Las Mananitas, Hermiston, Oregon

I've read a blog of a man who rates the various restaurants he eats at and while I'm not going to start doing that, there is one I'd like to tell you about.

Las Mananitas is a family-owned Mexican restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon. If you don't know where Hermiston is, get a map of Oregon and look in the Northeast part, almost by the Columbia River. Hermiston is near Pendleton where the famous Pendleton Round Up is held every September--not that I go!!

When my sister visits from Fairfield, California she loves to go to Las Mananitas and on her very recent visit we went twice. The Sopa de Albondagas (I may be misspelling that) is very, very good. In fact, I've never had anything there I didn't like. When someone asks Jeanne what her favorite Mexican restaurant is she always answers "this little place in Oregon that makes the best Mexican food ever!"

So next time you are driving through Hermiston and you come in from Interstate 84 and you pass the giant water tower with the watermelon painted on the side, start looking to your right for the Cornerstone Plaza because that is where Las Mananitas is located.

You won't regret it! Tell Esteban that you read this on the internet on a blog written by a lady from Hermiston, Oregon and proud of it.

What was the deal?????

I have never had so much trouble posting a blog. I just do a new one, click on Publish Post, and there it is. White lettering on a black background. But noooooo, not this last time. I had to redo it and redo it and redo it. I had to change all the lettering to white...which meant I couldn't see what I was changing unless I highlighted it. I do not know what went wrong but I hope it doesn't happen this time.

Gross, Disgusting and Yucky...Read at your own risk!

So what exactly do you think the dirtiest thing in your house is? Many people might say the toilet. And according to some cleaning shows I've seen on TV that might be the truth. But generally speaking most people clean their toilet at least once a week. I mean, how bad can it be? Pets drink from toilets. (Now that is gross!!)

The place I'm talking about is a place you cannot see, unless you hold a mirror and look at the reverse image. I'm talking about your.......DISHWASHER!!! How in the world does a dishwasher which has detergent in it every time you use it get so gross? If I knew the answer for that I'd let you in on it, but I don't.

Get a paper towel or a cloth and wipe along the front part of the inside of your unit. You would not be able to see this unless you are young and/or a contortionist so you could stick your head inside the dishwasher. I am neither young nor a contortionist. I took my dish washing sponge and ran it along the edge and oh the gross brown stuff that is sticking there!! Go ahead, do it now and you'll see what I mean.

By the time I took this picture I had cleaned out quite a bit of the gross brown stuff. On the right you see my husband Aaron taking off the screen at the top of the door and we cleaned that out also. Then we went to Safeway where I purchased a bottle of stuff specifically designed to clean out dishwashers made by Jetdry. I ran that through in an empty dishwasher and things look and feel so much nicer now. This was not the first time we have cleaned out the dishwasher and we've had it for about 10 years. So if you have never done this and you've had the machine for many years be prepared for grossness.

And now for some GREAT NEWS!! Our 9-year old granddaughter Karen participated in a spelling bee at the Walla Walla (WA) Balloon Stampede. She placed 3rd in the Third Grade part of the Bee and although she was disappointed to not have won first place (and to have won a laptop computer) we thought she did great. She received a gift certificate from a local bookstore.

Crazy Week

Last week I worked all week and I thought this week I would get to stay at home more. But it was not meant to be. Tuesday the library assistant from the school where I used to work called me asking if I could work since she had a serious leg problem happening and needed to get to a doctor. Wednesday I subbed half a day at the Christian School where I volunteer and then went to the school where I was formerly employed to finish the day. Today (Thursday) I'm at the high school library until about noon and then I'll go back to the elementary school library to shelve books. Tomorrow I'll be at the middle school library in the morning. Ah, retirement.

This week I lost 3.8 pounds and I am very happy about that. I didn't eat things with sugar in them, like cake, cookies, donuts, etc. I believe this really helped. It is my plan to continue with this choice for awhile. I did it once for 9 months--no sugar. So I know it is possible.

I read a blog this morning about a lady who walks 6 miles a day and observes and takes pictures. She records how much money she finds--pennies, dimes. My grandfather used to find money when he walked--like $10 bills. I admire this lady who walks 6 miles a day. It'd take me more than 3 hours. Perhaps to supplement my retirement income I should start walking 6 miles a day. I might find 15 to 20 cents. Invest it wisely and in a few years I'd have $1.00.

Random thoughts from a random person.

Comments, Cool Whip and Cream Cheese

Okay...so none of those things have anything in common except that they all start with "C".

If any of you have read my blog recently you will see that I deleted one. It made me feel better to write it out and now the necessity for having it posted is gone.

I had written about being 100 pounds overweight and how I hate it but feel helpless to change. But...I know that I can change because I don't have to depend just upon myself. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." So is it Jesus' fault I'm overweight? No, it most certainly isn't. Jesus speaks to me in a "still, small voice" or through a friend, or through my family members and I choose to ignore that quite often. If I wouldn't get defensive when my husband says something that would certainly help. But those inward feelings arise and my attitude is "you can't tell me what to eat." Ahh, that is so bad.

So I'll carry on, keep exercising, keep thinking about what I'm eating and hopefully get rid of some of this excess poundage I'm carrying around. Isn't it sad to think of all the people in the world who may get one meal a day and yet I can eat like there is no tomorrow? Makes you think, doesn't it?

Comments: An anonymous person commented on a blog from way, way back. Thank you.
Cool Whip: It'll never taste like the real whipped cream.
Cream Cheese: Yummy!

Driving with my daughter

My daughter is a secret shopper, but....shhh....don't tell anyone. She has two differents kinds of jobs to do for this company. In one she pretends that she is looking to buy a phone or open an account at a bank. Based upon the information she sends to the company the business is graded on how they are doing at customer service, etc. Hopefully this information when relayed to the business she has gone in to will help them with better customer service. The other job she does is called an audit. For this one she announces that she is there to do an audit and then takes pictures of how the business (a gas station) displays their signage.

So on Friday April 25 we went to Milton Freewater where Aaron babysat and I went along on the drive to LaGrande, Oregon. We left about 1:30 p.m. and arrived back at her house at about 5:30 p.m. The really nice thing was the chance to ride with Larisa and carry on a conversation. We talked about many things and reminisced. It is wonderful to have her be more than a daughter, but my friend also.

We are also rejoicing that Jesus helped the splinter in Paul's hand come out so easily. For a picture of the splinter go to www.rizaroni73.blogspot.com. The doctors couldn't find it but Jesus knew right where it was.

If anyone out there reads this and knows how to remove something off of a Myspace page, please post a comment. I have two countdown clocks going for our return to Namibia and I need to get rid of one and can't figure out how.

I'm dealing with the aftermath of a migraine so I'm not thinking too clearly. So my blog isn't too interesting today, I'm afraid.

Reminiscing

Today we watched the wedding video of our daughter and Paul from almost 14 years ago. Larisa and the children spent Friday night with us. I'd come across the video and asked if she wanted it. She did and we decided to watch it.

There was my son, Nolan and his future wife, Maryanne walking down the aisle together. Nolan was getting ready to head of to Oregon State University and Maryanne was beginning her senior year of high school.

Aaron's parents were there, being escorted down the aisle by Aaron and by Nolan. I have to admit that it brought tears to my eyes. I don't think Karen (age 9) really understood that.

Then there was my sister Jeanne and I singing "Sunrise, Sunset". Oh it was beautiful! I have to admit that she is the better singer, but we have always had great harmony--she's the soprano and I'm the alto. Then the beautiful bride Larisa comes down the aisle on Aaron's arm while I waited at the end of the aisle. Paul (with a full head of hair) picks her up and the ceremony begins.

When it was time for the kiss, my nephew Cleighton was who 9 at the time, rolled his eyes and smiled, not sure of where he should look. Too funny! Now Cleighton is 23, married, and in the Navy serving on the USS Ronald Reagan. How time has flown.

As the camera panned the audience I could point out several people who have since died. In the video they are alive forever. It's kind of like thinking of JFK and always picturing him as the young man he was when he was killed. If he were still alive he'd be in his late 80s. Or Elvis...he'd be really old also. But in our minds they are forever young.

I find it amusing when in an obituary in our local paper the picture will be of the person when they were in their 20s or 30s and if they died in their 80s you know they looked nothing like the picture shown.

There are many things about getting older that are not so fun. It is discouraging to see the wrinkles in your face and neck and know there is really nothing you can do about it. Yes, I put the products on my face, hoping to hold off time for as long as possible. But I know that time is going to win. When you sit down for too long it hurts to get up. The knees don't behave like they did when you were young.

A few years ago Karen asked me if I would be alive when she grew up. I reminded her of how her mother's grandmother is still alive so there is a very good chance that I'll still be alive when she is in her 30s.

Ahhh...reminiscing. Memories are so precious so go out and make some good memories with your family today.