If you are wondering...

The kids are still here. (I think the Mom and the Dad are taking over the blog. I apologize.)

Updates on the kids and animal at phoenamenaldays:

One Cent is semi-banned from the pool, because when she "let's it all go," our pool lowers in sanitary conditions. However, One Cent does enjoy small jumps in the pool when her owners feel especially nice.

Mickey has been reading "big" books like The Boxcar Children series. Hopefully, the great philosopher will give us a report of his findings in the volumes he has been reading. And hopefully, the Mom will edit his report.

Minnie has been loving the pool. She is a water-baby. She could swim for hours and hours...and she does.

Chip is enjoying the libraries in Mesa, Arizona. "Excuse me, do you have War and Peace or anything by Socrates?"

Me? Oh, I am fine. I have become an amateur in ping-pong and am beating Mickey more than his comfort zone allows. I even beat the Dad. At a few points. Once in a lifetime.

So, after this run-down of the kids/animal here, you might want to get another cup of coffee.

Signing off, Roger. (Who was Roger anyway? Probably some old janitor that brought the army-guys cupcakes and muffins. The way to a guy is through his stomach and an army-guy is no exception. "Pull the troops to the south...Hi Roger! So anyway--Roger! These cupcakes are amazing!" The poor old janitor probably was tired of hearing his name all over the country and no one even knowing who he was.)


Asta la Pasta!


Twinkle and the gang.

Pool Time!

Everyday.

A couple times a day.

For at least 30 minutes.

The pool is fab-u-lous.

Sweetie-Pie!

Where's Minnie?

"Smile! Don't put your head under the water. Get together, now. Okay, smile! Take off your goggles. Okay, smile!"

Mickey attempting a daring feat.

We have a winner!

It is you!! How Egg-citing!! That is right...every dear reader who dared to post their ideas about why the eggs were cracking in my refrigerator is hereby declared a winner!!

Apparently, the 'science teacher' side of me got a little too exacting-- (according to members of the fam here at phoenamenal days) and so to make up for it I will be sending a starbucks gift card to each person who posted.

What answer was I looking for you ask??? Well...something like this....

The reason the eggs were cracked was because the refrigerator got so cold the eggs semi froze and since they are liquid-ish type of consistency, the insides expanded, cracking the shell.

Imagine the joy I had cracking those eggs to go down the drain, er I mean toilet. Gross. Half frozen egg whites and yolks. Yuck. Don't ask why I am flushing eggs down the toilet. That is a post for another day.

But I digress.

Leesh, Jen Cz, Charlene, Donovan fam, Maw maw and pappy, Cz girls, b p jansen and Kelly will all be the proud owners of a starbucks card mailed soon. Congratulations!

You see...we really are all winners;)

~the Mom

My Refrigerator

My refrigerator works very hard. Every time the door is opened, some of that Arizona heat gets in. The poor refrigerator thermostat (located in the front of the fridge) thinks the entire fridge has been exposed to Sahara desert heat. So the fridge, wanting to be a good fridge and not an oven, cranks on and cools its entire self down.

I have had lettuce freeze, milk last for weeks, and water bottles crack from the expanding water.

Add to that the egg phenomenon (for which we still don't have a winner)....

Strange things happen in this fridge.


~the mom

pics of the house

okay. many of you know that our house has been undergoing a small remodeling job and you've been waiting to 'see' the house.


the wait is over..












can't you just tell how well the house serves us????

now to overwhelm your senses, what follows are views from my downtown office:
























maybe i got a little carried away there.. sorry..

Contest still open...again....

Updated even later--OK... You all are good thinkers in thinking it was the heat....here is your hint...it wasn't the heat here that cracked the egg. It was something else. And the eggs were safe until they were put away in the refrigerator.

Soooo close...come on friends....students....don't give up...just a few more hours to get this right. Guess again!!


UPdated later--OK...I have re posted this with the picture and extended the contest to 8pm tomorrow (that would be Wednesday) in the hopes that looking at the picture and noodling over the evidence will produce a clear winner.

We have some very good guesses.

Right now there is disagreement in the fam as to whether we have a correct answer. Some of us think there are answers close enough to merit the prize. Some of us think that the answers are close but don't state the correct cause of the cracking.

So, my recommendation ( as the originator of the contest and one of the fam members who believes we haven't had a winner yet) is to keep thinking, thinking, thinking and repost with another answer...please make sure you clearly state the cause of the cracked egg.

So keep guessing.

Keep thinking.

Keep posting.

We'll check back tonight and announce a winner (we hope).

Till then.

~the Mom


P.S. Make sure you look closely at the cracked egg picture.....

Contest!!

Alrighty, get your thinking caps on folks--all 7 of you--and think , think , think.

It is a mystery of sorts....

I was getting ready to make an egg for breakfast this morning when I opened the 18 pack of eggs to find 6 of the eggs cracked!




I checked all the eggs before we left the store and none were cracked.

No one dropped the eggs on the way to depositing them safely in the refrigerator.

No one placed anything on top of the eggs (as far as I could see).

Why did the eggs crack?

Please explain. And no googling for the answer. You need to think this one out in your head.

Since this is our first contest, the prize is modest. The prizes will get better. Really.
The first person to correctly post the 'how and/or why' of this egg event will get a $5 gift card to Starbucks.

Contest closes 8pm est tomorrow or whenever the correct answer is posted in the comments section.

Ready....Set....GO!
Contest Open!!

Contest--delayed

A brief announcement for the 7 of you who woke early this morning just hoping for information about the contest...

First, I am sorry I didn't post more info yesterday. I am sorry you spent the day double-checking this blog only to find nothing new. I almost feel guilty enough to declare all of you winners.

Almost.

But sadly, my planned idea for a contest isn't quite working. I will try again later today...but it is looking a little sketchy that this contest will come to fruition.

We'll rack our brains over here for a new contest--in between swimming in the pool, lounging by the pool and floating in the pool.

Have a great Sunday!

The Mom

Friends - Old and New

Being away from home for weeks can be a strange sensation. Every day, waking up in a different and unfamiliar bed, room, and house. Driving around town discovering new streets, stores and routes to get there. Making new friends almost every day. The list continues: sunny days ALL THE TIME, weather patterns, drinking water like it's going out of style, year long tans, all confirming that we're in new surroundings (can you sing with me...~ 'after school, we take a dip in the pool, cuz it's really off the wall~~... sometimes, even before school).

instead of the nats and O's, we go to the Dbacks (skybox even!).. and the 'Skins on TV??? R U kidding.. only when they are on Monday or Sunday night Football..

then we see familiar faces.. faces we've known for a long time.... makes the whole experience seem like .. well, look at the pics above.. the twilight zone..

Another Critter and A Contest

Well, here in the desert you'd expect to find lizards and snakes and all kinds of reptilian species. Until yesterday I hadn't seen any of these. But check out what was sunning itself on base of the hot tub.




And now for the contest.....more details will come tomorrow (saturday) afternoon. But I thought I'd get the word out...stir the pot...so the 7 of you reading this blog can get those creative juices flowing and those problem solving skills sharpened.

You just might need them to win this contest.

Oh.

And there is a prize.

~The Mom

a post-a-day...

another posting from the life and times... many of you readers know about our love of asian food.. especially food from a certain "Mr. Lee's," a kind, gentle and thorough sushi restauranteur in the kentlands. (my pocketbook is better for not being as close with the Romo boys around !)

we did one of those drive-arounds the other night and came upon a restaurant that had neon-lights in the front of it that said "Sushi"...it was enough to pull over and check the place out.

i thought we were in a Mr. Lee's: nice setup, run by koreans (how did i know? we just do)..

of course, when they saw us walk in, they gave me that friendly (in-the-clan-look) which would guarantee the freshest choice of meats, fish and extra helpings without any additional surcharges. they were only slight disappointed to realize that i just look like one, but can't talk like one..(look at the wife!).

the big difference was that the proprietor appeared be a matronly woman who seemed to run the place. (brought back memories of the many years that my mom ran restaurants, bars, pubs etc..)

the sushi was good (the tuna was crazy good) and they even had "Kalbi" - the famous standby, on the menu. off the menu, they brought us fresh kimchi ..(i know, i know, we live a charmed life)...

and the best thing is that it's less than a half-mile from our house about a 2 minute drive outside of our neighborhood.







anyone hungry yet?

-D

little things

i have discovered a 'favorite' thing about being here in the desert.

if you thought it was:
1) the heat
2) the dry air
3) the good food
4) the mountain views
5) the notion of being 5 hours from san diego
6) the golf courses

you would be wrong. my current 'favorite thing' is a little car wash down the street from the house. for $12, it doesn't just put your car through an automatic wash, they put it through an entire AR rubdown. (those of you who know me know what i mean)..

just when i thought that this was just another 'touchless wash'-west version, they pull the car out and spend 20 minutes or so wiping the interior, the exterior, the bumpers, the dash, the doors, the INSIDE windows with labradoodle drool dried out etc. etc. etc. all using conditionier, windex (a la big fat greek wedding...) it was essentially a detailing job.

alas, i thought the little nicaraguan was re-invented from next door in MD to mesa!

it got so surreal, i got the chills in 110 heat watching them make a 6 yr old suburban with over 100k miles on it look virtually showroom clean. (yes, i'm a simple man).. thank goodness for little favors- the hardwork of the local mesans.. (i wish i had the beemer here for the experience - they sell annual books of car washes that are good for UNLIMITED car washes!)

there, i've spent some more good cyberspace for more worthless ramblings..

here are some pics of a golf course i played recently at a charity golf tourney - for those of you who won't make it to see flagstaff, az
the photos don't do the beauty justice. the only course i've ever seen in better condition was TPC Summerlin. for my golfing buddies, this was the first round i've played since June or so. short game suffered, but it was nice to drive 300 yards in the high altitude.
-D

The Boxcar Children

Today I finished "The Boxcar Children." It was so good. It was about four kids. The oldest one was named Henry. Then, after him was Jessie. Then, Violet. Then, Benny. And I liked best: Benny. The book was about the four children and their mom and dad died and they were living in a boxcar. And they were running away from their grandfather cause they thought he was mean and they didn't like him. And Henry got a job. He worked for a doctor. And then one time, all four of them came over and they picked cherries and then they ate there. And then, they went home to the boxcar. And they got a dog, before. And they found a blueberry tree or something like that. In the woods. And they found a dog. I think I told you that already. Okay.

And then the end was really good because Violet got sick. I don't like her. She's so, like, pouty. And so they went to the doctor's house. And he was making her get better. And Mr. Alden was their grandfather. Who they didn't like. And Benny saw him when he came over and he wanted the children because he was giving five-thousand dollars to whoever found them. And then Henry found out that he was the man when he won the Free-For-All prize, but that was a long time ago. And then he found out it was him that was his grandfather and Henry found out that he liked him. And then the girls liked him too. And everyone liked him. And the children went over to his house and lived with him. And their grandfather made a prize for them. I mean a "surprise." Okay. And then they found out the prize that the boxcar was in their backyard and waterfall and it was the same kind of thing and then so, they lived happily ever after!

That's it.

Stoooop. That's it.

from mickey uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmm


p.s. Apologizes to grammar teachers everywhere. The only thing Mickey typed was his name and the uuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmm. Sorry.

Christmas came early

Last week, two presents came early to our house.

First, a PING-PONG TABLE! (no, I'm not going to call it "table tennis." It sounds very "eh, can I have a spot of tea, eh? Table tennis, eh?") It has been a whole lot of fun! We have tournaments every day and I am believing that I'm getting better. Mickey beats me a lot (surprise, surprise), but I give him a good challenge.


Second, BIKES! Yup, we were browsing Target one afternoon and came upon a totally unbelievable price for bikes. Now, we've got six great bikes lined up in the garage. (International trade is essentially good - Dad). We've taken only one ride. Last night, we all hopped on our bikes (except the Mom who was walking One Cent). We rode into a little park with a volleyball court, a basketball court, tennis courts, and a dog park. It was mostly fenced in, so the Mom let One Cent off of the leash. You would've thought that dog had gone crazy. She tore around in the grass (the most grass she had seen in more than two weeks), raced the Dad and Chip, lay on the grass with me, gobbled treats from the Mom, and did who knows what else!



Twinkle

Dad here - the little boy can really play ping pong - he beat me in a game just today...and i'm ASIAN!

Desert Wildlife

Look what has been hanging around our house.......
I spotted it on our driveway one evening.....trying to crash our dinner party with Travis, Nora, Becky and Matt....
Charging toward Chuck and Travis...trying to get some of Becky's delicious salsa (can't blame the insect...)


Only to meet this pitiful end.....




~The Mom

Our Arrival, and a Little Bit of Home Here in the Desert.

Our arrival to Mesa, Arizona was not met with a fan fare and welcoming committee (much to my mom’s relief). Instead we slipped into town a day earlier than we thought and found our house wasn’t quite ready yet (We did some renovation in the kitchen and painted every surface (except the ceiling). I’ll post some before and after pics at some point.)

So.

Here we were.

In Arizona.

A day early.

No home in which to stay.

What is a family to do???

Go stay at a really cool resort, of course! It was so much fun. The hotel included a water park so we invited Travis and Nora (Jansen) Shank to join us for an afternoon of swimming, diving, slipping and sliding and resting on the lazy river. It was hot. The water was cool. And we relaxed our bodies from 3 days of car travel. Aaaagh. Nice choice.

The next 5 days were full of driving, buying, loading, unloading, putting together and putting away an entire house worth of stuff. It was very time consuming and if I don’t step foot into an Ikea for a few months, I will be a very happy woman. (I know, Florida friends, that is a serious statement—goes to show how often we went to Ikea in 5 days!).

We found some great furniture at good prices (who knew Sam’s Club sold leather that wasn’t red???). It was fun, exhausting and memorable. And I am so glad we are almost done. Almost.

Check out the first of many cardboard mountains--and yes, we are recycling all of that cardboard through the county , or as my makshift counter (more on that later:))

Here are some pictures of the water park/hotel. It was practically empty --off season over here so we benefited from a good rate and an empty park! It was a great way to start our life here in mesa!

Oh, and then we hung out with Travis and Nora for the evening.
Travis and Nora, Travis and Nora...expect to hear their name alot on this blog. I can't even describe how helpful they have been in our move here--everything from doing some pre-arrival shopping for me, to helping me choose granite, to unpacking, taking the girls shopping, saving us seats for our first Sunday at church, introducing us to LOTS of people, setting up furniture (Ikea furniture--dressers no less, that have like 5 billion pieces and NO written directions--just little pictures..."so Kids, do you think the screw in that picture refers to this one with the squiggly sides or this one with the straight sides...???"). And the converstaions, the food and the fellowship we've enjoyed has been so rich....they take a genuine interest in each of the kids and Nora is always thinking of fun things she can do and make with the girls. At last count it was a pillow, a quilt, some sort of food lesson and clothes shopping. I love her energy and enthusiasm to DO THINGS! (the picture above is our first hospitality--Nora brought all the food and we all ate it--it was great:))



Travis and Nora.

Yes they were irreplaceable for many practical reasons but the most important reason they were irreplaceable our first week here and remain that way is because ...well, because they are from home. Our family has known Nora's family for many years (since Emily began babysitting the kids over 10 years ago). And we have such affection for the entire Jansen family . So having Nora here is like having a little bit of home here too. And that is really sweet.


~The Mom

A Road Side Food Tribute...

A food tribute, from the road trip west….

Any one who knows our family knows how much we enjoy a good meal. On our journey west we had many good meals (and some we just ate because, well, they were free).

We ate this meal in honor of the Warings who sustained themselves on it for the 36 hours it took them to get to Manitoba last summer. Thirty six hours...who drives 36 hours??? Oh yeah, we do.

We also enjoyed a meal in honor of all of our chick-fil-a buddies...and it was, of course, free. Gotta love it! I can't find the picture right now but we had a picnic in a parking lot (sound familiar??) and toasted a delicious sweet tea to you all.

This sign was posted at a McDonald's (thanks again, Ennis family) in a tiny town in Texas where we stopped for breakfast after escaping Cricket-town in Oklahoma. Were they home schooled or something???

And this..well this was the littlest BBQ restaurant I have seen--but boy was it good!




Food memories....how fun!