Thursday, October 30, 2008

Boo Grams

My Foreign Language club has been selling "boo grams" all week. For $1 you sent a paper ghosty (with a message) and a baggie of candy to your friend. We delivered them today in my 3rd hour class (Latin) and we wrote this ditty:


Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Chocolate, gum, yummy sweets;
Here is some candy for tricks and treats!



Yeah, I know that part of it is from Shakespeare, but the erst is original. It was a HUGE hit and we made about $90. We're doing really well, I think for a first-year club.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Christmas Whisk

Found this online and it is cuter than cute!

Easy Stocking Stuffer: Whisk You A Merry Kissmas

Our "We Whisk You A Merry Kissmas" craft is a sweet surprise for the chocolate lover in your life! A homemade Christmas gift, it's easy enough for children to make and give.

Makes a great teacher gift, stocking stuffer or office Secret Santa present.

To make your "Kissmas Whisk", place a handful of foil-wrapped chocolate kiss candies between the tines of a new kitchen whisk.

Wrap whisk bottom with plastic food storage wrap and tape wrap to handle.

Add a pretty bow or ribbon

Find it at: http://organizedchristmas.com/whisk-you-merry-kissmas

First Houseguest

Jes-ka! came to visit. She could only stay the night since I was over-the-top busy. She spent the day at my house, while I was at school. Isn't she wonderful? She graded papers for me since my TA was gone this week.

Have fun on your boat, Jes! I'll miss you and come home soon.

Monday, October 20, 2008

First Dinner


This is my first real dinner in my new house. I had NOTHING. Alvin made a casserole and brought it over. He picked up a bag of salad and these little single-serving packages of dressing.


Yum! We split the dressing packet.


And here is the fam. Me, Alvin, and Lily settling down to watch a movie. Notice that we're on the floor? Yeah, I don't have a couch yet! I'm working on that. And, I don't want all four bookcases that Les and Kathy gave me in the living room.

Friday, October 17, 2008

It's moving day! Mom is off (last day of her October break) and Dad & I TOOK the day off to move me in.


Don't tell my mom! I took this photo over my shoulder when I was driving the Highlander of all the stuff in the back seat.


Do you notice that this is out the front window? I'm the third car in a moving caravan. Dad's in the brown Jeep (with the trailer) and Mom's right ahead of me.

Backing into my driveway.

The house won't stay empty for long!




Ah! The first meal of Alfonso's in the garage. How fun is this! I actually SLEPT at the new house too!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Getting the Keys


DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS? This is me getting my new house keys from John at NorthSky! It's 100% official. Escrow closed. Recorded with the county and EVERYTHING.


Opening the door for the first time.


Okay, so when I get really happy, I don't actually CRY cry. I just get teary and red. This is me, sitting in my new bedroom. Sitting on the new CARPET for the very first time. It's real. It's real. I still can't believe it. It's mine. No crazy landlords to tell me "Get out, we want our house back."

Wow! And 5 days ahead of schedule too!

Tomorrow, the real work begins. Moving!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Signing

I got the call! We did the walk-through on Monday (instead of Wednesday) and then I signed paperwork. It was the most amazing feeling EVER to go to the bank this morning and get a money order for like $17,000 for my down payment and closing costs. Wow!

This is Rhonda the escrow officer finishing up my paperwork. And NO, you can't read anything on the desk. I erased all the information. There was a bit of drama with a HUD statement (something about homeowners fees) but Rhonda-the-Amazing got it all cleared up and I should be funded any time now. I think I'll get my keys on Thursday!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Looks Done To Me


It looks like the house is done. We stopped by after camping so we couldn't get inside.

My front porch light!



Ah! The kitchen through the dirty back door.

Bluegill


Dad, Alvin, and I were catching them on worms as fast was we could get our lines in the water. Well, technically, DAD and I were catching them; Alvin was running back and forth taking them off the hook, putting them on the stringer, rescuing my bobber, and helping Mom keep track of us.


Thank GOD for youtube! We didn't know how to clean them (I'd never had bluegill before) and Dad couldn't really remember. I want to go down south this winter and catch BIG bluegill. They're really tasty and the meat is translucent when raw. When cooked, it's light and melt-in-your-mouth good.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

More Geocaching

Even with the screwy horizon line, this is my favorite picture of us on our geocaching adventures. You can just barely see Jerome on the mountain behind us on the far left.



Look at the size of that tree! That's Alvin climbing it and he looks TINY.


In a dead, fallen branch of the big tree, we found the cache. It had two travel bugs in it. Yeah! That's the first time we've ever found travel bugs in a cache. I can't WAIT to pass them on. (What is a travel bug?)


And REAL bugs on a plant.


A micro cache near the oldest lagoon.

What is Alvin writing on his hand? The coordinates to the REST of the cache.



Ah, the last find of the day! There was no good place for me to put my hat and take a group photo (that's how I take photos of all of us) so I'm just not in the picture.

After geocaching, we went to the lagoon to fish for bluegill. I'll post photos of them tomorrow.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Geocaching

Dad is really into geocaching since that will be an integral part of EatStayPlay.com's future. There were a TON of geocaches in and near Dead Horse Ranch State Park so we took an afternoon and went looking for two. It took us two tries to find this one.



See what I'm pointing to? It's a little sign that says JOBOX and this geocache was called "Little Job". Duh! Fun, but boy did I feel stupid!


Our next one was all about fly fishing. Or at least, it was supposed to be about fly fishing. We took a rock from this one. I found the cache under some bark in a rotted out stump. Of course, this was in between calls from Laurie, the mortgage lady, seeing a deer at the riverside (the photos of her didn't come out), and bushwacking through some tall grasses.



This was the final cache. It was quite a hike from the truck. And I had to hike TO the truck and bring it closer to where we were starting from. Then, it was about 3/4 of a mile along a trail. The cache was easy to find but hard to GET to. It was under an overhang, behind a rock, and guarded by some SHARP spiney bushes.

The first family photo I took I'm making a terrible face after having twisted my ankle getting back to the path.



Oh, and a really great part of the day (yesterday) was that Alvin was waiting for us when we got back to camp. I LOVE camping.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Kayaking Dead Horse Ranch State Park

A huge snow storm was set to hit Flagstaff. Instead of staying in the cold and the wet, we moved farther south to Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. We went from can't-wear-enough-clothes weather to tee shirt weather in one day. (Yesterday)

There are three little lagoons at the park. They don't accept any motorized boats, and you can only put in on one of them. We didn't catch any fish (too hot still to stock trout) but Dad & I had a good time paddling around!



Dad casting from the kayak.


Smaug (the kayak) and Kim's feet! Nobody ever takes photos of ME so I'm just proving I'm there.



BTW: we've got Internet here, which is a good thing since they're finishing up my mortgage and they need a TON of stuff. I'm praying hard and more than a bit worried. It's too late in the game NOT to get the financing on my most amazing house!

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

The Big & The Little


THIS the the biggest fish I've ever caught.



And this is the littlest pike I've ever seen.


We were boat fishing on Ashurst Lake today. I was reading my book when BAM! my line went under. I lost the bait and the fish, so I stuck on some more Yellow PowerBait and cast out again, this time paying 100% attention.

Not 10 minutes later, I got a huge strike. I FOUGHT it all the way into the boat. Mom and I were just screaming with laughter as we pulled it in and I didn't realize how HUGE it was until Mom was saying that she couldn't get her hands all the way around.

So, here I am, forceps rooting around in the throat of a trout, looking for the treble hook when I look over the side of the boat and yell:

"Hey! Who's bobber is that?"


Yes, Mom caught her itty bitty pike at the same time we were dealing with my giant trout.

I never did get the hook back -- we had to wait until Dad was cleaning fish that night.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Kayaking Blue Ridge Reservoir

Retroactive posting (posting after the fact as if it happened today.)

We've been wanting to go kayaking on Blue Ridge Reservoir since we got the kayaks. Well, Dad & Alvin wanted to. I'm still scared of the place.


Okay, I went. It WAS scary. The water, the canyon, they're just OLD. The feelings there are deep and strong and silent. It's the kind of water that could swallow you whole and nobody would ever know. I stayed in the sun.


We figured that we kayaked about 6 miles round-trip. We were gone the better part of the day yesterday, after cleaning crayfish and before eating trout. The way back was against the wind. Hard against it.

We fished, trolling, but didn't even get a bite. Nobody who was fishing did. There were several kayaking and boating groups. No shore fishing since there is no shore! I think it was worth it. We stayed far far away from the dam.


Here's what EatStayPlay.com has to say about Blue Ridge Reservoir:




Courtesy of EatStayPlay.com

Blue Ridge Reservoir looks more like a canyon-bound river than a lake. Nestled between forested canyon walls it provides picturesque water recreation in a secluded, wooded setting. It is an excellent place to boat fish when high winds make other area lakes too rough for access.Fishing is a popular activity here, rainbow trout are stocked by the Arizona Game and Fish Department during summer months. Because of the steep terrain, there is no shore fishing at Blue Ridge Reservoir.Blue Ridge Reservoir is also a popular spot to kayak or canoe.


Facilities: Blue Ridge Reservoir provides toilets and a parking area.Rock Crossing Campground is 4 miles from Blue Ridge Reservoir on Forest Road 751. It provides 35 single unit campsites with tables, fire rings, and cooking grills. Blue Ridge Campground is also in the area. It provides drinking water and toilets (self-composting).

Reservations: Reservations are not needed or accepted to use Blue Ridge Reservoir.

Best Time To Visit: Blue Ridge Reservoir is not accessible in the winter. The lake is only open during the summer months.

Fees: No fees are charged.

Accessibility: This lake is not handicap accessible.

Rules: Boat motors are limited to a maximum of 8 horsepower. No parking on boat ramp or other posted no parking areas. In many areas, the road is limited to one-way access and there is no room to go around parked cars.

Directions: To reach Blue Ridge Reservoir from Flagstaff, Drive 55 miles south of Flagstaff to Clints Well on Forest Highway 3 (Lake Mary Road). Turn northeast (left) about 4 miles on AZ Highway 87 to Forest Road 751 then southeast about 6 more miles to the reservoir. All roads are paved except Forest Road 751 which is graveled and suitable for passenger cars in most weather. Forest Road 751 is closed and the reservoir is not accessible in winter.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Crayfish!

Retroactive posting (posting after the fact as if it happened today.)


Cooked crayfish. The finished product!


We put the traps out on Alvin's birthday (5 October) and the picked them up early (before dawn) on the 6th. We ended up with 98 crayfish in our two traps. That's a new record for us!


They're so ugly they're pretty!


Okay, so Alvin wasn't exactly sure about all of this, but he was willing to move them from the box to the cooking pot.


There's a science to getting them out of the shell without getting yourself splattered.


So, you can't see it (I hope!) but it's so cold that my nose is bright red. Mom and I did all the cleaning ourselves. It didn't take long.

Yum! We had crayfish with our trout dinner. Alvin decided that they're a-okay after all.