Finally, Sedona

Today, a bonus birthday day, we went to Sedona. I've been wanting to get up there for ages, but our schedules just never seemed to give us the opportunity. Going forward, we will *make* time to get back, because DAMN. The pictures don't really do justice to the event of driving from the relatively bleak and rolling desert to the south into the gloriously huge formations of red rock--surrounded by trees, no less! It was breathtaking, and not a little overwhelming.

We didn't really have a plan, so we asked for a quick, easy day hike. We were directed to Bell Rock, which is one of the places I'd read about and wanted to visit at some point anyway. Supposedly, Bell Rock is the site of one of the major Votices in Sedona, but I have to tell you that I didn't feel particularly inspired or charged up in any way. Mostly I just felt a little dizzy. Especially after we hiked to the base of the rock and then decided to "go up a bit". We probably went about halfway up, and I would show you the photos to prove this, but dork that I am, I forgot to charge the digi-cam battery, and it went *poof* after I took the first photo from the parking lot (Just Google search "Bell Rock Sedona" and click "Images" and you'll get an eyefull). Anyway, we found a nice sitting rock at our half-way point and just sat and enjoyed the amazing views for a while before heading back down.

We were home by 2pm, and napping on the couch by 3:30. I think the heat and the climb just sucked the energy right out of us, vortices be damned. It's just a bit past 6pm now, and my splendid birthday weekend is nearly over. I love busy weekends like this--they leave me exhausted, but they seem to last so much longer than a weekend spent sleeping in and sitting around the house. It feels like I've had a week off from work. More cramming should be done!

Sadly, for the rest of the evening, the only cramming that will be done will be laundry into the machine! : D But there will be more days off, and more hikes, and more mini-adventures and exploring. Yes.

It's mah birthday! It's mah birthday!

So today I'm 36. I gave myself a couple of really nice new scrapes on my right forearm and right shin, after taking a bad line on my bike ride this morning. I took the middle line in a gully full of sand, slid off to the side and caught my pedal, which threw me far and long into the rocks. Good Times! (the worst part of it all, truthfully, was when I got home and Russell demanded that he clean me up...the hydrogen peroxide stung a bazillion times worse than the original scrapes!)

I rode for about 3 hours this morning, with some complete strangers I hooked up with via a yahoo email list. I've just spent a fair amount of time trying to find some online photos of the trails we rode, to no avail. Suffice it to say that there was a lot of loose gravel, a boatload of nasty cholla, and more mini-whoop-de-dos (aka MOGULS!) than I ever care to ride again in my entire life. However, there was also miles of amazing scenery, a huge rock outcropping shaped exactly (from a distance) like a Gorilla, a teensy little horny toad (so cute!), and an amazing sense of "I DID IT" at the end of the ride. More, please!

This afternoon, Russell and I went out for lunch and then to a little specialty chocolate shop I had heard about. We then came home and took a nap on the couch. I think that was my favourite part of the day so far! I played some Tomb Raider and ate some Ice Cream Cake, and tomorrow we're going up to Sedona. What a fine birthday weekend!

(As far as the previous dreaming post goes, I wish I could say that the day following the dreams was filled with a sense of resolution and contentment, but alas, after marathon snoozes like that, I'm always more groggy than usual from having slept too much, and full of brain fog. I guess I have a lot to work out!)

The Problem with Sleeping, and other Complaints

Sometimes I wish I could just avoid dreaming. Last night I went to be early, thinking I'd wake up super refreshed and have hours and hours to get stuff done before I have to go into work this afternoon. Well apparently my subconcious had other ideas, because I was dreaming fervently all night long. When Russell's alarm clock went off, I hit snooze and went back to the dreaming. 3 times. When he got up, I got up to use the ladies room and promptly went back to my dreams. When he left for work I mumbled goodbye and collapsed back into bed. The dogs whined in protest, but still I dreamed on. Finally, at 10am, I forced myself up and out of the man-eating, dream inducing comfort of a big empty bed. 12 hours, I think?

What were these dreams about? I can't really say. Not that they are super secret or anything...just that it's all a foggy blur of odd snippets. Superhero-lasering giant "prison boxes" off the walls and ceiling of some hangar type place, releasing other super heroes and the odd bad guy or two. Finding some tiny glowing treasure chest filled with gelatinous goo. Showing that treasure to Angelina Jolie (she was one of the super-heroes I rescued, you see), and having her gasp in horror and throw it back to me, shrieking "Why are you showing that to me? I don't want it! Hide it!" I still don't know what it was.

In another part of the dream, Bucket was a shape-shifting hound, and apparently when he is disguised as a Daschund, he can't perform the "stand" stunt quite as well. Although it was much easier for him to become entangled in my knitting (which I don't do).

There are more and more odd snippets to all this, and for some reason I wanted to continue watching this bizaare montage more than I wanted to get up and face the day. It's gloomy and cloudy, after all. And I have to work tonight, closing with just 3 other people.

And it puts me one day closer to 36.

Because it's just so damn funny...

Missing Cows

Points of interest

1) Despite taking about 20 hours to defrost, I'm chalking up Monday's adventure in Refrigerator Defrostation as a Good Thing. Beverages are actually cold now, not just vaguely cool. It's a wonder we didn't suffer constant food poisoning. Our immune systems are probably nigh invulnerable at this point.

2) V for Vendetta is a damn good movie. However, Natalie Portman should NEVER, EVER again take a role which requires her to fake an English accent. *shudder*

3) I've discovered a positive side to those silly little nearly-invisible cell-phone ear/mic things: I can now talk to myself as much as I want (and that's a lot) and hardly anyone looks at me askance! They all just assume I'm chatting away to someone on the phone!

DIY Lies!

So I probably haven't mentioned it here, due to the utter mundanity, but our fridge hasn't really been, well, *cold* recently. And when I say "recently", I mean for about the past year. When my folks were here a couple weeks ago, my dad suggested that the several inches of ice that had accumulated in the freezer--and that were threatening to take over the fridge--might be a source of our non-cooling woes and that a defrost might be in order.

So.

I went online and read a couple of pages of info on defrosting the fridge. Pretty straightforward stuff. Empty all yer goods into coolers, unplug and/or turn off the fridge, open up the doors, and let The Thaw begin. They did mention having towels ready. They did mention that it could take up to 8 hours. They did NOT mention that water might actually flow from *under* the fridge and flood the floor of the kitchen. They did NOT mention that this might go on for NEARLY TWELVE HOURS. Small wonder the cooling mechanism was out of whack--it was apparently gummed up with an iceberg along the lines of that which sunk the Titanic.

Anyway. I haven't done much all day aside from babysit that fiasco. Good times.

Out of the mouths of babes...

So over the weekend I was working the register when an older couple (grandparents?) with a young (4-5 years old) boy came through my line. The little boy handed me his Pez dispenser, part of the Disney Princesses series--Cinderella, which I thought was mildly peculiar, but hey, whatever, right? I played with Tonka trucks and Lincoln Logs when I was little. I take Cinderella, ring her up and hand her back to him.

At this point, things get a little...surreal. He lovingly cradles this Pez dispenser one little hand, tracing her "body" with his fingertips and says loudly "Just look at her beautiful breasts! They are so beautiful! And look at her lovely necklace..." It was all I could do to continue ringing the rest of their purchase without doubling over with laughter. I think I was as surprised by what he said as by the manner in which he said it--like he was a 40 year old wanna-be art connoisseur. To their credit, the adults with him did not make a big deal of it. They neither reprimanded him nor laughed or acted embarrassed. We exchanged that smile reserved for those special occasions when no words will suffice, they paid, and they were on their way.

I told a co-worker of mine--who happens to be gay--about it later in the day. His response? "That kid is TOTALLY batting for my team."