SO MUCH FOR RESOLVE...

Christmas is a time filled with all kinds of delicious 'things and stuff" to eat-- probably the "most wonderful time of the year" when it comes to food! However, I had decided I had eaten enough sugar cookies this season. I wasn't going to eat another sugar cookie..... until we stopped at our friends home on Christmas eve. Suzanne, who is an excellent cook had made us a platter (actually three platters but not all for me!) of her delicious sugar cookies baked from her secret recipe. When it comes to home made sugar cookies, in my opinion, there is a tie for the very best! One is made by someone who knows who they are and wishes to remain anonymous and the other is made by Suzanne! SO GOOD! Actually. as good as it gets! Do I dare to say "to die for"?

Ok, to die for!

I still didn't share with Santa (see the next post) because he is on a diet and I wanted the cookies all to myself! So much for resolve.

WHEN SANTA IS ON A DIET......

Interesting and so sad..... NO sugar cookies for Santa this year at the Draper house! Santa did too much research looking for the best sugar cookie around and now he has to pay the price. I don't know if apples and crystal light will make a difference when you think about all the "things and stuff" Santa ate on Christmas Eve but I have heard that drinking a zero calorie drink wipes out the calories in at least one sugar cookie.... It doesn't? Well it doesn't hurt to dream does it?

Oh, and if your are still curious about the "GREAT SUGAR COOKIE SEARCH", the results are coming very soon. I had to make sure I had all the facts together before I posted the results!

Keep watching...................

I MISS BEN-YEAH!!

So, when we were in Houston last week we were just checking out some 'things and stuff' and doing a little exploring on our way to the rehearsal dinner. Actually, we were just trying to find the rehearsal dinner... thank goodness for GPS. We were driving east (I think) from our hotel on Westheimer Road looking for River Oaks Drive on our way to the River Oaks Country Club. The shopping is amazing along that section of Westheimer with stores like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, The Paper Source and a million (not really, but a lot) other great stores. The traffic was really bad at that time of day and our GPS was running just a little slow... like we just passed our turn slow. Turns out that there is not a road sign on River Oaks Drive. I guess if you are going there you should know where it is. Anyway... I made a quick left into a strip mall parking lot to turn around. I glanced up as we went through the lot and saw...

...THIS!!!

There used to be a Crescent City not far from us on Highland Drive in the Canyon Cove plaza and we used to love to go there for breakfast on Saturday morning. Eggs Nola and a fresh beignet! SO GOOD!

I knew where we were going for breakfast the next day... maybe lunch also. Just kidding... kind of!

There is nothing quite as great as sitting at a table on the sidewalk at the Cafe Du Monde on Decatur Street in New Orleans. Listening to some great Jazz music, enjoying the view of Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral and eating fresh beignets heaped with powdered sugar, but Crescent City is a close second!

What is a 'BEIGNET'? Pronounced 'ben-yey' it is basically a square, deep-fried pastry served hot and sprinkled with icing (powdered) sugar. Kind of like a scone or a sopapilla (like the ones at the Plaza Cafe in Santa Fe) only not as sweet. The Cafe Du Monde heaps on the powdered sugar so when you leave you usually have sugar all over you. If there is a breeze blowing you end up sharing your sugar with your neighbors also!!!

Suzie's favorite are the strips with cinnamon and sugar...

My favorite are the strips drizzled with chocolate and vanilla icing topped with a little powdered sugar.

So good! I guess it is good that the Crescent by us closed... I could eat these 'things' every day. Not very healthy and I would be as big as a house! But I must admit, I would enjoy every bite!

Is there any place in Salt Lake to get beignets? Let me know, I will try to stay away!

THE OTHER HALF OF WHAT?

You know how sometimes, jokingly, you say something like "I would love to see how the other half lives..."? I said that the other day and someone said, "the other half of what"? Well, last week we had an invitation to attend an event in Houston that showed us exactly that; how the other half lives and WOW! What an experience! I won't divulge the names of the parties involved, I will just say that the son of some good friends married very well! It started with a fully engraved invitation (including the envelopes) that required four dollars in postage. The invitations for our wedding were engraved but that was twenty seven years ago. I didn't realize that people still did 'things and stuff' like that.

The 'celebration' was held at the Bayou Club which is the most exclusive club in Houston. You don't buy a membership to the club... they are only passed down or inherited. Anyway, this was the entrance to the tent which was the largest tent erected for a private function in Houston. The floor was built over the swimming pool out the back of the club. The chairs are set up for 300 of their closest friends and family... The low curtains down the side and the large panel at the end of the tent were just the backdrops for the ring ceremony. The couple was actually married in Salt Lake City on Thursday then flew in their private jet to Houston for the 'ring ceremony and celebration' on Saturday.

The groomsmen in white tie and tails! And there were more bridesmaids.....

This is just to give an idea of the scale. The flowers were absolutely spectacular!!! White hydrangeas, Casablanca lilies, pale pink Colombian roses. The bridesmaids all had bouquets like the Maid of Honor. The arrangements at the entrance to the club were similar to the one behind the bride but even larger! Spectacular!

Scale again! There were ten chandeliers like this one. When the backdrop came down, there was a sixteen piece orchestra with four jazz singers providing music for dancing and entertainment.

Following the ring ceremony they invited us to go back into the club house for cocktails and hor' devours while they transformed the tent into this! Really, spectacular! They had four food stations with a variety of delicious treats including prime rib, seared scallops, shrimp and seafood gumbo. The cake had seven tiers and the flavor was, (drum roll.....) wedding cake! My favorite! I am still looking for the secret to what makes wedding cake wedding cake!

Beautiful!

With our friends, the Williams-- Father and Mother of the groom.

I do clean up occasionally, and my hair is finally growing in from Halloween! Oh, the arrow over Suzie's shoulder is pointing to Mike Leavitt, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the former Governor of the great state of Utah. The senior Bushes were also on the guest list but they decided the Secret Service security issues were too complex so they canceled.

This was one of the place cards for the rehearsal dinner held the night before the celebration at the River Oaks Country Club, and yes, Mitt was there.

I have been to a lot of big events in my life but this one was truly amazing. It was fun to be invited and it was fun to be able to attend. Every once in a while you have to break out of your comfort zone and do something new and different. It is good to see all of the 'things and stuff' that happens outside of our everyday life, but it is also good to come home to our cozy, comfortable life.

Thanks, Lana, for the invitation! It was wonderful!

THANKFUL RETROSPECTIVE...

Getting ready for Thanksgiving is always a great opportunity to think about all of the 'things and stuff' you are truly thankful for... health, family, freedom, etc. As I mentioned the other day, our family builds a paper turkey and lists the 'things' we are thankful for on tail feathers and we post them to share with everyone. After Thanksgiving is a good opportunity to revisit the things we have listed that we are thankful for and make plans to carry those blessings in to the future.

We should take time to SAVOR the blessings we have. Life goes so fast that at times we don't take time to really appreciate the blessings we enjoy, especially with the Christmas Holidays right around the corner. Now that we have taken time to list our blessings, it is important to take time to SAVOR those blessings. As we savor it is important to SHARE those blessings again with those we love and with those who are important to us. Make sure people know how you feel about them and how grateful you are that they are in your life. Finally, we should extend our blessings to others through SERVICE. By providing SERVICE to others our spirits are lifted and our blessings grow.

As we go into the Christmas Holiday, remember those who are less fortunate and share with them some of your extra blessings. I am a true believer in karma... share what you can and you will always have what you need.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

SAMI AND THE TURKEY!

GIVE THANKS!

It is that time of year again when we step back, look at the 'things and stuff' in our lives and realize how truly blessed we are. No matter what challenges we might be facing, it could be worse. We should always be grateful for our blessing, but the holiday coming up next week gives us a reason to really take stock of what we have and express those blessings and feelings to those around us.

How you express your feeling is up to you... it is just important that you share. I have some friends that drop "blessings" (small notes) into a jar during the month. On Thanksgiving when everyone is gathered around the table they pass the jar and each person reads one of the notes inside. Sometimes they try to guess who wrote it, sometimes they just all agree that is a good reason to be thankful.

Another family I know just goes around the table on Thanksgiving and each person expresses one thing in life that they are truly thankful for. It requires some thought in advance because they can't just say "I am thankful for my family" or "I am thankful for my job". It has to be something personal-- and each person has to have their own-- no repeating! Fun and challenging.

Our family makes a turkey out of construction paper and tapes it on the fridge. Then we cut out an envelope full of colorful paper feathers. Each day during the week before Thanksgiving we pull a feather out of the envelope, write one thing we are thankful for and then tape it in place around the turkey. By Thanksgiving day our turkey has a beautiful full tail of feathers and covers the front of the refrigerator. Years ago our turkey was a simple tracing of a hand (you know, the nursery school trick for drawing a turkey) but as the kids have grown it has gotten more elaborate. When Thanksgiving is past I will post a photo of our turkey. It really is a fun tradition-- and you know how our family is about tradition!

Personally, I think I am a pretty lucky person and that I have been blessed with so much more than I deserve. I have an amazing family, and an incredible wife whom I love very much. We are an amazing team. Put us together with the kids and we are unstoppable! Seriously! Maybe I am bragging...but this is my blog so I can brag if I want! Hopefully you feel the same about your family. If you do, tell them. Take advantage of the holiday to express your gratitude for all of the 'things and stuff' in your life. Our lives are truly blessed... share those blessings with others!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

If your family has a fun Thanksgiving tradition let me know and I will share it with everyone!

ISN'T IT SAD?

Our poor fir tree (left of center above) finally gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago. We tried all of the 'things and stuff' that we could do to save it, but our efforts were unrewarded. The tree had forked at about the three foot mark so as it got taller it was really two trees struggling to survive. We had the back fork taken out last spring thinking it might help the front survive. It worked for a while-- several of the branches actually started curving around to fill in the back. We fertilized, fed, sprayed, watered; anything we could do to help the poor tree. Spring started out great with lots of new growth and it was looking like it might actually survive... Then the needles started to drop. The first ten feet still looked pretty good but the top thirty feet or so was thinning and starting to die.

It was time to put the poor fir tree out of its misery. I really hated to see the tree go. It had been so beautiful for so long. It was a pretty big tree when we moved in but over sixteen years it had gotten really huge and provided great shade for our house all summer long. Now I feel like we are totally exposed... Oh well. We must embrace change (hard to do) and accept the fact that life is not static (shocking!). Now that the tree is gone it opens up the front to all kinds of interesting possibilities. Perhaps a bigger porch? A pergola? New steps and a sidewalk? Two rocking chairs for watching the sunset? (Not ready for that yet...) Anyway, that is a project for summer. I have plenty to keep me busy for the winter. Suzie seems to think the kitchen needs some work. I will keep you posted on that.

This was our lovely house when we moved in. The year was 1993. The house had not been loved for a long time and was in terrible shape. But it was a great deal and had such potential we decided to go for it. It was a DIY (do it yourself) adventure (and nightmare as the kids like to remind me. "Remember Christmas with no kitchen and plywood floors?") and we worked our way through the house one room at a time. Now, after sixteen years it has turned into a home that is obviously loved... And if I can be mushy for a minute-- it is also a home full of love. Even if it is loved I guess after sixteen years it is starting to look tired. Maybe the kitchen does need a face lift..

Oh, if you need some 'things and stuff' done in your yard, like tree removal, call Heidi and Lonnie. It was a kick watching these two petite girls swinging chain saws! They did quick work of our tree and they cleaned up after themselves!

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS????

Is there something wrong with this picture? I was putting away the last of the Halloween decor today and I realized that perhaps I have a holiday 'PROBLEM'. Then I thought, "I don't have a problem", I have just learned that if I don't buy the 'things and stuff' I like when I see it, the 'stuff' is usually gone when I go back. Seriously, I don't have a problem... Really, I don't. Seriously!

SERIOUSLY!

MY FAVORITE "THINGS" (& stuff) #3

Amazon Kindle!!
AMAZON KINDLE!

So, I have never been a real reader... I mean, I read when we are on vacation or when we are traveling, but I usually have so many other 'things & stuff' going on that I don't do a lot of reading. Actually, Suzie will tell you the reason I don't read a lot is because when I start a book I can't put it down until I am finished. She says I can be a little obsessive-compulsive. What ever.

Anyway... Deni, Erin and Suzie all have Kindles and they love them. I personally couldn't see a reason to have one of my own. I figured I could buy a lot of books for what it would cost for a Kindle and I wouldn't get my moneys worth. Well, even I can be wrong at times! LOL!

I was laying in bed one morning trying to make myself get up when a commercial came on for the "new" Kindle. Only $139.00! Or $189.00 if you want 3-G wireless (which you really want!). What a deal! I got up and ordered one right then. Unfortunately, they were on back order for a month! Dang. Oh well, I haven't had a Kindle so it wouldn't hurt me to wait.

September 15th my Kindle finally arrived. That day I downloaded the 'Hunger Games'. Finished it in two days. Ordered 'Catching Fire' that night from my bed and it downloaded immediately. (The 3-G wireless is SO worth it!). Finished that in a couple of days and then read 'Mocking Jay'. 'Hunger Games was the best, didn't love 'Mocking Jay'.

So, then I read the last three books in the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series, 'Dead to Worse', 'Dead and Gone' and 'Dead in the Family'. Then I read 'A Touch of Dead' which is a collection of short stories that fill in the blanks between the books.

Next was 'The House of the Vampire' by George Vierick, which is a 1907 Victorian Gothic novella where the vampire steals peoples thoughts and ideas rather than sucking their blood. Then I read J.R. Rains 'The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo' and 'The Oldest Living Vampire Tells All' by Rod Reduxx (kind of trashy but an interesting concept). Next was the 'Vampire for Hire' series by J.R. Rain, 'Moon Dance' and 'Vampire Moon', and then 'The Bleeder and Other Stories' and 'Teeth and Other Stories' also by J.R. Rain.

While we were in Bryce I read Bram Stokers 'Dracula' (loved it!). Then 'Frankenstein: Lost Souls' which is number four in the Dean Koontz series.

Now I am reading Mary Shelleys 'Frankenstein'. Classic.

So, I have had my Kindle for like six weeks and have easily gotten my moneys worth. The books are usually very cheap... Dracula was only ninety nine cents. The new hard bound True Blood book was only $7.99 on Kindle, $24.95 at the book store. The thing I love the most is that you don't have to go to the bookstore ever! If you finish a book in the middle of the night you can get another one without even getting out of bed! And you don't have to worry about storing all of those books! You can get hundreds of books and they all fit in the palm of your hand! Love it.

The only problem I have with the Kindle is that every time you get it out to read everyone around you wants to know if that is a Kindle. Then they want to talk about it. 'Yes", I say, "this is the new Kindle. Yes, I love it. Yes, it is great! Yes, you should get one! Now leave me alone so I can read!". Kidding. But seriously, the Kindle has been my new favorite 'THING' (& stuff) for over a month and I don't see it changing any time soon. You should get one! It could be your favorite 'thing' too!

COMMITTMENT TO THE COSTUME.....

So, when I commit to something I usually go with it all the way... right? Authenticity and attention to detail is VERY important! I had a vision for my costume and a wig with a skin head was just not going to cut it. You know what my son always says... 'Go big or go home'! Well, I went big.....


Yes, I shaved it off!!! Only the top came off for Halloween but the rest had to come off on Monday morning before I could go to work. Can you imagine the mullet I would have had if I had let it grow with the fringe? The thing that was really scary was with all the make-up I had on, my hair color was my own. I didn't have to put any gray in it for effect... I had enough gray of my own.

Funny thing today... My Bishop had me stand up at church and introduce myself with the other visitors. He had no idea who I was... but maybe that is not a bad thing, right?

ALL HALLOWS EVE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

Welcome to my nightmare! I know I have been a major slacker on updating my blog, but I think when you see what I have been working on you will understand. Halloween is finally here and I have created some great 'things and stuff' to share. In fact KSL television came out and did a story about us this year. The hours of planning and preparation have been worth it!

I wanted to share all of the details so I have written three blog postings that break up the decorations in to three areas-- I thought that might make it easier to read. Thanks for joining me... I hope you enjoy!

"WELCOME. WE ARE SO GLAD YOU HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED.

"Welcome... We have been dying for you to join us. We thought you would never come. Oh, the 'things and stuff' we have gone through making preparations for your arrival. I hope you realize how truly happy we are that you have chosen to join us!"

"Please follow us. We will give you a tour before we join the others inside. Stay close to the lanterns.... the graveyard can be treacherous!

Life is truly about 'Things and Stuff". A fitting memorial?

Please enter.. if you dare. There is no reason to be afraid of the dark... it is only what's in the dark that you should be afraid of! BWWAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding!




'Here lies the body of John Pound. Lost at sea and never found'.

'DRAPER' Life is all about things and stuff'.

'Here lies Edward Hyde. Buried here because he died'.

'I.M. GONE Grim death came without warning. I was well at night, dead in the morning'.

'Keep calm and 'SCARY' on'.

'La FLEUR A rose by any other name...

Not shown:

'My Angel. Tears cannot raise her, there fore I weep. (Some one said 'How sweet'. Seriously?

R.U. KIDDING. She was never meant to be understood, only loved'.


(I built the graveyard from top to bottom. The fence is built from wood, PVC and ABS pipe. The tombstones are crafted from construction insulation. They were then hand carved and faux finished. I also antiqued the kerosene lanterns to look like they had been kicking around the graveyard for years. Who knows how many 'things and stuff' they have been witness too.)

WELCOME TO THE WAKE!

"Greetings. Thank you very much for coming. Your attendance would have meant a great deal to Daddy Big Bucks. Please sign in so he knows you were here..."

Are you a weeper or a moaner? Wait, don't answer that... just sign the book and get inside!

Be sure to pay your respects to the widow's. Daddy's passing has been very difficult for them.


This is Genvieve. She doesn't look as sad as she should be... but check out what is in her hand. Interesting. Daddy's 'Last Will and Testament'. It seems that all of the 'things and stuff' that belonged to Daddy Big Bucks was left to her. Poor Esmeralda.

Seriously, 'POOR' Esmeralda. She didn't get a thing (no stuff either!)... All those years, and nothing. Oh, what is she to do? If you look closely, you can see her purse under her right arm. Is that a knife? I think I know what she is going to do...


This is Daddy Big Bucks. I get the feeling he was not ready to go!

They say that wakes began originally because some people could not handle their liquor and would pass out completely. They would slip into a coma that left them so paralyzed that people could not tell if they were dead or alive. Rather than risk burying them alive, they would lay them out on a sofa, have a party and wait for the person to 'wake'. Some how they had discovered that people were being buried alive only to wake and find themselves trapped. They started attaching a string to the finger of the corpse and running the string to the surface then attaching the string to a bell. If the corpse turns out to be only in a coma, they can pull the string, ringing the bell to let those above ground know that they are still alive and should be retrieved. DEAD RINGER. A wake was much easier! Believe what you want....

(Yes, I sculpted the figures from polymer clay. I compounded their make-up from a mixture of pastel chalks and translucent face powder. Their eyes are glass and imported from Europe. Igor's hair and beard are mohair raised on a farm in upper New York state. Their garments are tailored by me from vintage clothing and fur. Genvieve is wearing a genuine fox stole. I also built and carved the coffin and did the floral arrangements!)