Much Ado About Nothing

Well, yesterday the stitches came out and I thought you might be interested in seeing what was under all that packing --


My wrist and hand were pretty bruised, but now it's only my knuckle that's still slightly discolored. Best of all, I'm able to bend my thumb a little. As the swelling subsides, it should soon be back to normal.


It's kind of sad that this is the most exciting thing going on in our lives right now!! Wait until I post pictures of Dad's upcoming vein stripping and hernia operations. =}

Ouch!

This little piggy has an owee --

Little Miss Thumb doesn't bend.

She went to see the doctor,

Now Miss Thumb is on the mend.

Moving On

We thought we should report that we've gotten through the month. Dad's been officially unemployed for a week now and has been keeping busy by working on several projects around the house. We're trying to keep optimistic as we try to figure out what our options are. We have so appreciated all the love, concern and prayers from everyone.

So, now it's time to move on to happier things . . .

I keep promising to post my quilts so you all can see what I've been working on. My "quilt album" will posted soon. However, for the past two weeks it's been petal to the metal as a friend and I put together a quilt for our recently released Bishop. I've never had to complete one quite this fast; the one I made for Grandma and Grandpa's anniversary was put together in about a month, but we were given a very short timeline for this one. I would come home from work each night and sew from 5-11 or until I couldn't see what I was doing. I figured out that I personally spent a minimum of 40 hours just piecing it and another 3 hours quilting it today. We finished it just in time to take to the Ward social this evening. So, for your viewing pleasure:

The Bishop loved his quilt!

Day 3

Still numb and tomorrow starts another week. We will begin it with baby steps, keep our chins and heads up, try to remain positive, and are grateful for all the concern and prayers that are being offered on our behalf. Our faith, family, and friends is what keeps us grounded. We love you all.

A Changing Day

I've been reading through the blogs we've posted during the past year. It's been fun and interesting to go back and re-read what we've written and to discover that we've created a sort of history about us. I was also watching one of my quilting programs tonight where they were discussing how to create blogs. They described them as kind of a diary where we can write about events that take place in our lives so that we can later go back and see what we learned and how we grew from our experiences. It's kind of like writing in our journals -- something I'm not very good about doing. There are personal experiences that are more appropriate for a journal that I would never put in my blog. Then there are experiences that we all share in and putting them in a blog seems appropriate. Today has been one of those experiences.

I remember the feeling of panic we felt in 1971 when we were graduating from college, had a new baby, our apartment had been rented out from underneath us, our car needed major repairs, and we had no jobs. Working odd jobs and a few months of pounding the pavement, we finally had a job which eventually located us to California. The years since have been good and employment has been the least of our worries. We've actually been talking about and looking forward to retirement in about 3-4 years.

Several weeks ago we were talking with our bishop and he ask us about our jobs. We both expressed that we felt pretty secure, that both of our jobs entailed responsibilities that were somewhat unique in our workplaces. Today's events were something that Steve says that he never saw coming. Being told that you are being layed off because the company is down-sizing really sucks!! He's been with this company for 35 1/2 years -- far longer than any of his co-workers, hardly ever taken a sick day, always on time, and willing to do whatever was needed to get the job done.

The first hour following the "news", we were in shock and disbelief. After reality began to hit, then came feelings of panic, hurt, anger and tears (on my part). The kids have all been so great with their calls of concern and advise. Stef's comment was one of the best: "You don't mess with my dad!!" Our bishop was at our door before Steve got home from work -- he's such a great person, a good friend, and just happens to be a labor attorney. He has offered to go through all the paperwork with us to make sure no labor laws were violated (age, being near to retirement, current medical concerns, etc). We're going to take it day by day and are trying to remain positive. We'll keep you updated.

It's About Time

You can interpret the meaning of the title however you want -- either way would be appropriate. Since January has been really unexciting at our house, we're going to backtrack and give you a Christmas review.

Our house was bursting at the seams as we shared the holidays with Jeff and Amy, and Nicole, Jon, Jacey, and Brooklyn. Needless to say, a great time was had by all. The only thing that would have made it better would have been having the Hoopers here too.

It's a Little Less Scary Out There

Whew!! We made it although the mentality of the citizens out here leaves you wondering. One proposition that passed had to do with animals not being able to roam freely and living in too crowded conditions. Wouldn't you think we'd be a little more concerned about the living conditions of people instead? Another proposition that didn't pass had to do with the notification of parents if their under age children wanted an abortion. In other words, people care more about animals than they do their own children. Yes, indeed, we must have that same law on our books that Arkansas was trying to get rid of.