The end of the world…

The Kid has cleaned his room! We should all head to the nearest bomb shelter because this can only mean that the end of the world is at hand. Seriously, I really think The Kid is going to like living in a clean room. The rest of the house is clean and he chooses to spend 98% of his waking hours in any room but his own, this proves to me he prefers cleanliness to clutter. Maybe this cleaning will lead to some sort of epiphany, one can only hope.

If you are wondering why, after 18 months of living at this house The Kid has finally unpacked and cleaned, it would be that we have put the house on the market. We are hoping that by staging the house and keeping it spotless we may be able to sell this house in an awful market.

B thinks it might be funny to tell The Kid we are not really selling the house, but that it was just a ploy to get him to clean his room. I think that would just be mean.

Speaking of cats...

Let me introduce our little monsters.

Blackened Voodoo comes from a privileged life of country clubs and tennis Voodoo’s favorite hobbies are killing small critters and flinging eye funk on the walls. Voodoo is all black and also responds to the names Darkness and Blackie.













Minerva Jones had a rough life on the streets of a trailer park in southern MD. Here she was abused by local kids and forced to find food in dumpsters. We stumbled upon Minerva one day and she has not left my side since (seriously cat won’t leave me alone). Minerva enjoys wet food and incessant meowing. She also responds to the names Baby Kitty and Grayskull.

Miss Minerva Jones

The news you have all been waiting for, is the suspense killing you???? I won’t make you wait any longer; I am pleased to announce that Miss Minerva Jones is going to live! Yesterday was her one year check-up with the cardiologist and her heart is the same, if not better than last year. I guess the heart meds are working. She has also gained about a pound since her last trip (the other day I thought I noticed a back fat roll on her). B was thrilled that Merv is doing well and then pissed when I told him how much the kitty cardiologist cost. At least she does not have to go back for 18 months…If you are interested in helping defer the costs of Miss Minerva Jones’ care you can send money to the “Holy Crap Make that Cat Stop Meowing Fund”.

A log to log logs

Why hasn’t this been invented?

TranquiliT

This is one of my favorite online stores. To date I have bought two wrap dresses and a shawl and I adore them. Customer service is excellent, beyond excellent, it is fantabulous. I didn’t think I could love this store any more, but then I read their ethics.

1. All of our products are made of bamboo and organic cotton. Bamboo is anti-bacterial and doesn’t just wick moisture but is quick to dry. More importantly, it’s a fast-growing native species that is entirely renewable.
2. All TranquiliT pieces are sweatshop free and sewn in the USA.
3. TraquiliT donates a percentage of profits to Tranquil Space Foundation which brings yoga, creativity, and leadership to women and girls.
4. A tree is planted for every shipment that is sent out to help offset carbon emissions from the delivery process.
5. We will be offering an eco "shipping package turns to tote" option at the checkout process shortly. This new mailer can be turned inside out after the shipping process to be used as a canvas tote (made of recycled content), eliminating all waste from our shipping process and allowing you to have a lovely reusable tote for all your shopping excursions.
6. All other orders will be shipped via a poly-mailer, which offers the most lightweight and smallest packaging available to reduce weight and space on freighters. They also offer the most protection from damage of your goods from moisture. We are constantly in search of new 100% recyclable mailers. Feel free to return your poly-mailer to us and we’ll gladly reuse it!
7. All of our postcard ads are printed on 100% recycled paper and printed with soy inks.
8. Online shoppers receive a lovely black TranquiliT pen made from recycled tires and an organic lavender sachet.

Check them out at http://www.tranquilit.com/

Salty Sword

B and I have decided we need to buy a boat, so we can name it the Salty Sword. Anyone who wants to board our vessel will be challenged to a dual.

Just a flesh wound

Since the Frederick half- marathon I have been having issues with my knee, as in it freaking hurts! I can’t run or walk and going down stairs is ridiculously painful. I have seriously contemplated scooting down the stairs on my butt. (For anyone not familiar with my house, every single room is on a different level, yeah stairs!) After a month of taking it easy I finally made an appointment with an orthopedic doctor. The diagnosis is plica, not pica, though some dirt does sound appetizing, or maybe kitty litter. Anyway, plica is the inflammation of the membrane between the knee and the femur. Turns out this membrane is a remnant of fetal tissue and is not necessary, so I can easily have it removed arthroscopically if I should choose. For now I am wearing a knee brace, taking large doses of ibuprofen, and starting physical therapy tonight. If this course of action does not work, I can have the surgery, but I would prefer to do that after the marathon. The good news is I am allowed to run, the bad news, it is going to hurt. I’ll let you know how bad Saturday after my run.

Funny thing about taking large does of ibuprofen, the one side effect is headaches and I have one. How is it that a drug that cures headaches also causes them???? And the heartburn is pretty awesome too!

It's a barbie world...

We arrived back in Phoenix around 7:30 pm and were surprised to find that S had arranged for a sitter and made plans for us to go out in Scottsdale. At this point, we were a bit slap happy, but we freshened up and headed out for a few cocktails and a snack. S took us to AZ 88, a place to admire the beautiful, if plastic people of AZ. I will admit I was feeling a bit out of place since the best “going out” outfit I had consisted of Gap jeans, a BR tank, a cardigan from Target, and flips from VS. It took us about 10 minutes to be seated in this ultra hip space and we quickly ordered up a round of cocktails. I am not usually one to order a Cosmo since they are generally just sticky sweet, but S said they were a specialty so I gave it a try, and let me tell you it was delicious, so good that I had two! We also ordered up some hell’s fire chips, homemade potato chips covered in blue cheese and hot sauce to share. The entrees consisted of shrimp ceviche, tuna nicoise, and bonfire chicken. We were feeling refreshed after the food and drinks, so decided to go to a local club. I have no idea what is was called, but it reminded me of an upscale Baja Beach Club. There were bikini clad girls dancing on raised platforms and bros galore. After 2 drinks, B and I had enough and we hit the road. We arrived home around 2:30, exhausted, but it was definitely worth it.

Grand Canyon

Saturday we headed to the Grand Canyon at 6 am. We figured on a 4 hour drive, but who knew the speed limit was 75 and that most people drove around 85! The plan was to head up 17, to 89, to 64, and then back to 17. The scenery on the trip up was amazing. As we started the climb into the mountains, the desert gave way to pine trees and then after Flagstaff the desert returned. It was so flat, you could see the line where the green stopped and the red desert took over. The weather was also extremely variable; we went from 60 with sunshine, to 40 with snow and ice. Three and a half hours later we arrived at the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon. We hit the first scenic pull-off, Desert View, and headed to see the Canyon. I can not think of any creative way to describe the Canyon so let’s just say it is absolutely awe inspiring.













If it was not for the snow and blistery wind I would have like to just sit and stare for a few hours. Instead, we proceeded to drive along 64 stopping at all the scenic points to take pictures. The sun also did not want to cooperate, so B decided to try his hand at some black and white photos, hoping the b/w would better show the shadows of the Canyon.


If you follow Highway 64 you end up at the Grand Canyon Village, at this point the Canyon was getting very crowded so we decided to head back and make a stop in Flagstaff for a late lunch. A passenger on our flight from Baltimore recommended the Beaver Street Brewery and what’s not to like about a burger and a beer (unless you are a stupid tree-hugging, veggie like me). Flagstaff was much smaller than expected, really not much more than a college town. This made finding the Brewery very easy and in no time we were seated and had ordered up a round of drinks. After lunch, we took a quick stroll around Flagstaff to stretch our legs and then headed back to Phoenix.


Stay tuned for more adventures, we did not get to sleep that night until 2:30 am Sunday!