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!

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

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!

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!

2000+ Visitors, yeah!

Yippee! Woohoo!
Since I added the nifty Statcounter, I have been waiting and watching for the 2000th visitor to my blog and today, when I logged in, I was at 2011!!
2011 visitors since I added the gizmo sometime in the Spring.
2011 visitors and about 65 comments.
hmmm, I'm no mathematician, but my Windows calculator tells me that's only a 3% comment rate.
Guess your just a reserved bunch.
Or my posts are too boring to elicit a response - "oh geez! Not another boring anecdote about Cathy's so-called life."
Or most of you land on my blog accidentally - "Dang, I was tryin' to find out about the care and feedin' of my doggone acanthus plant and I end up on some gal's diary!"
Or you're offended by my political opinions - " That woman is a liberal nutcase whose ideas are not worth the time taken to write a comment!"
Or,
You're just a reserved bunch!
Anyway, thanks to all for stopping by, accidentally or not.

A Trip to see the Folks

I left this morning to visit my mom and dad in Hurricane. After forgetting my phone and having to turn back, and then spilling a drink down my "fresh from the cleaners" jacket, I was on the road!
I love solo road trips.
With the temperature set just as I like it and the radio tuned to Saturday morning NPR, I drove as fast as I wanted with Peter Sagal and Carl Kassel, Tom and Ray and Ira Glass as my traveling companions. They kept me quite entertained, never telling me to "watch my speed", "turn up the air" or "watch out for that truck".
All of the rain that we have had lately has provided a verdant, green, beautiful landscape! Black cattle and white sheep dotted the fields, while low hanging clouds skimmed the foothills. It was such a treat to watch the landscape, looking even more lovely than usual, roll by as I drove.
The red rocks came into view as I traveled further south. Fluffy, white clouds floated on flat bottoms, like meringues in a bright blue soup. It was such a pretty sight! The mesas were bright apricot and plum and the temperature, which had been in the fifties, rose to the seventies. I opened the sun roof, just reveling in the moment.
After visiting with my folks for a while, they had visitors come over and I excused myself and decided to blog about my lovely drive. Thunder boomed, lightening flashed and it began hailing, big penny sized hail!
Wow, it was really coming down in a deluge! I love a crazy storm and I watched out the window as it came down, noticing my car parked out front...
the Sun Roof!!!
The next day, I took my mom into St. George for her chemo. It was nice to be with her as she got her blood work and picc line readied. I dropped her off for the actual hour and a half of chemo and ran some errands, including a trip to one of my favorite stores Urban Renewal where I bought some wonderful old linens...now to get the stains out!
Mom comes out of her treatments feeling pretty good, the effects of the poison coursing through her veins isn't felt for a couple of days, then it kicks in and she feels a "little" sick and a "lot" tired. Her white hair is still hanging on and is as beautiful as ever. After her treatment, we went to Olive Garden for soup and salad. It tasted so good to her as she had not been able to eat fresh fruits or veggies since last treatment because of her low white cell count. Poor mom, she loves fresh food and was really tiring of canned goods, so it was a real treat to have some salad at last! The treat for me was just being at lunch with my mom!
On my way home, I thought how grateful I am to be able to make these visits. I often think of all the circumstances that allow me to do so and I am thankful: Thankful for my car, my job that provides money and the summer off to visit more often, my health, our proximity to each other, still having my wonderful parents and a hundred other things!
I'm very lucky or blessed, however you prefer to think of it, I am grateful!

Paris, P.F.Chang's and pretty niece, Kelly

My niece recently left for a few weeks in Paris.
I know, I know... life is hard all over!
I really am happy for her, and actually feel like I am visiting Paris,vicariously through her!

We had a Bon Voyage party for her. Kelly, her mom Cheryl, my daughter Shan and I, went to P.F. Changs for dinner the week before she left. It's one of our favorite places to eat too much, laugh and talk too loudly, and have way too good a time.

Had you been sitting at the next table, here are some of the gems you may have overheard.

Cheryl- "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and take off my bra...does anyone have a big purse?"

All- "Europe, You're up, You're up..". (guess you had to be there)

Darling Second grade teacher/waitress- "Would you like to order some dessert?"
All- "of course!"
Me- "We could share the chocolate cake!"
Cheryl- "ALL of us?! We'll look like lions at the kill!"

Kelly, a dessert lover, bemoaned the demise of Mimi's chocolate pecan pie-
"When I heard they weren't making it any more I bought three pieces. I ate two and..."
I interjected - "then she varnished the last piece to worship at her dessert altar."


The waitress, who cracked-up everytime she came to the table, brought us our chocolate cake, along a free piece of cheesecake! She delivered the bill, laden with fortune cookies. The bill and cookies rested on a black paper decorated with Chinese calligraphy.
I said to no one in particular, "I wonder what this says?"
The waitress answered in a Chinese accent, "you owe me for the cheesecake." She got a good tip!

It was a fun night! Keep the travelogues coming, Kelly!