Moving Day

Opened the new blog tonight, please go to:
http://thek9copswife.wordpress.com/

Changes to Come

I've been assessing my blog lately and it seems quite juvenile.  I have spent the last few days researching a different blog place and am convinced I need to update and switch to Wordpress.  Clean lines, more flexibility, and the blogs just look more "grown up".  It will take a few weeks for me to get it all set up but I'm sure the new site will be better than ever and hopefully grab a few new readers.  If you are unfamiliar with Wordpress here: http://wordpress.com/ .

Today I read 32 pages of my book for class, logged in the class site, went to Walgreens and got new folders and notebooks,  printed the syllabus and now I'm going to start my first assignment.  Dwayne laughs because the class doesn't officially start for 4 more days.  I am very excited to write something that will be critiqued by a teacher and hopefully I'll learn to improve my half assed efforts as a part-time writer.

Cole Comes To Town

Cole is Dwayne's nephew.  He is from CA and what a great kid he is.  So polite, smart and patient with my kids.  We we able to take him to the lake for a few hours, feed him some of Dwayne's famous chicken enchilada's and went out to get some icecream.

First Day of School

Yet another year began today with 3 of the 4 kids still at Anthem Grade School.  No one more happier than me to get them back in school so I can work at home in peace.  I am grateful for my job at Uhaul because I will be able to get off work in time to get them from school and help them with homework everyday.

Funny Mother Humor, not written by me

Why I Owe My Mother .... 
> 
> ************************************** 
> 
> 1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE . 
> 
> "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished 
> cleaning." >  
> 
> 2. My mother taught me RELIGION . 
> 
> "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." >  
> 
> 3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL . 
> 
> "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next 
> week!" >  
> 
> 4. My mother taught me LOGIC . 

> 
> "Because I said so, that's why." >  
> 
> 5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC . 
> 
> "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the 
> store with> me." > >  
> 
> 6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT . > 
> "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." >  
> 
> 7. My mother taught me IRONY .> 
> "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about." >  
> 
> 8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS . 
> 
> "Shut your mouth and eat your supper.">  
> 
> 9. My mother taught me about CONTORTION-ISM . 
> 
> "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!" >  
> 
> 10. My mother taught me about STAMINA ... 
> 
> "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.">  
> 
> 11. My mother taught me about WEATHER . 
> 
> "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it." >  
> 
> 12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY . 
> 
> "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!" >  
> 
> 13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE . 
> 
> "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.." >  
> 
> 14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION . 
> 
> "Stop acting like your father!" >  
> 
> 15. My mother taught me about ENVY .  
> "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have 
> wonderful parents like you do." >  
> 
> 16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION .
> 
> "Just wait until we get home.">  
> 
> 17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .. 
> 
> "You are going to get it when you get home!">  
> 
> 18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE . 
> 
> "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that 
> way." >  
> 
> 19. My mother taught me ESP . 
> 
> "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?">  
> 
> 20. My mother taught me HUMOR . 
> 
> "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." >  
> 
> 21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT . 
> 
> "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up." >  
> 
> 22. My mother taught me GENETICS . 
> 
> "You're just like your father." >  
> 
> 23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS . 
> 
> "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?">  
> 
> 24. My mother taught me WISDOM . 
> 
> "When you get to be my age, you'll understand." >  
> 
> And my favorite: 
> 
> 25. My mother taught me about JUSTICE . 
> 
> "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!">  
> 
> My personal all time favorite!! >  
> 
> My mother taught me about CHOICE . 
> 
> "Do you want me to stop this car?" 
> 

Just a K-9 Officer's Wife

The first year while Dwayne was a Deputy Sheriff, our lives were tough but yet manageable.  It was by no means glamorous, exciting or anything to be envious of.  Last January Dwayne decided he would like to become a K-9 officer and two months later he became one.  With this new job  came an unimaginable amount of stress for me leading quickly to a completely dysfunctional home life. As you might know, any SWAT team position requires many hours, unexpected callouts, and mostly night shifts.  Things like expecting Dwayne to pick up the kids from school, or planning a meal at 6pm, or having him help with the chores became impossible because just as he would make a commitment to do something, his work would call and it would leave me scrambling to make other arrangements for the family.  With me working full time with an hours' commute each way it quickly became evident if we weren't going to get a divorce, I would need to quit and take sole responsibility of EVERYTHING.  (minus the yard work and home improvements)

I am so grateful I was able to find a work-at-home job that allows me to do EVERYTHING and we no longer live on the edge of chaotic disaster.  The kids are so much happier that I am home.  I am so much less stressed.  Dwayne doesn't have to feel guilty about not being available and although we don't live the normal family lifestyle, we have found something that works for everyone.

Still every now and then I sulk into sorriness for myself because it seems like my whole life has been arranged around my husbands work.  I started to lose a bit of myself as I am wrapped up in doing everything to make life easier for Dwayne or keeping up with all of the house, the kids, the homework, the errands, the appointments, and working too.  I love Dwayne dearly and want to do everything I can but yet I need to live my own life and have my own goals outside of being Super Wife/Mom.  This is why you have seen me blogging a lot more lately.  Writing and Photography are "me" things that put balance back into my life.  You will probably see even more writing from me in the forthcoming weeks as I begin my "Non-Fiction Writing" class next week I will post my writing on the blog and hope you all enjoy what I write.

Signing up for College in 15 Easy Steps, lol

Back in the old days (the 80's) when you wanted to take classes in college you simply went to the school, picked the class from a list, waited in line, added the class with a registrar, and paid for the class.  Simple and stress free.  Over the past 2 days I spent 3 hours on line and on the phone with 3 different people in order to sign up for one class through Rio Salado.  This process was so aggravating and asinine I almost dropped out before beginning. I can't imagine the class being half a hard as signing up for it.


Step 1: Browse through the online catalog and find the class you want.
Step 2.  Spend twenty minutes looking for how to add the class only to find out nothing can be added until you sign up for the special MCC (Maricopa County Colleges)  account
Step 3.  Sign up for the MCC then at the end find out "there is a problem with your account" and it cannot be set up because I already have an account in the past.
Step 4.  Unable to sign in to old account due to information not matching I must call in and have password reset
Step 5.  Call Tech to have password reset but now cannot log in because I am in "inactive status"
Step 6.  Call back to registrar and they update my account so I am active and I am assured I can sign up now. My account now appears under the name "Bundy" instead of "Broadwater"
Step 7.  Finally able to add the class then click on the "Pay Now" button in which a series of questions regarding my citizenship come up:
    a) What year did I move to Maricopa County?
    b) Am I a citizen of the U.S.?
    c) Have I lived in other states?
    d) Can I provide documentation I am a U.S. Citizen?

After completing the questions and answering that I have been here since 1974, the system tells me I will be charged for "Out of State" tuition rates.  I rechecked my answers and I cannot believe after 38 years in Maricopa County they have determined that I don't qualify for In-State tuition rates.

Step 8.  Another call back to Rio Salado in which I let the lady on the phone know there must be a mistake and she would need to fix it. She politely tells me that there is a new law recently passed called "Prop 300" that now requires I submit proof of citizenship/residency prior to being allowed the In-State tuition rate.  I must now scan and fax a copy of a signed form declaring my citizenship and a color copy of my DL or Birth Certificate.  THEN I must wait a day before going through the entire process of signing up for the class and paying for it online.

Step 9.  A mere 2 hours into this horrific process I scan and email the necessary documents and get to wait another day to finish the enrollment process

Step 10.  Day 2.  Hooray, I am finally able to sign in, sign up and pay.  Another link takes me to the Online Bookstore in order to buy a book.  A sigh of relief came much too soon as I entered into Bookstore hell.

Step 11.  Must sign up for a bookstore account before purchase a book.  After providing a pint of blood and my first born son I click the "check out now" button.  I am trying to rent the book (a new option in which it's more like a long library rental) and the system tells me I did not sign the proper documentation to "rent" a book and must go through another link (Follett Bookstore) to download the proper paperwork agreeing to actually give them Aiden and Saige if I don't return the book in 3 months.

Step 12.  Go to Follett Bookstore website, give them all my personal information so they can steal my identity.

Step 13.  Go back to bookstore website and redo everything again.  Very excited to "checkout" again because I feel the end is near only to be struck in the head again with another "you do not have the proper documentation on file to rent this book".

Step 14.  Call back to Rio Salado Bookstore who lets me know I need to talk to Follett Bookstore and they give me the number.  Follett Bookstore walks me through the process of linking the Follett account to the Rio Salado Account.

Step 15.  Add and pay for the book through the website then crumble to the ground in exhaustion.

The Story of Writing

It all started back when I was a kid and my parents bought me a diary with a lock on it for my 8th birthday.  I filled the whole book day by day with all the things I did with things I did.   As I got older and continued writing in diaries, they went through the "boyfriend" stage beginning in about 8th grade. I wrote  who was my boyfriend and how we were perfect for each other.  Two weeks later  the relationship would start to crumble and I would write about how my whole life was ruined and life could not go on. This stage lasted some 20 years and at least 20 boyfriend whom I miraculously survived.

I got my first computer in 1999 and in 2004 began writing again at the discovery of the "BLOG".  What a wonderful world it was.  I had my first kiddo and it was necessary that everyone on the Wide World Web know what funny things he did.  As the years went by I gained more and more readers and I became more controversial in my writings and people still read it even more.  I was getting over 100 readers a week and if I didn't write something for a few days people would start sending emails in fear I had stopped writing all together.  Then life happened and I went through a drought for a few years after my divorce and didn't start writing again until I remarried.

My husband who has been so supportive of me and my endless ideas of what I want to be when I grow up enjoys my writings because I don't sugar coat anything and I'm funny.  I've read other mom's blogs and I almost throw up in my own mouth while they write page after page of "my life is so wonderful" and "my kids are so perfect".  Very boring and I seriously think women make blogs like that to try and make others think they have a perfect, wonderful life and others should be envious of them.  Gag me with a spoon.  The only two blogs that have any honest worthiness at all are my aunt Kay's http://stammhouse.blogspot.com/
and my old high school friend Jenni's   http://down-to-earthgirl.blogspot.com/ .

For the past 10 years I've had the same reoccurring dream about once every other month.  I move to UofA to get a Master Degree.  It's very vivid where I'm not married nor have any children in the dream.  I'd been thinking about going back to school to get my Master's for quite some time.  All of my cousins have Master's, my dad has one, and my brother is about to finish his so I have been feeling intellectually inferior to my family for quite some time.  I began searching schools I could get a Master's degree in Creative Writing online (since I'm sorta tied down to this house for the next umpteen years) and came to the conclusion that unless I want to get into at least $24k of debt I need to rethink this whole higher degree thing. I really wanted to be one of the 7% of the population that has a Master's degree but I can't justify the expense for what I would achieveably obtain in career advancement.  Looking over some of the great author's, J.D. Salinger, Hunter S. Thompson, Earnest Hemingway, and Mark Twain, none had more than a semester of college.  Perhaps, college would have stifled their creative genius and the extraordinary would have become ordinary.

So today I sit and contemplate not which Master's Degree program to enroll in but rather which Community college class will which will enroll in to learn to improve my writing skills and teach me how to get published in something more than my little blog. A far cry from my original dream but a path less traveled may lead to great things.

Where Did My Good Hygiene Regiment GO?

Since working at home I've lacked any incentive to take care of my personal hygeine.  Rolling out of bed a mere 15 minutes before getting on the phones at 6am, my usual hygiene routine has plummeted  to an all time low.  I really do stay in my p.j's for any days I work before 7am.  I also admit at most a quick 30 second brush of the teeth is all I do before dragging myself in the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Even worse, I don't comb my hair and I never put on makeup anymore.  It's very sad for me since prior to Uhaul, not even my husband was allowed to see me without makeup.  The Uhaul manuals will tell me to begin work fixed up and dressed as you would if you were working outside the home.   I'd rather think of my lack of hygiene  as me saving money on laundry, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo.  Lucky for the other members of the household I'm not a smelly person.

It was wild weather in Anthem last night. The storm of the century for about an hour. Saige was intrigued as she had never seen it rain so hard so fast. After the storm we went up to Uhaul where we store our boat to access the damage and our boats cover came partway off and filled the boat with a good foot of water. We got it all out in about 30 minutes and are happy the boat that sits and sits did not float away.

Happy Birthday Saige July 29th 2005

My 7 year old going on 17 had a birthday today.  Here are the pictures of the big event.  Brandon turned 15 on the 22nd so we had one big party this year.  Thank you to all my friends and family who came.  The kids had a wonderful time. I love this picture of Saige at the end of the night when we took her hair down. Dwayne had to head out early for his work but not before Austin got his picture taken with him and Khar. Khar looks so scary but he's gentle and loving except when you have a bomb. You can't go wrong with earrings. Brandon got his first cell phone. My mom and her favorite grand daughter. Father and son. Sweet as can be. Me and Saige. Looks like I ate too much cake.

Uhaul Update

My home office is set up in what used to be our dining room. It's the only room we were able to hard wire the network connection which is required for my job. On many days Dwayne will be sitting in the family room playing Modern Warfare while listening to me chat on the phone in the background. "Why are you so sweet and nice on the phone all the time when in real life you never talk to me that way?" Dwayne asks offensively. "Because you're not paying me $3.50 for every 7 minutes of my time", I replied. Yes, it's true on the phone I sound happy, chipper, sweet, and thoroughly engaged by my customers needs. I laugh, give compliments, and give a God awful amount of smiling service in order to make a sale. Dwayne knows that is not the real me. He knows I am defiant, bitchy, irritable, sarcastic, blunt, opinionated and cocky 95% of the time. He obviously married me for that rare 5% of pure loveliness that comes out on a rare occasion.

 I'm starting to hate the days he is home while I am working because I knows it bothers him that I can be a charmer 8 hours straight then get off the phone and I'm back to my rotten self. My job is like being an actress. I probably would have fared well as a prostitute in another life.

 This being the first job I've ever had that I am paid based on the amount of "sales/reservations" I make I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it but after a few weeks of training I have found "sales" is the best type of job for a person like myself. FINALLY, a job that the harder I work, the more I get paid. In all past positions, the harder I worked, the more work they gave me, at the same damn pay. I was number one Financial Aid deal closer in the quickest amount of time at The Art Institute, and instead of being rewarded with more money, time off, or better hours, I was handed more work, longer hours and more stress.

 One of the best things about working at Uhaul is NO PAPERWORK, NO FOLLOW UP, and absolutely nothing to think about (work wise) after I clock out. I spent years stressed out thinking about my job and all the stuff I hadn't finished when I should have been sleeping. Now, at bedtime, I get to actually sleep. It's a whole different world and I like it, I like it.

Everyday I look at Aiden and he keeps changing. Aiden and Saige both had bloodwork done this week and Aiden is healthy as can be, 75 percentile for height and 95% for weight. Saige is at 50% height and 50% weight for her age. Saige was found to have high cholesterol which is at 220, when she should be at 170. I can only imagine it's because she likes butter, eggs, bacon, cheese, and icecream. Skinny as she is we are now limiting the "bad" foods.

Spa Day

Saige has been bugging me to do a facial with cucumbers for quite some time. Tonight I finally had 20 minutes to spare. She was so excited to hang out and get beautified with her mommy. I had never used cucumbers on my eyes before but let me warn you that they do sting if the juice drips in your eyes.

The Truth about Family Trips

Dwayne and I always start off thinking it is a good thing to take the kids on family trips, but in reality it is not. It's always a huge expense, huge stress, and there is little appreciation from the kids for anything we do. We often wonder if our parents felt the same or did God just deal us a bad hand.

 We started off going to the Lava Tube near Flagstaff for an adventure in a dark cave that took me and Dwayne about an hour and a half last time we went without children. For the first 10 minutes Andrea cried as it took her that long to move down 10 feet of rocks. I thought at this pace we should be out of this cave sometime next week. Eventually things started speeding up although Dwayne had to hold Andrea and Brandon's hand the ENTIRE time so he was completely exhausted by the time we got out of there. The whole hike took over two hours. We were most proud of Brandon because with his scoliosis we weren't sure if he was going to be able to hike the mile and half.

 Our "cabin in the woods" hotel sucked. It was old, nasty, and so close to I-17 we could see it from our room. Unlike the picture this place was not the cozy, comfortable room it appeared. Within 5 minutes in the room the kids were all fighting and throwing all their clothes and pillows all over the place while running around like barbarians and locking each other out of the room. The beds had the thinnest sheet we ever saw and Dwayne was sure there was bed bugs "somewhere" on the bed. Why dirt came out of the bathroom faucet we may never know. Although I packed Aiden's bag, he had taken out all of clothes and replaced them with stuffed animals so he had to wear dirty pants the second day of the trip.

 The kids bitched and moaned about food whether we got them some or not. "I don't like hamburgers!" "I don't want!" and "I'm not eating there!" were constant moans we heard yet like fools we spent over $200 feeding these whiny mouths in 2 days. My biggest disappointment is the cafe in Munds Park has been shut down permanently. I stupidly let the kids pick out what they wanted to do on day 2 of the trip and they picked Meteor Crater, so after eating at Coco's where Saige and Andrea announced the eggs were inedible and Saige said she was going to the bathroom to throw them up I took the wheel and drove us 20 minutes in the wrong direction before realizing I was on the wrong highway.

 Saige began kicking Dwayne's seat from behind and he got mad and yelled at her to stop. She began crying hysterically and I told him she was trying to move her seat back. He turned to her to say he was sorry and asked if he could help her move the seat and she yelled she did not want him to do anything for her, she flew off her seatbelt and flung herself over the seat to the third row like an insane monkey. It took about 20 minutes of total meltdown before she finally calmed down.

 When we arrived Dwayne practically flipped out that it was $65 for our family to see a stupid hole in ground. The kids were less than impressed and wanted to leave about 5 minutes after getting there. We forced them to go into the museum and watch a video before we left about 45 minutes after getting there. We made it back into Flagstaff where we stopped at Five Guys Burgers for lunch. Andrea and Saige refused to eat there so they just watched the rest of us eat our $40 lunch. When we arrived back it only took 17 trips into the house to remove the 2 days worth of trash and luggage we had taken on the trip. I'm not sure how one overnight trip would make 4 loads of laundry but it did. I made Dwayne promise we would not take the kids on another trip until at least January next year. I need a vacation from this vacation.

Summertime Bordem

Saige is so bored she played dress up by herself with her favorite stuffed pig. Kahr was eyeing the pig as a play toy.

Aiden Grows Up

It's been a long long time since I have been able to take a decent picture of Aiden. Today was the day. His face is so filled out and he looks so old. The girls both wanted buns today. Saige wanted this nightgown (with matching one for her pig) so bad, she paid for it herself.

Working at Home

Some of you may be aware I recently quit my job at The Art Institute which I held for 3 years because the job was no longer conducive to my home life.  A fellow coworker told me that Uhaul hired reservation agents to work at home and that seemed like the perfect solution to my chaotic life.

In my head I imagined myself sitting at home in my pj's getting a few calls an hour and then simply pressing a "reserve now" button on my computer to hook the customer up with a truck.  About two minutes into my training I was awakened to the cold hard truth;  this job was fast and furious. Information was shooting at me faster than a speeding bullet.  Tow Dollys, Hitches, Auto Transports, Storage, Uboxes, Vans, cancellations and customer questions were being taught in the training class so fast  I  was only able to absorb 20% of what was thrown at me during the first two weeks of training in the class.  

On Thursday of week two my trainer took me aside to tell me she didn't think I was going to make it.  With much anxiety I took my first "live" customer call and basically she had to walk me through every step since I was lost in the mega computer system they have.  On Friday I had to take a test and pass with 80% to continue to week 3. I stayed up late studying  until 11pm that night.  I passed with 90% and by the end of that day I was deemed most improved on the team.

Week 3, my team got new trainer (Skip)  and he began working with us from home.  Every day got easier and finally I am at a point where I am actually looking forward to hopping on the phones and seeing how many reservations I can make in an hour.  I am a very self motivated person and this is a perfect job for me because my pay incentives are completely based on how many reservations I complete.  Think about it, 85% of the people are calling to make a reservation so it's a no brainer.   Navigation and answering weird questions has not been my strong point however, as soon as I say, "Thank you for calling Uhaul, this is Jennifer, how may I help you today?" and the voice on the other side says, "I need to get a truck", I smile and $$$ appear in my head.

No Man's Land

After several attempts to purchase homes we finally circled back to a home we called, "the blue house".  Although small, it has over an acre of property and who am I to stop the dream of land for my husband just as Joseph needed to have his land in Far and Away, Dwayne felt the same compelling nature.  I showed the pictures to my dad and he laughed and said, well it's got a low maintenance yard.  (complete dirt).

When push came to shove for a variety of reasons our offer was once again rejected leaving us feeling aggravated, disheartened, and hopeless.  With feelings of sadness for my husband who is now stuck in a position of having to figure out a way to support our family in our expensive home on one and a half incomes surely poses a shitload of stress for a man who already does too much.  I have made spread sheet after spread sheet trying to finagle numbers to work and somehow our lives will now take a financial stress we have never faced before.  We live in a great home, in a great neighborhood, this I do not deny.  Unfortunately, Dwayne bought at the top of the market back when he was making the big bucks as a landscape contractor.  Now, years later, his current S.W.A.T. K-9 job doesn't pay nearly as well but he loves his work and that is more important than money (for the most part).  So again my job now is to figure out how to live happily ever after in this financial disaster with a man with no land.  Wish me luck.

Whispering

Thanks to my dad renting this awesome cabin for two nights and three days we were all able to get away from the Arizona heat while relaxing and having fun. This cabin was incredible, complete with a trampoline, a treehouse, a great swing, fooseball, board games and a pingpong table. Although I was sad that Andrea and Brandon weren't able to come I saw Dwayne and my kids spend some time bonding together. We went on two hikes and I was happy and that both of my kids were real troopers hiking over 3 miles. Too many pictures to post so please go to this link to see more.
Whispering Pines
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63500790@N02/
  Whispering PInes Vacation

Nachoridnary BOY

Unless you have a child with ADHD you will never understand the excessive amount of time, attention and patience a child with this diagnosis needs. Although Dwayne and I have 4 kids combined and one with mental and physical disabilities, they combined do not equal the time it takes to raise Aiden. He is exhausting to no end. So much in fact, I have just quit my job in order to better serve this child's needs. After being diagnosed with ADHD this year we decided to put Aiden on Ritalin. Aiden had been having huge behavior and school work issues since beginning the second grade. After only two weeks on the medication we received good reports from his teacher letting us know he was now able to settle down and pay attention in the classroom and started getting better grades on his assignments. The medication is taken twice at day. 6:30am and 11:30 am. The effects of the pill unfortunately wears off prior to me picking him up from the sitters at 6:00pm so the hours I see him, there is no difference. Homework and spelling has become the biggest battle sometimes taking over 2 hours a night to complete. This leaves me exhausted and frustrated and leaves me spending only 10 minutes a night with the other kids. To make things worse my work schedule combined with Dwayne's had left little consistency in Aiden's life which is one of the most important things a child with ADHD needs. It's sad that every day my kids have to ask who is picking them up from the sitters, what time, and where will they be eating. Sometimes I worked till 8, sometimes till 7, sometimes till 5, all depending on the day of the week.

 Dwayne's schedule is even worse since he works a late day shift combined with call outs, the ability for him to partake in the child rearing schedule has become obsolete. After months of consideration, it has been determined that the only way this family is going to stop the bounce around schedule is for one parent to be at home. The obvious choice is me since Dwayne loves his job and it is my kids that are home 90% of the time. Things at my work had become more and more stressful leaving me spent by the time I get home each night so actually quitting is a sigh of relief although with it comes the stress of a greatly reduced income. I have chosen to work part time for Uhaul as a reservation agent from home. The pay is less than half of what I made before (hourly) but with some serious cutbacks and Dwayne's ability to make additional income working overtime, I am ready to take on the challenge in order to get some consistency in our hectic and stressed out lives. I am hoping that I can provide additional attention to the three other kids while helping Aiden to be successful in school with a very regiment homework schedule. If it doesn't work, we will reevaluate and make more life evolving changes as needed.

Last September Dwayne received tickets for our family to visit Out of Africa Wildlife Zoo located near Camp Verde from his sister Jackie. It was like a pregnancy because it took 9 months for us to finally be able to all go minus Dwayne who was working. One child (not singling him/her out) decided they didn't want to go and ran away from home prior to the trip but that was short lived as eventually we were able to coax the child into the car and I assure you they had a wonderful time. The zoo was definitely much different from the World Wildlife Zoo or the Phoenix Zoo. What made this zoo special is it includes a bus tour right in with the animals which come right up to the bus. The kids all got to feed the giraffe right from the bus and aunt Jackie took it a step further using her skills to feed the giraffe right from her mouth. (see picture below) There was also a pretty cool show with tigers running and jumping in the water trying to get their "toys". It was hot but the kids didn't complain at all. Saige and Andrea even got to feed the tiger. I give Out of Africa Wildlife Zoo 3 thumbs up.