Clouds

Most of you might not find my fascination with clouds all that interesting, however, after living here where the sun shines 350+ days a year, clouds are an oddity. Rarely are there clouds in the sky and if there are they are gone by the end of the day. So when we had three days in a row of complete cloud coverage, I needed photos. And just to prove how odd the weather was I took a picture of the temperature at 11:30ish on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. It was three days of low temperatures and clouds, it was also a welcome relief as we had already hit the triple digits in the weeks prior. Finally on Sunday the sun was back, the temperatures are back to "normal" and things will be rather hot here for some time, it's kind of nice to have a cloudy day once in a while.

Mike's Birthday

Dinner at New York Pizza Department

Happy Birthday wishes from William.

A chocolate chip cookie cake.

Blowing out the candles.

A great present from his brother.

A stack of Wrestling Videos from Mom and Dad.

Mike's Birthday was filled with all his favorite things: pizza, chocolate chip cookie and of course presents. Mike choose NYPD as he does whenever he gets to choose dinner. He has become quite the fan of New York Style pizza and they make a pretty good lasagna there so we were all happy. The cookie (made at Paradise Bakery) weighed about 10 pounds. I never felt a cookie so heavy, and Mike true to form still cannot blow out a candle to save his life or maybe he is just making sure no one wants any of the cookie near the candle. Happy Birthday, Mike.

Happy Birthday,Mike!!!

From zero to fifteen in the blink of an eye. From a crying baby up all night to a teenager up all night. From a tiny being dependent on someone for his every need to a young man who needs no one (or so he thinks). I went from someone who gave him life to someone who is ruining his life (or so I am told). A typical teenager, I guess. Mike is a very complex person, he is intelligent, curious, persistent, challenging, loving, witty, demanding, introspective and very precious. Mike continues to excel at school, especially in the courses he likes the most which are Computers and Math. He spends his free time on his computer, playing video games, and pestering his brother.

Mike my wish for you has always been the same, for you to be happy, enjoy your life, and live your dreams. One of my favorite songs My Wish by Rascall Flatts pretty much sums it up:

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,

Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,

You never need to carry more then you can hold,

and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

Happy 15th Birthday, Mike, I love you.

Bring your Favorite Cookie to Work Day

Tomorrow is bring your favorite cookie to work day. I haven't found where that is an actual day in my listing of odd holidays, but whatever. You can bake or buy your cookies doesn't matter just bring some. We all know that I would never bring store bought cookies, so I had to bake some. Now these are not my favorite cookies, but they are quick and easy and good. They are called Loving Cups and they are merely prepackaged sugar cookie dough and Reese's Peanut Butter cups. I took the easy way out here mainly because I don't like to commit to any major heat the kitchen up activities when it is already in the triple digits outside.

Lucky 7s

There are two things that have never changed as long as I can remember, one is that my favorite color is purple and the other is that my favorite number is 7. So imagine my delight when I saw that my odometer was going to be turning to 77,777. It happened on our drive to Gameworks and if you will note I was going 70 mph at the time. Coincidence? I think not.

Do I Look Like a Grandmother???

I want the truth whether it's what I want to hear or not. If you saw us sitting outside a cafe, in oh say Tombstone, would you ask me if that was my grandchild? Now I know most of you are thinking well actually given your age you could be his grandmother, but that is not the question here. Really I think it is a little close to call, I would have had to have been a young mother and then my child would have had to have him at a young age for him to be my grandchild. Yet that is exactly what this rather elderly man asked me when Mike and Debbie got up to get bottles of water in the store across the street. Is that your grandson, what did he think Debbie was my daughter? Guess it's time to visit Ms. Clairol and maybe Mr. Botox.

Tombstone, AZ

Sunday we went to Tombstone, AZ. I didn't think Debbie's visit would be complete without a trip to an Old West Town. I believe there is a lot of history there in Tombstone, wasn't quite listening when the stagecoach driver was talking. It has something to do with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and lots of gun fight kind of stuff. William and Pat went to the shootout at the O.K. Corral, the rest of us took a pass on that one. Mike, Debbie and I did go on the Stagecoach tour of the town, which is my way to see things. I guess for a dusty old town turned tourist attraction it was okay. We had a great BBQ pulled pig sandwich at the local saloon, the day wouldn't have been complete if William didn't have something chocolate to top off his dinner. And no they do not make Tombstone pizzas there.

It is NOT just a HOLE in the ground

Debbie came to visit the first weekend in May and we went to Sedona for a night and then to the Grand Canyon. Sedona was once again, gorgeous, I cannot get enough of those beautiful red rock formations, and the vortex. Well don't start me on the vortex. Sedona allegedly has these vortexes where all the energy is converging and you are suppose to be able to feel the energy. Whether that is true or not, I don't really know. All I know is that it is a very beautiful and peaceful place, especially when you are there without kids.

Since I moved to AZ, whenever I meet someone born and raised here I ask if they have been to the Grand Canyon and nine times out of ten the answer is no. Why not, I ask, no reason, just never got there. Well, I am here to tell all that it is not just another hole in the ground (yes, I have been told that's what it is), it is absolutely something that has to be seen in person, words cannot describe and pictures cannot fully capture the beauty of the canyon. I do believe that the vortex can be felt at the Grand Canyon.

I Have Been Tagged

I am very excited to say I have been tagged. Let me explain. I spend a fair amount of my free time checking out other blogs and if one interests me, I bookmark it and read it whenever I can. One such blog is Jennifer's. I have been checking it out for quite a while and really enjoy what she writes, I never leave her blog without a smile on my face, she is very straight forward and tells it like it is and I love it. One day she wrote about how many hits she receives and that since there aren't that many comments she may restrict her blog and you would need a password to read it. Panic stricken I e-mailed her and identified myself and asked if she did that to please let me continue to visit. She e-mailed back, has signed my guestbook, and now she has tagged me. I feel like a real part of the blogging community now. Problem will be me trying to find people to tag. I may just pick random blogs out of the rolls and tag people, who knows.

For my book I have chosen: for one more day by Mitch Albom.

And here is the meme:

Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
Open the book to page 123.
Find the 5th sentence.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

Was Pittsburgh really scouting me?

What if they are?" he said. "It don't change what you gotta do, Chick.

Okay now to tag five (make it two) people, I tag Mary and Tara. Jennifer thanks again for tagging me.