Procrastination Perfected

I've been working on my procrastination skills for many years now. In fact, in my "senior quote" of my 1983 Bellingham High yearbook, I listed (among other things): procrastination grades 9-12. So with that, let me now post pictures of our Spring Break trip to Oakland. Sure, the trip was about 7 weeks ago. That's where the procrastination part comes in. I was putting this post off because I needed to organize my pictures. And, I was putting that off because, well, because... I just didn't really want to sit that long at the computer. I had baseball, birthday, spring break, Itsuka's visit, irish dance, and assorted other stuff all still in my camera card and I just didn't want to sit down to the task of making individual files and sorting. Until today.

So now, without further procrastinating, are my favorite pictures of the trip to Oakland.

It's a Loooooong drive to Oakland. 12 hours to be exact. It gets even longer when the passes are full of snow!

Chapel of the chimes is amazing and beautiful. It's a mausoleum, filled wall to wall with shelves of containers of ash remains of many, many people. Sounds so creepy, but this place was so beautiful. Peaceful. Pictures don't give you the feel of how the building is like a maze; one hall leading to another, room after room of shelves.

Ok, now you're wondering why on earth we visited a mausoleum! Our friend, Michael, upon visiting this place was inspired to write a novel; Julia Milan and the Chapel of the Chimes. It's like Twilight Zone meets Nancy Drew, written for kids probably 4th through 8th grade, although older kids would enjoy it too. We are excited to hear news of the publication of this book!

One of the many courtyards within the building. A glass ceiling lets in lots of light, keeping the feeling of the rooms from being dreary.

Amazing architectural details throughout the building.

Behind this pillar you can see a wall of shelves filled with urns.

Flowers placed next to a loved one's remains.

See how the shelves appear to be lined in books? The "books" are actually book shaped urns. There are also the traditional vase shaped urns peppered throughout the mausoleum.

The actual chapel part of the building. If not for being connected to a mausoleum, it would be a beautiful place for a wedding!

These two always crack me up!

After visiting the Chapel, we walked the Berkeley campus and took a stroll down Telegraph Avenue. Amazing to think of how different this place is now compared to 40 years ago!

This place (below) was crazy! Full of old and then really old games. Pin ball, Ms. PacMan and Asteroids, to name a few. It was fun to place some of my old favorites again.

Centipede! I'm just as bad now as I was back in the 80's.

Waiting for lunch; Emily, Amanda and Michael.

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge in the mighty Sienna

We parked, then walked across the bridge. Thomas and I walked about 1/3 of the way, about where this picture was taken. Then he decided the height was more than he needed for the day, and he and I walked back...

...where we met this bridge worker. His job was to monitor the air hose which was connected to painting equipment at the top of the bridge. People were up there, painting the cables. He said it's a great job. "Sunshine, working outside, meeting people all the time..."  I believe he had most of his teeth.

Painting equipment and a rinsing bucket. Not really "golden" but more of a red.

Once back to the park where the car was, Thomas and I enjoyed the sunshine and took pictures.

A trip to Alcatraz was probably the highlight of the trip for me. If you go to the Bay Area, Alcatraz is a MUST SEE!

I'm thinking about initiating some new rules around our home. Maybe we'll start with these...

My three and Michael, all locked up in D block... extreme isolation!

The gardens were a beautiful surprise on the island.

And now, for the food report. Eating is reason enough to visit the Bay Area.

Nanking... best food in China town

Thomas eating sesame chicken... delicious!

Bakery items... chocolate thing (seriously, that's what it's called), cherry/oat scone and a "sweet sally" shortbread

Up close of the chocolate things. A yeast roll full of chunks of chocolate. Hellllooooo lover!

In N Out Burgers. Another new love I discovered on vacation. How do I love thee? Let me count the calories. 1, 2, 3, ... 850. Gulp. 

We went to the Mariner's season opener in Oakland. A horrible stadium, but we won the game. Had to enjoy the winning record while we had it. *sigh*

Amanda's view of the game

Amanda, Emily and Michael

I don't know these people.

Ok, There. That's it. I blogged about spring break. Thanks Michael, for being such a great host!

Eight is GREAT!

This past weekend we celebrated the fact that the youngest of us is now EIGHT! And, what a weekend it was!

Highlights (in no particular order...  I've always wanted to say that. Reminds me of the Academy Awards):

1. Thomas had a baseball game on Saturday. His team, the Rainiers, triumphed over their opposition; 7-0. Seriously, I don't think his team has ever actually won before! In the days of T-ball, we never kept track, but it always seemed that the other team got many more to home plate than we did. Last year was the first year of kid-pitched baseball, and again, although we never kept score, I don't think Thomas's team ever won. This was a glorious and long overdue win!

Check out Thomas's pitching... he had a no hitter game. Sweetness.

2. Dinner with Carlsons on Friday. It had been tooooo-oo-oo long since we had spent any time with them.

By request: Safeway bakery sugar cookies, shared with the Carlsons

By accident: One big candle because I forgot to buy the cute little birthday type

3. Birthday party Saturday at Laser Fun Zone. WHAT A BLAST! If you haven't been there, you need to go. Coming out of the game, we all commented that we felt a little like Jack Bauer as we rounded the corners, ready to shoot whoever stood in our way!

Ryan, Forrest, Joseph, Kyle, Thomas Justin and Garrett

Laser tag hostiles!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOMAS! WE LOVE YOU!!!

The new bike!

They are coming soon...

... the new chairs, that is.

We want 2 chairs for our living room. We have been looking for these for um... probably 14 months. I guess I'm having a hard time deciding.

Looking at http://www.target.com/, I spied not just one, but TWO chairs that I really really like. Still couldn't decide, so I ordered 2 of each. I'll only keep one pair of chairs and return the other two to Target. Oh, the beauty of shopping on the internet knowing you can return to the store in town!

So here they are:

Wow, doesn't the one on the top look like the background on my blog? Cra-zy-ness. Maybe I could start a trend... furniture to match your blog. Hmmmm.

I like them both in different ways. Sort of like children. But, I'm not returning the children any time soon. Shoot, they are beginning to pick up their clothes without being told and even put themselves to bed at a decent time!

I'll keep you posted on them. The chairs, that is.

Jack's winning morning

UPDATE (4-21-10): I found a recording of this very winning on Spirit's web site. Listen for yourself! Click here. Look for the "Related Audio" box and click the 4-20-10 button. Now, back to the previously posted blog entry...

My hubby is so smart. Today he won "Gender Game Without a Name" on Spirit 105.3.  The topic was MUSICALS... piece of cake for a guy who:

• used to direct high school choir
• has a crazy talent for remembering details of musicals, and
• never seems to forget people's names

The question was this: What is the name of the lead female character in My Fair Lady?

Without a moment's hesitation, Jack answered, "Eliza Doodlittle". No stalls, no guessing, no clues needed. He made the guys proud and also won himself 3 CDs! Wonder if one is the soundtrack to My Fair Lady?

Now, let's see if I can find an image from Google to help out this blog post. Searching "Eliza Doolittle"...

Oh, here's one:

Nope, that's not it. Somebody named their 4H goat after the cockney country girl. Isn't google amazing?

Nope, not this one either. This is the pop singer of the same name.

Ah, that's it. Eliza, in all her glory.

"Come on, Dover! Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin' arse!"

Way to go Jack! You never fail to surprise or amaze me!

Reality check

Not too long ago, I signed up to receive emails from http://www.allrecipies.com/.  It's a great little website for people like me who need some cooking inspiration. Every few days, they send an email with a link to a recipe. It's a great way to think about cooking up some different items to add to our dinner menus.

Yesterday, I was just starting to think about dinner. I had decided on split pea soup. YUM! Now, I know that doesn't spin everyone's beannie, but I grew up loving this and my family likes it too. Ham chunks, pieces of carrot, a small squirt of fresh garlic; what's not to love about a hearty soup? Before heading to the store for the needed ham hocks, I quickly checked my email, and was greeted by a new recipe idea from allrecipies! YEA! Maybe I would find fresh inspiration and cook something new. I mean, I love pea soup, but something new is always exciting.

I opened the email to find this darling of a recipe waiting for me:   

Southwestern Chicken Lasagna

Here's the description: "A spicy, cheesy, Mexican flavored dish assembled and baked much like lasagna."

It sounded like it should definitely trump the split pea soup idea. Now to make a new shopping list.

chicken: have it, check

cheese: check

olives: add those to the list

spaghetti sauce: check

corn tortillas: need those

all of the other ingredients: check

All I needed were the olives and corn tortillas. This was going to be great! I would surprise my family with a delicious, new, yummy thing for dinner. Perfect on a night when we are coming and going with golf, track and dance all in one night.

Then came a pivotal moment. I clicked the nutritional content link. Let me just say this: If I ate stuff like this all the time, I would need new pants with a big elastic waist band.

Here's what it said:

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 902

Total Fat: 47.4g
Cholesterol: 194mg
 
HOLY CROW!!!  That's a lot of calories for one entree! Never mind the salad and some bread or something to accompany the dish. And a glass of milk. I could eat my entire day's worth of calories in one sitting. Bad. I think it may have had something to do with all of the cheese. It did call for 4 cups of shredded cheese. That's probably also what got it the 4.5 star rating and rave reviews from 46 subscribers.
 
If I was going to eat that many calories at one meal, I would just eat ice-cream instead. It's a lot quicker to prepare. And probably a lot tastier, too.
 
So, in the end, it was split pea soup for dinner, at a mere 200 calories. Fat grams were only .7 and there were 5 miligrams of cholesterol.
 
Good thing I really like the soup!
 
 

Just a quickie post

I want to get more pictures posted on Itsuka's visit before she leaves us on Saturday. Hello to people in Oito, Japan (Itsuka's home town)!

Playing Twister gives good practice on colors, body parts and left/right!

This little treasure has been invaluable

This is a trip to Cabela's (http://www.cabelas.com/)

Emily and Itsuka in coon-skip caps, so American!

My four children for the week. Back from a hunt.

Back at home, Itsuka taught us origami

The next day, we taught her how to dye Easter eggs

It's hard to see here, but the egg has her name written in Japanese with crayon

This morning, Thomas was sad at breakfast, saying, "I wish Itsuka could stay. I will miss her and I wish she was my real sister!" Tears, sobs... yes, the whole thing. He has really taken to his Japanese sister. With all the fun we've been having around here, who can blame him?