Time to think during Klondike Derby...

This picture reminds me of a thinking spot I used to have in Seattle. I guess when I was growing up and reached that time when I had enough independence to have time of my own, but still lived at home with my parents... I found thinking spots.

Places were I could go that were safe, quiet and didn't impose any rules or orders on me... where I could go think. Ponder the things going on in my life, goals, influences around me, future plans, things that made me happy, and I guess anything I needed quiet to think about.

I found lots of thinking spots in and around Seattle, this would be one of my favorites looking out on the rare clear view of the Olympic Mountains, and the ferry lanes. I am sure most all of my thinking spots there were near or looking out over water. There is something thoughtful about water to me.

Friday and Saturday "my boys" left for Klondike... where the scouts go camp out in the snow and sleep in snow caves. This year they were making hobo stew where everone brings a can of food (non specific) and dumps it into a big pot and it cooks together. The boys say it is awesome and turns out different everytime, with some chilie, ravioli, stew, or whatever canned food in that family you might like. It sounds gross to me. But it must be enhanced by the experience of sleeping in the snow, which sounds totally insane to me.

The first few years I was home alone while my boys left on this adventure, I would cry and worry the entire time they were gone, just praying and hoping they would both come back alive. Spending my entire time thinking about all the crazy bad things that could happen to them while they were gone. I guess I am seasoned now, and didn't cry so much but spent more time thinking and enjoying alone time over the past two days.

Things I took quiet time for...

to stop thinking while I was some chick flicks, that would never happen with the boys at home.

pondering some scriptures I had time to read

some great quality time with my dogs

I went to a leadership conference at the church and had some great quiet time to listen and actually read my notes and ponder them.

quiet time to clean up the house ( I know only to have them drag in fire smoke smelling, wet, muddy camping clothes, but sure is nice to think in a clean space while it lasts)

time to ponder my niece going to the Temple today

time to think about my nephew home from his mission in Braisil talking in his Ward tomorrow

thinking and praying about my grandma who fell this weekend

thinking and praying about my father in law and his pain and trials with cancer

thinking about what I want to do in my yard when all this snow melts

menus for the week to come

a bubble bath

I love quiet time to think, and while I don't have a "thinking spot" outside of my home here, I am learning to enjoy the quiet moments I get to be on my own, just to think or not to think. But quiet time alone can be a good thing.

Sewing project... finished the bag.

I finished the bag.... it turned out super cute! I love courderoy, but it doesn't look good on my thighs anymore, so a bag... that's the next best thing (except maybe courderoy shoes!... hmmm).

It has inside pockets for pens, notepads and candy.

There was allot of thought put into the decoration on the outside... it was Fay's idea to put something on the outside, but I couldn't draw a butterfly, and couldn't come up with something that was just totally "ME" to cut out. So I went with a monogram. I sew straight lines okay, but all the turns and curves were really a challenge. It's not perfect, but it's all mine.

It was really fun, and super cute project! Thanks Aunt Fay!

The Teenager gets a haircut...

Before..

After...

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A million things have gotten in the way of the haircut appt. for the teenager... I didn't realize it, but his last official cutting was before Christmas. I can't believe he made it to Seattle and back in Jan... my Dad is usually a real stickler for hair over the ears.

He finally made it! He was saying on the way, he would just grow it out now.... so I wasn't sure what he would end up with? Long hair with the flip at the end and around the bangs... or back to the basic buzz shave no maintenance doo.

He prefers the no maintanence... combing and primping is all a big hassle! I can't say that I blame him. I was just happy to get pictures, he hasn't been very cooperative lately!

SPT ~ Self Portrait Tuesday ~ Fill in the Blanks...

SPT ~ Fill in the Blanks

the other day, i was in my _____________, and i noticed this _______________. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

Before I even thought much about this spt challenge, I just knew mine would pertain to my "to do" list. I am not feeling guilty about the things that are not done on my list... I am not, I am not, I am not!!! They will get done as they get done. Some things just must fall lower on the list of priorities than others.

the other day, i was in my _house, by the front door_, and i noticed this _vehicle insurance card_. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

If I take on ALL the responsibilities of the vehicles, then they will always be my responsibilites... at some point after I remind my "strong silent mysterious man" that he is in charge of getting the vehicle insurance cards into the cars... I have to let it go and trust him to get it done.

Okay, this morning it was still sitting by the front door, so I walked it outside while he was warming up the car and handed it to him through the window, with a smile... now I can only trust that it made it into the little pouch that holds all this important information inside the glove compartment (and not on the seat to find its way to the floor).

the other day, i was in my _house by the front door_, and i noticed this _guitar cord, left by one of the teenagers friends_. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

This is why all this "stuff" piles up by my front door, hoping someone will remember why it is there... it has a place to go... GRAB IT ON YOUR WAY OUT! How else can I get this message across?

the other day, i was in my _office_, and i noticed this _pile of old phones_. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

Well I am not blind to the fact that I am just as guilty of not getting it done as anyone else in the house... their stuff just annoyes me worse than mine does. Why is that?

I am not normally a clutter bug, or one to hang on to things "just in case" I might need it again. But I have a thing with old phones... now it might appear that we have replaced our phones every other week, but not so... this is many many years or decades of replaced phones, I keep them and move them from house to house. I have a really hard time throwing them out. Even though the reason we replaced them, was because they no longer work!!!

I must have some phone parts fetish, or think I was a phone repair person in a previous life or something. I keep thinking I might need them. For what I am never sure. Aren't we always looking for that one DC plug, or phone cord, that might be in this pile?

Okay, out they go! One less thing to clean out of my office... when I get to that project!

Superbowl Sleepies...

I am sure my brothers would hang their heads in shame that I did not keep up on the football season any better than I do. But I had only heard just the day before the game who was playing and that New England had a perfect record going into it. That was cool, I hoped they would get to claim a win at the big game.

My boys had it turned on watching intently, while me and "the girls" caught up on a Sunday nap!

We just realized we are finally not out numbered in our house... it is now 3 boys to 3 girls!! Wahoo, now that is something to celebrate!!

So I finally came out of hybernation about 4 minutes left in the last quarter of the game. It was exciting, and I was surprised to hear the boys routing for the underdog, NY. When I asked why, I got a complete sermon from my teenager about how the quarterback of the other team was immoral, out of line, and lacking in integrity in a major way... so I switched teams and cheered them on to victory!

Cursed by the whole Superbowl snacking thing, I was glad it was over, and sleepy time with my girls was back to normal as we drifted off to dreamland at bedtime.

Stranded Stranger in the snow...

Saturday we got more snow... so I would add another day to my list of days inside. Feeling pretty couped up, especially when my man went out coyote hunting without me. (He has friends, and I got my turn... but his bff wanted a turn this weekend. I can share... sometimes... pout).

By the end of the day, I think he knew I was really feeling the walls closing in, (I tend to sigh allot in this mode) and he mentioned ice cream sounding good to him. Within 2.5 seconds the teenager and I were by the door with boots and hats and gloves and coats on ready to roll.One look outside at the weather, and he started to back track on the idea, but it was too late. We were already primed ready to get out of the house.

Thinking logically we should have probably listened to the man of the house and not ventured out in bad weather, but he said "ice cream"!

Trying to get a self portrait with the teenager can be heartbreaking... even if he is teasing. Remind me not to force him into pictures anymore. He's such a brat!!!
He did kiss and make up when I saw the picture... but the damage to Mom's heart was already done :(

We spent way too much time picking out an ice cream flavor at the store. None of us like the same flavor, and even knowing that going in to it... I still get excited to go get ice cream. It is something I remember doing with my Dad, and I always had fond memories of that. But this gang is another story.

In the meantime, it began snowing outside! Allot! It was blustery and blowing and snowing. A real white knuckle ride home. Then we pass by a car on our side of the road, it just seemed to be pulled off to the side.

We had passed a fire truck with flashing lights and sirens a mile back and had to pull off to let it by, maybe this car had done the same and just taking a breather. As we approached we realized their tires were spinning forward and backward and not moving the vehicle one inch.

Then as we passed my Strong Silent Mysterious Man said "oh no, its a young girl driving", he looked at me and I immediately teared up. We couldn't leave her on the side of the road like that... what if it were one of our neices (we had just been talking about our sweet Brittany driving home from Utah), what if it were one of our own young women in our Ward, or one of my girls in our Stake?? I didn't have to say anything... he knew just what I was thinking... he pulled right over. He and the teenager jumped out of the car and ran back to help her. All these cars were traveling this road and nobody was stopping!

As he approached the car she rolled down her window. I was so fearful she would be afraid of him... if it were one of "my girls" I would WANT them to be. But he said he shouted out as he approached the car "are you having some trouble?" "My wife is in the car, we can help to push you out".... he said she sounded so relieved that someone had stopped when she replied, "do you want to drive it?.... handing him the keys through the window".

So much for being fearful! She had just gotten her license and was driving her new car with the low profile tires and just couldn't get any traction at all. My man instructed her to stay in the car, and she would do fine driving, he would tell her what to do.

Together as I watched from our car they pushed from the back, and then the front... the car was light, but it wasn't getting any traction with those tires. Eventually, another man stopped with a truck and a rope, and they worked and worked and got it out onto the road.

I was so happy I didn't have to talk "my boys" into helping her, that they wanted to and were willing to on their own. My Man is most always pretty good about it, but there have been a few times that he hasn't felt good about a situation and chose to mind his own business and let someone else help. I suppose there are those times, that is appropriate, we have to be so very careful. It is very sad to me, that we have to be so afraid of each other in this world, but this wasn't one of those times... we needed to stop and help her. I am so grateful everyone was okay!

I didn't actually get the final pull back onto the road on video, it scared me, the car was flipping left and right, looking like a fish on the end of a line, and where the heck was my teenager? Praying he wasn't in the line, or under the car at this point.

But you can see the weather was not that which we could leave this girl, someone's daughter, someone's neice on the side of the road stuck in the snow. As I prayed she would make it home okay, her Mom drove and would follow her home.

My poor teenager, this probably won't help in his plea to get his drivers license any time soon.

Blog catch up Friday... The Treed Squirrel

I didn't get on the computer Friday, we received some very sad sad news of one of the Young Women in our Stake, Jessica Hiser 19, was killed in a car accident on Thursday. It was weather related. She was killed at the scene as her car slide into another and then caused her vehicle to go into the oncoming traffic where she was hit by a truck.

Very tragic news, the community is very small and it affects and touches so many. We are praying for the family to be comforted during this difficult time.

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Because my dogs are just all play and no work... it was hard not to go outside and capture all of the excitement going on.

The dogs had a squirrel treed... it was the highlight of Morgans day! But this squirrel was very vocal and did not want to be trapped up there. It was hilarious! You can't hear it over the wind in the microphone, but he was mad and not taking it well.

They are mean little varmits... not so cute, as I used to think when I watched my Grandma feeding them out of her hands when I was a young girl. Obviously squirrels have evolved since that time, or maybe these just aren't those sweet southern squirrels who have been taught to have that southern hospitatliy thing going on!

Blog catch up Thursday Snow Exercise...

I was really happy to feel good enough to get out and shovel the new snow that fell on Thursday morning. If you get it shoveled off the driveway and sidewalk, the sun comes out and melts it all dry... if you don't it packs down and gets tracked all into the house and takes forever to melt and clear up.

It sure doesn't look like much, but I tell my arms were soar the next day.
And if you don't keep digging out evertime new snow falls on top of the old, it starts feeling like it is coming up over the doors and windows and you risk the chance of losing the frisbee!!
That would be tragic!

On top of shoveling the snow, I was really happy that I walked to my church meeting Thursday morning instead of driving. Trying to get moving and get in some activity, and the fresh air felt really good.