Up to Speed

Expecting

2012-01-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

My 19 year old niece is moving in with me in less than a week. I am excited, but also very nervous. I haven't had any one live with me since my last foriegn exchange student and that has been quite a while. I'm worried about:

will she like my music? can I listen to my music when I want anymore?
will there be a problem with me being able to sleep after work?
will there be a problem with food when I am on the diet?
will she be miserable and homesick?
will she make friends?
will I make her crazy pushing her to do things?
will she enjoy my company?
will we have fun together?
will she like my friends?
how will she do with my crazy animals?
will she be bored?

And it goes on and on. I'm sure we can work it all out, but I want it to be a good life experience for her. I hope I can just scoop her up into my life and off we go. Not sure it will work that way though......

Behavioral Health Queens

2012-01-09T04:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes at work we wear tiaras, so people know that when we are working the beharioral health desk we are queens.

Free Day

2011-12-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

Several months ago, I read an article in the newspaper about freebies you could sign up for your birthday. I went on line and signed up for all of them. So this week I have been cashing in on them. I started off this morning at QT with a free cup of hot cocoa and a breakfast sandwich. These freebies weren't really for my birthday. They were for liking them on facebook or doing an email survey for them.
Then Lezlee and I went to a movie. I had a free movie ticket for doing a customer satisfaction survey for Walgreens. In the movie, I had a free popcorn voucher and was able to get a soda for a dollar with my Harkin's cup.
We met my friend, Cindy and her Father in law for lunch at Cucina Tagliani's. I had a free dessert from them for my birthday. That is one of my favorite places and I was part of their loyalty program for a long time. We had the pumpkin bread pudding split four ways. Perfect!
Then Lezlee and I went out on the Arab Horse Farm tour. Also free.
I had dinner with my friend Juanita. We went to Lone Star to use my free appetizer coupon for my birthday. Juanita then picked up the tab. That wasn't part of the plan, but it did fit with the theme of the day.
Then finally, I wanted to see Hugo before it left the theatres, so went to one more movie. I used a free movie ticket I had gotten from work.
Lots of free fun packed into one day!

Arab Horse Farm Tour

2011-12-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

I love horses. I haven't owned one in many years, but I still love to see them and be around them. I read in the paper that some of the fancy schmancy Arab Horse Farms in North Scottsdale were having some tours/open houses over the next four days. I went to one this afternoon with my friend Lezlee.

The barn was huge beautiful and amazing. The horses there are all nationally ranked competitive horses. There were beautiful to look at. We walked around and admired them, fed a few of them carrots and petted them. I don't know if it was Lezlee's perfume or what, but several of them really were sniffing at Lezlee and nuzzling her. One decided they wanted to take a bite of her coat. I have to say it was pretty funny. We had trouble getting her coat out from between his teeth, but we finally succeeded.

Here are some of the showy beauties.

I think of arabs as the show girls of the horse world. They can be pretty flashy. After walking around they had a demo and put of few of their champions through their paces. They rode in all different styles and also showed in arab costume and at halter. They were beautiful to see.

They told us that most show horse have about 5 or 6 years of an active show career. There was one stallion that was a legend that they were happy to share with us. His name is Shameless and he has been actively showing and winning national championships since he was 2. He is now 19. He was awesome! This is him.

This is an annual event. You should check it out sometime. And best of all, it's all free!

Other Fun things in Vegas

2011-12-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

While in Vegas with Edith. We went to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I really enjoyed it,but my photos didn't turn out that great. Here are a few. Above is a Komodo Dragon. I had never seen one before, and apparently this is a younger guy because he is not as big as they get. They can get to 300 lbs!

This is a tree skink. He looks a lot like the Geico Gecko.

A Thai Crocodile.

And I love looking a t tanks full of jelly fish. They are pretty amazing to look at to me.
We also went to an art exhibit. We did a session at the Las Vegas Temple. That was really nice.

We went to two Cirque Du Soliel shows, Ka and Viva Elvis. Ka was my favorite and the Elvis one was Edith's favorite.

And we saw and ate a lot of amazing food!

I have to say, I don't think inexpensive food exists at the nice hotels anymore. The buffet at our hotel was 29$ for dinner and 17$ for breakfast. We didn't do that. We ate a couple of meals at our hotel, but other than that, we ate off the strip at regular places.

We had a grand time though. Lots to do even if you don't gamble! We even hit the outlet mall on the way out of town.

Vegas at Christmas time!

2011-12-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

So! I pretty much work nights all of Christmas eve, Christmas day, etc. But you know, I am not going to let that stop me from having some fun this time of year. Last summer, I saw a little tidbit in the paper advertisingt a special at the MGM Grand. If you booked a 3 night stay by Aug. 16th, they would throw in show tickets for one of seven shows. I had been wanting to go up and see one of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, so it sounded like a great deal to me. I checked the prices on line and by going mid week, we were able to get a room for about 69$ a night. Plus show tickets that were worth about 150$. So I thought this would be a great time to go.

My friend Edith said she would come so plans were made and off we went. The lobby of our hotel was beautifully decorated. Lots of gold, silver and red roses.
We were able to see the holiday decorations at several hotels. But the most fabulous was the atrium at the Bellagio. They use all plant products like the Rose Bowl Parade floats. It was stunning.

So many different types of Poinsettias and cyclamens made up the base. Jets of water. Arches, trees, penguins and polar bears.

This "card" backdrop was really cool. It was hard to get a photo of because so many people were taking their picture in front of it. Again it was all made of plant materials.

There were three carnation covered polar bears with ice covered trees behind them.

And ice skating penguins.

And a train went around this polar bear.

We got to see a lot of beautiful Christmas decorations!

Oatmeal part 2

2011-12-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

I did a blog on Oatmeal earlier this year. I recently got an email from Bob's Red Mill with some fun suggestions on things to add to your oatmeal. The savory ideas were interesting. I never thought of them. I will have to try them. Here they are:

• Add nut butter (peanut, almond, etc) or an egg to your cereal to boost flavor and protein and really kick start your day with a breakfast that will fuel you until lunch.

• Add some flaxseed meal, chia seed, hemp seed or pumpkin seed to increase your fiber and omega-3 intake to support a healthy heart.

• Fresh, frozen or dried fruit also make a great addition to boost flavor and add vitamins and antioxidants.

• Add a few tablespoons of canned (or fresh) pumpkin for a decadent, holiday-themed breakfast. Pumpkin is loaded with Vitamin A, Potassium, Zinc and protein, making it a great addition to a whole grain breakfast.

• Adding a sprinkle of cinnamon to your cereal will help stabilize your blood sugar, not to mention that a little cinnamon can add a big flavor boost.

• Take it savory! Try this: add shredded cheese, sliced green onions, a dash of salsa and top with an egg for delicious and healthy Mexican dish.

Enjoy! Makes you think of other things you could do with it.....Maybe left over yams, adding some cooked acorn squash and cinnamon..

What do we really think of America?

2011-11-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to speak at length to a physician who was a native of Pakistan but had been in this country for the last 15 years. It was a really interesting conversation. Especially with the sticky situation we have had with Pakistan as a country.

I asked him if he would ever go back "home" to live. He said no, that this is home. His wife is also from Pakistan, but their children have all been born here. He loves Pakistan, but is very passionate about the United States and all the reasons it's a great country. And his reasons are ones that I think we take for granted. At least I know I do.

He said we have so much opportunity here. That truly people can get an education her, if they are motivated. And with that education can really change their lives. He said that where he is from, people are so incredibly hungry for an education that they go to any lengths to obtain one. He said he did some of his training in Newark, N.J. and was shocked to find people seemingly content to stay in reduced circumstances and not really striving to change. He said that we are so used to opportunity here, that we take it for granted.

He said it was also amazing to him how diverse our cultures were within the country and yet we were all still united as Americans. He has worked with the Amish, people in inner cities, Indian reservations and in spite of all of our differences, we can all be united. I like that a lot. Unity can do almost anything.

Another point that he made,was that a child can show up in an emergency room and have injuries. This child has no voice and cannot speak up and protect themselves. He said the fact that there is an agency in the government that will step in, investigate and protect this individual with no voice is really amazing. When he tells people back in his home country of this, they are amazed. Again, it never occured to me to think of CPS or Adult Protective Services as truly unique.

I was very moved by our conversation and felt very grateful for my country. And as I am trying to pay special attention to gratitude this month, I thought it fitting to say something about it. What are you grateful for in our country or your country?

LA County Coroner's Office

2011-11-20T20:07:00.000-08:00

So...One night when Cindy and I were driving back and forth to our hotel, I saw a sign that said LA County Coroner's Office. I said "Hey, I remember reading once that the Coroner's office has a gift shop!" Cindy called her girl's and Roxanne looked it up on line for us. Sure enough in a Wild and Wacky LA post, she found that it was true. She gave us their info.

So the next morning we went to check it out. It was a complete hoot. First of all we passed some other people going in. We thought, they can't be here for anything good, so we better not make eye contact, smile or say good morning. The offices and area where the gift shop is, is in the old LA County General Hospital. It 's a kind of cool old building. Inside the receptionist dude wasn't quite sure about the gift shop and if it was open. The door wasn't 10 feet from where he was sitting. Hmmm

In one corner of the lobby was the "Notification Room". Cindy saw a sign that said something like be sure and be respectful of people who were here for notifications. Yeek.

Then we got inside the gift shop. What a hoot. Dark humor, trading off of the popularity of the whole CSI genre. Tshirts, aprons, door mats, etc. Saying things like," we are dying for your business" or "we have spare hands, spare hearts and spare ribs" . Shirts with body outlines on them. There was a sign that said Shoplifters Kin will be notified. HAH! I got a tshirt from the coroner's sport team. It has a running skeleton on it and it says Play hard or die Trying. Cute.

It was really a fun stop. Who knew?

Griffith Park Observatory

2011-11-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

On Sunday last week, Cindy and I went to Church.In the afternoon, we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. It was on my list of notable places in LA that I should visit and hadn't. It is a very well known landmark and has been in several movies, especially a James Dean movie. When reading about it, parking was said to be very limited. So we decided to take one of the hiking trails up and hike there. This is what the lower part of the park looks like. Very shady, green and lots of trees. Quite pleasant. The trail was very definate, but there wasn't any signs and so we asked someone to make sure we were on our way to the Observatory. The lady said, yes you CAN get there this way, but it's far and very steep. Cindy and I looked at each other. Like how far? Cindy asked. The lady said a couple of miles. Ah, we thought, no problemo.

After the first short bit of trail in the trees, it opens up to a more natural vegetation in the area. It was a cool day, in the afternoon, so we were good. This is what it looks like from our approach. It WAS steep, but within our capabilities. I stopped a few times to catch my breath. There were amazing views as we went. It was a clear day, no smog and you could see clear to the ocean in one direction and to the San Gabriel mountains and Palm Springs to the other.

The Hollywood sign was not as close as it looks. I was using a bit of my zoom lens. But we were in the vicinity.

Almost to the top!

The San Gabriels with a dusting of snow.

Once there, you could climb up to several different levels. This is the roof.

There is the ocean, past downtown.

Looking South and slightly east.

It was free to go inside and there were several exhibits. The only thing you have to pay for is if you go to one of the planetarium shows.

There were some beautiful murals and ceiling paintings.

A memorial to James Dean.

View across the front lawn.

This guy was just a photo op waiting to happen. He and his buddies got a laugh out of my wanting to take his picture.

The trail starting back down.

This was our dinner stop for the night. I had been wanting to try one of the many food trucks we saw.

The front of the planetarium. It was a fun afternoon!

The Wierd Al Concert

2011-11-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

The whole impetus for the trip to LA was the Wierd Al Concert at the Pantages Theatre. I had gotten an email advertising tickets back in August. I thought, that just sounds like a good time. I bought a single ticket for myself and planne to go, but started talking about it to see if anyone else was up for it. My friend Cindy jumped on the bandwagon. She bought a ticket up in the balcony and I was on the end seat of the second row.

The Pantages is an awesome theatre. It is really over the top Art Deco and old Hollywood. The Oscars used to be held there. I was afraid that cameras wouldn't be allowed and left mine at home. I wish I had brought it, because it was ok as long as you didn't use a flash or take video. I had to use my cell phone and it takes lousy pictures.

I have to say that the show really exceeded my expectations. He was very funny. He had a wardrobe change for every song. There were video clips and interviews. He did a whole segment just on food songs, La-la-lasagna, and my bologna. Very Funny.

Here he is dressed like a tour guide at the jungle cruise ride in Disneyland.

Party in the CIA.

There were flames all over this suit.

Perform this Way. Parody of Lady Gaga.

He did an encore of his Star Wars song to the tune of American Pie. It is hilarious.

And at the end of the show, the star wars guys were out front and you could get your photo taken with them.

I think I am taller than this star war guy.

Cindy took this photo at the beach earlier in the day.

Saturday in LA and the Fabric District

2011-11-16T21:53:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning of our LA trip, Cindy and I started out the morning at Huckleberries in Santa Monica. I had read about this restuarant in an article and thought it would be a fun place to go have a nice breakfast. At first it didn't look like there was a line and I thought we had lucked out. But the line just went out the backdoor instead of the front. They had an interesting system. It was a small place, but you ordered at the counter and they gave you a number. You weren't allowed to snag a table until you had ordered and had a number. It somehow seemed to work and everyone ended up with a table. They had a really interesting menu. Not really your typical breakfast foods. This is a photo of my order, two poached eggs on oven roasted vegetables with pesto. It was brussel sprout leaves, mushrooms, onions and garlic. It was really very tasty and pretty good for you.

This was Cindy's. Two fried eggs on quinoa with kale and butternut squash. All superfoods! Of course they had an amazing bakery case too. We probably undid any good we did, by having some fabulous baked good too.

We planned to then have a nice walk on the beach. We did make it to the beach, but the weather wasn't being very cooperative. It was windy and the surf was booming in, which was kind of fun. But then it started raining pretty good. We decided discretion was the better part of valor and gave up on the beach.

We then went to our first time ever at the fabric district! LA has these amazing shopping districts in the downtown area. This was my first foray into them and definately not my last! It is mainly for wholesalers and manufacturers, but they sell retail too. It looks like a combination of an indoor mexican swap meet and the Mood fabric store in New York. There are bolts of fabric, trim, buttons, lace, beads, jewelry supply, notions, ribbons, craft supplies...you name it, everywhere. Some places are really clean and organized, others not so much. It was overwhelming to the senses. I didn't have any plan for anything I needed, but found a few things I decided I could use for different projects. Cindy got fabric to reupholster her patio furniture. And did I mention the prices? They are super loooow and in a lot of places you can bargain down even further.

I did buy some really nice designer fabric in Michael Levine (the cadillac shop) that wasn't exactly cheap. I am assuming it was less than somewhere else, but I'm not enitrely sure.

After a while it was hard to absorb it all.

Some places only took cash.

It is a busy, busy scene with all kinds of things happening up and down the street. The different districts spill into each other, fabric, garment, flower, toy, accessories, jewelry, etc. We went back on Monday morning and got some amazing deal on accessories (hairbands, watches, jewelry, ties, suspenders, purse).

We went a little bit into the flower district and got some really beautiful flowers for our hotel room. We also got a few great houseplants. Very healthy and inexpensive.

Our flowers!

We are very excited to back another time. Especially with a plan of specific things we want to buy for! I have never seen anything quite like it. Go go go!

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

2011-11-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

Cindy and I went on a long weekend trip over to the Los Angeles area. We got there on Friday and had scheduled a tour at the Warner Brother's studio. Before starting the tour we had lunch at the oldest surviving Big Boy Resturant. They even had some limited Car Hop Service. Here is Cindy with the Big Boy himself. It was a popular spot. We had to wait for a table.

Then we took our 2 and a half hour tour of Warner Brothers Studios. I learned a lot! First off, this huge studio has been the home of countless movies and television shows. Did you know Friends is the most popular show ever? It is showing somewhere in the world 24 hours a day. Did you know I've never watched a complete Friends episode? Did you know Friends was never filmed in New York? It was all filmed right here except for segment in England.

Here are two well known Warner Brothers stars taking their hats off to greet us.

This is called an undressed set. It doesn't have all the details that make it look real, including door knobs,etc. But this little alley is the very spot where Spiderman kissed his girlfriend when he was hanging upside down. The fire escapes behind is where the big number with the the orphans from Annie took place. They can make these sets look like anywhere in anytime period. It's pretty amazing how little there really is to them. All kinds of folks rent the spaces at the studio to film.

This is lagoon where fantasy island was filmed. It's right next to "Walton's Mountain" and the Mountain from the opening scenes of MASH. It was also the jungle from Juraissaic Park.

The costume shop.

Part of the Star Waggons they use for makeup, dressing etc.

This is a dressed set. The town square was set up for one series on one side of the street and a completely different place and time on the opposite side of the street.

All the Sound stages had plaques on them commerating the movies and series that had been filmed in them. This is the set where friends was filmed, along with many others. Friends makes the stars like 23 million a year in residuals.

This is the largest sound stage in the world. It was used for A Perfect Storm. They put the water and ship and everything in there. It was used for Inception. They built the whole Asian Palace inside. It costs 10,000 $ a day to rent. Steven Speilberg puts it on hold whenever he wants it.

This is a close up of the mattress like padding inside the walls. The sound is just kind of dead inside.

ONe of the digitized backdrops they use to simulate a skyline. They stretch it out like a shower curtain and have lights showing through some of it.

Part of the huge shop where they make sets and props.

This was the car museum and Scooby Doo's van. We were able to take photos in here, but later went to the museum and we weren't allowed to take photos in there. All the Harry Potter movies were done here and the whole second floor of the museum is devoted to Harry Potter. It's pretty cool to see some of the costume's props and monsters. I even got sorted by the orginal sorting hat.

Harry Potter and the car from the movie.

Duke's of Hazzard car, car from Arthur, car from Matrix. Austin Power's car is just barely visible. They had a set saved from Friends and we were able to get our photo taken on the couch!

The huge prop building is really amazing. It really helps you realize why it takes so many people to plan and organize a movie. Again, people come from all over to use the things at Warner Brothers. They determine the rental value as a percentage of the monetary value. The Warner Brother's wives went all over the world to buy things to use in the movies. They also used them freely in their homes. They have the largest collection of thrones in the world here.

Some of the lights.

It was really fun. And they even took our photo in front of a green screen that turned out to be the Hogwart's Express and then gave it to us!

Evening Bliss

2011-11-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Belated Birthday Cake for Cecelia

2011-11-03T15:39:00.001-07:00

Monument Valley on the Fly

2011-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

I did a big trip around the Navajo and Hopi Reservations last week with 3 physicians. 3 days, 9 facilities. It was long days, but a productive trip. Two of the three physicians had never been in the area before. We were in the vicinity of some amazing scenery and I hadn't for those who had never been there to not see anything. But we were on a tight schedule. So I let them have very quick peeks at some amazing places. One of those was Monument Valley. It is an amazing place and truly no photo can do justice to the feel, majesty and ambiance of the place. But here are a few anyway.

The Navajos have opened a beautiful hotel right at Monument Valley called the View. Every room has a balcony that overlooks the valley. It would really be an amazing place to stay and I hope to one day. This is the chimmney stack of the fireplace in the main lobby.

The two mittens.

Balconies overlooking the valley.

The three sisters.

I think they were getting ready to take a load of tourists for a ride, but looked like this guy was just posing for us.

The 3 brothers in front of the 3 sisters.

Me, the time keeper!

Baby Photos

2011-10-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

When Anna was a little girl, I used to occasionally baby sit for her and her siblings. Her parents were and are good friends of mine. Now, so many years have gone by, that my little Anna has a little Cora all of her own. They live up near Logan, Utah but are in town for a visit. It was a delight to get to see them both and to meet Cora for the first time. She is 6 months old. She had an eventful start in life that I got to hear about.

Cora looks just like her momma and her momma looks just like HER momma. Genes are interesting.

I got to have a few cuddles too.

Holiday Gift Idea- Produce Club

2011-10-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Problem: I have been trying to be better about giving gifts that people can use up. It seems as if most people have all the "stuff" they need. So I try to give food, a book, music, gift card...something that gets used up.

So last year, as I was thinking about it, I know the fruit of the month club is a really nice idea. The companies that do it charge a fortune though. So I decided I would come up with my own. People get a lot of sweets around the holiday, so I thought I would give mostly veggies with some fruit. I got some plain reusable canvas bags and stenciled Produce Club on them. The I wrote a letter of explanation that went along with them. I decided to do it every other month instead of every month. That would make me crazy and cost too much. I told them I would be giving them an unspecified amount of produce on the even months.

I thought I would give them some things that were on sale, plus maybe buy some stuff that they wouldn't maybe have bought for themselves before to try.

I found out that some people won't try some things anyway. I tried providing recipes for the unfamiliar item. That worked for 2 of them, but one wasn't interested in trying the new items still.

I also found out that I spent about 10$ each to fill their bags. So you figure I probably averaged about 60$ for their Christmas gifts, but spread out over the whole year. More than I would have spent if I just got them a gift all at once. It was a fun thing to do, but I'm not going to do it again this year.

Do you have any fun gift ideas to share before the holidays?

Bowling a Turkey!

2011-10-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

Cindy and I went bowling almost by accident a week or so ago. I am not very good, but I thought it was a hoot. So I've been wanting to go back since. This afternoon, I called several people, trying to see if anyone was available for a spur of the moment bowling game. I finally decided to just go by myself. On the way there, I thought of Kathleen. We went to grade school and high school together. Sure enough she was up for it! She took this photo with her cell phone.

I even improved over the last time. I bowled a turkey! Which is bowling lingo for 3 strikes in a row. I don't expect that to happen again any time soon! I think I pulled a muscle towards the end. Take some ibuprophen and try it again another time!

So who wants to go bowling with me? See my turkey?

Canyon De Chelly-morning and afternoon

2011-10-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

I did a lot of driving for work this week. I took my camera along though, and got some fun photos. This is actually at La Posada in Winslow. It's a hotel and restaurant. They have really done some nice things with the garden areas too. In this area, they grow produce to be used in their restaurant. This is Hopi amaranth. I have never seen it before and it's beautiful. I had heard of amaranth. It's one of those "ancient" grains that is in vogue. These plants were well over 6ft tall. The color is amazing.

Last night I drove to Chinle. Chinle is the home of Canyon De Chelly. But unless you go looking for it, you don't see it while you are there. It's kind of hidden. I was staying right on the doorstep this time and decided to get up earlier than I needed to for work to drive along the North rim drive and take some photos. I hadn't done that in a few years. It really is beautiful, and in some ways more accessible than the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is amazing, but a little mind boggling. This you can take in and process.

One of those arm length self portraits.

Some of the rocks look like icing squeezed out.

Morning light.

This is Antelope Ruin. There are lots and lots of well preserved ruins in the canyon. If you go on one of the tours that takes you inside via jeep, you can see them closer. This is with my zoom. It was really pretty far away.

Same ruin, without the zoom.

This is Mummy Cave ruin. They found some mummy's here when they found the ruin.

After my doctor gave his talk, I found out he was moving from Arizona in 6 weeks. He had been up to Chinle twice and never seen the Canyon. So that just seemed wrong to me. So I took him for a quick drive along the south rim overlooks. So these are now afternoon light.

More ruins in the crevices.

Spider rock. This is one of the most common views photographed at Canyon De chelly. I like the shadow spider rock casts.

It's a beautiful place and if you haven't been, you should go!

Suede Yarn Hat

2011-10-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've made a few other things recently that I've given away without taking a photo of. I whipped this little hat up tonight without a pattern. I am FOREVER trying to use up yarn that I still have around the house and small projects seem to be what I can do as I only have some of each. But I really like this little hat. I'm not sure how much opportunity I will have to use it, but I think I may keep it instead of giving it away.

Sunset Crater

2011-10-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

Cindy and went a hike today in Flagstaff. Someone told us about the Schultz Creek Trail. We didn't have time to do the whole 8 mile loop, but we went an hour and 45 minutes out and an hour and 30 minutes back. It's interesting how we get back quicker. Right at the start we saw this sign for Buddy the lost dog. It made me sad for both Buddy and his owner. I know how distraught I have been when I've lost a dog. I hope he gets back home.

There was evidence of recent snow! The temp was in the high 40's and low 50's. Plenty cold for us thin blooded desert dwellers.

There were some pretty fall berries here and there.

My usual hiking view! Cindy and I have hiked together so much and we just have a pattern where Cindy always takes the lead. I am uncomfortable in front now.

It was a very popular trail for mountain bikers. They would come tearing along at pretty terrific speed sometimes. You would just barely hear them and they would be upon you and you had to quick get out of the way. One guy was stopped and told us we had the right of way. Cindy told him that hadn't been the case today. He apologized for bikers in general. Apology accepted.

We stopped and had lunch. When we got back to the car, I was way more sore than I thought I should be. I know I am out of shape from not hiking all summer, but still, it wasn't that hard of a hike, a gradual incline, etc. Cindy was sore too and she is in better shape than I am. We decided that maybe it had something to do with hiking at a higher altitude, that maybe our muscles were having to work harder to get the oxygen they needed. It's a good story anyway.

Afterwards, I got the bright idea that we should go check out Sunset Crater. I hadn't been there since I was a pretty little kid and I drive by it all the time.

It was actually pretty cool. When you are in the visitor's center, they have a model of all the volcanoes in the area. There are hundreds of old cones. I have had the opportunity of flying in a small plane back and forth over the area a few times and it is very evident from the air. But I hadn't realized quite how many there were.

And you have opportunity to see lava all over Arizona, but this lava flows were really pretty cool. It looked more like a "flow" than a lot of the scattered lava I've seen before. A lot of it was pretty twisty and wavy looking. Here is Cindy still looking good after our very early morning and long day.

I on the other hand am a little worse fro wear.

This is the actual Sunset Crater.When I was a kid, you could climb up it and I remember doing that. You aren't allowed to anymore. People had eroded the side of the cone too much. It erupted about 1000 years ago. There is a lot mythology in the tribes in the area who have a cultural memory of the eruption. It's interesting to see how bare it still is of trees and all after a thousand years.

There were also beautiful views toward the painted desert.

And snow on the mountain tops! It was a fun day.

BEE-utiful

2011-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges I have had with my garden is with my squash/melon/cucumber family. Apparently whatever it took to pollinate them, I didn't have. Which led to my whole story of being locked out in the backyard, naked with a paintbrush, trying to pollinate the squash. (That's a whole other story. If you want to know more details, you will have to go back in time in my blog about 1.5 to 2 years) I didn't know what was supposed to be pollinating them that I didn't have. My tomatoes, eggplant, okra, etc all seemed to do fine. I tried looking up on line to see what pollinated them and couldn't find it. All I could find was how to try and pollinate them yourself.

I have been delighted to discover bees in my backyard recently, all over my squash and zucchini! I didn't realize until I saw them, that I hadn't been seeing them before. I don't know if it's because I live in the middle of a big city or the disease that has been plague them, but I haven't seen bees in my yard in a long time.

I can't believe how happy they make me. I'm not sure where they are coming from, but I hope they have found a nice place for a hive in the neighborhood and they stick around. I know a lot of people are afraid of bees, but as a gardener, they make me happy. I wonder if they have found a foreclosed house's yard to live in? Or maybe somewhere between the noise wall and our property wall? I just know I want them to stick around.

The fruit of the bees labor.

Bees at work!

End of the Heat Potluck

2011-09-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

Back in August, I decided I needed something to look forward to. It was tooooo dang hot. So I planned a potluck at a local park for the end of summer, planning that the heat would have abated enough that we could enjoy being outside in the evening. I had also been reading a lot lately about Super Foods. Foods that are supposed to be especially nutritionally dense. A little more bang for your buck, so to speak. So I gave folks a list of about 20 super foods and told them to bring a dish using one or more of the super food ingredients.

I invited people from church, work, friends. I didn't get a count, but I think there were easily 40 or so people there tonight. It was a lot of fun and I appreciate everyone going along with the super food theme. The photo above are the whole wheat sticky buns I made. They have whole grains, cinnamon, nuts and raisins. All of which are super foods! And they were delicious. I wasn't sure they were going to turn out, so I made regular cinnamon rolls too.

I also made some less fattening wraps. They had whole wheat tortillas, spinach, turkey, bell peppers, and either apples or cranberries in them. All super foods. They also had a little cream cheese, some havarti and the fruit was in chutney form, so some spices.

This photo had me rolling on the floor. If you make it bigger, you can see Lindsey giving me the laser beam, evil eye. She hated the last photo I posted of her and she was wary.

Helle, Steven and Bella.

Friends from work, Lynnora, Beth and Jet.

Cindy and Mamie.

Hailey, Craig, Roman and Melanie.

Tanner and Brother Harrison.

A good time was had by all. We had a passle of kids and playground handy, so it worked out great. It was one of the easiest get togethers I've organized! We'll have to do it again soon.

We had a whole array of foods. It worked out in the way that potlucks usually work out.

Brain Dead?

2011-09-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Lezlee writes a very insightful and interesting blog. She spends a time thinking about it. My friend Cindy's blog is often funny and amusing. My blog? It's like a picture book.

When I was a kid, I was quite scornful of books that were just pictures. Those didn't take any smarts to "read" and I was proud of being smart. So what has happened to me? I have actually been thinking about the fact that I don't do a lot of heavy duty thinking. I wonder about the influence of having children. Does the fact that you have to explain things, teach, monitor and interact with them all the time keep your brain going? It is kind of opposite the traditional belief that the "career woman" is the one with the intellectual challenges.

I have an advanced college degree. But when I come home, I find what I want to do most is create. I want to craft, paint, crochet, cook and read. And my blog is a reflection of my nonending making things. It is refreshing to me to lose myself in a creative process. And I can't seem to be bothered with thinking about much entertaining to write to go along with the photos.

So I sometimes question what is going on upstairs, but not enough to do a whole lot about it. I'm having too much fun making baby blankets and muffins.

Sunday Projects

2011-09-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

I am trying to use up things I have around the house. Besides the yarn, I had a few pieces of flannel I had bought to make baby blankets. Here is the first one. I love the print.

The second one is reversible, polka dots and stripes.

I am also trying to use some of my food storage. I have wheat that is 21 years old. I got out my grain mill and made whole wheat flour. Then I made these peanut butter, chocolate chip muffins. They were a little dry, but good! And they incorporated 3 super foods, whole grains, nuts and chocolate!

Lindsey's gig

2011-09-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

I went and heard my friend Lindsey sing this week. She is amazing. If you need a female vocalist for an event, let me know and I will hook you up!

Garden Goodies

2011-09-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

I am just planting some of my seeds for fall/winter. I've got some summer squash setting fruit! I've got bees again! I shouldn't have to pollinate my squash myself. I'm very excited. Right now I'm getting little japanese eggplants. They are great steamed or in stir frys and the are just darn pretty.

Flowered Cloche

2011-09-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

So here is another hat I whipped up tonight from my never ending pile of scrap yarn. I like it actually.

Willie Nelson Concert in Camp Verde

2011-09-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

My friend, Sue, and I went to see Willie Nelson in Camp Verde tonight. It was an interesting experience. There were a lot of "characters" there. There was this guy who had obviously cultivated a look alike vibe. People were walking up to him and asking him if he was Willie. He just said, well wait and see if I sing.

This lady had on leather pants and a fur trimmed jacket. Quite the long grey hair do. Interesting.

I had not been to this place before. It is the Stargazer pavillion at Cliff Castle Casino. It was a beautiful evening. In the 70's. And I don't think any of the seats were really bad. We were in the front row of the bleacher seats.I think they were perfect!

And we had a nice sunset and beautiful moon rise.

Here was another really interesting ensemble. I'm not sure what her shirt was made of. I was too far away to get a really good picture. See the feathered hat? I'm glad I wasn't sitting behind her.

Look at the back of her top.

And this guy in the serape, bald head and full white beard. He looked like some old testament prophet or something. Except he was standing in the back smoking.

And here is Willie and band. No it's not the same guy that was in the parking lot.

The moon came up right behind the stage.

Sue and I.

And here is a video clip for you!

Pirate hat

2011-09-15T17:20:00.001-07:00

Latest project with scrap yarn. I think it's kind of fun.

Happy 50th Birthday Cindy!

2011-09-12T16:48:00.000-07:00

Serious Chocolate Cake for an important birthday!

Hogwarts Express Cake Final!

2011-09-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Way back in May, a friend asked me if I would make a Hogwarts Express Cake for her daughter's birthday. After discussion about the fact that I am a rank amateur, I agreed to take it on. I thought it would be good practice.

As I chronicled in an earlier post, I got a pan that looked like a train engine and I gave it a couple of trial runs. The party was postponed a couple of times and finally is occurring today. So I spent from 8am to 4pm yesterday working on the 3 cakes that made up the whole thing.

I had grand plans. But lack of knowledge, practice and practicality dictated the final product. I had thought I would cover the whole board in fondant, for a background. I have very little experience in fondant and it's VERY expensive. I also didn't think I could get it rolled out that big of piece and get it on whole by myself. So that got nixed.

I did use fondant for the surface of the platform cake. I had a brick impression that I used to make the surface. It was also the first time I "built"something out of cake. It is a little wavy. I molded a piece of white chocolate to make the platform sign. I initially used an edible food marker to write on the sign.

This was the second car of the train. I built this out of cake too. I had to make a run to ABC Cake decorating for some supplies. While there, I came across these Harry Potter rings. They had pictures of the three main characters. That was a lucky find. Now I could put them "on the train". The cookies weren't the best wheels, but again I am a rank amateur.

I am glad I had practiced with the engine. It made it easier to do. I molded chocolate for some of the details. The platform cake is a marble cake with chocolate pudding filling. The second car is also marble cake, but with cherry preserves as a filling. The engine is strawberry cake with strawberry filling. It I had time, it would have been nice to use a simple syrup on them to make sure they were moist, but I ran out of time. Hopefully they will be OK. I kept them in the fridge till this morning.

I thought I was going to have room on the board to put more decorative elements around the whole scene. But once I got the three cakes on the board, it was pretty full. So I ended up just piping some grass at the end of the platform.

I also had some plastic rings with the crests and names of the 4 houses at Hogwarts. I put them along the front of the platform. This was the first time I piped writing other than a brief practice in my class. I got brave enough to go over the writing on the Platform Sign too.

So there it is. More grand in my imagination. The Platform cake is about 21 inches long, 7 inches wide and 3 inches tall. So There is a substantial amount of cake here.

It was definitely a learning experience!

Pink Cloche style hat

2011-09-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Made a hat to go with the scarf. It's actually pretty cute on.

Flower Scarf

2011-09-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have a book that is just patterns for crocheted flowers. I hadn't made any so I decided to try one. Once I had made it, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. So I made up a scarf to put it on. The colors look a little funny in the photo, but they are pink and brown. I think it's kind of fun.

Faire on the Square- Prescott

2011-09-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Penny and I went to the cooler area of Prescott to enjoy the day. We started with lunch at the Lynx Lake Cafe. A friend who lives in the area had recommended it for the view over the lake and the German food. There were hummingbird feeders in all the windows. We enjoyed the lake and watching the hummers!

We had our usual good parking ju ju and got a spot in our usual lot even though we arrived much later in the day. The craft faire was colorful and fun.

I especially liked this bracelet made out of two vintage forks.

The state flags were out in force. They were also some t shirts and things being sold to celebrate the centennial year of our state.

There was dancing in the square.

And pie at Berry's Pantry for fun.

Penny's Yard

2011-09-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, my friend Penny decided she was tired of trying to maintain a lawn in the front. I had recently renewed a friendship with Chuck Giordano from grade school. He owns a landscape design, installation and maintence company. They do a lot of commercial work, but also do some residential.

They did such a good job for her. They built her a patio with a wall around in the front. They put in lighting and a dripper system. She went ahead and let them do the maintence too. Her yard looks fabulous. And this is in the middle of the blazing summer heat. She says there is always something blooming out there. She is very happy. He isn't cheap, but they do great work. If anyone wants their number, let me know!

Sometimes I do this for work

2011-09-02T22:21:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I man a booth for us at a conference.

Hike along the West Fork, Oak Creek Canyon

2011-09-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have been a slug all summer. Don't like to hike in the heat. Don't make me. Won't do it. But I have been getting tired off being shut up inside all summer. I talked to Cindy. Surely it would be cooler up north? So we planned a hike in Sedona today. But as it got closer, it was still over 110 in Phoenix. Which would mean 100 in Sedona. Too hot for me.

But when we got to the ranger station, we were directed to the West Fork trail along Oak Creek Canyon. It was shady, 5500 ft in elevation and it was overcast. Win, win, win. And we crossed the beautiful creek 13 times. It was great to be outside again. And so fun to discover this trail, the most popular in the state according to the lady who took our 9$ parking fee.

Lots of nice water.

Beautiful scenery.

See this undercut cliff? There were people sitting on top right at the edge.

Lunch stop.

My feet enjoyed the cool water!

Old Friends!

2011-08-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen Jim and Lisa in years. It was great to see them and they look just as young as ever! Even if it is an oddly red photograph.

Clown toy

2011-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

Another "quickie" project. Do you think the fuzzy yarn would be a problem for a baby? I wasn't sure. Maybe an older child?

Nail stamping

2011-08-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Erica, her sister Myrenda and sister in law, Christina, introduced me to nail stamping today. It was easy and quite fun. I could some practice on the technique, but I think I'm hooked. I ordered the pieces and parts off of Amazon just now.

On the road back from Polacca

2011-08-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

I was up on the Hopi reservation today for work. On the way back, I saw these neat clouds. And yes it did rain on me afterwards. I took some photos, thinking I might try and paint them sometime. Can you see how straight the road is? It's perfectly straight for about an hour, straight south of the mesa.

And I just thought these were pretty clouds.

Things Around the House that I Love!

2011-08-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

My friend Lezlee is really into decorating and has a great eye. My house isn't decorated as formally as some or necessarily in an all encompassing style. But there are a lot of things around the house that I love. Lezlee has told me that a lot of times that if you just have things you love around you that somehow it can often work.

When I was visiting family in Idaho this summer, we stopped at a second hand store that had a ton of stuff. I think it was called Hidden Treasures. I found this little ceramic dog there for a buck. He reminds me of my dog Winston, except that Winston is black and white. But the whole, ears flying, running thing, reminds me of him. As I have been looking at him since I came back, I keep thinking how much I love him. That's what started me thinking about writing this blog. I thought, what else do I really love around here?

For some reason, I love rocks, mineral specimans and fossils. Here is some of them. I recently contemplated getting rid of them. Not quite yet, can't do it.

Okay, so these are really messy shelves, but they are my "to read" shelves. I LOVE to read and love that I never run out of something to read. Therefore, messy or not, I love them! They aren't on public view either.

I have a small collection of fetishes. I'm not really into the meanings behind them, I just think they are kind of cool and so "love" them.

This is a Zuni seed pot. Supposedly they would put the seeds in the pot and seal it up. When it was time to plant, they would break the pot and use the seeds. I doubt they were ever this decorative. I bought this at a Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. I love the lizard and frogs on it.

I recently painted my bathroom. I love the new color. I also love my hotel style towel rack, that I have had for years. Especially since I got rid of a lot of the extra towels I had on it. Too many.

And I LOVE my new shower curtain. It just makes me happy.

I love my deep soaking tub. It could have been made better, but it's still pretty awesome.

Years ago, my friend Robin, gave me this recipe holder. It's very convenient to use and I love it!

I recently bought some french grey sea salt from Penzies. I didn't used to think I could really tell much difference between sea salt and any other salt. But somehow this salt is different and I am loving it. I also was looking for something to put it in and decided to use this jam jar that my friend Cecelia gave me years ago. It works great and I love it too.

I love my kitchen tools. I love to cook and having the tools handy and where I need them is awesome.

I have some things on the wall where you come into my condo from my travels. It's fun to see them as I go in and out. They remind me of places I've been and things I've done.

Did I say I love rocks? Another pile on the sofa table/credenza.

I did this watercolor in June. I'm not an accomplished artist in any sense, but I love this one.

My friends, Bob and Lynne, gave me this little dish for Christmas. I moved it to photograph it, but I keep it next to my chair and it's awesome to hold my crochet or needle working supplies when I am watching tv. I love it!

There are more things I love, but didn't want to get too crazy. What do you love around your house?

Baby Booties

2011-08-22T22:12:00.001-07:00

Still trying to use up yarn on small projects. I think it's going to take me a while! These baby booties are a too big for a newborn. Hopefully I can find somebody to give them to.

Painted the Hall!

2011-08-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

I painted the bathroom a little while ago. And told you all that I hate to paint! So I was hoping to pay somebody to paint the rest of the house. When the guy came over, he came up with so many things (taking down the popcorn) that it really added up. So EVENTUALLY, I'll have him come over. But meanwhile, I got up the guts to at least paint the hall. It was way easier than the bathroom. Less to paint around and easier to reach. It is hard to photograph though. It was a pretty bright yellow. This view is from the green bathroom to the light purple hall. (the color is called muscari, it's a type of grape)

Here looking from the hall to the bathroom, the blue painters tape is still up. I need to paint the white trim and ceiling still.

Here it's with a flash. I like it! Maybe I'll eventually get the guts to do my bedroom.

Still Life- Still Playing around

2011-08-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

I really need to take a class. It's hard to find the time with my crazy work schedule. I have a lot of books on watercolor. I'm going to try and read and apply some of them. I would like to get better, just for my own enjoyment!

Happy Birthday Penny!

2011-08-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Today is my wonderful friend, Penny's birthday. We had a great dinner out at Coup De Tartes. This is Penny with her friends, Cartha and Don.

The birthday girl looking very lovely! This was a big birthday, but I won't say which one.

Cecelia, Mark, Penny and I.

Crocheted Chihuahua!

2011-08-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

I am STILL trying to use up all my yarn. So lots of small projects. This actually is a giant chihuahua! I should have put a little more stuffing into his neck. His head tends to fall a little bit too much forward. Anyone want a crocheted chihuahua?

Cupcake pops

2011-08-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

My friend is having a birthday! I didn't think about making her a cake until too late to make it happen. So I decided to make cake pops. These are probably only marginally less work than a cake! They aren't as pretty as the picture in the book I was using, but I think she will like them anyway.

Duct Tape Compact, Purse and Wallet

2011-08-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

So Katherine and I were having a crafting day today. We decided to try some of the duct tape crafts. I had a couple of books I had bought off the internet. First I made this little duct tape compact. It has a velcro fastener.

This Katherine's.

Then I made this duct tape purse to go with it. It was from a different book and took a bit longer, but I ampleased with how it turned out!

Katherine made a wallet ti gi with the compact she made. They don't look super polished, but they are fun!

Japanese folded fabric flowers

2011-08-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, a friend posted some fabric flowers she made. I thought they were great! I wanted to try them and she posted the link to the instructions. So today, my friend Katherine and I gave it a try. First I had to cut the fabric in a bunch of little squares. I started with 3 and 1/2 inch squares, but she says you can do any size and any number of petals. I later tried some that were 2 and 1/2 inch squares.

Lots of cutting.

Then you fold them, iron them and if you want, starch them. You pin them to keep the shape and then hand sew them all together.

You cut a round piece of fabric to cover the back. You use No Fray on it. You glue it on. Then we made fabric covered buttons and glued them on the front. Isn't it cute? You can use them on barretes, hair bands, purses, shoes, packages, as pins, whatever. I love them. You can use different kinds of buttons or rhinestones in the middle or embellish them with beads.

Here are the three I made today. The black and cream one was from a silky fabric. IT was a little harder to work with.

Another try at painting a person

2011-08-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is Courtney. I work with her. She is a lovely girl. I tried doing a watercolor of her while I was in Idaho. I made her look a little angry, my family said. So still, I think I'm learning something everytime I try.

Last of Idaho

2011-07-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Just a few last photos and things from Idaho.

A days worth of eggs collected from my sister's hens. I made a huge frittata while I was there with these eggs.

Dillon, my sister's nephew. (My nephew-in-law?) This little guy was a hard worker while I was there. While we were all on vacation or plain not working, he was milking in the morning and at night. We often had to wait for this 12 year old to finish up his work so he could come along and have fun with us. Sometimes we were impatient. One of the kids would be calling him on his cell phone telling him if he didn't hurry we were going to leave him behind. The poor guy was running in the milk barn trying to get done. I think we needed to cut this industrious boy a little slack.

My neice, Karliegh.

The park in downtown Rexburg where we had our picnic after the bear park. I had never been there before. It was fun to see BYU Idaho where so many kids I know have gone.

My sister Janet.

Karliegh and Daniel both claimed to have never ridden a carosel. There was one at the park and so they rode it. Afterwards, Daniel was mortified to have been the oldest kid on it. Just embrace life and it's experiences Daniel!

I had also heard that Daniel and Karliegh didn't get along that well. I only saw them getting along thick as theives. The rode the carosel together.

And shared an Ipod most of the day.

Ok, so there are some things about Idaho that I sometimes think are a little odd. Like the obession with guns. So I think here is one of the reasons. Look how young they are starting these kids out with some real firepower!

Grain elevators are a common Idaho sight.

Daniel's butt. This is not a patient kid. He was tired of waiting for people to get out of the van in front of him and so decided to bail out the back.

An interesting machine going by on the railroad.

The little post office where my sister is the postmistress. Unless a miracle occurs, it will likely close in the next few years.

Folk art at the Clifton convience store, Papa Jay's. By the way they make the best beef jerky in the world here. You can order it online.

A racer that was in the road on our way home from an evening drive. It was over 6 feet long.

A view towards the mountains behind my sister's house. The concentration of trees in the middle flat area is Oxford. I am going to be buried in the Oxford cemetary with my sister's family. It's in the foot hills you can see. And I think that is a fitting place to end!

Few more Rodeo videos

2011-07-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Preston Rodeo

2011-07-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

While I was in Idaho, It was rodeo time in Preston. This is a BIG DEAL! It is a three day affair. It starts with the Sidewalk Sales. This where local crafts people set up booths to sell goods and food. Local merchants also spill out to sell things. One of the anticipated events by my Brother in Law and Niece was the Deseret Industries Cowboy Boot Sale. Apparently, the DI there saves all the boots they get in as donations all year and then sell them during the rodeo. It is a much anticipated time to get a good pair of second hand boots for a good price. Keegan said it was like Black Friday. People were hoarding them and fighting over them. My family didn't buy any this year.

I bought a hairband with feathers on it from this lady. I also got some inexpensive jewelry and some delicious home grown sugar snap peas. I couldn't resist one little boy who was making keychains out of that plastic lacing. He was doing such a good job of trying to sell. He had his little brother on the corner with a sign. And he had no shade and it was pretty toasty. I had to support him by buying a 2$ keychain I didn't need.

This little girl was simply adorable. I love this picture. She was selling carmel apples, fresh raspberry lemonade and the sugar snap peas.

After the sidewalk sales during the afternoon, there is a parade, EVERY NIGHT, for three nights! I found this fact a little amazing. Who parades three nights in a row? I know on Friday, it was a horse only parade. Well I guess people with the horses. Not just the horses by themselves. We didn't go to the parade. But we did go to the rodeo.

My sister was being funny here. She wanted to dress the dog up in a bandana to make her look "western". So she put one on herself. I called her Wendy Nelson (Willie Nelson).

Keegan and I went to the rodeo on Thursday. She went back again everynight. I used to go to the rodeo in Phoenix when I was a kid and then as a teenager. But as an adult, I kind of felt like it was a little cruel and demeaning to the animals. I don't know, it didn't seem so bad this time. I think for one thing it was a smaller rodeo, not so many contestants, a little more variety. The animals all seemed to fair ok. The contestants not so much. The night I went, 2 folks got carted off to the hospital. I know one guy broke his leg after riding a bare back bronc. The other guy got hooked on his head by a bull horn after riding it.

There was also a carnival attached to the rodeo. See? I tolk you it was a big deal.

They were selling candy apples in the colors of the local high schools.

Blurry, but stll a fun picture.

This gal got the best score in the barrel racing.

This was a little scary. She almost got drug by her horse.

Bear Park in Idaho

2011-07-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

While in Idaho, we went to the Bear Park located near Rexburg. I had never been before. We paid extra to be able to ride on the open truck from which you can feed the bears. The video clip is from that. You are really high up and quite safe from the bears. You can also drive through in your own vehicle, but must keep your windows up when you are where the bears are.

There are a lot of other animals there. This is Stilts the moose. He is really quite huge.

There was a pond with ducks, a swan and lots of enourmous rainbow trout. You can spend a quarter and feed them. The trout were mugging the ducks trying to get to the food first.

You can also pay another 35$ if you would like to help bottle feed the babies. You get to pet them. We didn't pony up for that, but you can watch them do it which is almost as good.

They had bison.

Some of the babies.

Some more babies. These are called Daniel, Karliegh and Dillon.

A fawn in the petting zoo part.

Lots of deer.

An albino elk.

A bear begging to be fed.

There was a small wolf pack.

This is a female grizzley that was cooling off. The black bears were lose and could come up to the cars. The grizzlies were seperated by a hot wire from each other, the black bears and us.

A black bear enjoying a scratch.

A bear pile taking a nap. They hiberate in some of those culverts. The people who run the park fill them with straw and branches and the bears pick where they want to hibernate. Apparently a lot of them hibernate in groups.

There were also some kiddie rides and a gift shop. It was a fun expedition!

Random Idaho Photos

2011-07-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just some random photos from Idaho. This is my nephew, Daniel, mowing the lawn. Quite the lawn mower, huh?

Ruby, Aaron's dog.

Some of the day lilys in Mom's garden.

My sister's garden.

My Mom in her jazzy chair. She gets around really well in her little chair. And that is her cute dog, Dottie.

My sister Janet.

My brother in law, Ron.

Some of the chickens. They are laying hens. I have helped gather fresh eggs several times. It's been fun to cook with them.

An owl we saw one evening on a drive.

My sister's love birds. She keeps trying to convince me to take them home with me.

My mom's dog, Dottie.

A view of the Swan Lake area.

Idaho ATV Ride

2011-07-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

I think that kids in rural Idaho get ATV's instead of bikes. Every kid has one and most adults do too. They are really fun to ride. I kinda wish I had one in Arizona, except I don't have any where to keep one, pull one, etc. My sister got me up early for a nice long ATV ride. Here she is with her dog Beau riding shotgun. He is a good ATV rider.

This is me. I had to have a lesson in how to drive my Nephew's ATV. It had all sorts of heel and toe shifters, etc.

We saw quite a few cows on the way.

And the next thing you know, I drove through fresh cow poop.

Along with cow poop, we saw lots of really pretty flowers. Milkweed.

Wild roses.

Indian paint brush.

And beautiful countryside.

Lots of views!

Trail Ride to Dry Lake

2011-07-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have been visiting my family up in Idaho. We have been doing all kinds of fun "country" things. One of the things I have been able to do is go on a horse ride with my neice, Keegan. I only get to ride about once a year, when I come to visit. So Keegan decided that I should ride with her to Dry Lake. It's about a 5 hour ride! A lot for someone who only rides once in a great while.

It was all up hill and then all down hill. It was beautiful country. Keegan was afraid it would be too hot if we went very late in the day, so we got up at 5:15 AM so we could be out the door with the horses and horse trailer by 6 AM. My family is getting me up early and out the door every day of my vacation!

For some reason my pictures didn't load in order, but this is pretty high up the side of the mountain. You can tell a little bit about the steepness in this photo of my neice.

Some of the beautiful views back down the side of the mountain to the valley where we started from.

The horse trailer is down at the cross roads in this photo. I was very grateful for Apache hauling my behind all the way up the mountain. He is a great trail horse, going up and down hills, over rocks, fallen logs, through creeks, over fence rails and through trees.

This is Dry Lake. Not very dry right now! It's very cold and deep. The dogs swam and swam.

My neice Keegan's dog, Chiara, is a fetching maniac.

Baxter, the chocolate lab, just did some recreational swimming.

The top of the mountain isn't too far from the lake.

Keegan on the way down the mountain.

Keegan getting all the equipment ready the night before.

My trying out my stirrups on Apache the night before.

Keegan getting the horse's ready after we are at the unload spot.

The sun coming up over the mountains.

My neice believes in being prepared. She was well armed for any occasion. She wants me to tell everyone that the gun is a 22 Winchester Mangum. And that is quite the knife she has in front. Thank goodness there was no need for any of the firepower or hand to hand combat.

Scenery.

Me in my cowgirl getup.

Lots of flowers up on the mountain.

And Keegan, my eighteen year old neice, drove the 15 passenger van and the horse trailer without any concerns!

Jelly Belly's!

2011-07-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

I was at the grocery store the other day and was looking for a low fat snack. I like jelly beans in general. I hadn't had Jelly Belly's in a long time. I saw the display and thought I would try them out. They were REALLY good! The flavors are amazing and intense. I love the popcorn and plum are some of my favorites. I went on line to look at their website. They have chocolate covered Jelly Belly's! Who knew! (of course they wouldn't be low fat anymore...)

I think it would be really fun to take their factory tour. I love factory tours in general. But they are up near Sacramento. Not very close to anywhere I go. Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy them as a treat. If you haven't tried them in a while, give them a try! They are magic beans.

Bathroom redecorate

2011-07-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

I didn't take a before picture, but you can see the bathroom walls behind me in this one. The bathroom was a cocoa brown. Ceiling and everything. Painting the ceiling brown was definately a mistake. Anyway, I got a bug in my brain about repainting in the house and painted the bathroom. Initially a little schocked by how the color looked, but I think that was partly how big of a change it was and that nothing in the bathroom went with the new color.

My new shower curtain came today and I LOVE IT! It isn't the exact same green, but somehow they all go together. I want to get a few white towels to go with the yellow ones, but I am enjoying my new, lighter brighter bathroom!

Hopefully the rest of the house will get painted soon too....

Beth Take II

2011-07-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

I kept thinking about the painting I did of Beth last night. About ways to make it better. So I got up and tried to"fix" it. I ended up giving her a purple nose and ruining it. So this morning I started all over from scratch. I think I learned a lot from the first time through. This one is much better.

In Honor of the Last Space Shuttle Lift Off

2011-07-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

When I was in grade school, we watched moon rockets being launched live in class. I saw the first man walk on the moon at home. I don't want to argue about the money spent, but regardless, a lift off or a landing still give me goosebumps.

Just hearing about today's launch made me cry.

Here is a tribute to an era gone.

Thanks for the ride guys!

Working out Watercolors

2011-07-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Since I have dug out my paints, I've been having fun messing around. Not with any real end in mind, just enjoying myself. So I wanted to challenge myself to try and paint a person. Beth was kind enough to let me take some photos of her the other night at work.

So here is my first artistic interpretation of her. It's not great art, but I can recognize her in it. I don't know what she will think about it. It's fun to try anyway.

Bulldog Painting framed

2011-07-07T19:31:00.001-07:00

I was so pleased with how my watercolor turned out that I had to frame it. Just wanted to let everyone else see it too!

Fourth of July Work Fun!

2011-07-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

Whenever I work a holiday, I plan a party. We were all really looking forward to the Fourth of July. We were planning grilled Brats, potato salad, side dishes, desserts, snow cones! We were also planning a "Five Favorites Party". Everyone brings 5 of a favorite thing that costs 6$ or less. Then we explain why it is a favorite and then draw 5 names. Everyone goes home with five of every one's favorites. So this is the night shift crew.

Here was the appetizer I made at work. Dried apricots with fresh basil mixed into goat cheese, topped with an almond and drizzled with honey.

One of the favorites was a "scoop game" Here is Sarah and Michelle trying it out.

Some of our spread. I also made the blue corn bread with pine nuts and corn in the cake pan.

Lynnora enjoying an ice cream sandwich made by Beth.

Lynnora made this flag cake.

Beth's ice cream sandwiches.

Lynnora brought her snow cone machine.

Nail polish was one of Coleen's 5 favorites. Here is my fourth of July red next to Michelle's glitter polish.

Lynnora made us these candy "flag goodie bags".

A cherry snow cone. Beth was our snow cone bar tender. She even delivered.

We decided since we were triplets we should get our photo together. This is our Charlie's angel's pose.

This is our glamour pose.

And best of all, we are getting paid time and a half for having all this fun!

Suzanne Sandwich

2011-07-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Lynnora at work made this bread cheese and tomato sandwich out of cherry tomatoes from my garden. She named it after me!

First attempt at painting a person

2011-06-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed getting my watercolors out at camp and was wanting to try to paint a person. So this is my friend Helle, but I cheated and did her just from the back. I am happy enough with it to want to keep trying!

What else I did at camp

2011-06-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

When I didn't have to do something nursie at camp, I was busy having fun. I took a lot of pictures. Some people mistakenly thought I was the camp photographer. This is dragon fly that fell in love with my car antenna. Or as Cindy called it, a big ugly bug.

I hadn't touched my watercolors in probably 3 or 4 years. I brought them up and had a lot of fun. I am a dabbler, but I was especially pleased with how the bulldog painting turned out.

I finshed up this sweater. I am pleased with how it turned out too.

Here is a cat hat for a baby.

A puppy dog hat for a toddler.

An elf hat and booties for a baby!

Had a great time doing all this. Not to mention the reading I got done! Love, love, love doing all of it.

Winston, my baby

2011-06-27T18:22:00.001-07:00

Can't believe he's almost 9!

Camp Lomia 2011

2011-06-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

I have lumped most all of my camp photos in one posting, so bear with me. Here is the main entrance. As you can see the camp has been around a long time.

Pam, our esteemed camp director.

Natalee one of the assistant camp directors.

Cindy and Marion, part of the stake staff.

Cindy reading by flashlight.

Each group made a banner for display. The theme was SOS: Seeking our Savior. Sort of religous and nautical at the same time. Cindy painted our stake banner on the left. Her daughter Melanie worked on the one on the right.

The YCL's or youth camp leaders are fifth year girls who plan and run camp.

Cindy's husband, Dave, was our priesthood leader. He was amazing. There were a lot of things that were badly in need of repair in the camp and he worked like a dog the whole time he was there.

This first year camper was a little firecracker! Here are the girls just after arriving, getting their camp shirts.

Rachel, one of the YCL's helping one of the first year girls.

There were craft activities.

Stake staff cabin.

Here is some of what I did in my down time.

More crafting.

What I made.

Flag ceremonies every morning and evening were complete with songs, cheers, exercises.

One of the girls who hadn't been feeling well, telling me how she was doing now.

Camp food.

Jordan and Chole after one of the evening activities.

Dave and Cindy early on. Later we all looked a little worse for wear.

Rachel and Melanie leading their stupendous Jazzercise class.

There was Archery and hiking, both lead by Cindy.

President Lythgow and Dave at the morning flag ceremony. President Lythgow was on his way to the boy scout camp too.

Evening meal. Joann Yule was our Stake Young Women's President. That is here with the red scarf.

Flowers in hair were everywhere! It was one of the crafts.

Natalee and Paula the 2 assistant camp directors.

Embroidery thread mess after a week of camp.

First year girls after getting their certificates.

Second year girls

Third year girls.

The rowdy fourth years.

The amazing YCL's!

The great cabin mom's.

It was a fun and busy week!

Water Games at Girl's Camp

2011-06-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

One of the activities that has been done both times I have been at girl's camp is Water Games. My friend, Cynthia, has been in charge both times and has come up with some really fun things.

This year, the first thing was a relay race where the girls had to blow up a balloon, run down to one of two little boats that were filled with water. They had to sit on the balloon to break it and run back before their team member could leave.

It was hilarious to watch. A lot of balloons got away on the first try.

Another escapee balloon.

It took several tries for this girl to get her balloon to stay in!

The next thing was another relay with three teams. The girls had a number 10 can that had a bunch of holes punched in the bottom. The first girl had to fill it up and pass the leaking can over her head. The girl who took it had to pass it between her legs. Back and forth to the end of the line. At the end of the line, the last girl had to run and dump what water was left into 5 gallon bucket and then run to the front of the line. After a given time, whomever had the most water in their 5 gallon bucket one.

A team celebrating their win.

The next relay, the girls took large sweatpants and had to dunk it in a tub of water. Without wringing it out, they had to put them on over their clothes and shoes and run down to where their team was. Then pull off the pants and hand the same pair to the next person.

Then the frozen t shirt event. The girls took a t shirt the night before and got it sopping wet. They had to tie it and wad it up. Then they were frozen solid. So in this event, the winner would be whatever team was able to get their t shirts defrosted enough to put on first. All sorts of methods were tried to defrost the shirt. Lots of body parts were tried to assist. Here is the mouth method.

Here a girl has it in armpit. Trying to get the shirts unknotted was pretty hard. They were all pretty frantic trying to do something to get them defrosted.

Here she is trying to using her legs to defrost it. Behind her people are trying to use puddles on the ground.

Finally the knot is out, but it is still pretty frozen.

Somehow, beating the shirt on the tree seemed like a good idea too. One of the leaders watching, said it looked like an insane asylum! It was pretty hilarious. A side effect of all this shirt abuse, was all the shirts ended up with holes in them.

The girl in the green shirt is the first one to get her shirt on. She actually ran to the bathroom and used the hot water. They hadn't specifically said it was against the rules...

Lots of team work invovled.

Here is the winning team with all their t shirts on.

The final game was another relay. Had to jump rope three times with a cup of water in your hand. Then dump what was left in a bucket. Again, the most water won.

At the end was a generalized water fight!

Camp Videos!

2011-06-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

I am just back from spending 5 and half days at Girl's Camp. I have several posts I want to do, but here are 2 video clips to start with. The first is a "Jazzercise" class that Rachel and Melanie came up with. This is just a small segment of about a 30 minute class. The girls rotated through several different classes over 2 and a half days. Aren't the outfits Melanie and Rachel came up with a hoot?

And the second clip is the girls singing a camp song at the closing ceremonies. The camp's name is Camp Lomia. That is what they are singing about.

Fireworks Cookies for Father's Day

2011-06-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

At church, we make cookies and goodies for the men at church to celebrate Father's Day. So I saw these fun cookies on the cover of the last Martha Stewart Living magazine. I thought it would be really hard, but they were actually quite easy. And aren't they fun looking? I am going to have to do them again!

Brazilian Book Club

2011-06-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

I'm hosting book club tonight. There are enough of us that it only comes around once or twice a year. I chose River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. It is about an exploration trip he took on a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil. It's quite the story.

If I can find a way, I love to try and tie the food into the story. So they were always trying to find Brazil nuts. I mail ordered them, but there are some roasted, salted brazil nuts on the table. Pineapple and coconuts were very rare, but I have grilled pineapple (yum yum yum) and a coconut cream pie.

The rest is mostly from my garden, so I guess maybe "found" food? And then some meatballs and dip just to round it out.

Looking forward to everyone coming over and discussing the book!

Zinburger: New Love

2011-06-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

I had lunch at Zinburger today. I remember reading about this place when it opened and then I kept forgetting about it. This last week in the paper, the food critic was listing his top 10 places for a burger. He helped me remember this place as it was on his list.

I love a good burger. These are all Angus or Kobe beef, thick and juicy. Great toppings. We had the special of the day which was a steak burger. If you go between 11am and 2pm, any day, you can get the lunch special which is a burger with a side and a drink for 12$. Smoking deal. Just the burger is usually 9 to 12$. I got the zucchini fries and Penny got the sweet potatoe fries. That way we could try both of them. They were delicious and freshly made.

I am excited to go back another time and try some of the other burgers. Try it. You'll like it!

Today from the Garden

2011-06-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

My tomatoes have been coming on strong lately. My favorites are the little orange cherry tomatoes. The green zebras are pretty good too. And my japanese eggplants grew a little bigger than I thought they would. They are usually only half the size they are in this photo. Still have to play matchmaker for the zucchini or yellow squash. What is the natural pollinator for that? I don't seem to have any whatever it is.

Hogwarts Express Cake- Trial and Error

2011-06-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have taken one beginning cake decorating class. It was 4 Saturdays. I enjoyed it very much and have been trying to apply what I learned and expand my skills and knowledge. A friend asked if I would make a birthday cake for her daughter for the end of June. She wanted a cake that looked like the Hogwarts Express Train from the Harry Potter Series. I told her that I was just a beginner, but she had enough confidence in me that I decided to try.

So first of all, I found this steam locomotive pan from Nordic Ware. I thought it was an awesome looking pan and so bought it. I didn't realize that I would have so much trouble figuring out how to decorate a cake made in the pan. It was so detailed. And frosting fills in spaces. So how to frost it so that a lot of the detail still shows?

So above is my first trial cake. I was pleased that the cake came out of the pan nicely and complete. I used Cake Release and a little bit of Pam in the pan. The parts that were thinner, like the smokestacks and cattle guard were a little dryer and harder than I would have liked, but I'm not sure how you would fix that, with having to cook through the thicker parts of the cake. I might brush it with simple syrup to keep it moist when I do the real thing.

I had never used fondant. I had read about fondant and asked questions. I looked up stuff on the internet. I decided to try that. First you need to put on a thin under coat of frosting.

This was my trial for the second car of the train with it's undercoat of frosting. I used gingersnaps sandwhiched with frosting to make the wheels.Then I attempted to roll and cut out all the pieces to make the train look detailed. It was a disaster. Way too ugly to provide for someone who was going to pay for the cake. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to do it at all.

I thought about it a lot. I needed to decide whether or not I could do it. If I couldn't, I needed to let her know in time, so she could make other arrangements. I thought maybe I could cover it with a layer of dyed chocolate ganache. I thought the ganache would be thin and would pour over the cake. Then it would have a dried thin coating and I could come back on top with some red buttercream to make the red areas. I wasn't sure it would work, but was going to try it. I had looked on line at a lot of "train" cakes and some other hogwarts express cakes and I couldn't come up with any better ideas.

So this morning I went to ABC Cake Decoating to get a few supplies. They actually weren't busy and so I was able to pick the considerable brains of the ladies who work there. They told me the ganache wouldn't work. They said it was too soft and runny and you wouldn't be able to put buttercream on top of it. They happened to have the same pan that I had. One of the ladies looked at it and said I could get some of the melting chocolate and dye it. Then I could use the pan to mold some of the chocolate for some of the details. I could then fill in with buttercream. She said to put on a thin undercoat of frosting first.

So this is my cake with a thin undercoat of buttercream. Then I used the pan to try and mold some chocolate. The deeper cavities worked. The shallow thin ones did not. Here is the cake with some of the molded chocolate pieces on it.

And finally, Voila! I used the smallest star tip to try and preserve detail. I also used some gold draggees to make the lights. I am pretty pleased with it. Especially after comparing it to my first attempt. The plan is to also make a couple of train cars to go with it.

I did just find out that the party has been delayed until August, so I don't have quite such a short time to work with, but I am feeling more confidant about it!

Earring-aholic

2011-06-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

There are some things that I have previously admitted to liking rather obsessively. Way back when I first started this blog, I wrote an entry about being a dishaholic. Lots of you know that I really like earrings. I have told a lot of you about my earring collection and storage. I just thought I would take a photo and show you. This box is 8 1/2" by 14" and is meant to store nuts and bolts, beads or the like. I have it pretty well packed. They are sorted by type. There are two "holiday" spots. One for gold and silve hoops. One for colored hoops. One for "dressy" earrings. One for "native american" beaded earrings. One for silver earrings. One for "color" earrings. One that is sort of "french hook not other classified". And so on.

Anybody else have this many? And how do you store them?

Camp Goodies

2011-06-07T01:11:00.000-07:00

Last year was the first time I had been to Church Girl's camp. I didn't know that it was "traditional" to give little theme related gifts to the people you share a cabin with. So I felt a little lame, just being on the recieving end. This year there is a nautical theme. The over all camp theme is SOS (Seeking our Savior). Then each cabin has the name of a boat. I am in the stake staff cabin and we are a lifeboat.

I have got some little treats ready to give. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Dinner from the garden

2011-06-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last nights dinner. Courtesy of the garden and the grill. It was delicious!

Paint Choices

2011-06-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've been having thoughts for a little while that I needed to repaint. Last weekend I was trying to clean some dingy looking spots on the wall. They still look dingy. So I guess it must really be time to paint. I got some samples today, and even though I probably won't be able to do it for a little while, I painted some swatches all over my wall. So be warned if you come over. My walls look a little funny.

These photos were taken at night and I need to wait to see how they look during the day etc, but this is what I am thinking. The long wall on the west side all white again. The ceiling white. The long wall on the east, Zinc, which is the darkest grey. The samples that I had of that, were much nicer samples. Some of the others are a little blotchy. Then the south and north walls, wrapping around the kitchen, I am leaning towards the topmost green, called Lemongrass. I was thinking doing my hall in the lemongrass too.

I'm not sure about the purply blue. I might use that on one wall in my bedroom. I'm also trying to decide what to do with the bathroom. I know the ceiling needs to go back to white. But I'm not sure about whether it should be lemongrass or what.

Any thoughts?

Coconut Cream Pie

2011-05-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to make this recipe for a while. Finally, I made it today to take to work. I must say that I tasted the filling and whipped cream topping as I made it. It's amazingly good. I just had this special toasted coconut delivered via mail that I ordered from Nutsonline in New Jersey. I have just discovered them. I thnk they have a really extensive list of some rather hard to find products. They are good quality. I was looking for brazil nuts for to go along with my theme for our book club later this month. Where else would you order roasted and salted brazil nuts?

I'm looking forward to having a slice later tonight!

Pine Craft Show

2011-05-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today, Penny and I went to Pine to the craft show they had going. It was bustling. They were decked out for the holiday. It was a pretty homey type of craft show. Jewelry, pottery,etc.

Penny matched the displays with her patriotic attire.

We each got a little bit of jewelry.

Colorful displays.

We had a nice lunch at the Randall House.

These baby goats were there to advertise the goat milk cheese that their owners make. They walked some of them around on a leash to help publicize. It was kind of funny to see.

The traffic was busy. There was a craft show in Payson too and we enjoyed both of them.

Coleen's Birthday Cake

2011-05-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I was supposed to make this cake for Coleen's birthday at work. Then I got pulled to go on a two day trip to Yuma, unexpectedly. So Today is actually Coleen's birthday and she is off. I was partway done with the cake so I finished it today. It lists to the side a little and the icing isn't all smooth, but, oh my, does it taste good! I took it in to work so I would only have one piece and then leave the rest there. It's a recipe from Chez Panisse. A little fussy, but worth it. Moist, lots of cream and butter. One piece was enough. Hopefully, those who are at work will enjoy it. Sorry Coleen!

Jerome Home Tour 2011

2011-05-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I went with my friend Penny and Uncle Ron and Aunt Rejeana to Jerome for their home tour. It was a beautiful day. The first home was unrestored and dated from 1917. IT was interesting and sobering to see how bad of shape it was in. What a lot of work the people have ahead of them who plan to renovate it.

Here is the outside of the house. Colorful, yes? There is a fabulous view out of that back porch.

I don't have photos of everything on this post, but just some I really liked. I thought this was a really cool thing. These folks had taken the window from the old barbershop and put it in as their main picture window with the lettering on it. Cool and fun and funky. Look at that view from the porch.

A fun old enamaled toilette set.

Is this not a cool light fixture or what? It looks like Aladdin's lamp.

The inside of the church we toured. They had cookies and lemonade downstairs and their oldest parishoner. He was 96. Delightful gentleman.

Look at this "street" and these stairs. If yo drive a sedan down this stretch, when you get to the end you drag it really badly. Just like the police car we watched do it.

There was one new home on the tour. I liked the guitar theme in this room. They also had a guitar lamp.

And they had some of the fabulous kalidoscopes from the Nelly Bly store.

Front and key of an awesome carved cabinet.

Uncle Ron, Aunt Rejeana and Penny.

An "unrestored" home. As I remember them from coming when I was a kid.

Garden Harvest 5/17

2011-05-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I pulled out the last of the Chard, Spinach and carrots. I have a few different kinds of tomatoes too. I planted a few seeds to fill in "holes".

I had quite a lot of spinach. I didn't take a picture of it all before I put it in the fridge. Here is a pot of it I cooked. I eat some fresh, steam some and some I boil like this batch. It all tastes good!

Umm...didn't quite work out

2011-05-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

So, I like to post pictures of my craft projects. So this one didn't work out as planned. I thought maybe that would be good for people to know too. This was supposed to be a very simple cowl neck sweater/tank. First, It's way too big for me. And I'm not sure if it would fit right even on somebody bigger. Not quite sure what to do with it......See, not everything I make quite turns out.

Garden May 2011

2011-05-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

My garden is still doing well. Not everything works out as planned. Between surprizes in the weather (freeze), marauding pets and so on.

This is a photo of my quick harvest before church this morning. My tomatoes are just starting to come on. I have LOTS of green tomatoes. I hope they all live to ripen. I seem to have some competition for harvesting them from my dog, Winston. I have caught him in the middle of my bed eating green tomatoes, three times now. Sigh. Not much I can do about it.

I have also gotten my first zucchini as you can see. I seem to have a "failure in pollinators" for anything in the squash and melon families. I have been trying to do as I was told at the nursery and take a male flower and use it to pollinate the female flowers. The only problem is that I don't always have male and female flowers open at the same time. But I ate my first zucchini today and it was great!

I love the flowers. They stay beautiful for more than a week after I cut them and bring them in.

Here is a view of most of the garden. It's mostly tomatoe jungle. I also have some garden out of view behind this area and some in front that you can't see. The spinach has just finished. I have one chard left. The beets are done. I still have some carrots. I was too agressive in using my cilantro and killed it off. Need to plant some more. My dill and parsley are quite healthy. My basil is coming on, I hope. My very healthy basil got killed off in the freeze this last January. I have several other things developing. I have my own little intensive gardening method. Little space lots of plants. Seems to mostly work.

My little japanese eggplants are setting fruit. They don't get much bigger than about 4 inches.

Bell Peppers starting. All very yummy!

Cupcake Camp

2011-05-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

One of my friends from work wanted to learn how to decorate fancy cupcakes. I am certainly not well versed in this area, but am learning. We decided to learn together. I picked out a couple of cupcake designs from Hello, Cupcake! I tried to find some that were cute, but easy enough for us to get started with and have a successfull experience.

So the first one was a sunflower cupcake, complete with a ladybug. I started getting things ready a couple of days ahead. I made the frosting and colored it in all the appropriate colors. I figured out how to make the leaves. See the fruit gels next to the plate? Well you take the green ones and smash them with a rolling pin. You add sugar to keep them from sticking. Then you use a leaf cookie cutter to cut out the leaf shapes.

Here are some more of our raw materials. We used regular and mini oreos. Red M&M's became our ladybugs.

The book has you pipe the black areas of the lady bugs. We tried it on a couple and it was quite fussy and tedious. Seriously, on an M&M? Much easier to use an edible black marker.

Cupcakes ready to go.2 sizes. The smaller ones are for the second project.

Here is Katherine, getting ready to start making the petals. You can see the cupcakes are already frosted in green, the leaves and oreos are in place. The directions said to add the leaves after you put the petals on. We didn't think that would work as well, so we added them first.

Closeup.

Petal making.

Finished project! We were quite pleased with the results. And I learned several new techniques in the process.

The spread. I didn't eat a single one. We delivered some to work and I also delivered some to the folks I visit for church.

The second batch were mini cup cakes. We were supposed to heat the icing for 4-5 seconds in the microwave. Supposedly then you can dip the cupcake and it would be somewhat liquid and develop a smooth, shiny surface. Didn't happen that way. We ended up frosting them pretty traditionally. Then we were piping white decorations on them so they were supposed to look similiar to petit fours.

Not really but it was fun anyway. These went to the office too.

We had a great time and think we'll have to do it again!

2nd Anniversary of weight loss goal

2011-05-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

I put a little bit of a post on facebook about this, but I am very excited and pleased. I was looking at my before and after photos the other day and realized that it had been two years since I met my goal weight. Time flies!

I am up and down a little, but I now am able to manage my weight and keep within some pretty decent parameters. I am so glad for the self knowledge of knowing that I CAN be sucessful about this. I am so grateful for the tools to keep it going. What a blessing this has been in my life.

This is maybe not the best photo in the world, but I am ok with me! Life is so much better without the extra weight.

Roadside Beauty

2011-05-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

I love these. The larger flower with the chocolate center is a chocolate echinacea that I am growing in my garden. The other two are flowers I found on the roadside on the way back from Kingman today. I think they are beautiful. I have never seen them as wildflowers in Arizona. I think maybe someone threw the seeds out there along with the desert marigolds. They are gorgeous! And aren't they fun together?

Jewelry Shadowbox Project

2011-05-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have been busy the last few days. This is my next Martha Stewart inspired project. I made these as gifts. You buy a shadow box and remove the glass. Easy right? Well, unlike a regular frame, the glass is held in place with glued and screwed in molding strips. Tiny screws. Any way, I got it out. They were darker wood and I wanted white to go with the paper on the back, so then I spray painted them white.

Then she said to cover the back with wall paper scrap. I don't even know where to get wall paper these days. Home Depot only had contact paper, so that is what I used. Probably easier anyway. Then you put in cup hooks to hold jewelry that you would like to display and there you go! It will hang on the wall and not be in the way.

I made two different sizes. Kind of fun, I think.

Curios Cluster Necklace

2011-05-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living. Some of her projects are just too much work or too fussy for me. But sometimes, I think they are just really inspired and they "speak" to me. I saw this necklace in this month's issue and fell in love. I have all sorts of bits and pieces of jewelry that I hadn't been able to throw away, single earrings, pendants, old costume jewelry from my Great Aunt. Plus I have plenty of buttons and beads, etc. So I thought here is a perfect project to use them and plus I love the way it looks.

So I have been up to 1 AM the last two nights, working on it. I finished last night. I don't know. The instructions warn to make sure that everything you put on is "lightweight" but even so, when you put that much on, it starts to get heavy. And mine doesn't seem to lay as flat as the one the girl had on in the magazine.

And here they show you can also wear it sideways and let the ribbon be part of the decoration. I don't know, mine didn't seem to want to do that. I'm going to try and wear it a little and see. I hope it wasn't wasted effort!

My sister says Martha has a whole staff of people around to make sure everything turns out great. The frayed linen is supposed to be a part of the whole "look". You purposely fray the edge. FYI!

In LOVE with the MIM

2011-05-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

I went to the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum) for the first time just a month ago. I enjoyed it very much, but we didn't get all the way through. It costs 15$ to get in. If you save your receipt, and come back within a month, you can get in a second time for 10$. So I went back tonight. I think I might be half way through now.
It is an amazing place. There are exhibits with instruments from every country and ethnic group in the world (I think). You look at the instruments, read the "blurb" about the country and music, and then almost every exhibit has video clips of some of the music being played, danced, sung,etc. I learn so much while I am there and it really makes me think. Tonight I was thinking about colonialism, indigenous peoples, artistry, commonalities, etc. It was fascinating.
The first time I was there we did Europe, North America and the special exhibit rooms. Tonight I did South America, Oceania and about 1/3 of Asia. I still have a lot of Asia left, Africa and the Middle East. It is also a lesson in geography and ethnic groups.
I stayed till they closed. I think I was the last visitor out of the building. I thought maybe I needed to get a membership. Sadly, they don't have memberships. You can belong to their "Circle of Friends" and make a donation. The lowest level is 250$ and then you get 10 passes. I don't think I am prepared to do that. But I will definately be back many times. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!

Maisey Cow hat Contest

2011-04-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

So, here is a little girl's cow hat. Here is the deal. I think it would fit probably 1 to 3 year old. Not completely sure. So tell me why you want it. The best story gets it! I will also be doing this on facebook. Hope it finds a good home.