Christmas with Wendy

I spent Christmas with my big sis in Alabama. I had lots of fun with the whole family and miss them tons.

Cookie Decorating

Tonight I got together with some old college roommates for dinner with their families. They are such dear friends. We had some chicken and rice soup and creamy chicken noodle soup, which was very welcoming with all the snow we got today. Afterward we decorated sugar cookies, ginger bread people and rice crispy treats. Everyone was very creative and had fun decorating and eating the yummy treats.

Chocolate Candies

I have had this recipe ever since my first year at BYU. One of my roommates let me help her make them for Easter.

Chocolate Easter Eggs

1/2 cup margarine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (1/2 can)
7 1/2 cups powered sugar (2 lb bag)

Cream margarine, vanilla and salt. Beat in milk until very smooth. Add powder sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. May add more or less sugar if necessary for workable consistency (should have firm fondant). Form egg shapes and place on wax paper covered trays. Cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate till hard for dipping - overnight is best. Fondant may be frozen (very well wrapped) then thawed, shaped and dipped.

Coconut: 1 1/4 cup coconut - Add to fondant.
Maple Nut: 1 1/2 tsp maple flavoring and 3/4 cup chopped walnuts - Add to fondant.
Cherry Nut: Add 12 oz well drained chopped maraschino cherries and 3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts). More sugar may be added for good consistency.

Chocolate Dip
1/3 stick paraffin was
12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt both together in double boiler (or crock pot) over low heat. Dip eggs and return to wax paper tray to cool. When cool decorate with decorating frosting.

The picture above is the coconut candy and pictured below is the cherry nut candy. This is the first time I made the cherry nut and I like the way it turned out. Also, I used approximately 6 cups of the powered sugar on the coconut candies. The cherry nut did take about 7 cups powered sugar. Once I get my fondant shaped I like to stick them in the freezer. That way I don't have to wait overnight to dip them in chocolate. I have a mini-crock pot that works nicely for dipping as well. If you don't want to shape them into eggs or little balls, you can also use molds. I have tried this before, but I'm not very patient to work with the mold. Perhaps another time.

Parties....

I have been to several parties the past few weeks and I'm exhausted. They have all been fun, though. Stephanie came to the work party with Donna and me. We had a turkey dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Last year we had a buffet, but this year we were served at our tables. I though it was nice and we didn't have to battle it all out at the buffet table. heehee!

Festival of Trees

Last weekend I went to the Festival of Trees for the first time. My niece performed with her dance class. The pictures I took came out very blurry, but the dancing was really cute. The picture above is the Christmas tree that was decorated with Hershey bars. We all like chocolate so that tree was an eye catcher. The boys almost became chocolate snatchers. Anyhow, I enjoyed my time there and hope to go next year.

Where Did November Go?

I know there was something I wanted to do this month before it was gone. Did I do it? No.

Well, all I can say is that even though November is almost gone, I think I have been productive. I have made a few of my Christmas presents, which is an accomplishment. Also, I have had some productive days at work as well as semi-chaotic. Next month will be crazy busy! It almost seems wrong for me to say that I am looking forward to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving day! Last night I finished reading a book by Gary Paulsen called The Haymeadow. The main character, John, talked about the beauty of the mountains and he couldn't find one thing ugly about them. Well, I ran a 5k that our ward sponsored this morning and I was thinking about the book as I looked at my surroundings. Even though I don't care for the winters up here, at least it is beautiful up in the mountains. As I freeze this year, I hope that my appreciation of what is around me isn't numbed like my fingers and my own ugly toes.

Blueberry Muffin

Muffins from scratch are amazing, especially when you are using fresh fruit. I had some left over sour cream from the chili cook off I needed to use, so I decided to use it in mom's muffin recipe. Then I sent Ariana to the store to get me the berries.

Going on a berry hunt
Going to buy some blue-berries.

Blueberry Muffins

Wet mix:
1 stick melted butter
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla

Sir wet mix in medium bowl.

Dry mix:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar (you can use 3/4)

Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. Fold dry mix into wet mix and then gently fold in 1 cup fruit (blueberries, raisins, currents, cranberries or other berry). Spoon into muffin tin with cupcake paper-liners. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until brown on top. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

These are very quick to make and turn out very moist. If you let the sour cream get to room temperature the recipe turns out better. However, I used my sour cream straight out of the fridge and they turned out great. If you make the muffins with cranberries make sure to grate some orange peal into the mix for some added flavor. Yummy!

Have fun baking!

Don Quixote

I read this during lunch today and it made me laugh.

"In short, he so immersed himself in those romances that he spent whole days and nights over his books; and then with little sleeping and much reading, his brains dried up to such a degree that he lost the use of his reason." Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes Saaverdra

I might be in trouble of losing my own reason. heehee!!!

Random Stuff

Cheese...so we had a chili cook off yesterday at work and I volunteered to bring cheese and sour cream. Sometimes I can be picky about my food. (Okay, maybe more than just sometimes.) So my concern was the cheese--grate it myself or buy pre-grated cheese. Well, I decided to grate it myself and everyone was happy to have "queso bueno". I thought it was so funny that I was going crazy over the cheese.

I was asked to be the group leader for our ward's book club. I'm really excited about getting it started and meeting with everyone. I chose Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. A lady from the other book club I go to suggested a few books and that was the one that sounded like everyone would enjoy. I'm also nervous because even though I like reading books it's hard for me to have intellectual conversation about them. It will go well, though. I'm not planning on leading the discussion for all the books we decide to read.

Oregon/Washington Trip

I just got back today from Seattle, WA. Last Friday, Ariana and I met up with our parents in Portland, OR. We spend one night in Portland, one in Astoria and two in Seattle. We ate lots of yummy food, so much that I still feel full. One of my favorite dishes was a chanterelle mushroom ravioli in a creamy hazelnut sauce. At the bed and breakfast we stayed at we were served fresh fruit, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and a pumpkin muffin. At the Silver Salmon I had a seafood Caesar salad with crab and shrimp. The blackened steak tip appetizer we had there was also very good. We also sampled pastries everywhere we went. One of my favorite things to do was buy hot chocolate. Moonstruck Chocolate was my favorite place. I had a dark hot chocolate with whipping cream and it was perfectly smooth chocolate, not too sweat or bitter.

It rained most of the time. We were very lucky for a non-rainy day in Seattle. It made the sights there really pretty.

I made hotel reservations and did an amazing job of booking us in two places there were being refurbished. Both of them had phones that didn't work. That didn't matter too much, but it was still funny all the same. Also, in the hotel in Portland we found the sign below in the elevator.

While in Astoria we saw the Goonie house. It's amazing to see how everything is located differently than what you think. We saw the monolith Haystack in Cannon Beach. It is the third largest. We were driving along the road, wondering where to find it and then all of a sudden it appeared in front of us. The size of it surprised me.

I took tons of pictures and there are just a few here for you to see. I hope you enjoy

Also, check out the video I took of our drive through the Ecola State Park. I think we drove about 20 mph, but it felt like we were going much faster as I was recording. Don't get sick....

The Season's First Snow

Technically, yesterday was the first snow, but nothing stuck. This morning when I went to the club house to go running it had just started to snow. The ground was only wet, so I was hoping the snow would be light. However, when I came out of the club house there was a blanket of snow on everything. Above you can see a view from my balcony. The snowflakes were still pretty big when I took the picture. Last winter I had snow up to my mid-calf (or a little higher) collect on my balcony. I probably should have shoveled the snow away. Below you can see the snow from February earlier this year. Crazy!

Cowboy Cookies

If you want a cookie for a chocolate fix, this is what you want. They don't come out too sweet, so you really get to enjoy the chocolate goodness. You can quickly mix everything together and bake it in no time at all. After making the cookie I thought it might be funny to call them "Cow patty" or "Cow pie" Cookies. heehee!!!

Cowboy Cookie

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup uncooked rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease coolie sheets or line with parchment paper. Beat butter with sugars in large bowl until blended. Add egg and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in small bowl; stir into butter mixture. Add oats, chocolate chips, raisins and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies, but I got about 3 dozen out of the recipe.

Hanging Out With The Kids

Today I spent all afternoon hanging out with Andy and Rynell's kids (minus Audrey) to give the parents a break. These munch kins have a lot of energy!
Here they are at the library, all being well behaved. I was very impressed that there was no screaming, running or fighting. They know how to act in the library. One of their family rules is that they can't check out more than they can carry. Melina and Max had comfortable piles of books to carry, but Josh had a pretty big pile and almost lost it a few times.

After we left the library we went to the park. There's a nice park not too far from where they live and there's a duck pond. One family that came to the park brought two bags of bread and shared it with all the other kids. So, Melina, Josh and Max all had the opportunity to feed the ducks. Above is a picture of some of the ducks that swam over to be fed. All the kids were laughing and having a great time. They even got to see some of the ducks fight over the bread crumbs.

Then, when the duck feeding ended, we ran and sat in the grass. A couple showed up with a dog and Josh went over to play and run around with the dog, Petunia. He had a blast and the couple was very nice to let Josh play with Petunia.

Well, after leaving the park the kids weren't finished playing outside. So we hung out in their backyard and gathered leaves and sticks. It kept them busy and entertained for a while and I was very exhausted by the end of it.

Once we got inside the kids took their baths and we watched a video together. Andy barbecued some salmon and chicken for the kids. After they ate I took off for home. If the kids are as tired as I am, they should sleep very well tonight.

My New Niece

Here I am with my new niece. This week Audrey was born to Rynell and Andy. Congratulations! I'm happy she arrived safely and that mom is doing well.

Fabric

I had a computer crisis at work today. So, in an effort to keep my sanity I left work to go to JoAnn's to find some fabric for the snowflake quilt I'm planning. I found two fabrics with blue background and snowflakes. Then I also found some white silver speckled fabric. I really wasn't planning on going for the glitter, but it really is eye catching. Also, I didn't think I was going to get fabric that already had snowflakes on it, but the pieces to the pattern are so small, that I think it will work well.

I have a couple of quilts that I need to bind before I even start on the snowflake quilt. Here are a couple of the quilts that I have worked on this year.

The neutral and bright lap quilts are sample quilts that I made from classes I used to go to when I was living in Orem.
The baby rag quilt above is for Andy and Rynell's little girl they are expecting (hopefully in less than a week). Rynell gave me the pink and floral flannel fabric that she used for making burp clothes. Then I found the purple and green and came up with the design. I had to really concentrate on getting the squared in the right place so everything would like up properly. I was impressed that I got it right.

Hopefully by the end of this month, or beginning on this month I'll be able to post my Celtic knot quilt.

Frosted Pineapple Cookies

I experimented with a new cookie recipe yesterday. If you like pineapple upside down cake, you'll like these cookies. The pineapple makes the cookie moist and soft.

Frosted Pineapple Cookies

Cookie
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 (20-oz) can crushed pineapple, well drained, reserving liquid
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Browned Butter Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 to 4 tablespoons reserved pineapple liquid

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. In large bowl, beat margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add pineapple, vanilla and eggs; mix well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; mix well; Stir in walnuts. Drop teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

To make frosting, place powdered sugar in small bowl. heat butter in heavy skilled over medium heat until golden brown, stirring frequently. Pour into powdered sugar; stir, adding enough pineapple liquid for desired spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies. 5 dozen cookies.

I did a couple of things different. I didn't have any crushed pineapple on hand so I used pineapple chunks. After I drained the pineapple I put the chunks in a freezer bag and used my rolling pin to crush the chunks. It worked out pretty well. Also, I didn't have any walnuts so I used pecans. This will definitely be a recipe I use again.

Weekend

So far, this has been a good weekend. This past Friday Donna and I went to see Eagle Eye at the movie theater. It was a nice action-filled movie. One of the books that I read for book group was 1984. The movie had themes from the book, so I think that is one reason why I was able to enjoy the movie.

Saturday morning, Linnie and I ran the BYU Homecoming 5K. On our way to BYU there were a few snowflakes and the temperature was 37°. We felt this would be good practice if we decided to do the Nutcracker run or the New Year run. Anyhow, it was a good run and we really liked the route around the campus. We had an incline at the beginning of the race, but afterwards there was a nice down hill stretch. I felt the race went faster than what it was mainly because I was already familiar with the area.

Later that day I went to the Desert Gypsy tryouts. DGDC is implementing a new requirement where members and prospective members of the troupe are required to tryout every year. I think back to my first tryout which was a nerve racking experience. I never thought I would have to do anything like it again. Oh well, it happened again though. It wasn't too bad. I don't doubt that I will be on troupe for next year, but the thought of being evaluated by two individuals not related to the DGDC is scary. Maybe I'll let everyone in on the evaluation when I received it back.

One last thing that has happened this weekend....I was asked out on a date for next Saturday night. (Details will not be posted!)

Pumpkin

Last year when I went to visit Wendy's family she taught me how to make pumpkin pie, with a real pumpkin. So, as you can see above is my pie pumpkin. And then with a wave of my spatula abracadabra here's the pie (not a carriage)...
The pie turned out yummy. I made sure to scrape out the fibery stuff from the pumpkin so the filling would have a smooth texture. I'm taking a pie to work tomorrow because we pushed the guys in the retirement department to help get a certain amount of documents mailed out. They did it, so we felt they deserve a thank you treat.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

I have a friend at work that got married last weekend. Earlier in the summer when I found out she was engaged I offered to help with anything that she needed. About a little over a week before the wedding she asked me to help out by making some cookies. I was very happy to help. The cookies turned out really good (in my opinion). I tasted them before I took them over to her because I'm not going to take something that turned out bad. They were easy to make, although a little time consuming. So you need to plan ahead if you're going to make them.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons water
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla and water. Add the flour and almonds, mix until blended. Cover and chill for 3 hours. Preheat oven to 325°. Shape dough into balls or crescents. Place on an unprepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from pan to cool on wire racks. When cookies are cool, roll in confectioners' sugar. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

This recipe came from www.allrecipes.com. I was told to roll the cookies in the confectioners' sugar prior to baking as well as after. I baked them that way and the cookies did have a nice sugary coating. Yummy!!!

An die Freude

Oh friends, not these tones!
Let us raise our voices in more
pleasing and more joyful sounds!

On Saturday, September 13, Dad, Mom, Ariana and I went to the Utah Symphony to see and hear Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 9. I knew that Dad would enjoy the performance because I can remember him tinkering on the piano or humming the tune growing up. The live performance was amazing. It makes me want to go more often. However, it is pricey. I learned a few things, but the most interesting was about An die Freude, translated it means "Ode to Joy". The words to the music were written by Freidrich Schiller and then Beethoven wrote the music. I surely don't know much about classical music. The first thing I thought of when I realized this was how the music for the movie Singin' in the Rain was first composed and then the writers were told to make a movie with all the songs. It's kind of random, but that truly is what I though.

Anyhow, I'm glad that I went and I really do hope to go to more concerts of this type.

Coconut Oatmeal Squares

I made these yummy squares for a family gathering this weekend. The frosting in the original recipe calls for nuts, but since there were a few people that have nut allergies at our get-together, I substituted chocolate for the nuts. Here is the recipe if you are ever interested in giving it a try.

Coconut Oatmeal Squares

Bars
1/2 cup quick-oats
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Heat oven to 350°. In small bowl place oats; pour boiling water over oats. Let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in large mixer bowl beat sugar, brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter at high speed, scraping bowl often, until will mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Add oat mixture, egg and vanilla. Continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 minute). By hand, gently stir in 1/2 cup coconut. Pour batter into greased and floured 13,9-inch baking pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Meanwhile make frosting.

Frosting
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans (this is where I substituted the chocolate chips)

In 2-quart saucepan combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter and whipping cream.. Cook over medium high heat until mixture comes to a full boil (10 to 12 minutes). Reduce heat to low; continue cooking, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut and pecans; spread immediately on warm bars. Cool completely. Yield 15 servings.

I got this recipe from a Land O Lakes cook book from many years ago. I hope you will try it out and enjoy. It is surprisingly easy to make, but you really do have to let it cool completely. They are very moist.

Mini-Fest

The second weekend of September is Mini-Fest, put on by Halima to showcase Desert Gypsy, Gypsy Rhythm and Gypsy Melody for all the hard work they put in for the season. Also, groups that took summer classes from Halima, Kalista and Odessa perform their dances. This year we had a short program, but there was a lot of talent to be seen. One of Viktoria's troupes performed as well as one of Thia's. We were very glad for their participation.

The above picture is a group that performed an Aztec folklore dance. I didn't get a dance line-up, so I'm unable to give you the name of their group. However, I do know that Ariel with Gypsy Rhythm is a co-worker with one of the members. She helped coordinate them coming out to perform. I really enjoyed the high energy they brought.

These ladies are with the Black Star Dance Co, also known as Indie Kumari. We love having them come out to perform at Mini-Fest. They have a mesmerizing style of dance.

This year DG gave our directors a wall hanging. Here above are Halima and Kalista. We want to let them know we appreciate them and the hard work they do for DG.

....and now the season is over, but we can't stop dancing. We'll see each other soon in classes, workshops and at performances. I wish everyone well that is not returning to DG next year. I consider each and everyone of the ladies I've danced with the past three years as my friends - beautifully talented.

Latin Festival

Yesterday, Saturday, Desert Gypsy performed at the Latin Festival. It's the third time I've had the opportunity to perform at the festival. A little over a week ago I was asked to do a free style solo to transition between some of the dances we had lined up. I managed to find some music and dance half free style and half choreographed song. Free style is not my strength, but the anxiety, anticipation and experience of it all makes it worth while.

It has been fun getting to know the girls in my troupe and the other troupes better this year. Only one more performance left for the season...Mini Fest.

UVU Exhibit

Tonight I went with the Broadhead family to the da Vinici Experience exhibit at the Woodbury Art Museum. Did you know that da Vinci wasn't just famous for the Mona Lisa (which I have seen), but also for his thirst for knowledge to understand everything in the universe. Well, that's what it felt like to me. There were some replicas of his inventions at the exhibit where we were allowed to move them around to see how they functioned. I think dad would have a great time at the exhibit. They even had some crafts for kids at the end of the exhibit. It will be at the museum through October.

Lots of Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all the August people...
Ariana, Josh, Emily, Max and David! ! ! ! !

I hope everyone had (or will have) a great day.

Cindy's Visit

A week ago, Monday, Cindy was in town for a visit. She brought Jeffrey and Elizabeth but had to leave Sam behind. Work can sometimes get in the way. Anyhow, we met up at Andy and Rynell's to have dinner and catch-up on things. I barely saw the kids because they were having too much fun playing. It was nice for the adults so we could have a conversation.

De-clutter Project Update

This past week I feel like I was able to get rid of a lot of trash and old files. I organized my left over pictures from the past 4 years and put them into albums. Then I labeled the negatives by year. I think I need to store them in a fire proof box.

I also organized all the programs from shows I've attended since college. I kept the front page of the program and any additional information if I knew someone in the performance. I was able to get rid of the advertisements. Now it is neatly stored away in one binder and not spread out in three different boxes. My favorite programs are from the Ballroom Dance in Concert.

The last organization project I worked on this week was in the kitchen. I cleaned out a couple of cabinets and rearranged my dishes and food. It still needs a little work, but I think it opened up a lot of space. I should have the kitchen finished this week. Then I'll focus on the mess that's still in my closet.

Masquerade! Paper Faces on Parade...

Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you.
Masquerade! Every face a different shade.
(Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade!)

Donna and Stephanie were invited to a masquerade ball for a friend's college graduation. Since Donna knows how much I enjoy these types of events I got to come along.

Above are Donna and Ted dancing the night away. I would have taken pictures of the other guests, but I didn't know many of them. I got to dance the waltz once, and as you know it's one of my favorite dances.

Here are the three of us girls showing off our formals and masks. We hope to be able to attend more balls to put our masks to good use. One of my friends that makes costumes wants to put together a masquerade ball. You'll have to visit her blog. Click the link to the side for dintarmawen. Heather and I danced together in Desert Gypsy and she makes amazing costumes. I love any excuse I can get to play dress-up!!!

Chaos! (and other stuff)

Do you ever feel like everything turns to chaos when one thing throws you off? or you try a de-clutter project?

With the rib injury I'm supposed to take it easy. So it just makes it harder to finish putting laundry away, putting the dishes in the dishwasher, taking out the trash....those kinds of things. Then I start feeling like I can't do anything till I clean up the mess. It's like I'm stuck in limbo till I can move more freely (and I am much better). Usually, I make sure to clean things up before working on another project, but not this time. I started a new project.

Ariana will be coming to stay with me next month in September. I decided to de-clutter a few items and be a little more organized in my home. This way Ariana will have room to store her things. I ended up with piles all over the place and everything was in disarray. I almost started to panic thinking I would never get all my stuff back into the boxes and put away to fit just right on the shelves. But...then I took a couple of breaths and reminded myself that this is a month-long project and I shouldn't expect to complete everything in one day.

A few times I felt like I pushed myself a little too much. I did accomplish a couple things, though. My pictures are organized and I tried out a new cookie recipe. The cookies were yummy. heehee!!!

other stuff:

I just have to mention the opening ceremonies to the Olympics were amazing! It was a spectacular show and I wouldn't mind being there to witness the goings on. Also, I saw in the news that Pres Bush had some talks with the Chinese leaders to talk about peace and religious freedom. What do you think about that? I think it's amazing news!!!

Dislocated Rib

This is an amusing story even though it hurts to laugh.

So...my side was still hurting this morning especially trying to get out of bed. I called a friend that is studying to be an RN and she suggested going to the chiropractor to see if I dislocated a rib. I already had an appointment for this Friday, but I went ahead and scheduled to go in after work today. I'm glad that I did. The first thing my chiropractor checked was to make sure the rib wasn't cracked. He got a tuning fork, made it vibrate and placed it on different areas on my rib cage. He figured that since I wasn't writhing on the floor the ribs weren't cracked. Apparently the ribs in question criss-crossed. So the next step was to put it back in place with a clicker instrument of some sort. It was kind of painful, but I preferred that to the writhing part he warned me about. I'm supposed to take it easy for the next couple of weeks.

Well, I must say this is the worst injury I've received dancing (or ever). At least I don't have a performance coming up.

Busy Weekend Full of Fun

My cousin, Andrea, came up from Arizona to visit me and Donna for a few days. We have had fun hanging out and doing all sorts of activities.

Last Thursday we went to Seven Peaks to get sunburned. Actually, Donna was the only one that managed to not get sunburned. I have never been to the water park prior to this visit. Holly and her kids also came and we were able to enjoy each other's company.

On Friday we did a little bit of shopping. Nothing to serious. The sun really drained our energy but we managed to go out miniature golfing.

Here are Andrea and I. We both struggled with our putts and tied with each other in the end.

...And Donna was the most experienced of us all. She beat us by 13 points if I remember correctly. heehee...

We watched P.S. I Love You on Friday as well. A portion of the movie was filmed in Ireland. It's just one of the many places that we want to go visit.

Yesterday, Saturday, I slept most of the day. Seriously, the sun and heat really drained the energy out of me. Donna and Andrea went tubing down the river while I slept. Then in the evening we went to an Owlz game.

Afterwards Andrea and I went country dancing. We danced a lot more that we had expected and I think that's always a good sign. However, I did get a battle wound. I hurt my side and it feels like my ribs and insides were crushed after I tried a move with this guy. I hope it's better before dance practice this coming Thursday. If not, Halima will be angry with me. The last dance I danced was a waltz with a guy that knew what he was doing. It was the waltz that made the whole evening worth it.

It's been a busy weekend full of fun. I'm glad Andrea came out to visit and hope she's having a great time as well.

Cedar Hills Family Days

This weekend the Desert Gypsy Dance Company performed at the Cedar Hill Family Days. It was a skeleton crew that danced, but we managed to pull it off. This is a picture of me and Odessa during our sword dance. I enjoy doing outdoor performances because we end up getting a pretty good sized crowd that stops by to watch us dance.

Listen to the Music

I have added a play list for your listening enjoyment while you read my mostly-short-blogs. There are 45 songs and you can scroll through them to find something you enjoy. I signed up at www.finetune.com if you're interested. Anyhow, I think I just spent 1 1/2 hours trying to figure out how to set it up but I think it was worth it. Good night!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Sometimes I feel the need to bake something. Tonight I decided to try something new from my bread recipe book, cinnamon raisin bread. It turned out very yummy. The bread is very light and soft. I'm glad it turned out, because I will definitely try out the recipe again. I'm off to finish eating that slice with a cup or Pero.

Parents Visit

I had a nice visit with mom and dad. They were able to visit with Andy's family as well. Friday was my day to spend with them and we filled it up with several activities. I took mom on some errands early in the morning while dad went running. Then I took them to the Natural History Museum .
Here, dad is determining what type of rock he's looking at. It looked like he was having a great time.
I like this picture because it looks like the dinosaur is sneaking up on mom. They have a good variety of dinosaur bones displayed.

After the museum we stopped by my place to eat. Then we headed to the theater to see Get Smart. I thought it was a cute movie with some pretty good laughs. Mom and I did some window shopping and then we had dinner at Macaroni Grill. I'm glad that we had time to spend together. They left yesterday and everything seems really quiet.

But the quietness didn't last long. Donna had surgery on her wrist so she is staying the night with me for a couple of days so that it will be easier to carpool together. We're looking forward to a new office building tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be up and running.

another jelly fish

This is a picture of a jelly fish my nephew, Nolan, sent me. I visited their family in September last year and Nolan created a slidshow of jelly fish. I was impressed with the research he did.

Parents Visiting

Mom and dad are visiting this week. It's always fun to have guests at my home. I like the business of making sure they are comfortable and having a good time.

learning to blog

I am learning all the different elements to blogging. Thanks to Mariela for providing me with the link to add the new template. I don't think my giraffe video works with it though. Oh'well...

Jelly Fish

On July 5th my cousins, Mariela and Elin, took me to the aquarium in Albuquerque. I was able to take some pretty neat shots of some jelly fish at the aquarium. Part of the exhibit made me feel like I was in Finding Nemo. heehee... Anyhow, I've got a few more cool pictures that I'll post later.