October Report

October sped by so fast my head is still spinning. I haven't felt as crazy busy, but still it just zoomed on by. Here it is November and Thanksgiving and Christmas are looming. I am determined to stay calm, cool and collected and really enjoy the holidays. That means getting some things done early.  I think I can do it. I think I can. I think I can. If I think it enough, it might happen.

October analysis: (really I copied September and changed about 10 words--that's how it's gone)

1.  First things first: much the same. Plugging along, doing fairly well.
2.  One shelf/drawer per day: I think about which shelf I want to do every day. Do I get it done? Not that often. But my sister-in-law and I are trading two days a month helping each other organize some area in our home. That's about even with one shelf or drawer per day. Actually the real bonus is that I'm ready for her help, because I've cleaned out and organized so much already.
3. 30-30-30: by far my most effective method of keeping on task. I'm like a little kid--so responsive to the challenge of beating a timer. I like the days that I have time to employ this system.
4. Skype/webcam: I've been doing more FaceTime with the grands. My goal for September was to sign up for Skype. Let's just say that that particular goal will be carried over into October. (Now it will be carried over into November.)
5. Digital Photo Storage: I'm still plugging away at the class I'm doing. We're on track to finish the first part of December, giving me a new goal for next year: actually label and get my photos in storage. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Anything can still happen. 

Fun Saturday

It's been a great day so far.  

1. I got up and finished preparing my lesson for church tomorrow. 

2. I did a yoga class for the first time. To celebrate her birthday, my friend Lori (who is turning 50 on Tuesday) invited 50 people to attend the yoga class she teaches and have a light lunch afterward. It was great. 

3. Ray and I ran to Costco and the grocery store to get food for Sunday dinner.

4. I'm basking in the fun of having Austin, Matthew, and Elizabeth here. They ran straight downstairs and started playing. Elizabeth at the tool bench, and the boys playing cards and Risk. It's wonderful to have them here.

5. Uh-oh. Disagreements at the Risk board. I think I'll go to my yoga state of mind. Maybe I'll suggest they go to that same state of mind. 

6. Peaceful once again, the boys trying to decide which game they want to play next. We'll see how this one goes!

Elizabeth

Austin (showing me his toothless smile) and Matthew (all teeth currently intact)

Halloween Fun

 Usually I consider the phrase Halloween Fun an oxymoron. Well, maybe not completely, but when it comes to costume ideas it's for sure an oxymoron for me.

Here's a little story about Audrey's family and their Halloween costumes. If you don't want to read the story, you can just skip to the cute pictures at the end.

A few weeks ago Austin (age 7) approached Audrey and said, "Mommy, I've been a cowboy for the last three Halloweens. I want to be something different this year." Audrey said she refrained from rolling her eyes, and groaned inwardly (the pressure induced by this holiday  must be genetic). She asked what he wanted to be. They had a lengthy discussion, looking at different ideas. He finally landed on being a musketeer. Audrey thought, "Over my dead body, " but said, "I don't think that will work." Austin sighed, and said, "That's okay. I'll just be a cowboy again." After that knife to the heart, Audrey capitulated and agreed that he could be a musketeer. Then Matthew and Elizabeth wanted to be one too. That makes three musketeers, and you have to admit, it's even cuter that way.

No one wants to hear the complicated story of procuring the fabric and everything else for these costumes, and believe me, it is complicated. Suffice it to say that in two weeks she made the costumes, even down to the boot covers. (She bought the hats).

When I FaceTimed with the kids last night and saw the costumes for the first time, I was stunned. Talk about darling!

Austin, Matthew, Elizabeth

Matthew

Austin, Matthew

Elizabeth. Don't be deceived by her smaller size. She's just as fierce.

Elizabeth

All for one, and one for all! En garde!

2011-2012 Block of the Month Quilt

Finally, three months later than I'd hoped to have it finished, here it is. My block of the month quilt from Quilts, Etc., our local quilt shop. If you have your top pieced by the first class of the next year (last September) they let you take the next year for free. I had the top pieced, barely. But quilting opportunities have been few and far between. In addition, I decided to practice more of my free-motion straight line quilting and stitching in the ditch. Or somewhere around the ditch. Or, as Nicole at Sister's Choice Quilts says, "quilting in the vicinity of the ditch." So the quilting was slow, to say the least.

I was afraid by the end I would hate the quilt. But I washed and dried it, and it got all nice and puckery and hides most of my strange stitching meanderings away from the ditch. Now that I don't have my face 12 inches away from it constantly I like it again. 

A few of my sashings, ready to be trimmed. Doing the math for those was not much fun!

Size: 54 inches by 78 inches

October

The month of October is almost over. It has a lot of wonderful things I like about it:

Many birthdays

(My grandson's birthday,

My son-in-law's birthday,

My mom's birthday,

My father-in-law's birthday,

Some brothers-in-law's birthdays

A few nieces and nephews' birthdays,

Some friends' birthdays)

Autumn!

Crisp weather

and

Skittering leaves

to name just a few. 

One thing I'm not crazy about is that holiday attached to the very last day of the month. I should clarify--I don't like thinking of/making/wearing costumes. I don't like scary things. I seriously don't like a holiday that glorifies spiders.

But I do love candy pumpkins. I know, they're no good for you. But they're good for my mood, and I think just a little bit good for my soul. The best place to buy them is at the BYU Bookstore candy counter. Oh my, they are always so fresh there. Every year I buy some. I haven't made it there yet this year, and I don't know if I will. Now that is a reason to say BOO! or maybe boohoo. 

I must tell you though, that something sweeter came my way last week. My three grandchildren in Wendover had some candy pumpkins. My daughter told them how much I love those pumpkins. They each saved a pumpkin for me. They held those pumpkins in their warm little hands for the entire two and a half hour drive to my house. They held them out to me with a big smile, just knowing it was a special treat for me. Special indeed. I don't know if I've ever tasted sweeter candy pumpkins. And I can tell you this: I've sure tried a lot of them trying to find the best.

Now that's a part of October to celebrate.

How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen

Clayton Christensen teaches at the Harvard Business School. He spends the last class of the semester discussing his students' life strategies, based on business principles and theories they learned in class during the semester.

This book is essentially the written version of that last class period.  Christensen opens each chapter with one or more examples of business theory and principles as demonstrated with actual companies. He then relates that particular example to a life strategy. The life strategies, or goals, are divided into three sections: Finding Happiness in Your Career, Finding Happiness in Your Relationships, and Staying out of Jail (Integrity).

Every man that I know who has read this book really liked it. Most of the women I know said they liked it, but it wasn't consistently compelling. I think this particular format resonates with men, who spend most of their lives in the business world, in one way or another. I will admit the women I spoke to are currently stay at home moms, like me. (I guess I'm a stay at home grandma).

I did get bogged down in a couple of the business sections. Others of them I really liked. Also, I felt like some of the life goals have already occurred in my life. Some of them I feel fairly successful about, and some of them rather ambiguous. Yet I feel like I have a lot of life left, and it would be worth while to sit down and set some strategies for the rest of my life.

This was a much more cerebral book than a few that I've read lately. It was a nice change. I look forward to the discussion in my book group next week.

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

All right, I must admit that I find most of Sophie Kinsella's books fun. And anxiety ridden.  Her protagonists always make me anxious.

The one drawback to her books is the use of the F-word. I hate that word, and I hear that in England it isn't taken as negatively as it is here, but nevertheless, it bothers me. If her books eliminated that word, I'd read more of them.

The same girl that recommended I've Got Your Number by Kinsella recommended this book. I think she liked this one better. I liked I've Got Your Number better.

Great literature? Heavens no. Great diversion? For me, yes.

I read it all in about three hours Thursday night in my hotel room in Jackson.

Jackson, Wyoming ~ October 2012 ~ Day 3

Friday saw us heading home. We checked the weather report Thursday night and saw that thunderstorms were expected at Bear Lake around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. We planned to be well past there by then, but decided to get up and go in the morning just to make sure.

We alternated chasing the clouds and being followed by the clouds, depending on where we were on our route. It was quite cold in the morning - 30 degrees as we left Jackson. But it warmed up to the mid-fifties a couple of hours later. It is good to have warm gear. 

Once we hit Bear Lake we took a different route home - through the canyon between Bear Lake and Logan. Oh my, I believe it is the most beautiful canyon I've ever driven through. No pictures. It was too cold to mess with the camera. Take my word for it. Unbelievable. Red, orange, yellow, and evergreens everywhere. Stunning. Once again, almost no one but us and a few cattle herders and a couple of hunters around. 

We saw threatening clouds looming ahead as we hit our last stretch toward home, but only had rain for the last 30 minutes of the ride. Once again, good gear makes it all okay. We got home and unloaded everything and the wind and rain kicked up like crazy. We made it home just in time. I can't believe we had such stellar weather that whole time until the very end.

What a great time we had!

Day 3 route

Another classic Jackson shot. Ray insisted on these.

Ray