Chronic Ama

About an hour and a half drive from midtown Tucson is indeed a summer haven for those brutal Tucson summer temps. At the top of Mount Lemmon lies the town of Summerhaven. With temperatures at least 20 degrees cooler, hiking trails and restaurants, it's the perfect summer day trip for locals and visitors. We had the perfect day trip in July, during monsoon season. We got to Summerhaven early enough to enjoy a short hike on the trail at the end of Turkey Run, aptly named for the wild turkeys roaming around in the early morning and calling out through the day. We stopped to photograph a fairy garden and leave our own momentos for other passerbys to enjoy. It was at least 25 degrees cooler than down in Tucson, which was a nice break from the dry heat. After building up an appetite, we walked to the Cookie Cabin for a carb fuelled lunch of giant pizzas, decadent oversized cookies and calzones that took an extra while longer to arrive. Waiting outside at a picnic tabl

Lately I'm super drawn to all these "mom" shows and I had no clue why. Then it hit me tonight while watching the new Christina Applegate Netflix joint. I like that I'm part of this eclectic generation of moms. You know the metal head moms, the goth moms, the crafty moms, the wine moms, the soccer moms, the working moms, the stay home moms, the 5k running moms, the love to bake moms, career moms, and every and all combos of such groupings. We are so far removed from wearing pearls to vacuum, but some of us still do and that's pretty cool too. Let's just leave all those wierd Jell-o dishes alone and reorganize our "ain't fucking cooking tonight" menus.  I like that moms are into having mom friends. You know, that other mom you can text about needing to hit that parent teacher conference with a shot of Baileys in your iced coffee. Not because your kid is being a jerk or because the teacher is reminiscent of a turn of the century school marm, bu

The pantry was definitely my inner self forcing me to live that metaphor. I feel like everything is a mess right now. There's so much going on. So much noise. So much on my plate. We've gotten through this before. It's the little victories that pull us through. Saturday evening and ran a quick errand to pick up some much needed medicine. I ran into an old coworker that really brightened my day. It was nice to see someone that I enjoyed working with. It was even super cool that she wished me a happy birthday, remembering that our birthdays are a day apart. It's those little details that people remember that make you feel good. After the nice conversation, I headed home. On the corner of the street on the way home I see a little blonde girl with her dad standing, holding a Girl Scout Cookie sign. It immediately made me think of my Bellini and her dad. They were such a perfect cookie selling team. It's been bittersweet not selling cookies this year. I had to stop a

In the last 24 hours I have had some great conversations with two friends. Both have offered me the perspective I needed and both have let me speak my part, thus, further enabling me to let my ideas come to fruition and push myself to toward positive change. As a result, I had a wonderful day! I did housework, which is always so damn redundant, but is quite a necessity. I accomplished everything I set out to do today, which paved the way for the goals of the week. Remember, I did want to complete one gifty type craft as we are in Santa countdown mode. My paints are organized, my craft desk (yes, I have a desk dedicated to crafts) is cleaned and clutter free, and my task desk is also has order to it. I'm ready to make this week my bitch. But wait! There's more! I also had a relatively low pain day. I think when all is right in my world and I can focus on things one at a time and have my eye on a goal, I tend to focus less on what hurts. Yes, I am still in pain (and I will be

I had the most amazing weekend! That makes two in a row. I hope we keep this as the current trend.  Friday was our first PTO event at the school. Sonoran Science East PTO First Annual Trunk-Or-Treat! I was so surprised at the amazing turn out as well as all the helping hands we had! The event even came together without any huge snags! It was a little stressful, I'll admit, but it was worth all the work we put into it. I'm excited to start planning more! Saturday we celebrated the life of the woman that showed me what friendship is all about. And we celebrated together as an amazing tribe of people. Linnea, you gave me the one thing that I had needed and searched for and that is an amazing group of people that are so full of love and caring. You showed me it was OK to be me, with all my flaws and everything. You welcomed me and my family into the tribe and we will forever be grateful for that. My kids are surrounded by other amazing kids and they are care for by so ma

To be honest, I'm writing this blog a few days late. I had such an amazing weekend, I kinda made blog notes, but that's as far as I got. I spent most of my Saturday with my tribe, including 13 kiddos and some pretty amazing adults. Man, I needed that connection so badly. I am so incredibly grateful for having other parents that I can relate to. Not that I didn't have that at all, but it just feels great to click as part of a group.  I think all adults, parents or not, need friends. And not just people we see on occasion. I believe we need the kind of friends that we can laugh and share with or even swing to the other extreme and share our grief with and, of course, everything in between that. Plus, it's a bonus for me when there are other parents, no matter the age of the kids. Kids need friends too and when they can learn to relate to kids of different ages, it builds on their social skills. Really, we just all need friends. That's it, plain and simple.

Happiest of birthdays to my sister wife!! Wishing you an awesome weekend of fun and debauchery!! Can't wait for our date next week!