Three Destinations...Or One?

I was in Phoenix for Christmas and came across this sign one day. Kind of makes you wonder if the Prison, Surprise and Zoo are all the same destination?!

Anyway, speaking of zoos and surprises, when I saw this sign I was on my way to a family gathering - a surprise 80th birthday party for my dad. We had more than 30 family members and numerous friends there for the fun. We also had some dance instructors come in and give us a group lesson in salsa and swing. Oh, and some terrific sangria... Oh yeah - it was fun!

By the way, there really is a town called Surprise in Arizona.

Can It Be?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentigern/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Oh dear, can it be true? In just one year from today I'll be the big Five-Oh. And I do mean OH!!!

For Crying Out Loud!

Hello from sunny Florida. Yes, that's right, SUNNY FLORIDA!! Oh, it was sunny alright. With a beautiful blue sky too.

The high was 44. Figure in the wind chill and it was more like 34.

In the middle of the day.

In Florida. Sunny Florida.

The low tonight is supposed to be 21.

Degrees.

In Florida.

That's damn cold.

Damn cold in Sunny Florida.

Don't you know, just for kicks, my gas light came on just as I was getting home from work? Normally I would wait and get gas on the way to work in the morning but I'm very sure I won't want to stand outside pumping gas tomorrow morning.

I fixed dinner and pretty much forgot about the gas tank until about 9:30 tonight, and by then the temperature had dropped to 27.

27 degrees.

In Florida.

Beautiful, tropical Sunny Florida.

Out, You Swine!

Behold the tiny bastards that have taken over our lives! Yes, it's none other than H1N1, brought to you today for your viewing pleasure via AJC1 at Flickr. It looks so lovely and lavender doesn't it? But don't be fooled! These fluffy, puffy harbingers of misery and malaise are not so attractive as they appear.
First down was eldest daughter who was sick for four days a couple weeks ago, seemed to recover for a few days, and then took ill again. Then last Sunday, youngest daughter got caught in the clutches of H1N1, seemed to rally mid week, then relapsed and remains unwell. Hopefully she will be well enough to go back to school Monday.
As for me? Well, that heavy feeling in my chest and the nagging headache...I'm doing my best not to acknowledge them. Shoo piggy, shoo!

Hello, World...How Have You Been?

Well, school has started here and once again I find myself with a million things to do and not enough time, money or energy to do them all! The Snail household made it through the first week scathed (I'd like to say unscathed, but that would be a lie!) and we are into the second. Eldest missed 2 days of school last week due to illness. Thought it was swine flu, but she recovered too quickly for it to be that. Then youngest missed monday due to similar-yet-not-as-bad illness.

Eldest is now a senior - with all of the glory and gore that entails! Picture my life going to hell in a handbasket, here.... Those of you who have been through this know of all the extra stuff that goes on senior year. Eldest is taking classes in the morning and looking for an afternoon job. She is also shopping for her first car - which is more than I can take! We were out test driving cars this weekend and if we were cats we'd have lost two lives. Amazing how some TCBY made it all so much better.

Youngest has a reletively calmer life, except for being a seventh grader. Ah, middleschool drama! What special hell it is! Remember all the angst? Blemishes, cliques, what to wear, how to fix your hair, make-up (whether to wear it and how much and what color...), dances (!!) young love, followed by young heartbreak, advice from your ancient parents who don't know anything. Yeah, wouldn't do it again if you paid me.

I think we finally have all of the supplies we need. There's always an item or two that can't be easily found. For example, there is always some teacher who specifies a specific color and type of folder. It must be blue, plastic, with prong fasteners and pockets. You know before you even look that the store will have every color and combination but that one! This year there was a request for marble composition books. No fancy colors or patterns, just the basic black and white. Last year they had mountains of them. This year...well...it took some looking.

So, now that things are (hopefully) calming down a bit I will try to do better about posting here on a more regular basis. I feel so neglectful of my blog lately!

Happy Fall, y'all!

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

We went out for Chinese food last night and at the end of the meal we encountered the following bit of Fortune Cookie Wisdom:

"May the warm winds of heaven blow softly upon your sprint."

What?!

My sprint?


Will this help me run better or keep my calls from dropping? Anyone have any ideas on this? Enlighten me, please!

It Was Just A Short Trip Through Lowe's . .

see more Funny Graphs

I've been thinking about doing some painting lately, you know, to freshen things up at home. Nothing like some fresh paint now and then. There are some problems, however.

The first problem is choosing the color. See, I want to get it right the first time so I don't have to go back to the store for a re-mix and come back home and repaint the section I started. So I agonize over color choice for a long time! The other problem is that I rent and therefore would have to repaint when I move. Which may be next summer, and while I don't hate painting, I really don't want to do it again that soon!

The next problem(s) is/are my daughters. I want to paint the main living area. They want to paint their rooms as well. If we go that far, I may as well paint my room, too! I don't want to do that much painting (yes, they will help) because it's that much more to re-paint before moving. Maybe we could do accent walls . . .

The last problem is . . . . once the paint is on the walls, the rest of everything will look 'unfresh' and I'll want to re-decorate! That, my friends, becomes costly and time consuming! That's not even factoring in the carpet (!!!) which I will certainly want to cover with a decorative rug to go with the fresh paint.

Funny how a short trip through Lowe's turns into a major road trip through my home!