Labor Day 2010

Today is Labor Day, I like Labor Day, an extra day of rest in honor of Labor. I sure needed the extra day. What did you do? BBQ, Shop, go camping or a mini vacation?

I spent the day with my little one and my niece, Olivia.

Ayla and I went to visit my brothers new restaurant at the

Pool Together in Mesa, Az.

We love the empanadas, gallo pinto, arroz con pollo de Costa Rica, and especially the variety of Latin America's sodas. My favorite, a Brazillian drink, Guarana.

As I was ready to leave, My brother and law, RJ, showed up with my nephew and niece.

Olivia ran straight to me and then noticed Ayla and wouldn't let go. It was so special.

Then Evan came and wouldn't let go of Ayla.

While Evan took off with Dad, Olivia, Ayla and I strolled around the market place.

Later we went to the book store and read books there.

Finished the day at McDonalds and called it a day.

It was a special day, spending time with my niece and my little girl.

PURA VIDA--Pure Life!!

Julia's Christmas

One night when I was sixteen years old,

Father gave a Christms party for his own children

and their families and the nearest neighbors.

We danced.

My brothers were the musicians.

We knew it was Father's aim to end the party at ten o'clock,

which he did right in the middle of the

square-dance by ordering the musicians to stop.

But Father didn't know that my brothers

had lifted me up to the clock many times that night.

Each time I turned it back thirty minutes.

It must have been past midnight when the party broke up.

"Julia's Christmas"

from the Christian Olsen family record

Our Pioneer Heritage 14(1971):199

1907, La Verkin, Utah

25 Days

25 Days.

Twenty-Five days to put up CHRISTmas lights,

decorate,

display The Nativites,

put up the CHRISTmas tree,

bake cookies,

clean and prepare,

sing carols,

read CHRISTmas stories,
visit friends,

visit family,

attend CHRISTmas parties,

wrap presents,

make presents,

listen to CHRISTmas music,

shop last minute gifts,

send out CHRISTmas cards

(that is if you do, I always end up with signed cards that don't make it out to the post office, I gave up),

plan CHRISTmas dinner,

18 get rid of old toys of children,

choose a family to act out the 12 Days of CHRISTmas,

picture with Santa,

visit the AZ temple grounds and listen to carolers and see the lights,

drive around and look at lights,

drink hot cocoa,

celebrate CHRISTmas Eve with family and open gifts, and

on the 25th day, Read the scriptures of Christ's birth.

I like to try to read CHRISTmas stories from a collection of CHRISTmas books I have to my children. I just added another book to my collection.

Edited by Susan Arrington Madsen, Pioneer CHRISTmas excerpts from personal journals is a must have. I will try to include passages from this book this month. With the recession here in Arizona and in many parts of United States, and Worldwide, these passages from the Pioneers who trekked across the plains of United States during cold holiday winters make you appreciate what we have and remind us of the true meaning of CHRISTmas. I would perfer

fresh homemade bread or a sweets over store bought nonsense, or family photos from friends and family. May we all have a stress free holiday season.

Hope you enjoy the passages or thoughts I will include this month.

All of us children hung up out stockings CHRISTmas eve.

We jumped up early in the morning to see what Santa had brought,

but there was not a thing in them.

Mother wept bitterly.

She went to her box and got a little apple and cut it in little tiny pieces

and that was our CHRISTmas.

But, I have never forgotten

how I loved her dear hands as she was cutting that apple.

Hannah Daphne Smith Dalton

Autobiography, LDS Church Archives

25 December 1862

Christmas past

With all the Buya of Black Friday/Black Weekend sales I thought I'd list some Christmas Past wish list for kids...Member?

1960s commercial for Topper Toys' Suzy Homemaker items which allowed girls to "...wash dishes, clean house, launder, iron....and always look lovely." What could be more fun??!!


How about the Original Mr & Mrs Potato Heads,this is when Mr Potato Head was a real potato. They've come along way.


GI Joe come back.


How about The Green Machine?


Of course, some still haven't grown up from Big Wheels...This is funny must watch.


Even Underoo's were a secretly wanted, or as my brothers were would call them, "Tan-Tar-Rans"! You know, they would tie a towel around their necks and make it into a cape and yell, "Tan-tar-An!"


Although I searched high and low for a hand held AM/FM radio with hand strap that I once received for Christmas because it was a must have, As suppose to the I-Pods kids, including my husband, really want now; you had to stand in the right spot to get good radio reception and volume to work. I did come across this music inspiration commercial I just couldn't stop laughing I almost peed my pants off! Seriously, I couldn't stop thinking of this commercial.


Did you pee your pants off? Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and Black out specials were great. I stayed with family and decided that the early rise, stand in lines, grumpy crowds, was not as worth the thrill of shopping as staying home with family.

11-11-2009

A Moment of Silence...

Thank you.

Día De Los Muertos

I thought I would share a little history and
understanding of The Day of the Dead.

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death.
It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate. A ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth. The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the month long ritual. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.
However, the Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. They perceived the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan. In their attempts to convert them to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the ritual. But like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die. To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today. Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month.

Above: Aztec Warrior Dance Below: Aztec Calendar

Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend.
Below is Crafty Chica's dedicated shrine in 2006The ritual is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States, including the Valley. Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology, it still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls.　
The best mole made is my Abuelita Regina O. Gonzalez Ayala,
she serves it with Spanish rice and Cole slaw
(I love the juice from the Cole slaw and her slaw is to die for as well- no pun intended).

May you remember your families and
friends who moved on from this world
and remember happy thoughts and feel peace today.

Old Mrs. Witch

Once a upon a time, when schools were allowed to speak of "God" and saying the pledge freely and not worried of offending someone; and of Christmas Parties, along with Easter Break, not called as today: winter or spring break; there were Halloween Parties at school. The students were allowed to dress up in their costumes. Of course, there were safety issues with those plastic masks that made you sound like Darth Vader, even if Darth Vader didn't even exist then.

I found these past costumes pictures on google images awhile back so I apologize I do not have the sites I got them from.

1920's

1930's

1940's

1950's

1960s

Below:

the original Darth Vader Sound affect masks, lol.

1960-1970 school costume parade

Peanuts scene from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Which by the way will be shown on Tuesday the 27th of October on ABC).

I remember learning of a little Halloween song called, "Oh Mrs. Witch", when I was in kindergarten, that in it self was a very long, long, time ago. I don't think the public schools have traditions of Halloween Parties anymore let alone learning Halloween songs. I just thought I'd share the song I remember from kindergarten some 35 years ago, it goes like this...

Oh, Mrs. Witch

Oh, Mrs. Witch

Tell me how you fly,

Tell me how you fly,

I fly on my broom stick, up in the sky.

Oh, Mrs. Witch
Oh, Mrs. Witch
Tell me what you see,
Tell me what you see,

I see a jack-o-lantern looking at me.

Oh, Mrs. Witch

Oh, Mrs. Witch

Tell me what you'll do,

Tell me what you'll do,

I'll fly on my broom stick, to scare you, BOO!

There a little witch in every woman

Back in 1690, some people believed Maria Owens was a witch. Others claim that she was just unlucky in love. Both were true. And in fact, both traits became family tradition: garden-variety witchcraft combined with sorrows in love, in somewhat unequal proportion.

Maria Owens made her home on a small island in New England. All of her daughters and granddaughters and great-great-great granddaughters grew up here, just as beautiful and careless and unfortunate in love. Myself and Aunt Jet live in the old Owens house, and we took in two of our nieces, Sally and Gillian, after their parents died.

Of course, as in any close family, there were rituals and customs to be passed along to the next generation, and we taught them what the Owens women have always known: the ancient arts of white magic. But the strength that comes from the use of this practical magic also carries a price - it seems that all the men we fall in love with die untimely deaths.

So as Sally grew, she watched us weaving spells for the lonely and the lovelorn, and one day decided that she'd never suffer the misfortune of falling in love. She cast her own spell, making sure that the only man she could ever truly love would have a combination of qualities she'd never be able to find.Her sister Gillian, on the other hand, grew up to break hearts the way other people break kindling for firewood.

Sally lives with us now in Maria's old house, with her two daughters Kylie and Isabelle. (Their father died, of course.) Sally - who was obsessed with being "normal" even as a child, poor dear -- tries to go around pretending to be like other people, keeping me and Aunt Jet from teaching Kylie and Isabelle spells and rituals. But the more she denies her own powers, the more they seem to bubble up. After all, there's a little witch in every woman.

I believe there is a little magic in all of us.

The above intro was taken from Practical Magic .

One of my favorite movies and let me say

I love collecting movies so this is one of many movies I enjoy watching.

I heart the plot, I heart the aunts: Jet and Frances, and I heart the home. If I wasn't so scared of the predictions of earthquakes and

tsunami's on the western coast line,

I would love to live near the seaside.

Thus the reason why I chose to show you

my inspiration home from the movie Practical Magic.

Fact, Did you know when they made the movie they built the Victorian home from scratch? Yeah, and after the movie was made it was on the market. No one bought the home in Washington and so they demolished the home! What a waste! Absurd! Had I only won the Lotto!

Here let me show you the beautiful home that sits on a cliff over looking the ocean, the beautiful small town around it, and the boutique I always wanted...

"In this house we have chocolate cake for breakfast.

And we never bother with silly things like bedtimes

or brushing out teeth." ~Practical Magic

Above the Day Time view and

Below the Night time view,

here the Owens Sisters

Jump down like Mary Poppins from their home

on all Hollows Eve.

"Fine! But I do not want them dancing naked under the full moon..." ~Practical Magic

The home looks so comforting.

What woman, or man, wouldn't love to cook in a kitchen so grand.

Or have the sunlight shine through in the morning while eating breakfast?

"with the sweet, always comes the sour" ~ Practical Magic

Here the Aunts make a spell for a towns lady,

who wants to win the heart of her lover.

"they feared her because she had a gift,

a power, that has been passed onto you children,

she had the gift of magic.

And it was that very gift that saved her life."

~ Practical Magic

This photo below is taken from the

October 1998 Issue of Victorian Magazine.

To have a garden by the seaside and see the sunset in the eve...

"Just herbs...you know...from the garden..." ~ Practical Magic

To have a garden shed...

"but still sometimes, when the wind is warm,

and the crickets sing, I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for."
~Practical Magic

Oh, and I love the music chosen for this film.

Here they share Midnight Margarita"s, Enjoy.

"There's a few things I've learned in life:

always throw salt over your left shoulder,

keep rosemary by your garden gate,

plant lavender for good luck,

and fall in love whenever you can."

~Practical Magic

My favorite Month

I heart October. It's like spring all over again here in the Phoenix Valley. It was 105 degrees yesterday and today it was 95 degrees and dropping:) The weather is beautiful. Yet, its time to collect wood for weekends by the fire pit. Hayrides and spooks. Hot cocoa and soup, not to mention Carmel apples and popcorn balls. Try this recipe from Country Living for Caramel Candied Apples and click on the link. I'm including a recipe for caramels by Edna Nelson, which I found, and please correct me if I'm wrong, from Kevin and Amanda who has lots of easy and delicious recipes, many moons ago. In case you cannot read it below...

2Cups of Sugar

2 Cups of Cream

1 3/4 cup of Light Karo Syrup

1 Cup of butter (the real stuff not margarine)

1 tsp. Vanilla

optional: nuts

Boil the sugar, Karo Syrup, butter, and half of the cream (7/8 cup).

After Boiling, SLOWLY add the rest of the cream. Cook to form ball stage. Add nuts if desired. Pour onto buttered pan, and cool.

I wanted to share some Halloween fun going on.

Please share of any other party you might know of so we can all visit.

Robin at Lolidot.com is having always having fun giveaways. Now she is having a "Spooktacular" Event.

Be sure to visit October 12th - the 17th.

At A Fanciful Twist, Vanessa is a very artistic Arizonian.

She currently, among other blogger's, are getting ready for her Halloween Extravaganza on October 17th, 2009.

You must check out her creativeness.

You'll find potions and much more!
Even find the labels to create your own potions.

You can find labels also at Love Manor to create your own potions. Even a recipe for Dead Man's Toes, sounds delicious:) I prefer fresh meat.

Here's a peak at Love Manors home.

I also wanted to share ideas for Halloween Decorations and/or Halloween Party Themes I have found surfing the net. Or shall I say flying on my broom stick up at the sky and looking over blogs? At Martha Stewart I thought this table set up was grand. Oh, from A Wicked Good Time: macabre banquet table (featuring Slithered Scream Beans, Cauldron Curry, and Squeamish Squash with Rice).

At Martha Stewart I found this cute party favor.

I forgot to grab the link so you'll have to search her website.

At Hostess with the Mostess, a twilight party was thrown in April,

but why not use some of her fun for Halloween Night?

Every thing was planned well from the red vines that Bella ate for treats, to different types of blood to drink, quotes, lip shine for that perfect vampire kisses, Esme’s line: “We’re making Italiano for you.” to display on the buffet table by the Italian food, and mood lighting created with white twinkle lights & candles. It is a must to visit for us Twilight fans.

Or maybe your into a Ghouls Night Halloween Party?

Or Modern Midnight Madness?

Or Playful Mod Halloween Party?

Or Spooky Chic Dinner Party?

You can find these Ideas and instructions to her idea at Hostess with the Mostess, just click on the pictures for direct link.

Well, This is just a few of the fun posts I will include this month.

So please check frequently.

This month is going to be better than the last.

That is unless there is another spell on my computer.