Staying in touch with folks from coast to coast. Alternatively, we could all move back home and take over a section of Rapid Valley. That would be fun too! In the meantime, post your stories and pictures here.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Poker - Part I
After the gang gets the boot from Deadwood, they resort to gambling in private where daughters, sons, husbands and wives get thrown under the bus and the cheating is out of control.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Happy Birthday Mom
Birthday messages for mom and a movie promo: "Ernie and Bert go to South Dakota".
Happy Birthday Dad!
Brian upgraded our video editing software and I've been having some fun playing with it. My first project was working with a little video I took the last time I was home in October. This is a little birthday memento for mom.
For my second project I worked with photos from the CD I made a number of years ago. It is a birthday tribute to dad.
Both of these could use much more thought and editing. They are both somewhat random in content. My goal was to FINISH something without being too much of a perfectionist. Once I get a better grasp of the video software, I'll take more care to develop a work plan that lends itself to a much tighter production. Just the same, I rather like the end product for both of these pieces. I hope you enjoy them too.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
I thought this might be a good time to revive this ol' blog.
The snow is gently falling and for the first time this year it is accumulating, though not too much. It is a perfect November day, albeit a little gray. The snow started yesterday when Brian and I dodged out of work an hour early to enjoy a glass of merlot and a bowl of gumbo at a neighborhood tavern where the locals were toasting to the holiday and cursing stores like Target and the Mall of America.
This morning I dragged Brian out for a walk (He was happy to join me, but I like to think that I make him do stuff he might not have done as a bachelor, free to sit around in his underwear watching football on his day off). We just got in from a stroll around the park after ducking into the May Day Cafe for something to warm my hands, coffee’s true purpose.
The other day as I was walking down the alley on my way to the bus stop a familiar neighborhood character whom I recognized from his regular expeditions scouting for discarded items for which there may still be some use (To put it less delicately, he's a dumpster diver.), made a comment in the same thick Vietnamese accent I have come to know after many years with the same mechanic whom I understand no better than I might understand a Berlin shopkeeper with just one year of college German under my belt, and many years ago at that. I get the gist of his point (For example, I’m going to be left stranded in the middle of a blizzard on a deserted highway if I don’t change some belts that aren’t just there for show) and hope there aren’t any gross misunderstandings like he meant 1500 dollars not 150. So far so good.
I saw the scavenger coming up the alley and my first instinct is the avoid him, which becomes impossible once he greets me.
“Good morning!” He says. He catches up to me and says something about the coffee that I have cupped in my hands. Prompted by what must have been a perplexed look on my face he repeats himself (unlike the case with my mechanic, there is no context in which to communicate with this guy who could be talking about anything under the sun.).
"Your coffee smells good. Is it hot?"
Because I can never remember to bring the insulated coffee cups home from work, except for the quarterly roundup of Tupperware, silverware and assorted mugs when they are dutifully carted home, I am carrying just a regular old cup, one that Brian brought home as a souvenir from his last trip home. It's an oversized Red Sox cup and completely inadequate for a walk to the bus stop six blocks away on any day let alone a cold one. My coffee will be stone cold by the time I make it to Bloomington Avenue, the half way point to my stop. I'll have to dump whatever I don't drink (or spill, there’s no lid of course) before boarding the 21. Hopefully caffeine is good for the tree that tends to be the recipient of my wasteful inefficiency. But on certain days, it's worth it to get in couple of sips a few steps past driveway, like training wheels to get you going before you can fly down the street unassisted. For this another cup ends up at work and the cycle continues. So be it. I love my coffee and take great comfort in bringing it with me for however long I can as I venture out of the security of my home. I feel the same way about my cat. I would take her with me everywhere if Wilson and I could see eye-to-eye on this.
I tell the man that I'll have to drink fast and he laughs. I try to think of a way to share a little coffee with him that wouldn't be awkward, but there is none. I want to give him the entire cup to keep for himself because he deserves it more than I do. I notice that my coffee does smell good and I am impressed that he could appreciate a whiff from a distance. I want to thank him for bringing it to my attention, but that would be stupid. We have a chuckle and wave good-bye. I head east toward the bus and he heads west, probably toward another dumpster that looks promising. I hope there is a pot of coffee waiting for him at home after a hard day’s work.
Today I am reminded to notice and be thankful for the simple pleasures in life. I hope I never have so much that the simple pleasures are completely lost on me.
To the simple pleasures! May they always be yours. A cup of coffee. A walk in the park. A good view. A bowl of hot soup. The snow gently falling on a perfect November day, as it should (unless you happen to be teeing off somewhere in Hawaii). A good bed. Comfortable shoes. A roof. Family. Friends. Health. The usual stuff. I am thankful for those fleeting moments when I am completely overwhelmed by all that I have.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Question for Sarah!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
TRY THIS! TRY THIS! TRY THIS!
I HAVE to brag about the amazing Chinese I just made for dinner, and I DEMAND that you all try it, because there's nothing not to love!!!!
-2.5 Cups of water
-.5 Cup of Tamari (type of soy sauce, DO NOT use normal Kikuman because it will be too salty)
-2 Tablespoons of corn starch
-3-4 Garlic cloves
-A squirt of Lemon Juice
-Crushed red pepper, add what you want, to make it super spicey (my favorite) mild or whatever, but you gotta have it.
Blend this all up on liquefy until it's all liquid (thus, liquefy :)
1. Take whatever your favorite veggies are, I like peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, and baby corn
and steam them in butter or veggie oil. If you want meat, (I used Pork) brown it while your sauce is blending.
2. When the sauce is done being liquefied, pour some in the veggies that are steaming, and pour the rest in with the meat and let the meat finish cooking in the sauce.
3. When the veggies are done, add the whole mess to the meat and let it simmer for about 5 to10 minutes and let it thicken.
*******Make some rice while all this is going on and you will have a mini (but not the same of course) SAIGON!!! At least that's what it reminded me of.
This is enough for Derek and I and a little left over for like lunch the next day, if you want more just double everything.
PLEASE try this I'm not lying, it'll be one of your favorites.
I rock at inventing things :)
Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day!!!!!!!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Sometimes it's wrong to laugh, but I can't help it!
It's a good cause so I'm not supposed to laugh when they let someone who knew someone who knew someone completely humiliate herself by doing a rendition of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" complete with choreographed Up With People head bobs and pantomimed birds and lemons dropping or lemon drops dropping or whatever the hell. A mix of harsh judgement and the kind of guilt I feel whenever I see a piece of furniture that I find to be absolutely hideous has given me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I force myself to recall something about how once music reaches God's ears, it's all the same. That's what the Reverend Bob McBride used to say. Then I remember that I am not God.
I think of that lady in church who used to sing high above the rest of the congregation in this wretched voice and how mom would pinch us if we showed any signs of breaking up because if we did, she would lose it too and there would be no one there to pinch her. Pretty soon all of us would be hunched over, biting our lips, reciting the Lord's Prayer over and over in our minds as not to conspicuously laugh and embarass the woman and perhaps even her entire family.
It's no use. I cannot stop laughing at the expense of this poor woman on the telethon who's heart must have been full with anticipation leading up to this very moment. It does not help that Brian is in tears next to me and that our mothers are too far away to give us a good pinch.
From guilt and pity, I am obliged to be more hopeful. Perhaps a midnight spot following an Outback Steakhouse segment with John Madden on Jerry’s Telethon will be just the right break and ten years from now Jay Leno will play the old clip for a good laugh. By then this woman who had me reluctantly doubled over in laughter will have the benefit of perspective. She'll wonder where in the hell were her friends when she chose a cheap black dress for her debut, a dress that draws attention to her pale skin and flabby arms that jiggle whenever she indicates there is a rainbow somewhere over there, and over there, look, birds flying. She'll wonder why in the hell no one pointed out that she might not look so dorky on national television if she would just remember that her elbows were not hinged at the hips.
Brian loves the telethon precisely for the cheese factor. He eats it up. It is not something I had a taste for as a kid or even now that I can look at it with a more discerning eye. For me, it's right up there with the Macy's Day Parade. There is just something really depressing about watching a parade on TV, just like there is something a little depressing about flying Tony Orlando in from Branson to sing "Tears from Heaven" in tribute to another soul lost to MS. It’s the emotional clenching of the fists that gets me. I don't know what to do with made-for-tv grief. So I laugh.
I was a little under the weather last night. This morning I'm pretty out of it with some really bad congestion. I think the telethon sent me over the edge. I might have faired better had I put away a suitcase of Budweiser and sucked down a pack of smokes. I feel pretty bad and I blame Jerry.
All of that said, Jerry Lewis has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. His dedication to finding a cure for MS is amazing. I can't imagine who could replace him. He's bringing in the money and once again showing what people can do when they pull together. Now, that can bring a genuine tear to your eye.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Halibut!!!!
Kat's Halibut Recipe:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
-Take the halibut steaks and wash them off and roll them in flour.
-Then take the steaks and cover with melted butter and then roll it in bread crumbs.
-Take some lemon juice and squeeze over the steaks when they're on the pan.
-Throw them in the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes, I flipped mine about half way though and then squeezed lemon on the other side of them.
I also experimented with Portabella Mushrooms:
-Wash and cut the mushrooms into half inch thick slices.
-Drop the slices in a bowl of oil or melted butter.
-Let the excess oil dip off and put them on a plate and sprinkle with onion salt, salt, and pepper.
-I baked the mushrooms in a brownie pan with the gills of the mushrooms facing up at 400 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes.
We also made Roman lettuce salad:)
Derek said that it was better then his mom's halibut!!! It was my first time too!!! I was very proud of myself that I actually made a decent dinner :)
I highly recommend trying it :)
Let me know what you think!!!!!!
<3
Monday, August 27, 2007
TV Show
Sunday, August 26, 2007
He went to some kind of party at the school which was off base. Your Mom and I think some of you guys spent a lot of time wrapping himn up as a mummy. The problem came about when whoever it was giving him a ride back to the base didn't have a base decal on their car and couldn't get on base. Mike decided to solve this problem by going thru the woods and thru a hole in the fence. Mike would have to confirm this but what I think what happened is the security police seen him and gave chase. I was working that night at the teen center and everybody was talking about this mummy being chased through base housing, I had no idea they were talking about Mike. I think Mike told me that by the time he got home, police never did catch him, most of the wrappings had come off in the chase. Long time ago!!!!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
FLU ALERT!!!!!!
What are everyone's plans for the weekend? Derek is taking me out to dinner tonite :) I guess to some amazing Mexican restaurant in Kuna where he lives (about 20 minutes from Boise) and then to a movie I believe. Saturday I think we're going to hang out with some of our friends, and then Sunday is....SEAFOOD SUNDAY!! Derek and I always go out and feed the ducks in the park then stop by the grocery store and pick up a TON of seafood and go back to my house and make it :) Sundays have started to become my favorite day because of it :) then of course chuch at 7:30
Well I wish everyone a good safe weekend!! TGIF!!!!! Woot!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Getting rid of stuff brings up stuff

Take a good look at the sheets on the bed on the right where I am. I still have them, or at least the flat sheet. It's in my attic along with an assortment of other mismatched sets. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, that's Sarah on the cot next to me.
A friend is having a garage sale this Saturday and and he invited me to bring over whatever I wanted to sell. Because it isn't likely that I'll get around to organizing my own sale, I'll lug a carload of stuff over to St. Paul to see if I can get any money for sheets that are at least 20 years old and other odds and ends that I have collected over the years.
Actually, that isn't much, really. When I moved to Minneapolis 10 years ago, I basically fit everything I had into a hatchback. Apparently, these sheets made the cut for some reason.
It's especially hard to part with things that were gifts, or things that remind me of a certain time in my life, like the boom box that Mom and Dad got me when I graduated from college. It's the same one that they have (or had?) in their living room for many years. Whenever I think of Mom and Dad's boom box, Ann Murray is singing Christmas songs on it. As for mine, the tape deck quit working practically the day that I got it. The CD player eventually went too, which means that it's basically a radio which I keep in he laundry room. Maybe I'll want a radio like that in the laundry room of the house Brian and I enventually buy.
As I sift through the boxes in the attic, one minute I think it's best to unload this stuff. The next minute I think that an extra TV set might come in handy for a guest room or the garage. Then I think, we've got five TV sets between the two of us, not counting a pocket-sized set that Brian uses to keep track of baseball games while I dash into a store. I don't even like television! Then I think, I remember getting that set for Christmas. Amy got one exactly like it.
Good grief.
Where is everyone?
On Sunday, July 19, 2007 I was baptized again. It was one of the most memorable and emotional experiences of my life that I will never forget. It was actually at a church function that the Calvery church I attend was having and at the end of the celebration, you had a chance to be baptized in the Boise River. Derek (my boyfriend) his dad and I all went down to the bank and I was baptized fully clothed, dunked and everything :) It was just a great feeling to wash away all my previous sins and start over again. I highly suggest it.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
QuOTeD #1
For the first question, we'll draw from current events.
Q: Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when Elvis died?