February Birthday!

Let me start by saying that today is th 16th of Feb.....and.... I turn another year older in 8 days. I've never been a Birthday Party kind of gal .. my Dave and I have traveled during my birthday for the past 12 years. And with that....Last year, we were just getting ready to leave for Hawaii and my son drove out to my office and sat on the back stoop and told me how sad it makes him that he hasn't been able to celebrate my birthday with me. Yep, this year we are staying home. On the 20th, we are having all my (precious) friends over for a par tay! I'm not certain why I feel so uncomfortable about Birthday gatherings for myself, but I do. I just want to gather with friends, eat a wonderful meal, drink lots of wine, smoke a cigar or two and call it good.

Dublin and London

Just spent 7 days in Ireland. What an incredible experience. Had so much fun...met beautiful people - stumbled onto a party at the Ritz where the Exon Mobile people were having their Christmas party - the chairmans wife (Noelle) really took a liking to my sweet Dave - what a hoot that night was, the next night met two fellows in a bar and went we all went with them to another town to hear music,where we met several other musicians, someone stole my favorite hat at that darn bar...but it was a fun night. We saw magnificant sites and walked stem to stern of Dublin and now, we are in London. Just got back from seeing Mama Mia. Took the tube - which on a Friday night is Ka razy! We got out of the theatre, and walked to Burger King to use the bathroom - and I was in the bathroom with what I'm pretty sure were girls for hire, and I think one of the "girls" was really a guy. Yes, that would have been the one in the fish net stockings, wearing a short cougar print skirt....and by "skirt" I mean tube top. Not sure what is on tap for tomorrow. Hoping to hear from Dan from Team Ocelot. May get to have lunch with him on Sunday. Anna and Billy will be arriving tomorrow evening from seeing Anna's grandmother in Beckels. Can't wait to hear their stories. More later....

Yea, so.... I've been kinda busy with my life. August and September were sort of a blur with working 10+ hours a day and then attempting to have some sort of home life when I rolled into the house around 6:00 p.m. every night. Don't get me wrong, I love having every Friday off, but some days are easier to get thru than others. So, since July 2o something or another, that I last posted... I've gained about 5 lbs - Thank you high blood pressure medicine; we lost an employee to liver failure and I successfully (without crying my eyes out) talked to his 80+ year old parents and walked them thru the death benefit paperwork AND had a bbq in his honor, flipping 100 or more hamburgers ... on what would have been his 60th birthday; had to embrace the fact that sometimes who you think are great friends, really are just manipulative, herion addicted pathetic human beings. Oops.. I mean, one of the people that I worked closely with "resigned" in lieu of termination and is moving out of State. God help you Florida; OH, Hey, did I mention that the tragic death of the employee and the oh so very dramatic exit of the person I worked closely with happened in the same week? Yea, that was pretty... and was two weeks of my life dealing with those situations, that I will never get back. (whoo boy, do I have some anger towards the drama queen or what?); on a positive note, I cooked many meals for my son and husband, threw impromtu dinners for our friends - who I love with all my heart, helped pull of the wedding of the century with Anna and Jen Jen for our dearest friend Ang - over Labor Day weekend. The entire weekend... no really, I mean it. Wow, that was an action packed weekend - ending with the friends in my backyard, in our jammies, watching sensless tv, drinking and eating and rehashing the weekend. Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have three best friends and all our guys get along too! Aaron left for law school in San Fran; Will started his Senior Year of High School, Whitney started her last year up at NAU; we attended many Diamondback baseball games;we were instrumental in pulling off a Rotary BBQ cookoff, that was hugely successful in raising money for Dave's Rotary Club; and in between all of that, I may have slept a little, but overall, we are living life in color! Yea us!

TUESDAY GRATITUDE LIST

RAIN, BLESSED RAIN!
Dave - My guy!
Will - who makes all my girlfriends laugh.
Will - who makes me laugh!
Will - who gets away with calling my mom "Suga Mama" when all the others call her mimi.

The past few weeks!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Dave, Will and I spent two weeks in Hawaii. One week in Oahu, and one week in Kauai -- Snorkeling with turtles, Boogie Boarding, Parasailing, (drinking mass quantities of adult beverages), beach time and most of all just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Our flight home was on Wednesday July 8th, but actually we landed in Phx Thursday a.m. and after the drive home, ect. We dropped into bed around 3:00 a.m. I had to be up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work - OH yes I did. That day was sort of a blur. Sunday the 12th we headed back to Phx to see the Broadway musical - Wicked. http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ I highly recommend it. Then it was my oldest brothers birthday, a surprise party for my sister's 50th birthday (that didnt happen because she found out and called it off..) breakfast at a friends house.. and that brings us up to date with the cliff note version of the past few weeks.

My sweet husband has a fascination with Hadrian’s Wall in the UK. Two years ago, we took our two youngest (15 and 19 at the time) with us on a journey across the pond. A large Part of that journey was traveling along Hadrian’s Wall. We had a lovely time and it’s among our favorite memories of the trip.

So recently, I stumbled upon a blog site of someone who lives in the UK…. And I check his blog every day for updates. His name is Dan. ** Hi Dan! ** Yesterday, he wrote about a walk that he is planning for July 2010 along Hadrian’s Wall. A n 84 mile hike. He tossed out an invite to the Internet Universe and I snagged it and sent it home to talk to Dave about. It will be a charity walk to benefit The Joseph Salmon Trust. http://www.thejosephsalmontrust.org.uk/index.htm

So, last night, with lightning speed keystrokes Dave (and I) sent him an email stating our interest in joining them next summer. Dan sent back a nice email saying that he would be sending out a separate email later with more details. I imagine him hitting the “send” button and THEN re-thought the whole invitation to the Internet thing.

Then, we received a second email from him. Very nice. Understandably, he appeared to be concerned that he didn’t know us. I mean because really, how random is that I would start reading his blog site, and a week later he mentions Hadrian’s Wall. But me? I love coincidences.

He even tried to scare us off by saying that his group, and I quote “..are a bunch of Satan worshiping weirdo’s”. Funny stuff there Dan.

Oh Dan, we don’t scare easily. We hope you let us join in on the adventure.

In a mere 8 minutes the temp dropped to 60 degrees. Wow, I feel fussy.

RIGHT NOW.... IN CENTRAL ARIZONA at 4:56p.m..... IT IS 64 DEGREES. Unfriggin believable for June. Makes me a little grouchy.

So anyways....

My father in law passed away last November. My husband hasn't been able to go thru his parents belonging (I totally understand)... However a week ago he made the decision to clean out the house and every night last week we went to "the cabin" and cleared things out in order to have an estate sale. Which we had this past weekend. I'm not certain about other cities, but the city where we live, the best day for an estate, tag, yard sale is Friday. Soooo... Friday morning, up bright and early, and I mean BRIGHT and EARLY 4:30 a.m. I brushed my teeth (your welcome), washed my face, threw on sweats and started setting things outside around 5:00 ish. The estate sale was advertised to start at 8:00 a.m. and run thru 2:00 p.m. At 6:00 a .m. we had our first customer. **6:00 a.m.** I've never seen anything like it. People would drive up, come to a screeching halt, jump out of their vehicle with a frantic look in their eyes and dash, jog, run around the tables - Wow! It was an interesting day. I'm not sure when I have ever been so damn tired - emotionally and physically. Oh, and... my husband? He had to work on Friday so he missed most of the mayhem. Probably a good thing.

The weather can't decide if its January or June. I don't remember ever having this cold of a June... and? I don't like it.

Wednesday Gratitude List

Dave - the love of my life
Will - 17 years has flown by...
Robeks Acai energy smoothie *OMG its so good
Long summer evenings
My Family
My friend Heather who makes me laugh till I cry **in a good way
The gym - no seriously.. I mean it.

It is Friday morning.... the start of my three day weekend. I'm sitting on my bed sipping a cup of tea, with Scout my cat right beside me, close, snuggling. Scout only has one little marble in his brain, not sa much smart, but he is adorable.. and Zoe my sweet weensie little cat - aka The Boss. She is pretending not to care whether I pet her or not. To my right, is August, my yellow lab who is finally able to relax knowing I'm really, really going to be home today. Aaaand... at the foot of the bed is Beatrice our border collie- aka Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. She is S.M.A.R.T. and knows where we keep the T.R.E.A.T.S. Secretly she unlocks the cupboard where they are and hands them out to the other animals during the day... I'm sure of it. They probably have to perform tricks for her... Anyway>>>It is such a beautiful morning and I here I sit, listening to the sounds of the neighborhood waking up. Birds are chirping, dogs barking in the distance, laughter from the church camp that is a block from our home. Life is indeed good. I have so many choices for my day... do I want to bake bread? Plant flowers? putter in my flower garden? Me thinks I will do it all... and so much more. I feel so alive. Happy Happy Friday.

An exciting night in Biscuit

Yea, well, so last night Will and Dave were volunteering for a service organizataion that Dave belongs to, which meant that I had the evening to myself. After work I dashed to the gym and arrived home a little after 6:00 p.m.

So, did I go meet my girlfriends for a glass of wine?
Did I pick up a book, pour a glass of wine and sit in my glorious back yard?
Diiiid I sit in my hot tub?

Nope.

I cleaned out my fridge. From.Top.To. Bottom.

and now? It is like a piece of art work.

I TOTALLY FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I AM UP TO 35 MINUTES ON THE ELIPTICAL MACHINE AT THE GYM. (now if only I could start to see the changes....).

27 days and counting till we leave for Hawaii

WEDNESDAY GRATITUDE LIST

Dave – My Rock!
Will – My sweet, sweet 17 year old.
Flowers in my back yard
My J.O.B.
Health
Friends – I’m so blessed.
Summer Weather
BBQ’ing in our back yard

TRAIN WRECK

Okay, Let me tell you about my hell - I belong to a service organization and I'm on the scholarship committee. The last time I spoke in public… on a stage…in front of 200 people was… um… in 19.... NEVER. I was miserable tonight. I had to present a “special” scholarship for a very deserving Senior at our local high school. He is in NHS, Captain of the Varsity Baseball team, and just a all around great kid. I was doing great, chatting it up with the other members of the scholarship committee, planning our strategy and then while on stage waiting to present, I was still feeling fine... riiiight up until I reached the podium. I think I blacked out. My body started to sweat, I had rivers of sweat running down my back, I thought to myself.. no I'm not going to pass out... I'm going to THROW UP. THEN? THEN? my voice revolted against my brain and started shaking so hard, it sounded like I was going to cry. I’m sure it went something like this:

Thisisaspecialshcolarshiptoanincredible individual…yadayadayada shaky voice… apology… clearing of throat…something or another about his academics and sports…(wiping sweat from my forehead) has a good heart…honored on behalf of K****** topresentthisaward to Travis S.

I can only imagine him sitting in his seat… and when I called out his name.. he was thinking.. Good Lord... why me… I have to go up and accept a scholarship from EMO GIRL? It took him what seemed like a lifetime to get to the stage, he hugged me and I seriously contemplated holding on to him, following him off the stage and dashing to my car. I was still in a full blown sweat and thought I was going to pass out. Might I mention that my hair was soaking wet from sweat and sweat was showing thru my shirt? Huh? Huh? How bout them apples? Oh... and I had to hand out 8 more scholarships after that. (Another side note to this... My boss was in the audience).

The only other scenarios that would have made it remotely worse would be if I had had a wardrobe malfunction, or if I had actully thrown up, passed out and peed on the way down.

SO AS I WAS SAYING......

Gosh, 4 whole blog posts in 2008. I amaze even myself. and... leeeets... see... its the end of April 2009. Yep. I'm a back sliding blogger.

Here is my Gratitude List for today:

My husband Dave - who promised to always love and cherish me... and does.
Will -- my sweet, kind, loving 17 year old who continues to make me laugh harder than anyone.
Aaron-- I know you like me.
Whitney -- I know you love me and we "get" each other Sista..
My girlfriends - JenJen, Ang and Anna - The little sisters I never wanted.
Smoking a cigar, drinking wine in the hot tub with Dave after a loooong day at work...
A little Shout Out to my friend Teresa - Thanks for finding me. I won't let you get away again.

Things I don't like:

The wind.
The wind.
The wind.
Did I mention I don't like wind? (Or clowns or mayonaisse... but thats a different story).

Amen.

Today is October 30th, 2008. For whatever reason.... I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo. Stepping out of my comfort zone, one post at a time.

The tree is being cut down right now... poor tree.

My Husband

Recently, we had a large amount of rainfall, which caused a HUGE pine tree in our neighbor’s yard to up-root and fall on the power lines, narrowly missing the house next door to us. The tree vs. power line sparked a fire, took out power lines…brought all the neighbors outside in their pajamas… you get the picture. We did not have power from 7 in the morning until late in the evening. (Let me mention here that it was a freezing cold rainy day… minus no power …equals no heat in the house… thankfully we have a fireplace…). Several – and by several I mean 50 APS (Arizona Public Service) crew members worked without stopping from early a.m. to well in to the dark night in the driving freezing rain to put in new power poles and lines for our neighbors.

It affected us because the main power utility box is on the power pole in our yard. Next to this main utility box on the power pole in our back yard is a HUGE pine tree. Our pine tree is easily 100 feet tall **can’t make that up** and it is Dangerously close to the power pole. This said pine tree also excretes pine sap on everything in our back yard…..which really makes my husband fussy.

Wednesday evening, my husband told me that he figured out what to do with the pine tree. He planned on renting scaffolding, and then he would take our chain saw up on that scaffolding and cut the big limbs off little by little. He even went so far as to drag me out to the back yard to show me how brilliant his idea was.

Thursday a.m. I called APS and spoke to a lovely woman named Gloria. I told her No big emergency… and I explained what had happened during the storm, and with all the high winds we have been experiencing I was concerned about the big tree. I totally left out the part where my husband is fussy about the sap and was going to try and kill himself on scaffolding with a chain saw and set fire to the neighborhood, all in the name of tree trimming. During my conversation with Gloria. She mentioned that APS is on call 24/7/365. I said “that’s nice could you have your forestry division call me about cutting down the tree?”

Aaaaabout 20 minutes later, I received a call from an APS guy letting me know that he WAS AT MY HOUSE assessing the tree. We chatted about the tree, he recalled being on my street during the freezing rain event. Yada yada. I had to leave work early because Dave and I had tickets to the D-backs ( who totally swept Colorado). When I arrived home I noticed that our power pole was leaning. Upon further inspection, someone from APS had dug hole beside the power pole and then wrote something on my gravel driveway, in short hand with spray paint. Two APS trucks rolled up about then. Two BIG APS trucks! I chatted with them about the freaking tree and they said they were there because of the power pole. Apparently and CLEARLY it was a larger problem because they discovered the pole had rotted at the base. Dave and I let them know we would not be home and were on our merry way to the D-backs game. We left at 3:00 p.m. (Let me mention again how our D-backs swept the Colorado Rockies....).

We arrived home after midnight and while our street is rural, cozy and quiet, it was now eerily dark.

Except for bright, bright lights from our back yard.

APS had cut the power to our entire neighborhood right after we left **I’m sure our neighbors loved that** and power wasn’t restored until 2:00 a.m. this morning, which is when the crews left our yard. 2:00 a.m. this morning.. yes! We have a new power pole. And the tree? Still there.

To be continued….