Scorching the World

8/28      Friday Tom said he would only need to work till about 2pm today so we planned to go on a date and catch a movie. Unfortunately he didn’t get home till almost 4, which should be early enough to get to a show but the one we wanted to see only had a matinee today. So we stayed home and watched an old James Bond movie. We still appreciate being able to cuddle on the couch together, and we still really appreciate HAVING a couch to sit on. Two years without a couch made us really appreciate a comfortable place to sit and relax! We were supposed to hear back from the offer we put on the land but no word yet. 8/29    The retreat We actually had three things to do today. Tom felt we really needed to go to Fresno and help work on the list of things that need done for the appraiser, to help move that process along. We also had a magic show that we were going to go to that was a fundraiser for a school – somebody Ryan and Anitta are related to. I...

Tom got to work from home today, and said it should only take a couple of hours and that we could go to the temple as soon as he finished. He had a conference call at 11am, so we thought we could go after that. I kept myself busy with other things, and finally at 12pm he said we could go. So we hurried and got ready and took off. We didn't hit any heavy traffic, so we thought we might actually make it in time for the 2pm session, but Tom missed the right exit and we arrived about 3 minutes too late. So we went to do sealings! That was really wonderful. I love listening to the words pronounced over and over. Maybe one day I'll understand it! We finished just in time to go to the 3pm session. It was in the big room which holds so many memories for me. It is the room where I first went just before leaving on my mission. It is where my parents served for so many years; it seems the halls are filled with memories of them every time I go. It was a wonderful experience!!! After,...

Monday the 24 th Tom went to work and I worked on Tracey’s birthday present.  I love it when I have so little to tell! But one other thing happened: We found a building lot not too far from Tami and Phil’s house – maybe 2 miles uphill – and set an appointment with the Realtor to put an offer on it. The appointment is tomorrow! We're super excited and extremely nervous! On Tuesday the 25 th Tom worked and I worked on Tracey’s present. In the evening the realtor came, arriving about 5 minutes after Tom got here. We signed papers and talked about some of the ins and outs of building a house. It was so exciting to sign papers, and super, super scary! What if it costs too much? What if we get half done and can’t afford the rest? What if we aren’t ever approved for a loan? What if everything goes wrong? What if we can’t agree on any design decisions? Oh golly. On Wednesday the 26 th Tom went to work and I worked on Tracey’s present. I’ve been working on it for several ...

We had to go early again; every other Sunday Tom has ward council and has to be there by 8am. I took advantage of that time to sit in the chapel and time my talk. It was consistently about 25 minutes! I figured it should be between 15-20, so I kept crossing paragraphs off to get it shorter. All I can say is that both of our talks turned out good; Tom’s turned out GREAT. We were the only speakers, so when I started I saw I had about 25-30 minutes, so I ended up adding back in everything I had crossed off. That still gave Tom almost 20 minutes for his, and his was sooooo good! I should have recorded it. I know if I post it, it will be lacking all the extra little wonderful things he added off the top of his head, so I won’t even try, but I gotta say, he has come a long way! He’s turned into a wonderful speaker! I could see it in the faces of the whole congregation! After church we had choir, and the size of the choir almost doubled, which was fantastic! None of them seem t...

Saturday we really didn't do much! We had some things we had planned to do, but got caught up in just having fun. A few weeks ago Phil brought a couple of beautiful, large Asparagus ferns that were both too overgrown for the pots, so Tom finally got those planted in the yard. We were excited to have some green in the yard, especially since we've found that the deer have completely left them alone. I could be happy with a whole yard of Asparagus fern if the deer will leave it alone. There really isn't much they don't eat! So he got them beautifully planted and watered, and within a couple of hours we caught one of the deer grazing happily on them! I shewed her away, but I fear our ferns are in trouble. I don't know why they would leave them alone in the pots then eat them when they are planted! I politely asked the doe to not eat the Asparagus fern and to leave it alone and walk away, which she did. I worked on a gift for Tracey most of the day while ...

8/19        Wednesday Tom went to Chico again and I stayed home and worked on projects again. That’s about it. It was super wonderful and pleasant. 8/20        We thought we could go to Fremont today and I was going to visit Trina while Tom went to San Leandro, but he had to go back to Chico again, or areas near there. So I had another nice day home. My Miata was still at the repair shop and since he didn’t get back in time to pick it up on Wednesday, we went to Napa today after he got home. We went down in the van; I started some shopping while he paid for the repairs on the Miata, then we headed back in our separate cars. I can go up the winding roads so much faster in the Miata than is possible in the van or truck, that I got way, way ahead of him. I love driving up the hill in the Miata! But then I got behind a couple of slow cars and he eventually caught up with me. In the evening we just relaxed till bedtime....

Aug 18                   Tom had to go to Chico today and left about 8am. It’s always fun getting him out the door because he always needs help finding some reports or needs something printed, help finding files, getting water for the road, etc., etc. He never can get out the door without a bit of last-minute help. I love that he needs me. Today I had a good excuse to do nothing: I had no car. So I pulled out my sewing machine and adjusted some knit tops I have, and made a new cover for my giant hymnbook. It was fun taking it easy, sewing, and catching up on tv shows.  One of the things I watched was a BYU devotional that had recorded. It didn’t sound very exciting as a topic – Priesthood Quorums and Relief Societies – but as I listened to it, I could see it was perfectly what Tom was looking for for his talk this Sunday. We both have to speak and a lot of the computer time we’ve had...