Silver Liningness Sunday

Well this week sort of flew by.  That's most likely because it started off with the whole Comic Con and Beyond trip.  Comic Con itself was fun but crowded, so it was nice to then escape to wide-open-in-June Keystone, CO for lots of playtime.

It seems to have rejuvenated each of the kids too, who were already getting into the "I'm bored" of summer before we left.  They've been whirlwinds of activity since our return, and I'm not complaining.

And speaking of summer activity, a growing pothole at the end of our driveway is no more!  It's been there for as long as we've lived here.  I never called the city to patch it since we live on a dead end, and I didn't want to be a driveway diva.

On Friday, I noticed a patch truck slowly moving down the street.  It stopped in front of our house, and the driver utilized a manly forearm to point the pothole out to his colleague. The two of them, attractively dressed in matching safety vests, hardhats, tans, and manly forearms, then got out of the truck and proceeded to jackhammer, sweep, and fill.  It was beautiful.

In movie news, Magnum and I watched Wilby Wonderful.  It looked like just something light and quirky, but turned out to be deeper than expected.  Like!

And in car news, the sweet Civic is nearly all  TRANSFORMED  from her spa day.

If this is our Civic, then that girl is Megan Fox

I say "nearly" transformed because we ran into a weird glitch with the shop, but that's too long a story to get into.  I am fairly confident that she'll be roaring to go by the end of today, though (please please please...)

.

Children

This week's prompt at Illustration Friday is "Children".  Some find it stressful to be around children.

Others deal with them quite well.
.

tired?

Our poor Honda Civic.  It probably thinks I don't like it, but truth is, I LOVE it!  - as much as an anti-driving bicycle commuter can love a car anyway.

Really, though, I think that my attempts to be as car free as practical make me all the more picky when it comes to choosing gas powered vehicles.

I recently mentioned the criteria for choosing our pedophile van.  Then, of course, there is the ever adored, recently adopted Ellie Mae.







Our third and final gas snacker is the sweet little (no-named) Honda Civic.  We got her about 4 or 5 years ago when we wanted a no-frills, reliable, economical commuter car.  She fits the bill perfectly.  She's a frugal 5-speed with an absolutely hideous interior, moody radio, no A/C, and U-Crank-Em windows and mirrors.

She's quite fun to drive, sneaking in and out of tight parking spaces with ease and otherwise instantly responding to driver commands.

Recall that a couple of months ago, in a haze of blizzard induced cabin fever, I took out the driver's side mirror.  The GUILT!

Yesterday was worse.

Meego and I were coming home from the orthodontist.  We'd just witnessed a crazy person entering busy cross traffic through a red light.  What??  This SUV was stopped and then... just decided to go?  I'm guessing they were just distracted (like so many are!) and forgot they were sitting at a light?  That was STILL red?

They managed to stop-and-go get across as the green-light people stopped, all wtf.  But it was just weird.  Anyway, maybe I was replaying that in my head, or maybe I was tired from unpacking and getting restocked after our little trip, or maybe...

Well, we were about a half mile from home.  I made a tight little road-hugging right turn that the Civic does so well - too well this time.  My turn was too tight and I ended up clipping the curb with the rear passenger tire.  "Ouch", said the friendly Civic.

So there we were, a block or so further on, changing out the flat and replacing it with the spare donut.   Meego actually enjoyed it - going all NASCAR pit crew, albeith much MUCH slower.  I noted that it was a nice day out for such activities, and it was nice to be in a quiet residential area rather than a busy highway or such.  I was not, however, thrilled about getting my new Hello Kitty Stormtrooper shirt all dirtied.

So, I will finish my coffee and take little Civic to the shop now.  I'm contemplating getting her a whole new set of tires as I noticed how baldy her current ones are as I was sitting on the ground with her yesterday.

Maybe we take her for granted because she never complains.  She is just SO reliable.  I even left a sticky note on the garage door so that Magnum didn't automatically climb in and take her to work this morning.

Spa treatment day.
.

hello

I almost forgot...

Comic Con Fash-ON!

proud nerds

Hi, Honey, I'm home!

We got back from our Comic Con and Beyond adventure this afternoon.  I think all is forgiven with the cat.  It was a great few days with lots of recreating and family time.  And I think I'm starting to get the hang of Texas Hold 'Em.

None of the fish died either, unlike last year... (may they rest in peace).

But really, not much else to blog about just yet.  This is really just an excuse to post a few more pics instead of go to the grocery store.

picture of a duck

Umbrella Corps Guys!

more Cosplayers

Oh My, George Takei!
(not my photo, I didn't want to stand in that line)

There were lots of fun artists at Comic Con.  I think many were famous among the purists.  I'd never heard of any of them, but they were a fun bunch.

Anyway, it was a fun few days.  Great way to kick off the summer!

bemused-dreamer.deviantart.com

See you soon!

Your friend,

Abby

.

beyond the con

I'm not quite back to myself yet.  That is, I'm hunched over in an uncomfortable position blogging from a little Chromebook in a corner.  And nobody puts Baby in a corner!

morning Old Folk's walk

After Comic Con, we headed west to the mountains and have been here playing ever since.    And lest any malcontents get wise ideas, our house is being watched over by our Xtreme nosy neighbors and our fat cat that will probably eat just about anything, including malcontents.





No big trips are planned for this summer, but we were able to sneak in this getaway to the mou'ains for a couple of post Comic Con days, and it's been loverly.  We just rented a cozy little condo - relatively cheap since it's the skiing offseason.

Lots of general outdoor recreating going on - swimming, bicycling, boating, laundering...  Today we took a longer than anticipated bike ride.  It was just so darned nice out, and the trail kept going.   The Adventure Girl (bike rental employee) saw me trying to get the crew to behave for a photo, and I guess she took pity on me.  She offered to take a photo for us, and everyone pretty much behaved for HER.  So here is the Brady-Bunch-on-Vacation version.

This is not typical

We're having us a good time, but now my back is starting to hurt from this nonideal blogging position.  I did find this other photo from "The Con".  My idol, Tank Girl, snuck in!  See her??

Meego's thrilled

.

Stop and Smell the Roses Sunday

Dear Blog,

new friends!

Greetings from Nerdtopia!  It's time once again for Denver Comic Con, so how could we resist?

So yeah, the family and I have taken a little side trip to stop and smell the roses and zombies and superheroes and video game people and stuff I have no idea what's.

KITT!

The place was a bit of a zoo for some as word got out about how fun it was last year.  Compared to others, though, we fared all right.  Got in Saturday with less than an hour wait and then walked right in this morning.  Good times all around!








As expected, it was once again People Watching Palooza.  Chaco met George Takei at the hotel gym - just a few minutes after I'd left - harummph!

Once I'm down from my nerd high, I'll be around to visit my fave-O blogs.  In the meantime, I'm so looking forward to wearing my new Hello-Kitty-as-a-Storm-Trooper t-shirt!
.