The New Math

U of A - 1st day of school

1 book + 1 book = 200 dollars

What would you do if you had nothing to do?

What would you do if you had nothing to do? Shana up and left and now there seems to be a big space in my day, an open window of time, a huge chunk of white on the calendar where she used to be. So what am I supposed to do today? Be a mom? Nope. I could go to work and try to bring down the pile on my desk. I've got piles at my house, too. How about the laundry? I could go visit my mom again to check on her new knee. I could try to write something pithy. My car looks like my closest and could definitely use some attention. I could water the plants, but didn't it finally rain yesterday? But, that can all wait for tomorrow. So, really, I've got nothing to do today. Except the one thing I can't seem to put off anymore. I pushed #3 on my speed dial and called Shana.

Upcoming Movie Madness - ADAM

How about a little love story? Meet the gang on MONDAY, August 24th at CAMELVIEW at 2:00pm to see Adam.

Kiss, kiss

The Big Guy

Noah is getting ready to head off to college, head way out east to attend Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Whoa, those first eighteen years just fly by, don't they? So we thought a little hang out time over here was called for. A little dose of Shawn and Lisa. A little food and non-alcoholic beer. A little X-Box. A little ichat view of Shana's new college room to give him a taste of life away from home. And then some more food (those teen-age boys can eat, eat, eat) out in the cold and downpour-rainy Scottsdale night.

Lipstick Call

The girls and I were trying to come up with a little code, a word, a phrase, something, anything that would force us to get up, get out and gather together in the worst of times, the times when it's easier to stay away. I think we settled on Lipstick Call - the call you need to take, the one you can't ignore since your sisters are the ones that may mean the most in the end. So tonight we found the perfect new place in the 'hood, (http://www.regionsbistro.com/) our own little Cheers-like joint where everybody definitely knows our names and knows where we're from (like co-owner Paul from Boston and adorable bartender, Michael, that changed our lives forever with his margaritas with his Russian, Romanian and Egyptian roots, to local girls Lisa and Louise, to Jo from Omaha to the girl from Minneapolis where they must teach you how to put the happy in Happy Hour, Laurel). Now they know what we drink, how we like it (a couple of ice cubes never hurt anything) and maybe most importantly, just how salty we are. Salty enough to hang up on a Lipstick Call? No way.

This one's for you, Dad

SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT

by Shel Silverstein

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out. She'd wash the dishes and scrub the pans cook the yams and spice the hams, and though her parents would scream and shout, she simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceiling:Coffee grounds, potato peelings, brown bananas and rotten peas, chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filled the can, it covered the floor, it cracked the windows and blocked the door, with bacon rinds and chicken bones,drippy ends of ice cream cones, prune pits, peach pits, orange peels, gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, pizza crusts and withered greens, soggy beans, and tangerines, crusts of black-burned buttered toast, grisly bits of beefy roast.The garbage rolled on down the halls, it raised the roof, it broke the walls, I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, blobs of gooey bubble gum, cellophane from old bologna, rubbery, blubbery macaroni, peanut butter, caked and dry, curdled milk, and crusts of pie, rotting melons, dried-up mustard, eggshells mixed with lemon custard, cold French fries and rancid meat, yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high that finally it touched the sky, and none of her friends would come to play, and all of her neighbors moved away; and finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out!"But then, of course it was too late, the garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate; and there in the garbage she did hate poor Sarah met an awful fate that I cannot right now relate because the hour is much too late but children (and Dads), remember Sarah Stout, and always take the garbage out.

Circle of Life

And then there were two. Well...not so fast. Shana hit the road to Tucson this morning, sophomore year in college here she comes. We had a great summer, lots of travel - saw so many new countries and some of the same old summer stomping grounds, a month of Leadership Workshop, plus lots of movies and hanging around lazy days, too. I wasn't ready for her to leave. It came up so fast. I still want to worry and help and advise and crack up. I still want to mother. But, careful what you wish for, because today I had to be Mom to my Mom before, during and after her knee replacement surgery following years of tennis and skiing and gardening and walking around in high heels. I was her eyes, ears and mouthpiece. I was her Power of Attorney and holder of the purse as she turned over the keys to the kingdom. All of the forms and the doctors and the nurses and the beeping and the making sure that the X got put on the right (the RIGHT, RIGHT, not the left) leg didn't give me much time to wallow about Shana, about the empty nest, about the "who am I now" thoughts, just happy to see her "here i am" text after finishing her drive down I-10. But then it hit me. As Shawn and I were walking out of the hospital, through the same doors we walked through 18 years ago with little two day old Shana, it all came back. She's gone. And then there were two.

The Perfect Afternoon

Ignorance is bliss. I've been trying to ignore the fact that Shana's going back to college all summer, happily enjoying having her around. Today we had the perfect afternoon - manis and pedis with Grandma, then home for a Gilmore Girls marathon. Hours and hours of summer girl fun, flipping through stupid magazines, hot stone leg massages, sparkly blue toes in honor of Shana even though she branched out and got fluorescent orange today and tons of Lorelei and Rory lessons from the freakishly close mother-daughter pair. Life was good. Everything was fine. I wasn't crying.

And then Shana said, "Wanna go to Office Max with me?"

Movie Madness - Julie & Julia

In keeping with the food theme from our last movie (Food, Inc. - go see it, it will change your life - or maybe just the contents of your shopping cart), Movie Madness had a great turnout to see Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia. There are some super articles about the movie, Julia Child and the fabulous Nora Ephron in recent New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines, if you want some extra credit. I loved the film. Books are always better than the movie, of course, but this one came close to portraying both women and all of their similarities very well. The food, the marriages, the stress, the food, and Paris (gorgeous, I'm moving) made us all so hungry we had to stroll next door to Pita Jungle and talk about all of our marriages and stress and eat, eat, eat! Bon Appetit!

Happy Birthday Jo!

What a wild crowd we had gathered for Jubulient Jo's fabulous birthday at Louise's Love Shack. Laurel did all the hard farm frau work in a funny hat complete with Food Network-worthy gourmet food cooking lesson while we sang and danced and ate and drank and Wii-d 'til dawn, well almost. No big "move the pool" revelations, except for the curious consistency that Jo has been attending the Chaparral Swim and Dive team practice sessions.