Wedding Trivia

In honor of Kristina's marriage to John, here's some trivia you may or may not know.
Bridesmaids' dresses
If you've ever wondered why bridesmaids all dress the same, it's because Roman law required ten witnesses to make a wedding legal. Several of these witnesses dressed up exactly like the bride and groom, to confound any malevolent forces who might show up uninvited. Europeans followed a similar tradition, and later bridesmaids and groomsmen sometimes did have to defend the happy couple against real-life thugs and warriors.

Ring around the ...
If you've ever wondered why Americans put the wedding ring on the third finger of the left hand, it's because of an ancient Greek belief that a vein in this finger ran directly to the heart. And if you've ever groaned at having to buy both an engagement ring and a wedding ring, you can blame Pope Innocent III, who instituted a waiting period between engagement and marriage in the 13th century and also insisted that a ring be used in the wedding ceremony. Before that, rings were used to seal an engagement only (as well as other important agreements).

You may exchange souls with the bride
Yes, this is what the big wedding kiss symbolizes--the swapping of souls between the bride and groom. Even earlier than this Christian belief, the Romans used a kiss to seal a contract. The kiss was considered legally binding. I don't know about you, but I'm glad that a handshake suffices today.
What's more, a bride marrying in the Church of England had to kiss the minister before she smooched the groom. I would really love to go to a wedding where the minister said, "Now, I may kiss the bride."

Where's the toast?
We call it a "toast" when we drink to someone because of an old French custom in which a piece of bread was put in the bottom of the wine cup--for flavor.
Partygoers would drink and pass the cup; when it reached the person being toasted, he would drain it--crouton and all. It sounds pretty unhygienic. But think of how much more excitement a crunchy beverage would bring to the traditional wedding toast. I'd drink to that.

Toss me a garter
Many things are thrown through the air at weddings: rice (for fertility), bouquets (for luck and protection), and garters (also for luck). The garter is my favorite. Apparently, in the good old days, before wedding dresses cost as much as small cars, people used to rip off chunks of the dress for good luck. In long-ago England, in a slightly related custom, friends of the groom would rip off their socks and throw them; the first to hit the groom's nose would be the next to be married.

Why Left?
Traditionally, the bride stands on the left, the groom on the right. (Although the Jewish wedding tradition reverses this.) Weddings used to be a lot more like the ones you watch on daytime TV, with dastardly ex-suitors and other thugs sometimes rushing the altar. And of course, some wedding crashers were heroes, just trying to rescue a captured bride. Whatever the reason for the interference, the groom needed to keep his right hand free so he could grab his sword, thus the bride stood clear and to the left. I have no idea what happened when the groom was left-handed.

Since this post was already typed as a draft because I knew I wouldn't have time to post anything else this morning, I hope you'll forgive me for just one more day for not posting new stories and pictures of Sara and Nora. Tomorrow for sure!!!

Father/Daughter Look-alikes

Okay Karen, Because you asked for it, a second post in one day. Don't get used to it. Here is a picture of Samuel when he was about 16 or 17. Old enough to drive anyway. He went through a phase of "what hair color can I shock you with?" Here is a picture of Sara after Nora helped her with some hair color of her own. A chip off the ol' block.

Bait and Switch

I know you're all hoping for a post about my trip to CA and how lovely the girls are and every little thing we did while I was there. Don't worry, you'll get it all. Just not today. I have so much catching up to do it's silly (yes, some of it is even work that I get paid to do).
Instead, I'm posting about the Celtic Woman concert we went to last night. I was delightfully surprised that the opening act was The High Kings! I saw them a couple months ago when PBS was begging for $$$. I didn't pledge. I feel terrible about it. But I did enjoy The High Kings.

They sang four songs (I was hoping for more, but no) and then they gave way for the Celtic Woman to come out and do their thing.
I was thinking I would be seeing these women.
We only saw the first three (and I'm not even positive about that third one, but I think it was her) but the blonde one on the end was definitely not there.

I was thinking I would see these women.

The pixie-dancing fiddle player was there, but not the brunette. When they all came out, I was trying to see their faces (what good are binoculars if you never take them to the places you need them?). I recognized 2 definitely, and maybe 3, of the singers (the fiddle player doesn't sing, she just runs and jumps around the stage while playing and shaking her head). But there were imposters among the group! There were only four singers, and there should have been five. Two of them I had never seen before. How could they do that? After my initial shock, I decided to stop feeling so insulted and just listen to the music. It was good. It was very very very good. So I don't know who the other singer was, but she was excellent and her voice blended in with the others just like it was supposed to. I was disappointed that the original two singers weren't there, but the two that took their places were up to the task.

The fourth song sung was Danny Boy. Tissue alert! Even though it was sung by one of the imposters, it was the best song of the night for me. I was seriously trying not to boo-hoo through the song (I thought the people sitting around me would ask the usher to kick me out) but I was glad I had a packet of tissues in my purse! Wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe, blow.

Technological Issues

I'm posting twice today, but won't post again until Monday afternoon, or maybe Tuesday morning. Their are several reasons why. The first is that it's too hard to do away from my own computer, the second is it takes more time away from my grandchildren than I want to give it, the third is that I'm having problems with my camera. Ugh. Of all the times for the camera to go on a glitch! I've just learned there's something fundamentally wrong with the Nikon D50 and its AE/AF function. After arriving in CA, I pulled the camera out of the bag to start taking massive amounts of pictures of my two darling granddaughters. Turned the camera on, pressed the shutter button, nothing. Tried again. Same conclusion. Holly suggested I look up the user's manual online (it amazes me how much information you can find online). I did, but the manual didn't help. I googled the error message and viola. Lots of people have had the same problem. Short story boring is that I now have to manually focus my "good" camera to take a picture. And my "purse" camera has about a one-second delay. So much for me snapping off a ton of pictures while I'm here. I'm doing my best, but I'm frustrated by my D50 throwing me a curve ball.

Milk, it does a body good-

and here's the mustache to prove it!

Sara is just so dadgum cute I can't stand it! When I take the camera out, she smiles and says "cheese!"

This white shirt was brand new a few hours ago. That was before the ketchup.
Camera working or not, I'm still going to take hundreds of pictures of these two angels over the next few days. I'll try to keep the bragging to a dull-roar.

My California Girls

This morning I asked Holly if we could take the girls to get their pictures taken. She agreed, so we dressed them up in their new clothes from Nana (I can't come to see my girls' empty-handed!) and off we went.





When we were previewing the photos we asked Nora what one of the picture's captions should say. She said "I want a brother and a sister." Mommy quickly said NO to that!

Don't you think these girls are the most precious little angels ever? Nora is making me laugh with all the things she says (like "Hey, Daddy, wait up!") and Sara is way too cute singing her ABC song. She's only 15 months old and can sing her ABC's! Genius, I'm tellin' ya.

Traveling Man

Good bye little Caleb. Have a good summer in Sacramento. Don't grow up too quickly without me getting to watch it happen.



Caleb is watching cookies bake in the oven. He doesn't know what a cookie is though.

I love you Caleb! Hey Nora, Hey Sara, I'm on my way to see you!

Last Day, Next Day

This cute little guy is moving to Sacramento for the next 5 months. I should count my blessings that I get to be near him for more than half the year at a time, but this year is much harder to see him go than last because he was just a tiny baby last year and he didn't smile as big as a crocodile when I would walk in the room. This year he knows who his Nana is, and when he comes back in September, I'll have to remind him that he and I are great friends. I will miss you Caleb!
To console myself from my sadness, I will fly to California tomorrow to visit the two most awesome little girls in the whole state. Nora and Sara will take away my sadness for several days! I'm excited to see them again. Nora says she has a list of things planned for while I'm there. The last time I saw Sara, she wasn't quite walking. Now she probably runs everywhere she goes. So I'll try to continue to post from CA, but forgive me if Nora has me too busy to get to the computer. In the meantime, I'll be taking lots and lots of pictures so I'll have plenty to share when I get back. I currently have NO recent pictures of the girls. Unless I steal them from other people. Desperate times call for desperate measures.


As a PS, I got a spam comment on yesterday's post so I guess that means I have to add the verification letters to the comment box. Sorry for the extra hassle.

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

I had planned to tell you all about how Bud and I went up to the cabin and show you how much snow is still up there and how we got most of our food storage from the attic (it's not really an attic) and brought it home to put in our cold storage room, then how I spent hours arranging it, because for me, that's fun.

Catagorizing it, straightening it, looking at it. Fun, fun, fun. That was the plan.
I had also planned to tell you about the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie on tv last night with Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels and how it made me cry, and how I didn't even get a break from crying during the commercials because the Hallmark commercials always make me cry.
But that stuff would just be too boring to talk about since I have this next story to talk about instead. So, I have to change my plan.

After we unloaded the food storage from the car on Saturday, we went to the office, and the mysterious phone call I received Friday while I was with Karen became very clear. Bud called to ask me what name was on my passport. I took a guess but was wrong (I said Patti since that was on my driver's license, but the passport says Patricia). Saturday he told me at the office that he had a surprise for my birthday. He thought it would be better to tell me right away what my birthday present was, even though my birthday isn't until November.



I'll be in Paris for my birthday this year! Check another thing off my bucket list!
Wahoo! Bud has a relative (niece?) who lives over there, so hopefully we can hook up with her to show us all around and translate everything for us, and let us stay at her house and let her feed us and show us all the cool places that tourists don't know about. Even if she doesn't let us stay at her house or feed us, we hope she'll still be our tour guide. Now isn't that a better post than just talking about how much fun I was having with our food storage?

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

Here's an update on the mystery plant growing in the backyard. Turns out it's definitely not asparagus. Sorry for those of you who voted for that.



I'm hoping these are the tulips we planted last October. Others in the neighborhood already have their tulips blooming. Why are mine taking their sweet time to come out and be happy? Do you think I should probably water them?

The first little flowers in the front have succumbed to the on again off again snow showers that we keep experiencing around here. Those blooms have all croaked. But, the hyacinths are doing well (I think that's what they are- feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

I took down some lame fake green leaves with berries (left over from the previous owners) from over the door that leads to the backyard and put up this. I like it.

Here you can see the bigger view of where I've put it.


And, I'm still waiting for your help regarding the lampshades. Beads on? Beads off? (as opposed to "wax on, wax off" - quick, name that movie!)

To Bead Or Not To Bead

That is the question!

Bud bought this lampshade for the bedroom (the lamp was purchased separately). It matches the bedspread very well. The thing is this...do I leave the dangly beads on it or snip them off? When I first saw the shade, my mind immediately thought of the leg lamp (can you say Fra-gee-lay?) in A Christmas Story. I have no idea why. Did it have tasslie things on it?


Evidently it did. So what's your opinion? Keep or lose the beads?

Just For Fun

Here's the picture Amy has been waiting to see.
Samuel was probably 17 at the time and he was standing in front of his Mini Cooper, looking oh-so-cool.
And just because I have more kids than one, here's a couple more pictures. Look at the expression on my girls' faces. Karen is looking happy because she is wearing a cute hat, or at least she thought it was cute at the time...
and Laura is looking at Karen with such admiration. She wanted to do everything Karen did at that age.

I know you want to know what this is about! The dogs had gone crazy digging holes in the backyard. One hole was so huge that Danny could slide his whole body into the hole. He'd probably be halfway to China except that the hole went sideways instead of down. Puck and Phantom just want to know when he's getting out so they can keep digging!
Cute kids. Nobody loves them more than their mother.
(If you want to see a few more pictures that are even cuter than these, check out the family blog today.)

Purse Camera

Yesterday Karen drove up from Provo and we went shopping. I wanted to buy her a birthday present since she was going to be gone all summer and I don't know that I will see her again until September. We also went to The Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. Typically, I don't like cheesecake, but I really liked the chocolate stuff we ate last night.

Now, if I'd had my "purse camera" I wouldn't have had to take this grainy picture with my cell phone.
While we were shopping, I found this camera and I decided to buy it. As a bonus, they were giving away a free printer/copier/scanner with every digital camera purchase. Here's a teeny tiny picture of it.


I was thinking I would buy the Nikon P5100, but at the store, I changed my mind.
What I like about the camera I bought is that it is small enough to keep in my purse, and it takes videos. The P5100 was more expensive, and perhaps a better camera, but more than I thought I needed for a "purse camera." However, this morning I'm starting to second-guess myself, and wonder if I should indeed have chosen the P5100 after all. Good thing I have 10 days to decide.
While Karen was here, she showed me how to upload a video, so I'm now going to give it a try. Cross your fingers.

This is a little clip of Caleb walking from the living room into the bathroom. He took one look at the scary yellow duck bathtub and took off the other way. He's never liked that duck tub, and it seems his opinion of it hasn't changed since the last time he saw it.

Mystery Plant

Taking a moment to enjoy the warm weather on Sunday afternoon, I went into the backyard. Looking around the yard, I saw this.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed little green pokey things trying to grow under all that old stuff. When I cleared the dead stuff away, it looked like this.
You can click on the picture to enlarge it for a better view for identification purposes.
This is what I used for my "shovel" to dig out a couple of weeds. Good thing the ground was soft. Wouldn't want to break my shovel.

And lastly, this is what the "garden" currently looks like that I inherited from the previous owners. I have no idea what is growing there either. What I WANT to grow there are some tomatoes and some zucchini.

My kids would love to tell you all the foods where I can hide zucchini. I think the most unusual would be tacos and spaghetti. Mmm. Zucchini spaghetti.
If you have any idea what the green shoots are that were under the 'patch-o-death', let me know. I'd hate to be just growing more weeds.
Happy tax day, by the way.

Annie

Saturday night we went to dinner and a play with our friends (the same one's we went skiing with). We made out like bandits because we paid for dinner, they paid for the play. You have to remember that three of the four of us are senior citizens and where do old people always go? "The" Sizzler. Don't they all call it "The" Sizzler, when the name is really just "Sizzler?" I'm not yet a senior citizen (although the girl at Kohl's tried to turn me into one) so I guess that's why I can call it just Sizzler.
After we ate (and ate and ate) we went to see Annie at Kingsbury Hall. I was surprized to see the price on the ticket was $60.50! Each! That makes for quite the pricey outting for them (remember last time we went out with them they took us to the Seafood Buffet and the price of a plate was $60 each. Ouch. Now they're at it again, shelling out another $60 each.
Anyway, I must admit I have never seen Annie. I haven't seen the movie or the play, however, I think I did read the comic strip one time. The little girl Amanda Balon- (she's 10) that played Annie was fabulous. She could really belt out those songs! My favorite though was the woman that played Miss Hanagan (the woman who is in charge of the orphans). She was really terrific. I know I'm not supposed to like her, because technically she's mean to the girls, but she was so good at her role that I clapped loudest for her at the end.
I bet Larry and Lenore will be glad to go back to Virginia next week so they can stop spending so much money on us! We're expensive, but we're worth it!

Unexplainable

As I was going out the door for church today, I heard something hit the garage floor. I looked to see what it was and found it was my pearl earring that just a moment ago had been in my ear. I was happy I didn't lose it but here's the weird part. The back was still on the earring. So explain to me how the earring came out of my ear (because I assure you, I had definitely put it there, with the back on the post the way it was supposed to be) with the back still on the post? I have no answer. My earlobe is still intact, so that's not the answer. Mystifying.

I'm back!

How did you like having a guest-blogger here yesterday? Karen had linked my blog to hers for yesterday's post and she said it wouldn't be right to get people to click on the link and not have the corresponding story show up. I was wanting to save yesterday's cute pictures for today. Since they're already posted, I'll share other pictures that I took yesterday of Caleb.
Caleb LOVES putting coins into his piggy bank so I gave him my entire supply of coins from my purse.

There's a penny trying to escape!

We went to Red Robin for lunch and Caleb decided to make a salt and pepper creation on the table while we were waiting for the world's best french fries.

The problem with creating for Caleb is that he dislikes stuff on his hands. So Mama would have to wipe his hands every few seconds.

Drinking water from a straw

This is the picture that made me cry yesterday. No big story behind it really. I cry really easily. For the record, however, I wasn't bawling as Karen suggested. Just my usual "my grandchildren are the most precious babies on earth" kind of tears.