Choosing a Bath Room Color

I had another blog ready for today but I’ve decided to save that one for another day and share with you an activity I am working on.

My bathroom wall has become dreadful!  Water drips have completely soiled it and I’m afraid that long hairy mold will start to grow out of it.  I stopped in Home Depot and picked up a bunch of paint swatches.  I called my boys together and all three of us piled into this tiny room, yelling, Yes, No, Maybe so, until we got six possibilities.

 

I taped the “possibilities” on the wall and we whittled our choices down to two…  I understand that it is important that we think about these choice for awhile.

 

As long as I get this done before Thanksgiving, I’ll be a happy girl.

Northwest Autumn

Fall with all it magnificent colors and activities has fallen in the Northwest. Here are a few sights that I thought you would enjoy.

Tree House - Update

My curiosity got the better of me; I needed to see how the Tree House at the Kory's was progressing. So I stopped by.  John was busy in the shop cutting new posts.

Some of John’s grandchildren were running around in their Halloween costumes and it was obvious that they had been enjoying the tree house. 

What was obvious? Words had been painted inside the tree house. And the hand railing had been painted. Hmmmm!  At first, I was stunned that John's hard work had been marked this way, but then I thought how these markings will give pleasure to his grandchildren when, as adults, they revisit this tree house and see again what they felt was important to them at the time. 

I asked them to pose for me in front of my favorite vista from the tree house, and most of them were happy to do so. 

Here are a few other pictures from my visit.

 Going up the staircase was fun....but then I had to go down.

 Standing on the ground, I admit, I was a little dizzy.  However it  became apparent, quickly,  that I wasn't the only person that found going down wasn't as much fun as the trip upward. 

Good Job Dad!

Nativity Scene for Christmas

 A project that I have been VERY quiet about but that I have been working like crazy on, has been my wooden Nativity scene. I painted the one showing 20 years ago.  I want to give one to each of my children for Christmas this year.  I write books and blogs now and don't have time to paint but,















my across the street neighbor is an amazing artist.  Her name is Willa Cahill and together we started dreaming about creating a business on e-bay for this project.    Here I am cutting the wood on my scroll saw   There are 7 pieces of wood that are needed for each project. Willa paints six of them.

It takes six hours to paint the pieces.  Here is a picture of Willa's art work.   She free hand paints them. So each is unique and individual. Yesterday, A friend at church said her brother would be able to cut the seventh piece, a half circle for the stand.    I plan on painting it. Twenty years ago, my husband stabilized my Nativity scene by attaching supports. As you can see the original work is still stable and in really good condition. 

I'll post the finish project here and let you know when bids are open for the project.  I have loved having this work of art in my home.  It brings a feeling a joy with it and it the perfect center piece for my Christmas holiday dinners.  In fact my children know what my centerpiece will be and they bring garlands and complementary decorations to refresh and enliven it.  I love this work and  I know you will love also.

Colors of the Northwest

Fall in the Northwest is colored with the most amazing leaves and flowers.  I stopped by Ramsey Park on the way home and took these pictures.

LDSentinel Publication

Published in the Latter-day Sentinel http://spokane.latterdaysentinel.com/

 

October 12, 2011

News

Coeur d'Alene dentist brings smiles to Central America

By Gloria Warnick, Sentinel Staff Writer

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October 12, 2011 — Doug Pulsipher, DDS of Coeur d' Alene, and his staff are all smiles, literally.


Dr. Doug Pulsipher, a Coeur d'Alene dentist, and his wife, Sally, volunteer time to a Church humanitarian program called "Smiles for Central America" that provides dental care for departing LDS missionaries in countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. Contributed Photo.

Dr. Pulsipher and his crew been traveling with a group called "Smiles for Central America" to help fulfill a mission statement "to provide dental and medical services for young Latter-day Saint men and women in Central America."

Twice each year, Smiles for Central America sponsors humanitarian service expeditions to Central America for the purpose of delivering medical and dental services for young LDS men and women to help them prepare to serve full-time LDS missions. The group rotates through the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama.


Sally Pulsipher with several smiling missionaries. The Pulsiphers have traveled to Central America four times as part of Smiles for Central America. Contributed Photo.

Dr. Pulsipher has gone four times with this group to Central America. He usually goes twice a year and pays his own way, which costs from $2,300 to $2,800 per person. His wife, Sally, has gone with him each time. He has been to Peru, the Dominican Republic and Belize. He has traveled with his son John (a dentist) to El Salvador and with his daughter, Lindsey (a hygienist) to Nicaragua. Dr. Pulsipher served an LDS mission to Chile 43 years ago.

"This program is the best humanitarian program I've ever participated in," said Dr. Pulsipher. "We know we are changing lives, not just fixing teeth. We are providing the pathway for young people to get out of poverty and into the middle class. Before this program there were 500 participants in the Perpetual Education Fund in Central America. Today there are 5,500. Before this program there were about 1,200 missionaries serving from Central America and today there are 2300."

Being able to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not only affects the missionary but their posterity as well, as all they teach in the mission field. A missionary is more likely to marry a member in the temple, raise children in the gospel, become leaders in the Church in their own country, leave poverty and move into the middle class.

The same thing happened to the early converts to the Church. Dr. Pulsipher tells of his mother's great-grandparents (Mellors) who were too poor to immigrate to Zion when they joined the Church in the 1840's in England. When Brigham Young established the Perpetual Immigration Fund in 1856, it allowed the Mellors to travel on the ship Horizon to Boston in May of 1856. They were eventually part of the Martin Handcart Company.

Halloween Preparation & Corn Candy

Halloween is almost with us. And a variety of treats are becoming available on the market. At my Idaho Writer's meeting today, the table was set with chocolate ghosts, goblins with ice bats floating in red punch.  My favorite at the table was the chocolate fountain and the strawberries!  Yum! It reminded me that after years of celebrating this day, I have a flavor that if I don't get a taste of, then I feel like I didn't get to celebrate Halloween. 

I'm sure of all the incredible things on the market for this day you must have your own favorite. You know the one, that if you didn't have it, Halloween just didn't happen for you this year.

So what is mine?  I'm glad you asked.  It's candy corn.  I don't really know why, except this flavor is the one that does it for me.  And I'm  not talking the expensive type.  I'm talking the kind you find piled up at Walmart in bags and bins.   

My children used to roll their eyes, and say something like, MMMOOOOOOMMMMM! when I brought home my annual bag of candy corn. Then they would grab a handful and enjoy the sugar rush with me.

Of course sharing with them was what was really important to me. I'm the type of person that would nibble away a piece at a time until the whole bag is gone,  I would be sick to my stomach from the overload of sugar and my pants would shrink a size.  Having friends and family members that love me enough to take a handful is important.

Of course I don't have a corner on how Halloween should taste or look so I found this free handbook for

you to check out. 
http://www.preparedpantry.com/Recipes/Black-Licorice-Popcorn.htm
It has some wonderful popcorn recipes and creative activities that you and your friends and/or family members might enjoy.  Happy Haunting!

The First Firepit Update

I stopped at Candy Hawkins to check out her fire pit. I promised you I would check in with her from time to time, and give you an update.  Well it’s amazing what changes can occur with the passing of a little time.  Candy has become a grandmother, (yes he’s a perfect boy!) and she has gone back to college taking Horticultural Therapy as her major. She and her sweetie, Ed were enjoying a few moments of quiet in their lives.

So what does that mean in relation to the fire pit?  I asked.

Both Candy and Ed looked at me and replied that “everyone has scattered - temporarily.”  Knowing Candy that meant that she and the pit were in a waiting mode for their next adventure and I suspected it wouldn’t be very long. 

   

 

So, I waited for a week then emailed Candy, and I was right. The family had showed up.  The fire pit had been used as an obstacle in an “air soft” war with the fire pit area being used as a bunker.  This sounds like a fun story.  So I’ll check it out and get back to you.

Tree House

In Hauser Lake, Idaho John Kory has been building a tree house for his grandchildren.

What a delight it was for me to see it. And even more, I climbed up it's sturdy stairs, stood on the platform and enjoyed the endless vista.

I put my hands upon my waist and stood, wide legged, feeling like I was the boy Peter Pan, looking over an endless possibility of life. 

  I'm sure everyone knows who Peter Pan was.  A story character  created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie (1860–1937).   He magically whisks Wendy and her brothers to the magical world of Neverland where there is an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook.  I love every movie, book and toy that has ever been created about this character.  So when I saw what John was creating I got very excited.  Now I'm an old lady but I still climbed every step onto the platform and just stood there pretending.  It was awesome!

John has definitely chosen the right tree.  It's strong and safe and has the ability to move when the wind blows. There wasn't an evil Pirate Captain Hook sailing by...but I bet John's grandchildren will find a worthy adversary.

I grew up on a farm. I didn’t have a tree house..but, myself, my three brothers and my sister would shinny up trees and run around on their branches like little monkeys. And oh, we dreamed about building our own tree house.

One summer, my brothers decided: Enough already,  it's time to build our own tree house.  So we toted heavy planks of wood, hammers, and nails to the stand of trees (a distance of 500 plus feet away) and slid the planks up into the tree branches.  We never got to the nailing and hammering part because my sister and I decided to gather leaves and flowers for decorations…And when we got back, well, the boys had not nailed the wood.  They had become involved in creating a knotted rope so we could climb up and down easily.  We used the rope a great deal.  Our celebration garlands hung off the ends of the planks that were jammed between branches. And the house in the tree that we envisioned for ourselves never did become a reality.

John has been studying books, and working on this project all summer and it really sparked my imagination to see it.


You'll enjoy seeing his work also.  So check back here.  John is talking about the possibility of creating a second room, putting electricity in the house and maybe even a roof, so this is definitely something you will want to check into.  I know I'm excited about reporting back to you.

Brian Hadley - Germany - Update

Our Friend, Brian Hadley went to Germany to live his dream of competing in their Triathlon.  Did living the dream come without complication or troubles?

Apparently not.  Brian writes about being in a new place and how having to deal with a different language and time zone while trying to stay focused and have all his equipment in correct working order on his web site and you will find a link for you to click on below.

But did these challenges daunt our Brian?  Absolutely not…he is a proven winner among us and even though we aren’t there in body to cheer him on we are there in spirit. Yea Brian!!!

I checked out his latest writing on his web site,  http://brianhadleymultisport.com/  and he talked about preparing for this race by "duking it out with friend and training partner Derek Garcia in sprint triathlons around North Idaho."

I love what he did to prepare so I included his comments here.  I honestly don't understand everything he said because I've never competed at his level but I loved reading about it and in case you wanted this also, here it is.

“I think I surprised him, (Derek Garcia) at Radiant Lake when he was on short rest from his Ironman in St. George, 2 seconds separated my victory at Hayden, and this week he held me off on the run to take the overall win at Race the River over at Riverstone. This race was especially competitive owing to the return of Roger Thompson, who DOMINATED the sprint and Olympic distance races in the entire Pacific Northwest just a couple of years ago; he raced with a well deserved bib number 1, and probably knew that Derek and I were especially excited (honored) to be able to try to chase him down. (Nothing wrong with a three way rivalry, but I can see the chase being a lot harder
when Roger has been back for a while, it was hard enough catching him in the last mile of the run today."

So, what does it take to create a hometown winner?  Apparently a lot! Along with people to compete with there are people, like me who stand on the side line and cheer.  I personally loved to run.  And I used to run and swim..when I was in my 20s and 30s, and 40s.  These days, bike riding, walking and cheering works for me. But there are lot of other aspects to creating a winner. I'll be blogging about that in the future.  So stay tuned.