September Acres

Well, not really but hopefully by the weekend it will. We arrived home from our trip to Utah this afternoon. It was about 34 degrees when we left this morning and when we pulled into our driveway this afternoon it was 77. Oh yes, it's Christmastime in Arizona. We had a really fun trip. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, spent time with my sister and cousin, my daughter spent Friday at ski school , we watched a local production of 'Music Man' & shopped a bit on Friday (note to self: don't do this again.) We had pretty nice weather. Actually kind of warm but we did have some flurries on Thursday night. As you can imagine, after being gone 5 days, I have oodles of things to accomplish this week. Tomorrow appears to be the craziest schedule of all: Take daughter to school, a dr. appt at 9, Stamp club at 9 (who knew that last year when I made the dr appt that it would coincide w/ my fun time - please make the appt go quickly), pick dog up from vet after stamp c...

And that is why we are leaving town for Thanksgiving for the first time in 10 years. :) Well, that's not really the reason but that Maxine is a hoot. I hope I am not that cynical when I get older. This will likely be my last post until Thanksgiving for various reasons so I wanted to take a chance to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all get to spend some quality time with your loved ones making some good memories.

Looks like 'People' got it right this year, don't you think? I am looking forward to seeing his new movie, 'Australia', too.

Yes, it's been one of those weeks, already. My plans to rein in things here at home have yet to come to fruition. I don't even remember all the details (that part might be age related) but I have been running around more than planned. Monday's a busy day anyhow since it's my carpool day to and from school. When I arrived to school on Monday my daughter's teacher said she couldn't meet with me after school on Wed to discuss my daughter's progress report but she could meet me at lunch on Monday. So at 11:15 I headed back to school. Went home when done - came back at 2:30 - took Little Miss and 2 friends to CCD - took car pool friend home - @ 4:30 picked up LM from CCD and went right to hockey. Home from hockey at 6:30'ish. yippee! I love my car. :) Today I get into the car to take the kids to school and a light comes on that says 'check tire pressure on left passenger tire'- no tragedy but these things always scare me. So I drop of kids,...

I thought I would get a jump on Living Simply Saturdays I am not sure what the rest of the day and certainly the weekend will bring so here I am. I think we all feel like we should say 'no' way more than we do. Is it a mom thing or a woman thing? Who knows for sure but it is something that I sure struggle with. I think we have all said yes to some project, committee, party, playgroup, job, etc. and wondered 'what have I gotten myself into?' Yes, that was the story of my life for a while and now I am tired and ready to say 'no'. I hate that it has gotten to that point but whatever it takes, I say. I am ready. Ready to be the 'slacker mom'. I hate that saying but it's what I feel like these days. Yes, I have friends who are proud to be slacker moms. Why can't I be like that? I still feel guilty saying no or not volunteering for something. It has taken me a while but I realized that I can't 'fix' everything and I can't h...

Two words: Hydroponic Tomatoes! My mom came over yesterday for a bit and with her she brought a bag of grapes. How nice, I thought. The reason she brought the grapes is that she asked my dad to pick up '2 medium bags of grapes'. He thought she said 3 bags, so he bought 4. Makes sense, right? That made me think of the last time I sent my husband to do some shopping (other than pick up a bag of chips or some ranch type of thing). It was 11 years ago - the New Year's right after we got married and we were having a party. So I gave him a list of things we needed for the party and asked him to pick them up since he was off and I was working. Give him a list - no problems should occur, right? One would think it was an easy thing. Well, he brings everything home, puts it away, I come home, start fixing stuff for the party. He gives me the receipt and I don't remember the total but I do remember saying that it was an awful expensive trip for the amount of items on ...

Asks the dog? I know this is blurry but it's the best I could manage this morning as Little Miss tortured, I mean played with, the dog. She printed the mask, id card and dog collar and literally held the poor dog down to tape the collar on (no animals were harmed - the tape is not on her fur, it is holding the 2 ends of the collar together). Please note, if you can, that Montana has a mask on, too. This is why you need at least two kids. :) Just think if Little Miss had a brother or sister she could 'play' with them... and the dog could be napping leisurely on her pillow dreaming of dog bones. Oh, school is back in session tomorrow, Montana...

This was uttered by a little girl at 4:45 am on Saturday morning as she pulled open the curtains of our hotel room on the 12th floor, filling our previously dark and quiet room with all the lights on the strip. Now I was up, too. 'What do you mean'? I ask, as dad contined to sleep. 'Look at all the cars out there.' Sure enough, Flamingo Road was hopping. Should these folks be driving, I wondered? We met my husband on Friday night in Las Vegas for the evening. He was there for a trade show and then off to CA for a race so we wanted to spend a bit of time with him. Saturday he left and we headed to Target and the mall. It was a productive shopping trip - too productive some might say. But I did get more Christmas shopping done and I am 'this close' to being finished. That is mainly because I am doing alot of baking this year - especially for the grandparents. As I am walking through the Christmas section in target I just kept thinking, do we really ne...

I was tagged by The Rockin' Wife so I figured I would post my answers now since tomorrow we leave to go for an overnight 'trip' (AKA: shopping). Were you named after anyone? No When was the last time you cried? Does Tuesday night count (NOT tears of joy)? Other than that it would be when I watched 'We are Marshall' a couple weeks ago. Do you like your handwriting? It's okay. What is your favorite lunch meat? Oscar Meyer turkey Do you have kids? Yes If you were another person would you be friends with you? I think so. Do you use sarcasm alot? Umm, yeah!! Do you still have your tonsils? Yes Would you bungee jump? Not likely What is your favorite cereal? Raisin Bran Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not usually Do you think you are strong? Yes What is your favorite ice cream? I am not picky but coffee is my fave What is the first think you notice about people? Their eyes Red or Pink? Pink What is the least favorite thing about yoursel...

What a nice surprise I received from Laurie ! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Blogging has been a nice and surprising way to make new friends. It's amazing how we just 'find' these ladies with whom we have so much in common. I would like to pass this award on to Kellie & Carie , who is also a friend in real life. I look forward to making many more blogging friends as I continue to do this. Thanks again Laurie!!

I have always thought that November arrives silently: after the hoopla that is Halloween and before the festivities that surround Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a quiet time with quiet surroundings- the foliage still turning in most parts of the country gives us beautiful and tranquil sights as we go about our everyday chores and duties. It's a time to enjoy and savor before the non-stop activity that will take us in to the new year. I am glad that the first day of November falls on a Saturday this year. Most of us enjoyed a fun filled last week of October with candy, pumpkin carving, costumes, parties and just plain fun. Having November 1st fall on a Saturday gives us a chance to refuel and regroup before the first Monday in November arrives - when we will be back to school and back to work and the silence slowly starts to give way to holiday time activity. Maybe some of us can even get away with savoring the first couple of weeks of the month before really gearing up. As the m...