Hold Your Head Up (Movin On)

Don't call me Bobblehead.

There's No Debate About It: Selah Loves Nick's Hair

Nick is in town for a two week debate camp at the lovely Twin Palms Hotel at ASU. We picked him up Tuesday night and headed to everybody's favorite Ethiopian Cafe: Lalibela's. We got the Exclusive, to which we all did ample justice. Selah went 5 hours without eating...all so that we could have a peaceful meal and conversation. It was fantastic, but a reality nonetheless. Selah was jealous of Nick because he has hair and she doesn't. Question: second cousin, or first cousin once removed? Here's a video of Selah when I explained to her what Fishing Subsidies were.

Simultaneous Lightening and Thunder

I don't know what it is, maybe the fresh air, but this little baby sleeps so well camping. We pulled off two nights in a row this weekend. Look at that awesome crib! It's so easy to bring along and set up.

Saturday we got hit with a killer thunder, rain and hail storm that threatened to flood our tent. Lightening and Thunder were presenting themselves to our eyes and ears at the same moment, and we, being tented under a few big pine trees, several of which looked like they'd been struck by lightening before, decided to wait the storm out in the car. But it cleared up beautifully so that the evening was cool enough to really enjoy the walk around the lake. Casson's bike ride was a bit muddy. On Sunday I ran into Katia again, the woman with the baby girl of Selah's age. Her daughter's name is Natalie. I didn't get a picture of her because it started to really rain again and we had to dive for cover in the car again.

I Want To Be a People Person or Let's Not Sit At Home Alone So Much

Look how happy Selah was when she learned that her Uncle Michael and his girlfriend Kate were coming to visit in a few weeks. I've never seen her smile so much at the mention of any other upcoming event. I, Lisa, went for my six week check-up today. Dr. Brown says I'm healthy and back to normal, and I feel back to normal too... actually have for a few weeks. Dr. Brown was so excited to meet Selah. Selah was reticent despite her excitement. Last night we had a birthday dinner at Rachel's house for her nephew Alan, who is in town until today. He and Selah are sort of friends now.

She's On Her Rocker

Camping in Prescott National Forest

We packed up the car on Saturday morning. The Shapiro's stopped by for a visit before we left. They had just got home from their three week bike trip along the California coast. We saw pictures and heard stories and drank coffee. They were going to try to come with us to go camping, but decided that they should probably get things done at home since they'd been gone so long.

We got to our campsite while it was sprinkling glorious rain. Casson set up our house-tent and then drove to the nearby campstore to buy firewood. Unfortunately the rocking of the car over the dirt farm road made our bike rack snap in half, but thankfully the bike fit into the car even with all our camping gear. The great news was that Selah began sleeping next to the campfire, and slept pretty continuously until the next morning at 7:00. It was great for me to get six hours of sleep in a row that night. We read the original The Ugly Duckling around the fire, which made us both want to cry, and thankfully didn't make Selah want to cry.

Next day Casson rode his mountain bike in the hills surrounding Lynx Lake, and I took another walk with Selah around the lake. I met a young woman who had a six week old baby girl, out for a walk around the lake, whose husband was also out mountain biking. We talked for a while and she gave me her phone number to get together next time we are in Prescott. It was strange to have so much in common with a total stranger. She was even wearing the same Wal-Mart nursing tank top that I'd just recently bought. Then we tried out the new baby carrier, with a short hike to the Lynx Lake Indian Ruins. Selah loved it. We draped her with a wet blanket to keep her cool and in the shade.

Rocketman

We Have Achieved Happiness, or The Summer of the Disappearing Days and Diapers

July is almost over. If I were returning to work, I would already have to be getting my room ready, etc. That seemed to go so fast. But it's just me and Selah during the days from here on. She seems to be getting happier about the idea every day. She smiles a lot. I finally caught a partial smile on camera.

Emergency: We only have 4 diapers left! They also seemed to go so fast.

Selah's Subaru

Selah has been sleeping well at night between about 11 and 5, waking up hungry once or twice, but falling right back to sleep. It's fun because when she is awake during the day, which is a lot, she is really expressive and fun to be with.

Casson went to get a new battery at AutoZone. They told him that he had bought his battery at WalMart less than two years ago, and that WalMart should replace it for free. Casson was hesitant, but the man at AutoZone convinced him that it should be no big deal, and would save him a bunch. So Casson went to WalMart. Well, they tested the battery and said because it still had a little charge, they couldn't replace it but could recharge it for us. That would take, only about an hour "if you want to wait an hour." Casson had already spent an hour on this project, so he said forget it, and went back to AutoZone. Needless to say, he got home a bit bummed and sweaty. He leaned down to Selah and told her he'd had a rough afternoon, to which she gave him the biggest grin of her life! Casson called me over and she grinned again! She's really into smiling lately. She's started making little squeaks and cooing noises too.By the way, Mike, from Mike's Place, fixed our Subaru. He had a new axle ready to replace ours, since we just didn't want to take any chances. When he took it all apart, he saw that someone had bolted the axle on with the wrong part, so it was tightening and untightening randomly. All he had to do was put the right bolt on (something like that) and it runs perfectly. In fact, now it doesn't make that other vibration noise that it has been making all along.

Sleeping late Saturday

Saturday

Selah with her Daddy

Selah's REM Sleep

Unregulated Sleep Patterns

Road Trip to Lynx Lake near Prescott. So far we have gone to Prescott every weekend since Selah was born. It's the only way to be outside this summer.

The path around Lynx Lake is perfect for strollers.

Last Friday

Last Friday. Selah is awake a lot more during the day now, and usually sleeps pretty much all night, waking up to eat every three hours or so.

Selah took another bath yesterday. Here she is all cuddly and dry. I took her on a short car ride today to the post office to buy stamps. Her head kept falling forward in her carseat. I had to keep reaching back and hoisting her head up. Some kind of strap system may be necessary to keep her head in place.

My friend Amy had her baby girl on Tuesday night - Pazly (I'm not sure of the spelling yet).

Brick Walls and Iron Locked Gates Won't Keep Me From The One I Love

At around 3:30am on Wednesday morning, I woke up hearing clicking noises and scuffling. I was frozen stiff, trying to figure out if the sound was coming from inside or outside. Then a CRASH! and we both lept out of our bed to the window. All was still, and we could see that my green bike had toppled. "The bikes just fell over," said Casson. "Are you sure they are both still there?" I asked. Neither of us could see without our contacts. I went to flip on the porch light, and Lo! Casson's bike was gone. He raced outside and jumped the wall, but no one was in sight. "Well, that sucks." We called the police anyways, to report it. The cop was very friendly and actually seemed to care a lot. He said that the transient population in this area have often been stripped of their driver's license for whatever reason, and so they steal bikes for transportation. That explains all the angry people that Casson passes on his way to work every morning. It's the same people every day, and they never say hello. They must not be out for a pleasant morning bike ride. The cop said that the trouble maker transients also all ride bikes because they can escape the police down alleys and across fields. Well, lesson learned. Our bikes are still on the porch, but three locked together with U-locks will probably be too much to hoist. We're just very grateful that all the person wanted was the bike. And now it's not a bad thing that we haven't yet sold our other car (not that we've advertised it yet), so Casson has transportation to work without having to leave me stranded in the apartment. Not that I'd mind lately. I've started learning to sew...

A Restaurant Review and a Tour of Pinal County

We had breakfast at the Drip Coffee Lounge this morning. Advertising Organic breakfasts and lunches, and a cool atmosphere. Well, yeah maybe. Cold is more like it. Baby boomers in bandanas and their canine companions lined the sidewalk in front of the door. When we approached, we had to walk in the rocks to get around them. One man said of his bandana-necked pooch "I tried to get him to move." Boy did I want to try to get him to move!

Inside the restaurant, one encounters cement and plastic, and I don't just mean in the faces of the waitresses and barrista's, but in the walls, chairs, tables, and utensils, as well. The only comfortable-looking spot in the place was a kind of bathroom lounge area with Basquiat art books on the coffee table just outside the toilet room. The hard part to deal with was that the sink and towels were also in this lounge area, but this area was not really separated from the eating area of the restaurant. So you basically wash your hands next to the people sitting at table letter "A." Yes, each table is lettered.

We ordered our food. I had some granola and Casson had some eggs and toast. He got a coffee, and I had a small juice. We ate our organic breakfast with orange, plastic utensils that had been sitting directly on the table for who-knows-how-long. We drank our coffee and juice from disposable cups. When the young woman came to take our dishes, I asked if we should pay at the counter. She looked at me like I was crazy and just nodded a few head jerks at me. But within a few minutes we felt sorry for her too, because the main barrista lady spent some time yelling at her about the inefficient way she delivered food. Needless to say, but I shall say it, we will not be going back to Drip Coffee Lounge any time soon. And when the time comes that we consider it again, I don't predict that it will still be there.

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But that's my critical piece. The good part was that we were full and happy. We hopped on the 10 south, and headed to the Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge. The temperature was in the 70s for most of the day, so we had decided to stay around Phoenix for this weekend's explorations. Casa Grande Ruins were built by American Indian peoples who lived and multiplied in and around the Gila River Valley for centuries, I think starting around 300ad. They are now called the Hohokam, which was a name given to them by a later tribe, the O'odham, but might be the ancestors of those very same people. Hohokam just means "used up," which I think might be interpreted "the people that were here before and are gone now?" Whatever. We enjoyed seeing the ruins, but mostly we sat in the cool shade and thought about what the heck it means that these people were here and built this and now it's abandoned. We also saw a Northern Flicker Woodpecker who lives in a cactus, and a Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel, who liked to jump. Mom, I think you'll appreciate the bird picture.

Then we went to Florence, the Pinal County Seat. A once-thriving mining town that sort of transitioned to agriculture as its main reason for existence. Back in the day it must have been beautiful. Today it is a bit dusty and deserted and has the kind of picturesque-ness that rusty iron and run down barns have. The Old Pueblo Mexican Restaurant, however, definitely justifies the continued existence of the town. Pretty much the best machaca and chile rellenos ever. Anyways, Casson toured the McFarland State Park (old courthouse and fire station) while I experienced slight heat exhaustion and swelling on a porch bench in the shade.

Next destination was Box Canyon. We chose it because there is a little star on the map indicating that it is a sight to see. We pulled onto a dirt road (Price Road) and followed it along the Union Pacific RR tracks for about 10 miles, 'til we passed what we think was the town of Price, and started heading up into the White Canyon Wilderness. Jeeps and 4-wheelers were passing us the other way in huge packs, so we knew we were headed somewhere exciting. The road started to narrow. It looked like we were headed directly into a rock wall, when we saw a crack in the rock, straight up on both sides. This was Box Canyon. Our Super-Roo made it a couple of miles in before we knew that we needed either a jeep with higher clearance, or a shovel to fill in the road. But just look at the coolness of this road. Yes, I got out and took pictures of Casson driving down the cool road.

On the way back to the highway, along Price Road, we spotted two snakes. The snakes come out in May for their mating season. Check out the California King Snake and the Rattler (the first one I've ever seen alive!). The rattler had been staring at us from the center of the road as I was trying to get my camera ready, but then he took off into the grass, but I got a shot of his rattle.

A Stereotype: White Lady With a Mission

Sorry, I don't do much these days except eat, sleep, and read books about birth, experiences which are not so interesting to hear about, I'm sure. Anyways, I'll try to think of something. The Quinn's came over on Friday evening for dinner. We ordered pizza. We loaned Amy the pool key so she can come float everyday. She's expecting her third child about the same time we are, so we sort of have a lot going on in common right now. She brought ice-cream, brownies, and strawberries, so I skipped my diet. Actually my sugar level was still fine even after eating a whole bowl. I've been testing Casson's too, to show him how badly it hurts. But he's usually a lot lower than me, which might prove the whole thing sort of true. Yesterday we went to Josh Ashurst's graduation party. He graduated from seminary on Friday. His parents were in town for the occasion, from Idaho. Sara (Josh's sister) is going to interview for a live-in nanny job in New Jersey this week. If she gets it, she'll sell her car and move there in a couple of weeks, to be gone for who-knows-how long. Emily (Sara and Rachel's roommate) is moving to St. Louis in July to go to graduate school. So, Rachel will be on her own in that house of hers. She's got Carlos next door who watches out for her, though. Rachel and Emily and I went out for brunch this morning at the Grande L'Orange, where we did battle for a table. Then I spent the afternoon writing thank you notes to the 40 people at work that showered me with baby gifts...mostly pink outfits. Our closet has more baby clothes than grown-up clothes. Which reminds me of why I'm mad: at the store that we all hate to love, there are those $1 sections. Well, I was going to buy four sets of baby hangers for a dollar each. They were cheaply made, but they are hangers. Who cares? Then I was looking for sheets in the regular baby section, and there they were selling the same number of hangers for .97... and much nicer quality. This is a WARNING against believing that the $1 section is a good deal. It's 10:00 on Sunday night, and Casson is still not back from Sedona, though he called, and they're almost home. He went mountain biking about 12 hours ago with Mike and Dave. Lately I don't really like being home alone, so I went shopping for no reason. But it was nice to just walk around in the air-conditioned stores, not really thinking of buying anything. I needed the exercise. Plus it's just nice to be around people, even strange people: There was a 12-year-old looking boy speaking to his mother in Spanish, saying over and over "I see your mustache, mom. You better get them transplanted. You have a mustache. Ah, a mustache. Look at your mustache!" And he was getting in her face and pointing at her lips. She was just sort of ignoring him, trying to look for the shirt she was interested in. I wanted to go whack him. I hope this is not a sign of a lack of patience. Then there was the lady in the blue t-shirt and jeans, crossing the street with a Walgreen's bag in her right hand, an angry fist for a left hand, and a lit cigar in her mouth, which puffed smoke at what appeared to be a normal breathing rate. But I love Saturday's in Phoenix at mall's and big discount stores, though not if I want to buy anything. There are countless hispanic families out shopping together (mom, dad, and all the kids). And I always feel so stereotypical as a white female. Reason being that all the other white females I see on these days are also on their own, just like me. And we're always walking twice as fast as everyone else. And we're all probably blogging about it, too.

Long Story about Haggling in America

We woke up naturally at about 9:00. Casson went to get a coffee from the Lux, and I started getting ready for the day. We were planning on leaving shortly for Tucson. The Shapiro's had heard about a bicycle swap meet on Sunday morning in the old capital of Arizona Territory. At about 10:00, however, we hadn't yet heard from the Shapiro's, so Casson decided to zip down to the Subaru dealer just down Camelback. I decided to go even though I didn't feel too excited about buying a new car. I thought our Montero was just fine, and who cared if we had to put a ton of money into fixing it, we'd probably still save money in the long run. But then there was the question of breaking down on the highway, which thankfully didn't happen, but just about did when I was driving my parents from the airport to our apartment last week. The car had barely made it home. So maybe a trade-in and a newer car wouldn't be a bad idea. We went to get the Montero washed. I ran into Cyndie ahead of us in the car wash line. Cyndie, my wonderful and proud Greek coworker, who doesn't let a chance pass to give me ideas for little girl names. So as she and her car were about to be led into the octopus-like cleaning machine, and she was suggesting 'Mia', and I would have made some response, but she suddenly disappeared into a whirlwind of mist and soap. By the time we made it through, she was gone. The Montero looked so good, I think Casson almost changed his mind about the new car idea. So we drove over to the Subaru dealer, where we were attended by several eager salespeople. The one who latched on and didn't let go was a small blond woman from down under. I think that when we mentioned that we were looking for an Outback, the non-Aussies sort of withdrew, and let the accent do its work. But to no avail. They didn't have any used Outbacks older than '07, except for an extremely old one that looked like it was about to fall apart. We'd told her our price range, and she told us that THAT was all we could expect to find within our price range. We thanked her for her time, and a tall salesman tried to get us to stay a bit by pointing out some Suburbans we could get financed for $150 a month. Not Suburban, sir. Subaru. So we did what no Phoenician who is not hunting for a good deal on a car would do. We drove to Mesa to see an Outback we'd seen online. We pulled into the Chrysler dealership. A woman came out of the sales office to greet us. She was wearing normal grocery shopping clothes, and we liked her right away. She said that the car we were interested in was at their Gilbert store, which made us gasp for oxygen. But she explained that the store was only three miles away, so we breathed easy. She offered us a ride, and I opened my mouth to accept, but Casson told her that we'd rather follow her there, if it was all the same to her. I don't think it was all the same to her, but she had no choice. When we got in the Montero, Casson said "it's all about control." I guess so, because I sure felt it.

At the other store, we saw the car we were looking for. It was in good shape, hadlow mileage, and had exactly what we thought would be good for space, comfort, and all that. Asking price was about $4,000 more than as advertised online, so Casson mentioned it, and she said no problem, the online price would stand. Casson also mentioned we'd like to do a trade-in. No problem, she said. So Casson and she drove it back to the other store and I followed in the Montero. We parked and inspected the new car, while she inspected our old one. Then we went inside and the NEGOTIATIONS began. Was I transported back to the souqs of Fes? I think the haggling went back and forth more times than in any marketplace in history. At one point, Casson said "Well, thanks for your time ma'am, that's more than we are prepared to spend" (and it was, he wasn't lying), and he began to get up out of his seat. I, on the other hand, began to sweat profusely, and my face turned red hot. There was a tenseness in the air that I could sense, but I didn't understand it. Finally, I began to snap out of it and started to stand up, when she said "Well, wait here, I'll go see what can be done." So we sat back down. I couldn't believe it. Is this how it worked? "Yes, this is how it works," Casson would tell me with a glance. I fidgeted through the manual, pretending to be really interested in how the seat belts buckled, not wanting to say anything because I was convinced that the office was tapped. Finally she returned with an offer no better than the first, so at that point we really did leave. It was a little bit calming to leave. You've got to make up your mind about the limit, and stick to it. Well, we drove to get something to eat, and on the way, Casson had an idea. If we payed that amount, but kept our Montero, it would be worth it. So he called her back and told her his offer. She'd call him back. So it wasn't over? This was all at about 1:00. We had lunch, with about four phone calls from her with different offers. Casson chewed his turkey sandwich and graciously declined all of them, even when it was brought down to only $200 more than our offer. He decided that we should probably be wise and look elsewhere in the meantime, confident that they would call back. We spent some time at the Mesa library, looking up dealerships, but mostly killing time hoping they'd call back. No phone calls. So we went to a Scottsdale dealership, and they had sold theirs. No phone calls. By this time it was 3:30, and we were heading back to Phoenix. We were both thinking, it's only $200! But we had decided not to do it, and we had to draw the line somewhere. Just as we were cresting the hill through Papago Park, and feeling a bit crestfallen, the phone rings. They came down to our offer, no strings attached. Woohoo! So we turned around and headed back. She came out to greet us, and we went in and bought the car. Our saleslady was great, and very happy for us, but the man behind the drawn curtain in the back office didn't appear so. We caught angry glimpses of him from time to time. And our saleslady had to go ask him some paperwork questions a few times, and we'd hear her voice, but not his, even though we were about 10 feet from him. So strange! So that's how we got our new car.

Diverse Matters Which Occurred Recently, and Supporting the Practice of Guessing over Lame Stubborness

Christy picked me up from work yesterday. We decided to grab a bite to eat at Zen 32. Robin couldn't make it. I think she was already out of town. Christy is doing well, training for another half marathon, which I could have guessed. She's also planning on taking two master's classes this summer, on top of working an unpaid teaching internship and whatever job she can manage to support herself with. Washington D.C. sounds so wonderful and interesting. The Pope is going to be there on Wednesday, and she's bound to see him. Wants to get blessed, she said. She heard Madeleine Albright speak at a Barns and Noble not long ago. Sounds like a political Hollywood. I ended up eating half a bowl of edamame and three whole sushi rolls. Nothing raw, though. Strange place to work if your white and tall, because they have to wear kimonos that look very uncomfortable. I was so stuffed after eating, but I still would not have passed up a chance to get Gelato Spot for the second time that week, if Casson hadn't pulled up that very minute to pick me up. I said good-bye to Christy. She'll be back in June for Heidi's wedding. That'll be right during the week that baby-girl Mathis (aka Kicky-the-Dinosaur) is due to be born. I was almost asleep at about 9:00 that evening, when I got a call from Christy from the airport. She'd dropped off her rental car and found my pannier on the passenger side floor. So I rushed down to the airport, got my bag, and got to see her off. I wish I could go off talking about how great that girl is, but she might someday find this blog, and then she'd be embarrassed. It's not too much to say that she is one of the greatest women I know. Casson says so, too. Today was the last day for testing. I only witnessed one kid entirely break down, and it wasn't even the hilarious kid. This kid couldn't figure out one of the math questions, and refused to guess. He didn't care that he was going to miss the bus and have to take the late bus home, an extended amount of time which wouldn't get him any closer to the answer, since it was an area of math that he had not yet learned. Finally I mentioned something about maybe having to leave it blank, and he immediately said "ok." He didn't want to guess, but he was ok with leaving it blank. If I'd have known that, we could have saved forty minutes of bickering, and the other children could have been dismissed to their classes that much sooner, though I know how much they all enjoyed coloring the Japanese flag for a half-hour. Needless to say, most of the children got a little more creative than a plain red dot. As for my stubborn little friend, it will be good for him to reach the level of mathematics in which they discuss "chance," so that he will understand the possible benefit of guessing. We got a car seat. Thanks a ton for that, O Mom and Dad. Now we are ready! Last bit of news is that Casson found out that his firm covers family health insurance. Not personally exciting to anyone else, but sure is great news for us. Sometimes we don't realize how often we 'win the lottery' without even buying a ticket. I'm going to go NOT eat ice cream right now, since I'm now having to record everything I eat, and I'm embarrassed to show the nice lady at the hospital my extensive intake. I didn't get the glocometer yet, and once I do get it, I may need my mom to explain to me how to use it, over the phone. Have a great night or day, everyone!