Boredom

I've had a hefty case of boredom set in, and can't seem to get it dislodged. So I decided to make a list of the things you do when you are bored.

• Sleep--and when you wake up, turn over and sleep some more
• Check facebook for the 100,000th time today
• Check the blog again, just in case someone blogged in the last 2 minutes
• Read every book in the house
• Stare at the phone and will it to ring (hoping it will be someone other than teenagers calling to talk to your teenager)
• Bake cookies and eat them all. (ok, I only cooked four cookies and ate them)

Here are a few more productive things I've done:

• Go for a walk
• Set next year's goals
• Study so next year's goals are a possibility
• chat online with my sister

Magical 25th

Anniversary--

I'm finally getting around to sharing a few photos of our anniversary. I love nature. It's always pretty no matter what time of year. 

Relaxing in the hot tub...the best way...hot water with snow on the ground!

Christmas 2011

Timothy (on right) with his companion (just to the left)

Tom holding "Rusty Pick-ups" by our brother-in-law, Mike Harrington.

James with Marvin the Martian.

Hannah with pink...blanket and blouse. 

Linda got her set of "Anne of Green Gables"

Here's our Christmas craft. Mine is on the left. Hannah's is on the right.

Put a treat in the muffin cup and count down to Christmas!

Of course, the best part of any Christmas is the phone calls to the missionary and the kids who are far away. 

Merry Christmas from the Jensons

2011 in a Nutshell

• Tom is now working for CenturyLink (because Qwest was bought), and keeps busy in creative pursuits. He is still taking care of the church building.  

• Ann stopped working after the last school year and has enjoyed having more time for home, family and calling. She loved participating in the “Hymns of Thanksgiving” (a community choir/orchestra concert in November)

• John and Laney have moved to Teton, Idaho, and are preparing for school to start. Laney is the manager of the Arctic Circle in Rexburg.

• Tim served in Windsor, NS; Amherst, NS and St. Stephen, NB this year. St. Stephen was a repeat since it was his first area. He is now in St. John, New Brunswick which is the largest city in NB. He is loving his mission.

• James is a junior and recently got his driving permit. He enjoys (?) driving mom and dad around town.

• Hannah is first chair in the cello section. She is a sophomore this year.

• Tom and Ann celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary.

  

We hope this Christmas season finds you well

and enjoying the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, The Jensons

Christmas traditions aren't complete without...

homemade chocolates (peanut butter truffles and oreo truffles)

Gingerbread houses! This is the one we sent Tim. He still hasn't opened the package.

Hannah's

My house 

Tom's 

James'

Broad-sided

Flowers from my friend!

I sure didn't see that one coming. I just spent three nights in the hospital. My bp had been climbing a bit all year, but I was working hard to control it before it got out of hand. Well, suddenly it got out of hand. I had really not been feeling very good for a few days and finally realized that it was just going up and up no matter what so we went to the ER. As they tried to bring it down, my bp tanked. Glad we were in the ER. Later they did an angiogram to see if there was something that could have caused the high bp and the crash, but I'm clean as a whistle. I'm tempted to put the pictures of my pretty heart here for the world to see. At least my hard work hasn't gone for nothing. 

The angiogram did show a weak area in my heart, but like the cardiologist said, "It's like the chicken and the egg. Was that area the cause of the incident in er or the result?" One of my meds is specifically for strengthening my heart. I look back over several years and wonder how it all mixes together. Everything from stress to the meds I took before. Like the meds before...they worked as far as bringing my bp down, but I had periods of being lightheaded daily. I always thought that was just the med doing it's job, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe it was bringing it down too fast and doing little bits of damage. These doctors and nurses constantly asked if I was lightheaded at all and these meds don't seem to make me lightheaded yet they are doing the job.

So now I rebuild. They talked alot about stress and I'm sure the stress from the last school year and my trip to the mid-west played a role. I'm beginning to think that I was stressed out for so long it became the new normal because looking back I can see how even the little things were stressing me out. It really brought home that I need to be very careful. Apparently, I got the Bright heart (lots of love and disease). I just don't want the disease part to get a foothold. The good news is no blockage, no diabetes and my cholesterol is fine. 

The doctors seemed optimistic that I can get off the meds again in the future, if I do my part: 

Exercies--already doing it

Lose weight--that was my next step

Watch salt intake--I've never been a big salt eater unless I'm eating out

Stress--definitely will watch that one more closely

A couple chuckles: 

After the angiogram they asked if I wanted anything to eat or drink, I said, "yes, and make it lots of fruits and vegetables." 

Their reply, "That's what we like to hear."

And

We’ve been joking about our mission traditions. With both Johnathan and Timothy we had a car repair right before they left, and now we’ve had two health issues before they come home. 

James says, “I apologize now for what happens when I come home.”

We have been so blessed through all this. The sisters in the ward wanted to bring dinners...five of them. The sixth sister said, "I don't care if you need it or not. The Perry's will bring dinner on Wednesday." They just won't take no for an answer, and I love them all. Also, my counselors and secretary just carried on without me and did a beautiful job. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful ladies to work with. 

One other blessing was for John and Laney. They have been going through tough times of their own and John will be having his gall bladder taken out tomorrow. The bishop called to say that someone had left an envelope for them. It contained $200. Tom and I cried. 

The Circle of Life

Tom and I went to McCall for a small get-away and stayed at the Shore Lodge on the 22nd. Our actual anniversary was on November 26. We went all out and paid for the mid-grade room that had a balcony and view of the lake. Even in November the lake is very pretty. Tom was making all kinds of plans (snowshoeing and ice skating, etc) but when it came down to it we stayed at the hotel and relaxed in the outdoor hot tub. That's always fun when there's snow on the ground and the water feels so nice. 


We bought the dining package with the room so we enjoyed dinner in the hotel dining room. Gourmet food at it's best...except I found myself wishing for regular food...lol. Tom loved it though, and we both waddled back to our room and sat on the couch moaning because we'd eaten too much.  


I'll have to post some photos later. We forgot the camera and ended up using a single use one instead of the digital. So now I need to get it developed. 


I remember when my parents were celebrating their 25th anniversary. Tom and I had been married less than a year. We took my parents back to the temple they were married in...Idaho Falls. It was the first time they had been back to that temple since they were married. My grandparents went with us, too. It was a special day. 


But I remember thinking that 25 years was such a long time. It was so far out there I thought we'd never be that old ourselves. HA HA HA Here we are! Now my parents will be celebrating their 50th anniversary next August, we've celebrated 25 years, and Johnathan has celebrated his first. 


The circle of life! 

Thanksgiving at our house

We decided to go non-traditional this year. 

Tuscan Style Salmon

Green salad, yams, olives and cranberry sauce

(the kids wouldn't give up cranberry sauce and Linda wouldn't give up yams...lol)

Rolls and fruit salad...rice wasn't pictured

After the Thanksgiving meal we had a nice afternoon. 

Linda and I made Peanut Butter and Oreo Truffles. 

And we all decorated a gingerbread house to send to Tim. 

Our TV fare was "Hymns of Thanksgiving." Guess what! My luck held out. I didn't see every single foot of the program, but as far as I know there was only one shot where you might have been able to tell it was me...and I was behind the microphone! lol 

Amazing Stories

I've been in the mood to watch documentaries lately. The other day I watched one about some mountain climbers who had a harrowing experience. It was called "Touching the Void" and I was totally amazed at what the one climber did to get off the mountain alive. After that and the ones I've watched about climbing Mount Everest I've decided that any mountain climbing I do will not be that exhausting or that cold. I don't want to risk my life or battle frostbite for a little fun. It doesn't sound fun to me at all. 


Most recently I've watched a few about the Holocaust. "Steal a Pencil for Me" was about a young couple who met before they were taken to the camps. They wrote love letters the whole time they were in the camps and were fortunate to survive. It's possible that their love kept them going. They have now been married 60+ years. 


"The Hidden Child" was about a lady and her sister who were hidden from the Nazi's. She told about the first time she had chocolate when the town was liberated. 60 some odd years later she eats chocolate every day and remembers when the troops came to liberate them. 


The most amazing for me was "Forgiving Dr. Mengele." It was about a lady and her sister who were part of the twin experiments Dr. Mengele did during the war. Eva was determined to survive and at one point it was her determination that saved both her and her sister. In later years Eva's sister died from the experiments that had happened to her, but Eva was able to forgive all Nazi's. She says several times that forgiveness is freeing yourself of the pain of the past. 


I've discovered that same thing myself, and I'm always amazed at how many people never fully understand forgiveness. It's so simple, but so hard at the same time. So many just can't wrap their minds around the fact that they can forgive without the guilty party asking forgiveness. They want to hold on to the anger until the other person comes around. Eva said that as long as she waited for the Nazi's to apologize she would remain a victim, and she didn't want to be a victim any longer. She has spent years trying to help people understand forgiveness with little success. I know how she feels. I guess it's something people have to be ready for at specific moments in their lives.  

As luck would have it

I've had lots of fun being in this choir, although if I'd realized how challenging the work on my kidneys was going to be I would have waited until next year to do the choir. I feel good when I see the progress we have made with the songs. A couple of them are really challenging, but we're getting them! Only three more rehearsals, and then it's performance time. I'm getting a bit nervous since it's going to be on TV, but I keep telling myself that my past luck will hold out. 

My luck is that I'm always in the crack. 

Back in high school, during my junior year we performed "The Sound of Music" for the school musical. I was one of about 50 nuns, which meant I was on stage three times...at the beginning, middle and end. They had a photographer who took photos through out the performances, and later gave us the chance to order the photos we wanted. The photographer took several photos from one end of the stage to the other right at the point when all the nuns were onstage for one of the songs. Since I was on the front row you'd think I'd be in one of the photos. NOPE! I was in the crack. One photo had up to my left-hand neighbor and the next one picked up with my right-hand neighbor. 

In the past decade I've gone to BYU Women's Conference about 4 times and I always sign up for the Instant Choir. One year my sister-in-law did it with me. When I watched the broadcast later...guess what! My sister-in-law, who was standing right beside me, was on the screen, but I was in the "crack."

And there's the time when Craig Worth came and did a story on my marching band...Yep! I was in the crack on that one, too.  

There's only one time when I haven't been in the crack. It was while I was in the BYU Flag Corp, and they took a picture during one of the half time shows. I'm front and center, and on the official BYU 1983-84 calendar. 

There it is. My one claim to fame! 

You'd think it would give me a complex, but actually, I get more nervous thinking I could be seen by billions of viewers. I've always enjoyed my anonymity.

So, I keep telling myself I'll either be in the crack or hidden behind the conductor. LOL 

Birthday and Auction

Tom is 50. 

He says he feels like he is on top of the world...and driving us crazy to prove it. I almost asked if he had reverted to teenage. I'm wondering how we got so old. I used to look at my parents and think 50 was so far away...and here we are. It's so weird. 


Last night was the scout auction. Our funds were a bit tight this year so we took cash and when the cash was gone, we were done. I let Tom control the money because I had some Relief Society stuff to do. The results...3 cakes, a plate of peanut clusters and a groovy picture. We gave one cake to one of the high priests and another to a young family in the ward. But I wasn't letting Katie's cake out of my sight. This cake is better than "Better Than Sex" cake. It's heavenly. 

Inside Out German Chocolate cake

Can't decide

I can't decide if this is good news or if it will just lead to more headache in the future. Remember my trip to the mid-west and the car trouble I wrote about in July and August? 


Avis called me Thursday. When their insurance people looked at the claim they decided that since my friend was the one who actually rented the car with my credit card and was driving at the time, she's responsible and not me. So they have been sending her collection letters, and she finally replied with a letter telling them it's my fault because I didn't get out of the car and direct her (she didn't even ask) and that she fixed the car before she brought it in. They don't believe her. I just hope she doesn't get it in her head to sue us later because that would be plain silly on her part. I think the fact that I showed them the dent and was willing to take care of it goes a long way with Avis. I was telling Tom today that we left on Thursday night at 8 pm and didn't arrive at the hotel until Friday night at 10 pm (driving almost all that time). Saturday morning I woke up wishing I hadn't gone on the trip. Since I've learned that I have weak boundaries I've had to remind myself that my only fault on that trip was that I didn't listen to the Spirit and went anyway. During the whole trip she was controlling, disrespectful and demeaning, but I was respectful to her. But I guess 15+ years of friendship doesn't mean much to some people.

Oh say! Can you see?

I am having so much fun! 


I was accepted into the "2011 Hymns of Thanksgiving" choir! The choir currently has 265 members (they hope for 274) and will be accompanied by a 65-70 member orchestra. We are learning 12 songs in 13 practices, but the directors are fabulous and really know what they are doing. It is a workout twice a week, but I am loving it! I love the challenge. 


Thanks to my uncle who traded voice training for moving sprinkler pipe on the farm. He was a very accomplished musician, and even sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a time. I only got about 4 lessons out of the deal, but at times like this I pull what I learned out of the closet, dust it off and let it carry me away. I wish I hadn't been so shy and self-conscious back then so I could have learned more from him, but what he taught me has served me well. 


All the years of band, choir and piano lessons have served well, too. I'm glad Heavenly Father gave me the Bright love of music! It has greatly enriched my life. 


So, I'll be singing almost non-stop for the next 7 weeks. Lots of music to learn and the warm up number to memorize. If you hear me singing under my breath while walking down the street, just smile and wave. 


"Oh say! Can you see by the dawn's early light..."

Don't forget...

A friend of mine wrote on her blog about things she would tell her younger self, if she could, and she gave a challenge to think of advice we would give ourselves 5-10 years ago. Like my friend, I think experience is a great teacher. I, too, served a mission for the church, and wish I'd had more experience at that time. I felt bad when asked for marriage advice since I was a single, never-been-married 20 something at the time. So, I took her challenge and this is what I came up with. 


1. When faced with trials, don't ask "Why?" Ask, "What?" What am I supposed to learn from this? I can't tell you how many times I've asked that question, and immediately the Spirit has answered very simply, but with exactly what I need. I have made some amazing changes in my life because I stopped asking "Why" and started asking "What."


2. Stand up for yourself. Just because you are so nice, you can't expect everyone to be that way, too. The world is full of abusive people just looking for a door mat. You know you aren't happy being the door mat, so learn what you need to learn, and move on. 


3. Don't hide behind food. Just admit the cold, hard facts of the past, learn what you need to learn, and move on. 


4. Heavenly Father knows you better than you know yourself. Remember when you got your patriarchal blessing and how surprised you were to find out there would be more than one man wanting to marry you and you would have a choice? Remember the other things it said about you that you couldn't believe? Remember how you were made a co-senior companion when you had been in Honduras 4.5 months...and your companion was also from Utah and had been in Honduras for 3 months? HE definitely knows you better than you know yourself. 


5. Lastly, Heavenly Father loves you just the way you are. Knowing that is more motivating than anything else. My uncle and aunt had something they said to the kids whenever they left home. I'm probably not getting it quite right, but I like to think that Heavenly Father said the same thing when we came to earth. 

"Don't forget...I love you."

Faith

This is my faith project. 

I took the wooden pioneers that my aunt designed, printed a copy, and used the outline to create the pattern on graph paper. 

I heard the quote at the SS training meeting I went to last week. The speaker, Matthew O Richardson was telling about a time when he was learning from Henry B Eyring. That was what Elder Eyring said in the lesson. 

When Elder Richardson shared that experience it opened my mind to a deeper level of faith. He talked about how the pioneers committed to traveling to Utah not knowing what they were in for. He also talked about how we all desired to come to earth for a body. Heavenly Father told us it would be hard and that all wouldn't make it back, but we wanted it so bad. We didn't know then what we would face here on earth, but we wanted the reward enough to make the attempt. That's faith. 

I'm so glad they decided to let mom's do Personal Progress with their daughters. It's been fun, and touching, to work with Hannah on our goals. Last night we talked about Patriarchal Blessings, and I was able to share my testimony with her about how Patriarchal Blessings guide us and help us. 

I think I got it fixed

If you were wanting to read my new blog Rediscovering Me...I think I got it fixed. If not, let me know. 


One of the problems was that I mis-spelled rediscovering. LOL No wonder the name was available when I set it up!

Changes

I decided to put my weight loss stuff on a separate blog. Feel free to read if you want, but I won't be hurt if you don't. It's mostly for me to write out what's happening. I'll be updating my goals and visits to the naturopath there, as well as writing about things I'm learning and posting photos as I progress. It's called, "Rediscovering Me" and you find it on the right of this page. 


The other change...


It looks like heavy metals are finally making their way out of my life! I feel like dancing! Details on the other blog.

New tatting skills

This one didn't have anything new in it, but I love the pattern of it. 

The new part of this was how the chains twist around each other. I had never done that before. 

Close up! 

This one had a new method I needed to learn. 

You can see it better in this photo. In the peaks there's a ring with three rings joined to it. Or is that a ring at all? It's actually a fake ring. 

I was finally able to figure out how to do this one because I learned the skills in the blue one. 

I'm looking forward to the next project, and finding more skills to learn. 

I love it!

This is a basket carved out of a peach pit! 

My brother-in-law carves them, and my sister decided they should try selling some to raise some extra cash. Ruth told me that my pit was actually carved by Bob's grandpa, which only makes it more special in my eyes. Here's a link to her etsy shop. Sentimental Scraps by Ruth

Tatting

Apparently, I haven't talked about tatting on this blog. You can see more of my tatting on my other blog, My Heirloom Tatting, but I thought I'd share some here, too. 

Tatting is a very old, nearly lost art. All you need is thread, a shuttle, and a pattern. Tatting is simply tying a slip knot over and over. The designs come from leaving space between the knots or by primarily using the shuttle thread knotted around the ball thread or the ball thread knotted around the shuttle thread.  

I first saw tatting when I was 13 years old and was in the hospital to have my appendix removed. My roommate was an older lady and spent alot of her time tatting. It intrigued me...ALOT. 

When I was seventeen (1980), the Young Women's leaders wanted us to learn something new to commemorate the bicentennial of the church's organization. I told them I wanted to learn how to tat. They found an older sister in our ward who could teach me. It can be tricky to learn how to make the slip knots and it was important to check often to make sure I could still slip my work as I went. About half an hour later, I had it figured out, and I was off. 

This is an example of my first tatting project. This bookmark was the only thing I made for several years. 

Finally, in 1989 my sister asked if I could make a baby bonnet and booties for her sister-in-law. I said I would give it a try. That was the beginning of big tatting projects. There is a picture of the first bonnet pattern I made on the other blog. I ended up making three of that pattern. It wasn't my favorite so I looked for other patterns to use. I've also made many doilies and there are pictures of some of those on the other blog, too. 

Below are more bookmarks. I finally got tired of making the same pattern of bookmark all the time, so I looked online, found some pictures and patterns I liked, found some patterns of edgings in my books, and I'm set. 

 

This one (red) was an edging in one of my books. I just had to figure out how to make the turn around the ends. 

I found this one (purple) online. I could easily see how to make it just from the picture because it is very similar to one of the bonnets I've made. 

For this one (pink) I found a pattern online. 

This one was also from a photo. It uses the split ring technique. For this one, two shuttles are used instead of a shuttle and ball. Half the ring is worked, then it is flipped over and the other shuttle is used to complete the ring. 

This was from another photo. I wonder if it was meant for needle tatting which I have never wanted to learn. I tried it with the split ring technique and then figured out a better way with just one shuttle. 

And here's the last one...for now. 

Time flies

I'm really having a hard time with the passage of time this year. 


James and Hannah are both registered for school as of today...HIGH SCHOOL. I can't believe both my babies are in HIGH SCHOOL! Three more years and maybe I can graduate for the last time...lol.


Also coming up:
Tom's 50th birthday. That means I'm only 16 months from that one myself. 
Our 25th wedding anniversary is this November. 
And my parents' 50th anniversary is next August. 


Wow! I really don't know how I got here. Wasn't I graduating from high school just yesterday?  

Cards

One of my friends asked me and a mutual friend to participate in a bazaar with her. It will be run by her church, and she asked for two tables. I only had two things to contribute (the other two ladies are much more into it than I am), but my sister posted some photos of greeting cards she made on facebook. That got me thinking. I could do some cards for the bazaar. 

So here's what I've been doing to keep myself busy the last couple days. 33 cards of the following varieties. 

I lifted this one from my sister. It took a bit to make a pattern for it, but I think it's so cute. Here it is folded and not folded. All the cards fit in a standard card envelope. 

My friend was given a card like this last year and I copied it because I liked it. I really like the yellow and pink ones. 

This is the inside. It's a folded pop-out. 

These are scherenschnitte hearts. I learned to do these way back when in Relief Society. About killed my hands, though. One of my fingers is still a little numb. My favorite ones are the purple and red ones. 

These were also inspired by my sisters. Linda sent the flower one to Hannah for a birthday. Ruth's daughter sent the yellow one to Hannah because she missed her. 

A few Christmas cards. 

I don't know where I got the sayings for these cards, but I've always loved them. 

So, now to find the next project. I'm thinking maybe I can tat some bookmarks in time for the bazaar.