Rite of passage-Court turns 21!

I love Courtney as much as if she were my own daughter and today she is 21 years old!I am so proud of what a beautiful young woman she is. I am proud that she is pursuing her education and plans to serve society as a special education teacher. She is such a good/great girl! Trev and Court started dating when they were 15 and are still going strong 6 years later. Courtney couldnt' be a nicer girl or from a nicer family. We are so lucky to have her in our lives. That's why it was such fun to celebrate this day with her! And celebrate we did!!!! Main Street Pub in Allendale is one of my favs-home of the fried pickle-YUMO!

OHHhhh, Baby!

The Body Perfections crew gathered to celebrate Brit (aka Jenny Vanderzwaag) and her soon-to-be baby girl! The shower was hosted by Stephanie and Ky Phasukvong at their home. Ky cooked for all of us and played bartender and DJ. Steph is also pregnant right now with her second little one. Brit and Steph have been the best of friends since hair school~now they have one more thing in common! Ky made the best home made egg rolls and orange glazed shrimp. I'd like to clone him so I could have a Ky, too! Thanks to you both for showing us all such a great time!

Marooney Tunes

While the presidential candidates are debating about debating, my clan and I took in the Unity Christian/Holland Christian football game.Priorities, people!Fox17 Game of the Week, I'll have you know. Who'da thunk it! The Maroon Platoon annihilated the Unity Christian Crusaders 48-32. The game was a real nail biter when Unity was, at one point, up 32 to HC's 28. That just got the Maroons all fired up! We actually ran into quite a few old friends at this one, including our dear former coach TLont!Very nice, mild weather here for football at the end of September. Coats optional. If Holland Christian wins another game, they will automatically be assured of a playoff spot. Perfect! Next on the schedule for the Maroons, Rogers@Holland Christian. We're there! You can read a nice write-up about the game at:
http://www.hollandchristian.org/football/varsity_football

The Maroons got the job done in such short order that we were home in time for most of the debate. McCain & Obama, celebrity death match~if you missed it, I'm sure there will be some kind of skit on SNL! Disappointing time if you were hoping to hear about the bailout...they avoided that like the plague!

Go Google Yourself!

I know, I know, another fine example of time squandered on the Internet. But doggone it, it's so entertaining! Have you ever Googled yourself? I did and here's what I found out:

There are an inordinately large number of porno stars named Lana. (photos omitted!)

Lana is the name of a brand of wool from Taos, New Mexico.

Lana Lang was a Superman sweetie long before Lois Lane!

There are a number of geographical locations named Lana. Lana, Italy. Lana, Navarre (Spain). Lana in South Tirol. Lana River in Tirana, Albania.

There is a language research chimpanzee named Lana. Smart girl!

Wikipedia has an entry for Lana.
The Beach Boys recorded a song, Lana(Song), on the Surfin' USA album in 1963. Never heard it.
There is a medical test for identification of gram-negative bacteria called the Lana Test. 1-alanine-4-nitroanilide. Whatever in the hell that means~
There is a Wai Lana Yoga Mat.
The name Lana has been popular in the United States since 1939, when movie star and pin-up girl, Lana Turner, became famous. This is who I was named for.

There are 23 Lana Bakers on Face Book.
There is at least one other Lana Mae Baker. She was born 10/20/06 and shows up on an alumni baby site when you google my full name.

There are 21 acronyms for organizations that spell out the name, Lana:
LANA
There is a fancy schmansy restaurant in Charleston, S.C. named Lana:
http://www.lanarestaurant.com

Go ahead, give it a try! I'm sure there will be a few surprises out there for you too!

Stick this in your MUG!

Rach-you are just the bestest, most helpfullest friend! What would I do without those emails you send me?? Here's a neat little recipe for DANGEROUS CHOCOLATE CAKE IN A MUG!

1 coffee mug

4 Tbsp. Cake flour (plain, not self-rising)
4 Tbsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Cocoa
1 egg
3 Tbsp. Milk
3 Tbsp. Oil
Small splash of Vanilla
3 Tbsp. Chocolate chips, optional

Add dry ingredients to mug, mix well with a fork.
Add egg, mix thoroughly.
Pour in milk and oil and vanilla. Mix well.
Add chips, if using.
Put mug in microwave, and cook for three minutes on 1000 watts.
Cake will rise over top of mug---do not be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little; tip onto a plate if desired.
EAT!!!!
This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.
*** And WHY is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake any time of the day or night!
Get thee hence to the microwave! This is GREAT! Got the recipe from a friend and tried it out immediately. It works! I see multiple applications for this gem: With kids, grandkids, 4-H cooking classes; college dorm room when there's only a microwave; late night cravings; just enough for one or two servings instead of an entire cake...ha!ha! My kids added some drizzles of chocolate syrup and some Cool Whip. We didn't put in the chocolate chips. You could add canned frosting, too. The batter does rise up way over the top of the mug but doesn't run down the side. Fun to watch! Be careful not to overcook--our microwave is higher than 1000 watts and three minutes is a dab too long-dries the cakes out a little bit. Anyway, give it a try and be sure to watch it the whole time it's baking in the microwave!

This is just such a fun, unique idea! And never underestimate the power of chocolate! Thanks again Rach for sending me this email. As you can see, it put it to good use and shared the wealth! Keep em' coming, girl!

Girls-Hang on to your shirts!!

SERIOUSLY, people!

On one of my Internet forages, I encountered an asinine website(link below) that is campaigning for the rights of women to appear in public bare chested just as men are allowed to do. Really? I'm sure the guys think this is a great idea but I did an informal poll of the women I know and NONE of them were in favor of it! For one thing, it would create a myriad of problems. It is dangerous! Think of all the accidents it could cause when women are walking about sans top and guys are paying more attention to that than where they are walking or driving! Not to mention the things that could go wrong for the girls like getting your boob stuck in an elevator door, accidentally flopping it into a bowl of soup at Pannera Bread, getting too close to the grill at one of those hibachi restaurants, spilling your coffee at Starbucks...the list is endless!! What if you had to ride home on a standing-room only bus and the person facing you was just the right height to view the twins dead-on?Awkward!Imagine being anywhere crowded and all the creepy cop-a-feel perverts that would be just waiting for an opportunity to rub you the wrong way! Think about all those billions and gazillions of germs out there. Surely not a good thing to expose the nip-nips to. Do you really want to have to carry Wet Wipes with you everywhere you go?  Plus, it has been my experience(having had one "exposure" to a nude beach in the Bahamas) that the people you'd like to see nude have the good sense to stay covered up because they instinctively know that most people look better with a little something on, and the ones who want to flaunt it-don't got it! I dare say, it is pollution of a sort! Talk about an eyesore-heh! What about the Michigan winters-a tit bit nipply, wouldn't you say? That would be a really bad place to get frostbite! OK~then there's the little matter of gravity. I already feel betrayed by my connective tissue because of Sir Isaac Newton and his hateful law. But, if all of us walked around like that 24/7, the effects would be devastating. Good for plastic surgeons perhaps. Well, in conclusion, I composed a little limerick to voice how I truly feel about this issue:
When your t** hangs so low that it reaches your cl**, then you are in deep sh**!
Not a good idea, people! RETHINK!
That's all I have to say about that. Check it out for yourself!
http://www.gotopless.org/

This isn't the only ridiculous cause I encountered out there either. There are more!

If my life were so devoid of meaning that I was driven to devote myself to championing such a knucklehead, cockadoody cause as the ones you'll find listed below, I would dowse myself with gasoline, throw myself off the Sears Tower, light myself on fire and shoot myself in the head just moments before falling to my death on the streets of Chicago!Extreme? Maybe just a tad...but read on and see if you don't at least somewhat agree that these causes are absolutely 100% unadulterated bullpucky!

If you Google "ridiculous causes", a website called cracked.com will come up. There's a post on there by a guy named Adam Brown. He's done his research and came up with the 5 most ridiculous causes to ever get a website(you will need to enter that on this site in the search box to pull it up. There are many other equally entertaining and equally vulgar posts on this site, so if you enjoy that sort of thing~knock yourself out! There is swearing in this post but if you can overlook that, it's really funny!)
http://www.cracked.com
If silly is what you seek, check out this site! Home of the Slower Traffic Keep Right campaign, a member of S.P.I.T which is an acronym for Supporters of Politically Incorrect Topics, they are proud members of the I Hate Mimes Club and advocates for blink-free sites:
http://www.thefunnybones.com

And, if that's not enough, read- Websites About Which I Am Chagrined- by Ian Fortey- at a site called Scenic Anemia:
http://www.scenicanemia.com

That's my limit for now! You just never know what's out there!

Bombard the yard

Or just bomb it! Here's Trevor, cutting-in, showcasing his ditch-digging skills. Check out the before and after photos-these were the initial photos of the jungle before we started taming it:

Court stopped over to lend a hand and moral support.

Tyler takes his usual extreme, unorthodox approach to problem-solving!

While Lana prefers the Zen salutation to the sun approach-Ohhhhmmmm!
Then...we went on vacation, had a rainstorm complete with flooding, and let the weeds get nice and big again. Hmmm, this decent weather is not going to last much longer AND the job doesn't seem to be getting any more appealing...SO, we got out the Roundup again a few days ago and made the resolve to git er dun on Sunday. As you may or may not know, Sunday is a sacred day around here and the old conservative dutchy types don't really like to see you out in the yard on this day, doing yardwork, sweating, and letting the occaisional colorful phrasology resound. We did all of that and more, I'm afraid, but hey, honestly, this is the only time I had open in my schedule. We'll repent later. Our goal was to get his done before the first snow, which, for all we know, could be tomorrow! It is West Michigan :)

Trevor shoveled, Lana did the ground work and leveled it

Lana threw down the Preen while Trevor mowed

Not perfect, but a heck of a lot better! This should be easier next spring...

So, next project: clean the garage! There's always somethin'!

Happy #3 Jay Baby!

September 18, 2008, our beloved Jay Baby, Jayden Alexander Glazek, turned 3 years old! Unbelievable!! Both sides of the family gathered at Kollen Park to celebrate together this momentous occasion.It was a glorious day and the park was crawling with people out to enjoy the last little bit of summer we have left here in West Michigan! What a blessing family is and how important to cherish these times!Hope you enjoy this experience through our pictures right along with us!

Friday Night with Lanabobana & Friends

Where there's smoke, there's fire!



 The most recent official meeting of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood took place this Friday PM~these are the official minutes of the official meeting, officially, that is...
In attendance:
Alex~official Ya-Ya group jester (pretending to be camera shy but we all know she likes the attention)


Carrie-every group of female friends must legally have a Carrie-rule adapted from Sex and the City and incorporated into the by-laws of the Ya-Ya's~she is our official Carrie

Lanabobana~official scribe of the official minutes of the official meeting, officially, and demonstrating the secret Ya-Ya Sisterhood signal~crap! That was supposed to be a secret...

Sustenance for all the sistahs...We invented our very own official Ya-Ya drink. It's called the Blue Island Pucker effer- upper. Let's see, you take a nice healthy amount of Blue Island Pucker-oh, yeah, first some ice cubes, then the pucker, then Raspberry Stoli(that's the effer- upper!) and then, uhhh, 7up. Mighty tasty. Give 'er a try!

Jamie~official griller of the group

Patricia~official group historian

Millicent~official moderator/bouncer

Bunny~official cruise director (2010, girls! Anchors aweigh! Perhaps we will set sail with Captain Morgan?)

The sacred, secret ceremony of the cabbage patch doll head:

Nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee...
Everyone must touch and look upon this most sacred Ya-Ya Artifact

Discussing  the world as we know it around the fire~OK, our version is a little different than most!



Official ceremony of the S'mores


Followed by the official ceremonial sacrificial burning of the marshmellow roasting sticks

Meeting Adjourned!

A foreigner gets the facts...

A friend of mine sent me this information about Michigan. I have been a resident here only 12 years and many of these facts where new and/or surprising to me. Read on and see how many items on this list are things you didn't know before:

Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.
Alpena is the home of the world's largest cement plant.
Rogers City boasts the world's largest limestone quarry.
Elsie is the home of the world's largest registered Holstein dairy herd.
Michigan is first in the United States production of peat and magnesium compounds and second in gypsum and iron ore.
Colon is home to the world's largest manufacture of magic supplies.
The state Capitol with its majestic dome was built in Lansing in l879.
Michigan ranks first in state boat registrations.
The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first
air-conditioned car in 1939.
The oldest county (based on date of incorporation) is Wayne in 1815.
Sault Ste. Marie was founded by Father Jacques Marquette in 1668. It is the
third oldest remaining settlement in the United States.
In 1817 the University of Michigan was the first universityestablished by any of the states. Originally namedCathelepistemian and located in Detroit the name was changed in 1821.
The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.
The city of Novi was named from its designation as Stagecoach Stop #6 or No.VI.
Michigan State University has the largest single campus student body of any Michigan university. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the state and one of the largest universities in the country. Michigan State University was founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university and served as the prototype for 69 land-grant institutions later established under the MorrillAct of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation to teach scientific agriculture.
The largest village in Michigan is Caro.
Michigan's state stone, The Petoskey is the official state stone. It is found along the shores of Lake Michigan.
The Mackinac Bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world.
Connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, it spans 5 miles
over the Straits of Mackinac, which is where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet.
The Mighty Mac took 3 years to complete and was opened to traffic in 1957.
Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and became the 38th president of the United States. He attended the University of Michigan where he was a football star. He served on a World War II aircraft carrier and afterward represented Michigan in Congress for 24 years. He was also an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.
The Kellogg Company has made Battle Creek the Cereal Capital of the World. The Kellogg brothers accidentally discovered the process for producing flaked cereal products and sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.
The painted turtle is Michigan's state reptile.
The western shore of Michigan has many sand dunes.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes rise 460 feet above Lake Michigan.
Living among the dunes is the dwarf lake iris the official state wildflower.
Vernors ginger ale was created in Detroit and became the first soda pop made in the United States. In 1862, pharmacist James Vernor was trying to create a new beverage when he was called away to serve our country in the Civil War. When he returned, 4 years later, the drink he had stored in an oak case had acquired a delicious gingery flavor.
The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to feature cageless, open-exhibits that allowed the animals more freedom to roam.
Michigan is the only place in the world with a floating post office.
The J. W. Westcott II is the only boat in the world that delivers mail to ships while they are still underway. They have been operating for 125 years.
Indian River is the home of the largest crucifix in the world. It is called the Cross in the Woods.
Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world.
Michigan has more shoreline than any other state except Alaska.
The Ambassador Bridge was named by Joseph Bower, the person credited with making the bridge a reality, who thought the name (Detroit-Windsor International Bridge) as too long and lacked emotional appeal. Bower wanted to symbolize the visible expression of friendship of two peoples with like ideas and ideals.
Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams.
Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in Gulliver has been guiding ships since 1895.
The working light also functions as a museum, which houses early 1900s furnishings and maritime artifacts.
Forty of the state's 83 counties adjoin at least one of the Great Lakes. Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes.
Standing anywhere in the state a person is within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes.
Michigan includes 56,954 square miles of land area; 1,194 square miles of inland waters; and 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water area.
Sault Ste. Marie was established in 1668 making it the oldest town between the Alleghenies and the Rockies.
Michigan was the first state to provide in its Constitution for the establishment of public libraries.
Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to tax-paid high school education.
Four flags have flown over Michigan - French, English, Spanish and United States.
Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest moose herds remaining in the United States.
Some of the longest bulk freight carriers in the world operate on the Great Lakes. Ore carriers 1,000 feet long sail Michigan's inland seas.
The Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial deposit of native copper in the world.
The 19 chandeliers in the Capitol in Lansing are one of a kind and designed especially for the building by Tiffany's of New York. Weighing between 800-900 pounds apiece they are composed of copper, iron and pewter.
The first auto traffic tunnel built between two nations was the mile-long Detroit-Windsor tunnel under the Detroit River.
The world's first international submarine railway tunnel was opened between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1891.
The nation's first regularly scheduled air passage service began operation between Grand Rapids and Detroit in 1926.
In 1879 Detroit telephone customers were first in the nation to be assigned phone numbers to facilitate handling calls.
In 1929, the Michigan State Police established the first state police radio system in the world.
Grand Rapids is home to the 24-foot Leonardo da Vinci horse, called Il Gavallo,
it is the largest equestrian bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere.

My favorite ones were: how Novi got named, how Vernor's Gingerale was invented, that MI was the first place to have phone #'s and the wierd name U of M originally had and that it was once located in Detroit! There were so many interesting bits of info! Da Vinci's horse IS really quite fabulous-of course I would mention the horse! I now feel up to speed on my Michigan facts. Thanks, Rach! I'll use this information to amuse and amaze my family, friends, and co-workers. And hopefully to win the occasional game of trivial pursuit! If I keep this up, someone might actually mistake me for a genuine Michigander-but that's probably at least another decade or two down the road! Unless I remarry some day and get a Dutch name. Nah, that seems rather extreme! Hope you all enjoyed being enlightened today about everything Michigan. What else could there possibly be that would be this important to know?!

Three Birthdays and a Wedding...

Three Birthdays and a Wedding trumps Four Weddings and a Funeral any day! Especially at one of our celebrations~complete with festive balloons and...

A feast fit for Queens and Princesses... and in general just beautiful, intelligent, hot women~ALL!

Hosted by the hostess with the mostest, our dear Lady Russell, Patricia, at her pimped out crib-

Organized by Laura, our event coordinator. Good job!

Elizabeth and Katie celebrated 30 years-they're still such puppies :)

Alex is 40 years young! She gathers some youthful support from Alisabeth.

Miss Sarah is soon to tie the knot~we wish her every happiness!

Now you're cookin', Sarah! You can have the next party at your place and test out the new grill.
Bonnie, Jamie and I somehow managed to skate out of the photo op THIS TIME. We were afraid that the world wasn't ready for such beauty overload so we're saving ourselves for another time, another place. This was very fun! Until we meet again, girls!