Oh dear

Well, the last day of school is tomorrow (gulp), and I am excited to have the summer to spend w/my kids!  But, and this is pretty big, I am also worried about keeping them out of mischief.  You know, the endless whine of "I'm bored," really means "I need a job!"  So I am compiling a list of jobs for my kids to do.  We have a couple of trips planned this summer- one to visit my in-laws, and one to San Francisco.  That one will be cool, if I can just figure out what sorts of things we should be looking to do there.  I've already ruled out the nude beach...

Our dog is definitely pregnant.  She's beginning to waddle, poor thing, and mostly she wants to sleep in her kennel all day.  I am sympathetic, because I remember that feeling.  Her puppies are due the end of June, and the whole family is excited to see them already.

I finished my socks.  Well, I completely finished one, and finished the other one to the leg.  Then I looked at my finished sock, and while I was proud that I finished it, I didn't really like how it looked or fit.  So I frogged it :) and I'm starting it over again!  Jared shook his head when I told him about that.  But I did learn a lot from the experience, so even though I have no socks to show for it, the time wasn't wasted. 

Gratitude List:
* I am so glad I only had one child at a time, and that I won't be getting pregnant again (barring Divine intervention, that is).
* Puppies.  They're adorable, once they stop pooping on each other!
* Summer is finally sort of here.  It is still in the 50's in the morning, evening, and all night, but temperatures during the day hit 80 degrees this week!
* swimsuits that are comfortable and flattering, at the same time.
* IKEA- I love to walk around inside that store, and I almost always see somebody I know there.  No, it isn't in my neighborhood at all, so it does require a special trip.  But that brings up my next "thankful for" item:
* Driving in my car by myself.  I am in control of the radio, and I can roll the windows down if I want to.
* Computers, the internet, and my iPhone.
* My husband.
* Kids who can cook.
* My family is awesome :)
* Good friends and neighbors. 
* God.  I can feel His presence in my life, and I am so grateful for that.

Whew!

Well, we made it through soccer season without anybody going insane [that would be me].  However, I have to say that I don't enjoy being that busy.  It wasn't so bad last fall, when the fields were near each other but on different sides of the complex.  That was a 5-minute walk, or a 2-minute run, to get from one game to the next.  But this year, the games were at different locations- about a 5 minute drive away from each other, but I had to add another 7 minutes for getting out of the parking lot at one place, and back into the parking lot at the other place.  Anyway, with karate going on Monday and Wednesday, and soccer on Monday [practice], Tuesday [game], Friday [practice], and Saturday [game], plus piano lessons on Saturday, I think I'm burned out on kids' activities for a while.  We're going to keep going to karate- we have optional classes on Tues/Thurs that I want my kids to participate in, both for the exercise and because they teach different techniques and styles on those days.  But I'm not doing soccer again.  Not this way, anyway. 

We have had such beautiful weather the last few days- it's always cool in the mornings [that would be the result of less humidity in the air to hold the heat, plus being up so high above sea level], but it warms up quickly and we usually get a light, cool breeze in the afternoons.  It's just perfect for walking around outside!  Today is looking cloudy, and while I appreciate the water, I wish we could schedule that for the night-time, and enjoy our sunshine all day long :)

Still knitting- I have 2 socks on needles right now, and I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done so far.  This is my first pair, and it has definitely been a challenge.  I'm using small needles [2.5mm] and light-weight yarn, which means I have about 11 stitches per inch of knitting.  That's a pretty small gauge, and compared with the chunky yarn I use for hats [that knits up about 3 1/2 stitches per inch], it's rather slow progress.  I am seeing visible progress, though, so I'm enjoying it.

I found "Bones" on Netflix the other night.  I enjoy it :) but I sure wish I could show it to my kids.  They love mysteries, and puzzles, and would like this show, I'm sure.  I'm just not comfortable with the bodies in situ, before the bones are cleaned.  Seeing all the burned, dismembered, and otherwise mutilated bodies is sometimes too much for me, and I have to listen to the audio instead of watching the show during that point.  LOL, we're working our way through the BBC's "Miss Marple" series instead.

Gratitude List:
* Rain [even if it is inconveniently timed] so my plants can drink.
* Gorgeous bulbs that are blooming in my kitchen window, and reminding me that springtime is here, even if it is snowy just up the hill.
* Movies to watch in my basement while I finish tying a quilt.
* Figuring out a new knitting recipe [for those socks] and having challenges enough to keep me interested without frustrating me to the point of quitting :)
* Finding a new TV show I like to watch.
* I'm still enjoying my iphone.
* Putting on a pair of pants, and realizing that I've lost an inch around my waist.  Hooray for exercise!
* Having Jared here for a whole week :)
* My new vacuum really sucks LOL, which is a good thing in vacuums.
* I have a dryer, so I don't have to drape my wet laundry all over my house to dry it.
* I have plenty of food [probably too much of that], clothes to keep me warm, cars that work, and we are all healthy.
* God is good, and I am blessed. 

Serendipity

Surprises, in general, are not my favorite thing.  I am a planner, a list-maker, and a researcher-of-vacation-spots.  I deal much better with things when I feel like I know what to expect- not that anybody can fully prepare for anything.  Anyway, there are very few things I consider a "good" surprise, and one of them happened yesterday!

My sister lives in Iowa, near Iowa City, and she called me and wanted to know if she could stop by and visit us for a few hours.  She was unexpectedly in town, and I was thrilled to be able to see her and her kids :)

We cleared our family schedule, which meant we missed a few planned events, but nothing earth-shattering.  We got to play frisbee, Cooties [well, that was more of a Cooties war than an actual game], and Sorry! and used the air hockey table to host an air hockey tournament.  We topped it off with brownies and ice cream, and wished that they could stay longer.  [IMO, wishing the visit could last longer is the mark of a good visit]

Those sort of surprises I love.  :)

Gratitude List:
* leftover brownies for breakfast!
* A beautiful, sunny day today.
* Jared is in town this week, which means I get to see him every single night.  That's a good thing.
* Free iPhone apps.  Even if most of them are used to tempt you into buying the "full version" app, I love trying them out.
* I found a flattering swimsuit for our summer trip to San Francisco.  The "hunting for the suit" was frustrating, which made it so much more rewarding when I finally succeeded.  AND, it was on sale.
* Seeing my sister, and her kids, and watching my kids play with their cousins.
* Making progress on my UFO list.  The tree skirt is all pieced, and only needs to be quilted before I sew the binding on it.
* Dandelions.  I know they spread like, well, weeds, but they are so bright and cheerful they make me smile anyway.
* A new vacuum with suction that works.
* Laundry directly from the dryer, still warm and soft.
* Netflix instant play option- except that I dither for 30 minutes before I find something I want to watch!
* God is good.
* I am blessed.

iphone

you phone, we all phone from our cell phones!  Okay, not the best rhyme [rather lame, actually], but I do have a new phone!  Same phone number [thank goodness], but different provider- AT&T- and, it is an iPhone!  So much fun to play with...

So, I was paying for wireless back-up of all my phone information.  However, when I signed up for it, Sprint only required that I be signed into my sprint account online to access the information.  After my phone died, I tried to access that back-up information online, and discovered that Sprint now required an additional password to access my wireless back-up.  Since I didn't choose the password, Sprint assigned one to me.  However, they never sent me any information about the password.  When I tried to reset the password online, the computer program sent the new password to my PHONE. [yes, that would be the one that is dead and never coming back to life].  Well, I thought if I called I might have better luck.  Hah.  Nope.  There was no person with the power to reset my password and send that info anywhere except my phone.  Not even the email address, or the other phone line on the account, was an acceptable option.  AARGH!

Long story short, after 5 hours on the phone with Sprint, I decided I would rather rot than give them any more of my money.  So I have a new iPhone [so fun!!!] and the same phone number.  My phone is sad and lonely, however, without all the contact information for my friends :(  Which means, if you would be so kind as to call me or email me with your phone numbers, I would be forever grateful!  And I am also being slightly more prepared this time, and backing that information up myself in 2 different places besides my phone.  Thank you.

Gratitude List:
* that I have a new phone
* we are all healthy and reasonably happy
* Jared is home this week!
* sort of spring weather again- no snow, and dandelions galore on our lawn
* I am so blessed in my life.
* God

I didn't mean...

I really didn't mean to take such a long break from the blog!  We've had some interesting things going on, starting with several trips away for Jared.  He had fun, but missed us.  We missed him, and started soccer in addition to karate, leaving Fridays and Sundays as our only non-sports-containing days. We are spending a lot of time driving places, and not so much time tucked away at home.

Then there was our exciting and very windy trip to Goblin Valley over spring break.  The wind [hah! maybe in honor of "spring BREAK?!?"] broke our tent pole the first night.  Our metal tent pole.  The one holding up the corner that I happened to be sleeping in.  Yep. That was thrilling.  So was the constant dust blowing into the tent, my clothing, my hair and eyes, oh, and my knitting.  Excitement all over.  Totally makes me grateful for solid walls and a washer and dryer.  Oh, and for hot running water, and a mattress, and wool socks.  Now, I realize that this sounds like I didn't enjoy myself.  I did, really I did!  I just think that normal camping stuff isn't as entertaining as the unexpected camping stuff.  So.  On our way out of Goblin Valley, we took a hike down Wild Horse Canyon, thinking it connected to Bell Canyon, and planning to hike back up Bell Canyon and over to our car.  Surprisingly, Wild Horse Canyon never met up with Bell, leaving us to retrace our footsteps back out.  Gorgeous slot canyon, BTW, even with the unexpected twist.  Turns out that LITTLE Wild Horse Canyon is the one that connects with Bell Canyon.  And isn't that surprising?  Two 'wild horse' canyons and they're within a mile or so of each other.  Oh, and FYI: when hiking slot canyons with your 4-legged friends, please be prepared to lift and hoist [or drop and catch] them in the places that have hand-holds but no paw-holds.  Thank you.  Also.  If you're a thirty-five-year-old woman who hasn't back-packed in a few years, please expect that your hips will burn with the fire of all those skipped workouts after you hike for 5 hours with a moderately heavy [30 pounds or so] backpack full of things you really didn't need in the first place.  Like your almost-12-year-old son's extra water bottle [full], and your knitting [which didn't weigh much, but was also completely unnecessary].

The same week we returned from Goblin Valley, Jared took Walker out to the north field to drag it.  Basically, cow poop dries as it gets older, and the grass cannot grow up through it, and dies underneath it, leaving all sorts of dead spots in your pasture.  Nasty things, dead spots.  Anyway, if you drag a metal grate behind your car, you can break up those dried-up cow poop piles, and then the grass grows nicely all spring and summer.  Walker got to drive the car.  He didn't hit anything.  Jared also drove the car.  He hit the fence.  *giggling*

Sometime between the pasture and the slot canyon, our dog lacerated the webbing between her first and second toes on her left front paw.  I took her into the vet, who sedated her and x-rayed her paw to ensure there was no bone infection.  Then she cleaned out the paw, stitched it up, and wrapped it good.  Lucky Kachina also got a "cone of shame"  [if you haven't seen the movie, UP, you should.  just for that, and the squirrels] so she wouldn't undo all the work that the vet did to fix her paw.  We had planned to drop her off at the breeder's house, and get her pregnant, which meant I asked the vet about seventeen times if Kachina would be all right to be bred, or if we should wait until she goes into heat again.  Thankfully our vet is quite patient, and reassured me, seventeen times, that our dog would be just fine, and we could safely breed her.  I'm sure that made Kachina so happy :).  BTW, she is home again, and the paw looks fine.  I've been giving her antibiotics in pieces of sausage, which she takes like the angel she really is.

While she was at the breeder's, we had Walker's 12th birthday.  Yes, that would be my oldest child, who is less than two inches shorter than I am.  *sigh* Where did all that time go?  Walker had an interesting 'day of birth' this year- first, he "got" to attend a karate belt test event for his brother and sister [not his first choice for a birthday celebration]. Then, while we were at the karate testing, he heard that his aunt had a baby girl [Eliza Kate] on his birthday- that was probably his favorite present this year! And, it snowed. He was less than thrilled about the snow. He did get to choose a restaurant for us to eat at, as a way for me to make up for the 'no birthday party until Sunday when we can have a huge celebration with dad actually here as well as family and friends.' Oh, and Hyrum and Morgen skipped a level in their testing [because they've worked hard and actually know the forms they needed to know] and both earned their gold belts. Yippee!!


Sunday last week, we invited all our relatives over, plus a few people who helped Walker as neighbors, friends, and scout leaders.  [when boys turn 12 in our church, they can- after an interview with their church leader to see if they're ready and able to handle the responsibility- be given the Aaronic Priesthood.  It's a pretty big deal.]  So, I had food cooked, and people bringing more food for the dinner afterwards, and lots of plans about what was supposed to happen that Sunday, and [of course] Jared got a call from work an hour before church, and had to report to his unit headquarters.  Things worked out, and he was able to drive his work truck back to the church in time to participate in Walker's ordination.  I'm calling this a miracle :)  We had a lot of good food, and wonderful visits with our family and friends. [those who could come, thank you!  those who couldn't, we missed you!]

Kachina is back home, and the vet says her paw is healing well.  It looks a lot better, and she isn't favoring it at all, thank goodness.  And, if the breeding took, we'll have puppies around the end of June.  Hooray! 

It snowed again last Wed.  which was the two-year anniversary of the day we lost Myles.  But that's a different post.  I'll just say that we are doing well as a family, and we miss him every day. 

With soccer, and piano, and karate, we're not home very often these days.  Thankfully, soccer season is quick- only 8 weeks- and we'll have a little more time to play when summer comes.  In the meantime, please don't call my cellphone [if you were planning on calling me anytime soon].  It had an unfortunate accident.  I'm not sure what, but I suspect it was having an affair with the vacuum, and they must have watched "Romeo and Juliet" because the vacuum died, and now my phone is also dead, of unknown causes.  And, because Sprint has this stupid rule about renewing contracts when you buy a new phone, I haven't replaced it yet.  *sigh* 

Tomorrow is soccer [again] and piano.  I'm hoping for warmer, snow-free weather :)

Gratitude List:
* an extra cellphone I can use in case I really do have an emergency.
* that my husband is calm, and doesn't care if I choose to buy an expensive cellphone to replace my old, dead one.
* that he also doesn't mind if I replace the old, dead vacuum :)
* we have good friends and wonderful family members, who are loving and supportive.
* I have a new niece!!!!!!!  [and she is absolutely adorable :)]
* all those modern conveniences [dishwasher, bed, central heat, solid sturdy walls and ceiling, washer/dryer, hot running water, cars...]
* I can go camping, and have a wonderful time, and then come back to my nice, modern home.
* my pioneer ancestors, who traveled across the ocean and most of the United States of America so I could live in a beautiful country with so many material blessings.
* cars that run, and run well.
* that an emergency trip to the vet is not a financial emergency [thank goodness for getting out of debt!]
* Kachina's paw is healing well, and we might [!!] be getting puppies in June :)
* Walker is 12 years old.
* online photo services, and 3-day mailing.
* trips to the temple.
* my parents are well.  So are my in-laws.  I'm thankful for their continued good health.
* God is good.

Short and sweet

Jared's home ;) for a bit, anyway, and we have spring break next week!  So, the days Jared isn't working we will be camping and hiking in lovely [during the day- it's downright creepy at night, though] Goblin Valley.  Today we loaded up on our camping supplies, and Jared double-checked all the equipment.  He's also cutting some firewood for us to take, since Goblin Valley is a state park, and there isn't much wood there anyway.  I am so excited, but I keep debating what to pack,  and wondering how many pairs of underwear I really need.  Because a ball of yarn is approximately the same size as my wadded up underclothes, and I really think the yarn will be more useful...

Also, is it wise to attempt to knit while hiking? 

I have actually knit while driving. [Nobody else was with me to stop me, though.  Or make fun of me, either.]  I was at an overly long stop light, and my knitting was right there, on top of my purse, and I got a whole row done!  I did put it down before attempting to steer.  But this brings me to another random point.  Jared and I both like to drive when we go on trips.  Sometimes we end up racing to the car and fighting over who gets into the driver's seat at rest stops, which is a lot more amusing for the other people watching us.  Anyway, I have realized that I would rather knit than drive, which [along with the discovery of audio books] has made a significant contribution to the peace- and safety- of our recent car trips. 

So. Gratitude List:
* All the snow that fell over Easter weekend has melted.  The grass is thinking about growing, and my daffodils are blooming.
* Jared is home. 
* Jared left his jacket in our bedroom, and I wore it :) because it smells like him.
* Walker got his 7th grade registration papers the other day.  Yes, he's growing up quickly.
* Oh, and Walker also brought home a report card: highest grade was an A, lowest was an A-.  I am so proud of him!
* Morgen got a great report card, and she also got a perfect attendance certificate for this past term!
* Hyrum also earned perfect attendance for this past term, and his report card was excellent.  Well, except for his handwriting.  That needs some work... :)
* I finished my last art class on Wednesday.  I'm sad to be done, but I already volunteered to teach next year, so I'm looking forward to that!
* Camping!  I know it's dirty, and we'll all smell funny when we get home, but I am excited for this trip. :)
* Wonderful spiritual messages from the prophet and other church leaders during our General Conference last week. 
* Watching my daughter take her lizard outside for some sun :)
* Family
* God

And snow returns

Not sure whose idea this was:

... the snow, I mean, not the kids hunting for Easter Eggs.  I know who to thank [blame?] for that.  A gentleman in our church group puts this hunt on each year, and invites all the neighborhood kids over on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.  We had fun, and the kids were excited about it, but Hyrum and Morgen had a hard time getting to some of the eggs, since they wore sandals!  

Currently, this is what I'm knitting on:
 

I tried to make a fingerless mitten about a month ago, and was less than pleased with it.  I frogged that mitten, and knit some dishcloths while I cleansed my knitting rage ;) at the non-cooperative yarn and pattern.  I found another pattern, altered it to work with the cables I wanted to include, and made notes of what I changed while I was knitting.  The last few times I've changed a pattern I've been sure I could remember the changes without writing them down.  This time [now I know better] I wrote down the changes on the pattern.   The first mitten is finished, and it fits!  I worked on it while I was listening to General Conference yesterday and today.  I have the second mitten on my needles now, and my goal is to finish that one before Jared gets back from New Mexico this week.

Hyrum was pretty upset that the Easter Bunny didn't leave eggs for him to find in our yard this year.  I told him that I thought the bunny must have left the snow instead.  That did not help.

Gratitude List:

* The wonderful, spiritual messages I have been blessed to hear this weekend as part of our church's semi-annual General Conference.

* My MIL had a health scare last week, but she is doing well, and home from the hospital.

* I love seeing new little green grass blades sticking out of the snow drifts.

* Spending today with my family, eating good food and playing fun games.

* Central heating for those unexpected April snowstorms.
* A lovely spontaneous visit with some good friends on Friday.  And no school for my kids, so they could come, too.
* Still loving the debt-free life!
* I finished a mitten, and it fits me!
* Art class is this week ;) and I'm already excited about our project.
* I found some lovely sock yarn on Saturday.  I bought it.  I have a [free] sock pattern, and this new project is going on my "to do" list.  Just because it's spring, and I would like to try knitting socks.
* No major allergy attacks this spring.  Maybe this is because there is still so much snow on the ground, but I'd like to think it is partially because those allergy shots are really working!
* I found some sheet music online that was no longer in print, and unavailable through my music store.  Bought it, downloaded it, and printed it- hooray!
* Beautiful weather.

* God is good. 

Spring and stuff

As you can see, my crocuses continue to bloom beautifully.  And, in honor of the glorious spring weather, I am painting my toenails [green for St Patrick's Day in this picture] and wearing flip-flops as often as I can.  I know that the weather here changes frequently.  I have experienced snowstorms here in almost every single month, excluding August and September.  And so, I am enjoying every single drop of sunshine that I can. 

Jared left this morning for a week-long trip to Chicago.  Since it was Sunday, and our worship service begins at 11am, I was looking forward to a nice, sleepy morning.  Not so: about 7:30am the fire alarm began beeping.  My adorable daughter was trying to cook pancakes, and burned one or two.  I blame her father for this domestic habit- he, too, enjoys getting up way too early on weekends and cooking things.  Luckily, there was no fire.  However, there was also a disturbing lack of pancakes.  We managed to overcome that with a muffin mix or two.

In other news, the snow is disappearing rapidly from our backyard.  I'd like to say that this is because our weather is just terribly warm for this time of the year.  It has more to do with the pick-axe and my oldest son, though.  He has been chopping up the foot of icy snow that lingered in the shade of our north-facing backyard.  Then he would use a shovel and fling it onto the grass that was unshaded, so the sun could melt it during the day. 

This is what our patio looks like now.  And, shortly after this picture was taken, he had removed the rest of that ice and snow.  It's all sitting on the lawn now, in rather large chunks, waiting for the sun to erase it from our memories.  I really like having a snow removal service!  But it makes me wonder what he'll decide to do with all his extra energy when the snow is gone.  I'm hoping it will have nothing to do with the pick-axe...

Gratitude List:

* Beautiful spring weather.  No tweeting birds [yet], but plenty of tender green shoots in my flower beds.

* Delicious dinners, and good conversation, with some good friends who came to dinner recently.

* Snow on the mountains, and not much in my yard.

* Hot cocoa in the mornings.

* Bright green sparkly nail polish.

* Good music.

* This quote: "To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own."  -Abraham Lincoln

* And this one, taken from Psalms 139:14: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:"

* My parents will be serving as mission presidents in the San Bernardino California mission. That means they will be in charge of our church's missionary efforts in this particular area for somewhere between 3 and 5 years.  I am thrilled for them, and grateful that they will be close enough for me to visit occasionally.

* Good lessons in Primary, and what I am learning from them. 

* I have a seam ripper, and I'm not afraid to use it :)

* I'm still working on the quilt, but I also have some more dishcloths on my needles.  I need something portable, and as small as that quilt is, it is still too big to drag around with me.

* Myles' grave has new little grass shoots all around it- it, too, is free of snow and eagerly embracing the coming spring.

* God has blessed me.  I am truly grateful for the miracles and evidences of His love in my life.

My journal's up to date...

But I got busy and forgot I wanted to post about our lives. Dog fine, lizard fine, fish fine, kids and husband fine, me fine. okay, that's all...








:) just kidding!



Here's a baking picture:
[which is sideways, and I've decided that since I did my best to flip it, and I don't know what is preventing the picture from showing up vertical instead of horizontal, I'm going to pretend I wanted to show it sideways and move on.] I made my super-easy bread recipe [flour, water, salt, and yeast] and added oregano and garlic. Yummy! And gone by the next day.

I wasn't able to take pictures of the [multiple] brownies I baked. I was too busy eating them. They were excellent :) and they're gone now. But Jared made peanut-butter fingers today [double-yum: peanut butter and chocolate topping], so my hips can continue their slow but steady spread.

I love this: I will admit that there is a pleasant thoughtfulness that accompanies hand-washing the dishes. However, the more-than-one-hour I end up spending on doing them, added to the no-counter-space problem while they dry, has made me very appreciative of the automatic dishwasher. :) I do miss making fake beer mugs topped with soapy foam, though...

That is a hat, and it's done now. The thumbnail is mine, but I decided that green was a bit too... 'fashion-conscious' for me, and I removed it. It's on my toenails, though :) where it reminds me that even though there's snow in my backyard, I can see the [dead] grass in the front yard and it will be spring. Soon.

On a related note [spring-related, I mean], these: are growing in my front flower beds. There are some daffodils, too, but since that was a vertical photo, and I'm trying to embrace the horizontal...

And, I wanted to show you what the dual personality of warm winter days with freezing winter nights and continuing snow has done for my town: Every south-facing, unshaded area is clear of snow. This particular area was also wet from the melting snow :) and made lovely cold squishings as we walked on it. My front yard looks like the non-snowy part of this picture :). My backyard has bare patches, but a lot of it is still covered in a foot of snow. It's enough to confuse the most sophisticated of meteorologists! That foot inside that shoe? It's Hyrum's foot. It's also sock-less. No, I don't get it. But he'll live. Notice that the snow is still there, but only in areas that are shaded for part of the day. Not sure where my family was, but this: is what they were doing on the playground. Full-contact game of "run away from Dad" complete with screaming when they got caught!

I'm looking at house-plans again. Not because we're building or anything, just because I like looking at them. :)I have a collection of house-plan books, and I get them out every so often, and admire my selections. I used to dog-ear the pages. Now I use post-it notes, and write comments on them so I remember why I chose those houses, and what I'd change about them. Last Friday, after Jared and I went out to eat, we decided to round out our date night with a trip to the Home Depot. I know, we really push the envelope on our quest for excitement. Anyway, I walked out of the store with a new [!] book of house-plans. It's a big one, too, with 608 lovely pages of houses, and advice on building and decorating. *sigh* I'm only on page 332. But I've already marked several likely candidates, and I'm making all sorts of notes to myself for the next time I decide to look through these lovely pages.

Gratitude List:

* My dishwasher came back from its 3-week vacation ready to scrub those dishes into submission. Thank goodness!
* We had a wonderful visit with family on Saturday, to celebrate my youngest sister's 12th birthday. She's still shorter than I am, too! [okay, by 2 inches, but it still counts.]
* Jared grilled some elk for dinner tonight. Mmmmm! That, along with the chocolate-covered peanut butter fingers, has made me a happy, and rather full, woman.
* I decided to ride my stationary bike the other day, while I was reading my magazine, because the whole reason I got a bike was so I could read while I exercized. I finished the magazine, and rode the entire time, which ended up being 58 minutes. WOW! Good thing, too, with all the disappearing brownies...
* Both of the cars are shiny-clean. Walker wanted to earn some money to buy [big surprise here] some books. He spent 5 HOURS cleaning out those cars, and did an excellent job, too. I paid him better than he expected, and I didn't have to take them in to be detailed. Win-win, baby!
* Jared's in town this whole week. Amazing, and wonderful.
* Crocuses in my garden.
* Trips to the park, and spending an hour playing together.
* After a few sewing set-backs, the sashing is [mostly] sewn onto my quilt. I had planned to sash it twice, creating a double frame around the quilt pattern. However, after all the ripping-out and re-figuring, I'm going to call it good with one, and move onto sewing the back together.
* Finished another goal: making birthday cards. I actually ended up with 20+ birthday cards, and another 10 or so blank cards. Wahoo! I'll end up doing this again, but I think this will take me through the end of the school year, anyway.
* Wonderful, spiritual lesson in church today. I am grateful for God, and for His Son, Jesus Christ.
* Good friends, and neighbors.
* My family [extended and immediate]
* Life- my life especially- is blessed.

Project pictures

Okay, I finished a hat for myself. Did one of the mittens, but didn't like how it turned out [probably my fault, as this is my first mitten...] so I didn't take a picture of that.

Also finished piecing most of the top of the Christmas Tree Skirt. [that's my cellphone in the middle; this is a small quilt]
I still need to put some sashing around it. Then I'll make the back, sandwich the batting in between, and hand [yes I really did say hand] quilt some stars on each square. Of course, since that hasn't happened yet, there's always the chance that I'll chicken out and opt for something less time-intensive :)

One of my friends and I decided we need "girl time" more often. So, yesterday we went shooting [she has guns, too]. I brought my pistol, and she brought hers. We're going to do that again. Assuming I can find my gun-cleaning kit...

Gratitude List:
* My husband, who is awesome even away from home.
* Kids are amazingly well-behaved this week. Wondering if the pod people have something to do with that...
* We've had surprisingly warm weather this year- only a few dips below freezing, and yet there's still at least a foot of snow in my backyard.
* I finished the hardest part of the quilt- piecing the top. And, I didn't even swear at my sewing machine [out loud, anyway]!
* I am learning more about knitting. Specifically, mitten knitting. I'm really grateful for the internet, and all the great information it contains.
* Krispy Kreme donuts. Twice we've been this month, and both times we hit the "hot donuts" time, where they give away free, freshly cooked and glazed donuts. It's a good thing that the store is 30 minutes away, or I'd be there every single day. Mmmm!
* My family is in good health.
* I made brownies Wednesday, and even managed to save some for the kids' lunches.
* Walker took brownies to school with him, shared them with his friends, and they all agreed that the brownies [the same ones I made] were "the best brownies ever!" And I know this because Walker came home and told me. What a wonderful compliment!
* I'm still on track with my new year's resolutions. It helps that the biggest challenge [finishing all those UFOs] is actually a group of much smaller projects. I can see progress, and that gives me even more motivation to stick to this goal and finish everything!
* I got a wonderful, tender note in the mail from one of my cousins.
* God is good.