Wicked

Last fall my daughter, Heidi, asked all the

adults in our family if we wanted to buy tickets 

to Wicked.  It was coming to Gammage in February.

Well February came and we all went.

Thank you, Heidi.  I had so much fun and

enjoyed having everyone together.

My date for the evening.  

No empty chairs.

 

It has been quite a while since all our

children and their spouses have been

in the same place at the same time.

Had to have a picture!

These are the best people.

Love them, love them , love them!

Be careful

You never know who you might run into.

For Jill and John

I thought you might appreciate

this lonely sign in very rural

NE Arizona.

It's Jeff's birthday....so why do I feel like tearing up?

My brother, Jeff, has a really

bad back.  He has lived in pain

for years....day in and day out.

He has recently started taking a

medication for that pain.  I have

talked to him on the phone almost

every day and he has talked about

being pain free for the first time

in years.  

Well, today is Jeff's 57th birthday.

I haven't seen him since he started

using this medication.  David and I

went to say happy birthday and

as we sat and talked I realized that

Jeff was much more animated and

his face was relaxed.  I could tell

he was mostly free of the pain that

he has lived with for all these years.

I really wanted to cry.  I was so

happy for him.  He is always full of it

but I could tell the pain was there.  But

today he was his usual fun self

but a pain free self.  

He looks so good.  And full of it.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

God bless you.

Tammy gave me some pictures

of their family.  This is a bunch

of beautiful people.

 The whole famdamily

 Tammy and Jeff

Kara, Becky, Tammy, Jeff, Chelsea, and Ryan.

I love seeing adult children 

hang out with their parents.

Valentine Snow

We had a surprise snow for Valentine's Day.

 The forecast was for 3 inches but we got 6-8 inches.

It was pretty.  And we need more precipitation.

So what did David and I do for

Valentine's Day?  We went  to

Charlie Clark's for dinner.

This is the premo steak house in Pinetop.

Do we go there very often.  Not hardly!!

It costs us like 50 bucks to eat there.

So it needs to be a special event.

And it so happened that David had been

given a gift certificate for $50 to Charlie Clarks.

And we saved it for Valentine's.  He had the

special, steak and shrimp and I had a

"chopped" sirlion steak....hamburger.

But they cooked it well done and crispy.

It was so good.  Our bill was $51.25. (I know
that is alot for a burger!)

I am aware that that might not seem

unreasonable to some but for the two

of us it was shocking to spend that much.

 We did enjoy ourselves.  The snow was

falling and we had a free evening

and the meal was delicious.

Special Person at Richard B Wilson Junior K-8th, Oro Valley, AZ

That was me!  My granddaughter, Melanie, asked

if I could come and go to school with her last Tuesday.

Well, yes, I certainly would! 

And I think Melanie did a great job

of making me feel special.  She was

happy to see me come in and showed me 

a good time!

 Jett and Mom

 Our first project was to write an acrostic poem.

Melanie has an amazing ability to spell.

If you enlarge the picture you can

see her poem.

 Melanie and her teacher (can't remember her name...

good thing I am not a student!)

 Mel wanted a picture with Grandma.

 This is one of Melanie's "best friends".  I learned

later that she is one of many.

This was cool.  We ran into Megan on the

playgrounds at lunch time.  I was glad to

see the school and some of the romping

grounds of these good girls.

Thanks, Melanie, for making me feel "special".

I have thought about it many times this week.

Magnet Alert!!!

I learned something that I wanted to 

pass along.  If you use those cute

magnets for your frig or blackboards...

BE CAREFUL.  If children swallow

at least TWO this can cause digestive

troubles that can kill.  If they find

each other in the digestive track

they can lock up with tissue between

them.  They have to removed surgically.

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today....not.

I think I am my own worst enemy at times.

I love being at home.  I never run out of things to do.  So…why venture out?  I have responsibilities and hobbies that are ever present before me.  I love keeping a clean and organized home and I love decorating this home.

But this winter is the third winter that I have felt a definite unhappiness come mid January.  And this is

contradictory as I love the coziness of home in winter.

What I am beginning to analyze is why????  The BIG why.  I have concluded two possible reasons why I feel blue…..ONE: Lack of Sunshine. (This one is my

preference).  I had these feelings last winter and in mid January we took a jeep and quad trip with family and friends and went exploring in warmer country where the sun was shining ALL DAY .  The day was beautiful as was the trail

we followed and family and friends

were great.  It really lifted my spirits.  

So some sunshine seems like the cure.

But I have to consider possible reason #2.  ME! 

I am thinking that I am too attached to hearth 

and home….recluse comes to mind.  I really get

distressed about leaving the place that I have assessed 

as the font of peace and contentment. 

  It isn’t healthy to stay holed up 

and attached to only one place.   

I am worried that I am starting to

side with the hermit mentality.

I really hope it is the sun.

Addendum 

I wrote the above thoughts while I
sat in Primary.....am I bad!  I also thought,
as I sat in Primary, that I should go
to choir practice after church.  It was
a fight but I got myself to stay....and this
is what I can now say about winter
doldrums:


Singing with other people is a good
way to keep the blues at bay.


And so it just talking to good people.
I sat between two friends and 
probably drove the choir director to 
distraction because all I did was talk.
I told my friend to the right, Marie,
that I was weary of winter.  She
said, "oh I am way past January
blues.....I have moved onto the 
February funk.  (All of a sudden I
realize I am not alone....or crazy.  Yes!!)
The my friend on the left, Cynthia,
gives me some great preschool helps.
I was excited to look them up.

Who knows what tomorrow will
bring but for this evening I am
in great spirits and life is good again!

Never underestimate the power of 
friends.

Valentine Stuff

I haven't made any Valentine's Day decorations for

a long time.  I found this banner on Pinterest and

made it.  It is my version, of course.  This is what

I learned about banners....at least this kind:  THEY

TAKE A LONG TIME TO MAKE!  I like it a lot

and it adds life to an otherwise quiet and empty room.

 Then there are these blocks.  Lee came up here before

Christmas and she had an idea from Pinterest.  Her

idea was to use wooden blocks and mod podge little

Christmas trees using scrap book paper on there and then embellish them

with buttons or whatever.  We had great fun making

them.  So I decided to make some for Valentines.

These came out cute but the picture doesn't really

show that.  This is what I learned about them:  IT

IS MUCH MORE FUN TO MAKE STUFF WITH

PEOPLE YOU LOVE DOING IT WITH YOU.

Ants, ants and more ants!!!

I am wondering if these guys are just the

tip of the ice burg? 

I have a case that I use

on Sundays to carry my Primary things in.

It sat in one spot for a couple of weeks

since I was gone to Arkansas, etc.  Well,

I grabbed it to use on Sunday when I

was back in action and just about screamed!

The entire bottom was filled with black ants.

I occasionally take candy to church and

I had some m&m's loose in the bottom.

Except these m&m's had lost all their 

sugar coating.......the ants were about to

hit pay dirt!

I grabbed the bag and threw it outside.

Then I went and dumped it all out and

beat on it for a minute.  It isn't that ants

are all that dangerous.  It is just that I

thought we had had them killed off. And

to see them on a return visit made me mad.

I have had some bad experiences with

ants around here and have had the

exterminator here more than once.

So I am wondering what is really living

in the unseen walls of my house. Creepy.

These guys ate my bait and are dead.

These are the last of them.  I put this

paper down and put the syrup poison

on it and they fell for it.  It will keep

them down for a while but I know

they will be back when it warms up.

You just can't make friends with ants.

Birthday present: Trip to Arkansas

It seems like a hundred years ago but I went to Arkansas 

for my birthday.  Not entirely for my birthday.  Jill and John

were moving into a new home and I texted Jill one

day and said I would come and help if we split the cost

of tickets.  (tickets were $80 one way that week.)  I

really didn't expect yes for an answer!  My birthday was

in the middle of the week they moved so I just call it

my birthday present.

These are the only pictures I took that whole week.

And they are mostly here in Arizona. Heidi drove me to the

airport so these

are random pictures of our evening together.

Tim and Connie bought a new car so we all

went to the dealership to check it out.  Jeremiah

came for a minute (the place was close to his work)

and his kids climbed all over him.

 Happy new car owner and his sister.

 Wonder who is winning this conversation.

 This is the Armada they bought.  It is a nice

vehicle.  David and I always drove big

cars when we had children at home.  

I am glad to see that my kids do the

same.  Big car vs Little car....big car always wins.

 I stuffed this baby quilt into my luggage.  My sister,

Coleen made this for Jill when she was born so I

took it back for Jill as a keep sake.  We were

pretty poor when Jill was born and I was always

pleased to wrap her in this blanket because it

was so classy.  It had tons of embroidery work

and was hand quilted.

 These are the only pictures I took of my trip to

Arkansas and this was on the last night after

these grand babies went to sleep.

 I hadn't seem them for 6 months and

was amazed at how much they grew.

By the time I got there Jill and John had just

about moved everything to the new place.  They

had eaten fast food for a good couple of days.

Jill fixed a nice roast dinner for Sunday and

Quinn asked her if they could eat another

meal like this tomorrow.  You can only go so

far with fast food.

I was amazed to see Paisley running Netflix.

How do these little people figure this stuff out?

And I really enjoyed Parker giving me kisses

all the time.  I think she really likes me!

Thanks Jill and John.  I did enjoy coming

out and seeing you and your children.