It's Just Another Day....It's Just Another Day

• Nothing really new to report.
• I'm feeling much better, must be the weather changes.
• Only they say more SantaAnas are coming back as of midnight tonight.  I'm tired of the wind.
• Got the laundry finished finally.
• Christine's practice was cancelled and we were grateful for that.  It allowed her to get all her homework done and get a little ahead AND relax a bit.  Sometimes I wonder if her academic schedule is too much....
• Adrianne made a divine lasagne tonight.  It hit the spot!
• Josh and Meredith got the dead, pregnant rat out of their wall yesterday.  The pest control came and retrieved it.  They've been sleeping in another room because of it.  Yes, we live in a city that's in the country!  Lots of critters.
• Talked with Nats.  Her brain is mush.  She is nervous and her emotions are all over the place.  The bar exam is less than two weeks.  Josh and Robert were the same way, but as in all things, it's different when you are the one going through it.  It will be what it is: pass or fail and either one is okay.  If she has to take it again at least she has one exam under her belt and can use that for experience.  Her job has been very nice to give her these last 3 weeks off.  She is taking an online review course because that is what fit in their budget, so she truly has to do all the work on her own at home.  You go girl!
• I'm making progress on my counted cross stitch pillow top.  Every evening a tiny bit more.  It is cuter than in the picture.  I have already decided I'm not going to finish it off like in the picture.  Too 80's country-ish.  So some updated fabric in a simple way.  I like projects like this.  I 'think' a lot while doing them.  They are kind of like life:  one little stitch at a time.  Some parts are very straightforward and easy, simple.  Others are complicated and take much more time and strategy.  Sometimes you have to put it away and come back to it to ponder and gain perspective, figure it out,  other times you sail through each stitch.  In the end, you have a beautiful piece.  And you know you can tackle another one. Maybe even a more complicated pattern.

Sue's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER, SUE!

She is one amazing gal!

She is not my biological sister. 

Sue had a very difficult childhood and ended up in my parents home for most of her formative years and youth.  She says it best:  my mom is my birth mother, but your mom is my MOM.

In our family one of the best things that could ever happen is that she found the gospel.  That changed her life.  Through all of the adversities in her life, that is the constant.  Her testimony cannot be shaken.  No matter what goes on, that is where she is grounded and where she goes back to.

On another note:  she can do anything.  Craft, sew, flowers, cook, decorate, speak, jewelry, you get the picture.  If she tries it, she's an expert after the first try.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY, SUE!

Hammer Head

I woke up with a pounding headache.
I felt just like this picture!
My head hurt so bad that my eyes felt like I couldn't open them all the way.  No fever, but I am achy and feeling chilled.
I've been noticing that when the SantaAnas come and the high pressure rolls in I seem to get more headaches.

During the SS hour, the new VT leader and I went over how to use the programs on the clerk's computer.  I think she is good to go.  She is a wonderful woman and I feel really good about her taking over the vt and moving it forward with the RS president.  I handed her my key to the clerk's office and the cleaned out binder and we had a good hug.  Now on to Primary and Activity Days.

I saw one of the AD girls yesterday coming out of Petsmart.  She recognized me and ran all the way to where I was going into Staples calling my name.  She had just bought a gecko and some crickets and was anxious to show me!  How cute is that?  I got to hold the gecko (which is huge for me because I am not rodent or reptile friendly...).  How could I say no.  I did pretty good.  My first activity day is this Thursday.  The girls had already calendared a rocket derby like the cub scouts do.  It sounds pretty fun.  I am a team with Diana R. and she has it all ready to go.  I just have to show up when I get my carpooling done.

I had a fun menu all thought out for the football game, but I felt so crumby,  even with some Tylenol.  Shaun and Mike took over the wings which ended up amazing.  Duff made his family famous chili.  I made cornbread and pulled pork sliders (can't beat the crockpot).  Josh and Mere brought the 7 layer dip and chips.  Mike and Adrianne made root beer floats for dessert.

Adrianne used her magic hands and rubbed my neck and shoulders and that helped my headache a lot.  She could make a living giving these massages she is so good at it.  Hoping to wake up feeling better tomorrow.

Taylor Update

I talked to Jennifer yesterday evening.  She sounded so very tired which she should be with all that is going on.  BUT, there is some much better and encouraging news to report about Taylor's cancer!

His bone marrow testing all came back negative!  Yay!  Hooray!  This means that the cancer staging is still a 2B which is what everyone was hoping for.  It is not as advanced as they had suspected it could have been.

He began his chemo on Thursday and held up okay.  Because his levels were stable, he didn't have to have an IV yesterday as they had planned, and if the levels remain stable, he has an IV push next Thursday and after that his next IV chemo won't be for 21 days instead of 2 days each week.  This is such wonderful, wonderful news!  We participated in the fast this past Sunday in his behalf and I am confidant that these blessings are a direct result of it and Heavenly Father is in control and watching over Taylor!  It strengthens my testimony that He knows each of us and is mindful of what is going on in our lives.

(picture of T at his first chemo appt. from Jennifer's blog)

$2500 Golf Ball Drop

Tonight was a fundraiser/kick-off dinner for Christine's lacrosse season.

It was at Tijeras Creek Club.

Just before dusk, a helicopter came in and dropped hundreds of golf balls with numbers written on them for presale drop tickets.  Each player on the boys and girls teams had to sell 5 at $10 each.

THE WINNING TICKET!

Whoever's ball goes in for the 'hole in one', wins the jackpot and it was $2500!

Josh and Meredith won the jackpot!

We took the check over to them on our way home from the event.

How cool is that?!

p.s. I did not take these pictures.  They are from the internet, but you get the idea...

Heavy Machinery

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

That's what I hear all day long.

There is a lot of heavy equipment on our street these days fixing the hillside in front of our house where the mudslides were last month.  Bulldozers, dumptrucks, and skip loaders, and other machines I don't know the name of.  Lots of men in trucks with plans and blueprints.  Lots of directing and pointing.  And DIRT.

 This is quite a bit steeper than it looks in this picture.  But you can see where it slid all the way down from the top.  Now at the bottom of each of these slides is a huge hole in case it ever happens again the theory is that the earth will collect in this deep well instead of the street and our homes.

 This was interesting.

As I was on my walk this morning, I stopped to talk to one of the drivers/workers.

He told me that the slides had absolutely nothing to do with the prickly pear cactus like we were told in a news article.  He said he does this for a living and sees this all over and even though it began at the top, that our association did not have proper grading and could have done more in preparation for such an event when landscaping the slope they have authority for.  Now I'm really confused.  Please just get it right when you fix it, okay?

Plenty of these still around the drains.

Elaine and The Penny Sale

The one cent/penny sale ended on Saturday at Aaron Bros.

I love the penney sale. During the year I keep a box with different pictures or things that I want to frame so when the penny sale arrives I can take advantage of it.  You buy one frame at it's regular price and then get the next one--same value or less--for only 1 penny.

This is Elaine.

She is one of the nicest women in the whole wide world.

I go to this Aaron Bros. because of her.

She has good taste, a gift for seeing the finished product, and will tell you straight up if what you have put together doesn't work.  She has been helping me for years. "Oh, let me upgrade the glass and I won't charge you.  You really should put some archival paper on the back of that.  Let me do it and come and get it tomorrow.  I'll get some of the rubber corners for you so it won't move on the wall.  I'll just put 'em in your bag.  No, those mats just don't work.  They're too yellow and you need more pink in the tan."  Etc., etc.

If Elaine is on lunch or on her day off, I leave and come back when she is there.  So do a lot of other people.  Sometimes I even call and make an appointment to be sure she has time to help me.  She has a genuine love for the customers and a heart of gold.

And now she only has three weeks left.  Yes, Elaine is moving back home to northern California.  She moved down here to raise her sister's son and he graduated from high school last year and left for the Air Force this week.  It was hard, but she hung in there and did a great job of being his 'mother'.  She gave up a lot of her own life to do it.  Now that he is gone, she is alone.  The company is transferring her and the people up north will be lucky to have her.

I have to get two more projects done before she goes.  OH!  What am I gonna do without Elaine? 

Road Runner...

...the coyote's after you!

Road Runner.  If he catches you, you're through!

I kept singing this song in my mind when these cuties were playing in my yard this morning.  I noticed them as I was looking out my kitchen window while cleaning up the breakfast dishes.

I let Darla out.  She was oblivious to them.  They to her too.

I just shook my head.

The coyotes would love both of them and we have had a lot of coyotes since the December rains.

Prickly Pear

This is a prickly pear cactus plant.  I'm not a real lover of anything cactus, but I know it has it's place in the world landscape.  It grows wild on the hill in front of our house among other native plants and trees.  It is the Cleveland National Forest and is protected.  You won't find it the first 200 feet up though.  That is landscaped and maintained by the HOA and it is really pretty and planted with agriculture that provides 'safety' for our homes.  Guess what?  Not a prickly pear anywhere in those 200 feet.  And now we know why.

Our local city magazine ran an article last week about the mudslide/flood on our street from last month.  To quote:  "  The extraordinary amount of rain during the night--almost 6 inches in 12 hours--saturated the native cactus colonies making them so heavy that they fell off the side of the slopes, leaving bare dirt washing down.  This created a cascade mudslide effect in numerous locations on the entire eastern slope of Bell Canyon."

It rained yesterday.  We walked into church and it was dry.  We walked out to a nice cold storm.  Driving home Christine commented that she used to love the rain and now it kind of scares her.  Duff  and I both had to agree with her.  It wasn't anything like in December and we will probably never get that again, but it did just kind of put a tweak in the tummy.

I got my vteaching finished up today.  I have a new sister on my route.  I enjoyed visiting with her and getting all caught up with how she is.  She works and doesn't have much time so I visit her during her lunch hour at work in my car in the parking lot.  Whatever works!

Changing Hats

That's what we do in the church.  We have a lay ministry, so we all serve in different capacities to teach, build up, and minister to each other.  And with every assignment comes a release at some point or another and a new area to serve in and learn and grow and help others.

Today I was released as the Visiting Teaching Coordinator/Leader.  It has been a little over 3 years.  I have enjoyed it and learned a lot.  I have served under two different Relief Society presidents and loved and respected them both.  There were 7 supervisors who I appreciate for all their hard work to build relationships and make the return and report process as smooth as possible.

I was sustained to now be the Activity Day leader for the 8 and 9 year old girls.  How fun is this going to be!  I'm very excited.  I stopped in at Primary today to see who they are and talk to them briefly.  They were happy and I got smiles all around.  I will be working with Diana R. who is the other leader and she is a great gal and we will have a good time together.

Why Can't Men Think Like Women? Haha!

Oh Golly.

This morning Duff and Mike went to work for a couple of hours.  When they got home, it was time to go to the storage unit.  We needed to take the Christmas tree back and some other miscellaneous holiday decoration boxes and Mike and Adrianne needed to take some things over.  They share part of one with us for the left overs that didn't fit into theirs when they moved from their apartment.  And we also have lots of business things stored from when Duff closed it down.

The unit needed to be cleaned out and reorganized.  I think by the time we were done, Adrianne and I were about to drive home together and let the 'guys' go together.  Both of us couples were exasperated.  The men's idea of that is to just shove it all here or there, and we women wanted to take a little more time to organize it so we know what exactly is in there and where it is.  Also to see if we could downsize to a smaller one.  Nope.

By the time we did finally finish, we were laughing but it was 'touch and go' a few times.  Why can't men think like women???? Hahahaha!  You are supposed to laugh now...!

The BYU basketball game was terrible.  I won't say anymore about that.

I took Christine to get her traditional finals studying break lunch:  Panda Express.  I like this tradition.  Hit those books, Chrissy girl!

End of the Week

--I got a much needed haircut today.  I decided in September that I wanted to let it grow out to my shoulders.  So I've just been having it trimmed up.  We'll see how long I last.

--Then I went to Aaron Bros to take advantage of the penney sale.  One frame at regular price and the next one for a penney.  Lucky day.  Found the perfect frames for the pictures my Gramma Myrna had painted when she decided to take up oil painting in her 80's!  There are two.  The same scene but one is spring and the other fall.  8 X 10 canvasses of a barn in a field with a big tree.  Then two collage frames for some of Duff's golfing pictures with his co-workers and friends from the Onyx days.  They played in lots of tournaments and did a lot of business during golfing!

--I stopped in next door at Timeless Treasures.  Checked out their new sewing/quilting section.  Nice.  But I hope they can expand it in the future.  I got a new fine red marker for my scriptures.  I like the ones they carry because they don't run, bleed and are so fine tipped that when you write your notes you can read them!

--Chris had an APEuro study review by the teacher from 3-6pm.  That sure made it a long day for her and then she came home and went to hang out with friends at Sarah's.  They like to watch scary movies and she doesn't do well with those.  I don't think she will sleep too well tonight!  Waiting for her to get home.  The driving curfew is 11pm here for 1st year drivers.  I like that.  Could the state extend that until they are 18????