How Pumpkin Pie is Made

WARNING! Not the most pleasant picture - but still flippin' hilarious!


Mom - Thanks for sharing the pic!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Becky

Random Stuff We Love

It doesn't take much to make us happy. If Ally's happy, then Steve and I are usually (baring any major work stressors) happy parents as well. Because of this reason I wanted to share the first of a couple posts of things in the Carroll house that make our world go round. None of these items are major, mind-blowing or earth shattering. These are just the necessities that help this family of three make it through the days.

We have used Johnson & Johnson No More Tears baby shampoo since we got home from the hospital. Thanks to some dear friends that sent us their leftover supply (thanks Michele!) we have yet to run out of the original yellow bottle of baby shampoo. Up until a few months ago, I never really thought about the smell of the stuff. It was always familiar and not always pleasant but it never really dawned on me what I was smelling. Well, a few months ago I realized that for the last year and a half of my daugther's life she smelled like wet dog. More specifically, our wet dogs.

Let me explain. We were told years ago that the best shampoo for dogs like ours, Australian Shepherds, was baby shampoo. So, that's what we used. And that is why, after so long, I realized the smell I was relating my freshly cleaned daughter to was dog. Poor thing, it's not her fault...her Mom's just slightly crazy I think.

To my delight, Johnson & Johnson makes a line of baby bath products in lavender scent. I can now take Ally out of the bath, take a deep breath and not think damp canine. I think beautiful, clean baby girl. ~Lovely~

Ally has also loved her Baby Cozie. (I can't for the life of me remember who got him for her - if it's you - speak up!) We call him, disgustingly, Road Kill Kitty (or RKK for short) because he's flat, but kiddo hasn't seemed to catch on to that one yet. Ally loves him, even as she moves on to more "sophisticated" toys like Winnie the Pooh and Goofy (or Foofy as Ally says). She has always loved her kitty.

One of the favorite snacks in our house, that Steve and I have to refrain from polishing off, are Nilla wafers. Ally loves them. Most definitely not the healthiest snack on the shelf, but one of the cutest when Ally says "Nilla peeese."

Found this lunch bag at Goore's on a shopping trip shortly after Ally started eating baby food. Up until then, I would pack her milk in bottles in a thermal bag and her baby food in a paper bag. This lunch bag was exactly what we needed and now Ally loves carrying it in and out of daycare. The line is called Sugarbooger, which just makes me smile, and is made by ORE Originals. It's thermal, fits two sippy cups, breakfast and lunch every day without issue. Love it!

And for this "work from home on Fridays" mom, Playhouse Disney is a blessing. Just enough amounts of fun to keep my daughter entertained when I need her to be and education to get her to stand up and count the number of dancing elephants or "pat, pat, pat" to get Rocket to fly. Her four favorites are below - Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Jungle Junction (her new favorite).

And last for this list is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This was the first book Allyson really showed an interest in and the one that she will always sit still and listen to me read. It's a wonderful story and I hope you all get it and share it with your children. This little cardboard book (that's getting torn up from repetitive use) will always hold a special place in this household.

Hope you find that you love this stuff as much as I do!

~Becky

Legally Blonde

Last Thursday a few of my favorite women and I ventured out to Downtown Sacramento to see Legally Blonde: The Musical.

My Mom and I have been to see a few other musicals in the past and have brought along friends to some of those too. This was the first time a big group of us "took in a show." We had an awesome time!

Arriving about an hour early, none of us live in Downtown Sacramento and didn't know how long it would take to get there taking traffic into account, we decided to search for a place to have drinks and appetizers. As we walked from the parking garage we came across the Esquire Grill. Great place and they took excellent care of us knowing we were headed across the street for an 8pm show.

Here's a pic of all of us with our tasty adult beverages.Starting on the left is my granda Ellen (I call her Mummum), my Mom Monica, my sister-in-law Kirby, my future sister-in-law Morgan, me and my mother-in-law Char.

The bartender made me a tasty Midtown Manhattan, Morgan had something with pomegranate in it and my grandma and Mom (who swears up and down that she hates rum) had a Strawberry Daiquiri (ya - I don't get it either.)

Here's another shot of Mom and Mummum.

And my Mom and Kirby.

Kirby and Morgan, who have known each other since at least high school, and have married or are marrying two best friends. Funny how life connects people... Can't you see that I'm going to have adorable nieces and nephews one day? Get on it you two! Ally needs a cousin!

Then Morgan, Me and Char. The Carroll side. :-)

I was a good girl and didn't take any pictures inside the theater.

Now for the review, eh. Maybe I have just seen some awesome musicals (Wicked, Jersey Boys, Chicago come to mind) and this one was just so-so. Maybe it was the fact that it was created from a movie and not vice versa. Some of the songs, supposed to be sung high and nasally like sorority girls, were difficult to understand because of these reasons.

So, cute premise, but nothing I'd run to see again. And regardless of the show, it was great company and a fun night.

~Becky

He has a ball making the call

In last week's Auburn Journal was an article about my Dad and his referee career. I'm so proud of him - it's a great story and I wanted to share. (He's the "black hat" in the pic below.)

He has a ball making the call
by Eric J. Gourley

On a good night, Dan Costello will get home around midnight.

That’s only if he’s scheduled “locally” — east of Oakmont High.

He’ll have just enough energy left to throw his stripes in the washing machine and chase four Advil with a tall glass of iced tea, his favorite throat soother after four hours of blowing a whistle and negotiating with crewmates, players and coaches.

Costello is one of more than 200 Northern California Officials’ Association members who spend the last three nights of every week during the fall officiating high school football in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

“A good crew will have fun during a game,” said Costello, who lives in Auburn but regularly travels as far south as Galt and as far west as Napa for three hours of helmet-hitting. “If we screw up, we will get it right. I do not remember a game that was not fun to officiate.”

Costello has overseen action on gridirons for 14 years, but he felt like a rookie standing next to his crewmates during a Battle at the Capital showcase game at Folsom High earlier this month. Including Costello, the five officials boasted a combined 108 years of football experience.

“There are many reasons we do this thing,” said the 52-year-old Costello. “Some do it for extra income. Some do it for love of the game. Some do it as a way to give back to the community. Trust me, it is not about the money.”

Officials like Costello can earn more than $100 working a JV/varsity doubleheader on a game night, but it isn’t much when you consider the average 70-mile round trip commute.

“The interesting thing is, based on scheduling criteria, sometimes the assignor needs to send people from Davis to work games in the foothills on the same nights officials who reside in the foothills need to travel to Napa,” Costello said. “Given traffic patterns in our area, many of us need to leave work two or three hours early to make it to the field. We are paid for our commute time, but the long trips make for 16-plus-hour workdays at times.”

Despite the annoyance of frequent and lengthy travel, Costello keeps coming back.

“What we do matters to the kids,” he said. “I once joked to my neighbor that what I do helps keep spray paint off his garage door, but there is an element of truth to that. The foothills are a great example of the community supporting sports as an extension of the classroom, and there is nothing like Friday night homecoming, or working the big rivalry game.”

Standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 280 pounds, Costello is often the largest presence on a field full of big athletes.

An offensive tackle during his playing days, he coached football and founded and operated youth football organizations in the Bay Area, where he also officiated baseball.

He moved to Auburn from his native San Jose in 2000 as part of a job change at Hewlett-Packard, where he has worked for 30 years and currently manages complex international business programs.

Some of his most complex administration duties, however, come under banks of bright stadium lights.

“I know that no matter what I do as an arbiter of the rules, one team is likely to disagree with me,” said Costello, who worked Wood High at Davis Thursday and will officiate Rosemont at San Juan tonight and Encina at Cristo Rey Saturday.

“In general, a spectator or a coach does not see what I can see from my perspective on the field, so how people ‘feel’ about our decision does not affect me,” he continued. “ A coach or a player can ask me a question any time during a game, and if I have time I will engage and answer. We work to get it right.

“I know the difference between passionate communication and abusive communication. One I will allow, the other I will not allow. This approach creates mutual respect between me, the players and the coaches.”

Costello earns the respect of his fellow officials in a classroom setting, too. Last month he directed the association’s group education program for second-year members for the third straight year.

The instruction for first- and second-year officials lasts 25 hours.

“Many are children of officials,” said Costello, whose son, Matt, is in his eighth year with the NCOA after he started officiating youth ball as a high school sophomore. “He has the same passions as I for officiating, with half the age. My favorite single memory was watching him manage a coach that adamantly disagreed with one of his calls on a pass play. During a two-minute conversation at the end of the first half, I observed a 24-year-old official gain mutual respect with a head coach who was active in high school football longer than Matt had been alive.”

Every year my Dad asks me if I'm going to join him on the field in stripes. Maybe someday when Allyson gets a little older. I do love the sport and can imagine it would invigorating throwing some punk teen out of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. I just don't know if I'd be able to handle the rules debates between my dad and brother. Those can get pretty ugly.

~Becky

Wednesday September 30th

I know everyone's life is crazy right now, but mine seems likes it's especially spinning in a direction I can't follow. Here's a short list of the current life of Becky Carroll - my thoughts, my experiences...

1. My boss says "you know it's Fall when Becky wears argyle." (This was actually pretty hilarious.)
2. Backing out of the spot on my way to get some lunch (at 2:30) I hit one of my employee's cars in the parking lot...WTF? (Thank goodness neither of us could find ANY damage)
3. My left eye has been twitching on and off for two weeks.
4. I've decided that I like Party in the USA and I really don't care what anyone thinks about it.
5. Got a facebook message from someone I haven't seen or heard from since my freshman year in college. Flooded me with memories - and laughs, right Mel? (Togo's and pee bags, HA!)
6. Got the BEST heart hug from my Dad tonight - I love you Daddy!
7. One of my employees quit in a climate where I KNOW I won't be able to replace him due to a hiring freeze. We're better off in the long run, but damn that sucks!
8. It's our four year anniversary tomorrow and my husband is spending the night in a hotel with his brother (Okay - they're away for a work meeting.)
9. Ferrari Carrano Fume Blanc is excellent - although this 2008 bottle is my least favorite vintage.
10. I bid for and won a pair of 7 jeans on eBay that I have no hope of fitting into in the near future - my fault for not trying them on in the store first. (My purchases for AJ have been much more successful.)
11. I might have to manually open 900 new credit card accounts on one upcoming weekend because the criteria for setting them up and creating them automatically is taking just as much time.
12. I miss my hunny and he hasn't even been gone 12 hours yet.

Enough whining from me - just needed to write, share and vent. Nite!

~Becky

The Time Traveler's Wife

Just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife last night and I thought I’d take a moment and write down my thoughts on the novel. I picked it up after seeing the ads for the movie not knowing what it was really about.

As many of you know, I am not a romantic, but this story had enough drama and tragedy to keep me entertained for all of the 536 pages and deal with the romance at the same time. And it didn’t delve too deeply into the science fiction world either, even though I have been known to read an Orson Scott Card book or two.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the story of a man and woman that find each other over the course of the man’s time travels. He suffers from Chrono-Displacement Disorder (CPD) which whisks him from the present to another point in time (usually the past.) Henry meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20 – however Clare meets Henry when she’s 6 and he is 36, time traveling from the future. Although this might seem confusing, Niffenegger (who I will refer to as N from this point on cause that’s way too hard to spell and makes me giggle) does a fantastic job of keeping it all straight. She quickly notes at the beginning of each chapter, and even in between, the date and the ages of the main characters. Thankfully - because there is no way to progress through this novel without throwing it across the room if she didn’t.

So the story progressed and evolved. I enjoyed the way N differentiated the characters. Clare, the artsy romantic who found her true love at age 6 versus Henry, the irritated time traveler that always ends up beaten and bruised (and naked), drinks to excess to forget some of his life atrocities and is the unwavering realist. Maybe that’s why I liked Henry’s character more than Clare’s?

Time travel is, in my opinion, just a small piece of this novel’s premise. Of the reviews I’ve read online, there is much fuss between whether to classify it as science fiction or romance. I would choose the latter as the science fiction angle is only used as a way to develop this extraordinary relationship. Would Henry and Clare have fallen in love had Henry not traveled back in time and met Clare? I would say yes. Would their lives have moved forward differently? Maybe not. Throughout the novel the restrictions on free will are discussed. Henry states that “there is only free will when you are in time, in the present.” Their relationship progressed in real time because they shoes for it to, not because Henry had already traveled to the future (into the present or into Clare’s past) and decided it so. Confusing, I know, just read the book.

This was one of my better reads of late. I’ve spent too much time on murder mystery fluff or vampire drivel (sorry Twilight fans!) that it was nice to cuddle up each night with something that really kept my attention and made my brain work.

What’s next on my list? Don’t know. I’ve got a non-fiction novel called Founding Brothers that I’ve started and seems interesting (albeit necessitating an encyclopedia at my side – bad girl with my lack of U.S. history knowledge.) But it seems promising and educational at the same time. Anyone have any others to recommend?

~Becky

The Finished Product

It only took us four and a half years but we finally did it. We painted the house. All 1000 square feet of it. It really needed it. The guy that owned it before us must have just spray painted the thing one color. It was peeling, showing through to the wood in places - just ugly. So with the Carroll / Costello / Rodrigues clan in tow we got out our brushes and paint clothes (and the sweet paint sprayer.)

Here's the house the night before we painted. It hasn't looked like this for four years. Steve just got done pressure washing and sanding down some of the rough wood. I would say that it looked the worst it has ever looked in this picture.

As you can see, the house was in need of some TLC. So this past Saturday morning we jumped right on it and started painting.

My brother Matt bought a paint sprayer a few months ago and I'm thrilled he did. Without it, an eight hour job could have easily doubled. Here's my Dad giving Matt a few paint pointers (he could be telling him he missed a spot just to mess around - you never know with my dad.)

Here's a pic of our paint "crew," Matt, Dad and Bryan.

They were a jolly group - okay - mostly wise asses and jokesters - as you can clearly see from the picture they "drew" for Allyson.

Can't you tell this was super-hard work? Dad and Bryan felt it very important to invoke a little "Cal-Trans" every once in awhile. (I kid - these guys worked their tails off for us.) I think this was more of telling Matt he missed another spot.

Steve finally got his hands on the sprayer at the front of the house. Matt here is the official ladder holder. My father-in-law, Bruce, is now on paint roller duty.

I was even able to get in on some of the painting action. My mother-in-law took Allyson on Saturday so I was able to do the gutters and trim.

And in the next few pics you can see how happy everyone was that we were finally painting this house. Here's one of Steve and I...

...and one of my Mom holding the ladder so I don't fall and break my ass...

...and Matt in his "Man-well" labor hat (HA!)...

...and did I mention that we had an audience? These people even brought lawn chairs!

Just kidding - that's my sister-in-law, Kirby, and my grandparents (my grandparents really did pull out their own lawn chairs though - they crack me up!)

And of course - the obligatory picture of the kiddo "painting." I do love this little kid.

So - three days, loads of help (I have to thank Mike, my brother-in-law, as well, he was gone over the weekend but came over Monday and pressure washed all the concrete - what a guy!), about nine hundred trips to the Home Depot and finally a feeling of accomplishment.

Here are a few shots of the final product.

We have to continue living in this little tiny house for the foreseeable future. We might as well be proud of what it looks like when we drive home after work every day.

Hope you enjoy - we do!

~Becky