And so it begins...

The first of our summer full of visitors arrived yesterday. I had a lovely lunch with my old friend Kasi and her fiance Bo. They came in from Iowa just that morning. They're looking at possibly moving here later this year and they're expecting their first child this May, so I gave them a tour of our lovely museum and we went out to a nice long lunch. It was a nice visit. It's been agest since I had seen her and I have never met Bo, so it was good to meet him finally.

Tonight I have to babysit and this weekend Jesse and I will be deep cleaning our house and packing up for our road trip to Iowa.

Tuesday night is the big Baby Shower night. I've been planning this thing for over a month, so I hope all goes well. As soon as this shower is over we'll be planning the next since 2 of the girls I supervise are expecting this year.

Wednesday Disney's Mr. & Mrs. Incredible are planning to stop by the museum's Superhero Wednesday night, so I'll be working late that night on crowd control.

Thursday Jesse and I will be attempting to beat rush hour traffic by sneaking out of work early to head to Iowa.

Friday morning around 2am we're expecting to be pulling in to my parent's driveway. Don't expect to see us up and around until sometime after noon that day.

Piggy Bank...

As a baby shower present for one of the girls I supervise I decided to decorate a piggy bank. All the members of the Education staff have been saving up their change for the last month, so we can fill that little piggy's belly. It was nice to get a few hours to relax and not think about work. My friend Tana went with me to the pottery studio and we chatted and painted for several hours last weekend. Here is the finished product. I think it turned out pretty cute. I hope she likes it. Several little old ladies who were painting next to us really loved the little guy and they told me it was a lovely idea for a baby shower gift. That kind of made my day.

What's happening...

I'm exhausted to the core. I have been running myself ragged all month. There has been so much going on that I have barely had a moment to breath. It doesn't help that this is a short month either. I will be grateful when this week is over yet the first 2 weeks of March are shaping up to be just as crazy. In my 2nd job I've been left alone with the kiddos and I have one boy that has autism, and several other issues along with an obviously troubled home life. It's been rough. The museum is plugging away and so am I trying to keep up with all my little projects. Last week my boss and I became Red Cross Certified babysitter instructors. We can now teach babysitter certification courses that are often called boot camps. In these camps
young babysitters to be (ages 11-15) learn first aid, CPR, diapering, feeding, you name it. It was a several day process becoming certified and it took me away from the museum which always means more work in the end, but I think it will be worth it in the end. This certification is something I can take with me anywhere I go and has the potential of becoming another means of income.

I'm still toying with the idea of school. I was excepted and told what available financial aid I could get, but for me taking out more debt is scary and the timing is not so good. As I said earlier I barely have time to breath. I'm waiting until May and hopefully things will have slowed down around here.

As the earlier post stated Jesse and the guys are gearing up for their EP release. I hear we're doing a bake sale again which means I will be slaving away in the kitchen again. The mint chocolate bars I made last time were fabulous and actually sold like hot cakes. Jesse's working on finding a button maker, printing up new shirts, and drawing up posters. The guys are all really excited and they continue to practice away with their new drummer hoping to have perfection the night of the big release.

We've got a plethora of visitors coming our way over the next couple months and I tell you what I'm so excited! I love visitors and I can not wait to have some time off to spend enjoying their company and the city. Denver is a beautiful place with lots of cool things to see and do, but you often neglect those things when you live here. Re-discovering Denver with family and friends is always a good time.

I've been in baby shopping overload lately. 2 of the women I supervisor are pregnant and since I'm the unofficial party planning committee on the Education team I have been planning 2 baby showers. On top of all that I have numerous friends having babies as well. It seems like a small baby boom. In fact Jesse's sister-in-law was being induced last night. We still have no word, but they're expecting a boy and we're really excited to meet the new member of the family. Congrats! Jared & Brittani. We can't wait for the pictures.

Big Band News...

Hey it's finally time to release the E.P.SATURDAY MAY 16th
BUY TICKETS TIX ONLINE!
Buy tix in advance for only $4Day of show $8Larimer Lounge * 2721 Larimer St * 303.291.www.larimerlounge. com
It will be a hell of a show!Hope to see you all there.

Jesse

An Addendum to the previous post...

The current Front Runner in our top pick of cars. 2009 Toyota Yaris 4 door hatchback (w/rear wiper)

We are still in need of a new car, but... We are going to tough it out. We found a place that will fix our inner tire rods and help us get the car in a safer driving condition for a not so insane amount, so we can drive it to Iowa. In Iowa my dad will be doing a major overhaul to get the car in the best shape possible. I'm even going to try and hunt down the trim that fell off, so I can have it replaced. We will be driving the car... as minimally as possible from now until next fall. This way the car will have a better trade in value, it won't be a death trap on wheels, and we'll have more time to save up for that car we're really wanting. I want a car with 4 doors, cruise control, ac, and power locks that's small and gets great gas mileage. Jesse is a bit pickier than me. He agrees with me, but insists on it being a foreign car, he wants a cd player, and he is against sedans it must be a hatch back which must have rear defrost and possibly even a rear wiper. We're hoping to have several thousand each saved up and a good condition 1999 Ford Taurus at trade in can get you around $1,000. Being able to put at least half down in cash will give us more options and less debt. I am excited to say that our car will be repaired on Thursday of this week and we will be in Iowa on March 13th as planned and we will have a new car by October at the latest. We are still open to hearing any car buying advice since we are novices. Thanks to everyone who has been helping us out with well wishes, prayers, advice, and help with repairs. We don't know where we would be with out you.

Like I said...

I have the worst luck when it comes to cars. We've been told by several mechanics now that our car is basically a death trap on wheels. It's a ticking time bomb that could go off at any moment and the cost of the repairs are more than the car is worth really, but we can't not have a car. We've come to the only conclusion possible... We need a new car now! So much for saving up and getting a new car just before next winter. We have almost nothing saved up, so we're going to have to take out a loan. Yikes! Like we need more debt. We're looking for a small, fuel efficient car, with low miles on it, for $10,000 or less. We're looking here, around Omaha, and in Des Moines. We need this car by March 12th, because we are supposed to be coming to Iowa then. Unfortunately our car isn't safe enough to be driving 645miles. I have promised to pick up Cody and bring him back with us and I will one way or another. If I have to fly to Omaha (I found a 1 way ticket for $50), buy a car there, and drive back with Cody then I will do it. We're keeping our options open, but we are kind of in a pinch here and neither one of us have a clue about buying cars, so if you have any tips please let me know. We will take all the help we can get. Wish us luck!

~Desperately seeking a Scion xa or similar car

An evening out...

The Orange circle on the right is our hotel and straight ahead the Performing Arts Complex.

One of the views from our hotel window. There is Invesco which means our house is just up the road behind it. Having the mountain view was nice and surprisingly it didn't cost extra.

Me in the hotel room. Notice the yellow Bug on the table, it was our alarm clock and the picture on the wall is a little boy shooting a lazer guy circ the 1950's.

One of the signs in the hallway pointing towards our room.

Just after getting back from the show. Thank goodness for self timer, but boo to Jesse making us re-take the photo 10 times. This is probably the worst one of the bunch if you ask me, but he deleted all the rest, so this is what we're stuck with no smile from him and a fake one from me.

Jesse's birthday present to me was a night out and tickets to see CHICAGO @ the Buell Theater downtown. We stayed in a funky downtown hotel that has themed floors. Our floor was 13 the Da da Dummm.... Scary floor. The walls were decorated with old horror movie posters and pictures of black cats. The elevator would quote scary movie lines as it let you off on that floor. The other floors included science fiction, romance, girl talk, and many more. We had a great view of our surroundings and the mountains. The package included free valet for our lovely beast of a car. Thank goodness the car didn't fall apart when the valet was driving it. We also had dinner in the restaurant downstairs called The Corner Office. We had shrimp spring rolls, pita and hummus, teriyaki salmon and orange chicken, delish! Then for dessert I had a frozen almond joy (which pretty much tastes just like it sounds with ice cream on top) and he had a brownie sundae. Our hotel was right across the street from the Denver Performing Arts Complex, so convienent. The show went by fast... too fast if you ask me, but I really enjoyed it. Jesse was so full from dinner and comfortable in our seats that he began to doze off before the show started. The band, the singing, the clapping, and the guy behind us laughing woke him right up. The next morning we woke up early and walked over to one of our favorite little downtown cafe for an early bird breakfast special. Jesse decided not to take the day off, so that means he dropped me off at home and headed to work. It was a lovely birthday gift and I enjoyed every minute of it.