A bit of catching up....

It's been a while, hasn't it? Seems I'm saying that often on this blog....but oh well.

Since I last posted, let's see.....

*Thanksgiving: My parents came. The visit was tolerable. I don't really remember anything that stands out as obnoxious or otherwise a problem, though I'm sure my mom managed to annoy me a time or two. It is, after all, one of the things she does.

That weekend, my laptop imploded. So we bought me a new one, that's probably too big for my britches, but there it is, and I'm really enjoying it. However, we got it home and I tried to load things from my external hard drive. And it had imploded as well. Including all of my scrapbooking projects. With less than 3 weeks to go before I needed to have the Grandma books uploaded for Christmas.

Yeah. Exactly.

The technical geeks at PC Laptops were able to recover all my data from the old laptop, but the external was another matter. They tried, but they were only able to recover about 2/3 of the pages, and nothing after that in that folder, so I lost several years worth of work and a number of projects. On the upside, I was able to get those recovered pages into another book and I did eventually finish them and get them uploaded.....3 days late. So they won't arrive until next week. *sigh*

And MIL has been bleating about wanting pictures of the kids, but that's a rather amusing story I'll have to post later. This is supposed to be a brief catch-up.


*Then there was the car accident.

On the freeway.

During rush hour.

Yeah. That.

See, I was trying to change lanes, so I was looking over my shoulder at traffic in the next lane when traffic in my lane slowed waaaaay down. I hit the brakes and swerved, but it wasn't enough and I rear-ended the car in front of me.

Oops.

Yes, we were wearing our seat belts. And yes, we're fine. I had a bruise from the seat belt for about a week, but it's all good. Really, it is.

So, the van had to be towed and I got a ticket (my birthday money from my parents nearly covered that....thanks mom!) and it cost over $6000 and two weeks to fix the van. In the end, I'm grateful for insurance and that the van wasn't totaled. We don't own it yet, and the payment from the insurance wouldn't have been enough to buy something else outright. But as it turned out, I was worried for nothing and it all worked out in the end.

*The next day, one of my children came to me with some difficult news. Said child is really struggling, and while normally I'd say more than that, in the interest of maintaining that child's privacy, I'm not going to say much more. The child is now in counseling and seems to be making some progress. Prayers are appreciated, as always.

*The day after that, I got a call from Murray Police. At first, I wondered what Murray had to do with my accident, which was handled by the Highway Patrol with a ticket issued from South Salt Lake.

But it wasn't that. It seems my camera, the one that was stolen back in March, had turned up. In Taylorsville.

In a homicide investigation.

I couldn't make this up if I tried!

I got my camera back, after visiting the Unified Police Department's evidence storage building. See, Taylorsville PD contracts with them (they're essentially the sheriff's office). The detective needed my permission to look at the photos on the camera, just dotting i's and all of that, so that the "search" of the camera was legal. Apparently there were photos on the camera that pertained to his case, so he kept the SD card. He did tell me he'd give it back after he copied the pictures to his computer, but so far, I haven't heard anything and I don't care.

With my camera, there were dozens of other electronics, including several GPSs. Unfortunately, one of them wasn't Bruce's, but it still might turn up. We'll see. The sad thing is that none of the serial numbers on any of the multitude of electronics came up in the system except my camera. There were iPods, GPSs, cameras, and more, and NONE of them came up. So, my friends, record your serial numbers, and REPORT them if they're stolen. You never know what might happen.

(And, in case you're not paying attention, that's *5* law enforcement agencies in just 4 days).

And we're not even to the 10th of December!

30 Days of Thankfulness

1. For my husband, who heard my “I have no idea what to have for dinner tonight” and solved the problem.
2. For my boss, who paid for a chair massage for me last night at work.
3. For my husband, who has always made sure I can park my car in the garage.
4. Today was a day off for Alana. Bruce took Shannon to school so I didn’t have to get up and Alana let me sleep in until nearly 10:00 am.
5. For friends who buzzed at the last minute to let me know they were in the area and did I want to go for a treat? Yep, I sure did, and it was fabulous. I had such fun laughing and chatting with my friends!

Okay, so the daily thing didn't work out so well. But I can say that the thought of it changed me some. I found myself actively seeking out things, often very ordinary things, things that I wouldn't have paid any attention to, I sought them out, paid attention and was grateful for them. I remember one afternoon, sitting in the drive thru at McDonald's (don't judge me!). I was in a bit of a hurry, going from one volunteer engagement to another, and grabbing lunch on the go. Up in the foothills, I spotted a pair of hawks circling, circling, circling. It was so peaceful to watch them and I was thrilled to see them.

So, while I couldn't keep up with the daily tracking, I DID keep up with being thankful and I'm glad I did.

It's a God thing!

This past weekend was my annual Croptoberfest. It's one of two big crops I do every year--National Scrapbook Day in the spring and Croptoberfest in the fall. After a long and sometimes dry summer, Croptoberfest often jumpstarts my fall selling season and helps keep my business going.

This year, I was worried. I was still in the hole after having my purse stolen, and at the last minute, one of my regulars had to cancel. She usually brings a friend or two, so that left me down at least two attendees. I was worried. I had only three paying guests, plus one more who won a basket I donated to a church fundraiser.

So, I figured I'd do my best. I could still put on the event and make that profitable, though whether or not I could climb out of my hole was another matter all together.

Saturday morning, I lay awake fussing about all of this. I prayed for God to either bless my business or slam the door in my face, wondering if it was time to hang it up. I don't want to. I love being a consultant! But, I also know that I've sometimes held on to things longer than I should have, so I was asking for a sign or something to let me know which way I needed to go.

As I was preparing for the day, I got a phone call. I'd donated another basket to another fundraiser at a local elementary school. There were some tools in there that a former-consultant-friend (Thanks Allie!) had given me, plus two tickets to Croptoberfest. At the time I'd figured that people were more likely to come if they could bring a friend. I mean, really.....it's an invite to an event in a stranger's home.

Anyway....Caller's mother had bought the basket and she and her sister had just found out about it Saturday morning. Could they still come for a bit? Um SURE!

They were only able to come for a few hours, but they really enjoyed themselves and they plan to be back. Seems they used to scrap together once a month at a local scrapbooking store that has since gone out of business and they really miss it. I have to give a shout-out to my wonderful clients/friends, too, who included these new people into the group and really encouraged them to come again, mentioning my open house and what I do there, plus the fun we have at my monthly crops. The wine glasses put our new friends at ease as well....I guess they were worried that we'd be uptight Mormons who'd object to their coffee! ROFL!

And, I am now completely in the black! That feels SO good!

Thanks, Big Guy, for that sign. I sure needed that boost of confidence!

The Whys and Wherefores

Okay, so some of you are wondering why I've clamped down my privacy a bit.

See, it's really weird and a bit creepy.

A friend of mine in CA was dealing with someone in real life who was creating all sorts of havoc in her world. My friend and this person (I'll call her SC) were both involved in an organization out there, and their children go to school together, etc, etc, etc. I don't even remember how the whole mess started, but SC went rather nuts and started accusing Friend of all sorts of strange (and mostly unfounded) things. SC went out of her way, looking for trouble, going so far as to stalking Friend's personal blog, and generally making cr@p up. It got weirder and weirder, and really made Friend's life difficult for a time, reporting to the school that SC's kids were being bullied by Friend's kids, that Friend's husband was behaving inappropriately (Friend's DH's job could've been affected by this), and so forth.

For the most part, the real world knows that SC is nuts. The more she talks, the more people know she's lost her marbles.

During the whole mess way back when, I posted a comment on one of Friend's blog entries, just generally trying to be supportive of Friend and telling SC (who was, at the time, still stalking the blog like a nut) to get a life. I barely remember what the blog entry and my comment were about and I certainly don't remember specifics.

Fast-forward several YEARS.....SC found that comment. She linked from Friend's blog over to my old blog, the one I essentially abandoned nearly 3 years ago, and commented there. In her comment to me, SC wants me to tell her just what I was referring to, what Friend was saying about her, etc, etc, etc. She left me her full name and address and kept referring to my friend as "this person, Name/Email handle." She asked me to give her the same honesty and benefit of the doubt I'd given Friend.

Um, what?!

Who the hell do you think you are lady?! And why in the world do you think I would help you continue a smear campaign against my friend? Seriously?!

I wanted to respond and tell her to get a life and never contact me again.

However, I know from what Friend has told me, that responding to her would just fuel the fire. So, I've filed that comment/email and I'm being a "black-hole." Hopefully, as far as SC knows, I never got that email.

But, see, the last entry in my old blog contains a link to this one. And that's when I started to get a bit weirded out. I know what SC has put my friend through and I have no plans to engage with her at all. I don't want to deal with random comments from her or further emails, etc, etc, etc.

So, I made this an invite-only blog. And, ironically, many of you probably never knew or had forgotten I even had a blog so now I've got more traffic here than I ever would've had otherwise.

Some people lead such small lives.

The Astonishing Power of Cup of Tea

We went camping over the weekend, down to Capitol Reef National Park. It was likely our last camping trip of the season, though I'm hoping to go one more time (That's another post, however). With us were 6 other families loosely (or not) associated with our church.

One woman, a dear friend, has had a rough time lately. Her mother is older and struggling with health issues. She's recently moved into a retirement center, and my friend is trying to handle her doctor appointments, financial situation, etc, etc. Friend's siblings are, shall we say, less than helpful. Friend also has an elementary-aged child and a college child who's recently moved home. Friend could be the poster child for the "sandwich generation," bless her heart, and it's taking it's toll.

Saturday night is traditionally potluck night. Everyone brings meat for their family, plus a side dish to share. There's usually a bottle of wine (or two) and beer to go around, plus chips, salsa, guacamole and other equally fancy appetizers. After the potluck comes the kids' favorite moment--S'more time! All across the campground you hear parents telling their children that, if they want a s'more later, they MUST eat their dinner. My children are often reminded that dinner needs to include more than chips.....

So, after dinner and a couple of beers, it started to get chilly, so I headed into the trailer to make some tea (mate, actually, which is a South American brewed leafy thing....they put it in "tea" bags for us white folks). Friend mentioned that tea sounded good, and after smelling the mate, asked me for some. I dropped in a few sugar cubes, the mate bag, and poured the hot water and off we went for more catching up.

However. My friend cradled that tea cup.....a Disney insulated mug.....and said "I'm blessed to have you." When I went on with my business, stirring, and squeezing, she took my chin in her hand. She looked me square in they eye and said again "I'm blessed to have you."

It was a powerful moment. Simple, really. All I did was share my tea; brewing a cup for each of us to ward off the fall chill. And yet. For her, it was so much more than that. And she made sure I knew it.

But that's the thing about those every day kindnesses. We never truly know when someone needs that. We don't often know how much those little things are appreciated. But those things can be so very powerful in the life of someone else.

She's gone

Our minister died early this morning.

From her Caring Bridge Site:
"Dear ones,

This morning at about 4:30, Marti's two year battle with cancer finally came to an end. As many of you know, she has fought hard and well, and yet knew that when the time came her true test would be to "die well" too. Though we mourn deeply her loss, we know that she suffers no more and that the journey she took this morning was one she believed in fully and awaited without fear. We hope that you will all find comfort in knowing that she is at peace and lives on in the memories and teachings she gave to so many during her life. We really have to say "what a woman she was!" because, as you have shown, she was so much to so many.

As of yet memorial services have not been decided on, but please know that we will post them as soon as we know. For now, we pray only for comfort, knowing that those of us she has left behind will miss her greatly."

Timely musings

I walked Alana to school today and we were talking about all sorts of things, including why Mommy shouldn't text and walk, much less text and drive.....we chatted about reading books and getting lost in them. We chatted about our weekend. And then Alana started doing a little math. She realized that, in 3 years, Tristan will be out of school, Shannon will be in High School, and she would be starting Junior High.

I knew that, and yet, when I stop to think about it, it hits me pretty hard. I remember when old ladies and older mothers used to tell me to cherish this time because it goes so fast. And I remember, in those days of showering at 3 in the afternoon constantly cleaning up the three 'p's, and always having a small person clinging to me or needing me or whining at me or crying.....I remember thinking that it couldn't go fast enough!

And now I'm wanting to slow time down, just a bit, so I can savor these precious moments that really do go too fast. I don't want to hold my children back from their lives....I just want time to stop ticking by quite so fast. Maybe it's the hint of fall in the air after what seemed like and endless and beautiful summer. Maybe it's the milestones of my oldest as he becomes more and more independent. I don't know, but I find myself wishing that each second lasted a half a second longer.

Ten years ago, I was trying to come to terms with being pregnant for a third time, totally unplanned. I wasn't sure I wanted another child. I had a boy and a girl, the house and the dog. The kids were (mostly) sleeping through the night and we were nearly done with diapers and here I was, pregnant. And really, at that stage, the "baby" didn't seem very real just yet. While I recognized that I had choices, I also knew somehow that this baby was meant to be, so we soldiered on, somewhat reluctantly I'll admit, and made room in our lives for this new precious light.

Now I look forward another ten years and I'll be an empty-nester; possibly even a grandmother (I'm in no hurry, but Tristan will be 25 at that point). It just doesn't seem possible that those seemingly endless nights of fussy babies, wet diapers and barfy sheets have given way to this life.

My kids are amazing people. Sometimes I think it's because of me, and other times I'm sure it's in spite of me. They all have a good work ethic, though a bit whiny at times. They look out for each other (when they're not trying to kill one another). They're responsible and respectful. They're intelligent and active and soak up information like little sponges. I'm continually amazed at the connections their minds make.

Tristan has a job; a real job with a paycheck and FICA and everything. He's one of 3 sophomores to make it into the High School Jazz Band. He does his own laundry and he can cook some basic stuff. I have no doubt he could tackle more complicated recipes if he wanted to. He shoots hoops in the back yard almost everyday and he's developing a social life too.

Shannon is a teenager wanting to hold on to her childhood. She cares about what she wears, but most days she forgets earrings and I still have to remind her to put on deodorant. She takes looooong hot showers, prompting her father to bang on the door, shouting something about hot water and not having a sauna on purpose (makes me glad this house has a 50 gallon hot water heater), and yet she still plays with and treasures her American Girl doll.

Alana is mischievous and brilliant, which has the potential to be a deadly combination. She is, however, a terrible liar, so far, and I'm hoping that doesn't change anytime soon. She's had a mind of her own since before she was born, and I love and hate that about her. She's loving and sweet, knows everything there is to know about Pokemon, and is very loud about her dislike of all things work-like. In spite of her protests, though, she does get her chores done.

And just when my heart swells with pride, I hear the tell-tale signs of trouble and "I didn't MEAN to poke you in the eye."