So all the sudden I'm in the mood for some peaches...maybe with a little side of herb? Unfortunately, there's no time for that - I haven't posted in 10 days and the blogging police have an APB out on me. As my friend Marty would say, I need to get crack-a-lackin'.

Reunited, and it feels so good. Reunited, 'cause we understood.
There's one perfect fit and, sugar, this one is it.
We both are so excited cuz we're reunited
Hey, hey

My hope is that you sang that out loud without realizing it.

I've had this song in my head all week long while thinking of all the reunions that have occurred over the last few days. Along with the tune, I'm having visions of the cheesy video that went along with it. You know the one...Peaches has that long sequined evening gown on and I can't even start about Herb. Anyway, I digress. Let's talk about reunions.

Reunion #1 is between the 3 Amaro's and our house. Saturday evening, we returned home from our 2 week vacation to Texas and Arkansas. We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation - but hey, you can't tell me that it doesn't feel good to come home. Not only that, but before we left, I cleaned the house. Even my fridge...hey, when there's no food in there and you actually have to look at the shelves? It ain't pretty, kitty. I don't care if you call me names, but I was downright giddy when I walked in the door and saw my clean house. I opened the refrigerator and a chorus of angels sang. It was wonderful for about 5 minutes and then I transformed into the nightmare unpacking lady...which is almost as scary as the nightmare packing lady. Don't get in my way...I'm unpacking. Ask Mike about it...he'll tell ya.

The honor of Reunion #2 is given to the 3 Amaro's and Grandaddy. We picked him up from the airport Sunday morning - he flew ALL NIGHT long (after getting off work Saturday night!). We have been enjoying his time here and we're even getting a new painted mailbox out of the deal. How 'bout that! One thing I can always count on when Dad is here is getting in my recommended daily allowance of fruit. He's always cuttin' up fruit. I'll be walking past him and all of the sudden there will be a knife in my face with a perfectly cut cantaloupe pyramid at the end and the words, "here". Love that.

Reunion #3 We decided that taking Jeremiah with us on vacation would not be wise so we called upon our friends, The Rutledges to fish sit. We knew that the J man would be in good hands with this gang. Sure enough, when we went to pick him up Sunday afternoon he was in good spirits - even after ingesting a popcorn kernal husk (good job, Rusty...hee hee!). We brought Jeremiah home, cleaned his tank and gave him a little blood worm treat. He was in fish heaven...figuratively speaking, of course. A special "THANK YOU" to the Rutledge crew for taking care of Jeremiah and giving us little facebook updates on his time with you. We appreciate you guys!!

Some other reunions of note...I had a reunion with going back to work. I can't say it was such a favorable one (not in regards to my co-workers, of course, whom I enjoy immensely). I was also reunited with B & M and the kids who returned back yesterday from a month overseas. Next week, Abby will be reunited with school (I can't believe I have a daughter in 1st grade). Since I've been off the blogging charts for awhile, I guess I'm also having a little reunion with you right now!

Now you can see why I've got Peaches and Herb on my mind...

Oh yeah. One little random item I did want to mention...Abby has reached an incredible milestone. The child officially blows bubbles with her gum. Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal to you - but - have YOU ever tried to teach someone (under the age of 7, that is) how to blow a bubble? I have sprouted a whole crop of gray hairs from the experience. Buy stock in Trident now, people.

Consider yourself reunited...hey, hey.

lots of love,
k

This picture was taken on Sunday - the day after the big "spring forward" event that Mike is always so excited about. I on the other hand lament each year about my loss of sleep. Why is it that I was awake taking this picture of two sleeping people? Hmmmm...I was so disgusted by their inability to stay awake that I left the house and went walking around the neighborhood.

Speaking of walking - lately during my walks in the hood I've been noticing certain things happening. Maybe I've been watching too much Plant Earth for my own good. But the birds are active... I think if there were no trees on the earth to get crazy over, I would definitely be putting birds as my number one thing to observe. I am especially loving the Robins. There were not too many Robin's out in California where we lived. Neither were there Cardinals. We get a pretty good dose of both of them here. Anyway - the birds are frolicking, the time is changing, we have had 2 straight days of 80 degree weather. I would say that spring is in the air. Although I wouldn't mind another good snow, the warmer weather is like an old welcome friend. Walking in 10 degree weather has not exactly been fabulous, I must say.

Speaking of birds...for those of you on Rebel watch ("Rebel" is my new big girl camera, by Canon, the best company ever...love the Canon) he'll be arriving on Thursday. Actually, that has nothing to do with birds. But I will probably be taking pictures of birds...so that's good. Yeah, just think of all the pictures I'll be boring you with from now on!

Speaking of pictures (I'm trying to be better with my segues...how am I doing?)...I thought you'd like to see a picture of my daughter NOT being cute. The utter silliness that happens here can only really be experienced in person, but this picture can at least give you a little glimpse into life at Club Amaro.



Just a side note to this picture: I thank God that the growing out of the bangs phase lasted two days. We went back to her Dora the Explorer look when we got haircuts this past weekend. HA-LAY-LU-YA!!!

I hope that you are enjoying the change of seasons and noticing the little things that are happening in the environment around you - even if it's just bird flirting.

love you all!
k

Today's post in is honor of the bone head that I saw sitting on his riding mower smoking a cigarette. Nice.

Here's something totally random, but right now I'm listening to Abby talk to Uncle Anthony (happy birthday Uncle Anthony!)...she started to explain something and said, "it's complicated". What is possibly complicated when you're 6?

So, today (yes, it's Saturday I know) at 4pm, we went to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. I think the last time I saw that many people in one place I was at Oakland Stadium for an A's game. It's not right. If Abby's classmates moms weren't there, I would have totally climbed up the Skee-ball ramp and put all Abby's balls in the 50k hole. I can feel you wagging your finger at me in disdain...c'mon you can't tell me you haven't wanted to do that.

Don't forget to spring your clocks forward. Mike - who LOVES the "spring forward", likes to start prepping for Daylight Savings Time early...like a week before. If I had a dollar for every time this week that Mike said, "this time next week it's going to 5pm right now....THAT RULES!" I would have enough for a new lens for my big girl camera. He really starts getting geeked out about it the day before...acting like the time has already changed sometime around lunch. At 11am he is saying, "We better have lunch now so that we won't be too full to eat dinner." Then at 4, he's suggesting dinner so we won't be too full to go to sleep. And don't even get me started about the changing of the clocks...they get set way before their time. I'm surprised we don't have a party at Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate the time change.

I'm just grieving the loss of my hour of sleep...

k

I hate to burst your bubble but this post will NOT be about the Grammy Award winning song by one of my favorite heavy metal bands, Metallica (ok, well they were my one of my favorites in high school).

Gosh, I hope I didn't lose any readers.

ONE. Today's post title is in honor of the ONE year anniversary of our little Adventure OUT of Concord, California. Those Camry tires didn't actually cross the CA/AZ state line until early March '08, but leaving the Bay Area was definitely significant. Just to reminisce, I popped over to the last 2 posts from my Bay Area residency ("Charlotte Ave, 7500lbs lighter" and "74 miles down, 2226 miles to go"). It seems like ages ago when I wrote those...so many miles driven, so many sights seen. An apartment, a house purchase and BOXES, BOXES, BOXES! And moving box paper...OH the paper. New friends made, old friends missed. New church, new gym, new cuisine, lack of cuisine, new weather patterns. Parenting a kindergartner, the "pick up" line, the homework, the PTA, the "my kid is smarter than me" syndrome. The new job, the new neighbors, the new language, y'all... The new Mom's group, being a participant, not being the leader, missing my H2H girls, opening up to new girls, wondering if I say "y'all" they will like me more. Aye, yaye, yaye.

Just in case you were curious, I will tell you what Mike and I will be doing over the next few months. We will have conversations that go like this:

Kristin: "Guess what we were doing one year ago today"

Mike: "We were in San Diego eating at Nicolosi's with your Dad and brother"

Kristin: "No we weren't, that was last night...today was the day that we went to Balboa Park and Steve and I bailed on you guys at the Space Theater"

Mike: "Nuh uh...that was tomorrow....go look on your calender"

Kristin: "Oh yeah."

Don't deny my prophetic giftings...it will happen. On to other topics... Once again I have been delinquent in updating you on major happenings here at Club Amaro. So sorry...I've been too busy thinking about my one year anniversary this month. :) So, here are a few morsels to satisfy your Club cravings...

Jumping Bean



Some of you may know that Abby wanted to participate in the American Heart Association's "Jump Rope for Heart" event at school. Never mind that she didn't even know what a jump rope was, but nevertheless, she had been praying for ways to help other people and she saw this as a way to do that. Of course her PE teacher at school did start to teach jump rope, so I was fairly relieved and decided that she could participate. She set out to do her fund raising and raised quite a tidy sum. $603 to be exact.

Turns out, she was the top fundraiser of the entire school!!! She doesn't seem at all moved by the fact that she raised more money than anyone. I think that's kinda cool. She was just excited to be the one to get "Heart Dude" (a little stuffed heart with arms and legs). The funny part is, I didn't tell her about all the gifts she earned for raising that much money (you remember those crazy gifts they give you when you did fund raising at school). I guess they'll have some assembly or something and hand all that out. I'll just let her be surprised.

We're in "treble" now
Mike and I are big fans of Dave Ramsey and are trying to live out the principals that he teaches. In order to get Abby on board, we set her up with the Dave Ramsey Jr. program. She earns a commission each week for various things around the house. With her commission, we teach her to "save, spend and give" wisely (God help her that she has us for role models - but we are trying!). She decided that she wanted a real keyboard so she could start playing the piano. So we put that up as a goal and she started to save up. Fortunately for her, Christmas and birthday money came in to supplement the commissions that she gets each week. She saved up $114 and bought her a Yamaha YPT210 AND an adapter. It's a great keyboard except for the default volume is LOUD. She's loving it... I'm keeping my eye on her to see if there may have to be piano lessons in the future. I'm itching to get a piano in this house, and that seems like a good excuse.

That's about all the post I can pump out at the moment...hopefully your craving is satisfied for the time being. I promise I still love you...

chaocito...

k

After two "Thought Provo-K-tions" in a row, I figure I'd better keep this one light. I know it's been a few days and I'm sure my peeps are chompin' at the bit to know T.A.C.A. haps.

Not only will this be light, it will also be short...and maybe boring. Due to the fact that I am S-I-C-K...when I swallow, I feel like I have a ball of nails in the back of my throat, my neck is swollen and I have a nagging cough (which is not at all helped by the ball of nails).

Here is a picture of my girl...no, that is not dandruff on her head - it's SNOW.


The first day back from Thanksgiving break, it started to snow...so they let the kids outside to play. This is the first official "snow" of the season...how exciting! Abby could not stop talking about it.

As I have been highly anticipating the first snow, this should have been a momentousness occasion for me...complete with 1,243 snaps of my playskool digital camera. But alas, I was in the hospital when this snow happened. Yes, I made a little trip to the ER Monday morning.

First of all - I'm fine - NOTHING is wrong with me (well, except I have a ball of nails in my throat).

This last weekend, I ate only fruits and veggies (long story). In order to ease back into my regular eating pattern, I opted to indulge in some delish 2-yr-old-birthday-party-frankenfood, followed up later by a batch of my famous popcorn with a generous sprinklin' of spicy chipotle seasoning. This is a recipe for disaster, people.

The readers digest version of the rest of this story is I woke up at 1 in the morning convinced that I was having a heart attack. I sat up in the living room all night pondering my condition. Mike woke up, got wind of the situation...we got Abby off for school then headed over to the ER. To be quite honest, it was a wonderful experience that boosted my somewhat low expectations of Middle Tennessee medical services. They rushed me right in, got me all hooked up and started running blood tests. The ER doc came in and told me that the chance was pretty slim that I was having a heart attack - being the young'un that I am. But, just in case, she's running all the tests. While she was running the tests, she was going to treat me for acid reflux. I was a little embarrassed that I didn't know the difference between a heart attack and heart burn...but, apparently some of the symptoms are similar. So there you go. Too bad they could not do anything about the nail ball in my throat.

On the holiday front, we put up our Christmas decor over the last few days - this included our first Tennessee Christmas tree...a nice 6 foot douglas fir. Smells good. NO TINSEL! I have tinsel issues. I have alot more to write about this, but I'm sick and tired. I really should have gone to bed some time ago, but I go the extra mile for my peeps. Who loves you more than me? Come on...

If you beg me, I will post a picture of the ginormous bruise on my arm from where the nurse messed my IV thing up.

loveitis,
k


SECRET MESSAGE: Does anyone even read these?

I LOVE fall. I am sad that it took me so many years to really appreciate it. I mean, when you live in San Diego, Fall isn't really in your vocabulary. It's always wonderful - you may have a little June gloom or an occasional Santa Ana - but come on....it's usually always 73 degrees there (ok, so my memory may have a little marine layer clouding it up...it has been 15 years since I've lived there). Then, when I moved up to the Bay Area in '93 I felt like a whole new world was appearing before my eyes. I was introduced to the concept of "seasons"....WOW. A whole new world indeed.

I think it was a few years after moving up to the Bay Area when I really started to have a liking for fall. I liked the way the trees turned that orange-red color, but still had a little green to remind me that Summer wasn't going to let go just yet (the median of Bancroft Road, right in front of FCF....uh! My favorites!). I like that little crispness in the air...getting out my long sleeve shirts but still being able to wear flip flops...wanting a hot latte instead of an iced one... You know what I mean. It probably helped that summers in the East Bay would tend to be a little hotter than I liked...or, alot hotter. So by the time fall arrived, I would always embrace it like a long lost friend. Ok, I don't want to get too cheesy here - we're talking about a season for pete sake.

Well, today my crush on fall has turned into a full blown love affair....sorry, I had to take it there. This is Swiss, cheddar, Gouda, all baked together with a side of Velveeta - CHEESY! I LOVE FALL!!! Today after lunch, Abby and I took a walk around the hood. It had rained most of the morning, but the sun came out and dried everything up but a few puddles here and there. There was a nice chilly breeze that contended with the heat of the sun...perfect weather...not a cloud in the sky. All you could hear were the sounds of birds and the rustling of trees. Leaves are starting to change and fall to the ground. Waving at the old lady sitting on her front porch rocking chair (of course, she could do that in winter, spring or summer too, but stay with me...it's all part of the big FALL picture that I'm painting for you). It was during this walk that I knew, Fall is the one for me. Now, I've yet to experience Winter or Spring, but I can't imagine anything comparing.

Well, I hope you weren't holding out for a more exiting paragraph, because this is pretty much it. A whole post on my love for fall. Sorry, you can get a refund if you'd like. Or, just look at it as your portion of 'cheese' for the week.

And, I can always get a few miles out of putting a picture of Abby, so I'll do that too...

Here's to fall!

love and orangey-red leaves,
k

SECRET MESSAGE: get your poof on...

There's a little game that I've seen played in the blogosphere which I myself have never been privy to participate in. But, thanks to my buddy Melissa (of the Posch variety) I am now Tag-a-licious!

So my job, as the TAGee is to share 6 random things about myself and then tag some other people. I can so do random...here it goes:

1. Speaking of random, I randomly like to take pictures of random silly things with my cell phone and then send them randomly as picture mail to my husband at random times of the day. Sometimes, I'm even in the house with him. (Don't worry, we have unlimited picture mail with our Verizon service). Yes, this is really odd but, come on...you know with whom you deal. To the right is a random picture I selected from my selection of random pictures.

2. I have a problem with my sheets and bedspread not being taut. I would rather have my bed completely unmade and very messy then have wrinkles in my made bed. My husband can attest to this painful reality. In addition, I cannot get in my bed if it is messy...so, I will straighten the sheets (making them taut) before entry. I've also been known to get up in the middle of the night and pull the sheets taut and re-enter (sometimes the sheet gets tangled around Mike, leaving me with the feeling of un-tautness - this will wake me from a dead sleep). While we're on the subject of sleeping, I also need to have my right foot OUTSIDE of the sheets in order to get to sleep.

3. When somebody talks about something that is gory, my foot will begin to become uncomfortable (probably because it never gets any time under the sheet). Mom - please leave a comment on this post and tell them I'm not lying! In fact just the other day my Mom was telling me about something and she paused saying, "I know this is making your foot hurt, but..."

4. I love to make silly songs. This is usually done whilst in the car with Abby (sometimes Mike is privy to the show, but mostly it's just me and the girl). I'm actually quite good at spur of the moment silly songs. But you will never know...it's a mad skill I save for only my family. In addition, I love to sing operatically. I'm not sure if operatically is a word, but what I mean is "in the style of Opera". Sometimes I like to combine my silly songs AND my operatic singing, and then other times when I'm not feeling creative, I'll just sing Opera style to old '80's songs like, "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins.

5. I have Incredible Hulk issues...as a child, my brother and I had a bunk bed. Being older, I had the top bunk. In order to get to the top, I had to climb a ladder on the side, which was right next to the closet. At night, I was convinced that the Incredible Hulk was going to come out of the closet and get my leg as I climbed up the ladder. As an adult, I still have problems with being close to a closet in the dark. I can't even really be a fan of Lou Ferrigno...ever. And don't even get me started about Bill Bixby.

6. I guess that's really too many quirky things to know about me...will you even read on? I love to make cards and do crafty things, I love to cook, I like taking pictures, spending time with my family, playing games, going on adventures, singing, getting good deals, the beach, rainy days and Jesus.

Hope I didn't lose you. Your turn - here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules to your blog
3. Write 6 random things about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

Now, my turn...TAG! You're it:
Suzy @ JahnJunction
Kara @ Chasing Monkeys
Sarah @ Fiddledeedee!
Barney @ Don't Worry Be Happy

love and operatic silly songs,
k

Thought I'd start off with a little TN humor:

You know you’re from Tennessee if:

• You measure distance in minutes.
  
• You’ve ever had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.
  
• You use “fix” as a verb. Example: “I’m fixing to go to the store
  
• All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
  
• You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
  
• You know what a “VOL” is.
  
• You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit “a little warm”.
  
• You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.
  
• You know whether another Tennessean is from east, west or middle Tennessee as soon as they open their mouth.
  
• Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as”goin’ Wal-martin” or off to “Wally World”.
  
• You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good pinto-bean weather.
  catfish is the other white meat.
  
  
  Now, I can actually attest to a few of these...a few others I don't know what they mean....and, the rest just scare me. The bit about going from A/C to Heat in the same day is so true! The weather since we've been here is all over the place. We heard someone say, "If you don't like the weather in Tennessee, just wait two days - it will change". We've seen mostly beautiful 70 degree (no humidity) days mixed with a few warm (89 degree) days and some heavy rainin' days. Now when August rolls around, I may be gettin' my tail feathers all ruffled...just wait and see.
  
  So - I thought you might like to get a little update from the 'boro. As much as I want to go soak in the tub and go to sleep right now, I opted for blogging so that you wonderful people can be in the Club Amaro "know".
  
  The apartment is coming along...all the rooms are in what I call "anxiety producing functionality". What I mean by this is that the rooms are all operational, but in such a way that produces anxiety to those who need rooms to operate in a clean and tidy kind of way...you catch my meaning? For example - the office/guest/scrapbooking/storage room is working out great (it's a large room - more than we are accustom to)... With the exception of the laundry basket, plastic tote and wire organizer rack that sit right in the middle of the room piled or filled with highly important papers and such that have no organization whatsoever. Or - another example would be the 14 boxes that are stacked neat and high in the dining room...all of which are labeled "knick knacks"....WHAT? Why do I have 14 boxes of knick knacks? What is a knick knack? I'm so glad we spent thousands of dollars to transport 14 boxes of knick knacks thousands of miles so that I could ponder that. Also - we have no living room furniture yet....this gives me great anxiety....there are no surfaces whatsoever for my 14 boxes of knick knacks! Geesh! Anyway - you certainly don't need to be bothered with my weird idiosyncrasies so I will stop there...actually, the truth is that I'm starting to hyperventilate from this topic and it's interfering with my typing. Ok, just kidding...
  
  Kidding aside, the apartment is great - things are coming along even though we question why we have some of the stuff we do. People - hear me now.....TAKE INVENTORY of what you have and ask yourself....why do I have this. If you can't honestly answer then bless somebody by giving it to them....or, chuck it.
  
  We have been having a ton of fun with Bonni, Michael and the kids - especially Abby. I could be somewhat offended that Abby prefers the company of 4 kids to hanging out with me, but it does give me great pleasure to see her run around with them, getting dirty, acting crazy and making "leaf stew" in the field in front of their house. Abby is adjusting wonderfully to her new apartment as well as her buddies. In my attempt to help her "talk out" any hidden feelings, I took her out to lunch the other day - just me and her - and we talked about things and what we missed about home. As she listed off her friends from back home that she missed, her eyes were sad... But later on that day, she received a card from her friend Natalie back home that made her day! It was a precious drawing of friends and flowers...Abby loved it and made the comment, "Natalie is a great artist." (Thanks Shell - please let Natalie know what perfect timing that card had!).
  
  Mike has jumped right into working from home....we were able to hook our DSL up pretty quick so there was a smooth transition. BofA is very kind to their remote employees giving them a stipend for office equipment (furniture, supplies, phone, shredded, etc.) so that will help him feel more official :)
  
  Well, I think there is plenty more to write about, but the Epsom salts are calling to me...."soak....soak.....soak".
  
  I hope everyone is doing well - please don't give up on us....stay in touch - even if you don't get a response right away, know that we love hearing from home and family. We hope that you will even consider coming to visit - we promise to treat you to a meal at our favorite bbq place.
  
  blessings from the 'boro,
  k
  

Well it's been a little over 24 hours since our arrival and so far, so good! It was an amazing drive through Arkansas and west TN - lush and green, lots of trees and beautifully paved roads. We arrived to Michael & Bonni's house just after 6pm and were welcomed by lots of excitement and wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. We were thrilled to find out that Michael's mum was visiting as well (Granny Julia) - the last time we saw her was many years ago for the wedding, but she has proved to be a mighty prayer warrior for us during our miscarriage...she is a delightful English woman! So for those of you doing the math, the ratio of kids to adults is now even. We shared a wonderful dinner together and started the process of exploding our things into our quarters. The kids seem very excited to have Abby around...although Abby may have been a bit overwhelmed, she handled it very well.

After such a high excitement evening, we were definitely all ready for sleep. Abby was excited to bunk up with ALL FOUR KIDS, taking the term slumber party to a whole...nutha....level. As the adults hung out downstairs having tea and chatting, some took turns going up to the room to give the kids their "final" warning to settle down. Eventually, they all got to sleep...however, everyone except Abby was up at 5:30am...

Today was all about errands. Bonni was nice enough to let Abby stay and play with the kids while I ran around town getting electricity turned on, checking out the apartment, picking up mail and generally getting reacquainted with the streets around town. Although seeing the apartment was great, I'd have to say the highlight of the day was seeing Abby run around with the kids outside in the huge grassy area. They are having so much fun! They found caterpillars, ate Popsicles, played "Family" with the baby dolls and probably alot of other things that I didn't get to see.

Another great highlight from the day was the return of the circus tent. This was a small little play tent that you can crawl into and play around with. Well, yesterday a gust of wind blew the tent away - and since nobody was around at the time, nobody knew where it blew to! The kids were devastated so they prayed and asked God to please return the tent to them. Well, today in the afternoon there was a knock at the door - a young fellow who lives quite a ways down the road had seen the tent as he was coming home on the bus from school. When he arrived home, he hopped on his bike and rode down to the house to ask if the kids had lost their tent because he had seen one just like it down the way in a field. The kids were ecstatic! Bonni went to the field with the boy and fetched it. The triumphant return of the circus tent was a huge answer to prayer...proving once again that God DOES care about the little things and wants to bless us with the desires of our hearts.

Looking forward to tomorrow - we need to look for some furniture bargains for the new apartment since we either gave away, sold or threw out most of what we owned back in CA. Stay tuned for more adventures...

love from the 'boro,
k

Many times on this road trip we've had people ask us for one reason or another where we live. In fact, a few times we've had to give an address. Talk about weird...Mike and I look at each other as if to say, "what should we say?". The people asking look at us like we just got off the short bus with helmets on or something. C'mon - how hard is it to say your city name or address. So we have to make the decision - do we explain the situation? Do we just give them the Charlotte address, or tell them "Bay Area" or what? It doesn't seem right to say we are "from" Murfreesboro, Tn. because we aren't - yet.

Really, though - we are homeless at the moment. Now please don't take offense to the levity with which I use this term - I know there are people out there who sleep on the streets with no food or shelter while we fight over who gets the fluffier pillow at the Best Western. I'm in no way comparing our situation to true homelessness. I'm just saying that right now we have no place that is ours. We're having a great time - and I'm not complaining about the places that we have stayed. But not having a place to hang your hat for awhile is strange...we may as well change our name to "Club Nomad". We still potentially have a month or more before we get to TN.

I'm trying to remember what it was like to pack up a U-Haul at age 21 and move up to Northern California (away from everything I've ever known - family and friends). I remember being really excited about it....but then came the moment when I had to drop Dad off at the Oakland airport (he drove me up in the U-Haul)....my last tie to life as I knew it walked down the jetway (obviously this was WAY before 9/11). I went back to the parking lot and sat in my '81 Dodge Colt and sobbed my head off. I think I wasn't right for the next few weeks. At least this time around, I have my peeps with me - and we can commiserate together about what we miss.

With all this traveling, I never realized how much I took things for granted....like, how to get around. From the moment we crossed into Albuquerque we've had one "gettin' lost" adventure after another. Man, the freeway exits here are WHACK. They don't make any sense... Also - we never know where to eat. You know there's some little gems around that the tourists don't know about....like Juan's in Berkeley or La Tapatia across from Park-n-Shop. If you don't hear a good recommendation from someone, you'll just be driving around town saying, "that looks kinda good" but before anyone can make a decision you're already two blocks away looking at some other place saying, "we could do that place". Before you know it you're at the edge of town where there's some toe up Taco Bell you end up eating at because it's already 8:57pm.

Anyway - sorry about the insane rambling...truth is - we had a very ordinary day! We slept in, I actually did some work, we had a late lunch and went to "Explora!" here in town (a hands on science discovery musem). We hung out and just relaxed - it felt good!

We have a few more days here in Albuquerque then we're off to El Paso, then Midland, Texas, then a very long breather in Fort Worth w/ Mom and Randy. That's when our status changes from homeless to freeloader (ha ha, just kidding Mom - remember, I'm cooking and grocery shopping!!). It will be nice to actually hang our clothes up in a closet and hide our suitcase for awhile!

A fun little tidbit - today at Explora we saw the largest elevator ever! It was a little lounge with chairs and everything...

For a few pictures from the day, click here and enjoy.

Lastly - you may want to check out the Little Moon blog and see something funny that Abby was doing today.



Mmmwhaa.
k

Well, the packers are a packin' - man, they are doing a fabulous job...much better than we would have done. It was a late night (or, early morning more like) getting things organized for the packers and getting packed for our 7 week road trip...then we woke up early and started all over again. I know I'm a little sore and....shhhh don't tell anyone but I never got a shower this morning...so I'm slighty stinky as well. Maybe more than slightly. I apologize for all of you that I hugged today...

Today was Abby's last day of school. Her classmates each drew a picture for her and someone (thanks Wendy!) recorded the child's goodbye message to Abby...it was bound together and given to her. It is precious. I will have to write some the sentiments here - maybe next time - they are precious. Looking at it makes me cry, but also reminds me how blessed Abby is to have known these great kids. Abby will miss her friends and teachers, Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Robison and Mrs. Esakson - we were so blessed to have such great people to know this year. We are sad to say goodbye.

On a much more happy note - a great friend of ours (thanks Nancy - aka tre cool boss) has given us 2 nights at the Embassy Suites so we can sleep in style tonight and tomorrow. We are excited - it will be a fun way to start our adventure. We are getting very excited about our first leg of the 7WRT, which is Patterson. Woo hoo!

Stay tuned.
k