I'm Baaaaaaaaaaak

After spending a very fast week in Southern California.......I'm back. I spent the week with Michelle, Karly and Lauren and we had a blast!

I got there on the 24th about 1130 and hung out until Michelle got home. She was able to get off early and so, after getting a shower and settled, we were off to do a little shopping and get some early dinner. First order of business...get a sewing machine, which we did and throughout the week, we put it to good use several times. We had dinner at the Claim Jumper, a must do, and then walked through Aaron Bros. Then we went home. Michelle had to work on Friday and I had plans to go to the International Quilt Festival that was being held at the LB Convention Center. I walked the festival for about 7 hours and loved every minute of it--TONS of new ideas swimming around in my head. After my 7 hour stroll, I headed home and waited for Karly and Lauren to get home. Michelle had tickets to go to the Dodger game on Friday evening and so Karly, Lauren, and I walked to Taco Bell for dinner. On the way, the girls took me to a store, that used to be a house, to show me some really fun things. The whole bathroom was in the process of being tiled with moasic glass tiles. Tub, floor, walls, yes, the WHOLE thing! I wish I would have had my camera with me.

Saturday we just hung out, did a little shopping and we lunched here---

Another must do

On Sunday we went down to Dana Point to see Grandpa McCleary. We had lunch and a nice visit.

OK, so you have to turn your head to see this one the right way...sorry, but I don't know how to turn them. As you can see...Karly is up to Michelle's shoulder and Lauren's not far behind. I also took a picture of the rag quilt and pillow that I made about 3 years ago for Grandpa for Christmas.

My willing and able assistants

Another head turner

Jeremy was waiting for us when we got home and so we visited for awhile and then he had to go.

Monday Karly, Lauren and I went down to the beach (Long Beach) that's about a block from where they live.







Anyone need sunglasses???

A close inspection of the bubbles coming out of the sand

Tuesday was another hang out day. Karly and Lauren worked on their samplers that they had designed and started earlier in the week, we went for a walk, had a picnic, played with their scooters, and after Michelle got home from work we went to Lauren's soccer practice.

Wednesday was Belmont Shore/Seal Beach day.























We left home about 0930 and got back about 1730. A long day to be sure, but again, we had a blast! Karly and Lauren took me to Powell's, a candy store on 2nd St. You talk about a kid in a candy store...wow! We also made a stop at Jamba Juice and Fern's Garden (good thing I didn't have more money with me). When we got to Seal Beach, MacDonald's was the first stop. One of Karly's friends from school was there along with her dad and brother. We had lunch and then headed over to my old residence so I could take a picture of the house. I was quite suprised to see that, although 95% of the plants that I had planted were gone, there were still a few. I guess they didn't want the maintence (they have a Ginko Tree trimmed like a shrub--YIKES!!!). Then it was off to the bead store, which I'm very sad to say is no longer there. In fact, most of the shops that used to be there are no more:( Oh well, we had more stops to make. Next on the list was ...the Sea Shell Shop, a favorite. This was where Karly and Lauren chose to spend their money. Karly added to her mermaid collection, and bought a couple of other items. For Lauren, it was a dolphin statue, and a turtle made out of shells. With smiles on their faces, we headed for the pier. I had told them that we would collect some shells while we were there and that the shells that they would find at Seal Beach would be different than the ones they found at Long Beach. We beachcomed from the pier to the jetty, taking pictures along the way. Then it was time to head back. We got home just before Michelle did and then got cleaned up. Michelle made chicken enciladas for us that night. BTW...we need that recipe to be added to the Kitchens 2 Kitchens blog...yummmmmmmmm!!!

Thursday we worked on more projects. Along with the samplers the girls were working on we started, and finished, sock monkeys. We also made a stadium blanket to sit on at soccer practice.

Karly and Lauren with the samplers that they designed and stitched.

They made these into little pillows

I wish I had a better picture of them so you all could see what an AWSOME job they did!

I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed spending as much time as I was able to with Karly and Lauren. As I was on my way home, it dawned on me that I had been able to spend more time with just them than I ever had and I loved every minute of it! Thanks Michelle, Karly, and Lauren for a great vacation!

Here's a few more of the over 200 pics that I took:

The Long Beach Arena

A bike club out for a Saturday morning ride along the beach

My California Girls

THANKS!

Happy Birthday Dad ! ! !

This one is for my dad. It's his birthday today and he's celebrating in Dana Point, CA. I haven't seen him since May last year, but will be seeing him in a few weeks, when I head to CA. Dad, I hope that you have a GREAT DAY!!!





I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! I worked and so my day was quite uneventful, especially since I wanted to go to bed early since I had to work the 5th, also.





We celebrated Addison's 5th birthday yesterday. She wanted to wait until her Uncle Brandon got home from his mission, which he did on Wed afternoon. She had a ladybug pinata. Dave took pics so you'll have to look for them on their blog. The high light was, of course, the flying candy when the pinata was demolished by Uncle Brandon, at Addie's request, and the low light, when Addie's hair caught on fire when she got too close to the candles:( Even with that, everyone had a fun time. There was lots to eat, a yummy strawberry dessert that Auntie Lele made with puff pastry and, of course, cake and ice cream.





Les and I did the Wasatch Shop Hop last week. We got to all 15 shops in 2 days. Kendrick was our little traveling companion and he was on his very best behavior. Really! We had a good time checking out all of the shops and the quilts that they decorated with. They left us with lots of ideas swimming around in our heads.





It's been 100+ around here, but was a little cooler yesterday. Should be back up to the century mark by Thurs. Summer is not my favorite season!

We had a BBQ today. It was overcast for the greater part of the day and there was a breeze blowing and so quite nice. L, P and K came over. D, G, and kids had gone over to tell Brittany and family goodbye and when they got back we bbq'd steak, had baked potatoes, corn on the cobb, pasta salad, and we were supposed to have watermelon, but I forgot to bring it out so it's still in the fridg. I'll be eating watermelon from now to next month if I don't get some help.

I hope everyone has a great week!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

This is to wish all of you fathers out there a Happy Day.

We're expecting a very warm day-supposed to be in the 90's. I guess that summer is officially here.

Les and family have been in St. George for a couple of days and are heading for California today. They'll be down there for about a week and then head back home. They plan on spending a couple more days in St. George on the way home.

I couldn't let Leslie's little veggie garden dry out and wilt and die so I went over last night and watered. I'm going to try to get back over there tomorrow after work and spend a little more time and give everything a good drink. JT and Addie went with me yesterday. The main attraction was the resident hen that lives next door. There were a few of the kids out that live next to Leslie and Phill who told us that the hen wouldn't be around much longer. They didn't say why or where she was going.....

Well, I get to work today-short shift only 6 hours. Six hours too long for a Sunday, if you ask me.

So...Dad, Danny, Dave, Ethan, Phill, Chris and yes, Dan...I hope that you all have a GREAT Father's Day and that you all have a great week!

Same 'ol, Same 'ol

Nothing too exciting this past week. I worked a lot, nothing new about that, but this week I have several short shifts. Went to dinner with Les, Phill, Kendrick, Dave, Gina, Addison, JT, baby P, and Jason Thomson and his wife on Friday. We went to CPK. Les and Phill had some kind of certificate so all we had to pay was the tip. Pretty good, no?

I've been doing some work on my quilts this past week. You can see the progress over at http://www.karenskraftkorner.blogspot.com/

I'm going to help Leslie do some more gardening tomorrow after work. Her beans and peas are already coming up. She sent pics yesterday.

The tulips are gone now, but the roses are starting to bloom. The only David Austin Rose in the garden is loaded with buds and they are starting to open. Several of the other rose bushes have lots of buds, too.

I hope that you all have a great week!

Happy June

Well, it's been 3 years ago today since I moved to Utah. Can't believe where the time has gone. My computer is up and running again, but who knows for how long??? I thought I had fixed the problem about 10 days ago and then BAM! Down again. Well, I'll hold my breath this time.

Kimmie called yesterday to tell me that their tornado warning sirens were going off, but not to worry.....Kimmie, are you kidding??? You don't call your mother who lives over 1,000 miles away with that kind of news and then describe what you're seeing. You should have been in the basement!

Danny and Brandy got moved and thier house looks huuuuuuuuuge! I can't wait to see it in person.

Dave got to babysit Pres. Bush for a couple of days this past week while he was here. Gina's going full speed ahead on a quilt for Addison. JT is waiting patiently for his, and Baby P is just happy to be...

Michelle, Karly, and Lauren were going to go see Grandpa M today. We're trying to coordinate with each other to get together if and when Kimmie, et all, come out in July. I hope that Karly and Lauren will be able to come back with us and then have Michelle join us for a long weekend. Everyone is welcomed!

Les has been bitten by the Gardening Bug. I helped her get the area, well half of it, weeded and some veggies planted. Phill's gp gave her some tomatoe plants, some veggie seeds, and some flowers. Rachelle is selling Pampered (magic) Chef and L had a party for her this past Wednesday in the back yard. The yard looked good with the flowers that L planted and the new veggie garden.

I've been working on a "Redwork" quilt and just finished my 12th block today. Not sure exactly how it's going to go together yet. I've also been working on the Star Quilt Along with Amanda over at http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/. We will get block # 6 tomorrow. I'm having a blast with that one. You can see pics of my first 2 blocks over at http://www.karenskraftkorner.blogspot.com/. I have my 3rd and 4th blocks finished, my 5th block cut out and all of my setting blocks cut out and hope to get pics up of them soon. I will also be getting my next BOM block tomorrow from Fabric Mill. I do one block a month on that one. Pics also on the above blog address.

Well, work comes early tomorrow, so I'm going to call it a night.

HAPPY JUNE TO ALL!!!

Another Blog...

I've started a new blog that I will be sharing my crafts on. You can view it at http://www.karenskraftkorner.blogspot.com/. I hope that you will all stop by often and add your comments. Don't worry, not that you were, but I will be keeping this blog up along with adding to our family and friends recipe blog, http://www.kitchens2kitchens.blogspot.com/.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this blog thing, so fair warning...I even put the pictures on my Kraft blog all by myself.

Danny and Brandy are moving the end of the week. B's email is up and running again.

Joyce had an ectopic. Read more on their blog.

You can read about the flood last week on Dave and Gina's blog and draw all kinds of pics in you mind about that one. Thank goodness, Dave and Lani were able to get everything fixed and the carpet is drying out nicely, for which I'm very grateful. With the fans that have been running to help speed up the process, basement temps have been a little on the cool side and have raised the decibel level. I left them on for the first couple of nights, but gave in and turned them off when I went to bed so I could sleep. I continue to run them when I'm at work but, like I said things are drying out.

The tulips are finally blooming and I must say that they look stunning! I know that they won't last long, but they sure are pretty now.

We're supposed to have temps in the 80's this weekend. I guess, the snow is finally over for the season, however, this is Utah and we never know from one minute to the next just what Mother Nature has in store for us, and it did snow over in Park City yesterday. We had rain and a lot of wind on Sunday night.

This will be a very long week for me. I worked yesterday (12-17), today 9-17, tomorrow 9-17, Thurs 9-17, Fri 6-18 and Sat 6-18. Haven't done that kind of a week since before Christmas. It does not sound fun to me!

For those of you who don't know, I've pretty much decided that I'll be quitting at the Speciality Hospital by the end of the year. If my insurance wasn't through them it would probably happen sooner, but with more surgery coming up before the end of the year I pretty much have to stay there.

I saw Dr. Cook at work today and I told him that I'd see him in Oct for all of the pre-op stuff. Plans are to do the surgery in early Nov. With any luck I'll be feeling better by the holidays. I would hate to celebrate the same way this year as I did last.

I hope that you all have a great rest of the week.

Look What Came in the Mail!!!

I won this cute little pillow from Charity http://www.vintagethreads.blogspot.com/ . It's just darling and hangs on the doorknob of my spare room. I love the colors! Thanks, Charity!

She also sent these cute little appliques and tag!

And this fun card complete with silk flower, button center, and BLING!

The pics aren't so great and certainly don't do justice to all of the fun, thoughtful goodies sent.

Once again, Charity, THANK YOU!

I've been working on my QAL (Quilt A Long) with Amanda over at http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/. We're on week three. I have my first two blocks done and will be doing block #3 tonight and working on the setting blocks this week. There's still time to join in and Amanda makes the tutorials very clear and easy to follow, especially for someone like me that would rather look at pictures than read directions. Hopefully, pics will be posted in the next few days. Until then, quilt on;)

May Day

Happy May Day to all:)!

The first tulip has finally bloomed! It's just beautiful and there's the promise of many more to come. At last count...I counted 126 buds!!! I can't wait for the color!

Today on the way to work I saw icicles, that's right, icicles hanging off of the lower branches of a tall pine. They were really kind of cool (no pun intended) looking. I figured that the sprinklers must have been on early in the morning and as the water was dripping from the pine needles it was just cold enough to form the icicles.

On one of the blogs I read, the writer was writing about memories and had shared several of her memories by starting out with the phrase, "I remember...". So, I thought I'd follow suit...I remember dancing the May Pole Dance, on May Day, when I was in third grade. We had long streamers of crape paper that were every pastel shade available. They were attached to the top of the teatherball poles on the playground and as the music played the whole class bobbed and weaved around their respective circles. I remember some of the poles looking a lot better that others. The one I was on was one of the ones that didn't turn out so well, but the colors sure were pretty, none the less. I remember when we lived at 3008 Karen Ave. in Long Beach, CA doing my part of the yard work. My assignment was to mow the front yard and clean up the ivy there. I also had the south side of the house to clean up. That's where the camellias and baby tears grew. To this day, I still love the way baby tears look and think it a shame that for as pretty as camellias are they have not scent. I also remember getting mad at my mom one day after school, when we lived at 7935 Ring St., in Long Beach, CA, about what, about what I have long since forgotten, but I needed to blow off some steam so I went out in the backyard and weeded the whole rose garden and cleaned it up. I remember, again when we lived on Ring St., getting up early on Saturday mornings before anyone else in the house was awake (Saturday's were chore days and we did not get to sleep in) and baking cookies and cakes and making jam and pie with the fresh peaches that grew on the lone dwarf peach tree that grew in that same rose garden and my pet camellian, that I bought at the Pomona Fair, sunning himself on the rose bushes. The only way I could find him was to look for his red "leash". When I bought him the "leash" was very short, only a couple of inches of red thread. I thought it needed to be longer and so the day after I got him I got into mom's thread tin and found just the right shade of red thread to match the "leash". I gave him an extra 3+ feet. By being so generous it made it very difficult to untangle him from the thorny rose bushes when I wanted to hold him. I finally came to the conclusion that he needed his freedom and so the "leash" was removed and he was set free. To my amazement, he hung out it the rose garden for several weeks. I think it was because of the endless supple of aphids that were available there. One day I could no longer find him and figured that he had move on to somewhere else. Thinking I'd never see him again, I remember thinking that I had been able to keep him alive a lot longer that anyone had expected. Well, much to my amazement, several weeks later who should I find sunning himself on the cinder block wall in the backyard, but my pet camellian. I was sad to see that part of his tail was missing. He looked really cold, in fact, he looked frozen so I took him and put him in an old can that I found and moved him to a warmer spot on the fence. I thought he would thaw out a lot faster with the warmer location and the can holding the heat longer. That was the last time I ever saw him. Hopefully he went on to live a long and happy camellian life. I also remember the dress I wore to the Pomona Fair that day. It was one that my mom had made for me. My mom made most of my clothes in those days and I had many dresses because girls had to wear dresses to school then. This dress had many shades of lavender and purple and pink flowers on it with green leaves and vines running through it. Today the fabric would be described as a medium size calico print. The background was white. The skirt was full (one that passed the spin test) and the sleeves were short cap sleeves. I think it may have had some lavender ric rac on it as well. Funny how ric rac is making a come back.

Wow, that was easy, and it seems a little amusing to me how one memory lead to another and the memories that they led to. Try it sometime...it's quite fun.

A New Week

Well, where to start...Leslie, Gina and I went to the Corn Wagon in Springville on Friday. We all got some goodies. You might question my need for more fabric...do I need more...heck no, but I'll never have enough. I got some civil war repros so I can get started on my Dear Jane Quilt. This is a quilt made by a woman, named Jane, that lived during Civil War times. She worked on a quilt during the war to help pass the time. There are 255 blocks in the quilt, so this one is going to be a long time in the making. My delema at present is...do I make the whole quilt by hand or do I use the machine? If I choose to do it by hand, then I will want to hand quilt it, which will extend my finish date by months, maybe even a year or more. If I do it by machine it's still going to take a long time. I think I'm leaning toward handmade on this one. I think it would be more appropriate for the design, fabrics (all 100% cotton-that's all that was available then), and time in history. If I ever figure out how to get pics on my blog then I'll be sharing my progress with you, not only in word, but visually as well.

I decided, at the beginning of the year, that I was going to do mostly, if not all, handmade gifts for Christmas this year. Well, projects abound. I have several going all the time, but what self -respecting crafter wouldn't have more than one project going at the same time? That's why the term "wip" was invented. For those of you who don't know...wip stands for work in progress--what else.

Can't remember my work schedule for the week, at present, but I don't think I have any days off during the week, so that would mean that I don't have a day off until next Sunday. RATS!! Less time to craft. I keep promising myself that I'm not going to pick up any extra shifts, but somehow the extras always seem to show up on my schedule. Oh well, I'm very grateful that I have not only 1 job, but 2.

I hope that you all have a GREAT week filled with tonz o fun!

Once Again...What's With the Weather?????

By my reconing, it's Spring, or at least I thought it was, after all, it's the 24th of April. This past week the weather has been pretty nice, but this afternoon I think that Mother Nature must have been in a bad mood or maybe she was just letting all of us know that we shouldn't take her for granted. She threw a pretty good snow, yes, that's right, I said S-N-O-W, storm at us . It had been cloudy all day and colder than earlier this week and then this afternoon...BAMMMMMMMMMM!!! I was in American Fork when the storm hit. I tried to get pics of the snow falling, some flakes the size of quarters (but my phone was full as were both of my photo cards) oh and the wind H-O-L-Y--C-O-W!!! This is the kind of thing one would expect in January. Hummmmmm, come to think of it we did have this kind of thing in January.

I'm still waiting for my tulips to bloom. There are lots of buds, but no flowers yet.

I hope that all are having a wonderful week, in spite of the weather.

What's With the Weather???

What's with the weather around here??? One day it's over 80 and the next day it's snowing!!! That's right, snowing. It was a whopping 31 degrees on my way home from work last night and an even colder 27 degrees on my way to work this morning!!! I thought Spring was here.

Not too much going on this week. I did have Monday off so I worked in the yard. It felt good to get out in the sunshine (Monday was the over 80 day). I miss living in a climate where I can plant all year round, but I do love the change of seasons here.

I have 2-12 hour days under my belt so far this week. Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell Dr. Cook because he doesn't want me working more than 8 hours a day. Tomorrow will be an 8 hour day and then Thursday and Friday will be 6 hours each, oh yeah, and then there's Sunday. I think I'm working Sunday too. Sound exciting?????? It's not.

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Here's to more sunshine!!!

Conference Weekend

Oh, how I love this time of year! It has been Conference Weekend and I was blessed to be able to watch 3 of the 4 general sessions. While I missed seeing and hearing from Pres. Hinklely, I know that Pres. Monson is fulfilling the calling that the Lord has been preparing him for throughout his life. What wonderful talks were given and sound advise to all. I saw Mary Ellen several times when the Choir was singing and on The Spoken Word, which preceeded this mornings session.

While watching Congerence this morning I decided to get some yarn and knitting needles out. I started a pair of socks. They're black, grey, red, and white. Addie came to visit this evening and pulled some yarn out of my scrap box. It was some left over yarn from some previous project, pink, orange, turquoise, green, and yellow verigated. She asked if I would knit her some socks from the yarn. I told her that there wasn't enough yarn to knit some socks for her but that there might be enough to knit her some slippers. She was ok with that so I made her a pair of slippers. I used the pattern that my mom taught my Brownie Troop forever ago. Amazing I can still remember the pattern.

Spring is here even tho' we might get snow tomorrow morning (forcast says that it might get up into the high 60's by next weekend). My tulips are doing great. No flowers yet, but they're getting bigger. The roses are starting to send out new shoots and the weeds are starting to rear their unwanted heads. I hope to get a few more blueberries this year. I only got half a dozen last year, but that was from a first year bear root plant. Also hope that there will be some boysenberries this year too.

I was supposed to be off tomorrow, but told one of the people I work with that I would work part of her shift (12-17). A short shift to be sure, but tomorrow is the first day that the restructuring of our department goes into action. It will be interesting to see how things go. Monday's usually start out slow but by 1700 are getting really busy and continue to get busier as the night goes on. I'm glad I'll be off at 1700.

As I close this entry, I am remembering that today in the closing session of Conference that Pres. Monson asked us to pray for him and said that he would be praying for us. What a wonderful blessing to have the opportunity to pray for our prophet and, in turn, have him pray for us. We are truly a blessed people.

Where Have the Last 6 Months Gone???

I can't believe it's been 6 mos since I last entered something here. There's been a lot going on since then.



One goal I have is to be a better Blogger and keep up to try to do a better job at keeping up. I also want to make my look really fun with pictures and pretty backgrounds, like so many of yours. Do they give lessons for those of us that are Blog Challenged? Any suggestions, directions, volunteers would be greatly appreciated.



The sewing bug has bitten in a big way. Since my surgery, last December, I've been sewing up a storm. Michelle and Gina went through my fabric and got it all organized while I was recooperating and since I've been able to sit up to the sewing machine I don't think a days gone by that I haven't used it for something. I found a blog where a lady had made a quilt strictly from her stash where she shared the measurements and pics of all of her blocks. Well, now that my stash was in order, I had no trouble choosing fabrics to follow along with her challenge. I actually didn't start until she was done, but, I got all 12 squares made in about a week and a half and just have to put them together. After that, I thought, hummmmmm, if I can make a whole (twin size) quilt from my stast then what else might I be able to do with it. Well, most recently I've been making tote bags, all kinds of tote bags. I just finished one, for a girl at work, tonight. She requested green. Well, her bag is about 5 different green prints with lots of green metalic quilting on it. I also made a "tassel" out of several shades of green beads to add to the "bling" that she so dearly loves. She'll be so happy (I hope) to get tomorrow. I've also been doing a lot of quilt blocks, tried some crazy quilt blocks-fun and very creative, aprons, and pin cushions. I've made pillows and, of course, some clothes. In the two months I was off work I got a lot of things made, but have slowed down,, ever so slightly, since going back to work. When I figure out how to add pictures to my blog I'll share some with you of the fun I've been having.



We woke up to snow yesterday, after several days of nice weather. It was really icy when I went to work this AM. The first call I took was a lady asking if there had been any MVA's today??!!! Had she not been outside??? Cars were sliding all over the place, more than I'd seen all winter...I hope she found her friend, because he wasn't in our Emergency Department.



I can hardly wait for the tulips in the front yard to bloom. After adding a lot of amendments and working the soil in the front planters, I planted over 100 bulbs last Oct and it's great to see them all coming up. I scored last summer when I was at work and asked the head grounds keeper what they did with the bulbs after they had bloomed. He told me that they just pulled them up and tossed them, so I asked him if I could have them. He told me that if I wanted to dig them out I could have them, so I went to work early one day with turning fork and 5 gallon bucket in hand and dug them up. I left them in the bucket down in the basement, with stems and leaves on them until it was time to plant them last Fall.



To be honest, I'm quite suprized that anything grows in this soil. It's, in my opinion, being nice to refer to this stuff on the ground as soil. It, again in my opinion, is worse that dirt! I miss my California soil, but with a lot more work, rock removal, and a lot more trips to Home Depot/Lowes (my home away from home) to get more amendments I will get this "soil" into shape. Mike, one of the RN's I work with, volunteered his chicken manure. Never used it before, but I've been told that it's good for the soil. He even said that he'd deliver it! I might just have to take him up on that one.

Happy April to all!