Finally - Wicked

Kenzie's so happy she finally got to see the Broadway show "Wicked" playing at ASU's Gammage theatre to a packed enthusiastic crowd. Quite the production well worth going. It was a fun mother daughter event we'll never forget. Before the play we went shopping on Mill Ave. found
a good deal on Madden Girl sandals and Kenzie found a shirt at "Urban Outfitters" and another fun little boutique was called "So Oh". We ate pizza at Slices. Didn't get home till after 11 p.m. (I could of used a nap that afternoon). I kept falling asleep in the show. Kenzie kept nudging me to wake up. It really was a great show.

I Did Not Know

TThis was sent to me by my friend Darla, I did not know about any of these things. And now I'm glad I know. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. Store your open ed chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm! Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works. Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up. Expanding Frosting When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving. Reheating refrigerated bread To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster. Newspaper weeds away Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for- get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers. Broken Glass Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily. No More Mosquitoes Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away. Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. Flexible vacuum To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow open ings. Reducing Static Cling Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone. Measuring Cups Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! Re open ing envelopes If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily. Conditioner Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair. Goodbye Fruit Flies To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever! Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the drye r sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share! Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it .. the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about! .

Riding High on the 4th of July

This picture was taken on the 4th of July 1970. I was riding my first horse "Bonnie" in the
Claremont 4th of July Parade in my hometown in Southern Calif. Our 4-H Club would always
enter our horses in the parade. This dress I was wearing was my grandmothers antique dress
she let me borrow. As you can see I was riding side saddle on a western saddle (which was sort
of hard to do.) My horse was a parade horse and was known to have been ridden in the Rose Parade years earlier. She would get very excited and prance in place. She also knew several tricks - she could bow, count with her hoof, laugh at my jokes, and shake her head to say "yes".
We are riding down main street (I can see one looker on)
Here we are riding in front of Pomona College where my parents went to college, met and got married and raised their family in their college hometown.
I got Bonnie from my neighborhood friend/riding instructor Pam Hart. When she went away to
college she gave me the horse which I kept in my backyard. I got Bonnie when she was 18 years
old and lived to be 21 years old. She was a great horse. I went on to have 2 other horses, "Popcorn" who was unbreakable and was sent to the rodeo by my trainer. And then I got Benjoe who was a really sweet Buckskin Quarter Horse. I'll write up a special blog on him. I also rode in the 1976 Bicentennial 4th of July Parade in Prescott, Arizona, while I was a camp counselor at Friendly Pines Camp. I taught horseback riding at the camp. Someday I'll get back up there to see the parade and go to the oldest rodeo in America.

Check it out...

Pita Jungle - only in Arizona (8 locations) Food is fresh and healthy and people were fun and creative (that's what the brochure said anyway). This was across from MCC

Jon's favorite - Chicken Combo Platter. He had just ridden his bike 100 miles today and
wanted something healthy that would fill him up.
If you like healthy eating and fast service "CHECK IT OUT". I got the Mediterranean Roasted Chichen (Shawarma)
Hummus appetizer, my favorite was the Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus.

Old Friendships

Colie and Kenzie have been friends since Kindergarten. Colie moved to Wisconsin and comes
back to visit family once a year. I caught the girls just laughing hysterically over old photos.
Check it out....

Free Coldplay Download

My favorite song is Viva La Vida from Coldplay - you can get it free!
Check it out....DID YOU GET YOUR FREE LIVE ALBUM YET?

Coldplay's terrific new live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft, is still available to download free from Coldplay.com. If you haven't got hold of your copy yet, then we heartily recommend clicking here to get one (heck, even Pitchfork liked it!). The album will, of course, also be given away on CD to everybody attending Coldplay's remaining shows this year (excluding festivals). If you've downloaded the live album already and feel suitably inspired to check out some more Coldplay music, then you can download Viva La Vida (and all of the band's other albums) from your local iTunes store by clicking iTunes.com/Coldplay.

Service Rendered

This looks kind of creepy...but it's the LDS Humanitarian Center where lots of service is rendered. These are models for the Easter Pageant, this is where they sew the costumes for the pageant. Our Young Women and Relief Society went down and sewed school book bags.
It was fun using the sewing machines, I had never sewn on a surger before.
The room is very organized with all sorts of material, jewelry, and anything you'd need to make
a Pageant costume. There's other rooms where people are sewing quilts, cleaning and repairing
dolls, I come down every other week to get more yarn for my friend Dolores who has made over
438 crocheted snow caps for the needy. Her goal is to make 1000 hats, she keeps me very busy supplying her with all the yarn.
These girls don't look too happy, but it is a happy place with everyone busy doing good. Busy
hands make happy hands.