SAN TAN FLATS

AMY CAME INTO town this week so her and I left our kiddo's with her hubby Friday night so that we could get out and 'cut loose'. We went to one of my favorite places in the valley out in Queen Creek. San Tan Flats, it's a family friendly saloon with a restaurant, fire pits for roastin marshmallows, live country music and dancing. The story behind this place is pretty awesome. "An article...in the East Valley Tribune straight out of the movie “Footloose” reports that Dale Bell, the owner of San Tan Flats was ordered to pay a $5000 fine for customers dancing in the open air. Bell has tried to curb dancing at his establishment. His response, “It’s impossible to … ensure no one breaks out in the waltz or two step,” I may have to file for a special permit myself as my son has been known to dance for no apparent reason. We’ve just moved to a new home near that area, but luckily Maricopa county is dance friendly." We had so much fun and so did the kids.

SHELBY HAD HER eye on Gage the whole night! They were so cute playing together.



ONCE AGAIN....SO nice to be back. (Halloween many moons ago)

JOINING THE MULTITUDE

ON SEPTEMBER 29TH I started a new job with University of Phoenix. Becoming part of corporate America was something that has never appealed to me...until now. My interest grew when the economy started to go down the tubes. I needed a better paying job with benefits for Shelby and myself. As wonderful as the hospital was it didn't pay the bills unless I was a nurse or doctor. I know I wont stay in this line of work forever but this experience so far has been refreshing. After setting down the sledge hammer I used to tear down the wall of "I will never conform , put on my black slacks and go to work to sit in my 'very own cubicle'". Something I always imagined to be a universe away. While I am trying to keep an open mind about it, I still hold on to pieces of the mortar that held together that wall. I don't feel that I completely fit, I was not meant to do this job forever but in the mean time I will welcome the bit of financial relief that the opposite used to so consistently eat away at my stomach, and we will use our shiny new benefits complete with dental, vision, full tuition coverage, 401k, and stock options. I have made some more new friends who I have been having a complete and insanely hilarious good time with.

THREE WEEKS OF training; this was our group (minus Kelly Jo who was on a call).



ADAM(left) AND MATT(right) were the two I sat next to everyday, 9 hours a day for these three weeks. Adam and I remained on the same team but Matt went to a different building. We miss him, he is quite possibly the most hilarious person I have ever met!


THIS IS THE view from my cube!


ADAM, ONE OF the more thoughtful people I have ever known, is helping put on the Race for Maggie's Place. A race to benefit the charity that supports mothers who need a home, health care and emotional support while they go through pregnancy and birth. There is a 9k run, 3k walk, and a kids dash for anyone interested in supporting by either coming out or by spreading the word. Here is the website:
www.race4maggiesplace.com
It is November 16th and all proceeds go to Maggie's Place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

TODAY IS MY moms birthday. There are so many things I could say, I have no clue where to start. If I keep it simple, maybe it will be more obvious how much i love her.

}December 1, 1980 - The day she gave birth to me

}March 26, 1983 - The day she gave birth to Michael

}Protector of my childhood

}Chaser of bad dreams

}Log cabins

}Big green van

}Tempeh experiments

}Bullets mama

}Nurse/public servant for 30+ years

}Her, Karen and Andrea...Watch Out!!

}April 18, 2006 - The day she became a wonderful grandmother

}...and so much more



I LOVE YOU MOM, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

THE LONELY TREE

EVERY TIME I go home and drive by this tree, I mean to stop and take a picture of it. For those of you who know the road between Heber and Snowflake, you probably know which tree I am talking about. People including myself refer to it as 'the lonely tree'. It is tradition in my car to wave to the statuesque landmark high on that hill to the north every time we drive by, even in the dark.

THE SMELL OF PRODUCTIVITY

LAST WEEKEND, SHELBY and I decided to go up to Snowflake and visit my mom. She took a spill off of the ladder that goes up to her loft back at the end of September, so we have taken three trips up there since then to do some house work and other things while she recovered. Last weekend I took on the task of planting all of her vegetables and flowers in the green house in preparation for winter. It seemed daunting at first but 5 minutes into it I realized how much I missed working on our house and on our land. And how good it felt to do some manual labor. Something about it brings you back down to earth...literally. If productivity had a smell, it would be a potting soil/top soil mix.
HERE ARE A few pictures my mom took of the process.

DRILLING VENT HOLES...


FOUND A STINK bug while digging dirt to mix. Shelby loves stink bugs, she tells them hello and pets their backs.


FILLING THE BINS with soil...


FINALLY PLANTING THE seeds, Shelby never wavered throughout the entire morning. She was my big helper (minus the drilling).

SALT RIVER

I CRUISED OUT to salt river two weekends ago and this is what I found. It was a far cry from what spring does to the place. The water was almost at a stand still and the smell was horrible from all of the algae that was supposed to be under water but wasn't. I tried to find the beauty in it all; i like a challenge!





MY PERSONAL FAVORITE...

OUR AUTHENTIC SELVES

YESTERDAY AT WORK I was talking to my friend Adam about the hurricanes of human lives and when those few moments are that we are our most authentic selves. Moments when a person is at peace, is not being judged by another or even god and may even be completely self-unaware. A time when a person is simply existing as themselves without push or pull. A feeling that what ever it is that a person is doing at that time is what they were meant to be doing, like the color of your eyes and the inability you have to change that fact about yourself.
In the same split second, two things side by side came into my mind when i thought about this. My most authentic self is when I am one on one with Shelby, but knowing that has only been in the last 2 1/2 years of my life, there at the finish line beside her was this...






I AM CURIOUS about all of your answers to this same question. I "tag" all of you to blog about your authentic self moments.