Old Crow

I woke up this morning to find my house decorated for my 50th birthday. Above is a picture of the bag of goodies they left -- for my old age. I had hoped to just quietly let this birthday come and go -- but not so. My older sister Nann and my niece Sandy came in the middle of the night and decorated my house. (Thanks Sandy, for coming with Nann. You know at her age she could have fallen and broke her hip!) There were RIP headstones, crepe paper, and even rubber mats down the stairs to prevent falls.

Gary said that the one on my car antenna was the best, "You old crow!"

My niece Sandy, and I have a running joke about witches and brooms. She came to my house once and I had a broom by the front door. She said "Carrie, did you get a new car?" So ever since we have been teasing each other. She left me a witch, witches hat and a broom.
Here's my list of 50 things about me. Sorry, it's not too exciting.

1. I’m the 2nd of 8 children; 6 girls and 2 boys.
2. My parents live through the block from me -- it's nice to know they are close.
3. My middle name is Dawn, after my dad, Don.
4. I lived in San Francisco for a couple of years when I was younger while my dad went to mortuary school.
5. I believe everyone deserves a second chance.
6. I had a pet monkey (squirrel monkey) when I was about 10 or 11. His name was Enoch. I have loved monkeys all my life.
7. I want to go to South Africa when my youngest graduates from high school. Jaycee and I want to spend a month or two helping care for orphaned baboons.
8. I want my headstone to read “Finally, a diet plan that works!”
9. My first car was a Datsun truck. I had it painted orange with brown stripes. You could start it with a screwdriver.
10. I lived in a mortuary growing up -- well the house attached to it.
11. I hate mornings.
12. I've never broken a bone (knock on wood).
13. My favorite book is “Mrs. Mike.”
14. I hate to cook.I do make chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles -- which my family loves.
15. I love the smell of rain.
16. I got married on July 18, 1980 to Gary.
17. We have five children, 2 boy and 3 girls.
18. My kid’s names all start with J -- Jared, Jamie, Jonathan, Jodi and Jaycee.
19. My dog’s names start with M - Max and Molly.
20. I have three grandchildren: Brandon 7, Eden 5 and Jayda 1. They are so much fun to spoil!
21. I hate avocados.
22. My mom rescued me from a burning house when I was 4 years old. She probably questioned why she did that when I was a teenager.
23. I love to camp. We went camping for our honeymoon to Bryce Canyon. It’s still one of our favorite places to go.
24. I love dice and collect them.
25. When I was 18 I worked at a gas station. One night I got robbed at gunpoint. The robber told me to lie face down on the floor and wait 2 minutes before I called anyone. I said “I’ll wait for 5 minutes!” He went outside and fired a shot into the air to scare me -- and it did.
26. I used to go backpacking in the Uintah mountains with my friends and sister Dena. I loved the sense of accomplishment of hiking in and living out of a backpack -- and the fun times we had together.
27. I still wish on stars.
28. And pick up lucky pennies.
29. My husband is my best friend.
30. Then Becky -- who I can talk to about anything.
31. I love fresh peach pie with real whipped cream.
32. I won a trophy skiing when I was about 15 -- only because all the good skiers wiped out that day.
33. I quit skiing when I became a parent. I felt that flying down steep hills on sticks was to dangerous for a mom.
34. I love to go camping!
35. In 2002 my sisters and I went back to San Francisco for my sister Nanns’ 45th birthday. We got to go through the home we lived in as kids (it’s now an Asian church). Talk about deje vu.
36. My favorite color is purple.
37. I’m addicted to fabric!
38. I love to sew and quilt.
39. When I was little I wanted a Chinese maid (now I just want any maid!)
40. My grandmother died when my mom was only 4 years old. I wonder what she was like.
41. Growing up we had adopted grandparents who were from Holland. I have so many happy memories of them.
42. I love salt licorice and Dutch chocolate.
43. My favorite flowers are daisies.
44. I love pizza and Pepsi.
45. When I was in grade school I remember how at 10 p.m. an announcement wound come on our black and white TV, “Parents, it is 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” I thought it was cool to be up late enough to hear that.
46. I hate spiders.
47. I have RLS (restless legs syndrome). I’ve spent many nights walking the floor.
48. I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands at the same time. What was I thinking?
49. My favorite vacation growing up was going to Canada, Niagra Falls and the Pageant in New York.
50. I doodle all the time!

Fall is in the air

There a little hint of fall chill in the air at night and in the morning, but the real indication of fall around our house is when you smell the sweet hot pickles we make year. It takes about 2 weeks to do them, starting out in a salt water brine. This is a recipe my mom got from my Aunt Letha (she was our landlord in San Francisco) who ran a catering business. They are sweet pickles with onions and one jalapeno in the jar. The last step is to add green food coloring, which makes some people wonder why we eat them. I tried orange pickles one year and nobody would eat them. They just have to be green. People usually think we are crazy -- but once you try them you are addicted. They're the best on a cracker with cheese and pepperoni. We always eat them for lunch when camping or when we are playing card games. I must confess, I used to be the one in our house who made them -- then about 5-6 years ago my husband took over the pickle making. He's does such a good job that it's now his job forever!

Hexagon quilt

This is the project I talked about in a previous post. I am having a hard time squeezing in time to work on it. I am so tempted to stay up late and work on it. I have all the strips paired up and sewn together, so now I just have to cut out the triangles and sew them together. I have piles of them on my sewing cabinet screaming for attention.
Have you been following the Olympics? We have been glued to the TV at night. I'm still bugged about the true ages of the Chinese gymnasts. One reporter said something like "Hey, we all live in the real world. Do they look 16 to you?" It got me thinking -- I have a milestone birthday coming up that I'm not too excited about (the big five-O). I think I'm going to go by Chinese years and stay in my 40's a bit longer. Last year my sister (http://mommiemarzie.wordpress.com/2007/07/) posted 32 things about herself on her 32nd birthday. I've been trying to think of 50 things about me to post, but somehow I keep thinking of the negative -- like bifocals, chin hairs, hot flashes, saggy boobs, gray hair, and on and on.

Maple Grove

We went camping to a family reunion last weekend. It was nice to finally spend a couple of nights in the trailer. We go to Maple Grove down by Scipio. It's so pretty there. I took my camera, but really didn't take many pictures. It was so good to visit with my cousins, aunts and uncles, etc. -- and we had a lot more come this year. My cousins who were over it this year brought shirts for the kids to tie-dye. So much fun!! My aunt and mom taught us a new card game, Hand and Foot --now I'm hooked and can't wait to play again. Okay, so the game is new to my Gary and me. They have played it for years. Wow, didn't know how much fun we had been missing out on.
I took Monday and Tuesday off this week, thinking that I could get some quilting done - Ha! I had to go up to Salt Lake and pick up a computer this morning, and then $chool $hopping. My daughter's school has a new dress code this year and she has to wear collared shirts. Not as easy as I thought it would be -- no logo larger than a quarter. We did find 8 shirts that will work, which will have to do for now.

I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be "quilt day" for me!

4-Wheelin' Fun

My husband got a new hobby. He bought himself a green 4-wheeler a few weeks ago. He went with my son a couple of times and had so much fun that he asked me if I wanted red, green or blue. I picked red, not thinking he was serious. Here it is:
We went last weekend with a few of our kids and had a blast. Yup - I'm totally hooked too! It was really hot and dusty, but when you were riding it was cool. We all had brown/black faces when we were done.
There are some really nice camp sites. (Our kids have camped up here.) We're thinking we'll take the trailer up and spend a few days. I can do "primitive" camping as long as I have my toilet and shower :) It's up Spanish Fork Canyon, not too far from home. You would never know it was there, just up a side road. It's so gorgeous, red rocks and mountains. It smells so good, like pine trees and the outdoors. There are miles and miles of trails yet to explore.....
Gary and I went again today for a few hours. We were going to take the Dairy Fork trail out to Soldier Summit, but we forgot to gas up the machines, so we weren't sure we would make it. It's a good thing we turned around. Big, black clouds came out of nowhere. We headed back to the truck -- just getting a few drops. I was getting a bit nervous with the thunder, but it didn't get close to us. When we got loaded and were getting back on the SF highway, the road was blocked off to go further up the canyon. I checked the news when we got home and there was a huge mudslide by Soldier Summit, where we were headed. How lucky was that?

Humanitarian Project

Our church is doing a humanitarian project this week. I just found out about it on Sunday, but still was able to do a few receiving blankets and a baby gown on Monday and Tuesday. I bought some cloth diapers, diaper pins, etc. for the kits. I had heard once that in some countries they are so poor that they often have to wrap their new babies in newspaper. I can't even imagine how hard that would be. And cloth diapers?? I used cloth for my first 2 kids -- not fun (my age is showing!). There were disposable diapers then, but most people still used cloth. I think I'm going to try to get some more gowns sewn -- it was so easy. I think it would be fun to get together with my sisters and mom and sew a bunch up.

As I was sewing I was thinking about how fortunate we are and how good it felt to be doing something to help someone else. It was hard to imagine that something I sewed would benefit a baby half a world away. I must say that it got rid of my summer blahs completely.

If anyone is interested, here is a link to the pattern for the gown and list of supplies needed:
http://www.lds.org/humanitarianservices/0,19749,6208,00.html

Hexagon Quilt

My McCall's Quilting October 2008 magazine arrived last week. There's a hexagon quilt that really caught my eye. It's made from Wee Play Jelly Rolls by Moda. I've ordered a couple of rolls and on-line and can't wait for them to arrive. I'm obsessed with this block -- even dreamed about it -- it's driving me crazy!

I had some fat quarters of Monkey Play and decided to try a baby size. It turned out pretty good. I'm glad I practiced on this before I try the other fabric. Now I can't wait to get it quilted up. I'm saving it for my next grandchild (Yes, this is a bribe to my married kids -- ha ha!)

I finished it up this morning while I watched on old Heath Ledger film, "10 Things I Hate About You". I'm going to have to add that one to my Heath Collection. Such a loss to have him gone.

A few of my favorite things...

My Kinesis keyboard -- I LOVE IT! I had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands about 18 years ago. I type 40+ hours and since I started using this keyboard about 10 years ago I have been symptom free. Yeah!! Once you get used to is it's hard to type on a regular one.
I have been hooked on Limeade this summer. It's so refreshing.

This is a new sign I got for my desk. A good reminder for all of us. There have been times in my life when I worked 2 jobs and life was way too hectic. Never again. I've learned to work enough to support my quilting habit and pay the bills. Life is too short -- I want to enjoy every second I have left.

I'm working on a quilt top. It's a fun one. I'll post the picture tomorrow.