The Newest Flower in our Bouquet

We have a new addition to our family. My youngest son and his beautiful wife

just added a fourth child to their family.This makes two girls and two boys in their cute family. This baby is named after a flower (a little bit different spelling, but that's OK) and her maternal grandmother, but coincidentally the spelling of her middle name is also the same as her paternal aunt, my second oldest daughter, so it is all in the family. A beautiful name for a darling little girl.

Welcome little one. 

She also evens out the grandchildren numbers. We now have 10 grandsons and 10 grand daughters. How fun is that? I love numbers and was thrilled when this son, pictured above, was born and evened out the number of girls and boys in our family, (3 and 3) The oldest son and daughter were born in March, the middle son and daughter were born in January and the youngest son and daughter were born in February. So I think it is appropriate that his newest baby evened out the numbers in his own sweet family and my grandchildren, doncha think?

This sweet little flower came on the second day in April, and only 12 days after the first day of spring. She is beautiful and I cannot wait to get a chance to hold her and get to know this darling little addition. Her brothers and sisters are such sweet children, but of course they are being raised by two very special parents who love each one. Her oldest sister is only four years old, so this sweet mama will have a handful when she gets home from the hospital. Especially since her dad works and is in school full time. 

We wish them all the best in this endeavor, and in our prayers, we constantly plead for the safe-keeping and well-being of all our sweet children, their spouses and children. We feel so very blessed. 

Thank you Lord for the blessings you have bestowed upon us, and thank you for this sweet newest blessing in our family.

hugs

~a

Newest Addition

Welcome little guy. You are the newest little guy to join our family. Your wonderful parents are such sweet, hard-working and faithful people. I am very proud of them. You make number six in your family and number nineteen in our sweet little army of Saturday's Warriors Grandchildren.

You look a lot like your dad and two of your brothers. You join three other brothers and two sisters, and I have a feeling you will be loved to pieces by all you have joined. You are also joined by two other cousin. One was born in August and one will be born next April. I hope you will get to know and become close to all your cousins. You are so lucky to have so many. I only had two that were sort of close to my age. And when I say "sort of close", I mean by several years. The rest were all closer to my younger brother's age, who was 11 years younger than I. You are so lucky to be born into such a faithful family. Your good parents will raise you up in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They will teach you right from wrong, how to pray, how to feel the Spirit, to read your scriptures and many other wonderful things. You will be raised to know you have a loving Heavenly Father who knows you by name, and a Savior, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed his life so you can live with Him again. Take advantage of these wonderful blessings and enjoy the life you've been given.

Your dad is a hard-working talented man who loves his family and loves to be home with you. But he goes out every day to earn a living so you will have a safe place to grow up. Your mom is also hard-working talented and a beautiful lady who loves to be a stay-at-home mom. Most important, your parents love each other and their children. You are blessed to have been born in this family. You live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

 You have two sets of grandparents who adore you and are excited to get to know you better, love and spoil you to pieces. (that's our job)

Welcome little Grayson. What a sweet blessing you are to our family. May the Lord bless you always, and may you live a long, happy and prosperous life.

~grandma 

Welcome little one

Our latest grandson, Teo, just made his entrance to the world. Welcome Teo. We have been waiting for your entrance for a LONG time. How grateful we are for modern medicine.

You are such a sweet spirit, and your parents are so special. Your mom is such a special loved daughter, and she married a very sweet man, who you get as your dad.

Welcome to our family. You have been born to a very loving couple. They have waited for a long time for you to come, and they have longed for you and loved you long before you ever came. Your mom has babysat little nieces and nephews all these years and knows all about taking care of little ones. She is very capable. Your dad is a sweet man, and is very cute with children. They will provide a wonderful environment for you to grow.

Your extended family is a great group of people as well. You have grandparents and great grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, uncles and second cousins who are all rejoicing at your arrival.
I am so excited to watch my daughter, your mom, become a mother. She will do a great job. Do you realize you look so much like her? I looked at baby pictures and I can't believe how very much you resemble her. Your sweet Dad is already teaching you Spanish and reading you books.  

You are lucky to be born in such a happy family who loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and honors the Priesthood. You will be raised in a sweet environment that will help you gain a testimony. I can't imagine life any better. God bless you as you begin this new life. May it be long and happy.

Welcome sweet new one.

My latest quilt

My latest quilt is one made for Seth, who just got baptized in July. I am trying to make quilts for every grandchild who gets baptized at the age of 8. I have 18 grandchildren right now.  I wanted these quilts to remind my sweet grandchildren how important the Gospel is and how important their choice is to enter into baptism. The words on the quilt say: "I'm trying to be like Jesus. Read your Scriptures, Say your Prayers, Go to Church"
These are the three answers to almost any question asked in Primary. I hope my grandchildren enjoy the quilts I make for them. A lot of love has gone into these quilts.
Enjoy your day.
~a

Sailor does dentistry. . .

I had an accident this morning involving my front tooth which has a veneer. It was placed there to match the rest of my teeth. Apparently this one was damaged some time in my life and was a different color. Its neighbor, the other front tooth was broken off at my tender age of 8. I had just brought in my new front teeth and I fell flat on my face, tripped by my dear friend Zoe, as we swung around and around a pole in our basement. Our Barbies were flying and each time around the pole meant another mile. In our minds, somehow, we figured we might be able to overtake the other and win the "race". What ever we were racing for, I have no idea, but in any case, I went down and saw my tooth skid across the floor in front of me.

We hurried to the dentist, my mom forgot the bread in her oven and got stopped by a police officer on the way.

My dentist had told mom many times what beautiful teeth I had and I remember his face falling when he saw my broken tooth.

Thus began my lifelong visits to the dentist to have yet another cap glued onto the poor stub of what was left of my tooth. Because I would be growing, they installed inexpensive caps, and inevitably I would bite down on a hard candy or roll and break my tooth all to shreds.

In the course of replacing caps, my dentist moved away and we were left to find someone else. One of these "dentists" couldn't get the cap to fit, so he ended up filing down my front bottom teeth to accommodate the lousy-fitting cap. Once, when I was in fourth grade,  in exasperation my Mom told me I would just have to wait until there was more money to get another replacement. We had school pictures, and I didn't smile. To this day she looks at that picture and regrets not getting another cap for me. No worries Mom. I survived.

My perfect teeth stayed nearly perfect until my senior year in High School when I discovered a cavity in one of my back teeth. My first filling. It made me so sad. But that was just the beginning of many trips to the dentist for other fillings. And I finally received the porcelain crown I'd been waiting for since I was eight years old.

After moving to this town, I was told the "porcelain" crown was not really porcelain. And my dentist replaced it with a REAL porcelain crown. Like the city streets that get dug up to replace an old sewer line after they have just been refinished, my crown had to have a hole drilled in the back to do a root canal on the poor stub underneath. After this, the other front tooth turned color and my dentist offered a veneer to match the crown.

Well, today, maybe 15 years later that veneer gave up and chipped as I was trying to pop open a cap from a container. I know, I know, I shouldn't have been using my teeth to open anything, but hind sight is so much better. After I heard the crunch, I realized I had not broken the plastic cap, I had broken my veneer. It was longer than my tooth, so the result was not so pretty. I had a chip out of the veneer near the middle, but the outside edge was still longer and jagged. I called my dentist. Of course it is Saturday. Isn't that when all the bad stuff happens. I was given his cell number on the answering machine, but he didn't answer that or his home phone. On the answering machine, I told them I might have to resort to some home remedy if I didn't hear from them.

That's when we got out the Dremmel tool. I laid myself out on the floor with pillows under my head under the brightest light in the house and asked my sweet husband to do the work. As I watched in a hand-held mirror and directed him what I wanted, a bevel here, a little more off the top there, my dear Sailor drilled delicately with the Dremmel tool.  At least it is straight across at the bottom. It doesn't feel that great, but I am so grateful for his steady hand and willingness to try his hand at dental work. What a great man I married.

Thanks, Friend. You are the BEST.

xxoxoxxoxoxxo

Aksel Christopher

Dear Newest Grand Baby,

You don't know how much I already love you. But I do. For some reason little grand children just wrap me around their littlest fingers and hold on tight.

I had no idea how affected I would be by grand children, but they certainly have attached themselves to my heart strings.

When I had my second child, that would be your daddy, I wondered if I could love him as much as the first one. Would there be room? How would the first son feel about him. Would he feel less loved?

Somehow in a mother's heart, there is always room. In fact the heart makes room, and grows. So by the time I had my sixth sweet child, I knew there would always be more room. Now you make number 15 in the grandchildren department and number 27 in a mudda's heart. This counts all my children, their spouses and all the grand children. Plus your grandpa of course, so that makes 28. Grandpa has a very special place in my heart. I cannot believe how very fortunate I am with all these amazing people who have surrounded my life.
So you come into this world and into loving arms and a wonderful home.

Your mother and dad are kind and righteous people and have made their home a peaceful place.You also have such wonderful brothers and sisters who already just love you to pieces. They had so much fun holding you in their arms that first day you were born, and it was so fun for this grandma to watch their delight. Each one of them is one of the most special people you could ever wish to have as siblings. They will grow up with you and I am certain they will remain close and have a special bond with each other and you.

How special it is that you have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your life already? That your parents will raise you in a home filled with the Spirit of Christ. You will learn how to pray and worship from the start.

I think you are in for a wonderful ride, Aksel. And I hope I get to be around close enough to watch all the sweet stages of your life. I am so happy you are safely here, dear child.

much love,
Your Grandma

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

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

Raising the Bar

This morning I received a Pay it Forward gift from Heidi who writes Pottery and Everything Else. She was the one who gave me the idea to try it on my blog.

*by the way, I still have three openings if anyone wants to follow the rules.*

Today her gift arrived in the mail.

Can I just say OH MY GOSH!? I really didn't expect so much. I don't really know what I expected, but I was so surprised at what I got. It felt like Christmas! And I don't even know this sweet person who took so much time for me.

Now the people who signed up for my Pay it Forward are going to expect more. And frankly, I think I will have to do more. I am still working on the two people who signed up in the first place, but now I am going to have to add some more things. I will take a page from Heidi's book and make it my own. What a sweet example to me. She doesn't know how much she made me feel like a Queen for a day.

Not only did she send me a hand made thing, it was a BEAUTIFUL handmade thing. It was a doll quilt with a beautiful label on the back and a place to hang it. The quilting is just beautiful.

She asked me my favorite colors and I told her purple, and purple is what I got.

But that was not all. She also sent me a quilting magazine and 5 fat quarters of pretty fabric.

And a very lovely note telling me how much she loves reading my blog. I was so touched. Now I want to go meet Heidi.

I want to meet you Heidi.

She blogged on it, but I missed that post. But that is not all, the other day I won second prize of a giveaway she was hosting. She emailed me and asked if I wanted the purple checkbook cover to match the quilt she had just sent. That is when I found out what I was getting. I explored her flickr account and looked at this beautiful quilt that was coming my way.

And this morning it arrived. I just have been marveling over it all day. Heidi, you are a very cute woman with such a big heart and fabulous talent. I feel so honored. Thank you!

::sniff::

these darn allergies. . .

:blink blink::

::sniff::

::bottom lip quivering::

thanks Heidi.

~a

going, going. . .gone

Trees are such a gift. I love that my house is so surrounded with trees that once when a realitor looked at the yard, she said
"I'd call it. . . wooded."

The trees have provided much needed shade to our house in this desert town.

Ours is the coolest house on the block because of those trees. Well and the whole house fan.

So to randomly chop down a tree is NOT in my nature.


But this locust on the north side of the house was doing no good any more. It had a huge branch that was rubbing on the roof. And the other branch was causing the neighbor to be afraid to burn in his fireplace.

Sailor cut those branches off earlier in the spring and we still don't have it all cleaned up from that episode.

Recently Sailor talked to a guy at work, Paul, who has a bucket truck and has a side business of cutting down trees. He also has a lumber mill. Any trees he cuts down that the owner doesn't want, he saws into lumber and with which he makes the most beautiful furniture.

We cut down an elm in the back corner of our lot which was shading the garden. We had him make the straight part into lumber. Sailor built a cradle for our son out of that tree, at his request. What a sweet sentimental thing to do.

Well, Paul showed up and began to saw. It was amazing what he could do in an hour.

It took us all the next day clipping, sorting, throwing, sawing and hauling to clean it up. All that was left was the stump.

He came a few days later and picked up the straight lumber up with his fork lift. This lumber will sit in his yard for several years to dry, then he will saw it into lumber.

We hauled away 5 truck-loads of branches to the dump. Usually we strip it down to sticks and break them apart, then bundle the sticks into wire bundles and stack them to be used for kindling.

I started doing this, but Sailor said we didn't have any more room for the tiny stuff.

We separated out all the dry branches, and the neighbor lady came over with her little cart and claimed them for her fireplace. What a cute lady. I love her.

The medium sized logs were hauled to the back to dry for several years. They will be used in the fireplace.

It really freaked out the cats. They have a little cat path worn down between the neighbor's house and ours which was covered with branches. They had to use the sidewalk.

The car even got dusty.

What shall I name her?

I got a new (to me) car! A 2005 4-door Grand Am. The only time I purchased a brand new car right off the lot was after college. I got a job and bought a Mazda 616 piston engine. I was so proud of it. But it got worn down pretty quickly after our marriage and one day the engine overheated.
Ever since, we have gotten second-hand cars. This one feels like it just came off the lot. The three owners before took extra good care of her.

• She had 65,000 miles on her, she was owned first by a rental company, then two private owners.
• The heater and AC works on my feet! wahoo. I feel a bit disloyal to White Grand Am, but her heater and AC didn't work on the feet. White GA is now reassigned to Sailor. He drives her to work. She gets great milage. But so does the new Gray Grand Am.

• This one has 4 doors, some pretty fancy wheels and a satellite ready radio. I haven't felt so luxurious in a long time.
• She has tinted automatic windows!
• Automatic transmission and . . . and. . . cruise control. hee hee.
• She even has a spoiler on the back. Wow so racey.
  

We saw her on the parking lot near Leo's just before the Outage in March. We thought it would be nice, since the white one has close to 200,000 miles. I was offered the temp job during the outage. If I was able to get many hours in, perhaps we could afford her.

We talked about it for quite some time and finally called the owners. The Blue Book was around $1000 less than they were asking, but these were a young couple. The dad of the girl selling it was so pleased we were looking at it and told Sailor at work how they were trying to get out from under some of their debt.

Of course sweet Sailor couldn't talk them down to the Blue Book price. He just offered exactly their asking price. It did come with a new set of Snow Tires, so I guess that is about the amount we overpaid.

Anyway, the amount I earned at the Outage was able to pay around half of the asking price and the rest was in savings, so that is sweet. She is all paid for, licensed, insured and sitting in our carport.

The photo above is one I found on the internet, but it is exactly how she looks.

So what is a good name for her?

I have to keep pinching myself to realize she is really mine.

oh and she came with one of those key fobs that you can press a button and it says "beep" while the doors lock. How fun is that? Sometimes I just get that out and press the button just to hear it beep. hee hee

I hope you have a nice night

~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

Blue Gables feels blue

Maybe it is the let down from having to be "UP" for so many days in a row, maybe it is the fact D2 missed her first half marathon because of the unusual snow which fell and stranded her and her family in a motel in Wyoming. Maybe it is the fact that my mom is heading over the Mexican boarder and will be gone for 2 weeks, or maybe it is that my sister is leaving for 18 months for an LDS mission. Or it could be the constant worry of S1 who lost his job quite some time ago and hasn't found a new one. He is a Civil Engineer with a Master's degree. Really he was the one I was least worried about, and now there is threat of moving after they have purchased a wonderful home in a nice neighborhood and made many friends. sigh. Maybe the combination of everything. Whatever it is, I am sad.

I should be happy, D2 is coming anyway to visit for a few weeks and I will help to drive her back when she goes in May.

I look at my poor disaster of a house that has gone to seed during this month of April as I worked 12-hour days, with no days off, and it depresses me. I realize I will have two active grand children here and panic when I see all they can get into.
So here I sit.

As I write, my sister and D2 are meeting in Wyoming on I-80 at Little America in about 15 minutes. For some reason, I began to think of both of them, and ended up MSM-ing SIL-2 while I called my sister. I found out from both at about the same exact time that they were going to meet up. That is happy for them. I wish everyone good weather, good driving, careful drivers around them, no mechanical problems and all the other good luck I can wish their way.

I took my vitamins this morning with my Green Smoothie. Usually that perks me up, but I can't seem to find the motivation I need to get moving. My head hurts from yesterday's beginnings of a migraine that started in Church. ugg
I have a cure which I carry with me at all times. When I see the sparkles on the outside of my eyes, I take two Excedrin, 1000 mg of Vitamin C and 16 oz of water. It stops the migraine from progressing further, but the sparklies continue to move their way across my field of vision until they have completed their course. They start on the outside of each eye and move inward until I feel cross-eyed, then finish at the middle of the eyes. It is no fun.

Wish me luck finding this house and readying it for a 3-year old and a 1 year old. They have their birthdays next month, so I will refer to them as the age they will be next month. It will be so fun to have them here. Guess I will start with the guest bedroom. That's always a good place to start.
onward and upward.

Tomorrow I head back to choir (a 5.5 hour round trip plus 2 hours of practice). Still not up for a big day of travel, but I have to start someplace.
hope your day is filled with sunshine and happiness. (it is supposed to get to 70 degrees here)

~a

Every Day is Wednesday

Every day is Wednesday.

That is what my boss told me. When you work twelve-hour days, seven days a week for several weeks, every day seems like Wednesday.
One day I asked him how his day was going. He replied it was OK for a Monday. Of course, it wasn’t Monday. At least I didn’t think so. But it is easy to get confused on those matters. I inquired what he meant by that. He said, bad days were Mondays. Things had gone wrong that day, so it was a Monday, but things were looking up, the problems solved so it was better.

Today is my last day. I guess that makes today Friday. I found my self singing the same song all day long, from Les Miserables. One More Day. . . 2-4-6-0-1

This company is so nice. The people are typical construction workers. They are happiest when they are kept busy. By that I mean they are not afraid to work and get dirty. But these men are clean cut. Most have families. I hardly hear a swear word, and when it does happen, they quickly remember their manners and apologize. Most drink coffee, chew or smoke, or a combination. Occasionally I see a Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper. Most work hard all day. The bosses have hired enough temporary workers that they know how many they will need, and there is no time for slackers. There are, of course, slackers. Today on the scaffolding crew, one kept popping out of the hole like popcorn. I had to write his name down many more times than the rest. At the end of the day, one of our workers mentioned how "Popcorn" was hated by all down below. He was supposed to be handing the scaffolding up through the first hole, instead, he went up the ladder to just below the surface and texted the rest of the afternoon. But most are really hard workers.

Because of the short time I work with them, I don’t get to know them very well. But some return from previous years. Like friends you haven’t seen for a year, it is fun to have their names pop right back into your head as soon as you see them. I hadn’t thought of Carlos for a year, yet the minute he was on the job, I knew his name.

Today I am in the Suburban again. I got to spend the weekend in there, but was back inside the dirty, drafty building the next two days. Today the project is winding down, and I am watching the outside entrances to the Condenser. The Scaffold men are taking the scaffold down.
I am in awe of the scaffold men. They are here to make things safe for the rest of the workers. But who makes it safe for them?

Sailor took me up to the 13th floor to show me the boiler. But a “level” for the power plant is more like two levels in any other building. A set of stairs that gets you to the next level in a house is only half the way up in the power plant. One has to travel two sets of stairs to make it to the next floor. We came to a door surrounded by a fence. When I looked inside, there was a large room that spans the entirety of the 13 floors down and several more upwards. I felt my stomach drop as my eyes traveled downward.

I backed away holding the railing with one hand and my stomach with the other. But then my husband directed my attention to the top part. Suspended from beams above the ceiling is a curtain of heavy tubes that hang down, then turn toward the wall. Under that is a large shelf, called a bull nose that juts out. It starts at the top of the room on one wall then juts out at a 45 degree angle away from the wall like a slide for about 15 or 20 feet (I will check with facts, but in that huge room, my concept of measurements is completely messed up). My husband says it is closer to 50 feet. Then it turns at a right angle and heads back to the wall. If there is a way to get to the top of this bull nose and slide down, you would have a 12 story, or is it more like 24 story fall before you hit bottom. At around the second floor level two walls of this huge room slope inward and meet at the bottom like an elongated funnel.

I know now where Star Wars got their inspiration for that room where Luke is sword fighting Darth Vader. You know, the one where you cannot see the bottom? Well, that is what I thought of when I saw this room. You can take pictures, but you never quite get the true feeling until you see it in person. Sort of like a Cathedral in Europe. I probably could have taken several panoramic pictures and pasted them together, but unless I made it 3-D, I don't think you would still get the idea.

The startling sight for me was the scaffold in the middle of this bull nose. First of all, how did they ever get to that place to build the scaffold? I am sure they have their ways, but I don’t think I would ever have the courage to watch. I was freaking out watching my men jump around on a two-story place. I might have just keeled over with fright or faintness had I been the entrance attendant for this place. I feel dizzy just describing it. I thought my painter men were part monkey they way they climb and swing from place to place. They are amazingly agile and light. Last year I watched the scaffold men build a tent room to house the workers while they did their work and they climbed around, slapping their safety harnesses from place to place. I thought they were amazing, but this year, when I saw that huge room and the height of that scaffold, I realized why it was so easy for them to hop around on a tiny tent scaffold. I could never do that, and I am glad my children don't have that vocation either. I would never get any sleep.

I just have to say two things: number one: I am so glad I am a stay-at-home mom/seamstress. Number two: if it were up to me to earn the living, I probably wouldn’t join the painting or scaffolding crew.

So today is Friday for me. My sixteen day journey of Mondays, and Wednesdays has now come to an end. It has been a fun adventure, but if I had to maintain any more twelve hour days, without one day off, I think it would be hard, and I might have to turn to more legally addictive stimulants like Mountain Dew. Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, and looking forward to two pretty nice pay checks.

I took pictures, well, I had Sailor take pictures. He will email them to me tomorrow from work, so I can post them.

have a nice night
~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

Picasa Web Photos

I have always loved that I can link from someones blog to their Flickr or Picasa photo accounts to look at more of their photos, whether it be their trips or the latest antics of their children or pets.
I finally figured out how to link it on my blog.

What you see is what is there for all my posts, on all of my blogs. So basically you will see my Taiwan trip and many other things. I spent a long time last night trying to remember our Taiwan trip and typing in some captions below the photos.

What did it accomplish? I got terribly homesick for Taiwan. I wanted to go back and see the Taroko Gorge again, I wanted to go back to the sweet people our son introduced us to. What is Ray up to now? How is Freddy? I would love to go back to that Buddhist Monastery again. And would love to see Puli once more and stay in that marvelous Waterhouse bed and breakfast. Where is Daniel Lieu our wonderful driver now? He happened to have a two week break from school when we came and took that time to drive the car we rented. We paid for his food, all the gas and helped with his hotel costs as well. Has he gotten married by now? The Landis Hotel was such an amazing "wow factor" hotel with the best and largest breakfast buffet I have ever seen. The food was so unique you can't taste it anywhere here that I have found.
And Mangos, ahhhhh mangos. You haven't tasted mangos until you taste them fresh off the tree.
If I ever serve a mission for our Church, I think I will put in a request to be considered to serve there. I cannot imagine a better place to serve.

There are some things I didn't get to see the first time around that I would like to see next time. We never got to see Taipei. We landed there, but immediately boarded a bus and headed to Taichung. We didn't get to see the Taipei Temple either. I cried over that for several hours as we were stuck in an airport waiting for our returning flight. There was a town we didn't get to see that is famous for it's wood carvings that we didn't get to see either.

The only thing I don't miss is the flight. That was so LONG, so crowded and miserable. It was so miserable, in fact, I purchased upgrades on the way home. I just couldn't imagine my two sweet long-legged men having to fold themselves on those tiny seats of Malaysian Airlines which were built for much smaller people than we are. I don't miss the humidity either.

But in all, just looking at those pictures made me homesick for a place I only spent two weeks in. Have you ever gotten homesick for a place where you didn't spend much original time too?

Grandma's Quilt

Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without

My Grandma was the most amazing woman. To me, she is the epitome of the word Grandma. She was the best cook ever to be born, she also embroidered, she sewed, not only for us, but for our dolls as well.
Our dolls had mattresses, pillows, quilts and nice clothes because sweet Grandma took the time to make them for us. But our dolls weren't the only ones outfitted with bedding. There was one time as I was snuggling into bed that I realized all my night-time comforts were due to my Grandma. The lamp I used to read with was purchased with Birthday money from her. My pillow was made by her, from the feathers of her chickens. The pillowcase that covered the pillow had been sewn, embroidered and crocheted with an edging by her. My warm nightgown, again was made by her. And lastly she made my quilt. You can see a picture of a quilt that has pretty much disintegrated that she made. The white part in the photo is the muslin cover that encases the warm wool batt. She made a pillowcase for the batt, then quilted the batt with its pillowcase in a grid formation to keep it from balling up. Then she made an outer cover for it and finally she tied it with brown yarn. This quilt top is falling apart, but the batting inside is still fine. So I am in the process of taking it apart, cutting all the brown yarn and pulling off the outside. I will make another cover for it and we will be back in business. Because of its fragile nature when I got it, I put it up for a day when I could recover it. But I kept finding it on my children's beds. They all loved the warm, heavy wool batt and wanted that quilt, in spite of the fact that it was so raggedy.
When we owned a farm, we had sheep that we sheered every spring. We could send the wool to a mill and have it made into batting and blankets. It was done on an exchange basis, so they took part of our wool as payment to convert the rest into batting and blankets. I had 12 wool batts made and then made each child a wool batt quilt, like my Grandma had made for me, because I loved it so much.
I was happy that my mother let me have this old quilt, and I am making good use of it now. I will put a pretty cover over it and it will again become the much coveted blanket in the house.
Grandma, if you happen to be looking down from Heaven, just know that your legacy still lives on. Thank you for your great example, heritage, knowledge and LOVE. I love you Grandma.

xxoo
much love
~a

Its been awhile

Sorry for not posting sooner. I have been really busy. I even got a comment from one friend saying she thought her reader wasn't working.

Getting ready for Christmas always takes a powerhouse of energy, and I work best under that kind of pressure. I have count-down lists in my head and manage to meet those deadlines. It is necessary to postpone and cancel the less important things. Therefore the blogging has suffered, as have the Christmas cards.

I got a quilt top made for Sailor and put together some fun Christmas bags for all my children, sister and her two girls. We got most of the Christmas stuff to our children before Christmas, except for the ones who live out of state. We were traveling their way, so that made things easier. I just stacked their things by the door. We would leave right after Sacrament Meeting and get there about 1 in the morning.

Earlier in the week, our D3 called. She didn't sound very good, and when we asked the problem, she began to sob. Her husband had just gotten laid off from work. This couple had carefully planned everything in their lives. They had waited until he was done with his Bachelor's and Master's degrees and a really nice job secured with an amazing company, before they started a family. They had purchased a house and had begun to fix it up. All the rooms were painted, carpets removed, wooden floors polished, kitchen and bathroom remodeled, and family room cozily furnished before the baby arrived.

She had returned to work once a week in a doctor's office and life seemed to be going great for them. She told us that she needed us to come up to help fix an older car. The really nice one they had just purchased had to be sold, so the older one needed to work. So instead of the pre-Christmas list, we dropped everything and rushed up to help.

Sailor had taken up the "way of the wrench" back when the children were young in order to keep us in older, but working cars. Then to furnish all the children with hopefully reliable transportation when they left for college. Because the cars were old, we ran many rescue missions to fix cars and help out stranded children. In the course of fixing, Sailor has acquired many tools and books to help him diagnose and fix the cars. He has become so amazing at diagnosing that sometimes when the children call and describe a car problem, he can help figure it out.

This ambitious SIL3 had let no grass grow under his feet and within a week of the lay-off, he had already secured another job with a local firm. We were informed through a text on our cell phones two days before Christmas that he had gotten the job. The former employee had given him two-weeks pay, so actually they came out ahead in their budget. We acknowledge the hand of God in blessing them in this way.

On the day before our scheduled departure, our son (S3), daughter-in-law (DIL3) and their sweet little baby daughter came for a friend's reception. They chose to spend the night here. Which was fabulous. I had a duet in the Church choir that I was going to sing, so I was happy to have some family here to support me.

But just as they went to bed, she began to cramp. She had told us at Thanksgiving she was pregnant, then announced this last week that she was losing the baby. But the actual miscarriage took place here. I felt so terribly bad for her, but was so glad we could be on hand to care for her sweet little daughter. My son spent most of the time by her side and running errands for her needs. So I am glad we could watch their baby so they didn't have to worry about caring for her as well. We ended up skipping Church for the most part. Sailor got in on the Priesthood part, I got in on Sacrament Meeting and sang my song. As this poor, sweet DIL3 suffered through the labor, we told our son not to rush to leave, just to take their time. As we had planned on traveling right after Sacrament Meeting, we began to make alternate plans. When the worst was over, he carried his little bride to the couch, surrounded her with pillows and comforters and brought her soup and crackers. Sailor had made a Jello for her. She looked as white as a sheet. We gave her a heat pad for her stomach and she laid there and recovered.

Some time during the whole ordeal, she had called her mom. She agreed to meet them on the interstate and pick her up and take her to their home. S3 had to work up through Christmas Eve. Plans were made to see their family doctor the next day.

We got on the road only an hour and a half later than planned. The truck was all packed the day before, so it didn't take much to load the last minute things and embark.

We got to my mom's home by about 2:30 in the morning, and were so wired from all the caffeinated drinks that we buzzed for about an hour. But at least we had dry roads and were safely there.

Monday was pretty much a recovery day. We felt jet-lagged. We had a wonderful time celebrating with my Mom, sister and her friend, and her twin daughters. That night we went to Sailor's Mom's birth town to celebrate another reunion. It has been a tradition to have this reunion Christmas night. They bring pot-luck food and their stringed instruments. We have a whole book of Christmas carols and are accompanied by a piano, violin, guitar, bass and flute. It has been very fun to attend these whenever we are in the area.

Then we headed to S1's house. The day after Christmas, we celebrated with S1, his family and D2 and her family. There had been several flu bugs going around, but thankfully everyone was well. The only down part is the last day there, in the evening, I felt like I might be getting a cold. I took the usual preventatives, Musinex, Sudafed, Cold Snap and water all day Monday as we drove home. Thankfully, Sailor was not affected by the bug. But I slept almost the whole way home. That makes me sad, because I just LOVE traveling with him, and I felt like I missed 8 whole hours of "just us" time. Our plans to join S2 and his family for New Year's Eve was canceled as well. We will make it up to them later. I hate to disappoint the children, because he had indicated they were excited to have us come visit.

So for the last day, I have mostly unpacked and tried to recover from this head cold. And that is where I have been. I will include pictures later. My Christmas cards have not been mailed, not even the email version sent. I feel badly because I have received so many really nice cards and gifts, but just don't have the stamina it would take to complete this task. bleah

My prayers go out for my sweet little friend Lori, who apparently fainted on the landing of the stairs. She basically did a face-plant and broke several bones in her face. I feel so badly for her and ask everyone to join me in praying for her full recovery.

I will post more when I feel better.

*¦*:·-·:*HAPPY*:·-·:*¦*:·-·:*NEW YEAR*:·-·:*¦*

love to you all
~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