July 4th

Ribs and potatoes. Mojitos. Playground. Fireworks after a drizzle. Oh, yes.

Guam Liberation Day

Paul has new neighbors.  The guy came over a couple of weeks ago to introduce himself and they chatted a little.  I think they moved here from Iowa.  Or maybe it was Ohio.  I frequently get the two confused.  Anyway, the guy told Paul that they are originally from Guam.

And then he said that in a couple more weeks they would be celebrating Guam Liberation Day.  He hoped the commotion wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Guam Liberation Day is today.  Today when we got home from motorcycling about, there were -- no joke -- about 2 dozen extra cars parked on the street.  They are barbecuing and dancing and laughing.  They are having a great time.

I Googled "guam independence" (because I couldn't remember that it was called 'Liberation Day'.) and eventually came upon this:  Battle of Guam.  I had no idea.  It's kind of neat the things you can learn from new neighbors.

Happy Anniversary of American Independence

If it weren't for the cloud of wildfire smoke enveloping us this would be a perfect day. Even still, it's a good day. A very good day, full of family, friends, grilled foods and various types of booze. I repeat: it's a good day.

Coffee is a Beautiful Thing

This is one of the things Paul gave to me for Christmas. It's an espresso maker. I can make lattes all by myself! There is a milk steamer/frother thingy too. Yay for delicious coffee!  Yay for delicious coffee without paying Starbucks $4.00!

Happy New Year!!

It's New Year's Eve 2011/2012! Yay!

Okay, that's enough exclamation points for one post. I really am just posting this to show you some photos from this fine evening.

Christmas

Alright.  I need to savor this feeling right here.  This feeling of being surrounded by family,  of drinking great wine and of eating delicious food.  There is laughter, genuine affection and a general feeling of comfort.

I can say whatever I want and everyone will either laugh hysterically or look at me with an expression of, "What the hell?" and then laugh hysterically anyway.  And they're laughing with me, even as they might be laughing at me.  This is exactly what I want to feel, all of the time.

But.  But.  But if I felt this way all of the time I wouldn't appreciate this feeling as much right now, would I?  Or would I?  There's this whole idea that you don't appreciate the good times without the bad times, the light without the dark, you know?  I have always wished I had the opportunity to prove that wrong.

I don't know that it's possible, though.  To prove that idea wrong.  I've always had the bad times to interrupt the good times.  Always.  That's probably life.  I doubt anyone has all good times, all the time.  I really doubt that.

However, the week from Christmas to New Year's Eve is the perfect time to enjoy that great feeling 24/7.  I'm flying to Utah to spend 4 days with Paul and his Utah family on Wednesday.  That's going to be 4 days of Utah partying.  And I only work one day this week.  I get paid for 5 days but I'm only working 4 days.  I'm having a great week.

I love this feeling, whether it lasts or not.  And it probably won't.  But I love it all the more because of that.

Snowy Day

Our "porch" and front "walk."

Notice I did not say "Snow Day."  A snowy day is merely a day with lots of snow.  A Snow Day, capital letters necessary, means a day with lots of snow wherein school and/or work are canceled.  We had a Snow Day a month ago and it was fun.  This week we are on our second snowy day in three days.  I'm loving it, especially because I do not have to work either of these days.

On Thursday we awoke to a few inches of snow with more falling onto it.  Snow continued to fall for several hours.  It took an hour and a half to get my three offspring to their schools.  That was not fun.  Not fun at all.  I really think they should have called an hour's delay, but whatever.  After that was done I made a quick stop at the produce market for rump roast (On sale! I love sales!) and fresh veggies.  The day before I had stocked up on pantry staples during my lunch break.

When I got home I made three loaves of bread -- one Italian, two of the regular sandwich loaves I make every week -- and started a lovely, aromatic, meaty Bolognese sauce.  I shoveled snow, sipped coffee and watched several episodes of Parenthood from last season.  It was a beautiful day.  :sigh:

And today.  Today, we awoke to more snow falling on the snow from 2 days ago.  I have great plans of straightening up the house and putting up our tree while watching our favorite Christmas movies and listening to our holiday play list.  We have Elf and A Christmas Story cued up.  We'll probably search Netflix for more options this evening.  I also want to take a nice photo of the kids in the snow for our holiday letter.  Yes, I'm one of those people that likes to brag about share what her family has been up to for the last year.  Today is going to be a beautiful day, too.

Thanksgiving Menu

I have no time off work for Thanksgiving except the actual day of Thanksgiving. This means I am not leaving Colorado.  I took the kids to meet the ex-husband today and now I am back home.  And by home, I mean Paul's house.  Paul's house with wine, cheese and This is Spinal Tap, which we just finished watching.  But that is neither here nor there.

What is both here and there is the Thanksgiving Menu.  It is as follows:

• Turkey, brined in a savory brine per Paul's request
• mashed potatoes, a la butter and cream cheese and heavy cream
• cranberry sauce
• the most delectable, buttery, flaky dinner rolls that you have ever had the pleasure of melting onto your tongue (at least, I think this is the recipe I use. I for sure have it saved on my phone. But my phone is charging on the other side of the room and I do not want to get up from this chair.)
• cranberry bars, a la Starbucks

That is the stuff that I am cooking.  I am having Paul and Cole to my place.  We have invited Jen and Scottie and Branden and Lance. We have also invited board games and music. We're gonna have a good time.

Paul is providing copious amounts of wine and a pumpkin pie. Lance is bringing canned cranberry sauce (his Thanksgiving staple) and some sort of salad, as yet to be determined.  Jen will cook:

• stuffing (which is totally To. Die. For.  And I'm not even a stuffing person. Unless Jen makes it.)
• green bean casserole
• gravy
• apple pie

I was going to attempt cherry pie but I attempted a cherry pie from cherries in my backyard a couple of weeks ago.  I bombed.  Completely bombed.  I think know that my cherries were canned too liquidy.  Unfortunately I am unsure how to remedy this.  And now I'm out of cherries except for the ones that have been designated for cherry-infused vodka.  Le sigh.

The point is that Thanksgiving will be a rockin', delicious time, as per usual.

The Good, The Bad and The Really Bad (Not Necessarily in That Order)

This week started off really crappily.  I was in a foul mood all day Saturday, for no good reason really.  I have a sneaking suspicion it was :ahem: hormone-related.  Whatever it was I just could not snap out of it.  I was grumpy and feeling bad and being short-tempered with the kids.  And that made me feel even worse.  Ugh.

Sunday morning I forced myself to have a better attitude.  I took Solomon and Miriam to Jennifer's house and left them there so I could spend some time with Samuel alone.  I've been aiming to do this for quite some time but it's hard to make time for stuff like that.

Samuel wanted to go to Downtown Aquarium so we went and spent a couple of hours looking at all sorts of sea creatures.  It's as pretty fantastic place.  We got to see a worker feed a tank of piranha.  We watched "mermaids" put on a show about cleaning up the oceans.  Then we ate lunch aquarium-side in the restaurant there.  We had a great time and it was a good way to start the week.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty crappy days mood-wise again.  I did get to meet with Miriam's teacher on Tuesday morning and have a conference with both of them.  It was nice to hear Miriam talk through her self-assessment in a grown up voice that I've only recently begun to hear from her. She's developing a confidence and a voice that I was unsure she ever would.  She's such an amazing kid.     

Wednesday morning Solomon and I missed his bus.  As a result, I missed the conference with Samuel's teacher and drove Solomon to school instead.  At lunch time things started looking up.  I finally got the snow tires put on my car after a couple of weeks of wrangling with the people at the tire place.  That's a whole other story.  Anyway, one of the guys there gave me a great deal on certificates for the tires and I got a discount just because of the company where I work.

I re-scheduled the conference with Samuel's teacher for that evening.  We talked about his struggles with focusing on work and with speech.  She showed me his work samples and how well he's doing when he can actually complete the work.  Fortunately in third grade they grade what's been completed so his report card looks great.  I still worry about later years when everything is graded regardless of completeness.  But we still have a couple of years before that.  For now I'm grateful that he's smart and that he tries so hard.  And I am eternally grateful that he was matched with this teacher.  She is a gift.  She works with Samuel so much and is so flexible and so understanding and truly appreciates the good in him.

Also on Wednesday I got a digital antenna for our TV.  I had been using Paul's rabbit ears to pick up local stations since the conversion to digital TV but they weren't getting ABC.  The kids and I watch Once Upon a Time on Sunday evening on ABC but we're missing more than we're seeing because the reception is so bad.  Anyway, Paul helped me get my antenna and set it up.

Thursday was a good day because the kids didn't have school on Friday which meant Thursday night we didn't have to do any homework.  Any night there is no homework is a fabulous night for that reason only.

Yesterday was a phenomenal day.  A co-worker agreed to give up two of her holiday days so I could have them.  I had put in a request for December 29 and 30 in hopes of going to Utah with Paul for New Year's Eve.  I knew it would be denied because I'm the lowest on the totem pole and everyone else put in their holiday requests months ago.  It was denied.  But then a friend gave up her two New Year's Eve days for me and now I get to be off work!  Woot!  She really did not have to do that but I am so grateful that she did.

Also yesterday, I got a call from the art teacher at the elementary school.  She told me that she's awarding Samuel a High Flyer Award for his work and his behavior in her class.  This is the highest award the kids can get at their school.  Solomon got one in third grade and Miriam got one in second grade.  I had been hoping Samuel would get one.  And now he is!

I was very worried that I wouldn't get to be at the award assembly for that because it's next Tuesday morning when I'm supposed to be at work.  I told my boss what a big deal it is and she said it that we'd work out something for me to be there.  Another co-worker agreed to trade shifts with me so that I'm the late person that day and my boss approved the use of 2 hours of flex time so I can come in late after the award assembly.  Best of all, Samuel has no idea that he's getting this award yet or that I'm going to be there.  I am so excited!

In addition to both of those wonderful things, I had to leave Solomon here all day while I was work and Samuel and Miriam went to day care.  He's done it before but I always worry.  Yesterday I laid out some plans for him like I always do -- a couple of chores to do, make up homework, food that he could eat, etc.  He made me so proud.  He planned out all of his homework and completed it!  And he not only did the chores I asked, but he did extra!  And he practiced his trombone for an hour.   He's such a fantastic kid.

Last night I had Jennifer, Caleb, Lance and Paul over for games and food.  We haven't done that in a long time because of new jobs and new schools and so much life craziness getting in the way.  We had a great time and I was reminded of just how fortunate I am.

Utah

I am in Utah with Paul for the week.  He has family here and we're just hanging out, eating, playing games, drinking and sightseeing.  We've had Christmas and we're going to have a New Year's Eve party.  These people know how to party.  It's a very good time.

We're in a small town outside of Salt Lake City.  The geography here is so new to me.  For one, this is my first time in Utah. I'm used to traveling through states where I've lived and I know basically where the major cities are and what their suburbs are.  That is not the case here.  Also, I'm used to mountainous regions being to the west.  Here, we're in the middle of Utah Valley and there are mountains all the way around us.  Another thing -- we're right next to the Wasatch Range.  It's kind of odd to look up and see a mountain peak soaring 11,000 feet above me.  In Denver, you're so far away from the mountains that you can't get a real sense of how big they are.  And once you get closer, the foothills are so huge that you've lost sight of the mountain peaks and still can't see how tall they are.  So this perspective on mountains is quite breathtaking.  I'm loving it.

Last night we took the UTA Trax system into Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square.  I took lots of pictures.  I am, by no means, a photographer and my camera is rather puny but last night we worked quite well together.  I got some good shots that I'm pleased with, especially considering the lighting that was available.

Here's the inside of the train.  They are nearly identical to the Light Rail cars in Denver so I felt right at home.  This particular train was pretty empty.

Some of the scenery out of the train windows.  I was kind of excited to go to Sandy.  You see, one of my favorite television shows is the HBO series, Big Love.  It's set in Sandy, Utah and I thought that Sandy was a fictional place until Paul told me it is, indeed, a real town.  Not only is it a real place, that's where we got on the train.  So I had to take a photo of this sign.

This is the shopping center where we got coffee before walking to Temple Square.  It's pretty and it has lots of cool shops in it.  If I appreciated shopping and crowds more, I'd probably really enjoy a place like this.  But I don't so it's mostly good for people watching and coffee sipping.  And photo snapping.

A pretty cool mural in the Union Pacific Train Station.  I love real train stations -- you know the ones where people can get on an Amtrak train and it takes them hundreds of miles away, overnight with dining cars and sleeping berths and stuff.  All of them are old and very cool with granite floors and big, carved wood moldings and these cool murals.

A cautionary piece of advice that is posted at almost all street corners.  It made me giggle.

Some other cool shots of downtown Salt Lake City.  It's very pretty and there is a lot of striking architecture.  I was just in awe.  I think Christmas is a particularly good time to experience new cities because they're all gussied up for the holidays.  This way, I get to have these beautiful first impressions as my only impressions.

And now, the main event for last night:  Temple Square.  I must preface this by saying that a friend-slash-co-worker recommended that we "go to Temple Square to see the lights" and I kind of went, "Oh. Yeah, I guess that sounds nice."  I mentioned it to Paul in passing, not really expecting that we'd go because 1) we're neither one religious, and 2) Paul was, at one time, LDS and doesn't have much inclination to revisit that.  So I didn't think there was much reason for us to go.  But when I said it, he was like, "Oh yeah!  We should do that.  The lights are pretty fantastic and the history is interesting."  So we went.  And I am so glad we did.  It is beautiful!

See what I mean?  Gorgeous, no?  I am simply amazed that my camera took photos this clearly at night.  It was really something.

After we finished with our lightseeing (get it? Lightseeing instead of sightseeing? Ha ha!) we got back on the train and headed to a place called Trolley square.  I hear that there is lots of history surrounding that place as well but I'm unclear on most of it.  Anyway, here it is:

Yes, it's a crappy, crappy, crappy picture.  The rest of our group was running across the street while I was taking this picture and I was in a hurry to take it so I didn't get left behind and then a car almost hit me.  Oops.  But I'm okay.

We decided to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory which is inside the shopping mall at Trolley Square.  This is what the wait line for Old Spaghetti Factory looked like.  Lisa, Paul's sister-in-law, went in to ask how long the wait was for a group our size (8 of us) and came out to report that it would be at least an hour.  So some of the group went off to shop and the some of the group went off in search of beer.  I went in search of beer because I am not a shopper.

We actually ended up waiting about an hour and 20 minutes for our tables but it was definitely worth it.  Old Spaghetti Factory isn't exactly original or authentic food but it's very tasty and a really good deal.  I ordered an entree that was easily enough for both Paul and myself.  It came with iced tea or coffee, all the bread I wanted, a side salad and, the best part yet -- spumoni!  Yumyum, yummy, yummolicious!  I would have taken photos but the lighting was terrible and nothing would have shown up.  I did get a picture of the trolley car that is inside the restaurant, though.

Pretty cool, huh?

When we were done eating we walked back to the train and I got some more photos of things that I found to be interesting.

This was pretty neat.  It was at the stop where we waited for one of our return trains.  It's a poem written by a 14-year-old girl named Ruby, I believe.

 This was a funny little train seat all by itself.  Cole called it the lonely hobo seat.

And this is what greeted us when we arrived back in Sandy.  It was freezing fog -- quite the interesting sight.

Anyway, as you can see, we're having a fantastic time.  There is lots of great stuff in store for our remaining days here, too.  I'll be meeting Paul's mom tomorrow and maybe meeting an online friend on Thursday.  I hope the weather cooperates.  We're under a severe winter storm warning right now and it doesn't end until Thursday night or Friday morning.  Gah.

Thanksgiving

Whoa.  Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday because I love to cook and I love to eat.  I love food, period.  Christmas is my second favorite holiday because it has all the same foods (at least, in my family it does) but it also has shopping which I'm not nearly as fond of as cooking.

Anyway, Thanksgiving.  It was delicious.  I made a turkey for the second time.  Last year was my first and I brined it with a pretty sweet brining solution -- "sweet" as in fruity, not as in a surfer dude's "Hey, man! Sweet waves today!"  (Although, surfers usually surf in salt water and brining solutions do contain a lot of salt.  But this really has nothing to do with Turkey Day.  Sorry for that brief foray into my distracted thought process.)  This year I went a little more savory.  There was nothing wrong with last year's brine but I wanted to try something different.  This year's brine was still sweet but more tempered with things like bay leaves and peppercorns and rosemary.  It was so good.  My mouth is watering thinking about it again.  Also, the turkey was huge.  We had to brine it in the massive pot that Caleb uses to brew beer.

Jennifer and I went in together on the cooking and food prep at her house because she's the only one with enough space for that sort of thing. I love her kitchen.  It's huge.  On Tuesday night I went to her place with my car full to the gills with cooking utensils, ingredients, baking pans and my mixer.  We set up the brining situation and called it a night.  (Another plug for living in Colorado -- this turkey and its pot were so big there is no way we could have fit it into the fridge but it was cold enough that we could leave it to sit in the garage all night!  Yay for temps in the low 20s!)

On Wednesday I went back to Jennifer's house, changed into some comfy PJs, poured a glass of wine and got busy!  We chopped veggies and nuts, shredded cheese, mixed pie crusts, mashed potatoes, whipped up pie fillings, dried bread crumbs and had a grand old time.  Friends from Texas arrived late that night and the children had a great time playing video games and chasing each other all over the house.  The adults opened more wine, turned up the music and continued food preparations until 3:00 am.  It was so much fun!

Thursday morning began bright and early with more cooking, roasting, boiling, baking and stirring.  We finally ate around 2:00 pm.  Everything was really good.  I wish I'd had the ability to eat more food but even that night when everyone usually eats the first of the leftovers, I was still too full.  Bummer.

After the meal we sat around the dining table and had a nice Pinot Noir tasting.  The friends from Texas brought a couple of Pinot Noir wines from New Zealand (they lived there for 9 months last year!  Lucky!) and Paul brought over a couple of Colorado Pinot Noir wines.  We all sampled and critiqued and tasted.  Then we opened a dessert wine and a honey wine to try with our desserts.  It was a superb time.  We should do it again before next Thanksgiving because we deserve to eat like that because it's Tuesday sometimes, you know?

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing Carcassone, one of our most favorite board games.  I think I can mark this holiday down as one of the best ever; it ranks right up there with the first Thanksgiving after The Divorce and with the New Year's Eve I spent alone with my homemade pizza and sangria.  Yum.  Truly can't wait to do it again.

So Happy

It's Christmas.  Paul is here.  The tree is beautiful.  There is music.  We had hot and sweet chicken wings last night.  We also had wassail.  Yum.  That's what Christmas tastes like -- wassail.  We watched Christmas movies and laughed a lot.  We're going to exchange gifts in a little bit.

Right now I am making French Silk pie with a new pie crust that I'm really excited about.  We're going to Jenn and Caleb's in a couple of hours and we'll have appetizers that I made/am making and Christmas dinner that they're roasting, cooking and baking.   Jonathan and Lance will be there, too.  And then some friends will join us for the evening.

It's a good day.  Happy Christmas, everyone!

It's Christmas!

The tree.  So pretty!

My favorite ornament, given to me by a friend and co-worker in Texas 2 years ago.

 

Our miniature stockings.  I don't remember which stocking belongs to which person.  Oops.

My favorite Christmas candle holder.  It fits a tea light and Santa's eyes light up.  It doesn't photograph well in the dark, though.  Bummer.