Cut Loose

When I saw that they were remaking Footloose, I thought it will never be as good as the first.  Why waste your time.  The 1984 movie is a classic!  I saw some of the reviews for the new one and got curious enough that I called up one of my friends to go with me (I knew Ralph would NEVER go) 

Yes, I caved and saw the new Footloose movie.

Loved it!  Although the new Wren did well…nobody could fill the shoes of Kevin Bacon.  I thought Willard had the best lines  - so funny!  Julianne Hough did better than Lori Singer (didn’t ever really like her in that role) The music was changed up a bit – a little more country.  I prefer the original music as I am not a country music fan.  The dancing in the new one was what I describe as “more modern” and just leave it at that.  I think the 1984 version is better – I may be a little biased, the movie was from my era.  (that dates me) Overall I would give the 2011 version two thumbs up.   

I haven’t done a whole lot of crafting lately, too much going on.  I had a class scheduled for Nov 5 – titled Wrap it UP -  All the cute ways to present little gifts wrapped up in total cuteness.  This sample is of Peppermint patties all dolled with a couple of punches and and stamps.  Because honestly...half the excitement is how cute it is wrapped.



small sampling



We have a family baptism scheduled for the same day and I wouldn’t want to miss it, so this has been tabled for later. 

Nasty Cancer

On a more serious note, Ralph’s Mom has been diagnosed with cancer.  Long story short, she went through hours and hours of surgery yesterday to remove what turned out to be a cantaloupe sized tumor.  We are so glad and blessed that things went well.  We know the surgeons hands were guided every step of the way. She is a strong woman who is convinced she has things left to do on this earth.  It will be a long haul to get through the rest of this, but we will be with her every step of the way.

Ralph and I picked tomatoes and peppers last Saturday – kind of the last ones hanging on the vines.  We made 19 pints of hot red pepper salsa.  My niece originally gave us the recipe a few years ago.  It is a sweet hot salsa/relish.  We have tweaked it a bit and now it has become a staple on our shelves.  I love it served on eggs.

A garden update…We still have potatoes, carrots, beets and onions in the garden that will survive the “freeze”.  We have a row of peas that has been going gang busters – but who knows after last night if they survived.  I hope so.  I love fresh peas.  We had such a wet spring and the plants were so slow getting started, we feel lucky to have fresh produce so late in the fall.

We were able to catch up with some friends from our old stake last week.  We had dinner and played games.  I fell in love with a game called bananagrams.  You take a pile of letter tiles and making a crossword type shape using all your letters creating words.  Once all the letters are grabbed from the pile – the first one to use all their letters wins.  I think I won once and Ralph won all the rest.  It is not an expensive game - so while I was out shopping for a 8 year old boy birthday gift - I picked up a version for ourselves. 

  Well we are off to another visit at the hospital.  Ta Ta for now

Can you believe it???

Don’t fall over in disbelief.

I vowed that no matter what comes today . . . I would post something!

Last night Ralph and I were invited to attend a celebration of Korea to commemorate the Korean Culture Day here in Utah.  One of the members of our ward is the Vice President of the Korean American Federation of Utah.  They had a few extra tickets that we not being used by the sponsors so they passed them on to the Bishop and his wife.  We were lucky enough to be invited to go with them.

We went to an opening reception where they served pastries, asian pears, persimmons (i think), and a tteok which is a dough made from rice flour and water - steamed - then rolled out and filled with a sweet bean paste and sealed.  (not a favorite)  I would have been happier with a little bit of rice, kimchi,and soy sauce.

The performance was very impressive.  The bulk of the program was a performance titled - The Moon.  The way I understand it, it is a story told through dance tied to Budhism and the martial arts Tae Kwan Do.  The costumes were so colorful and bright and what I loved the most is that they were modest.  The women were graceful and beautiful.  The men showed us there physical strengths and muscle control.  I don't think any of the performers had an ounce of body fat on them.

Here is a picture of one of the dances.

The last 4 dances after intermission were more traditional.  Music was a little more twangy oriental, but the dances were once again performed with grace and beauty.

We got home around 9:30 and we were kind of hungry.  So we made a not so wise choice and headed to Carls Jr. to try their new burger.  It was pretty good.  We ended up staying up till just after midnight - making sure the dog did his evening business, digesting and watching a little HGTV.