scooby van

Found a picture of the Scooby Doo van I referenced in my Bike MS post last October. I'll get to use it again in about five weeks for our annual off-roading adventure in the California desert with the TDS 4x4 Club. It has "wood" paneling, curtains (as you can see) and carpet throughout. Will be a fun (and hopefully not too w|ndy) weekend with many friends from afar! San Diego, Folsum and Petaluma CA, Seattle WA, Story City IA (John and his wife Carly)...

Our friend Jason (lives a few blocks from our old place in OB) and Debbie (met through John's old boss) are flying to Denver tonight to spend the weekend with us! We haven't had friends in months - it will be SO nice to have some company! Here's a picture from November in OB that Jason actually got posted on the Racer 5 website. [from left: Jason, Debbie, Jesse, me, Sarah]

excerpt from Mike Marshall

This post is long overdue – sorry. I knew the Marshall’s through my work at the chapter, writing about Cyndy when she was the “Most Inspirational Walker” a few years ago, interviewing Cyndy’s husband Mike for stories and advertisements, and sitting with them at events honoring their incredible fundraising.

“I am very saddened to inform everyone of the passing away of my wonderful wife of 12 years, Cynthia Patricia (Jongbloets) Marshall... Cyndy passed away very peacefully in her sleep just a few hours ago from this writing. She passed away with me at her side…

Cyndy's fight against multiple sclerosis over the past several years has been inspirational to both myself and everyone who knew her. She brought so much joy into the lives of our family and so many friends… I feel privileged to have been her husband… and to have shared two incredibly wonderful children with her… The kids have truly made this challenging mission worthwhile and they are both a wonderful legacy and tribute to their loving mother... They brought her incredible joy and gave her a reason to fight to live for so many years... Few could have fought as hard as she did nor could have lasted as long through such disabilities, I know she was a much stronger person than I…"

Rest in peace, Cyndy. You are missed.

Midwest weekend

I went back to the Midwest again last weekend. Since Mom is so tired and her responsiveness is dwindling, my sister Lauri flew back with my niece, Lila. She’s not sure she can make it back again until April. It was a short trip but a good visit. My grandparents didn’t have any power so we didn’t stay at the farm – they were at a hotel – but still spent all day Saturday with them as well as Sunday brunch. Mom was more tired this weekend than last, possibly because they switched her blood pressure medication to try to get her pressure down into a safe range. She’s not displaying any signs of being in pain (thank goodness!) but is so sleepy all the time.

It's nice that I'm so close now - just a hour-and-a-half flight and then 100-mile drive (instead of taking ALL day to get there from San Diego). Plus I bought the flights 26 hours before I flew and they weren't expensive!

And fun to spend time with my brother John and his wife, as well as Lauri and Lila. On Saturday afternoon there was a man playing the piano at the nursing home and Lila was dancing up a storm! I've not seen so many smiles on faces in a long time.

Midwest snow and fog

Here are the pics from last weekend that I promised.

Me posing by a drift alongside the country road.

The fog (not the country road).

The drift outside the door of Mom's nursing home.

Mom was really tired and weak when we were there - difficult to get her to engage in our visits. I did get a couple of "yes"s and a "no" out of her (that's all she says anymore) over the course of the weekend. On Monday I fed her lunch and she drifted off a couple of times during that, even with all the hubub in the dining room. The staff says she's been like this for the past week-and-a-half or two weeks.

tuesday again

How is it Tuesday again already? I've been offline since Friday morning in the Midwest visiting Mom, the Gparents, Jesse's great aunts and uncles and some other friends. Holy wow snow back there! I've never seen it like that. Along the paved road to Mom's there is a LONG wall of snow at least 15 feet high where the plows cut through. It's so nice and white and clean so far... could be months until it melts. And the fog! It looked like a white-out blizzard but it wasn't snowing - it was just the fog on the background of snow making everything white. Including our white rental car (it's nice that rental cars don't smell like sweaty fat guy when it's below freezing) which wasn't quite as white when we returned it considering all the slush. The fog "stuck" to the branches and made every tree look frosted - Jesse took some pics that I'll post as soon as he uploads them.

Speaking of pics, here's one Jesse took of our cute little brick house in Denver with fresh snow and even more freshly-shoveled sidewalks.

strategy

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! Where does the time go...

Well this weekend I finally went shopping. Six sweaters, two pairs of slacks and a pair of boots later, I'm feeling better in my new clothes this week. Oh and I found a tiny laptop bag that's perfect for my miniature ThinkPad (work computer).

The Online Marketing team and I are currently working on our organizational social media strategy. Strategy, according to Merriam-Webster is, 2 a : a careful plan or method : a clever stratagem b : the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal.

And that's all I have to say about that (right now).

Jesse is so distraught about his Jeep. Many dollars spent last week to fix a noise in the front end (plus some other things that needed doing, like a new heater! and exhaust manifold) and then he picks it up and the noise is still there. Yesterday he took her back in about the noise and they tightened some things; he's not sure if she's quiet now. please no noise please no noise please no noise. I hope he's not falling out of love with her.

Speaking of love, I love Christopher and he is having a hard time. It was cold last week and he got a little droopy. I don't want him to die. I wouldn't have drug him all the way out here if I thought he might die :(

winter

Trying to figure out what I’m supposed to wear (personally and professionally) in the winter. Do I wear big winter boots and a huge down coat? Bingo! I just happen to have an old down coat – twice too big for me – and brand new clompy -40F boots to march around in on the weekend. And jeans and sweaters. But for work… knee-high boots with skirts? Slacks and sweaters? What on the feet… I need to go to Kohl’s or somewhere and spend an evening trying everything on. The other women at the office have a WIDE range of attire, from turtlenecks and cardigans, to boots and skirts, to dresses… anywho. Boring topic.

For Christmas I got a beautiful new snowboard from Jesse, sweet jeans from his parents, DVDs from my father (he converted them from old VHS tapes) and a lot more. Jesse’s parents came to visit us last weekend and extended the holiday – so I ate WAY too much for about two weeks straight. We finally made it up to the mountains – Estes Park – but it was too cloudy/foggy to see the big mommas. We were going to go up to Keystone this Thursday but I have a meeting scheduled for that morning now… plus Jesse’s Jeep is in the shop, plus it’s expensive! But maybe Friday. Or next Tuesday (but that could be tight with Friday off to go see Mom). Jesse got new bindings from me for Christmas. I hope I haven’t forgotten how to snowboard. I always tend to fall on my right hip; maybe I’ll wrap it in bubble-pack. Or wear so many layers that my shape is indiscernible. Speaking of layers, I lost a glove on Sunday at the Chiefs/Broncos NFL game. One of my good snowboarding gloves! The game was cold, and the Broncs lost, but still it was a ton of fun. My first time at a home game!