SPT: Stars and Stripes Forever

Here is my last SPT for June...to complete the set.

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I took this as we were driving through Indiana...not a great picture, but David didn't want to stop or slow down for a better one. 

My appreciation for this land of "stars and stripes forever" always grows when we do our big cross-country drives.  This land is big and beautiful and diverse, and I always say to David, "Look at all these places we could live.  Look at that little place over there.  Look at that farmhouse.  Look at these trees.  There is so much country out here."  He just shakes his head, and says, "Uh-huh" all distracted, like "Duh.  Obviously." 

But to me it is just amazing how much life, how many stories, how many main streets, how many corner grocers, how many kitchen tables there are.  And I forget.  Living in my little house and pulling into my one driveway, I forget how it could be different, how our story really would be different if we changed the scenery, and how many, many different ways and places there are to make a life.  

This is my country.  Land that I love. 

SPT: My Home Sweet Home

"Home sweet home" for me is around our kitchen table.  Everybody back from their own lives, reuniting at the end of the day around this beat-up rectangle, the heart of my home.

A nurturing, sharing, uncomplicated ritual.  We eat.  We talk.  We laugh.  We are filled.  We remember who we are.  We bow our heads.  We give thanks to be together again.  We break bread.   A kind of sacrament to remember the  covenant we have with each other.

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[We didn't leave Olivia out of the frame on purpose...our late dinner just didn't fit into her social schedule.]

SPT{W, really}: Twilight's Last Gleaming

Okay, this picture is so bad, I have no business publishing it to the world.

But, it also captures a moment in time, [a slice of my life] and I couldn't bear not to document it.

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The end of a busy summer day.

I was going to make BLT's for dinner...but because of the salmonella/tomato scare across the country right now, I had no T's for my BLT's. 

But my parents provided these beauties from their little garden...and they were certainly *gleaming* to me.  Ripe, red, juicy, and right off their vines.

We eat late in the summer...it's already past 7:30 in this picture, just picking my girls up from dance and heading home to make dinner and watch The Mole together.  A perfect summer night. 

And the BLT's were incredible.  Homemade bread and homegrown tomatoes.  Watermelon.  Ah, summer.

SPT: Emblem of the Land I Love

This is an SPT on the run.

I've got Girls' Camp in the morning, it's already late, I'm more tired than I should be at this hour, and I still need to pack.

But I did finish 20 pillowcases for my young women...emblem of the land (and the girls) I love.

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Our theme this year is "Steadfast and Immovable" and each ward has been assigned a "superhero."  We drew Captain America, and while I never did find any fabric with a large blue man with a target on his chest, I did find this really cute red, white, and blue star fabric, and went with that.

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Please just try to ignore the fact that I haven't showered in two days.  Why am I always madly rushing at the end?  Someday, someday, I'm going to pull it together.

It did occur to me as I was standing in line at Target at 8:30 at night, gathering up the rest of the things I forgot, that this could also be the "emblem of the land I love" since, other than my house,  I spend more time in this square footage than just about anywhere else.

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So I'm off.  (Ready or not.)

I had someone come fix my dishwasher today since I knew if I didn't the dishes would be insurmountable by the time I returned home on Saturday.

The guy said it was fine.  Nothing wrong.  That'll be $55.

That's exactly how my life is going.

He tentatively said, "I'll just write that you 'used old soap' on the invoice."  I guess his only other option was to write "Crazy lady" and he was trying to spare me the embarrassment.

RIM was rolling her eyes the whole time.  CIM was desperately wishing she had pulled out the camera on Sunday afternoon when she was wading through the kitchen.

Hey, I know the truth.  And I'm utterly fine with the insanity plea. 

Word of the Week: Esuriently

esuriently  /adv. /  having a naked, uncontrolled hunger for.  with the desire to possess more of something than one already has or in normal circumstances might be entitled to.  hungrily, greedily.  graspingly.  avidly.  covetously.  voraciously.  even avariciously or rapaciously.

esuriently  /adv./  1.  For those of you who have been esuriently waiting for this post...the wait is finally over.  We are in full-summer mode around here and somehow the days are gone as soon as they've begun.  My blogging time has been suffering because, not only do I now have three more computer users around here, but I have found I actually need a bit of "alone time" to generate enough coherent thoughts to write something.  And obviously that is in short supply these days.  A happy trade-off though.

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This was supposed to be my SPT for yesterday (and the week before)...Something Borrowed and Something Blue...better post it here or it may never get posted.  We "borrow" my parents' gorgeous pool almost every day from May to September.

esuriently  /adv./  2.  Usually by this time of year I am already esuriently wishing for winter, but the weather around here has been absolutely phenomenal.  On the last day of school, always traditionally an absolute scorcher, it was rainy and chilly and I snapped this picture in my car at about 5 in the afternoon.  Incredible.  I've never seen such glorious weather in May.

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esuriently  /adv./  3.  I have been esuriently waiting for summer break since last September, but my longing became particularly fervent after Christmas.  The school year is wearing on me in so many ways and I live for the carefree days of summer vacation.  My kids were just as happy to be done and we have been happily doing "whatever we want" for the last few days.  This has included hours and hours in my parents' pool, and we even got David to join us for the day on Monday.

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esuriently  /adv./  4.  David has spent most of his career esuriently wishing he was older.  He's always telling me how he is the youngest one on the team, and somehow this translates into how much respect he receives and how much capital his projects get.  This last week he got just a part of that wish, when he turned one year older.  We went to dinner and a movie to celebrate (I, for one, am deliriously glad that he was born) and he got a much-coveted "Blackberry" for his 36th year.  The only downside of this particular gift is that he will soon be completely connected to the hospital 24/7.  I hope that this doesn't turn into a gift that I esuriently wish I hadn't given him. 

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esuriently  /adv./  5.  Caleb is a brilliant student and somehow managed to take 10 classes this year, including three new classes in Mandarin, Spanish, and Suzuki.  He reads and studies esuriently, and this has really paid off for him.  He was invited to the end-of-the-year academic awards ceremony where he received the Presidential award for straight A's the entire year, and was also awarded "Student of the Year" by his Suzuki teacher.  He was beaming with pride, but (I secretly think) he was also esuriently hoping that there were even more awards to be won.  I have no doubt that he has his eye on the "Outstanding Student of the Year" for next year.  Maybe even more remarkably, I didn't have to ask him about his homework all year...he is completely self-motivated, self-sufficient, and self-assured.  It is so easy to be his mother.

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esuriently  /adv./  6.  I have a couple of videos I wanted to add to this post, but no matter how esuriently I stare at the Google video upload bar, it remains on "Processing."  So it may be a bit.  And my children are wanting lunch, so I will have to add them later.  Blogging is an entirely different endeavor in the summertime.

SPT: Something New

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This is the "official" self-portrait.

This is the one I like even better.  I had quite a time capturing all this quilty goodness in the camera frame (all by myself!).

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5 *new* quilts for my *oldest* young women...ready to graduate and move on to Relief Society.  Something to feather their *new* nests.

I'm feeling a bit *old* today, as all of these girls were Mia Maids (15) when I became their young women's president.  No wonder they're ready for something *new.*

These gorgeous things bring my total to 14 quilts I've made over the years for my sweet young women.  I can't think of a better metaphor for the love and comfort they will find in Relief Society.

SPT: Something Old (and Late)

I missed May Day.

A minor holiday I sincerely love.

But I was out of town and also a bit out of my mind, and so it came and went without a thought.

When I was a girl, the family across the street had a very tall flag pole and every May Day we would tie our ribbons to a big ring, and hoist it to the top and then walk around the flag pole weaving our May pole.  For whatever reason, I loved this simple celebration.

So for something old...here is an old picture of me walking around our neighborhood May pole, circa 1986.   (I'm on the right side of the photo, just about to weave "under."   Happy May Day.

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SPW: What Was I Thinking?

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know that my mental powers seem to be sadly failing.

To the point that I rarely ever know "what I'm thinking" at all, and enough to make me consider (however briefly) getting a pocket organizer.

This past weekend I found something even better.

Yoga.

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Yes, really.

I have wanted to try yoga forever, but it's so hip and trendy and I am so NOT, that I always felt dumb going to a class.

Plus, I inherited some tight hamstrings.  Very tight.

But on Saturday David said he'd go with me to the yoga class at the resort we were staying at.  Somehow his willingness gave me the courage to walk in there and take off my shoes.

And it was fabulous.

I felt so relaxed, so focused, so calm.  And all of these feelings were so different.

So I'm a believer.

I'm going to Target and I'm going to walk straight past the home office section, past the various weekly and monthly planners in all kinds of colors and styles, and straight back to the exercise section.  There's a yoga mat with my name on it.

I know, I know.  What am I thinking?  RIM is seriously freaking out at this strange turn of events.

SPT and My Life by the Numbers

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1 picture of me for "Self-Portrait Tuesday" just

48 hours before 

24 of my favorite people in the world arrive to spend

70  hours quilting and laughing and talking and

2 hours sleeping.  Incidentally, I am accepting

0 excuses from my husband because this is the

1 weekend per year that is all mine, and he has known about it for

365 days.  And for those of you not keeping track, this is blog post number

101.

SPT: Welcome Home

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I always wanted a red door. 

So people would know what they were getting into right up front.

Our last neighborhood had an HOA who did not approve of "flashy, red doors" (or individuality, apparently).

So when we moved into this house, the first thing I did was paint the door red.  I have a friend who does "door readings."  Red means it's a friendly house.  Black means that someone important lives there, etc.

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My red door though, is peeling a bit and the primer is showing through...I think this means that I'm far from perfect and if you are too, then this is friendly place to be.  (Welcome to all the busy, the frazzled, the not-quite-theres, the maybe-tomorrows, the "firefighters," and the doing-the-best-I-cans.  You will find more of this imperfection inside...welcome.) 

Now that I really look at it I can also see a lovely layer of dust as well and my bedraggled wreath has seen better days...more evidence that my life is not quite all-together.  I'm okay with that though, because hopefully my home is a place where it is quite alright to be flawed.