Be it known unto all peoples,

Andrew & Gayle Jackson now own their 1st home ever!!!

So if you want to see a slideshow of the place, go here: http://premier1.utah.remax.com/PropertySearch/ListingDetail.aspx?view=photos&lid=76134672 and check it out!  Happily, we won't be keeping that hideous gray interior flat paint but will painting it a lovely pale yellow color.

You are all invited to come visit us, though we'll have more room available after we get the basement finished & the garage emptied out.  I think it will take us about a month (hopefully less though) to clean & paint the new house, then pack up and clean the old place.  We will really miss our current neighborhood but we won't miss the thefts & vandalism not occuring here, not to mention the drug deals that happen in the cemetary behind us -- looking out my kitchen window at our [new] neighbor's mules will be a good change.

Jackson is thrilled that the house comes with a garage & a fridge with an ice maker; I'm very happy I get to paint it yellow, there's a pantry & a basement, and that the laundry room is big enough that I can also use it as my sewing room.

I went to Ace Hardware's website and found this color swatch thing where you can pick a living room, then color the walls to your liking (http://ace.swatchbox.com/colorsforyourlife/main.asp) -- I picked Sunkissed as the main wall "body" color and the effect of it with white trim is so lovely, so if you go check out this website thingy you can get an idea of what our walls will look like.

And now, I'm going to go drag those boxes [I collected this morning] out of my Suburban and start stuffing them full, because I plan to start hauling things over to the new house tomorrow.

=) Gayle

The Joys of being sick

Actually I have yet to discover any joy from being sick, although...

Some people might say:

• At least you get to stay home with your kids for once -- but I get to stay at home with my kids all the time.
• It gives you a chance to ignore the housework -- I frequently ignore my housework, any recent visitor here can testify to that.
• You can wear your pajamas all day if you want -- I do that too sometimes, so that's nothing new here either.
• People will forgive you for typos -- true enough.

I'm feeling just sick enough that my mind isn't functioning very well (okay, when does my mind function properly anyhow? It's just a fact of life of being a SAHM!) and I can't seem to remember to do things that I need to... and why I'm even posting right now is a mystery to me too when I could me emailing Holley & writing that paper out for Deputy Chase.  Maybe if I listen to the KSL 5 Noon News, my brain will wake up.
An hour ago, I started cooking supper... it's a 2 hour Vegetable Beef Stew -- supper is at 5 pm... oh well at least the beef stew meat chunks will be well cooked.

Anyhow, tiem to go...  life calls...  Just because you're a sick Mommy doesn't mean that you can really not do the work to take care of your family, if you do skip it then your house will start looking like mine.

=) Gayle

I do regret that I won't be able to attend my Quilting Guild meeting tonight but I'd prefer not to make any of them sick and besides I think my bed sounds better today.

Oh I jsut remembered why I feel extra tired & sick...  Taw (boy#3) cried most of the night because he was so constipated -- I got to give him an enema at 11 pm and he'd passed most of the blockage [I think] by midnight but he still woke up & cried whenever he was asleep and I put him in his crib.  I spent hte night in my rocker recliner holding him except for: when I was changing his diaper or when he was throwing up on the floor from crying so much -- I finally gave him some Benadryl around 4 am to stop him from throwing up (did you know that Benadryl stops vomiting & nausea?) and I was able to put him into his crib at 5 am and I crawled into my bed a few minutes later.  Dh woke me up around 6:30 am to talk to me, then I was able to go back to sleep until 8:30-ish am when Taw woke me up (he was hanging over the end of his crib talking at me, he has quite the chatty personality at times).
After I finish that witness paper for Deputy Chase, I plan to sleep as much as I can until my boys (1 & 2) get home from school.

ciao....

Pioneer Woman Cooks

So recently I found this website called The Pioneer Woman; it is about her life & loves.  One of which is cooking, so I went to see what kinds of recipes she has, and discovered this recipe for Chicken Spaghetti (see it here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/).  Next week when I feel more like myself & less like death warmed over, I'm going to make this.  If it's as yummy as it looks & sounds like, then I'm going to make an extra for my freezer.

She also posted a delicious-looking pound cake recipe the day after my birthday.  I love pound cakes with their moist buttery flavors, eaten alone warm with milk, or with sliced strawberries & cream, or homemade ice cream (which reminds me, I found a recipe for Meyer Lemon & Strawberry ice cream at Tasty Kitchen and I plan to try it soon too).

Anyhow, now it's time to go get boy #2 ready to go to school.  May you all enjoy a fine day!  Hopefully ya'll aren't sick like me either.

=) Gayle

So I've been crocheting a lot lately, and not just the everyday humdrum stuff.  No indeed, I've been making flowers, both roses & big cosmos-type kind (well actually like the kind we all learned how to draw first as a child).  Yesterday, I also made a hair scrunchie & was working on attaching flowers to a thin plastic headband.  Anyhow, so while Crochet Pattern Central remains my favorite source for all things crocheted, here are a few links to some of the above things I've been working on (I did find them all through Crochet Pattern Central though).
http://amysodyssey.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/sweet-spring-flowers-crochet-tutorial/
http://naidascrochet.tripod.com/patterns/scrunchies.html
http://naidascrochet.tripod.com/patterns/1.html
http://nezumiworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/rose-brooch.html
http://www.planetjune.com/blog/free-crochet-patterns/basic-rose/

So go get out your hooks & have some fun!!
=) Gayle

one of my favorite websites

I just visited another of my favorite websites, Crochet Pattern Central (www.crochetpatterncentral.com) where you can find another any kind of crochet-realted pattern you desire.  This morning I was looking for a super easy  mini-heart pattern.  Sure enough I found one too.  I have been thinkign about making heart pins for all the little girls in both my sons' school classes; at any rate I'd better get cracking, because there's about 20-24 girls total (+ the teachers).

Now if I could just get my elbow to stop hurting so much....

a belated update on MIL

So here's how it goes:  On Monday Jan 25 (my dh's b-day), MIL had a stroke which blinded her & made her heart race uncontrollably, by Friday she'd recovered enough that she recognized her children and had a pacemaker installed.  Also on Friday afternoon, she was released from the hospital because her only medical insurance comes from Medicare and our illustrious President has decreed that the elderly are not top priority when it comes to hospital stays & medical care.  MIL is now recovering at her daughter Pam's house in NE Oregon; Dh talked to her yesterday and she's doing as well as can be expected.

If you were one of those who had been praying for her, we greatly appreciate you and your prayers.
=) Gayle