Grandpa Merritts House - upstairs

Here's blog #2...read the instructions in GRANDPA MERRITTS HOUSE - OUTSIDE (in bold, below)

...AGAIN please let me know of anything you may want ... don't feel like you are being selfish or piggish...what isn't chosen goes to Deseret Industries or in the trash.  IF you want to look at something close up, call me and I will meet you at the house.


 Instead of trying to pick a day for every one to meet at the house, with everyone's busy schedules, and distance, etc., we decided it would be more fair for us to post the pictures of stuff online and let YOU choose what you might be interested in.   PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE choose anything and everything you might like.  Then let me know....

If several of you want ONE particular item we will draw for it.  If you get one large item, and there is another large item you are interested in, let me know that too.  We will 'share the wealth' among all...as equally as we can.  Probably once we get all the items listed, and spoken for, then Jeff, Kelly, Susan and Bruce will all get together and pull the names out of the hat  for you grandkids.  If YOUR kids want something, then list it among the things that you want...greats come after grands....

bottle (jar) opener 

wooden knife block 

ceramic cannister set 

 mini cupcake tin

looks like a meat thermometer 

 large rectangular rubbermaid storage bin

white divided tupperware storage

cardboard shoe divider (sorry Amee, it only holds 12 pairs of shoes :-) 

small tv

TV (works well), stereo, tv stand,  

 dresser

 , 

 small touch lamp

 chair

 wall decoration

 queen sized bed

really good insulated boots 

trifle bowl 

 flowered corelle plate set

 heart correlle plate set

 small printer table

Grandpa Merritts House - outside stuff

We are cleaning out Grandpa's house getting it ready to sell.  This is a difficult blog to write ...and probably a difficult one to read.  Kelly, Jeff, Bruce and I met up at Dad's house a couple of weeks ago and kind of picked out what stuff we wanted.  So now, we are giving the grandkids a chance to say WHAT they want.   Instead of trying to pick a day for every one to meet at the house, with everyone's busy schedules, and distance, etc., we decided it would be more fair for us to post the pictures of stuff online and let YOU choose what you might be interested in.   PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE choose anything and everything you might like.  Then let me know....

If several of you want ONE particular item we will draw for it.  If you get one large item, and there is another large item you are interested in, let me know that too.  We will 'share the wealth' among all...as equally as we can.  Probably once we get all the items listed, and spoken for, then Jeff, Kelly, Susan and Bruce will all get together and pull the names out of the hat  for you grandkids.  If YOUR kids want something, then list it among the things that you want...greats come after grands....

 tool boxes, gas can,-- compressor...nope just a metal cylinder?

 swing

metal cabinet 

wooden dresser used for tools ( i will take pictures of stuff inside this later)

small leaf rake, regular rake, snow shovel, reg shovel 

ladder #3

I hope this sounds fair to you.  I went up to the house today and started taking pictures...the batteries on my camera went dead after I took the outside pictures and most of the main floor.  So I will take pictures of the basement stuff and post them another day.  I will also divide this post into two ... upstairs items and outside items.  So keep checking back until I say we have posted pictures of everything.  Some pictures will have several items in them.  They don't/won't go as a group....individual choices.

Uncle Evan

Evan Dee Nielson

 July 21, 1930 - March 23, 2012

I had the opportunity to fly with Ed to Austin Texas on Monday April 2, 2012 to attend the funeral of my beloved uncle, Evan Nielson.  It was interesting as I was one of the few people attending that knew him as Evan, rather than Niel.  I guess he was given the nickname Niel in the service years ago and it stuck with him.  When I mentioned to one of the people at the viewing that I was Uncle Evan's niece she gave me the weirdest look, like maybe I was at the wrong funeral!

Aunt Dora Nielson

We had originally ordered our plane tickets from Phoenix to Austin (with a layover in SLC!)  because we were down in Arizona when Evan passed away.  When Dora called me and told me the dates were changed due to scheduling the military honors burial at Ft Sam Houston we decided to pack up all of our stuff and drive back to Utah first, so we called Delta to find out how much it would cost us to change our tickets.  Delta was very helpful - they waived the 72 hour limit on frequent flyer tickets and they waived the $100 apiece for changing flights since it was a funeral.  The lady at Delta helped Ed reschedule the flight on the correct date and flew us out of SLC.  When we got to the airport however, we found that she had mistakenly routed us into San Antonio!!  That meant instead of arriving in Austin at 5:30 for a 15 minute drive to the mortuary for the viewing, we landed in San Antonio - an hour and 15 minutes away from the mortuary at 5:30.   So we rushed up the freeway, stopped at a Dairy Queen to get a bite to eat and get online to figure out how to get to the mortuary.  We arrived about 20 minutes before the viewing was over.  It worked out but it did put a crimp in our plans.

Evan's two children, Thomas Chandler Nielson and Shannon Dee Nielson Reid

So after I gave Dora a big hug and met her kids - I walked up to see Evan.  It didn't look much like him - he had lost a lot of weight and also the puffiness that had been prevalent due to the meds he had been on.

Ed and I had been in Austin less than a year ago and got to see and visit with Evan then, right after he had been put in the rehab.

I saw this tall handsome guy walk into the chapel and someone said "that's Tom, there!"  I wouldn't have known him because the only other time I ever met him was at Daniel's wedding a few years ago and he has lost a whole lot of weight since then - I think he must look like his mom Aunt Jean more than the Nielson side.  Tom took me out to the foyer where his wife and kids were and also Shannon and her husband and kids were.

As I say somewhere else in this blog - Shannon looks like a Nielson. :-)   We both have the square jaw and crooked smile - however I felt like a giant towering over her.  But she was warm and welcoming and both Tom and Shannon seemed to happy to see me again.  I felt the love even though we are all practically strangers.

Shannon

Tom

Shannon's family - Ginny's husband and daughter (Kiera?) , Gary (Shannon's husband), daughters Kendra & Ginny, andShannon

Shannon and Gary live in Tulsa OK

Ginny age 30 and Kendra age 28

Ginny and her husband and daughter live in the same neighborhood right now as Kendra in Kansas City although Kendra will be moving shortly

I have to apologize for my forgetfulness re: names.  I met people and gave them hugs and visited with them and got home and couldn't remember their names.  Please comment on this blog or send me an email and tell me the names and I will correct it on the blog spot.  Thanks

Carolyn and Tom

Tom's family - Tyler, Courtney, Tom, Carolyn, Whitney, Daniel

Daniel - age 29

Courtney -age 25

Daniel is married and lives in Provo UT.  He has two darling daughters (his wife and girls couldn't make it to the funeral but as cute as Dan is I am SURE the girls have to be adorable!)  Dan talked at the funeral and did a marvelous job.

Courtney sang "How Great Thou Art"  a song that she asked to sing and later found out that Evan had requested that she sing that very song at his funeral.  It was also a favorite of her Grandmother Ruby Jean Nielson (Evan's first wife and mother of her children).  Courtney has a gorgeous voice and was accompanied by her mother Carolyn. Courtney is attending a local college in Texas this summer but should return to BYU this fall.

Tyler - age 22

Tyler and Whitney are also students at BYU - they are living back at home in Round Rock, Texas which is just north of Austin with their parents this summer.  Thomas and Carolyn have been scouting for jobs in Utah this last few weeks.  Tom is a lawyer in Round Rock and would like to transfer to the Utah Valley Area to be closer to their children.

Whitney - age 21

After the funeral the Relief Society put on a wonderful luncheon for the whole family.  The funeral was at 10 am so that we would have plenty of time to eat and then drive the hour and 20 minutes to the Ft Sam Houston National Cemetery.  The family was informed that the military services were to begin at 2:30 pm with or without us.  They have the cemetery very solidly scheduled  due to the many requests for military honors.  Ed took a video of the whole service, plus I video'd the presenting of the flag as I was standing behind Dora and Ed was out to the side.  Ed has inserted my video into his and it takes about 11 minutes to watch.  I am going to TRY to download it to my blog....we will see what happens.

Flowers to go on Evan's grave

The cemetery would only allow the family to bring three bouquets.  The beautiful spray that we had done and delivered was given to family or friends after the viewing was over - in fact I don't know who got it.  It was done in red white and blue ...red and white carnations and a beautiful blue thistle (I think they were spray painted).  It was moved out of the viewing area before Ed got a chance to take a picture.   I wish I had realized this was what they were going to do with the flowers and I would have ordered a nice plant that someone could have treasured for years.  The metal 'table' in the foreground is where the casket was placed for the burial services.  We sat on nice benches under a gazebo  while the honor guard did their thing.   Besides the flowers, we were able to give Dora $200 in cash to help her with expenses. I had found a beautiful card and written everyone's name on it that donated.  She was very appreciative.  I hope you won't feel badly that I told her we didn't expect individual thank you cards for everything.  I know it meant alot to her that Evan's family 'back home' showed such love and appreciation for them both.

Ft Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio, Texas

Ken and Marilyn - son of Dora

I was impressed with Ken.  He is comfortable to be around and yet very proffesional at that same time. He spoke about Evan being a real dad to him for so many years as his real father had died when he was young.

Dora's daughter, Brenda and husband

Both of Dora's children were choice people.  Brenda was so very friendly and we shared our lunch table with them and you could feel the warmth of her personality flow through the conversation.  Her daughter Cassie was a major part of Evan and Dora's life in the late 70's, early 80's....many was the time that Evan would hop in the car to go get Cassie after school.  They also watched Brenda's granddaughter Elizabeth who is now about nine years old.  She was a pretty little thing that loved her Grandpa Niel so very much.  Both girls will miss him very very much.

It was so fun getting to know these new cousins - people I had heard about for a long time but rarely got to meet.  When we were living in Texas in 2001/02 we almost got to meet Tom and his family several times but then something would come up and things would fall through.  I have a great love in my heart for these two already.

This is the center pages of the funeral brochure they passed out.  I love this picture of Evan - it is so true to life.  Everyone talked about the sweet nature of Evan's personality. He hated conflict and would bend over backwards to make sure every one felt comfortable and was happy.  He always had pet names for me...usually Beautiful....he would answer the door and say "Hey Beautiful, come on in".  And then follow that with a big old bear hug.  I often felt that my dad and Evan were very much alike in personality, although Evan was much more outgoing.  My dad is more reserved but still with a warm and happy personality.

I remembered this guy.  I honestly believe I was the only one at the funeral that did - Maybe Shannon and Tom could from way back when they were babies.  This was the favorite uncle that would travel the world in the military and bring home presents to Miss Merrilee and Old Sue.  He was beloved then and still is.

A Day in the Life of a Desert Rat

It is supposed to be 74 here tomorrow - another beautiful day in the desert.  Ed is going out with friends four wheeling while I take myself to the doctor...its hard being 600 miles away from your own doctor.  I will be glad when I am finally on Medicare in May so I can go to any doctor anywhere and not have to call HAFB for permission.  Anyway, I have a boil on my right shoulder that has gotten bigger and uglier and more painful every day for the last week.  I am going to try to get in to the medical clinic here in Quartzsite tomorrow - if its not overcrowded (or if it is even open on Wednesdays!)  If I can't then I will drive 30 miles to Parker to the hospital that has an insta-care facility in its ER.

I didn't think I would ever be so excited to have someone put a big needle in my shoulder and cut me open with a knife but there you go.

My knee is at a standstill.  I still have full range of motion with it but I can't walk more than 20 steps without using my crutches.  I have a small brace that I wear a lot of the time...if I am not going to be going anywhere I will take the brace off and let the knee rest...and the ankle swelling because of the brace, go down.  I am so thankful I have my jewelry....it keeps me busy when I can't go out walking every day.

The days are pretty lazy.  We get up about 8:30 or 9...Ed will usually get up a little earlier and turn on the catalytic heater so the temp is warmer in the trailer.  We eat breakfast and I wash the few dishes and set them to dry in the drainer.  A couple of times a week I clean the toilet and sinks, vacuum the rugs in the trailer and sweep the floor.  Making my bed is the only thing I do every single day.  One day a week we usually go into Quartzsite and do laundry - a couple days a week we go on nice long 60-70 mile ATV rides with friends.  By the time we get back in the Razor my knee feels pretty shook up but I just ice it and take some Arthritis Acetaminophen and I feel good enough to fix dinner.

About 10:30 you can find me laying on the chaise lounge outside.  As soon as the temp gets up to 55 outside I go.  Ed has built a wind break along the Northwest/West side of the trailer so you can sit outside and enjoy the sun without the cool wind hitting you.  Most days the wind is only about 5-10 mph but that can feel cool at 55 degrees.  Now with the wind break we actually can only sit outside for maybe 45 minutes before we get HOT.  So its back in the trailer and that's when I work on my jewelry.  Then and in the middle of the night when my knee gets to aching (and my shoulder too).  Then I quietly get out of bed, shut the little cloth door to the bedroom, get out a warm robe (we turn the temp down to 60 at night to save on propane) and make pretties.

There are several ladies out here who make jewelry daily too so we have lots of ideas to share around.  I am hoping that I can be back out here in the desert by 1 pm tomorrow as that is our weekly Wedn craft day....sometimes someone teaches us something new, sometimes I have taught a class also.  Sometimes we all bring our own projects and work on them together---knitting, crocheting, quilting, beadwork, beading, cutting t shirts to make darling blouses.  I got busy tonight while watching the news on TV and laid out the beads I need for my turquoise pair of foot bracelets.  We are having a dinner and party for Marty Gras Saturday night at the tent and I brought along my Halloween costume with the long turquoise sari to wear.  I don't know if the guys are dressing in costume for Mardi Gras but most of the ladies are.  The days that we aren't out on an ATV ride, or off to Parker or Blythe for fun then we meet at the tent at 4 pm for happy hour with our soda's or water.  Ed fell in love with Diet Coke with Lime in it and was drinking three or four of them every day.  So its back to Sams Club Cola for him.  I have found that I can almost enjoy the new diet coke with Splenda...the diet flavor isn't quite as strong.  I still have one pepsi a day - then I will either have a Splenda coke or water.  We are drinking cases of water...which is much better for us.

I do miss the walks...if I want to go over to visit neighbors (our trailers are pretty spread out) I have to crutch it or hop in the Razor.  When we get home I will go up to the clinic and get a referral for a good orthopedic doctor and figure out first of all WHAT I did to my knee and then next, how do I fix it.   I elevate it, I use my crutches and brace regularly, and I ice pack it.  and it healed to a certain point and STOPPED!  However I took an ibuprofen last night because I was aching all over and when I woke up this morning both my shoulder and my knee felt better.  The doctor wants me to continue taking ibuprofen for the next few days to keep the swelling down in my boil area.  YAY!!

Jane's Jewelry

A month ago we drove over to New River Arizona to visit some friends that we met on the cruise.  Ken and Jane were good friends of Kitty and Larry who went on the cruise with us last Fall.

When we met, Jane and I hit it off like we had known each other for years.   She is a zany fun talented lady.  Anyway, she gave me a bunch of her old jewelry that she asked me to bring back to life.  You know how that is…an old favorite or two that shows wear and tear or just needs something to give it zing again.  So off and on, between making other jewelry I have been working on her necklaces.  

I was going to post it on my petalsoftjewelry.blogspot.com site but then decided that is for stuff I am selling – this is just stuff that I am re-doing and returning it later to its owner.  I didn’t take pictures of the first group I sent back to her.  Most of them were simply shortening the chain and fixing the clasps etc.  But I did want to show you what I have done.  I will add several pictures of the same necklace so you can see different views 

Before we get to Jane's jewelry though, here are my creations to match her blouses...  lavender and creme

 This necklace was created for this wild and zany shirt

This sweater was my inspiration for the necklace on the right



Finally now we get to Jane's jewelry that I repaired or added to:

 This necklace was made up of blue tones only - thin square capiz shells...you can see the blue still there but I added a round shell to each link made up of the same capiz shells but of all different colors.  I kind of rainbowed them from the middle out.

 I am waiting for an order of additional round capiz stones in hot pink to add that color to the mix as Jane has a blouse that has designs of blue, hot pink, yellow and green that we are trying to match.  I changed the closure from a lobster claw to a magnet closure for easier on and off.  I also added shells to the matching earrings

 I loved this necklace - it is worn collar style...right up close around the neck.  It had a pale peach colored ribbon that connected the flowers to the lobster claw closure at the back of the neck.  The ribbon was dirty and frayed so I removed the ribbon and added a double row of brass toned chain that now closes with a toggle.

 The necklace didn't have any earrings to match so I made a pair with pearls and crystals the same colors as the flowers around the neck.  Because the necklace is so 'busy' I made the earrings simple, although I did add some more lightweight chain to dangle at the bottom.  Note the design of the ear wire itself.  I loved these when I found them.  I wish I had bought more of them!

 I added this picture as it shows a LITTLE of the chain at the back of the flowers.

 Jane bought this necklace down in Florida but decided later she didn't like it - it didn't have enough pizzazz, so I added the dichroic glass pendant with matching earrings.

If Jane doesn't like this I will just have to try again.

This next necklace I created myself for a blouse that she just got and needed to find jewelry to match it.  The blouse is a very pale lavender with cream lace...

So I picked crystals that were the same tones as the blouse along with burgandy pearls, antique gold elongated beads, and white stone beads that were a creamy tone like the lace on her blouse.   I matched it up with a striped dichroic glass pendant that I wire wrapped with antique gold and normal gold wire twisted together.  It turned out beautiful.  Again, If the color and style don't match her blouse the way I am thinking it will I will just have to take this one back and try again...I am thinking it MAY be too heavy for the blouse.