Weekly Review February 22 '19

Just for a change, I am going to do categories this week.

Cub Scout Cake Bake Off: On Friday evening the Cub Scouts had a father / son cake bake off and a game night. This normally would not impact me at all, since I am no longer a Cub Scout leader and I also don't have a son in Cub Scouts anymore. But since they knew they would have a lot of extra cake, they decided to invite all the Primary teachers to come share the cake. And since I used to work with the boys and I knew that Seth would enjoy a game night, Seth and I went. (Frank tries to avoid places where people are eating cake!) We got there late because our dinner took a lot longer to cook than it was supposed to, but there was still plenty of cake left and we both got to join in and play a game, so it was fun. I played a game I had never played before called "Dead Ringer". It was fun and very simple (easy to learn). I'm glad we made the effort to go. 

Valentine's Day breakfast: Frank and I went to Cracker Barrel on Saturday morning as a late Valentine's Day celebration. It was nice, and besides a great breakfast I also acquired a new set of salt & pepper shakers. They always have lots of cute S&P sets in their store, but I'm pretty good at resisting purchasing them. But how was I supposed to resist these?:

While we are on the subject of Valentine's Day, here is a better photo of my roses, looking red instead of pink:

Stake Conference: We had stake conference this weekend, which is always nice. Frank didn't have to attend the leadership meeting on Saturday so we were able to go to the adult session together, which was also nice. We had to go to the stake center for the adult session, but the general session was broadcast to our ward building so we went there on Sunday. (Thanks to Frank, who pulled all the cable in the building years ago when he was the stake IT clerk!) This stake conference was particularly exciting and emotional because we got a new stake presidency. I don't know any of the new presidency particularly well, but the new stake president and one of his counselors were (are still) serving as bishops of their wards, so there will be lots of changes up the road for some of the other wards. The other counselor was (is) serving as the stake YM president, so there's another change coming up too. I'm sure they will be great! And I feel very grateful to the outgoing presidency...they were wonderful!

Jobs: Frank's new job seems to be going well. He had lots of meetings this week and he is learning everything that he is supposed to be doing. They also encourage him to go to the local restaurants for lunch (he doesn't have to pay for it) and to introduce himself and get to know the managers and people working there. On Monday he decided to go to the restaurant closest to our house and he called and invited Seth and I to come over for lunch too. (Seth didn't have school because of President's Day. Our food isn't free, but we do get a discount.) Frank has also been doing work for clients in the evenings and sometimes in the early morning, so he is keeping pretty busy.

Meanwhile, one of his clients needs someone to update their website (add photos, etc) and they asked if I would be interested in doing it. It would only be a few hours a week and I can do it from home, so I decided to give it a try. I also started another job today--helping a lady who just had hip replacement surgery. She is the caregiver for her 93 year old mother, so she needs some help for herself and some for her mother. It's 3 hours each morning, but it will only be for 2 weeks. Another sister in our ward is going to do some of the days (mostly the days that I am supposed to work at the Arc). I really don't feel like I was very helpful today--I did make breakfast for them and took out some trash and let their dogs outside once. The rest of the time I was just talking with them. But she said that is mostly all they need--just a little bit of help, and someone to keep them company.

I didn't end up working at the Arc this week so that job continues to be very sporadic and unpredictable. My RS president also called me this week to tell me that a sister in our ward who does bookkeeping from home 2 days a week wants to retire at the end of this summer and is interested in training someone who could then apply to take her place (no guarantees, I guess). She wanted to know if I am interested. So I will have to think about that! I probably won't need to work long term but if I have learned anything the last several months it is that it would be a good idea for me to get some more recent experience in the accounting field, just in case. So this job sounds pretty ideal for that. I just want to make sure that my family doesn't suffer because they are my top priority. The last several months has reminded me of that, too!

Taxes: We filed our tax returns on Monday but received emails on Tuesday saying our returns were rejected because of an error. We were supposed to include an explanation to go with one of the forms and we didn't. Don't ask me why our tax software didn't alert us to this fact when it "checked for errors" and found none. At any rate, once I looked at the form and all the calculations that go with it, I could not figure out why we have to file it in the first place. So I'm still trying to figure it out. It's too complicated to explain in detail, but basically the explanation we omitted is an explanation for why we underpaid our taxes last year. The trouble is...we didn't. We actually overpaid. Go figure.

Snow days: We had another snow day this week, on Wednesday. They actually decided to cancel school the evening before because it was supposed to start snowing early in the morning and it was predicted that we would get 5 - 8 inches of snow. It did snow pretty hard, and we got about 6 inches of snow and the roads were a mess so it was nice that we didn't have to go anywhere. I actually forgot about my religion class, but I'm pretty sure it was cancelled. Seth didn't have YM that evening either. I usually go grocery shopping on Wednesdays, but Frank was smart and suggested I go Tuesday evening instead (he came with me to help me) so I didn't even have to do that. We're up to 6 snow days this year now and school is not going to get out until June 19th. Thursday morning we had a 2 hour delay so the school week was pretty chopped up. I doubt it was very productive!

Quilting: I've been working on the quilt whenever I get the chance. I enjoy it, and it's not hard, but it is going to take forever to finish it!! Here's how it looks now:

I'm working on the third square out of 25. At this rate, I might finish it by June. Wish me luck!

Other things: Besides everything else, we fed the missionaries on Saturday and on Tuesday evening (after grocery shopping) I had book chat. We have a tradition that every February we have fondue--both chocolate and cheese. One of the ladies in the group makes really delicious cheese and chocolate fondue. The rest of us bring things to dip--cookies, cake, fruits, vegetables, pretzels, keilbasa, etc. It's always really yummy!! Oh, and we had a good discussion about Before We Were Yours as well. Now we are going to read a book called Confessions of a Domestic Failure.

I was working on financial stuff this afternoon, as I usually do on Friday, and I realized again--as I was looking over the numbers--that the Lord really has looked out for us and taken care of us these last several months. Just one example--I had to move funds from the business account to our personal account to cover all the expenses for the last couple of months. (Although Frank is working now, he hasn't received a paycheck yet.) I also paid tithing on the income that has come in from the business for the last couple of months. (I set tithing money aside when income comes in, but sometimes it accumulates for a while before I remember to actually pay it.) And guess what? The tithing I paid was almost exactly 10% of the amount I had to move over. So in other words--the amount of income that the business brought in was almost exactly the amount we needed to cover all our expenses. Normally, the business doesn't bring in that much. Another thing that I've noticed is that we don't run out of stuff as often. (You know, things like toothpaste, paper towels, shampoo, etc.) I'm sure that's not a coincidence either. I've actually been praying that we would be able to manage our resources wisely and that what we had would last longer. That prayer has definitely been answered. Just wanted to record that so that I will never forget!

I've managed to exercise every day and while I am exercising, I have been watching a show called Victoria, which is about Queen Victoria. It's pretty interesting and I've mostly enjoyed it. They definitely embellish the facts a lot, or move actual events to different time periods to make things more dramatic or help the story line along. (I can't watch anything historical without checking the facts!) But anyway, it's pretty good. It also helps jogging go faster if you have something interesting to distract you!

That is everything I can think of to report this week but I have to finish up with this cute photo of Snickers curled up on a pillow on the couch:

 

Weekly Review February 15 '19

Why do Fridays always go by so fast? Seems like I just got up, and it's already almost dinner time. We had a pretty full week. Here is what we did:

Saturday: I can't remember Saturday all that well, but I think Frank was pretty busy finishing up work for clients that he wanted to get done before he started his new job. So he was gone a lot of the day. I did the usual--filled out my time sheet for my Arc job, cleaned the kitchen floor, practiced ukulele, worked on the quilt. I also did some wedding related stuff and worked on our tax return.

Sunday: I can't remember anything out of the ordinary about Sunday except that we sat with my friend Wanda on the front row. (Several families take turns sitting with her to help her if she needs it.) I love Primary! I think the new curriculum is the best. When we start talking about the subject of the lesson, all the kids' little faces light up and they say "we talked about this at home!" and they have all these great things to say about the topic. It's the best. I am really enjoying having church in the morning and having the rest of the day to read scriptures and so forth. I actually have a hard time fitting in all the things I want to do!

Monday: It snowed a few inches on Sunday night and the roads were icy, so school was cancelled. Seth actually did something besides watch television all day:

He's playing a game called "Dog Pile", which I got him for Christmas. I got it on a whim, and I'm glad I did because he really likes it. Plus, it's the kind of game that makes you use your brain. Shhh...don't tell him!

Frank started his new job so he has had a very busy week. He worked at his office on Monday, mostly getting oriented and filling out paperwork. But he rest of the week he was working at one of the restaurants in Hagerstown (about 30 minutes northwest of Frederick) because they wanted him to see the technology in action--how it works at the stores. He was mostly there to observe and to be trained, but he did jump in and do everything from flipping burgers to working in the drive through too. He seemed to really enjoy it! (But he says he would never want to work at a fast food restaurant as a regular job!) I didn't work on Monday (the lady I support had to watch her nephew) but I managed to keep pretty busy anyway. It's been a bit of an adjustment this week to have Frank gone all day. I've grown accustomed to having him around a lot more! I miss him, but I'm not complaining that he has a job. Monday evening we had family night and then Frank and I went to the store to get him some clothes--he needed black pants for working at the restaurant this week (they gave him 3 polo shirts to wear), and for the office he needs to wear nice pants and button up shirts (not necessarily white, and he doesn't have to wear a tie) most of the time. He really doesn't have a lot of clothes like that. He mostly has polo shirts and he only has one pair of church pants and 2 button up shirts, both white. We got him two pair of black pants and 2 or 3 shirts (they were all patterns--plaids or stripes), but I wanted to get him some more pants (colors other than black) and a few more solid colored shirts, so I went online last night and ordered 2 more shirts and 3 pairs of pants. The shirts are both blue (but different shades) and he now has navy blue, dark gray, and khaki pants too. I was actually thrilled that he was forced to buy new clothes for himself. He hates spending money and he hates shopping and therefore he hardly ever gets new clothes, and mostly wears ratty old polo shirts with holes in them. I told him very firmly that it really is okay for him to invest in a new wardrobe and I also made him go to a store other than Walmart, hoping to get a bit higher quality. I'm looking forward to seeing him in some nice clothes!

Tuesday: Frank had to be at work at 9:00 am. School was cancelled again--I'm not sure why, because the roads weren't too bad and I think a 2 hour delay would have been fine. I kept busy all day with the usual things and I also finally got the quilt put together--backing, batting, and top--so that it was ready to start quilting. That evening we had a RS activity where we had a "pink elephant" exchange (basically the same as a white elephant, they just called it pink in honor of Valentine's Day). I actually didn't feel like going out much but I made myself go because I knew I would have fun if I did...and I was right!

Wednesday: Frank had to be at work at 7:00 am so he left pretty early. I had a bad night--didn't sleep well at all--so I got a late start and didn't have time to exercise. I got everything else done, though, and enjoyed going to the religion class again after a few weeks of it not being held. Frank was busy after work with some work for some clients and I took Seth to YM and picked him up again afterwards. I got started on quilting too. He had a project for school that he had to finish that evening and we (Seth and I, not Frank) ended up staying up until midnight while he got this done. (It was actually embroidery that he was doing--they are embroidering quotes on quilt squares and his teacher is going to make it into a quilt.)

Thursday: Happy Valentine's Day! It started really early because Frank had to be at work at 5:00 am. I fell back asleep right after he left, though, and once again woke up late enough that I didn't have time to exercise. I worked for a couple of hours, did some more quilting, and finished up our income taxes. We're getting a refund this year, thank goodness! Frank got off work at 2:00 but he had to stop by his office after that and then he to go to a couple of his clients and handle an emergency for one of them, so he didn't get home until after 5:00 and he was working in his office all evening, until about 9:00 so it was a really long day for him! We did get each other cards for Valentine's Day, and on Wednesday he brought home some beautiful roses and some chocolates for me. We are planning to go to breakfast tomorrow morning too--we decided to do that instead of going to dinner together because we want to avoid the crowds. Plus, look at the awesome dinner I made at home:

(I don't know why the roses look pinkish in the photo; they really are a dark red!)

Friday: As I said, today went fast. Frank had to be at work at 9:00, so he didn't have to get up so early and I woke up kind of late once again. I got most of the budget done and exercised and showered before picking Seth up from school. I'm hoping to get some more quilting done after dinner. I enjoy quilting, but it is going to take a long time to get this quilt done!

To finish up, here is a photo I took from our back deck a few days ago:

Sometimes I completely forget that there is a river behind my house! Most of the year, the river is hidden by all the foliage on the trees and bushes growing along the banks but in the winter, we can see it. One of the (only) nice things about winter.

Weekly Review February 8 '19

It is feeling a lot like spring around here, although I know it really isn't yet. After having some really frigid sub-zero temperatures last week, things started to warm up on Sunday and we've had temperatures way above average for a lot of the week--50s, 60s, and even up into the low 70s one day! Our little "honeymoon" is going to end soon since temperatures are supposed to plunge back down to a high of 36 tomorrow, but I have enjoyed the reprieve from the normal miserable winter weather as long as it has lasted. Here's a summary of this week's important (and not so important) happenings:

Saturday: I worked on the quilt, worked on our tax return, and worked on my church callings. I guess I really didn't work on the quilt, but I went to the store to get some needles since I didn't have any quilting needles.

Sunday: Seth was recognized in Sacrament Meeting for finishing his Faith in God, and he recited the 4th Article of Faith. After church, Frank ordained him a Deacon. Other than that, it was a regular Sunday with lots of scripture study, indexing, and so forth.

Monday: Work got cancelled for me on both Monday and Wednesday this week. I am grateful that we are not depending on my income for survival! Instead of going to work, I went to the fabric store to get some more quilting items and I got all the regular chores done. The afternoon / evening was busy because I had a doctor appointment in the afternoon (just an annual check up). Frank picked Seth up from school because I was still at the doctor. He also picked up 2 other kids--the ones that we have picked up a number of times because their mom has been having complications from surgery and having medical procedures done. She had to have another procedure done (unexpectedly) on Sunday. Her original operation was last March, so this has been going on almost a year--what an ordeal for them!! After the problems she had over the weekend, they have decided that the procedures they've been doing aren't really working, so they are trying to figure out what to do instead. I'm sure that is very discouraging and frustrating for them. I'm glad we've been able to help them with their kids, but I wish there was more we could do. Anyway, I got home right after the kids were picked up by their dad and we barely had time to make and eat dinner before our next appointment. A lady in our ward came over to interview us because we are going to be the spotlight couple in the next issue of the ward newsletter. After that, we had family night. So as I said--it was a busy evening. Oh! I almost forgot! Frank sent in his acceptance for the job offer that he got also. So that was pretty important!

Tuesday: I had all kinds of errands and other jobs to get done on Tuesday. I started out by visiting a number of craft  and party stores, looking for a topper for Jared & Jessie's wedding cake. Most places didn't have any at all, but I did find a few at the party store that I thought were good possibilities, so I took pictures and sent them to Jared for his opinion. They really liked one of them and asked me to get it, so I went back and bought it the next day. I visited my friend Wanda (she wanted to give me a list of things she needed at Walmart), sent out some emails to organize some musical numbers (for church), practiced the ukulele and called the vet to set up some appointments for Snickers. Besides all that, I worked on the quilt--I got the backing cut and sewed together. I didn't get all the regular chores done but I decided I really wanted to get some work done on the quilt and that it wouldn't matter if the bathrooms were dirty for one more day. (And I was right! And I did get them cleaned on Wednesday, so no harm done.) That evening we decided to go out to eat to celebrate Frank getting a job (plus we had a gift card). It didn't turn out the best, though, because Frank's meat was raw in the middle (he has the WORST luck with that! Happens to him all the time!) and he also started realizing during the meal that he really wasn't feeling that well.

Wednesday: My religion class got cancelled again because the teacher was out of town. I used the day to catch up on all the regular chores, plus I practiced the ukulele again and bought the wedding cake topper and worked on our income tax return, which is almost done now. I took Seth to YM and picked him up again later. Frank was pretty miserable all day, with some sort of intestinal illness. He felt really nauseated, but he was able to keep food down, which is good since his blood sugar can get all messed up if he doesn't eat.

Thursday: I mostly spent the day getting the regular chores done. Last night I started marking the quilt top (so I will know where to put the quilting stitches). I got some of it done, but I ran into a lot of problems with one of the pencils I was using so I didn't get a lot done. I'm not looking forward to finishing that job, but it needs to be done so that I can actually start quilting. Frank started feeling a bit better, thankfully.

Friday: Today I haven't accomplished a lot so far--mostly because I woke up later than normal. I did exercise this morning at least. Frank is feeling better and he wanted to go to lunch together since this is his last "day off"--he starts his new job on Monday. So we did that, and it was much nicer than our attempt to celebrate on Tuesday. I have to go pick up Seth pretty soon, and then I will get the budget updated.

So a few details about Frank's new job, since you are all probably wondering! He is going to work for Roy Rogers, which is a local fast food restaurant. (Their main menu item is fried chicken, but they do have some burgers and things like that too. It's actually pretty good. We've eaten there occasionally.)  They have restaurants in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. The headquarters are here in Frederick. He's going to be their main IT guy. (His official title is "Senior Manager of Information Technology".) He will need to work onsite at different locations occasionally, so he will have some travel--they said about 25% of the time. For his first week, he will be spending a lot of time at one of their restaurants to see how the system works. He will be working different shifts so his work schedule next week is kind of crazy. Usually he will be working during normal work hours, though. He is excited for the challenge and we are very happy, of course, that he has a new job. They are fine with him continuing to run his business, as long as it doesn't interfere with his work. He's been pretty busy this week (even when he was sick) finishing up projects for clients. He also visited (or called) all of his clients to let him know about the new job and they are all fine with him not being available to help them during normal business hours. So we'll see how it goes. He was able to manage it with his Marriott job and hopefully he will be able to do the same now.

That's all I can think of for this week and I need to go pick up Seth from school in a few minutes, so I will sign off.

PS to Weekly Review February 1 '19

I knew I was forgetting something...

Frank got a blanket for Snickers this week. I think he likes it:

Also, I forgot to mention that last night we looked outside and discovered several police cars, two fire trucks, and and ambulance (all with lights flashing) blocking off the end of our court. We wondered what was going on and later we found out that one of our neighbors (we didn't know her at all) overdosed on drugs. They tried to save her, but it was too late. So that is super sad!
 
On a happier note, I also forgot to mention that I spent quite a bit of time working on wedding stuff for Jared, and we had a number of conversations with him about wedding plans. We have found someone to make the cake, which was one of our assignments, and we are working on figuring out the dinner (we're having a dinner the evening before the wedding, instead of a wedding luncheon or breakfast) which is our other assignment. I'm glad we are making progress on the wedding plans! And I'm even more glad that we are the groom's family and aren't in charge of the whole thing!

I think that is really it for this week!

Weekly Review February 1 '19

It's February! We're that much closer to warmer weather. :) We had a pretty busy week. Here's the details:

Saturday: Seth had a YM leadership training meeting in the morning. They fed him breakfast too. Frank wasn't feeling very well--he had a bad headache--so I picked Seth up from his meeting. Frank did quite a bit of work for clients, in spite of the headache. I kept busy that day working on our tax return, cleaning the kitchen floor, working on wedding stuff, working on stuff for my music calling, submitting my time sheet for my job, and working on the quilt. I got the rest of the squares sewed together. That evening I had my last meeting for my self reliance group. I am glad to be done! I did enjoy this group overall, though.

Sunday: The choir sang in Sacrament Meeting. My Primary class is the cutest! One of the boys gave me a picture he drew for me during Sacrament Meeting. They are a wiggly class, though. It can be a challenge to keep their attention. After church I kept busy with the usual scripture study, indexing, and so forth. I really like the new curriculum. I also prepared my Primary lesson for this Sunday. We worked on Articles of Faith with Seth and he has learned all of them so he is done with Faith in God! One of Frank's clients had an emergency so he had to do some work for them in the afternoon.

Monday: There wasn't school because it was a teacher work day (Friday was the end of the 2nd term). I did go to work, but Frank was home with Seth. Seth had an orthodontist appointment that afternoon. They still don't know exactly what treatment he is going to need because he has a lot of baby teeth that still need to come out. He's lost 4 teeth since the last visit, though. He goes back in 3 months and at that point he will probably have to have some teeth pulled if they haven't come out on their own. Shortly after we got home from the orthodontist, Seth threw up. As usual, he was fine after that and never got sick again but since he had thrown up, I had to keep him home from school on Tuesday.

Tuesday: We weren't sure that he was going to miss any school because we were supposed to get snow on Tuesday morning. As it turned out, the storm came later than they originally thought, so there was school on Tuesday but they got out 3 hours early. So he only missed a short day. He was actually upset about missing school at all, though. What kid gets upset over missing school?!! I really don't get it. He says he "might miss something important". We ended up getting 3 or 4 inches of snow. Seth had an appointment with our bishop that night to have him sign his Faith in God book. He will be recognized for that on Sunday and he will also be ordained a Deacon on Sunday. Meanwhile, I had a productive day on Tuesday (Tuesday seems to be my best day for some reason) and got through a long list of chores plus practiced the ukulele and worked on the quilt.

Wednesday: School was cancelled because of the snow. My religion class was also cancelled because there wasn't any heat at the Stake Center. We did the Walmart shopping and we made Seth come with us. When we came out of Walmart, it was snowing! We got this little snow "squall"--it snowed really hard and the wind blew really hard, but it only lasted for about a half hour. We probably got a half inch of snow, and all the trees and light poles had a thin layer of snow caked on one side of them. It also got a lot colder. Temperatures dropped a LOT and we had temperatures in the negative digits overnight and in the single digits on Thursday. We did not get it as bad as the midwest, though, so we are grateful for that. Seth played with some friends for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon and Sam arrived for a visit on Wednesday afternoon also. He is done with his class in Virginia and will be heading to Texas for his new assignment soon. In the meantime, he has some time off so he came for a short visit. He and Seth went with Frank on Wednesday night to pull some cables for a client. While they were gone I worked on taxes some more and I also worked on the quilt and got the quilt top done:

Now I need to get the back prepared and the batting cut to size, and then I need to figure out how to quilt it!

Thursday: There was a two hour delay because of slippery roads and extreme cold. I didn't end up working so I spent some time working on the income tax return instead. Seth and I had dentist appointments, so I had to pick him up a little early from school for that. (Yes, he hasn't spent much time at school this week!!) It was just our check ups and neither of us have any cavities, so that's good news.

Friday: Today school began at the regular time and got out at the regular time, and Seth was there for the whole day! We had snow showers predicted in the morning and it did indeed start snowing. There was probably half an inch all over everything when I took Seth to school. The surprising thing is that it continued to snow all day! It didn't snow hard, but we probably got another 3 inches of snow. We didn't really expect that. But as I said, they didn't let school out early or anything so that was good. After I got Seth home from school I shoveled the front walk. An hour later it looked like this:

I think it has mostly stopped snowing now, though. Sam left this morning, and he is headed south--he's going to Florida to go to Universal Studios before going on to Texas. We've enjoyed having him live nearby and we are sad to see him go. Frank has been very busy with clients all week and today he had to go onsite to do some work with a client that is a couple of hours away. He is back from there now, but he is gone again--pulling more cable for another client.

The big news of the day, however, is that he got a job offer!! Remember that job that he was depressed about last week because he didn't think he got it? Well, he did get it. They just took longer to make a decision than they told him originally. It is a good offer and we will probably accept it, but we are going to think about it and pray about it over the weekend. One of the great things about it is that it is right here in Frederick, so no commuting!! He will have to go on a couple of training trips in Dallas in March, though. Anyway, we are very happy that he has received an offer. Life is going to be so much easier on so many levels when he starts working again. We're very grateful!!

That's all the news from these parts for this week, and I need to get some dinner made so that's it for today.

Weekly Review January 25 '19

I am going to try to get this week's post written quickly because it is getting pretty late. I spent literally all day working on budget-related things, including a lot of stuff for Frank's business, and now I am tired and crabby! Here's what we did the rest of the week:

Saturday: We did get some "wintry mix" in the evening but my self reliance group decided to meet anyway and the roads weren't bad so I'm glad we decided to chance it. We have our last meeting tomorrow evening. The rest of the day I was busy with a lot of things--cleaning the kitchen floor, picking up a book from the library, doing some shopping for some things my friend Wanda needed, finishing up my Primary lesson, music calling stuff, and working on one of the quilts. I got all the pieces cut out and got my sewing machine set up. Frank had some work to do for a client in the morning.

Sunday: I had a moment of panic right before Sacrament Meeting started when I realized that the chorister hadn't showed up yet. Thankfully, one of the sisters in the ward who is musical also realized the same thing about the same time I did, and she went up and offered to lead the music. Bless people like that!! I was so grateful! My Primary class went well again, although I noticed the kids were a little more wiggly...they are getting more comfortable with us already! In the afternoon I did scripture study, indexing, etc, but I also got really sleepy so I took a nap. That evening our stake had a fireside--Youth Standards Night--so we took Seth to that. His medication had completely worn off and he wasn't very attentive. They had a panel of several of the bishops in the stake and let the kids ask questions. It was pretty good--I hope Seth picked up a few things!

Monday: Seth didn't have school because of MLK Day. I didn't work either because the lady I support had a doctor appointment and her mom wanted to take her to that. I got the usual chores done, plus I also wrote a "music spotlight" for our ward newsletter. In the afternoon we met some friends in our ward at a frozen yogurt place. I thought it was kind of crazy to get frozen yogurt on that day because the temperature was in the teens, with wind on top of that. But apparently a lot of other people are as crazy as we are because the place was packed! So much so that we had to come back to our place to eat our yogurt because there were no seats available at the yogurt place. (And sitting at the outside tables was out of the question!) Our friends came to our house too and we played some games. It was fun, but I hadn't planned on that so I didn't end up having any time to work on the quilt that day. We also talked with Jared for a while that day--he needed to interview a married couple with children for a class assignment.

Tuesday: This was a really productive day. I got all the usual chores done and practiced the ukulele. Then I spent a couple of hours working on the quilt and got most of the blocks sewn together. It felt good to make some progress on that project! I really do get a lot of joy out of creating things!

Wednesday: I got Walmart shopping done in the morning and went to my religion class, as usual. Seth had YM that evening and I took some things to my friend Wanda after I dropped him off at the church. In between everything else, I was reading. I started the book for book chat on Saturday (Before We Were Yours) and it was one of those books that is hard to put down. It wasn't a mystery, really, but it was one of those books where you know there's a connection of some sort but you're not sure what it is and you're trying to figure it out. So by Wednesday I knew I just needed to finish the book so that I could get back to doing all the other things I needed to do! The book went back and forth between 1939 and the present day. It was not a happy story, although it ended up as happy as could be expected. It was fictional, but it was based on a true historical event--a lady named Georgia Tann, who actually stole babies and children and then placed them for adoption with wealthy families, collecting exorbitant fees and pocketing most of the money. Incredibly, she did this from  1924 until 1950 before she got caught. (She had a network of corrupt judges, police men, politicians, etc that helped her.) Anyway, it was a book well worth reading.

Thursday: This day was busy too because I worked in the morning and in the evening I got my hair cut and the color done. I still managed to get the regular chores done in between.

Friday: Today, as I said, I spent working on the budget most of the day. I also practiced my ukulele a little bit. I wanted to work on the quilt some more but it is too late for that now. Earlier this week, I ordered a special quilting foot for my sewing machine. It came today, so I can start using that now and it will make the process easier and (hopefully) faster.

I am still going strong with exercising daily and working on brain balance with Seth. We started reading Little Town on the Prairie together and we've read several chapters. We're still working on Articles of Faith--I think he needs another week to work on those. He's been asked to be the secretary for the Deacon's quorum and he really seems to be enjoying both YM and scout activities.

We have not heard back from the place Frank had the interview with last week. We do know they were checking with some of his references earlier this week because one of his references told Frank they called him. Frank thinks since we didn't hear anything today that he didn't get the job and I can tell he feels pretty glum about it. I'm not as pessimistic--I think there might still be hope there. At least, until they let him know he didn't get the job, I'm assuming it's still a possibility. Hopefully we will find out something one way or the other soon. In the meantime, at least the government shutdown seems to be coming to an end (for now) so maybe his paperwork will be submitted soon. Really, most of the time we are feeling pretty calm about things but today I feel like our stress levels were up. It's just not a fun situation that we're in.

But to end on a positive note, last Saturday I said a prayer about my eye. (It was red and swollen--infected.) It was starting to feel like the infection I had last summer, which got really bad and didn't go away completely for months. Plus it was feeling like the infection was starting to spread to my other eye, which happened last summer too. I just really didn't want to go through that again, and I had things I needed to get done. So I said a prayer. It's always hard for me to ask for things for myself--I'm always afraid that I will ask for something that I shouldn't ask for. So when I prayed, I said that I had complete faith that I could be healed if it was His will, and I asked that my eye would be healed, unless there was something I needed to learn from having my eye infected again. When I got up Sunday morning, my eye was almost completely back to normal! I'm so grateful for that. 

Weekly Review January 18 '19

We had a fairly eventful week. Here's what we did:

Saturday: Frank went to a luncheon given by the company that he is eventually going to work for. This luncheon was specifically for people in the hiring process; there are several of them. Everything is at a standstill right now because of the government shut down. We live in an area where obviously the shut down is affecting a lot of people. We keep hearing people talking about not getting a paycheck. I am sympathetic, of course, but I also can't help thinking "you have no idea!!" Try 7 months without a paycheck, and no end in sight. I'm grateful every day a million times over for Frank's business, which is what's keeping me sane. It has been a blessing for over 7 years now. Definitely a tender mercy!! It was something we never planned, but that just came about and we know it has been a part of the Lord's plan for our family. Nothing we ever could have come up with on our own, but His plan is so superior to ours. It really humbles me whenever I realize how the Lord provided the way for us to provide for our family, and particularly for us to send our boys on missions and to help them with their education expenses. He truly has poured out blessings upon us.

Okay, I didn't mean to get off on a tangent, but I think that was a good one at least. I spent the day working on things for my music calling, preparing for my self reliance group meeting (which was scheduled for Sunday evening), cleaning the kitchen floor, and doing some shopping for Frank's birthday. (Both online and actually going to stores.) Going to the store that day was pretty brave because we were also scheduled to get a snow storm that evening and that means the stores were packed with people feeling the need to stock up on milk, bread, and toilet paper. I enjoyed the hassle-free online shopping much better. Besides finding a gift for Frank, I also found some fabric for the quilt projects I want to begin. I was looking for 10 inch pre-cut squares and I found one place that sells several different packs of those. All of the fabrics were so beautiful!!! I wanted to buy all of them, but had to settle for two different packs. (I am going to have to come up with some projects to use some of the other packs in the future!)

That evening our ward had a chili cook off, which Frank was in charge of. We were unsure whether or not it was really going to happen, because of the weather forecast, up until an hour or two before it started. Frank had delegated all of the set up since he was going to be at the luncheon and wouldn't get home until a few hours before the chili cook off was supposed to start (the luncheon was in Virginia). Everything came together and it was a fun event. For our contribution, we made macaroni & cheese and a bunch of hot dogs so that the kids who didn't like chili would have something to eat. I was happy that Seth tried some of the chili, though--and he liked it!! It started to snow as we were driving over to the church, but the roads were not bad coming home. It did continue to snow during the night, though.

Sunday: When I woke up Sunday morning it looked like this outside:

I checked my email and discovered that church had been cancelled. That's how they roll out here! Actually, it is stake policy to cancel all church meetings if a snow emergency is declared, and it was. I know 6 inches doesn't seem like an emergency, but really what that means is that they want everyone to stay off the roads so that they can get them plowed quicker. I was disappointed to miss taking the sacrament and meeting with my Primary class again (I really missed them!) but since we are a home centered, church supported church, we spent time together as a family reading the scriptures and discussing them. :) I actually kept really busy all day doing things like indexing, personal scripture study, family scripture study, preparing next Sunday's Primary lesson, and working on Faith in God with Seth.  It stopped snowing during the day but started snowing more in the early evening so my self reliance group decided not to meet.

Monday: School was on a 2 hour delay with a re-evaluation at 7:00 am. When they re-evaluated, they decided to cancel school. I'm guessing that was mostly because parking lots hadn't been plowed and sidewalks hadn't been shoveled because the roads really weren't too bad, at least by mid day. It was Frank's birthday so he opened presents. He got a couple of movies and a game.

Frank and I had discussed the problem of having a lot of leftover cake in the house that neither he nor I wanted to be tempted to eat, so we decided that a better plan would be to take him out to dinner to celebrate his birthday and get some dessert there. That way, he had a treat on his birthday, but there were no leftovers!

Other than the birthday celebrations, it was a mostly normal Monday and I got the regular chores done. I didn't work because the lady I support didn't want to go anywhere with the roads being bad. Frank took Seth outside to go sledding for a while, which Seth really enjoyed.

Tuesday: Back to school for Seth, and it even started at the usual time (no delay)! I didn't sleep well the night before and had a later than normal start (that seems to happen more often on Tuesdays, for some reason). I did get everything on my list done, though. Frank had an interview that afternoon--his third interview with the same company. They are supposed to make a decision next week. I had book chat that evening and enjoyed it a lot as always. I finished 4 out of the 5 Dickens stories that we were reading; I had started the 5th one but hadn't finished it yet. It turns out that only one person read all of the stories and most people read less than I did. So we did discuss the stories for a while (with me and the lady who had read all of the stories doing most of the talking!) but we also talked about a lot of other things. As a matter of fact, we talked until nearly 10:00, which is much later than we usually talk.  Now we are going to read a book called Before We Were Yours.

Wednesday: This was a pretty busy day for me. After dropping Seth off at school I did the weekly grocery shopping. Then I went to the religion class. From there, I went to a 2 hour training at the Arc. That was my last required training, so I am fully trained now! Frank picked Seth up from school because I wasn't done with the training until 4:00. We had dinner and did brain balance and then Seth had YM. Frank had to do some work for a client, so he dropped Seth off at YM and then picked him up afterwards, on his way home. I enjoyed having a little bit of quiet time at home, after a busy day.

Thursday: Yesterday was pretty busy too. I worked until about 1:00. Then I came home long enough to eat some lunch, and then went to visit my friend Wanda for a few minutes. I had a couple of things to give her that she had asked me to purchase for her, and I had planned to give them to her on Sunday but then we didn't have church. After visiting Wanda, I went to the fabric store to pick out fabric for the back and for the pieces to go around the quilt blocks for one of the quilts that I am making. I also got batting for that quilt and another one. I went straight from there to pick up Seth from school. We got brain balance done and then I went over to a ward member's house to discuss a possible job that I might be doing in late February / early March. It's for a lady who is getting hip replacement surgery. She is the caregiver for her 93 year old mother, so after her surgery she needs someone to come in every morning to make breakfast for her mom and to keep her mom company, plus help with her dogs and a few small tasks like an occasional load of laundry and taking out trash. I can't do it on Mondays and Thursdays, of course, but I could do the other week days. I will probably do it unless they find someone else who can do every day and decide they want to do that instead. It will only be for 2 or 3 weeks. By the time I left there, it was snowing and we got a couple of inches in the night. We had dinner and then I still had a lot of things to do like vacuuming and folding laundry but I got everything done. My left eye was feeling kind of sore all day so I wore glasses because I suspected I was getting some kind of eye infection.

Friday: Today there was a 2 hour delay because of slippery roads, with the new snow plus everything freezing overnight. My left eye was red and swollen when I woke up and it is even more red and swollen now. I wish I could figure out why I have so much trouble with my eyes and why they are so prone to getting infected. Snickers had an appointment to be groomed which was long overdue--when I made the appointment, I discovered that it has been nearly 6 months since he last went to the groomer! (I did give him a bath once since then.) It took them longer than usual, which didn't surprise me since he was a big fluffy mop!! He looks about half as big now, with all that hair gone. Seth had a music concert at his school this afternoon which he REALLY wanted us to attend, so we went to that. Each of the classes had composed the music and written the lyrics for their own song. Seth was playing the bass xylophone in his class's song, but unfortunately we couldn't see him from where we were sitting. I got the budget updated today and I pre-washed the fabric for the quilt that I hope to start making tomorrow. Earlier this week, I got out all the pre-cut squares and tried to figure out how I want the quilt top to look. I moved a couple of pieces around after taking this picture, but it is mostly going to look like this:

That's without the strips that go in between. The back is going to be dark brown with a small autumn leaf pattern over it. The strips in between are a cream color with gold glitter scattered over it. I hope it will look nice when I am done, and I hope it doesn't take me forever to finish it! I purposely picked a simple quilt top and a throw size quilt, because I know I'm not up for a big project right now.

It is supposed to snow more tomorrow and possibly on Sunday. I hope the weather won't interfere with church, and I hope my self reliance group can meet tomorrow also. We only have 2 meetings left, so I would like to finish soon.

Frank kept pretty busy this week and yesterday a couple of his clients gave him some more projects to start working on, so he feels a little overwhelmed by everything there is to do but of course he is glad to have work to do! Seth finished reading the Wings of Fire series (at least until the next book comes out) but we haven't started reading the next book in the Little House series yet. I've been working on the Articles of Faith with him and he is learning quickly. He knows the gist of all of them now and can repeat all but two of them from memory. He still needs to polish up those other two. He will probably get that done this week so I expect in a week or two he will be completely done and ready to be ordained to the priesthood. I would like to go to the temple soon but I want to wait until he has the priesthood so that he can come with us and do baptisms. 

That's all we've been doing...or the important things, anyway!