Weekly Review December 23 '22

 Brrrrrr!!! It is so cold right now. It is 16 degrees, but very windy so it feels like -1 degrees. I know it's a lot worse in other parts of the country, but that is really cold for this part of the country. 

We are on the mend and consequently we had a lot more going on this week than last week. Last Saturday I was able to help with the sewing class. I think it went really well...I helped one girl cut out the pieces for her skirt because she missed the last class while other women helped the rest of the girls start sewing their skirts. The girls are doing a good job and I think many of them will finish early (we have two more classes scheduled). I also got the kitchen floor swept & mopped for the first time in a month which was great (between sickness and traveling I hadn't had a chance to do it in a while). I was pretty tired after doing those things so I spent the evening sitting down...but I was still productive. I sort of watched the BYU bowl game while I addressed all the Christmas cards. We're glad BYU pulled off a win, and the new quarterback looks pretty good too.

Frank started coughing a lot on Friday and he had a really terrible cough on Saturday so he decided he'd better stay home from church on Sunday. He continued to cough a lot on Sunday (he could barely talk without coughing) and early this week but his cough has finally diminished. He was able to work from home on Monday and Tuesday and didn't go back to the office until Wednesday. 

Seth and I did go to church (wearing masks), and I went to choir practice too but Seth didn't help with the Sacrament and we didn't stay for the 2nd hour. We were trying to minimize our contact with other people, plus I was pretty tired after the first hour ended. I came home and took a 2 1/2 hour nap!! We were supposed to go caroling with the rest of the Ward Council members and their families but we didn't do that either. 

On Monday I was feeling mostly back to normal and I had a very busy day with lots of errands. I'm still not sure how I managed to get so much done! Besides the regular grocery shopping, laundry, and vacuuming, I also went to the post office to mail a package (long wait), returned a library book, went to a local store to get some gifts for the sister missionaries who will be at our house on Christmas Eve, went to another place looking for gifts, made copies of the Christmas letter, wrapped some gifts, and got all the Christmas cards ready to mail (mostly that meant folding the Christmas letter and adding it to all the envelopes). We were getting ready to have family night when Jared texted us to say they and the Hatch family were going to downtown Frederick to walk around for a while and we could meet them there if we wanted. (Jared & Jessie arrived here on Sunday.) We decided to do that for family night. We also stopped on the way at the post office to drop off all the Christmas cards. In downtown Frederick at Carroll Creek Park this time of year there are a bunch of small decorated boats. We saw those, and then walked around looking at the shops and more lights for a while. It was really cold, so we didn't stay out very long. It was nice to see Jared & Jessie and to visit with the Hatch family a bit also.

On Tuesday I wasn't feeling so great (maybe because I did too much on Monday!!) I got the regular chores done but because I had a sore throat, headache, and some congestion, I decided not to attend the YW activity that evening. I was really sorry to miss it, but I really needed some rest and I was also worried about getting other people sick (even though I should have been past the contagious stage by then). My class was in charge of the activity but I had already got everything ready so it was easy to pass it off to the class president. For the activity, we had a "Secret Santa" gift exchange. About a week and a half earlier, we had each drawn the name of one other person in YW (either a YW or a leader). We were supposed to secretly contact a friend or family member of that person and get some information about that person that we would share with everyone else. We were also supposed to bring a wrapped gift for that person to give them at the activity. So basically, everyone had someone else do a mini spotlight on them and everyone got a gift. As I said, I was sorry to miss it!! I hear it went really well. I sent the gift that I had prepared with Frank; I sent the refreshments I had purchased with him too. The YW who drew my name wanted to give my gift to me in person, so she stopped by yesterday to give it to me. She is very artistic, and she had purchased a dozen little glass ornaments and had painted flowers on them. Isn't that sweet?! Here are a few of them on our tree:

The YM played a game that was a combination basketball / Nerf gun war. Some of the YM and YW and leaders were not able to attend that night (besides me) because a number of members of our bishop's family and one of the YW president's kids all tested positive for Covid that morning. Ugh!! It's going around yet again. I don't think any of them caught Covid from us, though, because we hadn't had any close contact with any of them since before we tested positive for Covid. (Plus they are 2 weeks behind us, so it seems like they would have come down with it sooner if they had caught it from us.) I feel really bad for them...it was bad enough for us to come down with it a couple of weeks before Christmas. Less than a week before would be the worst!!

Anyway, I didn't mention yet that Jared came over for a while on Tuesday and hung out with me while I did chores (and he helped a little bit). Jessie got a new job that starts in January but she went in for training that day, so he dropped her off and then came over here while she was at her training. When she finished (around lunch time) he picked her up and they came back here for a few hours to visit some more. 

I was feeling better on Wednesday (although I still have a sore throat every morning!!) I made fudge that day and also made the peanut butter balls for buckeyes (but we didn't dip them until yesterday). That evening we went to the temple to see the lights. We were originally going to go on Thursday evening but there was lots of rain in the forecast for that evening so we decided to go Wednesday instead. I'm glad we did because it was definitely raining cats and dogs on Thursday evening! We invited Jared & Jessie to come too. Frank had gone to work that day so Seth, Jared, Jessie and I drove down together and met Frank at the temple. We saw the lights, a display of international nativity sets, and checked out the Light the World giving machine. The lights were so beautiful!! I kept taking pictures but I've decided the camera on my phone just isn't that good. Here are a bunch of them anyway though:

I took a lot of pictures of the nativity sets too. Here are a few of my favorites:

It was not very cold that evening, which was really nice. After we finished at the temple, we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Frank and I both started getting back our senses of taste and smell early in the week and by Wednesday we could really taste again, and that Mexican food tasted like the best food I have ever eaten!! 😂

I had an appointment at the temple on Thursday but I wasn't sure if it was really going to happen. There was snow / freezing rain predicted for Thursday morning so I wasn't sure if school would be delayed or cancelled or if the temple would open late also. The forecast was for snow and freezing rain in the early morning hours and then turning to regular rain by midmorning. When we woke up around 5:00 am we found out they had decided to have a 2 hour delay, but were going to reevaluate at 7:00. At 5:00 nothing was happening yet but it was still supposed to be coming. I kept a close eye on the forecast and they kept moving back the time that the storm was going to arrive. By 7:00 we still hadn't received any precipitation of any kind but around 7:20 they decided to cancel school because at that point the forecast was still saying we were going to get snow and freezing rain within an hour. I debated back and forth about trying to drive to the temple...I didn't want to drive on icy roads...but I finally decided to just go for it. It seems like predicted storms often don't materialize. When I left my house, there was a little bit of freezing rain coming down but only a little bit and the roads were pefectly fine. The freezing rain quickly changed to regular rain. So I was right...the winter weather never materalized, and there was no reason to cancel (or even delay) school. It's pretty frustrating when that happens, but I can't really blame the school district, since the forecast continually said we were going to get some nasty weather. I am really glad that I decided to go to the temple! The funny thing was, I had forgotten that my appointment wasn't until 11:00 (I usually make appointments for 10:00) so I got there REALLY early. (The traffic was MUCH better than usual also so I got there much quicker than usual...no doubt because school was cancelled and a lot of people were probably deterred from going out because of the forecast.) It all turned out fine...they were able to work me in at 10:00 instead of at 11:00. When I was done and went back downstairs, I noticed the organ in the chapel was playing Christmas music so I sat down in front of the mural (which is just outside the chapel) and listened to Christmas music for quite a while. It was just really lovely to be in the temple listening to Christmas music!!

After I got home from the temple, I got the rest of the regular chores done. Jared came over in the late afternoon (Jessie had a friend visiting her) and he and Seth played games together. Jared stayed for dinner and then Frank played games with them also. It was pouring rain all afternoon, evening, and all night and this morning the river was up quite a bit.

It's even higher now. It was nice to see the sun again today, although as I said...it's really cold now.

I've spent today inside doing things like updating the budget and making cookie dough (I'll be making cookies after dinner). Frank has been running errands like getting a few things from the store. Seth went over to the carpool boys' house to play for a few hours this afternoon; Frank took him there and back also. Normally, he would walk but with wind chills below zero, we decided that wasn't a great idea. I'm really glad Frank did all those things so that I didn't have to go out in the cold! Right now Frank is making us some grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. We were supposed to have Mongolian beef for dinner but I discovered a couple of hours ago that when I put the meat in the crock pot this morning, I forgot to turn it on! I was so mad at myself when I realized that!! Since the meat had been sitting in there for 6 or 7 hours, we're not sure it's any good, so we had to throw it out.

The only other thing that happened this week was that I spent some time trying to get in touch with Seth's counselor at school since he is practically failing his math class. I had to email her three times before she finally called me. Then I was able to have a good discussion with her. She pulled Seth in to talk to her too and I have also been communicating with his teacher. Unfortunately, since it took so long to connect with his counselor, we really aren't going to be able to do anything to help him improve his grade until after winter break, and there will only be a couple of weeks left in the term by then. But I tried! We may have him take Algebra 2 again this summer...even if he manages to get a passing grade, we feel like he's missed so many of the concepts that taking it again (from a different teacher!) would be beneficial. We'll make that decision in a few months.

Thursday was supposed to be the last day of school for Seth (but it turned out to be Wednesday) and Thursday was also Frank's last day of work until January. It will be nice to have some family time! 

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas; we love you!!!