13.1 - Done

At 4:30 in the morning I stated the day’s mantra, “here goes nothing”. In just a few short hours I would be starting my very first half marathon. Now I fully acknowledge that 4:30 is mighty early, but this early start to my day was not for mental preparation. Not only was the Phoenix advertised race starting 22+ miles away in Mesa/Apache Junction, but per the grand design of the race planners I had to catch a ride on one of the buses running between 4 AM and 6 AM that dropped runners off at the start line waiting area for a 7 AM start time. Heading the warning that not all runners would fit on the last bus I planned to catch a 5:30ish departure.

Jonathan and Jackson dropped me off at the buses at 5:30, 20 minutes before the sun was even expected to rise. I rode with fellow runners in the darkness to the start line waiting area and huddled distantly and strangely in solitude with strangers around one of the many small fire pits. The temperature was somewhere in the 40s and I was having difficulty understanding why we were made to stand around in the smoke filled waiting area for about an hour before we could even head to the start line.

After jumping about in place in a sad attempt to warm my semi frozen extremities the race started promptly at 7 with the blast of a cannon. I knew right away I wans’t off to a good start and it was going to be a very long run. As my frozen feet thunked down on the downhill pavement I tried to figure out a way to slow down to no avail. While thawing my left toes started to protest joined by a twinge of pain in my right knee and foot. Mind you, I’ve barely hit 1.5 miles. I tried my best to enjoy the desert scenery without thinking about how much further I had to go.

After we left the park the run continued along the back streets of the boomburb that is Mesa. Scenery included massive stuccoed walls barely containing the monstertron development neighborhoods with homes where residents could pass salt shakers between neighbors. At the finishing line I heard someone comment that the run included beautiful scenery, I wondered where she had just run and which massive stucco monster she resided in. Back to the run at hand.

Since I knew Jonathan had dropped me off and I had provided the locations of suggested cheering locations I searched for him around every minimally populated cheering hang out. By mile 7 it was a good thing I hadn’t yet seen him since I was pretty sure I was about to tell him to pull up the car because I was done. By this point my frustration had built to the point of a near emotional moment. No single mile had been pleasant, I was barely over half way done, my right knee was so tired it was starting to tighten making a long stride out of the question and I was going to have to walk in a race for the very first time. Before one ounce of dramatic moisture could leave my eyes I pulled it together and decided I needed to take a breath and walk for a bit. I walked for just a about 20 seconds when I realized that the slower tempo actually gave my knee cap what felt like a better opportunity to dislocate thanks to an exhausted IT Band. Back to running I went.

Despite my very early onset of survivors shuffle I was surprised to see my mph was still in the low 9 minute range. Around mile 10 I tried to convince myself that the 5K remainder of the run wasn’t going to be bad at all. A mere 3 + miles, I can do this. Despite best effort it was no pleasure cruise. I started seeing a few buddies along the remainder of my run, people who I would pass while they walked, and who passed me up until they started walking again. It was semi calming to see I was not alone in my uncomfortable, slow going situation. Rounding the corner at mile 11 I knew I needed to walk a little before I started shuffling a hole in the pavement. As I started walking, scooting to the side as not to interrupt fellow runners three people passed me, one making the comment “running by yourself has to be so lonely”. Thankfully I didn’t have any rocks on hand because I couldn’t guarantee one wouldn’t have pinged off the back of her head. I took minimal satisfaction when I passed their little threesome after returning to my running shuffle.

No this is not me finishing, but this is around the time
I finished despite getting no pictures : (

Seeing the mile marker for 13 was a beautiful thing, but mind you, still not enjoyable. As I made my way to the finish line I managed to break away from any other runner and actually had my name called out as I finished. Hooray!!! 2 hours and 2 minutes later it was all over. I tin man walked to pick up my finishers medal and a few snacks before meeting up with Jonathan and Jackson to head home. 

Before I ate breakfast I was 98.9% sure I would never do that again. But after some food, a shower, a trip to the dog park and a very much needed nap I began to re-consider. My frustration and disappointment in how difficult the run turned out to be, as well as my lingering stiffness would eventually subside. Just like everything else in life, these feelings were not permanent, this too would pass. As the day continued and we celebrated with dinner out I started to realize the sickness that is athletic addiction was creeping in. Yes, I would likely give this another shot, but the next time I’d be sure to train with more consistency and find a better course. Till next time : ) 

Little things

Its the little things that can make a day better.  This funny little detail sincerely brightened my day!

King Cake

While we didn't celebrate Mardi Gras this year, we did receive our annual festive treat, an always delicious king cake sent to us by the very generous Mrs. Carolyn Hupp.  This cake accentuates my weak will power but delights my taste buds, an evil temptress indeed.  One of the traditions of the Gulf Coast King Cake, starting back in the 1950's is to include a small plastic baby trinket in the cake.  In some traditions the person who finds the trinket is declared king or queen for the day, which would be my personal favorite, or they will have a baby soon, lets just move past that one, or in some situations, they're responsible for bringing the cake the following year. 

I patiently waited for Jonathan to get home before I cut into the confection but soon grew frustrated when my knife wouldn't cut through my first slice. I cut the other side of my piece and started to tug and quickly found out what was hindering my knife. Oh my, with a little more force I would have chopped the baby!!  I found the little legs sticking out quite humorous but admittedly a little creepy.  Something about flesh colored plastic babies just gives me the heebie jeebies. 

I will not discuss how long it took Jonathan and I to finish the cake!

Staying warm

When temperatures drop in AZ we sometimes resort to desperate measures.  Who says sharing body heat is a bad thing?

Little shop of horrors

After a week of a rude cold taking its affect on both Jonathan and myself we decided to re-energize with a 20 mile ride to start our weekend.  The ride was refreshing and as always I do so enjoy starting my day with some exercise.  After breakfast Jonathan decided he could take on the challenge of installing the hall bath shower fan.  I'll say very little in the text to come.

Jackson of course got a visit to the dog park for some ball chasing and doggy mingling before we drove to the home improvement store.  He didn't make any buddies this trip but had several fantastic chases with some of the speediest little dog's I've ever seen.  Not sure what they were, but those little rocket dogs were pure muscle and looked like compact greyhounds, and no, they were neither Italian Greyhounds nor Whippet.

Back at home I decided it was time to wrestle the bougainvillea in the back yard into shape. I was the one who wanted to weave the thorned beast along the wall and it was long overdue for a little taming.  I was as delicate as possible, fully respecting the inch long  thorns and was pleasantly surprised at how few pokes and scratches I walked away with.  All three bushes are doing quite well this year considering that just one year ago they were down to stump thanks to a nasty frost.  This was around the time that Jonathan realized the fan project was going to be a little more than he expected.  (Pictures to follow)

Frank's need for a new heat bulb provided one last opportunity for Jonathan to chat it up with a Home Depo dude despite are agreement that we would no longer take on projects by ourselves that involve cutting into drywall, be it ceiling or walls.  Men... The highlight of my Home Depot experience had to be the awesome plant art they had displayed in front of the store. I would totally rock one of those in my backyard if it would hold up to the intense sun and heat.

Later that evening we headed to dinner at Rice Paper to enjoy some insanely hot spring rolls, calamari and a salmon entree.  The roll was far too hot for me but the rest of dinner was pretty tasty.  Around 8:30 we headed to Let it Roll for a few rounds of  bowling with neighbors. On our way in, we were treated to a rad painted panel van belonging to the long bearded, middle age white guy metal band that was thankfully finishing up their set with some pretty awful covers of Bon Jovi, Metallica and tragically, CCR.  We rolled 3 rounds, some of us enjoyed some adult beverages and of course some obligatory flesh tone mustaches.  When we were leaving the bowling alley we came across a Homies toy dispenser that included the surely coveted, Homi Bama.  I must have this toy.  Our mode of transportation home wasn't too happy to see our return and protested our intended departure with the tell tale tick tick tick of a dead battery.  Ugh.  Thankfully Jonathan found someone in the bowling alley willing to give us a jump and we made our way home with just only a minor delay.  Pretty action packed Satruday looking back at it.

Oh the joy of the flesh-tone stach.
Endless entertainment.



No it was't that kind of night, but I found
these wrist bands entertainingly extream.



Just another week

As of late we haven't been up to too many adventures. We recently added some white rock to the circle around the palm tree as well as in the front bed where we have some natal plums planted.  The white rock is a sassy contrast providing added visual interest to the simple front landscaping and recognizes a little Atomic Ranch/Arizona rock landscaping tradition.  In that regard, white rock is as far as I go.  The painted rock seen in parts of Sun City, the nation's first development intentionally designed for retirees, sports some of the most, shall I say "entertaining" painted rock landscaping designs I've ever seen.

With an upcoming athletic challenge right around the corner I've been making pretty solid strides in my training on the weekends but due to dark mornings have not been able to train well during the week.  In order to combat this I recently joined a gym and was quickly reminded why I prefer to train outside.  The first day was a comedy of errors.  Surveying the treadmill scene I opted for a machine one away from typhoid Jim who was boasting a minor, yet obnoxiously consistent throat clearing cough, only to find out it wasn't working.  After darn near punching the reset button I opted to step on the machine next to Sir Coughsalot just to get running. Right as I got the machine up to speed another treadmill freed up further down the line.  Not concerned with niceties I hopped off my current treadmill and started my run a comfortable distance away. Pit, pat, pit, pat hack hack hack, pit pat pit pat hack hack pit pat hack.  UGH!  I couldn't take it! Back off the treadmill and over to the movie room where treadmills faced a horrible horrible movie.  Not even sure what it was about but the actresses appeared to be in there teens, and were supposed to be acting out some sort of mid to late 20s love-lost mellow drama that was so horrible I had to again depart my treadmill.

Despite my gym blunders I managed to get in a little workout and noticed during the day that my mood and overall attitude was much improved from a non-workout day. I've been back to the gym several times since and have learned to better manage my gym expectations. Besides an occasional sweaty co-worker I'm managing my exercising in anonymity pretty well.

From exercise to Americana, we kept our Super Bowl Sunday pretty low key. After hitting up my dearest Costco I ran a few more errands and cleaned our casa while Jonathan headed to the office for a few hours of work. Even though it was just us the game provided a good excuse for pigs in blankets, bacon wrapped roasted dates, mini pizzas, tempura battered veggie stacks and a splash of Kettle. Jackson joined us in our gluttony with a beef rib bone thanks to our BBQ master buddies Scott and Bekke.  Although blurry you can tell Jackson wasn't going to have anyone take away his precious.

Below are a few more J-Bone pictures. Check out his death grip, chewing dedication and the occasional pause/progress check.

 

                                                                                





 







Good Fruit Gone Bad!

 I bit it before it could bite me!  Happy Monday.

Cooking with fire - or gas burners...

Seeing that I cook about 5 or 6 out of 7 nights a week I think it might be appropriate to start adding in some of my successful as well as failed culinary undertakings. Nothing too "foodie bloggie" just attempts, and results and my favorite (Jonathan's arch nemesis) recipe modifications :)

So far this year I've been cooking from Cooking Light and been having pretty good results. First item of the year was a Thai Coconut Chicken soup which turned out quite delicious. I cut out the fungi since neither of us eat it and got lazy on shredding the chicken, instead choosing to chop it into small chunks. We both agreed that the texture of shredded chicken would have been better, and perhaps an addition of a white fish would be a nice extra, but again, great flavor overall. The second chicken dish I made that week was chicken enchiladas in a green sauce. Actually followed the recipe pretty well this time and it was again a other tasty meal. Admittedly the tortillas lost some consistency and it became a little homogonous.  I didn't mind the texture but Jonathan would have preferred that the tortillas were a little more identifiable. Both are guaranteed repeats.

Moving on to desserts, this past Sunday I made Cooking Light's Grapefruit Pound Cake, and it was, key word "was", fantastic!  The first minor modification was the addition of a tablespoon of sour cream since we only had fat free milk and the recipe called for 2%.  Not sure it even works that way but what doesn't a dab of sour cream make better/  The second and final modification was made to the glaze.  After mixing the fresh squeezed, then reduced and concentrated, grapefruit juice with the powdered sugar, the icing was way too sour.  To compensate I added about 1/2 of an ounce of cream cheese and about an additional 1/3 cup of powdered sugar.  The frosting was still a little tart but it had a pleasant grapefruit flavor and was a perfect pairing with the pound cake.  As you can see I didn't spend too much time on the photography, but even these simple pictures make me want another piece.

                   

Jackson in action

During a quick visit to Jonathan's office Jackson was eager to help out. A little file review here, little dusting there, couple of keep up the good work licks.

In keeping with the spirit of a true criminal defense attorney's canine Jackson made it clear that he doesn't take lip from anyone!

Pokey plants!

Thanks to a new years day holiday Jonathan and I had an extra day for house projects, perfect for dealing with the excess mounds of rock sitting in our front yard. We started by building a rough storage container in the back yard using our ever-present supply of broken concrete and random walk way blocks, but learned quickly that it would not hold all of the extra rock.  Once we hit capacity we started re-distributing the rock on the east side in a, slightly thicker than before, top layer. Because the rock is small the increased thickness isn't discernible from the street and was a much needed improvement from two random lumps.

Jonathan, having decided the East side of the front yard was looking a bit barren, came up with a plan to spruce it up a bit. The plan included three rows of plants, each row containing a pair of similar cactus, or agave.  The first row, closest to the street, which will remain the shortest of the rows contains two agaves.  One, a gift purchased for us at the Phoenix botanical garden brings a nice splash of dark green to the yard.  Its paired with a lighter green, variegated agave that we had previously housed in one of our back yard pots.  Its pretty fair to say that as we got closer to the house, the planting became a little more treacherous.

                     

 The second row contains two prickly pear cactus, one deceptively called the "Teddy Bear Cactus", and the other, well I'm not quite sure what its official name is, but its native to Arizona and should have some lovely flowers in the spring/fall.  Sure the Teddy Bear, with its little fuzzy looking spines gives off a cute appearance, but I'm pretty sure its the plant equivalent to the Devil!  Our planting approach was to bring the ceramic pot as close to the hole as possible, break the pot on site and hope we could guide the plant into the hole without too much glove-near-plant assistance.  Turns out we did pretty well.  Yes, there was plenty of tweezing throughout the whole process since the Teddy Bear is like a porcupine and pretty much ejects groups its spines when clothing or skin is near, and we did have to toss our gloves rather than deal with the constant pokes, but overall, it went well.  Since the spines on the second prickly pear are larger, and more spread out on the plant, getting it out of the pot and into the ground was pretty simple.

     

The third ,and eventually the tallest row of plants, contains another gift bought from the Phoenix botanical garden, one of my personal favorites, the Mexican Fence Post.  I do not know the name or type of the second cactus in the row, but it will eventually grow tall, is pretty lanky already, and has thorns the length of cocktail weenies.  The Mexican Fence post was another easy to plant item, but I can't say the same for its row-mate.  The second cactus also came from our back yard and was also in a pot that had to be sacrificed for planting/personal safety.  Mind you, at this point I am gloveless thanks to the Teddy Bear planting adventure.  After we broke the pot and were guiding the plant down into the hole, the little beast decided to tip towards me.  I moved my hands away from the danger zone at which time Jonathan tells me "get your gloves on".  I understood the theory, but no gardening glove was going to protect my finger from being skewered had I sacrificed my hand and tried to catch it mid fall.  Nothing broke and cactus tend to be pretty hearty so we finished planting without further drama

             

                                                     

.

Running low on energy, but wanting to finish up our landscaping efforts for the day, we managed to plant what served as our 2011 Christmas tree, a recently purchased Mexican Fan Palm.  This little guy is the same type of palm planted closer to the street in the front yard, but is a bit younger and a bit smaller. 

The front yard has really taken on a new look and we're quite happy with how its shaping up.  Our goal is to finish the walk way this weekend (fingers crossed) and perhaps fill in some of the focal areas with white accent rock.  Mid planting Jonathan asked if I ever thought I'd be planting cactus. I chuckled and responded "Nope, but I also never imagined I'd live in New Jersey/Virginia/DC, meet and marry an Alabama boy and buy an atomic ranch in Arizona!"   

Fiesta at the Fiesta Bowl Block Party

 Jonathan and I started the last day of 2011 with a run, a bike ride and a quick trip to Ikea.  Out evening plans included meeting up with friends to go to the Fiesta Bowl Block Party, so until then I spent time outside with Mr Jackson enjoying to 78 degree weather. Sure we can have some above toasty summers but I will take 70+ degree winters as a more than a fair trade off.

Once Brad and Alicia picked us up we navigated to the Parlor for dinner before lightrailing to one of USA Today's "top ten new years eve destinations". The Parlor is a locally owned Phoenix pizzeria known for its delicious pizzas, mid-century style and fresh from the on site garden herbs and veggies. Before becoming the Parlor it was "the Salon de Venus beauty parlor".  As part of a "the newly adaptive-reuse project" the architect and designers reused "the pre-existing materials from the old building for... main accents and features. The old beauty salon chairs became seating for the dining area bar, and what was once the old sprinkler system of Salon de Venus now becomes The Parlor’s lighting fixtures, wine storage sculpture, fire place / heater, and countless other details that allows the project to keep the essence of its historic past."  (Experts taken from the following site http://www.archdaily.com/162319/the-parlor-pizzeria-pathangay-architects-with-aric-and-jennifer-mei/)

Ok, back to the evening at hand.  After debarking from the train, we zig-zagged through the tightest weaved, yet completely empty, gerbil-maze/crowd control fencing I've ever experienced. Never before has reaching a ticket gate been so rewarding and slightly nauseating. Map in hand we navigated to the nearest beer garden which was one of about five, spread throughout the sectioned off streets. They had maybe two types of beer, one red wine option, and one white wine option, and seemed too expansive for their own good.  Each beer garden abutted a concert area, which for our first stop was the country stage.  Not much to see there. Back on streets we made a quick stop to heckle some mechanical bull riders before getting in some quality people watching at the techno dance area. We also walked past a military recruiting station complete with pull up bar competitions and opted not to participate and kept our heckling to a hushed minimum.

Before we left the fiesta we were determined to find the "Chip drop", and boy oh boy were we disappointed.  Seeing that this chip drop was compared to the ball at time square we were hoping for a massive tortilla chip, hopefully accented with nacho cheese or another appropriate chip accoutrement.  FAIL.  The only chip we could find, which no one working the event had even heard of, and wasn't located where it said it was to be dropped on the street map, was outright pathetic.  You can see it here, a lovely pic taken from the highly over touted iPhone camera. 

As I re-read my post I realize its a bit on the negative side, but you'll have to believe me, despite the critique, we had a very fun new years eve with friends.  We got home in time to see the NYC ball drop and headed to bed soon thereafter.  I'm not one to believe that the new year brings about a fresh slate, but rather another year filled with new adventures, plenty of projects and maxing out my free Picasa capacity limit.

Oh and of course, Jackson advises everyone to stay healthy and safe and Toby recommends not working, or playing too hard.

Christmas 2011, part 2

 The day after Christmas I put on my cold weather running gear, tightened my watch and headed out for a morning run with Sandy. Thanks to a cold, dark mornings and air pollution I had not been able to run for over a week but was determined to get in 3 miles. We made pretty good time and thanks to my new watch actually ran an accurate 3.1 miles.  By far my favorite way to start a day!

We spent the remainder of the day running a few errands and preparing a few more courses for our anticipated family dinner. With the appetizers nicely displayed and the floral arrangement perfected by Carolyn we welcomed our guest's arrival a little before 6 PM that evening.  Almost instantly upon their arrival our little atomic ranch rilled with familial warmth, chit chat, laughter, and plenty of entertainment for Jackson.  Despite a few pieces of ham jerky, secretly joked about by Jed and myself at the end of the table, dinner and dessert went pretty well.

 

The following day Sandy and I again suited up and braved 30+ degree weather to get in a short run to start our day.  After breakfast and a quick Jackson walk we loaded into the car for a little downtown touring and made a few stops at a few vintage shops. Despite a bit of purchase indecision over a classic optical cabinet, I managed to make the only purchase of the day which happened to be a print from a local tattoo artist that caught my eye and couldn't be passed up. I've seen work by this artist before, and just may have some plans for this artist in my future, but I digress.  Anyway, back to the day at hand, we all decided it was a good time for a lunch break and stopped at Windsor for a tasty meal.  We recently discovered Windsor, located around mid town and have had consistently great experiences. 

 

Despite our chilly start to the day the temps were in the low 70s by the time we took Jackson for afternoon walk.  We pretty much hung out until dinner when we made another culinary adventure to Hana, by far one of the best Japanese sushi restaurants I've ever enjoyed.  Yeah yeah yeah, get your jokes in about buying sushi in a land locked state, but I dare you to try Hana's sushi and make any other comment than a food appreciation noise. 

 

On our final day to visit with the Hupps we spent our time outside, enjoying a beautiful day at the Phoenix Botanical Garden before enjoying a family dinner at Pomo, a neapolitan style pizzeria.  Jonathan and I have been interested in the Botanical Garden for quite some time, but have never made time for a visit. Thank goodness for out of town visitors because our day at the botanical garden was fantastic! The light crowed, thanks to a work day visit, made for a terrific viewing experience of  not only an exceptional amount of cactus and desert plants, but also of a visiting exhibit of gigantic, beautifully crafted insects. Their larger than life size made them a delight to come across while admiring the diverse flora and fauna. My favorite insect fact had to do with the praying mantis who greeted us upon our entry into the gardens. Apparently, before the matting process takes place, the male praying mantis offers his head, resulting in an eventual decapitation, to his mate in order to provide a protein boost to the future mother of his children.  This protein boost is intended to ensuring a healthy brood of mantis babies.  Talk about taking chivalry to a whole new level.  Pictures of our trip can be seen on the right.

 

The following day Jonathan dropped his parents off at the airport bright and early as Jackson and I got back into our pre-dawn walking routine.  Both Jonathan and I agreed that returning to our respective works and settling back into our daily routine felt a little odd after so much time off and so many family festivities.  We are certainly fortunate to have enjoyed such a wonderful holiday season with so much family and are happy to report that all family members arrived home safe and sound. 

 

Christmas 2011, part 1

This year for Christmas Jonathan and I stayed in Phoenix with our pets and were fortunate to have some family visit the valley.  We had a few decorations about the house indicating a bit of holiday cheer but as of  Saturday, Christmas eve, we were still without a tree.  In keeping with our non-Christmas tree tradition we opted for a Christmas Mexican palm that will eventually be planted in the front yard.  We hung a select few ornaments on the tree, enjoyed a crab cake dinner and did a little last minute preparation for our Christmas guests. 

Christmas day arrived with such high particulate matter levels (aka: polluted air), that all weather services advised against outdoor exercise.  So, determined to get some sort of exercise in, I set up my newly acquired bike trainer and got to cycling while Jonathan took Mr. Jackson for a nice little walk.  Finally it was time for our gift exchange, but first, a little back story. I had been waiting patiently to give Jonathan a gift that I'd kept secret for over a month.  The day I was able to start the gift purchase I loaded the appropriate website and sat poised for the clock to click over to 9:00 AM. The very second ticket sales became available off I went.  I clicked, waited, refreshed, waited, clicked again, got set back a page, failure to load. Curses!  For 48 minutes I clicked and waited and back buttoned and Ok'd my way through purchasing two 4 day passes to the Telluride Blue Grass Festival for June 2012.  Rarely before have I felt so accomplished as when I finally received the email confirming my ticket purchase. Fully aware that there wasn't much time to spare when it came to making hotel reservations I booked our stay within hours of completing the ticket purchase. 

Ok, ok, back to gifts.  I handed over a creatively self crafted cardboard banjo which contained the tickets as well as some info on our hotel stay.  I'd be lying if I didn't find the images of the massive hippy crowds from years past a little overwhelming, but we are both very excited for our future Telluride adventure.  Jonathan did a great job with my gift and went above and beyond the item I'd asked for.  Originally I'd asked for a GPS watch to track my running mileage, but Jonathan took it one step further by getting me the newest, latest and greatest watch as well as the corresponding components for my bike to track cycling mileage as well as cadence.  Since Christmas I've been on 3 runs with my watch and its amazing!  Previously I'd used the stove clock (quick look before my departure and quick look upon my return) to see how long my estimated distances took me to run, but now my watch does it all.  Times me, paces me, measures my distances accurately, hands down fantastic!!

Later Christmas day Jonathan, Jackson and myself headed to Scottsdale to enjoy dinner with Jonathan's aunts, uncles and cousins, including his aunt and uncle from Florida.  Dinner was tasty but the company was my favorite aspect of our visit. Time spent with Jonathan's Floridian family is often few and far between, but as always, I enjoyed the splendid, impeccable wit and wisdom of Jonathan's uncle Jed as well the familial warmth of the whole gang.  Around 8:30 we made our departure to pick up Mr. and Mrs. Hupp from Phoenix International Airport. Thankfully our timing was impeccable since we arrived  right as the Hupps were already at the luggage carousel waiting for their bags. Despite an initial protest from Jackson, thinking some strangers were loading into his car, we hugged our hellos and headed home. A lovely Christmas indeed.

The day after Christmas, as well as our adventures in the Phoenix botanical garden to come soon!

Simple celebrations

The simple joy found in palindromes ought to be celebrated.  Strangely enough, in recent times I've noticed frequent palindromes in everyday life.  At cash registers, yesterday's purchase brought me to 9.09 (kindly ignore the . which makes is a less than perfect reversible number) and even on my odometer as seen here. 

Rocks and Felt

This past weekend wasn't too exciting but turned out to be pretty productive. Unfortunately Jonathan spent nearly all of the weekend at work so it was up to Jackson, the kitties, and myself to get some work done. Saturday was a day for errands and boring stuff but Sunday turned out to be a day of shoveling and crafting.

Slightly bothered by the extra pile of rock we have left over after our initial rock distribution I decided to take action. Armed with my wheelbarrow, shovel and rake I started by adding more rock to the rather skimpy rock layer on the side of the house. At this point Jackson was outside with me and due to the cooler temps was donning one of his sweaters. You would have thought I embarrassed him in front of the whole neighborhood.  In protest of his attire (a nice black/argyle sweater) Jackson sat in one place just out of sight from the side of the house and refused to move an inch.  Acknowledging his discontent I stopped my progress and sat down in the rocks for a bonding moment with Mr. Jackson before putting him back inside and getting back to business. It took a little under 4 hours but by the time I finished I'd managed to level the extra pile on the right side of the house and thickened many a bare spot with rock from the pile on the left.

Back inside with Sunday afternoon football on TV it was time to get in touch with my crafting side. Loaded with a slightly excessive purchase of felt and Styrofoam rings it was time to get started on creating some seasonal wreaths to add to our holiday decor. Thanks to some website suggestions and a little creativity I managed to create three wreaths. Darn tootin cute if you ask me!