Halloween Friday!

Happy Halloween! And Friday Fill-Ins!!

1. My favorite food seasoning is pepper or garlic (sadly I haven't cooked in a while so I don't use a lot of seasonings lately...).

2. Hearing my children playing nicely together is music to my ears.

3. Lucky is a brand of jeans that I won't buy because they are too damn expensive and they really don't fit me either.

4. Being honest and trustworthy is something I take very seriously.

5. Many people need a good American history lesson.

6. The ingredients for 7 layer dip was the last thing I bought at the store.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Trick or Treating of course, tomorrow my plans include a trip to the range, possibly shopping, and hanging out with the kids and Leo and Sunday, I want to have an excellent time at Chuck E Cheese for Sweet Girl's 4th (OMG 4!!) Birthday party and I expect to hear that the Titans are 8-0,baby!! !

I Love Flair

Ok, so I was reluctant to join Facebook. But I joined a few months ago to keep up with some of my favorite Middle Tennessee Mommies. They are nice enough to let me stay in their group even though officially I'm not a Middle Tennessee Mommy anymore. I guess once a MTM always a MTM and for that I am grateful because they are a good group of ladies and I do miss a lot of them terribly. I've also caught up with a few high school friends as well. It really is a good way to keep in touch without a lot of effort. I like it.

Anyways, it was mostly MTM Kim who really pushed the Facebook group. I joined and now I am hooked. I try to log in as much as possible and leave comments on walls, keep up with the MTM's (although I have been a slacker here the past couple weeks), and look at the Flair. I LOVE the flair. I can sit and read them and they all just make me laugh. My favorite piece of Flair is currently: 'Basically I love to curse'. It is so me! And it makes me laugh. And you know I've got some Twilight Flair out there! Facebook sucks you in and you could literally spend HOURS on there (I don't spend hours on there, but if I didn't have kids I probably could). I like to think of it MySpace for the older crowd...and by older I do mean anyone over 21...And I'm older than 21.

I know some of the MTMs read the blog and sometimes leave comments so I'm sure one of them (probably Kim) will leave one now that calls out my lack of posting/commenting on the MTM Group in the last month or so. I promise in advance I'll be better. I do miss you guys!

Want to be my friend on Facebook? Send me an email. I like new friends. And I will send you some Flair!

Views of Arizona

Flagstaff

The lone aspen (with leaves left)

The Grand Canyon (and the Colorado River)

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

Random Subject Changes

I am typing like I talk sometimes which includes random abrupt subject changes. Don't ask why.



We went to Flagstaff again this past weekend. It was very nice and we did some more hiking. We couldn't find one of the trails we were looking for and ended up way out in the middle of no where after driving on a completely unmaintained dirt road. It was really sort of fun and we put the Yukon to the true test. Sweet Girl didn't like it very much, getting thrown around in her car seat. Leo and I had fun at least. We also did a really cool hike in Sedona. It was fun, but every noise Little Man heard was a snake. Then on the way home, we were making awesome time and we would have been home by about 3:00, but the freeway was closed and they were not diverting traffic. So we sat for 1.5 hours. There were people out walking around, the guy behind us was playing soccer. There is some weird feeling of walking around on the freeway. The couple in front of us, shared a coke with me.

I'm hoping one of these shows up in my driveway soon. Why? 1. It's a damn sexy car 2. I would look fabulous driving around in this and 3. It means we won the lottery. If you don't know, it's an '09 Audi S5. I would, however, prefer black.

So after more research, apparently 2 hours of cardio is what I need to commit to in order to get rid of some of my lovely thigh fat. Who has time for that? I'm trying to encourage myself to add more cardio but it's so tough after all the reading I've done. I'm always a fan of having knowledge and reading up on stuff. You know knowledge is power and remember those commercials 'the more you know' with the flying star and rainbow... Well...this reading is making me discouraged. I guess I wish I would have known this in JULY when I embarked on my endeavor and I probably would have been at my goal because at that point I was totally motivated to do whatever. Now not so much.

The man behind me in my cube is chewing his stupid gobstoppers again.

I love blog comments. I LOVE them. It really makes me happy that people I don't know comment. if I know you, trust me I love your comments too. So if you're lurking, stop lurking and leave a comment or two or ten. I have started venturing out and reading more blogs and leaving comments on theirs. No, I'm not doing it just so they read my blog and maybe leave a comment. I really do enjoy reading their blogs. I need to update my blog roll and maybe do a post on them.

OK, well I think that's enough randomness for one day.

Sometimes I Am Nuts

So as you know, I am a Twilight fan. And in 24 days the movie will be out. Thinking it would be cool and fun I got tickets for me and a friend to go see the midnight showing. MIDNIGHT, what the hell was I thinking? I sometimes can't even make it to 10:00 PM on a good night. Most nights I'm in bed by 9:00 and fast asleep by 9:30. Yeah I'm living on the edge now, it only took me a while to get here. I've never seen the midnight showing of a movie and thought about my aforementioned sleeping habits and then said well I'm doing it anyway. I am excited and hoping that adrenaline and lots of Starbucks will let me make it! Hmmm...Pumpkin Spice Latte and Twilight. YUMMY to both!
I should also add that I will have to work some the next day and we're also flying back to TN that afternoon. So yes, I'm nuts.

WooHoo It's Friday!

Yes it's Friday yet again. Thank goodness, although this week hasn't been too bad. And it's Friday Fill-Ins!

1. Right now, I'm feeling pretty content.

2. With all my family in a snazzy beach house is where I want to be.

3. How does one figure out who they are after they've been lost?

4. My kids elephant memory keeps me on track.

5. Please don't chew everlasting gobstoppers around me.

6. Children laughing fills me with joy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to another weekend of cool weather, tomorrow my plans include a hike in Sedona and Sunday, I want to maybe take a nap??!!

I'm One Of The Lucky Ones...

Lucky in what way you ask? While yes I am lucky because I have a wonderful husband, two great kids, great family, a beautfiul house, drivable cars and a job (not that I like it but still I do have to be thankful not to be unemployed). But there's more, oh yes, more I say. I'm also lucky because I am one of those women who carry her fat on her thighs, hips and ass. Oh yes I'm luuuuccckkkyyyy! So I've blogged before about losing weight. And my quest and even that I wake up at 4 AM to go to the gym. And apparently the changing of my diet, reducing my calorie intake and, working my ass off (but not really) at the gym may not provide me with the results I am desiring. I can attest to this since due to making these changes in JULY I haven't lost any weight. And please spare me the muscle weighs more than fat and blah blah blah, and the you're losing inches bit because if I was losing inches my pants would fit differnt and you know what THEY DON'T, they fit the same. Ok...sorry about that. So...due to my "shape" if you will, and storing fat in my lucky areas is the healthier location then storing fat around the middle but worst area if you want to lose weight. WOOHOOO...YAY ME!!! And if you're wondering...my body is storing this fat in this particular location to help with pregnany and breastfeeding.

After reading this and doing more research I proclaimed to Leo that I had the surefire way to lose weight. Breastfeeding! He responded with a look of horror and a resounding I don't think so. Now I really wouldn't have another baby just to lose weight, although I do miss having a baby and I loved being pregnant and after having Sweet Girl I was losing weight like crazy while breastfeeding. Not so much with Little Man since I didn't stop eating the doughnuts I craved WHILE I was pregnant. But I digress since it was those damn doughnuts that probably added the fat to my thighs and ass. But you know I do have a breast pump, I wonder if I just start pumping if I can start producing milk again and start the weight loss that way...hmmm....I was a milk factory and did produce milk like crazy so I wonder if I can start it up again. I could even donate the milk! It's a win win, I lose weight and babies get breastmilk. I'm brillant.

I guess before I venture into becoming my own version of Bessie, I will modify my diet ONCE AGAIN and increase protein intake and all the other crap that the research has turned up. Although my motivation to do this is somewhat nill really, I have no motivation. After almost 5 months of not alot of results (although I did buy a size 10 pair of jeans at Target, that I am kind of convinced are sized incorrectly since some of my current pants that are size 12 are still fitting the same as before I started all this). I have to work myself up to getting motivated again. And I to some degree don't really feel like it. But I will. Eventually.

Lost My Mojo

I'm boring. I think of that commercial where the people are saying 'When people think of me they think of my love of nature, or blah blah blah'. I've been thinking about this for myself and I really can't answer this. I don't know anymore, since having kids I have become a Mom and am happy about this fact of course. As the kids are so great and add so much to my life. But I think I've lost all the other stuff and it was replaced with only ONE thing. I have been happier lately and staying in the Happy Valley.
I need to find myself again. Do you know where I went?

Working From Home

I usually work from home on Tuesday and Thursdays. Today it worked out well since Little Man came down with a fever yesterday and is not able to go to school today. He is hanging out with me today while I attempt to work. Working is not very easy with him around. We've had Spongebob Squarepants on A LOT which keeps him entertained for a conference call or two. And thank goodness the phone has a mute option.
He is feeling more like normal today and has been quite entertaining. Whenever I give him anything he looks up at me, smiles and says 'For meeeee?'. Like the yogurt I am giving him is the best present he's ever received. It's very sweet actually.
And for some reason he also thinks we have a dog, as he proceeded to tell me, after dropping food on the floor 'that's OK the dog will eat it'. We don't have a dog...
I think he is enjoying the alone time, as he never has time where Sweet Girl is not demanding this or that or dictating to him what he needs to do or where he needs to go. He's the the king of the castle today!

Woohoo! My First Blog Award!

Well I am honored to be a recipient of this 'I Love Your Blog' Award. My friend Judy over at A Day In The Life Of The Basha's gave this award to me. I am happy to have the award, but goodness there are a lot of questions! :)

As a recipient of this award, there are rules to follow. I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others! The questions are as follows:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Where is your significant other? Work

3. Your hair color? Brown

4. Your mother? Missed

5. Your father? Missed

6. Your favorite thing? Family

7. Your dream last night? Weird

8. Your dream/goal? Lottery

9. The room you're in? Windowless
10. Your hobby? Blogging

11. Your fear? Drowning

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home

13. Where were you last night? Bed

14. What you're not? Tall
15. One of your wish-list items? Beachhouse
16. Where you grew up? declining (it's Detroit...)
17. The last thing you did? ate
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Big

20. Your pet? None

21. Your computer? Laptop

22. Your mood? Crabby

23. Missing someone? Yes

24. Your car? Volkswagen
25. Something you're not wearing? Hat
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? HOT

28. Love someone? Alot
29. Your favorite color? Red

30. When is the last time you laughed? earlier
31. Last time you cried? Unsure

The bloggers that I'm nominating (I don't know 7 other bloggers that I would send this to - is that sad? Well I do know of 7 other bloggers but not sure I know them well enough to nominate their blog, I mean would they think it's strange that someone who has been commenting on their blog for a while nominates them? I am unsure of this blogging etiquette. So since Judy and I share some of the same blogs, I only have two...):

Chrissy at A Lil' Dash of Diva - She's going through a lot so maybe you can keep her in your thoughts. And I though maybe this would be a good diversion.

Kami at Chuck and Kami - She's pregnant and needs a blog post!

Grand Adventure

We had a grand weekend as we left the heat of Chandler to head to the mountains and cool air of Flagstaff. We left on Friday evening after a fun birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. When we got there it was 34 degrees. Oh yes it was nice and if I had felt better I would have sat outside on the deck for an hour breathing in that cool air and feeling it on my arms and face but I was damn tired and still felt like crap so I really just wanted to go to bed.

Saturday morning we decided to head to the Grand Canyon. I will admit I do think it's pretty cool that we can just go there whenever we want. It is such a magnificent place. It is so beautiful and I could spend days there taking in it's beauty. I think Leo and I need to do a hike and then raft on the river. I'll get to planning that here soon.
The kids did pretty good, Sweet Girl kept saying she wanted to go home but finally was excited about the canyon and trying to spot Condors.
I'll post some pictures, although they really do not do it justice, soon.

Sunday we spent sometime in an urgent care, because seriously no trip of ours can be complete without a sickness, puking or some other sort of accident. Little Man took one for the team and kept the tradition alive. Well really he took a foose ball table pole to his lip and gum. It split his lip and his gum. There was A LOT of blood and crying His gum looked so gross, I thought it had pushed his tooth back up into his gum and was beginning to freak out a bit. So to the phone book we go to find an urgent care. We call to see if they will see a 2 year old and lucky for us they could. So we head on in. Luckily, his tooth is fine and so is his gum, at least for now. Let's pray for no infection.
Now right after this happened, before we realized the severity of the pole meeting his gum, the kids went outside to swing. They had been dying to go swing since we arrived. Little Man is SO determined to swing, he is out there bawling his eyes out on the swings. He is crying HARD so this is what clued us in that it was than just a bleeding lip. I had to PRY his fingers off the swing and carry him kicking and screaming into the house. After further investigation that is when we noticed his seriously banged up gum. The kid has determination that's for sure.

Now one of the main reasons we went to Flagstaff was to see some fall color. So after our detour to the urgent care, we head out to find the golden aspens. We take a Watchable Wildlife Trail. We are brave and embark on the 1.5 mile trail instead of the .25 mile loop. We saw ONE, yes ONE golden aspen, the rest had lost their leaves already...figures right? Oh well the kids walked the entire trail, except for a short stint of Little Man being carried. They enjoyed reading the signs along the way, looking at pine cones, and trying to see some Elk which Sweet Girl proclaimed were still sleeping so we wouldn't see them. We did see a chipmunk and a turkey. It was a really fun time to do the trail as a family. The kids enjoyed it and so did Leo and I. We are looking forward to more of that kind of thing in the future.

And then we headed home, the kids were asleep within 15 mins of being in the car and slept most of the ride home.
And now it's back to the grind of the work week. Weekends just aren't long enough!

Friday Friday Friday

It's Friday and I am not feeling any better. This sucks. At least it's Friday Fill-Ins!

1. Follow the road less taken.

2. A good book is something I always take with me on vacation.

3. To achieve your goals, you must know what they are first and be realistic.

4. I love my family more than anything is something I'd like you to know about me.

5. I have a cold that won't go away.

6. A dead fish floats.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to feeling better, tomorrow my plans include enjoying cool air and changing leaves and Sunday, I want to relax!

Random TV Thoughts

So since I've been feeling oh so crappy the past couple of days, I've taken advantage of the fact I can work from home easily. Which means I get to watch TV while I work. Generally I'm not a fan of daytime TV because really the soaps just don't do it for me. What does do it for me are programs on A&E and Discovery. I LOVE shows about crime investigation like American Justice and Cold Case Files. I think I'm really in the wrong field, I would love to investigate crimes although I'm not sure how I would deal with the dead people and the fact that blood makes me queasy. But the investigation part of it intrigues the heck out of me.

My other favorite show is 'A Haunting' on Discovery. I love this show, it sometimes freaks me out and gives me goose bumps but I still watch it. Do I believe in ghosts and spirits? Yes. If any of this happened to me would I be freaked out? HELL YES. But that doesn't stop me from watching it, I love it. It's disappointing it's only on for 2 hours out of my day.

A friend sent me a blog award, It's my first one and I'm very excited. Really I am but I just dont' have it in me to answer the questions right now. It's coming, maybe later today.

Short Post

I am not feeling great today and had a post idea but just don't feel like writing much. I did add a new widget to the blog though today. It's over on the right side. Yes I'm a dork or whatever else you want to call me for being that excited about the Twilight movie. I've watched the previews and it really looks like a good movie. I love this series of books and have read them a couple times. I can see Leo rolling his eyes now...and he probably rolled them when he saw the widget as well. Oh well.
That's all I got today. I'm off to eat some soup.

Pumpkin Party Fun

First I know you are not reading this exactly as I am typing, but I wanted to note that the glorious temperature reading (in the weather thingie to the right) right now is 46. Yes 46 glorious degrees. I love the number 46...
But I digress.

We had an absolutely awesome time at the local farm's pumpkin party. It was by far the best pumpkin patch we have been to yet. It was also the most expensive for admission but it was well worth it. The kids got to ride on their first midway type rides. They were so excited. You could just feel the excitement brewing in them. It was a joy to see. They rode an antique carousel as well.
The bumble bee ride (basically bees that go around in a circle but also go up and down) Leo and I got to ride with them, but the airplanes they got to ride by themselves. Sweet Girl thought she was big stuff and they had a blast.

Then we took the train ride and it was the "spooky" train ride. Sweet Girl loved this part. I think she likes being scared. She will be a good companion for Leo to take to the Haunted Houses. Because I DETEST them. I will NOT go to one all. The spooky train ride consisted of people running up from the darkness and screaming at you, and then we went through the orchards and of course more screaming people. It was pretty fun.

We ended the evening by roasting some marshmallows on an open pit. This was both yummy and warm since the temperature had dropped into the 50's (heaven) and Leo is old so he was pretty cold and was happy to warm up by the fire. Little Man did not want any marshmallows and instead enjoyed the fresh kettle corn (yeah it was YUMMY!).

I missed out on the fresh pumpkin doughnuts, which is probably a good thing. I love pumpkin and love a doughnut so it's best to stay away from them. But they sure sounded good.
It was really great great time.

Sweet Moses I Was Actually Cold

Saturday afternoon was nice, but Saturday evening was wonderful. We enjoyed our dinner eaten outside, and there was a nice breeze. And it was actually cool, I could have used a sweatshirt or some sort of pullover and it was probably only in the high 60's. Sweet Girl complained she was cold but she complains of being cold when it's 90+ degrees out and she's wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt. That kid is weird and if she didn't look JUST LIKE ME, I would wonder if she was actually mine. Because until we moved here, and went through the summer which basically turns your blood into something thinner than water (didn't think that was possible did you...yeah well me neither) 60 something degrees would not warrant anything close to a sweatshirt. But I could have used one tonight. And I LOVED the fact I could have worn it, I loved feeling the cool breeze on my skin...so even though I felt cool enough for a sweatshirt I was happy to feel the cool breeze on my arms and face. It was heavenly and very fall like.
It was wonderful. Ahh...

Yay It's Friday Baby!

And yes, again it's time for Friday Fill-In's!

1. One of the best concerts/plays/movies I ever saw that I really didn't think I'd like was Allison Krause.

2. Pumpkin Crisp (it's fall now so my craving for pumpkin has kicked in and now I'll go on a pumpkin baking craze) is a recipe I recently made (or meal I recently ordered) that was delicious!

3. It's time for the damn weather to finally cool down (I know you're as tired of hearing that as I am of feeling it).

4. Summer Beer on a warm afternoon is quite refreshing.

5. If I never hear the word summer again, it'll be too soon.

6. To one side of the curving road was a really steep cliff, and on the other was a vast and beautiful ocean view, with breaking waves and setting sun.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hanging out with Leo and the kids, tomorrow my plans include hopefully finding some good deals at a consignment sale and spending time outside since it's supposed to be 76 (OMG HEAVEN) and Sunday, I want to have a great time at a local farm pumpkin festival and relax!

Flammable Fall Decorations

Ok so after a lot of prompting, I am posting some pictures. Here is how it all started. We had so much stuff packed in that Yukon (yes we drive a highly economical Yukon and I LOVE IT) that you could barely see Sweet Girl sitting back there. She was surrounded by hay, scarecrows, cornstalks and pumpkins.





To this:




And here is the one picture of my oh so crafty cornucopia for the dining table:

Gobstoppers Are NOT Supposed To Be Chewed

I had all intentions of posting the pictures of the beautiful yet highly flammable fall decorations and will do so later this evening. But right now I have to post a pet peeve of mine. I have issues with hearing people chew. I really can't stand loud chewers. It drives me NUTS. Ask Leo he'll certainly vouch for this as I send him nasty looks and ask him frequently if he's almost done eating a certain food ,such as dried corn nuts or whatever the hell they are. (love you honey...)

So the man who sits in the cube behind me, he chews those Everlasting Gobstoppers. OH.MY.GOD. I want to throw stuff over the cube wall. I cannot stand it. So I resort to putting on my headphones to enjoy some music. And to keep from having some sort of manic postal attack occur (minus the guns).


Well this is good but if I get really into my work and the songs playing I have caught myself getting ready to belt out the song. And trust me that would be much WORSE then this man and his chewing of those candies that are not meant to be chewed. And talk about mortifying, no one wants to hear me singing Linkin Park. It would be somewhat disgraceful. Hell you don't want to hear me sing anything. It is just unfair to the good songs.



And today, not only did I have to put on the headphones, I had to turn UP the volume. Are you kidding me? How does this man have teeth left?

To add to the peeving, he also likes to slurp/suck the pop off the top of his pop can. I can handle this much better then the chewing business.


I never enjoyed working from home so much before in my life. Home where it's quiet and if I want to sing I can sing as loud as I damn well want and no one can say anything!

Our ONE Glorious Fall Day

Well it happened, we had ONE glorious fall day over the weekend. It was cool (about 80), overcast (the nice dark cloud with impending rain overcast), and we did have a few sprinkles. It was great AND short lived. I got to wear jeans and shoes WITH socks. It was nice. I loved it. But this week it's back into the high high 90's. I am happy and overjoyed my plea was answered but disappointed and bummed it was only answered for one day. ONE. I got my taste and now I want it worse then before. I crave that cool air. I love love love flip flops but I'm ready to trade them in for my socks and fall shoes/boots now and not get overheated because I am wearing both socks and shoes.

We were inspired to get all our fall decorations and put them out, as usual we went overboard. We have hale bales and corn stalks, an assload of pumpkins and gourds and mums. A few scarecrows as well. It really does look pretty in our front yard. I do like it so I am glad we went overboard. And we are a complete fire hazard. I'll have to water the hay and stalks when I water the mums!

TGIF

Woohoo. I've been waiting for Friday since well really Monday....And so let's end the week with Friday Fill Ins!

1. October is the 10th month and automatically makes me think of Halloween.

2. Sweet Girl and Little Man being way too quiet and playing nicely scare(s) me!

3. Leaves are falling all around, it's not happening here (at least not by ME).

4. My favorite horror movie is Salem's Lot because it still scares the crap out of me.

5. Happy children and a happy husband = good memories.

6. It was a dark and stormy night and it was the best night ever.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to going to bed with the knowledge I don't have to go to work the next day, tomorrow my plans include a date with Leo and Sunday, I want to enjoy having some company over to watch football and eat bbq!

Holy Moses, She Listened!

My letter to Mother Nature worked!!!! Do you know that on Sunday the HIGH is supposed to be 83 with possibe RAIN. OMG RAIN!!!! And 83!!!!!!!!!! Ah the sweet feeling of relief. Thank you Mother Nature for answering my plea.

Oh yes, I was excited when I saw that little red ! in the accuweather thingie at the bottom of my Firefox browser. Although I was half expecting it to be yet another excessive heat warning but no, it wasn't. It was a warning...warning about strong STORMS coming in from the west coast. Storms and a cool down. Yes it actually said COOL DOWN.

Woohoo, I AM elated.

Ah yes I take back all the nasty things I said about Mother Nature in July.

Ok, Really Now it's October

Dear Mother Nature,

I have always been a fond supporter of you and your changing of seasons. I think it's a great idea to change it up every quarter or so. That's awesome and I commend you for being such an agent AND advocate of change.
But seriously 100 degrees still? Come on now, it's October. And Fall. I know here in metro Phoenix, the fall will not be the brisk cool one I am looking for but can't we at least get normal October temperatures? Like the 89 degrees Weather.com says it should be at this time of year? I think I would be happy with 89 or below. If you don't want to be normal (and really who can blame you, normal is just so I don't know boring. I understand this and I am a proponent of not being normal, lord knows I'm not normal myself. So you see we can relate. We have a rapport and I can empathize with you here so help me out, will you???), can you at least err on the side of cooler then normal? Because you have no idea how totally stoked I would be if you were err'ing on the side of 1o-12 degrees BELOW normal. Because that would put us in the heavenly 70's. Oh god that sounds good. Ohhh Yeah baby. 70's.

So I'm begging and pleading, please end this summer. Bring it to a screeching halt and bring on the cold.

Yours truly,
Danielle