Some Summer Randomness

The rocket's red glare (as observed from the corner of 7th East and 17th South)

Some observations from this summer. I thought I should list a few before summer is over:

• As I had another birthday, I took a rapid inventory of what is and is not working any longer. I have a hand that won't fully heal from a tumble I took last summer. It works for most things, but I can't put full pressure on it to help me stand up (I never realized how many times I was down). I have scars from various surgeries, most of which have faded somewhat (no more afternoons in the backyard in a Speedo, eh?). My brother pulled a bad tooth out of my noggin, thankfully it was in the back (upper driver's-side). The hairless region on my head is not getting any smaller (still not ready for the comb-over thank goodness). My eyesight is almost beyond my ability to squint-to-see. I have had more moles, warts and growths cut, frozen, or sanded off than Carter has little pills. All in all, I could be doing worse.

• Without bees, you aren't going to get too much production out of your garden (the leaves look pretty though).

• On BYU TV they were playing Man's Search for Happiness. If you have the TV muted, it comes up as Man's Search for Hipness.

• If it rains most of June, your summer seems over before it starts.

• The bar for holding off Christmas gets lower every year. I was in the Costco last week and they had Christmas ribbons for sale (I don't care if it was the ribbon reinforced with wire).

• Speaking of Costco, Emma enjoys spending time in the cold rooms with the vegetables and eggs to cool off.

• The Bees play in the prettiest ball park in the country. Even if you don't like baseball (gasp!) you have to admit that the reverse sunset on the Wasatch mountains is a great show.

• If you don't spend some time on your back in the grass looking up at the clouds once in a while, you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity.

• Try this for a summer rush-- eat a "brown topper" and then cannonball it with a lime rickey from the Arctic Circle. That's summer livin'. Ok then.

Agony and Ecstasy at the Mall

Emma and I went on an outing to South Towne Mall yesterday (and please pronounce that "Towny").

Here's the agony part: THE HELLO KITTY STORE IS GONE! It's vanished. This is a shallow and materialistic tragedy. We used to go to Hello Kitty (Sanrio, I guess it was really called) whenever Emma earned 20 good behavior stickers. She'd pick out a trinket or a pack of overpriced Hello Kitty gum, or once a pen with 10 different colors (very good behavior), and once a necklace with Hello Kitty herself dangling on a pendant (superb behavior).

An AT&T center is in its place, with a big map of the U.S. on the wall showing all the places where AT&T coverage is available. We kept walking back and forth down the concourse, past the big AT&T map, while I muttered, "It's around here somewhere. Gee, it used to just pop right up out of nowhere." Finally, I consulted a mall map. "Sanrio, L17." I orientated myself to the "You Are Here" icon, headed back down the track to L17 and there was that darn AT&T map blazing from the wall again. And then the awful reality struck me. I confirmed the bad news with an employee in a nearby kiosk. "Did that store used to be....Hello Kitty?" (morose nod.)

Oh, so sad! No more explosive plethora of expensive pink merchandise with Hello Kitty's inscrutable feline face staring blankly from every surface. No more H.K. pens and pencils, stickers and stamps, spangle pouches, drawstring bag sets and plush characters. Sayonara to the keyrings, wallets and purses, laptop bags and Iphone charms (Emma could have had one when she was 14 if she'd kept minding her p's and q's).

Goodbye, Hello Kitty.

But our spirits perked up (mine did, at least -- in a shallow and materialistic way) when we visited The Children's Place and discovered they had good-looking back-to-school jeans on sale for $10.00 a pair (regular $16.50). Tried a few on and they fit, oh miracle of miracles (hard to get a good fit with the jeans for Em). So we bought 4 pair, plus a cute little outfit also on sale, plus a new backpack she spied (she needs one to replace her loathsome Dora pack). Then I found out if I opened a charge account I could get 23% off the entire purchase, so open a charge account I did, and got a few more items since I was saving so much.

Emma picked up a little T-shirt she liked off a table and we tried it on in the dressing room. I didn't check the size. It was a little tight, and rather short -- probably needed a size or two bigger. I looked at the tag and it said 6-9 months. No wonder.

After the splurge we got a peach smoothie and rode the little train and discovered that on-sale school clothes almost completely soothe the hurt of no more Hello Kitty store.

Here's a picture of our haul:

It's Joey's Birthday, August 1!!

The birthday boy, above, amongst his sisters (Robyn, Carolee, Laurie, Susan)

Send a greeting Joey's way today!

23 Random Things

Because it's the 23rd of July.

1. Tomorrow is the 24th of July. For 10 years we lived on the Days of '47 parade route and hosted friends, family, the friends of family and the family of friends on our front lawn to watch the parade. Random passersby would ask to use our bathroom. One guy asked if he could plug in his battery recharger in our house (sure, fine). Joe would make breakfast for the visitors. One year we had a bunch of Joe's cousins (a branch of the Barrus family) attend. There was a whole slew of young Barrus kids running around. One kid ran through our living room and I said, "Are you a Barrus?" And he looked at me funny and said "What's a Barrus?" (clearly not one). Although I have fond memories of our on-the-parade-route years, I don't care if I never see the Days of '47 parade again.

2. I'm recovering from a fat lip brought on by a billiard ball becoming airborne and socking me (hard) in the kisser. Em and I were playing with the pool table downstairs. I was crouched down, face at table level, and we were zooming balls around into the pockets. You can guess where this is going.... Anyway, I looked really, really strange for a couple days. I didn't know upper lips could get that big without a collagen injection gone terribly, terribly awry.

3. Emma finished Level 2 swimming lessons at the Draper Pool yesterday. She got a certificate of completion and a banana Laffy Taffy. She loved her teacher Brandon and cried real tears on the way home (for love of Brandon).

4. I enjoy going swimming with Emma at the Draper pool on a hot afternoon and never thought I'd go so swimming so much as a grown-up. It's a happening scene up there...hordes of humanity...the rock music blaring...hot pretzels with cheese sauce and cherry Icees. So summery.

5. Yesterday I was editing a document for work and I did a global search and replace for the abbreviations BA (Bachelor of Arts) and MA (Master of Arts). I wanted them to have periods (B.A. and M.A.). So then all through the document it said things like "This program presents B.A.sic information about occupational therapy," or "The M.A.in purpose of this class...." Or someone's name turned out to be "M.A.ry Jane Taylor." Made me giggle. I thought the search-and-replace would be case sensitive (but apparently not).

6. I miss the old word processing spell check feature (maybe it's still there somewhere) that suggested alternate words for names the computer didn't recognize. That was always good for some yuks. Once I accidentally selected the word "Jailer" for the name "Jerilyn" and a letter got sent down to the Academic Affairs office addressed to Jailer McIntyre, Ph.D. (but I think we retrieved it in time).

7. I have discovered, while reading books to Emma, that I really dislike the word "exclaimed." And it's everywhere in kids' books. I don't like it because a) nobody in real life ever says it and b) it's really hard to say.

8. I've also learned that the Berenstain Bears books are ever so preachy.

9. Sometimes when I'm really sleepy (like midday, need-a-nap-but-can't-take-one sleepy) and I'm reading to Emma I can actually fall asleep and dream a tiny bit mid-sentence and then pop back awake and finish the sentence. But sometimes Emma yells "Mom!" if I wait too long.

10. I wish I were peppier and full of more zip.

11. Makes me want to drink caffeinated beverages all day long, but I suppose that's a slippery slope.

12. Why is it that Emma can absolutely love and adore a particular food item one day (asparagus, corn on the cob, quesadillas), but then when I take special pains to make the same food item a day or two later, she eschews it? (Or rather, she WON'T chew it..)

13. I went to a mini-class on how to save money on your grocery bill a while back and the woman teaching it suggested we subscribe to more than one newspaper so we can get more coupons, so now we get the weekend Tribune AND the weekend Deseret News (instead of just the Trib). But I find I'm not using the coupons because they're usually for things I don't generally buy. I did learn about a good Website called grocerysmarts.com, however, where you can find out all the things that are on sale during a given week at the stores near you. Plug in the code g84cjb where it asks for your Utah passport number.

14. I also learned that if you register your Fresh Values card on the smithsfoodanddrug.com page that you can select coupons online in advance of your shopping trip and the reduction will be taken off automatically at the register. Nice feature!

15. Anyway, we have oodles of weekend newspapers lying around now.

16. With respect for all Deseret News lovers, there's something about it that bugs me. The typeface...the layout...I dunno. The look of it somehow annoys me.

17. Tomorrow, the 24th of July, is my friend Mariann's birthday and also our little friend Kaitlin's birthday (she'll be 4). Happy birthday, friends.

18. Many people I know were born on the 9th of July. My niece Angie, my friend Jennifer, our neighbor Tim, my friend Kerrin's mom. Who else out there is July 9th?

19. I don't really believe in astrology, but whenever I read the descriptions of a Cancer personality, I think to myself, "Yes, yes, that's me." But maybe if I read Aries or Capricorn I'd be thinking the same thing. Anybody out there believe in astrology?

20. Joey's birthday's coming up on August 1. He's a Leo the Lion.

21. Sometimes I like telling people it's my birthday (well, when it's really my birthday). I mean, why not? You always get a nice sincere "Happy Birthday!" out of it. It's not like bragging. Everyone has a birthday; why not get well wishes? Once on my birthday I went to get a haircut from a woman someone had recommended. It was my first time there. The whole time I kept wanting to tell her it was my birthday, but thought "Nah...that's kinda goofy." And then at the end of the haircut, she said, "Well, I'm off to have lunch with my friend. It's my birthday today!" Whaddya know!

22. We're having taco salad for dinner tonight. This is what I put in my taco salad: Iceberg lettuce, hamburger seasoned with McCormick mild taco seasoning, kidney beans, chopped cucumber, shredded cheddar, sliced black olives, Fritos. Top it with Catalina dressing, or the dressing of your choice.

23. Have a great holiday weekend!

Happy Birthday Denny!

That's right, it's time to celebrate. Be sure to congratulate her early and often. She's a sweetie!

How Many Fun Things Can a Girl Do at a Party?

Well, if you go to Laurel and Jay's house for dinner (in Bluffdale, where they live on an ACRE and have the most amazing backyard known to manKIND), and a bunch of other friends come over too, turns out you can do a ton of fun things.

You can drive around in a pink battery-powered princess car with Xanthe.

You can jump on the tramp.

And jump off the tramp.

And meander through the English garden.

You can slide.
And swing.

And assist Anya in swinging (accompanied by Xanthe, Emily, and Maylin)

You can eagerly anticipate your turn to whack the pinata...

...and then whack the pinata.

And then blow bubbles (part of the pinata loot) whilst dangling your feet in the stream.

And I didn't even mention the food....(there was this raspberry cream cheesy jello salad with a pretzel crust that was refreshingly sweet and crunchy all at the same time. I kept slicing out one more little square...just to even out the edges. And there was this yummy layered salad with peas in it and a lot of mayo and lettuce. That was good. And brownies with frosting. And other things too numerous to mention. I'm such a sucker for food. Emma, she can take it or leave it. She'd rather drive the Princess car with Xanthe. )

What a perfect summer evening of fun. Thank you, Hill Family!!

A Bunch of Pictures from the Last Month

We've been negligent bloggers. To make amends, here are a bunch of photos from the last four weeks.

To start, we have Emma, in hat and goofy glasses, at the beginning of the Newcastle School spring program. It was a "Silly Songs" program. But Emma wasn't feeling very silly that day, if I remember right, thus the pensive expression. ("Pensive?" "Nah, just thinking.")

Emma now knows the words to classics like "On Top of Spaghetti," "Yakkety Yak" ("Take out the papers and the trash...or you won't get no spending cash"), "Octopus' Garden," and "Do Your Ears Hang Low." (And let me tell you, the both of us have been singing "Do Your Ears Hang Low" a LOT in the last two months. We have singing contests while we drive around. Who can sing it the fastest, loudest, slowest, softest, goofiest. For a while Em would sing, "Do your ears hang low do they waddle to and fro," and I didn't tell her it was "wobble" because I thought "waddle" was cuter. But then she learned it the right way, darn it.)

The Newcastle School is really a great preschool and Emma had a wonderful year there. Lots of art, lots of music, just enough academic stuff, great teachers and staff. Em's teacher, Miss Jeri, was delightful. She adored Emma and the feeling was myooochal.

Oh, how we'll miss Miss Jeri.

Had a lot of rainy days in early June. It was kind of a drag, but the lawns were so lush and green. Now they're getting crusty and dry. Emma went for a walk between the raindrops one soggy Saturday.

Went to the Wasatch International Adoptions annual picnic last week. Saw lots of old friends from all parts of the valley. Most of them we only see once a year now.

Sumi and Emma

Lily Mae

Lindsay

Brianne

"Salud!"

And this weekend Emma's Arizona cousins came to visit. Yippee...we hardly ever get to see these guys. Here are Aunt Suzette, Uncle Mike, and cousin Mary.

Emma and Sarah at the Kaysville Parade

Mary and Em (Mary is the cousin closest in age to Emma; they're only 9 months apart)

Elizabeth

During the parade, Cousin Josh got to ride in a truck with his Kaysville All Stars baseball team. He was such an enthusiastic candy thrower! (He's the one holding the candy bag)

Joe took this great shot of some of the kids on the team. They're all 7 and 8 years old. We went to one of their games last night and they were amazingly good (especially Josh).

Okay...so we're caught up a little bit. Hope you all are having a loverly Farth o' July.

Ruby's Blessing Day

Today we attended the blessing of Jason and Allison's daughter, Ruby. It was a wonderful experience. Afterwards we all went to Grandma Boo's for a brunch. There was much fruit, egg stuff, cookies and pastries. A wonderful spread, I must say. Below is the detail on a duck cookie. Quack.

And here's the whole cookie spread, followed by the fruit conglomeration.

Here we have grandma with the star of the festivities

.

Outside relaxing we have D enjoying the splendid weather. A triumph!

Later, back at the ol' ranchero, Em wanted to give an update on the grow boxes. Most things are faring well, especially when you consider that everything was snowed on after they were planted. There were a few brass-monkey mornings there where it could have gone either way.

There have been two casualties. The lemon cukes went south due to poor placement. They were replaced after modifications were made to the box. There was also a modification done to help out the tomatillo. It was screaming for more dirt.
It is going to get a little crowded in there before all is said and done. It should not affect the outcome, if past experience is any indication.

The carrots have just begun to sprout, so there is not much to report. Perhaps on the next update. Ok then.

Little Missy Green Thumbs

Emma has had a couple of busy weeks in the yard. We wanted a couple of grow boxes to plant some tomatoes and other salsa ingredients, but needed to clear the space first. That was also the reason for the new gate in the fence.

Here is the finished product to date. Don't look real close at the boxes. I don't know what it is, but what looks like straight boards in the dim warehouse lighting at Home Depot, turns into boards that are smiling bigger than Telly Savalas at the end of The Dirty Dozen in the broad daylight. Not much to do at that point other than split the difference, screw it together, and hope it holds.

Box #1 with cherry tomatoes and some regular-size hybrids.

We put some tomatillos, peppers, and Lemon Cucumbers in this one.

Outside of the grow boxes, we put in a carrot patch. We are hoping to see some green tops within three weeks. Watch out for wascally wabbits.

Here we have Emma demonstrating the ever-popular jumping jack on our Spring-green grass. We will give the occasional photo update through the coming weeks (unless of course everything tanks). Ok then.

A Time To Celebrate!

We had a great experience last Friday, as Andy received his Masters degree in accounting from the University of Utah. We all went up the the Hunstman Center for the festivities. Emma was on her best behavior (the best she could muster under the solemn circumstances), and we sat busting with pride through the proceedings. It has been a big buildup this past year, and then - poof! - it's a done deal. We are so proud of him, and Kat for her support and encouragement. It was definitely a team effort for them. Way to go!

Emma and I had some time to kill waiting for everybody to arrive. I believe she was involved in many group shots of various graduates. Through the years people are going to be asking, "who is that little girl in your photo?"

Em loves the attention she gets from her big brother

A group shot. Thanks to Brenda for her photographic acumen.

The beaming couple.

Ok then.

Some Thoughts About Food Items

1. Tillamook Brand Marionberry Pie ice cream is sheer ambrosia. Julie served me some when I visited her recently. I had a big dish, and then another biggish dish a while later, and before bedtime the next evening I finished off the carton ("You don't mind, do you?" I said between slobbery spoonfuls). It's vanilla ice cream rippled with marionberry, which is nice and tart, PLUS chunks of pie crust, which add a salty, cookie-dough-like effect. Oh my, but it's tasty. I mourned when I left Julie's home. I was going to miss her, and I was going to miss Tillamook Brand Marionberry Pie ice cream, for I understood it was sold only in the Pacific Northwest. But WinCo Foods has recently debuted in these parts (WinCo as in Washington-Idaho-Nevada-California-Oregon) and darned if there isn't a panorama of Tillamook ice creams in the frozen food section. Marionberry Pie ice cream has been in our freezer ever since. I highly, highly, recommend it. This is also my niece Julia's favorite ice cream.

2. Today Emma and I had a discussion about repentance. I told her that all of us make mistakes, even grown-ups make mistakes, etc. Mommy makes mistakes all the time, for example. "Like the time you put ketchup on your hot dog instead of mustard?" she said solemnly. You see, Joe has carefully trained this child. She knows that nobody, I mean nobody, puts ketchup on a hot dog.

And if you don't believe me, take it from Clint Eastwood.

3. Speaking of ketchup, I admit to using it inappropriately in the past. When Joe and I were dating he was aghast to learn that I often ate frozen burritos with ketchup for dinner. But I grew up putting ketchup on Mexican food. There was no such thing as salsa in La Grande, Oregon, in the 60s. Mom fried up the tortilla shells in oil, we crammed them with hamburger, lettuce, and cheddar cheese and doused them with Heinz ketchup. And they were good, especially with cold milk. It wasn't until 1982 that I first encountered salsa. There's an entry in my journal that year after I had dinner at someone's house where they served chips with a "good, tomatoey kind of sauce."

4. I also remember my friend Genia telling me (circa 1974) about a really good new kind of chip-- "Nocko" Cheese Doritos.

5. And my first memory of ranch dressing is vivid. Frances Cooper brought us a quart jar of homemade ranch dressing (1970?) and we were...smitten. There really was a Hidden Valley Ranch, by the way. The internet says: "In 1954, Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch near Santa Barbara, California, and named it "Hidden Valley Ranch". As a side business, they sold to guests a special dressing that Steve had developed in Alaska. The dressing was popular, and they began selling bottles that guests could take home, and later opened a factory to sell packets of ranch seasoning that had to be mixed with mayonnaise and buttermilk (packets that are still available to this day). In 1972 the brand was bought by Clorox for $8 million."

So maybe it was 1972 when Frances Cooper brought over the quart jar. And having "Clorox" included in a description of ranch dressing is unsavory.

So enough food talk; on to the Emma pictures. But please do share your own random food-related bits of trivia. I think they're innaresting.

Emma pictures: We went for a walk along the Jordan River Parkway last night. Emma scampered. There she is in mid-scamper below.

And is it just me....or is she not just about the loveliest little girl in the entire known universe?