I'm a Star!

First, I must apologize. I have dropped off the face of the earth the last couple of weeks--I have not posted on the blog, I have not emailed my friends, and yesterday I locked myself in the bedroom so I could catch up on work, thereby ignoring my husband. But now, at least for a week, work has settled and I'll be able to get back into my routine.

As a result of my busyness, I have not been able to post about recent exciting news. A couple of weeks ago my husband and I made our debut on TV. We were on Top Chef, a wonderful reality television show where chefs compete for the above mentioned title. Lucky for us, the chefs were at our local farmer's market and we just happened to be there at the same time. As we were picking our local fruits and veggies, we were in the midst of TV cameras. It was so much fun at the time, but I figured we wouldn't actually make it onto the show. But we did! And of course, my wonderfully loving brother saw us and the first comment he makes is: Couldn't you have showered? I mean really who showers and dresses up just to go to the farmer's market? I certainly don't and that's part of the fun...rolling out of bed to go grab a breakfast of fresh baked bread, cheese and fruit. Anyway that brief unshowered moment on Top Chef is now my claim to fame!

Peep, Peep!!!!

I just read my favorite grandaughter-in-law's blog and she admitted she was hooked on Peeps. She and I have the same great addiction for sugar coated, creamy, sticky marshmallow Peeps. For years my Easter basket has been overflowing with pink, yellow, purple and even green gooey treats. It is a good thing that they come in boxes of five because if I open the box, those little chicks or bunnies are gobbled one right after the other. I have found these addictive little creatures in a shape of a Christmas tree, Jack-o-lantern and even once in pink and red hearts at different times of the year. I have tried limiting myself to just one or two and putting the rest in the freezer. Boy they are still delicious frozen because it melts in your mouth and the juice oozes between your teeth and they last twice as long. I have even hid them so I wouldn't be tempted and found that dried out Peeps are hard to chew but still have the great taste. So here's to Peep lovers everywhere, may you never run out of Peeps. Grandmother

Earth Hour

On Saturday, March 29th at 8 p.m. (your local time) there is a global initiative to reduce energy consumption. You can be part of the movement to reduce energy by turning off all unused electrical gadgets and together we can make an impact on change. This movement was started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia and in 2008 it has become a global movement. To register and for more information go to Earth Hour. Mom

Why I gave up bike riding!

I was more at home on a horse than a bike. I didn't get a bike until I was in my 40's. Sometimes I rode the kids' bikes but not very often. My first accident was on a 10 speed bike that was brand new and wasn't even mine. It was my daughter-in-law's bike. I was the first one to ride it and when I did a "uie" in the middle of the road I misjudged the edge and went down the ash strewn, broken glass, rocky embankment and stopped after turning a summersault and landing on the railroad tracks. I had to buy a new wheel and did not make points with my daughter-in-law. The new bike was scratched up.

The next accident I had was in Salt Lake City in our neighborhood. Riding in the street close by the house I ran into a parked car. Not only did I damage the neighbor's car, I demolished the bike. I decided then to turn in my helmet and stick to driving. Glad to know my kids know how to ride bikes. Grandmother

My New Wheels

I like my new bike! I originally wanted to get one of the new Trek cruisers because they so remind me of my bike when I was a kid. I had a Schwinn that was cream and green colored and the coolest thing was that my initials, JED, were on the front fender because my Grandpa had painted them there. Actually they weren't originally my initials...they were my aunt's initials because I got the bike as a hand-me-down from her. Luckily we shared the same initials. I loved that bike...even though I had some close calls on it, like the time I was riding home from swim team practice and some yapping little dog decided to attack my feet while I was pedaling. As I was focused on trying to shake the dog off of my pant leg I ran smack into a parked car. My basket ended up taking most of the impact luckily because in those days we didn't have helmets.
Anyway a cruiser would have been cool but when I went biking with my husband I would have had to pedal 3 times faster to try to keep up with him so I opted for this hot rod. Now I just have to get the cool biking shorts and biking shirt and biking shoes...sigh, biking was a lot easier and cheaper when I was a kid! Mom

Easter Time

It was a beautiful day here Sunday. The kids in the neighborhood were out looking for Easter eggs. They were laughing, squealing and giggling when they found an egg. I remember Easter egg hunts in the snow and the kids shivering, running and stopping after just a few eggs. Come to think about it, we didn't have many sunny Easters, not unless Easter came late in April. That's Montana for you.

Did you know that Easter this year was the earliest it will ever be in your lifetime and the only time it will happen unless you are over 95 years old. I really like the plastic eggs they use now , filled with candy and other surprises. Hard boiled eggs last forever and you can only eat so many of them. We lived on a ranch so we had a lot of eggs and you got them every day.

A dozen eggs today cost over $1.50 so it seems to me it can get expensive. The commercial dyes today are not like the ones we used to use. You dyed eggs in beet juice, onion skins, dandelion greens to get colored eggs. It was almost a whole day spent on eggs. Ah, the good old days. Happy Easter. Grandmother

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is a great day! Not just because it is my birthday but it is also the start of Spring and Good Friday. A time for shaking cobwebs from our souls and setting our hearts straight. A time for releasing envy, self-pity, anger and ill feelings and a time to celebrate who we are, where we came from and who we will become. Run with the joy of a child, color a new page and add some new characters to your story. Celebrate! Mom

Happy Birthday

This is a very special birthday wish to a very special person. Tomorrow, March 21, is her birthday. I won't tell how many years ago she came into our lives but it was also a special day. Not only was it the first day of spring but also the first day of TV in our town. My mother had bought a very ugly box TV but my dad was very excited about seeing what TV had to offer. During the first week the station was on the only thing you saw was their logo. The first broadcast was to be on March 21. I don't know which event thrilled him more, his first grandchild or the coming of TV. He suggested naming his granddaughter Teresa Viola and we could call her TV for short. I do think our daughter was happy that idea was shelved. March 21 for a spring day in Montana was fairly nice but after spending 7 days in the hospital the day we came home it snowed and did not clear up for several days. I finally got to watch TV. The station only broadcasted for 6 hours a day. Every year at this time I think about what a beautiful child we have and how exciting TV programing was. Happy Birthday to a wonderful daughter, the joy of our life. Guess I will go and watch TV. Grandmother

Making A Difference

My husband's uncle had a tag line at the end of his e-mails that said "anyone can make a difference, everyone should try".

That phrase kept popping into my head while reading a book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin called "Three Cups of Tea". The book is about Greg's efforts to build schools in depressed areas of Pakistan. He became involved only by happenstance. In 1993 Mortenson attempted to scale a mountain called K2. He failed in his attempt but stumbled into making a much bigger accomplishment in the end. It is only due to Mortenson trying to make a difference that he has affected many Pakistani school children and he probably is more effective than anyone or anything in helping to curb the rise of terrorism. While reading this book I have come to the conclusion that Mortenson makes sense in his assessment that education is key to quelling terrorist activity.

Get the book and settle in for a good read and see what one person is capable of doing. You can order the book online through this link http://www.threecupsoftea.com/and 7% of the proceeds from the sale from Amazon will go to fund the Central Asia Institute, the organization Mortenson founded. Mom

Tag?

Well I guess since I have played tag the longest it goes to show I am the last one to be "it". Ten years ago I was living in Salt Lake City, we decided to look for some place smaller to call home. We traveled Idaho, Oregon and Colorado. We kept coming back to the west slope of Colorado and decided we wanted to live there.

My today's "to do" list included, getting out of bed after sleeping in, bid farewell to my daughter who had spent time with us, get groceries, return "chick flick" movies and take a nap. After doing those chores I will snack on trail mix, red twizzlers, peeps and some fruit.

Since I don't think I will ever become a billionaire I can't muddle my brain with all those dollars and can't waste valuable time considering what I would do. I have to spend time on my bad habits of working every crossword puzzle I come across, picking my nose and popping gum.

I have lived in Montana, Utah and Colorado. Montana is great in the summer, not a very accommodating place in the winter. Utah is a very interesting state with all the national parks and state parks. The climate on the west slope of Colorado is great.

My first job was baby sitting, then I wrapped butter in a creamery during the summers while I was in high school, after graduation from high school I worked for a car dealership and finally went to work for an insurance company and remained with the same company until I retired. My most important job was that of Mother. I have three wonderful children and they in turn have given me four great grandchildren. My life has been one filled with excitement, challenges, joy, tears and gratitude. Grandmother

Out with the Old, In with New

We decided to ditch the boring, stale, archaic look of our blog and jazzed it up a bit. Now it actually looks like something I would read! Okay now on to the questions...

What I was doing 10 years ago? Well I would have been one of those teenagers that my mom was trying to keep on the straight and narrow. I was a freshman at J.L. Mann and I was in the midst of soccer, swimming, homework, National Honor Society and the list goes on and on and on. In a few months my beloved brother would graduate from high school and move on to college. On a side note, my freshman year of high school is a treasured year as it represents a time when my brother and I were very close. He drove me to school every day and every Wednesday we would stop at Budka's (our favorite bagel place) and he would buy me a plain bagel with butter. I literally looked forward to that every week because it would just be me and him.

5 things on my "to-do" list today: Finish transcribing an interview. Go home and take a nap. Go to "The Other Boelyn Girl" with Emily. Get to bed early. Hydrate for 9 a.m. St. Patty's day party.

Snacks I enjoy: Basically anything that is fried. French fries, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, etc. Since obviously I can't eat these every day because I would be a blimp, I have started having a daily treat of grapefruit and I must say I enjoy the sweet juiciness of it even if I'm not that big of a fan of fruits and vegetables.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire? Travel the world, work at an AIDS hospital in South Africa, donate a bunch of money to them, and then save a little for a small cabin in the middle of nowhere.

3 of my bad habits: 1) I take after my father in that I have little patience and a quick temper. 2) I am obsessive compulsive in basically every detail of my life from writing to cleaning (yes in college I used to appreciate how the vacuum cleaner would make straight lines in the carpet). 3) I'm a perpetual watcher of reality TV (The Real Housewives of Orange County, anyone?)

5 places I have lived: Colorado, Virginia, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Chicago

5 jobs I have had: Lawn mower (yes I actually took over my brother's business), sales associate at the Oops Company, photo intern for the The Star in Johannesburg, reporter for The Greenville News, and associate editor at a magazine publishing company. Daughter.

Tag...you're IT

My daughter-in-law who has a blog at http://www.checraft.blogspot.com/ "tagged" us. I was really confused by this because of course all I could relate to was the game of tag, which we played for hours outside when I was a kid. Now you never see kids outside playing those kind of games, but then that is probably fodder for a blog in the future.

Anyway I digress...tagging is something from one blogger to the next where you answer a series of questions. So here goes.

What I was doing 10 years ago? Let's see 2008 minus 10 is 1998...I hope that is right, I don't have a calculator to check...I told you I was math challenged! 1998...well I know one thing I was 10 years younger and about to celebrate a birthday. It's next week if you want to send gifts! In 1998 I was trying to keep 2 teenagers on the straight and narrow; one would have been 18 and the other would have been 14. We were living in SC and I was working for the school system as a speech and language pathologist.

5 things on my "to do" list today? Finish a mini-quilt that I have been working on for about a year (my daughter-in-law and I have a lot in common). Get started on the homework assignment for a quilt class I am taking. Paint the woodwork in the house (ongoing with no end in sight). Think about Easter packages for my kids and kids-in-law. Finish the newsletter for garden club.

Snacks I enjoy? Chocolate, chocolate and oh yeah...chocolate!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire? Set up a foundation and start giving it away.

3 of my bad habits? Hmmm, this is a tough one because I am perfect in most ways. I guess my husband would say that I interrupt people (him) when they (he) talk(s). My daughter would probably say that I don't pick up my toothpicks and throw them away. My son would probably say that I nag him about writing thank you notes....hey, once a mother always a mother!

5 places I have lived? Montana, Colorado (two different times), Wisconsin (two different times), Virginia, South Carolina

5 jobs I have had? Speech/language pathologist in WI, house cleaning business in VA, speech/language pathologist in SC, cleaning offices in HS, speech/language pathologist in CO...hmm wonder what Freud would say about those???

OK Grandmother and daughter it is your turn! Mom

No hands dialing

Last week I finally got the telephone in my car hooked up after several minutes it was working. Now I have found out that I cannot chew gum and talk at the same time after years of trying. This morning I thought I would try calling home from my car. Some things I learned are, turn off the radio, roll up the window and PARK!!! After engaging the phone, hanging up and then trying to call again I found that I almost went through a red light, veered to the right and then I parked so I could focus on what I was doing. After yelling dial home at the button two times, the operator finally repeated home and my call went through. My son answered the phone, he asked what I was doing in Illinois. I told him I was calling from the car and was still in Colorado. The caller ID showed that the call came from Illinois. This is going to take time to master the phone in the car but I now know why people get upset with those persons that are talking on a cell phone and driving. I thought it would be safer to have no hands dialing but I will still park when I use it if I am driving. Grandmother

Kiddie Political Pundits

Take a second today and go to http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4385018. I was literally shocked when I saw this video. I think these kids may know more than the average American about politics and they aren't even voting in this election! I won't write more for fear of spoiling the video, but trust me it's worth it. Daughter.

Memorable Events

The latest caucuses in Wyoming have caught my attention. Both Hillary and Obama were campaigning in the usually forgotten state of Wyoming. It was probably easier to get in to hear either Hillary or Obama speak in this state than in any other US state given that the largest city in Wyoming is Cheyenne and in 2003 its population was 54,374.

The reason I bring this up is because the one and only time I ever was anywhere near a US president or a presidential candidate was in 1963 when I was 9 years old. The little town of Great Falls, Montana was visited by President Kennedy. The picture (taken with my little Brownie camera) is dated October 1963 but I didn't make a notation as to the actual date President Kennedy was in town and I don't remember the month. Just in case you are confused, remember that this was taken (back in the old days) by a film camera and then the film had to be developed so that date on the picture is when the film was developed, not when President Kennedy was actually in Great Falls.

I do remember that my family went down to 1oth Avenue S. and stood along the street with probably every other resident of the city and anyone else who came in from the surrounding farms and smaller cities. It was one of the biggest thrills I have ever experienced. And then he was assasinated in that November...November 22nd, 1963...and I can vividly remember hearing that announcement.

There are some events that are permanently etched in our memories and meeting or personally seeing a president or even a presidential candidate is one. Mom

We Do Not Like Wii.

My husband got a text message Sunday from one of his co-workers that Best Buy finally had the infamous Nintendo Wii. Now Nate has literally been calling Circuit City, Best Buy and Gamestop every week just to find one. So on Sunday we trucked up to Best Buy and what do you know they had a Wii AND the long-desired Guitar Hero, literally Nate's dreams come true. Now I thought I was excited to finally have the Wii, but then I found out I hate it. It literally almost brought me to tears on Sunday. If you know anything about Guitar Hero, you know that you are supposed to feel like a rock star. No, not me. I felt like the biggest loser.

For those who are not familiar with Guitar Hero, you have a guitar and you have to hit the notes right to advance to the next level. Sounds easy, but really it's not. It basically just reminded me how totally inept I am at finding rhythm, singing, and playing instruments. I spent the first half of the morning trying to beat the first level, while Nate sped on to the 11th and 12th levels. He finally pried the guitar from my hands and I proceeded out of the room kicking pillows with tears in my eyes. It literally was a flashback to my tantrum days and all Nate could do was laugh. Needless to say if you can't sing, dance, hum a tune, whistle, or walk in a straight line, this game is not for you. I will just plan on sticking with plain old Mario thank you very much. Daughter.

Dream the possible dream!

If you are going to have something you want to dream about come true, don't dream the impossible dream. In order to succeed you have to have something you can achieve. This was the subject of the sermon this morning. As I thought about it, I realized I have achieved one of my dreams. At the age of 65 I graduated from the University of Utah with a BA degree in Theatre studies. When I left high school there was no money to spend on college degrees. My folks did pay for a business course in which I earned good grades in shorthand, typing and bookkeeping. I used those skills to find a job and spent the next years in the insurance business. One of my dreams was to further my education but due to educating three children it was put on hold. My job took me to Salt Lake City and I decided to pursue higher education. I found myself with various students of all ages and found the time to study. Going part time it took 10 years but I finally received that diploma I desired all those years. So dream the possible dream. Grandmother

Don't eat the snow!

What is that all about? Every kid that plays outside eats snow. Now they are saying studies have found that snow is full of bacteria. As kids we played in the snow, made snowmen, had snowball fights and ate a lot of it. We learned a neat trick that when you made snowballs you could pour maple syrup on them and they were mighty tasty. No matter where you go you are in contact with bacteria. Even at the grocery stores they provide handi wipes to clean the handles of the carts, at the gym they have spray bottles of disinfectant to spray the machines and everyone washes their hands with soap. I don't think there is anything we can do about the snow. I say a little bacteria is good for you and the germs should be killed in the stomach with the amount of stomach acid you have. So let's eat snow!!!!Grandmother

Fickle Mother Nature

Living in Colorado is exciting. You just never know what the weather will be. Last Saturday we had temperatures near 70 and on Sunday it was blowing snow and barely 30. I always carry extra clothes in the vehicle because I never know whether it will be warm, sunny, cold, snowy and/or windy from one hour to the next.

We can experience a drop of 30 degrees within a single day if Mom Nature decides to shake things up. It truly is amazing that anything grows in this state. It is on days like this that I know Mother Nature is sitting on her cloud and chuckling to herself at the good one she played on the folks in Colorado! Mom

True and Faithful

This is Brandi, my mother-in-law's dog. She died last Thursday and I will miss seeing her when we visit my mother-in-law. She was a great dog. When we went to visit she would come to the stairs to greet us, jump and bark as if to say, "So, glad to see you!"

Her manners were refined; she never jumped on people, licked them or begged. Her expressions and eyes spoke a million words. Her most favorite activity was getting to go for a ride. It never mattered to her what the destination was. In her mind the ride was the best part.

She never complained, even as her joints grew stiff. In fact she was forever a puppy at heart. Even when it was hard to move she would do her "circle dance" without reservation to express her happiness. One couldn't help but smile when Brandi was around.

She never asked for much and was content to receive a rub on the head and a dog biscuit on occasion. She was a true and faithful companion to my mother-in-law. A one-of-a-kind dog. She will be missed! Mom