trouble

I'm not sure what to do with myself now......

Teva is running around the house barking at me like the house is on fire.......

shouldn't you be studying?? Aren't there flashcards to review?? And what happened to that puppy?

I'll tell ya, first thing Monday I need to get myself into summer school asap. This 'time off' is doing nothing but raising my alcohol tolerance and sending me on a unarail to troubletown.

Abbys trade off went well. Per Petes request, I didn't cry in front of him because 'seeing girls cry make him uncomfortable'. Yea, well I did my best. Although standing in the parking lot of a Conoco gas hub waving like Forrest gump yelling "Bye Abby, I Love You, Bye", couldn't have made Pete feel very comfortable either. So one last picture of the sweet girl as she leaves amandaland and is Molly and Petes girl now. Word of advice to you two. Keep your shoes up....and the dog food....and the toilet paper, the trash, papers, backpacks, Kleenex and dog treats too. It's just precautionary measures.

So quickly time passes

Even the pups waited patiently to see how it went......

And It's official.

The semester is over.

About 20 questions into my Anatomy and Physiology exam I found myself becoming a religious person......

Dear God. Please please please let me pass this class. Or put a lightning bolt down in the lecture hall. Either one would work for me. Oh yea, and sorry for all the blasphemy. This test is harder then I thought. -Amanda



I was disappointed to find this morning that the drinking fairies had found me in the night and nit a sweater for my tongue.

Blah.
Don't worry, I didn't drive, but was a little confused this morning when I walked out the door and saw this.......

My god did I buy/steal/hijack a bus at the bar last night?

Huh.

Exams Smams

(I know its blurry, but I love the dog-play action shot. Plus look close....there are 2 busses in the background)) Ok, I'm procrastinating. I have 2 exams tomorrow and I've spent the morning at the park with the dogs. (I did have my notes with me though...)
(look at that...Abby has grown 2 inches, and her butt in now higher then Sativas. This is a friendly game of 'I said It's my stick you stupid puppy!')

Well, my days of running the black dog underground railroad are numbered. For those of you that don't know, I found a fantastic home for Abby with my girlfriend Molly in Winter Park. Abby will be helping her train for the NY marathon. I'll be a wreck on Thursday, (just so you know.) I've had to stop myself about a dozen times each day from calling up Molly and Pete and telling them that I've changed my mind. Molly and I talked after I had already decided to keep Abby, but the instant that she said 'oh I want her!' I knew it would be a perfect match. She'll be a Pub dog during the day, and a running coach at night. If you find yourself in Winter Park, make sure you swing by The Pub and give my girl some kisses. They owe me for dog training, so tell Pete your on the Abby's Freedom Free Beer Tab, and have one on me.

Now as far as exams are going, I'm trying very hard to stay focused. Focus.....Focus. Awee the dogs are so cute.....Ok, focus.

On a funny note: The two brothers that mom & dad left at the gas station in 83' have turned up and made a video for mom for mothers day. Check it out:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=17234

now seriously, I'm going to go study now

mothers

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
--Oscar Wilde

To my mother and grandmother......

My wish is that I grow to become a fraction of the strong women that you are..............just please let that fraction be the sane part.

Happy mothers day Ladies

Coo Coo Ka Choo

I am so not cool. But this guy is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg


Wow. I had an entire post eaten by the post fairy.

The story went something like this, only funnier:

I finished 2 exams yesterday, and as reward for not having more then 1 panic attack a day, the youngin took me out for a beer. Well, he drank beer, I drank captain.
So at the end of the night we're discussing WHY I'm not going to date the youngin. (note* youngin showed up at the house clean shaven and I realized....younger then I had guessed. But to his defense, after the bar he took me to, i'm sure he realized....older then he had guessed too.) Mrs. Robinson here almost shot Captain and Sprite out of her nose when he told me his age.
So. Of course his response was exactly as I had guessed. He stuck his tongue out at me and told me I sucked.

Exactly my point thanks.

Not what I remember

Things eaten thus far by the puppy:

Think! Shoes
All of the treats
something out of my backpack
the dissection kit out of my backpack (do you think it tasted like cat?)
1/4 bag of puppy food
The rim around the plastic container that I bought to keep her out of the puppy food
1 water bottle
1 tube of sunscreen
Velencia tree. (that's right, the tree. Out of the pot, roots and all tree)
6 pack of charmin toilet paper
empty bag (or was it?......)

So I went out and bought her a very stylish crate....Which after a put her in it and snapped this picture realized it has a HUGE design flaw.....She lays down and shifts her weight and the crate rolls. She flipped it 6 times all the way across the floor before I could get her to stop and pull her out. Looked like a hampster in a giant wheel....only square. Great. I betcha now she is going to have some serious crate anxiety issues.

Think!

Now that i think about it there seems to be a pattern. I take a deep breath and find my happy place.....(happy place happy place, deep breath, happy place).

As Im walking around the block at 6 this morning I realize Sativa did the same exact thing as a puppy. Only THEN the most expensive pair of shoes I had was a pair of Tevas that I had a week. (hence how she is called Teva sometimes) Umm huuuh. Is Abby now Think! ?

While I was at work......

Dog Initiation perhaps?.....

The half eaten bag of dog food was impressive. I have to admit. I have never seen a puppies belly so swollen. So last night in the wee hours of the darkness I was dealing with a throwing up Abby. I thought, like a horse, if they have gorged themselves, you walk them. Keep them moving....or is that with colic? Anyway. Bonus points to the youngin for showing up at midnight to walk me, my dog, and my sick puppy around outside, so that we wouldnt get mugged. Although Im pretty sure even the street bums would have passed on what we were selling. My only comfort at 2 am was the look in her little eyes that screamed......"I don't think your new shoes sat well in my belly.....dear god make it stop! " It's true.

(Abby says to Teva "I can't believe I made it through the night and didn't get tied to the meth heads door!"..........Teva says "Yea kid....me either....maybe you should go taste those UGGS")

Last Day, Race Day

Sucker is permanently tattooed on my forehead

Or is that still the mark on my head from falling asleep in class?..........

I'd be lying if I said that I had nothing to write about....It's just that I don't have the time to write about it. So lets do a short abridged version to get you caught up.

Exams start this week, so hold off sending the troops looking for me, as I'll be focusing on the arteries and veins of the human anatomy. Two weeks and the semester is over can you believe it?

The girls 5k is tomorrow morning, and like today the weatherman is calling for rain. Sweet. I do love jumping in puddles.

Oh yea. And I'm keeping Abby.

(oh wow did you hear my mothers 'oh amanda' from where you are too?)

Well Sativa and I love her, and she loves us, and the potential homes that we found for her didn't measure up to our high standards. They would have had her in a crate from 9-5, five days a week. And she doesn't like the crate. She breaks out of the crate, and lays on the carpet with cookie and promises that she wont chew anything. And I have about a million other excuses of why she belongs with me, so lets not argue about it. My landlord met her. I do have a washer and a dryer ya know, which qualifies me to enter the gates of grownupville, and now I have 2 dogs to run and play with me there. And mom & dad......I learned it from you two. So when she needs hip surgery like the puppy YOU kept from the side of the road, I'll call you to get a vet referral.

Soooo meet my two sweetest things.

Crash

I didn't get much sleep yesterday, and on top of my normal non-sleeping schedule, the combo shook my Spanish class in a belly giggling kind of way..

I crashed in espaniol.

Full on fought it for a good 30 minutes, and then as I was leaning forward arms crossed, I lost the battle.

WHAM!!!!! My head hit the desk.

Loud.

Of course it woke me straight up, jerking myself back to the upright position.

The big Hawaiian football player behind me let out an uncontrollable booming laugh. (he does have a great laugh, one of those that when you hear it, you don't even need to know what he's laughing about and you still smile)

Class stopped. I got up, apologized and left. The only thing is, by the time I closed the class door, I was laughing, and ironically enough....Wide awake. I look in the mirror now and have a red mark across my forehead from the chair back.

Ah yae yae.

Free Puppy

Meet Abby

When I pick battles, I pick HUGE ones where I'm most likely going to get my ass kicked by a crackhead.....well, you know what I say......Bring it.

About 4-5 days ago I started seeing this young black lab hanging out in the alley. Sometimes a few blocks over.....sometimes behind the house..... and suddenly shes in the house getting water.....needing food. So yesterday I put her on a leash and start going door to door. My neighbor says....yea, the neighbors just got her. Be careful going over there.

Im half way across the back yard when shady neighbors start coming out of the house.......

Long story short, they don't want her. And I couldnt take her off of the leash and let her run around the neighborhood anymore. I would bet my arm this girl is 100% black lab. My neighbors are shady, I think they got her in trade, so Im not giving her back. One very muddy bath later.....She is absolutely beautiful. And sooooo sweet. Maybe 6 months old. In her gangly lab stage. Total baller. Played Frisbee with the boys down the street until she passed out. I thought that she wasn't house trained, but I've had her now 24 hours and I think now her accident in the house was just that...an accident.

Cookie is less then amused. She says: "she is drooling all over my squirrel toy, I better be getting a new one, bc puppy drool doesn't come out ya know"

Free. Will deliver.

I've lost my motor cross virginity

So much for having something saved for marriage.
I tried everything possible to find Southern Culture on the Skids song Dirt Track Date to play. But it just couldn't be done.

Ok guys, this was a blast. I'll admit it. Don't judge me. Maybe it was the overload of exhaust fumes in the air.

Pit crew for#808. Lee Smith. Adrenaline junky. These guys are all fu*#ing nuts..

115 bonus points.

All front teeth are capped silver (60), mullet (30), trophies are bigger then he is (25).
I was impressed that the pit crew actually knew how to work on a bike.....and here I thought we were just there to drink beer. And did you know that you can't have an open container on fair grounds, but if your sitting in the bed of the truck it is totally legal? That truck didn't fly away for a good 6 hours.

Interview question was going to be...... 'So Lee, nice ride.....wanted to ask you....when you got up this morning....what kind of toothpaste did you use?'

Fat Tire Festival

***Fat Tire is a beer, not a giant fat tire that a festival is built around****


Heather and I went to the bike/beer festival in Fruita last night. As we sat in the beer garden surrounded by mountain bikers, the announcer starts in about the 'bottle walk'. The Fat tire cruiser bike is up for grabs.
Pimp.
Now let me explain the concept of this game. Originating 3 years ago at this festival, it now has full on sponsorship from the local pizza shop.
Girls Only.
You get two full beer bottles.....Walk them out on your hands without letting your knees or elbows touch the ground.....Put one bottle out as far as possible.....And then hop back on one bottle, again without any body part touching the ground.
Can you say core muscles screaming?
Heather made it to the finals and then was taken out by the freakishly tall amazon women. 5'3 just doesn't have the arm reach as 5'9.
****Pictures are Trek team girl power.*****

On a side note I have a date today. I know what your thinking.....'Your not dating, you have a school program to date'.....And your right, but this one won me over, and you'll see why.

Im going to the motor cross dirt bike race......

(wait for it)

......where I'm going to be in the pit crew.
I'm all tapped in for the audio blog on this one. Maybe I'll do interviews from the pit.

an apple a day....

I got about two hours total of sleep last night. And again...not in the wink wink kinda way. I'll admit, I did just a bit of drinking last night after work, but then something didn't sit right in my system ....(could it have possibly been the holy tequila?) on top of it all, I hadn't eaten much. When I finally accepted that there was no way to sleep, I looked over at an empty glass of water, a half eaten apple and a 3am alarm clock all resting on the pillow beside me....when did I get up and eat an apple??
Huh.
This All Star has got to learn how to sleep.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab some fruit and go to bed.

Practice 5k was today. My girls kick ass. The race is next weekend, and I think I just might miss my little thugs.

It's been a beautiful last two days. Granted, I'm having a bit of a problem moving the muscles around, but hey, I choose my battles every morning....And my medications every night.

It could have been the boots.....or maybe it was thinking that I could hang on a bike ride with a pro.....either way, icepacks have taken over my freezer.

The mesa is beautiful. I hadn't been up there before, and for the last two days have spent the early mornings under these blue skies. I love it up there....
Marcel is in town and has cashed in all of his patience tickets, as it's a full on flail fest for me on snow. Im sure he thinks 'you were having fun?, I couldn't tell from all of the cursing'.

Yea, sorry about that.

cow bell

View of the Colorado River from todays hike.

I thought that this cow wanted to be on the other side of the fence with the other cows, maybe even that little baby cow was hers?......so I pull over on this dirt road to open the fence and sush her through.

Erin says...

'ok you do it, I'm going to take pictures of this.'

Turns out that cow really didn't want to be with the other cows after all. Erin couldn't keep the camera still to take a picture. So much for trying to help a heifer out

Do I have pants on because people are giving me funny looks..

Had I known that today was going to take the path that it did, I think I would have enjoyed the cold air in my bedroom at 6am and stayed snuggled in. Cold air outside, warm comforter inside. Beautiful combination. Instead I woke up 20 minutes behind my normal internal alarm clock, and the day seemed to carry on with that 'out of my element anxiety' throughout the day. The week actually, was less then enjoyable. 3 exams near the end of the semester only means that you know exactly what you need to get by. And in one of my classes, I'm holding on by a string, and I can NEVER tell how I did on the tests. So on my way to class this morning with Erin, flipping through flascards, feeling panicked, she stops quick at the light and my coffee goes right between my legs.....and Im wearing light tan corduroys.... (black woman in my head says......giiirrllll, you betta get back home!) ok. shake it off. literally
Sitting behind me in class is the guy who cheated on the lab exam on Tuesday...right in front of me no less....(something is wrong with me I know, and I don't know why I did it).....but when I overheard him say "I better have done well...(snicker)..." I spin around in my little stool, point at him and call him a cheater" Instantly I'm wishing I had my mace, because that guy is 6 foot 3 and a big mesa state basketball player. (oh shit where is the black woman when I need her?). I look over at Erin and I don't think I've ever seen someones eyes so big.

Yea, that was all before 9 am.
I'll have to tell you about my 20yr old wanna be stalker another time.
I'm off to go have a few beers.

I stole this from another blog

mullets are all the rage on the cycling scene. Local Georgia hair dresser and tour fan looks on in horror!!

Call off Search and Rescue

Nothing has been really blog worthy....unless you want to look at this all day and listen to me try and talk nerdy.

Easter came and went with the usual sugar high and the image of me at 6 years old running around the Easter egg tree until my pigtails went straight. (Ryan & Tiffany told me I could speed up time if I ran fast enough) Yea, been special for a long time.

I took Sativa to Petsmart to pick out an Easter treat that day. She choose a ferret, we compromised with a dog bone that tastes like a ferret.....

EASTER!!

Tiffany just pointed out to me that it was Friday night and I have my nose shoved in an anatomy book. "Studying Anatomy" and not in the wink wink kinda way.

I have an Easter story.

Gather round children:

While visiting Liz I ran out to get something out of the car. I hear a screen door slam, and in looking over my left shoulder see this crazy man .....long grey/black hair frizzed out in a cone shaped white mans afro.....no shirt on, dirty cut off jeans...scratching his big belly with both arms giving out a yawn. Fine specimen. I laugh. He looks over....I quickly look into the jeep trying to remember what I'm looking for as I say quietly (oh my god!).

(he yells in the crazy man rasp voice) Hey! Easter!

Oh my god. What is he yelling...easter? Like the holiday?

Easter! ........(shit I have to look.....oh god he's facing my direction)

EASTER!

Holy crap this guy is crazy

EASTER! GET THE HELL OVER HERE!

Whoa. Wait. Get the hell over what? Where is my dog? Yes, good girl is now standing pinned to my leg like the trusty protector that she is. I look down, she looks up at me with a very distinct 'that guy is crazy , get your shit and lets get out of here! look' her eyes dart back towards him and so do mine..... crazy guy is headed over...he's got an awkward walk, still scratching his skin.

Crap. Abort Jeep mission I repeat abort Jeep mission.

Easter! God Damn dog!

Oh shit.

I gotta do something, where's my mace? He's walking with a mission now crossing the street.

Fumbling in the car, full on panic fight or flight mode I somehow get out...

"Um, this is my dog"

((in my head))....I'm about to mace this guy...I wish I had a stun gun)

He stops dead in his tracks in the middle of the street.

EASTER!

"THIS IS MY DOG."

(that's me. I have new found courage....and the mace)

"WHERED YOU GET THAT DOG?!

(mad as hell like I stole the meth heads dog)

IN SOUTH CAROLINA 10 years ago!

EASTER!

MY DOG!

He turned around, twitched his way back down the street. I run back into Liz and Dannys house. "I almost just maced the crazy crackhead that lives down the street! He thought I stole his dog!" Liz looked at me with an overly confused look.

This crazy shit only happens to me.

Could it be that her name is now

Sativa Maria Cookieface Columbus Pastel La La La EASTER King?

I'd celebrate if I had an ounce of energy

Well, the work comp case officially settled today. It's official once your lawyer has you check right? Maybe I should wait until the check clears.. Pinnacol Insurance wins the award for the most unethical company in the world.....just barely one step above Enron. Shameful.
Case #2 is in full swing now, as Ryan has handed over document after document to my Boulder lawyer. This guy gives ME a panic attack when I talk to him, and I'm paying him. I can't imagine how it must feel to be on the other side of the table from him.

In non-lawyer news, the pup and I are both fighting our colds with what little strength we have left. I have to go to work this afternoon, the whole staff is sick. Poor patrons.....they have no idea what's going on behind the curtain. Ummmm, enjoy your meal. (cough cough)

An Indian and a Redneck walk into a bar.....

Keva started her 5 day raft trip on Saturday just down the road from Junction & phoned a friend to do a quick catch up before they sailed away.....well technically they would have paddled away.....

In other news, I'm one step closer to being a grown up. That's right ladies and gentleman meet the new love of my life.

Aaaahhhh. I never thought I could miss something so much. Im going to name them Bert and Ernie. And to think, just yesterday morning I was in the Laundromat practicing my Spanish with a 4 year old, while being creeped out by the guy in the corner staring at me while I fold my underwear.