MAN HANDS

If you have ever seen the Seinfeld episode of "Man Hands", you will know exactly what this is about.

We had a customer that bought this ring for his fiance'. An average size for a woman is a 7. This girl was a 12. No lie! It fit Scott perfectly. The jeweler thought it was a joke and then he wondered if a man bought it for a man wife.

When Scott tried it on, I died laughing. It looks so funny on a man hand. The girl whose it is, doesn't look so bad. Even though her hands are large, they don't have the man look. I don't know what exactly makes the man look, but you really can tell a mans hands from a womans.

Katie's Burn

Last week Katie came over to play and she wanted to help Jessica make cookies. She loves to cook and helps all the time. She loves to grind wheat to make flour for bread.

After the first batch came out, she reached over the edge of the cookie sheet to get a cookie, forgetting that it was HOT! We put ice the burn, but in all the crying, I missed the actual burn.

Thanks a lot Grandma.

Start 'Em Young

I have been able to have Heather's kids over for the last couple of days and Katie loves to help with everything. She asked if she could help quilt, so I said "Of course."

She will turn 5 in April, so I was quite impressed that she can thread her own needle. She cuts off her thread, threads the needle and then has me tie a knot for her.

Here is a close-up of her work.

We had a pretty fun day. She kept at it for over an hour and says that she "loves to needle."

I hope she will still love to needle as she gets older.

Kidlettes

Heather has been having some health issues, so I got to tend the kidlettes for a couple days. The first 2 days we were at there house and then they came to mine. Since Jess, Rhett and RJ are there, RJ had a play day with his cousins.

Seems that he likes Kael and enjoys having kids to play with. They are so much fun. I don't even mind the messes. They make for a good memory to see the kids enjoy each other. They are growing up too fast for me.

Kael 7 mths, RJ 9 mths

This is a quilt I am currently working on. It has a King size sheet for the back. Each flower has 4 petals. There are 20 by 23 flowers and each petal takes 60 stitches to complete. That ends up being over 110,000 stitches, not counting the border. It takes me about 12 hours to do a three by 20 flower section, so I am thinking about 92 hours of quilting. I am planning on about 3-4 weeks as I have only been able to get 2-6 hours a day with working full-time. If I wasn't working, I would normally get 12-14 hours in a day. so could knock it out in a week.

It is really a beautiful print. I have seen a darker one, but the pastels are much nicer. It is really spectacular when it is finished. My sister Sheryl has done 3 already (as gifts no less). She gave me the fabric.

Funny thing, my mom is doing the same one, but has 3 borders on hers. Hers is also 16 by 20 flowers. A bit smaller.

Blind Quilts

The Goalball teams are raising money to go to Kalamazoo in Feb. and New Jersey in June. I made 2 quilts for them to auction off. Last year they made quite a bit from the quilts I did. Hope these will help them out.

Both quilts are the same. The big picture shows the top and the small picture is the back. They were pretty fast to do because I quilted them on the sewing machine. I have 2 more planned that I hope to get done soon. The auction will be during the Western Regionals that Utah is hosting in May.

Herschel is supposed to start at center in Kalamazoo. Chris has been training him to take his spot. He is looking to retire from competitive play in 2 years. He has been part of the US Paralymic Team and attended 3 Olympics, so Hersh is getting some good coaching.

Good luck EXPLOSION!

Adult Goalball Tournament

This Saturday, Feb. 14th is the state Adult Goalball Tournament. They will be picking the 2 final spots. It will be held at the Jordan Resource Center and starts at 9:00 A.M. It goes until all the games are done. Usually about 3:00 PM. There is pool play, then elimination. It you have never seen it, you will be very surprised and impressed at how the game is played, and then wonder how blind people can do this, because you realize it would be hard for you.

Happy Valentines Day!

Today at the store, a guy was looking at diamond and sapphire earrings. He asked me if I thought that his girlfriend would like them. I said "Of course!" He said, "Pretty nice present, huh?" I said, "Yes." Then I asked him if he would like to know the best Valentines present I ever got and he said, "Sure." So here it goes.

Several years ago, Scott called me to say that he had gotten me a Valentines Day present and it would be delivered a few days early, so not to be surprised. I said "What is it?" (You have to realize that most years he doesn't even think about getting me a present which is weird, since he is in retail--duh)
"I traded diamond earrings for it."
"What is it?"
"You keep saying you what it."
"What is it?!"
"Well....it's a semi load of manure for your garden." (real bored tone)
Scott has always disliked my garden, maybe even hated it, so I was very surprised. When he ordered it at the garden center and said it was for his wife for Valentine's Day, he heard the receptionist at the counter mumble, under her breath, "You %#$@*&."
We get a great laugh every time we tell this story. It still is the very best gift he has ever given me. Some girls like jewels and others like crap.
He has given me some pretty sweet tools over the years as well. I think my favorite tool is my band saw. It's a Delta, 14" floor model. I love it and have used it for over 20 years. It still seams like it is brand new. That was a Mother's Day gift I had asked for, for a couple years.
Hope you all get what you really want for Valentine's.
This year I'm getting dangle earrings that I picked out. They are about 2" long. Maybe manure again another year.

Golfing With Chuck

Today Scott was saying how he needs to go golf. He is going stir crazy. Then he said, "Remember when I took Herschel golfing and we ended up going with Chuck?"

Here is the story.

Herschel was 6 years old and Scott took him to the Alpine Country Club late in the afternoon. There was a guy wanting to golf and asked if he could join. Scott said, "Sure, but I'm with my kid." The guy said, "No problem." About the 5th hole, Herschel spied two cans in the guys cart.

"Are those Bud Lights Chuck?"

"Yeh."

"You're goin' to hell."

Chuck laughed and Scott just shrugged like 'you've been warned.

Around the 11th hole Chuck lit up a cigarette. Hersh said, "Chuck, you mean you smoke too?"

Chuck laughed and said, "Yeh. I'm not a very good guy."

A few holes later, Hersh looked at Chuck with his squinty eyes in the sun and asked, "Chuck, do you go to church?"

"No."

"Well, you better think about going, you need help."

Chuck lost it and Scott just shrugged again. When they finished, Scott tried to apologize for the blunt questions. Chuck smiled and said, "I don't know when I've enjoyed a better round of golf." and left chuckling.

Bread

Two years ago in May I had a minor heart surgery. I had been having problems for 6 months before I ended up in the ER. I had a bad circuit that they zapped.

I had to wait 5 months to get into see the Eloctronic Cardiologist, so I came up with my Heart Healthy Bread.

Here is the recipe:

6 cups hot water 1/2 cup ground flax seed

1/3 cup oil 2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup gluten 1 TBS dough enhancer

3/4 cup honey 2 TBS salt

Put all of this in your Bosch or other mixer and stir for 10 secs. Then let moosh while you grind 7 cups whole wheat in your mill. (It makes about 13 cups flour) Add 1/3 of the flour and mix well. Add 1/3 flour and 3 TBS yeast and mix well. Add remaining flour and let the machine knead for 15 minutes. This gives the gluten time to activate. Turn out onto oiled counter and form into 5 loaves. Place loaves in oiled pans, spray top with oil and cover to raise. When loaves are 1" above top of pan turn oven to 350. When heated bake for 30-35 min. Turn out on cooling racks and rub top with butter or shortening.

This bread is very soft and most people think it doesn't tast like whole grain bread. It is more the consistancy of regular white bread and Scott who won't eat wheat likes this. You get an even lighter color and texture if you use white wheat. That is all I have been buying for my storage lately. I have 600 lbs. now, but I still have 1200 lbs. or the red wheat. It is still yummy.

Quilt Update

This is a quilt I did a few years ago. I told my sister Sheryl, who is also a quilt Natzi that you can never have too many quilts and every bedroom should have 4 quilts. One for each season.

This of course is the Spring quilt. This is on the bed in the quest room.

This quilt was one I pieced together for Lynette. It was for Christmas of 2008. I finally got it quilted in Jan. of 2009.

She loves black and neutrals. She got black and golds. This has been a fun quilt pattern to do. I think I have done 4 different ones. Still not one for me. Maybe some year.

This tapestry fabric was Lynette's favorite. I don't think I would ever put it in a quilt again. It is very thick and hard to quilt on. You can't get the stitches small enough on it. I love the strip border. They are 2" strips sewn together and then cut 5"wide and then joined again.

Snow

The first of October, I sort of moved to St. George to open the new store. The average temperature for October is 68 in the day time. When Novenber came and it was low 60's I was thinking that it was pretty crumby. It didn't feel Holiday-ish. In Dec. when Las Vegas got 7" of snow, the airport was closed and St. George got 2", I had to laugh because all of Washington county closed their schools for a "Snowday." What whimps I thought. (Leeds did get 13", so they're off the whimp list)

As the days got cooler and I actually had to wear a jacket to work, I still missed the snow and cold. The Christmas lights just didn't seem the same without the reflection on all the snow. "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas."

I have to say that when I came home on Christmas Eve, the snow was lovely and it was a joy to see it softly falling on the ground. As it got thicker, I just smiled. On Christmas morning about 8:00 AM, Scott and I went out and started to shovel. There were 8". Our drive way is 75' x 40' plus we have the cicular drive in the front. There is ALOT of snow to push. I normally do the sidewalk and the edges of the drive so Scott can see where to push with his little tractor(the John Deer). After 3 hours of snow removal and the snow 2" deep where we had already cleared, we took a break. We had 3 snow removal sessions that day and I was thinking how much I missed the mild and temperate St. George weather.

On Jan. 7, I called Scott at work and told him he could either give me instructions on how to use the tractor or I was going to shovel the whole drive by hand. I got the instructions and had loads of fun. Now, I know why he only likes to do it. There is a great sense of power to push 8" of snow 60 feet back at 20 MPH. Great fun!

I can't say if I am wishing for more snow....guess not. It's time to think about the garden. I am planning on learning to drive the big tractor. I think it could be more fun using a 5' wide tiller to smooth out 1/3 acre garden plot. Yippee-Ki-Ayh!

Scott's is just like this, but Holland Blue. His bush hogger is exactly like the one on this tractor. "She sure is a perrty girl."

MERCY!

Today at work, I was sitting in Scott's big office chair spinning around. I said, "What does this remind you of?" He started laughing.

When Jessica was 16, she went to work at Christmas-time to help out since it is so busy. There was a stool like in a doctors office that could spin around. She layed across it on her stomach and started spinning. Everyone else was helping customers and both phone lines were ringing. Scott snapped at her "Jessica, could you stop spinning and answer the phone" "OH, I'm so dizzy, I don't think I can talk."

Then a little while later (everyone was busy again) another customer walked in and Scott said, "Jess, help this lady." She looked up, saw the lady and exclaimed "Mercy!" and then ducked behind the counter until the lady left. Needless to say, that was her last day at Kelly Jewelers.

She thought she was there to wrap presents and clean glass. Heaven forbid she should have to talk to customers and actually help someone. We have all had great laughs over this along with Jess. "Mercy!"

New CIA Legal Torture

Everyone has heard that "Gitmo" is going to be closed and that Waterboarding has been outlawed. The problem is: how can they use a non-lethal and humane inducement to get the bad guys to talk?
Scott has solved the problem. After all the newest high-tec and latest psycological methods have been exhausted, the new "SECRET WEAPON" is called on "THE CRICKET."
'We gave you a chance and tried to be nice, now you'll have to endure The Cricket. You can't last for more than 5 minutes, so you better talk or you'll go in that little room where the cricket will be unleashed."
For such a cute little guy, he sure has a great set of lungs. He lets us know when he isn't happy and it is a very high pitched and loud cry. Love you Kael