What the Dickens!?

Definitely a fun week, of quirks and oddities.  I ran across this picture of a man with puppies in his pocket walking a duck in shoes, when I was looking for a picture of a figurine of a man with puppies in his pocket.  But that's another story, and this one just made me laugh.

Monday was noteworthy because Dad passed 5,000 miles on his running app.  He started a regimen of running so he could get a discount on his health insurance in 2012, and never looked back. 

Monday found us still at Becca and Brady's house watching the kids.  Miss Reagan was stir crazy and went on a trip to DI with me, before some grocery shopping.  "Please sir, can I have more/"

We got the makings for pizza, as she was going to make a portrait pizza of Giselle from Enchanted, because we were having a movie party that night, and watch Disenchanted.  I laughed about the onion because in the book Oliver, the boys are allowed the following diet ... 1 bowl of thin gruel 3 times a day, 2 onions a week, and a half a roll on Sunday.  Emily should appreciate that.

And here's the princess with the princess portrait.

Cooking buried her nose and messed up her hair.

Madi's pizza turned out great ! The movie night was great too, Even Titan joined us in the fun.  We had root beer floats, popcorn, and of course, the pizza.

On Tuesday the kids were back to school after having a four day weekend, which made watching them so much easier.  Dad took Mac to his preschool in Orem, and picked him up before the big kids got home, he was pretty excited!

I stopped at the DI in Springville on my way home from babysitting and ran into Sherri Oldham, how fun is that?

Wednesday morning we woke up to snow blown up against our French doors. I guess there's a first time for every thing.  There was a lot of snow everywhere.  Because I don't listen to the news, I missed that it was being called things like Snowmageddon, and people were being told to stay home if possible.

But not me, I'd bought a green shelf on line the night before, and planned to head out and pick it up on the way to work.  This pic of the patio was taken the next day, or the roads would have been covered with snow on Wednesday morning. we got about a foot.

I got to the little shop/house the fairy house couple run. The drive was harrowing, but I got to work without incident.

I adored this professional costume that her mother wore as an actress.  Of course not for sale.  Because its their home, most of the goodies were not for sale.  

This shadow box contains the book they published a few years ago, and some of the fairy chairs she has made.

There were three of the very large fairy houses.

and this ice fairy reminded me a bit of my sister Julie's work.  Soooo fun.  

Dad got this picture from the current office couple in Finland on Wednesday ... Yep they have snow too, but they also have beautiful blue sky.  This picture is from the office window there.

No blue sky in Utah, but possibly more snow, as Dad plows into Darby's driveway for a day of bathroom floor tiling. 

At work I redid this cupboard to be entirely ironstone and other white stuff, along with wood pieces.

We were so dead at work that we only had four sales the whole day ... looks like others listen to the news.  I was killing time walking around the North Store and ran into these Dicken's Characters, which was perfect because I was in the process of finishing up a Dicken's Biography.

That night we went to the Hale Center Theater to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.  It was a comic, musical set in the days of Dickens, with humor that was not unlike Dickens.  Very fun, and we met the Shumways and Andersons there.

Speaking of the cold ...

And how perfect is this Dicken's excerpt from A Christmas Carol about being cold.

Dad got going early on Thursday before heading to the temple and shoveled the walks along the street, as well as those on our property, since I was to have book club at our house that night.

At work, this man bought a 200 pound anchor.  Boy was that interesting to move.  I dinged my shin, and boy does that hurt.

Don'r know if you can tell, but it took four people to load it into the truck. Two of them were strangers, people are soooo nice.

Here's the gang as we get started.  I wish I could say that we had read a Dicken's book, but alas it was called The Star Giver, and was written by Jojo Moyes, though she is English.  We have, however read four of Dicken's novels over the last 25 years, and 5 of Jane Austen's 6 novels.

Ann is one of our founders, two of whom are still in the group.

Her sock's read .... 'Just one more chapter?', how perfect is that.

So much fun...

I had Dad drop me off at DI on the way to my new job at The Grove.  I'll be working one Friday a month, because Jenn's husband just got a new job, and can't do the Friday shift anymore.  I found this antique steamer trunk for $12 ... its full of goodies, including some great books, like a Hugh Nibley book (so hard to find) to make the total bill $80 ... whoa.

Dad went back to Darby's after dropping me off, and finished cutting up the tiles for the bathroom floor.  Darby got the designer tiles from a friend who didn't end up building his dream home after all.  She got a great deal. 

This is the cash register at the store, its a square, pretty cool.  Unfortunately I have not used one before ... this is what happens when you put in the numbers and forget to use the plus sign ... I was panicked because all I could see to do was to push the blue bar which I thought would put the sale through.  Nope.  I called Jenn and she said, 'just push the c button", oh duh, c stands for clear ...  Alas, but the end of the day I was a pro.

On Saturday we took my friend Aubrey and her family to lunch for her birthday.  So much fun. 

Then Dad worked on moving this set of shelves out of our soon to be spa room.  The area just had stuff stacked here before, good job honey.

I finished my bio of Dickens, and toward  the end there was a description of his desk and what was on it, including a figurine of a man with puppies in his pocket. 

 Some of the items I recall were the paper knife above ... its ivory, and he had his cats foot attached (Like a rabbits foot) to the end.  Evidently he really loved this cat.  Also a bronze statue of two frogs fencing, a Rabbit on a gold leafed leaf.  I did find a picture of the fencing frogs, and then because he is Dad's favorite author, I decided to move Dad's complete set of Dickens down to the parlor to put it in the green angel desk.  I thought he'd get a kick out some similar items from Dicken's desk to our desk.

you can see the puppy man on the far right in the etching.

the top left is Dicken's pear handled magnifying glass, the one below is also a pearl handled glass that I bought one line.  The two figurines with puppies were as close as I could get.  I also bought the bunny, though he is a candle stick holder, and will do the the gold leafing on the leaf myself.  I know, kind of crazy. Then since I was making free with google searches, I thought I'd look for ... 

A bobeche to to fit the broken cup on this sweet chandelier I found at Canton last fall, 

This was the best i could do, but I'll keep looking.

and I was surprised to find a similar chandelier, and another one for more than $2,000, pretty fun for a chandelier for which I paid $5. 

Today we went to the homecoming for Rebekah Olsen, from her mission to France.  She is Dad's second cousin once removed, who he found last year at Roots Tech, when she was on her mission.  His Dad's Cousin, who is her grandmother was O'linn Lohmoelder Olsen, whose mother Ruth Perkins, and a sister to Milt.

This is Meredith Ohran, another of O'linn's daughters.

Here is Rebekah, with her cousin on her Mom's side who was also in the same mission with her, how fun is that?

Rebecca, her Dad, Matt Olsen, O'linn's son, his sister Karen Rasmussen, behind her daughter, their Mom. O'linn and us. Dad had a blast meeting relatives, though he had seen O'linn only a few times while growing up.

We are now finishing up our week by watching what is considered to be one of Dicken's best novels, Our Mutual Friend.

Friendship Day and Service Week

We had a great week, with lots of opportunities for service for us, and opportunities for others to serve us. It was a perfect way to celebrate Valentines the way the Finns do, with acts of service to friends, on February 14, or Friendship Day.  

Our first act of service was to buy cookie dough from these adorable salemen.  It's their school's one fund raiser each year, and we love helping out.

Dad also served by heading out to Mosida for that day ... here are a couple of the other guys working on ripping out the guts of a trailer that was donated to the church.  They are making it a second medic shed, as we usually have two different groups on site on any given day. 

Charley is serving as our pin-up girl for Valentines.  How cute is this!!

On Tuesday our service was having the fun of making dinner for a family with a new baby.  Dad thought I was crazy to sign up, since I was working that day, but I wasn't going to miss the chance to take in a meal with a Valentine's theme!!  I put it together before I headed to work.  It was a three-course meal, with a layered salad, then CPK 'chicken' bisque chowder, and a trifle. 

Dad came home a bit early from serving at Darby's, working on her kitchen, to serve by delivering the dinner to them. 

 I worked on the Tuesday because I needed the Thursday off to take Aunt Joyce in for cataract surgery on Thursday when I normally work.  I did a bit of touching up on my seashore booth. 

And just for kicks and giggles, this is a teenage friendship picture in Finland, from 20 years ago.  Esko Felin and his friend Yc (pronounced ooh-see, and short for her Chinese name, her family immigrated to Finland when she was 7 or 8 and from the time, they were about 12, they were besties.  She was not a member of the church, but agreed to write to him when he served his mission in California with our Ben.  How fun is that?)  She investigated the church while he was gone and gained a testimony.  When we arrived in Finland on our first mission, he had just completed a term as the bishop of the downtown ward.  It was his handicapped triplet sibling, Asko, who we served by visiting during out first mission. A perfect example of friendship day in Finland.

That day Dad not only served when he delivered the dinner, he also served when he went to the temple to clean in the late evening.

I also found this heart shaped rock collage to send to my friend Cheryl, who loves heart shaped rocks. "Here's something to ROCK your Valentines Day."

But Valentines had a bit of a spillover effect this year.  On Wednesday, my friend Kim went on Studio 5 to to show off her heart shaped junk collages.  I just loved them.  I have been saving smalls of items my Dad either owned, or that represent his life.  I had planned to eventually make a junk necklace of the items, now I am thinking a small work of art would be better.  

At work that day, I put my two stacks of lawyer's bookshelves on top of the East Lake dresser Dad had repaired, and which I brought in that day.  I love how it looks, and all because I saw a single stack on a counter in an antique store in SLC a couple of weeks ago and liked the look.  Voila. Mine had previously sat on the floor, and evidently disappeared there. 

After work I gathered supplies at home to help with a service project, and headed to Relief Society where we made hearts for heart attacks for ladies in the ward.  Also, a perfect friendship way to celebrate.  I did enough for two homes.  This home belongs to a gal who is a widow. I used to visit her as a Visiting Teacher, so that was fun, and I was able to personalize the hearts.  The other one I did was for a gal having surgery on her hip the next day.  When I went back to the car to get my phone to take a picture of the second one, I saw a little boy looking out the window, so no picture there. 

Thursday was Dad's day to serve in the temple.  I left around 7 to go out to pick up Joyce in Erda to drive her to her surgery at the Miran Eye Center, where she checked in at 9:30. She was supposed to go into surgery at 10, but due to severe complications with the surgery before hers, she lay in her underwear, under a sheet in the prep room for four flipping hours.  I was reading in the waiting room so no problem for me, but I felt so awful she had to go through that.  Her surgery was an hour, after which I drove her back out to Erda, where we went to dinner .... I got to Becca's around 8 ... whoa .  I was grateful for the shortened drive.  Dad had gotten there around 5, after his service at the temple, and then picking up the Indian Food we get from Dave's neighbor, to help support them, which is sort of a service.  That's not to say we don't enjoy the Indian food though.  Service definitely brings its own rewards, because we love Indian food. We didn't actually know they were members of our church, until Dad was talking to someone at the temple who knows them, and who told him that he was like considered to be a pioneer in the church in India, as one of the earliest members, and one who did much to help set up the church there.  That was cool to hear about. 

Ironically my friend Julie, from Mosida and her friend, Jill Chestnut, who served with us in the Presidency of the nursing home branch, came by to visit me at work, and alas, I was not there.  But they did send me this picture so I could feel loved and served.

My friend Nikki's husband, who is slowly recovering from an injury he suffered 6 months ago, had a setback, and she asked me Thursday night if I could come in for her on Friday.  I didn't want Dad to have to care for the kids alone all day, but he was happy to serve her by giving me the go ahead. Thus I left Dad with the kids and went into work.  I did get a lot of things priced and out, and finished up decorating my potting bench, shown above, which Dad had helped me to get into the store on Valentines, on his way up to Darby's.  I was pretty pleased with the outcome.

Meanwhile, Dad had served the kids by taking the three youngest on a walk along the Murdock Canal to a playground. 

This pipe in the playground is a piece of pipe that the canal now runs through next to the playground, as well as the nice long path.  The kids were amazed they could walk the 5 mile round trip.

Of course, Dad ran both Friday and Saturday and found that the American Fork temple is the same distance from Becca and Brady's as the Payson Temple is from our house.  Now if only Emily could arrange one that distance from Bonham for when we go in April for Abbie's baptism. 

Home and stretching on Saturday.

Kids essentially watching Saturday morning cartoons.

And look what I saw as I walked out to go junking that morning.

It was so fun.

Sarah Amestoy, one of our Finnish missionaries, used to go junking with her folks as a kid in California.  She's been messaging me to find a time we could go.  The day before she had messaged and asked to go on Saturday.  With the babysitting, I was hesitant to leave Dad on his own again, but he encouraged me to go.  I had planned a morning of antique stores, but on my way to meet her I saw an estate sign.  When I talked to her, she said she preferred estate sales to shops, so we headed back and went to one of the best I've seen. Here's Sarah showing off a funny 50's hobby horse here.

I'd been scooping up goodies for about 5 minutes, when the daughter of the household mentioned her mom was a painter.  Then she showed me a picture on the wall that was not for sale ... but the signature, L. Wright was on it, and I realized I was at my friend and soulmate's home, Lyn Wright, who is the reason I wear those flower toed shoes in all colors. I ended up staying for an hour and found so many wonderful things.  I got a few things to keep, including a partially done floral painting I intend to finish in her honor. 

I wanted someone to keep an eye on my stash at the sale, Lyn's daughter suggested I hire her daughter, Maria, who is shown here loading with Sarah. She sat with my stuff for a half hour, while I brought her more and more goodies.  Best $5 I ever spent.

Here we all are.

Here's Sarah, after we filled the back seat too.

We went to 3 stores in the area.  This is the farmhouse peddler, and I loved this furniture crown, but $450 was a bit steep.  But it was fun to find out that a former dealer, and friend, Steve Bougeouis, is still selling, though evidently just consigning at this store.

We also went to Rosebud Antiques where I found a wonderful antique carved clock base that was very unusual, and I thought, very reasonable.

At The Grove Vintage, where I have a booth, I actually picked up a day working.  I will have one Friday a month.  I am pretty excited to get to work.  As I've said before I just love Jenn and think she is one of the most talented people I know.  

I truly think my guardian angels really care about me and what brings me joy.  What are the chances that Sarah would decide to throw out this particular date for our outing, which we have been messaging about for two months, and that I would be in North County, and would happen to drive by that sign on my way to meet up with her?  I really think it was a tender mercy, and I am so very grateful for the experience. 

That night we had Davin watch the kids for us so we could meet up with the Jamsas and the Shurtz for dinner in Salem.  It was super fun to find out that the Shurtz, who we took over from as office couple back in 2019, received their call to go back to Finland this summer and serve as the office couple with the incoming presidents, the Lehtinen's, who they, of course, already know. We had a lovely time and are grateful for the Jamsas willingness to serve us.  The Jamsas follow a plant based - whole food diet, and the food was just amazing.

Davin and the kids for a photo op when we got home.  We were so grateful that Davin was willing to serve us and Becca and Brady's kids.  They all had a ball, as anyone would, getting to hang out with Uncle Davy Bear. 

Can I just say there is nothing that makes me happier than seeing my grandchildren becoming friends.

And everyone enjoyed playing with the hoverboard that Reagan bought herself. honestly, it was pretty fun to watch too.

So here are the kids after church on Sunday, the girls came home at 11 and put on PJs .... yeah, my kind of laid-back day.  

Now I am finishing up the blog, and Dad has gone to serve at fireside in Salt Lake to do the pioneer story, as part of a stake program to prepare their kids to go on trek.

Well, that was our week of service and love.  Interestingly the two really do go together, because it is as we serve that we come to love.  I read a theory once, that humans stay so connected as families, to a far greater degree than animals, because of the long period of infancy that humans have.  A time when they are incapable of taking care of their own needs, thus giving caretakers a long time to develop strong bonds as they care for their young.  Likewise, if we are having issues with a relationship in our lives, there is much healing that can occur if we choose to serve the individual involved.