Traditions

warning: religious content

On the first Saturday and Sunday of the months of April and October our church broadcasts General Conference. This is such a sweet and wonderful respite from our daily activities. We love to take the time and listen to all four two-hour broadcasts. If there is a reason we miss one, we can now tune in and listen again, or download to our Ipods or other media players.

This afternoon, our youngest and his family traveled to be with us. We prepared chicken, biscuits and gravy, fresh sliced garden tomatoes to feed them. Because my dining room table is filled with a quilt I am working on, we washed the picnic table in our back yard and set it. Because it was so close to the 2:00 pm Conference Session, we set up the laptop outside, linked by wifi to the internet, and watched while we finished dinner.

I feel so blessed to be able to receive this on our television. My children in Colorado are able to hook up via internet and receive it live as well. One son traveling to Kansas today was able to link up to the Salt Lake's KSL radio via his phone while they traveled!!! How amazing is this modern age?

I remember when we were a young married couple with small children living in western Colorado we were lucky to receive even one hour of conference on radio or television.

Since we moved to Utah, we are able to receive it right here in our living room. It is such a sweet peaceful time to gather in the front room as a family and enjoy the words of the Prophet and Apostles of the Lord.

One tradition we established was every Sunday conference, we made some yummy muffins that after they were baked were dipped in melted butter and cinnamon and sugar. The kids called the Conference Muffins and after they were married, they all called, and asked for the Conference Muffin recipe. Sorry Betty Crocker, your muffins have been renamed.

Another tradition was conference bingo. The kids had bingo cards with pictures of various things commonly spoken about during conference, such as prophet, temple, etc. They marked them with Easter egg M&M's in the spring and Halloween M&M's in the fall. 

It has been a peaceful and uplifting weekend. It was fun to have our youngest and his sweet family come for the afternoon.

I hope your weekend was sweet too.

~a

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

McGuckin Hardware

Whenever I go to Boulder Colorado, I have to include a trip or two to McGuckin Hardware. It is the neatest hardware store in the World. And I am not a person who likes to loiter in a hardware store.

If it isn't found in McGuckin, then you don't need it.

It doesn't matter what you need, they have it. Their isles are filled with people in green vests just waiting to help you. Every single isle has at least two people waiting to help.

I hear they treat their employees very well and their benefits are great. You can tell, because every time you go there, you can see the same people working in their same isles. And they are always happy. Some have made this their life-time job.



All of the employees treat you as though you are their only customer. They will personally walk you to the item you are looking for. I am not good with square feet, the website says it has a 60,000+ square foot sales floor. I think that is at least a city block. It is at least as big as a WalMart. Maybe not one that has the groceries. But it seems that large. The isles labeled in green numbers or letters on the floor 1,2,3, etc and A,B,C for longitude and latitude.

I usually try to come up with an excuse to run over to McGuckins on about the first day I am there.

They have an excellent help center with wonderful workers who are willing to do anything from changing batteries to fixing things and supplying the screws or what ever item is needed in the store, then only charging for the item they replaced.

It has over 200,000 items and 18 departments.
The workers have much knowledge in their field. In the garden center, the worker who helped me had full knowledge about all the plants and gave instructions on how to plant it and care for it.

I have found every section has the same knowledgeable people. They are very helpful and care about every person who walks through their doors. When I get frustrated about not finding something in my town, or sometimes in my state, I get online and see if McGuckin has it.

The last time I was there, I found an environment shopping bag that said: "I usually leave this bag in my car." I thought it was so funny and decided to buy it, and asked a worker how much it was. He searched for another one to compare prices and having found none, he went to the computer. I waited and looked around and waited. Finally he came out and said, I didn't find the price, but I will give you the "I-made-you-wait-too-long discount" then he quoted me a price that was about a dollar cheaper than any other environment bag available.

This last picture shows the perspective of how large this business is. And I am only taking this from about the middle of the store, not from one end to the other.

It has an interesting history, I quote from the website:

"In The Beginning

It all began in 1955 when our company’s namesake, a rugged, avid fisherman named Bill McGuckin, opened the doors of McGuckin Hardware. Employing four people in four departments, his success was based on his belief in personalized service, selection and first-hand experience. . .

. . .McGuckin Hardware currently employs around an average of 250 people on its 60,000+ square foot sales floor. We also have a Design Center just to the north of the Hardware Store to service our designer hardware and kitchen and bath design customers. Our 55,000 square foot Distribution Center is located in far north Boulder. We average about 315 employees for all operations. Indeed, McGuckin Hardware has grown to service all of our customers' needs."

What a legacy. If you are ever in Boulder Colorado, make sure you stop by.

PS I am not getting paid for this endorsement, rather I wanted to share the experience.

~a

Mulberry Jam

Today it rained again. While Sailor was painting his father's 50 year-old table, I began to pick mulberries.

It seems like the robins haven't discovered them this year. Usually we realize the mulberries are ripe because our tree is filled with robins. But this time, the branches are weighed down with ripening mulberries.

I don't know if it is because of all the rain, that they haven't discovered them, or if the rain has made so many more that the robins aren't eating them as fast as usual? Either way, I am enjoying the rain while we still have it, and decided to not let this abundance go to waste.

Sailor mentioned he wondered what Mulberry Jam tasted like. Like nothing else in this world, I thought.
I brought out a bucket and just held it under a branch, then gently milked the branch and the berries fell into the bucket. Sailor finished painting and grabbed a bowl and helped. We stopped when it began to rain too hard. But later I went back out and laid an old sheet beneath the tree and shook. I got more than when I picked. We ended up with a 5-quart ice cream bucket of berries. As I picked I think as many mulberries fell to the ground as I put in the bucket.

I looked up berry jam in the Joy of cooking. Basically use as much sugar as berries. So we did.

We had to stir the whole time. Sailor insisted on adding some water, which helped the process speed up a bit. Bring to boil, and boil 15 minutes, continuing to stir.

Pour into jars and seal with new hot lids.
As I stirred, Sailor suddenly said. "that's it!" and he grabbed a container and headed downstairs to grind wheat.
Yeah, we got homemade bread and freshly made mulberry jam today.
Talk about carb Heaven. There is no way a picture will ever let you know what a unique flavor mulberry jam tastes like.
It reminds me of Grandma.
It looks good enough to eat. What do you think?

Home made bread, fresh from the oven and freshly made mulberry jam.

heaven

~a

bed time

Its funny how "set in our ways" we get as we grow older. We become creatures of comfort and habit. We prefer the way things are at our own house, and it makes it hard to go visit others.
I remember my grandpa used to always say, "Fish and company stink in three days." That was his excuse to leave and go back to Kansas. I tried to talk him into staying, I loved when they came, but they headed back after just a short visit. Now that I am around his age when he said that, I can understand.
Bedtime has such a routine with so many comforting things involved. For instance, our bed has a memory foam mattress, 400 count Egyptian Cotton sheets, feather pillows, my pillowcase is made of tricot. I love my flannel nighty, which Sailor calls "The Fortress". It is a fortress, in a way, it keeps out the cold, and in the winter I cannot sleep with anything cold blowing on me. The Fortress protects me from the cold. I have several pillows above my head keeping anything from infiltrating from the head.
Our house was built in the '40's and doesn't have very good insulation or windows, so flannel nightys and quilts are really wonderful to have.
The main quilt is a cotton one I made (and received Sweepstakes ribbon at the county fair), and we have two additional flannel quilts I tied. The quilts are folded in half lengthwise so we each have our own personal quilt doubled. We find we don't have as many "cover wars" if we each have our own flannel quilt. Sailor can kick his off and I snuggle deeper under mine.
We *love* our memory foam mattress. It just has a way of sucking you into the bed. When making it, for instance, if I lean in to straighten a pillow in the middle, it makes an imprint where my knee is leaning. One just naturally leans further and before they know it, find themselves trying out the supine position. ahhhhhhh
Our headboard holds only funny books. Sailor always reads to me from something funny. We love Pat McManis, James Harriot, Garrison Keillor, and anything else that makes us giggle before we fall asleep. Life is much too serious already, and we find that if we fall asleep laughing, our dreams are much sweeter.
As Fall arrives and the nights get cooler I find myself getting ready for the winter. The warmth of a comfortable bed and bedding is so important to me.
As I was making it this morning, I was thinking of how humble, yet comfortable our tiny "pretend" master bedroom is. I am grateful for this comfort.
~a

Destination Estes

I love this web cam.
Whenever I get homesick, I can look at my web cams around my home.

I love the web cam because it updates every 10 seconds. I thought I had saved two photos of a sequence, the first being the family getting their picture taken, the second was supposed to be of the photographer giving the group their camera back, but somehow in my rush yesterday, I got two of the family getting their pictures taken. Ratz.

Estes Park is around 50 miles away from where I grew up. Dad and Mom used to drive us there once in a while.

I loved to walk around the shops with Dad. He was an inventor at heart, and he would look at the gag gifts and say, "I could have done that. Someone is getting rich off that invention." He did end up inventing and producing a novelty gag gift that sold for years. When I find a picture I will post on that someday.

My memories of Estes park include caramel corn and Salt Water Taffy. This is no ordinary salt water taffy. It comes in fabulous flavors such as Texas pecan with real pecans, cinnamon, mint, vanilla and other flavors, but those are the ones I get. If you click on the link, you can see the old fashioned taffy puller still working in the window. We always got those two treats when we went to Estes. The whole town was filled with amazing shops that sell souvenirs, novelty gifts and many useless things but it is a lot of fun and it was a beautiful mountain town and a resort for many visitors.

I have watched this Riverwalk web cam for several seasons. I have seen the sun rise and set, I have seen the rain and the snow fall, the lamp post turn on, the people resting on the bench, talking on the cell phone, giving a baby in a stroller it's bottle, joggers hurrying by, bicyclers swishing past. There is drama going on all the time.

When I visited home last time, I was determined to find this web cam. I had not even known about Estes' Riverwalk, and neither had my mom or her out-of-town cousin visitors who happened by while I was there. We all caravaned to Estes, each with a destination in mind. Mom just wanted to be with us and come for the ride.

That sweet little Lady used her cane and braved the whole 4 blocks up and down. The California cousins had their own agenda so we exchanged cell phone numbers and split up. I wanted to find the web cam, so I left my sweet husband with Mom and hurried east along the river. I was looking for that lamp post, that flower box and that bench. There weren't many like it so when I finally saw the lamp posts that look like the one in the picture, I knew I was near.
The web cam is on the corner of the deck, the lamp post, the bench and the flower box all match.

I stood under the web cam and took photographs of what the web cam sees. I guess if someone I know had been watching, they would have seen me. I should have called on my cell phone and had someone click print page and saved it. That would have been planning ahead.

Anyway I found it. That was my whole goal in Estes Park, besides getting some of that delicious salt water taffy.

I enjoy the web cam even more now that I have seen it in person. That is an amazing river running beside this walk. I think it is the Big Thompson River.

We were treated by Donna, our cousin, to a lunch in an outdoor restaurant along the Riverwalk and watched the people pass by. I enjoyed getting reacquainted this wonderful lady and her grandson who is actually my second cousin once removed. Donna would be my first cousin-in-law once removed. How fun to find family. We really got along well and had a nice visit. We exchanged emails and I hope we continue to keep in touch. In the end, we walked back to our cars and they were on their way to another tourist attraction, and we went back home. What a sweet and unexpected bonus to my visit to see Mom.

It was a fun adventure. I love Estes.

~a

ps
for some reason, looking at that river makes me so thirsty. Every time I see it, I jump up and go get a glass of cold water. Now I wish I could have a sound cam as well, I want to hear that water rushing by. There is nothing like a Colorado mountain stream. They are so amazing.

D-1's Birthday

All my children were born in January, February and March. The oldest boy and the oldest girl are born in March. The middle boy and girl are born in January and the youngest boy and girl are born in February. There were times, especially as the kids got older and wanted to invite friends, after putting on six birthday parties in three months that I wanted to get a special T-shirt printed for me that said:

I survived
6 Birthday Parties
Before
the end of March!

January, February and March are those bleak months after the festivities and expenses of Christmas are over. The six birthday parties were a wonderful way for us to get through those 90 dreary days. The last birthday of the kids is the last day in March, so by the first of April all the spring flowers are ready to pop and Spring has officially sprung.

And there was NO combining of parties with a theme, like My Little Ponies or Transformers.

No, each month was a boy and a girl, so they each got their own, except for one year when I combined all six birthdays in one big celebration at the skating rink. I allowed them to choose one or two best friends and I made a cake with their names and Happy Birthday all together forming a cross-word puzzle as the decoration.

As each of their birthdays come along, I find myself recalling the day of their birth, so many years ago.

note: If you get bored with labor and delivery stories, then just know that is what this is about. Don't feel obligated to read on. One other thing, all my childbirths were "natural", which means I got NO medication. None, Zip, Zilch! By the last child, the new thing was an epidural, and I wanted to try it, but the anesthetist was out of town, so I missed out on trying that. ::ratz::

With S1 I was in labor for 12 hours from start to birth. You may think, "you wuss, that is NOTHING." But the doctor talked to me later and told me they were doing a print-out on a machine that measured the baby's heart rate and my labor pains on the same paper. He said that my labor pains were so intense that they always jumped way into the baby's heart rate chart for 12 hours. He had never seen labor so intense in his whole life. So I sort of felt justified for crying a bunch. Poor Sailor, his wedding ring is actually oval shaped and he says it is because I squeezed his hand so tight. He wished he had brought a tennis ball for me to squish instead.

By the time S2 came along, I had taken some Lamaze classes and learned to focus on the corner of the room and transfer all my pain and anger to that corner and breathe. I was in labor with him for only 6 hours, and was in the hospital for only 3 before I had him.

I was on a roll. I was excited for the next child, because if they got easier, it was going to be a walk in the park from now on!

If you count the time I started labor at 2 in the morning until she was born, it was only 4 hours. She was born at 5:55 am. But if you count all the days before when I awoke at 2 and had false labor until around 5 for 3-4 nights, it is much more.

But more about that later.

The fourth & fifth children, D2 and D3, were what the Dr called "sunny side up." Both were extremely painful back labor and took 15 and 16 hours. With D2 the labor was so bad, I kept getting up and standing, but the nurses didn't want me walking around, so they kept coming in and saying "Mrs. Annie, get back into bed. You can't be out of bed." I finally stayed in bed, but stood on the bed, because it hurt so terribly bad to be laying down with this labor. That even panicked the nurses more. The doctor finally stripped my membranes for D2 and she came really fast. With D3, I was hoping that would work again, so I asked them to do it again after a while. But instead, I continued to labor 4 more hours and had what they call a "dry birth." MUCH WORSE. This was NOT the way I had hoped for it to work out. Everyone said it gets easier as each successive birth comes. I was breaking the theory, one painful birth at a time.

The last one, S3 took 14 hours, but only 4 in the hospital, and only about 2 of really intense pain. His birth was really not a hard one, just long. We had just moved to a new job and a new town, a month before, and our insurance was due to run out at the end of the month. He was due the 22nd and February only had 28 days. I was so afraid I would go over and insurance wouldn't cover, so I asked the Dr. about it. He said he would strip my membranes on that day if I hadn't had him already. So that morning, we went through the procedure and Sailor and I walked all over this new town we had just moved to. It is only a mile square, eight blocks by eight blocks. When we got home in the afternoon, poor little S2 had spots on his tummy. He was coming down with chicken pox of all things. Not a good time have this happen, and the poor little fellow wasn't allowed into the hospital to hold his baby brother the next day. However they let me take the baby home and be exposed two days later. I never could figure this out. After S2 recovered, the rest of the children came down with it, some overlaping 2 weeks apart. It was a long two months.

Anyway, back to D1's birth. I had been going into false labor every night at around 2am, for about a week before she was actually born. Back then I was ambitious, and made little baby announcements. It was a picture of a little chick still in the egg, but the top of the egg shell is it's hat and it is standing in the bottom shell. This could represent either sex, since we didn't know the gender of the baby. I had drawn the chicks on that stuff you bake and it shrinks. Every night when awakened with the pains, I would draw and bake some little chicks, bake and paste them onto a card on which I had printed: New Arrival! and a place for all the statistics.

I kept myself busy all night long as I felt these labor pains that were strong enough to keep me awake, but not strong enough to wake my husband. Every time I would think to myself that they were getting strong enough, which usually was around 5 in the morning, they would stop abruptly.

I did this for about 3 or 4 nights. By Thursday night/Friday morning, I was getting scared. My husband had gone onto Graveyard shifts Thursday and I was afraid that I might actually need to be taken to the hospital one of these times and he would be 25 miles away at work. Since my other labors had gotten progressively shorter, I figured this one would follow that pattern and I would need him there, not trying to find a substitute (control room at the power plant) and driving 25 miles home. So on Friday morning when he got home from his graveyard shift, we went to see the doctor. With S2 the Doctor had told me that if I went past the due date, he would induce. D3 was 3 days overdue, so I thought the policy still stood. With that policy in mind, I asked him to induce and explained about Sailor's being on a grave yard shift. This made him crabby, and he patiently explained that when "the apple was ripe, it would drop." He would NOT induce. I told him I didn't want to be alone when the "apple dropped", but he wouldn't budge.

Friday night, true to form, I started labor again. But this time it felt a bit more intense. All of the previous nights, I had taken a VERY.HOT.SHOWER with the streams of hot water pounding on my tender belly, and usually it helped. Every night, I spent those 4 hours in prayer, communing with my Heavenly Father and asking for help. This night was no exception. I pleaded for inspiration as to what to do, and I felt his Spirit near me.

But this time the hot shower didn't help. I had run all the hot water out and I still felt terrible. A dear friend had told me to call her if I needed someone to come and tend the kids in the middle of the night, should I start labor.

I thought of my options. If things went like they did the last few nights, this would stop by 5 or so. I didn't want to bother my friend if it was a false alarm. I didn't want to call my husband either.

The pains continued to get worse. They were now 5 minutes apart. But the pain was on my lower left side instead of the center of my tummy. I finally decided to just drive myself to the hospital. After all, I could call my friend and my husband from the hospital if the nurse admitted me, and all would be fine, and I was only 4 miles from the hospital. I checked on the children and said a little prayer, then got into my car and began to drive to the hospital. At the most, it was maybe a 5 minute drive, so I figured they would be safe until I got there to call my friend. Wouldn't it have been nice in those days to have a cell phone? How did we ever get along without them back then? But due to the intense labor pains, instead of taking 5 minutes, it took me 20 minutes. Each time a pain would come, I would stop the car, squeeze my eyes shut, and breathe through the pain, then start back up again, only to be stopped again about 1 1/2 minutes later. The pains were coming hard and fast now.

A nurse examined me and reported that I was NOT in labor. The pain was on the left side was the baby pushing against my bladder (the nurse informed me, hence the pain in that area) and until it could move to the middle and go where it needed to, I would not have this baby. Even though the pains were very close and I was 3 days overdue, she told me she had called the doctor and he had said: "Tell her I WILL NOT INDUCE her." He would not even come in to the hospital, but he did authorize a sedative but the nurse made me take it in front of her, not after I got home. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? First, knowing I would be driving home with this in my system, and second: That I would administer it to my children when I got home?

I cried on her shoulders, I put my arms around her neck and pleaded for her to just admit me until my husband could come and pick me up. I told her it had taken me 20 minutes to drive those 4 miles. But she was adamant and would not yield. Hind sight and many years of experience tells me NOW that I should have called my friend to go watch the kids, I seated myself in the waiting room and refused to leave. But I was timid and obedient, back then.

Going home was the same, stopping every so often, breathing through the pain and continuing on. It took 20 minutes to get home and by then the sedative had taken effect and labor had stopped. I was ready to just drop peacefully into bed, but what should I find in my bed? My two-year old had found his way into my bed while I had been gone. I had to heft this large toddler back into his bed and he cried a bit when I put him back into his bed. The sedative was no longer effective. I started labor again.

Exasperated by now, I called my husband and told him I had been to the hospital and back, I was not in labor, but the pain was intense, and could he PLEASE COME HOME? Then I got back into the shower to distract me from the pain. As the hot water ran out for the second time that night, I tried to manually take that baby's head and move it to the middle. It did not budge. Then I decided to bear down, like you are supposed to do when you push. . .

oops. I realized to my horror that had done the trick and this baby was ON THE WAY!

Two more pushes and her head had emerged. I noticed the cord around her neck and slipped it over her head. Then she was in my arms. I knew Sailor was coming home, so I just waited, still standing there in the bathtub. I nursed and talked to this beautiful child for a full 5 or 10 minutes before I realized it was a GIRL! Two boys and now a girl!!! I thanked my Heavenly Father for taking care of me and my beautiful baby daughter. I even delivered the placenta and cut the cord before my sweet husband arrived. When he did arrive, it all seemed too quiet. He saw a light coming from the crack of the bathroom door and cautiously opened the door to find me still standing in the tub, but with a baby in my arms.

"Its a girl", I announced.

Poor fellow nearly turned as white as a sheet, and had to lower himself to sit down, so he wouldn't faint. I asked him to take this sweet baby and get her a blanket so she wouldn't get too cold, while I got myself cleaned up and dressed. He said he had to say over and over to himself "blanket, blanket, blanket" in order to remember what I had asked him to do.

After we drove to the hospital and were checked out (miracle of miracles, the doctor was actually there this time) and all was well, was when people began to ask me, "HOW did you do it?" The doctor told me I had done everything right. It was at this point that I broke down and began to sob, realizing what terrible things could have happened to both of us.

Basically my answer was I was guided and directed by a loving Heavenly Father. I prayed for inspiration. I had just read a pamphlet the night before on Emergency Childbirth. I had just seen a movie made by our Church called Man's Search for Happiness. It shows a doctor holding a newborn baby upside down by its feet and stroking its throat, I guess to help the mucus out. I had checked and found the cord around her neck and knew what to do.

My beautiful D1 is now 29 years old, just a few days ago. She suffered no brain damage from the cord around her neck, in fact she is exceptionally bright. She is perfect, just like all the rest of my darling children, and I thank my Heavenly Father for taking such good care of me and my family.

sorry if this was too graphic for you, I had just read a friend's blog titled "How I got this way" and realized that it is times like this in your life that you are effected for the rest of your life.

this is part of how I got this way.

~a

Dealing with Death

January 22, 2008

In the past month three acquaintances have died. The one right before Christmas was a fairly young man, maybe 50, had a heart problem. He had never been married, his sister and parents had preceded him in death. His brother, the only living relative, paid for his funeral with his credit card. The deceased was well known in the valley because he conducted an orchestra. This was basically his life, even though he didn’t earn much money. It had been founded by him and his dad, and he took great pride in this. The amount of people who showed up to the memorial was a fairly great number. I couldn’t attend this one, but heard about it. It made me sad that he had no family, but in reality, his family was his orchestra and the community.

The second one happened on Christmas day. An even younger man, in his late 20's just had a blood clot burst in his head and he died instantly. His wife was in the back seat of the car with the baby. They had stopped at a stop sign and when he died, his foot pushed on the accelerator and the car ran into a fence. His wife had to crawl over the seat and stop the car. She has a baby son and is pregnant with their second child. I mourned for the young mother who is my daughter’s age having to face life without her sweet husband. They lived in Japan and were serving in the military. Both sets of parents decided to bury him in his wife’s hometown, because they felt she needed to be near his grave. I felt so sad to think about losing your husband at such a young time in your life. I was sad he HAD a family that was left behind. I live in fear that my husband will be the first to be “called home” and I will be the one left behind.
In Memory of Steve
The last one happened today. He is a relative of a Mexican immigrant helper of my mother’s. This is also a very young man who had a wife and four children, the youngest being 10 years old. He was 40 and had cancer. He fought courageously and was sure he would overcome this. He died in another state, seeking treatment. He had a procedure which he claimed had made him feel much better, and everyone was optimistic he would conquer this. Suddenly without warning he was dead. My mother and I went to his sister’s house to give our condolences. It is a three-bedroom trailer house. At one time, I counted 60 people all crammed into this small house. When the wife, niece and brother arrived from the airport I found out there were more in the two back bedrooms, so I am estimating around 75 people were gathered. I have been to Mexican gatherings and the sound can be overwhelming. They are happy people, the visiting, music and laughter can reach very high decibels. But in this tiny trailer house tonight, I could hear when the refrigerator turned on and off. Not a soul made a sound except for the occasional sob or sniff. The feeling was more of a reverence and sorrow. The children who spoke in whispers were admonished by their mothers. Then when the wife arrived, she went into the bedroom where the deceased’s mother was trying to take a nap. The sobs produced from that bedroom were so heart-wrenching, that I even began to cry, and I had never met this man. I was touched by the support given to this family in their hour of need. I was amazed how families who arrived brought cases of bottled water and pop to add to the already growing stacks around the floor. They sat and stood in quiet reverence and sorrow for the entire 2 ½ hours my mother and I were there. They were already gathered when we arrived, and were still there when we left at 10:00 pm. The support given to this mourning family by friends and family was so overwhelming. The newly arriving people would come and hug the sister, then find a place to stand. No one said a word, no one did a thing, everyone just sat and stared, lost in their own thoughts and memories.

I have never experienced such a gathering in my entire life. Usually it turns into a reunion of sorts. Old acquaintances usually begin to talk and reminisce. The sorrow is so great that, at least in my culture, we feel a necessity to lighten things by changing the subject, cracking a joke, or somehow filling in the silence. Not so with this group.

I don’t know what to say about this. My mother wondered if she should come back tomorrow because she was invited. She brought a sweet sympathy card with two $50 bills inside. I asked her what else she could do? They have a little under 100 people already there lending support. The fact that she showed up tonight was appreciated, I’m sure. She will attend the funeral. She will continue to visit them as she has in the past. And in the end, I was sorry for this family left behind, but I have hope for the little widow. With that many people surrounding her at this point, I have hope that they will continue to lend support, love and help for as long as she needs it. I was sad for this young widow as well, but feel like she will be OK. I am amazed at the difference in our cultures.

We Americans live a busy life. When someone dies, we come to the viewing and funeral, if we can fit it into our busy schedule. But we don’t spend an entire day, gathered in the grieving home. We visit, give our love, deliver our gift of flowers, a card or maybe money or food and talk a bit, but when the next family comes to offer condolences, we excuse ourselves and go back to our own lives.

I guess I have never been involved this closely in any other culture’s funeral. It made me stop and think that it probably is NOT done like we do it in the rest of the world. I have a new respect for these people, and this has given me pause to think. That’s all. Nothing profound, just another experience I thought worth writing down and sharing.

In Memory of Raul

Big Sigh *sniff*

I love Christmas. I have said this before, but I want to start this post with that note. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It is my most favorite time of year. I love the feelings of good will and love you have for all, including the ones who normally bug you. I love the snow, I love the shopping. I love the stockings, the quilts I try to make. I love the family, Roger Whittaker Christmas Album, Mannheim Steamroller Christmas albums, the star on my mountain, the Christmas carols, the Christmas Concert with my choir, everything.

So from about the first of October when we began to sing the Christmas songs for our concert, I began to think about Christmas. I think I ran on adrenalin for three months straight as I got ready for it.

I am not one to make lists on paper, or in a palm pilot, I make them in my head, and I was counting down with lists of things that took top priority. My plans were hugely interrupted when my future daughter-in-law asked me to sew her wedding dress. The wedding also took up many weekends, her endowments at the temple one weekend, their wedding the next, then their two receptions, one in her town and one in our town on two successive weekends. I am not complaining, just saying that my count-down had a few snags. There were a few other sewing jobs thrown in the mix from customers wanting things for Christmas plus two funerals in our Church that each took a whole precious day to serve the bereaved. All these times, my Christmas preparation was put on hold so I could accommodate the others. I had to compromise and throw out some of the things on my lists, like sending out Christmas cards. They will get sent, just will be late, I am sorry to say, but I could not stress myself any further by feeling guilty for things I could NOT do.

This year was our year to have all the kids come to our house. Four of the six children and spouses, and one grandson came. So on top of all the Christmas preparations, I wanted to make it extra perfect and magic for those coming to my house. Especially the newly-wed couple, since this would be her first Christmas away from her family. And our first Christmas in two years to have S3 home. S3 is one of the favorites of the older brothers and sisters. He has always been the sweet, easy-to-get-along-with baby brother and everyone was looking forward to having him back. How fun for him to have joined in the "married club" besides.

I actually pulled it off, with the help of my sweetest husband who took over all the cooking stuff and allowed me to continue to sewing these quilts. Just an explanation for those of you who don't know, we draw names every year. Each of us draws a family name, and my husband and I am in this drawing as well. The family or individual whose name we draw usually gets a homemade gift. But if they cannot make a gift, they try to get them a personalized or special gift. I always make that person a quilt. It started out with wool-batt quilts. The wool batt came from wool sheered from our sheep, back when we lived on the farm. We sent the wool away to Baron Woolen Mills and had it all made into wool batts. I covered each batt with a muslin pillow case which I stabilized with large basting stitches. Then I made a quilt out of them for each child. As I drew their names successive years, I would make them each a wool-batt quilt, a tied quilt, a jeans quilt and finally a pieced quilt. It was fun to just concentrate on one child each year.

But typically I found myself either not getting my name soon enough, or getting distracted and not getting the quilt made. Two Christmas' ago, I was trying to finish D3's quilt. I showed her the started pieces and she was supposed to get it in January. That was the Christmas DIL-1 was in a terrible car accident two days before Christmas and ended up getting a metal plate put into her head. I put off my regular trip to see my mom until February and hurried down to Mississippi to help take care of her for two weeks on the 2nd of January. Time hurried on and I found myself in November of that year, still on the same quilt. So before I started the next quilt, which happened to be D1, I had to finish D3's. D3 got her quilt, and D1 got hers in pieces, which were still in that same form this November. Finally I laid out the pieces, sewed them all together and one week before Christmas I was borrowing my neighbor's quilting frame and working like a slave to finish all the tying. It turned out beautiful, but I still had S3's to do. I did NOT want our new DIL3 to not get a present, so I worked hard to make sure it was done. They walked in just as I was finishing the last two seams of this rag quilt on Christmas Eve. Then I had to snip all the seams. They asked whose quilt it was, and I had to tell them, so they didn't get to open it. That made me sad. It turns out this DIL3 is pregnant and was NOT feeling well, so she spent most of her time sitting in the next room with a bucket. All the effort I did to make it special for her was not noticed. That made me sad as well.

One grandson came and got showered with fun things. He was a very grateful little recipient, and quite a delight. I loved every minute with this cute and special little guy.

But worst of all, I found out after they had left that one couple had not exchanged gifts with each other this year, because they had just purchased a house, and decided with their mortgage they just couldn't afford to. They graciously brought us gifts, and even a birthday gift for me, but only received two gifts. This made me feel perfectly awful when I realized this. The gifts we gave them were generous, but I felt bad that they sat and watched everyone open many gifts and only had one each to open themselves.

So today, the last of the four couples left. The dishes are done, kitchen cleaned, the Christmas cards still need to be printed, labeled and mailed. The living room carpet needs vacuuming, and the house is perfectly quiet and terribly lonely. The beautiful Christmas tree stands in the corner, continuing to rotate, but the magic seems to be gone. And I feel terribly sad. Part of that sadness is the knowledge of two people who died this season. One was our beloved director of the orchestra for our choir, the other was a husband of a very young former neighbor who was in Japan with the military and who left a young family behind. I don't know if it is the let-down that comes after the adrenalin is gone or if it is some of the perceived failures on my part or a combination of all. Either way, the tears are very close to the surface.

In years past, I am inspired as to how I will make Next Year an even better event. I have new plans for the things I will make. I have plans with a Monthly count down, beginning in January so I will be better prepared. I make a resolution to have it all done by October so I can do more things for my neighbors, more service projects and feel more of a spirit of Christmas. But tonight I don't feel any of that. I am not writing this to get sympathy, more for my own self, to work through why I feel so let down. I guess it is good to have the children come home only once every other year. I am not sure what we plan to do next year, but I am sort of glad we don't have to put on the party.

Actually the time I felt the happiest was at the beginning of the season, when S2 and his sweet family came for Thanksgiving. To make it magical, I put up the tree early and wrapped gifts for each of the sweet grandchildren. They had a grand time and I felt like it was a great success.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2008 is amazing for everyone reading this post.

Really Happy Birthday

I have always loved December not only because of Christmas, but the 1st starts the season with my birthday. Mom said she always got into the Christmas mood because the toys were now in the stores and she had so much to choose from. I really don't remember any specific birthday gifts, but I did get some amazing dolls for Christmas every year, which have resulted in a huge collection in my sewing room and all over the house.

Yesterday started out waking up beside my sweet husband and opening my eyes and stirring to see him open his eyes and the first words out of his mouth were to wish me a happy birthday. Just the fact that I have gotten to wake up beside him almost every day for 33 1/2 years made me feel so happy and blessed to have him. Right away he jumped up and got some things out of the cupboard, a book and a dvd I have been wishing for. Another book arrived in the mail later. He said there is still more to come. He discovered my Amazon.com wish list and ordered a bunch.

There was only one snag in my day, when I thought I had lost some tickets my daughter had given me for a concert on Sunday. We spent about an hour looking (no tearing the house apart) for them and finally gave up and left for our 2 1/2 hour trip north to our choir concert. After we left, we made a stop at the filling station to get some soft drinks, and while waiting, I decided to put some things in the trunk and there, among the mail I need to take to the newly wed couple was that envelope with the tickets.

During the morning of packing and frantically looking for my tickets, I got many sweet calls from my children, neighbor, and my sister in the next state along with my mom who left a message by singing Happy Birthday to me. And both sons who have children allowed each of their children to talk with me as well. That was so sweet to hear their tiny voices whispering, "Happy Birthday Grandma." One doesn't talk, but she said "mmmf" several times as I responded to her and her dad coached her from the other side. She is always willing to try anything they ask her. Another one said, "what is your last name? I need to know which grandma I am talking to. Are you the one in (neighboring state), or the one in (my state)? When I answered, she said "YEA! This is (her name)" One other tiny one talked so well, I thought at first she was the older sister until I heard her dad say, "very good, (her name)." All of them are precious.

Because of the frantic, unscheduled ticket hunt, we arrived a bit late to the rehearsal, but no one except the conductors wife really noticed. She had saved me a seat next to her with a birthday present under the chair. She is a dear friend, and I was so honored she remembered me. Several others in the choir wished me a happy day as well.

My birthday present to the world, or the city was to sing to them. The concert was just beautiful. It was preceded by a beautiful snow that stayed on the trees like someone had flash frozen it to them. The storm made it all the more perfect for a Christmas Concert. We were all in the Christmas mood. Every year, Our Choir puts this on for the Angel Tree, which is sponsored by the Salvation Army. They have Christmas trees set up in the foyer with tags shaped like Angels. The tags say if it is a child or a Senior citizen and the gender of the individual, and their wish, which is one or two items. It is very humbling to see their Christmas wishes, like a pair of sox or gloves. They are very simple and not extravagant. You can pick an angel off the tree and buy a gift for that elderly person or child and deliver it to any Macy's in the valley to help their Christmas be a better one. The ticket sales profits from our concert go to the Salvation Army as well. The downstairs of the auditorium was packed.

The Grinch made a surprise appearance and then Santa came out and chased him away and handed out candy canes to the children while we had a community sing-in.
Our guest soloist, Greg Pearson has an amazingly beautiful bass voice and sang "You're a Mean One, Mr.Grinch" so well and out of the side of his mouth no less. Then with just as much passion he sang the Innkeeper from Forgotten Carols, by Michael McLean which gives me chill bumps every time.

A children's choir, Studio A Children's choir joined us and sang some songs with us and some on their own. And every year, the same Symphony Orchestra teams up with us for this concert. The evening was perfect. We topped it all off singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah.

Later I went to the balcony where my family was waiting, and several of the kids gave me gifts. I wasn't expecting this, but I got a nativity scene and How the Grinch Stole Christmas DVD. Perfect!

We reconviened in the parking lot to give things to the kids they requested from the house, a box of apples for one, a pie plate accidentally forgotten from Thanksgiving, and more cards and gifts for the newlywed couple. Then we bid goodbye to the kids. Because of Sunday's concert, we were spending the night with my sister and her husband, so we headed that way.

When we arrived, I called her on my cell to tell her we were outside and she opened the garage door to let us park inside for the night. As we went in, there on her counter top was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone! And part of my family, singing Happy Birthday to me! D1, SIL1 and my sister's youngest son and his cute wife along with my sister and her husband. I totally didn't expect that! I cannot remember having a surprise party since my childhood, OR a cake I didn't have to make!. In fact this morning, when I was talking to my granddaughter on the phone she asked what kind of cake I was going to have, and I told her probably none, because we were leaving the house for a couple of days.

Wow, what a sweet honor. I feel so loved, and now, I just noticed a blog friend, Lori wished me a happy birthday on her blog. Let me just say, I really feel honored, humbled and blessed for all the love I have felt today. And I wish you, dear reader, the same kind of birthdays too, whenever they may be.
a

PS tomorrow or the next, I will post some of the movies taken at this concert. They are taken on a digital camera that only takes 3~minute~tiny movies, so they are not the best quality, but you can hear us sing. It was the best concert I think we have done.

3 Dec 07~ Sunday we went to a Christmas Devotional in The Conference Center put on by our Church in Salt Lake City. These are the tickets my daughter got for us. It was so beautiful and a sweet way to kick off the Christmas season. I love this time of year.
::sigh::

My Star is up on my Mountain!

I have a favorite website. In fact I added an RSS feed to my homepage so I can see what is happening there every day. It is actually a view of My Mountains.

These are the mountains that I could see from my home as I grew up. Today it was snowing there. It is sunny here. Even though I KNOW the effect it will have on me, which is extreme homesickness, I still have to look at it every day. Most of the time it spurs me on to call my mom and talk to her. This doesn't ease the homesickness, but it helps. I love that cute little lady.

I would sit under the shade of our willow tree and watch the mountains and the clouds that passed over them. I would draw them and dream about my future as I watched them.

After I met my sweet future husband, I watched them anxiously as he had told me that he was climbing the third Flat Iron that day. There are three slabs of rock called Flat Irons. Near that last one to the left of the screen, is the place my dad used to work.

To the north, or the right of the screen, is another mountain, a bit smaller than the main mountain. It is upon this secondary mountain that a star appears every year. For years, this star was lit on December 1st. My Birthday, so I thought that someone knew my Birthday, and it was for me. I was quite innocent that way. After all, my Priest, Father Pat used to send me a birthday card every year, and my Uncle Jude always sent me a dollar bill. Why shouldn't I think the star was for me?

Tradition held in my home town was this star stayed on until 12th night, or the 6th of January, which is the symbolic day the Wise Men arrived. The 12 days of Christmas, therefore start on Christmas and go from there, not end on Christmas day.

On 12th Night, everyone gathered at the local rodeo grounds, about a mile outside of the town, and would bring their drying Christmas trees. Miss Merry Christmas would bring a torch and light the pile of trees and everyone would gather and watch the bonfire. When the fire was out, the star would be turned off for another year.
Miss Merry Christmas was a local High School girl who was voted by the student body. She wore a cute Santa-type dress.

My home town has grown since then. The rodeo grounds are gone, and in its place is a shopping center. It is no longer a mile out of town, but about the center of town. And the star has already been turned on, it no longer waits until December 1 to be turned on. I guess all this is progress.

If you click on the link above, you will be taken to a web cam that allows you to see just about the same view I got every day as a little girl. If you click on it at night, you will see the star about the middle of the right third of the page, above the "s" in the word "buildings".

I still love my mountains. Besides giving me a wonderful view, they helped me with direction. Of course ALL mountains should be on the west of the town. This is how I grew up, so that is law. Isn't it?