Wednesday, December 15, 2010

I shall call this Fall ~

... and I believe we will skip Winter this year!
I apologize Minnesota.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Visions of our cabin ... danced in our heads ~

Lately, we've been spending a lot of time at a place I like to call ... our cabin! It's so cozy around the fire and just plain delightful!


Jake loves to frolic with all of his wild animal friends!


We're hoping that none of the raccoons have rabies this year!



Garrison has got to be more careful with those silly skunks!


We LOVE Bass Pro Shop our little cabin!




Thursday, December 9, 2010

Sneaky ...

I snapped this shot of my two bosses sharing highly confidential information as we were having a highly confidential meeting at work ... shhhhhh.

This one was shot by the paparazzi while I was trying to work in my new(ish) blue home office ... previously called Kacey's room. Now all of the secrets are out, and you know all about my job. This message may have to self-destruct within this decade.

So sneaky.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Me & G ...

Garrison has an affinity for extra credit. If any teacher offers ANY type of extra credit ... he's all over getting it done ... and quickly! Currently, he is reading A Christmas Carol in his English class and his teacher offered an AMAZING dose of extra credit, one that would raise his grade from a B to an A+. The task was to go to the Herberger Theater in Phoenix and see A Christmas Carol and then to get an autograph from his friend who had a starring role in the play. F-U-N!


So on Saturday, the two of us hopped on the 202 and headed East. In downtown Phoenix, there are few parking spaces other than parking garages that charge $7.00 ... but it was a special day, so we parked. We skipped (but not really) across the street and into the box office. I was told that this showing was a discounted rate, but I heard the cute young voice on the other side of the glass window say "That'll be $41.00 please." I heard myself mumbling "holy crap", but it was a special day, so I paid the lad through the tiny hole in the glass window. We sat on the front row of the balcony and it was a lovely, very well done play.

Note: My definition of a well done play = short.

After the play was over, we made our way down to the lobby to find the lady in the green dress to get her autograph and seal the deal on the extra credit. Deep breath. Job accomplished! Since we were already paying to park in downtown Phoenix, I decided that we couldn't quite be done yet. We walked across the street to one of my F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E places of all time. Seriously, this place runs a close second to Disneyland for me! The Hyatt Regency Hotel, or more specifically ... the glass elevator at the Hyatt Regency Hotel! If you ever want to step into Willy Wonka's shoes for just a moment and feel like you're going to burst through the top of one of the tallest buildings in Phoenix ... as you are soaring and seeing the sights of the valley for miles around, then you just have to do this!


We rode that elevator up & down three times and then headed back over to the parking garage to pay our $7.00 and head home. It was a lovely day. G was super happy to have achieved such extra credit and I was happy that I got to spend some alone time with him.


On the way home, I started wondering about all of the other kids that clearly would not be able to afford such status from the teacher. This was a pricey request! I am glad that I was able to have this day with Garrison and to be able to give him something that meant a lot to him, but if I was not able to do this ... I think I would hunt down that teacher for putting such ideas in my child's head! And really ... what did the student actually have to do to obtain these points?

Parking on the third floor of a concrete garage = $7.00
Seating for 2 at the Herberger Theater = $41.00
Riding my favorite elevator with G = $0
Achieving such extra credit in Junior High = Priceless $48.00

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Singing lots of praises today ...

Things have been rather busy around here ... and I think I'm SO CLOSE to having a roof that no longer leaks ... as well as some bonus work that Gary threw in for good behavior! Praise to the men who had any part in repairing our roof that has leaked many lagoons for about six years! Praise to my sister who stayed at our house during the last Monsoon storm (while we were in the lovely land of Catalina Island soaking up the sun) as she managed to move furniture that would have been damaged and commenced with monumental loads of laundry after the mopping up process was over. Praise to my Dad for teaching my brothers how to create beauty and shelter out of wood and callused hands. Praise to my brothers for always taking good care me. Praise to my husband who knows how to do just about ANYTHING ... and has the energy to get it all done. Boo yah! It totally makes me not even care that he stayed out until 2:00 a.m. playing poker last night!




















The man never quits ...