A new one..

After six years of having the same two comforters for our bed, it was time to upgrade. Don't get me wrong, we still love our floral quilt, it's just not very wintry! As in... not warm enough for sure!
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There is something wonderful about one tiny change. A picture here, a vase there. But oh! how I love patterns and design and swirls and ok, everything!

And of course, my little Fritz had to come in and share in the joy of the new bed makings. He's one of those people out to get me with a freshly made bed. ALL roommates I have ever had or family members or friends have had many a laugh at me for one 'quirk' of mine. I despise un-made beds. Yuck. Now that's not saying that I make mine every day or anything. Sometimes there are other important things to be done. Playing robots, or tickling fights, or chasing the kitties around the house. But... when the bed is finally made it needs to stay pretty. And that's where the roommates would get me. They would see my made-up-pretty-as-a-magazine-spread-bed and jump on it and mess things up!!! Oh the horror! Oh the evilness of roommates! However, there were many good laughs, me included. One in particular roommate would mess up my bed nearly every day. For some reason he had a 'sixth sense' about when I was about to or had finished with bed making, and if he was home? Yep. War.

Fritz enjoys torturing me as well. But I let him.

Only because he is the love of my life.

*Do you see Boo pictured in the background? Notice how his ears are down? You guessed right. Boo does not like the little Fritz one bit. Hisses and growls, but I do think that slowly there is some kind of cat/kid understanding going on.

**Don't forget! It's the last day of my Black Friday through Cyber Monday sale! 15% off and FREE shipping! Get your shopping done today!

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I took a picture of this picture that hung in my room or in my house for almost 15 years. I wanted to remember it, but didn't want to hold on to it anymore. A vacation in the Caribbean, a small Mexican tourist trap, and a painter.
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The fad of the time was to paint works of art with spray paint and use objects (cardboard cutouts, rocks, bowls, anything) to achieve some type of 'scene'. It was amazing to watch a work in process at how quick the artists had become. I'm sure it was more about getting American dollars than the art, but still fascinating.
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After viewing three or four artists around town, I just couldn't quite decide. I had given up on my quest for the perfect picture until the last stop of the day. And there it was. In my favorite colors with a scene that instantly felt 'me'. The paint was still a bit damp, but I wasn't disappointed that I hadn't witnessed the artist making this one. The mystery of how it became was just as important to me as what the painting said to me.
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But over the years, and changes in life, the girl who stared into the painting with wonder and dreams is a completely different person now. No magic anymore could be seen coming through the art. So off it went. Sold to a young lady. But I'm OK with that.
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She can have the dreams and wonderment now.

Friday mix up...

Finding a snack on a vacation, buying a package, realizing months later that that snack was incredibly awesome and wondering where the !%$@ to acquire here. Luckily, convincing your parents on their next trip to visit Sis to please track down incredibly awesome treat. But maybe... find a way to just fly to Spain and buy truckloads there?? That would be incredibly awesome as well. Finally finding my cutters/benders to whip out three new bracelets. One for the shop, and two for fairs. And falling in love with this new one listed in my shop. Sparkle.

And lastly... getting rid of ugly, clown, crap hair. Finding myself, for one day, beautiful. I'm gonna call this new hair my Kardashian do.

I Am A Freak.... Seriously

About the Winter Olympics! I am crazy, freaky, and just plain nuts when the games are on. Glued to the Tube, lets say. Especially when my boyfriend Apollo Anton Ohno is skating. Although, he is in denial about our relationship. Hmm... only because it is a one sided relationship. ;) But luckily enough, now I can drool tomorrow when I can see him win more medals.
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When I was a little girl, watching the pretty girls in figure skating, they completely inspired me. I never thought I would go the skating route, as anybody who has been unlucky enough to see me skate knows I should never go near ice skates, but seeing the athletes in any sport and their dedication is truly amazing.
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Good luck to all the athletes that are in Vancouver !

Yep...

My cat Boo likes bags.
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A few years ago when I moved from Boise, ID back to Montana, I didn't have a place to live for a couple of months. Staying with family and clothes in the trunk of my car, I missed my kitties very much. Boo and Melba (Alfie wasn't born yet) stayed at my parents house which we dubbed 'fat camp' as both cats lost weight from all the room to run around in.
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One weekend when my parents were gone, Boo decided that he wanted to feast on an electrical cord. When my parents returned, they discovered Boo had serious burns in and around his mouth. They immediately took him to the vet in town and were glad to know that Boo had not lost his tongue in the feast. For weeks after, as the sores were healing, Boo would drool constantly.
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I believe that my cats fascination comes from this experience. It's not only that he likes to sit in the bags and play with them, but he constantly licks them! I think that the smooth-ness of the bags feels good on his tortured tongue.
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But of course... he taught this licking the sacks trick to the other cats. It doesn't bother me too much, but when you hear it in the middle of the night, it's kind of creepy!

Just Ride

People in this town are serious about riding bikes. Of course you see the summer time riders, or the University riders, but they are so serious about it that you can often see them in the dead of winter on slick, iced roads going for a spin.
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I used to love to ride a bike. I received my first adult bike when I was around ten. And that was only because my older sister had one, so I had to get one just like hers (duh!). After a few years of riding it, I knew it wasn't the one for me. A couple of years later, my parents bought me a mountain bike that I used until a few years ago. In the tiny place that my husband and I live in, there was never any kind of good storage for a bike. So outside it stayed. Poor little bike. It didn't take well to all the different kinds of weather. One snowy day, I saw foot tracks that led up to my bike. The culprit then walked my bike about two feet, dropped it and left. It was too crappy to even have been stolen!
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Now I have dreams of owning one again. There will be plenty of storage at the new place and open roads galore surrounding us. I can't wait!
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Side note.... I am muti-talented on a bike. I can read a book and pedal at the same time. No wrecks on my record!

Out My Front Door

Swimming in colors of orange, I stood on my deck a few nights ago, just being, just breathing. Letting the last bits of setting sun swarm over me, body and soul, I calmed my mind and let all thoughts of stress of the upcoming months slide away.
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Closing my eyes and letting the glow of the sunset slip through my lids, I was reminded of one of my most favorite places in the world. Somewhere that always wraps myself in peace. In this place there is a beautiful meadow below the towering mountains, that fills with wild flowers and grass every summer. So many times did I find myself walking out of the trees of the forest to wander down to the sunshine, to find a rock or the wet earth, and sit. No technology, no cars to bother me, only pleasant quiet sounds of nature in all it's beautiful symphonies.
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It has been many, many years since I have been back to that specific place, and although I miss it terribly with each passing year, it's still there. In my heart, in my memories, always there for any moment that I need to steal a piece of time, and just be.
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In the comfort and confines of places we live, when the world gets to be too much, all we need to do is find that somewhere out our front doors to have those healing breaths, and to feel the sun or moon, the wind or rain, and be. Just be.

Yellow Roses in Memories

Yellow roses have always been my absolute favorite, and I think because of this particular bush.

This is the rose bush behind my parents house. I remember waiting excitedly for spring and summer to come so I could watch them bloom and then become dizzy with their sweet fragrant smell.

When I was younger the rose bush was shorter than me, and now it is stunning in its enormous size. I believe it is over (or about) twenty years old? I hope at the new house, of course that is when we get it, that I will be able to get a clipping and start my own.

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My mother did this with a clematis that my late Grandmother had growing at her house. When my Grandparent's house was sold, I tried to take a clipping of the clematis too, however it did not make the long thousand mile drive back to Boise, Idaho where I was living at the time. Luckily, it survived at my parents house, and now they have a wonderful purple flower blooming in their yard every year since. I did however, get one beautiful picture of the wondrous flowers, and have it still framed for me to look at. Maybe I can try again with the clippings next spring. Lets hope that this time I can have those growing in my yard for more wonderful memories in the years to come.

Bits of Orange

Another thing that I love about living in Montana is the beautiful sunsets we have here. I realize that most parts of the world have breathtaking colors as the sun sets for the day, but for some reason they feel more special to me here. Last week we had a huge cloud filled evening that absorbed every last bit of light the clouds could find. From minute to minute it is such a wonderment how the colors in view can change drastically.
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Here are two pictures from last week that I was able to capture. Notice the tiny white dot in the second picture. I was surprised with my little digital camera that I could actually catch the moon too!

I remember a time when I was younger where I first fell in serious love with the evening light during the great Yellowstone fire in 1988. My hometown is close to Yellowstone but still a couple of hundred miles away from the main part of where the fire was at, but I can still see and smell the smoke in the air that had drifted our way. Even though it was such a horrible fire, the sunsets that came of it were those of a dream land. So vivid and rich in the colors with the deep pinks floating in the fluffy clouds, the iris purple hiding the sun, and the golden orange hues stretching out to fill the rest of the sky.

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One night in particular, I rode my bike up to the top of the little hill behind our house (our house was on the edge of town) and just sat there staring at the sky. I had my little 110 camera and took a picture of that once in a lifetime sunset. I still have that picture floating around somewhere, but I have never needed to look at it to refresh my mind as it is still completely captured in my memory.

What Happened to Spring?

It seems we have skipped the nice days where the temperature slowly warms up to the the hot days of Summer. All of a sudden it feels like a heat wave, and being in a house with Fritz and a (still) kinked neck, all I can think about is going for a swim or a nice float on a river somewhere.
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I use to float rivers every summer. Loving it so much when I was younger, I had thought often about being a guide on some of the local rivers around Montana. Until one summer where that goal changed. We were floating on a class 4 that was usually only a 2 or 3 (class is for how big the rapids are, 1 through 5 with 5 being the kind that kicks ass) but there was so much run-off still from the spring thaw that the river was much higher and faster than normal. By the time we had gotten to the last rapids it had been an awesome ride and with sadness, the last few minutes of the trip would soon be over. As we approached the final rapids, our guide got our boat too straight and the people in the back all flipped out. Now falling out of the boat is not usually that big of a deal if you pay attention to safety and know some of the first rules of river rafting. But in some cases, when you are dumped out you can have the unfortunate luck of getting stuck under the boat. Which is what happened to me.
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There is much more to the story but I am cutting out all of the middle stuff. Let's just say that the end was tramatic and scary. The people with our group couldn't find me for a long time. Seconds really, but when you are under water it is an eternity. Everything turned out okay and I did get back on the 'horse' the next summer and raft again, but I have never really gotten over it and still have high anxiety whenever I am floating when even the smallest of rapids come my way. That's why I like the river pictured above, the Upper Madison. It is calm and wide and has an unbeatable scenic beauty. We didn't get to float last summer with me being pregnant for half and having a new born for the second half, but I would like to go this summer. We'll see!

Off with the Hair!

I have issues with my hair. I love it. I hate it. It makes me cranky, happy, annoyed and sad. But it's mine. It has a terrible mind of it's own and only allows me control once in a great blue moon. The last time I had it "done" was May of 2008. Yeah, an extremely loooonnng time ago. However, one of the good things about it is I don't have to worry too much about the nastiness at the end. I can go well over a year with out cutting before it gets too dry and brittle.
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Last night was one of those nights when I just couldn't take it anymore. Fritz would get his little fingers wrapped around a strand and pull with all of his little guy might. Ouch!! My hair had gotten so long that it was almost to the point of getting stuck in my armpits. Been there done that in 2002...not so good. So I told the Hubs to get his hair cuttin' scissors (he does his own) and whack off a few inches. Thinking that 3 or 4 would do well enough. I should have known better and NOT repeated my mistake from a vacation a couple of years ago when the Hubs got a hold of my hair with scissors then.
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So instead of my asking for just a few short inches.... hmmm... maybe 7 or 8 came off! I think the Hubs had too much fun. "Besides," he said, "I love your hair short!"
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Yep, should of known better. But, I have to admit, it does feel great to get those hair pounds taken off. Now I just need to adjust the color.

Alone at the Movie

Yesterday (the day after my B-day) I decided it would be fun to head to the mall and do a little light shopping and to go to a movie, BY MYSELF!! Since my husband has been away during the week and only home on Saturday and Sunday, I haven't been by myself to do anything special since....?? Been to long if you can't remember! But yes, I did it. I went to a chic-flick movie and loved every minute of it. Proud of myself.
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As I am typing this it is on our very brand new (only 3 hours since it was set-up) keyboard and flat screen monitor. My old keyboard would skip letters even if I hit the key. Very frustrating. The monitor is so much larger compared to my old big box one that I am having a hard time focusing as there is just too much more to see! The picture below is the new and improved computer desk. Love it!