Betty White Love

Isn't Betty White great. She's been around for years (she just turned 89). I remember watching her as Sue Ann on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Somebody around here absolutely loves the Golden Girls and uses the show to relax herself before she goes to sleep each night (2 episodes usually does the trick). Last night Mom and I watched the sweetest Valentine's movie together.
It was on the Hallmark Hall of Fame and we laughed and cried. 'The Lost Valentine' was about a young girl whose husband went missing in WWII. She went to the train station where they said goodbye every year on Valentine's Day to wait. A young reporter (Jennifer Love Hewitt) wants to do a story and ends up learning and helping much more. During the commercials Mom would reminise since she lived thru the whole thing too. She talked about the evening when the Pearl Harbor announcement was made. She was sitting on the couch with Ray Everhart (they had dated 2 yrs.) When Ray left for the war his mom didn't even invite her to the going away party and Ray didn't ask Mom to wait! So she didn't! She met Dad on one of his leaves and also dated Bill Shedenhelm. One story she's told in the past is about Dad and Bill both pulling out pictures in their wallets to show their 'girl' and they were both pics of Mom! She talked about the train trips she'd take to visit Dad in Texas and living there as a young newlywed too. Dad's first Valentine to Mom was a string of pearls and 3 heart shaped boxes of candy. All thru the movie they played music from the era which is Mom's favorite. I hope the movie is on again because it's on I'd really like to tape. The end was so touching (both of us cried). Betty is still such a good actress and is really popular right now. We're going to check out her new sitcom and her memoir.

Red Rocks Canyon Hike in January

Today was in the 60's and it's supposed to get cold again on Monday so we took off for a hike. Shorts and t-shirts! Arn and I hiked about 3 miles in Red Rock Canyon Park which is just south of the Garden of the Gods. It's a beautiful red rock fin area where there has been lots of quarry work done for areas around Colorado. We took the trail less traveled (considered advanced but not that hard ) to try to avoid the crowds. There were people everywhere since the weather was so nice. We stopped at Amanda Fonda's and had an al fresco lunch creekside. They have the best quacamole. Hopefully with the weather change we'll get loads of snow so that we can use our cross country skis. (Didn't have my camera so the pics are off the net...obviously not the correct season).

Wordless Wednesday

2nd Ski Trip to CB!

We just got back from CB.....had two great days of skiing with the Smiths. The first day was snowy all day but the powder was great. I even had a good time with the powder! It was light and only about 8 inches or so. We ate at the Avalanche and at Tequillas. Meredith skied and snowboarded with us too. Brought back my car (Mere has had it since Christmas since a tree fell on her car due to the heavy snowfall in Dec.) Hers is fixed now but we didn't get to check it out. There's a couple of new restaurants I'd like to try when we're there in Feb.....The Croatian and The Sherpa Cafe. Nice time was had by all!

Grandma's feeling Crabby!

Grandma had a new dining experience tonight!! Arn and I picked up a couple of Dungeness Crabs at Sprouts on our way home from Denver last evening. I didn't think she would try it since she doesn't reallly like seafood that much. But...she kind of got into it and Arn shared a crab (I get kind of grossed out by it). I think she enjoyed using the nut cracker and dipping it in butter. We also had a pot roast (buffalo hump roast) that cooked in the crockpot all day. Weird combo...crab and buffalo but now we have lots of leftovers for the week! We also got the Christmas stuff packed away and also purged a little and have two more boxes for Goodwill. It snowed all day but we didn't get much accumulation. I didn't make it to the gym but I think I'll go out and shovel snow for my workout!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy New Year! Have you had your Kapusta yet??

Happy New Year!! We start the new year each year with kapusta.....it's pork and kraut with mashed potatoes. Arn likes bread and butter with his too. This is the way Gram Casciato always made it and I put it in at midnight the night before. Waking up in the morning to the smell of it is an experience in and of itself. The flavors are great together but it's something you only want once a year. It's supposed to bring good luck for the new year.
Another tradition is to always make a bag (pillowcase, whatever) to hold all of your riches for the new year but I haven't followed thru with this one.
Some parts of the country eat black eyed peas. I looked up the recipe for kapusta and it's not how we do it but...whatever.
New Year resolutions.
1. Get some type of exercise daily.
2. Of course lose weight....I got a new scale for Christmas that measures body fat and body water content!
3. Be more organized.
4. Purge and take a bunch of stuff to Goodwill.
5. Travel more even if it's short weekend trips.