Last night, I ventured out to the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash with three of my friends, and fellow bloggers.  Amy, from Crunchy Domestic Goddess, Melissa from Nature Deva, and Julie from ChezArtz.   

Amy, Melissa, Julie, and I were all friends before we were bloggers, so this was a great chance to catch up with each other, mingle with other bloggers, and watch the Obama speech.   We took the bus downtown, which is the first time I have ever taken public transportation anywhere.  I’m glad Amy’s husband, and Melissa could figure out bus schedules!

We arrived at the bash a few minutes before the speech started, and I met Amber from Mile High Mama’s in person.  I was a guest blogger there in June, so it was wonderful to meet her! 

When it was time for the speech to start we all crammed in a room to watch.  I am not a big political person, but Sen. Obama gave a terrific speech.  It was very interesting to hear his thoughts and ideas.  He had some great humor in there too, and I think this was probably one of the best speech deliveries I have ever heard in my lifetime-so far. 

After the speech was over, we took pictures, ate, and visited with more bloggers and some company representatives.  I was really happy to meet Tara from Lijit, who’s search feature I have on my blog.  She gave us the only bling from the night, a Lijit T-shirt, so thanks Tara!

I met some local bloggers who I have talked with on Twitter before, such as Crunchy Green Mom, and  met bloggers I was not aware of (but are now) such as Laura from LaLaGirl (a mother of five, who has TWO sets of twins!)

We also met the husband and wife bloggers behind My Left Nutmeg, who were chosen as the ONE political blog from the state of Connecticut to blog at the Convention.  Julie and I left a guest post on their blog, and Tessa, let us use her laptop to check in on Twitter. 

We didn’t want to go home, but we didn’t want to miss the last bus back to the suburbs, so we left a little before midnight.  The bus we wanted to take was packed, so we waited about 15 minutes to take another one.  We at least had a seat on this bus, but it made a lot of stops. After driving back from the bus station, and then back to our town, it was 1:30am!

I had a lot of fun though, and it was wonderful getting to go out for a night (thanks Joe!), with my friends, and being able to make some new friends as well. 

I forgot my camera, but Amy e-mailed me the pictures that she took, so here are some shots from last night:

 Melissa, myself, Julie & Amy

    Amy checking in on Twitter (that’s Tessa in the background from My Left Nutmeg taking the picture)

 Writing my guest post on My Left Nutmeg

 The three ladies at the top are Amber, Lilith, and Laura. 

P.S. If you are a regular blog reader of mine, then you may have picked up on something that I never have done before on my blog, but did in this post.  Can you guess what it is?  Leave me a comment or e-mail me.  I’ll give a special shout-out to you if you noticed what it is. 

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You can read Part I of this post here. 

After eating dinner at my in-laws, I was planing on going to the garden and giving it some extra TLC.  As we started eating, the wind was picking up and the clouds were getting darker and darker.  It started raining, really hard- harder than it had rained in a long time.

As I was helping my mother in law clear dishes after we were finished eating, I noticed from her window, which faces north, a massive, and I mean massive cloud.  It covered the entire horizon, and it was shaping up to be a perfect funnel cloud.

About that time, Joe brought the boys in from outside on the covered patio.  He was looking at the massive clouds forming as well. The wind was picking up, and it was still raining very hard.

We turned the news on, and they said there was a tornado warning, for the next county over.  We relaxed a bit, and left the TV on while we were talking.  The boys were playing an a few minutes later, I heard some wailing like a siren.  I thought it was the boys, who imitate police and fire engine sirens all the time.

A moment later it struck me- our city projects siren warnings in the case of a tornado watch!  I asked everyone if that was the sirens going.  We turned off the TV, and the boys were quiet.  We heard the sirens issuing the warning that we were under a tornado warning!

We turned the news back on, and they had issued a tornado warning now for our county.  The wind was really strong, and the rain had not let up.  The sirens continued for about fifteen minutes.  When our county’s tornado watch was cancelled we decided to go home.  I told Joe I was going to stop off over at Amy’s before I came home.

It was still raning really hard when I arrived at Amy’s.  I pretty much figured the wind and heavy rain probably did some more damage to the garden.  Unfortunately I was right.  The tomato cages had completely come out of the ground, and all the tomato plants were toppled over. 

One of the really large sunflowers, had toppled over across the tomato plants, breaking off numerous limbs and fruit on the tomatoes.  Between the wind, the tomatoes toppling, and the sunflower hitting them, there was a lot of damage.

I wanted to get the tomatoes back in their cages, so some of the limbs were supported.  I braved the mud and the rain, and since the ground was so wet, the cages went back in, but it was a bit tricky trying to get the plants back in the cages, without breaking more branches.  I did the best I could, and went home.

I was so mad all this was happening.  What were the chances that while I was garden sitting, there would be an infestation of bugs, and then when everything was getting better, a storm producing a tornado watch, would whip through?  In all my years of tending to a garden, nothing like this had ever happened to me before- why did it have to happen when I was in charge of someone else’s garden?

At least there wasn’t any hail, I thought, and then immediately knocked on wood. 

I wanted to get over to the garden one last time before Amy came home on Saturday to clean up a bit.  Friday it was raining, so I didn’t think I would be able to go, but it stopped raining.  I tried to anchor the tomato cages in more, and cleaned up more debris.  I also applied another layer of the diatomaceous earth to the garden.

As I was cleaning up, I discovered two giant zucchini’s.  I hadn’t seen them the entire time.  It gave me a good feeling that despite the stress the garden had been under, it was still managing to produce, and continue on. 

I picked the zucchini’s and left them for Amy.  I hoped she would be happy to see them, and hoped she wouldn’t be too sad about the way her garden looked.  Later that night it started raining again, in effect, washing away all of the diatomaceous earth. 

Amy told me when she arrived back home that the garden wasn’t as bad as she had thought.  She was either being very nice, or I perceived it to be worse than she was.  She told me she had found some squash too, so I was very happy to hear that. 

Depite everything that happened to the garden, during those two weeks, I did enjoy myself and enjoyed taking care of the garden.  I loved finding the produce- it was like a little reassurance that despite all the problems, it would continue on- kind of like a metaphor for life itself. 

That is why I like gardening, and growing things.  It reminds me that there is a pattern and order to life, and even though at times, it seems like the problems can be overwhelming, order will always emerge again, and things will be OK.  Every now and then I need to be reminded of this.  

I don’t know if I will be asked to garden sit again, but what are the chances of something like this happening two years in a row?  Knock on wood.

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I have been gardening more or less ever since I was six- helping my mother in her her huge vegetable gardens in the summer.  I can’t really remember a time when I haven’t been growing something. 

Some years I haven’t had a full-fledged garden, but always had flowers, or tomato plants, or something growing.  I would never claim to be a gardening expert (I’m not), but I enjoy it and can tell the difference between a plant and a weed on most days.  A few years ago, I even participated in a community garden plot with some of my friends, and to my surprise, I was able to pass down a few gardening hints here and there.

So when my good friend, Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess, asked me to garden sit her garden for two weeks while she was on vacation, at the end of July/beginning of August, I jumped at the chance.  Amy’s garden was just the perfect size-not too big, not too small.  Amy had tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, strawberries, some herbs, a cucumber plant, some beans, and some sunflowers in her garden. 

Due to a few reasons, I didn’t plant a garden myself this summer, so I was really excited to have a few weeks where I could garden!

Amy left town on a Saturday, so I went over on Monday evening for my first time. The garden was beautiful.  Tall tomato plants, with tons of green-just-turning-to red-tomatoes, and strawberries.  There were a few nice yellow pear tomatoes just getting ready to turn.  Everything was green, with no signs of weeds, pests, or any other problems.

Despite it being record heat, I felt confident on my way over for my next visit on Thursday.  I had watered deeply and didn’t want to over water, so I felt my timing would be right on.

Imagine my shock as I slid open the patio door, overlooking the garden, and discovered all the tomato plants top leaves had been eaten!  I could see the bug bites through the door, and saw the sunflower leaves had huge chunks of them gone! Upon further inspection, Amy’s garden was being attacked by insects.  The only thing that didn’t have major bug bites on its leaves were the strawberries, cucumber, and the beans.   

I immediatly thought tomato worms for the tomatoes, but the bites weren’t very large, but there were hundreds of them in the leaves.  I didn’t see any tomato worms on the plants, and didn’t see their droppings.  I searched high and low for signs of what was eating the garden.  I saw an earwig and an ant, but I knew they couldn’t do that kind of damage in just two days. 

Amy’s garden is organic, so I was not about to put anything on it without her permission, but I was stumped.  At the rate this was going, Amy would not have a garden when she came home.  I wish I had taken pictures, but I was really shocked.  I had never seen anything like this before.

After consulting with Amy and our other friend, Julie (who is a master and an organic gardener), Julie said it had been a bad year for pests and recommended some diatomaceous earth, to kill the insects.  She was a lot calmer than I, and seemed to think everything would be OK, and balance out.

I headed out the nursery for some diatomaceous earth, and applied a layer of it over the entire garden Friday evening.  The insects had continued eating, and had started in on the beans, and basil.   I really hoped the earth was going to help, because I was not feeling optimistic about the garden. 

We still had record heat the next few days- until Wednesday- so I went over almost every night to water, and monitor the insect situation.  Happily, Julie was right.  The earth seemed to be working, and it didn’t appear like the plants had sustained any further damage.

The tomatoes were staring to grow new leaves, and I was confident that Amy would still have a pretty nice garden to come home to.  The only thing that concered me was the diatomaceous earth washed away every time it got wet, and we were getting some rain showers at night.  Julie said it eventually washes away, so I figured every other day re-applying the earth would be OK.

On the Wednesday evening (3 days before Amy was due back), I was at my in-laws house after work having dinner.  The heat seemed to have broke, clouds were moving in, as well as a breeze and it felt great.  I was looking forward to going over to the garden that evening and working in the cool air, giving it some exra TLC. 

At the time, I could not have imagined what was in store for me a few hours later, and sadly for the garden.

Stay tuned for Part II

gardening

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On Saturday I got to go white water rafting with my dad, sister, brother, and their spouses.  We originally thought my dad’s wife was going to go, but she was having some back pain and decided not to go on Saturday morning.

I live in the west, and we are fortunate to have some wonderful rafting spots about two hours away.  This year was almost a record year for river depth, and even though the water had receded some, it was still pretty high.

My dad has a friend, Dan, who is around mine and my siblings ages, and he is a trained white water rafting guide.  He works as a professional guide, and even has his own raft.  He was not working on Saturday and he graciously offered to take us all rafting in his own raft for a private trip. 

In order for me to be at my sister’s house, “in the big city” by 7AM, I got myself out of bed at 4:45AM, Saturday morning.  I kissed my sleeping babies good-bye, but I was really excited to be going.  Initially I didn’t think I could go, because Joe had planned something with the boys, but it fell through.  He was wonderful and told me to go, and he’d watch the boys all day. 

We hit the road and after we got to the town, met up with Dan, waited while him and my dad drove their trucks down to our ending spot (so we’d have a way back up the river when we were done), did a safety check, and got a safety lesson (which turned out to be crucial), we were on the river by 11AM.

It was spectacular.  It was hot out- probably in the upper 90’s.  The water was ice cold, but it felt good, because by that point we were all dying of the heat.  There was a view of the canyon that you just can’t see from the road.  We noticed some clouds starting to build, but it seemed like we were about 15 minutes ahead of them, and even though at one point it was cloudy, we had the sun out the entire time. 

According to Dan, we were pretty much in class II and class III rapids most of the time.  Especially during the first part of the trip.  It seemed like our group quickly figured out all the rowing in sync, and were off to a good start. 

About an hour and a half into the trip, we finally hit some major white water.  I think this would be a class IV rapid.  We heard Dan yelling at us from the back of the boat, “forward, forward!”  We hit the rapid and it was thrilling!  I was sitting on the right side of the raft, and felt myself jerk as we hit the rapid head on.  I don’t know if it was instinct or Dan’s instructions to us before we started kick in, but I leaned into the boat, and dug my foot in as tight as I could into the holder for my foot.

Then I saw a wall of white water hit us. It hit the raft on the left side, completely covering my sister, Mara, her husband, Kevin, and my dad.  Then to my horror, I saw Mara, flip backwards and out of the boat.  It looked like she hit her head on a rock!

Mara shattered her knee cap 12 years ago in a rafting accident on this exact river.  I was so scared that she had hit her head or had hit her knee again.  I heard Dan yell, “Mara!”  We all realized at about that moment that Mara had fallen out, and what was worse, we couldn’t see her at all.  She was being held down under water somewhere, even with her life jacket on. 

The rapid carried our raft out of the area where Mara fell, and even though Dan had instructed all of us to try to grab the raft if we fell out, as soon as Mara’s head popped out of the current, we were too far away for her to try to grab the raft.  She was too far away from us to try to extend a paddle to her as well. The rest of us in the raft, just froze for a few seconds.  It was really surreal.  I could see Mara’s head going under water, and then back up.  None of us knew if she had hit her head, or her knee or what. 

I felt myself getting really scared and nervous.  I wanted to get out and help her, but I knew that would not be the thing to do.  I forced myself to listen to Dan, who started yelling commands at the rest of us.  I knew listening to what he was telling us was the best and only way to help Mara.  We had to get the boat out of the rapid, and to the side, so we could grab Mara when she came by us.

Dan expertly got us to the shore in a matter of moments.  We had a few moments where we could watch Mara, and she was doing exactly what Dan had told us to do when he was going over safety instructions.  He said to never point your head downstream, because you risk hitting your head on the rocks.  He said to sit up, keep your legs together, bend your knees, and point your legs downstream. Mara was doing just this, and was keeping her head above the water for the most part.  She was doing great!

When Mara got closer to us, Dan threw Mara his rope line, and was able to pull her out of the rapid to the raft.  Kevin and my brother, Jeff, were then able to pull her back into the raft.

Fortunately, she was not hurt-only shaken up a bit. She said it was horrifying and it was like being in a washing machine.  Dan said most of the time if someone falls out, the raft is there for them to grab on to.  But since ours wasn’t, Mara ended up with the ride of her life.  (Keep reading to the end for pictures of this!)

She lost her expensive sunglasses, but we were all so happy she didn’t have any injuries.  After we took a short break we were ready to hit the water again.

While we didn’t have another rapid quite as exciting as our first rapid, we still had a blast.  We stopped for lunch a little while later.  The spot Dan really wanted us to go to was already taken, but we ended up at a place that had a rock about 15 feet up, where you could jump off of, into the river.

After we ate, we contemplated the jump.  At first I didn’t think I was going to do it.  After watching some people from other raft trips though,  I decided if they could do it, I could too.  The clincher was when my dad made his way over to the cliff to give it a shot.

I was nervous.  It looked a lot more scarier standing on top of this rock, looking down into the river in person.  Mara went first, and she told me the last few seconds were the worst.  So, I said it was now or never, and took the plunge!

The water was freezing as I hit, and the force of the jump pushed water into my nose, but it was so fun and exhilarating.  We decided to do it again. 

Dan and Jeff, were waiting for the rafters who took our lunch spot to come by, and when they did, they jumped in.  Unfortunately, they didn’t get them very wet, but came pretty close.

I jumped again, trying to hold my nose this time, but I still got water up my nose.  I didn’t care- it had been ages, since I did something like this. 

We cleaned up from lunch, gathered our stuff up, and went back on the river.  We were on for another two hours, had a blast with some more rapids, and then our trip was done.  I was so sad it was over.  I felt like I could just stay on the river the whole day.  We all kind of joked about staying on the river, but I think we all kind of meant it too.  It had been a perfect day- none of us wanted it to end.

We helped Dan roll up the raft while my dad went to get his truck.  We loaded everything back up, and drove back up the river to where we parked.  It took about 20 minutes and Dan said we had gone about 15 miles down the river. 

We decided to go grab some Mexican food and margaritas at a local spot Dan knew of.  We all got to talk some more, and relive the day.  Jeff got the high score on a pinball machine game, so he was happy.

After dinner it was about 7PM, and it was time to head back.  We all said how much fun it would have been if we were camping and staying over, but we hadn’t planned for that.  We all thanked Dan multiple times for taking us, and for being such an awesome guide.

I rode back to the city with my Dad.  After I got back to my sister’s house, I had about an hour’s drive in front of me to go home.  I was getting so tired, so I headed back.  I got home at 10PM and saw Joe in the living room-the boys were asleep.

I realized that this was the first time since having kids, that I had been away from them the entire day and evening.  I have to admit that I had so much fun. Not because I was away from them, but because for one day, I had zero responsibilities. 

It seems like a lifetime ago that I was that carefree.  I enjoyed just being, taking in what was happening and living in the moment.  Thanks to Joe, I knew the boys were being well cared for, and I didn’t have to worry about them.  A day later, I realize it was a day I really, really needed.  For this day I wasn’t mommy, but Heather again, if that makes sense.  

When you have young children, you just have to give certain things up for awhile- white water rafting is one of them.  I am so happy I was able to go though, and hopefully in a few more years, the boys will be able to go as well. 

In the meantime for me, having a day where I could just be, and enjoy each moment as they came, was wonderful.  It was a blast, and I hope I don’t have to wait another four-and-a-half years before I can do it again. 

To see pictures of us hitting the first rapid, and viewing Mara’s fall out of the raft, you can view our six pictures here.  We are pictures 12-17, and you will start at picture 12.  You can hit the arrow to see the series of pictures.  In the front of the raft left to right, is my brother, Jeff, and next to him is Kevin (Mara’s husband).  Behind Jeff is his wife, Kat, and next to her is Mara.  Behind Kat, in the hat is me, and across from me, is my dad.  In the very back is our guide, Dan. 

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You can click here, to read Part I of this post. 

In order to really assess what we were dealing with, I took some of my dad’s advice.  He said you can usually spot a yellow jacket’s nest by watching them at dusk.  He said they make a bee line when the sun starts to go down to their nest. 

So later that evening and the next evening I watched.  Of course I was watching the one enterence that I knew of, and there were a lot of them entering.  I saw a lot buzzing around our tree, but I didn’t really see a spot where they were all trying to get in.

Joe and I figured the one entrance that we saw was hopefully the main one.  Not wanting to risk another episode like the one from a few days ago, we waited until it was dark and had cooled off.  Joe hung up a Rescue yellow jacket trap from the tree they were buzzing around.  I filled in the hole that I had dug, when I hit yellow jacket oil.

Then we were ready.  Joe sprayed an entire can of a white foamy wasp/yellow jacket spray into the entrance.  I watched from a safe distance.  Nothing.  There were no angry yellow jackets swarming up.  I figured the trap would be filled by the next morning.

At the risk of sounding a bit obssessed at this point, the next morning I checked the trap, and there was not one yellow jacket in it.  There were also none entering or exiting the opening to the nest.  Had we succeeded?  Maybe this wasn’t such a big nest after all.  Only time would tell.  I was cautious though.  Look what happened last time I thought the nest was killed.

A week later, happily, there is no yellow jacket activity to report.  While I am not stupid brave enough to try to dig the nest up again, even though the new can says you can as well, I think we may have solved our yellow jacket problem for now.  When it gets cold, we will dig up the area and see what is under there.  But for now, I’m just happy there aren’t hundreds of those suckers buzzing around.   

I will see a yellow jacket in the trap every day, but then they are gone, out of the trap.  It is eerie.  We have used those traps for a few years now, and always had a ton of them captured within a few days.  A week later, there is not one in there.  Could it be the yellow jackets have gotten smarter, and figured out a way to escape from the trap?  I have a vision of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in my mind now, but with yellow jackets stinging away instead of pecking.  I do find it interesting nevertheless.

Hopefully we won’t have any more battles with the yellow jackets.

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(Note: I would have loved to added some pictures to this post, but after reading this I hope you will understand why I don’t want pictures of them on my blog.  )

The last few weeks I have noticed a lot of yellow jackets buzzing around our yard- especially by our gate- right where the boys like to play construction.

I knew I should have hung up the yellow jacket traps that we have this spring, to catch the queens, but it seemed to slip my mind. Now we are paying the price.  Yellow jackets are scavengers and fly close to the ground, looking for food.  They can also be aggressive, and unlike honey bees who only sting when they feel very threatened and die, yellow jackets can sting multiple times and they live.  That doesn’t work when you have two little boys, who aren’t scavengers, but do like to sit down on the ground when they are playing.

Last week while hanging up laundry on my clothesline, I noticed tons of yellow jackets flying into a small hole near the fence.  Yellow jackets build their nests underground.  Evidently we have a nest under there.  We bought some yellow jacket killer spray (usually I am not a big fan of insect sprays, but…) and according to the directions, we were to wait until it was dusk or dark, when the yellow jackets are less active, and then point the can nozzle into the hole, and spray away.  The directions said the spray was powerful enough to kill any other yellow jackets that were away from the nest, but who would return.  Then it said to wait 24 hours, and then you could safely remove the nest.

After spraying the nest, I didn’t see any yellow jackets for the next few days.  Yay- problem solved!  So yesterday in a moment of genius stupidity, I decided after lunch to go remove the nest…just like the directions on the can said.  Nevermind it was the heat of day, when yellow jackets are the most active, and I was in a tank top and shorts. 

I started digging with the shovel and didn’t see anything.  I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for- I suppose I thought I would see something that looked like a wasp’s nest.  All of a sudden I hit yellow jacket oil!  A swarm of them came up from the ground, and started flying right at me.  I did the only thing I could do- I screamed, batted them away with shovel, and ran my a** back to the house.  

Fortunately I did not get stung, but I was freaked out for hours.  I watched safety from the window, and cursed out the company that put those idiotic directions on their can of yellow jacket spray.  I saw the swarm eventually settle back into their nest, after they figured out the dumb lady with the shovel was gone.    Round 2- yellow jackets. 

I called Joe, and interrupted the class he was teaching and told him I needed him to bring home ammunition- Raid yellow jacket spray (the best I am told) and several more of the Rescue yellow jacket traps.  Spare no expense, I told him-this was war. 

Like any good general preparing to launch a battle,  I read up on yellow jackets on the Internet, and to my horror discovered they can have very complex and big nests underground.  Some can be several, several feet.  One picture I saw the nest was over six feet long.  It also said if the queens don’t die, and the nests aren’t destroyed, the pregnant ones stay dormant for the winter and can survive the cold winters, to emerge in the same nest year, after year, expanding the nest.

We have always had yellow jackets- a few years ago Joe got stung horribly by several yellowjackets in the front yard while mowing the lawn.  This was about six feet away from where I sprayed, so I just know, we probably have one of those huge six feet nests underground. 

Later in the day, my dad stopped by and I told him what was happening. We went back outside, and from a safe distance saw yellow jackets again, going in and out of their nest now, in two different spots, plus we saw countless ones flying by our big tree in the front yard, where Joe had gotten stung. 

We observed the enemy and formulated a plan- Clearly, I had underestimated the yellow jackets.  This was going to be much harder and more complicated than just spraying yellow jacket killer spray in one of the many entrances to their nest…

Stay tuned for Part II

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Cross Posted at BlogHer

I really wanted to attend the annual BlogHer conference in San Francisco this weekend, but I thought we would be moving, so I didn’t sign up to go.  I did however, register to attend in Second Life.  You may have even noticed the banner ad that I have in the right sidebar on my blog.

I have never been in Second Life (SL), and prior to this, had only read an article about it.  I only joined, so I could hear the speakers that were speaking at BlogHer live, like Lisa Stone.  I joined Thursday night, and after figuring out how to work my avatar, I was able to log in to the conference on Friday. It was wonderful to be able to hear the speakers, and even attend some of the SL sessions they had exclusively for SL attendees. 

I received the invitations and notifications BlogHer in SL events, and on Friday night there was a virtual party.  So I signed in and went.  It was a little funky getting my avatar to dance, but thanks to the BlogHer helper in Second Life, Gidge,  I eventually got grooving.  Here is a picture of my Second Life avatar dancing on Friday night (I’m in the black top, purple skirt, and black boots-& you can click on the pictures to see them larger):

   (Bonus: behind me in the purple shirt and jeans is Amy, or better known as the Crunchy Domestic Goddess)

After the BlogHer party, Gidge invited us to her Second Life house to continue the fun.  She has a beautiful house with a dance floor, pool, and BBQ.  After we danced for awhile, she invited us into her house, to the mud wresting pit, and get this- a knife throwing game.  Just like you see at the circus or magic shows. 

Amy and I were pretty fascinated by all of this, and watched the mud wrestling and a few rounds of the knife throwing.  Eventually, I decided to give the knife throwing a shot, and I have to say, I didn’t do too bad- I missed a few times, but I think I hit the balloons more than the person.  Here is a picture of me throwing knives (thanks to Amy for the picture:)

 (To the right of me in the blue dress is Gidge, and behind us is Amy)

The best part of the party this night was Amy was trying to change her clothes, and ended up in a 3-D box.  She couldn’t figure out how to get it off, so she came to the party with a box on.  It was hilarious and we all had a blast cracking jokes.  She was ‘hip to be square!’  You can read Amy’s version of the party, as well as see pictures of her in her box here. 

There was another party on Saturday night, and after having so much fun the night before, I just had to check it out again.  Besides, how often does a chance like this come up?  So I created a pretty snazzy party dress with red sequenced shoes.  Gidge was the volunteer again, and she offered us a champagne flute that had stars floating out of it.  Pretty cool. 

Again, after the party we went back to Gidge’s house, and danced, and tonight I mud wrestled.  While I don’t have pictures of it, since I was wrestling, it was fun. I won the best out of three in my first match, and then I wrestled the Queen herself-Gidge.  I almost had her in one of the rounds, but she quickly overpowered me.  The best part was, I didn’t even need to take my party dress to the cleaners.  As soon as I got out of the pit, it was clean.  I wish that happened in real life.  Here is a picture of me on the dance floor at the BlogHer party, and at Gadge’s house:

Gidge was so nice and so hospitable.  She invited me back to her house anytime, and even allowed me to set my homebase at her house.  I met a lot of friendly people- the whole thing is kind of surreal- who would have thought you could attend parties and have a blast, over your computer?

I am greatful BlogHer made the conference available to those of us who couldn’t attend, and I know even if I was at the conference in San Francisco, I would not have been throwing knives and mud wrestling.  I wouldn’t have been able to create my own clothes either-for free.  Can’t beat that. :-)

While I had a great time with my first Second Life BlogHer experience, I have already vowed that I am going to the conference in person next year.  I know several other friends who are planning on it too.  If it is any indication how much fun and informative BlogHer is in Second Life, I can’t wait to be there for it in real life-even if I don’t get to mud wrestle and throw knives.   

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I am an official blog contributor, with my first post being posted on Attachment Parenting International’s new blog, API Speaks. 

This new blog’s mission is to “capture the real stories of life as an AP family and to highlight the fact that, despite all the varied family structures, cultures, religions, and dynamics that exist in the world, there is one thing that unites us: Our love and compassion for our children.” (from API Speaks)

I will be a regular contributor with my posts appearing around the seventh of each month- give or take a few days.  The first post that appeared was a post that appeared on my blog, from last March- “Following My Instincts.” 

API Speaks, which was launched last month, is a helpful blog to read, and gain insight into different parents experiences with their children, ranging from birth, to feeding, to sleeping.  Even though every parent has different paths they take with their children in these areas, the common bond is, a respectful and gentle approach.

 It is so hard at times being a parent, and trying to do the best you can for your children.  For me it is like a breath of fresh air to read other parents have similar experiences, trials, and triumphs as I.

I hope you will not only read my posts at API Speaks, but read other experiences and stories posted there.  Check out this new blog- I am sure you will find something that speaks to you as a parent. 

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I got tagged by Jen from Daily Mish Mash on four things about me-

Four Jobs I’ve Held

• Floral Designer
• Legal Assistant
• Medical OSHA Consultant
• Bookkeeper

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

• Gone With the Wind (best movie ever!)
• Somewhere in Time (second best movie ever!)
• My Fair Lady
• Summer Magic (old 60’s movie with Hayley Mills- can you tell we had the Disney channel  growing up?)

Four Places I Have Lived

• Albuquerque, NM (born there)
• Boulder, CO
• Estes Park, CO
• Santa Barbara, CA (only for a summer, but I did live there!)

Four TV Shows I Like

• Brothers & Sisters
• What Not to Wear
• Flip This House
• Actually don’t watch TV anymore- can’t think of another show I still like.

Four Favorite Foods

• Pizza
• Salad
• Anything Chocolate
• Wine (does that count as a food?)

Four Places I would Rather Be

• Anyplace tropical (Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Fiji, etc…)
• With my little sister in Seattle
• In a 5 star luxury hotel for at least one night, all by myself to sleep, sleep, and get more sleep, and to eat the little chocolate they put on your pillow
• Austria

Four People I am Tagging

• Laura (from Oraele: she won my Bloggy Giveaway)
• Jungle’s Wife
• Janice (from Mom on the Run)
• A Mom Two Boys

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All the stars must have aligned right yesterday, because it worked out where I was able to get out of the house, and do some much needed shopping.  I had Cole with me, and he is quite the shopper.

One reason I always wanted a girl, was I just assumed you had to have a girl to go shopping with.  Ryan is not a shopper- he is just like his dad in that area-go in, get what you need, get out as quick as you can.  Cole, on the other hand, takes after me.  He loves looking around at all the people, and he loves touching clothes, and just seeing what is going on in the stores.  I have to be in the right mood to shop, or else I hate it, and fortunately, both Cole and I were in a shopping mood today.

We started out at Old Navy, where they are having a huge baby sale- all baby/kids clothes were 40% off.  I stocked up on tee shirts and shorts mostly for Ryan for the summer, since Cole will have plenty of Ryan’s hand-me-downs.  They were all on sale for $3.90 each.  I did get both boys one matching outfit- a navy and gray shirt, with matching shorts.  Then I found a nice work / dressier occasion black short sleeved blouse for me on sale for $7.  It was triple that originally, so I scored there.  I looked for a birthday present for my niece, who will be one in April, but I just didn’t see anything that I liked.  I take that back- I saw this adorable onesie, which fits my niece to a T, but they only had newborn sizes.  However, I got my friend, who is expecting her first baby, a boy in March, a gift, (not sure if she reads my blog or not, so can’t say what it is, other than it is cute!) I had a coupon for an additional 10% of everything, so I saved quite a bit.

I was getting hungry, so I stopped at a bakery and got a chicken walnut salad sandwich.  Cole had eaten before we left, and didn’t want any of my food, except for the delicious oatmeal raisin cookie that came with it.  He sat on his chair like such a big boy and smiled at everyone who walked by.  While we were eating, I saw a new mother sitting a few tables down with a baby that looked about a month old.  They looked so happy and calm.  I wondered if I ever looked that happy, or if I just always looked as frazzled, and tired as I felt.

After we were done eating, it was off to Children’s Place, where I had another coupon for 15% off.  We went shopping there right before Christmas, so I figured I had seen most the merchandise, but I have another friend who is also due in March with her first baby, but she doesn’t know the gender.  I thought I would see if there were any cute outfits that would work.  Now I know what everyone went through with me- we didn’t find out the gender either time.  I really wanted to get her some things, but everything was so gender specific, I couldn’t.  I did find one nice little gift though, that will work for a boy or a girl.  I also found two long sleeved graphic shirts for Ryan for next fall, that were originally $14, marked down to $5.99, and then they were 50% off that.  With my coupon they ended up being $2.54. Not bad for two brand new cool shirts.  One had a snowmobiler on it, and one had a helicopter scenes.  Right up Ryan’s alley.

Cole was starting to get a bit tired, but I wanted to go to New York & Company to see what kind of jeans they had.  I debated on stopping at Pottery Barn Kids first to let Cole  play for a while, but it is so hard to get him out of there- he never wants to leave.  So I decided to go to NY&Co. first.  They were crazy busy!  It was my lucky day to need jeans, because they were having a sale on all their pants- buy one get one for 50% off.  And, yes you guessed it, I had a coupon for $30 off, if you spent $75.  I have never bought NY&Co. jeans before, but my sister has a few pairs that are really cute.  Plus, I can wear jeans to work if they are nicer, and it seems like the jeans there are a little dressier.  Plus they have tall lengths, which I usually need.  

Because of the sale and my coupon it really did make sense to get two pairs- two pairs would cost me $10 more than one pair.  But, I was out of luck.  The jeans were so picked over, I only found one pair that were my size, and they weren’t even the long length.  I tried them on anyway, and surprisingly they were long enough.  I even asked the sales person to see if they had anymore jeans in my size. 

The store was so cramped, and the aisles were very narrow, it was NOT fun trying to maneuver a stroller through all of it.  The sales person told me I must have the only pair in my size- she couldn’t find anymore.  I was still going to get the pair I liked, and found some great sweaters for work and a blouse, all marked down from $36 to $7.99.  Then I spotted a clearance rack by another dressing room that had some more jeans on it.  I looked through every pair, and the very last pair, was my size, in a long length, with a design on the back pockets that I really liked.  After trying them on, it seemed like they were a little too long.  I guess they don’t mess around- tall means tall!  Usually tall is like half an inch longer than the regular length.  Not at NY&Co.!  But they were so cute, I decided to get them anyway, and I know Joe’s mom could hem them up for me.

While I was standing in line, I noticed EVERY fashion conscious person in the store (you know what they look like- they aren’t mom’s who have dried chicken salad from lunch on their black shirts, and pushing a toddler in a beat up stroller) had on really long jeans- most had the hems to the floor, and were standing on them.  I guess these pants were the height of fashion.  Maybe I won’t have them hemmed- now if I could do something about the dried white mayonnaise spots on my black shirt. 

I was over the $75 mark with the sweaters, but after using my coupon, I got $30 knocked off.  I am really happy I found two nice pair of jeans I can wear to work if I want to.  Here is the first pair, and here is the second, long, pair. 

Cole was really getting fussy at this point, so we went to Pottery Barn Kids, and spent the next hour there.  He was having a blast playing with the toy kitchen, stove, washing machine, ironing board, and vacuum cleaner.  It also was not crowded at all, so he had the toys to himself.  Almost everyone who walked by and saw him playing told me how sweet he looked.  He would stop what he was doing, and wave at that the person.  Finally, he was getting so tired, I had to pick him up and carry him out of there.  He cried, but he stopped as soon as we started walking in the mall again.  He fell asleep on they way home.

Hopefully we are set on clothes now for a while.  It was a really nice, fun, and laid back day, and I really enjoyed spending that one-on-one time with Cole.  Oh, and if you are wondering how I got so many coupons- the last time I was at Old Navy, the reciept selected me to take a customer satisfaction survey for the 10% off.  So I did, and I got a code when I was done.  For the other two stores, I am on their mailing list, and they send coupons quite regularly.  You can sign up on-line at their websites,  if there are any shopping trips in your future to these stores.

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