Red, White, & True Blue!

Grab your hat & flag, it is Freedom Festival Time! Gramps & I officially began the Freedom celebration last night by attending the non-denominational fireside at the Marriot Center with key-note speaker Glenn Beck. All I can say is, will it be overkill when I paint my house red, white, & blue? I left with greater patriotic feelings then when I arrived. We are so blessed to live in our free country & if I understood Glenn's talk we all need to wake up & remember what is "good" about America. Let's not let ourselves get mired in the problems our nation is facing. "We the people" are creative & hard-working with the ability to solve the crisis we face, whether it be financial, defense, or those outrageous high pump prices. In his talk he listed many of the inventions that have come from USA. The crowd was exploding with applause as we remembered how great we have been & continue to be.  A small, yet very impressive band played all the favorites; Battle Hymn, This Land is Your Land, God Bless America, etc. Michael Ballum played the piano, sang, & told patriotic stories. One of my favorite parts was as the band played each military song, those in the audience that served in each respective branch stood for recognition. Gramps stood for himself & James during the Air Force song. We mentioned Rob & Austin during the Army tune & I thought of Grandpa Farrimond during Anchors Away as he was a Navy man. We have a rich heritage within our small family circle of brave men willing to defend our nation. I truly am proud to be an American. We look forward to the parade & stadium of fire on Friday. Unless plans have changed Austin will be participating in the flag ceremony. It is always an honor to salute the flag, but I get emotional when I see one of my boys in uniform at such events. Thank you James, Austin, & Rob for your sacrifice in behalf of our family & nation. (Picture 1: Glenn Beck @ podium 2: the fantastic band 3: gr & gr)

Windex Isn't Just For Windows

Anyone out there with  a microwave or dishwasher. I recently learned a couple of cleaning tricks for these 2 appliances that I will pass on to anyone interested in trying. I have used both tricks & plan to continue to use them, as I think they both work. Number 1: Spray a rag or dish cloth with Windex, 4 or 5 shots will do. Then place in microwave & heat for 30 seconds. The crusty food will wipe off easier. It really works. You may need to repeat if the crust is really, really bad. I started scrubbing my microwave, then remembered the trick. It was a night & day difference, it really was easier to clean.  Number 2: When your dishwasher is empty, fill both soap cups with cider vinegar. Run through a rinse cycle. Then do the same with Clorox. I also cleaned the bottom of the door, as it catches & builds a lot of crud. Do this treatment once a month to maintain a clean dishwasher. I  had trouble with glass looking cloudy, but this has cleared it up. I am at the end of the month & I am still smooth sailing. This is the 1st month I have cleaned my dishwasher, but plan to keep it clean this way. Good luck, I hope this makes your chores a little easier.

Last Blog, I Am Caught Up

If you are looking for a reason to love Sunday, I've got a good one for you.  No exercise, it's the Sabbath! This past week I have gone on a long uphill bike ride every day this week except Monday. It feels sooooo good not to ride today! Thank goodness we get Sunday every 7 days. I love Sunday!

Happy Birthday Aunt Julie

Better late, than never is my motto. Julie & I have been trying to celebrate her birthday since February. With both of us in school, work, & moving it has taken 4 months to finally party. I treated her to a night of scrapbooking at Archivers, a local scrapbooking store. It was so fun, it has been too long since I have done any scrapbooking. I enjoyed the activity & the company. Although I didn't finish any pages there, I have about 8 pages designed & ready to finish at home with my embellishments & sewing machine close at hand. Included in the evening was dinner, a 12 x 12 page kit, a make & take, & door prizes! As most know door prizes are my favorite element of any party. So here is an open invitation to all the scrapbookers out there, the next time you are in Utah let's get together for an evening of scrapbooking at Archiver's.

Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

Jennifer has a pressure cooker. On the day Tess was baptized Jen was cooking chicken in a crock pot for the luncheon afterwards. After several hours Jen checked the meat & it wasn't ready. Pressure cooker to the rescue, the meat took minutes & was tender & tasty. Jamie was impressed & resurrected her decades old pressure cooker from the back of the cupboard & again uses is regularly. Not to be left in the dust I shopped online, found one that looked like I would like it, hinted I wanted it, & received a $10 used one from a thrift store via Aunt Jamie. Thank you again Aunt Jamie. I am so glad she found it for me. She even sent the replacement ring & valve. After reading the instructions, I installed both parts, then set it on the back burner, a little afraid to try this new technique of cooking, as I've heard somewhere that they can blow up if not used properly. I went to book club & found out Opal has one & uses it regularly. She got a crock pot recently & doesn't like it as it takes too long to cook food. Well, I finally decided to embark on the maiden voyage. I put water, chicken, rice, & seasoning in the pan, brought it to a boil, put lid securely in place, then watched & waited. Steam was building up, hissing noises were being emitted from the valve, & droplets of water were gathering under the weight. Well, about 10 minutes into the process there was a loud popping noise & rushing of steam as the new steam valve blew right out of the lid straight into oblivion. Both Gramps & I were in the kitchen at the time & needed to be resuscitated as we were in coronary distress.  . We both thought we were goners. After searching high & low I found the valve, put it in the lid the way I thought it should be instead of the way the instructions said to put it in, & tried the process again. Second time around was successful & we had chicken & rice wraps for dinner. There are a few adjustments I need to make to the recipe, but will definitely be using the pressure cooker again.

Have You Heard From Austin?

It is always fun to get real snail mail, which I received from Austin this week. I think his letter to me & my care package to him crossed in the mail. He was bored in the 1st Aid class he was in, so he wrote me a letter on small notebook paper telling me about life at Fort Lewis. He has a week & a half left, then home to Utah for a week, then finally reunited with Julianne & little baby Addy. Will she remember her daddy? I am blogging this letter for 2 reasons. Number 1: Remember your parents. They really do love to be part of your life, even after you have grown up with your own family. After being number one in your life for many years, it is an adjustment to take back seat to your child's spouse & children. So thank you to Rob for dropping in on his way through to Detroit & thanks for the note from Austin. I do have wonderful kids that call & take care of me. Thanks for Planet Earth Jen for Mother's/Father's Day. I realize this is a diversion, but a funny thing happened in regard to Planet Earth. As I was checking books out at the library my cousin Marilyn, who works there, held up the Planet Earth & asked, "Have you seen these, they are wonderful?" I was able to answer, "Yes, I have my own copy." Number 2: (if you have forgotten, as I have, I am writing why I was happy to get Austin's snail mail) I love the paper he wrote on. It looks like the paper now being used in scrapbooking to journel on really cool pages. I think I am going to use the back side of Austin's letter on some scrapbooking pages. So, to wrap this up, send your parents a cheery letter when you are away & write on cool paper & you will give double the pleasure, double the fun!  p.s. the mouse is to let you know the size of paper Austin wrote on.

Guess Who's Coming To Breakfast?

I went down to the kitchen this morning to make breakfast & the back door was ajar & a pair of Robby's flip flops were on the floor just inside the door. I called upstairs asking Gramps if he had gone outside wearing flip flops sometime in the night. As I was talking I also looked down the basements stairs. I was so surprised to find Robby on the couch! "Did you quit?" I asked, "what are you doing here?" He came up the stairs & I got a hug from him. I was so happy to see him. It feels so good to have one of my kids here. I love it. So to explain this surprise visit, his area in California has been slow all along. A manager called to see if anyone was willing to change states. Robby countered with them if they would pay him some gas money & raise him to experienced, which gives him more per install, he would move. Well, Utah was a little out of his way as he is on his way to Detroit, Michigan. It will be good for him there with the raise & more work too. We only get him for about 24 hours, which isn't a lot of time, but we are glad for what we can get. Gramps and I are discussing which jobs he can help us with which will be of most benefit to us before he is on his way again. We've got to make hay while the sun shines.

From Not To Hot.

I like to talk about the weather. I admit it is strange, as there isn't

anything we can do to change it. Maybe it's because it's a safe topic. I can't offend anyone, most people have a comment to make about it, & not everyone has the same weather at the same time. So, here in Utah the weather yo-yo finally has a short string. Our daytime temp's will only vary between 85 & 92 this week instead of last week's 60's to 80's. Today has been hot. I rode my bike to the library & by the time I got home I was dripping. Not to be discouraged by the heat I planted my 6 tomato plants & while digging around found 2 volunteer pumpkin patches. Not just a plant or two, but 2 groups of plants. I am going to let them play out for now. I know I will need to thin them, but if all goes well I will not get caught gleaning at Harward Farms this year! I love pumpkins in the Fall, so bring them on. The problem with a hot day is it eventually turns into a warm evening. As it is now evening, I am not very motivated due to the heat. The swamp cooler hasn't been turned on yet. I don't like nagging gramps to get on the roof, so it may be July 2 when Austin & Dave are here before it get turned on. Oh well, at least I've quit complaining about the cold.

James Baker Farrimond

I am going to leave the tributes to William K for the kids to do, as they do a great job.  I would like to pay tribute to my own father. Unfortunately neither Bill nor my kids ever got to meet him and I do wonder what he would be like now in this computer age. What impact would he have had on my kids? After dad died Aunt Ruth had to remind me once that "dad loved his kids & he was proud of us." I know he did, here are a few reasons I know he did and a few reasons why I loved him back.

When Julie & I were in MIA we earned Individual Awards. We, along with other recipients would be called to the front in sacrament meeting to receive them. As bishop dad would hand them out. He always kissed Julie & I on the cheek & I was always soooo embarrassed that he did that. In retrospect I remember this as a way he showed love to me & I recognize that he was not afraid to claim us as his by that show of affection. He wasn't afraid to show publicly he was proud of us. I know he would have loved & enjoyed all his grandchildren. Cindi was the lucky one to be born 1st & enjoy a little taste of that love. 

Back in the old days Sunday was split between a.m. and p.m. meetings. We would go to Sunday School in the morning, Sacrament Meeting in the evening, Primary & RS were on a weekday. We always had a Sunday dinner between meetings at the table in the dining room. Dad would leave earlier than the rest of us for meetings, but he would circle the table giving whiskery goodbye kisses to us before he left.

The last 2 Christmas's before he died he went shopping and bought the kids Christmas gifts. Mom always did the Christmas shopping. The 1st year Julie & I both got blue quilted bathrobes with lace around the collar and flower shaped buttons. I didn't ever want to give that robe up. The next year I got a purple outfit; it was a purple, plaid wrap around skirt with a pretty lavender colored chiffon blouse. I loved both gifts & wore both for many years.  

I remember playing a guessing game with him one day. He had a surprise. It was in a big box. As it turned out is was a tv, but that wasn't the surprise. I guessed a few things, then he told me the surprise. It was a "color" tv. Not all shows were broadcast in color, so even with a color tv we watched a lot of black & white shows, but we now had the capability to watch those that were broadcast in color. The two tv shows I remember he liked were "Star Trek" & "The Road Runner." He laughed so hard at the road runner. It was fun to be with him when he laughed like that. 

I always felt pride in my dad. He worked as a welder at Certified Manufacturing Co. When we would stop in I always felt so important because he was my dad. In my mind he worked at a very important job and worked at a very important company. 

I remember he was on a bowling league and wore a maroon shirt with his name written in shiny yellow thread.

He learned to fly a plane. I only remember getting to take one ride with him. It was an expensive hobby for someone that didn't own their own plane. I'm glad I got to be with him on one ride. We went to a cabin with someone once & flew in a sea plane & landed on water. That was fun too. Dad didn't fly that plane, but afforded us the experience. 

He served his country in the Navy. He worked for Boing on enormous airplane arts. He could fix cars & trucks & washing machines. He built a boat in our carport. He went fishing & brought home salmon. He drove a pickup truck ( I remember a red one & a white one.)  There was always a bag of thick pink peppermints on the seat. I always asked for one, they weren't my favorite, but I wanted them to be so I would be just like him.

Julie & I got allowance once in a while. It was never set in stone. In fact I think we got it whenever we asked for it & we didn't ask very often. I think it was usually on Saturday & we wanted money to do something. Julie & I would go back & forth trying to get the other one to be the one to ask for it. I remember being the one to go ask for our allowance. Dad would pull out his wallet & give us a dollar each. I don't ever remember being tuned down, which makes me wonder why we were afraid to ask for it & why we didn''t ask for allowance more often!?

He had rebellious years, but once he turned himself around he never went back to bad habits. 

I loved to hear him laugh. He loved to tell jokes. He laughed with his parents & siblings. He laughed until he had tears.  Family was very important to him. I think we went to visit relatives every summer. It was more important to vacation at grandma's house than to visit Disneyland. 

Next month will be 39 years since he passed away. I am thankful for the memory of my dad, I just wish I could have shared him with my family.  I am thankful for the sealing power of the priesthood that bonds us together forever. I look forward to reuniting with the hero of my childhood, James Baker Farrimond.

Garage Sale, Art City Days, & Rape Crisis

I have neglected my blog for several days. Last night I copied the alphabet list from Jen's blog & pasted it to my blog, changed all the answers, & then hit publish. I am not sure if it is out there somewhere, but it is not on my blog. I did not hit save...would that be my problem? Two of my neighbors were having a yard sale so I tagged along & had mine at the same time. They held it on Friday and Saturday, so I spent time Thursday, Friday, & Saturday setting up, babysitting the junk, then cleaning up the leftovers. It was successful as I added $100 to my Fall tuition fund & unloaded a truckload of excess. As it was also Art City Days we squeezed in our favorite events which include the scone shack, the arts & crafts tents, the quilt show, the library book sale, and of course the fireworks. We missed the parade due to the yard sale & no kids here to take with us. The weather was beautiful this year. It has been rainy the last two years, so that was a bonus. We saw a few hot air balloons, but basically missed them I think due to our distractions & they didn't float this far south. We attended our ward temple night on Friday and I picked up the backpack to be on call for rape crises until Wednesday evening. I ran to Macey's for a Flag Day celebration they were having on Saturday. It was so fun, I wished I had a few kids with me to enjoy the bounce house, free popcorn & sno-cones, the band, lots of free samples inside and out. I enjoyed the party atmosphere & the fantastic sale prices on food we don't need, but the grandkids love, (cookies, fruit snacks, monkey bars etc.) I loaded up as the Mix kids are coming to visit shortly. So busy, busy, busy has been my last 4 days. I didn't mention math, my current headache. I have a test on Monday and I still have 3 sections of homework to finish & the review questions. It looks like that will occupy most of                                                         Monday. My motto of the day..."carry on."

It Worked.

The next time I have a lot to do I will post my list on my blog. I didn't give up as easily and kept working late into the night. The 2 things I didn't finish, I needed assistance with, and my help fell through. The excuse was the weather had turned with wind and showers. We didn't retrieve the garage sale items or my bike. Other than that I can cross everything else off my list. I did math at home instead of at the math lab, but I worked on it longer than 2 hours and saved the gas. I will go to the math lab today since I have class today and will be at the school anyway.  So yesterday was a good and productive day. I am working off a list again today. Accomplishment feels so good.

My To-Do List

Today I am blogging my to-do list in the hopes that it gives my more energy to keep pushing through the day to finish everything I hope to accomplish. I will report back at bed time how successful I am.  Here goes:

1. finish reading "My Antonia" by Willa Cather

2. wash 3 loads, dry 3 loads, fold 6 loads

3.  dust and vacuum bedroom

4. finish moving happy room

5. move desk & dresser for garage sale

6. 2 hours at math lab

7. take movie and 2 cd's back to library

8. get 2 loads of garbage out

9. stop at Reams to buy fruit and veggies

10. drink 8 glasses of water

11. get my bike on the truck

12. read my scriptures

13. take my pill

14. anything else that comes along!

Wish me luck...

Scones anyone?

Well, all you deserters, the carnival is here! As I drove through town the trucks were lined up, getting into position on the library lawn for our annual Art City Days. I just don't know why you folks don't make it a priority to visit during this event. When else do you get up close and personal with such an interesting variety of people while eating a scone? Who will go sit in the sun to watch the parade with me? There is a used book sale at the library and my favorite, the quilt show, with all 40 or so quilts. I am baffled not one of my kids made it to town to help celebrate. p.s. I'll let you know if we see any balloons out our bedroom window this year.

Update Your Address...

Here is your early bird chance to get on my Christmas card list. I am looking for all updates on address, phone number, birthday, e-mail, blog, etc. You can give me any information you are willing to share. I do not sell to mass market, unless they offer me a lot of money! Seriously, I am trying to update my records and I have a lot of holes. Thanks for your help.

Just Call Me the Dragon Slayer!

I have worked today. Gramps and I moved 2 loads, then I went to Provo to the Farmer's Market. Stopped in at IFA for cherry tomato plants and Heindelsonmens for yarn. Then home where I started cleaning out the rose area in front. As I was pulling weeds and ground cover gone wild, I used a stick to rid the area of a spider web. In my mind I wondered if the owner of the web was anywhere near. I moved around the rectangle pulling and clearing as I went. On the other side of the spider web area there is a rock with a hole in the side of it. I found and smashed what looked like some type of egg sack. Then I noticed movement as cleared out more of the detritus. I saw a nice sized brownish spider and  a huge black spider with a smooth round shiny body the size of a BIG pea, a really BIG pea. I found a smallish stick to poke at it and hopefully disable it as I called out to Gramps to bring the bug spray to me. He found a can, but he thought it was empty. I was able to coax a bit of spray out, which I aimed at the really big spider. Then I told Gramps about the big spider as I used my stick to roll it out more in the open. That is when I could clearly see the red hourglass on the underside of the really big spider! I don't like finding that type of spider so close to home. I continued to work outside and crushed with a tool, stepped on, or scraped into a bucket and disposed of many snails today also. I am not a fan of icky bugs, slugs, snakes, snails, or mice. I kill them without a backward glance. On the positive side I planted 6 cherry tomato plants and one flower. Hopefully I am even with nature.

Pizza, a Purse, & a Pair of Scissors

Can anyone guess how these 3 random items are connected? They are the 3 prizes I won this month. I am so excited! I love prizes. The scissors were a daily drawing at the Cotton Shop where I buy burp cloths. The purse is from a radio station; I sign up for their contests hoping for a trip to Disneyland. I won a purse this time instead.  It was their "pick a purse contest"...I picked all the purses that were left. I am curious to know which one I won. Unfortunately there were some ugly purses, but I picked them all! The biggest and best prize is the pizza prize. Bill & I went to California Pizza Kitchen and they gave us a coupon to be used on our next visit. It couldn't be opened until we were at the restaurant. Well, we went last night. I expected the prize to be 10% off, but it wasn't! The manager said, "oh, you got a good one. It is dinner for 6, up to $120..") We only have until June 16 to use it before it expires. I was hoping it would hold until July when Austin, Amy, and Jen will be here, but it expires next week. So, we are inviting Kris and Kathy to enjoy some pizza with us on Monday. We each have $20 to spend. It should be fun.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Spring, Summer, Winter, or Fall?

The weather here in Utah continues to take us through the seasons. Last night as it was drizzling and the temp was in the 60's it felt like a typical October evening whereas Monday was beautiful with lots of sun. I have worn a jacket or sweater the last 2 days due to cold temps again. If I was an alien and had been dropped on earth in Utah right now I would definately be confused. As a resident of Utah I know it is Spring. The tulips and daffodils have come and gone, the weather fluctuates radically, but most importantly the birds are to be heard and seen. It is one of my favorite signs of Spring and Summer. I listen for the return of chirping in the air. A particular Robin caught my eye today. I was driving down the street past a open street gutter. Due to all the rain we've received the past couple days the gutter is running over. Perched on the edge was a Robin taking advantage of the free flowing water. He was taking a bath as birds do. It put a smile on my face, just watching him dip and dive. It is just too bad I didn't have a camera with me. My question to you readers in blog world is...what is the last coincidental sighting that put a smile on your face?

Jack Sprat & his Wife

Remember the old nursery rhyme Jack Sprat could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean. Bill and  are that couple, with a twist. For us it has to do with medical conditions. Bill suffers from the common head cold, followed by a cold sore, followed by a severe allergy attack. Just as one condition eases a new one sets in. Gramps worked outside on Monday evening for a couple of hours, by Tuesday morning his eyes were swollen and he was itching (more than usual). On Wednesday he went to work in spite of his condition, which seemed to be holding its own. This morning he couldn't open his eyes enough to see. His neck and arms covered with red splotches. After listening to a morning conference call he went to IHC, where the doctor suggested he take Clariten an hour before exposing himself to allergens and also gave him prescriptions to get this attack under control. I was beginning to believe I was married to the elephant man. To finish the allegory of the nursery rhyme - Bill gets the run of the mill illness, whereas I only get conditions that land me in the hospital. I did my best on the photos, they do not capture the true essence of allergies gone wild., but they do give you an idea.

June 5th 2008

Happy Birthday to James on his "real" birthday! Yesterday was just a warm up day for today. I am not yet senile, but yesterday was the 5th in my world. What a shock to me when I called and sang happy birthday to James and he informed me it was only the 4th. All sentiments still apply.  I apologize for any confusion in this matter.

Happy Birthday to James

It is almost too hard to remember so long ago. In fact it was a long time ago and a long day of waiting for my firstborn child. We had no ultrasound back in the olden days, so I didn't know who was arriving. I was so excited when the doctor said, "it's a boy." I thanked the doctor and he said, "I didn't have anything to do with it." I was so excited to have a new baby boy. When I got back to my room I started calling all my friends and relatives. That was a mistake as I ended up with the dreaded spinal headaches. They are caused by not laying flat within the first hours after a spinal, but I was just too excited to tell the news. They were blinding. I was afraid to tell anyone, because I thought it was going to kill me. Makes no sense and I have learned to communicate with my medical professionals. Bill had a hard time getting telephone connections with his family back in Idaho Falls as the Teton Dam had broken and flood waters were raging through Rexburg down the Snake River. James was kept in the nursery day and night, with feeding visits in my room. The best nurse ever told me to walk a lot to help speed the recovery after a c-section. My goal was to walk to the nursery and gaze at James every hour during the waking hours. The only time I missed was if I happened to catch a nap. I was so enamored with my beautiful baby boy. So best wishes on your birthday James, with many more to come!

Monday's are great!

I think I like Mondays. I seem to be more energetic at the beginning of the week. I have hope to accomplish much in the week. By mid-point or shortly thereafter I want to throw my hands in the air and go watch a movie and start over on...Monday! I feel accomplished today. I scrubbed the bathrooms and did half our laundry. The days of laundry every day are over for me. We don't even make full batches after a week with just the two of us! Sorry to those that do numerous loads a day to keep up, I do remember those days. I unloaded my car which was loaded from the other house on Saturday. I was too pooped to unload that 3rd load on Saturday. I went to the house and loaded the car again, then went for my blood check. Still too thick. I am eating more greens, which causes thicker blood and I missed my dosage on Saturday. I started fasting and closed the kitchen and didn't think about taking my pill until I woke up Sunday morning. So the pharmacist upped the dosage again this time and I go back again in 2 weeks. He would like to get me up over the 2 mark and not even worry about the high 2's. It is weird as I was over the 3 mark initially, then he cut me back, I dropped into the 1's and can't get back over two. After that I went to class where I got my 1st math test back. I was so relieved with my 93. With only 4 tests I feel like I need to do well on all of them. He does drop the lowest score, which I may need later on. After math I went to the math lab and met with 3 other students and a tutor and we did some of the homework. It is good to get more that one teacher explaining the problems. After that I picked up my prescription and came home for dinner at 9 p.m. and now I am too tired to even watch t.v. Dad and I watched Elder Oaks talk on Testimony for FHE and I am hitting the sack. Maybe the reason I don't get as much done at the end of the week is because I am too tired at the end of the week to accomplish much. With 3 or 4 days like today who isn't?

Get Happy!

For a long time I have struggled with happiness. From outward appearances it seemed to me like some people were just born happy and others had an easy life, therefore they were happy. It has taken me so long to finally believe that everyone can be happy, in spite of circumstances, as it is a choice. So many experiences are pushing me towards that understanding. Today as I was reading the Book of Mormon I ran onto an interesting scripture; Mormon 9:14. It says; And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. I honestly don't ever remember reading the last part of this scripture. My mind always stopped at righteousness and do I fit in that category. Now here it is. I will be happy if I learn to be... or unhappy if that is what I practice. To quote a great philosopher, "get happy." It is a choice to be happy and only we can make that choice.