Society’s Obsession with Large Things

We went to the Auto Show a few weekends ago. While looking at all the new models for this next year, I noticed that the majority of vehicles have large front grills. They are huge, and they are ugly. They do not appeal to me.  As I was looking at all of these in-your-face front grills, I couldn’t help but see a relationship between large front grills and large breasts. Just like a substantial number of autos had large, over-the-top front grills, a substantial number of women today have large, out-of-the-shirt breasts.

I also noticed that the back end of most autos are not big and gaudy like the fronts. This made me form a relationship between the back ends of autos, and the back ends of women. Today small is desirable for both.

So large fronts and small ends. Yep, that about sums up women these days: large breasts and small bottoms. I would be curious to know if the majority of large front-end auto designers are male. It would be an interesting research topic.

Are You Serious?

I’m assembling a Family History Book for “my” Dad. It contains photos and histories of his four-generations. On the title page of each generation, I have photos of where my grandparents came from. Right now I’m working on the title page for Martin Slack Sr. and Eliza Ann Jeffries. They are my great-great-grandparents and emigrated from England to the United States in 1855. They were both born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. As I was looking for photos on the Internet, I saw a photo with the description “Oak located in Sherwood Forest (Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England).”

My memory immediately traveled back to August 1997 when Dad and I were vacationing in England. We were driving north to Scotland from London. As we were driving on the highway, I saw a sign that read “Sherwood Forest.” “Hey,” I said, “Let’s stop and see Sherwood Forest.” Of course I was thinking of the Robin Hood folklore. But Dad didn’t want any of it. He was on a mission to reach northern England by nightfall, so we continued on our journey.

So basically I drove past the town that my ancestors are from, not even realizing it. My whole life I have wanted to visit the birthplaces of my ancestors and I unwittingly drove right past one of them! Are you serious?!

Flying the Nest

Junior has attended college for one semester and came home for a three-week vacation during the holidays. We got used to him being home again and almost took it for granted that he would eventually go back to school. A week or so ago as we were all sitting around the family room watching TV and playing Words with Friends–and other addictive iPhone apps–the realization hit me that he would be leaving us again and a wave of sadness swept over me.

Junior will be leaving for his two-year mission sometime next summer. Since I was once a missionary, I have always felt that I won’t be a blubbering mother come the day he enters the MTC. But after the feeling I had the other day, I’m not so sure anymore. Even though I know what it’s like for him to attend college away from home, and even though I know what it’s like to serve a mission, I guess that–in the end–I’m still a mother. I will be a blubbering fool with red, swollen eyes along with all the other red, swollen-eyed mothers dropping their children off at the MTC curb. Sigh.

Tags: children, college, leaving home, mission

Snow or No Snow: That is the Question

So far we have had an unprecedented winter with little to no moisture. In the month of December we had .1 inches of snow. The average snowfall for the month of December is 12 inches. We broke the record of .3 inches that was set back in 1962. These past few weeks have been generally warm and clear. This week alone has been beautiful. The days are sunny and clear with mild haze and real feel temps in the low 50′s. A jacket is all you need when venturing outside.

Either we will experience a terrible drought this year, or we’ll eventually pay for lack of snow…which is usually the case (i.e. snow in May). Of course we don’t want the former because we rely on snowpack for our water.

But when I saw today that snow is forecast for Saturday, I was a little disappointed. Even though my rational mind tells me that we need the moisture, my emotional mind yearns for the sun and the warmth. It lifts my spirit. Silly fickle humans we are.

Tags: snow, weather, winter

Girl’s Night Gift Exchange 2011

Girl's Night Gift Exchange 2011 [ 34:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (148)

The gifts get more extravagant every year.

Tags: christmas, gift exchange, girl's night, party

The Dramatization of the Weather Report

Is it just me, or is the weather report becoming high drama? It’s always been something that you can’t count on, but lately it’s been taking on a dramatic flair. When I was about 16, we experienced a bad inversion in the valley that lasted at least two months. When I say bad, I mean bad. We had no moisture for those two or more months. The inversion was so bad that everything–the trees, the grass, the buildings–had ice crystals all over them. We lived on the mountain bench and could usually see the entire valley across to the lake, but that year, we couldn’t see past a few blocks below us. Driving on the roads and the freeway any time of the day was like driving in a fog bank. It was bad.

We’ve had an inversion for about two weeks straight this month. Last night the news reported an upcoming story: The Inversion of 2011! Are you kidding me? It hasn’t even been that bad. When you drive about, you can still see several miles away. When you’re on a mountain bench, you can still see quite a ways out into the valleys. Silly. Then, we have been warned that this inversion will stay for at least a few more weeks. There will be no moisture! We need the moisture! Guess what we woke up to this morning? A snow storm. Uh huh.

Last winter they touted The Blizzard of 2010! That was the most ridiculous hype we have experienced in a while. We were supposed to experience this horrible blizzard that would keep us all indoors and wreak havoc on the roads. There was nothing. There was some blustery wind, but there wasn’t even any snow. There was one area that experienced some snow and high winds. That was it. We were all so unimpressed. It was a joke.

The media has become so high drama, so reality-TV based, that I find it hard to stomach anymore. Please, just give me the facts. That’s all I want. Leave the dramatization to Hollywood.

Tags: blizzard, inversion, media, weather

The Perplexing Fad of Tattoos

Everyone has their physical weaknesses, and one of  mine has always been my skin. I have always longed for lovely, creamy, unblemished skin. But I got just the opposite. I was blessed with moles, freckles, and large oily pores, which come with their own set of problems: acne. As a result, I’ve always focused on keeping my skin clear and covered. I tanned way too much in my youth to hide my flaws, which caused problems with my moles later in my life. So now, although my acne has cleared up (through drastic measures, by the way), I have scars all over my body where I’ve had pre-cancerous moles removed. Add to that the regular scars that you accrue throughout your life, and you end up with skin that you would prefer to just keep out of sight.

So I’m perplexed when I see women–usually in their twenties–with beautiful, creamy, unmarred skin sporting tattoos up and down their arms and all over their backs and chests. And who knows where else. Why? Why are they marking up a wonderful gift that they have been given? Do they not know that those tattoos are forever, and that even if they choose to have them “removed” in the future, their skin will not be what it was? It will show scars of previous tattoos.

If I had beautiful skin like these women do, I would slather it with sunscreen, I would moisturize it, I would show it off. I would protect it. I wouldn’t be embarrassed about wearing a sleeveless top or short skirt, let alone a swimsuit. I would totally appreciate my skin and take good care of it. But I guess that’s the lesson here. We never appreciate what we have, unless we lose it.

Tags: fad, skin, tattoos

The Never-Ending Saga of Female Drama

After listening to  my daughter’s latest vent about the latest teenage girl drama that she is dealing with, I came to this sad conclusion: teenage drama doesn’t end. In fact, teenage drama doesn’t even exist. Female drama exists. Female drama starts before girls even enter elementary school, and female drama continues until wrinkles cover every inch of a woman’s body. We females can’t get away from it. We can’t live without it. We breathe it. It is our very essence.

So what advice do you give your daughter who is in the throes of another high-drama incident? I wish I knew what to tell her to make her feel better. Unfortunately, what I tell her doesn’t really calm her. It starts with: be patient; be kind; be the nice friend; give her the benefit of the doubt; remember that hormones control females. Those phrases evolve to: being kind doesn’t mean you have to be her friend. That phrase evolves to: she won’t change; stay away from her; find new friends. And finally, out of desperation the cold, hard fact comes out: it never changes. The drama today will be there tomorrow and next week and next month and next year. The faces will change, but the drama will stay the same. Sigh.

Tags: drama, females, friends

Aspartame Addiction

I got into the very, very bad habit of drinking Diet Coke. What was once an uncommon occurrence became a daily occurrence. I always knew that the carbonation and caffeine weren’t good for me, but what I didn’t realize was how poisonous Aspartame is. Yes, yes, I know that there is controversy that swirls around Aspartame and that the FDA swears that it is safe. Yet at the same time, it’s hard to not question their assertion when you experience symptoms that other people claim to suffer by drinking large amounts of a drink that contains the sugary, unnatural stuff.

I have tried to get off Diet Coke once before, about a year ago. After thirty days of increased food consumption and gained weight, I got mad and went back to drinking it because—face it—Diet Coke is a good appetite suppressant. But my addiction grew and I was consuming it on a daily basis.

Last week an acquaintance told me that she got off the poison and has been off for three months. She feels great! Her headaches are gone, she doesn’t experience heart palpitations anymore, she has more energy, she sleeps better… Hmmm, it all sounded too familiar.

So I decided right then to get off Diet Coke again. I haven’t had a drop of the poisonous elixir for nine days. And I am feeling the pain. I wondered if there is Diet Coke detox effects, and sure enough, after Googling it, I found a website with some very interesting comments from other people about the health effects they are facing through diet drink detoxification. Notice I didn’t specify Diet Coke. Nope, it’s any diet drink that uses the common ingredient of Aspartame.

I don’t care what the FDA and their studies say. If there are many people out there experiencing the same problems by using the same product, then there is something wrong with that product. And anyways, wasn’t it the U.S. government that included tobacco in their military rations to servicemen during WWI? I rest my case.

Update: After three weeks off the poison, my stomach is flatter, my love handles are smaller, and my headaches are not constant.

Tags: aspartame, diet coke, FDA

Scenes from the Sawtooths

Scenes from the Sawtooths [ 5:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (72)

Enjoy our trip to the “suburbs” in Stanley, Idaho for the Baldwin Family 2011 Reunion. The sped up video, lens flare, and stills all convey my memories of this event. Enjoy.

The Case for Warm Climates

It snowed last night and this morning there is enough snow on the ground that Little Sis wants to make a snowman. As she starts to gather her winter clothing she realizes one snafu…no winter boots. We gave those away last Spring because she had grown out of them. So now we have to buy her some new winter boots. I have bought her a pair of boots that she can wear to school on snowy days; but those are not designed for playing in the snow. I also bought her a new coat this year—because she’s growing out of her old one—and some new gloves. Luckily she can still manage to wear her snow pants this year.

When we lived in Arizona we didn’t worry about any of this. Sure the kids had “jackets,” but jackets are much different than coats, and much less expensive. I didn’t have to buy them boots, gloves, hats or scarves. And when children are small it’s very expensive, because every year they grow significantly. Then there’s the warm clothes to wear at school in a cold climate. The kids in AZ easily wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts throughout the year. They’ll wear long pants for a few months, usually about December through February, but then it’s back to shorts. Our school shopping consisted of buying the summer sale items when visiting up north every summer. We never participated in “Back to School” shopping. Why?

The above pictures show the few days after we moved in to our new home in February 2003. I think we had bought Sis’s coat when we came up north for Christmas the year before. Notice that Junior and Bud are wearing their jackets and all the kids are wearing their hiking boots. We bought the snow shovels right when we moved in.

Above left: this is what we had just come from in February 2003. Above right: Little Sis’s outfit will eventually have to be replaced 100%. Some of the items once a year.

Then there’s the heating bill. Sure, the air conditioner was on pretty much 24/7 through the hot months in AZ, but it’s no different here. I go from having the heater on to having the air conditioner on in one day. For a month or so I go back and forth between the two on an almost daily basis. In AZ, once it turns cooler, the air—hot or cold—is off for good. I hardly ever turned on the heat. On January nights we opened the windows.

Snowblowers, snow shovels, snow tires, SUV’s so you can get up your hill in the winter—oh, and if you ski or snowboard, “Ouch” is all I can say—two lawnmowers, major Spring cleanup in the yard every year, annual replacement of plants thanks to deer, annual golf passes that can only be used for six months versus 12 months, cars that get dirty the day after washing them, house windows that get dirty the day after washing them… After living in both climates the results are in: warm weather climates are the way to go.

Tags: climates, weather, winter

We’re So Sorry Uncle Albert

Has there ever been a song that has captured a particular time of your life? A song that brings a specific memory to your mind every time you listen to it? Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul McCartney and Wings does just that to me. Whenever I hear the song, a certain calm settles over me and an image of my Mom and Dad’s room on a winter’s day comes to my mind. The song came out in August 1971, so I was six-years-old at the time. I picture their bedroom with blue carpet and blue floral sheer drapes. I believe it was winter because the colors in my mind are blue and white. But the song reminds me of those innocent, care-free days of my childhood. I really miss those days.

Tags: childhood, memories, Paul McCartney, songs

The Never Ending Saga of a Bad Hairstyle

I remember when I was about a teenager, my mother always complained about these “young” hairdressers who would try to change her hairstyle to something modern. She would rant and rave and talk about how they were trying to make an older woman look ridiculous. I have complete empathy for my mother’s dilemma because I experience the same problem now.

First, where are all the hairstylists who are my age? Have they all quit? Is there some rule that once you get past age 30, you must retire from being a hairstylist? Second, why do all women have to have the same hairdo regardless of their age or hair type?

A few years ago I watched a documentary called The September Issue. It was about the process that Vogue went through to publish their 2007 fall-fashion issue. The editor is Anna Wintour, and the creative director is Grace Coddington. Both women are well into their 60′s. Yet, both women have the same hairstyle that they have had for years. They showed photos of Anna from her modeling days in the 1960′s. Guess what. Her hairstyle is the same as it is today. Grace has long, frizzy auburn hair that she often pulls back in a ponytail. The other women who work at Vogue generally have straight hair that they also wear in ponytails. Oh, and as an aside, they don’t wear much make-up either.

So this is my question: if the women who publish the most famous fashion magazine in the world, and who live in New York City, and who frequently travel to Paris, and who hob knob with the big fashion names of the industry, can wear their hair in the same style that they did twenty or more years ago, why can’t I? Why do I have to endure with twenty-somethings who insist that I must wear my hair in some fad style that does not work with my hair, my lifestyle, or my fashion style?

Can I please just have a one-layered bob, with no stupid, intense a-line? Why can’t I have the same hairdo that I had as a teenager and a twenty-something? Guess what? That style fits with my hair, my lifestyle, and my fashion style. I guess it’s time to move back East.

Tags: hairdo, hairstylists, vogue

Digital Overload

I am presently organizing 2011 photos to make photo books for my children this Christmas. It has become a tradition that they all enjoy. Their photo book is the first thing they look through on Christmas morning.

But I must say, I, we, they, take a lot of photos. This year I scanned all of my negatives up until we purchased a digital camera. We didn’t have half the photos that we have from a digital camera. When I took photos with a film camera, I was very careful about what I was taking because I only had so much film in the camera, and it cost money to develop that film. After having children I had to really think about what photos to take because I needed to have doubles developed so that there would be enough photos to go around in all the photo albums.

But with digital cameras, you can take as many photos as you like, especially now that flash cards have grown in gigabytes. Every time I download photos to my computer, I open Adobe Bridge and clean out any extraneous and duplicate photos, and I “still” have tons. And because I have so many, they all become important. It’s really quite difficult to choose between two or more good shots.

Then creating the book and deciding how many photos on each page is another big choice. I have to go back and “decrease” the number of photos on a page because too many are similar, or the photos are too small because there’s too many photos on a page. And you always want to get your money’s worth in the end. These books are pricey.

We live in an age of overload. With all of the technology we enjoy today, we tend to go overboard and end up having too much of just about everything. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Tags: digital camera, photo books, photos

The 80′s Obsession

Sis and her friends have a serious obsession with the 1980′s. I don’t know where or how it’s fueled, but it is there. Last night they attended a Halloween dance and all dressed up in 1980′s attire. When they walked through the room, Dad and I both exclaimed “That’s not the 80′s!” To be fair, I was 15 to 25 years-old in the decade of the 1980′s. I was in high school and college through the first half of the decade. I think I have a pretty good idea of what 1980′s fashion entails.

When I think of the 1980′s I visualize the fashions below: Lots of beads and bangles, shirts and sweatshirts off one shoulder with a tank underneath, bright neon colors, big hair, thick headbands (fabric or bandanas), whitewash jeans, thick leg warmers, shoulder pads, thick belts hanging on the hips. Examples: Madonna, Flashdance, Let’s Get Physical Olivia.

Below is Sis and her friend’s attempt at 1980′s fashion. The first photo is from last night. The second photo is an attempt last year, which I think is closer than last night’s attempt.

I mean, really, whose idea was the tight shorts? We didn’t wear tight, short spandex shorts over tights. And the headbands? Those are elastic, not fabric. And they’re thin, not thick. The sweatshirts are not belted, and they are not cut up and hanging off one shoulder. And knee-high socks are not leg warmers. And where is the big hair? They all have the Marsha Brady hair that is so popular with girls today. We were so past Marsha. Sis doesn’t even use product in her hair. Then she wonders why her curls fall out so quickly. Sigh. I guess I need to give some lessons.

Below is Sis dressed up for a 1980′s party back in 2005. Now that’s more like it. But I believe it’s because Mom was the fashion consultant, not Sis’ 15 year-old, born in 1996-97, friends.

Tags: 1980's, costumes, fashion

Bye Bye Facebook, Bye Bye Distraction

I have been on Facebook since you had to have a college email address to sign up. It’s been that long. There were good times on Facebook and there were bad times. However, I found that Facebook was becoming one big distraction over very insignificant, unimportant things. In the end it’s much ado about nothing.

Yes, yes, it’s fun to hook up with old friends and family that you don’t see often. But after the initial re-acquaintance, it really gets quite boring. Add to that the most recent changes where now all you see on your Wall are the comments that your friends make on their friend’s posts. Who cares? Really. And then there’s the games like Farmville that you finally have to hide because those posts are so annoying; and the quotes that are nice, but after reading through about twenty in a row, even they get tedious.

So I did what I have been contemplating for some time. I deleted my Facebook account. Of course that really doesn’t mean anything because I could go back to Facebook right now, type in my name and password and “viola” everything is there again. But at least Facebook isn’t in my Safari Bookmark Bar tempting me to take a look when I’m in the middle of doing something actually useful.

Tags: Facebook

Oh Apple, What Have You Done to Me?

I am a certified Mac user. I have been a certified Mac user for about eight years. But tonight Apple did something Microsoft-esque. From what I have learned reading on the Apple Support Forums, the Lion OS update, and the updated Mail program, have been wreaking havoc on Apple Mail users, and I was one of their victims tonight. All of the email in all of the inboxes of all of my email accounts within Apple Mail have been deleted, not only in the Mail software program, but on the servers as well. Well, geez, I guess I didn’t need to clean out my email after all. Apple was kind enough to do it for me. Ever heard of Thunderbird Apple? Yeah, I’m using it now. No thanks to you.

Update: I Googled and found a site for email software called Postbox. So I purchased it instead of using Thunderbird because, face it, Thunderbird drives me nuts. I can’t even look at all the emails in my different accounts in the same window. Postbox has elements of Apple Mail and Thunderbird. So far so good. The other nice thing is that a single license can be used on more than one computer if you happen to have a desktop and a laptop. Fingers crossed.

Tags: apple, email, mac

Girl’s Night 2010

Girl's Night Gift Exchange [ 30:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (241)

Yes long, but fun too.

Tags: christmas, gifts, party

Lady Madonna

Lady Madonna [ 2:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (152)

My mother… Lady Madonna

Tags: family, mother

Girl’s Night: The Addendum

Amidst giggles and delight, Chantelle opens her Girl’s Night Gift. Is it what she has always wanted? Watch and see.

Note: Sorry about the teenage background banging in the kitchen. One word: baking.

Tags: christmas, gifts, party