Encouraging venous return

starting jan 16th and ending jan 27th, i'll have worked ten 12 hr shifts in 12 days.  yikes.  i'm hoping i don't come out with cankles.  think that's how hillary got em?  there are 52 little bunnies admitted into the 60 bed unit at MIHS.  sheeeeesh.  i've been running my tail off and having multiple hot flashes an hour at the overcrowded nurses station.  we are running out of supplies and completely out of furniture.  i caught a poor dad today feeding his baby while sitting on a commode because there weren't any chairs left.  bless his heart.  so begins the marathon that this the next three weeks!  lots of work and lots of play.  candie and gunner are goin to yuma, andrea's coming to play in the sun, and i'm going to the 'kane for a week over the St Val's weekend.  SAMMY IS SO CLOSE.  hang in there baby girl. 

love love love.

This Day.

I'm happy that this day has come

No one man can be the change alone.  

All hands in, right?

Ugliness aside, let's focus on the task at hand.

God is the bigger than the boogeyman. Obama or Nobama.

Underneath it all, we still share the same ideals for this place.  

Reform health care, build the middle class, protect our citizens.

Americans need to learn some hard lessons about money, relationships, and integrity. 

This nation will not be turned in one or two terms.  

It took a long time for America to get here, sit tight.  

One nation, under God.

New beginnings.  

addendum: I must know where that adorable Malia got that cerulean blue coat.  

PeePants (hecho en mexico)

*This is only really a pile of rocks.  But we were at the the top nonetheless.  

Another six days in Yumer for me.  Bonus: this trip included one epic Gma, one Reba and one new nickname from Uncle Hank (I didn't even have to pee my pants to earn it).  We had a blast.  We headed north into the desert for a few days and had some fun acting up and tearing up the terrain in four wheelers.  I decided I really don't think cactus are pretty.  They look like earth tumors.  

We also went to Mexico for some flippin awesome fish tacos, pharmaceuticals, and useless paraphenalia that was likely made by starving children in dark huts.  I bought a slingshot.  I like all of these

 people. 

Embarrassingly enough, I admit to wearing this outfit a lot.  You can't tell, but this line was literally, literally over half a mile long.  We stood in it for two hours waiting to get back into the US.  Phew.  Ever the faithful tourists, we deemed it sacrilegious to go to Mexico without having a large Marg.  Uncle Hank really likes them:)Sittin around in shorts, playing cards and shielding ourselves from the sun.  Makes it hard to squawk about much in my life.  This pic should be in a girl power magazine.  Little did we know that in a few days Aunt Terry, Tammy and I would be referred to as 'charlie's angels' by the street vendors in Mexico.  That one was funny.  The others were annoying.   She's about to holler in my ear: "hang on, i totally wanna throw some sand around." My reply? "Get it, girl".

Grandpa thinks that when we get together, our brains fall out.  Do we really look like that much trouble?  We're a bucket of fun.  

PS-4 weeks to SAMMY's inauguration.  Everything should be fine, but Terry Lynn's having some high blood pressure.  Pray for resilience and a chance to relax a little before my goddaughter shows up.  If I have any kind of influence, she likely to do some throwing around of sand herself once she gets here:)

King of the Mountain....

i recently got some new gear

so i went up the mountain, no fear. 

but on the way down,

while clowning around,

i ended up flat on my rear.

My friend Megan was in town this weekend for a wedding, so i capitalized on a willing volunteer and we trekked the 1.3 miles up Camelback Mountain.  It's the highest point in Phoenix, and provides stellar views.  

The hike was pretty great, my stubby little body had fun crawling all over the red rocks.  It gets kind of intense at some points, though and requires finesse to get up over the big ones.  I was really looking forward to a particular section on the way down where you have the chance to rappel backwards using a guardrail.  ugh, i didnt get the chance.  On our way down, we were about 100 feet from the summit when I got silly.  I started getting overexcited and leaping from rock to rock.  I landed on some slippery pebbles and twisted my ankle.  DANG IT.  We had such a long way to go.  I ended up taking just as long to descend as to climb, and had to gingerly step.....all the way down the mountain.  

Was still worth it, i'm already planning my next trip up there.  

Moral of the story: she who jumps rocks rides on her butt the rest of the way down (howling internally!).