Wednesday, December 31, 2008

A personal note to 2008:

GO AWAY!

GOOD RIDDANCE!

YOU WILL NOT BE MISSED.

(2009 don't let me down!)

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

You grew up in the 80s in Phoenix if you...

1) Would have done anything for a Ladmo bag.
2) Tired to fry an egg on the sidewalk.
3) Can still remember the words to the hepatitis song.
4) Spent way too many summer days in a mall.
5) Remember KZZP.
6) Went ice skating at Metrocenter.
7) Get irritated when people say "yeah, but it's a dry heat."
8) Have red burnt cheeks in ever childhood picture.
9) Had a pool in your backyard.
10) Vacationed in San Diego or Rocky Point.
11) Know what it feel like to come out of an icy cold movie theater into 110 degree heat - I miss that feeling!
12) Saw your mom drive with potholders.
13) Know what "tubing" means.
14) Have been "ice blocking."
15) Have a T-shirt that says "I survived the hottest day in Phoenix history" referring to that summer day in 1990 when it got up to 122 degree in the shade.
16) Consider yourself a "Zonie."
17) Ever put Christmas lights on a cactus.
19) Burnt the bottom of your feet running out to get the mail because you were too lazy to put on shoes.
20) Know some Spanish even though you never studied it.
21) Won hot pink scrunchies at Metro Midway!
22) Enjoyed making song requests at Organ Stop Pizza.
23) Got in trouble for leaving crayons in the back seat of the car.
24) Are not intimidated by a Super Big Gulp.
25) Your heroes were Kevin Johnson (KJ), Mark West, and Tom Chambers.
26) Had to pay full replacement price for the rented VCR tape you left in your car.
27) Shopped at Goldwaters, Broadway Southwest, Federated or Diamonds.
28) Remember Dave Pratt the Morning Mayor on 98 KUPD.
29) Can count the number of times it snowed in Phoenix on one hand.
30) Stood in line to watch movies at the original Cine Capri.
31) Snow Cones and brain freezes made summer worthwhile.
32) Cried when Wallace and Ladmo went off the air
33) Went to Pistol Pete's pizza, ShowBiz pizza, and can recall Tex Critters at MetroCenter
34) Thought Streets of New York had the best pizza in Phoenix at 19th and Northern
35) Remember Gemco
36) Ate at Furr's Cafeteria
37) Shopped at Mervyn's
38) Saw your first concert at the Arizona State Fair
39) Remember the Madhouse Macdowell (Purple Palace)
40) Remember Suns Fever
41) Recall Thunder Dan
42) Mourned the loss of Cotton Fitzsimmons
43) Believed in the 100 year flood
44) Did the hokey pokey at Great Skate.
45) Cruised Central, Metro or Mill Avenue.
46) Worried about drive by shootings at school.
47) Remember only TWO freeways either the I-10 or I-17.
48) Remember who Rose Mofford or Evan Mecham is.
49) Know what Sonoyta Motors is.
50) Know what Price Club is (and when there was only 1).
51) Had Dimension Cable.
52) Know what the Phoenix Gazette is.
53) Went to Legend City or Compton Terrace.
54) Know what Yellow Front, Lucky's, Smittys, AJ Bayless, are.
55) Suffered with a swamp cooler.
56) Went boogie boarding on irrigation day.
57) Fished in the canal.
58) Went to the hot air balloon races at Thunderbird.
59) Thought 19th Ave and Cactus was in the boonies.
60) Speaking of the boonies - drank in the desert with the rest of your high school friends until the bright light of the helicopter came blaring down.
61) Were ever excited about your appearance on "Pets on Parade."
62) Suffered the consequences of leaving your sister's favorite vinyl record in the car.
63) Remember your parents voting (or not voting for) for the monorail.
64) Thought Big Surf was Rad!
65) Danced at Club Rio.
66) Remember Tex Earnhardt and his "No Bull commercials"
67) Attended a birthday party in a railroad car at the McDonald's on Bethany Home and 23rd Ave.
68) Remember the Dr. Demento show on KZZP every Sunday night.
69) Burned your hand trying to open your locker at school.
70) Locking your car doors as soon as you got south of Bethany Home.
71) Wished you lived in California.
72) Didn't believe that High schools actually had indoor halls and full size lockers like they do on TV.
73) Didn't go to the park until AFTER dark.
74) Sweatband were not just a fashion statement.
75) Your Hypercolor T-shirt was permanently a different color under your arms.
76) Knew not to shoot at a Saguaro because it could fall over on you and kill you.
77) Thought Flagstaff was REALLY cold.
78) Always saw at least 10 people you knew on Mission Beach (San Diego)
79) Knew who worked on Van Buren.
80) Remember when the Roadrunners were the only hockey game in town
81) Remember when Buckeye was BFE
82) Wore jellies in the summer even though you had really bad feet sweat.
83) Went to see Santa @ Westridge Mall (that was the best one with the whole set up).
84) Remember when Ahwatukee was a retirement community half way to Tucson.
85) Remember 50 cent movie Tuesdays at Valley West Mall
86) Have a scar on the back of your thighs from the 3rd degree burns sustained from the metal clip your seat belt clicked in to. No protection given from the OP short ,shorts.
87) Remember the orange trees planted all the way down the middle of Black Canyon Freeway (Now called I-17).
88) Ever get your butt and legs burned by metal slides at the Whataburger across from Metrocenter? (What sadist would put metal slides on a kids playground in Phoenix????!!)
89) Remember when Sun City wasn't connected to the rest of the valley?
90) Ever have brunch at Mother Tuckers?
91) Remember when it only took 2 hours to drive to Flagstaff
92) Going to slide rock in Sedona and hoping it wasn't closed due to high levels of bacteria in the water!
93) Remember when Terminal 2 was the only passenger terminal at Sky Harbor and you had to walk on the tarmac.
94) Got free tokens at the Valley West Mall arcade for good grades on your report card
95) Celebrated a birthday at Ed Debevick's
96) Thought Bobby McGee's was the coolest restaurant ever
97) Ever rode the "crack the whip" ride at Encanto Park.
98) Ever got attached by a jumping cactus
99) Know what to do when you hear a rattle in the desert.
100) Used to shop at LaBelles, eat lunch at Liberty Bell Pizza or get soda at the U-TOTEM on Cactus.
101) Remember the commercial about Valley Fever..."Dustyyyy, dustyyyy, dustyyyy"!
101) Remember when you could get 2 tacos and a small drink at Taco Bell for $2
102) Had hot air balloons land in your backyard when you lived on 75th Ave and Bell by the orange groves known now as "Arrowhead Mall"
103) Witnessed the shock when the "art" on the 51 when installed. (Referring to the lovely toilet and large silver sphere.)
104) Had the bell run for their birthday at Farrell's (Christown)
105) Remember going to the Phoenix Firebirds baseball games
106) Remember Dewey Hopper-the weather guy who always wore school t-shirts,
107) Watched World Beyond on Sat. mornings.
108) Ate at Bob's Big Boy.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

From me to you:

I won't have access to the Internet for the rest of the week, so I just wanted to say:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Monday, December 22, 2008

My Favorite Radio DJ


I am one of those people who enjoy listening to the radio in the mornings for the TALK portion of it, not necessarily the music portion of it

Every morning I have looked forward to Dave Pratt and his cronies on KMLE Country 108. They were funny, he's been in Arizona in forever (so he had great stories that I could relate to growing up here myself) and I just enjoyed him and his humor and everything about their morning show.

KMLE fired their entire morning show on Thursday (12/18) afternoon. Merry Christmas to them, huh?

I think the timing was pretty rotten and am severely disappointed in KMLE for their thoughtlessness. And I'm royally bummed that I don't have a morning crew to listen to any longer. I really and truly liked and thoroughly enjoyed these guys.

Dave Pratt, Stacey Brooks, Shappy, Dooley, et. al., you are awesome and I hope to find you on the air again soon.

In the meantime, any suggestions on who to listen to for my morning ride to work each day? KMLE has lost a long-time listener. Shame on them.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

To Billy or not to Billy:

If you know me at all, you know that I love, Love, LOVE Billy Joel.

(Love him.)

He's coming to Phoenix with Elton John on March 26, 2009, for their Face-To-Face tour. I saw this show in Las Vegas (with Thelissa and Holly) in 1995 and loved it. Watching them together on stage was incredible, especially when they were sitting at their pianos - man I LOVE the way they play their pianos. I do remember thinking there was too much Elton, not enough Billy, but I'm certain a lot of that was because I love Billy so much.


I've been in a quandary since I saw this ad. Tickets go on sale this Saturday the 13th. I've never missed a Billy concert since I "discovered" how much I loved him (late 80s, early 90s).

Getting out of debt doesn't really allow for non-important things such as concert tickets. I've been incredibly good at avoiding presents for myself for the most part, and find myself talking me out of things I would normally absolutely buy all in the name of "but I'm being so good."

Just today, several people have told me I should get a ticket for myself for Christmas. I deserved it and would truly enjoy/appreciate it. And I really would. Man, I REALLY would.

But I'm still in debt. I got myself into this mess because for my entire adult life, I've always had the attitude of, "But I deserve it because [insert excuse here]." I don't deserve it. Not this time.

Sigh. Bye bye Billy.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Black Friday Confession...

I bought...

NOTHING!

You'd be so proud! I went shopping with all of my sisters and the only thing I bought was breakfast at Mimi's that morning. That's it. I even carried around a shirt I wanted to get and I asked my sister to tell me to not purchase it. She did. I put it back. No regrets (though it was a really cute shirt).

Can you believe it?!? I'm quite pleased if I do say so myself.

Now I gotta share with you some picture memories of Thanksgiving 2008:

(This is the first time I've seen my nephew Jackson [16] in a while. He gives the BEST hugs and I've really missed him.)

(I have the extreme privilege of living near Andrea and her family. She's always saying I'm her kids' second mom - which I absolutely love hearing. Because of this, I asked to get a picture with them and here it is. [Kymber is front and center, then from left to right is Porter, me, Taralee, and Ellie with Abby standing behind Ellie, then the back row is Bryndee and Torie.])

(Here are the original LaRues: Mom and Dad [Sharon and Allan], with from left to right Andrea [4th], Leslie [1st], Tara [3rd], Stacey [2nd], and Cassie [5th].)



(And finally the entire LaRue clan [minus oldest nephew James who lives in Virginia with his wife/child and couldn't make the trip, as well we Jake who is on a mission to the West Indies]: front row is Sydney; 2nd row is Torie and Raegan; 3rd row is Ellie, Jackson, Porter, Mom holding Taralee, Dad holding Max, Andrew, Tyler and Dylan; 4th row is Bryndee, Jonni, Abby, Kymber, Tara, Cassie, Kalli, and Travis; 5th row is Andrea, Ron, Leslie, Jason, Chad, Stacey, and Kirk.)

WHAT A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY! Happy Thanksgiving and now Christmas to you all!