This week was actually really busy. I’m not sure how much of
it will be interesting to read about, but I have definitely not been at a loss
for things to do. I’ve actually been feeling a bit frantic sometimes about
getting everything done, but it has also been a good week where I have learned
some really cool things.
Friday: This was actually the last day that I had some free
time! I got through my list of things to do and even had time to watch a movie
that night. I haven’t done that in a long time. Frank had to make a trip down to a client to fix a problem they were having so he was gone all evening.
Saturday: I had a pretty long list of things to do, and then
I ended up spending more time than I had planned helping Frank get some shopping
and other things done that he needed to do to prepare for our annual Ward Chili
Cook off, which was that evening. So I didn’t get through my list, but the
things I didn’t do were things I wanted to do, more than things that had to be
done right away. One of the things we did was to go buy some primer and
painting supplies. However, we had trouble finding the kind of primer that my friend told us to buy. The guy working at the store said that this other
primer they had was the same thing as what we needed. I was pretty sure he
didn’t know what he was talking about, but we bought some anyway, thinking we
could always return it if it wasn’t the right kind. Sure enough, after talking
to my friend she said it wasn’t the right kind so we need to return it and
keep looking for the right kind. However, we haven’t had time to do that this
week so the painting project has basically been at a standstill. The Ward Chili
Cook Off was nice although we didn’t get as large of a crowd as we usually get.
We didn’t make chili this year, we made a big pot of macaroni & cheese for
the kids instead and it was a big hit.
Sunday: It was really busy. I spent all day either at
church, at the self reliance group meeting, or setting up help for the sister I
visit teach who is recently widowed. I set up a sign up genius thing for that,
and within 24 hours all the time slots except one were filled—we have an
awesome ward!!! Using the online sign up will save time in the end, but it did
take some time to get it set up and to work out details with a lot of people—I
had a lot of text messages and emails going back and forth that afternoon, and
it took up all the time I had in between church and the self reliance group
meeting. Our group meeting went pretty well but for some reason everybody had a
difficult week in one way or another and only half of our group was able to
make it to the meeting. Crazy!! Hopefully they will all make it this week,
though.
Monday: Besides all the usual chores, I also went online to
find a Halloween costume for Seth (he always wants to be something that is hard
to make or find!), prepared for the next day’s den meeting, began preparing for
this week’s self reliance meeting, and took Snickers’ food back to the vet to
exchange it. We decided that some of the food we had was not good because the
consistency of the food in some of the cans was much softer and moister than others.
So we got him new cans and the food in these ones seems to be moister although
he still doesn’t love it. He is eating it, though. Frank found out that the
Sisters didn’t have a dinner appointment so he invited them to dinner that
night (he didn’t know I had signed up to feed them later in the week!) and they
stayed for FHE too. It was nice to have them over, though, because they had
just found out that both of them were being transferred and we were getting
Elders instead. So I’m glad we could have the Sisters over one more time before
we lost them.
Tuesday: All the usual chores, plus I gave a ride to an
investigator to a place she needed to go, went to physical therapy, went to den
meeting, booked a flight for Tanner so he can be home for Christmas (& then
go back to school in January), and went to lunch with a friend. A new
Chikcfila just opened up on Thursday near us, and her son is working there. On Tuesday, they wanted to test out their systems and
work out all the bugs before they actually opened, so the employees were given
coupons to give family and friends—each was good for two free meals. They were
open for one hour at lunch time, drive thru only on Tuesday. So anyway, my friend had a coupon and no one else in her family was available to go to lunch
with her, so she invited me to go instead. I’m not a huge Chickfila fan, but it
was pretty good and I had a good visit with my friend too.
Wednesday: The usual chores again, plus I went to religion
class again. We talked about Eve and her importance in the plan for the human
family and it was really enlightening. A group of us were going to go to lunch
afterwards but at the last minute everyone else had things come up and had to
cancel except for my friend and I--the same friend who took me to Chickfila. Since we had just had lunch together the
day before, we decided not to go. Hopefully we can get the group together
another week. That did give me time to do all the other things I needed to do
that day, so that was a good thing. That evening Seth had his first swimming
lesson…except he didn’t. His lesson was scheduled from 7:30 to 8:00 and he is
allowed to get in the pool 30 minutes before his lesson to “practice”. In this
case, he didn’t have anything to practice yet but we still arrived early so he could
get in the water and maybe do a little bit of floating. I was allowed to get in
with him, so I wore my swimsuit and got in to help him float a bit. Seth had a
lot of fun playing in the pool for 25 minutes. It was nearly time for his
lesson to start when a little boy in one of the lessons right before him had an
accident and pooped in the pool. So they had to clean the pool instead and
there wasn’t time for his lesson so we had to reschedule. It was kind of
frustrating, but the trip over there wasn’t a total waste because Seth got to
see what it is like there and he even observed other kids taking lessons and on
the way home he said “I have no idea why I didn’t want to do that.” (He’s been
very resistant to the idea of taking swimming lessons.) Hearing him say that
made it worth the trip for me!
Thursday: Besides the usual chores, I also went to the
temple. I had 3 family names that needed initiatories done so I did that. It
was kind of a quick trip (not counting the terrible traffic on the way down)
but that was perfect because I didn’t have a lot of time. It was great to be in
the temple, even if it was only for about an hour. I also enjoyed listening to
uplifting music all the way there and back. That evening we had the new Elders
over for dinner. One of them is brand new, straight from the MTC and the other
one has been out for two transfers. They seem to be really sharp missionaries,
though. I’m sure they will do well here! In addition to dinner, I made pumpkin
chocolate chip muffins for dessert and I am hoping to find the time to take
some of those over to some of the sisters I visit teach. After the Elders left
I quickly mowed the lawn before it got dark.
Friday: I went to physical therapy this morning and it was
interesting because she spent most of the time working on my upper body—places
like my neck, face, and chest. She said all of those spots were connected to my
spinal cord, though. She definitely found some tender spots and they were
feeling better by the time I left. Everything in our body is connected to
everything else! I mean, I already knew that but going to physical therapy is
reminding me of that. I haven’t done much else yet today besides mail a package to Jared for his birthday. I meant to get that in the mail a lot sooner, but I was waiting on one thing that I ordered for him. It still hasn't gotten here so I gave up and sent the package. I guess he will get the other thing for Christmas instead. Seth doesn’t have school today but we have a pretty busy day planned.
I have continued to exercise and to crochet every day. I added a couple of new colors to the blanket this week so I have used all 10 colors now. Frank is still exercising too, and we are both trying to be more careful about what
we eat. I’ve noticed this week that my weight is a little lower than it has
been in a long time. I mean, mostly I just go up and down in this 5 pound range
but lately that range has dropped a bit. So I’m still going up and down, but
overall I am a pound or two lighter. So maybe exercising regularly for the last
two years has not been a total waste! Maybe it is actually going to make a
difference eventually, even if that difference is coming very slowly. I would
be happy if that were the case.
Seth is doing an exercise program right now too—to pass off
a requirement for a Webelos badge. I’ve been reminding him to do that on the appropriate
days (he exercises 3 times a week) and he has improved quite a bit since he
started. Seth and I have continued to read whenever we can and we finished the
fifth Percy Jackson book last night. Now we are going to start on the follow up
series to that series, so I guess there is a lot more Percy Jackson in our
future.
The weather has been really nice here lately. After raining
most of last week, this week has been mostly sunny. The daytime temperatures
have also been very pleasant. We have had some very cool nights—we’ve had our
first couple of frost advisories this week and the mornings have been quite
chilly. We even turned the heat on a few nights ago. The days have been just
perfect, though. Warm, sunny, light breeze—perfect!! We’ve mostly had a warm
fall so the leaves aren’t turning much yet but we are starting to see some more
color now, especially with the cold nights.
Seth hasn’t had much screen time this week. His room had
gotten to be very messy so on Monday I told him he could have screen time that
day, but after Monday he would have to clean his room before he got anymore
screen time. To my surprise, he kept putting off cleaning it. He finally did
clean his room this morning but that means he had three whole days without any
screen time! Instead, he played with his toys a lot (which made his room even
messier), read a lot, and played outside a lot. Although I would have liked his
room to be cleaned, I really didn’t mind that it took him that long to get to
it. It was great having the television off so much!
I started reading the material for our next self reliance
meeting early this week because I am the facilitator this Sunday and I like to
be really familiar with the material before we meet. Every week we have a short
section where we learn about a principle of self reliance. This week’s
principle is going to be time management. I really liked the way they suggested
we manage our time. Here are the steps:
1. List
tasks: Each morning, make a list of tasks to do. Add names of people to serve.
2. Pray:
Pray for guidance. Review your list of tasks. Listen. Commit to do your best.
3. Set
priorities: On your list of tasks, put a 1 by the most important, a 2 by the
next most important, and so on.
4. Set
goals, Act: Listen to the Spirit. Set goals. Work hard. Start with the most
important task and work down the list.
5. Report:
Each night, report to Heavenly Father in prayer. Ask questions. Listen. Repent.
Feel His love.
Now, I actually do most of those things already. I’m
definitely good at listing tasks, setting priorities, and working hard, and I do try to
schedule in things like serving others. But I realized when I read the steps
that I don’t include prayer and reporting and listening to the spirit as much
as I should. So I decided to start working on those things this week. I still
didn’t do great, but I did do better. In particular, I started out on Monday in
my prayers by sharing how stressed I’ve felt lately about all the things I need
to do. I acknowledged that I need help getting everything done, particularly in
making enough time to help others when they need it. I asked for help in
finding ways to serve people even when I’m busy. And something really cool
happened! One day I kept seeing the face of one of my friends in my mind. I’ve
been meaning to contact her for a while. I took a few minutes to send her an
email to let her know that I’ve been thinking about her. It wasn’t a long
email, but I tried to convey in a few short sentences how much she means to me
and to many others. Later that day I got a short email back. She said that she
didn’t have a lot of time but she just wanted me to know that my email was an
answer to her prayers. I was so grateful that I was prompted to contact her! I
was also grateful that Heavenly Father showed me that I don’t have to have a
lot of time to serve others. So many things we do to serve others are just
little, simple things but they can make a big difference. Heavenly Father
also helped me to notice the things that I am doing to serve others. I realized
that actually almost everything I do is service in one way or other—even if I
am just serving my family by buying groceries or folding clothes or cleaning
the bathrooms. Being in a family and being a member of the church actually
gives us many, many chances to serve and I am grateful for that. Without those
two things (family and church) I would be a very self centered person.
I’ve been making an effort this week also to read a
conference talk every day. They have been so inspiring and uplifting! A lot of
the things I’ve read this week have gone hand in hand with my attempts to
manage my time and make time to serve others. I love it when that happens. Not
a coincidence, I am sure!
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