Happy Fathers Day!!

Our son P. was born in Seattle. My friend and photographer Maria Nutter snapped this photo on Alki Beach. That is P. being held up by my husband in his favorite baseball glove. She later sold the image to Avanti cards and it was published as a Fathers Day card for many years. It is out of print now. (That baby is 16 and loves baseball too!) My MIL sent this card to my husband every year until she ran out of her stash.
Happy Fathers Day to my dad, husband, and all of the other dads out there!!

(The photo I snapped of the photo shoot)

There is nothing cuter than a nekkid baby!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Walk in My Shoes!

Once upon a time I had the cutest Steve Madden Clogs ever! They were so cute my friend Mary bought a pair too. (Then we came dressed to a party exactly the same...oooops!)

Then we bought a cute puppy named Mighty Casey....

Her favorite thing to eat was shoes... and so went my cute Steve Maddens. She only ate one, but it is hard to clomp around on one clog....

soon we became friends again....

although she didn't observe my personal body space rule.....

But that's okay because look what I found this week at my local G-Dub!!! If you want something enough it will come back to you-- sometimes through the Goodwill!!! (these are the brown variety, but I love them just the same!!)

Walk in My Shoes!

My new favorite

So

Easy

But soo good! I just cut corn tortillas into wedges, pop them on a baking sheet, spritz with olive oil, add sea salt and True Lime, bake for 10 minutes at 450. Keep your eyes on them for the last minute so you can make them the perfect shade of golden. I like mine a little dark. Viola! Yummy, healthy-ish chips!! I guess it isn't healthy to eat the entire pan, so start crunching at your own risk!

You can use lime juice and lime zest for extra special yumminess. True Lime is just dehydrated lime juice, and it's great for adding a little something.

My new favorite

Clean Fridge and Messy Brain

*I was in a car accident that took away my sense of time......okay now keep reading.

I have always wondered about those people with nothing in their refrigerators. You know the ones on MTV Cribs that just have Cristal Champagne, diet coke, and maybe some mustard or hot sauce. Mine is jammed FULL. So the other day I decided enough was enough and I had to clean that bad boy out. I was chucking stuff into the garbage that no longer resembled food in any form. Ick! How did that get shoved so far back in there?

Then came the expiration dates. What?..... How are you supposed to know how to figure that out? My son was in the room so I had to ask him, "is Oct. 10 coming or have we passed it? March isn't June right? The first few questions he just answered without thinking. Then he turns around and says, "Mom!" as if I'm asking about his personal life or something, and then he goes into this soliloquy about the workings of a calendar. Here's what I heard. "If a train leaves the station at 12:30 travelling 45 miles an hour........." You get the point. I know how a calendar WORKS, I just can't figure out how it works for me. You know in a movie where the guy is working on a math problem in a classroom that takes up three chalkboards, well that's how I feel when someone tells me to write down the date, or if I have to figure out a FUTURE or PAST date. (how do you know what year that was or is? do you memorize it?) I was trying to explain why I didn't get it, and he is sitting there with this look of complete confusion, and I think of my cousin Lisa saying that it sounds like I'm on drugs and I'm trying to explain these crazy thoughts to a sober person trying to get them to understand. That is EXACTLY the problem. Only I'm completely sober, but my brain is confused at the moment. CRAZY.

It's okay, the doctors hope that I'll figure it all out in time, and all things considered is it really that important to know the year? Ohhhh not really. All of this because I was trying to clean out the refrigerator.

Clean Fridge and Messy Brain

Waste Not Want Not

When I was growing up in California, we were in the midst of a very long, hot drought. I remember that there was a guest teacher that came in to teach us about water conservation. The thing that stuck with me all of this time is that he said, "one day you may tell your grandchildren that water flowed out of the faucets and that you were able to take a shower, because someday that water could be gone." YIKES!! My grandfather and my extended family were farmers and they were always talking about water rights and running out of irrigation water. That was pretty scary to me.

So now I'm always thinking about water and how not to waste it. Which brings me to the potted plants that I love. At the end of the day I go around and pick up all of the leftover water bottles, half empty glasses of iced tea or lemonade, the melted ice from the coolers, and use them to water the plants. I'm not saying that it will solve the water crisis, but every bit helps!! It doesn't hurt the plants at all, and mine seem to love it!

Waste Not Want Not

Hotter than You-Know-Where

Pizza on the grill
Grilled Dogs

Homemade Cherry Garcia!

Herbs from my garden

If it can't be created outdoors on the grill, or plugged in outside we aren't having it. Denver is notorious for temperature swings and holy moly Summer showed up this week. We hit 94 yesterday one day after the electric company went to a "tiered billing system". In order to keep out bill in the realm of "normal" I decided to take it outside! I hate the blinds closed, (HATE IT) but I've turned this house into a vampire's den. It is just toooo hot! I grew up in the hottest spot in California, where the electric company held everyone hostage, so my parents would tell us to "open your window to cool off" yeah right. I've always wondered how to threaten your children with the fires of hell when it couldn't be much worse than getting into your car after it has sat in the sun for an hour or two, or sliding down a metal slide at school!! I used to drive my stick shift with an oven mitt (no lie) because it was metal and you couldn't touch it with your bare hands! Now that is HOT!!

Who said you don't need air conditioning in Denver? You are a big fat liar my friend.

Hotter than You-Know-Where

Repurposed Cement

Casey's view through the gate.

A few years ago the city was tearing up the sidewalks near my house. I saw a huge pile of cement chunks waiting to be thrown away, and asked if I could have them. They said Sure!, but then I was stuck trying to figure out how to get them to my house. I called my landscaper and asked him if his workers would like a side job, and he sent them over. For some reason they refused to be paid to place the cement slabs into a walkway. ( I think they thought that I had lost my mind) so I did what I do best, and put together a huge lunch buffet in my back yard with cold drinks an to-go boxes of treats! My grouchy next door neighbor told my dad that he hated it! NO VISION! I hate that!

I stained the concrete, and over time it wore off a little, and it looks great!! The season starts with purple penstamon that I let go to seed and re-sprinkle it every year, and then the white diasies come next. I love my walkway, what a better way to save cement from the landfill! (My parents did the same thing in their back yard and it looks great!)

Repurposed Cement