Case of the Mondays

After the big storm last week that brought high winds, four days of rain, tornadoes to Arizona, and a night spent sleeping in the bathtub, I have a new lease on my love/hate relationship with weather. Okay, so I'm native to Arizona and the opportunity to move away never presented itself, but I like genuinely it here. We don't have to deal with snow, sleet, blizzard, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, flooding, tornado {normally}, or any other natural disaster. We have two seasons: dry heat and dry cold. I hate it because it's boiling lava, can't touch my seat belt, but can fry an egg on the sidewalk hot. I love it because it's predictable, it's safe, it's home.

While traveling about town, I saw several fallen trees and general storm debris almost everywhere. It gave me new appreciation for landscapers and roofers across the Valley who are returning to work this sunny Monday morning happy to have an increase in profit and job security for a little bit longer and they deserve it; it's a mess out there.

On Saturday my family gathered downtown, in honor of my late grandfather, at The Old Spaghetti Factory for pasta and tales of Pap-paw past. No trip to OSF is complete without a photo by the Spaghetti Tree and thankfully, C took plenty.

The kids and I visited the Phoenix Zoo yesterday. It was the first sunny day in several and having waited out the storm in the comforts of home, I was feeling a little cabin feverish and the zoo was the perfect cure all. After three hours of wheeling around animals; E and R on their Heeley's and A in the umbrella stroller, they called it quits and we headed to Chandler Fashion for some shoe shopping. The kids each got a pair of brand new flip flops to wear the first day of Spring and I picked up The Lovely Bones at B&N {I heard the movie was terrible compared to the book, so I thought I'd skip the film and head straight for the page}.

Then we headed to McDonald's for french fries, beverage, and indoor activity that didn't involve shoes with wheels and having thought ahead with the book purchase, I let them enjoy Playland for two hours. By the time we arrived home, it was late and we were headed straight for the bathtub, followed closely by playroom pick up and bed.

E was a little sad about having to wash the waves out of her hair that her father put there so, I gave her the ultimate wet hair braid treatment after she was clean and was reminded of being seven and sitting still for 30 minutes while my mom braided my wet locks in front of the television. Her hair this morning, very AWESOMELY1988; crimped all but the last inch where I had to tie off the braid. She was so ecstatic; it took horses to drag her away from the bathroom mirror.

E: You do it better than Dad.
M: I should hope so, your dad is bald. What does he know about hair?
E: That's true.


Today starts a full week of work, school, homework, schedules, routines, and errands and may yours be sunny without crimps. Cheers!