Monsoon Season

As I listen to the rolling thunder and distant crackling of lightening, I'm a little worried about Greg because he's at a softball game...'out there'. It's 'Monsoon Season' in Arizona.  I drove home just as the storm started to roll in - heavy wind gusts kicking up dust so thick I could barely see the road.  As I sit in the quiet of our house, I can hear the wind whipping around our house, wreaking havoc in yards as outdoor objects fly aimlessly around.

You may not live in an area where you experience Monsoon Season so here's a little brush up on what it is and what it looks like.

An explanation I found online:

During the monsoon, or summer thunderstorm season, Arizona experiences more severe weather than many other states. On rare occasion, a severe storm may spawn a tornado. More often, high winds, dust and severe downpours resulting in flash floods are common monsoon occurrences.

Here is a video of a 5 mile wide, 70mph dust storm that came in earlier this week:




Here's a time lapse of the same storm on July 5th 2011:


The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.


Freaky, right? Scary too.

Trade out for Tile Completed

The DIY (do it yourself) house project replacing the linoleum flooring for ceramic tile throughout the house is finally complete!  Insert happy celebration right here...wait for it...here it is....Whoohooo!!  Yippee!!  WOOT-WOOT!!!   Yay!!!  Loud NOISES!!

Wow.  It is so much nicer and perhaps it's just a mental issue for me but it just 'feels' cleaner to me.  That nasty linoleum flooring always felt d-i-r-t-y.  The house feels sanitary now and I just love that feeling.


Nathans Bathroom Before:

After:

Next, Greg created a pathway for our entry into the family room.  Here's a series of Before and Afters:

(a little bonus, look who's sitting at the table eating breakfast!)

Greg then worked on the kitchen.  I forgot to take a Before picture at this angle but here's a a picture of the kitchen floor right after we moved in the house.

After tile installation:

Before:

After:

Just a few more.

Here's to the man that made it all happen.....here's to Tile-man!

Next up....laundry room makeover....

Vacation in Northern Arizona

Pictures from our extended July 4th weekend in Heber-Overgard (3 hrs outside of Phoenix).

Great time, cooler temperatures, beautiful scenery.

Rockpoint Worship Band

I am so happy that I finally have good quality pictures of Greg playing at church.  I believe Sarah just took these pictures for her personal portfolio but I absolutely love that she took these. I especially love how Sarah captured the little nuances of Greg's demeanor while he's playing, which only I may be aware of after watching him play all these years.  Love, love, love these - awesome job Sarah Bel Gray !!

 

 

Sarah captured these pictures during  a week Greg played keys which I equally love...

We just lack pictures of Greg on Bass, once we have those, we'll have a complete portfolio for this master musician - totally love how talented he is! Though modest b/c even this post will embarrass him a little. Sorry hon. ;)

Catching up with Coupons

I recently took an involuntary hiatus from my life due to a work project that took 563 hours of my time.  As a result, a number of personal priorities were left unattended....

At times, it was my child who watched countless hours of cartoons (insert mom-guilt) while I pecked away at my computer, working late into the night again.  Other times, it was my house - unkept, cluttered, a total wreck of a home (exaggeration? Not at all.)

And the majority of the time, I neglected clipping coupons.  Realistically, I didn't have time to shop the store sales anyways.  There were a couple of times I had to shop for basic necessities but there was no time for coupons or checking sales.  I recall holding a box of Minute Rice for $4.99 - not on sale and no coupon.  I wanted to throw up.  I can no longer pay full price for items without feeling completely sick to my stomach.  And that's when I realized...this lifestyle has become an addiction.  Literally.

Now I'm catching up, tonight I clipped my coupons. Whew.  Relief.  Now I can shop with a clear conscious.  Grocery stores, get my freebies ready, here I come!

It is finished.

The data conversion project I've been working on for 2 months finally went live Friday night at 6:46pm pst.  Released.  Done.  Over.  Finished.  Why all the fuss?  What's the big deal?

Well....it means I can have my life back!  I can sit on the couch with Greg at night again.  I can play with Nathan. Cook quality dinners again.  I can clip my coupons & grocery shop like I used to, I can scrapbook, I can work on our yard, I can work on home projects, I can take Nathan to the library....

*happy face* - *happy dance* - *happy me*

My Self Portrait

Just so you know where I am.