Monthly Archives: September 2009

It’s a $10 million home…

Posted on September 5, 2009 | 1 Comment

… and I still have a few issues with it! We went on a home tour today and I only saw two, the first was 5,000 sf and the second a ski-in, ski-out 10,000 sf on the Canyons Resort. This is a designer’s showcase and the first one we saw was sold. The second is for sale with designer furnishings. Both were lovely.

To live out here with a heated roof and garage and driveway… that’s the way to do it. Now how do we get the $10 million? Different countertops in each bath, onyx or fossilized marble or granite. Put up your skis and boots and come in where at least ten people can take a steam shower. And there’s ski storage inside in two places (in-season and off-season) plus three front-loading washers and dryers, two pair on the living level and one pair downstairs for ski gear.

The kitchen was amazing. We were at least at 8,000 feet above sea level. We stopped on the way out of this private complex of multi-million dollar homes to take a photo and Jim’s mother (his mom and dad are visiting from TX for a week) said she thought someone was burning something. I said that was the brakes on our AWD vehicle!

Friends are driving into town tomorrow so I’m meeting them for lunch. Jim and his folks will continue the tour or go to Park Silly market first. It’s good that he also has some quality time to spend with them without me. We’re having a good time together. It’s always good to see them when they’re “off” work, really off work. His dad still sits on the corner of the sofa and reads a book. Mom is more animated and likes hanging out and wants to help but I haven’t let her so so much as she’s on vacation! Dad’s off the ranch and can’t do anything with the cattle but call the guy who’s helping out for a few days. The guy’s in his 80′s and they’ve been friends for probably 40 years so what can they talk about that hasn’t been talked about in that time?

Jim and I’ve been married near 7 years and while new things come up, new jobs and moves and issues, the old stories remain the old stories! I wouldn’t trust him to take care of this place when I was away. He’d go back to clean pile, dirty pile for laundry and he’s good at taking the dog out but I’d definitely have to get a maid and he’d run up some restaurant bills, to be sure.

So we came back to our probably 1,300 sf townhome happy to be where we are and hope we can stay a while. So what if the hot tub is 18″ from a public pathway. We had it drained. Oh, there was a nice one that the skiers schuss through on the deck of the $10 mil home but those skiers don’t stop to tell the residents “You’re planting those herbs too soon, it’s going to freeze!” and all the other unsolicited advice we’ve received over the last five months.

I cooked a nice simple dinner that you’ve heard before. Baked chicken breasts dipped in milk, flour, egg and panko crumbs. Loaded baked potatoes, and sliced cluster tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried basil.

I couldn’t take pictures of stuff. We have guests and the counter is not quite camera-ready. Hope you’re cooking away and having a marvelous weekend. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Utah

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The More I Write

Posted on September 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

the more I hear from you. I’ve learned so much from readers, contributors and fellow bloggers over the past 14 months I wouldn’t know what to do without you. My life is more fulfilling with you in it. Nearly a year ago I lost my mom. Now hospice sites have found me and are reaching out, and I’m telling them of the good things the hospice did but don’t want to dwell on it or go into hospice care as a profession because I don’t have the strength to do it. I can and will be there for any family member during their time of need, and help any of my pets, or young friends animals who will not live without a meaningful life go to greater rewards. I will hold that animal before, during and after and deposit its remains in the most appropriate place.

Recipes remain an issue as to copyright. I have some coming up for you but it’s late and I need to greet my guests early morning and cook them breakfast before I send them on their way for the day and catch up on laundry and cleaning.

It’s interesting that my closest bloggers are cooks, involved with Washington politics, are knitters or mothers of soldiers in Iraq. Susan, I hope he’s OK. Yes or no, let us know what we can do. I love you guys. Thanks for sticking with me and I’m there for you as well. Night, now. Dee

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Posted in Editorial

Busy Day

Posted on September 2, 2009 | 4 Comments

En route to the airport to pick up Jim’s folks I stopped at a guitar store to check on what neck adjustment/setup I need. It’ll take three weeks. I told them my teacher will kill me if I don’t practice for three weeks! Then I got gas and made my way to the airport, buying bottled water for the lowlanders who are expected to have some adjustment to the altitude.

We ate out on the deck, as the sun went behind the mountains and these native Texans found their first cool breeze in months. I made great ribeyes, loaded baked potatoes (butter, salt, pepper, sour cream, bacon – applewood smoked, and chives) and sauteed the last of the red and gold cherry tomatoes for color and flavor. It went over well.

Tomorrow they’ll sleep in and I’ll take them downtown when they want to go, then Jim will take them to dinner and hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse. I still have to get tix for the home tour this weekend.

There was no time to nicely clear my “desk,” aka the dining room table. So tomorrow I’ll go to Wal-Mart and get a card table that I can cover with a nice cloth and we can eat in front of the fireplace. We have chairs, just no flat surface to eat on! Gotta get upstairs for Top Chef soon! Unfortunately I don’t care about them in the least until the field has winnowed a bit. But the challenges are interesting.

Thanks for reading and commenting – keep it up! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Utah

Amends

Posted on September 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

I think I know why I took up guitar at age fifty. I remember Mrs. Smith (violin), Mrs. Pullano (voice) and Mrs. Rotunda (voice) from grade school and middle school. I remember Mrs. Hoffman (piano) from private lessons, then Mrs. K who my mother fired for cutting my and my little sister’s nails well below the quick because she thought she heard a click on the keys. I was twelve. I was eleven when I rebelled and told my father, a violinist, I no longer wanted to play violin.

Giving up piano and ballet were easier. We moved from a small village to the big city and there was a mall nearby that my girlfriends frequented. It was more fun to wear nail polish and hang out at the mall than no polish and no nails and practice.

Today, I hear no recriminations about practice except in my own head. No-one says “I’m paying good money for these lessons,” though my loving husband could do so. It was April 15, I’d filed our taxes and went out and bought a guitar, the wrong guitar for me because it was too big.

Dueling Guitars

Dueling Guitars

Today, I have a new Seagull acoustic guitar made of Canadian hardwoods from my Mom’s province and it’s decidedly folk and I’m a beginner. My new teacher had me play Eleanor Rigby today, a song I learned in the fourth grade in poetry. I love this song. He taught me a bit about vocalization and asked if I could read music and tell him of the note that started the song. I told him and sang it. He then said he’d play and wanted me to sing the first verse. We stopped for a moment and he told me I have perfect pitch. I said, “I know.”

This makes it sad that my faux hippie girlfriends were more interesting to me than learning music. My life would have been quite different had I mastered an instrument at an early age, but I may never have met my soul mate. So, as of today, my mother’s heritage is being honored through the guitar, plus my father and grandfather for instilling a love of music in me that has been unrequited for some time. I may be doing penance for my ‘tween years but it’s fruitful and I know my husband loves to hear me progress in my studies. That, and my willingness to learn, may make me good enough to play for family and friends. Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Utah

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Today’s The Day

Posted on September 2, 2009 | 3 Comments

Jim’s parents are coming out for a visit. A whole week! Normally I like to have a travel book and local magazines handy for guests to peruse and figure out what they’re going to do, but I think this time they’ll be more exhausted from this “vacation” than if they hadn’t taken off work!

There’s the local showcase of homes at which they plan to spend at least two days of the long weekend. We have to go to the Park Silly market on Sunday because my hairdresser’s relatives are coming down from Logan for the farmer’s market bringing heirloom tomatoes and fingerling potatoes that will be featured on my daily menu.

We’d like to send them on the really cool commuter train to several museums and lunch in Ogden one day that Jim’s at work. And so on. This family doesn’t take vacations, much less fly 1,500 miles to get there. When Jim and I first met, his parents had run a dairy for their entire lives. Shortly before we married I was trying to get the lay of the land on family traditions. I asked Jim what his family did for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. He replied, “milked cows.” So while his father gave up the dairy he still raises cattle, and Margie got 7 goats last year that now number 35, it’s tough to get him off the farm but he’s cut more hay this year than ever before and can take a week off.

I think they’ll love it up here in the mountains. The home tour will provide additional ideas and inspiration for the retirement home they’re planning in Texas, and I’ve also asked for information on touring a nature preserve for local native grasses. They’ve already done research on native grasses in TX and would like to have these as a feature of their new property. Plus they’ve never been to UT and would like to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the copper mine so they’ll be busy. No sitting on the sofa reading civil war books!

It’s cool enough at night that we can cook out and eat on the deck, then come in and start a fire. We’re looking forward to it. I’ll finish cleaning, get a table for dining in (I’m not going to be able to move my desk from the dining table, ran out of time) and we can use the chairs. It’ll work. Awaiting delivery of fruits and veg and steaks from the organic farm so we pretty much have breakfasts and dinners covered. The ribeyes from this farm are excellent and we’ll have some tonight, along with organic russet potatoes with all the fixings and I’ll saute some red and gold cherry tomatoes for color and flavor.

I guess we love new places, new challenges, and enjoy sharing them with family and friends. Writing time may be scarce but I’ll try to keep up. Maybe Jim’s mother can do a post! Cheers, Dee

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Posted in Editorial, Travel, Utah

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