I have a love/ hate relationship with getting home from vacation. After being away from home for many nights, I crave my own bed with just the right amount of blankets-a sheet and an afghan- and my shower where there are little shelves for each of my little shower things including my nail brush that I am not willing to fly across the country.
And when I am away from home I miss Simon the cat--and then for the whole next week after getting home he is so loving and under our feet constantly. I like that.
But going from being surrounded by family for a week to our fairly solitary life in Littleton is shocking. It hit me when we were taking the shuttle from the airport to our parked car- sitting there with all of our luggage and a bunch of strangers with theirs, bumping and jolting our way to our cars-I was looking at the open sky and the line the mountains make against that sky. Everything was so big and expansive that it felt a little bit lonely. I knew it would be a passing feeling and that I would be back in the mode that my life requires before long-which I am now--but I hate making that transition. Then going to work the next day--grrr--must put on my LensCrafters self, which means shutting down as many non-essential bodily systems as possible.
Indiana was good to us though--really it was more like our mid-west tour. We were in Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. We kayaked, laid flooring, saw a copperhead, ate Irish food twice and set off a huge illegal firework in a Bloomington alley. Good times.
Today I went to register my car at the DMV here since I just had it pointed out to me that my Indiana plate expired two days ago. Before I can get my plate, I was told that I have to get an emissions test and my VIN number verified, both of which cost about $25 dollars. When they told me I thought, what?
They didn't do this stuff in Indiana...or was I just ignorant of it...hmm. It's like they want to keep the mountain air fresh or something. So my car is pretty much legal- I paid 6 dollars and they gave me a 10 day permit to keep me kosher until I can get to the CO Clean Air place for the checks on my car.
Right now Simon is napping on the kitchen chair and Joseph is at work. For today I have planned the eating of rocky road icecream, job hunting, and laundry. I was going to wash my car, but it snowed last night and the roads are a little sloppy--really I was going to do it. And I still will one day.
Well, happy St. Patricks day my friends. I was hoping to walk out the door this morning and see the Platte River by my house running green, but I just saw a statue in front of a garden center holding a clover in its mouth and a lady at the DMV wearing mint green shirt, which was nothing like what I was doing, wearing a bright green.
Joseph and I went snowshoeing yesterday up in the mountains a little ways west of Vail. It was called Powderhound trail which I found in the trail book his brother Daniel got us for Christmas. (Thanks Dan & Jodi!) It was a short trail, just 2.75 miles--I wanted a relaxing time out since it was our first time using the snowshoes for real hiking.
We were getting near where we knew our trail head should be and we pulled off into a parking lot to look at a sign and the old Ford Focus got stuck. Joseph dug out behind the wheels with my windshield scraper, and we put the cars floor mats under the front wheels and after about a half an hour of rocking, spinning tires, and me pushing, because evidently I am the strong one--we got out. Having conquered the snow gods of the Rockies, we got on with our hike a little ways down the road.
The trail was pretty well packed; there had already been lots of people on it, but the snow was deep (at least 2 feet in the shallowest places) and I'm pretty sure we would have been post holing if we were just wearing boots. We went through some really dense pine forest with boughs full of snow what kept going down the back of Joseph's coat. We had some great mountain views as we were at pretty high elevation, but we didn't see any wild life except for a few birds and lots of bunny tracks. You can tell those by the cute little circle tail print in the snow behind the feet--so cute!
Walking in the snowshoes was pretty comfortable for me. Since mine are women's, they are not as wide as the men's, so I don't have to walk with my feet very far apart. The snowshoes are good not just for keeping you above most of the snow, but they also have crampons mounted on the underside, so metal claws dig into the ice and snow. This way you can walk steep slopes and make your descent with out slipping.
As an end note- please notice that I got Joseph to wear the dreaded fanny pack...and I think he liked it. Worn in the front--middle aged person at the theme park----worn in the back when hiking--highly cool and keeps your back happy since it doesn't have to carry the weight. That's all I have to say about that.
Today I am off work, I have two boxes of Thin Mints, and my friend Merry just sent me ham and a kite in the mail- it's going to be a good day. My goal for the next 12 hours- organize random stack of papers laying on the floor, grocery shop and fill the fridge in our new apt. for the first time, job hunt, and write anything--or else my head is going to explode with concerns, to dos, and thoughts.
I did just finish my taxes and feel very good about that. I have used Tax Act on-line for the last two years and it works well for me. Since I'm not married yet, don't really own anything or make any money, mine are simple enough. With this years tax money Joseph and I are going to up-grade our fun size tv for a-- you can see it across the room tv. Then...paying off debt.
Tara and Joseph went skiing together the other day at Keystone. It sounds like they did pretty well and now Joseph is Mr. Lets Get Leah on the Slopes. But first- to the post, the grocery...
It was wonderful to see family when we went back home for my Grandpa's memorial service. The service was a great picture of Grandpa and I am so thankful that I got to be there for it. The day before-our family all in 
Grams' front room going through pictures, typing memories and printing 150 handouts one at a time in shifts at the computer--it was such a strange mix of good humor and serious family business. Grams was the picture of strength and being with her made me feel better.
