Carolyn's Cute Hands

I gave Carolyn one of the Pop Corners chips that she said felt good in her tummy after her hospital stay last month for colitis and septic shock. Trying to stimulate her memory, I asked her what shape it was. She studied it for a moment, then looked up at me with a big smile and said, "Pizza!" 

Besides eating chips, Carolyn uses her fingers for stacking (on the right) and challenges me to do the same. I try, but it's not as easy for me (on the left, with the metal watchband), and it's certainly not very comfortable. She laughs when I have a hard time, and does it over and over again to show me how. She's a bendy girl.

Carolyn's Got Talent!

For Carolyn's most recent talent show, she COLORED PICTURES, princess pictures, of course, since she's Princess Carolyn in a sparkly red dress and classy black and red sparkle jacket!

There were so many pictures that her friends Sam and Brailey helped hold them up.

In past years, Carolyn has sung a song, but she's so talented she chose a new one this year.

What's one of your talents?

Carolyn playing a Native American drum with Terry

This nice Native American from the S'Klallam tribe let Carolyn play this awesome Native American drum. 

 

A Minute of Fame in Walgreens

Well, wasn't I surprised to see a familiar book on the shelf at Walgreens in St. George. Which one, you ask? The second one down on the right.

Yup, that's the compilation I remember being asked to contribute to several years ago, along with some of my author friends, by Monte Bona of Mt. Pleasant, Utah. I was glad to see that it's still alive.

And there's my author page where I'm doing the look-up-at-the-camera picture trick to avoid the tiniest suggestion of a saggy chin.

It's fun to see my old writing resurface, proving that stories are magic, they never wear out.

What do you like to read?

Lost Beads, Found Sponge

I really like watermelon, so was very happy to get a pair of beaded watermelon earrings last summer. They were big enough that it's hard to imagine that I didn't discover I'd lost one until after I got home one day. How did I not notice that it had fallen out of my ear?

I only felt a sense of loss until I found a watermelon-shaped kitchen sponge in Grapevine, Texas, while visiting my sister Bev.

The extra size was a bit of a puzzle...

...but not too hard for my creative mind to solve!

A bread knife, scissors, permanent marker, Mod Podge, and earring hooks made my new watermelon earrings a reality.

(They look good enough to eat, but I don't recommend it.)

How do you feel when you lose something you like? What do you do about it?

Adventures Of Carolyn

As a Special Olympic Cheerleader, Carolyn rode in the Washington County parade with style.

If you know Carolyn, you know that she loves anything tropical, or Hawaiian, and especially loves pineapple, so she had a blast at a Special Needs Mutual Polynesian Dance with lots of friends and sparkly pineapple dealy boppers on her head.

Carolyn was also happy to have pictures taken with me at the tropical island setting...

...but didn't take kindly to me "eating" her pineapple.

We have housecleaning jobs that Carolyn loves to do, but sometimes it takes her longer to finish than others.

When we're not working, we like to walk in the Tonaquint Nature Park. This time, Carolyn was excited to find a swan sitting on a nest! Because there was a barrier, this was as close as she could get, but it was close enough.

We found a bridge that offered a great chance for a sister picture.

We had to stop at the end of our walk to get pictures of Carolyn with a wall of her favorite colored flowers.

What's your next adventure?

 

Old Made New

You may have noticed that I don't know how to turn this picture, but I have faith you your ability to see what it is anyway.

     I discovered how to avoid buying a new under-seat suitcase for someone I live with who loves princesses and doesn't care for the personal-item sized case she already has, royal color that she chose in the first place! (Purple is an ancient dye color reserved for royalty.) 

Spending enough to buy a princess-covered gift bag and a jar of Mod Podge, (which, I was happy to discover, costs LESS than a new suitcase) I rounded up a pair of scissors and a ratty little paintbrush and managed to transform Carolyn's 4-year-old suitcase into an adventure all by itself.

     Now Carolyn chooses this suitcase over the slightly larger hard-sided one she has with spinner wheels that she used to choose every time we went somewhere.

     The final chapter of this story is that after 40 years of not using the stuff, I didn't know how much soap was required to clean the Mod Podge off that ratty little paintbrush.

This was enough.

Do you like to fix things that you already have?

Or would you rather buy new things?