supplies for the roof, which are now being stored where the bikes used to sit. And he build a contraption to haul supplies up to the rook of the house. He will begin working on the roof of the house as soon as we return.
 
I worked extra long days at Crocs last week, so I could have last Friday off. I cleaned a lot of things out of the garage in Mead, as well the shed and back yard. There is an abundance of work to be done out there. It's very overwhelming, but if I can do a little at a time I think I can overcome it. I still do not have the house rented, but Jimi made a sign, which I put up in the front yard and have received a few calls on.
 
An old friend of mine let me borrow his camcorder and I finished recording all my 8mm home movies to DVD. It's a great relief to get that done. I pulled all the weeds in the garden in front of Jimi's house, plowed the dirt, and added new soil getting it ready to plant. Jimi ordered some bulbs, which I planted yesterday. We still have more bulbs to plant, and when we return I will make some garden areas to plant them.
 
We made a point to take Miller for walks often last week. I think we got in about four walks. We watched the movie Sunset Blvd from the 1940s. It's a genre of film noir or dark film popular in the 40's and 50's. Pretty good. We also rented and watched the movie Ghost. Wow, we had not seen that movie in a very long time.
 
Friday night we went to the ArtLink on Main Street in Longmont. It was nice to get out and see the various types of art, which included painters, potters, musicians, tattoo artists, dancers, and more. We walked for a couple of hours and afterwards sat in the back yard around the fire pit.
 
Sunday we participated in an event called Frank's Ride. It is a benefit for the Make A Wish Foundation. We rode the motorcycle following a prepared map stopping for a beverage every once in a while and at each stop we also drew a poker card. The best poker hand in the end won a prize or something. At the end there was free beer and lunch for us. It was a great day and very beneficial. There were over 1,000 motorcycles there and dozens of cars. It was really cool.
 
My girlfriends from work organized a surprise after work dinner and drinks party for my birthday. We had lots of fun. There are 5 of us in my little group of girlfriends from work. My daughter, Jennifer and Jimi hung with us. Time passed quickly and before we knew it, the clock read 10:30pm. They also took me to lunch on Thursday. They are soooo awesome.
 
We leave tomorrow, the 23rd for the West coast, where we will scope out the best possibilities for our move next year. We plan to be home on the 31st and I will send you an email telling you all about it.
 
Hope all is well with you.
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Happy Mother's Day

Friends and Family,
 
Although Jimi and I are busy, we both had a fabulous week. By reading our update this week, it may not sound like we were busy or accomplished much, but trust me we barely saw the week, as it flashed by.
 
Jimi finished up three of his classes and worked diligently on his portfolio. He mowed the grass for the first time this season, began preparing the house for the summer weather, and is making arrangements and plans to replace the roof on the house. He is also preparring his motorcycles to sell. He would like to sell them before we leave for the West Coast.
 
I spent my time collecting things for our yard sale, making more cards, finishing up some scrapbook pages, did quite a lot of work for Cencorp, and my normal responsibilities. 
 
Saturday morning after breakfast we played a game of chess and went for a two mile walk. It was nice. That night we went to dinner and then bowling with some friends from work, which was also fun; however, it was an early evening, so when we got home we watched the movie "King Arthur".
 
Sunday morning we played another game of chess and then went to the grocery store. Otherwise, we didn't do much out of the norm. Sunday evening Jimi cooked up some really nice steaks for Mother's Day; they were YUMMY!
 
I now have three couples/families inquiring to rent my house. No more bites on potential buyers though; however, I don't really expect any until we get the for sale sign painted and put up in the front yard. Which is yet another thing on our list of to dos.
 
I am going to begin planting flowers around the house, as well as try to find time to do some work in Mead. Unfortunately, the best time for me to work out there is the weekends and forecast has it raining on the weekends. Coming up, we will be getting ready for our trip to the West coast.
 
That's all for now folks! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!
 
Love,
Lorie & Jimi

BIRTHDAY GIRL

Hello all,
 
With one week of school left, Jimi is finishing up his classes. At that time, he will then be a college graduate and I am very proud of him. He is really busy with things right now and in fact even when his classes are finished next week, our entire month of May is preplanned and pretty booked.
 
Monday night I played pool again at the Moose lodge. I played in my first pool tournament. I did not win, but am learning a lot and did well. Actually, I don't expect to win ever, but it's fun.
 
I am excited that I have finally been able to transfer my home movies from VHS to DVD. The process was time consuming, but well worth it. My next challenge is to transfer my Hi8 tapes to VHS. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is with a camcorder that takes the Hi8 tapes. I gave mine to Daniel and he lost it. However, I am determined to accomplish this task.
 
Saturday, May 2nd was Jennifer's 18th birthday. Jimi and I took her to Red Lobster for her birthday dinner on Friday night. This is something I have done with both my children since they were old enough to eat restaurant food. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JENNIFER!!! After dinner we met a couple in Mead, who are interested in renting my house beginning June 1st. This is good news for me except that I have not heard back from them as of yet.
 
I had to work at Crocs Saturday morning, but the systems were down. I surfed the Internet for two hours before finally going home. My family came out for the weekend: mom, dad, Marie (my sister), Lyle (my bro-in-law), and Brittany (my great niece). Marie and Lyle took my dining room set back to Nebraska. Saturday night we had a surprise birthday party for Jennifer. Our family, some of my friends, and a few of her friends met at Old Chicago's for dinner and drinks with birthday balloons and birthday cake. it was fun. Afterwards Jennifer went to the dance club in Denver with a group of girls I work with. They had fun.
 
My family left on Sunday and it was back to normal.We stayed around the house not doing much.
 
I finished up some of my Ebay auctions this past week. I won't have anything in bulk until next fall now; however, may come up with odds and ends from time to time.
 
I have decided that I will not go back to college for my business degree. While I only need a few classes, they are not classes I want to take. I want to take writing and journalism classes. So, for now I have not decided what I will do. I may take one class over the summer, or I may wait until fall. I'll decide when we get back from California. 
 
I'd say our week was busy compared to what it has been lately. It was nice and I miss it.I am hoping that once Jimi is through with his classes, we can begin making our weekends fun again. That's all for now.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Health is key

Hello All,
 
The week was nothing unusual. We embarked in our everyday tasks of work and school. I concentrated on selling on Ebay and making greeting cards with my drawer full of scraps. I tell you that I don't see my scrap supply diminishing as quickly as I was hoping for and yet I am up to over 200 in cards. I will continue at it until I have utilized every scrap of paper.
 
I listed my house for rent and the next day received a call from an interested party. I am supposed to hear from them this week and will keep you posted.
 
Jimi and I got up early Saturday morning for the 9 News Health Fair. We were given all kinds of tests and checked out head to toe including body mass index, lung test, eye test, dental, blood pressure, blood draw, balancing and posture test, nutrition consultation, and hearing tests. I did not have the blood work done, but Jimi did and will receive his results in about six weeks. Jimi's hearing test came back with flying colors proving that when he does have trouble hearing me, it is selective. Ha-ha just kidding. My right ear passed the hearing test with flying colors; however, my left ear missed a tone. I'm not really concerned about it though. Everything else came out good.
 
After the health fair, we took a pick up load of trash to the dump.
 
That evening we went to the Moose with my friends to listen to another friend, Jackie, sing. She contracts with the Moose lodges and sings there from time to time.
 
On Sunday, aside from running a few errands together, we stayed in rest of the day and did our own things.
 
Upon us today is the beginning of another week to be filled mostly with various forms of work and school.
 
Thinking of you with happy thoughts.
Love Lorie & Jimi

Good Week

Hello All,

 

I think we have both had a good week. The weather was rainy and yucky over part of the weekend, so we stayed in doors. Jimi concentrated on school, while I worked on crafts, reading my book, and cleaning house.  

 

I have been made great progress selling this week. Officially listing my house on the market brought two interested parties within two days of my listing. I even had a showing scheduled on Friday, but it fell through due to bad weather. This is encouraging news for me. Though, it's hard not to get my hopes up. The recent news of new mortgages and home sales on the rise is also encouraging. I've been active selling smaller things on line as well and will continue to do so until it all gone. :-) 

 

Jimi and I took Miller for evening walks a few times over the week when weather allowed. We talked about getting into a structural routine over the summer. We also went up Left Hand Canyon finding an unpopulated trail to hike. The area smelled of spring, with snow sometimes being ankle deep, melting into little streams on our walkway. The hike was really good for us to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather, prepare us for our hiking upcoming, and of course Miller LOVED it. Jimi thinks we went about three miles.

 

Jennifer's parent/teacher conferences went very well. We were actually suprised at how hard she has worked to bring her grades up. All her teachers gave outstanding reports of her effort and improvement over the past four weeks. She has not missed any classes and has brought her grades up significantly; two of them being A's. We have lifted some of her restrictions.

 

Jimi worked hard on his video class. Encountering some obsticles, but he finally came through with enough to turn in a progress assignment, thus giving himself more time for the completed version. Therefore, he is still working at it. By the end of the week, he said he is really doing well on two of his projects: video and website. He is very please at how they are coming along and turning out.

 

We have no pictures to share with you this week. All in all, we have no complaints and feel good about how we spent our week. We hope all is well with you. 

 

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi 

Happy Easter

Hello All,

Jimi and I were busy this week with quite productive tasks possessing focus and organization.

Jimi overcame some hurdles with his homework in his video class and web design class. He can now focus on weekly assignments and final assignments with a little more ease. He began tearing down the fence around the back yard replacing some posts and then putting the sections back up. I helped him one day after work for a couple of hours. It's still a work in progress.

I concentrated my time on going through my scraps of craft paper and supplies. I decided I will try not to purchase anymore, but use up what I have in an effort to utilize my supplies over the next year. I would hate to throw everything away upon our move to the west coast.

Jimi purchased a real estate sign for my house in Mead. We will paint it and place the for sale sign in Mead as soon as time allows. We went out to Mead Saturday morning and took pictures of the house, so we can make flyers as well.

I had 29 auctions on ebay end over the weekend, so I had quite a few things to package and ship. I continue to type up descriptions for many more items. 



Thursday evening we went to the Avalanche Hockey game with my girl friend Vicki and her friend Dave. Although the Aves did not win (again), it was a really good game. They played hard, as the game was neck and neck the whole time. It went into overtime and finally ended when we lost on the shootout. It kept us on the edge of our seats.

Friday night we went to dinner and then spent some nice time alone without work, school, kids, animals, etc. etc. It may be just me, but it seems like we don't get much of that anymore. We get so caught up in all the things we need to get done that time gets away from us. Saturday we took Miller for a walk and otherwise worked on things I mentioned earlier.

Jennifer is doing better. She went to every class last week and is bringing all her grade back up rapidly. If she stays on track she will have no problem passing all her classes this semester. I took her to Loveland on Sunday to have Easter Dinner with her Grandparents. She enjoyed that.

I found out on Sunday that my dear Aunt Mildred (dad's sister) is in the hospital and has been there since last Tuesday. Please remember her in your prayers.

I think Jimi and I plan on again focusing our concentration on our various projects. Summer is approaching quickly and we want to get as much as possible accomplished and out of the way, so we have more time to play in the nice weather. Basically everything we do in our lives right now is in preparation that we will be able to move next year. There is so much to be done. Looking at the big picture is very overwhelming - so it's one project and one day at a time.

Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Weeks gone by

Friends and Family,

This week must have passed quickly, as it's just a blur. It's not often that when I write I have to figure out what happened throughout the week, but as I write now I can not recall what we did.
I already told you it was Jennifer's spring break. And wouldn't you know it, most of her friends were out of  town and she stayed at home all week when she had complete freedom. She got her first tattoo on Friday; it is a heart outlined in purple and a yellow middle with the peace symbol inside located on her left foot. It was a good choice and was well done.

 

 Jimi felt overwhelmed the beginning of the week with school, but he buckled down to get things under control and feels much more at ease now. He also spent a great deal of time reworking his website. Check it out, as he removed some pictures and added some others. www.dogbonegraphics.com  We have also redisigned our weblog, so check out the new look there.

I spent a great deal of time working my second job for Cencorp and reading my latest book: "Survive the Savage Sea", which I find hard to put down.

Wednesday night I cooked a recipe Jimi's dad gave me (he fixed it when Jimi was a boy) and then we watched the movie "Gandhi". I had not seen the movie since high school - WOW - that was a long time ago.

I am thinking about going back to school. I plan to at least take one or two classes this summer, but am also thinking that since I enjoy it so much, I may continue on. If I remember correctly, I only need six classes to receive my business degree. I will keep you posted.

When we got groceries on Sunday Jimi bought a new hat. I tried to get a picture of him to send you, but he wasn't having any part of it. When I finally talked him in to letting me take his picture this is what I got. You can see from the look on his face that he was not happy about it. I find it comical.

Saturday we went to the aviation museum in Denver. Of course Jimi enjoyed it more than I did, but we both took lots of pictures spending several hours there. The CNN hummer overhauled by Chip Foose is there and that was pretty awesome. Jimi attached a picture for you of an early stealth bomber: the B-1A Lancer. Originally 4 were made and now 2 survive.

Sunday was Tracy's birthday, Jimi's niece.....Happy Birthday Tracy!!!

That's about it, rest of the time we pretty much each did our own thing. All is well and as usual more to come.
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi