wilderness blog

I am writing this from the remote corner of the kitchen in a remote cabin in a remote part of Utah.I have to lean way over the counter and point the blackberry just so to get a signal. If I stand up too fast I will literally knock my head on the underside of a pine cabinet so I have to hunch over and the light isn't so good. If I even reach for my wine glass I will probably lose the signal again.

But I am blogging! How cool.

Next I am going to google 12- step programs for blog addictions. Not that I have a problem or anything.

Reading list

We read to both kids every night. Sometime last year, Girlie moved on to chapter books. This couldn't have come at a better time, since Little Guy also started asking for multiple stories at around the same time.

Lately, we have been reading through the American Girl series with Girlie. The American Girl books are pretty fun to read and it is really cool to watch Girlie get so engrossed in the twists and turns of the plot. Hubs and I take turns reading to Girlie, though not on a regular schedule, so sometimes he and I will catch up on what we've missed.

"Did she find the horse?" I'll ask.

"Yes, but they haven't heard from the father in a few weeks," he'll reply.

"Oh, no."

The conversations about the books we are reading to Little Guy go a little differently.

"Fire Piggy again," Hubs will complain. Little Guy is really into Richard Scarry and Fire Piggy is really called Richard Scarry's Busiest Firefighters Ever. It follows four little pigs named Snozzle, Squirty, Sparky, and Squirty as they inadvertently put out a fire in someone's barbeque. This cracks Little Guy up every time.

"Ugh. I read it three times before his nap." After the millionth read, I'm not so fond of Fire Piggy. Somehow, I don't mind the Dr. Seuss as much. I think I have memorized a fair number of them and the sing song rhyming slips me into an altered state where I can usually think of other things while reading.

Not in the dark! Why are my heels always so dry?

Not in a tree! Seriously, I could sand wood with them.

Not in the car! I really really need a pedicure.

You let me be! I should totally blog about this.

Little boxes

I had a dream about the little bungalow we bought when we moved back to Georgia the other night. In my dream, it was enormous on the inside and the rooms kept going on and on. In reality, it was a teeny place, barely a three bedroom. The closets were so small, that in one of the bedrooms, the hangers had to be placed in on an angle. We ended up selling it before Little Guy came along, but for a while it was just the two of us and our baby girl, and it was perfect.

A few years after we got married, we lived in a tiny apartment where there were always cat fights echoing in the back alley at night. Some crazy lady left food out, so it became the city cat hang out. Still, we loved that place because it was super cheap and centrally located in the hipster part of Atlanta. We could literally step out of the front door and be in a restaurant, bar, or coffee shop within two minutes. It had one bedroom and the only closet in the entire place was off of the living room, but somehow, it was perfect too.

Don't get me wrong, I love the house we are in now. It isn't huge, though sometimes it seems like more than we really need. Still there is a part of me, that looks forward to the time when the kids are out of the house and Hubs and I can cozy up in a little place again. I don't know where we'll be, but I can totally picture it.

Small and perfect, just like it used to be, except maybe with a little more closet space.

Sock it to me

We're off to southern Utah for a week. We are going to spend some time hiking Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, and I am looking really forward to a little time away. The weather is supposed to be amazing and the leaves should be at peak season for peeping. No camping this time, we rented a house with bedrooms for everyone. In between the parks, we'll pick pumpkins with the kids, roast marshmallows over a bonfire, and try to spy some Elk. I've packed some books and can't wait to just chill.

As I type this, Hubs is busy packing the car, humming an upbeat tune. He hasn't had any time off for a while and has been on the road for the last two weeks.

But really, I know that he is most happy because he packed these...

The worlds ugliest hiking socks.

And I will try to let him enjoy them. Bleh.

Dry Heat Shmy Heat

People often make cracks about the heat in Phoenix. A favorite is the snarky, but it's a dry heat right? And the truth is, when it is 110 degrees, dry or not, it is very hot. But once the temp drops, the dry heat thing usually works in our favor. 98 is bearable, 97 is pleasant, and anything under 95 is downright fantastic.

Anyway, fall has arrived and the weather has been phenomenal this week in Phoenix.

Let the gloating begin.