Weekly Review March 27 '26

Today is a rainy day in Maryland. I did not go to the temple today so I am getting started on this week's post earlier than usual. I spent the morning (after Seminary) updating the finances. We had yummy donuts at Seminary this morning. 😊

Going back to Saturday March 21st, it was a busy day. Frank had an MRI of his right shoulder done that morning. I got a text saying they needed help cleaning the church, so I went over and helped with that for about 30 minutes. (Frank didn't go since most cleaning tasks involve moving his shoulder in a way that is painful.) I had some quiet time after I got home from the church because Seth worked from 9:00 to 4:00 and Frank ended up needing to go do work for a client (the one that is 90 minutes away). I had a lot to do so it was actually good that I had the house to myself for hours without distractions. I finished updating finances (I started the day before but didn't have time to finish), practiced ukulele, cleaned the kitchen floor, finished preparing both of my Seminary lessons for this week, and did some work on the dollhouse. I finished sanding all the ceilings that I previously painted, did a final coat of polyurethane on the base floors, and did the first coat of polyurethane on all the other floors.

I also started working on the blog post for the previous 2 weeks, which I finished later that night, around bedtime. Meanwhile, after Frank got home and Seth got off work, we went out to eat for dinner. We went to Outback Steakhouse. I decided to try their Mock Croc drink (sprite & mango) and we had fun playing with the little crocodile that came with it:

I rarely drink soda and usually order water at restaurants, but I really like mango flavored things, so I decided to try this. It was pretty good.

On Sunday March 22nd we had a lot of the usual things (church, scriptures, FHE, listening to podcasts for me and mission prep for Seth) plus a few extra things. Seth went to a special meeting for all the YSAs in the area where Elder Soares was speaking. It was held at the stake center next to the temple. They fed them lunch after the meeting also. He was really excited to be in the same room with an apostle and he enjoyed the meeting a lot. He got back in time to take me home from choir practice--Frank had a ministering visit, so he had to leave after our church meetings were over. I also got to talk to Jared for a while that day. The weather was really nice--warm and sunny! We've had a few nice days like that this week and other days have been cold--the weather has been a real roller coaster ride, but I guess that's normal for spring.

It was raining when we got up on Monday March 23rd but it didn't rain all day. I had one of my bad nights where I woke up at 1:30 am and didn't go back to sleep. It's been a while since that's happened, though, and I'm grateful for that. I taught a lesson about Exodus 1, which focused on putting God above the pressures that come from other people / situations in the world. In spite of the fact that I was really tired and had to take a one hour nap Monday afternoon, I got a surprising amount of things done on Monday. Besides all the regular Monday chores (grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming / sweeping), I also contacted the sisters I minister to, handled some Seminary-related messages, started reading the book Nation (for book chat), and got some more work done on the dollhouse. I sanded & applied a second coat of polyurethane to the mid and upper floors and in the evening Frank helped me glue together the dollhouse foundation. 

In this photo, the foundation has the base floor on top of it and is weighted down with books to keep it in place while the glue dries:

Mid and upper floors drying after second coat of polyurethane was applied:

On Monday we also had FHE activity and enjoyed a treat. We played several rounds of Uno Flip. Seth went to FHE for the YSA group later.

I taught a lesson about self-reliance for Seminary on Tuesday March 24th. The focus of this lesson was on increasing our faith in the Savior--as we do everything we can and rely on the Savior to help us, we can achieve self-reliance. I felt good about that lesson even though not all the youth participated as much as I would have liked them to. I didn't get as much done on Tuesday as I did on Monday. I did get all the regular Tuesday chores done (cleaned bathrooms and planned the next week's meals) and I also sanded & applied a second coat of polyurethane to the tower upper floor, because I forgot to do that on Monday. I read through my 2 Seminary lessons for next week so that I could start thinking about them, talked to Tanner, and I did some more reading in Nation. It's a very interesting book and I am enjoying it a lot. I was also contacted by a friend from church that day--she had an appointment for the following day with one of the places that does free taxes (not with VITA--I think it was the AARP) but she was in the hospital and didn't think she was going to get discharged in time to make her appointment. She couldn't reschedule her appointment because this place was booked all the way through April 15th. She was really worried about getting her taxes filed and wondered if I had any ideas of what she could do. I told her I thought that under the circumstances, I could probably get permission to do her taxes through VITA without her being present. I e-mailed the site manager and explained the situation and he said that absolutely that would work. So I let her know, and she was extremely relieved. She contacted me this morning to let me know that she is out of the hospital and I will meet with her tomorrow to fill out her intake form and get all her tax documents. (She has cellulitis in her legs, so walking is really hard for her so it is still better if she doesn't have to come to VITA to get her taxes done. I will get all her info and take it with me to VITA on Wednesday, prepare her return, get it reviewed, and then take her the final forms that she needs to sign.) I am really happy that I am able to help her in this way. 

Seth had a pre-op appointment with our Primary care doctor that day. He still has to get some blood work done, which he is planning to do on Monday. His surgery is on Wednesday, April 8th, but we don't know what time yet. Frank did his usual temple shift on Tuesday.

We had a guest teacher for Seminary on Wednesday March 25th. It is always fun to have guest teachers because I learn so much from seeing different teaching styles. I think the youth really enjoy the change of pace also. Plus, he brought chocolate milk and cookies so they were happy about that! I did my usual VITA shift and it wasn't crazy like last week--I actually completed 4 returns and got home around 1:30. I removed the weights and the tape from the dollhouse foundation and it didn't fall apart and looks good 😁

I also sanded & did a final coat of polyurethane on the floors, but apparently I didn't take a photo when I was done. (You can't really tell anyway...they look the same as they did after the 2nd coat! 😅)

After some cold days on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was starting to warm up a little (50s), so Frank and I went on a long walk. The wind was blowing in our faces one way, which made it feel pretty chilly, but the wind was at our backs walking home, so that was more pleasant. 

Frank got the results of his MRI on Wednesday also. He has a linear tear in the posterior glenoid labrum. (Yeah, I don't know exactly what that means, either! 😂) He also has a large cyst in the joint. Our primary care doctor wants him to go to a different surgeon for a 2nd opinion, but he will likely need to have PT for both shoulders. They are both still causing him quite a bit of pain.

Seth went to Institute on Wednesday evening, as usual.

Yesterday (Thursday March 26th) was very warm (got up to 80 degrees!) It didn't feel like a very productive day to me. I did get all the regular chores done (grocery shopping, vacuuming, laundry) and painted one small part for the dollhouse. I've been meaning to sand all the pieces I painted before I went to Utah, but I just haven't gotten to that this week. I think once those pieces are sanded, I will be ready to start assembling the body of the house. Anyway, I did some more reading yesterday, planned part of one of my Seminary lessons for next week, and made dinner for a friend & took it to her. I visited with her for a while too. After I got home and ate dinner, Frank and I went on a short walk. It was getting late and his shoulders were hurting, so we didn't go as far as we usually do. It is so nice to hear birds singing again and to see rabbits scampering about. Also, the grass is getting really green and a lot of trees are starting to bud and / or bloom. I took this photo of our house on Saturday to show how green the grass is becoming:

Seth is working today until 3:00 (he went in at 11:00). He also works tomorrow--we're happy that he got two shifts this week instead of just one, which is what he's been getting lately. He really needs to find another job this summer where he can work more hours. 

Frank got a pneumonia shot and a shingles shot this morning so I expect that he will not be feeling well by tonight and will probably feel kind of sick the next couple of days. Much better than actually getting pneumonia or shingles, though! 

I still have a lot to do today--Seminary lesson prepartions, in particular, since I have only planned part of one lesson. If I get those done, then I will do some sanding of dollhouse pieces as well. It's early afternoon so I do have some time to get things done.

It has stopped raining since I started writing this post. It was in the 60s this morning, but the temperature has actually dropped to 49 degrees now. It's going to start warming up again on Sunday, though, and we'll have a few really warm days early next week. The roller coaster ride continues!

That's all I have to report this week.

Weekly Reviews March 13 and 20 '26

I have two weeks to cover, so this post will be longer than usual, but I'm going to make a heroic effort not to go into too much detail. If you know me well, you know that is going to be a challenge for me!

My last post was from Friday, March 6th. That evening, our ward had a talent show but we decided we were too tired to go. Instead, we got some take out food and Frank & I watched some episodes of Once Upon a Time. I also finished preparing both of my Seminary lessons for the next week.

On Saturday March 7th, Frank and I ran a bunch of errands in the morning. This included purchasing another folding table and a file for the dollhouse project. The file was helpful and I was able to finish squaring the corners of all the windows, doors, and stairway openings. They still aren't as well done as I think they should be, but I think they will be good enough. Besides that, I also started painting some of the dollhouse pieces that day. Having another table really helps--I use one table for my work surface and the other table to spread out all the pieces that are drying. 

There was a baptism that day that Frank and I attended for a woman named Lori. Her young adult son was baptized last fall; she started attending church and meeting with the missionaries a few months ago. It was very sweet to listen to her share her story and her testimony at the end of the baptism service. This was the 8th baptism we've had in our ward in the last 14 months, and there was a 9th baptism last Saturday (we missed that one because I was on a plane on my way home and Frank was on his way to pick me up from the airport). It's been very exciting to see so much growth in the last year! 

Besides those things, we also talked to Jared for a little while, watched some more Once Upon a Time, and I practiced the ukulele and cleaned the kitchen floor.

Sunday March 8th was quite busy and required some juggling to make sure everyone had a car or a way to get to the right place at the right time. Besides regular church meetings for all of us, I had choir practice after church, Frank had an IT meeting with some of the stake leaders at one of the other church buildings in our stake (about 30 minutes away), Seth had mission prep, I had a RS broadcast / testimony meeting at the church, and Frank had to set up the IT stuff for the RS broadcast. I stayed after choir practice until Seth finished his church meetings so that he could give me a ride home. (I listened to the Follow Him podcast while I waited). Frank had taken the other car to his IT meeting and he had to go straight from that meeting to our church to set up the IT stuff for the RS broadcast. Seth gave me a ride to the RS broadcast so that he could take the car to mission prep. When he dropped me off, he stayed for a few minutes to help Frank with the set up. Frank stayed out in the foyer during the RS broadcast / testimony meeting (he needed to be there in case there were any issues with the technology stuff) and when it was over, we came home together. The broadcast was to commemorate the RS birthday, and the talks from the General RS presidency members and from Elder Cook were all beautiful! 

On Monday March 9th, I taught a life prep lesson focusing on the importance of continuing both secular and spiritual learning / education after high school. Seth came with me to Seminary to talk about his experience in Institute for the last (almost) year. He also went grocery shopping with me since I do that right after Seminary. After we got home, I got the rest of the regular Monday chores done. I also prepared one of my Seminary lessons for the next week and reviewed the lesson for the next day. The dollhouse pieces I painted on Saturday were dry, so I turned them over and painted the other side. 

The weather that day was very nice--unseasonably warm--so for family night activity we went on a walk and we got Rita's for treat. 

Tuesday March 10th was also very warm. I taught another life prep lesson that morning--this one was on the importance of self-reliance in Heavenly Father's plan. It went really well. The rest of the day I was very busy getting the regular Tuesday chores done as well as packing for my trip to Utah. I also did a little bit of  preparation for my second lesson for the following week, but I didn't get much done on that. 

I still needed to get up at 3:30 am on Wednesday March 11th even though I wasn't going to Seminary because I had a really early flight. Unfortunately, I woke up at 1:30 and was not able to go back to sleep. The flight to Utah went well, though. I didn't sleep (I never sleep well on planes) but I watched some episodes of a new show I've been watching while running (A Man on the Inside) and part of one of the Downton Abbey movies. I also spent the last part of the flight talking to the couple who were sitting next to me and we discovered that we know a lot of the same people. (Not incredibly surprising since they are also members of the church and live in Maryland, but it was still fun to find that out. The wife is actually the sister of a guy who used to live in our stake.) After we got off the plane, we used the "relatives around me" feature of Family Search and discovered that we are also distantly related. I'm related to the husband through Mom's line and to the wife through Dad's line. 

Amy picked me up from the airport and we went to Mom's house for a short while. I ate a sandwich and got to see Scott a little bit (he was working from home) as well as Mom and Hans. Then I went with Amy to see Jeremy dance at the Marriott Center (as part of Dancesport). He and his dance partner competed in the Waltz and the Foxtrot. It was fun to watch them as well as all the other dancers. There were competitions for the Polka and the Swing as well. I don't know much about dancing, but Amy and I were pretty successful at picking out the couples that were doing the best. 

Afterwards, we got to meet Jeremy's dance partner (and girlfriend), Kayla. 

We took the scenic route back to Mom's house, driving by the new Provo temple (under construction), our old house in Orem, and the new Lindon temple (newly finished...the open house started that day). We also made stops at Wal-Mart and at Deseret Book. 

The Lindon Temple actually has two spires, but from the front you can only see one of them. 

When we got back to Mom's house, Tanner had arrived home. His girlfriend, Linsey, came over so I got to meet her. She seems very nice! We had a fun evening visiting with Tanner & Linsey, Mom, Hans, Jeremy & Kayla, and Tim & Rachelle. Then when we went to bed, Amy & I talked until even later so I ended up being up for over 24 hours (remember, I woke up at 1:30 am, Eastern time zone). 

Meanwhile, back at home Frank went to the doctor to get his shoulders checked. The doctor gave him cortisone shots in both shoulders, gave him an order to get an MRI of his right shoulder, told him to take Ibuprofen for two weeks, and said he will need physical therapy after that. The corisone shots are helping a little bit, but he is still in quite a bit of pain, unfortunately. Seth went with the YSA missionaries to an appointment and he also went to Institute. It was still really warm--88 degrees that day!--but that evening they got very heavy rain and were under a tornado watch for a while, and the next day the temperatures had dropped and it was windy and they got a wintry mix. Crazy spring weather!

I woke up at 5:15 am on Thursday, March 12th which was kind of frustrating since I didn't need to be up early. Amy got up early to go to more of Jeremy's dance competition. I started working on Mom's taxes and was able to track down all the documents needed and got all of them entered into the tax software except for one 1099-R. We had to call her financial advisor to get a copy of that (which we didn't receive until Friday). Scott was working from home again and while he was on his lunch break he took me to get some lunch at a place called Slim Chickens. It was quite yummy. That evening, Shellie came to visit and we talked until pretty late. Scott said that we all looked exactly the same from the back, so we took a photo:

And Mom looks a lot like us from the back too:

We did take some photos from the front as well!:

Tanner took me to breakfast on Friday, March 13th. We went to a place called Hruska's Kolaches. Kolaches are these pastry things that are a lot like Danishes. Some of them are sweet and some are savory. I got a Monte Cristo, which was mostly savory (eggs, turkey, ham, swiss cheese) but also had some raspberry jam in it. We got the kolaches to take home but when we got back to Tanner's car, a bunch of warning lights came on including his check engine light. He had just had his car fixed the previous week for the same problem and the place he had it fixed was right around the corner from where we were, so he called them and they said to bring it back. He had to leave it there, so Amy came to pick us up and we ate our kolaches while we were waiting to be picked up. 

We visited with Mom the rest of the morning and then Amy & I met our friend Paula for lunch. Since I had eaten breakfast pretty late, I wasn't very hungry, but I got some food to eat later and I enjoyed visiting with Paula. After we got back from lunch, we finally got the last document we needed to complete Mom's tax return so we got that done, just in the nick of time. Amy's flight back to Texas was that evening. Scott and I drove her to the airport and then Scott took me to get some ice cream. When we got back to Mom's house, Hans had made some mangos and sticky rice, so I ate some of that (it was really good!) and also ate my food that I purchased at lunch time--some soup and a roll. We all (including Tanner and Scott) watched some episodes of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with Mom. Then I said my good byes to Mom and Hans (they weren't sure they would be up before I left the next morning) and watched Tanner and Scott play some Guitar Hero before going to bed. 

I had to be up early on Saturday March 14th for another early flight. Scott took me to the airport. Tanner also got up to give me a hug goodbye and Hans was up too so I got to see everyone except for Mom. Once again, I did not sleep on the flight home, but I watched some more of A Man on the Inside and then I did some puzzles. The couple sitting next to me were friendly so I talked to them a little bit too. Frank picked me up from the airport and by the time we got home, Seth had arrived home from work. I unpacked and started some laundry going and then we went out to get some dinner. After we got back, I finished the laundry and watched the rest of the Downton Abbey movie I started watching on the flight to Utah (for some reason my download had expired so I wasn't able to watch it on the flight home, which was kind of annoying). I also watched the last Downton Abbey movie. I enjoyed both of them. It was good to be home again. I loved seeing my family in Utah, but I missed Frank and Seth.

Boarding the plane home:

I spent Sunday (the 15th) morning reading scriptures and listening to the Follow Him podcast. We went to church, but Frank wasn't feeling well (his shoulders were really hurting and he was also feeling really nauseated) so I took him home about half way through sacrament meeting. I went back for the second hour. There was no choir practice, so I came right home after Sunday School. Frank was feeling a little better after a chance to lie down for a while and getting something to eat. Sometimes the medicine he takes makes him feel sick to his stomach. I reviewed my Seminary lesson for Monday and got dinner ready. A friend at church had been talking to Frank about wanting some old computer equipment to experiment with and Frank had some of the things he wanted, so he came by that evening to pick those up. Seth went to mission prep that evening and Frank and I went to bed because we were exhausted. I was worried that the time zone switch and my crazy schedule while on my trip would really mess up my sleeping schedule, but thankfully I slept well all week! 

On Monday March 16th I taught a lesson about Joseph of Egypt reuniting with his brothers (the focus of the lesson was on forgiveness). That is one of my all time favorite stories in the scriptures, so I enjoyed teaching about it. UMD was on spring break this week so Frank had Monday and Tuesday off work. There were severe storms with a high chance of tornadoes predicted for that afternoon so Seth's classes were cancelled and Frederick County Public Schools closed 3 hours early. We did get some heavy rain and wind for a little while, but no tornadoes (thankfully!) and the storm didn't even last that long. I got the regular Monday chores done and then spent most of the day preparing Tuesday's Seminary lesson because I really hadn't done much to prepare before Monday. It was an Assess Your Learning lesson and the material in the lesson manual didn't fit very well with what we had actually done the last 4 weeks, so I had to come up with my own material and it took me a while to figure everything out. Seth went to YSA FHE that evening but we had our own FHE before he left, including playing some rounds of Aye, Aye Nephi. Seth won every round except for one (I won that round). 

The calm before the storm (and flowers are starting to bloom!):

My Seminary lesson on Tuesday March 17th went a lot better than I anticipated, which was nice. One of the girls in the class (Tammy's daughter) brought breakfast in honor of St. Patrick's Day--fruit "rainbows" and green pancakes with whipped cream. I didn't actually get to eat any of it since I was teaching, but it looked really cute and it was nice for the youth to have something to eat while they worked on some of the activities I had prepared for them to do. That really contributed to a more relaxed and happy atmosphere.

It was much colder (below freezing that morning) and all my car doors were frozen shut. Frank was home from work again but he did do his temple shift so he left in the late afternoon. Seth had a midterm for his art class. I kept busy completing the regular Tuesday chores and working on the dollhouse project. I painted the bottom side of the top and middle floors (which will be ceilings for the first and second floors), applied the first coat of a protective finish to the base floors (the bottom of those floors don't need to be painted because they won't show), and painted the upper side of the porch floor (the bottom side of the porch floor also won't show so it doesn't need to be painted). All the painting I am doing now is the first coat and most of it will be sanded off, so it isn't supposed to be thick and it doesn't look very nice.

Wednesday March 18th was a busy day with Seminary, VITA, and book chat. I also planned one Seminary lesson (after VITA and before book chat). We were really busy at VITA and I had a little bit of a frustrating day because the first tax return I prepared took nearly 3 hours! It really wasn't that complicated; it took so long mainly because the taxpayer didn't speak really great English and I don't speak Spanish, so it was hard for her to understand what information I was actually asking for. She was injured at work and had received some worker's compensation but didn't have a tax form for that so I was trying to get more information about that to see if I was going to be able to file her taxes even though I didn't have a form for that. She kept giving me more information about her injury and showing me pictures and everything! I think I knew her whole life story by the time I finally finished her taxes, but thankfully I was able to get them done. She did not mind that it took a long time--she said "I still don't have a job so I have all day"--she just didn't realize that I  didn't have all day. 😂I hope I don't sound too calloused and impatient--I actually felt a lot of sympathy for this lady who has a very difficult life (injued at work, lost her job, no money, no family here, sick mother back home in Colombia). I just felt bad that it took me so long to get one tax return done, especially since we were very busy and a lot of people were waiting. After I got that return done, I was able to finish two more before going home--those went a lot quicker. I got home around 2:00, which is earlier than I have been home most days. I needed some down time to regroup when I got home--looking at the pictures of Emily's new baby did the trick. He's so cute!! 😇

At book chat, we discussed The Daughter of Time and ate strawberry shortcake. Yum! Now we are reading Nation by Terry Pratchett. I already have a copy of the book, but I haven't started reading it yet.

On Thursday March 19th I kept busy with the regular chores, planning another Seminary lesson, and working a little bit on the dollhouse. I put a second coat of protective finish on the base floors and sanded most of the ceiling pieces. I also set up two little Easter trees--I ordered them before going to Utah and they arrived while I was gone. 

After dinner, we all went to see a movie called Project Hail Mary. It is based on a book that Seth and I have read and I knew Frank would enjoy it too since it is science fiction. I feel bad that I usually don't want to go to movies that Frank wants to see, so I suggested that we all go to see this one together. We all enjoyed it.

There was no school or Seminary on Friday March 20th. I enjoyed sleeping later although I was still awake by 6:00. I went to the temple to do an endowment session and loved being back at the temple, although I got sleepy. The flowers are starting to grow again and the grounds look really pretty.

After I got home from the temple, I had lunch and then worked on the budget until it was time to prepare dinner. We had the missionaries over for dinner. After dinner, I went to Seth's former high school to see the musical Frozen. One of the boys in my Seminary class played in the pit orchestra. (He plays the saxophone). Frank and Seth didn't want to go, but Tammy and her kids were there too and we sat together. The play was very well done (I was impressed with the quality of the singing) and the audience was large and very enthusiastic, which made it fun. There were a lot of little girls there dressed up as Elsa or Anna and there was also a large high school crowd that seemed to be having a ball. They cheered really loud for many of the musical numbers and for some of the characters like Olaf and Sven. When Hans reveals near the end of the play that he actually doesn't love Anna, they all gasped audibly. It was really funny. 😆

After a few cold days earlier this week, the weather is starting to warm up again and it is starting to feel more like spring. Seth even had to mow the lawn for the first time since last fall. We've had quite a bit of rain and the grass is turning really green again. It is nice to see the world coming to life again! 

It's now nearly bedtime on Saturday, so I will wrap up (and write about what we did today in next week's post). 

Weekly Review March 6 '26

 And now it is March! I am glad that we are getting into the spring months, even though we still had some wintry weather this week.

Last Friday after I wrote the weekly post, we made dinner and watched an episode of Once Upon a Time while eating. I finished preparing my 2nd Seminary lesson, read some more of The Daughter of Time and watched an episode of a show I've been watching in the mornings while running. It is called "Ripple" and is about 4 people living in NYC and how their lives start to connect with each other (even though they were strangers at the beginning). More people get pulled in and more connections are made as the episodes unfold. It's really interesting, nothing inappropriate, and sometimes humorous, sometimes heartwrenching, and sometimes heartwarming. There's only one season of 8 episodes so far, so I finished watching season 1 while I was running this week. It's too bad there are not more shows like this out there.

On Saturday it was 62 degrees, which was a nice change. Frank and I went on a walk. I cleaned the kitchen floor and practiced the ukulele. I spent quite a bit of time going through all the labeled dollhouse parts and organized them / grouped them together according to when they will be used. I also ordered some more supplies that I will be needing for that project.

That evening, we went to dinner at a Chinese buffet place with a friend in our ward and his daughters (his wife was out of town and Seth was at work, so they weren't there). Before bed, I finished reading The Daughter of Time. 

Sunday was busy with the usual things (Church, reading scriptures, listening to podcasts, FHE lesson) and a few extra things (choir practice, writing our testimonies in copies of the Book of Mormon to give to the Elders, changing the pillow covers, S&P shakers, and front door decoration from February to March, and making copies for my Seminary lessons). Actually, I didn't make copies for my Tuesday lesson because there was freezing rain in the forecast so there was a possibility I wouldn't teach that lesson and since I needed color copies and quite a few, I decided to wait. 

Frank had a bad night Sunday night and woke up not feeling well on Monday morning, so he took the day off work. His blood sugar was low and he also felt like he might have a sinus infection coming on. I taught a Seminary lesson about eternal marriage. It was focused on the story of Isaac and Rebekah. For part of the lesson, I had them read the scripture account and then create a comic strip of the storyline (Abraham's servant going to find a wife for Isaac). Some of the kids didn't participate, but most of them did (including at least one who doesn't participate often) and they seemed to have a fun time with it, so I was happy about that. Tammy took a photo of the class working on their comic strips and I happened to look at her right when she snapped the photo:

Here are 4 of the comic strips; I think they turned out pretty cute (they worked in pairs or threesomes, and I think one or two of the end results ended up in the trash):

After Seminary, I got regular chores done (grocery shopping, laundry, vacuuming / sweeping), read next week's Seminary lessons, and went to a couple of stores to get a few more dollhouse project supplies. (Yes, this project is turning into a money pit!) Frank was feeling a bit better by the time I went to the store, so he came with me, which I appreciated.

Seth got a call from the surgeon and his surgery is scheduled for April 8th. That's a Wednesday, but he doesn't have school that day because it's part of his spring break. He's had some more issues with the abscess this week, but soaking it seems to really help it drain and start to heal. It's likely that it will keep coming back until the surgery is done.

That afternoon it started to snow and we got about half an inch. 

We played Uno for family night activity before Seth went to YSA FHE (they had a movie night--watched The Princess Bride). There was freezing rain in the forecast for overnight / Tuesday morning and Monday evening the school district sent out a notice that they would be checking the road conditions in the morning and making a decision by 5:30 about a school delay or cancellation. Tammy and I talked a bit and decided to go ahead and cancel Seminary so that no one would have to get up at 5:30 to find out if we were having Seminary or not. The weather forecast was showing a 90% chance of freezing rain at 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00 am, so we thought it was pretty likely that the roads would be icy at the time everyone would be needing to drive to Seminary and also pretty likely that there would be at least a 2 hour school delay. We were right! The roads were icy and there was a school delay, so we would have had to cancel Seminary in the morning if we hadn't done it the night before. I never made the copies for my lesson (I decided to wait until Tuesday morning to make them) so at least no paper went to waste! It was just kind of crazy that two weeks in a row I prepared a lesson that I didn't teach.

I'm grateful that I didn't have to get up to teach Seminary on Tuesday morning because I had one of those nights where I wake up in the night and can't go back to sleep. I woke up around 1:30 am, but since I didn't have to get up at 3:30, I actually went back to sleep around that time and slept until about 5:15. Still not a great night, but better than if I had never gone back to sleep. Frank went into work late, after the roads cleared up. (Thankfully, he was feeling better.) I exercised and did the usual household chores. I also planned one Seminary lesson for next week, talked to Scott, did some reading (Hillbilly Elegy), and tried to work on the dollhouse (squaring the window and door openings) but discovered that all of our exacto knives (we have three!) have dull blades, so I didn't get very far. Frank did his usual temple shift after work so he got home late (after I was asleep). 

On Wednesday we had a guest teacher for Seminary--a young adult who both Tammy and I remember as a child in Primary when we were in the Primary presidency together, but who is now a returned missionary, college graduate, married, and father of a 3 year old. Where did the time go?! He did a great job with the lesson and he also brought donuts, so the kids loved that. After Seminary I did my usual VITA shift and it was pretty busy. I ended up staying late again (until about 2:30), mostly because the last return I did was for a part year resident and we had to do some research to make sure we entered her income correctly and that took time. Also, I had to wait a long time for it to get reviewed. But it all worked out and the taxpayer left happy. After I got home, I did a few small chores, did some planning for my 2nd Seminary lesson for next week, and sent some info to a ward member who had asked for information about places she could get her taxes done. 

Thursday it was foggy in the morning but it cleared up by afternoon. 

It warmed up into the 50s, also, so Frank and I went on a walk that afternoon. Besides all the household chores, I also finished planning Tuesday's Seminary lesson, finished filing our taxes, and got some dollhouse window / door openings squared because Frank found some sharper blades for our exacto knives. It's still not working great, and I might get a file and try filing them instead--I've looked online, and more than one person has said that filing was easier than using an exacto knife. At the rate I'm going currently, this project is going to take decades, but hopefully I will eventually get all the supplies I need and work through the hiccups and will start making more progress. I've actually been pretty anxious to jump into this project because I'm worried that I'm going to totally mess it up! But I know I need to work past those feelings and just do it. Of course I'll make some mistakes but hopefully none of them will be disasterous. 😉

I had this interesting thought / impression last Saturday when I was thinking about all this. I have been reading the dollhouse directions over & over to make sure I'm understanding them and that I'm getting the right type of supplies that are recommeded for each thing (for example, for the shingles, the adhesive can't have any water in it or the shingles will warp) because I want the finished house to turn out well. I'm not even sure how to explain what happened because it wasn't even a fully formed thought but maybe more of an impression that I had "you're putting a lot of time and thought into making sure this house you are building turns out right; you should put the same time and thought into making sure the home you are building turns out right". That was the gist of it, but it's not quite right because that sounds like a reprimand, and it didn't feel like one. It felt more like the spirit was taking advantage of something that was on my mind to make a connection to something that is even more important. I have been thinking about it, though...are there changes I need to make; should I start or stop doing some things, etc. Definitely something to ponder! This thought also connected to the lesson I taught on Monday about the importance of covenant marriage / temple marriage. Definitely, choosing to marry in the temple and all that implies (the covenants made, marrying someone who shares your spiritual goals, including the Lord in your marriage, etc.) is a very important correct "ingredient" or "supply" to give you the best chance that the home you build will turn out well. And reading the instructions (scriptures) regularly will help too!

This morning (Friday) one of the bishoprics made breakfast for our Seminary class. They made french toast. 

 I went to the temple this morning too.

When I was there 2 weeks ago, there was still a lot of snow. Now there are only a few tiny patches of snow in some of the flower beds. I had an appointment to do initiatories today, and a few days ago a friend in my ward emailed me and asked if there was any chance that I could do initiatories for three names that she had, so that worked out perfectly! It was a quick trip, but I always enjoy being in the temple, even if it is just for a little while. 

You can see from the photos that it is cloudy and gray today. It's been like that a lot this week, and we have had quite a bit of rain, mist, and fog throughout the week also. We have some really unseasonably warm days coming up, though, and a few sunny days. After that, the temperatures are going to go back to more normal for this time of year (lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s). 

Frank's shoulders are hurting quite a bit but he is going to the doctor for that next week so hopefully he will get some relief soon. 

That covers everything happening around here!

Weekly Review February 27 '26

Since I complain a lot about not sleeping well, I will start this post by reporting that I had another really great week of solid sleep. Two weeks in a row! I am very, very grateful! I did wake up an hour early on Tuesday. But other than that, the alarm woke me up every morning and I only had brief moments of awakening (if any at all) each night, and didn't even make any trips to the restroom during the nights. There's no telling how long this stretch of great sleeping will last, but I am thankful for anything I can get.

Last Saturday I got my hair cut first thing in the morning. When I got home, it was sunny and not miserably cold so I told Frank we should take the opportunity to go on a walk. We walked on the path beside the river and could see that it was a lot higher than it has been in a long time. 

I know--it doesn't look very pretty right now. It's muddy, and the trees around it are bare. But give it a month or two and it will be beautiful! (And much harder to see because of all the foliage that will have grown by then.) After our walk, Frank made some yummy chocolate chip banana bread (there were two very ripe bananas that needed to be used).

Seth went to the Stake Center on Saturday morning to help with set up (all the IT / AV stuff) for Stake Conference.  After getting a few chores done, I did some reading--I started reading The Daughter of Time and I also read a few chapters of Hillbilly Elegy. I've been reading both books a bit this week, but more of The Daughter of Time than the other one. It's a fairly short book and I will probably finish it in the next day or two. It's a mystery based on actual historical events, and it's pretty interesting. 

On Saturday I also started the dollhouse project. I set up a table in the spare bedroom, gathered some supplies, and took all the pieces out of the box and started labeling them. Now I am committed to completing this project because there is no way I am going to get all the pieces back into the box now! 😅I hope it doesn't take years & years. It will take months, at the least. I'm taking photos to document my progress, so here are before and after photos of my first day of work:

That evening was the adult session of Stake Conference. Frank had to got to our building because they were doing a test broadcast that night. I went over to our building to watch with him. Thankfully, the broadcast worked without any problems so we were able to enjoy the whole meeting. It was really good! I did a little bit of coloring while listening, but I also took notes.

I mentioned last week that we had a snow storm predicted for the weekend and that I hoped it wouldn't interfere with Stake Conference. We were fortunate that the timing of the storm shifted to later in the day on Sunday, so all the Stake Conference meetings were over before it started to snow. It did rain for most of the day. Seth helped with the IT stuff at the Stake Center during the meeting. Frank was in charge of the IT stuff at our building, so I went with him to our building to watch the broadcast from the Stake Center. This meeting was also really good and I took more notes. We had a visiting Area Authority Seventy, but I can't remember his name now. Elder Brady, maybe? He was a good speaker, even though I can't remember his name. 

Besides Stake Confernce, I kept busy reading scriptures, listening to the Follow Him podcast, talking to Jared, and creating Power Point slides for one of my Seminary lessons. We also had family home evening (the lesson part). Around 5:00 pm, the rain turned to snow and it started sticking right away. Shortly after 5:00 pm, the school district announced a 2 hour delay (with a re-evaluation the next morning) for Monday morning, which meant no Seminary. When we went to bed, about a half inch of snow had accumlated. When we woke up the next morning...there was still only about half an inch of snow! That storm didn't turn out to be much at all for us, but it just went further north than originally anticipated. I hear that places like Philadelphia, Providence, New York City, and Boston got absolutely creamed with snow and blizzard conditions. Glad it wasn't us! 

Since there wasn't much snow and the roads looked clear, Frank got up and went to work as usual on Monday morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but after about 30 minutes I decided to get up and jump into my day. We went to bed fairly early on Sunday, so I wasn't very tired and didn't need to take a nap later. Surprisingly, when the school district re-evaluated the road conditions that morning, they decided to cancel school. The roads were completely clear, so who knows why they did that! I got grocery shopping done but before that Tammy met me at the church so we could set up tables and chairs for Seminary on Tuesday morning. (The YSA Ward usually sets those up for us on Sunday after their meetings, but because of Stake Confernce, we knew that wouldn't have happened.) I also reviewed Tuesday's Seminary lesson and worked on the dollhouse project--read the directions, ordered some supplies that I am going to need, and explored some online resources that will be helpful. I also read my 2 Seminary lessons for next week. The lesson I had prepared for that morning will just never be taught, but it wasn't a total waste beacause I learned a lot while preparing it. 

After Frank got home from work, he contacted the surgeon about his shoulders. She made an appointment for him next week but in the meantime wanted him to get his shoulders x-rayed. She sent in a referral and he was able to get an appointment for that afternoon (he gets home around 2:00 because he goes into work so early). 

After dinner, we did family night activity and then Frank and I went to the library. I had a book on hold that I needed to pick up and he needed to re-activate his card. He tried to use it last week and it wouldn't work. When he went in, they told him it had been de-activated because he hadn't used it for so long, but they were able to re-activate it for him. The book I picked up at the libary is called Emotional Inheritance. One of the volunteers at VITA mentioned it during a conversation we had and I thought it sounded really interesting. I have only read the introduction so far because I'm focusing on getting the other two books read first. So I will write more about it when I actually start reading it.

My Tuesday morning Seminary lesson was a Life Prep lesson on Focusing on Jesus Christ in the scriptures. On the way home from Seminary, I stopped at our storage unit to get some empty bins so I would have something to put all the dollhouse pieces in. I need the table to actually work on the construction, so I needed somewhere to put all the pieces until they are needed. I did a little more work on identifying parts while talking to Tanner on the phone, but didn't have much time to work on it that day. I did do a little bit of reading and planned one of next week's Seminary lessons (besides regular Tuesday chores).

Pieces in bins after Tuesday's work:

Seth had a med check up with the doctor that day, but now that he can drive and he's 18 (considered an adult), he can take himself to those appointments. Frank came home late since he had his temple shift after work. 

Wednesday was my usual Seminary and VITA routine. We had a guest teacher for Seminary, which is always interesting. I love seeing all the different teaching styles. VITA was busy and I offered to stay late and was happily accepted. I got home around 3:00 pm again. I planned my 2nd Seminary lesson for next week after dinner that night. I also invited a guest teacher for 2 weeks from now and she accepted, but after learning that she is working full time and taking a class (plus being a mom of several children), I felt like I needed to talk to her about it some more. I was able to do that on Thursday morning during Seminary (one of her kids is in our class) and when I told her that I didn't realize how much she had on her plate and that I could ask someone else, she looked relieved and said that in her heart of hearts she really wanted to teach, but that she was feeling really overwhelmed right now. I sent another invitation out on Thursday afternoon but I haven't heard back about that one yet. I'm sure it will all work out somehow.

Tammy used a fun program on Thursday morning as part of her lesson that allows the kids to scan a QR code with their phones and submit answers to questions. I tried to use the same program for one of my lessons last week, but it didn't work even though we had tested it out the day before (I realized after class that the internet had gone down). Anyway, she set it up so that their answers would form a word cloud. I thought it was really cool!:

Hopefully, I will be able to use this for some other lessons (and hopefully it will work next time!) I always really enjoy Tammy's lessons and was particularly touched by the spirit during this one. Also, the boy who gave the devotional hadn't realized it was his turn (not really his fault; we need to do a lot better at making sure they know when it's their turn) so Tammy just asked him to share a way that he feels God's love. He said "I feel God's love when I am passing the sacrament because I am representing the Savior". So Sweet!!

After Seminary, I got grocery shopping and other chores done (Seth always helps me with vaccuming, which is great) before going with Seth to his appointment with the GI surgeon. (He wanted me to go with him.) The surgeon told us that the MRI confirmed that he has a fistula, so he needs to have surgery to fix that. There are two different procedures they do, but she won't know which one he needs until she is in the surgery and can see how large the fistula is and exactly where it is located. It's outpatient surgery and should be a quick recovery. He won't be having the surgery until April sometime because there are no appointments available until then. We are waiting to hear back from the scheduler to know the exact day--we probably won't hear until sometime early next week.

After Seth's appointment, I finished preparing this coming Monday's Seminary lesson (Power Point slides etc.) and also finished the rest of Thursday's chores. After dinner, I finished labeling all the dollhouse parts. There are a lot pieces!

This morning it was very foggy when I left for Seminary and there was a thin layer of ice on all my car windows which was very hard to scrape off, for some reason. I had to drive a lot slower than usual to the church because the fog was so dense. It was still fairly dense after Seminary, but easier to see because it was lighter outside. The fog stuck around all morning but has cleared up now and it is sunny (which is nice because yesterday was a very gray day). Two of the youth in our Seminary class had their wisdom teeth removed yesterday so today Tammy wrote a get well note on the board for them and took a photo with the rest of the class standing around it. Then she sent it to them after class. They both responded with thanks and sent us photos of themselves with swollen cheeks! 

As usual, I got the finances updated before writing this post. I'm going to the temple every 2 weeks right now (during the tax season, since VITA takes up one of my days) so I didn't go today. I'm planning to finish preparing my 2nd Seminary lesson for next week so I'll have tomorrow free to do other things (like maybe some dollhouse sanding and painting). There's a slight possibility for some snow again next week...this time on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I won't end up with another prepared lesson that I don't teach. Originally, the forecast was for possibilities of snow Sunday night, Monday, Monday night, and Tuesday morning and we were going to get up to 3 inches, but now it has shifted to just Tuesday morning and less than an inch, so maybe we won't get anything at all. The timing is everything because less than an inch can still trigger a 2 hour delay if it happens to be in the morning and the roads get icy or slippery. I guess we'll see. In the meantime, tomorrow is supposed to be quite nice with a high of 62, so we'll enjoy that while it lasts.

That's all the news I can remember right now, so I will sign off until next week.