When we moved into our house we had been cooking on traditional ranges for our entire lives. And for one more year, before Agatha was installed. It's been 11 years of "alternative" cooking with her, and we're back to the traditional gas range and I have to relearn how to cook on one all over again. Agatha was always on and ready to go, so I never had to worry about "preheating" an oven. Cooking now involves lots of extra steps to create the same meals we used to eat before. Ugh! I have no patience for any of this, but I will find some.

If a stove had actual feelings, this one would be in serious therapy. None of us like it and vocalize that sentiment on a regular basis in front of it. Or, we talk about how much we miss Agatha and how we can't wait to get her up and running again once we get to Arizona, while in the kitchen. When I bang a spoon on the side of a pan, the whole stove gives me hollow echos. We never had that with Agatha. She was 900lbs of cast iron and stuffed with vermiculite and rock wool. I also have had pans be unwieldy atop of the burners and Eddie had a minor disaster trying to make popcorn last weekend.

To make matters worse, Lulu keeps forgetting to turn off the burner when she makes hot chocolate for herself before we leave for me to take her to school. I've come back home, after doing a couple errands, mind you, and there is the front left burner with a low blue flame going strong. Both times were within days of each other.

I've taken to making a sign for the back splash above the stove...We can all use the reminder!

Bean sewed up this lovely outfit for her favorite chicken, Beatrix! She's a regular chip off the old block. :)

I love her little ankle decorations!

Yesterday, January 23rd, marked the anniversary our first date.

It's been seventeen years since that first date. Eddie and I both had a "Whoa..." moment in the kitchen this morning.

Seventeen years is a long time.

"Wow, seventeen years and we haven't killed each other yet!" Eddie quipped with a mischievous grin on his face. "I know!" I wholeheartedly agreed.

And then we high-fived each other.

We are taking Agatha with us and it is a big deal taking her apart and putting her together. No worries, though, I took copious notes and lots of pictures!

Our last meal was on Thursday and we all settled in for a family selfie before we turned her off.

It takes her about 24 hours to cool down, so by Saturday morning, we were ready to get busy with the dismantle process.

How things looked when we began...

And here's what it looked like when we were finished.

Yes, we removed the mosaic tile of her name, too. Once I've repaired it, we'll frame it and I'll put it on a shelf above her this time once we're settled in our new home. It was funny, when Eddie was trying to pry it out of the floor without damaging it, he realized that he had screwed it into the floor ten years ago. "Why did I do that?" he asked rhetorically..."Oh yeah, because we never planned to move, we were going to die here!" he answered. That has become our joke now when we come across something in the house we hadn't anticipated or we realize we have to fix up or make better since we're going to sell.

BIG NEWS: we are moving to Arizona!

A few years back, Eddie and I realized that Portland was steadily and rapidly changing and not for the better. We agreed, that even though we both really dislike moving and had planned to die in our house (we always joked we would be composted in the back yard...) if the time came to make a change, we were both on the same page about it.

Well, Portland didn't disappoint and we decided had to move last summer in July. We agreed we'd list our house in spring 2020 and let the girls finish out the school year before be moved to where we were going.

But where were we going? Last summer, that was a good question. Our top main priorities were lower property taxes, good public schools, and lower crime. We didn't want a sanctuary city and I wanted someplace with minimal threat of natural disasters. We hoped that wherever we ended up, the architecture of the homes was not cookie-cutter and soul-crushingly mediocre.

I'd been keen on New Mexico, specifically Santa Fe, but that became a bust. Expensive, limited job opportunities, high crime, terrible public high schools, and not very good health care. Plus, it was a sanctuary city. The architecture was just magnificent, however. I looked into the surrounding areas (Los Alamos, Cerrillios, even parts of Albuquerque) but at the end of the day, the top drivers of our move couldn't be met (good public schools, lower crime, good health care, job opportunities).

I did due diligence on other places: Kansas City, Nebraska (Tornado Alley, no thank you!), Maine (very liberal, crazy winters we would never be equipped to handle, even with Agatha; mud season after), and Maryland.

New Mexico kept distracting me...

We also looked at Arizona. I compared Phoenix and Tucson (we would have wanted Oro Valley outside of Tucson: very quiet, very low crime, great public schools) but Tucson was closer to the Mexican border and is on the verge of Sanctuary City status. Tucson in general is becoming Portland 2.0.). Phoenix became a contender with great health care & job opportunities, public school options, low property taxes, many low crime neighborhoods and varied architecture. Plus, I loved the Saguaro cactus!

But yet again, New Mexico kept drawing me back...

I was just too beholden by the architecture and landscape to remember it was not and could not be on the list! Eddie actually had a couple job opportunities at one point that he could have pursued in Los Alamos and also in Santa Fe, but further research on my end discovered the dangers of living in a high altitude for those who suffer from depression as well as the terrible disposal practices of radioactive furniture and equipment from the Manhattan Project that still affect both Los Alamos and Santa Fe and for years to come. Those discoveries along with poor job opportunities, bad health care, high crime, generational poverty, and poor public high schools, I finally had to create a tab in my massive spreadsheet as to why New Mexico was a non-starter. And that reminder has worked well going forward.

My two targets became Sykesville, Maryland (or one of the surrounding hamlets) and Phoenix, AZ. We have a dear friend who is raising her family in Sykesville and chose it because of it's more rural atmosphere (aka quiet/low crime) and excellent public schools. It would give us someone we already knew and seasonal weather which would be perfect for Agatha. Phoenix also made the list as it gave several surrounding cities that offered what we were looking for on our wish list. It was also closer to Portland and California for family, as well as being close to New Mexico, Texas and Florida. (We have dear friends in the last two states.)

Again, I did my extensive due diligence. I looked at everything from school rankings, property taxes, liquor laws (priorities, you know), even weather each month of the year. I was pretty extensive. Finally, we decided to go with Arizona. In looking towards the future, Maryland was not a good place for future retirement and we didn't want to have to make a major move, again. Also, we knew we would not be good with the swampy summers that are Maryland.

And we are excited about our next adventures in Arizona! The girls were initially upset by the news we planned to move, but they have come around and rallied in the recent months. We promised they would each have their own bedroom, which helped make our impending move not such a bitter pill to swallow in the early days of the news. I did my due diligence again in the Phoenix area when it came to the top rated public high schools and then considering homes in those neighborhoods. One city that keeps coming to the top of our list is Fountain Hills. It is about 30 minutes from Phoenix going east and a higher elevation. Fountain Hills is about 15-20 minutes from Scottsdale, it's next door neighbor, theoretically. What drew us to Fountain Hills is the small, middle/upper class quiet community and its very low crime. The public high school is very good and a smaller school compared to the other two neighborhoods we are considering (Ahwatukee Foothills for Desert Vista H.S. and outer Chandler for Basha H.S.). For an example, Basha H.S. is actually grades 6-12 and has nearly 2800 students. Fountain Hills H.S. is grades 9-12 and about 500 students. FHHS also has clubs that Lulu is interested in: Car Club and Chess Club! 

When we've told people where we are moving, especially that we are very interested in Fountain Hills, they are always surprised. We tell them that the heat isn't a problem, we've done desert living before in Las Vegas, and when they tell us there isn't much to do in Fountain Hills we share that we are all "indoor cats by choice" as a family. It won't be a problem! We're really good cooks and rarely eat out, we do regular family movies at home, we love to read, play video games, crafts, and Fountain Hills has a public library, which public libraries are the girls second home anyways (mine is Rite Aid). We will be fine!

And what about Agatha? People have asked us and she is definitely coming with us. It may be hot in Arizona, but we will adapt. At the very worst, we'll turn her down to the lowest setting without having to turn her off and then turn her back up again when it gets cooler starting in November. People forget that it can get cold in the desert during the winter time!

So, that's what's been happening these last few months over here. I have been busy with re-painting rooms and getting the odds & ends projects that need to be done in and on the house so we can get it listed in March. I also started getting things packed up late last summer because these things take much longer than one realizes. I've also gotten rid of a lot of things, too, during that time, but you never fully appreciate how much stuff you've accumulated until you are getting ready to move.

More to come!

Anyone who knows me, knows I just loooove to paint interior walls and ceilings! Always have, and most likely, always will as long as I can hold a paintbrush. So it seemed fitting this holiday season to make my own silly, Patron Saint candles for a very small and close group of friends. Dollar store candles, clear printed stickers and et voila! I was very pleased with how they turned out. Response has been quite positive, if not briefly perplexed. One friend emailed that when she opened it, she thought it was a real prayer candle and she thought, "Why on earth did she send me a religious candle??" Only to realize it was me! Needless to say, she loved it.

In May of 2012, Lulu got suspended from kindergarten. Her punishment that weekend ended in the creation of something wonderful, that fortunately, I took pictures of before she went back to school with it.

For years I've kept Lulu's suspension form framed in the bathroom. The entire story has always been a part of our family lore, and an example of "Classic Lulu" behavior. /Eddie and I love that she was suspended from kindergarten on Mother's Day weekend of all weekends. Not everyone gets those bragging rights!

Lulu and Parker became very good friends over the years, and details of what happened that fateful day of kindergarten have gotten fuzzy and revised over the years, depending on whom you ask (Lulu or Parker).

Their kindergarten teacher is now retired, living in the same old, big house close to the school. Lulu and Parker discussed going to her house one day after school, re-introducing themselves, and asking for the real scoop on what happened. They tried one afternoon, but no answer. Parker, didn't want to go back. (Ms. Miller is still an intimidating force to be reckoned with as far as he was concerned.) But that didn't faze Lulu one bit and today when she tried, she had success!

I asked Lulu to write up what happened this afternoon so we had it in her own words. It's a really nice story and wonderful epilogue to the kindergarten drama linked above. And like I said earlier, I'm so glad I snapped pictures before she went to school with her book!

So as I was walking home, I decided to stop by Mrs. Miller's house again, to see if she would answer the door.

I climbed up the porch steps, and I kind of peered into the porch window, and inside, I saw the shadow of a kid, he had his arms raised over his head, and I knew that if there was a kid in there, somebody must be home.

So I went up and knock on the door and looked through the glass. The boy ran into another room, and a few moments later, an older woman walked toward the front door.

She opened it and I asked if there was a Mrs. Miller there, and she said that that was her. I asked her if she remembered me, and she pulled my hood down and look at me. She said that I looked familiar, and asked me to give her a hint. I said, "Kindergarten?"

She said, "Well obviously kindergarten, something else."

So I said, "Lulu?"

Then she realized and started laughing.

She said that I looked completely different and that there were some people, that no matter how old they got, she could recognize them in a crowd, but there were others that when they got older, she couldn't recognize them. She asked me what grade I was in now, and where I went to school, and I told her that I was an 8th grader at Beverly Cleary.

I asked her if she remembered Parker, and she said yes. I told her that Parker and I were best friends, and when I told her that we regularly remind each other of when I spit on him she laughed.

She invited me inside, and I asked if she still had the book I made her, and she said that she didn't, although she wished she did. When she asked what the book looked like, I told her that it was about why you shouldn't spit on other kids. Then I told her that I made it because it was either make a book about why you shouldn't spit on other kids, or stay locked in the basement bathroom writing out "I will not spit on other kids," a hundred times in a notebook.

I followed her into the kitchen and she asked if I wanted a cookie. I told her, "Sure, I'm not one to turn down sugar."

They had chocolate kisses in the middle of them, and they were really good. Mrs. Miller introduced me to one of her friends who was there as well, and her friend asked if I had ever had one of these cookies before, and I said no. She told me that she was from Wisconsin and that making these cookies was normal there.

It turns out, the boy I saw in the window was Mrs. Millers' grandson. He was helping her make the cookies and was in charge of placing the Hershey's kisses on the cookies. And that boy was like a powerhouse of energy. He was running all over the place, and I for sure thought he was gonna break something.

I told Mrs. Miller about how my parents still have my suspension form, and how they framed it and hung it in the bathroom. She thought that was hilarious.

I then told her about when Parker and I were waiting inside before school a few weeks ago, and how he spit on me, and I knew that Mr. Ferraro was around the corner, and I shouted, "Mr. Ferraro! Parker spit on me! Suspend him!" and then I had told Parker, "Now you're gonna make me a book!"

Mrs. Miller thought that was so funny, she was laughing really hard. I told her how Parker and I remember the incident happening while she was reading a story to the class, but my mom remembers it happening while we were in line transferring to music, so I asked if she remembers what happened, but she said that she could only remember the incident, not when and where it occurred.

Then, her grandson said that he was tired of getting spit on by a kid named Owen in his class, and so I told him, "Next time he does that, tell the teacher, maybe you'll get him suspended!"

Mrs. Miller started laughing and she said, "Well, I know what's going to be happening tomorrow!"

Her grandson ran to the couch and found a pair of glass earrings that were Mrs. Millers, and he ran over and threw them onto the kitchen island. One stopped right by the edge, but the other flew off onto the floor and broke. Mrs. Miller kind of scolded him for a minute or two, but then turned back to me. She told me that she remembers me being an oddball and very eccentric, and she told me that the people who are like that when they're kids are the ones who turn into the most delightful adults. She told me to thank my parents for their parenting because they made me that way.

I told her that Parker didn't want to come because he said that it would be too awkward, so she told me to tell him that he should come around now that I'd broken the ice.

She commented on my shirt, which had the words 'North Hollywood' on it, and she said that when she saw that, she immediately thought of 'Hollyrood' which is the name of the building where the kindergartners are.

I told her that it was amazing having talked to her after all these years, and she said that she enjoyed talking with me.

I'm glad I stopped by today, I had a lot of fun talking with her.