Scorching the World

  Almost 2 years ago, Tanya removed all carpet from her house and we started putting down stick-on tiles, but we never finished. It was on her very long to-do list, but other things kept jumping ahead of it. Since Kaden is out of town for 4 days, and his is the last room that needs done for now, she wanted to do it this weekend. We had to change our temple appointment to tomorrow, but we agreed to help her if she would go with us to dinner tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary. After Tom left for work, I spent most of the morning cleaning. I have Riley coming tomorrow morning to do my facial so I wanted the room clean. I vacuumed, swept, mopped, put stuff away, cleaned the bathroom, washed dishes and everything else that one does when one cleans. That, along with my regular morning routine took until Tom got home. I made him some lunch of leftovers so he could eat quickly and we could get out of the house. We were supposed to be at her house at 1pm but Tom was delayed, then had...

  Tom and I wanted to see if we could help Trina with a lighting problem in the office and some other things before we headed for home. The lighting problem had to be fixed when there were no customers there, so we arranged with Trina to go early. She gave us her keys and then joined us about half hour later. They only have 2 fluorescent light fixtures in their office and one of them had both bulbs burned out. She needed a ladder to reach it, which Trina didn’t have, and just looking at it seemed too complicated, so she had decided they were doomed to have to leave it that way. It was too dim in the office to get good passport pictures, so she bought a new light fixture but didn’t know how to install it. She was totally stuck without our help. She didn’t mention it to me so nothing would have happened with the problem if I hadn’t seen the new light fixture in the other room when we were cleaning. Anyway, Tom and I went early to install that new light fixture. He found a very ...

  Today is my baby sister’s birthday. So sad that she died before Anne and me. She wasn't supposed to do that. I miss her. Trina had to leave super early to go do live scans somewhere so she arranged for us to pick up Trevor from Seminary and then take Ziona to school. There was some confusion and Chris also went to pick up Trevor but as soon as he saw us, he left for work. I don't know how Trina handles it all when we aren't here. Since we finished all that by 8am, Tom and I decided to go to breakfast. We love Norm’s here and go eat there whenever we are in the area if possible. Then Tom dropped me off at Trina's work and went to play pickleball. He played until about 11am, then went to Trina’s house to try to get some Synergy work done. I helped Trina enter invoices. I enjoy doing it a lot but we were at the computers from 9am to 5pm. We ate at the desk and just never stopped. Trina would leave whenever a customer needed her, then come back and pick up where s...

  Tom went to work and I packed and cleaned and got ready for our little trip to Trina's house before time to Zoom with Anne. I had agreed to give my friend, Heather Fisher, a ride (or rather to give her mother a ride to the doctor’s office and Heather had to go with her because she doesn’t walk very well or manage on her own very well at all). I adore Heather so I was happy to be able to spend some time with them, but that meant I had to rush my chat with Anne a little. Talking to Anne is one of the main highlights of my week! So I was happy when we got to visit on Zoom. I love seeing her face and talking about all the details of our lives that we don’t really discuss with anyone else. At least I don’t talk about those types of things with anyone else except maybe Tom. Then at 10:15 I had to run. I would have been on time to pick them up but I forgot to look up her address before leaving, so I pulled over and was doing that as fast as I could, then Tom was trying to call m...

  Nothing earthshaking happened today, but it was a very nice day. I got to sew and sew.  Tom played pickleball in the morning and I sewed. Tom worked in the yard in the afternoon and I sewed. I made 5 more little tissue holders. They are so cute! There were a couple of things I wanted to do to our bed before moving back into the house to make it match the colors I’ve chosen for our bedroom and to make it easier to make the bed. Tom knew I would need his help and was afraid it would take the whole day. It really only took about an hour, so he was happy. the first thing was to "fix" the headboard. First we made it shorter, which was easier than we thought because we took the height off the bottom instead of the top. I was going to recover it, but when I took off the current covering, I found an older cover that exactly matched the “new” colors I’ve chosen for our room. I guess I’m consistent! I also covered the boards that sit on the drawer frames under our mattress. T...

  I didn’t need to be at the church early today, so we had a longer morning than usual. Sacrament meeting was nice. It was the welcome home of Emma Freeman who just got home from her mission in Denmark. She has a sister and a brother who are still out on their missions. Her talk was really good. I sang a duet with Janine Durrant for the first verse of We Pray to Thee, then I sat down and she led the congregation in the other verses. I think it went well. I like how our voices blend in close harmony. The other speaker was Emma’s mother and her talk was good, too, but Emma talked about a few experiences she had and what she learned from them. It was really good. Relief Society was good, too. I love our ward and the meaningful comments that sisters make. The Spirit is always strong. Choir practice was a little dicey. One brother always speaks his mind and it causes contention. Although his comments are always directed at me and make it sound like I’m not making myself clear an...

  I was supposed to get a facial this morning at 9am, so we got the room cleaned up really good. Tom vacuumed and mopped and I put away all my sewing stuff. I hid most of it in the closet so it is tight to try to walk in there right now. I also had a rehearsal scheduled for 11:30. The others wanted it at 11 but put it at 11:30 so I could make it on time after my facial. Then Riley texted that she was running late. I told her I had to be at the church at 11:30 so if she wasn’t too late, that would be fine. She offered to postpone to next week and gave me another additional appointment for no charge for being willing to postpone. That sure sounded worth it!   We cleaned a little more before I needed to leave for the Church. I am singing a duet with Janine of the first verse of I Pray to Thee, then Janine will lead the congregation for the other 2 verses. She wanted the piano to accompany the duet, then the organ to play with the congregation, so we met this morning to wo...

  I got to spend the morning sewing. I finished a couple of things on my purse and except for a couple little touches, it is done and I love it so much! After finishing the purse, I decided to start a new project – little tissue holders. They are so cute and work up really fast. Tom didn’t get home until about 1:30pm. We had arranged to meet at the gym at noon which is when he usually finishes the Friday route. I don’t know if he forgot or just didn’t feel like going to the gym, but he came home with a medium pizza for lunch. Delicious. Then we took a nap. I could hardly wait for him to get home so we could take a nap. And we took a long one! I couldn’t believe how long we slept but it sure felt good and we still had no problem going to sleep at 10pm. Matter of fact I fell asleep during scriptures right before bed. That never happens! We were scheduled for the temple at 6pm. Tom tried to do a little yard work before we left and ended up with not much time to work before he ne...

  I wanted to make a purse today. Yesterday I bought things that I took apart to use, so the pieces were cut and ready. I also brought in the sewing machine from the shed. This morning I set up the sewing machine and was ready to start, but Tom wanted to go clean and paint areas in Christian’s house. I had arranged to meet with a prospective renter there at 11, so we went over early to get that room ready. One of the dirtiest areas were the baseboards, so I started cleaning baseboards while Tom got the white paint and did little touch-ups all over the house. The problem was that the paint didn’t quite match, so he was limited in how much he could touch up without it looking really messy. He also cleaned out the vacuum cleaner, which apparently nobody does, then had Christian re-vacuum everywhere. We were there more than 3 hours and by then I was way too tired. It’s hard work getting down on the floor and scrubbing baseboards.   There are easier ways to clean baseboards, bu...

  I fought with the remote and cable box for 13 days. Nobody was able to help me make it work and finally suggested it was a problem with our tv receiving the signal from them. Since I’m not willing to buy a new tv for the studio, we decided to remove the cable to the studio so I returned that box to Xfinity. In the morning Tom went to pickleball and I went to work out, then to the thrift store. I wanted a white blouse for the temple and found a pretty one. I also was looking for old purses or wallets that I could take parts from to make myself a new purse. I found really good wallets/small bags, and an overnight bag with wheels! What a find! But the best find was a large tote/bag made of cork from Portugal! It is a little worn and soiled so when I got home I washed it carefully, then I spent a long time taking it apart. I hope I can use the pieces to make a smaller bag the size I want. I love that it is cork from Portugal! I cut the pieces and am ready to sew it tomorrow. ...

  I got up with Tom when his alarm went off. Many days of the week we wake up around 5am, but on Tuesdays and Fridays when he has to be up by 6, we always seem to be sound asleep when the alarm goes off. Weird. Every morning, first thing, I write on my blog, check email and facebook, do any other necessary items on the computer like study scriptures, then practice the piano. That’s my morning routine. It takes more than an hour and I like it. I cleaned a little and did stuff until time to chat with Anne. I think both of us a lot to discuss what is going on in our individual lives and share ideas or sympathy or whatever is needed. I’ve had this issue with Xfinity cable for 13 days. She convinced me to get Hulu because I just can’t get the remote to work with the cable box. So later in the day I disconnected the box and put it all in the Xfinity bag they gave us so we can return it tomorrow. The rest of the time we are in the studio, we will try to live with Hulu and the progra...

  Tom went to pickleball at 8:30. He plays until 11. I had stuff to do before I took off, but I left about 10 to go to the Xfinity store one last time (I hope) to tell someone my woes in person and turn in the remote and cable box and see if they had recommendations. My hope was that I could get in and out of Xfinity before Tom finished pickleball and ran the 2 errands he had, He was at the gym about half hour before I was done at Xfinity because he thought he didn’t have time before I would get there to run his errands. So he waited.. Xfinity gave me another cable box and remote. This one has to be hooked up to the Coax cable   where the others were wireless, so I was interested to see if it would work any better. Tom bought bagels while he waited for me. He hadn't had breakfast. We got a good workout. It does feel productive to make my heart pump a little harder for a little while, and to make my muscles tired. I enjoy going to the gym. I ran Tom’s two errands before...

  Sorry this is long, I went into too much detail, but I wanted it all for my records. I wanted to be at the church super early – 8:30am so I would have plenty of time to practice the hymns for the day and work on Love One Another that I’m trying to learn to play with pedals. I knew the group who were singing the special number would be practicing at 9:30 which would take some of my practice time. When they arrived, I went to make copies. Tom came to get me at 10 minutes before time to start the meeting! While making copies I totally lost track of time and should have been playing prelude by then. Today was Ward Conference. The Bishop spoke and his talk was so very good about not looking at the Atonement of Jesus Christ as Him making up for our sins, but thinking/remembering that we are beloved children of a Heavenly Father and we are of infinite worth. He wants to save us and that’s what the Atonement does. We can never do enough good to be worth it – our worth doesn’t come ...

                                                                           Tom woke up before 5am and got up and stayed very quiet, playing free cell on his ipad. I stayed in the cozy bed until 5:30 then decided to get up too. He went to clean the church and stopped for some groceries and some plumbing supplies on the way home. We have had so much water around our yard that it looks like either it has rained in some areas and not in others or that the kids had a massive water fight around the pool or that there are broken sprinkler lines squirting a lot of water in the front yard and back yard. Well, it hasn’t rained and we talked to our renters about whether the kids had water fights, and Tom checked all the sprinklers. There was one little one broken so he fixed that, but the rest of the standing w...

  When Tom went to work at 6am, I was still sleepy and so cozy that I stayed in bed and slept a little longer. It felt so good! I did all the normal morning stuff – writing in my blog, cleaning up, having breakfast, and practicing the piano. I’m playing this Sunday so I practice longer and more often than the weeks when I’m not playing. I feel pretty confident on the songs for this Sunday but I’m working a lot on the hymns for other upcoming weeks. Tom ran other errands on the way home so he was delayed. I got sleepy about noon and decided to take a little nap without him. Tanya had texted that she wanted to come over around  1pm to do a steam tent with essential oils so I wanted to sleep before she got here. Tom texted at 12:30 that he wanted to take his truck to a repair place so I needed to go pick him up in south Fresno. We have a repair place very close to us, but I guess the ones far away are cheaper. At the same time Tanya texted that she was on her way. I told ...

  We both slept good and are grateful for a new day. I had a dentist appointment at 9am so I brushed and flossed thoroughly and waited to eat breakfast until after I got home. I had set up a couple of appointments for people to see a room for rent in Christian’s house so Tom went there while I was at the dentist. He had yard work he needed to do while he waited for people to show up. The first person who we expected at 10am didn’t show, but the 2 nd one was a girl who applied last time we had the room available, so we happily agreed to rent to her. We have hopes that this time we found a good renter who won’t cause problems. We had an appointment with someone to come see what is going on with our tv remote between 1 and 3pm. At 2:30 I got a text saying he would be later, and he got here about 3:40. The remote worked a little but mostly didn’t work, which I was really happy about so he could see what was going on. He puzzled quite a while but in the end decided that our new...

  I had received several notifications that someone from our solar panel company would be coming over this morning for things I didn’t understand. It turned out it was just the same guy doing more installation of the wiring and such.  He was supposed to be here at 9am but arrived about 8am so  Tom got to talk to the technician before leaving to play pickleball. I was very busy doing home stuff until Tom texted asking if I wanted to meet him at the gym at 11:30am. I tried out the tv and cable remote first thing in the morning and they were both working great! I considered canceling the appointment for tomorrow, but decided to wait to see if it was still working later in the day. Anyway, I hurried and changed and got ready to go. I asked the technician, who was still working, if he needed me here for anything and he said he didn’t, so I left for the gym. We had a good workout and are very grateful we are still able to move our bodies and get stronger. When we got ho...

  Tom went to work and I worked on home stuff until time to chat with Anne. I sure look forward to that. I wanted lots of news on her situation right now - how it is going with Acell in his assisted living place, and their belated Christmas last Saturday. Sadly, she is sick and could hardly talk without coughing. But we made do and had a wonderful visit. I sure hope she feels better soon! Tom stopped at Lowe’s on the way home. He is so happy to have his truck back. He was able to get fence posts to replace in his vineyard where the vine posts are beginning to rot out. Today he also got the supplies to replace the valve that provides water to the pool. We found out from our friend who came to teach us about pool maintenance that the valve has been leaking water into the pool and is the reason we’ve had to fight black algae so much. We were both so proud when he was able to replace the valve within about an hour. There were lots of frustrations and he had to ask Ben to help now a...

Tom left at 8:30am for pickleball and  I got a nail appointment for 9:30am. But for some reason, my eyes were burning and I couldn’t put on makeup. I have to assume that my moisturizer got in my eyes or something, but they were just burning and burning. I used a damp cloth, I washed my face, I rinsed out my eyes, but couldn’t get them to stop burning, so I postponed   my appointment until 10am. At 9:30, I got a text that my nail person was ready if I wanted to come early. I ended up going without makeup, which is totally unheard of for me. I have a really nice nail lady. She is Vietnamese, like almost all nail people in almost all nail salons, but she speaks really good English and is just very nice. Still, I miss my friend who used to do it but got cancer. I miss her all the time and pray she will get better – not just because I like how she does my nails, but I hate to see her sick. I got home before Tom so I arranged to meet him at the gym to work out. I went without ...

                                                                       I wanted to get to church early to practice Love One Another on the organ to see if I can learn to use the pedals on that hymn. I’ve never been able to coordinate 2 hands and feet, but now that I’ve been playing a long time, I’m hoping maybe. I practiced for more than 30 minutes before the organist playing today wanted to take my place. Sacrament meeting was really good and Relief Society was really good. Just as RS was beginning we found out that one sister, Kelly Riddle, who had a stroke about a year ago, had another stroke right after Sacrament meeting. An ambulance had been called so everyone was praying for her. It made the   lesson more relevant and meaningful and Spirit-filled. For choir practice, we began to learn 3 new h...

  I had a headache all night again. I sure wish I knew what is causing them. It could be something so simple that I could stop or start doing. Or eating. Or drinking. Then I would do it. Or stop doing it. Tom left about 7am to go clean the chapel because he wanted to get there first to blow away leaves and also wanted to go mow the lawn and spray weed killer at a business where he has made friends with the owner. He can’t help but find nice things to do for other people! At one of the rehearsals for the stake Christmas program, I met a young woman, daughter of a good friend of mine, who is an esthetician. I asked her if she could do anything about my wrinkles and she said there are things she can do. I asked Tom for that for my Christmas present, and I was finally able to get her scheduled to come at 9am this morning. She does it part time and loves to go to people’s homes to do it. I spent the time before that cleaning up the house. I didn’t wear make up but I did my hair. ...