Goodbye 2008

One of the blogs that I follow is written by a woman named Annie. It is called MORE THAN JUST A MOM. I've really come to admire her writing and that fact that she doesn't seem to be afraid to tell it like it is.

Her post today really got me to thinking though. It is entitled Adieu 2008. It is a recap of what happened with her and her family throughout 2008. It made me sit back and start thinking about what has happened in my life this year. If you'll indulge me, I'll give you glimpse of my year in review:

January brought good things for a friend of mine as he finally got himself out of a bad living situation of more than 14 months. It was a sense of relief for me and his other friends as well as a sense of freedom for him. It also brought a very sad time for both of us. More so for him than me. His mother passed away mid-month. It was a blessing for her as she had been struggling with a crippled body for many years. She was a wonderful lady and I'm glad I got to share her life for the short time.

February brought more sadness when another friend lost her 3+ year battle with breast cancer. Again, those of us still here miss her deeply, but we know that she is no longer in pain and is not suffering.

Spring brought several get togethers with friends which included helping one friend celebrate a #0th birthday. My Grandpa celebrated his 94th birthday. We celebrated a new baby in Holly's family. One of my friends moved away (eastern Nebraska), but we keep in touch via email and even got to see each other the day after Christmas.

One of my friends bought a motorcycle and we spent a lot of time running around on that throughout the summer.

July brought the annual and bi-annual family gatherings. Got to see family members that had not been around for many years.

Holidays moved in for the fall and things got busy, traveling to Nebraska for Thanksgiving, home for a week, off to Florida for a week, home for a week and off to Nebraska again for Christmas.

So that's a brief recap of what my year included. I've been enjoying writing my blog because I love sharing pictures and fun/interesting stories. Through this media, I can write them and if someone doesn't want to read them, they don't have to. I thank all of you that have commented along the way and I hope you'll continue to read and comment.

Love to you all!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Roo :-)

The Birthday Cake

As I told you in my last post, we started a new tradition this year... a birthday cake for Jesus. Here are the pictures from this year's celebration. We figured one candle was sufficient since this is our first year of doing this... besides, 2,008 wouldn't fit on the cake!!!

TMan got the seat of honor since he is the one that suggested the cake in the first place.

Postive Post

I realized this morning, while looking at my page, that with Christmas just days away I couldn't leave my last post as the first thing people see when they come to this page.

So I thought I would share a cutie about TMann... Sis was trying to explain to her little man that Christmas is really Jesus's birthday and why we celebrate Christmas. Being a 3-year old his concern was that there be a birthday cake. So, we will be starting a new tradition this year... A birthday cake for baby Jesus on Christmas day.

Beware of Colorado Highway Laws

For those of you that may not be aware (or at least didn't remember) there is a law in Colorado that went into effect a couple of years ago which prohibits driving (cruising) in the left hand lane of the multi-lane highways. You should only use the left lanes for passing other vehicles and then get back over to the right as soon as possible.

I had forgotten about this until yesterday, when I got stopped by a CSP officer and given a courtesy warning. She told me that they are starting to enforce this more now to help avoid some of the aggressive driver accidents. Thankfully that was just a courtesy stop.

Unfortunately the rest of the story is not so happy. If you ever get a ticket for not being able to provide proof of insurance, don't depend on the court system to inform the DMV that you have provided such proof and resolved the issue. THEY DON'T DO IT!!! During this courtesy stop yesterday, I was informed that my Colorado driver's license was revoked more than a year ago for failure to provide proof of financial responsibility.

See, I had been involved in an auto accident in October 2007 and when asked for my information, I discovered that I did not have my current auto insurance card with me. I received a ticket for this and of course the DMV was informed of this citation. I was summoned to appear in court and provide the necessary documentation at that time. Prior to the court date I received a letter from the DMV indicating that I needed to provide this information. I went to court as instructed with the proper documentation. The insurance issue was dismissed. I assumed (and YES, I know what happens when you assume something!) that the DMV would be notified through the same channels by which they were notified of the original citation. I thought the issue was done and satisfied all the way around. WRONG!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, when the CSP officer took my license to run it through the system, she came back to my car and informed me that my license had been revoked as of 12/09/07!!! MORE THAN A YEAR AGO!!!! And I had never been notified by ANYONE. So she took my license but let me drive away.

Well, long story short, I panicked most of the rest of the day yesterday. This morning my thoughts were a little more clear. I made a few phone calls and found out what I needed to do get my license back. Turns out it was more simple than I thought it would be and I had my license back in about 90 minutes.

Just be careful and don't assume that the system is going to take care of things. Look out for yourself!!!

Lightning & Mater

TMann's favorite movie, from day 1, has always been Disney/Pixar's CARS (although THOMAS is a favorite as well). So, imagine how excited he was when he actually got to "meet" Lightning McQueen and Mater! Mater was a little loud so TMann had to cover his ears, but he really was thrilled.

Luigi's station from Radiator Springs has been setup at Disney's Hollywood Studios @ Walt Disney World. This is where Lightning and Mater hangout while they are in town. I think this was a highlight of the trip for TMann.

Vacation is over...

Well, vacation to Disney World is now in the history books. We returned yesterday and now the weather here in Colorado is -18!!!!

I haven't had time yet to review all of the pictures and get them edited for posting. Hopefully before the weekend.

Love to all.

Roo :-)