What Have I Been Up To??

I have still been spending a lot of time learning about food and nutrition. It has become a bit of an obsession. I have found that there is so much misinformation out there and I am relieved to have finally stumbled upon what feels like truth.

Mayan is happy in her apartment. I see her often as my house is really close to the salon where she is working, so she stops by a lot. Eats lunch/breakfast here a lot, she stops by to use the facilities and she hangs out from time to time (not a lot!).

I’ve been dating. I don’t think that I mentioned that before, but I’ve opened myself up to the idea that I don’t actually have to spend the rest of my life like a nun and started dating about two years ago. There haven’t been any relationships, but it’s been a lot of fun, um, exploring the  possibilities.

My cats seem to be healthy and happy:

I feel like I’m drowning in cat hair…I will never catch up with it…but I think they are worth it.

I have been keeping up with my music blog Bourgeois Blue, posting free and legal Mp3s that catch my ear. : )

In addition, I started a new blog and then abandoned it. I was hoping to spread the word about some of the things that I’ve been discovering on my nutrition journey, but I found myself overwhelmed and not posting at all. So, instead of continuing with the new blog, I think that I might just post interesting (to me) things that I find here.

I’ve missed blogging and the connection with you!

Take a Walk

I am still eating lots of fat, and am still reading and listening to lots of health and diet related information. It’s become a mini-obsession!

Along with the changes in my diet, I am working on changing my sedentary ways. One of the many things that I love about living in Fort Collins are the bike and walking trails in and about town. I have been changing my walking locations with regularity, getting to know the different areas of town.

On my walks, I’ve seen some great wildlife, cranes, pelicans, ducks, deer and more. As well as some very pretty scenery. I snapped this picture with my phone last week.

I addition to getting to know all of the awesome things that this town has to offer, changing the location keeps me from being bored. Walking the sidewalks in my neighborhood is just tedious!

Slide Project: Mammaw

My mom’s mom was Mammaw, I also had a Pappaw. Remembering Mammaw, I think of Little Debbie Snack Cakes, butter cookies, crossword puzzles, chicken ‘n cornbread dressing casserole, and college basketball (she liked to watch!).  She loved to read and kept up with the news. I miss her.

This photo makes me smile. It was my high school graduation day, um, nearly 30 years ago.

Oh, and here is one from the previous year.

Most of the pictures that I’ve scanned of my Grandparents are travel shots, everyone standing in a row in front of some scene or building. Boring. I like this one a lot, dad captured her with a natural laugh.

Summer

We’ve been busy, but there isn’t much to share. When Mayan moved out, my source for material disappeared!

Mayan feels like she doesn’t have any time, between her internship, her job and her last classes at school. In reality, she has been squeezing in a lot of summer fun. I have proof (the blonde is her roommate and one of her best friends, CW, their Facebook conversations are awesome. I should post some of them too!):

Party at the pool:

Going to a Rockies Game:

Clowning around on the 4th of July:

And my favorite one. It still makes me laugh!

They’ve done much more! They’ve been to more than one concert, they’ve spent the weekend partying in Denver, Mayan and Sarah have been keeping up with the boy’s baseball league among other things.

I wish that I was young again!

Father’s Day

According to my traffic tracker, for some reason, people are hitting on this post from Father’s Day last year in recent days. I had forgotten it. It’s a bit whiny, forgive me, I’m (still) grumpy and stressed when it comes to this subject! And, for the record, there were never any hate letters sent. Written? Oh yeah. Deleted? For sure!

Not All Father’s Deserve a Day

I guess you could say the same thing about some moms, but I don’t have a deadbeat mom to deal with. I have Starr’s dad.

This year Starr and her dad are in the same place they were last year. He hasn’t tried to reconcile with her, he hasn’t caught up on child support–we haven’t received a payment in nearly 3 years, he hasn’t helped with any of the tens of thousands of dollars in expenses from her car accident (most of which were incurred because he failed to keep her medical insurance up to date, which he was legally required to do)…or even help with college for that matter. She needs braces again, because of the accident, to the tune of $3500, but we can’t afford it.

Nope, we didn’t celebrate him as a father yesterday. He is lucky I didn’t send him a hate letter. Hmm. Maybe tomorrow.

He has a new girlfriend. I don’t know about you, but who hooks up with someone who isn’t doing all that he can to do right for his children?? Oh well. Not my problem.

Thank you and much love to all those dads out there who do. Who support. Who love. Who care.

Sadly, it has been a year and Mayan’s dad is still a blank spot in her life. So it’s been over two years of estrangement. In fact, unless things have changed in recent weeks (we aren’t top of the phone tree!), he is currently in jail. Mayan is grateful to have few emotional attachments to him, but she realizes that her siblings feelings are different than hers and we both love and support them completely.

The girlfriend is gone, she was stunned and unimaginably hurt when she realized all the lies that he told her. He lied about his relationship with Mayan, pretending that everything was peachy-keen and that they emailed each other often…Mayan didn’t come around to visit because she was busy…and that is just the beginning. *sigh* I feel bad for her. My heart aches for the kids. They deserve better. All of them.

I truly appreciate and love those dads who do! Who are. Who love. Who care. Happy Father’s Day! Thank you. You are cherished.

Especially, and as always, Happy Father’s Day to my dad and to my brother.

These two men have been the father that Mayan never really had…well, besides me!…they are who she wants to walk her down the aisle someday. I don’t know what will happen with that idea, but they are both loved beyond measure!

This is the photo that Mayan posted for Father’s Day weekend on Facebook. She said:

Happy Father’s Day weekend to by far the best grandfather I could have ever wished for. Without him, I definitely would not have had so many incredible experiences. I am forever in debt! Love you Grandpa!

Slide Project: I’m up to 1980!

It’s a slow go!

I am seeing the end of the scanning (of the slides…maybe 1983-84? I just realized that there are a bunch of photos that need to be scanned too before this project is complete). There have been many photos that I want to clean up (dust off) and play with. This project has been fun and tedious at the same time! Then I need to put them in reasonable order so that I can burn them to disc for my brother, parents and I assume that Mayan will want one to share with her future family. There are tons of extended family shots too, so I think an edited CD for the cousins might be appropriate.

This one caught my eye from the 1980 bunch, it’s my dad during his Mount Rainier climb.

Slide Project: It’s coming along…

Here are a couple more pictures that I’ve scanned in recent weeks:

These are just my mom, my dad and my brother and me. It’s been fun scanning and cleaning up some of these pictures. As I look at all of the pictures that I’ve scanned, there are so many that I’d like to spend time on and clean up…dust is a big problem! I don’t know if I will ever catch up, but getting them scanned is the project that I’d like to finish first!

Slide Project: Japan

I’ve still been slowly scanning those old slides, even with a cool scanner, it is still a chore, but I am really enjoying some of the pictures that I’m finding!

This is a picture of my parents. My dad was a Marine stationed in Japan and mom joined him, leaving me and my brother in the care of their parents. Separately. I was with his parents, my brother was with her’s. This wasn’t for the weekend, mom moved there…we were too young to remember being abandoned!

In other news. Mayan has officially moved out and I am in the process of turning her room into a guest room. *sad face* She hasn’t been here as often as she was while she was in school. Even though she’s still in town, I miss her, but I’m also trying to learn to enjoy the quiet. I struggle with the letting go…which I assume all of you already knew!

Mayan’s Graduation Day

Mayan’s brother, sister, (ex) step-mom, grandma and Lexie (Skye) all came up last Saturday to celebrate her graduation. It was nice to see them and spend time with them! We don’t get to do that nearly enough.

We took some pictures, but it was dusk, so most of the ones I took were blurry. I am hoping that Mayan’s non-mom’s pictures came out better. She promised that she would pass them along.

*drums fingers on the desk* …waiting…

It feels like both just yesterday and forever ago that she was this little girl:

So sweet and happy at her kindergarten graduation. With squeezable cheeks!

Here are a couple from Saturday:

Maybe she hasn’t lost those squeezable cheeks after all!

Easter Weekend

Okay, so I’ve said it before, and I hope you don’t hold it against me, but I’m not Christian. Despite this, Mayan and I usually have a little special dinner for Easter, just the two of us. This year Mayan’s little sister Sissy decided that she wanted to spend the day with us.

Things have been rough with the girl’s father recently. I’ve mentioned Mayan’s frustrations in the past, but his selfish behavior has exploded all over everyone he knows in recent weeks. I can’t go into details, but it isn’t good. Sissy needed a little vacation from all of that and we were more than happy to have her.

We met Mayan’s (ex)step-mom at the (approximate) half-way point between our homes and picked up Sissy Saturday afternoon. Their little brother, Rocket, was there too…12 years old and officially taller than Mayan. She is 5’7″, same as me. It is a little disconcerting. Where is the crazy little boy we knew so well??

Mayan took Sissy to the movies with a sorority sister and then they spent the night at the sorority house. I am sure that Sissy loved it! Then they came home and I made an Easter breakfast for them. It was a good day.

I bought Sissy a pre-made cinnamon roll, because Mayan and I are still avoiding wheat. We all indulged in sausages, bacon and eggs though! Yum.

I had offered our home as a refuge for the kids and I am very happy that Sissy felt comfortable taking a break with us. Rocket said that he wanted to come too, but he had sports obligations…hopefully soon! We miss him too!