Pooks Canyon

Today Laura and I took our cute fifth graders to the slopes for some free fifth grade skiing (all Colorado fifth graders ski free). Laura and I decided not to get lift tickets for ourselves since we needed to hang on the bunny slopes watching our lil bunnies. The girls, all geared up for some serious shredding. Actually shredding. A bit wistful about not snowboarding myself.

Tonight I pulled a fast one on the kids. They don't like to eat their veggies, so here is how I secretly got them to eat this: Sauteed up a heap of mushrooms, carrots, roma tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions and garlic, above Pureed the mix to a fine sauce Added it to several cans of pinto beans Seasoned with cumin and a little chili powder Mixed it with a pound of cooked macaroni Layered it in a casserole with cheddar cheese Baked for 20 minutes Tricky mommy.

Leah and I are celebrating Mother's Day *now* through May 10th. We registered for the Title 9k+ Mother's Day Running Race and downloaded a beginner training schedule from their website. Here we are getting ready for our first training run... it was great and Leah did a very good job. On race day they also have a 2 year old's race which Axel will do. Jon can hand us water.

This is my front yard, no jokes please. Ok, if you must. I wanted a path here and so I began looking for stone. Then my friend Lina saved the day by giving me a path's worth of stone for FREE. She and her husband own a landscaping company, Urban Oasis Design . The new path, below. I laid it myself which was no small feat of shoveling and moving rocks around. The landscape lights are these solar powered, dark activated thingies I got for 20 bucks on Amazon. I hope they last. I plan to line the border with some flowering, drought-resistant plants and splice in some of the creeping thyme from my other flagstone path in the crevices. It has been a good late-winter/early-spring for outdoor projects here in Boulder!

A few businesses make unwanted phone calls to my home number, namely a certain plumbing company that did one teeny thing for us last year and REFUSES to take us off their, "You're due for plumbing maintenance," call. Today was the last one. After discovering that my VoIP phone cannot block calls from certain numbers, but it can forward them, I remembered the Rejection Hotline. The fake number you can hand out at a bar to get someone to leave you alone. Now I am forwarding the plumbers and anyone else I don't want to talk to. Ps- You can also Rick-roll them with this number: 626-376-9503

The lovely 4 foot square mural Axel (30 months old) drew on his wall with [washable - thank God] crayon. I think he was trying to draw a face and did a pretty darn good job for a baby!

Jon and I are replacing windows, insulating our attic, and installing a whole house fan with a loan from the Boulder County Climate Smart program. Climate Smart loans are funded by a bond issue Boulder voters approved last year. Basically, the loan is paid off via an increase in your property tax and if you sell your house the loan goes with it. We'll borrow 10k to the tune of 1k/year. But the improvements we're making qualify for Federal tax credits and Xcel Energy Rebates of nearly $2,000 THIS year. Not to mention the decreased home heating costs! Anyway, I am putting this on the blog for two reasons: 1- If you are a Boulder County homeowner you must attend a 2 hour workshop THIS month and apply- bids in hand- between 4/1 and 4/10. So if you don't want to miss out, get crackin! 2- Kudos to Boulder County for thinking-up and voting-in this very real stimulus that is both boosting the energy efficiency of Boulder County homes and boosting business for contractors acro

Tonight was Leah's 5th grade musical... the Suessical! It was AMAZING... seriously. Better than any school production I've ever seen, including high school shows. There are some talented kids at Leah's school, and she is one of them! Jon and Axel read their programs before the start. Leah was a Who... she wore a lampshade on her head. The set design was cool. My cropped iPhone pics, taken in the dark, don't do it justice. The chorus. Leah's friend Billie Blue, front row center next to the boy in yellow. DVDs of the production are available and, trust me, this was a good show. I'll buy one and Grandmas can watch when they come to visit.