28 September 2011

. . . i die . . .

. . . this quilting is . . .

. . . in the words of rachel zoe . . .

. . . bananas . . .
{reveal coming soon}


24 September 2011

. . . i should get started . . .

. . . so far . . .
. . . here's what i've got
for my talk tomorrow . . .

. . . things are not looking good . . .


23 September 2011

. . . never wear black brighton shoes to the temple . . .

. . . one day last summer
i went to the temple . . .
. . . wearing black brighton shoes . . .
. . . look what happened . . .
{hint: there was a happy ending}


. . . yesterday i went to the temple . . .
. . . wearing black brighton shoes . . .
. . . and look what happened . . .

. . . what happened is ~
*i stepped in a sidewalk crack . . .
. . . scraping leather off the heel . . .
. . . unfixable . . .
. . . :( . . .

. . . it took me till this morning to figure out
why my right ankle is killing me . . .

. . . which lesson am i to learn? . . .

• don't wear black shoes
• don't buy brighton shoes
• don't go to the temple

. . . or . . .

• none of the above
• just don't be such a clutz!

{*only one of several obstacles that morning.
others include turning around
to go home and get bill's wallet/recommend.
bill scraping his hand
and bleeding all over his [white] tie.
we are quite a pair!}


22 September 2011

. . . is it too late? . . .

. . . six days ago i turned fifty-three . . .
. . . i've been meaning to blog about it . . .
. . . best laid plans . . .
. . . blah, blah, blah . . .

. . . anyway ~ my "special" day started
around three in the morning . . .
{my bladder is like a newborn . . . it never sleeps through the night any more}
. . . then, when my brain didn't go right back to sleep, what else was there to do
but check email and facebook? . . .
. . . where i already
had several happy birthday wishes . . .
{including an original limerick ~ which is quite amazing ~
seeing how not that much rhymes with stephanie}
. . . thanks to my night owl and east coast friends . . .
{hi, friends!!}

. . . i eventually managed to sleep in until about 6:30,
which was awesome . . .
. . . but getting ready for the day took forever . . .
. . . what with the constant tri-tone iPhone alerts
signaling facebook posts . . .
{and taking my turns at words with friends ~ do you play? addictive!}
. . . facebook made me feel super popular,
and it was fantastic!!! . . .
. . . seriously! thanks so much for all the love . . .

. . . i finally left the house ~
destination el charro! . . .
. . . with my mom and my husband . . .
. . . what you may not know is
el charro closes for vacation every july . . .
. . . they stay closed all of august . . .
{those are dark, dark days . . .}
. . . but they always reopen
just in time for my birthday . . .
. . . bless their hearts! . . .
. . . fun fact: i almost always order
a green chili burro enchilada style
with a side of beans . . .
. . . the same thing i used to order
over thirty years ago
when i worked at brown and brown chevrolet
and went there on lunch dates . . .
. . . i am nothing if not consistent . . .

{night time google image ~ but we went there in the daytime}

. . . for dinner, we took advantage
of the birthday special at joe's . . .
. . . and why not? . . .
. . . the two people in front of me in line
were ordering free birthday meals, too . . .
. . . how in the world do they make any money? . . .

{day time google image, but we went there at night time ~ so confusing!}

. . . my sweet mom gave me this pretty perfume . . .
. . . we both admit we don't have
the most discerning sense of sniff . . .
. . . but i do know this smells really good . . .

. . . got a couple of these . . .
. . . i'm thinking ♫♪♫♫♪♫♫♪♫ . . .
. . . maybe cds . . .
. . . maybe prelude music . . .
. . . thanks, generous friends! . . .



. . . even apple's gift cards are classy . . .
. . . this one came from amber's family . . .
. . . i was so surprised . . .
{wink, wink!}


. . . i'm supposed to spend it
on a cover for one of these . . .
. . . oh, my goodness! . . .
. . . thank you, best husband ever! . . .


. . . we had an little email malfunction
the day before . . .
. . . "reply all" can create a sticky situation . . .
. . . but it's all good . . .
{read bill's comment}
. . . drew remains my least favorite
and my most favorite son . . .

. . . not pictured: a child~size thomas the train
table and chairs . . .
. . . thanks to manders' and mimi's families . . .
{what? are the boys tired of sitting at the disney princess table?}

. . . i spent part of the day working
on some church stuff . . .
. . . invitations for a young women event . . .
{did you know there are fabulous people out there
who create beautiful things and are willing to share them?}

. . . they turned out darling . . .


. . . i did take time for
a little online retail fabric therapy . . .
. . . i've been waiting and waiting
for this fabric line to appear . . .


. . . and now it appeared in my mailbox! . . .
. . . heaven in the form of priority mail . . .


. . . but my main obsession these past few days . . .
. . . has been this top secret sewing project . . .


. . . involving lots of aqua . . .
. . . with a touch of cheetah . . .


. . . and plenty of snuggly minky . . .


. . . i finally dropped it off
at the quilter this afternoon . . .

. . . now, just as soon as
the fox/google republican debate is over . . .
. . . i probably ought to get started
writing my talk for church . . .
:(

. . . to sum up: •a year older
•thank yous all around
•projects finished
•go mitt
•speak in church . . .


14 September 2011

. . . 2012 or bust . . .

. . . romneys gotta represent
at mitt's tempe fundraiser . . .
. . . so bill, his brothers, dick and rob,
and sister, diane,
ventured to the tempe arts center tonight . . .



. . . also present ~ son-in-law brent . . .
{see lower right corner of photo}
. . . and about 800 other folks . . .
. . . mitt was well-spoken ~ as he always is . . .
{have you been watching the debates???}
. . . and pleased to greet his cousins . . .
. . . even mentioning
he doesn't run into many romneys
in massachusetts . . .

. . . another fun fact: willard mitt romney was known as billy romney until he went to kindergarten . . .

{Wikipedia: The youngster was called "Billy" until he reached kindergarten,
when he indicated a preference for "Mitt". Note 1.}

. . . we're totally voting for him . . .


11 September 2011

. . . i still remember . . .


{a repost from three years ago}

. . . knock knock . . .
. . . who's there? . . .
. . . 9/11 . . .
. . . 9/11 who? . . .
. . . you said you'd never forget . . .

. . . i heard that "joke" on the radio this morning
and it got me thinking . . .

i remember:
  • waking my family that morning just in time to watch on the morning news as the second tower was hit
  • feeling like i'd been slugged in the stomach
  • a lovely evening spent dining with great family and friends at the "windows on the world" restaurant two years earlier
  • thinking, "oh my goodness, drew was there less than a month ago" on his national boy scout jamboree trip
  • panicking because my brother worked in one of the towers {i was unaware that his offices had recently moved to rockefeller center, thank heaven}
  • the summer of 1993 visiting that brother at his then world trade center office and walking to lunch past the site of the recent garage car bombing, which was still surrounded by yellow warning tape
  • driving 16 hours to fort collins, colorado to attend our newly married daughter's wedding open house - our flight, along with all others, had been grounded
  • listening to the car radio - non-stop - for any news of why? who? how could this have happened?
  • immediately buying and flying an american flag daily for a long time
. . . i hope i never forget . . .


09 September 2011

. . . national grammy and grampa day . . .

. . . today marks the forty-fifth annual
official celebration of grandparents day
here in the u s of a . . .
. . . in honor of the occasion, we went
{bearing unhealthy happy meals}
to spend a little quality time
with our school-aged grandkids . . .

. . . first up, we sat and chatted
with halleigh anne . . .
. . . who's a top-notch third grader . . .

{photo courtesy of third grader, jackson}


. . . next ~ we greeted addison leigh . . .
. . . hard to believe
that she's already in fourth grade . . .
. . . she insisted on bringing
a show-n-tell photo of herself and grampa
from about nine years ago . . .

{photo courtesy of addi's classmate - i wish i could remember her name!}

. . . last, but not least ~ big man on campus . . .
. . . kindergartener tate william . . .
. . . he was super impressed
with his humungousaur toy . . .
{i had never even heard of humungousaur ~ i thought it was the incredible hulk. oopsies.}

. . . since we didn't really trust
the photography skills of five-year-olds . . .
. . . we have no photo of the three of us together . . .
{i'm not so sure we did any better than a kindergartener would have}

. . . so fun to spend time with these three . . .
. . . they're growing up waaaaaaay too fast . . .


03 September 2011

. . . this hardly ever happens . . .

. . . all of us . . .
{well ~ minus six grandkids}
. . . together . . .
. . . yay! for labor day
and drew and jessalyn
coming to town . . .
. . . laughing a lot . . .
. . . eating too much . . .

{counter-clockwise from on the floor: baby colby, tyler, amelia, amber, chris, brent,
drew, jessalyn, amanda, me and bill}


. . . did you catch that? . . .
. . . BILL WAS THERE! . . .
{you'll notice his credit card is out and he's ready to go,
but he was there! and that, my friends, is progress.}

. . . and general silliness ensued
between brothers-in-law . . .
{or is it brother-in-laws?}
. . . poor amelia ~
how'd she get dragged into this? . . .
{also the waiter in the background}

. . . it's a wonderful feeling
to have the whole family together . . .

. . . and to know that they like each other . . .
. . . i feel like the luckiest mom ever . . .
. . . can't wait for thanksgiving! . . .


01 September 2011

. . . decisions ~ decisions . . .

. . . hold the baby . . .
. . . or blog . . .
. . . hold the baby . . .
. . . or blog . . .
. . . which would you choose? . . .

. . . yeah . . .

. . . us, too . . .

. . . i did take the time to let random.org
choose seven oops! winners . . .
. . . here you go . . .
. . . 2, 10, 19, 28, 29, 30, 36 . . .
{bobbi rogers, emily otteson, amanda thaut taylor,
natalie cox, amy hamblin,
abigail standage, and tiffany kempton}
. . . and i picked one extra for good luck . . .
. . . one of my best customers
~ vickie palmer ~
already picked hers up . . .
. . . congratulations! . . .
{it'll probably be a while before we have another grandchild}
. . . oops! are, however,
available for purchase any time . . .
. . . they're kind of awesome,
if i do say so myself . . .

{winners ~ email me [it's easy. click up there on my sidebar],
or call [if you know my number],
you could even leave a comment on this post
or take your chances
and drop by to claim your prize!}