Murraytalk

After spending the afternoon outside yesterday while the kids played in the pool, I made the decision to be diligent in my quest to find a second home to escape the heat. I don't know how I've lasted this long - maybe with age your tolerance for heat lessens. I remember running around and riding bikes all Summer long in Tucson as a kid/teenager and never thinking it was too hot to be outside. I asked my 2 year old granddaughter if she wanted to go outside and draw with chalk. She looked at me and said, "It's too hot outside." I said, "You're a kid!" I didn't think they cared. She even added. "I'm sweaty." I'm praying at this time next year I will be enjoying the Summer weather. “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”  Gai

Woke up this morning and my daughter said my hair is looking more like locs today... excited! Maybe this will be a quicker process than I'm anticipating. I already love the fact that I can pop out of bed and don't have to worry about doing my hair - that's why I wore braids for so many years. So last night my husband and I tried a Mexican Restaurant in the neighborhood, El Conquistador. (13216 N. 7th Street) I'm pretty picky on my Mexican food and I have to say this was the best that I've tasted in Phoenix. The ambiance is relaxing and the owners treat you like they've known you for years.   http://elconquistadoraz.com/Home_Page.html I had spinach enchiladas, rice and beans, and my husband had a chile relleno  - he said the best that he's tasted. It reminded of the mom and pop restaurant's that I grew up with in Tucson -  I highly recommend it! Have an awesome Friday!

Paul Bunyan in Tucson, AZ Today is National Paul Bunyan Day. All I could think of when I read that today is National Paul Bunyan Day is growing up in Tucson, Arizona and seeing the statue on the corner of Stone and Glenn. (2811 North Stone Ave.) I remember as a kid always being in awe of it for some crazy reason, and years down the road pointing him out to my children - even pulling into the parking lot for my kids to stand by him and touch him. All my Tucson friends probably know that this statue has been used to navigate people since the 60s and has been seen in movies such as Easy Rider, Pocket Money, and Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More. I heard that his axe was stolen but replaced, and that a new paint job was given to Mr. Bunyan with Coronado Heights Neighborhood." written across his chest. Author:Deanie Burris Paul Bunyan was purchased by Leo Toia (owner of Leo's Auto & Home Supply) in 1964.  Paul was delivered via flat bed trailer from Calif

Yesterday I got my locs started at Rare Essence Studio in Glendale. Essence China Farmer Miss Essence China Farmer who at the age of 23 broke boundaries in the state of Arizona in 2004 by lobbying for Senate Bill 1159; Essence Farmer vs. State Board of Cosmetology, to exempt all natural hair stylists from having to hold the same licensing as cosmetologists in the state of Arizona. With the help of the Institute for Justice, what seemed like a small initiative at the time has allowed Arizona to expand its practice in natural hair. Now thanks to Essence’s efforts all braiders, loctitians, and natural hair stylist are free from the regulations of the State Board. (Farmer, E. C.) Not only is Essence a celebrity in the city of Phoenix, AZ for her astonishing craft, she also has served a plethora of celebrity clients including: Nick Cannon, Pharaohe Monch, and Young Buck to name a few. Essence China has been featured in Essence magazine (July 2011), Tresse magazine (international pub

We did the pasta and hotdogs for lunch yesterday as planned and it worked out okay, but I would use thick spaghetti for young kids. Makenna kept breaking the pasta before it was pushed all the way through the hotdog. She actually enjoyed eating the hotdogs versus building them, but Maddie had fun doing it. After they were cooked I really wasn't sure what to serve with it. It seemed gross to put ketchup up the plate with pasta, but Maddie dipped hers in ketchup and liked it - Makenna thought they were disgusting. It was a fun little project for them - we'll do it again. Today I'm going to get my locs done at Rare Essence Natural Hair Studio. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow.  http://www.rarebraids.com/gallery.html Have an awesome Tuesday!

National Catfish Day Today!  In 1987, President Reagan declared the first National Catfish Day to recognize the importance of the catfish farming industry. I grew up eating catfish and love it. My father wasn't overly creative with his catfish though - it was dipped in corn meal and deep fried... delicious! Here's a recipe that I came across that looked good to me. Barlow's Blackened Catfish By: INDIANABARLOW Ingredients 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons lemon pepper 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons pepper 1 pound catfish fillets 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup Italian-style salad dressing Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish. In a shallow, medium bowl, mix cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Brush both sides of catfish fillets with butter. Rub fillets with the cayenne pepper mixture on both sides. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high

                     Yesterday was a day of food, kids, and yes, The Almighty Water Slide!  It was a birthday party for my niece and I think everyone had a good time. The kids all played together well, the food was good, the adults were able to catch up and no injuries. Okay, on to my next subject. Joan Rivers says you should have 4 topics to be able to discuss at a dinner party. Well, it wasn't a dinner party but six of us were sitting around talking last night when Gloria Vanderbilt's name came up. I was thinking, now this is a subject I know... my daughter says, "Who is she?" Perfect I'm thinking, so I say, "She's a socialite and fashion designer known for her designer jeans, and the mother of Anderson Cooper." "What? I didn't know that, really Anderson Cooper?" is the chatter around the room. You know what happens next... everyone grabs their phones to google. I hear someone say, " Did you know Anderson Coope

Yesterday I went in for my hair consultation for my locs. It's a little overwhelming trying to decide the size of locs, but this is what I decided. Tuesday is the big day and I can't wait! It's interesting though the responses I get from people when I say that I'm getting locs. I've gotten everything from that's interesting to don't you just let your hair get really dirty and don't comb it? I'm well aware of how most of the world stereotypes black women by their hair. I think I've shared in past blogs how people approach me or don't approach me depending on the style of my hair. I decided a few years ago that natural was going to be it for me. No more chemical relaxers and no flatiron on my hair daily - I'm just going to do me and people can make all the prejudgements that they want. If you're going to make a decision about me based on my hair I don't want you in my life anyway.       I decided to grow my hair out due

I'm happy it's Friday - anyone with me?                                                                                             Had a week of trying to get rid of unneeded and unused items, getting the pup groomed, looking at old photos, (so much for organizing) working on the venue for the next Shutter Release Project, working on my stuff for my business, and Makenna! The girls come home from camp today and from the pictures that the camp posted it looks like they had fun. Can't wait to see them and hear all of the camp stories. I just found out yesterday that my grandson started a food blog on Instagram  - I love it! He takes photos of all his meals and has a one liner comment along with rating the meal. I'm going to have to get an iphone or ipad to follow him. His last blog around 10pm last night was a bowl of apple jacks. He said, "No reason,  Don't hate." and rated it 1.0 - it sucked. Funny stuff! Have a great Friday - my day i

I can't get Makenna to eat in the morning -  I'm lucky if she eats a tiny bite of yogurt. So yesterday I decided to have her make her own breakfast to see if it would entice her to eat. "You're making homemade blueberry pancakes for breakfast." She quickly responded with, " No I not." But once I got her scrubbed up and in the kitchen she was happy to work for food.  While she was working on the pancakes I made fruit kabobs; which she was both curious and excited about.                                                                                                                                                    She ate her kabob and half of a pancake - quite a bit of food for this girl. I also ate a pancake and I have to say, not bad for her first time. She decided to add all the baking powder (thankfully the can was almost empty) to her mix so they were a little thick, but tasted great.  http://kidshealth.org/kid/nutrition/food/brea

I'm going through over 35 years of pictures. Yesterday after I talked about my camping adventure I remembered that I had pictures of our lovely camping trip. So I started going through my mound of shoe boxes which led me to the decision to sort and create scrapbooks. I've done sorting in the past and put pictures in envelopes and passed them on, but no one would ever guess it by looking at my collection. We're talking 5 children, 8 grandchildren and people I don't even remember worth of pictures. I do believe this is going to be a slow process. Happy Wednesday World!

Today I am officially over the flu and ready to work. Although, I worked around the house yesterday moving furniture after my sectional left.                                                                                                   I love having this little couch in the room, but the slipcover is going to drive me crazy - it wrinkles and wrinkles bother me big time, so time to shop for slipcovers! Not sure if I mentioned that my granddaughters left for camp on Sunday. I think it's great that they're experiencing the outdoors young. My first camping experience was a freezing cold night and I was very pregnant. I still remember shivering through the night and waking up thanking God that I didn't have frostbite. I remember crawling out of the tent and sitting on our little toilet my husband had set up behind our tent. As I sat looking around taking in the beautiful scenery and for a minute thinking this really isn't too bad - I looked up to a campsite of

I still have the flu, but I have someone coming over this morning to buy my sectional so thought I'd better get up and move furniture out of the way. I decided to use my antique couch that was in my store for my living room. I have to slipcover it though since it's pink. www.azcentral.com/commphotos/azcentral/10851/13/  I have the big antique pink chair that I'm moving in the living room as well. I read an article on painting furniture with fabric paint - thought I'd give it a try on the chair in the near future. Have a Happy Monday - I'm going back to bed.

In bed sick with the flu... just crawled out of bed to say Happy Father's Day! Enjoy!!!!

Have you heard of The Weiners Circle? The Wieners Circle is a hot dog stand in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is famous for four things: its signature Chicago-style hot dogs, hamburgers and cheese fries, and the mutual verbal abuse between the employees and the customers during the late-weekend hours.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wieners_Circle I came across this surfing the web - I thought the Soup Nazi was bad, he's nothing compared to these people. Take a look! http://laughingsquid.com/jack-mcbrayer-triumph-the-insult-dog-take-on-the-weiners-circle/ I'm thinking this might just be the place to go if you had a bad day and you're hating the world at the moment. You get to verbally abuse some people you don't know and they're okay with it. Actually, I think it's a prerequisite to eat there. But, you better have thick skin because they're giving it back to you until you're ready to walk away. I have to admit - I love