FHE Activity

Tonight we got it together and ripped up the sticky tile off of the middle bathroom floor. Laura cranked up the music to High School Musical and kept fetching garbage bags. Brenda and I had a rythmn going, and we were all getting kinda sticky whenever we touched the place where a tile had been. Then our FHE guests had to go, so Wally and Sam finished up. The washer and dryer have been moved into the hall and office, and the bathroom's ready for the floor guys to come and replace it tomorrow morning. We just laid out newspapers to cover the sticky parts so we (acutally Laura) could still use the bathroom until tomorrow morning when the toilet will be pulled. It was a good thing to use that newspaper idea cuz I saw an obituary of the husband of one of my quilting friends. She owns one of the first quilt shops that opened here in the SLC area, Quilts Etc. There he was, stuck to my bathroom floor. I must send a card of condolences.

I just have to write it

Wally's up in the bedroom watching Fiddler on the Roof and I decided I would take a break and get on line a minute. If you all read the new post on "Breinholt" you will see that Melinda is officially engaged, ring and all. She and Thomas came by this weekend for hugs and congrats and then made the rounds to Thomas' parents and most of his grandparents. He still has quite a few hanging around. This is the part I want to write about--
A couple of weeks ago Wally was in church and Julane Holland came up to him and said, "So, I guess Melinda's engaged now." And Wally said, "No, she's not." Julane kind of stammered a little, then asked, "oh, well when is the wedding?" Kind of wondered a bit at that. It was right after Valentine's Day, and we thought, humm, well, probably some one thought she would be getting engaged that day. Anyway, that night, the phone rang and it was my sister Marilyn calling from Idaho. Her question, "Is Melinda really engaged?" My answer, "No! She's not! Where did you hear that?" Her son Clint was talking to some friends about South Jordan, and he commented that he had family in SJ and named us. One friend said, "Oh, I have heard of Melinda Breinholt, she's engaged and is getting married on May 16." Clint was surprised and called his mom to confirm who in turn called me. I called Melinda and she was a little shell-shocked, too, but we talked through it and decided not to worry about it. We suspected that one of her friends was getting a little imaginative and gossipy and just left it at that. Thursday night a person came up to me in choir and said, "So you must be busy with your cute daughter engaged--what's her name--Melissa, Mel--" My immediately reply was, "It's Melinda and she's not engaged!! Where did you hear this??" She kind of cowered and said it was in her water aerobics class at the rec center, and then slid away with her head down. I may have come on a little too strong, but I was amazed. How on earth was this traveling around the valley (and Utah Valley, and Idaho, etc. etc.) so much? I started feeling a little bad that someone was determined to steal her thunder. Melinda and I talked again, and she said that Lanaya called her and said, "So you're not engaged yet? My chiropracter (who sings in the MoTab choir) told me she was." At that point, I thought maybe I was losing my mind, and that I had made an announcement in choir or something.
The other part to this story is that last Monday, Thomas came by to talk to Wally and ask for Melinda's hand. It was a sweet, loving and thoughtful thing to do. We all had a nice visit and then he showed the ring to us which is beautiful. It used to be his great-grandmother's ring. Thomas had a diamond solitare mounted on it. It's gold filigree and very Melinda. And this weekend we got to see how it looks on her finger.

Grandma & Grandpa

Today I spent some time in a timeless place--Grandma & Grandpa Breinholt's house. I worked with them and got us all up to speed on the personal history projects. We got together for this purpose last fall sometime and then it kind of faded out. I am a little shocked at the difference today from last time. It takes a little bit longer to communicate, a little longer to accomplish the smallest task, and I find myself worrying about whether or not we get to finish what we started together. About 1:00 or so Grandma hobbled to the fridge and said, "Would you like a sandwich with us?" I said it sounded good, and I kept working on the laptop transcribing her written notes of her life history. She mixed up some of this and that, chopped a few things, went to the freezer downstairs for some homemade bread, Grandpa came in and they fussed at each other a bit about who was better at slicing bread most evenly and the right thickness, etc. I finished the typing, we blessed the food, ate together, chatting the whole time. It's such a nurturing thing to eat at their table. I ran a couple of "store" errands for Grandpa and then came home to do homework. My brain is winking out periodically so I will end.

Saturday just before Sunday

I'm sitting here wondering if I should keep working on my homework or get the house ready for Sunday. Tomorrow Jerica Price, John and Jill's daughter is speaking in their church at 1:30 and I was planning to go, but Wally deferred. He has had a day off today, the first Saturday in ages, in fact, i can't remember the last time. He also is taking Monday off--it's a holiday after all, but that never matters to %$&*^$. Anyway, he remedied a lot of things around the house that needed care. He even replaced a shower head in the bathroom that everyone who visits here complains about. It was so successful he may do the one in the basement bathroom. Sunday night Kelton will sleep over here and we can have a lazy get-up on Monday, have waffles and enjoy the day. So do I keep working? Actually the article I am studying is very interesting, I'm just tired. It's about Common Law concepts for the Genealogist: Marriage, Divorce and Coverture. Mr. Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws of England have had longer lasting effects on the US than England.

Oh Yeah, it's Special Love Day

I forgot to write my love to everyone today. I already sent it out when I was laying in bed this morning, starting with Piper, a big open arms of love and energy her direction and a kiss on her little fuzzy head, a 2 inch-away eye to eye with Kelton and smile with the heart, a smother-tickle kiss on Sophie's neck and a heartfelt grin and tousle of the curly head of Maya. I love Melinda, too, and wish her happy memories today as she fixes dinner with her roommate and their boyfriends. they have some special gifts they have made to surprise them. I also send my love to Laura with her $2.00 she earned to buy coke and pepsi (she thinks I don't know). I send my love to Mimi and John and the sweet little nest they have created for love and growth. I send my love out to Pete and Kristin, working hard together and loving it. I send my love out to Sarah and Jessie and their big challenges and changes they are taking on together, loving and supporting each other. I send my love to Sam, making his way clear on how to secure the love of Allison, I send my love out to Jake and Reagan, busily and intensely creating a home of peace amid the NYC confusion. I send my love to Wally, the light of this home and my life, the peaceful center of the storm, the strong oak with deep roots, the steady and spiritual source of wisdom, the Christ love and intimate love and enduring love of my life and world. I send my love out to all my supportive extended family, and to everyone who believes in me and has my back--I have yours, too! I send my love back to the Lord who showers me with His love every day.
Happy Valentine's day all my people.

Stormy season

yesterday Eryn called from school about 4:00 and said "Mom can you give me a ride?" There was a little quiver in her voice and I immediately exclaimed, "You're not out walking in this are you?!!" It had been blowing all day and it started snowing sideways, and when I opened my front door to say goodbye to Cheri (we were quilting yesterday) it looked like a TV ad for cold season with the wind and blizzard conditions. So I went to get her, and she and a few little friends made it to the car, walking at a 45 degree angle to the ground. They looked so tiny, and when there were all settled in the back and front seats of Cherry, Madison our little neighbor girl (Jeremy Robert's daughter) said, "We tried to walk but the wind kept blowing my little brother away. I had to hold on to his hand to save him." I thought of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh. Actually Grandma Marlene had been to the school twice to find them, but it was pretty hard with the whiteout and these little tiny snow-covered ants slowly moving away from the school, kind of how it is when I dump diazanon on a swarming anthill. I thought it was cool the way they banded together, all the little kids in the neighborhood together, trying to get home. One of the schools, Suncrest Elementary, kind of up on the hill where Reagan's brother lives, ending up keeping all the kids overnight. The buses couldn't make it up to the school. It took Brenda 3 1/2 hours to get home from work, Mimi about the same. In spite of it all, Wally came home from work kind of early (6;15 or so) and took me to dinner at Cafe Rio to celebrate our anniversary of engagement. There was no line, and we felt kind of strange in the place with not many others there. It was really quiet and we could hear each other talk. I had my favorite: salmon taco.
This morning we were supposed to take Mom & Dad Breinholt to the temple but Dad called at 6:30 to say it was too snowy. We weren't going to pick them up until around 8:30 but old habits die hard. The brickmason in him got up early and checked all the weather reports and sent out the calls whether or not we would be working or not.

Well What do you know!!

I have been doing some transcribing of English documents from the 1500's for a wiki called Whitney Research Group (WRG) and after they gave me a few things to do, (some court manor leet court records) they apparently liked it! So they sent me a will and I transcribed it and the next day it was on the website! Wow! I felt like a million dollars. http://wiki.whitneygen.org/wrg/index.php/Archive:PCC%2C_William_Whitney%2C_1564
Here it is if you want to look. The will is there and then if you scroll down you can look at the transcription. It blew my mind.

The Stretch

Well I decided to create a blog--it's a stretch for me as sometimes I get scared what might happen when i press the "continue" button--will my stuff go into outer space, never to be seen again? Using the family websites has given me confidence. I lost something there once and it was found. I chose my HTML as momstendermercies, hoping that I choose this as a place to record of all the good stuff that happens in my life. Today I am thinking of the people in my immediate family and how God has surrounded me with interesting, generous, funny, kind, hard-working, smart, talented, kind-hearted and just plain awesome people. My married kids (I hope they all know that I know they are adults now) chose partners that are fabulous individuals. I feel blessed. And I have the most awesome partner of all--Wally the wonderful. It's sunday afternoon and he is at work--so against his values, but doing it for what he feels is the greater good of the place he has comitted his time to.