And the outgoing one?

Lauren on the other hand, was awake, but unwilling. Who would have thought that this is the actress, the one whose life is a stage? And yet, she will not let me take a picture of her. What is her problem anyway? The goofball tackled me with a pillow and practically slammed my camera into my face.
Does she really think that this is going to be a better shot?

Or this? Well, my silly teenager is having a blast in middle school and we seem to be surviving 13 so far. We did have a little "no boyfriends allowed" issue, but I'll let her tell that story.

What, photos?

So, I've been feeling guilty about my lame posts lately and decided to take a couple pics that I could post. Of course, Emma's in bed, so...
poor Emma doesn't even know that I'm taking pictures of her in her sleep. Of course the flash in her eyes may have been a big hint. She's been such a help and inspiration. When I get down and feel like I want to give up on this water tower thing, she chimes in with, "We can't let them tear down the water tower mommy." She gets her shy little self out there and asks people to sign our petition and reminds me that it is the future generation that we are doing this for. She's also really impressed with the whole Tom and Reuben farmer thing. She tells me how glad she is that they're doing this and she even said that when she grows up, she hopes that she can marry a farmer. What a doll!

I'm the lame blogger

Yes, I am aware of the fact, but there is a new post on the Save the Water Tower site that includes a reference to the account that the Chandler Historical Society has set up for the cause. Yay, more people involved! I love it!

One step closer

Okay, for anyone following the water tower progress, a blog has been set up and I'd love to have you post. For anyone who wishes I would post more often, I'm sorry, just really busy and tired. If it's not report card time, it's midterm time, etc. I will post and respond soon, I promise. Oh yeah, the water tower site is www.savethewatertower.blogspot.com I'm working on getting the bank account and paypal set up soon.

Stealing the tag

A...attached or single: attached for almost 17 years.
B... best friend: My sisters
C... cake or pie: Cathy's Rum cake or my apple pie (not so humbly)
D... day of choice: As a school teacher, definitely Friday.
E... essential item: Totally copying, my glasses.
F... favorite color: Ask Emma. I either tell her, "Emma color" or "Rainbow", meaning, I just can't choose.
G... gummy bears or worms: Wow, with a mom who loves these, you would have thought, but I don't like either one either.
H... hometown: Chandler AZ, land that I love!
I... indulgence(s): pedicures
J ...January or July: Um, uh, wow, probably 2 of my least favorite months. I always have post-Christmas let down in January although of course I love the weather. I heart the 4th of July and no school, but not much else about July unless we're out of town, think Oregon or Utah.
K... kids? Lauren- 13, my, yay, teenager!, and Emma- 9, my little one
L... life is incomplete without: Stealing again- my family... and books
M... marriage date: May 25, 2001
N ...number of siblings: 4 sisters. Elise,Merilee, Emily, and Megan. 5 brothers. Bobby, Jaimie, Tom, Chris, and Ty.
O... oranges or apples: I love both, but they have to be fresh
P ...phobias or fears: Strange little bird phobia that only occasionally induces panic attacks
Q... quotes: "Try a little harder to do a little more." G.B. Hinckley
R... reason to smile: My kids at the end of the day, pretty things, fun music
S ...season: The holiday season, right before Thanksgiving straight through to New Year's
T... tag you're it.
U ...unknown fact about me: I'm really picky.
V ...very favorite store: Melrose Vintage on 7th ave north of Indian School.
W... worst habit: I think I should just let Merilee fill this out for me, oh wait, that would be... being lazy
X... x-ray or ultrasound: Do some people actually prefer one or the other?
Y... your favorite food: Have I mentioned that I have a hard time with favorites? I love crab legs, steak, Elmer's tostadas, Mary's mom tacos, chicken n noodles, curried meatballs w/rice, yum this list could go on...
Z... zodiac: taurus
Characteristics considered positive
Positive traits of Taurus people are:
discipline
hard-working
good sense of humor
prudent
great work-ethic
artistic
loving
creative
romantic
sensual
sexual
attentive
comforting
strong
steady
shy
organized
cautious
harmonious
trustworthy
calm
tenacious
stable
patient
resourceful
easygoing
careful
dependable
honest

Characteristics considered negative
Negative traits are:
controlling
stubborn
hyper-sensitive
gets stuck in ruts
little to say
resentful
moody
horrible temper
possessive
Jealous
overly self-conscious
are these the traits they write for everybody?

Saturday, 9am, Soccer fields

Ok, here's a quick update. We decided to put out feelers to see how people really do feel about the water tower. We're (yes, that may be me and Emma) going to go out to the soccer field this Saturday and try to get people to sign petitions that we can present to the city to encourage them to be more helpful with the support of the tower. If anyone can make it, we should be setting up a table at the soccer fields about 9am on Saturday. Any and all support will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Water Tower Update

Ok, Mom talked to JC and he said that the window of opportunity for tearing down the water tower is blocked until March because they can not tear it down during soccer season. Who knew that those thousands of van driving, gazebo toting soccer moms would come in handy for historic preservation? So, the way I figure it is we have at least a month and a half to get 3% of the population of Chandler to donate $10 to save the tower. Everyone should be feeling nice and happy about living in Chandler again now that they've captured the rapist. So, maybe we should try to start the three people thing. Like I'll ask 3 people to donate $10 and ask them to ask 3 people, etc. Except, I'm going to ask everyone who reads this blog to donate and ask 3 people, so it shouldn't take as long, unless of course only 3 people read this blog. This can really grow exponentially. Let's say maybe 9 people read this. If you ask 3 people, we're already at 27, if they each ask 3, we're at 81 and if they all ask 3, we're at 243, then 729. Add those up and in 4 rounds we're already at 1,089 and we only need a total of 10,000 to save the water tower. By the way, the next bump would be to 2,187 and a total of 3,276. We'd be a third of the way there. See how easy this is! Only $10 to save a piece of history so that future generations do not forget that one day, there were farms in Chandler Arizona. Cotton comes from fields that once filled the space where they live and play.

"Save the History"

This is my official notification that I am starting a foundation called "Save the History". Either its first mission will be to save the Ocotillo water tower, or it will be in memory of the water tower. We are losing so much of the short little history that Arizona has a state of the United States. There are already many foundations in order to pursue and secure the stability of the the prehistory of this area. I would like to be an instrument for saving things like the old black school that was recently torn down.

When we found out that the complaints about the water tower in Ocotillo were such that it was going to be torn down, my daughter Emma began to ask what she could do to help. At 9 years old, her plan was to sell lemonade to raise the $100,000 or so dollars that it would take to pay for improvements on the tower. Her battlecry was, "Save the water tower, save the history." While her sweet little plan was more than I was doing, I couldn't actually see it amounting to success, nor did I really want it to.

You see, I can't see what is so wrong with the tower the way it is. If it were a public safety hazard, I would say, definitely fix its instability. However, who is to say that the fading red paint is unsightly? I think it is beautiful. It reminds me of a simpler time when children swam in ditches without permission and cotton and corn grew down Alma School road, rather than the sprouting houses and restaurants. This may seem a little strange coming from a member of the family who sold the land in the first place, but of course, I had no control over that.

I'm not a fanatic who thinks that zero population is the answer and that people should crawl back into caves where they belong, but just every once in a while, could we leave a few things the way they are and recognize the beauty that just is? Do we really need to tear all of the old things down and replace them with shiny newness? Are we so afraid that someone might get a glimpse off the golf course and see that we gave away our agricultural roots?

In addition, I have many other places that I have fallen in love with over the 37 years that I have lived in this valley. There is a cozy little spot on Scottsdale rd. that I haven't driven by lately and I wonder if the tiny little white cottages still stand. I still cringe as I drive by the corners where once beautiful homes stood and see the vacancy of whatever stands there now. If you have any desire to help me save the history for those who haven't seen it and who may never get a chance to, let me know.

Countdown to Christmas

Aaahhh, the actual countdown! This is no longer the fun paper chain countdown, this is the real deal! It is 9am Christmas eve. I still have to go to the grocery store to get stuff to take to Mom's tonight, Karen's tomorrow, wrap more presents, contemplate going to buy the stuff that my kids requested YESTERDAY, clean up my house so we're not embarrassed when Santa gets here, consider the fact that cereal for breakfast on Christmas morning is not very festive and feel guilty that I don't have piles of cinnamon rolls on my stove like Darilyn or stacks of cookies like Merilee, oh shoot, that reminds me, we haven't made cookies for Santa yet, and while our santa is not particularly fond of cookies, it will devastate Emma if we miss that detail. I love this craziness, but just hope that there is enough time left in the countdown to get it all done.
12, 11, 10, 9, .... gotta go!

The holidays

I love the Holidays! We had 4 parties to go to over the weekend. When else does that happen? Yesterday was David's birthday and I will do a "David post" soon. Thanks to Ru and Meg for coming over to install his present! He's in love. We only have 2 days left of school before break. I actually had a student tell me that her mom was going to complain to the principal that kids don't need a Winter Break. It sounds like someone has to find a babysitter. I need to find her and torture some sense into her. It is crazy I always try to get stuff done early so that I won't be so rushed, but somehow, this time of year moves faster than all the others and here it is one week to Christmas and I still have so much to do. If anyone talks to Mom before I do, is it possible for me to work with you to make some beef tamales for Christmas Eve. I sort of invited Risa to come over (she said that she never gets invited anywhere for Christmas Eve. Of course, being Jewish...) and well, she and her fiancee don't eat pork. I think I can handle a "chalupa alternative" but I'm not sure about making tamales on my own. That might be frightful.
Anyway, I actually love the craziness that is involved in Christmas and allowing myself to get wrapped up in doing things for other people. I never do get everything done I want to. The addressed unstamped Christmas cards usually sit on the table until I throw them out in the middle of January. Especially lame, because I often handmade them. But hey, you just have to let some things go. Like me, now...

e-mail tag

Place an X by all the things you've done and removethe X from the ones you have not, and send it to your friends (including me).
( ) Smoked a cigarette. (Not really, but I did pick up grandma's plastic filter one time and inhale because I thought it was the end of a party horn. Ughh, it was awful!)
( ) Jumped out of plane sky diving.
( x) Had feelings for someone who didn't have themback
( ) Been arrested
( x ) Gone on a blind date
(x ) Skipped school
( ) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
( x ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
( x ) Been on a plane
( x ) Been lost
( x) Been on the opposite side of the country,
( x) Gone to Washington , DC
( ) Been to Yosemite No, but so close I could almost taste it and David wouldn't go!
( x ) Swam in the ocean
( ) Felt like dying
( x ) Cried yourself to sleep
( x) Sang karaoke
(x ) Paid for a meal with only coins
( x ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
( x ) Made prank phone calls
( x ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came outof your nose
( x ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue and made snow angels too
( x ) Danced in the rain
( x ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( x ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( x ) Watched the sunrise with someone you careabout
( x ) Blown bubbles
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach?
( x) Crashed a party
( x) Gone ice-skating
( x) Been skinny dipping
1. Any nickname: Mo, Moses, Mojo, this list could go on and on.
2. Mother's name? Betty
3. Favorite drink? Vanilla diet coke w/extra ice from Sonic.
4. Body piercing? ears, normal two in the lobes and one more in the left that stays empty.
5. How much do you love your job? Depends on the day, love is an overstatement.
6. Birthplace: Mesa, AZ
7. Favorite vacation spot? Usually where ever I was last.
8. Ever been to Africa? No
9. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Don't remember.
10. Ever been on TV? On the news at a BNL concert when they were giving admission for $20 for everyone you could fit on a blanket and then donate the blanket to the homeless. A couple other times too, but ...
11. Ever steal any traffic signs? No, but I've had them left in my yard for me.
12. Ever been in a car accident? yes, many, including a rollover.
13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle: 4-door
14. Favorite salad dressing? Depends on the salad. Ranch, italian, ceasar, asian...
15. Favorite pie? MMMmmm, pie. Why pick a favorite?
16. Favorite movie? 6hour Pride and Prejudice, Stranger Than Fiction, Mars Attacks,
17. Favorite holiday? The whole Thanksgiving to New Year period.
18. Favorite dessert? What's with you people and your choices. Why do I have to make all of these choices? You and Emma both!
19. Favorite food ? Really, this is getting somewhat annoying.
20. Favorite day of the week? Any day I don't have to work
21. Favorite brand of bodywash? Ginger Fish soap and my new favorite, Margarita from Philosophy.
22. Favorite smell? See previous question, plus wet dirt, rain, baking bread, apple cider, pie, curried meatballs at my mom's
23. What do you do to relax? take a bath and reading. ditto Elise, on this part anyway.
24. Do you have a message to your friends reading this? Hi!
25. How do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years Lauren will be 23 and Emma will be almost 19. David will be one day away from 51 and I'm not sure that I want to visualize any of that right now. Just the fact that we are 3 years away from a child with a driver's license is scary enough.
26. Furthest place you will send this message? The world wide web, but the furthest anyone will read it is probably Oregon.
27. Who will respond to this the fastest? Well, I haven't seen Mer respond yet. I laughed when I saw that I was supposed to respond to Meg fastest, did you forget that I don't read my e-mail anymore? I did respond once I saw it, just that was 10 days later.
28. Who is the least likely to respond? People I don't know.

Weird things about Emma

Kas tagged Emma, so...
1.I'm the only blond haird person in my family.
2.I,m shy
3.I ate a raw mussel from a lake.
4.My favorite food is crab legs.
5.Turquoise has been my favorite color since I was old enough to talk.
6.I can't decide if I should say neither (ee) or neither (I) or either (ee) or either (I).

Strange

I seem to be at a temporary loss of things to say. I can't imagine what has gotten into me.

Hello again

Well, it has taken me 'til 11 o'clock just to read all the blogs I missed and update to Christmas music, so this won't be too long.
We had a wonderful thanksgiving. It's fun having Tom and Nat and the kids at Mom and Dad's and getting to see them more often.
We did our thankful list for home evening that week and it was so cute, the things the kids came up with and David feeding them his list. We put all of our things in a basket.
It's been so nice having rain and cool weather finally! I actually got to wear my ASU sweatshirt on the day that the Devils beat the wimpcats.
I think we just have the most awesome family in the world and my first song is for all of you spread out across the world. We miss you and wish you were here all of the time.
I will blog again soon.

6 weird things and a cute story

I'm doing this together so I don't break the double post rule.

1. I feel compelled to shut every open cupboard door or drawer that I see.

2. I like it completely dark when I go to sleep.

3. I don't like to ask for help, ever! I do occasionally, but I don't like it.

4. I will read anything. Ok, maybe not anything, but cereal boxes, signs along the road, reader's digest, strangers' blogs (when I have time), most any magazine, teen-age books, the list could go on.

5. I am obsessive-compulsively perfectionist about really weird, meaningless things, like making sure that the stripes match on a wrapped present or tearing the pages in a scrapbook, just right.

6. I love to shop, I love make-up, and all that girly stuff, but I don't really like to dress up or put on make-up. Every once in a while is cool, but not every day. I have way too many clothes and too much make-up for how much I use or wear them.

Ok, now, cute story- The other day Emma and I were driving down the street and she asked me where I got her name from. I told her it was after the title character in a novel by Jane Austen, a girl who liked helping everybody else, but sometimes forgot to make sure she was taking care of herself. (We glossed over the bossy part) She replied, "Oh, you mean she was one of those people who puts themself aside to make sure that everyone else is happy?" We went with that. She answered back, "Yeah, Nana B. is like that." Totally!

Oh yeah, I will tag, and I know I'm stealing everyone, but inconceivably, I got here first.
Merilee, Elise, Mason, Tabi, Teresa, and Chris

Family

These are some of my favorite pictures from Ty and Shanda's wedding. I don't know how to un-underline this. I realize I could have put more pics of actual Ty and Shanda, but go see them at hirdfam.com. I love to see everyone gathered together. Welcome to the crazy family Shanda, although you've already been here for a while.
It's great to have built in best friends!
And then add some to the pile! I love my little girls!
Emma followed the magician around like a lost puppy. She thought he was the coolest thing ever.

Hello Again

In answer to Darilyn - It seems like that much time has gone by, but the talk is tomorrow. It is on gratitude. I always kind of gather info and try to focus on what my talk is centered on, but don't actually put it together until the last minute. Of course, I went to read my Mom's blog and the first thing the crazy, over-active, do everything herself woman does after a crazy weekend is go online and thank everyone else for what they've done. She is such an example.

I don't really want to recover this past weekend. Everyone else is doing such a great job. I would love to see any pictures though, because I am an idiot and NEVER brought my camera anywhere. If anyone got any decent pics of my kids on halloween, I would be indebted.

It was so fun getting to spend so much time with my fam. I live for those times.

Now, to finish writing that talk.

Aaaahhh!

I have to talk in church in 2 weeks!

We have a ward halloween party in 20 minutes!

David's not home yet, from work!

I'm not sure how he's getting home, because the truck is in the driveway!

Merilee is awfully demanding!

Bye!

Hola

It's weird. Sometimes I could just write and write and write and other days it seems like there is nothing to say. Life is good, but nothing thrilling. I hope that all of you out in the blog world are doing well!

Just for kicks, check out this blog. If nothing else, look at the list of links that you can blog surf on a rainy afternoon.

http://poppytalk.blogspot.com/

Ocotillo

I just got off a blog that is listed on Darilyn's blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, or something of the sort. It really made me think about growing up in Ocotillo. I feel so lucky to have grown up on a family farm. This photo is actually a part of the old colored school that was used before our family bought the farm. These buildings were torn down a few years ago and I felt the need to personally document them before that happened. They were back behind the Lewis' house. We never did play in these buildings when I was a kid. I kind of think that someone might have been living in them. There was one building back behind the barn though that we loved to play in. We always said it was haunted and dared each other to go in. When they tore that one down, we would still play on the foundation and claim that it was still haunted. Behind the barn was one of my very favorite places to play. I loved to climb up the cattle loading ramp and play in the shute where they would put the horses when they needed shots. We would climb up to the top of the hay pile. It was all the way to the top of the barn. My big brothers would dare eachother to jump off from higher and higher points. Once we even played with some firecrackers back there so that Mom and Dad wouldn't hear us. How stupid were we? Let's go play with firecrackers by the hay in Arizona! Luckily, nothing happened.

We really loved cotton season. For some reason, it was fun to even pick a few pieces of cotton to play with. What we really loved was to play in the cotton trailers. This was a rare treat. It apparently isn't really good for raw cotton to have children burrowing in it. More often, we would play on the piles of cotton seed. The cotton gin was across the street and the canal. The lot behind the gin would have rows of cotton seed stacked, oh gosh, I don't know, maybe 8 or 10 feet high, but I was a kid, so who knows? We loved to dig tunnels in the cotton. This was not as easy in the seed. Still possible, but tunnels were more likely to collapse. I can't even imagine when my kids would have time to do all of this! Sad. It had to have been late fall, because that is when the cotton is ready.

This leads me to playing in the canal and the ditches. We loved when Bobby would get out his blow-up raft and go from one bridge to the next in it. This was really pretty dangerous and Mom and Dad would get mad at us, but it was worth it. The ditches were not as fun, but still pretty good. The only good thing about getting up on a cold winter morning for school was those days when the ditch was frozen over. The conditions had to be perfect. Just about 3 or 4 inches of water in the bottom of the ditch, otherwise the water would run to fast to freeze for our little Arizona cold weather. The top would just freeze over and you could always break it with your shoe, so fun. These were often the foggy days, when the fog would come up off the canal. This was about as "winter" as we would ever get.

I think I'll save some memories for another day.

Tomorrow Sonny goes in for "surgery" and I have to get up early to take him in to Uncle Keith.