Let me lower the lights.

Two really funny SNL skits, that I found just a tad bit too racy for Facebook, but funny none the less.  People, we really have to know what is happening in the world today, but it is nice to just forget propriety and laugh.
Click on the links below:

G-20 Cold Open 2009



G-20 Cold Open 2010

Are you giggling yet?

A Day in the Life of My Scientist

Malaina needs to use big girl words now that she is an official Ph.D grad student.  Malaina works in the lab of a really famous Dr. , only I can't remember his name.  She is fortunate that she only has two classes, but they are extremely hard!!!  Like in the 700's hard.

Malaina works in an amazing time for scientific advancement.  She tried several times to explain it to me, but I only got the gist.

I like how Malaina has to use her special id to use the elevator and get into buildings.  It is super top secret.

Malaina is growing e-coli bacteria, very hush-hush.

Malaina wears a white lab coat and everything!  She uses those tools like they do on CSI.

And here is Malaina's corner of  the lab.  They gave her a small desk with a real computer of her very own to use!  I love that.  They care about my girl.

She told me not to touch anything or I would get cancer.  I did not touch!!!

Sponges and Chop Houses and a Fox

So tonight Malaina and I went to the Arroyo Chop House  in Pasadena tonight.  It is L.A. Dine Out weekend, and I was impressed to make a reservation at the only restaurant in all of L.A. that serves Prime USDA beef.  All participating restaurants have to have a 44 dollar menu.  Oh boy, we picked the right place to go.  We had the most incredible steak we had EVER tasted; not a single piece of gristle, fork tender, and cooked to perfection.  I have to say, the chocolate souffle' was so wonderful, and large, that it was enough to share.  So Malaina had two desserts, cheesecake and my souffle'.  We will be back Arroyo people!

It was also Pasadena Art Night Out.  There were many locations of local and regional art to peruse.  Malaina was cranky tonight, but she went along with my plan anyway.  We began at the Art Center of Graphic Design in the beautiful hillside of Pasadena.  There was a brilliant display of art in the graphic sense.  Items that could be marketed for sale, and new ways to look at everyday products.  For example, there was a great idea for reusable packaging. It was dishwasher friendly and completely "green".  Why hasn't anybody invented that before?  However there was one piece of art Malaina and I couldn't quite understand.  It was a household sponge, laser cut into the exact replication of a female vulva.  Hmm..  as we thought about this sponge all night long we wondered what the creator was thinking.  Was there some correlation between the sponge and the female genitalia, that he was trying to connect?  Did he think the sponge was a cleaning product that needed to clean up the dirty state of the human psyche?  Did the sponge and it's human shape represent that a woman's place is in the kitchen/laundry room? Or did the artist resent women and their ability to "soak up like a sponge " the life juices of creativity out of his  everyday existence ?

And thus we ended the day watching the "Fantastic Mr. Fox".  The way Malaina drove home down the hillside after the sponge incident, we were lucky we didn't kill any foxes along the way.

Fantasy Land

So we had an eventful summer, filled with mad characters!

(Where else but Vegas?)

It may look like he is copping a feel, but it was only fantasy baby, yeah!

Here we are at the LanDesk company picnic at Lagoon. Double dating with Tiny and Brandon.

Christina turned 18 a few days into September.  She got lots of goodies from Malaina.

 

I felt it was important for Christina to have a special piece of jewelry to remind her of number 18.

Christina needs to know all her dreams can come true, and she is indeed a princess.  I fell in love with this Cinderella coach at a shop in Disneyland.  The wheels even turn!!

Cure for What Ails Ye.

I found this "Arthritis Remedy"  in a cookbook that belonged to my husbands great grandmother.
 Circa 1945-50?

 I hope this helps you somehow.  Love and be happy.

Dave and Cindy and the U-Haul

If you do nothing else with this blog today, please watch the video I have linked above.  

It is so typical of Dave's and my relationship. We have just eaten Mexican food and we need the tums that Malaina has packed away, in the back of the U-haul.  We locate them and Dave trouble getting the sliding door down.  He is fighting and cussing trying to put the trailer door down.  I  suggest he move one piece of a box that is sticking out and say, "I think all you need to do is move this piece of box."  He says sarcastically,  "Oh is that all I Need to DO?",  See for yourself.

We got lots of honks and thumbs up by people who passed us on the way to California with this sign on our tail.

Her apartment is so cute.  She has cute Ikea furniture and, rugs etc.  I love the private stairway and her cute wall hanging that we got in Cambodia.  The view of the courtyard shows her door over her shoulder.  Her apartment is the back of the building on the upstairs.  It was hard to say good bye, but she is an adult and she deserves all the best.  Good for you Malaina!

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I just finished this book.  Wow, what a great read!!  Get it now!

I found the first chapter mandatory but slow reading.  Get past that and then the fun begins.  I learned lots about Sweden, but I needed to have a pronunciation primer to help me along.  That, and a map.  But my imagination took over just fine.

Tiny Tennis Player

I

 I need to give props to my youngest child.  She is starting her senior year at Provo High this fall.  She has excellent grades, and is so nice and kind to all she meets.  I appreciate her special smile and attitude she brings to our home.  Her father and I trust her in all she does.  She is taking 2 classes at UVU this summer and is really enjoying all her new friends from this program she is doing. They just went to Donovan's Chop House  in  SLC,  the chef created a special beautiful vegetarian plate just for her. Christina is an active member of PETA and has been a vegetarian since she was 14. (almost 4 years)  I love that we both love to catalog shop together.  We just got 2 great big boxes in the mail filled with shoes, jeans, shirts, sunglasses, and skirts.  We love popcorn, and no bake cookies too.

She loves to head bang with her dad.  They have Kiss tickets for October.  Her newest form of entertainment is Ghost Stories on TV.  The Game Show Network, and I Almost Died, on the Biography channel.  We spent all of tonight watching the Bio channel about Motley Crue, Guns and Roses, and Tommy Lee.  When the US Open starts in August, we will spend hours upon hours watching tennis.  Christina loves Roger Federer, and Raphel Nadal.  We watched many hours of FIFA World Cup and Christina loves, loves, loves, all the beautiful Latino men. Her cute boyfriend is half Mexican. So he is Latino enough for her.

Christina has her faults, she does not care for little children.  She has no patience for racisits, or people who waste her time at school by not trying hard.  She has some anger when she drives, and sometimes uses bad language.  But by far, her good out weighs her bad.  She is a good Laurel President of the YW in our ward.  She was a YCL at camp this year and really grew close with the Stake leaders.  I love you Christina.

New Beginnings

Here is our daughter at her future Alma Mater , USC.  We spent a whole day looking for apartments for her.  We had several criteria; actually she had several criteria.  No roommates, under 900 dollars, security, and parking!  It seems like this was not such a hard list to fulfill.  Bxxxzz. wrong.  She needed to be at least 1/2 an hour from the Medical Center.  So she chose cites like Los Feliz, Pasadena, Glendale, and maybe...West Hollywood.  All highly in demand for students and all CROWDED.  We found some cute studio apartments in Glendale, but the parking was a nightmare.

So we took ourselves back to The Marriott downtown,  (No easy feat) and with shaking legs took a swim and got ready for a superb night out at Jar, the classy restaurant by that awesome Master Chef Suzanne Tract,  who we didn't meet, but we got to see lots of her!

Here we are really happy after eating our faces off.  Our waiter Jeff is an out of work attorney and he gave Malaina his business card in case she needs to contact him.  It was nice to have him as a resource.  This picture looks like we are drinking booze, but we just had virgin Mojitos and bottled water.  Dinner including tip and valet parking was only 250.00.  Our daughter was worth it.  WTH... it's only money.  lol

We finally found a DARLING studio apartment in Pasadena on our last day there. (So we celebrated our success with lunch at Olvera Street above) The criteria was met! Underground gated parking, secure coded entrance, her own stairway, air conditioning, and all utilities included for just about a hundred less than our house payment! She should be able to afford that since she has a living stipend.  And, the Freeway is easy to get on and off,  she is about 15 miles from the Keck School of Medicine, and best of all, there is a great little market just around the corner where she can buy all her diet cokes!

Yes it's True She is 22

And she still cannot clean up her own room.

We love you Malaina.  All our dreams came true when God created you.  You are the perfect daughter, sister and friend.  Even though you hate to clean your room.

When you can clean your room I will buy you this hoodie.
And in case you readers don't know....Malaina will be leaving us in August to attend grad. school at USC.  She will attend the Medical School there to earn her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. (or something like that)

Out with the Crap-In with the "S*$t"

We finally broke down and went green. This old clunker air conditioner has been around since I was in 6th grade. 1974, I was ending my fifth grade year at Divinney Elem, in Lakewood, Colorado. The house we live in was built that year.

We got an excellent deal on this new and improved energy efficient model and we bought a new energy efficient furnace too. We have done our part in celebrating earth day.


God Bless Planet Earth.

Guess Who Does What?

This is a funny quiz that the manager of this blog thought to put to the test....

Below you will find 2 photos. You must guess who's homework belongs to whom. There will be no clues given. You must deduct the answer for yourself.

Chemisty 481

Cornrows 101

Multiple choice

1. Jordan- Chemistry, Malaina- Cornrows

2.Malaina- Chemistry, Jordan- Cornrows



Leave your answer in the comments section. Do not cheat.

California Here I Come....

Malaina 21 years ago.

Malaina age 18

Did I mention I was proud of my daughter Malaina? Here is her senior picture taken way back 4 long years ago. She graduated with honors and was 8th in her class. But her class was only 22 kids, so still in the top. But you gotta know what kind of kids she went to school with! They were all over achievers of whom most were Asian, and very competitive! So props for coming in 8th.

Malaina is now finishing up her senior year at Brigham Young University. She is majoring in Biology with a Music Minor. She has played classical guitar since she was 8. Malaina will be 22 in May...hey wait....that's next month!!!!!

Here is a back shot of Malaina studying for some sort of Biology class.

Here is the type of stuff she likes and wants to work on for the rest of her life.
Actually this is just for her plant physiology elective class, or her ecology class or her Organic Bio Chemistry class or something like that. If you have some sort of idea what this stuff is leave a comment.

Malaina was raised the middle child between 2 other sisters. (Who are all kinda cute) This photo was taken about 5 years ago. Malaina is in the pink on the left.

I just wanted to say what a grrreaat daughter she is. She has worked very hard for good grades and now all that is going to start paying off as she moves away from home in August for a 5 year period to attend USC. She will be getting a full scholarship and even a cost of living stipend to help her so she won't have to work as she studies for her Ph.D in Molecular Biology. Malaina has NEVER given us any reason not to trust her. She always makes good choices and I know she will be a great success at the University of Southern California. May the sun always shine and the rain never fall Malaina! (p.s she hates the cold)

Zynga Cafe World Fix

There are a lot of people who have asked for this fix. Good luck and forward this to them if necessary. Cynthia

Hello Cyntia, Thank you for contacting Zynga Support. Cyntia, I am sorry to hear that you are not able to load the game. Here are a few simple solutions that you can try troubleshooting the issue. In many instances of this issue, clearing the browser and flash cache memory helped many of our customers. Hence, I would strongly recommend that you clear your cache memory as the primary troubleshooting step. For a detailed explanation on what cache is and why you should clean it, please visit our online web document, http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/929. The following web documents will help you in cache memory clearing: 1. How to clear cache: - Click here: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/49 2. How to clear flash cache: - Go to http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html - Select the "Delete all sites" button. This will clear old information that your computer may be storing. 3. How to do a full refresh of my browser: - Hold down the CTRL key and press the F5 button at the same time. Completing these steps may enable you to quickly resolve your issue and return to your game play. This has helped many of our customers with this issue. If you have cleared your cache memory, and you notice that the issue persists, please follow these steps below. 1. Download the latest flash player, if you are not already currently using it: - Click here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP 2. Remove the Cafe World application. - Click here for instructions: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/280 Note: Removing and reinstalling the game within 90 days will not reset the game status or the game progress. 3. Restart your computer. 4. Log back in to your social network and re-add the Cafe World application. You will not lose your progress because your game progress is saved on our servers. If you continue to experience problems, we will need detailed information to investigate the issue. Please specify us the instructions that you followed and you may also include screenshots to illustrate us the issue. This will help us to understand more about the issue: 1. How to take a screen shot: - Click here for instructions: http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/106 Note: Sometimes, screenshots in BMP file format were sent to us and they were discarded due to file size restrictions. I recommend that you send your screenshot in JPEG file format. If we can be of any assistance with this issue, please feel free to reply us in detail. You are valued at Zynga and we will strive providing you with effective and consistent support. Best, Sandra S Zynga Customer Support
Customer (Cyntia Gaddis)	03/23/2010 01:20 PM
Heading to Cafe/ Stuck Wallpaper bug. This bug has caused me to be locked out of my cafe for days. Any fix coming?
Question Reference #100323-009598
Product Level 1: Café World Product Level 2: Facebook Category Level 1: Technical Date Created: 03/23/2010 01:20 PM Last Updated: 03/23/2010 01:40 PM Status: Answered

Hair Matters

My hair had gotten so long that I was ready to cut it myself. My hairdresser is popular, she is always booked a few weeks out. I was calling, and emailing for a mercy appointment, but it wasn't going to happen.

Finally the day came. Everyone was coming home with pretty hair cuts and color except me

Here is Malaina at a guitar ensemble performance. Note the pretty hair.

Now just look at the new colors of these two lovelies.

I especially like the fire engine red of this sunset photo of Jordan.

Christina looks great as a brunette with blond tips. Just a fabulous cut and color.

Jordan is outraged that I took a picture of her en deshabille' at the Courtyard in St. George last weekend.

And here is the magician, my friend and hairdresser Suzanne Benson Saleem.
You can reach her at the Haven Salon here :
801-379-0540

359 W 100 S Provo, UT 84601