New dishes!

The rest of my new dishes came on Tuesday. It was exciting. I love them more each day. Steve likes them way more than I thought he would. He thinks they are pretty, but it is how "substantial" they are, and they are "solid". I took several pics of them in different ways. Pics don't do them justice, but you get the idea. First is the cupboard. I had to rearrange the dishes. I know what you are all thinking. I had no choice they wouldn't fit if I didn't rearrange things. :-)The biggest surprise to me was how much I like the tea cups and saucers. I thought I can just see us all sitting around with the grandkids having a tea party with these. They are sooo cute!My fruit for my oatmeal in the cereal bowls. A couple of different arrangements so you can see them all. The pasta/soup bowls we both love way more than we thought we would also. We only got 4 of those we may get more. I think they are so pretty I don't know why, they are all really the same decor wise.I need to have someone over, I can't wait to set a pretty table! I will make sure and take pictures when we do! Love you all!

I'm just a blogging fool!

I dont' blog for 17 days and then blog 3 blogs in 4 days! Whew! I had the best salad yesterday and it was on my new dishes. The rest should be here by tomorrow, we have actually been able to make it with our 5 dinner plates and 5 salad plates. Isnt' that salad great!!?

I read the best read, anyone can borrow it. It is about the depression years and how it affected the LDS people in a small Utah town. It is typical Dean Hughes-very factual in the details of the time, but fictional characters. It was insightful and good learning about behavior and history. Yesterday was cloudy and depressing, today is gorgeous and Steve took me out to lunch at the Adobe. I had a crab salad! Nummmmmyyyy! I got these cool kids tools for the garden. I thought maybe that wouldn't be enough, but then I thought I couldn't have more than one kid help me at a time anyway. If they each had a shovel, when my back was turned they would be probably digging up my beds when I wasn't looking. Last but not least, I had to show this crazy petunia that grew out of the floor all by itself. This is a different one not one of the other two I blogged. Go figure, I go for years killing flowers and now they grow all by themselves. There is something about the greenhouse that petunias love! As a result of that observation, I am going to make some hanging baskets with petunias in them. I will post them when I get them done! All a part of me fulfilling my dream greenhouse.
Well, love you all!!!!

Mothers day pics, other pics and today

My porch, Ruby lasted about two pots, so I finished the rest yesterday. I will take a pic later in the year when they have bushed out more. Below is my herb shelf. I hope it works. I left them in their little pots a little too long, so some are long and spindly.

I said I would blog what I got for mothers day so here they are! This is from Megan and Greg, seeds and polishMike and Amy's shelf she got at value village for 3 dollars I think, bought a cute knob, painted it and voila a shelf that would sell for 20.00 or more in any cute store!Rebecca and Darin got me these beautiful earrings. They are fresh water pearls I think. Jakes gave me this great book! Ruby and Lyndsey made me the earrings out of shrink a dink, they glued the jewels on the flip flops.Ruby also painted me this pic. Her mom got an even cooler one.Lizzie and Shad gave me these fun spatulas and apron. Last but not least Danielle and Clay got me this cute polka dot bag, my scriptures and church stuff fits perfect in it.Today was a great day. I love church, it fills me up. I taught today. It was interesting, the harder I tried to prepare the more things interrupted me. Before church I still didn't feel prepared. I decided that there was something Heavenly Father wanted me to do that I would find out later. I got more sincere compliments than I have gotten in a long time. There was lots of feedback. I think if I had known where I was really going and what I wanted to do I would have controlled it too much and what was important wouldn't have happened. I am sure to them I was very aware of what I wanted and very in control. I'm grateful I wasn't it kept me humble. We all need humbling times. Well, the sun is out, I think I will take advantage of it, it is supposed to rain for the next 3 days. Love you all!!!!

Don't faint I'm really posting

I can't believe how long its been!! I have had a crazy busy life since I last posted. 4 days after I posted, I went to Jake and Lyndsey's because they were sick, Miles had pnumonia, and life was crazy for them. I had mentioned to Rebecca that I felt the spirit telling me I needed to go, but was trying to catch up. She called me a couple of days later and said, I think you should follow the spirit. So off I went. I was very glad I did. They were able to sleep in so to speak, for 2 mornings while I played with Ruby. I think she looked so pretty in those dress up clothes. I think she likes jewelry and pretty things, what do you think? At my house she tried to convince me that she needed some of my real jewelry. She didn't succeed. But she did make home with my kids watering can, shovel and some other things. :-) Cute little Miles, he sure didn't look sick did he? I think he got shocked by the flash here.

Isn't Miles cute!!! Jake was actually able to take a much needed nap. We ran errands on Saturday, which was fun. I babysat for them Saturday night. Miles did pretty good for a while and then I thought I would go nuts, but Amy and Meg came and distracted me while I bounced Miles and they would take turns bouncing him also.

On mothers day I made waffles and hung out with their family until later in the day when we went to Amy's for dinner. It was great, I bought shrimp, bread, salad and fruit. I got wonderful gifts from all my kids. Rebecca bought me some beautfiul pearl earings, Lizzie gave me some cool spatulas from Williams sonoma and an Apron, Jake gave me a cool book by Wayne Dyer called Inspiriation, Meg gave me some poppy seeds and fingernail polish, Amy made me this cute shelf , and Danielle gave me a cool polka dot bag. Steve gave me dishes. After dinner, Ruby and I drove back to the coast. We sang almost the whole way here.

Monday we got up and made bunny, duck, frog, and princess pancakes. Then we went to buy flowers and go to the aquarium. Ruby was so excited about the aquarium, so we basically grabbed the flowers and went to the aquarium. This is crazy, some scuba divers came into the shark tank to clean the windows. They were in pairs, one cleaned the window, the other had a stick to hit the sharks with I am assuming if they attacked them. She loved the sharks, and the king crabs. We went to the sharks twice. At the end of the shark exhibit they have these machines you put a penny in and it smashes them and makes an imprint on the penny Ruby actually made one all by her self. They were pretty hard to turn.The sealions are always fun, she liked them but didn't seem to be that excited about them.The birds are usually really cool, but they were hiding or somthing the day we went.
Then there are the toys out on the nature trail.On the way out she leaned in and hugged my arm. She was sooo happy. We came home, had lunch and then she took a nap. She stayed until Wed and I took her back to the valley after lunch. We had a great time. She said she is going to stay 5 days next time!

The next day was weight watchers. Friday we went to the temple. While we were up there we ran all kinds of errands. I bought these cool little books called Setting the record straight. They are on contraversial topics in the gospel. I have already read two of them and learned some things I have wondered about for years. I also got the new Dean Hughes novel. The most looked forward to errand besides the Temple, was Williams Sonoma to get my new dishes! Well, we get there and I can hardly stand it. They were all wrapped up and it was getting late. So I just peeked at one of the cups. After I got home I started to unwrap them all and about a third of them had flaws. It was really sad, it kind of ruined the experience. I called them about it on Monday and they said that was normal, to make a long story short they agreed to call around and get some replacements that were flawless, since I had some that were. I sent my flawed ones back a couple of days ago and they will be sending me my new ones on Wed of this next week. We love them a lot. Steve loves them way more than I thougth he would. I have already put my old ones away for when we go on a mission.

Sunday was a ward conf. and even though it was at our branch, we have meetings and etc after. Monday I crashed and prepared for Tues night which was our Auxilary Training meeting that we have twice a year. That meant leaving for Corvallis at 4:00 and getting home at 11:30. Then the next day I crashed again and tried to catch up.Thurs was weight watchers again, and now we are up to date. So I am not complaining, just explaining why it has taken me soooo long to post. I don't want to wait that long again though. I was just never here or too tired to blog for the one day or afternoon I didn't have a commitment.

Today was a good day, I got to really think about my life for a change while I was reading my scriptures and writing in my journal. That felt really good. I haven't had a lot of time to do that lately. Then I ate lunch, worked on scouting for about 45 min, then went outside and finished planting flowers on my porch. Came in ate popcorn and watched Ellen, folded clothes and finally after avoiding it as long as I could-made dinner. After dinner I watched Holes for the second time in my life, it is so good. Then I made myself get up and clean my kitchen and start some laundry which took only about 2 hours. I hadn't put away some of the things I had purchased lasat Saturday. Life has been too crazy. I am excited about tomorrow, I am planning on a greenhouse day. I have a new goal that worked until all this crazy away from my house stuff happened, After my scripture studay I work on learning about scouting for a half hour (Steve's suggestion and a good one), then go out to my greenhouse for about a half an hour. It is amazing what you can accomplish doing that. But I decided that I need to spend a day out there and get it really cleaned out and maybe even put my fountain together that I have had for I think two years. I have decided that I am truly going to turn my green house into my dream. I am tired of thinking and dreaming, I want the reality. So tomorrow is going to be a big push and then I will finish it up a half an hour at a time.

Well, it seems like there was much more that I was going to say, but I am tired and it is late. I love you all and promise to blog more often. I will blog my mothers day presents and my window herb garden tomorrow or Sunday.

JaneEyre, Suggestions, New dishes and Life

I can't believe it has been over a week since I blogged. I think it was because I was so slothful there was nothing to blog about. I was reading, watching TV, and knitting. I made myself wash clothes do the dishes, cook most of the meals, exercise, read scriptures, work a little on my church calling and get dressed. But it was work to make myself do that!!!

The pics you see above are in my greenhouse, they haven't been watered or attended to at all this winter. Isn't that amazing. I had to post them. I am about to pull up the red one. Sad I know. The purple on is now going on its 3rd year! It will be interesting to see how many years it will live. I am going to work in the green house today, I bought some plants and compost on Saturday.

I finished Jane Eyre, a great read! I was going to write my blog in Charlotte Bronte's writing style, I kind of wish I had. It only would have been funny to Rebecca. If you had all read Jane Eyre, it would have been fun. They use such big words and words we don't even use today. Then add to it she is from England I think or at least her people are. I think the first time I read that book I was in middle school. I loved it. I think I read it again when I was a young married person, I loved it again, now in my more mature (HA) years and I loved it again!

I have taken a step forward in my life. I have observed it since I have been knitting. Most of my life I have felt like if I didn't do something perfect I was going to get in trouble, or I wouldn't even do it if I couldn't do it perfect. I realized I had this problem and would make jokes about it, but none the less the problem was still there. Welllll, since I have been knitting if something isn't working our right I just rip it out and start over. It hasn't bugged me at all. I mentioned this to a friend and she said, don't you do that with sewing? I thought yea, but I have never really been afraid in the sewing room. Then I really thought about it and I think several things have helped me to change in this area (not that it is mastered, but huge steps forward). When we built the greenhouse, it was such a new world, I would be afraid to plant in it because I didn't know what I was doing. I would get all paranoid about disease and insect infestation. Steve finally said to me more than once, who cares if you have to pull up a plant or several? I thought about that and finally realized that we wouldn't starve to if all the plants failed. I needed to look at this as an adventure. I think that idea spilled over to other area's of my life. I found myself not getting so worked up about things and figure I will just do the best I can and that is good enough. This is exciting to me! I think the more I venture out that maybe I will conquer this one!!!

Last week I taught my first lesson for my additional calling in our branch. I am teaching the 4th Sunday in RS. It was so much fun. I love teaching. It also makes me feel a part of the branch again. One of the drawbacks of a stake calling is you feel like you don't belong anywhere. I am going to teach a class in enrichment soon on Nutrition and Fitness. I am excited about that. I think I am going to tell my weight loss story, I think it will give me more creditability. I am going to keep it really simple. If you have any suggestions as to what you would want most in that setting let me know it is one week from tomorrow.

Saturday night I bought my dishes over the phone!!!! We are going to pick them up on the 16th. We have a branch temple trip that day. I am excited. I bought 3 sets and 4 soup/pasta bowls. It turns out that you have a choice of the cereal bowls or the pasta/soup bowls. I was so excited about that, it appeared on line that you could only get the pasta/soup bowls with the set. We chose the cereal bowls, which we thought we would have to buy as an extra, it saved us a lot of money and plus now I will have what I need and not all these extra pasta/soup bowls that I won't use. I know I won't use all the cups and saucers except on a rare occasion, but I know they will get used so it is worth is to have them. The sets are so much cheaper than buying them individually.

Well, my screen is blinking so we think I had better spend my day backing up things. I have a call into Dairn about whether this is sign of my computer getting ready to crash or what. But if my computer is going to crash, I need to get some pictures backed up on discs. I was reading in the Costco magazine that there are these gold discs that last a lot longer than regular CD's. I wish I could go to costco and get those today! I will have to just use my regular ones and then transfer them to the good ones later. Well, love you all!!!

New workout dvd

Oh my gosh! I got this new WW DVD, and is it ever challenging. As you can see it says intermediate level, and it is! It takes cardio and weight training to a whole new level. She is younger, and looks like a body builder. Polly my receptionist told me it was hard, and she does heavier weights than I do, soooo I bought it and tried it this week. Steve was wincing one minute and laughing the next, because I was saying things like, "I can't do this, this is killing me, agghhhh!" You've got the picture. Anyway for the first time ever I actually liked doing weight resistance training. I guess it has to feel like its killing me for me to like it. What does that say about me?! I think I needed a challenge and when you actually make it to the end it gives you that high that makes you feel good about yourself.

The sun is shining!!! I hope it lasts. I am soooo tired of gray skies and ocean. It was cool for a while, then it became so depressing. I think this is the longest winter in years we have all had!!! I am ready for it to be over.

I started a scarf out of this thread Danielle left here and after I had knitted for quite sometime on it, I realized I was going to run out of thread before I finished the scarf. Danielle bought that when she was in high school to make a scarf for me. I am pretty sure without going to the store that there isn't the same thread there today. So I took it all out!!! and rolled it back up. I decided I will do it again later but make it not as wide. So instead I made another dish rag! Speaking of the wonderful and useful dishrags, you need to tell me if you would like a white one, or colored ones if one were to show up at your houses? If you would like a surprise, let me know what color! The advantage of the white is you can bleach it, but I have to say the colored ones are fun!

Megan and Greg are coming today, I am excited. Well, love you all and hope you have a great weekend!

Weekend , Steve's b-day and dish rags!

Well, from the stack above you can tell what I have been doing!!! I have been watching a lot of TV. My sister and Patty say if I am knitting while watching TV it is not wasting time, and my sister jokingly said if I was watching the History Channel then I am definitely not wasting my time. I told her that I actually was watching the History Channel part of the time. I actually have been doing less sitting and more doing. But I have definitely caught the knitting bug. Steve's says I look like a grandma when I am knitting in my glasses, I said,"well I am a grandma!"

Yesterday was one of those amazing day's that at the end of the day you feel very tired, but great. I did a little of everything, including working in my greenhouse for 40 min. I washed clothes and actually folded them, did the dishes, cooked meals, read my scriptures, worked on my calling, read out of Jane Eyre (which I am reminded why I always feel a soft spot when I think about it), watched Ellen while I folded clothes, knitted, watched the last Little House the movie with Steve and last but not least watched American Idol.

Speaking of American Idol, it is getting harder and harder to vote people off. I am anxious about tonights show.

Sunday was Steve's b-day. It was just the two of us. I had meetings all day, I felt bad for him, he went to church alone, came home to an empty house until I finally got home at 5:00. I made him cubed steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and salad. I already made the chocolate pie the night before. He ate so much at dinner he never wanted his pie. Finally as he was about to go to sleep, I said I have to sing to you! So I got out a candle, lit it held it up in front of his face, while he was laying on the couch and sang happy birthday to him. He took his sweet time blowing it out. Finally the next day he ate some pie. I had some on his b-day.

Well, that's about it, Saturday was just busy getting ready for Sunday. I did have a neat experience on Saturday. I have been very negligent in my calling. I think fear of the whole scouting thing made me paralyzed. I lost something that was very important to me that had to do with the 11yr. old boy day camp. I had searched the house over. Well, after I had put in several hours on Saturday working on getting ready for my Pres mtg. and brushing up on my handbooks, I found the thing I had been looking for while I was looking for something entirely different. I almost started crying. I knew that HF was displeased with me for ignoring my calling. After putting in just that little bit of time, I felt like he handed me that gift for finally doing my job. He is amazing, I don't think we are quite that quick to forgive!

Well, I am loving Jane Eyre for the 3rd time. If you have never read it, put it on your list. Oh we also watched Dan in Real Life, it was cute, we enjoyed it. Dad would like it mom. Well, hope you are all well!
Love you all!