Train, train, train, train...

Yesterday I saw a train, traveling down the track,
made up of 12 engines, and no cars....

Playhouse...

I was watching a commercial on the BYU channel, where a dad was spending his time building a playhouse for his children. It brought back memories from my childhood. A neighbor 3 houses away from me had a beautiful wooden playhouse. It was one room, and had one electric lightblub. I was in aw, and dreamed of what mine would look like if I ever had one.

We lived on Main St, in the south end of Orem, in a new building area. I remember we had dirt streets for a long time, and the only house that had a cement driveway was next to ours, the whole neighborhood of kids roller skated,(skates that clamped on shoes), or rode their trikes, or bikes on that driveway.

Out in back where houses had not been built yet, was flat land, of high weeds. We would often stomp out rooms for play houses there. One could sit down on the ground and not be seen. Tall round top weeds made nice umbrellas to play with.

Some of the area was flat enough that the neighborhood kids would play baseball.
I was never very good at this, I think because I was so young, Kindergarten and first grade. But they kept asking me to play, and giving me a chance to bat. I don't remember ever hitting the ball.
Or we would play King of the Hill, on top of high mounds of dirt that the builders had plowed out for building houses.

In the summer we often slept outside on the lawn. I love it. A sleeping bag was a wonderful and new thing, I was quite impressed when I received my first one.

Our land area, had been farm land. We had nine fully grown peach trees. And two apricot trees that grew up in my sandbox. As I use to play with the apricot pits, when mom was canning in the fall time. Our land was watered by irrigation. So ditches were common then. As children we would create all kinds of boats to float on the water. And sometimes we would end up wading in the water. That came to a end when mothers were told that the Polio bug could be found in dirty water. I don't know if that is true or not, Polio was very scary then, I had school friends that came down with it. Families were frighten because there was no cure, and it was new, and no info on it. Children were dieing or being paralyzed from it.

Florescence fad...

I have enjoyed watching the different "Fads" that come in my kids life. One of the fads that comes and goes is the wearing of florescence color. This was extremely important to my youngest daughter Jodie. Even though Jodie had several pieces of clothing that were florescence in color, she was focused on a pair of florescence pink socks that her older sister Jennifer had. Jennifer was seven years older than Jodie, and had told her no to the wearing of her socks.

One day as Jodie was on her way to school (about first grade) I noticed that she had Jennifer's socks on.
"Jodie, do you have Jennifers' socks on? Yes and I am going to wash them and give them back to her." I wasn't sure if Jennifer had given her permission.

Jodie came home from school happy as a lark......Later the rest of the kids came home from school. About dinner time Jennifer discovered two very wet pink florescence socks in her clothing drawer.....Jodie had very carefully, in her own way, washed the stockings and replaced them, from where she had taken them.

Just Venting...

Have you ever had a terrible pain in your stomic and can't get any relief from it no matter what you do ???
Well I do... when I don't have connection with my kids. It seems silly I know.... but they are part of me, and I have to know they are happy, or safe, or busy doing something, no matter what is happening in their life. I guess you could call it "A Mother Thing".

For Thirty seven years I have given everything I had to help my kids, it wasn't easy for me then, stumbling blocks have always been part of my path. And yet they have all grown to be wonderful people. I guess I just need to know they are safe and happy more often.

I have 6 children, 5 that are living.

One I never hear from, unless she needs something, (it may be a long time,) her dad and I are now facing retirement.

I have one, when important things are happening in her life, good or bad, she goes Invisible....for a while... Sometimes its hard to get communication started again, and you just have to wait and wait and wait.....time goes by very slowly....

The other 3 check in fairly often, even if its "I am at work, just checking in, I'll call you later..." or "read my blog....I made a new entry"...... Its just so good to hear the sound of their voice, even if its "Hi..that's all"....

I often feel the movie of the "The Mailbox" fits my life.

8 weeks ago I had Major Surgery. I didn't realize what a big thing it was, until it was over.
I was surprised to see very few of my children cared what was happening to me, or how I felt.... I felt all alone.... If it hadn't been for my visiting teacher, and Lynn, the therapist, and my vampire (nurse) I would have had no one. I guess folks have no idea, unless they have been through it themselfs.

I hope I die before Lynn does, I don't think I can handle loneliness...I am too much of a social bug...

I don't mean to get morbid, as I was saying, I am just "Venting"....I guess I grew up during a time where family depended upon family. When there was a need, family came to help out. When my daughters needed help, I and some of my daughters went to help, even when it was out of state. I guess times are changing, and it's not the way things are done in todays world.

That is a really sad thought... For service really brings love and closeness of family, closer together.

David's World...

This is taken from my son's blog "Thoughts of a Small Dragon" I had a good laugh, David is over 6 feet tall. And I know the feeling of flying pillows.

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Satin Sheets

What do you think of Satin Sheets?

Well let me tell you a story about them, that happened to me.
I was talking to my mother about these sheets and she had a good laugh and said I needed to blog about them.

In my room, I have been sleeping on the same sheet and blanket for about 6 years, of course I have been washing them often, so they are faded. It does not help either that the bed is next to the window and for some reason the sun does help fade the colors. hahaha

I moved to a new place and the apartment already came with a bed frame. It does not have a foot board or a head board.

The bed that I had bought I needed to put in storage while I live where I am now until I move. That seems like a good idea because I wont wear out my bed frame.

I thought it would be good to have a change of color instead of having a black bed in color and try to find something that looks Asian.

I thought I found something good. It is cool in a way. I also thought that with summer almost here my room always gets really hot. So, I thought maybe I might buy new sheets for the bed.

I looked around for different colors to match the tan colored bed spread. I did find a nice color for about $20. They were made out of cotton.

Then I found these satin sheets. Wow, They are only $2 more. You know when moving on satin, from place to place it gets cold. That is just what I need to stay cool at night.

So I bought them.

I put my bed together. It really looked nice and feels good. The satin just lets you slide every where and cool.

Note: DO NOT LET IT FOOL YOU.

That night was sooooo uncomfortable.I kept sliding allover the place. My pillow kept shooting off the bed for the lack of head board. I got no sleep. It gives me a kinked neck.

After 3 nights of trying it, I yanked off the satin sheets as fast as I could, and put my faded sheets back on including the pillow case. After that, I have been getting a good nights sleep.

Satin Sheets are NOT for ME.

Thought of a Small Dragon.

Counting blessings helps...

Sometimes Lynn and I just look at each other and shake our heads. I find it so incredible that we haven't drowned and died. Everything seems to be piling upon us. My hip replacement, 2 deaths on my husbands side of the family. Fighting with the insurance company that says we are not covered, in two issues, that had originally said we were. Which could mean, we could be thousands of dollars in debt. Lynn being layed off, with a year to go for retirement. And then there are the problems our children are facing. I often feel my prayers are covering the Lords door, so when he comes through it, he is snowed over by them...

I look out the window and take in the beauty of our back and front yards. Looking at the beauty of the flowers, and garden, and everything that is there. We have a nice garden, thanks to Lynn, who has worked very hard. 6 fruit trees, 4 ornamental trees, pine tree, grapes, blackberries, raspberries strawberries all in the back yard. and the lawn is beautiful.

this year I have enjoyed daffodils and tulips, and now Pansy's in the front flower garden. Our neighbor even planted 3 more roses for me... Our friends in this ward have been so unbelievable...I don't know what I would do without them.

Lynn works hard in our yard to make everything so beautiful, to help him and me to count the blessings the Lord has given us, and hopefully he (The Lord) will help us get back on our feet.

Sometimes it frightens me when my husband walks around in a circle not knowing what he is doing... He is on overload... and when Lynn gets that way it is scary.

Not only is he doing everything he has to do, but he is doing everything that I have to do, and then has to take care of me too. Hopefully in about four more weeks I might be back on my feet. And to top things off, he helps the family on his side, with the heaviness, because of the deaths. Lynn's parents are in their 80's, and alot of the weight is falling upon his dad.

( I just remembered, Lynn was asked to conduct a funeral on my side of the family just a couple of months ago.)

Lynn is doing a great job, and it is not easy for him...

Update:
I think Jerry Middleton, and maybe Kevin Brimhall's wife.

New Hip...

This time is full of surprises... not only that seems to be happening in my family, but also with myself.
We saw Dr. Douglas on Thursday, and had a fast hip replacement on Tuesday.
Another new experience......

My husband comments on how everything seems to be drowning us, we keep bobbing up and down in the waves... yes we have troubles, but the Lord seems to keep our heads out of the water. And we can count our blessings.... As an example, my neighbor keeps reminding me that I had the surgery, and it seems to be well done... and no body can take that away from me...

I have missed playing my harp...