The New View

I gave the New View a few weeks.  It is okay, but doesn't seem to keep my interest. There are things I like about it, but I know I liked it better before.

I miss the joking of Sherry Sheppard and even Jenny McCarthy. I miss that everybody talked over each other sometimes and it was very fast paced. This new group all take turns talking so politely. Well, except for Rosie.

She is just herself and says what she thinks. But lately some of her comments come out kind of OUT there. Then it is like TOTAL silence and you can hear crickets chirping. And then Whoopie will have a dumb look on her face like, "Where you goin' with THAT girl? It is kind of a weird phenom.

And I have always been kind of annoyed with the whiney, little girl voice of Rosie Perez. But I do agree with most of the things she shares. So there is that. I like the new Republican, Nicole.  She stands up for herself but with a smile and a sort of calm confidence that I like. There doesn't seem to be too many icky confrontations like there were before with Elizabeth Hassleback.

I'm going to give it another month for them to iron out the kinks. But so far it is not as good. They need to spice it up a bit so poor Whoopie isn't doing all the talking. “’The View” is the show that everyone has copied, but we are the original,” Goldberg said during the program’s opening segment. It is true that it was the first. But it isn't the most entertaining anymore. 

Goodbye Derek Jeter

I've always loved baseball. It is my favorite sport. I remember our family listening to the Los Angeles Dodgers games on the radio. My mother loved Sandy Koufax, the famous Dodgers pitcher of the 60s. My mother-in-law also loved baseball and the Dodgers. We were baseball fans. I remember Vin Scully's play by plays on the radio. I remember my own dad coaching my brothers' baseball teams. I remember he always made me the "bat girl".

I always loved eating a Dodger Dog at the games with my own dad. 

Our family enjoyed many fun times watching the L.A. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in L.A. 

 And I remember attending Dodger's games and eating Dodger Dogs (hot dogs) and bon bons. I took my own kids to Dodger's games when they were little. We would attend on Dodgers bag and ball nights so everybody got a token Dodger item to take home. I still have some of the Dodger bags  and balls the kids got for free.

 

These guys all played T ball and baseball when they were little. Now it is the grandkid's turn. 

We took our kids to lots of baseball games over the years. Now these little girls' daddy is a baseball fan too. And I bet, and hope, someday he will help coach their teams to victory. 

Well, another of Baseball's famous and finest icons has retired. It is a sad day for baseball, but a great day too. Derek Jeter played his final baseball game last night 8/25/14. He is a 5 time World Series Winner, and one of my favorite baseball players. He played for the New York Yankees. He is an all around nice guy. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,461), games played (2,744), stolen bases (358), and at bats (11,186)

Derek Jeter's last time at bat as a New York Yankee September 2014. 

 He made the winning play in his final inning of his final game. What a great way to go. I love that Baseball is a family tradition for his family too. And I love that he looks for his mom in the stands before games. Jeter’s mother, Dorothy, told CBS’s 60 Minutes in 2005 that Jeter has communicated this way with her since Little League, and even when she’s surrounded by the 50,000-plus fans at Yankee Stadium, Jeter always looks over at her and gives her a little nod. I just love that! You should never forget yo mama! 

Derek Jeter's last game. His mama attended his games from the time he was little. 

"I basically just said thank you," Jeter said. "Because this is all I've ever wanted to do and not too many people get an opportunity to do it. It was above and beyond anything I'd ever dreamt of. I mean, I don't even know what to say. I've lived a dream. This is (my dream) since I was 4 or 5 years old, and part of that dream is over now."

He tipped his hat to the fans on his final game, holding back tears all night. He admitted he had been very emotional all day long. 

What a great thing to be able to live out your childhood dream!! I tip my hat to one of my all time favorite baseball players today with a lump in my throat. Good Job Jeter. We will miss you man. 

The Living Planet Aquarium Trip in Sandy, Utah

We spent the day at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It sure was a fun day after eating breakfast at Einstein's Bagels. Have you ever tried their pumpkin bagels with pumpkin shmear? To DIE FOR!!

I had to bring some home too. Yummy. They always sell out of this pumpkin shmear. 

The Living Planet Aquarium was great! There were lots of fun photo ops! 

There are some cute little signs and murals that adds a feeling that you are traveling the world! 

Come on Chelsea! Let's climb this killer whale! 

These peek a boo photo ops just crack me up. I take advantage of them wherever I find them. This one was cute with my daughter-in-law Wendy and Josie together! 

Cute little penguins swim past right at the kids' eye level. It was so exciting for them to see! The Living Planet Aquarium has a few really great exhibits I loved. 

Josie and Grandma Penguin. :D 

They had a wall of different types of penguins and their sizes. I thought this was very educational and exciting for the kids. They had a lot of these kinds of things along the walls. Very cute. 

They also had birds and frogs and many rainforest animals. I loved this black and yellow frog. 

Josie has been taking gymnastics for 2 years. She loved scaling the rope bridge in the Rainforest exhibit. She was such a brave little ninja warrior! 

Another poison dart frog at the Rainforest exhibit. 

Hey Josie! She loved climbing around this bridge and kept running back to do it again! She would LOVE the Thanksgiving Point rope bridge I bet. It is cool too! 

The parrots were so beautiful! But boy is it HOT in there! 

There were many giant aquarium exhibits full of rays, sharks, and many large fish. It had soft light and music playing too and was super relaxing to sit and watch the fish swim slowly around. 

We watched them feed the Sea Otters too. They hide the feeder fish around and then let the sea otters come out and search for their lunch. It was fun to watch. Did you know otters also like fresh carrots? 

Here is an otter looking for something to munch on! 

They also had some hands on exhibits where kids could touch sea stars, rays and lots of other animals. 

The beautiful salt water tanks filled with brightly colored fish were my so beautiful to see. 

This little girl LOVED watching the penguins play and swim by. See how the water is at her eye level? I thought that was so smart of the designers. The penguins would stop and stare right at the kids face to face! 

We had a great time. The girls liked seeing the new Living Planet Aquarium. The gift shop is really great too. Very reasonably priced, educational toys any kid would love. I loved hanging with two of the cutest girls in the world. I lub dem.

Salt Lake Parade of Homes 2014 Part 1

We visited the Salt Lake parade of homes a few weeks ago. It was fun to see all the decorating and how people are doing up their huge backyards so awesomely. We looked in West Jordan, Sandy, Riverton, Bluffdale and up in Suncrest. All were very pretty.

This fireplace in this Parade Home was so pretty. I loved the mantle too. And I might try doing the board and batten above the mantle on my fireplace we are remodeling. It is a great idea and not too labor intensive! 

These built ins were so beautiful. I want to do something like this on either side of my fireplace in my den. They also had a very beautiful big bunch of windows that went floor to ceiling. Loved that. 

Pretty architecture and windows. I loved the ceiling beams too. 

The entry door was so unusual and beautiful as was the flooring pattern. 

I think this wall stuff is called board and batten. It looks so great. That is all I really liked in this room. HERE Pinterest has a bunch of tutorials on how to do this with molding boards. 

My daughter and I loved this idea. Do you notice in the backyard they have a "track" going around the playground and green grass? Yes. It is a little go cart racing track. How fun would THAT BE??? 

I'd never do this but I thought it was funny for a dog run area. 

I didn't want to forget it so I took lots of pics. The black and white flags are so cute. They also had a red/green light fixture outside on one of the curves below. 

I bet it turns off and on as they pass by racing with their friends. What a fun backyard! And they had plenty of room to add a pool someday. 

Kitchen area. The tables in all the parade homes seem to be large and rectangular with a big slab of real wood.  And lots of them had the two end chairs as fabric parsons chairs, some with nailhead trim. 

I've always loved the look of these farmhouse sinks. 

H-U-G-E Pantry! I could get lost in this pantry room! 

The kitchens seem to have either white or gray or light pastel painted cabinetry or else darker woods. There is my cute grandson. He came with us and was a perfect angel. 

This regular sized cooktop had such a pretty rangehood. It counters the darkness of the wood cabinets nicely. I loved the little drawers too. They could come in handy with little cooking tools you never know where to put. 

Little half bath off the kitchen had a pretty vessel sink I loved in brown. 

These barn doors are in every single parade of homes house I saw. They are not that expensive but they would add a lot of style to a room.

Both Tiff and I loved this laundry room. The zebra handles and picture frames and fabric hassock were so cute against the pale blue cabinets and the glass tile backsplash. We love the glass tiles we put in our green bathroom. They really make the sink area look cool. 

I wonder where you find such cute handles? 

I'll have to remember that cute idea, easy to add to any existing laundry room. 

One of the bathrooms I loved. I always wish I had more drawers in a bathroom. This one has plenty! 

Cute kid's play area. I have seen these jars a lot with things like Legos and blocks inside. It is a new way to decorate with color. 

My granddaughters loved this chalkboard wall in a cute playroom. They have these chalk markers you can buy now too online or at RodWorks I've bought a few there too. If you don't want the powder mess chalk makes this is an option. 

I guess bean bags are back. I haven't seen one in a long time. 

I thought this arrangement of photos was cute in the red frames. If you have a kids room maybe this would spice it up a little too. Kids love themed collections like this Star Wars grouping. If your boy likes Spiderman, this could be a cute idea how to start the theme room. 

This was part of an upstairs laundry room. I loved the flooring, the blue painted cabinets, and the cute birds painted in the background. So pretty. Wire baskets hold folded fabric. 

This kid's room was so adorable. Well, maybe it is a teenager's room. But we loved it! Look at that bed with the tires for decor! 

The dresser was a giant tool box with a laminate top. 

The little "roadway" led to the closet. Loved the striped walls too. 

This could go from little boy to teenager who was crazy for cars! 

This was an old metal door off of a car they used to hold magnets. Kids would love this. 

Another bedroom had cute lockers. Look how Dylan wants to get inside. Looks fun to me! Notice the barn doors to the right. I think this had a jack and jill bathroom between boy's bedrooms. 

This kid must have loved basketball. lol. Loved the headboard made of old reclaimed wood, and the basketball chair and footstool. Check back in a few days I saw 4 of the parade homes and took photos of the best parts. 

Here is the backyard as we were leaving. It was huge with a huge 4 car tall garage/workshop in back. One good thing about having a huge lot is all the fun things you can add later.