Book Ideas are Everywhere

What would you think if you saw an apple rolled up against a store parking lot curb?

That it dropped from someone's cart?

That an obstinate child threw it on the ground because s/he wanted a candy bar instead?

That its chief aspiration in life was to become apple sauce, and it hoped a car would pull up close enough to the curb to make its dream come true?

The first thing that came to mind was that it was a poisoned apple, and a witch lay in hiding, waiting for a hungry, health conscious, five-second-rule passerby to pick it up. 

Then she could entrance him/her to go into the store and pay for all the witch's groceries, which would consist mainly of candy.

What would the witch do in your story?

Sleeping Chicks

Yup, we hatched out chicks in the classroom last spring. I don't know that I would call it a cute or cuddly experience, at least not for me. They all came out wet and wobbly, and some of them died. 

But the kids gave the survivors names like "Zack" and "Ramsey Junior" and "Hercules." Here is a picture of the survivors sleeping, which is amazing in itself, because the smallest sound usually made them jerk their heads up and look around for fingers to peck. Because of this experience, chickens and eggs have taken a little different slant in my POV.

Do you like to eat chickens?

Do you like to eat eggs?

Do you like to watch things hatch?

Pizza with Footprint!

I don't know what it is about this that caught my eye. Is it that it looks like it was stepped on by a big bare foot with only four toes?

Or is it that its main ingredient could be Sasquatches?

Perhaps it's that we are free to eat whatever we want, because this is Independence Day.

Does this look appealing to you?

Or would you rather eat chocolate covered ants, like my dad fed me when I was a kid? I thought there was crisped rice inside the candy. (My dad liked to laugh. One time when I was twelve, he watched me rush into the kitchen on a hot summer day, pour some milk from a carton on the counter, and guzzle it in my thirsty state. I was four gulps in before I realized it was sour. When he started laughing, I asked, "Why didn't you tell me it was sour?"

He said, "It won't hurt you. Your stomach makes it sour before it digests, anyway, so you just skipped a step.")

What's your favorite summertime food?

If You Don't Like Feet or Toes, Don't Look!

I never had a pedicure before May 2016. I got a gift certificate from my daughter-in-law, Nicolle, to have my feet soaked, pumiced, cuticles clipped, nails filed, and painted by a perfect stranger. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I am up for new experiences, so I went in to see what it was all about.

My GPS initially took me to a trailer park clubhouse. Momentarily confused, I recalculated with the business name instead of the address, and was redirected to a place 10 minutes away. It was still morning when I got to La Couture, and there was only one lady having her feet done. By the time I left, there were a dozen ladies soaking their toes.

I was directed to choose a nail polish color. As per my usual habit, I chose a flesh tone. After the cute Filipino nail technician painted two of my toes, she looked up at me and suggested that I have brightly painted toes for summer instead.

I told her to go ahead and choose the color for me, so she did!

I may not have the most beautiful feet in the world, but they work, and I'm grateful for them, even when I have a razor incident that accidentally injures my toe. (See my owie in the photo above?)

Speaking of toes, we are allowed to wear sandals at work, but the dress code requires a strap around the back of any shoes worn. Does this rule out flip flops? 

Not if someone figures out how to add a heel strap! 

So how are you with your feet? Do you like to walk around in bare feet or as little shoe as possible? (Like me?) Or are you happier in a pair of shoes? (Like my husband.)

2016 Mormon Miracle Pageant Pictures!

When we (Bob and I) went to the Mormon Miracle Pageant on Thursday, June 16, we got to see our son, Andy, who is sharing the role of playing the part of the Savior with another actor. 

He grew his own beard, but he had to borrow some long hair to fulfill the role.

I love that guy! 

(Both my son and the the Savior, who he portrays.)

When I saw him talking to the children around him on the hill, I asked what he was talking to them about. He replied that he was telling them how much Jesus loves them.

I also got to see two of my cousins, sisters Cathy (on my right, your left, holding the pictures of Jesus) and Dawn (on my left, your right. The lady in the bun walking past may be a distant relative, but we haven't traced our family tree back to Adam yet to identify her!) 

Cathy and Dawn used to be Anderson's like me, because our fathers were brothers.

It was so fun to see them and hug them!

Do you have cousins? (I think I have 45 firsts!) 

How many do you have?

Do like to see them?

When was the last time you did?

(I saw some from the other side two days later, but it was at a wedding reception where asking them to stop and take a picture might have made the wedding photographers feel redundant!)

Beauty and the Beast Workplace Where A Stress Ball is Watching You!

Every day, I feel like Belle of "Beauty and the Beast," because this is where I work now!

 Of course, if you have a Beauty, you've got to have a Beast, too.

When I started my new job this summer at CaptionCall, we trained in separate partitioned work stations with "walls" that were only about five feet high, and a no-door opening. Each station had a stress ball in it. The other three people who trained with me, all young men, had stress balls, too. But mine had blue rubber fur and an eyeball. 

Yeah, it was watching me.

Do you like stress balls? (Do they like you?) What do you do when you're feeling unsettled? Do you like to squeeze something? Are you a foot-tapper? Do you play with your hair, or hum some random tune?

What is your best stress reliever?

'76 Class Reunion!

Pardon me while I reminisce this week. We had a Manti High School Class of 1976 reunion Memorial Day Weekend! (Don't we look good?) We certainly do! 

In case you don't recognize me, I'm the one with the saxophone.

Cheerleader Stacey Rasmussen Heaton leads the school song while Sterling Scholar musician RaeAnn Rasmussen Tibbs accompanies.

 Too many to name in this fun-loving afternoon reunion group for the time I have to type! (Thanks to my husband, Bob, for taking the picture.)

Paul Braithwaite does a parody of his late father, Manti High School Coach Wilbur Braithwaite.

The classy evening group! (Thanks again, Bob!)

Linda Floyd Pratt plays the piano part of a Carpenter's "A Song For You" duet with Shirley Anderson Bahlmann on saxophone.

John Erickson gives a talk about his father, MHS history teacher Clair "Bud" Erickson who recently passed away.

Denna Richardson Barton (who is younger, but married classmate Kent Barton) piano accompanies her brother, George Richardson, while he plays "Edelweiss" on the saw!

Shirley's putting her saxophone together and bantering with classmates while Linda looks on... (these pictures are not in alphabetical order! Who's the boss of this blog?)

Reunion President Fred Johnson makes a point.

Another picture of George Richardson and his saw. (We must like music!)

So at your class reunion, do you think you'd recognize all your classmates? Do you think you would need a name tag?