~~NOVEMBER DAYS~~

Not too much going on in November. Started Christmas shopping, Darwin put up the Christmas lights. We decided to try the LED lights, found them on sale at Alco here in town.
They are kind of pretty, they look cold???
Then we went to Nevada for a week, spent 3 days at Tara & Jake's for Thanksgiving. We really had fun with Eli !! What a character!! He drags Tara all over the place. He likes to climb too!
You know their little half wall between the living room and dining area? He stands on that, no fear at all !! Tara prepared a great Meal, very good !!
Next day we hit the Black Friday sales. We went to Target and Tara got the last of the toys she was looking for. Then it was off to Joann's. Flannel was $1.49 a yard with 20% off at the register !! Eli was really patient with it all. The clerk came around handing out Dum Dum suckers and mints (In a fabric store!!!), Eli sat in a little blue basket on the floor with his feet out one side and lying back on the other. Had his sucker and a toy truck, all was well with his world! Darwin came back and we went to lunch at an all you can eat "salad and pizza" bar.
Then back to Tara's for a nap. Later we watched Tara and Eli decorate their tree. Eli was throwing the bells on it.....funny kid !
Then we headed home, we stayed over in Wendover. Broke the trip up a little, which made it nicer for two old geezers !!!
It was a very good month !!!

~~OCTOBER OCCURANCES~~

To tell the truth, October was a blurrrrr! I ripped a cap out of my mouth with caramel popcorn and ended up with a $1200.00 implant !! I've been on pain pills for 2 weeks, so maybe that's why it is a blur.
Darwin has been working. He took two Fridays of vacation because he had to or lose the days. Nothing gets done when he is around. We just do puttering stuff. Not really, he works hard. He went and got two loads of firewood.
We gathered all of the yard decorations and tarped everything. Getting it all ready for the snow.
On Halloween, we deserted Delta. We went to Walmart in Payson, then wandered up to Lowes and got tile for a back splash in the kitchen. They say we had over 500 kids come around! We had a couple come after we got home around 9. Crazy !!
So....this is our October run down !!

~~BABY QUILTS~~

So--I have been looking for a baby quilt pattern and found a couple that I liked and was easy, or at least looked easy. I went to 'Mom's Fabric' to find the fabric for the quilt. Instead I found a panel, you know the pre-printed stuff. Someone had made a sample quilt, only it was a twin bed size. It was big ! I bought the panel, but didn't really like the layout of the squares. I decided to split them up. After all I only wanted the bigger middle one anyway. I got that quilt done and then didn't quite know what to do with the 4 smaller squares??? I fiddled around with them and this is what I came up with. Will Baby Thompson like them? That is the question???

~~LIFE IN DELTA--AUGUST 2009~~

It's hot and hotter. The plants are dying, the garden is not doing very good. The tomatoes are growing though and right now have a ton to freeze. Mom's neighbor told her to just wash and core them, then put in a bag and freeze! You can then take out the little frozen balls and run under water, the skins will come off. Add them to soup or sauces. This should work out great since I don't bottle anymore. (Can't do canning on the ceramic stove top).
The Asters and Zinnias are growing like weeds ! The Four-o-Clocks are doing good, they smell great. We dug up the grass and daisies around the light post out front, now we have dirt!
Darwin had Dutson's deliver me some more rocks to put around it. (The guy won't put rocks in Darwin's 'new' truck!!) LOL!
So, that is about all that is happening around here. It's a good time to sew and do lettering. I have some watches I want to do with the beads.....sometime.
I watch the kids go to school across the back road....if their Moms knew they stopped to throw rocks into the canal, they would have a hyssie fit. Things seem a little more relaxed around the neighborhood with the kids gone during the day. It's quiet again, kids are missed. Olivia doesn't get lost as often when Mikala is in school! She is 4 and wants to do what her big sister does. (Sound familiar?) We "mature" ladies sit at our computers and send hugs and hearts and pillows and such to each other and I mustn't forget the many e-mails!
Life is good !! Cannot complain !! Well, except we could use some rain !!

~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN~~

Today, thirty six years ago, I became a mother!! It was the most exciting and scary day of my life.

Darwin was in the Navy, so we were based in San Diego, California. I was ssoooo sick in the beginning, I could not keep anything down. We went to the Balboa Naval Hospital for help, of course there is never a Doctor on duty when you need one. An Intern gave me something for the nausea and told me to come back the next morning to see the regular Doctor. We found out the Intern had given me something pregnant women should not take. The Doctor fixed that and slowly after three or four months, the nausea passed. As I sit here, I remember taking plastic bags with me everywhere !!

I had a friend I met in Church, she was a Primary teacher with me. Betty Hepworth was a great lady, she took me home one day with her and made me a maternity dress. It was pale blue with little dark blue and pink flowers. A sign it was going to be a boy!! We had a great ward there in National City. The Relief Society gave me a baby shower! Our neighbors here in Delta, the Panhorsts, La Dawna's parents were in that ward. Small world.

Back to Shawn. When I was seven or so months along, the Doctor did an ultra-sound. As I lay there with my BIG belly covered in that jelly stuff, in came a class of interns !! The Doctor/Teacher then asked if I cared if they observed? Dah! Kind of late to ask!! The Tech confirmed it wasn't twins, hallelujah! And, no, he would NOT tell what the baby was....it wasn't always what the Tech said it was. I guess that was how they protected themselves then, if they didn't tell you what they thought it was they wouldn't get in trouble and cause disappointment.

At eight months I went home to Riverton and lived with Mom & Dad until the baby came. Only Shawn had other ideas, he was 3 whole weeks late. This is where the Doctor told me it was the quality of the baby, not the quantity of time I carried him. Darwin would call every night to see when he should come home for the birth. To him, it seemed like forever !! Finally !! After 3 weeks, I was going to be induced. I called to let Darwin know and he drove to Riverton. Shawn had other ideas again, I went into labor the night before and 10 long hours later he was born !!

I remember as they wheeled me through the hall and past my parents, I told my Dad, Darwin was not going to touch me again !! He just laughed !!

We took little Shawn home to Mom's and after 3 days, Darwin went back to California. He had about 10 or 12 days left before his discharge date. I remember sitting and looking at Shawn for hours. It seemed so unreal and he was so perfect !

Have a Happy Birthday Shawny-brooke! Haven't called you that forever......

~~JUNE~~

Just some thoughts about June. ........I'm thinking.......It's the month we were married. It's the month of Father's Day. It's the month summer starts, and on the 21st is the LOONNGGEST day of the year. It's also when the earth comes completely alive !!! Gardens start to bloom and grow. Flowers are blooming all over the place and scents of summer are in the air. We have a Flowering Locust tree that has big magenta blooms and smell amazing. After the blossoms start to fade, the Honeysuckle starts to bloom little white flowers and it smells really sweet. Along the way the roses start to bloom and you can catch a whiff of rosy scents as you walk by. I'm looking forward to the Four-o-clocks to bloom next. They smell heavenly.
So I like June. Even though it starts getting HOT.
BTW--we were cleaning windows yesterday (23rd) and guess what was in the window well ?!!

~~THE WINDOW WELL~~

I was getting ready to clean the leaves and winter grunges out of the front window well. I got to remembering all the adventures of 'the window well'. Mainly I was thinking, "What am I going to find down there this time?" Many years ago we had a muskrat in there! Tara was maybe 12 years old, she was babysitting the Betensen (Jeff & Deann) kids. They were at our house and everyone was so excited and could not wait for their dads to get home so Darwin and Jeff could get this little muskrat out for them to 'play' with ! Well, the Dads did get home and the planning of how to get this critter out was on....No one was going to fit in the window well to grab the animal. So they came up with making a little lasso to get around the muskrat's head and then haul him up and put him in a box. Ya right. The lasso worked but it was like getting a cat into a box! After much wrestling with this scared to death rodent, they got him in the box. The guys took him down by the river and let him loose. Much talk went on after words, was It really a muskrat??? Or was it just a big RAT!
We also had countless toads in the well! Lyndsey Ingram would come to my aid and climb down and rescue the cute little darlings. Then Lyndsey grew-up and she went off to college. Most of the time we just left them in the window well to eat the bugs. One summer I remember I was trying to show Darwin where the little toad was. It looked like the gravel we had put in the bottom and he could not see it. I took a stone and was going to drop it near the toad (which was the size of a 1 1/2 inch ball) to show him where it was. I lined up the stone with my left eye to get it on target and let it drop !!! BAMMM ---right on the toad's little noggin!! Put him out cold, he stretched out on his belly and laid there for a minute. I thought I had killed him, but he started to come around and got back up on his little webbed feet. I swear he was shaking his head to clear it. Darwin laughed his head off and bet I couldn't do that again! He did see the toad!
We have had snakes and black widow spiders, who knows what else. Now we have Talula, who sleeps down in there on the leaves and junk sometimes. I think she keeps it pretty cleaned out for us.

~~HAPPY (LATE) BIRTHDAY TARA~~

On May 19, 1975 a little redheaded girl came into our lives. Of course it took an extra 28 days to get her here. The doctor told us it was the quality of the baby not the quantity of time it takes to get them here, whatever that means. Thinking back, the pregnancy went fairly smooth. Not any real problems. No toxemia or bed rest. Just a really
lllooonnnggg last month!! She was what the doctor called a 'floating' baby. And I think she was comfortable where she was!! Thank goodness she decided her life needed to start. Grandma Donna came and got Shawn that morning. I remember her coming in the bathroom and she told me I had better get to the hospital because I was bearing down and Tara was on her way. No fooling around for her! Once she decided to be born she was on her way!! We made it to the hospital and Darwin went to check us in, by the time he got to the maternity ward, I had had Tara! I think labor was all of 4 hours. Slick as a whistle as the saying goes! lol!!! Tara was not a happy baby, she had colic all of the time and cried a lot. She liked lying on her Dad's chest.
And spent her first couple of months sleeping there. Her little temper matched her bright red hair! When she wanted something it was now or else. Tara always liked to sleep wrapped tight in a blanket and she could lay absolutely content for hours. Needless to say we all survived and now she is a mother to her own little redhead!

~~ MAY 2009 ~~

Not a lot going on here. We have been getting the yard in shape for Summer. Darwin got the garden all tilled up and his potatoes planted, they are up and growing. He planted my peas and they are big. Soon we will have peas! He got the sprinkling system going and now we----he can mow the lawn. He doesn't think I can walk yet??? Next week I'll take my turn.
The hostas are up and the lilies are getting ready to bloom. The tomatoes are doing good and the green peppers are trying to grow. We have a banana squash this year and a zucchini started. Darwin started corn behind the fence, but this morning I seen something crawling through it ? What could it be? Through the fence it looked like Talula rolling around? But NO ! It was pigeons pecking at the corn seeds!! Darwin will not be happy!
Our roses are looking really good this year, maybe it was the long spring we had. Or the banana peels I put arounds them! They are ready to bloom. I have finally got my old tree stump put together. It has a gnome door and a little window with a little gnome peeking out. Irish moss is growing around the little doorstep. The squirrels and bears and birds are perched all around. Shawn and Bekah should not have taken us to the little fairy world. That was so fun! It has gotten all the creative juices going. When the kids are here, they can help me make little stepping stones for the gnomes to use!
Anyway, that is it for now !

~~ HAPPENINGS ~~

Just a quick catch-up for April. We had Tara, Jake & Eli come for a one night visit. Eli has grown and is still a character! Jake is still a character also!! Darwin did get an afternoon off to spend with them. He and Jake went out to shoot the 'guns'. Tara, Eli & I went to check out Crazyscraps.
We came back and tried out the Cricut. I think Tara like it ! The Eaglestons then proceeded to Eagle Mountain. We got together on Saturday for Easter. That was fun! We ate and talked and played Red Rover. Sawyer loved that.
On the following Tuesday we had Katie and the boys come down. Katie wanted help making her new tote bag. She told you about Sawyer and the hammer. Poor Talula! It was a quick trip for them, plus Katie promised them a McDonalds if they were good. BTW, Katie did an excellent job on her bag.
That Friday, we had Ezra come stay with us for a couple of days. He's a character too! He told me Talula had boogers in her nose and needed a tissue. LOL! I think he was in heaven, he could just run wild in the yard. I had picked up a plastic bike and he road it around. Tori & Clark came and picked him up on Sunday. It was a good weekend.
And now, Today is the last day of the 'Outage' !!! Time to celebrate !! I know Darwin is just going to catch up on his sleep!

~~THE OUTAGE BEGINS !!~~

Today is 'O' Day ! The fun begins. Darwin will be Tired, Hungry, Dirty, and Ornery when he gets home. He will go to bed at 8:30-9:00. Gets up at 5:45 and starts all over again for the next 4 weeks straight. We are really looking forward to Jake and Tara and Eli's visit! It will break up the rut. Not to say they are Rut-Breakers?
I had my 4 week check-up and I can now wear a big shoe around the house and only wear the boot when I go shopping or walk a lot. Thank goodness your Dad's shoe works for me!! So fashionable. The foot is healing well. He could still see the saw mark though and said it would take another 2 months before that closed up.
Other than this, we are doing great! We have potatoes and peas planted and Spring is finally in the air here !! If the wind doesn't blow it away !!!

~~HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE~~

Katie was our Placenta-Previa baby. Which meant everything that should have been at the top was at the bottom. Which meant she had to be delivered cesarean.
I remember the doctor sending us over to have the ultra-sound done, Grandma Bills took me. The technician wouldn't tell me anything, I asked if he could tell me if it was a boy or a girl.
He told me 'No' but she is going to be a big baby.' Grandma thought that was clever and giggled.
So I got busy making a girlish baby blanket and fixing everything for a girl. A week later we found out she was going to be a C-section delivery. It also meant she would be born 2 week early. That was a great surprise since the last two had been 21 days and 28 days late. (I'm really glad they don't let women do that anymore.) I was sick through the whole pregnancy, you know when things just don't feel right. Of course, we were building the house by the Billses. I did things I probably shouldn't have, like hauling gravel for the window wells and helping to move a fridge in! I remember my cousin's wife had just had a baby, same thing Placenta-Previa. Only her doctor hadn't caught it and she went into labor and he almost lost her. So I was a little nervous. Needless to say, everything went great! Katie was born and she was a crack-up from the beginning! Those big brown eyes were priceless. Pops said they were just like Grandma Ida's. Those eyes would melt your heart, and sometimes you just could not get mad at her.
We love you Katie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Deb's toe

As you can see Deb's toe is all wrapped up. So is she , she had a few pain killers. But is feeling better. And no she not turning into Fiona the green is from the antiseptic. We're having a good time here.

~~25 THINGS ABOUT ME~~

1. I have red hair.
2. I have acrylic nails. Have had them for many years!
3. I live in Delta.
4. I am now a retired Pharmacy Tech.
5. I have 4 children. All married to great spouses!
6. I have 8 grandkids. Two pretty little girls and 6 handsome little boys.
7. I like to quilt and sew.
8. I like to do woodworking.
9. I like to make jewelry. (for myself mainly.)
10. I love to garden! (Got that from my Mom)
11. I have to have my alone time. (Got that from my Dad)
12. I read, not as much as I use to.
13. I like to iron, probably because it is an alone thing?
14. I am married to a great guy! Who some believe resembles Shrek. (I love Shrek)
That must make me a good Fiona! hahaha
15. I do not like to COOK!
16. I like to have order at home. (the old 'a place for everything and everything in its place')
17. I don't like to go to church sometimes.
18. But I do have a strong testimony.
19. I live in a good neighborhood.
20. I sold Home Interiors at one point. Worked at Draper Bank for a few years.
21. We lived in San Diego when we were first married.
22. I like to stay in motels when we travel, no more camping. I also love to get back home to my
own bed.
23. I miss my grandkids, I don't get to see them very often.
24. I love hearing from my family and extended family. (Love the blog and e-mail)
25. I am fat, happy and sassy!!!

Well, 25 things about me, not neccessarily in that order. Monica's right, this was hard.
I don't think I will Tag anyone. Just do it if you want to. It's good fun. ;D

~~Pay It Forward~~

I just got this off of Tara & Jake's blog because I was NUMBER ONE, then I went to Shawn & Bekah's blog and was NUMBER TWO!! This is going to be fun! I can't wait to see what Shawn comes up with??? I love to get anything in the mail!


1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me. (Deb)

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward!

~~3-D ~~

Monday was cold and snowy and so we couldn't do anything. We have been changing out our light and plug sockets to the new white ones, we worked on the Family Room and got those all changed out. Darwin did what he had to do that morning. Come 3 o'clock we had nothing to do. I suggested we watch our new movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (with Brennan Frasier).
I had opened it earlier that week and it had these 3-D glasses in with it. One side of the disc is normal and the other side is 3-D. We opted for the 3-D. Sooo- here we sat with these 3-D glasses on watching this movie. Of course, I got the giggles just thinking about what we looked like! 0-0
Darwin kept falling asleep (under those glasses). The last part gets a little exciting and he watched that. What we don't do for fun!

~~JANUARY PROJECT~~

This is my newest toy. I want to start or I should say add to my Family History and do it scrapbook like. And I want to make some of those vinyl wall sayings. Plus, I know each of you would like wall sayings---? I know it will by well used.

I have been working on this quilt for our bed. I decided I'd do it in plain, solid colors for Darwin. I'm sure he gets tired of flowers all of the time. Then, I did get a bonus when I retired. I have been looking for a sewing machine to buy with it. I was looking for
a machine like I have, but the store I got it from is closed and I don't want to order one off the Internet. So---Darwin noticed Nuttall's was having a Bernina Sale!! Well, Sunday morning on the radio, they announced "Dave's Bernina" was having a Super Sale this weekend. We went up on Monday to check out the machines before the sale so we wouldn't have to rush, then I would go back up for the Super Sale. The Saleslady asked the guy about the sale and they let us get it at the sale price! I finally got up the nerve to try it today, it is so fun and has all of these stitches! Plus, the Cricut will cut out fabric for appliques! I can't wait to try it all!!! Anyhow, this has been the January fun!

~~THE OBAMA DRAMA~~

It is now official. It is now President Obama. Here are a few thoughts on yesterday's happenings. It was an amazing event, to see all of those people in DC watching history being made. Pres. and Mrs. Obama will make a lot of first I'm sure. Her clothes were dissected by the media, but she is by all accounts a down-to-earth person. She had on cheaper gloves with her name-dropping coat and dress. Of course, the little girls coats cost $200 each. I guess now a day that's cheap. They said the Internet was over-loaded by down loads for look-a-like coats. I see Pres. Obama has already put a wage freeze on the White House. Ouch! I think he will do good things, I will watch and wait to see. No, I did not vote for him, I'm old and set in my ways. Some of the things he said and didn't say made me hesitant to support his views. By the look of the Inauguration, he is pulling the Country together and that--is good.