So Sorry!  I know it’s been two weeks since I’ve written.  Alas.  I’m slothful.

But many things have been going on.  I decided to focus on copywriting as a vocation since I know we will be here in the USA for a while.  I had actually looked at some educational material after our last mission and began studying then…. But stopped.  Now I’ve decided to get serious.  So I am trying to spend a few hours a day studying the craft.  I have an online course and (bleck) homework!  It is interesting and I do like the writing exercises… and the research.  Now when I get “junk” emails I’m looking at how well written they are.  Do they catch my attention? Fulfill a need? Create a desire? Answer a concern I have.  Some are very good.   Some I think, I can do better than that now.

Our fall garden is growing.  In the past, I’ve said, “Let’s have a garden.  Tom, you do it.”  But this time, Tom is busy.  He did rototill and prepare the ground.  We weeded and got things ready.  I planted and now I  have had to take responsibility for the garden.  I’ve been dedicated at weeding and watering.  And today, after months of dry weather, the Lord has watered for me.  Praise the Lord.  We’d been hauling water to some of our trees and gate flowers.

Last Sunday we did our missionary fireside… finally.  We went back into our pictures and I printed out some of the stories and testimonies of the members.  I thought we’d be way over time… but we actually finished right on time.  We got lots of good comments back.  We’d had a nice write up in the paper about the fireside, and some people came who were going to Kenya that week!  It was so fun to chat with them and share great places to shop.  They will go to the Mara, too.  It was a little hectic getting all the pictures together.  Tom pulled his out.  I pulled mine out.  Then Tom spent most of Saturday with the Youth at a stake dance.  He got home in the wee hours of the morning!  Ohh.  We’re too old for that kind of thing.

We had been considering buying another house with Tom’s Roth IRA money.  There was an older, solid house that had a rehab started…. Then stopped.  No bath.  No kitchen, no drywall on the ceilings.  It is quite a project.  But I thought, what they hey.  Let’s see what it will cost to put it together.  So we called in heating and air, insulation, electrical, and general contractor to give us estimates.  Huh!  It seemed manageable…. Well, manageable if they accepted a low-ball offer.  So we put one in.  And they did!  We think we are joyful.  It’s zoned C-3 for quiet business, so an office could go in.  It’s also on two large lots—over ¾ of an acre in the city, so there’s room for other things—duplexes? Business?  Whatever.  And if we do this right, just the house will make money.  Perhaps the best news for Tom is that since it’s a ROTH IRA account, we can’t put in any of our money and he can’t do the work.  We’ll see how the project unfolds.

 Thursday we went to the fair.  It seemed smaller this year.  Not so many booths and not so crowded.  It did have a fantastic loaded baked potato with barbecue beef on top.  Yum!  We shared one.  And I enjoyed seeing the chickens and the crafts and art.  Every year I think, I could do that—bring in photos, flowers or herbs, handiwork, jams or canned fruit.  I actually had a jar of jam and some canned peaches to bring in.  But I got really busy.  Here are some of the interesting chickens.

 These are long fluffy feathers on the head.  You can just see the beak above the red waddle.

 This is a silky chicken-- all fluffy and puffed out.

We didn't take anything to show at the fair, you see,  because once we made the offer on the house, we needed to open the non-traditional ROTH account, sell stock, move money, sign forms, etc.

Saturday there was an emergency preparedness fair in Springfield.  It was very well run and I got to ask lots of questions.  FEMA was there.  I got the pressure gages checked on my pressure canners.  One gage didn't work at all.  Good thing I hadn’t used it yet. (I got it at a garage sale.)  We went to a late lunch at Carlos O’Kelley’s—one of our favorite dining places.  Then stopped at Aldi’s to shop on the way home.  Once home we immediately turned around and went to a wedding.  Tom officiated.  It was Tom’s first chance to do a wedding since becoming bishop.   Last week he did his first funeral.  Beginnings and ends. Both times he did very well.

Today was the final rehearsal for the primary program.   We had bishop’s youth discussion at our house right after church.  I made some sloppy Joes for them to eat.  The youth arrived.  But alas, Tom was delayed.  I took out catch-phrase—the game, from our closet.  And they played that until he arrived.  And now we pack and leave tomorrow for Disney World and the Young Living Convention.  We hope to have Fun.