Linda Rokos Watts

Up at the house they are EVERYWHERE! We've had six huge bull elk (I hear that's unusual) hanging out in the neighborhood . I keep sending Connor pictures of them as a tease. You see.....Connor this year didn't catch (kill) an elk. He and his buddy Mitch both had tags and neither one of them filled them. Poor guys hiked for days in the cold and not one shot. I (almost) feel bad sending them the pics every couple of days of these huge beast outside our door. I think they are even becoming friends with our chickens. :)

We all do it....... (those of us who have kids) I am going to take a minute and brag about my lil one. She had a school musical last night about Africa and she did such a fantastic job. I couldn't be more proud of her, and to top it off she got an A on her report on the Barbary Ape that she worked very hard on. Stella amazes me on a day by day basis and I am one lucky mama to have such a kick ass kiddo! She has taught me more about love, life, trust, honesty, and the human spirit then I ever thought possible. Above is a picture of Stella in her African costume and one of her best buddies Lukas.

We have 7 chickens and one rooster. We bought them last spring as little baby chicks. We had one die pretty quickly after we got them so I ran down to the country store and bought another one to complete the 8. Seven is not a good number so we needed another. Mind you we had had the chicks already for about a month when the first one passed away and they grow quickly. The new chick that I had brought home and named Ricky Bobbi was small compared to all the others. Within about a week Ricky Bobbi had caught up to the other chickens and she just kept growing and growing. Needless to say Ricky Bobbi ended up being the biggest chicken of them all, so big that she had a huge waddle when she walked and about a month ago she died. We think it was a heart attack and my poor mother found her in their little chicken house and had to get rid of her. Around the same time our rooster named " papuchci " (a Czech word for slippers) went missing one afternoon while the chickens were out in ...

Some Wednesday nights I'm lucky enough to have date night with "the foo"! It's one of the only nights during the week that neither of us have evening obligations . Stella has piano after school on Wednesdays but that ends early in the evening, then it's dinner, homework, reading and bed time. I'm so lucky to have my parents to watch Stella for a few hours while I sneak out after Stella goes to bed. It's so easy during the week to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of things with Stella's swim team practice on Tuesday and Thursday in the evenings, and homework and piano and any other of the million things we've got going on. It's great to be able to break up the week with a lil treat like date night. So.... here is a big THANK YOU to my parents for watching the lil one! I'm a lucky girl! :)

For the last couple years I've gotten in the habit of making lists. Lists for, traveling, packing, life, day to day stuff, shopping lists, things-to-do lists, and any other lists I can think of needing lists for. I was coloring today with Stella and I felt the need for a list come on, so instead of our normal coloring I started to list. It wasn't one of those very important lists, it was simply a list of things that I need to get done and there is no better way for me to remember all of those things then to see it in black and white. (or in this case lots of color) I'm not much of an artists but Stella on the other hand definitely got her artistic side from her father who is his own right is very talented. I've tried to do all I can to encourage Stella to explore that side of her. My parents even went so far as to buy Stella her own art studio this summer for her birthday and put it above their house (pictures of that will be posted soon)! It's a 10 foot by 10 f...

I shut down the shop early today and I ended up on the deck. Who would have thought a -15 degree morning could have ended up soooooo beautiful. I sat out on the deck catching some rays with a great book. I can't tell you the last time I had two hours to myself to just sit in peace and read. I now wait for the lil one to come home from school so we can get a little time outside sledding and playing before we have to do homework, dinner, reading, then bed. Wishing everyone a happy day! What a beautiful Tuesday afternoon!

It's that time of year again (tax season), and here I sit in my office staring out the window at snow covered flagstone. Taking inventory is always a scary time, if you've got too much it's not a good thing. If you don't have enough it's not a good thing either. We had a really good year at Western Stone considering the economy. People still are fixing up houses and builders are still building. The only thing I wish is that I would have done inventory last week. It's freakin cooooooold outside. Contemplating the cold.....

Stella goes to her dad's every other weekend. Although it's nice to get some adult time, by Sunday morning I freakin miss the lil bugger. She calls me through out the weekend and it's always great to hear her having a good time with her lil step brother, step-mom and dad. The only down fall to having to pick up Stella on Sunday is having to leave the foo (Connor), and head back up to our house after I pick her up. If only we all had a little more time TOGETHER! I take what I can get and am thankful for the time we do have, and come next weekend it's time to play again only this time it's with the bugger and those are the best weekends of all!

Of course it happens during one of the coldest nights, the furnace pilot light goes out. We woke up this morning to a 50 degree house. Needless to say it was cold. Connor went down to see what was going on and found out it was a faulty coil. Easy fix he says. And then comes the kicker, all the stores that carry this coil in the greater Denver metro area are closed on Sundays. Go figure. We decided to make the best out of our day and get back in bed after going to breakfast and running to a few stores to find this elusive coil. What a great Sunday its turned out to be, there is nothing like spending a cold Sunday afternoon snuggled up next to one of your favorite people watching movies, catching up on some boards games, reading, blogging, talking, and hanging out. Definitely a GREAT Sunday Funday !

Ever since I was a little girl I have always enjoyed doing projects on our houses with my dad. Anything from digging up our basement to dig in a sump pump, to building an addition onto our old house, to changing the color in my room every three months. I have met my match! Connor is the know all, do all master at house projects. It's been a really fun way for us to spend time together. Our first major project together was stripping the old wood paneling off his basement walls, floating a new wall, texturizing it, trimming and painting it. The end result looks fantastic. Even though there is still tons to do down there, it's the first step to having a kick-ass basement, and the best part of it all it' something we love doing together. awww :)

As I sit here on a beautiful Saturday morning in a Vicodine haze, I'm thankful my hand is finally fixed. I had a minor surgery yesterday to fix a small but persistent problem on my hand. It all started this summer when I smashed my hand between the forklift and some sandstone. Ignoring the problem and hoping it would heal on its own, I thought I was in the clear. Well ...then my ring and pinkie fingers started going numb and I started developing a huge cyst on the top of my hand. In relativity it's a minor issue compared to all the other surgeries and fixes I have had. I almost felt silly sitting there in pre -op for such a minor thing. On the other hand I am now happy I have feeling back in my fingers. Thanks to Dr. Reid and some Vicodine my problem is fixed. :)

2008 was a fantastic year, but I'm shedding my 2008 skin and slowly climbing into 2009. This new year has stated off with having a rock star daughter in my life, foo love, the greatest parents, an amazing job, friends I adore, and a speeding ticket. I want 2009 to be about growth, creating, learning, listening and settling into my skin. I have no major new years resolutions other then to get butt in shape and do my first sprint triathlon in September. It's more of a goal then a resolution I guess. The below picture is our (Stella and I) first picture of 2009 taken January 1st at Purgatory Ski Area. A lovely start to what I hope to be a even lovelier year! Cheers