The joy of the desert

It's times like today that I realize how much I truly love living in Arizona! As I type, my kids are out playing on the trampoline in their swimsuits and having a grand ol' time at it. Especially considering that Thanksgiving is only a few days away and that I'm used to a whole lot of rain and cold at this time of year! The thing that I discovered by spending the entire Christmas season here last year is that the spirit of Christmas is still there even if it's not necessarily hot chocolate weather. It's the bustle, the excitement and general feeling of goodwill that makes the holidays special, so I am grateful for my sunshine and fun!

Mr. Cody

For those of you on myspace, you will recognize this picture. It's probably my favorite picture of me and my fuzzy son. This is Mr. Cody and he turned eleven in August. Many of you have heard all kinds of things about Cody, and most of them are probably not the kinds of things that make you wish that you had a dog just like him. Understandably, he answers to "asshole", and has learned that he should at least feign repentance even when he plans on doing the offense again at his earliest convenience. This cleverness, and well, that cute little face is why he has made it to his ripe old age. Several times I have "had it" and created fliers with the title: Free Husky. It's then that he digs around in his bag of tricks and pulls out something endearing, and I throw them away. So last night Jack and my friend Josie took Cody to the emergency clinic at ten o' clock because he was whimpering and could only make left turns. He was a train wreck, as was I. I sat home fretting about him, assuming the worst, and grateful and sad all at the same time that I wasn't with them. So naturally, by the time they drove forty minutes to the vet, Cody appeared to be acting more normal. Doesn't that figure! They pretty much sent him home to be watched. That was definitely worth a hundred bucks! Today he's a little droopy, but able to move around ok. He probably just had a stroke. The funny thing about it is, that I don't know how many times that I've thought about killing him myself, or thinking that I would be fine without the bastage, but the reality is that he's still my baby. My wayward, evil baby, but he's a Murray, so I should expect this. Poor Jack got home at one thirty in the morning, which was just in time to get about an hour of sleep before his alarm went off. We've always joked about the fact that if something ever happened to Cody that we would definitely get a different type of dog, something easier, maybe even prone to obedience, but the funny thing is that we would just want another husky. He keeps us entertained for sure, and his eccentricities are what we love about him. Later. Much later. After we've cleaned up whatever mess, or bandaged up our wounds, then we can laugh. But we do, and many find great joy in the Cody stories. In fact, I wrote at least three different essays for a class about various Cody stories, and they were famous. I could write a book! In any case, I'm grateful that he's ok, and that we can continue to enjoy the golden years with him. The Lord only knows that we deserve it.

P.S. Don't you think he looks a wee bit annoyed with me? Sometimes that makes me happy!

Highway to Hell

This blog was inspired by my dear friend Rochelle who has this really creative shot of her son Thatcher sucking his thumb while sitting in his car seat, looking for all the world like he is pondering the nature of his existence. Due to the setup in my car, and the glare of the sun off of the rear view mirror, the picture of my car experience is neither creative nor is it existential in nature. I would go more with hair-pulling, migraine inducing misery. Just for perspective I have to explain that the school that I go to every day of the week is forty minutes away in Good Traffic. In the morning I am not in Good Traffic. It's more like an hour and a half when looking at the best case scenario. This equals at least forty five to fifty minutes of this sort of behavior. I've tried yelling, threats, bribery, swatting back at her while desperately keeping control of my sanity, and am currently working on the bored, unconcerned look since none of the others are working. I'm hoping that the adage regarding the concept that if you "ignore it, it will go away" has some truth to it. It's not like this sort of behavior is new or anything. She's just larger, as are her vocal cords. This has been going on since birth, which is why I think I'm so worn down. It's got to get better right?

Nascar Cup Race

Wow! My first NASCAR experience was quite interesting! So here's what I thought would happen... I thought that we'd get there, maybe meet up with Jack's work com padres, chit chat, watch the race, and come home. Let me start by saying that I had intentions of wearing my black flip flops with my black capris, but I couldn't find them right off, and Jack was getting antsy to go, so I put on my three inch little mary jane heels so that I wouldn't have to change my whole outfit. I figured that I could handle them for eight hours at work with no problem, and I'd probably be sitting most of the time anyway, so I'd be fine. I probably should have clarified my little fantasy with Jack. What really happened was that we parked in a gravel/dirt parking lot, walked maybe a quarter mile to the track, trucked maybe another mile to a tram, took the tram through the miles and miles of trailers and motor homes that had been camping there all week, then backtracked on foot about half a mile on gravel/dirt, just to meet the guy that had our tickets. Interestingly enough, this guy had just cooked a whole pig. It still had its eyes and little teeth and everything... I'm sure it was good, but with just getting over the flu, and walking miles in the heat in heels, I was a little paranoid about meat that had been sitting out. Especially since I hadn't had any solid food yet.

After we got our tickets, things more or less went by plan. We met up with Jacks com padres, saw lots of crazy drunken rednecks, and plenty of weirdos. I did take a few shots for memory sake. The drunken redneck that entertained me during the whole race is actually holding his Budweiser can in this shot. How appropriate! And the weirdo? You just have to check out those pants and the low cut boots to figure out why I thought he was so incredibly cool! The pants actually had white pinstripes! Awesome! On the way in I got to go check out the Budweiser Clydesdale horses. They are so cool! When we went to Seaworld we got to see them because they have a beer garden, a stable, and a pasture area. Sydney was on watch with security because she had ducked under the ropes and ran into their off-limits stable area to see more "horsies". Typical.

The race itself was pretty cool. Much better in person than on tv. I didn't realize how quick the pit stops were! By the time I figured out who went out, they already had gas and four new tires. It kinda pisses me off considering how long it takes me to get just one replaced! Afterward, we waited for everyone to clear out a little, and then we went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse with everyone else. The only thing that still mystifies me is how that many people could afford to make a weekend of this so often! Alot of these people travel all over following the races and go to all three of them over the weekend. We didn't have to pay for our tickets, but they would have been over a hundred a piece, plus many people rented these headsets to hear the announcers and drivers which were fifty bucks for the day, not to mention the food, and however much for camping! And obviously they like lots, and lots, and lots of beer. I need to figure out their secret...

Montezuma's Revenge

Sometimes life really sucks. I'm actually supposed to be at work right now which is probably better than being where I am now, which is slumped over the keyboard trying not to vomit, but knowing that it's more likely that I'll be sitting on the toilet while desperately clutching a separate porcelain bowl on my lap. I'm not sure if I was clear enough, life sucks. Earlier I was thinking that at least if I wasn't working and didn't feel up to doing household projects, that I could at least do some homework. This would have been an excellent quiet time activity if I was capable of sitting upright for long. Every time I would try my body would object, "Don't try it b*$#^, or I will revolt!" And then it would. I knew this would happen, and told myself to prepare for it since I did spend part of my week scrubbing vomit off the floor. Whatever. Jack's biggest concern is that I feel well enough to go and enjoy NASCAR at the Phoenix Raceway tomorrow. I'm not a big fan, but I thought that I might get some good entertainment from all the drunken rednecks. We will see!



So last night was a fun girls night! We had pizza with Marli and her girls, and then I proceeded to do pedicures for six people. I've discovered that I have a talent for the designs that people like. I do a great french, and can do all of the little flowers and stuff. In fact, I was requested to spread my wings a little, and put a fire breathing dragon on Baileigh's toes. It turned out interesting...It was fun though, and I managed to get some of them together for a shot since a couple had fallen asleep!

Check out my Slide Show!

The first GINORMOUS post

Okay, so I'm going to start off this blog with a bang! For those of course, that may need a little catching up on the events and pictures that I haven't been good about sending to anyone. Sorry about that! This can be my repentance, it's certainly a pain in the rear, but I think it will be totally worth it! I'm excited to be able to include everyone back home and elsewhere in my daily life again. Thank you Rochelle for hooking me up with this!

Anyway, over the summer we went to SeaWorld a couple of times and spent some time with Auntie Lois, Uncle, Rodney, and Cousin Amanda while we were there. They were kind enough to let us invade their quiet, previously clean, home while we played. Uncle Shawn, Aunt Abby, Chase and Cole now live in Carlesbad which is just north of San Diego on the coast. We always have a great time with them!


The first day of school was quite an event. They were registered for a new charter school that was being built. Unfortunately they figured out that the building was not going to be done, so they ordered some new portables to make a temporary site. This would not have been a big deal if it had gone smoothly. Naturally it didn't and they ended up starting three weeks late! It made it crazy because then I had to find places for them to go while I went to school. It was totally worth it though because it is a great school and the kids are really happy.

My dad came to town for about four days a couple of weeks ago for my birthday. It was awesome that he came! We didn't do anything terribly exciting. We just hung out and showed him all that was best in Arizona at this time of year like eating on the patio at restaurants without a jacket while still maintaining a comfortable body temperature, golfing, In-N-Out Burgers, and we went to the Rainforest cafe for my birthday. Also it was fun to have at least one of my movie buddies here for awhile.

Elaine came into town the Friday before Dad left and we all met at Z Tejas for some libations and I thought that would be the only chance I'd get to see her since she had plans for shopping, spa, and clubbing with her sister, the friend that came with them, and the friend from here. Not what happened. She called me on Saturday night miserable because her friend from here was a moron and they didn't end up doing much. So my friend Marli and I went and picked her up that night. Sunday morning we did hair, went to AJ's and had breakfast on the patio and to the Phoenix zoo. While her companions were still seeking some fun while trudging through Scottsdale, Elaine was on a camel with the girls!

It was unexpected, but totally awesome that we got to spend extra time with her!

So Halloween went off pretty good! Melanie was Ariel, Sydney was Snow White, and Punkin was a Cheetah. (cute, but fast and vicious) The worst part of the whole thing was that I bought like ten pounds of candy to hand out not realizing that we would be trick or treating for so long, and then because we were trick or treating for so long, we brought back at least ten more pounds of candy. I can feel my ass growing as I type.

By the end of the night Sydney was crying and begging to go home, swearing that she never wanted to trick or treat again! Of course, this was when Alicia was just getting started! She was really shy and hanging on to Marli and would freak out about all the scary costumes when we could actually get her to go to the door. But by the end, she was running from place to place once she realized that the scary people would give her candy! Maybe not the greatest message that I would have liked her to take from the experience, but it saved all our backs from having to carry her! I have to include a picture of her and Marli just for future blackmail purposes because she happened to be looking for a whole different kind of treat! All in all, we had a great time!