There's a big "2" on my calendar...

... and it's not the date!!

Closing day on our house is only TWO DAYS away!!! YAHOO!!!!

Here are some things that I will NOT miss about the apartment:

1- No more squeaky floors! (house has cement floors, no squeaking!)
2- No more worrying about scaring the downstairs neighbour to death by
dropping something (she's really sensitive -- we really may have scared her
to death!) --
3- No more stairs to the doorway! (house is completely one story living)
4- No more parking under a tree and being constantly speckled with
"helicopters" and bird doo! (house has a garage)
5- No more road being flooded when it rains (while this was amusing, it will
be nice to know we can get out -- even in the rain!)
6- No more laundry in the kitchen! (house has a laundry room with a door and
everything! no more dust in my kitchen appliances!)
7- I wish I could say no more ugly couch, but we've had to put buying a new
one on hold indefinitely. It'll come -- in its time.

We're pretty excited about the move (can you tell???)

FOUR MORE SLEEPS!!

Crossed the Mississippi
Down in Memphis Tennessee
Winding through the Ozarks half a day
Spend the night in Tulsa
But hardly slept at all
A cup of coffee and I was on my way

Arizona's on my mind
I really miss her in the morning
Everyday I wake to find
Sweet Arizona on my mind

Stopped in Amarillo
Long enough to stretch my legs
Filled my truck and got back on the road
A friend in Albuquerque
Said why don't you hang around
I said sorry son but I have to go
Can I take a rain check on New Mexico

Arizona's on my mind
I really miss her in the morning
Everyday I wake to find
Sweet Arizona on my mind

I can see her there
Waiting for me there
Always calling me back home
Arizona's on my mind
I really miss her in the morning
Everyday I wake to find
Sweet Arizona on my mind

~ Jake Mathews ~

Do flukes count?

While at Bethany, I played a good number of games of pool. I won't go as far as to say that I'm good - but I improved. However, when playing pool with me, I would make a shot, sink a ball I had no intentions of sinking, or sink a ball completely on a rebound. If you have ever played pool with me, you have heard me say NUMEROUS times undoubtedly, "Do flukes count?"

Now, a few years later, it's been a few years since I've had my hands on a pool cue (ok, that's a lie - I played one game at graduation and one game at a pastor/spouse retreat), but there are other areas where I wonder "Do flukes count?"

I'm not going to go all spiritual on you. Cause if I did, then I *think* (not much thought put into this thought cause it wasn't where I was going) but I *think* I would say that spiritually, most often, flukes don't count.

However. For years, I have desired to learn how to capture images photographically. While I still have a LONG way to go, I do think that I am improving. But there are times when I get the *perfect picture* and couldn't tell you for the life of me why it worked or how to do it again.

For example, here is a picture I took while I was playing outside with the kids this afternoon.

While it's a pretty useless picture, the clarity of the subject and the unfocused-ness of the background is something I have tried to learn and have not yet understood. Yet I did it. Could I do it again? Here's what happened when I tried.


So my question is, as a photographer, do flukes count? When you take pictures, do you know what you're doing or do you just hope that you get a fluke and that it counts??

If you have any tips to tell me how I did this, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!

(Another example of good picture that I was unable to reproduce)

"Jeremiah Gomez and Sarah Brown"

It appears to me that my amazing boyfriend and I have both completed the Name Change Game in recent blogs. This being said, I have decided to compare our new names and see if there are any "matches made in Heaven." Who knows - maybe if we find a great pair, we'll change our names legally! (Click here to find out how these names were formed)

Here goes!
(Always Jeremiah then me)

1. OUR ROCK STAR NAMES: Jo-Jo Silver & Chi-Chi Main (too funny)

2. OUR MOVIE STAR NAMES: Pablo Reese & Elizabeth Rocket

3. OUR "FLY GIRL/GUY" NAMES: J-Xav & S-Daw

4. OUR DETECTIVE NAMES: Blue Panther & Blue Giraffe

5. OUR SOAP OPERA NAMES: Xavier Sierra Vista & Dawn Winchester

6. OUR STAR WARS NAMES: GomFerRob & BroOydHug

7. OUR JEDI NAMES: Reivax Refohssarts & Nwad Dyob

8. OUR ‘ADULT’ STAR NAMES: Xavier Emmanuel & Dawn Ash

9. OUR SUPERHERO NAMES: The Blue Corolla & The Blue Saturn

The names in red bold are the three that I think we should seriously consider... Apparently we were meant to be stars... Perhaps some of these names should be written down for future children..... hehe

BTW - I am still looking for car advice in the blog entry below!!!

Does it have 4 wheels??

Ok, so Jeremiah and I are going to Arizona in a little over a week (VERY excited) I'm looking into renting the car for while we are there and I'm not sure what I should get. This is where YOU come in! I'll list the cars that are available (and in our price range of course) and then YOU take over and tell me whatever you feel I need to know about each of these cars. Be as simple as you like. A car is a car is a car to me - but despite this, I want to make the best decision (comfort for a long drive to the Grand Canyon, miles/gallon, room for passengers, etc... )

So here are the cars:

(NB - all prices are USD and include all taxes and fees)

Compact options -
Ford Focus - 191.31
Dodge Neon - 168.86
Chevy Cobalt

Intermediate options - 172.52
Pontiac Sunfire
Chevy Cobalt (different agencies listed this as compact)

Standard + options - 199.29/week
Pontiac G6
Dodge Stratus

Full Size options - 200.43/week
Chevy Impala
Ford Taurus

Premium - 200.50/week
Dodge Charger
Nissan Maxima

And in case anyone cares - Enterprise seems to be significantly cheaper than everywhere else. You can get an intermediate size car there for $15 LESS per week than you can get an economy size car from the other five rental agencies at the Tucson airport! Yay Enterprise!

"Potato, Potahto"

My mom is away this week so preparing the evening meals has fallen to me. My dad is the "meat and potatoes " type, so we started off the week with Glazed pork chops and mashed potatoes. Pork chops - great. Potatoes - ew!

So I've come to a conclusion. I can make roasted potatoes, potato bites, fried potatoes, French fries, scalloped potatoes, Jo-Jo potatoes, potato wedges... but ask me to make a simple bowl of mashed potatoes and I'm at a loss! Over cooked, cooked too fast, cooked too slow, peeled too early, soaked too long -- i have no idea! But what I do know is that for the rest of the week, I plan on avoiding straight mashed potatoes.

I never liked the things anyway :)

Some glad morning --- I'll fly away!!

Soon it will be my time to fly away - but first things first - my mom flew to Seattle to spend a week with my sister Gina and her new baby girl, Naïma Katherine. This leaves me at home working my mom's daycare. Diapers, kid lunches, walks to the park, Fisher Price preschool games, Caillou puzzles, playforts and hoses in the backyard (if the weather turns nice once again as it supposed to), and the beloved naptime! I'm quite sure that this is part of what life was made for!! Some people babysit and realize "WOW!! THIS is why I am not a mother!" Not me. I sit here and thank God that I truly believe that someday my day is coming!

I've heard some pretty horrible day care stories (ok - so I'm pretty sure there have even been some here...) but my mom has been blessed with some pretty great daycare kids this year. A set of 2-year-old twins (boy and girl), a 3-year-old girl, and a 4-year-old girl. Right now, they're sitting behind me comparing the length of their lunch French fries. Guess I better get something ready for dessert :)

This really is the life :) Perhaps someday it will be mine.


Oh yeah - and when my mom comes home next Wednesday, she is bringing my sister Gina and baby Naïma with her. And that day or shortly after, my sister Krista and her two kids, Emily and Isaac will be here too. Oh happy day :D