Spin Cycle--What Beauty Is

Beauty is such a part of everyday life--we get bombarded with "beauty" in just about every way--magazine, models, movie stars, internet.  Ask anyone and they can tell you who they think the most beautiful person in the world is.  Usually a celebrity of some sort.
Beauty is so very surface, but it is the ticket to get people to look closer and see if the person behind the beauty is a truly beautiful person.
I see beauty every day when I look at my family.  As exasperating and frustrating as they can be, there are just as many moments of laughter and fun. that is the beautiful thing about family--that balance. 

My guys.

The other way I see beauty daily is by looking outside.  WE live close to mountains and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Veedauwoo area about 20 minutes from town.

A Sunrise

The French Creek Drainage about an hour from home.

The Snowy Mountains, an hour form home.

The natural beauty in our area of the country is incredible.  we are so very lucky to live here and to be able to get out and enjoy it as often as we do--summer or winter.

So what is beauty to you?
Spin it up and link up.
Gretchen and Ginny Marie would love to have you!

WWTK-Preferences

And we have hit Wednesday.  Hump day or a camels favorite day! So without further ado--We Want to Know:


1.) When was the last time you were able to "unplug" or get away from technology for any length of time? In August for the float trip.  Four days on the river--no phones, no computer, nothing but us and the river and having fun.  Truly, we try to go as tech free as we can when camping.  And we try to camp at least once a month in the summer. It's easy here to get out of cell range and as the kids get bigger, it's easier to occupy them in the great outdoors.

2.) Which do you enjoy more: being indoors or out? Depends on the time of year. And what we have to do outdoors.  I love heading to the mountains summer or winter. Not so thrilled with yard work. Hate, hate bugs so terribly buggy times of the year send me inside.

3.) Do you tend to prefer daylight or nighttime? Daylight right now.  used to be, before kids, there was more fun to be had at night.  Now I just want to sleep.  Sadly, sleep doesn't come as easily as it used to.

4.) Are you emotionally affected by rain/snow/inclement weather?  Rain can depress me if it goes on too long, but the nice thing abut living here is that rain doesn't tend to be a lasting feature. I love it when it snows.  Especially if I can snuggle in have a fire and just be home. Wind on the other hand, which we get tons of, is just annoying

5.) If you could make it stay one season forever, would you? And if so, which one would you choose? I like that the seasons change.  I wish fall and spring were a bit longer here, but mostly I like how our seasons change.  Perpetual summer or perpetual winter sounds like a drag.

And I'm off to the rest of my day.  Everyone, please send good thoughts to Nick.  He has viral bronchitis.  He's really not feeling well.

Grab the questions and play along!

Link up with Kensie and Scriptor.  They would love to have you join in.

Random Thanks

Hey, it's Tuesday!  No more Monday this week.  That is great!  Yesterday was so much a Monday.  But on to bigger and better things. 
Some thanks for November:

• Thank you for our house.  It's not so big but it fits right now.  We have space to get away form each other, but still be close.  It's cozy and homey.  I love our house.  We have been there for 16 years now.  It's had some changes and face lifts, but it's still home.
• Thank you for our general good health.  The colds and such are so minor compared to the major health problems some face.  I am very thankful for our health.
• I am thankful for our animals.  Guiness has taken to Thullee very well.  He tolerates him most days and actually plays with him too.  Piper has yet to accept that the puppy is staying, but she puts him in his place quite effectively. Thullee gives us reasons to laugh daily.  Animals are a blessing and joy as well as a pain at times.  Kind of like kids.

From this...

...to this and still growing.

And in other random:

•  We have given up on Nick getting better and are sending him to the doctor. He's been down with this for more than a week and is seeing no improvement.  I'm getting better, slowly, but he's not.  So off to see if modern medicine can do anything for him.
• Turbo is still playing the Baritone.  There are times when he's practicing that he sounds like a sick goose, but he doesn't argue about practicing and seems to enjoy it. The dogs are no longer terrified of his horn. 
• Bruiser has been wearing his glasses more often, and I think he's starting to see taht they do make a difference.  He's asking to wear them.  Slow movement on the potty front, but I'm ever hopeful that eventually he'll get it.

• As soon as we feel like humans again, we are most definitely getting our butts moving again.  A membership to the rec center and regular visits are in order. Got to get moving.  Reducing food intake will only take you so far.
• Kind of nice to have Thanksgiving late this year.  Gives the illusion that there's more November. I'm trying not to think too hard about Christmas.  Difficult to do with the holiday commercials bombarding us so regularly.

So what's your random?  Are you randomly thankful for anything?

Stacy is being the Random Rebel, so link up your random!

Getting Better

OK. So we got hit with the sick bug.  Both Nick and I were down for the count all weekend.  Even so I still managed to get the laundry done and keep up with the dishes. Pretty good for not being able to talk for two days.
We really just kept it quiet for three days.  Yes, I didn't work on Friday.  I didn't even get the grocery shopping done until Sunday. Still sniffly and congested, but I can talk again, as long as I don't over do it. At least the kids haven't gotten this (frantically knocking on wood here).
Turbo got a sleep over with a friend on Saturday so it was just Bruiser at home.  Not that we were exciting or got to do anything, but try to get better. Bruiser did OK with it though.

He was a superhero of one sort or another all weekend.
In keeping with his superhero leanings, we watched superhero movies all day on Sunday.  The Amazing Spider Man, Spiderman 2, all three Transformers movies. I liked the newer Spider man over the Tobey McGuire one.  A bit less angsty.  And less enchanted with the special effects.
I think we will be getting some movies to watch this weekend.  Man Of Steel comes out and Monster University is out.  The kids will probably like both of them.  From now until Christmas lots of the summer movies will be coming out. I want to see Red 2 and there are some other superhero movies that we will need to see.  I kind of want to see Thor 2.  It looks fun.

Now on to Monday's Music Moves Me.

In honor of Veteran's Day:

I love this song about riding with a soldier who never made it home. Riding With Private Malone.

I like this one too, Letter From Home:

And one last one from Carrie Underwood, Just a Dream:

I honor all who served our country and especially those who gave all.

Spin Cycle Halloween Wrap Up

Time for the Halloween wrap up. Lots of pictures.  I can't share the ones Nick took--he is at a class and took his phone with him. But I have plenty to share:

Digging the guts.

Stenciling

Carefully cutting

Dad does the tricky parts

Apply face makeup

Holiday confused

Mummy/ghoul.

Papa gets into the spirit.

On the hunt for the loot.

So nice to be able to stand back and let them go.

It was a wonderful Halloween.  The kids got tons of candy and we won't need any until Christmas at least. The kids went trick or treating with their cousins and in a new neighborhood.  Large candy bars were given out at some houses.  It was pretty cool.  I froze my butt off, definitely need to dress warmer for next year. How was your Halloween?
Spin it up and link up with the Spin Cycle. Gretchen and Ginny Marie would love to have you!

November Thanks--Family

Trying to do the thankfulness thing this month.  Not daily, because my dedication is not so good, but at least weekly.  It will be good for me to stop and think about all I have to be thankful for in my life.

First up, my family.  Nick, Turbo, and Bruiser are the immediate, there every day all day family.  I love them so much.  They keep me on my toes.
Nick, the man I married, the love of my life.  Strong, kind, courageous, skilled, funny, mine.  I'm so glad that 20 years ago I called you for that first conversation outside of German class. It really is true that once you find someone who's weirdness matches your own, you can call it true love.  We have had our ups and downs, but at least we keep moving forward together.

Turbo, my oldest, my first kid.  You are so quirky, funny and so dedicated to the things you love.  I count myself lucky that I am one of those things you love.  It's going to be interesting watching you grow up. You are doing pretty good so far.  Keep moving forward and don't forget the lessons we are teaching you.  Every day is brighter with you in it.  Thank you for the Turbo hugs that you give so freely.

Bruiser, my baby.  I love you.  You have a wonderful imagination, you are fun and funny. I just wish you'd figure out the pooping thing.  To be honest, that is the best gift you could give Mom this Christmas--a fully, all the time, potty trained Bruiser. I know you are working on it.  Just try a bit harder. I love that you are loving preschool.  It neat to see you singing the songs they teach you, sharing the foods you make there, and displaying the art you create.

I can't talk about family without mentioning the grandparents.  Without them we would not have kids.  They have been babysitters and saved us untold amounts of money and time.  they genuinely love their grand kids and we so love that our kids have good relationships with them. We are blessed to have family close to us and ones we (mostly) get along with.

Papa and Nana and the rest of the fam.

Grandma.

 Yep, definitely thankful for my family. We wouldn't be where we are without them.
There will be more thankful posts coming this month. It is that time of year after all.

WWTK--Probing Questions

And the questions are:

1. What is something you learned in the last week? I have been learning new things at work.  I got some training on some accounting things so I can serve as back up to the accounting person.  Having back up is good, especially when turnover is so very common in a university setting.
2. What is the best and worst gifts you have ever received?  Best gift--I could go so cliche with this one, but I think the best gift I have gotten was the river necklace that Nick and the boys got me for my birthday this year.  Worst gift--A Jolly Rancher Candle.  It was pretty hideous.
3. If you could stay a certain age forever, what age would it be? 35.  I had had both boy by then, was old enough to know better but young enough to still enjoy things, not that I don't enjoy things now, but 35 was a bit more care free.
4. What would you name the autobiography of your life? It always gets better.  No matter how badly things are going, it always comes out better in the end. This is sort of our motto.
5. At what age did you become an adult? Can I claim not being an adult yet?  No? OK, I think the time I truly felt adult was when we bought our house. It came with all those permanent things like utilities, up keep, furniture we chose, and other grown up attributes. We followed this up with getting married the next year.  More grown up than ever by then.

Grab the questions and play along!

Link up with Kensie and Scriptor.  They would love to have you join in.

Random Tuesday Time

We got more snow!  Winter is here and everyone keeps saying that this one is going to be a cold snowy winter.  I don't really mind.  I like it white out side better than grey and brown when it's cold.  Now on to the random:

• I'm doing a Halloween post later this week for the Spin Cycle but wanted to share this one.  Bruiser makes me giggle:

• Yep Rudolph's Reindeer Rides came for Halloween this year.  Happy Halloween from the holiday confused. Or this is what you get when you let a four year old dress himself.
• Both Nick and I have caught something.  Kind of like a head cold, but not really.  Major sinus stuff, sore throat, head ache.  But strangely, I can mostly sleep well with it, because I  can still breathe.  So far.
• I mentioned that this last weekend was pretty blah.  We still don't have a handle on how we want to make our lives more interesting.  Exercise would most definitely help, but my energy is so sapped by the time we get home, not that it's late, OK maybe it's my motivation that's sapped. Nothing is getting done right now.
• I love this:

• Kind of really looking forward to Thanksgiving.  I get a five day weekend.  Not sure if I'll go shopping, but Nick and I might make a run for some kiddo stuff if nothing else.  That's if Papa and Nana will take kid duty.  Gone are the days of shopping with them.

Well that covers my random for the week.  My brain is foggy enough that I really think I should stop while I'm making still sense.
Stacy is being the Random Rebel, so link up your random!

MMMM and Blah Weekend

So Our weekend was pretty blah.  Nick got the yard raked, the leaves to the dump and Turbo moved wood and generally helped out.  I cleaned out a cabinet, made soup, baked banana bread, and made salsa. A major case of the blahs hit us all.
We had snow last night and more is coming tonight.  I think winter is here.  Now if only it continues to bring snow. I can deal with winter if it's snowy.
The time change was the more preferred one, but I still hate changing times.  It messes up everyone. I truly wish they would pick a time and stick with it. Changing sucks.

Now on to Monday's Music Moves Me. Songs with color in the title.
the first song that came to my mind was Cyndi Lauper's True Colors.

I loved this song in college.  Amy Grant doing a cover of Big Yellow Taxi.

And just for teh fun of it Will smith with Men in black:

So what song do you like with colors in the titles?

Confession for Friday

Well, it's finally Friday. This has been a very long week.  I'm really glad it's over. Or almost over. And now on to the confessions:

• There is an obscene amount of candy in our house right now.
• The boys made out like bandits last night.
• I froze my butt off.
• Must remember to wear more clothes on the bottom half next year.
• The kids were plenty warm.
• Next year Halloween is on a Friday.  
• Kind of looking forward to that one.
• Had my mammogram this week.
• Was...not fun.
• Uncomfortable.
• And I was told I might have to go back for more pictures.
• Yippee for dense girls.
• It was snowing this morning.
• It just might be a snowy winter.
• Deep inside I'm happy about that.
• I like snow.
• Our modem died Wednesday night.
• We've only had it for seven years.
• The bummer is we don't get the replacement until Monday.
• Fun times. 
• Internet black out at our house.
• We do still have our phones, but they only do so much.
• Now for the holiday confused portion of the program:

Bruiser chose the shirt to wear under his costume.

•  Yes, the shirt does say Rudolph's Reindeer Rides.
• Hope you had a wonderful Halloween.

So what are your weekend plans? Link up with Aubrey and confess it all.