This is Halloween!

mama kats

If you have been reading this blog long… or even once… it will not surprise you to discover that my mind …. albeit unique… it kind of warped… It is a beautiful thing. One symptom of said mind is what I like to refer to as a Swiss Cheese Memory… I call it this because it has so many holes. I was reading through the writers prompts this week and finding myself a little discouraged… it is Halloween Time! The prompt I wanted so badly to write about is “Who had the good candy? Share what Halloween was like for you as a child.” For two days I have looked at the prompt… waiting for inspiration to strike… as I do every week… and slowly I have come to realize something I never noticed before.
I do not remember a single Halloween in my childhood. At first this upset me… like I was missing something fantastic… or burying some deep dark secret… but truth be told… like most of my childhood… it probably was just not very memorable. I have snippets of thoughts around those holidays … I remember sitting on a cold stone entry way carving pumpkins… vaguely… also a bumblebee costume… although if it were worn by myself or a sibling I couldnt tell you… and then I remember 3 homes I visited (Most likely every year) and TADA! I have a post!

The Evans Home – the mother always dressed as a witch! full on green faced… pointy nosed and hatted… making her witches brew in her front yard… with what I recognize now as an adult to be dry ice and hot chocolate.

The Rasmussen Home – this mother would answer the door… sweet as could be… in her pretty witch costume… give us our candy and as we would scamper from their porch she would release a cackle that would make my hair stand on end as I attempted to jump out of my skin.

Last but not least… the gorilla… through our neighborhood ran a grown man dressed in a gorilla suit terrifying the older kids trick or treating… I don’t know how I know it was our neighborhood pediatrician… but I remember it is… and I loved the man. Dearly.

This post leaves a sour taste in my mouth … simply for the lack of anything better to post… So this is where being me rocks… it does really… and let me tell you about the my smalls Halloweens… which I remember vividly… and hope they do as well.

Costumes Galore… Pumpkin Carving… Roasted Seeds… a blend of home made and store bought costumes… Halloween parties thrown for Tall child… trick or treating for small… We have trick or treated with the same family for as long as I can remember… and in the neighborhood is the house decorated to the extreme… with scary clowns… and some guy in an electric chair… The house that one year… I kid you not… grilled pancakes in their driveway and passed them out nice and warm… and they were loved… and bizarre. The house with homemade root-beer at the end of their homemade spook alley made of refrigerator boxes and lights.

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Now that is Halloween!!

Quickies Rock…. Am I Right?

Soooo I know I have been a little bit quiet here lately… Things are hectic… we got ready to go to Disneyland two weeks ago… then we went to Disneyland… Now we are recovering from Disneyland.

Obviously I have nothing to complain about… I mean… Hello… Disneyland… I am just explaining my lack of Blogginess….

We are alive and well… and back in action!

Stay Tuned!

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Kung Fu Piano and Cello Magic

And breathe…. really… listen to this twice… once with your eyes closed to enjoy the music … and once again to watch the stunning video….

 

Happy Birthday Mr. Amazing!!!

Friday (October 11th) is my best friends thirty-eighth birthday. 

Mr. Amazing

We’ve been through a lot together… you and I…  the expression “married the minute we met” fits us so perfectly…because of our smalls and our devotion to them… because we thought of them first.

Sometimes I worry you think I married you for the children… but it is very important to me you know that You are my rock… my best friend… my lover… my hero… the love of my life.

Below are thirty-eight of the infinite number of reasons why.

I love you because:

  1. You make me feel safe;
  2. You listen to your heart;
  3. You drink tea, and you love opera and rock;
  4. You stood by me when I needed it most;
  5. You put your arm around me in public;
  6. You smell wonderful;
  7. I know that if the boogeyman ever shows up and tries to come for me… you will tear him into millions of tiny pieces and scatter them to the four corners of the earth;
  8. You love my son;
  9. You’re willing to reflect and learn and grow;
  10. I can still make you blush;
  11. You’re different;
  12. You are the one who comforts me in the middle of the night;
  13. You humor me;
  14. I can’t resist your hair;
  15. You kiss me goodbye everyday;
  16. You crack me up harder than anyone else for reasons that would make no sense to anyone else;
  17. Stories about helpless people or animals overcoming great odds move you to tears;
  18. You created a space just for me… My paint room;
  19. You are genuinely interested in me;
  20. You smile with your whole face and light up a room;
  21. You will sit and listen to Smallest Child talk for hours;
  22. You are the most intelligent individual I have ever had the pleasure of knowing;
  23. You show compassion toward those in need;
  24. You’ve supported me through a period of growth even when you weren’t sure of the outcome;
  25. You hold me tight when I cry;
  26.  You told me I’m beautiful;
  27. You let me thaw my frozen feet on the backs of your legs;
  28. You pretend right along with me that I’m perpetually only 29 years old;
  29. The sound of my snoring is actually comforting to you;
  30. Little kids are drawn to you like it’s the most natural thing in the world – you have “The Baby Fu”;
  31. You always encourage me to try new things;
  32. You think I’m smart enough to be a challenge to you;
  33. You know when to play it safe and can be prodded into taking a risk;
  34. My friends feel safe with you;
  35. The lines in your face and the way you shove your fingers in your hair are so, so sexy;
  36. You worry about people I care about;
  37. You love your siblings fiercely;
  38. You love me back;

Happy Birthday Mr. Amazing … I would have posted this on your actual birthday… but we are going to be on a plane!

What are you going to do next?? We’re going to Disneyland!!!!

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The Cookie Wife…

mama kats Share a Fall recipe that you’re loving this season.
Soooo I don’t really cook… or bake… But I do love me some fall recipes… So let me let you in on a little secret I have… It’s kind of a magical thing…. I live in Utah… Where not only do plural marriages have a reputation of being practiced… but some of the best baking happens! So I did the only logical thing I could do …. I took a cookie wife! You heard me right!

 

me:  <Yawn/stretch/puts an arm over her shoulder move/Drops Recipe in lap>

Cookie Wife:  Aren’t you hilarious???

me:  Smoooooth… I believe the word you were looking for is smooth

Cookie Wife:  Or subtle…

me:  Bahahaha!

Cookie Wife:  Guess what is the best thing ever??

me: ??

Cookie Wife:  Maple blueberry sausage!!! I’ll bet I could make it just as yummy with ground turkey!

me: MMMMMMMMMMMMMM I wanna eat it all!

Cookie Wife:  I made blueberry pancakes, maple blueberry sausage, crock pot hash brown scrambled eggs & juice & milk.

me:  … Small Child ate at school … I ate a leftover taco time bean burrito.

 

HAPPY OCTOBER EVERYONE!!!

October

Shoe Tree… Park City, Utah

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Stumbled across this tree this past weekend… Fascinated we spun around and drove past again so I could get a picture! I LOVE THIS! Just for the sheer craziness of it!

Decided to Google it to get the story behind it and found myself quite touched with what I found

“A Shoe Tree has existed in the location for decades, people who have lived in Park City for that long say. There are various legends about who started throwing shoes into the branches. Several people who moved to Park City in the mid-1970s say the Show Tree predates their arrival in the city.

One of the prevailing legends holds that the Shoe Tree resulted from some sort of drunken fisticuffs. Someone might have thrown another person’s shoes into the tree, causing a fight, goes one legend. The shoes were thrown into the tree after the fight, another variation holds.

Another story that has been told involves a 1970s veteran of the Vietnam War who, having returned to the U.S., threw his shoes into the tree in celebration of being back in his home country.

Jeffery Novelle, who has lived in Park City since 1964 and now lives in Old Town, says he is well aware of beginnings of the Shoe Tree. Novelle was the first person to put shoes into the tree, he says.

Novelle recalls it being either 1969 or 1970 and his brother, a Vietnam War veteran by that time, was in town. He and his brother were walking up a tiny dirt road called Easy Street that ran through the area at the time. His brother was wincing from the pain of blisters on his heels, Novelle says, recalling that he suggested his brother take off the combat boots that were bothering him and put his feet into the nearby creek for relief.

The brother removed the boots. Novelle took them, tied them together and hurled them into a tree. They left them there. Within 1 1/2 years, people threw tennis shoes, ski boots, sandals and moccasins onto the branches, Novelle says. His brother’s combat boots remained hanging in the Shoe Tree for at least four or five years, he says.

“I thought the city would come and say this isn’t right, you’ve got to take them down,” Novelle says. “I’m surprised it’s still there.””

 

Its the finer things…. really.

WARNING- THIS MAY ONLY BE FUNNY TO THE SLEEP DEPRIVED.

me:  I should grocery shop tonight…I so way don’t even want to!

Mr. Amazing:  I am really sorry (it’s what I say now right?)

me:   it’s cool… It just means you are getting fried chicken and potato logs for dinner

Mr. Amazing:   🙁

me:  So if that doesn’t sound good for dinner… what does

Mr. Amazing: Sounds good = tomatoes and cucumbers in vinegar with fancy cheese and crackers

me:  Oohhhh That sounds yummy… What else should I be buying… I gotta be honest… my head is not in the game… I don’t even know what that means

Mr. Amazing:   I was laughing when I read that  I imagined the announcer voice… “oooh Kerry’s heads not in the game, what d’ya think Chuck” “Well Bill, Kerry normally scores in the high 300s, today may be a down day.” “Well Chuck let’s hope that she can find the groove as she heads down to the frozen foods section”

me:  Really… I just pictured me standing in the middle of the fruit and veggie sections screaming FUMBLE! Wanna do some potatoes again?

Mr. Amazing:   lol, that sounds good

me:  What else sounds good…You be in charge dammit!

Mr. Amazing:  dammit- clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls

me:  Ohhhh that sounds good

Mr. Amazing:  spaghetti with beef tips and veggies in spicy sauce with aged mozzarella, capers and olives

me:  Uhhhhhhhh

Mr. Amazing:   with rosemary bread on the side

me:  BAHAHAHAHA! That’s the funniest shit you have said all day…I say fuck this whole shopping idea, we are eating at 7-11… Slurpee’s for dessert?

Mr. Amazing:  cannolis stuffed with spiced sausage and spices with noodles and marinara with myzithra cheese

me:  <headdesk>

Mr. Amazing:  with pistachio cheesecake and raspberry sauce

me:  Meow

Mr. Amazing:  and…

me:  You should have married your cookie wife if you didn’t want to eat at 7-11 for dinner

Mr. Amazing:   hand trimmed steaks marinated in lime chili sauce with rice and veggies in a light cheese/butter sauce with some sparkling spumante grape juice and some ice cream on top of homemade peach pie for desert

there, done… any other questions?

me:  Okay… Crack head… Taquitos then?

Mr. Amazing: :  ROFLMAO or you should get a super awesome job and I will stay home and cook and hire a maid to clean

me:  YOU should! I will stay home and boss her around… The maid

Mr. Amazing:   Like a BOSS

me:  She will have to cook too

Mr. Amazing:   lemon blueberry cheesecake with marscapone and whipped cream and lemon zest on top

me:  No Slurpee for you! you ingrate!

Mr. Amazing:  okay, okay I want a Slurpee and an all beef hot dog

me:  ROTFLMAO! I am not really going to 7-11 But I love that you settled … on dinner… on life… you know… in general

Mr. Amazing:  like I am going to lose my Slurpee

me:  BAHAHAHA!  Its the finer things in life that get us through

Mr. Amazing:   yes, like wine flavored soda pop

me: Exactly!

UPDATED – What he came home too:

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