Scorching the World

Tom left for work by 6:30. He needed to start early so he could finish as early as possible to have a good chance to finish in time. We are selling the motorhome the day we get back next Tuesday, so Tom worked at getting it all ready before we left. When working on it, he found that the A/C wasn't working. That was one of the things that he got fixed several months ago, so it's frustrating that it already isn't working. Anyway, I needed to take it to the repair shop as soon as they opened at 9am. I planned to walk home from there. It's only about 2 miles. But Tom said he would swing by in his work truck around 8:30 to give me a ride home on his way north.  But Tanya messaged me that she wanted to come over to hang out after dropping Kaden off at school and would be here by 9am. Perfect! That way Tom didn't need to worry about it while working. Tanya actually beat me to the repair place, so I hurried over there. They took it in but couldn't get it done this morni...

We are learning to and getting better at putting scripture study first. Every day (we try to remember to)  read and discuss 1 chapter, along with the commentary from Gospeldoctrine.com, then read and discuss 1 conference talk. It really feels good to have this as a priority every day. We had an appointment with our trainer at 11am, so we had time to get a lot of things done before going. Tom is trying to get all the broken sprinklers fixed so we can be out of town for 5 days. I really like our trainer. He is handsome and muscular and smiles a lot while he’s torturing us. We worked on the ropes, the non-mechanical treadmill, weights, and other fun stuff. I had sweat dripping off my head by the time we quit. We signed up for another 6 months of once/week with him. It was good. Tom had errands to run again after our workout, but this time we got home in time for our sister zoom. Carma didn’t manage to get on with us yesterday or the day before, but this time Erin and Vic made su...

We have made the goal to go through a session at the temple before cleaning on Wednesdays. It is wonderful to do that and to be in the temple, but it is a little tricky being prepared for everything at the same time. When we left home, we carried 5 bags. We each took our temple bag, we took the bag we use when we go to clean that has Tom’s white shoes and my white socks and our temple cleaning scrubs. We took our gym bag that has our ear pods, water bottles, workout gloves, etc, and we took another bag with our workout clothes because they didn’t fit in any other bag. That is just silly. We have to change clothes 3 times before we are finished in the temple. But it is still wonderful to be there and enjoy the Spirit and hear the wonderful things in the session. We had 9 come to clean today, which is a great group, but they arrived over 30 minutes instead of all at once. So I assigned the most important jobs first, thinking other things wouldn’t get done, then kept finding jobs fo...

I had scheduled things to do alone this morning while Tom was at work but my perfect plan was foiled when Tom’s work was canceled because of the holiday yesterday. So he decided to go work on our neighbor’s yard while I was gone. First I had a nail appointment at 8am so I left at 7:30, allowing 10 extra minutes in case there was some traffic. In spite of that, I was a couple of minutes late because there was so much traffic! Just getting out of our neighborhood there were more cars than I’ve ever seen before.   But I made it and now have lovely nails again. From there I had arranged to meet up with my new crochet buddy at her house. I was trying to make a lovely shawl but the pattern was so poorly written – according to my friend who is really good – and the yarn was too bulky to see the pattern I had done. So after spending the 2 nd hour with her on that shawl, I decided to give up. I may try the pattern if I get different yarn and I will find a different project for that...

We didn’t go to the temple this morning because it was a holiday! That means we’ll have twice as much cleaning to do on Wednesday but that’s ok. It was nice to have a day at home. But we didn’t stay home. I bought tickets to go see the Angle Studios movie, Sight. The showing was at 11am so we decided to go work out first. It felt really good to work out and I listened to a good Come Follow Me podcast while working out. We had a light lunch when we got home because we didn’t eat before leaving in the morning and were pretty hungry by then. The drawback to going to the movie was that it was during the time that my sisters and I usually get on Zoom. I hate messing up that schedule because it is hard to ever fit it in after that. Carma hasn’t been doing well so I was anxious to actually talk to her and see her face. Knudsens and Christian came over about 4pm. Tom barbequed hamburgers outside for us. I made deviled eggs which was enough of a pull to get Caeli to come over. That was ...

  Having Sacrament meeting start at 10am is sure nice. It gives us plenty of time to get ready slowly and relaxed on Sunday mornings. Church was good today. We had very good talks in Sacrament meeting and a wonderful lesson in Relief Society. So nice. We had a little snack before taking a nap – such a wonderful Sunday tradition – then we started getting ready to feed the missionaries at 5pm. We started a little too early, which actually worked out for the best. Knudsens got her at 4pm and dinner was almost ready. We had to put everything on warm and cook slowly to hold it but then the missionaries called to say they could come at 4:30. So it all worked out perfectly. We had tacos again, with rice and beans. Kaden made brownies for dessert, but didn’t spray the pan and overcooked them by 10 minutes. He managed to get enough out of the pan for the missionaries, but we had to throw away the rest. But the missionaries loved dinner and were so very happy. I love that the missionar...

Ever since we went to the temple a week ago, I’ve been doing early morning scripture study. I try to do it very first thing before getting dressed or anything. This morning I got Tom to join me. It was wonderful reading and discussing scriptures and a conference talk together. I hope we can keep this up! I got a message from Vic yesterday that he needed to talk and to call him when I had a chance. Anne and I managed to put together a group call so we could talk to him together. Carma has not been doing well. We knew she wasn’t doing well; I’ve been very worried about her for a few years, but now she was bad enough that Vic was worried and needed to let us know what was going on. Once again she had become disoriented, incoherent, and confused. She had also become very weak and couldn’t even walk from the bathroom to the bedroom. Vic and Erin decided to take her to the hospital that morning. So the hospital decided she had a urinary track infection and gave her antibiotics. Vic mes...

It was another beautiful day in Fresno. It never got very hot. I love this time of year. I have to appreciate it more because I know it won’t last much longer. Tom left a little early for work to be sure he could finish in time to go clean the temple. He called later saying he had a heavier load today than he has ever had. Fortunately, everything went smoothly so he got home in plenty of time to change before we needed to leave. While he was gone I cleaned. I dusted, swept, mopped, cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms really good and vacuumed the main areas of the house. It was a lot and by the time I finished a couple of hours later, I was pretty tired. Oh, and I cooked the meat and set the table for dinner. I was doing computer stuff when Tom got home and we took off. We had 10 people there to clean today. It went really well. We love being there, helping clean, and getting to know all the wonderful people who come to serve. On Wednesday night we took the Miata to the upholste...

Tom had agreed to help clean the church building tonight at 5pm, so we scheduled everything else around that. He worked in the yard in the morning and I worked on my own things. We went to the gym before going to the church. It felt good to move my body. Exercise, no matter how hard it is, feels good. I can’t believe how out of shape we got while on vacation for 2 months. When we got out of the gym and into the heat, I got way overheated. We had the a/c on full blast and I felt like I would throw up or pass out before I finally cooled down. But by the time we got to the church I was feeling better. It really only lasted about 10 minutes or so, but it gave me back a headache that I had to deal with the rest of the day. My body does not like to be hot! We helped clean the church, doing a couple of jobs and still left before anyone else, then ran a couple of errands on the way home. Once again, Tom worked in the yard until well past dark before coming in and we just watched Jeop...

I got a headache at about 3am that just wouldn’t go away. I didn’t take anything for it at that time because it was too close to time to get up. Usually a headache that starts in the middle of the night goes away after I get up and get moving. It didn’t this time. Later when I took something, it really didn’t help. So today was called Time Out. I didn’t do much of anything. We were scheduled to eat at the Senior Center because today is the day that they give bags of groceries to old people. It’s not free – it costs $3, but we get way more than $3 worth of food. Some is fresh and some packaged. Some we like and use, some we give away. I didn’t feel good enough to go eat or help get the food, so Tom went without me. While he was gone, I took a shower and got ready to go to the temple. I had faith that I would be able to serve in spite of how I felt. We had 12 people come to clean today! That is almost a record! We actually got every job done and had enough people to assign 2 people...

Tom left for work at 6:30 and I got busy just doing stuff. Mostly finishing up the two knitted missionaries to give the sister missionaries on Friday. I think they turned out pretty cute except that I don’t really know what color their eyes are, so that might not be correct. There is a new sister in our ward who I noticed likes to crochet during Sacrament meeting and Relief Society. I was talking to her before Sacrament meeting on Sunday and set up a time to go see her so she can help me with a project I have been struggling with for several months. Her name is Sandy. She doesn’t live very far, but when I got there, I couldn’t find how to get in. She gave me a code – it is a gated community and the code just didn’t work. I would have parked on the street outside the community, but I couldn’t even find a place to walk in. Finally I realized there was another entry gate and that one worked. Anyway, we had a good visit. She is fun to talk to and was able to help me figure out how ...

We have had such beautiful weather lately! It has been so nice that we can leave the doors and windows open all day. We haven’t had to turn on the a/c or heater for several days. And the jasmine is in bloom everywhere so the air smells so good outside! Love this time of year here. Tom went outside early to try to get some yard work done before we left for the temple at 8:15. It helps that the sun is up by 6:30am! He is still playing catch-up from all the yard work that didn’t get done while we were on our trip. We had 9 faithful, wonderful people come to clean today. That was barely enough to be able to have 2 people for vacuuming. On Mondays we are supposed to move furniture while vacuuming. Many times we don’t have enough people to be able to do that, but we did today. Nice! We went to the gym after cleaning the temple. It has been 2 months since we went to work out. It felt really good to use my body again for more than sitting, and I was sore afterwards for a couple of days. ...

I remembered on Friday that I was supposed to play organ in our ward some time in May and had a terrible feeling it was this Sunday. I searched and found the email that Arlene Wadsworth had sent me with the list of weeks, hymns, and who was playing. Sure enough, I was scheduled for today. I practiced Friday and Saturday and fortunately they were hymns I mostly knew and just needed a refresher. This morning Tom and I went to the building at 9am so I could warm up sufficiently before the meeting started. At 10 minutes before the meeting was to start, Beverly Snow who leads the music came and was thrilled that I was playing today. That felt good to know she likes how I play in comparison tothe others who take turns (because I always feel like the worst organist in the ward). Then we started talking about the hymns for today and what tempo she wanted and she had a completely different set of hymns than what I had practiced. We ran and grabbed a program, and it had the same list as she di...

Tom left about 7:30am to go help clean the church even though he did part of it on Thursday. When he got there, he saw there were plenty of people, so he didn’t go in but went to run other errands. His goal for the rest of the day was to get a little bit more caught up on yard work. There is so much that needs weeded and trimmed that he has to pace how much garbage he generates each week so it will fit in the garbage cans. And there is a LOT to do. My goal for the day was to work on whitening our garments. I found a thing online with ideas to do that and had ordered the supplies needed. It involved keeping them soaking in hot water with the oxi clean stuff and to keep stirring it every 10 minutes. So I put them in a big pan on the stove with the burner on 1 for about 4 hours. It was a pain to do, but they did turn out much whiter than before! Super happy about that. I was also making a gift for our friends who are serving a mission at the Priesthood Restoration site. I had to r...

Tom left for work at 6:30 and I remembered to study scriptures first thing. I’m setting up a new and better habit. I also took time to listen to CFM podcasts whenever my ears were available during the day. They are SO GOOD and SO WORTH MY TIME! I finished watching Amazing Race.   I was very frustrated with this season. They are way too focused on making sure there are plenty of gay couples and that the gay couples get to kiss on camera at least once every episode. Yuck! I Usually I save the season to watch later alone or with someone else, but this season was not worth saving. It appears that a lot of people (online) felt this year was rigged for the gay couple. But I loved the episode in Chile! Hooray they went to Chile! I spent much of the day working on a little project. I had to undo a whole lot of it and will start over with some, but it is fun so I don’t mind. I finished the curtains in the craft closet. I like it. We are enjoying the Miata. We had thought to sell it ...

Tom had a dentist appointment at 7:30am, so he left at 7am, then after the dentist, took the Honda to get the oil changed. He walked around the block until it was done, then went to the stereo store to meet me. Tom had made an appointment to have a new radio put in the Miata, so I drove down to drop it off at that time. Tanya also needed help this morning. She has too many cars for what fits in her garage, driveway, and in front of her house, so she parks one at our house. She needed to leave one here, so she met us at the stereo shop. We left the Miata to get the stereo done, then I took her home in her car and brought her car to our house, and Tom took the Honda to DMV to get the Miata registered and title switched. It took Tom over an hour at DMV, then he ran a couple more errands before coming home. I had designated today for shampooing carpets, but when I got the shampooer all set up and going, it didn’t work. It wasn’t putting down or picking up any water. I took it somew...

I can’t believe it is the middle of the month already! I had scheduled us to do a session at the temple before our cleaning time, so we needed to leave by 10:15am. I was doing a bunch of stuff on the computer while Tom did a bunch of other stuff, but we managed to leave in time for the session. We wore our cleaning clothes and changed in the temple workers’ dressing room. Then after the session we were able to just take off the robes, then go out to that dressing room and changed back into our cleaning clothes. It was wonderful to be in the temple again. It has been almost a month since we were able to do an endowment session. Felt like forever. When we went to change, there was already a sister waiting to help with cleaning. but we changed quickly and got everything ready. When it was time to start, there were only 2 sisters there so we gave them each an assignment, and Tom and I started on other things. Then 2 more arrived, then 4 more, then 1 more. They had been told 1:30 in...

Tom left for work at 6:30am. We are fully back to our normal schedule now – almost. We still have to get our gym attendance into the schedule but this week has been way too busy! While he was gone I cleaned house a little, but mostly I spent all morning on the computer getting STUFF taken care of. I had to update our insurance on our vehicles which took about an hour. It was very complicated. The other major thing I worked on, was a heloc we have. The company is so hard to work with that we want to close it but there is a penalty if we close it too soon. I spent a long time trying to get things straightened out with them just because the company is so non-user friendly. painful. I have pictures on my old tablet that I sure would like to get off. I tried doing it a couple of years ago and even took it to the Geek Squad who told me there is no way to get them off. But I’m smarter now, so I really hoped I could find a way. But to no avail. The tablet is so old that it takes forever to...