Do I Sound Like Chuck?

This afternoon.....

Phone rings, I pick it up, "hello?"

Dude on the other end: "Is this Chuck?"

Me in my head: really?????

Me to the Dude: "um, ...... no."

Dude: "Ok."

Coconut Pits

I've been kicking this blog post around in my head for awhile, wondering if I should write it, wondering if the Internet really needs to know. "Know what?," you ask. That for the last three weeks I've been using coconut oil and baking soda on my underarms instead of deodorant. See, you shouldn't have asked and you didn't really need to know, but I've decided to tell you anyway. Why? Because, oh my goodness, it actually works. I read about using coconut oil as a deodorant on Green as a Thistle. I've also read the accounts of several people who use baking soda straight up, but I couldn't imagine dabbing on baking soda right after shaving (ouch). So when a commenter to Green as a Thistle recommended using the coconut oil and then a little baking soda, I decided I'd give it a whirl. And I've been walking around for the last three weeks sniffing my pits (discreetly of course). It works. Now, I'm not saying you won't sweat, because you will. This is not a formula for do-it-yourself antiperspirant. However, you don't stink, and I consider this the primary purpose of deodorant type things. I have even checked with Moses to make sure my olfactory assessment is correct. (I believe that asking your husband to take a whiff and check for body odor is No. 2 on the list of "Top 8 Ways to Test Your Husband's Eternal Devotion" where No. 1 is the age old, "does this make me look fat?"; No. 3 is hogging the X-box so you can watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer thus preventing your husband from playing Left 4 Dead--which is supposedly the purpose of the X-box; No. 4 is keeping up a low-level but persistent campaign for backyard chickens; No. 5 is denying him the last cup of coffee in the pot when you've already had a cup, he's had none, and you could, in theory, make more; No. 6 is asking him "can I have that?" in reference to the shiny new travel coffee mug he just bought for the express purpose of conveying his coffee from home to work (when you work at home and could just use the ceramic cup); No. 7 is asking him every other week, "do you think we should get a dog?" when you know he'll say "no, but do what you want" and you yourself have not yet really decided if you want a dog; and No. 8 is making him tell you the name of every guy in high school who liked you (which turns out to be wildly entertaining--if you went to high school with your husband I highly recommend this.))
And now that I've discovered the miracle that is odor control you can eat, I feel the need to share with the world. Especially that long haired hippie dude who was sitting next to me at Star Trek the other night. (Not Moses. Moses was on the other side and just shaved his head a couple of weeks ago). If ever there was a need for a little coconut oil and baking soda, that was it. Or a shower. Ideally, a shower then some coconut oil and maybe a lot of baking soda.

Mother's Day Weekend

My guys definitely took care of me this weekend. Saturday I headed down to the Verde Valley where I had a delightful pre-Mother's Day lunch with my mom and grandma--because you can gossip with the women who raised you like you can gossip with no one else. Saturday evening we got a call from our friends the Wallaces who were getting ready to head on an impromptu journey down Schnebly Hill Road (a winding dirt road that goes from the top of the Rim down to Sedona). We thought that sounded good and joined in. We had a picnic dinner about halfway down, overlooking Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. We headed the rest of the was down and then took the switchbacks home where children were appeased with ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Oak Creek Canyon. We sat outside to chit chat, pick on Moses, and let our kids run around like hooligans. Something about sitting outside at night, when it's warm, always brings out the hooligans....and the picking on Moses.
On Sunday, Moses made a me a fantastic breakfast including homemade cafe mocha (delicious), and there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me that Garion had picked out on his own (they were purple and lovely). Garion and Moses gave me two aspen trees for our yard as a Mother's Day gift. My favorite is now behind the kitchen window and will nicely block out the view of my neighbor's kitchen window when it leafs-out. I can hardly wait. After that, we headed out for an adventure to the end of Woody Mountain Road where we spent the afternoon enjoying the view and putzing around.

I took this photo (to the left) of Garion after which he asked me, "Mom, did you get my orange shorts?" Nope. Re-take:
Aren't you glad we captured the orange shorts? I mean, really, would your day be complete without this stunning image of fashion genius?
And last but not least, a photo of Moses and Garion trying to give me a heart attack: