It's raining, it's pouring

So apparently it actually does rain occasionally in Arizona. Who knew?

We're in the middle of our monsoon season which means glorious storms and a much-appreciated break from the monotony of nothing but sunny skies.

You'd better bet that if the lightning isn't too bad, Ellie and I are outside playing in the rain whenever possible. She LOVES it and throws a fit when it's time to come inside.

Look at that gorgeous rain	She wasn't too sure at first
o/~ Raindrops keep fallin' on my head... o/~	Playing in the rain is FUN!

Traffic boredom = picture fun

What do you do when you're stuck in never-ending, stand-still traffic? You play with the camera on your new phone, of course. Here are some of the fruits of my boredom. None of it is the least bit impressive, but it is what it is.

The traffic that started it all

0 MPH is always fun

What a beautiful day in Arizona...

...except for the huge dust storm

My wedding ring. It's small, but it suits me. I think this is a surprisingly clear pic for a camera phone.

The teething monster

I hate teething.

Big surprise, right?

The teething monster is currently living at my house with no signs of moving out anytime soon. Ellie is constantly chewing on her hands (and anything else she can find), and has turned into a drool machine. Ewwww.



And two more pics I snapped with my new phone just because she's too darn cute not to share:

The gadget geek in me

I finally replace my old, crappy phone with a new one. Woo! I've been coveting a phone that would make texting a lot easier, but they were always so expensive that I always passed them over for another plain old phone.

Well, once I found out what an awesome deal I could get this time around, I finally got myself one of these:



It's so freaking cool! I like to text, but it's such a PITA trying to type using the regular keypad. This phone flips open to reveal a nifty little keyboard inside. Sweeeeet! It also has a decent camera (for a phone) and just about every other feature that I like in a cell phone. It's certainly not the World's smallest cell phone (skip to 0:35 unless you like Mr. Farrell in a thong), but it's not too bad.

Sure, it's not as cool as an iPhone, but it also wasn't $500+.

It makes me happy. :)

Good dog

Ellie is absolutely in love with my mother-in-law's (MIL) dog Abbey, a West Highland White Terrier. She's super sweet (unlike her "brother" Bailey, another Westie, who bit Ellie in the head last November). MIL put Abbey in a box. Ellie decided it would be fun to push Abbey around in said box.

Fun was had by all, including Abbey. Silly dog. :)

Ergo love

I can't tell you how much I love my new Ergo. It's a bit pricey compared to something like a Snugli, and little more expensive than those yucky Baby Bjorns.

Before Ellie was born, I originally bought one of those Snugli things.... but then I couldn't figure out how to put it on. Yes, I can program computers with ease, but I can't figure out how to put on a freaking Snugli baby carrier to save my life. So, that was returned for a Bjorn. It was easy enough to put on, so YAY! Then Ellie arrived. It was used maybe 4 times, then once Ellie surpassed about 10 pounds it was murder on the back. I ended up selling it on Craigslist.

Now, over a year later I've jumped on the Ergo bandwagon (mostly thanks to Leah.

I.LOVE.IT.

Ellie's one of those kids who fights sleep as if her life depends on staying awake. The Ergo is the one and only thing that can lull her to sleep within minutes, almost without fail. (Ok, ok, one time it didn't work... but that was only once!)

Plus, ever after wearing her for an hour while shopping, my back doesn't hurt in the slightest.

Ergo, FTW.

Babywearing mishap

Ellie sleeping on Jen's back
Originally uploaded by stuckinarizona

There's a back story to this picture. I was carrying Ellie around on my back in the Ergo while doing laundry, getting all the strawberries cut up, etc... After a while she started to feel a little floppy, so I looked in the mirror, and sure enough she'd fallen asleep.

Normally I'll have someone take her out and lay her down, but at this particular time there was no one else home. I figured I could sort of lay down on the floor and roll her out onto her little couch to finish her nap there.

Well, my plan backfired. She woke up for a bit mid "roll out" process, and decided to lay back down and fall asleep draped across my back. Oops.

I happened to have my phone in my pocket, so I snapped this pic just before I decided to join Ellie in her nap. ;)

Ok, I never really do these things, but....

... I saw this on Milli's blog and I had to give it a try.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English 20% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern 0% Dixie 0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I guess I really do belong in the Midwest, huh?

Ok, ok, so I like one thing about Arizona

Wild horses
Originally uploaded by stuckinarizona

So I've found one thing I like about living in Arizona. Every day on my way to work I have to drive through about 17 miles of seemingly barren Indian Reservation land. However, upon closer inspection one can see that this land is the home to many, many wild horses. I see them almost daily on my early commute into work. I snapped a picture with my phone this morning. Nevermind the fact that it was taken out of my dirty car window with my cell phone, while driving. I've marked the horses in the shot so they're a little easier to spot.

Even with this little gold nugget of awesomeness here, the fact that the temperature here has been hovering somewhere around 117 degrees and plans to stay in the 110+ range for quite some time makes me crabby and unhappy about being here. I guess I don't need to re-title my blog just yet. ;)