At the Wall of Gum

The break that we call Spring was anything but Springy unless you subscribe to the notion of April Showers bringing May flowers. Then you would be right. Until Friday, beautiful Friday.

Not only was it dry, it was warm. And beautiful. And felt like a good day to go to the city. Really a great day for a bike ride which is what Cycle Guy did with Lightning.

Beaner and her friend Jakenzie had friends visiting from out of town, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Kudos to Jakenzie and her parents Jen and Mr. Fixit for letting the boys stay outside in their trailer. We salute you! Jen and Mr. Fixit have two other daughters whom we love like our own, K.C. and Mcessica. Someday I will blog about them and the adventures we have shared through the years.

Jen and I herded Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Beaner, Jakenzie, Fashionista and Mcessica into the car and headed south. After an hour of loud music and chatter we arrived in Seattle.

Free Hydration from the good folks at Vitamin Water and a walk through town brought us to Pike Place Market and...
... the Wall of Gum. Yes, the famous Gum Wall of Seattle is a very important stop when being a tourist in this great city. The Market Theater in Post Alley at Pike Place Public Market is a No Gum Allowed theater. Over the years a tradition started as people stuck their gum on the wall while waiting in line to buy tickets.

The story is that owners of the theater decided to stop cleaning the gum off the wall and since then, the tradition has extended beyond theater goers. The wall (now expanded to the entire alley) has become an attraction all its own.
Here we are adding our own gum to the famous collection.Fashionista likes the Wall of GumNext time you are in Seattle be sure to find the Wall of Gum and add your own gooey mess to the collection. (Just be sure you bring the hand sanitizer along)

Spring Break in Whoville

Yes, it is spring break for the Who-ites? Who-uns? Who-ligans? Who-ever they are, they are free of school for one week. And since next week begins a new quarter, they are also free of homework.

And so the adventures begin (okay so they began as soon as school got out on Friday, whatever)

Our home has been filled with flying ping pong balls, Rock Band, laughter, movies and all sorts of fun.

Beaner's friend even taught her how to make Chicken Alfredo yesterday. Enough leftovers for the rest of us to have for dinner. All I had to do was add garlic bread and bruschetta. Sooo good. (Want the recipe? I could blog about that:o)

Coolio aka Bondifaj (pronounced bon-dee-fojh) is spending the week in Chicago with friends. Having the time of his life. Check out this pizza!Fashionista has spent much of her week with her friend from down the street. They really wanted me to take them on a bike ride to the coolest school playground in town for a picnic, but good grief it hasn't stopped raining since February. We drove in the car, got some treats and it even stopped raining for about an hour while we played on the toys.The other night at about 11 as I was on my way to bed, three of my teenagers stopped me and asked if they could invite friends over to play Midnight Risk. What, you may ask is Midnight Risk? That would be playing the board game Risk starting at 12:00 midnight.

Oh the adventures of Spring Break.

We actually said yes and the texting began. By midnight, trips had been made to the store for goodies and kids surrounded the table for Risk. I could hear the babble of voices and laughing and rolling dice for the rest of the night. Poor Cycle Guy still had to get up VERY early the next morning to go to work. (Of course Risk was still going when he left.)

By the time I got up kids were sprawled around the room watching Office reruns trying not to fall asleep.

Gotta love those crazy kids. (And envy them a little that their bodies can do that! Remember when?)

Coolio is coming home tonight. I'm excited to see him. I'll bet he'll want to sleep for the next two days.

Ahhh, Back to school on Monday.

Crepes

The children of Whoville all love to eat Crepes.

Their names are Thing 1
and the Beaner and Cool
Fashionista and New Kid.
Trust me, they rule

Eating Crepes on a chair
or a table or floor
They don't care where they eat them
They always want more

They would eat them with foxes
And even with Apes.
They would eat them in t-shirts
or wearing their capes

Would the people at your house
Like eating crepes too?
Make them today
This how to is for YOU.

Ingredients: Water (not hot, cold is fine)
Milk (2%, Whole, Skim, doesn't matter)
Salt (Iodized...it's better for you)
Flour (White, Unbleached)
Oil (I use Canola~ oops not pictured but VERY important!)

Pour 1/2 cup water into BlenderAdd 1/2 cup MilkAdd 2 EggsBlend WellWithout turning off the blender, Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp saltAdd about 1 Tbsp. oil

Blend well, scraping sides of blender (be careful, don't scrape while the blender is blending.)Heat small non stick skillet on stove. Spray with cooking spray.Pour small amount of mixture into skillet, pick up the pan and roll the batter around to cover the bottom of pan.Cook until the shine is gone from the top of crepe. Layer carefully on a platter.There are so many ways we like to eat them. Butter and sugar. Raspberry Jam. You could even make it savory with sausage and scrambled eggs. How about PB&J. My favorite is with Nutella and sliced bananas.

One of the Whoville favorites is butter and powdered sugar. Another favorite is cherry pie filling and whipped cream.Crepes are a huge favorite in Whoville and get requested on a regular basis for both breakfast and dinner. Try them on your family and friends, they won't be disappointed. And neither will you!

Sesame Street, Snopes and Computer Speech

Three. It's a magic number. Yes it is. It's a magic number. Because 2 x 3 is 6 and 6 x 3 is 18 and the 18th letter of the alphabet is R. There are 3 R's we're gonna talk about today. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle....Reduce, Reuse, Recycle....Reduce, Reuse, Recycle....

Jack Johnson tells us about 3 important R words in this song. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Click on his name to see him perform it live.

I have three important S words I want to talk about today. Because the 19th letter of the alphabet is S.

My first S word is Sesame Street (two words? whatever.)

I love Sesame Street. Mr. Hooper, Gordon, Susan, Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Grover and many others are familiar names and faces in my world. By the time I became a mother Mr. Hooper had passed away, Elmo had been added to the cast, Oscar had a pet worm, (Slimey) and everybody knew about Mr. Snuffleupagus.

The most exciting part of becoming a father for Cycle Guy was to have an excuse to watch Sesame Street again. (Although he did become quite an expert diaper changer.)

I heard they handled Mr. Hooper's death really well. Honestly presenting it in a way that helped children grieve and connect with death as well as fondly remembering Mr. Hooper. I would love to delve into the archives and see that episode.

Spanish, Cooperation, Sharing, Compassion, Diversity (Bert!) and how to count are all things a child learns on Sesame Street. It is an icon of my childhood and that of my children. Thank you Mr. Henson and all of you many many other wonderful people for creating this remarkable program.

An error was made in my post yesterday about the Letter K. I repeated a rumor before I confirmed its validity. Don't worry~ Cookie Monster is still named Cookie Monster. Please click here to read about the rumor and an interview with Cookie Monster about his love of cookies as well as all things healthy.

Which brings us to my next S. Snopes. Snopes also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a web site that is the best-known resource for validating and debunking urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in American popular culture.

I use Snopes often for finding out if email rumors are true. Most recently to find out that Cookie Monsters name really had not been changed. Here I found my answer. Another fun thing I did at this site is click on Cokelore. Every rumor you ever heard about Coca-Cola is here. Find out if Coke ever contained Cocaine, whether the company was ever owned by the Mormon Church, and how many calories really are in a Diet Coke.

The best part about Snopes is that Barbara and David Mikkelson, the founders and organizers of Snopes really do their research. It is not a place where the Mikkelson's simply share their personal ideas. They do in depth research to discover the truth behind the rumors. What a fun job!

My third S word is Computer Speech (Lingo doesn't start with an S)

I have to add many words to the dictionary in my computer these days because with the 'invention' of the internet (Thank you Al Gore-hmmm maybe I should look that up in Snopes) comes the invention of many new words. Sometimes its the usage of an old word that has changed.

Let's see: email, blog, Snopes, text, i.m., site, URL, web, Wikipedia, Avatar, Emoticons, Link, Message Boards, Forums, Facebook, MySpace, social networking, and dot com, ...just to name a few that come to mind. click here for definitions to many of these.

This is an example of Emoticons

Cute, Eh?

Then there's the whole acronym scene... like LOL. There are so many of these I'm not even going there, but you can click here for an alphabetical list.

Fashionista also knows how to use different letters and symbols on the keyboard to make different shapes. Stuff like the smiley face :-)

I have an affinity for today's 3 S's. How about you?

• Do you have a favorite Sesame Street moment or character (did you know there are around a thousand Sesame Street Characters? Click here to see them all).
• What interesting facts have you learned from Snopes?
• Maybe you have a computer acronym that you just can't live without...

Leave a comment and let me know!

This post is brought to you by the letter K

Guess what? I found another great Jenny. While surfing around the World Wide Web I stumbled onto a blog titled 867-53oh9. That's my song! Click here or here or even here to visit her site. She seems like a person I want to know. Besides the fact that she has a great name.

Anyway...the first time I found her blog the post was titled "This post is brought to you by the letter C". Can't you just hear Big Bird saying it? Boy I can. I love Big Bird and I love Cookie Monster and he will forever be Cookie Monster to me. (Even before they changed his name he loved vegis!)

So Jenny tagged me (ok, so I asked for it…whatever!) for a letter.

I have the letter K.

Be patient please because I may have taken a few liberties with the sound of the letter K. And possibly it's placement in the word...

Kids!
~All kids, but mine especially. They really rock, and I really like them.

Kleetus
Kleetus takes me on incredible adventures

MiKe (come on its a K!)
Fashionista says he's Kewl!!
(use your Hooked on Phonics skills, NOW do you get it?)
Kites on the beach
(Yes that's Fashionista flying a Barbie Kite)
Kool-Aid Mom
Well, I might not be but it was my dream to grow up and be a Mom
Check it out...My dream came true.
Kiwi
Such a great addition to your favorite smoothy!Kaleidoscope T-Shirts
(It works. You see, Tye-Dye isn't a K word but it looks
like a Kaleidoscope!)
~If you've never made a Kaleidoscope or Tye-Dye t-shirt you should.
Someday I may have a how to on this blog!Ketchup
Well, it's not really on my list but Coolio loves ketchup
and puts it on everything.
His friend gave him this shirt.Kool Aid
Oh Yeah!Killer Bunnies
New Kid brought this game to our house~ it's pretty fun.

That's it, ten K things that complete me. What letter do you want? Let me know and you'll be on your way to fame and fortune!

It's here, Its now, Its Gelato

Go ahead, read the sign. I'll wait.
Now, if that description isn't enough to getcha then just keep on reading.

I've heard Gelato described as the goo they scrape off the insides of wine barrels. Sooo not true. This stuff is like homemade ice cream only better.

Thanks dug. dug is the guy who convinced me that I should try Gelato. Who is dug?

I don't know.

He lives in Utah, skis, bicycles, loves toilets and candy... and has a very patient wife. I like to read dug's blog. It's simple, down to earth and goofy. Sometimes Cycle Guy tells me, "Don't read dug today." He is my parental block. Then I know that the toilet talk has gone a little too far for my naivete. Click here to link to dug's blog. Don't worry, I linked you to a good one about candy. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears. hmmmm.

dug loves his Harmon's supermarket. Click here to hear him rave.

Well, to fulfill my own curiosity and at the request of my husband, I asked Jill to take me to this (dug's) Harmon's. The main reason for our visit was to see what all the excitement was about Gelato.

This is what I was expecting.

Okay, that's not very focused. But you know, when you go to a convenience store or buffet and they have a soft ice cream machine where you get your own cup or cone and fill it up? Nope.

This is what I saw.

What is that? Like 18 flavors. So many choices. Of course the girl behind the counter said we could taste them. I'm really trying to be a grown up these days. So I tell myself, "you can try one." I wanted to try them all. I wish I would have, who needs to be adult anyway? I tried Blood Orange. Very sherbety. Very orangey. Not bad at all. That's what I ordered. So grown up. So mature.

Check it out, she even stuck a yummy little tubular wafer in the top. Fancy! When I looked at that cup I thought, "wait, we need these to go". We were on the road to the airport. So I asked, "Are those cups disposable?" "Yes," the Gelato Girl replied, smiling, "and dishwasher safe!" That's all I needed to hear. Those cute little cups flew home with me.

Jill tried and ordered Mixed Berry. She gave me a taste. Even BETTER. Wish I had tried that one first! It was rich and creamy. Waaaay better than mine. It's okay though. Mine was good too and I'm a grown up so I didn't throw a fit and ask her to trade. I wonder though because she gave me her last few bites.

I wish this was my neighborhood Supermarket. We don't even have Harmon's where I live. No I am not whining. I'm too grown up for that.

Tonight Cycle Guy and I are going into the city. I may spend my entire day searching the web for places in Seattle who serve Gelato. He must try it and I need to try it again and again and again.

Do me a favor, if you are ever traveling through Utah. Make a stop at the Draper Harmon's. Maybe they should change the name to dug's Harmon's. (It's right at the junction of I-15 and Bangerter Highway.) Try the gelato. Oh... but maybe there are other gelato counters around... find them. taste it. savor it. And then come back here and tell me all about it.

What's your favorite flavor?

If I grow up, can I be like you?

Jill is my little sister. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like being the little sister. You know... no matter how old you are... you are the youngest. You need to be taken care of. People somehow think they need to watch out for you.

Well, that's not the case with Jill. Jill is a successful business woman. People call her with questions of how to handle things and what to do about problems at work. She is highly respected and admired in her community.

She could be an interior decorator and a fashion designer. I wish I would have taken pictures of her house while I was there. So classy and yet...comfortable.

She has traveled the world and viewed Theatre in Broadway, London, Seattle and beyond. She took my kids to see Joseph and the technicolor dream coat. She has taken me to Beauty and the Beast, Wicked, and Les Miserables. Before she showed me the light, I didn't care if I never saw anything like that. I have changed. Now I want to see them all.

Jill is also an avid genealogist. She has compiled at least two books of family history and tells stories of ancestors from several generations in a way that you feel she truly knows them. Because of her, we have all been able to know and appreciate our heritage!

I got to spend some time with Jill on my recent trip to Utah and I've decided I want to be like her when I grow up. (Wait, she's my little sister....hmmmm)

This is Jill eating gelato at Harmon's in Draper.

(Oh I have a whole entry planned on the joys of gelato!!

...Another day, another day...)