When the depression comes again . . .

When the depression comes again, will I collect cottage cheese cartons and their lids?  And rubber bands and string?  Will dinner be chunks of bread dipped in last week's gravy?  Will meat night be fried Spam or wieners cut in half?  Will I learn to darn our socks or have shoes repaired instead of buying new ones? Will I use the lining in an old coat to make a new blouse?Will we take cod liver oil to stay healthy?

When the depression comes again, will my fixed income dry up?  Will I lose my house and live with my children or in my storage unit?  Or will my children move in with me?  Will we give each other haircuts to save money and will beggars walk door to door for food?  Will I keep a couple of chickens on the enclosed patio for eggs?    Will I rummage through trash cans, stand in a soup line and march on Washington?  Will I lose my teeth?

Or will my life continue with a moderate tightening of the belt and instead of dinners out with friends, we will have potlucks and hot dishes made of leftovers?  Will I pick sunflowers for the table and notice that the sun is still shining?

Transsiberian: the movie

If you want to see a smart and truly scary thriller, go see Transsiberian immediately.  In Salt Lake it's playing at the Broadway.  We made a note to ourselves afterward:  don't take the Transsiberian train from Beijing to Moscow.  Just don't.  

We made a similar rule after watching Funny Games:  don't let anyone into the house especially if they want to borrow a couple of eggs.  This remains the scariest movie I've ever seen.

Weight update

This is not me.  I'm taller.  I'm grayer.  But I've lost 35 lbs.  Only 15 lbs to go.  I do have some "before" pictures but I don't want to gross out the grandkids, or anyone else for that matter

Five Days/Six Nights

Five days, six nights:  that's how long the Plumski grandchildren, Harrison, Anne and Mira, were in the house.  I learned stuff.  Tom asked Harrison if he wanted to go to the BYU football game and he grunted, "Not really.  I'm not into football."  

"You are so Charles," I said.

"You want to know what my dad says?"

I rolled my eyes, because I knew it would be salacious.

Harrison said, "Why would you want to watch a football game?  It's just a bunch of guys rolling in the grass playing with each other."

Okay, I am the mother of that remark, so of course I laughed.

Tom went to the game with the Bracys.

Anne helped Harrison learn the U.S. capitol cities by giving what Tom and I thought were impossible pneumonic devices something like "connect the heart" for Hartford, Connecticut.  Although I didn't do much better:  "Providence, Rhode Island is a gay enclave," I said.  "Oh no, sorry, that's Provincetown, Massachusetts."  I thought Fargo was the capitol of South Dakota.  Fargo is in North Dakota and it's not the capitol, but it's a really good movie!  I think Harrison finally did master the list after Tom made him list the states on one side of the sheet with their capitols on the other side and fold the paper in half.

Mira has filled the front walk with chalk art including a full-length portrait of me in my pink and white striped shirt.  She fed the ducks and got nipped on the back of the legs a couple of times.  She can now play 93% of the notes on Guitar Hero.  We bought sparkly Hannah Montana Sunday shoes (Samantha would have approved) that created a blister.  She served Tom and me lunch on the patio (water, bread, butter, peanut butter and honey).  She can whistle.  And she can do a mean forward roll but doesn't really get cartwheels yet. 

Anne has guys texting her all hours of the day and night.  ("Are you mad at me?")

Five Days/Six Nights:  fabulous!

Oktoberfest

After church today, we took Anne, Harrison and Mira (whose parents and brother, Max, are off to NYC) up to Snowbird for the annual Oktoberfest.  I thought this would interest especially Anne and Harrison since they're both taking German language in school.  Was I out of my mind?  Didn't I remember Bavaria and its oh so quaint villages, kitschy gift shops, lamb shank lunches with oom pah pah polkas playing in the background?  Didn't I remember that I threw up violently after one afternoon there?  We ate our bratwurst and red cabbage while being entertained by a trio of alpine horn players, a band consisting of accordian, tuba, Jew's harp and washboard, the 1996 yoyo champion, a yodeler and cow bell playing guy.  Mira sat in a fetal position on my lap, because even though she's only six, she sensed the creepiness of it all.

The only really fun part was when Anne and Harrison got henna tattoos.  Hers was a butterfly at the nape of her neck and his was a spider on his arm.  Very exciting.

I can't wait for Elliot to stay over, so he can have a henna tattoo too.  Tooh, tooh!

Board games

Harrison and Max showed up on our porch Sunday afternoon.  We were delighted to see them especially since they shortened the home teachers' visit.  Erica had booted them out of the house, because they'd spent the day glazing in front of computers, so I went out to the garage and found two board games (remember them?):  Parcheesi and Chinese Checkers.  Tom read the rules aloud.  Each player gets four little wooden discs of the same color (See above).  Green only had three discs, so I added a whole almond.  Max got to choose first.  "I'll take green," he said.  Later, I learned that green is his favorite color, but I think he wanted the almond, which he referred to throughout the game as "my nut," as in "I want my nut to come in first," and "I need to get my nut moving,"  always said with a droll look.  Harrison won.

They ate M&Ms.  Harrison suggested that Max was an M&M&M.  I made brownies and they ate them.

Then Harrison beat Tom and Max at Chinese Checkers.  The first time I've known Tom to lose Chinese Checkers ever.

Then we went to Sam and Sarah's for my last birthday celebration where we ate more cake.  What's a Sunday without a sugar high?

Just say no to Sarah Palin

Yes, I would like to see a woman as vice-president or president but not Sarah Palin.  Her conservative views on women's reproductive rights, sex education, drilling for oil, conservation, gun control, and, God help us, book burning, makes my hair stand on end.  She's pretty; she's perky; she's popular, and she probably looks good in a swim suit.  Let her be Mrs. America but not vice-president.

More friends

As long as I'm posting friends, I'll stick this in.  This is Bill and Christine, Carl and Melanie and Tom and Louise.  We are at the top of Butterfield Canyon where we were all impressed with the views into the copper mine and surrounding area.  God's country, for sure.

9/11 My birthday

For my 66th birthday, the gang from high school came to help me celebrate with a lunch.   They brought most of the food including the cake.  They also brought funny cards,  presents, and an abundance of good humor.  I had a real wish and to my astonishment could not blow out seven candles.  Christine said, "It's those three cigarettes you smoked."  Those cigarettes have come back to haunt me.  First I have to have an operation to staple shut three congenitive holes in my lung and now it's going to take five years for my wish to come true.  I don't know that the cyberknife can save me.  There's some kind of object lesson here.  Perhaps for some future word of wisdom talk I can impress upon the congregation the wages of sin:  three cigarettes wreaking havoc with my body.  Remember children, never never never smoke.

It's okay to have sex, though.

My friends are (bottom row from l. to r.) Marie, Jane (top row) Wendie, Christine, me, Melanie and Nan.

My life is an embarrassment of riches.

Cooking for Vegetarians

Okay, Saturday night we had a dinner party which included two vegetarian New Yorkers.  I have  a small repertoire of recipes that I'm really comfortable doing and they have nothing to do with vegetables.  The NY friends said they ate fish occasionally, so Tom grilled halibut steaks that had been marinated in honey, oil, soy sauce, ginger and chives and they turned out tender and delicious. Kiss that cook.  I made a broccoli salad, a potato salad and an herbed spinach-bake.  Vegetables, yes, but  mixed with mayonnaise, oils, eggs and cheese.  I was hating myself by the end of the afternoon.  Christine brought a gorgeous bowl  of fruit and I made high lemon pie for dessert (which despite the fact that it curdled slightly was still delicious).  I was tired and anxious before the guests arrived and then they came full of cheer and good will, ready for a party, and all exhaustion dropped away and Tom and I had a good time at our own vegetarian/fish dinner party.  Friends and food:  lovely.

Encore

I know I put her on the family blog, but Katelyn's so cute, I wanted her on my own blog.  She makes good copy and looks regal in purple and pink.