Food Glorious Food ...!

One of the things I love about living here is the sheer amount of choice for pretty much anything you want to buy.  And even if you can't find what you are looking for locally you can get it shipped to you in a few days, thanks to the marvelous world wide web!

This is doubly true when it comes to grocery shopping - in fact, there is almost too much choice! I have never seen so many different supermarkets in one place, all competing with one another for our loyalty with weekly deals, special offers and various incentives such as  fuel points and $5 Friday specials, which of course is great for us, the consumer.  Of course there are some good ones and some not so good ones, (just like anywhere else), and then there are some GREAT ones (but with a price tag to match!).  

If you are smart (and can be bothered, which generally I can't :-/), you can save a lot of money on your weekly shop if you are prepared to spend time trawling through various websites and newspapers to find the best deals and then split your shopping across several supermarkets.  If you know how to work the system you can also make huge savings on gas too.  For example. I recently read an article via another local blogger, of how they took advantage of the 4 x fuel points being offered by one particular store on gift cards. They were going to purchase a new family computer, so bought $500s worth of gift cards for Best Buy (an electronics chain), earning 4 x Fuel points. Then both she and her husband drove their cars to the gas station and filled up both cars from the same pump, using the maximum discount allowed at one time of $1 per gallon.  Given that gas here is currently around $1.36/gallon, that would equate to two tanks of gas for just a few dollars.  Genius! I would never have thought of that.  

Over the last 6 months (how quickly did that go?!), I have had lots of fun checking out most of the local offerings, making this weekly chore slightly less boring, and this is what I learned: 

• Albertsons - I would maybe compare to Tesco in the UK.  The first time I went, I bought some fresh shrimp to use for dinner that evening which by the time it came out of the fridge again around 6pm had gone off and had to go straight in the bin!  Obviously, they were struck from the list immediately!
• Haggen - maybe similar to Morrisons in the UK ... meh!
• Safeway - love their $5 Friday bakery items, and they were top of the list for my weekly shop initially, but they seem to have slipped over the last couple of months (well, the one near me certainly has) so have had to transfer my allegiance to ...
• Frys (part of the Kroger group) - lovely fresh produce (lots of locally grown stuff too) and really friendly, helpful staff.  Bakery not as good though (although that's probably a good thing)  and a bit pricier
• Costco - enough said. Who doesn't love Costco?! 

Then there is

• AJ's which is I suppose the local Waitrose/M&S equivalent but much much more.  It's kind of a top notch supermarket crossed with a country store and boutique gift shop.  It has a bakery to die for (can you tell which is my favourite section yet? Lol), top quality meat/fish/produce, a gorgeous deli and an amazing wine section (another favourite).  It is also very expensive.  I saw a beautiful autumn wreath in their floristry section this week, full of silk leaves, twigs and berries, for $29.  Thinking that that was very reasonable, was just about to add it to my trolley when I realised it actually said $229!! Good God! I would be expecting real gold leaf and berries made of rubies for that price! Needless to say it quickly went back. Similarly, I was tempted by a gorgeous scented candle which also turned out to be $60. Sigh (why do I never like the cheap stuff?).  However, if you like to cook and bake (as I do) and are searching for a missing ingredient, you can bet you will find it at AJ's.  

This week, my good friend John, took me on a field trip to visit two more stores that I hadn't yet managed to check out yet.

After a healthy breakfast of bananas, pecans ... oh ... and a waffle all covered in hot caramel ... ahem ... we headed to

• Trader Joes - a Californian based chain which advertises itself as a 'neighborhood grocery store with amazing food and drink from around the globe and around the corner'.  It had that laid back California vibe and there were lots of interesting products on the shelves (and some very interesting shoppers!)

  

  Er ...?

  We had to pay for our purchases and make a quick exit after dissolving into a fit of the giggles causing John to spill his 'pumpkin spiced' coffee sample (I ditched mine - bleugh!) as we were laughing so hard ... ahem.

And finally,

• Whole Foods (or whole pay check as John calls it) - Oh my! If you have ever been to the Food Hall at Selfridges, you will have experienced a small corner of Whole Foods Market.  As well as a top notch grocery store, there was also a full bar with large TV screens; a sit up grill bar; sushi bar; Asian food kitchen; coffee shop & cafe ... and of course the most amazing patisserie & chocolate section.  Think I might be popping back there soon!

Mmmmm ...

Macarons are my absolute favorite but not sure I would pay $2 each!

Hope you've enjoyed my little view into the otherwise mundane world of grocery shopping, and hope to see you next time!

Bev x

Please do not adjust your sets .....!

Did I mention how bad 'Summer TV' is here? Ugh ... ! From what I have seen so far, with a few exceptions which I will get to in a minute, it seems to consist largely of sit com repeats from 30 years ago (there's only so many times you can watch Everybody Loves Raymond), cheesy quiz shows, really bad dramas, interspersed every couple of hours with news programmes (with the same thing regurgitated on every channel at varying intervals).  Of course, if you are into sport, which I am not, then you can always find something to watch.  (To be fair,  I do quite like NBA basketball but that hasn't started yet ... sigh).

Mr B has been in his element this week as the NFL season kicked off on Thursday, plus he has found a channel showing UK football (I'm still refusing to call it 'soccer') from 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning, so he is as happy as a pig in shi mud.  When he is not watching sport he is either watching Game of Thrones or House of Cards on Netflix on his iPad, (both of which I gave up on after the first couple of episodes in Series 1 **yawn**).

Don't get me wrong, I am not in favor of us becoming a family of couch potatoes either, but I do like to sit down for an hour at the end of the day and relax with either a juicy drama - think Sherlock or Broadchurch or something to make me laugh ... like Gavin & Stacey or Stella, or even, dare I say it, some great reality TV - love 'em or hate 'em, you have to agree that Ant & Dec on I'm a Celebrity can't be beaten!  Oh ... how I miss British TV.   I did get all excited a couple of weeks ago when I saw an advertisement for Bake Off ... or as they call it here ... 'The Great British Baking Show' (what's up with that??) which was due to start here this week on the PBS channel.  Well, let me tell you, 'disappointing' doesn't even begin to cover it!  Firstly, I discovered that not all schedules are the same, and whilst in some regions it did in fact start last Sunday, it doesn't actually start here until next Thursday **groan**, but then even more annoyingly, after waiting excitedly all this time,  I then discovered that it is actually the series from last year in the UK (or was it even the year before ... it's the one where someone steals Howard's custard...?).  Outrageous!!  What a let down ...

That was the final straw as far as I was concerned and so I set about researching ways to access UK TV via t'interweb.   After a bit of faffing and trying out a couple of solutions  (Google Hola was decidedly difficult to get set up easily on all our Apple devices and couldn't get 'Watch UK TV Abroad' to work at all), I found an app called Tunnel Bear.  A couple of clicks and I was in.  Eureka!  BBC iPlayer here we come!  Whilst it is slightly annoying that we can only watch on either the computer or iPad (streaming via Apple TV was not very successful as everybody looked like they had nervous twitches!), it was really great to be able to get our fix of Strictly this week (especially critical now that Mr B and I are training to be the next Orla and James Jordan ... **ahem**).  I also amused myself greatly by watching 'Fried', a comedy series about the daily lives of the disgruntled employees at a London fried chicken shop, which was right up my street!  LOL.  Now I just have to catch up with Bake Off at some point this week ... **does happy dance**

One of the few shows that we have all enjoyed watching on US TV each week though has been America's Got Talent.  There have been some great acts - many worthy of being winners - and unlike the British version you don't have to suffer a whole host of the hopeless and desperate.  I guess with a country this size they must struggle to fit in all the genuinely good acts and so there thankfully there is no time to show any of the rubbish ones ... Hallelujah! This week is the final,  so we will all be watching the final 10.  My money is on Paul Zerdin - a brilliant ventriloquist, but then there is also Stevie Starr, the Professional Re-gurgitator (look him up on YouTube!), who, whilst completely gross, makes compulsive viewing (even if it's from behind a cushion in my case).  Oh yes, I should mention here by the way, that both of these acts are actually from ......... Britain!

Still, we are currently being bombarded with trailers for the 'Autumn schedules' ... not least the new series of Modern Family ... yahoo! ... so maybe there will finally be something worth watching at last.

Anyway ... on that note, think I might go and get the first episode of this year's Bake Off under my belt (which may have to be let out a notch or two by the end of the series!)

Thanks for dropping by and hope you all have a good week,
TTFN
Bev x

Beam me up ...!

Hello again - how's your week been?

I understand that this season's series of Strictly has started again in the UK.  I am missing it already **sniff**   I think though, that I may have found a way of watching it from across the pond, via an App called Tunnel Bear, which simulates a UK VPN allowing you to connect to sites such as iPlayer as if you were in the UK.   Result!  Have only tried the free version for now though, which only allows a small amount of data per month, but so far so good.   If it works then I will definitely be subscribing to the full version!   The US version of Strictly ... Dancing with the Stars ... starts here in a couple of weeks though, so if all else fails,  I will still be able to get my fix - plus we get to have Artem back ... **swoon**

On a related note, Mr B and I are still making progress at our dance lessons.  In fact, we are doing so well that we passed this week's 'progress check' with flying colors, and have now graduated from the Beginners Program and moved onto the 'Social Foundation' programme (?) four weeks early!  Watch out James & Orla! All together now ... da da da da, da da dahhh ... da da da da dah!

I think Mr B and I have also made a great impression on a few of Ethan's teachers.  Not least his Biology teacher, as he came home with some homework earlier this week which entailed asking three members of his family to list what they thought were the '8 characteristics of life' (without the help of Google!).  Oh Lord!  Well, after exhausting my initial list of the essentials such as water, sunlight, oxygen etc. I was still two short ... ha!  got it .... chocolate and wine.  There, that makes 8!  Ethan reported back with much hilarity to his school friends later that evening whilst on their regular evening Skype call (because they hadn't seen each other since at least 3pm) which apparently was met with an incredulous "Oh. My. God!" :0)   24 hours later he took great pleasure in informing us that I had only got one right,  (reproduction in case you were wondering), Mr B didn't get any (he had gone with the love, honesty, hard work angle ...obviously) and Ben had done the best and got five (although apparently 'partying' was incorrect) **gobsmacked!** ... he soooo cheated!  His teacher did ask him to let me know though that Chocolate and Wine were numbers 9 and 10.  (Note to self - best swerve Biology at next parents evening ...)

We have also had another week of dentist visits ... **ker-ching!**

Mr B went for his initial registration/check up and came home two and a half hours later looking like he had had a stroke!  After the initial check up with the dentist, he was ferried in to see the hygenist who informed him she needed to perform a 'deep clean', promptly numbing his mouth on both sides as it was 'so bad' and tutting all the while about the quality of cleaning in the UK **gasp**.  

I had already had my initial visit and 'deep clean torture' at which time our (rather dishy) dentist had gleefully informed me that I required 3 small fillings ... **ker-ching!** ... and so it was for this reason that I also found myself back there this week.  As the dental assistant ushered me into the chair to await the arrival of the man himself, she explained that once she had reclined the chair, I would be able to see the large TV screen on the ceiling and would I like to select something from Netflix to watch?  What a good idea, I thought!  The perfect distraction whilst at the dentist!

Hmmm ... what to watch though?  I know ...  how about Orange is the New Black?  I had seen lots of rave reviews on the show and had been meaning to watch it for ages ... Perfect!  When I informed the dental assistant of my choice, she looked slightly surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered advising that 'lots of clients' chose that show and did I know which episode I was on?
"Oh I haven't seen any of them yet", I advised, "so just start at the first episode if that's OK?"
Well, just five minutes in I realized (five minutes too late)  this was probably not the most appropriate thing to be watching at the dentist.

Picture the scene if you will ...  there I am, fully reclined, headphones on,  incapable of speech (as mouth stuffed with what felt like huge tampons soaked in vile local anesthetic), when to my horror I found myself watching an explicit lesbian sex scene in a prison shower ... OMG!  Right on cue,  enter dishy dentist.  OMG!!!   God only knows what he must have thought.  I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life.  To his credit, I only detected the slightest raise of an eyebrow, as he proceeded to numb what felt like my entire face and then launch into the Spanish inquisition ... can you feel anything if I stab you with this sharp torture implement?  ... does your mouth feel like you have got a big fat lip?  No? ... how about now?  etc., etc.  to which I could only shake my head or nod, whilst dribbling like the village idiot and blushing the color of a boiled beetroot.  Note to self ... on next visit to Dishy Dentist, you can't go wrong with an episode of Friends ....!

Let's hope next week is a less embarrassing one!

TTFN
x

Move over Darcy ...!

As I write this week's update, I am still languishing in bed after being up half the night with a rather unpleasant bout of food poisoning (while Mr B snored on oblivious).  Yuk! Can't remember the last time I was so sick and today my stomach feels like it has been through a mangle (showing my age? ... thought so).

This week has been another busy week and once again we seem to have packed a lot in.  Last Sunday we headed up to Payson to experience our first rodeo, which claims to be the oldest continuous rodeo in the United States, the first one being held in 1884, and then every August since.  There were competitions in bare back horse riding, roping and of course bull riding - some of those bulls were HUGE - plus 'mutton busting' for the kids where they attempt to ride bareback sheep - all very odd - and barrel racing for the lady wranglers.

It was hot, dusty and I have to say rather tedious inbetween events - (especially as we had to listen to Youngest continually lamenting the fact that there was 'no Wi-fi or 4G signal' and therefore was cut off from the rest of civilisation apparently), but overall we enjoyed the tradition and pageantry of it all and it was a good afternoon out (but not sure if it will be one that gets repeated if I'm honest!)

We also attended a Back to School night at Ethan's school, where parents, armed with your child's schedule and a map of the classrooms, go from room to room and experience 10 minutes in each 'class' to experience a glimpse of their child's day.  I had not experienced this concept before and thought it was a great way of meeting all of his teachers and also the parents of some of his friends.  Ethan's classes were as follows: 

Advisory (where they meet in small groups with a teacher who is nominated as their advisor for the year and where they can discuss any issues and seek help for anything they might need); 

Algebra (I think I glazed over for most of this one); 

American History (nope, still no clue);

Advanced Media Arts - Ethan's favourite subject as focused on designing, writing and publishing their own video game - cool!; 

English - where we were assigned one of those trick passages to read and discuss who was in the wrong, where there is no right answer. (In this case though, it was definitely the husband ... It usually is); 

Biology (teacher was absent as driving her daughter back to college in Conneticut apparently ... Only a 36 hour drive!!; 

Yearbook - Ethan's elective this year where they will produce the school yearbook and learn about photocopy and journalism. The teacher is an ex-military war photographer! Never mind Ethan ... I wanted to take this class!  And finally ...

Spanish, where we were handed a vocab sheet on the topic of introductions and greetings.  Uh oh.  "Practice in pairs for a few minutes ... " then "how about this couple at the front performing a little skit for us?" and there it is ...!  Neither Mr B or I know a word of Spanish (well, except perhaps for that which we learnt from Manuel in Fawlty Towers ... Que?).  Great.  Oh well.  Suffice to say we managed to entertain the other parents of the group when Mr B asked "how are you?" and I answered "I am feeling unwell".  His reply of "I'm going to school" went down a storm.

I also promised in last week's edition to update on how the dancing lessons were going. Dancing lessons? you may be thinking ... let me elaborate.

Being avid fans of Strictly in the UK (now having to make do with Dancing with the Stars though, although they've got Artem so it's all good) we had often remarked whilst watching, as I'm sure have most fans of the show, that it must be lovely to be able like to dance like that and I had often coveted the beautiful sparkly dresses and costumes (I'm a sucker for anything shiny).  Well, a couple of weeks ago Mr B  came home from work and announced that he had found a dance studio really close to where we live and that he had booked us in for a trial dance lesson  Oh God! at the rather optimistically named 'Fred Astaire' dance studio.  Wait ... you did WHAT?!! The last time I had done any kind of ballroom dancing was when I was 7 years old and our mother packed my older sister, brother and I off to Saturday morning dance classes (which I have to say I really enjoyed ... although looking back maybe it was just the silver shoes I liked?).  Ethan was also suitably mortified.  "Oh God.  He is going to burst through the front door singing the Strictly theme tune and doing that embarrassing Dad Dancing isn't he?"  Spot on Youngest, spot on!

We arrived at the studio which was tucked away in the corner of one of the local malls.  I thought it would be full of old wrinklies with false teeth and syrups but i have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  After an initial fit of the giggles when we arrived and saw our names on the welcome board underneath some poor guy they had recorded as 'Mr Ben'  (I had visions of Mr Ben in the back of the shop changing into a pink tutu!), I managed to control myself for the rest of the lesson.

All the staff were lovely and we were given a tour of the studio(which was not at all like the broom cupboard I was expecting) and then introduced to our instructor, a lovely girl called Sarah.   40 minutes flew by and we had lots of fun, usually at Mr B's expense, but to be fair he did an ok job and at least (so far) I have managed to avoid having to cover my feet in plasters!  In fact, we both enjoyed it so much that we signed up for a course of lessons there and then.  We have now had 4 of our 8 lesson beginner course, and in addition to learning a rhumba and a cha cha we have now added Swing and Tango ... get us ... and although I don't think you'll be seeing us on Strictly any time soon it was definitely a 10 from Len!  Watch this space!

"It's the Wrong Trousers Gromit ... !"

So finally, after the longest summer holiday ever,  he could escape it no longer and it was time for the youngest member of Team Barlow to start his new school here in Arizona!

Last Sunday afternoon, the day before the start of school, I thought I had better just do one final check on the school website to make sure we hadn't missed anything.  It was there that I noticed an advisory stating that the 'formal uniform' would be required for school ID pictures on Wednesday.  Ethan's school uniform helpfully consists of not one, but two separate dress codes, thanks for that.   An everyday uniform, which comprises khaki shorts and a navy polo shirt; and a formal uniform required to be worn at certain events/ days throughout the school year, comprising long khaki trousers, white collared shirt and school tie.

Phew, thank goodness we had got all that sorted earlier in the summer **smiles smugly then immediately remembers ordering long trousers with 'unfinished length' which seemed such a good idea at the time but which now required hemming ... crap**
"Could you go and put your long school trousers on please with your belt and bring your shoes so that I can do the hems ..."  **cue eye rolling followed much huffing and puffing**
A few minutes later, 13 year old 'Kevin' (for those of you that remember Harry Enfield) shuffled into the lounge looking like the worst dressed scarecrow ever ...!  He was sporting a pair of long khaki trousers, which seemed to be the perfect length, but way too big around the waist, and pulled in by the belt bunched around his waist causing several large 'gathers', together with huge wadges of extra material round the hips, making him look like an extra from Lawrence of Arabia.   Dear God ... I thought to myself, how can he have lost that much weight in 8 weeks??!  closely followed by ...  and how the hell are we going to get some more by Wednesday?!
"What?" exclaimed the sulky one, watching my facial expression change from one of horror to  complete hysteria as I could hold it in no longer ...
"Oh, thanks Mum ... way to shatter my confidence...!"
"Well, I'm sorry, but you look ridiculous! **still guffawing loudly**  They weren't like that when we tried them on a few weeks ago were they?  I'll have to order you some more (Lands End being school uniform supplier) and you will just have to manage with those on Wednesday if they haven't come in time." Still trying desperately to stifle my laughter (and failing).
"You must be joking!  I will just have to be sick on Wednesday ..." Kevin wailed.
At this point,  Mr B, ever the diplomat, stepped in to offer words of sympathy and shepherd him off to help him get the rest of his stuff ready for the morning, muttering reassurances as they went.
A few minutes later, I heard Mr B exclaim from Kevin's bedroom ...
"Hang on a minute ... these are MY trousers!  I've been looking for these for ages!  Ethan's are here ... on the hanger underneath his shirt...!!!!"
Well, that was enough to send me into complete hysterics and half an hour later, tears were still rolling down my cheeks and my stomach ached from laughing.  Kevin was of course completely relieved,  and eventually saw the funny side before disappearing back into his bedroom amidst mutterings of  'for the love of God woman ... ' and 'why can't I just have normal parents...?'

The next morning, after getting up at stupid o clock, we set off bright and early in order to make the 20 minute drive to school and arrive by 7.45am ... ugh!  As we pulled up to the designated drop off point, I was under strict I instructions not to get out of the car, and especially not to shout any terms of endearment from the window. Trust me, I was soooo tempted, but thought I better not ruin his street cred on the first day - I'll maybe wait until next week for that! :D  All three 'Heads' (Middle School, Upper School and overall Head of School) were outside to welcome the existing students back and reassure the new ones, amid lots of high fiving, smiles and laughter ... the sunshine definitely a contributory factor here I think.   I watched for a minute or two as Ethan shuffled awkwardly past the over enthusiastic teaching staff before disappearing into the building, and then drove back to an eerily quiet house feeling a bit emotional - the last milestone of our big move successfully completed! 

I am so proud of how he has handled the whole move but in particular with regards to school.  It can't be easy as an adolescent 13 yr old to leave all your friends behind, move to a different country and start a brand new school where you know not a single person.  Yet, he has taken it all in his stride, showing a maturity way beyond his years.  Way to go Ethan! 

After what seemed like the longest day ever, I returned to the school at 3.15pm to pick up one happy 13 yr old, enthusing about what a great day he had had and how many new friends he had made ... well, actually I think his exact words were "yeah it was cool .. got loads of new snapchats and Instagram followers ..." How times have changed! 

The only slight negative seemed to be the school lunch.  Spoiled by the excellent lunches at his last school - choice of main dish, salad option, vegetarian option, baked potato, soup ... followed a choice of two desserts or fresh fruit - I think he got a bit of a shock!  

"What did you have for lunch?"

"Well it was supposed to be 'breakfast for lunch' day, but it was basically a sausage that wasn't a sausage and waffle flavoured rubber" Oh dear.

"Never mind, did you get a nice pudding?"

"No. They don't do pudding ..."

Oh.  Apparently not a piece of fresh fruit or a vegetable in sight (not that he would have eaten them anyway, but hey ...)

The menu didn't seem to improve much over the rest of the week either. Tuesday was a chicken burger with rice (?) and one piece of broccoli. Wednesday was pizza (which did get the thumbs up) and Thursday, "orange chicken nuggets, rice and some weird vegetable dish that looked the skin of a dead chicken so I didn't eat that .." (still haven't quite fathomed what that was supposed to be!)   Jamie Oliver - I think you may have your next project right here!

I have to say that I am alarmed by some of the food choices in general over here, not to mention the additives and chemicals that seem to be in everything, probably accounting for the seemingly never ending shelf life of so many items.  The other day I asked for some minced beef at the butchers counter of the local supermarket 

"Which one would you like?"

"What's the difference"

"Well, do you want the organic one that's free from growth hormones  ... or the other one?"

Growth hormones??!  What the hell?!!

The rest of the school week thankfully continued to go well, and even the test in his U.S. History class didn't seem to dull his spirits as he cheerfully informed me ...

"We had a test in History today on the U.S. Government.  Just so you know, I am probably getting an F .."  Ah.  "I have no idea who wrote the Declaration of Independence and I don't even know what the constitution is, never mind what the first 10 'amendments' are called..."  Lol. Guessing we may have to reset our expectations for that class then ...

Meanwhile, I had been having my own school experience attending the first PTA meeting of the new school year.  (I thought I had better show willing as we were new).  After introducing themselves, and outlining their various roles, the PTA committee proceeded to share the calendar of planned events they would be running throughout the year,  seeking the usual volunteers for each and referring more than once to the sign up sheets at the back of the room.  Oh God.  Wonder if I can swerve that for now until I become a bit more familiar with how it all works.  Not a chance.  One whiff of a British accent and I was declared the perfect candidate to help with the 'Mother's Tea' planned for December!  I swear to God they think that's all the Brits do ... sit around drinking tea and eating crumpets.  Think I might suggest a Mary Berry  'Technical Bake Off' challenge and get them all to make a Victoria sponge and a plate of scones.  Ha! (Although, I think I might be more of a Mel than a Mary!). Will have to give that some thought before December.

All in all it turned out to be a very busy week ... and I haven't even mentioned the ballroom dancing yet!   I'll save that for another time though or you'll all be in your pyjamas by the time you've finished!

TTFN and thanks for stopping by

Bev x

Brace yourself ...!

Well, can you Adam and Eve that we have now been here almost 5 months?!?!!  I know!!  And finally, on Monday Ethan will be starting his first day at school after being stuck with me since the end of March!  (Quite frankly, I think this has been an education in itself ... although maybe not all in a good way ... not sure being able to mix a good margarita counts towards graduation credits?).

The poor boy is also suffering from aching teeth at the moment after having braces fitted top and bottom this week.  He left with a long list of dos and don'ts and a "No-No" food list for the anticipated 18 month duration ...

• No sticky foods - caramel, licorice, tootsie rolls (?), gum etc.  'An occasional piece of sugar free gum is ok, but avoid as often as possible'.  Ethan, "I don't eat gum so that's ok ... but if I did it certainly wouldn't be sugar free!"
• No beef jerky (bleugh!) or Slim Jims ... ? Nope ... not a clue. 
• No chicken legs and ribs - 'tear meat off the bone before you eat'.  Ha. Can feel a Henry VIII style BBQ coming on - will probably be finding half eaten chicken legs in the plant pots for weeks **tuts**
• No corn on the cob - 'cut the corn off the cob before you eat it' ... what?!?! who has time for that?
• No ice or hard nuts
• No raw carrots, apples, celery and other hard veggies or fruits - **one 13 yr old boy whooping for joy**

and my personal favourite ...

• No pens or pencils - a poor substitute for a packed lunch I've always thought ...

We also had to attend an induction event at school yesterday afternoon for all 'New Families' prior to the new term on Monday. Ethan was mortified.  (Not helped by the fact that Mr B and I were singing along loudly to OMI's Cheerleader on the radio as we entered the school car park). 

"Right you two ... get it all out of your system before we go in..." LOL!

"Haha, are you panicking?"   

"Well, so would you be if you had to take Phil Dunphy in with you!"

I think we managed to make it out of there without embarrassing him further (apart from the reference I may have made to an 'exercise dodger' when chatting to the athletics coach ... oops) although I am sure there will be plenty more opportunities to look forward to!

The weather has been another major feature this week, with violent storms during the first half  ... resulting in me finding one of the loungers at the bottom of the pool (it looked like the aftermath of one of the best parties ever #rocknroll)

... followed by an Extreme Heat Advisory (now expected to be in place until Monday evening - eek!) with record breaking temperatures during the second half!

As I write this at 9.30pm on Saturday, it is still 104 degrees outside! Phew!

I thought you might also like to see some really cool pictures from the storms at the beginning of the week taken from the local ABC15 news gallery.  I can honestly say I have never seen lightening like it.  It was almost continuous for several hours!

Dust storm rolling in across the valley

Finally - the sunshine after the rain - taken from our front porch.  Was really tempted to knock on the house opposite to claim my pot of gold!

Have a good week!
Until next time ...
x

What happens in Vegas ...!

So this week we had a little jaunt to Las Vegas for a few days to make the most of family time before school starts for Ethan next week (for which I think he is more than ready now!).  Besides, the Ballagio were doing a '3 nights for the price of 2' offer, so quite frankly it would have been rude not to.

Although it is just under five hours from here, it is a very straight forward and easy drive with long straight roads and beautiful scenery.  We drove by majestic mountains, the Joshua Tree National Forest (didn't realise it was an actual tree and not just the title of a U2 album) and once again, witnessed stunning Arizona skies with some of the loveliest cloud formations I have ever seen.  I think I could take a photo every day of the year and I would have 365 different skies ... hmmm, I can sense another photo album coming on ... #project365

Joshua Trees

The Bellagio was indeed lovely and lived up to our expectations in every way. You couldn't help but be impressed by the Murano glass ceiling decorations and the fabulous conservatory (although I had to agree somewhat with Youngest who exclaimed "OMG ... I've wandered into a Disney movie!")

"Under the Sea ... "

The beautiful colored glass ceiling at the Bellagio

If truth be known, this was also a bit of an exploratory trip prior to numerous friends' visits over the coming months who all seem to want to visit Vegas while they are here (can't think why?!) to see how easy it would be to include some 'adult time' at the casino, whilst feeling comfortable that we could leave the 'tweens' in the room and weren't too far away to be back in a few minutes if there was a problem.  (Some of the hotels are so huge that you would have to walk miles from the bedrooms before you reached the casino and I didn't feel comfortable with that).  The Bellagio fitted the bill perfectly in this respect.  Not so huge that everything was miles away, but big enough to allow the variety and freedom we wanted.  It transpired that this worked really well at the Ballagio - Ethan couldn't wait to get rid of us for a few hours each evening and was quite happy munching his way through snacks and sodas, chatting to his new American friends via the wonders of social media (mostly girls I have to say!) and watching Netflix ... thank God for Wifi!  Before we went anywhere though, I was obsessed with going through fire drill scenarios and making sure he knew what to do should the alarm go off when we weren't there. 

"Now, are you sure you'll be alright if we go downstairs for a couple of hours?"

"Well, I was perfectly fine until you started going on about being burnt alive in my bed ..."

As for Mr B and I, we were like a couple of naughty teenagers who had managed to give their teacher the slip for a couple of hours on a school trip and we had a hoot!  We had allocated ourselves a small amount each evening to play with and stuck mostly to the slot machines to make sure we got the most out of our evening (otherwise I think we would have been back in the room within half an hour) and of course took full advantage of the free cocktails offered at regular intervals!

We really should have had L plates, as neither of us really knew what we were doing and muddled our way along, somehow managing to win enough to top up our pot each time ensuring enough funds to last the evening.

Mr B with his girly cocktail!

During the daytime we enjoyed visiting some of the other hotels on the strip, marvelling at the sheer size of some, and the grandeur of others, and trying to navigate our way inside as much as possible,  venturing outside only when absolutely necessary as it was still hotter than hell.  Las Vegas is also a great place to indulge in our other favorite pastime - people watching - and we certainly saw some sights ... memorably a very large lady in yellow hot pants and matching crop top, prompting Ethan to remark "What's she come as ... Sponge Bob?"  :D 

All in all though a fun few days together and a successful fact finding mission - I have a feeling we could be visiting a few more times over the next year or so!

Hope you all had a good week too and those in the UK are enjoying some sunny weather too.

Thanks for dropping by,

TTFN

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