PLEASE Ford Motor Co., Don't let me down!

With all the bad news on the economy, I am pleading with Ford Motor Company, please stay away from the government clutches! You are our last hope! I have had cars from all three of the big auto makers. Now that GM and Chrysler are basically owned by the US government, all I have now to choose from is Ford or buy a foreign car.
There is no way I would ever buy a car from any company run by the government. They don't even know how to run the country let alone a business like a car company. Can you imagine how it could be in trying to get a car repair that is still under warranty? If it is how the rest of the government works it could take months for an authorization to get the repair!

So please Ford Motor Co., don't get sucked in by the allure of free money! Save the tax payers the added burden and you will have a devoted customer in me for LIFE!

I'm afraid it is too late for GM and Chrysler, they have already gone to the dark side and the government may never let them go!

1 complaint, and 3 BIG Cheers!

I have had the opportunity to travel a bit this spring and there is one complaint that I can't find the answer to. Last year when the fuel prices went so high, the airlines implemented extra charges to "off-set" the higher fuel prices (so they said). However, now that the prices have been down for several months, all these extra charges are still in effect!!! Can anyone explaine to me why that is???? It is like a new tax, once it is begun, it is impossible to get rid of it!

That is the one complaint, now for the 3 BIG cheers!


Cheer number one goes to the CLEAR PLAY DVD PLAYER!!!

Now I'm sure the Hollywood types will find a way to ruin this like they did the edited DVD's, but for now this is great! After buying this DVD player, you download filters for the movies you want to watch. You decide what you don't want in the movies, whether it is bad language, sex, violence, etc., you decide the levels you want filtered out. We don't watch "R" rated movies and some PG-13 are too raunchy also but with this player, you can filter out all the bad stuff. For example, I LOVE Bollywood movies!!! They are colorful, and the music and dancing are amazing also. So I was very disappointed when "Slumdog Millionaire" was released and was rated "R". When it finally came out on DVD we rented it and we did a medium filter on most of the topics, (I felt it was still too violent on medium so I would do that higher next time). But is was a really good movie. Unfortunatly, only one dance at the end.

Next cheer goes to "Enchanted April"!

It has FINALLY been released on DVD! YEA! If you haven't seen this amazing movie, find it and check it out. It was in the theaters in 1992 and it is one of the best movies ever! Many big names like, Miranda Richardson, Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, Joan Plawright, to name a few and there are others. This is one movie where the movie is better than the book (the ending at least). Find it and watch it. It is not a "chick flick". My husband liked it also. Don't ask him though, he never remembers a movie plot within 1 hour of seeing it.

The last and biggest cheer goes to "PUSHING DAISIES"!!!

Since ABC was so STUPID to cancel this amazing show, they never showed the final 3 episodes that they had filmed. I thought I would have to wait until the DVD was released to have closure to my sadness. They are FINALLY showing them starting on Saturday, May 30th and for the next 3 weeks. I know it will be sad all over again when it ends but then I can look forward to getting the DVD and watching all 2 seasons over and over again. There will never be anything as funny and unique on TV again, I am willing to bet.

Huzzah! for "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!"

I have always been fascinated by Medieval and Renaissance history and this CHILDREN'S book was a great insight into what life would have been like in Medieval England. The author, Laura Amy Schlitz, wrote the book in the form of a play for her school class to perform. All the parts are equal in important which makes it perfect for the Elementary age children it was written for. Each of the characters are interesting and there part in the village life is explained very well along with footnotes for word explanations and also separate pages of explanations about certain points of history or practices that are little known about in our modern day.

The illustrations are especially beautiful and it is fun to find each of the characters on the village map as you read about each of them. The different responsibilities and hardships they had to endure. You will come attached to the characters and I finished the book wishing there was a longer story for each of the characters. My two favorite characters were, Taggott, the blacksmith large daughter, and Alice, the shepherdess.

This would make a fun summer project for a group of children where you could study and learn more in depth about what it would have been like to live in this village, lice and all. Then even put on the play for family and friends. It may even get your children to appreciate that they live now and not back then in the 1200"s.

I highly recommend this book!

Flowers, Flowers, and More Flowers

"The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live."

(Sonnet LIV)

In Arizona we do things a little wonky. Instead of preparing for the winter, we prepare for the summer. We try to do as little outside when it is 110+degrees (that's about 43 degrees celsius), in the summertime, and if we do need to work outside, we do it in the early morning or in the evening after the sun has gone down.

Anyway, we are winding down the spring vegetable garden and I had such a great garden this past winter and spring so I sent my son, the photographer, out to take pictures of the vegetables; tomatoes, artichokes, lettuce, carrots, beets, and cabbages.

I guess it goes back to the fact that he doesn’t like too many vegetables and instead of the veges, he stopped at the flowers and took pictures of them.

We don’t have too many flowers that bloom in the heat so we love to see them all winter and spring. My sweet peas were over 8 feet tall this year! WOW! And people say you can’t grow in the desert! The Roses still bloom in the summer but the blooms shrink to small blooms in the heat of July-September.

The interesting thing I have found about gardening in Arizona is that so many plants have varieties that are desert varieties and use less water than the better known varieties that grow in other parts of the country.

We do have a year round growing season here for vegetables but I usually take off July and August. It is too hot! But as I always tell my family who live in the frigid cold of Northern Utah, it is so much more fun to get cool in the summer in Arizona than to get warm in the winter ANYWHERE it snows. I have never liked the snow and cold. All we have to do is get wet in a pool, sprinkler or just spray ourselves with a hose. I love Arizona, even in the summertime.

Come and visit some time!
The one question that has always puzzled me though; If fresh squeezed lemonade is a summer cool down drink, why do the lemons ripen in December and January? HUMMMM????? As Alice in Wonderland said..."curiouser and curiouser".

My Mom

I wanted to publicly wish my Mom a Happy Mother’s Day. I had one of those Mom’s who has done it all and is a great example to me. After having, and raising 6 children she when back to school and not only got her degree but also a Master’s degree. She has had 2 books published and had pieces she has written in other published works. She also taught history at Weber State College for several years. She is a terrific travel companion and we enjoy discussing books, movies, and life in general.

My Mom with my son, Michael on the tube in London in March '09

I have watched her all my life as she has served in the community, her church and schools. All this, in addition to being a super wife to my dad (in my observation), grandmother and great-grandmother, she had truly done it all and had it all! So on days when I feel I can’t get anything accomplished, I think of her and all she has done and it makes me more motivated. Thanks for your great example MOM!