Weekly Review January 8 '16

Around here, we are getting back into a routine. I can’t remember much about Saturday now—I think I was mostly getting caught up on stuff that I didn’t get done earlier in the week, and Frank was doing work for clients. Sunday was pretty interesting because there were a lot of changes in callings in our ward. The funny thing was, I had either been told or figured out a lot of them. Someone told Frank that the Primary presidency was going to be changed and he told me. Then on Saturday I got an email from a sister in our ward saying that “the bishop told me it’s okay to let you know that I’m going to be the new Cub Master”. Since this sister was one of the YW counselors, I deduced that the YW presidency was changing too, and I was right. I also figured out who one of the new Primary counselors was going to be, too, because I was asked to substitute her class…but then she was at church. I think everyone in my ward is confused about whether or not I have a calling now, because a lot of people didn’t realize that I had two callings. (Cub Master and Bear Den Leader) When they called me to be a den leader, they told me they were going to find someone else to be the Cub Master, but it took a couple of months. So on Sunday, I was released from a calling but I didn’t get a new one. To complicate matters, I was substituting in Primary that day too so I think a lot of people think I got called to be a Primary teacher and they just missed it! At any rate, I’ve had several confused looking people ask me what my calling is now. Kind of funny. I am glad that I can focus on being the den leader now, although the new Cub Master can’t make it to the Pinewood Derby next week so I’m still running that. She just came by today so that I could go over some things with her and answer her questions, so after the Pinewood Derby she should be able to take over the Cub Master responsibilities.

Remember that the missionaries are teaching one of our neighbors? It’s been kind of slow going because she’s been so busy and with all the interruptions of the holidays, but last week they taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she committed to live it. She needs to quit smoking, so she asked the missionaries if Frank could give her a blessing to help her quit. Of course, he was happy to do that so she came over on Sunday evening so Frank could give her a blessing. It was really sweet. She seems really upbeat and feels like she’ll be able to quit, and she really wants to meet her baptism date which is at the end of this month. I haven’t heard how she’s been doing since Sunday, but we’ve been praying for her.

On Monday everyone went back to work and school and left me alone in the house with a whole bunch of leftover Christmas candy and cookies. Yikes! Actually, I’ve done pretty well at not pigging out on stuff this holiday season. Plus, it was only like that for one day because Jared wasn’t feeling great and he ended up staying home from school on Tuesday and Wednesday with a sore throat and some congestion. Meanwhile, on Monday I spent a lot of time restoring order to the disaster that was Seth’s room. I have a long list of things I want to do "when I get some time", so I've been working through that list.

On Tuesday when I was driving Seth to school, the “ABS” light on the dashboard came on. Then when I got home and turned the car off, it was still making this loud humming noise. So we had to get the car in to the shop to figure out what was wrong with it. “ABS” stands for “anti lock brakes” and that’s the problem…the anti lock brake system went out. The part that needs to be replaced is super expensive so we haven’t had it fixed yet. Frank thinks he can find the part for a lot less by ordering it himself, so he is looking into that. In the meantime, they pulled the fuse out to the system so the noise is gone. The brakes still work fine, so I can drive the car. I just have to use extra caution because if I have to slam on the brakes, they might lock up. I had arranged to take one of the ladies I visit teach to lunch that day. When the car trouble came up, I called her and she agreed to meet me at the shop when I left the car there. Then she drove us to lunch and drove me home afterwards, which really helped. She said she was happy to help me, for once, instead of the other way around! J

Jared was supposed to work Tuesday afternoon, but he had to call in sick. I actually wasn’t feeling all that great either…I was worried I was coming down with the same thing because on Monday and Tuesday my throat was slightly sore and my head ached. But on Wednesday I started feeling better. At any rate, on Tuesday I didn’t do anything “extra”—just the usual chores I need to do and going to lunch and getting the car taken care of.

On Wednesday morning I went in to Seth’s school to get trained on how to work in the library. They need more volunteers to help with the library so I signed up. Wednesday evening we had den meetings and I started teaching the Bears about how to use a pocket knife. There are only 4 boys that age and only 2 of them come, but that’s okay because it’s easier to keep an eye on 2 boys with knives than 10! We spent most of the time talking about knife safety rules. Then I taught them how to sharpen the knives. We’ll start making soap carvings next time. So any prayers that no one will cut off a finger would be appreciated!! One of the boys is moving in a few weeks so then I’ll be down to just one boy until March, when one of the Wolves turns 9. By the end of July all of the 8 year olds who actually come will have turned 9 (only about 4 of them) and no more boys turn 8 until December. We just don’t have a very big group of boys that age right now.

We had our monthly Cub Committee Meeting on Wednesday evening after den meetings. Yesterday I spent a lot of time sending emails and working out details for the Pinewood Derby. Alas, Seth’s car is still in the box. We are going to have to do something about that this weekend.

Frank and I talked about going away for the weekend but when Jared got sick and some other things came up, we decided to postpone our get away for another time. Instead, we are planning to go out to eat tonight and then we are going to go shopping to look at kitchen table sets. Hopefully we’ll find something we both like since I think we have pretty different tastes.

Today my left eye is a bit red, sore and swollen. My eyes have been giving me quite a bit of trouble lately so I need to go see an eye doctor soon. I don’t wear my contact lenses much anymore at all because every time I do, I get a head ache and my eyes start to hurt. I did wear them the last two days, for the first time in a long time, and they didn’t bother me much but now my eye seems to be getting infected. So I really need to get that checked out.

We did get some cold weather this week...feels like winter for the first time! We had temperatures down into the teens in the mornings at the beginning of this week. Now the temperatures have come up a bit. I wouldn't say it's pleasant (it's cloudy and drizzling today too) but our temperatures are a little above average for this time of year. Poor Frank! We have not seen a single snowflake yet this winter. I just looked at the school calendar and discovered that school doesn't get out until June 20th if we use all our snow days (7), so I am definitely a fan of no snow--at least during the week! If we don't use any snow days, school will get out June 9th. Sounds much better to me.

This one is pretty short, but there's not much to report this week.