A Holiday Tradition

This year I've been privileged to be part of two white elephant gift exchanges. I looked it up on Wikipedia, but beyond how to play the game, I didn't see any origins although truthfully I didn't look very hard. I'm sure it has something to do with the old flea markets which were probably the precursor to garage sales before people had garages. Luckily, the great white elephant elf was very kind to me. A fart book, a cheesy Las Vegas wedding veil and a strange stuffed thing called a "Kookie" named Sir Kooks-a lot, are all in my possession. In case you didn't know, the fun of a white elephant exchange is in stealing other's gifts. Yes indeed, I stole these gems.





I stole the fart book from another non-believer at the annual Atheist Meet up Solstice party. I know what you are thinking. What could I possibly want with a book about farts? Well... lets be honest people. Farts are funny and mine are particularly funny......at least to me.



Devin was the one who actually got the wedding veil from the same Solstice party, but I wore it out of the restaurant. Imagine if you will, a photo of me wearing a cheap white veil with " I love you" in red letters along the hem. I couldn't find it today, otherwise I'd model it for you.


Sir Kooks a lot was the very first gift opened by one of my co-workers at our annual Christmas potluck/gift exchange. It was a long sausage like package and as she began to open one end, we all wondered what it could be. What appeared to be a skunk's tail peeped out of the package! As she pulled it out of its protective gift wrap and Sir-Kooks-a-lot emerged we were still not sure what it was! The recipient seemed less than pleased and no one seemed terribly interested in relieving her of him. Since we did this gift exchange alphabetical by first name I had quite a few gifts to choose from when my turn came. Sir Kooks a lot just spoke to me and I had to steal him! He and I continue to make beautiful music together.

He is very cuddly AND he has a crew! I found them hanging out at "Limited Too" later that day.

Happy Birthday Jaclyn! OMG 13???????

Today is my 2nd daughter's birthday. Well..she's not actually my birth daughter, but I've known her since she was in her mommy's tummy. In fact her mom and I found out at nearly the same time that we were both pregnant. Our families have all been close friends ever since then. Sierra and Jaclyn have been like sisters and she has been on many adventures with us. I can't believe it has been 13 years! This is the first picture of them hanging out together. I think they were 3 months old or so. Her mom Cheryl and I spent a lot of time together in those days. I was a new mom and Jaclyn was her second child so she had experience! I'm so grateful that I had such a wonderful friend in my life to be there through a very trying time for me.

What can I say about Jaclyn? Loving, fun, creative, crazy, wild. Always singing, laughing and LOUD especially when Sierra and her are confined together in a moving car. Arrrrhhhggggggg! There is something about the two of them together that is like alchemy. Explosions, activity, incessant and loud giggling and screaming.

Adventures

Here is Jaclyn experiencing the Grand Canyon with us. Although Jaclyn loves nature, I think she would rather view it from a hotel window. She is not keen on bugs, bees or hiking around. We love you Princess Jaclyn! This was a day trip and on the way home, it was very dark outside and Jaclyn and Sierra were very scared that ET was going to come down and take them away. They were very serious about it too. We tried to explain that ET although not real was a NICE alien in the movie.
We took Jaclyn with us to a cabin up in Greer. I think the best part of this cabin for both of them was sliding down the stairs in the cabin. We fished and did some hiking too. Remember what I said about bugs and bees? Well.... as you can imagine they have lots of those in Greer.

Just Hanging Out

I believe this was in 3rd grade. Sierra had an assignment as school where she was supposed to take pictures of "Flat Sierra" in various places. We were going out to take pictures of Flat Sierra in nature, but first Jaclyn posed with her.
This is one of my favorites. They are painting each other's faces and I think they managed to paint a doll's face and I'm sure the table, their clothes and probably other parts of themselves.

Happy Birthday Jaclyn. You are growing up to be a beautiful young lady. I almost didn't recognize you in this picture!

Happy Holidays

Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Channuka, Christmas or simply secular... We at the PezRan clan wish you and yours a wonderful time with family and friends as you celebrate whatever you wish!

Thanksgiving 2008

It's less than two weeks until Christmas and I'm just getting around to posting about Thanksgiving. After all, I have been very busy playing D&D online ( well not lately), but I could have posted it earlier if my alter ego " Valinora" hadn't spent several hours slaying monsters over the Thanksgiving holiday. Its all her fault..really.

On Thanksgiving day we had my mom and Devin's mom, Dee over and I cooked some kind of roast non-turkey beast. My sister Valerie was with us virtually as you see here over Yahoo with video and voice chat. It was so cool to spend a few moments with her virtually. She had her own place at the table!

Thanksgiving Part I

Thanksgiving at Pez Ran clan actually begins the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A Rankin family tradition is to have the holiday dinner then so all the different families can do their own thing on the actual day thus avoiding inevitable family squabbles about which family one is going to spend Thanksgiving day with. This is also the day when we decide who is going to host the family Christmas eve celebration and we draw names for the gift exchange. Devin's mom cooks all the family favorites. One of Sierra's happens to be Dee's famous Turkey noodles and you can forget the berry sherbet PUNCH! This year Christmas eve will be happening at Pez Ran central. Hurrah!

Devin and Shannon smile for the camera

Grandpa Tim and the youngest member of the clan Jordan

Dan and Mikey

Nick ( Beat-Nick?)

Great-Grama Dee, Jordan and Addie

My Talented Friend Alex

I met Alex about 7 years ago. He is just one member of a family that Devin introduced me to soon after he and I started dating. They are just about the nicest and most interesting people you'd ever want to meet and I am glad to call them my friends too!





That's Alex on the left, then Shannon ( known as He-Shannon), Kelley and Jared back in 2004. We spent Thanksgiving with them on Cape Cod. We had a blast!








Now Alex is a teenager! Time flies doesn't it? He has always been very creative. Check out this optical illusion he came up with. Sierra appears as a tiny fairy on Alex's hand.







I really enjoy his blog full of his art and musings. His work is getting even more interesting as he matures. His most recent work called "Isolation" is just GORGEOUS! Way to go Alex! I still have a signed sketch of the air fairy he drew for us when he visited us a few years ago. Hey..maybe that will be worth something some day! Check out "Isolation" and the rest of his work here: Immortal Lands

Protest at Glendale Community College

Recently Devin got wind of the pesky Westboro Baptist Church latest protest plans against The Laramie project, a play about Mathew Shepard, in memory of the 10Th anniversary of his death. In case you are not familiar with the story:

"In October 1998, a 21 year old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay."

The protest was set to happen just blocks from here at Glendale Community College. Westboro is the same organization that shows up to funerals of gay service men and woman spewing their "Christ like" hate. We almost went....but didn't. I am so mad at myself because what would the world be like if we all stayed home and didn't get involved and let this kind of crap go on unchallenged? Luckily for all of us, at least 100 like minded people showed up to counter protest. I am grateful others are more brave than I am. Kudos to Hero organization, the Secular Free Thought Society and, our friends from the Atheists Meetup group for showing up while Devin and I sat on our butts playing Dungeons and Dragons. More pictures here if you are interested.

Oh yeah...the fact that we passed the discriminatory law here in Arizona against Gay marriage is disappointing. I thought we were making progress. Sigh....

LOL Cats

We really enjoy reading the LOL cats blog. Check it out http://icanhascheezburger.com/

I'm pretty sure our pets do not wish to dress up for Halloween. If looks could kill.....

Our very own LOL Cat Sammy who, after eating his daily 1/2 can of cat food will sometimes relax on the plate. I'm looking for a witty caption to upload to LOL cats! Any ideas?

Darwin Song

Can you believe you can get Darwin bobbleheads? How cool is that. It just shouts "Geek" doesn't it?

Another Darwin song to add to my small collection of songs about Charles Darwin. This one by Chumbawamba.

A video of the song is here.

All of nature in its place
By hand of the designer
Comes our Charlie spins the world
From here to Asia Minor
In between the Platypus
And perfect Aphrodite
Charlie come with opposing thumb
To question the Almighty

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

See the dancing President
The congressman and teacher
Jumpin' to the music of
The wealthy Midwest preacher
Charlie come with a brand new dance
Get on the floor and follow
Find yourself a partner and
We'll swing into tomorrow

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder

Armed with truth we're stepping out
Come join the worldwide party
Charge your glass and face the world
We'll drink a toast to Charlie

Over the river and over the sea
Through holy storm and thunder
Steer a course for a brave new world
Of common sense and wonder.

I become one of THOSE people

I can't believe it. I am capable of spending several hours in another world, slashing, bashing, casting spells and running around dungeons. Devin and I play together, each of us in our respective offices. It's been good for my brain because it forces me to think in ways I'm not used to. Finding my way around a dungeon is not easy for me. I don't have a great sense of direction in the real world so that doesn't help! This is one of my characters loosely named for Elves from LOTR, Elbereth Greenleaf. Some of you may realize that "Greenleaf" is Legolas's sir name. She dies a lot, but some day I hope to figure things out so she doesn't die quite as often.

Pumpkin Wine?

Election Night at Geek Central

You know what I mean. TV is going and three computers are are tuned to different election sites. It's looking like senator Obama will be the next president of the United States of America! Whoo hooooo! Arizona is actually too close to call. I can't believe it. My vote may have actually counted this time. I wish my dad were still alive. He would have loved this whole thing.

7:05PM
Sierra just called to tell me that Obama has 175 electoral votes. She is so excited that Obama will probably win..more because she thinks McCain is just old and weird looking. It's sort of like a sporting event for her. She picked Obama and is excited to see him win.

Former mayor Rudi Juliani is on NBC. Will he say it. Will he.. ? Say ....9/11? Not this time.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the evening. As if anyone is reading this real time. ha ha ha

7:28 PM
Networks still saying Arizona too close to call, but congressman Shadegg says " They are lying" Hmmm I'll be nice I guess and just say " No comment"
They are calling Ohio for Obama. Sierra informs me that Ohio has 20 electoral votes.
7:41PM
Obama hasn't won yet. " The fat lady isn't singing yet, but she's warming up." says a dude talking to Brian Williams on NBC named Tavis Smiley. Who's that guy? NBC calls 200 to 90 electoral votes. Hey..this is more exciting than the Superbowl.

7:55 PM
5 minutes until the Daily Show Special!

The next morning..........

I guess I'm not the greatest blogger in the world. After the Daily Show special ( which wasn't as funny as usual) I lost interest in this blogging thing. I thought McCain's speech was very gracious and as we watched Obama's acceptance speech Devin and I were so grateful to have an intelligent, articulate smart guy for a next president. We were excited to be part of this historic event. This morning we were dismayed to find that our fellow Arizonans voted to pass the so called marriage initiative. Sigh.....

Kiva, Make a Loan Change a Life

So, here is my latest obsession.

You know how people are always asking you for money. Charity drives at work, e-mails and phone calls, even people trying to hit you up while you are waiting at a stop light to get on the freeway.

Well, here is something different.

Kiva

Kiva does not ask you to give money, only to loan it. The idea is that many micro businesses in 3rd world countries can't raise capital to improve or expand their small business. These are people who live from day to day by selling firewood, or making clothing, or running a small food stall someplace. So these people who need loans apply to Kiva, Kiva posts a photograph and short description of what they need the money for. People chip in $25 a piece until the loan is funded. We are talking loans of $200 to $1000 here. Then they loan the people the money. As the people make payments, you get your money back. Some loans run for 6 months, some run for a year.

So you get to help someone who is working to help themselves, and it does not cost you anything in the end. Usually. There is about a 5% default rate. Businesses fail, people die, or the inflation rate runs wild and the money they use to pay you back is not longer worth $25. Sometimes Kiva gets scammed and the money is just gone. So there is a risk. But about 95% of the time you get your money back. You can either loan it to someone else, or withdraw it back into your Paypal account.

What could be better than helping people for free.

Here are the loans I have made.

PezRan Halloween Happenings

It was a dark and stormy night. Well.. not really. It was warm and clear and we could see Jupiter and Venus as we prepared for a night of pre-teen madness. Most of you know that Sierra can be very persuasive. What was supposed to be trick-0r-treat and then sleepover with four friends turned into 10. How does that happen you wonder? She starts small. " Mom, can some friends come over and trick-or-treat" Ok..that sounds fine. Then a few weeks later. "Can 1 or 2 people spend the night? Hmm well ok I guess we can live with that. Then Sierra reports that she feels bad for leaving some people out and I agree to a few more and then a few more. Oh well.. I'm so glad she has good friends and nice kids to hang out with! It turned out fine and although we are tired everyone had a great time and were on their best behavior. Kudos to Sierra for being a great hostess. We still added another 2 or 3 kids after this picture was taken. I lost count I think........












The evening started with 10 kids all trying to get into the bathroom to assemble their costumes and get as scary as possible. All that preparation and they were done with trick-or-treating after about an hour.



















Traditional Sierra and Zayda picture in front of the Great Ghosty Pumpkin. Pirate Duel!
















Devin catches up on his reading while waiting for trick-or-treaters. In case you are wondering, that's not some weirdo headpiece for his costume, its a strap-on flashlight. It's a tradition now that we wait outside for the kids to arrive. We enjoy it and its easier with the dogs! He is reading " Who Wrote the New Testament?" Such a scholar our Devin!


Exclusive Video!!! Scarrrrry PezRan House

They capped off the evening with something called Extreme bowling. Basically they turn the lights out and turn up the juke box. I had such fun watching them have an incredible time bowling, running back and forth to the juke box and dancing and singing along to the music. ( No pictures of this since I forgot the camera). I watched bowling and dancing until past midnight while Devin was busy at home trying to find sleeping places for everyone. A little giggling and a few rounds of " Guys! Go to Sleep" were heard, but I think everyone was asleep before 2:00am. This morning they all got dressed up again to make a scary alien movie. I'm looking forward to seeing that!

Night of the living dead? Nope... .. morning after a sleep over for ten. As I write this, there are three girls left and believe it or not it is noisier than it was with all ten. Sigh....

Why I Failed Geometry

Hmmmm I got this one wrong. I just don't get it. Do you know the right answer?

Desperately Seeking Fall

As Devin mentioned we ventured north to Sedona this past weeKEND ( as my sister, the amazing Valnik would say) to catch some fall colors ( or colours for you Brits and Canadians) . We saw some color..more like a limish green mixed with brown dead leaves. This time last year I was in Boston experiencing some gorgeous fall colors and good times with my frister ( friend + sister) so it was a bit disappointing.




However, we did have a nice time with Devin's mom Dee. This is us having lunch at our favorite haunt the "Hide-a-Way" which has lovely views of trees and red rocks. Beer was involved as you can see. The mug was frosty and the beer was cold. YUM! So much for my healthy salad.




After lunch we wandered through Oak Creek Canyon and stopped at Slide Rock. I've haven't been there in ages and I thought the water was way too cold to swim, but apparently these folks didn't think so. English perhaps?




We hiked a little bit, but sadly Dee wasn't really wearing great hiking footwear. At one point, the shoe slipped off and I had to climb down to rescue it before it drifted away. I was nervous a few times that she would fall and hurt herself, but she stubbornly refused a helping hand. We shouldn't be surprised. Afterall, this is a woman who went sky diving for her 70th birthday.














Here's my Hercules impression.

We're hiking , we're hiking....errrr ....is this a trail?

Devin gets an artsy red rock shot.

A great story

This past weekend we took a short road trip up to Sedona. I think Shannon will be posting some photos and the highlights a bit later.

But for now, I just wanted to share this post on another blog I read. It has nothing to do with a trip to Sedona. :) But it is quite a story.

Here

Devin

Stay Away From The Red Phone...

Check it out....

http://www.palinaspresident.com/

Rankin's 3-D House of Fire

Glendale Arizona Weather Report: Sunny, 53 degrees

Only in Arizona would we be excited about these temperatures. I'm sure my sister in England would consider this shorts and t-shirt weather. As you can imagine, we needed a fire to keep us warm.

Fire Season?

My personal weatherman informs me that the temperature was......wait for it..... 65 degrees here in Glendale Arizona this morning. I'm sure you all know what that means. Well maybe you don't, but I do. Devin will soon light his first fire tonight after leaving all the windows and doors open after sunset for a few hours.

It might be cool enough! Just maybe. We did,after all, have a whole cord of wood delivered today and you know..you have to test it to make sure it burns.

Devin likes to burn things....

Random Atheist Quote of the day

You don't believe in Apollo, Zeus, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Odin or any of thousands of other Egyptian, Mayan, Scandinavian or other gods, do you? Well of course you don't. That would be silly. I don't believe in your god either. For the same reason."
Anon.

The quest for a cool house

So it is October in Arizona. Which means that it is in the low 100's and upper 90's still. Still time to run the A/C for another few weeks at least.

When we bought this place, the A/C had a 10 year parts warrantee, but not labor. We have known that this unit was a bit of a lemon. We have had it fixed at least once or twice a year since we moved in. And each time they come out they tell us what a piece of crap it is and the heroic means they went to in order to fix it this time.

Well, it held out almost the whole season without a problem. Then Tuesday afternoon, it just stopped. So Wednesday they came out and looked at it. It had overheated and burned wires and sprung a leak. Our choices were $1500 in labor to fix the old crappy lemon, or $7000 to replace it with a new unit under warrantee for parts and labor.

So we went with the $7000 fix. Maybe the new unit will not sound like a jet taking off and vibrate the whole house when it clicks on. Maybe it will run for a full season with out us having to spend a few nights baking while waiting for our name to come to the top of the repair list.

So the new unit goes in on Friday. Until then, they hot wired a few things on the old unit which they say will run it for a few days and it probably will not explode or catch fire as long as we only run it at night when it is cooler. So at least we can sleep at night.

All we want is a cool house in the summer, and most the spring and part of the fall.

Yeah for the workout family

We made a commitment to work out twice a week together. So far, so good. Workout Wednesdays and Sweaty Sundays. Twice a week is better than no times a week. If only I had a picture of Devin on the elliptical and me doing my lunges and squats. Wednesday Sierra kicked my booty. Woooot! (I hear the cool kids say that a lot).

(disclaimer: photos not real-actual results not typical)

In Memory of Velma Ponder Scott

Tomorrow is my grandmother’s birthday. She was our Nan. She is gone now, but her spirit lives on in my memories, in my genetics and of course in my heart. That indomitable, feisty, never give in spirit. I recently came across some random thoughts I had written down the day I learned that she had passed. They may not be as meaningful to you, but my sister and mother will probably get it! This is a ramble, so bear with me!

Nan word association: beauty, strength, stubborn, determined, full of life, always searching for meaning, unconventional, ahead of her time, adventure, queen of the road.

She was no rocking chair grandma. When I see her in my minds eye, she is wearing a polyester white pants suit; always made up, always in motion. Action Nan. No rocking Chair grandma. No smells of cooking in the air. No Martha Stuart garden and home.

She was a wanderer and car trips with her are my most treasured memories. I loved pulling over and sleeping on the side of the road and waking up as the sun rose. For some reason I remember the smell of that car. It’s hard to describe, but it was a little like the faint odor of carsickness. She had a CB and her handle was " The Big yellow banana" Imagine this tiny woman saying “10-4 good buddy” She let me drive it when I was 12. Yeee haaaa !

Beans and weenies for lunch on the side of the highway and gorgeous scenery must be looked at even if you are so sick you can't lift your head. It seemed that she had a friend or former patient (she was a chiropractor) in each city we drove through. Smelly Ann Martin, Bert and the cigarette burns on his shirt. No matter where we were between Canada and Texas, there was always someone to visit; someone to heal. She inspired my travel dreams with her trips to Africa, Russia, Israel and Panama.

Even in the most perilous situations, she always saw beauty even in 6 feet of snow, and icy roads. “Ohhhhh LOOK at the beautiful mountains”


Searching for meaning brought her too many different ideas; Scientology and the E-meter when I was young, that crazy Thane Walker and finally Oral Roberts. If that’s not a diversity of ideas I don't know what is. Her courage was amazing. She would stand toe to toe with a foe twice her size. I think to the end she believed that her sight and hearing would be healed if she just prayed harder.

“You just let me know if you are saying something I need to hear"

She loved to have us scratch her back with nails or hairbrush. Back rubs! I learned just the right spots from her.

I learned to hate chiropractic adjustments since she always thought I needed one. Run away, run away!


She loved all of us, but you could really say that she just loved period.

Sierra's Video

7th grade is one of those in between times when the kids sometimes act so adult, and then at other times the go back to being little kids.

Sierra's class has been playing with small stuffed animals again. They shot this video in class on Friday. Sierra and her friend Jenna spent Saturday editing it.

So Misunderstood

My name is Spitfire, or " Spitty" for short. I'm not sure if they call me that because I drool when I'm getting a pet or because I spit when I'm scared. You have to look scary to keep the dogs away!! I am a loving affectionate male, neutered and de-clawed senior kitty. I'm very talkative especially at night when all the humans are asleep. I love to wander through the house yowling especially if I've caught a lizard. Actually, I'm not really sure why I yowl. I'm old. Maybe I'm senile. I think my human family has about had it with me. I woke up mom again tonight at 12:30am. Uh oh....

Guitar Heros

Sierra plays her super cool newly re-finished custom guitar


Devin's special song. He is really into it!




I think I have decided that I'm not as interested in learning guitar as I thought I was. Its kind of fun, but not fun enough to spend 25 bucks for 1/2 hour lesson weekly.

Imagine No Religion

A few months ago the Pez Ran clan attended a fund raiser BBQ to help pay for 4 billboards around the city. Sierra was impressed by the pool, if you remember from my earlier post. The billboards are finally up and today the group got together and we had our picture taken in front of the billboard. No one attacked us which is nice. A few people honked although I'm not sure if it was in solidarity or derision. This billboard is on the corner McDowell and 3rd street in case you want to visit. This is just me solo... sporting my autographed " Skeptics Guide to the Universe" t-shirt.

We had yummy Tai food after the picture with our Atheistic Skeptic comrades. I reccomend the coconut curry, but stay away from the Tai ice tea!

I'm not really sure how Scientology kills, but I'll bet he'd tell me...

This is Matt. He spent over 6 hours last night trying to de-convert a nice Mormon girl. Go Matt. I'm sure they had some interesting "discourse" He is wearing a big Scarlet Letter of Atheism t-shirt. In fact a couple of people were. I want one. I don't suppose Richard Dawkins would send me one would he?