Scorching the World

Today was a deep clean in the temple. About 30 people came up from Hanford to help clean some of the things that don’t get done in our regular cleanings. I didn’t go because Tom said there would be plenty of people there and because this cleaning would take several hours and I can’t be gone from the phone that long. He told me later it was organized chaos with so many people there. People couldn’t vacuum very quickly because they had to be careful around people on ladders; it was hard to clean the bathrooms with so many people in and out and working, and every other area had equal complications. Also, it was hard to keep track of his people because they looked just like the people who were helping Scott (our leader). It was a good thing I wasn’t needed because my Clean Queen work was pretty steady busy the whole time Tom was gone. Today there was a funeral for Betty Cleveland. She was almost the matriarch of all of Fresno. That may be an exaggeration, but she touched and influenced t...

I had got to go to the 7:30am leadership meeting as part of Stake Conference. It was not easy to get going after having such a tiring day yesterday, but when I got there, I sat down with Janice and Tammy. Sue is sick, so she wasn’t able to attend. Before the meeting started, I saw Lynne Wilson come in, head up to the stand, then turn around and sit in the middle of one of the long empty benches towards the front, right across from us. I told Janice I couldn’t let her sit there all alone and had to go sit by her, so Janice and Tammy went with me. They were not so aware of her celebrity status and let me sit by her. When we sat down, I told Lynne we couldn’t let her sit there all alone. She put her arm around me and patted my back and we got to chat just a little before the meeting started. She said she doesn’t always know if she is supposed to be on the stand with her husband or not, so she headed up there, and if there is not an empty seat next to him, she knows she needs to sit so...

I almost thought for a short minute that today was going to be a day where we had nothing scheduled and could take it easy. But then I woke up. We had to be at the stake center by 10:30am. That means that Janice, the president of the stake RS would be there by at least 10:15. We got some things done in the morning and got there at 10:14 and Janice was already there beginning to set up. We were feeding the 4 stakes of Young Single Adults. They had already set up the tables and chairs. We just had to put on the tablecloths, napkins, forks and spoons, bottled water, salsa, and chips in bowls. We finished almost an hour before the thing was supposed to start so we sat down and chatted while Tammy Parker went to the restaurant to pick up our order. No, we didn’t cook the food! When Tammy came back with the food, we put it in the warmers in the kitchen and got ready to serve. At noon there were only a handful of YSA there. The slowly trickled in and by the time everyone was there, I ...

I did plenty of Clean Queen before we went to the temple. Tom went to work and was able to finish fast even though it was raining much of the time. It has rained so hard and fast, that we have a major moat in front of our front yard that goes to the middle of the street! Our sidewalk, which we raised higher than the ground is 2 “ under water. It’s so cool. But Tom was able to stay dry most of the time he worked. When we got to the temple and when we left, it was barely sprinkling, but it rained hard before and after. So nice! We very much enjoyed being hold up in our cozy house with a fire the rest of the day! We still keep reminding ourselves how grateful we are for rain, and even more, we’re grateful we aren’t out in it! So grateful for our warm, dry house!

Our stake hosted BYU’s Vocal Point tonight. That meant that the stake Relief Society had to assign ward to feed them lunch and dinner and make sure they did it. That was fairly easy. Some of our presidency also focused on advertising and trying to get the word out to get as many as possible to attend. In the end they sold about 700 tickets for the high school auditorium that can hold 1800. Not too bad. Anyway, we spent the day with the usual. Tom worked in the yard, or at least planned to. We were working in the office when he got a call from the person who is supposed to rent the extra room in Christian’s house. He had arranged to see her to get her deposit tomorrow, but she called to say she was at the house and wondered where he was. ??? I guess she thinks he lives there or something. So he jumped in his truck and rushed over there to meet her and take her deposit and first month’s rent while I went to Cannon’s tennis match. It was bitter cold outside. The car thermometer said i...

When Tom was on his way to work, he saw that the power was still out in a major part of Fresno. That wind did some serious damage here and there. I’m grateful our power was not knocked out! Tom had a doctor appointment first thing. I wished I could have gone with him, but I didn’t dare leave the computer that time of the morning. And it was a good thing I stayed home. Due to super heavy snowfall in Utah, all our appointments canceled or postponed except 2. We only had 1 team working today. I spent quite a while getting all the other clients happily scheduled on other days. Utah was a mess! We had heavy rains predicted but we never saw them. When we got up, the ground was wet, but when we left for the temple, the sky was clear with fluffy clouds. When we came out of the temple, the sky looked the same, but everything was wet again so we knew it rained. Later we went out to dinner. The sky was cloudy, but it wasn’t raining. When we came out of the restaurant, everything was wet a...

Again I had a lot of Clean Queen before leaving for the temple. We had a fairly good crew there and enjoyed the work and just being there. Before we left we could see that it was REALLY WINDY outside. The trees were blowing like crazy. At home we were warm and cozy and got a lot done. Tom is spending most of his free time trying to get a renter for Trina’s Madera house. He calls the references, calls the perspective renters, sends the applications (with my help), studies them, etc., etc. Cannon had a tennis match today at 4:30, so we went to that. The tennis courts are all very close together, and there is no place to sit or stand except on the street side of the fence. The wind was blowing so strong and crazy in circles that we kept getting dust in our eyes and tree droppings in our hair. Fortunately, there was a parking space there, so Tom put the car there and we sat in the car to watch. It was really fun to watch the game. Cannon made some great shots and saves, but the wind ...

I spent most of the time before going to the temple doing Clean Queen, and as soon as we got back I spent most of the rest of the rest of the day on it. Working in the temple was nice, as always. There are almost always other people/companies doing extra cleanings or repairs. Today there were people there from Sacramento cleaning the grout in all the bathrooms. It all looks so much better! Amazing! But it make it so we didn’t need to Swiffer or mop the bathroom floors, which saved a lot of time. Tom and I each did several jobs again. Tanya brought Cannon and Kaden over to help Tom with some yardwork. They agreed to come because Tom said he would make them breakfast. By then it was almost noon, but those things don’t matter. As soon as we got home from the temple, Tom left to go get some supplies from Lowe’s. They got here while he was gone and I was doing Clean Queen, so I got them started peeling potatoes. Then they all made breakfast and invited me to join them when it was ready....

Tom went with me again to the Ward Conference. This time it was 5 th Ward. They have a very big ward with some great leaders and a lot of members who are elderly, handicapped, and/or needy. It was fun to be there, but they didn’t have a linger-longer and all I had for breakfast was a piece of toast. That meeting ended at noon and then Tom and I went down to look at a motorhome. We were WISHING we could afford one to use on our trip with Knudsens to Nauvoo in June and for our cross-country trip someday. This was listed at under $7000 but when we got there we saw it was way over priced! It needed a lot of work and was very old. Tom dropped me off at my stake missionary committee meeting at 2pm, then went home. I love that meeting and just being part of the lives of those who attend. When he came back, he brought me some lunch, which I scarfed down before choir practice at 3:30. This was our last practice. I will be glad to not have that added thing every Sunday, but I will miss si...

Tom worked in the yard, digging and planting. He worked a lot. He was in a lot of pain by the end of the day. I did these things made bread exercised practiced the piano worked on my new painting   At night we had popcorn and a movie. Super nice day! It's not done yet. I'm trying to use old canvases that had paintings that I removed. I started on one, and decided it was awful, so I threw it away and started all over. I'm liking it so far. 

After Tom left for work, I stayed in my pajamas until time to get ready for the temple, which is now all morning. It’s silly that I would rather hangout, work, clean, exercise, etc., in my pajamas than change clothes twice, but that’s what I did. But one other consideration is that we turn off our heat at night and I don’t want to take a shower until it is a lot warmer in the house! Tom got home from his job a full hour before time for us to leave, so he had lunch and still had time to check emails. We only had 1 person show up to clean today! Our wonderful daughter did a temple session at 11, and then stayed to see whether we needed her help. We definitely did, so we were go grateful for her! We managed to get some of the important things done, and Tom and I each did a couple of jobs, so it took longer than it should have, but it was still wonderful being there. We were so glad to have Tanya! I’m pretty sure the temple president will be calling that stake president, who will be ca...

We had an appointment with our tax person at 9am. Before that, Tom went to a neighbor’s house where they are cutting down trees, so he could gather some wood for next year’s cozy fires. Our tax appointment took 1 hour and I was able to handle the few Clean Queen things that came up. I think next year we will do it all remotely, even though Tom does love talking to the people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, so he had to tell her 2 jokes while we were there. I’m sure his whole purpose to live is to brighten other people’s days. He picked up several more truck loads of firewood throughout the rest of the day, with a short break for our afternoon nap. I threatened him with selling the house and buying a condo if he didn’t take it easy because he was aching all over from all this stuff he isn’t supposed to be doing! I spent the day at the computer until time to leave for Relief Society. Tom decided to go with me so he could hang out with his friends and also do his part of the ...

Now that we go to the temple ½ hour later, we seem to have a very long morning on Wednesdays and Fridays. It is amazing how much difference ½ hour makes! I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 9am, so I left at 8:30. Now that we don’t have dental insurance, we only go once a year but the hygienist was very impressed that I didn’t have much plaque. She assumed I brushed 3 or 4 times/day and floss every day once or twice. That made me feel good! I got a bit of Clean Queen done before time to go to the temple. We had a good crew again and it was a pleasure to be there, for sure. I was shocked when I left the temple that there were NO messages or missed calls! Amazing! Definitely a blessing for serving! The rest of the day is a ditto from the days before. We enjoyed being home, enjoyed the yard, enjoyed being together, etc., etc. We really try not to take these things for granted! We are so grateful that neither of us has died and we get to enjoy these extra years together! ...

I was actually still asleep when Tom left for work at 6:30am! That’s highly unusual for me and It felt great! It was valentine’s day today and to celebrate, I had pink mashed potatoes for lunch. I spent the morning trying to exercise to get warm, and doing Clean Queen and other computer work. It’s been colder again, but I don’t dare complain because everyone else I know lives where it is colder than here. The best part of the day was chatting with my sisters. We talk earlier now, which works better for me because we’re off the call before Tom gets home. It’s so fun to talk. I keep a list of things I want to share or hear their opinions on. So fun! I got back on the elliptical to get warm. Trina’s house in Madera where Christian lives is losing one of the renters, so we spent some time answering inquiries about it and sent out one application. I hope we can get a renter there soon. I’m grateful for nice days where not much happened. But even more than that, I’m grateful for ...

Happy birthday to my middle daughter! We adore her and miss her so much! I’m grateful for her faithfulness, but mostly I’m grateful for technology so we could watch her open presents! We went to the temple early as usual. This time we had a great team of 11! I think that is the largest group we’ve had since we started with North Stake in January. All the people who come to help clean are wonderful people and I love meeting them and getting to know them. We hurried home from the temple because I had a ton of Clean Queen messages to follow up on, but also because Tanya and Todd had gone to help clean and then planned to come over to watch A Man Called Ove. They both liked it as much as I did, but Tom fell asleep again and missed the whole thing. Again. Then they watched So Help Me Todd, and Tanya laughed most of the way through just like I did. By then Tom had gone out to work in the yard, so he missed that one, too. Again. It was my favorite episode! So clever. That was the only...

Sometimes it seems like we have so much time before church starts. We leave about 9:30, and it sure seemed like we had a whole long morning before that. Church was good. Today was our ward’s ward conference, so I got to be an official visitor in my own ward. That was nice. The Bishop’s talk was super good and the rest was the same thing we’ve heard 4 times now, but I get a little more out of it each time. That shows the value of repetition! After the 2 meetings, we had a linger longer. They had pulled pork with Costco rolls, cole slaw, various veggies, and cookies. It was so delicious, and we enjoyed lingering and talking to people. We enjoyed it so much that we forgot we had agreed to go to Tanya’s ward where the boys were singing with all the youth and primary kids for the special number. We got home at 1pm and figured it was too late. Tanya sent a picture of all the kids up front. We were sad we forgot so we asked Tanya if she could give us the zoom link. She did, and the talks ...

Tom had signed us up to clean the church building today, so we did that first thing in the morning. I suggested that we go dressed for the funeral and run errands between the cleaning and the funeral to save making 2 trips to Fresno, but we didn’t quite make that happen. So we came home after cleaning, changed clothes, had a couple of minutes, then went back. The funeral was for the father of a friend of ours in the ward  (Heather Fisher) . We like her a lot because her Mom is from Argentina, so she speaks perfect Argentinian Spanish. Her father was 82 – he and Heather’s mom were involved in a car accident where he died, but the mom is fine. It was so sad that he died suddenly, so we wanted to go to the funeral to support her. It turned out he was a Marine so the Marines hosted and were a major presence in the funeral. The first part of the funeral was held outside with the 21 gun salute, bagpipes, unfolding and refolding of the flag while there was a reading of what each of the ...

Tom goes to work an hour later now, which used to make it very tight for him to get to the temple by 1pm, but now that the temple ceremony is a little longer, our cleaning start time will be pushed back ½ hours, so that little problem has worked out perfectly! What a blessing! There are always so many wonderful things happening when we go to the temple, and even though we are going to clean, we feel the joy of everything that is going on. We had a great crew today and got everything done quickly. What a blessing! Tanya has organized a temple/lunch group for Fridays, so she and her friends were just leaving when we got there. What a great idea! It is so nice to see her in the temple regularly. What a blessing! Since we found out the ceremony changed this week, we wanted to go as soon as possible, so I scheduled us for 4:30pm. We had time to go home, change clothes, get a little work done, and then we headed back to the temple. I was very grateful there were a couple of seats avail...

I love being in the stake Relief Society Presidency. It gives me so many opportunities for friendshipping and socializing and keeps me focused on spiritual matters. Tonight was our first Round Table for the year. We pray and spend a lot of time discussing what is important to discuss and trying to make it a meeting that is informative, uplifting, and very supportive. Our hope is that the sisters can get a lot of ideas and strength from being together with the presidents from other wards. We hold them in Tammy Parker's house. She has the biggest house, and everything one would need to host a wonderful dinner party. Each of us in the presidency presents a different topic for discussion, and are in charge of a different part of the dinner. I was in charge of the dessert and of presenting discussion on the ward mission plans and items from the handbook, so I spent a couple of hours in the morning getting ready for that and making the cake. I think I got this recipe from Anne and this...

We had a good group show up for the temple this time and they all worked pretty fast. It was good to get things done, and it was good to be there! Usually I have a ton of Clean Queen messages when I get out of the temple, but today there were only a few, and the rest of the day was way too quiet – not even messages from the cleaning teams. So strange! I spent some time on the computer ordering birthday gifts for our February family members. February is a big month for birthdays in our family! I love that I can order on Amazon and get fun things delivered right to their houses and I don’t even have to pay shipping. I love shopping online, too. It is way more fun that going from one store after another with no ideas in mind of what to get, and I love that I don’t have to wrap things up and go to the post office and stand in line to send them. It is almost magical! This was the first day Tom was supposed to use his cane all day. He decided he doesn’t need to use it at home or in the...

Tom went to work early and I worked at home. My favorite part was talking with my sisters. I love talking with my sisters. We three together have the right answers for the problems of pretty much the whole world, if they would only ask. Tom had an appointment with the knee surgeon today. He got home from his job with just time to eat a quick lunch before we left. But we could have probably taken a nap because we waited in the waiting room for almost 45 minutes before we were called back. The doctor took off his mask and put on a face shield so we could understand him better. He is from east India, I think. He was nice, but Tom softened him up even more with his wit and humor. Nobody can treat Tom like every other person. He’s too weird for that. The doctor said Tom qualifies for a knee replacement, but it is still up to him whether he wants to continue with his knee as it is and just live with it, wait a few years and then do it, or do it right away. Tom reasoned that if he’s goi...

I woke up thinking “How nice! Monday! I have nothing scheduled today and can take it easy.” So I got dressed and ready to leave the bedroom (Tom was already up) when I remembered we go to the temple on Monday mornings. Duh. So I changed clothes before leaving the bedroom. So silly I had quite a bit of Clean Queen that needed sorted out before we left for the temple. Being at the temple was nice, as usual! Just because it is ALWAYS nice, doesn’t minimize how very WONDERFUL it is. We had about 6 people, so we couldn’t do all the things we need to do on Mondays, but were able to get most things done. Tom and I did more than one job each. I had a whole lot of Clean Queen after the temple, too. It was really busy most of the day and I got very tired of being in my office chair at my desk. For a break, I fixed a blouse that wasn’t quite how I wanted it, but that required the same chair in the same office, just at a different desk. Such was my day. Anne, Carma, and I tried to do a zoo...

This was a nice Sunday – church was wonderful as always, in testimony meeting, there was only 1 silly testimony but it was from a kid whose parents should either go with him to the mic or keep him on the bench. The Bishop had to intervene to get him to stop. All the other testimonies were really good and focused on Christ. Sunday School class wasn’t frustrating – nobody took over the lesson and went on tangents and there were a lot of great comments. But the exciting part of the day was the weather! When we were on our way home from church, we commented on the beautiful massive, white clouds. We even took a picture! When we were napping, Tom said he heard a bang, like a bomb! Then he heard another one. It was thunder. We rarely get lightning storms here, so thunder is a big deal. We got up when we could HEAR the heavy rain. Our house is pretty insulated from outside noise, so hearing rain was a bid deal, but when we looked outside, it was hail. Not just hail, but it was falling harde...