Mirror Mirror

An old picture, not to bum people out about Scout, but just because I really like the picture. Notice that they both have one straight paw and one curled up.

Going Home

Here is the script that I wrote for the movie I made while at Tech camp. I might post the movie, too. But the script I can share now.


Going Home
It's been said that you can never go home again. Until this summer, I disagreed. In the most literal sense, I took yearly trips home to Michigan to visit family and friends. In a more figurative sense, it's hard to feel like a grown-up when you are sleeping in your childhood bedroom with the stars still glowing on the walls at night and knowing that your childhood treasures are tucked safely away in the basement.

And this home? It's just down the road from the lake. If you are a true West Coast Michigander, you call it "the lake" or "the big lake". To everyone else, it is Lake Michigan. A crucial part of a lake shore girl's life.

Sitting outside, breathing in the fresh air, the smell of flowers, and feeling the safety and security that comes from the surrounding trees. Knowing the lake was there if I needed it. Those were my trips home in the summer.

But this summer's trip would prove to be different. On this trip I would be packing up my bedroom of 26 years. Saying goodbye to the home in which I spent the majority of my life. I could never go back to this place. Walk through the woods. Spending evenings on the deck, watching birds, cats, and relaxing.

When I got back to Arizona, I glanced through all the pictures that I'd collected over the years.

Pictures of the lake. My lake. With my family at the lake until sundown when I was little. When I was older, it was long days and late nights at the lake. Then introducing my boyfriend to the lake. Showing him the dunes that I climbed as a child. The channel that had the warmest water. The best place to view the sunset.

It was then that I realized that while I was losing my childhood home, I could keep the memories and I would be okay. Because the lake is my guidance, my compass, my constant.

And I can always go home again. Because every time I put my feet in the sand, I am there.

I am home.

Bargain Saturday

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Call it back to school blues, call it cabin fever, call it whatever. There's been brooding and moodiness and all sorts of stuff. So ignore the funk.

What I really want to share is some serious bargains I scored this weekend. Jeremiah's exciting purchases were limited to new bike wheels and a toilet kit. My buys were endless...and so cheap.

Apparently I'm going backwards or mixed-up, so here goes. My second stop was Pier 1. Love Pier 1. Especially when they have these glass tea lights on clearance. Sixteen tea lights (which can be reused with new tea lights when the current ones burn out) for under five dollars. They'll be perfect for a nice dinner or scattered on the mantle.
Now go back in time to Salvation Army with me. I got this canister for about a buck. Perfect for sugar, which seems to go quickly what with the hummingbirds and Jeremiah's tea habit. Probably not the original reason for the canister (I'm thinking coffee), but for us, it's the sugar.
I also found the exact replica of the Rubbermaid container that I was trying to convince my mom to give me this summer as she packed it up to go to the new house. About a buck. And we love Jell-O here, so this is a good buy.
And this bowl/dish? SalArmy. Could be used as a centerpiece. See below? Or as a fruit dish...Love it.
The glass vase came from Poland! $3.50.
Finally, while at SalArmy, I saw these glasses:
Not exactly my style, but I couldn't step away. They had a funky snake design imprinted on the bottom. They were on sale for $3.50. I used my new phone to google the glasses. Guess what? They sell for about $25 a piece. So I snatched them up.

Those are my bargains. It doesn't always work out that I find so many great deals, but when it does, it is fun. So fun. Nerdy bargain-y fun.

Casual Friday

Or, Atticus's stripper outfit

All About the Bedding, Baby

So it isn't all about the bedding. Here is my morning snack that I ate in bed. Nom.
Then I took this cool picture using a feature on my camera. My bed, times sixteen.
Luxurious pillows. Times seven.
Everything was embroidered with the Westward Look emblem.
And the piece de resistance...
Heaven. Soft sheets, embroidered pillows, fluffy down comforter and pillows...oh.my.gosh.

Road Trippin' It to Tucson

Tucson flew by. Seriously, it was a quick week. I made a movie (!) and won a classroom of laptops for a month - one for each student. So it was a good week.
On Thursday a friend/coworker and I went for a walk on one of the resort's trails. I spotted the above bird on the way back and I'm pretty sure it is either a female cardinal or a pyrrhuloxia. Say that three times fast. Or even once. Typing it was even troublesome.
View from the path. Gorgeous, non? So much prettier than the mountains in PHX.
Then there was this pretty bird. BRIGHT yellowish-orange. He was either some type of oriole, not a midwestern variety, or he was some type of warbler. But I don't think warbler, because he was livin' large, you know? If you know, feel free to comment. Or lurk. Go ahead.
Hawk on the pole. Bird on a wire.
The maze.
The resort was nice, it was the second time the conference was held there. The rooms are all in little clusters - all outside. A little like rich people camping.
More views.

And that was my trip to Tucson. Not the city so much as a resort visit, but fun all the same.

On the Third Day of Tech Camp Boyfriend Gave to Me...

Again, nothing.

But it was a VERY fun night, rivaling Vegas, minus the drinking (for me) until...

Our waitress offered a free drink to the first person that could name group that sang the song that was currently playing in the bar. It was "I know what boys like" by The Waitresses. I was the only one that knew it.

I won.

And being the cheap-o that I am, I couldn't pass up the chance for a free drink. Are you judging? No judging. It's not like I took a free drink from a gentleman. I won it. By the way, I did tip the waitress. Miss Manners would have totally approved. You see, I like to keep the blog filled with life lessons.

Drink of choice? Prickly Pear Margarita, super-sized.

Mother of God. I ended up giggly and watching Spanish television.

On the Second Day of Tech Camp My Boyfriend Gave to Me...

Nothing.

Because I am in Tucson. At tech camp. For the week.

I know, it is like I don't even get a summer break. Yeesh. I buy a house and I don't get to sit around and enjoy it.

So anyway, I'm trying to take pictures so I can take you all on a road trip with me, we'll see how that goes.

I will tell you this. The beds here? Almost heaven. Seriously. I've taken one picture already. There will be an entire post dedicated to this bed. Heaven.

So Freakin' Haunted.

In the middle of the night, I heard a weird noise that managed to wake me from a not-so-super-deep sleep. I nudged Jeremiah repeatedly until he woke up and when he did, I made him listen.

It was the strangest noise. It was constant, not a drip or beep or whatever.

He got up, looked around upstairs, went to the stairs, listened.

Are you ready?

The buzzer.

On the stove (yes, our stove has a buzzer. ha ha. our stove is old, I know.).

Middle of the night.

And I know people are probably thinking, anything could have set it off. Maybe we bumped or reset it before we went to bed. But the timer can only go 60 minutes at a time (ha ha again. old stove). There is no way either of us did it.

Jeremiah comes back to bed all, "huh. That was weird. Wonder what happened?"

And I was all, "Ghosts, the freaking things are haunting the house. I TOLD you this before."

Freakin' ghosts haunting my house.

Sandbar

Yes, I have returned from Michigan. I'm still a bit traumatized over the fact that my parents are moving from my childhood home, where I lived from about five to twenty-six, to a new place.

Bah.

Yes, the new place is very nice.

So the trip will be briefly reviewed in another post, but NOT RIGHT NOW.

Right now it is time to tell you that boyfriend and I were swim swimming in the pool, like fishies yesterday. And we threw the tennis ball back and forth. I seriously love playing catch. Seriously. I'm probably part golden retriever. Anyway, Spike would get the ball for us when it went out of the pool. And he'd bring it back and drop it in the water. Set it down. Push it in with his nose. Way cool trick he's got going on.

But then, on a run to get the ball, our dear wiener did what most of us would do to get somewhere quickly - a direct line is shorter than a curved one, you take the direct line- he ran that direct line INTO the pool. Belly-flop into the deep end. He went under and popped back up (he's built like a little barrel), swam with some redirection from Jer to the steps, and hopped out. I think we were all in shock, even Atticus, who was witness to the event. "Holy shit. You went swimming." he said with his little Mexican accent.

When it was time to call it quits, I let Jeremiah pull me to the stairs. He even made boat noises "Vroom vroom..." and then he made a boat grinding into rocks sound and stopped quite suddenly. Apparently he couldn't stop in time and "we hit shore" he told me sadly.

We ran into the steps.

So, Seriously?

People are greedy.

I was looking at my transcripts because someone had suggested that I might qualify for a reading endorsement. Nice. So I can't determine and I call the ever-so-helpful dept. of ed. here in AZ. You know, my favorite state EVER?

First of all, I think I was hung up on. Just once, so I consider it a good day. I call back and the lady tells me she will pull up my transcripts to help me out. I look. She looks. Then I ask if I'd be able to qualify. Her response? Are you ready? "I can't tell you that over the phone. We're not going to tell you if you would qualify. You have to fill out the application and then we will let you know."

I would have to pay $60 just to find out if I qualify. Really? REALLY? Do you know how many fees I've had to pay? First I was on Emergency status (because they wouldn't accept a MI certificate, which is BULL because I worked super hard on it) so I had to pay. Then I had a temporary certificate and I had to pay. Then I had to pay because I had to become qualified to teach the Spanish speaking students. Then I had to pay to remove the deficiency. Then I had to pay to get a standard certificate. Do these people even LIKE teachers?

So wait, because sometimes I'm slow. I already get paid itty bitty amounts and I am taking a cut next year. Plus, I have to pay for all my classes to continue my education. Plus I have to stay "highly qualified" and pay to stay that way, and now you are milking me out MORE money? GREEDY GREEDY PEOPLE.

Now, if I knew that I would qualify, I would totally pay. Walk me through my transcripts, lady, help a sister out.

This is why I:
1. Dislike AZ. 2. Often contemplate taking my genius self elsewhere.