Winter Days

From my perspective winter days aren't perfect, BUT
Today is Sunday, the wind is blowing outside. There is a foot of snow on the ground but the sun is shining in my window. The heat is on, the shower awaits. (ahh, warm water) I've checked my facebook, blogs and journaled. I've read the Relief Society lesson. CJ is asleep, D is asleep again (after checking his facebook and Drudge Report) and K is at the Christmas Box House. It's quiet and peacful. I could eat a whole pound of chocolate and no one would stop me (Only I know where it is). I love mornings to myself. Tomorrow I have to go to the gym early and trudge out into a cold snowy day to get to work where I will have to shovel the snow on the front sidewalk while my family stays in bed. But today is mine. Good morning to this perfect Sunday morning.

Slip Sliding Away

I did the view from my front window in the fall. Here it is in the winter.

So yesterday when I left for work we had about 3 inches of snow. The snow continued most of the day and our parking lot at the salon never did get cleared completely. I had to shovel a path into the parking lot for people to get out to their cars. When the plow came the snow was so wet and packed that it pushed snow boulders around. I had to go out a few times so I just got wet over and over again. It cleared up in the evening and CJ had all 10 inches cleared even though the snow-blower broke. (Lots of heavy snow, good for a strong 14-year old) Today we woke up to another 3 inches and snow packed roads. I left in good time and headed to work. I tested the roads a couple of times and slowed fine so I headed out onto South Weber Drive. The speed limit is 45 and I kept it around 40, I think. All of a sudden I realized I'm still going the same speed but not in the same direction. I was sliding out of control. I was going completely sideways down the center of the road where snow had not been plowed or packed and I was making a huge cloud of snow. I had noticed that there were no cars coming very soon in the on-coming lane for which I was very glad because I was heading that way. By the time I stopped I was past the opposite lane and off onto the shoulder going the other direction. I had spun a full 180 degrees. I just started up again and pulled a U in the middle of the road again. I noticed everyone going a little slower. I had made quite a scene and it convinced everyone that it was much slicker than it looked. For the next couple of miles I had to push down on my leg to keep it from shaking. Six hours later driving home there is not a bit of snow or slush on the road and I was looking forward to seeing my big side-ways snow plow tracks down the center lane. What a disappointment. All that drama for Naught. I Swear it happened. Later on the radio I heard the song "Slip Sliding Away". How appropriate.
It's not that cold so the snow continues to melt and there is not much left to shovel except in front of the mailbox. We didn't get mail today cause the mailbox area was not cleared and Daren's back couldn't do more. Another job for CJ!

CJ

It's time to talk about my last born. I talk about him all the time. Partly cause he is still at home and partly cause he has so many issues. He's been a challenge since the day we decided to have one more child. He didn't come easily to say the least and when he did he was 10 1/2 pounds and 24 inches long. Giant baby. He never wore newborn clothes. He was born the same day his nearby Grandparents left on a mission to Croatia. He looked like his Dad from the day he was born.

L started school the month he was born so I had a lot of time alone with him. He was fun to watch and play with. I used to dance around the room holding him while he laughed and laughed but he would rather superman dive from the coffee table onto the couch. R (the oldest) always took great care of him. She was 11 when he was born. They have always been close. CJ has always been strong willed and there is a certain way to deal with him. He doesn't always like to do what the rest of us want to do but usually goes along with lots of coaxing. When he was in soccer and very young he decided he was done and wanted me to take him home. I told him to get back out and play. I few minutes later I couldn't find him and he was headed home on foot. In school he loved and complimented his kindergarten teacher but as the years progressed we figured out he really wasn't doing the things he was supposed to do. When I really started pushing it I brought home a stack of missing assignments. B noticed a burning smell and when we investigated found the smell to be coming from a stack of papers in CJ's window well. He obviously has some Attention Deficit problems but frequently along with ADD kids get what is called Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I used to watch CJ play and was amazed at the logic skills he had which tells me he is smart he just does not do well in a classroom setting. He even fights me when I try to help.

He is extremely creative and inquisitive. He wants to invent and just like Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Columbus, the kid definitely knows how to think "outside the box". It's getting him to think inside the box that's the challenge. He is very loving, complimentary and loves to hug.

When things broke, which seemed to happen a lot with him, he used to say "it's ok, Dad can fik-ix". Since B has left on his mission CJ has grown about a foot and is now taller than his older brother. That will be a shock for B in about 4 months. If we can just get through these next tough years I think we'll be ok. Don't worry, he wont be driving anytime soon. The deal is that he has to pass his classes to drive.

So to CJ- We love you no matter what and we're in your corner!

Eden Marie

So, these are the pictures of Eden when she was two days old and I was there holding her. That is heaven holding a little one who still has so much of heaven about her. She is a sweet little thing that doesn't fuss much and seems to like being held since she is held most of the time. Eventually we wont all visit so frequently and she will have to get put down occasionally.

She is much bigger than Joni's other babies but they weren't quite full term. She is 9 lbs. 6 oz. She is about the size of mine and Ronda's babies. Mine ranged from 8 lbs 8 oz to 10 lbs 9 oz. She feels very normal to me but Teia felt very tiny. I think she looks a lot like Risa did as a baby. I even took pictures of some baby photos on the web cam but can't figure out how to get them in my regular photo file but take my word for it. Risa had the same cheeks.

Teia is the photographer here. She was having fun taking pictures. Joni and Daren got a little rest while she was at school and I took Radley shopping. Mostly I just held the baby. It's such good therapy.

Speaking of therapy K's therapist that does neuro-feedback hooked me up and took a look at my brain waves. It was really interesting. It made me feel relaxed clear into my bones and then super sensitive to sound. By focusing on different areas in the brain he can train the brain to react in a different way. With K we are working on her impulsivety and restlessness (ADHD) It was pretty cool. D was jealous. He wants to try it.

Lifes Lessons

Yeah, it's time to update but I have little to say. I run and run and get nowhere but I did have an interesting thing happen recently. I have some really good employees right now but all in their 20's (for the most part) This is a turbulent time of life and as life changes so do feelings and opinions. I've had one girl that has started complaining and has a crappy attitude so she decided to go to another salon. It's a brand new salon with a very young owner/manager. She had a recent beauty school graduate telling her how to do her colors and a manager that wouldn't back her up when her color product didn't work as it should and several other stories she related to me. Of course if she was telling me this she was not happy where she was and was back asking for her job back. She is the reason I worked every day during the holidays. She only works Friday and Saturday but I usually take Friday's off and was unable to for a month. So the morals of the story are: The grass is not always greener on the other side. Look at your own life and decide if the feelings you are having are from your own choices. (In this case, spiritual and emotional) and No one is going to make you happy all the time. We have to put up with others personalities and quirks in any situation.
I also got another new employee that is busy most of the time. She's a very nice girl and works the schedule I need but she sure doesn't open up much. I hope she works out. It's a constant change mostly because we get young girls whose lives are in the changing mode. I have always known I need to be around people to be fulfilled and this is where I get the most interaction. I come home tired and happy after a busy day.
I'm looking forward to this week. I'm taking some time off and even going to play "Grandma" for a day. Next week Daren will be out of town so it will be a little tough but we've done it before (when I had to work late every day) and we'll do it again.

Laynie!!!

Doesn't love girl shoes. oh yeah, they got muddy but we found a frog!

These sisters love each other soooo much!

Yeah, that's her doing her thing!

Snakes name is Squish

That's her being launched forward.

She's in charge of this crew!

Can ya see her dangling like a spider?

her caption is "I love my life"

Thursday is Laynie's birthday! She hates it when I call her that in public so for you all, don't. She turns 20! L is definitely my "unexpected" child. She was the most surprise pregnancy, we had just moved to California and didn't even have a house to live in yet. Being a third child she just set out on her own from the beginning. Despite an extreme illness as a baby where she spent 19 days in the hospital, 14 on a respirator she has been extremely healthy. She has always had such extreme interests in views as compared to D and I. She is our "tree hugger", I have photo proof! She is super strong physically, spiritually and in her determination and values. She has a great set of friends and is fiercely loyal to them. Her group of high school friends were all guys and are all on missions. She writes to them regularly and visits and contacts their mothers. She's always loved "critters" and when the opportunity came to present reptiles shows she was ready. She already had so much knowledge that learning the fun facts and jokes was easy. She worked as a receptionist for me at the salon for a couple of years but didn't really like it but has been a lifeguard for three years and enjoys that. That and her music prepared her for her summer job as a river guide which she LOVES. She has more whit than any four people. Never a dull moment when Laynie is around.

Projects

I've had some requests to see my "shirt quilts".

I've made four now and two were in the last year. I have one that will be done in time for L's b-day next week. For the most part they are made out of old shirts of D's. They are 7" squares so finsished they come out to just over 6". I use sheets for the back and tie them with thick crochet string rather than yarn. I leave the pockets in and have filled them with love notes or money. It's amazing to me that even though I use the same kind of fabric by adding different shirts it really changes the basic look and color of the quilts. The next one has a lot of green and orange. I acutally had to buy some blue to throw more of that in.

Now here is D's project for the winter. He had lots of home improvement projects to do but he saw this idea on line and he was hooked.

Can you tell what it is? It's a Redwood Canoe. The plans call for Eastern Cedar but at the wood store they told him he could drive to Vermont and get it cheaper than they could get it so they suggested Redwood. Well, we had a whole deck of redwood that we wanted to replace with Trex. So we spent a little more and got the trex and he stacked all the redwood out behind the garage. He has cut the planks into 1x1/4" strips. He built the tooling first (forms) and that took a couple of weeks. Then he started laying up the strips. Each piece has to be routed to make the edges fit together and then glued down and clamped so usually he can only do one row a day. Now he is working on the bottom. It's pretty tricky to fit those pieces together but in the end he says it will be "tight like unto a dish"

After all the wood he will take a sheet of fiberglass and lay it over and cover it with epoxy resin so it will be sealed tight. After that is dry he will turn it over and ovelay the fiberglass coating on the inside so the wood should never come in contact with the water and the scratches should buff right out.

Now he wants me to go on a three day canoe trip on the green river. I'm trying to talk him into taking B. It looks like fun but three days?

It's projects that keep us sane and busy.