6710 Grand

It’s no secret that I detest Phoenix. It’s hot. It’s brown. It’s dusty. I miss the snow. I miss fall. I miss just knowing that the weather will change. At 91 degrees today, the seventh of April, I turned on my air conditioner. True, winters here aren’t icy or frigid, but they’re not what I’ve grown to believe what a winter should be. It’s just not…cold. There is absolutely NO CHANCE for snow. I’ll never have a snow day living here. I’ll never get to wear my beautiful, winter white, heavy coat. There’s just no need. Knowing all of this, we are about to finalize the purchase of a house in this desert city. Why? So many people ask me this. Why am I here? Why am I buying a house in a city I can’t stand? It’s really quite simple. When I discovered it long ago, I felt peace in my present-tense. I am here because this is where God has led me. For now, this is home. For now, for an unknown amount of time (unknown by me, that is), I will stay here and thrive. I am not running or hiding from a d...

Anything that’s on television that isn’t animated is dubbed hosible by Ivy, which is her way of referring to General Hospital. She’s figured out that real people on any show (except Jon and Cake, as she calls it) is something that she doesn’t want to watch. Generally, my time to watch whatever show I’ve decided worthwhile is in the morning while I’m getting ready for work. Usually, it’s before the girls are up, but this past Wednesday, as I was watching The Biggest Looser, Ivy woke up early. Iris and Nick were still asleep, so it was just the two of us, eating our breakfast on the yellow table (our coffee table, which is actually light brown). Ivy had finished her cook (a cereal bar) and had moved on to a cookie (graham cracker). Ivy doesn’t usually watch any television with rapt attention unless it’s Bado (The Incredibles) or Mucket (Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit). As I sat sipping my coffee watching Jillian beat someone into submission (in case you don’t...

Since Iris was born, I have found myself often watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 . What a fun show! I would tell myself that if she could do it with eight, I could certainly handle two. Today, I watched the episode when they went to Park City, UT. They we skiing, ice skating and Jon went snowboarding. I've never been skiing or snowboarding. The closest I've ever come was riding the ski lift in the summertime at the Snowbowl in Flagstaff. It sure looks easy, but I'm told it isn't--at least not right away. Jon was describing how great it felt to be back on the snowboard. He felt younger and more alive. He said "You just lean back on the board and it's wherever God wants to take you." Wow. What a neat thing to say. What a wonderful feeling to just be able to do that--lean back and go wherever God wants to take you. It's no secret that I dispise living in Phoenix. It's just plain hot. And brown. Nevertheless, we're going through the process of buying...

Nick decided to give up coffee this year (we'll see how long it lasts), so I decided that I had to pick up the slack. I brewed my full 12 cup pot this morning and broke out the big mug--my Disneyland Minnie Mouse mug that holds 6 cups. I got so many lovely coffee gifts for Christmas this year--I'm very excited. My brother Andrew gave me a Starbucks gift card (for those mornings when I'm running late--there's about 4 of them between home and work), my parents gave me two boxes of Gloria Jeans French Vanilla K-kups (WHOO HOO!), and Nick got me the Kurig K-kup My Cup coffee filter (so I can use any kind of coffee I can find in my Kurig brewer). I plan to have a very coffee new year.

We were watching A Christmas Story the other day (you know--"You'll shoot your eye out!") and in the beginning of the movie where Ralphie is hiding the advertisement for his gun in Mom's Look magazine, I noticed that his parents had twin beds in their bedroom. Did this ever actually happen or was it just something they did on TV so that no one would know that people actually had sex in those days? In Little House on the Prarie, Charles and Carline slept in the same bed, but being prarie folk, perhaps it was more of a space thing--little house. I pride myself on being too young to know the answer to this question. Anyone?

Finally--we have something resembling fall...in December. Oh well. Better late than never. I feel like I've been waiting for years for the smell of fire in the air and the damp mist that follows the rain. It's amazing--here in the desert, I have a cold (54 degrees) fall day (on December 15th). Iris is asleep in her bed; Ivy is away at school; Nick is somewhere in the sky. I am here at home, with a cup of peppermint hot cocoa (I'm having so much trouble finding the right kind of decaf coffee), watching Law and Order in a big, comfy sweater (ok, so it's short sleeved. But it's still a sweater!). What a day! I hope I get another tomorrow.

I can't believe it's taken me two weeks to post a photo of Iris--here she is, our new baby girl.

Holy bad writing Batman! I can not say enough bad things about Twilight. The least of which is that I'm so very glad to have finally finished it. I will not be reading the other books in the series. I can't say it's the worst book I've ever read--that prize goes to any number of Stephen King books. I took the dreadful book to the hospital and EVRY nurse that came into my room practically swooned--"Are you reading Twilight? Don't you just LOVE IT!" Um, no. As a matter of fact, I HATE IT. They all seemed to understand my reasons, and one nurse did share my general "What's the big deal about this book" attitude. I can see why the movie will do well--they'll skip the first 300 pages and get right to the action, and hopfully they won't fade to black when anything remotely interesting happens. Sigh! Oh well. I've moved on to a classic--I need something to remind me that good writing is out there, even if I have to go back to the 19th ce...

This book is killing me. I'm finally about half way through it and it gets more annoying as I go along. Really, I think the plot itself would be ok if not for the horrid writing. So, Bella's off to an unknown destination with Edward. We got to hear a completely useless exchange between the two of them as to why she had to drive her car. Charlie would know. Can't tell Charlie who she's going with. If he saw her car still home, he'd wonder. They had this elaborate back and forth about how Edward would get to her house without his car. Who cares? Not relevant! Why can't they just get going already? If her car would have been some necessary addition to their little outing in the meadows of Washington, fine. But IT DOESN'T! Oh, and if I hear one more thing about the fabulous Phoenix weather, I'm flushing this book down the toilet. She mentions this blouse that she wears in Phoenix "in the dead of winter". Um, there's no such thing. Phoenix has...

Almost 150 pages in and I STILL hate this book. Every week or so, I walk past Laura's (she's the one who lent me the book) cube and ask her when am I going to get to the good part? It just keeps getting stupider and stupider (Is stupider a word?). I remember in my earlier writing days (as if I were a seasoned veteran with NYT bestsellers in my portfolio) how I would think things like "Ok, I just described a work day and now I need to tell readers what happens at home. How do I get my character home?" The simple answer is--just skip that part. No one cares how the traffic was or whether or not it was raining. It's not relevant to the story, so skip it. That's the big problem with Twilight , at least for me. She goes on an on about stuff that doesn't matter. I don't care what Bella's English paper is on (Shakespeare and misogyny). I don't care about the weather (It's Seattle and always raining. Plus, how can you plan a trip to the beach two w...

Literally--I have 20 more to go until the big day. Part of me can't wait. No more sleeping on my side, no more tripping over the cat because I can't see below my belly button (I'll trip over him for other reasons), no more worrying about being able to find a decent cup of decaf coffee (Gloria Jeans does not make a decaf coffee chiller and I'm dying to try another flavor of K-kups. Butter toffee is great, but I'm ready for mudslide and pumpkin spice!) eating a full meal, lifting weights--all which will return shortly after birth (I hope). But then there are the good reasons to stay pregnant: Nick has to rock Ivy to sleep at night since I have no lap. I can pretty much always find a seat anywhere since nice people are always offering me theirs. I get to leave work early every Monday so I can go to my doctor's appointment. I have an excuse to lay down whenever I want. I can deal with the getting up every 2-4 hours for a feeding (sleep is such a waste of t...

I'm scraping my way through this dreadful book. I'm only in chapter two--I know, not enough time to judge by. Ok, ok, I'll keep reading. But it's REALLY awful. It's a high school book, no doubt. That's fine. I can understand that. The problem is, it reads like it was written by a high school student and not just from the perspective of one. I keep trying to remind myself that all of the ridiculous sentiments that Bella has and the feeling that the world and everyone in it revolves around her are really in tune with the way I remember high school girls thinking (I would know, I used to be one). I certainly felt this way. If a boy looked at me and said hi, he must like me. I mean, people don't just say "hi". Heck, if he tripped over me, he must like me. Why else would he walk that close? Ridiculous. Completely stupid. But realistic, nonetheless. I can't wait to get to the part where I'm in love with this book. The problem is, if I make it th...

I read an article recently in Fitness Magazine where a reader asked the question "should I put my sport bras in the dryer?" The article explained that no, sport bras should not go into the dryer. They should be hung to dry on a line because anything over 105 degrees would deteriorate the elastic. So, then, what's an Phoenician to do? Is my clothes dryer cooler than 113 or should use a blow dryer on my elastics?

This book has been recommended to me by more than one person so I figured I’d give it a shot. Everyone said how much they just couldn’t put it down. Nick and I went to the movie theater this week and I saw a poster advertising it’s debut on the big screen. It was all over the bookstore when the fourth book came out—quite the buzz, so I thought I’d better dive in. I tried reserving it at the library—I was 104 on the list. I tried another library—207. Blessedly, a co-worker leant me her copy (in exchange for my copy of Skinny Bitch). I’m on page 7. I hate this book. I want to throw it. The writing style alone is enough to annoy me. I’m trying to give it the benefit of the doubt and realize that the main character is in high school (why then, is she moving from Arizona to Washington? Don’t get me wrong—I’d love to make that move, but not as a high school student.) The detail to which she describes her cars is completely useless…so far. I mean, maybe this 1960-something truck will be a maj...

Last Christmas was our camping Christmas. We dubbed it so because we'd gone to REI, made out a list and added all of those things to our Christmas lists that went out to anyone whom we normally exchanged gifts with. Whatever we didn't get, we bought ourselves. When December was over, we had everything we needed for a trip to the woods. Why then, did it take us more than eight months to finally venture into those woods? Who knows. But finally, at the end of August, we made the trip. We drove a little less than two hours north to Prescott, AZ--it's MUCH cooler up there and we figured a day or two away from the 105+ heat that still plagues Phoenix at the supposed end of the summer would do us good. It's actually a very nice drive. Prescott is a small college town, but the Target and the Wal-Mart are just minutes from the camping area. We had no idea really, what to expect when we got to Lynx Lake. What we did not expect was that all of the camp sites would be occupied. H...

It was a rainy day But outside the sun is shining I’m chilly But it’s 106 degrees I’m having a hot cup of coffee And my ice is melting I have days and days Fifteen minutes have passed Leaves are falling The palm trees sway in the breeze that Is so cold I can hardly stop shivering The summer is Fall and I’m home For the first time.

I am not an avid sports fan by any means. But baseball is one of the few professional sports that I can watch and understand. I enjoy going to games and I can even watch it on TV. Ingrained in my blood is a loyalty to my home team, the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite my variety of homes, the Cardinals are always the team I root for. If I’m flipping channels and passing baseball news or a game, I’ll pause to see if the red birds are on. Because of my loyalty to them, it is required that I hate the Mets and the Cubs. Living in Chicago, I could have gotten killed for wearing any type of Cardinal gear. Nick suggested we become Cubs fans while living there. I said it was absolutely out of the question and should he feel the need to suggest it again, I’d file for divorce (ok, not really but it’s a serious offense!). While I was in the hospital delivering Ivy, the World Series was on. I don’t remember who the Cardinals beat in that series, but it doesn’t really matter. As I sat in my room waitin...

I know the secret. I know... It so simple and yet so...contradictory. But it's true. I know it! The secret to the most often asked question particularly among women: What do I have to do to loose weight? Well, let me just tell you...because I KNOW! Here it is. Get ready. It's not eat less or exercise more. It's way easier and less time consuming than that. What is it? I'm going to tell you... GETTING PREGNANT! Yes, that's it! Sorry men, you're out of luck. You'll have to stick with your higher metabolisms and ability to just eat more. I feel no sympathy for you. Yes, I have simply lost 12 pounds and 2 pants sizes in 22 weeks. People usually assume I have dreadful morning sickness. While I did for a while, it's long gone. Well, you must be taking better care of yourself. No, I don't think so. As you know, I'm obsessed with food altogether and have been for some time, not to mention a rigorous worker-outer. Those things have...

It's a girl! That's right, we're pregnant again. We had an ultrasound this afternoon and actually got to see a 3-D picture of her face! Weird but very cool. She actually looks a lot like Ivy (big shock). I was actually quite sure that I was having a boy. I guess that women's intuition isn't as right as we gals like to say it is. Oh well. It was surprise to both of us. Nick, of course, is now fearing being outnumbered. He was safe as long as we had our kitties, but since Oberon has found himself a new home (where he's much happier), the estrogen/testosterone ration has been reltaively equal. Of course, Jean-Claude has been neutered, but we'll just pretentd his hormones are all there. Poor Nick now realizes that his bathroom time will be drastically shorter and he will have to learn to braid hair. He will have to threaten two sets of male suitors and deal with three women with PMS every month. He will now have to pay for two weddings and give two...

I listen to a lot of books on CD in my car. Sometimes it feels like cheating, but when it’s a book that I really need to pay attention to and just can’t get a decent chunk of time to sit down and read it, this is a good option. I get a lot of these books from the library. The Phoenix Downtown Library is HUGE. It’s got five floors and lots of books on CD (a great writing section too). It’s the perfect way to spend my lunch half hour. One day last week, I’d gone to pick up a copy of Charlie Wilson’s War (a book I couldn’t even get through on CD—politics is just not my thing. It’s like football—goes right over my head.). As I was leaving the library, I was halted by one of many solicitors. I always see a homeless person or two asking for change and usually people trying to get me to donate to some cause. Today, it was a petition. “’Scuse me ma’am, could I have just a moment of your time.” I eye him suspiciously, but stop. After all, I don’t want to be rude. “I’m collecting signa...