Check out Chula

Back in AZ we didn't have a nice backyard, but we had a big park in front of the house where we played frisbee with Chula every day. Check these out:

I don't even know where to start

It's been forever since I posted! We've been busy, busy, busy working on the house. Maddie and I went back to Baltimore last weekend for a Celebration of Life for my Aunt Sig. This week Maddie started to crawl!!! Then there was Thanksgiving. Since we had nowhere to go and no family to be with in Houston, I decided to make the whole shebang here in our new house. That included a 12lb turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, REAL cranberry sauce (found a recipe with Grand Marnier in it! Yum!), sausage and apple stuffing (no oyster stuffing this year), and an apple pie. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was delicious.

I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks because that's what you're really here for, isn't it?

These were taken in AZ. Note the clear blue sky.





whose Aryan child is this???



"Umm, I think I like this color swatch..."


Nana Roth's hat


Grandma Mag's hat :) AKA the Joe Dirt Baby wig.


Halloween as a Little Monster


At the local BBQ place


another Nutcracker for Jeff!


After 3 hours on a plane...


crawlin'

It's flooding down in Texas...

It has rained non stop since the middle of last night. I'm sure it's surpassed 4 inches today. There was a stream in my back yard (which I've dubbed Roth Creek). The lakes are overflowing their banks and spilling out onto the main artery into my development. Now we're under a Tornado Warning! Agh!

I hope this is a freak occurrence, but I have a feeling I'd better get used to this.

Mary Louise King

This morning a wonderful mother, daughter, sister and aunt passed away after a year long battle with Leukemia. For me, she was the highlight of every family function. An oasis in a sea of chaos that was 9 siblings and umpteen cousins. She could be as tender as she was raunchy. She was tough as nails. She could answer every question you threw at her, like a walking Google. She loved country music, the Ravens and the color purple. She taught me that "you're never fully dressed without your earrings". If you stayed with her while your parents were out of town she'd make you 2,000 calorie lunches with sandwiches on huge onion rolls with fruit and cookies, even if you're only 12 years old. 20 years later I can still remember how full those brown bags were... and how jealous everyone else was at the lunch table. She was a kick ass gardener. She was the picture of health - never smoking or drinking and always eating right. She was unendingly generous with her time and resources. She was the sort of person that lives should be modeled from. I can not say enough about how wonderful she was or how she touched my life.

Sig, you are deeply loved and missed.

Election Day in Houston

Well, it's 10:48pm Eastern time and I'm watching blue spread west across the map of the U.S. I must say that I'm a little emotional. I never, ever thought I'd see a day when our country would put race aside and vote a black man into office. I'm so overwhelmed with happiness and excitement for the future I want to laugh and cry at the same time.

We officially voted in Arizona by absentee ballot, so we weren't able to go to a polling place today and thus I don't have my coveted "I Voted Today" sticker. It's a little sad, but I'm glad that I was able to cast a vote in AZ. I think I'm going to treat myself with this t-shirt in lieu of my sticker:
http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/honky-moms-for-obama/

In other news, Vanessa left today and went back to AZ after helping us immensely for the last 5 days - particularly with translating the movers, who liked to comment that we were lazy whenever we sat down and wondered if Mr. Burns was pregnant. She assured them that no, SHE is not pregnant, HE is fat. I suppose his lion cut isn't necessarily flattering...

The Roths are coming tomorrow to visit for a week and I'm going to put them to work! I'm hoping Gary can give me some advice on what to plant in this "soil" out here. I can tell by all the holes that Chula has dug in the back yard that it's at least 90% sand. Besides pine trees, what grows in that? Are there really nutrients to be had??

Once I dig out the cables to my camera and download my pictures, I'll post some of the house. Maybe I'll even include one of the metallic and rose colored paint that is smeared all over the wallpapered diningroom. (eeeek!)

Off to bed....

Friday morning...

Well, Jeff made it here at 9pm Central time after 3 hours stuck in Houston traffic. The four of us then decided to go rustle up some grub at the local steak house. Everything seemed to be winding down... until we came back to the hotel. I knew something was amiss when I walked in the building and saw doors open, people standing in their doorways, the rent-a-cop security guard with his flashlight out and on (?) and the hotel manager standing there looking around. Oh, and dogs barking and howling at the top of their lungs. The manager says to me "are you in room 109?". Yes, unfortunately we were. Turns out Kona and Chula had flipped out at some point and starting barking and barking, waking up the entire hotel at 11pm.

I was informed that it was a $100.00 per pet fee and that we were in the poor house. Luckily they hadn't learned about the cat or the 4 fish. That would have run our bill up around 1K! Ah! In the end, I convinced them to only charge us $75.00, as is stated on the web site. Phew.

Fun In.... Houston!

Well, we have arrived!

Vanessa, Maddie and I are here in the hotel. (MUCH better experience this time than last time!!! Always choose Hilton over Ramada.) Jeff, the poor thing, is experiencing Houston traffic for the first time. Last I heard he had moved 3/10 of a mile in 20 minutes trying to get to a main artery out of the city. Yikes. He's stuck in NW Houston and we're up here waiting for him. I think I'm going to have to pump some milk and go get a drink. This moving experience has been a bit chaotic.

Our loan has gone through and we're approved to close tomorrow morning. Thank goodness! The house will be ours by noon on Friday. YAY!!!!!

More later. Off to find a margarita...

The Maiden Voyage of The Scout

Well, the Camry and The Scout are being taken away today! I snapped some shots of Jeff getting it ready to be loaded. He also took it for a joy ride around the park. She purrs like a kitten!!

first foods

Last night I gave Maddie some pearsauce that I made from Organic pears bought at Whole Foods. Wanna see how long that good intention lasts?? Ha! Anyway, we decided to start her a little early on solids because we honestly can't keep her out of our food (or Jeff's beer) anymore. Plus, she's sitting up unsupported for about 10 seconds at a time and sits perfectly with just a little help. She loved it!




nice, Jeff...

...and another one

Some Videos

I took this the other day just after she woke up from a (rare and infrequent) nap. I love the way she kicks her legs and moves her arms when she's excited... so cute!

still bald as a cue ball

Nice weather... just a taste of it

We had a cold front come through this weekend, so we took the opportunity to get out of the house and hike. Here we are at South Mountain with the off-road stroller. It has shocks. Fantastic.

How Big Is Maddie??

Is this advanced? This is my first go-round, but it seems pretty impressive to me. Particularly because she picked this up in about 5 seconds. I only had to do it once. After we made such a big deal of it, she spent the rest of the night with her arms up just slightly above her head, looking more like Richard Nixon. Pretty cute.

(note: I apologize for my shrill voice. I was really excited.)

Holy Crap! Feet! I found feet!

You think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys?

forget about it...

Oh, Big Day!!!

Well, we had a great day today. First we went to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ with our friends Leon and Julia Manfredi. (As a bonus, our mechanic Carl gave us two free rotors!) When we got home, Spicy Latina Vanessa had planned a surprise party for us to say goodbye!!! I don't have pictures from the party (will get later) but I do from the arboretum...

see the hummingbird?


Grandma Roth made this little hat for her. I just love it!

Sedona

We're systematically saying goodbye to Arizona for now by revisiting some of our favorite places. We went to Sedona yesterday to hike with Maddie and get her a onesie at the Harley store that says "My Grandpa Rides a Harley"!

Weekend Update

Where to start?? Well, we've had a tumultuous weekend. Last Thursday, Jeff noticed something interesting on a document related to our "new house". It was a lawsuit filed by the current owner, suing the previous owner for nondisclosure of flooding problems... for the entire cost of the home! Thanks to some sleuthing work by my dear friend Elise, we recovered a document in the lawsuit that had the words "if I had known how bad the flooding was, I never would have purchased the house". Yikes! We got the hell out of there. And because Mr. Sue-happy didn't disclose anything to US, he's giving us our money back for the inspections we paid for.

Then we put an offer on another lovely house. The same day someone else put a "considerably better" offer on it. Apparently it's 2005 and no one told me because we offered full price. Huh.

So yesterday we put an offer on a third house. I guess the third time is the charm! (I sure hope so anyway!!) It's just gorgeous. It feels like a lodge with big open windows and tons of trees. There is even a screened-in porch off of the master bedroom. It needs to be updated (shag carpet in the bathroom! ahh!) and painted, but it's all small stuff. And for you geologists, it has gorgeous labradorite-rich granite everywhere! Mmmmm....