the incident

Maddy and I were doing some grocery shopping the other day. We had just pulled into the bakery area where all the breads and cookies are displayed. I was walking, eye intent on the orange juice just beyond and I heard Maddy say "Hi, old Man. Hi, young Woman!" I looked up to catch eyes with a man - likely in his mid 40s with a bit of salt and pepper hair. It was admittedly a little bit disheveled and scraggly but he was by no means an old man. With him was a younger guy who looked to be maybe in his early 20s with dark black hair, he was more slender and decidedly the more feminine of the two but certainly not mistakable for a girl!

I am sure my face turned 15 shades of red. I was really embarrassed. I whispered a hurried "I'm so sorry" while trying to keep Maddy from adding more comments and move along to another aisle where I could hide in mother mortification!

They walked away with the younger guy teasing his buddy "...hey old man...". Oh the embarrassment I felt. I told Maddy something like "You shouldn't say that or make comments about people.". She just looked at me and said "I want to go and hold their candy bowls". HUH?

Now that the men had left the area I backtracked and looked around to see if I was missing something. Maddy jumped off the side of cart where she had been hanging on and took off down the aisle we had crossed over just before "the incident" and ran down to the promotions aisle where lo and behold:

 

I really, wanted to run and find those guys and show them the picture but even the remembrance of my embarrassment kept me from tracking them down. Old man - yes, but young woman? Maybe besides totally misunderstanding her audience I also misheard her actual comments.

the state fair

Oh how we love the State Fair!!
So glad our best neighbor friends could join us.

Maddy's saddest moment last year was that she wasn't tall enough to ride the boat ride. Scott tried to sneak her on between us but they kicked her off and she's been talking about how this year she was sure to be big enough. We've actually used it through the past year to encourage her to eat vegetables and get enough sleep (what manipulative parents we are!). Turns out she was close enough this year that they let her on. Scott and Maddy found a place down center and for the first few swings of the ship, she had a HUGE smile on her face. I watched from below - I'm don't pretend that I'm young enough to enjoy this!

Once the boat started to go almost vertical on each pass, the smile began to slide. Sitting almost eye to eye with the terrified boy across from her didn't help matters much either. By the end Maddy came off a bit wobbly with a half fearful, half "green" look on her face. I don't think that she's so interested on going on that particular ride again. The combination of feeling like she was going to throw up and alternately going to wet her pants was new to her and she's not so certain that she likes it. Scott explained to her that this is the funny tummy feeling that people enjoy and it's why they ride the big rides.

Maddy's pretty certain that she won't be missing anything fun if she doesn't go again any time soon!

the gooser

I had a great birthday last week. It seems that after about 18, your birthdays come and go with little fanfare - certainly without parties and games. But 37 for me will be one to remember.

 

 

I had been at the convention center all day and came home to Scott cooking peppercorn steak dinner with roasted red potatoes and a green apple, fennel, red onion salad (my husband is such a good cook!). Maddy was decorating the kitchen with streamers and balloons. Upon seeing me, she quickly informed me that she was the boss and that I should help her blow up balloons.

 

While I was trying (and failing) to blow up those long balloons that are used for balloon animals, she ran to get me a birthday crown to wear.

 

 

We decorated paper airplanes and then went outside to have a flying contest.

After a yummy dinner Maddy took me to her room and showed me her animals all set up in a circle to play duck, duck, goose. Because it was my birthday I got to be "the gooser" and Maddy was one of "the duckers". I tried to get her to play something that didn't involve me running her various dolls and stuffed animals around the circle and we finally decided to sing songs and tell stories. Had to change into our feety pajamas for that part of course - can't have singing and stories in your day clothes!
 

I had forgotten how sweet a simple birthday party can be. I'm grateful to Scott and Maddy for giving me a great birthday and one that will be remembered and cherished for a long time! I love my family.

DIY chairs

It has been a busy past two months with Tax deadlines, a trip to Las Vegas, my work convention, Scott's surgery, my bronchitis and then strep, Maddy's Hand, Foot Mouth virus and then the flu . . .

But despite all that, things are moving along in our kitchen. I need to clean up the kitchen and then take some pictures for you of how things are looking. But for now, I'll brag on my recovering of the kitchen chairs. Eventually we will probably get a new kitchen dining set but for now, a little change on the kitchen chairs goes a long way to update them.

Dad reminded me that there is a lot of history in this dining set. . .

"Mommy and I put the blue seat covers on many years ago. At one time, back when we bought those chairs in the 1950s, they had a floral pattern. This is at least the third iteration. Maybe even the fourth. In fact, I seem to remember that perhaps these chairs had a red and green plaid on them before the blue. Hmmm. I remember totally refinishing the table and chairs in our garage on Quailstone. Indeed, the chairs had gotten separated somewhere along the way and one or more had been painted. Probably that was the one with the plaid seat. Anyway, we stripped off the paint and refinished and reseated them into a complete set again. Turned out pretty nice, actually."

All that history is what makes my sentimental side scream "Out with the new - keep the old!" For now, that's just what we'll do. Unfortunately, a young, bored Toby chewed a chair leg or two  back in the puppy days and we'd probably have to find someone who could fabricate a new leg to match the correct shape. A dining set from the 50's is likely not worth the money.
























A little fabric, new cushions and some tacks to keep everything together and I say they look pretty sharp. I love DIY projects especially on a stay-home-from-work day while watching Hocus Pocus on the television!

The amazing Joe Satriani

 

At the end of August Scott and I drove to Las Vegas to see Joe Satriani perform. This guy is probably the best technical guitarist  in the world. I Loved it. He was so great and so humble and I am incredibly impressed with his talent. I don't know a ton about guitar playing but Scott does and he tells me great things about this guy. I didn't expect to enjoy the show nearly as much as I did.

 

While we were there, we also saw Journey in concert - that was a treat. It was a good concert but not nearly as good as the Satriani show interestingly enough.

 

Of course, any vacation includes finding some great places to eat.

 

We found Battista's "Hole in the Wall". It was truly a hole in the wall. The food was good and the atmosphere was fun. This place clearly has been around for quite some time with pictures of all the greats visiting the joint along the wall (Andy Griffith was in our booth).  The place was a bit expensive for the quality but we assume that with the free wine, of which we did not partake, it came out to be a reasonably priced meal.

The Hofbräuhaus!

 

I stopped at the original which in Munich, Germany many years ago on a business trip. Scott didn't remember the name of "This German place that I've been told we have to try" so I was pleased to find it was something familiar to me. We had german potato salad and Wiernerschnizel - delicious.  

We found a great Mexican resturant off the strip that had the best homemade guacamole and pork carnitas.

The big restaurant we actually pre-planned to visit (all the others we just found the morning of our meal) was our Bouchon - a Thomas Keller restaurant. Thomas Keller is an American chef who is famous in the food world, not to be confused with the famous chefs from the Food Network world. I'll admit, I'd never heard of him until I read a book my mom gave Scott for Christmas about a big International cooking competition called the Bocuse d'Or but he's a BIG DEAL!

a crock of foie gras made Scott very happy

 

We had a great time even though it was Las Vegas (we are not really Las Vegas fans). The best part of any of our couples trips is of course, driving through Payson with anticipation at seeing my Madelyn! We love having time as a couple but oh how wonderful to come home to our baby.

at the pumpkin farm

Well, a post from 2011 that never got posted can turn around and be a retro post! I give you
"at the pumpkin farm - October 2011"

I just found these cutie pictures. I never blogged about them. I think I was waiting to take a photo of the Jack-o-lanterns.