I'm Larry Sagers daughter. . .

I used the tag line because my sister had a song she made up and sings, which doesn't sound at all the same when typed out, but the lyrics are, "I'm Larry Sagers daughter, da, dah, duh, da, da dah. . ." See what I mean?



 

Larry Sagers is my dad. He passed away three weeks ago. When he first called and told me he was going in for exploratory surgery in his lungs, I cried myself to sleep because even then, I knew it was cancer. My family has a long history of it. Since that time he lived for 18 months more, a year more than he was given. There were many, many, many nights thereafter that I grieved. Some nights it was insomnia. Others found me lying in bed, tears dripping into my ears as I tried to cry silently so as not to wake my spouse.

 

A few months ago, my husband and I put in an edited for content movie called Black Book, which I had confused with Little Black Book; huge difference. In Black Book, the main character is a Jewish woman who, after her family is killed in front of her, begins working with the underground as a spy. Toward the end of the movie after many more people she loves are killed, she finds herself in the office of a doctor, who breaks the news to her that yet another loved one has been killed. She goes into hysterics. The scene terrified me, not because of all the killings and finding out that her trusted doctor friend was a traitor, but because a very logical part of me was worried that when my dad's last moments came, that was how I would react and that was how I would grieve and that I might never again appreciate the beautiful things of this life.

 

His death has had quite the opposite effect on me. I miss him. We went to the place where he worked up until his death the other day and visited a dinosaur museum. There was a new exhibit open. For a few seconds I couldn't wait to tell him about it because he would have loved it; especially the part where most of his grand kids were there that day. It is impossible to not feel a loss, yet the thing that has amazed me has been the accompanying peace. I know there are many out there that have prayed for me and my family. People who don't share a common religion. People who have never met me and some who never personally met my dad. I can only say it is working. There have been very few other times in my life when I have felt such a calming influence and a peace.

 

From those comments, some readers may think, "Well that is heartless!" Let me assure you I shed more than my fair share of tears and continue to have moments in which grief washes over me. I am very much a daddy's girl. He was my solice through most of my adolescent years before I realized what an amazing mother I have. I am just grateful to a Heavenly Father that knew how hard the deat of a father would be and He created the comforting spirit of the Holy Ghost so that sadness would not overwhelm me and be all that I would know.

 

The Tooele Transcript Bulletin, Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune, and KSL news all ran articles on him that were so comforting to read. There were many other media venues who mentioned his life and his passing. I've loved looking at the pictures associated with each column because he looks so happy and so healthy.  It has been a remarkable tribute to read through comments posted in response to newspaper articles about him and through social media. . My favorite has to be the user who wrote in something about how he and his wife so loved Larry that they named their turtle after him.

 

His friend and KSL Greenhouse co-host, Tim Hughes, put together a memorial greenhouse that was broadcast the Saturday after his death. I cried through most of it, especially when I heard the sound of my dad's voice, but what a thoughtful tribute!

 

One of my favorite things and one of the most memorable things about his professional career was his tie collection. He had a tie to represent the content of each of the classes he taught as well as many others just for fun. On his passing, my sister and sister-in-law and I took about 2/3 of his "fun" ties and made these tie wreaths.

 

 

My favorite is that Larry the Cucumber is on the wreath next to his Utah State Extension tie. Fitting, right? (You have to look closely).

There are many other thoughts I've had about his life, his passing and how remarkable it was to have been born his daughter, but those thoughts I do not wish to make public. Instead I will finish by saying that he gained a lot of prestige in his professional career. He was known and respected by many. He earned a great many local and national awards and recognitions. And yet, all that pales in comparison to his greatest role, that of being my dad.

Tom and Hen 4x4 turkeys

I should begin by saying this wasn't my idea. It was done for an activity at church, but I'm pretty sure the idea didn't come from the girl who was in charge either. Like most things, I'm sure someone thought of it, someone else copied it, and no one recalls exactly from whence it came.

The original design, or at least the design on display was made from a 2x4, a paint stirring stick  and tongue depressors. If you type in 2x4 turkey, you'll get quite a few hits on it and can design your own from what you see. There are step-by-step tutorials on many of those sites, but I'm pretty sure. . . well that wasn't a kind way to phrase it, so I'll finish by saying most people could figure out how do do it by looking at the finished product.

My daughter made the nearsighted turkey and my niece made the one with the sparkley pink eyes. See how creative one can be by adapting a basic design?


I used a 4x4 because it is common knowledge that no one wants an emaciated turkey; plus I had scrap 4x4's.

Also I used mini wooden spoons because they were more feather shaped. I might go back in and add some more to make a fuller tail, but I don't hate it as is. Additionally I painted the back sides of the "feathers" because if I want to use it for a centerpiece it needs to have a more finished look. Also I covered the back end and tail feathers with scrapbook paper for the same reason.

Since I had the space, I used mod-podge on the sides to fasten on decorative paper. That was more my brother's idea, but I liked it, so I added it. If using it for a centerpiece you could also put thankfully minded quotes on the side or names to make place cards for the formal dinner I'm sure most people enjoy on a family-filled holiday.Lastly, and probably most importantly, I added the feet. Turkeys in this day and age are so large with breast meat they cannot breed naturally. That may seem like a random comment, but the 4x4 turkey is much more like the turkey bread for Thanksgiving dinner and while ordinarily you might think the feet would be on the legs underneath, I imagine this to be a strain on its joints, so the feet are out in front as it lazily squats on the ground. 

To my knowledge, the turkey hen does not have nearly as full of a tail as the tom, but in this case the only gender distinctions I made were the placement of the bow, the eyelashes, the gobbler, and the hen is covered in glittery mod-podge while the tom has a matte finish.

Beowulf: Lego Version

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Warning . . . your common sense could be in jepordy

Usually I have my deepest thoughts in the bathroom. Sometimes they come in the shower, sometimes as I'm brushing my teeth, (often the most profound come as I am brushing my teeth in the shower), and sometimes as I am taking care of business so to speak.

The other night as I was brushing my teeth, deep in thought, waiting for inspiration, I noticed this.

(I added the scissors for emphasis. We don't actually keep our scissors on the back splash. Staring at the picture I realize they could use replacing or else we will need updated tetanus shots)

At first glance I thought it humorous, funny enough that I giggled to myself about it even after I had gone to bed. (I'm sure my spouse who gets up at 4:30 a.m. appreciates it when I giggle to myself. . . not as much as he'd appreciate a good guffaw. . . but more than a titter).

As the hours grew later and I continued to think about it, I realized that what I was seeing was not a comedy at all, but a tragedy. I've read Shakespeare and Steinbeck and they pale in comparison. How have we as a society evolved into a species that needs little tags attached to the power cord of the Norelco shaver in order to practice common sense? What next?

A few thoughts crossed my mind and it will surprise me not at all if in the very near future we see these safety tags on commonly used products.

(Would this one be attached to the outlet or the fork? Maybe both?)

I am awaiting the call by manufacturers for me to jump on board with their design team to mass produce these safety tags. (Although, due to costs associated with color printing, the green on the ipod and blue of th toilet water might have to be grey) Pshaw! Who said you need computer graphics?

Halloween Interview with the Author

If you can believe it I have been blogging for approximately one month and no one has ever taken it upon him/herself to interview me. Shocking, I know because I have such a wealth of knowledge to share with the world. Therefore, I have determined the best course of action is to interview myself. Intriguing concept, isn't it.

Me: You've stated in the past that Halloween is one of your favorite holidays. Why is that?

Myself: Halloween is one of the most magical holidays. It is the one day of the year the I can wake up, get out of bed, and without digging through the closet, know exactly what I'm going to wear that day. I love to dress up and I love to dress up my kids.

Me: Do you decide on costumes for your children or do they make that choice?

Myself: When they were younger, I always decided. After all, I was the one making the costumes, I have the larger share of the vote. Now as they've gotten older though, I've included them in the creative process.

Me: Many would argue that costumes are available ready-made. Why not just take them to the store and allow them to pick out one of the costumes?

Myself: I think part of that comes from kindergarten. At the time I attended kindergarten the public schools in my area had Halloween parties in the afternoon, which included a costume parade around the building. Parents would come in to help dress their kids and then stay to watch the proceedings. One year a mom smeared oatmeal all over her son so that it looked like bits of skin were falling off his mummified body. The librarian had a scary robe and mask hanging on the wall all season and on Halloween, one of the special ed. teachers wore the robe and mask and stood against the wall in the same position the creature had been hung. As students passed by, suspecting nothing more than a Halloween decoration, she jumped out and terrified them. It was exhilarating.

In kindergarten, in October, we colored paper masks. I'm sure it was part of the core standards about coloring in the lines, small muscle development, and other art forms, but it was essentially coloring a picture and cutting it out. I don't remember my costume that year, but I do remember Shelly's. On Halloween day when everyone else was dressing up in their Halloween finery, Shelly wore the same outfit she wore to school and her paper mask with a string around it to hold it on her head. I know you can't by love and affection, but making their costumes is one of the ways I demonstrate to my children that they are important to me. They have this vision of who they want to portray and I make it come to fruition. Some parents sign their kids up for every sport and lesson available, I empower imagination.

Me: Wow! You sound pretty full of yourself with all that "empowering" and "bringing visions to fruition." Do you really think you are all that?

Myself: No. As a matter of fact, there have been some years that I've not fulfilled my costume-making goals. The year we were rushing to meet the deadline on building our house my mother-in-law very generously stepped in and bought my son an iron man costume. This year he was going to be Harry Potter for the second year in a row, but a month before Halloween, his dad cut off all his long hair and he changed his mind and decided to be Hawkeye, one of the Avengers.

Me: And you made his costume?

Myself: I looked online and the costumes I found were around $40, so I sat down with him and we worked out a design together. As you can see, the two photos, that of Hawkeye and that of my son are nearly identical.

Me: What are you talking about? They aren't even close. He has no arm support for his shooting arm and his clothing . . .

Myself: One thing you need to realize is that generally I begin working on costumes in July. This year was busy and so it was the end of August before I got started. Then when he switched characters last minute, I had to scramble and made this costume in less than a day.

Me: So tell us about the other costumes.

Myself: My daughter's cheerleader outfit I made from a sheet we were no longer using and a spool of ribbon. We looked at patterns, but I'm too cheap to actually by it so I retrofitted one I already had to make it in to what she wanted. The youngest is enamored with Toy Story and wanted to be Woody. I couldn't find the right fabric for the shirt, so I bought a mustard broadcloth and drew the lines on it. His pattern was also partially made up. His hat was spray painted and then the yarn stitched around the brim. Hawkeye's costume started as a dollar store t-shirt. My son didn't want the maroon colored portion of the costume and I didn't want to spend money on the zippers required for the vest so instead I cut caprisun pouches into strips and stitched them on and added the pleather embellishments.

Me: And you felt good about that?

Myself: Initially I didn't, but then he put it on and recruited his siblings to be Captain America and Black Widow. Add to the costume the quiver made of ABS pipe and the strap from a camp chair bag, and he is as close to being Hawkeye as was Jeremy Renner.

Me: And what about your own costume?

Myself: I had leftover pieces of cow print and the black and white stripes to make the chaps. The hat I made of some fabric I'd had in the cupboard for a long time and never really found a use for. After I made it, even with extra thick interfacing, the brim was pretty weak and I ended up running a strand of wire around the circumference and then stitching it into place with the white yarn Jessie's hat is noted for. I bought a men's dress shirt and used scraps of fabric from the Woody costume and rick-rack to turn it into the western-style Jessie top.

Me: Rick-rack? I haven't seen that in use since the late 70's/early 80's.

Myself: I know. As a matter of fact I have a story about that:

My parents, in an attempt to be fitting parents, dressed me in a yellow coat one cold snowy Halloween. I know it seems as though common sense prevailed at the time, but what they seemed to overlook a the time was that I was dressed as a princess. My mom had pulled up my hair into a fancy up do, painted my face with make-up and fastened a velvet choker about my throat. I even had a beauty spot.

I grew up in a very rural location (nearest neighbor not across the street was 1/3 mile away) and to go trick-or-treating, my parents let us each pick about three houses and drove us around to each. It had snowed that week and the temperature was probably sub-zero, but princesses don't worry about the weather when it comes time to flaunt their beauty. We ate dinner and then readied ourselves to set out. Over my fluffy, pink, frilly dress, my mother insisted I wear my coat; a yellow coat with red and blue rickrack and a faux-fur lined hood.

Me: Well, it looks like we're out of time and space. Thank you for your time today.

Myself: Thank you, it's been my pleasure.

Wasn't that a great interview? So smooth and structured. I wouldn't be surprised if it is soon one of the stories advertised on the cover of your favorite magazine.

Friendship Quilt

I met my best female friend when I was very young, like five. We went through elementary school together, but I didn't really take up the friendship until about 6th grade. From that point on, we were inseparable. She got married at the age of 21 (I think) and though I liked the man she fell for, it was hard to close that chapter of my life. (Before you pull out the box of tissues, I'm still in contact with her and still consider her one of my best friends). To work through the change associated with her moving on, I made her this quilt.  Each square represents one of the memories I have with her. (In retrospect, I never should have made it white.)

I used a variety of techniques from applique to iron on transfers. It was the first quilt I ever quilted and if you were to ask a long time member of a quilting guild or something, I'm sure I didn't do it right.

My favorite memory has got to be the bubble gum machine, fourth row from the bottom, all the way to the left. She had this random tradition of buying me gumballs. Every so often, we'd pass a gumball machine and she'd plunk in a quarter and hand me the gumball. I didn't particularly like the gum that lost its flavor after less than 10 minutes of chewing, but I will say this. I can't pass a gumball machine without thinking of her.

Sometimes when I'm really stressed or really sad, I call her. I don't necessarily tell her that I'm sad or stressed because I want to be strong. Even so, she has a way of returning order to my world without even realizing she's doing it.

What a remarkable world this would be if every girl had the blessing of having such a perfect friend to get her through those adolescent years and carry her into adulthood!

Zombie Cake

I realize this post is less than timely with Halloween only a day away, but the beautiful thing about Zombies is that they aren't particular about when the emerge from their graves, ravenously searching for fresh brains.

I had a myriad of step-by-step instructions with photos, but somehow the photos became corrupted and so they've been taken out. Hopefully your literacy will make the compensation.

I don't know if the trend continues, but for a time in my childhood, the coolest cake a birthday girl could ever have was a Barbie cake. I never actually had one and continue to suffer devastating emotional and mental effects of having gone my entire life without that type of cake, but as one should do, I push forward.

The Barbie cake is a lot like it sounds. The baker makes a cake and bakes it in a metal bowl. When the bowl is inverted, the cake comes out in an almost half ball shape. Then the Barbie doll is shoved into the center of the inverted cake and frosted in a fancy fashion so it looks as though she is wearing a Civil War era Southern Belle frosted ball gown. From that explanation you can see why it would be traumatic for such an extensive time period.

I decided it was time to restore Karma and make peace with my past, so I made my own Barbie cake. But I couldn't just make a Barbie cake because anybody could do that and any girl could have that. I, on the other hand, have waited thirty-something years for my cake, so it had to be unique. One night, as I was lying in bed, it hit me; the Zombie cake!

As the initial execution of the cake is relatively similar, it makes it similarly universal. Imagine, if you will, hosting a party for the season premiere of Walking Dead, a zombie Apocalypse based cable television series. Or perhaps it's a night in, with members of your book club who have just finished reading Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (beautiful Zombie artwork inside if you ever need inspiration). Or maybe you have seven of your gaming buddies over to play Left4Dead. As host/hostess, you walk out just as the party gets going, carrying your very own personalized zombie cake. I think there are so few other honors that would be comparable to the reactions you would get that I can't even form a decent metaphor here.

As mentioned, the first step in making your cake is to . . . make the cake. I made one from scratch because my Aunt Debbie makes the best chocolate cake ever to cross my lips.

Aunt Debbie's Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
1 cube margarine
1 cup water
1/4 cup oil
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs (beaten)

Mix together sugar, flour and soda.
Bring to a boil margarine, water, oil and cocoa.
Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture; add milk, vanilla and eggs.
Beat well.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes.

A cake from a mix would work as well, but in my experience it tends to crumble more than a cake made from raw ingredients. I baked it in my kitchen-aid pan that had been greased with shortening and floured. After baking, allow the cake to cool about 10 minutes, loosen from the edges from the sides, and invert it to remove it from the "pan" and to allow it to cool completely.

To improve the cake to frosting ratio, I then sliced the cake into thirds and put a layer of orange frosting between each layer. I then wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap and stuck it in the freezer. If you are going to use a whole Barbie rather than a doll pick (the top half of the doll on a pick; available at stores that sell baking items) hollow out the center prior to freezing or you will never get those legs through the cake. It matters less if using a pick because the pick is much smaller.

Also, if you plan to use a Barbie doll, make certain it is sterile by running it through the dishwasher or boiling it for several minutes. If it is new, you spent a lot of money for something you are sticking in a cake, and you might still want to sterilize it. I happened to have a Barbie left over from when I was teaching 6th graders about mummification. The information I was given at the time said that part of the mummification process included shaving the hair, so that is why she is bald. I never bothered to check if that was accurate, so if you stumble across this, don't bother commenting about inaccuracies in the process. I freely admit, I may have been wrong. You can leave the hair if you like.

After it had frozen solid, I pulled it out and put it on a platter, then changed my mind and put it in a shallow salad dish. I hadn't remembered to put the Barbie in before freezing, so I ended up breaking the legs off and hollowing out a small spot in the top.

 

If frosting from a can is used, it can be microwaved for about 20 seconds to make a glaze. I drizzled the glaze around the hem of her skirt and then immediately sprinkled it with "soil". To make the soil, grind up dark chocolate cookies in the blender or food processor. I wish I really had soil like that. My plants would be so, so happy.

 

Next, I worked on her dress. I imagine after being beneath the ground, she would have torn it in a few places as she worked her way out and that it would have soil and debris in it. I saw some great leaf sprinkles at the store, but failed to buy them and didn't want to go back for them. Chow-mien noodles make great branches. So the dress draped over one shoulder and had an uneven and shredded hemline.  If you want to take the time to make it fancy and ball-gown like, use multiple tips for differing effects.

Next I added the green skin. I covered her head to toe so that when I added the hair, the "skin" could show through. I also left one eye visible and crafted a second part way down the face as though it had fallen out.

The last step in frosting her was to add her blond locks. Some of the strands broke off and fell onto the dress, but it is only natural for a being removing itself from the ground to suffer some damage.

I made some instant pudding and poured it around the base of the dress. It might be better to use cooked because I think it has less of a tendency to separate, but I didn't think of that until later. I put the whole thing in the fridge to cool for a time.

 

The final step is to add those things one would be likely to find in the soil; insects and plant life. Generally available are the go to gummy worms. I also found two variety packs of gummy insects. I'm not product pushing, but these are what I used. I really liked the Black Forest version because the insects are filled so when one bites into them, guts come squishing out. Perfect! The red beetle is my favorite.

I sprinkled a thin layer of soil over the pudding and then a drizzle of the glaze made from canned frosting to look like slug and snail trails. Then I arranged the rocks, insects and pumpkins. I also added a headstone made from a trimmed graham cracker. Then I finished up by making the pumpkin vines. (You know how the undead are always buried and later emerge in pumpkin patches. It is a common part of zombie-lore; look it up.)

Keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve it so the pudding stays set. Serve it with a knife and a spoon; the knife to cut the cake and the spoon to dollop a scoop of pudding over each slice. Deliciously disgusting!