Scorching the World

Tom and I both slept in and took naps when we needed throughout the day. Tom was completely wiped out and never made it outside for any yard work. That’s how you now how sick he was. He felt much better, but was so dehydrated he had no voice and was very weak. Poor guy. Tanya came over in the afternoon to watch an episode of This is Us. We both love that show so much! She couldn’t stay long enough to watch both of the ones she has missed but it was fun to spend some time with her!   Janna was supposed to be moving out today, or at least that’s what we hoped her plan was, but we could tell she was still home and not making very many sounds at 10am, noon, and even 2pm. Tom texted her at 9am to see if she wanted to borrow our truck. She didn’t reply until 2pm. She said she had a hard time getting going today.   About 7pm, she still had not moved anything out of the studio into her car and texted Tom that she had lost her keys. She wanted some help to look for them. She ...

We gave noticed on our morning walks that the trees are blooming everywhere. They are so pretty! On the ground is what we call California snow. This is our peach tree. Tom was really happy to see that we will have peaches this year! I fear that blossoms in February mean fruit will be frozen in March. But we can hope not. The blossoms are sure beautiful. After our morning walk, Tom was a happy camper doing yardwork all day. His garden looks so good, he had to take pictures and share them with his kids. He has planted flowers next to the vegetables, pulled all the weeds, and watered. It looks so good!   I spent the day doing Clean Queen and not much else. In the evening, I asked him what he wanted to do for date night. He said, “I was planning to weed the garden.” Then he thought about it and said, “Let’s go out.”   We went to Café Rio because he still has gift cards for it. We shared a delicious tostada, Horchata, and even splurged on a lime pie. It was delicious, but ver...

Tom and I went for our walk pretty early this morning. It was 39 degrees outside so we bundled up. I love walking in cold weather! The guys came about 7:30 to finish the garage. I wasn’t too happy with them yesterday when they came about 4 hours later than the first estimate, then quit the install at exactly 5pm, after not accomplishing very much. So today they had to work way beyond sunset to finish. Tom took a lamp out there and hung a work light for them so they could see what they were doing. They worked hard and it took a very long time, but they got it done! We now have a garage! Almost. In progress Finished!!!   Now we need 1.       the inspector to come out and (hopefully) approve it, 2.       then we can build shelves. 3.       After Janna moves out, (hopefully this weekend) 4.       we can take the big garage door from the studio and 5.       ...

We’ve waited for almost /a year to get our garage. There has been delay after delay, but today it is here! They originally said they would be here between 10-12. Then this morning they said they would be here between 12-2:00. They got here between 3-4 and worked until 5pm. Obviously they didn’t get much done, so we really hope they can FINISH it tomorrow because Tom has an inspector coming on Friday. He’s been scheduled for over a week. So exciting! Also, Janna told me today that she got the key to her new house, so she will begin moving out. I imagine it will take her some time because her place is a mess and she has accumulated a lot of STUFF. I also imagine that Tom will loan her his truck to make it easier. Those are guesses; we’ll see. But it is exciting!   As soon as she moves out, and the inspection is done, we can take the large garage door from the studio and put it on the new garage. Then we can build the closet in the studio and install the flooring!! Hooray! Then ...

I t was in the low 40’s when we went for our walk. That’s a little too cold to go without a coat, but almost too warm for the coat when we are halfway back home. Walking sure feels good! Tom needed to get the chain saw that we brought from Trina’s sharpened. While in Madera he ran a couple more errands. I was afraid he wasn’t going to make it home in time to go to our tax appointment at noon, so he suggested I call to see if I could move it back a little. When I did, they told me it was at 2pm. I am positive it was originally scheduled for noon. She gave me a choice between the two and I chose the earlier one. Good thing they mixed it up so Tom had time to get home and go with me.   We got the taxes all settled, signed, and paid, then ran back home because I was getting messages from Clean Queen I needed to take care of.   Back at home Tom worked on cutting the pine tree in the back the rest of the way down, then cutting up the branches and hauling them to the other ...

 Notes from STake Conference 2/21/21 2/20/21 Stake Conf Adult session President Tucker Ships don’t sink because they are in deep water; they sink when water gets inside them. Don’t let what is going on around you get inside you and weigh you down. Establish a house of God, a sanctuary. Things we should be doing in the home – studying the gospel, studying scriptures, praying, sharing our testimony, speak anxiously about returning to the temple – having it opened again. Check to renew your recommend.   Elder Slaughter Story of apostles and the boat about to sink. Two ways to look at that – place blame, get angry, scared, “Carest thou not that we parish?” or “Look, he’s sleeping soundly. I guess there isn’t anything to worry about.” If we trust God, these days of illness, pandemic, contagion, catastrophies, etc, will not worry us. Trust God. The true meaning of the year 2020 isn’t the COVID year or the year of the worldwide pandemic. The thing to remember about 20...

Tom and I both were invited to the morning Leadership meeting of Stake Conference at 8am. I was glad we got to go together. That meeting was so incredibly good. I left inspired to do better in my calling and in my life. So good. I have to type up the notes and send them to the ward relief society counselors that I’m over. We had understood that the main session was on-line only so we headed home, had breakfast and set up to watch the main session of conference. Again, it was a really good meeting. Such an uplifting bunch of meetings!   I had a zoom stake missionary committee meeting at 1pm. I logged on and waited and waited. Finally someone got on and said they were having technical difficulties. They turn off the internet in the building to do the broadcast, then couldn’t figure out how to start it again for the meeting. They finally got it figured out, but it was looking for a little while like it would get postponed. I love that meeting, working with the mission president,...

All day today Tom kept thinking it was Monday. He had to call somebody to help him move a refrigerator for Janna and asked him when he would be off work. Brent, our friend, said he wasn’t working today. Tom wondered why he was off work.   When we went for our morning walk, Tom was saying something work-ish he wanted to do “tomorrow”. I said, “you mean Monday.” He said, “tomorrow”. And I said, “you mean Monday.” He finally realized today was Saturday and had to adjust his whole mind again. That happened all day. He was very confused. Don’t know why.   Tom worked all day cutting down (or rather cutting back our pine tree that is hanging over our house. It looked like was falling over onto our house. He cut and cut. And cut. And cut up the branches and cut logs up for firewood. It was a lot of work and dangerous enough that I couldn’t bear to watch.   Plus it was super cold (40) with a wind so I didn’t even want to be outside. I did STUFF. Like laundry, cleaning, C...

We felt like we had overstayed our time at Trina’s so we decided to go home this morning. Trina and Chris aren’t planning to move until their renter is gone, and they think she will be there until the end of March, so there isn’t a lot more we can pack until they are actually ready to move. And I think we were all ready for a break from packing. Tom made a wonderful breakfast again while I did a whole lot of Clean Queen work. I finally finished about the time we were all finished eating; then we loaded the car and took off. It was a nice trip home. It’s nice when it’s just the two of us because we can stop whenever we want and drive as long as we want and eat wherever we want. I like just being together, the two of us!   We got home about 3pm and spent the rest of the day unpacking, doing laundry, and doing Clean Queen payroll. It was a nice trip and fun to be with Pettus’, but so good to be home again. I love our bed!  

Today we packed music. Trina has shelves and shelves of piano books and wonderful sheet music. She had to sort slowly through every piece of music and each book to see if it was needed or whether she could part with it. There was a lot of music she had written out by hand, so it was hard to let go. It might sound boring, but since I love music and love seeing the beautiful way she can write out the notes, etc., it was quite fun. And we always have a good time doing whatever we do together. We managed to get all the music packed, so the front room that Trina calls the school room is mostly packed except for the school books that she probably has to return. Then we went through all of her CD’s of music and audio books. She had about 6 boxes, and we had to sort them into categories and match covers to discs, so it too a long time. Again. I had a LOT of Clean Queen that kept interrupting me, so she did much of it alone.   I had Relief Society at 7pm and was tempted to skip it bec...

Trina is such a trooper. In between homeschooling her kids and running a household, we managed to go through all of her music storage, craft supplies, and office supplies. We emptied two shelf units. Tom dismantled the shelves that previously had books on them and bought more packing supplies. Most of the day (or it seemed most of the day) he talked to Geneva, or rather let her talk to him. She never runs out of things to talk about and comment on and he was willing to listen to her ALL DAY. Trina said the first two days (turned out to be 3 days) of packing would be the hardest because she was trying to get rid of things she really didn’t need, and to sort and put in order the keepers as she packed them. It is a very slow process.   It was so nice that Tom was willing to cook for us. He put together wonderful meals every few hours and surprisingly, the kids ate almost everything he cooked!

  In spite of being so very tired, I really didn’t sleep well. I was too cold, and I kept hearing someone banging things in the kitchen – around midnight, and again around 4am. I finally got warm after I figured out I had lost almost all of my blankets. Sadly, Geneva was up for seminary a couple of hours after that. Trina and I spent all day packing books. We took breaks to eat, but from early to exhaustion, we packed books in her library. She brought down books from upstairs, from kids’ rooms, and other rooms, and just packed and packed. It took a long time because she methodically went through them to take out duplicates and those she no longer needed. We got rid of a bunch, but there are still lots of boxes of books.   We took a short break so she could home-school her kids and I did some Clean Queen, and a short break when Tom and I really needed a nap, but I ended up working CQ through that.   Tom went to the store to buy boxes and some groceries and to tak...

  WE GOT TO GO TO REAL LIVE CHURCH TODAY! How exciting! Tom went to real live Ward Council at 9am and got home just in time for us to leave to go to Sacrament meeting. It was so nice to see people in person and get to say hi (from a distance instead of hugs) – but it was NICE to see people in person instead of tiny Zoom pictures.   The talks were more wonderful in person, and it was special to be able to take the Sacrament with a whole congregation. So nice. So nice.   We BARELY got home in time for Priesthood and RS on zoom because we couldn’t bear to not stay and socialize a little after the meeting. But I helped Tom get set up and started, and when I logged into Relief Society, they had already had the beginning, announcements, and prayer. The lesson was just starting.   It was a good lesson with a good discussion about the angels around us.   After those meetings, we left to go to Knudsen’s house instead of them coming here this time. We ha...

Throughout this day we saw what some people would call LUCKY, or “wow, that worked out well!”, or fantastic coincidences, but Tom and I believe this day was full of Tender Mercies from God. First of all, we had to get rid of our hid-a-bed sofa. When we got new furniture, there was no longer room for it, and it was too broken to use anyway. Tom had Kamila help him move it to the truck, and I listed it on Craig’s List. He got a message almost immediately last night. He called them back today, and arranged to deliver it to them at 9am. We were urgent to get it out of the truck before the rain started. It was a Tender Mercy that it did not rain last night! It was TENDER MERCY that someone responded to the ad so soon and took the couch, all before the cement people or the rain came! Amazing! And the guy that bought it does construction, so Tom got his number for future jobs! Another TM!   Tom has been watching the weather all week. Today we needed to have the rest of our cement po...

On Fridays I always confirm all the appointments for the next week. When I looked at the calendar first thing in the morning (after our walk) I realized I didn’t have one single day filled up for next week! I panicked not knowing where I would get a whole bunch of appointments out of thin air to fill the week! I texted the dilemma to Lilian. First we decided we could take Monday, President’s Day, off. Then she said she would post a special for next week on Facebook, and I told her I would send a special offer to all of our clients in a mass mailing. Mass mailings take a lot of time because I have to create a clean list – I have to take all the clients from our app, take out all the regular clients, take out the clients that live in areas too far away, and take out the clients we don’t like. Then instead of using a mailing program which an intelligent, tech savvy person (which I am not) would do, I email all of them in group messages.   I created a cute announcement, then sent...

As I stumbled out of our bedroom this morning, Kamila greeted me in the hall, fully dressed and obviously had been up for quite a while. She said she got a message on her email that she could change the internet name and password and wanted to know if I wanted her to do that. We are both puzzled as to why the “internet” would ask her instead of the primary account holder, me, but we went ahead and had her do it, so now we have a good name and password set up. At 10am I picked up little bags of cookies from Sue Davis to deliver to serve as reminders and refreshments for our zoom meeting in the evening. We each in the presidency delivered 1 or 2 to the ward presidents. I only had to deliver one, but it was in a gated community with lots of different street addresses, but matching apartment addresses, so it took us quite a while to locate the right set of buildings and the right door. Tricky because none of the doors had numbers on them. The numbers were way up high on the buildings. An...

After watching lots of videos on the Second Coming, Tom and I decided the most important thing for us to do was get our year’s supply. He bought big boxes of toilet paper and paper towels at Smart and Final, and we spent some time looking at freeze dried foods online. We chose what seemed like good combinations of meat, vegetables, and fruits and ordered them a couple of days ago. The website said because of heavy demand, it will take more than a month to arrive but we got 13 boxes delivered to our doorstep today! So exciting! Tom was worried about where we could store all that, but I fit it easily in the backs of our many cabinets in our kitchen. That was super exciting. Now we just need to go to Costco to get a few other things and then we’re set and don’t have to worry about it anymore. We also still need to figure out some water storage. We have the swimming pool water, but need to have a way to filter it if our regular water supply is cut off or contaminated.   We also g...