New Years Eve Memories

What did you do for New Year's Eve? Me, I just stayed home and watched the Twilight Zone Marathon.

I had a touch of the flu. That's me peaking in the window at William Shatner! (my favorite Twilight Zone episode!) Actually, I felt as bad as that guy looks! So my New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful...but relaxing.

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I recalled past New Year's Eve celebrations. One of my favorites was when I was 20. I was all alone for New Year's at BYU. My roommates were still home in California. I had to get back to Utah to work right after Christmas because I had a job at the University Mall...selling shoes at Thom McAn. (do they even exist anymore?) Just before closing an old friend came by and invited me to go with him to Park City for New Years Eve. He worked at one of the ski lodges there. I said "Sure!" I was grateful not to have to spend the evening alone.

I stayed in the employee dorms of the ski lodge and had a blast! Skiing, riding the tram, goofing around. Such fun! At midnight a trail of skiiers holding torches skiied down one of the slopes. It was an awesome sight.

(this isn't a picture of the night I was there...but I found a picture that looked just like it!)

I'll never forget that. Those were the days I didn't have a care in the world. Oh, to be that young again!

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Another New Year's Eve memory. I was 21 living in Spain, serving an LDS mission.

In Spain they have a tradition at New Year's Eve (or Nochevieja) as the countdown to midnight begins, you eat 12 grapes, one on each chime of the clock. I was with a favorite family celebrating New Years in Jaen. The family gave us all 12 grapes to follow tradition.

Eating the grapes was very funny because it's impossible to finish eating the grapes by the time the clock finishes chiming. We all laughed at each other with our cheeks full of grapes. Pretty soon we had a big mess of grape juice all over us! I remember they told us that this tradition started in Spain because one year there was huge grape harvest and the king of Spain decided to give grapes to everyone to eat on New Year's Eve. Ingenious!

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And now my least favorite New Year's Eve memory. It was 1987. Daughter #2 was 9 months old. She was sick with a stomach virus and bronchitis and was in the hospital for 5 days. It was a very stressful time for our family as you can imagine. She had to be kept in a mist tent the entire time for the bronchitis and had an IV to replenish her fluids. She was terribly dehydrated and the only place the doctors could find a good vein for the IV in her in her foot! Poor little thing. The nurses set up a bed for me in her hospital room. The only bed available at that time was a small juvenile size bed. But I didn't care. I slept there next to my little baby each night she was in the hospital. The first night there in the hospital was New Year's Eve. I stayed up to watch Dick Clark's countdown. As the New Year began I turned to my little girl--asleep in the mist tent, contected to machines and tubes--and said outloud, "Happy New Year Stacy!" I'll never forget that.

A few weeks later, she was back to her old self. As you can see in the picture above, she was once again healthy and happy!

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And in closing...I hope your New Year's Eve memories were good ones.

Perhaps you saw...

wait for it...

Pink Elephants!

This darling baby quilt is similar to another elephant quilt I did for a lady back in Oct. I lightly quilted it with a medium meander throughout. I used a pantograph pattern in the border called, "Sydney."

The back was a lovely minkie fabric. It was soft and cuddly. I know the little girl who received this for Christmas loved it!

Be Careful What You Say!

Good advice for anyone, don't you agree?

Be careful what you say in Spanish!

Once while grocery shopping in Spain I told my friend I needed to find some "gusanos con helados." She gave me the strangest look! In Spanish she said to me, "What? You Americans are so crazy!" I said, "What's the big deal?" Then I picked up the package of frozen peas I was looking for. I thought that's what I told her. She laughed so hard. She told me I said I needed to find "worms with ice cream!" You see, I should have said, "guisantes congelados", which kinda sounds like "gusanos con helados." Frozen peas or worms with ice cream, which would you rather have?

Be careful what you say on TV!

Daughter #2 worked on a commercial for American Idol many years ago. It was one of those commercials that featured the finalists promoting the show's big sponsors. It was a Subway commercial. I don't watch American Idol, but looking at the official American Idol website, I see it was Season 3. (I think a girl named "Fantasia" won that season.)

Anyway, when you work in the entertainment industry, one way they pay you is by how many words you say. There's a pay rate for 5-words-or-less. And there's a pay rate for more-than-5-words. (Note: I'm sure Angelina Jolie doesn't get paid by how many words she says!...these pay rates are for budding actors.) Anyway, on this particular commercial, my daughter was to say:

"Can't wait to see 'em!"

Let's see how many words is that? It's 5. That's what the contract said she was to say. Now if she had decided to say:

"I can't wait to see 'em!"

then her pay would've gone way up. Let's see how many words is that? It's 6. That wouldn't have happened because the director would've yelled, "Cut!" Oh well. That's showbiz.

Here she is with one of the finalists. I looked her up. It's Jasmine Trias. Cute girl!

Here she is with another finalist. His name is John Stevens. To be honest with you, I thought he was a real Subway worker!

(A little side story: While waiting for my daughter film this commercial, I sat and chatted with one of the producers of Fox Television. I asked her questions about the American Idol show; how it worked, who was on it, etc. etc. Her eyes got all big and she asked me, "What? You don't watch our show?" I said, "No." She asked "Why?" I answered, "Because I'm just not interested." I think I'm the only person in America who's never watched Amercian Idol. Sorry.

Again...I need to be careful what I say. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to say to a producer while my daughter was doing a commercial for them!)

Be careful what you say to a University of Oregon alumni!

The other day a lady brought me lots of fleece to make her some fleece blankets with my longarm. There were tons to do. One by one I worked to get the blankets done. I had just one more to do and the fleece was still in a bag. She called and asked how the blankets were coming along. I said, "Oh, fine. I just have one more. I have that John Deere blanket left."She gasped, "What? I didn't bring you any John Deere fleece!" I pulled it out of the bag and looked. "Oh sorry. I guess it's University of Oregon." She seemed a little offended at my mistake. Oh well. Perhaps other U of O fans would have taken offense too! My mistake. Green and Yellow, Yellow and Green, that's all I noticed.

The Purse Dog didn't notice. I made her this little scarf with a scrap.

Have a great day and be careful what you say!

Each Life That Touches Ours For Good

"Each life that touches ours for good,

Reflects thine own great mercy Lord.

Thou sendest blessings from above,

Thru words and deeds of those who love.

What great gift does thou bestow,

What greater goodness can be know

Than Christ-like friends, whose gentle ways,

Strenthen our faith, enrich our days.

When such a friend from us departs,

We hold forever in our hearts

A sweet and hallowed memory,

Bringing us nearer, Lord, to thee."

--Karen Lynn Davidson, Hymn No. 293

I have not written about the sad news I received the beginning of July. (I have been so busy with my daughter's wedding.) I received an email from the sister of my dear friend Shawn Thais Peterson. "Thais" as she was known had passed away the end of June. She was a friend of mine since we served as sister-missionaries together in Spain in 1981-1982.

She was one of those people you meet in your life who changes you forever! My life was so blessed by knowing her. When she first arrived in Spain, I had only been there four months. Together we hardly spoke any Spanish. We kinda learned together. We had the best time working together in Jerez de la Frontera.

(one of the many bodegas 'wineries' in Jerez. 'Jerez' means sherry!)
We worked hard and had many memorable experiences. Later we shared an apartment with 2 other sisters in Seville. We both grew to love Spain...the people, the food, the sights...everything!

(left: the Plaza de Espana, in Seville. It is also pictured in one of the Star Wars movies...I think #3)

(right: a beautiful statue in the Parque de Maria Luisa we would pass everyday. It depicts 3 women in love: the one on the right is looking for love, the one in the middle is in love, and the one on the left has lost love. It was one of my favorite statues in Seville.)

(We even had the chance to attend a World Cup soccer game, while we lived in Seville. It was New Zealand vs. Brazil...awesome!)

A few years ago, Thais was living near Dallas, Texas with her sister. I had just spent 3 days at the Linda Taylor's Quilting facility there and had the chance to extend my stay in Texas a few days so I could go visit Thais. We spent a couple of days together talking and recounting 'the good old days' in Spain. I will cherish that time we had together. I even sat at the piano and accompanied her as she sang some our favorite songs from our mission. What an angelic voice she had! Such a great loss to her friends and dear family, but how richly all our lives are blessed to have known this sweet daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Before I left Spain in 1982, Thais wrote a letter to me. This is part of it:
"I love you Vivian, and I'm grateful for your friendship. Every friend is a drop of love in the bucket I'm collecting to drink from for the eternities." I shall never forget my friend Thais.