Snow!!

Call us crazy Californians if you wish, but we drove 2 hours yesterday so the girls could play in the snow.

All four of us had a great time!! I was in heaven, being the cold weather lover that I am (Norway is perfect for me). Scott had fun taking pictures of all of us and helping the girls.

He bought one of those plastic sleds (a red one) and we drove a little further up the mountain to a spot where we didn't see 100's of people already playing. The spot we found had only two other families and they were quite nice.

As we trudged up the snowy icy hill, we saw a chute (sort of like a downhill luge) where the girls could ride their sled all the way down to nearly the parking lot. So there we were, two old out of shape adults, kneeling down on the icy, slippery hard "snow", holding the sled so the girls could slide down.

What a blast! Our girls didn't get hurt, although we saw a few people in their own sleds or inner tubes sort of flying into trees or other people. As far as we know, only two really got hurt, which is bad enough. Evidently, before we got there (maybe this is why the area was nearly empty when we arrived), someone had gone all the way down the hill, over the barricade to the parking lot, and under a car. A scene made for ABC's funniest home videos certainly, but the guy got hauled off in an ambulance. Another, a young teen of about 14-15 years went down "our" chute, and didn't rein in his sled, causing him to do one of those cartoonish body plants into a very large pine tree. His family drove him away, too.

Not one of the four of us got hurt, but I do sort of feel as if a truck ran over me today. With ibuprofen and Tylenol, I'll get over that quickly. Especially since I lost a weekend of work in the house, now I need to double time my duties today so that Scott can come home to a peaceful inviting house instead of the chaotic one he left this morning.

However, I did promise my dad I'd help him in his apartment today, too, so I wonder what will pull rank--usually, it's much easier to do things to someone else's house than my own, but my own is now even driving me crazy. After we worked so hard to de-clutter it, it's now nearly just as bad looking as it was before "we" did all the work!

Yesterday was sure fun, though! No arguments, no bickering, no whining, and the girls behaved great, too! 8^)

Next year, we might even teach them to ski. Colorado here we come??

Johnny Carson

The world lost a true gentleman, comedian, and great entertainer yesterday. I watched the Tonight Show nearly every night of those hilarious 30 years he shared the stage with Mr. Ed McMahon. I nearly feel as if I’ve lost yet another family member. Afterall, he was in my living room every night. Yes, I did go to bed that late. It’s that late now even.

Just had to pay a small tribute to the man who helped form my sense of humor, and who could make my mom really laugh.

Of course there would be just one more…

Thought I’d include you in the latest schedule for my girls. And by the way, I’m tired of having to remember to type BD! And BD2 all the time. BD1 is Sarah, and BD2 is Emily.

Monday:
Sarah at school ‘till 3:pm. If no girl scout meeting, then dance class from 4:45 to 5:30pm.

Tuesday:
Emily at preschool from 9:am – 11:30am…it’s not enough!
Sarah at school ‘till 3:pm, piano lessons from 3:00 to 3:30.

Wednesday:
Sarah at school (of course), then Mad Science right after school ‘till 5:00pm
(what will I do without her to entertain Emily??)

Thursday:
Sarah and Emily have only school on Thursdays, so it’s technically a “free” day.

Fridays, they both have tennis lessons—Emily from 4:30 ‘till 5:00 pm, and Sarah from 5:pm – 6:pm.

Not a bad schedule, considering that from September until December something was going on every day of the week for Sarah, and Emily participated in three things each week, plus she went to all of Sarah’s events, too.

Ok, really, that’s all for today.

Bdee, bdee, bdee…

...Bdat’s all, folks! At least for today. I now need to go through one of those boxes and put clothes in the dryer.

Cars

So, now it is time for me to ask my seven readers their opinions on vehicles. I want a new car. I hope we don’t absolutely have to obtain one for another two years, but my old white Ford Explorer, Blanch, with 170,000 miles on her appears to break down, piece by piece on a daily basis. A week ago, I noticed that my seat belts don’t retract like they should, and 3 days ago I saw that when I put my gear in park, the engine dies. It always restarts, so as long as it still runs, I’ll keep her. Then yesterday I noticed the left side mirror shaking as if it will fall off soon.

Her gas mileage is horrible. Last time I measured it, we got nearly eleven miles per gallon. Yikes. Every so often, I hear a piece falling off. Again, as long as she still runs, we’ll keep her.

So, I’ve been looking at cars so that when the fateful day comes, I’ll be prepared. What I want, is a high-sightline, very gas efficient, vehicle that will fit six to eight people, comfortable head room, few blind spots, plus some cargo space, and amenities for the kids (cup holders, trash holder, dvd player for the back seat). Not all of the cars I have seen have the six to eight person occupancy, but my biggest desire is good gas mileage. So, here’s my list. If any of you, my three to seven listeners, have experience with any or all of these vehicles, I’d appreciate your opinion. Unlike the U.S. voting system, your opinion really does count with me. Here goes:

The Honda Pilot—lots of room, high sightline, pretty good gas mileage, seats eight. Comes in a color I could live with.

The Honda Odyssey—again, pretty good gas mileage, room for seven or eight plus some cargo, additional advantage of the seats folding into the floor for a flat surface when construction/other materials are necessary rather than children. Comes in the same color as the Pilot. It’s the Odyssey’s chassis that gives the foundation for the Pilot’s body. Also, it’s a minivan, where the Pilot is an SUV, if that gets/subtracts any points.

The Volkswagen Passat Station Wagon—great car, seats five I think, with cargo space, disadvantage for me is the low sightline. Beautiful little car, and great gas mileage.

The Volkswagen Phaeton—Meets none of the above qualifications, but is a gorgeous, gorgeous car. At $75,000, it is out of the running, but as a good friend of mine from Connecticut says, “a girl can dream, can’t she?”

The Toyota Sienna—Nice minivan. A Toyota, which from what I’ve heard, has a great maintenance/car repair record. I’ve seen Toyota’s as old as Volvo’s on our streets, and they still run without much extraneous noise, so I assume they are low-maintenance. Ok colors, seats seven. My friend gets seven people and a bunch of luggage in hers, but then she’s an expert packer.

Any Volvo—the station wagon, a sedan, the C-70 (mmm, yumm!) I’d love any of these. I have no idea what colors they come in, or what the gas mileage is, just would appreciate hearing about them.

Hybrids—I loved the hybrid cars I saw in Norway. They were kind of funny looking at first, but looked as though the gas mileage was great, plus looked as though they could handle any cargo I needed to carry, plus my kids and husband. The more I saw, the more adorable they looked.

There are others, of course. I drool over the Lexus SC convertible, the Porsches, the Range Rovers. Some other day, I think.

Feel free to suggest other cars.

Tower of Terror!

They made me do it. I didn’t want to. My 3-yr old said, “I’ll go if you go, Mommy.” What was I to do? I don’t want her to grow up afraid of new things. I don’t want her to not try things, because even her mommy is “ascared” of them.

Well. I’m not a fan of rides that make you fall. Standing or sitting, I don’t like that feeling in my chest when something has dropped you, or worse yet, propelled you downward. I’m not even much of a fan of elevators. Going up isn’t so bad, but coming back down is not good, at least to me.

So, when all three other “people” in my family began to bed me to go on this deplorable ride, I said, “I’ll think about it. But not another word about it until the time comes when I have to make the decision.” I tried to use my most authoritative motherly voice, even though no one usually listens to that either. So, both of my children and my husband obliged, and didn’t say anything about it for a few hours.

So, in appreciation for that, and a particularly stupid thought of, "how bad can it be?", I rode on the Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror at Disney’s California Adventure. Just like in Florida, I thought that I might have a heart attack or stroke and die right there one the ride. It kept going up, up, and up. Then it stopped. Then we turned into ghosts. Then it went screaming down at what felt like 70 or 80 miles per hour and stopped. Suddenly up again and stop. Pushed down again a short way and stopped, with the accompanying bounce, up and down a few times. I thought I had lost consciousness, but then we moved again. I’m still not sure if it was up or down, but down again we went, I lost count of how many times, and finally, finally it was over.

My first words were, “you shall never, ever, ask me to do that again.”

Yippee!!

So Saturday, I asked my very dear husband to help me with the rest of the things in the garage. Yes there was a lot more, and some of it I didn’t know what he wanted done. After an hour of hearing banging, dropping, throwing, doors slamming, I went out to help and find out what was so “dismaying” to him. After we talked, I returned inside to finish one of my projects. I was so happy to notice that the banging and throwing and door slamming had stopped. So I thought it might be safe to go out and help. Within one hour, our garage was cleaned, dusted and swept. It looks beautiful!! I wanted to leave the door open so all the neighbors could see we weren’t “collectors” of items of dubious usefulness.”

I was so very happy! We got cleaned up ourselves and went to Disney’s California Adventure for an all night celebration. I so enjoyed myself especially since I felt I could go with good conscience, since we had done so much that day already. I felt so good I even went on this horrible, terrible ride with the three of them. That would be the next story.

Little Jokster

While goofing off at dinner one night, BD1 began telling jokes. Her string cheese packets (mozzarella sticks) have riddles on them, so she recited a few that she remembered, and BD2 piped up with her typical 3-yr old nonsensical riddles, such as “what does a dancing Hamlet wear?”—“A Napkin!!” followed by loud giggles. Then it was BD1’s and then Dad’s turn. Emily’s best, though, was this one: “What does a Dancing Bear wear?” Are you ready?

“A Bear-ral!” Get it? A barrel? HA HA HA HA!

I'm back!

It seems as if it’s been a long time since I’ve written. My very dh says it must be writer’s “blog.” But I feel as if I’m back, at least for today. Have lots to tell; will do it in separate entries. Today is a good day. Lots of good things have happened. I feel as if I’m having fun again. Isn’t that great!?

More Politics

shamelessly copied from: http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/view/67067 (as my graphics abilities seem very limited in this blog)

Now I wish i could copy the pre-1860 map I saw indicating states that allowed slavery vs. the states that didn't. Just about exactly the same states. Back in the day, we used to say, "things that make you go 'Hmmm.'"

I see others have blogged/written about this apparent phenomenon, so I won't say any more.

Rainy Friday

I have so much to do today (suddenly) that I have paralyzed myself and am not doing any of it. I'm just sitting here staring at the raid coming down sideways. We are supposed to get a whole week of rain. I'd better go get all four of us some new umbrellas...ours are all broken.

I really don't like it when my mind gets into this mood. The rain makes my joints hurt, but I can usually work through that. My head just looks around and rejects all the suggestions of projects sitting around waiting for my hands and mind to get them done. At least I finished the laundry and the beds are made, and the kitchen is clean. The holiday decorations are in the garage, and there are only a few boxes of things that need to be sorted for trash/disposal/give away...but when I look at it all at the same time, I just want to do something else, or nothing at all.

My very dear husband was happy last night, since when he came home, dinner was waiting for him, and the house looked like a cozy, inviting home instead of a pile of rubble.

Just writing about it makes me want to go and do something productive. Perhaps if I start with the stuffed animals in the girls' room and put them away, I'll get myself on a roll of productivity and get a few more things done. Yes, that's it. I'll do that.

I'll write again if it doesn't work.

Top 50 foods?

Lifted from the Nordic Goddess, who stole it from verbatim -- again ;-)

In March 2004 the BBC asked its Web site visitors to vote for the top 50 things everyone should try a bite of in their lifetime. The results follow, according to this legend:

plain black text: tried, liked
bold black text: tried, hated
red text: never tried, might try
bold red text: never tried, never will
tried, loved, and want more (I like to emphasize the positive)
like, but I'm allergic to it. Really!
1. Fresh fish
2. Lobster
3. Steak
4. Thai food
5. Chinese food
6. Ice cream
7. Pizza
8. Crab
9. Curry
10. Prawns
11. Moreton Bay Bugs
12. Clam chowder
13. Barbecues
14. Pancakes
15. Pasta
16. Mussels
17. Cheesecake
18. Lamb
19. Cream tea
20. Alligator
21. Oysters
22. Kangaroo
23. Chocolate
24. Sandwiches
25. Greek food
26. Burgers
27. Mexican food
28. Squid
29. American diner breakfast
30. Salmon
31. Venison
32. Guinea pig
33. Shark
34. Sushi
35. Paella
36. Barramundi (as long I've eaten some before I know what it is.)
37. Reindeer
38. Kebab
39. Scallops
40. Australian meat pie
41. Mango
42. Durian fruit (with special appliances for my nose)
43. Octopus
44. Ribs
45. Roast beef
46. Tapas
47. Jerk chicken/pork
48. Haggis
49. Caviar
50. Cornish pasty

Additions from the Nordic world:
Hm. The above list seems somewhat heavy on the Aussie foodstuffs. I'll add a few of the local specialties (with comments for the non-natives):

51. Rakfisk (Fermented fish, stinky and possibly full of botulins as well)
52. Geitost (Goat cheese, caramelized and sweet and looking like a big bar of soap)
53. Gravlaks (Another semi-fermented fish dish, but this is a) nonstinky and b)delicious)
54. Gamalost (Crumbly and smelly cheese. Better not be in the same room as this one)
55. Sursild (Pickled herring. The closest we come to sushi in our native cuisine -- the name even sounds the same!)