It's been a while since I've made an entry on this blog. Been distracted and busy with Mom's illness and dying and then lots of things to take care of after wards. Life is now getting a little more normal...

Brian and I went to Utah to spend the week of Thanksgiving with Chris & Eric's families. Heather and her family were all there and Dad/Opa also joined us. It was a busy fun time with lots of great food, games and fun!

Saturday most of us went to The Quarry (in Provo) for rock climbing. Lochlan, Opa & I just watched (Heather stayed home with Maddix) and everyone else had a great time climbing. Here's a bunch of pics!

Mom is coming home!

Mom/Emma is coming home today! The nurses, doctors and staff at Kaiser Morse Ave have been amazing in taking wonderful care of Mom, explaining so many things to all of us (Mom and her family), and making it possible to have Mom come home as quickly as possible. We are so very grateful to them!

I'm not sure exactly how all this will happen today - we don't usually get to practice this kind of stuff in our lives - but we expect that the medical equipment will be delivered this morning and that Mom will arrive at home sometime this afternoon. I expect that she will be tired from the travel and not sure how ready she'll be for visitors. We're playing a lot of this by ear...

We are bringing Mom home so she can enjoy as much time with family and friends as possible. We WANT and encourage her friends to visit. However, I know you will also understand if you call or come by and we tell you that it isn't a great time...we will appreciate your patience, love and prayers!

We really can't have the phones ringing off the hook - we need to spend our time caring for Mom and taking care of so many things that need attention. We have set up a couple of ways for you to contact us:

Reaka - my youngest sister - will receive phone calls on her cell phone at: 408-710-1036. She may not answer every call immediately, but she will respond via return call or text. She will be in town Fri morning (Oct 2) and we would appreciate it if you contact her between Fri-Sun to see if it will be a good time to visit. Mom's family will be in town during that time and we will appreciate being able to have as much of that time available for our family as possible...Mom's grandchildren will only have this last short time to be with her.

Thurs afternoon and evening, Fri morning (Oct 1 & 2) - before all the famly arrives - we will encourage friends to drop by. On Thur, you can call Mom's home directly - again we may not answer immediately but if you leave a message, we will get back to you. Or - if you would like to just drop by, you are welcome to do that but please understand that Mom may be sleeping - she drifts in and out all the time.

Visits do need to be brief - please. And - if you have even a little touch of 'something' and are under the weather (or just plain sick!) - please send Mom an email, card or ....something - but we need you to keep your germs home, please...;)! We don't want to complicate Mom's situation with anything else and our own family needs to stay healthy while we're taking care of her.

Mom IS very weak - but we are bringing her home so family and friends CAN come. She loves her friends so much and we don't want to discourage you coming by...please do!

If you can't come by but would like to share a message for Mom, a story or memory of an experience you've had with Mom and/or a photo - you're welcome - and encouraged! - to send an email to me at: shenna@bmealey.com or directly to the blog (my first choice since it will save me some time!). We will share those with Mom, and Dad and our family will appreciate having your thoughts to read and enjoy in the future. I will post all comments and messages I receive concerning Mom also on the blog - if you send me an email and would prefer that it be kept private - please let me know and I'll respect that wish.

I don't want to sound alarming - but there really isn't much time....if you want to be in touch with Mom - I really encourage you to not procrastinate a long time....I will try to post on the blog each day - so you can know what is currently going on. I will also try to get a blog posted in the next day or two that will explain more about how this all began and what Mom has been going through. We also want to share some of the amazing and humorous things that Mom is sharing with us during this time. Thank you for your patience, love and support!

Our family is so blessed and strengthened by our faith in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our knowledge that we can be together again with those we love after we die...also by our love for each other, by the example Mom is for us and by the many wonderful friendships we all enjoy...thank you for being part of that.

Fiery Dinner - YUCK!

I've been trying a few new recipes lately. Tonight I made 'Spicy Meatballs with Fiery Chili Sauce'. Oh my - Brian and I like our food relatively spicy - but this was 'make your lips sting' and 'give you a stomach ache' Fiery. Of course I made a double batch and put the sauce on everything before I even tasted it....ouch!! I tried cutting my meatballs into little pieces and mixing it up with the brown rice - but it was still waaay too hot. My plate of food was ruined. I put the rest of the meatballs (that had already been covered in the Fiery Sauce) in a colander and rinsed them in the sink - then they were edible. Brian hadn't cut his up yet - so he rinsed his also after trying to eat one with the sauce. Yikes!!! I long ago decided that if I have a recipe I don't like - I can throw it away or cross it out right in my recipe book. That recipe got axed! And Brian decided after finishing his dinner (meatballs, brown rice and salad) that he'd have a big bowl of his 'treat granola' to cut the spicey stuff still in his stomach. You win some - you loose some. Tonight was NOT a winner! Thank goodness Brian is so patient - even after 30+ years, he still gets experimented on.

I LOVE buttons!

I've always loved buttons - little tiny simple buttons; cool/funky one-of-a-kind buttons; handmade buttons; old buttons/new buttons.....I have LOTS of buttons. If I'm somewhere where there are special buttons - I'll usually try to buy a set. Sometimes I've even used them in sewing projects - but lots of times, I just keep them in pretty jars where I can enjoy looking at them. Like pretty beads or rocks or shells...

Tayo's has always been known for it's amazing button selection. I bought the buttons for my High School Senior year tailoring project there. When I owned Tayo's, we had a huge part of our notions wall that was just buttons - some were $.05 some were $30.00! Lots of them were VERY cool. If there was just 1 button left on a box and we couldn't order any more - I'd often take that button and add it to my 'personal collection'. I have quite a few large pretty apothecary type jars full of buttons...and more buttons on cards, in boxes, in canisters, in ziplocs, and....they're kind of all over my sewing room.

Anyway - I brought home quite a few boxes of 'stuff' from Tayo's when I sold it. Some of it was my previous personal sewing 'stuff' that I wasn't using currently and decided to store down at Tayo's where there was more room. LOTS of that ended up being donated or given away when I left Tayo's....I just didn't need or want it any longer. But I did want to keep some of it and then of course there was other new 'stuff' that I had accumulated over 13 years that I also decided to bring home.

LOTS of boxes of paperwork (another story - Yikes!) and assorted sewing stuff that I now need to find a place for. Today I picked a couple of the boxes and was determined to sort through them and get some of the 'stuff' put away. One box had lots of books and magazines - I put a few of those in a new 'give away' box and then kept most of them. One of the boxes had a bunch of odds and ends....and a shoebox full of BUTTONS!

That almost got me totally distracted! but I tried to stay focused. I put the buckles in one ziploc, the buttons still on cards in another ziploc and the loose miscellaneous buttons in a large ziploc - they really need to be washed and sorted some but I was determined to focus on getting through that entire box and not just spending the day playing with my newfound buttons.

However - one button caught my eye...a little red plastic Dutch Windmill. I couldn't help but grab it out of the miscellaneous pile and then I saw another and....I ended up finding 9 little red plastic Dutch Windmill buttons! I dumped all the other loose buttons in the ziploc and took these cute buttons to the sink - gave them a little bath with soap and a soft toothbrush and I've just been looking at them all day as I pass by them in the kitchen. They make me smile!

I'm trying to think of something to do with them. My Dad comes from Holland and my sisters and I enjoy Dutch 'things'. I have 2 sisters - that would be 3 buttons for each of us....maybe I can figure out something to make for each of us that we'd all enjoy. Not something to actually wear - we're a little too old to be wearing little red plastic Windmill buttons - but maybe something fun or quirky to use around the house. I know my sisters - Heather and Reaka - would get a kick out of 'something' - if I can just come up with the right idea.

OR - my folks have 9 Grandkids - and there are 9 buttons. I could make 'something' for each of the 9 grandkids....but would they even care or would they just think that Mom/Aunt Shenna has come up with another silly doodad that they don't need or want or have any idea of what to do with it.

Oh well - I'll just have to think on it for a while....

I'm also really determined to not 'keep' so much stuff if I'm not going to ever do anything with it. Will my sons or their wives or my grandkids want all this 'stuff'? Definitely NOT! There might be a FEW things that they'd like to have someday - when I'm old and even greyer and gone. But truthfully - they have their own hobbies and interests and 'stuff'....they don't need to be burdened with the idea that someday 'all this' will be theirs to sort through and figure out what on earth they should do with it. (Eric would say 'just set a bomb to the whole thing and have it gone!'....sometimes that's not really such a bad idea - except we do need a house to live in and....)

Anyway - All these buttons that I love.... They really deserve to be enjoyed and appreciated. Now that I'll have time to sew again - I'll use some of them in clothing. But there's a ton that I'll never use in something to wear. I have several sets of button earrings - and I really like to wear them. Maybe I should learn to make some jewelry with some of them. I've seen people take cool buttons and glue them on the top of pretty boxes (like you sometimes also see with shells, etc). I could find some pretty boxes and do something like that with some of them. I've always wanted to make a nice crazy quilt...I could definitely use some of them on that.
This is ONE of my many jars/boxes/cans/etc of buttons - this jar is about 12" tall and has almost 2000 buttons in it....we counted them for a contest a few years ago at Tayo's!

9 cute red plastic Dutch Windmill buttons and LOTS and LOTS of other buttons. Anyone have ideas to share? I'd love to hear them!

My last day at Tayo's with Sheila, Patty, me, Briana & Marsha - thanks ladies!


Here's a picture of me and the new owner of Tayo's - Phyllis Williams

TAYO'S IS OVER...ALMOST!

This post is a portion of the last email I sent to the customers of Tayo's Fabrics & Quilts...

Well - it's officially over...(almost - I've got paperwork to finish and TONS of stuff at my home to find a place for)
...And there's a new owner at Tayo's Fabrics & Quilts!

Phyllis Williams is officially - as of July 1, 2009 - the new owner of Tayo's. I am sooo pleased to have sole Tayo's and that the shop will be in Very Good Hands.

Now for the frequently asked questions:

What's next for me? I have a LONG list of things that I'm looking forward to having time for including:
Grandkids
Gardening
Sewing (what a concept!)
Taking care of my own health (exercise, etc)
Improving my computer skills
Doing some teaching
More time with friends & family
Being more helpful to my husband with his photography business
...and much more!

FYI - I am going to consciously 'stay away' from Tayo's for a couple of months. I've been involved with Tayo's for over half of my life! 13 years helping my Mom when she owned Tayo's and almost 13 years myself as the owner. It will be good for Tayo's staff & customers to get used to Phyllis as the owner without me hanging around. I feel very confident that Phyllis is going to be wonderful for Tayo's and appreciate that I can totally walk away from something I have invested so much time into because the hsop is in very capable and thusiastic 'hands'! Woohoo!

I will probably return to Tayo's in a few months and do some teaching. That's something I personally enjoy a lot but just couldn't devote much time to because being the business owner required so much time, etc.

Starting this blog is part of beginning a new 'journey' in my life. I've gone through different stages of my life as a daughter, mother and business owner. Of course I'm still a mother - but the active 'mothering' time for me is past. And for the last 30+ years I have been a wife and that's a very good thing that will definitely continue! Yeah!!

I truly believe that I'm starting another exciting part of my life with new opportunities and rewarding people and activities. So - if any of you are interested in what's currently going on in my head, heart and life - you can check on me here! I'm still trying to learn how all of the stuff about blogging works - it will grow along with me!

I have definitely learned a LOT about myself in the past years at Tayo's. Some hard things, some great things! And I've met lots of great people and developed special relationships and friendships with many. So many of Tayo's customers have stopped by lately and shared thoughts and remembrances about experiences at Tayo's. Thank you for your kind words. I am glad to have been a part of somehting so positive in the lives of so many. Thank you all for your friendhsip, encouragement and support...it's been a Great Ride! And I'm really excited about more wonderful things in my future!

I feel blessed that during these 'challenging economic times' I can honestly say that Tayo's has continued to be a storng and viable fabric shop. I'm fortunate to hae had great staff, fabulous customers and many growing opportunities. Thank you for sharing your support, creativity and talents and for being wonderful individuals. I would love to keep in touch!

If there is anyone that would like to contact me personally in the future - my new email will be: shenna@bmealey.com

Have a Wonderful Life! Life is VERY good!

Blessings and Hugs!

OK - that's it!...now to move on....