25 February 2009

. . . twenty-three/seventy-three . . .

. . . all of the people in these two photos . . .
. . . are a year older today . . .
. . . except me . . .
. . . happy birthday . . .
. . . to my daughter, amelia nathel . . .
. . . and my mother, nathel . . .


22 February 2009

. . . a•non•y•mous . . .

. . . -adjective . . .
. . . "without any name acknowledged" . . .
. . . let's just say that 
the receiving end of service 
is not my favorite place to be . . .
. . . with that said, 
it is where we've found ourselves 
all too often lately . . .
. . . during the past week, 
we've found on our doorstep 
•a large box of haagen dazs bars, 
•a fresh pineapple, 
•trail mix, 
•yogurt covered pretzels, 
•potted mums & 
•fancy whipped honey 
. . . all left {anonymously} . . .
. . . our driveway has been swept/blown clean . . .
. . . {anonymously} . . . 
[but we really know who did/does it]
. . . professional cinnamon rolls were delivered . . .
[we know the pro]
. . . our trash/recycling cans have been set out/put away . . .
. . . {anonymously} . . .
. . . valentine's day flowers from my sweet husband 
were purchased & delivered . . . 
[thanks, bishop]
. . . we've had house calls 
- including one on sunday - 
from our physician . . .
 [we know him]
. . . we've had dinner brought twice by our daughter . . .
[we know her, too]
. . . perfect fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread . . .
[know her]
. . . hours were spent digitally creating birthday cards 
for one of my church callings . . . 
[vector art? never knew what it was till now. 
i know who did this, too - 
(7:00 p.m. edit) and she just brought 
the biggest pieces of birthday cake 
you've ever seen]
. . . people are nice . . . 
. . . thanks . . .


20 February 2009

. . . re:stocking . . .

. . . get 'em while they're hot . . .
. . . a fresh supply of oops! . . .
. . . lots of polka dots . . .
. . . pom poms . . .
. . . paisley . . .
. . . stripes . . .
. . . soccer balls . . .
. . . retro florals . . .
. . . leopard . . . 
. . . cheetah . . .
. . . harlequin diamonds . . .
. . . and jumbo ric rac . . .
. . . apologies to december oops! customers . . .
{demand stayed high, but production came to a screeching halt}
. . . the shop is open again . . .


16 February 2009

. . . eighty•two . . .

. . . well . . . 
. . . as {bad} luck 
{and even worse health
would have it . . .
. . . my dad spent his valentine's birthday 
in the hospital . . .
. . . again . . .
. . . but, our prayers are being answered . . . 
. . . and he is feeling/looking SO much better 
than at this time last week . . .
. . . believe me! . . .
. . . permission was granted to 
celebrate in the hospital cafeteria . . .
. . . which closes at 7 p.m. . . .
. . . and children under the age of twelve are allowed . . . 
. . . i would be personally in favor of 
some kind of immunity . . . 
. . . you know ~ protection from breaking an arm 
when you are 80+ years old . . .
. . . which is {sadly} exactly what happened 
four weeks ago today . . .
. . . it is nothing short of miraculous that 
my siblings and i were 
all in the same place at the same time . . .
. . . because as soon as one brother 
finally moved back to arizona 
{following many years away} . . .
. . . another promptly moved out of state . . .
. . . such poor planning . . .
{hospital lighting/cheap camera flash = not so flattering}
. . . thanks for coming, daren . . .
. . . so that baby jack 
{not daren's baby} . . .
. . . could meet baby ava 
{daren's baby} . . .
. . . and baby elliott . . .
{i'm upset about no photos of baby tagg or baby tyler}
. . . addi and halleigh were 
proud to present 
their handmade birthday cards . . .
. . . and birthday hugs to grandpa great . . .
. . . uncles . . .
. . . aunts . . .
. . . and longtime . . .
. . . friends were on hand . . .
. . . to mark the start of year number eighty•three . . .
. . . happy, happy birthday, dad . . .
. . . love you lots . . .
. . . giving credit where credit is due . . .
. . . thanks, heather, for getting us all together . . .
{and just for fun at our house, 
we're sporting a nasty case of MRSA
bill's version of job's boils, apparently}


14 February 2009

. . . happy valentine's day . . .

. . . need a laugh? . . .
. . . and shellene has a blog! . . .
{go ahead . . . click . . . you'll be glad you did}


12 February 2009

. . . my wish for you . . .

. . . {part two} . . .
. . . is that your daughter 
could be so amazing . . .
. . . enjoy this sneak peek of 
the darling enrichment night
she planned and presented . . .
. . . amber's pretty wonderful . . .
. . . maybe she'll have time 
{now that it's over
for a new blog post . . .


09 February 2009

. . . done . . .

. . . is a GREAT four-letter word . . .
. . . and this little project is 
quilted, bound, and on the wall . . .
. . . thanks to a super speedy/talented/amazing quilter . . .
{call me ~ i'll hook you up}
. . . she did a 
cross-hatch {she taught me that term} design 
in the hearts . . . 
. . . tiny stippling in the background areas . . .
. . . a chain of hearts in the frames . . .
. . . and a darling 
scrolly freehand flower design 
in the border . . .
{you should know that 
i dropped it off wednesday afternoon 
and picked it up saturday - super speedy!}
. . . here's a peek at the back . . .
. . . it might be hard to take it down 
when february is . . . 
. . . done . . .


03 February 2009

. . . mutual night {aka: torture} . . .

. . . these darling young women are laurels in my ward . . .
. . . i used to think they were my friends . . .
. . . right up until last wednesday night 
when we rode bikes ALL THE WAY TO QT . . .
. . . meaning TWICE up & over the freeway . . .
{front row: carol [our fearless leader] and morgan
back row: staci [another leader who is often mistaken for one of the girls], 
nichole, sarah, ashley, amber, madison & jennifer}

. . . they have no concept of the fact that 
i am three times their age . . .
. . . nearly a week later, i've mostly forgiven them . . .
. . . now that i can sit/walk again . . .
. . . next up: volleyball . . .


02 February 2009

. . . it's hip to be square {times 529} . . .

. . . i survived teaching 
the young women yesterday . . .
{i bet you wish you had that cool silk tree!}
. . . in spite of how it looks here . . .
. . . the girls paid attention & participated . . . 
. . . i think it went okay & it's over! . . .
. . . btw ~ we have darling girls in our ward . . .
. . . so when last i posted about 
this "distraction" . . . 
. . . i was sewing rows together making pairs . . .
. . . then i sewed pairs together . . .
. . . making pairs of pairs . . .
. . . then i sewed pairs of pairs together . . .
. . . making . . .
. . . you see where i'm going with this . . .
. . . it turned out super scrappy . . .
. . . remember back in the day 
when we used to hang wallpaper? . . .
. . . you'd spend DAYS papering the walls . . .
. . . then half an hour slapping up the border . . .
. . . which made all the difference in the world . . .
. . . same with quilting . . .


01 February 2009

. . . ten/fourteen . . .

. . . how to make yourself feel super tall . . .
. . . serve a mission in mexico . . .
{for those keeping track . . . yes, i know this post is one day early}