Still Here!

I'm back to beginning every blog post with "I know it's been a while....." I'm just going to accept that. Life around the holidays is crazy, crazy, busy and I am exhausted. I liked them better when other people did the work and all I had to do was wake up and find out what Santa brought me. I'm actually looking forward to Monday because I think things will settle down a little and Garion will be back in school. But! Today I'm going to take 5 minutes for a little 2009 reflection. I like listing all the great things that happened the previous year, especially the things that I did for the first time. I don't think I've ever dumped that into a blog post before, but it seems appropriate--another first for 2009.

This year I:
-Smote the olive green walls in my bedroom and now have a lovely buttery cream color that doesn't make me feel sea sick every morning.
-Smote the 80's-awful wallpaper in my entry-way and the pepto pink wall in my living room and painted the whole thing a nice caramel-y color...mmmmm......caramel......
-Painted the living room WITHOUT TAPING. Yes, I did it free hand. And it looks GREAT! It's like I've had this super power locked up inside me all these years and I never knew.
-Went to Australia! By far, the highlight of 2009. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the thought that I actually made it to the other side of the world. In Australia I also tried meat pies for the first time, saw weird (to me) animals, smacked into people while walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk, stairs, escalator, etc. and saw so many beautiful things I'd never seen before that I can't possibly list them all. And also, they have Minties there, which I just adore, but I think I've mentioned that before.
-Managed to go camping...twice. Hmm. Not as many times as I would have liked but both times were with close friends and were great weekends.
-Bought a canoe! So much fun. Except that now it's so cold outside that I'm having trouble remembering what it feels like to be warm enough to think that taking a canoe out on the water is a good idea.
-Fully recovered from a stupid back injury. I am so grateful for this--I don't seem to have any lingering problems and I am just so glad that I can still do all the things I love to do. Also, I found out that my husband is good at housekeeping and just wasn't letting on.
-Did lots of fantastic hiking and trail running and I DID NOT FALL!
-Enjoyed my job security--I know a lot of people who didn't have this last year and it makes me even more grateful for mine.
-Marveled at Garion's leaps in bounds (the boy is 7 and reads chapter books--freak of nature that one).
-Thoroughly enjoyed Garion's first appearance in a Christmas pageant--he was a detective shepherd and was brilliant.
-Made my first peach pie--an unmitigated disaster.

This year, I did not:
-Make to the top of Mt. Humphrey's, again. sigh.
-Complete any of the runs I signed up for. At least the money from the entry fees goes to charity, right?
-See the Great Barrier Reef when it was actually within shooting range. Huge mistake. If you go to Australia, go to the Great Barrier Reef, for crying out loud.
-Cry on Garion's last day of kindergarten (but it was close), or cry on the first day of first day of first grade. I did get a little teary when, a couple of weeks ago, he left a note on my pillow that said, "I love you mom."

Plans for 2010:*
-Grow out my hair. I AM doing it this time. Really. It's time for a change and I just need to muscle through the the year of grow-out. This year is the year. It IS!
-Eat real food, as in only eat things with ingredients I can pronounce. No more fake creamer in my coffee
-Learn how to make pie. I love pie. Why do I not know how to make one?
-Smite more ugly wallpaper.
-Make it to the top of Mt. Humphrey's, damn it.

* Bonus material:
Moses's Plans for 2010:
-Install the woodstove.
-Take his wife somewhere nice and warm for their 10th anniversary.

Thankful

I've just about made it through the completely crazy chaos that is November in this family: four birthdays followed in quick succession by Thanksgiving. The run up started with my brother's birthday on the 11th (sushi dinner); followed by my Grandpa Jack's 80th for which I (unintentionally) made him probably the worst peach pie ever; Garion's birthday with my family, my sister-in-law, father-in-law, and new baby niece; followed by my birthday the next day (sushi dinner again). On to Thanksgiving which has meant three separate groups of company at our house for various time periods starting last week up through last night. My brother and sister in-law from Seattle came down with their two girls and another sister and brother-in-law came in from North Dakota. We also had Moses's parents (who live in the middle of nowhere about 45 minutes away) and our college-aged niece who lives in town. *Side Note: I swear I should not be old enough to have a college-aged niece. Actually, the really scary thing is that Moses's siblings are so spread out in age that I actually have a nephew who will turn 30 this year, but I just don't think about that because it's too weird. *
I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic feast, the turkey came out perfect, Moses and I were organized AND! did not bite each other's heads off. There were no major arguments or, even more unbelievably, any kid melt-downs (baby excluded). We totally won the Thanksgiving lottery.
Tomorrow, we'll have breakfast with my dad and on Saturday we'll visit my mom's brother.
Whew. I feel like there ought to be some kind of finisher's medal for making it to the end of this year's November. But....I'm grateful for all of it. For my brother, who makes me laugh. For my Grandpa who is smart and meticulous and who taught me how to drive a stick and be careful with my money. For my baby boy who I cannot believe is already 7 and who has so many ideas firing through his head he can barely talk fast enough to tell me all of them. And for the 34 years I've been given so far on this earth and everything those 34 years have brought me. And for my husband and his family who are so different from the family I grew up with but whom I wouldn't trade for anything. And for my family, that I did grow up with, who shaped who I am and how I walk in this world. And finally, I'm grateful for this little bit of quiet time that I have before the the last few crazy days of November.

Derailed

I was rolling along really well today--in the groove, gettin' junk done, and just generally chugging away and being an all around productive employee. Then I popped over to "Whatever" for a minute where I encountered this (takes a little time to load):



I was completely derailed for the rest of the day. Does that ever happen to you? You hear a new song and there's just something about it that sucks you in and implants itself directly onto your neural synapses and you're bopping up and down and kind of wishing that you were out running with the ipod because at least you'd be moving? This song will be replaying itself on in my mental jukebox over and over for a least a week. I don't even really know what it's about-- chickadees, archery, and if I'm not mistaken, something about a lifeguard all in the same verse or so. This afternoon I'm a little bit in love with Weezer. Track suits not withstanding. And hey, it's not country, so, you know, progress.

**11/04/09 update: as suspected, an excellent running song

khooooohhhh, khoooohhhh

That there is the Darth Vader breathing sound, in case it's not obvious. I'm happy to report that this household successfully survived the flu and is pretty much on the mend. I'm fairly certain Garion and I had H1N1 since everybody I've talked to says if you got the flu in October you had H1N1. And also, I was sicker than I have been in many, many years; I had a fever for 4 days. That is pretty much unheard of in history of me and my kick-ass immune system. And Garion missed an entire week of school. So, I'm willing to grudgingly admit we caught a new virus. And really, I feel so trendy. Clearly H1N1 is the thing to have this fall. I'm just grateful that in the grand scheme of things, we had relatively minor cases.

Oh, yeah Darth Vader. Garion's going to be Darth Vader for Halloween. He tried his costume on yesterday and the first thing he he did was come up to me and hold out his hand in the force/choke hold thing Darth Vader does to keep his minions in line. I'm not kidding, that was FIRST THING. As in, "hmmmm, I am now dressed like a preeminent agent of evil....I think I will try using the force of my mind to strangle my mother." I played along and pretended to suffocate (I don't know-is that good parenting?) and Garion laughed hysterically. On the one hand, I love watching him play dress-up and he is clearly excited about his costume. On the other...he tried to strangle me! We might have to have a post-Halloween debrief just to make sure that the lines of morality are once again clearly delineated after the holiday.

Reinforcements!

My friend Anne came over this morning bearing popsicles, a Jeff Corwin video, and pictures for Garion that her son drew. Saved! The wrapper theory proved correct--Garion immediately sucked down a strawberry popsicle and I am feeling much better about the state of his stomach. I think there is some DNA-level evolutionary impulse in every mother that starts beating out "child must eat . . . child must eat. . . child must eat" every time they go for more than about three hours without measurable caloric intake. Garion said the popsicle made his throat feel better so he'll probably be living off popsicles for the rest of the day and I am just fine with that.
Garion is sorting through the pictures from his friend right now and giggling. There is one in there titled "President Peanut" that looks like a cross between a cat and the Incredible Hulk--I have no idea what it is but apparently Garion gets the joke. My favorite is the one titled "P.J. Elkdorf" --again I'm a little murky on the visual but the title cracks me up.
Garion's doing better this morning, his fever is a little lower (although still hanging out around 100) and he's perkier than yesterday (thus the giggling). I'm guessing we'll have one more day at home tomorrow and Garion will be back at school on Wednesday. Garion's school requires a kid to be fever-free for 24 hours before sending them back...I strongly suspect that not all parents follow this, but I am nothing if not a rule-follower. I am so grateful to Anne and also to everybody else who offered assistance: my parents (who live in Camp Verde-that would have been a long drive for popsicles) and Moses's boss who offered to pick-up medicine or whatever else we might need. How great is that?

The Ick

My friend Stacy frequently posts that whenever her husband leaves town, bad stuff happens. Ditto that. Must be part of Murphey's law. But only for moms. Moses is presently at a conference of geologists in Portland and will be off conferencing with other people who care about rocks until Thursday. At Garion's suggestion, we headed to the Grand Canyon yesterday and had a great time futzing around and looking at....rocks. Anyway, Garion crashed in the car on the way back. I assumed this was a typical bad wake-up from a middle of the day nap but he went to bed insisting that he was sick. He woke-up this morning with a sore throat and temperature and had been wilting in various places around the house (couch, floor, back porch couch) for the rest of today. The only thing I've managed to get him to eat was an english muffin this morning. I am therefore finding that most frustrating part about this is whole situation that we cannot go to the grocery store and I therefore cannot buy popsicles, which I think is probably the only thing I could convince him to eat. I could try making popsicles with juice, but nothing is so enticing to a kid as food you normally don't let him have that comes in a wrapper. I suspect he would take one look at the homemade popsicle and promptly return to disinterested wilting. The wrapper is critical. I'm hoping that tomorrow ice-y orange juice will appeal to him.
On a lesser note, all my favorite technology chose to kick the bucket today: my laptop battery has died (I am therefore rendered less mobile, although my desktop works just fine) and for some mysterious reason my cell phone will not call out, everything else works on it, but not the part where can, you know, CALL PEOPLE. We have a land line, so it's not like I'm cut off from the world but seriously, what gives?

Friday Photo

I was feeling a little bad about not sharing the toothless grin, so thought I'd better toss that up here today. That's our friend Chris in the background on the left and Chris's brother, Peter, on the right. The photo was taken on our killer Saturday morning hike while camping last week. (We walked about a 1/2 mile up hill and started losing children left and right. We hauled them up another 1/2 mile and then turned around). Hey, look! A lost teeth and camping photo, all in one!

Home

Kind of looks like "writing everyday" is quickly descending into "writing when the stars align." I should probably tell you about the great camping trip we had last weekend (it was great, the weather was nice, the company was awesome, and we sang songs around the campfire) or how we purchased a mosaic from Moses's stepmom that I am very, very excited about because it is beautiful, or how Garion has now lost both of his upper front teeth and it is super-cute. (When he lost the second tooth last week, he wanted me to call the dentist.)
But, instead I'm going to impart my more recent observations about Flagstaff, a town that a year and half on I am still loving (until it snows again and then I retract that statement.) Partly this post was inspired by the above picture, which I randomly found on my camera memory card while importing photos of the camping trip. It's a batch of home brew conjured up by my husband who is presently sporting the "lumberjack" look. Yes, that's right: Moses has grown a beard and is drinking beer. And not just drinking beer mind you, brewing beer. And brewing it well.
And I'm thinking that these are sure signs we've gone native. Or gone back to native (seeing as we are actually from here to begin with). And then I started thinking about all the other quirks of this place and how you know when you belong here:
-You start drinking beer and enjoying it. I think this must be a function the altitude--maybe it goes with the country music?
-You think hiking boots and flannel are chic and appropriate for all occasions.
-"Designer" brands are Patagonia and The North Face.
-Every cute guy you see, including your husband, has a beard.
-You see it's 35 freaking degrees outside and think "oh, good, I don't need the long running pants yet."
-You know its summer because you can wear the cotton sweater instead of the wool one.
-You know you're home because you can spell the pine trees.
-You hear awesome live bluegrass at the local brewery (where you are indulging your new-found beer habit) and watch some chick in a little running skirt and trail shoes (chic) dance with an old hippie dude who sports a flannel shirt and a beard that goes half way to his waist (cute).
-You feel really, really bad for people who have to live in Phoenix.
-You finally figure out the guy at "Late for the Train" looks so familiar because he's also the guy at "Babbitt's" and possibly was at Christmas dinner last year at your sister-in-law's parents' house.
-You are happy that your house is still 65 degrees at night and you haven't had to turn on the heat yet (going to try to make to Nov. 1st before turning on the furnance).
-You go woodcutting. You think this is fun.
-If you grew up here, you constantly see people you went to high school with and some times you really have to psych yourself up to leave the house because you know chances are good you're going to run into them.
-You have to buy cute boots to cope with winter. And then knee-high socks to wear with the boots.
-Your husband approves of the cute boots because he thinks they're kind of hot (and really what is up with that? What in the world does he think I'm going to wear them with?)

Probably Best not to Ask Why

Me (after noticing a prolonged period of silence after the shower stopped): Garion, are you putting on your pajamas?
Garion: Oops- I forgot! Thanks!

Better Now, Must be the Boots

The boots are really, really cute--I might have to wear them today even though it's going to be 70 degrees.

But really, after yesterday's rant, things are looking up. I managed to get laundry folded and put away, Friday dinner made, and clothes packed for camping last night. Moses cleaned the kitchen (I am embarrassed to tell you how big a job that was, but it was big), found the camping equipment, and packed the camping equipment. We fed our dinner guest leftovers. The bathrooms probably won't be clean before we go, but I will live. All in all, much better today.

And also, look, I did it!:

Registration:	Kerry ********			Quantity:1
	P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona - Full Marathon
	#526: 2010-Elite Racing Session
	Class:	1	Course Time Limit:	7:20
	Days:	Sun
	Starts:	01-17-2010 7:40AM-3:00PM
	Ends:	01-17-2010 7:40AM-3:00PM
	Location:	Full Marathon Start Line, P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marat

I'm a little concerned about that "2010 Elite Racing Session" part--what does that mean? I put my estimated finish time in at 5:00 hours--pretty slow. Or at least I think I typed 5 hours. Watch, I'll be lining up with the Kenyans...that's not going to do a lot for my self esteem come race day.

Chaos

Things are hectic and I hate hectic. Really, really hate it. But I'm trying to stick to writing everyday, so I'm dashing off this quick post on how much I hate it when life is hectic. We're camping this weekend and the house is a disaster. So before we go, I would really like to:
-pick up
-clean the bathrooms
-put the laundry away
-clean the kitchen,
and I need to:
-make Friday dinner
-go grocery shopping
-find the camping equipment
-pack the camping equipment
-pack clothes.
But between now and camping, Garion has a dentist appointment and an open house at school and apparently we're having unexpected company for dinner tonight and nothing to eat but leftovers (and the house is a disaster). I'll also need to take time off work for the dentist and leaving early on Friday, which means I'll be behind at work, again, even though I haven't really caught up from being gone a couple of weeks ago and I also took on 4 extra-ugly case assignments this week. Argh.
On the up side, my new boots arrived today and they are super cute.

26.2: Thinking and Thinking and Thinking

I'm still thinking about doing a full marathon this year, but am having a hard time pushing myself over the first mental hurdle of signing up. September has been a training-free month for me; I've been running but not with a specific goal in mind and nothing terribly long. It's been kind of nice, but I'm not sure how well I'll keep it up without some sort of feat of athletic endurance on the horizon. And so today, I randomly came across a couple of things that make me think I should probably just take the leap:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
(To me, this does not sound sarcastic enough to really be Mark Twain, but I suppose that when you are discerning the metaphorical tea leaves of your life and seeking guidance from the Great Out There, as well as the random crap you read on the Internet, you can't be overly picky).

And:
Inaction is the surest path to failure. You cannot succeed if you never try.
grrrr. I know. But it's so much work.

The inherently lazy me is still thinking "that is such a long distance, that is so much training, I don't know if I can do it." And also, for the race I'm considering now, the longest run of the training schedule will be the day after Christmas, which seems like a not terribly auspicious time to run 20 (!) miles. At that time last year, there was something like two and half feet of snow on the ground. Although, on further thought, "longest run on the day after Christmas" could be moved to the "pro" column, considering Christmas is a little stressful and I usually eat a good amount of crap on Christmas day and a long run is a good cure for both of those ills, and a good excuse to ditch my family for a few hours (family, I love you!). And really, even if I can't finish a marathon, I will have lost nothing but some time and I can't really count that as a loss because I love cranking up my iPod and hitting the pavement, or treadmill, for some uninterrupted time to swim around in my own head. And also, it is possible that this will be something I'm only able to do for a limited time in my life; if I learned nothing else from breaking my back, I now know down to my bones that physical ability is a gift, and one you don't necessarily get to keep forever. (And also that sliding down an icy slope on a cheap piece of plastic crap is bad idea.) So, probably I should run while I can, and because I love to run, and because I feel better when I do, and to find out how far I can go because otherwise I will never know. But, dang, that is a really long way.

The Opposite of Attachment Parenting

We gave Garion a big boy bicycle, with training wheels, a couple of years ago for his birthday and of course had every intention of teaching him how to ride a two-wheeled bicycle. But we are busy people and it has seemed like we were either living in a place where there wasn't a lot of (safe) room to teach him to ride or the ground was buried under 3 feet of snow. Garion has recently made friends with a third-grade boy a few houses down who knows how to ride a bicycle, without training wheels, and the mastering of two-wheeled transportation has therefore become rather pressing. We did make one attempt a couple of months ago to take Garion to Buffalo Park to help him get the hang of two wheeled propulsion, but he was tired, somebody else was grouchy, and the whole thing was pretty much a bust. And the bicycle has sat in the garage, untouched, for two months (plus about 2 years).
Friday afternoon, after getting home from school, Garion said, "Mom, can I practice riding my bike?" Finally, we are living on both a non-busy street and one not currently buried in snow (yet). I said that he could practice but that I couldn't watch because I had some work things to finish up. He responded, "I know!", as is "duh, woman, that is the whole point." His friend from down the block was also out and riding his bike. Five minutes later, Garion came bursting in the door and said, "Mom, I did it! I can ride my bike!" I went out to watch and sure enough, he had it. Parental guidance, support, encouragement: completely, totally unnecessary. Toilet training and reading kind of worked the same way; pretty much nothing happened until Garion decided he was ready and then he just did it. So, I'm thinking that I now have official sanction to just coast, right? He's obviously brilliant, so I just feed him and water him for the next 12 years and he'll be good to go. Like a house plant, but more vocal.

Harry Potter and the Six Year Old Boy

After much begging, pleading, negotiating, and wheedling, Garion finally contrived a way to get me to approve viewing of Harry Potter movies. Here are the terms of our contract. He could not watch any of the Harry Potter movies until he had read the corresponding book and he had to start with book one. Further, he had to read some of the book himself (he read about 10% and I read about 90% to him--that's what happens when the parent gets sucked into the book as much as the kid). I also it made it abundantly clear that under no circumstances would we be reading past book three this year (too scary) and therefore he would not get to finish the Harry Potter books until he was older. This of course set off another round negotiations on how old is old enough to read the last books in the series; we have tabled these discussions for now. Finally, I told him he has to absolutely, positively quit asking me what happens in later books because I am not going to tell him, he'll find out when we get there.
He agreed to the above, and having finished book one, we are scheduled to watch the movie together tonight accompanied by a pizza dinner and beer (regular for me, root for Garion). I'm looking forward to it just as much as Garion is. My mom thinks the movies are too scary, but I already let the boy watch Star Wars about 10,000 times so the damage to his delicate psyche is probably already done--why start holding back now?
I've really, really enjoyed reading the books to Garion. Three cheers for books with plots! I love it when he laughs at the funny parts or says "cool!" when some new bit of magic gets introduced. I love going into his room in the morning to find him reading in bed because he wants to find out what happens next before going to school and I get a huge kick out of watching him play wands and spells and contemplating his latent wizard nature. And, I go all soft and gooey when he snuggles up to me and begs me to read more (which is every night without fail--weather I read 2 pages or 10, it is never enough) and gets that funny little puppy dog look. I know this time is so short and, tired as I am some nights, I know this is the time to soak it up and enjoy. Pretty soon he'll be reading to himself, thank you very much, Harry Potter will be old news and the last thing he'll want is for his mom to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight.

It's That Time of Year Again....

....where I start complaining about the cold. Temps are supposed to drop to 37 tonight and the leaves are already changing. I swear this happened practically overnight. I went to Coronado Island last week (where the weather was gorgeous and my mom and I had a great time, except for the part where I saw an 80 year old dude in a g-string at the beach--dude, after a certain point the world just does not need to see what you want to share), and when I came back....bang!, it was fall. I am not ready. I was cheated. Summer was particularly short this year: it didn't even start to get warm until late June, there was only one three-week run where I even considered wearing shorts everyday, then we went to Australia, where it was the dead of winter (I know, totally mine own fault), and now it's cold. It it won't warm up again until JUNE. Do you know how far away June is? REALLY FAR. And things are going to get way worse before they start to get better. I am going to have to buy some really cute boots to cope. Last year, I refrained from buying anything more that snow boots, but it's time to face reality; I am now mountain girl, no longer desert girl, and I'll be wearing that cute pair of boots way more than all my cute pairs of sandals put together (which will now probably last me the rest of my life because I hardly get to wear them). Cute boots will make it all better. I know they will.
***
I'm thinking about trying to post everyday for awhile, just to see what happens so you'll be seeing a lot of stupid posts like this. I'm something brilliant will bubble to the top with the junk. We'll see.

This and That

Look! I grew tomatoes in Flagstaff! To the left is tonight's harvest. We've gotten about 4 similar sized handfuls before this. After last year's nearly complete tomato bust, I am feeling particularly pleased about these little suckers. I think that the plant is on it's last legs though. I suspect we will get one or two more handfuls and then it will be time for a trip to great compost heap of reincarnation.
On a somewhat related, and by "somewhat" I think what I'm really trying to say is "remotely," that lovely, blurry picture was snapped with my new iPhone. I totally completely caved to iPhone-itis, broke down, and bought the stupid thing. I am such a sucker for sleek design and general nifty-ness. And, although I recognize, acknowledge, and am mildly ashamed by my gullibility to the marketing tactics of the corporate machine--I am completely smitten with it! I can hardly put it down. I might have to have it implanted directly into my brain. Except that then I couldn't gaze at its loveliness, so I will refrain. Needless to say, Moses has had to roll his eyes so much over it that probably I will have take him to a surgeon tomorrow to have his eyes pried out of the back of his head. But I DON'T CARE. It is worth it.
Finally, and completely unrelated to anything else at all, I am not doing the Imogene Pass Run this year because it conflicts with the annual staff attorney conference. As I typed that sentence, I thought, "that looks like just about the lamest thing ever." I'm not that lame! I'm really not! It's not like I'm going to the conference just because Erwin Chemerinsky--constitutional law rock star--will be presenting the constitutional law review and I expect there to be a completely hot discussion on the implications of the Iqbal case just issued by the Supremes last spring! Seriously, why would you even think that? The conference is at Coronado Island, land of beautiful beaches. My mom's going to come with me and we're going to have a girls' weekend after the conference is over. And given the choice between "crazy mountain foot race at vomit-inducing high altitude" and "lounging at the beach with a good book," wouldn't you pick the beach too? Also, I haven't seen any of my co-workers or my supervisor since May, and it might be good to remind them that I'm still alive. On the other hand, not going to Imogene is a huge let down after the training I've been doing this summer so I'm shopping around for another race to gear up for. I'm thinking about the Tucson Marathon. The full thing this time. It's in December which would give me 16 weeks to train if I start next week. I'm having a hard time deciding though--26.2 miles just seems like a really, really long distance to run. And then there's all that training running that you have to do before doing the actual racing running. And a December race means that I'll be doing a lot of that training running in some pretty nippy weather up here and possibly even snow. So I'll have to stew on that a bit.....stay tuned.

That's Why I Get Paid the Big Bucks

Garion: Mom, are you a muggle?
Me: Probably
Garion: Well, I think I'm either a wizard or a Jedi Knight.
Me: Maybe both.
Garion: I never thought of that!

First Day of First Grade

Today was Garion's first day of first grade. Time continues to fly I continue to be amazed at how quickly--look at my baby! Garion started a new school today; last spring I/we decided to switch him to the local Catholic school. Garion, of course was reluctant to move to a new school and I've spent pretty much the whole summer questioning that decision. I want Garion to have the best education possible, and the public school he was at was one of the best in Flagstaff, but the recent budget woes and few other factors led me to the doorstep of parochial school. Garion was happy at the public school and I've been feeling like the world's meanest mom for moving him and not sure it would be worth it. Much to my relief, the first thing Garion told me when I picked him up this afternoon was, "Mom, you were right about the teacher!" (I kept telling him that I was moving him because I thought the first grade teacher would be really good and he'd learn lots of new things). Thank goodness. He seems to be excited about being back to school and told me that he made a friend today. I think Garion might be a little more resliant than I give him credit for and I think it's going to be okay. Whew.

Back

I realize it's been quite some time, a near eternity in fact, since I last posted. The summer just turned out to be crazy, crazy busy and I just didn't have the blogging bug in me. To be perfectly honest, I'm not really feeling it now, but I'm hoping that if I start writing again, the juices will flow, and I'll get my groove back.

We've just returned from a two-week adventure to Australia. We had originally planned this journey for December, but then started pricing plane tickets. Turns out, it's way, way cheaper to go in July, when it's winter Down Under--so much cheaper that we did the whole trip for what the plane tickets alone would have cost in December. Hard to argue with that kind of math: we checked our calendars, figured two weeks of vacation was good enough, and off we went!

The flight from LA to Sydney is 15 hours, but the way the time zones work, you lose a whole day. So we left LA at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16th, were on the plane for 15 hours (ugh--I think long distance running is good training for long-haul travel, you just try not to think about how miserable you are and make it through) and landed in Sydney at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 18th. Totally skipped July 17th. Can't say that I really missed it though--probably because it's not my birthday. When we got to Sydney, Garion kept saying "is this real? are we really in Australia?" And I have to say, I completely agreed. There's something weird about ensconcing your self in a metal tube for 15 hours and then magically coming out on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. Discombobulated is the best way to describe my state of mind upon stepping off the plane: the sun was in the wrong part of the sky, it was winter--but still July, Saturday, but felt like Thursday, and people drive on the left side of the street, which is totally disconcerting until you get the hang of it. We crossed streets very, very carefully for a few days.

We spent the first week and Tasmania where we visited some good friends that we met when Moses was in graduate school. As an added bonus, another friend from Moses' graduate program was also there, so we had a little UofA planetary reunion. Tasmania is cool and wet, very similar to the pacific northwest, and very beautiful. I'd love to go back in the summer and really spend sometime hiking and backpacking there. Some incredibly large percentage of Tassie (everything in Australia has a nickname) is set aside as National Park or World Heritage land. In fact, the whole southwestern chunk of Tassie is completely uninhabited.

My favorite part of Tassie and the highlight of our whole trip was the night we headed to the beach after dark (because it's winter there, this was maybe 5:30 p.m.). At this beach, if you are relatively quiet, you can watch Fairy Penguins come in from the water to their nests on the beach. Our group consisted of four adults and four kids under the age of 6, so "quiet" was a little hard to achieve. We saw them though, and it was amazing. I so wish that I had a picture to share but, obviously, it was dark.

Our second week was spent in Sydney, where we discovered that we are not really so much cut out for big city life. Keeping track of Garion (who refused to hold hands) was exhausting and we ended up spending a lot of time at the beach. We enjoyed the city nonetheless and I can say that we've really BEEN to Sydney. The Opera House is beautiful, but I think like any iconic building, smaller in real life than you think it's going to be. Sydney was a little warmer than Tasmania and I imagine that in the summer the beaches there must be fantastic.

The trip home was tortuous. We had an August 2nd that was about 48 hours long. Jet lag hasn't been too bad though and it is oh so nice to be home!

Here's a link for photos of our trip.

Snif. Snif

I just got back from dropping Garion off at the bus stop for his last day of kindergarten. I cannot believe how fast this year went and how much he's learned and how much he's grown. This is all going too fast--somebody make it slow down! I have some pictures from kindergarten graduation to share, but not enough time to post them this morning--they'll be up soon.

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:

A Whole New Genre Yet to be Explored

I have read Austen. I have read the Brontes. Never in my wildest dreams did this ever cross my mind:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, that would be Austen AND zombies.

This being my year of vampires and other freaks in literature, I will of course be reading "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." In fact, I am giddy with anticipation.

Baboons

Sigh. Garion came home last week with an assignment to choose his favorite African animal, write a report about the animal, create some kind of visual aid such as a diorama or collage featuring the animal, and prepare an oral presentation on the animal. The kid is in KINDERGARTEN, for crying out loud. Of course what all of this really means is that I had a ton of homework this week as I tried to lead Garion by nose through through the intricacies of academic research and writing. Since we were out of town last weekend, we were left with four nights to put this little project together. Garion chose baboons as his animal (narrowed down from "monkeys") and we spent Monday through Wednesday nights on research and "writing." Writing meaning that I fed Garion information, asked him a very pointed question about said information, and tried to get him to answer in a complete sentence, which I then wrote down, and he (laboriously) typed onto the computer. Example:
Me: oh, it says here that baboons eat grass, roots, seeds, and berries, a few shellfish, birds, and hares. So....what do baboons eat?
Garion: ummmmm.....what's a hare?
Me: a rabbit..but they only eat a few of those. Do you think they eat mostly grass, roots, and seeds?
Garion: I guess
Me: ok, so should we say 'Baboons east mostly grass, roots, seeds and berries'?
Garion: what can I have for dessert tonight?
And on and on and on.
Then, we (meaning me) had to come up with the visual. I thought, ok, cool we'll do a collage. We finish the report and I realize, much to my chagrin, that we don't really have any pictures of baboons just hanging around the house. Argh. Had I been thinking ahead I could have bullied Garion into choosing a giraffe for his animal and we could have plundered that issue of the Smithsonian that was sitting right there on our living room table, mocking me with its easy accessibility and gorgeous photos of giraffes in all their glory. But, alas I did not think ahead and it was way to late to start the report over again. So today at I lunch I headed down to Bookman's and embarked on a slow an tortuous perusal of National Geographics for the last 30 years, praying that someone working for the magazine had a sometime saw fit to profile baboons. And, praise God!, I found one from 1987. Good enough. As I sit here now, the report is finished and printed, the collage is drying on the kitchen counter, and Garion did one read through of his oral report. And I need a drink.

In Which I Confess a Newfound Affinity for Country Music

Last weekend my little family and I sojourned down to Tucson to help my grandmother celebrate her 80th birthday. We had a nice visit with my family and Moses's sister and hit a couple of our favorite spots in Tucson: Blue Willow for breakfast and Sabino Canyon for a Saturday morning stretch of the legs. Sabino turned out to be a bust because the boy was sleep-deprived, cranky, and not in the mood for walking (I'm talking about Garion here, although the description applies to Moses too except that Moses was in the mood for walking, so we had a nice little scene on the Sabino Canyon trail). Anyway, as we were driving around Tucson, we had the sense that Tucson is huge. It seemed like we drove, and drove, and drove, and we were still in the city. I mean, really, we drove for twenty minutes to get from our hotel to the restaurant. As Moses pointed out, if we drove twenty minutes from our house in Flagstaff, we'd be halfway to his dad's place, which is out in BFE. I also found myself thoroughly enjoying the temperatures, which were in the mid-60's in the morning and I accordingly took my sweater off. At which Moses fainted with shock and declared the end of the world because hell must have just frozen over. "You're not warm are you?" he said. To which I replied, "no, of course not." But the fact of the matter is, it appears that after a year in Flagstaff I have adapted.

"So," you ask, "what's this got to do with country music?" Well......ahem.... it seems that since moving to Flagstaff I have developed an appreciation of country music. Yes, I find this as mysterious and unfathomable as the rest of you, but there it is. It might have something to do with the fact that the country music station is the only station in town that comes in loud and clear no matter what part of town you're in. I know, that's weird. But Flagstaff is small and next a really big mountain that seems to interfere with radio and the country music station is the only one that has successfully overcome this problem. Now, I feel I need to clarify that this new appreciation does not extend to all country music, there is still a good bit of it which makes me want to pull over to the side of the road and immediately vomit its ooy-gooy, sappy-sweet, cornily-patriotic taste out of my mouth. On the other hand, there's a good bit that I can now sing along to. Lord, help me. Dixie Chicks, Sugarland, and Allison Krauss are my favorites. And, I think I should point out in my own defense that Allison Krauss is really more bluegrass music, which is different. Isn't it? Suspecting that this appreciation may actually be the result of the something in the air up here, I asked my brother (who as a kid hated country music as much as I did) if he listens to country. He does. Ha! It's not just me. But he also said that it's required in Williams (where he lives) and that if you don't listen to it, the pick-up-truck-with-a-gun-rack-posse comes after you. Hmmm. Regardless, you have to admit this is a pretty darn catchy song.* And the air is thinner up here. It's not my fault.

*You might have to click play at the top of the page to hear the song. Just to be clear, the song I'm referencing is "It Happens." I don't know how long that song will be playing on their website, so if you go there and it's a different, not-at-all-catchy tune, you'll know I'm not completely off my rocker.

I Love Yoga in the Springtime.....

Last night my friend Amy got me to go to a yoga class with her at a tiny little studio downtown. The studio is a fantastic space in a beautiful old building, except that I ended up picking a spot right on top of the squeaky wood floor which meant that every time I was struggling for balance the floor would squeak and give me away and I had to control my urge the shush the floor. The class was awesome and my back feels better than it has for months--I should have gone sooner. Or maybe not because it's only recently that I've really been feeling a lot better. But anyway, we did this pose that was basically down dog with help from a friend (you do the down dog pose and your friend pushes back on your hips/lower back to deepen the pose). The instructor came over a made a few adjustments and all of the sudden my whole back opened up. Amy said "whoa, you're back just got about three inches longer" and I could feel that that's exactly what happened. I have lots of sore muscles today, but no sore back. I find this absolutely amazing. I'm going back to the class next week, but now I'm wondering if once a week is going to be enough to make a difference. Yoga expert, any thoughts?
I've also started a running again, slowly and right now only about 25 minutes at a stretch. And swimming. Ahhhhhh--so nice to be moving again. I was debating about going swimming this morning but Moses kicked me out of bed saying "you should go"; I think maybe possibly I might be a little easier to live with when I exercise? Regardless, it's nice to be getting my groove back.

Nanny Goats Gruff

Last Friday, Garion and his glass put on a stunning, absolutely fabulous production of "Nanny Goats Gruff." Garion played "Butterfly Number 1" and had three lines which he delivered with poise, clarity and feeling (i.e. he talked into the microphone and you could hear him if you were paying attention). Nanny Goats Gruff is a musical set in bucolic, pristine mountain meadows and centers on a group of six Nanny Goats who must leave their beloved field to graze on the other side of the bridge. I can't remember why, but I'm sure the reason was traumatic. A terrible troll lives under the bridge and threatens to eat each of the Nanny Goats that cross. I really wish I had a video of the troll's performance to show you, because it would knock your socks off (i.e. you would laugh so hard you might need a Depends). The Nanny Goats are clever and each group tells the troll something along the lines of: "you don't want to eat us, there are bigger goats coming." Finally, the last goat, Big Bertha Lee, crosses the bridge and the troll threatens to eat her. She essentially replies, "bring it," and butts him in the head. The troll rolls down the enormous mountain and the Nanny Goats live happily ever after in their new meadow. Oh, the drama!

For the next performance, I promise to be a better mother and bring a real camera (yes I forgot it this time and had to rely on the cell phone, hence the sketchy photos.)

Sweetheart, It's Not the Sweatshirt, It's the Grey Hair

On Saturday, we went to get lunch a local sandwich shop that is close to the University and does a pretty brisk business in college students. Moses was wearing a Northern Arizona University sweatshirt that he won (in high school--somebody, ahem, has trouble moving on) as part of an academic T.E.A.M.S. competition. I was in that competition too and won the same sweatshirt but somewhere in the course of events, Moses adopted my sweatshirt. So now he has two, one of which he was wearing on Saturday. As a side note, or possibly the third or fourth side note in this tale, I cannot for the life of me remember what T.E.A.M.S. stands for. Anyway, we walk up to the counter to order lunch and the (college-aged) girl behind the counter looks at Moses's sweatshirt and says, "wow! that's like a vintage shirt!" Vintage. As in OLD. He, he, he that's what you get for clinging to the shreds of your clothing until they fall apart or spontaneously combust of their own volition because you refuse to put them out of their misery.

Valentine

An original poem by Garion, as written in my Valentine's Day Card:

Roses are red
violets are black
I am sary [sorry] that you back is brokun.

********
Just for the record, my back is actually much better and only hurts when I do laundry. And when it snows. Possibly these symptoms are psychological. I think I'm going to give swimming a go tomorrow morning and start walking/running again in March.

Just Call him Larry Bird

This winter, Garion is playing basketball in a local league sponsored by one of the churches. He has practices on Tuesdays and a game each Saturday from January through the end of February. When I say "playing basketball," what I really mean is that Garion puts on a uniform and joins a pack of other kindergarten-aged kids for a few rounds of loosely-regulated chaos that happens to involve a basketball and some baskets. Really, watching kindergartners playing basketball is liking watching....I don't know...a dolphin try to tie shoes? Something like that. Below is a clip from last Saturday's game. Garion is the tall kid the background who's just kind of standing around taking in the action. About halfway through the clip, he decides to get serious and guard his assigned kid from the other team. I'm sure we'll be hearing from the NBA any day now.

Tagged

It seems that whenever there is a lull in my blogging, I get a little something from Stacy along the lines of, "dude are you ever going to blog again?" This time she tagged me with a game where you post the sixth photo in the sixth folder on your computer. Then you tag five more blogs. That's my photo up above. It was taken in February 2005 at Organ Pipe National Monument. Garion was two-years-old. I forgot how little he was. Sniff. Anyway, there it is.

I tag:
Grumpator
Nightshade Kittytoes
Steamed Puddings
Barbara (sorry Barbara, I forgot the name of your blog, I could look it up but then, you know, I'd have to look it up)
and G&D Discuss Science.

Look, I know exactly five other people who write blogs! Not counting Stacy, because she tagged me and it seems silly to re-tag; I already saw her picture.

Book a Month 2008 Wrap Up--November and December

Hmmmm. Looks like I'm breaking my own record for laziness in Book-a-Month-Challenge-participation. I am, however, a firm believer in never late than never.
November's theme was "give." Good theme, I think. I intended to re-read "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, which for the record is a fantastic book. Instead, I ended up "giving" myself a birthday present by reading whatever I felt like reading in November. Accordingly, I "gave" the "Twilight" series by Stephanie Meyer a shot, just to see what all the fuss was about. I read all four books in the span of just over two weeks. Which is not to say that they are great works of fiction, but man they hook you in and are hard to put down. In case you live in a cave, the Twilight books are about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. And although the vampire/heart throb of the Twilight series was very charming as vampires go, I maintain my previous assertion that I don't get the vampire-as-love-interest phenomenon. They are ice cold, drink blood, and are apparently on the verge of committing gratuitous acts of violence at any moment. Exciting, but not really what I think you'd want to apply the term "honey-bun" to. Also, I think the Twilight romance suffers from an un-resolvable flaw: why would a being who is over 100 years old (the vampire/heart throb) be interested in a teenage girl who is woefully naive and not the sharpest tack in the box? Probably this question doesn't bear thinking about too much, so I'm not going to.

December's theme was "light." I was so busy in December I didn't even bother to check to see what the December theme was until about 10 minutes ago. So, obviously I didn't read a book to fit the theme. I know, you're so shocked you could spit. I did read a most compelling book in December: "The Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman. This book is about two brothers whose father is a minor god (the spider god and keeper of all the stories) and a human mother. To be concise (and I like to be every once in awhile)--this book is weird. But in a good, funny, intelligent, and really interesting way. It's also chock full of quirky chapter titles, my favorite of which is "In Which Rosie Learns to Say No to Strangers and Fat Charlie Acquires a Lime"--and that's exactly what happens. This is an extremely difficult book to describe and even more difficult to do justice to in a short review. So just go read it yourselves and then we can chat. Please.

I feel like I ought to give the Book a Month challenge some sort of final summation, some sort of meaningful reflection and appropriate send off. I enjoyed participating in the challenge (to the extent that I actually did) but found that, like book club selections, I just didn't feel like reading what I was supposed to be reading. I also wished for some more focused themes, or maybe less seasonally oriented. Not that I would necessarily comply with them, but still I could wish. Overall I had fun, and of course I love any excuse to talk about books.