Dust!

July and August are miserable in Arizona. It is a known fact. June is only so-so, but July is where the shit hits the fan and life feels like it is being lived in an oven. "Dry heat" is all well and good, but you know that blast of heat that hits you in the face when you open your oven? That is what it feels like when walking outside. Good times. Ha. July also brings the fun of MONSOONS! Though I don't really like storms (I'm afraid of wind) I do look forward to monsoons. I have had my bad experiences, but I still look forward to it every year. The only problem is that then life is hot, but no longer dry. Humidity with 110+ temps is a unique experience, one that no one should be forced to witness. Last summer, I had a job where I worked outdoors. I am exceptionally glad I don't have that again this year, just at this moment. It would be 8am and I would already have sweated through my clothes and my hair had already frizzed out. Not a fun time.
Anyway, I got off topic. Tonight brought a dust storm! I love watching these blow in - as long as I am safely indoors. I have memories as a kid of running from my aunt's house around the block to mine to beat the incoming dust storm. Oddly that is a good memory - it was fun watching them blow in. And then my mom and I would sit on the trunk of her car in the carport and watch the dust storm and frequently the lightening and rain show that would follow.

A dust storm rolling in... (This picture is not mine, I got it from here)

Here are some pics from the storm tonight that I took with my phone:

Not sure why they are so tiny. I am still working on the picture adding feature here... haha.

So sleepy!

Today was a busy day!! We had some friends driving over to our side of town (they are about an hour away) to meet up at the dog park with the pond in it so all the pups could play. Augie had a blast, again! He wouldn't jump off the dock this time though. Then we had lunch at a restaurant with an outdoor picnic area so we could bring the dogs, and then, if that wasn't enough outside time, came back to our house to swim. It was "cooling down" this weekend, all the way to 102 (actual quote from the weather man... gotta love the desert!) so all the outside time was fun. Won't be so fun when the humidity kicks in next month, but for now it isn't too hideous. The downside of today is that my "fearless" cat got traumatized by one of their dogs. I don't really know what the dog did besides corner him and chase him (which is where we managed to catch the dog) but 8 hours later and my cat is STILL totally freaked. Poor baby. He'll get better, but it is sad to see him skulking about.

After all this happened, we did more work on the nursery. By "we" I mean "Mark," though I did help out some. He got all the wainscoting up, and is painting it right now. I went and spackled over all the nail holes, and also marked all the studs in the room for when he puts up the chair rail. Really close to being done! All that is left after he paints is the baseboard and the chair rail, then then the touch up paint on those! *Fingers crossed* those go up smoothly. Then he can clear out all of his tools and I can get to work clearing out the closet. It is the nicest closet of the 3 bedrooms, and since it used to be our office, it ended up catching all of the crap we didn't feel like dealing with when we moved in. Yes, that was almost 3 years ago and it is still full of crap. But with me being home more, I have a plan. I also got a notice that a Goodwill truck is coming by in 2 weeks so I can get rid of a bunch of my stuff! YAY! So I have a deadline to have stuff dealt with. Then we should be able to focus on organizing the front part of the house, the filing cabinet and then - after all that - we should have a house that looks like responsible adults live in it. Kind of a scary transition. We've been trying to make the transition for years but never really had the push to do it. With Luke on the way, now we need to have our house - and our lives - more in order. And since I'm unemployed currently, I really have no excuses. It started with small changes: making sure laundry was getting folded and put away in a timely manner and not abandoned on the dryer, getting a running grocery list going for my weekly shopping trips (yes, I did not grocery shop regularly before), making a dinner schedule and actually cooking regularly, etc. It is kind of fun, but it is getting tiring trying to get everything organized. I know once I get it there it will be easier to keep up, but getting there is exhausting!

Anyway, that is my newest snippet and my newest goal. Hopefully I can meet it. If I get that done before the middle of July I will feel so accomplished, I might consider getting myself my trophy for my mantle, just like in my favorite blog post ever. :) Now I am exhausted from my day in the heat and the sun, and need to go to sleep! Zzzzzz.....

And so it starts!

I blogged when I was in college. Just nonsensical stuff about my day, funny quotes of the day, shoutouts to my new boyfriend... it was a fun thing for me to do. And after reading some blogs that friends have, I thought it would be something I would enjoy again. A lot has changed since my college days. Hopefully I'll still have periodic funny quotes, and I married the boy I used to give shout outs to, so this is my journey into becoming a real adult. Organizing my house, having a place for my mail, grocery shopping and cooking dinners regularly, and starting a family beyond just my pets. Don't worry, I don't plan on my blog being a journal of what I cleaned that day! Should be more interesting than that, hopefully. Welcome. :)

(also a thank you to http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ for the inspiration for my blog title!)