The ONLY Time I will Complain About Rain

You'll never hear me complain about rain. NEVER. At least while living in AZ because we get oh so much rain. And you'll never hear me complain about clouds either. The ONLY time you'll hear me complain about rain is when I'm going to go on a trip. And it's mostly outside and costs a shit ton of cash. We're heading to Disneyland and the current forecast is rain for the first two days. I'm hoping like most weather forecasts it's wrong. Clouds? Fine. A little rain? Sure, not a problem, I won't even complain about that. A raging downpour? Absolutely not acceptable. NO NO NO. DAMNIT. NOT WHILE ON VACATION!!!

So if you pray, (I'll take any God at this point), say a prayer for us that we're not soaking wet walking around trying to enjoy Disney in all it's Christmas glory. I am SO excited about seeing it all decked out. I mean really excited here, so if the rain ruins that I'll be pretty pissed off. I might have some sort of Clark Griswold breakdown!

Peace Out and Rain free.

Going Going But Not Gone

So I'm not gone, I'm on a hiatus. Why I am on a hiatus? Because now that I don't work on a job that is outside of my house I am never home. I'm running here and there and all over the damn place doing you know I don't even know what really.

I work at school, I help out but that is only once a week. I enjoy it. I get to have lunch with Sweet Girl. I like it. And for some reason EVERY kid in her class wants to sit next to me. I am pretty popular with the 6 year old crowd. I'm not sure what this says about me. I'm just THAT exiting I guess. Or I'm just THAT exciting that someone who ISN'T six wants to hang out with me.

And I work on my Girl Scout stuff which I am sadly behind on. I was doing so good, when I worked because I did all my personal stuff on the clock (I know brilliant isn't it? But I got my actual work done so it worked out as a win win for everyone, so no judging me here). But now I have no "clock" per se and I'm all over the place. And we're gearing up for Cookie Sales! Woohooo! Lucky us though Daisies can't do booth sales yet, so we can't harass people in front of the store. That's next year. So, I really need a defined schedule so I don't lose my mind for good.

I also, because I am a masochist I guess, became a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts. Now I LOVE a tote, storage tote, purse and if I get the chance to personalize it, well I am in. So if you need storage tote or purse or stationary and want it personalized, visit my website. I LOVE that Large Utility Tote. It kicks all kinds of ass. You want one? You should especially if you have kids and all the crap that accompanies them. And their laundry or their sporting stuff.

The kids are growing, shocking isn't it? I guess that's what they do at this age. But I'm not happy with it. I want the kids that love me and think I'm all knowing. And they must think I'm all knowing right now, or at least Little Man does considering some of the questions he asks me. For example, how does fire get on the ceiling or if we can sell scorpions. Or why is God everywhere. Or if we can buy a baby next time someone comes by selling them. Sure Little Man, we'll do that right after we call the cops.

Our house is all decorated for Christmas (OMG I did in fact SAY Christmas, as in CHRISTmas, you know it is Jesus' birthday, oh there I go again, I said Jesus, and not in vain). And I'm quite sure that Jesus loves all our inflatables. Especially the trippy "snow" globe with lights that will cause someone to seizure. And if I could find one of those plastic nativity scenes you can bet your ass it would be out there. I love those old ones, I'll have to check the Goodwill. And next year, next year I'm going all Griswold on the house.

Speaking of Griswold, how can you NOT love Christmas Vacation? LOVE this movie! Watch it as part of your Christmas tradition....And if you're feeling like Clark and think you want to have everyone over or the perfect Christmas then please don't have this breakdown..."Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse. "

I'll be back again...hopefully not a month plus between posts!

More Tricks Than Treats!

Ah Halloween you were abundant with your tricks yesterday, so I'm glad you're gone for a year! We had quite the busy weekend and Halloween day too. And apparently the black cat that showed up at our Girl Scout ceremony crossed my path and brought along some bad luck we redeemed on Halloween.

Here is a run down of our tricks:

1. We did some "tailgating" before the Cardinals game, we were enjoying some music when it stopped and Leo asked me if I turned it off. I didn't. I asked him if the battery in the Ipod was charged. It was. So what happened? The truck battery was dead. Awesome. We have no jumper cables. Even more awesome. Leo asked some neighboring tailgaters if they had any, they had one of the jump pack things (official term, I have no idea) which was dead, but they had regular cables thankfully. Our offsetting good luck here was we had met some friends and they parked close to us. So into neutral the truck goes and we push it back so we can get a jump. It works and runs for a while.

2. Our friend breaks her shoe, the toe band of her flip flop came off. No luck with the super glue. Lucky for her she had a spare pair of shoes.

3. Leo dropped and stepped on his glasses. Broke the arm, but was able to fix it. But he scratched the lenses to hell.

4. Our shuttle driver that was taking us from the parking lot to the stadium got lost. Seriously we made a U-turn in a school bus. We were already cutting it close timewise and he made me miss the National Anthem. That may have been some luck because I generally tear up when I hear it and after the morning we've had I may have started balling.

5. Little Man fell asleep AT THE STADIUM. Yes so he's not feeling good. A sick kid on Halloween. Fun.

I have a feeling I'm missing one or maybe two. As luck would have it I forgot. Or suppressed it. Not sure which.

This week however will be better, my parents arrive tomorrow. Yay!
Sweet Girl turns 6 on Friday. Holy crap, 6!
I turn 35 on Friday, 1 more year then it's late-30's. Ugh.

Hope you had more treats!

Up Down Up Down

I had a lunch date with my favorite Little Man the other day since Sweet Girl went to lunch with one her friends. So we headed to Joe's Farm Grill, one of our favorite places. It's a yummy farm restaurant that used to be someone house and is in the middle of an urban farm. There is also a coffee shop there that has cupcakes and assorted items and so I told him we could get desert there.

We finish up lunch and head over to get a cupcake. Little Man makes his selection of the cruelty free cupcakes (a little over the top if you ask me, I mean really you need cruelty free cupcakes??? Maybe it helps people with weird issues eat them, who knows. But a cupcake is a cupcake in my book and I really don't think the wheat used for the flour was treated cruelly in any other cupcake I've eaten. But I digress.). He selects a mixed berry with cherry frosting, it looks good. I go with the cruelly made choco chip pumpkin scone. It's not cruelty free, but I don't care because if you think about it, chewing it up into mush is pretty cruel too. So I eat that sucker and enjoy the whole damn thing. But again I digress.

I look over at Little Man who is looking down at his shorts with this odd look, which usually indicates he's spilled something. I take a look and nothings there. So I ask him what's wrong. And what he says is not anything I was expecting. I mean NOT EVEN CLOSE. He says "nothing is wrong, I'm making my penis move. Up down, up down, up down."
I stifle my laughter and tell him "That's great Little Man, now finish your cupcake."

Ah the joys of a boy!

It's About Time

I am probably going to jinx myself here but thank you Jesus for finally cooling the weather down for me. We had triple digits until the beginning of October. For the love of all that is holy that is just wrong. I know we live in the desert but seriously 106 on Oct 1? Wrong. Just wrong I tell you.

But right now there are 70's forecasted for this week! 70's!!! Of course this could change 10 times before Wednesday when the temp is supposed to be 76 and then 73 on Thursday! And next week it's even going to be 70. I am anxious to turn off our air conditioner and open the windows. I am anxious to feel the chill in the house and maybe even turning on the fireplace. I am also excited about wearing jeans and long sleeved shirts comfortably and shoes WITH socks! I love the flip flop but am ready for some actual shoes.

Here's to cooler weather!! Bring it on!

So Now What?

I thought for sure I would have more time to write posts after I stopped working but that just isn't the case. I used a lot of work time to do my blog posts and now that I don't actually sit down to work, I don't actually sit down to blog either. I think about it but don't login to do it. I find this weird.

Let's see what's been happening since my last slacker post. Sweet Girl has been coming out of her shell at amazing speed. She is making friends while shopping at the Pottery Barn Kids store and playing at various places. This makes me so happy. Little Man is growing an at alarming rate, with as many questions as he can muster. Lord the kid comes out with some good ones. And they are so random and all over the map. I mean all over, from why can't you see God to how does fire get on the ceiling. That is in one conversation! And he will NOT accept I don't know as an answer. I make up a lot of shit I don't know. I try to make it sound as good or logical as possible but if he remembers it at any point and repeats it I'm sure that will be just great.

Sweet Girl is enjoying Girl Scouts. I am enjoying Girl Scouts too, actually. I've only wanted a shot of hard liquor after one meeting. Yeah... um...we've only had two meetings. Actually I really do enjoy it, that one meeting was right during PMS. 15 six year olds and PMS yeah they don't mix. Don't try it, just trust me on that one. Or maybe if you're some kind of masochist you can try it. Go ahead but I warned you.

I'll be back and more regular. Like fiber.

New Routine

Today marks the end of the second week I have not worked. It has been strange not having to get up and flip on the laptop and start working. I honestly can't say I miss it at all. The first few days I always felt like I needed to check email or was late for a conference call. But now I don't even give that a second thought. I figured it would take longer but maybe it was due to not having a lot of time to give it some thought. Last week, the first week sans work, Little Man was home every day sick. He had some random fever and cough and the poor thing didn't do anything but lie in bed and watch TV.

So far this week, I've kept busy getting ready for our first Girl Scout meeting (quite a success I might add), had lunch with a friend, got my hair cut and colored and volunteered at Sweet Girls school two days. I have a new respect for teachers. I don't think I could that every day. I helped in Sweet Girls class working with groups doing contractions and writing sentences with quotes. I did enjoy it I must say and will probably try to do it weekly.

Now it's time to clean out Sweet Girls room, she's a bit of a hoarder and her crap needs to be thinned out. It's much easier to do when she is not around!

A Moment Then Gone

My Sweet Girl has been sick this week. She missed two days of school and officially has tarnished the potential goal of perfect attendance for her entire academic career. Leo was the one who brought that up.

I know my kids are growing up and getting bigger. They are really almost too big to carry around anymore. But I was carrying her down the hall and she had a good grip on me, a nice engaging hug, when it really hit me. They will never been this little again. Ever. They will only get more difficult to carry and won't fit on my lap much longer. It made me kind of sad really.

They really do grow up too fast. It does seem like only a moment ago they were babies and now Sweet Girl is in 1st grade and Little Man not much behind her.

Soon the moment of childhood will be over and they'll be leaving for college.

At least for now they both like their mom, think I know everything, are convinced I can see through walls and out of the back of my head, and still even though really they are too big they like to be carried. Sweet Girl doesn't mind that I walk with her in the morning line up at school or that I give her a hug and kiss in front of all those people.

Proof positive that I should be enjoying all the moments I can because soon the childhood, my mom is the best moments will be gone.

On My Honor

Watch out people, I've agreed to become a Troop Leader for Sweet Girl's Daisy Girl Scout Troop. I have reached a new level of momhood. I will lead a Troop of 15 5/6 year olds.

Was this by choice?
Well yes and no.

I wanted Sweet Girl to be part of Girl Scouts, I was a Girl Scout when I was younger and still remember the fun I had, even a few years later when I put on my uniform that was 4 sizes too small and decided it was a good idea to roller skate down the street in it but I digress that is another story for another day. I wanted her to join to help her make more friends, gain some more confidence and experience new and fun things (hoping she never does the rollerskating bit). And the Troop was full. Maybe it was maybe it wasn't, but that's what I was told. I think maybe she said that to lay the groundwork for the next guilt inducing comment to the effect of 'The biggest issue in starting new Troops so all the girls can experience Girl Scouts is adult leadership. Would you be interested in volunteering?"

Ah see I got suckered, and I know it. Maybe it was all the cookie selling practice they have? Who knows. Or maybe I just give in to guilt to easily.

So I suckered convinced one of Sweet Girl's friends mom to join me on the journey of molding the minds of 5/6 year old girls and preparing them to be the best damn Daisy Troop ever.

It will be fun.
What the hell was I thinking?
It will be fun.
OMG, how much stuff do I have to know?
What the hell was I thinking?
It will be fun.
It will be fun.
I'm doing it for Sweet Girl.
Damnit to hell if she decides to drop out, no way she's doing that.
It will be fun.

These are my thoughts the past few weeks leading up to our first ever meeting. That meeting hasn't happened yet, so officially I could still bail but I won't. I'm doing it. And I'm going to have fun.

Damn Barbies

I played with Barbies when I was a kid and really I LOVED it. I had so much fun playing Barbies. My Barbies had lives and stories, the whole nine yards. Ask my sister, she'll tell you. She will probably also tell you my Barbies were also sometimes gay, and silly and sometimes they had a lot of sex. And poor Ken, there was a like a 10:1 ratio. Ken had many roles - Father, brother, boyfriend, etc.

But now not so much. Now, I CANNOT STAND IT. I am happy Sweet Girl has Barbies and enjoys playing with them. She has a castle instead of a dream house. She has a jeep and carriage instead of the corvette. She has an assload of Barbies, still only 4 Ken dolls so the ratio is the same even now. And when she asks me if I want to play Barbies with her I cringe. Because I don't to play. I cannot explain it. I would rather watch Barney for 24 hours straight than play Barbies. I try to divert her and play something else, like a game or cards or something. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn't and I have to play. I do my best to seem interested and excited about it. But I have to tell you it's like some form of torture for me.
Don't get me wrong I love doing things with her and playing with her, just not playing Barbies.

She'll probably end up in therapy because I didn't engage with her on things SHE liked to do.

Winds of Change

There are lots of things going on here that I should have been updating on, but alas due to my slacker tendencies I have not.

We're getting better into our routine of getting ready for school in the mornings, better drop offs, and doing homework in the afternoons. I think we've all adjusted nicely to it. Although we're still trying to nail down the best morning routine. All in good time. School drop offs have gotten much better. I even got the I don't want you to walk with me a couple times. I was SHOCKED when that happened. Sweet Girl is making friends and talking to people and doing great. I am so happy and proud of her. I tell her how proud I am of how outgoing she is being and how exciting it is.

And now another change, I did it. I quit my job. I gave my notice and now it's done. It's both frightening and freeing. My last day is September 3rd. What are you going to do, you ask? I have no idea. I wanted a break. I will take one. I will clean and organize my closets. I will probably have to get another job because I will go mental at home all day. I debated taking Little Man out of preschool. But he likes it. And he's learning stuff. I don't think he views me as his "teacher" like that kind of teacher. We've never had those roles, yes I teach him things but not all day every day. And I didn't want to take him out and then put him in if/when I found another job. Not very consistent for the kid.

Maybe I will write the book I've wanted to write.

Everyone tells me, that I will fill up that free time in no time and will wonder why I even thought that I would not have anything to do. Maybe that will be the case.

Maybe I will find out what I REALLY WANT to do? That would be nice. I would like to have that answer and know the joy that comes from doing something you really love and enjoy.

It's kind of an odd feeling, I imagine I will go through some kind of withdrawal and or weird depression of not having to come home from dropping the kids off and jumping into an schedule of conference calls. Or maybe not?

Lots of changes for sure. But I think all for the better. At least I'm hoping so!

Over The Heat

I gotta say, I'm OVER the heat and humidity here in AZ. This last week has sucked ass and has been extremely humid. It's monsoon season. Don't let the word 'monsoon' fool you. When I think of monsoon, I think of rain and a lot of it. I think it's the wrong word. We live in the damn desert. It doesn't rain in monsoon quantity. We get more blowing sand and dust than rain. And let me just tell you I LOVE that (insert an extreme amount of sarcasm here, as much as you can possibly muster and multiply it by 100).

We did get a lot of rain over the winter (no complaints from me!) but that was probably some weird weather freak of nature. It's like we got it all then and nothing now. I mean come on spread the raining love over the year.

On a different note, Sweet Girl is doing better with the school drop off. She still really doesn't talk to any kids while standing in line. I wish she would, I guess I would feel better if she had a friend. But it is only the 4th day and it will probably take her a little longer to make friends.

2nd Day Not As Good As the First

Second day of school droop off was not as good as the first. I guess she knew what she was in for and it caused her some more nervousness and apprehension.

The drop off started off bad as someone tapped my bumper in the parking lot line as I was pulling in. No damage but really WTF lady, pay attention. And seriously this would ONLY happen to me on the second day of school.

The Sweet Girl was not as happy and excited today to wait in line. I tried to time it so we only had to wait a few minutes. But even in those few minutes she complained of a tummy ache and would not let go of my arm or hand. Yesterday I was able to get out of line and let her walk in. Today there were tears and I had to walk with her to almost the building.

She wouldn't talk to the other girls standing in line around her. Yesterday she said she talked to some girls but really I wonder if she did.

Little Man also had a first day at his new "school" as well. He did fine. I don't worry about him interacting and participating. He is outgoing and talks. His status sheet said he had a great day and enjoyed playing with paint.

It's funny, I do worry about both of them but they are for the exact opposite reasons. The ones strength is the other ones weakness. I would never worry about Little Man taking long to adapt to a new situation, even with people he doesn't know. But I DO worry about his academics. That kid has NO desire to practice his letters. He can't spell his name. They practices X's in school yesterday and he tried making them H's. Sigh. This would be my last worry about Sweet Girl, that kid could spell her name at 2.5. She already knows and can spell all the sight words they have to know for this year. But new social situations, forget it. I worry until I'm almost sick. All this unbeknownst to either one. And I know boys are different, don't compare your kids, blah blah blah. I get it. I would never say you need to be more like Little Man or Sweet Girl to either one of them. They are individuals. I just think it's funny how the strength of one is the weakness of the other. I guess it all balances out. At least I only have one major worry per kid. And maybe that kid can be an example. Although that hasn't really worked yet, probably because I haven't pointed it out. Nor do I plan to, so I'm back to where I started.

I wonder if I kept Little Man home with me instead of working if he would learn more? But I'm Mom and playmate. Not Mom the Official Teacher. Not that I don't teach him things because I do, we've just never had structured teaching/learning time at home. Not sure how that transition would go for either of us. And he does like interacting with the other kids.

Ah the joys of parenting. It's a never ending quest for balance, happiness, and all that without guilt!

The Beginning of A New Era

Well it's done, Sweet Girl has crossed the threshold that begins her academic career. Yesterday was her first day of first grade.

I was so proud of her. I was proud of myself too, for holding it together and not breaking down like one of the kindergartners.

I gave her a charm bracelet with some charms. Each one signifying something special. A cupcake because she is sweet and special. A snow cone because she is one super cool kid. An owl as her good luck charm so whenever she is nervous at school about doing something, she is to hold the charm and say to herself "I can do it". The owl is significant because he is ALL OVER their classroom. He is their class "pet" and stands for Our World of Learning. The last charm was a Friends 4 Ever from a couple of her friends to signify she will always have friends and will make new ones. I think it really helped her.

She stood in line and we stepped out of the way. She turned back once for a wave and then she was off walking with her class to her new room.

No tears.

A big girl.

A 1st grader.

Sigh

I have to say again, I'm not really sure I am ready for my Sweet Girl to be starting first grade. I don't let her know about my anxiety around it, I am always upbeat and excited when I talk about it. How exciting it will be to go to the new school, to make new friends and all that. I'm doing that in hopes that she will be excited too, looking forward to the new year. And while I know she is probably excited, nerves and being afraid are starting to tip the scales. I can see it happening. I know she's feeling that way because she is unfortunately just like me. I hated school in the beginning. HATED IT. I hope it's not like that for her. It makes me hurt thinking of her feeling that way.

We have the meet the teacher night tomorrow. I hope this helps her, we can talk about more of what to expect over the weekend. That generally helps her deal when she has an idea of what's coming.

I never expected my kids going to school to have this effect on me.

Cloud Cover

Summer in Arizona is not my favorite time of year. My acceptance of triple digit temps lasts about a week and then it's annoyingly tolerated. Mostly because what other choice do I have at this point? The past couple weeks have been particularly brutal with temps of 115 on multiple days. The pool isn't even refreshing and actual feels hot. I prefer to just sit in the house and watch TV when it's that hot out. But thankfully the temps like that are short lived (and really if they were not I would not be living here) and we'll be back to cooler temps soon. Yeah soon = probably 3 months but still there is at least relief in sight.

Today we had cloud cover and even some rain (by AZ standards). I was pleased to see the blue sky covered with a nice layer of cloud cover and the blue grey rain clouds. I wish I could have sat on the patio and just stared at the cloud covered sky. But alas I was stuck on conference calls most of the morning and now it appears the sun is back out. Yay. You know how they say people in Seattle tire of the rain, well I have the same feeling about the sun. Too much of a good thing is bad in my opinion. Jeez I'm jonesing for cloud cover to hide the giant hot ass ball of gas for a few days.

There are a lot of changes coming up for us. This may mean some good blog topics which inspire me to write more often. Sweet Girl starts first grade on Monday. I'll be a big giant emotional ball of mess trying to hold myself together so she doesn't notice. Little Man goes to a new day care/preschool on Monday too. He'll be fine, no worries about him. He talks to everyone and does fine in new situations. Other changes coming which I'm sure will be a new adventure and stress that will need to be dealt with by writing. More on that later. But no I'm not pregnant. Let's just get that one out there now, that's not the change.

Here's to more cloud cover!

Long Time No Write

So again I'm slacker blogger. Like you need any reminders of that. If anyone is even left reading it.

We've had a fun few weeks. We headed to the beach, the Florida Gulf Coast. Yes the coast that has oil. We called it our disaster tour.

We started out in Nashville and Middle TN (disaster 1 = flood) where we had a b'day party for Little Man who turned 4 on the 4th of July. It was a good party, at the Pump It Up. Always fun to let the kids jump themselves silly. A little touch and go there for a minute as Little Man almost puked just before we had to leave for the party. Impeccable timing that kid has. He went pale white and lost all color in his lips. I think it was because he hadn't eaten all morning. And so I gave that kid some coke, a cheese stick and some goldfish. He seemed better. Although honestly I was expecting him to ralph in the bounce houses (he didn't but it wouldn't have shocked me at that point...). We shipped home a small toy store from his b'day gifts...

We then proceeded to disaster area #2 - The Gulf Coast. I obsessively watched all the sites, trajectory maps, everything to see if that oil was going to affect our vacation. I mean seriously we didn't fly 2000 miles across the country to go to the beach when we couldn't even actually GO to the beach. Everything was looking good, it was looking to avoid the area, until two days before we were going to arrive. We went anyway, praying. We got to the beach and thankfully there was no oil lapping on shore, but we do have a few tar balls on shore. The water itself was clear most days, a couple days we dealt with some June grass, but it was clear mostly. So we swam. Hopefully in 6 months we don't find out that swimming was a bad idea. It was fun, we enjoyed the beach pretty much every day.
Except for the time when Leo, myself and Sweet Girl were all puking. Oh yes, no vacation of ours is complete without vomit. And we got it. Lots of it. Good times. I'll spare you the details. Ironically our normal puker, Little Man, was spared. How odd. I expect the next trip will be two times as bad for him. Poor kid, poor me.

The vacation motto: Is that a tar ball? and Are you going to throw up? I made Little Man nuts with asking him this. I was just waiting and waiting for him to puke. And alas he did not. And no one else that went with us puked either. I was happy to not share that with anyone.

We loved visiting with our friends and family on our trip. It was great and fun. And while I don't have that same feeling of longing anymore when we drive around the Nashville area, I do have that longing feeling for all my friends and family. Having them all together for Garrett's b'day and some came over to my parents was so nice. I miss them all terribly. I love being around everyone.

I was happy to get home. But wish I was at the beach still. Maybe that means I need a house at the beach? I think that sounds lovely.

We then celebrated Little Man's official b'day on the 4th. We tried to stay up and watch the fireworks that were "just for him" but both kids totally crashed out in the back of the truck while we were waiting. And then they slept until 8 AM the next day. Sweetness!

And now it's back to the norm. School and work. I liked when the norm was what time should we go to the beach today?

Campout Fun

Well we had our first official camping trip this past weekend. It was a really great time I have to say.
Here are some of the highlights:

• Kids had a great time playing by the creek, getting dirty and having fun.
• Kids slept great in the tent.
• We had AWESOME weather, can I tell you how elated I was to wear jeans AND a sweatshirt in JUNE??
• We climbed some rocks and saw spectacular views.
• We saw a famous movie spot and we were dorks and took pictures. (From National Lampoons Vacation - the spot where they are somewhere in Arizona and Clark slams on the brakes and they almost fly off a cliff - Yep it's in Sedona! And we watched the movie to verify and sure enough the exact spot we took pics is in the movie!)
• We met new people, and found a new game we liked (its' Bananagrams, check it out it's fun!)
• There were no farm animals waking me up at all hours. No roosters or cows!

Some of the not so fun parts:

• The bathrooms made me gag. There are few things that make me actually gag, and this bathroom was one of them.
• I forgot the pillows.
• The first night I think I got 2 hours of sleep total, probably because I forgot the pillows and I've seen too many horror movies.

Would I do it again? Yes and I'm looking forward to it. It was great to be outdoors and relax and let the kids play in the dirt and have fun. Time to plan the next one!

Neglected

The blog is being neglected. I used to post pretty much every week day and slowly, slowly it's tapered off to once a week if I'm lucky. I'm not really sure why since I do enjoy writing. Funny how those things happen, I probably shouldn't let the things I enjoy get overshadowed by the things I don't. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to do it and I have grown weary of putting pressure on myself, since I do it for just about every other area of my life. I probably should work on that too.



We had a busy Memorial Day weekend. We went to an awesome state park - Tonto Natural Bridge. It was SO NEAT. We had a picnic lunch and then took the trail down to the bridge. Once down there we scrambled on rocks and enjoyed the beauty. The kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and really so did I. I have to admit I do love doing that kind of stuff. When I was a kid I used to look at fields and rocks and think how fun it would be to run wild in those. Now I see the fields and I think the same things with the added thought of I wonder how many snakes and things are in there too? That never crossed my mind as a kid. The state is planning on closing this park and others due to budget. Really a shame. Maybe if we stopped having to pay to take care of illegals we could keep them all open. But I digress. Hopefully it's saved because I know we would go back often.



We also camped out in our backyard as a test run for our camping trip next weekend. It was a test for us to put up the tent and to see how the kids slept. The kids slept GREAT. They took a while to fall asleep but I assumed that was the excitement factor and being outside. I took longer to fall asleep only to be awoken multiple times in the middle of the night by the crowing of a rooster. If you thought roosters only crowed to wake people up at dawn, you would be WRONG. Apparently they crow ALL NIGHT LONG. Or these people trained it as an attack rooster and it was issuing warnings. Either way, it was damn annoying. Add in the COWS and some other random shrieking animal (OK the shrieking really freaked me out) and my sleep was not peaceful. I thought farm animals slept at night? I didn't know cows and roosters were NOCTURNAL...shows how much I know about farm animals...Hopefully we are farm animal free at our campground. I imagine we'll only have to deal with the occasional mountain lion or coyote...ha the irony.


We also saw Shrek 4, a good flick that I took a couple quick naps in thanks to the farm animals. So I missed a few parts, but that's OK.


Sweet Girl had her Kindergarten graduation this week. I can't believe she's going into 1st grade. and that really Little Man will be starting Kindergarten at this time next year. Jeez.


I started week 4 on my couch to 5K plan. I was afraid of week 4 because it is alot more running then walking. But I made it through the first workout without stopping! I was feeling really good about it.


Well that's all I got for now. No puke or injuries as of late. That's always a plus!

Have a great weekend!

Run Run Run

I've been following the Couch to 5K running plan in an effort to work in some cardio to help assist my weight loss. I like to run so this was the perfect plan to get me back into it. The plan is 9 weeks to get you to running 30 mins without stopping. It starts out slow and does run/walk intervals.

I'm on week 3. It's a 3 day cycle, but I have made mine 5. My runs are every day Monday - Friday with rest on Saturday and Sunday. This is the first week I went up to 5 days and really I think it has helped. I haven't been sore and the runs have been easier, which helps my confidence because I'm kind of afraid of weeks 4 and 5.

I have a mantra that runs through my head as I run: I'm lighter, I'm stronger. And if I get really tired and am ready to stop running before the time, I imagine my fat cells exploding and giving my tired legs extra fuel.

Sounds corny I know, but it works. So laugh if you want, I really don't care.

I have tried running at different times of the day, first thing in the morning, which didn't work out too well. Late at night after my session with the trainer, again not to well. So far the only time I've found that I can run easily is around 10 AM. I didn't eat anything before the morning run so maybe I'll try again after eating a banana or something. Usually I walk in the morning before eating, since I always heard that walking first thing is supposed to help you burn more fat since it's using your fat as fuel. Well I have a lot of fat so I should be able to walk a damn marathon first thing in the morning. My legs need to be sucking that fat away as I walk and run.

I've read some other blogs that are blogging about their experience with the plan. I will update my progress as well on mine.

Today is day 4 of 5 on Week 3. Monday will be day 5 and then Tuesday begins Week 4.

Ready to run too? Run with me!

Slow

It's been a while since I posted. Not much to talk about really. No drama that provides me good topics to write about. I'll do some randomness.

My parents went back to TN. This sucks. I enjoy having them here. Maybe I'm weird but my parents living with us really doesn't bother me. I enjoy having them close. Hopefully they will be back sooner then November. Maybe the summer will be the time their house sells? Hoping so!

Sweet Girl is going to first grade! She missed the district cut off last year for Kindergarten in the public school. So she went to private Kindergarten at the day care. It proved a good move, she tested into 1st grade fine with flying colors. This makes us happy because she would have been bored out of her gord if she had to repeat Kindergarten again. She really excels at reading. She needed a score of 20 and her score 137! She will be on the younger side of 1st grade going in at 5 1/2 but I think she'll be OK. We've been working on her feeling more comfortable in new situations with new people.

I have been doing pretty good on my weight loss journey this round. I've actually LOST weight. I've changed my mental attitude and it seems to have helped. I guess my fat cells just needed the permission that it's OK to leave. So I've given them permission to leave and am happy to see them go.

I am ready for a vacation. We're heading to the beach in June with some friends and family. I am really looking forward to it. It will be a nice break. Hopefully we stay oil free on this trip since we're heading to the Gulf Shores area of FL.

I can't believe my Little Man is going to be 4. Holy crap. FOUR. He is not a baby anymore. He is animated and cute and smart. And won't give up any kisses for me anymore, because "it's not kissing day, it's only hugging day". Where he learned this I don't know, but I want to know when the hell kissing day is coming back around.

Sweet Girl is requesting I curl her hair now. This makes me kind of nervous. Next thing she'll be asking for eye shadow. And then the car keys.

I don't want my kids to grow up. I miss them when they are at school but sometimes on Sunday I'm looking forward to them going back. Sometimes I regret my decision to work after they were born because work causes me stress and sometimes I don't enjoy the kids as much as I should. But then I think about how I would probably be stressed at home with them every day, so I guess I made the right decision.

Ok well I think that's it.

Ahh Friday

It's been a rough week. I've been battling what I thought were allergies due to the blooming Palo Verde trees (they are the weirdest trees, they are green and they look like aliens in my opinion). But I don't think it's just allergies, I think I have some kind of cold as well. I've been coughing and OMG my chest, it's killing me. The Mucinex helped. A little.

Today I feel better physically. Mentally I'm a little blah.

My parents are going home on Sunday.

I really like having them here so I'll miss them. Leo will miss them too. And probably most of all the kids will REALLY miss them.

But we'll be OK, we'll see them in a few weeks when we head to the beach. And they'll be back. Hopefully sooner then planned.

Misunderstood

I live in Arizona. I am surrounded by the immigration law drama. I have to at times stop watching or reading because I am amazed at just how stupid some people are. And what's even more disappointing is that the media is just as bad. It would be helpful if the media would actually READ the bill. It would also be helpful if politicians including the President read it as well.

Here is a link to it so you can read it. It's not that long even, but if you're going to report on it or discuss it shouldn't you be informed?

And just FYI:

The SB1070 law mimics a current federal law. So I hope the city of LA decides to boycott the Feds now too. Personally I think we should cut off their power and water supply that they get FROM ARIZONA.

The law does NOT state that the police can pull you over, demand immigration papers and then deport you immediately.

You do NOT have to passport to enter Arizona (this is my personal favorite).

I'm sure there are countless other misinterpretations of the law so that the media can spin it and make Arizona look like this horrible horrible place. But isn't it funny that there are multiple other states that are looking to do the same thing as Arizona? I hope they all do.
So come on, come visit Arizona!

Nashville Flood

If you didn't catch an earlier post this week, or maybe you haven't watched the news for more than a couple minutes you may not know that Tennessee, mostly Nashville and close surrounding areas, were and some still are under water. The damage is devastating. But it has not gotten very much national news coverage.

Here is a great article in The City Paper of Nashville. It's an excellent read. It really is amazing how much a difference Nashville and other areas in TN are compared to Katrina. How much Nashville residents pulled together to help and get started on rebuilding instead of waiting for aid or blaming someone else and abandoning the city. I am sure in New Orleans there were residents that pulled together and maybe that didn't get enough coverage.

It’s really a shame that it’s not being covered for the devastation but also to show what it really means to be a community and to help your neighbor. I guess that would probably end up offending someone and lord forbid we ever do that…

Help out! Click here to help the city of Nashville and other TN counties that are in need.

Commentary: Why national media glossed over flooding
Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 10:45pm
Patten Fuqua

If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year-flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.

The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet… no one knows about it.

Does it really matter? Eventually, it will… as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite possibly the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No, you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No, we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it, that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End Avenue. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives, and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us, but also know that we can handle it.

Because we are Nashville.

I Love The Grand Canyon

We were in Flagstaff this past weekend and went up to the Grand Canyon. I really could go there every week and never tire of it. It's so pretty.

We enjoyed great Canyon views and even got to see some snow when we left Flag. Snow in May! Awesome in my book. Now too bad I live in a desert.

I hope you enjoy the views as much as I do.

Still in Flagstaff, there is a lot of snow on the San Francisco Peaks:


These pictures will never do it justice. It's so much more then the "hole in the ground"






I love this tree!


Granite Rapids on the Colorado River

PROMPTuesday #105

I'm on a roll, two weeks in a row for doing the PrompTuesday over at San Diego Momma. I ran out of time and ended up in a block on this one, but I am OK with what I had.

SO, for today’s exercise, I’d love you to add to the sentences provided below. Complete the paragraph and continue the story.

**********************************************************************************

“Wait!” I screamed after her. “Your hat!”

She ignored me, which was to be expected. We hadn’t talked, not really anyway, in more than 10 years. I scooped up her black hat. The mesh veil fluttered beneath my fingers…

**********************************************************************************
“Wait!” I screamed after her. “Your hat!”
She ignored me, which was to be expected. We hadn’t talked, not really anyway, in more than 10 years. I scooped up her black hat. The mesh veil fluttered beneath my fingers…
And she was gone. I wanted to believe that maybe she left the hat for a reason. Like she would come back for it and we could have the talks we used to have. Deep down though, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Deep down I knew she was never coming back. This was it. All I had left of our friendship was this hat. I guess I could put it in a box and on the shelf, and never look at it again. I’m not sure I could do that yet, that’s too much closure and I am not ready for it.

Looking back I should have known she would not be one of those forever friends. She was volatile and always going a hundred miles an hour. Changing thoughts and ideas more than anyone I ever met. But I felt comfort in that. It was so unlike my life that I felt maybe I needed the energy she had to shake things up a bit for myself. I ignored my gut feeling that trouble was lingering. I was having fun and the energy was rubbing off on me. I was recharged. Alive.

Then things started changing, she was dismissing my calls and we drifted apart. I tried on many occasions to connect with her again. But she was not as keen. I was hurt and deflated. I felt so lost with my friend and energy gone. I heard through friends she had gotten in trouble, I tried to reach out to her. Recounting all the fun we used to have together, trying to get her back to me. But again it was a lost cause. This went on for years. I was never one to give up. But after years and years I really gave up hope. And began to ask myself why I was really putting in this much effort.

Flood of Emotion

If you've seen any news lately you know that the Nashville, TN area is experiencing devastating floods. I have to say I am thankful to be living in Arizona at this time but this does make me feel very odd. It's like a strange sense of guilt. I can't really explain it. Like I should be there and experiencing that with all those people too. Why do I feel this way? I guess because in some way I consider that area my home. It took me a long time to feel that way but I guess meeting Leo, getting married, building my first house, and having my children there have me more connected to that area then my own birthplace of Detroit.

And now to see it experiencing catastrophic flooding has me feeling a little strange. Guilt and relief at the same time is not a normal combination. And is hard to deal with.

I think about the house we built and wonder how it fared, I heard reports that the area is quite bad but it was up a hill so maybe the higher ground saved it? And why do I care about a house that is not even mine anymore? I guess because we choose everything in it and watched it being built that I guess I still consider it mine in someway. I wonder what it would be like for us if we were still there? Would we be flooded in? Would we have lost everything? Or at least have sustained damage on our bottom floor? I guess having these thoughts is pointless, other than using them to realize just how lucky we are that we're not having to deal with all that. But there are so many people that are. I hope the waters recede quickly.

Food - Do You Know Where Yours Comes From?

I saw a review on some website about the movie Food, Inc. so I ordered it from Amazon. I was intrigued by the movie and also wondered how they would spin it. I wasn't really excited about the fact it was made by the same people that did An Inconvenient Truth, but alas I would give it a shot. And while it did have some propaganda in it, I took away quite a lot. I guess I never realized the hamburgers I was eating at certain places had "filler" meat in that had been washed with ammonia. Gross. It was just gross. And, the whole genetically modified stuff FREAKS me out for some reason. And it's in EVERYTHING.

And why the government or some groups don't feel it's necessary to tell me if I'm eating cloned meat is just wrong. I have a right to choose if I want to eat cloned meat! And I have to say I would choose NOT to eat cloned meat.

We decided to try to make some changes after watching this movie.

• We planted a garden. Our own vegetables growing right in our backyard. And I have to say I've really enjoyed it so far. We have some tomatos growing and soon some peppers will be popping out. We planted all our favorites.
• I signed up for a organic fruit and veggie basket to be delivered. All locally grown. The pears have been FANTASTIC.
• We'll be ordering our own cow. No, not to live in our backyard. But I did do some searches for grass fed, no hormones, no antibiotic pasture raised cows. And I found one here in AZ, Leo called the slaughterhouse and it will only be our cow that will be processed at that time so no mixing of others in there. We'll be freezing a lot of cow here soon.
• And we'll try to support as much local farming as possible.

Watch the movie I guarantee it will change your perception of food!

Also check out the Eat Well Guide. It has a lot of great info hopefully about your own local options!

And if you're in Arizona, Georgia, or the Ohio River Valley check out Natures Garden Delivered for your own local organic delivery of fruits and veggies.

Also in Arizona check out Support Local Arizona and Arizona Local Foods

Representing The 313

Ok, so today is Wednesday and I'm doing San Diego Momma's PROMPTuesday today.

Here's the low down:
Do you remember where you grew up? The town, the house, the apartment, the street, the lane, the city, the grassy field? Please describe it in every detail.

I remember the house on Windsor in Detroit where I grew up with fond memories. I can remember the full address and phone number too. I remember the white sided house with detached garage. It was on a great double lot. The house was 2 bedroom and 1 bath. The bedroom upstairs was one giant room with a giant wool rug covering the hardwood floor. In the center of the rug was cut around the metal air return. My dad painted the hard plaster walls a mint green color. I used to use it as a chalk board to play school. And it hurt if you ran into it because there was no give! There was on small closet and a wardrobe by the door. There was also a small "sitting room" off to the corner. The room as I remember was pretty big. If I went back now it would probably seem so small. I used to keep my bed by the windows because in the summer it was so warm, we didn't have air conditioning. I would listen to the sounds of the city going to sleep every night. The constant hum of something going on lulled me to sleep.

The steps leading up to the room, turned and had steps shaped like triangles. They always reminded me of pieces of toast. I would often douse the floor by the steps with pledge to make it supper slippery, then get a running start slide on the floor and jump down the 4 steps to the piece of toast landing. It's a wonder I never flew out of the landing window. But it was fun.

The basement was an awesome skating rink until finished it and then it had carpet, which is kind of difficult to roller skate on. But before it was finished we would skate around it like crazy.

I can still hear the chain of the garage doors as they opened. We would open the side window in the garage to put the radio in the window so we could hear some tunes in the pool. The pool was in the backyard and where we spent most of the summer. We would walk carefully across the paver patio because if you weren't careful damn you would stub your toe on the pinkish pavers.

We had a double driveway as well, I can still see my dad cleaning the driveway with the hose and I can hear the Tiger games on the old old old radio.

I can see the garden in the big side yard next to the garage. We had lots of tomatos, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and other things I can't remember. In the corner of that garden was a maple tree I planted on a whim. I thought it was a weed, but it wasn't and it grew to be a pretty big tree. We also had two other maples in that yard - Jean and Willard named after my grandparents. I used to love when a storm was coming and the wind would blow the leaves to the silver side. The contrast against the grey clouds was so cool. The border around the grass had all kinds of flowers, peonies, roses, hostas and a giant forsythia bush. We used to get the hosta leaves and make "tacos", hosta leaves for shells, dirt for meat and grass for lettuce. Thankfully we never actually ate them.

Good memories of that house, I could probably write a book giving you all the detail!

Random Tuesday

Since I don't really have one specific topic that would produce a blog post that would be worth reading, I'll just post some randomness.

We had a good weekend, it was busy! The kids had fun at Leo's company event. Sweet Girl is quite a driver as she proved on the Kiddie Kart course, swerving to miss running into another kid. Little Man, not an excellent driver and hasn't gotten down the whole "steering" part. This caused him to basically run into the "wall" at any point that involved a turn, and this almost made me pee my pants laughing so hard. He didn't get hurt but it was so funny. Maybe you had to be there.

Did you know that if you are a women and you have boobs and maybe you show some cleavage, you're causing earthquakes? No joke, seriously you are. Read here if you don't believe me.

Arizona is causing all kinds of drama, with the latest immigration law. I'm not sure of your definition of "illegal" is but in my book, illegals shouldn't have any rights here in this country. They shouldn't be treated better than legal tax paying citizens, they shouldn't get free health care, or a free education. They really shouldn't get ANYTHING if they are not here legally. If found they should be sent back to their home country. So I am for this law. Because federal government is doing such a great job at protecting our borders from illegals.

The weather has been in the 90's the past two days. I'm not looking forward to summer.

That's all today.

Friday Is The Best

I am happy for Friday, I always am. It is really not a good idea to wish away a week just to get to Friday all because I don't have to work for two days. It is amazing to me the amount of stress and drain the work day causes and most days are not even so busy for me. I guess it's the downfall of doing something you really don't enjoy all that much. Oh well, I don't have to worry about it for two days because it's Friday!


Enjoy your weekend!


Let's do some Fill Ins!


1. Where are my keys? And how the hell can I lose them in this small purse???


2. If wishes were horses I would have a lot of wild horses.


3. I'd like to see the ocean from my bedroom window every day.


4. When I was a teen, I thought I would be an Air Force pilot.


5. One of my mother's favorite sayings was "we're all God's children".


6. I'd have a hard time doing my workout without my trainer.


7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner at the Benihana to celebrate my Dad's birthday, tomorrow my plans include a fun day at Leo's company family event and Sunday, I want to enjoy the afternoon at a Dbacks game, and not think about the fact the next day is Monday...

Weird. There Is No Other Word For It.

People are weird. I've always known this. And I know some are REALLY weird. But this just takes the cake. Seriously.

This man is making art out of the ashes of cremated dogs and cats. WTF? W.E.I.R.D.
Read on here. I do have to laugh at the author's constant puns included in the article. But I'm sorry, I do not wish to have art or any other assorted jewelry from my dead relatives or animals.
My Mother thinks making beads out of your ashes is cool. Again I'm going with weird. Sorry there Mom, but I won't be wearing your ash beads. Can you imagine the conversation and looks you would get when someone complimented you on your dead relatives ash beads and then inquired where you got them?

"Oh yeah that's my dead Mother, we melted down her ashes to make this bracelet". How would you respond if someone told you that?

I think that might be the end of that conversation.

And they may back away slowly.

I probably would.

Vegas

We headed to Vegas last week for a trip away while we had built in babysitters. We were both really looking forward to it. The first few days were for pleasure and then Leo had a work conference and I worked from the hotel.

We were at the snazzy Signature Towers of the MGM Grand. The non gaming part of the MGM and about a quarter mile hike to the actual casino. We walked our asses off there. Well not literally because mine is still pretty large so basically we walked A LOT. Our room was on the 38th floor, the top floor. Our ears popped in the elevator and I couldn't go on the balcony because holy crap the 38th floor is high.

I enjoyed a hot stone massage, it was heavenly. Then I got a citrus cocoa wrap. I was a mummy slathered in chocolate. It was very nice and then I started to get a little claustrophobic. I was wrapped up and covered in warm towels, I had cucumbers on my eyes and I was getting warm. And then I would fall asleep, and then I would wake up and freak out, calm myself down and then fall asleep and do that whole thing over a few times. So I was totally relaxed, freaked out, totally relaxed, freaked out, etc. You get the picture. I finally had to ask when it was going to end because I was ready to be unwrapped! But it was overall very nice.

We ate yummy food. We only have a few drinks. We had good talks. Leo played Black Jack and won some cash. I played Roulette and won some cash which if I had stayed away from the table I would probably still have. Oh well. It was fun. I wandered around the casino aimlessly at times when I didn't feel like sitting and watching Leo play Black Jack.

We saw Cirque's 'O' and Zumanity. Both excellent shows. And both had those amazing acrobatic moves where those people have amazing muscle tone, core strength and flexibility. Wow. And WOW again.

It was nice, I was ready to come home and see the kids. But not really ready to go back to the reality of working. I'm really ready for the permanent vacation!

Total Slackass

I am such a slacker. It's been two weeks with no posts. What is wrong with me, I'm in a slump. Blah.

I've had a lot going on. I was lucky enough to get an MRI for my ankle. I call it fat ankle, because basically I don't have one. It's cankle for sure. And I have bunions. And they are hurting. And really they are ugly. So I finally finally made an appointment with the foot and ankle doc. So the bunions, they need to go. They need to be removed and I have to have bones fused and all that fun stuff which will require me to be on crutches for at minimum 6 weeks. Then there is the fat ankle, which is all due to a "mass". Thus the MRI to verify said mass is nothing major. I've had this mass for as long as I can remember so I went on the assumption it's nothing. And I was right, it's nothing but a mass. I will discuss the mass with the doc at my follow up appointment next week.
The MRI wasn't bad since I didn't have to go all the way in. Good. The bad part came when they had to do the contrast. Which required an IV. Not my fave. Hate the IV. Not a fan, the IV for me was the worst part of giving birth to my children. I would rather have the epidural twice then have to get an IV. But she was good, I barely felt it. And then. Then the vein collapsed. OMG. Seriously, she had to do it again on the other side. Worse case scenario for me here. And then the burning begins, and the pain where the contrast blew out of the vein and is now absorbing into my arm tissue. OH.MY.GOD. I was being stabbed with a hot poker in my arm. It was so bad, it hurt I wanted to cry and slam my arm against the wall.
And then it was over. The burning subsided mostly. But my arm felt weird and bruised and very uncomfortable. Not a fan of that.

We went to Las Vegas - just Leo and I. It was awesome. I'll save that for another post because I'll need some topic for the next post or two.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Of course that's nothing new I always am. I'm looking forward to Friday as soon as Monday rolls around. If I could just cut out the work part of Mon- Friday I think I would enjoy those days more. I need to work on that. But today is Friday, I'll enjoy it, the work day is almost over and the weekend will begin!

Hmmm....Tuesday

I have no creative title for today's blog. I really don't have any subject matter either. It's been a week since my last post. I guess the only consistency I can claim is my consistent nature of not posting.

Here are some random thoughts.

I would rather be on the beach or at Disney World. I have this overwhelming desire to be at either of those place. I'm going to assume it's my way of trying to escape my daily activity of work. I do want to be with the family so it's not them I'm trying to get away from, just work. Ah the thought of sitting on the beach with the kids playing in the sand. Heavenly. Instead I'm here testing code and writing defects. Woohoo.

We got a new treadmill. And I've even used it. I'm working up to getting up every morning and walking my fat ass off. Hopefully I'll get there this week. Or maybe next week because this is PMS week which makes me evil and unmotivated. And really a little resentful that I have to exercise period. It's a good thing my trainer can take being called nasty names because I was cursing her last night. Burpees with the added pleasure of the Bosu ball. Seriously, WTF. She had it out for me I know (paranoia is also one of my added benefits of PMS. Lucky me). And if you don't know what burpees or a bosu ball are, consider yourself lucky.

We also got a new fridge, it's one of those fancy French door kind. It's pretty neato I must say.

I should never again (and I won't) attempt to cut Little Man's hair. He had a nice mop (probably a good 3 inches of hair ) and now he has a buzz cut with a zero fade. Yes I screwed it up that bad. Thank goodness for the lady at Great Clips who was trying to be all nice when she was telling me I just didn't have the correct knowledge on how to do it, but she was sure I was capable if I knew how. Just tell me I suck ass at cutting hair and be done with it don't try to butter me up with your nice comments. I totally fucked up his hair, we both know it. I mean come on the kid basically had a bowl buzz cut with a big chunk missing over his ear.

Ok, back to code and defects.

Desert Beauty

Here are some of my favorite pics from our trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It is a really great place if you're in Arizona! I tried my hand at some good photographs, got some good shoots. Still need some more practice.

Pretty Yellow Flowers with a Prickly Pear Cactus:


A Barrel Cactus



Patch of Wildflowers


Close up


Cactus


Windmill

Oh The Things They Say

We had a great weekend, we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and it was awesome. The weather was great and the park is wonderful. Great trails, and so many varieties of plants. It was just so cool. Maybe I will post some pics tomorrow.

They kids did great and Leo surprised them with little stuffed birds from the gift shop. They liked them. Sweet Girl got a hummingbird, named Mrs. Hummer. Yes Mrs. Hummer.

Little Man got a Quail, we tried to get him to name his Dan but no luck there. I'm not sure his even has a name yet.

Then there was the conversation in the car about the characteristics of each bird. The fact that Little Man's bird did not have as long of a beak as Sweet Girls. This conversation led us to statement:

Sweet Girl "Little Man you don't have a pecker".

Oh the laughter. That was good.

Friday Fun

Ahhh...finally Friday has arrived! And in a few hours the weekend will officially begin! Yay!

So lets do some Fill-Ins today!


1. Today I will be looking forward to the end of the work day.

2. Your answer is always no, and I say why not?

3. What do you think of this wonderful weather we've been having??

4. At Starbucks it's free Pastry Day til 1030 Friday!

5. People say that what we're all seeking is continuous happiness and what's wrong with that?

6. The image I cherish most is my sweet children laughing.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to date night (again, woohoo 3 weeks in a row!!), tomorrow my plans include not sure yet, probably some garage organizing and Sunday, I want to head to a state park and enjoy some beautiful desert wildflowers!

Read To Me, My Love

I had the pleasure of talking to one of my sister in laws the other day. She lives in Knoxville, TN and we talk on occasion but not as often as we should. We keep up via email and Facebook but still a good old phone conversation is the next best thing to being around someone in person. As long as it's someone you like, if you don't like them then being around them in person may just be the worst thing in the world. But, in this case I like her.

We were talking about the kids and how fast they grow up and how it seems like just yesterday we were trying to figure out how the hell the Snugli worked so we could take Sweet Girl on her first Black Friday outing at the young age of 4 weeks old. The process of figuring this out was someone comical and I remember laughing hysterically. Maybe it wasn't really that funny and I was just dealing with postpartum hormones, regardless I had a damn good laugh.

She then commented on the fact that she keeps up with the kids and reads the blog. I was so happy that she reads it. Her husband, however, does not. I mean he is a husband and probably not interested in his crazy sister in laws kids and reading about being puked on. This is generally not manly reading. And then she shared that she makes him mute the TV (that is just AWESOME Amanda!) and she reads it to him. How romantic is that?? She reads him my posts, she says it's because they are so funny but really I think deep down it's because they are newlyweds and in that romantic stage. So while he doesn't do the actual reading he is having it read TO him. Sure it's not Shakespeare or some other highly romantic reading but instead tales of hot vomit running down my chest (there is romance in that, no?) or the weirdo things my kids do (and wow they are weird).

Now, I can't tell you if he is really listening or if he is secretly wishing his sister in law had never started a blog so he could get back to whatever he was enjoying before he was interrupted.
It's probably the latter.

A Day Late

While I know today is Wednesday, I am just now getting to the PROMTuesday done at San Diego Momma. I actually did this one! Yay me! (ha)

Dreams

Halcyon dreams
Why do you evade me?

I have the perfect setting for you
Cool room, comfy sheets.

I lay here waiting
Where are you?

I stare wide eyed at the ceiling.
Beige?
Should I paint the ceiling beige?

Halcyon dreams,
Why do you evade me?

Fiber Love

If you've know me you know I LOVE fiber. I generally exceed the daily 25 grams a day. So I am very pro-fiber. This all started when I was pregnant with Sweet Girl I was TERRIFIED about getting hemorrhoids. I mean you have no idea how terrified I was with that. It totally freaked me out. That is when it began. My obsession with fiber. I love the Kashi Go-Lean, I prefer the Fiber One yogurt (although the Greek Fayeh yogurt is really yummo too!). And I actually look at the fiber count on bread. They actually make a "high fiber" bread.
And so I've also had many health benefits from this as well. My "good" cholesterol is pretty high.

So why am I telling you all this? Because I want you to try this yummo bars I found! I generally eat the Kashi Go-Lean for breakfast. I tried the Fiber One bars and I didn't really like them. But you need to try the Gnu Bars! The Orange Cranberry is da bomb! OMG it's so good!! AND you get 12 grams of fiber! Oh yes 12 grams! THAT is pretty exciting stuff! (watch it, I hear those comments...)

And if you order today you get 25% off! Sweet deal. And no they are not paying me or have asked me to blog about their goods. But if they somehow get wind of my blog post, I'll take some free bars...I prefer the Orange Cranberry.

Come on, join the fiber obsessed. Let me know if you try them and what you think!

Duh...You Still Need Sunscreen

First off I have to say yay to all the new followers and I'm also super excited about all the new blog reading material I have. I think I picked some great new blogs to read and I am really looking forward to it! Thank you to all the new readers we have! Leave a comment or two, I love the feedback.

We had an excellent weekend. Aside from my moment of total brain loss when I failed to bring sunscreen with me to the yearly Ostrich Festival. We had a great time, watching Ostrich races (hilarious!), some jousting (awesome), and of course carnival rides (always fun but involved a little drama from Little Man since he is just not tall enough for some...more on that later).

So all this is outside in Arizona in WONDERFUL 70 degree weather, with a nice breeze. Perfect for being outdoors because last year it was almost 90 at the festival and that was just not as fun. So in my mind (which had obviously taken a break and possibly a hike as well) I was not thinking sunscreen. Mistake on my part (damn you brain for taking a hike!) as I suffered a sunburned nose, chest and arms. My nose was the worst and I was referred to as Rudolph by Leo and my parents (feeling the love...). My chest, holy crap you would have thought I walked around with baby oil on my chest. Jeez. Thankfully the kids were spared, although they did get a little red on their face. But not nearly as bad as me. I know I know SHAME! SHAME on the mother who forgot the sunscreen! Trust me I won't do it again.

Have you ever seen anyone ride an Ostrich? It was pretty funny! Very entertaining!

The kids were excited for the rides and riding the Ferris wheel with Gaga and Grandad. We all get in line and they won't let Little Man on, because he's not 42 inches. However he did ride last year and he has grown since then so they must have tightened up on their riding requirements and enforcement. Oh the drama! He was NOT a happy camper. I finally convinced him to walk with me over to the kiddie area and he went down the big slide a few times while we waited for the others to come back. It turned out OK. He still had issues in the kiddie area though because those rides were also 42 inches. He was able to ride more at Disney World!

We ended our day with a sno-cone and my first and probably last fried Twinkie. Oh yeah all diet restrictions blown into the wind on that one. A Twinkie dunked in funnel cake batter and fried up golden brown and then "dusted" (and I say dusted lightly b/c it was pretty thick!) with powder sugar. I was unsure at first but have been wanting to try one since before Sweet Girl was born. So now I've done it and the fried Twinkie can be checked off the list.

We're starting the week off right with a baseball game. The spring training is in full force around here so we'll have an enjoyable afternoon at the ball park WITH sunscreen!

Follow Along! Get New Friends!

I saw this Blog Hop a couple weeks ago on Raising Little Women and didn't have time to do it so I was looking forward to trying it out this week.

I would love some new reading material and maybe the fact more people are reading me will help me keep up good blog content? Hoping so anyway!

Here's how YOU can join the Friday Follow celebration:

--Link up your blog name and URL using the MckLinky below. Only need to add on one blog to be seen on all the blog hops.

--Grab the Friday Follow and Sponsor buttons and include both on your Friday Follow blog post.

--Follow the Friday Follow hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.

--Follow as many other blogs on the linky as you'd like.

--Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you're from Friday Follow.

--Follow back when you get a new follower through Friday Follow.This list is new each week. The links do not carry over. Please link up each week for new participants to find your blogs. The list is only open to add your blog links on Fridays. It will be visible all week to visit the blogs listed.

Check out our Friday Follow Sponsor!

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Go Find some new friends too!!