Scorching the World

I was happy that Tom was here to go to Laurel’s class with me. I was also grateful that I am retired and can go to the class and listen and take notes completely undisturbed! When we got home I typed up the notes from this class and last week’s and posted them on my other blog. her classes are so good, but it is hard to take notes – she has said that she talks as fast as she can so she can share the most information possible.   I think we are getting lazy. Tom is tired of always being behind on the yard. I have a guy coming on Tuesdays to see if he can do the regular yardwork so Tom can just focus on the fun stuff. I hope that will help.   Tom promised not to take a nap today because he was up most of the night unable to sleep. But about 2pm, he got so sleepy, he couldn’t stay awake. Hope he can sleep tonight!   In the late afternoon we did some yard work, mostly cleaning up and winterizing the back patio. He picked the last of the grapes. They are small, bu...

Today is Marc’s birthday! I love my middle son! I wish we could see them more often!   I got on the computer first thing to fix some things and found yet another reminder to get my California REAL ID. It said I could do all of it online and actually upload all the documents. That would mean when I went to DMV (which is never a pleasant experience) I would be there way less time. So I started the process but kept coming up on a problem that wouldn’t let me finish. I spent quite a while on it while I waited for my video appointment with my doctor at 9am.  I finally got it where I thought it was finished, so I looked online to set an appointment to go in to finish it. I was shocked to see that I could come in today at 10:30am! So I decided to go ahead and set that appointment! Hooray for finally getting something done that I’ve been putting off for a couple of years!   My video doctor appointment went well. She ordered some lab work to be done to check my thyroid and c...

We went for a walk this morning for the first time since summer began. It was 58 degrees and so nice! We got to say hi to people in the neighborhood who we haven’t seen all summer. The rest of the day we did home stuff. Tom had to finish up and send in the reports from his work for Synergy last week. We figured out how much the rent from Tiffany, our new renter would be and collected it, then figured out how much we owed our old renter Devynn and sent it to her. We worked on other computer stuff, I practiced, Tom did a little yard work until the bin was too full, and stuff like that. It was just a pleasure to be together all day!   All it takes to remember our greatest blessings is to be without them for a little while! I’m so grateful for my honey!

I went to the church about an hour early so I could practice the organ, and met Tom there. There is an area of the shower that we are afraid might not be waterproof, so Tom bought some silicone sealer on the way to his early meetings. We have a new renter moving in tonight, so it has to be sealed today. The meetings were good, especially Judy Johnson’s relief society lesson. She is a wonderful teacher and uses her beautiful powerpoint presentations to solicit more discussion. It’s always so good!   When we got home we worked on the studio, finishing some cleaning, and setting some things up better. The new renter, Tiffany, came and liked the apartment. She was very grateful to have it and at a great price. She seems to be a pretty amazing person. She is a nurse, she seems quite young but all of her children are grown and gone, and has a grandchild of 6. I would have thought she had a child of 6, not a grandchild of that age! When she told us she bought a house and gave her ...

Tom has been spoiling me for the past month, at every opportunity. Every time we were in a store or he saw the occasion, he would say he would buy that for my birthday or suggest things for me to do on my birthday, or fix a special meal and say it was for my birthday, or find some other way to spoil me. So I really didn’t expect or need him to do anything else today. We had to go to the church at 8am to help clean the building. We have a very large building compared to others that we’ve helped clean in the past. It is built for 3 wards, and now it falls to one ward to clean the whole thing. The people in charge have organized it so all you have to do is take a card, do what it says, then return the card when you’re done. Tom and I chose to wipe hard surfaces and empty garbages. Halfway through, we found someone else who was emptying garbages, so we gave him our card and just wiped surfaced for the rest of the building. It took us about an hour, then we left.   We had errands ...

I had a headache last night which lingered all day. I blamed it on not sleeping well this whole week, and then having a big meal too late last night.  Tom expected to get home about 3pm, but that kept getting pushed back throughout the afternoon. I couldn't wait for him to get here. Tom and Caeli finished up their work, checked out, and headed towards the Bay Area. I’m not sure what time they got to Tami’s house, but Tom thought it was strange that she just opened her bedroom window and talked to them through the window instead of inviting them in. She confessed that she has COVID! I feel so bad that she got it. Phil had it and Nina had it, but I really hoped and prayed that she would be spared. She is already sick enough without adding COVID. I sure hope and pray with all my heart that she heals, and quickly.   Tom’s purpose to be there was to pick up his Comet And drive it home. It isn’t completely done, but Phil needs it out of his parking area because they are moving...

I didn’t sleep well last night, but at least I was able to actually go to bed (instead of sleeping on the couch) and sleep all night without drugs. I’m pretty proud of myself for that. I woke up the last time at 6:30 and got up. That was a much better start to the day! I was able to shower, get ready, clean the pool, and get other things ready before leaving for Laurel Lawrence’s class. I was so happy to be able to go! She discontinued the classes all through Covid, and just finally started them up again 3 weeks ago. I had to miss the first classes because we were out of town, so I was especially happy to go today. She has been encouraging people to carpool to eliminate so many cars parked on her street, so I got the idea to call Sue Davis and carpool with them. They are right on my way to Lawrence’s house! Plus it is fun to have that extra time to be with them. They are fun people.   Our Stake RS Roundtable dinner was tonight, so I spent some time finishing preparations for ...

I did sleep a little better, so I was functional all day! Hooray! I got up a little slowly, got dressed, and as soon as I came out to the kitchen, Tanya came in. She had been calling and texting that they were coming over but I didn’t have the phone in the bedroom, so I was a pleasantly surprised. Todd is doing a little better each day, but continues with delusions about some things. At least she said he slept last night, so that’s a good thing!   Todd had some shirts he wanted mended, and Tanya had a pair of pajamas to fix, so we spent the time in the sewing room/office. She assigned Todd to pull saw palm starts out of the ground in the back yard. He is really good at it and pulled a ton of them. I also got him to remove a spider I had trapped in the laundry room. I put a cup over it, and planned to leave it there until Tom got home! I got nervous every time I passed it, so I’m glad that now it is gone!   He played the piano a little, but his music, instead of filli...

I did fall asleep when I went to bed, but woke up again about 3am. I eventually took something to help me sleep, and ended up sleeping past when I wanted to get up. I wanted to go to Nina Lincoln’s graveside service at 10 and got up too late to make it. I felt so bad; I really wanted to go to that! I loved Nina and am sad she is gone. I managed to go run the errands I didn’t ever do yesterday, but couldn’t get up the energy to start any of the projects I want to do.   I got to chat with my sisters, which was by far the best part of the day! We don’t talk about anything that would be interesting to anybody else in the world, but it is fun for us!   I finally worked up some energy in the afternoon and put a first coat of paint on some of the walls in the main bathroom. It sure looks bad right now, so I hope it looks better after the 2 nd coat.   I also started to fix two dresses that I bought before our trip. They were both too short on the sides and each nee...

Well, vacations are over and we are back to real life. Tom is back to work up in the mountains and I’m left alone again. Now that I’m retired, I could have gone with him, but I have a Stake Relief Society dinner on Thursday that I can’t miss. So I have set up a ton of projects that I want to get done while he’s gone. We’ll see how much I can do. Tom told me last night that he wanted to leave by 7am, but we slept until 7:30 almost, and he didn’t seem in a hurry. He spent some time packing and getting his ducks in order, then left to go get copies at the office. Caeli came to meet him here while he was gone so it was fun for me that I got to visit with her a little while. She is such a cutie, if I can just get her to take out her headphones long enough to carry on a conversation!   I did a couple of loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, including the stove top, and swept and mopped the whole house. Then I was ready for a nap!   I did some sewing and mending in the aft...

We went to Church in other wards 2 Sundays while on vacation, so it was nice to go to our own ward again. Sacrament meeting was good. A High Counselor spoke about the gift of the Holy Ghost. I took notes because it was so good, I want to remember it. Sunday School was also good. We had a substitute teacher who taught well. The most urgent thing for us at home was to get a nap. Apparently we are still recuperating from the trip, especially the long drive home. So we slept about half hour before Tanya and the boys came over.   Tom made us a good lunch and I showed them pictures from all our travels. Then Tanya needed a nap and boys needed to do homework, so Tom and I did our own things until Todd had called 3 times so Tanya woke up to answer the phone. We got to chat with Trina to wish Ziona happy birthday which she celebrated while we were gone. It’s always fun to talk to them.  Tanya took her boys home in time for their Bishop fireside and Tom and I spent the rest of t...

We got up slowly, had a late breakfast, and took it easy. Tom needed to go try to buy a door to replace the one Todd broke when he was staying here during his manic phase but didn’t go looking until about 4pm. He only had time to go to 2 stores but wasn’t able to find one. I spent the day putting things away, doing laundry and cleaning up from the trip. Since we still had time, we put some nails into the very broken door to hold it together until we can replace it. Tom is leaving Monday morning to work in the mountains for a week so I couldn’t have it hanging open all week. At least now it closes now, even if it isn’t secure at all. We finished that just in time to leave for the game.   We met Tanya and her boys there. They had friends with them, so we were quite a group, but most of the time I felt like I was the only one watching or reacting to the game. It isn’t very fun to get all excited all alone, so after a while I just stopped whistling and yelling and sat there quiet...

This was the day that the whole last half of our trip was planned around. Today Anne had set up an appointment for the Bowns, Morris’, and Tom and I to go to the Provo temple together to do Lynn’s endowment. When Anne handed the card to Tom, he teared up. It was such a privilege and joy to be able to do that work for him. We don’t know if Lynn is ready, but we do know that now the work is done for whenever HE is ready. We were in a really nice hotel that had exercise equipment and a swimming pool but didn’t have time to even look at them. We got to the hotel late last night, then this morning, we spent all our time just getting ready. I had to iron my dress and Tom ironed his brand new shirt, and then we got all dressed up for the temple. We did grab a little of their free breakfast, then headed out.   It was silly that we ate, because we met Carma and Anne at a restaurant called Molly’s. The food was so good! I was feeling way over-full, and not sure if any of it was going t...

Renee made a wonderful breakfast for us and before we left, they took us to see the Layton temple that is under construction. It is so huge! It will be beautiful! Actually, it already is beautiful!   We drove to Salt Lake City where we planned to visit with Consuelo and Camila Marambio, daughters of a family we loved in Illapel, Chile. Consuelo is here visiting her sister for a couple of months so we were excited her visit coincided with our trip to Utah. Camila goes to Ensign College in SLC, so we met them there. We visited with Camila a little then she said, “well, I leave her in your hands.” We were surprised because we didn’t know they were thinking we would spend the afternoon with Consuelo! But we figured we would make it work.   Tom drove around temple square a little and showed Consuelo the various buildings there, then he found a parking place and we went inside the Conference Center. Camila actually served a mission there, so she can do the full tour with Consu...

  Seeing Renee 9/15 We got up early enough to be able to hug and say goodbye to everyone before they left for their various activities for the day. Every day Becky has a breakfast out and ready to eat whenever we get to the kitchen to eat. That’s so nice of her because there is no pressure to be there on time for breakfast, especially since everyone else eats breakfast at their own time.     We got everything packed and loaded, made sure we didn’t forget anything, and said our final goodbyes. It sure is hard to leave that family.   Tom always has a lot of people he wants to see on the way south, but this time he limited it to Fawn, a lady from his childhood whose mother died recently, and Olivia King. He made arrangements to visit with Fawn in the evening and thought we could leave Ray and Renee for a little while, and we stopped at Olivia’s in time for lunch.   She always has wonderful food, a beautiful table setting, and elegant presentation wh...

Tom and I woke up again about 3am. Normally he would get up and watch tv for a while and normally I would do some computer work for a while. But we both stayed in bed and gradually Tom fell asleep. I think I was awake until about 6 because it was getting light outside. So we slept in a little later. Plus I wanted to shower after everyone had left for school and work. Hence, a late start. I wanted to fix one of the dresses I bought before coming, so I began working on that. The sides are too short, and it is longer in the front and back, so on Becky’s suggestion, I cut off from the front and back and sewed them onto the sides. It took most of my spare time during the day.   There is a young woman in Becky’s ward from Chile, so Becky set up a lunch for us (Becky, Tom, me, Belen (from Chile) and Amy and Maggie. We met at Bona Vida. The food was good but the conversation was the best. It was so fun to talk to someone from Chile. We love all things Chilean and it’s fun to be with ...