Snow, Jan 21, 2019

My poor backyard with the UN-winterized garden :-/

Dead tomato vines and their cages, un-trimmed rasberries...there are even carrots buried out there still that i never quite got in.

WOW!!!

FINALLY

 

Some measurable snow.  It started this morning. As of 3 pm we have close to 10 inches. Needless to say, we are staying home today.

It's a holiday. Thanks for being a peace-loving man , Dr. King. Our snow reminds me of you. Peaceful. Good, necesary, looking to the future-- us for water, you for civil rights.  But truly Living Water is the common denominator here.

The Blog Book that wasn't 12/20/2019

I print out my blog book periodically. I've been doing it annually for about 10 years. Yes, yes, I know. My life is too well-documented.  But Mike and I like looking through these periodically. Sometimes I refer to them for backup and confirmation of events from the past because we all know that MommaLinda has NO memory. So I write.

My printed blog books nestled in binders of correspondence. One filing cabinet drawer.

I ordered my Blog Book from "Blog to Print" website as I have in the past when they have their best coupon deals to get money off.  I was so excited to see it when it came in the mail.

I open the package with much anticipation....

And it's not my blog book. Some strangers'.  Dang!

I emailed "Blog-to-Print" and they will send me another.  But what about the poor OTHER person who didn't get theirs?  I feel so bad. I didn't open up the shrink wrap for a while, but tonight I did and did some sleuthing.  From the outside, even before opening up the plastic shrink wrap, I could search for the title, but it didn't turn up anything. HER blog book is called, "So, That's Why!"  Maybe I don't know how to search for blogs.  When I search for "MommaLinda Blog," on Google, mine comes right up.  But my computer knows me, so that kind of figures.  My computer knows WAY too much! haha.

Today I thumbed through the stranger's blog, found a name, a city name, her kids' names. But no state. And it's OLD!  She printed her blog entries from 2009 to 2011.  She's a single Mom, a scrap booker- gone digital scrapper. Has a dog and cat. I figure her kids are 19 and 21 by now, but can't even find them on Facebook, either. It's hard without a state to go by. "Plainfield." There's three and all three are green like in their photos. They have California cousins...so many clues.  I feel like I know her. ha.  I wish I could return it to her.  But I'm sure she did the same thing I did after spending so much time and money and contacted the company to say she didn't receive the right book.



Can you imagine what they would have to do if the entire day's worth of printed blog books ALL were off by one box and EVERY ONE they mailed was the wrong one!  Sheesh!  That's a LOT of re-prints and I'm guessing some heads will roll.

I'm still waiting for my re-print to arrive. It won't come tomorrow since it's a federal holiday.  I guess it's ALWAYS a federal holiday, what with the government shutdown and all, right?  So grateful I still have a job.

And our Lunar eclipse is partially covered by high, thin clouds. I saw a spectacular one some years ago while the moon was low in the sky, full and large. THAT was a good one. This one, up high in the sky, not so spectacular. Though it is kind of fun to see it be phased out.  It does make you wonder what common folks thought when they observed things like that with no scientific knowledge of those kinds of things.

A good Sabbath. 1/20/2019

Why was it a good Sabbath?  I like Sundays.  I didn't always. I frequently asked, "WHY??!!"  Why was it so stinkin' hard to get everyone to church?  I didn't get much out of it. Frequently I was stressed. I felt pressure to make a special meal--and that's a hard thing to do.

Well, I'm in a far different stage right now.

It was good because:

* I woke up to the smell of fresh-baked bread, which I had set in the bread-maker the night before [thanks, Gail!].  Mmmm, that smelled so wonderful to my nostrils at first waking. Until I heard something weird!  And it sounded like it was coming from the kitchen!  At 6 am!! And we were the only ones home....who was in my kitchen and why?!  I was too chicken to get up and look at first.  Mike was sleeping peacefully. But then I realized I'd left an electric appliance going overnight...maybe my kitchen was on fire.  THAT made me get up and look. But only from the bedroom doorway.  Still chicken. No noise, no flickering lights or flame or smoke. Okay, the kitchen's not on fire. But the noise...what was the noise. Then I heard it, a scraping, shuffling, rustly noise again, but this time it was behind me.  But not at the neighbors' as I first thougth it might have been. I think it was just Mike's rough feet scratching at the sheets when he moved slightly.  So I went back to bed. Avoiding those scratchy feet.

* I got to sleep in.  Once I went back to bed, I slept until I woke up on my own. 8 hours of sleep. Blissful.

* We had a leisurely breakfast of cocoa and toast with bottled apricots on the side.  Fresh-baked bread, you know.  Nothin' better in my book.

* Church doesn't start until 10:30 a.m. The meeting was great. I sang in the ward's "Instant Choir," along with about 20 other folks. We sounded good! ;-)  Sunday School was nice, though the room was frigid. Lots of our ward members have really good thoughts, ideas, testimonies that they share. I do love our ward.

* After class was over, and while waiting to see someone, I perched on a radiator and got all warmed up.  Mmmmm. Remember the days of standing over a heater vent in the cold mornings? Like that, only no blowing air. Just nice, warm, penetrating and comforatable heat on my frozen fanny and legs. Thanks for sharing the heater in the hallway with me, Miles.

* It was good because MIKE did the dishes last night and I had clean dishes today with which to begin my dinner preparations for our 3:30 dinner.  AND

* Mike made some yummy Dutch Oven potatoes for us. I fried some Cod and it turned out super yummy, if I do say so myself.  Corn from our freezer that I put up in the summer, and some great tartar sauce, apricot nectar with some added fizz from a bottle completed our meal.  Dessert was home-made, warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookes. Not really home-made. It was a package that made 12. Just enough to keep us from over-eating. Except I did not end up saving the three for Eric like we should have. oh well.

* I finished the Sunday Crossword puzzle without looking at the answers one single time.

* I drove Berenice home after dinner (and after some futile searches on Family Search on a        v    e      r        y         very slow tablet).  What an exercise in frustration.  BUT the ride home was worth it because I saw this:

A rather spectacular sunset.  Pretty.  We do live in a lovely world at times.

* It was a good Sabbath because I had a lovely and long chat with my Mommy on the phone.

* It was a good day because I got all caught up on my sister's journey to Germany yesterday. She emailed me and had caught up her blog. What a move.  Yikes. I never want to move again. They are now officially "overseas" and will be for three years. I'm gonna miss her, but I'll bet I see her as often as when she lived in Georgia!  And we'll still be able to email, etc.

* It was a good Sabbath for me because I'm training my new staff member and the library is closed today because it's a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr Day is tomorrow), so I didn't have to worry about going in or wondered how he did on his own for the first time. Except I forgot it was closed and still worried about it. But only briefly!  Then I remembered what day it was, really.

* It was a good Sabbath because I've made it to 9:30 p.m. and haven't even had a nap today!! Naps tend to make me more tired sometimes. But not always. I needed one yesterday and it was worth it. I worked a half a day on Saturday (11 to 3 pm), came home, ate a late lunch and had a nap. Then I spend HOURS putting away all the Christmas decorations in my living room. Up and down and up and down the stairs, stacking and packing boxes like a Tetrus game on my basement shelves. And I was DUSTING the decos before I put them away because I left everything up for so long they actually needed to be dusted thoroughly.  And cleaning. And putting things back in order.  It's done. Finally.  Even fake trees (especially ones that are years old) shed green needles.  It is nice to have clean(er) floors. Now if I could just get the bathrooms caught up....

What else made it a good day?

*   I found a chocolate bar in the bedroom while looking for my tablet keyboard!!  Dark Chocolate/Rasberry from Ethel M's.[ Thanks, Nick and Kaylee--I hid it too well from my self {and maybe Mike}, but  it did finally re-surface]. What a fun find!

The Way I shop. January 12, 2019

It's Saturday. I had some Bealls cash back coupon things I wanted to use before they expire later this month. I need some new black dress slacks. I need some new work shoes.

So I went shopping. Bleah. I don't like shopping.

First I went to the Post Office, though. Stamps are raising by 5 cents at the end of the month, so I bought a roll.  $50.00 . Ouch. I haven't had a roll in a long time...probably since I sent Christmas cards last, though I think I just bought sheets of Christmas ones when I did that. What? You say you didn't receive a Christmas card from us this year?  That's because I did not send any this year. It just didn't happen. So sorry!

Bealls must be doing inventory.  Nobody was around. The store had gaps and spaces and things moved there and there to accommodate "Yes, it's been inventoried," and "no, it has not been inventoried." But the racks were still labeled.  I picked out a variety of sizes and styles and prices of pants, picked out a few clearancde tops. Tried everything on. Went back to exchange sizes, eliminated a lot that just didn't fit, didn't look good, didn't "speak to me" and ended up with one pair of slacks with no pockets. I hate that there are no pocketes, but the color and fabric and the shape/hang of the pants are okay, so it was worth it.  Only I couldn't remember if these were "Sale" items, or clearance and the tag didn't help.  $40. Really?  I don't know that I could stand to pay $40 for a pair of pants with no pockets.  But they were on sale, so that knocked off $10.  Then I had a coupon. $10 off. Then I had a stackable rewards coupon. $10.00 off.  I paid 10 bucks for my new black slacks (with no pockets.). Not too shabby.

Then I went to Christensen's.  They had 50% off their clearance. I checked all the clearance racks. No items I couldn't live without.  I tried on a pair of Bjorn shoes. I do need new work shoes.  Those were almost OK. If they had been "AAAHHHHh"   perfect, then I would have saved my money and gone back to get them.  My last Bjorn work shoes lasted many years, but now they are worn out. These new ones might be worth $135.  Maybe.  Like I said, I'd have to save up for those puppies.  But they were not perfect...one shoe kind of pinched.  I have to have my feet say, "AAAHHHHHHH" before I'll buy a shoe any more. Sorry. Old, tired feet. They deserve happiness and pampering.  I should have tried on the $90 pair, but they were tan, not black....maybe they can get black? I'll have to check another time, like maybe when they are having a shoe sale. That wasn't today.

Then I went to Deseret Book. I had received a gift coupon from them just yesterday in my email.  I figured it was just a little pamplet.  But no, it's a 160 page book by President Eyring called On the Path Home and I wanted to pick that up. I also knew I had quite a few Platinum rewards points that would be expiring soon, and wanted to spend those on a New Testament study guide for me and Mike to use this year. I like all the online stuff that is available, but sometimes a book is a good thing. They had a rather pricey one, but the points I had more than made it affordable, so I got it.  I also picked up a CHRISTMAS TREE (I said I wasn't going to collect those anymore, but it's so hard to resist sometimes!! I got one earlier this week in Walgreens for 99 cents, too) for a dollar.  And I didn't have to pay a dime. My Platinum Rewards paid for the study guide and the tree with 47 cents to spare. That's my way to shop.  Good deals.

Successful shopping :-)  A rare treat.

Green wire tree from Walgreens

Silver brush tree behind the green wax candle trees.

January 1, 2019/Humanitarian giving

I'll have to get used to typing 2019 instead of 2018. It's a new year!  How did YOU ring it in?

We did nothing special on Monday, New Year's eve.  We did have a brief visit from Casey about noon.  I had texted Katie, thinking they would have left on Sunday to drive home to Denver. Nope. They've been stuck in town at Casey's brother's home with sick kids. The twins took turns being sick--one on Saturday night, all night throwing up, and one all day on Sunday. Needless to say, they didn't go anywhere on Sunday. And on Monday is was so snowy!  The roads would have been awful to try and travel on, so they are waiting another day.

Today is Tuesday and it IS sunny. Cold, but sunny.  We got about 4 or so inches of snow on Monday, as it just came down off and on all day long. It was quite lovely.
This morning my phone weather app said it was 5 degrees. Brrr.

Katie and Casey did finally get out of town, but it was close to 1 pm. They are going to have one long drive home!  But they really got to see a lot of people. Not everyone, but a lot. And their kids basically got two or three Christmases, so what's not to like, huh? It is a lot of driving, but I'm so glad they came for a bit and were able to do so much.

In the snowy Monday afternoon, I did venture out to run an errand for Mike's Mom. He went over later in the evening to take her a card and flowers. New Year's eve was the 10th anniversary of John's passing. We probably should have invited her over, but it was so cold and slippery and we just wanted to hunker down and veg out, not entertain.

To celebrate the new year coming in, Mike watched tv and I listened to an audio book. We did play a few games with Eric and and Matt (who was there for a small amount of time),  but not for long. I think we were in bed by 11 pm on Monday.  We had a toast with some special soda that was a Christmas gift from our neighbors (coconut lime Italian soda? It's in a fancy bottle.)  I really did NOT want to put out a bunch of junky food for just the two of us, so I didn't.  We had three good meals that day and certainly didn't need any more!

But, today for lunch we had some of the "fancy party" foods.  And we ate Eric's left-overs from his party, too!  And we'll have shrimp for dinner tonight because it wasn't quite thawed by lunch time. Lunch time was pita chips and dip, mini sausages, sushi. We've been loving the apple juice and drink it all the time. It does take quite some time to thaw out a full gallon of the stuff, however.

*******************************

This year, Mike and I wanted to donate something through the Humanitarian giving vending machines on Temple Square. Only we were not going to be on Temple Square during that time frame. Since we had family who were planning to be there, we gave them some money and asked that they do it for us. Gail's family took it and went with their kids. Gail wanted to add some and buy a goat, but her "kids informed (her) that that was dumb" so they didn't get a goat.  But they DID get

2 chickens
Eye exam with glasses
Mac and Cheese (food for Utah Food Bank)
Fill a BackPack (lunch on weekends for free lunch student)
Fingerling fishes (for sustainable fish farms for food and income)

Cool, huh?

I was searching around at work on Wednesday, looking at websites about the Giving Machines to find out how much a goat or a chicken was. What I found out was that the lines for the SLC giving machines was long!  I had no idea I had asked my family to do something so time-consuming.  I pictured them just walking up, making a selection and walking away. Nope.

We also gave money to Donna's family, they matched it, and these were their selections:

Fish to start a fish farm (x 3)
Eye exam and glasses (Butch's choice)
Menstruation kits for 5 girls (Donna and Angela's choice)
Polio vaccine for 100 (Elizabeth's choice)

I am so thankful to Gail's family and Donna's family for taking the time to do that for us and for reporting back to us, as well.  I think those "Giving Machines" are the neatest thing and encourage people to truly give.   But we can always give--not just at Christmas time.  It's easy.  If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints, just add something on your regular donation form.  If you're not a member, it's still easy to donate to humanitarian projects and the money will be used wisely.

I'm not quite ready to put away the Christmas decoratons. I do love my Christmas tree collection, and this little house and tree that light up is so pretty. The Christmas tree is nice. It did take me a long while to get it all up, so I think it is okay that it takes me a while to take it all down, though I should do it now, while I have time off work...nah...it can wait and I'll continue to enjoy them all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I'm looking forward to the new year coming and what great things are happening with our family in the year to come!