A Single Red Rose

I have received a lot of single red roses in my life. The one that stands out most in my memory was from Bill on what was our first actual date. (Since we really only had 5 dates before we got engaged I tend to remember each and every one of them)


Bill was coming up to the Salt Lake Temple from California for a wedding of a young GI that he had baptized on his mission in Germany and decided that was a good excuse to come look Sister Tanner up. He borrowed his sister Helen's Volkswagen Karman Ghia and headed to Utah. (This was not the only time Helen would play a key role in our destiny and I love her for that.)




It did not look quite as sporty as this one pictured but he arrived and off we headed to Salt Lake for dinner. As we were driving home, he reached over, opened up the glove box and pulled at a single red rose. Bill was no "man of the world" and tended to wear his heart on his sleeve but this simple gesture was so him and it was that genuineness and sincerity that I fell in love with.
Over the years, that was his way each Valentine's day of saying "I love you"... one single red rose and that meant more to me than a dozen of the most beautiful roses. It is funny that such a simple gesture can carry so much meaning. I miss that red rose.

Thinking of you, Bill

I realized last night that I am very grateful to have my job at the airport that keeps me working weekend nights. I had a rare Saturday morning shift yesterday and got off work at 5:00 pm. After wandering around for a while, I found myself eating alone at Cafe Rio and then stopping at the grocery store. Before I knew it, I was heading out of the store with all the ingredients for one of Bill's favorite snacks.

Yes those are triscuits, emmenthaller cheese and green olives. Trust me it is an acquired taste but one of Bill's favorites. I'm not sure now how we use to afford it. The cheese was $14.99 a pound. It was a great evening...eating this snack, entering mileage and drive time expenses for all my merchandisers on the computer, listening to Show tunes Saturday night and missing my sweet Bill. (Pretty glad I didn't opt for his other favorite snack: Zesta Saltine crackers, mayonnaise and smoked oysters)

Three Legged Crisis

What do you do when your three legged wonder dog and inspiration for your blog thinks she is all big and bad and gets in a tiff with a bigger and badder dog?

Well, you cry and stay awake all night worrying about her getting infection in the gaping wound on the last good front leg she has and picture yourself hauling a two legged wonder dog around in a little red ryder wagon for the rest of her natural days. Or you call your hero son (also the only son living within 2000 miles) and have him drag her to the vet, get her stitched up and stick him with the $140 vet bill. I chose option #2.

Let's not stop at the bathroom...there is also a fabulous guest room

If the beautifully remodeled bathroom was not enough to entice friends and family to come visit, can I just go ahead and brag about how great the guest room turned out. I guess I got a little caught up in the whole remodeling event and it spilled over from the bathroom to one of the downstairs bedrooms.

Michelle's old bedroom has had a definite face lift. Check out these pictures.

Notice how well our old bedroom furniture compliments the new bedroom. It is much nicer having it in this room then crammed in the furnace room. The bed is actually pretty comfortable and this headboard is not nearly as noisy as the last one.
Picking out the comforter was more challenging than I had planned on and I bought and returned 3 before I found one that really clicked. But I had so much fun trying to find something for the walls. I love Ross and TJ Max.

I can promise everyone that the room is fresh and spider free. Well at least it was while I was painting it. I had great support from not only family but also their friends. Taylor's good firend, Scottie Bell (who had recently had his leg amputated) was even crawling around on the floor helping nail the floor boards on.

So if you find yourselves in Utah looking for a place to stay, please feel free to give me call. I love to have company and I am still waiting for my children to fill up the basement with grandkids. Well at least we are finally heading that way.

My Fabulous Christmas present!!

OK here they are. The long awaited pictures of the finished product. I received the most wonderful present from my children this past Christmas and I need to enjoy it to the fullest because I am sure I will never get them to tackle another such project for a very long time. I now have a fully functional bathroom downstairs without any gapping holes in the ceiling or mold and slime growing in the shower. Look at their amazing handiwork.

I wish I knew what I was doing posting these pictures. I need some lessons on how to arrange things so just ignore the bad layout and look at the great work the kids did.

They patched large holes in the ceiling, laid tile in the shower and the floor (Thank you, thank you Aaron and Ryan for beginners, you two were awesome. We will definitely keep you in the family)

They painted, cut floor boards and door trim and revamped my old vanilty cabinet to where it looks brand new.

I think everyone I know should come for a visit now and enjoy the luxurious facilities.

The only thing left to do is hang the towel rack and toilet paper holder and get some sort of shelving for the towels in the corner.

Look at me.....I'm blogging!!

Well I guess it is about time I got on board and started my own blog. I love reading about my children and all their adventures. The least I could do, since they took the time to set up this blog, is save face and show them that I have just enough techno-savy to actually publish comments on it. Let me be very clear up front that they designed, named and posted the original pictures. I do like the name three legged blog and I have had many great adventures with my sweet 3 legged companion and plan on many more.

As far as the nickname Coonscooter and the whole hillbilly theme, I tried to object but my children are bound and determined to convince me that I am not the refined and dignified woman that I percieve myself to be. Just because on any given day, I may be chasing a racoon out of the attic, or pulling a dead one through the hole in the basement ceiling after the silly critter came down the chimney on a on way trip to no where, I don't think that qualifies me as a hillbilly. But those are all stories for another day.

Welcome to my blog. I just hope I find enough interesting and amusing stories to make it worth while. If only Bill were still around, there would be no shortage of fantastic tales to tell. I may have to dig some stories about him up from time to time to increase the entertainment value of my blog plus honestly this is about as close as I will ever get to leaving a journal for my kids.

So kids there you go.....thanks for the kick start.

Hey when you hang out with a group like this how can you be anything by hillbilly?