Back From the Land of the Lost

Holy neglected Blog Batman! I have been so busy at the new job I haven't even had time to think about posting.. but I'm getting faster every day and though I'll probably never have the time I used to mess around with this, I will get to the point that I can at least keep it somewhat updated.

Here is a pic of our Sentinel... keeping watch over his subjects below....

Eric went skiing with Tommy and I on Saturday for his last lesson for the season. It was snowing and sticking in his beard.. I couldn't get a great pic of it, but check out how much of a snow monster he is!

Hmmmm so what else is new? Well, last Friday Nanuk busted out of the room (again...) and got up on the counters, got them all muddy and ate all of our bagels, english muffins and loaf of bread that we had on the counter. These types of occurrences, as well as other property damaging incidents, happen frequently. This happened to be the last straw for Eric. He was really angry, which is unusual for my normally sweet and patient lover, and wanted to get rid of Nanuk. I, of course, broke down in tears and pleaded his case. For compromise, we decided to always chain him up every time we leave the house... good for a temporary fix, but the problem is this: his naughtiness simply can't be contained so easily. Everywhere you put him outside, and believe me there have been numerous spots, gets thoroughly destroyed. So we've taken to putting him in the very back of the yard which he has turned into his personal mud wallow. Which means that when you bring him in it takes 10 minutes of scrubbing to render him acceptable... sort of, he's still pretty muddy. And it gets me all dirty in the morning before work and also makes me late. So this weekend we are planning on buying him a dog run... I'm sure it'll be trial and error to get it to actually work for us, everything with him is. But I think that we can make it work. Also I am surprising Eric on Sunday by taking him skiing at the Canyons (free radio passes) and to Ruth's Chris Steak House at Hotel Park City (gift cert from Eric's mom), should be fun. Have a great Valentine's weekend all...

1st Skiing Adventure of the Season/Year

Due to time and financial constraints, I haven't been up skiing yet this season. Thanks to Tommy graciously taking skiing lessons through the National Ability Center though, I was able to get up with him to Park City Mountain Resort on Saturday. Parking up there is a nightmare, so even though the lesson wasn't until 11:45, we got there at 10:30. We were able to find parking no problem but that left me with an anxious 8 year old to entertain during the long wait. Fortunately, he was just happy and excited and was perfectly behaved the whole time. Here we are waiting:

While waiting we also ran into my old friend and mentor, Kris Vipond. She was the director at the preschool I used to teach at, Total Energy. This woman is amazing! She can walk into a room of screaming angry children, no matter the age, and instantly captivate them. She was an inspirational motivation to me throughout my Early Childhood teaching career. It's people like her that drive that industry continually to better things. I now know so many important things about Early Childhood Development... it was a very fulfilling career field - except for financially. I'm certainly far from making the big bucks, but I'm rolling in the dough compared to most of the measly salaries offered by preschools. It's an under-paid, under-appreciated job that really needs more attention. I could obviously go on and on... Anyway, it was really sweet to see her again.

When we hit the slopes we took a couple of practice runs, but were soon up on the mountain doing some real skiing. He is so amazing! Look at him go here, he's leaning forward to get some momentum....

Just doing the run itself wasn't enough for him, he had to keep going up on the sides and skiing down...

It was lots of fun, he's getting so good! Won't be long before he's better than me, and I'm thankful that his lessons get me out on the slopes too.

On Sunday I FINALLY! finished Eric's blanket. I have been crocheting this thing since October. Here he is snuggling into it...


And here his on the bed with it.

Now that it is done, I might make on for the kitties because they love it so much. Tomorrow I get to go on Syrena's field trip. I am looking forward to spending some time with her... she has been quite sassy lately (damn you teenage hormone changes!) and I think this will be a great experience for both of us.