It's all the same...well, maybe

I had my two oldest grandchildren over for the day yesterday. The oldest, Lauren, turned 13 today. So a shopping trip was in order to celebrate becoming a teenager. Her younger brother, Logan, spent the day with Grandpa.

When it came time to fix dinner, I asked them if they wanted spaghetti. Logan refused saying that he only liked the noodles and not the sauce. So as an alternative, I suggested we have homemade pizza. Logan readily agreed to that.

When I pointed out that it didn't make sense that he'd eat pizza with tomato sauce on it, but wouldn't eat spaghetti with the same sauce, he wasn't amused. He said I was tricking him. Then I showed him the bottle of sauce to be used on the pizza. "It's the same sauce that I would have used on spaghetti." I said. All the wind was taken out of his sails. He has no excuse to not eat spaghetti with sauce...at least, not at Grandma's house. We had pizza anyway.

But next time....

Worth the price?

I was browsing the online Williams-Sonoma catalog today. Did you know that you can get a set of the latest version of J.A. Henckel knives, including a block, for $1499? This is a real steal since at full price the set is $2250. This is a really good looking set. I really like the knife block. But, $2250 for 5 knives, a honeing blade, kitchen shears and a solid wood block to store the set???


Henckel makes great knives. I've had a set for at least 15 years. I love them. In fact, when I am going somewhere (like a ward dinner, even someone else's home) that I will be involved with food prep requiring a kitchen knife, I've taken one of my Henckel knives with me. Call me a knife snob, if you want. But I really dislike using dull, cheap knives.

For $2250, these knives better sing and play music, plus self sharpen. Without test driving them, I'm not sure the set is worth the money. Besides, do I want a set of knives that I feel I should put under lock and key when not in use?

Institutional

A couple of years ago, the lobbies and hallways of my apartment building were redecorated. The finished look was kind of a weird mixture of traditional and modern with a hotel like institutional feel. I've never really been sure if the redo was an improvement.

Over the last couple of weeks, the elevator lobbies from the parking garage have been redone. The painted cinder block walls have been covered with sheet rock. We've been told that new flooring will be added.

We were out of town for a few days last week. The redo in the elevator lobby was more or less finished when we came home last night. The new floor hasn't been put down. But the walls and elevator doors have been painted. Prior to the redo the walls and elevator doors were the same color...rather mundane and boring. The elevator doors are boring no more. They have been painted institutional green. Every time I come into the lobby from the parking structure, I feel like I'm entering a hospital. I can't wait to see what the new flooring will be.

IMO, this redo was a definite FAIL.

Update: The new flooring is being laid today in the elevator lobby. It's a cream colored vinyl tile with green streaks. The tile is reminiscent of the tile that we had in the basement of the house that I grew up in back in the 1950s.. Except that was green with cream colored streaks. In the middle of the lobby floor is a logo for the apartment building. The logo is green, but not the same green as the elevators doors. The green in the tile is different than the other two greens. So what they are going for is a vintage look?? That makes sense since the rest of the building doesn't have a common theme. There's a little modern, some traditional and a lot of institutional. And, the decorator should know that greens are difficult to match. The elevator green has blue undertones. The logo has yellow undertones and the tile is something in between. Oh, well.

32 Years By The Numbers

Today is my 32nd Wedding Anniversary. Wow! That's half my life! Here's a look back...

5 kids
7 grandchildren (with another due in April)
9 moves in 2 cities
2 apartments
2 condos
5 houses
3 motorcycles
1 houseboat
1 runabout
1 drift boat
4 Personal Water Craft
3 grand pianos
5 cats
2 dogs
1 trip to Paris
1 trip to Scotland
1 trip to Acapulco
1 trip to Denmark and London
1 trip to Israel
1 Cruise
1 California coast road trip
1 Motorcycle trip to Canada, the NW and back
1 Motorcycle trip to Santa Fe and back
1 Ford Bronco
1 Ford Taurus wagon
1 Mercedes
1 Cadillac
1 Audi
1 Corvette
1 Mustang
1 Jeep Wagoneer
1 Toyota
1 Chevy Blazer
2 Ford Explorers
2 Suburbans
2 Porsche
3 BMWs
4 Range Rogers
3 Volvos
(What can I say? He likes cars - expensive ones - and I probably missed a few)
8000+ miles on a motorcycle
1 Pioneer Trek
4 river trips
Many camping trips
Countless trips to Lake Powell
44 Christmas Trees (a live tree, sometimes two, every year)
and
Finally, 1 pair of diamond stud earrings

I think that pretty much covers it!

Update: He tells me it should be 2 Mercedes. Honestly, I barely remember having one.

Just thoughts

The husband is on the volunteer ski patrol at a local ski resort. The resort opened today. Which means that every Saturday until the end of season in about 5 months, he'll be on the mountain. He was overjoyed when he got the call to report today since he thought that volunteers didn't start until sometime in December. For him, ski season started early.

Yesterday, I had four of my grandchildren here for most of the day. The two boys, age 5 and 4, were delighted to be together. The 4 year old and his little sister live in Denver and don''t get to see their cousins very much. The two little girls, age 3 and 2, had a great time together. One of the good things about having four little ones all day is that they are all potty trained - didn't have to change one diaper!!

My two year old granddaughter has me wrapped around her little finger. While on an outing yesterday, she spotted an "elegator" (escalator). In her sweet, little, voice, she asked "Grandma, please can I ride the elegator?" After one trip, up and down, she asked "Please, please, Grandma, can I ride the elegator again?". Of course, we went again.

My five year old grandson was over one day last week and was in a rather contrary, grumpy mood. When he left, I suggested that perhaps it would be a good idea to let Mr. Grumpy out and leave him in the parking lot of his apartment building. The next day, he was over again and in a much better mood. I commented on Mr. Grumpy being gone. His response was "I left him in the parking lot and he got run over by a car.".

We had very amazing sunsets a couple of days this week. The sky was brilliant pink and orange. Spectacular. However, my three old granddaughter was afraid of the glowing orange sky. She thought the sky was on fire and the fireman needed to put it out.

Thursday night, two grandchildren slept over. Yesterday morning while closing up the hide-a-bed, my arm got caught between the mattress and sofa frame. My little helpers kept pushing up on the mattress causing me to scream in pain for the husband to come and help free me. Thank goodness he was home, because I'm not quite sure how I would have gotten myself out of my predicament without his help. I probably terrified my grandkids too.

Making Mom Proud

For the past month or so, I've been teaching my youngest daughter how to sew. I failed to pass on that skill when she was still living at home. But as part of a college course assignment, she had to learn a new skill. She picked sewing. We finished it up today.

With the leftover fabric, I'm making one of my granddaughters a skirt. My mom would be proud because I'm not using a pattern. That was a skill she used all the time. We'd go to the department store where I'd find something that I liked. Then we'd go to the fabric shop where Mom bought everything she needed to make it. Sometimes without using a pattern.

Now if I was really going to make Mom proud, I'd craft a matching dress for my granddaughter's baby doll. Mmm...I don't think so.

Out and About

I wish I knew the story behind why a gal at the grocery store today was wearing a down coat which barely covered her backside, flip flops and nothing else. I was tempted to tell her that she forgot her jeans/skirt.

While perusing the meat section at the store, I found a small cloth handbag sitting on top of the packaged meat. The handbag had no closure and I could easily see a wad of money in the purse. It wouldn't have taken much for me to take the money. But being honest, I asked a couple of women in the vicinity if the bag was theirs. The owner was located, much to her relief.

Why am I not surprised that out of 1.5 million requests for tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert, my request for tickets wasn't picked? It makes no difference since after putting in the request, we decided to go to Denver that same weekend. Oh yes, and the random selection process for tickets that the church uses really isn't a lottery, right? (wink, wink)

While waiting to make a left hand turn today at an intersection, the driver behind didn't quite stop and bumped into me. No damage...but she did have her cell phone up to her ear when I looked in the rear view mirror. Guess she wasn't paying attention. Hang up the phone and drive!

Even though the calendar says November 1, it's more like the middle of October. And it's only suppose to get better this week. Awesome!

A word to the wise....

Caller: "I got a message from someone who I had a interview with last week. I was suppose to call back" Me: "Do you have a name?" Caller: "I'm not sure. (pause....) I think it was Robert?".

So are my expectations too high when I assume that if you got a call back from a previous interview that you just might want to be sure about details, like who called you???? Particularly when I know that out of the multitude of applications for any one position with the company where I work, only 4 or 5 are even called in for a first interview? There are too many people looking for work right now to not be diligent in the details. The competition is brutal.

If the caller had known a first and last name, or the first name along with the department, I could have transferred her to who she needed to talk too. But, she didn't even know what department she interviewed. How can this be? When I cover the central HR reception desk, I hear it all the time. (see previous post)

Look people, if you are qualified enough to get the first interview, be sure that you know who you interviewed with and how to contact him/her. If you are uncomfortable asking the interviewer directly, you can probably ask an Admin or someone in the office before leaving. And for heavens sakes, write the information down and keep it in place where you can find it later. Not keeping track of these kind of details can cost you, big time.

Dear Caller

Dear Caller 1:

I am sorry that you had marital problems, filed for divorce and reconciled, and in the process lost your 2009 W-2 and that today is the extension deadline for filing your 2009 income taxes.

Even though you waited until the last minute and are in a panic to take care of personal business, all I can do is transfer your call to someone who may be able to provide you with a copy of your W-2. I can't do anything if that someone doesn't answer his/her phone or if their phone goes directly to voicemail. Neither can I "JUST FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN FAX ME MY W-2 NOW!!".

Sincerely,

The Receptionist (and the temporary one, at that)

(There - now I feel better.)

Dear Caller 2:

I can't transfer your call to the woman with whom you had a job interview a couple of weeks ago in the Materials Management Department if you don't know her name. And telling me that it was a Polynesian woman really isn't sufficient information. You see, I don't have a computer program that allows me to bring up an employee's information by searching "Polynesian Woman".

Sorry.

The Receptionist

(It's been one of those days.)

My week as a single woman

The husband has been in Idaho for the past week taking care of business related to the property we own there and doing some fly fishing. I didn't go with him because I had to work some this week. So I've been living the single life since Monday and it's been interesting.

A few observations...

The stove hasn't been on since I cooked dinner on Sunday. Oh, I've been eating, but nothing that required me to use the stove.

I haven't had to run the dishwasher since Sunday.

I've been able to leave my watercolor project and materials on the kitchen table for most of the week.

This morning, I didn't even make the bed!

Since the husband has our only car in Idaho, I've had to depend on my kids and a daughter-in-law to get places that I needed to go that I couldn't reasonably walk or use TRAX. For the most part, it's worked out well.

It's kind of quiet here at night. So I turn on the light and TV in the husband's Man Room. It fakes me into thinking that someone else is around.

At night, I can turn the air conditioning down as low as I want so that I don't have hot flashes during the night.

He'll be back Sunday. I think I'll have some adjusting to do.

Street Observations

The lanes at a busy downtown intersection have been re-marked for two right hand turns lanes in one direction. Wonderful. As if it wasn't dangerous enough for pedestrians crossing the street with one right hand turn lane as inattentive and aggressive drivers make the turn without looking. Now the chances are doubled that a pedestrian will be hit by a car.

At that same intersection, two of the corner sidewalks have been completely redesigned and replaced over the last several months. About a month after all the work was completed, sections of the concrete were torn up while some kind of work was done. Don't these people communicate so that all the work could have been done at once. I guess that would have been to easy.

That same street is also having a bike lane added. It's not the usual bike lane between the curb and traffic lane. But it's being marked so that cyclists have a dedicated lane right in the middle of a traffic lane - sharing the road with vehicular traffic.

All I can say about these changes is, let the carnage begin.

Miscellania

Has it really been almost 3 months since I've had anything to say on this blog? Well, the drought is over.

Yesterday, I walked over to a favorite restaurant for some lunch. On the way back, I stopped by the City Creek Living office to say "Hi" to my former work mates. The permanent office manager has been hired. I guess that a twenty something girl in a tight dress and stilettos trumps a slightly overweight grandma. But what I want to know does she really have the whiz bang Excel skills that I lack?

In the week since I left full time employment, thanks to my live-in personal trainer, I'm up to 3 miles a day of trail walking. Could there really be some kind of athlete buried inside me?

In a local news article about the effect owners of Kindles and Nooks might be having on sales of actual books, a local bookstore owner managed to offend a segment of local readers who use an e-reader. In her opinion, we aren't "real readers". She even took it one step further by saying that there would always be a need for "controlling content" and "identifying which books everyone should be reading". Really? I can only hope that what showed up in the article wasn't really what was in her head and it just came out horribly wrong.

While out on the trail today, a local, former TV actress (Cat Woman in the original Batman series) passed me by. She was wearing black pants, a black long sleeve top, full make-up and hair all done. Dressed like that, I wondered if she was immune to breaking a sweat.

Evolution of a musician

The Musician and his girl friend....

Jazz Combo "Octets"....

He started listening to music before he was born. When I was pregnant with him, I would often sit down to the piano while his older sisters and brothers were in school and play. He heard classical, popular, and children's music. As a toddler, before he could actually sing, he'd lip sync to children's songs that he had heard many times. He always seemed to be making rhythm with something.

In the fifth grade, he was signed up for band. It was required that fifth graders had to play the clarinet for a year before moving on to another instrument. He set his sight on the trombone. Since the trombone was bigger than he was at the time, I told him he needed to think about another instrument. My reason being that his arms weren't long enough to play the trombone. That reason lost all credibility when at a middle school band concert he saw that one of the trombone players wasn't much bigger than he was. So we bought him a trombone.

I would often have to help him with homework. I'd get a little frustrated with him when he couldn't seem to focus at times or retain what he was studying. He finally told me that he always had music in his head and it got in the way of focusing on the normal school stuff. At teacher conferences, I was told more than once that he needed to try and stop tapping his pencil or pens all the time. But that was next to impossible for him since he was tapping out the rhythm to the music in his head.

His older brother, like most young teenage boys, wanted a guitar. He was going to have a band and be this great guitarist. That adolescent dream didn't really stick with his older brother. But seeing the guitar not being used much, this son picked it up while still in middle school and taught himself how to play. Somewhere along the line, he also took piano lessons.

While still in elementary school, the fifth grade class did a short musical play about jazz music. He had the role of the kid learning about jazz from Thelonious Monk. He also performed with a song/dance entertaining group during those years.

He moved through middle school band playing the trombone. The guitar was played when ever he had the time. The small private high school that he attended had a small jazz band. He transitioned from playing the standard middle school band fare to jazz. He was hooked. It was in high school that he took on his first trombone student. The jazz band instructor also had him go to the middle school to help with middle school band. It was his music that helped him make a mark in high school. Besides playing in the jazz band, he was in the small A Cappella chorus and performed in the school musicals. He lettered in music several times over. In fact, because he had so many music credits, he wasn't required to fulfill a couple of credits of P.E.

When he graduated, he was awarded the Tony Larimar Award for outstanding student in the Performing Arts. During a summer break, we sent him to a week long guitar program in Los Angeles where he honed his guitar playing skills. Christmas and birthday presents for him generally had something to do with music - a simple recording system, a recorder, a music stand, a trombone stand, a guitar stand, his first acoustic guitar.

When he told us that he wanted to go into Music Education in college, his Dad and I supported his decision while wondering if he would always be a poor musician. But he was adament and pressed forward. The music education program was demanding and time consuming. There were hours of required proficiency classes on all types of instruments - wind, brass, and string. There was required participation in ensembles along with the required instruction on his declared instrument, the trombone. Often it seemed that the class time was never ending and graduation was in the distant future. When asked about a time frame for graduation, the response was usually "in four or five semesters - maybe.".

At the college level, we enjoyed many concerts .... Jazz II ensemble, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Big Band, Jazz I ensemble and Jazz combos. It was fun to see him move up through the ranks of the music program and perform with increasingly talented musicians. In his spare time, he put together, "Patterstats", with fellow musician friends. He wrote music for "Patterstats", and played gigs at local venues and recorded two "Patterstats" CDs.

Last night, he had a final performance for the school year with his jazz combo. It was composed of eight musicians, drummer, upright bass, guitar, piano, sax, trumpet and 2 trombones. The
opening number had him switching to the drums so that the drummer could play the Vibes. The last number in the set was arranged by him featuring the trombones. His Dad and I were blown away. I had never heard him play like he did last night. The arrangement was exciting and left us wanting more. At the end of the set, his Dad said, "He's no longer a student. He's a musician.".

Not quite what I had planned

If you had asked me years ago what I thought I would be doing after all the kids were grown and self sufficient, I probably would have said doing a lot of traveling with the husband, pursuing hobbies that had been set aside or spending time with my grandkids. I'm pretty sure that I would not have said "Working a full time job". But that's where I find myself....working full time.

I've spent the last five years as an on-call employee for the LDS Church. Eventhough I've worked in many different departments, I never gave much thought to working full time. For the past month, I've been working in the sales center for City Creek Living. The gal who was in the position left to have a baby and will not be returning. Yesterday, my temporary assignment became a permanent, full time job.

So now, I'm the Office Manager for City Creek Living. I took the position because this is a great work environment, with lovely surroundings and it has the benefits of church employment without the stuffiness. It's exciting to be in the middle of the major redevelopment project in downtown Salt Lake... kind of an insider.

And you know, it's a great ego booster to have a job offered to you when you are old enough to be on social security, and not have to go through the nerve wracking interview process. However, I'm pretty sure that my boss thinks I'm about 10 years younger than I am. (Thanks, Mom, for the great youthful genetics.) I'm not going to do anything to change his perception either!

So, if you are in downtown Salt Lake, come on by the office and see my new daytime digs

This and That

I'm sure that Mother Nature just loves lulling us Utahns into a state of complacency. With the high 40s/low 50s daytime temps and spring bulbs starting to show, we will be shocked when the inevitable monster snowstorm or two hit some time before REAL spring arrives.

The husband asked me a random question the other evening. "Why do women like manicures and pedicures?". I've been getting manicures and pedicures for years and he is just now wondering why I do it?

The place where I'm working is like being in an upscale living room. There's a fireplace with a big screen TV above it. From that TV, hundreds of movies on Blue Ray can be accessed...mainly to entertain children who may come in with their parents and get bored listening to all the stuff about buying a condo. But, I wonder if on a slow day here in the sales center, if it would be OK to bring up a movie and settle down to watch it with a bowl of popcorn and a Diet Coke? What do you think?

I'm so glad to have DVR on my television at home. That way, I can watch the Olympics, Survivor and the Amazing Race at the same time. But I'm wondering why these two popular reality shows began their new season at the same time the Winter Olympics started.

It was fun last night to have my son and his girlfriend join the husband and me to watch the prime time Olympics. Since we had recorded it, they came over after other evening activities and hung around until 11:30 PM. They even shared their Sour Patch Kids with us.

The husband spent about a hour and a half on Sunday morning making a me a Valentine's card. It was truly priceless. I spent about an hour and a half making him a cherry pie for Valentine's day. It was delicious.

Finally, I'm wondering why it was colder outside on my lunch hour than it was when I was walking to work today. The sun is out and the temps are suppose to be in the very high 40s. What's with that?

Are they really that stupid?

Sen. Edward's mistress is now demanding that a private tape of her and the good senator be returned. I used to be surprised when so called private tapes, emails or texts involving the rich and famous in compromising, elicit situations surfaced. Not anymore. In fact, it can almost be guaranteed that someone, somewhere will leak tapes, emails or texts to the press when the celebs' tawdry behavior is made public, or the tapes, emails or texts are the reason behavior comes to light in the first place.

Are the people involved really so full of themselves that they think they'll never get caught, or that the private tape, email or text will never become public? It's bad enough that senators, governors and athletes who appear to be committed family men fall from grace because of bad choices and behaviors. But to document that behavior is just stupid. I'm not condoning any of these men and their lack of morality and obvious duplicity. Rather, I'm appalled.

I guess they weren't just thinking clearly. Are they really that stupid?