Wednesday's Wealth

This has been the hardest post I have ever written. It has taken me 4 hours! Maybe you will understand why by the time you get done reading it.

This week, I have been ruminating on the wealth of talents that the Lord has given me. He has blessed me in so many ways, and for this I am grateful. I was making a list for myself, so I could enumerate my blessings. I have a tendency, and I don't think I'm the only one, to forget the blessings that I'm not using at the time. And when someone asks me what I do, I often can't even remember!

One of the biggest blessings He gave me in my life, and one I will never forget, has been my mother.  She gave me my love of all things arts and crafts. I made my first ceramic fish when I was 3. She taught me to sew when I was 8, and she never stopped teaching me. When she got cancer, she taught me about courage in the face of formidable odds. She taught me how to face what ever life throws at you with acceptance and humor, and how to die with grace. She also taught me all my life not to brag or be boastful, so it's a very hard thing for me to be able to say, "I can do that and I can do it well." But today, I'm going to list the talents the Lord gave me, mostly via my mom, and I'm not going to feel guilty. I'm not meaning to brag, I'm just listing what I'm grateful for. And so here goes....

I am grateful that I can sew, knit and crochet. I can draw and paint. I can do woodworking (thanks, dad) and tole painting. I can make toys and purses and hats and wallets and aprons and all kinds of things. I can take an item and make a pattern for it, and most of the time I don't have to take it apart to do it. I did at one time make all my clothes and all my children's clothes, even jeans. I have made shoes, real ones, and  coats, suits, and underwear.  I can do almost any craft I put my mind to, and some I wish I couldn't. I read really well and love to do it. I helped write 3 volumes, each about 700 pages, on the history of a little town in Nevada called St. Thomas.  I can do upholstery and make curtains and drapes, which has come in handy many times. I can cook. I can follow a recipe for something I've never made and have it come out right. I was blessed with the ability to have babies. My mother had 8 miscarriages and lost one baby before she got me, and my oldest daughter lost 3 babies before she got her first, so I feel truly blessed. I know there are other blessings and talents, but I can't think of them right now.

Unfortunately, I am like most other human beings, and I just can't seem to be grateful all the time. Sometimes, I feel put-upon or taken advantage of when I really don't want to do something I'm asked to do. But I can honestly say, that doesn't happen very often. And that is because He also blessed me with a willing heart to go along with everything else. I LIKE to do things for others. I enjoy being so busy that I can hardly think straight. And it drives my husband crazy! When I have 16 projects all going at the same time, he's the one pulling his (hypothetical) hair out while I'm humming merrily along. Then when everything is done, I crash. But I still like it. Sometimes I get so caught up in the things I'm doing for others that I lose track of my own family, and that's not a good thing! Just ask them.

25 of my 26 biggest blessings!

Anyway, I feel the Lord has blessed me mightily, and I want to share. So now that I'm getting older and don't teach anymore, and don't drive anymore, I blog. I try to share some of what I know on this blog by creating tutorials for projects I like and think you might like, too. What do you all do? What blessings have you received that you share with others? How do you share? Leave a comment and let me know.

Now, after 4 hours, I am done. This is probably the most boring post I've written, along with being the hardest, and I'm sorry for that. I will try not to bore you ever again! Remember your blessings! Remember to thank the creator who gave them to you. You can feel His love when you use your talents, so say "Thank you." And remember this....anything is possible for two people, as long as one of them is God. Until next time,

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay! So it's not until tomorrow, but it is almost here, and we finally got the valentines done! It's been a headache trying to get time when we are both could work together. As I said before, it's Hally's last year to give valentines to her school class because she will be in middle school next year, so we wanted to do something fun and homemade yet fast and easy. I've been seeing these projects all over the internet where you take a photo and make it look like the child is holding a giant sucker, so that's what we did. Saturday was the day. We took a few trial photos...

before we got the one we liked and that worked with the suckers.

I used a photo editor to up the contrast so that the background would sort of fade out. That way we could cut the picture bigger than the actual photo and you wouldn't be able to tell. I printed them 3x5" and then add "Happy Valentine's Day" in the upper left corner. We cut them out heart shaped and put them on the foam hearts that I bought at Wal*Mart. We punched holes at the top and bottom of her hands for the suckers, and she decorated them with stickers to hold the photos on.

She wrote names across the bottom....

added the suckers...

and !Viola! Cute valentine's that no one will wonder who they came from.

Later that night, she went to a daddy/daughter dance at the school. She looked so sweet and her dad looked really handsome, if I do say so.



So, everything turned out well. No last minute rush, no little-girl panic because the valentines aren't done. I wanted to make cupcakes to take to her classroom, but I didn't get the cupcake plate done, so I guess we let that project go the way of a lot of others.....maybe next year.

Hope you all have a really nice Valentine's Day, and remember to tell all your loved ones just that--that they ARE your loved ones. Until next time,

New Stuff

Yesterday was a big day around here! My son got his taxes back last week and he bought a new bed for him and his wife, a new bed for me and my husband and a new washer and dryer! So we spent the day moving the old beds and cleaning under them, moving out all the stuff that would be in the way of the delivery men, and then waiting for them to get here. They are beautiful! We all slept really well last night, too. After the washer and dryer were hooked up, we had to do some laundry, of course. It will take a little time for us (mainly me, 'cause I'm a little slow) to figure out the mechanics of them, but they sure are nice. And both front-loading, which I've been wanting for years. I think this is the first brand-new washer and dryer Kristen and Andy have ever owned. They've always had someone else's cast-offs, (like the rest of us did for the first, I don't know, 10 of 15 years of marriage!) and they're pretty excited. Heck, I'M excited, and they're not even mine! I just get to use them. (In case you don't know, or have forgotten, my husband and I live with our son and his family.) Anyway, we had a busy day.

Aren't they pretty?

The bed already looks like someone has been sleeping in it. Imagine that! My husband just got up to go to the bathroom, so I snuck in there and took a picture. Now I guess I really DO have to finish my quilt now and get the bed skirt made. No more excuses.

Well, gotta go. Time for my ride to be here. Today is my temple and family history day, so I'll be gone all day. See ya next time.

Valentine's Ideas

It's Hally's last year for giving Valentine's. At least to all her classmates. She is in 5th grade this year and moves up to the middle school next year. I have been pouring over the Internet, finding ideas for her to make instead of buying those little packages of run-of-the-mill valentines you can get everywhere. Then when I was shopping this weekend, I found this package of cute fun foam hearts at Wal*Mart. They have holes around the edge for lacing ribbon if you want and scalloped edges and there are 35 in the package! Which is great, because she has 33 kids in her class. Now we just have to decide what to do with them. I also bought a package of little valentine stickers at the Dollar Tree for her to decorate them if she wants. And she will, I'm sure, because she LOVES stickers.

I also got the little conversation heart stickers at Wal*Mart. Tonight, when she gets home, we will have some fun!

Also at Wal*Mart, I found these cute thick foam hearts and I love you.They were only $1 a package! I thought I might make them into a wreath, and then I changed my mind and made a swag instead. I found this spool of little tiny, hot pink, grosgrain ribbon to string it on, and I bought some hearts ribbon to put bows at the ends of the swag.

 It doesn't reach all the way across the doorway, but when I looked for more, I couldn't find any, so shorter is better than none!

I know, I know, it's crooked. I'll fix it eventually.

How many of you subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens newsletters? I subscribe to quite a few. They have really good storage solutions, recipes, gardening tips and, of course, crafts. In one of them from last week, I found some of the cutest ideas for Valentine's Day. A little owl.....

a paper hearts wreath.....



a love notes jar....

and a really cute card are just some of the cute ideas. Got to Better Homes and Gardens at this link and this link to see more ideas. And sign up for the newsletter, if you haven't already. You'll get lots of ideas for every season and holiday!

Gotta go now and get to work on valentines. Remember...........Live life to the fullest, love every second, laugh as you go through it and learn all you can. Until next time,

Friday Friends!

Another Friday and more friends! A few more Valentine's Day ideas and one or two that are not. Of course, any idea can be a Valentine's idea if you just ad lib a little. And vicey-versey. So, here we go.

First up is a beautiful, handcrafted pendant that is made out of you-will-never-guess-what! Salt dough!!! I could hardly believe it when I saw how they were made. Stephanie managed to really surprise me. I am going to try some of my own, but I sure do wish I had an awesome tray like hers. Go see what I mean at  http://ladywiththeredrocker.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/handcrafted-pendants/

Then we have Karen, over at Pocket Full of Pink. She posted some Valentine's ideas from the past and they were all cute, but the one I chose to highlight is the cutest I Heart You frame. It probably takes a little time, but I really like the colors and the papers she used. I will be going to the Dollar Store this weekend and looking for a suitable frame to make one of my own. Go check it out at

http://www.karismaheartsavannah.blogspot.com/2012/01/project-from-past-valentine-burlap.html .

I found a really cute door hanger over at Burton Avenue. Angie's husband gave her a scroll saw for Christmas! What a guy! Anyway, she decided to use it to make herself some Valentine's decor, and it turned out great! I don't have any way to do the vinyl, so I would have to paint  mine, but that's OK. Or I guess I could buy some decals. Anyway, you get the idea. Here's the link, and be sure to leave a comment and tell her what you think. http://burtonavenue.blogspot.com/2012/02/funky-heart-door-hanger.html

And last for today, but definitely NOT least, is A Fanciful Twist, and the wonderful artwork of Vanessa Valencia. I fell in love with her work and her blog is so stinkin' cute! There are faeries and elves and tea parties...oh my! Go visit her and her "friends" and see what I'm talking about. http://afancifultwist.typepad.com/a_fanciful_twist/2012/01/2012-valentine-printables.html . Be sure to go to About and read her bio. She is one interesting and amazing lady. I wish I could meet her in person and absorb some of her spirit and enthusiasm. Thanks, Vanessa, for sharing your life with us.

That's all for today. I hope you all enjoy this feature every Friday, because I sure enjoy the research! My husband thinks I spend "HOURS" on it, and I guess he's right, but it's so much fun to ramble my way through blog land looking for things I like. So I'll keep doing it and I hope you keep reading it. Thanks to those of you who do read it, and I know there aren't many of you yet, but hopefully the numbers will grow. After all, happiness is meant to be shared. Until next time,

Wednesday's Wealth

Today is Wednesday and the first post of my new feature, Wednesday's Wealth. Today I go to the temple and the Family History Center to do genealogy. And that's today's wealth. Family. My family is not perfect, not by a long shot, but they are mine and I love them. Back a few generations, my husband's line goes one direction to Jesse James and another direction to Pocahontas. Not bad, huh? And the Pocahontas and John Rolfe line is the only one so far on my husband's side that I can take out of the U.S.! His people are ensconced in the hills of Kentucky and Virginia and I don't know where else, and I haven't found the ancestors that are from somewhere else.

Now on my line, they go to Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, and France, and that's just the ones I have so far. My mother used to tell me I was English, Irish, Dutch, Scottish, German and Welsh, but I haven't found the Dutch or Welsh people yet. I'm still looking, though. And my great-grandfather used to tell my mother that she had Indian blood, but he was always teasing her and calling her "Red" because she had red hair, so I don't know if he was teasing about the Indian thing too, or not. He also used to tell her his name was, "Jonathon DeWitt Talmadge Crackass and Popcorn Kerby", too, and she got in trouble at school when she was young because of that. They asked the usual back-to-school question, "What did you do over the summer?" and she told them she spent the summer with her grandparents in Idaho. When they asked her grandparents names, she gave that name for her grandpa and got sent to the office for using bad language. It was the only name she knew him by and she really believed it was his name! Now, no one seems to know for sure whether his name was Jonathon DeWitt Talmadge Kerby, Jonathon DeWitt Kerby, or Jonathon Talmadge Kerby. I choose to believe it was the first one, and I named my second son, Clifton DeWitt, after him.

Jonathon DeWitt Talmadge Kerby and Martha Ethel Hooper Kerby with I don't know which of their 9 children.
I think it's their youngest, Ethel, but I'm not sure. My mother was named Ethel, too.

That was on her mother's side. On her father's side, I have finally broken through the brick wall I had there for many years. My mother's paternal grandmother was named Sylvia May McGrew. For a long time I could find nothing on her, until one day I was at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City(back when it was just the Genealogy Library) and I stumbled upon her and her sisters in an orphanage, which surprised me, because her father was not dead! I wasn't sure it was her, but the coincidence was too great for it not to be. On the census of the White's Iowa Institution for Homeless Children was listed not only my grandmother and her 5 sisters, but also 2 young men who worked at the institution by the names of Walter and Arthur Harrison. My great-grandparents were Sylvia May and Walter Harrison! That was no coincidence! That was divine intervention. I had looked for so long, with no luck, and then Bingo! There they were. It took me quite a while to prove they were mine, because the institution had no record of family information, but I kept at it until I connected the dots.

Sylvia May McGrew Harrison

Walter Henry Harrison and son, George Walter Harrison

That's on my mother's side. On my father's side, I have a brick wall too, one that my grandmother tried for years to get through. Her grandfather and his brother came from Germany in a time of political unrest. The story goes that his family was nobility and feared for the lives of their sons, and so sent them to America to get away from the war. where they most assuredly would have been sent to the front lines and killed. They came across with another family, who kept them safe until they got here. They changed their name from von Markus to Markus, then to Marcus, and finally, my grandfather changed his name to Morris to be more "American."  After years of searching for records of their journey from Germany, she received a letter from a lady that belong to the family they came over with, and she knew the story well. Only it wasn't the same story we had. Her story was that the two boys took her family name so that no one could come find them and force them to go back to Germany. This story leaves me in a quandary. If this is true, I don't even know what name to look for! She didn't know what their name was before they took her family name, so I don't even know who they were!  I've read a little history of Germany, and I can't find any record of nobility "disappearing" during and times of unrest, and I thought for sure there would be some kind of legend or tradition associated with this kind of thing. But I have found nothing so far. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

So there you have it. My other brick wall. But along with that, I have some good histories and family stories that I love to read. My grandmother's other grandfather was a man named Priddy Meeks, and he was a "Thompsonian" doctor. I have yet to find out exactly what that meant, but I know from his history that he used a lot of herbs and natural substances, and that he was known far and wide for his success in healing. He lived in Nauvoo and was there when Joseph Smith was martyred, he came across the plains with Brigham Young, and he spent the remainder of his life in southern Utah. He had 3 wives and 27 children, and in all their histories I have never read a bad word about him.

Sarah Mahurin Meeks and Dr. Priddy Meeks. This was one of his other wives, not my great-great-grandmother.

His daughter, my great-grandmother, was named Sarah Deseret, and one of her daughters, Mary, was a midwife who was known all over southern Utah for her skills in delivering babies. I guess she followed in his footsteps the best way a woman could in those days. My grandmother was a great lady who lived to within one month of her 100th birthday. She was born and raised in Enterprise, Utah. She lived a full life, and I wish with all my heart that I had recorded all her stories. She was a nurses' helper as a young girl in Cedar City, Utah, married a miner named Fred Bagshaw and lived in quite a few places as they followed the mines.

Margaret Deseret and Tessie Elizabeth (my grandma) Morris, rolling bandages in Cedar City, Utah, 1919

Tessie Elizabeth Morris Bagshaw with daughter, Rosalie, about 1924 or 25.

These are just a few of my genealogy treasures. I have untold and unseen wealth in these and other members of my ancestry. And I am still finding treasures. Little bits of stories and histories, that when added to those I already have, help to make the picture more complete.

Do you do genealogy? I hope so. It is your connection to the past and your path to the future. We all need to know who we are. It in an intrinsic part of our natures, and it makes us feel whole, complete. If you don't do genealogy...........why? As a young mother you can listen to the stories your grandparents have to tell. Tape them if they'll let you, and write them down if they won't. As an older mother of many or few, keep scrapbooks, label all the family photos, gather what you can before the preceding generation is all gone.  As a grandmother, write you own history and that of you husband, if he doesn't. Put things in an historical context for your family, so they understand what was going on around you as you went through life. There is always something we can do, no matter the season of life we are in. If you do nothing more than write down every birth, death, marriage, divorce, baptism, etc. for all the members of your family, you are doing family history. My grandmother had a little ledger-type notebook in which she kept a record of all the family dates for a long time, and I wish she had always done so. Those dates are the only record I have of some the divorces in the family, because people don't tend to record those. That little notebook has been of great value in helping me research her family.

William Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It isn't even past." Genealogy is the act of collecting dead relatives and sometimes even a live cousin. I trace my family history so I will know who to blame! Until next time,

Making invitations.....

It's 2:28 am and I can't sleep. My family is having some trouble right now and I have one daughter who isn't speaking to me and another who is probably really mad at me, too, and it's interrupting my sleep pattern, which isn't all that great anyway. As I've said before, my family can be very volatile.

This is my two beautiful daughters.

I'm busy making invitations for my Relief Society's birthday dinner. Relief Society is the women's group of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we'll celebrate the 170th birthday on March 17th, but there is another activity planned on that day, so we are having our birthday dinner in February, instead. The theme is "Hats Off to You" and we'll be showcasing the talents of the sisters in our ward. We have a very diverse group of sisters and it should be interesting. We (the RS board) made favors that are little wide-brimmed hats to go at every place setting, and so I'm putting little hats on the invitations and posters, too. I used a big circle punch for the brim piece, and I thought my smaller punch would be good for the crown piece, but it was too small, so I had to cut 80 little circles by hand. And I hate cutting circles! Oh, well, at least it wasn't 160 I had to cut! All the little hats are made, but now I've decided they need a little inking on the edges, so that's what I'll be doing tomorrow......uh, today. Then I have to get started on the posters. I'm not sure how I'm going to do them, yet, but I have ideas going through my head.

I'm going to start a new feature called Wednesday's Wealth. It will be about the little things that make us rich, the kind of wealth you cannot buy but have around you every day. You'll see what I mean tomorrow.

As I look at the picture above, I think I should show you my sons, too. I don't want them to feel left out. So here they are, my handsome sons.

Well, this is a short post, but I better go back to bed and try to get some sleep. Sweet dreams to all of you. See you tomorrow.

Friday Friends

It's Friday time again......la la la la la! If you could hear me, I would be singing. I love Friday Friends! It gives me an opportunity to go browsing among your blogs that I might not take the time for as often otherwise. I'm still looking for Valentine's Day goodies, and I found some more good stuff.

First, we have  Julie, Tammie, Joy, Krista and La Tisha, who have a really cute blog called Glue Guns and Spatulas. This post is actually from Valentine's Day 2010, but it is so cute, I thought you wouldn't care. Go check it out at http://gluegunsandspatulas.blogspot.com/2010/01/heart-shaped-valentines-wreath.html .

Next are the girls over at The Mother Huddle. Their blog is cute, funny and informative. They have lots of things going on all the time and it's very worth a visit. The post I'm linking to has seven different Valentine's ideas, plus, if you click on the heart garland on the header, you will find even more ideas! So go on over to http://www.themotherhuddle.com/tag/handmade-valentines/ and check out the madness.

Over at Mom On Time Out, Trish has put together Love Bugs that are really cute. Her oldest boy is in kindergarten this year, and so Valentines are a BIG deal! I know he had a blast making these little bugs to give to all his friends. http://www.momontimeout.com/2012/01/love-bug-valentines-craft_25.html

And for our grand finale today, I have a Velentine's Linky party from Someday Crafts. Go to this link http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2012/01/valentines-linky.html and you will find a plethora of crafts for the day of the heart. And it's open until February 14th, so you can check back daily or weekly, or whatever fits your schedule, for new ideas, or link up your own project! Here is a photo of just one of the projects shown.

I hope you have enjoyed these friends as much as I have and will continue to visit. And leave them a comment. Everyone loves comments. Tell them you saw them here.

I don't know who said this, but I like it. "Creativity, it has been said, consists largely of re-arranging what we know in order to find out what we don't know." Are you actively engaged in re-arranging?Let me know what you are doing to increase your creativity. Until next time,

P.S. Oh my gosh, I just realized I forgot to hit the publish button! Sorry this is so late.....I actually finished it about 7:30 this morning!

It's Thursday already!

Do you ever have those weeks where time gets away from you and all of a sudden it's the middle of the week?!? This has been one of those for me. We celebrated Chinese New Year on Monday, which meant I cooked ALL DAY ! Holy moly, I didn't think it would be so exhausting! Don't get me wrong, it was worth it and I would do it all over again if needed, but I was so tired by the end of the night that I fell asleep on the couch. Then, I've been working on the template, etc. for my new blog, and that always takes longer than I think it will. Oh, the decisions.......text color, font and font color, background color, label color, design, width, yadda yadda yadda! I know you know what I'm talking about. It's fun, but it's time-consuming. I posted my first "real" post today, introducing my partner and just saying Hi to get started. I hope you will go visit us at http://grammcrackers.blogspot.com .

Then, I spent yesterday at the temple and the Family History Center. I left at 7:15am and got home at 4:00pm. A long day. But the kind of day that gets me pumping for the rest of the week, so here I am, on a Thursday, blogging about my week.

I promised pictures of the celebration, so here you go. We started at the top and worked our way down.

Chinese lanterns help set the mood.

This is our table. Notice no silverware, only chopsticks. We all had fun getting the rice in our mouths!

Here is an individual place setting. Everyone had their own menu, plus a treat of chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks and rice candy, and their Good Luck knots and dragon masks. We forgot to get the noisemakers out until after dinner.

I made WAY TOO MUCH food. This isn't even all of it. Some had to stay on the stove because we didn't have room on the table.

Aren't we lovely?

                                       Maybe we looked better WITH the masks?

 

   Hally and Cameron have a close-up. Cameron actually was born in the Year of the Dragon, 2000.

This is probably the ugliest cake I've ever made! I ran out of frosting and had neither the time nor the ingredients to make more, so I made sure to cover everything but the body, so at least he looked symmetrical. It was our fire-breathing cake.

This is what the kitchen looked like afterward. I think I used every bowl and most of the pans in the house! And guess what? My sweet hubby did the dishes for me! And I was going to help him, but he wouldn't let me, so my daughter-in-law helped instead. Wasn't that nice of them? I was so tired I could hardly stand up, so I was glad to let them do it.

Well, that was our celebration. I hope you enjoyed sharing it with us. Did you do anything for Chinese New Year? I would love to hear all about it. Send pictures and I will post them. Until tomorrow,