I thought I had stress in my life until I read this blog this morning. Puts everything into perspective. This poor woman is battling brain cancer and has a daughter with heart problems & autism. Talk about stress! Grab a tissue if you click on the link.

Dance Off

I made Heidi's pumpkin bars today and added 1 cup of dried cranberries to the mix. I also added 3 T of maple syrup (Mrs. Butterworth's) to the cream cheese frosting. Already, one third of the bars are gone! I need to hide the rest for a book club meeting tomorrow. Hope they survive.

Yearbook Photos

Matty, my sister and I went on Yearbook Yourself today.

Here is my dad with his cool sunglasses circa 1982 (please keep in mind he graduated h.s. in 1963).

1982 Papa

Grammy - 1962 (tho' I think it looks more like a 70's do)

Me - circa 1990 (I graduated in 87 and had super short hair in 90. This is true "mall hair."




My 4 year old nephew Cayden 1976






Cayden -(his MOM uploaded this pix - not me!) 1966




cool 'fro! 1974




My sister, Cynce. Grow your hair this way - I love it!




Sis B - you look like you belong on Bewitched. Love it!

Matty - 1958





Beware! This site is addicting! I can't stop loading photos and crying my eyes out from laughing so much. It's fun!

Look What We Found!!!!

I had to stop at Safeway today to pick up some Halloween cookies for Nas to take to school tomorrow. We spotted the Circus Animals in the cookie aisle. There were 4 packages left and we only bought one - not wanting to be greedy.

Camels are all I eat. Delish.

Mmmm good!

Happiness!

Yearbook Yourself

http://yearbookyourself.com/

I can barely type this I am laughing so hard with tears running down my face. This site is addicting and funny! I need to find a better photo of myself before I upload any photos here. Stay tuned!

Jack-o-Lantern Carving

H, A, Double L, O - W, Double E, N = spells Halloween!

blank canvas number 1

blank canvas #2

Teens with knives!

Testing the flavor.

Happy Halloween!

Roasted pumpkin seeds.

*The recipe is super simple. Just coat the seeds with a little olive oil and sprinkle with Johnny's Seasoning Salt. Roast at 300* for 30 minutes. Turn off oven and let seeds cool inside. Enjoy.

I ventured into Craft Warehouse today (dangerous territory). I did manage to spend under $10 - always a good thing. I had to buy a package of gold painted leaves. They were displayed so sweetly in the store, I wasn't leaving without them. Unfortunately, they are made in China (I am trying not to purchase items made there) and smell like mothballs - yuck! So...I also had to purchase a pumpkin pie scented candle to mask the smell. It's not working too good - the house smells like cinnamon & mothballs; but it is finally decorated for Fall.

Razor Clams

Omid cooked up some of the razor clams our friends gave us for dinner last night. The clams arrived already shucked (is that word just for oysters?) and cleaned.

Homemade tartar sauce

Omid pan frying in butter (lots of butter)

While I was snapping photos, Omid let me sample several razor clams. They were so good. We ate our fill of pan fried jobbies and will probably make clam chowder later this week. Katie: would you mind sending me your recipe? We loved your version!!

Matty has been growing his hair out since May. He would like to grow it long, but Matty has the kind of hair that grows up & out, not down. His hair is very unruly and Fari has been trying to get Matty to get a trim ever since she arrived. She finally found a way to get Matty to consider a trim = $. Fari at first offered Matty $20, but Matty said no. Then she offered $25 and Matty still said no. She offered him $50 and he said yes. So....we all took off to the hair salon to watch Matty's hair get some shape to it.

Money changing hands & Matty signing a piece of paper 'promising' to get his hair cut. Yes, that is a photo card of Jesus next to Remy's picture.

Sealing the deal with a handshake.

Shaping the 'do.'

Rasta Nas and Omid at the salon eating sour gummies.

shaped hair

Poor Remy. Squirrels are the bane of his existence. He is always trying to catch them and the squirrels LOVE to tease him. In this photo, he has chased one up a tree. I hope he is able to catch a squirrel one of these days - he deserves to.

*Clam update: It pays not to kennel your dog and just loan your friends your clamming equipment. When our friends returned our gear, we received 4 baggies of cleaned razor clams. Score!

Netflix This...

The Visitor.

It just came out on video last week. It was a delightful movie (though sad in parts). The story surrounds a lonely American professor, an Arab family he befriends and ICE (US Immigration & Customs Enforcement).

Rent this movie = you won't be disappointed.

Omid spent most of his morning looking for homes with his parents. I cleaned and tried to find someone to go to the p-patch with me, but had no takers. So...I took Remy for a walk in the beautiful sunshine. Our friend, Kamyar, came down from Seattle to visit for the weekend. Omid smoked a chicken, grilled flank steak and I made rice (that turned out this time!). Omid & Kamyar

Ha!

Matty loading music from iTunes.

Smile!

Pooped pup

Football, Olive Garden & On the Border

We dropped the kids off for the final home football game of the year. The adults decided to go out for cocktails and celebrate just because it was Friday. We wanted to go to the new Olive Garden, but the wait was way too long. So...we decided to walk across the parking lot to On the Border...until we found out it was several blocks away. So...we walked and finally made our way there. In the Nautilus parking lot.

Look at my freaky right eye - scary!

Smile!

Fari & Mansour

Omid & I

When we got home, we received a message from our dog kenneling friends that they were having a wonderful time clamming and already got their limit. We still don't feel bad for not going - our dog's happiness is much more important!