All About Darby

Monday seemed to last forever, but not as long as Captain Grace spent on his interstellar trip, so it's good.  We saw the movie again, all the way to the end, did some junking and picked up dinner, before heading to the point of the mountain to meet up and deliver a huge Atlas I had sold on Market Place. Then it was off  to Dad's Barbershop Practice, near the aquarium in SLC.  I ran to a local Home Goods, for an hour and then got to wait in the car, while I was reading, for 3 hours for Dad to get done.  YIKES!

On Tuesday I worked around the house, while Dad headed to SLC to babysit Parks while his Dad had some kind of an interview.  Here's a fun picture I made with the help of AI from a picture I snapped last week at the Family Dinner at Trevor's. Is he the cutest little elf ever?  Dad took him down to Associated Foods so he could show him off and visit with former work associates.

And I didn't need to use AI for Kai pictures, because he actually is having an adventure. 

Wednesday was Darby's birthday, and she got the keys to her new house in Idaho that day.  Big birthday 47!

At work on Wednesday Mary brought this picture in kids cookbook to show me, as it is the base of a funny story in her family.  Her mom wanted something nice for a school bake sale and contest.  She made this cake, and won, however, the main part of the cake fell, and she didn't have time to bake another, so she slit the side of the cake and shoved in newspapers to make it flat on the top.  She took the cake to the sale, and they promised if she was back by 9:00 she could buy it back.  However, when she got back at 9:00 someone had talked them in to selling it to her before the sale started.  Yep, her Mom was horrified. 

At work that day, my red car was one of several.  A gentleman looked at me funny, and I told his why I was taking the picture, then he pointed to the area in front of our store, where he had parked his white car in a sea of silver and white cars.  Self sorting, I guess.

Back at work on Thursday I was stunned to see this nice painting in a gallery frame.  It was 29 bucks.  I see this frame on lots of paintings at the pop-up art shows I go to, and I knew they were spendy.

Then an artist came in, one that I have considered buying from, and whom I follow on Insta.  She said the frame would have cost $300.  Clearly a custom framed painting, that was given as a gift and then sent to DI.  

After work I headed to my book club meeting where we discussed Sociopath, a Memoir.  It's the story of a woman who had pretty much diagnosed herself as a Sociopath by the time she was 7.  It took her a long time to get her antisocial urges under control, but she managed to marry and has a couple of kids.  Her struggle made me wonder how it had been for Belinda.  I really grieved for her, because I knew that she did not have the internal resources, that this author had.  The gal on the far left has a cousin who has identical twins, one of whom in a Sociopath.  That just seems crazy to me.  

Dad, meanwhile, went to see Project Hail Mary, with Jeff, Randy and Barb.  I know he enjoyed it, though it was his third time to see the first 2/3's inside of 6 days. 

When Dad got back from his run on Friday, he saw that at least on Turkey Vulture had come back to roost.  After we had the tree taken down last summer all of them left.  We were hoping it was for good.  But we have a least this guy, as of this evening he was still hanging around.

I left early to go to this Fleaology style sale at a home in Lehi.  I went last year and really enjoyed it.

Robby who I work with at Treasures, was there too.

Great stuff, but as Robby said, you could only buy for yourself, because there was no room in the prices for resale.

Then Dad took Darby to lunch for her birthday in SLC, while I was at work.  It's probably the last time we'll be able to do that.

This guy turned 13 that day.

 

He got a pricy lego set, that used up his money gifts from his folks and both sets of grandparents.  Hurrah for William.

After the market and a trip to the DI in AF, I headed into work at The Grove.  Mary and Keith came by and showed me some fun celebration craft sticks she had bought at Brambles and had then sold to Robin's Roost for her cost.  Mary is the champion of the single owner shop.  I don't bother with them much. 

I thought they were very charming.  I might make something similar.

I brought in quite a few things I'd just gotten at the DI to the Grove which is unsual for me.

and tried to really change up my booth.

The orange and green shelf.

I actually ended up selling two of the things I had just brought in.

This was my favorite shelf.

On Saturday I headed over to the grand opening of Pre-loved, a booth rental thrift shop like the ones we shopped at in Finland.  Here is the ridiculously long line.

Here the line turns the corner and more line.  The entry is off the back as you see.  The building that used to be here housed Dalton's steak house when we moved here.  It was torn down to make room for this new building.

The gal was raised by a Finnish mom and spent a month in Finland every summer.  She also grew up speaking Finnish and married a man who is half Finnish as well.

I thought the shirt were cute.

Here is a member of the chamber of commerce, as well as Miss Payson Preteen to help with the grand opening.

And here I am with the woman herself.  She is expecting her 5th baby as she opens her 6th store.  It started as a Covid project, so its 7 years old. 

Dad, meanwhile, was playing at Darby's loading the moving van.

Davin and Trevor came to help.

Looks like fun.

except the part where Dave scraped his shin. Yikes.

They got into Meridian just as the sun went down...

and Brittany and Charley came to help, as did Dallas, who now lives in Boise.

Alas, all is moved in and Charlie dissolves.

Since I'd missed out on time with Adi on Friday, due to working, I managed to get her for a few hours on Saturday.  Here we are at Aubergine. 

with our Acai bowls.

And Trevor and Nell are off for a romantic getaway.  We get to spend time with their kiddos, well, Lu and Penny.  It was a great week.

Hail Mary, Week of Wonders.

Another great week, as we start out on Monday by seeing Forever Plaid at the Ruth.  We went with Barb and Kylie.  Lots of cosmic fun.

Here's what the 'real group' looked like.

Great light effects with the stage .... and who doesn't want to hear Calipso style music, my personal favorite moment.

We headed to the temple on Tuesday morning, getting home in time to prepare this piece we sold on marketplace.  Yes, it was from Uncle Ross and Aunt Julie, it's just that I no longer had room for it.  I'd had it in my craft room for a least three years, thinking we might use it, it's a Murphy Bed, in the end the other two guest rooms were always enough.  It was hard to say goodbye as it's so beautiful.

But it sold on Marketplace, and an older man from down by Fairview wanted it.

Ready to go.

Here it goes.  The man's last name is Shelley, so we talked about the poet Shelley to whom he is related. I even told him about the book collection about and by Mary Shelley, that I had bought at an estate sale, and have sold most of at the shoppe over the two years since I bought it.

I had to leave before they were completely loaded, as I had a date with Alysa.  We had a nice lunch and played zilch.

It was St. Patrics day so I made her into an Irish Maiden.

Then, this young man came by, as we were sitting in the Cottage Cafe, that is on the State Developmental Center Campus.  He was not dressed like this, but he looked so familiar, and when Alysa called him Patrick, I knew that I already knew that was his name.  I asked if he'd been shopping at Treasures Antiques, or not, as we have groups of people in Groups Homes that come in on field trips.  He said he thought so.  But as I thought of it, I realized I would not have known his name.  Then I asked what his Mom's name was, and he said, Lynda.  Ah ha!  No wonder he looked familiar.  His Mom is my cousin Debbie (The artist's) younger sister, so also my cousin. I reminded him that I had seen him at his Grandpa Riddle's funeral last fall.  I then figured out how Alysa and he are related.  They have known each other for the whole three years she has lived there.  They apparently like each other and were thrilled to find out that they are third cousins.

And I know you saw this one coming.   Here he is as St. Patrick, I couldn't resist.

Next it was off to SLC for a couple of hours of junking at my favorite DI, before ...

Picking up these kids up from school ...

and taking them home to chill with me for a couple of hours before Spencer got home from work.  Brittney was in DC, and he was patching things together until she got back.  Lucky for me.

Here's a favorite of mine, though you have likely seen it.

And in the family news, here is our Eva with one of her students.

Also, I am looking forward to seeing The Other Bennet Sister, a mini series which was done by the BBC.  Its evidently done, and I have no idea how to see it.  Anyone?  This picture shows the Mary Bennet in the original BBC Pride and Prejudice mini miniseries from the 1990's and this is the same woman some 30 years later, in the new miniseries as Mrs. Hill, the family housekeeper.  I read the book last year and loved it.  Can't wait for Mary's moment.

Nell has been doing one a day photos on Insta, and I am so loving her subjects.

So adorable, 

Don't you think?

At work on Wednesday this gal came in ... it was like a blast from the past, she looks so much like my friend Laura.  Looks, size, mannerisms, love of books .... and, as it turns out she grew up around Sandpoint Idaho which is where Laura is from.  It really was just fun to talk to her.

Here's a couple of customers with some flair.  Dressing in period clothing to go antique shopping is absolutely one of my favorite fads.

Mary also came by work, and I got a chance to help her move some things around in her booth to put in another display piece.  She later called to tell me about another antique mall that is going in in American Fork.  I am playing with the idea of getting a booth there, just because we never know when Treasures will be sold.  I may just be glad that I have a place for my goodies, in the event I no longer have Treasures and need a place to liquidate.

On Thursday I redid this gallery wall.

Friday Dad put the green cupboard up on its new bottom so we could see how close the size was.  Almost perfect, but we knew we'd need to add brackets to hold it in place. I got it painted that day and Saturday.  Then Dad and I moved both pieces up Saturday afternoon to take the footprint of the Murphy bed.

On Friday, at noon, I picked Adi up from the school, where she had her Dance lesson.  We went to eat, where she saw this fun license plate in the parking lot.

I had a Curry Bowl at Aubergine Kitchen, in Spanish, and she had an Acai bowl.  It took the whole of lunch for her to teach me how to say it.  (Ah-sigh-ee) Oh My.  AND they didn't bring hers until after I was done eating and had asked two different servers about where her food was.  So weird.  Spencer took Dad and me to lunch at the Aubergine Kitchen on 21st south last time we watched their kids together.  Oh my, I just love it.  It was super fun to find out its one of Adi's favorite places too.

Then she went to the antique mall with me and did some sweeping and dusting, while I put in some new stock.  I let her choose treasures to take home, and I was surprised when she chose a Mary Shelley biography.  She knew an amazing amount of stuff about her, and it was fun to talk to her about the famous Author.   I later googled her, and found an article about her called, Hail Mary, the Mother of Science Fiction.  That made me laugh, because as it happens Dad and I had tickets to see 'Project Hail Mary', a movie based on the book of the same name that night.  And it is Science Fiction!

This is where I left her snuggling with Deisel.  She said he sounds like an engine when he purrs .... and we all know that holding a purring cat drops your blood pressure. Win, win.

and here we are, all ready to see Hail Mary.

Here we are with the Moes ...

And the Heuers too.

Popcorn anyone?   We're all zoomed and revving our engines .... No purring for us ....

But then there was the screeching halt, when the alarms rang, and the announcement to evacuate blared over the sound of the movie, about 2/3s of the way through the movie.

Here's we are again ... waiting ... waiting and waiting.

After firetrucks and fire engines filled the parking lot we all headed home.  Yep, it's a good thing I read the book, or I'd be going mad about now.

Trevor's family got to see it without the drama!

On Saturday Dad and I hauled the newly painted base and antique cupboard top up to the craft room to take the place of the Murphy Bed.  Then I worked on refilling it with stuff that was mostly stacked on top of the Murphy Bed.  It feels so much more roomy, and I'm loving it already.  Much better access too.

The last project of the week was adding some of the pictures from art and soup, to our collections. These are the left and right walls leading to the balcony doors in our bedroom.  On the left, I added 3 pictures.  When I added the tiniest one along the diagonal, I laughed when I noticed how perfectly it matched the picture I put it next to.  It turned out to be the same artist from a previous art foray.  On the top, there was already a small, framed print by Jesse Wilcox Smith, so when I added the new Holly Hock painting from Art and Soup, it unbalanced things. However, I also I knew I had one more frame that matched, as well as a group of prints by Smith, from which the first one had come. It took me about an hour of searching, but I was able to put them together to balance the display.

On the right wall, I just added the tiny portrait at the bottom.

Trevor and his girls did a project that day as well.  They bought a shed kit at Cosco, which you can see here in their truck with Penny!

And here we see Eleanor as she goes to work on Construction.  Way to go Perkins family!

This morning, Sunday, Kai was dropped at the beginning point of the Pacific Crest Trail.

The border guards let him put his arm through the Mexican Wall, so he can 'start in Mexico."

Here he is with his cheer leaders, Bachan, Mom and Grandpa Mitko. Keep him in your prayers that all goes well.

We woke up to the news this morning, that the ward we lived in in Helsinki, just put in an all-woman Sunday School Presidency.   Unfortunately, we don't know any of them, but it's cool to see history being made.

Also fun, was seeing Stephen O Smoot, the man I met last year at the mall, when he bought an early Book of Mormon, on Follow Him with Hank Smith and John Bytheway. You may recall the family story about my great grandfather saving the life of his great great grandfather.

I talked to Kent Taylor, on the left about wearing bow ties, and how Dad used to wear them all the time ... then when Chris Holcomb came by in his homemade wood gear 'bow tie', I knew I needed a picture. 

Then in the afternoon Dad and I got most of the blog done, before heading to Pleasant Grove for errrr Taco Sunday, nope it just doesn't ring like Taco Tuesday, but heck, the taco bar was a lot of fun.  Here we see Mac loading up his plate.

McKenna and Penny all ready to dig in.

Some folks hung back for a while.

And the triplets lined up for a height check, for years Eleanor enjoyed being taller than her identical aged cousins, but alas ...

Here's our Mac, faster than the speed of light, but we managed to get a picture of him when he slowed down for food.

Adi and me.  Its been so fun to get to know her better.

Becca and Brady with Darby.  Darby planned the event, as it is the last get together before she moves to Idaho next week.  Yikes!  Her birthday is this Wednesday, and she will be getting the key to her new house in Idaho, that day.  Not a bad gift if you ask me.  But then, she is paying for it herself.  We look forwards to bigger get togethers in Idaho now that we'll have three of our kids there (if you count Dallas, which of course we do!)

So grateful for Nell and Trevor hosting us all, seen here catching up with Scott Bell, Hannah's honey.

Here we see McKenna getting on her cool!

Together again.

Can you see five people in this picture?  Yep, Hannah's hiding.  Her face is healing from an infection she has been fighting for over a year.  It's so great to see her and Scott again. Of necessity, she has been staying at home a lot, trying to maintain a sun and stress free environment, which helps he face to heal.  Her Scott has been a great support!

In other health news, we see Adi with a sad face and behind her Spencer holding Cam, who fell at the beginning of the party. We were all concerned that she might have a concussion, and they left early to take her to get it checked out.  Thankfully it wasn't a concussion, which was the outcome we were all praying for. 

Here is Reagan and her Dad.

and all those younger girly cousins. It was super fun too, when Trevor facetimed Eva so we could include one more girly cousin.   J. Scott was in on the call too, because of course, the more Scotts the better. (Dad, Trevor Scott, Scott Bell and J Scott)

Another grouping, with Hannah cut off at the left.

Our Adi made a taco bowl, I'm also a fan of food bowls, so I get it.

and here is the photo shoot that grew ... my actually born to me kids who were there.

Adding our Hannah to represent Ben

Then adding me and Dad.  You don't always see a lot of pictures with Nell, but any well-done picture will always reflect her attendance, behind the scenes.  Thank you Nellie.

And as always, Penny loving on her younger cousin.

 

And Parks hanging out with the big kids.

We love getting together and all felt bad about Cam's painful evening. It caused a rehashing of small owies, some including stitches, others including swearing, that have happened over the years at family parties.  I guess it's just part of life, and since none have led to permanent issues, we are grateful for our family time, as we look forward to another family gathering trip in 2027, when we hope to gather with all our posterity.