Update... Nov 7, 2006

Good afternoon to one and all!!! I have been traveling again. Here and there and everywhere in between… I should get a job in the travel industry, but that may require me learning a new language and I don’t have English mastered yet so that is probably a lofty goal. Anyway, lots to tell this update so fasten your seat belts it is gonna be quick!!!

Well, they say a rolling stone gathers no moss… but I will tell you this, drop that same stone out in the middle of Phoenix, and sitting still that thing will gather no moss. As a matter of fact and inquiry it will only gather bugs and dust. That is what they have in Phoenix, bugs and dust, and if your subdivision is downwind of a farm, you also have the added bonus of manure smell. And let me tell you, manure baking in the hot Arizona sun is not a great smell. I don’t care if you call it fertilizer, it is still manure and it still smells like manure. Let me clarify my point.

So, I headed out to Phoenix for my nephew’s 10th birthday bonanza. Nearly all celebrations in my family turn into full-fledged bonanzas, I am not sure how we do it, but we always seem to manage. God love us. Anyway, I headed out on Friday. I had my birthday gift for Mason, my mother’s birthday gift card for Mason, and my sister’s lovingly written check for Mason, as well as my nieces handcrafted birthday cards! I was ready. Now the 10th birthday is a big birthday. You are entering in to double digit years, something you will never do again. And I have now been warned that entering into triple digits isn’t filled with nearly the pomp and circumstance, nope you get to be 100, and generally the few people that are still alive that know you, wheel themselves into you retire home, their iron lungs in tow, and try to watch you eat your birthday yogurt. You don’t get cake anymore, you cant digest it, nor can you chew it… didn’t know cake needed that much chewing, but you are now relegated to the simple notion that the easier the food is to swallow the better. You don’t even open your gifts anymore, because people aren’t buying you gifts. Nope, you made to 100 and you have a funny looking paper crown strapped to your head, you are eating yogurt and everyone is trying to remind you it’s your birthday and convince you that you look great in your hospital bed and there is no need to get up on their account. But let’s get back to turn 10 shall we?

For those of you who don’t know, my brother, yes my twin brother, Mark, has been promoted to District Manager. This is HUGE!!! He is has become “Mr. Big Time”, “Mr. Important”, “Mr. Have Company Credit Card will Travel”. His company moved him out to Phoenix to take his new position a little over six weeks ago, and the rest of his family just recently joined him in the past couple of weeks. Mendy, “Mrs. Big Time”, spent the last week unpacking their stuff and setting up their brand new house. Mark and Mendy (yes, those are their real names and they have heard that joke before) bought a house outside of Phoenix. When I say “outside of Phoenix” I mean an hour outside of Phoenix. You actually have to drive thru and entire Indian reservation to get to their little city of Maricopa, which for the record has no sit down restaurants or Starbucks! They bought a brand new house, it is stucko (all homes out there are stucko) it has a tile roof, and no grass. Instead of grass they have rocks, and none of these rocks have moss on them. I checked. Anyway, they had visited the sub-division a few times before they closed. Coincidentally enough, the next time they went to the sub-division after they closed there was a pungent stench in the air. Yep, manure. They are down wind from a farm or a manure processing plant, they say it is a farm, but seriously you feel like you are trapped in a baby’s diaper, it is rank! So, this is what I am thinking, I am thinking that they wont let people come out to see the homes on days when “the winds a-blowin” because NO ONE would buy house then. So, they get you out there on a nice calm day and lure you in with terrific incentives and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Those sneaky little builders, but they closed and they say that it will be better in a couple years. A couple of years? I might try to sue my way out of that deal, but overall the house is wonderful, on the inside, and when you shut the windows and doors you cant smell the outside, so it is a great place!

Mason and Mitchell just started school the Monday before I came out to visit, therefore Mason’s tenth birthday party was going to be just family, so Aunt Martha was going to make sure she was there! I came in Friday evening and my flight was delayed, so I didn’t get to Phoenix until 9pm, didn’t get my bag until 9:30, maybe 9:45, come to think of it… it was more like 10:45. It took FOREVER. I think since everyone is checking their luggage it is now taking 20 times longer for them to get the luggage off the planes and on to the baggage merry-go-rounds. It was painful to stand there and wonder if my bag was ever going to make it, but it finally showed up, and we headed to the car. I got in the car and the kids were telling me about Phoenix and their new school. Mendy told me that Mitchell (my seven year old nephew) told him that he “loves his new school!”. She said he came home the first day and said “this is the greatest school! You can have pizza everyday if you want, they let you play on the playground three times a day, and there are four girls in my class that like me… and one ‘em is cute!” This kid was born to be in Phoenix. He went trick-or-treating this year in Phoenix, and he wrote in his paper at school that he dressed up as “somebody scary” and that next year he was going to dress up as “somebody VERY scary”. You gotta love that. Mitchell is a very pleasing child and my brother Mark has nicknamed him, Begonia. Many of you reading this have been dubbed something other than your given name by my brother Mark (personally he has given me about ten of them and trust me he isn’t done), and if you haven’t you just need to know that these nicknames are random, they do not shorten your name (as most nicknames do… Kimberly, Kim… Jennifer, Jenny… no with my brother it is Mitchell, Beef Begonia) they lengthen your name. They sometimes come with a song that will be sung for you at random times, and generally Mark is the only one that knows where the nickname comes from. This is something that we all find endearing in the Newton clan, we like the nicknames and the songs, but I have to tell you, I have had a boyfriend or two that at first didn’t like the nickname they were given, but ultimately they warmed up to it and loved it!!! Stick with me, and you could get one too ;)

Anyway, we went out to eat the first evening to a Greek restaurant, the kids were NOT happy. Mason didn’t eat anything, this kid hadn’t eaten since lunch and it is closing in on 10pm. He was not eating, and you couldn’t talk him into it. He had decided to be Ghandi. He was not eating Greek food, he would not eat it here or there, he would not put it in his hair, he did not like hummus and lamb, he did not want them Sam I am. He went the entire meal watching us eat. He just kept saying, “I waaaaaaaaaant to gooooooooooo”. That kid is stubborn. Mitchell tried to follow his brother’s lead. At first he had his head on the table and was saying he wasn’t eating either, but finally the pita bread got him. He took a bite, and he liked it!!! He said it tasted “like a tortilla with butter, cinnamon, sugar, and bacon on it”. Interesting, that’s all I have to say about that. Anyway, we finally leave the restaurant with three to-go boxes full of food and head home. Mendy makes Mason three sandwiches, and he eats them all… he was staaaaaaaaaaaaaarving. Now, you have to examine that situation, he was more stubborn than starving, that says a lot for that kids strength of will. You aren’t talkin’ him into anything.

The next day we went to the Arizona State Fair. This isn’t the Texas State Fair, but it was good enough. We had a lot of fun, but we left early enough so that Mason could open his birthday gifts. Now that will put any soon-to-be ten year old in a great mood, and Mason was no exception. This kid was excited. We put all of the gifts in the middle of the floor in the living room and he starts tearing into them. He opens mine first, iPod Nano! It’s a crowd pleaser… and I ask him if he wants to me to load it up with songs from my laptop… he says “uh, yeah”. He tears open the next gift, Nana got him “Guitar Hero” for the PS2. You gotta love that Nana, she knows the way to that kid’s heart. He was pumped. Could the gifts get any better? Then his parents look at him and say “Mason, we took you to the fair today, you got the watch you wanted from us, and we also bought you tickets the Suns vs the Mavs on Thursday!” This was the best birthday ever!!! Mason was thrilled. The tickets were the crowning glory, they were by far the best gift he got! He couldn’t believe he was going to see the Mavs play in Phoenix. Ten is going to be a great year for this kid, it is starting off with electronic equipment, new video games, money and gifts cards, and the Mavs game, what will eleven bring?

The next morning we finally get the PS2 unboxed and setup upstairs so that we could all play “Guitar Hero” and when I say “we could all play” I mean, Mason. This kid didn’t want anyone to have a turn. Apparently when you’re 10 your gifts are for your use only. This kid walked around with his ear phones in his ears and his iPod in his pocket. I don’t know if he has taken the earphones out of his ears yet. But we watched him play the video game and even muscled in a few turns for me and Mitchell (hey, I’m a Toys-R-Us kid too!) and then it was time to go have lunch and head back to the airport. The fun was over! The weekend was finished. We went to eat Mexican food for lunch (Mason picked, and he ate, this was exciting to see!). The thing that they have out in Arizona, is this spicy bean dip! This stuff is great, and it is free!!! They give you salsa and this spicy bean dip for free with your chips, I love this stuff. It has beans (duh…) and cheese and chilies all pureed into this dip. Man, it was tasty. So, if you head out to the desert, I highly recommend that. Although be forewarned, that they do not have Tex-Mex out there and the Mexican food you think you are ordering, may not be what you find sitting in front of you… just a tip, from your friendly traveler!

Well, that is it for this time! Hope you are all doing well!!

Peace, love, Beef Begonias!!!
Martha