What happened to US???

It has been so long ever since I last posted something. Like usual!
I am down with cold. I just beat sinus infection. Believe me- it is not something you want to have. Well, there are all host of body frailties people don't care to have anyhow.

We had a wedding, Grand Canyon visit, visit from Grandma, etc in a such short period of time! When I try to recover from one thing, I am assaulted by another exciting event. Ha ha. Too bad I am not able to keep up with many of those things going on.

Things are pretty good. It was a little crazy since I still had church responsibilities and a sick baby. I had no sleep for past month due to cranky Julianna who had to bear with her ear aches. I took her to doctor four times this month and finally got her onto second antibiotics - a stronger type called omnicef. It seemed to be working so much better now. Julianna is having the same tendency toward fluid sitting in her ear tubes as Suzy did while Suzy was growing up. It is something I will have to be watchful for the first five years of her life. Julianna wasn't able to sleep through the night and had sporadic nap schedule. Yesterday, she finally had a decent nap! It was so incredible. I will go back to working on getting her back to sleeping through the night. Then I will feel like my old self. I was off my exercising routine and still am stuck to the same amount of lbs I gained during the pregnancy. Augh. I felt a bit shattered about that.

Oh yeah, a laugh-invoking story here to tell:

While Julianna's doctor was writing down the prescription for omnicef for Julianna . . . I was warned that omnicef won't cause diaherria like amxollicin did for Julianna. But it does cause her poop to look red. I figured that i would catch it before Clint does and I usually am the one who changes kids' stinky diaper about 85 percent of the time. I neglected in mentioning this little fact to Clint. Well, last Sunday, I was busy preparing meal when Julianna (unawares to me) filled her diaper up. So Clint scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom to change. After the diaper change, he walked to me with Julianna with scared look in his eyes- saying that Julianna BLED in her poop. I laughed and told him a calming bit of information that doctor told me. It took him about five to ten minutes to wind down from that panicked state he was in. It was funny, wasn't it?

We were kept busy because of some things our friends asked us to do. Clint repaired a quite few computers for friends this month. Rescuing the computer from "black screen of death" and all. While in between all of those, I cleaned the house, did some scout stuff, etc. Caring for sick baby did take so much of my time as well. I spent most of my time holding her . . . Sometimes it did comfort her, and sometimes it didn't. Poor little thing!

OH yeah, there was something exciting happening last Saturday to me. There were some stories of old man going around in the stores passing out 100 dollars to people. I thought it is some sort of urban legend. Many times did people say they just saw that old man in his baseball cap and later on, the store worker was sent to them with one hundred bill and told them that it was from that old man. They couldn't even remember what he looked like! Isn't it so kind? Well, I just joined into that crowd last Saturday at Walgreen. Ha. I saw him and smiled . . . And worked through coupon with two kids at my side. Clint told me that working through coupons made me to look poor. I disagreed passionately! Ha.

Speaking of coupons, his month I set the goal of saving some money on grocery bills. Average budget was 800 to 1,000 dollars per month. It was driving me nuts because I knew I could save something there and there. So I subscribed to newspapers and printed some coupons off the internet. I am impressed! I just spent 250 dollars past two weeks and already stocked my shelves up. I did some calculations- I saved over 50 percent . . . That usually goes for 500 or 600 dollars. And as for extra coupons- If I had some extras, I can sell them off someplace to ladies who live oversea where coupons past expiration dates still can be used. They have up to six months to use them.

I have been using websites like:

www.pinchingyourpennies.com
www.thekrazycouponlady.com (t will give you precise instructions in how to use coupons/instore savings appropriately)
www.discountqueens.blogspot.com
http://www.utahdealdiva.com
http://www.gurusdeals.com/

Internet coupons I got off online ... Just type in "Red Plum" or "Smartsource" on google search engine and those will show up. Secondly, I also like to use coupon.com website. They will only allow you to print once and you will need to install "coupon printer". My friend found a way to bypass it by using two to three computers that she already has in her home and saved an incredible amount of money. Her website is www.crave2save.blogspot.com . . She goes to stores like Riteaid, walgreen, Supertarget . . . and only spent less than 15 dollars per week. She is so GOOD!

It is just a good thought to do . . . Especially with thanksgiving coming up. We probably want to stock up our shelves at low price instead of splurging on last minute shopping.

This week, I learned that you can spent just 6 dollars on turkey you purchase, download some free books, and just spend some dollars on so much clothes. Isn't it so fun! I just find it more challenging to drag my children to stores. What is supposed to be an hour of shopping turns into two hours of shopping with kids. Anna has been a bit dreadful those days and I don't know why she is acting out. I have choice of leaving kids at home or keeping my shopping simple. I am working on that! Ha.

Other exciting thing Clint and I have been doing is to refinance our house. We found out that interest has went down to 4.875 one day so we are going to refinance our mortgage and I am so excited about it! It is going to save us thousands of money in the entire time we are paying our mortgage.

My friend shared me that delicious pumpkin cranberry bread. IT is so SO good! I have been making things from pumpkins we had last Halloween and it is fun. I just wish that I wasn't so tied up! I can't just wander around and enjoy flowers. I just have been doing: 1. doing things at dead run 2. BURN out and try to use a day or two to recover from sheer exhaustion. I hate that sort of imbalance!

Stephanie, I am sorry for lack of response I have been doing last few weeks. Just let me know what I owe you for everything.

Pictures I owe you guys!

It has been two months ever since I last posted photographs of Julianna. Here she is, all grown up from a tiny newborn!

Past two weeks, we have been thinking and breathing swimming! Kids did very well in the end, even Timmy!

We went to several activities that was set up by our city. They call it "Steel Days" and celebrated it in many different ways. We had so much fun! To see the schedule of activities, check out www.afcity.com

Swimming Lessons

It has been nearly A MONTH ever since I posted the news the last. Isn't it so crazy??

Ever since Clint was done with upstairs, I still am organizing, moving, and shifting through boxes frantically. I finally won the battle with cleaning those areas that needed to be cleaned for ages. I still am working on organizing, of course. I moved several boxes to downstairs from upstairs. I never realized how hard it is to go up, down, up, down from the attic area to basement with heavy boxes so I broke the tasks up into small sections.

I am done with painting rooms I hoped to. I did upstairs room in two toned purple colors. I also did nursery in soft yellow. It really is amazing experience in playing with different kind of color. It is true when they talk about how your mood can be brought on by certain color. Nursery's color is yellow and I was under mistaken impression that it is "exciting" color but when I selected a hue on purpose (soft) and felt amazed how that can bring relaxation to anybody that enters the room.

I already moved all of my hobby related things into purple room. I promised my oldest girl that she has dibs on it when she grows up and when Julia is old enough to move upstairs. Hopefully, by then, we will be able to use basement for our office/hobby space. I spent an hour working through the stuff and organizing them in the closet space. What a fun it is! By the way, I am an organizing freak and I DELIGHT in being able to compartalize, sectionalize, and prop into different labelled boxes.

This week is the start of swimming lessons for four of my children. Timmy is not taking to this very well. He is a type of child that warms up to something VERY SLOWLY. He flees the pool, screeching, every time when this "stranger" approaches him. In the eyes of his loving parents, this stranger is merely a swimming teacher who is eager to get acquainted with him. No. Timmy just don't want to take this. I am thinking of taking him to swimming pool on one off hour and see if I can get him accustomed to the pool at general and hope for the best that he will warm up to teacher. The entire experience is simply too overwhelming for my little guy.

This upcoming Friday, Clint is going to speak at Deaf Symposium about "Abiding Faith" topic. I am delighted to participate with him that day since that sweet hearted Sandra is willing to watch our children except Julia all day long! I will need to make arrangements for Saturday evening when we are going up to SLC for banquet activity.

On our schedule, next week, we still have swimming lessons and we will be participating in Steel Days for American Fork. I bought a long strip of tickets for Carnival thing. I hope to go to Picnic in Park, Quilt Show, Art show, and all. They are loads of fun and I look forward to it!

Clint's parents just succeeded in selling their house recently. They will be moving out on July 31st. Even though that Clint didn't say so much about it, I try so hard to visualize how people can feel about it at general. Clint grew up in his ward with same group of people who were his scoutmaster, teachers, etc. He had elementary school, middle school and high school less than 1/2 mile from his home. He can just come home for lunch when he feels like it. All of his brothers and sisters have been through all of those schools, knew same teachers, and graduated from same High School. I guess even that changes are good many times, we do feel sad when we aren't going to frequent same places that brought us so many great memories. My mother also moved out of the house I grew up when I got married and I felt sad about it too. I can't just tread on the same floor I ran on, trotted, and walked in different sort of moods while I was growing up. I can't sleep in that same room I loved so much. I remember loving so much sleeping by that window that I can open and sleep in cool and watery scented air of sorts overnight. It brings that feel of comfort while I remember that. I can spend paragraphs and paragraphs on how much I loved that home. It really was home to me, regardless of its flaws.

Clint's parents are looking forward to making a new life in the area of Denver. The house they are purchasing is closer to Temple compared to their old home. They also are buying a "grandparent" friendly house. I heard that they have some fun stuff in the basement where little grandkids can hang out and have fun. Clint's parents kept toys that Clint and his siblings grew up and from the daycare business so that grandkids can enjoy the visit at their house (not worrying about no touching that, no touching this) . . . I know that my kids will be delighted to visit their grandparents once when they are moved in.

I haven't gotten to my hobbies for a while. Clint told me bluntly that I have to put those aside to take care of the house. I had to agree with him. And when the summer hit, it is very hard for me to sit down for more than an hour with free hands. Kids are demanding and always wait to pounce upon me once when baby is done with me. Ha ha. I am glad to have a bit of time to BLOG and check emails!

I want bloody nose!

Trust a preschooler to make a comical highlight to every situation you are in! When Ian and Suzy were having a fight in the back seat. We had to shove older kids back there due to adding a new family member to our minivan seats. Well, Suzy and Ian are the greatest kids in the world. They have their unique temperament and personalities. BOY- they do CLASH each other. I often have to referee the disagreements between them.

Ian was threatening Suzy that he will give her a bloody nose. Of course, daddy caught that conversation and disciplined him promptly. Timothy, overhearing that conversation, cried- "I want bloody nose!" We all HAD to laugh.

Well, just last weekend, we have been doing a great deal of moving in and cleaning up. We still are long way from being completely settled in. Our kids finally are able to move into their new bedrooms. Clint and I used my old daybed and its trundle bed as a temporary arrangement till we are able to afford some nice twin beds frame for girls. We fixed some stuff in the third bathroom, cleaned out kids' bedroom and fixed some ding and scratches. I will be painting that room pale yellow and turn it into a nursery room for younger kids. We are going to keep toddler bed and crib till all of our kids are old enough to be staying upstairs. We haven't quite cleaned other room upstairs out yet. I think we just are trying to do one thing at a time. We also hope to organize our storage as well. One great news to consider: the drain installed by our city is really doing its job. I mean with all of those raining, we are supposed to get a so much wet basement . . . But we aren't, much to our gratitude.

We celebrated Suzy's birthday yesterday. It was a whole family participation in preparing it to make Suzy to feel special. Anna and Ian made cupcakes, I frosted them. Timmy, Anna and Ian colored the happy birthday poster. I made her favorite dishes. Suzy got alarm clock/cd player/radio for her birthday with her new Fancy Nancy sticker book. It was lots of fun.

I will be sure to post some pictures online as I am able to download.

The school is over!

I am not sure if I am thrilled about school being over. I told Clint that I would have to establish a some kind of routine to retain my sanity. My kids are fairly high maintenance sometimes and I sometimes can't just get a moment alone. Today, it was insane!! I finally am getting a quiet and peace this evening because my three kids are gone off to Sandra's and my other two are napping. Ha.

Few weeks ago, we had a teacher appreciation week. I had so much fun preparing things to send off. Here's the letter I sent to each teacher.

To all Special People in kids' life
You probably are wondering why you have been getting some peculiar items from Stimpson's household for Teacher's Appreciation. Let me explain what each of those items given represents what teachers meant to us:

Monday

Water bottle/snack bar which usually are used in Marathons- Teaching is like a marathon- it gets exciting in beginning, tiring in middle, and deciding that it is all worthwhile in the end.

Tuesday

Magnetized writing pad- There are so much details to remember all day long everyday . . . A ability to focus on good priorities is a main trait in good teachers . . . They work so hard to make sure that lessons, classroom experience, and disciplining goes off working like clock.

Wednesday

Pin cushion- represent how many hearts you have mended, uplifted, and much more. Sometimes, teachers are like parents- they comfort, help, and bring happiness in the little hearts of children they are entrusted the care of.

Thursday

Hot pads- Sometimes, teachers have to deal with sensitive situation with delicate handling. They sometimes are in precarious situation and took courage in doing what they know to be right. Hot pads are gumption, wisdom, and discretion - all important traits in good teachers.

Friday

Candy and bag- Represent the return of rewarding experience in teaching. All of those time given in teaching and sacrificing . . . Here's a sweet return of our appreciation in making the difference in our children's lives.

Candy bag is the most fun item I ever made! I also made hot pads, pin cushions as gift from my sewing machine and from ideas list I gained from my friend, Cathy.

Here's the pic of candy bag I made but with candy kisses themed Moda product.
If any of you guys are interested in learning how to make- just ask me for the direct link. I found all varied form of fabulous ideas on www.modabakeshop.com . . . They all are so wonderful!

As for the summer, I have no big plans ahead other than soccer and swimming lessons. I am thinking of setting up some kind of rules. Like no friends on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Going to library in morning and getting kids in with story times. Visiting fun places like zoo, museums, etc each other Friday. I hope the kids still will find it to be a memorable summer though that we aren't going to far off places or going camping in cool places. I don't want to do anything with a new baby.

A fun comparison

I got Clint to scan a couple of pictures. The ultrasound specialist was kind enough to take 3-D scans for us for free. I couldn't believe it and was deeply touched by her kind gesture.

Here's the fun comparison you can make from ultrasound pictures to "I am out" pictures.

Julianna Trudy is HERE!

It has been a week and half ever since Julianna was born. I thought I could do a lot of things immediately after when she was born but I found out that it is even harder to do some things with four kids and a newborn. So I have been sticking to basics- keeping the house clean, take meals out (even though they aren't "home cooked" as I wished to), and caring for newborn. Clint has been nothing but wonderful in helping around the house. He even cooked the dinner for three days in row!!!
Here's the hard core details you guys want to know!!
Julianna is born on April 24- on the day of her great, great, great and great grandma's birthday. She weighed in being 7 lbs, 7 oz and 18.5 inches. She has brown hair - a trait that will make her to stand out among her blond haired sisters. All the same, she is a beautiful little girl.
Clint and I were at Kimberly's house when the labor started. Earlier in the day, I went to midwife and had my membranes stripped (very uncomfortable and a bit painful).
Labor with her was very interesting- I didn't dilate very rapidly with her as I did with some other kids. Contractions were coming in ten minutes apart and were very painful. Midwife decided to keep me at the hospital even though that I was ten minutes apart because of my risk factor in rapid labor in the end. I endured the evening in hospital for three hours before I finally got to seven cm and asked my midwife to break the bag. When bag was broken, the contractions intensified and I decided that I wasn't going to dilate any further unless I start pushing softly. I don't highly recommend it to all ladies because of its pain factor. Well, I pushed anyways and succeeded. In 1/2 hour, Julianna came into the world and Clint got the fun of delivering her.
Our kids were at Kim's house- having sleepover with their cousins. Clint's parents were town for John and Brittany's graduation. So it all worked out very well. Our kids had their grandparents caring for them while we were at the hospital.
Hospital's 2nd floor WAS PACKED that weekend. Clint and I were stuck in delivery/labor room overnight till some women left in the morning. Bed definitely wasn't made for sleeping on. Ha. The nursery that night was filled with 38 babies. I felt amazed when I went into the nursery to watch Julianna being cleaned up and receiving her treatments.
I signed out of the hospital on Sunday and am glad to be home. I never was overly fond of hospital- the food, the sterileness, no privacy . . . I am glad to be over with the labor and hospital.
Julianna is struggling with jaundice still. She had bilibed which lasted her for about four days. Today, I took her to hospital lab after a day and half of having no bilibed and her bilirubin count went back up to 13.4 after being 11.4 for a day. It was a bit depressing to know that we have been working so hard to keep her in the bilibed and trying to make the difference. Not to mention the constant and painful visitations to the hospital with heels being prickled and collected. Well, pediatrician we have is wonderful. We can see how caring and geninue he is about his patients. He gave me some guidelines to follow- if yellowness goes past her knees- I can send him emails about it. He always respond so quickly which I really appreciate.
Our kids adore Julianna so much. Suzy and Ian keep on asking to hold Julianna about two to five times a day. I became a bit afraid that Julianna will start to expect to be held 24/7 after being held so much! Ha. In between those times when kids aren't holding her, Clint grabs his chance up and hold her too.

Blessing dress done!

Wow! I can't believe it- I actually am able to do it in two days total! Here's the pictures!




Yeah, I could not believe it. Well, satin was very difficult to work with. The edges often fray. So I solved the problem by using good zig zag feature by the sewn lines to prevent any further fraying. They definitely worked. I added roses to the ribbon as you can see up above and loved the look! I literally put blood and sweat in that work. I was leaving some blood stains on it when I accidentally pricked my fingers while sewing roses and others. HA! Last Thursday, I bought most of the materials from Joann's. There were a BIG sale including the fabric that I purchased. If I have paid the entire price, it could have been 140 dollars in total but I saved myself 75 dollars. It did take me a while to find a right type of fabric I wanted- satin and washable. I was able to re-use that pattern I used for Annalise's blessing dress a while before. This time, I learned my lesson- no georgette fabric!!

We went to R C Willey to purchase carpeting. Of course, carpet is NOT in stock and we will have to wait for two weeks before the carpet can come in. That's okay. Clint has plenty things to do before carpet come in- like closet shelves, touches up, baseboards, etc. Carpet is just a final touch to the space. Then kids will be able to move in!

Yesterday, I went to midwife appointment and had my cervix checked. I am only 2 1/2 dilated and 50 percent effaced. It means that I am not going to have Julianna out soon. I guess I can go to the church tomorrow.

Upstairs and baby being on way

As you can see the slideshow up above . . . My friends came over and helped me with color painting and sticking some stickers onto the wall from uppercase living. It took us all total of four days or so to complete. I am so excited about the results and Clint is adding the baseboards now. I have been smelling fresh painting constantly. It is a nice smell because you know how brand new things are. I have been cleaning the house on side too. I wanted it to be nice and neat when Julianna comes. There were some white dust there and there from upstairs when Clint swept the stuff off areas where he have been mudding and sanding.

I will be hitting 38 weeks mark tomorrow. I have been getting some usual symptoms that comes very close to birth. But I know that the timetable may be so much different from what I have been expecting. I am still looking forward to meeting little Julianna. I talked with the pediatrician that have been caring for my other four children about her kidney situation. He assured me that many of that situation have been resolved with birth.

I haven't been doing quilting or scrapbooking lately. Clint asked me to put that aside in order to get ready for baby. I had to admit that he is right. I was putting that off because I hoped that he will be done with upstairs in time so that I can organize the entire house and have it easier in finding the baby stuff. I guess that baby will come inevitably and Clint won't be done in due time- inevitably too. I just hate knowing that my house is in disorganized state. I was very crabby when I had to go everywhere- trying to find that missing piece that belonged to carrier or playpen.

Now, my house is becoming more and more cluttered when we are adding some stuff like painting cans or putting baby stuff in. I really can't wait before the upstairs is done!! I really look forward to having the space to work in and enjoy. I know we will be getting there, eventually. It is just that I have to remind myself constantly that patience is a virtue that we all have to work on constantly. I am grateful that Clint is willing to work on upstairs and concentrate all of his energy on it so that we can cut the costs of remodelling. We are doing just that now.

I forgot to mention further what have been going on with our life. Last two weekends ago, we had General conference and a fun family activity. We held an egg hunt in our basement and had lunch with the family. Kids had fun looking for eggs while it was too muddy and wet outside to romp around and look for eggs. We enjoyed watching general conference sessions. Speakers are amazing as ever. I spent most of my time getting ready for baby like washing laundry, setting the playpen up, cleaning the carseat up and much more. It was very exhausting and I was working in overdrive mode because due date was too close for our comfort. Just yesterday, I just did most of my hospital bag packing. Today, I took our kids out to Walmart to select some fun baby toys and clothes for their baby sister. They were a such enthusaistic participants!

Suzy and Anna are at Kim's house right now, playing with their cousins and having a sleepover. It really is a wonderful thing to live so close by your family and being in same area so that kids can share same school holidays/vacations. Ian was sad because there's no boy his age around that he can sleep over. We are pretty strict about sleepovers and we feel more comfortable doing sleepovers with our family members. We are going to take Ian and Timmy out for our "son's time" special night. We are thinking of doing Mayan restaurant tonite.

After reading up and discussing with some of my friends, I did realize that it is becoming necessary to protect our family and setting up privacy so that some wrong people won't be able to gain access to our kids. I will be changing the settings of this blog and making it accessible to those who are our friends.

IT is SNOWING in April. Augh. Just imagine our frustration! We are so ready for spring and the flowers are budding on the trees. We already ordered the grass seeds and are all set to prepare our yard for the beautiful season. Oh well, snow means water. I don't want Utah to see another drought.

I was sorry to disappoint our children . . . Normally, every spring vacation they have had, I always was taking them on outing . . . But with upstairs, baby coming, and so many things to do- I had to sit tight at the home. The weather isn't helping us either. I am so glad about Kim helping us out with making spring vacation more exciting for our girls and we hope to do something special before the week is out- to make their vacation memorable.

Pregnancy really can sap!

Battling exhaustion. It has been a long week/weekend. I think with the pregnancy that is coming into the last month really can deprive one of energy, sleep, and all. I really wish my little ones will allow me to sleep a little today. They really are terrible at that part.
Clint is done with mudding/sanding which I am so glad to say. He just borrowed the tools from our friend, Bobby yesterday and got started on eggshell texturing. He had to post up a lot of coverings for windows, outlets, etc. He had to put the project on hold today. There's lots of things he needed to do today. Including working in the temple.
I am done with cutting all of the old jeans into five inch squares. Here's the picture.

I am debating with myself whether I should be getting airplane fabric to match up with those . . . Will that be too tacky? Will my boys like it still, even after ten years? I really like airplane theme so much. I saw few fabric being on sale which I am convinced that will go great in the room. I still wonder if I am making the wise decision. Well, it is decision I will HAVE to make before 6th of this month.
April's Fool day definitely kicked in. We are getting snow! Spring is looking at us and laughing, "Happy Fool's Day!" My poor bulbs- they are supposed to be blooming but all I get are stunted green stalks. I wonder how they will turn out.
I practically kicked my kids out to the school . . . They were complaining about different sort of ailments so that they can stay home from the school. I had to deal with either one of them for two days. I had my dose and am so glad to discipline them accordingly. I felt justified in it because I did take one of them to the doctor to check for strep throat and it came out being negative.
Ian's thing with hospital in SLC is done- his doctor diagnosed it as being possible development toward kidney stones. He said he won't dismiss the possibility of kidney complications so he prescribed 1 1/2 quart of water for six months and asked us to see him again in six months with list of symptoms to watch for if he had complications. I am glad that thing is over with for now. It has been a long drive to University of Utah Hospital.
I am looking forward to General Conference weekend. I am expecting the visit from Susan and her family on Saturday with a fun egg hunt activity . . . I already invited Kim and her family to participate. Of course, I wanted to invite Brittany/John and Curtis for fun.

Mentionworthy items

I enjoyed the weekend, working on a baby sized or lap sized quilt . . . I decided to use the leftovers from layer cake and invented my own pattern. Of course, it was a process of experimenting, correcting, and all. I also used that opportunity to develop my skill in making squares to line up well. I still am still far from it because I am learning. Here's the result of three days worth of work with a good working sewing machine.














A few cute pictures to laugh at . . . As some of you may be aware- Timmy always hates sleeping alone. I usually was finding him cuddling up on someone. Here's a few of his pictures with somebody else.
















We had a lot of wonderful moments- bowling, celebrating Anakin's birthday, hanging out with family, and seeing little Abby's baby blessing. However, Clint and I were getting worried- all of those filled up weekend with family activities have been making it harder on Clint to finish upstairs. He is in mudding/sanding stage right now and I have just a month or so left before little Julianna is coming. So last weekend, I gave the quilting class up so that I can watch the kids while Clint can put his full focus to the project. It is okay because it was nice being with my family anyhow.

I used my time last week cutting fabrics, cooking, and doing house chores. I also typed down over 50 recipes for the family cookbook project. I still have a few more to look for and add. I am pretty content with my life and feeling fulfilled which is a great blessing. Of course, I still feel anxious about upstairs being done in time. That's the same feeling I had for a year. One nice thing about upstairs not being done too quickly- an assessor came by our home one day during the week, asking me if we are done with upstairs. I said no. He told me that we won't have to pay additional taxes for the extra space for the rest of year. Isn't it so nice? A small something to count blessing on.

Quilt finale!

I am so happy to say that I am DONE with Anna's quilt. It is a quite project . . Took me forever- thanks to the uncooperative sewing machine I have. I took it in for service but the thread from the bottom won't go up into the sewing thread. It was very frustrating. I finally sent the machine back to the repair shop and the man was able to repair it and don't charge us for it.

Quilt looked pretty good for a beginner like me as long as you don't inspect the backing. The adhensive spray were fading away while I was in middle of the project. So the backing is a little wrinkled. I will use both spray and safety pins next time to perfect my skill. I hope to make a baby blanket next time.

News and some thoughts.

I have been enjoying listening to what is going on with everyone else. For some reason, I have thought that other people's news always have been interesting than mine. Ha. But I know that it is not always true meaning that everyone's news being interesting in their special ways. We have been doing some things that we have been enjoying. As I have said in the past, I am fascinated with the world of quilting . . . I am nearly done with the book, "The Quilter's Catalog: A Comprehensive Resource Guide" . . . It is full of fascinating details and facts about the world of fabrics. I enjoyed it immensely! I learned from the book how to do quilting precisely-
1. Don't IRON the seams . . PRESS. Don't use steam but keep it at med. or low heat. It causes stretching of the fabric.
2. When you want perfect corners- you need to make sure that seams go in opposing direction . . . so you can flush the lines in front.
3. There's a such thing as sewing with your machine and making embroidery. You just need free motion foot for that. You also need to lower the feed dog.
4. While you do free motion sewing, use rubber gloves that you won't have to press down too firmly.
5. As you purchase fabrics, there are high ends and low ends . . . Low ends will bleed, have the feeling of dyes on top instead of within the fabric . . . I learned about the brands that only will sell to small scale shops - like Moda, Michael Miller, or Heather Bailey. They also are very expensive. 8.99 to 10.99 per yard. In long run, it will be worth it. You get what you pay for. I have been going to clearance racks and getting them for half or more the price.
6. I learned the names of certain cuts- Some fabrics come in certain precut shapes . . . Jellyrolls are 2.5 X 44 inches fabrics bundled in big roll. Fat quarter is 1/4 cut of a yard, charms are 5X5 squares, and layer cakes are 10X10 squares. Don't buy jelly roll or layer cakes if they are at 30 or above price. Go for 20 or less dollars. Charm squares are best sold at 5 dollars or less. There's an advantage of purchasing those- they save you cutting time.
7. There are rules concerning rotary cutter . . a- never cut towards yourself, b- keep it closed when you put it aside, and c-dull blades will slip and cut you. Keep them sharp.

There are loads much more! I am still working on sudoku quilt. I am nearly done with it. Now, I need to use temporary spraying adhesive to attach the batting, front and back together. I then need to sew them together as I am able to get the package that has free motion foot, presser foot, etc.

A couple of days ago, we went to Fun Family Classic Center to participate in our kids' cousin's birthday party. Kids bounced, ate junk food and played for three hours in row. It is not something that you have very often because of its expensive price tag. They charge 15 dollars each kid and it doesn't include meals. I sort of think it is a bit overrated. I prefer to do it cheaper way like always.

I urged Clint to help me to decide what is going to our little girl's name. I really am the one who take a bit assertive move in this decision. I settled on the name, Julianna Trudy. I liked how it sounded out and it is not used too frequently. It continues our family's tradition in naming our girls with something that has Ann in it. I also am able to use something from our family to carry something on. Julianna means "youthful" so it doesn't have a bad meaning. Ha ha.

I am done with wet cannery shifts now. I am grateful to Kim for her willingness to help in watching the kids. I hope that her kitchen is restored to her daily uses.

Last thing I would like to post for just fun . . I sometimes like to read some useful tips in anything and I found something on how to be economical. Here's the link:
http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/596
I have read some and am very happy to say that we have been doing some of those. There are some areas we can use some improvements. Ha. Don't we all?

There's no particular plans this week excepting some medical appointments. Anna will need some of her school forms completed at doctor's and Timmy is going in for his free child eye evaluation. Even though that Timmy's eye doesn't wander badly like mine did but I always thought it is a bit off center. I wanted to double check and make sure that he doesn't have the condition and it always is best to have it corrected ASAP.

Spring approaching

The snow is going away very slowly. We did get some snow from time to time but they didn't stay long. It has been so long ever since I posted something. I was struggling with flu for two weeks. It began out with sore throat, achey neck and headaches. Then I found myself coughing constantly. I couldn't sleep with having to cough. It was terrible. Ironic thing is that I am the only person that ever got sick in this family. Normally, everyone already has been sick BEFORE me. While I was sick, I barely was keeping up with chores. Dishes, laundry, and all were kept up with. I was meaning to do house cleaning . . . But it came into last on my priority list. No regrets.
I got better around Thursday and was able to get back to normal things. The first thing I did was to clean kids' bathroom! Ha ha. This week, I did the remainder. I am telling you one thing: I can't wait till Clint is done with upstairs. I will be able to organize things and there will be so much less clutter around the house.
Last Monday, I took kids out to visit their cousins in Syracuse. They played all day long together till after dinnertime. I took them back home and arrived at 7:00 p.m. It was very hard for them to get back to the routine next day. Some grumblings and disciplining before we settled into the routine. On Tuesday, I went to Lindon Bishop Warehouse to do some wet cannery shift. It was so different from dry cannery. I just stood there, watching the rows of cans going pass by me with that overpowering scent of tomato soup. It just took me an hour. Ha. It is very interesting! Next Tuesday's shift- I won't be using nice clothes that can get stained very easily. I will be doing diced tomatoes. I talked with my sister in law about it and she told me that doing jams are the best- the scent is sweet and pleasant. Ha.
On Wednesday, I took Anna and Timmy with me to midwife appointment. I had to go in for ultrasound first. They were checking my little girl's kidneys because some time ago- they were swollen with fluid. I was happy to have good news- they checked it this time and found them to be smaller- like slits. That's improvement. There's still some fluid there so they will check me again during 36 weeks. That will be six weeks from now.
My sister in law just had a little guy two nights ago. His first name and middle name is Parker Clay. I heard that he is so BIG. (9lbs and 7oz). Chris is very proud and happy. I am happy for their sake. They have been through so much and childbearing is not an easy thing. As it sounded like, it was a good birth. It took Tracy two days to get in hospital though. She had to wait since that she needed to be induced. The women who are in labor usually get priority over her.
Other days, have been spending purely on cleaning and doing laundry. LOL. Laundry piled up so badly that I had to spend an hour and half folding the clothes on Wednesday. I am washing other load today now to keep up with piles of dirty clothes.
Tomorrow, I am going to learn how to do a pattern at quilting class which I am looking forward to! I went to JoAnn yesterday night to purchase some stuff on sale and am very excited about it. I am disappointed about the price of batting. I will have to wait till I get 50 percent off coupon before I can get that.
Clint's scar is healing nicely. However, there's small part of it that won't go away. I think he is developing infection in that section. I have been worrying about it. Good news is that Clint is done with physical therapy sessions and is able to bend his leg completely. He is able to return to the work upstairs. He has been mudding and is done with the first coat. He will be working on second coat this weekend.
I hope to concentrate on some of my projects next week- scrapbooking and quilting. I am done with Annalise's book and will work on Suzy's. Anna will be excited to know that I am planning to register her in this Monday for school kindergarten next fall.

Sewing, Tree cutting, and Christmas photographs

I just completed my sewing project that I started at Deaf Center in Salt Lake City. I went to Deaf Quilter's Club on third Saturday and learned how to do appliqué style with a heart shape. It was so fun doing all of those varieties.

This is tree cutting activity which resulted in Clinton getting injured. This tree is so BIG and I felt so amazed that just four men could take care of it in a day!

During the Christmas week, we hung out with cousins at museum in Denver, had a wonderful Christmas family home evening where we made gingerbread house. We also had lots of fun on Christmas morning.

A bit of time for myself now

I am feeling a bit selfish now. I want to do my fun stuff now. I can't wait to learn how to quilt this Saturday, doing that heart appliance type. I can't wait to get started on the project I wanted for boys' room- denim out of old jeans with red planes theme on them.
Tonite, I will go to a lady's house to make five cards. I enjoy that sort of thing.

Update on Clint:
On ninth day of taking his antibiotic doses- he develop allergic reaction! Rash was horrible. It got to the point where rashes were joining each other and turning into the appearance of welts. LOL. Clint opted to take last three doses and allergy medicine to manage the reaction. Well, I am so happy to say that it is all over. Unfortunately, that medicine that Clint developed allergy to is sulfa- famous for its "half-life". It takes some time to leave his system. Clint's welts are gone but rashes still are there, fading very slowly. I told him he is forbidden to give me any more worries . . . I already have enough of it (lightly).

I am so glad to say that there's no more cadence of accidents . . . Things seem to be returning to routine. I got back to cleaning the house and doing chores like usual. Kids are very happy to fuss over Shadow, our black dog.

Just put up with my previous blog- I was a bit cranky and needed an outlet. I am glad I have a such sympathetic friends. I really feel blessed!

The latest discipline issue I am facing right now is how kids always
are calling each other names. It is deplorable and chases the spirit away. I felt sad one day when I saw Clint off to the work after some negativity influencing our mornings. I finally decided to have a discussion with my family . . For I felt that my kids can't really understand how negative consequences that cam come out of name calling. I put up printed out fake dollars on the refrigerator. I tell kids that they earn a dollar from us every week but with every name calling they do, they lose five cents off their dollar. We are putting this into practice this week and see how our kids do it. It is very hard on them in controlling themselves. Ian is having it even harder. So far, he just has about 25 cent to spare. But I am happy that we don't have to scold them constantly. It is just going to ref. silently and put on tallies.

The end of holidays

And trying to recover from it!

It has been an incredibly nutty holiday. Partially wonderful and partially horrible.

I decided to make holiday treats last minute so I spent an entire afternoon and evening cooking those treats. I enlisted a help from my kids- much to their delight . . . So that they can be the first ones to sample those sweet treats.

On Thursday, I spent most of the day finishing off holiday card/newsletters. It was a lot of work and I forget that every time every year. I guess that I can't let myself to back up and go on lack. I mean, I have been getting letters from my friends and I think they deserve something in return.

On Friday, I made some food for church party held at a house. I had to do some washing and packing to do since that we were leaving on Saturday. We spent a lovely evening at Holland's. When we returned, we had to finish off the packing. We went to bed very late.

We got up very early- 6:30 a.m. and finished off what we needed to do in the morning. We were barely able to leave at 8:30 a.m. Clint was so cranky that we have been getting so much delays. He wanted to get past bad weather in between now and Rock Springs as soon as possible. When we were ready to leave- the battery in our van is D-E-A-D . . . IT made Clint even more cranky. He borrowed my keys and used his car to jumpstart our van's battery. Well, guess what? While I was busy feeding our kids breakfast, I didn't realize that Clint DID not even take my keys out of his car. Yes- he left it RUNNING all day long. When I was looking for my keys next day- I could not find my keys and - boy- did I chew him out for it. Well, when I calmed down considerably, I realized how blessed we were . . . Nobody was around to take advantage of the situation and broke in our house or stole our car. Sandra was able to come around and took the keys out for us. She is our real lifesaver!

Well, our trip was uneventful too. Weather was so horrible that Clint had to focus all of his attention on the road. I spent most of the time trying to referee disagreements or needs of my children in the backseat. I paid the price for it . . . I had muscle spasms in my left arm for stretching and overusing all of the trip- nine hours of it. I had to put up with muscle spasms all night long and on Sunday. Well, we were able to arrive and hearing the parents exclaiming how closely we were able to bypass two closed gates on the Wyoming highway. We realized that the gates closed immediately when two huge accidents occurred on different places. All we knew was that we had to wait long time in long lines of cars.

The week at Dad and Mom's was pretty good. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the family. On Friday, we had a family gathering to cut that dead tree down in the backyard. Dad and mom were concerned that it will die and branches will fall down and injury somebody. So they decided to enlist the help of family members to cut it down in orderly fashion. They started in the morning- cutting branches down- and pull it toward certain site where they want it to fall with mountain climbing ropes. Clint was up in tree most of the day, holding chainsaw for his dad while his dad did the risky stuff- climbing and cutting. It was a little after noon when dad cut the trunk down. It made a great noise! We ate lunch before the men returned to the job which was chopping the trunk down. After chopping them down- Clint and dad decided to cut the stump off down to the ground so that dad can clobber the roots with other machine other time. Dad was going to do horizontal and Clint was doing vertical. Dad did 1/2 part then Clint completed the vertical. Dad went off to other part of yard doing something. Clint grew a bit impatient and proceeded to do his dad's another half. Guess what? The chainsaw jumped and jerked back while Clint was kneeling on the ground . . . It cut part of Clint's right leg. Clint didn't feel the pain at first. Probably because of the shock and body not realizing that it was injured. Clint limped to the back porch and told me directly that he hurt himself. EVERYONE came out and was shoving each other to see if they could help him! Clint nearly passed out on picnic table. We ran off to the den where Clint's mom was in- talking on her cell phone. She came out and grabbed a pair of latex gloves . . . I was scrambling in the closet door- for first aid kit. I brought them in. Mom examined it and said we are going to ER. The cut was deep. Curtis, Clint's brother, volunteered to drive while I insisted in joining them. Clint's mom followed us in her car. We drove to ER . . . We waited there for three hours and half before Clint was able to return home all stitched up. We counted our blessings . . . Chainsaw could have grazed his muscles and it could have required the major surgery but it didn't. We stayed for three more days. And during those days, Clint's mom cared for him- changing bandages and such. On the second day, Clint developed an infection and his mom was able to identify it and took him to ER again. Clint got a whole host of fat antibiotic pills to swallow. I had to drive all of the way all myself for nine hours from Colorado to home.

Clint just had his stitches out today. He will need some physical therapy since that he has trouble bending his leg now. I have been taking a bit of household responsibility more than normal to care for the needs of my family while that Clint has to keep his leg up for a while. I end up being so mentally and physically exhausted sometimes.

Ha- I have heaps of laundry to do today. My kids, for some reason, had to keep up the cadence of accidents- bed wetting twice with different child and spilling something. I used up so much towels soaking up those kitchen messes. I am praying that there won't be any more of it. I am tired of it!!

Suzy and Ian are back in the school. I am a bit tired of their sibling rivalry and am grateful that they are back in the school with something to keep their busy little souls occupied. Anna is having a bit of trouble trying to get used to routine right now. I am praying that we will have a bit of time between now and in the future that we can work out those trials out of our life.