A gift idea for the ladies

Some women get upset when they receive practical gifts. I am not one of those people.

I just finished a project here at the house today that made me think, "Wow, I should share this idea for those people who are looking for the perfect gift for that special lady in their lives."

When we finished the basement, we bought the Kohler Cimmaron toilet. It is pretty much uncloggable. I could go into details, but let's just say that in a bathroom shared by 2 teenage boys, the toilet has survived one year without any "issues."

But that is not the best feature of the toilet. The best feature is the seat that came with it. It is "quiet-close" which means it doesn't come slamming down. But better than that is it's easy removal feature.

Why would you want to remove a toilet seat? Have you ever fine-cleaned the toilet seat where it is bolted to the toilet? YUCK. Despite all efforts of toothbrush and toothpick, it never looked completely clean to me. That is, until this lovely toilet seat came into my life. You simply flip up the bolt covers and slide the whole entire seat off the toilet. I usually stick it in the shower (after wiping it off, of course) and hose it down while I simply wipe away any "remnants" of anything that might have been left at the seat/toilet junction. And then SNAP--you just click the seat back on.

Today when I was at Home Depot I walked by the toilet seat aisle. Normally, I don't stop; however, today something made me look. It had never crossed my mind that I could buy this magical seat for our other toilets, but today I knew that is exactly what I must do. For a minute, I thought, "I should just think about it. I can probably buy them online for less money." After all, I needed 3 of them. My handy Droid phone shopper application made quick work of that, and I decided that although I could save $6 overall by ordering online, I would just be spontaneous and buy them today.

The install was a snap--literally. At least, once I got the old ones off--I'll leave out the details.

So if you are wondering what would be an amazing, practical, useful, magical gift that any mom would appreciate--look no further. Just go to Home Depot. Seriously.

Another one bites the dust

I don't know what is up with KitchenAid mixers. Or maybe what is up with me. Anyway, I killed another mixer this week. This one is 1 1/2 years old.

When Mark and I got married, we took back every piece of china and silver to ZCMI and purchased a KitchenAid mixer. This was 17 years ago, and there was pretty much just one model to choose from, and one color--white. I loved that thing. I used it nearly every day for 10 years. By that time, we had 5 kids, and KitchenAid had come out with a 6-quart bowl--very handy for double batches of cookie dough. So I decided the time had come to upgrade, and I handed my old mixer off to a friend.

That 2nd mixer lasted just over a year before some gears stripped out. I took it to a repair shop, and $100 later, had a functional mixer again. About 6 months went by, and something else died in the mixer. I tried to find the part online to fix it, but it wasn't available.

The 3rd mixer lasted for a few years--until it took its last breath during a batch of sugar cookie dough almost 2 years ago. That's when I got the 4th mixer. Perhaps I would have been better off to accept the damaged box Amazon first sent me rather than insisting on a new one. I'll never know. All I know is that I should have taken the $30 extended warranty offer I got in the mail a few months before the warranty ran out.

It appears that a compression fitting on this last mixer has gone bad. The part where you attach the paddle/whisk/hook just completely fell off the mixer--not just the tiny shaft, but the big, round metal part that fits up inside the mixer. That's where the compression fitting is. The part that is acutally attached to the main mixer body has stripped out and can no longer hold onto the piece from the shaft assembly.

Merry Christmas.

To top things off, as I was rolling out the gingerbread cookie dough from the mixer's last stand, my rolling pin started to make a strange crunchy noise. This was the rolling pin I had purchased 19 1/2 years ago when I went away to BYU. I heard the noise and thought, "Man, that sounds like the ball bearings are giving out." Next thing I knew, a bunch of little metal balls came pouring out one end of the rolling pin. I finished my cookies and dumped my rolling pin in the trash.

I took a trip with Zacky to Williams-Sonoma today to get a new rolling pin and to LOOK at their mixers. I have never had a rolling pin without handles, but I bought one today, and I think it is going to make me very happy.

Now I just need to figure out a new mixer. Do I go for the 5th KitchenAid and splurge $30 for the extended warranty? KitchenAids are so pretty, and they don't jump around on the counter like a Bosch. Also, I make WAAAAAAAAAAY more cookie dough than bread, and I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the Bosch cookie dough. But it has been a loooooong time since I have used a Bosch, and 800 watts is nothing to shake a stick at.

Of course, what I would really like to buy is this:The Hobart Commercial countertop model. Only $2035.11. How many KitchenAid mixers could I go through before this was paid for?

Vegas Vacation

We are back from Las Vegas. We never would have chosen it for a vacation destination, but because the timing of their marathon, and the purported "flat and fast" course, it worked out to be our choice. I hadn't been to Las Vegas in about 17 years. My, how things can change. Many beautiful hotels, but so much yucky stuff as well. The yucky stuff was overwhelming to me, and I just wanted to hide.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay, and we pretty much didn't leave the hotel. It was a beautiful place, with about 400 restaurants inside. The attached convention center was the host of the marathon expo, and the start and finish lines were in the parking lot. We drove the course the first day, and then parked the car and didn't use it again until we drove to the airport. Honestly, there was nothing I wanted to do or see in Vegas. If only it had been warm enough for Mandalay to have their beach open.

Some of you think Las Vegas is flat. Overall, it is. Especially if you live somewhere like I do, you could say that Las Vegas is "flatter than..." The marathon organizers had promoted their "flat and fast course." The did not publish the topography of the course until one week before the race. I know why. The course was NOT flat. The first 10 miles of the half and the full were the same course--the strip. We started at Mandalay Bay and ran about 6 1/2 miles north--downhill, at which point we turned around heading south on the strip--uphill. Who makes a 1/2 marathon that has the last 1/2 of the course continuously uphill? The full marathoners took off at Treasure Island and headed west toward the mountains. They were uphill until mile 20. Not rolling hills where your legs get a little reprieve--solidly uphill. Anyway, let's just say that my second half of the race was slower than the first half.

Some people might think of Las Vegas as a warm winter destination. It's not. We came prepared for weather because---wait for it-----we checked the weather forecast! What a concept. 27,600 runners were there, and I think about 10 of them had checked the forecast before packing their bags. Doesn't everyone look at the weather for a place they are going on vacation? The race promoters had advertised an average high temperature of 58 degrees for December 6th. However, because of my higher reasoning skills, I did the math. The race started at 6:15 in the morning, at which time I knew it was not going to be the daily high temperature. With a couple of clicks of the mouse, I learned that the average morning low was 39 degrees. Right there I knew I would not be wearing my shortie shorts and a tank top. But then we went a step further and checked the actual weather, and discovered that a cold front was heading to Vegas--projected morning lows of 32-34 for the days we would be there. So into the suitcase went the tights, gloves, sleeves, hats, jackets. We were perfectly dressed for the weather. But we sure heard a LOT of angry runners complaining about how they didn't know it was going to be so cold. All I could say was DUH!

We had chosen Mandalay Bay for our stay because the race started and ended in its parking lot. Sometimes race logisics are very tricky if you have to wake up super early to take a shuttle to the starting line, or find parking at the finish line, etc. We just stayed in our warm and cozy hotel room until 6 AM, at which time we joined all the suckers out there who had been in the cold for more than an hour. No 32-degree port-a-potty for us at the start line!

Mark had high hopes of qualifying for Boston, but he also knew that this was only his 2nd marathon since getting back into running, and it might not happen. He trained so hard and diligently, and in the end his time was 3:23:29--which is lightning fast. But he needed 3:20:59 to qualify for Boston. So close, but so far away. This was easier to take because the Boston Marathon has already closed its registration for the race in April, and so he wouldn't have been able to run it until April 2011 anyway. He has already registered for the Newport, Oregon Marathon in June, at which time I have no doubt he will shave that 2 1/2 minutes off of his time and be Boston-bound.

I had originally planned to run 1:58:00 for my race. But when I found out a month ago that I had a stress fracture in my tibia, I had to cut my running way back. I hadn't run more than 9 miles in about 6 weeks, and I had been alternating days of running 5-6 miles with swimming for the past few weeks. My Seattle time last summer was 2:22:30, and I knew I could still kill that time. I decided before the race that if I could come in around 2:05 that I would be happy. I started out holding a good 8:45-9:00 pace, but that was on the downhill first half. When we turned uphill at mile 7, I slowed down a bit to 9:30. And then, at mile 11 my IT band decided to cause a problem. I stopped to stretch for about 3 1/2 minutes, and then I started running slowly. I discovered that if I kept at about a 10:30 pace--which made me crazy to run that slowly--I could run with minimal pain. Any faster, and the IT band would force me to stop and walk, and I was determined to NOT WALK the last 2 miles. So I made it. I found a kick in the last 300 yards, and crossed the finish line where my knee promptly gave out. My time was 2:08:45. 14 minutes faster than Seattle. I am registered for the 1/2 in Seattle next summer, and I can't wait to see how fast I can get in the next 6 months.

By the way, I never want to go to Las Vegas again. Except to fly there in order to get to St. George, of course.

Kneaders Curried Turkey Chowder

I'm really not much of a leftovers fan. But one thing I DO love is this soup made with leftover turkey. I've also made it with turkey deli meat cut into small pieces. It is equally delicious. Also, the recipe calls for cream, however, I make it with milk and that's plenty of creaminess for me.

Whenever I make this soup, it disappears. All 7 of our kids love this soup. I also love this soup because it whips up in about a half hour. It's a handy recipe for those nights when it is 5:00 and you haven't thought about what is for dinner yet.

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 1/2 T. chicken bouillon granules
½ cup diced green onions
1 t. curry powder
3 carrots peeled and chopped
¼ t. cayenne pepper
3 ribs diced celery
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups cream
2 cups chopped turkey breast

Roux for soup:
½ cup butter
½ cup all-purpose flour

Directions:In a stockpot combine water and veggies. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Continue to simmer until vegetables are tender. Season with curry powder, chicken bouillon, and cayenne pepper. Add turkey breast.

(Roux) In a small saucepan melt butter and slowly add flour. Stir constantly. Slowly add cream continuing to stir. Heat, but do not boil. Add roux slowly to turkey and veggies. Heat thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Grandma Bradley

Thursday I flew to Las Vegas to enjoy a weekend in St. George, Utah with Mark's grandparents, aunts and cousins. As Mark's aunt picked me up, she told me the we were moving on the plan B, because grandma had unexpectedly died that morning. She had packed their bags and was ready to go to St. George, but, as Grandpa said, she had packed her bags, but didn't tell us where she was really going.

I drove that night to Salt Lake with aunt Barb. I had an amazing weekend staying in Grandpa's home. I saw so many relatives, and many times was moved to tears not so much because I desperately missed Grandma, but more so because of the outpouring of love that I both saw and felt from everyone. Grandma had 14 children, 86 grandchildren and 144 great-grandchildren. Although she is gone, she lives in each of us, and I have always wanted to be just like her. She taught me so much, and I admired everything about her. She was hard-working, honest, constant, bold, beautiful, spunky, well-read, generous, loving, practical, efficent and devoted. Maybe the thing I liked the most about her is that she was not afraid to say what she thought--good or bad. You always knew where you stood with her. She did so much for so many, and she couldn't sit still and just chill. She had to be reading or knitting or busy with something. She was amazing.

I have so many great memories of her, but one I am forever grateful for is the time she and Grandpa stayed with us for a week when Mark's brother got married. It was so fun to be with them, one on one, for so many days. Grandma whipped my house into shape, and she and I catered the wedding breakfast in my home. I got her hooked on my sugar cookies that trip. The day after the wedding, we were unaware that one of Mark's other brothers had invited everyone over TO MY HOUSE for dinner. We had about a 30 minute window to pull dinner for what we thought was going to be 25 people together. And then 10 more showed up, and he said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you I invited them." Grandma asked, "Is there anyone else you have invited that we should know about?" He answered, "No." Just then, the doorbell rang, and Mark's dad walked in, another surprise guest. You should have seen the look on her face as she threw her hands up in the air. I wasn't happy about 11 unexpected guests who thought they were invited, but Grandma really couldn't believe it. But we pulled it off, and she joked that night about the loaves and fishes we had served. It was a very random meal. We had one whole salmon that we cooked, and then tater tots, macaroni and cheese, and 7-layer dip. There were 2 apple pies and 1/2 gallon of ice cream left from the wedding breakfast, and Grandma did an excellent job of rationing the ice cream. Nobody dared to ask for a bigger scoop.

I love you, Grandma. I always have, and I always will.

Bella's Mittens

Next week I am going to start a new project. First I need to get my Halloween sewing over. Noah decided that his Rhino the Hamster needed a tail, Bolt wanted feet, and Jake decided he wants a gorilla costume. Tail and feet are done, but I'm heading to the fabric store in a minute to get the makings for a teenage gorilla.

I like to take my knitting bag with me wherever I go; you never know when you're going to end up waiting somewhere with nothing to do. I have a very hard time sitting still, and I need something to do in those situations.

Apparently these are the mittens Bella wore in the first Twilight movie. I am not willing to torture myself by watching it again to verify that fact--I'll just have to trust my nieces. I do love these mittens. Why do glove-makers make gloves and mittens so that 3 inches of my arm is exposed to cold, wind and snow between the end of my sleeve and the top of the glove? I guess it could just be my freakish anatomy where my limbs abnormally long. Who knows? At least these mittens will keep me toasty.

If you are a knitter, you can download the pattern here.

My 3rd teenager

Wow. I am an oldie. I have 3 teenage kids. How did this happen?

Jake turned 13 last week. He is such a sweet boy, and his brown eyes are just incredible. I love how he notices things that need to be done and does them. Don't tell anyone, but I know he is the laundry fairy that secretly does the laundry for me every chance he gets. He also notices things that might be a problem in the future and does what he can to make things go without a hitch. He's also a fabulous violin player.

I love my Jakey Bob.

Halloween sneak peek!

I have always loved making Halloween costumes. Maybe for my next post I'll go through the old photo albums to catalog my creations. Last year was the first year I did not make any costumes. All because I ended up in the ER with tummy trouble during costume-making season last year, and the kids had to scrounge in the costume boxes for something they wanted. Fortunately, we have quite a selection after all of these years.

It all started when Abram was 5 months old and I saw a pattern for a skunk costume. I knew he had to have it, and so I got busy and made it. The next year, Aubrey wore it (with a new bow sewn to the head) and Abram got a new Winnie-the-Pooh costume. This was years before Winnie the Pooh was anywhere to be seen on anything, and so I had to create this one on my own.

Each year since, I have made 1, 2, 3, or 4 costumes. A couple of times I have purchased costumes (mostly on clearance at the Disney store after Halloween) and added them to our costume boxes. My new favorite is the owl at the top of this post. It is quite a spectacle, especially with the bright stripey tights Savanna picked to go with it.
Zachary wanted to be Bolt. He loves Bolt. He thinks he is Bolt. Apparently, Disney has no idea how much money they could be making with Bolt costumes, toys, clothes--ANYTHING! So I took creative license and stitched up this little Bolt costume for Zachary.Savanna and Zack posed on the stairs so I could get some pictures of their costumes. I have finished Noah's Rhino the hamster costume--and it is super cute, too. I just need take some pictures of him. He has the PERFECT teeth to be Rhino this year. And he is super wild and crazy and hyper and cute. Once again, Disney could have made a fortune on Bolt costumes. I'll get a picture of Noah later, and tell you about the crazy pattern hybrid I used to make his costume.
Savanna was going to be Penny from Bolt, but once we found this owl pattern, that's all there was to it.

Mt. Edith Cavell

There is an amazing, beautiful mountain in Jasper National Park called Mt. Edith Cavell. When I first heard this name, I thought it was odd. Who in the heck is Edith Cavell? Well, it turns out that she was one of the bravest and most noble women to ever live.

Edith Cavell was a British nurse in charge of a nursing school in Brussels, Belgium. When WWI broke out, Edith refused to leave her post, and even as the Germans conquered Brussels and and the Red Cross took over the nursing school, she stayed. She said, "I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved". She was free to return to England, but she wouldn't leave. She was not only saving German lives in the hospital as a nurse, but she also began hiding British soldiers and helping them escape to neutral Holland. She is credited with saving at least 200 soldiers through an underground organization. When the Germans discovered this, she was charged with treason and shot. The Canadian government later decided to name the grandest peak in Jasper Park after her to honor her.

On one side of this mountain, there is a mile-high cliff, and beautiful Angel Glacier. We love to visit Angel Glacier. It is a small hike, but you come to a beautiful lake of blue glacier melt, and you can see icebergs breaking off of the glacier and floating across the lake toward the shore. We interrupted a film crew there this year. They were annoyed, but we had driven a long way, and you have to get up to the glacier early in order to avoid the crazy crowds that visit it each day, and we weren't going to let them push us around. "But we are going to be showing this movie all over Europe." Big deal. We had driven 1000 miles in a van with 9 people. I wasn't in the mood for a temper tantrum.

Here are some random pictures from our adventure that day.


















If you're ever in Jasper, you must take the windy, one-lane drive up the mountain to get to Angel Glacier.

Icefields Highway

Here's another installment of the Canadian Adventure.

One of my favorite things in Alberta is the drive along the Icefields Highway. It goes from Lake Louise northwest to Jasper. It's not very long in miles (or kilometers), but it can take all day because there is so much to see. Seriously. I usually get annoyed by anyone wanting to stop on a road trip. A road trip is usually just necessary torture you must go through to arrive somewhere. However, some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life are on this section of Hwy 93 between Lake Louise and Jasper. For example:

Waterfowl Lake

The Saskatchewan River valley
Athabasca Falls


Mistaya Canyon
Sunwapta FallsI know there are many more pictures I could grab, but that gives you a basic idea. Waterfalls, glaciers and blue lakes galore. Most of the places you can simply pull over to see, but a few of them require a short walk or hike. Mistaya Canyon is a very hidden treasure. From the road you would have no idea that anything worth seeing was down the trail, but it is truly stunning to see how the river has carved and sculpted the rocks over time.

Sunwapta Falls is an easy one to get to and to walk around and see. The trails and bridges were mostly strategically constructed to not hinder the view. However, Athabasca Falls is a tragedy. It's such an incredible rushing river that suddenly drops into a garden of enormous sculpted rocks and then flows into a high-walled canyon. But some idiot in the 60s constructed a bunch of hiddeous concrete walls and bridges EVERYWHERE. Sure, it makes walking around easy, but it is like a really, really bad 60s zoo exhibit. But the Athabasca River is beautiful--even though you have to see it with ugly concrete in the foreground.

The whole drive is full of beautiful vistas. If you're ever driving through there, take your time, bring your camera and tripod, and bring plenty of water and food. There are overpriced cafeterias at Athabasca Glacier and Sunwapta Falls, but, other than that, you're on your own for food and water.

Although the drive was amazing again, it was nice to finally get to our hotel in Jasper--my favorite town. I'll save that for my next post.

I am a winner!

Throughout my life, I have won ribbons for various things. Once in 3rd grade, I won 1st place for the "vegetable art" contest. I also won a spelling bee or two. In 9th grade, I won a bunch of awards for certain nerdy things, including one from the state math contest. I even got a cash reward at the 9th grade awards night to cover my high school registration fees. In high school I lettered in ACADEMICS. Yes. Did you know you can do that? I did all three years. I did not get a letterman jacket, however. I settled for the S applique and the pins. I kept it hidden in a box under my bed with all of my other nerdy things. I got a 4-year full tuition scholarship to BYU as a reward for my studiousness. When I graduated from college, I was Summa Cum Laude, and I got to wear a special ribbon around my neck.

I'm not telling you these things to brag. I'm just trying to lay out a pattern. Did anyone notice what it was? None of the awards I have earned were in anything sports-related. In fact, I stink at almost every sport. I've blogged before about the years of wasted dance lessons and soccer teams that my parents provided for me. They were doing their best to try to help my uncoordinated body learn to function in a semi-socially acceptable fashion. When I was in 5th grade and the goalie of a soccer team, I accidentally kicked the ball over my head and into the net, scoring the winning point for the evil Roadrunners. Oh, how we hated that team. At this point, my parents and I both reached a silent understanding that they didn't need to sign me up for soccer ever again.

I was always tall for my age. I haven't grown since 5th grade. Yes. I was a freak. Everyone thought I should play volleyball and basketball for my Jr High team. I tried out in 7th grade--and didn't even make the first cut. I resigned myself to be a lifelong spectator. And I do love to watch sports. But I haven't ever tried anything until I got this running bug in January. It turns out that there was a sport I can be mediocre and not just pathetic in.

The Seattle 1/2 marathon was my first ever race. I did alright--I didn't walk and that was my goal. Today I ran my 2nd race--a 15k (9.3 miles for those metric-handicapped folks). I wanted to keep around a 9 minute pace. That was my goal. I started out just a little bit slower to warm up, and kept around a 9:20 pace for the first 2 miles. I could have been much faster, but the east wind reared its ugly head at about 2:00 am, and so the first 5 miles of the race were pretty much into the wind. I finished strong, averaging about 8:40 for the last 3 miles. Overall, my pace was 9:09 with a time of 1:24:30. I was on track for finishing a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours. That's my goal for Las Vegas.

The funny thing was that when the race was over, and the runners were all waiting around as the awards were announced, MY name was called. I was stunned. Me? Jill? I had placed 5th in the 35-39 year female bracket, and I got a sweet ribbon to prove it!

It only took 37 years for me to earn a ribbon in a sporting event. Won't my momma be so proud? Hooray for me.

If only I had saved my ribbon from the 1979 Vegetable Art competition.

Lake Louise

Our next stop in Alberta was Lake Louise. We did not stay at the ultra fancy and beautiful Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise you've probably seen in pictures. Although it is in a primo location, and is very beautiful, it is a bit out of our price range--especially when we have to get 2 rooms. In the village of Lake Louise, there are many, many run-down, yucky places to stay if you can't afford the Chateau. There are a couple of nicer places near the Fairmont, but they are also very expensive--again 2 rooms sort of adds up. We discovered a little treasure last year, though at the Lake Louise Inn.

It's not fancy, but they have a loft suite that sleeps 8 (or 9). It's big and clean and has a full kitchen (again, for a cheapskate like me this is huge). The kids especially love the pool at the Lake Louise Inn. It is very nice, with a huge pool and 2 hot tubs. Last time we stayed here we did not come prepared for the cost of food in Lake Louise. Not just restaurants, but also the ONE market in Lake Louise has outrageous prices. It was like grocery shopping in Belize. Except that in Belize, if a box of cereal was $12, you knew that it was actually $6 US dollars, and that was OK because that box had come from the US and then over on a boat to the island. But in Lake Louise, right off of THE main highway through Canada, this one market really takes advantage of all of the tourists. Cereal was $12 a box. Milk was $9 a gallon. Cream cheese was $7 for a tiny tub. It is a huge stop for bus tours, and all of these people walk to this market to buy their food--it's the only option, and as I learned in 2nd grade, the law of supply and demand sets the prices. That's fine--but you know what they say, "Burn me once...." This year we were prepared and stocked up on food at Safeway in Canmore before heading to Lake Louise.

My favorite place near Lake Louise is Moraine Lake. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth--and so is the Valley of the Ten Peaks you drive through to get to it. Seriously, it takes your breath away. When we go here, I am like a kid at Christmas--I just can't wait to come around the corner to see it.

We hiked up the big rock pile to the panoramic viewpoint at Moraine Lake. The kids had fun scrambling and climbing all of the rocks. I just sat and took in the bright blue water and incredible mountains all around. Heaven.



We then went to Lake Louise. It is beautiful, but just SO touristy. It is insane how many people are there. Of course we had to stop and get our photos taken at the usual spot and also go inside the fancy Fairmont and see the overrated harpist making simple songs sound fancy with glissando while gaggles of spectators took her picture. It makes us laugh every time. And then we went back to the hotel for a swim.









One other fun thing to do in Lake Louise is the gondola at the Lake Louise ski resort. It takes you up mid-mountain and gives you a stunning view of the Bow Valley. Just remember to take off your hat before you head up on the gondola--Savanna lost hers when a breeze came through. I hope the black bear we saw picked it up and took it home to his little princess.