work Week #??

So, I lost track of the work weeks. I think that is a good sign. We started back on Monday by going to the gym bright and early. I think it actually helped. I helped perk up my mood, gave me energy, and made it feel like Monday. I hardly made any money at Hunt Avenue today; I think only $80 in 8 hours. It was pretty slow, but had enough people filter through that I felt helpful. Rainbow's End did much better (maybe $400 - which is a really good day for them!). People are constantly complimenting the store - how clean it is, how big it looks, and so on. It feels really good. Vernon has done a lot. Jeremy worked on a logo for his non-pofit. It is pretty cool looking. I don't know if it is on the computer to upload and show you. If I can figure it out, I'll let you see it. Monday night I made tortellini soup for the unit. It was not as good as my mom's - I'll have to find out what she adds that is not on the recipe. In the evening (without The Bachelor to watch), we played a card game Jeff had brought called "Bang." It is definitely not a Mennonite game! :) It is kinda like the card game "Mafia", but much more advanced. It is pretty fun, and much less difficult than I pictured it to be.

Jeremy and I went to the gym again this morning (temperature check at 6:40am = 1 above 0... brrrr). This going everyday is something new I wanted to try; Jeremy's along for the ride this week. I am trying to get in shape for the volleyball league that I joined. It is a 4-on-4 women's league at the local rec center on Thursday nights starting in January. I can't hardly do one sprint down the basketball court, so I figure I have my work cut out for me. I am really looking forward to the start of the league. I am hoping for some good volleyball; it probably will be decent since you have to be pretty good to play 4 man volleyball successfully. Today at Rainbow's End I sorted the men's shirts out. They were definitely neglected! I will probably work on the men's jeans tomorrow. I will only have the dresses, skirts, maternity, children's clothes, and coats left to sort and size.

I finished the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult. It is about a fictional school shooting. I was very intrigued at the way she had organized the book - introducing the shooter and other characters and then linking their lives together through past and present stories. It was a well written book. Jeremy, on the other hand, reads books that make him smarter (rather just entertain him briefly). He finished Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Now he is reading a book by Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation. If you have book suggestions for either us, let us know. My grandpa J. recommended The Worst Hard Times, a book about the Great Depression. I happened to find it at Rainbow's End, so I'll get around to that one.

I think that's all have to say today. Jeremy would probably say that I said plenty. I hope you are all recovering from the Thanksgiving weekend. I look forward to seeing many of you at Christmas!

Chocolate, Anyone?

Today we ventured to Creede (see pic to the left). Jeremy and I had been there for a quick trip to the theatre once, but hadn't had time to really look around. This time the unit (and our guests) went to Creede for the annual Chocolate Festival. We bought a ticket ($10) to walk around town to 14 different stores, restaurants, and taverns to sample the homemade chocolate goodie they had created. The only two rules were 1) it must be homemade, and 2) it must have chocolate. We tasted things like fudge made with velveeta cheese (pretty good - Jeremy says it is the best of both worlds), raspberry fudge, Mexican spice hot chocolate (very thick consistency and a horrible taste - Jeremy says it is would you would get if you sneezed up pumpkin pie), cherry mash (like cough syrup with a bit of chocolate on top), peanut clusters (different than you would expect because the peanuts were raw and not salty), fat mints (cookie with chocolate chips and peppermint bits in them), Bailey's hot cocoa (they only asked if Jeremy and I were 21 years old - we are the oldest in our group... I guess we were flattered?), chocolate chip chocolate cookies (these were my favorite, plus they were served with ice cold milk), craisan and pecan clusters, and a pure, smooth creamy fudge (a blue ribbon winner in a 4-H competition at one time). There were a few more that I am forgetting, but you get the idea. It was a lot of fun - and a lot of chocolate! We also saw Santa Claus; he looked pretty wore out... and it's not even Christmas! :) We saw the current fire station built into the rocks; it looks like a pretty cool place to house fire trucks. We saw a bar named The Wild Beaver (this pics for you Sandy... and other Bluffton grads) I think that's it. It was a good day.

SNOW!!!

We had our first snowfall overnight. We woke up on Friday morning with the land covered in a blanket of snow - I would venture to guess six inches. Here are pictures from out the front door and the back door.

Jeremy and I also worked to bake our first apple pie together. I had never made a pie crust before - and he actually did that part of the pie. It tasted delicious, but didn't brown for some reason - even with over an hour in the oven! It was still fun to make and eat.

Thanksgiving Day

Well, I imagine that everyone ate turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes until they were about to burst and then managed a piece of pumpkin pie! Jeremy and I went to the shelter to help out with the Thanksgiving Day meal they put on. Many people volunteer to cook turkeys, make stuffing, whip up some mash potatoes, and bake some pies. Then, Paul heads up the kitchen happenings. Everyone who came to eat - homeless and others - has a seat and waits as other volunteers serve them food. It is a great sit down meal with cloth tablecloths, festive decorations, and much conversation. Jeremy and I were able to help serve. (That's Jeremy in the left photo serving.) There were LOTS of volunteers though so the serving went fast. I estimate that we had about 150 people there to eat. It was great. Before the meal, there was a basketball game happening outside, while inside you could chat and listen to the live music provided by a guitarist/singer. We enjoyed the time at the shelter. I was able to wish Happy Thanksgiving to the few people I did know from working there. On the way home, we picked up a hitchhiker (I have already heard all the lectures from the last time I did this... don't need them again.) Jeremy and I took Lowe on his way from Alamosa to Capulin (a town near La Jara). He had hitched a ride from Boulder the night before and was probably going to try to do the same thing in the next few days. He had been at the shelter enjoying the meal just like us!

We came home and went to Alice and Andy's house for our second feast of the day. The current MVSers were there, along with David and Emmy's friends from Indiana, a former MVSer and his wife, and Isabel. It was fun to laugh and talk. There is something about being in the presence of many people that makes a holiday feel like a holiday to me. I missed my family, but not nearly to the extent as if it would have just been me and Jeremy sitting around all day. When I called home in the morning, they were eating lunch and it sounded CRAZY!!! I will get to enjoy that at Christmas and am definitely looking forward to it. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Wednesday 11/21

Today was a fairly quiet day at the office. I was there all day because Rhonda had taken the day off. I worked on "Milagros Bucks" for a advertising thing for December. It takes a lot of time to get graphics and text to do what you want them to do. In the afternoon, Jeremy picked me up to go check the mail for work and visit the falcons. There is a group of Falconers in town; these are people who raise and train birds of prey. There was a demo in the morning, but I wasn't able to go. So, we just went to see the birds. It was actually pretty cool. You can see in the pic to the right the stands they had for the birds. I think there were at least 100 stands set up in this small area. It is a strange sight. We saw a golden eagle, a snowy owl, another bird that posed for our picture with its wings spread, and a few perigrine falcons. The Golden Eagle was definitely the largest of the birds. The Peregrines are small and beautiful birds.

Tuesday 11/20

Two things....
1. The day was beautiful - 60F and sunshine! The drive home provided a gorgeous sunset. We tried to capture it with a camera, but it is nearly impossible to do. Here are the two shots we took - one looking over the western mountain range (the San Juan), and one at Mt. Blanca. Enjoy!

2. I have to confess that ... we watch The Bachelor at the MVS house. Yes, I know it is not high quality television or even good reality TV, but nothing else to do on Monday night and it is a strange ritual we had for this season. (For those of you who know the Monday night line-up, we do watch most of Dancing with the Stars as well - can't believe Marie Osmond is still in!) Anyway, the final rose ceremony was Monday night with huge drama - it was unprecedented! The Bachelor picked - no one! I know, don' t fall off your chair! It was, actually, terribly sad. Two women had told him that they loved him opened their hearts up to him. (I do realize they chose to be on national television doing it, but still) He told both of them good-bye because he couldn't say he loved either one. I give him credit for being honest in the end, but he did a great job of leading them on throughout the show. I'll stop on my tirade. I realize that this has nothing really to do with what we do out here, but sometimes, that's okay.

Monday

I went to Hunt Ave Boutique to work today. I met some nice people who came in. There was one guy that hung around and talked for 2 HOURS to me. I would like to say he was interesting, but he was more controversial in my opinion - I just didn't agree with a lot of things he said and didn't really know how to disagree in a polite way. He comes in almost daily, so I tried to maintain good relations with the customer. There was a family who came in and purchased quite a few things; they were fun to listen to as they shopped.

Jeremy went to see the Grizzly Bear exhibit. Some of you may know of the cows that were placed around Chicago (I think) to encourage art and improve scenery. (Well, I don't really know why they were there, but this is my best guess.) Anyway, these Grizzly Bears were created out of fiberglass and given to local artist to decorate. They will be auctioned off at the Charity Ball in early December put on by Valley Wide Health Center in Alamosa. All proceeds of the charity ball and the auction of the bears goes to support La Puente. They expect to raise $10,000 per bear; there are 8 bears total. Jeremy said the bears were pretty cool. Hopefully, the exhibit will be open tomorrow and I can get out to go see them. If I do, I will take my camera and post some pics.

Have a great Thanksgiving week - and don't forget to RELAX during the week, too!