Music to My Ears

I grew up with two older sisters. They were 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 years older than me. Needless to say, they had a pretty close relationship before I was born. One of my first memories of my sisters is them scolding me for playing with their Barbies and Lisa telling me, "Things were good until you came along!"

While they were taking dance lessons, I would watch with my mom and she would tell me I was too little to take dance. While they were practicing piano, I would ask my mom why I couldn't play the piano. Once again I was told I was too little. Well, that didn't stop me. My sisters finally got used to me and they even taught me a few things. One of them was to read and later they helped me learn the notes on the piano. Although I never took formal lessons I would plunk around on the keys almost every day. I love music! I love how it makes me feel and I love using it to express myself. I know it's not too late to take lessons but now is the boys time. They started a few years ago. Austin still takes piano lessons. Kyle found the guitar and really likes that. Josh plays the clarinet in the band and hopes to move on to saxophone next year.

The piano we have is not ours. Shortly after we were married, Jim's mom let us use one of her pianos. It is the piano her parents gave to her for her wedding. We have been so grateful to have it all these years! Austin uses it every day. I still sometimes plunk around on it. We have had it for 18 years and five moves but never had it tuned. Sometimes the boys would sit down to practice and thought they were playing their music wrong because it was so out of tune. They would complain, "That's not how it sounds on Fran's piano!" And they were right!

Well, one of Jim's co-workers has decided to get certified to tune pianos. He gave us a deal that was too good to pass up. He came over a few days ago and went to work. And, trust me, it was work. He had to go though every note twice and replace a couple of wires that were broken.

But when he was done and played a little tune I couldn't believe my ears. It sounded GREAT! Now I might be motivated to sit down more often. It does my heart good when the house is filled with music. The next step might possibly be to have Duane restore it to it's original beauty.

* If anyone needs a tune up you can find this wonderful person at McGuirePiano.com or give him a call (801) 830-5858 *

Jacob Hamblin's Cotton

On our last visit to St George we were able to stay until Monday because of President's Day. We thought that a good Sunday activity would be to visit some of the Church History sights in the area. We started at the Jacob Hamblin Home. We took the little tour from the missionaries there. It is always interesting to be reminded of the sacrifice those early pioneers made so the rest of us might live (and visit) these wonderful areas of our state.

Brigham Young sent some families to the St George area to settle and to grow cotton. At that time, the Civil War was in full swing and it was really hard for anyone to get cotton from the South. St George has an ideal climate for growing cotton and they had much success. As we finished the tour we let the kids play on the big lawn and we wondered through Jacob's little orchard and garden. Being February, everything was brown and not looking very pretty but Jim looked at how the peach trees and grape vines were pruned and my eye went directly to the dormant cotton plants.


There were two or three rows that were about 40-50 feet long. The plants were brown and crunchy but there was a lot of cotton still left on the plants and some on the ground around them. All I could see was lots of fiber that could be cleaned, carded and spun up into something wonderful that I could knit.


I asked the Missionaries if it was OK if I gathered some up to take home with me. They looked at me like I was crazy and then told me it would be fine with them. I got an empty grocery bag that had been floating around the back of the car and went to work.


Most of it is this beautiful, white fluff, but a lot of it is dirty and has leaves in it. I got a couple of the kids to help me. (Thanks, Josh) It seamed like the more we picked the more there was. Kind of like eating pasta, you never get to the bottom of the bowl. We filled up the one bag I had and probably could have filled up another but I felt I had enough.

I really don't know the process I have to go through to get to where I can start knitting it. I am really excited to find out. I will post updates when I have them. As for now, I have a new niece coming in a few weeks so I will now go knit with the wonderfully soft yarn I already have.

One of My Happy Places

St George, UT has had a place in my heart for a very long time. Even before I left home, I would visit my sister who lived there. I met some friends and even went to the Senior Ball with a dear friend that went to Pine View High School. St George is the place that I went when I first left home. It is where I started college, learned a lot of life lessons and gained my independence. It is the magical place where I met my dear husband. We spent about a year together there before I moved up north to get ready for our marriage. His family has strong ties to the community. Jim's grandpa built one of the first houses in Bloomington. That house is still there and now his parents own it. My kids have affectionately named it "The Fun Place". We try to visit as often as possible and sometimes we take our friends with us.

One of our favorite times of year to visit is late February to early March. That's when it is still cold and snowy where we live, but, if you pick the right weekend, in St George it is sunny and warm. Right now, as I type this, it is about 60 degrees and the kids are running around on the rocks behind the house. Yesterday we went up on the "Red Hill" and let them climb around there. I think tomorrow, for our Sunday activities, we will take the kids to visit the Brigham Young Winter Home, the Jacob Hamblin Home and the Visitor's Center at the St George Temple.

The warmth and sunshine is something that has been needed for a long time. After lunch yesterday we all just sat on the deck and soaked it in. It was GLORIOUS!

Mr. Austin's Wild Ride

When Austin turned 15 he had absolutely no desire to get his driving permit. When Austin turned 16 he had absolutely no desire to get his driving permit, let alone his driver’s license. He heard about too many of his friends getting into accidents and the thought of it made him really nervous.

Then Kyle turned 15. His birthday was on a Saturday and on Monday we were at the DMV taking the test. On the first try he got 76%; 80% is passing. He passed it the second time (in Utah you can take it up to three times before you have to pay the fee again). He wanted to drive home from the DMV, which I emphatically denied. I had let him drive home from church a time or two, about a block and a half, and I wasn’t about to let him loose on the freeway! He has been driving around a while and he’s much better. At least I don’t feel like my life is in immediate danger. I am sure we will be at the DMV again the day after his 16^th birthday (he has already informed us that his birthday falls on a Sunday this year).

That put a little fire under Austin. That and the fact that I made him take Driver’s Ed this term and he needs a copy of his permit for the class. He has spent hours reading over the manual. For him, and his learning difficulties, it isn’t an easy task. He studied his little heart out and when he thought he was ready we went to the DMV. His first try he got 72%. His second and third try were also not passing. I felt really bad for him. We came home and he studied for another week or so and we went back. In the meantime, I heard from a friend that He might be able to have the test read to him. We asked when we got there and they gave us a head set so he could listen to the test. Still no luck! The worker was feeling really bad for him. She told us that if he took it again and got 76% or better, she would read him a couple of questions. If he got those questions right she would pass him. On his last try he got 74%. She decided to ask him three questions anyway and he got them! I was so happy for him. He was feeling so bad. He smiled pretty big for quite a few hours.

So now we have two practicing drivers in our house. I took Austin out for his first time behind the wheel yesterday. We went to the church parking lot. He has a ways to go! But he is persistent and he will get it sooner or later. Jim is out with him right now. Austin’s goal is to have his license before he goes to Nauvoo with his Grandparents this July. Wish us luck! (But mostly wish us patience!!!)

The Miracle We Call Our Body and The Doctors Who Help Us Figure Them Out

I don't like complainers. I have tried hard to not be the type of person who whines about things. Jim might think different because, for the most part, if I do have a complaint, he's the one that hears it. (Love you, honey!) So when I feel a little bit down or sick I usually just trudge through it because I know things will be better sooner or later.

Well, things started to really go downhill last August. What I thought was seasonal allergies turned into a 3 month battle with a sinus infection. I would feel crappy for a couple of days then better for a couple of weeks. But then I would feel bad again and the cycle repeated itself four or five times. I had never had a sinus infection before so I didn’t know what to look for. It really got me down to be sick so much when I am usually pretty healthy. I finally went to our family doctor, who is also a neighbor of ours, and got the blessed antibiotic. I thought I was on the quick road to recovery. But my body said, “Not so fast!”

By then, the cold weather was in full swing. I know I suffer from mild Seasonal Affective Disorder. I am really affected by lack of sunlight and warmth. But this year my Reynaud’s Syndrome (I think I blogged about that before) really acting up. I have also been feeling a lot more fatigue than my usual winter laziness. There have been other things that have been bugging me but are tolerable so I just push them aside and get on with life.

One very cold night in particular was our ward Christmas dinner. My hands would not warm up and I showed them to my doctor, who was also at the dinner. He was shocked at how little blood flow there was to my fingers and told me to come in and see him so we could do some tests. When I went in, we talked about a few things I was concerned with; my fatigue, my Reynaud’s and some other things. He decided to take some blood samples - and when I say some, I mean about a gallon! He did just about every test he could think of. He tested my vitamin levels, my thyroid, my cholesterol and several other things. One of the tests was an ANA test. It tests for the presence of antibodies in your blood. If you have a high level of these then you probably have a connective tissue disease or other autoimmune disorder. Well, my levels were high. He speculated that it may be Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis. He decided to send me to a friend of his, a rheumatologist, someone who specializes in this type of disease.

Apparently this specialist is so special it takes months to get in to see him. Luckily my doctor is friends with him and we only had to wait about six weeks. It was an agonizing six weeks, waiting and wondering. I worried all through what is supposed to be a really happy month. Jim suggested we not talk about it with the kids and other family members until we knew exactly what to tell people. And just like Austin and his Autism diagnosis, I just wanted a name to go with what had been getting worse over the last year.

The day finally came just this past Monday. We woke up really early because this doctor is almost an hour away and he was seeing us before his usual first appointment. We talked to him for about an hour total but I could see it in his eyes that he knew exactly what we were dealing with in about 20 minutes.

I do have an autoimmune disease. It is called CREST Syndrome or Limited Scleroderma. Right now I am only showing a few of the symptoms. The Reynaud’s was the first. That started in early 2002 and has gotten progressively worse over the last eight years but I have just been dealing with it, trying not to complain. I try to stay warm, especially in my hands and feet. Another symptom is what they call a "lazy esophagus". Sometimes when I swallow food it takes a while, and a few drinks of water, for it to go down. It was just another thing I would deal with. I never thought about telling my doctor. I don't think I even said anything to Jim more than once or twice. The other symptoms are skin related. You can click on the link above to read the Mayo Clinic definition or you can click here to read something from the Scleroderma Foundation.

I have been put on one prescription medication, a Calcium Channel Blocker, to help with blood flow to my fingers and toes. I am also taking a low dose aspirin and vitamin D - which he recommend that EVERYONE (even little kids) take vitamin D, especially anyone that lives in Utah or anywhere north of Los Angeles. This also helps with Seasonal Affective Disorder, bone health, diabetes, and all kinds of heart problems. Most of us just don't get enough sun light to help our bodies function properly. I am going next week to get and Echo Cardiogram and a chest x-ray. One of the things that my happen is pulmonary hypertension because of collagen build up that may happen around my heart and lungs. But that's WAY down the road. The other symptoms will just be treated as they come up, when they come up, if they come up.

The weird thing is that I have much less anxiety now that I have a diagnosis than last month when I had no idea what was going on. I am so glad there are people out there that went to all those years of school just so they can help people like me. I am also thankful for the doctors that recently helped Jim's dad. He was going to have some cataracts removed and the doctors wanted him to have a full physical. He had a chest x-ray that showed a little shadow on his lung. The biopsy said it was cancer and within a week he was scheduled to have it removed. It was a very scary time for the family. He had the surgery last Friday and it was very successful. They were able to remove all the cancer and he is on his way to a full recovery. It will be a long and hard road but we are glad he has been well taken care of and will be with us for many years to come.

Our bodies can be such wonderful things. They allow us to do and be so many things in this life. I have tried not to take this gift that has been given to me by my Heavenly Father for granted. I try to eat healthy while still enjoying yummy food. I try to stay fit without spending hours and hours at the gym. I think I have an OK balance of that in my life. (The doctor did say my cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels were really good) I have tried to learn and grow as much as I can. I have had the blessing of having three wonderful, healthy children. But we are mortal and there are things that will happen to these bodies while we live here on earth that may be unexpected. That is a guarantee. But I know if we put aside our selfish reasons for wanting our bodies to last forever (beauty or fame) and use what health and energy that we have left to help and serve others, our time spent in these mortal bodies will not be wasted. In fact, if we serve others, I personally feel that we will be more joyful in what little time we have in our mortal bodies and WAY less likely to be a complainer!

Winter Wall Quilt

Well, I finished. . . kind of. I finished the top (with only a few mistakes). I didn't have a big enough piece of batting so I haven't been able to bind it yet. I had to see what it looks like on the wall so I put it up with painter's tape. It looks cheesy but it helps me imagine how it will look once I get to the store for some batting and get it put together.


Each snowflake consists of 63 individual pieces that had to be cut and sewn together. If I am off by even 1/8th of an inch it throws everything off. I am a perfectionist and hate to see when seems don't line up quite perfectly. It makes me want to take it apart and try again. But I have one friend that I showed a mistake to and she said, "Well, there are no two snowflakes alike. It looks great the way it is." Don't you just love her? I sure do! I hope everyone has a friend like that.

The Great Procrastinator

I probably don't have any followers anymore because I haven't blogged since Halloween. That's OK. I still have stuff to ramble on about so here I go.

My usual excuse for not blogging is because I think knitting is more fun. And that did take up a bunch of my time before Christmas. I had plenty of projects to keep me busy! But since then I have just found other things to do. I still have a couple o projects on needles (that goes without saying). I have been slowly un-decorating from Christmas. I have been walking every day. I have been finding lots of other little things to do other than blogging.

Well, today my plan was to finish up a winter wall quilt that has been in pieces in a drawer for over a year. There is a giant, empty wall where I usually have a quilt hanging. It has been staring me in the face since I took down the Thanksgiving one in late November. I was going to get up, clean off the kitchen table (it is covered with various things that people I live with set down and don't put in their proper place), set up the sewing machine and get to work. Well, I guess there is something I dont' want to do more than blog because, here I am, writing a new blog post!

It's not that I don't like to sew (or blog). It's just that I don't want to do what I have to do to get to the place where I am actually sewing. Maybe that's why I find it so easy to get stuck knitting. All I have to do is find a nice place to sit and grab my needles. There is no prep, no set up, and I don't have to make a space by cleaning up after my family. I usually just prop up the pillows on my bed and go for it. It makes me feel so cozy on these dreary winter days.

But lately I have felt the void of not blogging. I have things to say and share with my friends and family and this is the best way to do it. So to all of you out there that keep checking up on us and you have had to look at my gross Halloween face several times, here is a new post. I'm back! And I am actually thinking of starting a Knitting Blog. (If you have any suggestions for blog names let me know) Check back soon and often. Hopefully my next post will show my completed wall quilt. But don't hold your breath!

-A