Scorching the World

  Tom spent all day pruning. He pruned the blackberries, boysenberries, and 2 crape myrtle trees. I heard his clippers clicking over and over and over all day. I can’t believe his hand could do that for so long!   I was excited to get back to sewing this morning, but first wanted to do some cleaning. It is amazing to me how much dirt builds up in a tiny apartment. I didn’t get to mopping but will do that tomorrow. I was too anxious to get out and sew. I have made several grocery shopping bags that are pretty cute. I think I now have all I need but still have fabric. I guess I'll have to start giving them as gifts. Thursdays are the day Caeli comes over. She likes being outside and helping or talking or following her dog around but also enjoys coming in to watch Jeopardy or other tv shows. Sadly, I’ve been deleting Jeopardy after watching it, so instead I put on My Cousin Vinny. She hadn’t actually ever seen the whole movie, just the most famous clips. It is a good thing ...

  We went to work out after all the morning routines. I really   try to push myself to get a good workout, but I know I don’t work as hard alone as I do with a trainer. Still, it felt good. Tom worked all day in the yard. I cleaned, swept, vacuumed but didn’t quite get to the mopping part. I feel like I need to find ways to make the room less cluttered, so I’ve been pondering that and looking at what can be put away or stored elsewhere. I went out to the shed to sew for a while, but there is something about being out there that just doesn’t feel comfortable. My back started hurting and I just wasn’t enjoying sewing so I quit before I finished today’s project. It’s been near the mid 70’s lately, then suddenly we had a day in the mid 60’s. Such variable weather. I wouldn’t pay any attention to that except that I have to track each day for my temperature blanket. I get excited when there is a day that is different so I can do a row in a different color. Fun stuff. We wa...

  I have waited many months for this appointment to get hearing aids. The day finally came. After I accepted the fact that I don’t hear as well as I used to, I began to notice more and more all the times I didn’t hear something that everyone else seemed to and have been so ready to be able to hear like everyone else. My appointment was for 8:30, so I had a couple of hours after Tom left for work before I needed to leave. It was pretty exciting to get the hearing aids. The doctor also spent a lot of time explaining everything I needed to know about the use and care of them. As soon as I got to the car, I could tell the difference in hearing. I could hear the friction of my hands rubbing on the steering wheel! The weirdest thing is hearing my own voice and other sounds like breathing in my ears. During the day I would forget I was wearing them and feel like I needed to scratch my ear or something then remember they were there. I could definitely tell a difference, especially wi...

  I love that we go to the gym first thing on Monday mornings. Other days other things get in the way, but this one day, at least, we have our routine set and work everything else around it. We had no errands for after the gym, so we went back home and got to work on other things. There is one renter in Christian’s house who has been causing a lot of contention and problems. She is a nice lady, but has a personality conflict with another renter. We/I decided we need to “help” her move out so we’ve been looking for other rooms to rent. This morning we designated to break the news to her that we were kicking her out, but tell her in a way that sounded more like we were making her life easier. We were about to leave to go talk to her when a friend who helped install our plumbing in our studio showed up. Tom had talked to him about the plumbing draining very slowly. So we stayed while he took apart pipes, put a snake down the drain and tried other things to get the drain to go be...

  Cai was scheduled for a c-section for this morning if Vivian did not come before that date. When Cai went in for the surgery, they found that the cord was wrapped around Vivian’s neck twice, so it was a really good thing she was already scheduled for the c-section or it would have been an emergency surgery. And maybe Cai might have suffered a horrible labor trying to get the baby out before they discovered it. But whatever the circumstances, we are so happy to have Cai’s baby born! Our fist grandchild who we adore and are so proud of had her first child – a precious little girl! We went to work out first thing in the morning and did fun stuff the rest of the day, but nothing compares to having a brand new great grandchild! I can’t wait to hold her in my arms!    

We didn’t need to pick up anyone for church today, which was a change. I was playing organ in Sacrament meeting so I wanted to be there before 9am. That gives us a good 2+ hours to do things while preparing to leave. Sacrament meeting was really good. We have a missionary couple serving in the mission office who spoke and made us want to go on another mission. Until we remembered how old we are. Lol I had made an appointment with our family history specialists to help me find some people in my line, so Tom and I met in that room after church. I showed Sister Ashby some names and she showed me how to search for them in my line and then check what relationship they were. I had a whole pile of names from Ancestry.com to check, but after 3 I could see that the information on my Ancestry sheets was mostly wrong and if I managed to find the person in Family Search, it was already there with corrections. So we weren’t there very long. In the evening I had made appointments to go look ...

  Tom went to clean the chapel this morning, then went to a friend’s house to pick up firewood. Our friend who borrowed Tom’s truck for a long time is a tree trimmer. When he cut some trees for a mutual friend, he asked them if he could leave the cut logs there for Tom to pick up. That was some time ago, so they called Tom to see if he still wanted it. We had arranged for him to get it this morning. After he got back, I got to help take it out of the truck, take it to where he was cutting them, then move the cut pieces to the woodshed. I really wasn’t interested in helping with that, but nobody else was available and it only took a couple of hours. What was funny was that Tom stopped to get groceries on the way home from getting the wood. The truck was piled with firewood above the level of the truck bed. When he came out of the grocery store, he found the truck with the bed completely empty. He panicked until he realized that wasn’t his truck. What a relief! His truck is a p...

After Tom went to work, I got up and showered, dressed, did my morning stuff, etc., then I went to Yoga class with Ginger Duran! Hooray! It has been too cold to do yoga since November, I think, because we do it outside, but today promised to be nicer. When I left for yoga at 8:45am, it was 44 degrees and overcast. I wore 2 pair of yoga pants and 3 shirts. When it was time to start, I really didn’t want to take off my shoes and socks, but I did, and it was fine. I wasn’t too cold and by the time we ended it was 55 degrees. Yoga is hard! I work out at the gym and have developed some muscles, but yoga takes an endurance of those muscles that I sure don’t have. I need to do yoga more often and get them built up. It is so hard, but the pain feels so good. The other ladies who go (today there were 4 or 5 besides me) are Ginger’s friends from the kids’ schools and their community so they have a lot in common. I’m the only one who knows Ginger from church. She is such a good yoga teacher...

  We slept in this morning just because it felt good, which means we didn’t get up until after 7am. That’s late for us. Tom has been picking oranges for juicing from our tree, but the last batch of oranges he picked weren’t ripe yet and a little bitter, so he had to make a syrup to make the juice drinkable. Sadly, he had picked a huge batch, so he had to make more juice this morning and add sugar again. Tom had invited Caeli over to help us paint the outside of the shed, so he made a bunch of fried spuds for when she got here. She didn’t come until afternoon, so we had already started painting. I was using the roller and Tom was doing brush work. When Caeli got here, she took over brush work and Tom went back to finishing some trim pieces that still needed added outside. About an hour after she got here, Caeli took a little break to go in and eat, then came back to work again. She wasn’t able to finish painting the edges because Tom was using the ladder, so she would wander o...

                                           We decided to go to the gym first thing this morning instead of after morning routines but I didn’t sleep well last night, so I slept in and we didn’t get to the gym until about 8am. We had a good workout and dropped off some stuff from the garage at the thrift store before coming home. We worked on computers and stuff for a few hours and I worked on preparing our tax return. It took a few hours on the free online version of Turbo Tax, and I had to have the help option a little at the end, but I am right proud of myself for doing it! Yes, it’s the simple form, but it was still not that easy. So glad to have it done. Tom had set up a table for me to sew on, so I took the things I’ve been saving and got to sew in the shed for a couple of hours. That was way fun. I repaired/fixed a couple of articles of clothing. I love to sew and it...

  I got up when Tom left for work about 6am, got a shower and did my morning stuff of blog, scriptures, and practicing. I had had a nail appointment at 10:30, so I asked Anne if we could chat a little earlier than usual. She was nice to change her routine for me, but then got the complication of having Acell’s physical therapist come while we were chatting. That was a little fun because I got to see and hear some of the things he was having Acell do. In spite of that, Anne and I had a good chat. It’s fun to be able to just sit and chat. I decided to get a color on my nails instead of the natural look. It is a little shocking to me every time I look at my hands, but it’s a pretty color. I really like the girl who does my nails. She is very fun to talk to so the hour goes fast. I had errands to run after getting my nails done and Tom had errands after he finished working. We met up afterwards at the gym to get a workout, but by then it was past 1:30 pm and I hadn’t eaten yet....

Happy birthday to my dil Becky! We’re so glad to have her in our family! We had an appointment with our personal trainer, Ashley, at 9:30 and wanted to work out before that. We decided to just paint the floor in the shed instead of paying for any kind of flooring, so he put a good thick layer of paint before we left for the gym. We hoped it would dry by afternoon and we could finally move things in there. That turned out to be an excellent plan. It wasn’t dry when we got back from the gym, but it dried by early afternoon so we spent the rest of the day moving things from the garage to the shed, organizing it as we went, and organizing the things that are left in the garage. We are so happy to be done with it! The only thing left to do is set up some kind of table where I can sew or paint in the shed, but we sure are happy to have that whole shed construction project finished! New floor painted Empty and mostly-organized garage This is my sewing and craft stuff He isn't finished...

  The sister missionaries asked us to pick up a new “friend” for church again. (Missionaries no longer refer to people as investigators, but friends!) This one is also from the Congo but he speaks more English than the other family. When we got there, he answered the door in a towel but said he would be ready in a minute. We waited and he finally came out in very nice sweats, very happy to have a ride, and promised that next time he will be ready. Sacrament meeting was really good. We had a high counselor speak and then the stake president, who is apparently going to be released in stake conference in 2 weeks. He has been going to each ward to give his last talk and it was so good. He said the hardest thing he has seen as stake president is people who are on the path to the tree of life fall away for very minor reasons. So his talk was about staying on the path and clinging to the rod of iron. It was so good. He has been a very good stake president. After church we gave our n...

  I overdid it and pushed myself just a little too hard yesterday to the point that I got a headache and my right arm and shoulder were really aching all night. Because of that I didn’t sleep well and woke up very slowly this morning. I didn’t get up until almost 8am and that’s late for me, for sure. Tom had planned to help clean the chapel at 8 but decided to stay home in case I needed him. He needed to get more supplies for the shed, so first thing we took measurements and made a list. While he was gone, I did my morning routine and then worked a little in the shed until he got back. We spent all morning working out there, making good progress. We put in plywood flooring, which we will paint and added a shelf, and other stuff like that. I can’t believe this shed is taking so many weeks and so much money just so we can be better organized while we are living in the studio. I’m getting tired of working on the shed and ready to be done with that project, but at the same time, it...

  When Tom had to put the pump in the hole by our apartment wall, he got soaked and soaked his tennis shoes. Later in the afternoon, he had to go back out to reposition it and clear it out again, he soaked another set of clothes and another pair of tennis shoes. So this morning when he got dressed to go to work, he realized he didn’t have any dry tennis shoes to wear. Fortunately, he had another pair of shoes, but if this rain keeps up, he’s going to run out of shoes to wear. I got up when he did, showered, and worked on my stuff on the computer, practiced, and even did yoga with the tv. Then I ventured out into the shed to see if I could do some stuff without Tom to surprise him. I put up the last little piece of sheetrock. It was a small one and should have been easy, but of course it wasn’t. I took it down about 6 times to shave off a little more before it finally fit! Then I painted the ceiling and a wall that Tom had already put mud on. I swept and cleaned up some stuff....

Happy birthday to my Trina! I love her so much! Our goal for today was to get the sheetrock finished in the shed and get it painted so we can start moving things in there. We were only delayed slightly by the rain. I think it was around 10 or 11 when it started raining really hard. Tom noticed our renter go out to move his car out of our private lake in front of our house and remembered how the water backs up in the driveway right next to the studio. In previous years he has put a pump in a little planter area where it really pools, overflows, and floods the studio. So he went out in the heavy rain to put the pump in the hole he dug. The first problem was we couldn’t remember where he had put the pump. When we moved into the studio, everything got relocated. It look a while to find it, but he did, but not before some water got in the studio, getting the entry wet and soaking the carpet in the coat closed a little. He gave me a towel to soak that up and to soak up any more water t...

We scheduled an appointment with the Sacramento temple for 10am today, so we needed to leave by 6am so we got up at 5:30 and managed to leave on time. The weather and traffic were good, we only had to stop once for a restroom, so we made it right on time.   It's hard to get a really good picture of the temple from the front because there are lots of trees in the way. When we entered and I put my recommend to the scanner, the person at the recommend desk was my cousin, Eileen!!! How exciting is that!! I knew she served in the temple, but it was sure fun to see her as soon as we got there! The Sacramento temple is so beautiful. It is not a huge temple like Oakland or Los Angeles, but it many times bigger than the Fresno temple, and so much more beautiful. It was wonderful being there. They are closing for 2 weeks for cleaning, but after they reopen, we will keep it in our rotation of temples to go to while ours is closed.   We met up with Mary and Don Barnum after the sessio...