Fire Ceremony

After we had seen Big Buddha, we walked around the park some and then went over to where there was going to be a special festival that night. It is called "Omizu-tori" which stands for "Water-Drawing Ceremony". I have no clue why they call it anything to do with water, because it is all about fire! (I apologize in advance for my blurry photos--it was the best I could get with my point-and-shoot. If you click on a photo you can see a larger version)

We had to wait a couple of hours for the ceremony to start so we chatted with a man who was standing next to us. He had spent some years in South America and spoke some Spanish, so we communicated partly in broken English, Spanish, and Japanese. It was fun to interact with the locals and he had some interesting stories to tell.

It was so very cold there and it was snowing agin! We got some hot drinks from a vending machine to keep warm. They sell hot coffe and chocolate in cans from the machines there. We bought a couple extra to put in our pockets, too! I was shivering and just about to freeze to death, but we really wanted to see the ceremony so we stayed!

The ceremony is a purification ritual and anyone who is touched by the ash or embers is especially lucky. This ritual is said to purify a person for the whole year. (anyone who knows about this ceremony, please correct me if I make any mistakes). Look carefully at the covered walkway to the left of the tree in the top photo. That is where the ceremony began with participants carrying huge, flaming torches up the stairs. I don't know how they got the torches up there without burning down the wooden structure, but since they've done it for centuries, they must be experts!

As soon as it got dark everything started. My giudebook says it's a very solemn occasion, but it really was more of a festival atmosphere. Especially once the fire started, there were so many "oohs!" and "aahs!" that I felt like I was at a Disneyland fireworks show!

What happens is that a torch is carried up the stairs to the second floor of the temple. Then they run the torch along the balcony so everyone can see. When they get to the end, there is already another torch coming. As they carry it they periodically stop and shake the torch so the embers will fly off.

Now I know you're envisioning a small torch like Indianna Jones would carry, but this thing was huge. Big enough that I probably couldn't hold it! And there were times when baseball and melon-sized fireballs would fall to the ground with the embers. It truly was a spectacle.

New look!

Ps--I updated my blog template--the old one kept hiding the text. Maybe this one will do better! Someday I'll actually customize it, but I'm so lazy, ha ha!

Big Buddha Complex

Well, when I last left off we were still on day one of our trip to Japan. We were in Nara and I was arguing with the guys about big buddha. I swore the one we were looking at was terribly big and there's no way there would be a bigger buddha! Well was I ever wrong!

As we walked up the path of the complex I could tell it was something special. There were lots more people up there for one thing. And the entry gate was huge! It was guarded by a couple of forebooding wooden statues.

Then we saw the building; which was enormous. We knew then that this was a really special place.


Todai-Ji is the world's largest wooden structure, according to the guidebook.




Temple Entrance





Big Buddha Himself. Notice the top of everyone's heads--Buddha is about seven feet higher than us. He's a 53-foot bronze Buddha. Daibutsu is the largest Bronze statue in the world and is 1,200 years old. It was really dark inside and it was snowing outside so there wasn't much sun to help with this photo. Sorry it's blurry.



Here's one of the guardians behind Buddha.





I'm not quite sure what this represents--it is a statue in front of the entrance. If anyone knows--please share!



Thanks to the person who took a photo of the three of us--Matt, Lianna & Johnny!

another quick preview

Aren't these digital torn paper guys adorable!? No, I can't take credit for making these, just for putting them together! DeDe Smith (Designs by DeDe)is the artist over at DigiScrapShak.com. But you can see what I did with them on April 2nd and the ScrapQuick Grand Opening!

Sneak Peek!

Here's a little hint at what I've been working on!
ScrapQuick.com

New Postal Rates woes!

I hope to continue our Japanese travels this week, but I had to post something new I just found out about. They are discontinuing the small global priority envelope (around $5) and now there will only be the large envie (around $11). I use the small ones to send packages to my friends overseas and I'm so sad they will be going away!

Here's the information online:
http://www.usps.com/ratecase/simplified_international_rates.htm

You can write them using the contact us button on the left.
http://www.prc.gov/

Below is the letter I wrote them:

I just heard you are eliminating the small international priority envelope with the new rates in May. I am so sorry to hear this because I love to use them for swapping cards with my overseas friends.

You may not be aware but there is an artistic community all over the world that makes hand-crafted cards and Artist Trading Cards. We support the USPS in these days of email and electronic communications by mailing our cards to each other frequently.

I am involved in monthly swaps to my pals in Canada, UK and Netherlands and it gives us great pleasure to mail groups of cards to each other to spread joy and learn new ideas and techniques. It fosters a great feeling of the world-community between us.

If our mailing option is now that we have to use the large priority to mail our packages, this will double the cost and I'm sure it will curtail our swaps and may people will be limited to US only swaps. We will swap less and spread less joy.

I'm very sad about your new policy.

Stampu

Here's a short interlude before we get to Big Buddha Temple!

If you ever go to Japan, make sure you get a souvenir book called shuensu for Japanese stamping or "stampu". If you go to certain tourist spots, you can use a rubber stamp and pad to stamp an image in your book; much like we collect pressed pennies here. The plain stamp-it-yourself images are free, but if you are in a temple or shrine you can donate 300 yen (about $3) to get a special calligraphy done. They are beautiful and each place is different. I ended up with 13 of the fancy ones and 2 books because we all had so much fun with it.

It is truly an art and it's fascinating to watch them do this. First someone (usually an assistant) will stamp some special images in red ink and then sometimes put the date in Kanji. Then the calligrapher will add special characters using black ink and a brush. I will post some photos below of some of my pages.


This is the first book I bought in Nara. The cover is handmade red paper with a corded binding at the top.

This book I bought in Kyoto at Daisen-In Zen Garden. The cover is brocade fabric and it opens (from right to left, Japanese style) in accordian format.


This is a page from the garden used as blotter paper. Sometimes they would use fancy blotter paper like this one, or some places would be a scrap of something used just to soak up the extra ink. At one place they gave me a newspaper scrap from an OB/Gyn clinic! Some places would use fine sand to blot the ink.

Here is a fancy Calligraphy page from Kofukuji Temple.


This fancy page is from Daisen-In Temple Garden.



This fancy calligraphy looks a little different from the others. The lady at the counter took my yen and then put the stamp and the date. And then she was pointing behind us. I thought she was pointing at the shrines that the stampu was for, but she was trying to tell us to go to the priest over there. So this is a half-done stampu, ha ha!


Here is a free stamp from Himeji, I believe. One is from the train station and one is from the castle. The first free one I did, Matt kept telling me how to stamp it. "Make sure it's well inked" "Make sure you press hard and firm" that sort of thing. So finally in frustration, I said "Matt, I'm a professional stamper, I *know* how to do this!" Well, you can guess what happened next—it was the worst stamped image I ever made!


This final stamp is from Miyajima. There is a beautiful temple multi-complex there where you visit 6 different stations and stamp a piece of the image at each. When you are done it makes a picture. You can see how well this "professional" stamper matched up the images, ha ha!

Nara - Little Buddha

In the park are some sacred deer. Vendors sell wafers to feed them. Man, those deer are feisty! I thought they were going to eat me! They were head-butting me and trying to get the last bite. When all the wafers were gone, they tried to eat my jacket. I had to high-tail it outta there or risk being eaten alive. For the rest of the trip we kept calling them "goats" because they ate anything and were so rude, just like a goat!

Right after the deer, it started snowing. Here's a picture of the famous five-story pagoda. Yes, I know you can't see it for all the snow, but it's famous. Some people were surprised that it snowed there, so here's proof. And to this poor California girl, it was almost more than I could stand!

Here's Matt outside of the Little Buddha Shrine. I really loved the design of the banner. The next photo shows a detail of the deer logo. They are so graceful and pretty in a logo, ha ha!


hmmmm...Which way is the big buddha? Are you guys sure this isn't it? This one looks really big to me--I think your map is wrong. I'll be really mad if we walk all the way over there and I was right. This buddha looks really big! I'm telling you... this is a big buddha!

Day 2 - Nara

I love this photo of the dried fruit vendor. We got some mangoes and they were yummy!
The red banners were on the steps up to the complex of Kofukuji Temple.

Kofukuji Buddhist Temple was founded in 669, but it burned down in 1717 and had to be rebuilt. There is a big bell in front of the temple with a long rope. The architecture and colors of this temple were beautiful!
All scrapbook papers and elements are from Christine Smith from her Fall Festival kit at TheDigiChick.com. Font is Donny's Hand.

Japan - Day 2 - Nara

Here's the first plumb blossoms that we saw on our walk to the train station. The bottom quote was on a sign in Nara. It says "Plumb blossoms never complain of the cold in this cold season." It's such a lovely sentiment, but as you will see later, I am no plum blossom, ha ha!

Virtual Vacation - Day One!

Hi! Well, I decided it would be fun and also a great way for me to remember if I posted my last vacation details on my blog. So here is Japan, 2005; Day One! I'll do my best to post regularly so I can finish this some day, LOL! We were in Japan for 14 days, so there's lots to tell.

Day one was spent travelling. I think the flight was 11 hours from San Francisco to Osaka. We landed in the evening at Kansai Airport, arriving exhausted but excited. I remember telling Johnny beforehand that there was no need to meet us; that we could make it to his apartment on our own. Once I realized how overwhelming Japan is, I was so thankful to have him go everywhere with us!

Even though in my car, I had studied some Japanese language tapes for a couple months before the trip, I only knew a few useful phrases such as "where's the bathroom?" and such. And of course, I can't read any Japanese characters. Luckily, Johnny can read some basic Kanji and Hiragana and has no problem reading Katagana or Romanji (of course!).

Johnny met us and then we grabbed a bite at an airport kiosk—chicken katsu with curry. Curry and chicken cutlet are very popular there and it was so tasty after being on the plane for so long. After that we headed back to his apartment. It took at least 3 train changes and well over an hour—running up and down platforms and across the stations to get home, since the airport is outside of town and Johnny lives on the opposite side of town. We lugged my huge suitcase and everything behind us the whole way. [Matt calls it the "steamer trunk" and I really did use everything I packed, so I'm glad I had it!] Everything was an exhausted, jet-lagged blur.

After we got home we showered and tumbled into bed. [Matt said when he saw how tiny Johnny's apartment was he was ready to leave and find a hotel for my sake, but I was game to try it so he stayed.] The next day we were going to see the ancient capital city of Nara.

Gourmet Feast

Oh, Joy! We have been looking forward to tonight's dinner for weeks! Matt decided to sign us up for a gourmet dinner at the local Italian restaurant that we love. I've never gone to one of these fancy dinners before, so it is such a treat. And for the price, I figure it will be a very long time before I get to go again, ha ha!

I usually try to avoid the whole restaurant experience for holidays like this because I hate crowds, cold food, bad service and the whole range of things that go along with having too many people try to force a romantic time on each other on a certain day of the year. Call me a curmudgeon, but I'd rather have a thermos of soup on the beach, or stay home and have a quiet evening together and celebrate the holiday on a different day. But this menu was so tempting I can't wait for tonight! I'm going to try to eat a very light lunch so I have a good appetite for dinner.

Prosciutto Wrapped Roasted Asparagus

Topped with Parmigiano Chese

Paired with Suggested Wine

Cauliflower Soup

With Seared Scallop and Lemon Oil

Paired with Suggested Wine

Pasta Envoltini

Stuffed with Ricotta Cheese, Spinach, Parmigiano Chese, Crab Meat, and Asparagus topped in a Saffron Cream Sauce

Paired with Suggested Wine

Osso Bucco and Shrimp Scampi

Veal Shank topped with Onion, Celery, Carrots, Porcini Mushrooms in a Light Marinara Sauce with a Bed of Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Paired with Suggested Wine

Salad

String Beans and Potatoes tossed in a Vinaigrette Dressing with a Bed of Spinach

Paired with Suggested Wine

Dessert

Mile High Espresso Pie

Coffee

Now even though there's a few things I won't be having on this menu, I have a feeling I won't be going hungry. And five different wine courses will be plenty, so I am glad we will be walking home after this feast! I hope your Valentine's Day is lovely and enjoyable today!

Everyday is a reason to celebrate; and other ramblings from being sick

"Everyday is a reason to celebrate for we've been given another day of life." A friend of mine posted that on her Blog. For some reason that gave me such a feeling of calm and comfort this morning as I was reading my email and checking my favorite blogs. Another blogger suggested a listen to the band, DeVotchKa which I did and promptly added to my Amazon list. I love hearing such passionate, rythmic music and it really fit in with my mood this morning. The last album I bought on a whim was Assemblage 23 and I really got into that one and listened to it every day for months in my car.

After having an amazing week of crafting and getting to go to the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show and feeling such joy and inspiration a couple of weeks ago, I promptly got sick. I'm prone to pick up every little bug anyways, but I think I just overdid it and wore my body out so I got a nasty flu. I haven't slept much for a week and just cough all night long as soon as I lay down. Poor Matt doesn't sleep much either when this happens. He's been sleeping on the couch every night and he got sick too. Poor thing—he got those vicious body aches and a fever and was hallucinating from it all the other night. Luckily, he's strong and heals quickly—after 2 days he's already starting to feel better. I am too; after over a week and I know I will have this darn cough again for a month. But it's almost spring, so I'm positive this is the last big virus for the season.

So, many of you know that I swear by my chiropractor and only see an MD now if it is an absolute emergency or for my yearly exam. After 30+ years of treating symptoms and taking so many medications that it made my head spin, I decided to give chiropractic a try. I got lucky and found a wonderful doctor who has cured so many of my ailments—no more headaches, my asthma is nearly gone, my allergies are manageable and I really have felt better than I ever have. I used to take about 10 different medications for all my pains and breating problems, but now I rarely even take an asprirn. I'm not addicted to caffeine anymore and only drink a diet coke a couple of times a year now. I used to drink 4-5 a day; sometimes more! I don't crave sugar now, but I still am emotionally addicted and turn to it when I am stressed and need comfort. So if you've never tried it, give it a try—you may be surprised at the results. Even though I still get sick several times a year, it's not the deathbed feeling that I used to get where I really couldn't function.

So this time when I've been coughing, I keep thinking that I'm really showing my age. You see, back in the olden days, we were taught to cough into our hands. But then all the germs are on your hands and you spread them with every touch. So nowadays, they teach you to cough into your elbow so your hands aren't germy. I try to do that, but it's a hard habit to break. Plus, when I'm in close company, I know those germs are flying and don't all get stopped by my elbow, so I cover my mouth completely with my hand and then try not to touch anything. So are you showing your age!? Do you cough into your hand or your elbow—you just might be telling people more than you realize!

So even though I see an amazing chiropractor, much of the time now he's not there and I see his collegue, who is also very talented. He always gives me the funniest advice when I'm sick. Every time I get sick, he tells me to take time off and go to the beach for warm air and sunshine! Well, in reality; if I felt that great I would go to work and so his advice always makes me laugh. But it would be a nice world to shake off every cold at the beach dozing in the warm fresh air. Usually I ignore him and go home to try to sleep so my body can heal. It's not that I don't value his advice, it's just a little too complicated to trudge down to the beach and have to see people and deal with all that when I don't feel good. I prefer to be alone and not see anyone and just crawl into bed with the cat. Little cats have healing power too, you know!

So feel free to tell me your version of folk wisdom for dealing with a cold or cough. Hopefully I didn't bore you or spread any germs with my coughing post, ha ha!

Happy New Year's

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year's! We kept it very low-key and I actually went to bed at 11 PM! Yes, I'm an early-bird! I wake up at around 6 AM no matter what, so I don't like to stay up late.

There's a saying that whatever you are doing on New Year's is what you will be doing for the rest of the year. Some of the things I did may seem boring, but they were all for a good reason.

1. Laundry - Who wants to do laundry for the rest of the year, am I crazy!? No, but I would actually like to be caught up and not stressed about it all year, so I took the opportunity to catch up.

2. Mail - Yes, I spent a couple of hours on New Year's Eve sorting through old mail and paperwork. I really want to be more organized and not let things pile up like I tend to do.

3. Cooking - I want to eat more home-cooked meals and fewer processed foods. So I baked bread to be ready for the morning and for dinner I cooked some homemade pea soup. I added a handful of black-eyed peas because they are traditionally eaten for good luck on New Year's. They added a nice texture to the soup.

4. Doing Dishes - Who likes a house full of dirty dishes? Not me and I was happy to do them so they don't get stacked up.

5. Working - I work with the advertising on our website, so I wanted everything to be perfect for the first of the year. Every month the ads switch and things can go wrong. But the first day of the year is the biggest day of all. Every single ad on the website changes and there is much potential for error. I like to check things as soon as possible after midnight because we can lose lots of $ for the site if ads are broken. It seems strange to work on a holiday, but it's not hard work and I can do it in my slippers at home! It makes me feel good knowing that I am helping make things run smoothly and doing a good job at work. Isn't that what we all want for the whole year?

6. Napping - Well, this goes without saying. I want to take good care of my body and make sure I stay well-rested so I don't wear out and get sick. (yes, I still have a small remnant of my cough from Thanksgiving!)

7. Kissing the Cat - You all know how much I adore Random and how much comfort he brings me. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be around, so I take every opportunity I can get to snuggle with him.

8. Spending time with Matt - Of course, I love to spend quiet time at home with Matt.

9. Working out - I went to the Gym in the morning to get a good start on the New Year. I really need to focus more on my health and strength. Wish me luck because this is my hardest area of all!

10. Watching the Rose Parade - I didn't get to see much of it, but I love the pretty flowers they use and how they create elaborate floats using thousands of tiny flowers. I love the idea of seeing beauty all the time every day. We need to remember to take time to smell the roses in our lives. Remind me to appreciate beauty whenever I can find it, even blurry floats on a small TV set at the gym!

11. Creating - I really feel alive when I can create. I didn't have much time left at the end of the day, but I did manage to scrap my favorite photo of Random. Thanks, Matt for taking such wonderful photos of the cat when I'm not home to see him sleeping!

A Holiday Survey...

Here's a survey I swiped from some of my pal's blogs!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Can't stand egg nog;love Hot Chocolate!


2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Well, I don't think he is the one who actually wraps them--I think he has elves to do that sort of thing!


3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
We have white on our tree, but I'm thinking of switching back to colored.


4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I used to, but I haven't seen any in quite a few years!


5. When do you put your decorations up?
I like to do it right around St. Nicholas Day, December 6th. The last couple of years it's been pretty hectic and a last-minute sort of thing. I just finished decorating last night!


6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Silly goose! It's always been Pierogies--Polish dumplings! Nothing like having them fried up on Christmas morning! Tamales are my second-favorite.


7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
I loved making cookies with mom! I remember one year we made over 150 dozen cookies--We were like a baking factory!


8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I feel like I always knew. I remember pretending like I believed, just so I would get gifts from "Santa!"


9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the year.


10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Lots of clear, white, and handmade ornaments.


11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
GAK! Why do you think I won't move from So Cal!? It looks pretty on TV, but I don't want it in my neighborhood!


12. Can you ice skate?
Never even tried it--I'm pretty uncoordinated and clumsy, so that's just asking for trouble at my age, LOL!


13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
When I was 9 or 10 I used to collect the ones with tiny, thimble-sized cups! They were painted with tiny floral patterns and edged in gold. I got one for Christmas one year that was my very favorite! It had violets painted on it and was so delicate!


14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Seeing family--some folks I only get to see once a year and it's so important to me to see everyone together.


15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
MMMMMM! Every year it's just not Christmas without our special Cherry-filled cookies!


16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Making Pierogies and cookies and looking through all my favorite ornaments as I decorate the tree! I also have a collection of St. Nicholas (not Santa) figures that I put on the mantle. I love getting them out and placing them just-so! In case you didn't know, St. Nicholas was a Bishop; he always wears a Mitre and carries a crozier (cane). He is the patron saint of children and young women, among others.


17. What tops your tree?
An angel. I prefer a star, but Matt wanted an angel so badly that I got him one for a gift the first year we married.


18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. I always feel so awkward getting gifts.


19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
"Grandma got run over by a reindeer!" I like quirky things!


20. Candy canes:
Love them!


21. Favorite Christmas movie?
"A christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th St." But really I love all the Christmas movies--especially those animated ones from the 70's like Charlie Brown and Rudolph (gotta love the Heat-Miser, LOL!)


22. What do you leave for Santa?
I used to leave cookies and milk when I was a kid, but Mrs. Claus told me he's dieting so I don't leave them out anymore!

Our Congresswoman Has Great Legs!!!

OK—I thought I'd share a Christmas Card with you all to spread a little holiday cheer or something! Can you believe Matt almost threw this one out? Many years ago, he helped on her campaign, so he's on her mailing list now. This cracks me up, but I sure wonder why she would consider sending this to her constituents. Personally, I'm not sure I would want to convey this message as a professional woman. But maybe I'm old fashioned. I can't say I'm a big fan of Ms. Sanchez either; Matt and I do differ on politics. But we both agree that this card is tacky! (Sorry, Congresswoman, sometimes I have to say it like it is!)

Inside reads "May this year's big blue wave carry you into a joyous and happy holiday season! Love, Loretta & Gretzky (a.k.a "Shark Biscuit")." The back lets us know that our tax-payer dollars did not fund this project, but if you donated money to the comittee to re-elect, then guess what you bought!

I will say that Gretzky is a fabulously beautiful animal, though of course he can't compare to Random the Cat! And Loretta (I feel like we must be close friends and I can call her that—after all, she sent me this card!) really does have great legs! And I do appreciate her free-spirit and sense of humor she must have to send a card like this. (But it's still tacky—did I mention that!)

If you're curious, last year's card was a provocative pose of her and Gretzky (the cat, not the hockey player!) in bed together. Oh, my the things politicians will do to get some press! I wish we had that one, but I think Matt threw it away before I even saw it. I did see it at my father-in-law's house, and boy was it a shocker. I wonder what she will send next year, ha ha!

Blogger Update

I wanted to let you know that I updated to "blogger beta" today; hopefully nothing changed for anybody. I also took the time to categorize all my blog posts, so all you have to do is click on a category on the bottom of a post to see all the posts for that category. So if you want to see all my Japan posts, for example, go to my very first post ever in my archives and then click on the word Japan at the bottom of the post. Hopefully, that will help people weed out all of the boring ramblings on my blog, ha ha!

Just an update:

I got my car back yesterday, to the tune of $850. Yikes—that hurt! Part of the problem is the tune-up I got a couple of weeks ago used the wrong spark plugs and settings, so my car was mis-firing and that was making it overheat. Then the fusebox blew up and the fan couldn't turn on at all; I'm not sure if that happened independently or because of the other part. I have so many things I am thinking about all of this, but I won't post them here. At least I have a car again.

And I'm still sick. Friday I was so sick I cancelled Thanksgiving at my house. I am glad the horrible body aches and painful burning cough is gone, but I am still coughing so much that poor Matt slept downstairs for the last two nights. Luckily, he's not sick—he has a very strong constitution.

So today my goal is to do laundry and get ready for work starting again tomorrow.

Ramblings

Oh, what a week I've had! This is a semi-vent post, so if you're bored with that sort of thing, you may want to stop here! I took the week off of work because we're not allowed to carry over our vacation time to the next year. Every year we get two weeks and we must use them or they disappear. Due to Random's health issues, I don't feel right going on vacation, so we haven't spent a night away from home since April of 2004. I absolutely don't mind that, but I do feel bad for Matthew. He has gone to visit his brothers in Denver a couple of times but what he really wants is to go somewhere with me.

So this week was my time off. I had wonderful plans of going to the gym, cleaning house, organizing things and getting my life all straightened out. I always cook a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday for my parents and I wanted everything to be perfect so I could enjoy cooking and not worry about cleaning, etc.

Well, of course, a big wrench got thrown into my plans, wouldn't you know! On Tuesday, I went to visit my best friend, Karen who I haven't seen in about 2 years! She has a new baby that I haven't even met yet! She lives in Laverne; about 45 miles from here. It was wonderful seeing her, but my car had overheated right before I got to her house. When I checked the water, it was empty, so I added some and drove to the AutoZone to get coolant. Well, the coolant was leaking out and I knew I couldn't drive it all the way home, especially with traffic the way it is here in So Cal. So I toook the car to her service station and she picked me up. Poor Matt had to drive to come get me through rush hour traffic and it took him 2 1/2 hours to get there! I felt so terrible for him!

So yesterday, the service station calls and said it was an electrical problem and they couldn't deal with it; we had to tow it to the dealer! Sigh—I know that means an extra-large bill when you have to do electrical work on a VW. And my car has 80K miles on it so you know what's coming down the road for me soon.

We spent all day trying to get my car towed—what an ordeal. It finally ended with us having to drive to La Verne so we could take care of it because the tow company and AAA couldn't agree on us doing it by phone. What a nightmare and it took the whole afternoon; we didn't get home till about 7pm. So now it's at the dealer's and hopefully they can fix it tomorrow or Saturday. Otherwise, I will have to take another day off of work to go get the car and take care of it.

So now, I've wasted 2 days, have no car and haven't accomplished anything. Nothing is cleaned, nothing is organized. On top of it all, I woke up sick this morning, so my throat hurts and I feel rotten. Once I get a sore throat, it turns into Bronchitis without fail, so I'm sure I'll be coughing for weeks. So that's my pitiful post and vent—I'd appreciate any prayers or kind thoughts thrown my way.

And by the way—if you're ever in LaVerne and need a mechanic, please take your car to The Engine Room on Arrow Hwy. They are wonderful people and honest and so nice. They didn't charge me a dime for my car, even though I know they must have spent an hour trying to diagnose my problem. Karen said they have always done a great job for her at a reasonable price and never done unnecessary labor.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I truly do have lots to be thankful for; supportive friends and family, an honest mechanic, a car that hasn't given me any difficulty at all for 4 years, a wonderful husband, a great job and the list goes on and on. I realize that for every problem I encounter that I find more things to be thankful for!

Breakfast with "Joe"

Mornings in our house have been especially sweet lately. You see, we've been having breakfast with Joe. That's our secret code name for our new breadmaker, a Zojirushi brand.

For some silly reason while we waited for it to arrive in the mail, we started calling it "Joe Zarushi" instead of "Zojirushi". Yes, we're pretty hilarious around here, dontcha think?

Well, this breadmaker is fantastic and I would highly recommend this model. I am eating the most wonderful, thick slice of bread slathered with butter as I write. This breadmaker cost more than many other brands and it's as big as a tank, but it makes delicious bread with great texture and crust. I even messed up the recipe by forgetting the butter the first time and it was still great bread! So while you're eating your cold cereal tomorrow morning, just think of me—I'll be having breakfast with Joe!

What the Pho?

I thought I'd share a little more of our "exciting" beach lifestyle with you today. To be honest, I'm probably one of the most boring people I know, and my main comforts in life are the daily routines. One of our favorite routines is our weekly dinner down by the beach. Almost every Friday night you can find us at "What the Pho", our favorite restaurant.

What the Pho (pronounced "fuh") is a tiny cafe located right on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. It's across from the Main Street Pier, nestled underneath the movie theatre.

We come in and almost always have "the usual" which consists of 2 spring rolls and 2 bowls of pho. Matt gets chicken (PHO GÀ) and I get shrimp (PHO TÔM) . I drink water and Matt will drink fresh squeezed lemonade. For dessert he will have a Thai iced tea.

If you've never had pho before, don't be afraid; it's just a simple clear broth soup with rice noodles, and this restaurant makes some of the best we've had. It has a sublime flavor and if you ate it without anything else, you would be completely satisfied with it's aroma and comforting properties. But much to your delight, your bowl of pho will always come with a side plate. Feel free to add a bright squeeze of lime, a couple of jalapeno slices, some bean sprouts and some fresh basil leaves. The basil is so fragrant that it will make you smile as you pinch off the leaves to put into your soup. I swear, just the scent of this soup has healing properties! If that's not enough, feel free to add some hoisin sauce (similar to a thick teriyaki sauce) like Matt does, or some red sauce (spicy rooster sauce) like I do.

If you're not much of a soup person, rest assured; all their menu items are wonderful. Once in awhile, I will get "crazy" and order something different and it's usually going to be a vermacelli dish. This is a cold noodle dish served with fresh cilantro and lettuce, crushed peanuts, and my favorite version comes with three toppings; BBQ pork, shrimp, and egg-rolls.

Everyone at What the Pho is helpful and friendly. In the photo you can see Hong and Tom, the owners, along with Hong's sister and father—the head chef. Tom, who doubles as a high-school math teacher during the day, will gladly help you pick exactly what you want to eat if you are undecided.

Lake Arrowhead

We went to Lake Arrowhead for the day on Sunday to celebrate mine and my mom's BD. We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake and then walked around and looked in some of the shops. Matt got something special for his mom's BD in November--he is so sweet!


After shopping, Matt got a cup of coffee and an apple turnover (we tried in vain to get an Octoberfest Strudel!) Then we got tickets for the tour boat. It was such a nice day--a little cloudy and a little crisp, but very pretty out. The leaves were starting to turn colors and the sky was bue in patches. I've never taken that boat before, but it was really interesting. Captain Bill told us the history of different parts of the community and pointed out all the fancy houses. He knew every movie star who ever lived there and showed us their lake houses. Some of the houses are selling for 14 million or more!

While we were on the lake, we saw the most amazing thing. A bald eagle was soaring and diving; trying to catch a small black bird called a coot. The eagle would circle and then dive into the water and every time that coot would dive underneath just in time. It was fascinating to watch the eagle soar and turn in the air; it was simply a beautiful creature. Watching that magnificent bird was the high point of the tour. None of us had ever seen an eagle in the wild before, so it was a real treat.

At the end of the day, we drove home, but we had to stop at a couple of places to take pictures. The mountatins were so gorgeous. A mist had settled in the valley, with just the peaks sticking out—it looked like a fairy tale city or maybe Brigadoon hiding in the hills! It was nearing twilight so the colors were all purple and blue. I'm so glad mom's camera worked long enough to take a couple of shots before we had to leave.

Oh, no! I've been tagged!

Christine Smith Tagged me for a game of blogtag! These are the rules to play blogtag:List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.Tag 5 friends and list them.Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

From another blog entry, you already know how freaky I am, so now there will probably be no doubt left, ha ha! Here are my weird things-

1. I told you about my doormat obsession; well, I got caught leaving the conference room and wiping my feet last month! I was so embarrassed that someone noticed!

2. Random likes to sleep on my shoulder at night. Sometimes he will sleep right between Matt's feet and Matt will sleep all crooked so he doesn't disturb the cat! Yep—we all know who's king of the castle around here!

3. Random also likes to sleep on the clean laundry if we put it down to fold it. He was sleeping on a pair of Matt's shorts that he was getting rid of, so now they are Random's shorts! Matt puts the shorts on the couch cushion and moves it to the floor in front of the screen door every morning so Random can look out. (and he says *I* spoil the cat!)

4. I like nuts, but I can't stand nuts in my food. I pick them out of my Kung Pao Chicken. I order Almond Chicken without the almonds. No Cashews on my Cashew Chicken. I don't eat cookies with nuts. I make banana bread or anything else without the nuts. But I can eat handfuls of nuts by themselves. Except walnuts. I don't really care for them, except Black Walnut ice cream. That's one of the few nut-laden foods I'll eat, but most of the time I even pick the nuts out of that!

5. We have a nice kitchen table, but we only use it for Thanksgiving dinner! Every night we eat dinner on the couch and watch TV shows. Right now we are watching season 2 of Lost. Before that we were on season 6 of X-Files. Next in line is the final season of West Wing when it comes out. If we have breakfast on the weekends, we will usually watch a travel channel recording. This morning we watched an episode about Venice. At first I thought it was weird, but Matt enjoys it so much and it's fun to watch shows together. (and it's no fun to eat by myself at the table!)

We're Goin' to Disneyland!

For my birthday, Matt wanted to take me somewhere fun, so we decided to eat dinner at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. In case you're not sure where that is, it's the restaurant inside of Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. The entrance is through New Orleans Square and you eat dinner overlooking the moss-covered trees and tranquil water that are at the beginning of the ride.

I had Mahi Mahi and Matt got the pork chops. I wasn't impressed with either meal (the menu and cooking's gone downhill since our last visit) but desert made up for everything. I ordered creme brulee', one of my favorites. It was a trio of flavors, vanilla, chocolate and passionfruit. Very tasty! And for an added bonus, there was an edible-sugar treasure chest filled with chocolate dubloons to keep as a souvenir.

We got to the park just in time to renew our passes, take a few photos and get some Mickey Mouse ears for yours truly! I've always wanted some, so Matt got me the gold anniversary ears. I know; very silly, but I never got them when I was a kid, so I figured it's time to start being a kid again now.

After dinner we had about 2 hours before the park closed, which was just enough time to ride my four favorite rides. We went on Pirates first. I was disappointed with the changes they made to add things from the movie. I'm a traditionalist and a purist, so I liked the ride better before. The effects were nice, though, and I am glad they took away the chicken platter. For those who don't know, several years ago, they added a platter of chicken to one of the wench's hands so that it looked like the pirate was chasing the chicken dinner instead of the girl. An overabundance of PC-ness, if you ask me. I mean, they're pirates, for gosh-sakes! Don't pirates chase wenches?

After Pirates, we of course had to go on the Haunted Mansion. Ah—my favorite of all-time! Love those silly ghosts! At the end of the month, they will be decorating for Halloween and it turns into Jack Skellington and the Nightmare Before Christmas. I can't wait for that, but I do love the "ordinary" mansion the best.

From there it was a quick trip over to the Indiana Jones ride—definitely a fun time there! When we got out, the fireworks had already started, so we got to see them on the way to the last ride. We missed the Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise, so we'll have to do them next time. Onward to Space Mountain; the fun ride from the 80's. Ah, I love a good roller coaster and this one's great! Fast music, darkness, and the galaxy—what more can you ask for?

Jennifer Louise Fialko

This post is to honor one of the victims of 9/11. An online friend was researching the events of September 11th and came across a project, the 2,996 project. The sponsors decided that it would be a way to remember those we lost and pay tribute to them if each person was remembered in a blog, all over the country and all over the world. I decided to look up Lisa Frost who was a crash victim from the town I lived in at the time of the tragedy . Sean Gavin has written her memorial HERE, including some photos I took of the community memorial that people left in Rancho Santa Margarita in the days after the crashes.


When I signed up for the 2,996 project, I was given the name of Jennifer Fialko. I never met Jennifer and the information below was gathered from the internet and new articles from the days after the tragedy. If you knew Jennifer and I have made any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct any errors. I do this project with utmost respect for all the victims, support personnel, and survivors of the tragedy as well as a deep sorrow for the losses felt by friends and family of the victims. Though I didn't personally know anyone who died that day, I still was so impacted by the events of that day. It was truly a tragedy for the whole nation. Sorry if my writing is somewhat stilted or awkward today. This was a difficult assignment, but one that was healing and needed to be done.

Jennifer got her BA from the University of New Hampshire in 1994. She was in the prime of her live. She was just starting over after finally winning her battle with Hodgkin's disease. She was in a new state of physical, spiritual, and emotional health. She felt that her cancer was a "gift" because it started her journey. She told her family she would live to be 120 and they believed her. She had just found the man she believed to be her soulmate, David.

Jennifer had just started a new job at Aon Corp and was working in the South Tower on the 92nd floor when the planes hit. She called David at 8:59 after the first plane hit. She realized she needed to get out of the tower. He told her to call back when she got to the bottom. The second plane hit her tower at 9:03. Nobody ever heard from her again.

You can see more about Jennifer at the links below:
http://cf.newsday.com/911/victimsearch.cfm?id=1863
http://www.legacy.com/Sept11.asp?Page=TributeStory&PersonId=145313
http://www.unitedinmemory.net/quilt.php?quilt=981
https://www.alumni.unh.edu/find/091101.html#fialko

Yes, I'm quirky!

I was reading one of the forum sites I like to keep up with and everyone was listing their quirks. I thought it would be fun to list some of mine! I hope you don't think I'm too "freaky" after reading this one! Here they are in no particular order!

1. When I get dressed in the morning, I put my left sock on, then my left shoe, then my right sock and lastly my right shoe. I guess most people put both their socks on first and then their shoes, but that just seems strange to me.

2. I knock on wood. I'm not superstitious exactly, but I'm compulsive enough to worry that something might happen if I don't! I do it when I say something super positive is going to happen or when someone mentions death.

3. When I see a doormat, I have to wipe my feet on it even if I'm on the inside going back out! Where I work there's a doormat before you get to the conference room and I have to really work hard not to wipe my feet when I'm leaving a meeting. I don't want to do that and have my coworkers think I'm nuts!

4. Speaking of work, there's 4 cubes in the middle of our lobby. To get to the conference room, most people walk straight through the cubes. I like to walk around because I feel like I'm invading someone's personal space. If I have to walk through them, I hold my breath to center myself and get courage!

5. I'm addicted to chapstick. At my last job a bunch of gals decided to break their habit by using a speical moisturizing product on their lips until they could stop using lip balm. I couldn't even stand the thought of doing that—just thinking about it made me have to stop typing and apply some right now! (ETA: I did it again when I was editing this!)

6. Sometimes I just can't stand to touch paper. Wet paper is the worst, but sometimes even dry paper creeps me out. It's kind of funny considering that my favorite hobbies are rubber stamping and scrapbooking!

7. I can't stand to leave a novel unfinished. There are only about 3-4 books I have ever not finished in my life! Even if it's bad I have to finish! (don't ask me which ones, because I can't remember, except that one was an L. Ron Hubbard Sci-Fi novel)

8. When I 'm walking I have this need to count my steps. I usually count in groups of 3-4. Sou I will count "one-two-three-four" "two-two-three-four" as I walk. I especially need to do this when I'm walking down stairs!

9. On my computer task bar, I have to always have things in the exact right order so I can click on the items in the same spot and I know where my programs are. Sometimes my outlook or another program accidently gets closed and then I have to close all my other windows just so I can re-open it in the right spot. When I do this I usually reboot since I've closed all my programs and I might as well make a clean start of it!

Well, I'm sure there's lots more I could tell you, but I really like the number "9" so I will stop here now!

A funny thing about crosswalks

(I'm sure this has been said before by someone with more wit than I have, but I'll say it again!)

We went to the pier twice this weekend and both times the same thing happened. It's the summer, so of course Huntington Beach is busy and there's tons of people. We were waiting at the crosswalk with at least 20 other people on each corner waiting to cross.

On Saturday I leaned against the light post while we were waiting and on Sunday, Matt did. Each time someone decided that they had to ask us to move so they could push the button for the light! Don't they think that one of the other One Hundred people that were waiting at one of the 4 corners would have already pushed the button!? Nope, apparently not! The light was only going to turn if they *personally* pushed the button!

Well, perhaps they were right, because the crosswalk light didn't change until Saturday's "Mr. Brilliant" and his Sunday friend, "The Button-Intimidator" pushed it! Would the light have worked without their expert intervention!? We'll never know!