We enjoyed a rare night off together tonight since we only have make up work to do for our class. Teresa was off to youth group and Chris and I watched Cinderella Man. It was a good story if you can get past the boxing scenes. Lol. It makes one grateful for all the luxuries we have today.

We enjoyed phone calls from both Laura and Jonathan. It looks like Jonathan and Tonia will be able to come this weekend and will arrive late Friday night. We will try to have a lunch get together with the relatives so if I forget to call you because I am distracted at work call me instead.

Teresa and I got some shopping in today and found her a pair of jeans. We also stopped in at JoAnn’s to get some batting for a baby quilt I am working on for a coworker. It features sailboats and is really cute. I am trying to do the construction right for quilting and not rush the binding before I try the quilting so my inner monkey is frustrated I can’t get it done, but I must exercise patience. We saw Susie at JoAnn’s buying fat quarters of course. They were on sale. We also saw Grandma Ruth at Ross. She was enjoying an afternoon out with her friend Elaine. Next stop for them was Starbucks.

We are doing training at work for a new computer program. The “go live” date is scheduled for Monday. This will be a big change for the office and will eventually lead to getting rid of the paper charts. We also had our quarterly staff meeting at work on Monday. We are recovering from having several employees quit to start their own day spa and have some new employees hired and new ones as possibilities. I still really like my job and am very thankful to be a part of LSG. Speaking of LSG I must go to bed so I can get up early for work. I am training the file clerk to do some of my job duties so we will have more coverage when Kaylene goes on Maternity leave in May. Love to you. Jan

Yes we are still alive

Here is a summary of what we have been up to.

-today Laura and I went to Portland for a final checkup at the oral surgeon. He said she is healing well, actually ahead of where he thought she would be. Then we went shopping at Clackamus Prominade and got a pair of pants, two tee shirts and two dress shirts for Laura. Shopping sucess!

-Yesterday Laura, Teresa and I went to the beach and met Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Larry and Ken and Shirley at the cabin they rent. We enjoyed visiting, playing cards and eating of course. It was good to get away.

-Monday and Tuesday we visited with Clark Barnard from Peru and shared vision at church for a missions trip to Peru in 2007.

-Sunday we went to Cathlamet and visited Milton and Theo. It was a beautiful day and a good visit.

-Saturday we went garage saling Yea!

-Thursday Laura had her wisdom teeth out. It was a hard day as she couldn't keep anything down but Friday she was much better and not in much pain.

We'll try harder to blog more. Jan

Sewing Expo 2006

Teresa, Linda, Susie, Terri Brewer, Tonia and I attended the sewing expo this weekend and it was great fun. We each attended various workshops or seminars and learned a little in each one. I gained a lot of information as to how to actually go about the process of machine quilting and bought a tool for marking the designs and learned how to set up the machine. I will have to do some experimenting. I also got some ideas for baby gifts for showers coming up for ladies at work (there are three pregnant and one newborn at work). I learned two techniques for quilting the quilts in smaller strips or pieces and then putting them together which makes the quilting process easier on the home machines.

Saturday evening we had a birthday gathering with Linda, Susie, Terri and Jonathan and Tonia, Chris and myself. We had a rousing time playing telephone pictionary. Meanwhile Laura and Teresa were at Laura's dorm at the Experience Moyer project which sounds like it was a sucess with over 400 people attending. Check out Laura's blog for pictures of the poodle skirt Tonia made Laura.

Chris hung out with Laura and then Tonia and Laura while we were at the expo. He did a lot of shopping which is unusual for him but he enjoyed it. We did get to see Jonathan for a little bit (they released him from work for a few hours). We hope he will regain his freedom soon for his sake.

All in all it was a great trip. When can we do it again?

  

Teresa started a puzzle

  

Grandma's birthday.

Saturday we celebrated Theo's 78th birthday. It was a fun time. We took lunch out for her so she didn't have to cook. Teresa baked a beautiful cake. Teresa and I started a puzzle for them. It will be up to them to finish it. Grandad is progressing well after his surgery. Enjoy the pictures.

Today Chris's team led worship so we had an early start with a 7:15a.m. practice. Now we are hoping for naps. Teresa and Chauntel are working on the LSG project.

Grandad is looking good after his surgery. Isn't he handsome in his mustache?

  

It has been a complicated past week with surgeries on Milton and Grandma Ruth, a conference at church, our car getting broken into and work and a slowly leaking tire yesterday. But things are looking up today. I found out the tire that was going flat yesterday was able to be fixed for no charge buying us a little time to replace it. The replacement window will only be $65 from the junk yard installed but I have to wait till Friday. Grandma is hanging in there. Even tho they did find some cancer cells in the pathology of the polyp they had already taken out a portion of the colon so she won't have to have chemo or radiation. I have two days off so can spend more time with mom and get a few things done with the cars and house.

Chris started doing transcription at Sunnyside tomorrow. I haven't heard how it is going. Don't forget to see my quilt on the previous blog picture. Love Jan

my new quilt

  

I'd rather be quilting!

Well I have officially been bit by the quilting bug. I have been thinking about my next project since I finished my log cabin quilt. I’ve looked through books for designs and gone to the fabric stores. I really don’t want to spend the money that is necessary for the type of quilt I really want so will try to use up some of the fabric I have bought at garage sales last year. I have enough for a yellow baby quilt and a blue quilt that could be for a baby boy or as a blanket to take to meetings at the church since I am always cold in this rainy weather. This will help my skill level but doesn’t get me a finished product that I really want. But I must have self control and not let this new temptation take over.

I have also been forcing myself to do some things around the house instead of starting a new quilting project. I want to paint the back bathroom but before I can allow myself to do that I had to finish painting the front bathroom which I did yesterday. Then I had to go to Wal-Mart to get paint and primer and a spray bottle to spray the icky mildew with bleach or “30 seconds” which the lady at Wal-Mart says is actually 99.9% bleach. Meanwhile I am having trouble keeping the stupid flexible tubing on the dryer since I moved it to paint. I have duct taped it twice but we’ll have to see if it will stay.

Other things we’ve done over the past week include:

-Went to see the movie The end of the Sword in Battleground with Linda and Susie
-Teresa and I had to take a class on preventing child abuse and procedures for childcare workers so we could volunteer at church
-Chris’s worship team had their first time of leading worship. We had a lot of compliments and they were asked to do worship at a special conference in Feb.
-Had home group last night here (it hasn’t been here for over a month)
-Had lunch with mom and dad (aka Ruth and Larry)
-Hit a few pitiful garage sales.

Still to do:

-Class tonight for Chris and Jan. We have to present a teaching on the Joy of the Lord to be recorded and evaluated.
-Watch survivor tomorrow.
-Sewing at Linda’s on Saturday, (I get to start a new quilt!)
-Actually start painting the bathroom. Ugh!

Teresa and Chauntel

 
 

Teresa, Chauntel, Joanna, Glenna, Danny

 
 

Joanna

 
 

 
 

I have had a few days off so have been able to finish my quilt. I really like how it turned out. We are also getting everything together for Teresa's formal tomorrow. She is having a sleep over afterwards so I still need to clean a little. We will have pictures by Sunday maybe.

Chris has been busy with work, physical therapy and doctors appointments, life group, band practice and our leadership class. We gave our lessons in front of a camera on Wednesday and were evaluated. We still have one more to do next week. I enjoyed it.

Teresa is also preparing speeches and getting totally freaked out about it. Fortunately she didn't have time to do it Thursday and so has the weekend to practice. She got 100% on her math homework and test. Yea!

The city cut down five large trees on our block yesterday.

 
 

Another view of the quilt

 
 

Jan finished her quilt today

 
 

Life after Christmas

The good:

-Teresa and I worked on quilts last week. Teresa finished her quilt top and I have most of my blocks done. I hope to work on it more this Sunday.

-We are starting plans for a trip to Yellowstone this August. It’s fun to be making itineraries and have something to look forward to.

-We enjoyed celebrating birthdays with both Grandma Ruth and Granddad

-Chris got a good report from his doctor yesterday. He is healing well and starts physical therapy Monday.

-We can watch the second season of 24 instead of old Christmas specials.

-Teresa got a new dress for the formal next week. It is turquoise blue and gorgeous.

-Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Larry came over for lunch yesterday and we had a good visit.

The Bad:

-Jan has been sick for the last ten days. (I am getting better, no coughing last night.)

-All the Christmas decorations have been taken down and it looks a little plain.

-It’s kind of lonely without all the kids home…but there is potentially more to read on the blogs that way.

And the ugly:

-I did move Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus to the back yard and noticed how ugly the yard is….moss growing everywhere, dead roses still on the rosebushes, rain, rain, and more rain and lots of weeds. (But the daffodils and crocus are poking up and eventually the rain will stop and I will be healthy enough to go outside and clean up a bit.)

Hope your life after Christmas has more good than bad and ugly.

Teresa's new hair cut