Makes Me Want to Unplug

To everyone who received the scam email this morning that I was stuck overseas without $ or a visa, blah blah blah, absolutely disregard it! I am safe & sound in Colorado, wishing I knew how to even begin tracking down the person who has turned my world upside down today. They would not be so safe & sound.

If you & I have emailed back & forth, would you please send me a note saying "howdy!"? That way I can start rebuilding my email contact list. The yo-yo who hacked my account deleted every single address & email I've acquired in the last 5 years!

If we correspond on Facebook, could you send me a friend request? They got that account too and deleted over 200 friends & family. Oooh, if I ever find out who they are....

And finally.... I love you all, and appreciate your concern, but please don't call. I've been on the phone so much today, assuring people I'm not in London or explaining, "yes, I know you received a scam email from my address, I'm sorry, just delete it..." It's really old news considering I found out about it at 5 a.m. this morning. It's been a long day.

And one last thing.... to those of you still using hubby's cell phone number... please stop. We only use those phones for emergencies, will not likely get your message for days, maybe weeks. You know who you are.

And now, I'm off to make myself a margarita. I do believe I earned it today. Adios.

Only a Little Bit to Go

Yesterday, at the pool, Mudge asked me if she was big enough yet to go down the waterslide. I knew she'd grown a lot over the summer, but I wasn't sure if she'd made the 4' mark yet.

So we walked over to the height chart & measured her. She's only got 5" to go. I showed her how much too short she was & she said, "Does this mean I need to eat more?!"

Gotta love 'em. They do pay attention, even when you think they're tuning you out. I tell her all the time that she needs to eat her "fill in the blank" so she'll grow big & strong.

My baby's not so little anymore.

Update: Nov 2009

Facebook has commandeered my blog time...

I vow not to let this blog go, so here's a quick post/update.

We fell in love with a property, tried all summer to make the purchase happen, but so far it appears that it's "not to be".

We found a much smaller, altogether different type of property that we are planning to use as a stepping stone. Buy it, get out of paying rent, build some equity in it by making easy improvements, flip it in 2 years. In the meantime, we are hopeful that our Chetek properties sell & we can use the funds to eventually buy mountain land & build.

I applied for 2 part-time positions. One is with the Division of Wildlife as an admin assistant. The other is a bookkeeper for a local property management group. Neither has made a decision on the resumes, so I'm waiting to hear back this week.

The kids are still homeschooling. We're tweaking the structure a bit, as Bud needs more & more in his day, while Sis & I are perfectly happy with the pace set for her. Mudge is coming along nicely with her alphabet, has known her colors & shapes for years, and loves to read a book back to you once you've read it to her. It's uncanny how close she comes to the actual text. It reminds me of cousin Karin's Linnea when she was about that age.

Steve is still loving the job. He's looking forward to plowing snow, which should start happening with some regularity soon. I heard the plows this morning.

We are involved with Boy Scouts, ice skating, rock climbing, youth group at church, and making inroads into our community & church. We love it here so much, if only we could get settled in a house.... it really would help. We still feel like vagabonds. We are spread out between 2 mini-storages (20 minutes away), our moving van (bus), and various closets of boxes. Six months is far too long to still be digging through boxes to find stuff. But I know that we'll look back on this, shake our heads, and chuckle at it. (Remind me of this please).

We are visiting my Aunt Kay and Uncle Marty for Thanksgiving. My cousin Courtney will be home & it will surely be nice to relax among family again.

I just can't think of another thing at the moment, so I'll leave you with just a sampling of what I have to endure of the Anderson sense of humor. In our home, Steve's sense of humor prevails.

Just last night Bud said something typical "big brother" fashion to Sis. Whatever it was it was pretty condescending. Steve piped up & said, "Hey, don't talk to your sister in that voice." Without skipping a beat Bud absolutely repeated himself word-for-word...... in a Darth Vader voice.

See? See? Intolerable! Right?

it was pretty funny, I had tears running down my cheeks...

Reliving My Past

When I was a kid we spent so much time on Pueblo Reservoir, south of Colorado Springs, that it could have passed as our second home.

I have logged countless hours fishing off the rear sundeck of a boat.

So, why shouldn't they?



I owned my first fishing rod when I was 2. I'm not sure when I started baiting my own hook, or taking my own fish off. I'm confident there's a special place in heaven for the grandparents who patiently took me fishing, even if that meant that I was going to cast out and reel in 10 million times in one afternoon.

Fishing is one of my most treasured childhood memories.

So, I'm going to do everything I can to make it their's.




Our family vacation time, as a kid, almost always involved a boat. I have a very strong love & respect for lakes & rivers now.

I can only hope that my children will learn to love time on the water, just as I do.









Watching a boat motor throw a rooster tail is as familiar to me as my own reflection.

Thank you God, for helping me pass these memories down to my kids.

Girls Camp - Labor Day '09

We had such a good time, the girls & I. We headed out on Sunday afternoon for the West Elk Wilderness & found a great, remote campsite. We chose to stay in the forest instead of a campground in order to avoid barking dogs, late night revelers, and dust from the driveways.

We lucked out on finding this site. It took 4-wheel drive to get there, but we were in walking distance from a little creek, had peace & quiet, and lots of wildlife to observe. Last night we had 2 deer wander through just after sunset. The coyotes were howling both nights, but sounded quite a ways off. If we had a dollar for every chipmunk we saw Steve could retire early! Lots of fun.

My girls were ultra tired when we finally got home today, so I'm sure a nap is on the agenda.