Goodnight Dancers

In the great big theater there was a performance. 

And a red tutu and a cow jumping through the wings. 

And there were 3 girls dancing with chairs. 

And two little chickens, and a pair of silver mittens. 

And a comb and a brush and a dance bag full of stuff. 

And a quiet lady backstage whispering "hush." 

Goodnight theater, goodnight wings, goodnight cow jumping through the wings. 

Goodnight lights, and the red tutu. 

Goodnight girls, goodnight chairs. 

Goodnight chickens and goodnight silver mittens. 

Goodnight comb and goodnight brush. 

Goodnight nobody.

 Goodnight dance bag full of stuff, and goodnight to the quiet lady backstage whispering "hush." Goodnight snow. 

Goodnight air. 

Goodnight dancers everywhere.

The show is over. 

I am both sad and happy. Sad my body won't get the skipping workout on a regular basis, and happy my body won't be doing the skipping workout on a regular basis. Calla did an amazing job, not one bobble, and I ended up with a fat lip from smacking faces with one of my partners during a fake kiss at the last show. Pretty sure my fellow dancers won't forget me yelling onstage in our twirling flying pinwheel lift, "Is my nose bleeding?!?!" Geeze Louise ballet isn't supposed to be brutal. But we all suffer for our art right? Haha! So now it is back to regular classes and helping the kids rehearse for their Spring Recital. Back to working on the house, and hopefully finishing it sooner then later.  

For those of you who aren't on Facebook or Instagram here are a couple of pics. Sorry I didn't manage to get one of the cow, or the chicken, but you can just use your imagination. Also, it appears going through my photo feed that Dave taught India how to ride the motorcycle while we were gone. In her pjs. Wonder how she reaches the pedals? :)  

Hee Haw Train

I am not 100% certain where the weekend went, except it is long gone. I am now here swamped on Wednesday with Calla at home on Spring Break and a ton of work to do. Poor child. One of these days we will take a proper Spring Break. One involving a trip somewhere like all of the pictures I see normal families doing. But since we aren't normal and neither is our work schedule, she gets to hang out with her dear old Mom in her office at home all day. All week. 

Back to this weekend. Because I am pretty sure you would rather hear about that then all of us trekking it to the dentist to have our teeth cleaned. So Saturday I took a ride upon the Hee Haw Train. Meaning we got our costumes for the Gala for Hoedown and I can't lie, I am a little bit excited to be wearing gingham and lace a la Maryann from Gilligan's Island. Giant lace ruffle coming to the bottom of those blue skirts my friends! Not your average tutu here. 

My head is currently swimming with all sorts of large hair ideas involving braids, multiple cans of Aqua Net and a teasing comb thanks to a late night session with my dear friend Pinterest. And of course the brightest reddest lipstick I can find in my makeup bag. It might come out looking perfect or like a drag queen in training. I realize I am skating a very fine line between the two here with this look.

Rehearsal took a bit longer then expected because of the costumes.

So we did what any other dancer, young or old, does with too much time on their hands. Took really bad selfies of ourselves. My friends made fun of me when I smiled so I told them to look goofy. Yeah they didn't. Thanks people.

Moving on. The dipshit dingo dog has found himself a new home. My Dad and Dave built the newel posts for the staircase this past weekend so everyone played outside. Rusty planted himself at the top of the dirt pile and stayed there until the girls told him to move in whatever game they were playing. Pretty sure he thought it was king of the mountain.

Found him like that the next day when they were outside too. Not playing a game this time. He didn't get the memo and planted himself up there anyway.

The staircase is almost done!

The white oak treads have been handmade and are ready to be stained. Posts are primed and ready to be painted a semigloss white. There will be an oak cap on the top of the post. FYI: there is not a table in that space. Nope you didn't see any table there. You saw NOTHING in that area we don't have a final for yet. We aren't using the bathrooms either. I mean, why would we do that, we don't have permission to. Definitely don't use those. :) 

We decided to go with a white turned baluster. Bonus is they are already painted. I have NO desire to paint 100 balusters. And those are not handmade either. We are not Norm Abrams here, and since I don't have an Amish carpenter or Vanilla Ice dressed as an Amish carpenter on staff, Lowes it is.

Dave wasn't kidding when he said the staircase would be the first thing in the new addition and the last thing finished. 

Picking up new baby chickens at the feed store today.  Happy Hump day! 

Hello Spring

Things are getting crazy busy around here these days. In a good way. The house is almost done so we can get our final and move all of our junk in. We still have a lot of work to do after involving trim and doors, final touch ups etc., but we are so close. I am pretty sure the kids won't be happy to loose all of their open space downstairs once furniture goes in. But…..they will live :) 

Totally wish the floors were this clean again. Bwahhaaha who am I kidding! 

The ballet company Spring Gala is almost here. I am getting a bit nervous since I haven't been on stage for a bit, but I am enjoying getting back into better shape just by rehearsing and eating better. Even if it does involve an extravaganza of skipping  and dancing for 8 min. solid. While 8 min. may not seem like a long time, it is kind of deceiving. Just like jump roping.You think to yourself, I used to do this for hours as a kid, yet you find yourself panting after just a minute? Yeah, it is kind of like that. Besides after having 2 kids, skipping ain't easy if ya know what I mean. The piece is called Hoedown. While not the most traditional of ballets, it is a boatload of fun. Which in my opinion makes it something everyone can enjoy, even those not interest in ballet. We can be found whooping, hollering, and twirling around, even flying through the air throughout the piece. The best part of the show is that it will be the first time I get to perform on stage with Calla. There is a pre show piece showing off a group of talented dancers from the school. Calla was lucky enough to be chosen as one of them to perform.  

We are also jamming along with work and are starting to book up into mid summer for new jobs and renovations. I am hoping this year will be a great one with fun and exciting projects coming across our table to build.  

So that is where we are at friends. I will try and post some more pictures so you can get a better idea of how things are looking these days. Trying to get out of my box a bit and not just take pictures of work projects, and the dipshit dingo dog and his partner in crime India. 

I'll leave y'all with this pretty picture. One of my favorite blogs to read is The Fresh Exchange blog. It has a wonderful and simplistic tone about it. Their posts remind me to stop, slow down, and take in the world around me once in a while. The talented and creative designers, a husband and wife duo as well,  have created a cute desktop background for your computer this Spring. I just downloaded it onto mine. The fresh white background with the pop of hot pink flowers makes me smile each time I open my computer. Enjoy!  

XOXO!

Long time no blog

via

Long time no blog?  

Si, sadly yes. But I didn't want to leave the blog this year with an angry looking picture of me up!

We really didn't send out any Christmas cards this year. Why? Well..... besides the fact I still don't have my head on straight even though it is almost the end of the year, the wonders of modern technology have allowed us to share many photos on Facebook & Instagram, and even on this little ol' blog throughout the year. So I am considering those a virtual digital Christmas card of our everyday world. Plus, I am really bad at those kind of things and know I will not get the damn cards out before Valentine's Day no matter how hard I try, or how early I order them!

Anywhoo, Dave and I are taking some time here at the end of the year *shocking* to finish up this damn addition. Oh yeah, and because our current clients have told us that they don't want to see our lovely faces until after the kids go back to school! Thank goodness for friends who have their heads attached!

So, I'll be back in 2014 with lots of finished house pics, pics of the girls, chickens, and of course the dipshit dingo dogs. We hope to have some things figured out around here too that will allow me to blog more, and be in more of a "marketing/wannabe social media person" (new business title) position for work as well. Speaking of, come find me over at our work blog: The Nitty Gritty for lots of fun Christmas ideas and pictures to get you in the mood this Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All!

XOXO, Cara

Dazed and Confused

So today feels like Friday even though it isn't Friday, and I still have work to do on Friday.  Whatever.  I decided to hack off 5 " of my hair on Sunday when she was busy covering up the gray.  No I am not angry.  Happy actually, because she got it to curl which I hadn't been able to do in forever.  Car photos are never pretty.

It was fried and long and not a pretty long.  Think Janice the Muppet stringy and orange.  This morning I went to wash my hair for the first time since then, (no I don't wash it daily-too dry here,) and realized before it was too late I used waaayyy too much shampoo.  Well, that was fun.

Dave has been working like a mad man to get the house finished up for framing inspections.

He did stop on Saturday to attend a friend's annual pig roast.  Viva la pig.

The girls had never been on a 4 wheeler before.  They also tried out the zipline before the day ended.

Work has been super busy since we are trying to finish up a couple of projects.  But it is coming together.  Calla is off from dance camp this week so since they were feeling deprived, they chose to give themselves a barre with a video while I worked up in the barn yesterday.  Makes me uber happy.

Speaking of ballet, they just hired a new Artistic Director for the Company.  Me thinks Ethel might make have to dig out the pink tights again.  We will see.  I gotta get this house finished and then we can talk about Ethel, tutus, and my eating habits which don't begin to even take a tutu and pointe shoes into consideration.

Last night was actually not hotter then Hades so the girls and I spent some time in the front yard just being kids.

Hula hoops, jump ropes and cartwheels.  Ok, so they did the cartwheels and jumped rope.  Mommy has had 2 c-sections folks.

We even taught the dipshit dingo dog to jump through the hoop.  And for my next trick we will teach him how to mow grass, build pergolas and outdoor fireplaces.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.  We will be adding shingles to the roof and watching the fireworks from our house if there are any this year.  

Adios!

Where we are at now

So my Dad who has been away from the project for a bit wanted to see some pictures of where we are at in the house build.  

We are almost done with framing.  At least upstairs.  Somewhere along the way we decided the basement is huge, why don't we use it and put our living room down there as one open space.  Besides, we have this huge ass staircase in the middle of the room going down anyway so we might as well.  My existing living room will become a dining room and the area transitioning between the old space and the new will just be open.  Open and airy.  Make sense?  

Enter Cara who now has to drive her happy butt out East to the County buildings to amend the permit.  See, if you want to have a finished basement you need to have a permit for that.  Right now I have a permit for an unfinished basement that wants me to put a door at the bottom.  Yeah, I want an open staircase to allow as much light down into the lower area as possible.  A door just isn't in the plans.  I have a phobia of dark split level like basements with teeny tiny windows, and that is definitely not my intention here.  I want it to feel natural to go downstairs, and like it is still part of the floor plan.  Not like you are entering a dungeon or cave of teenage angst where parents hide their broody children away from the world to play video games till they can be social and nice to the world again.  Nor do I want this to feel like some room out of 50 Shades of Gray either.  That could be fun. ;)  This will hopefully not feel like a basement at all.  I am not quite sure how to go about that yet, but believe me, I will find a way, and it will likely involve a lot of white paint.

We shall not talk about how high our friend is teetering up there on two Home Depot buckets like a mountain goat.  The best part about house building in Colorado is there is you have friends who can set up and break down large theater sets for national traveling productions, (think Batman flying through the air.)  Add in family members who have climbed very large mountains for fun and worked in rock climbing gyms.  Between the two, we have a ton of gear and equipment to basically belay and harness everyone in so they are safe.  Pretty sure that is not how it is supposed to be be done, but hey, it's done.
 

It is kind of hard to see, but we purchased attic trusses.  The space up there is huge.  This way if Dave decides he needs some sort of man cave, or I need a room to craft creepy dolls and wrap presents like Candy Spelling, then we can cut a hole and add a staircase outside the house to access the space.  It can also be a space for when Calla is done with College and has decided she will live at home forever and take care of me when I am old.  #seperationissues  

One of the other cool things about building the house yourself with your friends who also happen to be your trades people is you have the ability to hide your utilities.  The plumbing will be hidden as best as we can as well as the ducting downstairs.  No soffits.  

Trickiest part of the whole damn thing was tying it into the house.  It looks simple, but Geeze Louise this is where those of us who actually passed geometry, figured thing out.  Those of us who cheated in Geometry along with 1/ 2 the track team swept up saw dust and picked up trash.  

The space next to the stairs is my closet.  The bedroom is where the miter saw is living.  Yes, I know the closet is half the size of the bedroom.  Our master bath is in the back sunny corner.  The pantry is where the electric box is, and directly next to it is a small powder room.  I am standing in an open hallway with a door that goes out to the side garden onto a wrap around deck and in front of the large picture window with views of rolling farmland and the Rockies.

The stairs going down.  Yes, the same stairs the dipshit dingo dog fell down 10 ft.  Picture only a frame, no plywood, where the landing is half way down.  That is what he high centered himself on.

So that is pretty much it for now.  Kind of slow going when you only get to work nights and weekends on it.  But we are getting somewhere.

I am back in the office today with my calves still like rocks because someone, *cough*myself*cough* decided to pretend she was 14 again and jump like it during the Master Ballet Class on Saturday.  But damn, it was worth it to jump like that again.

Webpage almost done.  Finally!!!!

Hasta Pasta.
Me:)

Fashion Friday BMW F800 GS Edition

So last night this happened:

My first question is does it come with a side car that seats 2?  And by 2 I mean for the girls.  Not twit and twat.  Although I am pretty sure they do make doggy goggles for the Dipshit Dingo Dog.  I hope it has room for his ears.

www.peoplepets.com

My children didn't quite know what to think.  Notice how apprehensive Calla looks.  They never even knew Dave could ride a motorcycle.  Or that when I met him he picked me up for our first date on a motorcycle.  Chances are I was wearing something like this, but with shorter shorts.

Damn we were cute.  And this was pretty much the same look India gave me when I tried to put her on the back of the bike and replicate the picture last night.  By the way there is no retro f'n filter on that last pic.  That is pure 70's baby.  

Also, I was told if I wanted to ride on the back, I now needed to wear boots, and a jacket.  Well duh...No one, and I mean no one, wants or needs to see the ba donk a donk in daisy duke cutoffs and a crop top and flip flops these days on the back of a motorcycle.  Besides it is a BMW and not a Harley therefore fringe is out of the question.  It is just not acceptable.  Joan Rivers would not approve.  God forbid.  I could do a Harley outfit.  I own fringe and a black concert t shirt of some sort involving an 80's band with long hair.

Lord help us all, and my wardrobe as I dig out the Frye boots from the depths of the closet and something resembling a technical jacket.  Because my snowboard jacket involves fur and paisleys, and not neon or leather.
 
I did however find this.  It matches the boots but not my checkbook:
http://www.coloradoeuro.com/eshopprod_cat_8007-87103_product_1501468.HeritageLadiesLeatherJacket.htm

Told Dave just to pick it up for me as a belated birthday present when he gets some parts.  He looked at me like I had 4 heads and said buying a jacket and helmet isn't like buying a t-shirt and a frozen pizza at Target.  Evidently he doesn't shop like I do.  Also, it might have something to do with the fact that it costs over $20, and he knows it.

Since this is more of an "Enduro" type bike vs a "hog" chaps are not necessary.  But you didn't think I would write this post without finding me some chaps:
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/634-224?utm_source=PLAs&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CJXazLyQ9rcCFc5DMgodIUkAwA

Just don't Google ass less chaps.  Do me a favor, just don't.  Chaps is fine.


But this......  Holy Crap.  This just takes the cake.  Someone buy these for me ASAP:
https://www.denniskirk.com/328051.sku?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&gclid=CPXvnZuE9rcCFaVFMgodoD4AWA


Just call me Motorcycle Barbie.  :)

House building and a master class with an Artistic Director candidate for the ballet company this weekend.  Please pray for me as I squeeze into tights and a leotard.  Something tells me the chaps would be easier.

Any fun things for y'all this weekend?  

Buenos Noches.