Snow day - our way

The front bench with what may be about 20" on the seat it was pretty light and fluffy now.

Neighbor to the south had cool icicles

Snow angels in progress

more process on the angels. looks pretty fluffy

My guess is we won't be grilling today :) about 18 inches or so in the back yard maybe 20

Done with snow angels.

Neighbor tree

Me- glasses are photogray and change to a pretty dark shade in all this light

Yeah we shoveled.

Hh and I shoveled and draged a large fallen branch and trash cans, and made snow angels well she did - it was pretty chilly but still it was beautiful too.

More from Breckenridge Testing

More high kicking maddness, this was the fun stuff and at least they were moving.

Early on sunday morning this was the lovely view street side and just waking up with a light dusting of snow.

More pictures of the Many participants.

ski slope and mountain side - just waking on the Sunday morning. look at all that frosting !

breckenridge excellence - black belt testing

Lots of testers for this Prep Cycle

After getting the final belt with old ones on the floor

Kicking and endurance were part of the testing too

Tons of sitting and waiting and waiting some more focus and fidget less?? yuk that was the hardest part I am sure

All Those men are VIP's our G.M. Seo and his G.M. Kim are the middle and Hh on the right side with the other 19 testers in her group

High Brown Achieved !

A long weekend in Breckenridge with Seo's National Karate- HH has achieved the rank of High Brown belt the real first step to black belt excellence. The trip was pleasant and there was a ton of hurry up and wait all weekend long. This is a pretty typical scenario with GM Seo. I did tons of sitting so did Hh mostly on the hard carpeted floors. She says she even got a butt chap LOL :)

1st time black belt testing

Last of the Prep cycle classes :)

Waiting on instruction conditional black belts and the brown belts ( 1st time testers)

We are off for the hills tomorrow, the Black belt testing in Breckenridge- Hh going for her high brown belt. It will be grueling and she is ready but nervous I think. We will leave the pups at home and J says he will come up and feed them, and put them to bed. He will need to feed fish too! I am glad he is going to come up and help.

we are arming ourselves with books, books on tape and laptops- it will be a lot of sitting and waiting and stuff. we will take protien bars for Hh as she will most likely not get a full meal for two days.

I will take photos and possibly video - look for those post to come next week.

colorado fall foilage

neighbor to the east of our home ( backyard) has a really pretty tree- though you might like it too.

I am on my way to Colorado Springs and Planning for retirement presentations tomorrow at the University of Colorado - UCCS - should be good, hoping for a good turn out - but we did not mail advertise this year. only e-mail blasts and campus news items.

this is national retirement planning week and new limits for 401k and tax defered programs should be set soon for the upcoming calander year. Will update here in a few days.

School Confrences at M Middle

I went to the Middle school parent teacher conferences this evening , the only teacher I didn't get to meet with LOVES hh so I think that was o.k.

She is doing well and being heavily recruited to all the local area HS programs in IB ( international baccalaureate) . The rest of the teachers had also good things to say. Some had constructive comments to help her do even better. !! She is spending all her homework time doing Math - algebra- advanced for her age but she is doing well. So overall nothing bad to say.

The " prep cycle" for Karate has been grueling and we are coming to the home stretch there too. I am spending my time waiting for October to be done :) but we are going through it at a faster clip than I thought possible. Hh is looking pretty buff after 8 weeks, I am up to 50 crunches almost every night now and my what a good habit that is too. :)

We got some school photos and will be sending those out in a few days as I can, find a bit of time to make a few cards. Look for those in the snail mail to our PEEPs who read here regularly.

That's all for now folks.

one of the cutest things I have seen in a while

this u tube video is cute

Happy at work action day

Take action to be happier at work- from Karl of the same type of paost last monday.....

Many people have been letting me know that doing all four elements of the Happy at Work Action Day will feel forced. I suggest picking two and making that your mission today.

4 Rules to Happiness at Work Action Day

1. Celebrate! (i.e.Throw an office party.)
2. Reward a deserving co-worker or client.
3. Reward yourself for a recent accomplishment.
4. Take 5 minutes to reflect on the crazy beauty in your life.

Check out his blog for great suggestions- not just action today!

#4- The crazy beauty of my life right now is the amount of things that will need to be done in October. Work has been super busy- and will continue to be through the end of the month.
Hh is in the middle of prep-cycle that will be everyweekend this month, plus additional weekdays and extra stuff, her homework is loaded up as well, she is stressing out. I just want to veg. and not so a thing.... I will need to wait until november! - but then we will have a few days off right at the end of november- so I will set my sights there and try to live in the present and take care of the now, with a wish for a future little relief.

round and round it goes

Where it stops nobody knows !!

maybe after next week this week will seem like a nightmare and we will wake up an realize we are still in our own bed?

the madness at work continues, the phone the e-mail the letter! yikes - I took another 60+ calls today- we can't get any regular work done, we are all in hyper mode.

Hh has had a cold/cough /sore throat on and off for 2 weeks, we are all run down and on the edge. We need a break- I am actaully waiting for Nov.1 as I feel my october is so busy I don't even want to go through it.