I would not like to see....

On the way home from work tonight, Dad and I were making some observations of where it would be inappropriate to see the phrase: "Your name here". Feel free to add to it.

Headstones
"Wanted posters"
bathroom stahls

police arrest boards

"In Memorium" plaques

hmmm, just a thought.

I am so glad Spring is here!

I am not sure that I could have held out much longer and we did not even have a bad winter. I just needed color in this world and I think it is here. The blossoms are really starting to pop "like popcorn" and there is green everywhere. While I was waiting for the much awaited change in the seasons, I finished my spring quilt. I think it was beyond my scope of knowledge but I managed. NO ONE better look too close, it was made to be enjoyed, not admired. I think I will call it "Spring Cheer", because it does do that. I think I remember Betty saying that you always build in one mistake. See if you can find it.

Hint: Upper left hand corner.

An Amazing Account of Acquired Awareness

Carren challenged me to the come up with 10 things that I love starting with A. This was easy. Maybe she know that it would be and was giving me a break, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, I liked the exercise because it gave me the opportunity to think of things that I really to appreciate but would never blog about but am very, very grateful for. Let me caution all who read it, be careful how you comment on this because you too could be challenged with a letter.

10: AJAX: Wait a minute, don’t groan. I am serious. I like AJAX, it and similar cleaners(Comet) are my cleaners du joir in my home storage. I like how they make everything smell clean. I have this false impression that whn things smell clean, they must be clean. It is simple, I don’t fill like I am killing the ozone layer by using it and it is cheap!



9. Aragon of LOTR fame.: Ahhhhhh, this is definitely a case where a picture is worth a 1000 words. . He is sensitive, rugged, determined, and comes to an understanding of his full potential with the help of his leading lady. And he does not drop her as soon as he reaches the top.


8. Appalachian Trail: I have had a fascination with this place since I was 10 years old and read about it in a National Geographic magazine. I always dreamed about walking the entire trail/it takes several months to do it. You start in Georgia and it goes all the way to Maine(2160 miles) People do this. It would be like going back to the basics, back when the country was new. Only problem now days, people get killed doing it because there people along the trail to prey on lone hikers.



7. Apollo Missions: Having been in high school when this was all happening, I love reading about the amazing feats that NASA engineers and astronunts did. Can you imagine going to the moon with the computers they had back then.? My laptop probably has more capabilties. Yes, I am aware that there are people who think it is all faked but I don't. I believe John Glen to be a very honest man and if he said it was done, it was done. If you are more of the LDS persuasion, David Lind was an astronaut and had an experiment used during the Apollo 12 mission. They stood on the moon and looked back at the earth. How amazing would that have been?




6.Alphabet: Have you ever stopped to think about it, what our lives would be without the alphabet? It would be reduced to communicating through clip-art. I am serious, it is so neat to think that because of 26 letters, we can communicate (I didn't say get along) with half the world.



5. Albert Einstein: I love this guy (not a very nice or moral man) but wow what a genius. His theories of relativity, time, matter just blow your mind. I think that his theory E=MC2 is probably the same thing that is discussed in D&C 131:7 (given about 100 years earlier)
7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;




4. Astronomy : To look at the night sky through a telescope is like looking into the past and future all at once. To see so many stars and know that all things are in order and with a plan. That I am seeing the same stars that Abraham saw and that I can see the Andromeda Galaxy that is over 2.50 million light-years away from the earth. My favorite quote is from Neal A Maxwell: "Therefore, on a clear night, though we see stars of incomprehensible longevity, they are not immortal. But, thankfully, we are!"

3. Alma 5: This is not what you are thinking, even though it is great scripture, the 5th chapter of the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon is probably one of the great reality checks to where we personaly stand with each other and with the Lord. Take time to read it or reread it. It is just a masterpiece of evaluation and what we should be doing with our lives. I have underlined dozens of questions that Alma asked and it never fails to very quickly put me in my place if I start thinking that I am doing pretty good in my personal and spiritual life. It is really the best reality check you can read and the best relationship manual EVER written.

2. A+ blood type. Probably the only A+ I have ever gotten, but I am very grateful for blood and what it does to keep me going.






AND NUMBER ONE:

1. Atonement. There is nothing better or more prefect. I am so grateful for the Lord Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is all true. He lives.

Confessions of a Dreamer

Spoiler alert: lots of good lessons learned.

This is the Rex Lee Run for a cancer cure, I am the one in the white (and eventually very red face)

Lesson 1: Desire does not qualify you for the race.

I really wanted to do this, several from my office have been planning to do it for months. I finally got around to preparing for it this year. I was not going to run, just walk and I had been working on my treadmill somewhat faithfully and did feel that if I could do two miles on a flat treadmill, what is the difference with doing three on city streets. (you see where this is going) There were thousands at this race (along with my very prepared co-workers) it was a cool morning but I really wanted to do this. So the race began and we started off......uphill. Remember I said that I had been working on a flat treadmill......this is where the red face came it. I made it almost to the top and when all of the mothers pushing 3 and 4 kids in stollers had past me ( and little kids pushing strollers had past me) I figured I would probably drop over dead and then one of those little kids would have to push me back in a stoller because I couldn't breath anymore. So I quit and headed back down hill. I was not prepared and my wanting it was not going to make it happen.

I spent about 2 minutes of my usual self-loathing time as I walked back down hill when it suddenly occured to me....I was breathing!

Lesson 2: Not all the race is uphill

It only took a few seconds of going downhill before I had caught my breath and was doing ok. I even considered turning around and trying again but I knew I could only have probably really made it to the two mile marker before I would have pooped out. I would have to walk two miles back to the car. But it really was one of those "AHA" moments when I realized that not everything is uphill all the time and if I had just hung in there a few more steps, I could have gone on a little further.

Lesson 3: The only person I am competing against is myself

As I walked back to the starting line/finish line to turn in my tag, I came to understand that it did not matter who past me up, I was in this for me and not for them. My shoe tag recorded what I did, not what they did and I was never in it to come in first, just to do it. Which someday I will, for me.

Lesson 4: Preparation is the key

Which brings me back to lesson one. You just can't fake your way through things and have it matter. You have to be prepared and know what is expected to complete "the race" which I am going to do. I am going to run a 10K some day. There are going to be hills, and surprises but correct preparation along with a fair amount of desire will help me get it done.(D&C 27:16)

I am not discouraged and for the most part my red face has gone away (until Monday when I go back to work), I got some good exercise in that morning, and now have a training plan in place for the next race. Lessons learned.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Jackson and Allie came to play on Saturday while Lori and Scott watched BYU play the Lobo's.(dang, so close) Jackson wanted me to be downstairs with him while he watched movies. I was sewing on a quilt and he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was quilting. When he asked me what quilting was, I told him it was something that grandma's do. "Ohhhh...., quilts make monsters go away".

That is going on my wall!!

NEWS FLASH!! Winter is finished

Well, at least the quilt top is. It is called "Winter's Calm". The pattern is from the book Carren gave me for Christmas. 100 Fabulous Rotory-Cut Quilts.



Now it is time for Spring!! It has lots of pink and yellow tulips and lots of green.

My Valentine

He is the cute one behind the beautiful roses that he game me.

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place,

Painch, tripe, or thairm:

Weel are ye wordy of a grace

As lang's my arm.

So begins a rather wordy address by Robert Burns to the Scottish delicacy, which was served on Saturday night at the annual Robert Burns Dinner. Ken and I thought we would give the evening a try and it was really interesting. Now the invitation said Scotitsh dress or Sunday best but what they really meant was to pull out your tartan and wear it proudly. My goodness there were some pretty impressive full kilt uniforms worn that night. And also some of the best white beards and mustaches that have ever been on BYU campus. Ken said I would never be able to get him in a kilt but I bet Kendall would have take the bait and would have the legs for it too!

This is an annual dinner that takes place all over the world and in very precise manner. Of course there was the bagpipe, but what was really great was the "piping in of the Haggis". The piper pipes in the escorts with shouldered swords, the cook, and the Haggis. Then a full dressed Scotsman recited the "Address to the Haggis" in his wonderful brouge while he slice the Haggis with a sword. There were the toast (apple juice) to Robert Burns, the laddies, the lassies and whatever else. Reciting of Burns poetry, singing, scottish jokes, and wonderful food. Yes, I did try the Haggis and yes I really liked it. If you get too squimish about the ingredients, just keep in mind that hotdogs are made of the same things.

1. I learned that you never mention that you are Irish at a table of Scots. (Why a McLaughlin and a McEntire would not be welcomed at a table of McDougal's and Macintosh's, I don't know. Just kidding everyone was nice)

2. I learned that I like Haggis My mother always made her turkey dressing with livers, necks, hearts and gizzards and that is what it tasted like

3. I learned that I really liked and had already heard Burns poetry, like "My love is like a red red rose" "Auld Lang Signe" "Annie Lauri".

4. I learned that he may have been a great poet but not a very moral man.

4. I learned a couple of silly jokes that sound much better with a brouge.

A scot was washed up on an deserted island. After he realized that he was not going to be rescued, he got busy and built a home. Then once he was done, he built a church. Then when he was done with the church, he built another church. Finally one day he was rescued. The rescuer said, "I understand why you built the house and why you built the church, but why did you build the other church." "Oh that is the one I don't attend".

Another scot was washed up on a deserted island. Just as he thought that all was over, a beautiful woman suddenly appeared and asked him if he wanted something to drink? "yes, I want some scotsh whiskey. PUFF, suddenly he had all that the whiskey he wanted. Then she asked if he wanted something to eat. "Yes, I would love some Haggis and PUFF suddenly he had all the Haggis he wanted. Then she aked if he wanted to play around. "You mean they have golf here too?"

Farewell to the Highlands by Robert Burns

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,

The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;

Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

Chorus.—

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,

Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;

Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,

Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;

Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go

The Grandparent Code

If pirates can have a code, then so can grandparents. The first of my codes would be:
1. Never go longer that a month without seeing the grandkiddies.
Now I love Scott and Lori with all my heart but how can they compare with the faces of these cuties.

Allie is so good natures and loves to be touched. She giggles a lot when her clothes are changed.

She is so good natured and happy.

Jackson makes us fill so comfortable. When we come to visit, he just makes us fill so much a part of his life and just accepts us for how we are. We were eating dinner and Jackson decided to hid under the table, I put the camera under the table and snapped the shot, that is how I got the first picture. The third one he was reading "The Little Engine that Could". He is so smart.

Jacks and I were talking about sports and I told him that I would come and cheer for him when he is playing basketball. I was showing him how I could be loud by cupping my hands around my mouth. Then he got really excited and said that he had a way of making it much louder. He mumbled something about toilet paper, so I thought he was running to get the toilet paper roll. He came back with the metal rod that holds the roll and then proceeded to tell me all the different uses it has to make things loud, to play music, to whistle. It was funny but what was funnier was that he had been thinking about this "instrument" for a long time! Scott and Lori...look out!

I Feel Like I Accomplished Something This Year

I am feeling good. I am pretty pleased with an accomplishment. I have finally finshed a quilt that I have been working on for 4 years plus I have finished two quilt tops. To some, that may not be a overwhelming achievement, but to me, it is huge! I started this levi quilt at Thanksgiving time in 2005. My mother-in-law, Betty Crossley, had passed away early that year and she had been a master quilter. Right before she passed away, she had presented me with a very special quilt that she had secreting been working on from items that I thought I had long since thrown aways. About 20 years prior, when I was working a grave yard shift at the police station as a dispatcher, I had crossed stitched some quilt blocks. It was an effort to try and stay awake during the long and sometimes unevenful nights. The blocks were a preprinted pattern and it turns out, not printed on squared (or even very good) material. I had no clue how to create a quilt from them. Betty had given me several suggestions over the years but nothing seem to work out, so after 4 moves and much frustration, I just threw them out. Unbeknownst to me, Ken pulled them from the garbage and sent them to his mother to see if she could do something with them. Christmas 2003, she presented me with the "Rescued Roses" quilt. It is so beautiful and amazing and a master piece of work. It really touched my heart that she would go to all that work for me. Then six weeks later for my birthday, she sent the pillows. I was surprised how just holding that quilt really connected me with her. Each time I see it, I think of the time and effort she took in finding just the right materials and all of the beautiful handwork. It truely is amazing. It now graces our West Wing

I started thinking about quilting and what emotions it brought, so I thought I wanted something of my own. Of course, I didn't bother to get directions or ask for help, I never do and then am always astounded that things don't work out right. I just cut and pieced as I went. I often wondered what would Betty do? She may have liked the colors but she sure would have advised me against the folly that I was heading into. I decided that I would like to make my creation a "Levi" quilt because the squares looked like bandanas to me. Then I decided to back it will levi and then to hand quilt around the edges and in between the squares. Question: how do you quickly hand quilt two layers of levi material with batting? Trick question, you don't!!. I soon found that it was impossible, but I still wanted to do it (sure, like a machine quilting it isn't good enough!) so there are ten's of thousands of individual stitches around each block, between them and around the edges, looking OK on the top and TERRIBLE on the bottom. It is king sized and must weigh about 40-50 lbs. It is a monster; I sincerely wonder if a small child would not smother under the weight of it on a bed!!! It is done for the most part, I just have to find a machine strong enought to sew the binding together. It works for our Lincoln Bedroom.

My mother passed away this year. She had made two very beautiful unique quilts that contained a lot of artwork within them. They were given to my brothers. I don't mind that Mark and Dale have them, but I would have loved to have a quilt of her's (I did get an afgan.) So I decided that I was going to make at least 5 quilts so that each of my kids could have one. The levi quilt is going to be separate, someone would have to rent a Uhaul just do cart it away. These would need to be new quilts, where I actually paid some attention to quilting principles and patterns. My next quilt came about because of a Fons and Porter program that I saw once while on vacation. As a little girl, I was always captivated by kaliescopes. I would play with one for hours. So when I saw the program on Luminosity Stars, I knew that was for me. I have since found out that many call them Stack and Whack quilts. I ordered a back issue of their magazine (april 30, 2005) and started experimenting. I made several blocks and found it was fun to create such interesting patterns but could not find the bold patterns in the stores that were shown in the magazine. Again, I am new at this and did not realize that it had to be special ordered. But I did find materials that made "flower" shapes and since I love gardening, it was a good match. It did not take long to find that the quilt blocks were taking on a life of their own and were going to make a lovely old-fashion flower garden, which brought another childhood memory to mind. A primary song that I learned as a little girl back in the 50's called "My Grandmother's Old-Fashioned Garden". It always mean't a lot to me and so I call my quilt "Grandma's Garden".

Lyrics to "Grandmother's Old Fashion Garden"

My grandmother dear has a garden,/Old fashioned and quaint as can be/The flowers so rare, that none can compare,/'Neath the plum and apricot and cherry tree./Would you like me to show you the garden?/Then follow me now and we'll go/'Round the old grape-vine arbor, back of the walk,/ where the birds and the butterflies and flowers grow./The daisies and lilies are telling of grandmother's kind, tender care/ Sweet william and peas, Heliatrope and heartsease,/And violets, modest' tho fragrant and fair./I still long for my grandmother's garden;/With hollyhocks, stately and tall/ And sometimes in my dreams I see her, it seems,/My dear grandmother standing there close to the wall./ In my grandmother's old fashioned garden,/ There are flow'rs of every hue/ Daffodils, pansies, and hyacynths and old fashioned pinks are there too./I belong to my grandmother's garden,/I was picked from the family tree;/So out in my grandmother's old fashioned garden,/If you come there you will find me.

My daughter Carren came to visit in September and of course I had to show off my quilts and secret aquistions of material (yeah right, like Ken didn't know how much I was buying.) I was telling her of my plans for a vivid bright quilt that I was going to call "Tropical Sunset". She observed that I had my spring and summer quilt, I ought to do a fall and winter one. Oops, bad mistake, that started me thinking and casting all caution to the wind. In the same 2005 magazine, there was another quilt that I quite liked but never considered attempting until Carren made her comment. Suddenly, everywhere I went fabrics were somehow jumping into my cart. What could I do but to bring them home. Each day as I drove to work, the colors on the trees and bushes became so brillant to me, I just could hardly take them all in. I wanted to make sure that each color was in my quilt. Every day I would try to notice all the trees and flowers, the combination of colors, and whether they were included...and this fall was the best ever because I took time to appreciate it. Imagine that! I just finished this quilt top yesterday and it is going to be called "Autumn Breeze" because it reminds me so much of the colorful leaves swirling about the yards.

Thanks Betty and Mom. I think I appreciate my world a little more because of you two. Next year will be summer and winter. I am not sure what I am going to do with all of the great "hawaiian" material that somehow made their way home. Hmmm.....

Being a Grandma is not half bad

Allie is so beautiful and has the cutest hair. Where did she get curly hair? She is such a good baby too. I got to hold her for hours, it was so sweet. I am afraid that Scott has doomed himself to coaching girl's basketball. Allie is off the charts in height. What can I say, she is a Crossley. Story goes that when the Crossley ancestor in Leeds, England died, they had to leave the hearse carriage doors open to let the coffin stick out because he was so tall.

Janna was gone two days and we were feeling that the nest was a little too empty, so we invited Jackson to have a "sleep-over" with Grandpa Bear. It makes me smile just to think about the nice time we had. Some of the cute things he said: we were shopping and I kept wandering up and down the aisle because I couldn't decide on something. I just he was getting sea-sick in the cart because he finally said "Grandma, get your head around it". Thanks Scott, I wonder where he learned that. He also talked me into a pumpkin that had to be carved at our house so it would scare the snakes away. Apparently his throwing my onions at them, does not work. I got a little teary eyed on Sunday when we pulled into the church parking lot and he said "This is Janna's church, is Janna inside?" He is so smart.

#1 I have no passion for fashion

It is pretty sad that the extent of my fashion sense is trying to decide between K-Mart or Shopko. Then the biggest challenge is to avoid seeing your reflection in the glass doors on the way in. Fashion expert is not my passion.

Random Thoughts

* More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
* I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
* The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recentlybecame all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
* There is a great need for sarcasm font.
* How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?*
* Was learning cursive really necessary?
* Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
* I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
* MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
* Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.*
* You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
* Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
* "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever or "says who!"
* While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA .No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed*
* As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
* I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
* I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behindobeys the speed limit.

OK, so I am not the greatest cook, and never will be. but...

Loved the show!! It was great. Meryle Streep did a famous job and it was really a hoot to watch. They did a wonderful at directing, throwing in the cutest bits of trivia and spiced it up a bit with a litte romance. It was a winner for me. I have thought a lot about it the last couple of days. Partly because of my cooking. I am on the OK-side of being an average cook. I have had some real dosies pop out of the oven. Sometimes I wonder were in heck did they come from because it certaing wasn't the imagined creation that I put in. (Wow, I am so surprised that you instantly thought of the brownies!! ya, I have heard it all before.) Then I have had some actually made some really tasty things. But I think the whole jest of the movie was about how much time and effort do you really want to put into something you are passionate about.

I am not passionate about cooking! I just am not. I have no desire to go into such detail to cook a meal that will be eating in 10 minutes or less and absolutely no conversation carried on in the process. If it were an event, that would be different, but honestly most food is inhaled so fast around here, no one would even breath long enough to know there is something different. So I really am not concerned. I do however want to sometime before I die, cook a really good "moist" roast, and to maybe do a boneless duck wrapped in dough. It will happen, I will do it.

So the question is.....what am I passionate about? What would be the one thing that I would spend a year of constant effort on? What would I give so much for to accomplish? Hmmmmm, I am not sure. I am going to have to give this a lot of thought. Updates to follow. This will be my "Julia Child's Moment".

Time is marching on FAST!!!!

We spent Saturday night at Red Robin to celebrate DJ's birthday. It was a cozy (very) and nice evening. I guess it is important to get as many people setting shoulder to shoulder so that they can all feel close and connected. 4 adults, 8 drinks, 4 meals, a platter of chips and dip, forces one to really pay attention to what is going on. Actually I liked it a lot. I am sure that DJ would have preferred to have dinner with the "red-haired" girl or to get some sleep because he was up all night and had to work on Saturday, it was great to talk about to my kids. It is fun to see the personalities that they have grown in to, to hear about the things they are doing, to hear about their friends and plan for the futue. Things are moving ahead, except........for the fact that Dalllin still ordered the 5 alarm burger (even though they don't make it any more) and an orange-cream shake. Same thing he has ordered for the last 10 years. It is time to move on.