Race Report: Run with the Burros

This fall, I had another run-in with donkeys. Not exactly of the same dramatic nature of donkey-runs past, but it was still fun and worth a mention!

Oh $%*t Christmas Tree Redux

So, as many of you know, we haven't always had the best luck with Colorado Christmas Trees. We got our tree a little earlier this year than usual. For the last couple of years, we've gone with the Valade-Hester clan to hunt trees in the national forest. This year was to be no different, except a work trip for me overlapped with the weekend we were going to go, and we wanted to get a tree up before our annual Christmas Vacation party. So, Eric and I headed out on our own the day after Thanksgiving to cut find our tree.

Fall on the East Coast

So, we have a new president. That's all I'm going to mention about that, but note that I've been off social media for the most part for the week and am having some trouble going back to it... so I apologize for missing whatever I've missed, and in turn, don't hold it against you for missing our stuff.

Exercising our Constitutional Rights and the 19th Amendment

In the end, voting in our house was a much calmer affair than one might assume. Last night, we sat down with our ballots and a beer, and went through the process together.

November?

So, I just finished reading an article by someone from Texas. And when I mean "read an article," I mean that in my head, I am hearing what I think is the sound of the author's voice in my head, in their own accent or dialect, reading to me. That doesn't happen all the time, but often, when I  read something written in first person, that's what my brain does.

So now I have a Texas accent stuck in my head, because accents from the southern-part of the US are like earworms for me.

Which means, my next sentence should be read with a Texas accent.

It is freaking NOVEMBER, y'all!

Beyond the Headlines: Babies and TV

Hello from the cheapest of the cheap seats! Yes, I, Megan Kelly, child-free woman in her late 30's, am about to talk about babies and toddlers on my blog that is most certainly not about child-rearing.

First, let me clarify that I love your children. I don't have to have kids to love them or care about them. I love being an aunt. Second, I have no desire to give ANYONE parenting advice. Oh no, uh-huh, won't try doing that EVER. You have plenty of nasty Facebook-judgers who will gladly give you all kinds of unsolicited advice, criticize your choices, and basically make you feel like crap. I get it, you can't win for trying, and I'm not ABOUT to pile on here... although I might ask why you are friends with those people? They are awful! Oh, and the one-up-manship? I'm not going to get in a fight with your friend over Facebook, but don't think I don't say "seriously, shut up" to my computer when I read comments like "well, wait until you (insert worse thing they have experienced to invalidate your frustrations)" on your post.

Pallet Wood Accent Wall (De-Southwesting, Session 2)

Before

Ok, so frankly, I can't deal with tonight's debate, or the amazing amount of yelling I did in the garage while listening... so, here's the project we finished this weekend.

As I mentioned before, we have been working on creating an accent wall for our master bedroom. I really wanted a cool, rustic-looking wall, but on investigation, buying reclaimed barn wood was stupid expensive. So, with further investigation (read: a lot of home improvement blogs by women who have it way more together than I do), we decided that we could create the wall for free, using wood reclaimed from pallets.

2 Ways to Tell a Story

There are two ways to tell the story of my last weekend.

In the first, I jetted off to a tropical paradise for a weekend, meeting up with a friend. We snorkeled and dined on fish fresh-caught from the nearby ocean in a boathouse on a gorgeous African table overlooking a canal. We woke in the morning and kayaked on a lagoon, drinking our coffee and watching the shore birds. We swam in the ocean and drove through the jungle to explore caves.

Quotes from This Evening's Debate

Names withheld to protect the... whatevers. And don't even try to guess, because you'd be surprised at who said what.

Pre-Debate Visitors

As you all know, we will be watching this evening's cage match, er, presidential debate. In preparation, I picked up some special brain food on my way home so we would both be in top form.

As we were out on the deck, grilling walleye (attention Colorado Springs Midwesterners... King Soopers on Unitah has fresh, wild caught walleye at the fish counter), I looked out and said...

Fall into Winter in the Park

One of my favorite places on earth, well, at least the parts of the earth I know, is Rocky Mountain National Park. And we got to go there this weekend with some of our favorite people. There were some hiccup to our weekend, like trying to camping in a windstorm of massive and freezing proportions, and an SUV that decided it no longer wanted to work, inciting a trip to Boulder to pick up a part, and ultimately, a tow. But it was a good weekend in a great place.

Fight Night at the Kelly House

Ladies and gentlemen!

You've wondered about it for years...

You've asked about witnessing the events...

You've threatened to buy tickets...

FINALLY!!! Your chance is here!

<<Cue the music... you know, something out of the Rocky soundtrack or 80's WWF>>

Announcing...

Fight Night at the Kelly's!

Potato Salad, Mason Jars, Pallet Wood, and Monkeys

This past weekend, I was putting together potato salad in preparation for having some folks over. I had boiled the potatoes and the eggs, chopped up the celery and onion. As I was stirring in the mayo and mustard, I looked at the plastic bowl I was using. "Ok," I thought, "This is good for mixing, but what do I have that I can actually SERVE this in?"

And then I thought, "Are you fricking kidding? This is an outdoor event, just refrigerate this bowl and then carry it outside at the appropriate time."

Then the other part of my brain went, "But this bowl isn't cute enough!"

The rational side of my brain then took that woman who lives in my head and wants everything "just so," shook her by the shoulders, slapped her across the face, and yelled in her ear "knock this crap off! This should be easy. EASY. Make good food. Feed it to people. Enjoy having people to your house."

And that, was my mantra for the weekend.

Capitol Reef National Park, or How My Husband Gets to Go to a Bowl Game This Year

We arrived at the campsite late-afternoon on Friday. We set up camp, which took slightly longer than usual given the short space we had for the pop-up (we were the only trailer in the primitive campsite, which was best designed for tent-camping), and we never got exactly "right," sleeping with our heads downhill. We debated going the miles up to the visitor center to get water, but ultimately decided to stick around camp for the evening and just use the six liters or so that we had brought with us. We made dinner (that gorgeous salmon), and relaxed, reading by the campfire, enjoying the light breeze, and going to bed at an hour amenable to my 93 year-old grandmother.

Leveraging What You Can To Stretch What You Have

I like travel. In fact, some recent study said (according to Eric, who was likely reading me a headline off Facebook, so I don't know about the scientific reality of this statement but I believe it) that travel makes you happier than just having stuff. This is most certainly true of me, and especially so if the travel involves being outside. Bonus points for sleeping in the outdoors.

De-Southwesting, Session 1

As it happens, this last year of moving from one quirky place to another has increased my tolerance for just living in a space. While I haven't by any stretch, turned a blind eye to the outdatedness of any given abode, nor have I refrained from commenting on the garishness of décor. However, I have learned to just live with it.

Eric on the other hand, has spent the last year waiting for the time when he could engage in house projects once again. In some ways, this has, by contrast to me, diminished his tolerance. In this house, the object of his first angst was the tile.

Race Report: Pike's Peak Ascent

Start of the 2016 Pikes' Peak Ascent

I ran up a mountain.

I RAN UP A FREAKING MOUNTAIN!!!

Like all the way to the top. From the bottom.

Ok, deep breath, get it together.

But seriously. I am not often proud of things I do. I am harder on myself than anyone I know, and generally am more self-critical than anyone I know. But I am proud of this one.

I wasn't the fastest. In fact, I'm pretty sure the woman who won the race was off the top, home, showered, and napped by the time I finished. I. Don't. Care.

I did it.

Training Above the Clouds

I'm prepping for the Ascent, as I've mentioned before. The Ascent is the annual race from the bottom to the top of Pike's Peak.

I ran to the top of that waterfall in the back.

According to everyone I've talked to, you can't just train for the Ascent the way you train for any other half-marathon - you know, go out and run. You have to practice going up, up, up. And you have to do that at elevation.

So that's what I've done. For the last five Saturdays, I've gotten up, driven to the top of Pike's Peak, ran down part way, back up and then did it again. Each Saturday, the run, the weather, the mountain itself, has been different. The only thing that has stayed the same has been the elevation.

Bruno! (Avec Accentuation)

Our house was built by a Frenchman.

Bruno!

In the last month that we have owned our home, we have discovered things about Bruno, whom we have never met, which has occasionally resulted in us shaking our fists in the air in the French manner and shouting "Bruno!"

With emphasis (avec accentuation). In a French accent.

Good Time Girl

When Anita walked into the closing, the first thing we noticed was the fire orange hair. The second thing we noticed was the extremely heavy makeup. She was obviously a bit flustered, and really ready to have this over. She carried a large handbag and was wearing a leopard print shirt.

Plant Sitting

A couple of weeks before we closed on our house, a friend of mine went out of the country and asked me to come over a couple of times to water the plants. Since she was, in fact, referring to not only her plants but the plants I asked her to watch for ME while we were between housing situations, how could I say no?

So, she gave me the garage code and the alarm code, told me how to turn off the sensors before they called the police, and left me a vase to water the flowers on her front and back porches. We figured we were set.

Let me tell you about all the ways I can screw up simple tasks, like say, closing and locking doors.

Scrub-a-Dub, or "Why Is It Taking SO Long to Unpack?"

We lived in four caretaker houses in the last year (and totally drank wine in a fifth, then packed everything back out again). Our deal with caretakers was that the clock started ticking the moment we stepped over the threshold: 5 days, and that place better be ready to show. Furniture set up, décor out, boxes tucked away. People thought we were crazy - how can you be ready to go in five days, but each time, we were.

It has now been 19 days since we moved into our "own" place, and there are still 4 boxes in the living room that I haven't opened. There are empty spaces above the kitchen cabinets, a bare wall above the fire place, and closets I haven't touched. Why is this taking so darn long??

Well, the answer to that is two-fold.

1) We really did only ever unpack a tiny fraction of what we owned each time we moved, and still have a ton of stuff, despite not one but TWO garage sales, Craigslist ads and several well-timed runs to Goodwill.

2) Dirt.

A New Chapter

Some time in December, 2014, we decided to sell our home. This singular decision ushered in 18 months of unexpected adventures, including selling our house in less than 24 hours, falling into the caretaking business, multiple crazy garage sales, moving between 5.75 homes (the house we sold, the House in the Woods, the House on the Prairie, the House in Town, that house we only kinda moved into, House 6, and our friends' home), dealing with buyers, real estate agents, sellers, repairs of every kind imaginable and then some, poop, animals, some travel thrown in there, frustration, hilarity, and a more or less permanent sense of never really knowing what was coming next.


June 25, that story came to an end. We are happy to report, we (after a little drama and delay) CLOSED on our own home. We are homeowners again, and ready to start our new adventure.

Race Report: Garden of the Gods 10 Miler

I'm writing this because life goes on, but so you know. I've written letters to all my members of Congress twice (once with the content of my previous post, once to support Senator Chris Murphy's filibuster), and this evening, called my House of Representatives member to ask him to support Rep. John Lewis's sit-in to force a vote on preventing those on terror watch lists from purchasing firearms. I do not expect him to support this, given the letter he wrote me back from an earlier contact, but I believe it is important to remind him that in his constituency, there are people that support these efforts. I stand (or sit) with John Lewis. Now, on with your regularly scheduled post.


A week ago Sunday, I did the Garden of the Gods 10 miler. I had registered for this race long before I had any idea where I would be living - something like December. As it turned out, we are staying with our wonderful, generous friends Tim and Susan at the moment. Tim is a seasoned runner (see Greenland Race Report), has run GOG several times, and he decided to run with me. However, Tim and Susan had our mutual friend Jen's girls over that weekend. On Saturday, Jen's oldest daughter caught wind that Time and I were planning to do this race. She's a naturally athletic kid, and she asked if she could run as well.

Next in Line, Please

I wrote this, and another post, on Friday, in the waiting room of the IRS office in Colorado Springs. I didn't get around to posting it, and then Sunday a mass murderer in Florida killed 49 people and wounded an additional 53. I'm not feeling the funny right now, but it seems a shame to waste a post. So, here you go. When you're done reading this, I recommend checking out Samantha Bee's rant from Full Frontal. Her thoughts are exactly mine. Sorry for the swearing. PS: I wrote all my members of Congress and plan to continue to do so until someone gives me a better idea of what to do.


I am sitting in the waiting room of the IRS right now. Today has been an interesting day.

Another Race, Another Concert and a Bonus!

Last year, I ran Ragnar then went to the U2 concert. This year, Eric rounded up some friends and they all went to surprise me with a group trip to see the one band I have probably seen the most in life, the Barenaked Ladies at Red Rocks. In short, Red Rocks will ruin you for any other concert experience.

It's an awesome place to see a show. Even better with friends!!

An Open Letter to Congress

Dear Members of Congress,


There aren't a lot of issues out there that I haven't at some point changed my mind about, thought through differently, or tweaked my nuances. However, there are a couple, and I'm writing you (again) about one today. I'm also publishing this on my blog, and some of the people that read my blog are going to be mad, but you know what. After the last mass killings, I was advised to keep quiet, and I just can't do it anymore. Unfriend me, this is that important to me.

Race Report: Ragnar Trail Relay, Snowmass

Volunteering at the aid station

So, the day we moved out of House 6, we flew to Toronto, for Memorial Day weekend and a super-duper fun time with our cousins. We love them, and we love that we all get along so well! You can't always say that about biological family, but we (ok, I, but seriously, Eric's been around for 18 years, so people are starting to forget which one is biological).

Empty Houses

May 21st was load-it-up day. This differs from moving day in one key factor: we didn't actually move out.


As it turned out, I was starting my new position on May 23. We planned to go to Toronto over Memorial Day weekend, and I was taking June 3 off to run the Ragnar Relay again.


There was simply no other days that I could be out of the office. On top of it, we needed to figure out what the heck to do with our stuff, since House 6 closed on May 31, but we wouldn't close on our own home until June 20. So, we do what we have done best for the last year: figured it out.

Something About the Month of May

Four years ago today, we announced on Facebook that we were moving to Colorado, and that our house was for sale. It was on the market for all of 6 days, and we went under contract, by owner to owners with no agent of their own. It was the final confirmation we needed that Colorado was our future home, and that Compassion was my future job. Two weeks later, my Honda Civic and I made the solo journey across the country, and I started at an organization we had fallen in love with years earlier through Jane Wangui, our first sponsored child from Kenya.

Basically this is happening right now.

On Packing and Preparing

We are 11 days out from being finished with House 6. We hit the tipping point this weekend where our décor went from "mostly intact" to "yea, they're moving," which means its now totally normal to have lawn bags sitting on the counter, a bucket with a plunger and rubber gloves in the middle of the floor, and mouthwash sitting on the staircase. All of the beds except the one we sleep on have been taken apart and the bedding packed. We took a load of stuff to the storage unit today and rearranged everything, and, because we are now Tetris wizards, we got a bunch more in there with more room for additional things.

Race Report: Race to the Shrine 10K

I know, you're thinking: another weekend, another race. This is getting boring.


Well, to that I say both "no it's not!" and "well, that's my life right now!"


Actually, this is the last race for a couple of weeks. And it was a good one!


The Race to the Shrine 10K (and its 5K component) is a fundraiser for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Now, a number of you know my tenuous relationship with zoos at best, including this one (exhibits are too small, in my opinion). However, it's also one heck of a race, and I've considered it for a couple years now.

Race Report: Second Chances 5K

Today's post is an exercise in questionable choices.


A while back, Eric was contacted by one of his strategic partners, Prison Fellowship. They were hosting a 5K fundraiser in Colorado Springs in support of their Second Prison Project, which seeks to raise awareness of difficulty prisoners have post-incarceration in finding gainful employment, and being accepted back into society, which contributes to recidivism. This was to be their inaugural event, and one of Eric's contacts at PF was flying in from Washington DC to be there. So we said we would participate.


Then I forgot about it and said I would participate in the Climb4Change. Then I forgot about that... and I ended up registering for both last week when I got my head out of my rear and remembered my commitments.

Race (?) Report: Climb4Change Power Hour

This morning was a race like I've never done before. I've done relays, short races, long races... but they all have a defined length. This race was different.

That's me, coming down.

This Time, For Real, Buy My Stuff!

We have to get on a plane the night of May 26. By May 26, we need to be packed up, not just for the trip, but for everything.


There is stuff I do not want to pack. Or move. Or see again.

A Matter of Time

You know, it's really time to move on from a house once you start remembering where you keep the super glue.


In this house, the super glue is in the box marked "kitchen desk." Eric needed it last Friday, the night after I had dreams about snow white owls craning their heads around to look at me.

Race Report: Greenland Trail 8 Mile

Full disclosure: I originally signed up for the 25K. I thought this would be the perfect race to up my game from 1/2 marathon. However, given the number of times we have moved this winter, and just general non-prioritization, I was totally not ready for that. So I dropped to the 8 mile the week before the race.

Body Damage

Sometimes, stuff happens when you engage in your favorite activities.

Delusions of Homeownership

The landscape for home buying at the moment is laughable. Well, you have to laugh or you'd cry. We've seen about 10 homes in the last week... I'm not sure of the exact number, it's a lot, and then combine that with all the homes we've already seen, the lots we've already walked, and the five builders we've met with. I'm losing track.

Tricks of the Trade

We currently live in a 5,000 square foot house. I would like to emphasize, that this is an "of the moment" house. Seriously, there just isn't anything wrong with this house, and I'm sure its going to sell sooner than later, necessitating more packing, swearing, possible-homelessness-panic, and, more likely that not (despite what I said earlier), another caretaker arrangement. As I mentioned before, it's like a drug man, you just can't quit... not until you find a better replacement (a "real" home) or hit rock bottom (I really don't want to think about what that looks like). However, I also asked my mother to please stop giving out our address, because my aunt emailed and told her that she's going to stop using pencil in her address book and just start using a white board...


However, in maintaining this mansion, I'm learning that not only am I going to have to employ every cleaning trick and shortcut I know, but I'm going to have to make a few more up as I go. In case you are wondering how to do this, here's what I know so far:

Jet Wedding

Last weekend, we headed back to Michigan to celebrate another Jet wedding.


Now, I've mentioned the Jets before. These are our non-biological family, but we might as well be blood. Our mothers all taught together, and we grew up with each other as "cousins." There is just no one else like our chosen family.

Mischief Managed

As it turns out, after an extremely drama filled week, we're staying in House 6 for a bit longer.


After the call on Thursday afternoon that the house was under contract, we stopped unpacking (the little that was left to unpack). We looked at each other and went, "we can't keep doing this." Frankly, we're tired. Really, really tired. Two moves in a week will make you physically tired, but a solid year of moving, being ready for showings (although, in all reality, we have NOT, in the all the houses we've lived in, had the massive onslaught of showing that the current market in Colorado - 14 in a day, 50 in a weekend - bears), not knowing where we're going next, etc., will wear you out. We've been looking for a house and/or property, as we've mentioned, but haven't found anything yet. So Saturday, we spent most of the day walking properties, looking at houses, and then going from apartment complex to apartment complex to find a less chaotic temporary space (and trust me, I use the phrase "less chaotic" lightly).

So Much Fun, Let's Do It Again

It's beginning to look like Groundhog Day around here.


When we first moved in to the House in Town, the washing machine broke, in the middle of the spin cycle. We called our agency and the homeowner sent a guy out, who took a look, declared the belt shot, and ordered a part. He came back and installed it.


The day before Easter, as I was packing the kitchen, I smelled smoke. The washing machine, which was cleaning the last loads of laundry before the move, started making a weird noise. I went to look...


And smoke was billowing out of the machine. Clouds. We unplugged it, opened the lid, and it burped an enormous puff of foul-smelling air. Eric insisted that there were no flames, but listen, I have some experience here. Where there's smoke, there's fire, I said. We didn't, as it turned out, burn down, but I ended up finishing the laundry at MaryJane and Chris's during Easter dinner (thanks guys!) The same guy came out, took a look, declared the motor shot, and ordered the part.

Attack of the Garage Sale Zombies

 

As you know, we are moving, and I'm over our "stuff." So, we're selling it, and we decided to have a garage sale. So, we did what people do these days: went through the house, rounded up stuff, priced it, and posted notice on Craigslist that we would be having a garage sale.

I wrote the garage sale posting, following what I saw other do and have done in the past. I posted the address, the time, and the date. I listed a description of what we would have, photos, and, based on prior experience, listed what we wouldn't have.

Buy My Stuff, Please!

So, in just over a week, we're moving.


I have no idea where we're moving to.


Again.


To the fifth house in a year.


I won't lie, this one smarts a little bit. Really, for a couple of reasons, namely, I SPECIFICALLY asked my agency for the weirdest, most dated, chopped up house that would be sure to stay on the market for a while. And they did. It even had a completely dilapidated roof that needs to be replaced, sooner than later. And then we moved in. And then it sold.


Apparently, we make these places look good.

Anti-Dentite

Did you see that Seinfeld episode?

I may have become an anti-dentite.

Hoot Hoot

Over the weekend, owls showed up on my Facebook and Eric's Twitter accounts. We tried not to look at them.


Didn't matter.


Closing date on this house will be April 7. I assume we'll move the weekend before.


Frigging owls.

Weekday Skiing

View from the Continental Divide over Loveland Pass

A week ago, while leaving Eric home to rest and recouperate, I engaged in the time honored Colorado tradition of actually taking a day off work and going skiing. You know, like I actually live here and can do that kind of thing. Prior to this, I had only ever been skiing in Colorado on a weekend, with the tourists and the weekend pricing.

I like this day off thing better.

Caucus Raucous

What a weird political process this caucus thing is! After hearing about this mysterious way of completing the primary election for so many years, I'm finally living in a state that caucuses! For those of you who've been here, and done this, go ahead and skip this post, but for those of the rest of you, mystery solved! And since my political proclivities are out of the very loosely tied bag, why not share.

Shingles

The house we're in finally goes on the market tomorrow. It's been a nice break, being able to move into a house that wasn't on the market yet, and getting a solid month of living with relatively few disruptions. The day we signed the paperwork to move it, we were informed that the homeowner, for reasons we don't know (although, I can imagine), had fired his realtor. He took several weeks to interview potential realtors (which, for both selfish and practical reasons, we approve of these steps!), including having two do a walk-through of the home to give him a valuation. He's finally found one, and yesterday she came to put a sign in the yard.

Dear Republicans

Dear Republicans,


Hi.


As much as I generally (and on the advice of counsel, mainly, my husband) keep politics out of my blog, I think its time that you and I had a conversation. See, I've been watching you, your party, and the endless stream of live debates in various states with great interest. Frankly, from my seat, what's going on on your side right now looks more like an all-in cage match at a WWE competition than serious political discourse.

The Adventures of Flat Stanley in Colorado

Stanley at the top of the Incline

A couple weeks ago, we got a text from our friend, Hannah, back in Michigan. Her son was doing a project for school. The class read the story of Flat Stanley, a student who was flattened by a chalkboard. The kids cutout and colored their own versions of Flat Stanley, and then were directed to send Flat Stanley to different places to learn about life there. Hannah asked if they could send Flat Stanley to us.

Flat Stanley arrived at our house last Friday. It turned out to be a good weekend for a visitor. Here's how Flat Stanley spent his time in Colorado...

What They Don't Tell You

A little over a year ago, I made a full-stop on eating meat. I originally gave it a six-month commitment, but a year on, I don't really have any plans to go back, and so far, I pretty much like it. I won't rule out ever eating meat again, especially if its wild, shot by a local hunter. Or a buffalo, because those things don't put up with being force fed, raised improperly, or injected with hormones (I'm making an assumption on that last one). However, so far, unless it can survive under water for more than 24 hours, I don't eat it. I have taken to describing myself as a vegetarian, but I'm not totally comfortable with that description yet either.

Making the Party Happen

Spoiler: This blog post ends with the line "And that is how I smuggled 40 coney dogs past MotorCity Hotel Security."


So, as you all know, Eric turned 40. To celebrate, we had a party for Eric in Michigan just before his birthday. It was so super cool to see how many people came out to help Eric celebrate.

The House in Town

As I mentioned in my last post, the newest house in caretaking adventure was built in the mid-60s. 1964, to be precise.


To quote Eric, "this house might be the most special."


Although I've never actually seen the show, I think its possible that we are living on the set of Mad Men.

4th House in a Year

I've been super busy with  birthdays and work and moving and friends in town and family in town and oh yea, a blizzard this week that I'm behind in telling you about all of this.


This post is about moving into house number 4 in one year.

Owls

When we sold our first house, several days before we moved, there was an owl in the front tree. It was the first time I had seen (at least as an adult) an owl in the wild, and I remember thinking "why couldn't this have shown up when we lived here?"

Two weeks before we moved out of the House in the Woods, I heard owls outside our window, several nights in a row. Again, I thought, "why haven't they been around before? Why do owls show up when I'm leaving somewhere?"

This Guy = 40!

Southern California

 My best friend turns 40 years old today.

This guy.

40?

Maybe in age, but youthful as ever in spirit, in love, in adventure.

Plus, 40 just isn't that old.

Happy birthday Eric, I love you!