Important OutNumbered Announcements

Hi all,

A few important announcements

OutNumbered is potentially in the process of maybe moving, I have secured my domain name in a couple places and am playing around with things to see what I like. I will keep this page until then and likely for a little while after but that is a big part of why there have been no recent posts - I have spent lots of my free time playing around with other host sites.

New link will come as soon as I make a final decision.

Because I haven't been posting I am stocked full of Halloween pictures and stories and promise those will go up soon, thank you for your patience.

And thank you for your continued patience through the duration of November. I am starting a writing challenge/competition that was recommended by my "blog buddy" and it will not only take a great deal of my time but likely make me cranky, tired, and my posts shorter, sweeter and more picture based.

Stay tuned for all the big changes.

B

Refuge

I am suspended between the past and future, held by a spider's fillament stretched across a river.
We lost control. Laughs turned into tears into side splitting hysteria.
I must also learn to hold a space for myself, to not give everything away.
A person with cancer dies in increments, and part of you slowly dies with them.
I am adrift with no anchor to hold me in place. A few months ago this would have frightened me, today it does not.
My refuge exists in my capacity to love. If I can learn to love death then I can begin to find refuge in change.

Terry Tempest Williams

Funny Thing About Plans

What happens when you make all sorts of wonderful plans for the weekend? Everything goes wrong...

Aiden and I had hopes to go see the cars from Cars 2 at the children's museum this weekend, but the line was so bad, we gave up.

Fortunately, the Denver Aquarium is right next door so we were able to adjust our plans a bit and still have a fun afternoon. The last time I went with Aiden to the aquarium was 10 months ago, and he loved everything. Now, he has a bigger vocabulary and is pointing things out, naming them, and also showing a bit more reservation toward the creatures he isn't so sure of...

Aiden had no problem with the duck - except that it was reddish which in his mental schema for "duck" (check out that devt. psych vocab!) makes no sense

So he had to get a little closer to inspect

He wasn't so sure about this guy - just in time for Halloween, he has been categorizing scary things as either "ghost" or "monster." This of course is a "monster" since part of being a "ghost" means living either in a tree or in water...??? I have no idea.

He was fine with the big green snake at first, partly because he couldn't see it.

Then not so much...oddly enough, even though it was living in a tree, it was categorized "a monster."

He still really likes the big blue aquarium tanks of fish, but won't get close to the glass like he used to. I think it makes kind of an optical illusion for him which makes him a little uncomfortable.

I liked that he got so close the big fish, even though he could fit in their bellies whole, he still really wanted to investigate them.

Tigers were no problem, he really likes big cats, though still calls them all "lions."

He had no problem with the sharks, but boy was he unhappy when he came face to face with a scuba diver at the window. It was peculiar the way he was saying "no!" to the diver - I don't know if he was worried that a person was in the tank, worried because the person looked so goofy, or if he even knew it was a person, but it really seemed to be messing with his mental processing of what he was looking at.

So that adventure was exciting, even though it wasn't what we planned on. 

Nothing ever is.

Point in case -- Frank (my car) blowing it's transmission on Sunday morning in Silverthorne.

Nothing is open on a Sunday, in case you were wondering. And also in case you were wondering, Allstate's 24-Hour Roadside Emergency Service, is the least helpful bunch of people EVER.

Thank God for nice guys in small towns.

We pulled over at an auto parts place and asked a couple of dirty messy men to help check the transmission fluid and fill it up.

Unfortunately, that did not do the trick. We got a tow from a nice guy who wasn't even open on Sundays and Mom drove to Silverthorne to get us then take us all the way home to Denver.

This blows.

My car is sitting in Silverthorne with a full tank of gas and a damn near new timing belt, and will probably be done for by the end of the week.

When we finally made it home, Kelly came over to watch a scary movie while Bubba ran around like a maniac after all the sitting still he had to do.

Thank goodness for good pals, helpful parents and a flexible kiddo.

Adventures in Wine, Decadence and the Ghetto

Last night I had the fine privilege of being one of my best friend's dates to a special wine and food pairing dinner at 1515 Restaurant. She had to do it for school and I got to trail along for fun - since I have been working on my wine palate recently, she thought it would be interesting for me. And I learned a lot! But mostly I ate a lot...

At first I was a little overwhelmed to see our table set up and almost called my Dad for a ride home before dinner even started...

I'm not by any means a fan of wine, but what I do like is sweet and white so I really liked the first glass we had with our asparagus soup (which was awful itself).

That lump in the middle is a whole big egg, which I am not convinced was cooked all the way.

Then came my new favorite wine, it tasted like butter. Which was fitting since I spent the entire day online trying to buy butter flavored chapstick. The wine went really well with the chicken and sweet bread dish we had next.

The bread and sauce was a major highlight of the evening for me.

After that we had our main course - short ribs that had been braised for 48 hours.

 It was so good, I meant to stop eating it since I was getting painfully full but just plum forgot. Speaking of plums, there was a thin slice of seared peach under meat...so delicious. One of the most innovative meals I have ever had.

This was the "wine situation" when dessert started

Dessert was like a fried ice cream with basil sauce. I didn't much care for the basil but the ice cream was amazing. The chef used sweet corn instead of sugar to flavor it. I also didn't care one little bit for the Port wine that came with it. YUCK!

It took some serious effort to even stand up when dinner was over. I should have worn pregnancy pants to dinner (a-la Joey Tribbiani)

When I got out of downtown, I happened upon some horrific car accident on 6th avenue which kept traffic at a dead stop for what seemed like forever. Not because the accident was really so bad but actually because all the people headed the opposite direction were watching the flashing lights as it was being cleaned up instead of the road. 

I was in so much pain from being so full I though I might die there. So I decided to pull off 6th ave and proceeded to get lost between 6th and 15th streets (latitudinally) and Lowell and Sheridan (longitudinally) while looking for the least offensive place to barf on someone's yard.

Needless to say, I did not find a non-offensive, well lit lawn for my needs. 

I felt much better when I was home safe and slept like a baby last night for a few reasons:

1. Aiden has been sleeping all night in his bed by himself
2. Homework done
3. Pure exhuastion

4. I had this for dinner...

Aiden Reads A Book

Since Aiden's school is really amping up the importance of reading right now (which I am totally on board with) it seemed appropriate to let him read his own bedtime story last night.

He's done better before but it's still cute, and I apologize that the camera work is shaky...I was hoping to show what the pages actually say so it makes sense...enjoy!!

Sunken Gardens

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

I love Halloween. October is when all the scary movies come out. Being scared (while safely in my home and what ever monster is in the box) is a favorite pastime of mine. I crave really good scary books. Even B-rate horror movies do it for me -- don't judge me if I dare say they are my favorite genre.

Anyway, I found out this morning that one of my favorite Stephen King's is coming to TV - mini series style!!

If anyone is as nerdy as I...you will remember that last time this happened (not counting Nightmares & Dreamscapes) was Salem's Lot. Book gave me nightmare's for at least a month and the mini series did it a beautiful justice.

This has me so amped up for Halloween. I even asked my best friend if I could borrow the Salem's Lot mini series to get into the mood. Not that I really need it, because recently watched was 30 Days of Night and Dawn of The Dead...

Hottie Hartnett as a Vampire

Sara Polley fighting off the masses

While zombies are "the in-thing" right now, and I will admit, a personal obsession of mine...they will be around all year round, for years to come. So what I am looking forward to are some seriously chilling ghost stories. Those just don't come along as often.

Which is why I am so looking forward to...

the continued terrifying creepiness that is American Horror Story on FX

Paranormal Activity 3 which will be out in a couple days...

and as soon as I get a free minute I can't wait to catch up on the season 2 premier of Walking Dead

Then to tie me over for a bit, Bucket List Books is slated to read "The Woman In White" by Wilkie Collins for December - highly regarded as the first ever mystery novel.

Awesome sleepless nights ahead :)

Do you play Doh?

Aiden does...he loves it...the carpet, my jeans and hair hate it though.

This little boy has been so spoiled recently. He is hard to say no to, so we have been dragging the play doh around with us everywhere. Hey, what kind of person would I be if I didn't give other people the chance to get their carpets re-done??

Life is a Circus

Some days you are running around in circles and people are looking at you like, "What the hell is happening right now??"

And sometimes it takes you a freaking half hour to change a light bulb, the more you ask for help, the harder it gets...

And sometimes, you are hanging on for dear life. You can't get your feet on the ground. You can't see straight. And the world keeps on spinning and no one will let you off the ride.

Sometimes you are out there all alone, with all eyes on you and you do everything right and you don't miss a beat...

Other days, people tell you to just sit and be pretty.

Every now and then you have to kiss some ass and wait in line

And you have to keep at it even when you just want to sit down.

And it's all well and good....

As long as you get to dance like an elephant sometimes too...