This and that in our lives.

Ugh.....

2009-01-13T21:36:00.003-07:00

Argh. So many things pulling me every different way. Somehow it's things like this that fall to the side and don't get done.

Starting at the bottom and working our way up........

There's a new someone in our house lately. With cream and white fur and four sweet paws Caramel has made her presence known. This sweet kitten has stolen mom's heart and made a huge dent in dad's, though the kids still move a bit too quickly for her to be entirely comfortable with them yet. Richard has hissed and slapped her often, but so far there have been no claws so we're assuming that he is accepting another cat in the house. Chloe, however, isn't so congenial. Seems that she thinks Caramel is replacing her in mom's affections. Not gonna happen, but it's gonna take a bit to reassure our little dog.

Isaac is excited and bouncy. We had the stake baptismal preview and now he's counting down the days until it's his turn to be baptized. It's not until August, but according to him that's just around the corner.

Joseph graduates from cubs to scouts this month and he's excited to get going on that. He's also doing quite well on the saxophone, though getting him to practice is sometimes harder than getting the dog to stay out of the cat food.

Gerald has discovered both electronics and plastic canvas. I'm not sure which one scares me more really, though the plastic canvas is less expensive than the parts he wants to order so he can make robots and such.

Savannah is 16 now.........no, no dates yet. I'm not sure if I'm thankful for that or not. I guess for now I'm just biding my time and taking it as it comes. She is however hitting the point where her parents are getting less smart every day.........I wonder if they ever really come full circle and start thinking that mom and dad know everything?

Cameel is in South Dakota now. We hear from her every 2 or 3 weeks........or when she can't figure something out. She says she's doing well. I can't help but worry about her though. It's a mommy thing.

Talmage is still working hard. There's cub scouts every Tuesday and he's the Assistant Cub master, and usually the only representative from our ward that meets with the stake. It frustrates him on occasion, but he enjoys being with the boys so I guess it all works out.

Last but not least is me........Well I'm still plugging away. My partner for Visiting Teaching has changed again, but I see that as a good thing, though the ladies that they've assigned us make me feel very, very young, (not a one of them is under 60). Anyway, on top of that they have me making birthday cards for all of the ladies in the ward. I guess I should be more careful about what I do and give to the Relief Society President. Oh well, I enjoy the challenge.

Hmm......anything else.........

Ah, if anyone is interested there's a certain website you should check and see if you like it. http://www.myspace.com/paradisedragons We need to get a good picture.......or maybe just create one, but any input would be appreciated.

Anyway I think I've just about run out of things to say, but I love you all.
Vonnie

Another day in paradise?

2008-09-04T14:21:00.003-06:00

Seems that I get back to this about once a month. Not overly surprising considering everything else that I do on the side. So anyway.................

The kids are all finally back in school and I have a bit more free time on my hands.......well sort of. I've already filled the time with projects for birthdays, Christmas, etc. As insane as it may sound at first I've also decided to put together a folder with pictures of all of my patterns. Clothing patterns that is. Over time I've bought here and there and when I start looking though books for something new and different I'm always worried that I might already have a pattern similar. Needless to say my scanner and printer have both been quite busy. I stopped counting when I hit 180 patterns. Anyway, when I'm done I'll be able to look through the book to see what I do and don't have instead of having to rummage through all of the patterns themselves. (No. I never said I was sane, but insanity is something I enjoy.)

Looking through the family newsletter I sometimes feel discouraged over what does and doesn't get done. Adding in the September issue of this year I've actually managed to put out 103 issues of the silly thing. It's been tougher lately to work up the energy to put it out though. It's not so much the printing and mailing as much as it is just trying to get articles from the ones that are suppose to write. Seems that the world is becoming too automated for things like this to continue for a lot longer. Right now I send out 16 copies every month, yet I can't help but wonder just how many of those copies ever get read.

Anyway, Gerald's birthday was yesterday........14 now, where did time go. He wants to take a couple of friends to the movies Saturday instead of a regular party. I guess he's getting too old for the games and playing like he use to enjoy.

Savannah has started drivers ed this quarter. Yup, she turns 16 in just over a week. Reminds me, I need to dig out the guns and make sure they work, she's already got several boys following her around and I may need the gun for a visual reminder.

Joseph is excited to have school going again, he can start taking a band class this year to learn to play the saxophone. His choice of instrument, not ours, though I can't say I'm unhappy with the idea.

Isaac likes his new teacher this year and is even more excited to be able to ride his bike all over. Unfortunately he seems to prefer the weed patches to anywhere else. How do I know? Simple, we're patching holes in his tubes about twice a week.

Talmage is working hard to keep us all going, but somehow he still finds time to relax every now and then. we've done a lot of hiking this year and hope to do more next year, though Friday nights are for him and I to go roller blading. No broken bones for either of us........yet.

Cameel still drops by occasionally, usually to do laundry or borrow the computer. At least we get to see here, that's more than what it use to be. Maybe one day we'll have the relationship we use to again, though I won't hold my breath.

Anyway, until next time I guess that's it.

A day in the life.............

2008-08-05T16:36:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I'm not so good at keeping up with things like this. At least I remember that it's still here on occasion.

Hmm, what's been happening lately............

Well Youth conference went off with barely a hitch, though Talmage is still trying to recover from staying up till nearly midnight every night to get the recordings edited so that they sounded good. Not that it's over he can relax. (hahahahahahaha)

Anyway life around your house is starting to get intense with school starting later this month. Savannah starts high school as a sophomore.......and all that implies. Yes, that does mean that she'll be starting Drivers Ed. Instead of trying to make her adjust to the van, we're hoping to keep the Tempo running until she finishes the course so that there's not such a violent shift between the school cars and what she drives out of school. We'll save that radical shift for after she gets her license.

With Savannah moving on that means that Gerald will be in jr. high alone this year. This will be the first time for him to not have siblings in the same school. Hopefully we can keep him on top of his classes this year without resorting to threats of beatings or some such thing.

Joseph and Isaac are still both facing elementary, something mum isn't all that unhappy with. Having the two youngest together is both a blessing and a curse. Joseph and Isaac still enjoy harassing each other at every opportunity, but at least they're doing it to each other instead of the neighbors. Trying to keep up with the two of them on bikes could be a challenge for me however.

As for myself I've been staying busy going out to my mum's house to work on genealogy with grandma. It is hard on the vehicles and the budget when it comes time to pay for the gas, but I'm getting histories and pictures that I wouldn't be able to get any other way, so I guess in the long run it's worth it.

Not much else is going on right now. I've been trying to keep up with Cameel, but she's on her own........or so she thinks.

Anyway, until next time.

Just another day........

2008-07-11T19:18:00.003-06:00

Well Youth Conference is almost upon us here and it's got Talmage busier than ever. Since several key people in the ward (and stake) know that he has a mini recording studio in our basement the talked him into recording some things for Youth Conference this year. As with all good ideas this one has gone astray. Six days to record what will be the main focal point of Youth Conference in our stake. That is IF we could get all of the kids there when they're scheduled to be there. That however is the problem. In the last three days they've gotten about half of the kids that were suppose to be recording actually recorded. That means that Talmage will have to dub them in when they can get them in to record........Hours of work that turns him gray and ups the amount of antacid he eats. (Makes a mental note to check and see if the company is in the stock market so I can invest in it.)

On another note Isaac finally decided that he wanted a treasure chest for his birthday cake instead of a jail cell. I'm still not sure where the idea of a jail cell came from but he was stuck on the idea for almost a month. Still makes my brain twitch just thinking about it.

For those of you that haven't heard Cameel is on her own again........well more or less. She and Brandon had a parting of the ways and things are not pretty between them. Sad but true. We're trying to look on the bright side, but sometimes it's hard to see when there are so many clouds.

Savannah and Gerald have been staying busy this summer. Mostly because mom and dad won't let them sit on their rumps and vegetate. Gerald has been put in charge of the lawn and the two of them go through the garden pulling weeds and such about twice a week.

Joseph and Isaac have been exploring the limits of how far they can go on their bikes before they're out of range of the walkie-talkies. That's usually when I track them down and drag them back home. Other than that they're having a ball this summer.

As for me.........well, I've been gathering genealogy and histories from both sides of the family. Since Aunt Mavis has a huge amount on the Glads I've somewhat let that side go for a while and have been working on my side. Unfortunately that's a very depressing deal there. The records are there, but getting them from the different people has been like pulling teeth sometimes. Luckily my scanner is portable. If it wasn't for that I'd be up a creek without a paddle.

Speaking of which........I'll be heading back out to grandma's in the morning so I'd better get my stuff packed to take with me.......computer, scanner, extra ink cartridges, paper, external burner just in case...........

Laters all.

Oops, I forgot....

2008-06-22T22:10:00.003-06:00

Oops. I knew that there was something I had been forgetting. Now how to condense the last...........5/6 months into a usable and readable format without making this into a book................

February: Talmage's birthday, valentines, children driving us nuts, cold weather and snow.

March: St. Patric's, Easter, kids still driving us nuts as it continues to rain/snow on us.

April: Ward Conference, April fools, the kids and the weather are starting to be more temperate.

May: Dirt & Dog day, Pinewood derby, YW dinner, Court of honor for Gerald, more rain, mom is loosing patience with aforementioned children because they're underfoot and still can't go play, Cameel and Brandon having marital problems.

June: Primary activity, Girl's camp, Talmage & Gerald leave for 50 miler, Summer hits with a vengeance.

Well that's kind of the nutshell version of what's been happening I suppose. For a fleshed out detailed version I would actually have to dust off my mind and try thinking. Not something that I'm looking forward to doing at...........10:30 at night.

Anyway, the spring cold has more or less run through the house, Savannah seems to be the last one with it. Along with the new allergy that I've developed this year to garlic it would also seem that Gerald may have hayfever. With the 50 miler coming up that should make for an interesting time for him.

Hmmm. Talmage has been working with the stake to record some things for youth conference this year. So far it's been a hair puller, but we're hoping it all comes together in time for the actual event. Thanks to Cameel's creativity two of Talmage's songs are on youtube now. The first one is the "Prelude" form the Paradise album....( http://youtube.com/watch?v=3gsk3INU3mM ) the second is "One Step At A Time" also from the Paradise album ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=1tLf-hLNtps ). Personally I like the first and am not so fond of the second, but that's only because I'm still not sure if the anime/ manga concept is really what fits it. Anyway...........if you want to see more of Cameel's broadcasts just look up Emberosa on Youtube.......or if you're lazy.... http://youtube.com/user/Emberosa.

See I is nice. I gives out links.........well sometimes.

Ummmm. Gah, too late at night for me to be thinking of what I have missed putting in here and I have to be up early in the morning anyway. I'll try to keep track of this a bit better from now on, but no promises.

Till next time,
Vonnie

2008-01-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well January is nearly 2/3 over and here I am trying to play catch up still. Some days I wonder if I ever will catch up to life. Oh well.

Anyway, on to what's been happening in life here in this particular Glad house.........

Isaac is, as always, a challenge for everyone around him. The problem is that even at the height of mischief he can give you that innocent smile and a hug and somehow get out of nearly all of the trouble that he is in.

Joseph is struggling in school at the moment. He's in fourth grade and somehow his teacher had decided that her class is more than up to the task of putting together a 7 page report on the Utah county of their choice. Seven pages.........I remember doing things like that at the end of ninth grade, but not in fourth. Needless to say we've been scrambling to try and get him to put the information in his own words and hope it will be long enough.

Gerald has been........how shall I put this........he's been examining the limits of certain parts of his body. Confused yet? If not you're doing better than my mind. He came home from riding his scooter a couple of weeks ago with a mouth full of blood. After an emergency trip to the dentist, (is still waiting to see the insane bill for that one.) he came back with a brace on his teeth and orders to not chew anything with his front ones for two weeks. The thing that got me the most is how he could mess up his teeth so badly and never even get a fat lip.

Moving on..............

Savannah is blooming more every day. Though she still doesn't get out much or have many friends over she seems to be opening up a lot more the last few months. It's a wonderful thing to see and I enjoy watching her as she learns and grows. Though she still doesn't like direct confrontations........except with her brothers, she's becoming a very opinionated about what she does and doesn't like.

Cameel and Brandon..............well we don't see a lot of them, though I usually catch Cameel a couple of times a week over the net. I guess for those two you'll have to find another source of information.

Talmage is finally getting a breather from work. Seems things have slowed down for a little while at least. As he tries to find time he's been working on trains and his music. That is when the kids aren't crawling all over him. ^^

Now down to me...........hmmm. Not a lot to tell.......I think.

Talmage talked me into going skating, the first time in probably 24 years and how did I do? Well you probably guessed it. I fell down. My tush is bruised to the point that sitting is painful and laying can be even worse. To make it even worse I fell funny and ended up hurting my wrist. Such is the way of life. On a side note, we're planning on trying again this Friday. Insane? Yes, but at least we're having fun.

Hmmm. Anything else? .........................

The cat is still alive. Over seven years old and had the feline version of AIDs for the last three years.

The dog...........she's mom's baby and knows it. She would eat all of the chicken, turkey, beef, ice cream, chocolate and pepperoni that people would give her. Unfortunately she doesn't get most of the prementioned foods, though at dinner time she's under the table to catch anything that might drop.

Hmm, I think that's about it. Until next time family. I love you all.

Ramblings.....

2007-12-27T20:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I'm really bad at keeping things like this updated. Something about life keeps pulling me in every other direction. Funny since I do seem to spend quite a bit of time on the computer.........though my children should be proud, it's not as much as it use to be.

Hmmm, let's see. What's been happening.........

Cameel is off on her own.....well kind of. She is married to Brandon so I guess you could say they're alone together. Or not. They are sharing an apartment with two other friends. Confused yet? If so then I'm doing my job the right way.

Savannah is turning into a beautiful young lady. So far it hasn't gone to her head, but I'm sure that it will eventually. At the moment we're fighting over school. Well, maybe I should say I talk to her about it and she bursts into tears. Normal? I have no idea, but that's my Savannah.

Gerald comes along next. Another one I'm having a hard time getting the idea into that school is important and you have to turn stuff in. At least with him I can get somewhere without tears. Simply take the computer, his models, and his K'nex and not let him play with them.

Joseph I'm still wondering about. Then again I've been doing that for years now. Just when I think I might have a handle on him and his personality.......he changes nearly everything. If anyone has suggestions on this one I'm all ears.

As challenging as the others are in their own ways I think Isaac is the one God sent down to make sure that I didn't get ahead of myself. I love the child to death, but there are days when I simply want to strangle him. Problem is, I get to that point and he'll smile innocently and wrap his arms around me to give me a big hug. Now just how am I suppose to fight against that?

Work at the shop has finally slowed down, which means that we're all seeing a lot more of Talmage. The kids adore it and I'm not that far behind. Thankfully he doesn't go out of town as often as he use to so at least he's been home every night, even if it was for little more than eating and sleeping.

Christmas was good at our house. None of the kids got the extra computer that they were asking for, but then again I'm not all that sure they really expected it........well, except for maybe Isaac.

For New Years we're headed back out to Vernal to visit with my daddy and bring him a bit of sunshine as he calls it. Personally I always thought it was a bit of contained chaos, but that just my opinion. Anyway, I guess that's it for now.

Oh yea, anyone interested in seeing pictures of Cameel and Brandon's wedding, they're at http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee281/TheScottWedding/ Last time I looked there were over 300 pictures. There's also some great pictures of the bride in a separate folder there. If you're lazy like me it's http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee281/TheScottWedding/Pre-wedding/ .

Love you all.
Betty (Vonnie)

2007-10-12T15:42:00.000-06:00

Another day and more insanity.

It's amazing sometimes that children live through childhood. If it's not jumping out of the club house Talmage built then it's slinging things at each other. I'm still not sure why we haven't had more emergency runs than we have. A bit odd that Talmage is the one we seem to go there for most.

Anyway, other than the normal gray hairs of kids not coming home and forgetting to call everything has quieted down a bit. We've nearly got Gerald's costume done now and I'm trying to find the cape for Joseph's vampire. I put it away somewhere safe so I wouldn't loose it. Needless to say.......it's lost.

Savannah still hasn't decided what she wants to be......or if she wants to dress up. As for Talmage and I........well, we'll see if there's time to come up with something.

Talmage is still working ten to twelve hour days. Hard on the family, but good for the paycheck I suppose. He's got more work than he can handle and the boss is starting to discover that it's not so easy to find another good installer. I'm hoping that the connection between that and the fact that people like Talmage follows soon. We'll see.

As for me......well, I'm still here and trying to keep my head up. Talmage has been encouraging me to finish the story I've been working on, off and on for the last few years. with any luck I might actually finish it. What I do after that is anyone's guess.

Anyway, time for me to get back to the sewing machine. Love you all and may God watch over you.

2007-10-07T21:14:00.000-06:00

Ugh, I am so bad at keeping things updated lately. Anyway................

Conference weekend and things have been insane. We've started decorating for Halloween and the kids are excited.

Gerald wants to be a bat so I've been trying to find a pattern for them. Not easy. I finally ended up making a pattern. So far so good, we'll see what he looks like when I'm finished.

Joseph wants to be a vampire. I think this is the third year for that idea. An easy costume, but one that never seems to loose it's appeal.

Isaac seems to change his mind about every three of four hours. Just before bed he wanted to be a pumpkin man. I'm not sure where that came from but....we'll see what he gets.

Savannah I'm starting to wonder if we're going to have a costume for this year. She is at that age where Halloween is more in the stage of cool but not cool. Hopefully I can keep her in the spirit, but we'll see.

I've been thinking seriously about putting the dog in costume, but what kind of costume do you put on a Pomeranian??

As for Talmage and I......well, who knows if we'll be in costume or not.

Oh, for those of you that would like to see more of Cameel and Brandon's wedding pictures, I have a few of them loaded here..... http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff45/foxy-one/Cameel%20wedding/

Anyway, until next time. Love you all.

This and that.

2007-10-02T18:57:00.000-06:00

It's October now and things are starting to get interesting again. Talmage is still working 10 to 12 hours a day five days a week. That makes it a little hard on the family, (mostly mom's nerves), but we're coping.

I tend to check the kids grades online every other day or so which keeps at least Savannah and Gerald on their toes. Unfortunately that also means that when the grades drop below a C mom knows and they end up stuck in the house until the grades rise again. Something Gerald is learning the hard way, though if it drops any further he'll find that several other activities are suddenly cut off.

My walk-about child seems to have settled into school, knock on wood. Thanks to him I'm now afraid to get more than five feet from my phone. The curse of the phones. Luckily he seems to have either decided it was a bad idea or else he's saving up the mischief for something new. (Goes looking for chocolate to sooth my nerves.)

The house is now nearly back to normal, though that will change soon as we start working on costumes for Halloween. So far the ideas are a cardboard box (rolls eyes), vampire, skeleton, a dinner table (another eye roll), and a bag man. Savannah has yet to put in her bid for anything.

Just an update of sorts, Talmage has now finished his second album and has started going through all of the bits and pieces he has in his files to see if there's anything that fits what he wants his third album to sound like. Though it's not really new news to a lot of people it's good to know that he still has at least part of his mind on music.

Well, that's all for now. Peace and God bless.

Wedding bells.

2007-09-29T07:38:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don't know we had a wedding on the 23rd. Our oldest, Cameel, finally tied the knot, so to speak, with her chosen, Brandon Scott.

Mum and dad are sighing a bit over the fact that the wedding went off with very few problems, (not counting the rain). The turn out was great and the bride and groom couldn't have been more pleased.

Now they have their lives together. Hope they're ready for it. ^^

New gray hair anyone?

2007-09-27T17:50:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had one of those days when you could simply feel the gray hair popping out of your head?

Yesterday happened to be one of those days. Normally I get the kids off to school then start working on whatever project comes to hand first. On this particular day things were very, very different.

It all started with a simple call from the school asking me if Isaac had come home.

Yes, that's right, asking if Isaac had come home.

It seems that he didn't have a paper that his reading teacher had assigned the kids and so he went trotting off, supposedly to get the paper from his other classroom. Instead he disappeared. The school had been searched and no Isaac was found. Last ditch effort, call the parent to see if the child had returned home to get the paper he was sent after.

Well, as you can imagine my first reaction was of panic. After that was resignation. Isaac is, after all, the one who at three was riding his tricycle all over the neighborhood and beyond. Worse yet he had actually crossed the busy street outside of the neighborhood and started exploring the college on his own.

After talking with the principal for a few minutes I set out to find my "gone walkabout" child. Calling until I was nearly hoarse I spotted him ducking behind the neighbors vehicles and coaxed him out.

Dragging him into the car we returned to school to be met by the principal and the school district police. Not something I really wanted to do, but it had to be done. After nearly half an hour of talking, Isaac was returned to class and I was headed back home for some aspirin.

I can't guarantee that he will remember his promise not to wander away when he gets upset over something that doesn't go his way, but you can be certain that I will remember it.

The beginning.....

2007-09-22T09:11:00.000-06:00

Wow, another thing for me to keep track of in my life.

Just kidding. Actually this was Talmage's way of helping me stay in touch with the world. I'm not sure how this keeps the world in my grasp, but I'll go along with it.

Right now the family is getting ready for Cameel's wedding tomorrow. Why is she getting married on a Sunday? Your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, the dress is made, the cakes are nearly finished and my nerves are frazzled. Still to do today.....finish the cakes, finish Savannah's skirt for the wedding, bath the dog, laundry, so we all have underwear for the wedding, lunch, dinner............oh yea, I suppose I need to get out of my jammies at some point.