I always knew I was special!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty Wendi the Disheveled of Giggleswick on the Naze Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My latest literary obsession

I've never been a mystery fan per se, although I did enjoy Nancy Drew as a child, and I had a crush on Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy when they were the Hardy boys on TV. I remember in 6th grade, my friend Allison was going to marry Shaun Cassidy and I would marry Parker Stevenson when we grew up. But I guess they didn't wait for us! I digress. But I am completely addicted to a series of novels by Elizabeth Peters. The main character is Amelia Peabody, a British woman who decides to use her inheritance to travel to Egypt (she has always been fascinated by archaeology). She is strong-willed, intelligent, and outspoken. She's also romantic and a fiercely loyal friend. The stories take place in Egypt on various archaeological digs, where mysterious things always happen. The author has thorough knowledge of Egyptology, and an excellent, witty style. I highly recommend the books.

Fun in Flagstaff

We spent Friday and part of Saturday in the Flagstaff area, playing in the snow. We went sledding at Crowley most of Friday, then drove up to Snowbowl so Steven could show us the bunny slopes and convince us to try downhill skiing sometime. Of course, it's me who needs convincing, not Noah. Noah is always ready to do any insane, dangerous, and exhilarating activity at a moment's notice. He wants to try snowboarding. We shall see.

I was, however, more than ready to try cross-country skiing, so Friday evening we headed over to the Nordic Center and rented skis and poles. Skiing in the quiet, snowy forest under the full moon and all the stars was totally fun. We loved it! Despite the cold (it was about 12 degrees when we finished), I was too hot in my down jacket. That's some workout! (In my defense, I am not as chubby as I appear in the photo. My fluffy-puff-marshmallow jacket and loose-fitting track pants make me look huge! In reality, I am within 2 lbs. of my Weight Watchers goal. So there!)

I feel so blessed to live near the mountains, and have these opportunities. I love sledding, too, and wish I could have done it when I was a kid. I defy you to sled without whooping, shrieking, and hollering. It's impossible!

Urban Coyotes

On the way home from the skate park this evening, I was again surprised by the sight of a coyote in our densely populated suburban area. I know they live in the open desert, and in rural areas, but it still surprises me to see them in our neighborhood. I only see them after dark; where do they go during the day?

Noah's latest artwork

I wanted to post this picture, drawn by Noah. It's a ComicCon parade. You can see there is an Ewok float, a Star Wars Episode I float, and a superhero float. Very creative as usual.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The last few days have been so nice and relaxing. Yesterday, my mom's big box of gifts arrived, bringing new excitement for ds (more Playmobil, and Magnetix!) and me (docking station/radio for my iPod). Just clothes for dh, so not so exciting.

Yesterday, despite my sinus woes, I even cooked a delicious meal - Tex-Mex Soup (using leftover turkey) and cornbread (found a Trader Joe's mix in the pantry). Mmmmmm! Perfect for a winter day. Then we sat by the fire and played Life (Spongebob version). Good times.

I think I am pretty much maintaining my pre-holiday weight, although we haven't had our weigh-ins for two weeks. Hopefully I just have three pounds to lose!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Isn't it funny how, when you're a kid, Christmas takes forever to arrive, but when you're an adult, it just pops up so fast? Yikes. Lucky for me, I actually got most of my Christmas shopping done early this year. (While in FL for Thanksgiving, I bought gifts for all the FL relations and left them, gift bagged and tagged, at the correct houses.) I have to wrap all of ds's presents, and I still need to buy my dh's gift.

But every year, I have great intentions of spending hours just listening to Christmas music and doing crafts, and it seems like the last time that actually happened in any great quantity was in about 1999. Sigh. Hopefully this week, we can get the house neatened up, turn on the carols, and snuggle up with "Two from Galilee".

How about you?

Winter Reading Challenge

Here's what I'll be reading this winter:
To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis)
City of God (St. Augustine)
Because They Hate (Brigitte Gabriel)
Mysteries of the Middle Ages (Thomas Cahill)
Parenting a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder (Christopher R. Auer)
The Right Attitude to Rain (Alexander McCall Smith)

Of course, I'll probably add other books (we go to the library at least once a week), and these may not all be read, but that's my plan right now.

What are you reading this winter?

This year's holiday photo

This is a photo of our family on the shore of Lake Tahoe in late August. We were there with another family, and it was wonderful! Lake Tahoe is gorgeous. And we were there at just the right time of year; it was not crowded. One day, we went to a small beach called Baldwin Beach, and we had it pretty much to ourselves. Lovely.

Things Are Always Changing

There was a song on Sesame Street that went something like this: "Things are always changing, but don't be sad and blue! Change can make you happy 'cause it brings you something new." I remember this song running through my mind when we were preparing to move from Florida (where I had spent pretty much my whole life up until I was 36) to Arizona (where we had visited, but only knew two people). We looked at the move as a big adventure, and ended up loving Arizona and meeting some wonderful people.

That song has been running through my head again lately. This time the change is definitely NOT making me happy. My dearest friend in Arizona, Heather, is sick. Very sick. As in cancer. She's going through chemo, and her hair is pretty much gone.

I can't even say how much I love Heather. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I look up to her a lot, and I love her whole family to pieces. I know she's going to be fine, when all this chemo stuff is over, but still, it changes everything. She's the most healthy, active, and energetic person I know. She's the one who's always available to help everyone else - she offers advice on homeschooling, fashion, and nutrition; she babysits (even my son, who although I love him dearly, can really drive a person barking mad); she brings homecooked meals over (she even brought me a meal when I broke my pinkie toe).

Now she's the one in need, and there's precious little I can do for her. I have a bag of some of her favorite goodies ready to deliver, but since my son and I are sick, I don't want to deliver it and expose her to germs. I plan to get her some excellent lotions and soaps (chemo is hard on your skin, and winter in AZ is hard on your skin anyway). But those seem like such little things, a drop in the bucket.

To make it even worse, she's moving to Florida next month! Her dh has a new job in Orlando, and their families live in FL. Now, we visit our families there once a year or so, and we do plan to move back to FL eventually, but still... how can she move away? When I told my son they were moving, he wailed, "How can I live without Josh?" (Josh is Heather's son, and Noah's patient and longsuffering buddy.) I know how he feels. How can I live without Heather????

I know that God is faithful, and He'll continue to meet my needs even after Heather leaves. But I don't like it one bit!

You Can't Go Home Again

We traveled back to central Florida to visit our families for Thanksgiving. Although we still hope and plan to move back to the Orlando area someday, we have really come to prefer AZ for climate and geography. Florida has humidity, and huge mosquitoes! And it's depressingly flat.

It was our first time returning to our beloved home church in 16 months. So much has changed! Our son's friends all looked so grown-up, the teenagers are now beard-sporting young men, some people have gotten engaged or married, or had babies since we last visited. Many new faces surrounded us.

Some of the changes were especially hard to deal with. The chief musician was let go for financial reasons, just couple of months ago. We were shocked, since music is a high priority there. The budget struggles must be significant. The senior pastor left (we were aware) to plant a new church. He leaves a great hole. A friend shared her recent diagnosis with a serious illness, and told me how her daughter is struggling. And saddest of all, a woman from our church had committed suicide. It grieves me to know how much our church family has suffered.

God never changes, and He is faithful to His people. It is so hard to see that sometimes, when everything else keeps changing!

It's me again.

I haven't posted in a long time, but there's no time like the present! The months seem to fly by, maybe because I'm getting old (I'll be 40 in February.) (Remember that scene in "When Harry Met Sally" when Sally is sobbing because her old boyfriend's getting married, and she wails, "And I'm gonna be FORTY!" "When?" Harry asks. "SOMEDAY!" she wails.)

The summer was lovely, and capped off by a vacation in Lake Tahoe with our good friends. We stayed in a condo that was built onto the side of a mountain, so the view was amazing. And the lake is spectacular! Chilly, though. The kids played in the water, and I waded a bit, but mostly I just relaxed and enjoyed the view and the perfect weather. I had hoped to do some hiking, and walking along the shore, but I was still recovering from a broken toe. (An excellent metaphor for how important even the most tiny and seemingly insignificant members can be. Like hobbits.) (I am starting to realize where my son gets his habit of adding parenthetical comments to his stories.)

My dear friend Heather is still my friend after that trip, which is amazing. She patiently hopped into our car to drive when I was to sleepy to drive. She cooked amazing food in a tiny condo kitchen. She graciously spared my son's life, even though he was inexplicably mean to my friend's youngest dd the whole time. I couldn't ask for a better friend.

Now fall is here, although the weather is still warmer than I'd like. Hiking weather is back!! I have been dragging my ds out on hikes once or twice a week. Between hiking and yoga, my buns are tighter than they've been in a long time. (Which isn't saying much, I guess, but still.)

Books in progress: Mysteries of the Middle Ages: the Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill; Beowulf translated by Frederick Rebsamen; Eyes Before Ease by Larry Beason (yes, it's about spelling!). On deck: The Hippopotamus Pool by Elizabeth Peters (an Amelia Peabody mystery).

Well, I better go back to Mt. Laundry.

It's been a while...

I haven't posted in a long time. It's hard to get the hang of this blog thing, I guess. I don't feel like anyone's reading it, so I feel unmotivated. But perhaps if I spent more time on it, I'd be proud enough to let everyone I know have the URL so they could read it. Hmm.

Steven started his new job this week. He's stressed out, because the expectations are high, and he's afraid of disappointing his new boss. He'll calm down eventually, and I think he'll really like this job. Too bad it's not closer to home (it's in Scottsdale).

We are doing pretty well with homeschooling, I guess. But I think we need to take a break so I can (a) get the house under control, and (b) work on Noah's attitudes. Seems like so much is a struggle between us; that's not good. On the plus side, though, he's doing pretty well in math and English, and loving Greek and Roman history. I just started a new thing: every day, he chooses a folded piece of paper from a bag. It's his copywork for the day: a few sentences from our current read-alouds (Five Children and It, Archimedes and the Door of Science) or verses from his Awana book. So far, it's working out well. I hope to make the passages a bit longer, but I started them out fairly short so he won't get freaked out.

On the nightstand... well, I just finished Highland Fling by Katie Fforde. Disappointing. I love British chick lit, but this one left me flat, despite its Scottish setting. The main characters basically "fall in lust", and have improbable things happen to them. My all-time favorite chick lit writer is Sophie Kinsella; I just love all her books!

Waiting to be started... Dog Days by Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette), Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever by Leslie Savan, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, and First Light by Brock and Bodie Thoene. Oh, and Nine Parts of Desire: the Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks. So we have Brit chick lit (finished) a political novel, a book about language, a humorous and factual book about endangered species, Christian historical fiction, and a behind-the-scenes account of life in the Muslim world. I like a lot of variety!

Going to the library and the park today with another homeschool mom and son. Then tomorrow we'll be at a historical reenactment event. More later.

Wildflower Season

We had an unusually rainy February in the valley, so the wildflower season has been gorgeous. (I say this as a newcomer, but even the veterans are impressed with the display this year.)

I have been taking pictures on some of my hikes at places like Cave Creek, the White Tanks, and Piestewa Peak. I have been able to identify the following wildflowers (and this is an incomplete list!):
Brittle Bush
Canyon Ragweed
Desert Senna
Desert Globemallow
Orange Fiddle-neck
Compass Barrel Cactus
Englemann's Hedgehog Cactus (a.k.a. Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus)
Mexican Gold Poppy
Arroyo (Desert) Lupine
Blue Phacelia (a.k.a. Baby Blue Eyes, Wild Heliotrope, Scorpionweed)
Fairy Duster
Owl's Clover
Desert Chicory

Wow! The Sonoran Desert is so beautiful in spring! Already the wildflowers are past their prime, though. I went to Thunderbird Park today, and the sparse clusters of lupines were fading, the fiddle-necks were getting dry. Nothing stops the brittle bushes, though. They're still going strong, as are the creosote bush, ocotillo, and foothill palo verde trees. I spotted dainty phacelia on the south side of the mountain, along with large yellow compass barrel cactus buds ready to open soon. The north side of the mountain had more flowers; that's where I spotted the lupines and fiddle-necks. The brittle-bushes are everywhere, as well as creosote, of course. And wheat-like wild grasses are abundant.

I will have to find out how to post pictures on my blog!

Pride & Prejudice

I watched the famous BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice" this week. I'm a big Jane Austen fan, but I think I like "Mansfield Park" and "Emma" better than "P&P". At least in this version, I have a hard time understanding Mr. Darcy's character. I think the shift between obnoxious and rude to kind and down-to-earth doesn't make sense. His coldness and pride during the early scenes (at the country dance, etc.) are not excused by his later acts of generosity and kindness in rescuing Lydia (and, by extension, the Bennets) and admitting his deception (re: Jane) to Bingley, as well as his friendliness to the Gardners.

So I find "P&P" less satisfying than "MP" and "Emma", because the heroes of the latter two are so clearly excellent characters from the beginning. I didn't feel this way when I read the book "P&P", so maybe it's just something about how Colin Firth portrays Darcy?? I guess we're just supposed to believe he was transformed by his love for Elizabeth. Or perhaps that he is just painfully shy and awkward around anyone he doesn't know. But yikes! He is even rude when talking to his friend about Elizabeth at the country dance.

I can't believe I'm saying this, because my dh had the same complaint about the movie "French Kiss" - the hero has been supposedly transformed by his love for the heroine, but what about his track record? How do we know he is truly reformed? When Steven complained about "French Kiss", I accused him of being utterly unromantic, that he just didn't get it! Now I'm making a similar complaint about "P&P". Maybe I just think Kevin Kline is cuter than Colin Firth. Am I that shallow?

Krispy Kreme & Proverbs 31

We went to Krispy Kreme this morning. Did you know that you get 6 free glazed donuts and a drink in a travel coffee mug on your birthday, for free? My son is eight years old today! Eight! It's hard to believe that he is eight already. Eight years ago, I held a tiny wide-eyed newborn, and today I watched him scarfing down donuts with his friends. We're having a Lord of the Rings party for his birthday. I expect lots of running around with swords, pretending to be orcs and hobbits and elves. He wants calamari and pizza for his birthday dinner.

Speaking of Krispy Kreme, it's pretty gutsy of them to have the machine on display like that, in this Atkins-crazy world. A Krispy Kreme donut is pretty much the polar opposite of healthy food, yet the place didn't lack for customers, and my friend tells me that the other location nearby is even busier. Which explains why, despite all the bestsellers about healthy diets, Americans are getting chunkier and chunkier.

We seem to tolerate a lot of contradiction in our lives, a disconnect between what we know or believe and the way we actually behave. When I worked at McDonald's as a teenager, a lot of people would come in and order the typical burger and fries, and an ice cream sundae, and a DIET COKE. Yeah, that'll help.

But I have become aware this week (again) how much I am not living out what I truly believe. We were studying Proverbs 31 in Bible study, and the one thing that really struck me about the infamous Proverbs 31 Woman is that she is consistent. She has her priorities, and she has actually organizes and plans her life so that she does what she is.

I have lots of good intentions and can talk a good talk, but I give myself plenty of excuses to explain why I don't keep my house clean enough to invite newcomers to lunch after church, and I feel too overwhelmed to babysit for someone in need, or have the new neighbors over for dinner, and why I have lost 3 pounds instead of the 12 I need to lose, etc.

I guess that will be my New Year's Resolution: less talk, more rock.

I don't have a real job either, Mrs. Bush!

Teresa Heinz Kerry said that she doesn't think First Lady Laura Bush has had a "real job". Ouch! Later, she apologized, after supposedly being informed that Mrs. Bush had in fact worked as a teacher and librarian before marrying the future president in 1977. Still, Mrs. Kerry was certainly aware at the time she made her first comment that Mrs. Bush has been a homemaker and mother for 20+ years. This is, according to Mrs. Kerry, not a "real job".

So, Mrs. Bush, don't feel bad. I don't have a real job, either! Just frittering away my time keeping house, raising and homeschooling my son, serving nutritious meals to my family, reading aloud countless books, and talking in the various high-pitched voices of my son's ever-growing family of stuffed animals. Not one foundation or endowment to show for it. What a waste.

Where do I start?

Hugh Hewitt asked bloggers to chime in on this question: Why vote for Bush and what's wrong with Kerry? To which I say, Where do I start?

To be fair, I knew I would vote for President Bush's reelection at the same time I decided to vote to elect him in the first place. Observing him during his first term in office has only reconfirmed that decision, and watching Sen. Kerry blah, blah, blah his way through the campaign has simply given me another reason to vote for Bush: he's not Kerry!

That George W. Bush shares my Christian theology is a primary reason that I support him, but it's not like voting for someone because he roots for the baseball team as I do. Everyone has a theology (what they believe about God), whether they know it or not, and our theology shapes our view of the world and everything that happens. President Bush believes that there is great evil in the world, and that the solution for evil is not more tax dollars or a new government educational program, with public service announcements on TV and sappy, overbearing afterschool specials to drive home the message. No, there is some evil which must be simply confronted, and if need be, destroyed. The innocent must be defended at all costs, and if the president of the United States isn't called upon to defend his people, then what is he supposed to do? All the infrastructure, social policy, and economic growth we can imagine can be gone in an instant if our enemies succeed in what they would dearly like to do. I believe George Bush understands this, and I do believe that John Kerry does not.

John Kerry thinks that summits will somehow solve everything. We will have a summit, invite everyone, and talk. I think he's been watching too much Dr. Phil. You can't work things out with a group that is bent on your destruction. I'm not saying that we should ignore the international community, or that the U.S. is always right and other countries always wrong, but I think Kerry goes too far in wanting to please other countries (especially Europe), so we can all "get along". Vote for Kerry if you'd like to see another dozen years of U.N. resolutions. As a parent, I know that you have to make sure your word means something, that if you threaten a consequence, you'd better follow through. President Bush does not equivocate; he means what he says, and does what he says he will do. Senator Kerry can't even bring himself to state a preference between the Stones and the Beatles, lest he offend a potential constituent group. In the same debate, he can miraculously appear to be on several sides of the same issue. How can he command allegiance from our allies, or respect from our enemies?

On other questions, too, Pres. Bush has demonstrated moral courage. He stands up for the unborn, the most defenseless among us. John Kerry waivers and flip-flops, claiming to oppose abortion but refusing to vote to ban the most brutal of procedures (partial-birth abortion).

Why vote for Bush, and what's wrong with Kerry? Don't get me started!

Geography and Hiking

I grew up in central Florida. The predominant geographical feature there is lakes. Since you can't see lakes from a distance in a flat place, though, there is little to give you a sense of where you are. You see houses, street corners, those disgusting nuisance slash pine trees, some beautiful oak trees. That's all you see.

Now I live in the Valley of the Sun, metropolitan Phoenix. When I look out my upstairs bedroom windows to the west, I see the White Tank Mountains. To the north and east, the Hedgepeth Hills are visible when I step outside to check my mail. Driving around on the freeway, I see many landmarks: Four Peaks, Camelback, downtown Phoenix. It's amazing how living in a more geographically diverse (i.e., not flat) region changes my perspective. Driving across town in the evening, I see Piestewa Peak framed by the setting sun's orange glow, and I remember hiking to the top of it with some friends last winter (an amazing feat for a Florida girl). Glimpsing the mountains on the south side of the valley makes me think of friends who moved there, to a tiny town, several months ago. Having all these visible geographical landmarks is somehow comforting, stabilizing. They tell me where I am, and remind me of where I've been, and where I want to go. When I hike to the tops of the peaks in the Hedgepeth Hills, I can see taller mountains to the north, and I know that further on, beyond my gaze, are the beautiful San Francisco Peaks, and a forest which was our winter playground last year.

I love hiking here. I never hiked in Florida; traipsing through the muggy, buggy woods as a Girl Scout cured me of that. But here, I could hike every day. The rugged, arid terrain doesn't seem welcoming at first. It can be daunting for a novice hiker. (Let's not even mention the rattlesnakes and scorpions right now, okay?) But somehow hiking into this wilderness of cactus and creosote bush makes me feel more rugged, too. Before we moved here, I didn't know that cacti bloom. Now I delight in spying a ring of flowers on a small, barrel-shaped cactus. Bending down to get a closer view of them under a sheltering creosote bush, their pink, girly color defying the dull, gravelly colors of the trail, I am encouraged. They are at home in the desert; I can be, too.

I am addicted to the peaks, to the feeling of sitting down on a rock and taking a swig of water while I take in the panorama below. If the hike has been difficult, like Piestewa Peak, the rest at the summit is even sweeter. I did it! I'm not an athlete - actually I'm such a klutz that the first time we went hiking in AZ, I tripped on some rocks at the parking lot at the base of the trail (!) and tore up my knee and my good jeans. But I keep hiking. Down into washes, over ridges, even climbing over boulders sometimes. To get to the top.