{ bear lake pHotos i love }

What's a late night at the cabin without a wild game of Uno? Suzie, ever the game player of the family, recruited Winston to have some fun with the Brookie and Kyle. As always, thanks Suzie.

A rare treat in the golf world - a "fivesome." They didn't slow anyone down, because they're such good golfers. Mike cancelled going to the midnight showing of Dark Knight with his friends...because he was having so darn much fun at Bear Lake. We would have missed that guitar performance he gave.
A fun game of "I have never..." with everyone getting pretty creative with their statements and crushing each other to trade chairs. Amazing how many guys have never had their ears pierced!

This is possibly one of the last times Gary will just be able to sit and relax - for the next five years!

more photos of basement

This is the game room - painted an indescribable color of green. It's not lime, and it's not really avacado, yet it's not leaf, it's more yellow, but not mustard. The official color is Sweet Olive, but I certainly wouldn't call it olive. I can't name it, but I quite like it. I'm glad for the white trim because it tones it down.

This is the hallway with the white beadboard that I love. The wood and tan paint seemed to really open up the area...so much that it feels like it needs some kind of furniture in it, like a bench or shelf.

This is the mini-kitchen. We (not us, but the builder) painted the cupboards black. I was more scared to do this than anything in the remodel and I nearly said no about ten times. I had loved those cupboards when they were natural maple and I just hated to cover them up. But they will look nice and fit in with Marty's design plan. I trust Marty's design and when in doubt, I (almost) always agree with Marty, and end up with a look that's perfect.

basement remodel - beginning photos

This is the game room - it was white with teal and purple carpet - classic colors from the 90's. There was a purple vinyl built-in bench in the corner. Marty added the beams, trim & columns.

This is the TV room - also a teal color. You can see my photo album storage in the background. We have now built a special room to store the photo albums and all of Scott's video tapes - both commercial and homemade...he must have 3,000 tapes. Seriously. They will all be moved now to our new little 'video/photos' room - out of sight. That was one of Marty's best ideas.

Here is Scott in front of the wall where we cut out the window for the little playhouse. We had a closet that is under the stairs. It had been filling up with my books and other stuff. Marty suggested we make it a little room for the granddaughters to play in. I was nervous to cut through the wall to make the window. but WE DID IT, and it turned out fun and cute.

do you want ketchup on that???

Still remodeling the basement. Whew. It's a lot of work. And we're not even doing the work. I admire all you DIYers out there because remodeling is wearing me out. This blog post is about the tarnished door hinges pictured above. John, our builder, told me they looked so bad that he thought we should just get new ones. (The picture doesn't really show how tarnished they were.) So he checked on the price of new hinges and the builder's supply place doesn't stock the size we need and they would have to be special ordered. Not wanting another delay, I told John, "I'll just clean them up myself."

So I went to my computer to good ole Google and entered, "How to clean brass door hinges." There were several suggestions like using Brasso, vinegar & salt rub, ketchup.... Scott had a fit when I told him about the ketchup, "We are not putting ketchup on our door hinges," he said. He suggested I use the "wonder cleaner" that he bought last month from the young lady who would not leave our doorstep until he caved in and paid $34.00 for her apple-smelling water. She did, after all, demonstrate the wonders of Advantage cleaner on our brass door handle, and it did shine it up a bit. So I tried that and it barely helped. Then I got out the ketchup and started rubbing. Oh my heck, it cleaned the tarnish right off!!

This photo doesn't really show the wonders of ketchup on brass, but you can see that those hinges look pretty darn good. There are a few tricks. You have to have a dry terrycloth towel - like an old washcloth. It works better if you squirt the ketchup on a dry section of the cloth rather than a damp part. You have to really really rub. Elbow grease required. And it takes awhile. But it sure does the job. Scott kept walking into where I was working and saying that he couldn't believe it. He even picked up a hinge, got out his bottle of Advantage and scrubbed real good, then admitted that the ketchup was doing a better job.

I started at about 11 and finished at 12:45 (at night). I was so tired from all the work (and the stinky smell) that by the end the last hinges didn't look so good. But I figure I saved about $200.oo, so it was worth it. Meanwhile, Scott was earning his pay by installing flourescent light tubes in the new game room. I'll post photos of the remodeling progress next.

Girls and their Laptops

Suzie is here visiting for a week, so we took advantage of her computer AND teaching skills, and asked her to teach a computer class about digital photo albums and blogging. About fifteen women gathered in my kitchen last night (four brought their laptops) for an intense two hours of instruction and laughs.

Suzie is a great teacher and was very enthusiastic about her subject. She had a four-page handout which we followed as she put the information up on the screen. It was just lucky that this is the week that the big-screen TV is out of its regular spot because of the remodel in the basement. It was easy to put it on the kitchen counter and show what was on Suzie's computer screen.

Suzie and Winston's wedding photo album has 100 pages of beautiful photography and memories. She uses mypublisher.com for her albums. She loves the price (they often have specials and coupons like two for one, and it is very user friendly.

wAy cute scRapbooK pagEs

Here is my Beginner Basics for the AdornIt blog This is a monthly column I write for the company blog to help beginners not be afraid of scrapbooking. I love it because it forces me to make a couple of scrapbook pages each month. The 4th of July line we created this year was one of my favorites ever - and so easy to use.

Destination: Summer

Where will your summer take you? Whether it’s faraway or in your own backyard, AdornIt can help you scrap your summer photos…starting with the 4th of July!

The All-American Collection from AdornIt has possibly the cutest set of Fourth of July Cardstock Stickers anywhere! Just look at these stickers. Click on the layouts and they’ll get bigger so you can see each one better. Can you imagine how easy it will be to scrapbook your 4th of July photos? The stickers go with 22 patterned papers from AdornIt. You heard me right – 22 papers – from a snazzy star-bedecked white paper, to a paper with bursting fireworks on a dark navy sky, to traditional stars on a red background. There’s something for every memory. Oh, and the matching ribbon is, as Carolee would say, “to die for.” And one more thing…notice my title. I used our new Sleek White ABC Stickers – talk about easy. Beginner or not, you’ll love these alphabets!

By Debbie Raymond

You HAVE to try this { Lemonade }

Fresh Lemonade with a Twist
(milk in the recipe!)
from Debbie's good friend Marilyn Watts

1. Zest one whole lemon.
2. Juice that lemon plus 7 more lemons for a total of 8 lemons.
3. Strain juice to remove pulp and seeds.
4. Add to the juice:
4 cups milk
3 cups sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon lemon extract
5. Whisk together really well so it forms thick syrup. This makes 2 quarts of syrup. Marilyn pours it into 2 quart jars.
6. Use one liter of club soda (chilled) per one quart of syrup.
7. Fill punch bowl with syrup and club soda.
OR mix in individual glasses to taste.
8. Marilyn says, "Be sure to use "good ice"— little crushed bits of slushy ice.
9. Garnish with a fresh mint leaves.
10. Hint: You can use 7UP, just cut back on the sugar in syrup.

Pitt's Kayak Races

So our son-in-law participates in a wild and crazy sport - kayaking. He was in charge of a kayak race in Logan Canyon a few weeks ago. It was so amazing to watch. These guys are crazy. There they are in that COLD river, hooked to their boats, going over rapids, hitting rocks, and literally flipping over and going completely under the water. The time I saw a guy hit his head on a rock and bounce back up, I said, this is a crazy sport. Very fun to watch, kayak races, but CRAAZZZZY!

Here is Pitt running the show, either announcing winners or telling times. He did publicity, entries, organization of races, timing, prizes and more stuff that I don't even know about. There were about 25 racers.

Mike and I watched from the Nature Trail. Mike had a friend here who had been in Japan with him - Kei - from Tokyo. He loved it. I thought to myself, "Why aren't we up in Logan Canyon every Saturday morning? It was one of those classic summer days that we long for in February.

Scott was the photographer and took a hundred awesome photos. The course was from Second Dam to First Dam. Scott positioned himself on a rock almost below the kayakers as they came over some rapids and rocks. He got some great action shots and was very conscientious to get photos of each entrant in the contest. I can't say enough how impressed I was with the kayakers. And so surprising that they were having fun. Did I mention yet how COLD that water is???

this is my husband on....the roof

Scott loves to be on the roof of our house. That's why he placed the flagpole and flag up there, so he'd have an excuse to put up the flag, repair the flag, check on the flag etc. and thus, be on the roof. And then there are the two swamp coolers on the roof that he has to 'service.' He also has a weather vane up there with sensors for the temperature, wind direction, and I'm not sure what else. This photo shows how high the roof is. He can't imagine why I insist that I be home and be told when he goes up there.

I get extremely nervous whenever he starts up that ladder to the roof. This photo was taken this past Saturday when he was getting the swamp coolers ready to go for the summer. He is up there with a shop-vacuum, cleaning the swamp cooler. He hauls that shop-vac up the ladder from the deck - it's on the opposite side from this photo. Then he walks up and over to get to this side. I went into the neighbor's back yard to take this picture--he was surprised to see me there with his camera.

He keeps talking about cutting a hole through the ceiling to the roof and making a 'widow's walk' up on the roof. That's a very appropriate name and I really hate it. A widows walk is...well here's the Wikipedia definition:

A widow's walk (or roofwalk) is a railed rooftop platform, typically on a coastal house, originally designed to observe vessels at sea. The name comes from the wives of mariners, who would watch for their spouses' return. In some instances, the ocean took the lives of the mariners, leaving the women as widows. The women would often thereafter gaze out to sea wishing beyond hope that their loved ones would return home and hence the name widow's walk was born.

On a more pleasant note: I took this photo of the Poole's field to the north of us. We share the fence. I love this view, the beautiful trees, and the white fence.

{ all good things are coming to me today }

About a year ago, I read and really enjoyed the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. In spite of the extremes, I found so much good to be learned in the book. I know lots of people who really like the videos too.

Hadn't thought about The Secret in quite some time. The book ended up on a shelf and another took its place. Then I got an email from Scott with the following link and list in it. He had been directed to it by his favorite tech-guru Kim Komando. Now, if I had told Scott to watch anything about some 'secret' philosophy, he'd have ignored me...but if Kim Komando says it's good, then, IT IS! Well I'm glad it resurfaced for me. This video is really wonderful - the music, images and ideas. Enjoy... (click)

http://thesecret.tv/secret-to-you

The Secret To You

Today is the beginning of my new life.

I am starting over today.

All good things are coming to me today.

I am grateful to be alive.

I see beauty all around me.

I live with passion and purpose.

I take time to laugh and play every day.

I am awake, energized, and alive.

I focus on all good things in life and give thanks for them.

I am at peace and one with everything.

I feel the love, the joy, the abundance.

I am free to be myself.

I am magnificence in human form.

I am the perfection of life.

I am grateful to be me.

Today is the best day of my life.

http://thesecret.tv/secret-to-you

Looking for a summer read?

A while back I mentioned a self-help book I was reading...well this isn't it. But I want to bring this book to your attention because I just laughed my way through it, and that's a nice change from Eckhart Tolle (Oprah's favorite philosopher). The book is not refined literature by any means, but it's full of good advice and down home wisdom like "Don't be ugly." (This is life-changing advice if you think about it.) Plus, each chapter ends with good ole Southern cooking recipes such as...Hot Chicken Salad topped with, what else, cheese and potato chips! And Fried Dill Pickles, Pork Roast Barbecue, and Sweet and Spicy Pecans. Best of all--the lessons the author's mama taught her about how to live - from cleaning house properly to writing thank you notes to always putting your face on first. Get it for yourself, you'll love it, and it'll bring back some childhood memories.
So from me to you... "Sit up straight and put some lipstick on."

Birthday Celebration in St. George & Vegas

Our little trip to St. George and Las Vegas became a two-day birthday party for me.

Scott in front of the Bloomington Hills Golf Course - sometime we're actually going to golf there.

Birthday dinner at the Ruby River Steak Restaurant in St. George. I had to wear the big foam birthday cowboy hat which reminded me of last year's birthday at Cafe Sabor when I had to wear a big birthday sombrero. This tradition has gone on too long and has to end.

The birthday continued the next day in Las Vegas with Suzie and Winston. We went to the dinner show at Excalibur called Tournament of Kings. Quite an extravaganza of jousting with real horses, knights in shining armour, ladies in pointy hats and more. In true medevial fashion, we ate our meal of cornish game hen, potatoes, vegetables, and apple pie with no utinsels and pounded the tables with mugs of ale. It was actually really entertaining and fun to spend the evening with Suz and Winston.

The two-day birthday ended with a one of the famous "Just Bundt" cakes from a Vegas shop - the yummy white chocolate raspberry flavor. Thanks Suzie!

{ Finally some inspiration! }

I have been struggling with a plan for my flowers out front - just couldn't get inspired to get started. I have a WHOLE bunch of planting to do - about nine pots and a big long strip of flowers that goes up the center of my front sidewalk. The reason I was procrastinating was that I was stuck with all those 'dead' geraniums which I really didn't want to use because they're ugly. Solved that problem by planting the poor things in the backyard where they can hide until they have some time to recover. So now I can start fresh and get the job done. Yesterday I spent the day at the Utah Valley Parade of Homes trying to get inspiration for another project - my basement remodel. Wow, what a materialistic feast that home show was. Later I'll post all my home decor photos. For now, check out the lovely flower pots that have inspired me to use these colors - notice, they're all shades of coral, melon, peach, whatever. I've never used this color exclusively before, and it will take great willpower not to add my favorite blue or violet flowers. It's nice to have a focus now - too bad we're having another cold spell - it's cold and rainy out there, but I just have to DO IT!

{thanks to Home #10 for inspiration}

Geranium Survival

They actually look worse in real life than in these photos. I've had these geraniums for a month - waiting in my garage for the weather to warm up and then for me to get that patch of dirt emptied of a thousand dandelions and fifty million strands of morning glory. I have to give Scott credit for the awesome shovel work. The geraniums were beautiful and full of blossoms when I used them for centerpieces in April. I know more flowers will come, but from the looks of them this afternoon, it'll be a miracle. I can't wait to look out my back window and see this flower patch blooming with red, pink and white.

Out front, I could hardly contain my excitement when I walked out and the first of my Japanese Iris had popped open. I honestly think that if I stood there long enough I could watch one of those flowers unfold. It's been twenty-four hours since this photo and there are now about fifteen flowers in bloom on this plant. You can't tell from the photo, but the Japanese Iris is a mini iris that is charming and delightful!

here's what I love about my job...

I work with the greatest people. Women who are talented, smart, creative, happy, enthusiastic, caring, and really fun to be around. Above photo is me with Tammy, a graphic designer. She is constantly amazing me with how she learns all the new graphic arts programs and technical things she has to be in charge of. She juggles designing, creating our packaging, and keeping track of all the digital files, plus more. The fact that she comes from a crafting, folk-art painting and art-teaching background makes her extra-valuable at Carolee's. She can design the product, then craft it into something wonderful. Plus she's just plain nice. Below is Rachael, a wonderful graphic designer. She's whizzy on her Apple...she has a degree from a graphic arts college in Phoenix. It's just amazing to watch her work on her computer in those mystery programs (to me) graphic design programs. She's also an artist, sculptor, and illustrator.

Speaking of great women, here are the McMullin girls...Carolee, the amazing owner of Carolee's Creations and her daughters. Above is Alison, a talented artist and graphic designer. She's a USU student majoring in art and also designs for her mom. Ali makes wonderful creations on her computer and also paints in oils, watercolors and all kinds of other things. She is always brimming with ideas--and she seems to know what's trendy and in. Below is Georgana Hall, Ali and Carolee. Georgana is also creative and artistic, but she also has the business mind and organizational skills to manage the company, which she does. She's my boss, and she is truly the nicest, most patient boss anyone could have. She's the fastest worker I have ever met. She can whip out scrapbook pages and wood projects like none other. And she remembers everything. Carolee is the one who started the company and keeps it going. She is an amazing artist, and it's too bad 'tole-painting' kind of went out of style because she is really really good at it--a nationally known teacher. But she paid attention to the next "sniff in the wind" as she puts it and switched her company to scrapbooking. She designs and hand-draws many of the papers and supervises the graphic artists while also running her company. She ships product all over the world. I went into work and there was a huge order going to Australia. It's truly phenomenal and I feel lucky to work for Carolee. There are about a dozen more great women who work there, and each is also outstanding. Wow, a woman-owned, woman-run company; now that's cool.