Day 4 in which next to nothing happened and I am here to tell you all about it...

Today I paid the rent. and went to Michaels. Which is normally a lovely experience for me, but I've never been to the flagstaff Micheals before. Both of the female employees I dealt with were DUMB. Like I ask a simple question having to do with the gift card i got for x-mas and they reply "whu... I don't understand" multiple times. I kinda wanted to kick 'em.

Then my son and I had super awesome delicious Indian food, so that was the best part of the day (in keeping with the best theme of the nablopomo that I can't actually join due to them being wankers. Or maybe I'm the wanker)

Then someone from freecycle answered my post about the moving boxes we had and then actually came to get them... So now I can get to my washer and dryer, at the same time, YAY!

Then I found this, which in many ways is the other best part of my day. Don't click if you don't like foul language a la Charles Bukowski. But oh it's funny. http://progressiveboink.com/archive/peanuts-by-charles-bukowski/

My DH just told me my style of eating pretzels was "satisfying, but complicated."

With that, I'll bid both of you a sweet adieu, until tomorrow...

Day 3,

Ning or whatever, thinks I have an account with them, and won't send me my password reset and won't respond to my email so I can't put the nablopomo icon on my sidebar. Just pretend it's there, I guess.

Look! A kid on an alligator!

Today was cold and sunny.

My blogging skills are sharp and pointy.

We ate really good pizza tonight.

I spent all morning writing a business plan and thinking of ways to advertise and expand slowly that shop we want to buy... If we can make it make 1300 a month, it will pay for itself and the loan we'll have to take out to buy it and if we can get it to make 3100 a month eventually, it will cover most of our household expenses too, which would seriously rock.

Miles tells me that spig-detti and baked potatoes which we cook in the wood stove are his favorite foods. (If you have a wood stove I highly recommend trying it, stab 'em, wrap them in tin foil, and cook. Tasty, and kinda free...)

Home depot has a thing on the 1st Saturday (that maybe different from store to store, dunno) where kids get to make a free project, and we went yesterday and it was way cooler than I thought. Miles made a wooden calender with the rotating blocks to change the date. They got to hammer nails and glue and paint, what kid doesn't love that? Next month is a race car...

Day 2, A new possibiity...

So we have just moved, and haven't got jobs yet, and I met a woman who wants to sell us her funky vintage shop today. It's affordable, it's neat, and she has been trying to kill it subconsciously for the last 3 yrs and hasn't yet. Right now she makes her rent by being open 11-3pm on Saturdays only. She was telling about how she hates running the shop but likes finding the merchandise which is kind of perfect.

I was probably already gonna get stuck with a retail job, how cool would it be to work for my self?

Plus, that would eliminate the need for any special thing to do with Miles, He can come chill after school if the other parent is busy.

The man and I must hash out some details and make some plans, I will share more when I know more.

Two posts in one day? Who am I and what have I done with my self?

I felt the urge to share that I made the most delicious vittles this evening, An au gratin type spaghetti squash. Ah man it was tasty. When my old man went back for thirds he was talking about how lucky he was to have an awesome cooking woman.

I don't measure out ingredients unless I'm baking, but these are the general parameters...

Chop a spaghetti squash in half. Either take the seeds out now, or wait until it's half cooked when its way easier. I use a melon baller. Place cut side down in baking dish with a 1/2 inch of water and bake at 425 for half an hour or so until its soft enough to scrape with a fork and make the strands. While its baking, make the sauce.

Melt a glob of butter in a big pan. Saute a small onion and 1/2 a bell pepper until soft.
Add salt, pepper, a good shaking of paprika, whatever herbs/spices you like. I used oregano, chili powder and chipolte Mrs Dash. Add 3-4 spoons of flour. mix well

Add 2.5 ish cups of milk. Stir. Stir until thickened.

(At this point I added leftovers from the night before last, we had stuffed shells and I had about a cup of ricotta mixture left over) It was so good, I'd add ricotta again. Well maybe, I only bought it cuz it was on sale, usually it's pushing 7 bucks.

Once the milk mix is thickened, add the scraped squash and about a cup of shredded Cheese (I used cheddar). stir until melty then pour into casserole dish. Smooth out and top with more cheese, I used maybe 2/3 C mozzarella . Bake at 350 for about half hour, until top is browned and bubbly. Let rest for 10 minutes before dishing up.

So damn tasty I felt the need to blog about it... Shoulda took pictures and did it up right, but oh well...

Hello again, this time from the insanely different town of Flagstaff. Different from Vegas I mean, It's probably a lot alike other towns in the mountains with 65,000 people and a temperature of 6. Yuppers, it's 6 right now as I type. Ha ha ha, us desert folk don't quite know what to do with this stuff... Though the dog has stopped shedding, since he needs those hairs to stay alive.



These blue sky pictures are of around our house after the first time it snowed. (2nd night here, 8-10 inches) The sky is so pretty here. The snow is too, I really like it, especially when I get to look out the window from the couch at it falling, snuggled in a blanket, basking in the glow of the wood stove.



These grayer pics are during that 1st storm (it has snowed good collectible amounts that needed to be shoveled 4 times in the 2 weeks we have been here). This above one is of the back yard. Yesterday,I thought it would be nice of me to shovel a path for the dog so he could keep his feet dry on his constitutionals. Ha Ha Ha, the snow pack is well over a foot deep and icy, I basically dug some holes and couldn't breathe anymore. (It's over 7000 feet here, something we neglected to think about, and 1/2 way thru unloading the U-Haul, we were dizzy and weak going uh, what is wrong with us? My brother kindly reminded us we were lacking oxygen.) That I failed in the dog path does not however mean I didn't cause muscle aches in my back though...



Extreme close up...



Look at that sky! Oh it's pretty here. Still 6 though.

We went downtown last night to watch the pine cone drop (Flagstaff tradition for over 10 yrs) and it was neat, so much easier to deal with than New Years in Vegas. I bet more people were on the strip last night than were in the entire town of Flagstaff total...

It's awesome to have my brother and his family over for dinner.

We bought a 1991 jeep with our insurance money from Asa's accident, and it has 4w drive, which we need to get up the driveway to our house, ha ha. He is much healed from that one, only a jagged scar on the under side of his chin really, to show for it. (That and the lingering guilt of destroying our car, but it wouldn't have been able to get out the driveway right now anyway. And they don't let you park on the street from November til May so the snow plows can roll thru).

Miles Loves the snow. LOVES it. We had to buy some boots and a few other bits of snow gear for him, but he is out there mucking about everyday. The other day, I'm making soup, he is in the backyard, playing. After a while I hear (I think I hear) Mama! MAAAAMMMAA! I ask Asa, Is that our kid? We go looking, can't find him, but he answers our call with an extra plaintitive MAMA! I'm sinking! Asa has shoes on so he rushes out, at the back of the yard there are juniper shrubs growing, but they are completely buried in snow, Miles thought they were solid and climbed the "hill" only to get stuck. After we calmed him down, oh it was funny.




Yeah, I just unloaded the camera, for the first time since, well, there were pics of my birthday on there, and that's in May... Here are Miles and I on Halloween, about to go trick or treating. I was Bunicula... I miss those rose bushes. I wonder if they grow here. There are irises planted here and there in the front yard, I'll have to learn about them.

Well, that's gist of it. Still looking for work, but that'll happen soon I'm sure.

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.