Get Snacky

Brennan's New Year's Eve culinary creations. I see a future chef thing happening for him, don't you?

Christmas at Pa & Grandma's

Pa & Grandma

Opening presents...

Opening more presents...

Rosalind and her ouchy forehead

Roz & Aunt Kristy

Carter, Harrison & Uncle Steve

Harrison & Uncle Steve

Aunt Kristy...

...wearing Roz's new tiara

Kristy, Steve and Rosalind

Carter's Birthday & Christmas 2007

Dad and Brennan received new cell phones for Christmas... we waited till Christmas Day to give Brennan his, but Dad couldn't resist trying his phone out at work a few days before.

Cheeeeeeese

We opened a few presents before we left for Tri-Cities. Here are Harrison and Carter in their new Christmas shirts and ties from Grannie and Grandpa Bob...

Cutie boys

... and Rosalind in her new pretty dress, also from Grannie and Grandpa Bob

Cutie girl

At Grandma & Pa's house in her new Cinderella outfit. The last few days of school before Christmas break, she and Carter had some bad luck - he cut his eyebrow open at a friend's birthday party, necessitating a visit to the clinic (fortunately no stitches); and she ran face-first into a cement thing sticking up from the sidewalk at school. Then we went to the grandparents' houses and everyone probably thought we beat our kids.

Cinderella, Cinderella

Brennan on New Year's Eve, hoping for a kiss...

Pucker up, buttercup

We Interrupt Our Christmasy Niceness For This... Thing

Today I tried to find out whether or not I had a dark/sick/twisted sense of humor. I really did. I found a really stupid online quiz that told me absolutely nothing... Oh, just read the post.

Chief Ten Bears

1) Chief Ten Bears of Dances With Wolves fame died.
What we may not have known about Ten Bears, aka Floyd Red Crow Westerman (unless we are rampant fans of "Walker, Texas Ranger" or "Dharma & Greg"), is that he was quite a prolific actor and showed up in freaking everything.

While I have the utmost respect for the man and sympathy for his family, if I see one more Comcast News headline that says, "Dances With Wolves actor dies" or "Walker, Texas Ranger actor dies" or "Dharma & Greg actor dies," I'm gonna get out my fork gun and do some serious damage. Every time I see one of these headlines, I'm all aghast. "Holy crap, who are all these actors dying?" So I click on it and wouldn't you know... it's always Floyd. It's like the boy who cried "Ten Bears Died!"

2) This is what I get for griping:
Now Dan Fogelberg died. It's all because of me, and Elasticwaistband Lady, because she made fun of his tank top and hairy armpits. Way to go.

3) Hope I'm not spoiling anything...
...but Todd the Jolly Rancher won the $1,000,000 on "Survivor: China." I called that one (but I really hoped James the Grave Digger would win).

Chief Ten Bears

4) Ten Bears died.
(Just making sure you're aware.)

5) Jen Lindley is still dead.
Let's all sing along with this charming Irish ditty: "Everywhere we looked, there was death, death, death..."

6) Death is everywhere. There are flies on the windscreen.
Come here. Kiss me. Now.

7) This really doesn't have anything to do with anything...
... but William H. Macy is still gonna kick your butt. You just watch yourself. He has the death sentence on twelve systems. "I'll be careful." You'll be DEAD!

8. This Chinese music on the "Survivor" finale is leaving me cold.
Flute? Weird wailing? Drums that make absolutely no sense? I'm SO not Chinese. You'd think that after all my years of genealogical research, this would have been obvious before now.

Chief Ten Bears

9) And just in case you were thinking of forgetting...
Ten Bears is still dead.

"Shu-mani-tu-tonka Ob' Wa-chi! Do you see that Ten Bears is dead! Will you bring the funeral potatoes to the stake center for the dinner! Shu-mani-tu-tonka Ob' Wa-chi! Do you see that we still need ham and a salad and the homemade rolls! Do you see that no one has set up the tables in the multi-purpose room! Shu-mani-tu-tonka Ob' Wa-chi!!!!!....."

A Song For You

Some Thanksgiving Pics - 2007

Chef BC

The "organic" turkey

No one told Kiley what her new pet turkey would become...
The cooks
The table

The Aspic

Mmmmmm...

Ernie, Tawnee & BC

Tawnee, Jeremy & Ernie

The kids' table

Tawnee

Tawnee & Dad

Zane, Jeremy & Ernie

Dad & Kids

Ernie

Ernie & Harrison

Grandpa Bob & Bella

My man and me

... again

November 2007

On our way to Neenaw's, riding the train - it was November, so our trip was in the dark all the way there.

Doing some kind of "kitty" pose here. I can't believe how much her hair has grown since then. (More pictures from the Neenaw trip later)

meow

Remember the movie Better Off Dead? That's what the attempt was here.

Bella's fall choir concert - quite an eventful evening. The bleachers fell down, the choir director had to direct the choir while playing the piano, and then she asked the audience for help with the next concert. That's how I happened to play for the Christmas concert.

Bella is on the top row, third from left.

Resting while the orchestra play something - the choir was mostly well-behaved

Whatevs

Blast from the Past

I've been busy scanning pictures over here at Neenaw's.  She's starting to think my butt is glued to the computer chair.

My tragic past

Here we are, on the patio, almost twenty years ago - me, Melanie, and The Missionary.  One thing I probably never told you about The Missionary is that he had a giant cotton ball for a head.  He was really helpful when I needed to take my nail polish off, but whenever I kissed him, I always got cottony fluff in my mustache.  That's the real reason why we broke up.  I finally thought, "I can't live my life like this" and told him to take his giant cotton ball noggin and hit the road.  He said, "It's because my head is a cotton ball, isn't it?" and I said, "Yes.  I'm sorry but it's just not going to work."  I figured, why lie?  Eventually he'll have to deal with this cotton ball head thing and maybe he'll do something about it.  What he could do about it, I don't know.  I do know I wasn't prepared to deal with a lifetime of being married to someone I would have to make excuses for.  "He can't sing in the choir, he has a cotton ball head."  "No, I have to be the breadwinner because he has a cotton ball head."  "I'd let him change the baby, but he can't really see what he's doing because of the cotton ball head."

Instead, I married Bunny, and it all worked out for the best.

The Good, The Bad and The Handsy

I had a marvelous weekend. I realize it's Sunday and my weekend is still in effect, but all I'm doing today is church and dinner with the missionaries, so I'm hoping it will be as uneventful as possible. But you just never know.

THE GOOD:
~ Friday evening, I went to the optical center and had my new glasses adjusted. How sweet to be able to see again. While waiting for Bunny to pick me up, I read a most interesting article in National Geographic about the early American settlement of Jamestown and how Europeans changed the very geography of America. According to the author, earthworms and honeybees were not to be found in North America until after the crossing of Columbus. (I'm not sure I believe this - the Indians didn't have flowers or fruit? Don't flowers and fruit trees need bees in order to be pollinated and repropagated? Does that seem weird to anyone else?) So if you like your apple trees and tulips, and squished sidewalk worms after rainstorms... you now know whom to thank.

~ At Olive Garden, Bunny had his favorite, ravioli di portobello, and the smoked mozzarella fonduta appetizer was heavenly yet again. I had pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

~ After dinner, we went to the mall. We chose our new Christmas ornament for the year at the Hallmark store - the Grinch under the Christmas tree, stuffing his sack with the Whos' gifts.

~ All night, there was a sweet sense of nice married-ness and I-can-tell-my-husband-anything-ness (more on that later).

~ No Cool Story picked me up Saturday morning and we drove to Seattle to visit our dearly beloved Carrot, who turned a year older that day. Now she's as old as we are again, till January. We had a fun, fun trip. NCS was very impressed with the above Columbus story.

~ I wore my David Bowie "Let's Dance" socks that Elastic gave me, since she could only be there in spirit.

~ We met Carrot's little family and we got to hold her baby. Awwwww. He's so fat and squishy and adorable. When we were in Colorado, Carrot and I betrothed our oldest children to each other (Bridge and Brynn - see? It's perfect), so when I walked in her door, Carrot said to Brynn, "Your mother-in-law's here!" Her house is very cute.

~ Lunch was good. The Chinese restaurant really, really liked Elton John. Ever hear "Honky Cat" as Musak? Most impressive. We laughed hard and took goofy pictures of ourselves and made people stare at us.

~ The computer-y lady on the electronic map was nice, and even when NCS lost her way, never said, "Why don't you pull over and let Millie drive?".

~ We got home safely last night with sweet, sweet, Carrot-y memories. And more food.

THE BAD:
~ Next time you're at Olive Garden, DO NOT order the Tuscan Garlic Chicken. Ewwww. There's a reason Bunny always orders the same thing - it's always good.

~ Carrot would not consent to our kidnapping her. So we had to leave her at her house.

~ We went shopping after lunch, only to find that almost none of the sequined formals we looked at were modest enough for the Sweetheart Ball next February, which I think we may have talked Carrot into showing up for. With Mr. Carrot, of course.

~ NCS had twinges of nausea during the day. Things were looking pretty scary there for a bit. Fortunately, the open car window did the trick.

THE HANDSY:
~ We hugged Carrot a lot. She even hugged me again when I brought her gift from the car (her boy Nicholas distracted her and she left it there by mistake). It made my heart go pitter-pat. We even commented on how huggy we've all become.

~ I wore clear nail polish. Ooooohhhh... pretty.

~ The Chinese restaurant gave us actual utensils instead of chopsticks.

~ I felt I was in capable hands all day with NCS' sweet driving skills.

~ I had my hands full while at the optical center, juggling my hot chocolate cup and the National Geographic.

~ Um...

~ (deep sigh of apprehension)

~ Give me strength, everyone.

~ This is kind of big.

~ I'm posting this at my own peril.

~ Really... try not to faint.

~ While at Sam Goody's at the mall Friday night, Bunny and I were CD-shopping. He likes that one song by Colbie what's-her-face, the one that sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. I left him to peruse the U2 DVDs, walked over to find her CD, brought it back, found him, showed him the CD with one hand, and put my other hand on his tushie.

~ Except... it wasn't Bunny.

~ He was wearing the exact same outfit, haircut, everything.

~ I cupped his bum, and he turned to look at me, like, "Yes? Did you need something?"

~ I looked at his face and said, "Oh... you are SOOOO not my husband. I'm so sorry."

~ He was very polite and said, "I thought it must be someone I knew."

~ Blushing hard, I nonchalantly walked over to Bunny, who had heard this exchange but had no idea his wife just had a close encounter of the strange man's buttock kind.

~ I giggled to myself all the way to Hallmark. The look on the guy's face. I could just imagine what he would tell his friends later. "Some chick grabbed my butt at Sam Goody's."

~ While I giggled, I screwed up my courage to tell Bunny. He had no idea of anything. I said, "Can I tell you something? You have to promise not to get mad."

~ He kind of promised.

~ I said, "You know that guy at Sam Goody's, the one in the aisle across from you? Well, I thought he was you and I went up to him to show him the CD and I..."

~ "Grabbed his butt?" He was, sadly, just kidding.

~ "Yes."

~ "WHAT!! You even have your new glasses on!"

~ "I know. I'm so sorry. He looked exactly like you. I didn't mean to."

~ "I know you didn't... aww, you're such a DORK." He laughed and hugged me. I have a bad habit of waving to people I think I know, then finding out... oops. I don't. The bright side is, I've set a precedent, so this unfortunate incident didn't come from out of the blue.

~ My two dear friends told me I should blog about it. I seriously debated it with myself. My mom and the ward Relief Society presidency members read my blog.

~ I have since instituted the "Don't grab a man's rear until you're sure it's Bunny's" rule. You'd think it would have been obvious well before now.

~ What you do with this sage advice... is in your hands.

Buying, Eating, and Playing With Your Cheese

"Sure, Millie, I've thought about buying those little Mini Babybel Original Cheeses," you're saying. "But the thought of convincing my husband I need them, unwrapping that daunting packaging, and eating and enjoying my Baby Cheeses is such a foreign idea that frankly, it gives me gas. What can I do?"

Friend, snort nasal spray and tank up on cabbage no more - we've all been there. As an oppressed Mormon wife who is only allowed outside on Jewish holidays - and even then, only while wearing a burka and a flowered apron - I can tell you that procuring these sweet little succulent cheeses for your gastronomical enjoyment is just a hop, skip, and a "Yes, master" away.

1) Convincing the Skeptical Spouse: While $3.48 for a pack of six at WinCo might seem a little spendola, too bad. You need them. They're just so cute. Look at that package of adorable little cheeses in their happy red netting wrapper. Wouldn't you love to get little cheeses like that and have them in your fridge for snack time? Wouldn't it make you happy every time you walked by your fridge, just to know that they're there? And best of all, they're made by The Laughing Cow. There's nothing but happy snacking when you eat these cheeses. I say, whine and throw a fit and kick and scream in the aisle until your errant husband puts them in the shopping cart for you. Better yet, go shopping by yourself and eat them on the way home from the store. He'll never be the wiser.

2) Actually Opening the Thing: Now stay with me. There are a few steps to this tricky process but I promise they're worth your time.

Look above at the net bag covering the cheeses. It appears as though the netting is tied together in teensy little knots, right? But this is an illusion, as the netting is actually fused together by a mysterious net-fusing process. Rending a nice hole in the netting couldn't be easier - just pop in a finger and give a big yank. Not too big, you don't want to rip so gaping a hole that the rest of the cheeses fall out - just big enough to get one cheese out. (You big cheese hog.)

Each cheese is covered by a crinkly red plastic wrapper. Find a convenient corner and delicately tear the wrapper. If a convenient corner can't be found, find something sharp - scissors, perhaps - and cut a small hole in the wrapper. BE CAREFUL - you're wielding a sharp instrument near your very precious body. Don't be in such a snit to get the thing open that you slice yourself open. This should be a happy experience, not a "I wanted cheese but instead I ended up with an I.V. and 45 stitches" experience. Please don't hurt yourself, or the delicious little cheese inside.

3. Really Getting Your Money's Worth: Once the red plastic wrapper is gone, you will find that the cheese has been encased in a tight red wax covering. Don't panic! It's easy to get inside. Simply find the white plastic tab protruding from the red wax casing and gently pull. See how easy that is? And look what you have as a result:

You have a red wax Pac-Man! Sure! After you remove the cheese from its layers of wrapping and begin to enjoy its cheesy deliciousness, have some fun with Pac-Man. Be careful with Pac-Man - the wax is fragile. I know, it was hard enough to open that you'd think it would withstand some pressure, but alas. It's pretty weak stuff.

This can work to your advantage, however. When Pac-Man is squished after a few moments of play (as he inevitably will be), just look at the fun options you can try.

Break Pac-Man apart, and voila, you've got a fun red pair of wax lips to mold to your mouth. Go around with those on for a while and make your kids laugh. Or make them scared. Make your neighbors think you've had collagen injections gone horribly wrong. Make those lips your own, honey. After all the work you've done to get this far, by all means, have some stinkin' fun with them. They'll be gone soon enough.

Now again, remember, that wax doesn't stay together long, so after your lip fun has met its tragic end by falling off your face and onto your lap, take one of the lips and mold it to your nose. Look, you're Rudolph! And what's great about the nose idea is you can do it with a friend. What a sweet moment, bonding over leftover cheese wax. Ah, the memories you'll create with that special someone...

Next time you hear those little cheeses cry out to you from the deli case, don't be afraid. Don't be intimidated. Don't tell the check-out lady they're actually for the kids. You enjoy the heck right out of those little cheeses. Come on... you know you want to.