This is going to be a little more of a serious post today. I was going to put something up about Halloween and how adorable Melody was, but that of course is a given and I will just post the pictures later. For the past week or so, I have been gearing up for a project that is a little bit bigger than Halloween. At first, I didn't really think much of it.

I learned about http://www.bakinggals.com from my friend Kelly. Kelly is the queen of cakes in my book. She makes beautiful and artistic creations from cake, fondant and royal icing. I myself buy cakes. Usually from the grocery store. Any cake I make is guaranteed to be a bit lopsided and frosted by Betty Crocker. That's okay. I'm much better at cookies.

When I was young, my mom made cookies quite frequently. All kinds of treats: chocolate chip, brownies, oatmeal, peanut butter, molasses, etc. I knew that when I saw sugar and butter sitting in a bowl at night before bed, that in the morning she would bake. She set the butter out over night to soften, you see. I know we had the big can of Crisco in the pantry too at times, and if you have read older cookie recipes, many of them start with "1 c shortening." So, baking cookies is something I know how to do well. It's another of those things I learned from my mom.

Baking Gals is an organization set up to send a box of treats to a deployed soldier somewhere in the world. Like I said, at first I didn't really think much about this. I can bake a mean batch of cookies, so I thought "what the heck, this sounds like fun!" As I planned out what to make for our soldier, Lt H, I often found myself thinking of enjoyable afternoons with my mom and sister, whether we were making Christmas cookies or just baking for the fun of it. My house smelled great and my oven still has a bit of the clove & cinnamon smells from the Molasses Crinkles I made. I am fully stocked with Crisco (now in convenient 1 cup bars, btw), chocolate chips, spices, oatmeal, flour, brown and white sugar for future baking escapades. These are the staples of baking cookies, and in a way, they are the staples of the past. Box cookies are fine, sure, but there is something special and altruistic about scratch cookies. It takes time and attention to measure out the ingredients. The fragrances that waft through the house linger for days. The gratification of a cold glass of milk and a home made cookie is unsurpassable, in my opinion. In a word, scratch cookies take love...love of baking, love for family, love of sharing.

As I was trying to think of what to write in a note to Lt H to go with the cookies, I remembered that caring for soldiers is a tradition in our family. Back during World War 1, Thomas Marvel - a relative of my father's - opened his home out to soldiers, in a way that evolved into the USO known during World War 2. He was presented with a glorious flag that Granny used to fly off the porch rail on holidays. It went to my grandmother, Grammie, and she eventually gave it to my father. This flag is displayed in Papa's home and we are all proud of the tradition it stands for. If our family was not supporting the men in military, they were in the service. My Grandfather George was in World War 1. My Grandfather in Law Henry was too. My great-Uncle Bob was at the Battle of the Bulge during World War 2. My dad was in the Army and my Uncle Pete was too. My Father in Law Ray was in the Air Force. My cousin George was in the Navy. There are many more, through many generations, who went to war, or served in peace.

Currently, America has thousands of soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines stationed all around the world. These men and women don't exist in a vacuum. They leave at home parents, wives, husbands, siblings, and children. I have seen the sacrifices my friends are making to support their husbands who are deployed (and let me tell you, the military doesn't really do much for the families of the deployed), and I am honored to be able to send a few dozen cookies to a soldier. No matter where our soldiers are, they are Americans, and I will gladly carry on the family tradition of caring for the soldiers who are there for us.

After last week being so busy, you'd think I'd have taken the weekend to just rest and relax. Nope! I took Melody, her Grandma Marie and met her Grandma Alice down in Fashion Island in Newport Beach to browse the playhouses they have set up there. The playhouses are for kids, yes, 10'x8'x10' so they aren't big, but in their smallness, they are nicer than even one room in my entire house. They have flat screen TVs, hardwood floors, lofts, green lighting, fountains, custom cabinetry, and one even has a "hockey" rink in its backyard and a place for the virtual zamboni, yes sponsored by the Mighty Ducks. These little playhouses are not for the faint of heart or light of pocketbook. Each year, builders and businesses sponsor the creation of the playhouses and they are then auctioned off to the highest bidder. We down here at the bottom assume the highest bidder has a backyard or two that could support the playhouse, fully landscaped and outfitted. Ahem, I don't think one of these playhouses would fit IN my backyard let alone my pocketbook, but I digress. We had a great time, played in several fountains, rode the carousel, went to lunch. Pictures are posted in the gallery, along with some other pictures from other random days including Melody's foray into cheerleading for the Angels.

Next, I've nicked the following from my friend Mary Beth's blog, who nicked it from Dani, lol. Enjoy and feel free to copy and paste into an email, deleting my answers and adding your own, then forward to all your friends, copying the person who sent it to you... heh. You can post in the comments if you like. Edited: this is a one word challenge. Answer each question with one word. If you read this earlier today, ignore what I wrote then as it had too many words. :-)

Your hair? frizzy Your mother? awesome Your father? Papa Your favorite thing (not including people)? sleep (this seems to be a common theme amongst the Mamas) - I'm taking this verbatim! Your dream last night? frightening Your dream/goal? security Your favorite drink? Coke Zero The room you're in? Office Your ex? forgotten Your hobby? Victoriana Your fear? pain Where do you want to be in 6 years? Thirties Where were you last night? home What you're not? skinny Muffins? cranberry-orange One of your wish list items? Wii Time? waster Where you grew up? California The last thing you did? Dentist Favorite weather? brisk What are you wearing? clothing Favorite book? Numerous Your TV? plasma Your pet? numerous Your computer? iMac Your mood? ennui Missing someone? Tara Your car? TSX Something you're not wearing? perfume Favorite store? Target Love someone? Numerous Favorite color/shade? blue Last thing you ate? lunch Your life? busy Your friends? loyal What are you thinking right now? Pain What are you doing at this moment? survey Your summer? short Your relationship status? married What do you do when you can't sleep? I can always sleep When is the last time you laughed? Dentist's Last time you cried? Recently

Here's the video from last Thursday.

Wow, what a fun, exhausting day that was! In my last post, I told you how we (Mom, Melody, Auntie and Pauline) were invited to participate in shooting a commercial for Calico Ghost Town. Well, we headed out very early on Thursday morning to pick up Pauline and make the long drive out into the desert. It was projected to be 97 degrees that day and we knew it would be very dry, so we took plenty of water and juice for Melody.

When we arrived, Mom and Pauline finished arranging our dresses, we sometimes drive with certain pieces off so we don't wrinkle them terribly, and Melody tried on her new dress! Pauline had made the most adorable little dress with plenty of room to grow for Melody. It fit perfectly, though the elastic in the wrists was a bit tight so we took that out. Anyway, we met the others at the Lucy Lane House and Museum. There were two other groups of reenactors in addition to us, so about 25 people. Everyone was VERY nice. The other groups were part of Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) I believe, and all dressed in 1870-1880 attire. The dresses were quite lovely.

Shooting a commercial, I found means hurry up and wait. A lot. We were told to meet at 9 a.m. and that shooting would begin at 9:30 sharp. Well, it wasn't until about 10:00 that the TV people noticed us, lol. While we waited, a pair of gentlemen serenaded us with fiddle and harmonica. Finally, they had us all go up to Lil's Saloon. Now, at first I was a bit disappointed that we wouldn't be in that scene, but I realized it would be a stretch to explain a toddler in a bar, so it was going to be just fine. They had "proper" women in the bar, and we all know that even in a little mining town like Calico, proper rules of society prohibited "proper" women from entering a bar, let alone sit down in one and play cards! Heaven forbid!

Next, they had a bunch of us go over to the train ride and we were treated to a ride on the Calico mine train. There were about 4 actual tourists on the train with us as well. I think they wanted a shot of people enjoying their visit to Calico. Melody LOVED the train ride, but not quite as much as the wagon wheels all around town. She really wanted to run around, and thankfully there is very little traffic in town (we saw one Fed Ex truck and the electric carts the park rangers use). She was able to have a tiny bit more free reign than usual.

One part she did not like was the "everyone walk toward each other, greet, then keep walking...repeat" shot. They split us into two groups and had us walk slowly toward each other, greet one another as we passed by, then keep walking. Again and again. Really we only did this three times I think. But, Melody did not want to walk slowly and greet people. She wanted to look for the wild cats that live behind the photo store.

Once this was all completed, we rested for a while and had a drink of water. Then we rested some more. Then we had some more water. Then we rested some more. THEN they had us go up toward the school house...and we rested some more. Like I said, hurry up and wait. Finally, we obtained the key to the school house and went out to open it.

Just as we opened the door to the school, a group of children on a field trip descended on us. Of course. The filed into the school, I put one boy up on the dunce stool, and Pauline and I looked at each other as if to say "now what do we do???" It was hilarious! To us at least. We didn't know what to do with these kids, but they really looked eager to learn, so Pauline and I were just pulling trivia and little tidbits out of thin air. We had one girl come up to the black board to solve a math problem calculating the volume of a wagon bed. Shortly thereafter, Pauline was asked to play schoolmarm with some of the children. Through this all, Melody was keeping Auntie very busy romping around, climbing in the little desks and trying to escape. Once the children filed into school three or four times, the TV guy came inside the school to film Pauline "teaching" class. Melody and I sat in the closest desk to the front and Melody was filmed for quite a while. Pauline picked up the first book she put her hands on that wasn't too modern, opened it and started reading. It was a very, VERY, dry essay on fish or reptiles or something like that! But, she is a good actor because she lost her place a couple times but no one knew it. It wasn't until later that she told us; I had no clue. The final shot was the three schoolmarms and Melody leaving the school.

What a fun day! Melody was very tired and drank so much water I'm amazed the poor little thing didn't float back home. We had lunch at the Calico House restaurant, then headed on home. She didn't get much of a nap that day, and so went to bed early that night, but bless her, she was in a great mood the entire time. She loves being the center of attention, as you well know! I'll post pictures and video tonight.

As some of you know, I have been volunteering at the Lucy Lane House Museum at Calico Ghost Town in (lovely downtown) Yermo, CA for about ten years, along with my good friend Pauline and sister Kathy. We enjoy going out for the day about 4 times a year, spending time with our on-site friend Serena, demonstrating handwork of a bygone era, participating in their annual Calico Days Parade, and more recently displaying heirloom linens and of course, Miss Melody.

We have really enjoyed our times spent out there, and over the years have developed a great fondness for Calico. Most of our friends and all of our family members know what "going to Calico" means to us. The Park is owned by the San Bernardino County Parks Department, and was formerly owned by Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm fame. The Calico Mine Ride and Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm were both inspired by the real Calico Ghost Town, and many of the artifacts in the Ghost Town Museum at Knott's are from Calico. Would that they could return or at least lend them back on occasion...

Anyway, I can't count the number of times we've been out to Calico. We love going there. That's about all you can say. We have hosted fancy tea parties, performed vignettes about social calls in the 1890s, been in the parade as Suffragettes demonstrating for the right to vote, bathing beauties (1890s style of course!), a literary society, and soon, as a Temperance Society. Calico is a great inspiration for history and fun combined.

Our friend Serena has invited us to become a more permanent part of the Calico record by participating in the shooting of video footage to be used in a commercial, and possibly in other videos used by Calico for tourism and/or trade shows. We don't know yet what our role will be, maybe just walking around in the background, who knows. But, Kathy, Pauline, Melody and I will be heading out on October 2nd to meet with our 15 minutes of fame. The commercial is to be shot by Time Warner and shown in the Victor Valley. If anyone reading this blog lives in that area and can record it for us, we would greatly appreciate it!!! I'll be taking pictures and maybe some video of the process, and will post as soon as I can.

Today, Melody's friend Gianna has brought a bounce house to daycare. Well, her MOM really made the arrangements, but it's for Gianna's birthday, so happy birthday, Gianna! We all know that Melody LOVES to jump, so she'll be wiped out tonight, a good thing before a big day like we have tomorrow.

Part II to follow a.s.a.p.

Please visit the Calico Ghost Town site at http://www.calicotown.com and click on the Museum link, then scroll to the bottom to see our first brush with "fame" in connection with Calico. :-)