Sunday Favorites - Favorites Foods

Today is Sunday Favorites Day, its a day that we can just go find a past post and not have to write anything new.

So, what I wanted to share today was food. Well...not food, but a post about food. Hope you enjoy it and be sure to visit Chari at Happy to Design and see what favorites others in Blogland are sharing today.

Happy Sunday!

FAVORITE POST

FROM

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

So as mentioned in the previous post, my contribution to the office Halloween party was Broccoli Salad. I got this recipe from a good friend named Stacie. She really didn't want to share it because everywhere she went that's what she took and she always got tons of compliments. I had to promise and swear that I would never take the dish to the same event she was going to. And I haven't, especially since now she's living in San Diego and I never see her anymore!

Here's the ingredients first. The only thing missing is the sugar because I couldn't reach the Sugar container when I was taking the pictures. But don't forget the sugar, that's what makes this salad.

Here's the salad all put together. It tastes much better if you let it sit overnight, but if you can't wait, it still tastes great the second you make it. I love this stuff!

Since I wanted to save my appetite for the salad for the next day I had to make something for myself for dinner that night and that's what this next picture is. I made myself a Frito Chip Salad. It's kind of like a fancy Frito Boat that you can get at a high school football game.
It's super simple and no real recipe is needed. You just open up your favorite can of chili beans or chili with no beans, up to you. You dice up some lettuce, some tomatoes and some black olives. Place Frito's in a plate or bowl, pour heated chili over them, top with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and olives and your favorite salsa. I like Pace Picante Sauce, medium hot and I like to place the whole bottle in the blender and grind it up. Then just dig in. Simple, fast and sooooo good!


And now here's the recipe for the Broccoli Salad...Enjoy!
Broccoli Salad
1 large head broccoli
1 med onion chopped finely
1 c. grated cheddar cheese (I use medium)
1/2 lb. bacon cooked & chopped (I cheat and buy the package of bacon pieces, see the photo above)
Dressing:
1 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbl Vinegar (You can use fancy flavored or wine vinegar, but I use plain old distilled vinegar and that works just fine)
1/2 c. sugar (Important point, you can also use Splenda if your watching your weight or are diabetic or just want to eat healthier)
Method: Grate cheese (unless you're like me and bought pre-shredded cheese, again see picture above). Chop the onion and cut the broccoli into small pieces, you will want to slice the stem portion really thin. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the salad ingredients. Mix Well.
You can also add any other veggies you like such as tomatoes, black olives (hmmm, are those a veggie?) or cucumbers.

I'm still Alive!

I'm still alive...but just barely.
Last week on Wednesday I started with a little scratchiness in my throat. The next morning I left along with my mom, my sister and my brother Fred and his family to Arizona.


That's the state the flag in the previous post belongs to...ARIZONA, state of my birth!


We went to Arizona to attend the funeral of my mother's sister, my Tia Herminia. It was sad to have to go for such a reason, but there's always a silver lining which I'll post about soon.


I didn't feel too great on Thursday when we left but I started taking some antibiotics my sister had left over and I hung in there all that day while I drove about 10 hours to Phoenix, Arizona.

My body actually hung in there Friday, Saturday and for the long 10 hour drive home on Sunday. Sunday night I was coughing so bad I took some cough medicine with Codeine and I've been feeling it ever since. Today is the first day that I've actually felt like I have a brain and I'm not a Zombie!

(Put some glasses on this little cartoon girl and I look exactly like that, even on a good day!)

I've gone to work each day, cause I'm so dootiful dutiful. But this cold has really kicked my butt. So much so that I haven't even watched American Idol!!!!! You know something is wrong with me when I miss me my American Idol!

But I have lots of photos to show you and lots of stories about Arizona. Just bear with me and we'll all get through this together. Oh wait...you guys aren't sick, just me!

I'm Backkkkkkkk....bet you didn't know I was gone!

Well I'm back sports fans! But I'm sure ya'll didn't even know I was gone. 

Yep, I left Thursday morning and just got back home.

The image above should give you a hint as to where I went.

It's been such a grueling day that I'm going to take a shower; take some Tylenol w/Codeine and call it a night because I have typhoid fever a cold/flu and I'm tired and I've been coughing like a maniac for 5 days.


There's no place like home...
there's no place like home... 
Click, Click (me clicking my heels together to carry me off to bed).
 

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs - Does Life Get Any Better?

My sister Lisa and I like to get together on Friday's after work and do something special. Kinda to treat ourselves cause we managed to get through another day and "the man" didn't kill us! Usually we eat! Duh, no surprise there. We love our food!


A couple of weeks ago, my brother in law, Sean (affectionately known by all as Guero) got in on our Friday night act by making dinner for us. My sister called me and told me that her husband was making us Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs. Just to let you know Lisa's feelings about bacon; her favorite motto is "Any day with Bacon is a good day".


Now I'd heard about bacon wrapped hot dogs from my sister in law Norma who hails from a small town in Mexico called Caborca. Bacon wrapped hot dogs are apparently one the specialties there and she'd always promised to make them for us someday. We could wait no longer Norma, sorry.


I gotta say, they were scrumptiously delicious! My brother in law wrapped them in a thick cut bacon that's sold in the meat department of the store my nephew Sean works at, Apple Market. He wrapped the bacon around them, secured the edges with toothpicks and then placed them on a cookie sheet in the oven where he lovingly kept watch over them turning them every few minutes so that every single delicious curve of bacon was cooked.


He then set out a smorgasbord of condiments! We had finely chopped onion, jalapenos, tomatoes, lettuce, chili beans, cheese, ketchup, mayo, relish, and mustard. I'll have a little of everything, thank you! They were delicious and like nothing I had ever had.


So a couple of weeks later I decided to try making them. I didn't have the thick cut bacon, just regular cut, actually it seemed to me the bacon I had was extra thin. This made it much easier for it to adhere to the hot dog, it just kinda sucked itself to the weenie. (Hahaha, don't you love the word weenie?)


Anyway, I didn't even need to secure the edges with anything, the bacon just stayed sucked on. I carefully turned them as my brother in law did and they came out great! 

I didn't have all the condiments, but I did have some diced up red onion and jalapeno that I had left over from the chili beans I made for Super Bowl, so I used those and OH MY GOSH, if you do nothing else this weekend, make these hotdogs. They are out of this world and your kids will love them and you don't even need the bun if you're on a low carb/high protein diet..MAKE THEM!!!

I also am a huge fan of bacon wrapped shrimp and I don't even like shrimp. I also love bacon wrapped water chestnuts, mmmmmmmm. What do you like to wrap your bacon around?

We Are the World 25 for Haiti

In 1984-1985 Africa experienced a famine that killed in upwards of 1,000,000 individuals. USA for Africa came together along with social activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte to create a song which would be sung by some of the music industries most famous artists of the time.


Belafonte enlisted the help of Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers. They in turn got Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson to help. The song itself was written mainly by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.


We Are the World was the song written and it was recorded in 1985 and has sold more than 20 million copies and earned more than $63 million dollars for charity in Africa and in the United States as well. The song has won many awards, including three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award and a People's Choice Award.


I remember crying when I first heard the song. The music, the lyrics inspired and touched me, but what really reached my heart was the compassion and love that I saw on the faces of the artists that participated. I felt their love and their intense craving to help in any way they could with the talents given to them by God...especially through their voices. It was amazing.


Here's a version of the original We Are the World.




Twenty-five years later, driven by the need to provide help and financial aide to Haiti who experienced a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, it was decided that We are the World would be remade by new artists to reach a whole new generation.

The song was recorded on February 1st in 14 hours by over 80 artists. The new version was aired for the first time during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics in Canada. 


When I first heard the new version, I decided I didn't like it...at all. But then I figured maybe the reason I liked the original version is that it was my version, the version I first heard and fell in love with. And now it's a whole new world, a whole new generation and maybe they need a version that they can love and that can make them feel the way my version made me feel.


So I listened to the new version over and over again and the more I listened to it; the more I experienced the words and the faces and the voices of the new artists, the more I loved it. It's still not as awe-inspiring as my version, but it's pretty darn close.

I love that they included the original clip of Michael Jackson.


And unbelievable as it seems to me my favorite part was the rap part close to the end that was contributed by LL Cool J, Will-I-Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and Swizz Beatz. I love the way they sound, but more than that, I love the lyrics.


We all need somebody that we can lean on
when you wake up look around and see that your dreams gone
when the earth quakes we’ll help you make it through the storm
when the floor breaks a magic carpet to stand on
we are the World united by love so strong
when the radio isn’t on you can hear the songs
a guided light on the dark road your walking on
a sign post to find the dreams you thought was gone
someone to help you move the obstacles you stumbled on
someone to help you rebuild after the rubble’s gone
we are the World connected by a common bond
Love, the whole planet singing along.



Here's the new version. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, let me know what you think.




Which is your favorite version and why?

To donate:

Download to Donate at itune.com

Text the word "WORLD" to 50555

or go to world25.org

I Love Books!

My mom and I went thrifting yesterday . It's one of our favorite things to do and it had been quite a few weeks since we had last gone. I've promised myself that I'm not going to buy any more pictures, wall hangings, dishes, any type of nick-knack at all until I have a huge yard sale and get rid of about a million and one things that are already in my garage. So mostly I go to just look and hang out with my mom.


We have a Goodwill that we call the bookstore. Believe it or not, the only thing they sell is books. Tons of books, shelves and shelves of books! It's what I picture heaven to look like only with a food court and a Starbucks and Keanu Reeves behind the counter making my latte!


But I digress. This bookstore has tons of paperbacks for 60 cents and hardbacks for 80 cents. Can you believe it? I visit this store a lot. I usually go every weekend and sometimes I stop by on my way home from work. Hence, I have a ton of books. I have boxes and boxes sitting in the garage that I'm planning to include in my yard sale. The ones that don't sell I will contribute back to Goodwill. Maybe I should donate them to Salvation Army instead, o I don't end up buying them back again.


Some of the prettier books or books I really like I keep and I have them in stacks in my closet until I can get a built in bookcase like this in my living room.

I think a built in bookcase would look perfect on the wall shown in the photo below. This is the wall in my living room that I want the bookcase on.

To the right of the picture is my dining room/kitchen. The door to the left leads to the bedrooms. So it's not a great place to put a television as people are passing in front of it all the time. 

The fireplace isn't real, it's a faux one with one of those little machines that turns red paper against a light and it's supposed to look like fire but it doesn't, plus there's the irritating click, click, click of the little wheel turning! But it was here when I bought the house and until I can have my dream bookcase as shown above I enjoy my little fake fireplace and love to decorate my mantel. The ones in the photo are my Valentines Day Decorations.


My mom bought me these 5 angels at Goodwill almost a year ago and I change the ribbons around their neck to match the different seasons. For Christmas they wore gold ribbons:

For Valentines Day I dressed them up in red ribbons lined with fur. . . Naughty Angels!

I'm thinking I'd love to find some plaid pink, yellow, blue and green for Easter, but it will just have to be whatever there is at the dollar store.


But this post isn't about Angels or seasonal decor, it's about books and what to do with all the books I collect. I found this website that gave me a good idea of what to do with those books until I get my dream bookcase built.

Book Art!  Or as Los Angeles Artist Mike Stilkey calls them Book Sculpture. The artist takes books and uses them create art. Here you see him painting on a stack of books. Click on any of the photos to enlarge.

Here's a whole wall of Book Sculptures. Aren't these amazing? Apparently he gets these books from the trash so he's basically recycling so no harm done. What a great way to reuse books, don't you think and prevent them from being tossed into the trash.

And he has several more photos at this website Books as Art plus you can visit the artists website at MikeStilkey.com

So do you keep your books or do you pass them on as soon as you've read them? Do you re-read books? I have to admit, I don't...but I love to keep the ones I've enjoyed.

Happy Valentines Day!

My Valentines

To my daughter, April

A daughter leaves your home,

but never your heart.

She discovers her own happiness,

which in turn becomes yours.

Life changes. . .

Love does not.

I love you April.

Happy Valentines Day!

To my son, James

Stuff happens when you have a son.

Your floors get dirty,

Your rules get bent

And your life gets changed

in wonderful ways

forever.

I love you Jim,

Happy Valentines Day!

Reflections from a Mother's Heart

I'm going to try this again. Back on June 5, 2008 I attempted to start a weekly post every Thursday using a journal I found many years ago called Reflections from a Mother's Heart - Your Life Story in Your Own Words.

Each page asks a different question for you to ponder and write your thoughts about. So far I've answered eight questions.

1. Who gave you your name and why? Did you have a family nickname? How did you get it? 

2. Describe your childhood bedroom. What was the view from your window?

3. Were you baptized or dedicated as an infant? If so, where and by whom?

4. Where did you first go to church? What are your earliest memories of church?

5. Where did your father go to work every day and what did he do?

6. How did your mother spend her day? Did she have a job or do volunteer work outside the home?

7. What kind of prayer did you say before you went to sleep? Who taught you how to pray it?

8. Describe what the family living room looked like when you were a child.


It seems that I was all prepared to answer question number nine; Describe your grandparents houses. Did you visit them often? Why or why not? That was the one I was going to work on for January 29, 2009. Oh my gosh, it's been a whole year and I haven't done one. I'm a bad heart reflector as a mother aren't I?


Well if at first you don't succeed, try again right? So here goes. The question for this Thursday. . .  

Describe your grandparents houses. Did you visit them often? Why or why not?


When I was a child, I remember my dad saying that he had paid vacations. I took that to mean he got a vacation that his boss paid for. I didn't understand he only got paid for the days, I thought it meant my dad's boss would pay for any kind of vacation he wanted to take. Therefore I wanted to go to Disneyland or Hawaii! I never understood why my dad would choose to take us instead to visit my Tata and Nana at their home in Santa Maria, California!
Funny how a child's mind works isn't it? 

My paternal grandparents were known to us as Tata and Nana. Every summer we would visit Tata and Nana for a week. I remember two separate homes they lived in. When I was very young I remember they lived out in the country on a farm. It was a big, beautiful home with a gorgeous garden. Coming from Arizona where we saw nothing but dirt and cactus I loved the flowers and plants that my Nana loved to grow. Her special favorite was Geraniums. Deep, rich, red Geraniums.


The home I most remember was the last one they lived in. That one was in town and was just a regular tract home, but still my Nana made it her own with beautiful Geraniums and rose bushes everywhere in the front yard. In the back yard my Tata planted what seemed like one of every fruit tree known to man, and both Tata and Nana had very green thumbs!


Because we lived in Arizona and they lived in California I didn't experience their homes very often and the memories are vague, but I remember them... my Nana and my Tata. People tell me I look like my Nana and I've always loved hearing that because my Nana was always very beautiful and always smiling. My Tata was a joy, a man you couldn't help but love and he loved and adored his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. 

My Tata once gave me the best piece of advice ever regarding my marriage. He knew about the difficulties in my marriage and one day he pulled me aside and told me in Spanish, "Mija, hagase valer." Translated that means, daughter, give yourself value. After years of both physical and mental abuse it was just what I needed to hear and it is what helped me make the decision to end my marriage once and for all. I wanted my Tata to know that I had value, especially because I was his granddaughter.


Both Nana and Tata are both deceased and now my mom and dad are the Nana and Tata to my children and my sibling's children. But I'll never forget my Nana Elvira and my Tata Manuel.


My maternal grandparents were known as Papa and Mama and they lived in the grand town of Eloy, Arizona! They always only lived in the one home I remember, the home that was built by Papa Eustino who built it with his own hands, brick by brick. My mom can't remember exactly what year it was built but she said it was in the 1940's. 


Their home was like Disneyland to us kids. My mom had two brothers and seven sisters so that made for a whole bunch of cousins and it seemed to me that we were all always there. 

Both my uncles were labor contractors and they had buses; like the ones that kids go to school in. They used the buses to transport field workers to the fields. After work and on weekends the buses were parked in the back behind Papa and Mama's house and they were our playhouses, our forts, our space ships; whatever we could imagine them to be, they were.


Papa died when I was very young, probably around 10 or so. I don't remember much about him other than he was very tall and he would sit on the north side of the house in a chair and wipe our noses and spit into a coffee can. I don't know if he chewed tobacco or why he spit so much, but he did.


Mama lived much longer, but unfortunately she was struck by Alzheimers and the years I remember of her is of her being in a wheelchair and having to be fed and bathed and the constant crying and muttering. I wish I had known her better as my mother is named after her, Tomasa.


It's sad that we were all so young when they both passed and that I don't have better memories of them, but I have tons of memories of their home as that is where we spent almost every weekend and definitely every Christmas. Several years ago when my Aunt Leonor passed away I remember standing in that very living room where we spent so many Christmas' and I wondered in awe where we fit so many people in. The room itself was only about 18 feet by about 14 feet and there were two couches and a chair and yet we all fit...and so did Santa Claus!


I remember New Years Eve and staying up until midnight and all of us kids huddled up on the couch in front of the big window in the living room staring out into the front yard where our fathers and our uncles stood with rifles shooting the old year away by shooting into the sky. (I know that is frowned upon now, heck it's even against the law...but back then was a more innocent, ignorant time.)


I remember that living room was always filled with so much love and laughter. Maybe that's just my child mind as I'm sure there must have been heartache and sadness as well. But for me, they are all good memories.


So that's it...I finished another Reflection from a Mother's Heart. And it made me feel good to bring up all those memories. 

A happy childhood can't be cured.  

Mine'll hang around my neck like a rainbow, 

that's all, instead of a noose.  

~Hortense Calisher, Queenie, 1971

What do you remember of your grandparents living room? Their homes? What do you remember of your grandparents period?

The First Book of 2010 - Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

Last year I read a total of 24 books. You can click on the word list to see the list. I know that may seem like a lot but I was home one whole week while I had a radiation treatment for my now non-existent (knocking on wood) thyroid cancer. Because of the radiation I wasn't allowed to be near any human beings other than myself so I had a ton of time to read and blog. You can read my adventures in exile, here, here, here , here, here and here. There were actually six days of my captivity.

This year I haven't had a whole week to just lounge around and glow in the dark, but I've still gotten off to a pretty good start in my reading. So far I have four books under my belt and I'm more than three quarters of the way through book number five.

The first book that I read in 2010 was one given to me by my wonderfully generous and thoughtful daughter April who gave me the book Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. As many of you know this book has been made into a movie and it's a very popular book/movie among food bloggers.


I wanted to read the book first, but I happened to have a weekend early in January where I was bored and just wanted to be a couch potato so I watched the movie first. So this is a double review as I'm going to review the movie and then the book and at times both together.

The story of Julie and Julia is about thirty year old Julie Powell who decides to cook her way through Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and blog about it. It chronicles her successes and her mistakes and the changes in her along the way.

I was enchanted with the movie. I loved Amy Adams as Julie Powell. She was sweet, funny, scatter-brained and a complete drama queen...much as I am. Well the scatter-brained drama queen part anyway.

I also loved Meryl Streep (who doesn't?) She was wonderful as Julia Child. At least the Julia Child I remember on TV from my childhood. Watching Meryl I forgot it was Meryl. I only saw Julia. Julia being witty, silly, funny and animated! 

I also loved Stanley Tucci who played Julia's husband Paul. But then again I've always loved Stanley Tucci. I especially loved him in the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

The movie to me was magical and I loved the way it wove itself from scene to scene to the past and then to the present. It was so interesting learning how and when Julia learned to cook. And it was wonderful watching Julie trying to replicate Julia's recipes in a kitchen smaller than my bathroom! The lobster part was hilarious! Just watch this clip.




Was that not hilarious? I love how she screams and runs at the end! After she does that her husband comes to the rescue and puts the lid back on the pot and holds it down.

I would totally recommend the movie. The book however, not so much. I mean it was a good book but I didn't like the Julie in the book as much. And Julia didn't come to life in the book like in the movie.

In the book Julie seems very self-involved and selfish. And parts in the book literally made me sick (those parts were left out of the movie). For instance, here's an excerpt from the book:

          "As I'm turning to go to the bathroom, a tiny movement catches my eye. I look down at the counter, where the drip pan had been sitting. The origin of the legion of flies becomes nauseatingly clear. "Aaaaauuuugghhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwww!!!!!!!!!" "What?! Jesus, what?" Eric, who's spent the whole morning and into the afternoon cleaning the house, dashes into the kitchen, where he finds me, pale as a ghost, eyes like saucers, the drip pan held out from my body with one hand, pointing with a shaking finger at the counter. "What's the matt-- AUGH!"
          So what exactly does one do when faced with a thriving colony of maggots under one's dish rack? I mean other than shoot up a quick, grateful missive to the heavens for letting you live in a forward thinking time and place, in which one's husband cannot lope off one's breasts and nose for a crime called Depraved Domestic Neglect? Martha Stewart doesn't touch upon this quandry, so far as I know, the maggot one, I mean, so we had to sort of make it up as we went along. We began by hopping up and down in frantic disgust. "


Not too pretty is it? Also Julie Powell worked for a government agency in charge of as she says "filling up the holes left when the towers fell". She speaks very disparagingly about Ground Zero and the many people who would call her with problems ranging from insurance to ideas on what the towers should look like.


So I would recommend the movie very highly if you want to be entertained and enchanted. I would recommend the book only because there is so much missing from the movie that is so interesting about Julia herself.


If you've read it or seen the movie, let me know what you thought of it.

Iwanna Wednesday - It's all about Vanity

I had an aunt that was very special to me. Her name was Leonor. A beautiful name and she was a beautiful person. She passed away from cancer several years ago and even though she lived in Arizona and from the age of 18 I probably only saw her once or twice a year I miss her terribly.


I have so many memories of her, her red Buick that she claimed drove itself (I didn't know she was steering with her knees); her cowboy attire that she loved so much, her boots, her belts, her western shirts. Her love of yard-saleing and thrift store shopping and her love of dogs.


One thing that always brings back memories of Tia Leonor or Tia Nor as we called her was this beautiful vanity that she owned. I lusted after that vanity desperately and I would always ask her for it.


So today for Iwanna Wednesday Iwanna show you a vanity similar to the one my Tia Nor had and then share several that I would love to have as well.


This one is as close to the one I remember Tia Nor having that I could find and it's still falls way short of the beauty of hers. I used to imagine myself sitting in front of that vanity brushing my hair and applying makeup. Isn't it lovely, so sweet and feminine.

I couldn't believe how many different styles of vanities are available and Iwanna all of them. Which is your favorite?


Do you prefer dark wood? Then maybe this one. I love the color and its simple lines. And with the lid closed it could double as a great desk as well.

This one is so ornate and elegant and you can see the image of the bed in the mirror. I see this one in a huge bedroom with an equally elegant chaise lounge, don't you?

This one almost looks like the dresser in my bedroom and I do so love the lighter wood. The mirror on my dresser is even the same shape as this one. I wish I had room for this one! But of course, since it's Iwanna Wednesday, I can Iwanna it all I want right? Even though there's no room for it. . .

Iwanna this one as well. This one is the lighter wood and it also has my favorite color in it! Green!

But even though I love the light wood, I love the ones that are painted white. There's just something so feminine about them isn't there? I love the little keyhole details on the side doors.

And another sweet, feminine white one. The great thing about the white ones also is that you can use so many different colors in them and around them, like the bright yellows, oranges, greens and reds in this one.

And there's nothing wrong with Ivory either right? I love this! I especially love the little stool to sit on. I don't know why but it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, anyone know why?

Here's another one with dark wood. The lines aren't quite as simple in this one. Yet it's not too frou-frou you know?

And this one is my favorite...Iwanna this one! I love that it's white. I love that it's so simple. There is just nothing about this one that I don't love!

So do you have a vanity? If not which one above is your favorite? Which one do you Iwanna?

Memory of my high schools days

Today my son Jim was telling me about a car that he saw recently that he fell in love with. It's an older model car, what I would consider a muscle car.


That got me to thinking about my first car and I wanted to show him what it looked like. I'm sure I have a picture of that car, but it's probably in a box somewhere in the garage and I wasn't about to go out there and look for it on Super Bowl Sunday. But since I have the world at my fingertips, I just did a google search for a 1975 Oldsmobile Omega SX and I was lucky that not only was there a picture of the car but it's the exact same color mine was.

Of course my car was shiny and brand new. I think it had 64 miles on it when I got it.

I got it my Junior year in high school. I had only had my license for a short while and my parents decided to buy me a new car. I believed then and I still believe now that they bought me the new car to prevent me from going away to college. At that time I was making plans with my best friend Patricia to go to either San Diego State or the University of Redlands. 



Patty's dad had bought a small single wide mobile home that he was going to park in a trailer park close to the college and he wanted me to live with Patty, rent free, while we both went to school together. My parents were not thrilled with the idea, especially my dad.


My dad asked me if I wanted to go away to college, or did I want to go to a local junior college and get a new car during my Senior year. Hmmmm, tough choice for a 17 year old right? What would you choose? I obviously chose the car!


So my parents went shopping for a car for me one Saturday while I was working at a part time job I had at a store called Farmers Market. One side of the market was a market, with a full service deli. The other side of the market was like a mini Walmart, you could find anything and everything there from fabric to furniture. I worked on the Walmartish side every Saturday and Sunday.


Since I couldn't go with them, they brought cars to me. Then, as now, a car to me was simply a means to get from here to there. I didn't know much about cars, I didn't really mind what kind of car I had, I just want to get to where I was going and I wanted it to be reliable. 

The first car my parents brought to me was a brand new Ford Mustang. It was jet black with black interior. Practical me didn't even take into account that it was a MUSTANG! And a black one at that. My only thought was that during the summer it would be H.O.T. and it would take forever to cool it down. So I said no.


The next car my parents brought to me was...get this...a 1975 Lime Green Corvette. I couldn't find a picture but it was this exact same color green.

And the seats matched, they were a lime green plaid something like this.

Now, just so you understand my ignorance when it came to cars...I didn't know or realize what a Corvette was. I mean I do now, but not then. Then it was just an ugly green car! And I love green; it is my favorite color, but that was such a hideous green and the plaid "ugh" it made me shiver. So I again said no, I don't want this one either. 


So they left again and came back with the blue and white Omega SX and now after all these years I'm going to disclose that what I loved best about the car was the SX, because to me that meant Sexy, my car was sexy and if my car was sexy then obviously I was sexy. Silly I know but that's how my 17 year old mind worked then. 


And I loved that car. That car and I went through alot together. When I first got it I washed it every day after school. And I used to give my brother Fred and my sister Lisa a ride to school in it every day and every time that the car hit another 100 miles I would pull over and we would all cheer and clap and act like lunatics. I had the greatest siblings that were silly and crazy with me.

Everyone should always remember their first car. I've had many, many cars since then but never one that I washed every single day or one that I cheered and clapped for every 100 miles.  That was my Sexy car and I loved it. 


So what was your first car and what do you remember best about it? Or what was your favorite car you've every owned or what is your dream car that you hope someday to own? Do tell :-)

On the Road Again!

I feel like I've been in prison for the past week and kept away from my computer! But no...I haven't been locked up. I've just been working a lot of late hours and trying to get my paperwork in order to have my taxes done and watching American Idol and Greys Anatomy (love that show).

And while I have so many things I want to write about I'm afraid it will have to wait because I'm on the road again! Taking that old Highway 99 North to visit my daughter and beautiful, sweet, precious little Chorizo!

It wasn't a planned trip. I just decided last night. But what the heck! Why not, right?

If you're like me you'll be glued to the Super Bowl game on Sunday. Do I even know who is playing? No, but I love to watch the commercials! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!