Dream About a Mess

This dream occurred about 3 months ago when we were in the process of selling our home.

The showing is at 9 a.m.

Mopping wood floors with a rolling foam paintbrush no bigger than an empty toilet paper roll.  Creating wet dust balls by the front door in the process.

Huge holes in Jack's bedroom wall, through the drywall.  Plus golf ball divets in between.  Grounding Jack from candy for a week.

Bits all over the carpet like tiny earrings and erasers and plastic toy pieces.

Bathing suits and doll clothes in crevices of my closet.  Can't pick everything up at once.

Jack holding me down by my legs and Scott not helping get him off.

Toilet is extremely disgusting.

Splashing water up on bathroom mirrors while trying to get the mop wet.

Nobody will help with anything.

Under-eye Baggage

No, I'm not tired, hungover nor have I been crying.  And I don't have any allergies to speak of.  However, I have discovered that excessive salt causes my under eye skin to swell up to balloon proportions even taking on multiple waves of bags down to my cheeks.  Redness and itching are also unfortunate symptoms lasting up to 3 days before it all calms down.  I suspected the salt link when I had gorged on salted almonds the previous night.  However, maybe it was the almonds?  So after the "episode" subsided half a week later, I tried almonds again, this time without salt.  I woke up the next day with no reaction.  Yup, it was the salt, excessive salt.

I went to the doctor and she had some helpful recommendations, but no quick fix.  The treatment for this predicament is complicated.  First, I ice my face with a bag of peas.  Then I apply a steroid cream to the whole affected area for day.  At night I have to undo the drying effects of the steroid with soothing Aquafor or Polysporin.  Plus allergy eye drops twice a day.  The ridiculous thing is that my dog has itchy allergy eyes and he needs TLC, too - eyedrops and allergy pills which he will only take if given with a little peanut butter.  I don't think peanut butter is going to help me.

I have always had under-eye circles, aka "raccoon eyes" which are easily and daily hidden by gobs of thick goopy concealer, but this reaction to salt is just icing on the poop cake.  I read an article in the October 2012 Marie Claire issue in which Dr. David Colbert, dermatologist and founder of Colbert M.D. Skincare, explained because I have little fat or collagen below my eyes, the purple facial muscle is visible beneath the skin.  And there is a remedy - the filler called Restylane.  Just 10 or so pricks from a needle underneath the eyes and I could look refreshed, awake and possibly even glowing.  Good to know, but probably not, thank you very much.

Many times I've been told I have pretty eyes.  Even with the dark circles.  And incidentally, I have really nice hands, slender fingers and always a pretty manicure.  But at 43 with everything else sagging and turning grey, I need to hold on to something I can feel good about.  Physically, anyway.

I'm definitely going to rethink eating half a pound of Smokehouse almonds or smothering my Sesame Inn beef & broccoli with soy sauce from now on.  Unless I just enjoy waking up with the face of an alien!

Unflattering, but descriptive picture.

The Reunion

Headed to the airport!

My 25 year high school reunion.  How can it be 25 years already?  I must be old!  In fact, the whole class of 1987 must be old!  Plus I got to see my daughter.   It was the trip of a lifetime!

I flew back to my home state of Minnesota for the big event.  The baby behind me only cried for the last 45 minutes of the flight so I didn't want to stab my eyeballs out too bad.  My parents picked me up from the airport.  Riding in the back seat of their car, I became suddenly flooded with the feeling of being squished between my brothers while sitting on the hump of the bench seat.  All the while hoping my chauffeur Dad would stay awake for the 20 minute ride home - it was 10:30 p.m. - way past his bed time.

We stayed up past midnight chatting and watching their cats in a battle royale, then called it a night.  Their poor cat, Susie, by the way.  She has been tormented, tortured and beat up by their new cat, Eeyore, since day one.  Eeyore is a bully.  And since October is Anti-Bullying month, I just have to say that this is NOT OKAY!  Even for cats.  Susie didn't ask for this nuisance and I'm sure she has a serious case of post, present and future traumatic stress disorder.

In the morning, we had crossword and bacon time.  There is no moving forward until the puzzle has been solved.  It's a ritual you don't mess with.  And my mom has bacon and oatmeal every morning.  I don't eat carbs so I cooked eggs to go with the bacon and unfortunately I broke the yolk for my Dad's portion.  He forgave me.

The other morning ritual is to have a long speaker-phone conversation with my uncle and aunt.  My mom loves this and though I am highly averse to speaker-phone chatting, I went along with it and I must admit, it was pretty fun.  My dad seemed to disappear in the middle of this, so I think he's not a speaker-phone fan, either.  I don't see my aunts and unkies very often so I'll take'em how I get'em, speakerphone or otherwise.

By the way, it's beautiful in Minnesota this time of year.  The changing leaves are my one of my favorite things ever.  I brought one in the house, but ended up having to hide it in the closet so the cats wouldn't eat it and throw up.

Maple Leaf

Moving on, we loaded into the car, me in the back seat again, for the drive to see my daughter at her college residence.  The first stop was Caribou Coffee.  Oh, how I've missed my Lite White Berry with sugar-free raspberry syrup.  Starbucks take note - get the syrup!  An unexpected  highlight of the drive was the Big Lake water tower.  My mom and I got lost there years ago and it's been an ongoing laughing point of our inability to follow a map.

Caribou, I love you.

Where am I?  Big Lake.  What?!

I finally got to hug my daughter, Maddie.  She is my dolly and we live too far away from each other.  But her house is a rat trap.  I didn't want to touch anything in it with a 10-foot pole.  Couches that look like they were pulled out of a dumpster, duct tape holding the condiments to the fridge door, a plugged bathroom sink, dirty floors, etc.  I took some pictures of the "situation" to share with her dad later then we got the heck out of there.

A college kid's dream home.

Seriously, duct tape?

We went to the Olive Garden for lunch - soup, salad and breadsticks for all, y'all!  You know the S,S&B is the bomb!  However, I ordered the veggie soup and unfortunately it was loaded with shells and beans.  As I said before, I don't eat carbs, so I pretty much had broth.  I'll live.

Restaurant photo op pre S,S&B feast.

Let's go to the mall, y'all!  How could I not spoil my child with some shopping while Grandma and Papa took naps?  It was a win-win, really.  A little Vickie's Secret, some American Eagle and a bit of Wet Seal.  Enough said.

The Crossroads Mall

Sleepy time in the Food Court.

After that, I said good-bye to my dolly.  My parents and I headed back to the old homestead.  I had about a half hour to get ready for the reunion before my ride, one of my besties, Suz, arrived to pick me up.  We've known each other since we were four years old.  She was looking gorgeous as ever coming from her Aveda makeover.  

Suddenly, two Harley Davidson's rumble up to the driveway and I see that it's two of my unkies who were out on a fall bike cruise.  How cool is that?  I will pose by a motorcycle, but I will not ever ride one.

My unkies on the left and right, my dad next to the chic in the leather jacket.  Suz pointing out the coolness.

The story now takes a sad turn.  But it ends well, I promise!  Another one of my childhood besties, Tara, suddenly became ill, was stuck in the hospital and not able to attend the reunion.  Suz, Peejay (and yet another childhood bestie) and I dropped by to visit and spent about an hour with her hopefully bringing her cheer and not exhausting her too much.  She ended up having surgery three days later and is now on her way to a full recovery.  See I told you it ended well!

Hospital crashing.

On to the reunion.  Suz, Peejay and I all walked in to Jimmy's Event Center together hoping for the best.  We started greeting our classmates immediately, some who have changed a lot and others who didn't look any different than they did all those years ago.  We hurried to the food table to grab a plate just as it was being put away.  I don't think I ate more than a half a piece of cheese the whole night even though I was starving.  There was way too much catching up to do!  And I started frantically taking photos of everybody so that poor Tara could at least see what she was missing.

A particular highlight of my night was meeting someone who my mom, for some reason, kept referring to over and over.  I don't know how many times (maybe 14) she told me that her friend's brother had his 1977 reunion at Jimmy's the same night as mine.  To protect the identity of the innocent, I'll call him Barry Lalsimo.  My mom has the tendency to tell and retell things and I like to rib her about it.

Peejay and I decided to crash the class of 1977 and find the infamous Barry Lalsimo.  We only needed to ask two people if they knew him and sure enough, Barry Lalsimo was in my sights.  I confidently approached him and asked to see his name tag.  "Well hello Barry!  My mom wanted to make sure I met you!"  Barry was a good sport and even remembered my mom, thank goodness.  I told him my name and that I was actually named after his sister, Sandy.  Peejay took our photo together so my mom could put it in her photo album.  Then Barry asked me my name again.........I think he may have been beveraging.

The famous Barry Lalsimo.

The reunion was so much fun.  Everyone talked, laughed and caught up like no time had passed at all.  I wish more classmates had come, but there were 106 out of our class of 350.  Not too shabby!  Below are some other awesome moments I captured.

Mingling and catching up with old friends...........

Bustin' out the 80's moves to Bananarama or something.....

This guy was very unusual and entertaining........

Then there was this guy.........

And then this happened..........time to go!

And so ended the evening.  We said good-bye until the 30th then Suz brought me back to my parent's house.  It was really hard to sleep after all that excitement.

The next day, my mom and I took a sightseeing drive through our old stomping grounds.  I saw my old house, my elementary and high schools, the beach and playground, the old pizza place, etc.  Then my mom wanted to go see her childhood home.  Big mistake.  Gone was the apple pie and baseball neighborhood she remembered.  The hair on the back of my neck started standing up the closer we got to her house.  Things were run-down and poverty ridden.  Surly looking people were loitering about doing who knows what.

My mom stopped the car directly in front of her old house and an ornery man was scowling from his porch at us.  I said, "Mom let's go, that guy doesn't like us looking at him."  She said "Oh, he'll just think we're lost."  Really, lost?  I said "Mom, drive the car and get us out of here before we get robbed or worse."   Then we got honked at and yelled at by another scowly troll who didn't like us on his street, lost or not.  I started to feel like one of the 3 Billy Goat's Gruff trip trapping on a bridge or worse, a delicious chicken leg.  By this point, I was yelling at my mom to "step on the gas, NOW!"  I don't know why she didn't see the severity of the situation, but I wasn't having any part of being some troll's chicken/goat dinner.

Somehow we made it back to "the other side of town" and I could breathe again.  We went back home and I could barely choke down my no-carb cottage cheese and turkey.

My trip had come to a close, but not without one more stop to see my aunt.  I was lucky enough that my cousin's two kids were there at the moment and I could see those two cuties who are growing up so fast.  My aunt was gracious and offered us lunch, but I was still full from my cottage cheese/turkey platter.  I was highly entertained by my cousin's son who was nuking himself a bowl of pork'n beans.  He sat down and chowed the whole thing down.  It was awesome.

Off to the airport we went.  I said goodbye to the greatest parents on Earth who went above and beyond for me and I can't thank them enough.  (Though I'd like to forget that hair-raising drive through my mom's old neighborhood.)

After I got settled in at the gate for my flight, I looked at my watch.  And by looked, I mean I held my cell phone at arm's length to be able to see clearly.   I was two hours early.  I really am getting old when I start arriving for things unnecessarily early.

I deserved this 25 year reunion.

15 Moves and Counting........

Moving.  Still.  In 2012.

After 23 years of marriage, when will this end?  We're not even a military family!  Will we ever be settled?  I have serious doubts.

Let's retrace our history of house hopping by going back in time to 1989.  After getting married in June, my husband and I skipped the whole honeymoon thing and instead moved to an apartment in Fargo, North Dakota - move #1.  For two months, we looked for jobs and went to the community pool.

We left that nonsense behind and moved to Minnesota - #2, where I am from, to a garden level apartment in Uptown, Minneapolis where we were welcomed in the parking lot by a screaming, eccentric man dressed only in a leopard thong.  After that, the move was easy - we only had three boxes, a couch and a bed.  We finally got jobs and settled in for our new life.  We didn't see much more of the bikini clad screamer.  Scott and I both worked at Dayton's Department Store - he sold suits and ties, and I sold juniors' apparel.  We eventually got different jobs, he was a loan collector and I was a receptionist.  With only one car, I was usually the one riding the bus to work.

After one year in the apartment, along came a positive pregnancy test.  Fearing for the health of our unborn child's lungs from inhaling city bus fumes, we moved 5 blocks East to a second floor sixplex - #3.  This is where Andrea was born.  This is also where the laundry was in the basement and one day there was a sewage leak.  This is also where we hauled our dried-out Christmas tree down the carpeted steps and didn't clean up the 2 inch layer pine needles we left behind.  This is also where we called the cops to break up the fighting between the couple living above us.  It was time to move again.

We had acquired a lot of things by this point what with having a baby and everything.  No longer, would our stuff fit into just three boxes so we rented a moving truck.  The moving truck brought us to our new bungalow in Edina - #4, on a busy, busy street.  This is where we survived the Halloween Blizzard of 1991.  This is where I dug up "weeds" which I later learned to be perennials, hostas to be exact.  This is where Scott worked for a pharmaceutical company and we never had to pay for baby formula.  This is where I was a working mom with a baby in Diane's Daycare.  Diane was an ordained minister and loved to play the organ for the babies.  However, Diane didn't have cribs for the babies.  The babies slept in laundry baskets.  And I was okay with this?

I think we lasted one year before moving on to a townhouse in Plymouth - #5.  It was a decent place, but I had to change daycares because of the distance.  This is where we found out we were expecting our next baby.

Because our family was growing, it only made sense to buy a house.  Which we did.  It was also in Plymouth - #6.  This is where Madeline was born.  Well, technically she was born in the hospital.  I continued working and now had two kids in daycare.  We made it two years in this house, until Scott and I had some issues and I moved out with the girls.  Another one bites the dust.

Taking a major step backwards, I, alone, rented a two bedroom apartment in Vadnais Heights - #7.  Scott and I finally resolved our issues and he moved in with us.  I think we were in that apartment for one year.  This is where we started a solid relationship with my step-daughter, Taylor who lived with her mother in North Dakota.  Before that, we didn't see her often enough.  This is where Andrea started preschool.  This is where I was finally able to quit my job and become a stay-at-home mom.  This is also where our family started growing again leading up to the addition of a baby boy.

Scott took a new job which now brings us to Barrington, Illinois - #8.  We rented a cute little house on a cute little street.  This is where it took a little time, but Scott's job slowly began to bring in a livable income.  This is where Andrea fractured her skull and started Kindergarten.  This is where Jackson was born.  This is where Jackson cried for one whole year.  This is where I started to make a few new friends.  This is where we spent a lot of time with Scott's mom as well as his dad and step-mom.  This is where I started missing my parents.

Two years later I said goodbye to my friends and we were off to Londonderry, New Hampshire - #9.  We owned a home again which Scott picked out for me sight unseen.  It was wonderful, but very far from the home of my youth.  This is where Maddie went to Kindergarten.  This is where Jackson would never stay in his bed at nighttime or in the house at daytime.  This is where Andrea's best friend was Kristen.  This is where we acquired a tan and white cat named Max.  This is where I made lots of friends named Cheryl.  This is where I said goodbye to those friends after two years.  Scott took a job with a new company and I was so excited to get back to my home state where my family was.

So after two years in New Hampshire, we moved back to Minnesota to a freshly built house in Woodbury - #10.  Back to the state of the home of my youth.  We were on our way to planting our roots and stayed in this house for the longest of any so far - three years.  This is where Jack learned to ride a bike.  This is where Madeline went to gymnastics.  This is where Andrea joined a swim team.  This is where we all made lots of new friends.  This is where we decided we wanted our kids to go to Stillwater schools.  Stillwater was the next town over which required another move.

Moving on.  Stillwater was next on the journey of root-planting - #11.  But, from the minute we moved in, we wanted to move out.  The neighborhood was adorable, something out of a Norman Rockwell portrait.  But it wasn't suiting us.  We put the house on and off the market about five times before we actually meant it.  Eight years we stayed here.  This is where our cat, Max died.  This is where we acquired another cat named Summer who attacked the housekeeper.  Summer went bye-bye.  This is where we got our dog, Napoleon.  This is where the kids had most of their life-forming experiences and will probably remember as "home."  However, a chance opportunity came up for Scott to transfer to the state of his dreams, Arizona.  We said good-bye to family and friends again and packed our house and our dog and moved to the land of sun - #12.

Once in Arizona, we shacked up in a hotel for two nights including New Year's Eve.  I remember we spent that night watching UFC fighting and a Bette Midler comedy show.  I won't count that as a move.

We were then temporarily stationed at a corporate apartment with, ironically, a broken heater.  It was freezing that month of January in Arizona.  I won't count that either.

After two weeks of living the apartment life, we rented a house on a desert golf course in Scottsdale - #13.  Ironically again, the heat was broken.  Once that was fixed, the house was fine, but not ours.  The houses were really spread apart so we didn't meet many neighbors.  However, we started to really enjoy the creatures in the surrounding area.  The quail we nicknamed Do-Dos, the bobcats that would frolic on the golf course at dusk, the coyotes we would hear howling at night and sometimes see on our driveway.  One night we even saw a Mexican Greywolf soldiering down the road nearby.  I wasn't so fond of the mice that would drown in our pool once a week.

Scott started to worry about not getting a tax break as renters so we decided it was time to own.  So after our one year lease was up, we shopped around and bought a house of our own in Cave Creek - #14.  It was on the side of a mountain in a serene setting.  Again, the creatures were abundant, which by now, I was becoming a ball of stress that everything wanted to eat my dog.  And all the plantlife wanted to stab us to death.  We also settled on three bedrooms, when we actually needed four for when all the girls would come and stay at once.  That never happened anyway.  The kitchen was ridiculously small which grew more apparent and difficult every day.  The sink was cornered between the dishwasher and the garbage can cabinet and you needed a peg leg to operate in it.  We never met any of the neighbors.  It proved to be an area of town where people go to seclude themselves from all other humanity.  This is where I had the worst seasonal allergies of my life.  This is where a tarantula appeared at the front door sending me into the closet crying for 2 hours.   It was time for the nervous breakdown to commence.  The next day, we called the realtor.  It had been five months.

Where did we plant our roots next?  The saga continues as #15 unfolds.  We searched for a rental home in several areas and as a last resort before the closing date on our secluded mountain home, ended up going with the one that was right across the street from an ex-sweetie of Jack.  Sorry, Buddy.  But you can't even see her house from the backyard.  Nevertheless, he doesn't come out of his bedroom or even leave the house on foot for fear of coming in contact with her.

I really like the house.  The kitchen makes a lot more sense.  I no longer wish for a peg leg.  The backyard has a stonewall fence so I'm not as worried about coyotes for my dog though I never let him out of my sight.  We still have to watch for owls and hawks, of course.

Like the old saying goes, "home is where you hang your hat."

Faking My Way Through It

I don't love golf, but Scott does and wants to try out as many courses as possible before making a decision to join a country club.  We just finished our third round in three days.  I'm exhausted.  Today was especially hard because we had a caddie join us.  This means I had an audience for 18 holes.  I have severe performance anxiety so this pretty much caused me to freeze up.  I don't care how pleasant and easy-going a person is, I can't shake the feeling of being watched and judged.  Plus the chattery golf banter that goes on makes me feel like an imposter.  I don't understand about bogies, chipping, slicing, greens speeds or scrambles.  It's like a foreign language.  I don't know which club to use and I especially don't know where the cart can and cannot go.  Suffice to say, I'm a ball of stress when I play, but even more so when someone is watching.  And it's supposed to be a relaxing, fun game?

I flubbed my way through and even hit a few unexpected great shots.  But, don't sign me up for a membership any time soon.

The Zebra and the Lucky Twine

I bought a beautiful zebra print on canvas today.  It's big - 48" by 48" square.  I have a thing for zebras and all other things African safari.  Someday, I will actually go to South Africa to see these beauties.

I got the print home from the store by the skin of my teeth. It was too big to fit into the back of my car, so it was decided by the loading dock st

aff to strap it to the top. It sounded like a good idea at the time.  One of them had been in the Navy for 6 years and knew how to tie a knot. 

The two loaders got up on ladders and puttered away with miles of blue twine for 20 minutes beneath the blazing Arizona sun. It was 94 sweltering degrees out at the time. We were all drenched in sweat by the time they were done.  They assured me I was good to go so off I went on the 17 mile drive home. 

As soon as I hit 35 miles per hour, I knew had a big problem. The front end of the print started flapping up in the air. And the speed limit was 50, but I was slowing so much that I became "that driver" who everyone wants to aggressively pass and show me special hand signals.   I had only made it two miles, but luckily the print didn't fly off and hit any of the drivers behind me.

 

Sweating bullets now, I drove to the nearest parking lot to see what was the problem. I stepped up to take a look at the situation and it turns out the Navy knots weren't so Navy after all. More like slipknots. It made me wonder just what the loaders were actually doing on top of my car because they obviously weren't paying attention to the task at hand.  I attempted to untie and retie, but realized I just didn't have enough blue twine to go around.

Meanwhile, a gentlemen pulled his car up near me and rolled down his window. I thought, how nice, someone is offering to lend a hand. Think again. He asked me if I knew where the nearest Wells Fargo was. I told him it was right inside the grocery store where I was parked. He said thanks and drove away. Let me repeat, he drove away. I am resourceful and capable and can handle my own problems usually, but this man didn't even think about seeing if he could help. Note to my son and all males in the world: don't be so self absorbed, all-important and dumb as to not see when a lady is in a pickle. My husband would have and has in fact gone out of his way to assist a lady or two in situations like this because he has hopes that someone would help me or his mother or his daughters if they ever needed it. 

But back to the twine. I suddenly recalled having seen a piece of random white twine in the back seat pocket and unbelievably it was still there! I remember thinking "why do I have this twine in my car?" several times, but I never bothered to throw it away. Thank you, God! There is a reason for everything.  I managed to rig it to the back framework of the zebra print and tied it tight to the car rack. This time it worked!  I said a prayer and drove the remaining 15 miles home.  

I was still "that driver" and drove very slowly all the way home, but the zebra and I made it and that is all that matters. 

If you look closely, my lucky white twine is holding the top left corner of the print in place.

Also if you look closely, from the back you'll see the useless blue twine on the top right corner.

I honestly don't know what I would have done if I didn't find that twine. I don't know anyone with a pickup or van who I could have called and asked a favor.

Bad Twine

Lucky Twine

Once on the driveway, I murderously I hacked off all the blue ties, but carefully and gently untied my bit of precious white twine (which I intend to save as my lucky charm).  I unloaded my beautiful zebra print and brought it into the house where it will sit until my husband gets in the mood to hang it. Wait, didn't I say I was resourceful and capable and could do things for myself? Yes, but he is the master wall decor hanger and comes from the school of "measure twice, hang once."  I come from the school of "just eyeball it."

My zebra giving me the stink-eye for haphazardly strapping him to the top of my car.

Lastly, I should really live closer to Pier One.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

 Summer vacation is drawing to a close even though it will be over 100 degrees here in the desert until Christmas.  Technically, it's back to school time for the kinder.  And that also means it's time for this gal to get a job (insert frowny face here).  The hubster's income is losing steam which means I need to start contributing a little bit.  If you see me out sadly looking at help wanted signs, give me a smile and a thumbs up and tell me to keep on truckin'.

Meanwhile, the summer of 2012 has been a time of ups and downs as usual and before the memories fade into the abyss, here are some of the highlights:

Time for the Rusty the Rooster to move again.

Moving Day

Life turned upside down.

Parked at the new house, somebody doesn't want to get out of the car.

My idea of decorating the kitchen.

I need legs like that!

Need to walk faster and put down the drink to get Carrie's legs. Started the protein diet in July!

Photos from the past seem to surface unexpectedly.  I'm left of center in the front.

Went to see Magic Mike, but got to come home to Super Scott.

Burberry Shades.  Haven't lost them yet!

My never-ending quest for the perfect nudey-pinky-beigy lipstick and eyeshadow.

Wanted the $240 rooster lidded dutch oven.  Settled for the $30 vented pasta pot.

I was baptized along with my son.  One of the greatest moments of my life.  So happy for me and my boy.

My niece, Lily doing yardwork in Colorado wearing her Babushka.  So cute.   I've never met her.

Andrea's love of making all things sweet.  Trixie bars.

Napoleon loves the sun spot.

Bee pollen for my May allergies.                Guacamole once a week.

Played more golf than ever.  My favorite part was feeding peanuts to the gophers.

First the Super Moon.  Then the Gladiator Wildfire close enough to see.

No bigger than a paper clip!

Wonky cacti.  I love them!

Scott took me to Vegas for my 43rd birthday.  I only gambled away $.80 - this is the 2 dimes I saved!

Beautiful Mercury vases - a birthday gift from my mother-in-law.

             My daughter trained for the Olympic Pool Floating competition all summer.  Wazy Wabbit.

Finally, my cluck oven turned out a perfect baked good.  

   The olive oil was not for dipping - my son puts it in his hair to make it soft.

The little one wants a whole chicken.  The big guy (Javelina) just wants a carrot.

Cactus blooms once a year.  It's a sight worth waiting for.

Mama Bird Marjorie in our speaker boxx.

Plotting about taking down sweet Marjorie's nest - bad idea.  Very bad!

       

The creepiest, crawliest, ickiest things I never want to see in person again.  A Gila (pronounced Heela) Monster and a Tarantula.  No joke.  I hid in the closet for 3 hours.

The best furniture store in Cave Creek.

ARM PARTY!

                                                              Make sure to laugh every day.