Indigo Robe

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Mum likes reading, decorating, shopping with the girls, and Starbucks. She also feels funny writing in the 3rd person. Papa (also known as Sparky) is currently looking at me with a blank stare having asked him to add something about himself to the blog. (Now he wants to say something) The only thing he loves more in life than music and Coke is his wife and kids. (Awww...) :) Little Lotte is a genius on the computer and makes me fall over laughing every day with her quick wit. She loves computers and animals. Sweet Pea abandoned her family and moved to Phoenix for work and is now married as of 2/28/06. She is beautiful and smart and the most nurturing person I know. She gave me the greatest gift ever when she made me a grandmother. I am the proud Mum Mum to Andrew Christopher. There are no words to describe the joy of having a grandson!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Song Bugs

Does anyone else still have random Christmas Carols popping up in their heads all day long?

Thursday, December 28, 2006

3


Three names you go by:
1. Mrs. Writing Teacher (Yeah, that would be my fault. See, I didn’t emphasize my name to the first and second graders. I explained that we raise our hand when we want to speak to the teacher. SO to avoid hearing Mrs. Dautrich! Mrs. Dautrich! and having to manage that behavior, I explained that there was really no need to memorize my name - simply raise your hand when you want me. Harry Wong would have been so proud! Unfortunately, there is that pesky thing called the bell curve and there are students who, no matter WHAT brilliant management tool I propose, will call my name. And I still have to manage that behavior even though the procedure HAS been taught and re-taught and re-taught. (Take THAT Harry Wong!)

Editor’s Note: If you are a teacher - you are nodding your head in complete agreement with me with a “I hear ya, sista!” swirling in your brain. If you are NOT a teacher, you are wondering why you bothered to read all of this fluff and are thinking about unsubscribing to my blog.

2. HoneyBunches (Sparky calls me that often)

3. Mum/Mama (Mum is becauseSweet Pea went to Scotland and ever since then, I’ve been Mum. Mama is because Little L’s favorite book is Mama, Do You Love Me?)

Oh wait - so you didn’t want detailed information about each question? Fine!

Three physical things you like about yourself:
1. My eyes
2.My calves/ankles
3. My hands

Three physical things you don’t like about yourself:
1. My profile
2. My thighs
3. My upper arms

Three parts of your heritage:
1. Irish
2. Welsh
3. Scottish (There is some German in there but we don’t talk about that so much because Sparky is completely German and that dilutes the Irish in my kiddos so we don’t even mention it!)

Three things that scare you:
1. death
2. cancer
3. loud noises

Three of your everyday beauty essentials:
1. shower with Yardley of London Lavendar Body wash
2. moisturizer from Origins for face
3. mascara (waterproof from Clinique)

Three of your favorite musical artists: IMPOSSIBLE TO PICK THREE but today they would be...
1. Eagles, Don Henley to be exact
2. Chicago (so old school, so classic)
3. Amy Grant (reminds me of my days as a young mother)
I have to have a 4. Frank Sinatra (those were the days!) In fact, I would put Mr. Sinatra at the 2. spot and remove Chicago if I had to.

(It’s raining outside, just so you know! That is quite the event in the desert!) LOVE. The. RAIN!!!

Three of your favorite songs:
1. Moon River used to be my favorite but it’s losing the sparkle it once had. The melody used to slay me but now I can take it or leave it. (What did I just say?!?!?!) Lately I have enjoyed so much Amy - there is a song : EVERY ROAD

Every road that’s traveled
Leads to something new
And every road that’s narrow
Pushes us to choose
Now I’d be lying if I said
I had not tried to leave a time or two
But every road that leads me
Leads me back to you.

(I love you, Sparky)
2. Write a Song of Love (Earth, Wind & Fire)
3. Come Fly With Me (lame choice cause I CANNOT BE FORCED TO JUST CHOOSE THREE!!!!)
If I were to pull up itunes right now, I would never be able to just pick three!

Three things you want in a relationship:
1. Kindness
2. Love
3. Forgiveness

Three lies and truths in no particular order:
LIES:
1. You can be anything you want to be. (If you know the right person or have the right money, that MIGHT be true but otherwise...)
2. Live and let live. Some people have no right to live and cannot be rehabilitated (pedophiles, child molestors, etc.)
3. M & M’s DO melt in your hand.

TRUTH:
1. I have the best husband in the world. Sorry, gals.
2. I have the best daughters in the world. Sorry, other moms.
3. You cannot eat just one Lay’s Potato Chip (SOOO TRUE!)


Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you:
1. eyes
2. hair
3. hands


Three of your favorite hobbies:
1. reading
2. writing
3. shopping

Three things you want to do really badly now:
1. I haven’t had a Starbucks in 4 days so that would be nice!
2. Win the lottery so Sparky and I can retire and garden, cook, and other stuff all day. (Oh yeah, and pay for a house for SweetPea and college for Little Lottie.)
3. start drinking more water - I’ve been hitting the diet soda a little too hard.


Three careers you’re considering/you’ve considered:
1. Considered: flight attendant
2. Joining the Navy (what the freak was I thinking?!?!?!)
3. trophy wife (to Sparky, of course)

Three places you want to go on vacation:
1. Paris
2. Ireland
3. Hawaii

Three kid’s names you like:
1. Catherine
2. Robin
3. Erin

Three things you want to do before you die:
1. See my grandchildren graduate
2. Visit Paris
3. build our dream cottage

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl:
1. I cry for no reason every once in awhile
2. I scream when I see a bug or rodent
3. I like to have doors opened for me

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy:
1. I am kind of straight to the point when I lead meetings
2. I like when others clean the toilet for me
3. I feel responsible for my family financiallly

Three celeb crushes:
1. Paul McCartney
2. Don Henley
3. Johnny Depp
(not in that order)

Three things you ate today...
1. a cup of tea
2. nothing else
3.I am about to eat a mini milano cookie (chocolate covered)

For Sparky...

You Should Wear Peep Toe Heels

Detail oriented and smart both describe your wardrobe.
Your outfits are full of fun little surprises, like these shoes!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Another picture from the Great Tubac Tour of 2006


Because you never know when you might just need a salty snack while browsing the galleries...

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas


Taking a break from making Christmas dinner and thought I would say hello. I injured my pinky so typing (well, at least using the shift key) is not easy. I cut it on a christmas card envelope from my mother in law. Wahhh.

Anyway, I was reading a few blogs and I am not happy with mothers who blog about how they WISH they had a silent night and how freakin' busy they are, etc. ENJOY the noise, the excitement, the joy of those babies in their anticipation of Santa cause it REALLY DOES go by fast. We enjoyed an early Christmas at Sweet Pea's home and are sooo happy for that but I do miss the mornings of my little girls waking us at pre-dawn, breathless and whispering - "Merry Christmas! Wake up - Santa's been here!" So enjoy, Mommies - it will fly by much too fast and you will no longer want those Silent Nights.

Ok, here is something more cheereful :)

1. What is guaranteed to make you smile over the holidays?

Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation over a great pizza with my Sparky and the girls.

2. What makes you weepy during the holidays?

For some reason, I get really nostaligic for my parents - the memories they made for me - priceless. We always got our tree on Christmas Eve because that is when they either gave them away free or we paid less than $5.00 for one. I always had walnuts and an orange in my stocking. I got one present from my stocking on Christmas Eve. I only had one gift to open on Christmas day but I gotta tell you, it made it that much more special. I will have to see if I have a picture of me as a child. I don't have many at all but I am pretty sure I have a few from my childhood Christmases. I also remember getting a doll house one year, shopping downtown at night in Chester, Pa. in the snow. The decorations all lit up on the telephone or light poles and the snow sparkling at night. I just had it good. I had NOTHING compared to what my own girls have today but I didn't know that - I loved the holidays!

3. How will you spend Christmas Eve and Day?

Christmas Eve was fun. We made some sandwiches and dip and chips and watched Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. During the day we went to the Phoenix Zoo (pics to come) and then that night we drove home to Tucson.
4. What was your most memorable Christmas and why?

I feel like I answered this already - Sparky and I - our second Christmas together - living in an apartment in Reading, an old Victorian rowhouse. We looked out - dark and just the street lights shining on the snow - sparkles galore - and quiet as anything and we hear a faint but hearty "Ho! Ho! Ho!" It was just magical. :)

5. Christmas form letters from friends -- pro or con?

I like to get them although I don't send one.

6. In your home is Christmas more of a religious or secular observance?

Great question - a mixture?

7. What is your favorite Christmas Carol?

O Come Immanuel

8. What is your deepest prayer for the world this Christmas?

Let's be nice to everyone. That's it. It covers it all.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Must.Relax.


Finally work is done for the year. The gifts are wrapped, the stockings stuffed, the groceries bought and put away. I wanted to tell you about Luminaria Nights at Tubac but I might have done that already so I'll post the pics later. In the meantime, enjoy this picture I took in Tubac last weekend.

We are headed to Sweet Pea and Mr. Sweet Pea's house today. We will spend Christmas Eve with them and come back home tomorrow night. (They both work on Christmas Day) I am looking forward to eating the world's best mushroom pizza and watching Christmas Vacation tonight with my family all around me. I cannot tell you how much I love them. I don't want to cry ( I get a little emotional at Christmas) so I had better stop.

I'll have more time to update in the coming days now that work is pretty much off my mind. I love my job - love the kids! But the grown-ups.... ahhhhhhh..... anyway ENOUGH!!! Back to the happy!!! :)

Merry Christmas (but I hope to post on Christmas Eve when we get home from Phoenix just to say how great a time we had but just in case!) and Happy New Year! :)

Monday, December 18, 2006

I done good!

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%
 

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

Saturday, December 16, 2006

SUMMARY OF MY LAST YEAR ON THE COMPUTER

*** I did NOT write this but found it on one of my decorating sites. :)

I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.
(Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.)

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica , Uganda , Singapore , and Uzbekistan ..

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us.. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

Oh, and don't forget this one either! I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's
ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician...

Have a wonderful day....

A South American scientist from Argentina , after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain and sexual activity read their e-mail with their hand on the mouse.

Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

Friday, December 15, 2006

The finished floor!








I am behind in my posting. We had a great weekend - going to Tubac for the luminarias and I have pictures to share but first things first!

Here are the floors in the various stages of doneness! This took two weekends - not solid time though. IN between the few hours spent laying the floor, we made several trips to Lowe's and Ace Hardware where Sparky discovered the joys of power tools. He is now the proud owner of several plug in tools that aided in the laying of the floor. Notice the good old fashioned hammer on the left of the picture showing the finished floors. That's the ONLY tool I care to use!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Should I or Shouldn't I ???

I am using the internet as my giant 8 ball.

Help me out here, internet.

Should I or shouldn't I ?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

The perfect ending to a wonderful weekend...

Finally, Thanksgiving!











Highlights: (Sorry the pics are not in order - you'll have to figure it all out!)

Dinner with Sweet Pea and Mr. Sweet Pea at their apartment. We all got to cook together, MAJOR FUN!!! That evening we went to the movies to see Happy Feet. Sparky and I stayed and snuck into another movie - Deck the Halls. God, in his infinite wisdom, allowed us to do this so we could learn our lesson. It's the only movie I have EVER walked out on. It was THAT bad. I kept looking at my watch, yawning, hoping, just praying for some good dialogue. Maybe I was expecting too much since National Lampoon's Christmas vacation is my favorite holiday movie.

Another highlight was our annual trip to Red Rocks Fantasy of Lights in Sedona, Az. Took lots of pics there but will spare everyone. That night was cold and walked around drinking hot chocolate and laughing. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

The next day, we drove back to Tucson to watch the U of A vs. Az. State game. Ouch. That's all I can say. Also, note to self: get tickets EARLY next time so we don't have to sit in the ASU fan section!!! Did enjoy the sunset from the stadium though!

Finally on Sunday, Sweet Pea left to return to that bad place called Phoenix but we ended the weekend once again with wonderful memories. I wonder where Thanksgiving will be next year?

Saturday, December 09, 2006

I'm moving to France


How can you NOT love a country that has a law against machine made bread?!?!?!

Picky and proud of it: Paris' top baguettes
POSTED: 11:41 a.m. EST, December 8, 2006

By Ellise Pierce
Budget Travel
Adjust font size:


(Budget Travel Online) -- Believe it or not, the humble baguette was headed for extinction not long ago. In the 1960s, boulangeries scrapped old-style methods in favor of industrialized baking, and the bread lost its flavor.

But the French came to their senses by 1998. It's now against the law for a boulangerie to make bread by machine (it must be mixed and baked on-site) and good loaves are once again on the rise. In Paris, there's even a Grand Prix de la Baguette to name the best of the year. (Budget Travel's Paris Snap Guide)

At most boulangeries, the least expensive baguette (often referred to as "ordinaire" and costing less than a euro) will not reflect the full talents of the baker. Spring for a baguette "traditionelle" or any of the house's other special loaves. Here are five places to get the very best.

A block west of the Jardins du Luxembourg, Bread & Roses is well-known for its celeb clientele. (Among the frequent customers are actress Catherine Deneuve and designer Inès de la Fressange.) But the nearly two-year-old organic boulangerie is also making a name for itself with its Puissance Dix baguette ($2). Literally translated, the name means "the power of 10," a reference to the 10 flours -- including chestnut, buckwheat, corn and rye --incorporated into the dough. 7 rue de Fleurus, 6th arr., 011-33/1-42-22-06-06. Métro: Notre-Dame-des-Champs.

In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Le Quartier du Pain turns out eight different kinds of baguettes -- some flavored with olives, herbs or bacon -- six days a week (closed Sundays). In 1997, master baker Frédéric Lalos ---just 26 at the time -- was named one of the best bakers in France. Before Lalos mixes sunflower, flax and sesame seeds into the dough for his Baguette Céréale ($2), he toasts them, to bring out maximum flavor. 74 rue Saint-Charles, 15th arr., 011-33/1-45-78-87-23. Métro: Charles-Michels.

At Le Moulin de la Vierge, a boulangerie housed in a mill built in 1356, Basile Kamir bakes his baguettes in an antique wood-burning oven out back. In 1975, when he bought the place, Kamir introduced his clients to sourdough, a leavening agent now used in an organic wheat baguette called the Flute Bio ($1.75). It's the perfect foil for the artisanal fig, raspberry and clementine jams from Burgundy ($6.25) that are also sold on the premises. 105 rue Vercingétorix, 14th arr., 011-33/1-45-43-09-84. Métro: Pernety.

Anis Bouabsa took over Au Duc de la Chapelle in 2005, and at 27, he's already placed in the Grand Prix de la Baguette. One taste of his Baguette Tzara ($1.25) is an indication why. He doesn't use a levain (sourdough starter), so there's a sweet rather than sour taste, and his dough is kneaded entirely by hand. The result: bread that's light, airy and moist, with a crust that tastes faintly of caramel. 32-34 rue Tristan Tzara, 18th arr., 011-33/1-40-38-18-98. Métro: Marx Dormoy.

The whole-wheat La Monge baguette ($1.25) is the most popular loaf at Eric Kayser, a chain of boulangeries with eight locations in Paris, including the original on rue Monge. The baguette takes 12 hours to produce and uses a secret blend of flours. The La Monge can be found on some of Paris's top tables, including upscale bistro Dominique Bouchet. 8 rue Monge, 5th arr., 011-33/1-44-07-01-42. Métro: Maubert-Mutualité.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

I know, I know


So I just realized I never posted the update on the missing hamster. He was caught the next morning by Little Lottie and put back in his glass home.

I also realize I thought I would get to the Thanksgiving pics but that didn't happen today. I spent the morning laying the hardwood floor in the dining room with Sparky. I did take pics and um, yeah, sure, I'll get them posted too.

And then I worked on checking all of my family stocking stuffers. I am doing pretty good. I only have some candy and tangerines and walnuts and then I am done! I also got all my Secret Santa stuff ready for work. You WISH you were my secret santa cause I rock. I don't re-gift for secret santa so that ALONE makes me rock in the world of secret santa. I really had fun shopping for my secret santa. It's someone I love and work with every day. We sit close to each other and she is the best co-worker so it's going to be good.

I wish I were more witty but I am just a little tired. Happy tired!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Yeah, I Know


I know, I know. I still have to post about the great Thanksgiving weekend and show pics but life is busy and we went Christmas shopping today and Sparky bought me Amy Grant Greatest Videos and I had to choose between uploading T day pics or watching my new DVD and well - Amy won. I'll get to it tomorrow, I HOPE! :)

Just know that life is mmm, mmm, Good!