a somewhat tall girl...

the best part of my day 2/14/12

2012-02-14T19:09:00.001-07:00

First thing this morning, I thought it would be a beautiful purple light against the foothills at 7:00 am.

Then my co-worker brought in frosted sugar cookies....from scratch!

Dinner was grilled buffalo burgers and fingerling potatoes... could it get any better? And then it did, Scott and I hiked up the hill behind our house and sipped rum and munched on a lovely piece of chocolate from the Chocolat Bar. THIS WINS!! Best part of my day!

the best part of my day

2012-02-13T20:00:00.001-07:00

Life is fleeting. Simple as that. I have this creeping fear that one day I will wake up and be 60, and not know where the time went and what I did. We get wrapped up in work and life, watching days turn into months, into years. Gretchen Rubin from the Happiness Project, said it best: The days are long, but the years are short. Add into the mix, the constant stream of information from ipads, ipods, iphones, etc...and we are all on the edge of life overload! I need to slow down daily and be aware of what is around me.

I need to be here now.

The best part of my day on Sunday, was sitting in the sun, with my sweet Spot, on my lap. Being a wild cat for so many years, she makes up for lost time now that she is tame. She stays as long as you will have her.

Six days ago, we nearly lost Spot. She had near fatal encounter with a dog in the alley. She wasn't anywhere to be found, when I got home on Tuesday. Something felt wrong. We scoured the neighborhood for several hours looking for her. When she did finally come home, she was bloody and in shock. She had been hiding all day waiting to come home where she knew she would be safe.

I was able to bring her inside. We gave her food and water. She collapsed on the kitchen floor and let us check her wounds. She had bite wounds around her rib cage and lost most of the skin on her nose. She had been through hell and was finally safe. She then spent the evening sleeping on my lap. It took hours to get her calmed down and to slow her breathing. She barely weighs about 3 pounds, but she is a fighter. I would imagine, the dog who nabbed her, has wounds of his own. (Dear Dog Owners, a dog roaming, or off leash can be very dangerous. Please keep them on leashes when you walk them! Especially if they like to chase other creatures: cats, foxes, birds, etc)

Tuesday night, she was terrified and covered in blood.

The whole experience was very scary for us. We weren't sure what we were going to have to do. But, we got lucky... this time. She has spent most of the week sleeping and eating. She's been improving daily, in both body and spirit. At 15 years old, she is tenacious with a tremendous will to live. She inspires me. She takes her life a day at a time. She is one tough cat.

Her way of life is to be here now.

Three days later, her nose was healing. I could tell she was feeling better.

The lesson for me is to realize is that some special times may only come once. Even if something wonderful seems to happen on a daily basis, I still need to pay attention and not take anything for granted.

The best part of my day today? I came home from work to be greeted by my sweet cats waiting for dinner. I scooped Spot up in my arms, and held her. She purred as I checked her healing wounds. She was secure and happy. What else could anyone ask for?

Here's to tomorrow, and wondering what the best part of my day is going to be...

this is what we all have to look forward to...

2012-02-12T15:08:00.003-07:00

...getting so damn old, that we can neither see or hear. Found these gems at Ross. I hope I don't regret not buying both of them!

this is how geese park in Idaho

2012-02-08T17:22:00.001-07:00

Each one gets their own parking space. And don't think for a minute, they will give up a space... you are just asking for goose poop on your car.

Super Bowl Sunday is the greatest day ever!!

2012-02-05T16:34:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post! Our router/modem died and we are finally up and running again. Apparently we got a lot of mileage out of the last one. We kept hearing from various help desks that it was really o.l.d.

Super bowl sunday! Every year the big game rolls around and no one in my household can name the teams. (Yes, in fact...it is wonderful living with a man who doesn't watch sports! He goes outside instead!!) I love Super Bowl Sunday because my lys always has a superbowl party. Today, I scored. I came away with 12 skeins of Reynolds Andean Tweed, 2 skeins of Mini Mochi, and a skein of Marks and Kattens Fame...all at a great SBS discount. Yahoo!
It's a good thing I am almost finished with the cardigan knit in the Rustic Tweed.

(Yes, I know... I need a 12 step program for yarn addiction. You aren't the first one to think that:)

Knitting Pure and Simple Sweater

2012-01-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

My latest project.... a top down sweater from Knitting Pure and Simple. It's an easy pattern and I am using a great yarn, Queensland Collection, Rustic Wool.

Yesterday's News

2012-01-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Headlines from the Web, 1/23/12

Aniston's most memorable hairstyles (CNN)
(Acting career? What acting career, with hair like this, who needs to act!)
TSA turns away Rand Paul after he refuses pat down (CNN)
(Step up and spread 'em Senator, just like the rest of us...)
McDstories. McDonald's hashtag promo goes horribly wrong (Huffington Post)
(imagine that, all the tweets weren't positive)
PHOTOS: Miley Cyrus goes braless (Huffington Post)
(Teenage girl goes braless, Alert the media!)
What you don't know about showerheads (Huffington Post)
(zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Tennessee Tea Party demands textbooks say nice things about Slave Owners (Huffington Post)
(?????)
Kim K says wedding was a bad business decision (she is going to rewrite her fairy tale) MSNBC)
(I didn't know weddings were a business decision)
Marni Soupcoff: Let Paula Deen eat fried butter in peace! (National Post)
(PD needs to go some place where I can't see or hear her)

Willie's dressing table

2012-01-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Scott's grandma lived with his parents, the last few years of her life.

There are still treasures to be found in her room.

You can almost smell Ambush looking at this photo.

She was quite the "Lady".

We will miss her forever!

Justin Bieber....baby, baby, baby...you got clean teeth!

2012-01-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

What the f.............???

I'm shopping in Ross and see this??!?!?!

Why! Tell me, someone... WHY do I need a Justin Bieber Singing Toothbrush??? And because you are wondering... No! I did not buy it!

Resolution!

2012-01-13T06:07:00.002-07:00

you say you want a resolution, well you know.... we all want to change the world.*

2012

The world could end or it could be the Best Year Ever!

I want:

MORE LESS

movement less being "stuck"

tasting rejection

singing out loud judgement

knitting Less news

sweetness fear

creativity worry

confidence anger

listening talking

be here now living in the past

Be Brave, Be Bold, Be Daring!

(*you say you want a revolution, well you know... we all want to change the world. Thanks to the Beatles :)

winter

2012-01-09T06:02:00.002-07:00

It's been close to 50 most everyday for a week. Where is winter?

I found a touch of it along the greenbelt of the Boise River.

Leaves hidden in the shade of birch trees.

The trails in the foot hills are still frosted, but the sun is warm.

Bogus Basin has yet to open. Those who ski and snowboard, are praying diligently to the snow gods.

10 things I learned in 2011

2012-01-02T21:59:00.001-07:00

1. You are never too old to feel like a little kid who needs her mom.
2. Being a grown up sucks.
3. Only you can prevent forest fires.
4. If it looks weird, get it checked out... by a professional.
5. Don't wait for anything to go away or fix itself.
6. Invest in water alarms (works like a smoke alarm)
7. Wear bug repellent.
8. Wear sunscreen.
9. Get a house sitter you can trust (thanks Ella!)
10. If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all
(golden rule of Thumper)

Happy 2012!!!!!!!!!!

thump--Thump---THUMP!! CLEAR!!!!

2011-12-29T05:50:00.005-07:00

Christmas dinner was a killer!

Prime Rib, lovingly cooked on the grill.

Everyone ate too much!

Even Robin and Xana :)

That last Christmas....

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

1980, I’d just begun my life with Scott. I was 23. We were dutiful kids that went to two Thanksgiving dinners, two Christmas mornings, etc. We were up to our necks in holiday fun.

Mom, enjoying a hot buttered rum 12/24/1980
My Aunt has just moved to Idaho following the death of her beloved husband, Mil. She and my mother had been estranged (an unfortunate family trait) for three decades. After Mil got sick they started communicating again. They reunited as sisters and friends. They became thick as thieves. They were adventure seekers who loved practical jokes. They were thirteen years apart. The age difference disappeared when they reunited.

sisters 1950

Growing up, Mom had always been a pleaser. She always tried to make sure that everyone was happy. It was a job that could suck the life out of anyone. Thankfully that all changed when Aunt Lorraine arrived. She had her sister back and was ready to concentrate on her own happiness.

My mother was the classic “Christmas bug”. She always put up her Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving. She would haul out the huge pile of Christmas LPs and stack them on the spindle of the turntable. Holiday music played non stop between Thanksgiving and Christmas. She baked incredible decorated sugar cookies and rich creamy fudge. She hung lights inside and out. She sent Christmas cards and lengthy family letters (richly padded I am sure, our accomplishments as kids were slim). In short, she adored Christmas.

My aunt moved from a beautiful, older home filled with character (Moab, Utah), to a single wide trailer (Boise), that had seen better days. She rented a space in a trailer park in my parent’s neighborhood. She managed to jam a lifetime of possessions from her big house into that small trailer. It’s easy to see how some people become hoarders. Every corner away from the living room was stuffed with possessions she could not let go. She loved the tackiest of arts and decor. Uncle Mil was a well known sculptor. His art was displayed in galleries throughout the Southwest. Aunt Lorraine, on the other hand, loved to paint ceramic clowns. She had hundreds of creepy, hand painted clowns (with eyes that followed you) throughout her house. I shudder when I remember how we had to deal with that collection when she died. We literally couldn’t give it away!

Her trailer was filled with all sorts of "bad". She stuffed it full of ugly furniture, bad paintings, acrylic afghans and artificial flowers. Thank God, my mother’s taste was more refined! She loved her blue jeans, but could look like a million bucks at a moments notice.

That year it was decided we would celebrate Christmas Eve at Aunt Lorraine’s. She was new in town and wanted to show us all a good time. We gathered together in her tight little living room, to nosh and open gifts. Since she had arrived, She and Mom spent most of their days hitting yard sales and thrift shops. She was always on the hunt for more crap for that trailer. Between yard sales and QVC, there was always something new on the porch.
It came as no surprise to any of us, that all the presents were “preowned”. Each gift was "spectacular booty" snatched from the clutches of easy marks, swindled by my mother and aunt in garages and backyards all over town.

Scott and I received an ugly brick orange crock pot. It was a precursor to my many years of thoughtless cooking and eating. I often thought less about cooking than eating…

I think I may have said "here.... you do something with it."

They cackled with delight as my brother opened a box containing the ugliest plaid jacket we had ever seen. I can still see the look on his face as he tried not to look aghast. It was so ugly, and it actually fit him. It served him right! Ha!!

As we siblings got older, there were many growing pains. Family gatherings got harder and harder to enjoy. My oldest brother Kevin, had always been a serious kid. I used to say, he often looked like some one had just shot his dog. Now that he had children, he was worried all the time. He barely cracked a smile when he received his gift, of an old tool. I could see my mother's logic. He was a carpenter, why wouldn't he love a nice "used" tool? Mom was excited to give him something she thought he would enjoy and use.

My older brothers had started families of their own. My nephew Luke (Kevin’s son) was born in November that year. He was a pudgy little five week old who smiled all the time. Kelsey’s wife was pregnant with her third child.* Mom had big plans for her growing brood of grandchildren. She was excited for the future. There was an air of hope and promise all around us. I remember laughing more that I had in years. That last Christmas, I remember feeling light.

Memory is such a delicate thing. As I was mulling this story in my head, there is so much I remember and so much more that I have forgotten. It’s hard to believe that last Christmas was thirty one years ago. We take so much for granted. I hear stories about people who remember every day of their lives. I can’t imagine how exhausting it would be to remember all your joys, your humdrum days, and your hurts.
I do remember how naive I was. I remember how in love I was. I remember how convinced I was that everything would remain the same. I felt I would grow up and still forever be the same girl I was that year. I was so young, and wrong.

As things happen, nothing remained the same after 1980. We passed through the holidays. Kelsey’s son was born in February, 3 months prematurely. He weighed 2 lb, 8 oz. It was a tense time. We learned the amazing inner workings of St. Luke's Neo Natal facility. We came closer as a family.
Mom died several weeks after Christopher was born, of a massive coronary. Aunt Lorraine packed up her ratty trailer and left for Utah. The glue in my family began to dissolve. What was left of my family changed forever. Christmas was empty when the one person who loved it was gone.

(Warning Christmas Rant ahead!)
Each year when Christmas comes around, it’s hard to get excited. The last ten years, Christmas seems like much more of an "event" than a day. The media hypes it so much. The stores panic if shoppers look away for a second. The economy's health rests on the fragile backs of the consumer. There is so much pressure involved in finding the right gift. We should all be ashamed for participating.
Let's have a true "war against Christmas". (Take that Fox News!) I will be a freedom fighter against the Christmas I know. I would rid us all, of the crap that is so deeply tied to one day of the year. All the hype, disappointment, debt, relentless pushing we do to make everything perfect, for one day of the year. My solution? Stop playing the game.

Next year, I will hit the thrift shops and yard sales. I should take a page from my mother's book and re gift the tacky, the shabby, the chic.

Although I may sound militant, as I have gotten older I find that I have softened. There are things that make me smile....I enjoy the music I hear in the mall. I am glad my neighbors hang lights and put up trees. And every year I make decorated sugar cookies, just for me.

*the kids in this story all grew up healthy, happy and relatively normal

Ghosts of Christmas Cards Past

2011-12-24T16:11:00.001-07:00

From the early 80s

To the mid 90s....

Classic Christmas Cards!

10 "worst" things about Christmas!!!

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

1. Non stop Christmas Music
2. Shopping Mayhem
3. Mall Road Rage
4. Touchy-feely "that special time of the year" news stories
5. Holiday Politics
6. Awful Christmas movies
7. Merry Christmas vs Happy Holidays (I say Happy Holidays)
8. Christmas sweaters
9. Long dark days
10. The drumming of Christmas that starts in September....

10 "Best" Things About Christmas!

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

1. Christmas lights
2. Egg nog and Rum
3. Charlie Brown Christmas
4. Making my mother's frosted sugar cookie recipe
5. Sales everywhere!!
6. Free expedited shipping
7. Good Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, Jim Carrey's Grinch)
8. Neighbor's home made apple jack
9. Winter Solstice
10. December 26th!

Styling tools of the Undead

2011-12-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend I found out why Edward Cullen looks so good! Aside from the fact that he is handsomely undead, with hot, glowing vampire eyes, he uses great styling tools.

It's comforting to know that even Edward needs something to take him from coffin to coiffed.

He's just so hot... and undead.

Ceramic vent brush, sparkle ionic dryer... no wonder he got the girl!

Frankenface 2011

2011-12-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

It was the most innocent thing you have ever seen....a tiny flesh colored spot on my upper right lip. It showed up one day several years ago and never left.
I discovered it one day when I was looking into a magnifying mirror, grousing about how bad my eyes had gotten. Something told me to keep an eye on it. It didn’t look anything like the moles we are all taught to look out for… the ugly, scaly, irregular moles that scream CANCER. My intuition should have been better. Instead, I waited two years before I made an appointment to see what it was.

...bad idea.

It took the doctor less than 30 seconds to tell me what it was (basal carcinoma) and what it was going to take to remove it (Mohs surgery). Most likely, had I gone in when I first noticed it, the treatment would have been less invasive. Silly me.

I grew up with a swimming pool. Summers in the 60s and 70s were spent in the water. Tanning wasn’t worked on, it just was what happened when you were out in the water all day. Sure, we used sunscreen, but most of the time it was Hawaiian Tropic. We knew about skin cancer, but didn’t fear it like today. I never laid out and broiled myself with baby oil. I just stayed outside in the water and sun, and loved it.

In my 30s, I really started to pay attention to my skin. I started using sunscreen religiously. The last 20 years, I have been a delightful shade of pale. I became the one who would go to the beach on vacation, and come back with no tan lines. I was the one who wasn’t going to have wrinkles or skin cancer.

I was wrong.

When I saw the surgeon, she said that “most likely” this is something that got it’s start when I was a kid. It could have been that bad burn I had in Hawaii in 1976, or the accumulation of summer days in the pool. Either way, it sucked! The good news, the sunscreen I have used in the last 20 years, has helped keep my skin in relatively good shape… for my age.

The surgery was done on July 26th. Mohs surgery appears to be very common, judging by how busy the office was on the day I was in. You can check out lots of horrifying videos on youtube. Just watch out if you are at all squeamish. The surgery itself is pretty simple. You go in, get numbed, they cut out the problem area. And then they test the cells.
(this photo was taken by the doctor, after the tissue had been removed. Yes, that's a big hole in my face! ewwwwww!) You sit in the waiting room, bandaged and swollen, and hope no one recognizes you. Lucky me, I ran into my friend Lucy, and had a sloppy conversation with a fat lip. I was happy to know the doctor got all the bad cells on the first excavation. She didn’t have to go back in for more tissue.

Several hours later, you are back in the chair to have the wound stitched up. They call it reconstruction. To me, it was more like being a big fish on a hook. My doctor even joked about how it seemed like she was pulling and tugging on my face. Seemed like? It was more like “I am pulling and tugging on your face, with a huge curved needle and fish line!” You are then bandaged up and sent home to heal.

The healing went very smoothly. I spent a few weeks looking like Frankenstein. My lip was swollen and bruised for at least a month.

The swelling finally went down. I have a slight scar. It seems like people don't notice it. I do.

This photo was taken in late September. The skin has amazing healing power. But as you can see by the pathology report below, nothing is over and done....

Excuse me while I go apply more sunblock :)

Cold night, city lights

2011-12-09T05:26:00.001-07:00

(great photo, Scott!)

Those nutty creative thinkers....

2011-12-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

The art of deception: Creative types are bigger liars By Linda Carroll

Creativity may have a dark side.

The very same people who have the intellectual spark to think outside the box when solving complicated problems may also be the ones who can more easily indulge in cheating and general dishonesty, a new study suggests.
“Creative people are more able to come up with reasons to justify unethical behavior — they are more morally flexible,” said the study’s lead author Francesca Gino, an associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. “Concluding that the rule does not make sense could be one of the potential justifications.”

To test the theory that people who score well in creativity may be more likely to cheat, Gino rounded up several groups of college students.
She and her co-author, Dan Ariely of Duke University -- who published their findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology -- started out by testing study volunteers’ intelligence and creativity. Then the researchers ran a series of experiments that used money to tempt people into dishonesty.

In one experiment, the researchers gave volunteers a multiple-choice quiz that tested general knowledge. For every correct answer, the volunteers would make money.
The volunteers were later asked to copy their answers onto a special form. One of the researchers told them that the correct answers had been lightly marked on these new forms -- by mistake -- and that they should ignore the marks, be honest, and fill out the forms as they had on their original quizzes. The volunteers were then told to discard their original quizzes, which didn’t have their names on them, in a special container.

In reality, the researchers had put special, identifying marks on the original quizzes. So they were able to compare the two versions to see if there had been any cheating. Sure enough, the researchers found that the most creative students were also the most dishonest. And that pattern held up in each of four other experiments.

While the study probably isn’t the last word on the subject, it may be a “cautionary tale,” said Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and an msnbc.com contributor. “You’ve got to be careful in encouraging creativity since it probably comes with a potential for self-rationalization. Creative people will think of new ways to bend the rules to do what they want to do.”

Still, Caplan said, the researchers did load the dice in favor of their theory by choosing students for study volunteers.
“If I were trying to hunt up someone who is ethically the most willing to be pushing the limits, it would be college students,” Caplan explained. “They’re still exploring or testing ethics and morality."

your moment of kitty zen...

2011-12-05T05:27:00.001-07:00

The cold weather has arrived. Spot has charmed her way into the boy's house. Sure, they are smelly, but they are warm to sleep with...

Red Velvet Cake!!

2011-11-29T17:44:00.001-07:00

I made my first red velvet cake last night. I was thrilled with the results (and so were my co-workers!) I used Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network. Go Alton! It's a rich, yummy cake that I will make again and again!

Recipe

Ingredients

Nonstick spray
5 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
4 ounces cake flour
1/2 ounce natural cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk, room temperature
1 fluid ounce red liquid food coloring
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 1/2 ounces dark brown sugar
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
2 whole eggs, room temperature
Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Spray 2 (9-inch) round pans with nonstick spray, line the bottom of the pan with a parchment paper round, spray the parchment with nonstick spray, and set aside.

Whisk the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the brown sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream on medium speed until lightened in color, 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Return the mixer to medium speed and slowly add the eggs and beat until they are fully incorporated.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 installments, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl between each installment. Mix on low speed until smooth, 30 to 45 seconds.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake until the cake springs back when pressed or reaches an internal temperature of 205 degrees F, 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes, and then remove the cake from the pans and cool completely, about 1 hour, before frosting.

i spy...

2011-11-24T22:18:00.001-07:00

lots of interesting things ~

beautiful patterns ~

and textures.

New Hat!!

2011-11-22T20:13:00.001-07:00

Slouchy takes a walk...

I finished my slouch hat! Good thing! I took a walk today on the greenbelt. It was great to have a warm hat.

And so stylish!