In Memory of Dad

Dad spent his last hours of life at Hospice House of Spokane. They took such good care of him and put up with a lot from this big family of ours!

On Dads’ bed was a quilt that had been donated by someone. A seed was planted. That’s what I wanted to do for Hospice House. I ran the idea by Mom and my sisters. We all agreed that a quilt would be good. But what pattern, fabric, etc. Then Mom came up with the solution!

In 2004 Mom, Nola, Judy and I participated in a block of the month program at a local quilt shop. It was called Starry Wonder. Each block was a different star pattern. At the end of the year we had 12 star blocks that none of us was very excited about, so we all tucked them away…out of sight out of mind. Except Mom…she remembered them. I added 6 blocks that my friend Becca had given me. We spent a couple hours with these less than desirable blocks trying to arrange them in a pleasing way. What we came up with was four lap quilts. We liked what we saw! Mom and I picked out the sashing material and I put them all together.

Saturday we went to Hospice House and presented them with these lap quilts in memory of Dad. They were so appreciative and we were pleased.

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GOODBYE KERMIT…. HELLO LEXI

Last night we said goodbye to our 1997 Mercury Sable with 180,000 miles.

We sold it to a friend of ours for his daughter to drive to community college. He offered us more than any dealer in town did!

But before that we said hello to our new cranberry colored (I do believe it is purple!)2003 automobile with 51,000 miles on it!

Car shopping…Our least favorite thing to do on the planet.

Jim finally wore me down and convinced me it was time to replace our car.

He’s been trying to get me to agree with him for over a year. (I hate car payments!)

We shopped every Friday and Saturday for a month.

Murano…Sable…Jeep Compass…Impala…Jeep Liberty…on and on and on….

We were wearing down…everything was so expensive.

If it was in our price range it had a gazillion miles. Or it had “power” everything else, but not the drivers seat.

I was beginning to think I could get along without power seats, but Jim was adamant that I needed them. (I’m so glad he keeps my best interest at heart).

Finally, we found this one at a dealership that we had been to the day before. Different salesman this time.

Perfect for us. Older than we wanted, and definitely not what we were looking for, but so luxurious!

AN OLD BLUE BIRD

I have spent the past month creating a childhood scrapbook for my 30-year-old daughter.

It was quite a memory trip for me. When I got to the part where she was in Camp Fire, I really got sentimental and reflected on my own life and the years I spent in the Camp Fire Girls program. (Yes, it was a long time ago, because now boys can join!)

In September of 1961 and in 2nd grade I made the decision that I wanted to be a Blue Bird. I made this decision solely on the fact that I liked the uniform for Blue Birds better than I liked the one for Brownies. Blue was my favorite color.

My mother was the leader of our group for that first year and we met in our basement once a week.  Barbara Swanson, the Mom of Christy, one of the other girls helped out with the group.

Our dues were 10 cents a week. We made cute little Blue Bird coin purses out of felt to bring our money in each week.

Our little group was called “The Happy Blue Birds”!

We learned this little verse. I still remember standing in a circle, crossing our arms in front of us and clasping hands with all the girls in the circle!

The Blue Bird Wish

To have fun.                                                        To learn to make things.                                    To remember to finish what I begin.                To keep my temper most of the time.               To learn about nature and living outdoors.     To have adventures with people, places and things.                                                                 To make friends!

 

The second year (3rd grade) our leader was Mrs. Hartung. Debbie Hartung was one of the girls in the group.

In September 1963, we attended “Fly Up” which meant we were now Camp Fire Girls.

The 3rd and 4th years my leaders were Velma Hiatt and Helen Replinger. Both of their daughters, Debbie Hiatt and Melinda Replinger, were in the group.

This was our Camp Fire Song:

Worship God. Seek beauty Give Service and knowledge pursue. Be trustworthy ever in all that you do. Hold fast on to health and your work glorify. And you will be happy in the Law of Camp Fire!

I still have my vest. We earned Honor beads and sewed them onto our vests. We also created an Indian name. Mine was Kin-Ca-Ko-Ya . It means “Happy girl who likes to fish and hopes to be a nurse!”

 

 

This is the symbolgram for my new Camp Fire name! Wow! So many memories. Sure did have a great time in Camp Fire!

Odds & Ends

Memorial Day 2010 has to go down in history as the wettest on record here in eastern Washington! We managed to find a few fun things to do despite the weather.

We started off the day with a Memorial Day Breakfast with our Mica Peak Ward Family. There was a great turn-out and the food was wonderful. The 11-year-old Scouts did the flag ceremony flawlessly. The speaker, an active member of the Armed Forces, gave a great talk about the reason we even have Memorial Day.

We heard this little birdie chirpping like crazy! We think it was his first day out of the nest! He squaked enoughto get his Mommas' attention. She came to his rescue and got him out of harms way...at least off our deck and AWAY FROM TWO DERANGED PUPPY DOGS!
This is a sneak-peak of my very talented husband Jims' fair entry for 2010!
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Today my birthday present got installed. Hopefully we didn't jinx the warm weather by installing this ceiling fan like all the people who bought snow blowers for our last winter.

Mothers Day 2010

Happy Mothers Day to my own dear mother and the sweet mothers of my grandchildren!

I love this quote!

“Women of God can never be like women of the world.

The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.

There are enough women who are course; we need women who are kind.

There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.

We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.

We have enough greed; we need more goodness.

We have enough vanity; we need more virtue.

We have enough popularity; we need more purity. “

Margaret D. Nadauld

I’M HERE!

I saw today that my last post was in January! Where does the time go?

I have been busy.

In February I went to San Diego to welcome a new granddaughter…Megan Louise.

In March I was in the hospital for 5 days with cellulitis…nasty infection in my left foot. (NO PICTURES!)

In April Jim and I went to Sacramento for granddaughter Natalies baptism!

And Breanna & Carter visited twice!

(A box is such a great play thing!)

CARCASSONNE!

We discovered our favorite game two years ago this month.

Jon & Becky introduced us to the world of Carcassonne.

It is a puzzle game that is very challenging and brings out the competitive spirit in both of us.

I keep saying “It’s just a game!”

Our lives have not been the same since!

Every day when Jim gets home from work, we play one game. The dreaded dragon tile…by far Jims favorite!

Jim always plays with the yellow follower, and I always use the red.

The rule is that the winner has to put the game away…keeps us humble!

We started out with the basic game. The cool thing about this game is Expansion sets that can be purchased to enhance the game.

We have added Rivers, Inns & Cathedrals, Princess & Dragon, Towers, and probably a few more I can’t remember.

I dare say, a day without Carcassonne is like a day without sunshine!

 

I won this game!