Getting Ready for Reunion

I have been involved with a few family reunions in my fifityfive past years.

A few I have been the head facilitator,

 others I have been in charge of certain things.

My dad and his wife Juana are hosting my immediate

 family reunion; including brothers and sister in-laws,

 grandchildren, great grandchildren.

I used to think that this was a "Mormon thing" until I became a

member of the FACEBOOK family and saw many of my

 non Mormon friends getting together with their siblings and so on..

We are spending 2 nights and 2 days up above

Sundance Resort (Utah) in a very old log built lodge.

(pictures of this event to follow in future posts.)

I have self appointed myself to be

 in charge of the kid crafts.

Here are some of my ideas

(of course I have plagiarized them)

Glow in the Dark Slime
Decorating store bought styrofoam air planes
Nature scavenger hunt
Bow & Arrow competition
Thumb print pendant

Click on any of the ideas above and it
 will lead you to the instructions.
Happy Summer!

The Age Old Coca Cola

Let me say; that the age old Coca Cola is just that..

OLD

I think every generation from the beginning of time

 has thought that Coke is a new cool drink.

I can appreciate some of these bottles from 

my life span, I love drinking a refreshing Coke.

I like the word 

Coke

If you want to go down nostalgia lane, visit this web-site

(you'll be glad you did).

My real reason for logging about Coca Cola is this video 

I saw recently, on a very obscure website called: 

manicworld.com

this video
but you can view it here also.
Click here

"Coca Cola Breaking Down Barriers"

Watch it...you will smile and want to do it yourself.

So..
when you think the world is going to the dogs,
I believe there are so many good things happening to the world family!
CHEERS to Coca Cola

my drink choice

55-fifty-five

I am

55

years old

Can you image what it is like to be..that old?

Here is what I do to age gracefully:

1. I wear makeup every day: Concealer, foundation, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, lip pencil, and lip gloss.

2. Daily Moisture Lotion - I put it all over my body and twice daily moisturize my face and neck. (I have done this religiously since I was 25 yrs old)

3. Love the out-of-doors: I get out of the house as soon as the snow melts and the weather reaches 65 degrees. I do a lot of gardening and hiking in the Spring and Summer months.

4.  Clothes that feel good and still keep me looking young: Having my daughters go with me to clothes shop  helps me keeps my perspective about my age plus they lead me to "cute" clothing instead of "daudy" old women's wear.

I really like Oprah's openness to aging and she has a plethora of articles on this subject. 

Here is a good one to read click here

*Six Steps to Accepting Aging*

I am not young anymore AND will never be.

This is my new reality

and 

I am going to embrace it!

Off the Grid

When I need a break, mainly from my 4-10 work week, 

I like to get away from my daily life and escape into nature.

I think I have posted my adventures many times but, there is always 

a space that I have not explored.

It has been several weeks now that the "swede" and I jumped in 

the convertible Jeep and drove down to Kanab (Utah).

 It's about 4 and half hour ride.

We didn't take any camping gear, it

was too cold for me to tent it in April.

We stayed in the Best Western Hotel (Kanab).

(I would go back)

Below are some of our adventure shots hiking the

 Coyote Butte in Vermilion Monument just on the

 border of Utah and Arizona.

Be sure to pick up a permit to enter into this area, you must

 have 4 wheel drive, it is back country.

Ha Ha, this picture is deceiving..
we are standing way in front of the sign.
The camera is sitting on the back fender of the Jeep

This area is really remote from the highway,
 it was worth the trip to see what nature and wind
can do with all the airborne sand.

Wide view of the sand dunes

The swede surfing the wave..

Layers swirling sandstone.

Wind weathered sandstone.

A moment of  contemplation of the wonders of this earth.

This area was where the swede surfed and I sat in the sand pit.

Sitting in a sand pit

A fun find in this area, I call them; worry sandstones.



-This quote sums up why I love to go off the grid.

 Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to 

play in and pray in, where nature may heal and 

give strength to body and soul.

John Muir

Fresh Crisp Linens

My ironed linen napkins.
It took me an hour and a half to do this many linens. 

1800's women ironing linens for the hotel & restaurant industry.

Armand Desire Gautier

 Picasso's version than Boilly's lovely maiden.

烫衣板

Ironing Board in Chinese

 I really like ironing, I know, it is passe...but it is relaxing for me and

 it takes me back to my childhood when I first learned 

to iron pillow cases and table clothes and napkins.

 If you really want to see MORE ironing art click here. 

This blog is full images.

Yellow-Lemon

lem·on n

1. a yellow or, in some climates, green oval citrus fruit with a thick fragrant rind and sour juicy flesh

2.  the tree with glossy almond-shaped leaves and spiky branches that bears lemons. Latin name: Citrus limon

3. a pale yellow color typical of the rind of a ripe lemon.

Also called lemon yellow

This is my favorite treat to get a Starbucks, but paying $2.25 a slice,

 seems a bit pricey and so I thought I would google

 a "knock off recipe to satisfy my lemon tooth craving.

The real Starbucks lemon pound cake

STARBUCKS LEMON (knock off) CAKE

1 box  lemon yellow cake mix

1/2 cup olive (vegetable) oil

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

8 ounces sour cream

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Icing

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

~

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray 2 loaf pans generously with cooking spray.

2. Place all cake ingredients in no particular order into stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Divide cake batter between two prepared loaf pans spreading evenly. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes before removing loaves from pans.

3. To prepare icing, place powdered sugar into a large bowl. Drizzle in lemon juice stirring until smooth and thick. Should be a good drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cakes and let set for 20 minutes for a firm icing. Otherwise slice while still wet if desired.

Makes about 24 slices

Here is my cake.
 It is so yummy, my family loved this so 

much, I think I will make it again!

Happy Spring!

Mid Wifery

I am way past my child bearing age, and I couldn't have a child even if I had all the plumbing 

(of which I don't anymore).

But since I am a woman and a mother, I am interested in the

 birthing process, it is one of those miracles that seem to stagger the mind, 

because, of the hazards that it could bring to a woman.

I have started watching a BBC series called; CALL THE MIDWIFE. 

(you can check it out by clicking the title.)

These are the nurses that are the midwife's

These women are all very caring, there is not one

 that is the bad girl or the villain. 

It is an old fashioned story, tenderly written.

Here is a saying that started one of the episodes that I really 

liked enough that I had to listen over and over again to copy it exact.

Health is of the greatest of God's gifts, but we take it for granted,

 It hangs on a thread as fine as a spiders web and 

the smallest of thing can make it snap, 

Leaving the strongest of us, helpless in an instant,

 Hope is our protector and our love the baluster. 

...now onto episode 2