Spring Break - Jocile & Richard

As mentioned before, Jocile and Richard came to mother's on Thursday. Richard brought \ work tools and Jocile came prepared to scrapbook the plethora of photos which mother has collected from all of us. Yes, mother loves letters, phone calls and photos we send. But they stack up then something has to be done with them.

The sewing room cutting table had been cleared from levis scraps so Jocile used it for scrapbooking.. What a brilliant thought, why hadn't we used this table for this purpose before?

Jocile worked hard on this for two days. She says, stop sending mother photos, but we all know mother loves to see the grand children. So here's another idea. Send pages already scrapbooked or copies of pages. Then mother won't have loose pictures floating around.



Meanwhile Uncle Richard worked on inside fixup projects and the yard. He trimmed the evergreen trees, raked the leaves, sawed off branch from the apricot tree, ( this apricot tree has a lot of character, all bent and twisted)











and he planted grass seed in the water box area








Richard's Dufus look with brim turned up



Jocile and Richard, thank you for all the things you did for mother.

Spring Break - /girls Night Out

Friday March 19, 2010

Four of us met at Lora Dawn's on Friday night. I thought the main course would be Cheetos and Chocolate but Jana got healthy on us and didn't bring any Cheetos. So I brought a small package. Jana baked Cheese sticks and Lora Dawn had healthy soup. Yes, there was chocolate.

Family members have complained about me taking pictures while they eat so this time I didnt' do that. See how boring the picture is. Here's the Place setting before we ate.



Jana cutting the bread sticks.


Group portrait,
four of the Ison Chicks: Angela, Jocile, Lora Dawn and Jana. I really like that extension in your hair , Jana. Looks like Woody Wood Pecker or a chia plant.

Lora Dawn invited us to stay over night. ( wow a sleep over) or slumber party. I declined since I had to drive home to Preston the next day. Jocile and I had a goal to leave by midnight. We came close to that goal and left by 1:00 am. ha Kristen we missed you and wished you could join us.

Spring Break - At Perkins

Thursday

ON Thursday evening, we took mother out to eat at Perkins.

We let Dad pay for it, which reminded me of Aunt Ruth and what she used to say. When we fussed about her paying for our meal she would say. "Tenny will pay for it." Then it seemed ok to accept her offer. They had yummy salmon, ( no food pictures)















Jana, contemplating

Spring Break- Amity School Visit

Thursday March 18
Lora Dawn invited us ( by now Jocile had arrived) to visit her school, Amity Elementary. Mother was up for the trip. This school is built partially under ground. I noticed a sign posted in the grass, which said something like, "don't climb on the building." Well don't plant grass on the building then. What kid can resist running up the side of a grassy building?



Lora Dawn introduced mother to students. She found a office chair to wheel mother around to save her strength from walking.




Mother upgrades to a wheel chair, which the office staff offered. We view the art work..



Mother was a big hit in the class room. Lora Dawn introduced mother and asked first grade students "Mother is having a birthday, how old do you think she is?" Answers varied from 30 to 80 .


Close up of art work.



The Do good Mobile. Students who do good get to pick a treator toy on Fridays.


We end the tour by visiting Lora Dawn's office. As a counselor, Lora Dawn has many fun things to play with on her shelves. We each pick a puppet to play with. Lora Dawn introduces us to a gopher, the school mascot.




Jocile chooses a three headed dragon



Mother makes friend with a dog. It really talked to her.





A wipsy, butterfly finger puppet. Notice the color, Lora Dawn's favorite.


The puppets are put away and we get to play in the sand. Lora Dawn has all sorts of fun things to stick in the sand. I really get into this.



This is so therapeutic. Ask me any question and I'll give you an answer. I don't need a couch for therapy just give me some sand to play in.



Time to clean up. We help Lora Dawn puts sticks and beads away. But I'm still having fun making designs in the sand and she gets out the action figures.
Lora Dawn told us we could play with the clay but our time was far spent. We wanted to beat the masses out of the school before the bell rang and before the buses arrived.

LD, thank you for a fun afternoon.

Spring Break - 312 Quilt Squares

I"m up and running somewhat, I have Internet and E-mail so I'm going to catch up on my Spring Break trip to Caldwell where I visited mother. Since Noel lost weight he tossed a bunch of pairs, from the top of the closet to a pile on top of a plastic container. The Tupperware was full of his knitted hats. I've been staring at a stack of Levis in our bedroom and getting sick of the sight.

On previous spring break visits, I helped mother work on her history and did scrapbooking for her. Yikes we had run out of my favorite projects. The desire to get rid of the pile of Levis gave me the idea to take them to Caldwell and have mother help me cut them out for a quilt. I dumped the knitted hats and filled the container with Levis.
Monday March 15, 2010


We started cutting on Monday. I worked at the cutting table and marked the squares

and used a small pizza cutter ( ha) while



mother sat in her chair and cut with scissors. After several hours mother remarked. "This is fun." You got to be kidding, I thought. This is not my idea of fun. But I was glad mother enjoyed the project.





The squares started stacking up



What a mess


Mother commented" These scissors are getting dull. I can't believe thes Levis aren't even worn out."



By the end of the first day we had cut these two stacks, like pancakes



Day two, Tuesday we worked harder and longer. Assume same stations and keep working. Mother wearing a different blouse, still at it.




If the truth be know, mother kept me going. For I would have rather been outside washing the car. "Are we still have fun?" I kidded her. Yes, she assured me. I thought, "It's so nice to have a project we can work together on.



The pile of levis in the container was shrinking.



Mother stacks the piles of squares for an photo op.



312 Squares later, we have finished at 10:10 pm. Whew



Mother looks a little tired. but hey, she was the one having fun. I was the tired one. Thank you mom for all your help.



My goal was met, to get rid of the pile of levis and cut quilt blocks. The future goal is to make a quilt. Knowing me, that might be the next spring break.

Wednesday March 17
Now my, (our project) was done spring break fun could begin.

Cousin Merlin & Marlene Hansen stopped to visit mother.

Publish Post

Never Die on Tuesday

On my tuesday morning commute, I learned that my neighbor around the block had died. Her funeral was Monday the day before. And she has passed away a week ago Tuesday. Why hadn't I heard about this?

The day of her funeral I drove past her home and wondered how she was doing. I knew she had cancer and was terminal. Serves me right for missing church where I'm sure it was announced. ( Been to SLC to pick up Nanette.)

I read the Herald Journal sporatically, at the library, or Institute and had missed the obituary. I tried blaming Cheri who usually brings her HJ to work. "If you had brought your paper to work I would have known my neighbor died."

When Preston's weekly paper is published on Wednesday, never die on Tuesday or you'll be funeralized and buried before your friends know about it.