It was very

strange today.  I called Natalie to see when she was coming over, but the phone rang once and then the Beatle's song "Hey Jude" started playing.   I thought it was odd that Natalie was playing a song for her message, but since she loves the Beatles, I wasn't too surprised.   I kept waiting for it to stop, and in the process was talking with Gary and saying, "She's got ;Hey Jude' playing.  When is it going to end."  Finally, I hung up and tried again.  The second time it went straight to a regular message.

She called me back and asked what was going on.   She had heard my whole conversation with Gary and had been trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear her.   All I could hear was the song.  Now, I know I don't hear everything, but I don't generally hear things that aren't there.  Very strange.  She doesn't even have "Hey Jude" on her phone.  It was like her phone was hijacked.  Or I am really losing it.

"Losing it" made me think of an article I read last week about a lady who has written books called "How to Babysit Grandpa" and "How to Babysit Grandma."   I told Natalie that if she could do the illustrations for me, we could  write a book like that.  

It would include things like "Before you empty any garbage cans, check them for money."    "Follow her around the house and pick up after her."   "Make sure you have GPS before she tries to drive anywhere."  "Hand her her hearing aids before you try to talk with her in the morning."   "When she is baking, and 6 timing a recipe, have a calculator handy and check off the ingredients so she doesn't leave anything out."  Just to name a few.

It could be quite a large book.   I think we just might have a bestseller on our hands.

 

I was right in the fact

that my life has changed quite a bit since the studio moved back to Utah.  Today I worked from 11 to 7:30 in Draper and came home and worked another hour at home.  I'm going up again tomorrow and Friday. The time goes very quickly and I'm doing varied projects.  There is printing and cutting, but there are also interesting projects like creating prototypes for packaging the products.  I still have so much to learn, but fortunately they are very forgiving of mistakes.

They are going to be hiring someone to come into the studio for 4 hours a day, and once they do that I probably won't be spending so much time up there  Which will be good, so the house doesn't fall apart.  But then again, if I'm not home making my usual messes, maybe the house will stay cleaner.
           

When Natalie came today

She wanted to create a magnetic sign for her dishwasher that said "Clean" on one side and "Dirty" on the other.   She came up with this, and made me one, too.  She cut everything out with the Cricut machine and laminated it.  Pretty clever.

It's been quite

a week.  I spent two days working up in the studio in Draper.  It is fun to learn how to create proofs and cut and package the products.   The job will definitely be much more time intensive, with about 3 days a week away from home.   But there will also be quite a bit of variety.  I'll still be doing what I have been doing on the computer for 2 years,  but now there will be quite a few more hours.

Here's one of the odd projects I brought home.  Gary thought it was crazy, but he's used to me doing crazy projects, so that wasn't anything new.




   I was supposed to spray all of the hardware (that was silver) gold, so I covered every thing but the hardware, and spray painted.   It worked really well, actually.  The trick will be if it stays on.  The binders are going to be used to display the products at Paper Expos coming up.            

Our friend

Was in the Hale Theatre production of Le Miserable.   It never fails to touch on every human emotion.

Tonight as the

hostess was leading us to our seat in Chili's, she said "I love that you are so happy and smiling."  I didn't really know that I was smiling, but when she pointed it out, I realized that it was just a carryover from the conversation we had just had with Misty.

I don't think anything makes me laugh and smile more than hearing funny stories about my grandchildren.

Misty had been telling us the latest stories on Marshall.  He is such a Mommy's boy, and is always telling her how "cute" she is.  Misty said he is a great self-esteem builder.   When they were at a Baptism awhile ago, he was obviously listening, because he took her face in his hands and said, "You are a child of God, and you are cute!"

Here are a couple more "cute things" from this week:

Tiffany was taking Ashton bowling.  He randomly said, "I'd sit through any of grandpa's lectures just to have him here right now."  He was remembering when we took him bowling and Gary was giving a lesson on physics (or something like that) on the car ride.   (I don't remember the incident myself, but I do tend to tune out when Gary starts making up facts and stories)

Then, in Church someone was talking about the faith of a mustard seed.  Lucienne leaned over to Tiffany and said, "Grandpa would like this talk."  (because of his love of mustard)

I think I'm going to do a weekly blog entitled "Cuteness" and record these cute things so I don't forget them.

Oh, and as a side note.  Gary had been feeling slighted because he hadn't gotten a Chili's free Queso and Chips coupon for more than a month.  So when he got one, we just had to go.   Gary said I was probably smiling about that when the hostess commented on my smile.  But when I told her it was because I had just been talking to my daughter, she said "Oh, that is so sweet."

It was fun to

try something different for our St. Patrick's Day breakfast.  The Roylance's gave us the Ebelskiver pan awhile ago, and I've wanted to try them.

 

Awhile ago I got this strawberry slicer at TJ Max.  It was on clearance (the clincher) so I thought I would try it.   It actually works really well, slices them thin, and I use it all the time.

Waiting for Natalie to come.

And then enjoying.

I know St. Patrick's day is not until tomorrow, but Natalie can't be here tomorrow.