a makeover/ facial restructure

So I finished this painting a while ago and was never really satisfied. Here she is now:

 I pasted two photographs of my eyes over hers, and now I like it a lot better. It is a self portrait now. It is myself as a doll, but an intelligent and feeling one, with human eyes. On the bottom of the image are horses and a cherry pie. Next to the pie are the words, "Yes, I can bake a cherry pie."

 I was thinking about the song lyrics "can she bake a cherry pie, billy boy, billy boy." The song indicates that in order for a girl to be married she has to have kitchen skills, specifically cherry pie baking skills. That seems to be kind of a surface skill in my opinion, a non-essential to a happy marriage, but in answer to the question, I say "Yes. Yes, I can bake a cherry pie, so I guess I'm ready." :)  But instead of being a dumb plastic doll, I want to be an intelligent one. I don't want to be limited by my molded body, with joints that only go one direction, eyes that roll back in the head, and silent pursed lips...I don't want to make pies all day...just some thoughts about dolls...

More Santa Fe Fire Camp

 This is my co-worker, Chris. He was a sandwich making champ. We made about 800 sandwiches every day.

I went to the Georgia O' Keefe museum. I was admitted for free because of my affiliation with the fire, pretty nice!

 The pond where we all camped, my home sweet home for two weeks.

This is how we make 800 lunches each day in an assembly line. What is in the lunches you may wonder: Things your mother would never let you have as a kid. 3 kinds of candy, 2 kinds of cookies, a sandwich, roughly one piece of fruit.

I am so so glad to be back in Salt Lake now.

Santa Fe: Pacheco Fire

 I came to Santa Fe a week ago for this fire, but yesterday this fire began (see picture below) it is in the opposite direction. Whoa, I think the whole Southwest is on fire. I woke up this morning with ashes all over my tent and a large red ant crawled over me.

Colorado Fire Camp

hungry wild fire fighters (me in the window)

our traveling kitchen

the dining hall tent

fresh fire in new mexico

Oh my goodness. I have just had one of the craziest weeks of my life. I took a summer job working for a catering company that feeds wildfire fighters. It was intense: hot dry weather, lots of cooking, long drive to southern Colorado, working 12 hour days, etc. Glad to be back...at least until we're called on another fire...stay tuned!

fried fish mustache

Bread baked.

"James and Darryl"

 I followed my Mom's directions for delicious whole wheat bread, and it did not turn out light and airy like hers. My kitchenaid refused to cooperate in kneading this bread, grunting and groaning before shorting out, the dough too dense and thick. Here are the two "normal" looking brother loaves (James and Darryl, if they had names), below is the weird Quasimodo-like brother of the family (Cedric). He could be used as a weapon in like manner to how Mario uses a turtle shell. This loaf also reminded me of the part in About a Boy, when Marcus is feeding ducks from a hearty homemade loaf his depressed and fuzzy- sweater-wearing-mom made, he is shown trying to rip off bite size pieces, when in frustration he throws the whole loaf into the pond, hitting the nearest duck and taking it's life. 

"Cedric"

happy b day sarah schuller, my sis

Three cheers for the girl who bakes the best cookies!
Three cheers for the girl who brings us more cute children to the planet!
Three cheers for my life-style nutrition coach!
My therapist, sister, original pepper-partner (sorry Lolo, she was first), chocolate dipper, skinny dipper, athlete, math tutor (I never would have graduated high school w/out her) cook, crafter, sewer, and business mastermind!

That is too many cheers to write out, but I'm saying them audibly. right now.

some of her delightful offspring

she's the blondie in the middle, blue pant suit

here she is- teaching me how to make chocolates!

Sarah touts a lot of the brains and talent in the family. I always thought she was going to be an architect, design interior spaces, run some kind of business (catering?), but she spends her time designing little Travis's and a Lucy, as well as running a daily catering service to her family. When I see the pictures on her blog of the delicious food she's made and her little ones are eating it, I always think, "She's serving that to a three year old?!! They can't possibly appreciate that fine cuisine!!" Sarah always gives her best, no matter what.

Hope your birthday is a dream come true Sarah! Love you!

A Mother Heart, and other Inclusive ways of talking about Mother's Day

 Erin just got home from church and was telling me about one of her friends who is in a pity party for herself after having just turned 31 and getting the boot out of the single's ward. Combine that with Mother's Day and you have a single sister wreck on your hands. So, I am not going to be a single sister train-wreck, even though I ate my dinner meal alone, listening to John Rutter Christmas music and watching the rain fall in sad drizzly drips, like the tears dripping out of my heart of the sadness of being 28 and not having any little sippy cups to fill up, creamed carrots to wipe off the floor, and boogers to suck out of a nose with that plastic siphon-thing. :) In honor of Mother's Day and in celebration of womanhood I made a delicious dinner for myself-one that Mossie, Ruth Beaver, Gramma Bruneel, and Deb Fox would be proud of. Later when Erin came home, while pushing a forkful of chicken and green beans to her mouth she said, "I think the spirit of Ruth Beaver has been with us."

My Bishop reminded us all today that some people won't have the opportunity for marriage, "Thanks, I've never heard that before, thanks for pointing that out. I appreciate the reminder." Ha Ha. :) I'm convinced that the desire for marriage and family isn't any different than any other unfulfilled desire: many people want to find someone so they're not lonely anymore and it doesn't happen, or it does and then they want children and they can't have any, or their kids have health problems, or they lose their job and all their money...and on and on...nobody ever gets what they want when they think they should get it, and nobody's life goes exactly as planned...

...Anways, I'm grateful for what my life is now, and it wouldn't be so great if I didn't have my Mom (or Dad). Happy Mother's Day to everyone, single, widowed, or married-alike!

 

 My herb garden (btw) is fantastic. It consists of 3 plants: rosemary, cilantro, and italian parsley. Sometimes I parse Italian to the parsley to help it grow better, I think it works.
(sorry, couldn't resist)