Long Day

I'm not even going to go into detail about my day because, well...it would take too long. But, I do have a question.
I wonder if I can pray and ask God for something, but put a clause into the prayer? You know, praying for something, but asking that it not be too hard or take too long. I did pray for patience once. That was a mistake, because it was definitely given to me and it's not an easy one to learn. I also prayed for a stronger faith. That one was an incredible learning experience as I was sick for over a year and continue to struggle with headaches. So, at the moment, I know I should pray to love a co-worker, but I would like to put a clause into the prayer because I am slightly apprehensive about the results of loving a co-worker.
On that note, remember to pray for what you what, but know that the learning curve is steep.

Morbid

Okay, I have been thinking about this since last night and I've been slightly creeped out, so I thought I'd share with you all and see what your thoughts were. I talked to Dad last night and I asked if Uncle Jim was coming to town next weekend. Dad assured me he was and I asked if he was going to stay for longer than the weekend, but Dad didn't know. He did know this. Uncle Jim is bringing over coffins. Yes, you read that right. He is bringing coffins. I guess there is a guy in John Day that makes coffins and he has made one for each Grammie and Pa. He is bringing the coffins over and storing them in the basement!! I think this is morbid. Who wants their coffin to be stored in their house? I for one will not be entering the basement anytime soon! It's a good thing I moved out.

Manners

Yesterday I was able to leave work at 11:30 so I went to Grammie and Pa's. Pa had just gotten up and Grammie was still sleeping. It had been a rough night at their house. AJ said she needed a break and decided we should go out for lunch. Pa said he hadn't eaten, so after AJ made him a sandwhich we set off for our "outing." We walked over to the Smokey Mountain Pizza and Pasta place that's on State St. We sat outside on the patio and had a delightful lunch and visit. When we got back to the house Grammie was awake and so I found the crossword puzzle. We worked on it a little bit before AJ came and joined us. As we were working on the puzzle there were loud noises coming from the kitchen. Finally it hit me. Pa was burping! After about the third burp I just looked at AJ and we started laughing. Grammie couldn't hear Pa burping and she didn't know what we were laughing about so she just looked at me. I finally turned to her and said, "Pa is belching!" Grammie just laughed and laughed. Then I said, "And this comes from the man who made me read Tiffany's Book of Table Manners, twice because he didn't think I had enough manners. I had to sit on the brown couch and read that book." Grammie said, "I remember that." I mean really!! We were never allowed to act like that. Why is it OK for him? At least we got a good laugh out of the whole thing.

Books I have finished:
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
-This is the first book for this author, but I do hope she continues to write.

White & Yellow

White and yellow are two very important colors. Think about it. Where in your world do you see these two colors the most often? Now follow me for a minute on this because I'm serious. Seeing as how we have just come through summer, this seems to be important. Think about what your Highway District has done this summer. If it's anything like ours they have been hard at work building/repairing roads or as they do here- chip sealing the roads to make them last longer. This chip sealing requires a layer of loose gravel to be spread on top of the existing road. Then it is up to the cars to compact the rocks down as they drive over the road. This requires skill and boldness on the part of the driver as they have to drive on roads that don't have the lanes marked and they have to be willing to accept a chipped windshield in the event that a rock comes flying up from the car in front of you. Enough of that. The next part of chip sealing involves a black gooey substance poured over the compressed rock. This requires that you wash your car afterward as the car and wheels will be covered in goo. But, back to my original sentence. White and yellow play a huge part in our lives are they guide us down the road toward our destination. Having been in the car for the better part of 300 miles since I got home two weeks ago I have started to appreciate those lines that are seamlessly part of the road.

Now for a totally different topic. I have decided to share with you the books that I read. At the end of each blog I will try to post which books I have recently finished. Since school is starting I expect that a good portion of my reading will be devoted to Young Adult literature. However, I have discovered that some of the Young Adult literature is better than the adult literature. So stay tuned to see what is next to by bed.

Books I have finished:
I am working on the Pendragon series. I just finished book 4. (Great Science Fiction series)
I am working on the Elm Creek Quilt series. I finished book 9.

My New Apartment

Yes it is practically finalized. I will be moving into my new apartment on September 10th. But first, I'm going to give you a list of things I have heard from people when I tell them which apartment I'm moving into. The first phrase is, "Do you know that's right next to Intermountain Mental Hospital?" Well, I do now! The second phrase, "That's close to juvenile hall." My response, "yes it is." The third phrase, "I know some refugees who live there." Now the first two people groups I can deal with because they are behind bars and have people monitoring them. The refugees however can get a little hairy. It's a good thing I just got renter's insurance. No seriously. At least two of the refugees are affiliated with Dad and that's not such a wonderful thing.
I really can't win. I thought I was finding a place with major issues and look what I got. Oh well, at least these neighbors have to be better than the ants I've been living with for the past two years. :-)

Random things

Sorry I haven't written before now, but life has been a little hectic between looking for apartments and trying to pack. I wrote last time that I would share something wierd with you and here it is. As I was looking for an affordable apartment I saw some pretty creepy places. Last Wed. would have to be the topper though. I was going to look at an apartment downtown that would be very near to work and in my price range. I had been told over the phone that this apartment was "so cute." When I walked into this apartment the first thing I saw was this sink/stove. The kitchen/living rm/dining rm area was so small I could almost touch all four walls by standing in one place. The bathroom wasn't much better. I was assured that it came furnished (table and bed). I walked into the bedroom and it was a big as a twin bed. I quickly went back to the "main room." The agent (whose head was practically touching the ceiling) said, "let me show you this, it's so cute." He then leaned over and opened what I thought was the cupboard under the sink, oh no, it was the fridge. That fridge wouldn't have even held a gallon of milk. I quickly decided this wasn't the place for me. After driving home and a few tears, I finally found a place near the mall. At the moment I'm waiting for some paperwork and then I can move in on Sept. 10!
Second mini drama. Last Fri, I decided it was time to finish my monochromatic quilt. I have batting all over my room and just knew that I had a piece big enough for this quilt. I got out my stashes after having taped my backing to the floor and got ready to begin. There was only a slight problem. None of my pieces were long enough! There were short by 6" or more. So, after telling the cat to stay off the fabric that was on the floor I drove to the quilt shop that's a block away and I bought batting. I came home and managed to have it quilted by the next day.
Third mini drama. This Mon, I went to Albertsons for food. They were having an amazing sale where if you bough $25 of Kraft food products you got a $5 refund for the next trip and $20 mail in rebate. Not only that, but Kellog's was offering a refund of $10 if you bought 10 items-around $20. I was ecstatic. I could get a lot of food and spend about $10. So, I went in armed with the ad and started shopping. Not until I was finished and out to my car did I realize that I need two originial receipts to mail in to 2 different companies. I ran back into the store and quickly apollogized to the person in charge. Bless her heart, she rang up a separate receipt for me and now all I need to do is mail them in and wait 4-6 weeks for my money. Next time I'll remember to put them on different tabs! :-)
As I said before since I'm moving I have the joy of packing up a place that I've lived in for 2 years. I also decided it was a wonderful time to go through all my bins in storage and purge like mad. I have made it through 6 storage bins and have 5 more to go. It has felt wonderful to get rid of stuff that I knew I had, but didn't know exactly what it was. Some of the stuff dates back to college and some goes back even farther. I figure that if I haven't lived with it in over 7 years, there is no need to start now.

Trying to Recycle

OK, as I am going to be moving apartments in the near future I thought I would take a moment and figure out how to get rid of my old VHS tapes. I have a few of them that were originally blank that I used for taping shows during the week. I figured that throwing them into the trash wasn't the wisest idea so I got online to see where/how to donate the old tapes. I found the craziest idea. Someone has suggested knitting/crocheting a purse out of the actual tape part. There was an entire website to show a person how to take the cover off, then put two of the wheels side by side so that there would be a double thickness to work with. It was also recommended that some yarn or string be used as decoration. Now come on! As if I don't have enough to do at the moment. I need to quilt my monochromatic quilt, start my quilt challenge, pack up an apartment, move, clean an apartment, and oh yeah, start work. Not to mention the fact that having a knitted purse from VHS tape might deter any guy that might want to ask me out. I can just image that conversation. (Where did you get the purse? Oh I just sat down and knitted it right up using the tape from the VHS') :-)
P.S. The previous part of my day was just as weird, but I'll write more about that later.

Dagan

Dagan had climbed up next to Papa and was playing with his new train.

Dagan has just turned 23 months old and is a lot of fun. He does have his grumpy days and when I say that I mean grumpy. If you even look at him he goes running and screaming for his mom (Misti.) He had learned to say my name when I met him at Memorial Day and he still remembered me. He was so excited to see "Aunt Tatie" The "k" is hard for him to pronounce so that is what it sounded like. The first afternoon he wanted me to read his frog book to him, but he wasn't going to sit next to me. I had to read the book as he stood on the far side of the room and looked across at the pictures. It took awhile for him to warm up to me, but then he couldn't' get enough. The first couple of nights we ate dinner it did disturb him that I was sitting in his brother's chair, but he quickly got over that. He knows all of his colors (except black and brown), all of his numbers to 10, and all of his "c b c's" (A B C's) .
One of his favorite things to do is "steal" someone's chair. When a person gets up out of their chair, Dagan runs over to it and climbs in. Then he looks at you and says, "Ha, ha, ha, Papa's chair or Gramma's chair." If someone leaves the room, he waits for them to come back before he climbs into it so he knows you're watching.
One morning I was coming up out of the basement, he heard me and was standing at the top of the stairs. He opened the door, laughed at me, then closed the door in my face. He wouldn't let me come out because he was just standing there opening and closing the door.
One of the rules Mom and Dennis have is he can't go outside without putting shoes on. One night Dennis was grilling chicken and Dagan was standing at the door to go out. Mom told him to grab put shoes on so he could go out. He ran over and put shoes on and then stood by the door. When Mom looked down she discovered he had put on my tennis shoes and then declared he had shoes. I laughed so hard. I did go find his shoes so that he could go out with Grandma and Papa. Another night we had Mom's friend Margo over and he played with her pink shoes. It just so happened that his favorite color of the week was pink. As Margo was getting ready to leave Mom asked Dagan to kiss her goodbye. He shook his head and said, "Daddy kiss Margo. " We all laughed and asked Dagan again, but he still insisted his Dad ought to be the one to kiss Margo. Needless to say no kisses for Margo. :-(
I taught him to say thank you while I was there. He knew please, but thank you hadn't been learned. He quickly learned that he wouldn't get anything from me unless he said both "please and thank you." One day I was making him a quesedilla and I asked him what he needed to say. He stood in the kitchen, rocked from one foot to another and chanted, "please and thank you, please and thank you." Then he looked at me and said, "dilla." I told him that I understood and I was making it. He then looked at me and said, "Please and thank you, dilla." I thanked him for his manners and pointed out that I needed to cook his "dilla." He wasn't very happy and ran screaming for Misti. He couldn't' understand why he didn't instantly receive his "dilla" after using his manners.

Home away from home

My dresser and clothes rack

My bed and table

My parents (Mom and Dennis) did a wonderful job of fixing a place for me at their house for the three weeks I was there. Since Misti, Mike, and Dagan are living in the extra rooms upstairs I was given the basement. Dennis moved all of his woodworking equipment over and hung up the silver tarp you see in the picture on the left. Mom found the dresser and bed at a garage sale. The bed is actually part of a bunk bed, but I just needed the bottom part. There was also a chair and little fridge that I had to use. The whole thing was quite cozy. In the top drawer of the dresser Mom had placed three pillowcases she had sewn and a Sudoku puzzle book.
Thanks for all your hard work.

Durango, Colorado

Train to Silverton

Drive from Ouray

Mesa Verde

Last week, Mom, Dennis, and I went down to Durango, CO for a week long camping trip. We left Denver on Saturday about 9 AM and got to the campsite around 5 PM. It was a beautiful drive along a highway. We saw lots of little towns that if you blinked while driving through you would miss them. We also saw lots of farms and ranches in the middle of nowhere. I'm glad I'm not them. The scenery was gorgeous as 1/2 of the drive was through mountains with lots of trees. When we go to town we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up food and ice. Pulling up to the campground we discovered that NO Fires were allowed. Mom and I hoped that was temporary, but oh no, it was not. Wood burning was NOT allowed. What a bummer. Well, we would just have to make do with charcoal. We found our campsite that was nicely shaded and tucked back off the beaten path which was wonderful. It took us about 2 hours to unload everything and get comfortable and we decided to have sandwiches and chips for dinner. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we had to watch out for bears as well. The sign was posted on the bathroom building reminding campers the rules for bears: keep food in your car not your tent, don't wear perfume, don't sleep in the clothes you cook in, etc. I wasn't amused!

Sunday-We decided to go into town and walk around. First, we went to the quilt shop and wandered through there. It was a cute little shop and Dennis was impressed with the pool table they had for the husbands. :-) Then we went into town to look around and find T-shirts. Dennis really wanted to get one for the grandkids that said, "My grandparents went to Durango and all I got was this lousy shirt." They used to be really popular back when I was little, but after looking at all the T-shirt shops in the area we decided they no long make them. We headed back to camp and relaxed for the rest of the day because we knew that Monday was going to be long.

Monday- We got up and drove over to Mesa Verde. This is an old Indian Artifact Reservation which was so cool. The Ute's had built their homes into the mountainside and had lived there around 1000 years ago. We bought tickets to walk through one of the villages with a guide, but there was also a village to walk through by ourselves. We did that first and by the time we were finished it was hot and Mom's leg hurt so we decided to forgo the other tour. Instead we walked through the museum and watched a short film on the Ute's life. Then we drove through part of Mesa Verda and looked at different houses they had made. It was really hot and after we ate our picnic lunch we decided to head to Four Corners. On the way to Four Corners we drove through Cortez, which had a quilt store. We had to stop and browse and then we grabbed a milkshake before driving down to Four Corners. Now this is where Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona meet. I was expecting a slab of concrete on the side of the road with a little sign. Oh no, we paid to get in and there was this big slab of concrete that had the states shown so people could stand in four places at once. The funny thing is the spot isn't even in the correct location. It's miles away from where it should be, but oh well.

Tuesday- We got up early for our train ride into Silverton. This train is one of the last that still runs on steam. They use coal and water to operate the engine. I was pretty excited since I hadn't ridden a train before. The train wound it's way through town and then started up the mountain. We stopped to pick up some people who we would later drop off so they could float down the river. I was really glad I wasn't with them. The river was incredible and the mountains were gorgeous. We were able to see a good portion of land that had been burned by fire in 2002. The man on the train told us that before the fire the forest was a pine forest. The aspen tree was there, but it wasn't able to grow because the pine took all the sun and killed them off, but when the fire came through and destroyed the pines the aspen would grow because they had been dormat. So, what was once a pine tree forest would become an aspen tree forest. I thought that was really cool. Dennis got some amazing pictures on his camera. There were times when we were barely on the mountain. When you looked over the edge, there was nothing there. After 3 1/2 hours we reached the town of Silverton. The town got it's names from the amount of silver that used to be mined there, "Silver by the ton." The town was a quaint little town. Most of the buildings had been used for prostition houses back in the 1800's. We ate in a restrauant that was the last prostitution house to close. After walking through the town for a couple of hours it was time to board the bus to go back to Durango. What a great time for a nap.

Wednesday- We were tired from getting up early so we slept in and had a lazy day around camp. We wandered back into town to look at some of the stores we had missed and then we went back to camp. It was a dreary day that threatened rain. Dennis and I read and Mom sewed.

Thursday- We woke up and decided to drive up to Silverton and then onto Ouray (Yur-ay). When we got to Silverton it was really raining and I was grateful it hadn't rained on Tuesday. After eating lunch in Silverton we drove up to Ouray on the Million Dollar Highway. This road got it's name because back in the 1800's when it was built, it cost one million dollars for every mile they laid. The road was winding and on a steep mountain. The highest elevation sign I saw was 10,000 feet. The view was incredible. The mountains were jagged and the rocks were all different colors. At one point we saw a lone house built into the mountainside. Crazy! The town of Ouray was about 6 times bigger than Silverton. We wandered through most of the shops and took some pictures before heading back to our little campsite. That night it decided to storm and I do mean storm. We had rain, lightning, and some hail for about 2 hours. At some point the lightning was about 2 miles from camp. At this point I have discovered that I am a Holiday Inn camper!

Friday- We decided to head for the lake so that Dennis could get some fishing in. Just about the time we got to the lake it decided to rain and the clouds continued to build behind the current storm. So we decided to just drive around. We ended up driving around Valleticio Reseviour. It was huge and pretty. We headed back to camp and decided we would make peach cake for dessert. We invited our neighbors over and they brought ice cream. Tommy and Diane are from Birmingham, AL, are wonderful Christian people. We had so much fun talking to them. We had decided to head home on Saturday so that Mom and Dennis would have a day to rest before work.

Saturday- We got up and packed up the camper. That is a lot of work. We had way more stuff to bring back then we did to take down and that made packing a little bit of a challenge. We finally did it though and then we were on the road. As we came home we got to see a Bison farm. I wish I could have taken a picture. Those animals are huge. It was good to be back and Dagan was thrilled we had all come home.