"Godspell" Lobby Decorations

Glenn is in the school play "Godspell". He is one of the disciples. It is such a small cast this time that I felt I need to take charge of something so I chose decorating the lobby. Here are a few pictures of how it turned out.

The top picture is of a smart phone, laptop and tablet/TV all with our tie dyed version of  "Coexist". There are a lot of religious books in front of all 3 screens.
The bottom picture is of the banners with the same "Coexist". There is more to the whole look but these are the best pictures. Sorry the pictures were not close up, they were taken with my cell. The canvases were all done by the theater tech class.

I came up with the ideas and Dale, Rachel and myself did all the work putting it together. (OK, Mark did about a half hour worth of work too) We had a small group of parents that helped tremendously putting it up at the school. It was supposed to take 2 hours and took just less than 4, because I didn't think of so many details. I still have to go back and finish the bio boards (cast has not turned them in yet) they go under the banners on that frame.

I'll blog again about the play itself, after I see a real performance.

Elections

I went to work at King County Elections for 16 days. I was a "Signature Verifier", one out of 40. I loved it! I was trained for 2 days on how to recognize similarities and difference on signatures and to verify that it was the actual voter. It would take me anywhere from 40 to 20 minutes to verify 250 signatures through the scanned computer system, usually taking me 25 minutes. I would have to read each persons name on the data base, then again on the voter registration signature and read a third time on the ballet envelope, then compare the 2 signatures. I would "challenge" anywhere from 8 to 40 signatures per 250, usually 20. What would get "challenged" would be things like no signature on the ballet, someone signing the wrong envelope, but usually it was when the signatures didn't match (in my opinion).
After an envelope was verified it would go to "opening" or if it was challenged it would go through further reviews. Then a ballet would be scanned and tabulated.
In Washington state we do elections completely by a mail in ballet system. In  King County (the 13 largest county in the nation) there are 1.2 million registered voters. We were hoping for about a million to actually vote. Dale will have actual numbers when it is all said and done.
I loved the work and the people I worked with were great! I loved having a reason to get dressed and put on some fun make up. Not my usual pajama days.
I am also glad it is over. I don't know how working moms do it all! I'm really glad I don't have to, Thank You Dale! Mark is even glad I'm home now when he gets home from school. I can get back into reading my scriptures every day now too.
Now back to being "just a mom" and getting some more quilts done.

What I'm up to

• Spent 4 glorious days and nights with my hubby at Birch Bay a couple of weeks ago. Wishing we could have stayed for eternity. It was wonderful to not have any responsibilities except to eat and sleep when we wanted to.
• Went to the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" with Glenn. Balled my eyes out. Tried real hard not to cry more than I did. We also had some good food that night at Chipotle.
• New Stake Presidency was put in place today. I will miss President Taggart. His love for His stake sometimes reminded me of Wally Baker from Suitland, MD. Both spent the time to get to know people and knew them by name. President Baker gave me a swift kick in the pants as a young adult, even when we had never met before.
• I have spent 2 days in training for my temp job working at King County Elections as a Signature Verifier. I start the work tomorrow. I love the new clothes I bought for it. Hope I can do a great job at it.
• The house is a wreck and it is bugging me.
• I am looking forward to going to the temple with Jamie on December 20. I love that girl.

Romney

I am not on the band wagon of voting for Mitt Romney just because he's Mormon. (I know people who are) I am voting for him because I agree with most of where he stands on the issues. I just can't follow Obama, at all!
I live in a Blue State, so who knows how much my vote will even count. My 18 year old son will vote Blue. He can think for himself and does.
Last night we put out a yard sign for "Romney & Ryan". (Dale put out a govener sign too) We are worried about what kind of damage will happen to our home because of the signs. We have bumper stickers too, but hubby doesn't want our cars to get keyed.
I wish we felt society was civil enough to disagree with one another.

Allegiance

I was in the KR High School councilor's office waiting for my appointment when the morning announcements came on.  When they started reciting the pledge of allegiance, I saw one young man get up without hesitation and look at the flag and start reciting it. Everyone (about 14 of us) in the office followed, and we all said the pledge of allegiance together. When it was over, I heard another young man state to his friend, "In Renton no one would have have said that." I felt lucky to have witnessed that first young mans integrity and since of pride.
I love living here!

Henry B. Eyring quote

I tried to quote this in a Relief Society meeting recently;

"When we put God's purposes first, He will give us miracles. If we pray to know what He would have us do next, He will multiply the effects of what we do in such a way that time seems to be expanded. He may do it in different ways for each individual...but I can promise you that if you will go to Him in prayer and ask what He would have you do next, promising that you will put His kingdom first, He will answer your prayer and He will keep His promise to add upon your head blessings, enough and to spare. Those apparent prison walls of "not enough time" will begin to recede, even as you are called to do more". -Henry B. Eyring

I found the article it is quoted from here. This has hung on my refrigerator for many years. I have put it to the test and have always had the faith that when time gets tight for me, as long as I'm doing what He would have me do, I do not worry about "enough time". I do what I can I know that it is enough.

My last week worth of nothing

• Today I've been helping Mark pack his food for his 50 mile back packing trip he is going on next week. It is good to sit down for a minute.
• I have spent lots of money and time trying to get Mark ready for this trip. I told him this is an investment in him. I hope he has an experience that builds him up and serves him well.
• My kids are having a boring summer.
• I still need to work on Andrew's wedding quilt. I really I'm tired of sewing quilts. I have 2 more after that one that I "have to do". Then 2 more I could do but won't.
• Dale and I celebrated our 20 wedding anniversary a week ago. We went to Seattle for dinner at pier 66 and then rode on the new Ferris Wheel. While waiting on the short line at the Ferris Wheel, we got to see someone purpose. That was sweet.
• My kids are having a boring summer and they are only watching TV or playing on the PC or Xbox, and I don't care this year.
• I would like to write out "our love story" of how we meet and fell in love. It  is such a good story. One day I'll take the time.
• I'm listen to the Alternative radio station, 107.7.

This would be a FB post, but...not

Dale is out of town until Friday. Sleeping by myself can be hard for me. Rachel is at YW camp until Saturday. I get my sewing room all to myself again. Glenn is busy every evening with the play. Just Mark and I in the evenings. We should go out and have some fun, but I can't think of anything fun to do.
I drove to drop off girls at camp yesterday afternoon. There and back took 5 hours. I slept just fine last night.
I think I have a cyst that is buggin me. To much caffeine these last few months, maybe.
I am going to work on Andrew's quilt some more today.
Still skipping to much Boot Camp. I love to sleep in.

Rut update

Love my new hair color! Will love it even more when it lightens up in a couple of weeks. Working on a new quilt design for my nephew's wedding. It is coming together quickly. Still thinking about quiting Boot Camp for the summer only maybe? Still sleeping alot. But maybe the rut is starting to go away.

In a Rut

I'm not losing weight like I wish I could. I'm thinking of quiting Boot Camp. I'm getting my hair colored and cut this Thursday. I hate the idea of not having our Anniversary quilt done on time, but hate even more the idea of sewing. My kids are having a boring summer and I don't know what to do about it. They should take care of their own social status, I think. They don't want to do anything I come up with (but I'll be honest, the library isn't that interesting to me either).

I'm in a rut.

I wish I could have someone in my home to prepare healthy weight loss foods. I wish my family loved healthy food like I do. My hair and my new "granny glasses" make me look pretty darn homely. That should change this Thursday. Maybe if I came up with a new quilt design, that was guaranteed to work with temple blocks I'd love to sew again. My kids are all in debt with us and none of them want to do the chores to pay us back (Mark did a few).

I'm watching lots of movies. Why can't life be like the movies? I sure hope Thursday's hair color changes my view of my world.

THE PB&J Fight

When Dale and I had only been married less than a week, we had our first fight as newly weds, and it scared me. What did this say about our future together? What had a gotten myself into? What did this mean? You be the judge.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Fight
Answer the following questions about your own PB&J;

1. Breakfast/anytime OR lunch only?
2. Jiff OR Skippy?
3. Creamy OR Crunchy?
4. White bread OR Wheat bread?
5. Store bought Grape Jelly OR (My Mother's) Homemade Strawberry Frezzer Jam?
6. PB on both slices of bread OR on one?

This was a serious fight. Here are some thoughts that went through my head as we argued.

1. Are you weird or what?
2. Brand loyalty, really? I'll buy both one time and we will taste test. Problem will be solved.
3. What do you mean you don't like peanuts? IT'S PEANUT BUTTER!
4. Now this is getting serious. This is a health issue. Wheat bread is so much better for you.
5. Now you are insulting MY MOTHER!
6. and back to Your're just weird.

This post is meant to be funny. Our fights are much more "involved" now. I long for the PB&J kind.

Sick of Quilting!

I am not liking the current quilt I'm working on. The colors are bright and bold and I'm not happy with how they are going together. It has been suggested to rip out one of the fabrics. I think this is what is going to happen. This is the quilt that also took 2 embroidery machines to get serviced while trying to embroider the Salt Lake Temple. It took about a month what should have taken a week.

The next quilt of for Dale and I to celebrate our 20 wedding anniversary on August 1! I am excited for the fabrics I choose for that one.

I am skipping a quilt for a friends son (they moved away) on Aug 25. Because I have 2 quilts due in September. One for my nephew and one for Dale's brother Mark. I am getting sick of quilts!

Glenn is thinking about applying for Central Washington University. I hope this works out for him in the long run.

We are hoping to get Mark into Driver's Ed this summer.

Rachel is very crafty. She just decorated her bedroom with pink paper chains and "thingies" (don't know what to call them, but they're cute) from the ceiling. She is excited to legally get her Facebook account in 2 weeks. I'm trying to talk her into Pinterest too.

Jamie loves DC. She drove down to Southern Maryland and bought and shipped us our favorite BBQ Sauce from Johnny Boys in LaPlata MD. Dale opened up a bottle for Fathers Day.

Dale is so occupied with his job. I keep telling him that is why they pay him the "big bucks".

I wish I could stop quilting long enough to do something fun. I wish I had something fun to blog about. My friends blog about their cute little kids. So here is something from when one of them was little. This persons first full sentence was "I have rocks in my diaper." constipation was a real issue. I hope that made you smile!
I am sick of quilting!

Patience

This past Friday I was asked to give a talk in church for this Sunday, on...Patience...
I am not procrastinating in my preparations. I have read the 2 talks given to me on it (a couple of times now). I just don't see the connection between the talks and my subject. I need to do a lot more research, but don't know when I can. I guess it's a Saturday cram session for me. I hate putting it off like that.,
Do you have a story of a postivie expereince with Patience to share with me?

Spring Break!

 I'm having to much trouble trying to get all these pictures on this blog post! Out of the 400 some pictures, I picked out 25. I give up.
We left home on Saturday, April 7. Drove to south of Salt Lake and stayed the night. Made it into our Sedona Pines Resort, Easter Sunday around 8.
Monday we spent the day relaxing mostly, drove around alittle.
Tuesday morning we went to the church of the cross, built into rocks, kinda cool. But Mormons don't use the cross as a symbol of the christian living/beliefs or lighting candles, so it wasn't much for us to "get into".
Tuesday afternoon we rented a tomcar ATV. That was awesome! If you ever want to see the 4 hours worth of video, let us know.
Wednesday was another down day, but we went to "uptown Sedona" and did some shopping.
Thursday was our big day, we took a tour bus to the Grand Canyon. It is big!
Friday we relaxed on a train ride through the Verde Canyon.
Saturday at 5:00am Dale drove through snow to bring  us home again.

Road Trip!




SNOW, made the drive home harder.




2 Days there and 2 days back.

 








On the way home, SNOW!



some of the views



ATV on Tuesday with video too







Indian ruins





Rachel at the pool




Wed shopping in downtown Sedona




hangin w/hubby





Epilepsy

Mark is 15 and just had another EEG done. He had multiple "blips" during the test. He did not outgrow it and at this point most likely won't. This makes me sad. No parent likes to have their child have limits put on them. He will never join the military, a pilot, or police officer, firefighter (when he was young he wanted to be a fire TRUCK) or a few other jobs that little boys want to grow up and be. He will have to serve an LDS mission where he can receive his medicine, most likely the USA. The kind of seizures he has is genetic. (I have a first cousin with it) I need to know more about this, % of how it may be past onto his future children. Dale and I are both disappointed but we have been through this before.

Mark had just turned 2 when he had his first tonic-clonic (grand-mal, is the old term). He was buckled in his car seat behind me when Glenn said something like "Mom, something is wrong with Mark." I looked back and it was obvious he was having a seizure. I went right into help him mode. I knew first aid for it (Thank you girls camp). I was not panicked but my adrenalin was rushing. I was ok through the first one. I lost my composure during the second one in the hospital while receiving a priesthood blessing within an hour of the fist one. Those first two were traumatic for me. I've done ok since then. We were humbled at Children's' Hospital in DC where we meet many families dealing with much more than we ever will.

Mark is cool with it all. (unlike his wimpy mom) He felt he knew (or I like to think was prepared) ahead of time that he hadn't out grown it. "It's all good". I hope people know first aid.

http://epilepsyfoundation.org/livingwithepilepsy/firstresponders/index.cfm

Hunger Games

Rachel REALLY wanted to see the new movie, "Hunger Games", made after the trilogy of books she read. It took me one week to read all 3 books. We borrowed the first one from the Willmore's. The second one came just in time from a hold at the library and we own the third one.

The day the movie tickets went on sale Rachel wrote on the white board (aka, my brain), "Buy tickets!!!" Well it took me a couple of days but I went and bought them nearly a month ahead of time for the 12:01 showing, opening night.

The day of, was a busy day for me so I only laid down to nap for an hour and a half. I also drank some caffeine in a diet Dr. Pepper. We left the house 4.5 hours before the movie started. We had about 30 people in front of us in line for seats. We sat and played one hand of Uno, read some books, napped, drew, ate popcorn, and talked, just to pass the time. We got into our seats roughly 2 hours before the movie. I went to sleep sitting up and half listened to the conversation taking place behind me between a teen age guy I know and 2 girls he just met that night.

20 minutes before the movie the theater puts on advertisements, but we only had audio and no video. Rachel was mad and very worried that the movie would not be showing. We finally got video about 15 minutes later. It was a loud crowd with some guy yelling out, "Hunger Games! Yeah!" and everyone clapped.

12:01 started 20 minutes worth of previews. Then...Hunger Games! The movie was a little jarring with the camera moving around to much for me. It followed the book pretty well with few exceptions. I liked how well they did the costumes for the Capital City people much more elaborate then I had in my head while reading the books. It was a well done movie, but not worth staying up for 12:01 and standing in line 4.5 hours ahead of time. Well worth opening week end crowds though.

I got to sleep just after 3:00 sometime and stayed in bed until 11:30 the next morning. I stayed in my pj's all day, even driving a bit in them.

nothing exciting

• I have shin splints and running at boot camp hurts.


• I ate all the cookies myself that boot camp gave us for Valentines Day. They were delicious no sugar cookies.


• I want to go to the temple today, but will probably read a book instead. Maybe I'll go tomorrow.


• I started reading the "Hunger Games" on Friday and finished it Sat. Finished "Catching Fire" last night. Today I hope to finish "Mockingjay". I never read, I never read fiction, I never read young adult fiction at that. These are real page turners though.


• I've lost 6 pounds. I have a total of 85 to loose. I'll post some pictures when I get under 200.


• Dale is at work all day (an election day), so we are not celebrating Valentines Day today but we'll go out on Friday instead.


• My embroidery machine is not working right and is in the shop again. This is the third time in the year that I've had it. Maybe I should have bought a commercial machine instead, like I had thought about doing.


• I'm more excited about our family reunion in 2013 than I am about our Grand Canyon trip for this years spring break.


• I have a new calling (a second calling) Assistant Activity Day leader (again). Why does Heavenly Father keep putting me in primary?


• I still think I'm boring.

just random stuff

• I am not liking how long it takes to embroider the Draper, UT Temple. It is really pretty though.


• I LOVE Boot Camp! My muscles hurt daily from Boot Camp, especially my right shin. It is a new way of life for me, at least for the next year. I was embarrassed that they posted on FB that I had lost 19 inches. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but it is total not just off the waist (that was 4", which is great for only 1 month) I am excited at what the next year will do for me!


• I am surprised at how easy it is for me to wake up at 6:00am every weekday. I love that I can nap if I want to. I love my lifestyle. I am grateful for a supportive husband, in so many ways!


• I love my kids. I hurt for my kids. Glenn is making some choices I wish were different. But he has to choose his own path. I wish I knew how to parent "better". He is about the same age I was when I made some choices. I think I'll call my parents...


• I LOVE Boot Camp!


• Dale has had 2 interviews for the Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for King County. There is one more round of interviews for only 4 candidates, hope he's one of them! He is hopeful!


• Jamie is doing well in Arlington, VA. She is currently working at a non-profit and likes it. She is a temp, but thinks she might be hired on soon. She loves her life (her words)! She just recently moved into a different home with other LDS women.


• I bought an Enell sports bra for Boot Camp.


• I wish my blog was as interesting as my friends blogs, but oh well. I don't put myself out there and do interesting things with other people. I am a home body and I love it.


• In the time it took to write this post I finished one temple block.

Sewing Room Clean up 2012

Before and after pictures of the sewing room.

Before and after pictures of the Fabric Cabinet.

I am donating an entire lawn bag full of good fabric and threw away a dumpster full of useless fabric.

Now I can start on 4-6 quilts I want to do before May. 4 Wedding quilts and 2 practice quilts. I bought zippers to help put quilts on my frame and will have to do some hard sewing for that too.

January 4, 2012

I ate oatmeal with raisins and a glass and a half of no fat milk. I signed up for a free week at a "boot camp" fitness program. This is the year! This is the time!