Sibling Sunday with the wild bunch

100_9829, originally uploaded by torri_g.

With the very long weekend drawing to a close here it is time for the sibling post of the week. What can I really say other than good grief their a wild bunch! Thanksgiving morning turned into a dog pile with the dogs included in the melee. I'm not so sure how much any of them want to head back to school come tomorrow, since it marks the start of the fast paced run to the end of the second quarter of school for them. Which means finals time is in the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. There will be at least one Christmas choir concert to head to for Little Bug, and knowing Binky Sue at this point in time I'm sure there will be a million other little things to keep me busy driving. Sweetpea has what seems to be a fairly large art project that she has started work on over this holiday weekend, which the biggest part of it was hounding her Mom to print what seemed like a million different pictures. I'm sure by later this afternoon I will be hearing the whines about not wanting to go back to school tomorrow from all of them. Then I will get to start the non stop reminding them of they only have a couple of weeks till the Christmas break.
It has been a wonderful long weekend with the wild bunch though. They have all done their part to add tons of laughter to this house which I think is my favorite part of the holidays. I hope that everyone has one more restful day filled with laughter before the new week starts.

Just another simple Saturday

100_9764, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'll admit that since Thursday simple and lazy has pretty much been the name of the game for me. I starting to think I meant it when I said I was taking the rest of the weekend off. So since I'm so busy being lazy, just a simple entry today with pictures taken in the last couple of weeks of the fall color across the field behind the house.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend!

Not my little mister

100_9803, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Earlier this week I post about finding an egg that had been laid in one of the love bird cages and promised to share a picture of which one it was. Talk about setting up a perfect thing for Feline and Furball with Feather's Friday post! Puff the Mighty Eagle is the one with the eggs! My little mister isn't a mister, and since all of us have gotten used to referring to Puff as little mister or little man, it has thrown us all off. Since Puff is the lovebird with a cage all to herself, I'm sure that these are infertile eggs that she is laying. I'm hoping since she is so young that it will not be a whole clutch of 5-6 eggs that she feels the need to lay, but right now the count is at 2. As a precaution to avoid her feeling the need to keep laying them till she has a full clutch I have opted to keep the eggs in the cage with her, going with the idea that when she no longer is so defensive of them I will remove them. So far all I have seen her wanting to do with them is play soccer around the bottom of the cage with them, and fight anyone that gets to close to the cage. My little princess bird that makes me laugh so much with her daily antics has been getting the spoiling treatment that comes from this Mom whenever she thinks any of her kids just aren't feeling so great. I'm pretty sure that Puff is getting tired of me keeping such a close watch on her, and yes I have even asked her more than a couple of times this week if she is alright. Oh and laugh about that one all you want, but Puff has this eerie way of nodding her head yes to things a times.

Alright it is time for everyone to head over to visit Steve and Pickle again because it is Feline and Furball Friday. I you want to play along too all you have to do is post your own and leave a link in comments. Since I'm posting way early today I will have to come back later and update with the link over to Steve and Pickle. I hope that everyone has a good turkey day recovery Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving

100_9832, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Cooking, eating, cleaning, what a day it has been. Another Thanksgiving is nearing an end and the count down to Christmas is in full swing. Before that though let me take time to once again tell the story about the naming of the Thanksgiving turkey. It is something that the oldest two girls came up with when they were just little, and for whatever the reason, it has become as much of a yearly tradition as any of the food that gets cooked. This year it was Little Bugs year to name the turkey and I'm proud to introduce Gibby. Gibby was a great turkey to work with this year even though his size was huge, a tender and more juicy bird I don't think we have had in a few years. There will be tons of leftover eating going on tomorrow and Army Guy is on for cooking come Saturday because I think I am going to need a couple of days off.

I had the girls write a quick couple of thankful for things for this entry here tonight because I couldn't remember everything that they had said earlier.

Binky Sue is thankful for, family, food, almost being done with school, and music. She also wrote that she is thankful that her Dad didn't fart right in front of her tonight like he was threatening to do.(They are soooo very sweet in this house.) She is also thankful for clothes, and having a "job" that she loves doing.

Sweetpea is thankful for, her family, the things that she has, the food that we eat, school (mostly teachers & art).

Little Bug is thankful for, family, love in the house, friends, songs, pets. The fact that my Mommy can't read my writing, but most of all people who have loved me the most...Mommy and Daddy.

I'm thankful for being done trying to read Little Bugs hand writing here tonight. Alright now for real, I'm thankful for all of my girls and the laughs they have given me over the last year, they far out weigh any tears or frustration. I'm thankful for my Army Guy and looking forward to all the next year is sure to bring our way. I'm thankful for knowing every day that there are people who love me. I'm thankful for family, I'm thankful for friends, and I'm thankful for another wonderful Thanksgiving.

Sweetpea during her dinner time list said "I am thankful for having what we have, even if others wouldn't think it was a lot, because to me it is the best and most important that everything I have is because of being loved, and now a days it seems like a lot of people don't have enough of that." I may not have all of the words just right, but I don't think that really matters. She spoke words that are very true, and I hope that today everyone felt that whatever they had or were doing, that it was the best and everyone felt loved. Happy Thanksgiving!

T'was the night before

100_9823, originally uploaded by torri_g.

T'was the night before Thanksgiving,
when all through the house,
All creatures were stirring,
thank goodness there Not a mouse!
The pies are all cooling on the cabinet with care,
In hopes that Mom would not pull out her hair.

Alright so that is as far as I'm going to go with that little poem here tonight. Pie baking turned into a need for a major clean up in the oven because of a butter milk pie that didn't seem to want to stay in the pan or bake right. They are done though and I'm so thankful right now that the plan was just for two pies, because I really don't think that I could find it in me bake anymore. After sending ranch dip mix flying all over myself I also think I'm going to skip trying to chop up and veggies for trays. I live with the thought that as long as things go kind of crazy the night before Thanksgiving, all will turn out just about perfect the day of. Good grief after tonight I sure hope so, or my very favorite holiday is going to find me hiding in a corner crying.

I hope that everyone is ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and that today and tonight's prep doesn't leave any of us bald. I'm sure tomorrow night I will be back with a post about what everyone is thankful for this year and of course a picture of the turkey and the reveal of what it's name is this year. Until then have a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, and enjoy the time spent with those you love.

One year ago today

100_5740, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Since I haven't really been able to get out of the house to take new pictures, I went back into archive photo's and found this from one year ago today. It doesn't look like much but it was our first dusting of snow on the mountains. I do remember it being much cooler last year than this year so far. We never did hit our projected high of 70+ today, but then again the sun never managed to come out from behind the clouds today either. Rain and much cooler temperatures are the forecast for the next couple of days here. Since Little Bug and I have to make a drive up to Tucson tomorrow, I'm hoping that the rain just holds off and that there won't be an added bonus of gusting winds. It is more than enough fun driving at the set speed limit of 75 mph between here and Tucson, add a good gusting wind though and it is just down right exhausting. As soon as we manage to get back from Tucson it will be cook dinner, get Binky Sue over to her baby sitting job and time to work on the pre-Thanksgiving cooking and chopping that needs to be done.

I hope that everyone has had a good Tuesday and that you are all ready for the holiday and not about to find yourself out trying to shop tomorrow.

Peaceful slow start

100_9809, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Seeing as I'm not really ready for it to be Monday morning already, I'm getting off to a slow moving start here. Maybe because my favorite holiday is this week, and I'm storing all of the energy I can to get through the cooking that will be going on. No...wait...I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that I went to bed with a headache, woke up with a headache, have sinuses that are not just stuffed up but stuffed up and draining at the same time. How is that really possible? I mean one or the other would be more than enough! It has me wanting the peaceful start to the day to not end here because right now it is quiet. However, being the Thanksgiving nut that I am there is a long list of things for each day this week for me to get through and sitting here typing blog post isn't going to start making that list any shorter.

I hope that today is a good day for everyone, and even if the day isn't a peaceful slow one that we all have some time to think about the things we are thankful for.

Some Birdy isn't what we thought!

100_9818, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We knew when we got the lovebirds that there really isn't anyway other than DNA to tell just what sex they are. Hence the reason for the names Mango, Honey, and Puff. None of the names are really one gender or the other. Alright so Honey is pretty close but still it could work for a male bird too. We have taken guesses at what we thought the sex of each bird is but today one guess was totally shot down. We now know that there is one female of the group because of finding the egg in the cage. I am going to wait till Friday to post a picture of just which bird it is, but felt the need to share this bit of news.

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend and that the coming holiday week is good for all of us.

What is it? Sibling Sunday is what it is!

What?, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Since ordering Binky Sue's announcements, cap and gown, there has been a debate going on under this roof about a couple of things. First and foremost was what in the world her class motto was about. I mean in the whole scheme of class motto's this one just struck me as...well it struck me as a lot of things most of which I'm not going to even bother typing here. At first Binky Sue thought it was pretty cool, but fast forward a week and she too is wondering "Couldn't anyone come up with something better?" After much checking we find out that the senior student body actually had nothing to do with the creation of the class motto, the school faculty did. Now I know there have been a lot of things that have changed since I was a senior in high school 20 years ago, and I have learned to deal with the things that used be but are no more. However, when I was thinking that it was the students that had picked this, I didn't understand it but I could see it because it is a group of 17/18 year old's trying to come up with a way define themselves. Knowing now that it was chosen by the teachers and administrators, I'm viewing it as a virtual slap in the face to each one of the 600+ seniors at that school. This accompanied by the fact that the day of ordering caps and gowns the students were being told...no encouraged to decorate their caps with writing and other decoration prior to the graduation ceremony by the school staff, leaves me with a very bitter taste in my mouth.(Oh wait that taste may have something to do with the really bad words that came flying out of my mouth upon hearing this!)

My question would be does the school think so little of these kids that it is okay to set the bar so low that a baby could crawl over it? Let's play down the momentous mile stone that each one of the senior student body will achieve come May. Instead let's make it take on the look of a three ring circus side show act and we can all just say "It is what it is!" I know that a good share of the student body was thrilled to hear about the allowed decorating of caps and the ability to come dressed that night as they would any other day of the school week, including my Binky Sue. I however being the mean Mom that I have always been, and will always be said "NO!" Actually I said a lot more than that but once again not even going to type that all out here. Binky Sue at first was of course mad at me about it, but after thinking about it this week she is more upset with the school for setting a standard so very low. "It is what it is" is slowly being viewed as a slap in the face of every bit of hard work that has been put into making it to this soon to be mile stone of her life.

Simple Saturday Morning

100_9805, originally uploaded by torri_g.

When going out during fall here there is a very simple thing to remember, think about where you are heading to while you are still in the house and can grab a coat if needed. Of course I didn't think about that yesterday before heading out for Huachuca Canyon and trying to find some fall colors to take pictures of. I didn't think about while I was walking from the house to the carport either, because my long sleeve shirt was enough for the almost 50 degrees here at the house. It was not enough however once I got up into the canyon! A very chilly 36 degrees up there is what greeted me when I climbed out of the car with my camera. From the parking area I hiked about half a mile up one of the trails and then turned around to head back down wondering if I had somehow left my brain in the nice warmth of my house. Due to a cold shake of my hands most of the pictures just will never be seen by anyone. It was a good morning though because of being able to see so much wildlife out and active in the canyon. No pictures of that though because that was while I was making the drive back down. I know our temperatures are not as cold as a good share of my readers area's, but we are super cold and already missing the warmth that is usually associated with Arizona.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend, and that if you are out and about trying to get ready for Thanksgiving stay warm.

Who is bigger?

Don't hurt me Kiki, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Since shooting pictures of animals last night, I have had a difficult time picking which one to use for this post today. I ended up with a lot of good shots yesterday, but it is the funny one's that I kept being drawn to. This picture of Kiki the Cockatiel vs. Trinity the Coonhound is my final winner, if you click on the picture you should be taken to my flickr and be able to see my second choice.

Anyway, of the four birds in the house there are two that can be handled and get out of their cages a couple times a day. Kiki and Puff enjoy their time out of their cages and spend the time with their humans. Okay so Puff spends a good share of his time flying around and lands for brief moments with us. Kiki on the other hand can not fly because of wings that were clipped before we got her. So for her safety cats have to be rounded up and put in the back of the house and dogs either have to go in their beds or have muzzles put on. Trinity's response to the time of having her muzzle on is to lay on the couch and pout, but deal with the fact that she just isn't going to be allowed to put a bird in her mouth. Kiki last night though didn't want to stay on a lap or anywhere near a person. She was more interested in checking things out and wandering on her own, which took her right over to where Trinity was laying down doing her very best pouting. Kiki showing no signs of fear walked right up to Trinity to get a closer look. What went on between the two of them had the whole family laughing watching them. The more Kiki complained at Trinity the more she put her face down into the couch as if to hide her face. Trinity weighs a good 65 pounds, Kiki weighs in at a mere few ounces, but looking at the picture who would you guess has the bigger attitude? I have to give my Trinity girl kudos though, one swipe of her paw and Kiki is no more, but she is a great girl who just wanted the bird to walk away and leave her to do her pouting.

It is time for Feline and Furball Friday over with Steve and Pickle. Once again I'm throwing in some feathers into the mix just for some extra fun. If you want to play along all you have to do is post your own and leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a great weekend.

Steve's Feline and Furball Friday

Fall colors but can't get real close

100_9762, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I noticed this morning while taking dogs out that across the way in the new housing construction zone that there are trees with fall colors. Because of the ravine and the construction zone fence there is not getting real close to it for pictures, but camera with zoom and a telephoto lens works too. Army mentioned that the trees heading up towards Huachuca Canyon are in fall color also, so maybe I need to head up there again this week and see what things look like. I'll be honest, I don't miss the sever cold and tons of snow, but I sure miss seeing tons of fall colors everywhere. Cactus and broom bushes just don't feel the need to turn such vibrant colors.

I hope that everyone is having a great Thursday, and see you back here tomorrow for Feline and Furball Friday.

Just where is the maid?

Mess, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I can not believe that I'm actually going to post a picture of this here, but hey I'm willing to admit that I have a problem in my house. It is called my desk! Now don't go thinking that this is a problem created by just one person...oh we are far from that. As Mom I get a lot of help from my three girls with the messing up of this desk here. Every note that comes home from school, progress reports, permission slips, ordering information for the senior, various daily medicines for the youngest two, monthly medications for the dogs, an assortment of several things first aid related because having a Little Bug a.k.a. Crash living in this house means you always need to have an assortment of things readily on hand. My things on here would be the post it notes for making my lists, the spray bottle so that whenever there is an animal that needs to be reminded that being good is really a good thing, my water bottle because if it is left anywhere else in this house I swear the kids steal it from me, and my coffee cup because trying to start my day without the help of coffee just isn't a good thing. Sitting here playing with my Kodak camera this morning though I'm thinking that the maid needs to spend a little time on this desk though. After all it has been a couple months since it was cleaned. The really sad thing though is as soon as it is clean again, the girls seem to view it as a challenge to see how quickly they can get back to looking like it does currently. Maybe that is why the maid tends to just leave this piled mess alone.

I hope that everyone is having a good week, and I'm going to see if I can do something with this mess that is called my desk here today.

Falling behind again!

PB026343, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I wish I could just get on track with this already. I think I have been in a bit of a photo taking depression since having to give back the loner Olympus camera, and when I finally picked up my Kodak again for the first time in months it just kicked my backside all over the place. It isn't that I don't know how to work the Kodak anymore...I seem to have forgotten some of it's touchy issues it has always had. The delays in shutter button, the lag in processing, the temperamental focusing. I headed out last week with it to see about finding something to take pictures and it ended up sitting on the passenger seat of the car like a stranger to me. I will get past this though because I'm sure the urge to take lots of pictures of everything will kick in again here soon. I mean how in the world am I going to share the funny story about Binky Sue and her classes motto if I don't pick the camera up and take a picture?

I hope that everyone is having a good week so far, and I will try yet again to get going on a daily basis here.

The Sister Cats

Eclipse and Angel, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Eclipse and Angel doing what they do best...curling up and just sitting around. It kind of surprised me that these two were sitting so close to each other last night after the week they have had with fighting with one another. Note to any visitors, when these two are going at it with each other...it is best to just find a safe spot and stand perfectly still. There isn't a lot of clawing and gnashing of teeth that goes on with their fights, but there is a lot of extreme high speed running, jumping, flying through the air that goes on. At first you won't even realize just what is going on, you will just see a blur of black and white also known as Eclipse go sailing over, under, or on to the top of something. Then you will see a very smug Angel saunter into the room searching for her sister. Eclipse will stay silent and hidden till just the right moment comes and then like a shot she is off and running again. Of course she takes time to make sure that as she takes off she manages to touch her sister in some way so as to ensure that the fight will truly be in full swing then. After that the phrase "Game On" is about the only one that really works. Then it is nothing but very fast moving blurs of black and white fur through the house. The game usually ends when either Mom steps in and says the words "Enough Already you two!" or Miss Angel gets so mad about not being able to catch her sister she starts hissing and meowing like she is being murdered. Eclipse is the one that usually ends up being able to saunter with the victorious walk, and climbs up to what I think they view to be the best seat in the house...the back of the couch near the windows. Ah the never ending joys of siblings under the roof of this house.

It is time again for Feline and Furball Friday over with Steve and Pickle. If you should want to play along all you have to do is post your own and leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a great start to their Friday and that there is a wonderful weekend waiting for all of us.

The Ballooning Costs of Senior Year

PB026251, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Oh wow this year has not only flown by, but money for our senior seems to be flying right out the windows and doors of the house. The latest cost is the cap, gown, and announcements. With the way the money keeps flying out of the house there may be nothing left for graduation gift or party. Army Guy and I may celebrate being done paying for this year and then sit down and cry about having to do it all over again come next year for Sweetpea. Oh the joys of senior year! At least we will have a really good idea about just how much we will need to have saved up, and let's not forget to add some extra for inflation from one year to the very next. For $312.35 these better be the best announcements, cap, and gown that there has ever been!

I'm just going to sit back and watch the money flying here, I wonder what is next on the list for the seniors.

Final Bloom

Blooming, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It is of course fall and every where else there is the turning of leaves that signals it. Here we get the few rare trees that will actually turn beautiful colors but our true sign of fall weather is the Arizona Broom Bushes blooming. They are in full swing now and sending their white fluffy blooms flying through the air with the higher winds that we have had the last couple of days here. Considering the amount of bugs these things draw in for the better part of the year, I personally am always happy to see the blooming going on because it means our much cooler temperatures are arriving very soon.

I hope that everyone has had a quiet Tuesday, and see you all tomorrow with hopefully some more new photo's.

Spicy Monday

Spicy, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm still not real sure just what made me think standing over a pan of heating up chilies was a good idea. If you have never done, I suggest having a good cold and trying it. You should be cleared up quickly! When Army Guy is making his homemade chili powder the house goes through different stages of smell. At first it is a very subtle spicy scent, which quickly gives way to a makes your eyes water, then straight into "My goodness, my lungs are burning". The burning stage lasts the longest, but slowly there is a wonderful smell that creeps in. As he grinds all of the chilies into very fine powder and they combine you have thoughts of a good bowl of chili on a cold day. The final aroma that the house is left with is one that just can not be beat and I guess makes the lung burning sensation worth it. Today several batches of Army Guys "Arizona Dragons Breath" left the house on their way to different family members. They are all very fresh batches that have been made in the last 24 hours and they smell wonderful.

I hope that everyone had a good start to the week today, and that the rest of this week is filled with good things for all.

Sibling Sunday Playing Catch Up

100_9661, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I know that I haven't been keeping up on my blog like I usually like to, but life has taken a very busy swing the last couple of weeks. I know I posted about the week that flew away, and this week hasn't been much better. So let's play some catching up on things going on here in Arizona.

Binky Sue-
Is thrilled to tell everyone and anyone that this week brought the final termination of IEP services. All but one section of test scores were in the class of "WOW! That is great!" and the one section that wasn't...well in the whole scheme of things it shows that she has over the years learned ways around needing to score that high in that area. Binky Sue was a little worried about just what they would have to say, and if they were going to make her continue with services, but she got what she has worked oh so many long years for. She is finally free of the need for an IEP!

Sweetpea-
She has just been going along like she usually does. Nothing much exciting and lots of "One time in Art class" stories. If it were not for meal times, and afternoon break downs of her school day with me, I think in the last couple of weeks Sweetpea might have gone totally unnoticed. She is happy with that though as long as she gets her time to tell me about her day.

Little Bug a.k.a CRASH-
I mentioned in my quick update earlier in the week that last Sunday she feel and bruised her knee and was going to be on crutches for a couple of days. Well fast forward to maybe 24 hours after I typed that and we were back in the ER with Little Bug because her leg was swollen and ice cold. The first thing to rule out was possibility of blood clot, which there isn't one thank goodness, but then they noticed that it isn't just the bruised knee she tore her calf muscle. All of this means on the crutches longer and we have been fighting with her swelling and temperature loss in her leg. First thing tomorrow morning will be time to make a phone call and see about getting her into to clinic to see Dr...AGAIN! My thoughts at this point in time though as long as we are not sitting in the local ER life is good. She was upset though because she had to miss the field trip to Tucson with the choir for festival activities, but crutches and a long day of moving from room to room singing just would not have been a good thing for a leg that wants to be up and resting.

I guess since I'm going I will just add updates about Army Guy and myself on here. Army Guy has the retirement orders that he has been waiting for. Yes that means that the final countdown of time is going. There is a lot to get done between now and then but the ball is rolling and slowly they are going to get checked off of the to do list.(Oh yay...we already know about my list making addiction!)

As for me...well other than feeling like the car and I have merged and become one, I have managed to hold my breath for more than just a couple of things in the last couple of weeks. This week though more than anything else was waiting for results of a suspicious find in my left breast. The worst part was getting good news in the morning on Tuesday, to getting a phone call Tuesday afternoon telling me I needed to come back in Wednesday for more tests. For ten minutes Wednesday while sitting waiting for everyone to go over the films I swear I don't remember taking a breath at all. The good news it wasn't cancer that triggered the scare, I got a great big bold font NEGATIVE for that screening. I do however have a high number of cysts in the nodules, which they have sent the films off to my PCM and Surgeon to see if they would like a FNA done so they can look at what the cells are doing. So here is my PSA for the year ladies...do your self exams! I found the first area myself, and then that was confirmed by the PCM. Which was actually in the long run a good thing because that is how they found the high number in the nodules. I will say this though, I don't think I want to have another round of holding my breath like that.

Alright, I think this is long enough for a catch up entry. I hope that everyone is enjoying a beautiful weekend with loved ones, and I have hopes of getting back into a more regular posting cycle this week.

What happens when you eat to many nummies

To many yummies, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Something as simple as a banana can be to much of a good thing. Just take a look at Trinity and Mia. There is lots of goodness packed into those simple yellow things, and eating one may leave you with the same hung over look the dogs have.

It is time for Feline and Furball Friday over at Steve's, so if you want to play along just post your own and leave a link in comments.

Feline and Furball Friday

Last week flew away

Fly Away, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I don't know about anyone else but I am very happy to be done with last week. From start to finish it was one filled with the feeling of running behind because of having so much to get done. Lots of appointments, lots of running kids here, there, and everywhere. Yesterday morning I thought the relaxing time was going to finally going to kick in and then Little Bug feel and injured her knee. So much for relaxing time, just under six hours spent in the ER and she is on crutches for a severely bruised knee. Which will mean more running to and from school this week. Which is fine really because there are also lots of appointments yet again this week. Maybe next week will be the week of nothing.

Little Bug, Sweetpea and I did get out Sunday morning for the taking off of the hot air balloons. Armed with hot coco, and cameras it was a beautiful start to our Sunday morning. Sweetpea and Little Bug don't care how many times we have seen the same balloons lay out, fill up, and take off, in the cool early morning sunrise time of the first November Sunday it is a wonderful sight. Mom shot over 200 pictures and they shot over 100, and we once again enjoyed our early Sunday morning outing. Now if I can just find enough time to sit and go through all of the pictures.

I hope that this week is off to a good start for everyone, and that we will all find time to sit and relax just a little bit.