PATTON'S ARMY rides again

Nan and her granddaughters

Cooking for a crowd

Me and my condo + seven. It's crowded and noisy and FUN!

The pioneers are in the house

Two visitors here...

...six to still arrive. We've been grocery shopping, sewing and making treats already. And only three days until The Ride.

A night in the city

My friend's family is visiting this week from Oklahoma and they invited me to meet them in the city tonight for dinner. After work I took the subway to Downtown Crossing. I did a bit of shopping (I needed a new umbrella and the Eddie Bauer Outlet sells one of the smallest ones I've seen). It was fun to walk through the city. I hadn't been to downtown Boston in a few months. There was a preacher screaming about salvation on the street. I was shocked to see the demolished Filene's. I enjoyed walking along the Rose Kennedy Greenway (where the highway used to be--pre-Big Dig). I meandered through the North End and took photos which was fun. We met up at LaFamiglia and had a delicious dinner (I had angel hair pasta with alfredo sauce) and then stopped at Mike's Pastry for dessert (I got a chocolate eclair). We walked a few blocks in the rain to the parking garage and even though it was chilly (and I didn't use my new umbrella), it was fun to be in the big city.

I never thought I could love a quilt so much

One of my coworkers in LA was named Mojdeh. Mojdeh lived with her boyfriend. One morning she was late to work and she said, "It's hard to leave your man in the morning."

I say it's hard to leave your quilt in the morning.

S'mores brownies

I tried this recipe tonight. I paid $2.49 for a bag of marshmallows last night at 7-11 because the grocery store was totally sold out. It was worth it. These are yummy!

Perfect day for a (Memorial Day) picnic

My friend and I enjoyed a picnic tonight at Devereaux Beach in Marblehead. I love Marblehead; it's beautiful, quaint, and not too far away. It was fun to sit on the quiet beach with perfect weather and delicious food. I took the first photo in the cemetery next to my building. And that might be my dream house in the last photo!

Perfect day for a drive

I just meandered through Lexington, Concord, Acton, Westford and Carlisle with my window down, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir up and taking photos along the way.

This beautiful church

is in my town. Years ago some new folks in the ward went there for church their very first Sunday in Boston. They didn't notice Reorganized on the sign!

And we've got a winner!!

There were 20 zippers! Rebecca -- one of these coin purses will be appearing in your mailbox this week!

Count my many zippers

I'm home today catching up on some sewing projects--namely coin purses. The first person to guess how many zippers I have wins one (a coin purse, not a zipper)!

Digging the Spring

We've had nice weather this week and I'm digging the Spring!

Birthday(s)

My niece Adrienne and my brother Robes share the same birthday. I still remember when she was born thinking, huh, I can't believe she was born on his birthday.

I talked to Adrienne today and it sounded like she had a fun 14th birthday. Her Church grandparents are in town and they went out to dinner. She received (and loved) my gift--a pink leather-ish Passport holder which will come in handy when she goes to Europe in a few weeks with a school group. We'll celebrate her birthday in Boston next weekend when she's here for the Ride.

Robes would have turned 50 today. I've been sad for a while about him missing this landmark birthday but today was a good day. I worked, went to the Temple, tried a new recipe, baked chocolate chip cookies (another new recipe), and bought some Red Vines (his faves). What I really wish I could have done was call and harrass him about being old enough to be an AARP member, embarrass him by having balloons delivered to his office by a gorilla (or the Miami Heat mascot), or celebrate with him in Florida. Happy Birthday!



















Robes and Adrienne on their birthday in 1997. She was 2 and he was post-surgery, 30 steroid pounds heavier and 38.

Longfellow Park Chapel (new photos)

I did a drive-by the burned chapel tonight on my way home from work and took these photos. They steeple was removed today. Can you see it in the pictures? A number of local churches offered their buildings and I heard tonight that the wards will be using one of those churches in Harvard Square. There is talk of rebuilding the chapel but I don't think any final decisions have been made.

Captured around campus

craft-E

I recently saw these nifty clipboards on martawrite's blog and decided I wanted to make some. I was telling everyone about my latest craft project using modge podge. Duh. Then I had the following email exchange with my friend:

Me: I looked at the bottle of stuff tonight and I've been calling it MODGE PODGE but it's called MOD PODGE.



















Angi: I know, I kept trying to discreetly repeat "mod podge" after you said "modge" but I didn't want to sound like a know-it-all.

Me: Thanks for nothing. I've sounded like a moron for a week. If I have spinach between my two front teeth will you PLEASE tell me?!?


































Last night some crafty friends and I went to The Coolest Joanns in Saugus. Seriously, it makes the one I usually go to look, well, pathetic. After that we got our craft on and each did a MOD podge project (clipboards and letters).

21 years ago today...

...I rolled into Boston, sight-unseen.  Moving here was one of the best decisions I ever made.  Happy Anniversary to me!  

Note: My very first Sunday here I missed the Arlington Ward meeting time because Robes, Kim and baby Ian (he was only 8 months old and now he's weeks away from finishing his mission) were visiting so my roommate and I went to church later that day at the Longfellow Park Chapel.

Free stuff

Our Relief Society has an email list that we use for announcements about activities, requests for things sisters are in need of, service projects, current events, and lots of FREE stuff. People give away babysitting, couches, books, clothes, nursing pads, and today someone was giving away a changing pad (N/A) and 26 gallons of water. I quickly emailed my friend who is packing up and moving to Boise and I scored the water. Baby steps to food storage and emergency preparedness!

Longfellow Park Chapel FIRE

We had Stake Conference today (video broadcast) and during it a woman in front of me got a text message and she started sobbing. Then I got a note from someone that the Longfellow Chapel was on fire and another friend sent a text. Before the closing prayer Clayton Christensen stood up and announced that the chapel was on fire and suggested that we not run down there. My friend and I decided to go and I'm glad we did. After 3 hours (it started around 10:30am -- with 3 singles wards in the building) the fire was still going. They suspect it was an electrical problem. They Stake Presidency will be meeting at 4:00pm today to make some decisions about where the wards will meet and how to handle things.

Here is a link to some of my photos (taken with my small camera).

And here is a link to Boston.com.

Call The Bishop!

Five years ago was the Arlington Ward's 20th anniversary and we celebrated with a BIG reunion that included a welcome reception, Temple session, Clambake, Spring Sing, special Sacrament Meeting where all five bishops spoke, a Linger Longer, and FHE at Kimballs. We packed all our favorite traditions into one weekend and it was amazing! If I remember correctly, we had "alumni" return from California, New York, Connecticut, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Michigan, Vermont, and a few other states. It was a fantastic weekend filled with traditions, friends, and fun. I was the Activities Chair and was responsible for much of the festivities. I remember being extremely excited about the weekend and seeing so many friends as I drove to the church to get ready for the welcome reception. There had been a car accident near the underpass at Route 2 and Dow Ave. and the westbound street was blocked off. So I kept driving and went to the next exit to double back and the access road was blocked off. Those were the only two ways to get to the church and we were expecting 150 visitors plus the members of the ward to gather in less than an hour! I stopped and talked to the policewoman standing in the road and explained our dilemma but she couldn't help me. I turned around and made my way through Lexington into Arlington and found a policeman that was back by the overpass and frantically explained to him that we had a big party and there was no access to the church. We strategized together and then he asked me to follow him to talk to another policeman. They said they could clean things up and open up a narrow part of the road so people could get through. Then I said, "I can call our Bishop and have him help with directing traffic." Immediately the policemen said, "OH NO, YOU DO NOT NEED TO CALL THE BISHOP!" I'm guessing they were Catholic and imagined calling this guy.


















I laughed and quickly explained that Mormons had a "lay ministry" and that our bishop was "a regular person like you and me." And then I called Bishop Johnston (far right) to help with directing traffic.















Note: These are the first 5 (of 7) bishops of the Arlington Ward (l to r: Bob Chandler, Kip Thompson, Lee LaPierre, Travis Waller, Jim Johnston). Photo taken at Stake Conference in Weston, MA on October 27, 2002.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Photo taken 01/09 in Oregon

My Refrigerator story

Back in the mid-90's a coworker was selling her refrigerator. She was getting married and she and her fiance both owned homes so she was selling some items. At the time I had one of those smallish single-door refrigerators and when my co-worker asked if I was interested in her relatively new regular-sized refrigerator for $250 I told her I'd buy it. She wanted it to be picked up on a certain day and since I would be away that weekend, I asked a friend if he'd be willing to pick it up for me and he said he would. I told him I'd leave a key to my apartment for him so he could deliver the refrigerator and plug it in. Because I did typing/word processing for people, I had a plastic file box on my porch so people could drop off work in a safe place and I told my friend I'd leave the key in the box.

My friend is an avid sports fan. He loves football, baseball, chess, golf, hockey, basketball (he's even had season tickets to Celtics games). He is a fan of professional, college, and local town teams. He loves watching sports, playing sports, refereeing sports and talking about sports. He's a sports nut.

I thought I'd be really clever. Since he would be picking up THE REFRIGERATOR, I left my apartment key in the box in an envelope addressed to:

WILLIAM PERRY

I returned from my weekend away and went straight to the kitchen to see my new appliance but it wasn't there. I couldn't imagine what the problem had been. I had left the key and directions and had made arrangements with my co-worker. I immediately called my friend and asked what happened. He told me he couldn't find the key so he wasn't able to pick up the refrigerator. I asked him if he LOOKED AT THE ENVELOPE IN THE BOX. He said he picked it up to look for the key but didn't want to mess with any of my word processing work.

















So much for my funny joke.

Tonight I saw this same friend at the fire station where he works. I pulled into the parking lot and had a brief conversation with him and then jokingly asked if I could park there while I went to dinner. He said, "Yes. This is a public building. Most people get nervous when they see the fire fighters standing outside but it's fine to park here." So I did. I went to dinner with friends and when I got in my car I noticed there was a ticket under my windshield wiper. UGH!! I was so annoyed because he told me I'd be fine to park there. I got out of the car, grabbed the ticket and took a look at it. It had my name, the town I live in and was a warning for a "junk car violation".

Look who signed the citation.


















This time the joke's on me.