We’re okay. I was super angry the rest of that drive home, and maybe for 10 minutes after that. Mostly because I felt like there was nothing I could do to this guy’s driving record. Geoff said even if we took him to small claims court, the only witness was a homeless girl, and the judge would say, “why would he be backing up when he’s pulling a trailer?”, and my answer would be “EXACTLY!”

So Steve McQueen has only sustained a bent license plate frame. It all happened so slowly. It was much scarier this winter when I drove Gary into a snowbank during the blizzard season.

Elijah has a cold, so we’re trying to hang out here and keep his germs confined. If he’s better by Thursday, we’ll go to the Nature Center.

Geoff bought his ticket for Erich’s wedding in October. I so wish I was going too, but there is no money for that. I know the family (i.e.- Kroliks) will take good care of him. Now will I survive 5 days as a single mom of two?

I’ll close with a quote from Wild Wild West.

Artemus Gordon: Oh, look. My auxiliary tool kit, I forgot all about it. It must have fallen out of my pocket.
Capt. James West: Your pocket? Why wasn’t it on some spring-loaded contraption that shoots out your ass?
Artemus Gordon: That’s the first place Loveless would have looked.

An open letter to the idiot from Ohio who doesn’t know how to drive.

Dear Sir,
Thanks for visiting Colorado. Did you have a nice visit? I can see you drove a distance to get here, going so far as to pull your trailer too. Did you know that you need special mirrors to see past your vehicle as well as your trailer? Did you know that you are to NEVER back up when you are pulling a trailer? Were you aware you were so caught up in your conversation/your radio/whatever that you didn’t hear me blaring my horn at you?

Thank you so much for backing your trailer into my car. Thank you for startling myself and my children with your careless driving. But most of all, thank you for not even bothering to see what damage you did to my car. You just continued your trip on your merry way.

Incidentally, you have dented my front license plate, and I have recorded your license plate number. Not really sure what I’m going to do with it, perhaps send a letter to your state police letting them know you are out there driving, giving the people of Ohio a good reputation.

You suck.

Angrily Yours,
Melissa Armstrong

So I’ve been slacking on blogging because the home laptop died. So it cut my time on the computer by half. a good thing? maybe, but I feel like I’m missing things I was able to do before.

Anyways, here’s what my week looked like. Monday was supposed to go to the dr, and having it get cancelled 45 minutes beforehand through off my whole schedule for the boys. Elijah didn’t nap as planned, it took me 2 hours to convince him he had to. Kinds stressful. Wednesday we had Miles’ dr appt and my rescheduled appt. Elijah spent Miles’ appt at Marian’s and had a blast. Thursday we went to Monkey Bizness with Amy & Caley, instead of the Nature Center. Monkey Bizness is like an indoor gym, a big room filled with inflatable obstacle courses and bounce houses.

Playing with Caley

This weekend we have no big plans, Geoff has to work on Monday. Otherwise, I’d love to get down to Colorado Springs or Manitou Springs. I may settle for a trip to Peet’s in honor of Peet’s founder, and Starbucks influencer, Alfred Peet who passed away this week.

I’m gonna close with a quote from Red Dwarf. In honor of Miles, who has given me the gift of a 4am wake up call two days in a row.

The Cat: You’re thinking negative. Think of all the glorious and wonderful possibilities about having children.
Lister: Like?
The Cat: Like when they grow up and leave home.

Gee, not much to share. Thursday we made it back to the Nature Center. Friday we took a family trip up to Boulder to attend a going away party for someone Geoff knew. That was kinda fun, it was at the place where Geoff goes running in Boulder. He took the boys on a short hike. It was a picnic potluck. When we departed, we had a deer walk out in front of the car. It wasn’t in any danger of us hitting it, thank goodness.

The weekend was pretty laidback. Saturday night, we had both boys in bed by 7pm. Crazy huh? We partied it up by watching a movie. Then once 10:30pm came, Miles was waking up twice an hour until 5am. I don’t know what his issue was, but I fed him at 5, then the two of us slept until 8:30am.

I started working on Miles’ stocking, and I’m making good progress.

On tap for this week, doctor appointments for Miles and myself. I’ll likely aim to get out to the Nature Center again.

I’m going to close with a quote from Meet The Fockers.

Bernie Focker: Do you want me to be macho wacho?
Greg Focker: Dad, have I ever said the words macho wacho to you?

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I started an REI wishlist. Friday I sent an email to family letting them know we are planning to take the boys camping next summer, but we lack several camping needs. I heard back from someone and they are buying us the tent and coordinating footprint. How cool is that? That was the biggest item we needed, so now it makes the rest of the stuff more obtainable with gift cards, me thinks. 🙂

We did go up into the mountains yesterday to check out the outlet stores in Silverthorne. Not many good buys to be found, but we did visit The Smiling Moose Deli, and had a delicious lunch. Funny thing is their only Denver location is right across from Geoff’s old hospital. Maybe the sandwich was so good he’ll get his buds together and they’ll take the shuttle there for lunch.

Marian offered to babysit one night for us, so I hope to take her up on it soon. Really all she has to do is hang out here after the kids go to sleep, so she said she’d bring her books to read.

I’m gonna close with a quote from Psych. You’re watching it, because it’s an awesome show!

Shawn: He’s not going to kill us, right? I mean people change. We haven’t seen him since the 5th grade.
Gus: I don’t need to see him Shawn! Some people are just born evil. The kid from the Omen, the Children from the Corn, Chad Michael Murray.

At the beginning of the week, I had some ideas of what I wanted to do. And amazingly enough I got to do them. I went to the gym a few times. Also, we went to the Morrison Nature Center.

outside the Nature Center

Elijah on the hike

It’s a weekly thing, so I may try to get us there each week. If the timing works out. It’s free, it’s educational, why not right?

This weekend we are aiming to get out to Silverthorne. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to get some early Christmas shopping done at the outlet mall. 131 days until Christmas! Ha ha ha.

I’m going to close with a quote from Peggy Sue Got Married.

Richard Norvik: I would be very careful about this if I were you. What if you fall into the hands of some madman with plans to manipulate your brain?
Peggy Sue: Well, that’s why I was getting a divorce!

But Geoff’s friend Erich is getting married and extended an invite to us. The wedding is in La Jolla/San Diego, and it’s in October. We’d love to go, but we’re still trying to figure out if it is feasible. Obviously it would be a short trip, but the lure of being back in California has set our hearts a-flutter. As soon as something has been decided, I’ll let you know. I do think Geoff will go, even if we all don’t.

Our friend Roland is embarking on a road trip from Arizona, and is going to crash with us one night this week. It will be nice to have company. We haven’t seen him since Chris & Ashley’s wedding in 2004.

Friday I went to the gym and put both the boys in the daycare there. They seemed fine when I came to get them, so I’m thrilled to have that option during the day. Elijah wanted to play in the pool, so Sunday we went swimming as a family. It was surprisingly empty, which was wonderful.

Got some ideas of what I’d like to do this week and on the upcoming weekend but as always we’ll see how it plays out. The boys are always better after they nap, so I have to be flexible.

Watched some Warren Miller film this weekend (I think it was Higher Ground), and Geoff thought this quote was funny, so I’ll close with that.

“Warm beer is infinitely cooler than no beer”

Not much is going on in MelissaWorld. Elijah is having more good days than bad days and Miles is growing bigger every day. Sunday afternoon Amy came over to babysit, and Geoff and I went out. We had planned to see a movie, but as Geoff pointed out, wouldn’t it be nicer to be able to look at each other and talk, rather than stare at a screen? He still owes me a movie, it’s been almost 3 years since we saw one in the theatre.

So we went to Park Meadows Mall, shopped a little and ate some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. I’ve never been before, so I opted for the most chocolately one I could find. After smelling Geoff’s espresso, I wished I had gotten a coffee too. We left the mall and went over to REI. I have set up a wishlist, and it’s my hope we’ll get enough gift cards/money to buy a tent for camping next summer. (If you missed this subtle hint, I’ll be sending out an email about it soon).

I finished reading another book, The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold). It was good, but pretty depressing. It is slated to be made into a movie by Peter Jackson, and I’m not really sure how it’s going to translate to the big screen. But they have a pretty good cast lined up.

I’ll close with a quote from Elijah’s current favorite movie, Monsters, Inc.

Mike: Look at the big jerk. He ruined my life, and for what? A STUPID KID! Because of you, I am stuck in this frozen wasteland!
Yeti: Wasteland? I think you mean “Wonderland”! I mean, how about all this fabulous snow, huh? Oh, and wait until you see the local village, cutest thing in the world. I haven’t mentioned all the free yak’s milk.
Sulley: Wh… What did you say?
Yeti: Yak’s milk. Milking a yak isn’t exactly a picnic; but once you pick the hairs out, it’s very nutritious.

Okay, so I missed July. But the beginning of the month was getting ready for vacation. So I’m covering July & August.

July birthday wishes go out to Trina, Ali, Sharon & Kristy!

August birthday wishes go out to my mom, Cate & Amy!

Happy Birthday everyone and have an awesome year!

Don’t have much to say. Just letting you all know I’m just doing what I do, and nothing too exciting is going on. Trying to raise good kids, trying to be a good wife, and just taking care of every day things.

I’m glad July is over, I’m waiting for Fall and cooler weather. That will mean more walks. I’ve been able to get out to the gym once a week. I don’t use that time to solve my problems, but rather to shut them out for a while and just think about me. I’m feeling pretty good (albeit tired) and my weight is excellent. Now I need to maintain and tone.

I’ve contacted Cate about helping me with a project. I won’t reveal anything, you’ll have to see the finished project once I post it. And I will probably start on Miles’ stocking soon.

We watched The Pursuit Of Happyness last night. Geoff said it was depressing. True it was a sad movie, but I walked away from it feeling blessed, and thinking I need to appreciate how lucky I am.

I’m going to close with a quote from Hitch.

Hitch: When your wondering what to say, or how you look… just remember… she is already out with you. That means, she said yes, when she could’ve said no. That means she made a plan… when she could’ve just blown you off. So that means it is no longer you job to make her like you… It’s your job NOT TO MESS IT UP