Karens Little Korner

Lessons I Learned Recently

2010-04-01T10:00:00.002-06:00

1. Cleaning and dejunking burns lots of calories.

2. If your house is dirty and disorganized it takes a lot of effort to get it presentable for an appraisor to come.

3. If you cleaned and dejunked on a more regular basis you wouldn't need to borrow the neighbors garbage and recycle bins.

4. When you're out of shape and you do heavy cleaning and dejunking of your home you can injure your knee and have to do month-end with an icepack strapped to it.

5. When you hoard boxes for months thinking that you're going to need them someday when you finally decide to dejunk the basement and the day finally comes you will have saved four times more than you'll ever use. (Luckily, your daughters BFF comes over and asks if you have boxes because she's moving so you can come to her rescue and have your problem solved all at the same time.)

Touching Video on a Service Dog

2010-02-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Muppets

2009-12-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

I saw this video and just had to share.

Sometimes I Feel This Way...

2009-09-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Government Can

2009-09-21T08:09:00.001-06:00

I found a video that was SO funny, I thought all six of my followers would get a kick out of it. It was done by comedian, Tim Hawkins, and it is called The Government Can. It is sad, but true--and funny all at the same time!

www.timhawkins.net (Scroll down to "Feature Video")

Have you heard of the 9/12 project? Me neither. It's an interesting website. My opinion is still out on it though. Check it out and let me know what you think.

The 9/12 Project

Sunday Sentiment

2009-09-20T05:55:00.000-06:00

Emergency Preparedness

2009-09-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

September is Emergency Preparedness month. My employer offered a presentation on 72 hour kits and food storage. It was very interesting. These gals have a web site where you can get lots of information.

FoodStorageMadeEasy

As I was surfing around trying to get ideas for things I might want to include in my kits I found this video. It was VERY informational and quite enlightening. I HIGHLY recommend that you view it even if you don't plan on putting together and 72 hour kit anytime soon. It has some tips you WON'T want to miss.

New Trailer for New Moon

2009-09-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

We have a new Pet!!!

2009-09-18T08:00:00.002-06:00

It's so fun and exciting when you get a new pet. This one adopted us and we've really had fun watching her adjust to her new environment. She's really making herself right at home.

She's been living at our house for a couple of weeks so we've decided we better give her a name. I took it upon myself to name her -- Dragon.

Now, I know this seems like an unusual name for a pet but you see she has a feature that reminds me of "Dragon" from the movie Shrek. You know, the girl dragon that Don-key falls in love with. Remember how at the end he sings 'I like big butts, I can not lie'. Our Dragon has a large fanny just like Dragon on Shrek. Hence the name.

It's been very difficult to get a picture of her. She's quite shy and tends to hide when I come around. Tonight, however, she felt it was okay for me to get a picture of her.

Just to clarify, she's most definately an OUTDOOR only pet.

And besides, her large web, which is impossible to photograph, is getting me in the mood for Halloween!

How Does My Garden Grow?

2009-09-17T20:07:00.003-06:00

Apparently it grows freakish conjoined triplet crookneck squash! When I got home from Cedar City a few weeks ago I discovered this oddity. Even the three stems joined together.

So, I decided to turn it into a yummy squash casserole!

The freaky squash tasted yummy! Then, tonight, I'm watering the garden and find this dude hanging out.

Obviously I've been a bit negligent in my squash size monitoring duties.

Mart, didn't you say you like zucchini bread? If I give you this gift will you use it? If not, I'm going to have to leave it on someone's porch once it gets dark outside.

Farewell Patrick

2009-09-16T18:37:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to take a moment to say farewell to Patrick Swayze. He was part of several movies I enjoyed. I've just been to the Columbia House website and loaded my shopping cart with several that I have on VHS but would now like on DVD.

Red Dawn - If our country were ever invaded by Russians I'd want him taking care of me.

Ghost - Pottery wheel. Nuff said.

Roadhouse - Kickin' some can.

Point Break - I don't think I've seen this one, but it's been recommended by several people so I thought I'd give it a try.

Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar -- Oh my holy Hanna, the dude makes the best drag queen evah!

Dirty Dancing - Um, already had that one 'cause he was hawwt. I think even 2 copies because I forgot I had it and bought another one. I guess my subconscious was trying to tell me I needed a spare copy just in case I wore out the first one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfg97-5uhFQ
I could NOT get youtube to give me the code to embed this. What's up with that?

I just love him in this skit from Saturday Night Live.

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
by tressage

Farewell Patrick -- I've had the time of my life watching your work.

Funny Commercial

2009-07-12T08:32:00.001-06:00

New Moon Trailer

2009-06-01T12:40:00.000-06:00

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer in HD

Slight change to the storyline, but I'm okay with it. You can tell the budget is a little bigger for this movie than the first one. That's always helpful.

Love this!

2009-05-27T09:50:00.001-06:00

Howling at the NEW MOON!

2009-05-22T17:31:00.001-06:00

Looking good boys!!!

To All My Female Friends

2009-05-10T21:59:00.002-06:00

I have several dear friends who have not had the opportunity to become mothers for one reason or another. I know that some of them are uncomfortable with Mother's Day so I propose we change the name of the day. I vote for "Celebrate the Fabulous Women in Your Life Day".

I just want all my female friends to know that I value every one of them. Each unique. Each fabulous! Thanks ladies for all you do and who you are!

Lovely Bracelet and Anklet, don't ya think?

2009-05-04T18:30:00.000-06:00

And, it will only cost me about $250. You want a pair also you say? Well, let me help get your own by telling you how I acquired mine.

I was carrying a very large, heavy box in my basement. As I passed a large piece of framed artwork on the wall I bumped it. I guess it banged against the wall enough that the entire picture frame fell completely apart. The sheet of glass fell and hit me in the shankle (shin/ankle). The funny part is I didn't even really feel it hit. I saw that the picture frame had fallen apart but I just kept going 'cause my hands were full. I just thought I'd deal with the broken frame after I got the box to it's destination. I walked another four feet and set down the large box and realized that there was 'something' flowing down my foot.

The basement was dark and as I actually looked at my right leg and foot I realized that something had sliced my leg. Because the blood was really flowing I just dropped my capri pants - yes, it's funny - and used them as a compress on the wound. It took several minutes to get the bleeding under control.

Here's a photo of my pants that Sprout took when she got home from work - before she so kindly 'Spray & Wash'ed the daylights out of them and threw them in the wash.

Amazingly enough, the pants survived the ordeal.

After the bleeding calmed down I made my way back into the family room to retrieve my cell phone. I did leave a blood trail through the basement. It looked like a bit of a crime scene. I then went upstairs to see what I could find to cover my wound so I could head for stitches. Yes, the laceration was large enoungh (2 3/8") that it was obvious that stitches would be needed. Mind you I'm wandering through the house carrying my bloody pants and mopping blood off my leg now and again.

I'd been working on a sewing project for church, so I had scraps of fabric in the kitchen. I mopped the wound off one more time and wrapped some fabric around my leg twice and tied it. It was actually quite fashionable, even with the blood streaked foot. I then headed to my bedroom in search of pants and left my bloody capris on the floor. Grabbed my purse and keys and I was off.

Now, if this injury had occurred an hour earlier I would have headed to an InstaCare, but I had no choice but to head to an ER. I haven't been in an ER for my own care, ever. Nor have I had stitches due to an injury since I was a pretty little kid.

I headed to the ER and LDS Hospital. Since the new larger hospital was built in Murray, I had heard the the ER at LDS Hospital was relatively quiet. After registering, I waited for about 2 minutes. Pretty speedy in my book. My care was going along quite well until a couple pulled up in the ambulance bay as the woman had just given birth in the car. I'm just glad I wasn't her. Even with that diversion, I was only at the hospital for one hour and forty-five minutes so I consider that a success.

Big hugs to Sprout. She took it upon herself to clean up the 'crime scene' when she got home from work. She scrubbed the carpet downstairs and it now looks very nice and no more bloody foot prints in the kitchen either. (hee hee) Love ya Sprout!

Below is a photo of my stitches. If you're queasy, don't scroll down.

Remembering Columbine

2009-04-25T21:14:00.002-06:00

On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out f or answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

"I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

Do what the media did not ~ let the nation hear this man's speech.

The Finished Cake

2009-04-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

After the ceremony, Kathy and I and our kids hurried across the valley to retrieve the cake. We were able to get into the reception location 2 hours early. Since we've never done a cake before we had no idea we would need almost that entire time.

After we got the cake assembled, we then put ribbon around the bases of the top and bottom layers. Then, Kathy began the task of the scrollwork.

I think it took almost an hour to do all that scroll work. There were a couple of incidents where the black dripped or landed where it shouldn't have. So, the "accidents" were worked into the design. Hence the scrollwork coming down onto the base layer.

Kathy is quite talented with flowers, so she also made little "boutonniers" to go on the cake.

(You can click on these photos to make them larger if you'd like.)

True confession. A panel in the back of my car actually fell on the cake as we were driving to the reception location. One corner of the bottom layer got scrunched. Hence the roses on two corners of the bottom of the cake. Thankfully it ended up looking nice.

This is Nicole's favorite photo of Pedro.

I Have a Code in My Node and Other Whimpering

2009-04-13T16:20:00.000-06:00

This is what I've been doing for the last 3 days. Ugh. I hate colds. I need to buy stock in Kleenex, Advil Cold & Sinus, Zicam and Cold-Eeze. I can't begin to imagine how miserable I would be without the assitance of drugs. Legal drugs, I might add, even if I had to show photo id to get the Advil.

Oh, and to throw in some more fun. My DVR died. Let me explain why this is so traumatic. I am a TV viewing addict. Junkie. Can't get enough. To make matters worse, there were about 9 episodes from last week that I hadn't watched yet. Waaaah! AND I had to haul my sick and tired fanny out of bed this afternoon to go to Comcast and give them my D.E.A.D. DVR and trade it for a new one. Granted it only took about 3 minutes at the counter. So, I exposed a very nice staffer to my germs. I told her to go and immediately wash her hands so that she wouldn't get my nastey cold.

Now I have to get the DVR all reprogrammed. Then, I need to get on the internet and search out all my missing shows and see if I can watch them on-line. It's kinda hard to surf while blowing, coughing and sneezing. Please feel sorry for me.

The Wedding

2009-04-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Thankfully the weather was beautiful on Monday. John and Linda's backyard was lovely. John has quite the green thumb and it showed.

However, there was an unfortunate incident involving the 3 year-old flower girl before the ceremony go started. She found the fish pond and fell in. Lets just say that it's still spring and pond has gone unattended all winter so it's a bit slimy. Needless to say she was traumatized and her dress was ruined. Luckily Kathy's daughter, Becca, was dressed appropriately and was able to quickly step in to the roll of flower girl.

Shaylin looked lovely as her dad walked her down the aisle.

I have never seen a red wedding dress before. I got a close up look at it during the reception and it had some incredible bead work. Really pretty.

It was the largest wedding party I had ever seen. Nine groomsmen and eight bridesmaids. They didn't quite fit into the tent that was set up. I don't have good photos of the group because of where I was sitting.

Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Elieson

This is Pedro. He's a good friend of the bride.

Oh, Pedro is the one on the left, not he right. I must say he was the most poised bridesmaid in the group.

More of the Adventure tomorrow...

Have a Blessed Easter

2009-04-11T22:40:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to share this video to help us all remember the true meaning of Easter.

Adventures in Wedding Cake Baking

2009-04-11T09:34:00.008-06:00

Several weeks ago, my Ultimate BFF, Kathy, was asked by her nephew to make his wedding cake. He then asked me to help her. I'm sure it's because I was nearby during conversation. Both of us enjoy baking cakes, but neither of us has made a wedding cake before. Anyway, the fun began last Saturday and was a 3-day adventure.

On Saturday we baked the 3 layers of the 14" chocolate cake. Then on Sunday we baked 3 layers of a 10" coconut cake and 3 layers of a 6" chocolate cake. Fun, fun, fun. These cakes were totally made from scratch and used LOTS of butter and eggs.

Here's the 14" chocolate cake with the chocolate mousse filling.

This is the 6" chocolate cake it had coconut cream filling.

Here's the 10" coconut cake with coconut cream filling.

I had no idea how heavy fondant is. Wow. You have to knead the stuff A LOT and then roll it out and pray that it doesn't stick to the counter. Which of course it does. When you're trying to cover a 14" cake you have to roll out the fondant to about 24" inches square. Try getting that onto the cake. After several failed attempts because it was sticking to the counter it eventually took four of us to lift it up and lay it on the cake. The two smaller layers were a bit easier to work with.

After you get the fondant onto the cake you have to smooth it out and, mold the corners and trim it to fit.

Tomorrow the Wedding Adventure will continue.

Waaa!

2009-04-08T14:39:00.005-06:00

I've been a fan of Adam Lambert on American Idol from early on. I know, some people thought his version of Ring of Fire was garbage. I thought the arrangement was unusual, but his vocals were hawt! After seeing it a couple more times, it grew on me. Now I actually like it.

So, last night I was hanging with my Stampin' Up! sistas. The DVR was set to record American Idol, as usual. I hate commercials with a passion. I also recorded The Biggest Loser. I watched most of TBL last night and finished up this morning knowing that there would be a lot of chatter at work about it. All was well until I get home today and watch Idol. Um, apparently the show ran long last night and I did not have Adams performance recorded. If Paula Abdul would just ~~shut her yap~~ make her comments a bit more concise, this never would have happened.

Thank goodness for the internet. However, it took a lot of digging around to find a video that hadn't been yanked by Fox. One that had been legally uploaded. One that wasn't just posted by some adoring fan trying to save my sanity.

So, I present to you the UBER HAWT performance by Adam Lambert on last nights show of American Idol...

(In case you're not a fan of the show, last nights songs were from the year the contestants were born. Hence the baby photo of Adam.)

I am now a happy and contented Fan! Go Adam!!!

Adventures in Furnace Repairs

2009-04-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

This is what I woke up to on Thursday. Um, I tend to like the house a little cooler than Sprout does. She accuses me of trying to freeze her to death on occasion. The thermostat is one of those programmable ones that you can have adjust your temperature multiple times throughout the day. I generally keep it at 64 during the night and have it adjust up to 70 for wakey wakey time. When I threw back the covers I knew immediately that there was a problem - the air was to cold. So, while quite cold I dutifully did all the things I could think of to get the heater going.

New batteries in thermostat (the battery light was flashing)

New filter in furnace (the filter light was flashing -- ooops)

Maybe due to all the wind the pilot light has gone out. Search through house trying to find one of the long handled lighters. We have two of them, you'd think it would be easy to find at least one. Sprout LOVES candles and always obsconds with the lighter. Wake up Sprout in search of the lighter. Go down into family room and dig around. Bingo. Why the lighter is in the box of 'gaming paraphenalia' I will never know.

Open up furnace cover and try to read instructions (clear down by the floor) on how to light the furnace. Wowie, it has en electric ignition. (I've only had it for 3 years, without incident, so no smart remarks on not knowing this already.) Cool, no lighter needed after all. Turn off gas, wait 5 minutes. Hmm, what to do to kill 5 minutes? Pack my lunch, yep that works. Go back downstairs. Turn the gas on. Put the cover back on. Flip on the power to the thermostat. Nothing.

Hmmm, maybe there's no gas coming into house? Pull apart base of water heater. Hmm, there's a pilot light glowing so gas is not the issue. Double-check thermostat, it appears to be fine.

Call Sandy to get a recommendation on a service company as they had their furnace worked on just a couple of weeks ago. Sandy goes to work at 5:00am so don't think I was crazy to give her a jingle that early in the AM.

Resign myself to showering - at least we have hot water - and getting ready for work. Once at work call and schedule a repair technician and realize that I have left my cell phone on the charger at home. They said that they would have the technician call my work number before they came to the house. I only work 10 minutes from home so I could quickly leave the office and meet him there. He should call between 10 and noon. Great.

Fill up my water, go potty, sit at desk dutifully waiting for phone to ring. 12:01pm and no phone call. 12:05 and still no phone call. I call the company and they check into it. Um, the technician went to the house and no one was home. Great. I explain the whole need to call me at work and I'll drive home thing - again. They promise it will be before 2pm. 20 minutes later - we're a go. Gather up my stuff and hurry home.

The technician spends about 20 minutes and says, it's your thermostat. Your fuse was blown, I put a new one in and when the furnace tried to kick on the fuse blew again. When I bypass the thermostat the fuse doesn't blow. This visit is $138.50 and you can go buy a thermostat from Lowes and install it yourself. So, just out of curiosity, if I have you supply and install a thermostat how much will that set me back? $250.00. Um, not on top of the $138 right? Right. Yeeee, that's a little steep for my budget. Write out a check. Send him packing. Drive to Lowes. Look at various and assundry models of thermostats. I can't justify spending $90 so that that cuts out a few models. Settle on a $35 unit. Grab some more filters to have on hand - maybe I'll change them more frequently. Maybe. Head home.

Take old thermostat apart. Study wiring connections. Open new thermostat. Houston, we have a problem. Old thermostat has 4 wiring connections, new thermostat has spots for 5. Hmmm. A little head-scratching and studying. I'm feeling really good about where to put 3 of the 4 wires. Got a 50/50 shot with the fourth. Go with my first guess. Go downstairs, flip on the power. Nothing happens. Nadda. Go back up move the one wire to the other possible location. Back downstairs, turn on power. The furnace clicks a little but doesn't really turn on. Hmmm. Pull the cover off only to discover the technician had turned the gas off. Grrrrrr. Turn it on, put the cover on, flip the switch. Hallelujia!!!!

Strut through house like a proud peacock. I battled the thermostat and won!!!

It's currently 70 degrees and it feels doubley good.

I Had Noooo Idea...

2009-04-02T07:00:00.001-06:00

Am I the last person on earth to learn about this great service that Google offers? What great service you ask? Well you can dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (for those of you with a Blackberry and can't dial 'letters', GOOG = 4664) from any phone, for free and get 'directory assistance'. It will ask you the city and state first, then the company name and then connect you directly to the number you were seeking. How cool is that? AND it's free!

Add it to your speed dial, you won't regret it!

I'm Back - No Foolin'!

2009-04-01T17:56:00.005-06:00

So, I took some time off from blogging. Not exactly sure why. Maybe because I felt pressured (by my own self) to come up with something clever and/or interesting to post about all the time? Maybe because I was trying to do Project 365 and I just didn't have anything interesting to photograph every single day? Okay. Both.

Yes, I am the queen of starting all kinds of things, losing interest and leaving them in the dust. ADD? Lazy? Committmentphobic? All of the above? Who knows for sure, but I've decided to resume blogging. I am making no guarantees about how frequently I'll post or whether you'll actually find my posts interesting. But, in the immortal words of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

I'm Ba-ack!

P.S. I was going to change the photo in my blog header but since we do keep getting snow, granted not as much as in the photo, I'm going to leave it up a little longer. When Sprinter actually starts leaning more towards Spring watch for a newer photo. Hee hee

Rock Star

2009-01-28T20:47:00.004-07:00

Okay, I need to give you a little backstory before you'll understand the photos. When one of my coworkers helps me fix/figure out something I like to say, "You Rock" or "You're a Rock Star" as a way of saying thanks. A couple of weeks ago Lana helped fix something and I told her that she was a Rock Star. Several days later I assisted her with a problem and she said, "You Rock. I'd tell you that you were a Rock Star, but we can't have two of those. You can be a Polka Star

So, I got a bright idea. I had some inflatable guitars and microphones left over from a ward activity last year. So I brought them to work. After Lana had left for the day I got to work.

No, I'm not pretending to be Pinocchio while telling a lie. I'm actually inflating a rockin' pink Guitar. It's an air guitar. Get it???

Blowing these up was hysterical. The microphone was so small that it only took three breaths but the valve was having issues. Then my boss started making comments about the "unusual noise" coming from my cube. That got me to laughing and just exasperated the whole problem.

I made a sign to go on Lana's cube entrance. I wanted it to look like a sign that would be on the dressing room door of a "star". I think it worked.

Her guitar and microphone are waiting on her chair for her arrival tomorrow morning. She gets in around 6:20am. I wish I could see her face, but not bad enough to get to work that early.

Project 365 - January 28th

Coming Out of the Closet

2009-01-28T20:33:00.004-07:00

No, I'm not making any confessions about my sexual orientation. But I am making a confession about the state of my coat closet. If one picture says 1,000 words then two pictures will leave you speechless.

I needed to find something in the closest. And. Well. Um. Lets just say the search was very unproductive. This closet is next on the project parade -- out of COMPLETE necessity.

Project 365 - January 27th

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T19:54:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the Year of the Ox.

People born in the Year of the Ox are placid, patient and have great physical stamina. They are born leaders who stubbornly defend their opinions against any argument. 2009, the Year of the Earth Ox, brings additional straightforwardness and solidity to the Ox making them loyal and focused, with honesty and kindness.

Click Here to find your zodiac sign and read a description.

I plied the kids with Chinese take-out. (That's how I got the great apron photos - they owed me.) Jeff and Sprout are the only ones attempting chopsticks. Jeff just got back from spending four months in China. He's quite good with his chopsticks. Sprout gave it a good try but eventually reverted to a fork. Otherwise she might have starved.

We then sat around the table for about two hours talking about everything and nothing at all. It was great.

How did you spend your Chinese New Years?

Project 365, January 26th

Aprons, part 2

2009-01-26T19:45:00.005-07:00

Believe it or not the other two aprons are done. I finished them Sunday but I couldn't get a photo until I made special arrangements for you.

They have some real careers ahead of them...

Left to right: Hunter (Sprout's main squeeze) sporting Sprout's apron; Jordan and Jeff (aka The Boys or The Nerd Herd)

Here the are showing their true "posing" talent...

Project 365 - January 25th

I've been to Mecca

2009-01-25T20:42:00.004-07:00

My sister and I made a pilgramage to the storage and organization center of the universe. Ikea. Madge called last week and said she needed a new bookcase and that she picked one out at the Ikea website. She needed help hauling and building so I was her gal. So, off we went on Saturday morning. Amazingly enough, when we got there at about 10:15am it was pretty quiet and parking was a snap. Can't say that was still true when we left two hours later.

If this hippo wasn't so expensive I might have bought one 'cause it reminded me of one of my favorite Christmas songs -- I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

We hit the top floor first. I needed some bars from the kitchen section (kinda like towel bars). I'm going to organize my punches. Then, we wanted to look at the bookcase that Madge had picked out. We then had to stop at the cafeteria. Problem was it was 10:45am and they weren't serving lunch yet and we were hungry. So, we ate dessert.

I'm not sure what this is called but it was yummy!

See? I told you it was yummy.

We then headed down to the main floor and did a little wandering, but not a ton. Although, we did get turned around as we were trying to take some of the shortcuts to skip some of the sections. Can you say maze? (When we first got there, Madge did ask the greeter if they rent out GPS systems. Honestly, I think people would pay for them. Ikea is missing the boat.)

We found her bookcase on display in the "pick up" area. She changed her mind on the color. That's the nice thing about seeing them in person. It took some hefting to get the boxes on the cart. Not lightweight furniture, which is a good thing.

Then back to the house. The heavy box attacked Madge as we were trying to get it down the stairs into the basement. She said to let it slide down the stairs 'cause it was heavy and I warned her I couldn't hold on any more. She's slow. I believe she'll have marks on her shins for a week or two. Ooops!

And then the fun began!

I've built other particalboard furniture in the past, but I must say Ikea's rocks! The instructions were clear (even without words). It was simple to assemble. It didn't feel like it was going to fall apart or tip over the minute you stood it up. Sweet! The only tool we needed, that wasn't included, was a hammer. Well, and a heavy book, so that we wouldn't damage the furniture as we were hammering the side and bottom in in the end.

Done in about 70 minutes. Woo hooo!! (Madge is trying to show some love to the bookcase, but it kinda looks like she's trying to dance with it. Hee hee)

Project 365 - January 24th

Socks!?!

2009-01-23T18:46:00.003-07:00

Why, if there are only two people living in this house, are they so many socks? Two people, two feet each, 4 socks per day. Seven days in a week makes 28 socks per week. If you go to the gym you need an extra 2 socks per day cause you can't wear dress socks in your tennies, not good. So lets just say 40 socks per week. Since we're girls we can't just buy 20 pairs of identical socks, that would make life so much easier. No, we have to have all kinds of socks to go with every outfit.

I'm making no actual confessions here, but some of these socks haven't seen their mates in quite some time. If Sprout would actually clean her room and find some more socks it might help me with my OCDedness toward socks. I just can't part with them if it's possible the missing one is buried in her room somewhere.

Speaking of dirty rooms I have a funny story. My BFF, Kathy, and I have referred to our messy homes as Pig Styes for many years. (I'm just warning you before you get here that the house is a Pig Stye. No problem, we'll feel right at home 'cause ours is one too.) When her youngest was about 3 she told her mom she needed help because her room looked like a Pig Died. Haa haaa. We adopted the term immediately. My craft room looks like a pig died, really.

Am I alone in this? Is my home the only one around that looks like a pig died?

Just a note: These are not ALL mis-matched socks. I got all the laundry done and these are all the socks that need to be sorted. But, I bet I only find matches for half of them. :-(

Project 365 - January 23rd

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-22T21:23:00.004-07:00

Do you ever get a craving for something and no matter how hard you try to deny it you just can't? Well, that's what happened to me. Cookies, I needed cookies. So, I tried to compromise and go for something a little more on the healthy side. Bonus that the recipe only has three ingredients!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 box Spice cake mix
1 large can Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 package chocolate chips

Mix cake mix and pumpkin together until well blended. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

See the Silpat in the bottom of the baking sheet? If you like baking cookies but hate them sticking to the pan, get one of these babies. DE-LITE-FUL!!! I got mine at a local restaurant supply store, Orson Gygi's. I love that place. Reminds me, I haven't been there in eons, maybe it's time for another visit. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe Saturday???

Project 365 - January 22nd

The Tale of the Leg Lamp

2009-01-21T20:28:00.005-07:00

Okay, a couple of my crazy work besties have been taunting one another for weeks about leg lamps. You know, the one that's in the movie "A Christmas Story". You remember, Ralphie, pink bunnie suit, frozen tongue on the flag pole. Yeah, that movie.

Well, this past holiday season Rite Aid was selling them in two sizes. One that would fit on a bed side table and a night light version as well. Any who, Martha won the night light version from a blog contest and Melissa was immediately jealous because she really wanted that lamp.

You can get the scoop on all the shenanigans by reading the following posts:
Martha's 1st Post
Melissa's Version

They even sucked me into the insanity just because I was laying on the floor taking a photo with my phone to send to Sprout

Then, Martha had to Taunt Melissa some more

Melissa turned up the Heat
Martha's Version

So, now that you're up to speed. I walked into the office today to this...

The note reads: Karen, you may stroke me, Venus, only if you are soft, loving and gentle... XOXOXO

So, here's the proof that I did take the opportunity to enjoy Venus' company.

Her real fishnet stockings are delightful!

Working with such silly besties makes going to work fun, entertaining and totally unpredictable. Gotta love it!

Project 365 - January 21st

Homemade Split Pea Soup

2009-01-20T19:33:00.003-07:00

Doesn't this look yummy? And it IS!!! I just realized that I took this photo after I took the ham bone out but before I had removed the ham from it and put the ham back in the soup. It's easy to make, it just has to cook a while. Sprout and the boys chowed down, they liked it too!

Split Pea Soup
1 pound dried split peas
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 or 2 smoked ham hock (about 1/2 pound each)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cover peas with water (make sure the water is about 2 inches or so over the peas as they will swell as they soak up the liquid) and soak overnight. The next day, saute celery, onion, carrot, and garlic in butter until tender. Drain beans and reserve liquid. Add enough water to reserved soaking liquid to make 10 cups. Put in a pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Heat to boiling and then reduce to low heat. Cover and simmer for 3 hours. Remove meat from ham hock and return meat to soup.

Note: I used a ham bone I had leftover from Christmas (Don't worry, it had been in the freezer). I also cooked mine for 5 hours.

Project 365 - January 20th

Makin' Aprons

2009-01-20T19:05:00.006-07:00

Several weeks ago my BFF, Kathy, suggested that we get together on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and make some fun aprons. In case you don't know, fun aprons are all the rage. They sell them for crazy amounts at many stores around town and on the internet.

So, for the past few weeks I've been looking around for a fun pattern. JoAnn's had just had a big sale and of course we're completely out. See, I told you fun aprons were all the rage. Did you know that patterns cost $15. Yikes! I remember when they were $5 - $6 and I thought that was kinda pricey.

Well, last week I browsed through Wally World and low and behold they had a couple patterns that I liked AND they were on sale. Yipee! So I picked up the patterns and some fabric. Because I'm an over achiever I bought fabric to make 3 of them. They're fully lined and fun.

Here's Kathy working on cutting out her apron. She really liked the fabric I picked out for Nicole so bought some of the same for hers.

Now, you may be wondering why there are canned goods sitting on the fabric. Um, 'cause I'm lazy? See the mat on the counter? That's a cutting mat. You use a rotary (rolling) cutter (it's in Kathy's left hand) to cut out fabric. Generally you use this setup with a ruler and cut straight pieces for quilting. Well, being the inventive and lazy person that I am, I figured out how to cut clothing patterns. I lay out the fabric and place the pattern pieces where I want them. Then, I place canned good along the corners and edges. Then, I just cut out the pattern pieces. I believe they now have pattern weights for this process but hey, free works for me.

Here's Sprout in action working on her her apron. Just for the record, she sewed it all herself. It's been a while since she's done any sewing so I coached her, but she did do it all herself.

Here she is modeling her sexy new apron. Don't you think that if she's wearing that it won't matter if she can cook?

I haven't finished mine yet. You see, the three of us were sharing one sewing machine. I'll post mine later when they're finished, promise.

Project 365 - January 19th

Are You Actually Supposed to Be Able to SEE the Air?

2009-01-20T18:56:00.002-07:00

This is the view off my back deck. My deck typically has a nice view of Mount Olympus in the distance. You can even see it in my blog header up above, I took that photo around Christmas-time.
I can handle the cold temperatures that winter in Utah brings, but the icky air is nasty. Just to clarify, this is not fog this is dirty, icky smog. When will the icky end? The weatherman says probably not until Sunday. Eewwww!

The upside? I understand the Salt Lake Valley had even worse air back in the day when everyone burned coal in their furances in the winter. Just sayin'.

Project 365 - January 18th

Organizing

2009-01-20T18:15:00.005-07:00

Okay, so all the fun with the new TV has caused a big shake-up in the family room. Said shake-up has involved a vacumn, carpet cleaner, cleanser & much whining and complaining on my part. So basically, spring cleaning has sprung at the Hansen home. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more all the while muttering about the kids. When Jordan came over I said "you pigs are a bunch of kids". Um, it was a slip up but after some thought I decided that the statement was actually correct. Those pigs are doing a pretty good impressonation of kids. And all the cat hair didn't help matters an either. I swear that cat is getting shaved this summer!

This is phase one of "The Great Dejunk and Organize of 2009". Once the cleaning was done, I installed some new shelves.

These are housing the videos. Yes, this is the second set of shelves because the first set ran out. Hi, My name is Karen and I buy too many movies.

This is the storage closet off the family room. This is AFTER the new shelves were installed. You don't even want to know what it looked like BEFORE. Now, there's still some organization that needs to happen and some dejunking, but at least I have shelves to work with. Phase two will likely hit later in the week. You see, I have to fight with the kids to get access to the Family Room now that we have the huge new TV.

Project 365 - January 17th

25 Tips for a Better Life

2009-01-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I got this in my email and thought I'd pass it along. These are some great tips.

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'
4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
9. Life isn't fair, but it' s still good.
10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
12. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
14. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
17. Forgive everyone for everything.
18. What other people think of you is none of your business.
19. GOD heals almost everything. . . and He can heal everything if its in His plan. We just need to trust His bigger picture.
20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!!!
22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
25. Please share this with everyone you care about.

Homemade Pizza

2009-01-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what got into me today, but I decided to make pizza for dinner. I don't mean the typical go to Papa Murphy's a buy pizza that you bring home a cook, I mean MAKE pizza.

See, here's the proof:

I thought they turned out pretty well. The gang must have enjoyed them because I made two pans (one pepperoni, mushrooms and olives and the other canadian bacon and pineapple) and there was nothing left.

I think that next time I'll try putting some spices into the dough and jazz it up a bit.

Project 365 - January 16th

Dinner with Friends

2009-01-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

Two of my former co-workers were in town so we met at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner.

Larcy, Rebecca, and I (L to R). (Yes, I'm the one with 10 chins - need to work on reducing that number by one or two this year.)

It was fun getting caught up on their lives and just hanging out. These girls are great fun! Rebecca brought a co-worker, Bridgette, who was in town from Wisconsin attending the same training. She was loads of fun too!

Projcet 365 - January 15th

Installing the New TV

2009-01-18T21:50:00.002-07:00

Remember how I said that it would take some time before the TV was installed due to all the work it would take to get things cleaned out? Um, more deviousness by the kids sped up the process a bit. Here she is...

So, here's what happened. The gang is at the house when I get home from work. They're just hanging out chatting. I get home and start cleaning the kitchen and figuring out what to make for dinner. It occurs to me that the kids are hanging in the Living Room not the Family Room as they usually do. The Living Room is kinda formal, not a "hanging out" kinda room.

I pop out to ask them what they're up to, why aren't they downstairs gaming? That was my biggest mistake. Guess what they said. "We want the new TV". They were moping, I tell you, moping. They were in the Living Room staring at the new TV in it's box and pouting. I cracked like an egg. I'm such a sucker. I uttered one word - fine - and they were off like a shot.

Do you know how hard it is to try to wash dishes, cook dinner and supervise the family room as it's being torn apart all at the same time? Trust me, crazy, absolutely crazy. I would give them instructions, run upstairs and do a few things then run back down again. This went on for an hour or so. The books and "stuff" from the bookcases were sorted into keep and donate boxes. Then, the boys had to move the 2 BIG bookcases and the old TV out into the garage.

Once we got most of the space cleared we were able to mount the TV on the wall. The TV only weighs 44 pounds but the mounting bracket, on the other hand, weighs about 100 pounds. Getting the TV out of the box was kinda funny. Did you know they design the boxes so that you "unlock" them and they slide right off? Who knew? Not me until I read it on the box.

I impressed the boys with my laser level and drill skillz. Said skills are mad. (Dad, that mean really good.) The hardest part was trying to figure out what height to mount the TV. I did buy the bracket that tilts so that you can angle it down if you're sitting on the floor.

The kids were so excited that they could not be bothered to vacumn or anything before they got the PS3 hooked up to it.

We love our new TV. I'm not sure that I'm going to get to spend much time with it anytime soon though.

Project 365 - January 14th

Are All Children This Devious?

2009-01-18T21:20:00.002-07:00

Sprout has been bugging me about our "crappy TV" in the family room for some time. Honestly, I can't remember how old it is but I kinda think it's older than she is and she'll be 19 in a few days. When Madge and I were playing the Wii over the holidays we noticed that the images weren't very sharp and Sprout once again chimed in on the crappiness of the TV.

So now that we're the foster family to the PS3, the aforementioned crappiness of the TV becomes really apparent. Dang kids! I think this was their evil plan all along. Bring a cool new toy into the house and show mom just how crappy the TV really is. These kids are evil, I tell you, evil.

Have you ever spent 75 minutes at Wally World with three nineteen year-olds shopping for a flat screen tv? It was very entertaining. Thankfully I had done a little research prior to walking through the door so I was armed with information. Said research consisted of asking one of the dudes at work and polling all the dudes on the bus ride home regarding TVs.

They helped answer such questions as 720p or 1080p? LCD or Plasma? Size? Here's what we ended up with.

It's a 42" LCD 1080p. The picture quality on the display model was very good and it was less expensive than others the same size.

Amazingly, it only weighs 44 pounds. Wow! The old 27" weighs at least 2 tons.

As we were driving home with the new TV I made it clear that it would probably take some time to get the room ready before we can install the TV. We have two large bookcases full of books and "stuff". This all needs to be sorted and purged - this can not be rushed.

Project 365 - January 13th

PS3 and "The Boys"

2009-01-18T20:51:00.005-07:00

We now have a PS3 in our Family Room. No, I didn't cough out that much cash on a gaming system, we're the foster family. Hunter, Sprout's main squeeze, bought it and is keeping it at our house. Hunters reasoning is that his younger siblings will destroy it if it's a his house.

Sprout and "the boys" (Hunter and Jordan) spend a lot of time in our family room. Now they'll have another option for spending time down there. I guess only being able to play the PS2 & Wii we already own and playing LAN games on their laptops just wasn't enough variety for them.

They're great kids, so I don't mind having them around. Really!

Project 365- January 12th

Project 365 - January 11th

2009-01-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Farewell to the Christmas Tree

Yes, it's January 11th and my tree is still up. I've been too busy blogging and Project 365ing to deal with it. Got it? Good. It's time to put it to bed for another 11 months but I wanted to show it off a little first...

And this is my favorite set of ornaments.

I collect Nativity sets. Maybe in December I'll take some photos to share. Now, to take the tree down...

Project 365 - January 10th

2009-01-12T20:03:00.005-07:00

Look what I got in the mail today?Okay, let me back up a few days, because there's a story to go along with the "Courtesy Bail Notice".

On Christmas night we had a pretty decent snow storm. It came down so hard and fast that Sprouts boyfriend ended up spending the night. Sprouts car was parked on the street in front of the house. By 10am on the 26th we had almost 12 inches of snow. We shoveled off the driveway and sidewalk and didn't worry about Sprouts car. A neighbor came by with his snow blower to clean out the end of the driveway that the snowplow blocked. We had friends come in and hang with us and had a great time. Since Sprout didn't really need her car we left it buried.

Apparently, on Saturday the 27th a Salt Lake County Sheriff came by to enforce a new "no overnight parking on the street if there's at least 1 of snow present" ordinance. The "warning" was skewered to the antenna stating that we had 24 hours to move the car or it would be towed or a citation issued. When we noticed it several hours later we diligently dug the car out. I had to teach Sprout the appropriate "rocking" technique for getting a car out in slick conditions as I pushed on the front end. Mission accomplished. Disaster averted because the car was moved into the driveway before the 24 hour period passed.

Fast forward to January 10th.

I get the mail and notice an envelope from the Salt Lake County Courts. Hmmm, what can that be? A Courtesy Bail Notice? What? I swear it was a warning. This then caused me to go out to the recycle bin and pull the most recent bag of recycling back out. I gingerly dug through the bag transferring the contents into a new bag. Low and behold I located this.

See, I told you it was a warning. And take a look at the back.

Does that not clearly state that the car will be towed or cited if not moved within 24 hours? Am I just dreaming?

I of course get on the phone. The gal was very nice but said that a citation was issued on the 27th. Um, but it said a warning. She said she didn't know why they used the warning "tag" but that it was a full blown citation. I said there were five other cars parked overnight on my street. Her response? Do you know how many hundreds of tickets were issued that day? Personally, I think this is how the county is planning on covering their budget shortfall due to the economy.

Thankfully the fine is only $25. The moral of this story? If you live in Salt Lake County, and there's 1" or more of snow on the ground, don't park your car overnight in front of your house. Oh, there's also a lesson to learn. If you buy a car for your teenager and register it in your name, you're the one that gets the parking citations.

Lesson learned.

Project 365 - January 9th

2009-01-12T19:59:00.003-07:00

I'm addicted to TV (thanks to the help of my DVR) and the internet. When I'm on-call for work my electronics go into overload. I have two laptops, two cell phones (all charging in this photo), a pager and the DVR/TV Controller. Oh how would I survive without technology?

Project 365 - January 8th

2009-01-11T21:31:00.002-07:00

This is the four-legged, uber hairy member of the family. She LOVES to hang out under the Christmas tree. It's very difficult to get a photo of her under there, she's quite camera shy. Actually, she's very skittish and doesn't like being disturbed during her naps. And, yes, the Christmas tree is still up. I'm using the excuse the Jeff needed to have a Christmas tree upon his return home from China. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Project 365 - January 7th

2009-01-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

One of Sprouts BFF's, Jeff, came home from China. He had been teaching English, with his sister. They were gone for four months. We missed him a lot. He brought his laptop and the kids spent quite a bit of time huddled around looking at photos and listening to stories. His apartment was sweet. His toilet was a hole in the floor and the shower was actually in the kitchen. Nice!

Jeff brought us all metal chopsticks. Aren't they fun? I told the boys they need to bring their chopsticks to our Chinese New Year's party on the 26th.

Project 365 - January 6th

2009-01-11T06:30:00.002-07:00

No, I'm not having a melt-down because my hair wouldn't "do" this morning. I'm on-call this week. Nuff said. Come Monday at 8am I will be doing the happy dance for another 7 weeks.

TG and SHQ know who was actually on the other end of the phone when this photo was taken.

Project 365 - January 5th

2009-01-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is what happened today. I actually took the photo yesterday morning because it had snowed in the night. I thought the snow looked quite pretty with the bright sun shining on it. Ooops, I digress. What REALLY happened today was a two and a half hour drive home from work. Eighteen miles, 150 minutes. Yuck! In that amount of time I could have been half-way to St George. I realize that in some part of the country 150 minutes is rather normal. A normal commute, when I drive, is 35 minutes.

I am SUPPOSED to take the bus when I'm working downtown. However, this morning I just wasn't feeling any love for the bus. I thought that maybe with the snow coming that if I drove I wouldn't have to slog through the snow to get to the bus stop, then to the office, then back to the bus stop. Turns out that the folks on the bus only had a 75 minute commute. I apparently made a R E A L L Y bad choice about which route to take home.

The good news was that I could text and talk on the phone all I wanted without having to worry about being safe. You see the traffic would move about 10 feet and then stop again for 3 minutes. I was yacking with my friend, Sandy, for 35 minutes and during that time I drove a little under 3 miles. Ugggg.

Project 365 - January 4th

2009-01-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have lived in my current home for 22 years. I've had the same neighbors on the north side the entire time. We've helped each other out with various things over the years. Lisa was even up on my roof with me for several day a few years ago helping me install a new layer of shingles.

Lisas daughter, Valerie, got married last summer and bought a home in our neighborhood. The home needed lots of work and the entire family pitched in to get it fixed up. The basement is an apartment and Vals younger brother, Kurt, and his friend were the first renters. The boys didn't mind that there were no curtains on the windows. But, the boys have moved out due to unsteady income. Val now has new renters and they insist on curtains. Aren't they picky?

Val, like most of us, is trying to be careful with her money. She went to Ikea and bought a bolt of fabric that she liked for under $70. Have you priced curtains recently? She had six windows that needed curtains and no way could she do that for $70. So, you're probably wondering why I'm rattling on. Guess what I did for three and a half hours today? You guessed it, sewed curtains.

Do you remember when you were in high school and you told your teacher that you were never going to use all those crappy fractions in your life? Well, um, okay, if you sew curtains you just might. After doing some math to calculate what length to cut each panel due to header, rod pocket and hem we commenced the cutting. Then, I sewed the first panel as a proto type. After that Lisa and Val did all the ironing to prep for the casings etc.

Those girls were hysterical as they were bantering back and forth about one trying to burn the other one with the iron. Or, how poorly the other one was doing on measuring correctly witht he seam guage. Funny, funny, girls. And, we got to catch up on each others lives. We've all been busy lately and just haven't seen much of each other.

Project 365 - January 3rd

2009-01-10T18:30:00.004-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Kathy and I scored some post-Christmas sales at Wally World. One of the items I picked up was an Amarylis. I know, it's usually a Christmas flower and Christmas is past. But hey, Valentines is coming up. I think a big red and white Amarylis will be really fun for a Valentines decoration.

It's not much yet, but I hope to have a great picture to post on February 14th. Wish me luck!

Valentines Card

2009-01-10T10:14:00.003-07:00

As I was blurfing through some of my favorite crafty blogs I stumbled across this great card.

Hee hee hee. Isn't if funny? Click here to go the Paper Cuts blog. She has some other great cards. I think SHQ might need this card for Splenda Daddy.

Project 365 - January 2nd

2009-01-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

My good friend from high school, Kathy, made me a pillow for Christmas. Well, she actually started to make me a pillow but she had an unfortunate sewing machine incident. It died. So, when we exchanged gifts on the 26th, I got a very cute pillow front, some strips of fabric for borders and a nice square for the back.

Now, just so you know, Kathy did not expect me to finish it myself, but she did want to use my machine to do it. She and the kids came into the big city (no, I don't actually live in a big city but it's way bigger than their little rural town) to hang with Sprout and I for the day. Kathy and I promptly took off to do a little post-Christmas find deals at Wally World shopping. We did score some cool Martha Stewart gift packaging that, if I remember, I will use next Christmas. After a nice lunch out, we returned to my home where Kathy completed the pillow.

Isn't it cute?

Project 365 - January 1st

2009-01-10T06:00:00.001-07:00

How did you spend New Years Day? Well, I went to bed about 12:45am (yes I'm a wimp) but then my phone rang at 3:15am. Yes, 3:15am. Uggg. There was a system problem that ended up requiring 12 hours of my time. Blech. Luckily it wasn't 12 straight hours of work. I was able to nap here and there through the day but I had to connect into the office avery 50 minutes or so to check things and do stuff. I actually put my kitchen timer on the table next to my bed to wake me or remind me to check on things.

This is my sprout. She is sporting some new jammies that she got for Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa H. This is pretty much how she and I spend time together. Jammies, laptops, DVR, my bed. We love it!

Project 365

2009-01-09T21:58:00.005-07:00

I've decided to participate in Project 365. The idea behind this project is that you take a photo every day and journal about why you took the photo. I hope to gain two things from this project, 1) My photo skills should improve; 2) I'll have a record of my year. Now, the photo doesn't need to be anything specific, it could be a photo of your toothbrush if you want. Trust me, I may run out of clever ideas and start getting wierd along the way.

This project was orginally created to sell a special scrapbooking kit. Since I have boatloads of photos and memorabelia that have yet to make it into a scrapbook of some sort I decided to do mine on my blog. I started taking photos over a week ago, I just haven't taken them off the camera, resized them for the internet and written posts. Um, did I mention that Procrastination is my middle name? What's my first you ask? Disorganization. {Hangs head in shame}

So, Here's December 31st.

This is a picture of our Wii (and a little bit of the PS2 as well). My sister and I spent 3 hours playing the Wii on New Years Eve. By the time Sprout and the gang showed up to Par-tae, we were pooped and willingly relinquished the Wii to them. Just for the record, we both need to work on our Wii skillz. But in my defense, it's difficult to be a good "gamer" when you're laughing. Those Raving Rabbids games are da bomb! Now I just need to get off my butt (literally) and spend some time bonding with Wii Fit so that I can have a smaller butt (well, I don't have a butt, really so that's a figure of speach. More accurately it would be a smaller gut.)

Wedding Photos

2009-01-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I was working on my post about Historical Wedding Traditions I was searching for photos to hlep illustrate the topic. Amazingly, I had no success finging a photo of 2 guys hauling off an unwilling woman in 200AD. Go figure.

However, I did encounter some photos I'd like to share with you.

I really hope that this dude is the father of the bride and not the groom.

I thought this was pretty funny, and quite artistic. (Again reminding me of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and the seven dads with their shotguns at the ceremony.)

Apparently she forgot to triple check her todo list before putting on her dress.

If I ever marry again, and said spouse is a bulldozer driver ('cause a dude that's all dirty and sweaty all the time is my dream spouse) this is how we'll arrive at the chapel for the nuptials. I think the bows really add to the specialness of the occassion.

When my Sprout says her vows I'm gonna spring for a trip to Lagoon so that the wedding party can ride the old wooden roller coaster together. So what if she doesn't like roller coasters, it's a great photo opportunity don't ya think?

Actually, now that I look at the picture a little more closely I think I know that dude. Oh my heck, that must have been from his first marriage. He is a wooden roller coaster enthusiast. He spends all his vacation time traveling around the country visiting theme parks with wooden roller coasters. I didn't realize that he's really out shopping for a new bride that likes the coasters too.

A couple of my work BFF's (The Queen of Sexual Harassment and The Giggler) and I were discussing throwing a bridal shower for our coworker who will be marrying in a few months. We were trying to come up with ideas for unique gifts and their possible packaging. It's over, I have F O U N D it. The perfect gift and, no special packaging required - it would only take away from it's perfectness.

I have a feeling it will be difficult to purchase one, even if we do go to the Blue Boutique. But, I think if we start now we can actually make one ourselves. I'm pretty sure The Product Pimp will help us with this project as well. What do you think? We could even mix it up a little with striped, glow-in-the-dark, ribbed and even ones that have their names printed on them.

Historical Wedding Traditions

2009-01-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

On Monday, one of my coworkers announced her engagement and plans to marry in May of this year. So, when I was watching Good Things Utah and they were sharing some historical information on wedding traditions I perked right up. (Thank goodness for a DVR so I could rewind several times as I was laughing a bit.)

"The role of the Best Man derived from the help needed in abducting a future bride back in 200AD. If the potential brides were scarce in his own village a man would look for one in a nearby village, preferably one who was momentarily beyond the protection of the village. To execute the abduction he looked for a "wing man" or the best man for the job. Hence the title, best man."

So basically, the guy wants a wife, the local girls "just aren't that into him". So, he and his best man head to a nearby community looking for a gal that's out picking berries on her own and grab her. I'm sure it took two of them to fight with the struggling girl and get her back to their village. How romantic!

This guy needed several "wing men" and some anonymity as well.

"The best man had other associated duties such as staying by the bride grooms side in case the brides family came looking for her."

If the in-laws come calling the bridegroom and the best man are ready for a fight. Nice! I would have to say this would be the definition of "in-law problems".

"The abduction itself is the source of the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold."

Well, if you've abducted a girl and possibly even bound and gagged her, I would sure hope the least you could do was carry her over the threshold. It would be barbaric to expect her to hop into her new home with her feet tied together and all.

Also, the reason brides carry flowers is because of the mostly non-existant personal hygene habits. The flowers were to cover the stench, so to speak. Um, don't you think he's gonna notice the aroma once you throw the bouquet? Well, I guess by then it's too late, beause you're aleady married. Or, maybe back then they didn't throw the bouguet, but stuffed it into the armpits of their wedding attire to help keep the dream alive.

All this discussion about men abducting unwilling brides has made me want to pull out our well-worn copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Really. Should I be worried that this has been one of my daughters favorite movies since she was quite small? I'm definately not going to tell her boyfriend that it's one of her favorites or encourage him to watch it. The last thing I need is for him to learn how romantic it is for men to kidnap women in the night and haul them up to their large family cabin in the mountains. I must leave this boy in the dark about such romance for a few more years. There may come a time in the future when I WANT her to leave, but that time is not yet here.

Do you have any Historical Wedding Traditions that are still present today that you'd like to share?

Land Boat

2009-01-07T18:55:00.006-07:00

Okay, I'm driving home from work tonight and this guy in a "Land Boat" swerves over in front of me. In case you don't know, a "Land Boat" is a very large car. This particular car looked a bit like a 1972 Impala.

You see, I was leaving extra space in front of me, just like they taught me in drivers ed almost 30 years ago, and apparently he just couldn't resist. I was a little upset with his agressive behavior, but I let it go because I became amused by him.

He was sitting in the drivers seat, sort of. He was leaning reallllly far to the right, his head was centered under the rear view mirror. Seriously, I could see the entire steering wheel. Every so often he would straighten up a tich, but then he'd go right back to his own personal interpretation of the leaning tower of Pisa.

I'm thinking that there are a few valid reasons why he was sitting in this unusual manner.

1. He was suffering from a painful back problem and this is the only way he can comfortably sit in a car.

2. He isn't tall enough to see over the steering wheel and must lean to the right just to see the road clearly.

3. The car is so stinkin' old that there is a very large and painful spring poking out right where his left cheek should be located and the extreme lean is the only way to avoid aforementioned spring.

4. He's a guy from the hood and this is the normal driving position to avoid gun shots.

Can you come up with any valid reasons why he drove in such an unusual position?

Thankful Thursday

2008-12-18T22:30:00.002-07:00

Here's my list this week:

1. My job. Yes, it's still at the top of the list and will be until my next turn with the pager. I'll be glad I'm employed, I'll just be grumpy 'cause I'm on-call.

2. The self check-out at Smith's. This time of year, anything that gets you out of the store in pronto speed is right up my alley. The Smith's by my house has 10 self check-out stations. SWEET!! Now if we can just get Walmart to install some all my wishes will be fulfilled.

3. My work friends. I'm so glad I work with some great folks. I've worked with some real difficult people in the past and it's no fun at all.

4. The snow. I know, I know, you think I'm nuts. I do enjoy a white Christmas and guess what? I'm gonna get one this year. Wahooo!!!

5. My cute daughter. Notice that she dropped to 5th place. I still love her, but she's on my naughty list because she had friends over the other night and they left at ... are you ready? 4:26am. Yes, you read that correct. Crazy kids. But, it woke me up and I could not get back to sleep. Grrrr!!

What are you thankful for?

Christmas Quizicle

2008-12-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Martie and Melis' blogs, thought I'd play along.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy wrapping presents and putting ribbons and bows on them. Yes, I'm weird.

2. Real tree or artificial? I have an artifical tree and a stongly scented candle. I don't like the hassle and clean up involved with a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? When I get around to it. It's the 12th and um, my tree isn't up yet. I hope to get it up tomorrow. Several years ago it went up about 3 days before Christmas. I was feeling kinda Scroogey that year.

4. When do you take the tree down? Within the first few days of January. See, when you put your tree up a little later you're not in a big hurry to tear the sucker down. There's a method to my madness ya know.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yummo! You know what's REALLY good? Eggnog flavored shakes from Arctic Circle. Woot!!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbies. Don't be a hater, Barbie rocked my world for a while.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Only one? I haven't counted recently but it's probably around 30 in various shapes, styles and sizes.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Hunter, my daughters boyfriend.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Mom and Bob. The annual Hale Center Theatre tickets work out quite nicely.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail, hand-made. Yes, I'm crazy!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Um, you're supposed to start shopping early? Wow, I bet that would be less hectic? Hmm, something to think about for next year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only as a White Elephant gift. That's acceptable isn't it?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pecan Bars. My brother, Gary, calls them Devil bars because they're sinfully good.

16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? Neither. My tree is all gold lights. I heart my gold lights. I had to go to three Shopkos just to get enough strands.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth by Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

18 Travel at Christmas or stay home? The furthest I travel is Grantsville on Christmas eve. Other than that it's HOME for the holidays.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen {and Rudolph?}

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We exchange gifts with the Toones on Christmas Eve and of course we do the traditional Christmas PJ's also. Everything else is Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That my favorite radio stations starts playing Christmas music on November 1st. Hello! Doesn't anyone enjoy Thanksgiving anymore?

23. Favorite Christmas tradition? Having Mom and Bob over for brunch on Christmas morning.

24. Up early or sleeping in? Sleep in, sort of. I have a brunch to prepare.

25. Who hands out the gifts? Sprout.

26. Does Santa wrap your gifts? Nope. He's way to busy for wrapping paper.

27. Do you tell the Christmas story? Yes.

28. Do you leave cookies for Santa? We used to, but Sprout's too old for that now.

Thankful Thursday

2008-12-11T21:04:00.002-07:00

Yes, I know I've already posted today, but I thought I'd jump on the band wagon with Mart and Melis. Move over girls!

1. I'm thankful for my job. With all this craziness going on in the world I'm extremely grateful that I work for a stable company. I've been with Intermountain for 23 years. Wow, is that called stable or lazy? Hmmm.

2. My daughter, aka Sprout. Love ya babe! (Am I a bad mom? When I got home from the infamous Spokane trip I asked her if she was still a virgin.)

3. The comfy bed at the Hampton Inn. If you have to be away from home, you may as well have a decent bed. (The bed in Idaho Falls SUCKED!!)

4. Cold Eeze cough drops. The suckers work quite well! Thanks for sharing your cold Martie!

5. My new Glyde cell phone. Especially since I've figured out how to lock it while I'm talking. Because it's a touch screen my face tries to dial. (hee hee)

6. That tomorrow is Friday. That means I'll be heading back home and asking my daughter once again, if she's still a virgin.

7. That Melis was only kidding when she said she'd give me a make out session as a thank you. **SNORT**

What are you thankful for?

The Never Ending Story

2008-12-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

So, we make it back to the freeway and just as I get merged into traffic Madge starts yelling that we're going the wrong way. What??? Coeur d'Alene is East of Spokane and the compss in the car says we're headed East. What's the problem? Both Sherry and I proceed to tell her that everything's fine. Madge just keeps yelling and is almost hysterical about how we're going the wrong way. I finally had to yell at her and tell her to shut up. I'm driving in the dark and snow on an unfamiliar road and the last thing I need is a crazy person yelling at me from the back seat.

Madge proceeded to wimper and pout from the back seat as I continued driving East, as I should have. Sherry then started telling me all about her ex-husband and his great house in Southern California. More wimpering from Madge. Now she's jealous that Sherry and I are having a conversation without her. (She even admitted this to me the next day.)

When we get back to Athol, Madge and Sherry pulled out the photo albums and old school yearbooks. They had a great time remeniscing. Roman and I hung out and had a great time playing tug-of-war.

When we wake up Saturday morning (we left the bedroom door open so that we weren't human popsicles in the morning) the fog was really heavy. The weather reports said that there was some moisture in the pass and that the fog would burn off in the afternoon. Our original plan was to get up and leave at 4am on Sunday morning. Madge was nervous about the weather and not wanting me to be last for work on Sunday afternonn. You see, I had to close books for the month and needed to be back home by 4pm. Madges anxiety just kept growing as the morning wore on. By the time Sherry got up at 9:30am Madge decided we were leaving.

We went to breakfast at the diner. The girls were much more subdued and better behaved this time.

(Sherry and Madge)

We were filling up gas and hitting the road by 11:30am. It was still quite foggy and overcast but at least there was daylight. When we drove through the passes on our way to Coeur d'Alen it was very dark and I couldn't really see what we were driving through. The weather was quite cooperative. There was some rain in the passes and it did rain almost entirely from Missoula to Butte.

The scenery driving through the passes was gorgeous. Great old buildings and little towns nestled into the trees and the mountains. The clouds were really low and just added to view.

We stopped at a truck stop just outside Butte to get some Linner (it was 4:30 so it was a little late for lunch and early for dinner, hence, linner). Madge wasn't feeling very well. I think some of her ailment was the stress and anxiety of the traveling and spending time with Sherry. So, Madge proceeds to tell the lady at Arbys about what we've been doing and why we're traveling today instead of tomorrow. Anyone seen the trenchcoat and dark glasses? How about a closet I can climb into?

I couldn't keep my mouth shut and had to explain to Madge as we walked back to the car that she didn't need to share our entire life story with a complete stranger. She was upset, but she understood.

Just outside Idaho Falls Madge really started complaining about not feeling well so we stopped and got a room for the night. I had kinda hoped that since we started so early that we could just push through and do the return trip in one day. No such luck.

The best part about stopping for the night? Wifi!!!! Delightful! I was having major withdrawls! I spent the evening surfing and ignoring Madges complaints. At 10:00pm Madge says she wishes she had bought a candy bar. What? You haven't felt good all day and you want to eat a candy bar? You see, we stopped in St Regis and she said she had wanted to pick up a snack but wasn't feeling very good. She wanted a candy bar and I told her she should really get some diet sprite and crackers. I didn't want her to puke in my car. Can you blame me?

So Madge heads to the vending machine to get some sprite to settle her stomach. When we get up in the morning I discover that she had also bought a candy bar. She should have hidden the wrapper and not left it on the night stand. She was pretty sneaky eating it the night before. I just don't understand her, ever. If you want a candy bar then get one and eat it, don't hide it.

The trip from Idaho Falls into Salt Lake was really uneventful. Thank goodness.

So, do you want to know my secret for keeping my sanity through this 1,573 mile, four day adventure? Books on CD. You see, if we're listening to a book, Madge pays attention to the story and tends to talk WAY less than normal. I learned this trick a few years ago and it is very handy for long car trips.

Madge is currently obsessed with the Twilight series. Since we had just seen the movie we started with Full Moon. We made it through all 12 discs and were on the 4th disk of Eclipse by the time we pulled into my driveway. So, if you ever have to travel and long distance with a crazy person, I highly recommend a book on CD.

Thanks for sticking with my through this Never Ending Story that at times felt like the Never Ending Trip. Gee, now what am I going to blog about????

The saga continues, some more...

2008-12-10T08:00:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I've survived breakfast at the diner. Even despite the fact that they tried to tell anyone who would listen, all about their anticts growing up.

Well, it was time to start meandering to Spokane to see Rex and Peggy. I forgot to pack a coat so we decided to go to Walmart so I could pick up a sweatshirt to layer. Sherry took us via the back roads which was fun to see several rural communities and lots of land, forest and horses. Beautiful country. I of course had to keep asking Sherry if I was supposed to go left, right, straight because she was busy praddling about all kinds of stuff. I did a lot of internal laughing and thanking the good Lord that I had only one crazy sister.

We make it into Post Falls, which is where the Walmart is. Sherry points out the traffic cameras on the intersection and then goes on to tell us that the entire town is covered in cameras and they watch your every move. Luckily I saw the Walmart sign and needed no further driving direction, I could tell this tirade was going to last a while.

Madge actually got a TV for Andy, it was the last one of that model. Kinda crazy that there would still be one left at 12:30pm. It's a flat panel so it was easy to carry and we just covered it with a blanket in the back of the SUV and no one was the wiser.

Post Falls is about 30 minutes from Spokane so we were off like a herd of turtles. It started snowing as we were driving. It snowed clear until we were headed back to Athol around 9pm. It was great! Not!!!

Thanks to the fact that it's quite simple to get to Spokane from Post Falls I didn't need much assistance from Sherry. She and Madge were busy talking about nothing. I thought by now that these two would have run out of things to say. I was wrong.

So, we finally make our way through the city and to the VA hospital. The weather is crappy, but the view crossing the gorge was cool. Peggy was sitting with Rex when we arrived. He was looking very frail and had lost quite a bit of weight. Sherry is convinced that Rex won't make it to Christmas, but sometimes these things linger on for far to long. After a nice chat and visit with Peggy and Rex (before he fell asleep) we went to Phyllis' house.

(Phyllis, Peggy & Sherry)

The Park family are Seventh-day Adventists. Many of the church members are vegetarians or vegans even. We were now headed to have dinner at Phyllis'. I was wondering if we'd be eating tofurkey or something else kinda funky. I was pleasantly suprised to learn that Peggy is the only member that is a staunch vegetarian. Thank you!!!!! Phyllis actually made us a full Thanksiving dinner. It was very nice.

JR, Phyllis' husband was very nice and we all had some enjoyable conversations as we ate dinner. JR grew up eating squash pie and has been wanting Phyllis to make him one for quite some time. Well, they got som squash from a friend and found a recipe and decided to give it a try. Problem was, Phyllis read the recipe wrong and only added 1/2 cup of sugar when the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar. She didn't make us eat it.

(JR and Phyllis)

After a lot of chatting and visiting it was time to head back to Athol. The road that Phyllis lives on is quite rural and wooded and lovely scenery and not plowed. It had been snowing for 9 hours but luckily it wasn't really accumulating. We just had to take it slow, problem was, Sherry had no idea how to get to the freeway from Phyllis' house. Luckily I paid attention and was able to back track and get us back to the hospital.

Apparently Spokane has a lot of one way roads and a very large gorge and only so many bridges. Getting back to the freeway was very crazy and confusing. Sherry was yet again busy praddling on about something or other so I just watched for signs to give me direction. It all worked out.

Despite the fact that I was driving in the dark and snow through an unfamiliar city, I did get to see a really cool building. It appeared to be an apartment or condo tower and the lower levels were open for parking so the whole thing looked like it was on stilts and it hovered over the gorge. It was really cool to see in my 3 quick glances as I was crossing the gorge and didn't really want to end up IN the gorge.

The saga will continue tomorrow...

Thanksgiving Weekend Continued...

2008-12-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, where did we leave off on our journey? Oh, that's right, I got us to Athol. The Parks moved to this smaller home in Athol several years ago. Their pastor - I think he's called a pastor - told them that the end of the world was coming so they chose to find a place where they could grow their own food. (Looking at the economy over the last 12 months, I have to say the guy wasn't too far off.) They have a small orchard and a larger garden area. It's quire rural and surrounded by pine trees. It quite pretty. We even saw wild turkeys walking down the lane. I'm sure they'd only come out of hiding because it was the day AFTER Thanksgiving. Stealthy birds.

Sherry said that she wanted to sleep in on Friday morning. She said she'd get up around 9am. Fine by us. Of course, our body clocks are an hour ahead so no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't sleep in. I woke up early and pulled out the laptop. Of course there's no wifi. Sherry said her neighbor had it, but with the light of day dawning, the nearest neighbor is at least a football field away, not going to pick up a signal from them. I began the withdrawls immediately. (hee hee)

I really enjoyed peace and quiet even if it was 40 degrees in the house. Oh, I forgot to tell you. This house is a bit rustic. No central heating. They have a large wood burning stove in the main living area and wall heaters in the bedroom and bathroom, but that's it. Sherry left an electric heater plugged in through the night just so we wouldn't freeze if we needed to use the bathroom in the night. However, we didn't realize how cold it would get in the house we didn't turn on the wall heater and we closed the bedroom door. Holy frozen popsicles batman! I'm pretty sure the bedroom was colder than 40 when I woke up. Brrrrrrrrrrr. It was 31 outside, I'm guessing that bedroom wasn't a whole lot warmer than that. (Melissa you would have died!)

So, Madge gets up and showers while I'm doing a leisurely read of the Thanksgiving day newspaper that I brought from home. You know, the one with all the ads. Madge was looking for a TV to give her son, Andy, for Christmas. Walmart had a good deals but, um it was going on 9am, no way any of the door busters would be left. Besides, I didn't see a Walmart in Coeur d'Alene as we drove through so I couldn't have gotten us there even if I'd wanted to.

I've been looking for new cell phones for Nicole and I for a couple of months and Verizon had a Black Friday sale. Um, I had a half a bar of service in Athol. I called Nicole and woke her up and made her get on the internet to check things out. I think it took 6 calls to coordinate the purchase of 2 phones because if I moved wrong the call would disconnect. Grrrrrr. Note so self, if I ever move to Athol I'll need to change cell phone providers. But, Madge didn't have any bars on her T-mobile so that was worse. This place is rural, did I mention that already?

So, 9am comes and goes and no signs of Sherry. Madge finally went upstairs and woke her up at 9:15. We weren't sure what the day held in store, just that we wanted to get into Spokane to visit with Rex. Sherry got up and no kidding, wandered through the house accomplishing nothing for about 90 minutes. I had to keep reminding her what she was in the middle of doing like feeding the dog, finding her shoes, fixing her hair, etc. Madge can be a bit of a spaz, but I think Sherry has her beat.

I finally got Sherry and Madge coralled into the car and we went to the diner for breakfast. It was a little busy but not too bad. Sherry had to praddle on about different things for a while. I'm just looking through the menu trying to decide what to order. Then, Sherry sees someone she knows outside so she leaves for a minute. She comes back in with the guy. We'll call him a cross between Grizzly Adams and a Hells Angel. Nice guy, but kinda rough around the edges. Madge starts talking to him about the antics she and Sherry would get into growing up. Then Sherry kicks in. And they're not being quiet and talking in a normal volume. No, they're excited, they're animated, they're pretty much bouncing in their seats. Where's that trenchcoat and dark glasses? If I crawl under the table can I still order breakfast? Is there an empty booth? I have no problem eating breakfast alone.

I finally had to put my "mom" hat on and tell them they needed to get their food ordered and then they could chat all they wanted. It's great being the younger sister who had to act like a mother to a couple of 53 year-olds.

I'll continue the saga tomorrow, I promise.

Roman

2008-12-08T21:33:00.004-07:00

Sorry, I know I promised to tell you all about my new boyfriend, Roman, several days ago. I got busy with the ward Christmas party that was on Saturday morning. Then, I needed time to recover, then we had a baby blessing and family gathering yesterday. Enough of the excuses already, right?

Roman. He's sweet, he's fun, he's attentive, he's a dog. No, I didn't say that because he's a boy, he really is a dog.

He's three parts boxer, one part pitbull. He loves me. It was very difficult to get him to hold still long enough to take a picture, he's a bundle of energy. We had so much fun playing tug-of-war during my visit to Athol that we actually destroyed his toy snake. It ended up in three pieces. Oops! Maybe I need to send him a new snake for Christmas.

Roman kept me entertained while Madge and Sherry talked...incessantly. Now, don't get me wrong, I realize that they hadn't seen each other in a very long time and they were excited and wanted to get all caught up. That was just fine and completely understandable. What drove me crazy was when they were telling wild stories (and I'm not sure if they're true or not) to people we met everywhere we went. I really wished I had packed a trench coat and large dark sunglasses so that I could hide. More info on the trip tomorrow. I promise!

One Thousand Five Hundred Seventy-three Miles

2008-12-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's how many miles I traveled over the Thanksgiving weekend. My sister and I left my home on Thanksgiving morning around 8:45am. We drove straight through to Coeur d'Alene with only minimal stops. We arrived around 5:30pm local time (Utah is an hour later). We found a little diner that was open and got ourselves a nice Turkey dinner. Then we finished our trip with 15 more miles north to Athol.

(I spoke to my brother, Gary, last night and he says he's never made the trip from here all the way to Coeur d'Alene he stops in Missoula. He's such a wimp, Missoula is still 2.5 hours from Coeur d'Alene.)

Athol is the size of a flea speck. The town consists of a light on the highway with a gas station, diner, grocery store, post office and little Seventh Day Adventist church. The sign in front of the church said "Pray for Dr. Park". That's who we made the trip to visit with, Dr. Park aka Uncle Rex. To get to the Park home, there are no street signs you just drive down the highway at 65mph and watch the mile markers. You turn just past marker 162. It's a little dicey if you have traffic on your rear bumper and you're trying not to miss the turn in the dark.

Okay, a little history here. I am the youngest of four kids. I was born in Riverside, California. We lived there until I was seven, then we moved to Utah. The Park family were our next-door neighbors. My sister, Madge, and Sherry Park were inseperable. I must confess that I don't have a lot of memories 'cause hey, I was seven when we moved. Madge is nine years older than me so being as she lived next to the Park family from about age 9 to age 16 her memories are much stronger. Madge is the reason I made the trip. She desperately wanted to see Rex and Sherry and everyone else.

Rex is 87 years old. He's currently in the VA Hospital in Spokane recovering from a broken hip. He was in Seattle about six weeks ago and fell and broke his hip. As soon as they could, he as transferred to Spokane so that he could be closer to home. He really isn't doing very well. His prostate cancer is back and he had hidden that from his family until this hospitalization. Now he seems to have lost his will to live and he's pretty much refusing to eat. It's quite sad.

I'll tell you all about my new boyfriend tomorrow. His name is Roman, but that's all I'm going to say for now.

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

2008-11-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

I work in a high-rise in downtown Salt Lake City. The building is currently surrounded by construction chaos. My cubicle is located on the 9th floor, which used to be only 2 floors above the parking structure that surrounded the building on 3 sides. That is no more. The mall that I used to play in as an annoying pubescent child is no more. The really cool mall that had several levels of criss-crossing escalators is no more. Things they are a changing.

On the south side of my office building is a very large crane. It is attached into the building in a couple of places and is completely computerized. Several times a day I watch the crane glide past my window. Sometimes it’s empty and sometimes it’s carrying an object. I’ve seen generators, wood, metal beams and at least once a week a couple of port-a-pottys. Yes, you read that correctly, port-a-pottys.

However, nothing can quite compare to the view on Monday. There were five, yes folks, five port-a-pottys flying past my window. It was a sight to behold. I was on the phone with my mom and was so distracted by the vision that she had to ask me if I was still there. Oooops. I even had to chuck a small foam ball at Marty to get her attention so that she too could see the wonder of it all.

Have you ever seen five port-a-potty fly?

Women Are Naturally Honest

2008-11-15T18:22:00.002-07:00

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "My dear child, why are you crying?" The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.

The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires. "Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked The seamstress replied, "No."

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies. "Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, "No."

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble. "Is this your thimble ?" the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, "Yes." The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, "Why are you crying?" "Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!"

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. "Is this your husband?" the Lord asked. "Yes," cried the seamstress.

The Lord was disappointed. "You lied!" The seamstress replied, "Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney. And so the Lord let her keep him.

The moral of this story is: Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others.

That's our story, and we're sticking to it.

Signed, All Us Women

What Does That Mean?

2008-11-14T13:58:00.001-07:00

So, my friend Marty and I were discussing the fact that we weren't exactly sure what the name of the new James Bond movie means. Quantum of Solace??? So, I asked my good friend Merriam Webster for a little assistance.

quan•tum
Pronunciation:
\kwän-təm\
Function: noun
1 a: QUANTITY , AMOUNT b: PORTION , PART c: gross quantity : BULK

solace
Function: noun
1 : alleviation of grief or anxiety 2 : a source of relief or consolation

So, according to Mirriam (we're tight) Quantum of Solace could mean -
Portion of Relief
Quantity of Consolation
Amount of Anxiety Relief

Since I haven't seen the movie, yet, I'm thinking that James is going to exact revenge on some bad dude as a way to have a portion of his grief alleviated. I know that I personally enjoy when I can exact some revenge. Mine usually occurs in my day dreams though because I don't have a way cool car or "mad skills" like my other BFF, James.

YIAM (Yes, I Amuse Myself)

Adventures In Bus Riding

2008-09-16T20:23:00.002-06:00

Okay, I need to preface this post with - I brought this day upon myself. You see, last night I posted a comment in Facebook about being happy that I'd be on the bus today because I had icky traffic driving home Monday night. That'll teach me...

I live about 18 miles from my main office. I'm at that office 3-4 days a week and with gas prices and my SUV I try to take a "Fast" (aka commuter bus most days. Since the weather is cooling down and the road construction is clearing up I decided to walk the 1/2 mile to the bus stop this morning. I left a skooch late and then had to quickly talk to my neighbor. Guess what, I missed my bus. So I turned around and started walking back to the house.

During my walk to the bus my daughter texted me to let me know she had left her lunch cooler at her bus stop. So, I decided to walk to her bus route and just take the Max bus (less stops than a typical bus) to the light rail. So, I trudged along back the almost 1/2 mile and then another almost 1/2 mile and up hill mind you. Just before I made it to the big intersection I see the westbound bus, I need the eastbound so I'm fine with that. I got my daughters lunch cooler - amazingly no one took it.

It arrived at the stop about 7 minutes early and the bus comes every 15 minutes. Or, well, it's supposed to. I'm listening to a book on my MP3 player and I hear a crashing sound. I turn back to look at the intersection and there was a crash. One car t-boned another. I'm not sure exactly what happened, the impact had to have been pretty good because the car that got hit on the drivers side has spun 180 degrees. Eeek! Traffic was having a hard time getting through the intersection because the cars were blocking it a bit.

Just before the bus arrived (9 minutes late I might add) several Sheriffs showed up and were able to get the least damaged car out of the intersection. I hop on the bus and should have known things weren't going to go well - it was a trainee driver. He pulls into the intersection stutters a little and then goes. Well, he apparently ran a red light and the Sheriff actually pulled us over. Just gave the driver a talking to but that added about 3 more minutes to our tardiness.

Within a few miles, the traditional bus (the route that stops every 500 feet) catches up with us. A minute or two after that the bus that should be 15 minutes behind us starts catching us. I was in a seat facing backward and was quite entertained. Eventually, we stopped picking up new riders and just let the bus 1/4 mile behind us handle that job. Then, the "trainer" started asking people where they needed to get off, she was hoping to trim some of the stops but wasn't very successful. We actually ended up getting "lapped" by the other Max bus. It arrived at the Trax (light rail) station about 2 minutes ahead of us and I missed the Trax by about... 2 minutes.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous to take the bus home tonight. I was worried that things could only continue downhill. But, my worries were unecessary. The ride home was markedly uneventful. Thank heaven!

Bathing Suits are Evil

2008-09-15T16:22:00.001-06:00

I got this from a friend and thought I'd share. Just another reason to be glad that summer is quickly coming to an end.

*********************************

When I was a child, the bathing suit for the mature figure was boned, trussed and reinforced, not so much sewn as engineered. They were built to hold back and uplift and they did a good job.

Today's stretch fabrics are designed for the prepubescent girl with a figure carved from a potato chip.

The mature woman has a choice-she can either go up front to the maternity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt, coming away looking like a hippopotamus who escaped from Disney's Fantasia or she can wander around every run of the mill department store trying to make a sensible choice from what amounts to a designer range of florescent rubber bands.

What choice did I have? I wandered around, made my sensible choice and entered the chamber of horrors known as the fitting room.

The first thing I noticed was the extraordinary tensile strength of the stretch material. The Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed, I believe, by NASA to launch small rockets from a slingshot, which give the added bonus that if you manage to actually lever yourself into one, you are protected from shark attacks as any shark taking a swipe at your passing midriff would immediately suffer whiplash. I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the shoulder strap in place, I gasped in horror - my boobs had disappeared!

Eventually, I found one boob cowering under my left armpit. It took a while to find the other. At last I located it flattened beside my seventh rib.

The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups. The mature woman is meant to wear her boobs spread across her chest like a speed bump. I realigned my speed bump and lurched toward the mirror to take a full view assessment.

The bathing suit fit all right, but unfortunately it only fit those bits of me willing to stay inside it. The rest of me oozed out rebelliously from top, bottom, and sides. I looked like a lump of play dough wearing undersized cling wrap.

As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, the prepubescent sales girl popped her head through the curtain, 'Oh, there you are,' she said, admiring the bathing suit.

I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had to show me. I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump of masking tape, and a floral two piece which gave the appearance of an oversized napkin in a serving ring.

I struggled into a pair of leopard skin bathers with ragged frills and came out looking like Tarzan's Jane, pregnant with triplets and having a rough day.

I tried on a black number with a midriff and looked like a jellyfish in mourning.

I tried on a bright pink pair with such a high cut leg I thought I would have to wax my eyebrows to wear them.

Finally, I found a suit that fit...a two-piece affair with a shorts style bottom and a loose blouse-type top.

It was cheap, comfortable, and bulge-friendly, so I bought it. My ridiculous search had a successful outcome, I figured. When I got home I found a label which read -- 'Material might become transparent in water.'

So, if you happen to be on the beach or near any other body of water this year and I'm there too. I'll be the one in cut off jeans and a t-shirt!

Summer Vacation

2008-09-15T13:00:00.000-06:00

This summer I took a little vacation with my friend, Kathy, and my daughter, Nicole. We went to Cedar City to see the Shakespeare Festival. We enjoyed seeing five plays in 3 days. On day four of our trip, we drove up the canyon to Cedar Breaks and hiked out to the point.

That's Kathy on the left and Nicole's backside on the right.

We then went on another hike to a waterfall. The water is actually coming out of an old lava tube. The photo on the left is part of the trail we hiked. As you can see, at times it was no more than an animal track on the side of the mountain. It was an adventure, but it was fun. I'm out of shape, so I kept up moving at a slower pace.

Then, after we were sufficiently sunburned, we drove to St George and saw Les Miserables at Tuacahn. Tuacahn is an outdoor theatre. The "back wall" is a large red rock bluff. It's beautiful but in July it's also quite hot.

Card Candy

2008-09-13T09:00:00.001-06:00

This is another swap I created for VC Rocks. The "candy" is adhered to a 5.5" x 8.5" sheet of transperancy film. They're adhered with glue dots. My mistake? I used major sticky glue dots so once I stuck them down there was no moving them. (hee hee) Lesson learned!

These were lots of fun to make but they were a bit of work as well. I ran out of supplies so I couldn't even make a set to keep. I plan on recreating them though, 'cause I love the way they turned out.

I used lots of different punches, and stamps and lots of dimensionals. The item in the bottom center has 1/16" holes punched into each scallop. The scallop in the top right corner has notches cut out of each scallop. The leaves were cut freehand. I first folded a strip of paper in half and ran it through the crimper diagonally. Then cut the leaf shapes and inked them to emphasize the "texture".

Recipe:

Stamps: Paisley background, Stitched background, Always, Boho Backgrounds, Little Flowers, One of a Kind

Papers: Regal Rose, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Punches: Five Petal, Scallop Circle, Large & Small tag, lots of circles (I can't remember the exact sizes)

Bookmarks

2008-09-12T17:53:00.008-06:00

This summer I joined a Stampin' Up! Yahoo group called "VC Rocks". They are a very crazy and CHATTY group of Stampin' Up! lovin' women. Part of the fun with this group was participating in swaps. Since this was my first year, I decided to be restrained and only joined two swaps. I also participated in the Virtual Hotel and made a new friend named Cheryl who lives in Virginia.

I created these bookmarks for one of my swaps. I stamped the So Swirly wheel in Tempting Turquoise on the Tempting Turquoise cardstock. I then stamped it again in Craft white, offsetting the image a little bit. This technique is called faux dry embossing. You'll have to wait a while for the craft ink to try. I then stamped the flower from Baroque Motifs into Versamark and then into Basic Gray and then sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat set the powder. The Tempting Turquoise ribbon is threaded throughthe hole and then a piece of Basic Gray taffeta ribbon was tied around it to secure it to the bookmark.

Recipe:

Stamps: So Swirly Jumbo Wheel, Baroque Motifs (flower)

Papers: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, White Craft, Basic Gray, Versamark

Other: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" inch grosgrain ribbon, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, 1/4" hole punch, clear embossing powder

Hello Big World!

2008-09-12T17:43:00.004-06:00

I've "had" this blog for a couple of years, but I never got any further than coming up with a name. So, I've decided to jump in to the land of bloggers. In the imortal words of Tommy Pickles, "Hold on to your dipeys babies we goin' in".

(In case you don't know who Tommy is, he's one of the stars of the cartoon series Rugrats. Any time they're headed into an adventure he uses this phrase. My daughter can attest that I use this phrase a lot myself.)