Fire, Mexico and Madness

 

Yes, The Bullheaded Babe is still around!  It has just been a very crazy, busy, and absolutely nuts month.  I'm glad it's July, but here's a quick recap on the month of June...

Fire broke out and it was the largest in Colorado history.  The smoke we lived in for the weeks it was burning was at times unbearable.  My dream of riding my bike to work every day had to come to a quick end so that I didn't die from smoker lung.  The first picture was taken during the third day of the fire.  It was an eerie time because it was hard to tell where the flames were and how close it was to the house. 

 As you can see from this photo, we were quite safe, however the heartbreaking scene of our mountains burning was still overwhelmingly sad.  In this picture you can see the smoke from south to north - it ran all along the front range in Fort Collins.

We were super lucky and got to get away from the smoke with a little trip to Mexico.  Have I told you how awesome my mom is?  Well, here's a friendly reminder and shout out to the best momma ever.  She bought the house for our trip just as a family gift, and then she bought my airline ticket for my birthday present (which is in November).  She's so awesome!

The trip was also awesome.  We flew to Cabo, stayed in a beautiful home, and had all sorts of great adventures.  The adventures started when we landed - the G20 summit was happening the same time we were there, so security was quite crazy.  There were snipers on hillsides, trucks with police in the back, some really low flying helicopters, and it turns out we had some famous neighbors.  The Obama's stayed at the resort right down the road, the Russian delegates were right down the hill, and the Indian delegates stayed down the hill and to the left.

I'm sure they got photos of them wearing sombreros with their cousin as well...  If not, they missed out.

As with all good things, they must come to an end.  And as for the madness - I'm starting my own business and trying to figure out technology, state filings, and keeping clients happy along with getting their work done.  It's beyond awesome, but some days you just need a drink.  That's where I'm headed now.  :)

5 Years

It's amazing to me all that can happen in 5 years.  In my life I have experienced great loss, great joy, great struggles, and found the ability to smile through it all.  Where does that strength come from?  My parents, and the greatest loss that happened on June 1.

5 years ago, today, my dad passed away from a brain aneurysm.  It was the toughest thing I have ever experienced, and the loss of this amazing man in my life I feel every single day. 

June 1, 2007 started as normal as any day in springtime in Colorado.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was an all around beautiful day.  I spent the day running pony training at The City Farm, and took the new staff on a trail ride.  While on that trail ride I had a horse jump over a stream and land in my lap (uninjured - thank goodness), and I remember laughing and thinking that I needed to call and tell my dad - he would find it funny.

We got back to the corral, and I was unsaddling, when my friend, Bridget, came running down the hill, crying, saying that my dad had collapsed and was on his way to the hospital.  We hopped in her car, and we drove to the hospital.  The most horrible feeling I have ever had was being passed by his ambulance.

We arrived at the hospital shortly after he did, and the doctors didn't know what had happened.  You couldn't find a healthier person - Dad was active, always stayed a healthy weight, and was in the prime of his life.  It turned out to be a brain aneurysm, and he was flight for life'd to Swedish Medical in Denver.

During the night, my dad suffered a heart attack and the oxygen to his brain was cut even more.  The next morning he was pronounced brain dead. 

This was completely unexpected, and it rocked our family to the core.  The next few weeks were spent in a daze, and unfortunately, we were continually reminded of our loss with Father's Day in the next two weeks.  It was a tough time, and I will be forever grateful to the wonderful family and friends who reached out to us during that time.

The loss of this great man was such a huge event in my life - I remember feeling mad at the world that it didn't stop turning, for even a second, to recognize the loss.  Grief is a tough thing, and it's something we all deal with differently.  This blog has been really helpful for me, especially on tough days like this.

Learn from our loss - go hug your parents, children, friends and other loved ones because you never know when they could be gone forever. 

My new coworkers

Aren't they cute?!?!  I absolutely love this little pony in the front of this picture - his name is Cassidy.  And let me tell you, for the little kids who love him, it's hard for them to understand that he is a boy.  Crazy!

It's amazing to me the funny things I hear while working with kids and ponies.  Most people see these cuties and are convinced they are babies.  Well, dear people, allow me to educate you.  These are ponies - not babies.  Actually, some of these ponies are older than me.  They are just short.  It's like walking up to a midget and telling them they're a baby.  Give me a break!

The kids are also quite hilarious.  The lovely little guys are always enthralled that the ponies poop.  Yup.  Haven't you read the book?  We all poop?  Must have missed the page with the pony on it...

Well, to put it mildly I'm excited about a really fun summer working with these cuties, great kids, riding a horse, AND getting paid for it.  Awesome!

Let's Get Naked!

In the past few months since I have started back on the single scene, it has been amazing to me how incredibly fast the dating scene has changed...  And I have only been out of it for about five years.  Holy cow!  My heart goes out to those of you who have been out for longer than that.  It's a whole new world.

The way people used to date was so much more romantic.  Think of the GI's in World War II and the letters they sent back to lovers.  Someone had to sit down, write in their own penmanship on paper for a good 15-30 minutes, and then wait patiently for a response. 

We have certainly come a long way where we can now facebook stalk (need a primer on this?  My girlfriend, Kate, and I are pros - watch out boys!), Google search, and do background checks before a first day.  And that's even before you're dating!

What happens when the dating has started?  Things like texting and emailing make communication something that really is a double edged sword.  We are now able to cram weeks of getting to know the other person into a matter of weeks.  Amazing!

That being said, the most shocking thing that has happened to me in the past few months with the ease of communication is the amount of naked picture requests I have received. Heads up - if you ask for a naked picture of me, this is what you get:

Note to all you guys out there that think I would actually send you a naked picture of myself - I'm not that kind of girl.  And if you think I am, you have another thing coming.  And best of luck to you in finding a classy girl to date.  You're not even close to being ready for a girl like me.  Keep on huntin... 

And ladies, please, please, please don't send guys naked pictures of yourself.  If you need that to get a guy interested, it's obviously not the type of relationship you need.  Call your girlfriend, go have a glass of wine, and realize that you're so much better than that!

More things boys need to know...

So, I'm not going to lie... It's very funny to me that my most-viewed blog posts are those about relationships.  Let me clarify for those of you just joining my blog.  I am NOT an expert at relationships.  In fact, I would give myself a big, fat F in my ability to pick the right guy, hold my own in a relationship, and know when to move on.  That being said, I appreciate everyone reading about what I've learned.  Hopefully my blog can help others make better decisions than I have.

I wrote yesterday's blog about things we girls wish guys knew.  I have had some interesting conversations and emails surrounding the post, so I've decided that another one along the same lines is just fine... and perhaps needed.  Here goes!

• When we work out and lose weight, get a hair cut, or make any kind of change in our physical appearance, it's a big deal.  We work hard to look good (however I'll give you that there's debate on who we look go to impress - men or other women...), and I never expect the guy I'm dating to notice.  However, if I point out that I've got different colored hair, please respond appropriately.  You don't have to over-react, but just confirm that we look great.  That's all we want.
• Beginning a relationship is scary, no matter if you're the guy or the girl.  Most of us girls are pretty easy to impress (society certainly has digressed in what men had to do to get the attention of a girl - can we say slaying a dragon or riding to our house on a lawn mower to play a song under our window?).  But you wearing a muscle shirt won't do it.  Get yourself in a suit and wine and dine us - it's fun!
• That being said, money doesn't make the man.  So you don't have a 401(k).  So you only have $4.01.  We don't care.  Make the most of your personality and humor, and we're set!  There are tons of websites to get ideas on how to date on a budget.  Check them out - most places will list free things to do in your town in the paper.  Check out a local gallery opening, walk the local shops, and make up stories about the people you see...  Tons of fun and doesn't cost a cent!
• Make us laugh.  It'll get you everywhere!  And laugh at me - I'm a big girl and tend to beat you to it, but you should join me!  (Fair warning, not all girls are like this...  Tread carefully at first, but once something happens and she laughs, join her!)
• Take care of us!  Whether you clean my car, fill it with gas, help me move, find a classic movie on DVD I've been looking for forever, or just shoot me a text that lets me know you're thinking about me.  Amazing the power in the 15 seconds it takes to send a short message!
• Be nice (need I explain?),
• and when you're an asshole don't be shocked when we don't get super jazzed to see you!
• Show us you can commit to something longer than a 2 year cell phone plan.  Get a plant, get a dog, or just spend time with your siblings and show us you like each other.  If you can't do that, don't date.  Just go find a hookup - I don't have the time to teach you to be a man.

Well, hopefully these tips will carry over for other girls besides me, and hopefully they will help guys get a clue as to how to find a classy girl.  I'm a catch, and so are all the followers of this blog.  Work at getting a date with one of us and making us your girl, and you will be a happy, happy guy!  Or the next subject for a blog post...

Things we wish boys knew...

Beyonce sure hit on some good points...  But what about other things that aren't included in her song?  Well, here's what I've decided I wish boys (and some girls) knew (unfortunately from experience).

• When you say you're going to call, please do!  When you don't, it's as if we don't matter and whatever else you're doing is way more important.  Calling when you say you're going to is a small thing that we take very seriously and demonstrates how trustworthy you are.
• Flowers, perfume, jewelry, and similar things are all fantastic.  But please, don't shower us with gifts until you know what we like and want...  And don't start out with so many sweet gifts that you go broke when you have to outdo yourself the next holiday.  Sometimes the smallest and sweetest things mean the most - flowers from your yard, a sweet card handwritten, or you stopping by the office to share a homemade lunch mean a lot!
• It's incredibly hard to take a step back!  What do you do when you fall for a guy who turns out to not be as into you as originally proclaimed?  It's hard, and so guys, don't say stuff unless you mean it!
• Breaking up with us may be the hardest thing you have to do all day, but we're big girls.  Say it, do it, and get it over with!  Shutting down, stopping communication and avoiding us just makes things worse.  Every day I have to deal with tough customers, frustrating bosses, and know-it-all's in many different shapes and sizes.  You breaking up with me isn't going to be the end of the world.  Yes, we may cry, but man up, use your words, and move on - save me the time of doing it myself!
• Men should not wear purses.  Unless they are standing by the ladies room holding their woman's bag, and they are incredibly embarrassed about it, men should keep their valuables in their pockets and wallets.  A wallet on a string could not be a bigger turnoff for a girl.  Man up and wear some jeans.
• And while we're on the subject: Wrangler butts make me nuts... But you can't wear your Wranglers everywhere.  Get out, get some different clothes, and be able to be taken somewhere besides the rodeo.  Nothing is hotter than a guy who can pull of a cowboy/western look one day, take a lady to a nice dinner the next, and then go fishing and camping, all without having to go to the store and buy new clothes for each event.
• Be you.  And I'll be me.  One of my favorite quotes is, "If you can't handle me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best."  I personally have tough seasons in my life, and I try to be as authentic as possible during those times.  We all have rough days, and the one way to get over them is to talk about them, share your frustrations, and then find a way to let it go and laugh again.  Just be authentic and don't put on a fake front because you don't think we can handle your problems in addition to ours.
• I'm going to ask questions about you while we're on a date and getting to know each other.  Reciprocation is great.  Ask me something - I'm an open book (have you been reading this blog?).
• We were raised on girl porn.  What's girl porn?  It's the impossibly high standards girls are given through our Disney Princess movies, the Josh Hartnett movies, and anything from Nicholas Sparks.  This is girl porn - the story that we're all princesses waiting to be whisked off our feet by Prince Charming in hopes of living happily ever after.  Any girl who has lived past the age of 21 understands that this is no longer the truth, but we still hold out.  Make us feel special and you're half way to making our dream come true.
• They are an ex for a reason.  I hate hearing about how people are contemplating going back to a past love.  Don't do it!  Obviously it didn't work the first time, so it's not going to work now - stop kidding yourself, stop settling, and get going looking for the right person, not the one who usedtakindasorta worked out.

So, this is the tip of the iceberg on Katie's List of What Men Should Know...  Have anything to add?  I'm all ears!  And if I've offended anyone I have dated, I'm so not sorry.  Your lessons will go on to help hundreds of others, so thanks for being an example, and please don't repeat anything in your next endeavors.

Marriage - I am not an expert...

And neither are these bears...  but my parents were!  This past Tuesday my parents would have celebrated 30 years of being married.  It's hard to believe, and a little bittersweet.  

Mom and Dad had a really great relationship, and I didn't realize just how great it was until I was out of their house and in college.  I heard about all of the bad things my roommates parents had said and done to my roommates and each other, and it broke my heart.  There were times I would call my parents and just say thank you to them!

One of the best things about my parents was the way they handled conflict.  My dad was a pacifist, to be sure.  Any time there was a conflict my dad would just listen while my mom vented, make her laugh, and it was over.  There was hardly any yelling in our house, and it was a place filled with love, respect, fun, laughter, and a whole lot of peace.

Perhaps growing up in such a great environment was a disservice to my marriage because as soon as there was yelling in my marriage I didn't know what to do.  It was shocking!  What was modeled for me was a rarity, come to find out!

I recently went back to the east coast to visit family, and it turns out the happy marriage my parents had was something passed down from both of their parents.  My mom's parents were local, so I grew up going to their house.  I saw how much my grandpa loved my grandma, and love and service was modeled in their relationship, even as Grandma's health declined.  I wasn't as close to my dad's parents, and so during the trip out east I was able to ask my aunts about them.  One of the favorite things I learned was that my aunt remembered laying awake at night in a 3 bedroom house for an eight member family, and the kids would all lay awake at night and listen to their parents giggle. 

Happy marriages are hard work.  And as a divorcee, I know firsthand the devastation a divorce can cause.  But, that's not to say that I have lost hope that someday, someone out there will want the happy marriage I saw modeled for me and dream of.

An Ode to My Shoes

'Tis nothing so sweet to a girl as her shoes,

No matter how she gains she never will lose,

Her ability to wear them with grace and style,

Even on a date with a lame boy named Kyle.

Poor Kyle - his heart rate still hasn't recovered from these bad girls!

Some shoes are made for a walk or a run,

And to be honest, that's when I have the most fun.

To get away from it all and have time to think,

And when I come back I breathe hard and stink.

These shoes have seen close to 200 miles... Here's to another 300 before I find new friends...  There's nothing like a great pair of running shoes - even the smell of them (brand new, of course) invigorates me to get out and go!

 Shoes like the next ones show my inner cowgirl,

Hoping to find a man who likes Meryl.

They go great with a pair of my favorite jeans,

And let me get more country than I originally seem.

Yeehaw!

 The last pair are great for the coming summer,

However sometimes I feel I need to be dumber,

To wear heels this high out on the town,

Makes my feet cry out for the dawn.

They're hot!  Until you have to walk in them... Then it's more of a limp.  Not so hot...

We find a lot of our identity in what's on our feet,

With lots of options shoes can't be beet.

To go from a rocker to a cowgirl with style,

Shoes are the easiest way to help run a mile.

So, let's hear it for our great shoes that we wear...

And remember, we buy them so people will stare,

And make women jealous - I've seen you glare!

But not to worry; go buy your own pair!

Discipline to Have Freedom

One of the big realizations on this journey has been how much I value my freedom.  Freedom to come and go as I please, eat what I want, read good books that challenge my way of thinking, explore my surroundings and beliefs, and an overall sense of safety to do this.

However, a big boundary can be crossed when we don't find balance between freedoms and discipline.  For example, I love the freedom my body gives me be able to do incredible things.  Things like running half marathons, climbing mountains, and any physical adventure that comes my way.  However, that freedom doesn't come without discipline.  Discipline to train, fuel my body well, and the mental capacity to undertake challenges.

When I first moved out of my house that I shared with my husband, food was a big freedom to regain.  I found that for some people, the way they choose to fuel their bodies is equally as ingrained and a part of them as their religion.  Enter problems in a marriage when those two ways are different...  I kind of took that freedom to an extreme, and over the course of the past few months have packed on a little divorce weight.  Well, time has come to regain harmony between the freedom to eat what I want and the joy I take in pushing my body to new limits physically. 

That brings up another interesting thing - grocery shopping for one.  The adjustment to go from only buying whole foods, organic when possible, and no more than 4 ingredients in pre-packaged meals for two to then go to buying whatever the heck I feel like is intimidating, liberating, and a whole mess of emotions I never thought I would be experiencing.  Here's what I bought this morning:

The food seemed to look fresher when I told it to smile...

So, here I go, back to attempt to find balance between freedom of being able to eat whatever I want, freedom to be able to have my body ready to scale any mountain that comes my way (both physical and emotional) and the discipline to find the harmony in the two...  Here's to happy eating and training!

Why are we here?

Wow!  Big question for a Friday afternoon...  Perhaps I should be more focussed...  Why are we here; me writing about my life, and you tagging along for the journey?

Well, to put it briefly, my life is at a crossroads.  Some people know the whole story, but as things have been changing in my life, people who aren't right in the middle of the madness are watching and beginning to question.  Whelp, here goes - the Reader's Digest version, if you will.

5 years ago on June 1st I lost the best man my life may ever see.  My dad died unexpectedly from a brain aneurism.  He was shoeing a horse when he collapsed.  He was rushed to the hospital, flight for lifed to Denver, and pronounced dead by the next morning. 

My dad with Dirt Cake Daisy, one of his favorite horses.



To put it mildly, it was a nightmare.  To have someone who had been a rock in your life there one moment and gone the next isn't anything you can prepare for.  The pain I still feel on a dailiy basis seems to be less and less, but then as the season leading up to his death, then the anniversary of it, along with Father's Day all bring it back as close as if it happened today. 

I will take full responsibility - I began to try and heal and allowed the man I was dating to fill the void I should have processed and grieved with losing my dad to fill that hole in my life.  I was married 6 short months after Dad died. 

Deep down I knew I was pushing something.  That's something I have done for a lot of my life - striving, perservering, and following the plan I thought everyone wanted me to fulfill.  That all began to create problems in my marriage...  Anger issues began to arise, violent things happened, threats were made, and I decided at September of 2011 that I needed some perspective.  I moved out of the house I shared with my husband, and with the different perspective I was able to see just how unhealthy we both were.  I decided then and there that it was time to regain control of my life and stop living up to what other people wanted me to do.

That's not to say that the process has been easy.  Divorce is never easy.  Especially when people are involved.  Hmmm....  Yup.  Every divorce is difficult.  We had issues, bad things happened, and there were points that it almost didn't happen.  This song on Glee was a great new theme song for me right now. 

The time has come to shake off the Devil from my back.  A big part of allowing myself the time and space to properly heal from the pain of the past few years was quitting my job.  I was stressed, working super hard, and not taking care of myself.  The opportunity arose (basically my lease was up, my mom has a spare room in her barn - yes, I'm going to live in a barn, I don't have a mortgage, no debt, and a super-cool summer job to go to) and I decided to take it.  Welcom my time out on life.

That's not to say that I am quitting life altogether.  I'm just drawing boundaries on my time to give myself some space to breathe, think, and heal.  My faith has been something that has suffered dearly through all of this emotional turmoil.  I'm struggling with things like prayer.  Why should we do it?  If God's going to do what he's going to do whether I pray or not, why bother?  And, did I not pray hard enough if my dad died and my marriage failed?  Don't tell me to pray hard and God will answer - it almost makes me feel responsible for his death.  Another question while I'm sharing - if God is all powerful, all knowing and all good, then why do bad things happen?  Why aren't we just born in heaven?

Well, hopefully my blog will be a space to explore this, allow myself to heal, and begin the next adventure, whatever that may be.  I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have this time and my timeout.  My "plan" currently gets me to the middle of August.  After that, the world is my oyster!

If you had this chance to do anything in the world that you could, what would it be?  Let's all start dreaming a little bit more, and maybe we can all help each other reach that answer together - why are we here?

Allergies - really?

I am not one to complain...  a whole lot... ok, never mind... I've been known to complain.  Right now I am hitting on a full week of coughing like I'm trying to hock up a lung...  And I'm ready to complain.  And also share a funny story of growning up around other things coughing...

Growning up with a horse trainer for a father made certain we grew up with lots of animals around.  One of the more memorable animals from our family was the first dog my family had - a little yipper dog named Jackson. 

(This isn't Jackson...  But he looked similar...  Except if you ask my mom the real treat was smelling him.  Yum!)

Jackson was the dog my dad had, and when my mom came into the picture, he was a little jealous.  He got kicked out of the bed when Mom and Dad got married, but he wouldn't miss an opportunity to get back in.  He was especially zealous when my mom was pregnant with me and had to go the bathroom.  She would come back and Jackson had taken her place...  Growling at her as she tried to regain her space. 

Dad and Jackson had a special bond shared with my uncle, Dad's twin, Mike.  One day my mom came home from work, and the boys (Dad and Mike) were so proud of the trick they taught Jackson.  They taugh Jackson to hock a loogie on command.  Yup - they would say, "Hock one, Jackson!"  And he sure would!  Here's a how to if you don't know how to do it yourself.  It's up to you to figure out how to teach a dog to do it - those Bowers boys sure were talented trainers!

Now, it's my turn.  Discousting, I know, but back to coughing I go.  I just bough allergy medicine and some magical cough drops that should help.  Wish me luck!  And stay back - you never know where some of these things could land.

On a side note, this lady takes it to a whole new level!  Wow!  http://news.yahoo.com/video/oddnews-22772304/chicago-reporter-chris-derose-interrupted-by-spitting-woman-29192880.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Foddnews-22772304%252Fchicago-reporter-chris-derose-interrupted-by-spitting-woman-29192880.html

Bikini Season is Here!

After a winter of big sweaters, long sleeves, long skirts, and long pants, it's a rude awakening that bikini season will be here in a little under a month, and I'm going to Mexico three weeks after that. 

My sweet roommate kindly took photos for me to document the start of bikini prep, and to put it in one word - yikes!  Here's the bikini.  No, I'm not going to show you what I look like wearing it until I have had some time to work out. 

So, wish me luck as I start my one month bikini challenge!  I love to run, so I'll be running quite a bit, lifting every Tuesday and Thursday, and doing some additional cardio to help me get ready for this little number.  Once I'm ready, you'll know... because I'll be chilling out here: 

This is the lake behind my mom's house, right next to the farm.  To say I'm excited to have a summer ahead of me filled with hanging with the family, swimming in the lake, training for my next half marathon, and relaxing is an understatement!  Now to just get more comfortable in my own skin...

My Mom Rocks!

I know... everyone thinks they have a great mom.  And ya probably do.  But I just have to say, mine rocks.  In honor of Mother's Day being right around the corner, I have decided to honor my mom with a blog post.

So, why is my mom such a rock star?  Quite simply, she's a strong, funny, happy, generous person who works hard to make sure everyone around her is treated fairly, loved well, and taken care of.  If it weren't for her influence in my life, I would not be the person I am today.

I have many wonderfully funny stories about my mom... like the time we went to lunch and she ordered dip, telling the server that she likes dips - that's why she likes her daughter!  Or, when she was paiting the doors for our house and she thought Tim McGraw was singing about how, "She's My Can of Raid."   Or, the time we went to dinner, she had her new iPhone, and couldn't stop taking pictures to get just the right one for our profiles...  Poor Bridget sat the closest and got the brunt of the modeling job...

Life with Mom is always an adventure... Whether we're bonding as we pick bugs off of the trees in the orchard with tweezers, pulling weeds in her garden, washing windows, or picking up horse poop, it's always an adventure with a reward at the end.  As I list all these things it's kind of funny to me - all these "bonding" experiences were just chores, but apparently they worked.  We're pretty darn close!

Let's face it - strong women are not born; they are made.  And the lady who has had the biggest influence on making me as strong as I am today is my momma.  Yup - she rocks!



 

Mini Cooper Mis-Adventures - The Final Chapter (I hope!)

Armed with the Mini Cooper forums, I knew I could (hopefully) take on any of the additional problems that could arise with my new car.  Here was hoping!

My mom and I decided to take the car to a holiday party (yes, all of this fun with the car mentioned in the first three posts happened in a matter of 3 months), and we arrived without incident.  Every completed ride without incident was another reason to celebrate!

We had a great time at the party, ate some yummy food, and then decided it was time to head home.  As we got into the car and were mid-entrance, when the entire car went black.  There were no lights, the automatic things didn't work, and there was no hope of it starting.  Fantastic.

My mom went back into the party while I started ripping apart the back seat.  I knew there was an emergency release in the back seat somewhere (see the previous post), and the problems seemed to be stemming from ANOTHER dead battery.

Thank goodness I have great roommates.  I "phoned a friend", and Ryan, my rommate that used to work at a local oil change shop, hacked into their database, downloaded a photo of the emergency release, and texted it to me.  Side note; what did we do before todays smart phones?  Sure enough - his picture showed the emergency release exactly where the forums had as well.  However, in my car, no luck.  It was no where to be found.

The very nice man who my mom found helped as best he could to locate the release, and we finally decided to attempt to roll start the car.  Luckily we were parked on a hill, so they pushed me down as I popped the clutch.  No luck, so they had to roll me  back up the hill...  We decided we needed more help, so our kind man-friend went back into the party to find the guests who were engineers.

At this point my car is in pieces around the snow banks.  There's a bottom seat on the right, my manual on the left, speaker covers near the seat, and assorted other pieces in the back.  It looked like my car decided to have a yard sale.

The engineers arrived, and more attempts were made to find the release.  We decided that the release just wasn't in the car (come to find out my model of the car did not have one, despite it being in the manual and the forums...  when asked how I should plan on an emergency exit should I get stuck, the kind dealership told me that I should just break a window.)  The plan changed to bring jumper cables through the cab if we could uncover the battery.

More parts of the car were pulled out, and finally we were able to locate the battery.  Turns out my fantastic installation of the battery was not so great...  Even with asking the dealership to check it, somehow the connection had come completely off the battery, hence the lovely lack of power when we got in.  Yay for the engineers!  They kindly re-connected my battery and sent me on my way.

The Mini Cooper has provided many great stories, and I still have the car.  Luckily it has been sans problems for the past few months, but I will never buy a car from that dealership ever again, and I hope the car will last for many happy years.  My first car buying experience is one I don't plan on duplicating again for quite a while!

Mini Mis-Adventures (Part 3)

I know what you're thinking - there's no way this story can really and truly be worthy of three posts.  Yes, it really is...  Perhaps even 4!  The adventures this Mini Cooper has taken me on continue to amaze me as I'm retelling the details.  It's hard to believe that all the fun with the car was in the first 3 months!

Anyway, after the dealership looked over the battery connection and tire light, I thought I was good to go (aside from a blinking flat-tire light).  Not even a week later I was driving home from work, in the dark, when a "thump, thump, thump" noise began to come from the back right of my car.  Yes, you guessed it - I had a flat tire.

I had been meaning to get new tires for winter anyway (there was an unfortunate incident after Margaritas at the Rio one night in the snow when I was trying to drive home and went horizontally down one of the main drags in Fort Collins; of no fault of the Margaritas I might add...  the sport tires are NOT made for Colorado winters).

With the tire filled with air to get me to the tire store, I hobbled in and was one of their first customers for the day.  Would you like to guess how much a Mini Cooper snow tire costs?  I really didn't have a clue, but after dropping $1000 on Firestone tires (I felt like they should have come with a bottle of wine, handsome man, and made dinner for that price!) I was on my merry way again.

Yes, he would do...

The second round of snowy weather hit with a little bit of sleet and snow...  little did I know that Mini Cooper doors freeze in the earlier models.  Yup.  The snow fall here in Colorado really was quite mild, but not mild enough for me to get out without incident...  My drivers side door froze shut!

 You would freeze at that temperature, too!

I went to my car to go to work, unluckily wearing a skirt for the day, to realize that I was unable to open the door.  Fantastic.  Good thing the car has two doors...  But not such a great thing that it's a stick shift...  Climbing over the seat in a pencil skirt, over the stick shift, made for quite a few laughs as I maneuvered my body into the small drivers seat.  I hoped the door would release by the time I got to work... or at least the passenger side wouldn't freeze...  I got the latter.

Climbing in and out of the car was quite fun that day, and as I was vaulting the stick shift for the third time in a matter of hours a terrible thought went through my mind - what IF they both froze shut and I was inside?  As you may have gathered from all the fun I've already had with this car - the situation was not out of the question.

I hopped online and checked out the Mini Cooper forums, and I looked up the emergency hatch release.  There I found great diagrams of the back seat of the car with the seat lifted to reveal a cable with a ring attached that would conveniently release the back hatch should the need arise.  I felt armed with information and was better able to sleep that night, especially when the door defrosted and worked again!  If only I knew...

SWF Needs A Place To Live

I just finished up dinner and a movie with three super cool people, and on the drive back to our house I got to thinking about just how lucky I am to have these three would-be strangers as friends.  Yes, our house...  At least for the next few weeks.  We're in the process of selling, and our days living together are numbered.

The process of finding these great people who I am lucky enough to call roommates was an interesting process...  I moved out of my shared house with my husband (now ex) in September, and I moved back home with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law.  I was there for 3 months before my endearing brother came to me and told me that in order for us to still be friends I should move out.  We'll forget the part that he's married, 23, and living with my mom...  So, in hopes of preserving a relationship, I moved out.

Where do you start as a single, white female looking for a room to rent in a college town?  Craigslist.  And let me tell you, you get what you pay for.  The ads were plentiful, but I wanted one room, hopefully with its own bathroom I didn't have to share, somewhere with easy access to the interstate, and clean with rent at about $500 per month.  Luckily, I only looked at two places, and my current home was the second house I looked at.

The first one was a totally different situation that what I find myself in today...  I called up the number, and a guy answered it saying he had a room for rent in a townhouse that was $385 per month.  Under my budget - just meant more shoes for me to buy each month!  I planned to meet him that night to look at it.

It's always a bad sign when you have to meet someone at a predetermined location, and then they have to lead you in to the neighborhood.  I'm a farm kid that grew up living in 4 houses on the same road (aside from college), so suburbia is a new adventure unto itself.  I met him at the entrance, and we began the labyrinth in to the house. 

There's hardly a place to park, and I drive a small car!  I squeeze in between a car with no wheels and a motorcycle, then walk to the font door where we pass a guy smoking.  As long as people smoke outside, I'm fine.  We pass by him, and my guide introduces me to Daniel (the smoker).  Hardly a grunt is uttered.

Inside, we are met with the stench of smelly boy gym socks.  You know the kind I'm talking about - the ones that barely survived the week-long beating they took during the Presidential Fitness Test.  The carpet is dirty, the air is warm, and the lighting is dark.  To say I felt like I was going to be raped would be a true statement.  And I was contemplating living there!

We walked in to the living room where we found a couch full of boys.  6 to be exact.  Fantastic.  I have lived with boys before, and it has been a lot of fun.  However 6 boys, all playing video games, is not my idea of a fun thing to come home to every day.  I asked how many of them lived there, and 5 of the 6 raised their hands.  Fantastic. 

My guide then showed me upstairs to the bedroom I would be renting.  It was the size of my parents closet, stinky, dirty, and there were no shoes in the world worth me living there one minute of my life.  Just to top it off, my guide showed me the bathroom that I would be sharing with smoker Daniel, assuring me he was a clean guy.  Hardly!  It looked like a dorm room bathroom after Homecoming weekend.  Again...  No shoes worth it.

I quickly turned around, thanked my very kind guide, and hightailed it out of there as best I could.  I think I drove past the house about 4 times as I attempted to exit the neighborhood.  At least my car has really good locks on it...

The next day I started my search again with renewed hope that seeking a room where I paid the actual $500 per month would result in a much safer living situation.  Yup.  I was right.  I pulled up to the house I live in, and I had a good feeling about it.  Turns out that good feeling has stayed, and it just kept growing.

Over the past 5 months I have lived with three very cool people.  I'm sure we all get on each other's nerves at points, but all in all we all really care about each other.  These three have been with me through some crazy ups and downs, and I know that the time we have shared will always be a highlight for me.  I'm incredibly blessed to have stumbled upon them on Craigslist, and I hope my adventures with them will continue even when we're not living together.

More Mini Mis-Adventures

It's time for your second installment of the Mini Cooper Mis-Adventures...  Perhaps you missed the beginning of my relationship with my car.  Find the first story here! 

From the fun at the dealership, the car continued on in its fun ability to help me have adventures I wasn't planning on having.  Next up - the battery.

I went out to start my beloved car about two weeks after it was towed to the dealership, and wouldn't you know - the battery was dead.  The weather here in Colorado had changed, and it was quite a bit cooler, so us locals are used to things like this happening.  Thank goodness I was living with my mom and brother, so I just called my brother and he gave me a jump.  An important thing to note is that the battery is in the back of the car, under the hatch.

Once I had time I started to call around to get quotes on how much it would cost to replace my battery.  Because of the kind of car, the batteries are harder to come by.  The Mini Cooper dealership in town was willing to replace it, but it was a rediculous amount - over $200!  Are you kidding me?  For a battery?  And, they didn't even have a battery in stock and didn't know when they would be getting one.  Um yeah, no thanks.

I finally tracked down a battery at NAPA, and I decided to exert my feminine powers and change it out myself.  I have a tool box that was given to me when I turned 16, and it has girly tools in it.  These tools are not the size they should be, so the project turned into quite a production with plyers being used to turn the wrench...  I'm willing to give lessons if anyone is interested...  Here's the finished product - I was quite proud!

Just an inside scoop on this - the cover for the battery doesn't stay up on its own, so I had to use my fun-sized tools, hold the cover up with my head, and bend over so it looked like my car was eating me whole.  My sister-in-law walked out right as this was all taking shape and got quite the chuckle.

So, I replaced the battery and continued on my happy way...  For a couple of weeks at least.  Two weeks after the replacement was completed I was driving back from Denver to Fort Collins, and the flat tire light began flashing.  Fantastic!  I was right near an exit that's pretty large and well lit, so I pulled in to the gas station and used their tire guage.  Their tire guage was spring loaded, and it was dark, so there was no way I could tell what my tire pressure was reading. 

I'm a gutsy girl.  Hence the name of this blog...  I marched myself up to a truck, knocked on the door, and a very kind trucker from Kentucky popped his head out.  I'm sure he was wondering what the heck was going on with a little white girl from Colorado knocking on his door in the middle of the night...  Oh well - you gotta do what you gotta do.  And I needed his help.

He very kindly got out of his toasty warm truck and began rolling around on the pavement around my car, testing the tire pressure.  What a kind gentleman!  He told me that the car tires looked like they would get me home, but I needed to get the car in to the dealership and have them look it over.

I took the car in to the dealership to do just that the very next day.  The car was in and out in a matter of 2 minutes after I asked them to check my battery installation job as well as my tires.  They reassured me that all was well, and my car was just fine.  The light continued to flash, but that's not something they could fix because they weren't a Mini dealership and didn't know how to reset it.  I could deal with a flashing light as long as my car was fine. 

Little did I know that I was going to have troubles with both of them...  and the emergency hatch release...  Stay tuned for more of the mis-adventure!

Poetry because it’s Saturday

What does your Saturday consist of? Perhaps you’re taking out your love,
For a movie, popcorn and a little fun,
Hopefully you can fit in a run!

Maybe your day is filled with house work,

And you get to wear your crappy old t-shirt.
The one you got in college for being on a team,
And now you wonder how this became your dream.

Weekends should be filled with the things we care about,

Like health, fitness, a drinking a beer that is a stout.

Get your butt of the couch and get going,
Make the most of your weekend – you’re bound to do some growing!

So far mine has been made of coffee and work,

This is a good sign because this I don’t want to shirk.
I’m taking on some new revenue flow,
And no, your yard I will not mow.

I really want to serve other people who’ve been in touch spots,

Because my luck has been not too hard a lot.
How do you find what you want to be when you grow up?
You know it’s the real deal when it fills your cup!

You wake up raring to go even when you drank last night…

And when someone makes you mad you don’t tell them to fly a kite.
You take what you hear with a grain of salt,
And then self-medicate after with a really good chocolate malt.

As you may be able to tell,

My life is about to take a trip to the dell,

I’m moving back home to the farm for the summer,
And getting back to my roots before I get dumber.

I’m going on an adventure to boot,

So please stay tuned and I’ll share my loot.
I’ve learned a lot over the past 5 years,
And things are finally coming together to share with your ears.

Thanks for sharing your weekend with me,

A little known fact – my middle name is Lee.
I’ll see you around with a coffee in hand,
Makes me the happiest girl in the land!

My Boy...

Sometimes things in life happen, and you don't really have a choice on how they may occur, but you do have a choice as to how you're going to react.  As someone who has faced the death of loved ones head on, this has held true. 

One question I have found, especially with the unexpected death of my father almost 5 years ago, is that when I ask why I get bogged down, depressed, and begin to question every aspect of my life.  Loss of loved ones is a hard part of life, and the grief I experience with my dad's death is something that sneaks up and squeezes my heart in a vice at unexpected times.  I'm working on still processing this grief, and I'm learning that it's ok to cry, ok to experience the sadness, and ok to find the peace that comes after feeling those emotions.

This less entertaining blog is stemming from a phone call from my mom that just came in.  She called to let me know that my boy, TC, isn't doing well.  This is the second of these phone calls, and they are never fun.  My boy, TC, is a 16 - almost 17 - year old Black Labrador.  He has been one of the most loyal, loving, sweet and handsome guys in my life.  Here's my handsome guy.  Yes, I think he knew he was having his picture taken.  He doesn't always look this noble... especially when he's eating horse poo at the farm.

TC and I became friends in an interesting way.  I was dating a guy, and he had to move and couldn't keep his dogs.  I told him that, as a good girlfriend, I would take the dogs so he could visit them whenever he came to see me.

The boyfriend and I broke up, but the dogs stayed...  At least one of them for the long haul...  TC was my companion when my dad died, and I would bury my face into his soft neck and cry.  He would patiently lay there, lick my tears away, and eventually make me smile again.  His breath is terrible, but in those moments, it just didn't matter.  His loving spirit was exactly what I needed to help get me through the biggest loss of my life.

From there our friendship moved into my marriage, which lasted about 4 years...  That's a long story I'll get into at a later date, but no matter what happened I knew my pal would always be there for me.  Ready to go for a walk and be a constant in a somewhat tumultuous life.

This sweet dog has had a life of changing owners, and my hope in keeping him (at 11 years old) was to provide him a loving home to finish out his days.  Little did I know that he would continue to live on for almost 5 years!  Life expectancy on a dog like TC is about 12...  Not my boy.  He just keeps truckin'!  I can't believe how good he looks for his long life!

Well, I thought the end had arrived for TC in January of this year.  I got a phone call from my brother who told me that TC wasn't eating, wouldn't get up off of his bed, and Nate thought I needed to come out to the farm to decide if it was time to put TC down.  When I saw my big dog he looked incredibly sickly.  I laid down on the floor and again buried my face in his soft neck and cried.  He just laid there, and when I was done gave me a lick on the face.

I took him to the vet, and it turned out he had an infection that, thanks to antibiotics, cleared up what was ailing him in a matter of hours.  By that night he was acting like his normal, puppy self.  Thank goodness! 

Well, the second phone call came tonight.  TC has been sick, has stopped eating again, and is looking really bad. Mom wouldn't call unless she thought it could be the end.  She is going to call me in the morning with an update on the handsome boy, so hopefully it is good news, but with his advanced age I know it's only a matter of time.

It breaks my heart to think that my sweet boy will be leaving me soon.  Can't I keep all the wonderful people, dogs, and things I love right here with me all the time?  Wouldn't that be wonderful!  However, I think we sometimes have to experience these amazing friendships and relationships in life, lose some of them, and realize that the loss of them makes the ones we still have all that much sweeter.

TC, if this is the end, just know that I love you tons.  I hope we'll have many, many walks together when we both get to heaven.  Because I do believe that all dogs go to heaven...

Mini Cooper Mis-Adventures

It has been over a year since my last post, and the time has come to begin blogging again.  So much has happened over the course of the last year it's hard to believe this is the same life...  One of the best and funniest things to come of this past year has been my biggest purchase of a Mini Cooper S.  I realized that my life had been all about making other people's dreams come true, and somewhere along the way my dreams had been diminished to the point of not even knowing what they were any more. 

The one dream I held on to despite all the strife in my life over the past 5 years?  The desire to own a Mini Cooper.  On October 3, 2011 that dream became a reality.  And on October 7 it was on a tow truck.  Yes, the dream of owning a Mini was realized, but so was the realization that some dreams can turn into nightmares very quickly.  Here's "Coop" on her first trip to the dealership.

Yes, I said first trip.  The adventure of "Coop" had just begun.  The car was on a tow truck on that Friday because as I drove to work and went to a paved road from a dirt road, the front left of the car began to sound like I was killing puppies under the tire.  I drove a short way, called a friend, hung the phone out of the window and asked what he would do if his car sounded like that...  He quickly yelled, "Stop driving it!  Put it on a tow truck!"  So, that's what I did, but only after getting out and feeling my brakes to see if the left front roater was substancially warmer than the others...  it was.  I then called the tow truck.

As the kind tow truck driver loaded my precious car onto it's flatblead I texted my dear friend, Kate, and asked her how early was too early to begin dreaking.  She's my girlfriend for a reason.  Her response?  As long as it's mixed with something it's perfectly acceptable to drink before noon.  Hello Mimosa. 

(Hey Mom, if you're reading this, it was AFTER noon that Kate and I went to the Rio and had a Marg...  Don't worry - not an alcoholic.)

I rode in the tow truck to the dealership where I marched my happy self into the service department and demanded that someone pay for my tow.  The very nice men looked at me a bit puzzled, and they asked what was wrong.  I promptly told them that I had purchased a car from them on Monday and it was on the tow truck out back, not even 5 days into my care.  The looked a little perpelexed, said they couldn't help, and that my salesman would be able to help me. 

I marched my happy self across the street to the sales area, and as I walked in another sales man very kindly asked if he could help me.  Very loudly I proclaimed that yes, yes he could help me.  A car I purchased from his dealership on Monday was on a tow truck in service, and it was only Friday.  He then quickly ushered me to a back office and asked me to wait for the manager.  All the while he looked at me a bit puzzled.  The entire time I thought it was because of my near-tears emotional state...

The kind manager came in, and once he saw me he prompltly told me they would figure out what was wrong with my beloved car.  They would handle it, and would I like a ride somewhere?  I told him I was fine - I just needed to go across the street to pick up a baby gift at the Boot Barn.  Silly baby gift, I know, but I love to buy my friends little, ittty bitty cowboy boots.  Silly, but who else is going to buy them a pair?

As I walked in to the Boot Barn I looked in one of their copious mirrors, and low and behold, my entire face was covered in brake dust.  Fantastic!  The tow truck driver, service guy, sales guy, and sales manager had all been treated me so oddly because of the fantastic war paint I had on my face. 

Great.  I was mortified, but I think it helped me get a free service and tow out of them...
It turns out "Coop" had picked up a rock into the brake, and the brake was crushing it onto the roter.  Thank goodness I had stopped because the damage could have been much more had I not stopped when I did.

The adventures didn't stop there... stay tuned for dead batteries, emergency escapes, frozen doors, kind truckers from Kentucky, and engineers at holiday parties.  And yes, I still own and love the car...