ChaChaneen

Christmas Questionnaire

2011-12-23T08:43:00.001-08:00

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Christmas Questionnaire:

1. Fresh Tree/Fake Tree? Fake Tree (safe and less maintenance)

2. Favorite Ornament- Mine change through the years but my children's favorite for me is a HUGE bling of a diamond ring my friend Suzanne gave me! Every year the kids see it and do this funny ceremony to make sure that I put that one on the tree.

3. Favorite Christmas Song- Hands down... All I Want For Christmas is You, by Mariah Carey.

4. Favorite Tradition- My own traditions! Now don't get me wrong... but when some traditions become obligations, they aren't traditions anymore. No fun, no fun at all. I was happier than a bee in a hive when I turned 18, moved out on my own and financially supported myself to say... No Thank You; Nope - don't want to; it will start when I get there and end when I leave (that's why I don't wear a watch).

5. Favorite Gift Ever Received- The gift I remember being most excited about was a children's set of metal kitchen appliances - a stove and refrigerator filled with accessories! Yep, my lurve of cooking began early.

6. Favorite Christmas Meal- The typical meal. Turkey/Ham, Stuffing/Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Chutney, Sweet Potatoes and JELLO SALAD - you know the one with the walnuts and cranberries and whipped cream in it. Then wait a few hours and do it all over again.

7. Favorite Christmas Cookie- Snowballs... but all that powdered sugar is such a giveaway, exposing your multiple trips to the cookie jar. Powdered sugar on your lips, your shirt, your hair.... lol

8. Favorite Place to be during Christmas- With my family, extended family, friends.

9. Favorite Memory- First Christmas spent with my precious baby girl because it wasn't about me anymore.

10. Favorite Christmas Movie- White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kay, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen.

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A long walk

2011-12-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

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Day 5 required that I take a loooong walk... no regrets!

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Vacation

2011-12-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

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I lurve vacation...

watching movies...

making memories...

Casablanca sums it up!

Play it, Sam..."As Time Goes By".

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Side by Side

2011-12-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

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My 25th High School Reunion is coming up next year

and in the spirit of old and new we challenged each other

to do side-by-side photos. What a kick! Some people haven't changed a bit, while others I would not have recognized.

Myself... It was brought to my attention

that I still have the same head tilt. ha ha

Oh if I only had the knowledge of what I know now!

The first thing I would implement is wearing 100% sunblock!!

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Take 2

2011-12-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

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Because it's Tuesday, take 2!

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White Christmas!

2011-11-26T10:33:00.000-08:00

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Let the Christmas movie's begin....

first up is my favorite holiday movie....

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Thankful

2011-11-23T20:44:00.000-08:00

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I'm thankful for so many things this year...

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For Tammi

2011-11-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

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Tammi, this post is for you!

My happy smile from my desk at work after reconnecting with you today!

Hugs!

Cozy up to a holiday drink

2011-11-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

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Some people see the glass half empty,

while others see the glass half full.

When I see it, my reply is ... it needs a refill!

(smile)

My new holiday favorite is a Tom and Jerry.

If you like sweet drinks, you'll probably enjoy this.

A Tom & Jerry is a WARM holiday drink made from eggs, sugar, rum, brandy and milk.

You can buy pre-made batters but why spend the money when you probably already have the ingredients at home. I like this one (adjust the total serving size for a smaller batch) and when the holidays are over I like to eat the batter with a spoon out of the freezer as a treat! Yum!

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6 weeks later...

2011-11-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

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6 weeks ago, my car was totaled in an accident

and after hours of discussion, weeks of research my

Man and I had agreed on what our next vehicle would

be like... USED, an American brand, it would carry more people (3rd row seating), have more interior room, 2nd row Captains Chairs, and it MUST fit in the garage.

We considered this as it has the room and space for a young family like ours and we've had 2 vans many years ago...

We also looked at the newer model Dodge Durango

And the Buick Enclave, I called it the luxury SUV

And the Ford Expedition, lots of room

GMC Arcadia was stylish

In the end we decided on 5 year old GMC Yukon

It has all the room we desired, has only 36k miles on it with 1 owner and extremely well cared for!

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2011-11-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

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What if...

we could see each other differently?

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Costume Fun

2011-10-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

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We had a costume party at work last week and my co-workers decided to do a theme we could all participate in... Roller Derby!!

There was enough of us to do 2 Teams and a Referee. I haven't dressed up in y-e-a-r-s and I have to say it was fun gathering up items to pull it together inexpensively! My team name is

Violet Femme and our colors were black and purple. I had sooooo much glittery eye make up on.... I'm still finding glitter at my desk!

We made our own costumes and bought skirts at the party store.

We decorated an area to use for our rink, complete with rails

and a cheering crowd!

Here we all are!

This was just for fun.. my other co-worker

was part of a Clown Asylum

and she roped me in. ha ha

Be safe out there tonight my bloggy friends!

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Tea with Jenifer

2011-10-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

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I was going through my pics recently and realized I didn't

share a recent tea par-tay of Tea with Jenifer!

Everything was so delicious but my favorite part is just

spending hours with girlfriends making memories!

I absolutely lurve her savories! The sausage roll ups are just delicious!

These were so yummy! Little strawberry cheesecakes!

I need to get my camera fixed... my cell phone just doesn't do her table justice!

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Vintage Etiquette

2011-10-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

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I just lurve this video from 1946 on

Arranging the Tea Table

(Scroll down to turn off my music before playing video)

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Mess me Up!

2011-10-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

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I want to say a profound THANK YOU for the outreach of love this week. “Thank you” is the appropriate thing to say but it doesn’t express my heart felt gratitude of having a broader family… my church family. I was in a car accident coming home from bible study last week. I was rear-ended 3 times…and with such force that the impacts pushed me into the cars in front of me leaving my car with extensive front and rear end damage. My car is a wreck… all messed up… probably totaled, just waiting for confirmation.

Just moments before sending the ladies home for the evening I prayed over them and myself as I was looking forward to our church women’s retreat and wanting Jesus to give me something special because being on the retreat team I already knew all the plans that went into the weekend we had scheduled for our ladies. I prayed Jesus would give me something that wasn’t on the agenda, something I didn’t already know would happen behind the scenes, something to MESS ME UP…. I left myself open to his solution. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I got messed up all right. Not exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking more on my knees with a pile of hankies from a sweet encounter with God.

Thankfully I walked away with a sound mind and some aches, pains that have already substantially healed. I’ve gotten a few “Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it…” remarks that I have giggled along with too, but I can honestly say that if our heavenly Father will allow this kind of circumstance in response to my prayer then I’m going to pray for even more of his open ended solutions for what I want. I’m asking my relatives and close friends to be saved, asking to live out the truths of grace in tough environments, asking to live with great faith in circumstances that I don’t understand… I’m asking for everything, including his hand in the decision of my new car.

Of course I have to keep my sense of humor in all this… I’m borrowing my parents 1989 Oldsmobile and I jokingly said that now I really DO look like the hanky lady! Ha Ha

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Lighted pathway

2011-09-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

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“I will love the light for it shows me the way,

yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.”

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Reflections

2011-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

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Mirror, mirror on the wall...

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Birthday Clues

2011-09-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

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Birthday Clues!

My boy had a special request for his birthday this year in that he'd like to have a challenge, a kind of hunt for clues to find his card, gift, etc. I LOVED scavenger hunts as a kid, heck I still enjoy them as an adult! Ours went something like this...

I gave him his first clue to begin which was,

"Don't get all mixed up"

(answer...my Kitchen Aid in the kitchen)

He surprised me in quickly moving through the first three that I told him to slow down so I could take some memories! ha ha

"Sitting down during the hunt won't help you"

"In Britain, it's the Telly"

"Opposites attract"

"Dad operates this machinery"

"Here sits the classics... Jane Austen, Charles Dickens"

There he found his card...

His gift was something he told us about when he was in 3rd grade. His teacher had a smaller version of 'Electronic Snap Circuits' that was available to the kids when they earned "free time". He talked about it constantly!

This set came with 4 manuals enabling you to make 750 projects, all of which are color coded and very easy to follow. Even I did a few! You can build FM/AM radios, digital voice recorders, alarms, flying discs, even games! It doesn't require any tools, just batteries. I got smart though and quickly bought the $15 A/C adapter to plug it into the wall - much cheaper than replacing costly batteries.

When asked what he wanted for his birthday cake, he surprised me by requesting my Chocolate Chip Cookies instead. I replied, "Really, no cake?" He said, "Why would I have cake when I could have your cookies instead?" Aaaaaaaaaah, my heart melted!

At the end of the night, I found our kitty totally sacked out asleep from all the excitement of the evening. ha ha

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Back to School

2011-08-22T18:29:00.001-07:00

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Back to school...

As I always say,I'm getting my second education through my children!

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A Historic Visit

2011-08-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

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While in South Lake Tahoe, we went to Tallac!

It is a cluster of estate homes from the early 1920's.

Imagine the lake in the late 1800's... it was an up and coming place for California's successful and wealthy entrepreneurs to build their estates. The surrounding lake area was still a barren, hard to get to place that was was mostly inhabited by local Indian tribes. But by the 1920's, city folk had found a summer getaway... it was glamorous parties, summer festivities and wooden boats on the lake.

Today, visitors can catch a glimpse of the past as it is part of the US Forest Service in partnership with the Tahoe Tallac Association to keep it alive with summer fun such as its annual Great Gatsby Festival.

You can tour several estates on the property for free. We entered the main house through the back yard...

and the door was HUGE - I love iron scroll design.

Check out this TINY water heater for the kitchen!

They show a video every hour that explains the history of the Tallac site.

When news spread about the beauty of Lake Tahoe, a hotel soon followed to accommodate visitors.

Some of the dishes used at the hotel.

A truly vintage handkerchief.

I spied a bottle of Apricot Cordial, sounds yummy!

A Breakfast Menu...

This is the estate next door... Pope Estate

$5.00 charge to tour the home with a guide who shares history of the home. We didn't do it because we had plans to go to Emerald Bay that day.

The best part is in the back yard of the estate, you walk just a few yards and your on the beach of Lake Tahoe! It's free because its part of the US Park Service and became our new private getaway with clean bathrooms included! We came back several days in a row with our picnic basket and made some great memories.

We learned they have an annual
Great Gatsby Festival on the estates and the public is invited to join in the fun. They even have a Afternoon Tea with Vintage Fashion Show... I 'm making plans to attend next year!

Here is the poster for this years festival...

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Trip to the Castle

2011-08-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

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I've always wanted to tour Vikingsholm Castle located in Emerald Bay but didn't want to do it when my children were little and in strollers, so when our vacation plans put us in Lake Tahoe, I declared the kids were ready to hold their own on a long hike and this would be there year we visit it!

To ensure I had my family in the right frame of mind, I offered we should get some ice cream before we drove out to Emerald Bay, so we stopped in Camp Richardson's for a yummy treat.

These are S-I-N-G-L-E scoops.

If you ask for a double scoop, you'll be getting over a pint of ice cream.

After our ice cream we drove out to Emerald Bay and the views getting there were spectacular!

This is Fannette Island, probably the most photographed island within America.

When you arrive at Vikingsholm, you have to park at the top of the mountain (no cars allowed at the castle due to preservation) and hike down to it but the views are worth the reward!

You have to pay $8 to park your car in the parking lot at the top, unless you want to park along the cliffs and it is 1 mile in and another mile out when you leave. The steep trail is easy going until you begin to realize you'll be walking back UP the mountain to go home. Perfect opportunity to walk off all those ice cream calories. ha ha

But the reward is worth it when you descend into Emerald Bay and see the castle.

To tour the home it is $8.00 - adult and $5.00 - children and personally money well spent to see a bit of history that only became accessible in 1953 when the owner sold it to the California State Park system.

Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight, a wealthy widow, purchased the property encompassing the head of Emerald Bay and Fannette Island in 1928 for $250,000. The foundation was laid in the late summer of 1928 but due to an early snowfall, work had to be stopped until the spring of 1929 when more than 200 highly skilled workmen were bought to Emerald Bay and housed in temporary barracks on the property. She challenged the architect to use the granite found on site to build the castle but NOT any of the trees because essentially those trees would be her front and back yard area providing shade, etc. so he had trees cut down on the other side of the lake and brought over on barges where they worked diligently throughout the summer and within 5 months the house was completed - I'd like to have that kind of contractor! ha ha. During those months, the timbers were done by hand, the interior wall boards were hand planed, intricate wood carvings were executed, and metal fixtures (such as fireplace screens, hinges, and latches) were hand forged - all at the site.

This is the inner courtyard and if you look to the left you'll see grass growing on the roof. Yes grass! The castle is probably the best example of Scandinavian architecture on the western hemisphere. The roof has a copper sheeting underneath but due to a leak in the roof earlier this year, it was recently repaired and new wildflower seeds hadn't bloomed yet.

This is a tiny castle on Fannette Island. Ms. Knight had it built at the same time as the castle and called it her Tea House! A woman after my own heart! It originally had a roof, etc and we were told it was used about 4-5 times each summer to entertain her guests for tea and remained very sparse with a chimney and a table with chairs. Tea and guests were taken over by boat! We asked our guide if you could walk on the island and were told YES you can but you must boat over, you are not allowed to swim to it.

If you want to read more about this fascinating, kind and philanthropist woman and the history of the castle, you can read about it HERE!

The best part is that the beach and lake area are free to swim in, so bring a towel and enjoy! It was so much fun to swim and then turn around and see this beautiful castle behind you just a few feet away! I couldn't help but imagine it in it's glory days of entertaining!

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Enjoying the outdoors

2011-08-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

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This summer we went to South Lake Tahoe

and stayed at our relatives cabin...

it's more like house with all the comforts of home.

My kind of vacation! ha ha

Our first outing was to Taylor Creek to see the stream profile chamber that was recently renovated!

Here is the trail entrance to the stream chamber.

Great fishing spots along the way!

After finishing the tour, we headed to the Lake for some rest and relaxation!

The water was very, very, very cold from the exception snow pack this year!

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Fair Memories!

2011-08-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

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The local television news provided a free photo-op with

several back drops to choose from...

This was the best fun!

The theme this year was Giant BUGS!

I HAD to get a smoked Turkey Leg... it's tradition!

We rode the monorail around the exposition center.

We had to stop by and support the Dairy Farmers of America!

Ice Cream, Cheese, Milk...

These little chicks were sooo tiny!

My boy found a owner that would let him gently hold a bird!

One of the exhibits this year was on music and everything was hands on enjoyment!

We made a new family favorite ride in the GIANT Ferris Wheel!

I'm not afraid of heights but this did make my toes curl. I was too afraid to take a picture for fear I would drop my camera!

Despite the heat, we stayed 8 hours and enjoyed most of those within the air conditioned exhibits.

See you next year!

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Summer Vacation

2011-07-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

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Let summer vacation begin!

This year we'll be going to the California State Fair!

This will be the kids first year as they are old enough to appreciate it and last the long hours of walking around.

First stop will be the 9-11 Memorial...

"We will never forget!"

Next stop will be my personal favorite, the exhibits!

I have to see who my competition is for next year! ha

Of course we'll have some Fair Food!

My favorite is Pig Candy!

You can eat healthy there too as they have a Farmers Market.

I always look for the peaches, they have so much flavor!

The cost of rides is ridiculous but I do like to do the slide!

... and the Swing!

I lurve it at sunset - everything lights up!

We'll cap off the day with fireworks!

What are you doing this summer?

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Popcorn anyone?

2011-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

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Saw this on the forums today, ha ha!

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Mission Accepted!

2011-07-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

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Our mission:

USS Hornet CV-12

One of the 24 legendary Essex-class aircraft carriers built

during and after World War II and she is one of the most

decorated ships of the US Navy, having received the Presidential Unit Citation and nine Battle Stars. However, she is probably best remembered as being selected by the Navy as the prime recovery ship for Apollo 11, American's first moon landing mission.

On July 24, 1969, President Richard Nixon and a number of other dignitaries were present while the USS Hornet CV-12 recovered astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and their spacecraft Columbia. Armstrong and Aldrin were the first two humans to walk on the Moon.

Today she is a national monument and museum docked
in the San Francisco bay area!

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Mission Accepted!

Permission to come aboard Sir?

Upon boarding the ship, we got right down to business and met up with our amazing docents where we made a memory center stage.

Future presidential family...

We began our day on the Hanger Deck where

several aircraft are on display...

This picture above is my favorite because it captures my boys expression of amazement!

Next was the Apollo 11 exhibit.

I really enjoyed this because there was so much preservation done in the remaining artifacts that tell the history of the lesser known 'Apollo 1' and its 3 astronauts who got their heavenly promotions early in their careers because of a cabin fire during a pre-launch exercise at Cape Canaveral in 1967.

Then we began to explore several of the different decks that are open to the public. Here is a highlight from the fourth deck...

the Engine Room!

Sailors slept near their stations, hence the engine room here.

In this photo, you'll see that the pillows and blankets are opposite from each bed below to ensure that there aren't any injuries when legs are swung over.

Next was the Mess area for those of general rank.

We joked about trying to have a tea party on these trays! ha

The salad bar was introduced in the 1970's.

Now here's where I can make a LOT of scones!

The Bread and Pastry area had the biggest

kitchen-aide type mixer I'd ever seen!

These pictures don't do these objects justice in relating to their

size because when you hold them, they are HUGE!

This ship was unusual in that it had a Freezer,

so ice cream was a rare and special treat!

Next stop was the BRIGG!

It was all about the written word in those days and here is it's method.... a small printing press.

Here is a little sailor humor...

(these are actually fuel tanks)

I think this was the forward auxiliary emergency generator room. Basically a lower level part of the ship if mission control was taken out on the decks above.

This area is known as "Boys Town".

If you finished college prior to your enlistment, you enter rank as a Junior Officer.

Notice how much thicker the mattress's are when your rank increases.

Next area was the Officer's Staterooms. Again, the beds are nicer and you don't have to share as much and you get a few upgrades like a bathroom in your room.

This shelving was used as the Officer's store where they could buy personal items. My favorite is the bottles of

Skrip Liquid Ink!

A very nice Mess area for the higher rank.

Newly added to the museum this year was a painstaking labor of love... a model exhibit that recreates the historic event in San Francisco Bay involving the USS Pennsylvania and Curtiss airplane flown by Eugene Ely... Man’s first aircraft landing and takeoff from a ship! I think this was located in the Wardroom Lounge.

Ropes tied to 50 lb sandbags were used to stop the airplane upon landing

Here's my Man in the Ready Room

Here was the converted Barber shop that is currently being used to display different memorabilia from soldiers from WW2.

Okay this may sound really strange but this area was actually my absolute favorite part of the ship because it was here that it really hit me that these ships are like floating cities.

It is the Sick Bay! Dentist and Hospital in one!

How would you like to get some dentures from that?! ha ha

Prescriptions filled here at the Pharmacy.

Because this was a aircraft ship, it also had a hearing booth to test pilots and those who worked directly with the aircraft.

Oddly enough, next door to Sick Bay was the Torpedo Room!

This strange looking box below is actually one of the last remaining places on the ship where you could steer it if all controls were taken out above. It looks toooo small when you see how massive the ship is. I think you'd need about 6 of your biggest friends to help crank the knobs.

I'll draw ya for it! ha ha

Before leaving, we made it outside to the Fin Tail to get a quick view of the bay and then we climbed up to the Flight Deck.

Here I am looking out the window down at the runway in the Navigation Bridge located on The Island.

Those numbers on the glass (20, 30) give the crew down below on the runway an idea of the wind speeds each day. Today it was all the way over at 40.... a very bad hair day!

Here was another fun area, the Chart Room!

This gets the closet engineer geek in me all excited!

Sweeeeeet, they even have coffee for me!

Here my Boy is doing his own version / reenactment of

'I'm King of the World'

My husband reminded me to take a self portrait so we'd have memories that I was there too since I'm always the photographer! ha ha

This day has been a great memory for my family! My Man and I appreciate the men and women who volunteer their free time to preserve American history so that we can experience something special like we did today.

A special thank you to Ron & Jenifer...

check your doorstep soon as a little something special is coming to you too!

* On a side note, you definitely have to be in good shape to spend the day here because you are on your feet the entire time walking and climbing stairs like these.... we stayed nearly 6 hours and still didn't see everything or spend the time I wanted to for reading all the information and photographs within each area. I plan to go back again without the kids to do that because they were tired after 4 hours on their feet and then went on strike at the 6th hour.

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Church at Home & A Secret Mission

2011-07-10T05:13:00.000-07:00

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We are going to have church at home today because we've got a

top secret mission with our kids that we have to arrive early for!

It's not often we miss a church service but when we do,

we always try to have "church at home" and now that they are a bit older,

they enjoy a little more of a challenge now and then.

Today we are going to focus on the

"Beatitudes" found in Matthew 5:3-10

and to get their brain working while eating their cinnamon bread toast,

I have several websites in my favorites that I go to for lesson aides

that I print out. Today I chose this fun half crossword / half word search.

We'll read the verses aloud from our bible so they'll have the answers to locate it in

the word search. Then we'll spend some time talking about the life application part of it.

Then we'll be off to our Secret Mission surprise!

Here's a hint...

Permission to come aboard... Sir!

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Reflection

2011-07-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

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What Matters Most Is How You See Yourself

I saw this the other day in a restroom and I thought

how appropriate for it to be in there...

a women's restroom...

where often the reflection we see is not confidence

but rather... insecurity.

Today I'm going to be a LION!!!

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Re-connected

2011-07-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

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Ahhh, I'm finally reconnected with the new computer,

gotten all the bugs and kinks worked out and can even print something again. ha ha

I'm soooo ready to re-connect with my blog and friends

while enjoying some Afternoon Tea again!

Let's go!

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Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

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Happy 4th of July!

Remember our Freedom wasn't Free!

I'm especially enjoying this holiday weekend because it's allowed us to buy our new computer at discount holiday prices and the extra time to set it up. You don't realize how much you rely on one until it's not available... thank goodness for Smartphones during that down time! ha ha

I look forward to posting and visiting my blog friends again soon!

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Coffee lurve

2011-06-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

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I recently discovered these ...

I lurve them...

Sigh...

Baileys Coffee Creamers (non-alcoholic)

My favorite flavor is the original Irish Cream

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One for the Queue

2011-06-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

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We recently watched a great movie called

"The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry"

and really enjoyed it! Great cast and story line

of a wise old christian man who teaches Biblical truths to three

boys during the summer of 1970.

I highly recommend this for the entire family, add it to your queue!

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Harnessing a Memory

2011-06-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

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This past week my daughter and I spent a week up in the Redwood forest

to complete the final credits for her Science class called

Outdoor Education. Although not required, the experience

is better than a textbook in the classroom.

I went along as a "Counselor",

however this title is cleverly disguised under the multiple headings of

Parent/Guardian, Discipliner, Harnesser, Hiker Aide, Zip Line Aide,

Naturalist Aide, Camp Song Aide, Kitchen Police, Trash Bag Poncho maker, etc, etc, etc.

I didn't get to take many pictures because my
camera battery died soon after we arrived

and I was busy, busy, busy with the kids. I averaged 1-hour of
free time for myself each day while the kids were in the
care of the Camp.

The kids had "class" 3 times a day and on our first day it was only a few hours

after we arrived and immediately I could see this was more than I bargained for.

"Class" consisted of many challenge themes designed to take the kids

out of their comfort zones and push themselves to conquer fears

and learn how to work together to solve multiple initiatives as the "leaders"

and "followers" emerged in the team exercises.

As parents, we helped the Facilitators with each class and we naturally stepped into
female and male roles when it came to specific duties.

What I didn't see coming was that I quickly took on the
role of getting all the children harnessed up for

all the Zip Lines and Repelling we did each day. The guides gave me the instructions and

away they went up into the trees leaving me with the huge responsibility

of knowing that I was the one to get them geared up safely.
But before each child was released they always checked my worked.

And I didn't even break a nail all week and I've got some LONG nails! (smile)

My favorite part of the week was actually on our way home
when we stopped to walk beneath the natural moss
paths under Redwood tree canopies. It was very beautiful!
Our guide was very knowledgeable about the region and the kids were
very attentive to everything she had to share. The kids were very excited
to walk beneath a tree that had previously fallen and it's bark
was slowly stripping off.

I had stayed toward the back of the group, slowly walking
and taking in the beautiful views. Then suddenly, out of the corner of my eye
I saw my daughter skipping along the pathway.
I thought, "Wow, when was the last time you saw a child skip?"
How simple and child-like to freely play among classmates,
not caring what anyone thought, lost in her own enjoyment!

At that moment, we harnessed a memory!

Would I do it again... hmmmm... my first response is No,

but I've got another child in the wings who'll be going to

Outdoor Education in a few years and I might get called back

for Harness duty! ha ha

~*~

What did I get myself into?

2011-05-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

~*~

When God looks in my direction,

change is on the way.

He proves my strength behind the scenes

before putting me on display.

On display to be the clutzy-gal that I am at

Outdoor Education with my girl.

Knowing that I am not

pioneer woman, I whined...

"Why did I volunteer?"

My friend replied...

"To make a memory with you daughter...

and I'm sure within 10 minutes you'll already

have something to blog about."

You're probably right! ha ha

~*~

I'm Popular... with the little people

2011-05-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

~*~

We went to our local Armed Forces Day event

and while walking through the different vendor booths

I spotted this electric bubble blower!

I instantly thought of a commercial...

Cost of dinner & treats at event: $33.50

Cost of roundtrip gas for event: $15.00

Cost of bubble blower: $6.00

Suddenly being the most popular

person to everybody under age 5:

P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S

~*~

Spring Tea 2011 and a special Blog Guest

2011-05-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

~*~

This year I hosted a table at my Women's Ministry

Spring Tea event. Because the event was the day after the Royal Wedding,

I chose it as my theme...

"A Royal-Tea Table"

And it also won 2nd place! Yea!

Here are some pictures of my table as it was being created.

This one is my favorite because below the picture is the Crown

Butter Knife my beautiful friend Jenifer gave to me!

The pink and white jewels add that special touch

My sister lent me her beautiful Lady Carlisle china!

And here it was just moments before the door opened for the guests!

And here are some of the other table themes on display...

Bloom Where You're Planted

Sweet Treats

Coca-Cola Polar Bears

Fun In The Sun

Birds of Feather Flock Together

Simple Elegance

Tip Toe Through The Tulips

Here was the first place winner...

Simply Spring

And here was the third place winner...

Beatitudes in Ivy

Here are the stage decorations for our spring inspired event...

This is Sue and I...

Sue and her husband pastor our church and I am always in amazement in

wondering where do they hang up their wings at night? Ha Ha

We co-lead our Women's Bible studies together

and she's just a beautiful woman, inside and out.

I could go on and on and on and on about her but she would tell me to stop,

so in obedience I will... ha ha

And here are some of my friends who sat at my table!

Pat and I,

Pat has been coming to our church for a year now

and we met after she joined my book club last summer,

she always makes me laugh with her humor

and my Man loves her candy making abilities!

Just beautiful and loves the Lord!

She blesses me with her prayers and her gift of service.

Lesley and I,

Lesley and I met when she and her Man joined the same

small group and us for our all church bible study last fall.

Leslie is a gifted manager /administrator in the work world

and in her free time, she excels at making gift baskets!

Oh my stars, you should have seen what she and Pat put together

to bless me at the tea. I am SO SPOILED!!

And finally I've saved the BEST for last...

I had a special BLOG guest at my table...

Mrs. Jean from In The Garden With Miss Jean

And let me tell you that she is even MORE BEAUTIFUL in person

than what you see of her on her blog!

I was so excited to finally meet her! Kind of like having a controlled fan-attack

when you see a celebrity walking down the street! ha ha

Her personality is just like what exudes from her blog,

genuine warmth and grace! And Jean KNOWS her blog friends,

and by that I mean she gave me the most beautiful cross shaped tea strainer!

It's a beautiful piece of craftsman ship that I will treasure every time I use it.

Here we are making a memory...

the celebrity star that Jean is and the fan that I am of her!

Thank you again Jean for making the long drive

to be a special guest at my table this year!

She brought her lovely friend Nikki too

but unfortunately I didn't get a picture taken with her... bummer!
UPDATE: Miss Jean got a pic of Nikki and I with her camera! Yea!
You can view her lovely post here.

See you next year for tea!

~*~

My Prince Tea and Diana Ring

2011-04-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

~*~

Wow, has your life been as busy as mine lately?

I've missed my friends here in blog-land!

But tonight I'm ready to settle in and pull an all-nighter with my sister as we watch the Royal Wedding!

Will you being watching?

~*~

A really big show!

2011-04-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

~*~

Tonight we went to my children's school Talent show!

I just lurve seeing the excitement of the kids and the anxiety of the parents! ha ha

My favorite act was the Hawaiian dancer...

So much energy and her hips were like a M-A-C-H-I-N-E!

I was exhausted just watching that darling gal...

Youth is wasted on the young! ha ha

~*~

3 Weeks...

2011-04-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

~*~

In preparation for Easter my family is going to participate along

side our church in a corporate Fast until Easter. We've got

2 huge prayer requests that we are seeking answers for.

(not to be confused with the Catholic Lent period)

My Man and I have decided to do the Daniel Fast,

while our children will eat normally but will give up their after dinner treats.

The Daniel Fast is a biblically based partial fast...

essentially for the next 3 weeks we will be eating only

whole grains, fruits, vegetables and water.

There are no restrictions on amounts, just the food groups.

For example, I bought some natural peanut butter because

regular peanut butter is loaded with sugar.

That's right - no sweeteners, no meat, no dairy, no animal bi-products, no coffee, etc.

So what's for breakfast?

Puffed Sea Salt Rice Cake with natural Peanut Butter and Banana slices.

~We are going to closely follow the guidelines as best as

we can with ingredients that are available to us and modify when necessary~

So in preparation for my grocery trip yesterday, I sat down with my cookbooks

and thought about some menu ideas and was inspired by one of my

favorite animated food movies!

Of course after this scene you HAVE to try cheese and strawberries together.

Oh come on, you know you already like Strawberry Cheesecake! ha ha

The inspiration for dinner this week is the movie itself...

Ratatouille!

A French side dish of vegetables

(tomatoes, garlic, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, onions,

carrots, and other spices are simmered in a tomato based sauce) that is perfect

for our food guidelines and I figured if a Rat could do,

so could I...

... but ours won't have eggplant because the store hasn't

had it in stock for months due to weather freezing the crops.

~*~

Lesson learned from the Farmers Wife's

2011-03-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

~*~

Today I was going through my collection of cook books

and while reading through 2 specific books I noticed a big difference.

One was an Amish collection and the recipes feed A LOT.

I'm talking pot luck serving to feed a crowd but that's not surprising

as they tend to have large families to work their farms, etc.

The other was from the Farmers Wife collection (1893 - 1939) which feeds A LITTLE

... as in 4 people... maybe 6 at the most.

What struck me the most interesting was that in the Farmers Wife cookbook,

they cooked much the same as the Amish people did with wood stoves and not much space for refrigeration except a true ice box. My Mom grew up in a log house with a wood stove and I lurve to look at the old photos and see their garden planted in the background.

The Amish spend a great deal of time working their farms

throughout the day and burning off those calories!

In the 1930's... people simply ate smaller portions because food was being rationed.

They could still have meat but would have the choice of lesser grades of meat (chuck instead of sirloin). They also ate a lot of soup but that's not surprising when you look at old photos of soup lines.

And of course my favorite.... they ate bread! Bread is like manna from heaven!

I pondered that for awhile as I searched for Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

recipe. I could either make enough for dinner tonight

or enough to last us through several meals this week.

Hmmm.... lessoned learned!

Smaller portions mean less calories and less weight gain.

Think about it... 2 pieces of bacon, an egg, a piece of toast

probably have less calories and sugar than a bowl of cereal (ie... corn syrup)!

I lurve retro photographs and gravitate to a lot of them

with the Wife in the kitchen cooking something on the stove...

Most people back then ate a large Sunday Dinner with left overs during the week stretched with rice or oatmeal. Makes me think of Meatloaf and Chipped Beef on Toast with gravy! ha ha

The other thing I noticed was ladies did more canning with their surplus fruit and vegetables because convenience food hadn't arrived yet.

They also prepared a small dessert and it was eaten only a few times a week, if that!

Cake was popular (think pineapple upside down cake made in a skillet)

and cookies went a long way too.

Fast forward to the year 2011... this ChaCha Momma works full time and needs a few leftovers during the week, so I opted for the Amish recipe that made more.

It was a great time of reflection learning from history!

~*~

Gone but not forgotten

2011-03-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

~*~

I recently had my long awaited...

holiday delayed, illness delayed, weather delayed

Gone With The Wind themed tea party!

However, I don't have a single picture to share with you

because I was busy making memories! Shame, shame, I know.

But I CAN show you the recipes I used for my movie themed menu!

Scarlett's
Cream Scones

with Cream

and Lemon Curd (Trader Joe's is the BEST)

Melanie's
Egg Salad Sandwiches

Suellen's
BLT Bites with Basil Cream Cheese

Pitty Patty's
Bacon Corn Muffins with Savory Cheese topping

Ashley's

Bacon Crescent Pinwheels

Prissy's
Peach Iced Tea

Rhett's
Black Bottom Lemon Pie

(recipe is for strawberry filling

but I switch it out with my own lemon pie filling)

It was a grand time at "Tara"!
~*~

Reading by the Lamp

2011-03-03T18:02:00.000-08:00

~*~

Simple pleasures

reading by the Lamp...

Hope your all having a great week!

~*~

Rainy day Anne and Gilbert

2011-02-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

~*~

I've been home all week nursing a sick family and

today we're going to rest and watch a

marathon of Anne of Green Gables and

Anne of Avonlea.

Here a some scenes from both movies that are my favorites!

Every time I see these movies I tell myself that

SOMEDAY I'm going to travel to Nova Scotia

and tour Prince Edward Island during their

Anne of Green Gables annual festivals!

~*~

My new favorite

2011-02-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

~*~

I have a new favorite.

Breakfast favorite. Lunch favorite. Dinner favorite.

I lurve grits!

Make grits the day before in a casserole pan and refrigerate overnight, then using a biscuit cutter for the round shape, grill it up with ham, poach some eggs and top with gravy.

Mmmm, my new favorite!

~*~

I lurve Cheesecake!

2011-02-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

~*~

I lurve Cheesecake!

I lurve it so much, I'm making a new dessert out of it!

However, I can't take credit on this one as I found it here.

Cheesecake Pops!

I don't have the refrigerator space to put the sticks on so I will just leave them shaped as decorated balls and place them on a platter over pretty paper doilies! These will be a test run for my upcoming tea party!

Verdict: They taste delicious but are a lot of work. I purchased a yummy pre-made cheesecake from Costco to save that step but I used almond bark chocolate that I had left over from the holidays and I think that's where the difficulty was because it didn't melt thin enough. Next time I will take Bakerella's tip from the recipe and buy the candy melts.

~*~

Wii Fun!

2011-02-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

~*~

For Christmas we got 1 gift,

or should I say the FAMILY got 1 gift.

That's it.

Nothing else.

Well... perhaps the stockings were filled.

The only thing under the tree was a Wii game system!

You see, years ago we decided that since baby Jesus got 3 gifts from the Wise Men, that we too would exchange the same... just 3 gifts. It's worked out to be a wonderful thing because the kids REALLY think about their requests of what they would like to receive. This year though, they asked for a Wii. Knowing that it would be big bucks, they said that Wii would be enough. A week before Christmas I found a set of attachments for $12... sweet!

Can I just tell you how much FUN Wii has been?
F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!

Relatives knew we were getting it so we were bestowed with gift cards to buy games. Great idea people!

I recently bought two games of my choosing. Unfortunately they don't have Jane Austen or Afternoon Tea (hee hee) related games so I got...

Michael Jackson, The Experience

My favorite dance is of course "Thriller" cause I burn about 1,000 calories each time! The idea is to copy the choreography of Michael or the back-up dancers exactly as you see them. The better you do, the more points you get. If you do the timing exactly right, you even get Gold Glove perfection points. By accident I found that out because I'm really not that good. Seriously... you would probably bust your gut laughing.

My sister Melody on the other hand is...

the Dancing Queen!

The other game is Wheel of Fortune

which has surprisingly turned out to be the kids favorite because it involves spelling! It's just like the TV game where you "win" trips to Aruba and other fabulous prizes while Vanna turns the letters. We have even taken the game to my Mother-In-Law's to play as it's easy to set up and move from TV to TV!

It's been a perfect activity to do in the winter when it's raining or just down right chilly outside!

Do you Wii? What's your favorite game?

~*~

Classic... Casablanca

2011-02-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

~*~

I watched "Casablanca" this weekend on the big screen and

it was just grand! The dialogue is quick and the humorous one-liners are many. Watching it again made me see things I hadn't noticed previously. For example, the film may be black and white but this time I could see that the caviar dish is

g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s!

After watching such a classic, it makes you wish you had a haunt like "Rick's Cafe Americain" to go for a drink and hear Sam sing "As Time Goes By".

~*~

Changing Themes

2011-01-29T15:04:00.000-08:00

~*~

Now that the holiday decorations are at last put away,

we are switching themes for Valentines Day,

now just a little over 2 weeks away!

We'll be making these easy sailor boats

filled with conversation candy and

hearts made of felt glued on sticks that

are slipped through a small slit in the middle.

You can actually use this idea for many holidays

just by changing up the decoration you put

on the stick and using candy of the season!

~*~

Yes, it's January 20th

2011-01-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

~*~

And I still have my Christmas Tree up!

Perhaps THIS weekend we'll take it down. ha ha

~*~

A Random Interview

2011-01-13T17:57:00.000-08:00

~*~

A Random Interview... of Moi

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?

Son: Dinner's Ready!

Daughter: Treat others the way you want to be treated

2. What makes Mommy happy?

Son: Cleaning my room

Daughter: Giving hugs

3. What makes Mommy sad?

Son: Not doing things the first time you ask

Daughter: Not giving Mom hugs

4. How does Mommy make you laugh?

Son: Tickling me
Daughter: Funny jokes

5. What was Mommy like as a child?

Son: I don't know, I wasn't even born

Daughter: You had blonde hair like me

6. How old is Mommy?

Son: That's classified
Daughter: You don't tell people that

7. How tall is Mommy?

Son: 4 foot 6 inches (I suddenly got shorter.. ha)

Daughter: 5 foot 6 inches (correct!)

8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?

Son: Cook

Daughter: Sew

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?

Son: Go shopping
Daughter: Read

10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?

Son: A cooking show

Daughter: Cooking

11. What is Mommy really good at?

Son: Tickling me and computer techy stuff

Daughter: Art

12. What is Mommy not very good at?

Son: Video games (ha - if he only knew I let him win!)

Daughter: I don't know, I can't think of anything

13. What does Mommy do for her job?

Son: That's classified

Daughter: You help people with food

14. What is Mommy's favorite food?

Son: Tamales

Daughter: Afternoon Tea

15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
Son: Giving birth to me

Daughter: You cook for me

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Son: Nancy Drew

Daughter: Nancy Drew

17. What do you and Mommy do together?

Son: Sit together at stuff

Daughter: Get our nails done

18. How are you and Mommy the same?

Son: We like food and creating stuff

Daughter: We like to go shopping

19. How are you and Mommy different?
Son: You watch Jane Austen and I watch Spongebob

Daughter: You like to sew and I don't

20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Son: You give me kisses

Daughter: You provide for me

21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?

Son: Chipotle Grill

Daughter: a Tea House

This was fun as I learned my children's perception of me.

~*~

Downton Abbey Tonight!

2011-01-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

~*~

Downton Abbey Tonight on Masterpiece (Theater on PBS)

Credit goes to Laurel Ann from Austenprose who put this lovely post together. If you lurve Jane Austen novels, movies, sequels, etc. you'll spend hours there!)

Take heed period drama lovers. Mark your calendars and set your DVR’s. Downton Abbey premiers on Sunday, January 9th on Masterpiece Classic on PBS. This new Edwardian-era series is set in a stately home populated with a huge cast of characters headed by Robert Crawley, the present Earl of Grantham. Leading an idyllic life of a country Lord, the tragic events of April 14, 1912 will change his life and those under his care forever when news of the sinking of the RMS Titanic reaches the household. Among the 1517 people who perished in the luxury liner’s loss were his immediate heir James Crawley and his son Patrick, also his daughter Mary’s fiancé. Since the Earl and his American heiress wife have three daughters and no male heir, their plans for their eldest daughter to marry the heir of succession are asunder and their ordered lives thrown into turmoil. Who will inherit the estate? What will happen to Downton Abbey after their current plans and outside money saved it twenty years ago? Can the entail be broken and Mary be allowed to inherit?
Everyone has their opinion, including many of the downstairs servants who facilitate the privileged lives that the upstairs residents enjoy. Meet the cast of characters that populate this grand manor house, and learn how they fit into this new four-part series which begins on Sunday.

Upstairs Cast

Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville)
Robert Crawley was born to a life of privilege and wealth. As an English aristocrat he has inherited Downton Abbey through the line of male succession known as primogeniture, “the right, by law or custom, of the first-born to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings.” It was established centuries before to ensure estates were kept in tack. When the estate was cash poor in 1889 he married Cora, an American heiress whose fortune ensured the future of the estate. Even though it was basically a marriage of convenience, they have grown to love one another deeply. Their marriage contract stipulated that Cora’s fortune, once absorbed into the estate, could not be separated from it. Confident that they would produce a male heir, they instead had three daughters: Mary, Edith and Sybil. Since females cannot inherit, and with the deaths of James Crawley and his son Patrick, his first and second in line to succession, the family by law must cede the estate to third cousin once removed Matthew Crawley.

Cora, Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern)
Cora is a Buccaneer, one of the many American heiresses who invaded England in the 1880-90’s in search of a titled Lord to marry. Born to humbler stock, her father Isidore Levinson was a dry goods multi-millionaire from Cincinnati. In 1888, at the age of twenty, she and her mother arrived in London. By the end of her first season she was betrothed to Robert, Viscount Downton, an heir to a great estate. At the insistence of her father-in-law she accepted the clause in her marriage contract confident she would produce a male heir. She did not. Now that Robert’s cousin and heir James Crawley is dead, and the new heir is an even further distant cousin, she does not believe that her father’s fortune should be separated from his granddaughters and be given instead to a complete stranger. With her plans for her daughter Mary to marry Patrick now shattered, she believes that Robert must overturn the marriage settlement, regain her fortune, and break the entail.

Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Dame Maggie Smith)
Robert’s widowed mother, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, is a traditionalist when it suits her. Proud of her thirty-year contribution to the continued health and success of Downton Abbey, she is fiercely loyal to her son and spitefully disdainful to her American daughter-in-law, the constant reminder of the compromise that the family was forced to make in allowing her son to marry outside their class. Even though she was born the daughter of a baronet and brought little money to her marriage, she still thinks Cora is beneath her, since she is only a merchant’s daughter from the colonies. Ironically, each of the Countesses of Grantham thinks they are superior to the other, causing conflict. In the past, Violet supported her husband’s insistence on Cora’s fortune being absorbed into the estate, but now that the heir and the spare are dead, she does not want to turn Downton over to a complete stranger who is another middle-class nobody. She chooses instead to entice her daughter-in-law into an alliance, to plot together to break the entail.

Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery)
Beautiful, confident and calculating, Mary is the eldest of the three daughters of the Earl and Countess of Grantham. Raised to privilege, she is her grandmother’s favorite, treating her American mother as an outsider. Engaged to Patrick Crawley, the son of the heir to Downton Abbey, she privately held him “in check” for a bigger fish. She imagined that she would be an heiress like her mother but with her fiancé’s death that will not happen. Her mother’s fortune is tied to the estate, an estate that she cannot inherit unless her father pursues legal recourse and breaks the line of succession. The realization that her status socially and financially are in limbo enrages her, especially when she learns that her father will not fight the entail. Her anger is vented in her rivalry with her younger sister Edith, pitting both sisters against each other over their prospective marriage partners. While Mary is courted by a Duke and other aristocrats, her grandmother Violet and mother Cora see alternate solution to the entail dilemma in her marrying the new heir Matthew Crawley. She thinks him a country bumpkin and a joke, until her reputation is sullied and scandal lowers her vantage.

Lady Edith Crawley (Laura Carmichael)
Being the second sibling in an aristocratic family is always a tenuous position made even more difficult by Edith’s jealousy of her elder sister Mary’s beauty and social position. She resents that every decision in the family revolves around Mary and their desire for her to marry well. But second best always tries harder and Edith uses her ambition to drive a wedge of spite between herself and Mary. She does not care about the entail. She would never have inherited anyway and flaunts the situation over her sister to gain emotional ground in their vindictive pursuit of the best man to marry. Their rivalry escalates after the death of Patrick, the fiancé that Mary didn’t really love, but Edith did. Clever and calculating, Edith sees Mary’s disdain of the new heir Matthew Crawley to her advantage and uses him in revenge, backfiring against her own happy plans with a local wealthy widow whose romantic interest is nipped in the bud by a spiteful older sister.

Lady Sybil Crawley (Jessica Brown Findlay)
The youngest daughter, Sybil is given a freer rein while her parents focus on elder sister Mary, the entail and her pursuit of the right mate. If her two elder sisters represent old school expectations for women in the nineteenth-century, then Sybil embodies the modern twentieth-century woman: free thinking, politically active and adventurous. Detached from her family squabbles over the entail, she has absolutely no interest in them either way. The outcome will not affect her or help her social causes. She is smart enough to know to go through the motions of her family expectations while she secretly schemes to help advance one of the parlor maids to a position as secretary, talks politics with the Irish chauffeur and attends political rallies. Reveling in occasionally shocking her family with progressive clothing choices and outspoken views, she exasperates her parents and sends her grandmother into swoons. Even though her life-goals are beyond what her family thinks are proper for a young lady of her breeding, this rebel quietly lets no one stand in her way.

Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens)
The unexpected heir to Downton Abbey, Matthew is the third cousin once removed of the Earl of Grantham. Young, handsome and unmarried he is a practicing attorney in Manchester who would be a good “catch” to anyone besides the aristocratic family he has been thrown into. Born into the professional middle-class, his father was a doctor which is amazing to his cousin Lord Grantham and offensive to his wife. Violet, the Dowager Countess chooses to not think about him since she is confident that the entail will be broken. Regardless, he is the heir and is invited to move to the estate to learn its management and become part of the community. Reluctantly he agrees, but only if he can continue working at his trade during the week and the estate on the weekend, which prompts the Dowager Countess of Grantham to ask what a weekend is? Ha! Mary thinks he’s an unsophisticated joke, Edith as a possible weapon of revenge and Sybil as an anachronism.

Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton)
Mrs. Isobel Crawley is Matthew’s widowed mother. Born into a medical family, her father and husband were both doctors and she herself a nurse during the Great War. Part of the professional middle-class she is a well-educated woman with socially progressive values, entirely different from those of the aristocratic family that her son has been called to join. Like Violet, she is intensely proud of her son and determined that he accept his new social position, boosting his pride by reminding him that they expect him to fail. She agrees to move with him to the estate and manage his household, but on the other hand, thinks he is throwing away a brilliant career. Determined to be useful, she volunteers at the local hospital, which Violet’s late husband endowed and she figuratively oversees. Outspoken and innovative, it is not long before she and Violet are at odds with one another.

Lady Rosamund Painswick (Samantha Bond)
The only sibling of the Earl of Grantham, Lady Rosamund married into great wealth, but not an aristocratic seat. Her late husband Marmaduke Painswick was an incredibly successful banker in London, so consumed in his job that his beautiful and sophisticated wife had the freedom to travel and expand her social connections beyond the usual constraints of a woman of her day. This suited her exceedingly, allowing her to do and say what she chose. She has two children, Lavinia, who is married to a landed colonel in the Grenadiers, and Cyril who does something slightly nefarious in the Far East. She is a dutiful sister to Robert, but like her mother, is always eager to speak her mind very decidedly. When Mary visits her aunt in London, Lady Painswicks’s advice borders more towards interference, persuading her niece to make a decision with disastrous results.

Downstairs cast

Mr. Carson (Jim Carter)
As the butler of a grand manor house like Downton Abbey, Mr. Carson is the senior male domestic servant and shares the management of the house with the housekeeper. He is in charge of the pantry, wine cellar, dining room, silver, kitchen and the male staff who report to him. Butlering is a time honored position in the hierarchy of service to a great family estate like Downton, and Carson wears his mantle with pride and dignity. Like other household servants, butlers were required to remain single and focused entirely on the family that they were serving. Carson has worked at Downton since he was a boy and compares events and actions against the high standards that he has known in the past. Because of his longstanding relationship with the family his allegiance is to Violet, the Dowager Countess and not with his current mistress Cora. Ironically, he supports their desire to break the entail for Lady Mary even though it is against the norm and not in line with tradition.

Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan)
As housekeeper of Downton Abbey, Mrs. Hughes shares the responsibility of the smooth running of this large household with the butler Mr. Carson. She manages the appearance of the house, the female servants under her change, the laundry and the household accounts. She reports directly to the Countess of Grantham and works with her to plan the family calendar, weekly menus and guest visits. She has remained unmarried, but is given the distinction of Mrs. in honor of her position. Kind and fair, she is also strict with her staff ruling by fear as a hard task-master expecting standards to be upheld. As she reaches middle age, she reflects upon her career choice and the loss of marriage and family. She often is at odds with the cook Mrs. Patmore, but is a confidant to Mr. Carson and respects his advice.

Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol)

They say an army marches on its stomach, and at times from the varied dishes and mass amount of food served at Downton that Mrs. Patmore is cooking for a legion and not just the Crawley family and the servants. As cook in a stately home she is in charge of the kitchen and the kitchen staff. She reports directly to Mr. Carson but resents that he has authority over her decisions in the kitchen, and the fact that Mrs. Hughes manages HER larder. Mrs. Patmore knows her worth as an accomplished cook and makes everyone well aware of it. Temperamental and explosive, she is hiding a secret that may jeopardize her position at Downton, taking out her errors on her young kitchenmaid Daisy.

John Bates (Brendan Coyle)
In the servant hierarchy, Bates the valet holds the special position of right hand man to his master the Earl of Grantham and is only accountable to him, not the butler Mr. Carson or any other household staff. He is responsible for his wardrobe, dresses him, and accompanies him when he travels. Mr. Bates arrives at Downton with a history of service to his Lordship as batman (officer’s personal servant) during the Boer War where he has wounded in service. He arrives at Downton to take up his new position with a cane and pronounced limp that he is determined will not affect his duties. Both her Ladyship and the staff are skeptical, but Lord Grantham wants to give him a fair trial. Stoic and fiercely loyal to his master for giving him the opportunity, his only ally within the house is the sympathetic housemaid Anna who he is attracted to, but will not, or cannot enter into anything more than a friendship with.

O’Brien (Siobhan Finneran)
A lady’s maid to a Countess is a huge responsibility that O’Brien has undertaken with mixed feelings. Among her many duties to her mistress are the maintenance of her wardrobe, helping her dress and styling her hair. To qualify for the position she would have to be well-educated and proficient at needlework. She is the female counterpart of Bates, his Lordships valet. Passive aggressive, O’Brien is all sweetness and flattery to Lady Grantham, ready to disclose all the household gossip, but behind the families back she is malicious and vengeful. Lord Grantham is wary of her, but his wife claims her as a friend. O’Brien agrees to her face but knows full well that being a paid servant does not buy friendship. Bitter over her career choice and condescending to her fellow servants, she commiserates and plots against anyone in her way with the ambitious footman Thomas who are both eager to badmouth the Crawley’s and the staff .

Thomas (Rob James-Collier)
Tall, handsome and imposing, if the image of the first footman is to represent the grandeur of the estate, then Thomas certainly fits the bill. As deputy to the butler his duties range from serving meals, cleaning silver, opening and closing doors, carrying heavy items, or moving furniture for the housemaids to clean behind. The footmen may also double as butler in his absence, and valets, especially for visiting guests as we see Thomas do for the visiting Duke of Crowborough. If egos could be worn as a crown, Thomas would be a King. He is ambitious, underhanded, a liar, and a thief. Bitter because he was not chosen as valet to his Lordship, he plots with O’Brien for the dismissal of Bates. Unscrupulous, when he cannot obtain a better position by his sexual favors, he resorts to blackmail. Tall, dark and arrogant he is Mr. Darcy gone to the devil.

Anna Smith (Joanne Froggatt)
The head housemaid or parlormaid, Anna holds the highest ranking of the lower female servants. Responsible for cleaning main rooms and bedrooms by dusting, changing bed linens, drawing the curtains and sweeping floors, she reports directly to Mrs. Hughes. She also acts as maid to the three Crawley daughters Mary, Edith and Sybil, though they do not seem very appreciative of it. Hardworking, reliable and compassionate, she has improved her station in life from her family’s tenant farmer background. She is an ally of Mr. Bates, and feels deeply for his physical challenges. Determined to understand him more, she unearths his secret, and the reason why he will not act on his feeling for her.

Gwen Dawson (Rose Leslie)
As the under housemaid, Gwen works with Anna in cleaning the main rooms and bedrooms of the house. Grateful for the best job that is open to uneducated daughter of a farm worker, she also has quiet ambition to improve her station by secretly studying to be a secretary by correspondence. Gwen is a bit of rebel so she and Lady Sybil are immediate compatriots. Lady Sybil soon adopts her as her next social project in attempt to help her improve herself and obtain a new job. Their adventure together has a surprising outcome.

William Mason (Thomas Howes)
The second footman William assists the first footman Thomas in serving at table, opening doors, hauling luggage, polishing silver and shoes and anything else that his easy-going nature can be imposed upon to undertake. He reports directly to Mr. Carson who is stern with him, but most of the abuse comes from Thomas by way of insults and dumping his work on him. He has a crush on Daisy, the kitchenmaid, but she only has eyes for Thomas. Raised on a farm, his mother wanted him to go in service in a big house to better himself. William has only ever wanted to work with horses, not serving canapés and champagne to toffs.

Daisy (Sophie McShera)

In the hierarchy of a large Edwardian household, the lowliest servant is the scullery maid. Daisy is actually one step above that as kitchenmaid, but it is debatable if she is treated any better. She reports directly to the cook Mrs. Patmore and can seem to do no right. Wide-eyed with fright half of the time, someone is always screaming her name. The first in the household to rise in the morning, her long day of duties include cleaning and lighting the kitchen stove and household fires, assisting the cook in preparing meals, cleaning the kitchen and all around dogsbody. Raised in a family of eleven children, Daisy now has Mrs. Patmore and all of the downstairs servants to put her in her place. Sweet on Thomas, she has no clue that his tastes run in the opposite direction, while shy William would do anything for her if she would ever notice.

Tom Branson (Allen Leech)
The position of chauffer in 1912 was a fairly new necessity to the aristocratic class. Automobiles were quickly replacing horse and carriage as the chosen mode of transport, and the replacement of the retiring chauffer with Branson is a must for the Earl and his family. Branson is responsible for transport the Crawley’s to their daily activities and the maintenance of the fleet of automobiles used for their personal service. He reports directly to the Earl, and is not considered part of the household staff, nor is he part of the outdoor servants either. Branson not only brings chauffeuring expertise to Downton, his political ideologies connect with the Earl’s youngest daughter Sybil, who finds they share a passion for social justice and progressive politics which leads to an adventure that turns dangerous for Lady Sybil and Branson’s position at Downton.

Enjoy!

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Sunday Nights

2011-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

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Sunday Nights!

I always look forward to January because I know that Masterpiece Theatre

on PBS will begin a new season and I'm set for the next 6 months! This year is no exception!

Tonight is a repeat of last seasons..."My Boy Jack"

This story is based on a true story of Rudyard Kipling, his wife Carrie and their son, Jack.

Next Sunday begins 4 weeks of Downtown Abbey ~ I can hardly wait!

Click here to see the upcoming schedule and enjoy!

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On the first day of 2011

2011-01-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

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Happy New Year!

On the first day of 2011,

I put the contents of my little sewing box

into my new LARGER and cute sewing box!

I made 8 different types of cookies

and 3 types of candy for Christmas

that were so heavenly and delicious...

I'm sure I heard Christopher Plummer

singing "Edelweiss" when I was eating all 5 dozen of them...

that I will have to sew a closet full of new clothes for work on Monday!

~*~

2010-12-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

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Happy New Year!

Movie: When Harry Met Sally

And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.

And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve.

I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life

with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

~*~

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

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Merry Christmas!!

I got a NASTY computer virus earlier this week that prevented me from going on the web to visit my my bloggy friends, but tonight I'm back on again. Thankfully I had my cellphone to access the internet to Google for help. Funny thing was my issues weren't isolated as others before me paved the way with help.

Now I have a lot of emails to read and visiting to do!

See you soon and I pray that you all had a safe holiday with your friends and family!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

~*~

Light looking and Hot Cocoa!

2010-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

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We had a short break in the rain,

so we bundled up the kids and went light looking

and stopping along the way for hot cocoa!

~*~

Christmas Party

2010-12-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

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Last night we went to my Man's Christmas Party...

The view of the harbor was lovely...

Sailboats were decorated in beautiful lights...

The food was delicious...

But the memories we made were the best...

~KARAOKE MEMORIES ~

My personal favorite was a tie between a few ladies singing "Harper Valley PTA"

and a closet singer who blew us away with "In the Midnight Hour".

~*~