Feeling HOT! HOT! HOT!

Back to the blog...

Yes, I've been off the radar for a while. Summertime in the desert just sucks the life out of me. Extreme temperatures, kids out of school and underfoot, and the busiest time of year work-wise mean June to September are not happy months for me. Don't get me wrong, I do love time with my children. It's just a challenging confluence of circumstances, and it's stressful.

I now have two preteen daughters in Middle School and one very willful three year old boy. It's a hormonal mess in my house, and it's stressful.

The budget in our state continues to assault our school funding, which directly affects my job. Schools have little money to spend, and my job depends on them spending it with my company and not another vendor. It's stressful.

Can you tell I'm a little stressed?

It was suggested to me on several occasions that I might want to find an outlet for my stress. Since punching random passers-by was not an option, I thought I might get back to a physical activity I'd previously enjoyed over a decade ago - yoga. Only now, because I live in the bowels of Hell and apparently, on some deep inner level am sad to see triple digit temperatures in the rear view mirror, I decided to try HOT yoga.



May I just say one thing?

IT'S AWESOME!

And one more thing... no, I am not anywhere in that photo up there. I hide from cameras when I'm fully clothed and not sweating like a patron of a Turkish bath house, so I'm not about to let anyone catch a shot of me in my hot yoga class. At least, not yet. But man, if my arms and abs start to look like the ones I see in my class anytime soon, I might rethink that.

In the Thick of It. Again.

Yep, it's that time of year again.

Time for me to settle into my serious "I HATE the Desert" funk. As opposed to my less serious "I Hate the Desert" funk, in which I wallow from November to April.

There is nothing redeeming about this place. After four years, I have yet to find beauty in the desert. There are parts of the Southwestern US that are quite pretty, and some that are truly stunning.

The major metropolitan area in which I live is definitely not one of them.

I've already managed one weekend getaway several weeks ago. I traded 110+ degree desert weather for 90+ degree, steamy, sticky Miami weather. I'm sure that climate gets on one's nerves over time, but for 3 1/2 days I soaked up some humidity and drank in the lush foliage that's everywhere in south Florida.

Even the weeds are prettier in Miami.

I'm realizing that I can't make peace with the idea of a long-term future living where we live right now. Something's gotta give.

(sigh)

Mothers' Day = Happy Spine

My newest baby:



My sweet husband and kidlets presented me with this dreamy office chair for Mothers' Day. After a McDonalds breakfast in bed, my daughters blindfolded me and marched me downstairs (talk about an act of trust), where Happy awaited.

Yes, I named the chair Happy.

I started working from home in July of 2008 and have spent most of the last 2 years working at a desk while sitting on a metal folding chair. Having this new high back executive throne makes my back and butt very, very happy.

I love my new perch, and I love the note my family attached to the chair:

Because you break your back every day with all you do for us, you shouldn't have to break your back at work. Happy Mothers' Day!

Awwwww....

Little Things

Generic Q-Tips just don't cut it for me.

That is all.

I Miss This Guy

No, that's not my grandpa (although there is a very faint resemblance to my Pop-Pop). In fact, I only met this man once in my entire life.

His name is Tony Hillerman, and I had the privilege of meeting him in 1991, at the Mystery Writers of America Awards Dinner in New York City. I attended with my grandfather, (not the one who kind of looks like Mr. Hillerman, but a side-by-side comparison might have been interesting...). I even had the opportunity to get my favorite of his novels - A Thief of Time, if you're wondering - personally autographed.

Mr. Hillerman was funny, humble, and very down-to earth. He's been one of my favorite authors for decades, and it was an honor to meet him. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2008.

It's been over a year since my dad has presented me with a new Hillerman novel for my birthday, Christmas, or "just because." It hit me recently that, not only is this wonderful author no longer with us, but his characters are gone as well. Sure, I can revisit Detective Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee any time I wish by cracking my copies of the Hillerman novels that sit on my bookshelf, but it's not the same. Tony Hillerman made his characters so believable, they start to feel like acquaintances once you read a few of his books. I suppose this is what makes the loss if this writer even more sad...those old friends are gone too. I'll never know what happens to the characters.

When a true artist - a gifted painter, writer, musician, engineer, architect, etc. - passes away, we not only lose the individual, we lose the potential their gift held as well. The private person (someone's mom, dad, child, sister, husband, friend) is mourned by his or her family and community. The "artist" - the aspect of that person that created amazing, beautiful, valuable, or significant things - leaves behind a gap of talent that the whole world mourns. We miss the unmade, the unfinished, the unrealized.

Can't Wait

So excited to have the opportunity to see these amazing musicians live this weekend. The documentary about their beginnings in the refugee camps of Guinea during the conflict in their native Sierra Leone is awesome. I'm looking forward to a fabulous show. If you have the chance, go see them in person. So inspiring!

http://refugeeallstars-audience.fm/

Happy Thoughts - I'm On Top!

...top of the Google list, that is. Seriously.

My humble little blog that nobody reads is at the very top of the list in Google. Don't believe me? Go to Google and search for "dead cow road".

Voila! There's this post, right at the top of the search results.

Okay, so it's a search for Dead Cow Road, not deep-thinking political analysis or thoughtful posts on my charming kids (wink, wink) but in a tiny, twisted way, my blog is number one.

It cracks me up to see that about 80% of the new traffic to my blog is generated by Google searches for Dead Cow Road.

It's random, but it's something to smile about.