Stacey and Tony Palizzi

Do you like to shop?

2011-06-21T23:15:00.003-04:00

I bought a cute, super soft designer swimsuit from this website for at least half the price as it would be in stores.

I am not usually a designer purchaser of anything, but they get some neat things, with pretty good discounts and the items change up daily. Check it out if you like to shop!

http://www.ruelala.com/invite/spalizzi

If I could pick up and go today...

2011-06-05T17:56:00.002-04:00

I am having after vacation travel blues. This always happens to me when I have had a neat new place to visit and plan for. I get back from the trip, and then it is "Now what?". It's a terrible syndrome to suffer from, so I have be back to my old habits of planning where I might like to go. Here are a few places that have made my list, in no particular order.

1.Beaches of the Dominican Republic
2.Igauzu Falls, Argentina
3.Coastal Thailand
4.Hawaii
5.Costa Rica
6.Belize
7.Fiji
8.Bora Bora
9.Glass beaches by Fort Bragg, California
10.Melissani Lake on Kefalonia, and many other Greek locations
11.Mauritius
12.Italy
13.Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria-Germany
14.etc etc etc...there are so many unique places to see.

As Tony keeps telling me, now I just need to figure out how to pay for all of these grand trips. Maybe I will win a trip.

May 13, 2011- Back to Chileno Beach

2011-05-21T10:11:00.015-04:00

Dad wanted to take Amanda snorkeling, and after hearing us rave about Chileno Beach as the place to go, we made plans to head back there. We left around 8am so that we'd get there and be able to get a palapa closer to the end of the beach with the snorkeling. It's such a cute beach, that even the trash cans are picture worthy.

As I mentioned before, palm trees surround the beach, and there is a level wooden boardwalk leading up to the beach. This is especially nice when leaving, as it gives you time to dislodge a little more sand before getting in the car.

Earlier in the week, while hanging around in the hotel room, we convinced Amanda to show us some of her Karate that she is learning. I was surprised at how good she is, and how high she can kick! Melissa and my favorite move or position or whatever you call it was the horse dance. It's a challenging squat like movement that we kept asking Amanda to show us all week. Here she is just starting to stand up from it after showing us on the beach.

Now I have to admit that I love taking pictures and having my picture taken. I could sit and pose for photos for hours. I have been known to curl my hair before going to the beach, even though I know I will get in the water, or that the wind will destroy it after just a few minutes. Maybe it's the desire to feel pretty, which in every day life can be a challenge, but on vacation I love to pretend I am America's Next Top model, or something like that. (This isn't saying that the pictures actually work out, but that they are at least fun to take.) So any way here are a few shots I made/asked Cameron to take.

Amanda did really well for her first time snorkeling. She got a little nervous, but that is pretty normal. She loved seeing the fish, just like the rest of us.

Here's some of Melissa and Cameron snorkeling. I could have sworn that I took a ton of them, but for some reason, I have very few. In fact I only have shots of legs. I am wondering if somehow some were deleted off the camera. Guess we will just have to go back to take more.

After Chileno Beach, and quick lunch, Melissa and Cameron had to head to the airport to go home. =( I know I was glad they decided to come after all. It made it more fun for me as I was able to get out and about more. It was also good for Amanda to get to spend some time with more of her family.

That night was the big IGFA finale dinner. I decided not to go, as the $100 door price was just too much for me. I had thought to try and sneak in or barter the price down, but gave up at the last minute. Instead I played dress up with Amanda, but some how managed not to get a picture of her with her hair all done up. Hopefully Dad has a good one for me.
Here are the last shots of me in Cabo before I went home the next day.

Tony likes the last one. He thinks it looks "hot."

May 12, 2011- A Little Shopping and Swimming

2011-05-20T17:45:00.016-04:00

Amanda and I were up early on Thursday. She was a ball of giggling energy so I decided to take her for a walk around the hotel. I am sure she would have liked to go swimming, but we were waiting to meet up with Melissa and Cameron, and I wasn't in the mood to swim yet.

It's a huge hotel, built into the side of a mountain, and going all the way down to the beach. Our travels took us over the whole thing, including 7 flights of stairs, a lap around the pool edge, and up to see the view from the top restaurant.

It may just have been a really short door, or it could have been that we found the room reserved for little people.

After our jaunt, we met Melissa and Cameron to do a little shopping. I like to look, just look mostly, which drives the vendors crazy. Just because I look or ask how much something is, does not mean they need to pounce. The more relaxed I feel the longer I will look and talk myself into something. The more they try to push, the quicker I leave, and decide I just don't need it that bad.

Even with the very aggressive atmosphere, I stilled enjoyed wandering. We came across this little hole in the wall restaurant. The menu was limited, but the food was pretty good, and the prices were very reasonable compared to every other place we went.

Here Melissa is getting her first taste of Mole, a chocolate based sauce that really doesn't taste much like chocolate.

All that food worked up our appetite for swimming. We headed down to the middle pool, where Amanda proceeded to give Cameron a merry chase. She loved to try and dunk him, splash him or just harass the poor guy.
I wore my Reef Safe shirt and hung it on the chair to give the brand some exposure.
The swim up bar covered with a high ceiling palapa was a lot of fun. The general consensus is that we need a palapa in our backyard to provide shade and to just make it more fun!

When we got back from swimming, we flipped on the computer to see if Dad's team had caught any fish yet. It looked like they had caught a striped Marlin earlier that morning around 9am, but we were afraid to hope too much. Dad had been really concerned, afraid he would have to tuck his tail and move if they came away with no fish. Luckily, it was accurate and Dad came home very excited and full of energy. What a difference catching a fish could make. Was he still tired? Sure, but the whole atmosphere was charged and vibrant.
With his new found outlook, we headed down to Maro's Shrimp House for dinner.

Maro's is a very energetic place. There are people laughing and enjoying themselves. Tables seemed to go quickly here, and people would pass by with that look on their face wanting to know what was making this place so popular.

Again the food was awesome. Fresh seafood, really truly fresh from the sea that day food, is probably the best thing you can eat. Succulent lobster, shrimp, and perfectly crusted fillets. It is hard to be so land locked and remember that food.

Another great vacation day. Good food, friends, and family.

May 11, 2011- Chileno Beach

2011-05-19T11:02:00.013-04:00

If your arrive in Baja by airplane, than you will pass by Chileno Beach on your way to Cabo San Lucas. From the road it has a pretty coastal beach appearance, but once you actually get down to the beach, you discover that it is probably one of the most well maintained beaches at least in Baja.
Almost every day you will find goverment workers out on the beach picking up little bits of trash and guys dragging rakes through the sand to groom it. There are little palapas you can use for free, a bathroom with outdoor shower, and even a lifeguard on duty sometimes. One of the best parts? No vendors. No one selling you anything. You want a snack, well you better have packed it with you. I love to see the vendors, but honestly after the barage of vendors on Medano beach, this was a welcome respite.

Palm trees frame the golden sand, and perch on small cliffs surrounding the beach.
There are no big hotels right there, and most of the people actually seem to be locals. Tour boats do arrive every so often for snorkeling trips, but most of the people do not come off to the beach.

Speaking of snorkeling, it was way better than at Bahia Santa Maria. Large schools of fish in many varieties swam just off the beach against small, unthreatening rocks. The water is much clearer earlier in the morning, so even if the water has a bite to it at first, it is better to get in before the waves and snorkeling tours cloud up the water.

To the immediate right and left of Chileno, there are some even more secluded beach areas. You can walk to either location, and suddenly find that you are the only one in sight. The sand gets coarser away from Chileno, but that is probably because they do not maintain the smaller beaches as heavily.

One thing I really enjoyed was the colors of the beaches. Brilliant aqua, dark blues, and radiant yellows. The water was so soothing that we even lost track of time, getting back too late to see Amanda swim with the dolphins.

Poor Dad was so tired during this trip. He really would have loved to just fall in bed every afternoon, but we dragged him out to eat each night. This day we went to a restaurant I think called The Shrimp Factory. Way over priced, even though the food tasted really good. I did get to try the cheese stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp, which is suprisingly good, even if you can hear your arteries clogging while you chew.
One neat thing is that there is a board where people can write their name or a date all over it. Dad climbed way to the top and wrote his team name.

I could get used to a life with more days spent at the beach and shrimp on my plate at night.

May 10, 2011- Medano Beach

2011-05-18T21:58:00.011-04:00

Tuesday was another beach day. After how rough the sand had been on my feet, I was looking forward to the slightly finer sand I had heard about at Medano Beach. Melissa was also dying to try paddle boarding, and had heard Medano was the place to go.

We picked a patch of sand out, and I rented an umbrella for the day. I knew I would need the bit of shade every now and again, and figured $7.00 was well worth it. I thought about paddle boarding too, but for some reason I struggled to spend money in Cabo. I had enough with me, but I guess my current over frugal nature prevented me from buying too much. The poor vendors were frustrated, as I wanted to look at everything, and I would ask the price, but I would never buy.

Here are a few picks of Melissa and Cameron learning to paddle board.

The water in Cabo San Lucas has such a suck and pull motion. You can be standing in the water, and think your feet are firmly planted under the sand, but suddenly you are being bounced forward or back. As long as you know how to swim, it's not a problem, but I can see how it would be scary if you didn't. Medano beach doesn't have the super strong rips though, so it tends to be a popular location for tourists.

Here's one of me in a posing mode.

After a couple of hours at the beach, we headed back to the hotel. The waves were huge, and we could even see them from way up in our room, so Melissa, Cameron, Amanda and I walked down for a little stroll on the beach. here are a few picks of views from the room, of the pool, and on the beach.

All in all another great vacation day. I am sitting here right now, enjoying the rain falling, but still wishing I was somewhere near the beach. I just love the ocean.

May 9, 2011- Shotgun Start and Bahia Santa Maria

2011-05-17T21:45:00.013-04:00

Monday morning dawned bright and early. Really early for vacation. We were up and to the lobby by 5:30am. Teams of eager fishermen were loading the shuttles and heading to the marina. Friends and family were invited to attend a Shotgun cruise on the Oceanus. The ship was a little late starting out as we had to wait for the Govenor or Mayor, not exactly sure who he was, board the ship. We had an armed escort as a result of him being on board, which was kind of entertaining.

Some type of dolphins were jumping in the waters in front of the boats, using one of the many cruise ships as a back drop.

Orange and golden hues painted the skies as the teams gunned their engines and headed to their adventure.
After the boats were on their way, we cruised past the Arch and Land's End. There was sand underneath it, which I guess only happens every 5-10 years or so.

After we had made plans to drive to Cabo Pulmo, but with the delay in the cruise, and some other minor delays, we decided the start was a little too late, and it would make more sense to go somewhere close. We ended up gong to Bahia Santa Maria, which is just a few miles outside of Cabo.
The beach is pretty private if you get there early enough, although the sand is very coarse, and wears your feet out after a while. We snorkelled in the water, swam, and soaked up the sun.

I of course, had my Reef Safe Sunscreen with me. I have burned on trips before, and am now much more diligent about applying sunscreen, putting it on at least two or three times over the course of 4 hours, just to be safe.
Afer a pit stop at Melissa and Cameron's place,
we headed back to the Finisterra to see how Dad's day went, and to go to dinner.

They had caught some tuna that were just under weight,(bummer) so we took that to Captain Tony's restaurant, where they cooked up a huge plate of fish. I am not always a fish fan, but that was some amazing, fresh tuna. I ate several small peices, plus various other seafood. The food in Cabo is awesome, although a little pricier than I expected.

May 8th, 2011- Volleyball at the Pool

2011-05-16T21:59:00.011-04:00

After a long, somewhat crazy day, it was nice to not really have anything to do on Sunday. As we were up kind of early anyway, Natalya, Amanda, and I walked down to get a better look at the beach in front of the hotel.

It is not a swimming beach as the rips and tides of the water are very powerful, but the aqua colors of the crashing waves is very inspiring and beautiful.

After the walk on the beach, Melissa and Cameron met us at the hotel. Team Just Keep Fishing mixed and mingled with other eager fishing teams from all over the world. They participated in a casting contest, (and were in the top place for awhile) collected their IGFA captain's bags, and posed for pictures.

Then everyone met up at the pool to relax and work on our tans. (Of course I was lathering on Reef Safe Sunscreen as burning is never worth it.) Some how we started playing volleyball, although there was more chasing the ball than any actual volleying of it.

After that, Cameron posed for a few pictures on the beach in his Reef Safe Shirt.

I took a few pictures of the great views from the hotel, and then we split up for dinner.
We had made plans to meet up with Davey and his group, but there was mix up in restaurant names and locations, and it just didn't happen. Wearing our Rip Charts shirts, we made a splash on the town. People stopped to ask what Rip Charts was and to get a closer look at our shirts.

It was a very fun, tiring, relaxing and vacation-ish day.

May 7, 2011- Cabo San Lucas and Crazy Customs

2011-05-16T00:50:00.006-04:00

For some reason, I was a little apprehensive about the Cabo San Lucas trip. There wasn't one reason I could put my finger on, but I was feeling a little concerned, or rather that I wasn't prepared. Yet May 7th, I was up bright and early for my flight. I was excited to be travelling and happy to have a week away. My flights went smoothly, and I arrived at the Los Cabos airport full of energy despite the already long day. I went to the immigration desk and got my first stamp in my new passport.

(Hopefully I will fill the pages with stamps soon. Also in this story, if I mix up immigration and customs, using the wrong terms in the wrong spot, oh well.)

After immigration, you pick up your checked bag and then you have to go through customs. As some of you knew, I was travelling with a large load of Reef Safe Suncare sunscreen samples to give out at the IGFA event. I didn't think it would be a problem, as they were not items for sale, but just samples. My bag goes through the scanner and they stop me asking what all the little bottles were. We open the bag and I show them that they are sunscreen samples. The lady nods her head and says ok, waving me on through. We had a bag porter helping to carry all of the luggage, and after I was given approval to go, he takes my big checked bag and loads it on the cart to go. As I am leaving a different customs officer stops me and says that I need to have my bags checked. I am thinking at this point, ok, they looked in my checked bag, but now they want to go through my carryons. I take that over and he starts to get really upset. "Where is your luggage, we need to check your luggage." I tell him that it has already gone through and that all I have with me are my carryons. He gets really loud saying, "No that is impossible, " over and over again. Finally he gets frustrated I guess, and takes my passport, puts it in his pocket and walks off, stating that he wants me to go get my bags and come back or I won't get my passport back.

I am starting to get pretty upset at this point. (It's the whole cry when you are mad thing...) He is being rude, there is a bit of a language barrier, and everyone else in my group has made it through. I go out and tell them that he won't let me go without checking my bag. One of the team, Peter, comes back in with me and tries to talk to the officer but that make him even more upset, and he basically yells at Peter to go and leave me alone, that he can't be here.

At this point Peter goes out, along with the remaining group to the curb. I go out and ask for my bag back. Somewhere during this, different customs officials come outside and get one of the other team members, Nick. They take him and his luggage back into the building where they proceed to check his bags. He apparently was using his hunting backpack, and had left some casings in it by mistake. It made it all the way from the USA to Mexico with no problems, but they decided after he went through customs, that this was a problem, and they needed to grill Nick. As I had been instructed, I take my checked bag around the corner of the building, down an alley to the back door, where I am taken in to have my bag searched. I see Nick on the way, but then he is led away, out of sight.

The officer who had taken my passport proceeds to go through my bag and ask me what the little bottles were. I kept telling him that they were sunscreen. I showed him my packet of info on the sunscreen, including the info on the Team and tournament. He grilled me on Nick, asking in a sinister voice, "How important is he to you?" Along with questions like how well I knew him, was he a good guy, was he carrying a gun, etc. I didn't really know what answers he was looking for, so I tried to stay with general responses. Finally I take one of the bottles, open it up, and put some on. After that he hands me my passport back and says to just go.

Meanwhile, Nick is still somewhere in the building being questioned. No one will tell us what is happening to him. We are all getting hot, tired, and worried. Dad and I go around to the back door again to see if they will say whee/when he might be out. After what seemed like a very long time, but was in reality probably no more than a half hour, he is released, feeling very lucky that he was not placed in a Mexican jail for a year, or even a few days.

After that it was a rush to the hotel, a crazy check in and a challenge finding our room through the winding hallways. Melissa and Cameron eventually meet us at our hotel, and we wander through the streets looking for somewhere to eat. We finally settled on a restaurant called El Pescador.

The food was really good, or at least it seemed to be, as we were all tired, hot and of course hungry.

The "What Happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo" look. (PS, Cameron is drinking a virgin pina colada.)

Christmas Break 2010

2011-01-01T18:25:00.012-05:00

This year Tony and I spent Christmas at my sister's house in the California mountains. We weren't sure if we would make it to her house, as the road we normally take to get there had been washed completely away by torrential rains. After a detour, we made it there on the 23rd. the kids were excited about Christmas of course, but who was up first on both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning? Aunt Stacey of course. I had to wait 2hours for the girls to finally wake up. I had been instructed to not go up stairs or wake anyone up before it was light outside. Oh the agony!

There were plenty of presents to go around. Somehow there is always an abundance of gifts, even when no one has any money. I swear i hardly spent anything but our car was loaded down. I gave a lot of things I had bought with coupons or for really good deals. No one really cares how much you pay for an item anyway.

Ali is getting older all the time. She wants so bad to be an adult or at least a teenager. She loves listening to music, wearing "rock out" clothes, and being in charge. She still likes bits of being a little girl, but don't tell her I told you so.

Ashling is a budding photographer. She had told me she wanted a camera Christmas Eve, and she was very happy Santa brought it to her. She doesn't like to be too silly, and I had to bribe her with nail polish to get her to chirp like a bird. (It's kind of a long story. You can ask me in person.)

Annika is just the smartest little kid. I am only somewhat bias as I have a bit of experience with kids age 18 months to 3 years. She talks and talks in mostly understandable words, more than most kids her age. She loves her pacifier, or "fa fa" as she calls it. She loves to go places, sing "twinkle" and is pretty easy to entertain. Her favorite thing seems to be to climb all over the dogs, Sierra and Eko, but she doesn't like when they walk on her.

We did a short snowy hike on Christmas day to help make room for the wonderful prime rib dinner Cameron made. It has become a family tradition to have prime rib Christmas dinner. It is one I think we will keep up.

The next day we were scheduled to go to my "Uncle" Brian's and Angela's house. They may not be official family, but I see them more than I do my actual relatives, so they feel like it. We had an awesome ham dinner, and got to spend lots of time chatting. I love talking with them.

Since highway 330 was washed away we were somewhat trapped up the hill. It's not that we couldn't go anywhere it was just that it was such work to. We made one foray down the hill to the Los Angeles Temple visitors center and the Santa Monica Pier.

I'll be honest and say that I was not at all excited about going. Mainly because I hate LA, or at least the overly congested roads. I knew before leaving that the traffic would be BAD and that it would make me grumpy. I just had a feeling, but I went anyway and sure enough, I was a grouch! Some of it was interesting, so not a total loss, but I would have been just as happy staying home, which is rare for me.

Even though it didn't snow much, there was just enough that we went sledding at Snow Valley one day too. There was some talk about skiing, but the snow was kind of icy and we just decided a short time sledding would be more fun. Thanks to Cameron's Snow Valley volunteering, we were able to sled using the lift for free. It was kind of ice snowing so we only went for an hour or so, but it was nice to get out of the house.

Overall it was a pretty nice trip. I started to feel a little cooped up by the last day or so, but I still had fun.

Vote for my Dad's Video please!

2010-12-13T18:21:00.001-05:00

http://apps.facebook.com/beyond_the_present/16301/contest_view_entry?&app_id=176881749004516&page_id=50138985328&promotion_id=16301&id=264081

Click on the link and vote! The prize money helps the hungry in Oregon and Washington, but it also helps Team Just keep Fishing! Please Vote!

New Pool Water

2010-12-08T00:20:00.006-05:00

BEFORE

When the weather finally cooled down enough in November to be safe for the pool, we drained all of the 5 year old stale water. I know, not very exciting to hear about, but it took up a lot of my time and energy and the end result I am pleased with.

Draining the pool took two days and way too many trips to Home Depot. Then once the water was drained, we discovered a gritty substance all over the walls and a thick layer of what appeared to be sand on the bottom of the deep end. It was calcium or mineral deposits that had to be removed either by an acid wash, which is dangerous to a novice and even a serious matter for a professional. It costs at least $100 or so for a pool our size. Or I was told I could hand sand the pool surface with a special water proof sandpaper for about $9.00. I opted to go cheap. It took me several days. The first two days I did so much sanding by hand, that my back and shoulder muscles were in serious pain, and I had to give it a rest for a few days. (Where was Tony during this? In the midst of busy season, spending 10 plus hours working a day.) This is what it looked like after all of that work.

There is a light circular discoloration on the bottom of the pool in the pictures, which is just a bit of residual calcium deposit that the pool vacuum will take care of.

Filling the pool also took a lot longer than I thought. We just used our garden hose and the pool auto filler, so it ended up taking about 3 full days, if not a bit longer. After the first night, I would only leave the pool auto filler on, for fear that the pool would over flow in the night. It wasn't a realistic fear, and I knew that, but I still stayed up that first night thinking about it.

Here is the gorgeous AFTER result.

The water is so crystal clear. It's sad that it will not stay so pretty and sparkling. I have said this before and I will probably say it again, but a pool is so much more work than I ever knew. There are just problems that you don't think of when being a novice pool owner, so consider it carefully if you go to buy one in the future.

Lazy Dog Days

2010-11-08T20:36:00.004-05:00

Are you still there? I am, although I can understand why it could be easy to imagine I had vanished. No post in months, and really minimal posts in general. Facebook has been sucking the life from my blog. Sad but true. I will post more on this blog, as I need the communication practice.

We are having a very long summer this year. I mean it is November, and yesterday it was almost 90 degrees. Really? At least the forecast has reasonable weather for the rest of the week, so the lazy dog days of summer will be a thing of the past.

I am still with out a job, which means my life is not very exciting, and I find little chance to talk with people. I haven't started talking to myself, (at least not more than normal) so I am still good on that front. Job hunting really sucks in Phoenix for someone who does not speak Spanish. Even places like Home Depot or Target ideally want Bilingual. I am applying but really it isn't going very far. I am trying to come up with ways to make extra money, like I tried to do a sleep clinical trial, but actually slept almost all through the night on the second night, and so that didn't last. (I did get a few hundred dollars for it though, so worth the time.) I know something will come through, but I wish it were easier.

My current hobby is couponing. Each week I try to see how little I can spend on groceries and how much I get for what I do spend. I love to see what free things, like toothpaste or body wash, that I can get. We have a whole shelf in the hall closet filled with different free or really cheap supplies. Today I got 5 things of floss for .02 cents each.

This picture is missing 3 cartons of ice cream, but even with that it only cost about $10.00 for all of it. There are things like dishwasher tabs, laundry soap, produce, pasta, etc. So I will probably post some of these deals, when I get a particularly great run.

Thursday on the Vashon Island Ferry

2010-08-09T22:44:00.006-04:00

Amanda came over again on Thursday the 29th. The day had no real plans, but I wanted to do something fun, and I think it was Tony who came up with the idea to take the ferry over to Vashon island. Even though it is such a short ride, it was pretty fun.

We followed signs to toward the other end of the island where there was a little lighthouse.

There were hardly any other people around and beautiful bleached driftwood in all shapes and sizes littered the beach. Some one had crafted little tee pee huts out of some longer pieces of wood. The kids thought they were pretty cool, and started playing house.

A Wild Waves Monday

2010-08-09T22:38:00.002-04:00

We decided to go to Wild Waves on Monday the 26th of July. Dad dropped a very excited Amanda off really early in the morning, since he had to work that day. The place didn't open until around 10am so it was a bit of a wait, but we survived.

The park is showing it's age in quite a few places, but we had a fun day anyway. I took my camera, but forgot to use it after taking this picture. Oh well.

Mushroom Festival and Shipwreck Beads 7/25/2010

2010-08-06T14:08:00.010-04:00

I spent the night at my Dad's house on the weekend. I went with Natalya and Amanda to a mushroom festival. Tony hates mushrooms with a passion, and so could not have been dragged there if I had wanted him to come. It was a small festival, but there were a few games, like a mushroom ring toss, and bouncy toys for the kids. Of course we got to try lots of mushroom dishes. I loved a mushroom bruschetta type dish and Natalya's favorite was a mushroom barley soup, which was very good too.
After the festival, we stopped at a bead store I had been hearing about called Shipwreck Beads. It was a huge warehouse style bead store, complete with a cafe. It is probably good that the store is so far away or I am sure I would go there too much.

Once we made it home from the bead store, Tony was waiting at the house with the Boys. Dad was setting up a feast of barbecue food, and Brandon and Carter were already going up and down on Amanda's inflatable slide, which by the way everyone wishes they had as a child.

Brandon and Carter were also very impressed with my Dad's boat and the garage it is in.

Later Davey and some of his friends came over to help eliminate some of the food. Dad always cooks a feast. This picture is of Davey and Samantha.

We also went over to see Davey's new house. His property is pretty nice. It sits on a tree studded acre, set back just off the road.

The drive to his house takes you past spectacular views of Mt Rainier, small lakes, old barns and open meadows.

His house is definitely a bachelor pad right now, complete with mounted animal heads and a truck in progress in the garage.

There is a beautiful really branchy massive canopy tree with a high rope swing for the kids.

Dash Point 7/24/2010

2010-08-05T20:15:00.006-04:00

Tony and I took the Boys out to Dash Point. Tony said he used to go there as a child, and thought I might enjoy it. It was a beautiful day, mid 80's with clear blue skies and I was reminded why I love summers in Washington. The boys took off at a run and didn't stop until they splashed fully in the water. It was cold, but not too bad. I went beach combing, and picked up a few good shells, but not many. Carter found a lovely dead crab specimen. He looks grossed out in the picture, but really he was thrilled and wanted to keep it. I was disappointed that the sand dollars are a protected species, and that I couldn't add any to my collection.

After Brandon and Carter tired of the water, Tony helped cover the boys with sand. They are pretending to be sleeping or dead in the pictures. I don't remember which.

3 months and what have I done?

2010-07-13T01:48:00.008-04:00

I haven't blogged in 3 months. I have thought about blogging, read other blogs, even started to blog, and then some how or some way I became distracted and never posted a thing. So what have we been up to?

In May we went to California for Ali's baptism. She seemed very excited and was working really hard to be on her best behavior.

That same weekend the beach was calling, so we trekked out for a day in the sun. I love the beach, the sounds, the smell, the colors of the water, it's where I feel at home. Everyone seemed to have a good time, with Annika especially enjoying the sand.

June was interesting. The third week or so of June, I drove to Blythe to pick Ali up. She was spending some time with us this summer, until she tired of us or her parents missed her too much. Just a few days after that, I lost my job, which kind of put a kink in the super fun things I had hoped to do with her. We had to get creative in our activities. We did some window shopping, went to the bead store and only spent about a $1.25, but with some of my beads, made Ali a really nice necklace, and of course we went swimming, once or twice a day. Ali also got to make a friend, Liliana, whom she wished she had more time to play with.
There was also our first really party at our first house. I know we have been in the house over a year so it was about time. It was going to be really beach themed, but with me out of work, we didn't go overboard like I had planned. It was fun though, with a lot of people showing up.

I also got to see the new Twlight series movie, which I liked, but wasn't sure I liked it better than the last two. (I also recently saw a little of a movie called "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" which has somewhat tainted my image of Taylor Lautner, as Jacob. I guess I forgot how young the actor really was, plus now I might have to look and see if the wolf boy also has a shark fin still.)

Late June into early July was spent bouncing between restaurants that had sent Tony and I free birthday treats. We had free claim jumper meal with free dessert too, two free red robin burgers and free ice creams, free cold stone, free Rubio's, and free movie theater treats. It was maybe a bit much for a short time frame, but hey, free is free.

Then this last weekend my sister and brother in law decided they had been with out their oldest daughter for long enough, and decided to pick her up. We had a few scares with the air conditioner going out in killer temps, but managed to have a great few days swimming.

This is the only picture of Tony. I was behind the camera, so none of me.

And that about sums up the months I missed. Oh I am sure there's some stuff in between, but this will have to do for now.

Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium

2010-04-10T23:59:00.005-04:00

My sister Melissa and her three little girls have been visiting since Monday. We've played at the splash pad in the park down the street and ventured into the pool a little, even though it is not perfectly clean or warm. Ali, Ashling, and I discovered a really cool bead store and I helped each of them make a necklace.

Today was their last day and Tony was able to steal a little bit of time away from a very busy work season to head to the World Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium with us.

We had to make a somewhat early start to beat the heat. It was in the upper 80's today, and we did not want to be caught in that.

I enjoyed this zoo. It was not very crowded, and there was a decent variety of animals. I also liked how up close we were able to get to some of them. For instance there were these beautiful electric colored peacocks wandering the park. They would let you walk almost right up to them, and there was one that almost ate out of my hand. (He seemed inclined to try it, if jittery excited kids would have held still for a bit.)
They also make an interesting call, which I suppose would be annoying if it were outside my window in the morning, but which only added to the ambiance of a zoo.

Another favorite of mine was the giraffe stand. They have pellets for feeding, and there was this one giraffe that was enthusiastically licking up the proffered treats.

He would let you scratch his nose or face and was not opposed to holding still for a photo op.

I would have liked to see an elephant or a rhino, but I'm wondering if maybe we just missed a loop or a turn somewhere. I didn't care enough to check a map, as I was ready to be out of the sun after about 5 hours.

5 Queen Palms

2010-03-15T18:21:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a very beautiful day. The sun was shining, but it wasn't hot so it felt like a good day to be productive. We went for a drive and looked at several nurseries for different plant ideas. There are some really nice places, but we ended up buying our trees from Home Depot as they were about the same price or cheaper, and they had a truck we could rent for $20. The trees are maybe 10-15 feet tall, but they will grow a little taller eventually. They look much bigger when you are out there than in the photo.

I think we dug holes for at least 3 hours or more. The problem was that the soil was kind of compacted and clay like, plus we kept moving the trees an inch or two this way or that. We didn't want them to look too planned, or totally random either. Also we had to remove some plants that were already there, and dig new holes for them in another location. (which is why there is this random plant in between the trees.)

Eventually we want the queen palms to line the whole side of the fence by the pool, but for now it looks so much better already.

Eko's Birthday

2010-03-07T18:12:00.004-05:00

Eko is a year old now. Like any proud parents, we had to embarass him by putting a silly little birthday hat on him. He was pretty tolerant, and was happy with the treats he got after.

He has grown quite a bit since we got him, but hopefully he won't get much bigger.

He has been fun to have around. Eko is always happy when you pay attention to him, and especially when you feed him. He loves to eat. Sometimes he gets bored and will chew things he is not supposed to, but overall we love him.

Vacation Envy

2010-02-24T21:40:00.003-05:00

As my sister put it, I have vacation envy. A serious case of it. Every day I talk about wonderful trips and exotic locales, describing trips of a lifetime. I'll here about some dream destination or even the simplest trip, and my envy comes on.

I didn't realize I was suffering from such a serious disease. It causes lack of sleep while fantasizing about vacation locations, daydreaming at rather inappropriate times, and exercising while eating brownies, (that makes sense to me. I eat the brownie because I'm depressed about my travel drought and exercise because I don't want to be fat when I go on vacation. Definitely a vacation envy symptom.)

Pat Conroy said, “Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”

That is what my mind is like. At any given moment, a word or sound or smell will transport me to a far off place. When I cut a mango it will remind me of the Philippines, or when I see a turtle I will think of Barbados. If I hear certain words, my imagination bounces to all the places it could describe.

So I am suffering said disease, and wanted to apologize to all. No I haven't returned your calls, yes I was listening when you were talking (with at least one ear) and I'm sorry if I call you while you are on vacation just to see what you are doing.
I am happy to hear what people are up to, just ignore the little green monster on my shoulder who's frowning in your direction.

"...on some beach, somewhere..."

A Few of the Bottles

2010-02-18T18:14:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of the bottles, mostly clean.

Dusty Old Bottles

2010-02-17T14:01:00.002-05:00

I am a treasure hunter. Lost relics and pieces of history intrigue me, especially if I get a good deal. This past Saturday, I decided to trudge 45 minutes from my house to an estate sale. I would not normally go that far for an Arizona estate sale, but I had seen a picture on the Internet and decided it might be worth the drive. In New Hampshire, it was a favorite Saturday activity of mine to go for a drive and stop at estate sales and a choice few antique stores. Here in Arizona, most yard sales or estate sales are newer items, mostly worthless junk and worn out clothes.

Saturday was sunny and gorgeous, with very little traffic on the road. We arrived to find mounds of boxes piled in the driveway of this old ranch style house now surrounded by housing developments and drive through pharmacies. It brought to mind clips of TV shows about hoarders. Some of the stuff was pure junk, coated in layers of dirt and an unknown grime I labeled asbestos dust. Most of the boxes were still unopened and hadn't been touched in over 20 years. It was fun to kind of pick through the boxes and see what I could find. A few boxes looked like they belong to some nightmare show about headless dolls, while others were filled with lace. Bags and bags of lace. None of that really was interesting, but I did finally find a box at the back that had a bunch of bottles. Some are curvy shaped and others are cut glass with toppers.

(Ok, let's be honest, they are booze bottles mostly. Some held Bourbon and one has the definitive look of a moonshine bottle, but they are so cool. Tony is not certain it's a good idea to have empty liquor bottles in our house. He thinks people will assume we are closet drunks. I don't really care what they assume, and anyway I will probably end up selling them at some point.)

I was hoping that I could talk the lady into no more than $10 for the box of 9, but I was sly and let her offer what she thought was a fair price. She let me get away with the lot for $2.50. Crazy! Now, many of you may think they are just a box of dirty grimy empty bottles, but old bottles like this sale at antique stores for quite a bit. I am still working on cleaning them, but I feel quite satisfied to have found a treasure.

I am encouraged to maybe attend a few more estate sales here.

Boxed In

2010-01-29T16:27:00.002-05:00

Ever since the recent down pour of rain, we have been boxed in. There are 3 roads that can get us from our rural-ish southern location in Phoenix to stores like Costco, Target, craft stores, movie theaters, and other places of interest. The two roads nearest to our house dip into the river bed area, which is normally bone dry, and easy to cross in a matter of minutes. Those 2 roads have been closed since the first day of heavy rain as the bone dry river over flowed onto my pathway out of town. The other road is maybe 3 to 4 miles away, in the opposite direction.
It wasn't so bad at first, but it's starting to make me feel a little boxed in. To go to those others stores and places, we have to drive down to the other road and then back track. Round trip it adds up to like an extra 12-16 miles. It means that I either have to come up with new ways to stay entertained in the house, (which can be hard) or add a lot of extra mileage just to go somewhere like Costco.

On a side note, it's pretty sad that my entertainment for the weekend is going to Costco or Target. I think I'll shake things up and maybe go to Sprouts, a health food store this week. Crazy!

The Great Flood

2010-01-22T13:09:00.004-05:00

They said it would rain, but the people of Arizona were skeptical. Rain in Arizona? Right.

Yet, rain and blowing wind visited the perpetually rainless state. This is the aftermath. A sunken pool cover, a flooded greenway, and a very soggy backyard.

They say there might be more coming our way. I hope we don't float away.

Christmas Activities 2009

2009-12-31T11:23:00.007-05:00

This year Christmas was spent with Tony's family. Ann and the boys came down around the 16th. Kyle came that Saturday, and Al came the next week. Mostly we just spent time together. We visited a Palizzi family friend in Scottsdale who served us yummy enchiladas and this awesome lemon cake.
Here's a picture of Kyle in one of the sports cars. Ann wanted a picture of Kyle in it, although I don't know that Kyle cares as much about cars as Tony. Tony would love to have a sports car, particularly an James Bond type.

We also went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo. It was kinda of cool, but WAY too crowded. I probably would not go again unless it was totally at an off peak time.

Christmas day was nice. As always, Tony and I were up before the kids. We are such young un's at heart. Tony got the saw he wanted, and I got a treadmill that I needed. I love it. I can watch TV and work out, which I really need to do. I was starting to feel like I looked prego, which would be good if it were true, but not good since I am most definitely not.
For dinner we adopted Melissa and Cameron's tradition of prime rib. Tony made it and it was very good.
We didn't take hardly any pictures, which is kind of unusual for us. It was partly due to the fact that we didn't charge the camera battery and partly because we just forgot. Oh well, there's always next year.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-01T15:00:00.009-05:00

My sister and her family came for a visit this past Thanksgiving weekend. Wednesday we went for a drive out to a ghost town and then around the Apache Trail somewhere east of Phoenix. It was a very loonnggg drive to me. Most of it was dirt washboard roads and desert landscapes. I still have not grown a fondness for the desert. Yes we can get great sunsets, but I just don't love the sage brush, prickly cactus plants and the barrenness. Melissa, Cameron, and Tony seemed to enjoy it though, so that is good.

Towards the end a came upon this bridge almost perfectly reflected in the water, if it weren't for a faint breeze.

Ali and Ashling each opened a present from Grandma Bonnie. They were those sit on bouncy balls that you hop around on. They thought it was great fun to hippity-hop down the hall in the house, although their dad was worried they'd bounce off and hit their head on the tile, which never happened by the way.

On Thanksgiving we of course "feasted" as Ali kept saying and played Settlers of Catan. The next day, Melissa and I joined the massive throng of people fulfilling their patriotic duty at 4:45am outside of Target. (By that I mean we spent money to help the economy.)
Not sure it was worth it, although she did get a lot of her shopping done. Plus it was fun for me to have somebody to go with. I required a nap later that day, even though I did not really want one. Sometimes there is no stopping the head from hitting the pillow.

Saturday we all hiked Camelback Mountain. Annika wasn't feeling well, so she cried a lot, forcing Melissa to stop part way, and then I decided that I didn't need to do the very top part which is climbed mostly by hand, but Cameron and the girls made it.
It was also Eko's first hike. He really enjoyed it, although I think he was kind of sore after.

All in all a pretty good weekend. The worst part was having to come back to work after, but there's another light at the end of the tunnel. Tony's parents, Kyle, and the boys are coming for Christmas, so that's something to look forward too.

Labor Day Weekend Trip 2009

2009-09-10T22:25:00.011-04:00

Arizona's heat has been relentless for the last few months, so to escape the constant incessant sun, we hightailed it to the cloud covered skies of Washington.
Some might have been disappointed with a cloudy rain infused weekend, but I felt relief at the 30 degree temperature difference. Sure, it would have been nice to have a little more sunshine enabling us to get more time outdoors, but honestly I loved the drizzles and clouds. And the Trees! I kept looking at Tony and saying “trees!” with the awe of someone who is seeing the ocean for the first time. Everything was so green and fresh. There was that earthy smell of wet dirt and pine needles that hasn’t yet been bottled or turned into a candle fragrance. It was really quite nice.

The down side to the weekend was that Ann had gotten sick a day or two before we got there, and remained feeling quite under the weather for the duration of our stay. Yet we managed to have a pretty good weekend and it was probably helpful for her to have us there.

Saturday, Al and Brandon picked us up from the airport and we went to lunch at a seafood place I think is called Wally’s. It’s so nice to get seafood and know that it is pretty fresh. I love a good scallop! Later one of Tony’s childhood friends came for a visit, and Tony enjoyed watching a game of BYU Football. (He is by the way, very happy for football season, while I will be mourning the loss of him for the next few weekends.)

The next day we met my Dad, step-mom Natalya, little sister Amanda, and my not so little-little brother Davey for lunch. Carter thought it was funny that there were two grandpa’s there. I asked who he meant, and he pointed to my dad and my brother. Davey is pretty big, and I can see why he might have thought that, although he does not look old. It was good to talk with them and visit. We seem to be making a tradition of meeting at the Olive Garden behind South Hill mall, as we did the same thing this past Christmas.

Monday morning we played with the boys and then Tony and I met Natalya and Amanda at the Super Mall in Auburn for a little shopping. Nobody really bought much, but it was fun just to spend some time with them, as I rarely get to see them. I don’t remember what we did later that day. Weird, since it was just a few days ago and I’m sure it was fun.

Tuesday Tony and I took the boys for a walk. Well we walked and they rode their bikes. It was so relaxing and peaceful to be in the trees. The boys seemed to enjoy it and would have ridden longer, but I was worried they’d get further on the trail and then not want to ride back. That night, thanks to Tony’s friend, we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese. You can almost never go wrong with little kids and the enticing lights and games of a Chuck E Cheese.

Wednesday was Brandon’s first day of kindergarten.
He was pretty happy to be going to school, and didn’t even look back at us as he boarded the bus. It’s kind of funny that they have him take the bus since it is all of a quarter mile to his school from the house, but I guess since it’s right on the way, they just pick up the kids. I took the opportunity to run to Sumner for a little antique shopping. Again it was relaxing to be out in the early fall weather, where things are just warm enough that you don’t need a jacket, but cool enough to wear jeans. I didn’t find anything I had to have and instead just headed home to pack up.

Carter really seemed to like having us there. He called me “Mommy” the whole weekend, which I wasn’t sure Brandon liked, but he said it didn’t bother him. I corrected him at first saying I was Auntie or Aunt Stacey, but that just seemed to make him more determined. It was very cute. He even called Tony, "Daddy" on the last day. He especially liked to wait by our bedroom door in the mornings until he knew we were awake and then he would crawl up into the bed.

Brandon really liked having someone to play his Wii with, although he was loads better than me. I only liked the Mario cart game. Some of the others were too confusing.

We are now looking forward to having them come for Christmas, which is my favorite time of year. Hopefully it will be just warm enough to swim in the pool as they boys know we have a pool and would be disappointed to know it’s there and not be able to swim in it.

Musings...

2009-08-16T23:17:00.002-04:00

Life around the Palizzi household has been moving at a steady, albeit normal pace.

Work, eat, sleep, pretty much the basics.

Not that life is particularly void of entertainment. Saturday we went to the water park for a few hours, and attended a free mystery dinner that Tony had won tickets to.

I have to say I am glad he won the tickets since they are normally like $38.00 a piece, and to be honest the show was not really worth it. There was a portly guy parading around the whole night in a busty nurses uniform who thought it was vastly entertaining to shove said boobies in the faces of any unsuspecting person who dared to sit in any accessible location. Really I was wishing we had been able to eat first, and then slip out the door, but the food was spread out over the 3 hour show. I am certain I would have been pretty upset had we wasted money I could have been saving for house decor or a trip.

Speaking of house decor, I'm wondering if I'll ever make any effort to further decorate the house. The kitchen is painted, although the brown accents we are undecided on. We like the colors together, but can't decide if we like them together in a kitchen family room combo.
Also our master bedroom has not preceded past the coat of primer that I used to mask the bright faux orange finish dominating one wall. It still has 3 other walls that are a beigy yellow, not in the "ahh a neutral beige," but in the "this might have been a cheery yellow on the paint card at the store, but just looks bland on the walls yellow." Our bathroom is still the track home white and very generic, but at least it isn't something we HAVE to paint right away.

Sometimes I feel like we are in over our heads with this house and yard. Everything seems so big, and it feels like it would take a fortune to decorate. The yard is still dried yellow grass in a few places, although Tony is no longer trying to keep the whole yard green, as he has decided it is way too much lawn to cut.

I guess it's not that we feel in over our heads, it's just that it isn't such a concern to me to decorate. I would love to have a house that was showy and beautiful, but I keep thinking that I don't really have too many people over and would much rather travel.

Oh travel. again I am feeling the yearning to disappear to a foreign land. Well not really disappear. I could never leave without letting someone know where I was going. It really just isn't smart to not have someone who could alert the authorities when I don't come back, but I mean to soak up the places I am going almost to the point where I been come a part of it.

I keep wondering why I never studied abroad, or why I haven't found a way to live in another country for a few months a year. Aren't there jobs where people travel? I sell travel right now, which may or may not be good for someone with my addiction. I am literally at any given moment planning somewhere I would like to go.

Right now I have five places that come to mind:

Brno, Czech Republic. (Why, well you'll have to guess)

Hawaii. (No explanation needed)

Dominican Republic. (It has great beaches, so I hear.)

China. ( I was thinking today in Primary that I would love to have a fancy princess dress made for Halloween or masked balls (another side note, yes I do still enjoy dressing up, and you never know when you'll get invited to a ball), and am quite certain I could get better fabrics and a higher quality custom costume made there for less.)

Alaska (Alaska... where did that come from? Oh yeah, it's because I wish that I was somewhere I could see the ocean, go fishing or camping where I might actually want a fire, oh and a little thing called trees. Not big frondy palms, but evergreens, or maples or something green and leafy.)

So really it's that I can't see spending money on things for the house when I am generally dreaming of being somewhere else. It's good I suppose that we are taking a brief trip to Washington over labor day. While it won't take away my wanderlust, it might give me a slight distraction.

Bet you can't eat just one

2009-07-21T19:14:00.002-04:00

I'm not the only one who likes Pringles...

Free Chicken

2009-07-19T01:41:00.002-04:00

One should never pass up the opportunity to have fun for free.

Last Friday, while my sister was visiting, we took the girls to Chick-fil-a for a free chicken meal each. The catch was that to get the free meal, we had to dress up as cows. Tony wouldn't go. He said it wasn't worth his dignity to dress up as a cow, just to get free food, but I think it was fun. The girls helped make the masks and spots for our outfits. We even got them to say "We're Happy cows" and then the other one would go "We're from California." They didn't quite get why they were supposed to say it, but we thought it was funny. The store was all decked out in cow stuff, and they rang a cow bell when anyone came in dressed as cows. They even had a guy dressed in a cow costume part of the time.

Any way here for all to enjoy is a quick snap shot of our costumes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY!

2009-07-01T01:37:00.017-04:00

Happy Birthday Tony! Here are few pictures of him through out the years.

Tony survived the 80's.

He played a lot of sports, including high school football.

He served his mission in Venezuela.

After years in which his family despaired greatly, he finally met and married a beautiful bride. (I'm not partial at all.)

He graduated from BYU...

traveled to Ireland and China...

went to law school in New Hampshire...

and is now working on the next step of his life.

Happy Birthday Tony!

Mr. Eko

2009-06-27T01:28:00.003-04:00

Tony has wanted a dog for as long as we have been married, but since we lived it apartments it just wasn't logical.

Well about a month ago, not very long after we moved into the new house, we saw an ad on the internet for a Beagle puppy. Tony went to check the little guy out, and instantly fell in love. We picked him up the next day. The puppy was kind of scared on the car ride home, and was a little anxious for the first day, but once he got used to us, he decided the house was his throne.

The previous owners had just been calling him Spiderman, which we didn't really like, so after a few days Tony came up with the name "Mr. Eko". I thought he meant Echo, but I guess it comes from a TV character. Any way, Eko is making himself at home. He likes all types of food, including any unattended cat food and especially puppy popsicles, because in Phoenix, even the dogs need something to cool them down.

My sister visited for the Weekend

2009-06-18T17:29:00.005-04:00

We have started doing away with the yellow paint in our kitchen and family room. My sister and her family came for the weekend to help. Cameron did a great job edging and everyone worked hard with the painting.

Of course the girls had to swim at least twice a day. Our pool is much more fun with kids. They jump, dive and are much more fun to chase.

St Kitts May 23, 2009

2009-06-05T00:22:00.013-04:00

Our last port of call was in Basseterre, St Kitts. For almost the entire cruise, we had practically perfect weather. It was never too hot or too cold, and there was just the right amount of sunshine, and hardly any rain.

In St Kitts the day started out kind of grey and cloudy. We had planned to go to the beach for one final day, but with the weather being temperamental, we decided to take a guided driving tour of the island. It's not really that large of an island, so you can see almost everything in a few hours.

After driving through some little villages along the coast, our first stop was kind of inland at an old sugar cane mill and mansion called Romney Manor. The old mills look like ancient castles that have been taken over by the jungle.

At the manor you can see Batik fabrics made, which are basically screen printed items, mostly clothes, with tropical prints.

The items are kind of expensive, but that's probably because they are made by hand and pedalled to tourists.

On top of a hill, with bird's eye views of any incoming threats, was a large fort called Brimstone Hill. Our van of people elected not to go into the fort, as there was an $8.00 per person charge, but you could imagine the work it would take to create such a place.

After that it was mostly driving, with a stop at a scenic overlook called Black Rocks and a quick peek at a beach called Frigate Bay. By then the sun had come out, and we thought about catching another taxi to the beach I had wanted to see, but ended up opting for relaxing back at the ship instead of rushing out to the beach and then having to turn around and rush back.

I liked St Kitts, although it wasn't the beach place I thought it would be. I couldn't picture myself moving there either, as it felt very remote. It seemed more like a place celebrities might go if they wanted to hide.

Black Rocks, St Kitts

Antigua May 22, 2009

2009-06-03T21:09:00.009-04:00

Antigua tourism is geared mainly around the more than 365 beaches, enough places to go to a different beach every day for a year! There were several that I wanted to go to, but we ended up going to Dickerson Bay Beach due to the close proximity to the cruise ship dock, and the recommendations of several people. What an absolutely gorgeous setting. Crystal clear turquoise water, white sand, colorful umbrellas, and perfect weather.

There were a lot of people around, but it didn’t seem loud or overcrowded. If you wanted even more privacy, you could swim or walk down to the far left end of the beach, around some small coral jetties and there was an almost completely private beach. Tony and I went over there for awhile, leaving our stuff under the umbrella by some friends from the cruise ship.

It’s hard to describe how the sea relaxes and rejuvenates my spirit. I feel more at home near the ocean, and find that I long to be near it when I’m away. I favor the colors of the sea, particularly the turquoise water. Maybe I’ll talk Tony into letting me paint our bedroom with ocean colors.

St Lucia, May 21st, 2009

2009-06-02T15:24:00.006-04:00

After spending the day before in Barbados, a lot of people had high hopes for the beaches of St Lucia. It seemed again, like such an uncommon place with all-inclusive resorts and hills covered in Caribbean foliage. How many people have you ever heard say they’ve been to St Lucia?

To be honest though, St. Lucia was a bit of a letdown. I can’t really say why, just that I heard that from several people. The common consensus just seemed to be that Barbados was hard to top.
Tony and I had decided to spend a day at the beach, since this vacation was about relaxing, so we shared a taxi with some other people to Reduit Beach. The water there was calmer than Barbados with more of a darker greenish color mixed here and there with patches of the blue and turquoise.

A lot of people were at this beach, including some people playing their music loudly and a few pushy vendors. Most of the vendors would leave you alone as long as you said no firmly or acted like you were sleeping. If you wanted more privacy, and did not need an umbrella or chair, than you could head to the end of the beach, which was almost empty.

I spent almost the whole time combing the shallow water for bits of sea glass and other treasures. I found a Caribbean 5 cent piece and several small blue tiles that probably blue off of some building or table. They were all around the beach. A couple of people commented on the fact that I was brave to wander down the beach all by myself, but it didn’t feel unsafe at all. In fact most of the hotels or resorts along the beach had guards posted just outside, mostly to prevent people from coming into the resort that did not belong, but I’m sure if you needed help they would have been there. Plus most people just left you alone, which was fine by me. I liked the solitude of walking in the sand and listening to the sounds of the tropics.

Dinner that night was again a cruise elegant affair. Our elegant attire was pretty casual compared to some, but I think we looked pretty good. Tony was starting to sport a bit of a tan, which made him look handsome in his linen shirt.
We sat with our show friends for one of the late night comic acts, which was funny, although a little raunchy. I heard from some other people that the midnight showing was really “R” rated, so I was glad we hadn’t stayed for that one.
Once again, we had a great day, but it was just not as memorable as some of the others. If I were to go back, I think I’d go on an excursion and maybe see more of the island.

Beautiful Barbados!!! May 20th, 2009

2009-06-01T16:35:00.005-04:00

Barbados has always held a sort of exotic allure for me. I can remember wanting to visit there as early as 7th grade. I imagined it to be a place where people dressed in brilliant colors, ate tropical and spicy food, and where you could walk on a powder white sand beach. Let's just say that the island did not disappoint.

The port where our ship was docked could be misleading, as it looks rather ordinary. From our balcony we could not really make out much of the island, but I knew we were in for a good day when I spied a rainbow cresting over a ship out the window.
We had an excursion through the cruise line for noon, so I wanted to get out early to explore the island before we had to be back. Tony and I walked into town a ways, took a few pictures, and of course did a little shopping. There were some beautiful carved wood items, particularly these gorgeous mahogany turtles, but they were quite pricey, with one life sized one running over $400 US dollars, so we settled on an oddly curved spoon made by an older guy selling stuff out of his workshop. I tried to buy souvenir items on this trip that would have some decorative purpose in our new house, and not just be complete junk.

On the way back to the cruise ship, Tony stopped to look at some shirts that a street vendor was selling. He bought one, and the lady ended up talking him into having MY hair braided. The lady thought she was going to braid all of my hair, but after awhile I was kind of tired of sitting there, and we were getting short on time so we left.

Our excursion was on a Tiami catamaran painted yellow, white and blue and crewed by a friendly bunch who seemed to truly enjoy what they do. (Who wouldn't?) The ship moves at a leisurely pace along the coast, making it's first stop in waters where sea turtles are known to inhabit.

Every willing person off loads into the water, vying for space near the crew member holding the bait, since he seemed to give you the best chance to see the turtles. It didn't seem to take more than a minute or two before we had beautiful sea turtles swimming in and out amongst the thrilled tourists. I expected them to be skittish, but the turtles would come right up to you, weaving in and out of swimmers legs. It was amazing to be in turquoise water, with the sun shining and turtles making your acquaintance.

After swimming with the turtles, the crew took us to another location, where we were able to swim from the boat to the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful location. Turquoise and indigo blue water, fine powdery sand, flowers, and sailboats in the water. I could have stayed there for the rest of the trip. In fact I was the last person on the beach and one of the last people to board the catamaran. I was collecting sea glass and a few little shells from the water. (Sea glass, for those who don’t know is just regular bits of glass that have been polished down by the waves and sand. I love the turquoise glass, but it is the hardest to find. Green is a lot easier.) I really would have liked another hour, but we had a ship to catch. I would definitely go back to Barbados and spend a week.

That night were just too worn out to go to the main dining room and wait to be served our meal, so instead we had the buffet on the Lido deck. After eating and relaxing a bit in our room, we went to the theater and played a marriage game with our cruise director, “Wee Jimmy.” He’s a short, somewhat portly Scottish guy, who spent have the cruise in a kilt, and the other half putting up with people trying to correct his pronunciations of English words. He was pretty funny, and took everything in stride. We also watched a magic act and a comedian, rounding out a practically perfect day.

Dominica May 19th, 2009

2009-05-29T09:21:00.019-04:00

Dominica appears to have ever square inch of mountain and hill covered in lush tropical greenery. It looks like something out of a Jurassic Park movie, where a dinosaur could come stomping out of the rainforest at any time. The city of Roseau is obviously poorer than most of the Caribbean islands, but part of that is just that much of the island has been left undisturbed. There aren’t the flashy resorts and designer stores that draw big money. Dominica is more of a nature lovers hideaway, a place where you could take a different hike or trail that is basically the same as it would have been two or three hundred years ago.

We took an excursion with Bumpiing Tours called Roseau Valley Treasures. Our driver’s name was Chris. He was very friendly and could answer the questions people asked of him. Plus he was a pretty good driver, which I would say is hard to do, considering that the roads are very narrow and rough here. I would not advise anyone to attempt driving them on their own. At one point we crossed a section of road that was washed out on the mountain side and cracking away on the cliff side. The van literally was only a few inches narrower than the road, and I actually braced myself thinking we for sure would shortly be tumbling down the hill.

Ti Tou Gorge was our first stop, where part of Pirates of the Caribbean II was filmed. Ti Tou gorge starts with a short cascading waterfall that pours into a rock area. Over time rushing water has carved out several rooms that funnel out into a small pond area before falling into another short waterfall.

There’s a brief hike to the pond, where the guide passes out swim belts, which will help keep you floating in the 10 foot deep water and swift currents. Then you have a choice to make- jump into the pond or walk in. Jumping in doesn’t look to scary at first since it’s not very far, but I did have a moment of hesitation. Mustering up my bravery I pushed off from the rock to hit the chilly water below. For the middle of a rainforest, the water was much colder than I expected however after swimming in it for a short time you got used to the temperature and it became quite soothing.

Swimming into the gorge against the currents took some work, but was rewarding. Roots dangle down from trees above, and plants sprout from the walls wherever sunlight seemed to hit.

.

After Titou Gorge, the driver took us to another group of waterfalls called Trafalgar Falls.

At the bottom of Trafalgar Falls there are supposedly little hot springs that you can swim in, but they had a lot of rain recently so we were not able to swim there.

Briefly we visited a sulpher spring, which as you can imagine, had a strong oder, hence the briefness of the visit. Chris would also stop along the way to point out a tree or view that we might find interesting. I was surprised kind of, by the quantity of fruit growing all over the island, some wild, some planted. We saw banana, papaya, pineapple, mango, orange, avocado and many others. I remember thinking that you could live off the land here for quite a while if you had to.

We were shown signs of a hurricane that happened decades ago, and finally we were taken to a look out point called Morne Bruce. From there you could see the cruise ship, and the city, including a recently built Cricket field.

That night was our first formal night. No ball gowns or tuxedos for us, but alot of people really did dress up formally. Tony and I went semi formal. I wore a skirt outfit and he had a sport coat on. Hey it's Carnival. Dressing up is really optional.
After dinner we went to one of the production shows, which was pretty lame to me. Tony didn't think it was that bad, but I thought the costumes were garish, the singing like American Idol people voted out the first week and it was just so loud! I could have skipped the show and been just fine. I think that night we also went and watched some karoke, which was pretty entertaining. All in all, a pretty good day.

St Thomas May 18th, 2009

2009-05-28T09:36:00.010-04:00

St Thomas was the first port that we stopped in. Pulling up to the dock and watching as the little blurbs of color dotting the hillside became homes was pretty exciting. Even though sleeping in might have been nice, I didn’t mind being up to see that for the first time. That morning we had ordered the continental room service breakfast, and ate it as we sat on our balcony absorbing the island surroundings.

After breakfast, we decided to do a little shopping. St Thomas is supposed to have some of the best shopping in the Caribbean as it is a duty free port, especially if you want to buy jewelry. We didn't ended up buying much, other than this Olympus Tough camera that I had been wanting to buy. It’s waterproof up to 10 feet, shock proof, freeze proof up to 14 degrees, and a number of other features that I had been eyeing. It was a little bit cheaper in St Thomas, plus it came with a carrying case, and a memory card that holds like 1200 pictures. I am a reformed believer in digital cameras. Up until about 3 years ago, I was pretty adamant that film cameras were far superior to digital, but that changed when Tony got his camera in Ireland. Now I love how convenient they are, and they do really take high quality photos.

Other than that we didn’t do much in St Thomas. We had plans to go to the beach, but were suffering still a bit from sleep deprivation, so we decided to just relax on the ship for the remainder of the day. I kind of wish we had gone to the beach anyway, because without that, my overall opinion of St Thomas is that it wasn’t that impressive. Nice island, just kind of plain.

Dinner that night was our first assigned seating dinner. We had a quieter table on the upper part of the Atlantic dining room. Two other couples sat at our table, and we were lucky enough to all get along very well.

One couple was from Texas and the other from New Orleans. I liked hearing about what they did at each port and then just chatting each day.
Later Tony and I went to the theater to play the Battle of the Sexes game. The room was split into men and women, with each side collectively trying to answer trivia questions that the other gender would know better. I hardly knew the answer to any of the questions, but it was still fun. Some of the girls got real huffy about the whole thing, but in a friendly competitive spirit.

May 17th, 2009 Embarkation Day

2009-05-27T10:12:00.013-04:00

For breakfast we went to Kasalta, a popular bakery that has been serving up tasty pastries for over 30 years. All of their local pastries, pies, cookies and treats are displayed in glass cases and if you can’t find something that looks delicious, then have your eyes checked.

We then had a taxi take us to the port. Before really being able to see our ship, the Carnival Victory, we saw Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas and a Princess ship. They look so much bigger in person, like giant floating buildings. Our ship was huge too, very grand and sort of elegant.

I really enjoyed the whole boarding process, probably because I was just so excited to be trying something new. We arrived a little bit early, so there was a short wait before we could board, but once we got on the ship we ate lunch on the Lido deck, and walked around a bit before settling into some lounge chairs to wait for our room to be cleaned.

The room was honestly smaller than I expected. It would be very difficult to fit 4 people into one of those rooms, but doable I guess. The balcony was so worth it though. It’s not that you’ll spend a whole lot of time in your room or on the balcony, but to wake up and be able to see the dock or port as you’re pulling in, or to look out at the dark sea as the waves break from the ship, well it’s very impressive and relaxing.

Once we were able to drop off our carryons in our room, we decided to head out and explore Old San Juan a bit. Narrow streets are lined with tall houses all painted in eccentric and playful colors. Flowers hang from the balconies, and each door is unique and so sturdy looking. You can shop for the kitschy tourist stuff, and there are even a few designer stores for those who are interested.

That night was an open seating dinner, and then the dreadful muster drill. I know, it’s for our safety and required, but I felt it was poorly executed. The cruise line crams everyone into two areas, and the people who arrive on time to the drill are forced to the back of the line which gets very hot, and claustrophobic. On top of that, you can’t hear a word of what is being said, so in an emergency situation, I would not have known which life boat was mine any way, only what deck it was on. Past guests did say it took an unusual amount of time to complete the drill, so I take comfort in the fact that my next cruise drill should be a little less tedious.

After returning our life jackets to the room, despite battling fatigue, we decided to head to the deck for the sail away party, because really, how can you miss the ship pulling away from the dock for the first time? We didn’t stay very long, but we decided to try the pizza. We weren’t too impressed with it, but it worked for a quick snack. Plus by getting in that line we ended up meeting a couple who would become our "Show” friends. They were from Oklahoma and had just barely boarded the ship before the muster drill, missing dinner. I think it was Wednesday before we learned their names. (Dan and Kristy)
It’s funny like that on a cruise ship. You talk to the same people over and over again, but they all get nicknames. Like this couple got that name since we ended up sitting with them for almost all of the shows we attended in the theater. They said the same thing about us. They had called me “Candy Girl” as I had a bag of candy with me for most of the shows.

After that it was off to bed, where the gentle rocking of the ship quickly lulled us to sleep.

San Juan May 16th 2009

2009-05-26T10:45:00.011-04:00

After a mostly sleepless red eye flight, we arrived in Puerto Rico, somewhat bleary-eyed, but full of anticipation. The sky was a deep azure blue accented with puffy white clouds and bright yellow sunshine.

Flowering trees were blooming almost every where and each house seemed to be painted a different bold color. There were signs of poverty and neglect in many of the buildings, but they are mixed in with the resorts and richly appointed Spanish style structures. It feels very much like slipping into another country, even though it is a US territory. There's a definite flavor and vibe that is unique to Latin countries.

We stayed in a little posada or guest house called Andalucia. They are like a bed and breakfast, only without the breakfast. They have a little courtyard with tropical plants and trees.

The rooms are pretty basic, but clean and perfect for a short stopover. The host was very welcoming and friendly. He gave us a local area map and pointed out restaurants and places of interest. He also has supplies, like beach towels, chairs, and even coolers that could be borrowed for use at the beach, which was a short walk away.

The beach had plenty of sandy space to layout on, with crashing waves and kite surfers to watch. We went to a little restaurant right on the beach for lunch. The prices were really a bit too steep for lunch, so we just split a meal. It came with one of the best creme brulee desserts, by the way.

Later that evening, after a much needed nap we had dinner at Bebo's. It was a little bit of a walk from our posada, but a recommended place to eat if you are looking for great Puerto Rican food. The prices were better than what we had for lunch, although not cheap, but the plates were of good size and taste.

On the walk back we listened to the Coqui frogs sing and enjoyed the sea breezes.

Our First House

2009-05-13T20:05:00.002-04:00

Tony and I have moved into the new house. It feels very grown up and adult to be owning a home. It's fun and exciting and nerve-racking.

I am loving the pool. Just today I went swimming in it around 3pm, and the top few inches of water were so hot that it was like being in a hot tub. The bottom wasn't as warm, but it was still really nice.(We are not heating the pool at all right now, it's just like that.)

A neat feature to the pool is that it has a color changing light bulb. At night you can have a deep blue pool, or a purple pool, or aqua, or red, or whatever. (Although the yellow makes it look like pond scum.) Where we live is kind of away from lots of lights so swimming in the pool at night gives a great view of the stars, at least as far as being kind of in a city.

Also it seems like we are not having to keep the AC on as low. This house is better insulated,I guess, plus it has shade screens on the windows. My new office stays so much cooler.

One thing I don't like is all of the light switches. Each room has like 3 switches. I have to click each button to find the right one, but I am sure I will get used to it.

Anyway, we are no where near to being settled in and Tony and I leave for our cruise on Friday night. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, to be honest. I usually like to leave my house clean before I go, but that won't be happening this time. No big deal though. If I am feeling stressed I just head to the pool and ahhh.... float away my troubles.

Phoenix Zoo, Family, and House Updates

2009-04-10T22:56:00.019-04:00

Turtle Yoga Class

Melissa and Annika

Mom and Ashling

Tony taking a break, looking cool.

"Hey, Dude I told you not to lick the tree."

Name that Flowering Tree- No really anyone know what it is? I'd like to someday buy one.

Belly Button Ashling

Over 100 years old

Ali in her new hat

My sister Melissa came for a visit this past week. We went to the Phoenix Zoo for the first time. Tony and I have decided that we would love to have a yard that is very jungle like. We figure if it can grow outside at the zoo, then it'll probably grow in our backyard. Overall it was fun. They don't really have a ton of animals, but it did seem like we were able to get up pretty close. It was also probably the perfect time to go. It was only in the 70's or maybe really low 80's. Much later in the year and your shoes might melt to the pavement. To be fair though, you could cool off. I think they had 2 water play areas that could be a lifesaver in a really hot month. Plus water bottles are a must. I would have loved a snow cone for only $3.00, but I didn't really want to buy one for everyone, so I went with out.

It was fun to have family here. Melissa brought Settler's of Catan and we played a few times. It's probably my favorite board game right now, so we'll have to get our own copy one day. The girls played with the hose in the backyard several times, although it would have been nice to have the pool from the new house. I did get a chance to show them the pool. We went over and put our feet in it. It felt pretty nice, not hot tub water, but definitely swim able. I am so glad it has a cover or the pool heating bill would be outrageous.

So far things are looking good in regards to the house. The inspector said he was "bored" with the inspection on Wednesday and only had a handful of things to point out, all pretty minor. If, and I do mean IF, everything goes as planned it might close in a week. The scenario that I keep imagining is it closing during Tony's busy season at work and the week before our cruise. I really hope it's sooner, as then my sister will come back around the first of May.
Plus then we wouldn't have to pay May's rent on our current place.

Outside pics

2009-03-28T18:41:00.003-04:00

I (Tony) went over to the house today to take some pics of the outside. Unfortunately, the gate had a padlock on it, so I just stuck the camera above the fence and took whatever showed up.

The backyard is pretty bare. There is a pool, but it's not pimped out with a fancy gazebo or anything. We'll have to work on that.

Also, the battery on the camera expired after five shots, otherwise I would have walked around behind the back fence and taken some from there.

Oh yeah, here's a shot or two of the kitchen.

2009-03-28T01:02:00.002-04:00

Our New House???

2009-03-27T13:53:00.002-04:00

So these might be picks of our new house. They were taken at night, so there just ok shots. Don't you just love the colors! Just kidding. I think i have to paint all but 3 rooms. We made an offer, the bank countered and we excepted. Now it's a matter of getting the inspection and finalizing all the mumbo jumbo. More to come.

You know it's time to move when...

2009-03-13T01:27:00.002-04:00

Tony and I have been thinking that while where we live isn't too bad most of the time, there are some better neighborhoods that we might like to look for a house in.

Well today there was a little bit of... shall we say excitement in our immediate neighborhood. I was riding my bike home from the gym, when I noticed a helicopter circling around in what looked like a wide lazy loop. I kind of slowed down, (ok I coasted) as I rounded into the area, wondering what was happening, but I couldn't see anything so I just went inside.

Maybe 10 minutes later, it was still flying around. I called Tony to see if he had heard anything, but at that point there was no news.
So I made breakfast,(totally boring egg white scramble with too many peppers) watched a little Price is Right while I ate, and the police chopper was still there. We're talking, like half hour, maybe more. It had moved in closer, now circling in tight rounds, no more than maybe 2 or 3 streets wide. My mom and I were peeking out the windows, watching when they started to issue orders over the loud speaker. We couldn't really tell for sure what they were saying, but it sounded like, "come out with your hands up" or along those lines. we saw a few police cars go by that were close enough you could make out scratchy chatter from the radios. I really wanted to walk to the corner and see what was going on, but I'm just a touch too smart to chance being in the line of fire.

They eventually left in time for me to start work, and not be too distracted. We don't really know for sure what happened, since there were at least TWO news making stories that took place in the Avondale area.

So, you know it's time to move when there's some kind of ghetto action in the hood, and you can't figure out which event it was.

20 Places to Visit Before I Get Too Old and Wrinkly

2009-02-08T21:27:00.004-05:00

(The places are not necessarily in order of top to bottom.)

1.Machu Piccu- To hike the thousands of steps up into a forgotten city...
2.The Great Barrier Reef
3.Futaleufu River, Patagonia Chile-We went to a travel show last year and saw a presentation on this river. I was somewhat awed and still have the pamphlet tucked beneath my bed.
4.Waimea Canyon on the Island of Kauai
5.Neuschwanstein Castle-because every girl at some point wanted to be a princess.
6.Palizzi, Italy
7.Santorini Greece
8.Bora Bora-If you do a web image search you'll understand.
9.The Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors-Tony may already have been there, but he'll have to take me back.
10.Russia-I'd like to see the churches in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
11.Eiffel Tower and the French countryside
12.Panama Canal
13.Scotland
14.Australia and New Zealand
15.Seychelles
16.Tulips and windmills in Holland
17.Amazon River
18.Galapagos Islands
19.African Safari
20.Ancient Ruins in Guatemala or Mexico (Mayan or whatever...)

Sentencing

2009-01-31T10:39:00.003-05:00

The court held the sentencing hearing yesterday. From my understanding, this was something of a formality since Ragsdale, the prosecutors and the judge had already agreed to a sentence in the plea agreement.

Basically, the hearing was people to express how Kristy's death has affected them. Ann spoke for about 20 minutes, a cousin got up, the parents of the 8-year-old witness spoke about how it has affected him and their lives, and someone a couple others spoke as well.

In the end, the sentence was what we assumed it would be, per the plea agreement -- 20 years to life with the possibility of parole. That means that he won't be eligible for parole for 20 years, but he may never get it. If you read the comments to the online news stories you'll see people are very upset, thinking he got off easy. I have two things to say about that. First, they assume he WILL be out in 20 years, or less, which isn't true. Second, from what we have heard, he will be in solitary confinement for the first five years because the inmates in the state pen have already made it clear how they feel about him. I'm not condoning such behavior, just saying anyone who thinks he's getting off easy is out of touch with reality.

You can read more at www.ksl.com, www.deseretnews.com, and www.sltrib.com.

tp

Hearing update

2009-01-29T13:08:00.002-05:00

David Ragsdale was scheduled to be sentenced today. However, he has apparently been very ill for about ten days and the jailers say he's too weak to move (they would have to take him from the county jail, to the courthouse, then straight to the state prison. The judge has re-scheduled it for 10:30 tomorrow (Friday) morning, ill or not.

Upcoming Cruise!

2009-01-23T19:16:00.002-05:00

Tony and I our taking our first cruise in May!

I've always wanted to cruise, but at the same time I used to be a little afraid of falling off the ship. Or more accurately, I was afraid of falling off the ship and getting chopped into pieces by the propeller. I've learned though that the majority of people who fall off the ships are stone drunk or murdered by a spouse. Since Tony loves me too much to do that, I'm not as worried.

We are taking a cruise from San Juan Puerto Rico on May 17th-24th. We get to do several really cool stops. St Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua and St Kitts. We used sky miles for the flights, so we just had to buy the cruise.
Any way I'm excited, and would love any tips for those ports if anyone has been there. I have some ideas, but it's always nice to hear opinions.

Christmas Day 2008

2009-01-08T14:01:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pics from Christmas Day.

Washington in December

2009-01-05T10:10:00.005-05:00

The best shot we could get of all the Palizzi grandkids together.

Brandon with his Hulk Hands.

Ashley making sugar cookies. (I helped.)

Snowman I built in the backyard.

Ashley and Carter playing dress up.

Ashley loves spiderman! It's kind of funny for a little girl, but I think it's because she has so many boy cousins.

Tony and I went to his parents house in Washington for a few days before Christmas. We ended up getting a lot of snow by Washington's standards. It was fun to get together with all of his siblings, but it would have been a little bit nicer if we could have left the house more often. The roads in Washington do not get cleared the way they do in states that get snow more often. Next year maybe we'll have to try having Christmas in Phoenix. I can almost guarantee it won't be white though.

Orgeon Tuna Classic

2008-12-18T18:58:00.002-05:00

http://webmail.aol.com/40627/aol/en-us/Mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.22475865&folder=NewMail&partId=6&saveAs=Proposal_for_Sponsorship_of_2008.doc

I thought I'd post a link to this. My dad loves to fish, and this event is a charity Tuna tournament that benefits a food bank and is hosted every year for the last few years. They are always in need of sponsors, and my Dad in particular can always use a sponsor, so if any one knows someone who'd like to help let him know. If you don't want to sponsor, but would like to donate, you can always talk to him too. You can email him at trackerputnam@yahoo.com or visit his website justkeepfishing.com.

(The tournaments are in the summer so donations would not need to be made right away.)

Skiing Kids

2008-12-18T16:41:00.002-05:00

I thought these pictures of my neices skiing were cute. They have like 3 feet of snow at their house in the California mountains. We will be there for Christmas, so I guess we'll probably have a white Christmas!

Pine Cones and Christmas Trees

2008-12-11T12:55:00.002-05:00

While in California I collected pine cones to do an art project with. I spray painted them either silver or a light copper color. I then used a spray on glue, and glitter to make them sparkle. They are my table centerpiece right now, and I have a few on the front porch. There's still a bunch in the backyard, but I ran out of glitter so I might just leave them as they are.
This year we got a fake tree. Everyone says it's more economical than buying a real one every year. I like how the real ones smell, but I like how this one is pre-lit and I can move the branches around to make the ornaments fit. I love Christmas, and Christmas ornaments. They are just such happy things.

Mountain Hike

2008-12-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

Cameron, Ali, Ashling, Tony and I went for a hike on November 29th. The place to hike is not too far from their house. You can see Big Bear lake in the background of some of the photos. Loud chilly winds were blowing at the top, but for most of the hike the temperature was really nice. It was a fun hike, and kept us from gaining any Thanksgiving weight. Cameron would have liked to hike a little longer but the rest of us were happy with heading back.

Sunset Pictures from the Car Window

2008-12-11T12:44:00.002-05:00

These are just some pretty sunset pictures I took out the car window after we picked out the Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-11T12:30:00.004-05:00

For Thanksgiving we went to California to my sister's house. It's really nice to be able to drive there and not have to pay for plane tickets. Prior to dinner on Thanksgiving day, we started a game of Risk. Dinner was ready before we finished the game so a plan was devised using a piano bench to postpone the game. It was pretty funny. Melissa ended up winning.
The next day we went for a drive to some neighboring mountains. (None of the Black Friday specials seemed worth getting up early for.) The clouds were really pretty along the way.
Later that same day, we went to Gunther's Tree farm up in the mountains to find Melissa's family their Christmas tree. Gunther's is a secluded mountain property with tons of some what wild trees growing. Gunther doesn't trim or prune the trees so it's a little harder finding the right "one," but it was so pretty, and such a change from Arizona that I enjoyed it. Plus his prices are much better than any where else. Ali and Ashling had probably the most fun trying to pick late apples from the apple trees that are also mixed in on the property.

Bryce Thompson Arboretum

2008-12-11T12:14:00.002-05:00

We went to the Arboretum back in early November. They have plants and trees from desert climates all over the world. It's a nice walk and finally in November it had started to cool off.

Ragsdale Pleads Guilty

2008-11-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

David Ragsdale plead guilty today to capital murder. His formal sentencing will be January 29th. However, the minimum sentence is 20 years to life with the possibility of parole.

I'm trying my hardest, even though it's difficult, to not let the events of the last eleven months control my life, so I'll try me best to trust the prosecutor's judgment and move on with my life rather than be caught up in the details of a few years here and there.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11081380

Tony

Ann's Home!

2008-11-13T10:44:00.003-05:00

Al flew down to Utah on Monday to drive Ann and the boys home. They got in last night and are happy to be there. Ann has a lot of work ahead of her getting the house set up for the boys (moving furniture, etc.) so I'm sure she'd appreciate any helping hands from those of you nearby.

tp

Newspaper Articles Nov. 2008

2008-11-08T19:19:00.002-05:00

Here are a few links to a couple of articles from the Utah papers on the custody issue.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10934215?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705261176,00.html

Answers

2008-11-05T18:38:00.002-05:00

Here are the answers to the questions:

Number of apartments/houses we have lived in: 10

Number of States we've lived in: 6

Countries outside of the US we have visited together:2 Venezuela and Ireland

Countries we've been to without the other(during the time we were married):2 China for Tony & Canada for me.

Number of Nieces and Nephews we have: Eight total- Ali, Ashling, Bryant, Ashley, Brandon, Carter, Julian, and Gabe

State we were married in: Washington

Store that we both worked at: Dillard's, I worked the Men's and he worked in Women's Shoes

Where we first met: In a single's ward, and yes he was my home teacher.

What color was my hair in our engagement photo, and what color was it at our wedding: I had reddish blond in the engagment photo, and almost Black hair at the wedding. Someone asked Tony if it was the same girl.

2 Foods Tony hates, but that I like: He hates mushrooms and peppers, so we never order a pizza with everything on it. He's a plain old Pepperoni guy.

6 Years

2008-11-04T13:20:00.002-05:00

Tony and I have been married for 6 years as of Sunday. Rather than post how much I love him, (which I do, or we wouldn't be married,) I thought I would post a trivia challenge, to see who knows the most about us. Below are the questions:

Number of apartments/houses we have lived in:

Number of States we've lived in:

Countries outside of the US we have visited together:

Countries we've been to without the other(during the time we were married):

Number of Nieces and Nephews we have:

State we were married in:

Store that we both worked at:

Where we first met:

What color was my hair in our engagement photo, and what color was it at our wedding:

2 Foods Tony hates, but that I like:

Post your responses, and I'll give the correct answers in a few days. (Some of the answers can be found on the blog.) Have fun!

Great News!

2008-10-31T00:03:00.000-04:00

Today Ann and Al went to mediation to settle the custody dispute for Kristy's boys. They have full guardianship and Ann can return to Washington with the boys immediately. She will probably take a week or two to figure out what to move back with her, but she'll be home soon!

As part of the agreement, John Ragsdale and his wife will get two visits per year with the kids but will have no parental decision-making authority.

Our entire family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this trying time. It's not all over yet, but now Ann can get home and hopefully speed up the healing process.

tp

Maybe a little nuts...

2008-10-30T21:00:00.003-04:00

About two weekends ago, I was out for a walk before work when I passed a yard sale. I kind of looked at it and saw these little ceramic Christmas houses that you paint yourself. There were several boxes of them and I thought I'd maybe buy 1 or 2 for my niece to paint. When I asked the lady how much, she said "$5.00." Five bucks each? Nope five for all of them. Now the bargain hunter in me kicked in and I said, why not? There ended up being 27 little houses, and only one was a duplicate. (Plus a little penguin statue to paint.)So I thought, well maybe I will paint them and have a little Christmas village. (We already have several houses, but they are a bit bigger than these.)

I've since come to the conclusion that I must have been nuts that day. What do I need 27 little houses for? I've painted only 2 and a half of them since and it would probably take me until Christmas to finish them. My mom thinks it will take me a few years. Tony is pretty sure it was a waste of five bucks. I bet I could get more than $5 dollars for the bunch. Each one usually costs $5 to $10 retail. The question now is do I keep them and dawdle through painting, or try to sell the lot on Craigslist?

I knew all the name calling was just a show

2008-10-23T11:42:00.005-04:00

Letters to Santa

2008-10-21T18:02:00.001-04:00

I found this little tidbit on the webtoday. Thought I'd post it for anyone who's interested.

Since 1914, children have had the joy of receiving letters from Santa Claus for free. Every letter mailed to Santa Claus before December 21st, will receive a letter back from Santa Claus himself! The earlier you can send in your letter the better.

Click here to write your letter now via internet!

Or you may send a letter to:

Santa Claus
PO Box 1
Santa Claus, IN 47579

Where are they now?

2008-10-17T14:15:00.004-04:00

For those of you who loved the movie "Goonies" as a kid, you might find this interesting.

Chunk is an entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills. Good for him.

http://www.cohengardnerlaw.com/about.html

Update on Case

2008-10-10T14:24:00.003-04:00

Tony wanted me to update the blog with the link to an article on the case in the paper this week.

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,700265100,00.html

If the link won't pull it up just google "Attorney Fighting Foreclosure on Ragsdale Home."

Verde Canyon

2008-10-08T13:19:00.003-04:00

It's starting to cool down here in Phoenix. By that I mean that it's been in the 90's instead of the 100's, and maybe 70's at night. We even tried to go to the pool the other night, and it was too chilly to be much fun. I'm happy to be able to go outside and not feel oppressive air practically baking my skin.

Even with the lighter weather, I felt the need to escape a little to a place that is a bit cooler than Phoenix. This weekend we went north to a place called Verde Canyon.
It's still a very arid desert climate, but since it is at a higher elevation, the temperatures were cooler, no more than 70 or so. We took a popular train ride, which takes you past the winding river and red rock structures. We could sit inside the train, or walk out to the open air car. There are a lot of twisted mesquite trees and prickly cactus. Sometimes you can see eagles, but we didn't during this ride. They don't move very fast on the train so you can take pictures, but it does make for slow going. The ride lasts about 4 hours. It was pretty fun at first, but towards the end I was tired, and admittedly a little dizzy from the rocking motion. Still I would probably recommend it, although Tony and I talked about if you bring kids it's probably a good idea to have a game or something else for them to do, since it is so long.
Overall, a beautiful, out of the ordinary day, albeit long. Nice to get out of the house once in a while.

Tagged...

2008-10-04T18:16:00.002-04:00

Tagged....

It's who I am...

I am... Stacey
I Want....to travel the world.
I Have.... trouble sitting still.
I Wish..... to always be a size 6 or 8, even when I eat all the chocolate in the world.
I Hate... folding laundry, and cleaning in general.
I Fear... spiders and being really poor.
I Hear.... my ceiling fan spinning round and round and a neighbor vacuuming their car. Or maybe it's Tony. wouldn't that be nice?
I Search... for good bargains and free things.
I Always... get bored. Also I spoil my nieces. Ask them, they'll tell you.
I Usually... watch too much TV.
I Am Not... friendly enough.
I miss... being a size 4 like I was at my wedding. Oh and I guess I miss my sister Melissa, little sister Amanada, and my nieces. Maybe my brother once in a while. (I can't miss my mom, she lives with me.)
I love... the ocean, chocolate, and Tony. (Not necessarily in that order.)
I Never.... feel like I have enough money.
I Rarely... do things with other women who aren't family. Seems like I'm always working, when they are home with the kids.
I Cry... when I'm angry. Not so much when I'm sad, but make me mad and you better pull out the umbrella.
I am Not Always... nice. I can be too judgemental.
I Lose... words and names. I never remember peoples names, and I can't always think of the right word, even though it's on the tip of my tongue.
I'm Confused... when it comes to logical things. I don't think the same way other people do.
I Need... activities outside of the house.
I Should... clean more. Maybe.
I Dream... about owning a house close to a beach that is somewhat private, decorating it with imported furniture and things from places I've been to, having friends and family come for visits, walking along the beach and finding neat things that have washed up there, and of course travelling.

I tag... Amber, and anyone else who wants to.

Economic Fix

2008-09-26T16:07:00.002-04:00

Some economic genius sent out the following email with his plan for the $85B the government loaned to AIG. See if you can find any flaws with his plan.

Hi Pals,

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We
Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide
U.S. Citizens 18+.

Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and
child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It
Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of
30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends
$25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A
husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads Put away money
for college - it'll be there Save in a bank - create money to loan to
entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth Pay for your parent's
medical insurance - health care improves Enable Deadbeat Dads to come
clean - or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks
who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is
cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of
trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that
is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every
adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go
back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the
private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion

We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington DC.

And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest. Kindest
personal regards, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic; & nbsp;

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it's either good for
a laugh, a tear, or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85
Billion!!

tp

Another continuance

2008-09-25T00:18:00.002-04:00

The court was supposed to set a trial date today but Ragsdale's attorneys asked for another continuance and got two more months. The next hearing is November 26th. I've heard that he is out of continuances so they will definitely set a trial date on that day.

tp

A Very Happy Husband

2008-09-23T01:22:00.002-04:00

Tony got very very lucky today! No, I'm not talking about that. Where's your mind? J/K.

Anyway, Tony and I had planned to go to the Costco Home Store after he got out of work today. The idea was to test out the beds they have for sell. Costco home actually has the beds, and other furniture, set up so you can try them out. I think we tried out all 10 beds they have, with the exception of the kids twin. We figured out which would be the best one. (It's so nice! It's a king of course, and when Tony gets in and out of the bed I can't even feel it. I am a light sleeper and more than once have grouched at Tony for moving too much or making too much noise. Poor guy!)

Before buying the bed, we decided to run over to the Costco next to the Costco Home and take a look at the TVs. Tony knew which one he wanted to show me. At first I said no. It's huge! But right next to the TV he was showing me was an identical one, for a lot less. Hmm... wrong tag? Nope, they had a floor model for sell. Still I was hesitant. So we looked at the other TVs. With the discount they were offering, this bigger TV was the same price as a smaller TV of equal quality.

Now I'm warming up to the idea, but not really convinced. Then a couple walks down the aisle and stops at our TV. (Ok, so we hadn't bought it yet, but we were standing there looking at it. Doesn't that make it ours?) The wife was actually trying to talk the husband into it. She told us that her friend had just bought that same one and loved it. (Yes, I did consider the possibility that Tony or Costco had paid people to walk down the aisle and convince would be buyers, but decided it was probably unlikely. Not definitely, but probably.)

Well I still debated it... but in the end I gave in, with the promise that we'd get the bed as the next big purchase. Tony went to get the sales guy while I stood guard. In the meantime another couple came down the aisle and stopped in front of the TV. (Hello, I'm standing right here?) This couple was comparing price too, but they just asked why it was such a better price? I explained that WE were buying the floor model. "Ohhh..."

Which is why Tony is a very happy husband. He has a new TV, more suited to his beloved BYU football games. I keep saying, "It's huge!" His solution,

"Get a bigger room!"

2008-09-21T02:00:00.002-04:00

Have you noticed the commercial recently where the wife tells the husband "You're right. We need a new TV, just don't go overboard." Then you see the husband rush out the door with his credit card and keys. Or how about the lesser shown one where a man and woman are walking past an electronic store and the man stops to look forlornly through the window at the big screen TVs, and the woman must drag the guy away?

Well lately I feel like every time Tony comes home from Costco, he'll be figuring out how to get the Big screen into the house without my noticing. I'm mostly kidding about that, but still...

We do need, or will soon need a new TV. Our current one, (a Walmart special), has a few issues with certain shades of red. Plus it's a measly 27 or so inches. We've pretty much decided not to do a big vacation right now. We kind of agreed that even though I can get really good prices on cruises, that when we have time to go (Thanksgiving or Christmas) is at the high season and still more than we want to spend on a trip at this point.

In talking we figured it out that we could get both a new mattress set(which would mean new sheets and quilt, etc) and a TV for the same price as the vacation. I've been wanting a king size bed, and Tony has been wanting a king size TV. The question right now is how big to go. 40, 50, 60 inches...

Basically I just need to give the word and Tony has a couple choices ready to go. I even caught a peek at his phone the other day and he has snapped pictures of the possibles.

I love TV. I admit it, so I'm not sure what's holding me back. Maybe a bigger TV just seems too "man-caveish", or something like that. Guess I'll have to give in sooner or later. I'd really like that new bed...

Free Disney Tickets

2008-09-17T20:44:00.004-04:00

I saw this on a website today and thought other people might like to know about it.

"Next year everyone will be able to come to a Walt Disney World theme park on their birthdays and get in free.

That's the cornerstone of the 2009 national promotional campaign, "What will you celebrate?" announced today by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Anyone showing up with a valid ID including proof of birthdate will get a free ticket on that day in 2009 for one of the theme parks at Disney World or at Disneyland in California."

Kind of cool...

Orlando...?

2008-09-17T20:44:00.003-04:00

For work Tony is going to Orlando November 18-19. So now that opens up the idea of a vacation to the Orlando area after that meeting. I hadn't really thought of doing that, but it could be fun. My first thought was it would be more fun with a kid to see it all, but Tony said he's heard it is even better when you are without children. So what do you think? Has anyone been to Orlando in November? See the plans with us change every day. I'm a very indecisive person, but I like options, so it can get tricky settling on anything in particular.

Any one wanna cruise?

2008-09-12T18:01:00.004-04:00

I sit here and talk about vacations all day long. So naturally, I want to go on one. A cruise or a regular vacation. There is always something more responsible to do with money, i.e student loans, but that doesn't seem to stop me from wanting it any way. I would love to cruise, but I'm not sure where to go. I would like to try the caribbean, but I am so much closer to Mexico. Also we have some skymiles that we could use to fly to a resort. What do you who have cruised before think about the two? Anyone have a family house on a beach somewhere? (J/K)
We have to go either after the 14th of November, or before January. I can't take time off from Jan.-April, and Tony can't before the 15th of November.
Probably we won't really go any where. It's still fun to talk about though.

Current happenings in Palizzi Land...

2008-09-02T02:10:00.002-04:00

So I never post any more because really what do I do? Summer in Arizona is like winter for most people. The temperatures are too extreme to go out in with out the risk of dying. The difference is that in cold weather at least you can dress accordingly. In hot weather there is only so much you can take off. Plus with the new job, I really haven't been up to much. I basically stay at home most of the time, and on my day off, (other than Sunday, because lets face it, not much gets done on Sunday) I try to invent things to do.

Like some may have heard recently, I have made many a foray into the baby clothes aisle. Always a fun place to go shopping for me, and as my sister's current children will tell you, I do spoil them, so I figure this up and coming Brown baby shouldn't be neglected. By the way I got the best outfit today at Gap for the baby... but Melissa will have to wait.

Tony and I did do a little weekend get away trip over the holiday. We've been wanting to take a trip down to Mexico to see some of the furniture stores since we are so close, but haven't had time/money. Not that we have money now, but we thought we would just get an idea. We left after sacrament meeting on Sunday and drove to the border town of Nogales. You can just walk across the border from there, into Nogales Mexico.
It was a lot greener on the drive than I was expecting, and not nearly as hot as it has been at home. It's kind of in this valley with little mountains around the city and tons of houses crammed up the hills.
We just looked around on Sunday and then spent the night back in the US. Today we went back to a few stores where we had seen things we'd liked previously. I should mention that the furniture stores we had gone to see were no longer there, and we didn't see any others really. But I found a cool hand hammered copper pitcher, a glass blown pitcher, and Tony picked out a wavy tin mirror with Geckos on it. It was kind of funny because I was looking at this copper pitcher thinking the price was in pesos, but turns out it was dollars. I felt bad because I had spent quite a while deciding on it, and I was going to have to put it back because there was NO WAY I was going to pay what was listed, but I ended up getting it for a little less than half of the price, and Tony did say copper is expensive, so I was happy with my purchase. I liked getting to spend time with Tony. My days off are Sundays and Monday, and he's off Saturday and Sunday, so we don't always get to do fun stuff together.
I will say that visiting countries like Mexico, Venezuela or some of the other places I've been give me an appreciation for what we have. I don't get all sappy, but I notice. We've got it stinkin' good here in the US. We have air conditioning, clean water and voning laws. We have the Humane Society, which I thought of when I saw a dog that was quite literally starving to death walk down the street and no one seemed to blink. Anyway just happy to have what I do have.

Well it's pretty late. I should go to bed. I tend to never want to go to bed, because then I have to get up in the morning, which makes no sense, but that's the case. Anyway I'll try to post more. Maybe I'll invent stuff....

Wow, Michael Phelps takes "Ugly American" to a new level.

2008-08-25T15:11:00.001-04:00

Wrongful death lawsuit news.

2008-08-12T20:56:00.003-04:00

Although we are not involved in the wrongful death lawsuit, Ann wanted me to post this link.

Deseret News Article

tp

Stacey doesn't appreciate my sense of humor, but since she doesn't post much anymore I'll just keep hijacking her blog.

2008-08-08T15:35:00.003-04:00

(Click on the photo to see more.)

tp

My dissatisfied foot goes where?

2008-08-01T19:55:00.003-04:00

This week's bar exam made about as much sense as this. . .

tp

Off to take the bar exam.

2008-07-28T15:23:00.003-04:00

I'm headed to Tucson to take the Arizona bar exam Tuesday and Wednesday. A week ago I was feeling quite good, but in the last few days the limitations of my mortal existence have been weighing on my brain. Oh well, I can always retake it if necessary. Besides, my job isn't contingent on passing, so I'll at least have a paycheck coming in.

Maybe I should change my hotel reservation and stay at the Holiday Inn Express. . . couldn't hurt.

tp

Trial update

2008-07-25T19:21:00.003-04:00

Two more month continuation. . .

Daily Herald

In other words, nothing new.

tp

If you call within the next 15 minutes. . .

2008-07-21T20:09:00.002-04:00

Why you shouldn't chum your bedroom. . .

2008-07-18T16:54:00.001-04:00

Fishing anyone?

2008-07-17T15:39:00.001-04:00

Helicopter Fishing - Coolest Sport Ever - Watch more free videos

Today's Hearing

2008-07-09T20:21:00.002-04:00

Today the court was supposed to set the trial date. However, due to David firing his attorney it has been postponed one month, which is what we expected.

KSL Story

Pool water like a nice bath!

2008-07-09T00:36:00.002-04:00

Since I have been working during the day, Tony and I have occasionally gone to the pool at night around 8 or 9pm. I thought I would post that we were just over there and I think the water was at least 92 degrees! There's not a thermometer that I know of, but it felt warmer than the air and it's 94 right now. At night I like the warm water. When it's 115 outside, not so much.

Also I just want to say that at work we talk about and research cruises every day, so I am really wanting to go on one now! I'm thinking November or December, since that is the slowest time supposedly, for my job. Guess people don't tend to book cruises around Christmas. It will all depend. There's always something else to do with our money, as I'm sure it is with anyone.

Well night all!

Ann's going home (for a month)

2008-07-08T13:06:00.002-04:00

Ann and the boys are headed to Washington. They'll be there July 11th through August 11th. She hasn't been back in six months, so she's really looking forward to going home.

tp

Message from Ann

2008-07-05T23:53:00.002-04:00

My mom just called and said David Ragsdale fired his attorney. We were supposed to get a trial date next week, but it looks like we won't know for at least another month.

Deseret News Story

tp

Nothing to Report

2008-07-01T13:01:00.002-04:00

Life's pretty boring right now. I'm busy studying for the Arizona bar exam at the end of July and I'm not looking forward to it -- but then who is? Stacey's in training for her new job as a travel agent. She's be a cruise expert so feel free to contact her if you want to book a cruise! We can't wait to be able to use some of her travel benefits.

tp

ABC TAG

2008-06-20T01:28:00.002-04:00

So I almost never get "tagged", and then I don't usually do them because lets just face it, I can't make decisions easily, but my sister tagged me, and I'm bored, so....

ABC Tag
A- Attached or single: Attached (somewhat permanently)
B- Best Friend: Tony
C- Cake or Pie: Hmm.. do I have to choose? Strawberry cake or blueberry pie
D- Day: Saturdays and Christmas Day.
E- Essential item: Well my first instinct was to say chocolate, but I'm also truly greatful for airconditioning.
F- Favorite color: Purple or turquoise
G- Gummi bears or worms: gummi worms, the sugary-sour kind
H- Home town: I don't know what my hometown is. I've been kind of a gypsy mover the last decade or so.
I- Indulgences: shopping, ice cream, getting my hair highlighted
J- January or July: In Phoenix, I'd have to say January, since July means being stuck inside with the AC cranked.
K- Kids: Spouses don't count, right? Well then I have no kids, but I do have a bunch of houseplants, and a garden that I have to check on everyday.
L- Life is incomplete without: A passion for something, anything.
M- Marriage date: November 2, 2002
N- Number of siblings: 3
O- Oranges or apples: I like both, so it would just depend on my mood.
P- Phobias or fears: Spiders, propane tanks, parking garages, and I have to admit that I am terrified of getting really really fat. Like take up three seats at the movie theater fat.
Q- Quote: Not really a quote, but after living in New Hampshire I still catch myself saying "Wicked"
R- Reason to smile: Vacations, bonus checks, losing five pounds, and having the pool open on a day where it is 115 outside!
S- Season: Fall or spring. I'm not a fan of extremes.
T- Tag: Umm... any takers?
U- Unknown fact about me: I couldn't come up with one for this. Sorry.
V- Very favorite store: Banana Republic Outlet store (which I am sad to say they have not a single one in all of Arizona!) and a new favorite would be a furniture store Tony and I found in Phoenix called Passport Imports. Love the furniture made of old doors imported from India. Probably where I will get my next furniture item.
W- Worst habit: I'm kind of messy. Not dirty messy, just clutter messy.
X-rays or ultrasounds: Umm.. neither. I hate forking over the dough to the doctor.
Y- Your favorite foods: ice cream, fresh strawberries, chocolate, pretty much anything but Eggplant. Nasty stuff, that eggplant.
Z- Zodiac sign: Cancer

My New Job

2008-06-13T19:58:00.002-04:00

Tony told me I should post something, but since I haven't really been up to much, it was hard to come up with something. He suggested I mention that I have a new job. (It doesn't start until June 23rd, which is why I haven't been up to much.) I will be working for a company, I.C.E, which is a vacation company. After a few weeks of training at the office, I will get to work from home, which I think is kind of nice. It should save on gas, and we won't have to get another car right away. What the job entails is the company will forward incoming calls to my house from people who are wanting to plan their vacations, and I will help them make the reservations. I think it kind of sounds like fun, at least I'm hoping it will be. Plus I will get vacation discounts and the possibility of free trips. I'll basically be a travel agent. I just hope I like the job because I really don't like job hunting!

Court Order

2008-06-05T21:09:00.003-04:00

Since I've been posting so much lately about court proceedings, I thought you all might like this. You don't have to be a lawyer to appreciate it.

CLICK HERE

tp