3 Down, 4 To Go!

I have sold three puppies, hooray! Two males and one female now have new homes. Well, they still live here until at least the 8th of January, when they will be 7 weeks old. Then they go to their new families. I am so happy with the people we have had come see the pups- they are all experienced dog owners, they all have a terrific commitment to a new dog, and they all have a unique situation for the pups to move into. The first couple to buy a dog has a farm with horses, chickens, and a female Labrador. The second family has two boys and live in El Paso, TX, on a good sized piece of land. And the the third family is a young couple expecting their first baby come June, and they currently have two small dogs. I am thrilled that my pups are going to such fantastic homes.

The puppies are so much fun now. They play, wrestle, bark at each other occasionally, and love to be petted. It's fun to get the payoff from all of that hard work that we have put into them, and to see how happy they are making other people is awesome. This is turning out to be an amazing experience, even with the tough hurdles we have had to overcome.

In an interesting side note, finding great homes for them has led me to the decision to rehome my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Those of you that have met Hadrian know he is a fantastic dog- I am just not the right owner for him. I have found him a new home with a single woman that writes, and wants a dog to be her always-companion. Hadrian will adore being the prince of her house, she will adore having him worship her, and I will adore not having the stress of an unhappy dog. We can go visit him too, which is great for the kids. So this means that after we sell all the pups, we'll have only one dog. Our pet tally is kind of low for us as well- 3 fish, one leopard gecko, one rabbit, and one dog. Considering how many pets we had in our tiny, tiny house in California, it is ironic that now that we have the room, we don't have a lot of pets. We may have to do something about that!

Christmas Programs

O had a Christmas band performance a couple weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun to go to. Except for one thing- I had to bring all of the kids with me. Nate was in Los Angeles on a business trip, so my only option was to take them all or stay home. And there was no way I was going to miss O's concert! He had a solo, playing La Bamba on his baritone. It was awesome. Unfortunately, G started to act up during the concert and I had to take him into the hallway so he would not ruin the performance for everyone else. I was so bummed to miss out on half of the concert, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, right? I've already told Nate that I will be going to O's spring performance by myself so I can actually enjoy it.
M had one at her preschool as well. They sang 8 songs, which is rather impressive considering the age of these kids. It was the usual Nativity Story, with little kids dressed as angels and shepherd's, and even a baby doll Jesus. So cute. While on stage waiting for the show to begin, M enjoyed digging for treasure in her nose. It's moments like that that make being a mommy so rewarding!

Slowing Down

One thing I love about the time between Christmas and New Year's is how the time seems to slow down a bit. Our family rarely does anything more ambitious then a trip to the grocery store during this time. Most of our days are spent at home, enjoying our nest and all of the new items we have feathering it. It becomes a time of relaxation and, in my case, reflection on the year soon to pass.

As this blog can attest to, we have had a lot of changes in 2008. Moving to a new state, getting a new house, and starting the kids in new schools was just one part of the overhaul our lives underwent this year. The bigger changes are the ones that may not be evident on the surface- my oldest child is entering his teenage years while my youngest is moving out of his babyhood, a time of childrearing that I will not go through again. Our family life has become deeper and much more satisfying, Nate and I are closer than ever even after almost *gasp* 16 years together, and we may finally be living in a country where all men truly are equal.

2008 will be a year that I will never forget. Every thing that changed, every thing that stayed the same, all wove together to make a year that was good to me and my family, and there is truly nothing more than that that I could ever want.

Merry Christmas!

Wouldn't you love it if Santa put one of these little guys under your tree? As you can see, or maybe not since they are climbing all over the place, we have 7 pups in that basket. I can safely say that all 7 of the pups pulled through pneumonia, and are healthy and thriving! Now we are getting down to the business of finding new homes for them, because despite their adorable little faces we are not looking to add another dog to our household.

Our Christmas was very nice indeed. It was the first in our new home town of ABQ, and we really enjoyed the colder weather and low-key way we celebrated the holiday. The kids had a blast opening presents, of course, and Nate and I enjoyed watching them. I unfortunately came down with a cold yesterday, and sadly it has been accompanied by a relentless headache. The electric guitar that O got, the drum set the M got, and the noise-making toys that G and E got are not helping with that. But I am so happy to see them enjoying themselves that I am willing to suffer for the cause. Isn't that one of the joys of motherhood?

Let it Snow!

We are having our first good snowfall of the year today, and the kids are loving it. It started snowing overnight, and kept up throughout the day. The mid-afternoon brought a bit warmer air temperatures, so a lot of what we had on the ground melted. Then the temps dropped again, and now the snow is starting to build up a bit.
I am so thrilled to have snow coming down! I really missed Winter in California- it just never seemed right to have a heat wave around the Holidays. Now with cold weather and snow, I feel like I am having my first real Christmas in years. I have been out catching snowflakes on my tongue, packing snowballs, and listening to the distinctive crunch-crunch-crunch of fresh snow under my feet.

Poor Nate is missing all of this fun! He flew to LA today and won't be back until Thursday night. I understand there has been some rain in LA, so at least he won't be dealing with weather shock when he returns.

Now the kids and I are hoping for a delayed start tomorrow, or, even better, a SNOW DAY!

Pupdate

Life is not all roses and hearts in puppy land. Much to our dismay, they started to come down with pneumonia over the weekend and now all of them have it. They get antibiotics twice a day, plus 2-3 breathing treatments a day. This is in addition to the bottle feeding, which fortunately now only happens every 6 hours. The vet did not give us great odds for them making it; only about a 50/50 chance per pup. Those odds mean we will more than likely lose a couple of them, but we are fighting hard to keep them all alive.

They are actually doing better with this than I expected. For the most part, they are healthy pups- they sleep, play, eat, and use the potty like normal healthy pups. But they have this cough that sounds horrible, and the danger to them is basically asphyxiation. Which totally breaks my heart, so I am administering coupage to them (thumping their chests) many times a day to keep the stuff in there broken up and moving out. This weekend they will be starting the weaning process, and once they are off bottles their pneumonia and congestion should clear up. As long as they make it until then.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year Because Of...

EGGNOG! Yes, I love me some eggnog. Every year when the Holidays roll around, I wait with baited breath for the extensive selections of eggnog to arrive in the refrigerated case of the grocery store. And every year I am not disappointed by the variety of brands to try. Although I must admit to being something of a purist when it comes to eggnog- I stay away from pumpkin eggnog, and coffee eggnog, and anything else too far from the standard eggnog formula. Vanilla eggnog is an exception to this, as Southern Comfort makes one of the best eggnogs I have ever had. Both their regular flavor and vanilla spice are yum yum yum.

And yet this is not the best eggnog I have ever had. That distinction goes to a bottle I purchased from Whole Foods last week. It comes in an old fashioned glass milk bottle, with a green cap. There is no label on the sides, no nutrition information, and the ingredients are fairly straight-forward: milk, heavy cream, sugar, and eggnog base. Which in this case is a rich, eggy, nutmeg-laced concoction that results in the most divine eggnog I have ever had. If you have a Whole Foods nearby and you love eggnog even half as much as I do, it would be worth going there and picking up a case or two. I mean, a bottle or two.

Now, how do I like to enjoy my eggnog? A variety of ways, in fact. In the morning, a homemade eggnog latte is just the thing to jump start my day. Even better? An eggnog chai latte, oh yeah. Mid afternoon? Straight up, cold from the fridge. Evening time? Well, now we are talkin'- eggnog with Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum is a dream come true, with an extra grating of fresh nutmeg on top.

But the joys of eggnog in my life do not stop there, oh no. I've made eggnog scones, eggnog cookies, and, my favorite recipe with eggnog of all time, Eggnog Quick Bread. And since I love all of you so dearly, I will share my recipe for it so you can all run out and try it right away.

Eggnog Quick Bread

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg (this is key, must be fresh! And a half teaspoon would not be a bad thing to bump it up to.)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups eggnog
2 teaspoons rum extract (find it with other extracts, like vanilla, or substitute dark rum)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs, eggnog, rum extract, vanilla extract, and salt. Once combined, stir in the flour mixture just until moistened. Pour into loaf pan and bake in the center of the oven for 45-60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

(Just a small suggestion for those eggnog addicts like myself- make this in 3 mini loaf pans and freeze two of them as soon as they are cool. Otherwise you WILL eat it all in the matter of a day or two. Or less, depending on your willpower.)

Popcorn Revelation

Alright, so I am a dork. I love me some popcorn, but not nearly as much as M does. She wants to eat it every single day, and loves it plain, with salt, with butter, with herbs, whatever. She doesn't care, as long as she gets to eat popcorn. And since popcorn is a whole grain and by itself rather healthy, why not? My air popper has been getting a lot of use over the past two months, and although it is fairly easy to use I still hate dragging it out every time I need to make popcorn.

Several years ago I saw a Good Eats episode where Alton Brown said you could make popcorn in the microwave using a paper bag and a staple. Well, I was too chicken to try it. Then my favorite food blog had a feature about microwave popcorn, and she did not use a staple. Woohoo! My fears of microwaving popcorn we now null and void. I bought some paper bags, dumped in some popcorn and a bit of olive oil and salt in one, popped it in the microwave, and voila- it was perfect.

So why does this make me a dork? Because for YEARS I could have been making popcorn like this and saving myself a lot of trouble. And before I knew about the evils of commercial microwave popcorn, we used to eat that stuff. And this was so easy, so fast, and really, really tasty that I foresee us eating a lot more popcorn in the future. I may even make some to string on the tree this year. Well, without the salt and olive oil, of course. It will be hard enough for M to not eat the popcorn on the tree, why tempt her even more?

I'm Now a Mom to Septuplets!

Not septuplet humans, thank goodness, but septuplet puppies. Yes, Pandora did have 8, but for some unknown reason she decided she no longer wanted to be a mother and bit one of her pups on Thanksgiving evening. Off to the ER veterinary hospital in town went Blue Boy, O, and I where we learned that he would be fine and would just need some antibiotics to prevent infection. Unfortunately, while we were there Pandora killed one of the boys, and we promptly took all the puppies away from her. Why she did this, we can only speculate- she has come down with a doggie cold, and possibly her not feeling well convinced her that she could not care for a litter of pups.

So now they are my puppies, and I find myself bottle feeding them every 3 hours or so around the clock. Add in washing them up, cleaning up after them, and my usual responsibilities, and I am working my bum off! But, the pups are so cute and sweet to hold, that it is a small trouble to care for them. Add in the fact that they will not be on bottles longer than another 4-5 weeks, max, and I can handle it.

In other news, we are knocking on wood that strep has moved out of our house and not spread to anyone else. A few more days and I will breathe a sigh of relief!

Enter the Sickers

It's that time of year again, when runny noses and coughing abounds. Up until very recently, we have been rather lucky to only have a bit of a head cold go through the house every few weeks. But this weekend heralded the arrival of the real sickers- Miss E came down with a bad sore throat yesterday, and after taking a peek at it this morning and seeing red spots, I knew it was probably strep. Off to the Dr we went, where we received confirmation of strep throat and a prescrip for antibiotics. Now we are in waiting to see if it will limit itself to her or make it's rounds through some of the other kids. I am hoping that it does not, especially since this week is Thanksgiving and trips to the Dr on Thursday are not possible. Ya'll know Murphy, though, and are probably betting I can count on at least one sick kid coming down with a sore throat on that day.

We Have Puppies!

I considered titling this, "I'm a Grandma", since that is what E says I am, but the idea is too painful to actually contemplate.

Anyhow. Pandora had her puppies! They were born on the 20th of November, right on her doggie due date. What a smart girl. She had 5 boys and 3 girls, and all are doing well. As you can see in the pic, they are all yellow and oh-so-cute. I was up all night playing midwife and crashed big time the next day. Pandora is an excellent mother, so excellent in fact that she won't go eat or drink unless I make her! And even then she is anxious to get back to her pups as soon as possible.

The kids are all enjoying seeing the puppies and spending some time with them. I know it will be tough for them to see them go to new homes, but to me that is not a reason to stop them from enjoying the pups now. They are completely aware that we are going to be selling all of the puppies, and I plan on involving them in that process as much as possible as well.

Waiting

Everyone in the house is waiting for the big event! Notice my cobbled together whelping box, including use of duct tape. I could write a sonnet to the glories of duct tape, but I will spare all of you from that. E loves going in the whelping box with Pandora, especially when we have all the heating elements turned on- a heated blanket, a space heater, and a heat lamp. It's downright cozy in there when it is all up and running. I've even had a bit of a nap in there with the dog one day. But don't tell anyone, okay?

Puppy Watch

No puppies yet! And no new signs of impending labor. I have absolutely no patience when it comes to waiting for babies, and this is driving me insane. Although I am enjoying this whole process, I want to see the puppies NOW and to not have to wait any longer. Too bad that I have no choice but to wait, and to watch my dog like a hawk.

In other news, our weather here is de-lightful (my apologies to my SoCal friends, but I really am enjoying the cooler weather!) When we get up in the morning it is below freezing, and over the course of the day it warms up into the upper 50s to low 60s. We are having a heat wave today- a high of 67 is forecasted! The kids are slowly getting used to the difference in weather, although O has officially gone on record to say that he hates the cold. Of course, if he bothered to put on pants instead of shorts and maybe pulled a jacket on before taking the dog out at 7 in the morning, he may not be so cold. But to a 12 year old boy that is way too much work and he would rather stand outside and suffer in the freezing air.

Yes We Did

Of course I am thrilled that Obama is the President-Elect. But that is not what this post is about. This post is about my dog, Pandora, and how I paid to breed her to a Standard Poodle. Pandora is a gorgeous yellow Lab (you can see her pic in my post about the local playground) with the best temperament and disposition of any dog I have ever encountered. She is a saint with my kids and has nothing but love and adoration for every member of the family. I was there when my sister's Labrador, Sunny, gave birth to Pandora and her siblings, and decided to do the same with my dog.

However, I went in a slightly different direction from my sister, and chose to breed Pandora to a Poodle to get Labradoodles. Yup, that's right folks- designer dogs. With a designer price tag, I might add. Anyhow, the breeding occurred a couple of months ago, and now I find myself with a very pregnant dog and puppies due in the next week or so. It is exciting and stressful all at the same time, but mostly exciting. The stress I am feeling right now is the fact that the whelping box has yet to arrive and I had to cobble together an adequate substitute with old baby gates and painter's drop cloths. Hey, I didn't say everything about this had to be designer!

Hopefully the box will come tomorrow and Pandora will hold off on whelping the pups until this weekend at the earliest. And I hope that when she does finally whelp, she has a litter of extremely healthy puppies!

Tricks or Treats

Halloween was a lot of fun in our new neighborhood. There were lots of people out, and tons of kids running around enjoying the evening. It was not too cold either, which was fantastic. O decided to not dress up this year and instead opted to hand out candy. He did say he was dressing up as a band geek though-

E dressed as a witch, M as a Southern Belle (the ruffles on the costume won her over), and G went as Eeyore.


G made a pretty good Eeyore- He was uninterested in getting candy, did not want to smile for the camera, and in general kept a hung-dog (hung-donkey?) demeanor throughout the evening.

Happy Birthday Miss M!

My little girl turned 4 the other day, and she had a terrific birthday. M was pleased to have Grandma E and Aunt D here for a visit on her birthday, and she received wonderful gifts from all of our family.


Her cake was a definite highlight! She asked for strawberry, but no one really likes strawberry cake, now do they? So I was a bit sneaky and colored a white cake pink and then frosted it with vanilla butter cream. When we cut into it, it was this gorgeous pink color with thick white frosting, and M never knew the difference. Ah, the little deceptions we do as parents.


Each day since then, she has woken up and asked first thing if she is still four. I suppose going back to 3 would a cruel trick?

The Local Playground

This morning I took the youngest two kids and our dog, Pandora, to the local playground. It has been under construction for a while now, and is pretty much finished. At least it is finished enough that we can go play on it. I figured I would post some pics of our time there.

Two kids that love the swings:
(Notice the landscapers in the back finishing the decorative walls!)

Pandora had a good time too:


The slide was a big hit as well:

I even had a little science lesson:

A Sigh of Relief

My food processor works. Hooray!

Living in a Gated Community

Yes, it is true- we live in a Gated Community. And all of the snobbery and exclusiveness that goes with it? Well, we don't have any of that. See, our gated community is inside our house. Baby gates are a wonderful invention, keeping kids safe from things like open stairs, hot stoves, and Mom's books. We have several gates in our house and rely on them to help keep our little G safe.

When we first moved into this house, we were excited by the prospect of having a Great Room with the whole family in it. We placed a gate between this large room and the hallway that leads to the stairs, delineating this area as G-friendly. We put cabinet latches on all of the kitchen cabinets, an oven lock, knob guards, and heat shield on our stove, and a child-proof handle on our pantry door, all in the effort to make the Great Room as family-friendly as possible. G had his own ideas, though.

First he started by climbing the stools to the island and getting on there. So the stools moved into the front room. Then he started climbing the chairs around the table and getting up on the table. Any time we caught him up there he got busted for 'table dancing'. And then he figured out how to move chairs around the kitchen in order to climb onto the counters. I lost a very nice bowl during one of his escapades, another time he climbed into a sink full of dirty dishes and soapy water in order to have a bath (fully clothed, of course), and yet another time he emptied the fruit bowl of all it's contents, taking bites out of things as he went.

A few days ago I was working on dinner and had my food processor out. G came over to get involved in the action and pulled the base of the processor off the counter before I could stop him. That thing is HEAVY, and could do some serious damage if it fell on someone. Luckily, it hit the floor and tipped onto his leg, leaving a bruise but nothing worse. The stem of the food processor, however, broke upon hitting the tile and I have yet to get brave enough to test it and find out if it will still work.

Following this calamity, I ordered a new baby gate for the Great Room, one that will effectively cut it in half and keep G out of the kitchen entirely. He is not pleased to lose half of his play area, but it is just too dangerous to have him in the kitchen. I have to admit it is wonderful to open the dishwasher and not have him come running immediately to get into the knives or jump on the door or slam it shut when I turn my back to put a dish away. It's kind of nice to have the sacred kitchen space back.

I don't think I will be in a hurry to let him back into the kitchen any time soon.

Is this abuse? You decide.

I have seen stories in the news where parents have locked their kids in closets, cages, basements, you name it. And it is always child abuse according to the courts. But when your child asks to be locked up? And then looks like this-
Is it a crime? I don't think so.

All Hail... Hail?

This past week Albuquerque held their annual Balloon Fiesta, which is the largest of its kind in the United States, and the most photographed festival in the world. Last weekend we were planning on attending at least one of the events, but bad weather rained out most of the weekend. Over the course of the week we saw loads of balloons all over the city, including some of the unusual shapes like a mug of root beer, a can of Pepsi, a dancing bumblebee, and a ladybug perched on a flower. We also had a few up-close-and-personal sightings, like several landings nearby and also a landing at O's school. One morning I had my camera with me and this was what we saw drifting over E's school:
As we got closer to the weekend, we were all becoming increasingly excited about going to the festival. The excitement was dampened somewhat on Friday when they had a balloon crash and the copilot was killed and the pilot left in critical condition. Despite that, we decided to get up at 5:30am on Saturday and make the trip to Balloon Fiesta Park to watch the mass ascension. After sitting in traffic for a good 30 minutes, we learned that the launch was cancelled due to wind, so we headed back home with the idea of returning in the evening to watch the balloon glow. Mother Nature had other plans.

The meeting of the outer edge of Hurricane Norbert and a Pacific cold front directly over New Mexico resulted in tumultuous weather on Saturday. Winds and downpours and lightning and thunder whipped the area all afternoon, punctuated by an intense hail storm that sounded like, well, like an intense hail storm. The pellets of hail were anywhere from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, and pounded our neighborhood for a minute or two. The remaining hail on the ground looked oh-so-briefly like snow.



Needless to say, Saturday evening's festivities were cancelled, as well as Sunday morning's Farewell Ascension. So our first Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque was a bust, with us not attending a single event. Hopefully next year Mother Nature will cut us some slack.

Although, the hail was pretty freakin' awesome.

Weather Change

Over the weekend, we got our first cold front. Lower temperatures, rain, and wind came to the area and gave us a taste of Fall in ABQ. It also brought the cancellation of quite a bit of the Balloon Fiesta, much to our dismay. The kids and I did get up early on Saturday and hike into the mesas behind our housing development to watch the mass ascension. There were hundreds upon hundreds of hot air balloons taking to the sky in waves, but with the wind currents being what they were, the balloons did not drift our way. There were, however, nine balloons being launched about a half mile from our house, so we had a close view of their inflation and ascension. Then they drifted about our neighborhood for an hour or so before landing in various spots.

Sadly, I do not have pictures to share because my camera had a dead battery. O did get some good shots with his camera, though, so I will see if he wants to upload them later on today. We plan on going to some of the festivities this coming weekend, and right now the weather looks like it will cooperate with us!

Me vs. ABQ

Every day I have started a new post, but every day I have deleted it after just a few lines. Seems that of all of us in the Eriksen clan, I am having the most trouble adjusting to our new life. It's been rather difficult to adjust to leaving my friends and the familiar parts of my life in Whittier. Although I love my new house and feel comfortable in it, I still feel awkward anywhere else. G has become the worst child to take in public, bar none, which means I spend my time housebound or in public and feeling miserable because he screams at the top of his lungs when things don't go his way. Which often happens. :) Add in all the extra time I am spending in the car dropping off and picking up kids, and my quality of life has taken a bit of a nosedive.

So in this epic battle of me vs. ABQ, I am not coming out the winner. Yet. I will though, since I am way too stubborn to accept anything less than victory!

In other news, tomorrow marks the first day of the Balloon Fiesta. I am looking forward to seeing hundreds of hot air balloons gracing the very big, very beautiful sky.

Oh No You Didn't

Shortly after E started school, she brought a letter home from the school nurse stating that she needed to get the varicella vaccine. The deadline for getting it was September 19th, so I promptly got on the phone to schedule her an appointment with a pediatrician. Much to my shock, though, I could not find a pediatrician that could see her before November, much less by the 19th. So I had to call the Public Health Department and get an appointment with them, which was still not until the 25th (today.) I went into E's school and spoke with the nurse, and they said it would be fine to be a few days late.

Last week we got another letter from the nurse stating that she must bring in her proof of vaccination by the 26th or she would not be able to return to school. Who knew NM was so anal about this sort of thing?!

Anyhow, fast forward to today. I took both kids out of school to go (I figured if E needed the shot so did O), and spent a long time in an empty waiting room at the Health Department. M and G were their usual ornery selves, so by the time we were called in I was a bit of a mess. Except- we weren't called in. The nurse came out to tell me that E did not need a varicella shot, that she had already had one. Duh, I knew that, but the school nurse said she needed another one. Turns out she didn't, so after 2 hours of wasted time we returned to E's school for me to talk with the nurse there.

I came prepared with the official vaccination requirements for the State of New Mexico to show the school nurse in the hope that they would not try and tell me again that she needed another shot. The school nurse pulled up E's file, and said, "Oops- looks like we didn't enter her varicella vaccination. Sorry about that, she is all clear."

Um, right? You managed to hand write two notices for her to bring home, but couldn't manage to properly enter her vaccination records into the computer?

Riiiiight.

All Partied Out

This is what happens when you OD on Goldfish crackers:



Notice the broken crackers all over the floor and on his face. The poor kid can't hold his carbs.

I Love Sundays!

This morning we decided to celebrate the imminent arrival of Fall with a special breakfast. I got up early and started pumpkin pancakes and bacon, plus oatmeal for Nate the Vegan. Nate took O to Starbucks for a Sunday paper, coffee, milks for the kids, and chai (extra pump, please) for me. I tried out a new recipe for pumpkin pancakes and it was fantastic- thick pancakes yet light and fluffy with that perfect combination of spices and pumpkin-y goodness. I made the bacon in the oven, which is the second-best way to make bacon (the absolute best is on the George Foreman grill, but the cleanup is a pain in the patookis). Then we all sat down to enjoy breakfast together before starting our day.

I have to say this whole eating-together-at-the-table thing is awesome. We eat dinner together 7 nights a week, and then add in at least one breakfast or lunch on the weekend. The time our family spends gathered around the table has become my favorite part of our move. What I took for granted as a child, meals done family style, is now a cherished part of my life as a mother. I have a new appreciation for all my mom did in making meals for us and getting us to the table at the same time. So thanks, Mom, for laying such firm groundwork for me to build on with my own family.

My Eyes! My Eyes!

E and I made a trip to Target this morning to pick up a birthday gift for a friend of hers. E will be going to her party later in the day at ABQ Jump, and is rather excited about it.

While comfortably ensconced in the welcoming atmosphere of my second favorite store (anyone want to make a guess what my #1 favorite store is?), E and I decided to wander the aisles and do a little perusing. First off came the make-up section, followed quickly by the kitchen supply area. This took quite a while, since my kitchen is my favorite room in the house and I am a sucker for more stuff for it. (I picked up two large square-ish red melamine bowls to add to the red theme in my kitchen, woohoo! Love Target!) After that came a stroll through clothing, baby, sporting goods, and finally the Halloween section.

Ah, Halloween. That Pagan holiday that has become the second most-decorated holiday after Christmas, of course (anyone find that ironic?). Target has an entire corner of the store dedicated to Halloween. Skulls and pumpkins mingle with headless statues and severed hands in gory bliss, tempting people to turn their homes into mini haunted mansions for the next month. I like Halloween as much as the next person, but I am a bit turned off by the sheer repulsiveness of many of the decorations. Cute pumpkins: good. Oozing masks and screaming toys: bad. Packages of candy wrapped in shades of orange, black, and purple: good. Food shaped like severed fingers and bloody eyeballs: really bad.

My perplexity and yes, nausea at the scope of decorations available was not what inspired this blog entry. It was what lay behind the grinning masks of death and spooky trees that had my eyes burning in shock and pain. There, on the back wall of Target was a sizable collection of Christmas decorations. Yes, Christmas decorations, in September. Technically speaking, it is still Summer and yet people can buy Christmas lights and yard ornaments. There I stood surrounded by orange and black and doom and gloom, and up on the wall presiding over the madness and mayhem was a collection of jolly Santas and smiling snowmen. Seen from my perspective, they no longer seemed filled with holiday cheer but more of a maniacal glee at the scene below.

I may never look at Christmas yard statues without seeing witches and bats and blood again.

Our Blended Family, Dietetically Speaking

For many people, planning dinners and going to the grocery store is anything from tedious to joyous, depending on one's point of view. It's filled with the usual challenges of balancing nutrition with food preferences of each family member, what the cook likes to make, how much things cost, and sometimes special circumstances like allergies or intolerances are factors for the planner. Luckily for me, in my house allergies and intolerances aren't an issue. However, we do have an interesting set of parameters that I follow when doing meal planning in our house.

As many of you know, Nate is vegan. Strict vegan, in the purest sense of the term- no animal products of any kind, including honey, and nothing like sodium caseinate that is derived from milk sources. I have to scrutinize labels of all products that are pre-made, like bread and pastas. Because of this, we have shifted more towards a whole food diet and staying away from most processed foods. This is a good thing, one that I am completely excited about and in support of.

However, the other level of challenges that I face in meal planning is the fact that Nate is the only one in our house that is vegan. About 98% of the time, I am vegetarian. The occasional piece of bacon or some chicken enters my diet when we eat out, but at home I eat vegetarian. The kids are omnivores, and not happy about avoiding certain foods during dinner. They miss butter, and milk, and cheese, on top of missing things like my meatloaf and meat lasagna and grilled chicken. I cook vegan meals for the family, with every dish being free from all animal products. Although I am a fairly good cook (if I do say so myself, and I do), it still feels like a difficult challenge to make tasty meals that satisfy all members of the family.

Every so often the kids and I get to live it up and make a non-vegan meal. This happened the other evening when Nate went in to work late and stayed late. I made homemade macaroni and cheese (five kinds of cheese, no lie), carrots glazed with honey and butter, parker house rolls, and for dessert- peach pie with double vanilla ice cream. It was a lovely meal, and the kids were in ecstasy with each bite, exclaiming how much they loved butter and cheese and honey and how un-vegan it all was. There was enough left over that we got to eat it for dinner a second night in a row while Nate scrounged his own dinner. And then tonight it was back to vegan food, with quinoa, spelt, vegan crumbles, lots of veggies, and seasonings like rice vinegar and Bragg's, with roasted asparagus on the side. Good, but not macaroni and cheese.

Our Super-Safe Neighborhood

Sadly, ABQ is known for it's high crime rate. And of course it's DWI/DUI rate too. When one thinks of a safe place to raise kids, one does not usually think of ABQ. However, generalizing an entire city by the terrible statistics of a few parts of it is unfair and in this case, not appropriate. We live in the Westside of town (yes, they call it the Westside, no, it isn't like the Westside in LA, thank goodness!), on the very edge of ABQ proper. Behind us is the Petroglyph National Monument, and the heart of ABQ is a wee bit of a drive away on I40.

Our neighborhood has a low crime rate, which is to be expected in a new neighborhood full of houses with alarm systems and lots of construction still going on. But the safety of our neighborhood has little to do with that- it has a lot more to do with it's residents. So far we know of 3 Albuquerque Police Officers that live here (oh, and they get to keep their squad car all of the time, so they are parked on the street or in their driveways when they are at home), one Bernallilo Country Sheriff (also in possession of his squad car all the time), a state police trooper (again with the car), and an FBI agent. And they all have kids, which they all let ride around the neighborhood on their bikes and spend their time out of doors. What cop would let their kids do that if they knew the area was bad, I ask you?

Kids Being Kids

One of the major reasons why we chose to move to ABQ in general and to this neighborhood in particular was to provide our kids with a bit more freedom. When we were children, Nate and I ran loose in the neighborhood with all of the other kids, riding bikes and just being kids. In CA, our neighborhood was not safe for the kids to ride their bikes around or even play in the front yard by themselves. Traffic was dangerous and it wasn't exactly the safest area to raise kids.

Here in ABQ, our community is perfect for the kids to run around in and play without worry. Although it is not a gated community, it is fairly enclosed with no traffic driving through on their way to other places. The streets have sidewalks and streetlights, little to no traffic for hours on end, and lots of places for the kids to play and explore. There are parks and playgrounds, hills and paths, and plenty of neat stuff in between. O and E have been enjoying exploring the area and making friends while they are at it.

Speaking of friends, they both had sleepovers last night. O had his friend 'I' spend the night, and E went to her friend C's house. Luckily for us, I and C are brother and sister, so the four of them can get along as well. They all stayed up late, slept in, and are now going in and out of both houses and through the neighborhood riding bikes and in general being kids.

I am so happy to see my kids have parts of their childhood be as carefree as mine was. I love seeing them ride off on their bikes and come home an hour later dirty and happy. I like hearing their voices and their friends' voices calling through the house, and knowing that they are enjoying their new lives here in Duke City.

Geeks R Us

As many of you know, Nate and I are a bit nerdish. He is more nerdy than I, of course. But our geekiness has been something that we have embraced and even worked hard to pass on to our children. It appears that in the case of our oldest son, O, we may have been a bit more successful than we had anticipated. Not only did O try out for band and get accepted, but his instrument of choice is the Baritone. I suppose it could have been worse- it could have been the tuba.

Retraction on What Sucks the Most

I was rather ecstatic yesterday to learn that Albuquerque is getting their very own Sephora store! In fact, it opens tomorrow at the mall that is conveniently located across the way from M's school. How did I get so lucky?! I drive by there at least 3 times a week, so popping in whenever I feel like it will be so easy. I am so thrilled that I have a beloved Sephora to shop at- words can not do my excitement justice.

And of course, this now opens up the slot for what sucks the most about ABQ. As of right now I do not have anything to put in that spot, but I am sure I will come up with something. Ha.

Update on E's Eyes

Real quick- she does not need glasses! Her vision is off a touch, but not bad enough to merit glasses for even part-time usage, especially since she has no trouble seeing. E was quite relieved to learn that she does not need to join her Dad and older brother in the four-eyed club. At least not yet. ;)

Crazy Wednesdays

With three kids in three different schools, my daily schedule can be a bit cluttered. Wednesdays, though, take the cake. I spend a lot of time in the car on this day of the week, dropping off and picking up kids from all over the city. Here's what each of their schedules for the day looks like:

O- Starts school at 8:10am, gets out at 2:45pm.
E- Starts school at 8:45am, gets out at 12:30pm.
M- Starts school at 9:30am, gets out at 1:00pm.

As you can see, this makes for a crazy Wednesday! Luckily, Nate takes O and M to school in the morning. M goes into early care at 8:30am instead of us waiting until 9:30 to drop her off. All I have to do is drop off E at 8:45, and then I have a few hours with G to relax or run errands. Then at 12:15 we leave to pick up E, then drive straight over to get M. Back home until 2:20 when we head out for O, and then back home again.

Today we have an extra trip out: E is going to the eye doctor for an exam. She failed her distance screening at school again, this time worse than the last. She does not, however, have trouble seeing the board at school despite sitting completely in the back. So she may not need glasses until she is driving, or if she plays sports and needs to see the ball on the other end of the court/field. Her appointment is at 4:15pm today and I will post a quick update once we get back. If I have any energy left from my crazy day, that is.

The Thing That Sucks The Most About ABQ

There is no Sephora store.

Wow, It's True

New Mexican children really DO cut their teeth on raw Hatch Chiles.


G really liked it! I was worried when Nate passed the chile over to him, but he dove right in and followed each bite with an "Mmmmmmmm". Takes after his father, I think, since I am so wimpy about spicy food.

And since I am playing with pictures, here is a shot of my wonderful kitchen:


I have been enjoying cooking meals for my family here. There is a LOT more counter space, and the pantry is awesome. Add in our gorgeous table that easily sits all six of us, and it is a dream come true for me.

A Real Candidate for Change, Plus Ramblings

I propose a truly different sort of candidate for President, one that is so completely out of the political spectrum that change is a given:


In other news, O is getting used to his school and is enjoying it! He likes the small size, the small classes, and the involved teachers. For those of you not aware of what school he is going to, it is 21st Century Public Academy. It's a charter school and has high ratings; higher than the average Albuquerque school and much higher than the average New Mexico school. It's perfect for him. He is getting ready for his first OSI (Out of School Instruction), which is an overnight trip to Hummingbird Music Camp that starts tomorrow. It is a bonding trip for the 6th grade and their teachers, giving them all a chance to get to know one another better and enjoy their course work outside of the classroom.

M has been having a bit of trouble adjusting to school. She loves it, of course; that's not the issue. It's more that she is not following the rules all that well- yelling at the other kids, doing a bit of pushing or pulling on clothes when the kids aren't doing what she wants, that sort of thing. Luckily the teacher has been working with us to correct this behavior and get M back into the good student she normally is. She had a very good day on Friday and was commended by every member of the family.

E is doing terrific at school and is making a lot of friends. She has decided that her teacher is very nice and that she likes being in an indoor school. She has also been spending a lot of time out in the neighborhood riding her bike and playing some of the other kids.

Last but not least, G made the first mess on the carpet. He has been sick with a cold, and it went straight into his chest as usual. Yesterday morning he started coughing and began to choke, and puked his strawberry breakfast bar all over the floor upstairs. Poor kid. He's fine; we dosed him with some expectorant and put a humidifier in his room, and he is much better today. Fortunately, my carpet recovered as well after some elbow grease application.

I'm Scared

I went to the MVD Express today to finish getting my new registration on our van. Sadly, I had to go with the dorky hot air balloon license plate, since the MVD Express is a licensed outside contractor that provides motor vehicle services for the real department of motor vehicles, along with a convenience fee for people like me that go there. (I must admit, it is a brilliant idea- no long lines, no waiting weeks for appts, no rude people, it's awesome and worth every penny of additional cost!) I am now an official resident of the state, complete with driver's license and vehicle registration.

That, however, is not what I am scared of. Here's what got me going today- while getting my papers processed, a woman next to me was getting her driver's license renewed. Part of the procedure is a general eye exam to make sure you can read road signs and not kill the crazy people crossing the street in front of oncoming traffic. So this lady is taking the eye exam, and she keeps getting a lot of the letters wrong. The clerk asks her if she wears glasses, and the woman says yes but only for reading, otherwise her vision is fine. The clerk asks her to try again with a new batch of letters, and again, and again, until finally she says, "Close enough, I think you'll be fine."

WTH?

And THEN, as if this weren't enough, she gives the lady the option of a 4 year license or an 8 year, and the lady takes the 8 year! I wonder how bad her vision will be by the time those 8 years are halfway over? And to think she is out there sharing the road with thousands, and trying to navigate the psycho frontage road system and dodge insane pedestrians. My heart has palpitations just thinking about it.

Come on, people, it should be mandatory to Think and Drive!!!!

The Weather

Lately I have gotten several questions on what our weather has been like, so I figured I would take a moment to cover it here on the blog. First off, yes we live in the desert. Yes it does get hot. But it is high desert (we are over 5000ft in altitude here) so it's not like the Sahara or even Palm Springs. The Summer months of June-July-August are warm to hot, with the average high in the low 90's. Some days are hotter, some days are cooler. Nights are in the upper 60's to low 70's, which is nice after a hot day.

Now that we are moving towards Fall, the temperatures are going down. Highs are now in the 80's, with a day of low 70's and rain every so often. Nights are getting cooler too- last night our low was 50F. Today it will warm up to 88, and by next week we'll be back down in the 70's.

As for Winter, we have already been warned to buy a snow shovel before we need it. HOORAY! I do love me some snow, which I think means I will be the lucky one who gets to do the shoveling. ABQ does not get a lot of snow, and it usually only hangs around for a day at most. Every so often, though, they get a nice storm that can close schools for the day and require driveway clearing before we can leave the house. I can't wait!

Lightning Striking

"Mom, maybe having a bath during a thunderstorm isn't the best idea you have ever had..."

First Day Of School, and a New Family Member

Today is O's first day of Middle School. When did my baby get so old? Oh, that's right- he turned 12 a couple of weeks ago. Nate and I joke that he is entering the transitional period, and that was definitely in evidence yesterday at an introductory ice cream social at his new school. A smile would not appear on his normally sunny face, and there was a lot of foot-shuffling going on. Never was a pre-teen so happy to go home as that kid was! He spent most of the rest of the day in a sullen silence, evidently dreading going to his new school in the morning. However, he was full of sunshine on his way out the door (maybe because Nate is taking him to school and they get uninterrupted time together?). Who knows, but I was happy to see my son back to his usual happy self.

In other news, we have a new family member! I was perusing the ABQ Craigslist and saw a listing for a ten week old Holland Lop bunny. As a teenager I had more than my fair share of lop bunnies, and could not resist the idea of getting one now. So on a whim I adopted her, and hit Petsmart for a new hutch and supplies. After a night of debating names, I settled on Inle (accent over the 'e', maybe I'll figure out how to do that one day). It comes from the book Watership Down, like all my bunnies' names, and it means moon or darkness. Very fitting for a dark gray bunny with the shiniest fur ever. She is a doll, and all the kids are in love with her, especially E. Here's Inle in all her tiny-bunny glory-

Things That Suck About ABQ

It can't all be roses and wine, now, can it? Of course not. In fact, I foresee me discovering new things that bother me about my new city in the future, so I think I shall make this a regular topic. Without further ado, let's get down and dirty.

Aside from the previously mentioned frontage road system and slow drivers in ABQ, one other aspect of driving around town has come to bother me greatly. It is the selection of radio stations out here. It stinks. Bad. I can spend a half hour surfing through all the channels and not find one good song to listen to. I suppose if I was into Country or Christian Rock I would be good, since there are, oh, a dozen or so of EACH to pick from on the dial. Even the public radio is awful, with very little news or reporting and mostly soft jazz and muzak all day. It makes for a very frustrating time running kids to and from school.

Lumped in with my general automobile issues is the selection of license plates we have to choose from. I am in the process of registering the van and, having decided that I don't like the two standard options of plates, seen here, and here, I figured I would get a custom plate. Most of them are boring, ugly, or for things I am not involved in. I am leaning towards getting a Children's Trust Fund plate, because it is cute, for a good cause, and NOT yellow.

Next up is something that isn't specific to ABQ, but since I would not be dealing with this problem if it weren't for moving here I will include it on my list. It is Bank of the West. Never before have I dealt with a bank so full of incompetent individuals! We opened our new accounts with them before leaving California, and at that time they misspelled our last name. We went in and corrected it. Got the ATM card, and it was wrong again. Went in and corrected it yet again. Then today I get a box of checks from them (finally) and there is Nathan's last name spelled wrong. AGAIN. I called and supposedly got it fixed but I have my doubts.

And last but not least, the chiles are driving me crazy. I love Mexican food, but I do not love spicy Mexican food. What can I say- I'm a wimp. I like a touch of heat but not so much that I can no longer taste my food. Unfortunately, everything here is so darn spicy! I have started to shy away from anything southwestern simply because I know it will be too spicy. And avoiding food with chiles in it is virtually impossible in this state. Even things that are so-called mild in heat are way too spicy for me. Locals say that I need to build up my tolerance yet I can't bring myself to light my tongue, throat, and stomach on fire every time I sit down to a meal. I'm tough, but not that tough.

A Pattern Emerges

It is Sunday morning, and I have fallen into a routine. Get up early (today it was 5:30am), get ready for the day and head out to Starbucks. Count the hot air balloons as I drive down the empty streets (11 balloons this morning), and cruise into Starbucks for a chai and a Sunday ABQ Journal. Back home I leisurely flip through the paper and sip my chai, readying myself for the day.

This sounds so relaxing and wonderful, doesn't it? It is, as long as I engage my selective hearing. With 4 kids, two of which are very early risers, there isn't much quiet even in the early morning hours. M and G both want food and attention, the tv is blaring and not getting any attention, and the older ones are bossing around the younger ones. I sit at the kitchen table, an island of calm (I wish) in the center of a raging sea of childhood antics. Sip, turn the page, sip, read. Repeat. After about 30 minutes, my selective hearing quits and I fold up the paper, put down my empty cup, and go back to the craziness of life as a mother of four.

After a month of disordered living, it is nice to see some regularity come into my schedule, even if it is only Sunday morning. That's a start, right? Each day gets closer to a level of normality and repetition for our lives here, and with it comes an increased sense of being at home. Our new lives are taking shape inside our new house, and it is good.

Psycho Pedestrians

What is it about 'querquians that makes them so insane when it comes to crossing the street? They don't care about silly little things like crosswalks, or street lights, or even oncoming traffic. Who cares if the crossing signals say do not cross- go ahead, cross the street! Four lanes of traffic going 50mph in both directions? No problem! Just trot on out there and ignore the cars as they screech to a halt.

And before anyone thinks I am exaggerating, all the people at Nate's office (who have all come from CA), make comments about "going native" and crossing the street without any regard to safety. It's like New Mexicans are so hopped up on chiles that they think they are invincible. Driving here is an adventure, that's for sure. Californians may have the market cornered on speeding, but ABQ has the market on dangerous streetwalkers, and not of the paid-by-the-hour kind.

PC L.A.? I Don't Think So

California has a reputation for being very Politically Correct. A good portion of the rest of the country views CA as being filled with tree-hugging, organic-eating, liberal-minded individuals. And while this is true for some areas in CA, in my experience most of it was NOT like that.

Now Albuquerque, this is not a city that one thinks of when you say "Politically Correct." People are more likely to think of cowboy boots, green chiles, and rednecks when they are envisioning ABQ. Though Duke City does have it's fair share of these fine upstanding citizens, it definitely leans more PC than any of the areas I lived in in CA.

Take, for example, the Farmer's Market here. Oh, wait- that's not a PC term! It is actually called a Grower's Market. Anyhow, I went there on Saturday for the first time since moving here and was looked at oddly by every single Grower because I did not bring my own bags. Yes, each stand had plastic bags stacked behind the counter. But you had to ASK for them, and then get "The Look" while they bagged your organically grown, sustainably produced purchases. 98% of the people at the market brought their own bags, and not plastic either- there were Trader Joes cloth bags, Whole Foods cloth bags, Enviro Sacs, you name it. Even several of those super-cute baskets from the movie Kitchen Confidential. I lust after those baskets, but with the amount of produce I buy at the, ahem, GROWER'S Market, I'd need 5 or so. A wagon or stroller is needed to carry all of my purchases from stand to car.

One other aspect of ABQ I am enjoying is the diversity of our neighborhood. Across the street is a family of Indian descent, next to them is a middle-eastern family (I confess to ignorance on their specific country of origin because I have not yet asked, but they served me these fantastic authentic pine-nut pies that were to die for), and next to them a Chinese family is moving in. On the street behind us is a household with two moms and two kids, and several other families of various ethnicity's that we have yet to meet. I felt like our old neighborhood in CA was a bit boring, only Caucasians and Latinos, but here our community is a delicious melting pot. I am more than happy to stir the pot and take lots of tastes!

Pictures!

Here are a couple of pics of my girls on their first day of school. Notice that E has to wear a uniform, haha! Both older kids have uniforms for school, which I am glad about and they are not.

Busy-ness

E is famous! E's Girl Scout Troop in CA participated in San Diego Zoo's Cans for Critters earlier this year, and now there is a picture of their troop up on the website.

This reminds me that I need to look into Girl Scouts out here for her, as well as LLL for me, and also get our vehicles registered, get new driver's licenses, find Dr's for all of us, transfer all of our prescriptions... And a thousand other little things that I have not done yet for all of the fun I have been having decorating our house. I guess the fun is over and now it is time to get to work!

Speaking of work, Nate goes back on Monday, the first day on the job here and his first day of work in 4 weeks. It has been very nice having him home, and I will miss all of his help with the kids. At the same time, though, I am looking forward to taking the next step in our lives here by settling into a routine during the days. Lately it has been rather haphazard, and that equals stress. I am in desperate need of a vacation!

Since a vacation is not in the cards, instead Nate and I will be going on a date on Saturday. Our Sales Rep has two daughters that both babysit, and we are having one of them over while we catch a movie. This is a new experience for us, having never had to use a babysitter for our children before since we lived so close to family. If we want to have a date in Duke City, then this is the way it is going to be!

First Days of School

Yesterday was M's first day of school at her new preschool. She was so excited to go and could not wait to get back into a classroom. When I dropped her off, she said goodbye and ran right in the door, no nervousness or trepidation at all. Upon picking her up, the teacher said she did just fine and also commented that M really, really likes to talk. Really likes it. No surprise there!

Today is E's first day of school. She, being 8, is much more nervous about it than the 3yo was. You've got to love little kids- they can feel at home anywhere. E, on the other hand, is nervous to the point of almost being scared. I feel so bad for her, and also understand perfectly. I vividly remember starting 8th grade in CA after moving from Ohio, and I was petrified. It all worked out, but it was rough going for a few weeks. I hope E can make the adjustment faster than I did.

In other news, things are going swimmingly here. I am painting (still) and working on getting the house livable. We finally got Direct TV last night, and can finally watch something other than Barbie movies. The dogs got loose while the installer was here, and the people that caught them were able to track us down on the Internet using only one of the dogs' first name and our old phone number. Kinda freaky how easy people can find you, even if they have no idea who you are. They were incredibly nice people, and fell in love with my goofball dogs.

Over the weekend I bought a new bike so I can join in bike rides with the kids around the neighborhood. I have not been on a bike with any regularity since I was a young teenager, and it felt rather strange to climb on one now. E and I went out for a ride last evening, and after ten minutes I was DONE. We live at the top of a hill of sorts, so riding away from the house is easy. Riding back is where the hard work comes in, and when you add in the fact that I am not only out of shape but also overweight AND riding at high altitude (we are around 5500ft high here), and it was sort of pathetic, in a funny way. Needless to say, I will be going on more rides and trying to get back in shape so I can enjoy the area more.

Family Dinner

One of the huge perks of our new living accommodations is that we can finally all sit down at the table together and eat dinner. A simple thing, really, the gathering of the family at the table to enjoy a meal and each other's company at the end of the day. In our old house, this was not possible due to the small size of our kitchen. Here we have nothing but space and can easily fit at our table, which has been enjoyable and often humorous.

Take, for example, tonight's entertainment- upon setting the food out on the table, we all sit down and say Grace. It varies from day to day who says it, and what is said, but it always starts with "Dear Heavenly Father." At least it always USED to start with that, until tonight when M said she wanted to say Grace. We all held hands, bowed our heads, and then she began.

"Dear Harry Potter," said M.

Nate and I had the hardest time not laughing hysterically at this. She is but three, and tries very hard to speak like an adult. As you can see, things that are plainly understandable to us can often get parsed out incorrectly in her mind.

In other news, the common areas of the house are all painted and beautiful! Unfortunately, though, my custom ordered blinds arrived and are the wrong shade for our paint. And since they are custom ordered, I can not return them. And they were oh so stinking expensive. Looks like we'll be using Lowe's cut-to-fit blinds next, hah!

The Fine Albuquerque Police Department

Nate got pulled over the other day for speeding. He was on his way to the new house from the hotel, and was late meeting the movers. So naturally he was going a wee bit faster than he should have to try and get here faster. One of ABQ's finest pulled him over on I40, and gave him a severe tongue lashing.

(According to Nate, he had an accent like Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard, so hear that voice in your head while you read this to get the full effect.)

Cop: "What do you think you are doing driving like that?!"

Nate: "Sorry, I know I was going too fast. I am late to meet the movers at my new house."

Cop: "That's no excuse for speeding. I caught you going over 80 in a 65!! That is RIDICULOUS!!!!! YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE!!!!!"

Nate: "I know, I'm sorry, it was wrong."

Cop: "I know you people in California drive all crazy, but in Albuquerque we follow the laws! And now that you live here you better follow the laws too!!! I've got my eye on you, son. Now git!"

Yes, Nate got away with no ticket, only a lecture. He was lucky, LOL, and now he drives a bit slower.

I'm not entirely sure that the cop had an accent like that, but it sure does make the story more interesting.

On a side note, Albuquerque Magazine just had a feature about how much people get paid in and around ABQ. A police officer for the APD is listed as making 20K a year. Kind of low for a person that is responsible for protecting the safety of thousands of people, don't you think? And how do we explain that the head football coach for UNM makes over 900K a year, plus expenses? Priorities, people!

Sherwin-Williams Loves Me

My new favorite store is Sherwin-Williams. It is so much my favorite store that the people there call me by my first name and I by theirs. It's sort of like Cheers- I walk in the door and everyone hollers "Nicole!" It's nice to have them be so happy to see me and so helpful. Of course, considering that I dropped a grand there today alone, and have been in there almost every single day since last weekend buying supplies, they have good reason to treat me well. And yes, I even have a cash account with them that gets me a discount on each purchase.

As for what I am painting, so far the only finished room is the boys' bathroom. I painted it a light steel gray, and they have red and pewter towels, red rugs, and stainless steel accessories in there. Now I need to find a couple pieces of art for the wall and it will be finished. The girls' bathroom is posing a bigger challenge for me- it is a jack-and-jill bath, with three separate rooms. The color is a soft lavender, and their rugs and towels are celery green and storm blue. The shower curtain has soft stripes of blue, green, and purple on it, hence the colors for everything else. Their accessories are cool multi-colored affairs in blue-green-purple. I have painted only one part of the three rooms so far, sadly.

We decided to hire a painter to do our ground floor living area and also the upstairs common areas as well. At the rate I get a room painted, it would take me a couple of months to get these areas done! With cellular shades coming in two weeks, we need to have these areas painted now. Carlos starts tomorrow, and in a week we should have chocolate gray walls downstairs and sage green walls upstairs. During the time he is painting, I plan on painting as well, finishing the girls' bath, then doing G's room, and then M's. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

Bits and Pieces

We have spent a lot of time driving around town the past week, buying supplies for our new house. During this time I have made several observations about New Mexico that I want to share. First off is the drivers. They have this annoying habit of driving close to the speed limit! What's up with that? We all know in CA that, more important than following the speed limit, the golden rule of driving is to keep up with the flow of traffic. Which sort of gives Californians a license to drive as fast as they want. In New Mexico, on the other hand, when the speed limit says 65 it is rare to find anyone going over 70. And as soon as the speed limit changes, everyone slows down. My California lead foot is having trouble adjusting.

This leads nicely into the ABQ freeway system, although I think people refer to it properly by the name "Interstate" around here. There are two main interstates going through town, the East-West I40 and the North-South I25. On either side of both of these freeways are frontage streets that funnel traffic onto and off of the freeways. At first glance, this seems like a smart idea- keep traffic moving, make it easy for people to get on and off the freeways, etc. The reality is far different. When the frontage streets are 5 or 6 lanes across and there is 50 yards to get from the right lane of merging traffic onto the frontage street to the left lane for merging traffic to the freeway, things get hairy. And often slow. There is a lot of confusion, and not just on my part- I've seen some interesting lane changes and driving tricks on the part of natives as well. Hah!

With no transition whatsoever, we will move on to food. Yes, this is the southwest. Yes, there is a lot of southwest and spicy food around here. And when you see something on a menu that includes chile of any kind, know that it is going to be hot, even if the server says it is mild. Evidently these people cut their baby teeth on raw hatch chiles, because they love their spicy food! And you can get your chile sauce two ways- red or green, or both, which they call Xmas style. Oh, and every restaurant has chopped green chiles you can add to your food. And I mean every single restaurant- Carl's Jr? Yup. McDonald's? Yup. Denny's and IHOP? Yes and yes. And even Papa John's, where in addition to jalapenos you can get chopped green chiles and banana peppers on your pizza. With more on the side. This is a spicy town!

A spicy sign I saw at the Lube Express the other day- "If Lubin' You is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right." At least people have a sense of humor here too.

Home At Last

I am happy to say that we are in our new house! It's HUGE, and gorgeous, and empty. Going from such a small house to such a large one means that we have very little to put in it! We ordered an enormous sofa and ottoman for our great room, and are looking at tables, chairs, media cabinets, and other pieces for our main living space.

On to my impressions of ABQ- it is beautiful here, in a rugged way. It is definitely the desert, with all of the land surrounding the city covered by sagebrush and wild grasses. The city itself is sprawling (which is what happens when you have so much land to spread out on!) and full of interesting variation, from craftsman style neighborhoods to a back-east feeling downtown to Spanish hacienda areas. Spread amongst all of those is the usual assortment of generic American architecture.

The sky here is huge, and goes on for ever it seems. In the morning it is cloudless and bright blue, and often dotted with a dozen or so hot air balloons to the north. By afternoon, the clouds have started to sail in like giant puffy ships in a sea of deep blue sky. A few afternoons we have had storms (like the day we arrived, which was a storm to write home about!), but mostly it is just clouds, clearing up by nightfall. There are mountains across the valley and glyphs behind us, and not much else.

The kids are settling in well, enjoying their rooms and the space in the house. Much as I suspected, we still spend most of our time lumped together. G has come down with a bug of some sort and has not been sleeping well. Add in the fact that I am working hard all day and I am a bit worn out! But I am loving painting and organizing and using my kitchen with all of the new appliances. However, the dishwasher is not as exciting as I suspected it would be. I am glad that I am no longer washing four batches of dishes each day, but I am less than pleased with the broken glass, bent forks, and not quite perfect job that it does. Hubby says that we'll figure it out, so for now I have washed my hands of dish duty and let the kids and Nate load the dishwasher. If I have to do it, I will end up washing the dishes by hand. Who would have thought!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is Nate's birthday, and since I am not in the best of positions to do something fun and creative for him, my birthday present to him was time without M and G. I took them with me to the laundromat and he took the older two kids to the pool. Hopefully he has spent the past couple of hours marinating in the hot tub and relaxing, because as soon as he gets back I am locking myself in the adjoining bedroom and hiding for an hour or two.

M and G are really struggling with our living situation. As comfortable as the Hyatt is, it is still hard for little kids to stay here. They miss their toys, they miss their beds, they miss their routines. I miss those things of theirs as well! I can not wait until I can get them in our new house and put up a couple of security gates, and then we can all relax. I know, this is probably a pipe dream since they will not be used to our new place for a while and will still be cranky and difficult. But to maintain my current level of fragile sanity I need to believe this will all be better on Friday.

In a funny side note, the water store next to the laundromat had two signs up that said, "Parking is for Water Store Costumers Only." I watched and watched, but I saw no one dressed up enter or leave the store. And no one went in holding garment bags either. Darn.

Welcome to Albuquerque

I am pleased to report that we made it to ABQ with no trouble! The drive here was long but uneventful and we were all thrilled to pull into our hotel after a long day in the van. We are currently staying at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown ABQ , which is a super-comfy hotel. And yet, it isn't a home, which makes it tough to settle into with all of our kids.

Speaking of home, we saw our new house today for the first time! Sure, we've seen pictures almost weekly of it, but pictures are not the same as seeing it in person. Wow- it's huge! I am already overwhelmed at the idea of painting the interior and taking care of the odds and ends we want to as soon as we move in. At the same time, I am so excited to make this house ours. We did the pre-closing orientation on our house today and the kids (by kids I mean the little ones, M and G) were rather naughty. Nate and I had to pay attention to Cindy, the community rep, while she explained various aspects of our house to us, and all M and G wanted to do was run around like monkeys and scream at the top of their lungs. Luckily for us we were able to put them in the van with the bigger kids and turn on the DVD players to keep them happy while we listened to Cindy give her spiel.

We won't close on the house and get the keys until Thursday, so until then we are amusing ourselves as best we can in our new city.

Calm Before the Storm

Our movers were scheduled to come for three days, two for packing and one for loading the truck. Yesterday at 9am two guys rolled in with stacks of boxes, sheets of papers, and more tape then you can find at Staples. Less than six hours later, our entire belongings were wrapped, boxed, labeled, and stacked. Things went so well that they do not need to return until tomorrow to load the truck, and now I find myself at loose ends with my baby G and very little to do. This sounds like a trip to the mall is in order- nothing like a new lip liner to commemorate our moving!

And I can't forget to mention that today is the anniversary of when my fabulous husband, Nate, and I got married, 11 years ago. It was a courthouse ceremony, complete with me in shortalls and finished right before Nate had to leave for work. An inauspicious start to our marriage, certainly, but somehow fitting- we never do things the classic way but in a way that works for us. And it has been working well for over a decade and a half! Happy Anniversary, baby, I love you!

Saying Goodbye

It's only 6 days away from the move, and we have already had to say goodbye to our friends. No matter that our reasons for moving are all positive ones, it still hurts to leave the people we love behind. The kids have been saying goodbye to their friends through various activities- a trip to Splash, sleepovers, swimming, and letters. Due to their young ages, though, the goodbyes are less painful and more casual than that of their parents. Or should I say, their mother.

It's been hard for me to say goodbye to my friends. I have been extraordinarily blessed with a large group of friends that I have met through La Leche League, and the empty spaces in my life and heart will be hard to fill in ABQ. My good friend M took me out to dinner on Sunday, only to surprise me with a gathering of amazing women that I have had the good fortune to call my friends. It was bittersweet, and as I left the restaurant a hollowness crept in while I contemplated leaving them all.

Then yesterday the kids and I visited my heart-sister N and her adorable children, and spent the day enjoying swimming and each other's company. When it was time to say goodbye the tears started flowing, and they are still here, shimmering behind my eyes and waiting for a calm moment to slip out. But with the move so close, calm moments are no where to be found.