My Heart is in Phoenix

Rick has been in Phoenix for a few weeks. The good part about that is that I get the whole bed to myself and I've never slept better. The bad part is that it sucks and I hate being alone and I miss him and I don't know when I will get to see him or how long he will be gone. He is planning on staying there for as long as he can work, which turns out could be for a few months. That's good because then he won't be laid off but also he will be in Phoenix and not Tucson (and that sucks). Luckily he has been able to stay with family/friends up there, but he wants me to go visit him on my days off which is annoying for two reasons - first, I feel weird staying at other people's houses, and second, have I ever mentioned how much I hate Phoenix? Phoenix is so freaking hot. Way hotter than Tucson, which I don't really understand because Tucson is further South than Phoenix but I heard it's a difference in elevation or something. It's the kind of hot that just instantly makes you irritated. The kind of hot where you can only be comfortable if you lay on the kitchen floor in your underwear eating popsicles. But then again it's not my house and so I have to remain fully clothed, which spikes up the irritation. Tucson has beautiful monsoon rainstorms that cool everything off and then it smells amazing afterwards. Phoenix has dust storms that ruins contacts, gets in your mouth and then you feel the dirt grinding against your teeth, and if you blow your nose afterwards you think you've got a horrible sinus disease. Tucson has the best mexican food ever, and Phoenix has a Taco Bell on every corner. Tucson has mountains (that get SNOW on them in the winter) and Phoenix has the sun in your eyes forever. So we decided that if Rick has time off he's going to come to Tucson instead of me going to Phoenix.

It's times like these that I hate the Railroad. The only thing that keeps me sane is knowing that this will not last forever and that we are just in the "lets throw you around and test your commitment to the job" phase. Plus, we have killer Health Insurance, and it's hard to hate that. Rick put in another bid for a job in Dallas (for 90 days) and they've started calling people for it, so we'll see what happens there. He also had lunch with an old coworker and this guy is a manager for an oil rig company in North Dakota. He said that if Rick gets laid off he could go work for him. So that is also a possibility. Our lives are so weird. Luckily we don't have any kids right now and if Rick needs to keep having a horrible schedule and travel everywhere then this is the time for it to happen, and then one day our patience will pay off and I'll be living my dream of having as many ferrets as our landlord will allow being a stay at home mom. If he did go to North Dakota he would work for 2 weeks straight then come home and have 2 weeks off. Because of my job, if he was home, he would be able to come to work with me and help me watch the kids. One of the many perks of being a nanny. Have I mentioned that I have the best job in the world? The kids are awesome, and the couple is amazing. I swear they were sent to me straight from Heaven/Craigslist. Chad (the dad of the boys) is a photographer, so he and Rick hit it off instantly. When Christy (the mom) comes home from work we will sit and chat. It will feel like 5 minutes has gone by and I'll check the time and its been an hour and a half. Chad is an awesome chef and so I get to have a quality home cooked dinner every night, and they buy me lots of Dr. Pepper. It's a dream come true.