Tea Party..........

Crazy Aunt Harmony is the Queen of Tea Parties. We left up the birthday decorations, invited the neighbors and some boy cousins and had ourselves a regular tea. The gents were adorned with swords and the girlies with crowns............

There's nothing quite like a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich to really get the party going.

Oops, these peeps forgot the "Pinky" necessity.......

...................

Milo and Harmony

Lily, this is a girl who knows how to dress for an event....she had lots of finery and we've decided on our next event, we will go to her home and "borrow" some beads and baubles.

Even the dog was invited and on her best behavior.

Happy Birthday Vivvers

This is what you get when you are making birthday decorations at mid-night.......crunch time.  The Lloyd Bros. and the Taylor Tots were in sleeping on the floor in the room next to us......we were cutting and hot-glue gunning, and folding and wrapping and ......and......and....we were a bit rummy by the end.

How fabulous is this birthday-smile........She was born 3 years ago on July 24th.  So we have this huge celebration that we work into her day of honor.

What  says birthday like a parade.  We didn't make it to the Days of 47 Parade in the morning.  We went to the Butlerville Days Parade.  Travis got up early to put out chairs......in the shade.  (He is an awesome son, dad, brother, friend........)

This is the spot Travis scored for us.

I gotta say. Butlerville Days has a real small town feel to it.  We will probably make it our 24th celebration destination......I mean with a name like Butlerville Days, how can you go wrong.

This is a sweet spot, shade and food......

Cute little Bug in her Days of 47 Cowgirl Hat.....bring on the candy floats!

Alex is pondering the mysteries of the universe......candy....or.....bring on the floats candy. 

Vivvers in her fancy schmancy Days of 47 Cowgirl Hat....waiting for the floats......er......candy ( I discovered the strike thru feature...but I won't use it here-oops....did it again)

Waiting for some candy.

This was a fabity-fab-fab-fabulous parade. There was candy, it was the perfect length (1 hour)there was candy, a few beauty pagent girls, there was candy, a marching band, there was candy, a bunch of local businesses, there was candy, kids dressed up their bikes.......and did I mention the candy.

Then we walked over to the booths, we ate burgers, fries and....

drumroll.......

Da-Ta-Da-Da....

Funnel Cake....................

warm greasy delicious-ness.

Oh, and one last thing.......for all 3 of my readers (including my mom)......Today starts my 5th year of blogging.  I started this sad little mess on July 24, 2008.  Happy Anniversary to RR&SS.

Mo-Tab.....Joy of Song

My mom scored on tix to the Mo-Tab Pioneer Day celebratory concert on Friday Night.  She sent them to me.

I invited (2) of my favorite peeps.......The Handsome Brad and his lovely Wifey....Bev-mo

Brad treated us to Dinner at the Texas De Brazil at City Creek............it was amazing, this is a picture of the flower arrangement above the salad bar. (Bev wanted me to add that this arrangement was fresh flowers, it was absolutely amazing!!! This was no average salad bar, it had every yummy thing you could imagine...........

After you have been seated you to help yourself to an extravagant 50-60 item salad area. Gourmet artisan breads,  fresh buffalo mozzarella, steamed asparagus with strawberry sauce, Brazilian hearts of palm, grilled Portobello mushrooms, Greek olives, shrimp salad, imported Italian salamis, sautéed mushrooms, herbed sweet onions, pork black beans, jasmine rice, spicy surimi sushi, lobster bisque, grilled provolone, a wheel of parmesean cheese the size of a tire,  all this before they start bringing out the grilled meats.....our waiter told us to "pace yourself"  like that was possible with all the yummy-ness.  I would so go back to this place.........especially if someone else is paying!

So, we found our way to the Conference Center, we waited (sweated) our way thru the line, and found our seats were Great.....then we enjoyed the HUGE sound that the Choir is. I loved it, Boyd "tolerated" it. It goes without saying that I will never invite Boyd back to the CC.

Living Planet Aquarium.....lovin it

Grumpy and I we in charge of the Taylor Tots and the Lloyd Brothers on Saturday afternoon, so we stopped at McD for lunch then headed to the Aquarium........it was fun fun fun.

Milo and Alex have a little bro-mance.....it was so cute.

Keeping them together was like herding cats.......can't be done, I was able to have them in the same place for a couple of pictures.

The kids were so good. The biggest problem we had was we told them they could get something from the gift shop........with a $5 dollar price tag.....ahhh it was so hard to make a choice, because as with most gift shops, the prices were extreme.....I finally stood at the check-out line and told them if I didn't have their items by the time I reached the checker, they wouldn't get anything. So, a rubber snake, (2) mood rings, a venus flytrap and (?) can't remember the 5th item.......we were outta there.

Taylor Tots......

Harmony is showing some dance moves on YouTube.........It's a dance party every night with crazy Aunt Harmony.............

This is the Conga Line to - can you say "Shake Senora"?

down the hall...................

Back to the Kitchen...............

around the table...........................

This would be Milo......between Moms Booty and Harmony's Boob!!!

Squishy............

Here's the lyrics.......just in case you want to sing the next time you conga................

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake your body line

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake it all the time

Work, work, work, Señora, work your body line

Work, work, work, Señora, work it all the time

My girl's name is Señora

I tell you friends I adore her

And when she dances, oh brother!

She's a hurricane in all kinds of weather

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Whoa!

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake your body line

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake it all the time

Work, work, work, Señora, work your body line

Work, work, work, Señora, work it all the time

You can talk about Cha-Cha

Tango, Waltz, or de Rumba

Señora’s dance has no title

You jump in the saddle

Hold on to de bridle!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Rock your body, child!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Somebody, help me!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Whoa!

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake your body line

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake it all the time (Whoa)

Work, work, work, Señora, work your body line (Yep)

Work, work, work, Señora, work it all the time

Señora, she's a sensation

The reason for aviation

And fellas you got to watch it

When she wind up, she bottom, she go like a rocket!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Hoist those skirts a leetle higher!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Up the chim-en-y!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Whoa oh oh oh!

[Instrumental Break]

Shake, shake, shake, Señora

Shake your body line

Work, work, work, Señora

Work it all the time

Dance, dance, dance, Señora

Dance it all the time

Work, work, work, Señora

Work it all the time

Señora dances Calypso

Left to right is de tempo

And when she gets the sensation

She go up in the air, come down in slow motion

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Somebody, help me!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) OK, I believe you!

(Jump in de line, rock your body in time) Whooooa!

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake your body line

Shake, shake, shake, Señora, shake it all the time

Work, work, work, Señora!!

A Stool Story

I have a sad story.  I've never purchased bar stools.  I've only had cast-off's, or hand-me-downs.  Don't get me wrong.........love cast-offs.  The problems was that I have a small space for barstools, so I need some that would fit in my area......and fit into my budget.  Sadly, I never found any that were in those parameters that I liked any better that the ones I have.  The above beauty is lovely, if you have $599.00 per stool......I need 4.......no way.

I like these, can't afford them and they are really not in my "scheme" of everyday real home!! The place that real people live, and eat off of and drop food and wipe dirty hands on.....but I do like the hobnails.....I have a thing for them.

I liked this mostly for the hobnails - again with the hobnails - other than that they're ho-hum!

I like the clean lines.............too much money for leather and wrought-iron.

These bad-boys were $2499.00 for the pair....what a bargain.......not!......like I said, I need 4.

This is what I have. Picture these babies from the 70's with bright orange wide-whale corduroy covered. Nice........I have upholstered these tops no less than 6 times. The last time was the black pleather. I purchased some black curtain panels from Tai Pan and covered them about 6 years ago. I can't believe how well they've held up. So, I purchased some lime green pleather and some flocked zebra print pleather and re-covered 2 of them, just for a change......yeah for me!

Sometimes don't you just want a change? Since granite countertops are not in my immediate future......I settled for a change in seating.

Do you think I could put some kind of brush-on acid etch to make the shiney stainless steel .......less stainless steel looking and more pewter-ish looking?

By the way, these bar stools were given/donated to me about 25 years ago by my Mother in law, Shirley.  The barstools I had previous to these (there were 3) were also given/donated to me by the aforementioned Mother in law.  I took these because there were 4 and I thought to myself: "Self, 4 will be handier than 3 in the future."

Rain In Summer

How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane,
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs
Like the tramp of hoofs!
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the overflowing spout!
Across the window-pane
It pours and pours;
And swift and wide,
With a muddy tide,
Like a river down the gutter roars
The rain, the welcome rain!

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).

We had rain today, it was delicious.

America, The Beautiful Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates - 1913 O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern impassion'd stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness, And ev'ry gain divine! O Beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! We sang this song in sacrament meeting on Sunday.  I only made it thru the 1st verse, then I wept for the remainder.  I'm still going over the lyrics in my head.  How blessed I am to live in this most magnificent land, to enjoy freedom that has been secured by the ultimate sacrifice.  I pray that I never take it for granted.  The gratitude I feel for those who serve and have served is tremendous.  Happy birthday America, May God continue to shed His Grace on Thee.

The State is on Fire

Last October, when this was presented to me on my 54th birthday, I thought is was out of control.  I informed Boyd and Harmony that is was ridiculous to put than many candles on a cake.  I was mocked!

They lit them, I was concerned that when I blew them out that the smoke alarm would go off, because of the abundance of smoke.  Again I was mocked.

This happend right after I showered........so my freshly washed hair would smell like smoke

Once again......this is what a controlled burn looks like.

This is an uncontrolled burn........latest in a string of fires in the state.  So many people losing there homes.........so sad.

For now I'm grateful for a controlled burn on a birthday cake and some smoke in my eyes......I still have my home.

Smoky Sunrise

The last few weeks it seems like the whole state has been on fire. The smoke in the air has made for some gorgeous sunrises. I meet up with my pal Val in the lovely part of town called "Chesterfield" where my brother affectionately refers to the residents there as "Chestermites". We meet there with our mace and tasers, because it is close to our place of employment......yes we work in "the hood", but I digress. I get there as the sun is peeking over Mount Olympus, and I've pulled over to the side of the road to observe it.....and take a picture, although these pics do not do justice. I have also put a lovely profile of me in my car with my early morning "look" velco rollers!! It keeps the Chestermites at bay!  There have been some breathtaking colors.  This is truly my favorite part of the day.

Saturday .......

Boyd and I took the Lloyd Brothers to see this film......

fun--fun--funny

We had to have lots and lots of these.......

Here's Grumpy and the Lloyd Bros.......

Grumps was tired, he had painted

in the morning a rushed home to catch

the 1:35 showing.....

.......and Sweet Sophie.....

She is such a good eater.................

................more please.................

This is her fat little hand 2 weeks ago......the ring no longer fits. 

I put this picture in....*sigh* I'm hot....and not in a good way.....and this picture soothes me.