It Depends What the Meaning of the Word 'Is' Is

On Friday afternoon I stopped by Sissy's house to visit with the babies. When I pulled up, Biggie had just walked outside to visit the neighbors and he told me, "SisterSmalls just fell off the chair and bumped her head. She's crying a lot!"

When I went in the house, I encountered Sissy and SisterSmalls, and he was right - she was crying a lot! The three of us walked upstairs to see Tiny and that's when I noticed that Sister was acting a little funny and her eyes were kind of dilated. 

At that point we went downstairs for Sissy to call her pediatrician and Biggie came back in the house. When she hung up the phone I asked her what they had said.

Sissy: They said to keep an eye on her. Make sure her pupils are the same size, she doesn't vomit, and that she is acting appropriately.

Biggie: Acting appropriately? Like not taking her pants off in the middle of the road?

A little while later we were sitting on the couch.

Biggie: Aunt Airplane, do you know that song about California. With all the states?

Me: No, I don't think I do.

Biggie: See, Mom. I told you she wouldn't know.

Sissy: She knows, you just aren't explaining it very well.

So we go through a whole process where I ask him to give me some other clues about the song. What kind of music? Country. Did you hear it on the radio? Yes. Does it have all of the states in it? No.

And I start guessing songs, to no avail.

Then, I start googling things and I find it!

Jake Owen, Anywhere with You.

Biggie brings me his iPod touch and asks me to download the song for him.

Sissy: I told you Aunt Airplane would know the song.

Biggie: She didn't know it at first.

Me: Come on - all you gave me was, "It has California and other states in it." Based on that, I think I did pretty good. Uncle Bunner is always doing that - calling me and saying, "Airplane, what is that song? A guy sings it and it has 'and' in it."

About five minutes later:

Biggie: Oh, and I need that song that Papa likes from the Voice.

Me: Do you have anything else?

Biggie: The two brothers were singing it. And it has 'and' in it.

And he said it with a straight face.

And if you were wondering, SisterSmalls was fine.

Getting to Know Me Miscellany

I was really planning to go a different direction with this post today, but I read Cheyenne's blog before I posted and she inspired me to share some things about myself - for those of you who don't know me.

Funny story about this picture - I am typically against wearing headbands like this, but we went to the Miranda Lambert concert on July 3 and SuperFan had me wearing this like a real headband. Well, turns out my head is too big for it and it kept doing weird things so I took it off and was messing around when I put it on this way. Then Dirty had someone take a picture of us. Then of course I instagrammed it. And then my family freaked out! And said it was the best picture they have ever seen of me. 

They are a little crazy.

But let's talk about me some more... :)

1. When I was a kid, we were farm laborers for the summer. We started by chopping cotton, then moved up to the sprayer tractor - they actually rigged up a tractor that Sissy, YogaHippy, and I could all work on. They welded two seats to the front, so one person would drive and two would spray. (And we would change to words to songs to fit our lives - there were some funny moments out there in those fields.)

2. For the first time in my life, I think I may be addicted to something. Fitness. It sounds so cliche to say it, but I really do feel like CrossFit changed my life. And now I want everyone around me to be fit and active.

3. I toy with the idea of going back to school. I haven't pulled the trigger, but I get closer every day.

4. I love my nephews and niece more than anything, but I'm no longer sure that I want to have children of my own.

5. I wish I could hip-hop dance. I'm not saying I would like to be a back up dancer in any music videos, but when I watch So You Think You Can Dance, I am always the most in awe of the hip hop dancers.

6. I want to make a difference in the world.

7. Sometimes I want to move to a new city and try something totally different.

8. I really like to entertain people. When people get joy out of their interactions with me - it makes my day!

9. I am crazy independent (like don't-like-to-ask-for-help-independent). I think sometimes it is one of my biggest flaws.

10. I was recently reminded how much I love the smell of Zest soap. I think it is nostalgia, but man, I love that smell!

11. I love to cook! Seriously, if I could afford it, I would spend the weekends trying new recipes and feeding people. I could go broke buying the ingredients for all of the food I want to make.

12. My sisters and brother know all of the ways to make me crazy (and they practice frequently), but if someone moves even remotely in the direction of messing with them, I become a crazy protective mad woman! For real - you don't want to try it.

13. Despite my tough exterior, I am super sensitive. Just because you don't see me cry, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

14. Wow - it is really hard to think of 15 things about myself that seem even remotely meaningful.

15. Music moves my soul. There are times when I am listening to my iPod and a song comes on that just speaks to where I am in that exact moment, and I will play it on repeat just to soak it all in. (Typically while rocking out - I'm sure I provide much entertainment for the other drivers on the road.)

Now head on over to Carissa's blog and read something new.

Instagramming It...

Oops - clearly I missed Miscellany Monday.

Oh, well. Here are the pictures anyway:

31/365

cruisin'

We have been having a very mild winter down here in Arizona and I have been taking advantage by driving around with my windows down and my radio up!

32/365

home

I was invited to a reception at the Phoenix Art Museum last week and they currently have the Iconic Arizona photography exhibit displayed for the Centennial.

It was an amazing exhibit and I consider myself lucky that Match and Papa loaded all of us crazy kids into a minivan and drove us around this beautiful state so I could see first hand most of the things displayed on the walls of this exhibit.

Also, I don't know if you know this, but Dierks Bentley grew up in Arizona and his song Home is the official song of the Centennial. If you haven't heard it yet - I suggest you get it now!

33/365

babybunner

You already saw this picture, but you get it again.

Love this little guy so much!!

34/365

missing you

As I mentioned, I had to help Granny B purchase and install a new printer on Friday. While I was waiting for the software to install I looked over to the side and saw this sitting on her desk. 

It was Popie's from high school graduation. I'm telling you what, there are some days I miss him so much I can't stand it.

35/365

genius

Sissy and I took the boys to the Chocolate Affaire on Saturday where we found the Sweet Republic Food Truck and I got two scoops.

One of Salted Butter Caramel Swirl, which was very good. But, Oh. My. Goodness! That one on the top is Milk Chocolate Guinness ice cream and I could die right now thinking of how delicious it was!

If you are ever anywhere near Scottsdale - please stop in this shop and try their ice cream! You will not regret it!

(OMG - I just went to their website so I could link it up and found out that they sell their ice cream at Whole Foods locations - excuse me while I find the nearest WF Market!)

36/365

orange juice

On Sunday we headed out to M-Town for family lunch. I took one of the bags of oranges that Granny B had picked for me on Friday (Seriously, how many oranges does she think I can eat?) with the intention of squeezing them with the nephews.

Turns out Sissy doesn't have a juice and neither did Wal-Mart. So we settled for just eating them.

37/365

still adorable

Match was looking for Bunner's baby pictures to compare him to BabyBunner and she found this gem.

That's me holding Bunner in my lap.

Looks like I have always been this adorable! :)

Let's Do This, 2012!

Here we go with the obligatory "new year, new me" post!

I am typically not one for New Year's Resolutions. No particular reason, but I just don't like them.

However, for the last couple of months I have felt like I was kind of negative. A little whiny. Just not someone people would want to be around for a long period of time.

So, we're turning things around in 2012! It is going to be the year defined by me. I am going to make the decisions that are best for me. I'm going to do things for me. I am going to make positive changes and it will benefit everyone!

(And by "we" I mean both of the twins - I'm a Gemini after all.)

2012 will be the year that is defined by me. I will make the decisions that are best for me. I will focus on me. And I believe that this will make me a happier person. Which will benefit everyone!

You know how I love music, and I found the song that says what I want to say:

(Skip forward to the 2:15 mark to begin the song.)

First of all, can we talk about how adorable Johnny Cooper is?? I would like to see an official copy of his birth certificate because I don't believe for a second that he is 23 years old.

I guess that makes me a birther.

Ha!

I am also looking forward to a trip to Thailand! Dates have not been s


et yet, but I'm planning a trip to Thailand probably some time around my birthday!

SO excited!

Some gym goals I have for 2012 include:


- kipping pull-ups
 - 15 consecutive double unders
- rope climb


And I am setting a goal for myself to take at least one instagram picture a day for 365 days.


Wow, 2012 is going to be a busy year!


Finally, in 2010 I posed this from TD Jakes and I think it is a good idea to read it as we start this year.


(Ahem, Superfan, I'm talking to you.)

Miscellany Monday

one

80 Lady

On Friday we celebrated A's 80th birthday with a backyard family party.

(Head over to Pie Ranch to see pictures of the festivities.)

I love my family! We are such a blast! I do wish that I took more pictures, but I have realized recently that I'm too social to be the official photographer. I get so distracted with people and conversation that I forget that I should be documenting it with film.

Oh well, another profession I can cross off the list.

two

Joining the Church Choir

Yesterday was the typical Sunday for me, you know, grocery shopping, cooking, and Church...

Eric Church that is!!

YES! In further proof that we know all the right people, we got the hook up with M&G passes to meet Eric Church and trust me, Bunner, Banana, SuperFan, Dirty, and I enjoyed the shit out of ourselves!

I will tell you that the inferno of exhaust coming out of the bus that we were lined up next to didn't do anything for my photo appearance, but it was worth it to say hi to one of my favorite artists of all time.

three

Husker Time

I'm heading to Omaha this weekend to visit Freckles and her family. I've never been to Nebraska before and I'm excited about the trip.

Freckles and I have a long history together and I am sure that this trip will not disappoint. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that the humidity does not suffocate me.

{sidenote: Did I tell you about the time that Such'n'such and I went to the wildlife park and the girl doing the snake demonstration kept telling us that the constrictor snake would suffercate us.  I almost died.}

Miscellany Monday

It has been a while since I partook in the Miscellany, but I'm going to dust off the spider webs...

one

falling apart at the seams

I am a walking injury these days!

Last week I had my CrossFit assessment and we worked on hanging pull-ups and kipping and apparently I officially became a CrossFitter:

Yes, that is my right hand. And yes, that is skin hanging. Let me tell you something - it was PAINFUL! The girl who did the assessment welcomed me into the "club" and said, "I've had them so bad my husband had to wash my hair." Well, thanks a lot - I don't have a husband, that's a double whammy.

A couple of days later I was signed up to donate "Power Red" in the City's blood drive and something went wrong - I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say that the fluids they were returning to my veins were not staying in the veins... That basically rendered my right arm useless and I'm sporting a pretty ugly yellow bruise right now.

two

holy deliciousness

Granny B's basil garden went a little crazy this year and she has more basil than she could ever use, so last week she sent me home with a box full of it. Saturday morning I spent some time making pesto to freeze. But I kept one batch out to use this week. After baking some chicken with some, there was a little left, but not enough to make another dish so I came up with a brilliant idea. I don't make my pesto runny - more of a rub type thing. So I set the oven to 400 degrees and spread the pesto out on a cookie sheet and baked it for about eight minutes until the edges were crispy and brown. And  oh.my.word. it is DELISH!

Seriously I'm having a hard time typing this and not eating all of it before Dirty gets home and can taste it.

three

unbridled excitement

Way back in January I posted about my love for Cody Canada. And I'm super excited to announce that on Friday night I will head to Flagstaff with the Littles to see him live in concert with his new band. I'm so.freaking.excited!

Kickin' It Old School

First of all, Diddy told me the other day that he quit reading my blog because it wasn't funny anymore. That kind of hurt my feelings, but whatever. I can't always be funny.

Either way, back to my story.

I've mentioned before that I'm not really hip. I'm not really up with the latest fashions, and I certainly don't listen to the newest music. 

A large part of the problem is that I rely on my iPod for the majority of my music. The radio often makes me angry and I know that I can control my iPod and that works for me. 

For that reason I don't hear a lot of new music until it is rather old.

Additionally, I am a big fan of old school rap. Give me a little Snoop, Dr. Dre, and Tupac and I'm happy. I mean come on people, Ladies Love Cool James.

A couple of months ago I was on the phone with Diddy and he asked me what  G6 is.

My response? 

"A Pontiac?"

No, I'm not kidding. To my credit we weren't even talking about music so it's not like I knew he was referring to a line in a song.

I told you I'm not hip.

A Short Story

I started my new job today! It was mostly uneventful - a little orientation, some touring, a bit of waiting.

I did intend to take a picture of my sadly barren office for you all to see, but I apparently forgot.

I'm super excited about this opportunity and I can't wait to get into the swing of things.

Yesterday was Sissy's birthday. I should really dedicate a post to her, maybe you'll get one later this week. Either way, despite my better judgement and need for sleep, I went ahead and attended the Kenny Chesney concert with her, Diddy, and BIL.

It was a BLAST!

I love live music. If this new gig doesn't work out maybe I'll move to Texas and work in the music industry there...

That's all I've got for now, friends. I need to get myself ready for tomorrow and get to bed. 

I'm an old lady!

Miscellany Monday

uno.

I've mentioned it more than once on this website, but I LOVE music! And I am a big fan of Cody Canada. Recently, his original band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, broke up. I won't get into whether or not I think they wronged sweet, sweet Grady Cross... But I will tell you that Cody Canada has still got it. 

Check it:

Yum!

dos.

A couple of months ago I bought Decision Points and started to read it. But I had a hard time, life was crazy and the book is large and difficult to carry around. Then PapaBear got the book-on-tape for Christmas.

I'm normally against books on tape. (Back when I was travelling a lot for work, a friend of mine gave me the Shopoholic books on cd to borrow for the long drives. I had read the books, but I couldn't listen to them while I drove. I would just get REALLY angry with the main character of the book and it would fuel high blood pressure and road rage.) Either way, this book is actually read by the author, President George W. Bush, so I thought the book-on-tape would be ok. You may or may not know that I am big fan of his.

I started listening to it this morning on my long drive to the office. And I fell a little more in love with him.

tres.

Tonight begins week two with the nephews. I admit that there is not much sleep to be had with a 4-year-old in your bed, but I think that there will come a time when I look back on these days and am grateful for the time that I got to spend with the little guys.

Wednesday Wisdom

As I told you in this post, I love music!

And today's wisdom comes from a song.

"Horses were made to run

And the sun was meant to shine above

And flowers were made to bloom

Then there’s us

We were born to love"

                                               -Jewel

Things I Love Today

Since it's almost Valentine's day and everyone is supposed to be all about love and blah, blah, blah. I thought that I would provide you with another list of things that I'm loving right now.

• Diddy. 
• I love that no matter what we do, we have fun. 
• I love that we would be funny, even in Siberia. 
• I love that sometimes no one else gets our jokes - even when they are not inside jokes. 
• I love that on mornings when I'm sitting in traffic for an hour and a half, he is too and we can talk and make fun of other people on the road. 
• I love that he agrees with me all of the time. 
• Even when I know he's lying.
• The fact that Dirty is moving to Arizona!! 
• To live with me!
• The anticipation of Disneyland in a couple of weeks with my whole family. 
• And that we are going to be "those people" who have matching shirts.
• That BiggieSmalls has started answering the phone when I call. It is hilarious.
• And that he asked me for an iPod a couple of weeks ago and then told a friend of ours that, "my Aunt Airplane is going to buy me one of those blue pods."
• Eric Church.
• All of his songs. 
• Seriously. All of them!
• My color-coded calendar. 

I hope that you are all loving something or at least loving hating everything.

Oh, The Pressure...

Gosh, I did so good for a week.

Posting some entertaining material everyday.

And then, the bottom fell out of the whole thing.

I was saving a video of BiggieSmalls riding a sheep for times like these.

But then my camera was stolen out of my car and that is where the video lived.

Did I ever tell you about the time that BFL* and I went to see Clay Walker in concert and it turned out to be in a high school auditorium?

We saw on his website that he would be at a "Performing Arts Center" in a small town on the other side of our metro area. The tickets were a reasonable price, so the two of us and one other friend decided to make a girls' night out of it.

We drove and drove and drove. And then we drove some more.

Then when we were at the place where Mapquest led us, we looked up to find a high school.

Sometimes I wish I was making this stuff up.

So we parked next to the bus.

I'm not kidding.

We were in the next parking space over.

We could have climbed up on the bus if we wanted to.

I actually think we took pictures with it.

Always prepared, we had packed a small cooler with some beer, and it was a good thing we did. Did you know they don't sell alcohol on high school campuses?

They do, however, set up a makeshift snack bar outside and sell cans of soda. And the security isn't real tight at the high school auditorium concerts so if you buy a can of diet coke, you can take it out to your truck in the parking lot, dump out the soda, and fill it with beer. And you really only have to buy one soda.

It turned out to be a great show.

And a much better story if you were there to witness it.

Music Is What Feelings Sound Like

The title of this post is a little cheesy, but true.

Two things you should know about me:

1. I spend A LOT of time in my car. At least one hour each way to and from the office. It's not quite as much time as I used to spend in a car, but it's still a lot.

2. I L-O-V-E music! I believe that I have mentioned it before, but I really do yearn for the ability to make music because it makes me so happy. I once had a mild nervous breakdown when my iPod died. (It's true - ask Match.mom.)

So, A+B=I listen to a lot of music. Tonight, on my way to dinner with Diddy, my iPod was tuned to a new favorite Texas musician when the lyrics of a song caught my attention. I often just listen without thinking or paying much attention, but tonight this song made me stop. And restart.

Enjoy the lyrics. And if you want to download the song - Aaron Watson sings it. I highly recommend it!

The Heart Of Life

Girl I hate to see you cry
Lying there in that position
There’s things you need to hear
So turn off your tears and listen

CHORUS

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No it won’t all go the way that it should
But I know the heart of life is good

Now you know it’s nothing new
Bad news never had good timing
There in the circle of your friends
We’ll defend the silver lining

CHORUS

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
Fear is a friend who is misunderstood
But I know the heart of life is good

I know it’s good

(John Mayer) © 2006 Sony/ATV Tunes LLC, Specific Harm Music (ASCAP)

It Is About the Warrior...

If you missed the Academy of Country Music Awards, you missed a great performance by Trace Adkins.

Song of the Century

EID called me the other night from Hawaii laughing so hard that I could hardly understand her. She had found my theme song... For those of you who know the ins and outs of my late night conversations with Antique, this song will make much more sense to you. Listen to the words...especially the chorus.