Inches and inches!

Well, I at least wanted it to SOUND dirty. I'm safely holed up in Denver. Yes, there's snow. Lots of it. The drive to Denver on Thursday was fine. Didn't even see any snow until I was almost right in the city. It's not all fun and games, though. There are many inches of snow on the ground, and since we didn't want to drive all the way to downtown for cocktails last night, Jerry and I tried to go see Dreamgirls just a bit south of the condo. A quick bite of dinner first, and then to the theater...which closed 15 minutes before we got there. *sigh* We ventured out for nothing! So back home for cocktails with Mary and her boyfriend. Never let it be said snow will prevent our merry-making.

Sadly, there wasn't enough snow to keep Jerry from having to work at the post office today. So at 7:30am we were back out in it, headed for Highlands Ranch. See, my car Georgina has all-wheel drive. Half of everything is closed today. They're keeping the main roads plowed very well here, and getting there and back was no stress at all. If you have half a brain cell and don't drive like a maniac, you're fine. As long as I don't encounter a jackass who's in too big of a hurry, I'm not worried!

As cold and snowy as it is, we've been commenting on how beautiful it is. The snow is falling down, not sideways. For a Wyoming boy, that's a little odd. There's a thick blanket of white on everything. The trees are gorgeous! It's quiet and peaceful. Everything's moving at a slower pace. There's food in the fridge, booze on ice, and movies galore! I brought my crocheting, my jewelry making kit, and my stationary so there's plenty to do. I'm leaving for the store in a minute to buy cow then drive to meet Scotty and Craig. We're going to cook steak and eggs for breakfast.

The moral of today's story: there's beauty and something positive in anything. Look at it from another perspective. Rather than focusing on the cold, look at the beauty of the trees, the snow, and the chance to pause for a moment.

Happy Holly-gays!

A friend recently sent me a holiday card. I like it so much, I thought I'd share it with all my readers. Hope your holidays are a hoot, a holler, and a half!

It's my qwhat-a-mal-en-ness

You know...my natural heat. Today, I was scheduled to play racquet/handball with some of the boys. They, however, are afraid of me. Brendon was so ashamed of his impending loss that he failed to show up. Linus went so far as to feign a stomach bug and beg off sick. He started this fabrication yesterday, so he must be sore afraid. Ben was so frightened I'm not even sure he knew we were playing today! Aaron is truly terrified, because he has yet to even face me on the court.

I realize that being such a butch and athletic homo I strike terror into the hearts of (so-called) men, but COME ON. To stand me up completely? On the up side, I did finally play a worthy opponent: myself! Apparently 30 minutes of one-on-none racquetball can work up quite a sweat. It will no doubt make me that much tougher on the court, and I might never get the boys to come back to the gym.

Yup, you guessed it. I'm calling them out! If you play racquetball or handball, bring it on! I'm here through break, and willing to whoop up on people, singles or doubles. If there's three, we can play cut-throat.

Some days you're the windshield...

(Oops! I meant to post my Xmas card to everyone before I left for Denver. I scanned and loaded the image, but didn't get it linked. I'm a doing like that!)

I am officially in the holiday spirit. I had an early Xmas, or as I like to call it the Holly-Gays, in Denver. I got to spend time with Josh, which hadn't happened in months thanks to conflicting schedules. I got to give and receive a few presents. And I got to spend time with some amazing people.

There was the Christmas party at Mark and Alan's. Tres fab! A private tour of "Blossoms of Light," the light display at the Denver Botanical Gardens. Mark designs and puts it together each year as a contract, and I know just about all of his holiday elves who help wrap strand after strand of lights. This year the display was ranked #2 in the nation by AOL City Guide. There were cocktails once or twice (ha ha ha) and some new friends made. Stories, jokes, and incriminating evidence...we had it all. I left Denver feeling pretty darned good about things. Even the weather seemed to cooperate and give me a chance for one last lunch with the boys!

Then I got on I-25. Road conditions were NOT bad. Drivers, however, were dumb. 3 accidents between Denver and Fort Collins made for some VERY slow driving. I don't like doing 20 mph on the interstate, much less 3 mph. Finally north of FoCo, I decided to avoid the truck traffic I knew would be an issue between Cheyenne and Laramie. I buzzed across Owl Canyon Road without incident, though I did go a bit slower because of snow on the road. 287 wasn't bad either, and what little traffic existed was moving along at a very safe yet respectable 45-50 mph. Just before the Wyoming border, however, a semi driver was being...well, stupid.

Please note that driving too slow for conditions is ALSO dangerous. We'd been following him for 20 minutes, and traveled only 5 miles. Laramie was 25 miles away, and I knew that the vein in forehead would burst before I could stand another full hour of driving behind this twit. I'd already been on the road for 2.5 hours, after all. Traffic began to back up, and was up to a mile long before I was able to es-ca-pe (as Dorie told Nemo's dad).

After 3 hours of high stress driving, I returned home. I dropped off some holiday cheer to some of my friends and returned to the house at about 9pm. The visits had returned me to a calm state, and I felt no desire to scream. Then I went to bed at 10:30pm. And found the downstairs toilet was stuck running, and the reserve tank (clean water, thankfully) had overflowed. So I got to mop the bathroom clean for an hour before bed.

...and some days you're the bug.

I know the universe will not give me more than I can handle. Sometimes I just wish it didn't trust me so much! - Paraphrase from Mother Teresa