About halfway through my day today, I went to the restroom and discovered that I was wearing this hat:
Instead of this hat:
I guess all those people who saw me pulling weeds at the entrance station thought I took a really wrong turn on the way to work this morning. OOPS!
I know if I refused to participate in these Meme’s that 1. people would stop tagging me, and 2. people would stop reading me. So what are you gonna do? I was tagged by Witchypoo over at Psychicgeek, who really makes me laugh, so I have to do this.
The tag is for a Meme, in which I have to list eight things I want to do before I die. Once upon a time, there was a lot of things I wanted to do, and places I wanted to go, so it would have been really easy to this several years ago. But now? It has taken me days to think about this. I have most of what I want, and have been to or have plans in the works for going to most of the places I want to go. So, yeah, this one has been hard for me.
1. I want to lose 50 pounds. And somehow, I often think that I will die much too early if I don’t lose 50 pounds. I really need to do this one because I want to be around to still be FabGrandma for my gran chilluns.
2. I want to learn how to speak Spanish fluently. I want to do this because I will need to know how to do it if I get to:
3. Spend the winter in La Paz, Mexico, down at the end of the Baja. I want to loll on the beach, eat fish tacos til I pop, and take a ferry ride over to that island where the Blue Footed Boobies live.
4. I want to add Blue Footed Boobies to my lifetime list. For those of you who are not birdwatchers, a lifetime list is “just” a list of the different birds you have seen whilst birdwatching.
5. I want to publish a cookbook. Yeah, Me. I have one in the works, but have not gotten very far with it. A few years ago, all the members of my family–sister, sisters-in-love, nieces, some nephews, mother, etc., all wrote down our recipes and made up a family cookbook. All the new brides in our family get a copy of it, and let me tell you, it has probably saved a couple of marriages on that side of the family. But this new cookbook I have in mind is solely my creation, and will remain secret until I get further down the road with it.
6. I want to own a really good digital camera. Not a cheap one. I want one with multiple lenses, that will take excellent pictures of Blue Footed Boobies and Gluten Free Cherry Pie. One that will cost a month’s pay, but that will let me take pictures worthy of selling and suitable for framing.
7. A short term goal I have is to have to buy new pants before this season is over in mid-October. 
I ain’t telling what size I wear, just suffice it to say it is way too big. And even one size smaller would be one small step for womankind, and make this old lady very happy. Oh, and this is probably almost the same as #1, but because it is so important, I have put it in here twice, and because if I accomplish this one, it will help me to accomplish #8:
8. I want to be able to hike the Grand Canyon on the Kaibab Trail, from the North Rim to the South Rim. I want to stay overnight at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. I want to drench myself in the Colorado River, and see for myself the waterfalls at Havasu Falls, Ribbon Falls, and Roaring Springs. Even seeing one of them would make it for me.
So, there you have it. I am not tagging anyone to do this, but if you decide on your own to list your eight things you want to do before you die, please come back here and leave a comment so I will know you have done it and I can come over and read what you want to do, OK?
I know my name is FabGrandma, and grandma’s should like little kids, but I have to tell you, the one I was in close proximity to this morning was a monster child!
FabGrandpa and I don’t go out to eat very often, because we don’t go to town very often, but we were at a buffet style place for breakfast this morning. The place was packed, as it was right off of I-15. There were several families there with small children, and I would have been glad to sit by any of the other families, instead of the one two tables over from us.
Just after we were seated, this family came in. Before they could even sit down, the child, who was about 5 years old, started SCREAMING at the top of his lungs. Awful, earsplitting screams. Because he wanted juice. They hadn’t even been there two minutes yet. And what did the father of this child do? He DEMANDED to see the manager, because the server had not brought juice as soon as the child started screaming for it. I could not believe my ears!!!
As my breakfast wore on and my stomach tied in knots from the continued shrills from this child, the mother got up and said to the father, “I’m taking him to the car to straighten him out.” I didn’t mean to hear her say it, but she was so close I couldn’t help it. When she got up, the child got up too, and started running around the table, trying to get away from her, screaming all the while. And the father laughed!!!
So, by this time I was finished choking down my meal, and FabGrandpa and I were leaving. I had to go to the restroom, and when I came out of the restroom, guess what I saw? There was Mom and Godzilla Jr, in the game room, with him playing games!!! No wonder he rules their world.
I know you can tell from my last few posts that there is nothing, and I do mean nothing, going on here. We go to work, come home, eat dinner, then veg out on the sofa, doing nothing. Maybe go across the road to the campfire sometimes and have a beer, but not often. Because we haven’t been anywhere much lately, I decided to show you some pictures from Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon for last month. I hope you enjoy seeing the pictures as much as we enjoyed seeing the real things:
Talina at Harvest of Daily Life tagged me for a meme that is going around. She is moving from Flagstaff, AZ to Illinois and needs some moral support, so I have to do just for her.
I am: staying up way too late, again.
I think: Rebecca and Ken will be very happy together in Denver
I know: that all my children love me and think I am the best mother ever
I have: the best job I have ever had
I wish: I could eat wheat again and not be sick if I did.
I hate: that people can’t just be happy for you when something you think is good happens to you. Why oh why do some people have to just suck the joy out of every little thing?
I miss: having a garden, but not enough to stop living in a travel trailer
I fear: spiders!!!!! all of them, no matter how big or how little
I hear: Stephen Colbert on the TV
I smell: leftover chili on the stove
I crave: strawberries with whipped cream
I search: for new writing jobs all the time
I wonder: if I will like it in Phoenix this winter
I regret: I only regret that I did not sell my house and start living in a travel trailer sooner
I love: My Jim, I can not imagine my life without him
I ache: in my legs after walking to work this week
I am not: in Kansas anymore, hahahaha
I believe: that we meet people for a reason, and know them as long as we need to, to accomplish whatever it is that was supposed to happen by our meeting them
I dance: terribly
I sing: like a bullfrog
I cry: at movies with sappy endings
I fight: the urge to eat cookies when Jim has them in the house
I win: at Mah Jong, I love that game
I lose: my keys at least once a week
I never: have been to Oregon, but would like to go someday
I always: try to be kind to people and to smile everyday
I confuse: numbers. I am terrible at math
I listen: to my daughters when they need to talk
I can usually be found: playing games or reading blogs on the internet
I am scared: of almost nothing except spiders. I have a terrible fear of spiders.
I need: some new underwear and to lose some more weight
I am happy about: Waking up every morning at the Grand Canyon!
I imagine: that I will be famous someday, at least in small circles.
Oh, and I tag Linda, my sister; Beach Bummz; Brandon at Life on My Terms; and The Flip Flop Mom if she can drag herself away from making those yummy looking pickles. Y’all have fun and then go tell Talina how much fun she will have on her move. She’s moving in an RV, ya know, so it will have to be fun. No grumps allowed in RV parks, right?
Ok, I am going into sappy mode, so be warned, click out now if you can’t take the oozing from the following post:
I am not generally a poetic person or one who gets into poetry much, but I came across this one and it spoke volumes to me:
Kindness
Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
You must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
So, what does it say to you?
Thursday when I was working the morning shift at the entrance station, there was a little puddle of water on the road from the rain the night before. Lots of birds were coming by to splash and drink there when the traffic was slow. This beautiful guy came by several times. I’m so glad I got a pic of him before the traffic picked up.
Ever since I discovered the yummy recipe for the short cakes using corn starch as a main ingredient, I have been using it in more of my recipes. It seems to give the finished product a more “wheat flour like” texture.
So, this morning, I whipped up some pancakes for FabGrandpa and me, and they were really good. Good enough for FabGrandpa to ask for seconds, which in my experience, he won’t do unless something is pretty good.
Here is the recipe I used to make these:
Banana Buckwheat Pancakes
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
Mix all the dry ingredients together well. Add the egg and milk and stir well, making sure all the lumps are mixed in. If this the batter is too stiff, add a little more milk. Add the melted butter last and stir it in well.
Put some olive oil in a skillet and let it get hot but not smoking. Pour in about a 1/3 cup of batter per pancake. While the first side is cooking add thin slices of banana to each pancake. When there are little bubbles popping along the outside edges, turn the pancakes over a cook until browned on the second side. Serve with melted butter and your favorite syrup, and watch them disappear!
