25 Things About Me

Becky's mother-in-law, Jennifer, tagged me for this post on Facebook, but I never could figure it out, brilliant as I am on the computer! So, here it is on my blog and I tag all of my chidren and their spoouses, along with Ann Nelson.

TWENTY FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME:
1. I will qualify for Medicare in a few days. It is a good thing.
2. I have been married for almost 43 years. I am the mother of four sons and two daughters and mother in law to three daughters in law, and two sons in law. I’m grandma to seven granddaughters and three grandsons. My family is my greatest joy in life. I also have one brother who is a bachelor. I like him to visit me and bring his Dachshund, Thumper to add to the Dachshund excitement here.
3. My pets are two clever, fun loving Dachshunds, Oscar and Gracie. I believe everyone should be loved by a Dachshund!
4. I do not like inversions, rude drivers, asparagus, finding mouse droppings in my shop, loud angry voices, foul language, or the smell of blue cheese, for that matter, I find all kinds of mold disgusting! I don’t like sports unless my grandson is playing.
5. I am in the Relief Society presidency in my ward. 2nd counselor over enrichment.
6. I love photography.... I enjoy candid shots at family gatherings, and experimenting with new settings. I have gotten some beautiful night pictures, and have learned a lot recently. My goal this year is to get a LOT better. Especially indoors. Last year I actually got some fabulous pictures, but I need to be able to do it under challenging circumstances. That’s the trick. I am learning Photoshop, you know for fun, and for the times when my shots sre not so fabulous!!! (Or special effects)
7. I LOVE babies....and puppies, chocolate, hugs, and blogs! I love flying to places with my son Brian, like the time we went to San Francisco and got stuck there over night. Last Fall, we flew to St George just to cook foil dinners up in Pine Valley where my parents used to take my children (and me) to camp. We flew home the same day! It was so much fun. I love reading to grandchildren and laughing so hard we fall off the couch! I love that my oldest granddaughter can now drive ME around. I love e-mailing back and forth to my cousin, Darlene, every day. She’s my best friend. I love seeing my husband helping our children and anyone else that needs anything! He is so generous with everything he has....time, money, talent, ability to fix anything. I like to cook, and feed people, just not all the time anymore. I like garage sales and boutiques. I’m crazy about Gardner Village, and it could be my second home. I love going anywhere to get pictures of anything. I love popsicles, and grandchildren to share them with. I love poetry and live plays, and LDS artists who touch my heart strings with their angelic voices. I think I am also in love with Josh Groban....at least his voice.
8. I am a member of the Sandy Senior center, and finding there are a lot of nice classes, and lively, energetic, seniors who go there. I attend a photography class on Tuesdays. I better plan on a computer class in the future!
9. I’m excited about organizing, painting and fixing up projects I have planned this year. I am REALLY excited that the gift our children gave us for Christmas, is to help us with stuff! 73, and 65 is not really so old, but help is good.
10. I love everything about Salt Lake City except the few days of inversion every year. I enjoy all four seasons. Fall is my favorite. Last Fall was the best. Long, and beautiful.
11. My favorite comic strips are Pickles, Flying McCoys, and Baby Blues
12. I could never live where there is high humidity. I LOVE our dry desert air here.
13. I do not have a great voice, but I love singing aloud when I am alone.
14. Some things that I miss: Watching my daughter, Becky, dance. I miss the trips and competitions, and figuring out ways to get the trophies home! I miss rooming with our good friends Phyllis, and her daughter Amorette. I miss watching my sons, Randy, Danny and Jeff, play church basketball. I miss Randy’s soccer games. I miss watching Brian, playing in every musical group in school, in college, and some outside of school. All of the concerts and the competitions he was involved in. The accordion competitions in California. (Luckily, I still get to see him perform and he is great!) I miss Jeff’s funniness every day. (I enjoy all my kids good humor when we get together. I think we raised a family of comedians. Maybe that’s how we cope with life). I miss seeing Becky play the trumpet. I miss the productions she acted in during High School. I miss making Heidi’s and Becky’s prom dresses. I really miss my young body that didn’t hurt when I did ordinary stuff. I miss my mind. It takes too long now days to remember names etc. That’s it for now, before I make a book here.
15. I had my own craft business for 25 years, and made many original products for Mormon Handicraft, Deseret Book, Missionary Emporium, the Quilted Bear and a number of small craft stores.
16. I am just as comfortable with a band saw, scroll saw, sander and drill as I am with a needle and thread. I do enjoy hand work, embroidery, a little crochet, and sewing.
17. I have always loved horses. The way they look, the way they smell, their soft noses, etc.
18. I seldom see a movie all the way through because as soon as I sit down to relax, I fall asleep.
19. According to one of my sweet granddaughters, I look "adorable in my swimming suit"
20. I love the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and I love teaching about it. I love that we have three beautiful temples all in a row here in the valley.
21. I have mild OCD. I have to check the stove and back door about three times before leaving the house. I cannot leave the dryer on if I am leaving, and I worry about everything.
22. When I was young, I played three musical instruments, Accordion, Clarinet, and Tenor Sax.
I played clarinet and sax in a dance band for several years.
23. I have broken my toes so many times I have lost count. That is because I never wear shoes. They make me feel confined and too warm. I have broken one finger, my ring finger, on my left hand. I broke it on the scroll saw! It still hurts when it gets real cold.
24. I loved having my mother live here with us for the last ten years of her life and I miss her so much that it hurts. I miss her love, her humor, her hugs, her companionship, and her wisdom.
25. I wish that my children and grandchildren could have grown up in the wonderful, simple, innocent time that I did. I would have liked to grow old in that time as well, but time marches on and things change. We have to deal with the here and now. All the STUFF, the fast, busy pace, and the modern conveniences (that I really do appreciate). I will never get old inside. I love to learn new things. I have to stay busy. And....busy I am!
26. Ha Ha fooled ya...you thought I was finished. I LOVE seeing my children raising their children. The love, the concern, the laughter, the tears, the struggles, the rewards, the accomplishments.....the public school things that never end, the home schooling that is going so well for Jeff’s family....the growth that everyone experiences through the challenges of this life. I love seeing them serve the Lord in many, and varied ways, and I am also very proud of every one of them.