Last old slide.

This is the last of grandma's slides that show the dresses my mother made for me--at least since I was about 12 years old.  I know my sisters could put together a similar set.  She was so much more clever than I realized at the time.

When I was a senior in high school, the music/theater director led us in writing a play (or maybe it was an operetta).  The plot was about lonely miners and a bunch of women who are looking for husbands.  My part was that of a tomboy, a pal of the miners, who naturally falls in love with their leader.  He doesn't look at me as a bride, until I dress like the other women and show my feminine side.  

Of course there was a predictable happy ending with lots of brides and grooms.  

I'm not certain this was the only killer red dress.  I remember another one too, but apparently there was no picture taken.  Okay, that's my stroll down memory lane.  Besides making me more aware and appreciative of my mother's talent, I took my sewing machine in to be serviced.  I think I'll try a little sewing of my own.  I'll start small.

Spring in the Utah high desert

I went for a walk yesterday in the late afternoon.  That is the warmest part of the day here, but it felt good to me.  The picture is looking southeasterly, and I could see that rain was trying to fall in the distance, but probably not reaching the ground.  I loved the different blues of the sky and the reds of the mountains.  It is windy today which might mean a cool down for the weekend.  I like the heat, and always feel bad for those people who seem to have a comfort zone of less than 10 degrees.  You know the ones: too cool below 69, too hot above 78.  They probably have seven days all year when they are truly comfortable.

There are other wonderful shots at SkyWatch.

More inadequate appreciation of Mom

Here are more photos of the dresses I know were made by my mother.  At the time, I just accepted that she would put together something for me.  I suppose, as an ordinary, self-absorbed teenager, the fact that she was darn good at it flew right by me....whoosh.

The young man with me was a classmate and also part of the cast of Showboat.  The white dress was fabulous.

I decided to put a couple more dress pictures in, even though my eyes seem to be closed in the pictures.  Appreciate the dresses, not me.  This one had a collar of sequins.  I have again cropped out my date--not because he wasn't a nice guy, but my romantic history is not the point here.

Mom must have made this suit too, probably just to wear with the boots.  I sang "These Boots are Made for Walking" at some event.  I know I'd ham it up a lot more now than I did then.  Oh the confidence and wisdom of age--if we could have that and the youth and beauty at the same time.  Watch out.
This dress is another one I remember.  It was a pretty brocade with fake fur on the sleeves.
I really liked this dress because there are at least two pictures of me wearing it.  This was after our wedding and the birth of our son, so it must have been for a sibling's  special prom or something.  Oh my gosh, we are so young and skinny!

Is everyone tired of my memory lane yet?  I haven't found too many more pictures among grandma's slides showing more cool clothes, but I know there is a killer red dress somewhere.  Maybe I'm almost finished.

You have to smile.

I just spent a week with my son's family in South Carolina.  I got to go to a baseball practice with my 11-year-old grandson and a softball practice with my granddaughter.  The baseball practice was familiar.  I had sons who played, students who played, and I knew what to expect from boys that age.  It was baseball practice.

On the other hand, my granddaughter's softball practice was...entertaining.   First of all, she is barely 5--the youngest in the coach-pitch league that goes through 9-year olds.  Let me tell you, there are a lot of differences between 5 and 9 year old girls.  Second, she is a very girly girl.  She even runs delicately.  She gently and gracefully puts her toe on the bag, she sometimes spins around before picking up a ball from the ground, and when she comes in from the field she is often skipping.  One of her coaches made a circle on the field so she would remember where to stand.  

Her mother says that when she comes to bat, the audience smiles and "aaahs" because she is so small.  Once the coaches have managed to get her to stand in the right place and hold the bat correctly, there are no expectations.  She does, however, occasionally hit the ball.  It doesn't go very far, but enough that she can sometimes dance her way to first base. She says that makes her coach call her his secret weapon.  They are very sweet with her.  (You can click to see the picture better.)

I don't know if she will always like softball, but she does like to visit with others and play games so she's having fun.  That is really what matters now.

Underappreciated Mother

I hurried back through the many slide copies to find a few that I could quickly recognize as me.  I wanted to put them in a better order, but loading pictures so they turn out where I want them seems to be beyond my technical ability.

On the left is a dress for Pioneer Day, which is a very big deal in the place where I grew up.  I must have been involved in some special performance.

I don't know what dance the red dress was for,  but I did crop out the guy I was dating at the time.   I have several more shots with he and I together.

I think the orange suit was for something  like an interview for a beauty pageant or something.  I needed to look polished and respectable, but stylish.

The blue shift with ruffles and the lavender dress remain a mystery in my memory.  I have a corsage in one, so it must have been a dance.  But, my hair was up in the other so it was also obviously for something I thought important.  Those shapeless dresses were cool in the mid-sixties.

This very young me was for my first big dance.  The high school held a "post prom" the day after the real deal, especially for junior high students.  I was in 7th grade and had a date with a boy in my class.

This last shot is a real keeper although I don't remember why we took it.  It is my sisters and I with my grandmother, who passed away when she was far too young.  As near as I can figure, I was about 18 (which would make my sisters 16 and 14--give or take a year).  

I am pretty sure than my mom made most of these clothes.  I'll have to show them to her and see how many she remembers--probably more than I do.

I do know that I took her for granted.  I don't now.

Trip down memory lane.

I've been enjoying a stroll down memory lane.  One of my sisters took all my mother and grandmother's slides and scanned them, then put them on a flash drive.  It took her days, because there were lots of slides!  The thing is, they are not in any particular order.  So there will be a picture of us when we were small, then pictures of our children, then scenes from high school plays and assemblies, and so on.  I have realized two important things:  I was way cuter than I thought I was at the time, and my mother managed to make me some fabulous dresses that I had completely forgotten.  

I have heard others say how uncomfortable they were with themselves during the teenage years, then looking back realized that they had it all.  I don't remember thinking I was good-looking.  I just remember worrying about my hair, my freckles, the small scar on my face from an auto accident, yada yada.  And the only dress I remember purchasing was for my Junior Prom.  Maybe there were more, but my mother was a talented seamstress with limited means, so I think she made most of them.

I also found this picture of the method I used for getting my naturally curly hair to lay as smooth and controlled as possible.  It took FOREVER to dry because the cans had no ventilation and the hair was long.  But if I took the cans out too soon, I'd frizz for sure.  My dad used to tease me about getting radio signals from across the country.

This is me and my oldest son.  I must have been about 22 years old.  I actually remember this outfit.  Notice the smooth hair.

Maybe in a few days I'll post pictures of some of the fabulous outfits I had for various occasions.  In high school, I was often in plays, operettas, traveling assemblies, and other activities that required special clothing.  I have realized that I did not adequately appreciate my mother's talent.  

Just tell me if I get too carried away  and annoying with this reminiscence.  I'm having lots of fun remembering.

Good Customer Service

Someday soon I'm going to write about politics again.  When things begin to annoy me too much, it's either a controlled vent or blow out.  We're getting there so this is just fair warning.

Right now, I'm thinking about customer service--the good, the bad, and the non-existent.  I have had the occasion several times lately to request information or service from several on-line companies.  I love being able to e-mail a company at 10:00 p.m. in my pajamas if that's what I need to do.

First, I ordered a birthday gift for my 5-year-old granddaughter from Fat Brain Toys.  I forgot, until after the order was placed, that I had an online discount.  I e-mailed them and they applied it to my order.  Sweet!

Next, I had trouble with my Roomba battery, but corresponding with iRobot is difficult.  They will respond with a strange-looking message and instructions to write "only" between these two lines asking for detailed numbers and codes.  You might get a follow-up response,  but mine just told me what I already knew.  No help was offered, but I can buy a new battery.

I have occasionally ordered on-line from Avon.  This time part of my order consisted of some eye pencils.  Just a day or two after I placed the order, I got an advertisement offering them for half of what I paid.  I e-mailed Avon to see if they could give me a credit because I hadn't even received my order.  No deal; they do not offer sale prices on things already ordered.  That bothered me, because nearly all retail stores will honor a sale price on something purchased just a few days before.  Avon gets a demerit or two.

This morning I was reading on my Kindle and it froze.  I couldn't change the page, go to the home screen, and even turning off the switch did nothing to the display.  I logged on to Amazon and went to the Kindle section.  There was the coolest thing.  I put in my phone number and within 10 seconds my phone rang.  Within 20 more seconds, I was talking to a live human who spoke lovely English.  He told me how to find the reset, what to do, and stayed with me until it was working again.  Amazon gets bonus points!

It seems logical to me that businesses would want to keep customers happy, but there sure is a difference in the way they think it should be done.

Old Typist

I admit it, I'm a baby boomer.  I learned to type on a--wait for it--typewriter!  It was the kind where you had to use your left hand to move the carriage to a new line.  Our teacher kept the room frosty cold (crisp, he called it), and corrections had to be made with a type eraser--the kind with a little brush on the end.  Many years later I had a bunch of those erasers and the students thought they were so clever, though obviously they knew nothing about their original use with typewriters.

When I went to work in the office of The School of Arts and Letters at the college, I was really in fat city.  They had an IBM Correcting Selectric typewriter.  I got good enough that I didn't even watch.  It was like my hands could tell when I had made a mistake and they automatically backed up and corrected it.  Cool.

It wasn't until I had started teaching that I got to know computers.  Slowly and gently I changed from "typing" to "keyboarding."  Thankfully, the keys were still Qwerty, so I didn't have to relearn everything.  I had to discard the key that allowed me to go back, lift off, and type over, but much was the same.  

But, for whatever reason, some quirks have stuck with me.  I cannot explain why I want to spell about with an extra a--aboaut.  I do it almost every time.  I also tend to put a k in front of p.  I just did it when I typed spell--skpell.  I often change the order of letters in words, especially "the," and I'm forever exchanging one small word for another.  I just typed "work" instead of "word."  

Unfortunately, my hands don't always recognize my mistakes and if I don't proofread carefully my writing might be quite confusing.  

Thankfully, word processing programs make corrections easy to do.  Otherwise, I'd be covered in eraser dust all the time.

Silver linings around black clouds

It is too bad, but nothing seems to bring families together like a funeral.  Weddings are in second place, but don't have the same power to bring people home.

Yesterday was the funeral for my mother's older sister.  This lovely, very intelligent, talented lady had suffered for a number of years and knew she was not ever going to regain good health.  That did not make her passing much easier for those who cared about her except for their belief that she was happy and with her husband, who had died a number of years ago.

The silver lining was the chance to see family members I hadn't seen for many years.   We talked about how it was too bad that it took a death to get people in the same place, but we also laughed and shared and remembered.  Everyone promised to stay in touch.  I hope we will before anyone else we care about passes away.

Basketball made personal

Sometimes my family gets a little irritated when I mention them, but I think this will be okay. One of my brothers has two daughters (he has three sons too, but we're not interested in them at the moment).  My brother has always loved sports and has maintained that in order for his children to learn to do things the right way, he was going to be involved.  He coached his daughters and their friends on various basketball teams from the time they were in elementary school.  They loved it and so did he.

Now, they are attending a small, private college.  This college prides itself on its academics.  They 'just happen' to have basketball teams.  They make no allowances for the athletes, give no special treatment.  This week they are playing in the NAIA National Tournament in Tennessee, and they just won their first game against a team that beat them in the first round last year.

When I checked the college's website for information about the game, this was their picture.  It's the oldest niece, a senior graduating with a bachelors degree and an RN.  This tough but very feminine young woman is a heck of a player.  The younger sister is also talented and will likely shine even more in the next year.  This year it was especially nice because their dad was asked to help as a volunteer coaching assistant.  Naturally, he accepted (he was to all the games anyway), and I when I get to a game, I can see his influence.

 Now they get to play last year's defending champion, but don't count them out just yet.

Congratulations ladies, you've had a terrific year.

Awareness or Observance?

As I reread my last post, and the comments, I decided that awareness and observation were not exactly synonymous.  In fact, in my computer's thesaurus, they are not listed that way.

I think all successful teachers have to have a high level of awareness about what is happening in their classrooms.  In fact I remember a "busy" third grader asking me--with real sincerity--if I had eyes in the back of my head.  

Observation, at least to my mind, is different.  While I knew what the students were doing and where the trouble spots were likely to be, I'm not certain I could have accurately described their facial features to a sketch artist.   I mean, I noticed new haircuts or stylish new outfits, or glasses traded for contacts.  Unless they said something, I may not have noticed when someone got braces or got theirs taken off (6th grade is full of metal and I never had fewer than 26 students),  but I do not remember paying attention to the the shape of their eyes or lengths of earlobes.  To sit down and accurately describe the distance between eyes, eyebrow shapes, or length of a nose....I don't know.  Round face, thin face, tall, short, skinny, stocky, dark, fair--that's about the extent of my physical observation skills.

But, maybe I was looking beyond what they "looked like" to what they might be thinking and doing.   While I couldn't have given a good sketch artist what he needed, I could have accurately described the students' reading, writing, and math skills.  I could have described  their interests, habits, and attitudes about school.  Perhaps I was simply aware of the things that mattered most to me.  

 To my thinking, observation is surface information.  Awareness is  more of an understanding.  I doubt that's what dictionaries would say, and that still doesn't explain why so many people miss the gorilla.  

Powers of Observation

Do you really look at others?  Are you someone whose mind is so full of thoughts that there is little room to store observations?  Or do you even notice some things?

Some time ago I took an awareness test, just for fun.  It was a short video and one was supposed to count the times a ball was passed among the members of a group.  If you Google (a noun now mostly used as a verb) awareness tests or observation tests, you can find quite a few.  Anyway, I was quite proud of myself for keeping track of the passes (24)....until the question came up about who had seen the gorilla.  A gorilla?!  As I watched again--not counting the passes this time--there was definitely a guy in a gorilla suit who walked through the group.  I had totally missed it.  Apparently when most people concentrate on watching something, other unexpected things are not observed.  I was glad to find out that it wasn't just me.  

When hubby and I stopped to visit at his parents' house a while back, neither parent noticed that he had made a change in his appearance.  I don't want to say too much because no one in my family has seen him recently and I am sure some of them will notice immediately.  I do have close relatives who would NOT have missed the gorilla.  In fact, if there is ever a need for someone to talk to a sketch artist about someone we saw, it had better not be me.  However, I can think of several people who could accurately describe a person down to the shape of their eyebrows.  

I'm trying to be more watchful and observant.  I don't want to miss any more gorillas. 

Was it something I said?

I'm a little curious.  What part(s) of my last post put me in a particular liberal/moderate/centrist/conservative political category?  As I read it again, the only thing I mentioned that could show a specific notion was that I didn't agree with the massive government spending (but the first bail-out was before the election).

I mentioned the stock market had dropped a lot since November, but that's a fact and is a result of worried investors and people spending less money.

Was it my contention that the government cannot solve people's problems or my concerns about a generation who feel entitled just because they exist?  Or was it that we seem to be getting away from the personal responsibility and self-reliance of our ancestors?  Aren't we?

Are those ideas really only held by a segment of society?  Has more government control over people's lives ever made anything better?   Maybe my next post will be about taxes.  That ought to stir things up.

I think we hear billions and trillions so often that we're numb, but they are too enormous to comprehend.  I'm borrowing a cool example from Rose's blog.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
A billion dollars is only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

A trillion (as all math teachers know) is a thousand billion.

 

Thinking too much.

I spent more than an hour this morning on a new post.  It's still in my draft folder.  It started out as a concern about how things are going in this country, but it grew out of control.  I had quotes from editorials in newspapers,  comments, and personal reflections.  But, the more I wrote, the more there seemed to be to say, until I finally realized that I was being foolish.  I'm not going to change anyone's mind.  Those who believe that government will make their lives better are not going to be swayed by my ideas.  It is arrogant of me to think I have such influence.

Apparently, however, I'm not the only one concerned.  The stock market has fallen 2000 points since the November election.  Our 401(k) accounts (extra cushion for retirement) are worth a fraction of their value just year ago.  The accounts we set up to help with our grandchildren's college expenses have all but disappeared.  With the massive spending going on in Washington, (most of which I think is wrong) inflation is next--making everything worse. 

And I am distressed by the idea that so many people seem to feel like the United States owes them something.   There is an enormous pool of victims who somehow believe that their problems are not of their making and somebody needs to fix things for them.  That is a huge turnaround from the self-reliance and individual responsibility attitude of our past.  When did entitlement take over?  Not in my parents' time or any before that.  My parents (and grandparents and so on) worked very hard, and expected nothing from their government except to allow them to make their own way.  They bought things when they had the money to pay the bills.  Us too.  What has happened?  

I've probably deleted as much as I've written today, but I'm worried about us.  I think too many people are willing to give up their personal freedoms for short-term rewards that may not turn out to be what they are hoping for anyway.  We are heading down a slippery slope and no one seems willing to look at what's at the bottom.

SkyWatch and Feeling Spring

I'm finally back to SkyWatch Friday.  Where I live, spring is definitely on the way.  The grass is starting to turn green, the temperature warms up nicely in the afternoons, and a shower means rain instead of snow.  No blossoms yet, but they won't be long.  

The Pine Valley Mountain still has snow, but I've traded in my coats for light jackets.  Hooray!

I know I'm at the warm end of the state, some of my family and friends are still shoveling and wearing hats and gloves.  But then, that's part of the reason I'm now here and not there.  For other cool pictures visit SkyWatch Friday.

More bad parenting examples

I'm afraid this is another example of the consequences of lousy parenting. A short piece was in the news today about two 19-year-olds who had escaped from a drug treatment facility in southern Utah and were found in Arizona.  Sometimes kids don't have much of a chance.  One's single mother was on disability (for what, we don't know since the mother was seen running with her dog), but couldn't be bothered getting her 5th grader to school. He would show up sporadically, usually just before lunch, sometimes having walked (a long way). When asked why he was so late, his answer was often that his mother had slept over at her boyfriend's and wasn't home.

I could post about stuff like this for months, but I won't. It is too distressing. Maybe I'll try and find some really excellent examples of solid parents raising responsible, hard-working children. I know there are some out there because I've met many of them. I hope there are enough.

Ranting about Children

My hubby and I are very worried about the future. Not just because of the economy, but because of the children. There are so many selfish, messed-up parents out there. I posted about problems with the gene pool back in July, and I feel even more strongly about it now.

Yesterday, we sat in a booth having breakfast next to some young people. The young man--probably early 20s--was talking about how his girlfriend got him back (after breaking up) several times by telling him she was pregnant, but she wasn't. Yes, his father knew he sometimes slept over at the girlfriend's house. GOOD GRIEF! Obviously, this young man has no respect for women--why should he? The young women seems to have no respect for herself. And where were her parents? To these booth neighbors, it was all a joke.

A slightly older female was there too, with a small boy probably not two years old. I couldn't tell if she was his mother, but I think she was a sister to the young man. The whole time we were there, she spoke five words to the child. Meanwhile, she discussed having her tongue pierced again, the young man's sex life, and various social activities. The little boy ate potato chips (they must have brought them) and stood quietly, nose running. I guess he's used to being left out of things.

Then, the article in the paper about the 11-year-old boy who killed his father's pregnant girlfriend. Our first thoughts were about what a horrible life that boy probably had. What kind of situation would cause an 11-year-old (we have a grandson that age, and I spent 18 years in classrooms filled with them) to think that was his only option? His own family torn up--there was no mention of a mother--but a women moves in with two small children and takes his father away too. I read today that the jail where he is locked up is trying to get him moved to a juvenile facility--I should hope so, he's 11!

I'm not a person who thinks we can take care of everyone; I don't believe in absolving people from their own stupid choices. However, I do think children deserve care and consideration. Too many narcissistic parents are disregarding their children's feelings and/or discarding their responsibilities. Children are very perceptive, and we are going down a very dangerous road toward a future where entire generations will have no good parenting role models:
Everyone does what feels good at the time.
Who cares what others think?
I want what I want and I deserve it.
If I can get it, it's mine.

What will become of them?

Traffic Dance

It seems to me that vehicles on the roadways are like the dancers in a very large performance. Each has places where they are required to slow, stop, go forward, or turn. If they miss their marks or stumble out of position, they risk stepping on other performers. Those who fail to follow the choreography force others out of position and into the possibility of the failure of whole sections of the dance.

In order for the dance to continue as intended, dancers must follow the design. There are, I've observed, several types of dancers who are unwilling or unable to stay in step:

1) The Impatient dancer. He/she doesn't want to wait for other performers to make their movies. He/she is intent on making their moves first, even if it causes others to slow or lose step. He/she is forever trying to gain seconds in the dance.

2) I'm Important dancer. This dancer has an exaggerated self-worth who sees his/her time as more valuable than anyone else's. He/she will move out of the dance pattern to shove into a spot farther up the line. This dancer assumes that others will automatically recognize his/her importance and make way. These dancers stop in places where not permitted, and imagine themselves as stars above the rules.

3) Distracted dancer. This person sees the dance as one of the least important things to do while driving. He/she will often be talking on the phone, eating or drinking, fixing hair, sending or reading messages, or napping while trying to stay in the dance. Neighboring dancers must be vigilant around this performer.

4) Isolated dancer. This performer behaves as though no one else is in the dance, often changing from one line to another without regard for other dancers. He/she is unconcerned with dance protocol and fails to make other dancers aware of his/her intent to change position, speed, or direction. After all, no one else need be concerned.

5) Opps, I need to be there dancer. This dancer fails to plan ahead or frequently changes his/her mind about the dance destination. The last minute desire to move across three lines to make a turn characterizes this scatterbrain participant.

The amazing part of this dance is that it so often works, thanks to the dancing abilities of many. The defensive dancing of the majority keeps the dance disruptions to a minimum.

Everyone, dance carefully.

Do Opposites really attract?

Hubby and I are the same age (actually I'm a bit older), we went to the same high school and college, and because the schools were small, we had many friends in common.  His parents are each a year older than mine, and both families consisted of three girls and two boys.  Our fathers both did stints in the Navy and mothers were homemakers.  We are both oldest children.  Strange, weird, a little eerie? 

Yet, we are very different personality types, opposites even.  I was the good girl, honor student, rule follower.  Hubby was a wilder rebel teenager, and he did things that he would never have permitted his sons to do--not that he had permission from his parents either.  Yet we found each other.  As you might guess, his parents were more pleased about that than mine were.  

Hormonally overcharged, struggling for independence, we married young.  We have had disagreements--many of them--but have never considered divorce.  We think very differently; it is like our personal joke that we often do not agree. We expect it.   Sometimes we convince each other of the value of our opinion, sometimes we just give in, sometimes we stay on opposite sides of the fence. 

I do think that we balance each other.  Together we have more skills than we each would alone.  Maybe that's why opposites seem to seek each other out.  One's weaknesses can be supported, one's strengths can boost both.  And the similarity in our backgrounds gave us a firm foundation to hang on to.

When asked how long we've been married, my hubby will say, "All my life."  There's quite a bit of truth to that.  Our 41st anniversary is on Monday.  

Confused cook

I found a recipe in a magazine that seemed to be something I could make and might like--fewer than 20 ingredients, no unusual herbs or exotic spices, simple instructions. My only change was making it about half as much as the recipe called for. If I had made the whole thing, I could have fed a big crowd. As it is, I'll have plenty of leftovers to freeze.

The illustration looked tasty, so I gave it a shot.

Surprise, mine didn't look anything like the picture.  I take that back, I could see the spinach and the chorizo.  I can't figure out where the yellow color came from.  Was there some saffron that wasn't mentioned? Some ingredient that was left off the recipe?

It could have been a difference in lentils, but since it called for red ones, mine looks more like I thought it would.  By the way, mine was pretty tasty, but no one would think it was the same dish.  

Disappearing Adverbs

I think adverbs are disappearing from our language.  I suppose in these days of instant messages adverbs are unwieldy with too many syllables.  

Why would anyone write "Drive Safely" when "Drive Safe" is shorter?  Why should people be admonished to "Eat Healthily" or "Eat Healthy Food" when we can "Eat Healthy"?  Apparently it doesn't matter whether or not it is grammatically correct, as long as it fits on the signs or doesn't take too many letters.

A business commercial says that their company "... does it right and does it complete."   The assumption must be that they are thorough and careful, but I guess that would be more words than they wanted to use.

"Well" is soon to be relegated to simply a hole with water in it, because people don't seem to know when else to use it.  How are you?  How did you do on your test?  How did you feel? Good is the common answer these days.  Few people will respond with a verb-modifying adverb.

Now I'm going to walk on a treadmill for a while, but I'll try to walk steady, hydrate smart, and step careful.

I was tagged....

Okay, Lin tagged me and she's such a frequent commenter to my blog, I think I'd better cooperate.  Normally, I'm a very private person.  Other than the occasional bragging about my grandkids, not too many people really know much about my life.  Okay, here goes.

Eight TV shows/movies I watch regularly:

Without my TiVo, I doubt I'd watch much television at all, with it I watch

 CSIs (original and NY--don't much like Miami)

NCIS

The Mentalist

Stargate Atlantis (original Stargate is over)

Eleventh Hour

Fringe

The Sanctuary

Criminal Minds

Eight things that happened yesterday:

Drove from Salt Lake to my home in Washington

Stopped almost halfway for a burger and Coke (and chips of course)

Visited with Mom for a while

Picked up accumulated mail

Skyped with hubby

Read some J.A. Jance on my Kindle

Caught up on a little TiVo time

--not much else, too much driving time

Eight favorite places to eat:

Lone Star Steak House--when I get a craving for steak or prime rib

Taco Time (not Taco Bell or Del Taco)

Ruby Tuesday--excellent lunches

Famous Dave's--when I need barbecue

Applebee's--generally dependable food

Golden Corral--when I'm really hungry

Arctic Circle for its burgers and fry sauce

La Costa--a little place with terrific Mexican food

Eight things I'm looking forward to:

Warmer weather--I'm a real summer person

Lunch with my former colleagues--maybe next week

Playing with my grandchildren again--just don't know when it will be

Watching my nieces' college basketball game--also next week

The cruise we're planning this summer--hubby's parents celebrating 60 years together

Going back to Alaska and Hawaii--both beautiful in different ways

Learning how make beaded jewelry--especially watch bands

More grapefruit from Costco--they are wonderful and this is the best time of the year for them

Eight things on my wish list:

More exploring of the wonders of the U.S.

Future trips to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, who knows where.

Seeing the Great Wall of China

Staying healthy, no more messy heart surgeries

Maybe losing 10 pounds--can I do it without suffering too much?

Lay's bringing back Dill Pickle potato chips (are last two incompatible?)

Finding more good books to read on my new Kindle

Lots of time with grandchildren

Eight people to tag:

Don't feel comfortable tagging specific people; don't know that many who would want to do it.  Would love to see what others have to say.

Bon Appetit

I know French food is supposed to be..ah....fancy.  I know France gets credit for fine cuisine (like Italy for lovers, Germany for cars, Switzerland for banks, you get the idea).  What I don't understand is why American chefs find it necessary to use French terms to describe things.  Wait, yes I do.  It makes the foods and preparations sound so much more elegant, and pretentious, and difficult.  

Duck confit, topped with fresh raspberry compote and creme fraiche; or steak tartare covered with aioli and surrounded with a rich bechamel. 

Doesn't that sound...expensive and delicious?  What about this?

Duck cooked in its own fat, topped with fresh raspberries in syrup and sour cream; or raw steak with garlic mayonnaise and white sauce. 

They're right, the first one sounds much better, even without all the stress and accent marks that I've left off the French words.  Just be sure you know the meanings when you order.  Then you can avoid any unpleasant surprises when you get your food.

Unsophisticated taste

I watch the Food Network sometimes.  I enjoy watching the recipes come together and imagining the  flavors.   Some of the personalities and foods prepared seem more to my liking than others, but I've decided that my tastes are not sophisticated.   I think having sophisticated tastes mean that I have to like everything.  Well, there are lots of foods prepared that I'd be very hesitant to taste: pancake cake with avocado frosting, seared frogs' legs casserole, or goat stew?  Ordinary foods are paired in such unusual ways that I can't envision how it would taste.  Sixteen ingredients for a tiny scallop, or a lovely piece of salmon buried under a crunchy sweet topping and a fancy sauce.  What exactly are they trying to taste?

Exactly how does one get "sophisticated tastes"?  Do you have to eat in expensive restaurants, trying new things each time?  Do you just put odd things together and see how it turns out?  Maybe one needs to buy a snazzy cookbook and try some of the recipes.  I have it feeling it would take quite a while to accumulate an adequate pantry--how often do you use sweet Hungarian paprika or pickled artichoke hearts?

I remind myself that the chefs on television have staffs who make sure everything is on hand and within reach.  There are always fresh herbs of all kinds, unshrivelled lemons and limes, and heavy cream that hasn't spoiled.  My kitchen is not like that.  I will still watch the Food Network, but I'm not pretending to want to enjoy (or even understand) all the recipes.

More driving entertainment

Tomorrow I make my 300 mile trek back to the city and hubby's small apartment.  I have a yearly checkup with my Cardiologist and I'll have my hair trimmed and gray (gasp) covered while I'm there.  I decided I had better clear my cell phone of the messages I've left myself--mostly personalized license plates I've noticed--so I have lots of room to record more.

Some of the cutest were a bright orange Chevy HHR (they look very retro) that said PUMKEN, and a lime green VW beetle that said FROG (I think I saw this in Hawaii).  I think some people let their attitudes show a little when they are buying a special plate.  A big, Dodge 4X4--black I think--said BURNED.  I'm not sure of the reference, and another truck said ON EDGE.  I steered a little clear of those.  A red Mitsubishi GT was JUSTFAB but I think that definitely shows the driver's age; as does the pale green MiniCooper that said OVER 50.  

Then there are some that just confuse me.  A lovely new Toyota Camry said MRSFXIT; I wondered if there was a MRFXIT too or just a handy Mrs.  A new Mercury was PEGASOS--because it can fly and other spellings were taken?  And a pretty Chrysler 300 was MORDOTS.  That must have a meaning I'm missing.  I also wasn't sure about the red Mitsubishi that said DOGTOWN.  I didn't see any dogs inside.

I did understand the silver Mitsubishi that was STLCRSN (wow, lots of Mitsubishis this time), and I had to chuckle at the little black SUV that said LALALAA.  There's an attitude, or an easy plate to remember.  Keep reading, I'm sure there are lots more fun plates out there.

Glass half empty or half full?

I was a little depressed yesterday.  After I read the morning newspaper, it seemed that there was no good news.  The glass was definitely half empty.  Here are some samples of the headlines:

Stocks extend decline as bank worries persist 

Utah 13th in nation for ’08 foreclosures

Islamists attack Somali forces

Crackers pulled in salmonella scare 

Financial meltdown not a result of deregulation, free enterprise

Teacher held on voyeurism 

Vets given wrong Rx

It takes more than a newspaper to bring me down, but there are always the other worries in addition.  Our children or grandchildren have struggles and problems we wish we could prevent.  There are worries about parents, other family members.  My hubby just did a rough estimate of our taxes and that is an entire post for another day.  All in all, it just felt like there was not much good news, no reason to be optimistic.

For whatever reason, today's headlines were different.  Maybe the newspaper even thought yesterday was too much of a downer---though I doubt it.  Perhaps it is just life's ebb and flow. From today:

‘Miracle on the Hudson’ Pilot saves lives of all aboard crippled craft

Bomb fails to injure Iraqi Official

DVD can teach autistic child what a smile means 

Economists predicts midyear turnaround

Astronaut speaks to students

Good things can be newsworthy.  I think what we need right now is more optimism.  This is an amazing place to live, populated with millions of talented, hard-working, insightful, creative, dedicated people.  We'll be okay--better than okay.  There is nowhere I'd rather be.

False Advertising

I have lived long enough to know that advertising is just propaganda for companies to lure consumers.  I have talked with kids about how cool toys look in commercials, compared to how they look after they are purchased.  Camera angles, action, close-ups all serve to make the toys seem so desirable.  By the time kids are 12, they've been disappointed enough times to recognize the game--but sometimes they still want to believe.  Me too.

I've eaten a few TV Dinners in my time and have often wondered if the companies realize how little their actual dinners have in common with the illustrations on the boxes.   Then, again, if they put a real pictures of the dinner on a box, who would buy it?

I don't want to unfairly pick on LeanCuisine, but that's what I have.  As long as I'm eating a frozen dinner, I might as well have it calorie controlled so I feel better about it.  It is also obvious that I thought the chicken and rice dinners held promise.  

Even if I took it out of the container and arranged it nicely on a plate, I couldn't make it match the picture on the box.  The number of chicken pieces is off, the ratio of meat to rice doesn't match, and the whole thing is saucier.

For years, I've been tempted to take pictures like these and send them to the companies, but they probably already know.  I wonder if they know that we know?  If I run into any that have pictures more representative of the way the food actually looks, I'll let you know.  Don't hold your breath.

Special day

I don't very often do SkyWatch Friday two weeks in a row, but today is special.  First of all, I ran into a beautiful sky on my way back to my southern Utah home.  It was a post-storm clearing and such gorgeous clouds and sky colors.   I know I'm also late, but at my house it is Friday morning.  Enlarge the picture for the full effect.

Second, it is my BLOGAVERSARY!  It has been one year since I decided to take a stab at this.  I haven't been terribly consistent, but I have enjoyed it.  I've met some special people I wouldn't otherwise have known, and I am learning all the time.  I have lots of things still to master, but there are some fabulous bloggers out there who provide inspiration and encouragement.   Thank you to all who stop by, especially those who take a moment to leave a comment.  I will try to be interesting, informative, and/or entertaining as I continue posting in my second year.

Christmas would be boring without kids.

Our holiday began in South Carolina with two of our six grandkids.  It was unusually cold and rainy, but our 4-year-old's excitement was not dampened.

Great-grandma (my mother) got soft blankets for all the greats, and had their names embroidered on them.  The kids loved them.
It was fun taking video (of grandma taking a picture) with the new camera.  We had lots of video taken.
In his sister's words, she got "way more presents" than he did, but the nearly 11-year-old got the laptop he really wanted.  A very early morning in line at Best Buy made him happy.
The new kick 'n go scooter will be fun when the rain stops, but it's too slippery to get much traction now.

Now we're home and the California kids (four of our six) are at our house where each gets a post-Christmas gift.
For some reason these sunny, southern California people think snow is fun to play in.  
The other great-grandparents provided the back yard and sledding hill (not shown--grandma was cold).
We managed a SKYPE video conference for the kids using the new laptop in South Carolina and grandma's MacBook.  They had fun with it because they don't get to see each other very often.  
We found time for a warming dip in the community's pool.
There were lots of card games.  31 was the favorite, but with Dad and Grandma involved there was some Gin Rummy too.

We did have to get dressed up a little for a wedding reception.  One of Dad's younger cousins got married.  Oh, wait, all Dad's cousins are younger; that's what happens when you're the oldest child of two oldest children. 
That was fun because they got to see lots of family.

Christmas is filled with gifts, treats, fun, and family.  It is best shown by the smiles of the two smallest.  I dare anyone to resist their joy.

I hope everyone's Christmas was a little magical too.

Okay, this is very frustrating

I've spent a couple of hours this morning loading pictures to share a little of what I've been up to for the past two weeks.  I added comments, explanations, thoughts, and had everything ready.

HA!  There was something wrong with HTML tags or code somewhere and Blogger wouldn't let me publish!  The explanation would only make sense to a code-writer and was certainly not anything I could attempt to fix.  Maybe there are those of you out there who would have known immediately what to do, but I just deleted and will start over.  It has been difficult enough because I keep getting the message that Blogger cannot be reached so I had to try and upload several pictures multiple times.  Perhaps it is me.  Maybe the technology has really left me far behind.  I will gamely try again.  I may not be the quickest chip on the circuit board, but I am a stubborn one.

Holiday traveling

I have been way too occupied to post for a while; but I will be back more regularly in a few days when my son's family heads back to California.  I did want to join SkyWatch Friday with this fun shot of the sunset--from the air.  I had hubby take a picture through the plane window on our flight from South Carolina.

Consider this my  quick note until I get back to regular posting.  Hoping everyone is having a wonderful New Year.