What the Haboob?!

     "JULY 5, 2011 MASSIVE HABOOB HITS PHOENIX"

     ...What on Earth is a "haboob?!" I didn't know at first either. Who comes up with these words?! I heard it on the radio after this insane Phoenix dust storm and just had to look it up. According to Wikipedia (unreliable source, I know), "a haboob is a type of intense sandstorm commonly observed in arid regions throughout the world." Apparently they have been observed in the Sahara desert in Sudan. Really? Are people now comparing Arizona to the Sahara desert? I mean, I know it's hot and beyond miserable here, but we're not that ugly and sandy! 

     I knew the weather in Phoenix was kinda funky on Tuesday, but I definitely didn't see anything like a freakin' HABOOB coming anytime soon. Ha...haha..."boob." I was at work and I could hardly even see out the windows, but I knew people were pulling over and coming into Jamba Juice to get off the insane road. I think it's hilarious that people here don't know how to drive in ANY weather condition. "Oh. My God. It's raining. In Phoenix! I can't go out today, I won't be able to drive in this!" That's pretty much how everyone here acts when it rains, I can't imagine what they were thinking when a wall of dust hit their windshield. But me, I wanted to leave work and go play in the dust and rain. Oh yeah, that's me, I'm a strange one when it comes to wicked awesome weather changes. Maybe I need to travel more, go to places where it rains pours, snows, maybe something extreme like earthquakes? That'd be cool. I'm moving somewhere foreign. Very foreign, and very far. 

House vs. House Sitter

     I've been house sitting since Friday afternoon, and not only does it include the house and all it's beauty, but three dogs. Two lab mixes, Sosa and Pudge, and a Shih Tzu, Rowdy. Oh, and a tomato plant. The first two days were great, besides the fact that I was bored because I had no one to go swimming with, and I couldn't figure out how to even change the channel with this confusing Tivo remote. Awesome! 

     But last night, oh last night was the real exciting night. After a day of swimming with my best friend (in a pool full of pine needles from the wind storm), we made an awesome dinner and watched Glee. Then after we were ready for bed, we were sitting in the living room watching TV and were interrupted by thunderous barking from the two big dogs. They took off out the doggy door and disappeared in the back yard on the side of the house. Courtney and I were TOTALLY freaked, and I had my phone in my hand ready to dial the three magic numbers, just in case. The dogs came inside after a while, so we shut down the lights and TV and set the house alarm on "STAY." However...I'm such a smarty, and went to let Rowdy outside around two in the morning and..."WEE OOH WEE OOH!!" I forgot I had set the alarm. Great. I raced to the kitchen to find the alarm keypad and shut it off. Oh but wait, I don't know the code. Perfect! I started punching random buttons, which was a big mistake. Five seconds later the phone rang. "Is everything okay? We saw that your alarm went off." I was thinking, "Yeah we're fine, I'm just an idiot." 

     Finally everything was settled and I went back to bed. An hour or so later the big dogs were nonstop barking, so I went out to the dining room to check on them. Apparently "I stepped in the beam," ("Beethoven" movie reference), and the alarm went off again. I thought it wasn't supposed to do that since it was set on "STAY" so the dogs could move around the house! I froze standing still in the middle of the kitchen and nervously glanced around. Once I got the alarm turned off again, I decided never to set that alarm again. Ever. 

     We'll see how my next house sitting gig goes. Until then, I think it's safe to say that this time the house won.

Divine Sisterhood

     Today is my first day home from Atlanta, and even though it is bittersweet, I am beaming today :D Sometimes it's the little things in life that make me so happy. I feel like this week is going to be awesome, and it's all because I have the greatest best friends in the universe. My two best friends Kendalyn and Courtney picked me up from the airport last night, complete with a "Welcome Home Danielle!" sign, and even gorgeous sunflowers (my favorite!) Anyway, I have the best friends a girl could ask for, and I love them so much. The end :)

Baby Alana, Kendalyn's baby girl <3

                                                                                     

A Bug's Life

     I. Hate. Centipedes. Giant centipedes, to be specific. Ones that scurry across walls and ceilings and sneak-attack you when you're sitting on the couch, innocently watching TV.

How'd you like to see one of these buggers
on your wall late at night? Yeah, didn't
think so.

     Yeah, this is all coming from a personal experience. A very traumatizing one, I might say. My cousin Chelsea and I were sitting on the couch watching TV, and all of a sudden she says, "Hey look, there's one of those big freaky bugs I was talking about."
HOLY CRAP!
   All I could do from then on, instead of watching TV, was focus on the giant centipede (we concluded, via Google, that it was indeed a centipede, not a millipede. After much arguing.), crawling along the wall above the bookshelf.  I continued to keep a sneaky eye on the thing, and then it lost it's footing and fell onto the blinds of the window. Oh my gosh, I've never seen an insect run so fast in my life. And I thought cockroaches were speedy! No, not as speedy as this Beast.  High pitched screaming commenced, from both of us wimps.
   Its a bird, it's a plane, it's, SUPERMAN! Well, kind of. Terry came out of the bedroom with a shoe to save the day night, and looked high and low for the Beast. No such luck. He was just as freakishly good at Hide and Seek as Osama bin Laden.
   Alright, it's gone. Sit back, relax, and be sure to keep all feet inside the vehicle. Don't let them touch the ground. THERE IT IS!!! Round Two, ding! After hiding under a sheet on the ground, the Beast was nowhere to be found, once again. Okay, now we're definitely not getting any sleep tonight. I thought maybe it had headed for the door to make its getaway, but no. All of a sudden it was running STRAIGHT for us at the couch. Now it was my turn to get really brave. (This is coming from a girl who will catch a snake in the kitchen, play with it, and then carry it down the street to let it go in the grass. Don't ask, I don't know why I was so scared of this gazillion-legged Beast). So before it reached the couch, I jumped up and grabbed the nearest big item: a baseball glove. Swing batter batter!  I squished the thing with all my might. SCORE! Whew, now we can sleep.
     "But wait, there's more!" Later on after I was finished getting ready for bed, I noticed something behind the toilet on the floor. Two brown antennae sticking out from underneath a single square of toilet paper. Here we go again. Superman came to look for Thing 2, but no luck. Awesome, they crawl on walls, and my bed is right up against a wall. I quit, I'm going to a hotel. Nah, just kiddin'. Where, did you ask, did I ever find him? In the shower underneath my bathing suit! Bug, shoe, and sinker. "Good day. I SAID good day!!"