What a great weekend!

Friday night, our friends the Shills, came over for dinner. We always enjoy seeing the Shills! They were our across the street neighbors for the first 5 years or so of living in our house. They were also the first people we met when we moved in! They are wonderful and have very sweet kids!

Jason and I made our Pork with root beer apples thing for them and it was very delicious! After dinner, we watched IRobot (love that show) so they could get a feel for surround sound. (They are on the tail end of finishing their basement, and are sort-of shopping for a system right now)
Anyway, it was a great night! We love you Chris and Chrissie! Thanks for coming over!

Saturday, we went to the movies and saw WALL-E. It's a sweet story of a robot who is all alone on Earth but longs to to find true love. Behind the main plot, there is a very subtle, yet powerful message to be kind to Earth.

It was so cute! So sweet! Thought provoking. Very entertaining!

I give it 4 1/2 stars!

One other note, when Jason left the movie, he said "I think that's my favorite Pixar movie yet"

I agree!

the summer movie season is upon us. Tuesday Hancock comes out. We may be seeing that next weekend!

You can also enjoy a couple songs from the movie as you are reading my blog (assuming you are reading this before I have added another post)

Goofing Around

Wednesday, Sue and Super and I went shopping for some Trek clothes at DI. Sue found some great purple high hilled shoes. Super couldn't get enough of them. I swear that the shoes had magical powers, because when she had them on, she was a different kid! She was so goofy! She wore them as much as she could for a couple of days. She wore them while taking Sue to work, she wore them to the grocery store. She even wore them while she was riding her scooter! What a nut!

Notice her Book of Mormon?... Future missionary? Probably not in those shoes!

Another story: Thursday night (I think) we went to Carl's Jr. to grab some dinner. Jason ordered "a six piece chicken star" for Super. The lady didn't understand what he said, so he repeated "one, six piece chicken star".

worker: We don't have 16 piece chicken star

Jason: no- one, six piece chicken star

worker: I know, we do not have a 16 piece chicken stars!

meanwhile: the worker proceeds to put a few different amounts of chicken stars on the screen. I think she had a 9 piece and 2- 6 piece chicken stars at this point. (what does that equal? 21? Well not six or sixteen)

So, I thought maybe I could be more clear and I say "No. Mam. We need one -six piece chicken stars"

worker: we don't have a sixteen piece chicken star

finally Jason says: how bout we just come in?

At this point, she has two nine piece chicken nuggets on the screen. Sue and I are doing our best to hold in our laugh. We don't want to seam rude, but come on? How hard is this? I don't know how to make it more clear. OH MY WORD!!! Well, we were almost crying we were laughing so hard (silently - We don't want to hurt her feelings or do something to our food)
I think the lady finally got someone to help her, because she finally got it through her head that we only needed one order of six pieces!

So the point? Well, I think it is very helpful when the people working the drive thu, it might be helpful to know English!

Flashback Friday

Yep, that's me on the left. See, I told you I used to be cute! (and skinny! )

The story behind the picture: In 1990 (yes, I am aware that that was almost a million years ago) I went with my high school choir group to California. It wasn't nearly as deluxe of a trip as Sue's recent tour, but we did have fun.

We went to the beach and to Sea World. The picture was taken just before my friend Lisa (next to me) and I went wondering down the beach by ourselves for a couple of hours. We met tons of people (mostly "guys") and took pictures with them too. Later that same day, two of the people we met on the beach came to Sea World looking for us, and we ditched the rest of our choir group to go hang out with them (very naughty). I ripped my shorts jumping a fence to get to where our bus was, and we ended up almost missing our bus ride home because of our gallivanting. Oh....to be young and stupid again :)

p.s. nothing says 90's like Def Leppard!

Lemon Gelato

I got a request for this recipe from one of my friends, so I thought I would just share it with everyone.

It was Sooooooooooooooo yummy! So creamy! Probably so fattening, but you only live once right?!

Anyway, if you double click on the picture you can see it really big and be able to read the recipe.

Food Glorious Food! (TTA)

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that I love to eat. But here are some of my faves when it comes to food:

...at Mimi's Cafe: ***Monterey Omelette with Honey Oat Bran Muffin ***
...at Olive Garden: Pasta e Fagioli soup
...at El Habinero: Enchiladas smothered with chile verde
...at Red Lobster: the biscuits and salad with little shrimps on top
...at Akasaka Sushi: Spicy Crunch Roll/ Vegas Roll (it's a toss-up)
...at Taco Time: teeter totters (tater tots) and crispy tacos
...at Cold Stone: Founder's Favorite
...at Joni's Deli: Philly Steak and Cheese Sandwich
...at Cafe Rio: Pork Salad with black beans and house dressing

...at home: hmm, let's see...well, anything I didn't have to make (including take-out), taco soup (my fave, but not my kids' or husband's fave so I rarely make it), chef salad, practically all the ready-made stuff we've tried from Costco, pot roast (also never make, because my hubby hates pot roast) and we've been making stuff from the Taste of Home Magazine which I hope will have many new favorites. In fact, Sunday we made Lemon Gelato (Italian Ice Cream). Holy Cow! It was scrum-diddley-umptious!!!!!

***this is the meal I love the most right now. I crave it all the time, especially when I know I can't have it (like on Sundays or when the funds just aren't there) I think why I like this meal the most is because it reminds me of being on vacation! Also, most of the time when I get to eat it, it is on the RARE occasion that Jason and I actually go out on a d-a-t-e (what's that?)

You're probably asking yourself, what does vacation have to do with Mimi's and omelets? Well, we stayed at the Ho Jo last time we went to Disneyland, and there happened to be a Mimi's right next door to our hotel. We passed it every time we walked to DL, and on our last morning there, We ate breakfast at Mimi's prior to our departure (nice big words ha!)***

Good, Quick Read

Last night at about 2 am I finished a good, quick, read. (my rating: 4 stars)

It's about this man, Peter, who sort of finds a little girl who was kidnapped about a year before. Peter is a good Samaritan who just wants to get little Lisa home to her parents, but has some trouble on the way.

I really liked the pace of the book. It just starts out without a lot of back story.

The Hostess with the Mostess?

Just curious if anyone read this book besides myself. And if so, what did you think about it? I think my official rating on this one is maybe 3 out of 5 stars.
I'm not going to give an official review, because I don't want to say too much. I don't want to spoil it for you if you were planning to read it. but here's what I thought...
I felt like I it needed some good chase scenes (like in Eclipse) and I really wanted them to get out of that stupid mountain!
And, I liked Ian more. how bout anyone else?
And what about the ending, what did you think. I was feeling like that was the perfect solution to the problems about 100 pages before it happened! (sorry Stephanie Meyer...I am still one of your biggest fans)
************************************************************************************
TRUE STORY!!
Speaking of Stephanie Meyer...I have been meaning to Blog this for forever...
One time, a couple of months ago, one of my kids answered the phone just like I trained them to (saying "May I ask who's calling" when they don't know who it is) So, I'm in my room and I hear:

"Mo-ommm. Pho-ooone"
I ask "who is it?"
they say: "Stephanie Meyer"
My heart skips 10 or 12 beats, I can't remember for sure, and I think to myself...
how did she know I am one of her biggest fans? Oh, my word, what am I going to say? should I tell her about my ideas for the new book? oh, my word what should I say? I am running out of time to think, so I wing it...

me: Hello?
Stephanie Meyer: yes, Mrs. Barnett?
me: yes (inside, I am totally FREAKING OUT!!!!!)
Stephanie Meyer: yes, Mrs. Barnett, I am calling to remind you of your photograph appointment at .....
me: oh, yes thank you.
(can you believe I freaked out over that)

p.s. Sue told me today (Tuesday) who my "Stephanie Meyer" phone call was. It is this girl Shalysa's mom (and her name is really Stephanie Meyer, thought not spelled the same way) from the High school. She was helping the photographer by doing reminder phone calls.

As for why I thought she was calling me? Well, I'm VERY passionate about those books and have visited her website frequently. But the biggest thing you have to remember, it was a phone call that started it all. I didn't have time to think about it rationally. I'm just a great big DORK!

My Little Mermaids

We bought a pool pass again this summer and have been spending most days there during the week! This sounds mean, but for the most part we do it while Jason is at work. (he's not really into swimming though!)It has been so much fun! Super has pretty much taught herself how to swim, and Loo had lessons a few years ago, so we could definitely use some real lessons again, but for now, we are just plain having fun!

Today, I took my camera to the pool and got some cute pics of the girls. Sue wouldn't let me take pictures of her...she said it was embarrassing!

Here is a link to some video I took today.

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=1127023&t=1107

When it's all over.....sleep!

My New Favorite Thing

I have discovered a new love... the Taste of Home Magazine. I know it's not new, but it's new to us! Jason and I picked up the magazine at the check-out stand a month or so ago, and decided that we should rejuvenate our cook-life! We thought a subscription to the magazine may be just what we needed!

It has been wonderful! We have tried a few new recipes and are very excited to try some more!

The other night, we made Grilled Chicken with Salsa. pictured on bottom right. If you can't read the recipe very well, double click on the image, and it will come up really big, and if that doesn't work, and your are still interested, let me know I will type it out for you.

I think next we are going to try a Lemon Gelato (Italian Ice Cream)
http://www.tasteofhome.com/

Tuesday Tell All

Today's topic is "SMELL": I know I have mentioned this before, but I have a thing for smells! I have what I call "go-go-gadget-NOSE". So, I'm a little neurotic when it comes to smells!

You know how "every girl's crazy for a sharp dressed man"? Well, this girl's crazy for a sharp smellin' man! Angel and Polo Black to be exact! They are my absolute faves for Jason!

I love the smell of clean white laundry (I love the scent of bleach). I like to scrub my kitchen and bathroom with soft scrub (with bleach of course) because of the smell!

.

I love Febreze! I really do! My new favorite scent is the pink one called Powder & Pamper. Mmm! Smells good! I just sprayed down my house after finding the can! Mmm! I also like the one in the blue can called Rocky Springs and Cool. It reminds me of the smell of your skin when you just get out of the shower. Kind of like Irish Spring soap or something like that!

I love the smell of hotel/casino lobbies in Vegas. They always have a huge fresh flower arrangements and most have some kind of water feature, so the smell is sort of chlorine-flowery. Occasionally, I will smell that smell here (not in my house) like the Mayan has that kind of smell too. Whenever I smell that smell, it reminds me of being on vacation.

I'm sure I could go on about smells, but you probably have more important things to do than to read what I like to smell, and I need to go pretend I'm a good wife, and go clean something!

TTFN!