Gathering Bling

This past Saturday I asked my SIL and niece if they'd like to sew while our hubbies and sons/nephews flew their helicopters and played Heroscape. She was way ahead of me and had been sewing with her friends the night before. So what's my stuff going to add to what she already had out.

I was assembling toppers, and she was working on pillows. She completely made me want to tackle that project - haven't done a pillow since this one...

So Sunday I went through my stash and found some lovely silver satin that we used when Carson was this for Halloween...
















Do you know how difficult satin is to work with? It does not stay in one place. It moooooooooves. I cut mutiple strips in 1 1/2 to 3" widths - kind of. Honestly they were mostly straight. Then I got out my ruffler foot (did you remember to use your jazz hands?), and ran the strips through the ruffler. Then I rolled the ruffled strips just like I was told to over here and made 5 of these. (ignore that they're already attached in this photo - I took these when it was all finished - brain wasn't thinking photo in the middle of this project...).

Now this is where the 2nd diva fit of the afternoon/evening came in. (Tell me you can gather satin with a ruffler foot without throwing the first one) I drive 3 middle school boys in our carpool a few times each week, and they are notorious for finding whatever crap has been stuffed under seats or shoved in pockets or thrown in the back. Seriously. One of the favorite car toys is one of those butane lighter things that make fire starting fairly safe (or encourage it in strange places - so go figure). I don't know why it's in my vehicle in the middle of winter, but I suspect it's a leftover from a scout trip. Anyway - I've seen a lot of blogs that say you should burn the edge of these flowers and that the fabric will curl nicely. SO - I wanted that lighter. Well guess what... It's not a problem locating it on any random Thursday, but when I actually need the thing it's no where to be found. Unless you look in the cupboard where all of my candles are stored... And if I decided to just grab it and sit down without letting my guys know I'd found what I was demanding, so be it... Anyway. Satin burns/melts very easily, and it's a bad thing for a mother of 3 boys to discover this and think it's cool enough that she cuts another strip of fabric and gets caught singe-ing right at the kitchen table. All I'm going to say is that it's a good thing there wasn't any fuel left in that lighter by the time I was finished...

Anyway. I was going to stop with the flowers, but the remaining fabric was calling to me. I needed to make a pillow while my ruffler was still attached to my sewing machine. So - I ended up with this: 

I think it's BE. YOU. TEE. FULL. Doesn't go so well with my white couch & chairs, but there's always a remedy for that isn't there?

I'd started out with 3 flowers and added the other 2 a little while later. When I had it how I wanted, I showed Jon, and do you know what his response was?!

Do you know how many times you swore while making that?

So not what I wanted to hear, but he was correct. There, I said it.

HE WAS RIGHT!!!

In my defense, allow me to say that you should NEVER under these circumstances attempt to make such a thing of purfled beauty. Yes that is a word, and when I'm asked for a word to describe me to a "T", that's the one I pull out - PURFLE. Look it up... What did my guys expect when I'd just switched my happy pill med two days before because my insurance company more than tripled the cost of my old medication? Were these guys supposed to know that I would be experiencing some withdrawal symptoms (headaches, nausea, dizziness, shaking, etc) from the old pills and that it may take some days before I find the new "normal" me? Was Jon really the wisest man when he said - and yes I'm going verbatim again folks,

Don't you think you should just man up and think about how you're acting. You're bigger than this.

Um. Really? You have no idea how upset that comment still makes me, and it's 48 hours later... Oh boy. But I really do love that pillow.

Linking to

The Engineer and the Sentimentalist

So - The Actor and the Housewife. Have you read it? Are you going to? I only gave it two stars on Goodreads, but boy has this one given me a lot to think about this week.

A friend of mine said the book made her uncomfortable because it would make her husband uncomfortable. She also said that I probably wouldn't have that same issue. Hmm - consternation. My own hubby doesn't seem to have a jealous bone, but do I give that enough consideration? Do I give him cause to be uncomfortable?

I think my man is one of the best. Another friend described him as a huggable, teddy bear-type, and she nailed it. She said that as she gets to know him a little better, she will be hugging him. I love that. I enjoy hugging him often.

I have always had a few, really good, male friends. Growing up it was Shawn Stewart and Mike Verville. High school - Philip Walstad and Christian Faulconer. I met Matt my freshman year at Utah State. Kyle came on scene early sophomore year. I did a good bit of dating, but I don't remember spending more time with anyone than Matt & Kyle.

Matt & Kyle made up all sorts of names for the guys I dated, but they never could come up with one for Jon. We'd gone to Seattle for an ASCE convention in February 1993. Jon was picking me up at the airport. Our plane landed in SLC at about 11:30 pm on Valentine's Day. Matt & Kyle hurried to get off the plane before me, and they were stalling me in the tunnel leading up to the gate. I happened to look up, and Jon was standing there patiently with a rose. He proposed on the way back to Logan.

June 1993. Matt & Kyle were graduating. I was getting married in a month. Matt was going to Seattle to do his masters at UW. Kyle was staying to do his Masters at Utah State. Jon & I would be living in Logan while I finished up my undergrad.

My apartment was packed, and my car loaded. I'd gone over to Kyle's while he was packing up his house. Matt was there. I remember Matt all of a sudden saying that he had to go. He gave me a big hug and walked out the door, got in his truck, and waved. I stood there watching him drive away, thinking that I may never see him again. Shortly afterward I hugged Kyle and left myself. I cried the entire way to Salt Lake. I remember being so frustrated with my future MIL because she didn't understand how I could cry over these two guys when I was going to marry her son.

Kyle brought a girl named Kim to my wedding receoption. My MIL drove me to the airport when I flew to Seattle for Matt's wedding (he found Kathy at UW - they had an incredible romance that Matt shared in various emails). I was pregnant with Evan when a kilt-wearing Kyle & Marion were hitched (he went all the way to the UK to find her). Both of them have two kids that I've never met but get to see in Christmas cards.

I like to think that I had as much of an impact on Matt and Kyle as they have had on me. But, there is still another man that I chose over them. He is the one I created a home with, the one who I created our 3 boys with, the one who makes me laugh every day, and the only one that I miss when we're apart for long weekends.

So - Becky Jack - I completely understand why you couldn't choose Felix. He just isn't Mike.

You Silly - Ladies ALWAYS Go First...

Today Jon and I had one of those rare days where we were out & about, together, on a weekday without any children.

Griff will be the first to tell you that I had to go get my girl parts checked. He was very upset that he couldn't go with me because I get to go whenever he gets shots. There was absolutely no way G-man was going to that appointment with me. I can just imagine the questions flying out of that kid's pie hole. Yikes.

Anyway - Jon dropped me off and then went to get my vehicle's safety & emission tests done - because he "knows" the guys at Jiffy Lube. Whatever. The thing passed, and he paid for the sticker right there so that I wouldn't have to go to DMV. He even put the sticker on the plate for me. That's one wonderful man that I've got.

After picking me up we headed to the same place that we always go when the kids aren't with us and we're on the south end of the valley - Pei Wei. Jon had the nerve to walk in the restaurant ahead of me and let me hold my own door. Now I do this on a regular basis when he's not around or if the entire fam-damily is together, but COME ON! It wasn't like he was out for lunch with the guys! It was just the two of us. I won't even begin to tell you what else he did before I got the chance this afternoon...

Again - anyway. While we were driving home we were talking about the books I've been reading lately. I had The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - And Why with me because I can't read the thing at night. It makes me think too much, and I find myself wanting to share passages from it with Jon and talk about whether we agree or disagree. It's fabulous.

So - this morning I finished Maggie, which is the sequel to one of my top ten favorite books - The Dead Don't Dance. These are the story of Dylan and Maggie Styles. Maggie hemorrhages after the birth of their stillborn son and slips into a coma. TDDD is about Dylan living while Maggie sleeps. Maggie is about what happens between them when she wakes up...

When Maggie opened her eyes that New Year’s Day some seventeen months ago, I felt like I could see again. The fog lifted off my soul, and for the first time since our son had died and she had gone to sleep–some four months, sixteen days, eighteen hours, and nineteen minutes earlier–I took a breath deep enough to fill both of my lungs.

I was curious what my hubby would do if something happened to me. I asked him if he'd sit next to me in the hospital while the monitors beeped. His reply?

"Nah - I'd make a recording, repeating that it's gonna be all right - go toward the light. You'd see me soon enough."

I was completely flummoxed! I just sat there staring at him. So then he said,

"What?! Someone'd have to watch the boys!"

3 Strikes in an Otherwise Enjoyable Evening

Jon and I enjoy watching movies after the boys have gone to bed at night. Jon will watch anything, and he remembers everything. I am a little more selective in what I'll watch (no horror or monsterquest for me), but occassionally I'll try something just for the heck of it. After a couple of years pass I have a hard time remembering if I've seen something - especially if it didn't make a big impression the first time around.

Somewhere I'd recently seen a review for Fireproof and thought it would be a good one to pick up from Redbox. It sat in my purse for a couple of days and then Jon suggested watching it Tuesday night. We made it through about the first 20 minutes of the thing.

If you've had to endure watching seminary movies, you have witnessed better acting in a Christian film than this thing possesses. I now understand that this movie is a plug for the book The Love Dare, but boy is it transparent! Maybe we would have liked it more if we'd stuck it out, but in the best interest of our marriage it had to be removed.

Next we tried one of the movies I checked out at the library (what's better than a free DVD that you get to keep for a week?!). I checked out Gross Pointe Blank (which is one of my all time favorite movies. We've seen it multiple times but will watch it repeatedly. Last night just wasn't a GPB-type of night), Little Miss Sunshine, and Conversation(s) with Other Women.

I put in Conversation(s) with Other Women. It looked somewhat quirky, and it definitely lived up to that expectation. We made it about half an hour into this thing and could no longer handle the split screen.

I suppose that may feed into why we don't like picture-in-picture or scrolling text while watching TV either. If you're watching TV to relax, how much stimulation do you need to force on your brain? Wait - let's also flashback in one of the splitscreens (and flash forward in at least one instance). You gotta be at the top of your game to keep up! How can you do that when the dialogue is very quietly delivered, sometimes under a breath, and not all that stimulating anyway?

We ended up watching the news and had a heated discussion about the benefits of applying dead carp as fertilizer (that's right I did say C-A-R-P). I have an involved history with carp (well, my younger brother does), and Jon grew up across the street from the brother of man using the carp. This morning I can't believe how stupid we were to even be arguing over the topic - we were obviously not in the best spot after watching the beginnings of two doozies. It was not a pretty end to our evening.

From This ... To This ... A Valentine Sneek Peek

Last year I went public with my valentine's gift for Jon. This year I'm gonna keep it just between us - well except for this little snippet.

Here's the cover of the book I'm making him:











Page one:











Page two:

(BTW - after scanning this and previewing it here I saw a way to vamp her up a bit. If you use your imagination, I think you'll see baby doll to teddy...










Amazing huh?

Page two started out as this






and went to that ^. I was looking through my scrap paper, and this idea just popped in. She's not quite as sexy as I'd imagined, but I do have some artistic limitations.




Oh - and Happy Valentine's Night to you, too!

I've Got One of My Own...

Last night Jon took me to see Australia. I was a little let down by the music - I was expecting something along the lines of Out of Africa or Man from Snowy River. Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of my favorite songs, but how about something original that facilitates you getting all swept up in the moment?

Musical score aside, I loved this movie! We only got one phone call from the boys, and we got to sit front & center to see Hugh in all his fantastic glory.

At one point, Jon leaned over and asked, "So when are the blades going to pop out of his hands?" I know how much Jon likes X-Men, and Wolverine is one of the favored characters at our place. I did one of those eye-rolling head shakes and squeezed his knee. At least the man has humor.

Hugh eventually made his white jacket appearance. My heart palpatations had me clutching my hands at chest level. I have a feeling that Hugh's wife ain't the only lady gettin turned on...

I happened to look at Jon out of the corner of my eye and remembered my own hunk of a man walking across the room toward me at our wedding reception. There was a sweetly familiar zing in Jon's eye that was also there 15 years ago.

Ya know what? I think he likes me ;)

Yick - One of the Things That Happen Just Because I'm the Lone Female...

Jon took Carson and Evan dove hunting on Monday. He's always told me that if it rains really hard the day before the opener, then the opener isn't any good. So - why would he think it was hunky-dory to take my guys out at 4:00 in the morning after the downpour we had Sunday night? I don't get it - they are so excited that they can't hardly go to sleep the night before, Jon wakes up at 3 freaking thirty to make porridge (aka oatmeal or germade) and toast so that they can have full stomachs. They gladly get up to eat (I honestly heard nothing out of Evan when their alarm go off - this is not normal!), and they load up. Whatever.

They left, drove down to Delta, got 1 bird, and came home.

They'd taken Hilo (our 3 yr old chocolate lab) with them for his 1st hunt and left Kona (our 11 yr old black lab) home. They decided that Kona would like to pretend she'd gone hunting, so they wanted to keep the dove to throw around for Kona to retrieve in the back yard. She's old enough that this is about all she can handle - so it's all good. I didn't ever think to ask where they were keeping the bird.

So, last night I went out to the garage fridge to get a Diet Coke. At this point you're probably wondering whether you really want to keep reading, huh? Eh - go ahead. I dare ya.

There were two cases in there, so I just reached into the one that was sitting at an angle looking like it only had 1 or 2 cans in the bottom. Did I look in the tilted case? NO! Why would I do that? When they're in there like that, they're either empty or they have a couple cans. PROBLEM - it didn't have any cans, just a DEAD DOVE. Griff just stood there and laughed at me shrieking. He rattled off something about how everyone knew that was the box with the bird. I couldn't really hear him cause I had the skeevies so bad. Cured me of my Diet Coke habit for an evening.

Come to think of it, today I've only had one out of the inside fridge - that's where I keep my bottles...

15 Years TODAY!!!

I love you, Jon!

Things I Love about Jon... (It is Valentine's Day after all)

Valentine's Day - 1993 - 15 years ago - Jon asked me to marry him. I'd gotten back from an engineering conference in Seattle late Valentine's night. Jon met me at the airport to drive me back to Logan. My plane was late, and by the time we got on the freeway it was about 11:45 pm. Jon didn't want to forever hear stories about how he proposed the day after Valentine's, so as we got on I-215 and headed east, he took a deep breath, pointed out the Salt Lake Temple, and asked, "That's romantic, huh?" I just sat there perplexed, and he popped the ole question. Not exactly the scenario I'd thought I'd get, but memorable all the same.

I made a book for Jon's 32nd birthday that contained 32 reasons that I loved him. It's been a few years since I put it together, but reading through it sure helps reinforce that I made the right choice that Valentine's night. Making such a list is a fabulous exercise - if you haven't tried it, you should.

Here are my February 2008 Top 10 Favorite Things about Jon (had to put the date in there because this is a dynamic list):

1. The sound of his voice - Jon's deep, melodious voice carries very well (Have to admit that I don't think melodious and Jon have ever been combined in the same sentence. Dang romance novels) Even in a room full of people, I can close my eyes, listen to him talk, and walk right to him.


2. His wake up routine - I tell him to get out of bed about every 10 minutes for half an hour. He finally gets up, goes pee, and then gets back in bed - to stretch his back. Just so you know - I have found other ways to wake him over the past 15 years, but this is a family blog. What were you thinking?


3. The number of pillows he needs to sleep comfortably - When we got married he had the f-l-a-t-t-e-s-t pillow I'd ever seen. Now he has one for his feet, one for his knees, one at his back, one to hug, one for his head, and one against the headboard so that his hand has a place to rest and doesn't have to be left without any fluff. Did I mention that we also have a pillow top mattress and sleep under a down comforter? It's a bit of heaven I assure you.


4. His love of breakfast - He always makes sure the boys or hunting companions have a good breakfast before taking on the day. Could be oatmeal, chocolate cake with milk, fried eggs, or cinnamon toast. Doesn't matter - everyone gets food in their tummies before they walk out the door.


5. How he gets nervous - He is not a big fan of change. It is endearing to me to know that even my well-endowed tough guy has things that make him uneasy. (That 'well-endowed' part was added after he read through this and was disappointed that I hadn't mentioned the size of his manliness. How's that, Sweet?)


6. How he wears shorts year round - Doesn't matter that it's snowing like a banshee and you can't see 1-foot in front of your face - Jon will be outside wearing wool socks, boots, and his down parka, but the knees will be bare.


7. He loves my Christmas village - Most years he's more anxious than I am to get this thing out. Of course, he moves that rubber lizard around so it's a daily adventure to see in which branch of the sewer it must have been swimming. Then there's Mr. Timms - the hotel bellhop. Mr. Timms gets awful depressed over the holidays, and he has a tendency to climb tall buildings looking for the best jumping spot. Never a dull day in Christmas in the City!


8. Nightly backrubs - I have a favorite type of comb that has become sacred at our house. It has a comb on one end and a metal pick at the other. If the boys have gone to bed and one of these combs can't be located, they will be dragged downstairs for the treasure hunt. (OK so this is one of my diva-quirks. In a house where I'm the lone female, I'm allowed) On any given night after the boys are in bed, I can go sit on the floor by the couch, and Jon will use said comb to tickle my back.


9. He's the laid back one - I love that he lets me be the one to get uptight about stuff. It'd put me over the edge if both of us took up the habit.


10. Sanctuary - I love that no matter what, Jon has a space for me within his arms and that regardless of the noise and distractions within or outside our home, he gives me moments where I'm exactly where I need to be.

So - Jonny - thank you for being the man I go to sleep with at night, wake up with in the morning, and most important - being the person that I most anticipate seeing or hearing every single day. You help me laugh at myself, thoroughly love and enjoy the 3 incredible boys we've created, and make our home a place I relish.

I love you.