Music morning

Yeah, weird picture I know. The stage at Kilby. Hand held, low light, long exposure. But I like it.

Saturday morning, Sarah is cleaning up the kitchen so I can make her pancakes this morning. She had yesterday off from school, but didn't empty the dishwasher before spending the day with friends, so being the meanie mom I am I left the mess for her to take care of today. So she's cleaning, cranking the tunes, and I'm waiting for a clean kitchen to cook in.

Her tunes of choice today is the music of our boyfriend Grieves. Grieves is a young (twenty something) independent rap/hip hop artist. My daughter introduced me to his music a year and a half ago or so. I'm hardly a big rap fan, but as it turns out I really, really like most of this guys music.

So Sarah and I have this running joke about who's boy friend he is... she's going for the older guy and I the younger. When I say something about "my" boyfriend Grieves, she quickly retorts back something to the effect of "Quit talking about your future son-in-law that way".

Grieves plays concerts here frequently, usually playing a funky little all ages venue; Kilby Court, which is in essence a garage on a little alley way near downtown Salt Lake. Three buildings, the garage that houses the stage, a small building where they sell merchandise, and the ticket kiosk surround a small court yard where they keep a fire going in the fire pit during show. All ages is really a missnomer, as for the most part it's the under 25 crowd.

Grieves played here a week ago or so, and since I'd been torturing Sarah by saying I was going to go see "my" boyfriend this time, she decided not go (I went "with" her once before, she won't let that happen again!). So all by my lonesome I headed to Kilby to be the one odd ball, old fart at the concert. I always feel a little silly when I do this, as I know I know I'm out of place, because it really is all young kids, and they all look at me with suspicion wondering what I'm doing there. I took a few pictures this last time, and kind of freaked a few kids out... It probably didn't help that when asked why I was taking pictures I told them I was the "chaperon police" and that mothers hire me to spy on their kids. I love fooling with the teenagers, but I did eventually convince them that I was really just there for the music. I wasn't totally alone in my old-fartness this time. A guy who I'd guess was in his late 30's, who was there with his friend and a niece, came up and chatted, because he was really curious what I was doing there. So I think there were 3 of us over 30 that night.

So is that too weird? Why should music and fun and entertainment be bounded by age? Or am I just too weird? I do admit the students in my lab as well as my "grown up" friends are usually shocked when I play this sort of music. But heck, I enjoy all sorts of music. If you're curious about "my boyfriend's" music he has some samples on his myspace page. Of what's there, "irreversible" is my favorite.

See, I wasn't kidding when I said this place was a garage!

Wednesday Wackiness...

Here's one for the FAIL blog. I see this car with towel hanging from the back nearly every morning when I park my car and walk into work. I'm sure I know why the towel is there. The parking lot is right next to the field house, where students and staff go to work out. Unfortunately you can't rent lockers there, except during the time you are there working out. So what to do with your wet towel? I toss mine in in my bag and when I get back to my lab I hang it on my filing cabinet handle with a big binder clip. When it's dry I put it back in my gym bag. I assume this person works out before work then hangs his or her's on their car to dry... well I at least that seems like the plan, unless it's a day like today!

FAIL!!!!!!!!!

Spring in Utah...

Typical spring in Utah. The crocuses were blooming magnificently in my yard Friday after noon when I took this picture. It's been t-shirt weather, and I've even taken my dog down to the gully for swim a few times in he last week. This morning here was 3 inches of snow on my car, and I couldn't even find my crocuses, except for this lone fellow that was somewhat protected under my Red River Birch.



And speaking of my birch tree, here's one of my weird little macro shots of a few of it's buds covered in snow. Yeah, I love minutia.

Watch Me Create!

Forget about snow, let's talk spring! Today you'll find me on Watch Me Create writing about my new spring beads!

Beware of the Snowmonster....

It was a gloriously nice day at Brighton yesterday. Warm and sunny, but not so warm that the snow got slushy. Perfect Spring skiing! You could tell the lifties were having fun in the nice weather as almost every lift has a snow sculpture of some sort. This snow monster is at the base of Millicent lift, which is where I parked my car so my camera was handy.

Usually I ski with a girlfriend, but she had other commitments today so I went up by myself and had my self a speed day. It was perfect cruising snow so I spent the day skiing fast. I can't be positive, but I'm pretty sure I was the fastest 48 year old chick on the mountain. If not I was probably the fastest overweight 48 year old chick on the mountain. It felt really good to fulfill my need for speed,

Skiing solo is kind of fun because you usually meet a few interesting people on the lift. So yesterday there was the guy who's wife works at the bakery near my house. The bakery had been closed for a time and I wondered what had happened... well now I know the story, Then there was the young guy from Chicago who thinks he want to move here. The ski host who gave me the whole scoop on how to be a ski host, something I might be really interested in doing, maybe when my kids are gone. Free Skiing would be a good thing! One ride up I commented to the woman next to me that there seemed to be alot of kids ski classes today. Turns out she works for the ski school and yes they had a lot of programs today - 220 kids in ski school. From there the guy riding with started his take in kids which went something like "I knew I never wanted to have kids so I took care of that when I was 21, snip, snip, I know nobody's going to call me daddy!" Too much information perhaps? My last ride of the day was with a Texan, who for 18 years has been spending the month of March skiing in Utah. He must have a lot of free time, because besides spending a month of the year skiing he saw 300 movies last year. His recommendation for the must see movie from last year- "Man on Wire" the story of the guy who did the tightrope walk between the twin towers.

So what a great day. Interesting conversation, movie recommends, sunshine snow and speed!

A beady good time..

It sure is fun how this bead hobby of mine has led me to meet all sort of interesting people. I had lunch with a new bead friend the other day. Carol Ann "found" me a while back on, of all places MySpace. Normally I don't add strangers as friends on MySpace, but for "bead people" I make exception. Then awhile back she bought one of my pendants on Etsy. When I saw the delivery address, which was right near where I drive every day anyway, I suggested I could just drop it by her house after work, and save her the shipping fee. So we finally met (briefly) in real life, with a promise to get together sometime.

Sometime finally came this week when we met for lunch. What a fun lunch it was. I brought beads, Carol brought her beautiful jewelry, much of which contained lampwork beads. The fun part is that many of the beads were from people I know of or even know. She had some Kalera beads, and beautiful polymer clay pendant by Cheryl and a big pink heart made by Schermo. Really fun for me, as I've admired Kalera's beads for a long time. Same is true for Cheryl's polymer clay piece. I've seem her work on the internet, but it was really cool to see and fondle on of her pieces in real life. And the Schermo bead? I met Schermo a few years ago at a bead retreat. She's a wonderful lady. It turns out she and Carol are long, long time bead friends. It was fun to gab about mutual bead friends, and other bead artists we both admired. What a small, small world. And what a fun, fun lunch, by the time lunch was over I felt like I've knwn Carol forever. It's always fun to meet another beady friend.They are the best! Oh and I should add, she actually wore her black cape! (and I'd worn mine) I've now actually met a fellow caped crusader.

So am I a meanie mommy?

I know this may be weird, but I actually like teenagers and enjoy my kid's friends. Consequently, it is not uncommon for then to hang out at my house (AKA the home for wayward children), and I like to joke around with them. Most of the kids usually "get" that I'm joking around when I give them crap or harrass them about weird things, but occasionally there is one that doesn't get the joke. Sarah's friend Brian is one such kid. Apparently, I scare him. He's been friends with Sarah for years, and she and I both find it a little funny that he still doesn't "get" my sense of humor. Mondays are Young Life night, and I asked Sarah if she was planning to attend and where the meeting was this week. She told me where, but then added that she wasn't driving, Brian was. "Brian who's scared of me?" I ask. "Yup that Brian" she responded.

Then my evil mind went into overtime. How can I scare Brian tonight? It was a snowy night, which always makes me a tad nervous about the kids driving around. So I pull a schmarmy notecard out of the desk, and write Brian a note.

Dear Brian.
Please be very careful driving my daughter around in this inclimate weather. She is precious cargo and you are responsible for her safety. Love, Linda

When Sarah walked out to the car she handed him the note. He looked a little pale as he read it. Sarah didn't let him suffer too long before telling him not to worry, her mom wasn't really that neurotic and that it was joke. I'm not sure he really believed it was a joke, but the other kids sure thought it was funny. Hopefully one of these days he'll "get" my sense of humor.

I Can Has Cheezburger?

I check my email tonight and I find an email from "I Can Has Cheezburger?" titled "missfrof22 sent you a picture". I had no idea who the sender was so I wasn't sure if I should dare click the link in the email. Curiousity got the best of me so I clicked. Sure enough it was an "I Can Has Cheezburger?" picture. A black and white cat, just like my Oreo. Wow, some one searched "I Can Has Cheezburger?" for a cat like mine and sent me picture? This seemed really weird. Then I noticed the red harness, just like Oreos, and a blue tag just like... wait that was Oreo... Oh my goodness, my kitty is now an "I Can Has Cheezburger?" cat. What the heck? I check my email and there's another, with a different picture; Oreo inside my house. This time there's note, Victoria sent the pictures. She's Matt's girlfriend, they must have been messing aqround with his photos. Mystery solved. And look, now I have "famous" internet cat. Isn't he cute???

Color in the Kitchen

Cupcake art anyone? We are the go to house for baking. Sarah makes really good chocolate cake and frosting, from scratch, so when there is a baking worthy event the kids all show up at our house and bake. This weeks event was a boy with a knee injury; they wanted to bring him cupcakes. Decorated cupcakes. So Friday night I had five girls baking and decorating in the kitchen. I never realized that food coloring came in neon colors, and probably never would have bought them myself, but I have to admit they make for some very festive cupcakes. Neon colors and sprinkles- cake decorating 101 for teenagers. I love having a kitchen full of giggly girls.