T2R

A couple of years ago for Christmas, Ryan got me Ticket to Ride, a most enjoyable board game made by Days of Wonder. It is a lot of fun to play at the table and online. The problem with the online version is that you don't have to shuffle, so the play can go a lot faster. For a while, I was playing so often, I was ranked in the top 50 in the world. Now, I've cut back in my playing, so when I last checked, I was ranked 265. I mostly play 2 player games, because they are faster than 4 player -- fewer players to decide what cards to take. If ever you want to play against me, look for mahana. (I've got the capability for the next 6 months to create games.)

Getting to know me

My grandpa sent me this questionnaire in an email a while back and I decided that it would be good for my posterity if I filled this out to get a glimpse of me today.

1. FIRST NAME: Malauna

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? When I was sharing the April visiting teaching message with Sister Melendez.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes, although it isn't my favorite. My grandma's handwriting was beautiful.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey Ham

6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 1 daughter and 2 sons.

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? yes

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Multiple volumes.

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Probably more than I should.

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably not.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds; especially since they dropped the 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oils'!

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only if the shoe requires it.

14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes. I carry a 16 lb. boy around all day.

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Peanut Butter Cup

16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their smiles.

17. RED OR PINK? Red

18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I'm too quick to show my temper with my children.

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My friends who keep moving to Utah.

20. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? No shoes, tan capris.

21. THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookie

22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Sesame Street

23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple

24. FAVORITE SMELL: Flowers in bloom, except Shasta Daisies-they smell like rotting cheese.

25. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Ryan, my husband

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes. He's my grandpa.

27. FAVORITE DRINK: V-8

28. FAVORITE SPORT: Soccer.

29. HAIR COLOR: Dark Blond with highlights.

30. EYE COLOR: Blue/Green depending on the shirt I'm wearing.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes

32. FAVORITE FOOD: Spinach Ravioli

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy Endings

34. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Thomas and the Magic Railway

35. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Pink

36. SUMMER OR WINTER? Spring; summer is too hot and winter is too dark.

37. HUGS OR KISSES? Both, from family and Hershey's (dark chocolate, caramel, with almonds and milk chocolate).

38. FAVORITE DESSERT? Earthquake Cake

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? "Potty Training in One Day", "Classic Stories from the Lives of our Prophets", "Babyhood", and travel guides for St. Petersburg, Russia and the Netherlands.

40. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? The mouse!

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Nothing, we rarely have the TV on at night.
42. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Meadow Larks singing in my back yard

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles

44. THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Odessa, Ukraine

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Singing (barbershop with my sisters, duets with my husband and Lyric Soprano solos)
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Ithaca, New York

Happy Birthday to me

For my birthday, my parents gave me a gift certificate to Amazon.com. It was so fun to pick out something for myself and then wait for the mail to arrive. (I love getting mail - not junk mail or bills, but packages and letters from people I love!) I scanned through lots and lots of items before narrowing it down to three items. They presents came in 2 different packages on 2 different days - what a joy! My favorite present? This.

I love shopping on amazon! Thanks Mom and Dad!

UGLY Quilt

My friend Fe' showed me the quilt her sister-in-law made for her as a Christmas gift last year, an UGLI Quilt. Made with various fabrics, even with some from Fe's mom's fabric stash, and patches from all the places that she has lived, with instructions for adding more patches as necessary.

The next day, when I was commiserating with Stacy about Danielle's upcoming move, we got the genius idea to make an UGLY Quilt for Danielle. We don't care about the places she's lived before or the places she may yet live in, we just want her to remember us. We got right to work. We decided to make it truly ugly by using scrap fabric pieces from other projects. To make it more interesting, we only used each fabric once on the quilt. This caused us to run out of fabric, so we called Danielle and asked that since she was moving, could we have some of her fabric scraps. She was completely unsuspecting and happily gave us a box. Instead of using patches to mark all of the cool things around town that her family will miss, we used Stacy's embroidery machine. We envision this quilt being used for picnics in the park, not being put on a bed -- although what an honor that would be for the person who slept under it ;) -- so we wanted a fabric that would be really sturdy and not let water soak through right away (sometimes the sprinklers run the morning you go to the park). After walking around JoAnn Fabric for a while, we came across a denim that really lends itself to the UGLY Quilt title.


My mom recommended to me the Elm Creek Quilts series of books by Jennifer Chiaverini, which I also now recommend to others who like to read historical fiction and quilt. In those books, the characters are always talking about tags on the backs of quilts so you know more about the quilt and quilters, so of course I had to embroider one for this quilt. (I've decided that I really like how my handwriting looks embroidered, I may have to do this more often.)

Stacy and I pose with the finished quilt just after giving it to Danielle.
And we 3 test it out on Danielle's front lawn.

Right after we tied the quilt, I had it on the floor to get the binding pinned up. Clara and Roderic were walking across it and every-so-often Clara would stop and say, "That's my dress! That's Amber's shirt! That's Roderic's chair! That's my jacket! That's Sara's dress!" etc. It just summed up for me this quilt...lots and lots of good memories.