"Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately." "I wouldn't say I've been MISSING it, Bob."

Photographic evidence that I am living at my new house!  Doesn't my garage have ridiculously fancy floors?

So we moved (YEAH!) and now I am working from home.  I decided when I found out I would be working from my house, that I really needed to pretend like I was still going into the office.  You know, do all the things I would do if I actually HAD to go to the office, like: get ready, change out of my pajamas, wear make-up, look presentable as if I would be seen in public, etc.  Well, yesterday was my first official day of working from home; and it went pretty good.  I did all of those things; except I did wear my house slippers.  Today....uh, not so much.  I did shower, but only because I had gone running/walking this morning and it was HOT so I was really sweaty.  Then, I let my hair dry naturally, and it reminded me that there is a really good reason why I don't normally do that.  Also, I wore a humongous pair of (men's) sweats and a ratty t-shirt that is at least 10 years old.  It's classic.  It has a hole in it right below the neckline.  I was playing volleyball and I got really mad because we were playing lousy, and I bit my shirt and ripped it.  On my teeth.  Yeah, I am awesome and so is my outfit.  But you know what?  I was still really productive today.  In fact, I felt like I got a lot accomplished.  And my boss was really pleased with the reports I sent her.  She said "This just made my day!" when she got them.  But, I think I am going to try to stick to my original plan.  Because, honestly, I looked like a "nut job" (as my husband lovingly called it).  Besides, I might actually want to go places some days.  Or someone could come over!      

This is what the dogs do after I take them on our walk/run and they stay this way the whole time I am working.  They have been really good.  They are SO tired when we get home.  Brutus can't even wait to get inside to lay down.  Today he tried to lay down in my neighbor's yard under a big bush.  Lazy.
In other news, I got a calling: Young Women's Secretary.  I am pretty excited.  The girls seem really great and so do the other leaders.  Plus, it will give me a chance to meet some people.  And it means that I won't get one of my dreaded callings: Gospel Doctrine teacher or Relief Society ANYTHING (besides pianist).  Whew! I'm safe for a little bit.
So, I am almost ready for visitors...who wants to be first?

Pheobe. That's, P, as in Phoebe, H, as in heobe, O as in oebe, E, as in ebe, B, as in bebe, and E as in... Ello there mate.

Random, I know.  That was the point.  This post is all about the randomness.  A few things:  Our house is done, scroll down for more pics from the cell phone.  We will hopefully sign the mortgage papers on Friday and move in.  That's probably a good thing, because I think living by myself has adversely affected my emotional state.

Speaking of cell phones, I had an adult tantrum yesterday.  I don't really want to get into the details, but it had something to do with unhelpful customer service people and my cell phone not being able to receive picture mail.  The problem with adults having tantrums is they are allowed to use grown up things (like cars and guns and such). For a small moment yesterday, I understood the mind set behind people with "road rage" and the phrase "going postal".  No worries, I did not ram my car through the Sprint store or stuff my cell phone down the rude man's throat.  I just REALLY wanted to.  Nor did I do any harm to anyone or anything.  Just thought about it.....anyway.  Instead I called my husband and through my hysterical sobbing/breathing, told him about my awful situation.  (Which, as I'm sure all you sane people realize, is really not a big deal.  I mean, I could still call people and receive and send texts.)  To which he replied, "What is that noise?  We must have a bad connection.  Wait, is that your breathing?  Oh...oh no....umm, are you okay?"  He then tried to be reasonable with me.  That worked super good.  But no worries, nothing a little dinner with friends couldn't fix.
In other news, my father in law read something in the public log of the newspaper and insisted on my mother in law mailing it to me.  I found it highly amusing.  Not necessarily the content, but the fact that David wanted to send it to me so much that GayLynn actually did it.  They are funny people.  Here's what it said:
A Provo woman fell on a knife and accidentally stabbed herself in the abdomen Tuesday afternoon.  According to the Provo Fire Department, the 45-year-old was coring an apple with a steak knife in her home. She had four dogs in the house, and she somehow tripped over a dog or one caused her to slip, and she fell on the knife, suffering a 3-inch wound.
She was taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo and had exploratory surgery to determine if there was any internal damage. She was conscious and alert when she arrived at the hospital.
So obviously, the woman is okay, but I guess I'm not the only one worried about me living alone.  Also, I don't core apples with a steak knife, so I am probably okay.  That fact that I found this amusing might also say something about my current emotional stability.  I think I just want to live with my husband again.  He somehow manages to make me less crazy....and yes, I know that sounds a little crazy.

Ricky Martin? You named your kid Ricky Martin?

The name of the movie I quoted will tell you where I got these pictures of my new house.  Considering the camera, I think they are pretty good.  I will be adding some from my real camera soon.  It's ALMOST done! And the pictures are backwards, just go to the bottom of the post and scroll up.

        

Saturday Morning With The Bryce's

For the first time in a long time, I stayed here in Pima, AZ and spent a Saturday with the Bryces. After breakfast, I decided to break out the ol' air rifle. Everyone had a pretty good time taking turns shooting the air rifle. Kitt and Klaire both managed to get their faces a bit too close to the scope. Klaire has two little marks on her forehead now.

After she pulled the trigger and got hit in the forehead with the scope for the second time, she reloaded and took aim, being careful this time not to get to close to the scope.

What happened? As soon as she pulled the trigger, the scope just fell off the rifle and landed in the dirt.

So, that pretty much ended that activity.

Michael wanted to let the calf graze on some grass growing on the side of the house. There's not much grass there, but there is also only one bale of hay left, and no firm appointment set with the butcher yet.The problem is that the little area is not fenced in. The idea was that we'd rope the calf and then let him out as long as there was a rope dragging from his neck so that we could grab on to it if need be. Supervised release for the calf basically.

Michael tried to coax the calf into the rope with some grain.

The closest we ever got to getting a rope around that calf's neck was when he didn't see it slipped around a big grain pail.

Turns out the calf ran off as soon as he saw the rope. That led to some practicing on a bucket. And of course, Michael had to teach Kitt how to rope so that she wouldn't forget her ranching heritage.

Kitt did okay, but struggled to keep her eyes open.

In the end, Michael ended up roping the calf's hind leg which scared it to death, and after the calf nearly tore down the fence in two different spots, we decided to give up on the whole idea of doing supervised grazing.

It was about time for lunch anyway. We gathered some dead branches from behind the yard, and we started a fire in the newly finished pizza oven for the inaugural pizza bake.

Everybody got to make their own pizza. This is mine.

Although I am still looking forward to my house being done and getting to live with my wife, I have been having a pretty darn good time living with the Bryce's for the last four months.

My Boys

Check out my boys in Ajo. This aired on Fox News I believe two days ago. I miss riding at night. Those were good times. Now I have to ride in the daylight.

Also, since you can't very well run a video camera while riding a horse in the dark, the write up is here if you are interested in what the reporter had to say. In the first paragraph the reporter says:

We had only been in the Border Patrol truck for about 15 minutes, horses and trailer in tow when the call came over the radio... Now agents ride full speed in all out darkness... "dodging stuff". Half the time you can't even make it all out.

Good Times!