Observations

1. When I'm at the office, I create a mental to do list of all the things I plan on doing when I get home from work. When I get home from work I don't want to do anything.

2. I can lose myself for hours taking pictures and editing them on my computer. I grab my camera to go out in the backyard sometimes in the middle of making dinner. It's just something that brings me great joy.

3. I'm starting to understand the phrase "life happens". I think it means that I need to focus more and live in the present moment. This moment right here, this moment, IS my life. I can dream, and I can plan for the future, but I live in this moment. I don't want to miss this moment.

4. Life is all about adjusting to change. I have a five year plan. But that five year plan is based on a lot of what ifs and includes alternate plans.

5. I don't spend too much time looking back. I have good memories and they are triggered by music, locations, people, photos and I'm happy to have them. But I don't dwell there. I did the things I did at any given time in my life because at that moment it was right to me. There is very little I can go back and change and very little I would want to change. I admit sometimes I do wonder how things may have turned out different if I had made different decisions. But acceptance allows me to enjoy my life.

6. I believe that most people are good people. I give them the benefit of the doubt.

7. I love the fact that I have a friend I've known since I was 8 years old. And that years can go by and I can see a college room mate or a dear friend that moved away and we're just friends, like we always have been.

8. Sometimes I go outside in the evening when it's dark and I stand in the street and stare up at the sky. The stars and the moon. Just like I used to do when I was 14 years old and living on Cory Lane. Only now I talk to my Mom and Dad in the night sky. And sometimes I think about people I know living in different states that might also be looking at the exact same stars and moon, and it brings me closer to them.

9. I have recently learned how everything we do in life impacts the next phase of our life. It's all like building blocks, one block at a time. And it takes years before you can step back and see just what all those blocks put together has become. But at the time you might not have understood why that particular block had to go in that particular spot. Then one day it all starts to make sense.

10. I love Saturdays. I am learning that laundry, shopping and cleaning can be done other days too. Sometimes a Saturday is for a haircut, a snow cone at the farmer's market and a lazy afternoon to sit and read.

I wear a little silver ring I bought a couple of years ago, on the outside it says "love life" and inside it says "be brave". Words to live by.

It's an Annual Thing

This thing we call summer vacation. For the last 30 years my family has been meeting one week out of the summer at our family cabin in Island Park, Idaho. My family has been there about 26 times in the last 30 years. I remember being a little girl as the logs to build the cabin were cut down and peeled. This road trip, cabin and the lake are forever embedded in my memory.

When my folks were retired they spent summers at the cabin and family came and went all summer long. There were times when my kids were younger that we would have close to 24 people there during our reunion week. My Dad passed away in June 1998, and weeks after we buried him in Manti we choose to carry on our reunion at the cabin. That first year without Dad was hard. Then 6 years later we lost our Mom. But the cabin reunion tradition continues for those that can make it.

Each year the people attending vary. The little kids have been replaced with the next generation. I stood as my niece and nephew and their families loaded up the car for a trip into Yellowstone Park. What a weird feeling that was. Seems like just last year it was me and my siblings loading up our young kids.

It's great to see the cousins get together and hang out. And always great to meet new great nephews.

This year we had 17 people. People arrived and left at different times. The weather was beautiful, the fish were biting, the food was great. It was a very relaxed vacation.

My husband and I left home on Saturday, June 22nd. We drove from Kent to Boise. That evening we visited my nephew Joe and his family whom we hadn't seen for a couple of years. They were preparing for a road trip vacation to Southern California. And luckily there is a Krispy Kreme donut shop between their house and my sister's house where we were spending the night.

Sunday we headed to Island Park, stopping in Ashton for more groceries. We arrived at the cabin and was welcomed by Sue, Dennis, John, Sarah, Ethan and Austin. Sue and Dennis had a turkey in the oven and all the fixings for dinner.

Monday was a nice quiet day playing with the kids, sewing and more eating. I think we had baked potatoes for dinner that night. The leftover potatoes are then turned into breakfast potatoes which Sue prepares so deliciously.

Monday night Sarah, John and I started painting the upstairs of the boat house which had been beautifully prepped for us by my cousin Russell. We finished the painting on Tuesday. Then Sue and I did a through cleaning and moved beds around with the guys helping with the heavy lifting. Tuesday afternoon Nancy and Emily arrived. We had a pot of chili cooking all day for dinner.

When we awoke on Wednesday morning we discovered Katie, Brent and Eli had arrived. They had driven through the night from Colorado along with their dog Jake. This was my first time meeting Eli who had just turned one. He looks a lot like his Grandpa Rand.

Wednesday night Emily made us Russian and Parmesan chicken with twice baked potatoes. Heidi and Scott showed up shortly after dinner.

Thursday Natalie and Scott showed up in the afternoon. We had Dad's enchilada casserole for dinner followed by the quilt raffle drawings. The beautiful flannel quilt for the friends and family raffle was won by Ian and the batik reunion quilt was won by Scott M.

Then we had our first ever movie night at the cabin. Emily brought her laptop and projector. We duct taped a sheet over the A-Frame windows, rearranged the furniture and watched Goonies.

Friday we had chicken haystacks for dinner. During the week we had cake, caramel corn, Tollhouse bar cookies, chocolate rice crispy treats, watermelon, large breakfasts of pancakes, eggs, bacon, potatoes and fish.

The kids had a good time taking the boats out fishing and drifting in the canoe. There were trips to the landfill, West Yellowstone, Yellowstone Park, the top of Sawtelle, Big Springs, and who knows where else. This is our second year skipping the Playmill. I think the older I get the more I just enjoy staying put at the cabin.

We talked, we sewed, we cleaned, we ate, we played, it was fun having little ones there. I took a lot of great photos. It was a great family vacation.

We left the cabin on Saturday, June 29th and had breakfast with Scott and Natalie at Mack's Inn. We found a great little breakfast restaurant there. Then we headed to Boise. Beating Sue and Dennis home by about 20 minutes. At 5:00 p.m. in Boise it was 100 degrees in the shade. Luckily they have a lovely backyard pool. Dennis, Sue and I enjoyed the pool while Wally basked indoors in the air conditioning.

After a dinner of Papa Murphy's pizza, Wally and I headed to Star to visit Jack and Becky. Dave had come to their house also. It was great to visit with everyone. And chance would have it, Krispy Kreme is also on the way back from Becky's house!

Sunday morning we headed the last 500 miles home. There was lots of traffic and construction on I-90 so the last 90 minutes home turned into 2 1/2 hours. We made it 15 minutes before the kennel closed to pick up Missy.

We were home just before 7 pm. Unpacked some of my stuff, took a long hot bath and went to bed. I have been on vacation all this time and I'm returning back to work tomorrow. I thought I would ease into it while everyone else takes the 5th off.

Happy Summer Vacationing!

Vacation Anticipation

It's time again for our annual road trip to Island Park, Idaho. I put in my vacation request early in the year. The weeks just prior to the trip keep me very busy. There are meals to plan, shopping to do, packing, laundry, hold the mail, kennel the dog, solicit the neighbor to water the plants, water the indoor plants, clean out the fridge, pack snacks, etc. I don't think there is any end to the list of things to do prior to going on vacation.

But once the truck is packed and I'm in the drivers seat the attitude then becomes, "whatever we forgot we can either buy it or we'll survive a week without it."

I packed sewing projects, knitting, books, my Nook, and a notebook for writing. We'll drive one day to Boise and spend the night. Then Sunday is a little bit shorter drive and we'll arrive at our cabin before dinner time.

This year if the weather cooperates we have been promised a super full moon over the lake Sunday night.

There will be lots of fun with family, great nephews, fishing, sewing, eating, lounging, sleeping, and more eating.
I'm looking forward to it all.

Henry's Lake in Island Park, Idaho

48 Bottles of ? on the Wall

It started innocently enough with an email from my sister asking what could be done with small glass bottles. I thought it over and suggested to her that she could paint them, put spice mixes in them, use them for vases. I had a few ideas for her.

The next note said "how much would you pay for them, 5.00?" And I replied, "that sounds good". Then next thing I know she's on a road trip and visiting at my house.

She opens up the back of the car and says to me, "here are your glass bottles".  I said, "my bottles?" and she said "yes, you said you wanted them"! We had a good laugh when I told her that I thought she was getting them for herself.

Awesome, I now have 48 glass bottles, 47 actually. I took one to church to show a friend and I needed something to put push pins in.

Any ideas just let me know. They are small and cute.

Feeling Blessed

We've had a lot of rain this May in Seattle. So when the sun came out the other day it coincided with the second storm to hit Oklahoma. It's hard to understand how we can be enjoying a perfect spring day and people thousands of miles to the East of us have a wind so strong their houses are being blown apart.

I said to my husband, "I don't want to feel guilty about being so happy today." But I think it's important that we take stock of what we have now at this moment in time. The attitude of the people in Oklahoma instills in me what's really important.



They have lost everything, but they are grateful to be alive. Some of them have experienced this before, they rebuild, they come back stronger.

It's a long road that's for sure. But after all what they really lost is "things".

I look around my house and I see a lot of things. Some have lots of special memories attached to them. But the memories are also in my mind and I can still share them without having the things.

It's a sunny spring Sunday afternoon. For the last two days we have been able to work in the yard. I have beautiful flowers blooming. The plants have enjoyed the rain. The winter here was mild. Things bloomed early. And I love looking out the kitchen window into the back yard. Better yet I love to go out there barefooted with the dog.

No matter what is going on in your life right now, take a look around you, relish the good, be grateful, be content, but keep growing.

In the last month I lost two friends, one suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 60 and one on his 41st birthday after a powerful 7 years battling cancer. Also this month my niece had a beautiful baby girl.

This is life, we are smack dab in the middle of it, every single day. We are blessed.

Do-Over Part Two

First my daughter corrected me. Her wallpaper wasn't polka dots it was small pink hearts. Here is the room now with a bed, the quilt is temporary but does fit nicely in the room.

The four wall plaques were a bargain at Kohl's. Retail 21.99 each, on sale for 10.99, then add my 30% off coupon and I had to get them at that price.

The giraffe sculpture was given to my by my sister years ago. We had it in our room for quite awhile. This is a perfect location for it.

The doll buggy was given to me in 1963 or 1964 by our neighbor lady who had a family of all boys. She had it when she was a little girl.

The Do-Over

This is a story about a room. The room that started out as my daughter's bedroom when she was in grade school. The walls were painted half pink with wall paper on the other half. The wall paper was white with pink polka dots (it was the 80's okay?). And was there a border in the center of the wall you ask? Why of course, it was a wide border with unicorns on it, yes unicorns, grade school, 80's remember? It was amazing. Then she went away to college. She grew up, she got married and she didn't return home.

We boxed up her things, put them in the attic. Then her brother moved from his small bedroom (the youngest gets the smallest room, that is just the way things are) into the room. By this time the wall paper had already come down and the pink walls had been painted over. Just an off white with green trim around the window and the center of the walls.

The walls got plastered with posters, mostly car posters. And stereo speakers and more posters. There he stayed for years. Stayed at home and did college locally in Seattle. Then he too decided it was time to go out on his own. I gave him the opportunity to pack up his own room since he was there and he had time.

The room was packed up. Boxes were stored in both bedroom closets and in the garage. We packed his car full of clothes, computer and necessities until nothing else could fit in. And then he drove away.

Fast forward now to a year and a half later. No need to talk about how the room became a large space to store extra things, such as clothes, fabric, boxes, fabric, books, magazines. For awhile it was a home office, a sewing room and always a guest bedroom. That is why every house should have at least three bedrooms. One to sleep in, one for guests and one to move the junk from the guests bedroom into before the guests arrive.

In the last three weeks, mostly weekends, my husband went along with my idea to redo this room. I have had the colors and design in my head for many months. I knew exactly the feeling I wanted to create in this room. It is now finished. There is no bed in there right now, which is actually really cool. Lots of room to hula hoop!

We will be buying a new mattress for our room and our "gently used" queen mattress will then take up all that nice floor space in the room and I will be relegated to hula hooping in the backyard and on rainy days in the living room. But we like company (one of us does anyway).

To start with we moved all the furniture but one cabinet out. The old mattress was picked up by Salvation Army. The table came into the dining room for a few weeks.

All the green trim work was removed and the walls were patched up. And I mean millions of nail holes of all various sizes. If you have any questions on how to patch nail holes just ask. I think I put in enough hours to become certified at spackling. I thought back to when my son moved into the room and it just seemed so natural that he would put up a few posters and things on the walls.

Well, let me tell you that I now have a deep appreciation for walls. And I will think three times before putting a nail into one.

Here are the details of what we did and an estimate of what we spent. It's an estimate because I'm on a roll typing and don't want to go find my receipts.

Wall paint - Glidden from Home Depot. Colors - Walnut Bark and Antique Silver. We had to buy a gallon of both, plus a quart of semi-gloss for the window trim. Two quarts for the brown wall would have been fine but two quarts costs the same as a gallon. I do a lot of baking and I'm pretty sure there is a lot more in a gallon than in two quarts. The paint and a few rollers and tape for masking came to about 95.00.  Another trip to Home Depot was to buy outlet covers, five at 5.97 each. Probably could have gotten less expensive ones, but they were what I wanted. We left the ivory outlets alone and put a darker cover plate on them. Not crazy enough to have to change the actual electrical outlets.

The window trim was reused. It was primed and then painted over. The stool in the photos was built years ago by Wally and was navy blue. It was sanded and painted with the trim paint. The night table is a new piece of furniture that Wally designed and built for me for the room.

The butterfly canvas prints are three 18 x 24 canvasses purchased at Hobby Lobby for about 12.00 each. I used the wall paint for all of it. I used the stencil and put putty in some of them to raise them up. I painted the canvas brown and over a couple of days I stenciled the butterflies using two different stencils. One I already had and the other I bought at Michael's for 5.99.

The wall  mirror, clock, candle, candle dish, and (empty) picture frame are all from Ikea. Less than 40.00 for all of that together.

There is one more thing we will be putting on the wall above the table and later I will add some pictures to the brown wall. I have beautiful batik fabric to make a bed quilt this summer.

The cabinet with the doors on it belongs to Wayne and was built many years ago by Wally. It is my favorite piece of furniture he has ever built. Wayne will eventually take it with him, but for now I am happy to store it and use a drawer for my gym clothes.

Enjoy the photos. I just discovered that if you double click on a photo it will open the picture full screen and you can scroll through all the photos.


The room earlier this year.



Sister's Trip - Minus a Couple of Sisters

April is my regularly scheduled annual trip to Utah to visit my son and daughter and my sister and her family. Normally, my two sisters from Idaho come at the same time. This year however they were unable to go at the same time. But sorry sisters, fun was had anyway. And let me know when you decide to go later in the year and hopefully I can join you.

I left Seattle on Wedneday, April 17th. Natalie picked me up at the airport and Wayne met us for lunch. It was my first time eating Pho (I'm not counting the one time at tried it at the office cafeteria, they just aren't the same as a restaurant). It was very good. Natalie went back to work and Wayne kindly drove me around to visit friends.

Our first visit was with Gloria at her office. She is from Utah but lived in Kent for some years then moved back to Utah. She lives with Multiple myeloma and had her second treatment a year ago. She is now working full time and enjoying her grandchildren and she looks and feels great.

Our next visit was to my friend's Mom's house. I took a piece of luggage to Utah for her. She is moving the end of May home to Utah after having sold her house and retiring. Her mother lives in a beautiful home they had built 56 years ago in Holliday.

Our final visit for that day was with my friend Susan (and her husband) who I met in 1976 at college. We were matched up as room mates. She came from Michigan and stayed in Utah. Some years after college we roomed together again for a short time. It's been fun staying in touch with her all these years.

For dinner Wayne and I met up with Natalie and her husband and my cousin Russell at Mimi's. From there it was a short walk through the parking lot to the The Sweet Tooth Fairy for some cake bites and cupcakes.

Wayne then drove me to Springville to Nancy's house where I would stay until Saturday evening. Wednesday night I could barely keep my eyes open and crashed by 11:00 p.m. Thursday morning was the start of cleaning day and laundry.

We had visitors in the afternoon which was fun. Thursday evening I got a chance to go visit more cousins in Orem. Michael and his wife Lluvia have a singing/performing group and they were rehearsing that night and then leaving to go on a 9 day tour the following week. I hadn't seen them for quite a few years. It was very fun to visit and catch up on everything. They have a son serving a church mission in Long Island and he has learned Haitian.

Nancy and I hung out and played games, talked and ate. Emily was in and out, busy with work making corsages for prom weekend. Wayne came over off and on as did Scott.

Friday afternoon Natalie drove down to spend the night. Wayne's friend came over and met us all and stayed for dinner. My cousin Mara and her husband stopped by for a visit and blessed us with some of their bounty from the Peppermint Place Candy shop.

Emily did Natalie's hair Friday night while we watched movies. Over a couple of days we watched Parental Guidance, Frank and the Robot, and People Like Us.

Saturday Natalie, Scott M., Wayne and his friend and I went out to lunch and had pizza at Nicolitalia Pizzeria in Orem.

Saturday evening, Natalie and I headed north to her place via a trip to Fashion Place Mall for a little shopping and then a late dinner at Iggy's Sports Grill at Jordan Landing. We had salads and split a burger and fries and had ice cream/sherbet for dessert.

Sunday Wayne drove up and met Natalie, Scott and I for brunch at Brio Tuscan Grille. I had the absolute best brunch ever. It was egg's Oscar with a shrimp and crab cake. Interesting thing about Brio's is that in February 2012 when I was on a business trip to St. Louis two of my coworkers and I had dinner at a Brio Tuscan Grille. So to see it again was pretty cool.

After lunch Natalie, Wayne and I hung out at TCBY, talked, took pictures and ate a little more. TCBY was one of our favorite frozen yogurt places near our house when the kids were younger. Wayne headed back home and Natalie drove me to the University Hospital where we visited one of my Aunts.

Then it was off to the airport to return home to Wally, Missy, the home and work. It was another great April Utah trip.

For pictures go to the Camera Capture tab at the top of the blog.

Impressions

A couple of weeks ago we were at the eye doctor's. Before checking in for the appointment we made a stop at the restroom in the hallway. There was a man with his wife and the wife was using a walker. She went on into the women's bathroom and I was talking with him. He was frustrated that she was losing her vision. They see the same eye doctor that my husband sees.

He commented that they were thinking of trying a different doctor. He referred to our common doctor as not being easy to talk to and of being arrogant.

We've been seeing the doctor for about 5 years now and don't really have any problems with him. The frustration comes from having a spouse who is losing his vision to damage from glaucoma and at this time there isn't really anything that can be done to correct it.

We then went in for our appointment. A week before our scheduled appointment we received a call saying our doctor was out sick and would we mind seeing his associate. That was fine with us. When we were in the exam room before the doctor came in the assistant was talking with us. She was telling us how sick the doctor was and said, "you do know he has leukemia, right?" We did not know that. She says he's been battling it for years and usually when he has problems he does chemo and then comes back to work.

With tears in her eyes she said to us, "he was here at work one day and then unable to come in the next day and we don't know if he'll be coming back". That was very sad to hear. We had no idea he was going through those struggles.

Just goes to show that you never really know what someone else may be going through. If their behavior isn't up to your standards, give them the benefit of the doubt.

Spring

Something to look forward to.

fo·cus

Focus:

8.	to bring or come to a focus or into focus
9.	to fix attention (on); concentrate

 

Synonyms
1. center, heart, core, nucleus.

 

I'm thinking this is my word for 2013. I caught myself on Saturday saying to my husband, "I'm going to try to stay focused on this project and try really hard not to get distracted." A couple of hours later he was moving a chair around and I told him I could come and help him and he reminded me that I wasn't supposed to interrupt myself. So true. I am my worst interrupter.

 

And if you were wondering, definitions 1 through 7 were related to physics, optics, geometry and geology. I really like the synonyms for this word; center, heart, core, nucleus.

 

Focus takes practice and concentration. It's an awareness of what you are doing at a moment in time. When I am not focused I don't do my best. When I consciously focus on a task, whether it be cooking, exercise, a work project or sewing, I do better if all my thoughts are on that one task at hand.

 

This is my goal this year, to focus on what I'm doing at the time I am doing it. To finish something because I have put my heart into it and I have focused on seeing it through.

 

As to my Saturday project, it took me many hours and a few breaks. I cleaned up and organized fabric and magazines in a spare bedroom. I'm very happy with the results. One thing I learned is that I keep too many magazines. I will try to read a magazine then pull out the pages I want to keep and put them in a sheet protector and in a binder. I'm mainly talking either quilting patterns or cooking recipes.

 

I love to take pictures and sometimes I have to adjust my focus to get just the right shot. Same with other things, I can adjust my focus to make the best of what I'm doing.

 

Here's a picture I love which I took one or two winters ago. It's a great example of focus.