Consistency

Memo to self:

In April, when the blossoms start exploding on your crabapple tree...


Making you grateful that winter is finally coming to a close,


Remember this one fact. Mother Nature is consistent. She will always send wild winds to blow the blossoms off the tree...


And send snow. All to remind us who is really in charge. NOT US!!

Baby Blues

One day while looking for fabric my mom and I came across this idea for a baby quilt. It's basically a porch quilt made out of minkie. The blanket is made out of several coordinating strips of minkie and then sewn as one would sew a porch quilt.

However, since minkie is slippery and stretchy, the fabric store added a tip that made this blanket easy and fun instead of frustrating and hard.

Spray adhesive.

Yes, you read correctly. Just lightly spray some adhesive to the batting and stick the backing and batting together, then spray each strip carefully as sewing. It turned out to be quick and easy.

This is the result of a combined effort of picking fabrics. I didn't sew it right away because I got really sick and it took me a long time to get better. But it's done now and awaiting the arrival of little KC.


This blanket is seriously the softest, most delicious wrap I have ever felt.


I can't wait to give it to its rightful owner.

Junior Prom

April 24, 2010

Re: Junior Prom

Dear dad and mom,

As you are aware, this is my last Junior Prom. Soon I will be graduating and moving on to bigger and better things.

But for now, I am going to go to prom with Sarah. I have planned the evening carefully down to the gold vest and Jerry Garcia tie which hopefully will match Sarah's dress. I have the corsage ready and I am excited to go.


We decided to go to Red Robin for dinner because we love their food.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner complete with quesadilla appetizers, steak sliders and a chicken wrap. It was a fun place to eat.

But before we left for the Capitol Building I wanted to drop by home and have a potty break and let you see the both of us together.

Didn't you love Sarah's dress? She looked so pretty in it.


Mom, I know that you were a little excited about us going to this dance but really. Did you have to follow us out to the car? And take pictures? PLEASE!


OK. I was tired of the whole picture thing. Sorry mom. I was so anxious to go.

I couldn't wait to go to the Capitol Building and show Sarah all the things I have learned in Art History this year. I hope I didn't bore her to death.


When I showed Sarah the cool architectural things I learned in Art History, she was very interested and even got some of the jokes I told her.

Thanks for letting us come to our house after the dance and eat snacks and watch a movie.

Now Prom is over and I want to let you know how much fun I had. It was a wonderful evening. I have some great memories.

Love, Court

Baby Shower for Baby Carter

I was invited to a baby shower for my niece-in-law, Alisa, and her baby-to-be, Carter. Carter is due on May 17th.

It was such a delight to be there that day and enjoy the company of family and friends.

Here is Alisa (on the left) with my sister, Rose.


Little Carter will come into the world to a well-stocked nursery. Baby quilts, receiving blankets, hooded towels, cute outfits, burp cloths, medical supplies and diaper bags were all given to his mom.


I gave Alisa the duckie hooded towel with Baby Magic lotion and body wash.

Every baby should be slathered in Baby Magic Original Scent Lotion. The smell is intoxicating.

Be warned: if you breathe it in too deeply it will put you into a hormonal tailspin and you may find yourself desiring all sorts of nonsensical things....like having another baby.

Count your many blessings

Sixteen blessings.

Kaitlyn, Lindsie, Matthew, Kate, Maddi, Tyler, Kenzley, Hillary, Nicole, Cortney, Hannah, Rachel, Zack, Sydni, Brendan, James.

These are my piano students.

We had a piano recital on Thursday.

It's always a little nerve-wracking for these kids to get up and play in front of their parent, siblings, grandparents and peers.

They handled it with grace and did well.

I get to spend time with these wonderful people, teaching them music skills and listening to their stories. I enjoy it immensely.

And because of this, I am blessed.

Absent-minded

This morning I poured orange juice into my cereal.

I guess that describes my state of mind this week.

Absent.

Diva Kitty

I have a cat.

I really don't want to have a cat.

We got her 10 years ago for Alyssa who was a cat lover. And the cat is still alive.

On Saturday, I went on a rampage. The kitty's room smelled like death. First of all, I emptied the litter box, scrubbed it with all sorts of antibacterial cleansers and left it outside to air out.

Then I threw the cat outside.

Her room still smelled like death.

My eyes looked frantically for the offending object that would produce such a nasty smell.

I decided it must be her bed. I picked it up and threw it away. Then I mopped the floor and cleaned all the nooks and crannies that might have contributed to the death scent.

And finally the room didn't smell anymore.

I decided it's not very charitable to leave the cat without a bed, especially since the floor in her room is tile.

So I found this:


Now I know that it's really a dog bed, but the price was right and it's kinda cute.

At first the kitty would have nothing to do with it. Changes make her very nervous. But when I went to her room yesterday morning, this is what I saw.


Does she remind you of a diva all curled up in her leopard print bed?

Summer Bucket List #3

As I looked at the growing pile of recipes that I have collected and stashed inside my cookbook, I knew that it would take me forever to type them up, print them out, cut them to the right size and put them in their proper recipe section.

I was discouraged before I started.

Then I hit upon an idea.

Why not delegate this task to Alyssa over Spring Break disguised as a JOB, a way to EARN MONEY?

Best idea ever!!

She worked for hours on this project, typing, editing, printing, cutting, compiling and sorting.

And the results?


No more recipes falling out of the book. They are in page protectors, safe from the harmful effects of the Casselman kitchen environment.


It was some of the best money I have ever spent.

A New Little Sister

For all of you who were gasping (me included), no, we are not having another child.

Rather, we purchased a little sister for our fridge.


If only you could have seen the horrible nightmare of a microwave that used to take up residence in this spot.

It had a crack kitty-corner on the bottom that would easily measure about 1/4 of an inch wide, and another one forming on the other corner. I was actually a little worried that we were getting a measure of radiation poisoning.

As it was, Brock informed me that the radiation that may or may not have been leaking out of the nasty, broken microwave was minimal.

My brother, Jon, installed the microwave. When he went to mount the back panel on the wall, he discovered that the tile below it was 1/8 of an inch to high. He thought about getting a tile cutter and cutting off a little bit of tile.

Then he had a better idea. Why not put a piece of plywood that measures the depth of the tile and mount the back panel of the microwave on that? All it would do would push the microwave out about 3/8" more.

He cut a piece of plywood that fit perfectly and mounted the microwave. As you can see, it is wonderful.

And again, mommy Marciea is happy.

Simple Inspirations

My sister, Mary, made a lovely cake plate out of a sundae cup and a plate she purchased from WalMart. I have heard of this idea before but had never seen it done.

I decided to try a double decker plate. I was really wishing I had one on Easter Sunday when I made cupcakes for dinner. I frosted half of them with blue frosting and half of them with green frosting (mint flavored). I thought a double decker cake plate would be just the ticket to showcase their yumminess.

After seeing Mary's post, I decided to take the plunge and make one for myself. This is the result. I made these decadent goodies and put them on my new double decker cake plate. The treats were for a party that Alyssa was invited to.


Don't you wish that you could reach through the computer screen and grab one right now? They were fantastically delicious.

To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump

I could kick myself.

Well, as good as a person could kick themselves.

I missed a golden opportunity for the BEST PICTURE EVER!!!!!

On Saturday morning I had a bit of inspiration. Why not load those loser couches into the back of the van and take them to the dump ourselves?

After all, we need to have compassion on our neighbors who have looked out of their back windows at our ghetto furniture for the last month. It was time to leave our redneck status behind.

Brock and I loaded the couches into the van along with our picnic table that shattered in the sun last summer. They didn't fit perfectly but they fit.

Then Boyd and I drove to the landfill along a twisty road way out in the middle of nowhere. We were directed to our own little spot where we heaved those couches out of the van.

And this is the part where I missed the photographic opportunity. Leaving those terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad couches upside down in the landfill was such a cathartic moment. I wish with all my heart that I had a picture to remember it by.

As it is, I will have to find contentment with this picture of what they looked like upside up.


I had a line in a ward road show once that fits this scenario perfectly: "Good riddance to BAD rubbish!"

My How Time Flies

Wasn't it just a month ago when we were attending nephew Matt's baby blessing?

And surely it was only a couple of weeks ago when we were at my mom's house for the quilting retreat and nephew Matt was laying on the floor under the activity gym.

And it couldn't possibly be more than a week ago that he was learning to sit up. Right?

Could it possibly be that he is now ready to ride a tricycle?

Time sure does fly.

A Little Piece of England...

I have an English heritage. My mother was born in England and emigrated to the United States with her family when she was 11 years old.

Her cousin, Eileen, pictured here on the right, was born in the United States. But her father and mother along with some siblings came to the US before she was born.

My mom and Eileen are cousins. My mom's grandfather and Eileen's father were brothers.

Eileen lives within an hour of my mother. They get together whenever time and circumstance allow.

While my Aunt Patricia was here visiting from Washington, we all decided to get together a spend some time at Gardiner Village. After all, who doesn't love to walk around and shop at the quaint stores, eat at Archibald's restaurant and finish the visit at Aunt Alvey's candy shop?


While at Gardiner Village we felt the need to visit Pine Needles, the quilt shop there. It is quite a lovely store and I find it difficult not to drop a few bucks every time I go.

Kalie, if you look to the right of Aunt Patricia, you will see two prints that have your name written all over them............or rather, the name of your baby!


The English cousins: Beryl, Eileen and Patricia. All who are proud of their English heritage and who are wonderful people.


I am fortunate to be numbered among them.

The Little Fridge

Once upon a time there was a fridge. It was a good little fridge. It did it's very best to keep our frozen food frozen and the fridge food cold.

Through many years of use, it plugged away. There were pieces that broke but through the ingeniousness of daddy Boyd, they were repaired and the little fridge was happy.

Then one day, the little fridge started making funny noises. They were occasional but loud. And the outside of the fridge became hot. Very hot. So hot that you couldn't put your hand on the side of the little fridge for fear of 3rd degree burns.

Daddy Boyd became concerned about the little fridge becoming a fire hazard and made a phone call to the appliance store. The appliance store said that a repair to the little fridge could be costly. Daddy Boyd did not want to put any money into the little fridge because it was so old, inefficient and environmentally unfriendly.

Daddy Boyd and mommy Marciea went to the appliance store and found this:

It was a beautiful counter depth fridge. It matched their kitchen. It had the fridge on top...

and the freezer on the bottom.

It has taken the place of our good little fridge and has bonded with daddy Boyd's family. It keeps our fridge food cold and the frozen food frozen. It doesn't make loud noises and is efficient.

And daddy Boyd's family is happy.

Once Upon a Mattress...or...The Princess and the Pea

Alyssa's Jr. High presented the play, "Once Upon a Mattress". It is a delightful musical rendition of "The Princess and the Pea".

Boyd and I went with Brock and Court on opening night. We enjoyed ourselves so much. The kids did such a great job. You could tell that they really enjoyed putting on this musical.

I went out into the commons area during intermission and discovered to my delight that the cast members were doing a green show.

Here is Alyssa and Adam before they started singing.



More green show delights.


Shh. Don't tell anyone. The closing bows.

After the play was over. Alyssa's Young Women leader gave her flowers.

Saturday afternoon between the 2 shows. The cast members took a break outside and played. I love this pyramid that they formed.

Spring

April 6.

Jesus's birthday.

The beginning of spring.

New life.

Leaves budding on trees.

Daffodils and tulips bursting forth.

Snow.




Yep. You read it right. 6 1/2 inches. That doesn't count any melting before it started to stick.

The best part? It is almost gone today. Snow in spring never stays long.

Easter

Saturday morning I turned and asked Alyssa if she would like to dye eggs that day for Easter. She looked at me with the classic teenager patient look and said, "Mom. I'm not 5 years old."

I didn't want to deny her of an Easter activity that she would feel bad about later.

I didn't want her calling Dr. Laura as an adult and explaining that she was denied as a teenager because her parents didn't dye eggs and hide them.


After some thought, I came up with a plan that my kids just might enjoy. Boyd and I decided that we would hide their Easter baskets AND 3 eggs. Those 3 eggs were gold, silver and bronze (as close as I could get to those colors) that each held a cash prize of various amounts. The rule was, you could only keep one egg. Once you found your prize you had to let the other kids find one also. It was great fun to watch them look for their baskets and also those prize eggs.

I didn't find out their strategy until later. If they found a bronze egg, they would leave it there and keep looking for the gold egg. After all, each person wanted the largest cash prize.

Interestingly enough, the gold egg was found first by Alyssa and the strategy went out the window.

Court was the last person to find an egg. It was the bronze egg that had not been found. I hid it in a rather difficult place and he was tearing the pantry apart to find that prize egg. Since it was the bronze egg, he felt quite certain that there would be a penny inside.

Being a wise Easter Bunny mom, I knew that putting a penny in the bronze egg would not go over well. He got 5 bucks. LUCKY!!

Another Wedding

My niece, Stephanie Wade, got married in March. My mom was invited to the wedding and the wedding luncheon. She asked me to be her date, so I got to participate in the delight of watching them get married, the job of family pictures on the west side of Salt Lake Temple (freezing cold), and the enjoyment of eating at the Lion House.

Stephanie, just coming out of the temple.


I couldn't help but snap this picture in front of a west door of the Salt Lake Temple. It is just a candid shot as the photographer is preparing her dress.


I want a picture in this little nook of the temple. It fits a couple just perfectly.