Rescue Puppy

Click to contribute to Save Margie.

 Meet Margie.  She's 3 months old and has had quite the story.  We know she's a lab mix, we're just not sure with what, but we suspect it's a Great Dane mix because she's tall and lanky instead of stocky like a Staffordshire Terrier.  She's absolutely been an angel the last week we've had her.  Her only problem is she can't breathe well.  Her right lung is hyperinflated and obstructed so the air can't escape.  We are trying to raise money so we can fix this for her and help her live a long, happy life.  She's made friends with Shamus, who we thought would never like another dog except as a snack, and LOVES chewing on his bones and other various toys (she's teething!)  We are doing our best to keep her healthy until we can fix her lungs, and have been lucky enough to get some more weight on her skinny bones.  She's even grown about a pound this week and outgrew one harness.  She's very smart and deserves the same chance that all rescued pets get: life.  We aren't giving up on her vibrant personality until she's ready, and we hope that you can contribute to Miss Margie's health and well being.  Please follow the link to contribute.  Any amount is helpful and every penny appreciated beyond what words can explain.

Thank you,

Krystal & Drew Nelson

Alternative Music

Emotion.  A little angry, a little sad, a modicum of happiness and a heaping helpful of frustration.  What do I stand for?  Today, I don’t know.  Today, I am incapable of motivation.  Incapable of one emotion.  Incapable of pushing through it.  A moment.  I just need a moment.  A quiet corner without chewing, without talking, without money and hunger and thirst.  Beneath primitive needs, beneath cultural needs that just aren’t necessary.  Where am I today?  What do I do to get back to good? 

I push you away.  I pull myself the opposite direction then yearn for some warmth.

I can’t tolerate the cold yet it’s the only place it seems to be quiet.

I fall to my knees and sink in.

A little down, a little cringe, a modicum of happiness and a heaping helpful of resentment.  What do I stand for?  Yesterday, I thought I knew.  Yesterday I had a goal.  I’d made a decision, I could push through.  I was focused and prepared for anything…but today.  Today I need a moment, just one minute to myself to find my voice and scream.  The only thing that runs constant is music…a little melody to narrate the story of my life, one that only I can hear.  Where do I go to get back to yesterday?

I push myself away, then pull everything behind me and drag it down.

I can’t tolerate the cold, yet it’s the only place that makes warm feel warm enough.

I fall to my knees in my dreams and keep falling.

A little tired, some relief, a modicum of relaxation and a heaping helpful of expectation.  What will I stand for?  Tomorrow, what will I know?  Today I have a goal.  Tomorrow, I don’t know.  I think I’ll begin.  Begin to stand up, ease the bruising on my knees.  Begin to breathe in after my scream, begin to sigh with relief.  Today, I will turn up the music, turn up the beat, turn up the corners of my mouth and smile through.  Today’s little melody will drown out yesterdays and I’ll get back to knowing one thing.  I’ll know where I came from, and that I don’t want to go back. 

I push myself.  I’ll pull myself up. 

I can’t tolerate the cold, but I’m warm enough for now.

My knees are weak, but I won’t fall.

Today I will dance instead.

Renting out my beloved townhome

http://t.co/KO02qH7i townhome in #mesa for rent, close to #lightrail, #MCC, #ASU and freeways, owner/agent is Krystal! -- Krystal J Nelson --

Why I'm letting my hair go gray...

I turn 27 on Monday...I've been going gray for almost two years (that I've noticed) and haven't dyed  my hair since October, a few weeks before the wedding.  I even started parting it on the opposite side of my head about a week ago, for the first time since high school!  Yeah, I'm a rebel.  I was kind of worried about it at first...the first gray hair in the top right corner of my forehead, right on my part, appeared in August 2010 after probably the most tumultuous and rewarding couple of years I've ever had.  I worried it was from stress, anxiety, hormones, lack of hormones, bad diet.  I worried about worrying too much (it's my specialty :D) then worried some more.

I'll never forget the first time I noticed it...I even took a picture and posted it to Facebook so I wouldn't have to suffer alone.  It grew out about a half an inch and stuck STRAIGHT up!  Talk about obnoxious...
I told a friend.  She told me to pluck it. 
I told my mom.  She told me that's why she dyes her hair.
I told my husband (boyfriend at the time).  He said "waaah! I've had grays in my beard for years! 

Ok ok.  So I started dying my hair again.  I stopped dying it when I started college and couldn't afford to have it kept up, but I could afford it now.  My natural color is very pretty, but kind of drab with my skin tone if I don't get a little sun light once in a while.  (That's been my excuse for dying it since I was a teenager LOL.)  Working in an office made that next to impossible so aside from looking washed out, exhausted, and drab, I had a Vitamin D deficiency. Ok....time to make a major and positive life change. 

So I dyed it.
I dyed it to stop getting the "wow, you look tired" comment from my co-workers and friends.  I dyed it to stop getting the "you need makeup" from my man.  
Then I dyed it to cover the one gray hair. 

Well, my hairdresser is no longer my hairdresser and I've been too lazy to color my hair since October.  Needless to say, the gray hair multiplied and I now have gray hairs!  Even more, they are curly, course, and WHITE.  All the time I had been coloring my hair I didn't notice them slowly creeping into my scalp line, becoming ever more obvious when I pulled my hair up.  So I don't use a mirror to check out the back and underneath of my hair, sue me! 

After a little anxiety, an hour of prodding and poking through my hair to see every last one of them and counting them for Drew (poor Drew just sat and talked me through it), and reading countless articles about why I'm going gray so early, I'm feeling much better.  Turns out, I do have an underactive thyroid and am now on meds for it.  Unfortunately, the hair is already gray so there's no going back.  I'm oddly comfortable with it now though.  I've become sort of attached (I apologize) to the cute little curly hairs on my head.  Luckily I've also decided to grow my hair out and have become lazy and don't style it as often.  It looks good though.  Very relaxed and summery.  In fact, I feel more comfortable with my face, hair, and body than I have in a long time.  Just part of getting a little older I guess.  At least I still look young....I have my momma to thank for that one <3

Downtown Mesa's Spring Training Haven

Downtown Mesa's Spring Training Haven

This place is great!  Visit my page here to see this and all the happy hours I've reviewed so far.  Bookmark the page and stay tuned for more to come!  Cheers :)

Life gave me lemons...

A new friend, Sally, has a lemon tree...and with this tree, too many lemons.  I offered to take a few off of her hands to juice, then use to preserve the apples I have so they don't brown and sour while drying in my dehydrator.  Thinking I'd have maybe 10-15 to pick up I drove over to her house to retrieve my next project.  HOLY COW!  She set out a H U G E bag of lemons for me...What do I do with all of these lemons?  Well, as the saying goes, I made some freakin' lemonade, duh! 


After perusing the interwebs for a recipe I ran across a recipe for Candied Lemon Peels.   At the end of the recipe you're left with what's left of a simple syrup.   So being savvy as I am about not wasting anything I clicked around a couple more times and found a Perfect Lemonade.  The recipe calls for a Simple Syrup and uses what is left from the Candied Lemon Peel recipe.  I compared what I was making for the peels with what I read on the eHow site to memories of my mother making syrups, candies, and other yummy treats about 15 years ago (phew, that was exhausting!). 


For the next hour I peeled, boiled, drained, poured, boiled, stirred, simmered, cooled, boiled, drained, and tossed me some lemon peels.  While waiting for the peels to boil down I juiced 5 large lemons, made ice cubes, and rinsed the dust off of my glasses and pitcher.  Not only did I enjoy myself, I get to publish everything online to share with my friends and family for a little entertainment.  For a simple how-to with pictures read my post here: A Rebel's Relics.  It's pretty cool and I had a blast taking pictures in my lovely little kitchen. 

Bon Appétit!

Brewery coming to Mesa's downtown Main Street

Brewery coming to Mesa's downtown Main Street

I am proud to announce that a brewery is going to be near us in Downtown Mesa.  This excites me...I love that commerce is coming to the area, tax dollars will be earned by local and visiting patrons visiting the area, and of course, the beer!  The spot is perfect (just chatted with peeps last week about how the area will explode with the lightrail extension).  So Booyah!  When it opens you can be damn sure I'll be there to review the happy hour, and I'm hoping they add a kitchen so we can have a snack with our beer that doesn't involve Chex Mix.  Nothing against Chex Mix, just don't like sharing with dirty hands LOL.  Cheers!