Hazel Pete Basket Weaving

I had an the incredible opportunity to attend the basket weaving conference at Great Wolf Lodge this weekend. The Annual Event is hosted by the Hazel Pete institute. Native American weavers from all over the country, but particularly from the Northwest came together to teach the craft to willing learners. It was a time for conversation and laughter, a time to hear the stories, and a time to sit beside a master and weave a basket.

I had an amazing time. I made a woven cedar vase and a seagrass basket.








As you can see I'm hardly a weaver, but I have been bitten by the weaving bug and will be weaving more baskets as soon as my supplies arrive. Oh yes, I ordered seagrass coils on line, they should be here by next week.

I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know anything about Hazel Pete or the incredible legacy she has left us. But after spending the Friday with her daughters and granddaughters, cousins, aunties, and tribal family---I wanted to know more about this amazing woman.

Hazel Pete was born in a one-room house in 1914 on the Chehalis Reservation. Hazel attend s government day school on the Chehalis Reservation, went on to an Indian boarding school and Tulalip and ultimately graduated from Chemawa High School in Salem Oregon. After high school she studied for two years at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe New Mexico.

Sweet Potato Fries---Oh My

Sweet Potato fries have become my new favorite food. And despite their name, they are baked, not fried. Here is the recipe I've been using. I'd love to get more recipes.

1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (preferably the easy release kind).

Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side.

Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries. Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.

Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

5 Sweet Summer Books

What could be better than a sweet reading list for summer.

1. Sweet by Heather Byer (2007) A charming memoir about a young woman coming of age in the pool rooms of New York.
2.Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel by Jamie Ford.
Set in Seattle, Ford tells the story of a Henry Lee who rediscovers bittersweet memories of his time in a Japanese internment camp while combing through newly discovered boxes from the camp.
3. The Sweet By and By: A Novel by Todd Johnson

Life is choosing whom and what you love. The story is told through a series of first-person vignettes from five women with interconnected lives. Two of the women live in a nursing home, trying to cope with the corresponding loneliness, loss of freedom, and the inevitability of becoming sicker, weaker, and less in control of their own lives.
4. Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism by Scott Hahn and Kimberly Hahn

The Hahns use their own journey to show how their commitment to Jesus Christ and the Bible is what ultimately led them down an entirely unforseeable path towards Rome.
5. The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love by Jill Conner Browne

This celebration of southern womanhood is indeed a full of laughs. I mean tears running down your cheeks, snorting at your desk at work laughs.

May's Theme is Sweet

The theme this month is sweet---no one, not even my mother or my dog, would ever call me sweet. I am a lot of things. I am for instance smart, I'm a hard worker, I am kind, I am cynical, but I am not sweet. And shockingly, I have no interest in becoming sweet----not in this life or any other life. So why is that I wonder?
Maybe it is because when I apply the adjective "sweet" to a person, I see them as less then genuine, as people you can only take so much of---sort of like chocolate---I love chocolate and yes, it is SWEET, but I can only take so much of it at a time---I could not tolerate a steady diet of chocolate--even if it was totally nutritious.

My Puppy Valentine

Today begins my third week with Ciara (pronounced KeyRa). This last week she has become a wild child. She is constantly on the prowl for new things to pounce on and attack---no bottle cap, box, paper bag, envelope. She is beginning to bark and growl during play---which is pretty funny when you hear it.

She has become the darling of our H & R Block office. My boss, Wendy, bought her a Valentine Bandana---and we all take turns taking her out during the day. So Ciara has the impression that work is fun and everybody loves you. Aah that that were true.

I'm no longer taking her to work at my State job, no one said to stop bringing her--but I think it was coming--so she spent her first day at home alone, last Monday, where I left her gated in the kitchen with her crate and a gazillion puppy pads. She missed every single puppy pad. Next day she moved into the bathroom, where she managed to hit the puppy pads every single time.

Koala love story wins hearts after deadly fires

Koala love story wins hearts after deadly fires: "www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSPx7S4jr4"

We are one big family, humans, plants, and animals--all living on this earth together--all struggling against adversity--and reaching out to each other for kindness.

The video

Economic Stimulus Payment--Report it Correctly Or Slow Down Your Refund

If you are one of the millions of taxpayers who have ALREADY filed your taxes and are anticipating your refund to hit your bank account any day now, you may be in for a big surprise. IRS says that many taxpayers are not reporting the correct amount of Economic Stimulus Payment they received last year, and that is resulting in slower refunds this year and in some cases reduced refunds.

If you haven't filed your tax return yet, don't rely on your memory for the amount of economic stimulus payment you received. Instead go to this website, type in your information and know for sure what you received.

Obama's Speech on the National Mall

MyFox Washington DC | Full Text of Barack Obama's Speech


Once in a generation comes an individual whose greatness is predestine and innate--Barak Obama is such a man--and if we allow ourselves to believe and to shed the cloak of cynicism we can once again become a proud nation and a proud people.

My favorite quote from yesterday's speech on the National Mall follows. I only hope that my daughter, who is D.C. to attend the inauguration, was able to hear this speech in person.

And yet, as I stand here today, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you -- Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.

It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everybody together -- Democrats, Republicans and Independents; Latino, Asian and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not -- then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office -- the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans -- that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

Tell-A-Friend: Sign the Stop Puppy Mills Pledge

Tell-A-Friend: Sign the Stop Puppy Mills Pledge

As many of you know my beloved dog Wyatt died January 7, 2009 and I have been heartsick ever since. Part of the healing process for me is researching dogs and puppies in order to educate myself when April rolls around, and I have enough free time to adopt a new canine member to my family.

I have been combing the classified ads and roaming all over the internet gathering information and looking at dogs and puppies.

Just last week in the NICKLE give away ad newspaper there were countless ads for all kinds of puppies, all of them located in Snohomish County. On the news yesterday a huge puppymill was busted in Gold Bar in Snohomish County. 155 puppies and dogs were confiscated and found to be in deplorable conditions. That drove me to even more research.

If you are looking for a puppy or a new dog. Educate yourself. Watch this video.

HSUS MySpace Page | Stop Puppy Mills Website

This Weeks Most Common Tax Problems

Electronic Filing began on 1/15/09--and our office has been really busy. Two things have account for the early surge of tax filers. First, many companies are getting their W-2s out earlier this year and second because there was not major last minute changes to the tax law, all the forms are available for filing.

That said--we has several angry customers this week who weren't allowed to file with us until they received their Unemployment 1099G which lists not only how much UC they received but also the amount of federal withholding. So save yourself some grief and WAIT until the form comes in.

The second upset for customers is that many of our military customers wanted to file their tax returns using the final LES. Military W-2s will be available on line by the end of the month--again YOU must wait.

In Loving Memory

Wyatt was born in either 1998 or 1999. He was a stud dog for a breeder and lived in a small dog run. I got him in June of 2002 when he was three or four years old. When I picked him up at the breeder's I already had one broken wrist, by the time I left the breeder, I had a second broken wrist.

Wyatt, although terribly sweet, had not been socialized. But it didn't take him long. Three days to be exact, before he got the swing of sleeping on my bed. He was a great dog. He loved to go for walks, eat pig ears, play in the water, visit his friends, go camping, and follow me wherever I went. He played frisbee, but only to please me--it was never his passion.

He was my best friend. He was my heart. He died peacefully in my arms at the vet's on January 7, 2009. His is missed every moment of every day.

Feeling the Pinch

Oh my gosh! Someone sent this picture to me today in an email. Unfortunately the photographer was not identified--sure would like to give him/her the credit they deserve.

This poor pup should be the poster pup for our economic depression.