Not One, But Two, Chickens

I waited as long as I possibly could to post, in hopes that I would have excited and great news.

Turns out I may have counted my chickens.

We tried over the last 10 days to buy not one, but two, houses here in our new home town. But both offers fell through. This is probably a good thing since our home in NC isn't sold (or even being looked at...but I am not bitter or anything...more like extremely impatient).

We got a little excited early this week when someone came to look at our NC house for the second time (although there wasn't any record he had been there the first time) and our hopes were dashed when we found out it was an empty lead.

It's all right though because today I had my hair cut and colored. I had my eyebrows waxed and I ate not one, but two, sushi rolls. Currently I am binging on blue and pink cotton candy leftover from the county fair. Which brings me to my next subject... (and lets you know that all emotions can be overcome with proper spa treatments... and sugar).

Yesterday my Dad and I took the kids to the County Fair. The kids had a blast and my dad and I came home ready to fall into a deep, deep nap. There is nothing like taking not one, but two, kids to a fair pumping them up with soda, junk food and cotton candy and then standing in the heat for the roller coaster ride. Honestly, it was really fun and the kids are ready to go back next year.

One of the things I love best about going somewhere that has a high volume of people is because I think people watching is enjoyable. And at this fair we were not disappointed. We found not one, but two, sweet characters that were the most fun to watch....

Holy Smokes It's Friday!

Wow, it's been a long week.

I haven't felt much like blogging, what with the happenings in the world this week.

Sometimes saying less is better.

I am glad that it is Friday.

We have some potentially exciting news going on here but I am afraid to count my chicks before they hatch. I did want to check in just in case there are people who still read my blog and let you know that I haven't been wandering about in the desert.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend and I will be blogging again soon! Perhaps with a fun announcement!

A Day at the Race

On Sunday I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. My gym sponsored a team so my sister-in-law and I signed up to run.

From the look on my face above you'd think I was about to embark in the Boston Marathon (which also took place this weekend) but the reality is that running in a Race for the Cure 5K does more for the heart than a cardiovascular workout.

It was more than emotional to see survivors walking, and some being pushed in their wheelchairs because the treatment that heals is more debilitating than the cancer itself.

And to see runners with hot pink signs on their back that read
"in Memory of:"
or
"In Celebration of",

many wore more than one.

I love participating in races because it is always a bit of a celebratory event, but none more than the Race for the Cure.

I am often motivated to make a better time than my last race. Driven to do better than the race before. But at this race I was smiling at the finish line.
Glad to be healthy.
Glad to run.
Happy to be part of something that is more than a workout.
More than a number of time...

It's about being alive and running for hope.

~La Vida Dulce

The kids and I get our picture with Wilbur and Wilma.

Jen and I before the race.

At the finish line!!

After the race.

Chewbacca and the kids.

Posing with the only Rattlesnake my kids will be allowed to be next to!

Random Poll - April

About a week ago I crashed my mother's book club. After they discussed their book they sat down for some dessert. The conversation turned to grammar and mis-spelled words. The consensus was that broccoli and zucchini are words that give trouble when one is trying to spell.

Forget about vegetables! i have bigger issues! I just realized today that the word, alot, is not spelled together. It is spelled, a lot. Two words.

I have been spelling that sucker wrong forever (or is it, for ever?). I also thought, may be, was spelled in two words. But alas, it is in fact one. Maybe.

The random poll for this month is this:

What words do you continually have trouble spelling?

La Vida Dulce!

Easter Hike

Since we haven't found a church home yet, and we were about to experience our first holiday shared between two families, we decided to spend our Easter morning in the desert as a family.

The air was cool as the sun tried to warm up the day. The birds were happy (including two roadrunners we saw looking for breakfast), and the blooms of spring made the smell fragrant and fresh.

The desert is so incredibly beautiful with those Saguaro cacti standing so proud! We were relaxing and enjoying a beautiful Resurrection Sunday.

Imagine our surprise when, about a mile into the canyon we ran into this sign.

Our family of four would probably make the perfect Easter dinner for a Mountain lion or two. Perhaps skipping church wasn't too wise?

Thankfully we did not run into a mountain lion! And we enjoyed visiting with our families this year and being a part of all the festivities.

La Vida Dulce!

The Girl and The Mister at the end almost of almost every family hike.

I have taken this exact picture in Texas, Montana, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona!

Tipped

Last Saturday my mom and I took The Girl to a local nursery to buy some seeds and flowers for The Girl to plant. It just happened to be Rose Week at the nursery and the rose bushes were so incredible that I had to buy one.

When we left we both had roses and various other flowers to put in the patio.

This nursery was amazingly busy! Everybody and their mother's were there shopping. When it was time to check out there were two very old ladies in line ahead of us. They had bought three little flats of pansies and vincas and the checkout lady had put them in a small box. The ladies whom I found out where named Dottie and Helen had asked for assistance to their car but because the nursery was so swamped with customers there was no one to help them. I handed my mom the cash for my roses and told her I would help these sweet ladies by carrying their small purchase to the car.

As we were walking I learned that Dottie and Helen lived at an assisted living community a couple of miles away. I am familiar with this place because it's where my Grandma lived for a few years before she needed more full time care. I asked if they knew her and it became apparent that asking them to remember someone who lived there was probably moot because at this very moment we were walking up and down the parking lot while Dottie and Helen tried to remember where they had parked their car. Helen told me that she usually has her walker with her which helps when she buys packages because then she can balance her packages on it and get them to her car. But she didn't use it today cause it "slows her down". Dottie then was telling me that she has a grey car and that she usually always parks in the same place.

Dottie and Helen were quite a pair and after about 3 or 4 minutes of walking through the parking lot we finally found their car.

Dottie opened the back door and I placed the box of flowers on the seat. I wished them a good day and started to walk in the other direction when Helen grabbed my arm and nudged in real close, like she was going to tell me a secret. She said "I always tip the boy who helps me, so here you go." and she slipped a rolled up dollar bill into my hand. I was so taken back that I didn't have time to say thank you before she and Helen were taking off quickly through the parking lot. Way too fast for two 80 year old women who could barely see over the steering wheel.

Southwestern Chinese Food

One of the perks of having a Dad who is retired (from teaching at least) is that he and I have been able to eat lunch together frequently in the last few weeks.

Today we tackled the pool. A project that is tough because his back yard has two beautiful shade trees that, for some weird reason, shed their leaves in the spring. Added to this problem was the blustery days we had on Monday and Tuesday. Wind storms in the desert are not so fun. When things are so dry it just whips dirt into the air...and the leaves and dust into the pool.

So my Dad and I were outside scooping and brushing and vacuuming the leaves and dirt that accumulated over the week. We finished around noon and decided that we would go get a bite to eat. So we loaded up and he took me to a Chinese buffet, where he enjoys their Vietnamese soup and I could get some noodles and veggies.

The buffet was gigantic. It had everything you could possibly imagine. Beef Broccoli, stir fry bean curd, pot stickers, sweet and sour chicken, soba noodles and veggies, wonton soup, crab puffs, eggrolls and... refried beans.

Yes, you can be sure that you are in the southwest when you go to the biggest Chinese buffet west of the Mississippi and find refried beans.

addiction

I am blogging from my mothers trio phone. I am certainly not meant to own one because I would never get off the internet! the only problem is that I don't know how to make capital letters. currently we are on our way down town to visit our hair stylist because her roots and my eye brows are screaming for attention. la vida dulce!

Always Check the Pockets

In the nine years that I have been washing my son's laundry I have pulled many things out of his pockets.

There was the time that he raided our penny jar and filled every pocket up with a handful of pennies. It may not sound like a lot, but have you seen the amount of pockets that boys pants can wield these days?

Then there was the time that he was collecting bottle caps. Any bottle caps. Since our shopping list doesn't always contain items that have bottle caps that meant he would find them on the ground at the park, or worse, out of a disgusting garbage can. I shouted with great delight when he finally outgrew the bottle cap phase. He then went directly to rocks.

When he was a baby I used to have to shut the laundry room door because all those little snaps on his onesies and baby pajamas would clack and make a fairly large racket. Who knew that this was to prepare me for the day when there would be a two pound boulder that would sound like a large man with a baseball bat had gotten caught in the dryer.

Then he started school.

Crayons. Crayons became the bane of my life. Why? Because crayons in the dryer are an ugly, ugly thing. We had two incidences when this happened. We call them the Orange Incident and the Blue Incident. This is when I learned that no amount of pleading, begging or shouting was going to convince him to empty his own pockets. For my son, there are simply other things to think about. He just doesn't think to himself: "Oh! I better remove that orange crayon I stuffed in my pocket today because it might ruin my mom's brand new Anne Taylor jeans." But I am not bitter or anything.
This was the day when I got smart! And realized that his laundry must always be done separately.

From tissues to candy to empty bullet shells.

From sticks to wrappers to those awful stick-to-the-wall plastic lizards.

When it came out of my sweet boys' pockets I thought I had seen it all.

I was proven wrong this week when I pulled out a fork.

Yes, the fork pictured above.

It isn't my fork. My forks are packed up and are in storage somewhere.

It isn't my mothers fork.

So I asked him. Where in the world did you get that fork?

He looked at me with excitement in his eyes and said that he had been walking around the playground at school and had found it out on the field.

And, of course, put it in his pocket.

Tell me. What have you found in your child's laundry?

Snow Clouds

I know this blog isn't weather related. But how could I post without mentioning that it is 58 degrees right this very minute with a snow advisory until 5pm!!!

(That is so worth three exclamation marks.)

After the temps hung in the 90's all last week this cold front reminds me of Texas weather. When we lived there you could have 85 degrees on a Monday afternoon and wake up Tuesday morning to ice so thick the city shuts down. And I am not exaggerating.

In about 15 minutes I will walk two blocks down the street to pick up the kids, I am seriously contemplating taking the car.

6% Humidity

OK, so i live in a place that is dry. Very, very dry. The humidity in the last week has been at 6%. So dry that if you don't use lotion and moisturizer and lip balm you will simply dry up and blow away.

But can I tell you that I love 'dry'?

Because, dry weather = great hair.

I love the hair days I am having here. However, today it is overcast and it's threatening to rain. The humidity is at 32%. I could have told you that without looking at the forecast because today my hair is misbehavin'. We desperately need the rain though (and it is so pleasant out) so I won't complain.

I began to realize that maybe I was getting a little caught up in my hair vanity when I was reading from 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul the apostle is talking about the unity of believers as members of Christ's body. The chapter goes on to talk about how all members of the body are useful. Then Paul tries to help Christians understand this concept by using an example of the human body which has lots of parts working for one purpose. I was reading from The Message translation to get a different prospective and to try to understand. It ends with a question that made me laugh...only because I had to talk myself into the right answer. Here is what I read:

But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher.
If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

Hmmm....now that's a tough question!

I figure, somebody's got to be the full bodied hair.

Anyway, all jokes aside, the storms are brewing here and I can hear the thunder and rain outside.

There is something special about rain in the desert. Rain doesn't happen here often, but that's not the only reason it's amazing. It's special because things come to life when given a drink of water. There's a unique smell and refreshment to the air, and the birds still sing because they are happy to rinse off the dust.

So today I'll forgo full bodied hair, cause rain in the desert is worth it.

La Vida Dulce

~

The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen

Isaiah 43:20 (NIV)

Arizona Sunset

And if what was fading away came with glory,
how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
2 Cor. 3:11

No Pinching Here

Happy Top O' the Mornin' To Ya!

It's a beautiful St. Patty's Day. I like to tell you that we ate Green Eggs and Ham or Lucky Charms for breakfast but we didn't.

We just put a big 'ole green bow in The Girls's hair and called it a day. The Boy is wearing his camo's and I can't wait for him and his Dad to get back from their hike so I can see if The Sweet Man of Mine is wearing Green. I'll take any reason to give him a "love" pinch!

La Vida Dulce

A Desert Dog's Life

Here she is! The Pampered Pooch.
She really likes her hair cut.
I know, cuz she told me.
And everyone else likes it too, because her hairs aren't all over the place.

Kona did express her concern that her ears do not match.
One is much floppier than the other.

But we love her anyway.

The little white dog asked that we not show his face in order to keep his anonymity.

Arizona Morning

Random Question: March

This was taken outside my parents home yesterday morning around 7:45. We were getting ready to walk the kids to school when this hot air balloon caught my attention. The mornings here are cool...perfect hot air balloon weather.

As I type I am finally hooked up to the Internet on my own trusty computer. Actually it's not that trusty, but it has everything on it that I use in my day to day life so I am glad that it is up and running again.

We are establishing some routine. Which I am enjoying. Next week will be another week of "newness" as The Mister starts work. It has been nice to have him around although this new schedule makes the day go quickly. The kids get out of school here almost two hours earlier than in NC. but they also start earlier too. This is good for a couple reasons: 1. I am an early person and enjoy getting up and out early. and 2. It allows for school to be over before the heat of the afternoon gets too intense.

I feel a bit out of touch with the rest of the world. I haven't watched or read the news. I haven't really had the chance to write/call or update anyone and to make matters worse the time change just made calling to the east coast a little trickier! This is why I like order in a day! Then I know when I can make time for phone calls and important things! Routine is great! It's establishing routine that's hard work!

Change is tough, even when it's good change and I am trying to get the kids and The Mister settled and established into some semblance of order...then I will be back to normal (whatever that is)...until I move outta here and into our own home. Of course, we aren't sure when that will be.

Living in a household with 4 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs is going well. It's very, very busy here. But we all seem to be handling it well. Someone out there is praying. Keep it up. It's all good, but honestly we have some serious issues...Today we ran out of Orange Juice...and we are a house divided, half of us like pulp, the other half think we should just eat the orange if we like that much pulp. And then there is the issue with laundry...why is there always so much dang laundry....oh wait...never mind, I brought that issue with me. Seems to follow me every where I go.

We also had a horrible problem with dog hair. It seems that Australian Shepherds shed more when the temperatures in March are over 85. Who knew a dog could shed so much? Especially one from Australia. Isn't it supposed to be hot there? Today Kona went to the Doggy Salon and requested a hair cut just like Austin's. I will tell you that Austin wears it better but Kona is pretty cute...pictures to come.

Anyway, things on the home front are going well.

Oh! I haven't done a Random Question for March. So here it goes:

Have you ever been for a ride in a hot air balloon? When and where?
If not, would you if you ever got the chance?

Pictures from the week

First Ballet Recital

Mia Takes a Bow

Great Granda Maude

The First Day of School...Again

First Day....Again

We made it through the first day of school. If there is anything worse than the first day of school...it's doing it twice. The second time right in the middle of the year. When there is absolutely no communication and you have no idea what is going on.

But I will try to start this post with a bit of positivity...lets see...

I joined the gym today at a place that my brother and his wife have been going to for a couple of years. I have gone as a visitor before and I do like it. Today, after not working out for almost 10 days I went to a class that was called BODY ATTACK.

That should have been my first clue. Basically, I am having troubles moving anything put my fingers at this point. And I am going back for more tomorrow.

It has only been six days since we arrived in the desert and I have already melted my favorite stick of Chapstick in the car. I have got to get back to being "heat" savvy.

Oh! I keep forgetting to mention that this weekend I experienced one of the greatest perks of living in Arizona...We don't participate in Daylight Savings Time (DST).

We've got plenty of high heat daylight thank you very much.

Well, speaking of time...it's time to go to bed.
Until next time...

La Vida Dulce!