Read this...please...

Kevin was ready to get away from Washington, DC when we moved to Arizona. He had been living in the area since he was a year old. He's a Washingtonian, but he was tired of it. The paper just made him angry and he was tired of the politics. With an election coming up in 2012 his stomach was tied up in knots over it. He was done with DC.

Don't get me wrong...we don't want to be ignorant...but there is such a thing as hearing too much about something. We had cut off TV, got our new off the web/radio, and while yes, we could have cancelled the paper, we still wanted to know what was going on in the region or the world. But even cancelling the paper would take us away from the DC political crap. Kevin would go to the gym and almost every TV was on a DC area news station. He was sick of it.

Just like the Baz Luhrmann song/speech says: "Don't live in New York too long, you'll become hard. Don't live in California too long, you'll become soft" (apologizes to all people I know living in New York, California). You can't live in Washington, DC too long...you become...burnt out...It's important to realize that things exist beyond DC...like...life...(the last two sentences were Kevin's contribution.

Anyway, during Kevin's Christmas break, he's not been able to go pick up an Arizona Daily Star. He usually goes on Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday. Sometimes I even get it for him. Mostly, Kevin likes to bike to get the paper. Occasionally, Tori even bikes with him. However, during break, Kevin's been getting his paper online...in the form of the Washington Post.

It started happening again. Kevin would read something and get upset. He would make comments about how things are in so much trouble. He would voice his apprehension to the upcoming election.

To distract him, he needed a daily paper. Tonight, I picked up an Arizona Daily Star. I happened to see the front page headline. It was perfect. When I came home, I presented Kevin with the paper.

"Kevin...I understand you...need...."

At this point, I couldn't even do it with a straight face. I kept cracking up. Kevin was smirking at me unable to get to the punch line...eventually the following came up:

"Kevin, I understand you need to stop reading the Post and start focusing on what's important in this world."

At this point, I finally hand him the paper where he saw:

IRONWOOD FOREST KILLERS OF SAGUAROS STRIKE AGAIN

There you have it people...we have gone from reading about daily killings in Capital Heights, DC to reading about gun happy people knocking off the Saguaro. You don't get too far removed from political crap than that.

To the recycling bandit

Open letter to the recycling bin bandit:

I understand that maybe your recycling receptacle is overfull from the holiday mayhem that just passed while mine has room to spare. However, I was not planning to throw my overflow recycling in YOUR bin. I was planning to wait until NEXT WEEK'S pick up to put my overflow recycling out to the curb. The thought never occurred to me that I could throw my recycling in your bin if I couldn't fit it all in mine. I never thought to be so gauche...

Truth is, I don't have overflow recycling because I FOLDED my boxes and they all fit into the receptacle. Go figure...what a concept...folding the boxes...so they fit...

I honestly probably wouldn't have minded that you did this if I wasn't going to throw recycling I found I forgot and then found you had helped yourself to MY extra space. You're lucky it fit all in...with some extra I made this morning...

This really wouldn't be so annoying and I wouldn't feel my goodwill is being imposed if you had only threw recycling in the bin. Instead you threw trash too and that's not cool. Just FYI...Pima County only recycles #1 & #2 plastics...I would love it if the did more, but truth is, they don't...it's only #1, #2 and RIGID plastics...not plastics that your holiday decorations came in...not plastics your gift set came in...so PLEASE don't try to recycle them. And don't try to get me in trouble by throwing them in MY BIN...

So next time...be a little more stealthy...and maybe I don't know...SAVE YOUR OVERFLOW FOR NEXT WEEK...LIKE THE REST OF US!!!

Fratoytes

Last week I had to boys with me at Safeway. We get out of the van and Merrick goes "Mommy look, a coyote". Sure enough...there he was...a smallish reddish coyote in the Safeway parking lot. One of the many new forms of wildlife I've had to get used to.

Actually, there isn't much to get used to with coyotes. They don't bother you if you don't bother them. They keep very much to themselves. I personally had never seen one before moving here. The first time I saw one, I was getting onto Houghton and he was standing right on the side of the road with his tongue hanging out and his ears were bigger than his head. My first thought was "Oh he's so cute!!!!" Then my second thought was "He could eat my baby!!!"

Since then, I've seen one walk through my back yard like he owned the development (no worries, I have a big fence...no coyotes coming in here) and of course I've just seen them out and about. I have no hard feelings towards them. They are a roomie I don't mind sharing space with. The only complaint one could have around here about coyotes is the ruckus they make.

The first time I heard a coyote it took me a second to realize it was a coyote. I'm so used to hearing dogs howl and bark in the country. Kevin left the windows open one night and I heard this soft/high pitched howl. It's just what you would think a coyote sounds like. That "woo woo wooooooooooo...". That was the FIRST time I heard one. Then the next time I heard the coyotes...I heard what a coyote sounds like 90% of the time...

As mentioned before, Kevin opens the windows in the house on a nice night. It gets the house aired out and we get to hear the desert sounds. I not only hear the coyotes, but I hear a bat flying by and insect sounds.

One night, which happened to be a game night for AU, I heard what sounded like people whooping it up. My first thought was "Oh guess AU did good on their game tonight". Then it just kept getting louder and louder...it sounded like I was living next door to the stadium (which I don't...). It took me a while...but I realized...it's not people making that noise...it's an animal... more specifically it's a coyote. And when we leave our windows open at night...we realize just how much those coyotes like to party...

The next morning, I was talking with a lady I walk with on occasion. We got on the subject of coyotes and she said "They sound like a bunch of frat boys during a party." I had to laugh because that's exactly what I thought they sounded like. I had even made it a habit to turn to Kevin when I heard them and go "Oh listen the coyotes are going 'WAZZUP!!!' " (because seriously, it sounds like that...). Hence the nickname fratoyes.

My in laws came to visit around Thanksgiving. They went on a few day excursions around the area. After one excursion, they told us they learned why the coyotes make their noise. Apparently, after a coyotes in the pack catches something, they fight over who gets the prey. One would think who catches it, gets it...but the truth is...they have to fight for it...so that would explain why sometimes I do hear what sounds like fighting when they are doing their thing...One could imagine the coyote conversation:

"It's mine...my turn!"

"No me, I'm pregnant!"

"Screw you! I'm older."

"Screw you both! I'm contribute more to this pack."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"..."

"Well?"

"Give me a minute, I'm thinking...."

Either way...they bother me none. I kind of like hearing them, knowing they are there...and they are taking care of themselves. Seeing them, is just another thing that amazes me about living there. Never a dull moment.

I tend to live in places that are never dull...which is good...

Buying a house...

Ok...so it's been two months, but since nothing truly exciting is going on here, I felt I could take everyone back to when we were looking for a house. First, let me state...I hate buying the following things:

Dresses

Pants (because I'm so short)

cars (because decision making sucks)

Houses (ditto for on cars...but like for five hundred other reasons too).

It had been almost 17 years since I had bee in Arizona last. The last time I came to Arizona, was with a whole mess of college students and we descended upon Phoenix for the Circle K convention of 1995. What I mostly remember about getting off the plane was how red everything looked and the fact that I was surrounded by alot of mountains and desert.

So here we are, years later, and me, the husband, and our youngest flew into Tucson International Airport late one evening to complete a house shopping blitz. It was too dark to see anything when we came in, but the next day, I trying to see that old familiar picture, but I couldn't see it. Kevin said that it was the desert and he said there wasn't any green, but from what I could tell, there was more green than I was led to believe. As we drove out to breakfast, Kevin felt my vibe as I looked out.

"Yeah, I guess it's greener out here than I led you to believe."

There were mesquite trees, palo verde trees, bushes of all sorts that added some green to the scenery. The monsoon season also helped green things up and we arrived in the thick of it.

The mountains were another thing of beauty to look at. They were so much closer than the Shenandoahs by us. What even still strikes me now is how I can see almost every cut and groove in the mountains. It's sometimes quite distracting to drive when something so beautiful is right next to you. But I'm getting used to it. And at the time, while I was in awe, I was so nervous.

I'm really moving here??

We had arrived. The next morning, we tried out a local restaurant called the Good Egg (quite good...if I must say so myself). Then we met our Realtor, Sue. She had a stack of thirteen houses for us to go visit that day. They were in various areas of Tucson.

I didn't realize it then, but she was trying to gauge just what we were looking for. She had a vague idea from emails we sent her. I made it clear I wanted the following:

At least four bedrooms, ideally five (must have guest room)

Need a main level bathroom (we have disabled family members, they must be able to access a bathroom)

Guest bedroom on main level (for two level houses)

Good school district

Those were the basics. So here we were, armed with sheets on houses of all ages and styles. We spent the ENTIRE day...9:30-4:30 viewing almost every house. We skipped two because they were similar to two that didn't work for us. After the one full day of searching, we were pretty frustrated. Every sheet had at least one comment listed:

Too old

Not enough rooms

Rooms too small

Not in a neighborhood

Too many things to fix

Oh...hell...no...

Kevin and I were not even sure we would find a house in this trip. While the prices were in our range, we just weren't seeing "the one". There were two that were on our list. One was a 1950's totally remodeled house that had five bedrooms. I was excited because everything was one level, so it would work for disabled visiting family. The downside was the house was old and the neighborhood was 'eh...meh...meh...'. Another house had only four bedrooms. And while I was 'ok' with the boys sharing, I could tell they would outgrow the room in their teens and quite possibly end up killing each other.

We went to bed that night worried. Mostly because we found out school in the one district we were looking to move to was starting in one week. That meant 1) we would no matter what be missing school because of when we planned on getting there and 2) we could be in temporary housing a while if we didn't find a house.

So we went to bed...hoping that our Realtor could come up with something...

What she did was work some really good magic...

Taking a mental picture...

I have three children...ok well four...My oldest is 10 years old...with blonde fur and brown eyes. We had her out of wedlock two months before we got married when we adopted her out of the pound...her name is Signal Luz - get it Signal 'light' (aka. Siggy, Sigue, Sig-Wig, Sig, Sig-i-nal) and she demands she be treated as a person. She's a border collie, with a border personality. When I lived in Fauquier County, Virginia, people would ask me "Do you work her?" I would say "Yes...she works very well...on the couch." Although she's quite possibly one of the laziest dogs around, she is still 100% spaz. Pretty amazing how a medium size dog at her age could still have so much energy.

My oldest human child is going to be 6 in three weeks...wow...Her name is Victoria (aka Tori) and she looks nothing like me. She's blonde haired, blue eyed and fair skinned. Merrick, my oldest son is three and is my mirror image. Many people however are saying as he gets older, he's starting to favor my husband.

Then there is Stefan (the Bubsey, Bubsters). Just when my husband had declared he was done with children, someone upstairs declared we weren't. I had always hoped for that 'oopsie baby' and I got him. He's a definite bridge between both my older children in looks. He's also the happiest baby around.

Everything about him, I try to take in. Before we got here, I was all caught up in moving and I was afraid I was going to miss out on Stefan being a baby. Now that we're more settled, I'm trying to just take it all in. I take pictures constantly, just sit and watch him, hoping the mental image burns in.

It's sad knowing this is the last baby. Don't get me wrong, as much as I would love more, three is enough for me. But I love the baby stage. I'm relishing him just discovering there is a whole world out there. For example today, he finally started really crawling around the house. Before it was just only so far. Today, I think he realized "hey I can get to the kitchen from here, then down that hall, then back, then to the end of the kitchen." I could see he was just exploring everything around him.

This stage is wonderful, but the 'kid' stage is too. Tori and Merrick love helping me cook and doing crafts. Today they helped me make empanadas. It went amazingly smooth too. Usually, cooking can be a bit chaotic with them...but they were able to divide themselves up today. Merrick stirred the stuffing, Tori cut out empanada covers and I filled them. Perfect!

I love the days when my kids work together...

Dazed...and Confused

It really hits me when I get up out of bed most mornings. I'll open the shades and see the mountain view. It's so breathtaking, it doesn't seem real to me. That's when I find myself saying "I'm really here?" It still seems surreal to me.

I guess it all started here. My husband took me out to dinner one night.

Hey...we should go out to dinner...we haven't gone out to dinner in a while.

I should have seen it coming then. Oh who am I kidding. I did see it coming. I knew. It was no surprise. Kevin went on an interview in November of 2010. I was scared of my mind then because I was five months pregnant and worried I'll have to move when very pregnant. The interview went well (of course) and he came home...and time passed. December came...and went...January came....

So what's going on with...

Oh they won't hire me...conflict of interest.

Eventually my pregnancy and the birth and my third child allowed me to shelve any thoughts about moving. I ended up into a comfortable routine of 'comfortable'. Then May came...

Hey...we should go out to dinner...

I knew it was coming. There had been little saying here and there that piqued my interest. So when we were out to dinner I said "Hey so what every happened to..."

"Well that's funny you should ask...I got an offer...

That night I sat on the couch and looked around. I made a list in my head of everything that needed to go. Then I made another list of everything we needed to do. Then I started thinking of how to tell everyone.

I didn't even get the chance to tell everyone. My neighbors showed up shocked at my house when the moving van and the for sale sign arrived in front of my house.

"Where are you going? Is everything ok?"

"We are fine...Kevin got a job in Tucson...it's just all moved so fast. Too fast to even tell everyone or keep track of who we told".

I didn't see my neighbors alot. Only two on a daily basis and they knew. People in town knew, friends knew, family knew...well most of them.

So here I am...embracing change every day. An east coast girl...has packed up and gone west. Not too west...but pretty darn west...I moved here hoping for an adventure...

Life is an adventure...that's what my dad told me. And it's an adventure if I make it one.

Coming Soon

The adventure hasn't started yet...stay tuned...will be starting soon...