Seattle Vacation

Thanks everyone for the great time we had in Seattle. Each day brought something special. We really enjoyed the dinner at Agata and Travis' apartment and playing Sherlock Holmes (the short version.) Everything was so fun. I had no idea Danny and Jenni lived so close to the Sound! Jak and Oliver were so entertaining. I'll never forget them riding around Greenlake with super capes on or playing on the beach with super capes on. Sunday was so fun, and dinner was so good. (Thanks Seattle for the weather show!) We survived Dennis' trip to the hospital. That was a surprising start to a weekend visit. (Travis, send me the pictures you took on Sunday, please.)

We love you all and hope to have many more happy times together. It's pretty cool to be a mom and a grandma.

For Danny or why I won't run a marathon:):)

So , Danny , you asked me to try to run a marathon. I am having my lunch and I am reading an absolutely spectacular book by Baudrillard, entitled America and I found this paragrapf that made me think about our conversation. This is what he says about the NY marathon:
the marathon is a form of demonstrative suicide, suicide as advertising: it is running to show you are capable of getting every last drop of energy out of yourself, to prove it...to prove what?That you are capable of finishing. Graffiti carry the same message. they simply say: I'm so and so and I exist! They are free publivity of existence.
[12:52:37 PM] agata morka says: Do we continually have to prove to ourselves that we exist? A strange sign of weakness, harbiner of a new fanaticism for afaceless performance, endlessly self-evident.

Happy Birthday Agata

Happy Birthday on Monday (is that right? the tenth of March?) to Agata. We hope you have a special day. We'll have to celebrate this weekend when we come to Seattle (hopefully with beautiful Spring weather). I wish we could stay longer. Somebody made really trim flight plans when they weren't seeing very well. Now the tickets are too expensive to change. It would be cheaper to just come again, so we will have to do that.

I hope Travis is taking some photos of the craft fair and Agata's projects. I wonder what the other booths were displaying? Good luck!

I think Agata's mom might be coming in the summer. Do we know when? Alex is talking about flying into Seattle from Thailand on August 10, then flying home. He leaves about May 10. Tyler and Dawn would like to come up to the reunion. The reunion is getting smaller and smaller, so I'm not worried if we have our own reunion at Granny's when it's convenient.

So many events this Spring! Tommy graduates, Travis graduates, Alex is most probably going to Thailand. He has a scholarship to pay for his Spring and Summer semesters. (are seasons captialized?). Tommy goes to New York on an internship and Tyler and Dawn are getting married! They are coming out tomorrow to work with Tommy on designing the invitations. Dad and I need to book some kind of vacation as far away as American Airlines can take us. Oh yeah, Jenni and Danny find out if their baby is a boy or a girl, and Danny runs in the Boston Marathon! Of course, the hottest issue is what do I wear to the wedding???? (only to me. panic. I'm thinking of an outfit that is totally comfortable and that Laurel can drool on.)

The adventures continue. Call us and let us know how you are doing. We love all of you and pray for you all of the time.

Love, Mom

Utah TAP

Here is a TV spot we did for Utah TAP. We have four total.

hey there, I am posting as Travis, but it's me, Agata ( I forgot my password, as usually). It is just to et you know that you can check out our brand new blog that I have just created. It is for me and my two friends with whom we will take part in this Art and Craft market in March. There are some pictures of my beads, nothing special, but if you are bored you can check it out. I made this blog because the vendors are required to have a website and, since I have no idea how to create one, I decided to just set up a blog. Enjoy.
Agata
http://www.chainsandfeathers.blogspot.com/

FEb in Utah

FEb. 17, 2009

Hello family wherever you are! It rained all night here and now is starting to snow. Yup, it's icy. Also, I guess there is a sun behind the clouds. Mostly it's dim and gray, which has really worked for me with the eyes. This was a perfect time of the year for prk lasik. I don't like bright sunlight. Every day is a little better, which is now in degrees of perfection. I can read, drive, basically see (sometimes a little double...) but it should keep improving maybe even for six months. Couldn't have done it without Dennis' help.

Alex went to St. George for the long weekend with mission friends. He has a companion from St. George. Danny and Jenni and the Mike Families went to Granny's for the weekend. I'm sure they had a great time. I know Gpa and Gma were excited they were coming. Tommy and his friends came up Sunday. We had fun (well, I did.) They are charming and entertaining (and hungry). We skyped with Travis and Agata. They were recovering from a spontaneous party at their place the night before. I want to hear more about that. Agata is getting ready for a craft fair in March. She is going to try to sell a variety of things. I wish I could come. Tyler and Dawn and Laurel are going to St. George with us the very last weekend in February (it involves the 28th). We are meeting Dawn's folks there. They haven't seen Laurel since she was born. All of us are looking forward to going south and having some fun. It will be nice to take a road trip with them.

Tyler and Dawn are getting married on May 23 (Saturday.) Alex will be in Thailand and it now looks like Tommy will be in NYC doing his internship. Everybody try to come who can!!! I can't fully explain how busy Dawn is. The date might not be the most convenient, but we keep moving forward in the plans. Let us know what your plans are to come and if you need any help (or advice.) We have plenty of room here, and I would love people to come early to help plan and party. I'm thinking this reception needs a program, even a simple one. I'm hoping Dawn and Tyler agree. There is a sound system there, and Travis mentioned dancing. Dawn wants me to make chicken curry and lemon rice (we'll see how that goes.)

We are going to Seattle on the Thursday in March around the 13th. (I guess I could look at the calendar.) Travis and Agata aren't going on a Spring Break trip, but if it's still possible for the Seattle families, we will still come on those reservations. We need to play with blocks with Oli and Jak.

We watched two excellent movies this weekend (Happy Valentine's Day!). Spiderwick Chronicles and Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. I think Stranger Than Fiction is one of my top five movies I've ever seen. After majoring in writing and working in the English Department, it made me laugh in many layers. (my professors would have zapped that last sentence.) Spiderwick Chronicles was well-done, intense and weird, then suddenly ended, but the ending was lovely. I felt like I needed another hour of it, but I would recommend it. (not for Jak.)

I miss all of you. I hope all is well and you are having a great time.

Love, Mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANNY

Twenty-nine years ago on a cold, stormy February day Danny Currit was born at St. Marks Hospital in Murray, Utah. I remember. There was a big snowstorm the night before and lots of us pregnant moms went into labor. They kept moving me from room to room in the hospital as space became available. I remember the nurse bringing Danny to me from the nursery in her arms and kissing him before she handed him to me. He was so kissable. Even though he was born early, he always breathed on his own and thrived. We went home the next day. I think he waited until he was barely done, then said, 'Jenni's there, I gotta go, too!' Happy B-day Danny! We love you very much!

a little quote for tommy

came upon this in the New York Review of Books:

"I have never seen any community in India so hopeless or, in its way, so hermetic in its poverty, so blatant in its look of menace, so sad and unwelcoming, as East St. Louis, Illinois"

I am back.

It has been forever since I posted! I think that has something to do with being really boring. Since everyone went home after Christmas, Jo and I have had a good time but have mainly just hung out. We do tend Laurel about once a week which is really fun. Next week I have to go to Florida for a week. Generally, I hate these trips, but at least this is Florida and not Minnesota. Also, I have to come home a day earlier than originally planned because the Super Bowl is in town that weekend and all the hotels have been booked for months for Thursday night! For me, this is really good since I get home a day sooner.

We miss you all and wish you were closer. Hopefully, we will get together soon.

Busy Week and Good News

Congratulations to Danny and Jenni who have seven months to go until a new little Currit joins their family. We are very excited. Jenni has been feeling a bit sick, but by the time the Beautiful Seattle Spring hits, she should be feeling better.

We miss you all! Thanksgiving and Christmas were great! Are we all tired of the cold weather yet?

Travis' blog was so interesting. We had Tommy and Alex's roommates (plus Reilly) for dinner yesterday. Feeding oneself in college seems to be a crisis. School is so expensive and the students work so hard, but they only take the time (or have the time) to eat pretty bad junk. There's got to be a better way. I think the secret might be taking some more time to prepare food, and having a plan. I suggested that posting four easy dinner ideas on the fridge then having the ingredients on hand would take some of the stupor out of the process. I also think its important to have a couple of dinners out of a can. I like canned ravioli. Is there anything else out of a can worth eating?? Any suggestions? I like tuna a lot, too. I watched Steve Currit put chunk albacore tuna in his salad when he was doing South Beach and thought, that looks good to me. I read an article on canned food, and very little nutrition is lost in the canning process. So you have to look for flavor and also realize that it is probably already salted to taste (or beyond). We should experiment with beef stews. I wonder if there's a good brand out there.

Jenni's cookbook is very helpful (I want a copy of a new one). Could we earmark some recipes that are super easy and good?

I think to survive you have to have high quality nutrition. For me that begins with real whole wheat bread. Great Harvest is a wonderful bread and freezes very well. I freeze the loaves in half, but you could wrap two slices in a sandwich bag, then in a bigger bag (double bagging prevents freezer burn). Not all ww bread in the stores is quality enough to satisfy real nutrition needs. Jenni's recipe for bread is good. I love it.

Anyway, I would start by centering my eating on real whole grains and surrounding myself with high quality fruit and vegetables, lean meats and eggs. Maybe taking a mulitiple vitamin supplement would be a good idea. I would eliminate caffeine and sugar, and all of those things that don't build solid health, but just stress it out.

Okay. Good luck. Any suggestions for surviving college starvation?

Love, Mom

Food budget back of the envelope calculations

Thought you guys might enjoy this... I recently again became infuriated upon reading the blog of a friend who claimed that for herself and her husband she paid a combined total of 100 dollars a month for food and other grocery items (soap, etc)! Paying myself several times this amount while trying to live thriftily, I was amazed -- how does she do it? So I did some armchair excel calculations of how cheaply, buying only at the lowest average prices at which I know I can find grocery items within my shopping radius, I could eat a healthy, balanced diet. I figured my friend must be couponing/stealing/making out of old paint chips hygiene items for free so I did not include them in my calculations. Here's what I came up with:

As you can see, eating real food and avoiding fats, it is impossible to feed two people on 100 dollars a month -- in fact, one person can barely squeeze in for that month on a third-world-style rice and beans diet. 200 dollars per person for a veggie-filled, ramen-free diet sounds about right. 

So, in conclusion, I am no longer racked with guilt upon hearing stories of 5-person-families-with-two-large-dogs living off 100 dollars a month, knowing that they must be doing it by stuffing themselves with cheap fats and processed foods.

But, I would like hints on how to save while eating mainly "ingredients" (food that didnt take a whole factory and herds of engineers to produce).

(BTW, for curiosity's sake, getting all your calories from McDonads 1 Dollar Double Cheeseburgers costs 4.25 / day including tax -- more than rice and beans but a lot less than anything healthy -- and what atmosphere!)

Merrrrry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve!

All is well here in Sandy. We had Thai food last night after making donuts and giving them to a few neighbors. Then we watched a show with Alec Guiness that sounded good: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier? It ended up being incomprehensible and unforgettable. They talked in code words all of the time. It was about the Cold War and the spy stuff in England. I laughed all night. It was almost as good as a parody of those things. But it was serious.

Thanks Danny for getting Travis to the airport! What a winter. I heard that the Portland Airport is closed. We are very grateful D and J and boys aren't on the road driving here.

Tonight Ty and Dawn and Laurel and Dawn's folks, George and Sherrie, are coming for a visit. We hope to eat a bit and play games. I'm sure Laurel will have a say in that.

Take care and have a great Christmas!

Love, Mom

Post T.G.

I loved our Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks for coming. Let's be sure to let G-ma and G-pa know how much we appreciated it.

Travis' Christmas list was very informative. How about the rest of you? I'm with him on games, movies, fun.

Here's the website for the music set on Ty's Friday open mike: Nightwatchmanmusic.com I think it's under "music in the cafe" like that. The guy from R.A.The M. was Tom Morrillo.

Well, back to work. I want to repaint, put in new floors, make curtains and have the carpets cleaned before Christmas.

Love, Mom

Sewing Machine

I gave Agata her Christmas present early - a near-mint condition old Singer sewing machine. She's thrilled but sad she won't be able to use it until after finals.

Meanwhile, I'm busy as a bee. For some strange reason I work 3 odd jobs, tutoring, translating, and grading papers, which take up a lot of my time and keep me from getting my school work done, but at least help bring some bacon home to the frying pan. Speaking of which, here's a hit Polish recipe among the guys in my department, that maybe some manly Currits might enjoy -- especially you dangerously skinny ones:

Take 4-5 pounds of bacon, or, even better, smoked pork belly, chop it up into small bits and toss it in a frying pan with some garlic, onions, marjoram, and a touch of pepper, and let it sizzle on low (important: don't get it to hot and crispify the bacon). Drain the grease out occasionally into a bowl, keep going until you've got it all out, then put the drained bacon bits /onion pieces back into the bowl with the grease, and let the whole mixture congeal in the fridge. Now you've got the most delicious butter-substitute you've ever had -- use it for frying eggs, put it on bread with some pickles, eat it plain -- yum yum.

Thanksgiving is nigh, look forward to seeing you all there. I can't wait for Christmas either; my wish-list as always is lots of playing, chatting, late-night-movie-watching etc with the bros, sausage and cheese parties, and a couple of sledding trips. If anyone feels acquisitive, I could use anything rain or waterproof -pants, gloves, socks, hats, coat, etc -- that I can use to go sailing or in rainy weather. A wetsuit, ah, now that would be nice. Also anything even vaguely gadget-y is always a hit with me. But things to enjoy as a group always make the best presents, IMHO.

Well better get back to work. Enjoy yourselves and have a safe trip up.
TC

Laurel Soleil

Here's what's officially known as the first photo shoot

2nd Semester of School and Such

Hey hey!

How's everyone doing? I think I've posted something on the blog a total of like two times so I figured it was about time for me to write something. 

Well, I survived my first semester of school and I just signed up for next semester. Right now my schedule is looking like this:

Economics 110

History 348: Modern Southeast Asia

History 349: Asian Religion and Thought

PLSC 110: American Government and Politics

TMA 150: Public speaking 

Should be fun eh? Any suggestions?

Besides that I had a really cool experience on Monday when I went and picked up a member I worked with a lot in Thailand from the airport. He got a mission call to the Salt Lake City South mission (which includes Sandy) so we picked him up and took him to the MTC. 

Good fun.

Well that's all for now

November

Nov. 10, 2008

It was good to talk to people yesterday (Sunday). We went to Alpine to Elder Ward's homecoming. (He and Alex served in Thailand.) Don Ward is doing okay. It was good to see him. Todd and Alex had a lot of fun on their missions. I hope we get to see more of him.

So does everyone have a number ready for the family Christmas program at G-ma's? If not, you will have to come up with something at the last minute, which isn't bad, really. It worked last year.

Today is dark and cold and rainy. I have enjoyed it very much, because I have stayed home and organized stuff, just kind of rattled around. We are hoping the weather cooperates with a long drive at the end of the month.

Hopefully we will see Dawn, Tyler and Laurel on Wednesday. He had some great stories to tell on Sunday. They didn't come. Dawn had to work on her day off.

We love seeing Tommy and Alex whenever possible. Dennis went to a BYU game on Saturday with them. He was very impressed with the traffic. Tommy and Alex said they don't go anywhere for four hours after a game. BYU stunk but won again.

Christmas lists anyone? I want to watch movies and play games. It's hard to even think about gifts. I think planning an activity would be a great gift. Foyle's War was wonderful! We can't stop getting them from the library. Dennis even wants to watch them twice. Dawn and Tyler have some great photos of their family taken at Kendra's wedding. I'd like copies of those. Anyway, what do you folks need or want?

Remember to take boots and gloves to gma's for Thanksgiving. We're bringing the football.

Love, Mom

Pumpkin patchin

Hello all! Saturday we went with some friends to a pumpkin patch to pick a few pumpkins. We also ate some cider doughnuts, petted some farm animals and watched a pig show. Some good fall fun. Love you all and hope your enjoying the season.

~Danny

Last one, promise

Eating with some friends at Pop Bruger. Super fun night after a hard day of running around.

Best fish 'n chips in the city. (or so they tell me.)

Some our work that is in Nike Town.

The Oates' house, where we stayed outside of New Jersey.

Waiting to be seated at John's Pizza

And I figured out the labels...

Where all the chess games are played in Central Park

Waiting for the next seminar to start

This is David Blaine, the magician. He decided that hanging upside down for 60 hours was "magic!"

Some fire escapes

Grand Central Station