Arizona Mama's Musings

It's been a while

2008-03-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while, have I?

Here's a video of Mia and Snip that the girls took out of The Zookeeper's window yesterday. It made us laugh!

That's a book on tape playing in the background..._Mossflower_ from the Redwall series. It's pretty funny how it worked out!

Wow.

2008-01-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my front yard about 5 minutes ago. *sigh*

Maintenance Monday

2008-01-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

Are we all back from our Holiday Cheer and Celebrations?

Today's Maintenance Monday is a soft pitch. I'm washing all the throw rugs. I know it's something that should be done more often than most home maintenance projects, but I don't do it as often as I should so I'm counting it. *grins*

Also today:

-The first day back to school after Christmas break. Everyone has completely forgotten everything they have ever learned in the last 11 years, so I'm blogging in order to not go crazy and start yelling and throwing things.

-The timing of the Zoo Keeper's arithmetic is awful. Apparently, we stopped for Christmas right before the page where she learns basic algebra. She has Holiday Brain, and now has to try to grasp the concept of the unknown number. It would help if she hadn't forgotten everything she ever learned in the last 6 years of school. What does a 5th grader need with algebra anyway?! I never did algebra in 5th grade! I didn't start algebra until grade EIGHT!!!

Okay, I'm better now.

-The Horse Whisperer starts a new 4-H club today...dog obedience and agility. The weather is very windy, so they might now actually begin today. I won't know until 3:30 whether or not we are going to this class. I hate not knowing. Better go throw something in the crock pot, just in case.

-IF I go to town for the dog thing, I have to go to one specialty shop to pick up patches for the Guitar Picker's new CAP BDUs since he outgrew the old ones and needs all new flags and name tapes etc. for the new ones. Then I have to pick up the Cowboy's BDUs from the dry cleaners, then I have to drop the whole caboodle off at ANOTHER shop to get it all put together properly because I would rather stick a fork in my eye than try to sew all those patches on in exactly the right places and make it look professional. All this without getting them all covered in dog hair since I will be taking dogs in my mom van to the dog thing.

-I have to get all the thank-you notes the kids wrote for Christmas presents in the mail. It's late, but better late than never, right?

I think that's all I have to do today. Better get to it!

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the New Year. Two Thousand Eight. Yep. It's upon us. I have made a couple of resolutions. Now, I pretty much gave up New Year's Resolutions in my early 20s because I never followed through, and decided I would quit setting myself up for failure. Then, a few years ago, I decided I was just setting my goals too broad and high. Yep, nothing like reducing your standards to make your goals attainable. Now my New Year's resolutions are simpler.

This year I Resolve to:

A) Learn to make Chile Con Carne good enough to make my husband cry. I really stink at red chile. My poor husband thinks he has to go all the way to Chalo's in Globe, AZ to get a decent bowl of red chile.

And,

B) Stop being such a potty mouth. Really. You might be surprised, but I have been known to let fly with a little bit of blue language when things get stressful. I never used to cuss at all, but over the years it has creeped up on me. Sort of like flabby abs. SO, to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, Every time I say a cuss word, I have to do 10 reps on this:

That's it. Those are the self improvement projects I have undertaken this year. What about you?

2 Things Challenge: Home/Health

2008-01-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

What's better than a big pot of homemade chicken soup?

Note my brand new Christmas stock pot. It makes me so happy!

To see more interpretations of Home/Health, go to 2 Things Challenge

A Little Change

2007-12-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of my cousins has had some creepy, weird, dangerous stuff happen partly because of her blog. It spooked me enough to at least take the real names out of mine, so from now on:

My Husband=The Cowboy
My oldest son=The Guitar Picker
My middle daughter=The Horse Whisperer
My youngest daughter=The Zoo Keeper

I'm not sure if I'm creeped out enough to stop showing pictures. I'll have to pray about it. I love sharing pictures of my family with you all, but I'll probably slack off a little at least.

Christmas Home Tour

2007-12-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is posted late. In fact, I took down the banner to the home tour because I knew I wouldn't get to it in time. BUT I figured late is better than never, so, WELCOME, come in and see some of our Christmas decorations!

The first thing that draws the eye when you walk in the front door is the ~~tree~~ TREE. It's huge. And it's crooked. But it smells wonderful if you pick off a needle and crush it with your fingernail.

When we first married, we decided that we would buy only one special ornament a year, and the rest of the decorations would be things like cookies and popcorn strings, and by the time we were old we would have a wonderful tree full of meaningful ornaments.

Well, we didn't realize that as soon as we had kids, and as soon as those kids were old enough to put glue to paper and shake some glitter out of a tube we would have LOTS of ornaments. And then the SPECIAL ones would start getting dropped and broken. And the tree looks really bare if you are too busy burping babies to make popcorn strings and bake cookies to hang on the tree. So, the plan was changed a bit, and we did get some other ornaments. We STILL try to buy a new one every year, and if we go on vacation or something we try to get a Christmas ornament from there.

Here is the first one we bought, on our honeymoon to the Grand Canyon:

Here is one we got in Hawaii...I think it's my favorite so far:

This one is from Disneyland. Ahh...it takes me back to the warm family memory of buying it, "Oh, look at this wonderful shop of Breakable Victorian ornaments! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING! Honey, could you take the kids out to buy a $5.OO orange juice from that kiosk so I can look at something besides plastic coconuts and pirate swords?"

Oh, look! Our first Christmas together..awwww...

Ahem.

Well, I was lazy this year, and The Zoo Keeper did most of the decorating. Her unique tastes are displayed throughout our home this year. Check out the Noel Pigs, all dressed up with gold ribbon taped to their pink plastic bodies:

Here is a Fall Fairy Bear, holding a sparkley pine cone on a stick, which makes it totally Christmasy:

Here is our super cool ~~Mega Block~~ Playmobile (Oops!) people nativity set:

Not too sure why the Angel Gabriel has a magic wand:

This camel is ready for anything:

This is festive, in a macabre sort of way:

Here is our Advent wreath. We don't use the purple and pink candles because the whole time growing up, my mom used red. I think she used red because she could never find purple and pink, but now anything but red looks wrong to me, so I'm raising another generation of kids that do it wrong. At least it does it's job of causing us to reflect on why we are celebrating Christmas in the first place, and the red candles can represent the blood Jesus shed to cover our sins.

Here are some big cans full of fudge, toffee, peanut butter fudge, and rum balls. The little village is actually candles, and they didn't do too well in storage this year, so before I put away the Christmas stuff this year, I'm going to burn them and watch the houses melt. Should be fun!

Last of all, here are the Christmas cards I have received so far:

Thanks for stopping by, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"Two Things" and Wreaths Across America

2007-12-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last week's Two Things challenge was "hold and value" I decided to post this picture for the challenge (be sure to click on the picture to get a bigger version- you can see it a lot better):

I love the line of rough looking Vietnam Veteran motorcycle riders standing at attention as the color guard goes by, holding on to freedom by having fought for it in a very real way, and reminding us all to value it and hold on to it with all our might.

This picture is from the Wreaths Across America ceremony The Guitar Picker was in on Saturday.

Wreaths Across America was started by Morrill Worcester - President of Worcester Wreath Company explains his desire to develop the Wreaths Across America project:

"Our goal is to expand the recognition of those who serve our country, both past, present, and future, as well as their families who deserve our support. Without the sacrifices of our veterans, there would be no opportunity to enjoy the freedoms, the life we live today."

He wanted to do something special for our veterans after 9/11. He started by placing wreaths on graves at Arlington National Cemetery, and it has spread across the country to veteran's cemeteries all over. You can read more about it here:

Wreaths Across America

Here are a few more pictures from the ceremony:

Included in The Guitar Picker's speech was this quote from Ronald Regan:

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Hope

2007-12-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

1 Corinthians 13:12
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

What an exciting thought, to "know even as also I am known". Imagine, knowing God like He knows me! Is that even POSSIBLE?! Wait and see!

Yzma Baby

2007-12-07T20:55:00.001-07:00

Because I absolutely ADORE "The Emperor's New Groove" and make it a point to quote it whenever possible...

Light Blogging

2007-12-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

Add me to the ranks of People Who Have a LOT on Their Plates and expect light blogging for the next month.

Maintenance Monday fell by the wayside this week, and I haven't done Two Things for a couple of weeks. I decided it was Not Sane to beat myself up over not getting to my blog posts, so I decided to just be upfront about how flaky I'm going to be about posting for the next several weeks. If you are one of the 6 people who regularly read this blog, I LOVE you, so I don't want you to waste your net time waiting for my page to load just so you can give a few pink flies to my starving frog because there is no new post.

I'll be here, just not every day.

Merry Christmas!

Simplify

2007-12-02T09:05:00.001-07:00

Here's a wonderful blog post about simplifying Christmas.

We just don't need so much STUFF! We are drowning in it. And I LOVE her take on gift cards. I refuse to participate in gift card exchanges. A gift should be thoughtful, not just a money exchange.

And for good measure, here's a good one about hospitality.

Gaming Night

2007-11-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last night The Guitar Picker and I went to a family gaming night in Sierra Vista. It turned out to be sort of a game STORE (these guys) that had all these wonderful games for sale that we got to play with for 4 hours.

We spent about an hour playing this:

It was really fun. It was easy enough to learn that even little kids could do it, but interesting enough for 3 adults and one teen to have fun trying to beat each other. And I WON. *grins*

We spent the rest of the night playing Shadows over Camelot:

This was so fun! It took a while to set up and figure out the rules, but once we got through that it moved pretty fast. Five of us played, and what was cool is that it was us against the game. We had to work together to finish quests before the game won. Unfortunately, one player at the beginning of the game gets dealt a "traitor" card, and he works AGAINST the rest of us with the game to try to sabotage our efforts.

There wasn't a very big turnout. I actually think The Guitar Picker and I were the only ones there that weren't already connected with the gaming group, but we had a lot of fun, and I hope there will be more people there next month.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-29T09:24:00.001-07:00

This is the Thanksgiving Post that's probably only interesting to family or the guests that were actually there.

We had lots of meat (there seems to be a turkey missing):

I had to make bags to cook the meat in because when you cook it in a big pot underground, it all falls off the bone. If you don't have one of these roller cutters and a mat, GET ONE! They are wonderful!

Cooked to perfection in the ground:

Here's the feast:

Don't forget pie!

The second shift cleaning crew (nothing like a houseful of kids to do the cleanup after the adults have done all the cooking!):

We killed a LOT of clay pigeons. See all the shell casings? Pay no attention to that pile of horse poo:

Time to get ready for Christmas!

Cozy Day

2007-11-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well! It's been over a week since I blogged. I KNOW you all missed me.

This morning I woke up to this:

A beautiful rainy morning! It's so cozy! You can just barely see my beautiful yellow rose that bloomed just in time for Thanksgiving through the rainy window. I had to go out in the rain and take a picture of it:

I had these for breakfast:

They put little stickers on them that remind me of those sweethearts candy you get for Valentines day. They ARE super sweet, but not QUITE candy.

Here's Mia, recovering from her surgery. She got spayed on Tuesday. Don't let that sad look fool you. I have had to keep her in the house for two days to try to keep her from bursting her stitches. She doesn't act like anything happened at all!

I have enough of this darling flannel to make a pair of pajama pants for both my girls:
This morning I caught Butler eating crackers out of this box, one by one:

Can't you just hear him saying, "What? I was hungry!"

It's really only going to be a cozy day this morning. This afternoon I have to take The Guitar Picker to the orthodontist AGAIN. Retainers are a bigger pain than braces.

Oh! I actually DID do a Maintenance Monday. The filter on the furnace got cleaned!

The End of my disjointed crazy post.

Works for Me Wednesday

2007-11-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

I had a really great tip for today to add to Shannon's list at Rocks in my Dryer, but I totally lost it in the flurry of getting ready for Thanksgiving. So, my tip is this:

Whatever you DIDN'T get done? Don't worry about it. Enjoy your family and friends and great meal (even if you forgot to buy rolls). tomorrow is about giving thanks for all your blessings. Not about how perfect the food or your house is. If your mother-in-law peeks in a hall closet or sees the pile of papers you didn't get filed (ahem), well, there was probably a time when she wasn't perfect either. And if she SAYS anything? Ask her for a housecleaning service for Christmas.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Do you know what today is?

2007-11-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

I just found out, via the wonder of the internet, that today is Air Your Dirty Laundry Day! So, here it is:

This is not even all of it. *sigh*

BUT! After a long day and lots of soap and water, I give you my CLEAN LAUNDRY!

That's probably not the dirty laundry they are talking about, but that's all you'll get from me! *grins*

P.S. Let me draw your attention to the list to your right that has ALMOST everything crossed off! Woot!

Maintenance Monday

2007-11-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Time to do another maintenance project!

Well, this week I cleaned my refrigerators (plural, you notice. WHY do we need TWO refrigerators?!) and pantry (which has been a happy fall hunting grounds for some field mice, so this included washing all the food storage buckets and canned goods), scrubbed the hard water stains out of my shower, and, yes, WASHED MY COMPUTER SCREEN, thanks to Bev reminding me that it needed to be done. Today I'm doing Major Corner Cleaning, hoping I can get it done before my brother decides to come over to visit, since he's down from Washington with my newest Nephew:

Don't you just want to grab him and smooch those little cheeks?

I suppose it's cheating because I'm doing all these things in preparation for Thanksgiving, but I'll be back to the normal maintenance projects next week. I think.

Did you do your maintenance project? If you did, please post a link in the replies for the rest of us to get inspired!

My Sister

2007-11-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

Champion

Confidant

Cheerleader

Prayer Warrior

Good Example

Bad Example

My Best Friend

Happy Birthday, Danielle!

Works for Me Wednesday

2007-11-14T06:30:00.001-07:00

My WFMW tip this week is a heads up about hotel practices. DON'T USE THE GLASSES IN YOUR ROOM! Someone sent me this link to a news clip about how they clean the glasses. Apparently, at best they wash them in the bathroom sink, and at worst they spray them with some kind of chemical and wipe them with a dirty towel you have left on your floor. Blegh. People always assume they got sick on the airplane or from eating bad food when they get sick while traveling! I suggest bringing your own glasses, or stay in cheap hotels that put out disposable plastic glasses that are sealed in plastic.

To see much more pleasant Works For Me Wednesday tips, go to Shannon's blog, Rocks in my Dryer.

P.S. Isn't her new WFMW header pretty?

Maintenance Monday

2007-11-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

I'm tentatively starting a new thing called "Maintenence Monday". With it, I'm hoping to create an incentive to remember to do all the odd maintenance jobs that go by the wayside in normal day to day stuff. Each week I'm going to try to do a job and post it on Mondays. Here's my first one:

The exhaust fan in my bathroom was covered with dust. Easy start for my new MM post! I'll just grab a broom, sweep it off, and I'm already covered for my first week!
It went from this:

To this:

Not so good. Wouldn't you think that cover would just pop off so you could wash it? No such luck. This IS a "manufactured home", after all. It's not going to be easy. The job ended up requiring this:

And this:

So, after at least 10 or 15 minutes of scraping dust bunnies out of the ceiling, then another 10 minutes or so sweeping them off of everything in the bathroom and out of my hair, the job was done and I was rewarded with a nice clean vent that actually is able to draw the ~~toxic~~ air out of the bathroom instead of wasting electricity laboring to suck dust bunnies up.

You are welcome to join me in my little quest to do the forgotten jobs. Possibly, I'm the only homemaker on the planet that DOESN'T remember to clean her bathroom vent for 2 years. In any case, I haven't time to make up a cute logo or figure out Mr. Linky, so until I do have time, if you want to play this game with me please post a reply with a link to your maintenance post so I can go see what you do. I seriously need help even knowing what needs to be done, so you could help give me ideas for what I need to do for future Maintenance Mondays.

Two Things Challenge

2007-11-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Nature and Civilization

To see more interpretations of this challenge, GO HERE

Because I totally love a good ego boost:

2007-11-08T08:17:00.001-07:00

I'm playing this game from Sara at the Estrogen Files:

The Game is on!!! And you're it!!

Describe ME in one word.... just one single word. Put it in my comments.

Then post this message and see how many strange & interesting things they say about you.

You comment for me, post and I'll tell you YOUR one word.

Play with me!

Things To Do Before Thanksgiving

2007-11-08T07:17:00.001-07:00

As you can see by the list on the right, I have a boatload of work to do in the next 2 weeks. I'm going to be crossing things off the list as I do them, and hopefully seeing it here will keep me from playing too much when there is WORK TO BE DONE, BY GOLLY!

There are 28 items on my list, and 23 days until Thanksgiving. I have to do AT LEAST 2 things a day, and allow for school and whatever activities there are coming up, as well as normal housekeeping stuff. The family still needs to be fed regular meals for two weeks before the Big Feast. Imagine! I may not do a whole lot of blogging. The Cowboy's list is not complete, but he's taking a couple of vacation days next week to get things done.

I LOVE Thanksgiving, and have so much fun getting together with my family and whatever friends end up getting invited. It also helps me get the lead out and do some major mucking that I let slide all too often. As I do this work, I will remember to thank the Lord for His many blessings that the work I have to do represents.

Happy Birthday, To The Cowboy

2007-11-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was The Cowboy's birthday. How many candles do you see? We had to dig ALL our left-over candles out of the junk drawer to get enough to put on his cake. He was a good sport and blew them all out in one breath. See, I'm 4 years younger than he is, so I get to tease him the whole time he's in a different decade than me. *evil grins*

Even though I tortured him about his birthday, I DID get him a nice present. This: I think I surprised him for once! He actually told me he didn't think I'd be "brave enough" to buy a chain saw.

Huh?

I have NO idea what that means.

Anyway, even though it was his birthday weekend, he was being all sweet and bought me these on Friday for no good reason:

And this on Saturday, because I loved it:

In my mind, a bouquet of "just because" roses and a speckled blue tin dishpan trumps a chainsaw any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Girls are SO much easier to buy for than Boys!

90 Percent?!

2007-11-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

I SCORED A 90%

Get a cash advance

How did this happen?! There was a time when I watched these movies so much with my kids that I could have easily spoken along with the dialog. Has it been so many years since my children wanted to watch a Disney cartoon every day that I have *gasp* forgotten the details of these movies? I should have sailed through this quiz with a 100%. They won't even tell me which questions I got wrong, though I think it was something to do with Aladdin. That one wasn't the girls' favorite, and Wheeler hasn't wanted to watch it in a very long time.

Well, the kids have moved on to more interesting things, like music, horses, dog training and rock collecting.

Stupid Disney quiz. How pathetic that I had to go back and redo the quiz until I found the 2 questions that I got wrong. Silly me! (It WAS an Aladdin question...AND a Little Mermaid question.)

Just for Fun:

2007-11-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

In School Today:

2007-10-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you know you are doing something right!

The Zoo Keeper, telling whether verbs are past, present, or future:

"A woodpecker drilled these holes...Past."

"Wolves travel in packs...Present."

"Last year we studied flowers...Past."

"Jesus loves me....Past, Present, and Future!"

Other times, even when it sounds wrong, you know it's right:

The Horse Whisperer: "I wish I didn't have to do Algebra today. *sigh*"

Me: Okay, don't do it.

The Horse Whisperer: "REALLY?!" accompanied by a beaming face and near tears of joy

Of course, it will have to be caught up tomorrow, but sometimes a kid just needs an unexpected break.

Works for Me Wednesday

2007-10-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

This isn't exactly a tip to make life easier for YOU, but it could make Thanksgiving nice for a couple of soldiers near you!

Last year we invited 3 soldiers from a nearby Army post to share our Thanksgiving meal with us. Thanksgiving for us is a Big Deal. The Cowboy builds a fire in an underground pit and cooks 2 or 3 turkeys along with a beef brisket or two.

There is always plenty of food and we are truly thankful for God's numerous blessings on our lives.

Right now you have be be pretty darn brave to join the military, not only during a war, but right before a Presidential election. The soldiers that came to share our meal last year were fresh out of boot camp and it was the first time any of them had been away from home for a holiday. They were all "country kids", and enjoyed coming to our little place in the boonies to celebrate Thanksgiving.

If you want to invite some soldiers, you have to act fast because they are already putting together the lists to match soldiers with families. I don't know how other military bases do it, but for ours we had to call the base chaplain. I couldn't find anything online about it this morning, but if you call the general information number in your phone book for the military base near you, someone will direct you to whom you need to talk to.

Last year was the first year we did it, and for sure it's going to be a yearly occurrence for us. They don't send one soldier to a house full of strangers by him/herself. Be prepared to take two. We offered a place for four since we cook such a mountain of food, but one of ours got sick at the last minute last year so we ended up with three. We sent a PILE of leftovers back for her though!

About a week before Thanksgiving they had a "meet and greet" on the fort. The families and soldiers gathered in the gym, where they had tables set up. Each family sat at a table, and the solders just came and sat with a family they liked the looks of. That's where we met the four that were going to come to us, and made arrangements to pick them up on Thanksgiving morning. Most of them don't have cars, so you have to be prepared to pick them up and take them home.

It's just a nice way to share a little bit of your bounty with someone who appreciates it. It's a little awkward at first, and be prepared to graciously accept being called "ma'am" every time you talk to them. Don't give them a hard time about it, okay? They are trained to be respectful, and it's not nice to tell them they make you feel old.

That's what we do. Check out a plethora of other WFMW tips at Rocks in my Dryer.

Gotta Love a Good Disaster Movie

2007-10-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched The High and the Mighty with John Wayne. It was more story than special effects, and took place when people dressed up to fly. All these women in evening gowns. Can you imagine flying in an evening gown? All the way to San Francisco from Hawaii?! When the kids and I flew back from Hawaii, it took 5 1/2 hours on a jet. It was a LONG 5 1/2 hours. When this movie took place, they were flying on a propeller plane and it was going to take 13 hours and 16 minutes...and that was BEFORE one of the engines caught on fire and punctured one of the fuel tanks and they had to slow down to try and conserve fuel to get them as close to San Francisco as possible before they had to ditch into the ocean.

One of the things they did to save fuel was throw all the unnecessary weight out the door. No one whined one bit about throwing out all their luggage...well one woman was very sad about throwing her mink coat to the mercy of the Pacific, but she sucked it up and did it. Personally, if I were wearing a strapless evening gown and I knew within a few hours I was going to be floating around in a life boat at night (provided all went as planned), I would have hung onto that sucker. I mean, really, how much does a mink coat weigh?

It was so funny to see the difference in air travel in the 50s and our post 9-11 world. It wasn't just the dressing up part, though I imagine if you had asked any of those passengers to remove their shoes and submit to a full body pat down they would have slugged you.

EVERYONE smoked. On the plane, in the cockpit, on the flight line, in the airport... Ever notice in John Wayne movies, one of his signature moves is to light a cigarette, take two puffs then throw it in the dirt? (Bet he wouldn't do that at $5. a pack!) Well, when we started watching this movie, I thought, "He's on a plane...he can't take two puffs and throw it down." (Yeah, my mind goes through all kinds of things when I'm watching movies. I keep this inner dialog going that is highly entertaining to me, but I try not to say anything out loud and annoy my fellow viewers) BUT HE DID! On the PLANE! I actually laughed out loud and had to explain what was funny. The kids thought it was funny...they have noticed the two puff phenomenon too since we watch a LOT of John Wayne around here. The Cowboy just rolled his eyes.

A little boy, flying alone, had a TOY GUN! It didn't even have the little orange cap on the end of the barrel to indicate that it's a toy! He even *gasp* Pointed it at the pilot of the plane and pretended to SHOOT him! No one gave it a second thought.

Even MORE shocking, a passenger had a REAL GUN that he had decided to shoot another passenger with. The other passengers wrestled the gun away from him and told him to go cool off. He did, said he was sorry, and they gave him his gun back. The flight crew wasn't involved at all.

The men flirted shamelessly with the stewardess (not flight attendant) and she took it in stride, and even flirted back a bit. It was all in fun and not crass at all.

I guess one of the things that made it so funny is that I had just read this post from Crazy Aunt Purl about her "Mascara of Mass Destruction" and all the responses to it. Man, flying used to be FUN! Except for that whole evening gown thing. I STILL wouldn't want to fly for 13 hours in a girdle and heels in a cabin full of second-hand smoke.

What's Become of the Jack-o-Lantern...

2007-10-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

I baked the pumpkin for over an hour at 350, but it never really got soft. It should still be edible, but I'm betting the consistency is weird. I think from now on, I'll make pie out of canned pumpkin and enjoy our "pumpkin lanterns" until they get shriveled and buggy.

Grandma's Things

2007-10-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

This is a little display I made of a few things that belonged to my dad's mother. I never knew her...she died when my dad was a young man. Look at the cool metal compact and lipstick tube! They still have makeup in them. Goodness knows what bacteria is flourishing in there! She made the doilies and doll dress, and I'm not sure about the handkerchief. It looks more like something store-bought. Maybe my dad bought it for her for a gift? I love the little brownie camera. Boy, have we come a long way from those things!

I wish I could have known her here, but I know that I will meet her someday, and she will laugh at me for displaying her old stuff!

Two Things Challenge

2007-10-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is last week's challenge:

Obscure:

Reveal:

This is our first ever pumpkin carving experience. We don't really do the whole Halloween thing, but every year it's SO hard for me to resist piles and piles of big orange pumpkins! The Zoo Keeper has ALWAYS wanted to carve one, so today we did it. Tomorrow, we are making pumpkin pie!

To see more talented people's Two Things, clicket here.

Works for Me Wednesday

2007-10-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's October, and people are doing more wintery things than summery things, but we happen to live near an indoor swimming pool, so my WWFW tip is about modest swimwear for my little girls. I personally think girls ought to be able to play in the water without worrying about what they are going to expose, and without having to constantly pull their suits up in front or down in the back as the case may be. Well, several years ago I ran across one of these in a grocery store of all places. They only had sizes to fit my youngest, but since she was the daughter that didn't care if her suit was creating the Biggest Wedgie Of All Time, she wasn't going to take the time to pull it out, I bought her one. The tag had a web site address, so I went online and quickly ordered one for my other daughter. She was the daughter who would wear shorts and a shirt OVER her normal bathing suit...and then wrap up in a towel. Here's the web site: Radicool Australia

The suits look like wet suits, and they are designed to protect from the sun. Now that my girls are getting bigger, they are sizing out of the one piece suits and have to go with the shorts and rash guards. It's a good solution for kids that want to be modest, but want to look a little more modern than this:

It's a pretty picture, and though my old fashioned heart would love to see my darlings frolicking in the waves in such a lovely ensemble, it's a tough sell for my highly practical teen and tween.
I know lots of girls just buy boy's swimming trunks and a tankini top, which works too, and is probably cheaper, but this is our solution. Works for Me!

Check out more Works For Me Wendesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

Wanna Buy A Ghost?

2007-10-18T11:55:00.001-07:00

This cracked me up. It could be disturbing to little kids though, so PARENTS PLEASE PREVIEW!

Time to Be a Mama Again

2007-10-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well. I have made a foray into the world of the workforce. I gotta say, it's pretty fun wearing nice clothes, doing a job that you ROCK at, and getting kudos from some Very Important People for it. Meeting tons of really nice people from all over the country, going out to dinner and trying new types of food, and learning about new things can be very seductive. Never mind the moo-lah, which got us almost completely out of debt AND bought us a full tank of propane to get us through another year.

It's been fun. REALLY fun. But, I can see that my family still needs me here. I will probably still do a short job here and there, but no more months long marathons for me. In 8 years or so I'll be in a position to work full time, and I look forward to that. Now, however, I'm going to enjoy my wonderful children while they still ARE children. They are growing up so fast!

SO, watch this space. I'm back in the blogosphere, and will be boring you with all kinds of little tidbits of silly things.

Hey, check out this hawk I saw while I was at "work":

Two Things Challenge

2007-08-17T06:59:00.002-07:00

ACK! ALL MY PICTURES DISAPPEARED FROM THIS POST! The code for them still shows in "edit post", but no pictures. It's a mystery.

This week's challenge is Style and Substance. Here are my pictures:

My birthday is next week, and since I'm going to be working, I got my presents early. This Bee-yoo-ti-ful Autumn Bear was given to me by my dear husband, The Cowboy. I don't usually go for cutesy, but we were in the Build-a-Bear workshop letting The Zoo Keeper spend a gift card she had for the Bear she got for HER birthday, and I spotted this little fall fairy bear. I'm SUCH a sucker for fall colors, and it's SO soft. NO, he didn't kiss the heart and make a wish when they put it together, but he definitely gets points for STYLE. Especially since he did NOTHING for my birthday last year.

This vacuum cleaner is my present from my dear Mother-in-Law. She knew I was having to buy a new vacuum cleaner about every 8 months or so. Apparently my 3 kids and husband and various pets are too much for a $40.00 Dirt Devil from Big Lots. So she gave me this workhorse. This baby SUCKS, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. It gets ALL the dirt out, and it has this little light bar that demands you keep working until the floor is clean. I call it Simon, as in Simon Legree. "You will continue vacuuming until I say the floor is CLEAN" AND it doesn't even use belts for the beater bar, so no more burning rubber smell. This is a top of the line vacuum cleaner, no doubt. I should have it all my life. My MIL gets points for SUBSTANCE. Now I just need to USE the thing. Pay no attention to the paper air plane on the floor behind the vacuum cleaner. Nor The Zoo Keeper's Giant Dragon sitting there. Or the ironing board. Well, we DO live here. *blush*

I have to add this picture though:

This shows both Style and Substance in the beautiful way God promised Noah He would never again flood the entire earth. We all know the story Noah and the ark. We learn it at least 43 different times if we go to Sunday school as children. It's easy to see a rainbow and just not think too hard about it. Yeah, it's pretty, yada, yada, yada... But if you read Genesis 9:8-17, God repeats His promise three times. The rainbow and what it represents is important to Him, which makes it VERY important to us. I encourage you to spend a little time dwelling on what the Lord has to say to you about what it means.

The Minister's Cat

2007-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

My Works for Me Wednesday tip is a word game that has entertained my children (an me!) in waiting rooms and restaurants for years. Nothing like keeping their little minds occupied when the food takes so long to arrive that they have colored the little children's menu, all the napkins, and are starting to "paint" their fingernails with cheap crayons that NEVER COME OFF. Not that MY babies do that anymore, since my littlest Audrey has just turned 10 and is MUCH too old to paint her nails with crayons when she could be making little magic growing worms with her straw paper.

The rules to "The Minister's Cat" are simple. Each player takes turns describing the minister's cat with the most obscure adjective they can think of for each letter of the alphabet. You start with "A". The first person might say, "The minister's cat is an antagonistic cat." The next person (if she is quite a bit younger) might say, "The minister's cat is an angry cat." If everyone playing has about the same level of vocabulary skills, you can decide who wins that round by general consensus of who came up with the most obscure adjective. We have also played by just taking turns with the alphabet, for instance, the first person gets "A", the next person does "B", the third does "C", etc., and no one really wins or loses.

It takes a while to get to "Z", and by then the food has come, the nurse has called the patient in, or Dad has finished drooling over the new chainsaws in Home Depot, and the sweet little old lady at the next table over has stopped by to compliment you on how well behaved your children are. You smile and say "thank-you" while discreetly trying to cover evidence of wet straw paper worms with your napkin.

Check out a plethora of interesting tips at Rocks in my Dryer.

Well, how strange!

2007-08-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

I just tried to post a WFMW tip, and it's floating around somewhere in the blogosphere, looking for a place to land. I wonder who's blog it will actually end up on? I can just see my poor little lost waif of a post, alighting on "Terry's Tattoo Blog" and creating a stir with it's life changing WFMW tip. Maybe Terry will give up tattoos, and start playing "The Minister's Cat" with random strangers on the street.

I have to retype my Minister's Cat post now, and then hit that all important "Save Now" button BEFORE I impetuously click "Publish Post".

By the way, I'm back for a few days...Well, actually I have been back for over a week, but what with catching up on my house, getting the kids started in school, sewing a skirt for Aisa who informed me that she has NO dresses that fit her anymore, and watching "America's Got Talent", I haven't really done much online. I'll be leaving again sometime this weekend, so I just wanted to say "hi" to anyone who still checks on me once in a while.

HI! *smiles*

Out With a Bang

2007-07-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm going off-line for a few weeks. I'm starting a job that won't leave me much time for blogging. Hopefully I will still be able to pop in once in a while to check out all my new friends' blogs and leave a few comments, but you won't be seeing too much of me. I'll leave you a few pictures I took of the fireworks last night, just for fun. No, they aren't great because I have no tripod and probably had the settings on the camera wrong, but they were fun anyway. Have fun everyone!

I'm Touched!

2007-07-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm just flabbergasted! My cousin, Charity Grace has named me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger award. I have a feeling that I got lucky because I'm her cousin, since I'm not sure I've developed this blog into anything resembling "rockin'" yet, but it was very sweet of her and I give her a gracious "Thank you very much, ma'am!"

I'm *ahem* a bit older than she is. She was still a child when I got married and started having children of my own. Not long after that, her family moved half-way across the country and I didn't get to see her grow up. Her wide open and honest blog has allowed me to get to know the stunning young woman she became when I wasn't looking. I'm so glad to get see her and her little family grow!

Now, apparently, I get to name 5 more Rockin' Girls for the award, so, drum roll please....

I nominate:

Audrey because she is lots of fun and makes me laugh.

Big Mama, even though she doesn't know me from Adam, because I really think we would be friends if we lived near each other.

Money Dummy because I admire her determination and creativity towards getting out of debt.

Leah, who blogs here: Life at Sharps Corner and here: Crayon Artist. She is another cousin that I am getting to know through her blogs, and I am happy to see what a wonderful young woman she has turned out to be.

Well, shoot, that's only four. I'll have to add the last one later.

GEORGE STREET WITNESS

2007-07-03T06:48:00.001-07:00

This is kind of long, but when you have 8 minutes have a listen. It's about a man who spent years handing out tracts on the street.

I have never really heard any stories about street witnessing actually being effective. Praise God for this man's faithfulness!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GUITAR PICKER!

2007-07-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Today The Guitar Picker is 15! Happy birthday to my kind, generous, smart, musical, strong, compassionate, funny, interesting, AMAZING, handsome boy! I'm so proud of you!

2 Things Challenge

2007-06-30T19:01:00.001-07:00

I'm a day early, and this is pretty lame, but here ya go:

The challenge is "Hot and Cold"

This is the sun, about 5 minutes ago. It's HOT today.

This is the moon, last night around 10:00. It's COLD on the moon.

Sorry, this isn't my best effort by a long shot. I'll do better next time, I'm sure! *blush* You can find much more interesting pictures at 2 Things Challenge hosted by Bobbie.

Without Data, You're Just Another Person with an Opinion

2007-06-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have known M&M for years online. She created this mug and lots of other cute things that she sells HERE. I love this mug, mostly because occasionally I work collecting data for testing new products. It justifies my paycheck! Yeah. I'm a bit of a geek. *grins* Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be starting another one of those tests in a week, so after this next week I won't be blogging for a while. I'll try to touch back when I can, but I'll be very busy. I'm sad because I feel like I'm beginning to make some new friends here, and I love reading your blogs. I will be back though!

Potter fans, be sure to check out M&M's "Hairy Pawter" and "Dogwarts Obedience School" stuff. Very clever!

All I Can Do is Pray

2007-06-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation with a neighbor of mine yesterday about another neighbor who is serving in Iraq right now.

He said, "All I can do is pray."

Really? That's ALL?

ALL you can do is go to the Creator of the Universe. Whom you have a PERSONAL relationship with. Who loves YOU like a precious child. Who says "You do not have because you do not ask". That's ALL you can do?

Prayer is the first and most important thing we should do about EVERYTHING.

If all we can do is pray, then we are in pretty good shape because we are not relying on ourselves at all. If there is truly nothing else we can do, then we just have to get out of the way and let God do HIS thing.

Thank God for the situations where all we can do is pray, and be sure you DO pray. Don't just shake your head, say it and then go your way without another thought. Pray diligently for the things God brings to your attention, and then enjoy watching what our God can do!

I am

2007-06-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

BLUE

You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

What color are you?

Got this from Hannah's Mom. :)

Works for Me Wednesday

2007-06-27T07:32:00.001-07:00

Well, fist I was going to post about my wonderful MOONCUP, but Brandy at The Building Brows Beat me to it with her post about the Diva cup which is very similar. Do check it out, though. The Mooncup changed my life!

So, I decided, it's getting hot. I'll post about keeping a frozen jug of water in your ice chest for grocery shopping and picnics. I was beat to the punch by both T with Honey and momrn2 at My Quiet Corner. I do mine a LITTLE bit different though. In one of my brother-in-law's hunting magazines there was an article about frozen jugs. Reading it, I learned that dissolving a half a cup of salt in a gallon jug of water makes the ice colder and last longer. It WILL take longer to freeze (3 days!), but works wonderfully.

I make mine with 1/4 cup of salt in half gallon milk jugs because the size is easier to manage than gallon sized. My husband spent one summer on a job where he had to camp out all week. The jugs stayed frozen until the 4th day, and the food was still cool into the 5th day each week. This was BEFORE they invented those wonderful 5 day ice chests. He had to be careful not to put his Pepsi RIGHT next to the jugs or it would freeze and explode! That's how cold they are. Works for me!

Be sure and go check out Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips!

Mia is Home!

2007-06-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

Here are The Horse Whisperer and Mia, sacked out on the kitchen floor. You just can't get any sleep in the hospital, you know?

She isn't totally out of the woods yet. She's still on a very restricted diet, and we have about a week's worth of pills to get down her twice a day, but she is MUCH better than she was yesterday. Thanks for all your prayers! Yesterday we didn't know if she WOULD come home. Happy day!

Pray for Mia...

2007-06-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

The Horse Whisperer's puppy, Mia, is sick. We just got back from the vet, and she has parvo. We left her there in the hospital for treatment, and should know by Wednesday if she will pull through. Poor baby, we just thought she was too lethargic for a pup of her breed and age, so we took her in this morning. We are hopeful because we caught it before it turned into vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration.

I'm off to call all the neighbors and let them know we had parvo here. *sigh* Pray for Mia if you get a minute!

Two Things

2007-06-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Bobbie at Great Grannie's Blog has a featured subject for photos each week where she suggests two things and you take a picture to represent them. This week's Two Things are Black and White. Since Alpacas are the order of the day here, this is my contribution:

These guys were at the alpaca farm where we got our alpacas yesterday. I know I cut off the heads. ~~They moved too fast for me~~ I thought it was more artistic this way.

But you MUST see the head of the black one:

Isn't she a hoot?

Thanks to my cousin at Everything Hannah for the link to this challenge! Here is her picture for the black and white challenge.

ON a side note: Does anyone know how I could have put those two pictures next to each other?

Alpacas!

2007-06-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Zoo Keeper is starting 4-H and is getting an Alpaca. The woman who is giving him to her didn't want him to be alone, so we are temporarily taking two so that he will have company. The brown one is Audrey's, and she hasn't named him yet. We just got them yesterday.

They are very gentle and docile animals. They have a sweet little "whoop" sound when they are upset, and they hum when they are nervous. We are very excited about working with them and learning to use the fiber.

This is The Zoo Keeper's Alpaca. He doesn't have a name yet. He's 8 months old, and supposedly his color is very desirable.

Here are both the alpacas, getting to know the horses. I don't think either kind of animal has ever seen the other before, and they are very curious about each other.

It's funny, we didn't realize until we got the alpacas home that we had a brown and a white horse, and now a brown and a white alpaca. The white alpaca's name is Bronco, and he's 10 months old. The brown horse is Shooter, and the white one is Freckles.

Unfortunately, Crockett is in jail because he thought he should have a taste of Alpaca for lunch yesterday. Take 'im away, officer!

Even though there was an incident with a goat several years ago,
we thought he was too old for this nonsense. Poor old guy is going to have to spend his latter months (weeks? days?) locked up.

Introducing Mia

2007-06-22T09:34:00.001-07:00

This is The Horse Whisperer's new baby, Mia. She's a full blood Australian Shepherd puppy, 4 months old. She already sticks to THW like glue, and knows her name. Everyone say, "Awwwww!"

If you click on the pictures you can see them full sized so you can see how many colors are in Mia's face. What an odd looking cutie pie!

Works For Me Wednesday

2007-06-20T07:38:00.001-07:00

I found this site: Rocks in My Dryer through this site: Charity Grace, (who happens to be my dear cousin). I think it's a fun idea, and would like to participate. I'm guessing you just jump on in and post a tip, so here ya go...

My daughter and I get terrible seasonal allergies. We have found that when we are sneezy, snorty, itchy, and miserable, a Coke temporarily relieves allergy symptoms. It has to be regular Coke. The Safeway brand of cola works too, but those are the only ones we have found. Sprite doesn't do it. I'm not a fan of Coke, but I figure the chemicals and sugar have to be less harmful than being pumped full of allergy medicine that turns us into zombies for the rest of the day. Works for me!

Lots going on...

2007-06-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

So far it's happened twice.

Life is slow enough to think about starting a blog.

I get the lead out and actually START a blog.

Suddenly life explodes and I don't have time to think about writing anything remotely entertaining for anyone else to read.

I just got a temporary job that will keep me gone most of the summer, once it gets started. I don't think it will actually start for a couple of weeks, but I have to go in for a day here and there...today included which is why this is a "quick and dirty" post.

The Horse Whisperer just got a puppy. It's adorable. I'll post pics if I ever get time.

The Zoo Keeper is getting an alpaca...well, actually TWO. I'll post about it when I get the time.

Yesterday I had a "Snow White" moment with a wild bird...more to follow...

These stories and more when this AZ Mama gets time to catch her breath!

Something Sad and Something Silly

2007-05-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I have been posting for several years on a forum that taught me a lot about..well, all kinds of things. I have managed to overlook a lot of the meanness that goes on, and the fact that most of the women there are EXTREMELY left-wing liberals, because there are a LOT of people there and you can usually find out anything about anything. Plus, there were enough normal people to be able to ignore the Rosie O'Donnell wannabes.

Well, the wannabes have become so outspoken and rude that they shout down ANY post that suggests that spanking is okay, global warming just might be a crock, or describe someone's race when trying to describe what they look like is NOT racist, etc...

I have pulled the plug. I can't stand to read the spew any longer, so I'm deleting the site from my bookmarks and finding somewhere else to play. I'm not doing a dramatic good-by-you-are-all-mean-and-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about-and-your-kids-are-ugly post. I'm just going to disappear. The friends I have made there know where to find me, and no one else cares if I'm there or not. It still makes me sad though. I have spent a lot of time there, and I miss it.

HOWEVER, in my state of wandering because it's computer time and I can't go to my message board any more, I ran across this, and it made me laugh out loud:

Animator vs. Animation

Don't worry, it won't freak your kids out or anything. Someone has more time on their hands than I do, that's for sure!

Ack! I've been found!

2007-05-23T08:33:00.001-07:00

*LOL*

HOW did you find me, C.G.?! Was it because I linked your blog?

I JUST started this thing, and thought it should have a little more substance before I advertised it.
I'm glad you found me, though! Nice to have a comment already! :)

Just for you, my first commenter, a story:

Yesterday, our two kittens, Zap and Butler, were playing outside. Butler started crying piteously to get in (I thought) so I sent my daughter to open the door for him. She went to the door, and instead of running in, he looked at her, meowed loudly, then ran in the other direction. He stopped looked back and meowed again, so she followed him. He led her straight to his brother, Zap, who had a paw stuck in a metal grate. The Horse Whisperer got him loose, and the two of them sat down to give each other baths. Isn't that sweet?

First Post

2007-05-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

I feel like I should post something profound about what I want my blog to be all about here, but I'm not feeling a bit profound at the moment, so I'll just make a list of random thoughts for the day:

Homeschooling:
I don't love the actual day to day of homeschooling. That's okay. It's still my calling. I will do it with joy because the Lord called me to teach my kids.

Exercise:
I read a quote the other day that Drew Barrymore said. Something about how she felt the most beautiful right after she has worked out, when her face is 3 different colors, she is sweaty, and gasping, because she knows she just did something to help her body be beautiful and healthy. Something to remember, because I have this weird hang up about not wanting to sweat and breathe hard in front of anyone because it's not lady like. Silly me!

More Homeschooling:
Tests. I have never really cared about testing my kids. I know what they know, and am blessed to live in a state that doesn't require testing. The other day I gave one of my children a placement test to see which math program to order. She panicked and missed things that I KNOW she knows. Lesson learned? Test the kids for THEM, not for me. They need to learn that testing isn't a big deal. Next year will be a bit different around here, for sure.

Personal Grooming:
Who decided that women are more beautiful with shaved legs? I wanna talk to him...

Gardening:
Here it is, the middle of May and we don't have our garden in yet. We are getting a load of Llama manure this weekend, so next week it will be done. I'm glad we have a loooong growing season.

Yesterday I met a charismatic Catholic. I never heard of such a thing. I tell ya, the more I learn the less I know.