100,019

A little over five years ago my sister, Sue, infected me with the indexing virus! What is the indexing virus you may ask?

Family Search Indexing is a program that allows volunteers to view a digital image of vital public records, for example; the US 1940 Census, and create a digital INDEX of that record. Then those who are looking for their ancestors are able to search these indexes using their home computers and find their loved ones.

I was instantly hooked! (Hey, a habit that isn't expensive, although it is VERY addictive!) For years I've felt the need to participate in Family History work. I've yearned to be able to find my loved ones and the valuable pieces of information about them, but because of my dyslexia I am research-challenged! After looking at random bits of information for five minutes I feel like my head will explode!

Ahh, but I'm quite good at reading a digital image AND recording the information! That is something my dyslexical-brain can do!

It wasn't long before the fact that I was a wiz-kid in the *new* indexing program came to the attention of the Stake leaders and I was called as an assistant FREP (Fam... mumble, mumble! Oh wait, Family Records Extraction Person!). With that calling came an additional responsibility... ARBITRATING.

In a nutshell Arbitrating is quite simple. Each batch (digital image that one indexes) is indexed by two indexers. If all of the information matches the system accepts the information as correct, but if there are differences between Indexer A and Indexer B then that information, along with the image, is sent to an arbitrator who tries to figure what is the most correct information.

All of this is a very long preface to state...

I JUST FINISHED INDEXING MY 100,019th record!

YAY LITTLE JOANIE!

I'm so grateful that I am able to be part of such a great work... that I can make a difference in someone's life when that have the thrill of finding their great-great-grandmother! What a blessing.

It's Official!

BOW... TO THE QUEEN! (Said with an English accent!)

Yes, that's right and if you don't believe me then look at my new thrones!

A week ago I had to take my Elna sewing machine into be serviced (is it just that I use my sewing machines too much or does everyone have to have them fixed this often? It went from a squeak, which I've had it in for numerous times, to a gronck!) Gordon and I (ok, I) noticed that Cotton Shop was having a *Warehouse* sewing machine sale... so I HAD to try them out...

Nope, I didn't come home with a new sewing machine but the chair I was using was so nice Gordon asked if I wanted it for Mother's Day. YES! It feels like a memory foam seat (Gordon says all of them get your bun-prints sooner or later!). Of course he was thinking a new sewing room chair. I'm thinking... where do I sit the most? The office.

So then he found this one (at, where else, Office Depot)...

Which truly is an office chair! So after 15+ years of sitting on the same old-bun-printed-chairs I have TWO new *thrones*.

I'm not spoiled... just well taken care of.

Baby Jude

I'd like to introduce our newest little angel... Jude McNeil Lewis. He was born, yesterday, May 6 at 4:27 am. He weighs 7lbs 2oz and is 20". He joins a very happy brother, Christian- who's been hoping for a brother! and sisters Ashton, Roxie and Sophie. Doug and Jessica are his proud parents.

When Jess brought out this owl hat I was so pleased and surprised! She'd seen the photos I took of baby Bronx last month and was crazy about this little owl hat (well, all things owl!) So her sweet sister made one for baby Jude. I love it!

As you can see, we didn't let him get more than a few hours old before we had our first photo shoot! I told him to get used the the sound of Grammie's shutter clicking!

You may recognize this fabric from Spencer and Deborah's wedding quilt and my party skirt! When I mentioned that I still had fabric leftover after the skirt Jessica hinted that she really liked green and brown too! (Who doesn't?) I also used the Chenille-It on the quilt. I'm in love with this product...

As I was quilting I saw this perfect 4-patch! And I just happened to know the perfect 4-letter word to go in it... J-U-D-E!

Last evening, after dinner, Doug caught me doing my FAVORITE of all Grammie-duties! Loving my babies.

I'm so blessed to have my family! I love them so much.

"I Made My Purse... Like OK?"

Back when Bek's boys were little and she would come visit at Grammie's house frequently we, Camille, Rebekah and I (also known as Cabekah and Remille), would go do fun girl things in little Beatrix. One day we were getting out of the car at our latest shopping stop and Camille said, "I got your purse!" But I quickly added-

"I got your purse, like OK?"

We all laughed at our funniness and that particular saying has stuck as a family quote.

So last month, when Camille's-kind-of-Kevin was in the hospital for back surgery, I saw a purse in the hospital gift shop that I immediately fell in love with! I WANTED THAT PURSE! So on our next visit I decided to go in and take a closer look. I could see through the window that it was leather so I'd prepared myself for an *over $100 price tag*... $240! Are you kidding me? Apparently I'm out of touch with the cost of purses!  I tried to convince myself that I should treat myself... but I just could get there! ($240 is enough for some poor girl in Cambodia to get schooling and free herself from poverty!)

SO...

"I Made My Purse... Like OK?"

Here is my inspiration...

and hefty price tag...

I took my iPhone photo into Photoshop, stretched and cropped it to make a template for half of the applique design. Then I needed the fabric. I had the turquoise and then hand-dyed the lime green. AND I got some turquoise and lime green Chenille-It (I love that stuff!) My original plan was to outline the design with the Chenille-It, but I didn't like the finished look so I just used it on the seams and the top of the outside pockets.

And since I was making a party-purse I needed party lining. I got this down at Corn Wagon.

Pocket are a must-have feature for me!




I get so much satisfaction from creating things! It just makes me happy! I'm so grateful that I have the ability to do this... and I will be so much happier carrying around my very-own-purse-like-ok and helping that sweet person who needs a helping hand!

Women's Conference Tradition

Oh, I do love traditions! Rebekah and Ann came again for BYU Women's Conference. I love being with my family and being spiritually fed.

The thought that stand out in my mind was quoted by Sandra Rogers-

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet."   Marvin J Ashton

(I asked everyone- Am I really this short?  Apparently, YES!)

This year Rebekah drove out with some of her friends from her ward. They ended up staying in campus housing and enjoyed the convenience it gave them.

FUNNY STORY:

This is my 7th year attending WC. The first year I was alone and ended up parking at the Married Student Stake Center across 9th East. Since that worked so well I've just done that every year since, but this year I've noticed that the *construction-dudes* were parking there and I wondered if there would be adequate parking. So I decided to park back by the Creamery. It wasn't until I was committed to the left turn that I saw the sign that said *NO EVENT PARKING*. BAH! But I continued back there anyway to see what they was to see. There was a fellow just getting out of his car so I rolled down the window and asked if I could park there. He said if I didn't have an A parking sticker I would get towed. So in my sweetest voice I asked if he had an extra A sticker. He said no but then turned around and got something out of his car. IT WAS A PARKING PASS FOR *ROCK-STAR* PARKING right in front of the Marriott Center! For both days!

Yes, it always pays to ask for the free upgrade!

Every year there are Make, Take & Return kits for various items- burp cloths, scarfs, mittens, fleece blankets, etc. for the sisters to work on during or between conference sessions that go to meet humanitarian needs. In previous years I've been too slow in getting one so this year we went early so we could get some. Ann made a pair of lovely lavender mittens and burp cloth. I'd gotten a mitten kit too but gave it to some sweet lady who'd missed getting a kit! I ended up making a couple of crocheted-edge burp cloths- but the twist was we used chenille yarn for the single crochet edge, only once around. It made this wonderful fuzzy edge. I'm going to have to make some of those for MY grandbabies!

This is only one of several piles of returned kits Friday afternoon-

What a marvelous blessing this Women's Conference Tradition is in my life.

*MY* Version of Book Club

A couple of weeks ago, after choir practice, a few of the ladies were talking about a book and when the book club should get together to discuss it. Well, I never like to come in on the tail end of a conversation so I asked about it. My friend, Vicki, offered to loan me her copy of The Heretics Daughter. They were going to get back to me on the date for book club. Vicki dropped of that book and another one (which I have just loved, Saving Cece Honeycutt) but since I was busy with other things I didn't start reading right away.

Fast-forward to Monday last week, Vicki called to let me know when the ladies were getting together and that we needed to bring our books. I told her that night didn't work for me AND I probably wouldn't be finished by then anyway. So it was agreed that I would get her back her book. I told her... no problem...

Oops!

There's a problem... I love to read in the bathtub...

This is only the second time this has happened to me in four decades of tub-reading (kind of sounds like palmistry or something, doesn't it?)   But why did it have to happen with a borrowed book? (or my scriptures... they took the first dip in the tub in 1977!)

Doing the only thing possible, I bought Vicki a new copy of her book (I even transferred all of her pencil underlinings) and left it on her doorstep.

So today at church she asks, "Do you need to get back my copy of the book so you can finish?"

I had to confess, "Nope, I got my own copy!" Then I told her why... and we laughed! I also told her about the first time I dropped a book in the tub and how I used my hairdrier to hasten the drying process... I never had to worry about the pages sticking together any more!

Maybe you should stick to your own version of book club... mine's kind of soggy.

It's a Sickness

Last month I went to visit all of my family in California and had a lovely time... and as usual I came home with a project! Rebekah had this wonderful canvas bag embellished with Suffolk puffs (aka yo-yos) and buttons.

I HAD to have one!

Since Beatrix only *sips* diesel fuel... we made several trips down to town to get what I needed for MY party bag. I looked at Bek's and thought, "Hmmm, I think I'd like mine a little larger!" (What WAS I smokin'?)

I've been working on this bag for the last month, pretty much neglecting any other project except indexing... it is another one of my sicknesses! Sometimes bigger isn't always better... my finished bag was going to be big enough to fit a sleeping bag in... I'm not joking! So it was time to improvise. I have a fun cow/pinto purse that I got recently and taking some cues from it I constructed this bag. But since it was going to be significantly bigger I needed to add a few things. First, I wanted to have a hard bottom. I dug around and finally sacrificed an old scrapbooking accordion folder thing to make the bottom. But then I wanted to be able to wash the bag without the plastic bottom, so I added a second zipper to the bottom seam of the lining to facilitate that. After lots of *make-it-up-as-I-go*...

This is my finished party bag!

The stats:

• 63 Suffolk puffs
• 5 yo-yo flowers
• 8 appliqued flowers
• 15 appliqued leaves/grass
• 70 buttons
• 29 beads

Bek, who shares many of my sicknesses, added pocket to her bag. We MUST gave pockets. So this is my pocketed inside. (You can see the zipper in the bottom.)

I have HAD a whole stock of old zippers and used one for my new bag. And I just happened to have some zipper pulls left over from Christmas so I put one on my bag. It makes me happy.

Now lest you think me a mean girl who doesn't want to share her ideas, I will tell you that I've looked in vain for a publishable link for this great project. I will share what I do know. Here is a photo of Tita Leach's (of Rickerty Raggs) original bag.

Bek got the magazine from a friend and she thinks it is Australian Homespun Magazine. I've Googled all of the possible combinations I could think of and all I could come up with is a possible address tita_leach@yahoo.com.au. I've sent her an email trying to get more information and will update here if I get anything.

UPDATE****

If you are interested here is Tita's email to me.  Or you can just wing it (but remember that bigger isn't always better!)

Hello Joanie,

Yes the bag was published in Homespun magazine from Australia. I never made up a pattern for it as it was being published through them. You could contact Homespun and see if they have a copy of said magazine. If memory serves me I think it was published last year. I was surprised how popular it was. I am off to the US on Saturday as I am taking a quilt tour. If you get no joy from Homespun please email me again. I will be back in Oz at the end of May. Lovely to hear from you,

Kind regards Tita Leach.

Also check out the first comment it is from Homespun Magazine. (Yay little Joanie! I uncovered the link!)

Gordie-boy's Big Day

Somebody had a birthday. Guess Who? Gordie-boy!

THE OLDEST AND YOUNGEST MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY- GRAMPY AND CHLOE

I asked Gordon if I could mention how old he is and he said, "No, but you can say Medicare paid for my last doctor appointment!" Then I looked at this photo and thought- duh... no, mystery here.

Stuart cooked up a surprise party for his Papa. He arranged for everyone to show up at 7 pm. I quick scooted Harley outside (he's not good at keeping things on the down-low) and all of these people sneaked into the house, downstairs and were standing behind Grampy playing at his computer. When they started to sing "Happy Birthday" it startled him! "That was a good trick!"

"I Kiss You, Bonx!"

My friend, Breanne, just had her fourth baby. How can a girl have such consistently darling children? When #3 was born Breanne lived in our neighborhood and asked if I'd do a photo shoot for her. It was my first shoot for someone outside of the family! I remember looking through the bazillion photos and thinking, "Ah-stink! There's not a good one in here!" But after a couple more viewings I started to see I really did have some good shots. Then a couple of weeks later I went back and took photos of  Baby K and her cousin!

And now Baby K is two and a half! "I kiss you, Bonx!" is only one of the things she says and does to her new brother.



I was excited when Breanne called and asked if I would like to do a photo shoot for new brother, *Bonx*. What a lively group. I suppose that having been at Grandma's all day watching conference with all the cousins may have contributed to the mayhem! We started with the group shots. What a train wreck!! Have you ever tried to get all four children to look at you at once? Hmmm, not easy. But I was able to do some cloning and come up with this nice group shot.



Then we did sisters- (Baby Big-girl K was not excited about this!  I cloned out M's hands right under her chin!)



and brothers... too bad nobody loves this sweet baby boy!



Then on to the baby fashion parade. What a patient little soul!

First an owl-



Next a turtle-



Then a bear with a bare-bum!



And we can't forget the old-man-face!



It wasn't until post-processing that I saw I'd caught Breanne and family reflected in Baby Bonx's eye! LOVE IT!



We ended with the stork pose... oh my... we should have started there. Bonx wasn't too happy with this! Poor little man was just out of energy for anymore funny business with costumes and props!



But what a darling baby...

80-degree Lamb Day

I remembered last night as I was getting ready for bed that I hadn't recorded my *very scientifical results* about March and the whole Lamb/Lion thing.

This was definitely a SOFT AND FLUFFY LAMB DAY! A-break-all-the-records-for-highest-temperature-in-Utah-in-March-DAY!

Can you believe how beautiful it is? That's my sweet little house with Maple Mountain as the back drop!

Of course, you must know also that this morning's (4/2/12) low temperature was 26 degrees! Yep, that's how we roll here in Utah... it's called

THE WARM BEFORE THE STORM!