I Love Miracle Whip

I made cake yesterday because it was my turn to bring cake for the birthday at work. I only had two eggs and the most basic of ingredients, but I did have a jar of Miracle Whip. That's why I ended up making Miracle Whip cake. The recipe is a family recipe from my Mom's family. I have no idea how far back it goes, but those ladies in Malad, ID sure knew how to make a tasty cake. It was a hit at work. I made two rounds and put cream cheese frosting in between the layers and chocolate ganache frosting on top. YUM! It was also super easy and a great cake to make from scratch. Here's the recipe for all of you dieing to make Miracle Whip cake. And trust me, it tastes a lot better than it sounds.

Miracle Whip Cake

1 cup sugar

1 cup Miracle Whip

¼ cup cocoa

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons soda

1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine sugar, Miracle Whip, cocoa, and salt. Add 1 cup hot water. Add flour, soda, and vanilla, and blend lightly. Bake 35 minutes at 350°.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

1 cup sugar

5 tablespoons butter or margarine

⅓ cup milk

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. It will be quite runny. Refrigerate until cool and of a thicker, spreading consistency. Check every 15 minutes or so and stir. If it gets too stiff, heat it briefly to make it spreadable.

My Neck of the Woods - Part Two

Here's the rest of the pictures of my neck of the woods. You can see the DH watering a pot with flowers in it.

The lilacs are SO beautiful right now. I brought a big bunch in the house and the living room smells yummy now.

I love our little deck with adarondack chairs. It's lovely for relaxing.

Then there's my least favorite part of the backyard -- the apartment building looking down on us.

Out front, you can see our street looking South...

and looking North...

and way up there on the right is the firehouse. We love having a firehouse on our block. The nephews have a field trip every time they're here!

Would You Join My Virtual Book Club?

I'm thinking about starting a virtual book club on my blog. I'd take suggestions for reading material and then have a discussion about a month after selecting a book. If I were to do this, would you join me? I mean, I can read on my own, but the discussion with myself seems a little silly. It's only fun if my virtual friends and lurkers join in. Whadaya say? Wanna join a book club? (Mom -- this includes you too!)

My Neck of the Woods

I just love my neck of the woods. It's really beautiful in Seattle. I have friends who have been posting about their neighborhoods and I decided to venture farther than my street for part one of my neighborhood post.

Here are a few pics from a recent trip downtown. By the way, I just have to state for the record that I hate it in Grey's Anatomy when they show the Pike Street Market sign out the window of the hospital. That's just silliness.

And that's the end of your Market tour!

Shout Out to Gage Ray!

Everyone give a shout out for my baby brother that graduated yesterday with his MBA. He's so awesome! He's well on his way to becoming a CPA and he's doing great work with the education he has. What a great guy! And he's my brother. And he has a super cute family to boot, so they get to all be pictured here with him.

A Completed Project!

Well, wonders never cease. This past weekend, I went to Boise with three projects in tow and I actually completed one of them. Becky turned me on to making easy bags from placemats, so I bought the stuff I’d need to make three of them.

The first one was a bit disappointing because I found out part way through that the placemats were not even close to the same size. I had measured the handles from the outside of each placemat, so they didn’t match up after sewing. Realizing that all the placemats I bought were different sizes, I decided to make two small bags instead of one larger bag for the next undertaking. I thought the small bags turned out great. I gave them to my nieces Mackenzie and Abby for scripture bags for church.

Then I made the last bag, knowing that the placemats were different sizes. It was a lot easier, because I just eyed everything in since it wouldn’t line up anyway. It turned out much better than the first one.

While in Boise, I also visited my friend Andrea. Her ward had been making these and she made me a really cute bag too. So, I came home with three finished bags and gave two away. Oh, wait. I had to make one more small one. When Brooke didn’t have one, she got mad, so Mom found an old placemat and I quickly sewed one more smaller bag. Yay! Finished projects! (Of course, I didn’t even start on either of the other two projects. Hah!)

Wanna Laugh?

Seriously, I laughed out loud at work while reading this. I found it while blog hopping and enjoyed every bit of it.

Choosing Between Good and Good

When I was a little kid, I remember hearing lessons in Sunday school about making choices. At the time, I was told that there was always a good and a bad choice and I had to make the good choice. Bad choices have consequences that I might not like, so I shouldn’t choose those. Well, now that I’m a little older, I realize that it’s not that simple. Far too often, I’m faced with choosing between two good things. And I don’t mean choosing between Peanut Butter Fudge and Pralines ‘n’ Cream at Baskin Robbins. I mean having to make hard choices about who I disappoint this time because I need to be in two good places at once.

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes when I have to choose between being in one of two places, it’s because I double-booked and it’s really my fault and the bad choice was not looking at the calendar in the first place. I could write an entire blog about how I do that way too often. That’s not really what I’m talking about here though.

This week I am faced with the choice between two good things. I committed to going to a visiting teaching workshop at church on Tuesday evening. I even signed up to bring a veggie platter. Yesterday, the DH found out that our ward had an assignment at the temple on the very same evening. The DH is responsible for making sure that three couples are able to meet the obligation. That’s no easy task when there’s a visiting teaching workshop the same evening that most of the women are attending.

So, it looks like I get to choose between fulfilling a temple assignment or attending a visiting teaching workshop. They’re both really good things. Of course, when it comes to priorities, I have to go with the DH. Even though I don’t think the temple is necessarily the better choice, it is the place that my husband wants me to be. For now, that trumps everything else, so that’s how I’m making my decision. Perhaps the blog entry should be about prioritizing. It usually does come down to that.

Girls Night Out

I know some pretty amazing people. I feel really blessed to have good friends all over the place. Some of the fun women that I’ve become acquainted with in Seattle got together last night for a Girl’s Night Out. We had a great time. An Ordinary Mom, Jamie, and Lizzy are all here in Seattle. Hope came from Vashon Island and Becky came up from Portland. I’m grateful to Becky for arranging the outing. I hadn’t seen Hope in ages and hadn’t seen Lizzy in way too long either.

We had dinner at the Azteca at the mall. We talked and laughed and ate great food. After enjoying about two hours together at dinner, we hadn’t had enough, so we went into the mall. An Ordinary Mom and Becky found delicious smelling body butter while Lizzy and I found fun makeup at MAC. The woman helping us was fabulous. I showed Hope the fun features on my new hybrid car and then went home exhausted.

The evening got me thinking about all my great friends. I enjoy so many of the people I’ve met in Seattle that have moved away. As much as we hate to see them go, it gives the DH and me a reason to go to a lot of new places to visit them, so it’s a good thing.

I miss Catherine in Nashville and Camille in Springville. They are some of the best roommates I ever had and they have wonderful husbands and children now that I enjoy as well. I haven’t seen either of them since my wedding and I want them to get to know my wonderful husband too. Too bad he isn’t named Paul like both of their husbands.

I miss my really good friends in Boise too. I’m so blessed to have friends that I’ve known since I was small who I can still get together with now and enjoy as if we had seen each other yesterday. Andrea and Kathy are two of my favorite people and I’m so glad both of them moved back to Boise after years away. Maybe I can join them in the return trek to Boise at some point, but not today. Instead, I’ll just go visit. I’ll see Andrea’s new baby next weekend, and I can’t wait.

I also have amazing sisters-in-law. I don’t think I could have been happier if I’d hand-picked them myself and I’m especially lucky to have one here close by.

I guess this post is sort of connected to the post about my “Person” in that I’ve been thinking about the huge web of folks who support me in my life. I’m so glad there are many friends out there so I never have to worry about being alone. Here’s to all our friends, however we know them. Who are your friends and why do you stay in touch?

What? Me, Thinking?

I’m so honored to be included in The Duchess’ Thinking Blogger list. How very cool is that? I think so highly of her and The Duke that it’s cool that she would be so complimentary. I really value her opinion and I know she’s no slouch. You might even enjoy looking at her blog, Yarnation, if you haven’t linked from my blog to hers already.

These are the rules:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (silver version, gold version)

Like The Duchess, I read a lot of blogs. Many of them make me think, so I’ll try to choose five. It’s tough, but I’m up to the challenge.

An Ordinary Mom – She’s in a very different stage of life than I am, but many of the things she writes about are so universal that I can’t help but enjoy them and even respond. I also think she has one of the most wonderful families and I appreciate her sharing her challenges and joys with us.

Feminist Mormon Housewives – This is a big blog that covers a lot of area. It makes me feel like there might actually be others that think like me at the same time it makes me uncomfortable. And the discomfort is that really great kind that you get in a good college course that challenges your way of thinking and makes you ask yourself why you have the notions you do.

Dooce – She’s a great writer and I feel like a huge voyeur watching her life. It’s OK though. She likes it that way.

Anna Maria Horner – She makes me think I might be able to do some of the really cool crafts that she does. I have a million ideas when I read her blog. I haven’t done any of them yet (see my five obsessions blog to understand more), but I love all the cool things she does.

Mental Tesserae – She’s a humanities professor and mom of four that never quits with the interesting information and insights. I love seeing her choices of art and the connections she makes between art and life. She’s also a fabulous writer and I would love to be half so talented. I'm usually just a lurker on her site, but I really do love it.

Well, that's my list. There are so many others, but maybe they'll have to just wait for another good post.

Five Obsessions

obsession: 1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety. 2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion. 3. A perfume by Calvin Klein.

An Ordinary Mom tagged me for the obsession meme. I am supposed to list five things I am obsessed with right now. In no particular order...

• E-mail and blogs – it’s a little embarrassing to say that I check e-mail and blogs too many times a day, even when I’m not working. As an example, I checked my hotmail account at least four times while out of town in Chicago last week.
• Watching Gilmore Girls – It must be an obsession when the writing has become so horrible and the characters so morphed from the ones I grew to love at the beginning of the series, but I still have to see every episode.
• Shopping for shoes – I don’t always buy and I just can’t bring myself to pay more than $100, but I love to buy shoes and you can tell if you see my closet. I’ve tried to channel the obsession in $5 flip-flops to decrease the cost of this particular obsession.
• Checking my bank balance – So, this one is just plain weird. I know. It’s not like it even changes that much in 24 hours, but I have to check it at least once a day. I think I got paranoid at some point about someone getting access to my account and stealing all my money, so I have to keep my eyes on it at all times. Or maybe I’m just a little obsessed with my bank balance.
• Starting craft projects – You’ll notice that I didn’t say finishing craft projects. That’s not what it’s all about. Sometimes someone else finishes the project for me, sometimes I abandon it altogether, and sometimes I actually do finish. The rush for me is in the planning and the starting, but not so much the execution of the project. Bummer for me since I’ve started some really amazing projects.

Now that I’ve shared my obsessions, I’m tagging five more bloggers for the meme. What do you say Daddy Shark, Annzy, the SIL, the other SIL, and Lizzy at My Ice Cream Diary? Will you share your five obsessions?

Who's Your "Person"?

I've been watching Grey's Anatomy and they talk about their "Person" quite often. It's the person who is not your spouse or girl/boyfriend, but the person who you want to go to first to tell when something really great happens or really horrible happens.

I've been thinking about who my "Person" might be and I've had a hard time deciding on just one. When the DH proposed, my "Person" was my mom. When I got the job I have now at MS, my "Person" was Sam. When I got rear-ended on the freeway, my "Person" was the DH. I also realized that it has changed over time. There may have been that one "Person" in the past, but now I have a really great collection of people that I want to share my life with. It makes me think that I don't really have just one "Person" and I think that's OK.

I'm not sure I have a great answer, but I'm curious about you. Who's your "Person"?

The Sister Who Sews

I just have to share my sister's awesome talent. She's amazing. Check this out on Girl Who Knits. She's the blessed recipient of my sister's talent for making magical quilts. And this quilt was made for another lucky soul. Annzy rocks. And sometimes I benefit from her talents too. I've recieved some lovely crafts from her. Yay! Kid sisters who craft are the best.

Easter Morn

We woke to a beautiful Easter morning today. Of course, since it's Seattle, it was short lived, but beautiful all the same. The Easter bunny visited us with a bunch of sugar-free candy and chocolate and we had a lovely church service. I especially enjoyed the talk about looking at how the different Mary's reflected on the Savior. It was lovely. We've also enjoyed a really nice easter meal of ham and scalloped potatoes (my first try at making potatoes that way!) and had friends over for sugar-free pie in the evening. All in all, it was a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Leaving Las Vegas

Our last day in Vegas was really fun. We started the day with pedicures (though Patrick passed on that -- I don't know why). I got the retro flowers to go with the Beattles' LOVE theme. My feet were so soft and it was nice and cheap.

Then we had some of the best sushi. Who knew you could have great sushi that far inland? We had a lovely afternoon and then had a great dinner at Chicago Joe's. It was great Italian fare and we all left fat and happy.

After dinner we went to the strip and to the Bellagio hotel to see the Chihuley glass sculptures, the flower sculptures, and the choreographed fountain. The fountain was pretty amazing and we almost got to see a girl fight. A German lady and a Latina woman got into it right in front of us, but stopped short of fisticuffs. Good times!

After another short night, we flew home on Tuesday morning. I was so glad to sleep in my own bed Tuesday night!

Valley of Fire

I love seeing petroglyphs. It's kind of a wierd thing, but I really do love it. On Sunday, we went to the Valley of Fire, not too far outside Las Vegas, so see the rock formations and petroglyphs. The rocks are all dark red and look really cool. There are all different formations and we took a very small hike to see some petroglyphs.



The petroglyphs were really amazing. I just wish we could tell what story was being told. After that, we went back to a great bar-b-que of steaks and corn on the cob. Add watching conference to that and you get a great sabath.

Viva! Las Vegas

We're still talking about Vegas, but it's a day later. On Saturday, we drove to Prim and rode one of the best roller coasters ever. It goes 85 miles an hour and has a 250 foot drop that feels like a huge free fall. The free fall probably lasts 8-10 seconds, which is eons in roller coaster time. I loved it!

That evening, we went to our second show, Mystere. It was really different from LOVE. It had really cool ethereal music and great acrobatics. The costuming was surreal and it was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed it and decided that it doesn't really compare with LOVE. They were both great in really different ways.

LOVE is All You Need

So, the DH and I took a trip to Las Vegas. Everyone we work with thought it was silly to was Vegas on two non-gamblers, but we had other plans. We flew in Friday morning and basically hung out doing nothing for most of the day. We did eat breakfast at a really tasty buffet, then took a mid-day nap. The DH had to have Del Taco for dinner. He's pretty easy to please. We did a session at the Las Vegas temple (beautiful!) and then hit the strip. Now, that's a funny sentence when you put it together that way.

We went to The Mirage casino, got some popcorn and diet coke, and went to see Beattles' LOVE from Cirque de Soliel.

YouTube video from Beatles' LOVE

It was amazing. It gave me goose bumps. We both really like the Beattle's music, so we knew we'd enjoy that part, but the rest of it was beyond our imagination. They do amazing things with costuming and acrobatics, not to mention the imaginitive coreography. The tickets were very expensive, but we think we got our money's worth and we'd definitely recommend it to anyone making a trip to Vegas.

Penny Longstockings

Shout out to the SIL who just started her own blog, Orange and other bright colors! I hope she has as much fun with it as all my blog pals do.

Book Club and Charity

If you read my previous post What Would YOU Do? then you know that I had book club at my house last night. I was sort of dreading it, because I felt so bad about the book selection. And of course, I was afraid no one would want to show up. I knew I could count on two people, An Ordinary Mom and the Relief Society president, but I didn't know if anyone else would come.

It turns out that we have a lot of really nice people who are very charitable at heart. They felt bad for the position I was in and were totally non-judgemental (of me -- not the book). I was so gratefull to the 12 women who came to my home for the non-book book club. We had a really nice time talking about books we could highly recommend and just about anything else you could think of. It turned out to be a really nice evening.

My thanks go out to everyone for being understanding.

Things That Need Sugar

Let's just say that anything normally made out of egg whites and sugar, should be left at that. The DH, as many of you know, does not eat sugar. When he saw sugar-free Peeps at the drug store last night, he had to try them. He ate one bite and was done. He suggested I try one. The same. One bite and I was done. It's sweet and I couldn't eat another bite. Seriously, what do you think a sugar-free Peep could possibly be coated with? I don't think I even want to know.

5:07 p.m. It's Spring!

It's officially Spring! It's raining right now, but we've had some lovely days leading up to it. I've been enjoying the bulbs and buds associated with the entry of Spring and had to take a photo of the tree in the front yard. Isn't it lovely?

What Would YOU Do?

I made a big mistake. I’m participating in the book club at church, and this month I’m hosting. That means I picked the book and the meeting will be at my house. I thought a lot about the book and decided to go with one that I’d read a year and a half or two years ago and really liked when I read it. It’s Empire Falls and it is a really powerful story. I remembered that there might be some questionable content for a church audience, but I really thought it wasn't too bad. (Does it mean that I'm getting old that I've forgotten what was in there?) I asked around about what people thought and got reassuring answers that it should be fine.

Last week, I started re-reading the book. It’s bad. The language is foul and there are sexual innuendos that are really off-color. It’s not OK for church book club. On Saturday, the Relief Society president told me that she hadn’t read the book, but that a few women had called her and asked her if she knew what was in it and they really thought it was inappropriate. My first instinct was to say that everyone has agency and they can just put the book down. My second instinct is to be horrified that I recommended the book. It doesn't help that I was unable to attend church today because I had to be at a Ward Conference in another ward.

The meeting is on Tuesday of this week and it’s too late to choose another book. What would you do in this situation?

Baby's Got a New Pair of Shoes...

Or, maybe she's got a brand new car!

I made the decision that I needed to make my commute better by getting a better commuting car, so I decided to get a hybrid. On Saturday, the DH and I went over to Toyota of Lake City and test drove the hybrid Camry and Prius. The Camry was posh and absolutely wonderful, but the MPG on the sticker was only 30 compared to the Prius' 60. I just had to go with the Prius.

It's a very wierd experience driving this car. First of all, you don't use the key at all. You get close to the car with the "key" and it unlocks. When you get in the car, you press a power button to turn it on. It turns on the electric engine, which is silent, so the only way you can tell is that the dash lights up.

To turn it off, you press the power button again. On Sunday, I couldn't lock the doors and realized it was because I hadn't turned the car off. I didn't hear anything and forgot to hit the power button. It will definitely take some getting used to.

I'm happy to say that the guage told me I got 41.5 MPG on my commute home from work yesterday. That felt good. Now I have to figure out how to hook up my iPod and bluetooth wireless for my cell phone and I'll be good to go.

Live and in Concert

The DH and I have been enjoying some great live music this weekend. Friday night, we went to the Tractor Tavern and took in three acts. The first was Jim Brunberg and he was a solo act playing guitar and singing his stories. He reminded me of a cross between John Denver and James Taylor. I could take it or leave it. The next was a group called Ragazza. I liked the sound. It was a woman singing, a guy on midi and guitar, and a third guy playing drums. It had a cool 80’s retro sound, but it was still totally today. The singer reminded me of Dido, but not many people have heard of her, so that won’t be a great point of reference. The final act was Carrie Akre. Patrick and I saw her on our third date, so we quite partial to her. She’s working on a new album, so we heard a bunch of her new stuff. It was really good. She has a great husky, throaty voice. Good times.

Saturday night, we went to see the Texas Songwriter’s at the Paramount. They include Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, and John Hiatt. It was just four guys with guitars on stage sharing their music. They were fabulous. I can’t recommend that one highly enough. We had a great and managed to go out to some great dinners on our way to those concerts.

My Visual DNA

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Shout Out to Jami!

Shout out to Jami today as it's her birthday! I hope it's fabulous and that she's enjoying it with her family -- inlcuding the new baby Katrina. I've had a cold and cough, so haven't seen the new baby yet, but her dad gave me permission to come over before the cough is gone, so I'm going to see the baby today. I can't wait!

Shout Out to Baby Katrina!

Shout out and congratulations to Jami and Andy and three proud siblings for the new baby girl at their house. She arrived on Monday February 26th at 11:08 am. YAY for Jami not being pregnant anymore and YAY for healthy new babies!

Drunk Love

You might think I’m writing about my feelings for my DH, but that’s not really the point today. It’s about great projects that I need to get started on.

Annzy hipped me up to a great quilt pattern called Drunk Love by Denyse Schmidt. I love it! Annzy, of course, has already made this one and two or three others in the time it’s taken me to decide that I can make a queen size quilt. Actually, it’s totally within my abilities. It’s just one of those projects that are big enough to be intimidating.

The DH and I sleep under a feather comforter in the winter, but as soon as it starts to get over 40 degrees at night, it’s just too hot. We need something lighter weight and I’m a stickler for matching.

I got the DH to accompany me to his not-so-favorite store, JoAnn’s, where we picked out 4 reds. I hope you find them as delightful as I do. I really like them and can’t wait to see how this shapes up. Wish me luck!

Valentine's Day Redux

Patrick and I are improving on the Valentine’s Day front. Yesterday was a delightful day of work, followed by a 90 minute commute home, ending in pizza from Papa Murphy’s and watching CSI on the couch. We also had small gifts for each other that were given thoughtfully. We really are learning.

Valentine’s Day really is a silly holiday. It just creates icky expectations for single people. I think it’s great when you’re in second grade though. Sharing valentines and getting conversation hearts is wonderful.

The day did give me a moment to reflect on love, however, and I wanted to share an amazing quote by one of my all-time faves. It’s from C.S. Lewis:

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. "

I’ve played at wrapping up my heart and putting it away and I have to say that being vulnerable sure beats being safe any day of the week.

XOXO

Lucy

Shout out to The Duchess!

Let's all hear it for The Duchess of Yarnation! It's her birthday today and she's fantastic! Whether it's her birthday or not, I think she's a great example of someone who follows her passion. I can't wait to see what she's doing next in knitting projects and in life.

Valentine's Day

...at Valentine's Day, that is...

The DH and I aren't very good at Valentine's Day. It started when we were dating. For the record, we didn't get serious until March, but we both really liked each other in February.

I'm seriously deficient at being able to take risks, so I wanted to let Patrick know I liked him without putting anything on the line. Go figure. He's the same way. What a great combination.

Before our Valentine's Day date, I picked out the perfect card. It was just the right mix of "I like you" and "you're OK" without jumping up and down and saying I was really into him. At the same time, he had purchased a stuffed Valentine's bear. You'd think we could just be straight with each other and give each other these heart-felt gifts. But, if you thought that, you'd be wrong. We're far more pathetic than that.

After dinner, we chatted in my living room, at arms length of course. Then Patrick said goodbye and I didn't give him the card and he didn't give me the bear. He left after I said goodbye. But that's not the end of the story. He came back from his car and abruptly said, "I got you this." As he shoved the bear in my direction, I said, "oh, I forgot to give you this," and shoved the card in his direction.

Then he left for real and we both felt like complete idiots. When I shared this with my friend Lori at work the next day, she concluded that we were meant for each other. There are no two bigger invertebrates. We should not inflict ourselves on anyone else.

Happy Valentine's Day, DH!

The Worst Business Trip -- EVER

A week ago, I had a business trip to Las Colinas, Texas, just outside of Dallas. It was, by all accounts, my worst business trip ever – and I mean EVER. I’ve traveled quite a bit and consider myself quite comfortable arriving places I’ve never been to before and I’m not familiar with. I wasn’t worried at all about my trip. I got my MapQuest maps before I left so I’d be able to get from the airport to my hotel, from the hotel to the office, and back to the airport. I was all set.

Things started going awry as soon as I arrived at the airport. I went to the check-in kiosk and the computer couldn’t find my reservation. Confused, I went to the counter to find out that my reservation had been cancelled when the payment didn’t go through. I’d made the reservation through American Express corporate travel, so I was very confused. I called AmEx travel to find out why I didn’t have a ticket. They said it was a “computer glitch” that happened when their computer went to pay with a credit that I had from a previous cancelled flight. They reinstated the flight (at $200 more than the original ticket) and filed a complaint for me so I could get the money back.

With ticket in hand, I set out for the plane that was a half hour late. For once, I was actually happy with the delay as I didn’t have to stress about getting to the plane on time even with my ticketing issues. The flight was uneventful, which in the grand scheme of things really is the most important part of the story. I was safe the whole time, even if I was miserable by the end of the trip.

When I arrived in Dallas, I rented my car and left the airport with my map in hand. What I hadn’t realized before setting out on my drive to the hotel is that the airport is 5 miles north to south. My map was leaving from the north end of the airport, but the rental location put me leaving the airport at the south end of the airport. Dallas is a maze of highways. The hotel was 7 miles from the airport with highway the whole way. In a perfect world, this would have been a 10 minute trip. In my alternate universe, it was almost an hour, including my trip into and out of Dallas proper. Ugh! By the time I got to the hotel, it was 10:00. I was hungry and a bit grumpy, so I just wanted dinner and sleep. At the front desk, I asked about room service. The answer was, no. There is no room service there. I had to go out again and find some dinner. After finally finding a Taco Bell, I got dinner and found my way back to the hotel. Sleep at last!

The next morning, I had to be at the office at 8:00. Did I mention that it’s 2 hours ahead of Seattle? That’s like being at work at 6:00 Seattle time. I was a bit tired. The reason I was in Las Colinas was to facilitate a round-table discussion. Normally, this is an easy task for me. Also, I listened in on a similar call in Charlotte a few hours before mine in Las Colinas. I had my colleague helping me with setting up a Live Meeting that we could record and reserved the room a half hour ahead of time so I could get all set up. Then the crazy floor plan struck. My conference room was nowhere near the other conference rooms with numbers right above and below mine. By the time I got to the conference room, I had only 5 minutes to get everything set up and the Live Meeting recording wouldn’t work. Then the people who came wouldn’t talk. It was pretty aggravating and I wasn’t having fun. I don’t think I won any credibility with my peers in the other organization either.

When the round-table was done, I got to work on some other things I needed to do and got them all taken care of. I thought my plane left at 2:40, so I got on my way at 1:20. I got directions from my colleague to get to the airport so I wouldn’t waste any time. Well, I made two mistakes there. First, the flight was leaving at 2:20, not 2:40. Second, I got directions to the north end of the airport. That meant I had to drive all the way through the 5 miles of airport with the arrival and departure traffic.

When I finally got to the rental car return, it was so crowded I had to wait another 10 minutes to get out of there. The only good side of this was that it gave me time to change my blistered feet out of the offending shoes and into more comfortable shoes. On top of everything else, I made a really bad footwear choice for the day.

I finally arrived at the terminal at 1:48. I knew you needed 30 minutes to check in, so I ran to the kiosk to get in there under the wire. Then the kiosk asked me which later flight I wanted. I was crushed. I went to the counter and the woman told me it was 40 minutes for checked bags. I asked if I could get my bag back and go on the earlier flight. She stopped the belt, grabbed my bag, looked at the ticket and told me not to bother. I was in terminal C and the earlier flight was in terminal A. There was no way I could make it. I resigned myself to 2 hours in the airport and got in line for security.

I called the DH to tell him I’d be later than planned and started to cry. I was so tired and just wanted to be home again. Instead, I nursed my blistered feet and found a stuffed armadillo for the DH and enjoyed a salad at Chili’s. When I got home, the DH had a wonderful dinner prepared for me and we fell into bed shortly after eating dinner. I think that’s about the happiest I’ve ever been to get home from a trip.

Happy, Happy!

Shout out to An Ordinary Mom today. It's her birthday and she's just fabulous. I wish her all the best for the next year of her great life.

Snow Day… Again

Great pic courtesy of my brother here!

We’ve had bad weather her in Seattle yet again. It struck yesterday in the late afternoon with a vengeance. I usually pride myself in staying in front of such ugly weather and not getting in the traffic fray, but I was not so lucky last night. I spend two and a half hours traveling from my office to home. While sitting in my car for such a long time, I thought about how blessed I am. Even though I was in a messy traffic situation, I was safe and warm. These are a few other things I’m thankful for.

1. A DH who loves me and shows it in many ways.


2. A loving family that supports me.


3. A good job that challenges me and helps me grow in ways that I wouldn’t otherwise.


4. A warm house with electricity, gas, water, and sewer.


5. Really great friends both near and far. I know some really amazing people and they bless me in more ways than I can express here.


6. Cell phones that help keep me connected and make the commute go faster.


7. My health. I’m also thankful that I can work out regularly and feel good about myself doing it.


8. E-mail and blogs that keep me feeling connected to people I can’t see as often as I’d like.


9. A piano in my living room, even though I don’t play nearly as often as I should.


10. Access to great music, art, and programs that feed my soul.

A Meme -- from the rule-breaking, Miracle-Whip-eating, car-accident-surviving, accident-prone, contest winner.

I got tagged for a meme by An Ordinary Mom, so here goes. These are five things you don’t know about me:

1. On my mission, I spent the night in the Elder’s apartment while they were in their landlord’s resort house up in the Alps.
2. I like Miracle Whip sandwiches. Who needs the meat anyway? At least it’s not as gross as Mac ‘n’ Cheese with ketchup.
3. I’ve been in three major car accidents, but have never been seriously injured. This includes being the passenger in a car that was totaled crossing the Blue Mountains in Oregon and continuing to drive it to Seattle and back to Boise. The two of us in the car were fine, but the body shop asked if there were fatalities when it was brought in.
4. I lost my front tooth when I was hit by a swing when I was 2 years old and had that gap until I got my permanent teeth at 7. I think this made me much more empathetic when my mission companion wrecked her bike and lost her front teeth when we were riding our bikes in the rain.
5. I won a Father’s Day essay contest sponsored by the Idaho Statesman when I was 12 by writing about why my dad was so amazing (and he still is).

Seeing as I was tagged for this one, I feel it my obligation to tag five fabulous people as well. I'd like to know five new things about the DH, Annzy, The Duchess, and Darin and Liz over at Corndogs and Avodados.

Cheery Cherry bag

Shout out to my SIL, Kinsey, who made me the very cutest bag ever for Christmas. I love it!

New Beginnings

It’s a New Year and time for new beginnings. My dad always taught us to set goals and that the New Year was a great time to do it. I have a couple of things that I’d like to accomplish this year, but you know it scares me to put them in writing for everyone else to see. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with it. Here goes nothing:

• Continue to improve my overall physical health. This means working out 5 times a week (which should be fine because I’ve been doing that for a long time now), eating a more healthy diet with no refined or processed stuff (wish me luck!), and losing a little more butter.
• Improve my spirituality by reading the scriptures daily and attending the temple regularly (for Patrick and me, we think twice a month is reasonable). I guess I’ll keep doing other churchy stuff too and not slacking there.
• Improve my mind by taking a class in the spring and a class in the fall. I thought about convincing the DH to take a ballroom or salsa class, but we’ll see if that ever flies. That could also have dual benefits as it’s good for both the mind and the body.

I’m breaking it down to more granular goals for myself, but I think that gives you an idea of what I’m working on this year. Hopefully you’re doing the same!

The DH and I had a very nice Christmas. On Friday, we went on the Argosy Christmas Ships. Santa and a choir were there with us and we had a really nice time listening to the concerts, seeing the other decorated ships, and enjoying a night out together.

We spent the holiday at home with no other obligations except for cooking dinner on Christmas Eve for a few friends who joined us for the evening. It was yummy dinner. I even made cream pudding and Evelyn’s rolls. Mmm… It makes me hungry again just thinking about it.

On Christmas day, we got up around 8:00 and opened a few presents. Patrick had already had my windows tinted for one of my presents, but he also got me an iPod Nano, some gift cards, and shirts. It was pretty great. I gave him an authentic Raiders football jersey, hockey tickets, and some long john’s (to replace the crotchless ones he’s wearing at work right now – I guess that’s what wears out first with all the gas passing he does).

We didn’t do much more on Christmas day other than that and delivering a few straggler gifts. We also got in some naps and nibbled on more turkey. I think I could get used to staying home for Christmas.

Ringing, Singing On Its Way

The DH has found out something very odd about me. I know the words to a lot of Christmas songs. You may find this unremarkable. In the grand scheme of things, it really is. However, the DH finds it hysterical, mostly because I can’t remember the words to any other songs at all. I sing along all the time and just make up new words or fake words or whatever. It’s kind of entertaining if you don’t find it completely frustrating and annoying.
When you put that next to the fact that I can sing along to almost any Christmas song written, it’s pretty funny. The DH, on the other hand, can recite the words and tell you everything else about many, many songs. He doesn’t know any Christmas songs other than Jingle Bells.
Aren’t we a pair?

Christmas Meme

An Ordinary Mom put together a meme on her site, so I thought I’d join in.

1. Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? I just love eggnog. The best thing though, is an eggnog milkshake.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? They’re sitting next to the stocking that has been taken down and filled, and they’re unwrapped.

3. Colored lights or white on tree/house? I like white lights on the tree, but colored lights outside on the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I like mistletoe, but didn’t find mine this year while unpacking the decorations.

5. When do you put your decorations up? I like to put them up right after Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t usually all happen that quickly.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I associate fondue with the holidays and I love it, especially with really good gruyere cheese.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: this is tough as there are so many. I think I really love those childhood memories of checking out each other’s gifts. I remember one year when my older bother got a Flintstone’s sculpture kit. It was this set of weird plastic figures that you chipped off until you uncovered the Flintstone’s character inside. I also always loved shopping for gifts for someone we chose off the Salvation Army giving tree. Good times!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth? That he’s real? I always knew that.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We only ever opened the Christmas tree ornament that Granny sent. My mother is very anti-opening-on-Christmas-eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White lights, lots of ornaments collected over the years, and a fun gold star on top.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I have to admit that I dread it. I love it in the mountains, but don’t enjoy it where I live.

12. Can you ice skate? I think the real answer is “no” even though I’ve been on ice skates numerous times.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I actually don’t remember a favorite. I got a Madame Alexander collectible doll from Santa most years and always looked forward to which doll he would bring. One year my dad bought be a string of fresh-water pearls that I really wanted and I loved it. Maybe the best was the beautiful ruby necklace the DH got me last year.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? I love the focus on the Savior and being in a spirit of giving. I also enjoy how it brings people together – whether by hearing from old friends in Christmas letters once a year or getting together with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Hands down, cream pudding.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas dinner by candle light was always my favorite.

17. What tops your tree? A star.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? I love spending so much time focused on giving, but I’ll admit to enjoying the receiving as well.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I love Christmas music, but I think my two favorites are Mary Did You Know and O, Holy Night.

20. Candy Canes – Yuck or Yum? I’m not a big fan of hard candy, but I love the flavor of candy canes.

A Mighty Wind

We just keep making the national news with our weather. I find it somewhat humorous -- only because I'm not one of the folks on the phone with my insurance agent. It's been a wild night, but my home is fine and I actually have power (hence the ability to blog). My thoughts are with the thousands without power and those who are cleaning up the many trees and other messes.

Trimming the Home for Christmas

I really enjoy decorating for Christmas. The picture here is the figure of Mary and Jesus from our nativity. I just love the simplicity of the figure. The nativity is a critical part of the holiday decor since it's one of the wonderful things that reminds us of the reason we are celebrating. It's a great time to remember the great gifts He gave us and to reflect on our relationship with Him. It's also a wonderful time to reflect on the other relationships in our lives and to present gifts that represent, in some small way, our feelings for those we love. All good things!

Of course, I also love the rest of the decorations. The tree is always good fun. I have some great decorations from Europe, from our honeymoon, and from my childhood. They all bring back sweet memories. I'm a sucker for tradition. I just can't get enough of it.

Shout Out to Annzy!

Everyone give a shout out to Annzy. She got an HR job yesterday. It's at this really sexy company too! She really rocks and she'll be able to do cool HR-y stuff there. It will even require skills she learned in her graduate school program. (I know! shocking!!!) She'll als be close to the porn wagon, where she used to work and Orson Gygi, one of the coolest kitchen stores ever.

I ask, who wouldn't want that job?!?

  

Annunciation

I'm not sure why the picture wouldn't post on this, but it's in the post above now.

Mormons aren't really devotees of all the dates on the Catholic calendar, but at this time of year I enjoy thinking of all the events leading up to the birth fo the Savior. The annuciation (when the angel visited Mary and told her not to be afraid of this overwhelming event that was taking place in her at the moment) is celebrated on March 25th.

Luke Chapter 1
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

I love this picture. It captures exactly the feeling I imagine Mary might have had. It was painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner, and african-american artist, in 1898. It is exquisite.

About the Artist:
Ossawa Tanner was raised in an affluent, well educated African-American family. Although reluctant at first, Tanner's parents eventually responded to their son's unflagging desire to pursue an artistic career and encouraged his ambitions. In 1879, Tanner enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he joined Thomas Eakins's coterie. Tanner moved to Atlanta in 1889 in an unsuccessful attempt to support himself as an artist and instructor among prosperous middle class African-Americans. Bishop and Mrs. Joseph C. Hartzell arranged for Tanner's first solo exhibition, the proceeds from which enabled the struggling artist to move to Paris in 1891. Illness brought him back to the United States in 1893, and it was at this point in his career that Tanner turned his attention to genre subjects of his own race.

In 1893 most American artists painted African-American subjects either as grotesque caricatures or sentimental figures of rural poverty. Henry Ossawa Tanner, who sought to represent black subjects with dignity, wrote: "Many of the artists who have represented Negro life have seen only the comic, the ludicrous side of it, and have lacked sympathy with and appreciation for the warm big heart that dwells within such a rough exterior." The banjo had become a symbol of derision, and caricatures of insipid, smiling African-Americans strumming the instrument were a cliche. In The Banjo Lesson, Tanner tackles this stereotype head on, portraying a man teaching his young protege to play the instrument - the large body of the older man lovingly envelops the boy as he patiently instructs him. If popular nineteenth-century imagery of the African-American male had divested him of authority and leadership, then Tanner in The Banjo Lesson recreated him in the role of father, mentor, and sage. The Banjo Lesson is about sharing knowledge and passing on wisdom.

The exposition-sized canvas was accepted into the Paris Salon of 1894. That year it was given by Robert Ogden of Philadelphia to Hampton Institute near Norfolk, Virginia, one of the first and most prestigious black colleges founded shortly after Emancipation. Hampton lent it the next year to Atlanta's Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895, where it hung in the Negro Building. Contemporary critics largely ignored the work. Tanner painted another African American genre subject in 1894, The Thankful Poor, but then abandoned subjects of his own race in favor of biblical themes. When Tanner returned to Paris in 1895, he established a reputation as a salon artist and religious painter but never again painted genre subjects of African-Americans.

Cops love me

So, I hate my commute, especially on the way home. I don't think that's much of a revelation to anyone. It's ugly out there. Yesterday was no exception. I left work at 4:15, but it was already packed and I found out later there had been an accident (that I never saw, but it was reportedly there). I was in a hurry to get to the traffic jam, so I went as fast as I could, weaving through traffic.

Then there were lights -- cop car lights. You know the feeling. There was the wee bit of hope that it was for someone else. There was the lump in the stomache. There was the resignation that I would get the ticket I have been deserving for years.

The police officer was quite nice and asked for my license, registration, and proof of insurance. I was having a hard time getting my proof of insurance card out of my wallet because it was stuck in the silly, flimsy plastic cover of my temple recommend. Plus, I was nervous, because I was about to get a ticket.

I finally gave the card to the police officer and he asked me how fast I had been going. I had no idea. I felt like an idiot. Then he asked me if that was my recommend. I was a little confused (assuming that no one in WA is LDS). He asked again if that was my recommend. I said it was and then he told me I was the third member he'd pulled over in the last two hours. He gave me back my information and sent me on my way.

I didn't get the ticket! Cops love me.

Advent

Today is the first Sunday of the Advent. It’s a lovely European tradition I learned on my mission. Each of the four Sundays before Christmas, families would light a candle and do something to commemorate the coming of Christmas. Today, the DH and I lit a beautiful gold candle and watched the Christmas program with the first presidency and Mormon Tabernacle Choir from Salt Lake City. It was a really nice program, only and hour long, and was a nice beginning to the Christmas season. We also put up the tree and put the star on top (but didn’t get any farther than that) and worked on Christmas cards.

Snow Days

By now, everyone knows that Seattle got blanketed with snow and that things here came to quite a standstill. On Tuesday, the WSDOT cautioned that everyone should stay home unless they were involved in “essential services” like doctoring and police officering. I’m curious what my friends and neighbors did on their snow days. Here’s what I did:

Tuesday

• Worked some from home, but with a spotty internet/RAS connection.
• Watched a bunch of TV, including the Tyra Banks talk show. Her show is really lame, but I was working on my computer at the same time and didn’t really think to change the channel.
• Picked up a painting from the frame shop.
• Almost got stuck in Patrick’s old truck trying to get into the frame shop parking lot (that had a bit of an incline).
• Bought supplies for making Christmas cards.
• Bought supplies for making Christmas gifts.
• Took almost half an hour to get home even though it would usually take only about five minutes because 130th street West-bound was closed.
• Forgot to plan or make anything for dinner in spite of the fact that I didn’t really accomplish anything all day.
• Planned Christmas presents for everyone I want to give to.
• Bought Christmas gifts online.

Wednesday

• Worked more than I did on Tuesday.
• Swept and mopped the kitchen floor (while participating in a conference call for work). I'm a great multi-tasker.
• Bought groceries.
• Made turkey soup for later and a really good dinner to make up for slacking on Tuesday.
• Ironed table cloths at the church in preparation for a Christmas program this weekend.

What did you do?