Monday, February 23, 2015

Our 200th Post, The Orem House and Chinese New Year!



Since Monday was President's Day, we celebrated by working hard ... after all that is just following the example of men like Washington and Lincoln, right?

Darby came by the house in Orem to help with cleaning and painting projects ....

 She also went out and bought Lunch at Mama Chu's for Dad for Lunch ... but not for me, because I got to go to lunch in Springville at the Trolley with Dad's cousin Karen, with whom I play words with friends on line.  

To the right Dan and Trevor, who also came to help, take out the furniture in the living room so that the carpet could be cleaned the next day.

As evidenced by their passenger, Becca, et al came to help as well. 

Then we stopped and got cookies on the way home before heading to one of Dad's care centers, as he was in charge of family home evening there.  BTW do any of you want to come next month and put on a Family Home Evening at the care center?  It would be great for a mom or dad to give a short lesson and for their kids to do a musical number ... what do you think?



On Tuesday I got to go over and help Sherri on her quilt again ... it was fun to see that she had hung the Pooh banner I made for her on the occasion of her first quilt and tea bee ...




On Wednesday I worked on pricing and displays at the mall, including switching out my Valentines display for a spring look.

I also put this cute depression era spool shelf on the Reclaimologist site for posting day ... happily it sold, and surprisingly to a young woman who will use is as a display in her sewing room. 
 I also put out the plethora of clocks I bought at the Acorn Antique show the previous weekend.

On Thursday I brought the blue van, and was able to place most of the merchandise left from the 3 Dotters sale.    After work I headed home to participate in our Relief Society's get to know you night.  Dad and other family members went to Becca's client appreciation night, Death By Chocolate, and I may be able to post a picture of that latter. 







 Here are the ward ladies getting to know each other by playing games!!

On Friday I decided to take a day for junking.  I'm in need of new merchandise, and its been nearly two months since I've done more that attend an antique show, or hit a DI for a half hour.

I ran into Tom, Brittany's FIL, and a friend, at one of the estate sales ... always fun to see him!!

That night, after dinner, Dad and I spent the evening reading, including 2 hours worth of Rough Stone Rolling for me.  







On Saturday morning we were off for Orem again ... I had Dad stop and drop me at a Garage Sale across the street from Ashley's, so I took my goodies found there over to the Hall's for temporary storage, since Dad had continued on to the rental house there in Orem.

I got to snap a picture proving that the inevitable has actually happened, Ian is now taller than Kim.

Kim had a date to Preference that night, and I was able to steal this picture of her off Andy's FB page ... I felt a tiny bit of ownership though, as I had given Becca the necklace she loaned to Kim to wear!!  What a beauty!
 Becca and family came again to help with the house ... this time she and Brady brought Titan up the stairs as they replaced the furniture in the living room on the clean carpet.
 Her kids also provided a bit of slave labor for us ... as she kept them busy helping!  What a good Mom!





 Later we ran home to change into our Asian clothes .... thanks to Brittany who rescued these Japanese Men's Komonos from her in law's garage sale for us to use for Bethlehem Dinner!!  


Robin hosted a Chinese New Years Party, and everything was perfect!!






 Krista even came over and ate with us while waiting for her date to arrive!!  Isn't Barb's dress amazing?  She had it made while they were in China staying with Randy's sister who was living there at the time ... Randy picked up his shirt, ready made, in a market while there.


Robin had bought herself, Barb and me this Q and A journal, pretty sure its the one I coveted at a cute shop in the Riverwoods a while back... because, You Know, a girl like ME can Never, no Never have too many journals ... Ha Ha ...  When I got home I noticed that it matches my other journal and my current reading material!!  I've already caught the 5 year Question journal up to date, using my Jane-a-day journal for Day particular questions.
On Sunday morning, I spent too much time working on the Q and A and had to rush to get out the door ...  Saying morning prayers is one of my New Years goals, so I quickly said a very, very short praying, just thanking the Lord for the day and asking that I would feel the spirit in Church ... oh my, such a tiny prayer and such a hugh answer ... I felt the spirit so strongly all day, that I thought back on what Barb had said the night before about going to extra meetings and the temple because one wanted to feel the spirit  more often ...  It was just amazing, and I loved every single minute of the day. 

After our first two meetings full of spiritual feasting, I headed to the Medalion care center where Dad was conducting that day.  The High Couselman, Brother Pemberton spoke, and the spirit was wonderful.  Afterwards I asked these girls from Medallion to let me take their picture with Dad ... most of the residents at this facility go home on weekends, but these girls are regulars at Sacrament meeting then there are at least 3 boys to do the sacrament, two members of the branch presidency, their wives, someone to give a talk, and one to three people to do a musical number ... along with the handy man from the home, and another gentleman, who comes, not sure why.  Oh and forgot the pianist.  So for four people to attend the meeting we have a staff of 12 .... but the spirit is so strong, and it is so good to be there!!

This home is for high functioning handicapped people, and they are taken by vans to part time jobs during the week.  These girls have been such a joy to get to know.


This week, Amy, needed to renew her temple recommend, so Dad stayed after to do the first interview, then he and I went over and picked her up to take her to the Stake President's office for her second interview.  Afterwards she was asking about and talking about the new temple, wondering if she could walk there from the home, but its too far.  We did take her over to see it ... we are so excited about having our own temple in Payson.  

After our quick trip to see the temple we dropped off Amy and headed home for dinner with Cheryl.  After dinner, we went to the Micheal Kennedy Fireside at the stake center.  Micheal is the first descendant of Joseph Smith's to have received the priesthood, he is about Dad's age, and had a wonderful story to tell.

So that was our week, hope yours was full and fun!!  Thanks for all the help we had from many of you in making this week one to fondly remember ... even the working on the Orem house part!! 

PS. I thought I would share a great story that Hal Peery told in Sunday School.  He said he'd suggested and supported a project for his company in Texas ... they had hired a small company on  the line to start the work  ... but the man in charge of their work there seemed to be going very slow, dragging his feet.  Hal thought he was incompetent, and because of his personal interest in seeing this project succeed, he became very angry with the man ... so angry that for three nights in a row he had been unable to sleep ... he said he thought he was beginning to hate the man.  He was seething, imagining how he would make sure this man never got another contract, after how he had sabotaged this project, etc.   It was three in the morning and he despaired, afraid he would not get any sleep this night either .... as he silently prayed, he was prompted to pick up his Sunday School lesson and work on it.  His phone was on his night stand so he picked it up and touched LDS tools, so he could continue on with the lesson he was preparing ... it came up at the spot he had been at when he quit the last time he was working on it. 

 It was ..

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall
say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire..

 and to make matter worse when he checked the Joseph Smith translation it omits the 'without a cause' phrase ...

He said he was just sick, but after some serious prayer was finally able to sleep.  He later asked a colleague who knew the man in question and found out that their small company had just 2 employees and that the man had been working 6 - 12 hour days a week, trying to catch up, and on top of it all, he has a grand child in the hospital.  Lovely learning story!!




Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Painting the World Blue and Valentines too!


On Monday I spent the morning making birthday banners for my We Can group.  We've been putting together birthday kits for the Food Bank, and we were short on the banners ... not sure why I didn't just go to the Dollar Store and get some, but I guess this was a labor of love.

I also got some blogging done.  That night we were supposed to take Eszie out, but she cancelled, so we spent the evening watching the Big Bang Theory, which is always a good choice.

On Tuesday it was my monthly junking and temple day ... I worked in the Provo Temple laundry for four hours before hitting the DI, in Provo, where I ran Amy Bailey, now Amy Morris.  She lived in Park ward ... so it was fun to catch up.  She belongs to the Pyrex Pirates group I belong to on Face book, and I didn't realize I knew her, so that was fun to make the connection.


I hit a couple of other DIs before heading out to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in Day Break ... as you may recall I have a 'temple passport' for Utah temples and I am trying to hit them all.  Arlene met me there, and it was fun to go to this temple that is so small and so different from other Utah temples ... we finished up our day with our usual visit to Zuppas. 


 On Wednesday I worked, as usual, and listed an item, a vanity on the Reclaimologist page, as well as on Instagram and my FB page ... Bri and Davin saw it and came by the antique mall to see it in 'person' in case it would fill a need they had ... it didn't but it was fun to have a minute to visit with these cuties, anyway, 

On Thursday I worked on unloading the van  which was still filled with the stuff I'd taken to the 3 dotters sale the week before, and accomplished quite a bit.



On Friday I spent the morning cleaning and blogging, then ran some errands to get ready for a day of working on the Orem house, we are selling.  That included a $60 (cough, choke) gallon of paint from Sherwin-Williams, that is made for painting cabinets.  Dad and I then met up and headed to Salt Lake to meet up with Barb and Randy, during their romantic Valentine's weekend at a Marriot there.   We met at the Cheesecake Factory in City Creek.  Here we see Barb giving me a vintage Valentine.  How sweet is she, and oh how well does she know me?
 ... and here we are at dinner at the famous Cheesecake Factory ... Penny of the Big Bang Theory is a waitress at the CCF ... and it was our first time ... the Waiter even mentioned that his wife, who's a  BBT fan, teased him about his work, and Penny, before he finally watched a few episodes and concluded that the mock up on BBT is NOTHING like the actually restaurant.  After dinner we all walked over to Anthropologie, where I used the gift cert Darby gave me for Christmas to buy three more letter mugs ... I got her initials, DP, and also Q since its my favorite letter.  Don't ask.

We parted ways, as they headed back to their hotel and we headed to Trevor and Nell's to watch the kids for the rest of the night.  Ben and Hannah had come to paint the accent wall in their house a deep turquoise, while they were on a romantic over night stay for Valentines,as a surprise for Nell.  They did a great job!  Hannah says she likes to paint, and has done a fair amount of it ... a kindred spirit evidently! You could tell she has skills, it was a great job!


Saturday morning the kids, Becca  and we were off to the hardware store to get the goodies for the quick spruce up we are doing at the Orem rental house before selling it.

We got new light fixtures for the top two floors in brushed nickle, as well as silver door knobs. 
Back at the house Brady came by bringing their kids, including cute little chocolate faced Reagan, as we worked on the house.  Titan had fun playing with his cousins too. I mainly  painted cabinets in the kitchen with  Becca and while Dad was installing door knobs and light fixtures.

I also repainted the front door, as you can see here, with a bit of the green showing in the bottom right corner.
Here it is after Dad put it back on ...

While we were working Ron Willmore, Dad's former bishop's counselor and current Bishop of the ward, dropped by to visit.  It was fun to see him, and to realize we're are really cutting ties with the old ward. ... its kind of funny that this is the first house we have decided to sell out of the family ... we will never be in this house again, after its sold.  That is so final, and I always loved this house ... 

 I did sneak away around 2 to meet my friend Wendy in Ogden to check out the Acorn Antique Show, that's the one I did for years, before my friend Bruce Alison moved out of state ... it was fun to see lots of dealers I've known for years, even some fleaology dealers ... and of course I love antique shopping.  Wendy's hubs had driven her up on his motorcycle,  yes, I know crazy on Valentines day in Utah ... but its been so mild here, with days in the 70's its just crazy ... so it was a nice for her to ride up and then we had a nice visit on our way home.

Above you can see the lamps that I sold to some out of town dealers who were on their way up to the show on Thursday at the antique mall ... so glad they are off my hands, though they were so lovely.

After I got back from the show, the Kews picked up Dad and me and we went out to dinner to Cubby's at their new location in Spanish ... its was a little annoying to be served by such new staff, as the store is so new, and they made several mistakes ... but as always, it was great to visit with our friends and try out new yumminess ... 

When we got home Dad gave me a box of sugar free chocolates in a heart shaped box. What a darling boy!


 On Sunday I was up early to bake cookies to include as hand outs for my Relief Society lesson, which I then spent an hour packaging individually along with the recipe as part of an object lesson ... unfortunately when I got to church I realized it was ward conference and the Stake RS presidency would be giving the lesson.  Oops. Unfortunately the councilor over me, told me a month ago, I just forgot ... stinkin old age!

In the afternoon I drafted Brittney and Spencer to come up so I could give someone the lesson ... aren't they great?!

Then it was off to Trevor's house for family dinner.  We had Navajo tacos which is always a favorite!



Here are some random pics of the family.  To the right is McKenna, who is a  lot like Ashley as a baby. Ashley didn't walk until she was 15 months, and by then she could stand up and sit down in the middle of the room, so that she NEVER once fell.  McKenna is shown here standing, and Briahnna said she can also stand up and sit down in the middle of the room, she is almost 15 months too.  What a cutie. 
 Here are some of my favorite people.
and this is Davin, disappearing camo style in from of the new blue wall!




... and as always my kids were making up fun games ...  I love our family dinners!  Thanks to all my kids for being so amazing!


Monday, February 9, 2015

Charlotte Turns Two, and Other Wonders!

This week started with my first of the month double fun Monday.  This awesome sign is on the garage of a friend and fellow We-Can member.  She hosted We can, and we made Valentines for the care centers in our stake!

Afterwards I filled my day with blogging, cleaning, and meeting the plumber here, who is going to be doing the work for our bathroom in our garret suite!  

That evening we hosted our Family Home Evening group.  Dana DeWitt gave the lesson.




Also, on Monday, this cutie turned two, and Brittany sent me these pictures of her opening her package from Grandma and Grandpa.  (in Idaho of course)

 On Tuesday I got a visiting teaching visit done before heading to DI in AF, and later picked up Scott and Eva to take them to the final dress rehearsal for A Mid Summer's Night Dream, at BYU.   The puppets were made by Jenn's (of 3 Dotter's fame) husband Nat, and it was Jenn told me about it.  I think that both kids liked it.  Scott's been studying Shakespeare at school, and told be two of the story lines for a his plays on the way there.



On Wednesday, it was off to work as always.  Becca took her kids and Eleanor to see grandpa at the home in Spanish, she even took him for a walk .... bless her cotton socks.

It was fun to see the kids, as always!! I love it when she stops by with them. (I get to show them off to friends too, so that's always fun!
 I also brought the rolling cubbie shelf I found at DI last week, into the mall and got it cleaned up and painted to use for a display.
 Then, of course, with a show looming, I brought in all the goodies I'd gathered to make this bike basket into a picnic date ... and put it together to take to the show.

Since I had brought in the shelves I'd hauled around for 4 days, out, clearing my cargo area, I had room to put in the white drop leaf table, I'd had at the mall, along with a set of chairs, to go to the Orem house for staging.  Dad came by and rode with me to Orem to get the goods into the house there.

 I know its hard to tell, but Thrusday I mainly worked on loading up more stuff to take to the 3 Dotters show.  Here I am shown with a pyrex casserole dish on my head, sorry.  I belong to a group on Facebook called the Pyrex Pirates for collectors.  I mainly follow, rarely posting, but the leader of the group has this bowl on her head in her ID pic, so I posted this with the caption "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".  Yeah, I did that.

Julie, who I was working with, and also a Pyrex Pirate (not shown, that is Keith who was visiting from next door), laughed and said I was 'authentic' ... is that a compliment?
 After work, Dad came by and picked me up and we went to the temple with ward members.  Our half of the group missed the session, as there were tons of original endowments scheduled, so we went on the next session.  That was probably a good thing, as they were short handed and were able to draft Dad to help.  But it meant we got to Cracker Barrel afterwards, about the time the other half of our group got their meals.  It was super fun, though, we got to know the Pecks better and realized that we have a lot in common.  I've known Trudy since she co produced Little Women at Peteetneet, when Emily and Becca were in their early teens and were in the play.  But, I didn't know that they are Landlords, and flip houses.  She was even nice enough to offer to let me see their current project.




And how fun is this?  Trudy folded all of her tip bills into oragami, this frog actually hops!!
On Friday morning I was up early to finish organizing and loading the van.  I was worried it wouldn't all fit, but with some scootching, piling and tucking, I just managed.  
Then I ran into Provo to check out the house the Pecks are currently flipping.



The house is so fun, its had three separate additions since it was built about 1900, and some of them were pretty quirky.  The Pecks are doing some amazing stuff though ... so fun to see.

They put a bedroom in the attic, up a spiral stair case.  I love this exposed brick chimney in the room!!
 Then it was off to Pleasant Grove to set up for the show at the old Rec Center.  Dad and Trevor and Nell came and helped too.  Here is the booth all set up and ready to go.


Of course there are always shenanigans at these things.  This is Steve, who made me the '60' earrings last year for my birthday, and Jami, who's the head of our Reclaimologist group!

After set up was complete, Dad, Trevor, Nell and I headed to dinner at a local place in PG that they like.  It was great pizza, and we had a great time talking.  Trevor was in the mood to share and kept us laughing and laughing.

 Early Saturday I headed back to finish up pricing, etc.  Above are Jaqueline and RaNae.

  Jaqueline and hubs had left their little girl with his brother's family while they did the show.  That meant their 'alarm clock' was out of the house and they slept in.  The early bird tickets were from 8 to 9, and they were still home.  They got a call from Margo and Clam, not sure which one actually called, and they rushed down.  But they live in Sugar House, so quite a drive ... RaNae jumped in, leaving her booth in the able hands of her husband, and took money for them until they came .... such wonderful bonding moments.

I walked around before the show started and introduced myself to other dealers, some of whom I know only on line.

Later in the day it was fun to see old friends, like Wendy, as they come to shop.  Really these shows are like big parties, where you do a really lot of work, especially during set up and take down, but there's always room for a lot of fun in between. I appreciate my crew for their help in the take down as well!!

On Sunday I was off to church, where I sat with Brittney and Spencer.  The Peck's son had just gotten home from his mission and was reporting.  He was clearly a great missionary.  He told an interesting story.  He was serving in Chili, and said that one day they were walking down the street when two large dogs came up and started playing with them, nuzzling their hands, and licking them.  He's not a dog fan, but petting them, and moved on.  A few minutes later a man who had been watching this, called them over and said "Those dogs are a menace, they attack everyone who walks by, I can't figure out why they acted that way with you.  What is it that's different about you two?"  Of course the man, and his brother ended up taking the discussions ..  The interesting thing to me is that the dog could feel the Spirit about them.  Later, at the nursing home, for my second sacrament meeting, I paid closer attention to the sacrament prayer, and was impressed that we are exhorted to keep His commandments, and remember Him, that we may have His Spirit to be with us.  I know that people can see and recognize active (sacrament taking) members of the church by their 'spirit', or the look in their  eyes', or the  'glow' ...  But its amazing that a dog would recognize that as well.
Anyway, I took this picture as the site kind of made me giggle.  When I got to the nursing home, the small lot for visitors was full, so I parked behind the two 'home vans', and fit right in!!


After church these two came up to visit.  As you can see Dad had brought down the big mahogany bed from the attic on Saturday.  He's trying to clear it to make room for us as we finish the attic.  He also took our white iron bed to the Orem house for staging ... Spencer helped him haul it out.  I was just so surprised when I came home and saw this Saturday night.

BTW, Dad also did electrical and other chores at the Orem house while I was selling at the show.

Anyway, visiting was fun, and Brittney 'dreaded' Spencer's beard ...  while we chatted, doesn't he look like a really big leprechuan?

We also watched the Joseph Smith movie they play in the visitor's center.  Since I am reading his biography, Rough Stone Rolling, I found it more interesting than ever.

Also got talking about ancestors who were in Nauvoo, and asked Trevor who it was that was an ancestor of Dad's that was with Joseph Smith in the Carthage Jail, the night before he died. It was John S. Fullmer, who is an ancestor of Grandpa Burt's (Philo Dibble is an ancestor of Grandma LaRee's)

We had a great Sabbath, in fact we had a great week.  Thanks to all of you who made it special.  We love and appreciate you all so much.