http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5Last week Becky Hogan, Economic Development Director for the town of Parker, explained to a roomful of Realtors that encouraging offices to take root in Parker would hopefully lead to an uptick in business lunches at our local restaurants and that, my friends, would pump some lifeblood into a st...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Your-Voice/Blog~677634.aspx10/27/2009 10:55:09 AMRobin Nolet If you're wondering what Nationalized Healthcare holds for your future, you need look no further than the Cash for Clunkers program. Conceived quickly, with insufficient review, and passed with much fanfare, the Clunkers program has been a huge success...on the surface. But some concerns a...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Politics/National-Politics/Blog~648906.aspx8/22/2009 10:13:24 AMRobin Nolet When I moved to Parker in the early 90's I noticed a high percentage of folks in the airline industry among my neighbors. People joked that pilots noticed Parker sitting above the haze when the brown cloud cloaked the Front Range. Those far too frequent inversion days used to be so common in the ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~577875.aspx2/7/2009 6:02:20 PMRobin Nolet $150,000 for a puppy; now that's one pricey pooch! But apparently that's what one woman paid to have her beloved and dearly departed doggie cloned. We're going to have to file this one under the category: More Money than Brains. I've been a dog owner all my life, so I have some firsthand exper...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~574008.aspx1/29/2009 9:19:23 AMRobin Nolet Last year, on Groundhogs day, I celebrated a rare event in anyone's life. On that day, I was officially a parent for half of my lifetime. It's a strange thing to think that something that is so much a part of everything you are, just wasn't a part of you at all for half of your life. All th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~572020.aspx1/24/2009 1:23:44 PMRobin Nolet Even for a Pollyanna, upside, glass-half-full person like myself, cranking out thirty thankfulness blogs in thirty days can be a challenge! The biggies, like our loved ones, are obvious. But after a few days, it takes a little more effort, and introspection, to find topics. It's been a thought pr...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~553490.aspx11/30/2008 11:26:20 AMRobin Nolet If you've lived in the Parker area for ten years or more, there's a good chance you've met my husband. And a good chance he remembers you. That's one of the many great things I could tell you about him. He's a 'lifer' at King Soopers and it's frankly hard to go anywhere without running into...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~553291.aspx11/29/2008 9:05:37 AMRobin Nolet I am not a fan of doorbusters. It's beyond me why anyone would get up before dawn to shop-let along camp out overnight to be first in line for Early Bird Specials. Generally, I avoid sale days at the mall like brussel sprouts and liver. But even I am occasionally lured in by a really good roc...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~553256.aspx11/28/2008 9:56:31 PMRobin Nolet Naturally, I couldn't spend the month of November blogging about thankfulness without hitting on the cornerstone of the season. The turkey, the dressing, and all the trimmings, not to mention the pie! How many holidays have pie as the traditional dessert? It seems to me that, aside from the turke...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~553129.aspx11/28/2008 7:59:30 AMRobin Nolet After nearly a month of this, I've got to say I have a new appreciation for folks who blog daily! I've been so consumed with production this month, that I haven't had near so much time to pause and read other blogger's posts. But when I do, it is, as always, a lot of fun to hear your though...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~552991.aspx11/26/2008 10:16:43 PMRobin Nolet We are, essentially, empty nesters. Sure, the kids come home for occasional weekends from college, or visits from out of state, but the majority of the time, it's just the two of us...and our dogs, puttering around our home. We don't need all this square footage really, and we sure don't need all...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~552875.aspx11/26/2008 3:34:57 PMRobin Nolet When I first got out of college I put my degree in anthropology to good use working in the Housewares department at May D&F (aka Foleys, aka Macys...what next?). While I didn't get much practice observing native cultures (unless you can count some of the stock boys) I did get a thorough educa...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~552458.aspx11/25/2008 9:55:50 PMRobin Nolet I have two siblings, both brothers. They are eight and eleven years older than I, and I can't say for certain what they must have thought when they heard they had a baby sister...but it can't have been too bad, because they've treated me pretty well all these years. I am thankful for my big br...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~552084.aspx11/24/2008 10:29:55 PMRobin Nolet I'm pretty sure my Mom really doesn't know the reputation she has with my friends. Many of those who've known me a while have, eventually, had occasion to joke that my Mom is always welcome to come visit them, if she gets tired of visiting us. They laugh, and we pass on to other topics, but I kno...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~551514.aspx11/23/2008 12:47:23 PMRobin Nolet I know what you're thinking, "Ironing? What's up with that? She must be getting desperate." Well, yes...and no. I was reading about the soon-to-be released DVD, A Colbert Christmas. While I may disagree with Stephen Colbert's politics, I think the show's pretty funny. The DVD of the special, ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~551250.aspx11/21/2008 4:06:14 PMRobin Nolet I met some friends for lunch the other day. Their families have become a sort of extended family of our own. Most of us come from other states, and our immediate families live thousands of miles away. We gather for special occasions, like birthdays, Super Bowl Sunday, and warm summer nights. ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~550394.aspx11/20/2008 9:03:59 AMRobin Nolet Have you seen the movie Pollyanna with Hayley Mills? I can't say for certain if repeated viewings of that movie during my childhood brainwashed me, or if I was just born with my cup half full. Is it nature or nurture? Either way, the result is the same; I tend to look on the bright side. I am ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~550308.aspx11/19/2008 9:52:32 PMRobin Nolet A few weeks ago I performed the final gardening chore of the year: planting bulbs for spring. It is, for many gardeners, not so much the last task of the season, as the first of the next. I am thankful for Spring Bulbs. Tucking yellow daffodil and multi-colored crocus bulbs into the soil is ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~549997.aspx11/19/2008 1:14:50 PMRobin Nolet My Grandma Barry was born in the late 1800's. It feels odd to say that someone I was so close to was born, in fact, over a century ago. In her life she saw the invention of just about everything we take for granted today. Grandma didn't live in the past, however, she embraced the new, withou...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~549190.aspx11/17/2008 9:16:37 PMRobin Nolet I've been an avid reader most of my life. Ever since I spent my 13 th summer on our back porch swing, immersed in Catherine Marshall's Christy. It was a wonderful story of courage, adventure and humanity. It was everything a young girl should read at that age, and it opened up a world of words I ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~548667.aspx11/16/2008 5:18:32 PMRobin Nolet My son came home for the weekend and brought along a golden retriever named Beau. He's babysitting for a few days, so where he goes, so goes Beau. We were a little anxious about how Beau would be received by our other dogs (two goldens and a lab...in case you've forgotten!), but generally, th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~548558.aspx11/16/2008 7:38:04 AMRobin Nolet Weekends aren't what they used to be. But then again, neither is 'summer vacation'. Personally, it's not too unusual to work part of my Saturday, or even, when absolutely necessary, my Sunday. Still, we're trained from childhood, that when the last school bell rings at the end of the day on Frida...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~548390.aspx11/14/2008 9:22:56 PMRobin Nolet If you grew up in the Chicago land area in the 60's, then you, too, may have been hooked on WGN's afternoon movie. It hit the airwaves right after school and was responsible, I believe, for indoctrinating thousands-if not millions-of us into the world of cinema. Over time, and amazingly befor...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~547913.aspx11/13/2008 8:19:58 PMRobin Nolet I know, I'm cutting this one close, but I thought I'd better get it in while I can! It's snowed in the mountains (where it should!) it snowed on the eastern plains, flakes have even been spotted in Castle Rock, but so far, the only thing falling in my back yard are the leaves. And that's the w...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~547442.aspx11/13/2008 7:55:04 AMRobin Nolet Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I was bound to get around to chocolate someday! I am really, really, really thankful for chocolate! And not just any chocolate. True, I've nibbled my share of leftover Halloween candy (as God as my witness, this stuff is all going out in the very nex...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~546926.aspx11/11/2008 10:17:59 PMRobin Nolet I was once in a bible study about gifts. Our pastor advised us to pray for the gift we wished for most, but cautioned us that sometimes the only way to truly receive a gift was to be tested with it. As a mother of three boys, I prayed for patience, and believe me, my prayers must have really been...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~546558.aspx11/10/2008 11:04:34 PMRobin Nolet I can't recall a time when I didn't have a dog. I don't think we had one when I was a baby...but luckily that glitch was taken care of by the time I had a clue. I am thankful for my dogs! I grew up with a lovable mutt, and then a Lhasa Apso named Nodka. Her original owner, my uncle, was a N...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~545975.aspx11/9/2008 4:13:34 PMRobin Nolet As a Realtor, I work in a business where tensions can run high. Because we deal with people's homes, and in most cases, their greatest investment, it's sometimes difficult for clients to keep their emotions out of the mix. I get it though, so I aim for patience and understanding, and hope they'll...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~545710.aspx11/8/2008 11:43:03 AMRobin Nolet The Revolutionary period is one of my favorite reads. Way(yyy) back in school I was always a fan of history, but I don't recall ever getting the message as clearly as I have in recent years. Through my own efforts and interests, I've slowly been accumulating a small library on the founding fat...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~545620.aspx11/7/2008 4:20:10 PMRobin Nolet My husband and I visited the newest coffee house in Parker the other day, Kunjani Coffea (yes, with an 'a'). We liked the ambience: warm colors, cozy fireplace, and, come warmer weather, an inviting patio. We even liked the coffee. Of course, good espresso is what will keep us coming back. (S...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~544874.aspx11/6/2008 9:08:52 AMRobin Nolet