Mellows the Way

Hello Everyone,
 
Another mellow week; all work and little play these days. I met with Cencorp's auditors via conference call to begin/finalize 2009 business. I spent a great deal of time reconciling accounts, etc. There will be more to come this week as well.
 
I met with my crochet group and was finally able to start on a little fashion scarf I am attempting to make. Jennifer and I went to Mead to visit with my girlfriend Tammy for a few hours. Actually, time got away from us and it was 11pm before we got back home. Yikes!
 
Jimi met with a realtor regarding his house...he's just lining them up right now. It sounds as though we will not have any problem selling his place considering the location, model, and age of the home: built in 1910 it turns 100 this year. He finished replacing the bookshelf leading up the stairs. The shelves are now made of oak and match the stairs. He did a nice job...it looks great!
 
I met and signed all the papers with the realtor on my house. It's in their hands now and I'm glad. I finished the quilt I started two years ago (LOL), as well as mended the edges of Jimis. As you can already guess, I still have many projects on my "to do" list - it's one thing at a time.
 
Jimi and I took Miller on a walk to his favorite place sniffing the prairie dogs, sliding across the frozen brook, and exploring the woods. We also enjoyed a quick supper at Old Chicago, and saw the movie Avatar in 3D. It was great! The computer graphics were awesome, the story line was good, and the 3D was the best that has ever been done. It's definately worth seeing . We also watched a documentary about the food industry in America titled Food Inc. It was enlightening to say the least and we now have a new respect for farmers.

 
That's it for this week. Love to all.
Lorie & Jimi

Realtor, Realtor

Hello Everyone,
 
This past week was an emotional roller coaster for me; however, I am proud to announce I made it through.   Jimi and I met with six Realtors; each gave us their own opinion and recommendation for my house; the numbers, however, were all over the place. We have decided to take a hit with the Realtor fees and list my house with a Realtor. We think we have chosen one out of the six and are hoping to have everything in place with her by early next week. I am so burnt out on showings that, while it's not over yet, just knowing I don't have to deal with it anymore will be a huge weight off my shoulder.
 
We went to the Jazz bar in Denver Saturday night meeting friends Brad & Ellen and Tobey & Vicki. Saturday was Ellen's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLEN!!! We ate smothered burritos, drank a few cocktails, listened to the Jazz band, and enjoyed each other's company. It was a nice evening and we weren't out too late.
 
Movies we watched were: Inglorious Bastards (very good fiction film about WWII), Up in the Air, and the Hurt Locker.
 
I went through ALL my pictures not in albums and scanned them into electronic format (over 1,000 photos). The originals will be handed down to my children. I am now in search of an older type scrapbook that I can put some of my other keepsake paperwork in for storage.
 
After speaking with so many Realtors, it hit Jimi and I just how short our time left here is. We've got to put a little hustle in our bustle over the next few months. I have no doubt we will have our ups and downs between now and when we leave, but one way or another we're confident we'll be ready (Jimi is more confident than I am). Lol
 
That's about it for now - short and sweet this week! Hope all is well with you.
 
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Jimi's new camera

Hello everyone,

We've had a nice start to the new year. Jimi is especially happy, since he made the decision to purchase the new 7D camera from Canon. He now has to sell his previous model to help pay for the new one. He's very pleased with his purchase and as you can probably guess, he's been taking a lot of pictures. Most are just test shots to help him learn the new features; however, the picture attached, is his first serious shot from the new camera. We drove just above Boulder on Saturday about sunset to take this long exposure. It turned out really good. He will enter this one in a challenge.

Jennifer got her car registered and insured this past week. She's been driving all week and all is well. She started her final semester of high school this past week too. She has a full schedule, which includes off campus classes to get her CNA; a step toward her nursing career.
I have a multitude of projects on my plate. I added a video section to our blog website with homemade videos ranging from two minutes to forty minutes. For friends, they may be a bit boring; however, for family, they could be fun to watch. The home movies include Family Christmas 2006, Family Christmas 2007, Jennifer and Lorie's Washington DC Vacation in 2007, Our West coast trip in 2009, and a small snowboarding clip from both 2007 and 2008. Take a peak: www.dogbonegraphics.com/blog.
I have also been taking self teaching drawing classes and calligraphy classes spending about 1 to 2 hours each day practicing and studying. As time goes on, I will probably add a section to the blog with my work. I'm also working on making a quilt and have about three other craft projects I'm doing. Keeping busy for sure.

Jennifer, Jimi, and I went to dinner on Thursday at Carinos. Friday night Jennifer and I went to visit my girlfriend, Tammy in Mead. We then went to dinner with her and her family.

Surprisingly, I had two showings on my house this weekend. I am seriously considering listing the home with a Realtor and letting them handle the marketing, showings, etc. Jimi and I plan to meet with several this week to get opinions and perspectives. I will keep you posted.

That's about it. Things are well and life is good.
Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Happy 2010!!

Hello Friends and Family,
We said goodbye to 2009 the same as we lived it - busy, busy, busy. Daniel and Jimi fixed the flat tire on my car by buying a new rim (the old one was bent and had been for quite some time) and two new tires. They also went to Akron, Colorado to photograph an old barn Jimi had previously found. See the picture attached.

The kids and I went to Mead to visit my friend Tammy Reasoner. Daniel stayed over with her son, Jordan. The next day, Jennifer and Daniel drove to Loveland to visit their grandfather and step grandmother for the evening. Tammy and Greg have decided to get married. Their date is August 1st and they have asked me to help plan it and be Tammy's Matron of Honor. I'm delighted.
Daniel, Jimi, and I played two games of Scooby Doo Clue and I could not be happier to report that Jimi did NOT win! Ha-ha. Daniel won both games, which is almost just as bad. After all he learned his gloating skills from Jimi. Ha-ha.
Thursday night we had a doozy of a party at friend' Tobey and Vicki's house. Jimi played pool up until midnight, winning every game. We had a blast and then Daniel drove us home about 1:30am.

The four of us went to breakfast Friday morning and then I drove Daniel to the airport. I was sad to see him go back home. Jimi, Jennifer, and I litterly laid around the house watching movies and working on our computers for the first two days of 2010. By Saturday night, Jimi was going nuts. He said "I can'[t take this anymore. Tomorrow I am doing something." .....and he did. He found a car for Jennifer on Craigslist. The three of us went to Englewood (about an hour from home) to check it out. It was just what she was looking for and the price could not have been better. So, they bought it. Jennifer and Jimi spent the next several hours cleaning it with a fine tooth comb. Then they took it out, so Jennifer could practice her 5 speed driving.

Jimi and I have spent the past couple of weeks updating our blog site. It has a new look to it and will be much faster and, hopefully, friendlier to use. Check it out.
~ I have loaded our 2009 scrapbook. Check it out, as some of you may be in it.

~ I have loaded our Vietnam vacation scrapbook. For those of you who have not seen it, you should.
~ For Jimi's birthday, I made him a family tree scrapbook. It is 106 pages consisting of history on his father's side back to the 1500s and on his mother's side back to the 1400s. I found newspaper articles, state death indexes, state and federal census records for both the US and England, marriage licenses, and more. I have also loaded it to the bog and really is amazing to examine. I also made copies for his brother and father for Christmas.

~ And one more thing - be sure to check out Jennifer's senior pictures. I have loaded those to our blog as well.
Here is the website in case you do not have it. www.dogbonegraphics.com/blog You can get to everything from the menu on the right side of the screen. And when viewing a scrapbook, of you click on the picture, it will open for a closer look. Let us know if you have any glitches, so we can keep it working properly.

Do you have a new years resolution? We usually do not. I simply plan to get back into a routine around here. The house cleaning got away from me between out trip and the holidays, etc. And as usual, I have an entire list of "to dos". Jimi's mentioned that we have a lot of cleaning our the house to do over the next few months.
Wishing you all the best for the 2010 year!!!
Love Everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Merry Christmas to All!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I worked at Crocs Monday and Tuesday and then, due to the accumulation of more snow, from home on Wednesday. Hey - I got to stay home and therefore was not complaining. ;-)

Monday Jimi and Daniel drove around Colorado. Jimi was taking pictures and Daniel was assisting. And Tuesday they went snowboarding on Copper Mountain. Our friend Matt, was supposed to go as well, but we have not heard from him. :-(

That evening I made a large pot of hot chili for the boys.

On Christmas Eve, the five of us (Jimi, Daniel, Jennifer, Miller, and I) loaded the car heading to Nebraska for Christmas. We took the longer route due to bad roads. The trip was long and harder on us than normal. I'm not really sure any of us were really in the Christmas spirit until we arrived safely at Mom and Dad's house. Seeing them, the rest of my relatives, and the decorations brought us into the spirit. We had a lovely Christmas! We visited with my mother's younger sister, Thea, whom I have not seen in several years. We also stopped by to see Aunt Mildred and Uncle Jim (which is a must for us). The family tortured themselves by playing a standard game of Monoply with Jimi, who AGAIN sent everyone into bankruptcy and owned the entire country. It's all in good fun! Jimi relishes on winning and we relish on giving him a hard time about it. Ha-ha. The next evening, we played the game clue - must I elaborate anymore? JIMI WON!

Back Row: Jimi, Lorie, Jennifer, Lucy (the dog), Marie, Lyle, Jason

Middle Row: Daniel

Front Row: Brittany, Mom, Dad, Kristina

Our trip home on Sunday was challenging. About 1/3 of the way home, we got a flat tire on the car. Jimi and Daniel changed it with the spare, which was a donute. We drove rest of the trip (200 miles) home at 50 miles per hour and then we took an even longer way home to avoid the interstates. The trip seemed to take forever. But, we made it home at a decent hour safe and sound.

Today, I am at work. Jimi and Daniel will be fixing or getting a new tire for the car.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the start of a new year.

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Making our Holiday rounds...

Hello all,

As I mentioned before, last week was non-stop. Monday night was my only night at home; however, I was busy with working on payroll for Cencorp.

Tuesday night Jimi and  I had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse with friends Connie and Rex. Connie brought us a nice basket of goodies, which Jimi promptly made me hide. I have been munching away at them all week and they are quite YUMMY! Our dinner and company was wonderful!

Jimi hung out with his buddy, Matt, all day on Wednesday. They changed the oil in the pickup and the car. Wednesday evening, I went for coffee with my long time girlfriends, Miia, Lisa, and Julie. Afterwards, I headed out to Mead to deliver a Merry Christmas to my other longtime girlfriend, Tammy.

Thursday evening was the Crocs Christmas party. My boss took our department to "The Med" for supper before hand.

It was very nice.

And then Vicki, Tobey, Jimi, and I tore it up at the Holiday party, which was held at the Boulder Theater. I believe it was midnight or so when we got home.

Friday night we set out to see friends Brad and Ellen in Denver; another friend, Glen also came over. We visited about our trip to Vietnam, and the guys talked camera talk much of the night, while Ellen and I talked about the guys (just kidding). It was about 2am when we got home. It was fun!

Saturday morning I had coffee with my longtime friend Brenda at Johnson's corner and then made my way to Berthoud to pop in on a friend, Marie, recovering from surgery. I enjoyed both visits. That afternoon I finished up the rest of my Christmas shopping and then Jimi and I saw the movie "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock. A great film - I cried!

I thought Sunday would bring rest and relaxation; however, it did not. I still had too many things to do: errands to run, house to clean, and groceries to buy. I got it all done and that evening I picked Daniel up from the airport.

Jennifer finished up her final week of working for Crocs - Thursday through Sunday. And Jimi again worked Thursday and Friday.

Jimi began coming down with something on Friday feeling a bit under the weather. Other than running out to purchase my Christmas present, wrapping it and then teasing me with it, he rested most of the weekend. Lol

It was a good week. I relished on showing our Vietnam scrapbook to everyone and spreading the Holiday cheer to friends.

We hope your coming week is a pleasant one, as we plan ours will be.

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Tis the Season.....

Hello all,

Another week past means another week closer to Christmas, another week closer to the new year, and another week closer to my and Jimi’s departure from Colorado to the west coast. We still plug away with preperations.

Just as most other weeks, ours flew by. Jimi again worked the Crocs sale Thursday and Friday and I worked with him; I cashiered while he bagged. We had fun. Jennifer worked the Crocs sale after school on Thursday and Friday until close and then all day on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully she’ll be able to work through the end of the sale, as she has plans to buy a car with her earnings.

We also had a Holiday dinner party with the Colorado Cencorp crew last Tuesday evening (picture attached) and attended a Christmas open house party of friends, Bob & Kay Wetzsteon.

Jimi spent Saturday traveling Colorado in search of rural decay for a photography challenge, while I did various and miscellaneous things around the house.

We did a little Christmas shopping and I finished our Vietnam scrapbook. I also took pictures of it and will get it in our blog for you to view as soon as I can. I’ll let you know.

With the holidays upon us, we are busy every night this coming week….tis the season…………….

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

I failed to mention in previous emails some birthdays.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister, MARIE. Her birthday was November 7^th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my son, Daniel. His birthday was November 10^th.

HAPPY ANNIVERISARY to Jimi’s brother and sister-in-law, Jeff & Karen. Their anniversary was December 8^th.