Update on Last Custody Trial

Never, never take anything or anyone for granted.  I mentioned in my last post that I had completed my last custody trial for a client I had represented for 7-8 years.  After the trial was over and everyone had left the courtroom, I reached out my hand to shake my client's hand.  Instead of shaking my hand, we hugged and I held him as he started to sob in relief.  "I was so afraid I had lost her," he said in reference to his daughter. 
"She's yours forever now."   We both knew that there would be now more attempts by his ex-wife to take his daughter away and he could raise her now without threat of the court intervening again.

That's what we thought and that's what we planned. But one never knows. 

We never thought that just three weeks later, on his way home to his daughter from a wonderful new job for which they'd moved to Oregon, that my client, Bruce, would be killed in a head-on car accident.  We never anticipated that his daughter, for whom he fought so hard, would be returned to her mother after all and that his young sons would be left to clean up the estate. Or, that I would be helping them make sense of insensible things. 

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to send Bruce an email or call him to discuss what he wanted done. And, how many times since hearing about this death I've thought how pointless our fight was and what a waste of valuable time it was. Time he could have spent with his daughter and other family members. 

So, hug your own loved ones and appreciate each moment you have with them. And, please, please, don't make the mistake of spending years of your life fighting over your loved ones. In the end, you may not have time to make it up to them. 

Last Custody Trial

I've kept a few remnants of my old world, where I was a full-time attorney in a law firm who litigated on a regular basis. But as my new world as an alumni director becomes more and more demanding, my old world has become more and more distant. Especially since I haven't been replacing clients as their cases have finally been resolved.

One of my very last clients is the father of 3 children. He and his ex have been fighting over the kids for 14 years! The youngest child who is 14, has never known anything but litigation between her parents. I've been representing him since 2001.

The thing that distinguishes this case from others is that the ex represents herself. This makes the case extremely challenging and makes everything about three times harder as she doesn't understand issues or confuses things or just won't listen.

We've been to court many times over the years. Four years ago I successfully got him awarded custody of his kids, only to have him return two of them to their mother within the year. But, he hung on to the youngest, his only daughter, with all his strength.

Well, two years ago, the ex filed a motion to get custody of the daughter too. And we went to court this week. It was long and nasty, but in the end, my client will keep his daughter. The other two children will be or are adults now. We were all tired of the litigation and they all swear they won't go back to court. I'm hoping so, as I'm especially tired of their fighting over the children.

Today was a milestone for several reasons. One, I prevailed one more time for my client. But, somewhere along the way, I also determined that my custody trial days are now over. I love litigation, but my life is clearly going somewhere else. And, unless I make a U-turn, there won't be time or room for custody trials. So, I'm going out in a blaze of rulings in my favor. And, it feels good to know that I won't have to wear two hats; at least I won't wear the litigator's hat any more. I'm not sure what I am if I'm not a litigator, but it's probably time to find out.

Dreams Do Come True

For the past three years I've wanted a quilting machine of my very own. I've priced them, studied them, and dreamed about using one on my own quilts. I put one on my Christmas list and handed the list to my darling husband, the man who isn't the mayor, but should be.
"How much is one of these?" He asked.
"$7,000," I managed to say with a straight face.
"Why do you want one that is so expensive?"
"It's the best. Why do you fish with a $45,000 Triton bass boat?"
Conversation ended.

Well, the economy intervened and it's not like there aren't plenty of ways for me to spend my time while I wait.

Fast forward three years. A month ago I received an email from my wonderful sister-in-law Jesse titled: Quilting Machine. This is what I read . . . and noted.

Hi Jeri:

Bonnie gave me her quilting machine and stuff. I just don't think that I will ever use it. I am not a quilter. I thought I might be interested, but I just do not find a quilting bug in me. Too much cutting, and stitiching small items. Would you be interested in it? If you are not a quilter either, I do have a cousin in Elko who would like it. Bonnie almost gave it to her instead of me, so I know it would be all right with her if I gave it to her.

You are very clever with your knitting, much better than I am, so when I saw you with your knitting last night, I wondered if you would use this stuff. It has two large tables, a machine, frames and a video on how to use it, plus some fabric Bonnie left.

I told Bonnie that she could have it when she comes back, but I don't think she will take it back.

Let me know if you want it and we will bring it over. Otherwise, if you just want to look at it before, come by sometime and I will show you it to you before you decide. You really need a room dedicated to quilting.

Love, Jesse


With all apologies to the cousin in Elko, she will never see the quilting machine. After responding instantly to Jesse that YES, I wanted the machine, I suggested that she should call Don and tell him so he could give it to me for Christmas. She did call him, and smart man that he is, he claimed the machine for me, and called me a few days later to tell me that I had a quilting machine in a pile of parts in the basement.

When I got home that night, the parts were assembled into a real quilting machine in as few minutes as possible, only to find that a major part was missing: one of the two carriages the machine sat on, making the whole thing useless. AGHHHHH! So close and yet so far away.

After two calls to HandiQuilter where I finally talked to the right person who assured me that yes, they did replace missing parts, resulted in the carriage sitting in my sewing room five days later. And, now I have a quilting machine. Imagine the possiblities! I can't wait to start quilting.

And why haven't I quilted yet? I have two trials this month, and if I set up the quilting machine, I will never be ready to argue in court. But just check back after the 24th and see how dreams really do come true.

Wrapped in Love, better known as Self-Binding Blankets

One of my favorite fabric stores had the cutest baby blankets on display. On closer inspection I figured out that the blanket back was wrapped to the front to form a border. How was this done? I had to buy the instructions. Once I figured out they were pretty easy to make, I had to teach everyone else how to make them too.

While I was in St. Louis with Chris, Lacy and family, I learned that Colter didn't have but one flannel blanket. So, I made several for him my last day there. And, since every baby deserves a cuddly blanket, here goes:

Materials needed for one 35" x 35" blanket.

1 1/4 yd fabric for blanket back
1 yd fabric for blanket front

1. Cut fabric for blanket back: 40" x 40" square
2. Cut fabric for blanket front: 30" x 30" square.

3. Mark the center of each side of both fabric pieces with a small clip.

4. With right sides together, match the center notches of the two pieces of fabric.

The ends won't match, because remember that one piece is smaller than the other.

5. Sew all four sides, matching up center notches. I use a 1/2" seam allowance. Whatever seam allowance you use, sew to within that allowance of the end. (Ex: if using 1/2" seam allowance, sew to 1/2" of end.) Leave a 6" to 8" opening for turning in one of the sides.

If you do this right, the seams will meet up with the corners of the blanket back hanging out.

6. the next part is the trickiest part. Fold each corner of the blanket so that the seams are lined up on top of each other. The corners will fold into a triangle. This photo shows the stitching, but imagine it without the stitching.

7. Using a ruler or other straight-edge, line it up with the blanket edge across the corner triangle. Mark this line. Repeat for each corner.

8. Sew on the line you've marked, from the side seams to the opposite edge.

9. Clip the corners and turn through the side opening.

10. The best part: once you've turned the blanket, it should naturally open to it's completed shape, borders and all. Press the blanket and even out the borders as you go. Press the raw edges of the opening under. Pin the entire border in place.

11. Sew the border in place along the seam, closing the turning opening.

That's it! Wrap around the baby and enjoy.

Colter's new blankets, in different colors and weights.

My darling Colter, who loves being cuddled in his new blankets.

Once you understand the technique, you can be creative and vary the sizes. Basically, the blanket back is cut larger than the blanket front by double the size of the desired border width (plus seam allowances). A 10" difference creates a 2 1/2" border.

You can use any combination of fabrics, assuming they can be washed together. I always pre-wash my fabrics (before cutting) so I won't have to worry about uneven shrinkage.

I've used pre-quilted fabrics on the back (the blue gingham in the photos), which makes a nice padded blanket. Using two layers of cotton makes a nice summer weight blanket, while layers of flannel makes a slightly heavier warmer blanket. You can also add an additional layer of fabric between the two layers for more padding.

I would love to see your creations! Please share.

A Day of Domesticity!

All right, I know it's been months since I last posted anything, and honestly, I have several posts under construction, and I'll finish them eventually. But, I finally realized that not all posts need pictures, even though they are what people like to see. I mean, what is the point without photos?

Well, I've now looked at some top blogs and I'm happy to say that not all of them have photos, so I can post every now and then without them.

So the point of this blog is that as much as I would love to be totally domestic, I work full-time and have to juggle my domesticity with lack of time and energy for said domesticity. But, every now and then I get to spend a few hours being completely domestic. This weekend was one of those times. The future mayor of Provo is away at a conference and I've had the house to myself since Wednesday. What to do (meaning, which of my projects will I tackle first)?

I've been reading Julie & Julia, which is great but for the language. And it inspired me to try something new. I brought home a cookbook by Paul Prudhomme several years ago and have never tried any of the recipes. So why not? I found one for seafood stuffed zucchini and since I have plenty of both on hand, gave it a shot.

Wow, it was kind of intense. It actually called for margarine, something I haven't purchased for over a decade. I didn't have to make a roux, but I may as well have, because by the time the vegetables and butter and margarine were finally completed, they were dark brown. The dish took about 75 minutes to complete, and included the aforementioned stuffing, a fabulous cream sauce, and zucchini boats, all brought together at the conclusion of the dish.

I filled the zucchini boats with the shrimp, crab, and veggie stuffing, topped it with the cream sauce and took a fork full. It had the potential to be amazingly incredible and rich and deep flavored. However, I halved the recipe and while combining the seasoning mix of peppers, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and other seasonings, I misread 1.5 teaspoons of salt for 1.5 tablespoons of salt. Need I say more?

I awoke this morning and tackled the weeds in the flower bed, which raged out of control while I was in St. Louis with Chris and Lacy. I spent about 2 hours pulling weeds and trying to tame the beds again. It was deeply satisfying.

I went to a class on weed control at the Utah Water Conservancy center a few weeks ago. I learned about how to control some of our most obnoxious weeds (like bindweed or wild morning glory). It was a great class and thanks to what the weed expert taught I have a focused approach in dealing with weeds now.

For example, we learned that bind weed lives for 30 years or more. It's pretty hard to kill, but it can be killed if the vines are torn away from the root on a regular basis. And, if one can wait until the vines bloom before tearing them away, the result is more devastating to the root. So, now I'm a bind weed hunter. I wait patiently for it to bloom, and then: rip it apart with glee! I just needed a plan and now I'm executing the plan(t).

Later I got to go shopping with Talara and Madi for bedding for Madi's new room. We found a comforter set, great sheets, and adorable window treatments. Madi picked a design with several shades of purple on white. I can't wait to see everything put together.

Next I tackled the sewing room. I have a large cutting table in the middle of the room and it is stacked high with projects waiting to be done. It's like Christmas every time I start wading through the piles. What do to first?

1. Made pattern for peepee teepees. Talara and I saw these in Mesa and thought there were too cute. A miniature terry and flannel teepee that gets placed over the hoo hoo of baby boys while being changed to keep the diaper changer dry until the new diaper can be secured. Expect picture soon.
2. Completed a half-made receiving blanket. Will post instructions soon.
3. Made red cowboy fabric duvet for cabin. Looks great! Will finish the dust ruffle and maybe tooled leather look pillows before going to bed.

Wow, an entire day being domestic. Heavenly.

Little Bits of Chocolate Heaven

Well, it took a bit, but I mastered the cake bite thing. The results are perfectly shaped melt-in-your-mouth bits of chocolate heaven.

The steps:
1. Bake a cake, any cake. I baked Devil's Food.
2. Crumble the cake into fine crumbs.
3. Mix in some kind of gooey sweet stuff. I mixed half of the cake with chocolate fudge topping (about half the jar).
The other half was mixed with coconut/pecan frosting for German Chocolate cake. The result is a gooey play doh.
4. Roll the mixture into balls.
5. Place on wax paper and place in the fridge or freezer until balls are firm.
6. Melt coating and coat balls with coating and let them set up.
7. To create my perfectly formed bites, I used a candy mold.
8. I coated the inside of the mold with 3 thin layers of chocolate.
9. Once the balls were thawed enough to be moldable, I mashed them into the mold to shape them tightly.
10. I pulled the balls out of the mold, added a bit of melted chocolate and put the balls back in the mold.
11. Then I poured more chocolate around the balls and over the top.
12. Once the chocolate was cooled (about 5 minutes), I popped the bites out of the mold and drizzled melted white chocolate over them.



These are the chocolate fudge bites. They are rich and deep in flavor.
















These are the coconut/pecan bites. They are absolutely incredible!


The journey to get here was long, but worth it!

Sometimes I Just Get Lucky!

This is my favorite sofa, that I got from Evans Gatehouse. It's wonderfully soft and best of all is that it's slip-covered and I can and have washed the entire thing in the washing machine!


I love this sofa so much that I ordered another Lee Coverall Sofa, but in a different design and fabric.
In the middle of the cake bite/pop obsession, the new sofa and chair were delivered. I ordered them about six weeks ago and when they were ordered, I was told not to expect them for 8 or more weeks, which was fine since they were going to take the place of a sofa set that is going to a vacation home that is not built yet.






This is the fabric I selected, a brown tweed. There was a contemporary set at the Gatehouse in the same fabric that I liked very much. I just hoped it would work on the design I selected.




The factory got my new set done in record time! So, on Wednesday afternoon, my new set was delivered. And I got to see the design and fabric together for the first time, which is a scary thing, but exciting too.













I really really like them! They are a better scale for the room. I still need to add pillows to dress them up, but I got lucky. Good thing too, because I could never afford to replace them. Now I won't have to; I can just order new slip covers if I get tired of the brown ones.

Cake Pops: Chapter 2

After the first less than successful attempt at cake bites, I started researching the matter. I scoured Bakerella and determined that the next attempt would be the cute chick cake pops with my grand-daughters.






Back to Funfinity for more chocolate, this time in yellow, and sticks.

Some words of advice for others thinking this would be a great project for kids.

1. Make sure the cake balls are made in advance and ready to be dipped before bringing in the kids.
2. Be prepared for a mess (I know, goes without saying) and allow creativity to trump whatever cute little design you had in mind.
3. If you have an aversion to double-dipping, DON'T DO THIS PROJECT. You can't watch everyone at the same time. Enough said.

On to the project.


I baked the Confetti cake flavor, and mixed it with Cream Cheese frosting, about 2/3 of the can. We made balls about 1" wide. Other than making sure not too many balls were handled for too long (get soft and gooey), this project went pretty well.








The girls had a great time dipping the little balls and not too many fell off the sticks. Once the girls figured out how to decorate with toothpicks, the fun really began.







The girls range in age from 3 to 10 and all of them stayed involved in the project until all the balls were dipped (about 2 hours). Their motivation ranged from "Can I eat one now?" (Kenzie) to "I want to put all the colors on mine." (Ember, whose motto is, If a little is good, More is better".
















We made chicks, cupcakes and balls, some on sticks and some not. Since this is a blog about less than perfection, it seems appropriate that the pictures are less than perfect too, so here are our creations in all their imperfect glory!

Cake Pops: First Attempt

A couple of weeks ago I visited The Sweet Tooth Fairy bakery, a charming place with wonderful cupcakes and cookies and Cake Bites. One bite lead to an obsession with these small wonders that has now taken me all over the web to the most delicious sites like Bakerella and Foodgawker.com.

It was only a matter of time before I attempted to make these myself, especially after viewing the adorable creations of Bakerella. But not any cake bites will do for me, oh no. My cake bites had to be as perfect as those from the bakery, which were all perfectly formed.
As from a mold.


Which I had to find, and after a few trips here and there, finally did at Funfinity, a local toy store with a few cake decorating supplies (don't ask). While there, I also bought some chocolate for the coating.








My first attempt was a couple of days ago. Last week we celebrated my mother's birthday and I got the left over strawberry layer cake with cream cheese frosting. Since I knew the basic recipe for cake bites/pops was to crumble the cake and add frosting, wouldn't mixing an already frosted cake together be the same thing?

Maybe not.

Thinking that mixing one way was as good as another, I put the cake into the bowl of the Kitchen Aid and started mixing. Within a few seconds (well, maybe minutes), the bowl was filled with what looked like sticky pink cake batter. Did mixing a cake take it back to pre-baked properties?

Undaunted, I scooped up the sticky-sweet mess and made balls that I put in the freezer. The next morning I melted some white chocolate and poured a bit in my candy mold, thinking that if I dumped the cake bite into the chocolate, it would be perfectly coated with white chocolate and be much easier than brushing the mold with chocolate.

Not quite what I had imagined, unless I had imagined bubblegum colored blobs that resemble some removed body part.

Oh, well, maybe they'll look better coated with chocolate.

I wish I had saved those first creations. I threw them away last night before I had the falling asleep epiphany that led to this blog. I will try to describe them: white truffles with large gaping crevices here and there through which pink stuff oozed.


Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Not Quite Domestic

Sometimes you get inspiration from the silliest things. Last night I discovered Cakewrecks, one of the funniest blogs I've ever seen. After looking and laughing for over an hour - (I mean, really, it's like a train wreck, you just have to look) I fell into bed, still laughing.

During those final moments before falling asleep, I started thinking about all my disasters, cooking and otherwise, and wondered how many other people have those disasters, and wouldn't it be fun to share them? One drowsy thought led to another, and I spent the night dreaming about a blog devoted to the silly, stupid and funny things we create when the vision in our heads just doesn't match reality.

So, here's to all of us who for whatever reason, just weren't quite domestic gods or goddesses in every thing we attempted. I'm willing to share my own disasters, but frankly, this blog will be pretty short and boring unless others are willing to share too. So, start sending me your own photos and stories and let the laughter and head scratching begin.