Thankful Thursday on Friday

November 19, 2010

I just read Lizzie's blog and it made me realize that I too had not done my Thankful Thursdays for a very long time.

I am thankful for Gary. He is always helping me and telling me to take care of myself. Sometimes I don't slow down and end up sick, like I am now. He tells me to relax. He does laundry, dishes and cleans the house, among other things. He is so great.

I am thankful for the holidays coming. Lizzie and Luke, Sara and Doug are all coming for Thanksgiving. I think this will be a first in a few years. I can't wait for them to all be here.

I am thankful that Lizzie is doing well in school and the she is almost done with the fall semester. Then only one semester to go and she will be graduated. I am so proud of her.

I am thankful for Luke. He is so good to Lizzie. How lucky we are that they found each other. I am grateful he got his new job at another branch.

I am thankful for Sara. She is going to come back on Monday and stay the week. She is such a great daughter. She is trying to learn to budget, so she can live in a place by herself. She is learning how to live with others in an apartment, but would love to have a small place of her own. I am proud of her, too.

I am thankful for Doug. He is growing and learning about who he is. He has a new job at Target and is going to the singles ward. He is making new friends and having fun. I am very proud of him.

I am thankful for all my young women girls. They are such a great example to me. They are striving to live the standards in this crazy world. What a great time to be the Young Womens President!

Well thats all for today. Can't wait for Thanksgiving. It's going to be fun.

New Bed for Our Spare Room

November 13, 2010

I just completed the stripping and restaining of the bed frame for the bed to go in our spare room. It took my entire week off. I started on Monday and this is what the headboard looked like.

It took me three days to finishing just the stripping. It was hard work and then there was a lot of sawdust everywhere. I had to sand and use stripper to finally get all the polyeurethane and stain off. My hands felt like I had sand paper, too. This is what it looked like when the old stain was all removed.

On Thursday, I was able to apply the stain. It is a dark walnut stain. I was going to go lighter, but then I decided not to. I am glad I didn't because some of the spots would not have covered. As I was sanding I found out the frame was not solid wood but wood veneer over MDF. I accidentally sanded too much off in some spots, so the dark walnut worked better to cover those spots.

Thursday afternoon and Friday morning I applied two coats of polyeurethane to protect the stain and the bed. It took until today to completely dry because of the cold. Gary and I placed the bed frame in the room this afternoon. I think it fits well. Now all we have to do is get a mattress for it.

My New Great-Nephew

I just found out today Sunday November 7, 2010 that I have a new great-nephew. His name is Frederick. I am so happy for my niece, Emily, and her husband, Nate. I can't wait to see pictures of him. I hope I will be able to visit soon. They live in Boise, ID, and my schedule is really busy, but hopefull at the end of the month.

Frederick joins his sister, Allison. She is such a cutie that I know Frederick will be a cutie, too. His mom already told me he is. Of course, she is prejudice, but then so am I when it comes to my family.

Congratulations to Nate and Emily Jensen on the birth of their baby boy, Frederick.

What a great testimony to me of the Lord's love for all of his children.

Getting Ready for Winter

It was such a beautiful day today that we decided to work out in the yard. We put out the bricks around our yard to keep the grass from growing into the area we cleared during the spring. We also got a jump on the holidays and put up our Christmas lights. We are not going to turn them on of course, but it is going to start storming next week, so we wanted to be prepared. I hate putting up the lights when it is snowing and cold.

Gary got up on the roof to do it. The lights actually go around the both sides of the house and the front. I was glad that Gary did it because when I did it last year I was scared to death getting so high up in the ladder. So now we are ready for winter even though I am not quite ready for it.

I also cleaned out the garage so when Lizzie and Luke come there will be a place for their car. I know we are so nice to them. We are very excited for them to come up for Thanksgiving. We have so much planned. We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner and then maybe see a movie on Thanksgiving evening. Luke, Lizzie, Sara and Gary (maybe me) are going to be out on Black Friday. I still have not decided if I want to. Then we are going to go see Savior of the World on Friday night.

With Lizzie and Luke in town, we are going to have our family Christmas party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We are going to have a Polar Express party. I have made tickets, we are going to wear our pajamas and have lots of fun. I am looking forward to it.