Month: May 2006

  • Running Around like Crazy


    I'm getting the boys ready for their summer of travel.  Our flight leaves Friday morning at the crack of dawn.  We'll spend two days together with my family in Minnesota at my niece's high school graduation. Then I fly back here alone on Sunday and the boys go off with my parents.  My flight ARRIVES in Denver at 7:30 am on Sunday so you can guess how early that means I'll be leaving Minneapolis. 


    Oh, yeah, and i'm trying to get packed so I can move.  And I'm trying to work my full-time job, and I'm trying to prepare to move into the new position, and I'm ... tired. 


    But I'm hanging in there. 


     

  • Rocky Mountain High


    It was a one day thing, but we had a blast.  This morning began with a trip up Pikes Peak on the Cog Railway.  It's the highest Cog Railway line in the world rising to the summit at 14,110 feet. 



    We saw the view that inspired Katherine Bates to write "America the Beautiful"



    We saw this Intermountain Bristle Cone tree which has been dated at 2,200 years old.



    We saw hummingbirds, marmots, and deer.  We saw the Collegiate peaks (Yale and Harvard) which form part of the continental divide. And we allowed our eyes to follow the path of the Sangre de Cristo range.  From the summit of Pikes Peak, you can see peaks in New Mexico a couple hundred miles away. 



    That thin white line just above the mountains and below the clouds is the snow-capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range.


    After Pikes Peak, we spent our afternoon on the other side of the mountain - the underside.  At the Cave of the Winds. 



    That was a fascinating tour for several reasons.  The amazing rock formations.  (One I tried to photograph but couldn't get a good shot is a formation that suddenly makes a right angle, then another so that it looks like a big number 7 hanging from the roof.  Scientists have so-far been unable to determine how the formation could "grow" parallel to the cave floor when everything we know says that it must grow down.)


    I really like the "cave coral"



    This next formation is shiny because of all the hands that have touched it over the years.  The tragedy of this is that water dripping along the formation just slides off without leaving any further mineral deposits, the oils left behind from human touch have "killed" the growth of this formation.  For this reason there is now a law that touching any part of the cave is punishable by a $2,500 fine and loss of driver's license for a year.  - that's not just a Colorado license either.  It's a federal law, so visitors from any state are at risk if they violate the prohibition.




     

  • I Hope You Will Consider This An Alternative ...


    Here's the story on my job offer.  Its a firm offer for a position that will not begin until mid-August.  I'll be working for a non-profit organization founded here in Colorado Springs and poised to begin duplicating it's programs nationwide. 


    The foundation provides services to working poor by partnering with employers who use workers in low-paying positions. Here that has been fast-food, call centers, and the like.


    The program attracts employers because it increases the reliability of their workforce with assistance for transportation, medical insurance, daycare and other basic supports that are difficult for low wage people to obtain and maintain.  The next tier offers assistance for aquiring assets such as a home or education to make workers more stable and increase their earning power. 


    My department comes in at tier three which provides financial counseling and training to help people connect with community resources and reach their financial goals.  And the fourth tier is a program that helps people qualify for and find employment in better paying jobs/fields with mentoring and career counselling.


    A lot of the services the foundation provides were designed with single moms in mind because they are the largest identifiable group of working poor.  So I would be in a position to help other single moms do what I have done.  I'm not rich by any stretch of anyone's imagination.  And certainly some of my friends have a hard time understanding my choices.  I'm nervous about moving to the new place because rent there represents an increase of almost 70% over my current responsibility. 


    BUT, I know I can "afford" it.  I have been putting more than twice the difference into savings over the past six months.  Still, I had a conversation with my boss yesterday where I was telling her how nervous I was about signing this new lease before I'll be starting in the new position and she reminded me that I still haven't "officially" given notice to my current position.  I haven't written the letter yet, I just told her than it's my intention to leave at the end of July. 


    I forgot that I don't HAVE to quit. 


    But I sure hope this new position comes through for me.  I think I mentioned that my new salary would be more than double my current one.  Even with my increased rent, on that salary I should be able to save enough money to have the downpayment I want for a home by next summer.  Wowzers.  That's exciting. 


    Okay, I'll quit going on and on about it. 


  • Moving Up



    This is the condo complex I'm planning to move into.  3 br, 2 1/2 ba, balcony, nice big kitchen ... I'm a happier Momi.  I gave the owner my application and deposit check.  I'd be happier if I were buying instead of renting for another year, but I'll keep saving my money and by the time we reach the "three year" mark since the bankruptcy, I'll be ready to have that mortgage I'm working so hard to qualify for.  (Can't believe I'm excited about putting myself in debt!  LOL) 


    There is a park beside the complex with walking trails.  The boys are a little disappointed that there is no swimming pool, but they are excited about each having their own room.  Now, I'll be working my behind off to get packed up.  Move Day is June 28.  So I have my work cut out for me! 


    I've been planning that I'd hire movers to help me, but yesterday my friend offered help.  And maybe we can do the most of it ourselves.  Things are looking up. 


    Please keep praying for me as I move into the new job.  I'm still blown away by that.  I won't meet with my new boss until June 12 to work out the details and even after we hash that out, I won't start in the position until mid August.  But it's just perfect for me.  My best friend said, "You were born to do that job."  I will be working with people who are in difficult financial circumstances.  I'll be helping them work out things like spending plans, an emergency savings account, and whether or not they are taking all the tax credits they are allowed.  I'll be helping people - mostly single moms like me - figure out how they can have a better life. 


     

  • I get really tired of feeling fat

  • My Boy Graduated


    Things have changed a bit from when I was elementary school.  Michael is leaving fifth grade and we had a full-blown graduation ceremony complete with the walk across the stage to receive the certificate.  There was a problem with the audio visual equipment so the program got started a half hour late and it lasted a full hour.  But it was wonderful.


    The best part was a powerpoint slide show.  Each child brought a photo from home.  The note I got asked for something from kindergarten so that's what I sent, but quite a few were baby photos.  There they were, babies one minute and fifth grade graduates the next.  It was wonderful. 


    Afterward, Michael got to choose where we went for dinner so he picked Chipotle Mexican Grill.  We dragged out the evening as long as we could but there was a storm rolling in so we came on home.  By the time we got here lightning had begun to flash and the wind was picking up.  Michael got on his pajamas and went to his room and then I could hear sounds of distress.  He was really upset by the way the windows rattled.  (Well, to be honest I was too, the windows here are so drafty that with every new gust of wind the curtains blew as though the glass was open to permit the breeze.)


    I went in and talked with him for a few moments, then he allowed how he thought it would be better if he brought a book to my room and we read a story "like the old days."  These days, Michael reads his own stories and only very rarely asks for read-aloud.  But he chose the book and came to my room.  So that's how it is that last night, I was snuggled up in the middle of my bed with a boy on either side while I read, "I Love You the Purplest."


  • Happy Birthday, Mary


    "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage."


    -- Lao Tzu


    There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.


    Today, is my best friend's birthday.  We have quite a story between us.  Best friends when we were 12 we used to sit on top of the jungle gym in my parent's backyard and write.  Stories that we'd no doubt laugh and cringe over today.  But they were words on paper and back then the paper seemed much more exciting than any real life boring stuff.. 


    Then Mary's parents moved away and we lost touch with each other.  Twenty-five years, Mary found me through the miracle of the internet and sent me an email ... Hey, remember me?  We were best friends once. 


    We're best friends again.  Over the past five years we've laughed, played on the beach, cried and argued with all the passion of two brilliant people each convinced that the other is totally out of her mind.  I'm happy to report that we both weigh less now than we did five years ago even if we both weigh more than we want. 


    We still write although we prefer a more comfortable chair these days. 


    There have been a lot of times over the past five years that things in my life have been chaotic.  Okay, so maybe the better way to put that would be that there have been a few times that things have NOT been chaotic.  Mary though, she isn't anything nearly so poetic as the wind beneath my wings.  No, she's more like the boot in the seat of my pants that keeps me from quitting before I get to the end of the race. 


    I was trying to think of an appropriate birthday greeting and wish for my friend, and it's hard.  But I got that quote at the top of the page in a daily motivational email and it's perfect.  If there's one thing about me that irritates Mary, it's that I constantly battle with fear.  I'd prefer to think of all my worries as something of a charming quirk like you might give to the secondary characters of your novel to make them seem more real.  But I have a suspicion that it must get tiresome that everytime she mentions a Dr's appointment I start hyperventilating and thinking that means she has a brain tumor. 


    Because Mary loves me and believes in me I have the strength to do things that would have succeeded in defeating me without her unwavering support.  Because I love her too much to be a total leech, I have the courage to do things I'd never have attempted on my own. 


    Few people are blessed with the kind of wealth I enjoy, but I offer a wish and a prayer that you will have a friend like Mary. 

  • More and More


    I met a new friend this morning for coffee, we talked, it was cool.  Afterward, she drove me around to some townhomes where she used to live because I'm wanting to move out of my apartment while the boys are out of town.  There was one for rent, I wrote down the number, I called.  The agent said that the owner of that unit is more interested in selling than renting these days, but that he has another unit for rent.  SO I went by and looked. 


    The lyaout of the townhome was fabulous,  3 br and 2 1/2 bath for the same price as the 2 br apartment I had been planning to move to.  THE only minus to the whole place is that it's up a flight of stairs and I didn't want the hassle of moving up stairs.  Then as I was leaving I noticed that the one across the way was also available for rent and it was on "ground" level.


    I called the owner and it's perfect.  The current occupant won't be moving out til June 25 so I will have plenty of time to get moved and resettled before the boys are back from their summer vacation with their dad and my parents. 


    I'm meeting the owner on Wednesday to discuss details, I'll take pictures. 


     


     


     


     

  • Mother and Sons


    I had this conversation with my boys last night, suggesting to them that maybe one day I might want to have a boyfriend, or their dad might want to have a girlfriend.  I thought it would be a good thing to check with them and see how much of a big deal that might be. 


    Michael thought that would be okay because he is STILL hoping for a little sister and he thought that if I got a boyfriend he might could have one.  I explained to him that I'm at an age where it's not healthy for me to think about having a baby anymore.  (I thought that was a good way to deal with that.)  So he said, "That's okay, you can buy us a baby sister from China." 


    o_0


    Um, okay.  Next topic.

  • Five Years


    I can't believe I've been a part of the Xanga World for five whole years.  Well, I haven't been here exactly five years, that happens next month.  I like to try on the big milestone events before they actually arrive so I can be prepared to behave properly when it happens.  I walked around for a week saying, "I'm 30" before my 30th birthday and it made it easier.  So I have taken the exercise to greater nad greater heights.  I started practicing on 40 about two months ahead and that was just fabulous.  When the black balloons turned up, I was ready.  I was happy.  I was in DISNEYWORLD. 


    (Practicing in advance gives you the kind of insight that makes it possible to figure out in advance that you SHOULD be in Disneyworld when you turn 40.)


    So I wonder what my practicing will lead me to decide about my 5th Xangaversary ...