A Newspaper Journalist

I now qualify as a newspaper journalist! First of all I didn't lose the Mar 11 post as I had thought and second of all I stated that the space between the deer was 2 feet in the Mar 11 post and 1 foot in the Time Flies Post or vice versa. Who knows, I only looked at them a minute ago? In reality it seemed that it was only about an inch but who would believe that? How many times in reading the newspaper or listening to the news is there a discrepancy on what is reported? Now I know why. They are really stressed out or don't proofread. Neither do they listen to others reporting. So I apologize. It happened so fast I'm not sure what I saw except those two big deer right in front of my eyes. Good thing it's not April Fools' Day.

Time Flies!!

I thought this blogging business would be easy but time flies by so quickly, here it is almost a month since I made my first post. Actually I took an hour to write a post and put in pictures but for some reason it didn't save and I lost all of it. I felt like screaming!!

I took my Mother and Father to Escalante for my nieces wedding. It was held in the Slot Canyons Inn (http://www.slotcanyonsinn.com/) . It is a bed and breakfast inn. It is a beautiful place and we were treated like royalty. Trysten (picture on right) loved the wedding bouquet that I made for Amy. After the wedding we hung around town for an extra day and I met some really wonderful people.

My husband had always worried about my running into deer while driving over the mountains in the dark but I had told him not to worry. Well as luck would have it, we were driving over the mountain in the dark when I saw movement on the right side of the road. My husband had taught me to look for movement when I had gone deer hunting so I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. I wasn't sure if it was a deer or a cow so I was intently looking when I realized it was a deer. When I looked back to the road, there were two large deer directly in front of me and I was travelling at about 60 miles per hour. I threw up my arms and screamed waiting for the collision but a miracle happened! Somehow I had grabbed the wheel again and swerved through that 1 foot opening between the deer. I'll never know for sure what forces were at work for me not to have hit those deer but I thanked my Heavenly Father for sparing us from that accident at 10:00 at night.

I had wedding flowers to make on the 15th, the same day as the Successful People Seminar put on by Richard Paul Evans (Rick) and Robert G. Allen (Bob). The wedding went off without a hitch and the family was really pleased with the flowers. I kept them in the car during the seminar but it was cool so no harm was done. Rick told the story of the blue vase. What fun we had learning why you should always do your best. He also told a story about World War II and the Battle of the Bulge. He related a story about building the first Christmas Box house and taught that when you have a mission and are facing a wall, Heavenly Father always opens a back door - that giving up is not an option. Tom Painter taught us about how much our weaknesses are costing us in dollars and cents. (Mine is diet coke - several thousand dollars over a 10 year period. ) I missed most of the talk by Dan McCormick author of "Lessons from Great Lives" . The last part was really good - I lost out by missing the first part! Bob taught all about the WriteWise Program for anyone writing a book or wanting to become an author. Their mentoring program is phenomenal! And we get all of this free for being a member of Bookwise!

I tended Josiah and Brock for two days while Amber (my daughter) completed some training to be a Corrections Assistant at Weber County Jail. It will be a raise for her and more responsibility. Driving Dad to a birthday party was the least I could do this morning since I'm trying to get him to give up the idea of driving himself anymore. At 86 he's a danger to himself and others. Mom's Craftamatic bed got stuck with the head in the up position so she can't lie down. It's going on a week now. We are having a hard time finding where we can get parts or someone to fix it. Tomorrow's Easter and we will have some of our family to dinner. Hopefully the rest will come after they have eaten at the other families. My we all be especially grateful for our Savior's Sacrifice at this holiday.

We went to Escalante for my nieces wedding. Leaving later in the day seems to always be my mode of operation. My husband always is afraid of what trouble I might get into by driving in the dark - like hitting a deer. No worries, says I. I was watching and saw some motion on the right side of the road. By the time I was able to determine that it was a deer, when I looked back to the road the rest of the herd was immediately in front of the car. I screamed and got ready for the impact, but a small miracle happened and the car seemed to turn into a miniature projectile and squeezed through the 2 foot opening in between the two deer directly in front of us. I was never so glad that I had prayed for protection during our journey.

I did the wedding flowers for Amy. What fun to be involved in the creative way as well as a family member. I took my aging parents so they could have a break from their assisted living home. We stayed at the Slot Canyons Inn, a bed and breakfast http://www.slotcanyonsinn.com/. It was beautiful and so fun to stay with a lot of family members in the other rooms. That was where the wedding was held also. The owners were so gracious to take care of our every need. I also do some floral work for Kathie whose husband runs the local grocery store. Since I hadn't gotten her latest floral done, I went downstairs during the reception and completed it. I delivered it that night and received my instructions for the next project.

We forgot about day light savings time changes and missed church. We were able to go have lunch with the family before heading back home. As we traveled, we listened to some audio tapes to help pass the time.

Guess I'll Just Dive In!

I've thought about blogging for a long time but it scared me. Today's the day to just dive in.

Yesterday, I finished compiling papers and medical records to send to the VA for financial assistance for my parents. They are in an assisted living facility and are running out of funds to make the rent payments. Today I turned in some coins they had had laying around. $357.00! Can you believe it?

My niece is setting up housekeeping and we shopped for a bed, a chair, some kitchen items, and a bookcase to hold all of her books.

Last weekend we tended our daughter's kids and again tomorrow I am needed. She works on Saturdays and Sundays and her husband has been called to work.

How do you guys out there handle being sandwiched between generations?

I recently closed my flower shop www.twodesigningwomen.com so I could have a life and my family is my life now. I keep my sanity by reading in short spurts. I just finished the Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. On our vacation we saw the movie Kite Runner, which was made after the first book written by him. Both were excellent. The Infidel was a marvelous education about how muslim women are treated and we thought we had it bad over here! Other books I have read in the last six months are: Water for Elephants, Stormy Weather, and The Smoke Jumper.

Since I closed my shop I am looking for clerical/customer service work. There are so many places to apply, it's hard to decide where I might want to work. Does anyone know if there's a good tutorial for Outlook, Powerpoint or Access?

Tuesday I went to another training by Robert Allen. www.bookwisepro.net/kathybishop He always gets me to thinking about my inner self and my potential. I always come away a better person. This picture was taken with my daughter and Robert Allen last year.