Weekly Review April 8 '22

 This past week started out great with General Conference, which took up most of Saturday and Sunday. We had signed up to have the Elders over for dinner on Sunday and since the second session is during the dinner hour for us, we invited them to come watch the second session with us. We had snacks to enjoy during the session and then we had dinner when it ended. 

I decided to try something different this time and didn't take any notes while listening to the sessions unless I felt like there was something I should do, related to what was being said. I always watch and read all the talks again afterwards, and take notes then so I just decided to relax and listen this time. It was nice to just listen, but I do feel like I listen better when I'm taking notes and also I can't remember much that was said now. Of course, that will change when I start listening to and reading the talks later. While I was listening I did some coloring to help me stay awake. I got a color-by-number book for Christmas so I worked on one of those. I finished the picture later this week:

Seth "listening" to the 2nd session on Saturday:

The rest of this week was mostly business as usual--Frank was really busy with work, Seth kept busy with school, and I kept busy with all the usual household chores. On Tuesday I had a YW presidency meeting that was pretty long so that took a lot of the day. Wednesday I did my last VITA shift for this tax season. I'm kind of glad to be done, although I did enjoy it and all the other volunteers I worked with were really nice. I took some donuts to share with everyone which they seemed to appreciate. We were fairly busy but not overwhelmingly so. We had one lady and her daughter come in and as we were finishing their tax returns we discovered that they had both filed this year already, they just didn't like the end result before so they were hoping to get a better result the second time! You wouldn't believe how many people try to do that. It was kind of frustrating since that was a total waste of our time. (But kind of funny too.)

We all had youth activities on Wednesday evening, as usual. Seth was in charge of bringing bacon for the YM activity so I was helping him cook it. Frank had to be there early to help one of the Primary activity day leaders set up some technology stuff for their activity, so he left while we were still cooking bacon. Guess what? It takes a long time to cook 3 packages of bacon when you can only cook 6 slices at a time (that's our biggest pan). Seth and I ended up being late, which stressed me out a bit since the YW had class activities so I really needed to be there on time. I texted my class advisor, though, and told her what we were doing and where to get the supplies out of the YW closet so it ended up working out fine. They were able to get most of the set up done before I arrived so when I got there with the final items we needed, we were able to get going quickly. My class did a painting activity--they brought quotes they liked from General Conference and painted them onto small canvases so they can hang them on their walls at home. I think they all did a great job!

Here is everyone working on their paintings...three of the girls (there's five in my class; two weren't there) and the advisor, plus if you look really closely you may see the advisor's 11 month old daughter peaking over the top of the table! 

The YM cleaned up outside the church (a lot of tree branches had fallen and needed to be removed) and then they had "breakfast"--bacon, eggs, and biscuits.

Yesterday was pretty routine except last evening I got my hair cut. I also got the color done, including some highlights, so it took a while. Frank and Seth got haircuts while my color was processing, so now we all look classy! 😁

I'd say Frank has been busier than usual with work this week. They are trying to get all the bugs worked out of the new database so that keeps him busy along with all the usual emergencies that seem to come up regularly. He's been up late most nights working on things that need to be done after hours. Yesterday that place he interviewed with last week contacted him to let him know they just interviewed the last candidate that day so they are hoping to make a decision by next week. (Originally, it was supposed to be this week but one interview had to be postponed.) So maybe next week we'll know more about that.

This week has been mostly chilly and we've had a lot of rain. Today is sunny and I'm really enjoying that (even though it's still in the 50s so not very warm) because most of this week has been cloudy. I like rainy days, but when it is cloudy and gray for several days in a row I start to long for some sunshine. Yesterday we got some thunder along with some of the rain. This morning the river is up a bit...not flooded, but definitely higher than it's been. A lot of trees are blooming now although many are still completely bare. I feel like spring is taking its time getting here this year! The grass has become really green though and Seth had to mow the lawn for the first time this year on Monday so things are definitely starting to grow.

I have done a little bit of reading this week but not a lot. I feel like I only get a few minutes here and there to read lately and a lot of times I just don't feel like reading. I think I am really going to like Dune once I get into it, but I haven't gotten far enough in yet to be really motivated to pick it up. Maybe next week I'll do better.

One thing I have been enjoying in snatches of free time is indexing. Some of you probably already know this but Family Search has a new app called "Get Involved" that can be used to do indexing from a smart phone. The records have already been indexed by a computer, but they need human eyes to check them too. In the app, one name is highlighted at a time with the computer's indexing displayed underneath. All I have to do is choose whether it's a match or not. If it doesn't match, I can edit it to what I think it should be. I can also choose to say "unsure" if I'm not sure if it's correct or not. The app is super easy to use and I can index 50 names in just a few minutes. It's rather addictive!! This last week the 1950s Census was added to the app and one cool feature is that you can choose which state you want to index records from and you can also tell it a surname that you want to index and it will search for records with that name from that state. So I indexed a lot of records from Arizona with the surname "Pew" this week. Most of them were people I didn't know but I finally got to index the record that had Uncle Joe, Aunt Amy & Terry and when I scrolled up on the page, Grandpa, Grandma, Dad and Uncle Karl were also there along with Aunt Laprele, Uncle Andy, and Lloyd. So that was really cool! I've tried indexing records with the surname "Johnson" also but that's a much more common name of course so I haven't come across anyone I know yet. 

We found out this week that Seth got accepted into the CTC Computer Technician Analyst program for next school year. This means that he will take two classes in the mornings at his regular high school and then go to the CTC for the two afternoon blocks each day. Basically, this course will take the place of his electives. He will be learning some valuable job skills so I think this will be a great opportunity for him. We hope he likes it, does well, and is able to successfully complete the course.

I was able to talk to Jared on Wednesday evening for a while, after I got home from the YW activity. His doctor called him that day because he got the results of Jared's MRI. The MRI showed that he definitely has a fistula. It is pretty likely that he will need surgery for that but the doctor wants to know whether he has Crohn's disease or not before operating because that will affect how he does the surgery. The doctor seems anxious to get it taken care of as soon as possible, though, so he will probably be having surgery within a few weeks of when he gets the colonoscopy results. Jared is experiencing a lot of the Crohn's disease symptoms which includes fatigue, joint pain, abdominal pain and cramping, and nausea besides the discomfort of the abcess / fistula. So he's not a very happy camper right now, but he's hanging in there. He told me on Wednesday that he is tired of not feeling well enough to be productive. A sure sign of being an adult...when you no longer enjoy lying around doing nothing!! Please continue to pray for him.

I texted with Tanner for a bit on Tuesday and he reports that the kitten is doing great. She isn't hiding in her carrier anymore, she likes their apartment and she cuddles with both he and Darlee every night. He sent me some adorable pictures and video clips. 

That is all the news from us for this week.

Weekly Review April 1 '22

It may be April Fool's Day, but I am not the joking type so rest assured that everything I say in this post will be true and accurate. 😄 

When I left off last week, I was meeting with my YW class to do some filming for our class movie. We were able to finish up all the filming, thankfully. Here's a photo of our 3 girls at the end of filming. The theme of our movie was a makeover gone bad...that's why they are all dressed in crazy clothes combinations!:

I picked up some Chinese food on the way home for our dinner because it was late by then and Frank didn't want to cook. (Remember he was sick.) 

By Saturday Seth was feeling congested and not his best either. He did help me with my class movie though...we needed a boy for one scene at the end of the movie so he filled that role. We spent a few minutes filming a few alternate scenes. I did some other stuff for YW on Saturday too, but I don't really remember what else I did that day...just that I kept busy! 

Frank still wasn't feeling well on Sunday so he attended bishopric meeting and ward council virtually but he didn't go to church. Seth wasn't feeling great either so he stayed home with Frank. (They did watch church from home though and did the sacrament at home too). A young man in our ward who just returned from his mission was one of the speakers and he gave a great talk. For YW, my class combined with the older class and we had a guest teacher--one of the sisters in our ward. That was really good too. I had a class presidency meeting via Zoom that afternoon. The counselor didn't come (even though I reminded her in church an hour before) and the president forgot to come until 30 minutes into the meeting (even though I reminded her too!) so most of the meeting was the advisor and I talking and trying to make final plans for the movie festival. That evening we had family night (the lesson part). Frank had a part in the YM movie and he missed the filming the previous Wednesday (since he didn't feel well) so we took a few minutes on Sunday evening for me to film him saying his various lines. 

Seth didn't have school on Monday which worked well since he wasn't feeling great still. Frank was doing a little better thankfully because he had a job interview that morning. This was a 2nd interview and it was extensive--4 hours long, with multiple people. He feels like it went well, but he knows that they are interviewing a number of candidates so we'll see what happens. They said they will make a decision next week sometime. I spent a couple of hours on Monday cleaning and organizing in the kitchen. I didn't get everything done but I did get a lot done and the kitchen looks quite a bit better. I still need to go through the cabinets to weed out items that we aren't using although I already have a box of things to donate from the things I went through on Monday. That evening we did the activity and treat portion of family night. We played a game called The Amazeing Labyrinth and I had the worst luck so I was feeling kind of frustrated and crabby by the end. Usually it is a pretty fun game, though! 

Seth surprised me by getting up for Seminary on Tuesday morning. He said he felt better, so I wasn't going to argue with him about that! He was still slightly congested, but both he and Frank have improved rapidly this week and both of them seem to feel fine now. I spent all morning on Tuesday cooking which I didn't enjoy but I did that so I would have a number of meals ready ahead of time for Wednesday (between VITA and youth activity night Wednesdays are always busy) and General Conference weekend. Doing that helped things go smoother on Wednesday and now I won't have to miss part of General Conference because all of our meals are mostly made for the weekend! So it was worth it even though Tuesday wasn't too fun--I also cleaned bathrooms and planned next week's meals on Tuesday and I don't enjoy either of those tasks either. It's actually remarkable that I got so much done in one day though, so I was pleased about that.

Things went pretty well at my VITA shift on Wednesday. I kept busy most of the time (but not too busy). Next week is my last week doing VITA for this year. I am glad to be almost done but I will miss it too...I've enjoyed the work and the people that I've been working with. This tax season has been pretty complicated too...mostly because of all the Covid-related tax legislation like stimulus payments and advance child tax credits. Hopefully next year will be simpler!! 

That evening was our YM / YW film festival. My class was in charge so we got there an hour early to set up. We decided to invite the youth's families to this activity and it turned out to be a really fun family activity. We had everyone meet in the YW room and then we took all the families into the gym and seated them first. Then we had all the youth (and some of the Primary kids who had helped with some of the movies) come in one at a time while the YW president announced them and said silly things about them. Everyone clapped as they came in and they each had their photo taken on a "red carpet" (actually a big piece of felt I found in the YW closet!). We had lots of popcorn and candy and drinks for everyone to enjoy while we watched the movies. Each of the three YW classes made a movie and the YM made one movie all together. All of the movies were actually really funny and clever so there was a lot of laughter and it was a lot of fun! I was so impressed with how they all turned out! The advisor for my class did all the filming and editing for our movie and she did a fantastic job--our film looked really professional! The oldest YW class had some bloopers at the end of their film and some of those were so hysterical. Frank took care of all the technology stuff for this activity so he got copies of all the movies ahead of time to make sure they would run correctly. That means we still have a copy of each of the movies and I watched them all again yesterday. It was easier to hear them and see them on my laptop instead of watching them in a big room with people making noise, so I picked up on some things that I didn't catch the first time and I still laughed hysterically at the bloopers even though I'd already seen them once. The YM movie was my favorite, I think, and it was all about Seth! I wish you could all see it (maybe sometime when we visit we will be able to show it to you) because I can't explain it very well. But basically, it started out with one YM interviewing Seth and asking him why he did a certain thing (you don't find out what that thing was until the end of the movie) and Seth says he doesn't know why he did it. The interviewer then says that some people talk about listening to a good angel or a bad angel. Seth responds that he has at least 78 different voices in his head, not just 2. The rest of the movie is all the different voices (portrayed by different YM and members of the bishopric) discussing what happened and answering the interviewer's questions. Some of the "voices" included the jokester, the random thought generator, Seth's dad (portrayed by Frank, of course), and Batman. That's the best I can do, but it was really funny and clever!! And as I said before...ALL of the movies were really funny and clever. After we watched the movies, all the leaders got huddled together and we came up with some silly awards for each movie and then we handed those out. I think everyone had a really great time. I am guessing we will be having another film festival next year!

I did not sleep well at all on Wednesday night so I slept in a little bit on Thursday morning (all the way until 6:00 am!). Seth hadn't slept well either so he skipped Seminary and Frank took him to school. I spent most of the day just trying to get the usual chores done. Frank had a meeting with a recruiter about a different job that morning but after talking to the recruiter he knew he didn't want to pursue that option any further. We would have to move to Pittsburgh and he would be traveling 75% of the time. No thanks!! Last evening Frank went to see a movie--Morbius. I was surprised Seth didn't want to go see it too. I'm slightly interested in seeing it but I was too tired last night to go. Frank enjoyed it. We had a big rainstorm with some thunder last night. We've had quite a bit of rain this week and Wednesday and yesterday were fairly warm but most of the week has been chilly and the early part of the week was really cold. We even got a little bit of snow on Monday. 

Here's how the sky looked last night as the storm was coming in:

And Wednesday morning we had a beautiful sunrise:

We got to facetime with Tanner for a bit on Saturday. They just adopted a kitten (birthday present for Darlee). The kitten was still hiding in its carrier when he talked to us but hopefully she is feeling more at home now.

I've been texting with Jared this morning. He had an MRI last Friday. He has a colonoscopy scheduled but the earliest they could get him in is April 15th, so he has a 2 week wait until that happens. In the meantime, he isn't feeling very well...pain from the abscess and he's also nauseated most of the time. He still hasn't been able to work much either. So everyone please keep him in your prayers. If you have fast Sunday next week (after General Conference), it would be great if you would fast for him too. He's hoping they will have a cancellation and will be able to get him in sooner. The sooner he can get the colonoscopy, the sooner he can get a diagnosis and hopefully there will be some treatment that will help him start feeling better. 

We're looking forward to General Conference this weekend. We hope all of you get to enjoy it too.