jury duty

friday i had the privelage of serving jury duty! i know that some people dread being called to serve as a juror. some will come up with any excuse to get out of the drudgery. many who make it to the big day are annoyed at the "inconvenience" and show this with hostile body language. i on the other hand, though it is never overly convenient to fit this into your life, was looking forward to the opportunity. i carefully read all the instructions, even the repeat ones in the handy jurors handbook! i know this shocks some of you as you know i normally fly by the seat of my pants. but this is one way that i am able to go with the flow. i read everything that i can about a subject that interests me or involves me and then i can relax and pretend i know everything!...
did you know that in massachusetts you will serve approximately once every three years! that of course does not mean that you will get to become a juror. on friday i got up bright and early (i know, another surprise!), i arrived at the hall of justice in springfield, massachusetts (the murder capital of all massachusetts in case you didn't know) at exactly 8:00 am. once there i hunkered in for a long morning of waiting! a judge came to talk to us, she said that even if we don't get picked we are serving an important part in the legal process just by being there. she further explained that many people don't realize that they can settle a case until the stress of the moment that they are going to bring in the jurors arrives, this prompts them to settle with out the battle. good, however on my particular friday that meant over 100 people sitting around for 4 1/2 hours, doing nothing, all to just get sent home without doing anything! yep, that is the brilliance of the whole legal system in action. instead of hundreds of people being able to work everyday, helping the local economy, they get paid (by their employer) for work that doesn't get done. that means massachusetts is also getting free 'labor' from the population of the willing. they charge us taxes, depend on volunteer labor and rack up large financial burdens for those who don't benefit all so that cases can be settled out of court. sorry about the rant, i didn't mean to go there. it probably didn't even make much sense.
i was rather disappointed that my day went this way. i wanted to be a part of it all. i wanted to stick it to some poor fellow who was the scum of all the earth. i had big dreams of being liek jimmy stewart in "twelve angry men" and teaching everyone that you have to think for yourselves and not just assume the person is guilty. aw, the dreams of the idle... i guess maybe next time.

arizona revisited

arizona was glorious, arizona was everything a girl could want. sun, entertainment, a best friend, free dental work, spur of the moment trips, pedicures, indians, the grand canyon, sleeping in, laughing, talking.... okay, so a few of these may need some explaining. sun, sun and more sun. i really soaked it up. i know that i told several people i wasn't coming back
without a tan. well, i tried my absolute hardest and my skin just wouldn't cooperate. i was in the sun for hours at a time and got nothing, but it sure felt good. the park was just a short walk from cindy's house so everyday we would go there for the boys to run and swing and slide. cindy and i would sit on a blanket and talk or sometimes just lay down and pretend we were ignoring our children. (ok, so we weren't pretending, we actually were ignoring them, we just figured a kidnapper wouldn't get very far before he turned around and brought them back...)





entertainment was also a given on this trip. the first weekend i was there my sister angel flew down for the weekend, well we just laughed almost non stop with her. she had great stories to tell and she kept us rolling ("that's what he said" :-) for those of you who were there).


free dental work is always a plus when i go on my trip to arizona. cindy's husband rick is a dentist, he is the best as far as i'm concerned. yep, i fly all the way from massachusetts to arizona to bee able to see my dentist! it's such a sacrifice. sorry to everyone else out there who doesn't have the chance to be on the friends and family insurance plan with your dentist.


spur of the moment trips. well, let's see. one day we went to a town called sedona. it is a cool little town, full of snow birds and touristy things. there are a couple of great rock shops there and we went to find benson some rocks for his collection. this trip was met with great success and happiness. the biggest, craziest spur of the moment thing happened the last week end i was there. my sister sunshine called saturday morning to tell me about my niece Keri Jean's mission farewell. It was the next day in utah. sunshine had the idea that cindy and i drive up (about 10-11 hrs.) and surprise everyone. so by saturday afternoon we had arranged what to do with cindy's boys while we were gone (not everyone could fit in the car) and loaded up my boys and all our stuff and we were off. we pulled into my brother's house at about 4am. we of course were tired but stayed up talking with sunshine for another 2 hours before getting 2 hours of sleep. when everyone woke up boy were they surprised! my brother gray and his wife lisa knew we were coming, since it was there house, but everyone else was surprised, josh and his family, noel and her family all the kids, sunshine's boy-it was a very full house. and the surprises had just begun. we still had amber and her family, angel and her family and my parents to see! it turned out to be such a fun weekend. i'm really glad that we decided to go, it was a long drive both ways, but seeing so much of my family was awesome! actually everyone was there except my brother jacob and his clan. (they live in washington state)





My sister Amber & my Papasita!






Noel, my friend & sister






my sis Joanna & her husband Keith






here is most of the fam...






all of the girls being, well, silly!






My really cute mama!



so now, i have shared every detail with the whole cyber world.... feel free to skim through this journal entry of a blog posting. i also got to see my best friend from growing up in ky. she and her family were at kj's farewell. it was so fun to see them. sunday night they came over to gray's house and played games with us, what a fun time.





Heather, my good friend from the teenage years!


so, on the way home from utah we stopped at the grand canyon!





awesome! i know there are those who were disappointed when they saw it, because it was just a hole in the ground. seriously? that is lame, it is so truely majestic, absolutely amazing! there are little stops along part of the southern and northern edges for about 26 miles. you pull of the main road and park, then walk out to the edge, parts are fenced off for safety, but lots of it is just left natural. ethan was enthralled. he walked closer to the edge than i would have liked so that he could take pictures and look for rocks. one picture we have of him on the edge scares me just to see it!





if you have never been to the grand canyon, go! if you have been, i know there is not much there but seriously, just a hole in the ground? surely you thought more of it than that?! if not then go away from my blog, i don't want you reading when i say you are an idiot!





the part of arizona that we drove through crossed through several indian reservations, mainly the navajo. my oldest sister is a navajo indian, she came to live with us when i was a baby and stayed with us until she got married. i had never been to the reservation and had it in my mind that a reservation was like one town, but we drove for miles and miles, i wonder how many acres their reservation is? i guess i could google it... ok, just did it. wikipedia says that it covers 26,000 square miles, that's17 million acres! anyway, we stopped at a couple roadside stands and bought some handmade jewelry. they use real stones, like turquoise and red coral, amethyst, etc.. beautiful stuff, i wish i could have gotten more, some for all my friends! the day after we came home from utah it was time for me to leave. i had already extended my trip 5 days, i would have loved to stay longer, but it was time to get back to routine and life as i know it. so there you have it. my two week trip condensed into one enormous blog posting.

winter weather advisory

which do you prefer?

that's right. what does it mean? i am tired of winter! you all know that i don't like winter, that i am paralysed by the cold and my depression can easily get out of control when winter lasts too long. well, it's happened. i have reached my limit! all through february i have held on thinking that march was right around the corner, meaning spring. not so in new england... in massachusetts spring does not arrive until at least april. with my "southern" upbringing i am not programmed to wait that long for spring. who came up with the idea for winter anyway? i mean really? does it sound brilliant to you? why does anyplace have to have winter? there are places in this world where winter means 70 degrees and sunny. sounds good to me. why not? so, instead of just complaining i decided to do something about it. my good husband bought tickets for me and eli and ethan and sent us on our way. we are now in sunny arizona, living the good life! i love my girlfriend (yes i have a girlfriend i'm not ashamed to admit it...) cindy for letting me call her one day and fly in the next. i fully intend to go back to massachusetts next week with a suntan or a sunburn, either one so i can say to all of new england that the sun is good, not bad and that winter is for the birds! so, if you are like me and have had enough of this stinky weather, join me in az. there's plenty of sun for everyone!