Xmas at Ma & Pa's, with Nate & Fam, Gma & Gma

On the flight to Indy I finished one mask to give to one of the grandmas. Pretty pleased with it. Ma & Pa drove 2+ hours from Roanoke to pick me up and take me back 2+ hours to the prairie. What great parents!!! With the money I saved flying to Indy rather than closer I bought a stereo :)

I wrapped it carefully & with much love.

The night before Nate & fam arrived Ma made sure enough food was prepared. She even made two chip dips. Yum!!

We chopped the tree down the day before we had Christmas on the 10th from a guy who may or may not have been cooking meth when we arrived.

Trenton is 3. His new thing is to pretend to sleep where he stands.

Brayla is so calm & observant. She's waiting for Nate to put the Spongebob toothpaste on the toothbrush.

I get a thumbs up from Hayden. I should, it's my job.

Trenton pretending to sleep.

Grandma Randol & Grandma Clark. I love these ladies.

Hayden likes to play Hunter. That's his gun and kill.

Mmmm, smells like Christmas...

...but lets get to the important stuff. It wasn't all about the presents with these kids. It was all about the NEXT present. Two words- shameless consumerism.

I was amazed to see kids are still interested in wood blocks (courtesy of a local toy maker). Good Find Poppy!!

Cool, I think they liked the masks.

:)

Nate's dressing Brayla in the shirt & cardigan I bought her at American Apparel. 9 out of 10 of my gifts were American Made. I was going for 100%, but there is next year...

Silly, adorable, favorite 5 year old nephew.

Trenton is not pretending to sleep. So cute. They're using Old Maid to play Memory. Good thinkin G-ma! One minute, quiet game with G-ma....

...and the next, a collision between Trenton's face & Hayden's head during ping-pong (it's a contact sport when you're 3 & 5). Totally unfair- poor T got the worst of it. It didn't hurt Hayden's head at all.

On the way to the airport, we stopped at 3 Sisters in Broadripple. We are big fans of Triple D, so made it a point to eat at a restaurant in Indy thats been featured on the show. It was not disappointing to say the least- Highly Recommend It Indy People!! The decor could use some work.

Thanksgiving with the Bornemans

I ate Thanksgiving dinner again with the Bornemans, Anne Gerber, Linds boyfriend Glenn, Linds friend Katie, and 3 dogs... And a whole lotta wine!!! It was fun. We played charades and other games designed to make you look/sound silly for the entertainment of your friends. I loved it.

Annie & the Native American Pumpkin

The Bornemans approving the group photo. Good people.

Spent Last Week in Durango

Wolf Creek was the only mountain pass I was concerned about going into the drive last Sunday. CDOT reports were consistent- "snow packed, icy, slush", the two days before leaving. It's no joke. It takes 10 miles to reach the summit...then you coast down for ~8. Everything else was reported bone dry and it was. And Wolf Creek was just as they said. I kept control by going 25mph on the ascent and 15 on the descent. A sign read to all commercial drivers to use chains. I had chains if I needed them, bought them that morning at Walmart. I had never put chains on my car before, so I pulled over for a test run after an older man showed me how to do it after breakfast at a VWF just south of Bailey. I felt proud when they didn't fall off after driving a half mile.

It was tense...but boy was it beautiful. I took this after completing the descent, feeling light & relaxed- no horrible daydreams came true.

Met Ryan's doggy dog, Royale, on this trip. He is a huge puppy at 110lbs and all love & snuggles.

True love
He likes to eat apples... and rabbit carcass.

We made Thanksgiving on Saturday: turkey, broccoli bake, rye & pumpernickel stuffing, colcannon and of course canned cranberries. Barley wine to drink and sea salt & caramel truffle ice cream for dessert.

Yum...
...five minutes later it's leftovers.

Mask Mold #1

Three of the 4 masks I will make molds of so I can have more than one of each to glaze & paint. Because that's the most fun part.

This is the fourth, the first one I sculpted, the tester.

First I coated the surface with liquid soap so it would release from the plaster once the plaster set & hardened. Then I filled in the undercuts with oil based clay for the same reason.

Now it's time to pour in the plaster...

...gotta mix it with water first...

...mix it good...
...once it's poured, all ya do is wait ~20 minutes for it to set...

...then the aluminum flashing comes off...

...and the bottom, which is now the top...

...and whalla, a mold is born.

Big Snow in October

This morning (not sure which one in October) was so beautiful in all of its Colorado sun & snow. We got 8 inches the day before. The snowflakes big, wet butterfly kissed everything and were early enough to dress the fall colors on my street. I gave myself an extra hour to get to work earlier when the snow completely covered the streets but really only needed an extra 30 minutes. I'm up for the challenge. Driving in these conditions will be more fun than frightening until I get into my first winter accident, I'm sure. Looking forward to more...

Denver Zombie Crawl, 10/22/11

So I showed up like this to Stella's parents house.

Stella was already half way made up. A bunch of her family & friends were sitting zombie idle, transforming into, waiting to be, or making zombies out of the others. She, her dad & some friends are big airbrush artists. And very talented. They seemed to love this.

Eddie & his wife, Stella's friends

the armamentarium

Stella's dad painting brains

Stella adding the veins

Zombies like cheetos. My back story- I'm a housewife that was attacked while cleaning the toilet.

After we made ourselves up we headed downtown to the 16th street mall, 10 or so blocks of zombie mayhem. They tried to break a world record, don't know if it happened, but I did register online and walked under the zombie arch to be officially counted.

one of many loud spontaneous Zombie vs Survivor battles

this guy hit on Stella

my favorite costume- 6 year old with zombie mom on a leash

my favorite picture- zombie Harry Potter checkin out tranny zombie

That was fun and surprisingly very photogenic.