ski day blues

1.5 runs on the rope tow and M&Mum are done. Idiots who don't know how to use the r-t shouldn't. They shouldn't laugh about it. They should get out of the way. And small children should happily ski as well for their folks as they do for strangers. "Almost Paradise" is a song about a BEAUTIFUL ski day ruined. :P 5 hours ago clear

Stamakajuna

FB is for Forget'bout Bedtime.

Sorry to read you won't be there...but a mum of six (??is this right??) needs her R&R. Enjoy!

Hailey  October 22 at 8:53pm

Thanks for the info. Cool that you've kept up with Hamlin kin. I only have five... you sound like my dad, he always says "How many do you have now? Ten?"

Melissa October 22 at 8:55pm

I was on the Alumnae Board for a couple years....very fun actually. Five--I am so jealous!

HaileyOctober 22 at 8:13pm

Do you live in SF?

Growing up I knew a lot of older women who had 1 or 2 children and told me they regretted they didn't have more. That left an impression on me. The only person I knew with more than 3 was Paula Mc. who I thought was a bone fide automaton nut. 5 is often more work than I realized it would be, especially since I'm kinda a lazy loner. (Lazy when it comes to housework. It depresses me.) Things are clearing out though, this is a pivotal year. S (oldest, 17) is a senior in HS and M (youngest, 5) is in kindergarten. They are cool, sweet kids. My husband is one of 10-12 (2 died at birth). He would have been fine with 2. His parents ARE nutters and didn't ever master the parenting thing. He says they followed the squid model, very "hands" off. He wants to be a penguin.

The Dishy Fishies

Parents Day at S's School. Senior year ... should I go have lunch?

Goal poster with J

S is for a Sofa in the Sunset.

The Saga of the Beloved Sofa from San Francisco

Down, down, down the stairs.

Into the sunset ...

Down, down, down the stairs.

The cushions went down, down, down the stairs.

The Beloved is in the truck.

Arrived in Lindon.

Unwrapped.

Landed in a room that seems designed for the +8 foot long, beloved, Oma Stella blue, modern, low sofa.

M & favorite pal SP playing in the sofa's shell.

Once the shell was completely kaput, the cardboard was used for tie dye. No part of the sofa and the souvenirs of its saga were wasted.

Oma Stella had great taste. She collected beautiful minerals, ancient (art) glass, rugs, stamps. She loved her friends and was amazingly open minded. She once told me about meeting the leader of a Satanic group (!?) who slept in a coffin. As hard as that is to believe I think it is true. She was familiar with the Dadaists. Everything was worth knowing about. I remember reading the encyclopedia with her, she kept them by her bed.

I wondered why she didn't have more antique furniture. She wasn't interested in collecting it. All of her furniture was new in the 40-50-60's. When she and my grandfather moved to SF they took a lot more than most from Germany, but that didn't include any furniture. She had a friend (Freilander?) who was a carpenter and I think she had him make several of her pieces. None of it was reproduction. All was very modern, streamlined. Her eye was toward the future!

I miss her a lot.

Yesterday was Grandma Ream's birthday! I miss her too! I put up pictures of her in our entry way. So vivacious. Gorgeous. Smart. Way ahead of her time. More about her another time. I have a rocker of hers... it needs to be re-reupholstered, so that it looks more the way it did when she reupholstered it with loud flowers and bright colors. Brilliant!

M

BTW: M designed this dress! Clever use of yellow newspaper bag. Look out Bob Mackie!

My two youngest children (N, 9 & M, 5) have AB CIs. I feel that we are adrift and don't know where to go for specific advice. Nether of our children seem to be able to wear ear level CI, they fall off and are so expensive that it makes us nervous to let them wear them to school. Our insurance won't cover a 2nd. We don't know where to go for extra speech therapy and it is so expensive! We are currently driving 1 hour to the University of Utah. To get the CIs mapped we need to drive 3 hours to see Dr. C P. Dr. C S and his office have not been very helpful or responsive. The Utah School for the Deaf and Blind is a bureaucratic quagmire and also don't provide services since our children are no longer in their system. We do not live in an isolated area. I look forward to hearing from someone soon. My mobile number is ... and our home number is ... . Thank you for your attention, H

M is for Making this: Slow CHICKEN w Sweet Potatoes & Jerk

Slow CHICKEN w Sweet Potatoes & Jerk [It was supposed to be PORK, but I really don't like pork.]-- Caribbean Pork w Sweet Potatoes

We really liked this. It is not low cal. Could it be made w/ chicken and w/o the flour? The simplicity is perfect. The taste is great. No ketchup, soda pop or canned soups in a crock pot. I had lost this recipe and was really sad about it. Found it and had to stay up to type it. Serve w light salad, ice water, or soda water with lemon or lime. Very flavorful.

Serves 4 active 10 min/total 7 to 8 hr on low

1 can (13.5 or 14 oz.) lite coconut milk

3 Tbsp FLOUR

1 Tbsp Caribbean jerk seasoning

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2-lb boneless pork butt, cut in 1½ in cubes

2 large (2 lb) sweet potatoes, peeled, l cut in 1½ in cubes

2 cups frozen petite green peas

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

1. Put coconut milk, flour, jerk seasoning and garlic in a 3 qt or larger slow cooker. Whisk until well blended. Add pork and sweet potatoes; stir until well coated.

2. Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 house or until meat is tender.

3. Spoon off fat. [if necessary. The cut that I bought was very lean]. Stir in frozen peas and cilantro. Cover and let stand 5 minutes for peas to cook.

Per serving: 757 cal [Wow. I had no idea.] 49 g pro, 59 g car,8 g fiber, 37 g fat (14 saturated fat), 158 mg chol, 240 mg sod

From woman’s day 11/1/05

M day 1

M

My baby doll with my baby doll, both are very loved.


The once cute flip-flops! M was ecstatic about them!

A is for Art du Auto.

Recently while cleaning the van I came across this scene.

It is breathtaking in its completeness, elegance, range of textures and random silliness. Silly is a power word.

This image tells a story of the van, the children who ride in it, the grit of childhood -- o.k. perhaps that is going a little over the top...

M (5) loves to undress her dolls--now she is just starting to dress them. I'm not sure if Barbie's negligee is intentional or not.

The composition struck me. Not one item was unnecessary.

S is for Sale.

Lovely very recently reupholstered funky love-seat sofa

$900. 00

Antique child's school desk

$30.00

Leather chair, from Evan's Gatehouse 2008, with storage ottoman

$500.00 obo

C is for Cochlear Camp.

That's our M! On the front page of Logan's Herald Journal!

Read all about it here!

M the stylist. "I wanna do it myself."

Mlle. M is such a lovely girl. So smart and stylish. She just hasn't mastered the hair-doing yet.

Below is a detail:

She loves to do my hair as well, or really, not too well.
Last night S, Devan (good pal) and C were all laughing at me and my Cinderella hair! M & I matched! It was painful, I mean adorable. When she took it out of my hair, what is left of it, was all kinky and whacked. No pictures available.
This morning it isn't much better. Thank Heavens for baseball hats and spin classes.

Madmoiselle M ... magnifique!

Small Talk & K Cake

Hey K!~ It's a spoon, not a shovel!!!

Tomorrow is K's 14th birthday! We are celebrating tonight with a triple layer lemon cake (Ashley's recipe). (Giving Stephanie H the day off.)

While mixing and heating and stirring and removing, N asked, "Mom, what does 'remove' mean?"

This is happening a lot lately. As N reads more and more, he is coming across words that don't add up to either his experiences or maturity. It is clear that his language/vocabulary is missing some critical and basic words. I need to keep a list. Review them with him.

The kitchen conversation continued:

H: M, what do you want to be when you grow up?

M: I want to be the same like S [sister S], cause she sings on the radio. And I want to drive too. And I'll drive safe.

And tres chic, like Mlle. S, to boot!

I've been making a lot of these flower pompoms lately for our entryway. They are from a great $10.00/5 Martha Stewart kit at ?! Wal-mart.

N, C & M told some lovely jokes tonight at the AG Bell Speech Fair. It was cute and they did a good job. C & N wore nifty bow ties, just to be funny. The theme was sports. There was NO way I was going dressed as an enthusiast of spin.

All the children who performed tonight were amazing.

Becky White called me repeatedly to see/make sure we'd be there. We were and even Devan and Gama joined in the fun. Turns out Mr. Tim Smith (:P USDB Superintendent) made an announcement that USDB is going to build a NEW building for USDB/South, under the able direction of Marilyn Madsen! Turns out the Alpine School Dist., (under the assistant-superintendent's direction Mr. ROB Smith, Tim's son) has arranged for USDB to use the land that it has used for +20 years at Orem Elementary. (Michelle & I suggested that brilliant idea about 4 years ago only to be told that the then Lame-o SuperInt. didn't allow Alpine to talk to parents. So Alpine Sc. Dist. (Rob Smith) stopped talking to us.) Gee wow?!

The description of the future building sounded like he was reading the letter I wrote to the state big wigs and also the J2H Vision Statement. No one besides Tim, Marilyn, the Alpine School Dist & the State Legeslature were given any credit. It will be modular. Opening next September. Oooh ahh. Grand.

Wash my hands of it. I do wonder if Becky wanted me there to hear that. Later when I cordially congratulated Mr. Smith and he cleverly demurred to Marilyn, who Kim Saul [Didn't she retire from USDB?] called the best USDB Pre-school director in the state. (She is the only one with that title.)

Next year K, J, N & M will be going to Walden! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that all goes well. Another year of 5 children & 5 schools/ways will pretty much do me in.

Oh dear. Is M for Mutiny?!

Actually, M ADORES her dad. The M-smother factor is crazy high, sometimes dangerously high. But she does love her Uncle Nick... we all do! Michelle, S & S too! We are thinking of you today.
xxooxx