Rochelle's Blog ::: Subtitles Included

So the weekend is coming to an end.

The weekend after a three day weekend is always so shockingly short. I swear, I just got off work and here I am preparing for tomorrow.

This one was a good one though. It started on Friday when I took Callie to the Vet and they put another bandage on her tail. They said she could wear it for two weeks this time and then she might not have to wear the cone when she goes bandage-free!

Well this blissful state ended a little abruptly for both her and I when I came home tonight to find her Jets-colored bandage on the floor completely in tact, as if she slipped it off disgusted with their loss. She herself was just chilling on her favorite blanket. She started to lick at it pretty good, so I was forced to put the cone on her…

She gets bummed out wearing the cone, and that bums me out pretty bad. But this could be for the best. I’m thinking that it’s somehow meant to be, because this is really what the Vets wanted to do in the first place. I’m wondering if they put her bandage on in such a manner so that it would slip off easily and we’d be forced to do the truly right thing! The tail needs air, and we’ll just have to deal with our sweet little girl living in her Elizabethian cone.

After the Vet, I went to Best Buy in an effort to get NetFlix streaming on my TV. I had lots of options. Could run a DVI->HDMI cable from my laptop. Could get a PS3. Could get a capable Blu-Ray player. Best Buy did not have the cable, so it was between the PS3 or Blu-Ray.  After lots of internal debate, I ended up getting the Blu-Ray. It was half the price, didn’t require a disc from NetFlix to do initial setup, and I just don’t really play games that much.

You may be asking yourself, why not wait for the Wii NetFlix option that is coming soon? Well, there’s a bit of an urgency since I’m trying to catch up a friend on Lost before the new season starts. And the Wii version won’t have HD capabilities. Plus, I’m a bit excited for Blu-Ray. I bought Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Blu-Ray, and I can’t wait to watch it!

So overall I’m glad I got it. It was really easy to setup, and now I have a whole new gigantic option of viewing options whenever I want.

On Saturday I did a ton of cleaning (again), including some de-cluttering that I had planned on doing ever since last week’s big clean up.

Read more about that and see before and after pictures over at The Simple Sisters.

Today, my dad and Cathy came up for a visit. The three of us, along with Marissa and Johnny, went over to the Great Indoors, which was a little bit like torture (I’m a renter and I have no real money to speak of), and then had a fun lunch at Panera (yum!).

We talked about how I love to teach people lessons. Okay, more like my family made fun of me for that. They called me George Bluth from Arrested Development.

If you’ve never seen Arrested Development, it’s the episode called “Pier Pressures.” I wish I could show you a clip, but alas, I couldn’t find one.

Anyway, I came home and did computer-y things, and plan to curl up with my Kindle tonight. I never did share my Kindle skin experience. I do love it so! It was really easy to apply and I think it looks so cute!

Mmm mmm mmm.

It was the summer of ‘97….

I was a 18-year-old bratty graduate bound for college and angry at her parents for setting such a lame curfew. 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. My 17-year-old brother operated within the same guidelines.

So we’d go out most weeknights to hang out with friends. Me to my favorite coffee house (it was the 90s after all), and my brother to….well…I have no idea where he ever was.

And then 11:00 would roll around, we’d wander home and make our way into the kitchen for a late night snack–usually cereal, either Fruity Pebbles or Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

By the time we settled in around the kitchen table, it would be about 11:30 and The Tonight Show would just be ending and Late Night with Conan O’Brien would be starting. As we munched on our cereal we’d laugh at Conan’s funny monologue, and we’d refill our bowls by the time the first guest would come on.

I don’t remember how we found Conan in the first place, but he became such a part of that summer and a permanent figure in the memory I have of spending time with my brother at that age, that I have been incredibly fond of him ever since.

In 2002, I went with my dad and sister to New York and we visited NBC’s Rockefeller building. We got to tour lots of the studios, but sadly not Conan’s. We were so sad! But we did the next best thing and paid for a fake photo shoot  with a green screen, where it looked like we were on the set with Conan, sitting in his chairs, drinking out of mugs and laughing it up. When we got home from vacation, we lied and told my mom that we met him in real life and she believed us for a little bit, until we started laughing.

And that’s where I got my favorite mug!

I was thrilled when I heard that Conan was taking over the Tonight Show in 2009! Especially because I was no spring chicken anymore and had imposed my own self inflicted curfew to be in bed by 11 (amazing how life evolves). To have Conan start at 10:35 was most excellent to me.

So I was there watching on his debut night, and kept at it for quite awhile.

I was so certain that Conan would be there at 10:35 for years and years to come that I wasn’t as worried about viewership as I should have been. If I missed a night, it was no big deal. If I missed a week, I dealt with it.

So it should come to no surprise that I am livid at the late night fiasco at NBC. I could go on and on and on about my beef with NBC in general. I have never loved and hated something so equally and passionately as I do with NBC. Somehow NBC is my default channel, and a big chunk of my programming happens on NBC. So as much as I want to boycott or stay away from the network that chooses to destroy pretty much everything I love, I keep tuning in. LOSER!

Since this madness started, I’ve been watching every second of the Tonight Show, and he’s funnier than ever, which just makes it hurt more. I know that this isn’t the end of Conan by any means, but it still makes me sad. I hate that he only had seven months to be the host of the legendary “Tonight Show,” and I feel like he’ll forever be jaded.

And so that’s my story on that. I could dig deeper into all this, but really, this video pretty much sums it up for me!

Christmas was wonderful this year. Everything went as smoothly as possible, minus a little bit of a cold that tried to keep my down. I really celebrated the season this year with Christmas baking and buying my loved ones lots of excellent presents. In return, I got some wonderful things as well, which include a Kindle (my absolute favorite thing) and a Tassimo coffee maker.

Anyway, here are some photos from the holiday.

The Christmas Baking

I made my usual fudge, chocolate chip cookies, and tea cakes. I haven’t made tea cakes in years, and I’m so glad that I did. They were by far the highlight of all the goodies.

My Christmas Tree

The tree with all the presents that gave.

Pueblo for Christmas

I went to Pueblo, as usual, and had a wonderful time.

Here’s my mom’s tree.

And here are some portraits I took of Marissa and Johnny.

We made a Mexican feast (another family tradition), and even made our own tamales! It was quite a feat!

Dinner was awesome!

And then I caught my cold! I went to bed that night with the shivers and I couldn’t get warm. I had a sheet right out of the dryer, an electric blanket, a comforter, and a quilt. Yet, I couldn’t get warm. That night was not so good, but I refused to let it deter me from a wonderful Christmas morning.

We woke up and had French Toast and coffee and then got to the business of opening presents.

Later, I went to my dad’s house to celebrate. We had more Mexican food (which is sort of hilarious that we’re all a bunch of white people…well, not hispanic so to speak). We had a fun time! Although, I must admit that my illness was trying to get the better of me.

It was another great Christmas! And the break from work was wonderful.

I also got a snuggie, some movies, some new pajamas, and some other heart felt gifts.

Well, it happened. My little sister graduated. It’s been something I’ve been dreading, but somehow it wasn’t nearly as sad as I thought it would be. It worked out really nicely and my sister had a great time. She also got hooked up with tons of cash and presents, so that was great too!

Anyway, she’s still on the job hunt, but I have faith that she’ll find something great soon. Here are some pictures from the events.

First, there was the Journalism graduation:

And then some from the larger graduation the next day:

It’s hard to believe but my family reunion in Phoenix was nearly three weeks ago. It went far better than I could have imagined and it was truly wonderful to get to spend time with my dad and his brothers. I don’t remember the last time I saw all four of them together, but I’m thinking it was easily 15 years ago. They are all the same, and there is something really comforting in that. Sure they are all actually different, but their core is the same and that’s nice to see. I see that when I am with my own brother and sister. Our cores are very much the same, and there’s a connection there that I don’t feel with anybody else on earth. It’s quite indescribable, and if you have siblings I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, our resort was lovely. Phoenix was cold. And I basically got us everywhere we needed to go because of my iPhone. I bought overpriced buttons and yarn, went into the first ever built Microsoft store (there’s only two presently), and played a wicked game of pictionary. I didn’t get to know my cousins Christine and Ben as well as I would have liked, but I did get to talk about teaching with technology with my uncle John and his wife Nicola who are both professors. My dad got a little too stressed out about being in charge, and so I back filled that responsibility and made it all work out. I promised myself that I would work hard to not be in charge and just be guided, but that didn’t happen in the slightest. No problem though, I should recognize that ability as a strength and my family and friends can rely on.

Here are some pictures:

We went hiking by our hotel.

My dad and Cathy.

On our hike. From left – right: Uncle Ted, my dad, Uncle John and his children Christine and Ben.

We went to the Botanical Gardens, which was basically some fenced in area of the desert.

Random glasses on a cactus.

The whole group (minus me). From L-R: Christine, Lillith (Nicola’s mom), Cathy (my step-mom), my dad, Francine (Ted’s wife), Uncle John, Ben, Nicola (John’s wife), Uncle Ted, Uncle Bob, Yvette (Bob’s wife).

I’m going to Phoenix today for a family reunion! My uncle John and his family are traveling all the way from Australia to be here for Christmas. I haven’t seen them in 13 years and so I didn’t want to pass up this opportunity.

They’re a funny bunch and so much different than my other family members on that side. My dad has three brothers, Bob, Ted, and John — the baby. While my dad and his first two brothers are a lot alike, John is just different.

My dad is a lawyer, my uncle Ted is a lawyer, and for a long time my uncle Bob was a paralegal, but went back to get a masters degree in special education. My uncle John followed in their footsteps and went to CU’s Law School and got his Juris Doctorate. Somehow though, that wasn’t good enough, and went to ASU to get his PhD in psychology. Yeah, let’s just say that I am the first person in my family line to not get an advanced degree. It makes me feel like such a loser with my lame Bachelors. And that’s where he met his life partner Nicola. Together they became psychology professors and when I was a kid they did fun experiments on me and my brother.

They moved off to Florida and taught there and had their first child, a daughter, in the early 90s. Then right before they moved to Australia to teach, they had a son. I only saw Ben as an infant and so this will be my first time really meeting him.

They are very academic people. They are gifted at everything. They are also incredibly active people with a love for life. Not to say that my family isn’t that way, but John’s family tends to be more positive about life and natural. They are naturalists and environmentalists as well. They are also economically conservative and really sound at everything they do. So I’m looking forward to getting to know them a little bit better and see this other side of my family.

So today, I’m traveling with my dad and my uncle Ted (along with their significant others), and then my uncle Bob is driving up to Phoenix from Tucson. There we’ll all meet up with John and his family. We’re staying at this resort and I’m very excited to just relax and spend time with family.

I love this picture of my dad and his brothers! From left to right is: Bob, my dad (Charles), Ted, and John.

There are so many fun nights out to choose from! Highlights include a recent stint at the Cheesecake factory, gambling with Marissa in Vegas, and stumbling back to the hotel after getting drunk with my mom in London and laughing the whole way there, playing poker at the Burke’s house, celebrating a Twilight themed birthday party at the Burke’s, and going to the Twilight and New Moon double feature. But the best night out had to be my brother’s wedding reception. I know that’s not exactly a night out, per se, but it was so much fun. There was tons of dancing and drinks and cheer. We had such a great time that night! It was one of the best wedding receptions I’ve ever gone too!

How it came to be

If you read this blog closely, you’ve probably caught on that my mom is a pet person. She’s always on the prowl for new pets. When I went down to her house for Thanksgiving, her pet situation was as follows: 1 new puppy, three birds, and five cats. She asked me if I’d like to take one of her cats, Callie, because three of her cats weren’t treating her too nicely. These three cats are siblings from the same litter and really close knit. The fourth cat is from the same mother, but not the same litter. So she was sort of the odd one out. So anyway, I thought about it and spent some time with her and totally bonded! So I agreed!

Her name

So my mom named her Callie, because she’s a Calico, but I needed more from a name! To go along with our Greek mythology theme (Persephone and Penelope), I decided to name her Calliope (pronounced ka-LIE-oh-pee).

Calliope

Calliope was the muse of heroic poetry, which I find so cool because I actually reference heroic (also known as epic) poetry in the book I’m writing. The name is also Greek for “beautifully voiced,” which is so cute because she has the sweetest meow.

Callie Torres

It’s also funny that a Calliope would come into my life because I also love the character Callie on Grey’s Anatomy, and her name is Calliope too. It’s these little things that just prove that she was meant to join my family!

Speaking of Persephone and Penelope

I don’t think they even noticed there was a strange cat in their house until I opened the door to the room I’m keeping her in and they happened to see her. I got the three cats in a room together and it became a huge hiss fest. I hate this part of bringing in a new cat. I just wish they would get past it and accept each other, because I know they will eventually.

Cat model in the making

Lucky for me, this little cat loves to be photographed and stays quite still. Here are some more photos of the little gal. She’s about 10 months old.

Thanksgiving rushed up and smacked me in the face this year. Also NaNoWriMo’s fault! But I seriously, wasn’t prepared for it. Thankfully, my mom had everything under control and all I had to do was show up! So I drove down to Pueblo and got there just in the nick of time. We had a great meal together and a little bit of pie. Then it was off to my dad’s house for coffee and cashews, and to my brother’s house for the Broncos game! Overall, a very great day spent with my whole family. The next day I came back home because I caught a pretty nasty cold and wanted to be at home to deal with it.

Anyway, here are some photos from the day:

The Thanksgiving Master!

Oops! Marshmallow explosion!

Marissa and Johnny

The spread.

Mr. and Mrs. Dudley.

My mom’s new Yorkie, Princess.

My dad served us some cashews and some coffee he picked up from Loaf ‘N Jug. He just insisted on serving us something, even though we were completely full. It was so cute!

I am still busy at my NaNoWriMo novel. I will hit 50,000 words, which is so awesome! I only wish that I was actually finishing my book in that many words. Instead, I am no where close to actually finishing the story itself. The book will go on. It’s been so fun to write though lately. I hope Thanksgiving doesn’t distract me too much and I can still get my words in!

Anyway–sorry about the lack of posts, particularly Project 365. I have been slipping on that big time. I promise that starting today I am going to get back to the Project, still only posting once a week though.

For Thanksgiving, I’m going down to Pueblo to visit my family. I hope all of my American friends have wonderful holiday!