A hurricane in AZ

I woke up on Monday, October 1st and went into the bathroom to get a tissue.  We keep the box on the edge of the tub.  I grabbed a tissue, blew my nose, threw the tissue in the trash, turned on the light and then saw this guy in the tub. 

So, I murdered him.  I will take spiders outside.  I will save every bee I encounter.  I am bug friendly.  But scorpions?  You die.  You're dead.  I'm not even sorry. 

Hurricane Rosa started pushing into Arizona that morning.  It was drizzling as I was washing dishes and no less than 12 birds were walking around the backyard eating the seeds from the grass.  It was fairly remarkable. 

I mostly stayed home that day and finished/finalized all the decorations. 

The hurricane really hit on Tuesday.  It was pouring when we got up and the backyard was starting to flood by the time we left the house.  Somehow in between breakfast and leaving, this huge branch fell off the tree. 

Look!  Actual rain on the windshield of the car! Don't worry.  I was at a red light. 

By the time I got to work at 8:30 they had already announced that school was being released at 12:30 on Tuesday and was cancelled for Wednesday.  

I stopped at Cost Plus on my way back home.  Look.  Walking Dead wine.  I didn't buy any. 

Back at home that afternoon I surveyed the damage. 

The branch that fell. 

The purple flowers that got blown off the Texas Sage bushes. 

An actually wet driveway.  This never happens. It's always bone dry within an hour of a rainstorm.

A fallen cactus.  If we're being totally honest though, Michael hit it with his car on my birthday and knocked it over.  He tried to replant it, but failed. 

The kids went to fall break camp on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Since my work was cancelled on Wednesday it was kind of for nothing, but I wasn't going to keep them home just because I was home.   We already paid for it, and they were going on a field trip. I stayed home that day and did laundry and watched Lady Bird.  It was pretty delightful. I also took 0.0 pictures that day. 

My glass of wine on Thursday the 4th. 

Spencer the same day.  He didn't know I was taking a picture. 

I worked on Friday the 5th to make-up for missing Wednesday.  That night I did Snoopy nails to prepare for our trip to LA and Knotts Berry Farm. 

Pre-break

Great things are on the horizon- fall break, vacation, L.A., Knotts Berry Farm, the beach, decorations, and Halloween.  But, for right now we have another ho-hum report. 

The kids had piano lessons on Thursday afternoon (September 27th).  Usually Michael takes them, but he was still out of town on his business trip so I was there.

I was sitting on the phone so I could charge my phone, which put me up close and personal with the kitties. 

We have to pre-dose Elliott with benadryl before lessons, but Spencer has been on allergy shots for five years so he can handle a little kitty exposure and not swell up like Violet in the chocolate factory. 

After lessons we went to dinner and then to Target.  Awe,  Halloween time at Target.

The kids went to school on Friday and I stayed home cleaning and organizing and doing tasks I've put off for long enough.  I pulled out all of Elliott's footy jammies to give to my friend Elisa who is moving to Virginia in January. Her Tucson born and raised boys are going to need to stay warm!

I put the Halloween tablecloth on the kitchen table.  I love these doggies. 

I also mailed a present to my niece, Bella.  We recently learned that she is going to be a big sister in February and we thought that was cause for celebration. 

I had bought this card, 

and modified it for a big sister instead of parents. 

That was her present. It's a whale named Bella.  I bought it ages ago and had thought we'd save it for Christmas, but not with this big news. 

After I mailed the whale I stopped at Home Goods to look at their Halloween stuff.  I didn't buy anything scary, but a woman did have a seizure in the glass vase aisle of the store while I was there, so it was a very scary trip. 

Michael came home from Texas on Friday night.  His flight was like two hours late. He got home in just enough time to help me move our give-away pile inside for a friend to come pick it up. 

I spent all day Saturday the 29th decorating for Halloween.  I'm excited that we will get a solid month (plus) of ghosts, and witches, and jack-o-lanterns.  I'm going to take this stuff down and put turkeys up on November 4th. 

I got the lantern after Halloween last year and the jack with lights this year. 

I love the pattern it makes on the ceiling.

On Sunday morning I had breakfast with the sisterhood and then we went to the movies.  We saw Life Itself.  I read a headline that said it's the worst movie of 2018, but we all enjoyed it. 

After the movie I went to At Home specifically to look for something to organize my bathroom.  It had turned into a mess over the last five years. 

This was before.

And this is after!  Now it looks like my bathroom is a professional salon. 

A whole bunch of not much

I did so good on the daily blogging to get caught up and then- bam.  Behind again.  Luckily last week was fairly boring. We'll be back to the timeline in, well, no time. 

On Saturday the 22nd I had to go to a two hour training about speech therapy documentation for insurance reimbursement. Booooooooring.  By the way, I'm an approved provider for Blue Cross Blue Shield now.  That's the big leagues.  Anyway, the training was two blocks from where my grandparent's former house is, so I drove by it.  It looks so different from when they lived there for 30 years. 

That wall in the front was never there before. 

On Sunday the 23rd I made a big pot of beef stew for dinner. 

We ate and then Michael left for the airport for a 6 day business trip to El Paso.  This is how we felt about it. 

Whatever Michael. Wipe that grin off your face. 

On Monday the 24th we went out for ramen noodles with Jeremy. 

I took iced coffee in my new BIG travel cup on Tuesday the 25th.  My old travel cup broke and the new one I bought just wasn't big enough.  This baby is!  I'm still sipping coffee at lunch time, and I love it. 

I was doing some casual online browsing on Tuesday afternoon when I ran across Frankenpig.  He had to be mine!

A quick stop at Kirkland's, 

and he was mine!

Along with these gems. 

On Wednesday the 26th I noticed Elliott is finally getting an adult tooth where he lost this baby tooth months ago.  I took a picture for daddy who was still gone.

Also that day, Spencer brought home a bunch of cards for my mom.  She and my dad donated some money to the PTO but my mom got all the glory, because it was her checking account. 

This is my favorite one.