Thank you all for your comments!! What fun!! It makes blogging worthwhile to have so many comments. Now, on to another issue. . . . . My husband read my blog and said if somebody didn't know me well, they would think I hated Maryland and loved Utah. This is not the case, I have to say. I just LOVE the differences that I find between them. It is fun for me. But to put the record straight and to be fair to Maryland I have to say I do love living in Maryland. It is economically easier for us, it is greener which is soothing to my soul, I love the cultural experiences we get here. We just went to a wedding reception that was done in the tradition of Africa. Very fun. We get to do lots of free stuff in DC. Lots of concerts, plays, and history. It is really a great place to live. I love the moderate climate. It is warm a good part of the year and only cold for a couple of months. Hardly any snow and that is good with me. The thing is, those things aren't really good material to poke fun at. I'm hoping you enjoyed my poking fun at the other things because that is what I was doing . . . . . . I think you enjoyed it . . . . I hope you did . . . .

I found out that you don't go to the beach here . . . . you go to the "Eastern Shore." A big difference if you ask me . . . . . . . can you tell I am reeking with sarcasm . . . . .

You will NEVER see an LDS "flick" in a major theatre like you would in Utah. Never, Never, Never. We have to travel an hour to a small LDS store, and pay an outrageous price for them. Those of you who aren't LDS may not realize how many of these movies there are. It must be a huge market in Utah. Going back to the price of these movies, actually, come to think about it. . . . it would be cheaper to buy it than have the convenience of seeing it in a major theatre wouldn't it? I've had a light bulb moment!! P.S. After reading this post I had to come back and edit it because I had another light bulb moment. . . .why drive an hour when everything is a click away on the Internet? I better stop thinking or I may spend more money than I want to!!
These are the most prevalent type of movies to be seen here. Darn!!

Did you know, probably do, that West of the Mississippi (or is it the Missouri? I'll have to look it up) River the call letters of a radio station begin with a "K" and East of the Mississippi they start with a "W"? These are my two favorite stations. The top one, WMAL, is the "stop Hillary express" right now. Love it! and KSL is of course, conservative also, and I have been known to listen to it over the Internet from time to time. They are both talk radio. I, who loves music in all its forms, right now, am having a hard time choosing between music stations and talk stations. I would love to listen to music, but because of the upcoming election, talk radio is just to interesting to resist. By, the way, I'm listening to WMAL RIGHT NOW!!

A lesson in pronunciation: In the west, we have a lot of "aaaaaa's" in our vocabulary prounounced as if we are saying the "a" in "Jazz", you know, like the Utah Jazz? Most Marylanders or maybe even east coasters pronounce most "a's" like the "a" in the word "Jaws" with a nice round "ahhhh" sound. So my poor son Chancy became "Chawncy" and Halley became "hawlley" or "holly." Although I have to admit she had that problem in Utah also!!! "Nevada" is "Navawda", "Halloween" is Hawloween, and etc., etc., etc., In case you are wondering though, Utah Jazz is prounounced correctly, for some reason or other they haven't changed it to the Utah Jawzz. Oh dear, my attempt at humor is bad bad bad. ROFL

Soda vs. Pop. Being a Utah girl, one day at our community pool, at the concessions stand, I ordered an orange pop. I was greeted by a face that communicated to me confusion. She got a light bulb moment (her face brightened) and she went to the freezer and got me an orange popsicle. Then it was my turn to look confused. "I asked for an orange pop" I said, and it was her turn to look confused again! Finally someone with some understanding of the situation said, "I think she wants an orange SODA." Oh, how hard it is for me to call Pop, Soda. Pop keeps bursting forth from my mouth, and then quickly becomes Soda again. The little United States map above shows the Pop/Soda culture of the nation. yellow=soda, blue=pop, red=coke???? Coke? how do you know what flavor fluid you want? Coke? We live on the very edge of the coke/soda line. Thank goodness we aren't in the coke area. I just couldn't live with THAT!!

Here is a funny one. Funny to me. When we moved here, we had a bunch of marion berry jam. Lincoln and I decided it would be a great idea to go around and give our neighbors and newly made friends some "marion berry jam." They had never heard of "marion berries" BUT THEY HAD heard of Marion Berry!!! the governer (if DC has representation that is) of DC. Marion Berry is the laughing stock of this area. DC keeps reelecting him even though he has a criminal record and has spent time in jail. I won't say too much about him because I don't want to gossip about anyone publicly. ha! ha! It was a pretty hilarious situation, since we didn't do it on purpose, but everyone thought we were calling the jam Marion Berry after the man.

This was a jaw dropper for me. Just read that bottom line on this license plate. Ohhh! I'm sorry, it isn't a "plate" here, it is a "tag." Don't make that mistake!! I thought people would be proud to live in Washington D.C. It is the nation's capitol is it not? I guess I didn't ever think that they are not a state and they pay taxes and are somewhat in the same boat as the colonists were back in the time of the British rule . . . . the United States is ruling them, and they don't have representation. "Taxation without representation." I couldn't believe my eyes!! Oh, and another thing. . . . when I was a youngster, there was a big difference between "capitol" and "capital." Here, the words are interchangeable. Just spell the word any way you dang well please. Businesses will have a picture of the "capitol" and spell it "capital." It bugged the heck out of me. YIKES!!

This was a blow for me. We moved from a republican state to a democrat state. Ohhhh my, did I feel like an alien here and still do. I couldn't believe back in the presidential elections, my vote didn't and doesn't make a dent (not even a ruffle) in whether or not the republican candidate wins here. There is a big "stop Hillary" movement going on here, however. YESS!!!!

Okay, this one is definately a Utah thing. WHAT? No holiday on July 24th? Sorry guys, Utah is the only place in the nation that celebrates the arrival of the pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. What a bummer at least it's a bummer when living OUTSIDE of Utah. :) In Utah this holiday is bigger than the 4th of July and celebrated much the same with parades, parties and fireworks. BIG holiday.

Because I'm a mom and because I do the shopping this is one of the things I noticed quickly. I wouldn't buy anything but Best Foods Mayonnaise. NOW, I don't buy anything but Hellmann's. It is exactly the same, manufactured by the same people. I have to confess, however, thanks to my sister-in-law Celesta, I am a Miracle Whip fan now. I turn coated :)