I'm a day late getting this week's post written because yesterday was really busy and I didn't have time to write. It's now Saturday evening, April 4th. We really enjoyed the first day of General Conference!
When I wrote last Friday (March 27th), I had a lot that I wanted to get done. After writing that post, I was able to finish preparing both of my Seminary lessons for this week. I didn't get much done besides that, but I enjoyed watching some Once Upon a Time with Frank while we ate dinner.
I woke up about 4:30 am on Saturday March 28th, which I wasn't too happy about, but since I had a lot to get done it was kind of a good thing. I had agreed to help clean the church again, so I did that in the morning. Later, I met with my friend to get all her tax information. I got a haircut in the afternoon. I also did quite a bit of work on the dollhouse--I sanded three large pieces (the two sides and the right front) on both sides. It was a lot of work, especially the outsides because they have clapboard siding milled into them and each clapboard has to be sanded individually. I could really tell a difference in how they felt after I was done, though--silky smooth, compared to the pieces I haven't sanded yet, which are really rough. I noticed the next day that I actually had sore leg muscles! (I did the sanding while standing up and it put some strain on my legs, I guess.) Besides the sanding, I also did the first coat of paint on the foundation.
You really can't tell from the photo that they are sanded, but you can see the clapboards and how many there are on each piece!
Besides all of that, I also did some Seminary related tasks and listened to the Follow Him podcast while doing some coloring.
I mentioned in last week's post that Frank got the pneumonia and shingles vaccines on Friday morning. He only got a little bit feverish, but his arms got incredibly sore and combining that with his shoulders already hurting from torn muscles, he was really miserable on Saturday and Sunday. He could barely move at all without groaning! I felt so bad for him. He laid pretty low on Saturday and Sunday--he ended up staying home from church--but he improved enough by Monday that he was able to go to work. His shoulders still hurt from the torn muscles, of course, but at least the soreness from the shots has faded.
Saturday was sunny, but the temperatures were in the 30s in the morning and only reached into the 50s during the day and it was quite windy, so it felt really cold.
I woke up at 4:30 again on Sunday morning, but after reading scriptures for a while I was able to go back to sleep until about 7:30. It was Palm Sunday and we had our Easter sacrament meeting since General Conference is this weekend. I had to get to church early because I had choir practice. The missionaries asked me to pick up one of their friends and since she didn't mind arriving early, I did that. Her name is Margaret and I actually met her last summer...she was meeting with the missionaries then, but she went to New York to visit with her son for a while. Another friend of mine who moved away seven years ago but moved back a couple of years ago but hasn't been to church since then also came to church and sat with us. It was so good to see her again--I love her so much!! For our meeting, there was a lot of scripture readings and musical numbers. As a choir, we sang a version of John 3:16 set to music. I really liked this arrangement! There was a beautiful spirit in the meeting, there were lots of visitors, and it felt a lot like Christmas. 😊 Afterwards, there was a "linger longer"--visiting and snacks. I made some muffins that morning to bring to that, but I didn't stay long because I wanted to get back home to Frank (since he wasn't feeling well still.) After church, I got to talk to Jared for a while and we had FHE lesson. I got a couple of books with ideas for Holy Week and we have been doing a lesson / devotional every night this week using these books. It's been really nice.
Jared sang two solos this past week--one at an inter-faith Easter concert on Friday (the 27th) and one in his sacrament meeting on Sunday. He sang "How Great Thou Art" for the concert and a song called "Resurrection Hymn" for sacrament meeting. He sent me recordings of both of them, and he did a fantastic job!
I woke up a little early on Monday March 30th (about 2:45). I was able to take a short nap later, but woke up when Scott called. (It was nice to talk to him, though.) I taught in Seminary about recognizing God's power (tied to the story of the Egyptian plagues). Monday was warm with some rain. I went to VITA to input all the tax info for my friend. For FHE activity we played Sequence and we went to DQ to get blizzards for treat. Seth got his blood drawn--he had to have some bloodwork done to prepare for his surgery next week. I have been watching Downton Abbey while running in the morning, but on Monday I switched to watching The Chosen. I watched the first season a few years ago so I am watching it again before going on to the next seasons. I'm really enjoying it--such a great show!
Tuesday March 31st was warm again. My lesson that morning was a life prep lesson about Jesus Christ being the center of all temple worship. The rest of the day I got regular chores done, got to talk to Tanner, sent an email to our next Seminary guest teacher, did some reading (still reading Nation), and did a small amount of sanding on two dollhouse pieces.
Frank worked his temple shift, but he got home early. They had scheduled him to be a veil worker for the last hour of his shift but he couldn't do that because of his shoulders still being somewhat sore, so they told him he could go home early.
Wednesday April 1st was busy because I volunteered to work extra hours at VITA. They needed someone to cover a 1:00 to 5:00 shift and since I was going to be there already (from 9:00 to 1:00) and I didn't have to prepare any Seminary lessons this week (spring break next week so no Seminary), I said I could cover it. The day actually went by fast and I enjoyed it. The other volunteers that I work with are a lot of fun! One of the volunteers did the review for my friend's tax return and I was able to print it up and bring it home with me to give to her. It rained quite hard while I was at VITA in the afternoon, but thankfully it stopped raining before it was time for me to leave because I didn't have a raincoat or even a jacket with me. (It was very warm that day.) After I finished at VITA, we all went to get some dinner. By the time we ate dinner it was close to bed time. I was tired and went to bed.
Thursday April 2nd was our last day of Seminary for the week because spring break began on Friday. One of the bishoprics provided breakfast for our class. Thursday was quite busy because besides all the usual chores (vacuuming, groceries, laundry), I also met with my friend to go over her tax return and to have her sign all the papers. Then I dropped off her signed papers at VITA so that her return could be filed that day. I also took my glasses to the eye doctor to get them adjusted because I accidentally sat on them and bent them a bit! They were able to fix them, though. I made cookie dough in the morning (sugar cookies) and that evening I cut out and baked the cookies, with some help from Seth. In addition to all that, I did all the "first day of the month" stuff (even though it was actually the 2nd day; I didn't have time on the 1st). This includes uploading all the photos I took the previous month to Shutterfly (so that I have them stored somewhere besides my phone and computer), changing the front door decoration, changing the pillow covers on the couch throw pillows, and changing the salt & pepper shakers.
Frank had a follow up doctor appointment with the surgeon about his shoulders. The cyst in his right shoulder is quite large and she thinks it may be causing him some nerve pain so she wants him to get a nerve analysis, and she also gave him a referral to start PT. Our primary care doctor wants him to meet with another surgeon to get a 2nd opinion on what needs to be done about his shoulders (PT / surgery?) so he has several appointments he needs to make.
Seth got a call from his surgeon and his surgery time on Wednesday is 11:10--he needs to arrive an hour early.
Yesterday (Friday, April 3rd) was rainy / misty and cool, although it warmed up later on. I went to the temple to do initiatories; all the tulips have started blooming on the temple grounds, many trees are in bloom (white, pink, and purple) and it is absolutely beautiful!
After I got home, I ate lunch and updated the finances. Then I decorated the cookies I baked the previous day, with some more help from Seth.
I was planning to take some of them to an event that evening, which is why I needed to get them done yesterday. We ate dinner and then Frank and I went to the event--a tri-ward Easter Cantata. I had to be there early for a brief choir practice (our ward choir sang the same song that we sang on Sunday). Frank was sweet to come with me to support me. He also ended up setting up the cameras to broadcast the event for a few people who wanted to see it but who couldn't come. There were a lot of nice musical numbers and more scripture readings. There was refreshments afterwards and we ended up visiting for quite a while with friends so by the time we got home it was late and time for bed. That's why I didn't get this post written until today.
I might as well write about today (Saturday April 4th) while it's still fresh in my mind. Seth was supposed to work today from 10:30 to 5:00, but they were really slow today so he got off early at about 3:45. That means he was able to see all of the second session of General Conference, though, so that was nice. We spent a good portion of the day watching Conference and it was wonderful as always! It was espcially sweet to sustain a new prophet and to hear both of the two new apostles give talks. I thought there were so many sweet testimonies shared today, and I would say one of the themes that seemed to keep emerging was enduring to the end / changing to become more like Christ.
We had a big crock pot full of white chicken chili, plus plenty of Easter and General Conference treats (the Easter bunny came a day early!):
I actually made a conscious effort to buy less candy, but somehow it still filled up the bowl! But we didn't have individual baskets full of candy in addition to the candy in the bowl (as we used to do) so I guess it really is less than usual even though it's still too much.
This morning before General Conference started, Frank and I began assembling the dollhouse body. It was rather stressful, but we manged to get the first part of the assembly done, which includes the base floor, sides, middle floor, and right front. (Lots of tape holding it together and weights on top while the glue dries):
Unfortunately, we discovered that the right front piece is slightly warped, so we couldn't get it to line up perfectly on the edge. I'm somewhat worried that the whole dollhouse is going to look really crooked and / or there will be obvious gaps. I'm also worried that some of the other pieces are also warped. It's hard to tell just looking at them (they aren't badly warped, so it's not obvious) but even a little bit warped is going to cause problems. But I guess we will just wait and see what happens. Hopefully the whole thing will come together and look okay even though it won't be perfect. Frank said "If it doesn't work, we'll just buy you a new kit and start over." That's nice of him to offer, but I really hope all the work I have put into this kit doesn't go to waste! As I said, we'll just see what happens. I'm hoping for the best.
Today was another warm and beautiful spring day. Of course, it's going to get a lot cooler again next week since it's spring break! I still plan to enjoy it, even if it's not very warm. That's all of our news for this week.
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