Ideas?

Anyone know what to do with a giant squash/zucchini mutant? We planted our monsoon garden with seeds form native seed search, and this is the crazy shit we are getting. It's like the attack of the killer tomatoes, but green. It also makes people exhibit extreme shyness, as shown by my friend Jessi. She used to be so outgoing, but the mutant has done her in.

Technology has got the best of me

I have been trying to post the sweet kayaking video I have from our trip, but for some reason, it is transfering from the camera to the mac as a .jpg. Anyone have any ideas? I am sure that Steve knows how to fix it, but that may take a while.

So to keep things moving along, I have posted pictures form the trip on flikr.

For those who are intersted in the details, here you go.....

The trip was three days and two nights. There was a local couple in their late 50's/early 60's, another local couple in their late 20's, and a guy from NC in his mid 30's. Our guide was also local and in his mid 30's. It was a fun group.

The first day we met at about 8:30 and went over to where we were putting in, and packed our stuff and packed the boats and learned about kayaking. Then we paddled for a while and stopped for lunch on a little island. It was maybe 1/2 square block in size, but we still saw a momma deer and to babies in the brush. They must have swam. It was pretty far to another piece of land. Kind fo a sucky mom if you ask me, but maybe they like swimming. Really, who am I to judge.

Then we kept going for what felt like forever, probably another 3 hours or so and got to where we were camping on Stuart island. It was cool because you can see Canada, and border patrol helicopters, from our camp site. The border patrol reminded us of Tucson. Not exactly what you are looking for in a vacation, but oddly familiar at the same time. We camped at the same place both nights so we didn’t have to keep unpacking and repacking, which was nice. That night we ate and drank a lot of wine and went down to a dock and splashed our hands in the water and saw the bioluminescence. It looked like the water was full of sparklers whe you agitated it.

The second day you are supposed to paddle around the island, but we were all tired and hung-over so we decided that we would take a little hike on the island and do a sunset paddle instead. The guide stayed back to have lunch ready for us when we got back and we all took off for about 3 hours. The island was much more inhabited at one time. At first I was dreading going because I thought I would get sunburned....seems I forgot that there are trees in most parts of the world. It was great walking in about 70 degree weather with shade.

We got back and ate lunch and then some people played cards and steve and I went down to the docks to take a nap in the sun. I guess we are getting thin blood. At about 5 we ate an appetizer (warm brie with sautéed apples, cranberries and walnuts)and then went on the sunset paddle.

The last day we got up early because we had to work with the tides. At about 4 am the wind was rally howling and was pulling off our rain fly. When we got on the water to head back to San Juan Island, the waves were about 3 feet tall. I thought it was awesome because the front of the kayak was slamming into the waves and water was splashing everywhere. Steve didn't like it so much in the back because some of the waves were going completely over the boat. We were only in that for about 45 minutes until we got on the other side of an island. We later found out from our guide that it was a pretty dangerous situation. I still think it was awesome.

We were ahead of schedule coming back, so we stopped on the little island again for lunch, and then it was only like 20 minute or something to a different harbor where we were getting picked up. We went back to town and we checked in to our hotel and took showers. The rest of the younger people were taking the ferry back that night, so we met up with them at a bar while they waited to leave. Then we went to dinner at a nice place where I had made reservations. I am sure the food was good, but we were a little too tipsy to really pay attention to what we were eating. Probably not wise when your meal costs $100. Oh well.

Anyway, that was it in a nutshell.

It took a car, a plane, another plane, another car, and a ferry to get to this little kayak, but it was well worth it. I hope to download pictures tonight and get some of the details up here for everyone to puruse. This picture is courtesy of one of our trip companions, Kirsten. Don't we look so Sporty Spice?

This is why I hate doing yard work in Tucson. I had a little run in with a century plant. All this from a teeny weeny pin prick. I guess I can say that I put my blood, sweat, and tears into the yard and not be exaggerating.

What I did on my Labor Day vacation

Well, I didn't pull weeds. Not that it wasn't needed. We just wanted to do some things that were non house related for once. Whoever said that owning a house was awesome is a big fat liar. I know that I should be grateful, starving kids in China don't have houses, blah, blah, blah, but when you have water leaking from somewhere on your roof and THROUGH the cracks in your newly painted cabinets that took three months to finish, and said roof leak can not be found one the outside, you start thinking that those kids in China kind of have it ok, especially with all of the CG Olympic fireworks to watch.

Anyway.....Saturday I finally bought a memory card for the camera after two years and we went to Mt. Lemmon. Sunday we went to the store to get some last minute outdoorsy things for the upcoming kayaking trip, and a couple of the neighborhood girls came over for knitting and various TJ's chips and dips. Today I went shopping with a friend, then we went over to another friend's in the neighborhood to celebrate labor day. I only took pictures of the exciting things. The following photo essay is a brief yet delving visual of our Mt. Lemmon excursion. Enjoy.

IT'S RAINING!

There is lightning and thunder and everything! I think the last time it rained was in February. It is not technically the monsoon because the dewpoints are too low, but you could have fooled me! YAY! The shit in my yard will live to fry another day. Want proof?

Let's pretend like nothing happened.......

Hello to all four people who read this! Actually, I know it is a few more, but you know how I always like to look on the slightly dim side of life. I am feeling a little pressure to post. We have done a lot of things lately, but none of it has been documented by the shitty camera. BUT, today is your lucky day because I just happened to take a picture with my phone on Sunday.



Can you guess what that is? It is a watermelon! At the time this picture was taken, it was the size of a lemon. Last night I checked on it and it was the size of a bigger lemon. This is evidence that you can indeed have a garden in the desert. We also got a couple of yellow tomatoes and a pepper out of it yesterday. We planted a square foot garden in early May. Way to late to get a lot of the tomatoes, but we are good on the melon/squash front. Too late for the peppers, too. Even though we effed up the planting schedule, the whole process is so easy that we are going to become the ultimate dorks and try to start growing all of our own produce. Big, big plans people!

We were spending the equivalent of $22 a week on the CSA. Although I fully support CSA's, by having our own garden we will get more of what we like and at the same time be a little more environmentally friendly because the food will be coming from our yard and not Phoenix. Down with Phoenix!

This thing on?

I am debating ending the whole blog thing. Life is busy, and although I should be documenting it, I am essentially a lazy ass.

I also feel like no one really looks at this thing anyway.

SOOOOOOO...I am taking a vote. Yay or nay? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Laziness, 100; Motivation, 0

Ok, well that is not totally true. Things have been moving along, just not on the blogging front. Since the last time we saw our heroine (moi), A visit from dad, the gem show, and a crapload of yard work has taken place.

Dad came for the gem and mineral show, which was awesome. I got a whole flat of zeolites for only $40! Put that in your nerd pipe and smoke it. In addition to some other things like pyrite and aragonite, the "good" aka "I didn't find these" mineral collection in the front room is coming along nicely.

Besides shopping for a box of rocks, dad also fixed our non-venting bathroom vent. Fortunately, I have a picture of dad in action. unfortunately, it is the only picture I have of him from when he was here.

In other house news, spring is springing and we are planting. Part of the dad projects was getting the drainage away from the house. Dad figured out the piping situation. Steve dug a little drainage area. I pulled a gagillion weeds this past weekend and planted some sedum and bulbine.


Rey helped by catching the baby horny toads in his mouth and relocating them to other places. This was followed by us yelling "release!" and putting them back where they belong. Our dog is a pervert who likes to have lizards wiggle in his mouth. Moving on.

I also planted some sort of something that I can't remember...delphinium?...in gigantor planters we got from Costco. Pretty sweet.

Another sign of spring is the oklahoma redbud is blooming. yay!

And Steve started on the daunting and time consuming task of sanding and repainting the kitchen cabinets, but blogger won't load that picture, so it will have to be for another time. The end.

Plants, Fish, and Weather Whatnots

We had a nice visit with our friend, JB, this weekend. He came to work on a study with Steve for a few days and we had a good time taking some small hikes and eating out. The best part, though, was with Steve being busy, I was left to my own devices. This usually means trouble in the yard sense. The weather is starting to warm up ever so slightly, but it is still too cold to start pruning things back and planiting new stuff (except of course for a few cacti and succulents I got at Mesquite Valley Growers). Need proof? This was taken mere minutes ago. SNOW!

The cure? Terrariums! I made two little ones for the kitchen......

And then one for the bedroom.....

And then a super sweet one for our friends' housewarming gift.......

They were so much fun to make and the cats can't really get to them, so I am quite pleased.

I also worked this past week on some bathroom art. I ahd an idea in my head and ran with it. I frame was from a mirror I found at Goodwill last week. It was black, so I primed it and spray painted it with a white hi gloss paint. Because there was no glass, I decided to give it a paining look by gluing textured paper to a pices of cardbard and then gluing the other stuff on top. The fish and the collar were both things I found online. The mustache is all me. I covered everything wiht glue at the end to help along the painting look and to attept to seal it from the damp conditions of the bathroom.

I bet you can tell that my inspiration is the guy from the Muppets that throws fish, no?

What's that you say? Two posts in the same week?

Yes, it is true. I promised pictures, people, and I came through for once. Don't get used to it.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

A shit load of dinosaurs.

In the past month, I have officially made a shitload of dinosaurs if four qualifies as a shitload. My friend, Rich, welcomed baby Georgia (GiGi) in december. I let him pick his present. He wanted a dinosaur like the one i made Kevin's kid. But he wanted a family. Ask and ye shall recieve. Here is the dinosaur family made with Debbie Bliss cotton cashmere and cotton angora yarns. I overstuffed them a bit, but oh well. This is right after I pulled them from the dryer and glued the eyes on. I am not too, too thrilled, but I figured a non-knitter would still appreciate them. I once again used the X-treme knitting dino patterns.

And then because I was in a dino mood and I promised Sarah that baby B wouls get a dino, I sewed another one from a sort of felted cashmere sweater and some actually cool fabric from Jo-Ann. Presto-chango! Viola! Dino-mite!

Abscess Makes the Fart Go Honda

That is the punch line to a joke that I thought was dumb when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, I understand it, and I still think it is dumb, but not dumb enough not to use it.

Obviously updating this blog has not been a priority. We have been extremely busy, and still are, but you have got to start somewhere. One of the reasons we were/are busy? We drove home to Chicago for Christmas. Two adults, one dog, a Subaru, and the open road for 27 hours. Although the drive sucked ass it was worth it to go home, see some friends, and get green chile from Hatch, NM on the way back. Best part was the day before we left, it finally snowed.





The snow was short lived and didn’t affect our travels so we were able to stop in ABQ on the way back and see Kali and Shawn and their new bambino, Kalden. Of course, we had to subject him to the wonders of the road and brought him a baby sombrero that we picked up along the way.



More soon. I still have to show you guys the patchwork scarf I made, some knitted and sewn baby things, and new bathroom art.

CALEXICO!

So Amy and I just were at Ike's to get some hot chocolate to celebrate the cooler weather. On our way back we passed Little Poca Cosa, and who was sitting our front you say? Joey Burns and John Covertino! Seriously. This is my second Joey Burns siting in as many months. I could flatter myself and think that he would recognize me and now be scared that I am stalking him, but I am sure that I am not that recognizable. Nothing like a little excitement in the Old Pueblo from time to time.

Thanksgiving, a few days late

This past weekend was pretty relaxing. It is pretty rare that we have days off and can stay at home. This weeknd was a mix of friends, football, and knitting. We had some friends, and friends of friends over on Thanksgiving. We all split up the Turkey Day duties, so it was actaully very manageable. One of my duties was to make the celebratory Thanksgiving Mobile of Death. I fashioned this out of felt and fabric glue. I also busted out my mad embroidery skills. Making an appearance were a bloody cleaver, a dead turkey, a decapitated turkey, a dead onion, a dead sweet potato, a dead loaf of bread, and rounding out the stuffing trio, a dead celery. Steve was a little fearful for his life during the construction of this masterpiece, but the cuteness took the edge off a bit.



We also had some veterinary fun. We should have seen it coming. Whenever I get a bonus from work, an animal goes down. This time it was Rey. We were playing soccer last Sunday and he cracked and twisted his dew claw 180 degrees. On Wednesday Steve took him to the vet, and $200 later, we have a bandaged foot with a very, very stumpy dew claw. To prevent chewing and licking of the bandaids, Rey needs to wear a sock. This is bad because now I want to knit him socks and he will get beat up at the park. Anyway, Exhibit A and B are said evidence of sock covered dew claw.


Other craftiness has taken place, but I will only show a couple of things for now. In September (on my b-day, actually) our neighbors Jeannie and Matt had a baby. They got this lovely parting gift from us. I think that they are Christine's Booties and a hat from Itty Bitty Hats. The yarn is Cascade suoerwash and Louet Gems.


Then we got invited to a U of A basketball games by our friends, Kate and Jeff, who have little preemie Henry. Henry is doing quite well and has grown out of his hat. I got some of the Lout Gems in blue and made him his own little elf hat.

And finally, the baby borats. They have been in the US for about 2 months, and my slow ass finally finished thier toys. Of course, I have not sent them yet. I suck. Anyway, I present a cordoroy brontosaurous from my new (and free thanks to a Bookman's thing that is compllicated...just know it was free) Sew a Dinosaur book. Notice the Neutrogena lip protector for scale. Also, a little bunny from a free pattern form Wee Wonderrfuls, I think.


I'm outie!

Marathon

First off, since a lot of you have been asking, Steve is fine after running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. He finished in just over 3:22. Considering the heat and the problems that others were having, this is an excellent time. True, it is about 30 minutes over what he trained for and would have run if it were normal temperatures, but I am just very, very glad that he came through with no major problems. Steve looked good through the whole race, but he said that after mile 18, things got bad for everyone. He started in the “A” group, which basically means you are one fast individual. The only people before him were the Elite and the Top 100 group. He said EVERYONE was walking at about mile 18/19. He finished looking really good, but had some effects of heat exhaustion and was pretty sick once he sat down outside of gear check. Luckily, my dad saw a cop he knew and we were allowed to get our car right up to where Steve was to load him into the car (a little hairy to have cops stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive so you can get in your car, but whatever works). While we were waiting for the dads to come get us, we saw about 50 ambulances come and go from the medical station. Sirens were constantly going. People were laying everywhere. It looked like a disaster simulation that high schools have for the fire department, but this time it was real. We heard the announcement that the race was shut down about 30 minutes after Steve finished. I think that it was a good call. Despite all of the problems, the Chicago police and fire, as well as suburban ambulance companies that were called in, all did a remarkable job.

Because, thankfully, Steve is doing great (other than puking Gatorade out the window of the car on the way home), here are some pictures.

Katie and Dad waiting for Steve at about mile 3. We already missed him at this point, so we were waiting for the runners to thin so we could cross the street. People were already soaked through their clothes at this point.


Runners on their way to Greek Town.


Steve in Greek Town at about mile 17. He looked great.


Outhouses in Grant Park.


The finish. Looking at him, he looked fine. I only knew that he would be feeling bad because his time dropped significantly from the half-way point.

This really takes the cake.

You have probably heard me complain about yoga before. I like to go for exercise and stretching reasons, not some sort of spiritual crap. I don't want to learn Sanskrit. I don't want to become vegan (damn cheese haters). I don't want to be inspired to become a fake Buddhist.

Yesterday I knew that I was in trouble the minute I walked in. First, not the regular teacher. I was prepared for the regular teacher's own form of yoga craziness....overly happy, huggy, sings in Sanskrit at the end. It used to make me want to get up, scream, and leave the room. I learned to "breathe through" my anger. No, this teacher was a new form of wacky. We had to all sit facing each other in a big circle because she "loves circular flow." ok. This seemed doable at first until i realized that there would be no privacy when you were literally 2 feet away from the person facing you. I soon realized that this set up gave me a clear view of this doofus three people over who chose not to wear a shirt. This must have been so distracting because it took me about 15 minutes to realize that he was wearing BOXER SHORTS. Who does that? I feel bad for the woman right in front of him because she has to be getting nut sack views the whole time. SO. GROSS.

It went downhill from there. I kept getting distracted. Then we had the sleepy time thing at the end. I much have had bad chi or yang, or some other shit because the teacher insisted that I use an eye pillow. I soon hat itchy eyes and a nose from whatever twigs and berries were in there. An just when I thought I was free to leave, I had to sit though 5 minutes of candle light Sanskrit chanting. LORD! I can't wait for the overly happy teacher to come back.

Where to start?

I sort of got off the whole blogging kick for a while. Surprised? I didn't think so. I guess I will start at the beginning.

What do you get when you put a bunch of Italians in 1920's costumes in the same room? No, not The Godfather Part II. Nani's birthday! My Nani turned 80 (can you believe it?) and of course had to have a blow out party. Granted, this is normal for my family, so really no one questioned a 150 person themed costume party costing thousands of dollars being held at an authentic location. This is why we eloped.


Mom, Katie, Nani, and Me. You can see that 1. Nani does not look remotely near 80 and 2. I strategically used my fabulous blue faux fur wrap to cover my 80 year plus disgusting armpit stains.

oh, and the best was one of my aunts, who shall remain nameless, but is a super crabby appleton. Hopefully there really is Karma...she's due. Ok, so she says to me "I really like your costume the best because it reflects your personality the most. Conservative and plain." Beee-atch. You know what is conservative and plain? Wearing the same black flapper dress that everyone else and their mother (really, that is true in this case, everyone was related)was wearing. At least I stood out in the crowd! How is that conservative? Grrrrrrrr.


Sort of all the grandkids. This is going to be one of those pictures that we all end up hating 5 years from now. I cringe when I look at old family pictures with me in them. I had an abnormally long devo stage. In fact, that seems to happen with all of the kids. Hmmm. Maybe it is genetic.