For All the World to See

I wrote all over Wayne's car windows this morning before church, and surprised him for Father's Day.  He IS the world's best dad!  


He IS our hero!  


He IS Number One!


And I wanted all the world to know it.


(I found the Window Crayons at A.C. Moore.)

Evil traditions taught to children

An article about a kindergarten in Gaza, teaching the children to become suicide bombers.  The children put on a little show for their parents:

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2063

The show included a series of skits depicting Israeli soldiers as evil torturers of innocent Palestinians. A number of the children were in a cage, representing an Israeli prison, with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Others were dressed in makeshift IDF uniforms.... — carrying various kinds of weapons. ..... Meanwhile, the children recited anti-Israel slogans and expressed their desire to become martyrs......
One child announced: “When I grow up, I want to blow myself up among the Zionists and kill them in a suicide bombing on a bus." How happy that must have made his parents and the principal.

When I see things like this, I lose hope that the Palestinians and the Israelis will ever work out their differences.  It seems impossible.

And isn't it funny (not in a ha-ha way) how similar this is to the Lamanites, who were always taught from birth to hate the Nephites.  History repeats itself.

Family stack

Here's an old picture from 1992 I thought you would enjoy.
Bottom to top:  Wayne, Adam, Isaac, Seth, Bryce.  Tara standing.

Thomas's birthday and other Historic occasions

Today Thomas is 4 years old!

Also, here are some other recent happenings:

Zac graduated from early morning seminary!  (This is a picture of the graduating seniors in our stake.)

Also, Zac graduated from high school!

Today is Bryce's last day at BYU!  He is done with his bachelor's degree, and he and Marianne will soon be moving to Pittsburgh for his new job.

And there are only 6 weeks left until Tiffany has to defend her doctorate (that might not be the exact phrase, but I know she has to pass everything off that day.)

These are delicious!

 Someone told me to buy Junior Mints and store them in the freezer.  WOW!  They are so good!  They taste just like miniature ice cream bars, only minty.

And Rachel bought these from Aldi's, and I really really liked them.  I never shop at Aldi's, but I'm going to have to go there just to get them.

Zipper flower brooches

I saw a flower made out of a zipper in a lady's hair, but didn't take a picture of it.  When I got home, I couldn't remember what it looked like, so I experimented and made two different ones.

The spiral one is easier to make.  Both are sewed a little, and hot glued a little.

The spiral flower used up one side of a white 18" zipper.

The one with petals used up a little more than one 18" zipper.

Both together didn't quite use up 2 zippers.

Decoupaged birdhouses

I saw these birdhouses in a fabric store in Sarasota, Florida.  The owner said they had purchased the plain wooden birdhouses in a craft store for very little money, and then cut their designer fabric to fit and used Mod Podge to decoupage the fabric down.  SO CUTE!

Messenger Bag with decoration

I really loved this messenger bag.  An artist had purchased these bags, decorated them, and then sold them.  I think it would be fun to make one with a photo of my family on it, instead of just an anonymous old photo like this one has on it.

On Recent Quilt Teaching trips

I taught quilting in Rocky Mount, NC a few weeks ago.  Then I flew to Sarasota, Florida and taught quilting last week.  Here are the women showing off the little fusible house appliques they learned to design in my class "Playtime Neighborhood for the Precision Impaired".

Sarasota, Florida    May 2012

Their guild met in a Mennonite church, and I was a bit stunned to see that they had musical instruments for a rock band. (Look on the stage in the photo.)  I asked about it, and was assured that most Mennonite churches today offer both traditional and contemporary worship services.

I stayed in a nice motel in Sarasota, but when I taught in Greensboro, NC in April I stayed in a quilt guild member's home.  Here is the beautiful home, off a huge culdesac in a golf course community:

I had the whole upstairs to myself, in a massive guest suite.  I really enjoyed my gracious hosts.

Our 6th grandchild is on the way!

Bryce and Marianne are expecting a girl October 22!  Hooray!  That will make 4 granddaughters and 2 grandsons.



Quote for the day:

David Stockman's investment model:

"My investment model is ABCD:  "Anything Bernanke Can't Destroy".  Flashlight batteries, canned beans, bottled water, gold, and a cabin in the mountains."

Happy Birthday Janette!

August 2011

WE LOVE YOU!

We hope you are loving your new house.  We hope to come see you in a couple of weeks.  Have a great birthday!

Great visual of Consequences of a Greek eurozone exit

Above is the graphic you will see on the website below.

When you click on this link, there are 4 buttons.  Push each button for a 30 second message, explaining the chart.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/0a35504a-0615-11e1-a079-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1w6VIntBu

It was a great description of what might happen and then what would happen next.

It hasn't been too long since people were saying a Greek exit from the European Union was just crazy talk.  And now it looks like a huge possibility.

I am concerned about the financial ramifications it will have for our U.S. banking system, since they are heavily invested in European stocks and bonds.



Quote of the day:  Recession is when your neighbor loses his job.  Depression is when you lose your job.  Recovery is when Obama loses his.

The House on the Strand

This is one of my favorite books.  Every five or ten years, I have to check it out of the library again.  

It is about a man renting an old house in England.  He discovers that if he takes a certain drug, he goes back into the 14th century and is able to watch the people who lived in that house back then.  He gets addicted to living in that other century.

This is written by Daphne du Maurier, she is more famous for her book "Rebecca".  

All my life, one of my unfulfilled desires is to magically be able to go back in time.  I keep hoping that during the Millenium, for entertainment, we might be able to choose a small location (a particular hill or city block, etc.) and watch a virtual movie of every single thing that ever happened on that spot for all the centuries of time.  WOULDN'T THAT BE AWESOME!  I guess thats why I like this book.  He can see what happened on the site of his house 500 years previously.

AND

Here is a trailer for a new movie:  "AGENDA: Grinding America Down".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH8LkIqu1c8&feature=player_embedded

About the planned destruction of the American way of life.

Video: Great Moments in Presidential History

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vDYkE3eD4M&feature=player_embedded

1 and a half minutes long.

Purple hair

We have some cute people in the family.  Even cuter when they have on a purple wig.

Thomas, Isaac, Elizabeth

Tara

Rachel

Harriett the Spy

"Harriett the Spy" was my very favorite book when I was in the 4th grade, and reading it inspired me to begin writing in my diary.  I started writing sporadically in the 4th grade, but in the middle of the 6th grade the habit stuck, and I have not missed a day for the past 42 years. ( Thats a lot of diaries!)

I just reread this book, and was struck by how outdated it is.  It was written in 1964, and kids these days would have a very difficult time relating to it.

First, Harriett has complete freedom to roam all over New York City by herself.  No kidnappers or child molesters or crime to worry about.

Second, she has a full time nanny and cook, and so do all her friends.

Third, television.  Here is just a random paragraph from the book:

Ole Golly said "I thought we might sit down here in the kitchen and play a game of checkers."

Harriett:  "In the kitchen?  But we always watch television when we play checkers....There isn't any television down here."

Oh yes, that reminded me of way back when each family only owned one TV.  How quaint that a wealthy family like Harriet's (remember they have a nanny and a cook) don't even have a TV in the kitchen.

(Remember the Monkees song "Pleasant Valley Sunday", some of the lyrics pointed out the unusual fact about Mr. Green:  "Mr. Green, he's so serene, he's got a TV in every room".)  The first people I knew who had several TV's  were Wayne's Aunt Carol and Uncle Gary, and we definitely thought they were rich.  They also had a TV in the kitchen, which was a brand new idea for me.  But I have mostly watched TV in the kitchen ever since.

Fourth, here is how they decided what movie to see.

(Ole Golly and boyfriend decide to take Harriet to the movies.)  "Oh, boy," said Harriet and jumped up from the table.  "I'll go get the paper and see what's playing."  She ran upstairs to the library and went through the paper thoroughly.  She was torn between a spooky (movie) and a spectacular about the Greek gods..she decided to choose the latter.  Anyway, it was in color."

It struck me that when I was a child we DID have to get a newspaper to find out what was on at the movie theater.  But when I was a newlywed, we started calling the theater's phone line and there would be a constant loop playing a message, listing all the movies.  Of course, later when the internet was invented, we just look online.  It has been years since I thought about those other methods.

But the added shock was that, yes, I can also remember when some movies were more special than others because they were in COLOR.

Rereading that book made me feel like I grew up in the stone age.

Seth's graduation

 Congratulations to Seth for getting his master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at NC State!

Frenzy over Ninja Turtles

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Robyn moved away.  She gave away a bunch of stuff, and I got a huge bag of Ninja Turtle toys.

The next time all my family were here, I said, "Merry Christmas!  You all get to choose whatever you want from this bag!" and I dumped the bag in the living room.

There was a lot of excitement during the next ten minutes as they all picked out their favorite action figures.  It was funny, Seth was even wearing a Ninja Turtles Tshirt that day (I had purchased 4 shirts at Target and given them to the four oldest boys at Christmas.) 

(Don't worry, Bryce, there are still dozens of them left in the bag for you to pick from later.)

Score!

 I am awesome!  I know how to shop for my grandchildren!

Here is my haul for today:

I spent $70 at yard sales today.  I bought 13 (THIRTEEN) pair of children's shoes, all in almost new condition!  Each pair was $1 each or 50 cents each.  (To compare this with store prices, a couple of weeks ago I bought myself a new pair of walking shoes for $60 and some sandals for $20 at Rack Room shoes.  Yard sales are definitely a better deal!)

I bought 2 little boy's coats for 25 cents apiece!  I bought LOTS of children's clothing for $1 or 50 cents per item!  Lots of children's books.

About the only things I bought for myself were a couple of DVD's, videotapes, and the game, Sequence, which we played once at Isaac's and I really liked.

I can't wait to show all this stuff to my daughters-in-laws.  I already know that Elizabeth will like the 3 ruffly skirts I bought for her.

Forget me not

This is a beautiful little glass jar that my mother bought for me, to remind me of the lovely talk that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave entitled "Forget me nots".

My mother is so sweet!

New NBC TV series: "Revolution"

Looks like an exciting show, about the aftermath of an EMP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwfCRAtkYEI&feature=player_embedded

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

I loved reading Betty MacDonald's "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" series of books when I was young.  I just bought them and read them again.

As you might know, I just LOVE wacky silly names (a la Dr. Suess) so I also enjoy the names in "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle."  Here are some of them:

Ermintrude Bags
Calliope Ragbag
Paraphernalia Grotto
Cormorant Broomrack
Worthington and Guinevere Gardenfield
Wetherill Crankminor
Pergola Wingsproggle
Jasper and Myrtle Quitrick


AND


Just a quick question:

Why does the Department of Homeland Security need 450,000,000 rounds of hollow point bullets?

( March 12, 2012)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/atk-secures-40-caliber-ammunition-contract-with-department-of-homeland-security-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-dhs-ice-2012-03-12?reflink=MW_news_stmp

If you Google "homeland security hollow point bullets" you will see many articles about this.  I, with many other people, am wondering about the nefarious reasons behind this. 

Seth and Janette moved to Fayetteville

I helped with my little granddaughter yesterday while Seth and Janette directed the movers.  It was a sad day for me,  they are moving 1  1/2 hours away.  It will be different now that they have to plan a big trip to come and see us.  I definitely want to move into a different house, so that we can have a guest room.

I finally got the quilting bug again, I started making crooked log cabin blocks and couldn't stop.  Now visions of the finished quilt keep going around and around in my head, I think I am going to make a quilt based on the song Alan Jackson sings, "Tall Tall Trees."  I have wanted to make a quilt about that song for years.  It has so many good images in the lyrics:

Tall Tall Trees
(Roger Mill & George Jones)

Well, If you wanna drive a big limousine
I'll buy the longest one you've ever seen
I'll buy you tall, tall trees, and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

Well, If you wanna own a great big mansion
well, I'll give it my utmost attention
I'll buy you tall, tall trees, and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

Yes I'm a fool, over you
(It may take a while, but I'll prove it's true)

Well, if it's lovin' you want, I've got it
And if it's money you want, I'll get it
I'll buy you tall, tall trees, and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

--- Instrumental

Well, If you wanna take a trip across the ocean
Yes, we'll travel anywhere you take a notion
I'll buy you tall, tall trees, and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

Now, if you wanna own a great big mansion
If I give it my utmost attention
I'll buy you tall, tall trees, and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

Yes, I'm a fool, over you
(It may take a while, but I'll prove it's true.)

Well, if it's lovin' you want, I've got it
And If it's money you want, then, I'll get it
I'll buy you tall, tall trees and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you.

--- Instrumental ---

Yes, I'm a fool, over you
(It may take a while, but I'll prove it's true.)

Well, if it's lovin' you want, I've got it
And If it's money you want, then, I'll get it
I'll buy you tall, tall trees and all the waters in the seas
'Cause I'm a fool, fool, fool for you...

Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/george-jones-lyrics-tall-tall-trees-jclxf6l#ixzz1uUqVpdqi
LetsSingIt - Your favorite Music Community