30 January 2006

Congratulations #1 Son in law!

The harvest has come!
Good news abounds! My number one son-in-law (birth order, not favorites) just heard he's in! He applied to Washington and Lee University for Law School beginning in August and he got his acceptance letter today! Yay! They may be moving to Lexington soon! However, he still has a couple of other schools he's hoping for and they may end up somewhere else. I don't care, as long as they're happy! He seemed to be walking on sunshine today!

Yay yay for you! You earned it!

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25 January 2006

Finally!


June
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.
I can finally post about these calendars. I made them during the holidays for my family, 3 daughters and my sis. I came across them in a crafting magazine that was in my stash and had to make them. I have always wanted a perpetual calendar so I would never miss a birthday or anniversary or special event of any kind and have never had one. So when I came across this one, and had limited funds to boot, I decided this was the gift to make.

Why wait so long to post? Well, my sis and I didn't get to see each other before Monday. She brought my gift, the really super candy covered plate, in my sig pic, before I was finished with hers. Then we went off to see daughters in Utah. Then we had the flu. Then she became undeer the weather. And got better, and went to Disneyland. Well you see.

Here are a few other pages I made:
May

September

November

Each page I designed was a challenge. They had a template in the book as a guideline and I could have scanned their designs and used them. However, I wanted to add a personal touch and make them something that reflected each of us. The September design came from pre-printed paper from two different sources. The song line printed was a favorite as the girls were growing up. The MINI road trip, of course, came from stamps I have and the fact that June is when everyone is traveling.

I'll post all the pics on flickr for you to see.

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23 January 2006

Frozen road


Frozen road
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.
If there is one thing I love (there's of course more) it's driving! I didn't get my license until I was nearly 17 and a half, but once I did, it was pedal to the metal!

This is December driving. I have had the MINI for a little over two years now and this past Decemeber it saw its second time in the snow. Each time in Utah. This is the famous road from here to there in the family. We're here in SoCal and the daughters are all there! So we drive the 10 hours to see everyone.

This picture is on the drive home. We're in central Utah at this point. We've already passed one plow with two to go. The ice had about a six inch build up and the road was quite rough. The temp fell to about 14 at one point.

All over frozen

The lower part of the state had more ice and snow than Provo or Salt Lake. Going through the passes in Beaver are always a question of how much snow you'll encounter.

As soon as we got to St George, we pulled into a touch free car wash to get the road crud and salt off the car. Then it on to SoCal. The weather was very nice, but still cold. The next picture was the worst view of the day.

This isn't fog!
It had warmed up and we were glad to be back in California. This is the pass leading down from Victorville/Apple Valley into San Bernardino. I was appalled! This was not fog or an overcast sky. It is actually about 4:30 in the afternoon. It's smog! It's gross! So much for sunny California. Land that we love!

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20 January 2006

Faded out


Faded out
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.
This is a pic I took back when the guys were practicing on a turkey ranch. It was 1971 and Black Sabbath was a favorite band. So in that spirit, I took some faded out over-exposed pics to see if we could get the same effect as one of Sabbath's album covers.

Not bad.

Sorry for the slow posts. Two jobs are killing blogging temporarily. I'll be back soon as I adjust to the time management.

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15 January 2006

Daddy Daughter Date


Daddy Daughter date
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.
This is the Big guy and our first daughter. Now I know where she got her urge to become a musician too! I had forgotten about this photo, then the other evening, we pulled out some photos I shot when she was very small and scanned them into the system.

She was her daddy's girl from the start. They would spend a lot of time together enjoying and discussing music. It is only fair that after spending time with him at a few conerts and practices, that later he'd spend a few hour at her performances.

They certainly were having a good time!

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11 January 2006

Houston - We have ignition!

Yes! The web page is done for the Sunspots. I have added a sidebar link to this blog that you can click on to see about my invention. I sold a few today when I took it to an office I used to work in. They all loved the idea and one person said their friend had wanted to invent this very thing!

Many times I said it needed to be done. Many times I hoped someone would invent this little marvel. But, I waited and hoped and then just did it myself. I hope you go take a look and may possibly see the genius of the Sunspot. If you do great! If you don't I won't hold it against you!

Less glare for everyone, just a click away!

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Commercials!

The Superbowl (yes, I know the word is copyrighted or trademarked and I'll probably get a letter from Mr. Tagliabu for its use but...oh well) is upon us. Years gone past we would pay homage to the football ritual each year by getting home from church quickly and making up some appetizers and then clicking on the big screen and not moving for about three and a half hours. We were part of the mainstream. Yep. Then Steve Young retired from the 49ers and they began to lose ALL. THE. TIME. So our love of football waned.

Enter 2006. I have begun to see the hype for this year's big game. First off: The Rolling Stones for the half time show??????? I don't know what word we live in where we feel the best choice to entertain us is a group hailing from a country that thinks football is soccer, but okay, I guess. I'm not ever watching the half time show anyway. Yep I even missed the now infamous wardrobe malfunction.

What I'm TIVoing this year is the commercials. Yep. I am a tried and true capitalist. Yeecch! That was hard to write. I'm not all that tried and true but I do love a good commercial. I have zero tolerance for bad ones. Can anyone explain to me why Weight Watchers has enlisted Cher-the-stick-girl to represent the fat women of the world?????? Ick. That one gets muted or flipped faster then she can begin to sing "Li....." Or how about those really bad Corbel commercials. They're trying to convince us that their Champagne incites magic, all the while, presenting us with jumping fish and a dancing Hawaiian girl lamp. Yeah makes me want to run down and buy some of that.

I am currently loving the office dudes break dancing for Nextel. Who says white guys can't dance? Heh.

I also love love love McIlhenny's tabasco commercial with the mosquito. It goes down as a wow one to me.

Others? Cars, well no. I just love being tempted to drive a nice curvy road at 300 hp and 0 - 60 in less than 15 seconds, and then revv hard and go 120. Yeah. We do that here on the 91 freeway in SoCal. Yeah Sure. On the 405, the 101 and the 5 north or south. I love to be taunted with the capability to pay for something that will do that and then never actually come close to even half that speed commuting in this wonderful freeway laden empire. So forget the car ads.

One I am looking forward to: evidently Grey's Anatomy had picked up a spot. Please let it include the star of the show: Patrick Dempsey.

I am also looking forward to not seeing a McDonald's ad or Frito lay ad or (can I get a witness) a Cialis ad. Thank you . Thank you. Thank you!

Tell me, what commercials will you watch?

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08 January 2006

Lyrics

There are some songs I listen to over and over again. Some are written by rock musicians, others by folk singers, others are country and western singers. I guess it really doesn't matter who writes the song, but that the words are just something that stick with you for any reason. Sometimes you can hear the intro and it sucks you back into your mind to a different time and space.

Most of us in the family have those songs.We are a family of singers. Not that we have great voices, a few of us do, well, when I say that I mean everyone but myself. However, sometimes when I sing, I hear my brother's voice and that's a whole different kind of memory. But what I'm talking about mostly are those songs that take you back to a road trip, or a silent evening alone in thought or trauma of some sort.

We're also drivers. For entertainment we'd get in the car and drive. Stop at a local 7-11 or AM/PM and grab a soda, juice, a box of little chocolate donuts or some pork rinds, you know all that junk no one really ever eats, but seem to sell... Well, we'd hop in the car and go for a drive. Long drives. Like all the way to Calexico and back in a days drive. Start out early, pop some songs int he casette player and we're off. Singing loud and proud. My bro-in-law is different, he makes up the songs as he drives. But not us. We sing to anyone and everyone. Except of course, Nine Inch Nails. Does anyone really sing to Nine Inch Nails?

So for you memory pleasure here's a list of some groups we'd sing with for the drive.

Heart - INXS - Uriah Heep - Kansas - Beatles - Steve McDonald - Nickel Creek - Deep Purple - Led Zepplin - Alan Parsons - Asia - Bad Company - The Cars - Pat Benetar - Dwight Yoakum - Alan Jackson - Brooks and Dunn - Cheap Trick - Colors - The Cure - Don Maclean - Eiffel 65 - Faith No MoreHoobastank - Jimmy Eat World - Judas Priest - Donavn - Rammstein - Loreena McKennitt - Soggy Bttom Boys - Sister Hazel - Sara Evans - Sara Mclaughlin - Queen -

Just to name a few. That list is not inclusive of everything we've sung in the car. A few whose lyrics I'll list are those that will take you someplace. A place different for most of us in emotion, but usually in the same car ride to anywhere but here right now.

Phil Collins Long, Long Way to Go

While I sit here trying to think of things to say
Someone lies bleeding in a field somewhere
So it would seem we've still got a long long way to go
I've seen all I wanna see today

While I sit here trying to move you anyway I can
Someone's son lies dead in a gutter somewhere
And it would seem that we've got a long long way to go
But I can't take it anymore

Turn it off if you want to
Switch it off it will go away
Turn it off if you want to
Switch it off or look away

While I sit and we talk and talk and we talk some more
Someone's loved one's heart stops beating in a street somewhere
So it would seem we've still got a long long way to go, I know
I've heard all I wanna hear today

Turn it off if you want to (turn it off if you want to)
Switch it off it will go away (switch it off it will go away)
Turn it off if you want to (turn it off if you want to)
Switch it off or look away (switch it off or look away)

Switch it off
Turn it off

This one is on a long drive back to California. Each of us knows this song all too well. We all think the same thing. Mike and Michael. We'll never forget that drive.

Dwight Yoakum - Back of Your Hand

When you give it up for gone
but your still digging in the mind
and your staring out the window
saying everything wil be just fine
keepin with the whole affair
every word seems out of line
no matter what angle you get
its polished till it shines

(chours)

Take a guess at where i stand
pick a number one to two
take a look at the back of your hand
just like you know it
you know me too
and when you say who the hell am i living with
what just went down
where did this come from
why are all my colors faded brown
when did it change
whats with the rage
whos the dude with the extra roll
whats the verse the line the chapter the page

(chorus)

Take a guess at where i stand
pick a number one to two
take a look at the back of your hand
just like you know it
you know me too

You think your alone without any place left to go
like you need one of those kisses ..long and slow
first glance is not what it seems
but theres some things i just know
like you take two sugars with a splash of cream
you take a guess

Where i stand oh pick a number one to two
then take a look
back of your hand
just like you know it
you know me too
yeah like you know it
you know me too
just like you know it
you know me too

I love that song. It's a beach drive. Along PCH in Encinitas. You stop somewhere near San Elijo State Beach and watch the waves for a few minutes. People, walking in the sand, some alone, some with another, and then the kids following along running up t the approaching surf and quickly darting away.

Beatles - Back in the USSR

dn't get to bed last night
Oh, the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR, yeah

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
They Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind
Oh, come on
Hu Hey Hu, hey, ah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
They Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind

Oh, show me round your snow peaked
mountain way down south
Take me to you daddy's farm
Let me hear you balalaika's ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the USSR
Hey, You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey

Oh yeah, everyone but me was supposed to be on a drive. I was back home. Working on the computer. With the headpones on. Singing my heart out. Suddenly the front door flew open. Panicked looks on all eyes as they came in. Hah, Hah, hah. They thought I was being attacked, with all the crazy shouting going on. I was just enjoying an afternoon of singing to myself. Or so I thought. We still laugh about it. None of us hears the song without giggling.

Steve McDonald - Somerled

Through an age of fighting men
When sword was mightier than pen
There lived a clansman bold and true
The very one our name came through

Born of blood line dating from
The hundred battles warrior Conn
Gaelic viking in his veins
Testify his battle fame
For three hundred and fifty years
The western highlands lived in fear

Fighting to regain the Isles
Down to Islay and Argyle
From the Dalriadan line
Through the centuries there we find
A Scotsman born with Viking name Born to rule through love and pain
Hail to ye sons of Somerled Hail to ye sons of Somerled

Ruling from the Isle of Man
lslay was the place they'd ...make their stand
After almost twenty years
He rid the Isles of Norsemen
..then and there

Hail to ye sons of Somerled
Hail to ye sons of Somerled
Through the timeless history,
Fighting for their destiny
Images fly through my head,
Images of Somerled... chorus

The warrior kings lived by the sword
From hill to loch and dark fjord
Battling 'til his life he shed
Leaving the throne
To the sons of Somerled

This one could take us through the back road through Idyllwild to Anza. A nice twisty road with plenty of coutryside to enjoy. We could all pretend we had gone to Ireland.

Offspring - Keep 'em Separated

Like the latest fashion
Like a spreading disease
The kids are strappin' on their way to the classroom
Getting weapons with the greatest of ease

The gangs stake their own campus locale
And if they catch you slippin' then it's all over pal
If one guys colors and the others don't mix
They're gonna bash it up, bash it up, bash it up, bash it up...

(Chorus)

Hey - man you talkin' back to me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated

Hey - man you disrespecting me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated

Hey they don't pay no mind
If you're under 18 you won't be doing any time
Hey come out and play

By the time you hear the siren
It's already too late
One goes to the morgue and the other to jail
One guy's wasted and the other's a waste

It goes down the same as the thousand before
No one's getting smarter
No one's learning the score
Your never ending spree of death and violence and hate
Is gonna tie your own rope, tie your own rope, tie your own...

This one's down the main street of town with the cd player at about 9.5 and the windows rolled down. Just me and the girls after school most afternoons. We were a crazy bunch.

Last but not least is Offspring again, Pretty Fly

Untem, gliben, glaussen, glauben

Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy

Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinquo, senco, ses

You know, it’s kinda hard just to get along today
Our subject isn’t cool, but he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue and he may not have style
But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial

So don’t debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn’t get it anyway
Gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you, no way, for you, no way

So if you don’t rate, just overcompensate
At least, you’ll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world needs wannabes
So hey hey, do that brand new thing

Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy

He needs some cool tunes, not just any will suffice
But they didn’t have ice cube, so he bought vanilla ice
Now cruising in his pinto, he sees homies as he pass
But if he looks twice, they’re gonna kick his lily ass

So don’t debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn’t get it anyway
Gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you, no way, for you, no way

So if you don’t rate, just overcompensate
At least, you’ll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world likes wannabes
So hey hey, do that brand new thing

Now, he’s getting a tattoo, yeah, he’s gettin’ ink done
He asked for a 13, but they drew a 31
Friends say he’s trying too hard and he’s not quite hip
But in his own mind, he’s the, he’s the dopest trip

Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Give it to me, baby, huh huh, huh huh
Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinquo, senco, ses

So don’t debate, a player straight
You know he really doesn’t get it anyway
Gonna play the field, and keep it real
For you, no way, for you, no way

So if you don’t rate, just overcompensate
At least, you’ll know you can always go on ricki lake
The world needs wannabes
The world loves wannabes
Let’s get some more wannabes
And hey hey, do that brand new thing

Oh yeah, we were pretty hip, uh huh!

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06 January 2006

Provisional Patent aPproved

Yay! Yay! Yay! I have been waiting for this day for sooooo long. My provisional patent has been approved. I have a patent number and now I have to put my product up for sale, make enough money to pay the legal fees to get a full patent and then market, market, market.

What product you ask? Well most people know that I am obsessed with food. This is not any thing about food. What??? No food!

I invented this product due to the fact that I love, love, love cars! For years I drove, drove, drove cars to work. I am a SoCal person so of course the commute was 30+ miles one way to work each day. The best part being into the sun as it was rising and into the sun as it was setting. My cars are small, small, small! Therefore so were their visors! The Sun, being the supreme lighting orb that it is, was always in my eyes. I talked for years of an invention to help alleviate all the problems with said small visors and large sun glare. Finally, after years of commuting, I stopped. No long drives. No sunrise blinding. No sunset blinding. I invented my invention. I call it the sunspot. I will have pictures and a button available in the next day or so, so you too can share in my jubilation of getting rid of glare! Of course, there will be a price. But it won't break your piggy bank at all!

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05 January 2006

Dancing, dancing, dancing!

Yay! My favorite silly show is back! Dancing with the Stars!

Hah! I have been watching with interest and enjoyment. George Hamilton, the lady from a soap opera and the ESPN dude so far. It's great! George has 3 broken ribs, the lady did okay, but hey - she's a girl, and then the ESPN guy whoa! He really tried! He's really bad! But hey as I said, he can only get better!

I love to dance. As you know, I am married to a musician. The only time I get to dance is in front of the tv or radio at home. He says he makes music, he doesn't dance to it. So alas my dancing bug never gets fed. So I lived vicariously through all these people! And of course, my dancing daughter, whose fate is the same as mine. He husband is 6'6" and the dancing floor will not be met with his feet either.

Best line of the night so far: after the ESPN guy got done, my husband says: see there's a reason not to dance! The guy's got more guts than me!

Wow! The professional lady wrestler just walked away, well er, danced away with this competition! She's good!

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03 January 2006

Two Favorite Photos


California Christmas
Originally uploaded by foodchronicles.
From our holdiays.

The first being my favorite lights in the neighborhood this year. The best show of a California Christmas. Surfboard and all! I love it.

This year our block became part of THE neighborhood to visit. One evening I gasped because there was something very large trying to maneuver its way around the cul de sac! I went to the door to see just exactly what it was and there bigger than ever were two gigantic tour busses filled with people enjoying the light in the neighborhood! Crazy I tell ya!

Then the awwwwe moment of our trip. After driving for 8.5 hours, not including food stops or bathroom breaks, we arrived at our daughter's home in Provo Ut. They weren't home but had left a key where we could find it and we went inside. While the big guy was hoping I would come back and help unload the car, I had to pause and grab my camera. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this:
Awwwwwe!

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01 January 2006

Happy New Year!

I never quite got into the whole happy new year thing. I don't know why but to stay up late one evening a year and celebrate all that is new again seems/seemed silly. However, everyone else seems to really embrace it. I guess I'll just climb aboard and wish you all well.

One thing, in a talk given by Gordon B Hinckley in 1978, he quoted someone named ET Sullivan. I had just given birth to my first child when the magazine came that included the quote: "E. T. Sullivan once wrote these interesting words: “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home out of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and the thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies.” (The Treasure Chest, p. 53.)"

It struck a chord with me then and still resonates with me today.So if anything should be celebrated it is the wonder that comes with the birth of each child. Susan has a post about this same subject. Sort of. It extolls the virtue of small people. I love them.

We went to Utah for a few days for Christmas and got to spend time with our favorite short person. She was lively and fun adn full of wonder. A room filled with shiny packages and more for her than anyone! Simple remembrances of a first remembered Christmas. I know she has been a wonderful force in the lives of all our family members. We are thankful for her and all the little ones.

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