Larry the Chef

Here he is making scones.

The flour....



The mess....



The dough....



The finished product!  And they're good, too!

Don't kill me

No kids, no grandkids, no doula babies, no nieces or nephews - so you get Elbie the Cat. You have to admit she is pretty dang cute. Right? Right?

No babies, but a 5AM fire call

Okay so I was on call this morning from 4AM until 10AM. Not a big time for fires. So of course, this morning there is a two alarm for a vacant building. So we go to the scene to serve refreshments to the firefighters. Not hard, but very interesting to see them fight the fire in this dilapidated old building which will end up coming down anyway. Here are some pictures I took this morning with my new Canon camera! I thought this was a really smokey fire, so I came home smelling really bad. I am so grateful for showers!!!

Apple tech support

The scroll on my mouse stopped working. I was very sad. So I called tech support and guess what I had to do? He told me to take a drop of water and rub it on the scroll button, then take a cloth and kind of wipe it around, then turn the mouse upside down and tap it. Voila! It works now! It was fast, easy and the guy didn't make me feel like a knucklehead.

This is a tree in our backyard. It always looks so pretty in the spring. It's leaning. Larry says it's fine. I think it's going to fall over someday and squash my lavender.

Katrina, who is my new friend in Utah is having a shoe party tonight. Can you imagine how fun that would be??? If anyone knows of such a thing here in Rochester, I want to know about it. I love shoes. They are better than Tupperware.

We bought a new camera......

and I think I love it! It's a Canon. I was visiting with my cousin Judi today and she gave me these two pictures. The first one is me as a baby. Don't laugh. The second one is a painting done by my cousin Mary Ellen. I really like paintings of doors and windows. Lines in general give me a a sense of balance. This painting hung in my grandparent's home for over thirty years and now I have it!! Thanks cousins!

My camera died!!!

My poor Nikon camera. The lens won't close. New batteries don't help. It's deader than a doornail. NOTHING. I am very sad. How am I going to post a picture every day (on the other blog) if I can't TAKE any pictures???

I looked in Office Max at a Sony but if I don't like it I can't return it!!! What in the world. Does anyone have a great camera they would recommend? 

Maybe I will just get another Nikon Coolpix.....

New Neil Diamond CD coming out next week!!

Here is what's coming up next week -

Monday - errands 

Tuesday - new CD comes out so I will be with Pam, my best and eternal friend in all the world as we buy it and listen together

Wednesday - work at the Red Cross

Thursday - doctor appointments and Red Cross meeting

Friday - on call

No babies due,  (very sad face.) 

More braces

I have a full set of tinsel teeth. They put the lower ones on today and three brackets have popped off already! The first one popped off while I was still at the office and it happened again at home, with another one, too. They are the ones glued to the crowns and apparently it's hard to keep brackets glued to crowns. My lower lip is all cut up inside. This is NOT FUN.

Okay so I'm a little grumpy. But we have a lovely new floor! Check out my "photo each day" blog to see a picture of the guy spreading grout on the new kitchen floor. It's pretty.

Not a bad week

While LAST week was the week from outer darkness, THIS week has been pretty good. I gave my talk on Sunday, Monday we had a good FHE with friends, Tuesday I went to a Red Cross meeting, Wednesday I did my caseworker volunteer job at the Red Cross and today I can't get my lazy body moving. Tonight is a stake meeting. Last night was supposed to be our book club discussion but since so many people hadn't finished reading it or just couldn't come, it is postponed. The book was pretty good. It's a YA book about a family in Germany at the time Hitler is taking over.

The weather has been glorious - sunny and in the 70's all week, PLUS a bonus thunderstorm yesterday that was very fun and scary. The lightning was crashing all over the place. I was at work with our huge floor to ceiling windows that gave us a terrific view! If I am home during a thunderstorm you can usually find me hanging out the upstairs bathroom window watching it all. The window faces south so sometimes I have to run back and forth between that window and the north windows, depending on where the storm is. I always pray that our neighborhood will be safe. I know how dangerous storms can be but I still appreciate the beauty of them!

Happy Monday

It's 5:30 AM. I am awake for some crazy reason, but there is a bird outside singing the most lovely song. I've never heard it before but it makes the morning so pleasant! It's too dark to see what kind of bird it is, but since it is warm out and the windows are open, I can enjoy it anyway! I think that hearing the birds is one of the nicest parts of warmer weather.

One morning in Sicily, I was up early enough to see the fishermen go out. There was the most beautiful sunrise so I grabbed the camera. Here are the sunrise pictures - you can see the fishing boat in the second one.

Mt. Etna and me

This is one of my favorite pictures from Sicily. It's in the town of Taormina, on the eastern coast of Sicily. That's Mt. Etna in the background. I was SO HAPPY to be there that I cried. Well, I cried (or laughed) most of the trip!

The funeral and all the family stuff that went with it was really stressful today. I need to think of happy things and my trip to Italy was most definitely a happy thing!

Sad days

Friday morning - my cousin Judi calls with the news that her 91 year old mother was headed to emergency in an ambulance. It looked like a massive stroke. We waited in emergency all day for a room. She was admitted that night. While waiting in the ER which was VERY crowded, I saw a friend from church wheeled in on a stretcher. I ran over to him to see what was wrong and while we were talking, I heard a voice call my name. I turned around and there was another friend from church - she had been in a car accident. So within 10 yards of each other are my aunt, and two friends. Then....I saw my mother for the first time in 10 years. She ignored me. This was in the waiting room.

Saturday - I had to get Larry ready for another trip to Madison and then meet my cousin Judi at the hospital. I couldn't let her sit there all alone. Both her siblings were out of town. In fact her sister's fiance had died Thursday.

Sunday (today) - My aunt died this morning. Larry left for Madison. I was with my cousin again all day. We went to the funeral parlor to arrange things and pick out the casket. We talked and talked. I was hyper woman with an appetite to match. But I STILL haven't had any dessert, sweets, pop, candy, anything like that. I just ate bread and pasta all day long. What's worse????

My aunt is at peace. She's with her family again. She had been "seeing" them for weeks as they were probably preparing her for her journey home.

I love the plan of salvation.

Here are some pansies in her memory. She loved pansies.

Attention readers........

Especially you Carol and you Katrina, both of you who love These is My Words (can't figure out how to underline)

ANYway, run don't walk to your nearest library or bookstore and pick up Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart. Then cancel all your appointments, get a babysitter and hole up for three days. You won't put it down.

Well THAT'S over

Okay I'm better. No hot fudge sundae. No banana split. But maybe a facial this week.

General Conference was just so good this weekend. How could I NOT feel better? Actually, I am speaking on the 20th about one of the Sunday talks so I listened extra carefully. I think I know which one I will speak on, but how do you paraphrase an apostle?? Can I say it any better than him?

It was such a pretty day today. The sky was so blue and the sun shone all day long. The birds were having fun at the bird feeders out back and it all made me happy.

Here, for your viewing pleasure is me up in the air in Key West. I LOVED parasailing!

Grrrr....look out world

I am in a VERY bad mood. Just call me Crabby Appleton. This is what I want to do:

-Throw something

-Swear

-Take a few Excedrin for a killer headache but then I'll be wired

-Eat a hot fudge sundae with chocolate ice cream and really HOT hot fudge

-Then eat a banana split

-Sleep for two days and magically be 20 lbs thinner when I wake up

-Get a massage, a facial and then a pedicure

-Go to Key West and eat a key lime pie ALL BY MYSELF

-Go to a spa and be pampered

-Go to a warm, lovely beach somewhere FAR away and float in water that is 90 degrees

What I will really do is go to bed and feel better tomorrow. We can only hope.

Introducing.....

.........a new baby in the house!  We bought a MAC!  Oh my. This computer is sweeeet. And oh so pretty.  Ours is more grey than white. Thank you Carol and George for giving us the little extra "push" we needed to take the plunge!

A big thank you to my little friend Adam and his mom who came for a visit today. We had fun playing, finding the ball, reading and chasing the red bus! What a great little kiddo. WOW!

Sugar withdrawal or "hand over the pie" blues

Okay so it's been well over a month since I've eaten sweets. No cookies, candy, dessert, cake, pie, no chocolate Easter bunny .

No bunny cake

No chocolate cake

No key lime pie

Actually, it hasn't been that hard. I figure that it's a good thing for my body to not have refined sugar. My psyche is another thing. My anxiety level had skyrocketed (!) and I wonder if it was from sugar withdrawal.

On another subject, these braces are driving me crazy. I was using my finger to apply some anti-sensitive paste to my teeth , and sliced my finger open on one of the wires! It was a pretty deep cut, too. Bled like crazy. And I thought, "this is in my MOUTH?" On the brighter side, my teeth are shifting already. I can see a definite difference. So my smile will be lovely but the insides of my cheeks will be in shreds!

Home Again

Hooray! Larry made it home safe and sound Easter Sunday by 3:30 or so. We had a lovely dinner here with good friends and their two little girls, who were just so excited to come over. I asked the six year old what her favorite food was and she said, "ham and steak." But ham was first on her list. Good thing I made ham!!

My computer is giving me fits, so I'm using Larry's. Any advice about which computer out there is a good buy? I'm ready to throw mine out the window.

Stuck in Madison

Poor Larry. He was supposed to come home last night from his latest trip to Wisconsin. But there he sits in his hotel room because of that dang weather yesterday in Detroit and Chicago and who knows where else. There were so many flights cancelled that he can't even get out today. He has to wait until Sunday to get a flight home . So tomorrow is Easter and no Larry until later in the afternoon. Add that to my list of things that make me sad.

One more thing that makes me sad - bad dreams. I have had a few this week. And Thursday morning at 5:45 I woke up out of deep, deep sleep hearing my mother-in-law calling my name. If she needs us, she will go to the bottom of our stairs and call up to the bedroom. But she wasn't there. So I went downstairs to see if she was all right and sure enough, she was just fine. She was in the bathroom and all was well. So I wandered around the house looking for some reason that I was woken up and nothing. I said a prayer to please let me know if there was something wrong and nothing. So I flopped on the couch and fell back to sleep almost immediately and slept for two more hours. What the heck.

I am in a blue funk today. But the sun is shining and that's a good thing when it's 25 degrees out!

Brother Love

This is a picture taken in Wilkes-Barre PA in 2005, of the man that has held my heart even longer than Larry. I first saw Neil Diamond in 1971 (most of you weren't even BORN then!)
Since then, Pam (who is my best and eternal friend in all the world) and I, have been to I don't know how many concerts. 20 maybe? We last saw him in Wilkes-Barre in Dec 2005. We were pretty close to the stage that time, although we have been as close as third or fourth row. That's when it's hard to even breathe because he is right there! He hasn't toured in a couple of years so we are anxiously awaiting word of new U.S. tour. Then we get on our traveling shoes and try to hit at least a couple of concerts here in the east. In the meantime I sit here in the office surrounded by pictures of family, doula babies and a poster of Neil himself. I guess we never get too old for music to thrill our hearts.

More trivia

Things that make me happy:

Larry coming home
new shoes
white pizza
a great birth
homegrown, fresh tomatoes
when the plane lands safely
watching American Idol
e-mail
a great haircut
finding an ancestor
clothes that fit
people that love me!


Some things that make me sad:

broccoli
a slow computer
the cat waking me up too early
bad smells
mean people
stuck up people
arrogant people
worms on the driveway
the end of a great vacation
feeling too tired
feeling too hungry
feeling too full

New callings

Now that we are back in the ward, Larry has been called as the ward employment specialist which he really likes. He's good at helping people with resumes and goals and interviewing, as well as learning about new job opportunities. AND he's been called to be the executive secretary for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. So he's just a busy beaver.

Me? Nothing yet. It is VERY weird not having a calling but I know it is coming someday. In the meantime, I am enjoying Relief Society and Gospel Doctrine classes for the first time in seven years! I had been having fun in the young women and primary presidencies and the nursery for all those years. The RS presidency asked me to substitute teach one of the Joseph Smith lessons and I LOVE doing that. Teaching in RS is one of my favorite things to do.

Spring is coming, the snow is melting, the birds are singing and I am SO ready for lovely weather!

Sicilian cannolis and old friends

My friend (Mary G.) and I were having lunch and relaxing by the sea in the northern Sicilian town of Cefalu. Cannolis have been a favorite sweet since I was a kid, so I had been anticipating trying a real Sicilian one. Here it is. Mary snapped this as I was taking my first bite. It was so good that my innards were bouncing with joy.

This was taken in the vital records office in a town called Termini Imerese, where my great-grandmother was born. The officials were looking up the family information in the original books that I have only dreamed of seeing. They showed me where it says the street on which she was born and we went there. It is called Via Stenio. Here it is. Can you imagine how I felt seeing the street where she grew up?!!

On a different subject, last week featured a happy reunion with old friends! We reconnected with the Blair family which was just the nicest and happiest thing that has happened in a long time. Rob had been a missionary here in the early 90's and his mother let us kind of "adopt" him! So we had a grand reunion on the phone after his mom tracked us down. HI GUYS!! I am waving to all of you!! ^^^^^^^^^

Sicily

Oops, I promised Sicily pictures last time and posted Rome. HERE are some from that beautiful island - bella Sicilia!!






These are from an ancient town called Segesta - it was founded around 400 B.C., destroyed by the Vandals and features an outstanding Doric temple ruin. In the picture above, you can just barely see the temple. This place was our first stop in Sicily and I could not believe how absolutely gorgeous the land is. My grandmother who was born in Sicily used to tell me about the beauty there, but seeing it for myself just about knocked me out.

This is what remains of an ampitheater in Segesta. That's me, pretending to be non-chalant while inside I was just bouncing.

Italy

Here are some more pictures of Italy -

This one is of the Tiber River and the oldest bridge in Rome



And there is me in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, just absolutely thrilled to be there!

Sunday evening

What a nice day. Read the Ensign this morning, good meetings at church, lovely choir practice, home the rest of the day........chilly, but the sun was out, it's feeling a little like spring, but no crocuses yet, Carol!

Off to the orthodontist tomorrow to get these braces tightened for the first time. Yikes!

I cut out refined sugar and sweets the past few days. My body is telling me it's happier. I'm not achy in the morning when I don't eat the white stuff. I made an outstanding shake today, made with frozen bananas, a few frozen blueberries, some soy yogurt, a little cashew butter, flax seed and a coconut covered date. It was so yummy good! I made one for Larry too, although his consisted of frozen bananas, fresh pineapple, protein powder and milk. That was VERY delicious, too. (I took a sip.)

Lately, I've been thinking of my trip to Italy two years ago. This is Mt. Vesuvius from our hotel in Sorrento. I'll post more pictures from time to time. It was a dream trip. I'll post some beautiful pictures from Sicily next time.

Dessert, fires and braces

1. Dessert - went to Phillip's European with doula friends last night. Oh my. I had a half slice of the Viennese Strawberry Torte and a half slice of the Austrian Chocolate Torte. The half slices are the way to go. That way you get to taste TWO luscious desserts for the price of one! Such a deal.

2. Fires - had to do a damage assessment yesterday for an apartment fire. Once again, it's the candles that can do you in. It's true when they say NEVER leave a candle unattended. Anyway, the leader filled out an evaluation on me and wrote that I kept the fire client "calm and focused." That's exactly what we do as doulas - we help keep the mom in labor calm and focused!!!! It is so amazing to me to see how sometimes the skills we learn can be beneficial in other areas of life. Very cool.

3. Braces - good grief these things are poking holes in my cheeks. I went back to the orthodontist so they could use the wire cutters to save me. But on the bright side, after only one month I see how my teeth are shifting already. I should quit complaining though. They really aren't THAT bad. Just a little bad.

Books and gratitude

Nothing earth shaking to write about. I just want to say how much I love to read and how grateful I am for my eyesight that allows me to read. One of my favorite things to do is curl up on the couch or in bed, with a page turner, (and Larry!) It is just such a gift to be able to read.

Many, MANY years ago there was TV show called "The Twilight Zone." It was pretty creepy sometimes. I so vividly remember an episode called "Time Enough at Last."It starred an actor named Burgess Meredith who played a man with really thick glasses, basically blind without them. All he ever wanted to do was read, but never had enough time. He disliked people because they kept him from his books. He just wanted to be left alone to read. Anyway, when a bomb devastates his city, he is at first filled with despair because he is the only one left. But when he finds the library and realizes that he now has all the time in the world to read and no one to bother him, he is overjoyed! Then he breaks his glasses and cannot see to read. He falls to the steps of the library, weeping.

An ending like that never leaves you. It made me want to be always grateful for my blessings.

Worldwide Sisterhood and new stake boundaries

As some of you may know, I am part of the birth doula certification committee for DONA International. Because of that, I get to talk with doulas from around the world as they work towards becoming certified. The other day I was working on an application from a doula in Wyoming and just felt she was a member of the church. So in talking with the references she provided, I took the plunge and asked " are you guys LDS?" Sure enough, they are (!) and we had an instant bond. As we talked about labor and birth and the power of the priesthood, as well the Spirit being involved, we just felt love for each other and a beautiful spirit over the phone lines. What a lovely experience and now I have two new sisters in my heart! Love to you both, Melanie and Amy!

AND, our stake boundaries were reorganized this month. Larry is no longer branch president because there is no longer a branch! Yep, now the stake consists of the Rochester 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wards, Brockport and Geneseo Wards, and the Batavia, Warsaw and Genesee Valley Branches. Brighton Ward was dissolved. So we are back in our home ward in Roch 2nd and wondering what new and exciting calls await us. I was happy to "go home." It was good serving in the branch for two years but I missed home. Larry's last duty was to conduct a funeral service today for an 8 day old baby who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It was very sad but he did an excellent job of explaining the Plan of Salvation to folks who don't know or understand it. That little baby was pure, without sin, and accomplished his earthly tasks in just 8 days. It was a humbling experience.

Prevent kitchen fires

One of the common causes of kitchen fires is oil in a frying pan. You turn it on, the oil gets too hot and a fire starts. But this video shows that a wet dish towel can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan. This link shows a 34 second dramatic video of a kitchen oil fire handled the right way and the wrong way.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&gid=202218&vid=468906&b=0
If the link doesn't work, just Google "Kitchen oil fire"

I am confident that you all know NOT to put water on a grease fire. The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. A fireball can hit the ceiling and fill the entire room. Instead, turn off the heat under the pan, grab a dish towel, wet it, wring it out and then carefully place the towel over the pan as you would a lid. The fire goes out immediately.

Also, DO NOT throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

You may want to spread the word about this!! Another reminder from your friendly neighborhood Red Cross volunteer, me!

Waxing nostalgic

Okay so Larry is out of town AGAIN and I miss him, so here are a couple of pictures of us. The first one is our wedding day (of course!) and the other is from a couple of years ago.

We were married October 2, 1981. It was a cool, damp Friday evening. Look at those glasses -they are HUGE!

Scary, isn't it? The best part of the whole picture is my flowers!

This was a hot summer evening at my cousin's home in Irondequoit. We look sweaty. I think Larry is way cuter now as he gets older. And no beard!!!! I was SO GLAD when he shaved that thing off. It was probably 1986 or '87. I can't remember that far back.

What's with the wind?

We woke up to another wind storm this morning. A shingle blew off the roof and crashed into the window of my mother-in-law's kitchen. Poor thing she got so scared. Thankfully, our windows are double pane and since only the outer pane was broken, she doesn't have cold or snow blowing in. We have an in-law apartment attached to our house so she's not alone but she still gets so frightened. And Larry is off in Madison again, but it's bitter cold there. 8 below as of 8:45 this morning with a wind chill of 23 below!! Bbrrrrrrrr.

A prophet has died

Gordon B. Hinckley. We will miss him. What a good man who loved the Lord and who loved us.

Mister Locke

The other day I called a young five year old friend to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was a short and very sweet phone call with him ending up saying "Thank you for calling, Sister Locke." (We call each other "Brother and Sister" in our church.) Well, no sooner do I hang up than the phone rings again and it's the dad saying that the birthday boy's three year old brother is UPSET and crying that HE didn't get to talk to me. So the little one gets on the phone and the conversation goes something like this:

3yo: sob, cry, sniff, SOB, "Hi, Mister Locke." SOB
me: "Oh, honey, don't cry. What's the matter?"
3yo: "WHAAAAAAAA!!! I wanted to talk to you!!!
me: "Oh dear, I wanted to talk to you too! I'm sorry we didn't talk before."
3yo: "WHAAAAAAAA!!! I love you!"
me: "I love you too!!! Are you okay now?"
3yo: sniff, SOB, "Yehehehehsss, WHAAAAAA!!!"
me: "Okay, go have a nice dinner now, I'll talk to you again."
3yo: "uhuhuhu okay" sob, sniff, hiccup, "byyyyyye. WHAAAAA!!!"

...and he hangs up. Oh my goodness it was precious. The poor kid. The funny part is that his older brother used to call me Mister Locke, too. I think they are trying to say Mrs. and Sister at the same time.

All these sweet little people really make me feel like a grandma. Very cool. Wait a minute. A grandma with braces. Oh brother.

New braces but no photo

Sorry guys, couldn't do it. I just could not publish a picture of my mouth for all the world to see. You really didn't want to see it anyway, right? Maybe I'll have Larry take a normal picture, just not a closeup. Take my word for it, I have the braces, my mouth is sore and I need to buy stock in orthodontic wax!!! I cannot BELIEVE how sharp everything is in there. Wires and hooks and all sorts of nonsense jabbing me here and there.

I was so apprehensive the night before. It was like getting married. There was no turning back. Once those braces went in, there they would be for TWO YEARS.

Ah well, I eat soft foods and am paranoid that there is stuff in my teeth. I don't know how you all did it as teenagers. God bless America.

Trivia

Some things that make me happy:

Neil Diamond concerts
hot showers
the smell of fresh basil
putting up the Christmas decorations
taking down the Christmas decorations
Wheat Thins
reading all of your blogs and emails and remarks
helping a woman have her baby
scrapbooking
pomegranates
volunteering at the Red Cross
a warm summer afternoon

Some things that make me sad:

cold showers
my hair when it needs a cut
waiting for a Neil Diamond concert
crazy drivers
dirty bathrooms
shoes that hurt
cooked spinach
missing Sicily
hot sticky summers
cold damp winters

No braces yet. They put the spacers in this week and now NEXT week is when my uppers go on. I'll be grinning on the blog soon.

And they call the wind...

Dangerous. What a windstorm we had here Wednesday. Lots of damage around the county and over 30,000 without power. The peak wind gust at the airport was 75mph. But we Rochesterians are a resilient bunch! We can take it!

Wind? Ha!

Icestorms? Ha!

Snow up to our waists? Ha!

Spiders are another thing....

Hurray for nursery!

My four little nursery kiddos were so sweet today. One loves the song, "Here We Are Together" and wants to sing it more than once. Another one has been having a hard time with his parents leaving him there but today he stayed for more than a half hour without his mom or dad. He actually smiled at me! A little girl has just begun coming and her mom was baptized today. And my oldest one left for Sunbeams during third hour. They are learning manners and sharing and obedience. What a lovely calling this is.

My mouth, minus the two teeth, is feeling much better. It actually wasn't so bad after all except for feeling so cold all the time. I guess my body likes warm food better than cold. Next week the braces go on so I'll have Larry take a picture and you can ALL bust out laughing with me!

Goodbye teeth

Went to the dentist today to have two teeth removed in prepartion for the braces. It was traumatic! One of them gave the dentist a hard time. It did not want to come out. I sent good thoughts to the tooth, thanking it for doing its job all these years, but it was time to say goodbye. I apologized to it for having to do this. It was weird but it made me feel better and maybe it helped. I asked to see my teeth that were removed. I wanted to cry! It probably isn't so bad when you are young but I've had those teeth for a VERRRRY long time! Now I look like a chipmunk, all full of gauze and Novacain. I'm only supposed to eat soft, cold foods for three days and keep ice on my face for TWO days. It makes my whole self cold!!

Your friendly neighborhood volunteer

So here I am in all my gear, just coming home from a fire. No makeup, no shower - scary isn't it?! The hard hat cracks me up but it definitely comes in handy while doing damage assessments in a place where the ceiling is falling down! I really like this work with the Red Cross. We do some good for people who are experiencing trauma in their lives. The things I am learning about people and situations and the right things to say have even helped me with my work as a doula and our work in the branch. It's all kind of the same work actually, which is being of assistance in time of need; whether it be labor and birth, recovering from a fire or teaching the young women!

This is Larry and our cat Elbie on Christmas morning. He is opening her stocking full of fun toys that Grandma Locke gave her. She is a sweet cat. Larry of course, is adorable!

Happy 2008, everyone!!

Winter Solstice

Look at that new picture up top! It was taken in Rome, Italy by a man who posted it to spaceweather.com - I think it's one of the prettiest pictures I've ever seen. Check out that website for some other very cool pictures.

Here is another - it is an iridescent cloud. Just lovely.

How does life get so busy???

It's beyond me. All I want to do is curl up on the couch with my book - Seven Days to the Sea by Rebecca Kohn. Historical fiction about Moses which is just so GOOD. ANYway, that's not going to happen until probably Christmas Day. It seems that when I just recover from planning and cooking and all, (you all know what I mean) that it's time to take everything down!

I do look forward to January and February though, because it's a good time to do all the cool indoor things, like scrapbooking and reading and organizing. I feel so guilty in the summer staying in the house.

Here is another friendly reminder from your Red Cross volunteer - be extra careful with space heaters. They overheat and cause way too many fires.

Just please have a happy and safe Christmas and holiday season! I love this blog thing, it makes me feel like we are all connected even though in many cases we are far apart.

Merry Christmas and lotsa love!

Early morning photo op

Don't laugh. These were taken at 4:30 IN THE MORNING. This is Trish and me as I was waiting for the shuttle to pick me up at BYU for the Salt Lake airport. It was very cold and we were surrounded by lots of snow. So Trish took this self portrait of us. Not a bad aim for extending her arm out and taking a blind shot! Doesn't she look adorable? For those of you who don't know, Trish kind of "adopted" us as her church parents. She just won the REGIONAL RA of the Year award!!! She's a great kid.

Soon we will look alike. I am getting BRACES next month. Such a deal at my age. It's the weirdest thing. My upper and bottom teeth don't "mesh" or something, so they bang against each other and as I age, they tend to break. I have one cracked tooth and one broken one already, so the braces will hopefully prevent anymore of THAT.

Larry comes home today from yet another business trip to Madison Wisconsin. You all probably know that travel is probably his least favorite thing to do in all the world. Thankfully he will be getting home before this monster storm hits tomorrow. They are predicting up to 25 inches of snow before Monday AM. And wind. And frigid temperatures. I must get us some snow pants so at least we can enjoy this ridiculous weather.

Christmas is coming!!

Glad to be HOME

The storm hit Provo with lots of pretty snow. These are from Trisha's dorm room window.





We went to the women's basketball game at the Marriott Center, ate some meals at the Cannon Center which were really quite good, then when she had a test Friday, she unloaded me at the BYU bookstore. I loved wandering around there, especially the art department. I found so many paintings I would LOVE to put in the dining room, but alas, they were like $400 and how would I get them home anyway?!

The shuttle picked me up at 4:45 Sunday morning and this is a tree near the parking lot that was just so pretty -

With all the crazy weather over the weekend I decided to leave Salt Lake on an earlier flight and try to get home so I would have a better chance of not getting stuck in Chicago. And it all worked out, but I still feel so weird on a plane lately. Even after flying over the ocean to Italy last year, I still get a little scared. Ah well, it is very good to land!! Today, Larry left for Madison yet again and got delayed in Cleveland for 7 hours, poor guy.

Lavatories in the air

Thursday I boarded a plane for Utah to go see Trish at BYU. Easy enough. But as I am up there at 30,000 feet, I am thinking WAY too much, such as:

"Here I am, flying around the country, my life in the hands of people I have never even MET. They could be very bad people!!! How do I know what their GPA was in school?? Huh? And what if they are sleeping??"

The worst is when I have to use the itty bitty lavatory. The little voice in my head goes, "What the HECK am I doing up here??"

And the plane goes, "Bounce, bounce, BOUNCE, bounce, dip, dip, DIP, BOUNCE!"

But I made it. Now when I go home, I have to go through it all over again. AND there is a winter storm warning for the Wasatch. Good grief.

Fire and Ice

Today has been WINDY and cold, with some lake effect snow. I had a bunch of errands to run this morning so I wanted to get them all done before it got too bad out. So I did! Went to Target, got real pretty new sheers at Country Curtains, went to Wegmans and made it home before the minor blizzard hit. BUT, I was on call for the Red Cross from 4PM to 10PM and sure enough, there was a fire I had to respond to. 390South was just awful!!! I could barely see to drive. The roads weren't salted OR plowed and it took me way too long to get to the chapter. When the rest of team arrived, it took us 45 minutes to drive 4 miles in the truck to get to the fire. Thankfully it wasn't a bad one, mostly smoke damage.

Here is a public service message from your friendly Red Cross volunteer (Me!!)- PLEASE be careful when you burn candles in your home. Most house fires (in the winter) are from candles. Every time I come home from responding, I think about what the most important things in the house are that I would hate to lose and then try to think of ways to protect and save them. Photos, pictures, genealogy, scrapbooks; all that stuff could be lost so quickly. Even little fires cause a lot of smoke damage and the firefighters, while they really try to save your stuff, do make a mess. So be aware and be careful!