Twilight in Mackay

Well thanks a lot to Aleasha England I am addicted. Last year (I think) she lent me her Twilight Series and I read the series in about five days. ALL FOUR BOOKS. I neglected my housework and the kids but it was a great week. Well since the new movie is due to come out I have an obsessive compulsive behavior to read the book every time a movie comes out that is based on a novel (if there is an entire series, I have to read the whole thing. Harry Potter is another problem for me). I don't own these books and Aleasha has moved to Washington. What do I do? No, I can't go to the library, I don't like the time constriction. AND, yes, I know it will only take me a day to read each novel, but that isn't the point. I took my troubles to craigslist where I found a nice young man who was selling everything he owned so he could replace his game system that he broke. He has a good mother. Anyway Twilight was on his list of things that he was willing to part with. He had all four books, three of which were the hard back and he only wanted $50. Okay, I didn't want to pay $50 so I offered $40 and he took it. Good Boy.

I started the series for the second time on Tuesday, while we drove to Mackay to attend my grandpa's funeral. I felt it was a good tribute to pay to Alden. The man LOVED to read, so why not read the whole way there and home again. It's only a four hour drive there and back. YOWZER!

We decided to leave early so that we could go to Craters of the Moon. William had never been there. The kids loved it. Sydney thought that it was a great "Science Trip". I don't think they understood one bit of it. However, we all decided one thing, when Yellowstone finally erupts we don't want to be here.

The funeral was a bit surreal. I think that my mom, dad, and I were the only ones that cried. I could be wrong though. We are a bunch of boobs. Grandma held up really well. Alden's daugter Bonnie gave a nice synopsis of his life. The man still facinates me. I will miss him.

While in the graveyard I noticed that Alden was being buried right next to my Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. Alden married into our family less than ten years ago, but his final resting place is alongside a great love story in my family. These two people married on his birthday which he shares with me. Thanks Grandpa Dayle. Maybe it was so he wouldn't forget his anniversary. hee hee hee. Smart thinking.

I look at the pictures of my great grandfather I realize he would have made a great Edward. Can you guess which one is him? My great grandmother is standing right next to him, and I think I have picked out the perfect image in my mind for the characters in this series. They were cute ha? The creepy old people, well they are his parents. And the one on the left is his brother.

We decided to hit the one and only open steak house in Mackay. It was four in the afternoon and the other steak house didn't open till 5:00. By the way it was totally false advertising to call this place a steak house. We all had burgers.

The drive home I got through half of Twilight. I finished it yesterday and also finished New Moon. Today on the agenda is to read Eclipse. I am off to a slow start. I decided I better not slack off totally again. We will see if I can get Eclipse done and finish with Breaking Dawn by Sunday. Without shirking my other responsibilities, this will be a challenge. Like I said before, it's Aleasha's fault. I didn't want to read a stupid book about vampires to begin with. It turns out, it's a nice diversion. Grandpa Alden must have been on to something about this reading thing.

Creating a Casket 101

Well for the last three days our family, mainly my mom, dad, and grandmother, have been involved in the task of building a casket for my grandfather.

Tribute to Alden Betts
I haven't had the opportunity to get to know Alden as well as I would have liked. Here is a man who has lived a very long life in the church. His line of authority in the priesthood is amazing and fun to look at. He has read the Book of Mormon more times than he can remember. He has served numerous missions. Two of those missions I believe, he served in Nauvoo. He loves to read, and he loves John Wayne. He married my grandmother less than ten years ago, shortly after she had taken out her endowments. They would go on these little breakfasts together and that resulted in a courtship and marriage. Cute ha? Anyway, he is a fun man, with a good sense of humor, when he is feeling well. The last couple of years have not been the greatest for Grandpa Betts. My grandma and grandpa moved here recently so that my mother could help my grandmother care for him. He was taken to the hospital on Monday, and we were told that he would be passing away within a week or so. So sad to see him go. However, he has outlived his first and second wives, and I am sure that they are anxiously awaiting his return home.

If you Die, Make Sure You Stay Within Your Budget.
My grandparents don't have a lot of money, and Grandpa doesn't have much life insurance, so my grandma had to make some tough decisions. One of the decisions was to build a casket rather than purchase one. Coffins are really expensive!!
So my father, talented man that he is, jumped right in and started building him a casket. Following really general instructions off of a website and following guidlines given to him by the mortuary.

HERE WE GO!
My mother and grandmother have recently lost their minds, so after a dismissal from their Relief Society President, I took it upon myself to request help from our ward. I said it before and I will say it again....The Sisters in Our Ward Are The Best! I am not just saying that either. Whenever there is a problem or help is needed more than enough help is offered, and given.
We had the help from the three Staceys. Stacey Gooch, Stacey Nelson, and Myself. Ashley Sherer and Marie Hansen also came to help. I also got some calls from Connie Cunningham, and Franki Clements. Brother Campbell also offered to help. Wow what a response.
It only took two hours and Stacey Nelson's brain to put it all together.

The box was already done, well sort of. There was some last minute sanding and cleaning of the box. We just had to sew elastic to fabric, hem a few pieces and then staple and glue the fabric into the box. Easy as pie. Since we are all so experienced at making caskets.

OOOOOHHHHH yah right.

It was a very good thing Stacey Nelson turned her brain on this morning because the rest of us were just there waiting for orders. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing. You go girl. Marie Hansen got a little staple gun happy, you should have seen it. Ashley was scared of the staple gun, I really couldn't blame her. Stacey Gooch got burned a few times by the hot glue and we all almost got eaten by a wolf spider. It was an eventful project.

I wanted to give those women a great big hug, without seeming to weird, and tell them thanks for the help. It meant more than they could even imagine. So we will say goodbye to Grandpa Betts, soon. There wasn't much I could do for him but this was at least something we could do to serve a man who has contributed much of his life to serving the Lord.

Is it that time of year already?

Okay, I am one of those mothers that does things a little backwards. I have friends that dread the summers. More work, the kids are home, and rarely does the house stay clean because of that small detail.
However, I don't fit into that catagory.
Getting ready for the school year has it's ups and downs.

THE UPS

Well that is just the thing. UPS comes to visit us and we get boxes upon boxes of supplies. Usually I opt out of the school computer, but this year we got that too. Don't ask me why, I didn't ask for it. So there it is. We recieved about 12 boxes of school supplies. UPS loves this time of year. I am sure it ranks right up there with Christmas. The kids love it too. They act like all the boxes are full of presents just for them. In a way they are right. So that's the fun part, opening up the fun and seeing what's in store for the next year. My favorite "UP"....going to the office supply store and getting school supplies. There is nothing like buying new pencils and paper for the year. I still have unopened pencils from last year. But that's not the point, you gotta buy new ones every year, right?

THE DOWNS
There is work involved. I hide from work, I have been avoiding work all summer. Now I have to actually get back to work. UGH! I have to organize everything, and looking over all of the stuff I usually get overwhelmed with the idea that I have to teach them all of this. Granted, they are part of a very well thought out program and really it's on autopilot. I just read what they tell me to and the kids do the majority of it. However, there is the challenge of schooling two small people this year, Elizabeth and Sydney. To make things more difficult (my favorite thing to do to myself) I decided that Liz could probably zip through Kindergarten by Christmas, and hopefully start first grade and that way complete first grade and be in second with her friends next year. Yah, I am a bit nuts. We'll see how that plays out. I have serious doubts about my abilities.
The real challenge will be keeping David busy...he has the attention span of a monkey on crack. So I don't think I can keep him too interested in the Kindergarten activities that Liz will be working on. I will have some real issues with keeping him from destroying my house and possibly himself while I am busy with the girls.

Wish me luck.

My Life Has Been Stolen Away By A Woman Named Sharon

Last Thursday I was minding my own business when the phone rang. It was a dear friend named Judy, my heart stopped beating in my chest, because I thought she might be calling with bad news about my old neighbor. No, that wasn't the purpose of her call. She had a mission for me, a dangerous mission.


"I have a friend," Judy began, "who needs your help, Stacey. She has a kitchen." (Well, don't most of us.) She continued, "This kitchen is not in a state of happiness. Sharon needs this kitchen to be decorated.........like a candy store." A what??? How old is this woman? Is she serious? WHY? Does her husband know what she is doing? All of these questions were going through my mind when I happened to hear a woman giggling in the background of my conversation with Judy. "Here I will put her on the phone," said Judy.


I was terrified, yet intrigued when Sharon began to explain how she had many candy jars and she wanted to display them in her drab and dreary kitchen. I told Sharon that I would be happy to help rescue her kitchen. I made an appointment to meet with her on Saturday and I believed that I would have plenty of time to work on this project. Then I heard the words from Sharon's mouth that changed everything, "My cousins are coming next Thursday and I want it done by then."

WHAT????? ARE YOU CRAZY????? NO FREAKING WAY!!!!!!!

Is what I should have said.

"No problem, I will have to come see what you have tonight."

Is what I actually said.

You know those moments in time, when it freezes and things move extra slow, and you feel like you might be able to go back and change what just happened. This was one of those moments, however, I didn't change anything. I moved forward. Saying "Yes, I can do that" like I always do. Stupid Stupid Stacey!

Well I went to her home, and her idea of drab and dreary is completely different than mine. The kitchen was beautiful, albeit very cluttered. But the cabinets are gorgeous and the layout interesting. It did need a splash of color here and there, but most would do that with cabinet hardware and some dish towels. Maybe a few flower arrangements. This woman wants a CANDY STORE.

OK, I can do that.

We painted two of her walls a faint pink and ordered some pink striped wallpaper. Those two decisions alone took up about 12 to 24 hours of my life. The valance above her cabinets. Well that is a whole different can of worms.

Sharon is a wonderful, fun and interesting woman. I can see us being long and good friends. However, she changes her mind frequently. Her husband passed away a few years back, and she is left to her own devices into the wee hours of the morning. The Internet can be a horrible thing when you are alone and have no supervision. This woman changed her mind about the valance about six times. That took up about 12 hours of my life. Not to mention the actual sewing of the final product. The wall is 176 1/2 inches wide. Which means the ruffle had to be 353 inches long. Sewing a perfectly straight line 353 inches, takes a long time. I had to sew the hems, and the hole for the rod to go through and the ruffle. So I sewed 353 inches, 5 times. That's a total of 1765 inches. Okay people that's 147 feet. That's roughly fifty yards, that's half a football field. THAT WAS JUST THE RUFFLE!!!!

Now lets talk about the valance, or rather, let's not. I will just say, Sharon wanted a scallop and to create the above mentioned scallop 35 separate scallops were sewn together to reach the 176 1/2 inches across the top of her cabinets.
This phase of the project is completed. The valance is up in her kitchen, and best yet, Sharon is happy. When I left her she was giggling uncontrollably. Which is how I prefer to leave my clients. The one thing I took away from this portion of the Kitchen project, I don't charge enough.

There will be more to come, I still haven't put up her wallpaper, a whole separate adventure, I will have to learn to fly for this one. I also am working on convincing her to put green glass knobs on her cabinets and antiqued white tin on her back splash.

For the past 7 days my life was consumed by a sweet lady, who would never be seen as something so dangerous. But isn't that how it works in nature?

The saga continues, more to come......