Some thoughts on aging.

Age is opportunity no less,

Than youth itself, though in another dress,

And as the evening twilight fades away,

The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus.

* * *

The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do more, and you are not yet decrepit enough to turn them down.

~T.S. Eliot, quoted in Time, 23 October 1950.

* * *

I fear vastly more a futile, incompetent old age than I do any form of death.

~William Allen White

* * *

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that happen to a man.

~Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein), Diary in Exile, 1935.

* * *

Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.

~Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects, 1711.

* * *

There must be a day or two in a man's life when he is the precise age for something important. ~Franklin P. Ada

* * *

Middle age is youth without its levity, and age without decay.

~Daniel Defoe

What a mess!

OK, OK, this is actually Christmas morning and no, I don't think I had yet combed my hair that morning, and yes, I've cleaned up this whole mess already, but I thought this was a great photo to go with this "thought for the day."

Several weeks ago, I read in the January 2009 Better Homes and Gardens magazine, p. 28, the following statement (and it has been on my mind ever since, probably because the "shoe fits"): "A big reason why clutter accumulates is because items are homeless." Who knew I had a homeless problem right in my own house? I know I have some pack rats verging on hoarders here but homelessness of "things" hadn't even been considered. Of course, disposing of certain homeless items would fill me with glee, but perhaps if I tackle the gargantuan task of assigning everyone's hoarded stuff a home, perhaps THAT is the key. I do think that is a finite solution because you can only pack so much sand in a rat hole, but I will look at clutter now in a new light. Is it the clutter's fault that it is homeless? No, it is mine! (Well, seriously, I thought this woman's point was very valid--sometimes clutter is just stuff that is waiting for a home, and so THAT is actually what I'm going to think about with any homeless stuff I see around the house.)

Some photos of Tom's

Here is a house next to my mother's house that "we're" renovating. I refer to it as "Tom's house." Stay posted for more photos of the house after the outside is worked on. Particularly stay tuned to see the improved gable end over the addition, new windows, the creation of eves and new roofing.
Here is the view of the living room from the entry. Stay tuned for some new windows coming soon. Also note the paint color. It is a nice shade of taupe.

Here is another shot of the living room. We've found out the chimney is rotted. So look for the fireplace to disappear. You can almost see the new electrical plugs in this picture (left hand corner of the photo). Gone are the scary, old extension cords. Much safer.

Notice the absense of a big, weird cabinet. This little nook is greatly improved already. This is in the kitchen. Note that the floor is ready for tile.

This is another photo of the kitchen. Note how wonky the lower cabinet is. Well, the cabinet is no more. Stay tuned.

This shot of the bathroom is particularly unflattering. It has changed even from this photo. Stay tuned. As in most old houses, the plumbing and electrical needed help.

Another shot of the upstairs bathroom. The tile is now off the shower wall and the plumbing has been worked on.

This is the stairwell into the back entry. Note that you can actually turn on the back porch light without searching for the string hanging from the ceiling. Primarily, C & T have been doing LOTS of work at Tom's house. We've also had electricians there. Soon SH will also be doing work there, primarily on the outside. I'll update with photos in a few weeks to show the progress.

I just got back from YW presidency meeting.

I work with great counselors and secretary.

I'm grateful for all of their work and support.

Celebrating . . .

Well, live and learn.

These photos loaded in the reverse order of what I intended

but I am moving forward regardless.

We went to M's for our Family Home Evening tonight to visit her for her birthday and to give her our gift (a dark blue velour jacket and pants, but I forgot to take a picture of the set).

Here is B (and I can see I did a poor job editing myself out of the photo!).

Here are the flowers M got from the Tucson G family. M was holding the arrangement with me until she realized the container was wet. Unfortunately, this was the only shot we took of the two of us with the flowers. Mom was actually quite with-it today, despite how she looks in this photo. Also, I had taken the flowers to M this afternoon--we're just posing here with them. This was actually my third time at M's today. M had just gone to bed when we arrived--she wasn't asleep, just in bed--which is why she's still sitting on her unmade bed in these photos.

Here are the two January birthday girls together. Hey, they're both wearing pink!

Here I am with M. I hope I take my late, late years as amiably as Mom has taken the past two years. Two thoughts occur to me as I see this photo. First, clearly I'm better fed and second, although I've been feeling old since my surgery, I'm not.

Here are the Three Musketeers celebrating G-ma's day. (Note the pajama pants I made for G-ma for Christmas--bright and cheerful PJ pants if you ask me!)

Happy Birthday G-ma!

The birthday girl . . .

Today is my mom's birthday. Earlier today, my cousin GL asked Mom how old she was. Mom gave GL a questioning glance and asked, "Eighteen?" :-) I would make that eighteen years old with sixty-nine years experience! About ten years ago, when I was trying to describe my mother to a woman who had just moved into the ward, the new sister said, "Oh, is your mother the one with gray hair who acts eighteen?" Exactly. That's my mother. I took Mom to have her hair done today and she looks really nice. Beehive Home is having a party for her at lunch with the other residents. I delivered the flowers from J, C and family just before the party. I think she'll have a nice day. I hope to take my family back later tonight for FHE and give her our present then. Happy Birthday E!

Chocolate dipping at the party

Here are some items we pre-made for L's party. L made each girl a Valentine sucker for each girl's box of goodies. We made peanut butter flavored suckers to dip in chocolate. Then we made some temple candies (those white rectangles) just for fun.Here are some things we dipped at L's birthday party. The Oreos, almonds, and chocolate kisses were for the mice. The pink and white things are marshmallows that we put on sucker sticks to dip. The pretzels, Rolos and pecans were for some candies we made (putting Rolos on the pretzels, melting in the oven, then smooshing a pecan on top). The girls also dipped a lot of pretzels. The wafer cookies were for dipping and then sprinkling with candies (see next photo).

In this photo are: a tray of oreo truffles, half plain and half mint. The strawberries were a hit--too bad they were expensive so we didn't have a lot of them to dip. The little bowls hold the sprinkles. The brown pot is the chocolate pot. Last but not least are examples of the mice.
I think the strawberries were the most popular--either that or they were the least plentiful and seemed to go first. The Oreos all disappeared as did 85% of the pretzels. I thought the mice were the most fun but once the Oreos disappeared, no more mice were made (even though the Oreos weren't really necessary for the mice; they just created a handy surface to create a mouse).

Three games

Today, J had three basketball games. I went to his first and third game and B went to his second and third games. The first game was a Hurricane City league game and the second and third games were basketball camp games. As we drove to the first game, J said, "Make sure you film me from the very first of the game because I'm going to make a basket and want you to get it on film." Sure enough, in the first quarter he did make a baskets but did I have my camera out? No! Shoot! I was watching and visiting (and let's face it--I've just about filled up my camera disk with basketball, basketball, basketball video clips). I was impressed in the first game with J's energy and good play. In the third game, it struck me how much J's game has improved and I credit the Hurricane basketball camp for that.

Just as we suspected.

Just a brief report from the family history center: it was just as we expected. New Family Search is a starting point, not an ending point, in research. In an aside, I had to show my recommend to the director and we had to enter my member number. All of my information (children, husband, my name and my ancestry) popped up on the screen. The director never left my side during the search and he had control of the mouse. He said that the system is not yet designed for everyone to access--it would crash the system--so we were pretty limited in what we did.

In for a dime, in for a dollar . . .

Today, I will be going to the family history library in St. George where I hope to look at a new pilot program the Church has called "New Family Search." You have to have a director and his/her password to access this program and I've been assured there is always a director there when the facility is open. Let's hope so.

I am going at all today because of that Meeks book my older friend L and I are proofreading and because L is too unwell to make the trip herself. She asked me to please, please go. We need to know exactly what New Family Search says about a particular set of our ancestors and what proof there is for some claims made in the book. The book cites the New Family Search but not what documentation within that program the book's author is depending on when he claims that two of our ancestors were half-brother and half-sister and married to each other. We both feel this claim is too "out there" to simply rely on this site in this manner--it really behooves the author to make a more thorough investigation but we need to see his starting point (well, and his ending point!!)--New Family Search and what the submitters relied upon--before we give the author the benefit of our opinion. We are distressed by the claim, probably because we believe the claim is erroneous, and particularly L is distressed because she doesn't have the health to track this down.

Thanks to a younger J for this work of art. Although drawn years ago, I think this work of art accurately depicts L and I in our proofreading efforts. Perhaps I'm the one with the the lucky horseshoe in hand and lucky shamrock on my hat, with L hoovering in mid-air. It does seem to be a good likeness of me, at least, and I hope with those two good luck symbols present that it portends my success at the family history center.

Watching o'er you while you sleep . . .

If you can't have a guardian angel

watching over you while you sleep,

how about a guardian angel DOG to watch over you?

Notice how vigilent R is and how oblivious to R's watchful care T is!

Go, L, go!

Look at the consentration

of this swimmer

at a swim meet this past summer.

Mission of my blog?

Lately, I've been thinking about what my objective is in having a blog so that I can know why I write. In turn, if I know why I write, it might help me to know what to write when I sit down to "blog."

For me, I think my blog fills a gap between my own personal journal and public conversation--I'm not necessarily writing what I would write in my own journal but I'm not writing what I might choose to discuss with friends and family in my daily comings and goings, either. Maybe it is to have a conversation with myself--since whatever falls between those two things may be just for me. I don't know. Perhaps that is what sparked my introspection--who is my "target" audience when I write? I don't know if I have one.

I know that when I initially created the blog, I wanted to blog about my creative endeavors (such as my sewing the aprons or Swedish weave afghans and other things) or projects I'd like to do, about books I have read as I read them, and about my interests. I really did not intend to write about what my family and I are doing on a daily basis, although there could be some of that, too.

Then, I was called as ward YW president in November and all my book reading and project making have come to an almost complete halt. Maybe I need to rethink my objectives with the blog?!

Deer camp

Here are R "the Puppita" and yours truly at the B's deer camp this past October. We went up for dinner and took the pup along. There were several other dogs there, too. As we drove in, my father-in-law exclaimed, "Well, everyone and his dog is here now." The Bs go to the same spot every year--west of Veyo--and they have gone there every year but two since the 1960s. We had talked of camping over Friday to Saturday but I really thought it would be frosty and, if I remember correctly, we had something come up that made us decide we would just go for dinner. Actually, despite how "huddled up" R and I look in the photo, the weather was relatively mild, maybe because the camp spot is in a valley and so was out of the wind.

Wax figurines

Probably fifteen or sixteen years ago, I purchased a kit for making the wax figurines (that are shown in the picture) for ornaments for my Christmas tree. The picture shows figurines out of natural wax and out of natural wax colored with some kind of red pigment. I chose to make all of my figurines red colored instead of natural because red is my favorite color but I like both colors. The company I purchased my kit from no longer sells the kits. However, you can find the kit at http://www.chinaberry.com/prod.cfm/pgc/11800/sbc/11802/inv/2881/tid/628052001

German ornaments, one of my loves.

My favorite website for purchasing (and perusing) German ornaments is http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/decorationwarehouse/.
I love the variety of German ornaments it carries. The ornament selection is down quite a bit because, I'm guessing, it is just after Christmas but this website seems to (normally) have the best selection and the best prices. (One disclaimer--German ornaments are not inexpensive

even when the prices are "good," so "best prices" is a relative description.) My favorite categories of German ornaments are:

the painted wooden ornaments (an example is pictured, above),

the pewter ornaments (as pictured, below),

the plain or natural wooden ornaments (see the link at the end of this post)

and wax ornaments (more about those later),

and probably in that order.

It is not enough that an ornament is wooden or that it looks German--it needs to come from Germany. When I first met my friends who got me hooked on German ornaments (back in about 1982 and prior to my mission to Germany), they had this attitude and I thought secretly that they were German ornament snobs (just what you're likely thinking of me right now). However, I have joined them in this way of thinking. That is not to say that I do not own non-German, wooden, look-alike ornaments but . . . well, what can I say, the "German" ornaments I love need to be German. Period. I DO like MANY, MANY different ornaments that aren't German. For example, I do not need "German" glass ornaments. I do not need the other billion ornaments I own to come from Germany. I also like ornaments from other countries and in other categories and styles. But for these particular types of ornaments that I named above, excepting the wax ornaments, they need to be true German ornaments. Whew. I've gotten that off my chest now!

It is a different website that has the selection of what I call plain (by that I mean unpainted or natural) wooden ornaments. This is the link for that site generally (I could not successfully "borrow" pictures from that site): http://www.christkindl-markt.com/index.php?osCsid=5edc6c87fd26ecbb9612b540b33ad377
I will discuss wax ornaments on another post because that is another story.

P.S. Perhaps I will even successfully obtain photos of the natural wooden ornaments--even if I have to take pictures myself. They could not be copied from that website as jpegs and so they pasted "blank" to the blog. I must continue my technological quest so that I can do better blogging. Additionally, I really MUST remember to download ALL THE PICTURES in the ORDER I want them and THEN add the text and not have second thoughts when I'm about done adding text to add photos here and there--it does not work! Arrgh.

What you don't know that you don't know . . . .

B had wanted J to participate in a basketball camp offered by Hurricane City. J hadn't wanted to do it necessarily but he really did not have a choice. It was, we thought, to be an eight-week course and so J has been going and hasn't minded the camp. However, we never did receive a schedule. J had missed a few of the eight weeks because he had basketball games in LaVerkin and I had lost track of where we were in the schedule, so I approached the coach at the camp last night and asked, "Is this the last night or is next Wednesday the last night?" He replied, "This is a year-round program." And then he went on to tell me the activities the boys will be involved in as the year goes by. I was still trying to get my head around the words "all year" and how my initial fees could possibly cover an entire year and how we'd missed those details, so I just thanked him and left. One of J's friends said as we were leaving, "I think we have to pay every eight weeks." Well, that explained it a bit but we're still in shock. On the way home, J said, "This was a terrible day." I said, "What was terrible about it?" He replied something like, "I get signed up for a camp I don't really want and then I find out it goes all year!" We're still in "wonderment" as to how this happened. B had seen the notice for the camp and has been the one to take J up until last night; I hadn't, but he hadn't realized it was all year, either. I don't think we'll stick with it all year but J could benefit from another eight weeks while he is playing basketball on the regular Hurricane City league. J would probably be OK with that.

Quote for today

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Then quit.

There's no point in being a . . . fool about it!"

W. C. Fields

Yesterday evening

Yesterday evening, my first counselor SB was in charge of a special program at YW. It was to introduce the theme for the year, "Be thou an example of the believers . . . ." We had a special speaker DG who gave a great talk. SB's mother PB (who is also Stake YW president) had done a great job decorating the room and making refreshments. We gave each of the girls the Jenny Phillips CD that contained songs about the 2009 theme, and SB had designed cute envelopes for each CD. We had a special musical number (which I missed because I was helping with the refreshments). All-in-all, it was a great hour and SB did a great job. What was even better, all I had to do was show up and later help dish up the refreshments. It couldn't get better than that, could it?

Putz houses

I love these little Putz houses. They are styled after old German Putz houses. They are handmade by a company in California whose website is: http://www.vintage-ornaments.com/ These houses are shown at this link: http://www.vintage-ornaments.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=VO&Category_Code=H1 There are other websites featuring these Glitterhouses but I was really taken with this site. Maybe it is that the houses are colorful. If these houses look vaguely familiar, one of them was featured in the December 2007 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Overheard

Yesterday as I was walking into a store, I passed three 20-something young men and I overheard a snatch of their conversation. One said to the others, "There was this really old woman. She's about fifty-three, and she . . . ." LOL

J and R in a photo with a different kind of effect--I don't even know how I created that effect. I was trying to delete the photo and, poof, there it was through some miss-jabbed button. Once it had that effect, I decided it was too interesting to delete right away!

I am proofreading a family history book written by a distant relative (third cousins once removed) and the proofreading will prove to be time-consuming. I am on about page 50 tonight--having just started this morning--and I have spent at least three hours proofing. It is probably 300 pages long. I'm a fast reader--normally--but proofreading requires time. It is about the Meeks line. This is the second Meeks history "event" in the past six months. You may recall the pictures I helped place at the DUP museum in St. George. Regarding this book I'm proofing, about a year and a half ago, I did send this relative any information I had on his ancestor. He's now written this book and wants me to read it through and offer any comments I may have. I've never met a paper with writing on it that I couldn't make red marks on. I tried to warn him but he wanted me to go ahead.

We are sowing . . . . How true it is.

We are sowing, daily sowing

Countless seeds of good and ill,

Scattered on the level lowland,

Cast upon the windy hill;

* * *

Seeds that lie unchanged, unquickened,

Lifeless on the teeming mold;

Seeds that live and grow and flourish

When the sower's hand is cold.

By a whisper sow we blessings;

By a breath we scatter strife.

In our words and thoughts and actions

Lie the seeds of death and life.

* * *

*Hymn #216.

L's Big Bash

We're planning a fun party for L's birthday. We are moving ahead with the chocolate dipping party. I hope it isn't brain surgery because I've never done it before but we're using simple things--somewhere between chocolate dipping and fondue dipping. :-) We've selected the date and time, and have roughed in the agenda. We've purchased some supplies but we need to finish purchasing the STUFF. Her fun party will be in about ten days. She made her invitations tonight and hopes to hand them out tomorrow. We're off and running.

Three focus standards.

During the DVD last night, we were asked to choose three standards from the pamphlet "Especially For Youth" that we wanted to focus on. The first one that leaped out at me and which has been on my mind lately is honesty.

"Be honest with yourself, others and the Lord. When you are honest in every way, you build strength of character . * * * You will be blessed with peace of mind and self-respect. * * * Dishonesty hurts you and usually hurts others as well. * * * Being honest requires courage and commitment to do what you know is right."

The second standard that attracted my attention was gratitude. "Live with a spirit of thanksgiving and you will have greater happiness and satisfaction in life."

The third standard that attracted my attention was "go forward with faith." "[A]sk yourself, 'Am I living the way the Lord wants me to live?' * * * Be true to the Lord . . . in all circumstances. * * * Be humble and willing to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit."

A brand new year . . .

Tonight the Priests were in charge of the YM/YW Combined Activity. They billed it as "popcorn and a movie you've never seen before." As it turned out, they did serve cookies, candy bars and popcorn and they showed the new DVD from the Church that is for the youth. This is the website for more information: http://www.abrandnewyear.lds.org/ I loved all of it, perhaps because I am a leader and can see how important the message is for the youth and frankly, it is a good message for adults.

The Appliance Graveyard . . .

We think our refrigerator has died. We noticed yesterday that all the ice in the ice maker had melted and run out. Then we noticed everything had thawed in the freezer. So we cleaned out the freezer last night and were waiting until this morning to call the appliance guy. This morning, the fridge seems to have stopped working. We haven't had the official pronouncement that the fridge is beyond repair because we're waiting for 8 a.m. to call the repairman, but Bryan believes the compressor has gone out.

Here is a sad list of all of our major appliances that we've had since moving into our house in 1994--all because the previous appliance has died and not that we just wanted something new:
1. We are on our third stove.
2. This is our second fridge (so by tomorrow I could write: "We are on our third fridge.").
3. We are on our fourth dishwasher.
4. We are on our second above-the-stove microwave (and just paid $130 to save its life--it has been making terrific noises for about a year).
5. We are on our third washing machine.

6. We are on our second water softening system, and we just got the first one in 2001 or 2002.

P.S. We were able to fix the fridge for about $160. Whew!

Top ten things of 2008!

My friend PBV did a great "Top ten things of 2008" and I liked it so much that I wanted to copy! Isn't copying the highest form of praise?? We didn't have as many stupendous events as PBV but here is my humble list, anyway! :-)

The top ten things of 2008, going chronologically:

10. As we entered the new year, my mother's downward spiral of weight loss and illness stopped. That was such a relief because it is hard to watch someone you love starve to death and to be the person responsible for that loved one's well-being.
9. J was able to be on a good soccer team last spring. His team the year before had been awful so it was nice to have a good team this year, particularly since I'm not sure he wants to play again. Nice to go out on a good note.
8. All the kids "graduated" from the schools they'd been attending! What a milestone to no longer have an elementary student! Then, in the fall, everyone moved up to a different school. What a strange thing to have a high school student in the family! That is something new and different!
7. Watching T receive the award for being the "outstanding student in science" at the end of the school year was just great. It brought tears to my eyes.
6. I really enjoyed watching L enjoy being on swim team this summer! She is such a fish! Guess what she liked the most? Swimming laps! What a gal!
5. B's retirement mid-fire season was certainly a huge event for all of us (of course, particularly for him) although it didn't seem real until after Labor Day. So far, I think it has been a good thing, despite all my worries going in to it. It has been great to have the help at home and with the kids.
4. Our puppy's first birthday at the end of the summer was a happy event because we enjoy and love her and . . . because I've been hopeful that she will stop chewing as much (and she has somewhat).
3. It was bitter sweet being released from the RS presidency that I'd enjoyed but I think the president needed a change. Then, it was quite a challenge, a month later, becoming YW president. There is still a lot to learn. I'd hoped that by the new year, I'd be feeling like I'd crested the learning curve but not yet. Now we're going to implement everything I've learned--theory is always easier than actual "doing."
2. J enjoyed playing La Verkin basketball (not so much Hurricane basketball). It is fun to have him be interested in competing and playing some sports.
1. After such a huge, dramatic, drawn out "medical year" in 2007, for my mother and for our family, it was so nice to have everyone have better health, relatively speaking, in 2008. This is not to imply that there were no trips to the doctor, but I'm not even sure we reached our catastrophic medical coverage level this year and we have consistently for the past few years.

Well, there you have it. Now, probably as I get up from the computer, I'll think of 90 other things that could have been included in the list! We really didn't take any trips anywhere glamorous this past year like PBV did and no new grandbabies!! But we did have a nice and eventful year!

Happy New Year!

A fun vacation!

We have had a very nice vacation from school--so nice that I'm sorry the kids have to go back to school tomorrow. Here are the kids enjoying a "movie" the boys starred in and L "filmed" during the vacation.

Chocolate dipping, anyone?

I'm soliciting recipes or ideas for EASY chocolate dipping (recipes for the stuff to dip IN the chocolate)--I have a couple (thanks QV and Studio 5) but I am always open to more. We're thinking of dipping chocolates for L's birthday party. (Nothing like trying it out for the first time, all the while trying to teach others how to do it--that's me. Well, actually, we'll try it out a bit before then but we don't have long until the big day).

New Year's Eve . . .

What a great crew to ring in the new year! We had our family New Year's Eve party last night and had a nice time! The kids decorated wish bags (and then later received gifts, hats, plastic leis, noisemakers and poppers in them). We had a nice meal (for B, that is the whole point of celebrating something!). B made french fried potatoes, sweet potatoes and chicken and we had other yummy stuff, including two different homemade cheese balls (we were evidently in the mood for cheese balls). We played games like Granny Apples, the States game, and Apples to Apples. We celebrated the new year at about 10 p.m. with noise making, hats, leis, and poppers. We went outside and let off some poppers to ring in the new year! We started this whole party tradition when the kids were a lot younger--maybe when J was a toddler, so they could see what people did on New Year's Eve. The early-evening celebrating is a hold-over from those days--plus that is about my late-night limit! We used to have a pinata when the basement was not finished. We also had tricycle races and different competitions. Some years, we have had fireworks but the poppers sufficed this year.