he's going to want some milk to go with it...

although it doesn't feel like summer here--and won't until july, i am told--i am enjoying my "summer break". i've got a constant list running in the back of my mind about all the projects i want to do this summer and delighting in the fact that no alarm clock has to be set.

today it hit me hard that procrastinating does not pay off. i always do this... start vacuuming, realize that i should really dust first, then think i should finish all the dishes in the sink so i can use it for mopping once i finish vacuuming, then realize that i really need to get dinner in the crockpot resulting in more dishes in the sink. three hours later all i have are unfinished projects surrounding me. oh, and a feeling of defeat. when it comes to accomplishing anything around the house, i feel like the mouse in "if you give a mouse a cookie"--one thing leads to another and at the end of the day all i have is a giant mess on my hands. 

this equation of procrastination + attention deficit = burnout. and i don't even have kids to make it more difficult. in my defense, i do have a dog who likes to bite at and "herd" the vacuum. but that is one thing i accomplished today: we made progress with harvey not being so darn mad at the vacuum. little pat on the back for me. or him really.

the one thing i am staying on top of is my thesis. i am bound and determined not to let this get out of hand. i have a 3" binder full-to-the-gills of journal articles i need to read, in alphabetical order, with a checklist of each article. of the 62 articles i have printed so far, i have read 6. so it is a start and a pace i am going to keep on. slow and steady is the name of this game. 

i am thinking i should make some curtains for the living room, which means a trip to the fabric store, where i might something to cover this computer chair with... 

road trippin'

we took off on thursday, desperate to get out of the snow and cold. it was getting to us in a major way, so we went on a quest for something that felt like summer. we didn't exactly find summer, but we found cool places in colorado and got to meet up with justin, which totally made up for the lack of summer weather. 

we put some good miles on the car, which was loaded down with bikes, kayaks, and way too much camping gear. the kayaks really served as a rudder for the wind to throw the car around on the interstate, and in the end, we didn't even use them. oh well. another time.

here is a map of our ridiculous meandering journey. we only doubled-back on our tracks once!

this place that we camped was windy, windy, windy. all the picnic tables had these sun/wind shades, but to me they looked like an army of drones or something. 

we met up with justin, who drove through the night from texas. since he didn't sleep and we didn't get restful sleep due to wind and a rocky campsite, we all needed coffee and breakfast. after that we headed into the mountains, to an awesome town of salida, which we can add to the list of towns brandon and i could live in. they have a kayak park in town, incredible mountain biking all around, and a fairly light winter considering their elevation and location in the middle of the rockies. 

we spent the afternoon mountain biking on some awesome trails above town. they got pretty intense towards the end (i.e., steep, sandy, and not well-banked into the hillside). it was a great afternoon though--a nice way to combat sitting in a car all day. we found an awesome camping spot along side a creek and had a nice, cold night.

the next day we drove somewhat aimlessly through colorado, unsure of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. finding forest service access proved to be difficult and took us up a sketchy road. justin's rented minivan did awesome, but with rain in the forecast, we didn't want to get ourselves stuck on the 4WD road.

 

this peak is mount lindsey, even spelled right.

sunday morning, justin set back for home and we headed for great sand dunes national park. it was impressive, but windy. wind + sand wasn't exactly soothing, so we didn't last long. just enough for a picnic lunch, a splash in the creek, and a few photos.

although we planned to camp a few more nights, i got kind of burnt out on living out of the car. plus the place we planned to camp produced ticks within 10 minutes of our arrival. i really didn't want to relive that nightmare with harvey. also the river was low, so the kayak park brandon wanted to hit just didn't give him enough motivation to suit up for a "mediocre" wave.

we drove the remaining 3.5 hours home to wake up in our own bed, hopefully tick free. we made a big detour to check out breckenridge and had awesome food at a little burrito shop. good fuel for our ambitious drive home. but waking up here, without aching backs from sleeping on the ground and having access to real coffee and cream, totally made the groggy drive worth it. 

awesome day

i had a great day at the VA today! i have enjoyed it so far, but i have been longing to have the experience of conducting the mental health intake and assessment process on my own. today, that happened. it went well and i feel much more confident having that under my belt. no longer do i have to agonize over my first therapy session. it was rewarding and affirming. 

one of our class assignments recently was to do a cultural competency assessment of the agencies where we have our internships. in my department i noticed some important questions were missing from the forms we use to make mental health diagnoses--we never asked about what cultural groups people identify with or how their values/beliefs influence their ideas about mental health treatment. 

the second part of this assignment was to conduct an "intervention" that would respond to the problems we identified. i dreaded this part. i feared it would feel like i was judging the department. i didn't know exactly how to introduce this intervention in a natural, comfortable way. but today, my opportunity snuck up on me in a staff meeting. how convenient! i presented my intervention, got a round of support, and the staff decided to include it in a report about ways our department is improving patient care. wohoo!

if only the mass amounts of homework awaiting me would pan out so nicely.

pranky mcprankster

back in january i got a speeding ticket (ugh!). through a series of unfortunate events, i ended up dropping the payment in the courthouse box after 5PM the night of my court date, which was a friday of a three-day weekend. i was freaking out about being late on my payment because the back of the citation said a warrant would be issued for my arrest if i failed to appear or to pay before the assigned date. that weekend, i was followed on four separate occasions by police officers. i swore they were out to get me and that i was headed for the slammer!

i kept checking our bank account for a week, waiting to see if the check had been cashed. after my nerves were nearly fried i called the courthouse to see if i was in trouble or not. the woman assured me that she had my check and that my citation was "cleared". according to her, my payment was on time. i didn't protest.

this past thursday i came home from campus to quickly change into my running clothes, only to find a yellow notice in our pile of mail that said i had failed to pay my fine and/or appear for the appointed court date; therefore a warrant had been issued. i panicked! i immediately called the number listed and spoke with a kind woman. i explained my situation and we went through all the possibilities, including my maiden name, which i haven't used in almost five years. 

then i noticed that there were two address labels on the backside of the note card. she instructed me to peel them back to see if the card was addressed to someone else. i pulled the first label back: blank. under the second label the card read our address, but someone else's name. i read the name to her and immediately she told me they did have a warrant for that person. she assured me that my name was clear, and we ended our conversation utterly confused.

about that time brandon walked in. i launched into my crazy story and told him i called the court house. about that time he stopped me to say, "APRIL FOOLS". what?!? apparently the card arrived at our house that afternoon and he couldn't pass up the chance to prank me with a legitimate fear on this tricky day. how could i be mad? it was too perfect of a prank not to pull!

in five years of marriage brandon has never pulled a prank on me. not even a jump out from behind the closet door kind of prank. honestly, i have been a little disappointed. i expected that would be a big part of being married, seeing who could get the other's goat. but this one, it makes up for all the missed opportunities.

it gets worse

harvey wouldn't leave his bandage alone so he now has to face the ultimate dog humiliation: the cone of shame. i don't think i will make him wear it outside, just so he doesn't have to face the humiliation, the way the dogs on UP did.

i think i went from being his favorite person in the world to the most evil. i feel bad, but it is some good entertainment, especially when he tries to bite at it.

a few days of the cone should give that foot time to come down from its current swollen state so we can super-glue it back together.

new use for old socks

harvey got hurt this past week. while playing soccer in a friend's yard we noticed profuse amounts of blood in the snow. turns out harvey cut one of his hind foot pads open. it was a straight cut, but went deep. we had a long walk home once we realized the injury, but of course, the fact that he was leaving a trail of blood didn't phase him. 

i tried to get some neosporin on there, but it didn't last long. then i put a sock over it. the sock didn't last long. hmmm. 

brandon came home and determined that his wilderness first responder training qualified him to mend up our dog. we didn't get photos of bandage #1. by the time i got home from work tonight he had chewed both ends of the bandage off. 

so tonight brandon set to cleaning out the wound and re-bandaging it. he did a much better job this time around. and we got pictures! 

as you can tell, harvey is thrilled to be constantly told "leave it" to the obnoxious bandage+sock combo. 

it doesn't help that he now has no traction on that foot and we have hardwood floors throughout. 

perhaps his favorite part of the whole ordeal is that each time he has to go outside we have to put a plastic bag over his leg. yeah, based on the looks he gives me, i am sure that is his favorite part.

doubt and certainty

i can't speak for brandon on matters of faith. i can only speak for me and at times i don't even feel so confident about that. either way, doubt has been the theme for our house the past few years. i see it with my friends too, especially the ones that went to christian university. perhaps it has to do with leaving that community and facing the real world? for me it feels like it has to do a lot more with the way nothing can be proven. not even gravity or the age of the earth, and especially not heavenly beings. 

yet, i have a lot more faith in things that are scientifically "supported" than most of what i learned in church. i can't help myself but question how and why the traditions of christianity have continued, despite the fact that a lot of those things are oppressive. 

i also get frustrated by the way people intervene with god. i suppose i could say that about most things that start out pure, be it god or nature: it seems like we people just go and muddy up the waters with our "needs" and "knowledge". anyhow, i just doubt, doubt, doubt this whole religion thing. 

god? jesus? yeah, i still believe. would i jump up and say i am a christian? i don't think i would. but then i am not too certain about that either.

this quote gives me comfort:

doubt is uncomfortable; certainty is ridiculous. -voltaire

some of the blog readers will be bothered by these confessions, but honesty seems more important right now. for some reason i feel compelled to tell you, "have faith" but that seems like a bizarre comfort to offer.  

picture book

these photos are overdue, months overdue! unfortunately rodney couldn't be there for this photo shot, or even to see hogan and wyatt at christmas. we still had a great time watching the kids enjoy christmas and seeing papa have most of his family together was wonderful. i can't believe how tall my little brother and sister get each time i see them! 

wyatt usually makes a funny face in at least one of our family photos. i suppose it wouldn't be our annual christmas photo session if he was smiling in each picture.

these photos are far more recent...

our resident neighborhood fox. that is right folks, we have a fox that has been spending some quality time in "downtown" laramie.

brandon caught him last weekend on the playground at the school half a block from our house. he took harvey for a little frisbee action and found this guy there fighting off some crows. brandon suspects that people around here must feed him because he was altogether too comfortable around humans. we have been seeing so many fox in these parts lately.

this is the lovely amaryllis that i planted when we got back from our december road trip. it bloomed just in time for valentine's day and is making our house feel much more vibrant. 

other than that, we've been skiing a bit and mostly keeping our noses glued to computers or books. i was so wrong about this "free time" that i anticipated having as a student. yeah right! 

going hippie

we just joined a CSA, grant farms. i am really excited for the fruit that is coming our way this summer and suddenly concerned with the weather and growing season for northern colorado. initially i figured we would buy into the veggie shares, but then i realized that there are more vegetables on my "enemy list" than i would like admit. fruit though? i've never met a fruit i didn't like!

i can't wait for the summer to roll in with cherries, round out with apricots and nectarines, and finish off with oodles of apples. oh, and berries scattered all in between.

it came with a hefty price tag, at least that is what i thought originally. then i realized that it feels that way because you pay it all up front. plus we are going to have all kinds of delicious fruits that i would otherwise pass up at the farmers' markets. all it took to convince brandon was one word: pies!

as for eating our veggies, we can buy things we will actually eat at the farmers' market. i just don't want to deal with the pressure of beets staring back at me every week. fruit pressure seems much more bearable.

happy valentine's day yo!

i have always loved valentine's day--not for the sweetheart sentiments and romantic expectations, but because this is a holiday based almost entirely on greeting cards and chocolate: two of my favorite things. some people balk that it is just a way to force us to buy things from hallmark. let's face it though, we don't do enough handwritten greeting card giving these days so if a couple days a year we celebrate our love through clever cards, i think we are all the better off for it. besides, in some relationships, this might be the only day a year when romantic acts are done. luckily this is far from the case in my marriage.

the other thing about this holiday that the social worker in me loves it that all school children (who are allowed to celebrate valentine's day) are required to give equal treatment to their classmates. sure, i always saved the best cards to give to my bestest friend or to the cute boy in class, but the mandate to distribute your superficial greeting-card-love across the board seems unique to this holiday.

also, pink and red look good together. that color combo soothes me in these grey winter days. so valentine's day, i am glad you come around in the dead of winter to brighten our moods, bearing delicious sweets, and forcing us to share the love.