Weekend update

My friends Leah and Judy joined me for a weekend trip to the Berkshires (in western Mass). We stayed at my friend's wonderful home that she generously lets us use. We got there late Friday night. Yesterday we started the day at a local farm stand with cider donuts and then headed for upstate New York (one of my favorite places to take my camera) and had a marvelous day. We had a late lunch at a diner, did some antiquing, drove through lots of small towns, and enjoyed the beautiful Fall colors. We were hoping to meet three handsome guys and smiled when three guys walked into the diner wearing leather chaps and jackets (they left their motorcycles outside)! I was hoping to find one of my favorite antique shops that I stumbled upon a few years ago just outside of Saratoga Springs. Thanks to my inner-GPS we found it...a few minutes after closing time. The owner let us browse and shop for an hour. I found some cool things: another typewriter for my collection, a cool rectangle wooden box (to store toys or fabric maybe), some fabric for $4/yard (a New York deal) and a vintage dough kneader with red handles! I enjoyed finding one of my favorite red barns and taking more photos! It was a wonderful weekend of friends, food, fall, projects, movies, relaxing and rejuvenation. The last picture is the view from the house. What a great weekend! We were all sad to have to return to reality.

BELIEVE!

AEB

the VIP

Here is a picture of the Very Important Project (quilt) that was delivered tonight. My friends were very happy to receive it!

Very Important Project

In August of 2006 a friend Laraine, who used to live here, emailed a group of people suggesting that we make a blessing quilt for some friends during a challenging time. She gave the specifics for the project and suggested that people mail their quilt squares to her or give them to me. Tragically, a few weeks later Laraine was in a car accident that left her in a coma with severe injuries and her teenage daughter paralyzed. A week or so after the accident Laraine died.

I wanted to be sure the quilt was completed so I asked Laraine's family to send the quilt squares that had been received to me and I would make sure the quilt was finished. (A year went by...) My friend Anna asked a few times if she could help with the project and that got me going. First I finished my quilt square (a heart) and I got a few local friends to finish their squares. Then Anna came over and helped me organize the squares and pin them together and I did the sewing. Tonight my friend Julie let me use her machine (with her fancy walking foot) to do the machine quilting and she helped me with the binding.

This Very Important Project has been on my list of things to do for thirteen months and tonight it is finished. I will post a picture as soon as it is delivered.

I am sure Laraine is happy that the quilt is done and will be smiling when it finally gets delivered.

Red Sox Nation

I took this picture at Wilson Farms. Pretty clever. GO RED SOX!!!

Weekend Report: the conference was good; the speakers were all very inspirational. I skipped out on the Black & White Ball last night (visited a friend in the hospital and watched part of Season 2 of "The Office" instead). I'm sure I was one of the top ten oldest in attendance. Church today was amazing. Elder Holland's talk was great. My visitors are gone and I might take a nap and then whittle away at my weekend list of "things to do".

Cupcakes

My friend bought me a cupcake from this place today as a thank you for picking her up at the airport recently. Yum!

Swingin' singles

I'm going to my first ever singles ("education") conference this weekend (http://www.ldseducationconference.org/). I keep telling myself I'm going for ME...especially when I heard my friend's college-aged son is attending. The conference is at MIT, the Black & White Ball is at the State House and church is only two hours (instead of the usual three). Jeffrey Holland is the keynote speaker and that alone will be worth $55! Who cares if I'm the oldest one there?

Underappreciated

This vacuum doesn't get much use but I dug it out of the closet tonight to do some sprucing up for weekend guests.

Squash words

I'm wishing I could squash some of the words that came out of my mouth today. I told the automotive repair shop guy that I was tired of seeing him. What I really meant to say was this is the 4th time in a month that my car has been in the shop and I'm tired of the hassle and expense but thank you for repairing Bluebell.

Note to self: think before you talk, think before you talk, think before you talk...

The last cone...

I went to Kimballs at noon today for my last ice cream cone of the season. [I thought they were closing today but they are actually open until October 14th!] I chose gingersnap molasses (in your memory, Valerie) and it was delicious. I am enjoying a nice rainy Fall holiday; sorry to all of you on the other coast that aren't enjoying Columbus Day today.

The winners

These guys are the winners of my 500 blogs drawing! I visited them today and told them in person. I've got a few ideas for their prize...

500 blogs

Sung to the tune of "500 Miles" performed by Peter, Paul & Mary.

If you read the blog I'm on
You will know that I have blogged
You will know that I have blogged 500 times...

Leave a comment today and I'll draw a name tonight at midnight and send a prize to the winner!

The circus is in town!

I missed seeing the elephant parade yesterday but captured this photo of the train today.

My older brother used to say, "We did everything there was to do in L.A. twice." That included Nan taking us downtown to see the circus animals parade from the train station to the arena where the circus was.

Familiar phone number

My phone rang at work today and the west coast number looked familiar. It was my youngest brother calling to say he was in the same time zone as me! He is working in NYC for a few days. He called me later today and we had a fun chat.

This picture was taken when he visited me in May.

Quick update

The dishes are done and the pajama pants fit! Life is good!!

Remember the Bookmobile?

I read this article in the Boston Globe today. I bet our old bookmobile in Van Nuys is a thing of the past too. Those were the days...













(Globe Staff Photo / Jim Davis)

Dirty Dishes

I'm tired and lazy and I don't care if I have to scrape corn and spaghetti off these pans and dishes tomorrow. I'm leaving this mess in my sink tonight.

Bag Lady

My friend ("Sister") came over today and brought me some bags. Bags of clothes! I've mentioned before that I have no sisters (no sisters = no hand-me-downs). There are some great clothes in there that I will use in the upcoming seasons! I'm even going to wear something new today! THANK YOU, Sister!!

Favorite New England tradition

Today was apple picking! It was a gorgeous day; sunny and seventy! There was a big crowd from the ward and everybody had a great time. Confession: I didn't pick any apples but bought a 1/2 peck of honey crisp apples which are delicious for eating.

In memory

Today is the 9th anniversary of my brother Robes' death. In his memory I had French bread, cheese, and strawberries for dinner and then went to see "Ratatouille". (He was a missionary in France--loved French bread and cheese--and was a gourmet-ish cook. I'm sure he would have enjoyed the movie.) I miss him every day.

Brother/boyfriend

My brother Robes and I were in college together for 2 1/2 years and for most of that time we lived in the same apartment complex (Roman Gardens). Two of our cousins lived in the complex also (the beginning of "Cousins Club"). I remember looking back on that time and realizing that we saw each other every day except one! I never would have predicted that! We ate lunch together on campus, we took turns cooking dinner for each other, we studied together, we would go together to visit our grandparents in Salt Lake City and we were in the same ward. Robes gave me a key to his VW bug and would let me borrow it. His gas gauge didn't work and sometimes I would borrow his car during the day to run errands (without asking...) and then he would run out of gas. Anyway, a girl in the complex once asked me if Robes was my boyfriend. I was shocked that anyone would think that and said to her, "look at us; we look so much alike." We weren't boyfriend and girlfriend even though we are holding hands in the first picture! The second picture was taken in February of 1997 when he was on a business trip to Boston.

Schwinn bikes

We were big fans of Schwinn bikes. I had a "blue breeze", Robert had a red bike (I'm not sure what it was called), and John had a "lemon peeler".

Robert and I rode our bikes to elementary school and they were the same size and had black seats. One day when school was over we went to the bike racks to get our bikes and ride home and both of our seats had been stolen! I remember standing there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do. (I probably started crying.) I think I asked Robert to go to the office with me so we could call our mom to pick us up. I remember him saying no way, hopping on his bike, and riding away -- standing up! My mom came to pick me up, we put my bike in the car and I got a ride home. We went to the Schwinn shop and bought two new seats for our bikes. We never had any trouble after that.

This picture is of me and John with our bikes (pre-lemon peeler) in our front yard.

VW buses

We had an orange VW bus (I guess that's pretty obvious from this picture). My brothers and I learned to drive in that car. The clutch in the bus wasn't easy to use and so when my older brother Robes learned to drive, the car lurched back and forth and back and forth while he was trying to ease the clutch out and go to the next gear. It was hilarious (not for him, I'm sure, but it was for his younger siblings). I remember being in the back seat laughing and laughing and laughing while he was trying to learn how to drive on the streets in our neighborhood. I laughed so hard that...well...I laughed so hard.













I saw this fabric a few months ago and thought it was really cool and decided to make my nephew some pajama pants for his birthday (which was a few weeks ago...). I started them last night and I finished them tonight. I thought Jamel would like something that reminded him of his dad.

















I sure hope they fit!

Happy Birthday, Janae!

Happy Birthday to one of my best friends ever! I met her a little over 5 years ago when they moved to Boston for grad school. I have so many great memories and even though she lives far away now she's only a phone call away. She's an amazing friend and I hope she's having a great birthday today!

6 month photo shoot

Cora is 6 months old! I got some fun photos of her today.

12-hour day

I left my house at 11:00am this morning and just got back at 11:00pm. The event went really well and my room of displays (1999-present) looked good. My favorite parts of the day were meeting some new people, the dinner, and hearing Claudia Bushman and Chase Peterson speak about their years living in Cambridge. Claudia's talk was especially good; I'd love to give a copy to every woman that moves to Boston! I'm exhausted and relieved that this event is over. And, I'm glad I don't have church until 3:30pm tomorrow!

This is what I wanted

On the way back from lunch today I decided to get an ice cream bar. I stood in front of the machine holding my dollar bill. Ice cream sandwich? Strawberry shortcake bar? Fudgesicle? I stared at all the options for at least two minutes and finally settled on a drumstick. I dug around my purse for a quarter (some were $1.00 and some were $1.25) and then put my money in the vending machine. I pushed the buttons for A-3 and then watched the ice cream bar fall. I ended up with some cookies and cream bar with crushed cookies covering it.

After all that, I must have pushed the wrong buttons.