Spider Conference

Picture of the Day for 6/24/2013. I went to move this decorative bowl that's in my kitchen so I could wipe down the counter and when I saw what was lurking at the bottom of the bowl, I let out a little scream. I'll tell you what was lurking in the bottom of that bowl- the stuff of nightmares. Spiders. Not one, not two, but three of them. That's just so wrong. There should be a law that they can't congregate. No good can come of spiders congregating and plotting and hatching evil schemes.

Strawberry Moon

Picture of the Day for 6/13/2013. Here are my pictures of this year's famous Strawberry Moon. It's the best I could do with my iPhone camera. I pulled out my good camera too, but the images weren't any better. Oh well, the moon was still a beautiful sight to see.

Memory Game

Picture of the Day for 6/22/2013. I'm working on a formatting project for our next speech therapy manual that requires me to remember several words/images in a row as I toggle back and forth between documents. I do this by making up short scenarios based on the pictures in each row. For example, in row 3 in the photo below, I was able to remember the beaver-binoculars-blazer-blister-boulder word sequence by thinking only an ill-prepared city guy would be out in the woods looking at the beaver* through his binoculars while wearing a blazer that's far too nice for the outdoors. Naturally, this guy would be too busy examining the blister he got on his foot to notice he was just about to get bonked on the head with a boulder.

*Yes, I'm fully aware there's a naughty innuendo here, but I'm choosing to ignore it.

Braids

Picture of the Day for 6/21/2013. Yep, I'm 50 years old, but that didn't stop me from wearing my hair in pigtails tonight. 

I Love Fiction

Picture of the Day for 6/20/2013. Just got done reading The Jane Austen Book Club. I've gotten out of the habit of reading fiction and reading this book reminded me how much I love it. It gives me something to look forward to read each night after the day's work is done. I should enjoy reading non-fiction more, but I'm afraid of learning something useful that might edify me. (Just kidding!)

Sexy Lincoln

Picture of the Day for 6/19/2013. I've been watching Mad Men video clips on amctv.com. The Lincoln Motor Company has been a major sponsor of Mad Men this year so one of their commercials plays before each clip. For some reason, I've been completely fascinated by this commercial which features Abraham Lincoln striding through the mist accompanied by dramatic music. You've got to give props to anyone who can make Lincoln look sexy. 


I've also decided I want to be this woman sitting in a Lincoln town car. I think that's a reaction against my decidedly unsexy PT Cruiser which has not been my favorite automobile. And she's obviously dressed up to attend some fancy event. I want to be dressed up for some fancy event. 

Sincerest Apologies to My Lawn

Picture of the Day for 6/18/2013. My sprinkler system is broken and needs a replacement part which is on order. In the meantime, my lawn looks so wretchedly dry. I apologize to my lawn every time I go outside and tell it to hold on- water is coming soon. 

Changing Tastes

Picture of the Day for 6/17/2013. I've been juicing for the past few days, but decided to splurge by eating at my favorite burger place today. I was stunned to find that lunch wasn't that appealing to me. This is unprecedented. It's like saying I've lost my taste for chocolate (which thankfully I haven't - all is right with the world).

Message from the Past

Picture of the Day for 6/16/2013. My brother-in-law David retired from his government job in 2004. It's taken nearly 10 years for his family to get the retirement gift they've always had in mind for him- a plaque with his name and a quote from the movie Casablanca that's been placed on the back of a seat at the Broadway Theater. The SLC Film Society discontinued the program right at the time David retired and only recently reinstated it. Paula finally presented him with his gift and a card that was signed by the extended family back in 2004. It made me wistful to see my parents' signatures. 

Zombie Staging Ground Located in the Grand Canyon

Picture of the Day for 6/15/2013. I went out to dinner with my family before going off to see the new Superman movie. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, my great-niece Sadie asked me to draw the Grand Canyon. That was the most unusual drawing request I've ever had. My repertoire is normally limited to pumpkins and bunnies and cats, but I gamely gave it a try- using an orange crayon to draw a deep narrow crevasse. Since this is MY family I'm talking about, of course Sadie had to add a zombie lurking at the bottom of the canyon. This led to a table-wide discussion of how the Grand Canyon is the most likely staging area for the zombies as they make plans to attack humanity. Cunning zombies.

New Party Dress In Search of a Party

Picture of the Day for 6/14/2013. I bought a fancy schmancy dress on sale. Not because I have any place or event in mind for it. I bought the dress because it's kind of slinky and sexy. It's hard to tell that from the pictures below so don't go thinking I have a pathetic sense of what's sexy.

I thought I'd have to lose quite a bit of weight to get into it, but on a whim I tried it on and was stunned to find I could actually zip it up. Looking good in the dress is a different matter altogether as I look like I've been stuffed into a sausage casing. Ten more pounds should make all the difference!

Spicy Ranch Dressing Mix

Picture of the Day for 6/13/2013. This is my new FAVORITE thing- spicy ranch dressing mix. Mmm, mmm, mmm it's tasty. And zesty. I had some mixed up in my fridge and didn't realize I had inadvertently left it out for several hours today which turned it from a divine concoction to a lethal hazard. I had been sooooo looking forward to making a salad this evening that I let out a disappointed wail* when I discovered there'd be no spicy ranch dressing for me tonight.

*OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wilson and the Gnomes

Picture of the Day for 6/12/2013. "Wilson and the Gnomes." Sounds like a musical group from the 1960s, doesn't it? Meet Wilson the carved bear, the newest member of the William and Robynne Collins family. And because he's a member of that family, it's no surprise he's wearing a cowboy hat and hanging out next to a group of garden gnomes. To quote Robynne, "Our house is weird." Make that charmingly weird. And weird is far better than boring any day!

NutriBullet Love

Picture of the Day for 6/11/2013. I'm just about to sound like an overly-enthusiastic infomercial. I've been on the lookout for an easy way to do juicing without one of those contraptions that have 50 million components that are a pain to assemble/disassemble/wash. I decided to give the NutriBullet a try and I'm desperately in love. It's so easy to throw in fruits and greens and whip up a juice smoothie is just a few seconds. And, it's easy to operate and clean.

I also have been making faux chocolate shakes with my NutriBullet which are divine. Here's the recipe:
1-1/2 cups of almond milk
1/2 banana
1 t vanilla
2 T unsweetened cocoa
Crushed ice

Pretty Purple Roses, Pretty Purple Roses

Picture of the Day for 6/10/2013. Speech therapy has infected my life. I took some pictures of pretty purple roses along my running route today and was struck by the fact that "pretty purple roses" would make a good /R/ sound tongue twister. Pretty purple roses...pretty purple roses...pretty purple roses. 

Getting Thrown Under the Apple Pie Bus

Picture of the Day for 6/9/2013. My sister Paula made an apple pie for Sunday dinner today. Her daughter Corinne ended up not making it to dinner, but called shortly after the rest of us had consumed dessert to see if there was any pie left since she LOVES Paula's apple pie. My brother-in-law David said no, that I had eaten three pieces and everyone else had two. I totally got thrown under the bus! At that point, I had only eaten one small piece of pie, but I had him hand over the pie to me so I could get another slice. I figured since I was getting maligned for excessive pie consumption, I might as well go ahead and eat some more! 

Non-Fiction Speech Therapy

Picture of the Day for 6/8/2013. This is a case of speech therapy imitating life. My sister Robynne and I just finished editing the "R" tongue twisters for the soon-to-be-published Tongue Twisters for the R and S Sounds book. One tongue twister reads, "Greta’s great-grandma groaned at Greta’s gross grammar." There’s a speech bubble over Greta’s head that illustrates the poor grammar Greta is using. The phrase “Let I in! Let I in!” is one I actually used as a tiny little girl when I asked for someone to open the backdoor to let me back in after I had been playing outside. It tickled my mother to no end that her little girl who used such poor grammar (and didn't learn to talk until she was three-years-old) ended up being an English major who would go on to teach English at the University of Utah for nearly 10 years.

Boys Will Be Boys

Picture of the Day for 6/7/2013. The family went out to dinner to celebrate my great-nephew Dane's graduation from junior high school. Since I had posted pictures of his sisters earlier in the week, I figured it was only fair to post a picture of the boys. The girls had posed demurely for their photos, but of course it was a whole different ballgame for the boys. Dane is pictured here shoving his younger brother Ethan.

Friendly Chick-Fil-A Manager

Picture of the Day for 6/6/2013. My entire family is kind of in a food rut. Most of us make a beeline to Chick-Fil-A when we congregate at the mall food court for our weekly family lunch. We're easily recognizeable as "regulars." The manager came by our table today to sign my great-niece Hayley's yearbook. Very sweet. He was wearing a great milkshake tie so of course I had to take a picture of that.

What I Saw Out My Front Window

Picture of the Day for 6/5/2013. I had my living room curtains open today and I saw all sorts of interesting things out my window.

My 87-year-old neighbor goes on a daily walk just literally right around the corner and back. She walks vigorously so I'm not sure why she doesn't go farther. I watched her take her entire walk which took a couple of minutes. I think it's so cute.


What the...?!?! A pigeon! I HATE pigeons I mean I REALLY hate pigeons. This pigeon has NO BUSINESS lurking on my front steps! I had an infestation of evil pigeons on my porch when I was living in my condo. Ick. 


Two girls just rode by on horses! (It's hard to see- look through the porch columns.). 

Bowl Full of Flip-Flops

Picture of the Day for 6/4/2013. OK, so you know how I made a claim a few days ago about how I don't suffer from OCD? Well, maybe I do just a little. I hate dirty shoes so I scrubbed all my flip-flips until they were pristine and looking like new. Who does that?!

Tough Love Business Advice

Picture of the Day for 6/3/2013. I've been reading business books in my free time. For fun. My definition of fun has certainly changed over the years!

I love my current book selection, "It's Called Work for a Reason" by Larry Winget. He offers what can only be charitably called "tough love" advice. Winget doesn't come right out and call his readers lazy jackwagons, but he comes real close. My favorite line from the book so far is "If your life sucks, it's because YOU suck." Fair enough.

Second Annual Strawberry Sundae Ritual

Picture of the Day for 6/2/2013. Today would have been my dad's 92nd birthday. In what I believe is going to become an annual birthday tradition (as long as I live in Utah), I left a McDonald's strawberry sundae (his favorite) at his grave. This is also a little bit of a rebellion against Memorial Day as I find leaving little birthday tokens so much more satisfying  That's not to say I didn't enjoy seeing all the Memorial Day flowers still dotting the graves at the cemetery today. 

New Jewelry

Picture of the Day for 6/1/2013. My great-nieces Hayley and Sadie were sporting new jewelry (Hayley-necklace, Sadie-earrings) so of course I had to take pictures of them decked out in their new finery. (Sheesh- I just realized I used the old-fashioned words "sporting" and "finery." I sound like a time-traveler from the Victorian era!)

Holiday Dish Towels

Picture of the Day for 5/31/2013. I was folding laundry today and noticed the majority of my dish towels are holiday-themed. You may be wondering where I'm going with this and why I'm bothering to make such a mundane observation. Well, here it is. It's nice to have evidence that I'm not completely obsessive-compulsive. If I were, the fact that I use mis-matched Christmas dish towels all throughout the year would bug me. It doesn't. 

Never to Old to Hold Hands

Picture of the Day for 5/30/2013. I was walking behind these two old ladies holding hands as they walked through Fashion Place Mall today. Very sweet.

Mystery Earring

Picture of the Day for 5/29/2013. I found this green witch's boot earring in my living room carpet today. What a mystery! It doesn't belong to me. I have NO earthly idea who it belongs to and how it got there since I do vacuum on a regular (OK, make that regular-ish) basis. You'd think I would have vacuumed this up a long time ago IF someone had been in my house around Halloween-time wearing this jewelry. Weird.

Retro Betty

Picture of the Day for 5/28/2013. I stumbled across the cutest new retro (is it possible to say "new" and "retro" in the same breath?) store on 2800 S and 2300 E. I drive past it all the time since it's right next to the freeway entrance. The storefront with the vintage wedding dress caught my eye so I decided to go inside. The store carries a mix of new and vintage items- all very fun and all very reasonably priced. I wanted to buy one of everything, but I limited my purchase to a cute little airplane pin.

Divine Guacamole

Picture of the Day for 5/27/2013. I ate at a dive restaurant called the Kettle located not too far away from the very swanky Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, AZ. One would think you'd get better food at the resort. For the most part that's true, but the resort can't begin to compete with the guacamole from the Kettle. It was divine. I sweet-talked Becky, the waitress who made the guacamole, out of the recipe.