Thinking...

I'm thinking about making this blog into a family-oriented blog with pics and stories of my family.

And then I'm thinking of starting a new blog with content similar to what's here now, and maybe a little more real as far as what goes on in my grey matter. That would be by invitation, or possibly just not searchable (or attached to this username).

Let me know what you all think. Thanks!

Favorite Lyrics Part 9

Leave Out all the Rest by Linkin Park, especially this stanza:

When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed

Dealing with my bipolar disorder and people dealing with me will, I'm sure, leave behind bad memories of me. I'm a firm believer in karma, and even though I eff up on an almost daily basis, I try to make up for that by doing good things when I can. Helping out strangers. Sending surprise fun mail to friends. Handmaking cards for family and friends to show I care.

I wish I knew where I stood with the karma gods. Or maybe I don't. I think sometimes I'm ahead, so when something big goes down and I lose it completely, maybe it'll be even-steven til the next thing. I'm doing the best I can.

Will it be enough? I just don't know. I hope so, but I just don't know.

Not feelin' it.

Just don't give a damn about blogging lately. Hopefully I will soon. Hope everyone is well!

New Background

Still working out some bugs, so for now, the photos in the posts are a little see-through. Sorry!

Fun new project!

My friend Amber and I have started a fun, new photography project called Two is Better than One. There's an intro on there, but basically we are each taking a photo a week and posting them, without know what the other has taken a photo of. I only see her pic when I go to post it on the blog. It's really fun!

It's nice to have a new project, isn't it? One you look forward to? We're a bit late this week, but I'll have it up tomorrow. :D

Wood Stuff...

I re-listed some painted wood items to my etsy shop (link) that didn't sell originally. Go check them out if you want. Also, let me know if you'd like me to look into some winter/Christmas items. It's too late for Halloween, but the wood shop I go to usually has some cute stuff for year-round decorations.

Also, I'm still working on my fabric stuff. My boys have Axis & Allies set up on the table and that's gotta go. The stuff I'm sewing is WAY more important than world war! Besides, my youngest is winning. Proud or scared??? Not sure.

Peace!

Playing around with the layout again...

Ok, the owl page was bugging me. Not so much the owl, it was cute. But the whole thing was cute. I kinda want something graphic-art-y, but mellow. Cool, but not crazy. I found a really "teenager" skull and crossbones background, but I don't want that either. And I'm sure you guys don't either. Seems like picking a background should be easy. Then I think maybe I'll just design one. Yeah, right. :P

So for now, basic. Autumn colors and white. I call it "Autumn Basic".

Aliens and Babies

Took some photos of this cute little alien my son got from one of those coin-op machine at the gas station. The whole thing is only 1¼ inches wide, so I used a magnifier lens. I put him on an art quilt for fun. So cool how this little thing had so much detail! Like the designs on the outer rim of the ship and there are even little control panels and buttons. So fun! I've been so out of practice with taking pictures, I just haven't felt like it at all. Other than my Polaroids of course. That's just point and shoot, and hope for the best. But that's ok, that's all I needed to do.

I've been watching this little cutie on and off for a couple months, but this past week I've had her every day. This next week too. It's been nice to have a little one around again. She just smiles so big, with one big dimple in her left cheek. She's 8 months old and just so fun! I don't get a lot done at home while watching to make sure she doesn't eat the fish or call Japan on my cell phone. :P

The fam and I have immersed ourselves wholly in The X-Files. Good gawd David Duchovny is ssooo hot! And it has made me wonder, how on Earth did we watch TV with commercials???

It's been cloudy and rainy here for a few days and I love it, except that when the air pressure drops, I get big headaches. The kind that come at night and stay all night and are with me when I wake up. May just be me, but who knows?

Well, here's to another week. Enjoy!

Owls

You know, I'm not into the whole owl thing that's going around, but I do think they are cute. (And if you are into the whole owl thing, that's cool.) Anyway, I really wanted a blog background that's edgy. I like the ones by Marah Johnson, but they are for myspace pages and I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to get just the background image onto my blog. I like the one called "vintage rock". Maybe someday I'll figure it out! Til then...owl eyes. Or maybe owl eyes for just a little while.

That's about it!

OOH I lied. I'm making some things for my etsy shop. I'll post when they're in. I've had several people tell me I should make this one specific thing to sell, and I'm making two of them to sell. Meaning there would be only FIVE out in the world (I have one, my friend Amber has one, and a lady named Kay has one). At least til I make some more I guess. IF I make more.

So keep your owl eyes open for that post...

List Part II

► Feeling so unenchanted about life right now. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is fascinating to me. My life has become dull and routine, except for broken bones. Sometimes I go with Amber to lunch and smack into doors and run into trees and stuff. But bleh.
► My list posts always seem longer than other people's list posts. I'm so chatty. I really should blog more. That way my posts will be shorter. Right?
► I want to make something for the baby but I heard her momma say she had too many blankets already. So what do I do? No idea. Besides, she has surpassed me in her sewing skills, so anything I make she can make much better than I can. The momma, not the baby.
► I like Target's halloween stuff this year.
► I've become addicted to Facebook's Mahjong game. I prefer WordJong. Which is similar in the tile setup, but you have to make words. Fun! And later this month a Where's Waldo game is coming out. And they just came out with PINK Nintendo DSIs. It's like, what do I have to do to get one of those babies?
► Got the boys' school pics back. I must say, my boys are so handsome! I sort of let them down this summer by not doing much stuff, but I seem to burn so easily what can I do? We only went to the pool once. And that's it. I'm an awful mom. Awful. Or at least I feel like it. :(
► I like old school photobooths. A lot. And I can count on Miss Amber to go with me and act like a dork with me in them. I'll post a pic. :D
► Loving this cooler weather.
► Peace!

What shall we post about? A list maybe?

► The oldest broke his arm. The details are a bit sketchy but the overall scenario seems to be corroborated by the other party present. Some sort of football, E advanced with two hands and pushed the kid in the chest, and pop goes the bones. Yes, bones. Both radius and ulna, about an inch or so below the wrist joint. The kid he hit into didn't even budge! I imagined him flying backward, since the force broke bones. Took him to the urgent care and got him casted up. He was in an immense amount of pain, probably due to the rotating motion as well as the flexing motion. Once the cast was on, the pain was gone nearly immediately. He'll wear this for about 3 weeks and then a re-exam to see how the healing is going. Quite baffled as to why they broke so easily. The doc in the urgent care is an orthopedic surgeon, and he said that this kind of break is the best kind. The bones don't displace or move apart, but rather grind into each other causing a bulge. So he should heal nicely. Green cast. I decorated it today with an alien head, a spaceship with an alien, and a skull & crossbones. Some kids signed it. B drew a rocket. P drew something but he draws so small, he says it's a guy doing a thumbs up sign. Ok then!
► Glad the weather has been tolerable the last while. It was getting confusing...one week nice, one week hot, one day chilly, then hot again. I know Utah has wildly unpredictable weather, but this was extreme!
► Went to Amber's mom's yard sale. Got some super old bottles for my in-laws who collect old stuff like that. Got myself a couple little bottles to do something fun with. Got some geodes (those are freakin cool!) and some fabric.
► My dad and I are talking about going out to take photos so he can teach me the ol' TLR. Old school photography. Amber gave me some film for that camera type so I'm hoping the camera works. What if it doesn't??? We shall see! I'm a little nervous cuz I'm not a good learner of the technical side of photography. I usually just wing it. And hope for the best. The old camera requires calculations and stuff. Gah!
► I should be working on a quilt block swap and I haven't started yet. :( I find it hard to work on creative projects when I don't feel creative. The only creative idea I've had for several months is taking my niece to the park in her fairy costume getup and taking pics of her just being herself. Thought that could be cute. I'll have to ask her momma if I can borrow her for an afternoon or morning.
► My list is too long, so I'll break it up and post the rest in a few days!
► Peace!

Welcome little one!

I'm an auntie again! I've always loved being able to say that. I don't say auntie any other time. This is W. She was born on Aug 26 and I'm completely in love with her of course. Whenever I hold a newborn it feels like the first time, no matter how much time has passed since the last one. I think the last time was was H, her big sis. Many moons ago, but really just 2½ years.

I held little W again a couple days ago. It felt wonderful to just hold her close. I'm always off in my own little world, but more so when I'm holding a baby. I kept her mama from her much needed nap and made her big sis late for her nap. I feel bad about that...my timing is usually pretty awful.

Babies are on my mind a lot. Not just cuz they're around. Something deeper that's hard to talk about, because even after all these years, people still tell us we need to have another baby. Some people who have good intentions. Some people who have no business saying it. Some people who think we aren't a "complete" family because we don't have a daughter. But that's bullshit. Sure, sometimes I feel like someone or something is missing from our family. Not necessarily a daughter. Maybe nothing I can even label. Maybe a couch. I have no right to yearn for more than what I have, no right at all. I know a lot of people who can't have kids at all. Or don't have a car. And I know I'm lucky as hell to be able to not work. I should work, the money would be nice, but I can't seem to find a job that will let me have every 3rd month off cuz my kids are off-track.

I'll admit this right now, I'm jealous of the relationship my sister-in-law has with her mom. I'd say I miss that with my mom, but can you miss what you didn't have? I know, that sounds callous. But this seems to be another undefinable feeling. Or maybe I can define it but know that I shouldn't.

Cryptic much?

For now I'll be content to snuggle a baby when her mama will let me, and follow a 2½ year old as she shows me her room and her sister's room and her toys and I try to teach her some letters with fridge magnets. Cuz in my little world, those things are just about the best things ever.

That's all for now.

Click to see the picture bigger!

Finding Marden...

In my brother-in-law's words. He found Marden Sunday morning.

Well, what do i say? We have all Been looking for my step grandpa. He had gone missing wed afternoon. No one has heard or seen him in a long time. 84 year old stubborn cowboy Marden Stone that has alot of land down south in a small town scipio. He loved it there, lived there his whole life. After a long and gruling search party with well over 250 people, planes, helocopters, 4 wheelers, cars, trucks,horses. After 4 days of searching they called off the search party, I knew my inlaws go riding on sunday so i called up my father in law dennis and asked him if he would come down there and bring the horses. He was happy to come down, kyle and kari came to and brought me a horse to ride. We took off and went up near his favorite spot my step mother told ... about. We found him, and i knew he had passed on his truck had sleed off the side of the road and there he laid peacefully inside of his truck. he is in a happy place now. What a great life that old boy lived and i'll never forget all the great times i had in scipio growing up there as a kid and getting in trouble for tipping over the hay stack or running the horses to hard. Love ya marden and we'll see ya later...

The sheriff held a meeting Saturday morning and called off the official search. At that time he estimated 150 GROUPS out searching for Marden. Sunday morning it was mostly family and extended family searching, and no one wanted to give up. Family of family of family were all involved. On horseback, they took a closer look in the area called Cutler Canyon. They saw where a tire had spun out in the dirt, and shortly after his truck was spotted.

Brent told us that when he got to the truck, Marden looked so peaceful, so he thought he was asleep. Marden had taken off his hat and put it on the dashboard and taken off his boots. He had a very peaceful expression. He didn't seem to be injured. Brent and his in-laws left after the officials arrived so they could do their job in getting Marden out of there. The truck had slid and wedged in between some trees, so they had a big job ahead of them.

Sheriff Dekker personally knew Marden, so this was especially hard on him. My husband Brian helped out in the search and he said he was so impressed by the police's involvement and work. He doubts he'll ever see the kind of care that went into this search in any other city.

The mood back at the house where the family was waiting changed from one of intense worry to one of relief and there were even some laughs. I was expecting a room full of tearful family. There were tears, of course, but there was a feeling of relief and calmness too. And smiles.

My husband called me from the mountain to give me word earlier in the day, and my sister-in-law Kacy, the kids, and I all drove down to lend support and condolences and to gather our husbands for the journey home. We got home about 7:30 or so, and I know Brent and Kacy didn't get home til well after 10 pm. It was a long, rough weekend with an ending that could have been much, much worse.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and wonderful support and caring. I told Grandma she had many people praying for her and she is very thankful. Very thankful.

♥

There are still mysteries in the world.

Case in point: Marden Stone was last seen August 5, 2009 at approximately 1300 hours in Scipio, Utah. Marden is 84 years old and has Alzheimer’s Disease. He is described as being 5’07” tall, weighing 180 lbs, and having gray hair and blue eyes. Marden is known to wear cowboy attire and a dusty brown hat. He should be driving a 2007 white Chevrolet pickup bearing Utah registration 530PBJ. Marden also has bad knees and would probably not get out of his vehicle. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Marden Stone please contact the Millard County Sheriff’s Office at 435-743-5302.

This man is my husband's step-mom's dad, basically our Grandpa. He owns tons of land and cattle in Scipio, Utah, which is a small town about 112 miles south of my house.

My husband and his brother drove down there early today to help with the search. He's been missing since the 5th, when he went out to check out some of his fences and cattle, as is his routine. He just never came back. There's absolutely no sign of him. Family and friends have offered ideas on where he might have gone, and one relative even took a helicopter ride to point out some areas to check out. They've literally run out of ideas of where to search, after searching every possible place. They've had helicopters, planes, a Jeep Posse, friends, neighbors and strangers searching.

The Millard County Sheriff has been very actively involved in organizing the search. He's been at his family's home and has made Marden's disappearance his top priority. The LDS Church's Relief Society has jumped into action, keeping everyone fed, not accepting a "no thank you".

One area my husband and his brother stopped in was the Maple Grove campground, not far from Scipio, to see if they could post a flier about Marden. They were given the ok by the campground host. He also mentioned a worrisome bit: he's been a camp host for 7 years and has never seen one rattlesnake in that time. This year, there have been at least 30 in the campground alone.

Not much more information right now. The Sheriff wants to gather all the volunteers and search members together in the morning, hopefully to make new search plans. Hoping like hell he doesn't change it from a "search and rescue" to a "search and recovery". Nearly 36 hours since Marden was last seen, the latter is a very real possibility. (That's just my theory, nothing official)

We aren't close with Marden and his wife Claris, but we do consider them family of course. It's awkward to call him Grandpa, but he is...ours and his biological grandchildren's.

Update as soon as I know anything.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

SCRABBLE! I've been playing online Scrabble with my sister, and let me tell you, I am LOVING IT! I love how the internet can bring people closer together to do things that wouldn't be possible because of your geographical distance. Even if she only lives 10 minutes due East. :D But I also love it because I love word games, and these people I live with (I won't name names) only indulge me in Boggle like once a month. WTH? And lastly, but not leastly, I have at last found a worthy foe. That game right there mostly just shows MY awesome words (hey, it's my blog) but let me tell you, she makes some kickass words! She's going on vacation next week and I'm not sure how I'll sleep at night...we've been playing late and I fall right to sleep after, something my sleeping pills can't or won't make me do.

I didn't win the Ugly Quilt Contest, but that's ok. The weird thing is, while I was looking at the other entries, I thought some of them were cute! I'm sure there are some deep psychological issues to be examined there, but let's move on.

My boys started 6th and 4th grades. I know, it was a short break. It's because of year-round school. We went to "Back to School" night and met with their teachers. They seem pretty good! Speaking of which, I need to do *my* homework assignment...I need to write an essay about my oldest, for his teacher. Has to be a million words or less. I think I can handle that limit. I am quite chatty.

Well, I guess that's it! Oh, I turned word verification on, I was getting a lot of irritating Chinese posts. I translated some, and I determined that they are indeed spam. If I see one that begins: 我进來和平 I will know it's legit. (It says "I come in peace" according to a translation site). The only reason I've even translated them is that I've had postcard correspondence with some people in China, and I believe they might read my blog. I don't want to be flat-out rejecting all Chinese posts on the assumption that they are spam. Ok?

Ok then! Peace out!

One of these days...

I will make a cute banner for my blog and it won't look so generic. Or not. It's hard to say.

I entered this Ugly Quilt Contest. Click over and look at the other contestants and their stories and vote on which one you love/hate. All of the little stories are HILARIOUS! If so feel so inclined to vote on mine (which you totally don't have to, unless you want to) mine is called Turd Runner and it's down near the bottom.

Here's a little quilt I made to hang in my living room. It's 12x12 inches. So little. I haven't hung it yet. But the reason is that I redid some wall art/photo groupings and one of them I wasn't crazy about. And the main theme of that grouping is green (ie all of the items have green in them). So I wanted to make something to match. I also did the black border because all the frames in all the groupings are black. I made one of these (similar, but not identical) for my friend Amber and for a mini-quilt swap I was in. The theme for the swap was "Spring Blooms". Not quite on theme, but I guess that's ok. :D Also, it was my first time doing "free motion quilting" with my machine, on the sun and treetops. Nerve wracking. Definitely need more practice on that.

This is the one I got from the lady that drew my name, Jan. Click on that thumbnail and look at the larger image cuz this quilt is AMAZING! The photos don't do it justice at all. Her piecing and quilting are just AMAZING! I've enrolled for the "Good Ol Summertime Mini Quilt Swap" so I need to get some ideas for that.

I have another project to share, but I'm afraid it might be quilt overload, so I'll share that next time.

The boys successfully completed their 08-09 classes. E finished the 5th grade with AMAZING results! I'm so proud! He worked so hard and helped classmates and had some extra responsibilities in the classroom. It's always nice as a parent to go in and hear from the teachers how well your kids do.

P finished 3rd grade and did ok. (I feel bad saying that). He had quite a few "Needs Improvement" marks on his citizenship. Mostly he goofs off with a friend in class. I saw it with my own two eyes when I got there for an "open house" to display posters the kids made. He didn't know I was there yet, so that was interesting to see. I'm crossing my fingers that the two aren't in the same class next time. He was also very forgetful and neglectful of his assignments, especially the big ones that needed lots of prep. Next year I'm going to be in weekly contact with his teacher to get him on track, I really don't want this to continue another year. He's definitely a handful.

Well, poo, I don't want to leave this on a not-positive note. So let's see...I had a really bad sunburn from the pool last week and that's finally healing. So that's good, right?

Peace out!

PS You can click on those pics for bigger versions!

A couple pics for your viewing pleasure

Bowling for E's birthday party. Well, self-portraits at said party. :D Since I *am* ego-centric and all.









Later gators!

2:29 am I must be lonely

Have I used that title before? It always seems to fit though. Finished a quilt top today. I'm calling it Spring Pop. I always name my quilts. Sometimes I can't remember what I name them though. I remember Disco Fever, Lovely, Grannie's Dream, and I think I named one Cherry Chocolate or something. Who knows?

I should be asleep.

Having one of those crappy days where I ponder life and all it's facets.

Our lilies have bloomed. I do love those lilies. We hit the jackpot with those. They are HUGE and make many giant blooms.

I'm so not a religious person, but those of you that are (LDS) will appreciate this: we were invited by our neighbor's to go to the open house of the newest LDS Temple. For those of you not familiar, once a temple is built and after it's dedicated, you need special paperwork to even get in past the foyer. It's a beautiful building with the most amazing chandeliers EVER. I was completely mesmerized by them. And the rooms and fabrics were exquisite. Yes, I looked at it from an architectural and design point of view, but still. I can see why these building would inspire...whatever you want to call it. I mentioned to B that since this newest one is the 13th in Utah alone, they had best be working on building another one. And for funsies, I tried to get B to say in a regular voice (not a whisper) "Praise be to Krishna" (whatever the hell that means), but he wouldn't do it. I just wanted to see what would happen. So irreverant I am. I never claimed NOT to be though.

Other than sewing, watching the fish (7 one-month old babies and some new-new ones, as in the last couple days). We need to get another tank for the male before he knocks up one of the women-folk again. :P The babies are so cute though! I love babies in all forms, except maybe snakes. Or tarantulas. Ok, there are limits on which babies I love. But still! They are cute!

Til next time (hopefully I'll have a picture of my new quilt by then)...peace!
xoxo

Holy crap!

I can't believe it's been that long since I blogged! Especially for a chatty person! lol I've been using Facebook a lot. It's perfect for me since I like to do little "recap" posts. Like bullet points. You know?

-So my oldest turned 11 in April.
-My youngest turns nine in two weeks.
-I should be working on a quilt block for a swap, but I'm not. I'm here instead.
-Went to visit my little sister in Idaho for a few days.
-Boys are off-track. So naturally they are bored as can be.
-My lovely husband is in the process of quitting his job and working full-time for the company he and a friend have started. Scary new chapter, but I think it will be ok!
-What happened to May?
-Saw my friend Amber a couple times. Gotta love mall food. :P

Well, that's about it, I guess. Completely uneventful. I know. What's up with you all?

2 am Easter

Been a long time...my apologies! On Aprilo 1st, my lovely friend Amber and I went to the Postsecret event in Logan at Utah State University. Postsecret (link at right) is a fascinating phenomenon where people artfully decorate a postcard and include a secret, all anonymously. It has to be a secret that you've never ever told anyone before. (Or that's the idea, I suppose there are a few that don't follow that rule.) You then mail the postcard to the creator of the project. The idea is that once you've gotten your secret off your chest, you'll feel better.

Anyway, I digress. The event was a little less that we expected. The dude got up and told a little about secrets, how the project got started and whatnot.

The fun part for us was the drive up there. Neither of us had ever been to Logan. After the even, Amber bought me a book and we waited in line to have it signed. My very first signed book! (I think!) No, actually, not. But still cool.

We decided to stay overnight at a hotel there, so we wouldn't be driving back during the night. We had lots of laughs. Told each other lots of secrets. Lots of laughs. Some unfortunate mishaps, which led to more laughs. Reading the books we got. Talking about the ones we could identify with. Talking and more talking. Til maybe 4:30 am. Finally we fell asleep and woke around 11:30, missing the breakfast by a longshot. Went to find food in town, ended up at a really cool place called Angie's. Delish! We had planned to take pics around Logan, since there are AMAZING buildings and stuff there. But we ended up at this bookstore/scrapbook store/toy store. Found lots of scrapbook stuff we didn't need. And then we had to go. More talking, laughing, talking, etc.

So basically, the event that brought us there kind of stunk, but the rest of the trip was a blast!

It was nice to get away for a night and have some girl time. Amber's so easy to talk to that sometimes I monopolize the conversation. I'm working on not doing that.

The whole thing got me thinking though. I wondered if I have a secret I've never told anyone before. And I don't think I do. Is that possible? I know I have things I haven't told everyone that might affect them, but is that really a secret? I'm going to keep thinking about it.

Anyway, check out that site. Every Sunday they post twenty of the most intriguing cards he's received recently. It's interesting to say the least. Who knows, maybe one of my reader's will be inspired to share their secret.

Peace out!