Buyer Beware

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Last Sunday we headed out for our annual trip to Montana. We go to the (step) family’s ranch, Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge to ride horses, fly fish, hike, row a boat, eat, drink, watch B run around with her cousins and spend lots of time with my mom. It’s not a relaxing read a book on the beach vacation, it’s an action packed, fun filled whirlwind of a trip. And it is awesome.

For the second time, we flew out of William’s Gateway Airport on Allegiant Air. It’s a relatively new airline at an airport that has only recently become commercial. It’s much further than the main Phoenix airport, but we can fly direct to Bozeman and it’s a much better price than the major airlines. On this trip, we learned that discount airlines means more than limited flight times, paying for bags and seat choices, but it also means that when there’s a problem, you’re shit of luck.

Here’s a timeline of the events of last Sunday:

3:30pm – we get three bags checked, three carry ons, a car seat and a three year old through security with only one bathroom break and one change of clothes. Yes, 5 minutes into the trip, B has a minor accident. I should have recognized it as an omen.

4:00pm – flight to Colorado Springs is moved to our gate. Plane is loaded and takes off.

4:30pm – our scheduled departure time. However we are not on a plane because there is no plane.

4:45pm – a person who looks like they work for the airline cruises through the terminal. 25 passengers tackle him and ask why the board is still reading “on time”.

4:50pm – announcement is made that the flight is delayed until 8:30pm. Airline / airport employee promptly disappears.

8:20pm – no plane.

8:30pm – no plane and no personal.

8:45pm – I march to the other terminal, nab a counter agent and demand answers at our gate. Snivley little weasel waltzes to our gate where he informs everyone that he doesn’t know what’s going on. Why? Because he doesn’t work for Allegiant. In fact, no one works for Allegiant  in the airport. Allegiant employees work on the plans only, not in the airport. If we want answers, we have to go on line or call the customer service number.

8:50pm – security is called due to the amount of irate travelers.

9:00pm – announcement is made that the flight is now delayed until 10pm. Oh, and there was no plane coming at 8:30. They just told us that (seriously. That’s what they said).

9:15pm – another mom hosts a dance party for all the kids at the gate. I start crying at the thought that we might miss our vacation.

10:00pm – no plane.

10:15pm – delay moved to 10:30pm.

10:20pm – announcement that a flight has arrived and they are giving us the plane. 100 people rush to pack up and run to the neighboring terminal where we stand and wait.

10:45pm – plane is finally boarded and we are headed out.

2:00am – we arrive in Bozeman and the lovely, lovely people at Hertz rent a car are there waiting with our car.

*4:00am* – our tires hit the familiar dirt of Tom Miner Creek Road.

Lessons learned:

– we have a really, really, amazing kiddo. She never once cried, melted down or acted out. She was sweet, cooperative and a trooper. She smiled until she fell asleep on the plane, the car and finally in her pack n’play.

– check the incoming flight arrival time. If the plane you are supposed to take is late, you are going to be late too.

– over packing is essential when traveling with a munchkin. I wouldn’t let her play with her Minnie Mouse backpack leading up to the trip because I was loading it with new goodies. Little figurines, markers, coloring books, magnet boards, fun headphones, Goldfish, fruit snacks, suckers…a thousand things that might entertain her and every one of them came in handy!

– humanity is not all bad. I was shocked at how nice the other passengers were, especially to two wheelchair bound older ladies. I thought they were traveling with a group, but it turns out the people helping them were just kind strangers who offered to buy them dinner, a soda, walk to the bathroom or stretch their legs. Parents shared toys, snacks and entertainment with other kiddos. The same mom that hosted the dance party also set up their Ipad with a movie for all who wanted to watch. When the gate attendant announced that priority boarders would go first and then passengers with medical needs and parents, the crowd of exhausted passengers unanimously yelled back to take the two older ladies and the parents first.

– The entire time we waited I was drafting a scathing post in my head. I am decidedly NOT thrilled with how the situation was handled by Allegiant . But I can say that at least they did fly (they only fly twice a week to each destination – if we missed our Sunday flight, the next one wouldn’t have been until Thursday) even though it was horribly late.

– Allegiant has a lot of work to do to handle their customer service better (two phone calls later and there is no compensation offered. No discount, no free ticket, no nothing) including having gate agents who know what the hell is going on. So if you are going to be flying with them, check the flight info, have the customer service number in your phone and bring lots of entertainment!

Despite our freakishly late arrival, we had a great trip! And I have the nearly 200 pictures to prove it.

Summer Corn Chowder

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I found a recipe for corn chowder and it was amazing – I added in a few things that the recipe didn’t call for that I think made it extra delicious! It’s the perfect excuse to hit the farmers market or road side stand and load up on fresh corn. It makes for a light dinner or a great starter or side dish.

This recipe could totally be vegan/vegetarian by leaving out the bacon, butter (use olive oil) and cream.

Ingredients:

6 large ears of sweet corn – shucked and silks removed

2 slices of thick cut bacon

3 tablespoons of butter

1 large diced onion

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup diced celery

1 medium red potato cut into half inch cubes

1 tsp marjoram

1/4 cup heavy cream

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of paprika

Sour cream for garnish

 

Directions:

– Cut the kernels of corn off the cob. Using the back of the knife, scrape the cobs for the corn “milk”. Set both aside.

– In a heavy pot, boil corn cobs with 6 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard the cobs and reserve the liquid.

– Dice bacon and throw into a large pot. Saute until crispy. Add butter, onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Reduce the heat, add celery and sprinkle with salt. Once veggies are soft, add the potato, marjoram, cayenne and paprika. Add corn stock. Bring to a boil then cover and lower the heat for 20-30 minutes. Add almost all of the corn (reserve about a cup) and simmer for 10 more minutes.

– I used a food processor for this next part, but a blender would work too – just be sure to cover it so you don’t get hot liquid all over the place! Pour the cooked mixture into the blender / processor and blend until smooth. Add blended puree back to the pot and add the remaining unpureed corn and milk to the mix. Season with salt and pepper and heat the additional corn through (about 5 minutes). Serve with a dollop of sour cream!

 

 

 

Circus Overloadus

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Ho.Ly. Cats. I’m even too wiped out to write this post so I’m going to do it in bullet points:

-3 is too young to take your child to the circus. Unless they are totally ADD and enjoy a freakish amount of senory stimulation.

-30 is too old to go to the circus. Unless you are deaf and mostly blind and or enjoy a freakish amount of sensory stimulation.

-Circus animals are by far some of the meanest, most unhappy looking animals I’ve ever seen. I was pretty sure the lion “tamer” was a gonner as each time he walked by one of them, they took a swipe. The horses looked like they were ready to bite and or buck their riders while they were mid pyramid stand.  Perhaps PETA is onto something..

-Why the hell is the circus so long?! We bailed out early after B found my purse more interesting than the acrobats at around an hour and fifteen minutes. We went to lunch with PW, bathroom and then a 2 block walk to the car and the thing STILL WASN’T OVER.

-How does anyone decide they are going to work for the circus? Are there try outs? And what do those job applications look like? Like how do they know they need motorcycle riders that drive on a tight rope with two acrobats hanging beneath them?! Do you have to own your own bubble looking apparatus to hang from and gyrate out of?

-When did it all get so theme-y? Can’t they just have some animals and some fun tricks? Why does there have to be a dragon? And a dragon hunt? I thought circus was a theme.

-Lastly, are the ticket prices so freaking expensive because of all the OSHA requirements? Because my ticket prices were not worth what we saw.

-Lesson learned: no more circus visits until B is at least 10 or unless someone else is taking her. And footing the bill.

Outdoor Kitchen

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One of my least favorite parts about summer is that the doors and windows are pretty much nailed shut. In order to keep our 81 degrees of air conditioning contained and keep the 112 degrees from outside getting in, it has to be that way. I break the rules a little at 6am when it’s only 85 degrees outside and get a little fresh air, but really, it’s barely enough for me.

So on top of no fresh air, I really hate when dinner stinks up the house. It seems to linger for days…don’t get me wrong, I hate this problem year round, it’s just especially bad when there’s no open door time. Not to mention that my already hightened sense of smell is at a super hero level while pregnant which makes the problem that much worse.

Last weekend I had a hankering for pulled pork made in the slow cooker. It’s heaven on sandwiches with pickle relish and in quesadillas – basically it’s dinner and lunch for like 4 days. But the smell…it normally annoys me, but this time of year and at this stage of pregnancy, it’s a no go. So I floated the idea of putting the slow cooker outside to PW. His response surprised me when he said he thought it was a good idea…and it was a good idea. No overwhelming even-my-pillows-smell-like-pork problem AND delicious dinner – genius!

Mmmmhhh…pulled pork

Kodak Gallery is CLOSING

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Um, how did I miss this memo? Peter pointed out the fact that as of July, Kodak Gallery is closed and Shutterfly is taking over. Which is ok with me, I don’t think Kodak is really that easy to use and they are transferring all the pictures for free…but is anyone else as paranoid as I am? Has anyone else worked for a database company where shit just went wrong for no reason? Because I have and I do not trust that something won’t go wrong and all the precious pictures of Baylor’s first moments on this earth, Bear and Travis playing in the Maryland snow and the blackmail worthy Senior Night pictures won’t somehow be lost or destroyed.

So I set out to download a copy of each album…which I quickly found out isn’t possible. You would have to do it picture by picture. Boo. So as I surfed around, I found that they are offering a special deal on archive DVDs (see? I’m not the only paranoid one). So I chose the option, selected all and assumed that all 20ish of my albums would be added.

Except I have 86 albums. And over 3,600 pictures. I told you I was the family photographer. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised that the total cost to have all of them transferred to DVD was only $37. Yes, still forty dollars I have to spend. But for my peace of mind, which often comes at a much, much higher price? Totally worth it.

Now the bet is how many DVDs it will take to hold 3,600ish pictures. PW said one. I say at least ten.

Happy Anniversary

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Peter and I were talking on my birthday and I asked if when we started dating at 17 if he had ever thought we’d be together at 30. His response was that he knew we’d be together at 30 and beyond. The man has a way with words alright.

Case in point: on our first official date, we went to our high school football game. He told me throughout the game that he heard a song and it made him think of me. I was so smitten and couldn’t wait to hear what it was. As we drove from the game to the dance, he put in a CD and smiled sweetly as Sir Mix-a-Lots I Like Big Butts blasted through the speakers. I couldn’t help but crack up. His sense of humor and willingness to take a HUGE risk just made me like him even more.

October 1999

We spent the next four years after high school living it up at UofA. I have plenty of pictures to prove all the fun we had, however, most of the people in the pictures now have respectable jobs where being dressed as an Olympian from the 80s with a 40 in their hand isn’t quite the image they want out there. And so save myself some time asking them for permission or cropping them out, I have found this picture that is a good indicator of the typical date dash.

Yes, yes my dress is made of plastic wrap. Thank you for noticing. Also please not that it is not see through – 4+ rolls does make for a lovely “anything but clothes” costume.

And on June 24th, 2005, in 110 degree heat, we finally got to say “I Do”.

I’m aware my extra large feet are not my best quality, but those were awesome shoes…

Happy 7th anniversary PW! Can’t wait for 70 more!

The Beauty Blog: Face and Body Edition

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I love knowing what my friends are using for their hair, make up, perfume, you name it. I always like to know when something is worth the money or where to find a steal. So today is the beauty edition and I’m starting with face and body care – I need more than one edition because it takes a lot to make this face and body look good these days…

Eye Cream

Splurge: Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream – I have dry skin and my under eyes are no exception. If I had to choose 1 product to take to a desert island, it would probably be eye cream. I love this stuff because it soaks in fast and leave skin soft and moisturized without being greasy. It’s pricy, but I slather this stuff and a jar will last me anywhere from 4-6 months.

Splurge: Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Balm – I use this guy at night and it’s like putting ointment under your eyes. You’ll still feel the effects in the morning. The moister is second to none. Again, pricy but lasts and lasts.

Face Cream

Steal: Neosporin. Yup, I said it. After a particularly bad round of adult acne, I splurged on a facial and this was the last thing the esthetician put on my face. And it worked like magic. Generally anything with salicylic acid or benzol peroxide irritates my skin in addition to clearing a breakout, which just makes everything worse. I slather a good round of Neosporin on clean, broken out skin and it’s generally clear within one to two days.

Splurge: Bobbi Brown Extra Broad Spectrum SPF 25 Tinted Moisturizer Balm – yes, there is a trend here. I’ve tried some of the more expensive and less expensive brands and I keep coming back to BB. The value for the product is just so high. And to find a moisturizer with SPF that works is like finding a diamond in the rough!

Splurge: Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Moisturizing Balm – I use this at night. It has the consistency of marshmallow fluff and is easier patted into skin rather than rubbed in. It. Is. Awesome.

Splurge: Facials – I had my first facial ever right after Baylor was born and I was less than impressed. It wasn’t until last year when I found out that the esthetician who does my eyebrows had great prices on facials. I treated myself and was insanely impressed. Even Peter, who was concerned at my new found love of something else expensive (hello kettle? this is pot…) remarked at how good my skin looked. If you’re in the Scottsdale area, you must go see Noel at Skin Studio AZ.

Splurge: La Roche Posay Sunscreen – my mom found this at CVS and it is amazing. You get it behind the pharmacy counter and they carry both body and face varieties. The face SPF is broad spectrum, SPF 60, not greasy and not chalky. It goes on totally unnoticed under makeup, in the part of your hair and on your ears.

Steal: Keihls Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Mask – this is a fantastic mud mask that gets pores super clean. Clears up blemishes and keeps the new ones away.

Body 

Steal: Aveeno Daily Moisturizing – what can I say? It does the trick leaving skin moisturized but not greasy. And you can get three bottles for like $11 at Costco.

Steal: Bio Oil – While prepping for the emergency c-section to deliver Baylor, the anesthesiologist was poking and prodding my lower half to ensure I had no feeling (which is always reassuring when you’re awake and about to be cut in half). I was shaking uncontrollably from nerves, medication and exhaustion – it was a real treat all the way around. The anesthesiologist looked over the screen at me and declared “You don’t have one stretch mark on that belly of yours!”.  Not really what you want to be hearing from the man that is responsible for making you pain free and not paralyzing you at the same time, but a complement none the less.

That was a long way of saying that Bio Oil really does work. It soaks in fast, smells nice and it apparently does what it promises.

Splurge: Aveda Foot Relief – Ali my sister bought me a bottle of this recently and I’m obsessed. I love the cooling feeling that it gives my feet and hands. And the smell…it is so refreshing! I sit in bed for a good 5 minutes after applying it to my feet and just huff the scent off my hands. PW is a bit concerned that I’m developing some kind of addiction.

Stranger Danger?

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I am a paranoid person – not a tin foil on my head, no Face Book page, off the grid kind of paranoid…but I am convinced that there is danger around every corner. I’ve roped PW into my insanity too and my mom feeds it as she is also convinced of the constant danger around us. Therefore it’s natural and B is picking up on a little of it – I’m not teaching her that the aliens are coming, but I do try to temper being friendly to people with being aware of strangers. More than once I have said that she can’t stay in the car by herself, play out in our front yard alone or talk to adults she doesn’t know without Mommy there because there are people who do steal kids. I’m not trying to freak her out, but I would rather her be overly cautious and come home at night than be concerned with offending someone she doesn’t know and never being heard from again.

That said, these conversations came to a head last week. We were at the grocery store and a little old couple was everywhere I needed to be. They were in front of the onions, blocking the corn and man handling every banana. Every time I turned around, one of them or their cart was in my way. I was hustling so I parked the cart with Baylor in the seat and made a bee-line for the strawberries when I saw an opening. The cart was no more than 4 feet from me, but B’s guard instantly went up and when the lady of the couple asked Baylor “Hi there. What’s your name?” B lowered her chin and looked straight at the woman with a don’t-mess-with-me face and said “Don’t try to steal me”.

I heard the entire transaction and was completely unable to stop myself from laughing out loud. The little old lady did not think it was funny so I quickly countered by letting Bay know it was ok to answer nicely since I was with her. Thankfully the woman and her hubby hurried off and kept their distance from us. Which lead to B and I giggling for the rest of the trip. Two problems solved; old people out of our way and lesson learned that even nice looking old people are potential kidnappers.

I mean really. It doesn’t get more intimidating than this….

Dependable Divas Giveaway!

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The lovely ladies from Dependable Divas (who I featured in my Friday post on Scottsdale Moms Blog) are sponsoring a giveaway for 6 hours of their services! Can you imagine what two ladies who organized for a living could do in your house in 6 hours?! The kids room, the garage, the laundry, the office, the kitchen…just think of all the places they could make neat and tidy! It makes me a little jealous that I can’t win…

Head on over to Scottsdale Moms Blog at 1pm today and enter to win – just tell us all about the messiest, craziest, most in need of the Divas place in your house. The winner will be chosen at random on Friday June 22nd. Details and fine print on the site.

Good luck!!!