Like Grandfather, like Grandson. . . uncanny

This is a picture of my husband when he was about two or three. 

I've had this picture for quite some time, but I just found a lock of his hair when he was born. I found the picture and put the envelope with the hair behind the picture in the same frame.

I thought of his sweet mother, taking a tiny lock of hair and saving it. The tiny piece of hair is carefully taped to a piece of paper and put into an envelope which is labeled "Lock of D__'s hair at the time of Birth."

What I can't get over is how much he looks like his little grandson, or vice versa. I had to look for a while to find a picture of the Grandson from the same angle. But I couldn't find one of him looking up like his grandfather is. I think it is sufficient enough that you can see how very much they resemble each other.

The best part is, they are best friends as well. Grandpa can always read his little grandson like a book.  And the Grandson adores his Grandpa.

Its uncanny.
~a

Confusing the Optometrist

Ah got Bett-ah (I got better) from Monte Python and the Holy Grail movie.

The meds are done, the ones that wreak havoc on your poor stomach, and I awoke this morning feeling like I had come out of a fog into SPRING.

I don't believe I have ever felt this bad with pneumonia, but I guess I have to remind myself that I also had influenza just before the pneumonia set in. I still feel a little weak, but that might come from not exercising at all for 3 weeks. I basically got up to eat, use the restroom and walk back to bed.

Tomorrow, I am going to gently walk on the treadmill for a while and gradually build it up so I can start the Couch to 5 K (C25K). Even it is a bit rigorous for me right now.

Somewhere in the last two weeks, my glasses and my contact lenses came in. I picked those up one of those foggy days, and found the glasses made me sea sick. To a point of nausea, so I put those away. The contact lenses were fine for the computer screen, but for reading a book, forget it, and for signposts on the road, forget it. So today I went back in. He checked the glasses and found they were at a weird angle. He will take them back to the main office and try to fix them.

But the lenses caused a great deal of confusion, for some reason. I am an enigma. hee hee. All the tests suggest that I want less correction!!! What? Are my eyes getting better? Can that be? We shall see. He is ordering me some new ones.

All my spoiled life, I have had 20/10 vision. That means, what I see at 20 feet, others have to move up to 10 feet to see. That means I could see each individual leaf, and sometimes the veins. The mountains had perfect trees on top, my poor sister, Janet had terrible vision. I remember the day she got glasses. She exclaimed, "The mountains have little trees! I can see leaves on the tree!" I remember sitting in the back seat crying for her. I felt so awful that she had never seen something I just took for granted.

But not only that, I could see the individual trees, I could see the tiny cross stitches on the 22 count fabric. That means 22 holes per inch. I started a very intricate pattern with that many years ago, and people would ask me how I ever saw such tiny fabric. I took that for granted. Until I turned 47. I noticed, when I started working at a variety store, that I couldn't see the cash register tape. In hindsight I should have just asked the lady to change ink. I got a pair of reading glasses. I think it made my eyes lazy, and they began to depend on the glasses to see. When my hubby started wishing he had some readers, I told him to resist. And I told him my theory. So far, he only uses them when something really intricate needs to be seen, he takes an eye test every year at work and passes with flying colors.

As I got tired of putting the glasses on and off, I asked for bifocals, but I asked them NOT to correct the far vision. They wanted to bring everything closer and it caused my eyes much confusion. I had to remove my bifocals in order to see the front of the chapel.  When they would take away the correction, it worked fine. Some time in there, I lost my glasses and ordered a new set. They corrected the far vision, and I forgot to ask them to fix it. I lived with it,  and my eyes got lazy.

So we will see tomorrow whether or not the new contact lenses which are weaker will work.

Now off to choir I go. I feel so blessed. I have a wonderful husband, beautiful children, wonderful in-law children, precious grandchildren, a mom and mother-in-law who are both healthy, brothers and sisters, I come from a great family, a safe, comfortable home, a nice car that helps me take the 300 mile round trip to choir, many friends in choir, and a voice that qualifies to be in this choir. I truly feel blessed and a bit spoiled.

Life is grand. God bless all who read this post. I love you all.

~a

I'm missing out

Any of you who know me at all, know that I hate to be left behind. I will rise to the occasion, come up out of my sick-bed and do anything it takes in order not to miss out.

But today, that's not going to happen.

Our 14th grand baby is scheduled to be blessed at a special ceremony on Sunday, and we were all set to drive out to Denver and participate in this special event. But that won't happen now. 

All week I have been fighting some sort of bug. I tried the old Musinex and Psudafed trick with the nasal decongestant spray, plus an Aleve. Everyone of these OTC drugs are 12-hour long-lasting, except the Psudafedederin. It was only a 4-hour pill, but I managed to forget it after the first dose.

I had heard if you feel a cold coming on, if you take all these things, you can bypass all the nose-blowing and coughing part of the cold and get well anyway. But the problem was I didn't get well. I just continued to sleep 18- 20 hours a day, but with no congestion, thankfully.

Finally yesterday, Sailor came home from work, "dukes" up, all ready to confront me with a speech about getting me to a doctor, (I don't care if we have to wait until 2 in the afternoon) and maybe not even go on this trip. But I agreed with him readily, and sunk into his arms from exhaustion.

Today, we went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with Influenza AND pneumonia! bummer

So, instead of a 12-hour drive and all the commotion that goes with traveling, probably with me sleeping the whole way there, lots of people, (family) suitcases, packing and unpacking, driving to the son's house from my mom's, then another 12-hour drive back home, (plus exposing everyone else to this terrible disease), followed by a 5-hour round trip to choir the following Tuesday, I'm stuck at home, sipping Fresca under mountains of quilts, nursing a bowl of pro-biotic yogurt on the side.

I'm missing out on the BIG EVENT and I am sorry and sad, but can't do a thing about it.

the doctor said I was optimistic and resourceful. Sailor says that sums me up pretty well. I couldn't understand if I was keeping all the mucus at bay with my arsenal of medications, why pneumonia would set in anyway. But he said in my weakened state it just did. Oh well. At least I'm not snuffing.
onward and upward

~a

Too Fun

When my daughter met her future husband online, then met him in person, fell in love and married him within 5 months, I had many misgivings, even though I am a great fan of You've Got Mail.

But he turned out to be a wonderful young man and we are thrilled with how happy they are. They recently celebrated their 5th anniversary, have purchased a home, have two children and are living a happily-ever-after life near his graduate school.

I never dreamed I would meet any of my blogger friends. But this year is the year to meet some of them. I recently met Lori when she was in town on a business trip. I have loved her blog and felt like if we actually met, we would feel right at home, and I was right. I have been reading her blog for at least two, maybe three years, and I have come to think of her as almost a sister. Now met another newer blog friend, and we hit it off too.

My new friend's name is Kristeen. Her blog is called the Gough Inn. I discovered that her dad lives in a town 15 miles away from mine, and she is visiting him for a while. I took a little time out yesterday before I headed up to Salt Lake to my choir.

We had a great visit. Her dad is such a sweet man, with a dimple in his cheek so deep you just want to sigh every time he smiles.

Kristeen is such a talented lady. She painted a scene on her dad's wall that shows his homestead where he used to live. I used to punish my daughter for writing on the wall. I should have encouraged it, I guess. I WISH I had remembered my camera, because I would have loved to include a picture of her painting on his wall. She is actually writing his personal history and is printing it in book form through blurb.com.

She already wrote her mom's history the same way. She is able to make these beautiful scrap book pages digitally and then send them to blurb, arrange the pages the way she wants and have them print and bind them. The work she has done is phenomenal. She has done some amazing things with Photo Shop. I am astounded. If you want to see a sample of one of her pages, click here and scroll down. The picture of the man resting behind the two horses was painted in photo shop. I looked pretty carefully and it looks like an old time photograph. She is very talented. She waves you away when you express this opinion in an "anyone can do this" attitude, but believe me, I am SURE this is not so.

Sailor is very interested in this procedure of using blurb to write some family history. I am excited about his interest, and maybe we might even get reckless and purchase Photo Shop? I think I might have some major fun with it as well.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for stopping by.

~a

Overwhelmed

Gratitude.

I hardly trust my voice to speak,
therefore it is a good thing this is a blog
and I can express my deepest,
most overwhelmed,
grateful,
heartfelt
THANK YOU
to my sweet family.


This arrived in the mail today.
What's This? I thought.

delivery confirmation??? why???

It is not a special occasion.
My birthday is a month away.
That is what threw me off guard.

Upon opening it, there was that beautiful red folder.

Still wondering what this son and daughter-in-law were sending me,
these thoughts went through my mind:
I wondered what special thing had happened in their family to merit this.
Their oldest graduated from Kindergarten last year, so that's not it.
They just announced they are expecting their 5th child in May,
so it wasn't some sort of announcement. . .
They usually they send greetings at Christmas, Birthdays,
Valentines,
Mother's and Father's days
and thank you notes.

I opened it with shaky hands, but what I saw next made me sit down.
(you can click on the pictures to see closer)

And as I turned the pages,
my vision was blurred with tears.

I LOVE Mannheim Steamroller Christmas!!!
And Abravanal Hall is so wonderful.
I have sung there many times, but only once before
have I been in the audience and got to truly appreciate its beauty!

but that's not all. . .

And as I read through the sweet pages,
I had to flee for a Kleenex or three.

How SWEET IS THIS?
a little extra $ for incidentals.
And see those beautiful gold envelopes
and the gilded pages?

Let me just say, I have been dreading this next birthday.
It is that milestone that always connotes
OLD
I don't care how many ways you put it,
it is just plain OLD
and nothing can redeem that.
AARP sends you stuff.
Your SS starts threatening to kick in.
Retirement looms ahead
along with all the ill effects of
OLD AGE.
It is over the halfway mark*.

I cried at 25.
I was fine by 30 but struggled again at 40
then 50 (*I consider this halfway)
I was bemoaning 50
to my friend Zoe. . .

. . .until she told me that
she LOVED being 50!!!
she explained:
Your kids are grown,
You can talk to them as adults

you are getting grandchildren soon,
(if you don't already have them)

It is all so wonderful!!!


And you know what? She was SO RIGHT.

This last 10 years have been amazing.
We have witnessed the marriage of all our children
to wonderful mates
They are living really upright and righteous lives
finishing school and
getting wonderful jobs.

They are raising beautiful, intelligent, and DARLING
Children =Grandchildren for us.

It is amazing and very sweet.
and they are really wonderful people.

I already knew that, but here is just one more way
that shows how fabulous they are.


After reading this,
I wanted to get on the phone right away
and thank them all in person.

But calling my husband was hard enough through my tears.
I just couldn't control myself to talk.

He was alerted when he heard my sniffs and sobs
(He thought someone had died.)
I knew that is how he would react.

So calling my children just wouldn't work just yet. . .
. . .not right now, anyway.

When I gain my composure, sweet Children
I will call each one of you
to thank you for your contribution
and your most kind words.

I hope all reading this are having a wonderful day
~a

::flees the room for another Kleenex::

Visible Risible

Last night a new experience was introduced into my life. For the first time I got to meet fellow blogger friend, I had "met" on the internet and loved for several years. I feel like I have known her forever.

In my posts I have often mentioned Lori from Mostly Risible. I was first attracted to her blog from some other I was reading that mentioned Lori was in Italy now.

With Italy, being on my wish list, I immediately hurried over to her blog and began to read all about her adventures, which were being blogged about as she was experiencing them.

I spent a great deal of time reading about her Italy trip, and the other things she was doing. She sent the information almost immediately, so it was as if we, the blog readers, all got to come with her. We even got to see the food they were eating. If you plan an Italy trip, I would recommend going over to her blog and reading her recommendations to add to your itinerary.

As I began to get acquainted with her writing and cast of characters, I began to feel like we had known each other before. She just clicked with me. How can that be? But I almost felt like she could be a sister, separated at birth. She just felt like family.

I have to admit I spent a great deal of time reading past posts and learning about this fascinating lady. Her writing always elicited a giggle, and I found myself reading the posts to my hubby.
Eventually I was introduced to her sister, Heidi and fell in love again. Wow, TWO new sisters.

Anyway, long story short, she was in Utah this week on business and we met and had dinner. It was all I had imagined. She is just as darling in person as she is on her blog. We had a delightful conversation. I brought my sweet Sailor (hubby) along and he added a great amount to the conversation. The sweetie paid for our dinners! Quite an uneven trade, as I only knitted her a heart dishrag and a pot holder. heh heh.

I remain charmed.

Thanks Lori!

Hippo Birdie

Today is a special day for two reasons. It is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday, ZB. It is also the date my youngest son and his wife chose for their wedding day. Two years ago today, we were witnessing their marriage and celebrating their new life together. Happy anniversary S3 & DIL3!

ZB is my younger sister. The nickname started out when we began calling each other Seester, then Seeeeester. Then it grew to ZEEEEEPTER, and then Zeepter Beepter, and finally Zeepter Beepter Liebter (lieb is love in German). We finally shortened it to ZB or sometimes Beep. We gave Liebter to the older sister who was feeling left out. We still are ZB and she is Liebter. It works. We do love each other.

Somewhere she found this poster and it hung in our room for years. I love the characters and the puns, so I send it to her every year in some form or another.

ZB and I were best friends growing up. We shared a room, played Barbies longer than I care to admit. And when we were given separate rooms, we would either come to the others room and spend the night or call each other on our plastic Princess phones and talk to each other late into the night. How we could find more to talk about after playing all day, I don't know, but we did. She made me giggle.

We were 4 years apart, but always felt like twins. We knew each other so well and got along so well, people would ask us if we were twins. We liked that. But since I was older, my Barbies were always better dressed and their hair stayed nicer. Therefore, they were the queens and kings and hers were the servants.

But with their high post came a price. Since mine were the high and mighty. They were stuffy and arrogant. They sat on their thrones and ordered everyone about, and that was about it.

Hers, on the other hand, would make comments under their breath, as they served their majesties, that made me laugh so hard I nearly wet my pants. As her Barbies and Kens served the King and Queen, they made observations that were so hilarious, they got laughs from me. And as an indirect result my sister developed a sense of humor that has stayed with her.

Besides her humor, she also was a pest at times. When she wanted my attention, she would begin to tease and pester. Sometimes I wouldn't be in the mood, but after a bout with her impishness, she could get me to laugh. When she couldn't get me to laugh, she would resort to tickling me until I did wet my pants. She was always much stronger than I and I had to resort to biting her to get her off before my bladder burst sometimes. It would end with her crying, which I regret, but there was no in between with her. She didn't know when to back off. Sorry ZB.

She is still so very entertaining and fun that I could happily live next door to her and never tire of her silliness. When we talk, we pick up where we left off last time and it is as if those years that came between the talking on the princess phones have vanished. We become these little girls. When I stayed there at Christmas time, she began to text me.

A word of explanation. Earlier in the day I had heard a beeping noise. It was coming from somewhere in Mom's kitchen. I had spent a great deal of time trying to find the noise. I engaged her help when she arrived and we both stood there trying to find the source. She suddenly remembered that Mom's dishwasher beeped if you accidentally opened it in the middle of its cycle and didn't let it finish. That is what was happening and we had spent a good half hour looking for the beep.

So that night, when she was "sleeping" and I was trying to sleep, she sent a text. It said "Beep."
then another came "Beep." I sent back a "?" and she texted "Beep." Then she explained that she couldn't believe we spent a half hour looking for the beep. Pretty soon we were texting back and forth from our separate rooms. I could hear hers arrive when I sent the texts through the closed door. But they got louder suddenly and I knew she had decided to visit. Sure enough, she opened the door and "surprised" me and began to tease me with more "Beep." "Beep." "Beep." "Beep."
It turned into a tickling match that left me gasping for air and feeling the urge to run to the bathroom. Nothing has changed.

She loved to hide in my closet and jump out at me when I would open the door to hang my coat. I wrote a post on that which you can read here. I know my little brother was afraid of the basement because she would be there hiding and jump out at him at the oddest times.

For some reason, when Dad built the cellar, he had left a half of a cinder block out in the middle of the top row of blocks in the wall. There was a crawl space, of sorts that lead back behind that cinder block wall that was left over from the excavation. We could slip our tiny bodies behind that wall and around the corner to that open spot and spy on anyone who came down to get a canned vegetable or something. Who knows why we wanted to subject ourselves to standing in the dark behind a cinder block wall with the bare earth behind us in a damp and spider filled crawl space just to spy on someone, but we did. We had glow-in-the-dark lamps we loved to charge up, and that was the best spot to see their glowing, when it was light outside. I know we went there for that sometimes.

Well, anyway, I was down in the cellar looking for something and I suddenly got this creepy crawly feeling, like someone was watching me. I looked up to see her wide eyes staring back at me through that hole in the wall. It about scared the beegeebers out of me. I screamed and she laughed. Ooooh, I just got the heebie jeebies just thinking of it. I guess her birth date being so close to Halloween is very appropriate.

Not only did we play well together and tease each other, but we sang together as well. We loved to harmonize and would figure out all sorts of songs to sing. We knew each other so well that some visual thing would spark a memory and we would burst out in song at the same time. Sometimes something so random as second verse and in harmony! This incident happened when we were on a road trip, we saw a sign in Washington State. All it said was "Its the Water" and as if someone qued us, we began to sing, "Oly, Oly, O" from the Olympia Beer commercial.

A couple of years ago, Sailor and I went back to visit during Christmas. Before everyone left, ZB and I decided to sing some Christmas songs we had learned, oh so long ago. We remembered all the words to these unique songs and the harmony. It felt so good to sing with her again. Being sisters, our voices blend beautifully. She sings a perfect clear soprano and I blend in with the alto part.

Oh, how I love you, sweetest little sister! You are such a light in my life. You are an inspiration and I look up to you, even though you are still shorter than I am. You are my hero, my angel and
my best girl friend. I wish we lived closer. I feel so cheated that we haven't been able to enjoy each other more often than we do in this busy life of ours.

Happy Birthday, ZB. May this year bring you much happiness, joy, healing and love. You deserve it. I am amazed at you and am so glad the Lord chose to put us in the same family.

Love,
your ZB.

Creepy Crawly Things

I've been working on a new knitting project. I am learning to knit socks with a Magic Loop cast on process. This means you knit both socks at once. To me that makes sense because they will match, and when they are finished, you can wear them, not set one aside and start the second.
After lots of learning and knitting practically the whole way to Lake Powell and home, I had gotten to the cuffs. As I looked at these socks, I felt nothing but boredom. So I snapped a picture and frogged (ripped) them out. I have started a new pattern called Mojo (by Donyale Grant), that has some fancy knitting and purling, which gives it ribs and a pattern. I will snap a picture when I get far enough along to be able to see anything.

We got three frosts, three nights in a row, which virtually killed all of the garden. A few hardy garden huckleberries and some peppers are still hanging on, plus I noticed one zucchini plant still looking perky.

Sailor spent a lot of time on Saturday pulling all the tomatoes up and harvesting them, plus all the volunteer huckleberries and tomatillos. Sunday, he made up a very good jam of all that goodness. We had a Green River watermelon which he used to add a few really ripe chunks into the jam, plus the huckleberries, and a huge zucchini. He peeled the zucchini, then cut into long chunks which he sent through the food processor grater. Then he added sugar and Sure Jell and stirred until it got thick. He got over a gallon of jam which he processed in smaller jars. We also harvested some tiny honeydew. This is our first success of melons. Hopefully if we plant them earlier than mid June, we might have better success. We bought these when they were closing them out at .25 for four plants. But it gives us hope.

I brought in all the house plants. In the spring after danger of frost is gone, all the houseplants are taken outside under the mulberry tree. There they camp all summer and into the fall. They come back into the house revived. In fact, I haven't seen the fern look happier than when it has been watered daily with the sprinkler, (something I must do for it is spritz it daily.) The cyclamin are all so happy each fall, blooming. My Christmas cactus always are ready to bloom after their summer camping under the tree. They are easy to take outside in the spring. I just start hauling them all outside, arranging them so they all get a shot at the rain-bird sprinkler, and removing their saucers.

Bringing the plants back inside in the fall, however, is a much harder ordeal. Usually I have time to spray them for spiders and all other insects that have taken to camping out in their folds while they are still outdoors, but this past week I didn't have time. We were gone all last week on a boating Mess-about at Lake Powell, which is a whole different post. By the time we got home, the cold front was upon us. We barely had time unload the boat, back it into it's place, cover it with tarp and unpack all the gear. I gathered all the plants onto the porch and Sailor brought them in the house.

I should clean the saucers in the spring and put them away, but I was lazy and just stacked them outside. Which meant, now when bringing them in, I had to fill the laundry room sink with soapy water and wash and dry them before I could replace all the plants to their spot in the house. It is a big process, which includes vacuuming the spot where they will sit and arranging rugs and tables by the windows. I also washed those same windows because they are hard to reach when all those plants are in the way. By the way, I have learned a really neat trick. Rain-x was introduced to me by my son who lived in Mississippi, where they get lots of rain. By rubbing this into the windshield, the rain just beads off. Then my sister took it one step further. She rubs it into Mom's windows. They shed the raindrops as well, and they seem to last for at least 6 months without having to redo. So I rubbed it into three of my windows.

I've also been watering them with Miraclegro-laced water, dusting the plants for bugs and spraying for spiders before I place them in their new home. Spiders give me the creeps. In fact any creepy crawly thing that somehow gets into the house is eliminated. I have been brushing all the dirt and cobwebs away from the bottoms of the plants, and have found several unwanted residents still hanging around them.

It reminds me of a story. Several years back we were having a family get-together here at our house. As we gathered around the table to eat, a HUGE spider was calmly making its way past the table toward the corner. I couldn't figure out where it had come from, because before company, my house gets a thorough cleaning. I was embarrassed and creeped out. I asked Sailor to get rid of it, and he calmly picked it up on a paper plate to take it outside! This meant lifting it over the table, people's heads and the pizza in order to get past everyone and take it to the door. I just wanted him to dispatch, not escort it. Of course it dropped off the plate, and onto the floor and caused several to shriek and move aside. But instead of stomping it, he picked it up again. Well, that was enough to get me to feeling like there were spiders everywhere and I was itching and shuddering.

We got back to the food at hand, and I was telling some sort of story, when my niece, Nina got a creepy look on her face while looking at my shoulder and said, "What's that thing on your shoulder?" Of course I reacted by brushing my shoulder and jumping sideways off my chair. That sent Nina into hysterics. She had been teasing me, and her timing was perfect. She had waited until things had calmed down enough to sort of forget the spider, but also short enough for me to still be on the alert. When I realized she was teasing, at first I felt really mad, yet seeing her lay down on the rug on her back, kicking her feet in the air as she gasped with laughter also made me laugh and see the humor in her very mean prank.

Nina has been my sister's foster daughter for many years, even after she married and had children, we all considered her part of the family. Recently things changed so she is legally part of our family now. Welcome Nina, you rascal you. I love you to pieces, even though you have a practical joking side to you. You are charming and I love you and your darling family.

Back to the task at hand, I still have thirsty plants that need to be placed in their new home. I hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful day.

~a

What a lovely day!

We were able to go to Salt Lake today to celebrate a very special occasion with my sister and most of her children today. (We missed you Sam.) Two of my children were there as well, plus a darling little grand daughter. <3

Families are so precious, and days like today where we get to see each other, eat together, visit, laugh and love are the most memorable. It is amazing to watch all these wonderful children, now all grown up, married and having families of their own and see how fabulous they have all turned out.

I am constantly astonished at my own children and wonder how they were able to become such amazing people, in spite of my raising. I had no idea what I was doing while they were growing up, and I had no idea how very fast they would grow and leave home. They will understand in about 20 years what I am talking about.

I made my sister some homemade sea foam candy today as a late birthday present. I had no idea you can make this at home and I have been searching for it every time I go to a candy shop. Some have never heard of it. Whenever I do find it, they charge anywhere from $10 to $18 a pound!

I looked up on the internet for a recipe, and when I found out what the ingredients were, I about choked. That is highway robbery! When you consider the ingredients:

line a 9x13 inch pan with tin foil that has been sprayed with a no stick spray
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo Syrup
in heavy pan on medium heat, combine and bring to boil, stirring until it reaches 300 degrees F.
remove from heat
immediately add 4 tsp baking soda, stir thoroughly and dump into pan.
allow to cool
once cool, cut into squares and dip in chocolate.
The whole family was thrilled and all are big fans of Seafoam Candy. Fun to be a hit with everyone.

Remember this wonky star I sewed? Well it is in this picture in the upper left-hand corner- 3 across, 3 down. How fun is that?

Since it takes us almost 3 hours to drive one way, including fueling car, bathroom breaks, errands, etc. that makes it around 1 am before we get home. So I am writing this at a late hour, and I am going to sleep.

I hope everyone's weekend is fabulous.

~a

Turn Around

I sew for other people. Most of my work consists of hemming pants, replacing zippers and other mundane things most other seamstresses pass onto me in so they can pursue more exciting sewing jobs. My job is a service as much as it is to earn extra money.

Once in a while I make a wedding dress, or a rodeo blouse, quilt or something else that is challenging and very beautiful.
Lately, I have been fixing tiny holes in tiny pairs of shorts that belong to a very tiny girl in grade school. They are her favorite and they came from the store with distressed places to simulate wear and tear. I usually make a patch from old jeans that match, that I sew behind the distressed parts, so her skin or under wear doesn't show through.

I have several boxes of old jeans in assorted colors that I keep for future quilts and patches.

I decided to organize the jeans in separate boxes according to color, so I don't have to haul all six boxes out for one scrap. Most of these jeans are already cut up, zippers, buttons, seams and holes already discarded. Occasionally I will find a whole set of jeans, but it is rare.

While sorting, I discovered an intact pair of Big Smith overhauls that were about a size 3. As I held these up to examine, to my surprise a sob emitted from my throat that had come up somewhere from my heart, and tears sprang from my eyes.

I was picturing the tiny boy who used to wear these. They were his favorite and he requested them daily. Sometimes they had to go through the wash, and the boy was beside himself until they were safely back on. Once upon a time, inside these now forgotten "Smiths" a little heart beat. A little boy would bring dandelions and uprooted sunflowers as his gift to me. Peanut butter and jelly was spilled on them many times. Knees were scuffed and repaired. I even have a picture of him hanging by the straps on a nail, in the shop, laughing with his daddy beside him.

This little boy has grown up. He is now an amazing young man, who earned an engineer's and a master's degree. He has a beautiful wife, a house, and four precious daughters of his own. He is the one looking for a job right now, and his heart is worried for his family's future.

But the younger version of the boy doesn't exist anymore. And I miss him. I miss the questions that came from his intelligent head. "Mom, What's inside glass?" he asked one day when he was about three. I was always was amazed at him.

Turn around they are two, turn around they are four, turn around they are grown with babes of their own. That literally happened to me.

D2 and I were talking this morning, she is eager to have their education over, but then said if she wishes for the time to pass, then her little ones will be grown. So she decided to enjoy each minute, the piles of laundry, diapers to change and all. She is wise. I think I enjoyed my time as a young mother. It was busy though and just flew past.

sorry for the nostalgia. I was rather surprised at it myself.

new mantra: enjoy life as it comes

warmest regards
~a

I hate post-company blues

This weekend, for only a few days, we had D2 and her two little ones come visit while on their trip to Utah.

Wednesday and Thursday and part of Friday were spent getting ready. Washing the floors so the little one could crawl without getting dirty, baby-proofing everything so they don't end up breaking something or worse, choking on something.

They arrived later Friday and the house was filled with happy sounds that come with little ones. We had a race track which was set up and the little cars buzzed round and round. During their stay, the three-year old boy was busy playing and watching one of the only kid's DVD I have, which is a loony tunes DVD. The sweet baby brought in two teeth and stood alone for a second. There were accidents, when he fell out of bed and bonked his chin on the side of the wooden bed and scraped it. Poor sweetie. There were times of great laughter and times of heart-breaking crying.

We visited the local Farmer's supply and purchased a Dutch Oven for D2. She wants to learn from the Master (Sailor). the IFA also had baby chicks for only $3.00 a piece. So tempting.

These Grandparents wanted to just spoil the socks off of them, yet tried to respect the Mom's authority and help with discipline by backing off as she carried it through.

D1 and SIL1 showed up and surprised us on Saturday evening. They made a great effort, because he had a speech to write and give that morning for his class, and they had stayed up really late to complete it the night before and were really tired. They left on Sunday night, having stayed around two hours later than planned. We really appreciated their effort to come visit. She always brings her hair-cutting things because someone always asks for a cut. She is such an unselfish sweet girl. SIL1 helped Grandson build an amazing race track and they played together for a long while as we prepared supper. It was really fun to have them.

We took them out for dinner, we made goodies hoping to please. We purchased a birthday cake and presents to help celebrate the children's early birthdays which both come in May. We played with them, read stories tickled and played games. We held them and kissed them and kissed them and kissed them. They are both so very cute and sweet. It was a fun time, getting to know them a bit better. Their Mommy is such a wonderful mom. It was so fun to watch her. She is amazing. Sometimes I wish I could go back and interview my kids and in-law kids from the pre-life and find out how to raise them. They are all doing a much better job than I did. I would change things, I think. But my kids really turned out great, so I must have done some things right. eh?

Grandpa and Grandson went for a ride in Grandpa's truck. We installed the car seat in the truck and he felt like such a Big Boy. They took a ride and when they got home, he was so pleased with himself. Grandpa is the Favorite, hands down. I don't mind saying that either. I always knew that with my own kids. They loved their Daddy so much. That's because he is really a great man. That's one of the reasons I married him. He was always so cute with kids. He said good-bye last night because he had to head for work this morning at 5:30.

This morning was filled with the rush that comes with packing up the little car, securing the car seat, breakfast, the medicine given, the bottles prepared, diapers changed, the blankets and all the toys arranged in the car, so they can be entertained while she drives. She is such an amazing mom.

But when they finally left, an hour and a half later than her schedule, and they drove away, honking all the way down the street until the corner (it's tradition), I sighed a big sigh. And stood there in the driveway alone. I felt my nose tingle and my eyes well up, so I got my mail and changed the water and headed back inside. When I entered back into the house it was so quiet. All the children's things are gone, the house is emptier. The beds were stripped and blankets neatly folded. Not a thing was left behind that I can see. The cars were not racing around the track, the cartoons turned off, the house is silent and I began to cry. I do that. I always cry when the beloved company leaves. The house is so full one minute then. . .

. . . it is so empty.

It is a good thing that I have a life, or I would just rattle around here with no direction and feel sorry for myself and my loneliness. But today is choir. I have many errands to do when I drive up to Salt Lake, so I have to get myself organized and get on the road as well.

Thank you, sweet D2 for taking out time for us. Thank you for all the effort it takes to come to visit. I realize it is really hard, but it was so fun.

In less than a week, I will drive up to Salt Lake and meet her, and drive back to Colorado with her and visit my mom for a week. Then I will fly home in time for choir the next week. I have much to do before I go, so I won't really have time to mourn too long. But right now, the stark difference from a chaotic house to one with not.one.single.sound is really hard to adjust to.

::sniff::

give your loved ones a hug

~a

Easter 2009

Easter
Again I find myself missing Easter because of the outage the Power Plant scheduled for April. But I don’t resent it. I feel blessed.

Every year the Power Plant outside our town schedules an outage. It is where they take one of the units offline and perform a variety of maintenance work. The company I work for is a Paint company. They sandblast the inside of water pipes, then repaint them. The last 4 years they worked on a contract to place carbon fiber inside all the pipes to strengthen them. I worked for them the last three. My son worked for them the first year. With the money I earned, we went to Austria for Mozart’s 150th Birthday to sing with my choir, then we went to Taiwan to pick up our Returned Missionary, and last year was just put away for a rainy day, or maybe some day a future trip. We are celebrating our 35th anniversary this year, and we have talked of Hawaii or maybe Italy. But it is nice just to have it safely in the bank as well.

I had not intended on working this year. I called them, though, as I always do in November and told them I was available, in case they did need someone. I didn’t hear from them and assumed I was not needed, so I planned a trip to visit my mom for the month. As time progressed, I was informed my daughter would be traveling to Salt Lake for a marathon, and would I be there? I pared it down to two weeks. Then my mom informed me that she had a trip planned to Mexico with her immigrant friends and my visit would interfere. Basically, I was uninvited. . . by my OWN MOTHER. She denied it later and admitted she had been pretty tired that day.

Meanwhile, the Paint Contractors needed someone, but my husband had told them I was going to see my Mom, so they hired someone else for my job. It was fine. It is exhausting work, the hardest part being getting up at oh-dark-hundred every.single.morning for two to three weeks in a row. We work 12 hour days, seven days a week, with no breaks. Every morning the alarm rings, and as conscientiousness settles in, realization is that it is yet another day. It wears on a body. My sweet husband has already worked 2 weeks before the outage on a pre-outage, where the other unit was quickly shut down and some maintenance was done before they shut the scheduled unit down. Bless his heart, he was already really tired going into the outage, I have NOTHING to complain about.

Anyway, my boss called my husband and asked if I would be willing to come in part time. He was under the impression that I didn’t want to work it this year, which even though I had not expressed it out loud to him, I really felt that way. But, on my way to choir, on the 31st, I gave the boss a call on my cell phone and left a message that I had heard they needed an extra person, and I was willing. It was originally supposed to be just fill-in extra, but turned quickly into full time. I am not sure how long this will last, but it cannot last past the 24th. That is the day they want to start bringing it back on line.

So here I sit, performing my duties as a Confined Space Entry Attendant. This year is not as bad as the years they were putting fiberglass saturated with epoxy inside the pipe. That was a sticky mess, and I ruined several shirts because I brushed against something. I saved those shirts and wore them every year to the outage. It’s all good.

This year I was required to watch several doors to the water boxes. This year they are sandblasting the pipes and applying two coats of special paint to them. Because of the sandblasting, everything got dusty and I found myself very dirty every day. My fingers are permanently blackened in all the little grooves. I can wash them with a scrub brush every night and the water continues to be black for several rinses. That’s OK, though. My husband makes it easy. He is amazing as he makes breakfast and packs lunches while I just get ready. I usually make a green smoothie to help the vitamins go down. Not near as much work as he does. He also makes the meat for dinner, and I usually make the salad. We have been trying to stay on the South B. diet and have succeeded in losing a little weight. We decided to try to stay on it throughout the outage as well.

Working the outage affords me many benefits besides the money. I realize what an amazing, wonderful hero of a husband I have, who normally works four 10-hour days. This man and all these men who work for this company come every single day. They work hard. They are tired and very dirty as they climb out of those holes. They are exhausted, yet always have a good joke and a smile. I am in awe of the working people, the so called blue-collar workers who provide for their families. I have met many wonderful people and made some good friends.

One in particular, a charmer, told me he had been worried sick about me because I didn’t show up on the job the first day this year. He has a down-home farm-boy type of charm. He has a wife and family, and an ex-wife. He always has a joke, which is usually pretty clean, and a smile on his face. He has his “other side” which isn’t that charming, but I don’t judge and really don’t care. I still like him. He chews and spits tobacco. A gross habit, but I have gotten used to it. When I first became his friend, I asked him to make sure he directed his spits to somewhere else than the plywood floor I had to look at all day, thankyouverymuch. He respected my request.
He nick-named me Lady Love. Because he had to order carbon fiber from inside the pipe, we had radios and he would address me, “Lady Love, Lady Love, I need . . . (whatever it was he needed”.) I was unaware, but the radios were hooked up that first year to the entire Power Plant’s radios. I began to see people peek inside my tent to see who Lady Love was. The boss of the Paint company told him not to address me that way, it was harassment. He came and asked me if it offended me, and I told him no. So all four years, he has called me that. I feel like it is an endearment, and I am honored.

This year, as I said before is much easier. The first 11 days were spent inside the noisy building. We had to wear hard hats, gloves, ear plugs safety glasses and work boots. I had to soak my poor feet in Epsom salts with a tablespoon of Clorox and take Ibuprofen the first few days because I had a toenail that was threatening to get infected. But either my feet have become hardened, or the boots have been a bit broken in. They don’t hurt me anymore.

But yesterday I discovered the watch in the suburban outside the plant for the outside entries is MUCH BETTER. I can bring my DVD player which my sweet sister and bro in law gave me for my birthday. I can watch movies. I don’t have to wear the hard hat, earplugs or safety glasses as long as I am inside the vehicle. I can write my blog on my laptop and listen to General Conference on my Palm Pilot.

Yesterday I felt so energetic after work that I went to the store and purchased some Easter stuff and made little Easter Baskets for the men. It was so fun to see their faces light up as I handed them a happy Easter cup filled with lots of sweets. I feel blessed.

I just want to say how grateful I am for our Savior who sacrificed his life for us so many centuries ago so we can rise again in the judgment day and be with Him again. Life is good. I hope you all are having a wonderful Easter, however you are celebrating it. I pray for Him to bless each of you who read this with a joyful day, filled with family, memories and a peace to your souls.

God Bless.
~a

Crazy Mixed Up Dream/Nightmare and why I haven't been blogging lately

Yesterday I went to choir for the first time in about six weeks. We gave our concert the Saturday after Thanksgiving and got a break for Christmas. I was sick for 10 days after Christmas with bronchitis and basically slept for all ten days and nights. It was sort of an awake coma, if you know what I mean. I would get up, eat, use the facilities and do things like clean the kitchen or do laundry, which I vaguely remember doing and sometimes was surprised it was done. I got a box in the mail of Ocuvite vitamins that I barely remember buying. I better be careful if I ever get something like this again. Sailor will have to lock the computer and hide the keys.

But then I'd go right back to bed after getting up and sleep some more. Sailor would come home in the evening, and I would awaken enough to eat the dinner he made for me, then settle right back into my pillow and sleep through the night. I was coughing so hard that I didn't know whether to cover my mouth or hold my chest with both hands to keep it from burning as I coughed. Eventually on Sailor's day off (about a week after I started feeling bad - which, incidentally all fell on the New Year week), he took me to the doctor, I was diagnosed with bronchitis, got on meds and finally came out of the deep sleep. Only to find I had lost part of my life.

It was disorienting, because basically 10 days had been taken out of my life. I was surprised to hear that Obama would be inaugurated here soon, I thought to myself, "wait, doesn't that usually happen in January?" My Christmas tree is still up, because I usually leave it up until the Christian holiday called 12th night. It is when the wise men symbolically found the baby Jesus. We know actually they didn't find him until he was around 2 years old. So it is a symbolic day. But in my mind the 6th was not until another week or so.

Anyway, back to my day yesterday. Tuesdays are always LOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG. I usually try to leave the house before noon and have a list as long as my arm of things to accomplish in the big city as long as I am spending the gas money. (its a 2.5-hour drive one way)

I went to Bath and Body Works yesterday and had a grand time purchasing some of that wonderful cherry blossom and yummy vanilla hand soaps. Can I just say that I *LOVE* their hand soaps? I don't purchase lotion for hands or feet there, because I have my own favorite lotion I purchase elsewhere, but the hand soap makes me feel so happy every time I use it.

I also went to Costco, purchased a bunch of stuff you can only get at Costco including a good price on gasoline, $1.49, then to Michael's. I purchased some glass paint and beads. Then I went to see my Beautiful D1 at her workplace. She manages a hair salon. I delivered the Christmas gifts which I brought home from our out-of-state relatives and visited with her for a few minutes. She is such a delightful girl. She is always happy and smiling. I LOVE seeing her. She always makes me feel happy after I have seen her, and it keeps me smiling for a good long while after I leave. Thank you, Sweet and Beautiful D1. I LOVE YOU.

I hurried onto WalMart to exchange some things, purchased some great fabric for a quilt I am starting and a few things on my list. I then hurried to our Choir Board Meeting and then Choir until 9 pm.

I had awakened at 6 am and got home at midnight. Did I mention that Tuesdays are long? After putting away the perishables and heading to bed, I laid there and buzzed. I can't just go to sleep the minute I get home. I just laid there, mind racing.

After Sailor fell asleep, I got back up and checked email and surfed the web for a while, made a purchase, and I finally fell asleep by 1:30.

I usually NEVER remember my dreams, but this one droned on and on and was more frustrating than scary.
I dreamed I was watching over a bunch of out-of-control children. I knew the children in my dream, among them was a nephew who was about 8 in the dream and others, I think including my grandchildren and several others. We had taken the whole lot of them for a visit to a friend's house and were trying to settle them down for the night. Some were obediently going to sleep in sleeping bags spread all over the floor of the living room, but others felt exempt from my rule, even though I was their temporary babysitter and guardian.

One nephew in particular was fiddling with the foot peddles of a piano and was making it produce a very low and loud sighing noise. The sound was more of a noise that would come from the foot pedal of an organ rather than a piano. Isn't that how dreams go? He fiddled with it and when I called him off, the piano/organ kept emitting the low regular noise. This would cause him to go back and fiddle some more, only to have it continue to make noise after he would walk away.

I was getting very frustrated with the whole situation and the children we had worked so hard to put to bed were all stirring. But I couldn't get the obnoxious nephew to stop fiddling with this piano/organ.

By the way, I don't think this frustrating dream has anything to do with the fact that my DIL1 and S1 want us to come and babysit their four daughters this summer while they take a trip to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Although babysitting other people's children, even my own grandchildren, really makes me nervous. I feel so out of practice, you know?

Luckily for me, Sailor got up for work, and I awoke. The Obnoxious Dream was at a frustrating but non-conclusive end. Thank Goodness.

Now that I write about it, I think I can figure this out. I think I was incorporating Sailor's snores into my dream.
How simple is that?
hope you have a great day
xxoo
~a

Busy Busy Busy

I guess being busy is good. I find when I haven't posted in a while it is because I find myself nowhere near the computer. In other words, I am busy.
I have had many sewing jobs lately. Most of them are just repairs or alterations. Nothing amazing.
I have found that the clients view their alterations as a social event. It is strange, but I find that they want to visit. Sometimes they tell me their problems. I feel like a psychologist sometimes. I can never just fit them and get them out the door. *time is money* so I can get on with the sewing. They sit down. They bring pictures from their latest cruse. They ask about my family. I cannot rush them out. One man spent about an hour on the phone when he first called, I couldn't get away. Maybe I was too nice? He called later to change the date, and spent another hour. Then when he came, he spent two hours. I couldn't' get him to leave, he just sat there, out of breath. I couldn't be rude. After he left, it took me 20 minutes to alter the pants. I think I finally figured out how to do this. When he was coming to pick up the pants he had altered, I was talking to my daughter. I told her to call me back in 5 minutes. She did and I acted like I hadn't heard from her in years. He had jumped up to leave when the phone rang. I told her to hang on and said goodbye to the client. Luckily, he had paid me, or that wouldn't have worked. I know that is rude, but what else can I do? Are these people so lonely, they come for friendship? I swear it is the case with one lady. She was out of a job, so poor sometimes her checks bounced. Not good, but she would stay long and bring me more stuff as she picked up the last things. I told her my rate when she first started and she was fine with that. I never figured in the hours of visiting into the bill, like some people might be tempted to do. I figured this was my way of serving some of God's people. But sometimes enough is enough. Which was the case with the man. Come on, people 4 hours for a 20 minute job! I should have charged him $60. But I didn't .

I received a Flat Stanley in my mail the other day from my Grand daughter. When her mom sent me an email telling me I was getting a Flat Stanley in the mail from her daughter, soon, I immediately thought of their cat who is named Stanley. My reply was, "what happened to Stanley? Did he get run over? Why is he flat? You no longer want him?"

If you read the link, he is a character from a storybook. He can travel all over the world and visit many places, have his picture taken and go on many adventures because he is flat and fits well in an envelope.

When mine arrived, it was actually an outline of a gingerbread cookie. My sweet Grand daughter called me up to tell me he was coming and I had to put a face on him, and would I make hers into a girl? I can name her and dress her appropriately for the season and occasion. And take her on adventures, write about the adventures and take pictures where ever I take her.

Of course my imagination went crazy and I began to think of all possible situations where this little paper doll could come along with me and what adventures I could take her on.
Not wanting to give anything away until after I send her back, which has to be by December 1, (my bday) I will not post any pictures or tell any of our adventures until after she arrives safely back in my sweet Grand daughter's hands. But suffice to say, she has taken up many hours of time getting her ready for our adventures. Sailor says I am still a little girl at heart. I guess that is true.

It brings to mind the time when I was in about 3rd grade. Barbie had just entered the scene. We were all crazy about her and had to have one. I corresponded with my great uncle Glenn in California. He had this wonderful script typewriter and he wrote me letters. I told him we had each gotten an Barbie. He said that Ken was there in California. Would we like one?

Would we LIKE one????? What kind of question was that? After telling him *YES* in no uncertain terms and he telling me that the Kens were coming, I wrote back and told him about how our Barbies were preparing for a wedding when the "mail-order Kens" arrived. I was making a wedding dress. (yeah, I began sewing at a very young age, and I hand stitched all my Barbie clothes) Well, Uncle Glenn was a charming man and his wife, Kathryn was equally as charming. She owned a floral shop. So when our Kens arrived, they came in a box surrounded with fragrant, real stephanotis, the official wedding flower back in the day. It was so magical. We had real flowers for our Barbie/Ken Weddings. That was about the neatest box I remember ever receiving and of course my favorite aunt and uncle were Kathryn and Glenn.

As a Grandma, I want to remember all those magical moments in my childhood so I can recreate them for my sweet grandchildren. It is such fun.

We had beautiful, unseasonably warm weather for the middle of November, and I hung the Christmas lights out side. They are not lit yet, I will wait. But it is usually my luck when I am in the mood to hang them it is bitter cold, so this time I beat the rush. It is a good feeling.

S3, DIL3 and baby are coming for the weekend. I am so excited. That little darling girl can understand kiss. "Kiss the bear" her mommy stays and she turns her head, finds the bear and lands an open-mouth slobbery kiss on the bear. She is only 4 months. OHMYGOSH. what a smart baby. The other baby who was born 2 weeks later just got a tooth! Wow. These little babies are growing up fast. I talked on the phone to D2's little boy. He has such a cute vocabulary, I LOVE talking to him. What a darling little guy. I love 'em all and feel so lucky to have so many to love.

that is all for tonight.
have a great one

~a

New Heading Picture

If you access my post from a reader or blog line, you will not notice that I have changed the photograph on my header. It is still a picture of my favorite mountains where I used to live, just another view.

I got it from the link listed to the right, Nick Wilde's blog. He gave permission to use it. I thought it was so nice. I gave him credit and a link.

I grew up looking at these mountains and thought they were literally mine, because every year on my Birthday, the Christmas Star was lit up on a mountain near to this one. I spent many hours studying them and the clouds that came over them.

Even though I live in another state, this will always be home to me. My mom still lives in the same house in which she brought me home from the hospital. I watched my daddy remodel that house and my mom make the yard turn into a park. Mom and Dad were a good match. We lived on 25 acres with alfalfa growing in the fields, cows in the pasture, cats and chickens in the barn yard. Actually they were two roosters that someone rescued from a research place. They accidentally hatched.
This picture shows our yard looking south. If you look carefully (click on the picture and it will enlarge), you can see those mountains between the trees directly in the middle of the photograph.


It still is a beautiful place. Mom is in her late 80's and still hauls the hoses all over that huge yard to water the beautiful established old trees, perfectly manicured lawn and perfect flower beds. The next picture shows it in December, looking east. How does she keep the grass so green?
I tried to find my favorite picture of the house looking west at the front door in the summer, but it must be in printed form, not on the computer.
When I do, I will scan and post it.

this was not meant to be a long post. I have other things I must do today.
have a nice one.
~a

I love our fireplace

We have furnace trouble. Some sort of computer board is dead and a new one is ordered. It has been doing weird things and of course we forgot to call the repairman until this latest cold spell. It would come on and then blow cold air and not turn off. YIKES! When you are already cold, having cold air blowing on you is not fun.
But about a year ago, Sailor decided to put an insert into our fireplace. I wanted a gas log. I wanted to sit on the couch, snuggled up in a blanket, with a good book and some hot chocolate and pick up my remote and punch a button and FOOMPF a beautiful fire would spring to life in my gas log fireplace. That was always my dream. Sailor reasoned that if we didn't have any way of heating the house, for some reason, it would be good not to be dependent on the utilities, but to be able to light a real fire.
I was not a happy camper when we put in this wood-burning fireplace. Not only did I not get my gas log fireplace, we had to pay a hefty price for this insert. He purchased one of the best, most efficient inserts, a Jøtul . It is so efficient, you cannot tell that we are burning anything when you go outside and look at our chimney. Because this insert burns the smoke that would normally go up. It makes an eerie flame at the top of the box when it is burning the smoke.

Wood-burning fireplaces have their disadvantages. They are a LOT of work. They are messy, they require going out to the back and gathering kindling and logs. They require cleaning the ashes. My rug and hearth get messy with ashes, and wood chips. A wood-burning fireplace was NOT what I had in mind when we began talking about an insert.
But as we wait for the part for our furnace, I have come to appreciate this wood-burning fireplace. It is warm. I really don't mind getting the wood that Sailor has worked so hard to cut and chop. Cleaning up the dust and wood chips has become part of the routine.
We are using our Chinese elm tree we cut down several years ago. A locust tree in our back yard is acting like it is dying and we can cut it down. We cut down a branch from the poplar tree this year and we bundled all the sticks into kindling then Sailor cut it up into logs and we carted them back behind the shed. The church trimmed the elms that surround the girls baseball fields next door. We asked the custodian if we could have the logs and they said yes. So we basically have free heat. It is a very practical thing to do and I am grateful for Sailor's insight.

Speaking of cold, we covered the tomatoes just before the frost and I am glad we did. The rest of the garden, all the squash, pumpkins etc got frozen, but the covered tomatoes are still under quilts, just snug until this cold spell passes. We have been grateful recipients of an abundantly producing garden. We have harvested several bushels of tomatoes, along with many carrots, peppers, ears of corn, zucchini squash, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, huckleberries and tomatillos. It is supposed to warm back up this week so the quilts will come off, but once the frost hits, we have to be cautious and watch for any future frosts.






I feel blessed and grateful for what we have produced from our tiny corner of the earth. Life is good.
I have such a sweet husband who is my friend and hero. I have such a sweet family, 6 kids, 6 in law kids and 12 grand kids. How much luckier can I be? I feel blessed.
thanks, Sailor for such a sweet life.
~a

Exciting times

I think I will track my exercise in a new post each month. I didn't do any exercise today, the reason is explained in the last post.
Yesterday, July 30, we realized our D1 had rescheduled her move from July 31/August1 to July30/31. We had scheduled to come up on the 1st and help move, then spend the night and attend a wedding on the 2nd. Instead, we quickly packed an overnight bag and headed north. The kids and the cousins had worked all day and had the U-haul all packed and moved over to the new house, ready to unpack. We helped load the last of things in the Explorer, then D1 and I stayed to clean a bit. There was really not too much work left. When we got to the house, we realized SIL1, Sailor and a darling niece had most of it unpacked. We helped with the rest, admired the wonderful house and yard. I got a call from S3 to tell me his daughter was born at 9 pm. What an amazing day. I count my blessings with all this sweet stuff happening. By the time the U-haul was unloaded, it was about 11 pm, and we decided to drive home. We got home by about 2:30 and in bed by 3. Got up this morning at around 9. Both of us are wiped out.
Sailor had the day off, so he is working on the fence. He has finished enough that the neighbor dog can no longer see us. He has stopped barking so much. It is a relief.
I had better get back to work now. I have so many sewing projects to finish. About a dozen or so receiving blankets, a torn skirt, a zipper, and a coat to reline. Oh and there is more, that is all that I can think about now.

~a

Neighbors

My daughter just moved. I don't know how her new neighbors are, but she really disliked the ones who lived next to her on one side at the other apartment. They were loud when the baby was sleeping, made rude comments to her when she came in late after going to the gym (her only time to work out) and left cigarette butts on the ground and dog poop in the grass where her son liked to play. Their bedroom is adjacent to the neighbor's. They could hear them "recreate" all night sometimes. How gross is that?
I hope she has better ones now. She lives on the ground floor like last time, and I hope they are more insulated. You could hear the woman's high heels walk across the floor all the time.

Neighbors can be hard. That is why I would like to live WAY out in the country away from 8 barking dogs on one side, away from a nosy one on the other side who uses his very large flashlight to see if we are home. Away from the one two blocks from here who decides to play his drum and his friend the electric guitar for up to two hours right during our dinner hour, so we really don't want to sit out on the patio to eat, besides the stupid dog on the other side, there is no peace. Away from the train that honks four very LONG blasts in the middle of the night (really the train engineers are my neighbors as well). Away from the large trucks who use our street to get to Main Street and shift up four gears just as they progress away from the stop sign on the corner, so when we talk, we have to cease for a minute to be able to hear one another.

I do have one I LOVE. Sister R, across the street, is around my mom's age. She is so wise. I love visiting her and philosophizing with her. She is amazing to me and I want to keep her around forever. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Whenever we get the old Sunday School lesson on "who is your neighbor", I always feel guilty. I think, at heart, I am really a country girl, even though when we moved to the farm I cried for months every time I went out to the clothes line and hung diapers. We had just left a four-duplex neighborhood of young parents. Anytime I felt lonely, I would wash a batch of diapers and go outside to hang them. There was always someone in one of the other back yards hanging their diapers.

But I learned to love the quiet. I loved the darkness of the night with no lights but the stars. As Roon Dimik said in Big Business, "the only thing crowded was the sky studded with stars." I could actually see the Milky Way every night there. I was afraid of skunks, but that was about it.
I haven't seen stars very much since we moved to the neighborhood. Too many street lights.

I just got back from a short vacation to see my mom and children. Mom's house is located on 18 acres. She has neighbors, but they are fairly far away. Tonight after we unloaded our car, there to greet me, when I checked the mailbox, was a stupid dog barking at me. *sigh* I didn't miss him at all.

~a