Busy, busy, holiday busy...

I'm been remiss in blogging for, oh, about a month.  Life got the best of me with holiday happenings.  Lots of shopping, cooking, entertaining, skiing, wrapping, laughing and good times shared.  I'd say the blogging break was worth it just to spend the time with family and friends.

Now it's back to real life.  I have a lot of things on the docket for 2010.  Not resolutions, just a lot going on personally and professionally.  Here's the latest run-down:

I was selected to be a guest blogger for the new Colorado Ski Mamas tour being sponsored by Colorado Ski Country.

I'll be heading out to Powderhorn Ski Resort in late January or early February to enjoy a fun ski weekend with the family.  This opportunity is perfect for me because I love discovering little tips that make mothering easier - particularly when it comes to mothering on the ski slopes.  I'll be blogging and tweeting about the exeperience.  Stay tuned for an update on the all of the fun adventures in Mesa/Grand Junction, Colorado.

I just finished a revision on my brother's blog template.  Check it out here.  I love the slideshow header with rotating images.  Trying to come up with a way to incorporate this into my own blog design.  I'm itching for an excuse to redesign my template anyway, so perhaps this technique will be the starting point.

I'm editing a book for an amazingly talented colleague of mine, Mike Strunk. He is a photographer and writer who is finishing up his second coffee-table photography book.  His photographs are stunning.  I proudly display his first book, Potraits of Preservation, on my own coffee table.  And I can't wait for Butch Cassidy and Outlaw Trail to be complete in the next few months.  You can check out all of Mike's work, including photos and excerpts from both books, here.

After an extremely productive November thanks to NaNoWriMo, I cranked out half of my novel, Sliver of Souls (working title - still not sure what it's going to be called.)  I had every intention of finishing it in December, but then life at the holidays happened.  So, January is the month that I'm back on track to crank out another half. I can't wait to see what Maggie and her cohorts do next.

Just picked up a new story assignment for Purina about rescue dogs and their owners who are involved in agility competitions.  I love writing these stories for Purina's publications, and I get to meet some amazing people in the process. True animal lovers are some of the most passionate and caring people in the world.

I've been in the midst of assisting with the planning of my husband's 20th high school reunion.  I just finished a very down-and-dirty web design for their class to track RSVPs, etc.  You can check it out here.

Lots of other professional activities - a strategic planning session this month, two more website redesigns and a new travel brochure layout for a local travel organization.  The year is starting off to be a busy one, and I'm focusing on taking it one day at a time.  Tomorrow is the beginning of Alex's Mini-Moutaineer program at Echo Mountain ski school.  Shoud be a great day for all those little skiers.

Free MP3 Every Day

This is such a cool website:

One Track Mind

What a great way to discover new bands and music for free. I'm sure I'll find a few good tunes to add to my skiing playlist. Can you tell I've been excited about the cold nights? (39 degrees at my house last night!)  Skiing, here we come.  I got a new ski helmet and jacket last weekend, and I can't wait to wear them on the slopes.

Alumen, Aluminis, Alum: The Wave of the Future

Aluminum foil. What would we do without it? I was driving Alex to school the other day and listening to my favorite Denver morning show, Dom and Jane in the Morning. They started talking about aluminum foil, and I learned something that has changed my life!

How long have I been using aluminum foil? 30-plus years. How many times has the roll tumbled out of the box as I'm trying to pull out the right sized sheet? At least 300-400 times. Go grab your box of aluminum foil and take a look at the end. Do you see that little perforated part that says, "Press Tab To Hold Roll"? Go ahead, push that in on both ends. Voila, your roll is locked in place. It still spins so as to allow proper pulling form, but that roll isn't going anywhere!

Am I the only one that didn't know about this, people? Obviously not if they're talking about it on the radio. But it has changed my life. I ran home and started pushing in those little devils on all of my boxed products: Saran Wrap, Aluminum Foil, Cling Wrap. And don't worry if you don't see the "Press Tab" instructions. Even the generic versions have the tabs, they just don't spell out how to use them.

While I was searching online for an aluminum foil pictures, I stumbled across this site for the Aluminum Foil Deflective Beanie. An AFDB is "is a type of headwear that can shield your brain from most electromagnetic psychotronic mind control carriers." These people seem pretty serious about this! I think this could help in several areas of my life right now.

First off, ever since the ski resorts introduced their state-of-the-art radio frequency technology for scanning ski passes, I've been thinking a lot more about the crazy amounts of waves that travel through my body every day. "What do you want to about this?" asked Kevin, when I mentioned my thoughts as we rode up the ski lift. "I'm not sure. I just don't think it can be healthy."

I now have the solution. I'll create an AFD Ski Helmet. I'm sure there's a huge market out there. Don't you think? If nothing else, it'll keep all those mind readers who are frequently Vail from stealing my invention before the patent is approved.

One more fun tip that I didn't know: To prevent static electricity in your clothing, throw a small crumpled up ball of foil into your dryer.

Can we do it again? and again?

Just kidding, that's not Alex!

I took Alex to Echo Mountain Ski Area for his first ski lesson today. Recognizing the hesitancy of our three-and-a-half year old to be more than four bodily inches from his mother (especially when trying anything new), we thought it would be best to enroll him in the Parent and Me intro class.

Throwing him into a frenzied group of squealing four year olds tends to put Alex into a catatonic state. His body is there, but you can almost see his mind try to push itself as far inside his head as possible. His eyes start to glaze in the midst of all of this untamed energy and the mechanism that connects his mouth and his feet to his brain temporarily shuts off. I can see the metaphoric sign dangling from his forehead, "Back in 5 minutes (or whenever these unpredictable little monsters leave the area!)"

Mommy and Me skiing was the best choice ever. Brenda, or Miss B, as she called herself, was a great teacher. At first, I tried to encourage Alex when needed, but I quickly realized that as long as the invisible tether to which I am attached in new situations didn't get longer than about 3 feet, Alex was just fine without me.

Miss B. tuned in immediately to Alex's needs. Lots of encouragement, lots of fun and the ability to drown out the amazing amount of stimulus that surrounded us. At one point, she bent down, grabbed Alex's cheeks gently and said,

"Alex, I know there are a lot of other kids here today, but all you have to do is concentrate on my face."

She turned his head, he focused on her eyes, smiled and skiied down the bunnyhill. I wanted to hug Miss B. and pat her on the back for her insight. This 20-something with the tie-dyed hat and Japanese-anime covered skis actually got my kid!

And Alex had the time of his life. At first, there were a lot of nervous laughs and, "I can't"s. But Miss B. wouldn't hear of it.

"Don't tell me you can't. You just did! And now let's go do it again!"

By the end of the hour, my little man was skiing down the bunnyhill entirely on his own. Even after the lesson was over, he kept asking to ride the Magic Carpet up just one more time, and just one more time again, so that he could ski back down. He can't wait to go again next weekend. What a great introduction to the sport!