THREE HIPS AND A BIG HOORAY!

The last couple of days have been worth shouting about--thus the title.

The first "hip" has been visits from friends and family. We get a little quiet around here when it's just the two of us rattling around this big house. Betsy and John paid us a nice visit and lots of family both on the phone and in person and through blogs. It seems like no matter what goes on in the world is made easier with good people around. Lyra came to visit and slipped her hand in mine and very wisely said: "Grandma, did you know that practice makes perfect?"

The second "hip" is the weather. We saw a reader board that put the temperature in Moses at over 70 degrees. That gave our local Chanticleer something to crow about. Everywhere you look these days it's green. More and more farming is starting daily. Yesterday morning one clear indication that spring is in the air was Mt. Rainier shining brightly and clearly. That is a beautiful mountain!

The third hip, for me personally, is the flu bug has finally left. Being sick does have some advantages I was able to accomplish some reading and do some thinking. As is my custom I read the Newbery Medal book and the Newbery Honor books. All four this year were middle school reading and all were excellent. I read Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones for our book club and I read The Star Garden which is the third in the series by Nancy E. Turner.

And the big HOORAY, the front room carpet is installed. We can actually go barefoot in our house except in the sewing room. There's no furniture back in the front room yet, but it is wonderful to walk across it.

A FLU BUG AND A PRETTY ROOM

A couple of people have asked about our renovation project and when I'm going to post a new blog. I'm sorry to be so long, but I've been felled by the flu bug! Twice in as many weeks. For the second time in as many weeks, I've missed going to the temple with Garth. He's avoided the bug so far which he claims is because he's working so hard that it can't catch up with him. The most infuriating thing is that this is the very flu that I paid a pretty price and withstood the agony of a flu shot to avoid! I haven't been this sick in years! The worst problem is that with this kind of flu you're very, very tired and you have horrible nightmares! So beware!

He's finished with the front room and hall. The subflooring was bad in places so he replaced those spots and put new boards over the whole room. We compared notes on piecing. I heard a few disparaging remarks when he forgot the old adage to "measure twice and cut once", but it looks very nice. The color in this room is very similar to the family room and I doubt you'll see the subtleness of the accent wall in the picture. The carpet will be installed on Wednesday or Thursday so we can move back into it. We're actually going to buy a few new pieces of furniture.

I've also added a small picture of the retirement wall hanging. It also didn't fare well in photography, but it looks nice on the wall. Sorry about the stepstool in there.

The top picture shows you how much weight Garth's lost. He's been enjoying wearing his Western suit again. Here he's ready for the funeral in his cowboy wear head to toe! He loves his hat and boots.

A RAUCOUS ROOSTER

Like Chanticleer of old, we have a neighborhood rooster who, literally. rules the roost. Everyone, supposedly knows the covenants for this community, but despite that we do have several "beasts" around. This blasted rooster crows all hours of the day and night--especially during the day. He's a little like a barking dog--he crows at every little noise or whatever. Anyway, there are times that I'd like to be able to sound off about things that bother me, such as:

• famous people (idols) who lately seem to apologize for their wrongdoings with the disclaimer of "I wouldn't want kids to do what I did." and then go right on doing what they were doing!
  
• famous people who have no couth, morals or modesty and the press flaunts their escapades
  lousy drivers
  
• those who can do nothing but harass, besmirch or discriminate against others
  high prices
  
• people who don't watch their children in stores (We retired people often shop in the morning which means we're shopping with other retired folks or mothers of small children who consider it their privilege to let their children run and scream all over Wal-Mart.)
  
• waitresses or clerks who call me "honey" or "dear
  
• waitresses or clerks who ignore me when I'm with Julirae and conduct my business with her!
  
• waitresses or clerks who conduct my business with Garth
  

Thank you for listening to my crowing! Now I know why our very own Chanticleer does his crowing! Here's a picture to keep you going until summer!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Just a short blog to wish everyone Happy Valentine's Day. Bonni sent me a cute story with the following moral to it:

LIFE ISN'T ABOUT HOW TO SURVIVE THE STORM, BUT HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN.

Valentine's Day is always a reminder of how loved we are and how much we love our friends and family. It's also a day to remember that we all have to learn to dance in the rain and enjoy the dance!

Have a great day and remember--it's the thought that counts, not the chocolate.

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS

The other night I checked my MSN homepage just before I went to bed and the news was awful. Shootings-- plus all the war news and politics made life seem dreary. I thought also about recent deaths in our little community of pioneers who have lived here forever Jay Christensen, Harlan Dunsire and Pat Schrom. Then I remembered Anne Murray singing: "Sure could use a little good news today." So I began this morning thinking of what good news there is (at least in my neck of the woods):

• The snow is melting. Too fast for some. Highway 262 is closed down by Mardon because of water across the road. That's an understatement as you can see in the picture. Our vantage point is the high canal. (I made Garth go around the barricade so we could get the picture. The house you can see is the old Spartviet (??) place just as you round the corner past the orchard.) As we were making our way on that soft, wet ditchbank (and worrying that we might slip off into the canal!) , the state crew was coming in to fix the problem. They must not have fixed it because the barricade was still up when we got home after 10 last night.
  
  



• Angie is playing good basketball. We watched a game yesterday. This is the first game they've won, but Angie is doing great. Well, truth is, Dad watched and I played with Sonia (David's sister) new baby Elisa. What a head of hair!


• Hilary is not winning all the votes right now. Sorry, but I don't like the woman.


• Our house remodeling is coming right along. The picture of the family room shows it crowded with furniture from the front room which is empty, but it's a room we've come to love even with all the furniture.





• Babies are still wonderful additions to our world. It's baby Kaedynce's butt you can see scrambling up the stairs under Ashlynn's not so watchful eye.



• My niece Susan who is a bookworm to the nth degree and a very insightful book critic took on an author and put him in his place. She didn't back down from his criticism of her criticism. I was proud! Way to go Susan!
  
• And, most of all, God is still in His heavens and good people are doing good things not only on the Royal Slope, but in the world everywhere.

THINK VALENTINES' DAY

I like the month of February--always have. First and most important is Valentine's Day, also Groundhog's Day (He saw his shadow--more winter), David's birthday, Joe's birthday, George Washington's birthday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, President's Day, Ash Wednesday (This year Easter is in March) and Leap Year (2008 is a leap year. My friend Kathy will have a birthday on the 29th.) It's also the harbringer of spring because no matter how nasty February's weather is, at least the hope of spring is just around the corner. As a teacher, February was always a great month for bulletin board decoration. Another birthday to remember is my Dad's who would have been 88 on the 1st. I'm eternally grateful that my dad believed women should have an education and encouraged Julia and I to get our degrees. On my niece Susan's blog she talks about 14 days of Love where small gifts are given to family members in the days prior to Valentine's Day. At school, the office was always filled with balloons, candy and flowers and mine (often a dozen red roses) were sometimes the biggest. I found this quote about St. Valentine on a newsletter.
My thought was that we can all do 14 days of Love by doing something for someone else every day between now and Valentine's Day--random acts of kindness so to speak. Our friend Charlie was telling us about his visits to people who are dying and under hospice care. He's just the perfect person to do that kind of visiting! Having spent most of the afternoon viewing the funeral, biography, and graveside service of our beloved President Hinckley, I've decided to following his example of Being Kinder in my life. He certainly lived what he taught. The world is just a worrisome place right now and life is difficult so that we who have so much need to share with others. Let's all extend our love to others for the next few days.