MIA?

No, I haven't gone Missing in Action or AWOL. I'm currently in Pennsylvania helping my sister Susan with her clients' Christmas set-ups, something I do every time this year--or at least have done for the past five years. No time or energy for keeping up my own blog, but I'm doing a bit of ghost-blogging for her. You can read all about our week's adventures here.

You gotta love sister time, no matter how exhausting the work!

stop this train

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that nearly three weeks have passed since Charlotte's wedding day. We planned, shopped, cooked, and sewed--anticipating the event for so long (well, six months)--and suddenly it's over.

I loved every minute of Wedding Week. There is very little, if anything, I would change or do differently. Thanks in large measure to the generosity and kindness of so many good friends and dear family members, my daughter's wedding was everything I had dreamed it would be. And Charlotte herself was the most easy-going, easy-to-please bride you could ever hope to meet. The entire experience was everything a wedding should be, and for that I am grateful.

I felt initially overwhelmed at the thought of blogging about it all. But now that both Charlotte and Michelle have done such fantastic jobs of summarizing the event, I'll just link to their blogs and you'll get a great overall feel for the occasion. I'll use my blog to try to record my feelings as a first-time MoB.

First off, I simply must state the obvious and somewhat trite sentiment (though so, so real): it just doesn't seem that long ago that Charlotte was the little girl in this picture, dressed to match her younger sister Emily.

Wood family, circa 1995 (Photos by Karen Rubin)

Thankfully, we did change somewhat after this first official Wood family portrait taken in the early '90's. Denim shirt buttoned all the way to the top--fuchsia striped jumpsuit buttoned all the way up? What was I thinking?!

Wood family, circa 1992 (photo by Karen Rubin)

Somehow, you think that--once you have all your kids--it's like, Ta-dum! This is my family--this is how it will always be. Wood family, circa 1998 (Photo by Barbie Jarvis)

And for a while, it is. School milestones, birthdays, holidays and the like come and go in a rather comfortable, cyclical sort of way.

Wood family, circa 2000 (Photo by Paula Woellhaf)

Yes, hairstyles and clothing trends change along the way, but this is our family: four kids--three girls and a boy. My family will always be this way.

Wood family, circa 2004 (Photo by Paula Woellhaf)

And then, before you're even aware of what is happening, the milestones start getting bigger--graduation from high school, acceptance into college, graduation from college. And before you know it, your little girl in the plaid taffeta jumper is wearing high heels and falling in love.

And here's the thing: I wouldn't want it any other way. She has done everything in the right order--she has a fantastically bright future ahead with limitless possibilities. It's what I really want for her, and yet--just for a moment--I wish I could "Stop This Train, I want to get off and go home again."

Wood family, redefined, October 22, 2010 (photo by Michelle Olivier)

I guess it really is all about defining a new "normal." And, as John Mayer so aptly states, "Don't stop this train, don't for a minute change the place you're in." I wouldn't change a thing.

freedom

the countdown continues

Bake and freeze cakes for Thursday night's family dinner:

Check.

Plan healthy family meals during wedding week:

Check.

Go with Charlotte to jeweler's to have our rings cleaned:

Check.
Enjoy every minute of having Charlotte at home:

Check.

wedding prep checklist, cont.

Three more essentials crossed off of the list:

• One MOB dress, completed and ready-to-wear!

Check.

• One great pair of MOB shoes, worn once or twice to break in:

Check.

• One well-stocked refrigerator for wedding helpers:

Check.

every mother crow

My mother used to say, "Every mother crow thinks her baby is blackest."

Well, I think I'm that mother crow now. After graduating from BYU last April, Charlotte spent the summer interning with LDS Church Magazines in Salt Lake City, working for The New Era (magazine for youth ages 12 - 18). Beginning this month with "A String of Good Examples," her articles will appear in the magazine through February or March of next year.

The internship was a great experience for her; she was able to implement some of her own ideas and was given real writing assignments--not just your typical intern-who-makes-the-copies stuff. I'm so proud of her and have become the overbearing mother who shows the magazine to any captive audience.

Look--her name is in the magazine's masthead!

Yes, I think my baby is blackest.

on a roll

Cross another item off of my wedding preparation check-list:

• Make (and freeze) 26 dozen homemade dinner rolls for reception

Check.

Happy Birthday CJP!

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 84. It's hard for me to believe that six months have already passed since her death. This is the first time in twenty-one years that I have celebrated her birthday without her (that's how long we've lived in Denver). But I decided that today should be a day of celebration, and not one of sadness.

My dad and I went to Sam's Club first thing this morning and bought a beautiful bouquet of Fall flowers. We picked up my sister Karen and her husband Daniel and drove to the cemetery to decorate Mother's grave. The day is bright and sunny, with just a hint of Fall crispness in the air.

After taking a few photos at the graveside we went to a favorite place to have breakfast: the Sunrise Sunset Cafe, a mom-and-pop establishment that serves tasty home-cooked goodness. We enjoyed being together and we like to think that Mom would have liked the excursion as well.

Now I'm home for the afternoon and plan to bake a cake in her honor, an idea Emily and I had separately and simultaneously. I still haven't decided what kind for sure, but I'm leaning toward the family favorite of Chocolate Cake with White Mountain Frosting.

This photo was taken one year ago, on her 83rd birthday. I was trying to remember what I gave her for her birthday last year and can't seem to recall. What I have come to realize, however, is that even in death my mother continues to give gifts to me--the gift of her enduring wisdom, wit, and expertise--and most importantly, the gift of her faith in and testimony of Jesus Christ.

Thanks, Mom. I love you and miss you, and am so grateful to know that you're not that far away.

first an iPhone and now this

{Three generations of Petersen men--all darling!}

My father, an engineer by trade and a handyman at heart, has always harbored a penchant for gadgets and gizmo's. At the age of ninety he has a GPS system built into his car, a recently-acquired iPhone, and an active FaceBook account.

Given that kind of Cool Factor and street cred, it's really no surprise that he would show up one day with bling on his front tooth:

Well, okay--it's really just a chip in his crown, but Dad got such a kick out the young man who asked him (with some degree of awe-struck admiration) if he had a diamond in his tooth, that I just had to document it before we went to the dentist's office this morning to have it fixed.


Thanks to the wonders of modern dentistry (and to our really kind dentist/friend) the new crown will be in ready and in place in time for Charlotte's wedding in just three weeks. Although, now that I think of it, maybe it would have been sweet to have a bit of bling for the festivities.

in the line of duty

While opening a can of black beans for dinner I managed to slice my finger open and bleed profusely. Two hours, a $20 copay, and seven stitches later I have this fashion statement to show for it:


I think I'll tell people I got in a knife fight or something--anything more glamorous than black beans.

it's a wrap

This has been perhaps the busiest summer of my life, what with Charlotte's wedding plans, work (not to mention searching for new work), and Relief Society--and don't forget all of those pesky table cloths I still need to iron. Of all things, I never would have imagined that I could have found time to be part of a singing group--good grief, I don't even have time for Ward Choir!

But a couple of months ago my friends convinced me to join them in a small group made up of Wheat Ridge High School graduates. We were all--at one time or another--members of the show choir there. We've been practicing once a week, and last night we had our first "gig."

Mark asked why I stood on the "men's side." It's because I sing tenor.

I still wonder how I've found the time to do this, but I've identified that the whole experience has been like therapy for me. For those two or three hours that we rehearse each week I completely forget about everything else. It's like going to a really good movie where you don't think once about the overwhelming To-Do list waiting at home on the kitchen table.

Really, these are some of the nicest friends I have the pleasure of knowing. And it's a whole lot cheaper than professional therapy.

stayin' alive

I’m not sure how or when it got to be September, or what exactly happened to June, July, and August, but here I am—still alive, despite rumors to the contrary. Here is a brief (and mostly pictorial) recap of my summer:

Exhibit A: Family Road Trip

June took us to southern Alberta to celebrate my darling father-in-law's 80th birthday. (He's in the back row--the one in the hat.)

Really, what can be better than hanging out with cousins?

I was fascinated by the beautiful colors and textures of the rocks in Waterton Lake.
They are the same colors as many of the walls in my house!

(I took this picture for you, Susan.)
The water was freezing, but oh-so clear and refreshing!

Exhibit B: Back to the Mundane

These table cloths are waiting patiently on my project table to be ironed. My mother used to iron all my table cloths for me, so this ever-growing pile stands as an ever-present reminder of how much I miss her.

Exhibit C: Wedding Planner

Nearly every square inch of my basement is covered in wedding-related items--that is, the part of the basement that's not covered in laundry and ironing.

There are the boxes full of decorations and custom-made aprons,

the boxes full of wedding-guest gift basket goodies waiting to be assembled in a cute and alluring presentation, and . . .

. . . then there's Exhibit C1: Sewing, Sewing, and MORE SEWING!

The summer began with a very large drapery project (pictured, in part, above). Five dresses, one skirt, one jacket, and two table cloths later I still haven't made a MOB (mother-of-the-bride) dress that's fit to be seen in public. I've decided to play it safe and go with my favorite dress pattern, made this time in an iridescent silk taffeta (vermilion and pink tones).

Sewing yet-to-be-completed: three skirts, one MOB dress, one temple dress (possibly to be remade in better, more comfortable fabric), and seven decorator pillows (the latter of which are for clients--not for me).

Exhibit D: New (actually quite old) furniture found on Craig's List!

It's amazing what the thought of having company will do to open your eyes to the atrocities around your house. My sun room furniture, some 21 years old, had been recovered once and was looking a little worse for the wear. I found these two pieces on Craig's List. I won't be able to have them recovered before the wedding, but believe me--they're much cuter and in better shape than what I had. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

Exhibit E: Canadian Family Vacation Reversal

In August the O'Brien's (Linda is one of Mark's lovely sisters) came to our house for a visit, bringing Mark's dad Kay along. We had four days of shopping, game-playing, shopping, and--did I say shopping? We also enjoyed a cookout in the mountains, FHE around the Sunday dinner table, and we threw in a Donut Night for good measure.

Exhibit F: Families Really are Forever
While going through some of my mother's belongings, I came across her current temple recommend. It doesn't expire until the end of September. I love knowing that--at the age of 83--my mother died the worthy bearer of a temple recommend.

Exhibit G: Sarah Turns 12!

I can't believe my baby turned twelve on September 4th. We had a fun-filled day on Saturday and she was so excited to attend Young Women for the first time on Sunday.

I think that Mom is really helping me out on the cake-making front. Sarah's chocolate cake with yellow-tinted White Mountain frosting was one of my better efforts.

Exhibit H: Back to School
Emily is back in Provo and Charlotte moved to Portland to start job-hunting. *sigh* Thank goodness I still have Sarah and John at home to keep things interesting!

cake walk

"You can't judge a recipe's success based on how it turns out during Funeral Week."

These were Emily's words of encouragement to me as I faced this week--a somewhat daunting week which included four major baking assignments, one of which was to make Triple Caramel Cake, pictured above in our first post-Mother attempt.

The first task, cookies for Sarah's softball team, was a no-brainer. I can make chocolate chip cookies in my sleep. That was the first project to get crossed off the list, and one I did at about 11:30 Monday night, hoping that since I had already brushed my teeth, perhaps I wouldn't eat the dough. (I also had the good sense to mark the finished bag of cookies as off-limits to the rest of the family.)

The second was Emily's birthday cake--chocolate with White Mountain frosting. Though I can't yet make this one in my sleep, it's still a no-brainer, as it has been a family favorite for years and I've been making it since I was a young teenager. I made this one Tuesday afternoon and was pleased with the result (the cake, that is--no so much the decorative embellishments). Whew! Another one crossed off the list.

I knew I had to start the final two baking projects on Wednesday night if I was going to have them ready in time for a party I was invited to Thursday night. I am not as familiar with either of these recipes, as my mom had been the one to discover and make them in recent years. I would always frost them for her, but had never actually made the cakes myself. I started missing my mom again.

"If we're lucky, the world will end soon!" said Emily in another attempt to reassure me. In response to my questioning look, she clarified, "So we'll be able to see Grandma again and get cake-making tips." With this bit of encouragement, I pressed on and began caramelizing the sugar for the Triple Caramel Cake, and melting the chocolate for the Giant Ding Dong cake. There was no turning back now. (Yes, Miranda--I unabashedly took some Baker's Joy from my mom's stash.)

I finished baking both cakes and took the Ding Dong layers to my Dad's freezer for safe keeping and freshness protection overnight. After work on Thursday I frosted both cakes and was quite pleased with the results.

After some creative maneuvers to figure out how to transport the cakes safely to the party (which included the use of duct tape and a ceramic flower pot, held in place at Emily's feet) we arrived with everything intact!


It looks like I can bake cakes by myself after all.