old suziebeezieland

this & that

 Claire and I met my parents at Disneyland on Tuesday night. It was a complete zoo. Claire and I got there early enough to get parking, but my parents ended up parking at the nearby Anaheim Convention Center, where they were rerouting people. All of Michigan appeared to be there after the Rose Bowl on Monday.

We did manage to see a parade, eat dinner, ride Soarin' Over California (Claire's favorite, and my dad's favorite, too), see another parade, and eat a Churro before calling it a day. Despite the crowds, it is still such a fun place to be over the holidays. They can really, REALLY decorate.  (I didn't take this photo.)

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I went to run a bath for Claire this morning, and there is weird brown sludgy stuff coming out of the pipes. It could be rust or dirt. Could it be dirt? What could it be? I've only noticed it in the two bathtubs. I hope we haven't been drinking that stuff. Yuck. And how could it be rust? We have copper pipes. Does copper rust? And why didn't I become a plumber?

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I got a couple good cookbooks for Christmas. One is Semi-Homemade Cooking by Sandra Lee (I seem to be the only person among my friends and family who likes her. But some of the recipes are fantastic, seriously. So what if she likes Cool Whip and Cheese Whiz? So what.)

The other one is Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book.  Her restaurant, Campanile, has sandwich night on Thursdays, which the L.A. times listed as one of the top ten reasons not to leave L.A. She also started the La Brea Bakery, which has a location in downtown Disney.

But my favorite recent cookbook is my birthday salad cookbook from you all.  My whole family thanks you for that many times over.

ten books

Shannon's circle theme was "Ten Books That Define Who I Am." This was fun to do, Shannon. Thank you.

back from vacation, and jonathan strange

 

We had a lovely vacation.

Here are some cool jellies at the Monterey aquarium. California is a very wonderful state to vacation in. Come here.

We came right back to busy, which is kind of annoying, but that's okay. Bob left this morning for five days in Cleveland (or maybe I mean Indianapolis. Yes, I mean Indianapolis) and I have a deadline tomorrow for the last round of changes in the church history book I'm REALLY GOING TO FINISH EDITING this time. 

But! Our new sofa and glider chair got delivered this morning, so you will not hear me complaining about that extra cash. Whoo hoo!

The couple who live behind us, Harry and Ruth, will have been married 61 years this coming Saturday. They are precious, and I am so sad because she fell off the back steps this afternoon and broke her arm. For some reason they can't set it until tomorrow, so she is on heavy painkillers. Harry said "she's a tough old gal," but she's going to have a rough night.

ps You have GOT TO READ "Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell," which is the best book I've read in years. I could not put it down during vacation, and I think Bob is mad he ever bought it to begin with. (He was reading something else so I stole it from him.) It's about 800 pages long, so I was kind of in my own little world for the past week. It is a bit dark in places, but man, Susanna Clarke can spin a tale. It is very like reading Dickens.

family fads

Here's what's en vogue the past couple weeks at the Bailey household.