Yes, here comes the rain

If by rain, you mean a drop of water from the sky every few seconds, then yes, it is raining today in the desert; but, if you mean pouring, water, puddle-maker, don't want to be outside in it, then no, this is just some sprinkles. I do hope it rains more. I want to see all the beautiful desert wildflowers in a couple of months.

Another Postcard

from a Chimpanzee!
If I had a 1,000,000 dollars
The old apartment


Just a few of my favorite songs from the Barenaked Ladies. Attending their christmas concert tonight in Tucson. Their first visit to Tucson. I can't wait.

poor poor shylie

Shylie is one of my 3-toed box turtles. He has come down ill. We've taken him the vet where he received a couple antibiotic shots but if Shylie doesn't eat, there isn't anything we can do for him. the daily regimen has been a warm water bath and always food available if he wants to eat. We can't force-feed him as he hides in his shell, and without a mouth to pry open, it is hard. Matt was able to get some Strawberry in his mouth yesterday which Shylie promptly spit back out. He does open his eyes after being in the water but if he doesn't eat, he will die. Eat Shylie Eat

U2 Baby

U2 was fantastic Saturday in Vegas. There were 2 guest appearances - one being Mary J. Blige singing One and the other Brandon Flowers singing In a Little While. also the tour manager (23 years) was brought on stage and sung happy birthday to. The set rocked and the band was basking in the glow of the raucous audience. There was one song where the crowd was still singing the chorus as the band was starting the next song - it was unreal. The place was deafening. At one point, Bono, joked that the crowd needed to quiet down. Several times you could see him just stop as he listened to the crowd singing, applauding, jumping up and down, whatever. It was awesome. I swear that some of the songs, he just stopped singing becasue the crowd was so loud they did it for him. It was an awesome experience to be a part of. Can't wait until we can see them again - they are awesome!

Las Vegas Baby

We are off to Las Vegas tonight. We are going to see the amazing U2 in concert for the 4th time (2nd of the Vertigo tour). They are awesome in concert and everyone should try to see them once.

Had a great visit with my friend from Fresno last week. We all went to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last Saturday. It was amazing how diverse the plant live and the terrain is at this monument. We were lucky to be able to drive the Ajo Mountain scenic drive as it is currently under construction and was only open for the weekend. It was fantastic. We had a picnic lunch as there was no food anywhere around. We were really out in the middle of nowhere! Well, in the middle of the monument! It was so dry that our bread on the sandwiches was drying out before we could finish them.

We are settling into this desert living now. I'm still a skittish about digging around under bushes as I'm sure I'll run into a snake. Better safe than sorry.

Seems like I've been posting only once a month. Finally got all the furniture we had ordered - yeah!!! I've been having lots of fun gardening and cruising the web. Met a lot of DH's colleagues and have even been going to dinner a few times with them. Tucson is starting to feel like home finally. All is good.

3 More Weeks

I've already waited 3.5 weeks for my craft furniture to arrive. Called today to receive an ETA and they say another 3 weeks before the items will be in the Tucson area. Ugh! I so want to set up my scrapbook room. It is painted a beautiful shade of yellow and is just scraming at me to come work on some pages!

Getting house in order

It is a lot of hard work putting this place together. There are things that need to be taken care of that we have never done before.

Such as yardwork.

2 plots of grass need regular mowing (luckily the previous owners left us a lawnmower - sweeet) and lots of weeds are popping up. Everyday, I try to get out and pick some of them. Also, all the shrubs and trees need haircuts (pruning). I've been trying my best. It is hard work esp. with the 100+ degree temps we've been having. I have to do the yardwork before 9 am or else it is just too hot. We have 3 citrus trees I just found out need fertilizing this month. How do I do that? guess a trip to a nursery and lots of questions are in order.

We've been painting inside also. My first painting experience. We are painting my craft/scrap room a shade of yellow named summer hue. It is quite pretty.

been a long time

Wow, I didn't realize it has been so long since I last posted. The reason? I've been uber-busy! First we moved to Tucson - long story there as nothing seemed to go right. then, we went to Italy for 2 weeks returning on August 8. Then my sister and her husband were here for a week helping us learn our new city and set up the house a bit. Matt started his job on 8/15 and we've been just busy setting up a house and all that goes with moving since.

I get my husband back!!

He is taking his board exam today. He has spent the few months absorbed by studying for this exam. It will be nice to have this stressor gone and him back to his sweet self.

ugh..trying to close

Our first home purchase is supposed to close on Monday, July 11. It won't happen though and it ain't our fault! Our lender, whom I will not name in this blog, had a new employee working on our files and well, let's just say...things haven't been completed in a timely manner. Why should they be needing financial paperwork in the 11th hour when we have had 6 weeks to get this all complete? We don't know. So, we've been told the paper work is in the mail on Tuesday to arrive Wednesday, then Wednesday to arrive Thursday...come Thursday no paperwork as they don't have there $&*^ together! We are not goign to be home at the beginning of next week so now, hopefully, we will receive the stuff on Monday in Fresno. DH told them about 5 times the address in Fresno to send to. Good thing he called back this AM because they were planning to send to Pacifica. Hello, we wont' be in Pacifica...but Fresno. I sure hope it shows up.

Fireworks Stand

Over the 4th of July weekend I got to hang out with my siblings in my Dad's firework stand. It was over 100 degrees (one day being 105) with no electricity in the stand but that didn't matter; I totally enjoyed myself hanging with my bro and sis! I wasn't officially working the stand so I just helped bag items but didn't actually sell anything. The stand did very well nearly selling out of everything by the end the 4th.

did you know that Bandit is a fun dog? yep, he is super fun. If you aren't playing with him, he'll let you know by throwing his toy into your lap. If your hand is hanging down, don't be surprised if the toy ends up being put in your hand! He even was knocking on my door by throwing his toy against the door when I was heading to bed and midnight because he still wanted to play. I can't wait to have a dog of my own.

The drive home on Monday was easy. Matt came home from Chicago about 6pm (only 30 minutes delayed). We enjoyed a spectacular last 4th of July evening in Pacifica. Fireworks are allowed here - the safe and sane ones - but that doesn't matter to the residents. From our house, we could see at least 6 "shows" going on being put on by neighbors complete with grand finales. And, it went on for 2.5 hours! No need to go to any coordinated show, just hang out in the back yard and watch the sky all around light up! We lit off our "safe and sane" stuff with the neighbors for a few hours also. Fun was had by all!

blog forgotten

I seem to forget I have this blog and I am constantly ignoring it! That has got to change! Had an awesome fun time this past weekend with hubbie's colleagues. First, on Saturday was an all day party at Chateau d' Joan Hally (one of Matt's attendings) in Sonoma, CA. Matt was the Mojito Masta!! Getting everyone sloshed on awesome tasting Mojitos. Charlie was the cooking Masta!! cooking good grub such as Beer-boiled Brats, Chipotle Shrimp tacos, some kind of Pork tenderloin and some kind of Salmon cooked on wine-soaked cedar planks. Started with the fog over the top of us but that soon burned off and people were enjoying the pool, the bocce ball court and just hanging out! We left late...like 10pm...but it was good fun.

Sunday, friends from across the bay came over for a dinner bbq. Their little girl, Julia, is such a smart 3 year old. She already knows how to spell and read simple words. Her favorite animal is the shark and she told us all about it. It was so nice to have them come over and hang out. We will miss them.

Packing is coming along nicely. Utilities are in the process of being set up. Just 2.5 weeks more to go before the "big" move!

Gone Ghost Huntin'

It was set on Saturday evening. The San Francisco Ghost Hunt woo-oo-oo!!! My sis and bro-n-law were up for the weekend so we decided to go on the Ghost Hunt. It was real fun. It is a 3 hour tour (2 hours walking, 1 hour informational) in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. It begins at the Queen Anne Hotel which has its on friendly ghost...Mary Lane. The guide, Jim, is perfect for this gig. He tells us the history of the hauntings in the hotel then lets us wander around the hotel on our time. The hotel is decorated to be about 1900. It is totally cool. There are all kinds of great furniture pieces. I sat in what looked to be a piece from when the place was an Episcopal Church and my sis took a pic of me. In the picture was something quite strange, something Jim calls a glowing ball of light. It was on the chair next too me. at the same time the picture was taken the chair had gotten very, very cold. These are all indications of a ghost encounter according to Jim. I had a ghost encounter on Saturday!!! Wooooo -oooooo -oooo .

Jim tells great stories as we walk around the Pacific Heights neighborhood about both the history of the area and hauntings. If you go, you will find out about a voodoo queen, Flora, George, and Claudia among others. Here is the web address to find out more information.

Ghost Hunt

Well worth the time and money. I highly recommend it.

Yosemite!

Just visited Yosemite over the weekend. The waterfalls are AMAZING!!! So full, thunderous and gorgeous. I've never seen the waterfalls so full before and there are waterfalls where I've never seen them before. The road to Glacier Point still has lots of snow. So much that you could go sledding in areas. The dogwoods are in full bloom and there are tons and tons of different wildflowers to be found all around. It was a truly amazing sight that I hope lots of you get to enjoy.

Talk about paperwork!

I've heard that there is a lot of paperwork involved with purchasing a house but it is more than I ever expected. I'm making trips back and forth to the fax machine at a local business and receiving fed ex shipments full of paperwork. It is all worth it though.

Ah the sweet taste of success

Tucson was absolutely awesome!! It was hot - up to 107 on Saturday adn we loved it! We had some difficulty deciding on a house as we just hadn't seen "the one" until Sunday around 1p. It was the last house we would see and it had just gone on the market Saturday afternoon and well..the sweet taste of success is that this is now MY HOUSE! Ahhh....

here, here, little House, here, here

We've been dreaming and talking for years, yes years, about purchasing a house and the time is finally here. Wow! Tomorrow, I'm off to Tucson, AZ to find that ever-elusive house. We are so excited to finally be able to take this journey so many before us have taken. I hope to check out at least 10 houses in the next few days and, hopefully by the end of the weekend, we will have put an offer on a house. Can't wait..the excitement is building.

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

The packing has begun! In my job, I got quite proficient at creating MS Access databases. Why do you want to know this? Because, I've just finished creating a database to track all the books we have. Yes, I know that is nuts but what can I say we have 4+ bookcases full of books. Things from Poetry and English Lit (think Shakespeare) to Medical (think Grey's Anatomy) in our bookshelves. Thought it would be useful to enter all these into a database as I pack boxes. Not only will we be able to figure out what books we have or don't have, we will also know what box (as I'm numbering them) what book is in! Organization is key. I know, I'm nuts! But, it is fun. Oh my, did I just say fun???

Daytime TV has nothing on this

Ah...the joys of not working....sitting on the beach under a beautiful sunny and blue sky, watching the waves crash in front of me, listening to the 2 guys I don't know playing trumpet and bongos. Ah...bliss!

My first post

Yeah!! this is my first blog post. Wahoo!!!

so, what do I tell my blog? Would you like to know about my day today? Well I am a recent SAHW so that means I can do whatever I feel like doing whenever I feel like doing it, within reason. So, today I've been out to Best Buy where I failed in my attempt to purchase a CD but that's okay, I can keep trying. I've played with my turtle - he is soo cute. I'll have to post a pic of him on here soon. I think I'm going to go for a walk - but you don't really care about that.