U R Priceless Coin Purse Blog Hop

This is so exciting to be a part of a Blog Hop. I've never been a part of a blog hop before. 

Sew here goes.

My first thought when I first saw this blog hop on Madam Samm's blog was, 

"Sign me up!" 

I had purchased several coin purse frames quite some time ago, and wanted to make some. I had also found some patterns online and had printed them. . . 

. . . but nothing happened. 

The patterns and the coin purse frames got shuffled, moved aside and eventually buried as I worked on more urgent projects.

Here is the thing, unless I am nudged, nothing happens. 

No coin purse fairy shows up and magically makes the coin purse.

Sew when I saw this blog hop, I figured if I were a part of it, maybe that would get me going. 

But then, life happens. 

Madam Samm and Katherine gave me plenty of time to get my act together and make a coin purse in preparation for the big day. 

I just didn't seam to get going like I thought I would if I obligated myself.

 Madam Samm's instructions were beautifully done with many pictures, I didn't want to have to sew next to my computer, so I decided to print them. 

But when I told the printer "print all" it turned out to be about 30 some pages. 

Cancel.

 I figured out how to make the pictures smaller and copy/paste everything onto a Word document. After several days of fiddling and learning how to make all the pictures smaller so my document wouldn't crash the whole computer, I finally got everything printed onto four pages.

By this time I had misplaced the frames I had purchased so long ago. I began to panic and finally got online and ordered three from I Have a Notion.  

Kelly from IHAN graciously agreed to stock these frames in her shop, sew all of us in the blog hop could get a frame. Thank you Kelly.

But then I had to wait for my shipment to arrive. Sew that gave me time to misplace my instructions.

I'm not implying the shipping from IHAN was slow. She sent them within the week.

But I have a sewing business and the customer's needs take priority. Things get shuffled and put away as I make room for the new projects. The instructions were misplaced under several other pieces of paper. No big deal, just enough to make me panic. 

 Finally I found everything, including the original frames in safe places and began to sew. 

I had chosen some left over fabric from another project.

Earlier in the year I had recovered a stroller (click on photo to see the names on the stroller) for my daughter and her brand new baby. I had some of this outdoor fabric left and decided my first coin purse would made from  this, since I thought a purse would be great out of this as well. It will match my future purse. 

When I get around to making it.

After I had cut everything out and sewn it together, I realized outdoor heavy-duty fabric is NOT supposed to be made into tiny things like coin purses that have to be turned right side out. 

It took me quite a while to convince this very stiff fabric to allow itself to be nudged through the tiny opening. 

I had used the fleece Madam Samm told us to use, but maybe with this stiff fabric, I could have gotten by with not using it. 

When Madam Samm said one of the things needed to make this purse was "patience", she was not kidding. Basically it was the turning right side out that took patience. Otherwise it really went smoothly. 

Well, almost. 

Once I got it all turned right side out, the next step was to sew it to the frame. I didn't have the exact thread she recommended and I was very impatient to get it done. Sew, I used other thread which broke several times. 

I tried several kinds of threads, and decided I'd better order the kind she recommended. We live in a small town that doesn't have everything at our fingertips, sew I shop online a LOT.

This required more patience because I now had to wait for the new thread to arrive. 

 Meanwhile we had decided to take a trip to Oregon. A two day drive requires all sorts of handiwork to be packed. I included the unfinished coin purse and hoped the specialty thread would arrive in time.  

But just in case, I got into my knit-cro-sheen stash and found a beautiful blue that matched perfectly. 

The very day we were leaving, the specialty thread arrived in the mail. What I had found on Ebay was a package of browns, blacks, and neutral colors. Sew, I packed it as well.

The Oregon trip was beautiful. We drove for miles with this kind of scenery to enjoy.

We stopped to take many pictures along the way. This is a picture of Crater Lake. 

Not THE Crater Lake in Oregon, this is one near a rest stop in northern California, but it was worth the 14-mile round trip over bumpy gravel roads. 

My goal was to complete all the projects I had brought. And I did, in spite of the beautiful views out my window. 

I chose a muslin lining so it wouldn't detract from the beautiful blue fabric on the outside

I decided to use the blue knit-cro-sheen instead of the specialty thread. It required a bit of patience as I struggled with keeping the coin purse lined up and finding the holes in the frame with my needle. You sew around the purse frame twice to get the stitches next to each other. 

Madam Samm's pattern and instructions are so very nice. I hope she makes this pattern available to everyone. I definitely  will use it again and again. Thanks Madam Samm, and Katherine for hosting this and being our cheerleader.

As you can see, I didn't center it very well, even though I thought I had at the time. I needed a way to baste or pin it to the frame before I sewed it. 

 That's OK. I love it anyway. I guess it adds to the charm. People who see it will realize someone hand made it, right?

 Tinkerbell seams to like her new resting place. Normally she sits in my cup of crochet hooks.
 Thank you Katherine and Madam Samm for hosting this. 


Thank you Madam Samm for your beautiful instructions. They were easy to follow and beautifully illustrated. 
I've seen many patterns for coin purse patterns, but yours is by far the cutest of all.  

 If you, the reader, have made it to the end of this post, then I have a surprise for you. 

Add a comment, and I will have a drawing at the end of this blog hop and send one of you a frame from Kelly's site- I Have a Notion.

Be sure to provide a way for me to contact you via email, or you will be disqualified. 


Don't forget to check out the other blogs who are on the blog hop today, and the rest of the week. 
I will draw a name at the end of this blog hop. Good luck  
 Day 1 -  Nov. 5th

Quiltin' Jenny
Hill Valley Quilter
Loopy Lou's Adventures Into Handicrafts
Just Let Me Quilt
Lixie Makes It
Beaquilter
Sunshine, Handmade
Buzzing and Bumbling
Needled Mom
The Slow Quilter
A Quilting Sheep
I Have A Notion
Quilt-n-Queen

I

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

How to get motivated to vacuum behind the dryer

Random Thoughts:

1) How to get motivated to vacuum behind the clothes dryer:

spill something dirty behind it. ie potting soil.

2) If I were to build a new house, I would NOT put my dryer off the kitchen or in the middle of the house with no place to vent it.

3) I hate riding the bus, but I guess if I had to, Mexico would be the place.

A little bit of history here:
When this old house was built, in the 1940's, there was no such thing as a personally owned clothes dryer, so it wasn't built with a laundry room in mind.

When it was remodeled in the 1960's, a large room was added to the side. We call this the *Cultural Hall. The existing kitchen which was 5 feet by 8 feet was converted to the laundry room. the existing dining room was converted to a kitchen, and the newly added Cultural Hall became a family room/dining room. The dryer now lives in the center of the house with no place to vent. When we first moved here, the dryer was vented into the basement near the heater. This was remedied eventually when I purchased a small plastic box that holds water from one of those random catalogs you get in the mail. The dryer vents into the water and the dust doesn't go too far. But sometimes I forget to refill the water. When it was vented into the basement, the heater naturally pulled the existing air which contained dryer dust. 23 years later, I still have dust in every room that looks like dryer dust. I have to find a chimney sweep who is willing to come clean my vents.

*The term "Cultural Hall" is in reference to what the room is called in our Church. It is the social place where we have all the parties, wedding receptions, Relief Society dinners, funeral viewings and dinners, and it is a basket ball court. The room is so big in our house, we wondered why they had built a Cultural Hall in the near-by Church.

A disadvantage to having my laundry room right off the kitchen, besides the noise, is the refrigerator sucks the dryer dust into its vents and I am constantly getting under and behind it to vacuum all the coils. If I were to build a new house, I would make sure the dryer has an outside vent and a door that closes it off from the rest of the world.

Anyway, I had placed a tray of peat pots filled with potting soil near the dryer on a shelf, temporarily. When I slammed the dryer door the peat pots fell behind the dryer. That's what I get for being lazy. I should have never placed them there in the first place. I added to my work.

I am packing for my trip to Denver with D2. I didn't realize it was so close at hand until we looked at the calendar last night. I am a week behind and was shocked to see it will be this coming Monday!

Mom is safely back from Mexico. My mom, almost 87 years old, rode down there in a van with some immigrant friends of hers. They stayed with their family and enjoyed the annual carnival that is held in their town, until the swine flu broke out and it was closed down. Then they left the van there for family, and boarded a bus for home. Mom says the bus in Mexico was so roomy and nice with a bathroom, lighted isles, air conditioning, and very comfortable seats. They had to change buses in Texas. The bus from Texas to home, it was not air conditioned, no lighted isles and cramped with the seats much closer together and very uncomfortable. hmmmm that doesn't say much for the US, does it.

Anyway I must get busy with the rest of my work.

have a nice day
~a
PS the lilacs are just coming out. By the time I get home they will all be gone. boo hoo

Jack

We had a most interesting time at Lake Powell this time. We usually meet a group called the Kokopelli boat group. Many of them have built their own boats. Some are kayaks, some are sail boats, some are row boats. One was built of PVC pipe. It was a pontoon sail boat. All were very fun to see and to ride in. We brought a friend who was interested in the homemade boats and loves Lake Powell, who brought his jet ski, so we had all kinds of people there.
Among the group is a sweet family who is there every year, They have a darling daughter, Ruby and a son Wil.
Ruby was born with club feet and at her tender age of 8 has been through 5 surgeries. But nothing gets her down. She is such a happy little girl, so filled with life and enthusiasm. Ruby's grandfather had died 6 months ago. He was an amazing man, an artist, a sculptor and recently a boat builder. He always attended these annual Kokopelli Messabouts with Ruby's family with his own unique homemade row boat. His boats were perfect. The workmanship was perfect, as only an artist would have it. His death was sudden and very unexpected and left all the Kokopelli group reeling. It was decided to have a memorial service at this Messabout, and we were honored to be numbered among this group. Grandpa Jack *loved* Lake Powell and he loved the full moon, so Saturday (not quite the full moon, but close enough) just after the sun set and the moon had risen, the ceremony began. His daughter, Heather is a potter and had made everyone a cup with which to toast him. When I saw those cups, I cried. I know how much work went into these beautiful cups, and Heather was letting everyone take theirs home.
We all got sparkling apple cider or wine in our cups and went down to the lake. Heather read a poem and said a little speech about her father. Another person had written a poem as well. Someone else in the group had made a small replica of a Viking boat. He had purchased some Minnesota Viking hats for the occasion as well. Her Dad had been very interested in the Viking boats, so this was very fitting. We drank a toast to Jack, then his ashes which were in a small wooden chest were placed in the boat along with notes from all present and some flash powder.














It set on fire, Wil rowed it out to the middle of the cove with a long string, so he was far from it. And it burned on the lake, sending Jack's ashes into the Lake that he loved so dearly.

I have attended many funerals and several memorials. This one was very sweet and memorial. Now I can say I have attended a Viking funeral. I was touched by all the carefully thought out sentiment. Count your blessings, hug your spouse, parents and children and celebrate life.
PS Sailor took this video with his camera. We were both surprised how well it did in the dark.
~a

put your mail on hold online

I didn't know until my savvy sister told me that you can put your mail on hold online by going to this Post Office site, and fill in all the information!
Wahoo! It is always such a pain in the neck when you are packing, hiring someone to watch the cat and the yard to also remember to go to the Post Office and fill out their forms.
Hurray for modernization! I am so glad they do this.
Yea!

~a

Carnegie Hall~when it rains it pours

Our choir has been invited to sing in Carnegie Hall once again in May of 2009. I guess I know what I am saving my money for next year. We would be singing Brahms Requiem under the baton of John Rutter himself. This is amazing to me, since we have sung many pieces that have been arranged by him in our choir. How amazing is this?
In the same week, our director received a second invitation from Lex de Azevedo to sing with his choir in a piece he has composed called Alleluia, in March of 2009. It was just announced and he told us to think about it. But the consensus was two things. First it would be hard to perform two such hard things so close to one another, second, our director says, our Spring Concert is always at that time, and to skip it would hurt the audience if we didn't remain consistent.

Exhaustion

Yesterday was my last day at the Power Plant. I signed out on the confined space form, turned in my orange confined space tag and my gate pass. I am done!

This is the last of a 4-year contract, so I don't know if I will work another outage. The big bosses asked me to call them in November and remind them of the sticky gooey mess this is, and how much they HATE it. They didn't coat all the sections of pipe in the four years they worked here, but don't think it will fail. It could, and that will be discovered with tests through out the year.

Basically they have to pull all their help off every other project, hire all sorts of extras, and buy TONS of other safety gear and other stuff in order to staff this job. The Vice President, Operations Manager, Safety Boy, and all their foremen drop every other project and come down for a month in order to do this outage in April. They rent rooms at a motel or haul their travel trailers and rent a space in the trailer park. They told me that there are many other projects they could have, because it is good weather in April, that they have to turn down or delay because of this contract. The contract is now done. Besides they hated working with the engineering firm who headed this. They were hired by our plant to head this whole mess up in the first place, but they really didn't know any more about what we were doing than anyone else. Everyone has lost respect for this engineering firm.

But this job was great for our family. The first year, S3 paid for his mission clothes (about $1000), and put away a sizable CD that matured when he got home, which he used to help him get back into school.

The next two years, it paid the way for Sailor and me to travel to Austria and sing in a choir for Mozart's 250th Birthday, and pick up S3 in Taiwan from his mission. This year, no major trips are planned. I will put the money away into a savings account.

I slept in this morning until 9. Ah, the luxury. But I have found when I sleep in, I have all sorts of weird dreams, too confusing to even recall all the details. This morning I got up with Sailor and packed some goodies into his lunch box, but somehow found myself back in bed 3 hours later, not even remembering heading back. I am NOT a morning person, but somehow I managed to do it for 2 weeks. It doesn't sound like a big deal unless you are doing the 12-hour days.

Mind you I am not whining or complaining, just describing.

I know other people go through MUCH worse, like my sweet D2 who works full-time, 12-hour nights at the Children's hospital. Her job carries their only insurance, so she says she has no choice. Besides the ungodly hours, she sees death and all sorts of sickness and has to leave her sleeping husband and son while she goes to work. She is pregnant and due in May. I cannot imagine enduring what she does. She is a hero in my eyes. D1 gets up every day with her husband at 3 am fixes breakfast and lunch, says a family prayer and sends him off to work. Then she works full time as an assistant manager at a hair salon. She is amazing. D3 works as well. She worked her way through school, and then got a job at a doctor's clinic while her husband worked and finished school. DIL 2 and DIL 1 also worked while finishing school and after they graduated to support their husbands through school. All five girls are amazing to me, and I love and admire them for doing this. Thank you sweet daughters. I met two girls on this job who are single and support their children. They are both Mom & Dad in their families. All these people are amazing to me.

I am a spoiled Brat. I have always had the privilege of staying at home.

But here is what we did during the outage: Basically Sailor arises at 5:30 (how does he do that every day of his life?) turns on the television and the heat and proceeds to make breakfast and pack the lunch we prepared the night before. I dragged out at 6 with his gentle persuasion, that being the heater, television and a jug of Mt. Dew propped up by the pillow beside me. He is so patient. Then I would pack the veggies, dip, cheese sticks, and some sort of treat. Mostly the treat was a snack bag of cashews and M&M's or a granola bar. I would put in my contac lenses, mascara, curl hair (even though it was squashed by a hard hat), blush and some sort of lip gloss. Then the clothes (at first it included long johns, but after a week it got warm enough to eliminate them), socks and the much hated work boots. Drag out to the car and ride with Sailor the 13 miles to the Plant.

Work was varied enough not to get bored, and everyone who visited the two tents said I had many more responsibilities than the other hole-watch did. I guess that is why my Boss loved me. Then finally at 7 pm (Sailor was kind enough to just wait in his office, even though he was usually done by 6) Sailor would come pick me up and we would go home. Mostly we made supper and tomorrow's lunch, eat, shower and go to bed.

Usually we dragged to bed by 10:30, no matter how hard we tried to make it earlier. Last year we each had a task after work. We would chop up a huge salad, make delicious Martha Stewart meat balls or bread. We used this for our dinner and our lunch. This year, a woman approached me just before the outage started and begged me to make her and her daughter each an outfit for a wedding coming up in May.

Back in January when the Project Manager calls, he reserves us for a month, so we never know how long this will last. It usually doesn't last that long, but you never know.
So almost every night this year I sewed for an hour while Sailor did all the kitchen work. On Friday's we got off early, and I would do the wash and sew. We still didn't get to bed until 10:30.

It was a blur of Ground Hog days (referring to the movie). I never knew what day it was, they all blended together. Sunday's never felt like Sundays. Last Sunday, Sailor was off, but that Angel got up with me, helped me pack my lunch, made breakfast, like always, then drove me to work.

I KNOW! I am a spoiled brat. He had his cell phone, so he texted me about Sacrament meeting. He told me who spoke, about the beautiful song the choir sang and the amazing talks. He attended a baptism at the Spanish Branch where 82 people showed up, and they ate a pot luck afterwards. It was the baptism of the Branch Presidency 1st counselor's son. Then he picked me up at the end of the day.

The first year, I had to go through a different gate for contractors called Badge Alley. This was such a hassle. It was a quarter of a mile from the tent, so you had to wait for a van to pick you up and haul all your stuff back and forth. I NEVER left anything in the tent because the Night workers and Hole Watch had no respect. Everything was eaten, used, thrown away and lost in the morning. The B Tent attendant left her tote there the whole two weeks this time and no one touched it. Not possible in my tent. I hauled a duffel bag, a lunch box, my hard hat and safety glasses and a Hart's jug every single day. She even threw away my bouquet of flowers I brought this year.

The second year, Sailor worked it out with the main gate so I could go with him through the front gate. This was better for us both because of my hassle, but also so Sailor wouldn't be late going through his gate. Names are taken at 7:01 and you get called into the HeadOfThePlant's office, or something equally as ridiculous. So to spare me of having to go through Badge Alley, my sweetheart took me to work on his day off.

If you click on the title, you can look at all the pictures on my Picasa Album, if you are interested.

have a wonderful day.
~a
PS Just got a call from B tent Hole Watch. The wind is blowing, the door of the tent has blown off. The dust is horrific, she is wearing a dust mask and is freezing. The two extra girls, Safety Girl and Office Girl are watching Hole A and Hole C. Hole C is outside, doesn't have a tent, so I hope they provided a truck for her to sit in. Nobody gets a break to use the bathroom, because the idiot Safety Boy went home today. He should have stayed as long as they needed him. He is so full of himself. I liked the Safety Guy they had the last two years. He treated us as if we were important to him. Anyway I am glad I am gone, but I feel sorry for the ones who came and faithfully gave me a break every day, now are freezing and eating dust and nobody is giving them bathroom breaks or bringing them hot chocolate.
But they are earning another day's wages. . .This one is well earned, I guess. Actually I should say the company is getting their labor for cheap today.

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::

The Monk and the Monastery

While in Puli, we went to see the largest Buddha Monastery in all of South East Asia. It was the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.
We got there right at 5:00 pm, and the guard at the gates hurried us along so we could get inside. We ran up the hill and the huge doors were still open. The guard at the door kindly allowed us to go inside for just a minute. We hurried inside and our breath was taken away by the huge Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings.They stand 12 meters high, and there are four just alike, standing in the four corners. Each has four heads. It is really kind of scary. I am glad God doesn't really look like this.
We hurried to all the rooms in this small part of this Monastery, then the guard came and waited while we reluctantly headed back outside into the harsh hot evening, and he closed the HUGE doors. The doors each weigh five tons, we learned later, and stand about 2 stories high. We stood by the stairs and wall overlooking a large valley and just took pictures outside the monastery. The view was amazing, and across the valley on another mountain was a HUGE Buddha

Pretty soon monks began to walk by. After a while, Missionary Son asked one of them what the difference was in their different colored clothing. This monk began to explain about the Monastery, the dress and their beliefs. DL and our Missionary son talked with him for about 5 minutes. Sailor and I watched in awe as they spoke a very foreign language that made no sense to us. Suddenly the two young men turned to us and in English explained we were going to the cafeteria, the Monk was going to feed us. This was a most unusual turn of events, something I never expected. By way of explanation, our son told us that the Chinese greeting was "Have you eaten?" rather than, "hello". Since their answer was "no", this monk took it upon himself to feed us.
We were ushered back behind walls and doors we never would have dared to explore, to a covered, but open to the outside air, cafeteria and sat us down at a table. There were two other monks sitting far across the room at another table. We were seated at a table, then the monk went inside.
Finally after about 10 minutes, the monk came back with what looked like five boxed lunches plus four bowls of soup, and utensils. We began to eat as the monk continued to talk to our two Chinese-speaking young men. The last box was fruit, for desert. We ate and talked to this monk for about an hour. We had rice, egg plant, deep fried sweet potato, bean sprouts and carrots, some green stuff that reminds me of asparagus, and a clear soup made with some kind of melon. It is not sweet, but spicy. It was delicious, but very different. Sailor didn't like it.
He told us the Monastery held 1000 monks and nuns. They each have their own room. They are given duties and rotate after several years. He told us of his daily routine. He arises at 3:30 in the morning and studies scripture and meditates until about 6:00. Then he eats breakfast. After breakfast, he does his assigned duty, which was cleaning the grounds. He does this until lunch. After lunch he takes classes until 5 pm. They then are fed supper, and are given 2 hours to do what they like. They then take classes until 9:30 at which time they go to bed.
So we happened to run into him during his rest time. When we had eaten every bite (they don't like anything to go to waste) he opened the 5th box and gave us fruit. We talked some more. He asked MS about his mission and told him that when he was looking for a religion, he had actually attended the Mormon church. He then told us how he loved the leader of this Monastery and his teachings. He said he admired the LDS Missionaries and hopes that some day the monks will be able to go out and proselyte. He would like to talk to people and hand out tracts like the Mormon missionaries do, and tell people about the Buddhist religion.
It was getting dark and he said it was time to walk around. He invited us along.

We got to this place on the grounds that had a huge bell. He explained that when the bell was rung, and resonated, the souls of the dammed would have a rest. He then read in Chinese the little explanation, or prayer, then rang the bell and waited for the resonating to stop. He did this two more times. Then he turned to each of us and told us we could ring the bell too. DL and MS both read the prayer in Chinese, but the Monk told us we didn't have to since he had just read it.
After we all rang the bell, it was time for him to go to classes, but first he walked us to our car. As we passed the gates, the guards and others looked on. The Sailor commented that he got the feeling that not everyone gets escorted to the car by the monks. DL said this was an opportunity for the Monk as well. I told the Monk, his name was Shi Jian Mai that this was a moment I would never forget. He said that he wouldn't forget it as well. He seemed to love being able to host the Americans. I felt very honored. It was amazing.

Trip to Taiwan

Because so many people outside of our family have asked to hear about my trip, I decided to start a new blog specifically for the trip. It will not link back to this blog, but this blog will link to that one if you check the team members section of My Complete Profile.
I will begin to add postings on it right away, and as I find time to write more. It will be consist of posts on subjects rather than chronological adventures.
I hope you enjoy, those of you who are interested.
Just click on Trip to Taiwan heading and it will lead you there.

What Luggage? It's evaporated!

So Delta Airlines forgot to transfer my luggage when we got to LA. Which by the way was such a terrible airport.
we had to leave the building, and come back into another, which meant we had to go through security again. but we never got seating assignments so we had to stand in this line with hundreds of other tired, mostly India natives, who were checking their luggage and it was taking forever. Finally one man spotted us and asked us if we had luggage, then when we said no, he sent us to this really short line.
We got through security fine, but when we landed our luggage hadn't made it.
Sailor's arrived last night, but after checking things out, they reported mine headed to Malaysia, and wouldn't be here until tonight.
I had to wear my other outfit, and wash the first, which did NOT dry, so it is damp.
But that is okay, because being typhoon season, it is really hot, and rainy, so who isn't damp. It is just cold in the air conditioned hotel. Which, by the way is amazing. It is a 5 star, it turns out. Wow Nothing like it.
We now have Daniel in our possession, which is pretty amazing. We spent the day yesterday with an investigator who is amazing. He took us out to eat, then off to see his paintings. He has been working 3 years to get this display in the public works department, and his work is beautiful. He is a realist, so his painting of a leaf with a water drop looks like a photograph. We got to see Taiwan from the top of the mountain, but couldn't because was raining so hard. We got to see the devastation the earthquake 10 years ago caused on the way down. We got to see a temple, not Buddhist, something else, and the little lady there wanted to show and explain everything to us. Sailor said that most temple ladies are the same. Very cute.
We got to meet his sweet wife and baby later.
Today we head to Puli. We rent a car, and are starting our adventure with Daniel Liu, who will be our personal tour guide.
I get only 1/2 hour free on the internet here at the Landis Hotel and my time is up. More about the beautiful Farewell meeting yesterday morning with the 18 returning missionaries and parents and President and his wife.
bye for now

Two years is a LONG time

As I contemplate these last two years, part of me cannot believe that it has already flown by, and part of me feels like it has been a gazillion years since Guitar Player got his call in February of 05. I remember calling The Sailor and telling him to meet us on Jones Road, half way between home and work. We stood there by the side of the road as he opened his call and it said "You are called to serve in the Taiwan Taichung Mission".
Now it is only 10 days away from when we board that plane and fly to Taiwan to get him.
The new mission rules, which were made known after we purchased our tickets, are discouraging the parents from picking up their missionary. So our opportunity is indeed a rare and sweet one. We look forward to meeting the people he worked with, tasting the types of food he ate and seeing the countryside where he labored for two years.
Many things have happened while he was away. He left in May of 2005. His sister, The Nurse, got married just before he left, and had a baby a year later in May. Two of his sister-in-laws each had a baby as well. His grandpa died last year too. So he will have two nieces and one nephew with whom he can become acquainted.
In our humble town, Main Street looks much better. Several old buildings on Main Street have been torn down. New businesses have taken up residence in their places.
Now as I lay my suitcase out on the bed and begin to place folded clothes and belongings inside, I am realizing that this is for REAL.
It seemed like a dream in the far-away future to have him come home and almost an impossible notion to travel there.
Wish us luck. We don't read or speak a word of Chinese and feel anxiety about finding our way from the Taipei airport to the mission home in Taichung. He has arranged for a friend to be our guide, to drive our rented car and come along on all our Taiwan adventures. This is a happy anticipation, and relieves us greatly.
I will keep you updated on the adventures.