Cooking Classes

We are without a cooking group leader (small enrichment groups) for the moment so I'm trying to plan the summer months so that when we have a new leader she won't have to come up with something instantly. (Perhaps this will be an incentive for the new leader?) In June we'll be doing Dutch Oven cooking. In September I think we'll be doing a class on making and canning your own salsa.  

What would be fun for July and August? Last summer we did summer salads and desserts and we did grilling... I'd love any suggestions that you'd like to see. And if you're in my ward you can still suggest something and I won't ask you to be the group leader. Unless I feel so inspired...  ;)

hair styles

I went to get my hair cut yesterday and I was hoping to find a new style. This raised a couple questions. Well, not so much new questions but for some reason they really annoyed me yesterday.

1. Why isn't there a magazine with haircuts for real people? Ok, I'll admit, I've seen a few of those seriously crazy styles on campus but 99.9% of us would not wear our hair like that and when we want to look at style options... that's not what we want. Or am I alone in that?

2. I often wonder when I do find a cute haircut, "...but will this hair look good even if I'm fully dressed?" I mean what if you got a haircut that only looked good when you were pretty much naked? That would annoy me!  

Same beef with a google search. In fact, you have to be a little more careful there because if you decide that you like a certain starlets hair, for example, and you search her name... Whoa! You may be a little shocked. It's best not to search stars I guess. Maybe I should search "short hair that real women who are fully clothed wear"

3-Year Old Wisdom

Last night I sat on the swing with my nephew, Tiernan, and had an enlightening and entertaining conversation with him. I think 3-years old is just about a perfect age to talk to kids because they'll just sit there and talk to you and they are perfectly comfortable in their logic and they're not afraid to tell you when you are confused.  Here are some of the gems:

There were several bees on the flowers next to us. Tiernan does NOT like bees. 

T - We like honey but not from honey bees.

C - But that's where we get honey - from bees.

T - We don't like that kind of honey.

C - Oh yeah? Where does honey you like come from?

T - Just plain honey from other bees.

C - So honey is ok if it's not from honey bees?

T - Yeah, we don't like them.

C - Hey, guess what? I saw two snakes in our yard yesterday.

T - Were they gardner snakes?

C - Yep. Do you think snakes move fast or slow?

T - Slow.

C - Oh. Have you ever seen a snake move?

T - Yeah. Snakes play soccer.

C - Really? How do they kick the ball?

T - With their tails. 

T - You should take your watch off and put it in your pocket or robbers will get it.

Tiernan would like to live in the top of a tree and stay there forever. 

C - What else lives in trees?

T - Birds. 

C - What about bats?

T - No. They like their dark places to live.

C - What about bugs?

T - No. Bugs don't like trees.

C - If you live in a tree and never come down what will you eat?

T - Leaves. 

C - Do you want to read a book about bats with me?

T - No. I'm scared of bats. I read a book about snow monsters. 

C - Whoa! That's cool.

T - White ones eat bats but not black ones.

C - Black snow monsters? What do black ones eat?

T - Rocks.

Oh, and one of my personal favorites:

T - You can't move that rock. [A large rock in a flower bed.] Only monsters can move it.

C - I'm pretty strong. I bet I can move it.

T - You can't. You are not strong enough.

C - What if I'm Superman strong?

T - [With his face registering complete dismay at my suggestion] You're a girl! You can't move it!

Shoes

My foot is still swollen from surgery and the incision area is still pretty tender (I guess body parts don't like to have people rummaging around in them) so I can't wear normal shoes yet except for my tennis shoes.  That means I've been wearing my surgical shoe to church every Sunday and let me tell ya, as beautiful as it is, I'm so tired of it. 

Then I found out that I have been awarded a scholarship from the Colorado chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and there was a luncheon I had to attend today for it. (More on that later.) Now I realize this might be a little vain, but seriously, I just really didn't want to wear my surgical shoe with my dress to this luncheon. I'm sure it would have been fine but I'm just sick of it. So I've been on a mad search for dress shoes this week. Most shoes are cut so that they cross exactly over my incision and clearly that does not work. Ouch. And most are too tight. Unless I go up a size. Then I can't walk because the left foot is falling out of that shoe. Sigh. I did manage to find a pair of a taupe-ish sort of color shoe that mostly worked (totally flat which is not so good for gnarled feet) and a black one that is mostly not that cute but wasn't too uncomfortable so I bought them and will leave them in the box until I decide they aren't that bad or until I find something I like better that works. (Although that's not likely as I've searched so many shoe stores around here...) 

I put some Dr. Scholl's inserts in the taupe ones and they were ok today.  Hooray! I still don't know what I'll do this summer - flip flops are out - but it's not hot yet...

Unwind

Whenever I finish with finals I come home and I feel a little lost. Generally I have homework to do or something (for example, after midterms you just keep going) so when the semester is over.....I guess I'm still in the cram-your-head-full-memorize-write-essays-study-study-study mode and I don't know what to do. It takes a day to realize that I really don't have homework and I can, well, do something more fun with my time. Don't worry, it's not that I don't have anything to do (I have a huge to do list!), it's just that last bit of pent up energy that's kept in reserve so that I can make it through the semester and it needs to escape. 

I think I'll go shoe shopping tonight. 

Temple Invader

J said that his history teacher was talking about Mormons today.  (I'll put my thoughts in blue.)

He said his wife went to SLC for a business trip and he went along.  He was at Temple Square and wanted to go inside the temple and just see it but, "there weren't any doors, then I saw a couple come out of some panels on the side of the building..." 

Pause

Ok, Mr. historian those 'panels' are not a big secret, they are carved wood doors and I guarantee that the SLC temple is not the only building ever to have carved wood doors.  I mean it has some unique architecture but, doors?  Really. I've even seen doors at this very temple with my own eyes. Pretty sure they haven't removed them.

But here's where it gets better. When the couple left he "grabbed the door and ran inside. Then some guy literally appeared out of nowhere..."  Certainly must have been one of our staff of guardian angels on standby.  We also call them temple workers.  But who knows, perhaps it was a guardian angel - descending from 'nowhere' and all... 

"He just started yelling at me that I can't come in there and had to leave." Not sure 'yelling' is the appropriate term - I can't really see a temple worker yelling at someone to leave.  But then again, if the guy busted in there through our secret doors, maybe he did have to yell at him to get him to leave...

Then of course the class conversation spiraled into all the weird things Mormons do like get married really young and have their kids taken away in Texas.  Oops, not the Mormons but why bother with little things like facts? 

Random Thoughts from Utah

I still can't wear a normal shoe except for tennis shoes (too tight and painful) so on Sundays I have to wear one regular shoe and my surgical shoe.  I was getting my shoes out of my suitcase and Avery said, "Are you just looking for matching shoes?" Who knew a 7-year old would be embarrassed that her aunt was wearing mismatched shoes?

Kelton adores Justin. All weekend he told J where to sit (right next to him if possible and close by if not), and just loved to be with him. I wish J could see how much those kids look up to him and adore him.

Jeremy decided that I'm perhaps more of a nerd than him. (Although he's a math/science nerd which is hard to beat... seriously.) In a nutshell, Elvis came up in the conversation and I had to correct some facts. Jeremy didn't know I knew so much about Elvis. I believe his exact quote was, "And people call me a nerd." Funny. He doesn't all about Elvis? Oh, you mean it's possible that most people don't know the exact date the king died? Hmm. Guess that places me squarely in the nerd category. But I've been there for long time... I'm good with that. 

Just TCB baby!

And for those of you with toddlers - bubbles are a lifesaver in the car! Becky saw the idea on a website so she brought bubbles along. As soon as Mia was fussy I'd start blowing bubbles at her and she immediately calmed down. Now, my back was a little wrenched from being twisted around for so long (but that might have to do w/the cereal fight too...), but the baby stopped crying and that was fabulous. The boys were a little sad that they bubbles didn't reach all the way back to them but it was still entertaining for them too. If you have little ones - try it!