Novice Photographer + Cute Subjects = Reasonably Good Pics

Bethany got it in her tenacious mind this week that we needed to take her family pictures while I was visiting. Oh, and by "we" she meant me. And then I found out she doesn't have a digital camera. Just a 35 mm one. She was putting a lot of faith into a higher power because I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to taking pictures. Especially when I can't see the immediate results on the back of the camera to know if we need some do-overs.

Out of two rolls of film, a few scary moments on the train tracks and a couple of bawling kids, I think we got lucky.

Thanksgiving in New England

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make the trip east to my sister Bethany's house for Thanksgiving. I got here Tuesday night and I'll be on my way home early tomorrow morning. It's been a fun six-day stay!

Even before I decided to come, Bethany and Danny invited a crowd for dinner. Our cousin Clark's family drove up from Boston. Another cousin, Bree brought a friend from school in New York City. Bethany and Danny's good friend Chandra and the missionaries rounded out the group.

It's a good thing there was a crowd because I don't know how to cook Thanksgiving for three adults and a few little kids!

Bethany and I spend most of Wednesday getting the food ready. It's been a long time since she and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner together. It was so much fun getting out some of our family favorite recipes. With all the meat, stuffing, salads and mac & cheese ready to go, we figured dinner still wasn't complete without making our mom's famous orange rolls. They definitely weren't as pretty as Carol's, but they tasted delicious.

I had to take a break from dinner half way through. Baby Lizzie kept me company.

Can I have my co-pay back?

I called a couple of weeks ago to make an appointment to see a doctor. When I scheduled the appointment, the very courteous lady reminded me to be sure to bring my co-pay. I didn't think much of this, except, "duh ... don't you always have to pay your co-pay?"

Last week, the same courteous lady called me back to remind me of my appointment. And to bring my co-pay.

This morning, I couldn't remember which office (Orem or Provo) I was supposed to go to, so I called to confirm. And she reminded me to bring my co-pay.

I arrived for my appointment promptly at 8 a.m. where I signed in and offered to pay my co-pay without being asked.

It's now 8:36 a.m. and I'm still in the waiting room. Thirty six minutes and I haven't seen the inside of an exam room.

Can I have my co-pay back?

Dress For Success

My sister Mindy has been sending a "Thought of the Day" by email each morning. It has been such a great way to connect with her. I'm also discovering that Mindy is a great writer and is thinking about a lot of the same things that are on my mind, but from a different angle. Today's thought from Mindy was especially interesting:

So we have all heard the phrase "DRESS FOR SUCCESS". If there is one thing that I learned from working for the GAP is you dress for the job you want,not the one you have.

I remember being told that by my then manager, Andrea, and I listened. I knew she was right, especially in that environment, so i did, always wearing the new line from head to toe. And whenever there was a "store visit" from corporate, I was sure to look and project the image I knew they wanted to see, and by doing that along with dedication and a good work ethic I got promotion after promotion, eventually running 3 stores on my own.

So I did it. I dressed for success and got it. For the last week this has been on my mind, but in a different way. I have thought: Am I dressing my spirit, soul, and my energy that I put out onto the world every day for success in my life, in my relationships with people that I love and admire, and in what I have to offer everyone around me in general? Am I doing what it takes to "DRESS FOR SUCCESS" in my heart, mind, and spirit, and are you? Just a thought.
Have a great day everyone, Love Mindy

Happy Birthday Bethany & Lizzie

My little sister turned 30 yesterday. And on her birthday, she gave birth to my newest niece, Lizzie Cox.

Bethany has some beautiful babies and manages to look beautiful doing it. This picture was taken just hours after little Lizzie was born. Amazing.

Lizzie is named after one of the most colorful figures in our family history, my mother's paternal grandmother Elizabeth. We called her Grammy Lizzie.

Paula Dean, Where did I go wrong?

Was it the decision to triple the recipe? Or maybe loosing track of how many cups of flour I measured somewhere between cups 6 and 8. Could it have been my slightly unlevel oven?

Whatever it was (or wasn't) I had a baking disaster last night. It started a couple of days ago. A coworker brought some zucchini to work from his over abundant garden. There were two of them. One was about 2 lbs and the other about 4 lbs. They sat on the break room counter for a few days. I think the size was a little daunting for most. On Thursday, I couldn't take it anymore. They needed to be used!

I took both zucchini home and made one of my favorite newly discovered summer pasta recipes for dinner Thursday night using the 2 lbs zucchini. It was delicious!

The 4-pounder sat on the counter all Thursday night looking lonely and un-used. I thought about it off and on all day Friday trying to decided what to do with it. Sometime between 7 and 8 p.m., I landed on zucchini bread.

When I decide to make something for the first time and I don't have a trusted recipe at hand, I generally start with Food Network. I figure they get enough exposure, someone else will have already weeded out the good recipes from the bad. And Paula Deen is usually a good bet. I can't find a lot of fault with her methodology (add enough butter and sugar and almost anything will taste good). So, when the first zucchini bread recipe search result on foodtv.com was Paula Deen's Zucchini Bread (5 stars with 461 reviews), I felt like I was in good hands.

The recipe called for 2 cups grated zucchini. The longer I mull this over, I'm sure this was where things started going downhill. Instead of being happy to use 2 c. of my 4-pound zucchini, I couldn't be wasteful. I started grating and decided to adjust the recipe to the amount of zucchini. Two-thirds the way through grating, I had 8 cups of zucchini. I couldn't bring myself to 4-times the recipe, so I settled on tripling it.

I started with the dry ingredients and quickly realized the amount of flour would never fit with the wet ingredients into my mixer. While this was going through my mind, I kind of lost count of the measured flour and made a guess. I think I might have guessed one too many. Not to be deterred, I continued on with the recipe, deciding I would just use my hand mixer to combine wet and dry in a giant mixing bowl.

By and by I got the batter into loaf pans and into the oven. About 15 min into the baking, there was a strong burning smell. I looked in the oven and one of the pans was dripping a bit, so I put a sheet pan on the bottom rack and left them along for 45 more min.

When I opened the oven door, imagine my surprise when there wasn't just a little drip on the sheet pan, but batter everywhere. On the oven door, along the oven walls, on almost every part of the oven racks. Zucchini explosion.

There was one pan that actually looked like it was ok. But it didn't really taste that great.

Moral of the story: I should have just been happy with the pasta.

Ever gone 24 hours without talking to anyone that you didn't want to?

Neither have I. But I almost made it!

I feel like I've been going 100 mph in the fast lane for the last six months. It had to come to a stop, or at least a rest area! By the time I got back from the last big event (a work trade show in NYC -- video available on YouTube), I felt like an over-stimulated 3 year old.

So, when my sister Wendy offered me the last half of a time share week in Park City, thoughts of sitting by myself with the blinds drawn in a cushy hotel bed were too tempting to pass up.

I left Provo yesterday about 11 a.m. and headed for the mountains. It has been almost 24 hours of pure relaxation.

When I got here, I set my cell phone to silent, put on a movie and promptly took a three hour nap. I woke up, glanced at my phone and picked two people to call back (sorry if you were ignored, I'll get back to you tomorrow). I pulled out the fabric for two quilts that I've been wanting to work on and leisurely started to lay one of them out. I took a second nap. I worked on the quilt some more. I went to the grocery store. I made a cheese sandwich. I went to bed.

This morning when I woke up I felt like a new person. I actually pulled open the drapes. I might even go outside in a few minutes. Unfortunately, my 24 hours of not talking to anyone that I didn't want to was spoiled with a couple of work calls that couldn't be ignored. Surprisingly, I didn't mind. Maybe I'm almost better.

There is another 24 hours to spend here. By tonight I'll probably be ready for some company, which means that I'll be ready to go home tomorrow and get back to living life.