On moving

This a random sketch Miles made of him on his scooter. Yeah, it's in the dust on the TV, cuz that's how we roll 'round here.

Whee. Well, it appears settled and in just a few more days we will be loading up and moving on out. Back (for me) to Flagstaff, (it's the first time Asa or Miles will be living there). I went to high school there and I think I have been gone long enough that the things that "encouraged" me to run the fuck out of town back in 1995 are changed. Or rather, I am.

I went back last week to see our place and sign the lease, and coincidentally it was my nieces 2nd birthday. My dad is known for his magical slackation (yeah I made that up) and hadn't got the babe a gift, and my brother wanted her to get snow boots since they are recent desert transplants too. So, we packed up and headed to the maul, on black Friday. And ha ha ha, I was worried, the parking lot was full, people parking in the dirt nearby etc... and inside, crickets. Seriously, it was like the maul here on a March Tuesday morning. We ate there and didn't have to wait in line for pizza. Small towns, hee hee. It sorta gives me insight to my old man's lack of desire to come visit here, it's quite a change. A change I feel like wrapping my head around. We will be living on the opposite side of town from my family, near the U and I haven't spent a lot of time over there so that's neat.

And they have good mexican food there, oh how I have missed that. Ketchup with chili powder in it is NOT salsa, vegas.

I started packing, and am reminded again just how much stuff we have. It's nice that it gets easier as I get older to let stuff go. I can remember the first time Dan (my brother) and I lived together as adults, I had huge quantities of toys/stuffed animals etc. I couldn't get rid of, oh grandma gave me this when I was 8 so obviously I need it forever. I was 21 or 22 for pete's sake.
I have huge donate bags already and I only have 12 boxes packed. (most of those are my books,)

Did I mention the floor to ceiling bookshelves on one wall the new house has? Did I mention the size of the kitchen? And cabinets that number more than 3? and the wood stove? And holy shit, this place has closets. And 2 bathrooms? well at least 2 toilets, Miles likes peeing in the yard, but he won't HAVE to anymore...

So it's looking dicey as to my staying with the same company when I move, they made it sound like transferring was easy and now that I am trying it's a whole new balla wax. So there is the good chance both Asa and I will be unemployed when we go. Hee hee, there's something to keep you awake at night, right? It's an adventure. And also? tonight in flag its supposed to be -4. as in 36 degrees below freezing. which is actually what it is supposed to be here tonight, so in perspective, it's not that biga deal, I guess. (said sullenly, -4, who? what? how will we live?)
All those hats and scarves I have knitted everyone will be in use. In the house. ha.

But, it's pretty and its alive there. And its not 24 hours. And its not run by idiots. The mayor here (mayor Goodman, google him for a laugh) got in the wax musuem with his signature martini in hand. The same gin beverage he got in "trouble" for for waxing melodically on to a class of fourth graders.

The few of you, one of you? in town, I'm gonna have tons of stuff to get rid of if you want anything. Kids stuff, clothes, whatever food won't travel well, etc. I'll let you know when I know more.

baskets of love and monkey hats for all.

Slacker, Large

It's that time again, random shit spewing from my fingers time, with no point and no real reason to share. The peas Miles and I planted (hey, thanks to my blog I know when we planted. This is good for something) are huge and starting to flower, and the carrots have needed to be thinned several times now. Also, a magic side benefit to planting in tubs on the porch is that some of the seeds from last season that I guess didn't grow are growing now and actually doing well so we have baby lettuce and more tomatoes coming up. YAY!

Miles and I made chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, and we buy the walnuts in the shells, and he gets to crack them open with a rubber mallet. I think that was the highlight. Nothing says love like a six year old chasing rolling walnuts around the kitchen telling them to stay still so they can get smashed. But damn the cookies are good.




Trying to move to Flagstaff. It's hard to find a place to live that we can afford and be near things, that is one expensive ass town. But I'm feeling the familial pull. and Asa hates vegas and is ready to leave oh, say 6 months ago. And my niece is there:



And I think I have missed too much of her growing up already. Hell this picture is from last x-mas. I don't think I have newer ones even. Lame. (Oh yes, that is a life size cut out of a nascar dude in the background. My dad's roommate is a fan. And they do live in a trailer, but we's double wide folk ya'll). ha ha.

Started catching the mice again, they were sitting there laughing at us while shitting freely, so we felt we ought to. Have you ever seen house mice? Could they get any fucking cuter? Oh lord. we live trap them, and then set them free in the way back of the back yard. It probably takes them 2 or 3 hours to get back in, right? That's 2 hours worth of turds I needn't clean. Yeah we are suckers, but the little eyes! and the little paws! holding crumbs, and scampering about. Just can't do it.

Asa and I watched Zombieland last night. I give it an A, but I love Woody Harrelson and give pretty much everything he is in an A. I'd like him to adopt us.


Kisses and ponies for everyone.

It's Thursday again

Well. Miles got a hair cut. I have pictures, but lack the knowledge to upload them, I ought to soon though. It's cute, short and sweet.

Work sucks, it's slow and people ain't tippin'. If you are going out to eat, part of the price of not being at taco bell is the tip. If it isn't awesome service, than I get it, but I am awesome. People tell me all the damn time how awesome I am (at work anyway) but still, no ducats.

on to the 13 part...
B

1. Baking. One of my favorite things to do, and I am sharing that love with Miles. He is an awesome help, knows the difference between baking soda and baking powder, and can crack a mean egg. He finds recipes for us to make now.

2. Books. Another love of mine.

3. Bears. Yay! They don't live near me though, so I can afford to be magnanimous. I do find them awesome in general though.

4. Butter. Very favorite. Wouldn't touch it for years though, only liked cheap plastic margarine. Thanks Asa for showing me the error of my ways.

5. Bats. There is an underpass in Tucson, with a jogging/bike pass under it, and if you are there at the right time of day (duskish) you will see oh, 700 million billion bats come out to hunt. Like it literally takes 20 minutes for them all to leave. It's super fabulous.

6. Baskets, gift. I make up mean ones, its my favorite thing to give as a gift, there is bound to be a few things the recipient will like, and I think I make neat ones with unique items.

7. Butterflies. Who doesn't like them?

8. Breastfeeding. Yay! I think everyone who does it should feel proud of the hard work and if anyone while you are out in public gives you any guff, kick 'em in the balls.

9. Basking in the sun. Every morning when my dog gets up he saunters out into the back yard to lay in the sun. If he was a cat, I think he'd purr. When he comes back in he smells like hot wet dog, but I do love looking out the kitchen window and seeing him looking so content.

10. Britches. Miles and I went shopping today for some new ones, his legs are longer than his waist is wide. Meaning that he can wear 3t pants but needs 7s for length. I do love that you can get jeans with those elastic button dealies in the waist bands, whomever invented that wins.

11. Bees. Asa taught me how to pet them when we first started hanging out. It kinda made me love him.

12. Boondocks. Awesome cartoon. Awesome comic. Viva Huey!

13. Beastie Boys. Nothing says love like "So Watch ya Want"

I did much better this time, faster. Toodles, and kisses.

Thursday13 and other things...

Oh happiest of happy things, it seems the weather has broken, finally. Tuesday, 96; Wednesday, 76. I spent all yesterday afternoon cleaning the back yard, all the things I've been avoiding cuz I just can't handle the heat, and then when it was too dark to see, I organized my bedroom, dusted, washed curtains, went thru my clothes and made a bag up to donate, & threw out a ton of things. Like spring cleaning but in reverse...

Today after work, Miles and I planted peas and carrots since they do well in pots on the patio in the winter. My lone tomato plant is doing awesome and my first butternut squash is ready to pick.

I believe this Thursday13 is alphabetical and whatnot, so today I start with A. Let's see how many I can think of before I resort to the dictionary. Or a google image search.

1. Asparagus. Yuck. I like to look at them though.

2. Apples. Yum. But only organic. Apples, stone fruit, and bell peppers all absorb and are sprayed with the most nasty of pesticides.

3. Aardvarks. It would be cool if we had a few that just lived in the back yard, occasionally coming out to entertain us with their aardvarkian antics.

4. Anarchists, Knitting for. By Anna Zilboorg. I just scored it off Amazon, (it's a book) and it's pretty neat so far. It's knitting theory, with the premise that as an Anarchist, you'll not want to be following rules, so being able to know inside and out what you are doing while you knit frees you to design your own things and take patterns and make them your own. It's well written, and I like it so far.

5. Angel hair pasta, my favorite kind. Much nicer to eat than spaghetti. (Miles still calls it spig-detti)

6. Allergies. Glad I don't have any. I did one year when I was a kid, the Juniper trees at the canyon were so full of pollen, when it would rain the puddles were yellow. I had this funky nasal inhaler and everything.

7. Abstract art. I like it ok. My favorite is

8. Art Nouveau. I like the swirls and the way things flow together. And the flowers. (so cheating already)

9. Angst at blog pics. Why do they not go where I want them? Or hmmm. Do I have to post them first and then type around them? Have to try that next time.

10. Area 51. I sorta live near there now. OOO creepy. Or something. What's more creepy is the Nevada test sites for the A-bomb. I guess you used to be able to get hotel rooms with balconies for bomb watching parties, folks would sit and drink Martinis with their uber protective sun glasses on and watch nuclear explosions not that far off. In the Tropicana hotel, in a hallway, there is an old pic of one of the Fremont St. hotels and off in the distance behind it is a mushroom cloud.

11. Apache St. The first named street I lived on. Which would make my porn name be Bill Apache, if you follow the 1st pet, 1st st. law. Yeah...

12. Afro. I have always wanted one. Too bad for me my thin, super f'ing straight, limp, takes no curl, hair doesn't agree. It always make me smile when I see one though.

13. Avocado. I hate them and their slimy green-ness. But I eat them sometimes because they are SO damn good for you. My son eats them often and would eat them daily, and has since he was about 8 months old. Such a good baby food, high in all those fats they need for good brain growth etc...

Finally. That was way harder than I thought.

Origami, hummus, and hens.

AKK. My son was gifted with an Origami booklet and a wad of sweet colored squares, and as he lacks the patience and the secret ninja powers to read these instructions, I promised him there would be surprises waiting when he woke up tomorrow a.m. Sucker ass mommy. I need an engineering degree to figure out these diagrams. But I made a shifty looking bird and am working on a fish. Ok, these are cheater origami, I had to glue something and even I know that true Origami is done only with folds.

I put up ads to join with the fine ladies on Our Hummus is Homemade, a group of ladies who all were looking for answers and found a community of awesome.

This is my mom's henhouse. She gets about 20 eggs a day from her girls, who are all named Percy. Every time I call her in the background all you can hear is the rooster whose name I've forgotten. It's fabulous.

Lets see, I may as well update the blog world. Ummm... hmmm.... Asa still has his job, I still have mine. Miles is still 6. The dog is good. The fish is even still alive, good Ol' Cletus II.

My grandparents were in town for a day last week, that was neat, haven't seen them in a few years. They have a kinda medium sized winnebago and travel round the country. I'm jealous, I'd love to do that. I got to hear some stories about their childhoods which I loved, since I really don't know much family history.

My brother and his family moved to Flagstaff for many reasons in July, to get out of the desert, to be near my dad, job stuff, etc. And that puts them so much closer to me which is awesome. Its funny how having kids makes you want to live near family. I'd like nothing more than to move back myself. Though I think back on my high school years and the things I did... Hmmm. Small towns.... Teenagers.... Yeah I dunno. We are stuck in vegas for the time being anyway.

OOOOO best news of all!!! Can't believe I forgot til now! I planted all sorts of veggies in containers trying to get things to grow and they all die in the heat, but peas and carrots do ok in the winter. But! I have compost in the back yard, and some how, (I think birds) a squash plant randomly started growing beside the leaky kiddie pool we have for Renfield. So I've been cultivating it, and watering it and it flowered, and now has actual size able squash on it, and they are butternut! YAY! Thats my favorite kind.

Some of the news that's fit to print.

Miles turned 6. We got him a camera, the only present he got from us since the big money fairy has seen fit to avoid our house this year. But it was a winner, since Miles has a big fondness for picture taking. He always has my camera, and my phone is full of pics by the next Ansel Adams.
A favorite model, Renfield. Good dog. He has approximately 300 extreme close ups of his eye recorded for posteriety. And Miles always uses the flash.





In other news, I got a job. Needed to because of said money fairy issues. Asa is trying to find a new job, his sucks and is causing him emotional discomfort. Poor guy, moving here was supposed to enable us to do all sorts of cool things like buy a house and that's all fizzled, and we have never been so broke before. Kinda scary, but nothing's wrong with me, I can work, so I am. Eventually, I'll get my coveted stay at home mom status back.


Why do these not post in the order I posted them? I did the eye first, since it went with that paragraph.

That pic with Miles, also shows ALL of my kitchen counter space. That's what I have to work with, and boy do I use it well.


I will upload Miles' pics off his new camera into a flicka site and link that to here eventually.