My Kind of Town, Chicago

I am obsessed with the idea of living an urban life in a big city. I would live in a high-rise, preferably one that is a converted loft or something equally cool. And each night Paul and I would walk down the crowded streets (notice I didn't mention the kids) and stop at our favorite cafe and dine al fresco. This is why I love Chicago. We returned from the Windy City last Saturday after spending a great week with Paul's parents.

We traveled down to Springfield to go to the FABULOUS Lincoln Museum. This was the highlight for me--I found myself wiping my eyes after each of the magnificent documentary movies, grateful for the sacrifices President Lincoln made to preserve our country.

We walked down Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago, seeing American capitalism at its best as we wandered stores like American Girl, The Lego Store, Tiffany jewelers, etc.

We had a great time at the Field Museum seeing mumified cats and dinosaur bones.

And who could forget all the gorgeous fall leaves to be enjoyed in a state that actually has trees growing naturally?

Sing it Frank, "And each time I leave, Chicago is tuggin my sleeve, Chicago is the wrigley building, Chicago is the union stockyard, Chicago is one town that wont let you down. Its my kind of town."

Green with Envy

Alright, so I don't have to be green with envy because this buffet is all MINE. I bought it from Four Chairs Furniture in Lindon. Go look in this store--it's a real treat. I'm too embarrassed to list here how much of my furniture has come from this store, so I won't. All I will say is, they are the best. I have a more modern/vintage taste, so I tend to pick shaker style furniture and avoid all the country (albeit adorable) looking stuff in their store. I am particularly pleased with how my green cabinet turned out because I had to go to a paint store and have it matched. I was trying to acheive this look from Pottery Barn and I think I hit it dead on. I am beaming I am just so happy with my new piece of furniture. If I were a character in Fiddler On The Roof I might ask the Rabbi if there is a blessing for my green cabinet. He would hopefully respond, "May it hold your gratin and french onion soup dishes and cookbooks for many years to come."

A GOOD Mom

Ok, I haven't blogged in a while about motherhood. I've been thinking about what kind of a mom I am. I am not the kind of mom that slurps kisses on my kids and just beams when they come into the room. In other words, I am not too sentimental. I value my independence and strive to teach my children to be good and decent members of society. I never miss my kids on the rare occaion that I get a break (albeit 1 day or 7 days) from them. But I do think I am a good mom nonetheless. And here's how I realized it today.

I know I am a GOOD mom because...

1. I take extra long showers until my skin turns red just to avoid stepping out of the bathroom into the Twilight Zone.

2. I love being home alone and never get tired of it. Ever. If such an event occurs during the day (while all the kids are at school/pre-school) I simply enjoy the silence--no TV, no music, nothing. If such a blessed event occurs at night (if Paul takes the kids out to a sporting event (*yawn*)) then I watch long BBC movies.

3. Driving in silence. Kind of the same as #2 only I take this to two different extremes. I either drive in complete silence and inhale deep breaths to cleanse my normally noise-filled life or I listen to music VERY loudly. This works particularly well in our new car with a Bose audio system. Even better if listening to U2's Vertigo. I feel naughtly because I listen to it so loudly that I have to keep checking my rear-view mirror lest I see an ambulance trying to blow around me because I can't hear a thing and should've pulled over.

4. I sneakily eat chocolate sometimes. (Is this what closet alcoholics do?) I hide in my pantry and eat the delicious European chocolate or else I'd have to share. Heck, the kids are happy with dum dum lollipops, why share money?

5. My kids say I'm mean. Enough said.

So why are you a good mom?

She's Got Good Jeans

I have been on a kick lately embroidering my girls plain jeans into adorable creations. The hardest part is that I have to rip out the inseam (or side seam) to get the denim to lay flat under the embroidery machine. The rest is easy...pick out cute fabric for applique and sweet colors of thread.

You Say Tomat-o, I Say To-ma-toe

40 pounds of Roma tomatoes...10 orange fingernails...1 helpful husband...2 dozen canning jars...5 hours of boiling water (blanching and sealing)...4 slippery tomatoes falling to floor...1 wood floor needing to be mopped....10-15 meals ahead of tomato soup and homemade pasta sauce.

Peach Pie Season

Nothing makes me happier than going to Allred's Orchards and buying 1/2 a bushel of peaches (about 50 peaches). Homemade pie makes me giddy. Buttery flakey crust and sweet filling with a touch of nutmeg. Heaven on a plate. With all the bio-enginering going on, why can't they figure out a way to make peach season last longer than 8 weeks? Ah well, I've gone through a bushel of peaches and I'm determined to go through another in the next two weeks.

Chinese Chicken Salad

I've been making this salad for at least 8 years. I love large salads for dinner in the summer. It's just one of the best and can knock the socks off of any chinese chicken salad you'll find at those overpriced chain restaurants. Mmmm...good. The kids favorite part are the fried noodles on top. Please do not top this with packaged crunchy noodles. You'll ruin it. You will.

Chinese Chicken Salad

Salad:
2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
1-2 heads green leaf lettuce
green onions, diced
1 ½ cups slivered almonds (optional, I'm not a huge nut fan)
3 cans (8oz each) mandarin oranges
1 package (12oz) wonton noodles, cut in strips and fried crisp (found in produce section)

Dressing:
2-4 T. sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard (helps emulsify the dressing so it won't separate)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/3 cups rice wine vinegar
2 T. sesame oil
2 T. water
½ cup canola oil
toasted sesame seeds

Whisk all the dressing ingredients and then slowly drizzle in oil while whisking.

PRINTABLE VERSION: CLICK HERE

Back to School

The best part about back to school as a kid was getting new clothes. Now that I am a mom I realize I am mean. (Duh.) I try to hide some of the new clothes from my kids--like long jeans and sneakers because it's still too hot. Well, I gave in on the shoe thing but I hid the long pants because I don't want to see holes in their jeans by October. And since I am sewer extraordinaire I made Ilene some smocks. How cute are these? But who am I kidding--the best part about back to school is having 2 out of the 3 kids gone 7 hours a day. As evidenced by my favorite commercial of all time--Staples "Back to School".

Pretty Patchwork Pillows

I have lots of odd scraps of linen lying around. So I decided to put them to good use and make the girls some pillows for their beds. I don't think they'll mix 'em up. I love the coordinating stripe and am sad that I am getting down to just scraps of that as well. It has served me well though in making the girls' roman shades and dust ruffles. Always a sucker for polka dots and a good stripe.

Kitchen Shelves

We've lived in our house for two years now. And for two years I have been staring at this big blank wall in my kitchen wondering how to fill it up with stuff. I had three options--1) A large buffet with a hutch, 2) A large buffet with shelving, and 3) a large buffet with tons of framed art (or one large art piece). I finally decided what I wanted--option #2. So I ordered my buffet and then went to Ikea and bought these amazing stainless steel shelves. Could I blog about Ikea more than I already do? I love, love how these shelves turned out. It's going to be another 6 weeks before I can replace this thrift store table with my gorgeous buffet--check back then to see the full impact photo. Yee haw!

The Wild Wild West

If we had lived 150 years ago in Utah (like we do now) or in California (like we used to *sniff sniff*) then we may have made our living in the wild west living like this.

Put Your Feet Up

I'm a sucker for a good ottoman. They make my feet happy. My family room ottoman (purchased at T.J. Maxx a few years ago) was looking pretty shabby. So I bought these two little ottomans at Ikea last week (only $43 without the cover!) and made them some snazzy covers. You like, no? Me like.

Not the Summer of Cynthia

Summer is pretty much over. Oh sure, the mercury will continue to remain high for another month or so, but my kids start school in one week, so really, it’s over. I am openly rejoicing that the kids will go back to school, and privately mourning that this was not the summer of Cynthia. Summer of Cynthia, what’s that you ask? Well, if you read my blog regularly and you know me at all, you know that I hate everything about winter—coats, snow, muddy slush, and especially washing my hands in icy water out of the tap. (Our water heater is on the second floor so it takes 2-3 minutes to get hot.) Now, here are 4 points what would’ve made this a Summer of Cynthia.

1. If I had planted my tomato plants earlier (although we did have frost in June so they would've died anyway) I would already be eating homegrown ones instead of still eating store bought ones. Gag.

2. Snow in June. See this post.

3. If BYU hadn’t changed their pool policy to students and faculty only I would’ve gone swimming more than three times this whole summer. And I actually had 3 cute suits for this summer. (Leftover from Hawaii last fall.) Our city has one outdoor public swimming pool. One!!!

4. A vacation with just me and my little family. Alas, summer is when my poor husband must become a work-a-holic due to all the types of clients he has, so he can hardly get time off. He did take two days off to be stay-at-home-dad while I went to YW camp, 1 day to drive to California to see my family and 2 days to go to Idaho for his family reunion. Every year we say this is the year we’ll go to Arches National Park, hike the narrows in Zion National Park, or go to Yellowstone. *insert big sigh here*

I am not joking when I say that summer fills my happiness canteen and gets me through the winter. Since the canteen was never filled I'm a bit worried about my sanity. Thanks goodness I love to bake cakes and make hot soup. That will be my prescription sooner than I'd like to think to get me through the icy days ahead.

Fun Find

I found these amazing modern vinyl decals from another etsy seller. His shop name is One Up Designs. I can't believe how cute these turned out! I want everything in his shop. Oh drat, there go my own etsy profits for a while. They are such a refreshing alternative to all those other very cutesy decals out there. Hooray for modern!

(Yes, I know the girls' room is in serious need of some TLC but it's good enough for now. I never said I was a perfectionist.)

Friends, Friends, Friends!

Do you remember that I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is feeling all alone because everyone forgot her birthday and so she is sitting on a park bench crying her eyes out when a marching band of people comes along to cheer her up? They called themselves the “Friends of the Friendless” and quickly cheered Lucy up and even got her to march in the band. I always loved that episode, for reasons of humor of course and not because I think a band should go around looking for sad and lonely people. (Creepy.) But if there were such a band for the Friends of the Friendless, they’d never stop for me, because I have many, many wonderful friends.

This picture is of just a handful of my dearest friends. Six years ago we started having lunch together as friends and neighbors and today we still do our best to get together once a week (during the school year at least) and have lunch. (Can you guess by the picture who was hosting this day?) Oh sure, we have 22 children between the 5 of us (of the 5 pictured here, even more when you add a couple other gals) but that never stopped women from getting together and building bonds of friendship. Ok, so one of us moved to Washington but she still gets together with us often.

We swap babysitting so we can volunteer at school, we take each other meals when babies are born, we travel together, we take each other scrumptious chocolate cakes for birthdays, we let each other know when there is a good sale on kids clothes, we can peaches, pears, and make jam together, we decorate, sew, and paint each other’s houses, started a vegetable and food co-operative in the neighborhood, and even organize each other’s messy pantries and closets.

We all value education and are either working on our degrees, have college degrees, have master degrees, and one is even heading to law school in the fall! Some of us work all the live-long day at home and some of us work all the live-long day at home and outside the home. We are all different as can be and that’s why we’re such good friends. Who wants to be friends with someone just like you? No thanks, that’s boring. I can talk to myself if that’s what I wanted.

We are all women who know—we know the purpose of life, we know the truthfulness of His Gospel, and we work super duper hard to forward His work at church and within our homes. We’re obviously very religious, but not in a weird-o Bible thumping, wear-your-religion-on-your proverbial sleeve kind of way. We believe in families and know that families are the foundation of any successful society. (Hence all the children.) Being a mother hasn’t put any of us in shackles, but rather has taught us how much the individual matters. Who doesn’t want to be loved and cared for?

And if you are tired just reading this blog, imagine how tired we all are at the end of the day. No wonder we get together for Kelly’s Thai Noodle Wraps or Robyn’s Basil and Herb Chicken. No wonder we love each other so much.

Finding Good Homes For My Goodies

Sometimes I wonder what kind of home my goodies find once I mail them off to customers. So nothing makes me happier than receiving a photo from customers with one

of my items displayed in their home (or elsewhere). So I thought I'd share a few with you all. Doesn't that first photo look like something you'd see in Pottery Barn? And

that pillow in the window of a NYC apartment makes me giddy because I dream of living an urban life.

Scared Straight Parenting

If you are not a parent, I am about to warn you. If you are a parent, let’s form a support group. Because what I’m about to say I never knew before I became a parent. What I am about to type here is vital information if you are going to become a street smart parent.

GPS is for suckers. Why? Because my kids tell me how to drive all the time. They tell me to turn right at red lights so that I don’t have to wait for it to turn green. They ask serious questions about why I am choosing to go this way to Costco when it is clearly the other way. How many times do I have to explain to them that there are many different ways to get to many different places? All this from children who can barely ride a bike on the trail without falling off the trail into sticker weeds. (This happened to Hallie last week)

War of the Words. My kids argue and pick at words all the time with each other and with myself and Paul. Often this lands them in time out, so don’t worry, we’re on it. Time out is to my kids what the belt was to my family (and Paul’s family) growing up. Clearly our parents were smarter. Time out is for foolish parents like myself, that’s for sure. Anywho…..Ilene will be kicking Nathan (yup, kicking) and he’ll say “Stop kicking me” and she’ll say, “I’m not kicking me, why would I kick me?” (*kick kick kick*)

Ilene argues about where we will sail the boats tonight for the (*audibly groans*) Raingutter Regatta for Cub Scouts, after all, there is no water in the parking lot so we can’t possibly do it there. Yes, we anticipate Ilene will go to law school so we’re saving now for Little Miss Spicy Tongue. I’m thinking of becoming a cave man mom and just grunting and pointing my commands to avoid the word picking.

The Price is Right. My friend Laurie wrote a blog about her kids’ addiction to the Price and Right (beyond funny) and I’m thinking I need to encourage the same because I can see such addiction as a creative outlet for my kids constant need to know how much stuff costs and from where it came. “Mom where did you buy this ham?” “Mom how much is string cheese?” I’ve started pulling their little chains and answering “I stole the cheese” because that’s the only way to get them off my back. Sure my condoning theft, even if through sarcasm, which they don’t get, could lead to Hallie stealing extra Smarties from the check out stands at Macey’s Grocery Store, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take. ‘Cause my sanity is apparently more important then their moral compass.

I

feel

better

already.

Summer Dresses

I love to make my girls one-hour dresses. That seems to be all the time (and attention span) I have these days. So I look for patterns with only three pieces--a front, a back and a sleeve. This pattern by New Look was a winner. I whipped 'em up this afternoon while the girls played computer games. They look so cool you'd hardly know it's 90 degrees today!

The Touch, The Feel of Cotton

There is nothing I love to sew more than a cute cotton blouse out of awesome fabrics. I go to quilt shops and look at all the gorgeous designer cottons, but I'm not really tempted to buy them for quilts. Nope, my weakness is buying the 2 yards necessary to make myself a cotton blouse with a cute mandarin or rounded collar. And I've timed myself--2 1/2 hours to make this blouse from cut to finish. Not bad for something I'll wear for years. This pattern by Simplicity has been my favorite over the last year. I've made it three times now--as seen in these three photos. (Zoom in) I love the gathered sleeve--it's feminine and it gives enough room in my shoulder area so that I can twist myself into a pretzel position while buckling Hallie in the car. I'm trying to cure myself of my addiction to all things stretchy and wear more woven cottons. Ah cotton, the fabric of our lives.

Fabrics top to bottom: , yellow fabric is from Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, Pink Coriander by Amy Butler, polka dot by Michael Miller (I think)

Batik Quilted Purse

I've been meaning to make myself a colorful purse for summer. Well, you know the phrase, the cobbler's children have no shoes? It's taken me forever to make something for myself and not for my store. I bought a few of these hand-dyed batiks from a fellow etsy member's shop--A Stitch in Dye--good grief her stuff is gorgeous! I've used some of the pieces for an overly-ambitious queen size quilt I'm working on (stay tuned) and the rest for this gorgeous bag. (The other two Batiks I bought from that horrible chain store that shall remain nameless.)

Last night after dinner I had had it with my kids--their messes, their fighting, and arguing. So I retreated to my studio to make myself a new bag. I quilted this assymetrical bag with feather stitches, a modified zig-zag, and plain ol' straight stitches. I finished it off with a canvas lining with plenty o' pockets and a magnetic snap. Two hours later I emerged with this bag and a smile on my face. Hello, summer!

Meringue Designs Goes Global (Sort Of)

I was interviewed for an article in Utah Valley Magazine called "Work it, Mom". It's about mom business owners, or mompreneurs. Yup, that's me on page 38 of the July/August 2008 issue. You can read both pages about me here and here. Or you can buy a copy, you know, so I can autograph it, or so that you can make a decopauged pencil holder from the glossy pages and see my lovely face everyday.

Adventures in Babysitting

(Here I am in 1989 with James and Nisi Hester, long time clients.)

Paul and I are very popular these days. We had three outings this weekend, which meant getting a babysitter three times. (My sister helped out one night so I only had to hire two sitters for the other nights.) Score!

Seeing as I’m the big P in my ward over the young women, I know all the teenage girls in my neighborhood pretty darn well. So I know who is responsible and well…..who will eventually be responsible when they grow up. I like to pay my babysitters well (by Utah standards at least). I pay $4 an hour because I want them to come back. I think most girls charge $1 per hour, per kid, and since I only have three kids I guess I figure I pay 35% more than others. This calculation assuages my guilt of still paying less than minimum wage. I only earned $2 an hour back in my days of babysitting glory--what a crime!!

One of the girls who babysits for me regularly is afraid of Peeping Toms or creatures that go bump in the night because she always closes all the drapes in the house when she comes. Bless her heart, I can totally understand this. When I babysat, I usually babysat for poor Mormons like myself who didn’t have cable. So the only shows on Friday night were 20/20 at 10pm. So I watched that dang show every Friday night and then freaked myself out because it was usually about axe murderers or prisoners who escape from the state penitentiary. (And Chino, CA is the home of a large men’s prison!!). Funny thing is, now I am back to those days of childcare. Hey, where’s my $2 an hour?

Gifts that Keep on Giving (Giving Me Pain)

We pride ourselves on not buying many toys for our kids--they get 1 toy on their birthday and 3-4 at Christmas time. That's it. The rest they get from relatives with good intentions. Now, I'm not going to name these relatives (but they are fellow bloggers so you can guess who they are) nor will I get into the reasons why I think they give such destructive gifts to my children, and believe me, I have theories about these saboteurs. I will simply point out the current gifts that are giving me grief. You be the judge whether these toys are evil gifts.

1. Musical Sit and Spin: Yes, the vomit vortex is back from my childhood. Only this time it is updated with the ability to play horrific music whenever you so much as tap the toy with your foot when walking by. It plays awful music trying to impersonate rock, hip-hop, and country. We have deemed it an upstairs only toy. This rule is broken all the time.

2. Water Sprayer Duck (seen in photo next to Water Spraying Darth Vader which never worked). The water spraying duck caused me havoc just today. When you attach the hose to the duck, it sprays water all crazy-like through the snorkel. Cute right? Wrong, the girls opened the back door while the water duck was doing it’s thing and water was quickly sprayed all over the wood floors in the dining area. This led me to mopping and swearing at the same time.

3. Manicure Kits: Who are the ad wizards who thought giving small girls permanent oil based paints in the form of nail polish was a good idea? I don’t really need to explain this any further, do I? It simply fuels the fire behind every small child’s desire to be a grafitti artist. That also goes for the 3-D Glue Bonanza. That "washable" label is a joke meant to frighten mothers all around the world.

4. Paint Sprayer: Our kids have received this gift twice now! Creative and crafty right? Wrong! My kids have turned on the sprayer before without the shield on thus spinning hot pink paint (not washable) around the room and landing on my white slipcovered furniture. Come to my house and I’ll show these stains that occurred at least 3 years ago. I didn’t have a personal photo of this toy because I have thrown it away.

5. Doodle Bear: (Seen at top of blog.) In theory this is a good idea. Give a child a special marker for her special bear. Child can scribble away to her heart’s content and then mother can wash bear all nice and clean. Child can repeat process. Wrong! This only teaches the child that scribbling is ok--especially on her own body. She will then scribble on walls in her bedroom, French doors, supporting beams on front porch, etc. Evil toy.

Please, I am begging the offending gift givers out there. Just give my kids what they really want—cardboard boxes, loads of Scotch tape, and plain white copy paper.

Ode to Summer

Summer has finally come, rejoice with song!
I’ve been dreaming of you for oh so long
Warmer days make me elated
'Cause winter made me mean and jaded

All of a sudden life seems carefree
My kids stay in the pool away from me
Windows open, breezes blowing
I was beginning to wonder if you were coming.

Give me the heat oh any day,
Snow is evil please stay away
So here’s to sandals and shorts, this is my plan
Poolside days and soon dark tans

I love the heat so much it’s true
I rarely run my A/C cooler
For when summer is here
I want to fry like Sizzle-lean
May it last long and fill my happiness canteen

Synopsis of YW Camp

Lots of snow and mud….40 degrees by day, 20 degrees by night……all day campfires to stay warm….all day smoke inhalation of said campfire burns lungs and eyes day in and day out…wind galore chaps face…..went through 2 tubes of chap stick….extreme cold keeps me in three layers of clothing at a time….backpacked and hiked in snow….stuffed foot warmers in shoes after hike to thaw out feet…..peed on a rock in the wilderness like an animal…..getting a sore throat…..sore ankles the next day from sinking in snow while hiking…..sore between my knees from ‘chattering’ with the cold….one of my campers got very sick…..life threatening…..life flight….helicopter finally landed due to our prayers to calm the winds…..drank more hot chocolate this week than entire life combined….learned more crazy camp songs like ‘mormon boy’ and ‘wienie man’ that will surely come to haunt me on my deathbed in a state of delirium……realized sore throat turned into bad cold with constant coughing and nose blowing….had a great time getting to know the girls better….hoped I helped them increase their testimonies of Jesus Christ….great testimony meeting…..came home and took hot shower for 45 minutes….slept…..ate Café Rio for dinner….slept through the night in my warm bed without a ski hat on…..nursed my cold with cough medicine....happy I went.

Missing My Parents

I'm a big girl, but even big girls need their parents once in a while. I haven't lived near my parents ever since I was 18 and moved out of their home. (Paul's parents live in Chicago so they're even farther and we see them even less.!) I'm pretty independent but every once in a while I miss my parents so much it hurts. Now that I am a parent and my kids are getting older, I seem to be missing them even more. Here are the top 10 reasons I wish I lived closer to my parents:

1. All kids should get to hang out at their grandparents home eating homemade cookies from Grandma and flying model airplanes with Grandpa.

2. All daughters need a break from cooking dinner once in a while. Nothing makes me more jealous than to know that my sister and brother go to my parents house every Sunday night and eat fabulous enchiladas or gorditas. Aye, yo me gusto comida preparada de mi Mama. I'm sure I said that wrong. Sometimes I just want to cry on Sunday nights when I hear about my friends who are heading to parents/grandparents for Sunday dinner. Sigh. What would it be like to have someone cook for me? I can't really fathom that.

3. My dad is a great handyman. He's taught me how to put up crown moulding, change my spark plugs, and use a compound miter saw. If he lived here I would be learning even more from my amazing Dad.

4. My mom is good at doing hair and nails. She is a cosmetologist. If she lived closer, my girls would have cuter hair. Hallie refused to let anyone cut her hair for 6 months insisting that only Abuelita could touch her hair. Also, she gives the best manicures.

5. Lunches with my mom. Sometimes when I am starved for adult conversation during the day I beg Paul to meet me somewhere for lunch. If my mom lived here, Paul would get more work done because I would bug her and not him.

6. Great conversations--my dad is a great conversationalist. Luckily this one isn't too much of an issue because we chat on the phone--lately during his L.A. commutes home at night. We talk about McCain, Obama, racism, the price of gas, etc.

7. Shopping. I hate to shop, but my mom seems to find bargains wherever she goes. If she lived here, I would go shopping with her--as my good luck charm.

8. I still need to learn how to make Carne Machaca and Chile Rellenos (not the healthy ones, the fried ones) from my mom.

9. My Dad could help Nathan win the pine wood derby. Ok, so I don't really care about this one, but Nathan does. He's always saying, "Grandpa can fix anything!"

10. Kindness--my mom is so kind to me. I'm sure I would be a kinder mom if she were here to rub off on me.

I feel a trip coming on to California.....

I Thought I Lived in A Desert?

As a Young Women leader in my church, I get to/have to/am privileged too/am forced to go to Young Women's camp. And aren't we lucky? This is my third year in a row going to camp, but the first year I am going in June. We are the first stake/congregation going--well, technically we are the second stake to go to camp this summer--there was one other stake going the week before us (this week) but it was cancelled due to the all the snow. I got word Sunday that we are definitely going to camp next week--even though it has been snowing for two days in the mountains. Camp Mia Shalom is located up Fairview Canyon and the elevation is over 8,000ft. These pictures were taken just a few days ago.

Now, if you know me, you know that the only thing worse than being hungry for me is being cold. As I sit here typing this on my laptop (in my warm kitchen) I am wearing a light coat because it is only in the 50s today--and I'm only at 4,500ft! Dang this cold spring! So wish me luck, wherever you are in the world, during June 10-14, as you eat a popsicle and wear shorts. I'll be wearing mud-caked shoes and a heavy coat. I know, wah wah, where's that tiny violin when I need it?