A Likely Story!

It Was The Best Of Nites...

..it was the worst of nites.

Last nite was.

Started out oh so promising...getting ready to go out, listening to Ween, Neko and LTJ, in a great mood, killer sunset in the sky and catching up with FL buddies on the drive over to Cherry Creek.

First stop at Cost Plus World Market which I LOVE and did without in FL. I'm telling you, their Indonesian Teak candles are TO DIE FOR and smell so yummy that ya wanna shove 'em up your nose. If they made a fragrance for men, I would buy it for every single guy I know who would then get lucky beyond his wildest dreams...it is THAT great of a smell where women want to...well, you get my drift. It's hot!

Found the shoe boxes I needed at BB&Beyond which was conveniently across the parking lot...not a 100% match to satisfy my anal-retentiveness, but close enough.

Next stop, a place to eat with several TV's for NBA viewing. And that's where it went downhill pretty quick.

Got a dreaded cluster headache (used to get them all the time in FL) and by the time I got home I could barely see to drive. Long story very short, slammed down my personal remedy of 4 Alleve (upped it to 6), chugged a can of Coke and had a piece of chocolate...the only reason I keep chocolate around. Made it upstairs and last thing I remember was falling on my bed around 9...woke up on my closet floor at 3 am.

Have no idea how I got there or what happened when I got there. Pretty freaky feeling, actually. Especially when I have to walk thru my bedroom then thru my bathroom to get to my closet.  Yeah, that part has had me weirded out all day.

Went downstairs when I woke up and all the lights were still on, the groceries from King Soopers still on the counter. Guess I had the presence of mind to put away the cold stuff cause that was in the fridge. Made it back to bed at 4 and slept until my alarm went off.

Talked to an RN buddy of mine...she said the changing of seasons can do it, so maybe that's what caused it? Who knows?  Seems I called Howard at some point. He called today to check up on me and I had no idea what he was talking about. I HOPE I didn't call any of you and not remember? Jillian? Scottie? Anyone else?  I mean, it's humorous (sorta) to DD someone. Not humorous to call someone and sound like I'm dying.

Gonna stay in tonite and do the closet stuff I never did last nite. Tomorrow is Girl's Day Out with Elise, and she's coming to my place first to check out all the home improvements. My house is pretty clean right now, but one more go-round won't hurt....plus it'll make me feel good.

Best of all buddies, Daylight Savings Time starts this WEEKEND. YES! My favorite day of the year. And Monday I'm off from work for the Rockies Home opener. A 3 day weekend for me...wahoo!

Let's hope no more worst nites on the horizon for a very long time.

It's The Little Things

Got a surprise care package today from 3 of my work buddies in Boca. My all-time FAVORITE line The Thymes , best smelling foofy bath products you've ever sniffed. Normally I hate the smell of Eucalyptus, but this stuff I massively love. And had just run out of it 2 days ago and was starting to go thru withdrawals.

No more shakes for me, cause look what they sent:

Totally made my day and really made me miss my buddies.

Just got off work - YAY- and sitting here wondering what to do.

Put my kite together and fly it? Finally break down and buy food at King Sooper's, which I have been meaning to do since last Friday but haven't quite gotten around to it? Take a shower and head out for a night on the town to watch basketball? Cruise by Bed, Bath and Beyond so I can get more shoe organizing bins for my ever increasing Merrell collection? Or trek down to DTC area and go the The Container Store  and size up their shoe containers? What to do?

Did a bit of organizing last night on the CD front...dusted off my bookshelf that holds the CD's, put all the stray ones back into their cases, thought about organizing them alphabetically...that's as far as that got, tho. They were organized alpha before I moved...one day will do it again, but that day is not today.

Actually, could get into a huge organizing frenzy tonite. My house is pretty much there for the most part but I can always find stuff to tweak.

Organizing and creating order out of chaos is akin to crack for me. LOVE LOVE LOVE doing it. That show 'Mission:Organization' on HGTV? That's my 'Lost', 'Project Runway' and 'American Idol' all rolled into one. Oooh yeah!

OK, now that you all know waaay more about my love for organizing than is probably healthy, am gonna get offline and go out and do something...the day is too gorgeous to waste by staying inside.

Bad News/Good News

Little? Jillian? Big?

I need for you guys to sit down. Take a deep breath. Don't skip ahead and start reading the links. Have some tragically bad news for you.

Ready?

Remember how we'd planned that we'd celebrate this when we celebrated this.

It's not happening. They're 10 days apart. Yeah.

So it doesn't look like we'll be dressed in Pirate Gear while weaving our way from booth to booth tasting Porters and IPA's. No drunken arrrgs. No saucy pirate wench t-shirts. Sorry babes, it's not gonna happen.

The Good News?

Well, not to rub salt in the wound, but I'll get to go to both cause I live here. HELLYA!

Don't hate me, k??

ps- One more juicy bit of good news...found out minutes ago Denver has  The Container Store ..could life get any better? I think not.

And I've Been Sleeping Nightly On My Best Friends Kitchen Floor

Over the last 24 hours I've downloaded 473 songs into my iTunes. Once I finished with Tom's stash, I started going thru stuff I already had but had never gotten around to transferring over.

That's being taken care of post haste.

When I got the OAR CD the other day, the song 'Wonderful Day' sorta kinda reminded me of Less Than Jake...who sorta remind me of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Have seen LTJ in concert twice. They kick. They rock. They blow...horns.

Flashback time when I listened to 'The Science of Selling Yourself Short'...one of my favorite LTJ songs to sing-along to when I got totally shitfaced...at the top of my lungs with my other equally shit-faced chickie buddies. That song used to remind us of A LOT of FL boys. OK. MOST FL boys. (Not you, Chris...you're one of the good ones!).

So yeah, sitting here thinking back to the FL days. Seems like ages ago when it was really less than 3 months ago.

Talked to Howard for the longest time tonite over 4 separate calls. He'll be 1/2 way thru Respiratory school by mid-May. Huge milestone. Trying to convince him that there WILL be a light at the end of the tunnel. And he WILL meet cute hot young chickies (the only type he's ever interested in) once he graduates and starts working in a hospital. Told him to hang in there and not settle for his 'chick from the past' ...never settle...ever.

He says it's easy for me to say, hard for him to live. I tell him to grow a backbone, then anything will be possible. He says I'm retarded. Then we both say goodnite and hang up. Just like the gazillion other calls we've had over the years.

Then he calls back to say thanks for the encouragement. And the last rent check that I sent him that he's finally gonna cash. And I tell him to hang in there, and he's his own worst enemy.

Just like the song says.

Spanish Eddie Would Be Proud

Have totally indoctrinated my buddy Tom into All Things Ween. Helped him download CD's into his new iBook this afternoon...'Quebec' and 'Chicago Live' were among the first CD's he copied...and he's gonna copy the accompanying DVD from 'Chicago Live' into his iPod which has video capacity. Nice, huh?

Another one falls into the Ween trap.

29 July can't come soon enough.

Another Wacky Idea?

Lots of things running thru my mind lately...they're keeping me up at night and waking me at the ungodly hour of 5:08 for the last 4 days in a row...WTF?

Found out I'm getting a tax refund. First time I haven't had to pay in 3 years. Part of me wants to take a week long cruise or trip to somewhere tropical. The other part wants to put the refund into a money market account.

My biggest wacky idea du-jour is to start having roommates again (one for each empty room and I'll move my office into my bedroom) so I can pay my house off in 5 years. Yeah, I know I'll have no tax write-offs (for a mortgage anyway) if I do that. But still, for some reason this idea has sunk into my grey matter and I can't get it out of my mind.

No worries all of you that plan on coming to stay for TLAP weekend. Won't start the roomie rush until after my multitude of summer guests have come and gone...Pirate guests included.

On a totally different note, I've had the windows open for the last 2 days...go figure cause the weather is beyond awesome here in 'almost heaven'...and I've noticed birds singing. I love the sound of birds singing. It makes me happy.

Having lunch when I'm starvin' Marvin also makes me happy, so I am outta here to Qdoba cause I am BEYOND starved right now.

Cya.

Out Of The Closet

Blog-ically speaking!

Told one of my former clients turned new friend about my blog tonite. You know how you get to the point where you trust someone and feel comfortable letting them know more about your personal life...quirks, foibles and massive love for CD’s aside? So I reached that point tonite and now Joyce knows what blogs are and that I have one.

Scott suggested the title of the post and I had to run with it.

My day after work was memorable and expensive! Helped my buddy Tom get his brand new iBookG4 and suggested he throw in the 60GBIPod as well. HE LISTENED TO ME! SWEET!! What a wise man!

Then he cracked that thanks to me, this is the most money he’s ever spent in one day. He joked on the way out of the Apple store that this was just a warm-up to the house he’s getting ready to buy over the next month. Told him I’d go with him to his closing and that way he could blame me for his iBook, IPod and house purchase, all wrapped into one. It’s so fun to go shopping with me...honest!

We got back to his truck (we drove separately since I was meeting Joyce for dinner) and then I proceeded to do what I’ve been wanting to do ever since the first weekend I met Tom over 5 years ago...got him to hand over ALL his CD’s to me so I could download them into my iPod. Finally, the wait paid off!

He drove me over to Crepes and Crepes on 3rd and I forget what street and we had beers while we waited for Joyce to show. Joyce showed, Tom split for his dinner date, then Joyce and I had one of the best meals I’ve had since moving to Denver.

The Margarita Crepe (Romaine, Tomatoes, Bacon and Buffalo Mozzarella) followed by a Blueberry and Banana Crepe for dessert. Great food, fantastic conversation and we sat outside on the patio. Towards the end it got a tad chilly but overall, what a beautiful night to be eating outside.

Joyce and I decided that we’re doing this once a month, which would be way way cool. Next time, we’re gonna try a quick after work hike since it will be daylight savings time. Yay, a chance to try out my new hiking boots!

Now, I’m kicking back in bed, listening to Ween 'Quebec' on my Ipod (absolutely KILLER CD),iBook on my lap, downloading ALL of Tom’s CD’s into my iTunes. We’ll finish setting up his new iBook tomorrow after I finish work.

Apples, CD’s, Blueberries and Banana’s.

What a tasty day!

Pretty Damn Funny

Sitting here talking on the phone to clients when I look out the window and see a porta-potty emptying truck drive by. Nothing new, since there is a lot of new development where I live.

The name on the side of the truck slays me...'Super Bowl'.

Just thought I'd share!

Today's The Day

My buddy Tom is buying an iBook and I GET TO HELP HIM!  Yay!

A PC user all his life, he's making the switch. Could it be the lure of the iPod? The ease of iBooks? The fact that I've been spouting all things Apple propaganda since he's known me? Whatever it is, it worked!

It's the little things, ya know?

Cutting Ties

Found out the ex-roomie has another roomie...actually, 2 other roomies...a friend and her 5 year old daughter.

Found this out twice...from another source last week and from the ex-roomie over the weekend. Had wanted to spend a couple of days there before summer (and hurricane season) get into full swing, but that won't happen now.

Probably a good thing, overall. Probably better to no longer rely on my dentist and dermatologist back in Boca, no matter how wonderful they were.

So, any of you have a dentist or dermatologist that you LOVE? Please let me know.

For the dermatologist, need someone board-certified in various laser techniques. Had several pulsed laser treatments to get rid of my rosacea (it's 90% gone now) and want to finish it off. Also had a skin cancer diagnosis last year so I need to keep on top of that. And those of you that have suspicious moles or bumps, get them checked out NOW. TRUST ME ON THIS!! They caught mine in time.

Good thing, now there's no reason to go back to FL for anything other than visiting friends. And why visit them there when they can come here?

See, I'm saving money already!

(until the next trip to T&S)

Controlled Multitasking

I'm sitting at my desk, when I really want to be back snoozing in bed. Couldn't fall asleep last night and 6:40 came waaaay too early today.

Am in massive multitask mode.

Covering another recruiters desk and clients, so I toggle back and forth between my Outlook and hers.

Sporadically checking my own email on my laptop.

And BEST OF ALL, downloading all my new CD's into iTunes as I work.

Gotta love multi-tasking.

Here is my neat little 'before' (on the left) and 'after' (on the right) picture.

CD Spree...

...or why Twist & Shout loves me.

Definitely met my goal of picking up a couple of Ween CD's at Twist & Shout...and then some.

Check it out for yourself -

In case your eyesight isn't all that good, I got :

Ween- All Request Live

Ween - Quebec

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles Pink Robots

Fray EP- Reason

Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

Cave In - Perfect Pitch

A late day Target run resulted in two more CD's :

Avenge Sevenfold - City  Of Evil

OAR- Stories Of A Stranger

Quick review of the CD's I've listened to since I frantically unwrapped them in my truck and plunged them into my CD player's hungry mouth (ooh...that sounds sorta porno!!)

* Neko Case - James had blogged about her earlier this week, and since he was 100% correctamundo about Ween, figured I had to try Neko. Not to sound all lesbo, but I could drown in her voice. It's hypnotic. Mesmerizing. The perfect CD to listen to while chillin', on a rainy day, on your iPod, fill-in-your-own-blanks. And that''s all I can say right now from listening to it twice.

*OAR - Heard a snippet of their song 'Love and Memories' while at Target and realized I'd been wondering who sang that song for ages. So in my cart it went. Have played 'Love and Memories' and 'Wonderful Day' about 20 times since 5:45 this afternoon.

I want to stay up and listen to and download everything to my iPod NOW, but realistically speaking I still have to make my bed (since tonite is weekly Sunday night laundry and I have a freakishly OCD fetish about going to sleep every Sunday night on sheets still warm from the dryer), need to put away the rest of the stuff I got from Target, need to balance my checkbook (especially after this weekend) and I need to load the dishwasher.

Never made it to King Soopers. Snagged some cereal bars at Target, have enough milk to last for 3 days, $20 on a Chipotle card and leftovers from Famous Dave's tonite, so I'm good on food for the next couple of days. Really, don't even know why I have a stove or an oven. But that's another post.

Hope all of you had a 'ha gadol yoffi' (Hebrew for huge bitchen') weekend...can't believe Monday is already rearing her head.

NNSD.

The Wind Woke Me Up

It gets windy here every now and then. Comes in from the West and reminds me of the hurricanes I experienced in FL. Of course, being on the corner lot across the street from 3 blocks of undeveloped land means that when the wind finally runs into a solid surface after picking up speed, the solid surface is the side of my house. And my roof. And the patio chairs which just got blown over this very second.

I'm starving. The chili cheese dog I had yesterday afternoon at Johnny Rockets (split an order of rings and fries with T) seems like eons ago. No food in the house to speak of other than soup and popsicles from when I was sick last weekend. And Jager and Beer and Rum, Tequila, Jack in the Black...but no food.

Told myself I was gonna go shopping last night on the way home from the Apple store. Then it was like 'no, go home and make up a list first...you spend more when you don't have a list'. I can't argue with myself when I'm being logical, so I went home, promptly forgot about the list and watched 'Jarhead'. Made popcorn for the first time in my microwave and ate 1/3 of the bag cause I am used to Howard having the rest. Old habits die  hard.

Damn...something else just crashed out on the patio. It had to be the tables since it's only small plastic end tables and plastic patio chairs that reside on the deck. Whatever...they're not going anywhere now.

Stuff I need/want to do today...

Get up out of bed (duh, stating the obvious), shower, find something to eat, wear new hiking boots to break them in, make grocery list, hit up Twist and Shout, grab lunch somewhere, then Target and King Soopers on the way home with a side trip to Costco if I don't run out of time.

Which I just might do if I don't get my ass outta bed soon.

Why???

Why does...

* the oxyclean guy always scream?

* the beyond stupid Dr. Scholls 'gellin' commercial continue to garner air time?

* Ticket Master call it a convenience fee? convenience for them to make a shitload of $ off us?

* after vacuuming easily 20 times since I moved in, do I still find disgusting St. Bernard dog hair in my carpet?

* it keep slipping my mind that I needed a new heater filter like 2 months ago?

* the urge to go to Wahoo's Fish Tacos on the weekend never cease?

* it always happen that I say 'oh yeah, I'm gonna start cooking more' then I never do it?

* sleeping in late on the weekends give me soooo much pleasure? I'm addicted to it!

* shopping at REI always result in the purchase of Merrell's footwear?

* listening to the voice that says 'stay up late and blog' always make me regret listening to the voice?

* everyone think VOIP is the next big thing? It sucks big time...and if you've ever called my work #, you can attest that what I am saying is honest and true.

Ok, all that flotsam has left my brain. Time to call it a night?...morning?...umm, let's just call it the escape to the land of 1,000 thread count and really comfy/cuddly pillows.

NNSD.

Let The Countdown Begin

Ween At Red Rocks 29 July at 7:00pm.

Gives me just enough time to buy all their CD's that I don't already have...which is a ton.

Yay, a new goal to strive for!

[Update-how uber-blog-geeky is this? When you Google 'ween denver' GUESS what comes up?]

The Day After The Night Before

My 2nd Blogiversary was celebrated all day Thursday.

Wonderfully kind comments thru-out the day  made my work day fly by.

The sun was out, the snow was almost gone, the hazy skies of Denver made me sorta kinda but not really homesick for So Cal.

Had a 2 hour interactive conference call, which meant I could not sit on my bed and gaze out the window and blog like I do for most conference calls. What it did mean is I had to sit at my desk and listen to what was being said, cause any of us risked being asked a question at any second.

The tedium of the day meant I was more than ready to bolt at the precise second of 3:30 CO time. YAY...freedom.

Met up with a blogger buddy at Breckenridge Brewery to sip some suds and check out the hoop action. James, aka Spanish Eddie of I Am Not A Monkey is the beyond wonderful guy that has turned me into a Ween addict. It is ALL HIS FAULT and I am thankful every day for it being all his fault. I heart Ween. Have decided if/when I ever get a Weiner Dog, said WD's name will be Ween. Yep, it's official. Don't you think Ween is the cutest AND the most logical name for a Weiner Dog? I do. And James can be the honorary godfather!

Over beer and chips and guac we talked about Ween, blogs, more Ween, basketball (Duke lost...I was happy, he was not since Duke was in his bracket) and music.

James is the lead singer for the uber-cool Denver band 'The Nancy Drews'.

The first time I went to see the ND's, I dragged some friends out with me to the Larimer Lounger late Super Bowl Night. Upon entering the bar, I confirmed with the door guy that yes, the ND's would start playing at 11. In the meantime, my friends and I checked out the band that was currently rocking the house. They played a killer version of 'Like A Hurricane'. My friends were all, 'hey, this band rocks...do you think the band we came to see will be half this good'?' Only time would tell.

Of course, as you can imagine, we WERE listening to the Nancy Drews. And we were totally liking what we heard. Afterwards, I introduced myself to James, said I liked his band and his blog, and that was about it. I just always get so tongue tied around rock stars, ya know?? :-)

For all you Denverites that want to hear a KILLER band, see the Nancy Drews live and in person, 29 April at The Curtis Bar in downtown Denver, near the intersection of 21st Street and Curtis. C'mon, how can you not be nuts about a Denver blogger than has a Denver band? Yeah, I know, huh! Cover is $5, which is a hell of a lot cheaper than you'll pay to see them when they hit it big and play at the Can (Pepsi Center) and then you'll so be kicking yourself when you had the chance to see them in a small intimate setting and you passed cause you stayed home to watch mindless drivel on tv.

James sang karaoke 4 times, Beatles tunes each time. Quite impressive, let me tell ya. I sang karaoke zero times as I am not musically talented in the least and I know my limits when it comes to all things karaoke.

On the March Madness front Gonzaga lost by 1 point. It was heartbreaking. Adam Morrison fell on the court and cried. I felt like crying too. Such is the heartbreak of hoops.

Overall, Thursday was exceedingly great. Great comments. Great weather. Great hanging out with someone who's into blogs and beer and bball and the beautiful sound of Ween.

It was a Blogiversary for the books and it made my day.

TGIF!

Tuesday and Wednesday were fun-filled nights and Thursday was even better. My work day just ended...THANK YOU GOD!...and will fill you in later on tonite on how I celebrated my Blog's 2 year Blogiversary.  Yeah, I know you can't wait to hear!

All good things are worth waiting for.

But first, the gym calls. Then laundry. Then grocery shopping.

Catch ya later.

Happy Blogiversary To Me

Yes boys and girls and aliens far and wide, A Likely Story! is two years old today,

YAY!

What started as a mostly political blog has evolved into a little bit of everything blog. After the debacle of the 2004 elections, I sorta cooled my jets on politics. Branching out into other topics has been a blessing.

When I started my blog, I lived in my house in Boca Raton, FL. Went from having dial-up and  being on the internet maybe 10 hours a week to now....faster faster faster internet,  being online waaaay too much and living in Denver.  What a change two years can bring.

For those that have been here from day one, I love you. Really and truly. For those more recent readers, I really really really like you and let's take it from here and see how it goes.

For all of you, today, Thursday 23 March is Cake and Ice Cream Day and I am so buying. Then we'll wash it down with Red Bull and Vodka, and go party our asses off. And if not today, then sometime in the really near future.

Yeah, I know.

A likely story!

Music...

...it's a need, not a want.

Right up there with Oxygen. Water. Food. Sex. March Madness.

Let me tell you about my night.

Saw Jacks Mannequin at the Ogden Theatre tonite. They FUCKIN' ROCKED THE HOUSE.

It was THAT good.

Bands that opened were Sullivan and Everfall (I think?) but the crowd was clearly there for JM.

For those of you that don't follow the band, the lead singer of JM is Andrew McMahon, lead singer of Something Corporate . Andrew was diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia on 1 June 2005. He cancelled plans for his tour to promote his new CD 'Everything in Transit'.

On 23 August, Andrew underwent a bone marrow transplant, the same day that 'Everything in Transit' debuted at #37.

Today, Andrew is better. And tonite, he showed all of Denver just how good he is.

From the opening note of the show, I couldn't stop dancing and singing. SO much energy, so much passion. Knowing the back story and seeing this vibrant dude and the rest of the band totally giving it their all and more to their fans....for me, it was close to a religious experience. Music does that to me. It elevates me and takes me to a place of pure joy and happiness. Without music in my life, life really wouldn't be worth living...not much at all.

If you have the talent to sing and make music, do it. Do it because you can. Because there are people out there that you will inspire. You'll bring such joy and meaning and purpose and happiness, all because of the gift you have and that you share it.

If you're like me and have NO musical talent, get out there and support those who do. There are SO MANY AWESOME bands out here in Denver and out there in the world, just waiting for you to discover them and add another dimension to your life.

I was in heaven tonite. Thankful for the music I got to witness. For the friends that were with me. For the new friends we met (shout out to Josh, his girlfriend and her grandparents who traveled from MD and couldn't leave without seeing the show). Thankful that Andrew is now healthy. And as always lately, so thankful that I live here, surrounded by so many cool people and cool things to do.

'Music is the light you cannot resist' - Michael Stipe- REM

Multitasking

On an hour conference call with the Mothership.

The perfect time to catch up on blogs, eat lunch (I work East Coast hours), blog AND listen to the conference call.

Tough job but someone's gotta do it :-)

Mojito Mania

Yesterday's brief afternoon get-together turned into a very late night mojito fest. Fell in love with them in FL...then took them to  a higher level at Dada's in Delray. Mango, Red Raspberry, Blueberry...tres fuckin' yummy. 

Successfully recreated a killer Blueberry Mojito recipe last night...omg, so wonderful. Had 4...wanted more!

Fell asleep listening to 'Ocean Man' and dreaming of drinking mojito's in tropical climes.

House Hunters International

When I was looking for a house in Denver, House Hunters (on HGTV) was my favorite show. Now that I found my house, I still watch.

This couple in Prague was adorable. The prices of the 3 condo's they viewed were mid-60's. I always love it when the show ends 'happily ever after' and the clients in question have moved into their dream home.

Be it ever so humble, it's building equity.

Meetings, Music, March Madness

Today was the first day I used my voice while working since last Weds. It was pretty much shot by the time I called it quits at 4:30...yeah, worked late. Had to fire someone and needed to wait for them to call me so I could do what needed to be done. It always sux, but that's a topic I don't want to go into right now.

What I AM excited about is the rest of the week. Tomorrow after work I get to meet one of my clients. She used to work at Children's, then was referred to me. She left Denver in August and is back this week to visit. It'll be nice to put the face to the voice.

Wednesday is the Jack's Mannequin concert that I've been dying to see since I bought the CD last August.

Thursday my Zag's meet UCLA. They are my buddy Jeremy's Zag's too. J attended Gonzaga and played scrimmage games with Morrison and the gang...he's good friends with all the starters.

I've loved Gonzaga ever since they offered me a scholarship. Their recruiter was super cool and we really hit it off well. Several of the Varsity Football guys I knew went to Gonzaga and they all loved it and I wanted to go in the worst way. Sadly, while the scholarship was nice, it still wasn't enough, given that I had to finance college 100% on my own.

Even tho I never attended, Gonzaga has always held a special place in my heart. So they're 'my' team and I root for them every year.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Weather is supposed to be killer. Hope so, cause I plan on spending each and every day ..and night...out and about.

Any ideas on what I should do? Please share.

(Doing your windows is not an option, in case you were sorta kinda wondering).

Is It A Want Or A Need?

That was the mantra I lived by for 4 1/2 years when I was in 'get-out-of-debt' mode.

Those were the days. Days that I only want to remember for the lessons learned from them, as opposed to what is was like to live them.

Back in the San Jose days I was married. We lived in a townhome. He made 6 figures. I did ok, no where near 6 figures but still ok. We spent $ like there was no tomorrow. And we were up to our eyeballs in debt with NO SAVINGS.

Yeah, I know. Stupid, huh?

Living like that made me sick. It really made me sick that I had almost single handedly run up $16,000 in debt on two credit cards he thought we paid off. Well, we did pay them off. And I started using them again. HUGE MISTAKE. I lived in mortal fear he would see the statements and I'd get found out. Something that I wasn't proud of then...or now...but it was what it was.

Long story mercifully short for your benefit, I read a Suze Orman book '9 Steps to Financial Freedom', bit the bullet, added up all our debt (over $75K not including mortagages), puked, then fessed up to my husband.  It was tough, but needed to be done.

Took full responsibility for fucking up and closed the two credit card accounts I'd run up. Got a second job the next week. Cashed out a small Sep IRA account I'd had from a home-based business I'd owned. And the best thing I did was to put us on a budget. A strict budget with built in fail safes. #1 being no one could use an ATM card unless they called the other person and asked permission.#2 We  stopped calling the ATM the 'Money Machine'. How telling is that?  Talk about a self-fullfilling prophecy.

When I sat down to determine what our debt was and where our money was going ,we were shocked to find out that we were going thru $300,$600, and sometimes $800 in a week with NOTHING to show for it. Makes me sick just thinking about those days.

Ok, so that's back story. It took us 4 1/2 years but we got debt free. During the time we moved to FL. I paid his car off 10 months early for him as a surprise birthday present.[explanation- we had an agreement that I could spend my commissions <I'm in sales> on what I chose...he got to spend his bonuses on what he chose...so I chose to pay off his car early as an act of restitution for screwing up and running up the credit cards 4 years earlier]. I double paid on our 15 year mortgage. Let me tell you, there is no sleep as nice as the sleep of a debt-free person.

So where am I going with this?

Here...and now. 

Since moving to Denver, I have been in SPEND mode. No, make that SPEND,SPEND,SPEND mode. And tonite I sat down, looked at my expenses, and decided the spending is gonna cease.  Am going back to the 'is it a Want or a Need' days.

Why?

Cause I know the warning signs. I know that I still want to do more things to fix up the house. I still want the kick-ass flat screen TV for my bedroom and another one (not quite as kick-ass) for the living room. I want slate in the kitchen and entry way. I want a bedroom set. I want to go to each and every concert that comes my way. Nah, actually that is a need. Honest, it is.

So here I am, with my wants and needs and must haves. And I must rein it in. Yep, budget time is back at Casa Kathyland.

Why am I sharing this with you? Besides boring you to death?

Cause sometimes when I have a wake-up call on stuff that's going on in my life, it always seems that someone else I know is going thru the same thing.

Was sharing with my buddy T the other night that reviewing my online statements is a great way to remember the bars I've been to. Oh yeah, Celtic Room. Remember that night and the guy we had the heated discussion with? That was $120. LoDo's Bar and Grill.Great dinner and awesome time. $85  They all add up, ya know?

So like I said, it's back to the budget for me. Am  still gonna have fun...hell, I'll find ways to have fun for free...but will be making sure it's a need and not a want.

PS- The Ween concert is a definite need. So is Jack's Mannequin for this Wednesday.

I Don't Get It

I just don't get it.

When people know they don't live up to their potential...they know they can do better...they know that what they did...or did not do...in the past prevented them from success.

And I don't get why they keep on doing what they do, when they know it won't work. Won't make them a better person. Won't make them a success. Won't make them happier. They know the outcome won't be good, yet they still do it.

I don't get it.

Not at all.