Quilting

I have been in the process of making a quilt for our Stake President. He will be released on February 17th. The Stake Presidency and High Council got together and decided they wanted a memory quilt to say thank you for your service. Of course Steve volunteered me to sew it. Well, the executive secretary and stake clerk had the job of delivering all of the quilt squares. We gave them to members of the High Council, and Bishops (Past and Present). I wrote a letter asking them to have all of the quilt squares to me by January 25th, and the quilt would be presented to President Hales on February 1st at a dinner.

January 25th came, and I had received a whopping 6 quilt squares, by the 26th I was up to 14, and the 27th I had 31. I have realized how difficult it is to work around people who procrastinate... I kept thinking "I really need to get started on this quilt" then I would have someone call and say they would bring it to me tomorrow. Well, today is the 30th, I had 2 people who definately were going to get their squares to me today, so I would have a total of 40, a perfect number for the style I am doing. One person came through, and the 2nd I ended up calling, she said she would not be able to get me the final square. I had to get it done, so I took a blank square to a neighbor who does embroidery on her sewing machine, and she put a nice design on the final square. I spent the afternoon sewing all the squares together, and started binding the quilt when I had 2 separate ladies call and ask me if it was too late to get a square to me. The first was okay with my answer, she hadn't started yet, but would do it today if possible. The second lady told me she had it done last night, but couldn't find my house. She tried to call me, but didn't leave a message; I was at New Beginnings. I apologized, and she seemed really frustrated with me when she hung up, I decided I would unpick the last square that I had had stitched, and put hers in it's place, but when I tried to call her back (4 times) a fax machine kept picking up. I felt really bad, but I have had to tell myself "She was 5 days late, I had no way of knowing she had done a square."

We are presenting this quilt in 2 days! I am the first to admit I am no seamstress, and definately not a quilter... this quilt has brought me down to the depths of humility, I am posting a picture from a distance, but was practically in tears today with frustration because it would not cooperate with me. I think I am intimidated with the recepient of this gift. I called Erin, on the verge of tears and she helped me realize, he won't be looking at the quilting, he'll look at the squares and appreciate the memories... Thank you Erin, you always know just what to say.

My Significant Other Tag

Hi All,

Erin tagged me, this looks like kind of a fun tag, here goes.

His name: Stephen Howard Collings

How long have you been married?: 19 years I can't be that old!

How long did you date?: Our first date was the end of July; we were engaged in September, and married by December. I think that makes a total of 5 months.

How old is he: 40

Who eats more? Tonight me, but mostly he does, only because he goes out to lunch and dinner all of the time with work. He eats at some great restaurants!

Who said "I love you" first? I did, he was the only boyfriend I said I love you to, and that was after he proposed.

Who is taller? Steve at 5'10, I am 5'4

Who sings better? I don't think this is a fair question.

Who is smarter? Definately he is, I will go to him when my head is just spinning and I need advice, and he makes it seem so easy to solve, I wonder why I didn't think of it.

Whose temper is worse? Lately? Me...
Who does the laundry? Me, unless I have slacked off and he needs some clothes, or when I'm in school he keeps it going.

Who does the dishes? The whole family does the dinner dishes, I usually do the other meals.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does, but every couple of years he switches just to throw me off. I prefer the left side.

Who pays the bills? I do, but he knows exactly where we're at.

Who mows the lawn? One of the perks with having older kids, they do. I divide it up between all 5 of them.

Who cooks dinner? Me.

Who drives when you are together? On a nice date, he does, but just to go somewhere, the last person in the car drives. It's a race to get into the passenger side. I don't think either of us like to drive. It takes us a lot longer to get most places than the rest of you.

Who is more stubborn? I think we both are, he probably thinks I am. I'm not sure on this one.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Well, I'm never wrong.

Whose parents do you see the most? Steve's, they are in Ogden. My mom and dad are in Nauvoo.

Who proposed? He did.

Who has more friends? He does, I'm a little bit hard to get to know. With his calling in the stake, it seems like everyone knows him. I'm not as sociable.

Who has more siblings? I do by 1. There were 7 boys in his family, and there were 8 kids in mine.

Who wears the pants in the family? That's his place, but we do pretty well together.

What can I say, my significant other is pretty great. This was a fun tag to do. Makes me appreciate him more. I don't have a lot of blogger friends... see above, but I tag MOLLY.

Getting Busy

Never complain about having nothing to do, it will come back to bite you. We just started up basketball season again, both on the ward level and Jr Jazz. My family is crazy about basketball; Dad has decided to coach Conner's Jr Jazz team this season, and young Steve is also playing. Steve and Kaylea also are involved in church basketball, so our week goes as follows, Steve has practice on Monday nights (he doesn't go due to family night), Kaylea and Steve have church ball practice Tuesday night, Conner and Dad have practice on Thursday night, and Steve and Kaylea have separate YM/YW games (also on Thursday night). Saturday morning Conner and Steve have separate basketball games. This goes on every week until the end of March. Our Ward Young Men are going in 2nd place to region, they and another ward won all of the games they played, but when they played each other, the other ward beat them.

Our Stake President has reached the end of his term coming up in February, the members of the Stake Presidency and High Council thought it would be a great idea to have me make him a memory quilt with squares from Previous and Present High Council members, and Previous and Present members of the Stake Presidency. I am really happy to do it, but I am also making another memory quilt for another special day coming up. (I don't think they read my blog, but just in case.)

Then there's my calling in the Young Women, we have New Beginnings coming up next week, and we clean the Church on Saturday. On both occasions, I will be the only member of the YW presidency there.

Don't get me wrong, I love being busy and would prefer it to being bored, I just hope I can be organized enough to remember everything, and not drop the ball.


Kaylea spoke in church today, I was so proud of her, she didn't ask for any help at all, she read quotes and scriptures, and spent a lot of time making eye contact and telling personal experiences. Her talk was on the importance of choosing uplifting things in the media. She read from a talk by Spencer Condie about how magazines, music, and movies are alot like mushrooms. There are so many varieties, and many of the varieties are really good for you, but some are very dangerous, and even deadly, and it's important to only use those that are good and uplifting. She did a great job. I think she's growing up.

Back to life

I was told I'm not writing enough, I've decided my life isn't really that exciting. Sage came back, and we realized letting her car sit for 3 weeks in the winter is not a good idea, it broke down. Jessica's car broke down too, so she drives Steve's truck to her internship and school. Steve and I towed both cars to a place here in town, and are waiting for the verdict. That's what you get with old beater cars, but I can't complain, for the most part these vehicles are great.

It was fun having mom and dad come into town. Erin and I spent the day with mom going to Market Square and Savers. I had a great time, I love when I find really nice outfits! I found two skirts, a sweater, and a blouse. They all look like brand new, what a blast.

The kids are all back in school. We are finishing up the term this week, they are out of school Friday and Monday for report cards and the Martin Luther King holiday. It's good to have life back to normal.

Steve and I have been doing odds and ends around the house. Last week we had such a wind storm that it blew our mail box over, blew off about 8 pieces of siding, and blew the shingles off the roof of the shed. We were able to find all of the siding in our yard, and spent that Saturday reattaching it, it really got us in the mood to do some other projects around the house. We had a man come in and finish the carpet in the hallway. When we finished the office there was carpet that needed to be tucked in where the hardwood meets the carpet, and along one wall that used to be a door. He took care of that and patched a spot where ink had been spilled and smeared (down to the pad). I have noticed after 7 years, the grout is getting ugly around the base of the tubs, and showers, so we cleaned that up and caulked it. I painted the outside door casings and tried to paint the front door. I ran into a problem, I bought the darkest green I could find and painted it that color, but it looked bright green when I painted it on. It did dry darker, but it's still pretty bright. I have had several people tell me they thought the door and shutters were black, but there is no doubt the door, at least, is green.

I have really enjoyed participating in the biggest loser. I have been running 3 days a week and have done a mixture of pilates, tae bo, and yoga every morning and night. I may not lose 20 pounds, but I am really motivated to tone up what I have.