Home from Phoenix

Whew. That was a sigh of relief. It is good to be home! Messy, dirty, papers-everywhere, disorganized, man-my-kids-hoard-a-lot-of-stuff, huge-compared-to-a-two-room-suite HOME.

Saturday’s drive was perilous. On a curvy mountain pass, I saw something ahead of me in my lane and was just going to run it over. THANK GOD I was able to switch lanes without running anyone off the road because the object was a metal ladder … laying crosswise.

Later, I was sitting in the back reading Harry Potter #4 to the kids and heard an expletive come out of my husband, who does not generally cuss. He also swerved over to the left. I looked to the right and saw an RV alongside us, and its front wheels were wobbling. The driver was barely keeping the thing on the road. THANK GOD my Speed Racer husband was able to outrun the RV and get away from it.

Our Homewood Suites in Amarillo, Texas stunk like cow manure, but we got to see prairie dogs again alongside the road.

Hey, who thinks hotels should be going "green"? Man, they waste a lot of stuff, but I'll get into that later ...

Now let's get in our time machine and fast forward to 2022. How I wish I'd had a POGO Pass when I was in Phoenix with my kids! We could have done all sorts of things for one low price using the pass! You can get one for Phoenix by clicking here to use my referral code and a discount. You can also get one for Dallas and Kansas City. Oh, and Las Vegas!

Literal Versus Figurative

Aren’t you literally tired of hearing people literally misuse the word LITERALLY?

As in, “When we broke up, it LITERALLY broke my heart.” Really?! Wow, then you are a medical miracle, walking around with a broken organ in your body! Alert the media.

Or, “I literally screamed my head off.” Wouldn’t that be cool if we had detachable body parts like that?! First I would take J’s feet off whenever we ride in the car so he couldn’t kick M’s seatback anymore. Then I would take off my breasts and put them on my husband’s chest so he could nurse our children.

People must think literally is just another word for “really”.

Now, my kids are LITERALLY driving me crazy, so I must sign off.

Last Day in Phoenix

Well, our final day in Phoenix is here. I have to say this town has grown on me. It will be nice to be home. Here's my to-do list for when we get home Sunday night:

1. Kiss the walls of my garage. How nice to not get into an oven on wheels anymore! Yes, I am pampered. So what? How many years did I have to do things without a garage, like warm up my car by putting a brick on the gas pedal????
2. Hug the grass in my backyard.
3. Open the back doors and let the kids run free into the wonderful, fenced yard.
4. Plan social set-ups for the kids and myself.
5. Get scrapbooking again ... I have a ton of pictures from this trip.
6. Love on my parents (I'm an only child, remember)! I've missed them! I'm not dumb, though. I know THEY have missed my kids mostly!
7. The usual grind plus that pesky wallpaper stripping project, ordering fall homeschool curriculum, buying the converter box for the TV, dealing with the broken digital camera and finding a decent minestrone recipe (can anyone help me with this?!)

Don't forget ... MadMen starts its second season Sunday night. While I don't have cable, I DO have a mother who will tape it for me. Yipah!

Catch you next time! Pray for my sanity on the ride home :-)

Phoenix Final Email Update

I'm writing this a little early because the gang (minus E.) is at the pool and I don't know when I'll be able to get on the laptop again.

Anyway ... another great weekend. This time we stayed at a Marriott in Liberty Station right off Harbor Drive. We could lay in bed and see airplanes taking off and watch seagulls all over. Saturday morning I got to hold a sleeping E. outside and read Cloud Atlas while A. took the kids to the pool. Later we went to Target (great fun trying to find a freaking nonexistent beach umbrella!!!! ...it was chilly and cloudy that day, anyway, so the joke was on me). Then In N Out Burger (YUM), then FINALLY to Coronado Island again to the beach. We only made it a couple hours ... I had been holding a sleeping (is that all she does?!) E. the whole time sitting in my beach chair just watching the waves. Life does not get any sweeter.

Then on to drive by Hotel del Coronado. Alexander's Pizza for dinner (I have to try to make these Scoobie Snacks and will put the recipe on the blog ). They are pizza dough with Reese's p.b. cups inside. We messed around there til the sun went down, then on to a park, where we got in on some flashlight tag fun with some locals.

In a rare moment of brilliance, I remembered that A. had bought 2-day tickets to SeaWorld (same price as 1 day) and we checked to see if they were still valid. YEP! So after b-fast and a quick walk on the beach to get seashells, Sunday was SeaWorld day for about 4 hours ... me and the kids got sickly on a teacup-type ride (not J., of course ... he spun it faster to taunt us). We got to see penguins, walruses, a polar bear. E. napped on me (seeing a pattern yet?) while I read and A. took the kids to Manatee Rescue and Shark Encounter.

Monday morning J.'s little girlfriend B. was still here, so we hung out all day with her at the pool and in our room. Tuesday = pool. Today we went to the library and grocery store. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant for dinner. OPA!!!!!!

Tomorrow we shall venture out to the Phoenix Zoo. Better set the alarm; the zoo closes at 2 p.m. in the summer. I foresee more pool visits before we leave early Saturday morning, getting in to Amarillo Homewood Suites after 13+ hours of being on the road. No problem. Bring it on!!!!

And NO ... I keep telling you people I am NOT on any type of drug! I am high on life (caffeine) ... gag!

See some of you next week. Aron flies back out Monday night.

7-Year-Old Boys in Love

OK, you figured it out. For 3 weeks I am NOT a travel widow. Was it the "updates from Phoenix" posts that tipped you off?

Folks, I am in a state of semi-vacation. I am still Mommy 24/7, but there are all kinds of things I don't have to worry about while traveling with A. for work.

1. Mowing the lawn (sounds snootier than "yard", doesn't it?)
2. Watering the garden or asking the kids to do it 17 times
3. Gathering garden stuff (tomatoes, green beans, beets, etc.) and trying to figure out, Keystone Cop-style, how to can said stuff
4. Vacuuming
5. Cooking
6. Mail
7. Keeping an eye on 3 kids in a sea of other kids at the swimming pool
8. Organizing 900 playdates (I hate that word) for my social oldest son
9. Washing diapers

Thank God for family and friends!!!
J. has made a little girlfriend out here. I'll call her B., and I woke up Saturday morning to him on the pot singing her name over and over. She is 11 years old. We spent today with her at the pool, and she hung out in our room for hours. It will break my heart when they have to say goodbye this week.
Happy Birthday, Dad ;-)