Monday, December 20, 2010

My Real Life Baby Doll

Fifty years ago, Santa brought me a baby doll with a wooden cradle. When my folks moved away from my childhood home, it was one of the things I chose to save. It always has a quilt or a blanket folded in it, waiting for a chilly night.
Steve, Ash and Lexie stayed over the other night in order to leave early for the airport. Steve asked me if I had anything Lex could sleep in. I couldn't think of anything and suggested just piling some blankets on the floor. He thought of the cradle in my room. At first I didn't know what he was talking about, then we went in and looked. I supposed it would work...





hehehehehe, she barely fits. I guess I have come full circle from baby doll to grand baby!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

3 x Taylor Swift's right arm = 1 of my arms.

 I know she's darling and all, but I  couldn't get this connection out of my head. Honestly, did they fotoshop her right arm to appear so skeletal!





Monday, December 13, 2010

My son, the fooze.

I need to introduce all of you readers to my wonderful son, Barry.
He has a blog named the fooze.
When he was just a little toddler, my silly-lovey name for him (do you also invent those?) was foozerfay...I know you are all thinking "where the heck did she come up with that"?
Well, as I remember, it had something to (vaguely) do with the novel Watership Down, only in that, foozerfay was a whimsical, magical, nonsensical sounding silly, lovey-name. Anyway, Barry has remembered it and used it in the more adult form of, the fooze.
The reason you need to read his blog is that he is often the family photographer, chronicling our family history. He has posted some darling pictures of my grand daughter Alexa and the rest of the family!    Since I can't find the time to write my blog lately, you can look at his for things I would post if I had time.
His writing and photos of other topics are also entertaining! And he's very handsome as his pictures show! And he's a high jumper! And I love him! So check out his blog for all the things I am too lazy/ tired/ busy to post!

Monday, December 6, 2010

A typical email that my poor friends are subjected to regularly.

 Written Sunday the 5th Dec. 2010
hey on the 22nd there's a free performance, no tickets needed, just get there 45 min early. It's at 12:15, YOU WANT TO GO WITH ME? damn caps lock!
hahaha or else I just yelled, "YOU WANNA GO WITH ME!!!!!" HAHAHA anyway, we could go to lunch, relax. let me know. Also signed up to get Sundance tickets, I'm trying to go this year, always wanted to go, better now than never! I have everything up cept one village, need to make the "frame" for it so bought the styrofoam but it's such a mess and to do it on the deck, too cold today. oh well I did get my stove cleaned, all beds finally made(from last weeks visitors) lots of shopping online and in store done.( yeah, I'm the one teaching the "Keep the Sabbath day holy" lesson in 2 weeks)
hope you had a nice rest today, that really was a generous thing to do for your ward members, you are a good person!
I am so emotional lately, saw a stray cat today in the office depot parking lot, had to struggle not to think about it and not cry, read about all the f----n pedophiles in the paper yesterday and again just felt hopeless, little boy stood up in testimony meeting and said they were getting kicked out of their trailer. He comes out to church every week by himself, he's 12, I cried and felt powerless. Then I saw this preview for a Sundance Festival movie, A Small Act and I felt better. All you can do is one small act at a time, just make sure you do them. Like you and your roasts ; )  love you, Cathy

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Finally! Grandbaby!

Until my last post, Blogger would not allow me (for some mysterious reason!) to add photos! So I had to depend on  Designergal, thefooze and Facebook to share pictures of my first grandchild. But now that "insert image" is working, here we go!

Ashlyn, being a modest, private girl, didn't want a roomful of people when delivered so we waited for "the phone call". I had just ended my school day when Steve called and told us to get down to American Fork, "she's about to have the baby!" Baby Alexa was born right after that call.
As soon as we entered the heavy, security doors, I heard her angry scream from behind the door of the birthing room, where Ashlyn and Alexa struggled with the Lactation Expert. Steve walked out of  and toward us and at that moment, with baby Alexa angrily announcing herself to the world, I just wanted to burst into tears myself.
It seemed there was a great convergence of the future meeting the past. I thought of all my progenitors. I thought of her little body, already complete with everything that would "make her Lexie". I thought of myself as a grandma. Steve was suddenly a whole new "man" person to me. More so than ever, I felt his independence from me. I know it sounds crazy, but all these thoughts, and more, flashed in my mind, in the time it took Steve to walk across the waiting area and hug me. I didn't let myself cry.
When the lactation expert finally exited the room, we were allowed in.
We greeted Ashlyn's parents and began our grinning marathon. I just could not stop marveling at her!
She was so little and perfect and I thought to myself that, surely, my babies were never that small! Were they? Of course they were, within a couple of pounds! I had forgotten how tiny a newborn is!


 Later that night, when I got to hold her, with Steve making sure I "watched her head", I was in love!

                                            I don't think it ever stops! Right, Grandmas out there?


Saturday, November 6, 2010

Fall is here!

 Golden leaves floating past the windows.
 
Plum mums blooming in the Aspens.

Windows open to mild temps.

Beautiful Fall!


Friday, October 29, 2010

A quiet night at home

Don's just in from being outta town for 3 days, so of course we are spending a quiet night at home together. Don has the remote and is flipping back and forth between these 4 choices:
College Football- West Virginia vs. Connecticut
HANNITY- with the accompanying rants, grumbles and exclamations emitting from Don.
(Is it just me or does Hannity look more like Jay Leno everyday?)
Red Dawn- I wish the Cubans would win this time, just for a change.
Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)- "It's in color!"

I'm going upstairs to watch The Education of Charlie Banks, starring the darling Jesse Eisenberg. If I close the door and turn up the volume real loud, I might drown out:
" off sides!"
"that's why I hate the damn Liberals!"
"Wolverines!"
"It's alive!"
 On a more entertaining note: Have you seen the freaky, old, Halloween pictures on the Washington Post ? Really fun! Most fun I've had all night.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sitting 'round the kidney shaped table

Alondra- "Mrs. Cann, your hair looks different today."

Me- " Oh, that's because when I took a shower this morning, the steam made it curly and I didn't straighten it."

Isaac- "Do you get a shower every morning?"

Me- "Pretty much."

Isaac (nodding) - "yeah, 'cause old people have to take a bath a lot!"

ahh, those kids!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

With the Fourth Graders

Time has been moving along at warp speed since school started. Here we are, already into October!

  Working with the 4th grade kids has been great. I love the kids I teach and get such a kick out of them!  Meeting in small groups, we sit around a kidney shaped table in close quarters. When kids sit that close to you, they get a close-up view as they, often unabashedly, study you. Last week one girl was looking at me closely and asked if I waxed my eyebrows. They often tell me I smell good. A couple of years ago, a student asked me what the bump on my lower eyelid was, prompting me to finally see an opthomologist, leading to its removal and a "not cancerous" verdict. I hadn't even considered cancer! Even from a distance, kids notice you. The other day, as I passed him in the lunch room, a Second grader told me he "liked my hair." On the other side of the spectrum, I was once told matter-of-factly that I had "a big tummy."
My job is intervention. The kids I teach are usually 2+ years behind their grade level in Reading. I see them for 30 minutes, working on mostly phonics and fluency, then I leave and go on to the next group.
 I have so much respect and appreciation for every minute their classroom teacher spends serving these kids. It is hard work, exhausting work, take home from school work.
You know how grandparents say, after spending a couple of days with the grandkids, "there's a reason you have your kids when you're young!", I think it's the same with teaching. My job is kind of like being a grandma. I don't have all 30 at a time. I'm not there, with them in the classroom, all day.I don't deal with the myriad of problems that come up in the school day. I hope that, by my small attempts to serve them, they know how much I admire and honor them. It really is, largely, a thankless profession.
The best thanks I get is when my students feel proud of themselves after presenting a Readers Theater to their class with all the giggly jitters of a broadway production, or recognize one of their vocabulary words in another book, or when one asks me why he can't come to be tutored in the morning, as well as the afternoon. After all, everyone likes to go to grandma's.
So if I complain, know that I love my job, that I'm ever grateful for it and that even with the frustrations, it is usually a great source of happiness, and purpose, for me.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Is my sandwich stale?

My good friend Red Shoes told me today, "your sandwich is stale."
"What?"
"Your sandwich is stale, you need a new post."
 Actually I'd been thinking about it on the way to school. I know getting new bras and a good samich will only carry an audience so far.
I know I need a new post but my thoughts are all over the place lately.
What I'd really like to talk about...are things I can't talk about. To let these thoughts out of their cage would open a window that I may never be able to fly back through, hurt the feelings of those written about, get me in trouble at work, show me for the judgemental, sarcastic person I am (deep inside). So, no deep revelations here, no snarky comments about other bloggers, no tell-alls about family or work.
I will say this:
I am too noisy. My husband complains that I'm "too loud" when I sleep. No, not "you snore." I BREATH too loud... Oh I'm sorry darling, I'll try not to breath. This, after all of the years I have put up with his horrendous snoring.
I am being asked to do more, for less, at work.
I am waking up with a start, around 4 in the morning, and feeling immediate anxiety for no reason. Well, we all know there's always a reason, but what is it?
I LOVE once again working with kids at school.
I am uneasy about my job and it's future, as in next year. Just a gut feeling, but still...
I need a haircut.
I have company coming from out of town and my stove is dirty, my new family room pillows are, as yet, pillow forms lined up over bolts of fabric on my family room floor. My sewing machine sits next to all of it, crying out for some action.
The desk chair is still not painted black and the shower curtain fabric is nestled amongst the "future pillows."
I have a crap load of things to do, but am not motivated. Carol, my visitor, won't care if I have a new shower curtain made.
I'm reading a terrific book, Half Broke Horses.
See? My thoughts are all over the place.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

This one is for girls only.

After getting a couple of new bras, I had a craving for a Schlotzky's.
When I was pregnant with my caboose, I lived on these sandwiches and came out of the pregnancy 15 lbs lighter than when I went in! Sitting there eating my lunch took me back to those days, they were pretty darn good. All of my other kids were in school, I wasn't working then, (at least not for pay), I'd get up, pack lunches, cook pancakes (I was the uber homemaker), clean the house (I vacuumed every day!), put in some laundry, then go shopping, volunteer at school, work on projects, take a little nap just before the kids came home... yes, the good ol' days! Not that these days also aren't pretty darn good...
Speaking of bra shopping, there is not much I dislike more than getting half nekkid in a dressing room and trying on bras. You feel so vulnerable. So I don't. I bring a bunch home and return the ones I don't want. Ladies, is there anything that feels better than a new, well fitting bra! My poor girls were gettin' no support! They'd start off okay but after a little while they'd start the inevitable downward spiral, well not really a spiral, but definitely downward. You know the Cheryl Crow song "Are You Strong Enough to be My Man"?  My bra shopping anthem is "Are you Strong Enough to be My Bra?" I want thick straps, underwires, side stays, sturdy but smooth cups and as many hooks on the back as you want to provide! THAT is not an easy thing to find! But I found a couple at Penney's and they were 25% off, to boot!
So a Schlotzky's sandwich and well supported boobies...it was a good day!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

15 Albums

My cousin just sent me a 15 Albums meme.

Okay, I'm thinking...

Let's start at the beginning.
My parents got me  little black tape recorder/player when I was 12.
It was accompanied by the latest Association cassette, with the song Cherish featured. You know, "cherish is the word I use to descri- ibe, all the feelings that I have, hiding here for you insi-ide"
While I was wild about the recorder, I wasn't, even then, a fan of soft-pop. As soon as I could save up my babysitting allowance money, I went out and bought Fresh Cream. I had a crush on the wildly red headed drummer,Ginger Baker. " I feeeeeel free!"
Deja Vu soon followed and Niel Young's Harvest, my folks said they thought Harvest was "a little too hippy.,"

During that same time, my parents were buying albums. Carole King"s Tapestry, The Tijuana Brass and Henry Mancini was always playing on the big stereo console as we readied the patio for a big family b.b.q.
1972, a boyfriend gave me Sticky Fingers for my birthday, you know, the one with the pants that unzipped and revealed a tighty whitey clad package!! Tea for the TillermanEvery Picture Tells a Story, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Summer Breeze was the soundtrack of that summer along with Let's Stay Together and Close to You.
Out of high school, Peter Frampton ALIVE!  Then the great period of California country rock began! All  Linda Rondstadt albums of the time and the Eagles, they count for 5, at least!
College years:
Homesick- listening to Court and Spark
Discovering Jazz- Touch, Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano
and I began my love affair with Steeley Dan.
I could go on and on, don't worry I won't!
What great memories these albums bring back to me! It's funny to think that this music still appeals to my essence. My tastes havent changed much in 40 years. As time goes on, I discover new sounds that I enjoy, none of them particularly "age appropriate". I really enjoy music and like to keep up with what's current. That will be harder once the last kid has left home.
Let me know what music soundtracked your earlier years!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

End of Summer

I am mourning the end of Summer
 I am distinctly feeling the approach of it's demise this year.
I spend warm nights at the table out on the deck reading or on the laptop, savoring the lovely music of the fountain and the crickets, realizing that these are seasonal pleasures that will soon come to an end.
My favorite parts of Summer were
Spending time with friends doing things we enjoy.
Reading
Completing projects in the house and yard.
Taking my kids to lunch.
Seeing new, beautiful places.
Visiting my folks.
Learning to DVR and enjoying The Fabulous Beekman Boys, when the rest of the house was asleep.
Are these activities exclusively Summertime things? 
No. But part of what makes them so precious is that, I guess I reserve them for Summer.
Because once I'm back to work, I'm tired when I get home and Saturday and Sunday are so packed full of obligations, that the fun falls by the wayside.
I have to make a better effort to organize my time so that I can enjoy the fun all through the year, especially with my friends...
and the Beekman Boys.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

My Happy Place and a sorta Summer 'Gift of the Magi'.

Therapeutically, we are often told to, "Go to your happy place". Everyone needs a "happy place".
For some, that place is hiking in the mountains, or sitting in a football stand cheering as your team runs on to the field or standing on a sandy shore listening to the crash of waves. It's different for everyone.
It's a place where you just...feel like you... a happy you. Know what I mean?

  My "happy place" is being outside, listening to live-music I love, sitting next to someone who "gets" me.

The venue doesn't really matter, although Red Butte Gardens Ampitheater is phenomenal, it's the breezes, and the black outlines of surrounding trees as darkness settles, dragonflies cruising over-head, clouds rolling by. It's the connection you feel with the artist who has traveled in a bus, albeit a very luxurious bus, overnight to come and entertain you, to share some of their most poignant thoughts with you in music. Heck, the thoughts don't even have to be poignant, I love a story about a honkeytonk  just as much as a sad tale of lost love.
I decided last Winter, that I needed to go to my happy place more often. I'm at an age and a place in my life where I am able to do more things for ME and I decided that it was time for me to start doing just that.
I watched carefully for the announcement of Red Butte's Summer concert schedule, bought a membership to get a leg up on other ticket purchasers and on the opening day, excitedly, bought 2 tickets to two shows: Mary Chapin Carpenter, a favorite of my mine and Shan's, and The Prairie Home Companion. Whoohoo!!
To make a long story short, at the end of May, I thought to myself  "Look at those tickets and see what the dates are for the concerts."
The tickets were gone. I looked in each of the three specific places where I woud have put them and they were not there. One of the places I had recently organized and I was afraid the tickets may have accidently ended up with the "throw-aways". Another place they could/should have been is where I keep the weekly grocery ads and they could have been gathered up to make room for the new ads and again, gone to the recycling bin.
Needless to say, I was devastated. The tickets were expensive and I also had the niggling, if irrational, feeling of, "Well, this is what happens when you selfishly spend money on silly things you love.." I know I am not alone on this one. Alot of us, especially moms of my age, just arent used to giving ourselves a treat.
I called Shan, sobbing into the phone, "I've lost the tickets." She could barely understand me as I was crying harder than I can remember allowing myself for a long, long time. She calmed me with a sympathetic ear asking me if maybe they could be replaced, but I knew that was impossible aside from buying more, all sales final, etc...
A couple of days later, she called to tell me that, "a friend told her that the things they send out aren't the actual tickets. You have to pick the actual tickets up with your i.d. at the ticket box previous to the concert."
"Are you sure!"
"Yes! that's what my friend said!"
I excitedly called the ticket office and, HALLELUJIA, it was true!!
NOW, for the Gift of the Magi part... I am crying as I write this...
The day after my hysterical phone call, Shan and Andrew put their heads together and decided that they would replace my Mary C.C. tickets, giving them to me for my birthday. They are a young couple without much money, but they wanted to sacrifice to make me happy, because they love me.
After buying the tickets and asking how soon they would get there, Shannon, not "her friend" was told it is a voucher that is mailed and that you pick them up with your I.D.
So, now Shan and Andrew were the proud owners of two expensive tickets AND my own two tickets were waiting for me to pick up them up.
I didn't know any of this, until she told me the story as we were driving on our way to the concert. Thankfully, they were able to sell their tickets.
Darling Shannon and Andrew, that was one of the nicest things anyone has done for me. Thank you for being so generous and caring for your old mom! I love you.

The evening was sublime and I can't wait for Prairie Home Companion!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Come with me through the garden gate...

Mid-July the garden starts to look a little...tired, overgrown.
Many of my plants are between blooming. The Morning Glory is going nuts. Everything just needs a general clean-up this time of year. I was so proud of the results of all my hard work, I took some pictures. If you click on the picture, you'll get a better view.                   
This chair and teacup planter greets you as you walk up to the front porch.
We have to go through the gate past the old metal chair and one of my watering cans. I love the old red mailbox on the fence. Too bad the Bleeding Heart isn't in bloom.
I love sunfaces and little bits of garden whimsy like the big wire bee.
I got this brick from an old farm they tore down and the bench from a yardsale.
The planter is an old "topless" table I found in a junk pile.
 

We found the old pipe when we were roto-tilling the garden when  we first moved in.
I made these concrete orbs, I'll do a tutorial sometime.
Hostas in the damp, shade. Want to gaze into the future?
I found the old bike back when I used to have time to scavenge.
I love it! Ditto, the old window frame.
I sit out here, just about every Summer night, reading, writing, listening to the fountain.
One of the baskets hanging from the railing. They are ALWAYS thirsty!
The view from the yard, west to the Ochre Mtns. I love it!
 I wish we could all sit down on the adirondacks and have some lunch, laughs and cold drinks together. But for now, the walk will have to suffice. I hope you are all enjoying your own yards and all other summer pleasures, this year!

Friday, July 23, 2010

I been sick


Man! Sorry it took me soo long to get back to the jury duty tale.
I went down to visit my folks for a couple days and the night I got back, "the pains" started.
"The Pains" : noun   See- moderate, turning to sharp stabbing, turning to someone is twisting my innards with the pincers of Hell.
"The Pains", right over my Pubic bone/bladder area.
Woke up the next morning with "The Pains". Went out to work in the yard a little and all of the sudden had no energy whatsoever and could feel the chills creeping up on me. I came in and went to bed, after I drank about a gallon of water.
I slept all day, waking briefly to drink and pee. No pain upon peeing ( SORRY, urinating). Hmm, isn't that usually what happens, with what I was assuming was a bladder infection? Doesn't one usually feel as if they are pee urinating razor blades?
That night "the pain" moved down to include my left side. I realized that no amount of sleep and water were going to fix this.
Thursday, I called early for an appt.
Doc said it sounds like Diverticulitis.
"You win a catscan!" he cheerfully announces.
He has me give a urine sample. OMG, from the looks of what I have filled the cup with, I should already be dead! When he sees the printout, he silently laughs, shaking his head.
"That is the angriest bladder I have ever seen!"

So... definitely bladder infection. Find out Monday about the Diverti....
After 24 hours on 2 different horse-pill antibiotics, I feel much better, although the lower left side is still  tender, reminding me every now and then that "you ain't got rid o' me yet! watch out!"

So, on to Jury Duty Free!

Well, I've kinda lost my zest for the rest of the story.
Suffice it to say:
After trying to call several girlfriends with no answer, I called my brother in law, Brent, who works downtown. He walked down to meet me at one of my favorite places, Gourmandise Bakery and we had a yummy lunch. He's good company!
We both commented on how much we had enjoyed my niece's travelogue emails, since she has been in Paris. I told him that I was afraid the only way I was going to see Europe was by movie.We parted ways with that thought and a rumball purchased for a movie treat.
I walked to the "Art house" theater, where I saw "I am Love" a VERY artsy movie, subtitled in English, with a lot of nude Tilda Swinton. It was set in Milan and some other place, beautifully Mediterranean, around Nice.  I felt that I had experienced quite a lovely, little taste of Italy, Tilda not withstanding.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Jury Duty

Monday began my term of Jury duty. I had to call each night to see if I was needed the next day and, BINGO, Monday night I received my marching orders.

Tuesday morning I boarded Trax to go up to the courthouse. I like to take TRAX, it's an adventure for me! I know that anybody who takes it every day would disagree, but I just get a small rush buying the ticket, getting on the train, people watching, listening for my stop and graffiti watching ( I can appreciate it when it's well done).  I guess it doesn't take much to entertain me, but it's the novelty of it that I love.

When I got to the courthouse, I sat in a small room filled with 20 other people. Down the row from me sat a woman with sea-green glitter toenails that were grown out about half way. Eeuw! The older man on my left had a white goatee and ponytail. His name was Fritz or Gustav or Hans...something Germanic. The young man on my right never stopped reading his scriptures. He looked neither to the right nor the left, well, on his left was the wall so I can understand that, but still, every time I had to hand him a form, I had to put it right under his nose to get him to notice. He was also chewing gum with his mouth open. It sounded like a soggy, wind-up alarm clock rhythmically ticking away.

They finally called us to line up on the stairs to enter the courtroom. I was standing one step above a cute, tan, 40-ish , blond woman. She was texting with someone back and forth. I happened to glance down as she opened a text, "hurry home Im horny". I swear I wasn't eavesdropping! I just happened to glance down and there he was! Her husband? Boyfriend? Newlyweds? A text from my husband would be more like, "you left your curling iron on again! You're gonna burn the house down damnit!" or my friend's husband would probably say, "Are you gonna be able to fix my lunch? I'm real hungry."
Of course, I guess I shouldn't assume her text-er was a man... It was one of a couple of assumptions I made that day.

We entered the court room. On the left sat two young male lawyers, one better looking and more stylishly dressed than the other. Plain lawyer is introduced as an intern. On the right sat two young lawyers, one of them a young, Hispanic woman with an ornate tattoo on her ankle, the other a young white guy. Next to them slouched an angry looking, 20something kid in a pair of worn, baggy jeans, dirty, old tennis shoes and a use 'da been white t-shirt that had seen better days. He had a big bottle of coke next to his feet on the floor.
I'm thinking, hmmm? Drugs? Theft? As my imagination is working, the judge announces, "This is a Domestic Violence case..."  Ahh! Yes. I can see it now. Some poor little white trash girl, getting beat up in the single-wide cause she took the TransAm without asking...

The Judge starts asking us qualifying questions and ask us to raise our hand if we agree.
*Do you think someone might be afraid to report Domestic Violence?
I raise my hand.
*Do you think someone might not want to prosecute someone they have had arrested because of Domestic Violence?
Again I raise my hand.
*Do you think someone might not show up to testify because they have been threatened? I raise my hand to the affirmative.
I get it! That's why the lawyers on the left don't have anyone slouching on their side! Oh you poor little thing. OR maybe she's lying! Maybe she didn't show up to infer he threatened her! Maybe...? My imaginative reverie is interrupted.
*Do you think Domestic Violence should be prosecuted any differently between same sex couples?
Of course not! My hand is not raised.

WAIT! What the...??

That guy is gay! Geez! His lawyers must have told him to dress like the Anti-Gay!

I am not chosen for duty and feel an odd let-down, like I wasn't invited to someone's birthday party. Someone I didn't even like very much anyway.
Cute, blond lady is invited and takes her seat with the three other jurors, including HansGustavFritz AND the toenail lady!

I imagine blond lady sending a text, "Here for the long haul, take a cold shower"


Next: Having Served my Term, I Enjoy my Freedom!

Monday, July 12, 2010

This made me laugh

My friend Marla posted this on Facebook, a spunky old gal talking about style. I answered I didn't think I had any style, but I expect my movie stars to have it!

Doesn't she look awful! Bust too small, hips look huge! Granny sandals with dress too short. Lanky hair, no make-up, no accessories... Maybe she remembered, at the last minute, she was supposed to be at an awards show.
At first, I thought that was Tom Cruise beside her! hehe, Sorry Tom. You're probably taller than Daniel Radcliff and you WERE adorable in Knight and Day.
Well! that bit of snark was just what I needed!
I have jury duty tomorrow, first time ever! I'll let you know if anything exciting happens

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Versatile Blogger

My daughter Shannon has awarded me this very auspicious title and has challenged me to share " 7 Little-Known Things About Me". Thanks, Shan! I'll try to do my versatile best, exercising all of my versatility!

1. I have lived in 5 different states: California, Utah, Washington, Texas and Arizona; all for Don's jobs in Media Sales. We've lived in Utah now for 21 years, almost as long as all of my years in my birthplace of El Monte, California.

2. I was, first, an Art Major in college, but had my hopes smashed when my BYU watercolor professor told me he thought I was best suited to teach Junior High Art. Ouch! That was back in my young, "those who can't, teach" days. I didn't know exactly what I was expecting to do with a BFA, but I knew it didn't involve Jr. High kids! I went home for the Summer, started teaching Children's Sunday School, loved it and changed my major. I graduated with an Elementary Ed. Major and an Art Minor.

3. I like to sleep in messy sheets. I like to really nestle into them so drafts can't find me. To accomplish this, on my side of our king size bed, I have a full sized sheet under the shared sheet. The extra sheet is tucked in with the extra yardage gathered at the foot of the bed. You can't see it when the bed is made, it doesn't look lumpy or anything!

4. I was a sleepwalker and still talk in my sleep occasionally. Once when I was a teenager I actually went outside, sleepwalking! I woke up as I reentered my house and it scared the beegeezuz outta me!

5. I love sour things like dill pickles, capers, olives, sauerkraut... I LOVE Chicken Piccata/Scallopini!

6. I've always wished I looked like Anne Archer.

7. The tiny green light on the smoke alarm, the tiny blue light on the phone charging and the lights on the VCR all bother me at night. I have to cover them up...weird, I know.

Well, there are my 7 Little-Known Facts. I'm weirder than I thought!

Monday, June 28, 2010

I'm Baa-ack


Last week was spent with my husband and 2/4ths of our kids, in a Honda CRV, crisscrossing the land between Yellowstone and South Dakota. The most American of vacations, the road trip is "see the USA in a Chevrolet" kind of fun. In fact, when I read that 1960's slogan, a picture forms in my head of a family: Mom in capri pants, a string of pearls adorning her crisply starched peter pan collar; Dad smoking a pipe, hair Brylcreamed into a perfect wave above is forehead; 2 children, a boy and a girl, both with a spray of freckles across their cheeks, bright-eyed with the excitement of "seeing the USA in a Chevrolet" and the joyful anticipation of riding in a 72 sq. foot space for hours on-end with people they love and can't get away from!

We got into West Yellowstone and were unable to check into our hotel until later. When we finally went back to check in, they explained that we were actually booked into the "annex" just around the corner...OMG.

This picture doesn't really do it justice. It was like the the Bates hotel meets a serial killer's knotty pine hide-away. I loved the ingenious way they "updated" the bathroom, in 1972 or so, by building a formica counter top around the wall sink. And what a touch of class the truckstop style soap dispenser adds! After dropping off our luggage, it was decided over dinner that we just could not stay there and we began an earnest, and ultimately successful, search for a new place.

The next morning we began our 3 day Yellowstone adventure.

















We had dinner at the Lake Lodge. Very, very lovely and delicious. We joked that it looked like something out of 'The Shining'. When Don asked where the bathroom was, I told him to look for the creepy twins at the end of the hall.










On to Montana, Pictograph Cave State Park. These ancient cave drawings reminded me of the trendy "Ugly Dolls" that are so popular now. Fantastic images!

I LOVED the terrain of the pictograph caves, the quiet with meadowlarks and crickets providing the soundtrack for viewing the grand arches and
primitive artwork.









The Hampton Inns are our favorite places to stay, always nice, with the required free breakfast. But there were other little hotels, that were nice with a friendly, homey feeling, especially one in Cody. Their clean rooms and colorful hanging flower baskets and pots surrounding cute bistro sets showed the owners took a lot of pride in their place.
We saw so much, I won't bore you with more pictures, but Devil's Tower, Rushmore, Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse..the Black Hills are all so gorgeous. There is just soo much to see and so many pictures to take. If you haven't been to Yellowstone and East to S. Dakota, go!
I want to go again, someday!
Should we make it a girl's road trip!