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!

hellish hail

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time trying to keep my blog current, our power was out for 48 hours this week, throwing my week into chaos.

A little after 10 on Monday night I was enjoying a relaxing shower at the end of a very productive day when, about halfway through, I heard and felt a frightening sound--above the sounds of the streaming water and the radio. Fearing my furnace was about to explode (our hot water heater/furnace combo--an antiquated beast--resides in a closet in our bathroom and at times makes menacing thumping noises). "Oh NO!" I'm thinking. "The house is going to blow up and I'm going to be found naked and dead in the street! What an embarrassing way to go."

And then the lights went out.

It didn't take me too long to deduce that we were in the middle of a tremendous thunder and hail storm. Thankfully John, knowing I was in the shower, was quick to bring me his Nintendo DS, which when opened and sitting on the counter, provided adequate light by which to dry off and dress. Whew! I wasn't going to die naked after all.

I was impressed by the kids' quick response to an emergency situation. The storm hit so suddenly and with such severity; thanks to their quick response time and action (as I was otherwise occupied) windows and doors were expeditiously closed, allowing no water to enter the house.

The outside of the house, however, did not fare so well. We awoke the next morning (still no power) to find the back of house looking like this:

Some of the holes are three and four inches big! We were fortunate that no windows shattered, as many of our neighbors' did. However, the frames are broken, dented, and cracked--like this:

Our gutters and window frames look like someone with anger issues took a ball-peen hammer to them. The saddest part to me is my little garden in the front of the house. Remember reading about my efforts to beautify? Well, Monday afternoon I decided I would surprise Mark (who was out of town) for our upcoming anniversary and add some finishing touches to our joint gardening effort. I stopped at the nursery on my way home from work, dropped another $50 for some fill-in plants, and together with the kids planted everything for FHE Monday night. For at least three whole hours my garden looked really good.

On Tuesday morning my garden looked like this:

. . . and my potted basil looks like this:

Emily, Sarah, John, and his friend George helped me rake and clean the yard (remember I said that Mark was out of town?). After a few hours of work we had raked about 15 bags of leaves--just from the front lawn. Though the decimation of my little garden is disappointing, it was somewhat heartening to at least get the debris cleaned up, and it felt pretty neighborly, as everyone else on the block was out in their yards doing the same thing and we would occasionally walk over to a neighbor's house to exchange storm stories and damage estimates.

The good news? Our power came back on last night around 10 p.m., but not before I had to attend to some urgent Relief Society business by candlelight and flashlight.


The bright spot? My rose bush, a Mother's Day gift this year from Mark, came through the storm nearly unscathed--amazing, when you consider the state of everything else in the vicinity.

For another great account of our eventful week and more photo documentation, see Emily's post.

the dog ate my homework

Okay, my internet has been down for four days now and I feel completely lost to the world! I'm back online now, however, with many things on my mind about which to blog--including, but not limited to:

• Our ward was dissolved on Sunday and we now find ourselves in a new one.
• I made cute Easter dresses for Sarah and I.
• Charlotte and Emily will be home in less than two weeks!
• My right hand is crippled from all the spray-painting I've been doing.
• Things are finally falling into place for a fun family get-away in May.
• I have an appointment with our new bishop tonight.
  
• My niece Claire is coming to stay overnight tonight on her way to BYU-I!
• I'm beginning to get quite a few little "side jobs," sewing, interior design work, etc., which is good for the money's sake, but not-so-good for my sanity/time's sake.
• I'm in a sewing mood--that is, I would like to sew summer clothes for my kids.
• Did I mention my crippled hand?--for real.
• I was so excited about my powder room re-do that I haven't yet blogged about the other awesome gifts I received for my birthday last month, including a new red Blackberry!
• I need to get caught up on reading everyone else's blogs!

So there you have it--a blogging brain dump. Funny how things that used to seem like luxuries, such as high-speed internet access, are now absolute necessities. Thank heaven mine is up and running again!

good and not-so-good

When the kids were younger we used to share the Good and Not-So-Good highlights from our days at the dinner table. When I was the YW president years ago, I used to do the same thing for a few minutes at the beginning of our lesson time. It proved to be a fun tradition and a great way to get a feel for what was going on in each other's lives.

So with that theme in mind, I'm going to share some of the Goods and Not-So-Goods of my week:

Good: Today I finished returning costumes and can officially "put this show in the books," so to speak. I feel good about how the show looked and especially enjoyed watching the leading couple dance in these costumes I made for them.

Not-So-Good: Because of the musical, I missed Sarah's clogging competition at Thanksgiving Point last week. She received a first-place ranking in all her events--individual and team!

Good: I finally made it to Petsmart to buy dog food and a new Nylabone for Moosey.

Not-So-Good: I didn't realize that the Nylabone was the "flexible" (a.k.a. easier to chew) kind. It was $8 and in less than 24 hours it looks like this, which also means that there are tiny pieces of it strewn about the carpet. Good thing I love her so much.

Good: I cleaned up and vacuumed my sewing area (and even got a little ironing done)! Now Mark won't have to worry about the possibility of embedded gold glitter in his work clothes.

Not-So-Good: The process of cleaning up one area always leads to a pile of things that migrate to another area to be put away.

Good: I was asked to teach another ward's YW class two weeks ago on the topic of Virtue and used this photo of my two exemplary daughters as a visual aide. Not-So-Good: I felt like I was giving the lesson to the pillars at Stonehenge.

Good: I've been flossing faithfully every night for over two months! I'm converted now.

Not-So-Good: No, actually, this one is truly a BAD. Despite my improved dental hygiene habit, I still need a new crown on one of my back molars.

Good: My life has been made immeasurably better by the addition of this Bluetooth wireless devise that Mark gave me for Valentine's Day. Not-So-Good: My Blackberry disappeared at the high school during the musical so now I'm back to using my old phone. Oh, Wo is me for the loss of my Sim card!

Good: After three weeks I was finally able to do much-needed grocery shopping at both Sam's Club and Costco. I found these magazines and can't wait to try some new-found recipes.

Not-So-Good: Before I could put away the new groceries, I had to face the stacks of molding food in Rubbermaid containers that inhabited my refrigerator--one since Christmas vacation. YUK!

Good: Jacquelyn came over for a round of family haircuts! Now John, who hasn't cut his hair for more than two months so he could look like a prince in the musical, can return to his more clean-cut look. Not-So-Good: Time to get out the Oreck again!