Our Flea.o.logy and Service Project Week

 This past week was just a tad busier than the week before ... and started as usual with my Monday walk with LaVern, here we are in the center of town in Genola, at Main and Center ...

 Back at LaVern's she shows me the lamb she is bottle feeding.

 After I get home I make my smothered burritos for We Can, our pot luck was all Mexican in honor of it being Cinco de Mayo ...
 Our service project was making washable sanitary pads for girls in Africa who have to stay home from school during their time of the month, since they have no supplies ... these octagons have the side flaps folded in for use and are put in a reusable holder.  As it is, girls who have to stay home for a week every month end up getting way behind, then leaving school early, which makes them eligible to marry as early as 12 or 13.

 That night Papa attached my new garden sign to the corner of one of the garden boxes.  That evening we hosted Family Home Evening at our house and the couple who was to have done the lesson was not able to come, so we sort of free lanced ... of course we are using Preach My Gospel, and we all follow along, so it worked out ok.

 Tuesday morning I walked with Ginny, then she showed me how her plants are coming along in the green house she had built last fall ... she even gifted me a tomato plant!  I was so inspired that when I got home I worked in my own garden a bit.  The rest of the day was spent painting things for flea.o.logy.  Dad of course, worked as normal before spending the afternoon and evening at the Provo temple covering his normal shift there.

On Wednesday I managed to work in the yard and get a table painted before heading to work. Davin called and offered to bring me an early Mother's Day gift, lunch from Cafe Rio, how cool is that? With Bri's brother's wedding that weekend they knew they would miss our Mother's Day dinner.  I thought that was so thoughtful!

Becca and her kiddos also dropped by! Which I always love.  She brought me supplies for the project we were doing together the next day.

After work I stopped and did our grocery shopping for the week.

Then on Thursday it was time for the big project!  Becca had volunteered to be a sub captain in a project her Real Estate office does every year for charity.  This year they chose to paint murals in a library on the west side of Provo, so Becca drafted me to be her artistic adviser.  

We sponge painted stones along a corridor, trying to match the wall papered stones on the archway that another group did.

It was fun because the kids in the school kept stopping to watch us.  One little boy asked another "Why are they painting zebra spots on the walls."  I am pretty sure he meant giraffe spots.  LOL! 

This is how it looked through the stone arches we were trying to replicate. 

And here is the crew!  Becca drafted her mother-in-law, another realtor, and a guy from a real estate related financial business to help.  It was a great crew and we all had fun!  Even when I dumped the gallon of paint into my expensive sandles .... Oops!

Helping Becca turned out to be a help to Flea.o.logy instead of a hindrance, because I took the day off work, and we were done by 3, so I got a lot of flea.o.logy work done afterwards.  Thanks Becca!!

Then on Friday, set up day for flea.o.logy, Dad stayed home so he could get his car fixed. That meant running to Lindon first thing, and then a morning of sweeping walks, setting up the fountains, and general yard clean up.  Because rain was threatening for the afternoon we just had two dealers set up earlier.  The couple who had taken the back patio space and Debbie Pain from the Park Ward,who had requested the garden house, were able to set up earlier. Debbie's  hand crafted toys and animals were perfect for the space, and I loved her use of antique quilt squares as pennants on this banner.  Such a clever woman! 

Dad and I ran off in the afternoon for a minute to sign on the refi for the house, as there was really no other  way to finance the new roof, and stuccoing being requested by the insurance company.  But it was fun to find out that the bank officer we were signing with, was my friend Ginny's daughter. 

It did rain heavily in the afternoon, then everyone came to set up in the evening, including Trevor and Nell.  They slept in a tent over night, and did sentry duty, which I enormously appreciate!

Morning comes early on flea.o.logy day, and so do the customers.  We had fewer customers than normal because the weather was over cast and rain had been forecast in Salt Lake where a lot of our customers come from, but we did have a lot, as you can see.

These pictures are from my booth. The Union Jack was super fun to do, one of the projects that got done because I'd taken the day off on Thursday!

I love it when family comes down to visit of course!  Aunt Joyce came too, but managed to dodge my camera.

It was fun that Steve, one of my vendors who makes jewelry, made me these "60" earrings, since I was to turn 60 the following week.  It was a great gag gift, but I loved them, and wore them all day!!

Then during the sale Dad brought in the mail and handed me an antique post card made out with a birthday message from Shauna Fairbanks.  I thought it was such a thoughtful gesture, but was a little surprised that Shauna  would have thought to do that, since she is so not Frou Frou. Then  Dad said I would be getting more of them, and I realized that the kids had organized a 'party by mail' for my 60th, how fun is that?  Nell had thought up the idea, and Brittany took on the project ... I Love it ... I later got 12 cards Monday and 3 more on Tuesday, this is just too fun!

Ginger and Tami Heuer came down and collected admission fees to benefit James' autism therapy. Ginger said they made enough to pay for a weeks worth of therapy!  

It stated to sprinkle around 3 so everyone started cleaning up early, which was a good thing for us, because it meant that we could make it to ...

... Riley  Rodrigues' eagle court of honor, the first eagle our ward has had in fifteen years! Dad has home taught their family for years!

Dad loves it when he gets to sit in the Eagle's Nest!  They had a nice dinner afterwards, which was nice too.

After the court of honor we headed north to attend Briahnna's brother Gabe's wedding reception.  The weather had really turned cold and wet, but the house they held the reception at, had a pool house, so that was nice.  Here are Nell and Briahnna.

They had dancing afterwards, that was a lot fun because the style was very animated, and Elias enjoyed both dancing and watching, as you can see.

I even got to watch McKenna for a bit ...

I taught SundaybSchool, and thought the lesson went well, then after church I took Mother's Day flowers to my visiting teaching ladies who weren't there.  I stopped at Andrea's house, and saw this cute display, and had to snap a pic.  We also had a nice long visit.

That evening we headed up to Darby's for family dinner.  Darby gave me some flowers, which was very nice, and Becca gave me a greeting card assortment too. Such nice kids, especially since they were part of the my Mother's Day gift, the printing of the second volume of my Pollyanna blog, which was such a lovely and nice surprise.  So I have to thank all my children for their kind generosity in getting me such a nice and meaningful, but boring to give, gift.  

As always, we had fun, and Trevor was a 'slide'. Kind of funny, all the pics I'd the other grand kids sliding were blurring so you get this one of the biggest  of the sliders.   After the party we met up at grandpa's house to pick up Grandma LaRie's china cabinet for Nell.  We then took it to their house, and that was it for the week!

A Slow Week and a Grandma Date!

 This past week can only be described as slow ... The high light was Monday, when I got to take Eleanor on a Grandma date, since Nell wasn't feeling exactly splendid.

The date was lots of fun, junking in Salt Lake with Grandma, where we hit four different thrift stores ...

 ... and where I picked up an item I had bought on line at this house, that had a couple of cute dogs....

 before stopping at Maui Chill on our way home for treats!!  Yep the highlight of the week, and sort of down hill after that.

 On Tuesday I was in and out of painting clothes as I got my visiting teaching all done, four visits with one at 10, another at 10:30, then a no show at 5:00, which I went back to at 6:30, before my last visit at 7 that lasted an hour ...  But in between, when I was in my painting clothes, I got this chest painted for flea.o.logy along with a white drop leaf table ...  Dad of course missed all the fun, working then going to do his regular temple shift.

I worked on Wednesday and Thursday, and Dad worked on getting an application into the State Historic Society for a tax rebate for putting on a new roof, which we will be having done this summer.  This is a picture that he sent in to them

Also, on Thursday, Dad stopped by and saw Grandpa, who looks like he thinks he's pirate in this picture.  Actually Dad said he was quite subdued that day.

 Of course all week I have been working on advertising for flea.o.logy, as well as getting emails out to the dealers who will be coming this time.  This picture is one I posted on Instagram.  Nell did a post for people to enter to win flea bucks, on our fleaology.blogspot.com blog.

On Friday I spent more time painting furniture, and finished up a green wood rocking bench I had found last week at D.I.  Its turned out super cute.

Then on Saturday I was off to work.  Dad worked around the house,  painting the window frame of the kitchen window in our new accent color, which will match the new black roof we are putting on..

That afternoon he had the priesthood leadership meeting for our Stake Conference, then there was a dinner for the High Council and their wives ... I worked until 6, but managed to get there at 6:20, just as they finished up serving ... wearing a dress to work helped.  Then we attended the adult session of our conference, sitting by Trevor and Nell's  friends the Bartholomews, who we enjoyed chatting with.  We normally go with the Kews, but Steve blew out his knee this week.  Getting old really stinks.

Today we attended Stake Conference by video feed at our own building, which always feels so remote ... then did some reading in the afternoon, before having a nice pot roast with the trimmings, and ate at the dining room table with Aunt Cheryl, which doesn't happen too often anymore.

After dinner I finally cleared the dining room mantel of its Easter decor and put up some bright chintzware that will look good until I decide to do something patriotic in the summer.   So that was our slow week.  I did get to read a book I enjoyed ... and of course Stake Conference is always good, so again the high light for me was my Grandma date on Monday.  I am thinking I am going to start doing these regularly, starting with grands that are 3 and a half or four.  That means I can have a highlight every Monday!

P.S., it was fun to see a video on Face Book of Reagan walking!!  Now we just have to wait for MeKenna ... :-)

Brittney Graduates and Paula Looses a Booth.

 On Monday, after walking with LaVern, a trip to the dentist and some junking I picked up Eszie in Lehi and met some of the girls for lunch at Cafe Rio, where else?  Dad had wanted to come, but ended up moving an isle in the Tooelle store, just too far to run over and join us.  Still I think Ashley, Darby and Becca enjoyed meeting Eszie ... Eszie then went with me to DI, just for fun and entertainment ...

That night Dad and I hooked up and went over to Salem for an open house to see Rui and her sister Emi, who went into the MTC the next day.  Both are going to Japan, and are very excited about their missions.  Rui will actually be in the same mission with Ryan Moe, interesting, eh?

 Here is Rui with the Simons family, with whom she lived her senior year of High School!

Tuesday morning, Ginny and I walked past Cristie's house and saw her awesome new pergola!  So charming!  Cristie is a former fleaology seller.  She used to have a store here in town, called Willow Creek, she was also one of the founders of Through the Grapevine, the first well known local boutique store in Orem . Amazing lady, who spent most of her life away from activity in the church, but who has come back into activity over the last ten years or so, and is an amazing example to everyone who knows her.

Dad worked on getting the Orem store ready for the Spring Walk, an event show casing store displays they do for each coming season, before heading to the temple for his regular shift.   He did more of the same all day Wednesday.

I had my morning 'tea' in the garden house and did some reading there, before doing chores and then going to ...

...Treasures North, where I redid this store display.

On Wednesday I walked with Ginny before heading to work, where I spent the majority of the day moving things out of the booth I am redoing, and then I had to find new homes for most of it, as I am moving out of another booth, and most of that will be in the redone booth.  It was a daunting day, and all so I can work a little less, and have a little less stress in my life AKA Emily's admonition to me.

  Dad was busy with the walk through with the store directors at the  Orem store when he got my panicked phone call that someone had a bought a door from me, that he had secured to a divider with a star drive screw, and we had no star drive to unattache it.  He came by after work and took it down and helped me deliver it to the buyer in Springville ... kind of a pain, but since we were together we decided to go to dinner at Cracker Barrel, which was nice, afterwards.

On Thursday I went to work early, stopping to buy paint and supplies, and then got started painting the new booth.  I was done painting by 12:30, and thankfully was working with Richard, who is very mellow about such things.  Around 3:00 Dad came by to get me to go to the big event of the week!!

 Becca's family also came to support Brittney as she graduated magna cum laude at BYU, Hooray!! for Brittney!! 

 Here is the proud spouse and his in-laws, Cathy and Peter.

 Afterwards Dad and I took charge of the kids and spouses and had a lovely dinner at Cracker Barrel, because the Cracker Barrel in Springville is right next to ...

 .. Patti's house, (Far left) where my Elk Ridge Book Club was having our meeting that evening.  Also in this picture are Sandy and her daughter Brittany.

 Above I am shown with Ann, and to the right are Carolyn and Suzanne.

On Friday I worked again, and managed to get almost everything moved from my old white booth to my new white booth.  It was exhausting, actually ...

as I was also training Loraine, shown with me above, on her first day to work at Treasures.  Luckily she was a quick study, though I am pretty sure she rang the bell to summon me for help, no less that 30 times ... still her abilities made it possible for me to completely move my booth in one day.

Dad was my hero that day.  I had made arrangements back in March to have the missionaries come to dinner that night, since I don't usually work on Fridays.  I hadn't written it down, and even asked our ward mission leader to call me and let me know what the date was.  Well she didn't and I got a call at work at quarter to five from the missionaries.  Arrrggg .... I called Dad, who was off early and was home mowing the lawn, and he agreed to go and get them and take them to dinner.  Yeah Dad!  Oh and Cheryl loved her take out from Los Amigos too.

That night I kind of crashed and burned ... Dad and I watched the rest of the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, and I think I was asleep before it was over .... yawn!

On Saturday Dad was up early to run the Pay It Forward race here in Payson.  He said he was half way through the race when he realized he had achey flu symptoms, but finished anyway, before coming home and attaching his back to the bed for most of the day, so unlike him, eh?

I, meanwhile, had headed to Pleasant Grove to meet up with my friend Wendy to attend Fleattitude, there.

We had a great time, and I managed to spend a whole bunch of money on all the good deals they have!!  

Today, we were off to church on our own, as  Brittney and Spencer headed to Texas this morning ... 

 After church, Dad and I headed to Spanish Fork to visit Grandpa Carlo before family dinner at Davin and Bri's.  We were pleasantly surprised when Becca showed up to take Grandpa to Davin's for dinner too.

 Here we are at Davin and Bri's ... where we see Aunt Darby playing with her nieces and nephews ...

 ... and Grandpa Carlo getting some great grand kids lovin, with the help of Trevor ...

 Becca and Adilyn are wearing matching colors, how fun is that?

Dad said he thought Trevor looked like Mr. Clean here, looking out over Davin and Bri's stairs. What do you think?

Bri and Dave had made Cafe Rio Salads for us all, and we had a great time visiting and catching up.  So that ends our week.  Of course the biggest event was Brittney's graduation, and we would like to congratulate her on all her hard work, and wish her well in her graduate studies at the U in the fall.