All right, I give

[jordanna]

Yes, I love and miss snowy winters. No, Ty and I can not imagine staying in Tucson forever because this climate just doesn't feel like home. But holy cow, the weather here lately has been AMAZING. This is apparently the time of year that offests the evil summers.

The Rodeo is Over

[jordanna]

While we did not actually go see the rodeo, highlights of the weekend included teaching our friends that Arizona is WAY too pokey a place to walk around outside with bare feet, running charades, and Graefe putting on a motorcycle helmet and letting Tyson hit him in the head. All in all I would call is a raging success. We finally had a housewarming party. We had planned one in the fall, but it seemed pathetic and staged since we were inviting a bunch of people we didn't actually know. This way, our house was filled with people we love and we got to invite the friends we have been slowly making to meet our crazy friends. We figure it is a good filter. If the locals don't tactfully retreat, they are keepers.

It was, as always, hard to put everyone on a plane and say goodbye. We are incredibly blessed with a fantastic community of family and friends. Thanks to everyone who came! To those of you who couldn't make it, you were well missed and lovingly mocked in your absence.

Things you don't see everyday

[jordanna]

Somebody parked right next to an air dispenser at a gas station filling their tire from a 5 lb. CO2 tank, complete with regulator. The kind you use to dispense beer. Maybe they think CO2 leaks more slowly?

When poop is memorable

[jordanna]

I was looking through the baby & kids section of craigslist (because I'm an addict, why buy new when you can hardly used cast offs?), and found an add for "The Must Have Baby Shower Gift". I was curious, what MUST you bring? Apparently no baby shower is complete without a diaper cake. That's right, a cake made out of diapers. And I quote, "Each cake is carefully and lovingly made by hand with size 1 (8-14lbs) Swaddlers New Baby diapers from Pampers to create beautiful memories of the birth of a child." I am all for practical gifts (although I am completely against disposable diapers), but somehow I never associated the phrase 'beautiful memories' with poop catchers.

"Assuage your liberal guilt"

[jordanna]

The title to this blog is in quotes, because it is lifted from an email that Kendra sent me. For those of you who didn't get it, she found a fantastic website that allows individuals to buy very reasonably priced carbon offsets for their daily lives (3$ a month for a small car). The hardest part of this pregnancy has been an almost paralyzing fear that I am bringing a child into a world that is doomed to chaos and destruction sooner than we think. I recognize that this is an extreme reaction, but at the same time if people (specifically Americans) don't wake up to the impact of their daily lives soon we are headed for trouble. As Ty tells me to get me to stop freaking out and delivering stress hormones to his baby, the best we can do is stay in education and try to live our lives as sustainably as possible. When I have more time (HA!) I want to add a 'Frugal Hippy' section to our website, detailing the affordable green strategies and products we have found. Anyway, check this site out as it has positive social and environmental impacts:

http://www.nativeenergy.com/

p.s. It is 10:30 and both my second breakfast and my lunch are gone.

Yet another IKEA experience

[jordanna]

We had a long weekend, culminating in assembling very nice tall closets in our office. Ty was at the state wrestling tournament in phoenix from thursday through saturday. I had a teaching seminar all day saturday, and took off for phoenix afterwards to meet him at IKEA. Why are we taking time out of our insanely busy remodel schedule to drive to IKEA? Because we have cats.

Once upon a time, we brewed 5 gallons of a nice IPA. This nice IPA was aging in our spare room, where all the tools and extra boxes of stuff live. We have many unpacked boxes, because what is the point of unpacking a box if you have no where for the contents to go? Enter cats. One of the furry buggers opened the spigot on our beer bucket and drained 2.5 gallons before we realized what was happening. Consequently we had a lake of beer in our spare room, busily soaking into all of our boxes. We had to promptly unpack everything, and our house has been a complete disaster ever since. We are starting the baby's room (read as the spare room where all the crap is) this week, so we need homes for all this stuff. Therefore, we found ourselves in IKEA on a saturday night, buying a closet and all the other random goodies that go along with an IKEA trip (an extra coffee press for Rodeo Days, cotton rugs, bedroom lamps, wooden blinds, and really tasty non-alcoholic sparkling beverages). Those of you who are coming down for Rodeo Days in two weeks, prepare to be amazed at our organizational capacity.

And sometimes we disagree

[jordanna]

I have heard that consuming your own placenta can help with post-partum depression. I think that the retching resulting from consumption of my placenta would also place me in a funk, so I am thinking that there is NO WAY IN HELL I am eating that thing (provided a huge famine doesn't hit tucson in the next 10 weeks). My husband, however, is borderline obsessed with the idea, and keeps trying to talk me into letting him eat it. Today I got this from him:

Placenta Pizza:
Grind placenta. Saute in 2 tbl. olive oil with 4 garlic cloves, then add 1/4 tsp. fennel, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. thyme, and 1/4 cup of wine. Allow to stand for 30 minutes, then use with your favorite home made pizza recipe. It's a fine placenta sausage topping.

I honestly can't tell if he is serious, or just trying to mess with me.