July 30th

Hi, I've pretty much spent the whole day messing around on this new computer and with my camera. I found a site that did what I always said I needed some one to do. Just to go step by step though the controls and in plain English show me what to change, set etc. !! I had so many things not set right that I now have hope for great SOOCS (straight out of camera shots). Before the pictures were always "washed out" (overexposed) on the Auto settings and apparently that is a common problem with Nikons, and I always had to tweak them in their photo program before I would want anyone to see them. Now, hopefully they will start out great. I haven't loaded my Photoshop Elements 6 yet but maybe later this afternoon I'll do that. I thought I might post a few more of the BearLake photos. Like I said I didn't take many but I wanted to post the one of Eric and I couldn't find it yesterday when I was posting.

Susie went for an Ultrasound this morning and will see her Dr. next Wednesday. Here last CT scan showed some possible fluid in her abd. so they are checking it out. It is so scary for all of us.

Today was Marvins quit date for smoking (he started taking Chantix a week ago). I think he is doing pretty good, however, he did buy cigarettes when he went to the store this morning and his pack is still sitting out by the back door (ie he didn't toss everything to avoid temptation) BUT I have not seen him smoke today and I have been here all day. So keep him in your prayers, I know he will feel so much better once his lungs recover some,--his coughing episodes can get pretty darn hairy at times.

I'm making chicken and noodles for dinner per Marvin's request. I had better get busy and do something around the house. Love you all.

Family Reunion

Hi all, sorry I took so long to post but my computer was down. My monitor had died and then I was working so I didn't get right on replacing it. Any way, I know all of you are waiting for some pictures from bearlake. I didn't take a lot but I did get some. I'm glad that Sarah was conscientious about getting photos of each person there. I look forward to her pics. It was a very nice weekend. I didn't get to go up and see my mom though because of time restraints. Danelle went though and said that grandma looks great!! As I had said I would in my previous post, I used the drive time to read (and also snuck some of the weekend to read also). I was able to read all three books in the Twilight series and I am looking forward to Breaking Dawn's release. I do have to admit that I am tired of Bella's whining and fit throwing and wonder what there is about her beside her smell that Edward fell in love with!! Anyway Here are some pics from Bear Lake. Hey Trista, comment again on this blog so I can get your address again (the worse part of a new computer is having to reload everything.) I'll write again soon, maybe even today but I need to have a break from getting this computer set up and running 4 hrs is tooooo long. Love you all

Vacation Day 1

I just got off of work and so am FREE until Wed. night of Next week!! I have a lot to do today to be ready to leave early tomorrow morning for Utah and the family reunion. I am just so excited to not have to work for a week!! My daughter Aimee started a blog yesterday http://www.weimerlife.blogspot.com/ and my daughter Monica started one last week at http://www.ohellimeanhello.blogspot.com/ and of course my daughter Holly has a blog at http://www.sparklebrightly.blogspot.com/ It is fun to keep up with everyone's activities this way and get to see pictures too!!! I will be seeing all of my family Friday so I'd better get busy so I won't be late!! I can hear that Marvin got the mower running for me so the lawn awaits me!! See you soon :)

By the way, Denver sent me a link to one of Margaret's Bridesmaids photos which has photos from Margaret's wedding and a link to Margaret's Flickr account because she will eventually post photos too.

Suzie's (the bridesmaid) account is -http://picasaweb.google.com/redzipstar/MargaretSteveSWeddingWeekend

Margaret's flickr account is http://www.flickr.com/photos/margejames

I Got Music!

I have spent the entire evening listening to playlists on random blogs and then figuring out how to put a playlist on to my blog. I hope you like the music, I'll try to remember to go in and rearrange it once in a while so you don't always have to hear the first song over and over. I laid around all day and now it's after midnight and I have church in the morning and work tomorrow night, so I'd better put myself to bed.

I'll see you all soon (except for you sweet Aimee. Did you get your blog started? I haven't gotten any notice yet.)

Denver, I checked out your beautiful daughter's wedding pics. It all looked perfect and I loved the colors and flowers she used.

8 days and counting

Eight more days until we leave for the family reunion. Danelle is stressing out because her car has been giving her some trouble, Holly's car has been overheating as well. Danelle will be driving up from Texas by her self with the 5 kids and then Vicente will be flying up so it is scary to be on the road by yourself with an unreliable car!!

I went and bought a few more things for crafts for the reunion. I found two bags of tie-tacs with a "snicker" bar logo at Goodwill, (80+ tacs) but we can glue something on top if that to make custom tie-tacs or brooches/pins. So I bought some little lizards for the boys to glue on, also the clear glass flat "stones" that we made refrigerator magnets out of for Susie's wedding will also work on them. I also got some things for the scrabble tile necklaces, just need a little more ribbon or cord for the necklace part. I already had some craft wire for rock pendants, and tons of key rings if Danelle brings her lanyard stuff to make key fobs. I picked up some more beads/glitter stuff to put into the bracelets for the girls so I think we are about ready. So there will be plenty of different crafts to choose from. Holly has bought the noodles for the soft swords and I will pick up the PVC and the pipe insulation up in Utah so I don't have to haul it all the way.

I work tonight and tomorrow night and then again on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then I don't work again until the week after the reunion on Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Because I started at a new company I didn't start earning paid time off for 60 days so I didn't have enough time built up yet. So it was great that my manager worked with me so I can have almost the whole week off. I still feel very comfortable with this company. It still feels like the patient is the main focus and not the paperwork or the cost, so that is great.

I'm pretty sure that Marvin is going to come. He told Holly he was coming, now just to see how he feels when the time comes to get into the car. Twice in the past he has come up "I just don't know what it is but I don't have a good feeling about going" and then stayed home. (He did tell me he thought someone tried to break into the house one of the times) So I just don't know what the day will bring.

I think that I had better read Stephanie Meyers "Twilight" series on the drive because I'm beginning to feel like the last person in the world to read it.

Here is a picture of the bracelet, lizard, tie-tac/pin and the glass magnets. I haven't made up a stone pendant necklace or a scabble tile necklace yet but we have directions that we printed off the web for them.

Monica's Birthday

Monica came over today and we went shopping for a birthday present for her. We went to Kohls unfortunately, they no longer carry sterling silver charms for her bracelet but I was thinking about getting her a new pair of sunglasses for our reunion trip. We ended up finding a pair of capris and the sunglasses and a hat. (all on sale or clearance--SCORE!)

For dinner, I had looked around at The Pioneer Woman site http://thepioneerwoman.com/ and found some new recipes to try. (A couple of months ago she had a contest and to enter you gave a favorite recipe) She got over 5000 entries! I chose a recipe for Lettuce Wraps (my daughter Danelle makes them frequently and her family loves them), A recipe for crab puffs (rangoons), Fried rice and then "Smores on a Stick for dessert. It required a lot of chopping but Monica and Morgan helped and the meal was delicious, Allen even had Monica type up the crab puff recipe for him. I also made a Seseme Ginger dipping sauce, and a peanut butter dipping sauce. We all liked the Seseme Ginger sauce the best.

Brian looked very handsome tonight!

Monica's boys have been playing with the soft swords/boppers (see "refocus" 2 post ago) all night so I think it will be a good craft for the boys at the reunion. Holly, I will put the money in your account if you want to go ahead and try to find enough pool noodles at the dollar store up there. I think 20 would be enough (2 swords per noodle). I was thinking if they have a lot of 2 different colors then the teams could be made up by the color of their sword, blues against reds? other wise we could tie head bands or arm bands of different colors to make up the teams. If you look now, if you have trouble finding them, I will have time to get them here. Monica's boys are spending the night tonight and they are still chopping each others legs and arms off!!

Monday again!

Good morning, I just read one of my daughter's (Monica's) first blog on her new blogsite and of course it brought guilt upon my head, because again it has been a week since I blogged! I reread my last blog and what a jumble of unrelated stuff! I guess I could have at least made paragraphs!!
I have today and tomorrow off Yeah!! I have so much I should do in this house, but like always, I probably will only barely touch the surface. Instead I'm sure shopping and computer grazing will win out over housecleaning. Today is Monica's birthday so I need to plan dinner and maybe an activity to do with/for her today. We could go over to Susie's swanky apartment and use their beautiful pool/BBQ area but Susie doesn't get off work until 6:30 pm so that is pretty late.
I have been pondering on which book I will read on the drive up to the reunion. (One of my favorite parts of a trip is letting Marvin drive and getting to read the entire trip!!) I started the trilogy "Kristin Lavransdatter" (which I had read and enjoyed about 25 years ago) but when I got to the night when the young teenage Kristin makes the emotionally immature choice of her future path by binding herself to the handsome morally weak rogue instead of accepting the more honorable and suitable man chosen by her father for her, I had to close the book!! Having read the book before I am acutely aware of the path of heartache she was binding herself to with this choice, and it made me so upset I had to walk away instead of taking the journey with her again. I'm sure I will pick it up again because while I really don't remember many details of this Nobel Prize winning novel, I do remember fondly the feeling of enchantment, of being transported to another time and place--but I'll have to prepare myself first. Oh how we need to pray about the major decisions in our lives, we need the Lord's knowledge and foresight! Our earthly selfish desires and limited vision can so easily take us onto paths that lead to heartache. (and even then, how many times do we continue down the path because we subbornly persist in doing what WE want and so set aside and refuse to listen to (or even refuse to seek) the Lord's counsel!!
I have also discovered that this is a different translation from the one that I read before. I can remember being so immersed in the "old English" language pattern, and the thee, thou, thy pronouns etc. I found it difficult not to speak like that when I stopped reading. This translator wanted to modernize the language which she felt was too flowery and to be more true (in her opinion)to Sigrid Undset's style of writing. I would have to have both translations available and also the original Norwegian text (and be able to read and understand all of them) to say whether that was true. Oh well! So I am thinking that my book choice will be "The Poisonwood Bible" which I have started once but haven't read yet and at 500+ pages is long enough to get immered in and to transport but much less than the 1100+ pages of Kristin Lavarnsdatter.
I have got to get busy so bye for now!!

Refocus

Here is a picture of my sweet Charity!

And one of Gracie

And a couple of silly kids who I love!

I just reread my last post and saw the date!! It's been almost a month since I blogged!! I am on the computer almost everyday and I think about blogging but I just haven't felt inspired enough to write anything creative, and while I originally thought I would journal here (and we all know how therapeutic journalling can be--letting your frustrations and disappointments flow out and dissipate) but I realize that this blog is more about keeping connected to my far flung family and friends and is not a creative writing showcase or journal therapy session so I guess I will just write alittle about what's going on in my life. The Family Reunion at Bear Lake is just around the corner and I am getting excited to see everyone. Danelle and I have been trying to come up with a good craft that would be appealing and inexpensive for the boys at the reunion. (the girls will be decorating flip-flops and making bracelets) I have bought the stuff to try out a soft foam sword for some medieval fighting but the center of the pool noodle looks awfully small for the PVC pipe to fit into for the handle. Well, I thought this is silly to still be wondering if it will fit when I have all the material right here so I checked and even though it looks small it does fit. So I will make one up and try it out. I also took a break and went to Bath and Body works to get some aroma therapy!! I have been mourning not being able to see and smell the lilacs this spring. I used to have a lilac candle but alas no more. I didn't know if they had any lilac scents but I just thought I would get something. I was so thrilled when I saw that they carried a lilac room scent!! They were also having their semi-annual sale so I picked up a few other scents also. Coconut Lime Verbana (one of my favorites), Cucumber Melon, Allspice-Nutmeg (for this fall), and a Cinnamon Clove (for Christmas time) on clearance for $3.00 each. I remember my sister-in-law telling me once that when she cleaned--she burned a scented candle and that it helped her focus on completing her task. I also find that music helps me clean so I bought myself a CD today (I spoiled myself today) I have read/heard several people rave about the soundtrack from "Wicked" so I bought that to try. Hold on----I put it in to play right now so I will hear it for the first time with you. I do have the book on which the Musical is based and I started it a year or so ago but then it got put down and I haven't ever finished it yet. (it did have some sexually charged parts as I remember which kind of turned me off to reading it) I have only heard good things about the play though. Wow here I sit, visiting with people I love, surrounded by the scent of lilac and listening to Broadway music!! I grew up with a huge lilac tree/bush in my front yard and I can't say how many hours I played under its fragrant branches. The shady area under it didn't grow grass so it was our "sandbox" so to speak (even though it was only dirt) I remember creating streets and towns for our cars, and digging with my brother's "steam shovel" that he recieved one Christmas. So far the music is good but I'm sure I will need to see the Musical so that not only will the music be fun it will bring with it a remembrence of a wonderful night out and experience. Well, I'm going to go and make one of the soft swords, I'll post a picture as soon as I get it done.