In the Chicken Coop

For my family history class, we were encouraged to get to know more about our ancestors than just their birth and death dates. I was reminded that my Great Grandma Palmer recorded a bunch of her life stories on tape before she died. After she died, my family would occasionally listen to them for family home evening. I looked back, and here are a couple of my favorites.

My grandma was a master gardner, and she had a favorite hoe. She'd take that thing with her every time she went outside and get the weeds out of her flowers. That hoe was like her best friend. And one day it broke. She was devastated. That hoe had been through a lot of gardening with her! So she kept the stick, and used it as her walking stick from then on. And she bought a new hoe. 

And I remember that walking stick, because my brother and I used to play with it all the time. We played with the new hoe too. I didn't know the significance of the stick until after she died, though.

And when my grandma was little, she used to go to the chicken coop every now and then to get some eggs and take them to the local store. She could trade them for sweets. (I really wish that the world was like that now. I mean, you can't trust anyone like that anymore.)

Gardening and chicken coops just seem to be engrained in my mind as part of my Great Grandma Palmer's legacy.

When my grandma and grandpa (that's how I knew them, not as great grandparents, but just another set of grandparents) were a young married couple, they'd been out, and when they got home my grandpa went out to check on the chickens before he went to bed. My grandma either didn't know this, or forgot, and she locked the door and went to bed. Well, my grandpa came back and tried to get in the house, but it was locked, and he couldn't wake her up!

It was a cold night, and since he couldn't get in the house, he slept in the chicken coop! My grandma felt terrible when she discovered him there in the morning, sleeping with the chickens to keep warm. She laughed about it when she told the story, though.

I miss my great grandma, but I am grateful for the legacy she left behind.

A Goal Accomplished

So, in my New Year's Resolutions for this year, I set a goal to crochet something for myself. Got that done, and I'm pretty happy about that.

I still don't know quite what to think of it, but it did use up two skeins of extra yarn I had in my closet. I've gotten a lot of compliments on the bag, so maybe it looks better than I think it does. And I probably think it doesn't look as fantastic as I was expecting because I made it and know what little mistakes I made. 

But hey, a goal checked off the list.

One down.

And for those of you who didn't already know, I did actually compete in Dancesport a few weeks ago. So there's another goal checked off the list.

Two down.

And nineteen more to go! We'll see how I do.

HAAY #2

I haven't done a HAAY for awhile now, and I thought that this would be a good week to do it because this week (other than one really great bright shining spot yesterday) hasn't been so great.

Yes, yes he is a country singer. With a handsome voice to go with that handsome face.

His latest hit, Time is Love.

And one of my favorites:

And the song that made him big:

I like a lot of his music, and I could go on for a lot more videos, but I realize that most people aren't going to watch all three that I have posted here anyways, so I'll stop. Still, enjoy!

My Only Swerving

El Ten Eleven —they remind me of M83, and I like them. And just a side note not related to this band in the least . . . M83 is coming to SLC on April 29. And I'm debating about going to their concert. Anyone interested in going?

A Much Needed Break

This weekend I took a much needed break. I'll probably pay for it this week by not having homework done, but oh well. I went home. On Friday my mom called and told me that my brother had two free tickets to go see Rare Bird at the University of Utah (he crewed the show), and that he was going to buy us one more, and so my mom, my dad, and I went to the show. It was awesome. Afterwards we went to Gourmandise for dessert. Tiramisu is one of the best desserts ever made.

Saturday was pretty chill. Sleeping in, lunch at Maddox, fun projects, the Big Bang Theory. I made a purse of sorts (pictures to come . . . maybe) and some cake balls and some kiwi lime sorbet.

My mom wanted to make them look like clovers, but we didn't have the little stem, so it didn't work out as well as we wanted. Still, they tasted good.

Lisa enjoying the mint chocolate.

My kiwi lime sorbet. It was ridiculously good.

If there's enough demand, I may add my recipe to my blog. So if you want it, comment!

And then on Sunday I went to church, of course. Sat next to my friend Ryan Taylor. It was nice to see him, since I never do anymore, what with me living in Provo and him in Plain City. Then I went to my Uncle Scott's and Aunt Carol's house for our annual St. Patrick's day dinner. Yeah, it was the day after St. Patrick's, but everyone was still in the spirit. However, I got pictures of only my cousin's ridiculously cute kids. Other people in the photos are in them just because Tajsha and Junior were with them. Cute kids. Fun evening. Now if it would quit snowing and get warm again, I'd be content for the week.

Grandma Vickie, Junior, and Tajsha 

Bailey and Tajsha

Grandpa June and Tajsha

Great weekend.

Insensitive

Flashback to the nineties! Anyone besides me listen to Jann Arden? I'm really feeling her music this week.

The Worst Poison

"Perfume and a good dance. Best tasting poison I've ever had the displeasure and foolishness to take willingly . . ."

My friend said that. 

He's right.

He's the same way I am. I'm the same way he is. I am always telling friends to "just go for it," and "you'll never know unless you ask," and "if you like him you should make sure to hang out with him more often until he asks you out," and "you should just ask him out; who says that guys are the only ones who can do the asking?" But I'm too chicken. I just assume that if he wanted to ask me out he would have done so a long time ago. I've come a long way from where I was; I ran away from what I was and what I thought I wanted; I came to something new, and better than the last try. But I'm afraid to try again. And I never get closure.

"Why the hell don't you jump? Try? 'You can only get closure' is what you would tell anyone that asked for your opinion. You'd make it seem so simple. They'd try it and say you were right as you either congratulated them or comforted them; either way you both know they did the right thing. But you? No such courage, no such sense to follow your own 'good advice'."

He said that.

Sounds familiar, right here in my head.

Cry Me A River

Arthur Hamilton wrote this song, and lots of people have sung it over the years, but there are two versions that surpass all others in my mind. Ella Fitzgerald does an awesome version of this song. And Julie London's version is in V for Vendetta, and I really like it. Of those two versions, I really probably prefer Ella's version, so I'm posting it here.

This is the kind of music I've been into for the past month or so. It is my music staple, really. I'm a sucker for Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, and Billie Holiday. Give me them saloon songs anytime. I love 'em.