Long time, no write

So, it has been a year since Casa Herrera's last post. I had to stop because our lives (mine, in particular) became too frantic for me to find the time, heart or desire to blog about what was going on. With the centerpoint of that anxiety and stress gone (CBW) as of Dec. 12, I can now return to Casa Herrera and write about what is really important to me...my husband, children, friends.

As I sit here, I now find that there is SO MUCH to talk about that I don't know where to start.

Max is 2 1/2 and a very sweet, caring, rambunctious, contrary, energetic, hilarious boy. BOY all over. He can't just walk, he has to run, skip, jump and roll where ever he's going and during whatever he's doing. There is no sitting still. Even now, he is in my room watching "Mine Spirit" (that is, "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron" Disney movie) and I can hear him jumping on the bed.

May Anita is our new little daughter (3 mos. old Dec. 23) and she is an absolute joy. She is such an easy baby...good natured, only cries when tired or hungry and started sleeping through the night on Dec. 16. Wahooo! She is so beautiful. I can't wait to get to know her like I do my Max and hear her voice, ideas and thoughts.

This morning, Max saw Brian Boitano ice skating on the Today show. He said, "Uncle Jonathan is ice skating Mamma?" I guess he thinks Jonathan looks like a gay gold medalist ice skater. Hmmm.... LOL!

Christmas was wonderful. We had Jonathan, Cody, A. Diane and Rupal/Deetya over for Xmas Eve dinner, then Christmas Day we opened gifts, played with toys and watched movies all day. The day after, we piled in the car and went to Pueblo for sledding and visiting.

May found her fingers Dec. 4.

Max says things like, "I go pee pee in my Maters mommy," which means he peed in his pull-ups that have the Cars character Mater on the front.

Or, with no apparent context to what we're doing or where we might be going, "Orca whales bite me on the fingers and penguins too," then "Mommy never ever ever let orcas bite me."

Or, when Dad comes home from work, "Daddy wearing his monkey suit? He went to work pay monies."

Or, when talking to my mom on the phone, "Grandma Bocka, I come to your house. We feed bocka-bockas, get eggs (eggthss), cats (cathsss), okay? Huh-huh, yep."

For Christmas, he sat on Santa's lap and asked him for rootbeer and applesauce for Christmas. Then he said, "So how is Rudolph? He play reindeer games."

Or, when May is crying, "Mommy! May cryin'! She need milk NOW! Feed her milk NOW!" then he tries to put her pacifier in her mouth and says, "It okay May May, Mommy comin'." He is the sweetest boy ever made. And he's mine.

Today's notes

To-dos and notes for today:

Take a shower (it is now 11:24 a.m.)
Drink more coffee
Unload/load dishwasher
Threaten to kill dog with a butcher knife if he doesn't stop barking at the UPS man
Wash, dress and feed Max once he wakes from nap
Go to Costco, stock up on food/supplies for X-mas Eve dinner and in-laws visit
Come home, do laundry and chase Max around the house
Make dinner
Order husband around
Laugh as Adrian and Max wrestle and play "Herrera Soleil" acrobatics
Read with Max
Put Max to bed
Lay on the couch and relax
Go to bed

Our little hurricane

So, it's been awhile. I know, I know. Disappointments all around and chastisements from friends/family. Cut us some slack. We are new business owners, are the daily victims of a 17-month-old, and, between emergencies and Maxie kisses, sometimes don't even have time to shower every day.

The business is doing better and getting busier every day. We were full for the Thanksgiving holiday week (65 doggies), and will be full again for the Christmas/New Year holidays (at least 70 dogs...meaning, more multi-dog families staying in a single cabin). There is a new crisis every day though...which I understand is a side-effect of owning your own business. The buck stops here. Today's crisis involves our heating system.

We are now calling Max "The Hurricane" as he literally spins at top speed throughout the house, causing mayhem and distruction where ever he goes. It is very much like in the cartoons, where the character's arms are moving so fast they are a blur, with shreds and bits of furniture, paper and debris flying all around. The three other members of the household (including the dog) are exhausted by the time Max goes to bed.

Yesterday he was so full of energy, and it was too cold to go outside for long, that he was chasing the poor dog (who is now 72 in dog years) around the house and pushing him out of his bed everytime he tried to lie down. Deion gets no peace, but neither do we, so we expect him to do his part in the effort as well.

Which brings me to the topic of school. Max's first day at school is tomorrow. He's going to go for five hours a week (one half day), mainly to give him some learning variety and to socialize with other kids his age. He LOVES other kids and, espcially during the winter, will benefit from having an indoor Hurricane haven where he can run wild and have fun.

It has taken me a few weeks to be "okay" with the idea of this. Everytime Adrian and I talk about it, I get all choked up. I know it is silly, but the idea of leaving him with "strangers" and driving out of the parking lot makes my throat tighten. I have no doubt, however, that Max will love this new experience and I really like the school.

September update

Gosh, I hope in the near future I will be able to post more than just monthly updates. Maybe I will be able to fit in another before October rolls around.

With the new business, our lives have pretty much revolved around Greeley and CBW since July. For shame, but I haven't even found time to be gracious and send thank-you notes to all the friends/family that honored us by giving Max a gift for his 1st birthday. Also, I believe we missed Baby Joey's 1st birthday as well. We suck.... We will try to do better. We do love and think of everyone though.

Max is doing great. He's either running, climbing the furniture, rifling through the kitchen cabinets (containing pots and plastic), ordering us around or sleeping. It is good to be Max.

Any desire for political sparring and controversial discussion-making has been more than beaten out of me by the daily grind of dealing with the antics of employees, customers and partners. The dogs are the easiest, and most pleasant, part of the business by a large margin. Woof, woof.

Having said that, my absolute belief that GWB has his head up his arse is unwaivering. At last count of hands, only 30 percent of Americans disagree with me. I usually can't bear to watch the news or read the paper anymore because the war is so depressing. Worse than Vietnam because this "enemy" isn't even defineable...it's not the organized communists with an army; it is a bunch of religious whackos running around with guns, swords and explosives. But, all that is analyzed ad-nausem by the media, politicians and pundits. No need to rehash the insanity here. There seems to be no answer to the problem. We will be like the Soviets in Afganistan during the 80s. (Oh yeah, we really ARE like them because we are bogged down in that country as well.) So much to look forward to in the world.

Otherwise, it is turning into a beautiful autumn in Colorado. The leaves are starting to turn, the zuchinis in my garden are enormous and the tomatoes are still going wild. My mom's garden produced so much basil (she planted 10 plants) that she has been able to make several quarts of homemade pesto that she freezes. Last year we enjoyed it throughout the winter and look forward to again this year.

I'm going to Stephanie's book club meeting Thursday evening. I haven't read the book, but will get the Cliff Notes. Mostly, it will be fun to go to the meeting. I haven't done much with friends/family lately. Also, I will be doing Steph's raku pottery class on Sunday. It was SOOO much fun last year.

Visit from China

My step-dad, who lives in China, is here visiting until Thursday. He has been living in China since September of 1996. He is the manufacturing/sourcing/quality control liaison for Lowe Alpine Systems, makers of rugged outdoor-wear, climbing equipment and backpacks. As such, he travels extensively in Asia, visiting factories, etc.

He always has hours of interesting stories to tell us about life in Asia and his travels. A lot of the stories are such that one would think you'd read about in a newspaper or see on the nightly news, but because of the communist government censorship, the information is prevented from being reported. And if it is reported, God help the poor journalist who dared to think it news fit to print/broadcast. I imagine their newspapers must be similar to National Enquirer and TV news broadcasts like watching E Extra or Entertainment Tonight...because what else is there to talk about if not what is actually going on?

For example, I recently heard another report on NPR about food safety in China. One of the subjects was a Beijing street-side food vendor that was making "bbq pork dumplings" mainly out of cardboard. He would find used cardboard in dumpsters or on the street, chop it up, put it in a vat with some solvents to soften it up and reduce it to a pulpy soup, then he added the bbq spices and a little bit of pork...and voila!..the cheap stuffing for his dumplings. This guy, when pursued by the Chinese journalist, not only admitted his recipe, but showed the journalist how it was done. He has pictures and audio recordings.

I asked my step-dad whether he had heard that story. Indeed, it was the talk of the nation...except not why you would expect. He said the government arrested the journalist for publishing lies. He is still in jail and they will not release him until he swears he made the whole thing up. Everybody believes the story, except the government.

Also, as you may have heard on the news (I did), China recently had some hefty flooding due to torrential rain. Local residents to the flooded area, which is quite massive, report hundreds of people missing and/or dead. The government has censored the information, and is not searching for the missing and/or dead. Sheds a new light on FEMA, don't it?

God bless America.

Grand Opening, ER

Since Camp Bow Wow opened, life has been in overdrive. While I have been able to establish somewhat of a "work" routine (I work two regular Camp shifts per week), I still spend nearly every waking moment marketing or thinking about marketing. Our Grand Opening party is August 25, for which I'm in charge of planning and orchestrating. Newspaper ads have been running in the Tribune since July 20 and radio spots on K99 (99.1 FM), TRI 102.4 FM and another station begin Monday.

For the record, the newspaper ad money has been wasted. We've gotten a measurable zero response from the ads. Apparently, no one reads the newspaper anymore, unless it's online where the paper advertisements aren't posted. We are hoping for a much better response from radio. Otherwise, ALL of our current customers have found us via the Internet and word-of-mouth. Consequently, I've spent hours trying to optimize our website and Internet presence without paying a service to do it for me. As they say, time is money, so this time investment on my part had better pay off.

For the Grand Opening party, K99 will be doing an onsite live-broadcast remote. We'll also have several vendors with booths, including Weld County Humane Society, Second Chance Rescue, Canidae dog food, Greeley Chamber of Commerce, Qdoba, IntaJuice and some others. We'll be doing facility tours as well as running a doggy photo booth (get your picture taken with your dog) and a doggy "bobbing for hotdogs" pool. Whew! Please send me your prayers and positive energy that we'll have hundreds of people and great response.

If you're reading this and within 4 hours of Greeley, I expect you to come. No whiny excuses like "I don't have a dog," or "I don't even live in the state." Unacceptable. You should be there to support me.

MAX
Where does little Max fit into all this? Well, he's been logging in a lot of grandma and daddy time. As a result, it seems to me that he has grown up overnight. He is doing all sorts of new and crazy things...like learning by observation how to flush the toilet, turn on/off the computer, open/close and turn on/off the dish washer, point the TV remote at the TV and change stations/volume, etc. Tomorrow he will be driving the car.

He also understands nearly everything you say to him, except with the selective hearing filter he inherited from his father. So, while he immediately responds to "let's go for a walk," "time to take a bath," and "do you want some ice cream," he completely ignores "no," "get out of the dog food bowl," and "time to pick up your toys." Hmmmm.

FINGER INJURY
Yes, LaDawn, you heard right. Max logged in his first trip to the ER a few weeks ago. We were at Camp and I was working in the back while Adrian was in the lobby checking email and surfing the 'Net. Max was crawling around in a gated area (under the close supervision of his dad) and found the only thing available in which to stick his finger...the 3"X3" metal fan mounted in the lobby desk to exhaust the heat from the computer. Imagine a CuisineArt chopping blade.

Luckily, it didn't chop his finger clean off, but it did slice a gory swath of skin and nail from the top of his left index finger. I won't bore you with the ER trip details, as I'm sure you can imagine the chaos, screaming and tears (both his and mine).

Boy parts, Camp funnies

Since Max turned 1, we can hardly keep up with his physical and intellectual development. Every morning we seem to wake up to a new little person.

Walking: While he has had the skills to walk since mid-June, he has chosen to continue crawling unless under duress (like being stranded in the yucky grass). Since Monday, he's gained the confidence to walk unassisted from one toy, parent or piece of furniture to another. Big silly grin, arms outstreched and waving around in the air...he looks like a goofy monkey. Sweetest thing ever.

Boy parts: Also Monday, we were in the backyard playing (naked) in the baby pool, when...schazzzamm!...he looked down and saw this thing hanging off his body. After several pulls, pinches, grabs and probes, he was delighted to learn that it was officially attached to himself and he could access it at will. He then started carefully draping things over it...such as tree leaves and cups. Later, I entered his room after a nap to find he had taken all his clothes off, including diaper, to investigate his new fun toy some more. Hmmmm....

Camp funnies: If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?! Yesterday, I had my first official working shift at Camp. I'll be doing two shifts a week (as will Barb and Deniece) to stay "in the know" with our day-to-day operations, etc. The rest of my work time will be spent marketing, etc. It was a like a Benny Hill skit. During my shift, the security alarm went off and I didn't have the shut-off code, I locked myself and a dog in the dog-wash area until I was rescued by an employee 20 minutes later, a little poodle named Lucky tried to bite me twice (I deserved it), then I got tangled in the shop-vac extension cord while running toward the lobby to greet a customer. By the end of the six-hour shift, my hair was wild, black mascara smeared, my clothes were filthy from top to bottom, and I had bruises on both knees from the extension-cord attack. Our $7.50/hr employees, on the other hand, were calm, clean and smirking. They can't wait to be around to watch my next Camp shift. Har-de-har-har.