A Fabulous Life

Here's what I'm hearing right now "click click tap, click click tap, click click click clickclickclickclickclick, tap tap taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap".  Know what that is?  The sound of Jason playing Rock Band.  Why didn't I invent this shit?  Brilliant.

What other game can get a grown man to concentrate so hard that his mouth hangs just slightly open while eyes affixed at the screen while strumming a fake guitar to the sounds of all kinds of great music?  Brilliance.  Add drums and vocals - and you've just taken it to a whole nother level. 

We're going to see Jen and Neil this weekend, and bringing the extra guitar.  Rock-band weekend here we come!!!  Glad I like to sing my little (yeah, lost 10 pounds!!!) ass off :).

Too funny!  Have I ever mentioned I love being a DINK.  And yes, I'm rubbing it in - cause I can.  We're working and playing rock band on a Wed night.  Love that.

It's been an incredible summer and it's gone by way to quickly.  We're so happy our sweet Baron made it through his rough spot no worse for the wear.  We were looking at his records the other night to get them all submitted to insurance and we saw that at one point he was down to 68 pounds in the hospital.  We brought him in at 80.  We're happy to report that two weeks ago when we took him to have the staples removed, he was up to 82 - so he gained it all back and then some.  Two weeks later, we're not sure where his weight is now, but based on his size and growth, I think high 80's is a safe guess.  He's doing amazingly well, back to his full puppy self and is a bigger love than ever.  We're very excited to start him in his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) class which is the first part (first 10 tests) of the therapy track we're shooting for.  With any luck, we'll have a fully certified therapy pooch this time next year!!  FYI - Therapy does not mean he'll move away and go live with someone else - we're very selfish and could NEVER let him go (that's Assistance).  Therapy is when we can take him to healthcare facilities to meet with the patients who would like a visit from a sweet animal.  It's really cool for a number of reasons - it's great for the patients, it's great for us, but it's also fantastic for the breed.  Everyone knows that Rotties have a bad rap, so the more and more we can do things like this, it helps the image so much.  Plus, he loves it too!

Anyway - here are some fun new pictures of him we took this weekend during Debbie and Marty's visit.  We had so much fun during their visit!  We went everywhere and just had a blast.  Deb and Mart are the best house guests ever.  They're so laid back, so easy going and just fun to be around.  We didn't stop the entire time they were here, and it went by way too fast, but it was worth it because it was so damn fun.  We went to the Botanic Gardens on Friday and I took a LOT of pictures.  So, if you feel like looking at some pretty pictures of flowers (I'm pretty proud of them, although, they're nothing like the amazing shots Mark posts - but for a novice with zero experience, I'm very proud of them), there are boat loads of them here.

Everything is really good in our world right now for the most part.  Work is extremely difficult for me right now, but unfortunately, I can't discuss that on my blog.  There are so many crazy things happening there right now, and we never know what the next day will hold.  It's becoming very difficult to stay motivated to want to go in every day.  I've been told over and over, by some really important people, to keep hanging in there and things are going to get better soon.  I have faith in them and in what they tell me, so hang on I will.  My seat-belt is fastened and we'll see where we land when this ride ends.  Hopefully, I'll be on my feet.  If not, I'll figure out a way to get there - I always do.  Thank God for Jason.  He keeps me sane - though, I drive him insane in the process :o).  Love you babes!!

We've finally gotten a number of things off our list for things to do around the house, and we've been able to really enjoy them this summer.  It's been so incredibly hot that we've not had the opportunity to enjoy the back yard as much as we'd like to, but with cooler weather on it's way, we're eager to spend more time out there!!  We've been LOVING our new theater room.  We haven't decked it out yet, so we're using some old couches down there, which are actually really comfy.  So while they don't look fantastic - we don't really care.  We're having plenty of fun relaxing in front of our 106" screen and 7.1 surround sound.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and everything is good!!  Enjoy the rest of your summers, and with a little luck and time, I'll get back on soon and give everyone something fun to read.

I have been really bad about updating my blog in the past months. It seems like there’s been so much going on in our world that I haven’t had a minute to sit down and do it.

Life is great! We added a new addition to our family in January – Baron (for a gazillion pictures see our Flickr account here http://flickr.com/photos/tikibar). Baron has been nothing short of a pure pleasure, delight and a wonderful surprise. I think for the first week, we were both having a lot of the “what the hell did we just do” moments. But shortly thereafter that changed. Bear is the smartest dog I have ever owned. He learns so quickly, is so incredibly sweet (which is SO nice for a Rottie), and is a very laid-back loyal dog. He’s a love and a pure joy to be around. We find ourselves making excuses to go home early just to be with him. He and Bubba are getting along much better now, and that will continue to get better over time. He’s still showing a little hesitancy towards strangers, primarily men, but we’ve really been working with him, and it’s getting better and better. We want to do therapy work with him, so we’re determined to make him the best dog on the planet. We started puppy classes with him last night and that went great. His sister Sadie is in the class with us (she’s the other rottie in all the pictures where there are two of them) and they had a ball. It’s so much fun to watch them grow up together. We’ve been getting them together for play dates and they just go and go and go for hours before they poop out. It’s pretty impressive!!

We’re very excited for spring to be right around the corner. We have a lot of things planned that we want to do to the house, and are really looking forward to getting them done. We’ve been in our house for almost 7 months now (!!???) and it’s time for us to start putting our personal touch on the place. We’re planning on putting up security doors, painting, putting in our home audio system, backsplash tiling, and planting over the next few months. Most of it we’ll do, but will hire out where necessary. None of its anything we have to do, but it’s all things that we’d really like to do that will help the value of the house, and will be something’s we’ll really enjoy. I am so incredibly excited to sit outside and enjoy the spring and summer. Our last house was prohibitive of that due to its proximity to a very busy street – so I’m sure you can imagine how ready I am to take advantage of this now. I’ve always wanted a back yard that I can enjoy, and now we have it!!

Work’s been pretty good for me. I’ve been General Manager now since August, and I’m finally starting to settle into the role. My boss said to me about 3 months ago, “Ami, I think this GM thing is going to take off a lot faster than you think it will and before you know it, you’re not going to know what to do first”. I laughed at him at the time, but I look back at that now and realize just how right he was. I’m still trying to find someone to back-fill some of my other responsibilities with our continuing education division as Director, which will come hopefully sooner rather than later. I’ve been trying very hard to balance my personal and professional lives. I’ve been doing much better than I have in the past – but I still have some work to do on that. It’s just so hard when you are someone who is a perfectionist in everything she does to turn off that work switch when you get home. I’m working on it though, and it’s not something that happens over night. Overall I’m very happy with my job and with what I do. To work for people who believe in me and have the faith and confidence in me is the most rewarding thing that can happen to a professional. I have been through a lot in my relatively short career and to come as far as I have makes me proud of myself. I have had a lot of people doubt me in the past, and nothing makes me feel better than to look back at that and smile. I always knew I had it in me – It just feels so damn good to prove it.

Jason’s doing well too. He’s moving onwards and upwards in his career as well. He’s in a leadership role and had his first big release that he was in charge of go live a couple of weeks ago. He’s grown so much in the past few years. Jason has always been a natural leader, but he’s really done a great job of honing his skills and becoming quite the motivator as well. People count on him because they know he’ll get the job done right, on-time, correctly and without any issues the first time. That’s a tough thing to find, and I think the people he works with know it. I am so proud of him and how far he’s come. It’s hard to believe that just 8 or 9 years ago, he was jockeying a fork-lift for a lumber company trying to convince them he didn’t want to move to New Mexico or Utah. Best decision he ever made was to get his training in software!!!

So, all in all, live is good. I’ve written a book here, but that’s what I get for not writing much in a long while. We’ve had a number of great Disney trips in the past few months, had a great holiday season with our best friends and family, and have some fun short trips planned throughout the summer. We’re not doing anything big, but that’s okay – we don’t want to leave the Bear for too long at once until he’s a little older. Cozumel’s next on the list, then hopefully Del Rio and Phoenix? We’ll play it by ear and see how the year goes, but hopefully we’ll get some short trips in and some of you will come see us! Our door is always open and we love to have people come for a visit!! Denver’s the best in the spring and summer, but we’d love to see any of you any time.

I hope everyone who reads this is doing well. Drop a line to say hello and let us know how things are going! I’ll do my best to keep the blog updated more frequently – but no promises. You may have to deal with these small dissertations every once in a while.

Cheers!!

I can honestly say, it's been a long time since I've been this happy.  Don't get me wrong, we've had some really amazing things happen and come our way, and had a ton of fun in the past couple of years, but this is different.  This is a feeling I haven't had since the day we lost Harley.

This past Friday, the 4th of January, Jason and I expanded our family by one.  I'd like you to meet our new boy Baron (Bear for short).  Baron is a 9 week old Rottweiler puppy, born by Spirit Mountain.  He's the son of Brooklyn and Romeo and is the 2nd handsomest man I know.  Needless to say, we're SO in love!!

We have been talking to breeders for over 8 months now, and we finally ended up talking to Laura Wright-Smith, who was having a litter born in November.  We knew we were moving, and that the timing wouldn't work unless the puppy would be available after the first of the year.  We didn't want to bring a puppy home right smack dab in the middle of the crazy holiday season - especially with all we had planned. 

Baron was born on November 3rd at 7:40 am, and was #10 0f 12.  The first time we met him was at his temperament test on December 22nd.  The test was to do exactly what it sounds like.  I knew the minute I laid eyes on him - he was the one... but we wouldn't know for sure until the following Saturday after the conformation test was performed to see if he would be considered show or pet.  We wanted a pet dog with the ability to gain working titles on him (i.e. - Herding, Agility, Rally, Therapy, Carting, etc...).

On the 29th, we were lucky enough to have my mom and our great friends Tiff and Trev with us when we were told that "Mint Boy" would be ours if we would have him.  I jumped up and down like a crazy person and smothered our soon to be pooch.  The hardest part of that day was watching everyone take home their new puppies, while we left him with Laura.  He was in the best hands possible, but there was a part of me that wanted to take him home right then.  Although - I'm glad we didn't, because we had a stinkin' riot with Tiff and Trevor, and having a puppy here would have made that tough...

Jase and I took off last Friday, rented a Ford Escape (POS BTW), and drove up to Newcastle (just outside of Glenwood Springs) to pick up our new boy.  We threw around names for months, but decided on the 3 hour drive up that  we wanted his official name to be "Spirit Mountain's New York State of Mind" and his common name would be Baron, Bear for short.  It fits him perfectly.  He's our new little Bear.

We got him home after a 5 hour stop and go trip home (why is it we don't ski again???) and he was pooped.  He did great that night - only had one potty inside, and it was more my fault than anything.    We're having so much fun - it's worth every single minute of work and no sleep!!

Bubba's decided that he hates Baron.  But it's not enough to hate him - he has to swack him over the head every time he sees him.  Nice.  Baron's terrified - and I just keep telling Bubba to make nice, cause it will be two weeks and Baron will tower over Bubba and he's not gonna wanna smack him around anymore.... We'll see what happens - but I'm optimistic.  I know they'll be best friends soon.

Barron is perfect in every way.  He's sweet, cuddly, funny, brave, shy, strong, clumsy, but all around perfect in my book.  He's really smart.  He's learned Sit, Stand, Paw and Down already, and in his temperament test, showed a tendency to therapy work!!  I'm thrilled about that - since that's one of the things I really want to do with him.  We will start puppy kindergarten in a couple of months, once his immune system is stronger (Rotties are really susceptible  to Parvo).  But until then, we're just keeping him busy with his plethora of toys here :) - (Jason's put the kabash on me spending anymore of our life savings on toys - hehe!). 

Here's a link to our Flickr account, where we have tons of Baron pictures.  As well, Jason, the proud papa that he is, posted this on youtube.com today.

Baron - welcome to the Marsell family.  You are a long wanted and welcome new addition to our family and we're so happy to have you here and we love you SOOO much!!  We can't wait to raise you into a wonderful companion and friend.  Harley would have like you, very much!

Well, okay, we're not technically homeless, but we are now, as of 11:00 AM today, we are no longer home owners!!!

It has been one hell of a summer.  As I mentioned in my previous blog posting, we put our house on the market on May 20th with all the hopes in the world.  I don't think we had any idea what an emotional roller coaster we were in for this summer.  I won't bore you with all the details, but let's just say living in a house that has to stay 100% cleaned and look totally un-lived in - sucks.

Fast forward to three weeks ago... after two offers, a weekend of getting paint bids, roofer certifications, no receipt on contract signatures, putting the house back on the market for 24 hours, hearing that funds wouldn't be delivered on time, closing would be pushed out until after our realtors had left for Italy, an amazing effort by our more than amazing realtors, finally receiving the contract, fights between the mortgage company and title company, we closed on the house today.

All together now "SIGH".  I think 10,000 pounds are gone from my shoulders.  We have leased back the house from the new owner through the 26th of this month, then we are working on moving into a month to month rental town house literally across the street from my work on 27th and Blake.  We are going to move everything we own into a Pod, and spend the next few months looking for the house of our dreams.

We're so excited - we're finally in a place where we can pick, without being forced to buy a house that we really don't absolutely love.  The only down side is that our little man Bubba is still staying with my mom, and we miss him like crazy. He's in the best hands though, so that makes me happy.  We're also eying some puppies, so that may have to wait too, but still - all is good cause in a shit market - WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!! <Ami doing a happy dance>!!!!

Stay tuned for more updates on the house search.  Hopefully we'll have good news soon!!  And a HUGE thank you to Andrew and Bill, our unbelievably amazing realtors.  They have delivered far above our expectations and we've also found two people who we hope to be friends with long into the future.  Thanks guys!!! You're the best!!!