The Church of Booze

Chris and I have been watching this building go up across from Timothy’s preschool for almost a year now. It’s all stone and wood and it’s ginormous. For the longest time we thought it was a mega-church. We later discovered that it was to be the largest liquor store in North America. And was to be called…Tipsy’s. I was hoping it was someone’s last name, but alas, it was not. I read an interview with the frosted-blonde owner who said she named it Tipsy’s “after the good feeling you get from two or three glasses of wine.”

Actually, the entire name is “Tipsy’s Liquor World.” Sigh.

Buffalo Huntin’

My cousin Pete and his girlfriend stopped in last night. I love living near the middle of the country. We get guests from both coasts and everywhere in between. Pete just finished grad school and is heading to LA to make his fortune. And when he does, he’d better remember that I let him crash in my basement and do his laundry.

They’d gone through South Dakota and were on the lookout for bison, which they never saw (Pete exacted his revenge by eating one for dinner later that night) so we drove up I-70 to a lookout near here to see if we could find us some CO buffalo (I know, I know — bison. You think you’re so smart.) We found some hanging out by the freeway and then spent an hour driving around trying to get a better view. I finally gave up and we pulled off the side of the freeway and watched them for a while. I got so excited watching them do boring, buffalo-type things (“Look, look, he’s laying down! Oooooh, he’s drinking!”) They’re just so funny. They look like big, furry couches standing in an open field.

Tidbits, Anecdotes and General Musings

-So Chris was BBQing on Mother’s Day and I was talking to our neighbors across the street — the Hernandezes — who asked what we were having. When I told them Chris was grilling carne asada, they asked, “What’s carne asada?” Only in CO will you find a Hernandez who’s never heard of carne asada…

-Alexis’ favorite insullt is, “Go ‘way, ya iyot!!!!” (translated: “Go away, you idiot!”) She learned it from a Disney movie and uses it on everyone from Timothy to Thomas the Tank Engine. Try and teach a toddler Bible verses and cute songs and they’ll never get it right, but show them “101 Dalmations” once and they can remember every single insult, store them up, and bring them out during church or family dinners with grandparents.

-my sister is visiting for 10 days and painted these really cool murals in the older kids’ rooms. Timothy has a dark blue wall with a view of Earth from space and lots of stars all over and Alexis has a room with flowers and butterflies. Now I’m going to be upset if our house burns up. Before, it just would have been a pain, but now I really will be sad to lose the paintings.

-my brother was here for part of the time, too, so we went on a few hikes with the kids. Hiking with kids is an exercise in patience and submission because we never get more than a mile. Sometimes — when it’s just me and them — we don’t make it past the bathrooms at the end of the parking lot. I tell myself it’s worth it just to get to the mountains, even if I have to enjoy them from next to a Port-A-Potty. The women at church are going on a hike next month and I’m very excited at the prospect of seeing a trail through to the end again.

-one day last week, Alexis went upstairs and got out the toothpaste. I was feeding Caleb and had to leave him to go clean it up. When I came back, Caleb had taken an entire plate of mashed bananas and thrown them on his face, his clothes, the dog and the floor.

-one day last week, Chris did some touch-up painting. I noticed later that Stewart laid down next to it and got paint all over his left side. I took him in the bathroom to wash him, where he peed on the floor and my foot. By the time I was done, I had washed the dog, the bathtub, the bathroom floor, a load of towels and myself.