Wooly Mammoths

We - and the rest of Denver apparently - headed to the Museum of Nature and Science yesterday to check out their special exhibit of Mammoths and Mastodons.

A common misperception is that they only lived in cold areas (such as Siberia) but that's not true; they were also prevalent in Europe, North America and Africa.  Many of their remains are preserved well and discovered in Siberia, though, due to the weather.

Their tusks grew anywhere from 7 to 14 feet long, and they lived alongside humans in certain areas.  We saw a diorama display of how humans would hunt them (in groups, with spears), and store their meet in the bottom of lakes in order to preserve it.  So, you know, not all that different than how we live today.

We wandered from the special exhibit into their prehistoric area.  It was full of other large and scary creatures from the past, including lots of dinosaurs.

Kind of makes the American Grizzly bear seem like NBD.

This lovely thing used to feast on sharks...you gotta be glad some things went extinct.

This is a huge version of a wild boar type creature.

For scale...

The museum had a lot more to offer, but we only had a couple of hours to roam around.  We became members of the museum and plan to come back soon to explore their Egyptian displays and American Wildlife area.  Apparently they also use their IMAX theater for Sci-Fi nights, showing nerd movies and inviting local scientists to provide funny commentary.  G had the membership paperwork filled out and submitted before the woman could even finish her spiel.  Let's just say it wasn't a hard sell.

It turns out that Colorado/Wyoming/Utah/South Dakota are full of fossils and prehistoric remains, so I see some exploring in our future...

For my one reader in this area with kids, it's a great place to spend a couple of hours.  :)

Someone please give me my hour back

Isn't it interesting that they still tell us to change our clocks because we're springing forward?  I mean, isn't everything satellite- and network-driven now?  What clocks are there to change?  Other than plugging away at the stove and the microwave?  The cable box is automatic; the phones and computers are automatic.  Oh, these advanced times we live in...

And for the record, I think it's totally unfair that we lost an hour last night.  This morning my internal clock is like, whaaaaaat?  Don't get me wrong; I love the extra daylight but they should figure out how to give it to us without jipping us an hour on the weekend.  The extra hour we got back in the fall is irrelevant.

We had expected a huge snow storm yesterday and it totally didn't happen.  I mean, it snowed, but only a few inches.  In the midst of it, I could look out our front window and see people running in the park.  What is wrong with people??  I sipped my coffee, shook my head, and made a bee-line for the girl scout cookies.

My intent was to take pictures and document how we spent our lazy day because I know you're all dying to see it, but it turns out this is the only picture I took:

Spicy Veggie Chili

I got all industrious and made spicy veggie chili to take to work for lunch this week.

I also make a crockpot full of chili that we slurped down while re-watching The Dark Night.  The concept of anarchy - not to mention the joker - freaks me out so I only watched it with like one eye.

We did, oh, about 7 loads of laundry.  You think I'm exaggerating but you are wrong.

G washed dishes twice because of all the cooking and the total lack of counter space and the fact that he's generally a good husband.  (I think he was just grateful for the chili.)

G worked on his nerd models and played XBox while I read on the couch (read: napped for two hours).  Incidentally, I fell asleep reading a magazine article about sleep problems.  Ha!

Orca layed around like a good (old, arthritic, cancerous) bunny.

Today *may* be different.  The bad weather has subsided and we have grand plans to get out and about.  These pj's are awfully comfy, though, so no promises...

The Great Rotel Disturbance of 2013

My spicy lover

Usually when I make a grocery run, I'll swing by the tomato aisle and pick up a couple (ok, 8) cans of Hot Rotel.  I do this because cheese dip is an important staple in my diet and I can sleep better at night knowing I have a stockpile of ingredients in the pantry.  Well, they make about a thousand different flavor varieties in addition to Hot; Cilantro and Lime, Original, Mild, Texas Chili...

These are unnecessary and a complete waste of tex mex resources, in my opinion.

So on Thursday night, G and I made a run to the store in preparation for the huge snow storm we're getting today.  We wanted to get chili supplies and other necessities such as ice cream bars and Frosted Mini Wheats.  Low and behold, when I got to my favorite aisle of all, they were out of the Hot flavor!  What????  I shuffled the cans around and pored through the pallets in vain until G gently led me away.  So now I can't even enjoy the cozy weekend because I'm so nervous that my emergency cheese dip supply is going to run out.

We watched this movie last night:

Source

I know you can't believe that, what with my past stress about flying and all, I would want to watch it.  Me either.

Because I'm approximately 3.7 years behind the rest of society, I had heard it was a great movie but I didn't know much about the plot.  Only that Whip (Denzel Washington's character) performed a miracle and saved most people on board during a plane crash caused by a mechanical difficulty.

Source

Note that I'm brilliant and chose to watch this at a time when I won't be flying for at least several weeks.

The acting is phenomenal but the movie is not so much about the crash as about Whip's alcohol and drug addiction.  Because of that, there were many unexpected drug scenes, and a whopping nudity scene that caught us by surprise.  Getting past that, I enjoyed the portrayal of the crash (I know, I know, this makes no sense) and momentarily forgot that Denzel is an actor and not a pilot.  He owned that role.

When we turned regular TV back on, Date Night was just beginning.

Source

Have you seen this?  OMG it's so funny.  Watch it immediately.

It's supposed to snow like crazy today, so I'm just telling you now there are no plans to get out of my pj's.  Orca is going to stay in hers as well.

Happy Saturday!  (Is there any other kind?)

TGIF, people!

See?  What did I tell you?  There's not enough oxygen here so they have to sell it.

Do-overs

"If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall."

--Nadine Stair

The other day I mentioned taking the long view, and part of that, for me, is looking in the rear view mirror:  Looking back in order to navigate my way forward.  I don't believe there's much value in dwelling on the past, but there is in learning from my mistakes.  If I can learn from them, they are not nearly so bad and painful, and then hopefully I won't repeat them.  (Knowing me I'll just repeat a slightly different version of them, but that's a whole other story :)

I think that reflecting on past mistakes in our lives will help us make better decisions and stay focused on the important things.  That said, I'm not one to beat myself up too much over things that are said and done; if I had my life to live over, I really would still endure some (not all!) of the most painful parts.  Not because I'm a raging masochist, but because some amazing spiritual fruit came from those events, and they led me down some adventurous paths.

Remember the job I had where my boss screamed at me almost daily, for about 3 years?  There were sooooo many times I thought about quitting, and the thing that kept me from it was the knowledge that the money I made in that position helped to allow us to travel.  I had the freedom to walk away, but I didn't know when I would find the next job.  And I knew we could "make it" for a while, but we would sacrifice a year (or two or three) of vacations.

I wanted the travel more than I wanted to flee the situation, so I stayed, and I don't regret it.  I think about that a lot, especially when I wonder how I made it through those years.  And, in the interest of full disclosure, I did eventually leave because of him.  But only after I secured another job that would allow us to travel - which at the time felt like an eternity but in retrospect only took about a year to solidify.  (ONLY a year - ughhhhhhh).

So, knowing that many bad or somewhat "regrettable" things served as stepping stones to very good seasons in my life, I'm hesitant to boldly declare that I would go back in time and totally change them if I could.  But I would change some things...

If I had my life to live over, I would have:

**Faced my fears much earlier in life.  I put up with some chronic pain inflicted by key people in my life for way too long.  Who knows?  I have no doubt that the timing of my seeking help was God's will, but if I could do it over all the same, I would have taken those steps in my early twenties instead of my early thirties.

**Read more books during busy times.  This is sooooo easy to say in retrospect, but what the heck.  I would have read more books for fun during high school and college instead of spending every moment studying, cramming, and frantically writing papers.  (The Type A voice inside me is saying, riiiiiiiiight.  Easier said than done, I know.)

**Said no more often.  I'm a people pleaser and in the past I have over-committed myself too much.  This was solely my fault - not the fault of others.  Saying yes to tons of events (and long phone conversations when I didn't have time, and endless therapy sessions with people who didn't really care about me) caused me to not have enough time to get my own life in order.  I wish I had realized that no is a complete sentence, as they say, and that I wouldn't become an outcast by expressing my own desires for my life.  I wish I had known much earlier that if I say no to people and they stop liking me, then I don't need them in my life and everyone is better off that way.

 
There are more, and I'm working through some of them currently.  When I come to my earth-shattering revelation about how to overcome all of my weaknesses, I'll totally blog about it.

In the meantime, reflecting on my past helps me to face my future, as unknown as it may be.  I have a million questions about what I should do, but then I ask myself, "what do I already know?"  I know that the healthy relationships in my life are ones that I desperately want to keep, and to grow, and that will take me time and personal dedication and sacrifice.  So if a decision falls into this category, I need to do all I can to make it happen.

I know that work is important because it provides me the resources to chase my dreams, so I need to make it a priority in my life.  I also know that it is only a job, and I could eventually lose it, and therefore it doesn't need to define me or consume me.  It is a portion of my life, and only that.  I will always walk that line of doing my best while also putting myself first when I really need to.

You know how weathered old people always shake their heads and stare off into space, saying they wouldn't trade the lessons they've learned to be young again?  I totally get that.  Incidentally, could someone please tell me how to hold onto these life lessons while continually looking and feeling younger?  Just shoot me an email or a text.  Thanks.

((PS - if you could go back, what would you change?))

The South

I'm from the south - spent my entire life there until I graduated from college, but haven't really lived there since (I don't count Northern VA as part of the south - at least not the DC Metro area).  There are different versions of the south; Louisiana is much different than Georgia.  Arkansas is different than Mississippi.  Texas is a whole different animal, etc...So there are some things that are common to the entire south, and other things that are unique to the state itself.

It's a good place to be from but I'm glad I have been able to move around and experience different states and regions.  And it's like a family member to me: I can criticize it and pick on it but if someone else does, particularly someone not from there, my hackles go up and I get super defensive.  You're not allowed to criticize it unless you fully understand it.  Then, though, we can talk.  :)

Some Southern Observations:

**When your waitress asks how y'all are doin' today, she means it.  It's not a formality, it's a real question, meaning she wants to know how you're feeling, what you're up to, how the weather is, and incidentally what you would like to eat and drink.  Responding "fine, thanks" will just cause her to stand there (sincerely) and wait for you to elaborate.

**If it's carbonated, it's a coke.  You can specify a Sprite or a Root Beer or a Dr. Pepper, but still, it's all coke.  Not soda.  Not pop.

**Sweat pants are perfectly acceptable fashion attire for a day out and about in town.

**So is camo.

**Dead animals are sometimes used for decorations.  My papa killed a mountain lion years ago and had it stuffed, mounted on a log, teeth bared, and kept it in his shop.  I've seen ducks mounted (as if in flight) on people's walls, deer heads of course, as well as elk and even bears.  It's a thing.

**In some respects - but certainly not all - they are behind the times.  My mom loves going to the movies, so whenever my bro and I are in town, we go.  The theater doesn't have stadium seating.  First world problem, I know, but who doesn't have that these days?!

Look closely - the floor actually dips down in the middle and then back up.  Seriously??

The view from my seat.  If someone had sat down in front of me, I wouldn't have been able to see the screen.

**Sometimes being behind the times is a good thing.  People are (usually) genuinely nice, genuinely polite.  They believe in manners, and in God, and in doing the right thing even if it's not the most socially-accepted thing.  They ask questions when they don't understand something.  They respect their elders and their heritage and their culture.  They want to keep their kids close and protected instead of sending them out in the dark world.

The longer I'm away from it, the more observations I'm able to make about where I'm from.  And the more times I go back, the less I fit in.  But I like it that way.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?  :)  :)

Surprise Surprise

Here's how to surprise your Gama for her birthday:  get the whole fam in on it and don't tell her anything.  Extra points for texting her in the days leading up to your trip and telling her how much you miss her and can't wait to see her in a few more months.  This will get her all worked up, missing her grandkids.

Then, when she comes over to your mom's house in the morning, hide in another room and just walk in during the middle of her conversation.  (Make sure she's sitting down.)  (And pray you don't give her a heart attack.)

It's safe to say she enjoyed her surprise party:

It was a great trip, and a great decision to go, but I am like overjoyed to be home now.  For the next few weeks I'm going to do nothing but lay around the house and love on this one:

And I think it's really rude that they expect me to go to work.