Scorching the World

  I stayed in bed when Tom left for work at 5:30am! I tried to sleep but didn’t but felt so good to just relax in bed for half hour. I usually write on my blog then study scriptures before anything but this morning I got a whole lot done before doing those. I did a load of wash, cleaned the kitchen, began packing, got dressed and ready for the day, and then went back to the computer to do my routine. It felt good to get a lot done first thing, but I need to remember priorities. Tom finished work early and was home by 10:30, which gave us time to take a nap, then he packed and we headed out by 12:30pm. The drive was good; there was some light rain but not bad. We got to Ryan’s at 4pm. I can’t believe it took so long. We almost could have driven to Trina’s house in that time. But Anitta had prepared a wonderful dinner. She had 3 courses, starting with chi tea. They make a delicious chi without caffeine. Then there was a choice of 2 soups – chicken soup or miso with tofu. Sh...

Tom had an eye appointment this morning, so we went to the gym first and got a good workout. He was a little worried about the eye appointment because some things they do to check out your eyes can be uncomfortable, but this one was a check-up because he has diabetes, to make sure it isn’t affecting his eyes. Turned out to be a super simple appointment with no problems. We dropped things off at a thrift store, then got a few groceries before heading back home. That took our whole morning. He worked on his reunion committee duties and some Synergy, which involved phone calls where I had to be quiet. I have a hard time being quiet for very long. That’s one of the drawbacks from being in a tiny apartment, but it doesn’t happen very often. In the afternoon we worked on the shed. We got the door put on and finished covering the front with siding. It is very poor craftsmanship, but the shed was not square when we started plus Tom doesn’t have the right tools to do it any better. We hav...

We had nothing on the calendar for today, so I was hoping we would spend all day working on the shed. Tom’s short-term goal was to get all the Christmas boxes out of the garage so he can park his truck there and I figured it would take all day. I got all my morning stuff done before we went to the gym to work out. It felt so good to push our bodies. Tom signed us up for a personal trainer again to work with us from now to when we go to Utah in May. It’s a different guy and our first session is Monday, so we’ll see how he does with old people. Back at home I worked on my computer stuff and corrected some things on the Notary book I had helped Trina create. Tom worked on High School reunion stuff, Synergy, and other things on the computer until I was ready for a nap. We finally started on the shed in the early afternoon. Tom (almost) finished the roof, painted one wall, then I helped him cut and install 2 shelves, then we carried bins out of the garage. With a little bit of rearran...

I’ve been thinking about Carma all week, knowing her birthday was coming up. I’m so sad she is gone from us, but as I think of her last 7 months of life, I’m so glad she is out of that horrible phase. It was too sad to see her so helpless and having to be completely cared for by others. I need to let those memories go and just remember the fun Carma who blessed my life so much. Tom left for work at 6:30. I stayed in bed a few more minutes just because it felt so good! After I showered and was working on the computer, I let Anne know I was available to zoom whenever she was and she got on immediately. I wanted to zoom on my laptop and it decided it had to update zoom before I could get on, so it took me a minute to join her. We had a good chat which I certainly value. I love that we are way past the days where we sent letters to loved ones, then waited for letters in reply. We are past sending emails and waiting for a response. And we are even past having to call and talk over the p...

  It felt so good to sleep in our own bed, safe and sound after that scary drive home last night. We woke up very slowly and took it slow to unpack, shower, and get back into a routine. Tom especially just didn’t do much all morning, but laid around and kept falling back to sleep. I think the drive home exhausted him more than he realized. I got caught up on my blog, did budgeting, practiced the piano for next Sunday, and did a load of laundry. It’s nice to get stuff caught up again. For dinner I made a really good soup. I also got my temperature blanket up to date. It’s too much trouble to get it all out and ready to work on and is more fun to do several rows at a time, so I’m not going to try to do one row every day.   I’ll try to work on it every few days. I have waited almost 2 months for an appointment to get a hearing aids. In that time, I’ve noticed more and more how much I don’t hear, even though it seems like I hear more than others around me. I know I miss a lot ...

I froze again last night even though I wore the extra layers. I finally got up some time before dawn and moved to the couch. I slept much better there, but Tom needed to turn the mattress so he could be close to me and that was a lot of work for the middle of the night. Next time we come I will bring warmer pajamas for sure. Actually we finally got the idea to bring our electric blanket with us when we plan to sleep on the air mattress! I don’t know why we didn’t think of that before! Tom and I woke up about 7am. It's funny because "Joy" (Geneva) is always the last one awake at night and is in the kitchen fixing food and eating. Then as soon as we wake up in the morning, she comes back down the stairs and makes some more food and eats again. Then she is in her room the rest of the day, I think. I assume she was awake all night, waiting for us to wake up. She was in such a good mood, it was fun to see her again. Trina and Chris had to work this morning, at a location h...

  I have got to find a new hairdo! I hate every time I see my hair in pictures! I'm usually too cold when we sleep here. The house is cold, which I don't mind, but the air mattress gets too cold to sleep on, I brought warmer pajamas to offset that, but they aren't warm enough, so I was too cold all night. I was too tired to get up and do something about that until early morning. Tom gave me his sweat pants to wear and I put on another long-sleeve heat shirt, then slept better. Trina had invited us to go to the temple with her this morning. When I set up appointments for the 3 of us, there were still 125 empty seats for the 7:30 am session! Holy Cow! That temple is huge!  We had to leave by 6:30 and we were glad Trina drove. L.A. traffic is crazy. But we got to the temple with no problems and were amazed at how pretty and how huge it is! The ceilings are super high and the rooms are huge. I don't know what the capacity is for a session but it must be close to 300+. It is...

Tom left for work early. It was still dark outside and cold outside the bed, so I stayed in bed and doze off and on for another half hour before I got up. I got all my morning stuff done - scriptures, blog, etc., and got myself all packed to go to Trina's after Tom got home. I got out some of his stuff to give him a little start to build on when he got home. I made some lunch so there was something ready for him. Tanya came over to hang out about 10:30am, shortly before Tom got home. It was good to see her and hang out. She got caught up on some tv shows, but mostly it was good to chat. I wanted to leave by noon so I could get to Trina's in time to go to her sisters' game night. There about 6 who get together to play games every Friday night. Trina got permission to take Ziona with her, which everyone seems to like. Ziona is always a good addition. Tanya stayed at our place after we left. She wasn't ready to go home so she said she would lock up. Our trip was nice - no ...

Today we were finally ready to figure out how to get exercise into our schedules now that it isn’t as convenient as it used to be when we would go straight from the temple 3 times a week and fit it in other days while in Fresno. So we set a goal to leave here by 6am and just go do it. We actually left at 7am, but that’s ok when there isn’t anything else pressing for the day. We had a good workout. We haven’t worked out since the cruise, so about 10 days! That’s way too long to be idle, so it felt really good to get the body moving again! I love working out. We had no errands we had to run while in town so we came straight back home. Tom thought he had a virtual meeting with his high school reunion committee at 2pm, so he quit what he was doing on the shed. Strangely, it didn’t start at 2 and he and others waited and waited. He finally decided it must have been set for 3pm instead of 2.  Anyway, when it finally started, I had to be pretty quiet for over an hour while they ...

  We had an appointment to go with the sister missionaries today at 4pm, so we geared our whole day around that. Without our daily appointments/schedule we used to have, our days are just not-exciting unless we do something wrong. We both stopped what we were doing and got ready to go with the missionaries but when we left, I realized we were running about 10 minutes late! It took too long to get out of the house. So I texted the sisters to let them know, and they said, “No problem. We’ll see you when you get there. But the appointment is at 6:30.” Oh my goodness! I looked back at their messages, and sure enough, it wasn’t until 6:30. I don’t know where I got 4pm in my brain. So we had two hours to kill because we didn’t want to go back home, so we found other things to do while in Fresno. Tom needed something from Lowe’s so we went there. Then I wanted a couple of things from Walgreens, so we went there. By then the food truck with asada fries was open, so we went there an...

I do love having a day at home. I wouldn’t want to never have anyplace to go, but occasionally it is nice to have a day to stay home and do what I want. This morning there was frost on the roof across the street - it was 35 degrees outside. I don't even complain about that because it is so much colder in Utah! Tom left for work at 6:20am. He always sets his clothes, keys, wallet, out so that he can dress quickly without waking me up, but I’m always awake and dressed by the time he leaves, so that’s pretty funny. We keep old processes in spite of new circumstances. I think we all have things we do that are like that in our lives. I finished typing up all the notes I took from the presenters on our cruise. There was a lot of good stuff there, but some of my notes don’t make any sense. Anyway, then I typed up the notes from Trina’s ward’s emergency preparedness Sunday School class. There is a lot of really good info there that I need to act on. Emergency preparedness is something we...

 This is going to be out of order, but I guess that's better than not getting it posted at all. Trina’s church starts at 9am. It isn’t easy to get her kids up and out the door that early. Actually, Dexter goes to the YSA ward now, so it is just Trevor and Ziona that she has to get moving. I think they are the hardest ones to get moving in the moving. There have been horrible, deadly wildfires burning around Los Angeles. They aren’t near Trina’s house, but everyone in the area is very concerned for the people who have lost their homes and for all the first responders who put their lives in danger trying to stop the fires. All of the prayers offered in church pleaded with God for the welfare of both groups. It is a lot more meaningful when you are in the area where devastation is happening. For the 2 nd hour, the Bishop said he had been impressed to combine with the other ward in their building to do some emergency preparedness training. We have those classes all the time in t...