My Husband, My Hero

My husband is my hero. Not only did he paint the baby's room...he also removed a TREE from the toilet!!!

Check out the photo. Thank heavens my hubby is a handy man...he took off the porcelain to find this massive root infestation creeping around the wax ring at the base of the toilet!!! (And to clarify, thankfully that is mud). Thank you Curtis, I am so proud that you can do stuff like this!

Six Years Ago

Six years ago this month, I married my best friend. We are both independent, strong-willed people...I love that about us. We constantly challenge each other to be better people and can have the honest conversations to make it happen. Curtis and I choose to be together because we don't 'need to'--we WANT to share our lives together.

Just today we shared a very miraculous moment. Our baby kicked on the left side of my belly and we both felt it! It makes me happy kiddo is strong and when Curtis put his hand there, he could experience this huge milestone.

Next week's big event? We find out if our little Spork aka "Ninja-neer" (part ninja, part engineer) is a little boy or a little girl.

I love life's little presents that happen every day.

10 Years Ago

If I think 10 years back from when baby entered our lives, it ends up being monumental. June 20, 2000 I went in for spinal surgery to straighten the scoliosis curve in my spine. I had the threat of being paralyzed, but it would prevent my lungs from collapsing or my heart stopping from the strain of the curve. I am very happy that I can still walk and I only ask that baby gives me the same courtesy. Be healthy and don't break me! Especially if you want a sibling!

House Flambe'

On a multitude of amazing levels and being thankful for fire fighters/the fire house being just down the street, our own home is not reduced to a sad little foundation of ash. Everyone is fine and we are counting our blessings as only 10% of our house is gone. And again we are safe and grateful for astute responders...dispatchers, police, fire fighters, our friends, the on-call insurance agent, the contractor and the electrician who came at the end of their own Saturday to make sure the smoldering was gone from our rafters and wouldn't return to harm us.

Today there were big plans for the weekend, especially today. Dental appointment, Lenny nail trim, meeting up with friends at a beer festival, helping a friend pick out her wedding dress, a dinner out...luckily our rally point was our house and we were all running a 1/2 an hour behind to bolt out with our plans for the day. In a string of coincidences, it allowed me to walk through the garage, into the laundry room, into the house and to repeat those steps as I smelt burnt marshmallows!?!?? Beth thought it was popcorn when she walked in the living room. I checked, nothing visually singed by the hot water heater in that room, boys to investigate further, C reached up and touched the ceiling. A hot ceiling. (yikes!) More inspection through the attic crawl space ensued on a ladder with a fire extinguisher and eventually...where there is smoke, there really is fire!

After a very long and emotional day of 4 fire trucks, 5 cop cars, our street being closed down and our access room and garage being gutted and hosed/foamed down...we have had an electrical fire. F-I-R-E in our roof. The fire crews were all amazed that things were in such an early stage and we were repeatedly told how lucky we were and the gravity of us being just minutes later...or being home at night while this quiet death crept over our heads through our roof insulation [shudder]...or to come back from our days errands to find wet smoldering rubble where once our address numbers hung high.

So grateful we didn't rush out of the house without inspecting. And the pups. Oh the pups, we almost left them at home! Not only Lenny, but B's two doggies too!!!! My heart breaks to think of them trapped inside a house aflame. Again, everyone safe. [deep breaths] It would be maddening to be displaced from our home, to return to our daily lives, to start over with the essentials (hell to even have a scrap of paper to write my claim number on!!!!), being virtually homeless...astounding. In a stark contrast we just don't have hot water, dry wall, insulation (in a portion of our home that we can quarantine) and a very dusty home in the interim time.

We are exhausted...however we have each other safe, a dog to love, friends to hug, a home to keep us warm, we have a computer to type on, undisturbed beds to sleep in and wonderful locals who came to our rescue.

Thankful, to say the very least.

Love it!!! "Reading is Sexy" is a bumper sticker that adds a little truth and humor to the world!!!

And an update that The New Hotness (my 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe) and I have had some bonding time on some road trips up north. We are now adequately settled into our new life together and my new little spoil continues to indulge. Malibu is now a saluted memory.

The last rain storm revealed that my cute little car has function and made me "squee" with delight over the fact that I have a rear windshield wiper. And that it is truly a useful amenity on a SUV.

Hey, laugh if you'd like...but if you can't enjoy the simple things in life, what can you enjoy!?!??

Kinda like WebMD

Simple nature of being, the hubby and I are just content sitting in the same room together even if we aren't talking. Last night as we clicked along on our separate keyboards in the computer room, checking our separate emails and looking at totally opposite web pages. Think Hello Kitty on one screen and a technically-laden, engineer jargon filling the other monitors on his desk to get an accurate contrast of our lives. Then, in came Lenny clapping his jaw together, wagging his tail and getting down in the play position with furry booty sticking up in the air. He wanted to play fetch (or his version of you throw it...there is no retrieving really involved).

I returned to the office, dog thoroughly tired, swiveled back into my seat and went back to typing. There was a moment of pause in talking about our network connection and then I realized we have a lot of separate things. Email accounts, bank accounts, hobbies, etc...hrmph, was really the summation of that thought when I said it out loud. And then we really self-diagnosed ourselves as if we were on WebMD for relationships...that, hm...yup...

...we're healthy and very thankfully still happy being together doing anything. And still both bringing new ideas and dreams to the table.

Pinch Me.

Did this weekend really just happen?!?!

The sad: I sadly missed a dear friend's birthday bashes/4th of July celebration in Colorado.

The totally rad: We ended up having a fun, impromptu party at our house. Then, the Great White Sharkey (the Malibu) left the family and was conveniently adopted by the dealer because I got a new 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe of my very own!

I am giddy.

Homemade Bagels

I wanted to take a special moment to honor Bev's HOMEMADE bagels. Yum.

The fresh dough, the boil, the steaming in the oven...the whipped cream cheese, the lox. OMG. Who knew that people still took the time to do this stuff at home...let alone to spoil the people who crashed their house the night after Dj's birthday party.

We have had such great weekends lately. It feels odd because we haven't been at our home, but it doesn't phase us because our friends love our dog Lenny and he has been able to travel with us. And believe it or not, our Greyhound will get in the pool on his own! Grant it, he tries to bite the water jets that tickle his feet and in turn he submerges his whole snout into the water [snort, snarfle, sneeze]. Yeh, smart eh?

Our other friends, on the other side of Phoenix-earth had us out to their pool party/BBQ the weekend before. Holy geeze we got spoiled there too...smoked turkey, RIBS and sausage! Yeah, I think we will keep this rolling road trip party going! ...this weekend it will be a puppy party at our house. We get to have their pups for almost a week and it is always fun to have the new dynamic.

Thankful for...

I have been in a bit of a funk and things are running relatively status quo. Still going to the gym, we are still in the same house, I am still at the same job, Lenny is still neurotic and adorable all the same time. Then I have change; friends are moving away to Japan, other friends are visiting Japan and I am longingly wanting my own trip.

Instead of being all gloom and doom (for no apparent reason besides PMS-ing) --I want to focus on the positive and encourage you to do the same in your own lives.

• My family is healthy (core and extended)
• I have wonderful friends (who have great BBQ/pool parties)
• We are DINKs
• Curtis made me dinner last night and helped clean up...its nice to have that extra help and to share in the every day life together

Just remember when you have problems...they may just be "luxury problems." What I mean by this is if your car gets a flat tire and you have a bad day over it. Reverse that thinking to be how it may be inconvenient to have a car issue, however you are very lucky to have the freedom of your own transportation. No public transit, not carpooling, you are still being blessed with the luxury to travel about at your own pace.