A quiet week?

Monday I put my duplex in St. Louis under contract.  I’d bought a cheap duplex in a shady area of town about 3 years ago.  The numbers looked excellent.  And when it was rented, they were.  But the area of town had gone down from shady.   Some tenants moved out because of the gunfire.  Some had boyfriends who might have been the cause of the gunfire.  And tenants seemed to come and go like a revolving door.  The clincher was when my favorite property manager jumped ship and moved to Chicago.

So a few months ago, I decided to put it up for sale.  Got a low offer.  Countered, and settled for lower than I would have liked.  But it’s time to cut bait and move on. That will leave me with one duplex in St. Louis.  It’s in a better area and has tenants that seem to stay.  I’d be happy to sell it, too.  But I’m not sure the market is right.

I decided the pounds from the family reunion and Switzerland had to go, so I started on the lemonade cleanse.  It seems harder than the last time.

Tuesday I worked hard.  I sent out a proposal.  I called the local insurance company that keeps sending me the same annoying letter to ask if they’d like a better one. (No, it’s sent out by corporate.)  I might call them and ask if I can try to beat the control.  I sent two photos of when I was in Switzerland to The Barefoot Writer’s contest.  They were looking for photos that showed the writer’s life to use on their front page.  I got an email back saying they plan to use it for the front cover for the October edition. It’s an e-magazine, but it pays and I’m excited.  I followed up with a question about articles and was invited to submit an article as well.

Wednesday I spent a good part of the morning fielding calls.  Brother Crawford was cutting trees in a rural area and was killed by falling after a tree hit him. Tom has been tied up much of the week visiting family, making arrangements, and going to the funeral home with them.  The wife is a wonderful woman and strong.  She has her children with her now, but still, it’s got to be terribly hard.

I’m taking a course prior to going to the AWAI Boot Camp and it involves getting jobs from elance.com.  So Wednesday I set up my profile.  Now I need to bid on jobs.  The problem is the first few jobs pay squat because they don’t know you and what you can do.  After you get feedback you can move up the price range considerably—but still not what I typically charge.  However, the instructor says that it’s a good fill in when you have a gap in work.  And that after people like you, you don’t have to bid on the jobs, they come and ask you to work for them.

Thursday morning I babysat this cute 11 month old while his father helped Tom put up sheetrock for a neighbor. He was really good and took a nap part of the time.  I had heard about the tax lien sale on the radio.  I checked… and it was over.  But there were unsold properties.  So I went through them to see if anything sounded interesting.  I found 6 that held promise.

Friday morning I worked.  In the afternoon I went and played with clay.  Actually, we spent the afternoon glazing the pottery we’d created earlier and she had fired.  It was fun to try different glazes.  Of course they don’t look anything like what they’ll come out like.  Marian says it’s always a surprise.  She started to fire them as I was leaving.  They can be picked up on Sunday.

Saturday we decided it was time to uncover all the surfaces that had been smothered in paper and other stuff.  I finally found a home for memorabilia and papers from Kenya.  It must be a very secure home… I can’t remember where I put it!  I dropped maybe 5 pounds from the cleanse and decided I’d better start eating before we left on a trip.

We also went out to visit the houses that were on the tax lien sale.  Three of them were occupied by the owners.  Why would someone let a pricy house go for some thousands in taxes?  I don’t understand.  They have the right to repurchase for a while.  I need to carefully read the laws and understand the process.  I’m not enamored with tossing someone out from their home.  I suppose if it’s not me, it will be someone else. Likely we’ll look closer at one of the others… if we do anything at all.  But it was a fun trip and we found some new roads.

In the late afternoon, Tom went back and mudded the sheetrocked wall.  In the evening I prepped things for split pea soup and Tom made brownies for Sunday.

Sunday we had a meeting for seminary after church.  We had a pot luck—hence the soup and brownies.  Then we had a nice meeting to introduce the new seminary year.

Tom squeezed in a church audit and then headed off to a Stake Priesthood meeting in Branson.

So—a quiet week here.  Well.  That’s what I thought when I first sat down to write.  See, forgetfulness has its uses.

Sadness

Yesterday morning I was working at the computer and got a call from a ward member who lives in a very rural area on about 60 acres.  "We were here cutting trees and a tree hit Bro. Crawford.  I've called the paramedics and the first responders, but I can't get a hold of his wife.  They'll take him to Baxter hospital."

I didn't think...or want... to ask how bad he was.  I tried calling the wife.  No answer.  Called the Relief Society President to find out who her visiting teachers were. Had a plan of other people to call, but tried back one more time.  She was home.  She handled it well.  Said she'd call Sister H. and if she couldn't take her to the hospital, she'd call me back.

I just hung up the phone from talking to her and the ward member called back.  "Bro. Crawford is dead."  Shock!  "We need to wait for the coroner.  We don't know where he'll be going." 

So I went out to Tom who was burning a brush pile and just starting to mow the lawn.  He hurried in to change and go see her to tell her the news. "How do you tell someone their husband is dead?" he asked.  You know, there's just no good way.

I stayed to check the fire until it burned out some.  As I looked at the lawn tractor left in the exact position as when Tom heard the news, I was reminded of the painting of the "Bishop's Horses." It shows horses hitched to a plow, standing alone in the field.  The bishop was called away suddenly.  He just left the horses and went.

Tom was gone from about 9:30 to maybe 1 or 2 or so.

I fielded about a dozen phone calls. The ward member called with updates.  Each time, I learned a little more about the accident and what was happening at the moment. The coroner  pronounced him dead.... he'll take him to this funeral home.... call here to have him transferred to whatever home you want to use.  We have his keys and the truck.  What do you want done with them?  RS President-- where are they?  Other calls-- did you know...?  What should I do?  What can I do?

It turned out he was cutting down a tree on a ledge. The tree knocked him, or he lost his balance and fell about 5-6 feet, but landed on rock on his head.  He likely died fast.  But the trauma made it such that a viewing was not a good idea.

Lessons learned:
1. Life is fragile.  Be grateful for the time you have.  Use it wisely
2. Have your affairs in order-- all the time.  Have a "what I would like when I die" folder with favorite songs, funeral home you want, will, what you want others to have, etc.
3. Get to know those around you.  Tom came home and said, "Did you know Brother Crawford  was a scout master for 20 years and photographed over 7,000 graves to preserve them?"  No.  We shouldn't wait until a funeral to learn about those around us.
4. Develop a loving soul, so when you're tested, you can respond well.  The second thing Sister Crawford said, when she absorbed the news was to express sympathy and concern for the ward members who were with him cutting wood.

I am grateful for all you, my family and friends.  I appreciate you. I love you.

A cool week

Monday I made the plunge.  I plunked down money for air fare for my AWAI boot camp in October in Florida.  This is a copywriter’s convention.  It’s pretty small—about 300 people and supposed to be great for learning and networking.  They have a job fair there the last day.  I’ll let you know if it was worth it.  Spending 4 hours researching which airport to leave from to get there and depart from there on time was not really worth it.  Next time, I think I’ll pay the fee to Agora and let them figure it out.

Rain and coolness!!  Joy.  JOY!  This week the heat spell broke.  We’ve had highs in the 80’s and it’s been delightful!  It’s a pleasure to walk outside.  I cleaned off the table on the porch so we could dine there (but we haven’t yet.)   We’ve had rain several times this week.  I love the rumble of thunder and the tappity-tap of rain on the roof.

Wednesday we got our visiting teaching finished.  Sometimes visits are so satisfying as you feel like you are making a difference in people’s lives.

Thursday I invited my friend Barbara over to make spaghetti sauce.  She’d never done it, but she has tomatoes and peppers.  So we made a big pot full and split the results.  It was tasty and flavorful.  It was a fun afternoon.  She said, this is the closest I’ve ever had to having a sister.  What I love about the gospel is that even if you’re single and alone, you have a ward family and a roomful of sisters.

Friday we went to the movies for our date and saw Bourne Legacy.  A new character played Jason Bourne and we debated back and forth for a while about whether the character we were watching was Jason or not.  Then he shaved… or was that another character.  But there was lots of action, so maybe it didn’t matter.  I think watching it a second time would help things fall into place better. After the movie we went shopping.  I got my year’s supply of school items.  This is such a good time to stock up on pens and notebooks.  We also bought a new phone.  I hope that it works better so our calls will not break up as we visit.

This week focused on Seminary, Institute and the training coming up on Saturday.  Some of my seminaries began this week as school started for many communities.  Some seminaries should have started the first day of school, but we are still helping teachers and leaders see the value of strengthening the students from day 1 as is required by the program.

One poor new teacher was called on Wednesday and is supposed to begin on Monday.  I just learned of the calling on Thursday night, and finally connected with him on Friday night to invite him to the training on Saturday morning.  Fortunately he came and learned a lot and got his teacher’s manual.  You know, this church HAS to be true!  Where else could you take a teacher like that and know that he will be able to begin teaching on Monday.  And surprisingly enough, it will go fine.

I was commenting to the Seminary and Institute regional coordinator that 17 of my 21 teachers were there.  As I mentioned those who were not, he said, “Oh, the Powers moved to Texas.” “What? I was supposed to learn that when?”  I find when I am not kept in the loop I feel so incompetent.  I decided that was an “I” problem and either I can choose to feel incompetent, or I can just get over it, realize that there is an imperfect program in place to learn of all these calling, releases, and departures, and just move on.

Saturday training did go very well.  We discussed effective questions, bringing the spirit into the class room, and helping students commit to reading the scriptures every day.  After my training program, I went to Aldi’s to shop and then to ½ of ½ to be entertained.  I did find an outfit and pants.  Hey!  The pants were only $1.99 and the others were half price of the half of half.

Then I went to the Springfield Stake center for the Especially for Seminary program.  I met Tom there who had come up with the youth.  They had classes and a great devotional, then had a dance.  Tom and I left to come home when the dance started.

Today I had a lovely visit with an 80 year old lady who is looking into the church.  She has an internet relationship with an LDS gentleman.  She will be visiting him again and they are talking marriage.  It was fun to visit with her and both caution and encourage. She is someone else who has lived a lonely life.  It made me realize anew the blessings of a ward family.

A good week. Hope your week went well, too.

Squirrels!

Tom has a love-hate relationship with squirrels.  He likes to see them run around.  He hates to see them eating his bird's food.

Through the drought he as tried to keep the birds fed.  We have two feeders.  The first wooden feeder the critters would knock the top off to grab the food.  He waged war for a while and after trying rubber bands (they chewed through) and bricks on top (they finally learned to knock it off) he wired it closed.

It worked!   Then the other day, we saw this.

The squirrels can't get it open... but they can munch on the bit left for the birds.

Our other feeder is a metal mesh one.  It's on a metal pole and for a while the squirrels couldn't figure out how to get to it.  The horse, however learned to grab the edge and tilt the seed into his mouth!

Then the squirrels learned to run along the top of the chain link fence and jump to the feeder.  If they swing on it, they can spill a good amount of seed to the ground below.

But they also just munch as much as they can.  Notice the legs almost to the top of the pole and the head near the food.

So when Tom sees them, he jumps onto the porch with a commando thump and HOLLERS! and they scamper away.... for a moment.

I seen the saga continuing....

Book of Mormon

  In spring I’d talked about getting fertilizer for the garden.  Summer passed. It was time for our fall garden.  I wanted to plant on Saturday…. So on Saturday I finally called about manure. Nothing like doing things in the moment.

I drove out to the stables in Cotter and picked up a full pick-up truck bed of aged horse manure.  After loading we chatted about the drought, its effect on the horses, and the state of the world.  How it seemed like the Second Coming was close.  The wickedness of the world.

As I explained why we no longer had horses—two missions—I shared how the Book of Mormon talked about this cycle of pride and greed followed by disaster then humility, then great blessings from the Lord.  I asked if he’d like to read it.  He was interested.

I came home and Tom and I shoveled manure over about 1/3 of the garden. It was hot, tiring work and I really didn’t want to go back for another load.  But it was supposed to rain on Sunday and dry manure is a lot easier to spread then wet manure.

Then I went looking for a Book of Mormon.  I wasn’t sure I had one in the house.  I looked in the places an extra one should be.  Not there.  I looked on the living room book shelf with the religious books we had.  Nothing.

Then I remembered I was going to loan Pam an old church book I had—The First 2000 Years.  I searched for it on the shelves amid our old church books… and found it.   As I pulled it out, there, tucked back beside it was a brand new Book of Mormon.

It looked so new and untouched.  It reminded me of the stories of the hungry missionary—far from home-- who awoke to find a loaf of his wife’s fresh baked bread next to him.  For me, this was a miracle, too.

I went back for the second load, and shared the Book of Mormon. He was pleased and receptive.

As I looked at that book shelf this morning, I was reminded anew of the impossibility or improbability of my every finding that Book of Mormon on my own.

5 gallons Peach Jam; 10.6 cubic yards of manure

We had a wonderful, busy week.  I know I was busy on Monday-- but not exactly sure what I did.  Monday evening Miranda and Camden and Ethan arrived.  We actually weren't home when they came.  We went to our Empty Nesters meeting for Family Home Evening.  But when we got home, we had time to chat and visit.

Tuesday we dug into the peach thing.  Miranda and Tom made batches of jam.  We sliced and froze peaches.  Tom tried out a cobbler. I fussed that the recipe sounded complex... but I love it, and Tom wasn't all that thrilled.

Wednesday we froze more peaches, made relish from the enthusiastic cucumbers, and froze the last of the nectarines. Tom made more jam. When it all totaled up, we had 40 pints of jam-- 5 Gallons!  We diced peaches and made fruit leather.  Can you see a pattern of "doing something with peaches" here?  In the evening Tom went to his meeting and Miranda and I chatted.

Thursday, Miranda and I went Thrift shopping.  Camden chose to stay back with Tom by the method of not putting his shoes on.  He was an unhappy boy... but it was good Grandpa bonding time when he finally got over his miff.  I found a computer chair I really liked... but it was more than I wanted to pay.  After we got back home, Miranda packed up and departed with her kiddies.  Sigh.  It was a quiet house.

In the afternoon, I froze some bell peppers and made salad for the Visiting Teaching convention that night.  Tom was invited to speak, so we got to spend the evening together.  I sang a song with some other sisters.  It was a fun night-- with ice cream sundaes for dessert!

Friday I got back to work and finished a potential landing page for Anthony the Credit Expert http://www.anthonycreditexpert.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=1328  I had heard him talk and spoke by phone to him. I was very impressed with how he can help improve your credit scores-- even with negatives you've really done-- if your creditors didn't follow all the laws.  So I got that sent off.  And I read up on PPC-- pay for click advertising.

I've been doing a lot this week to get ready for Seminary starting. At the last minute two of my teachers were released.  We'd been doing training all summer to prepare them for fall.  I feel so bad for the new teachers that will have to jump in totally untrained.  I just have to pray they will be blessed.  We need to get teachers enrolled in the WISE program-- the new way to take attendance and monitor class rolls.  We need to get all the students enrolled in that program, too.  And I have training next Saturday that I need to work on.  I actually have 8 new teachers that need help and guidance.  And I just learned one class has 29 students in it.  That's a LOT!

Friday night we had the missionaries for dinner.  We also invited Barbara over for a new member lesson.  It was a nice evening.  Tom tried a new peach cobbler recipe and decided he liked the first one better.  What's not to like? It calls for 2 cups of sugar?

Saturday I made more fruit leather.  We also put two loads of manure on the garden-- at about 5 cubic yards per load. It was a lot of work, but it looks great.  I don't know if the armadillo, rabbit, skunk, or shrew will allow me to plant a fall garden.  We raised the edge of the bed more level with the fence to keep more critters out, but I saw this morning that something had dug under anyway.

We have 8 missionaries from our area in Kenya serving missions now with another 3 preparing to go out.  I have written to some of them occasionally, but I decided I needed to do a better job of supporting them.  So I have been collecting their addresses and putting them in a list.  I don't know if I'll mail the all the same letter, or modify it for each one.  I just need to get them mailed out so they will receive it by their Monday.

Today I wore my African caftan so Tusca could see it.  I love it.  But it is bright.  You know it's bright... or distinctive... when many people comment on it.

A good week

In my daily planner I haves lists and lists of things to do… some of them checked off.  I find I am more productive when I have thought about what needs to be done.  I don’t always get everything in the right priority, but at least I accomplish more.

The left column has work related things, the right column everything else in life.  That way I hopefully stay balanced between the two.  I have finished my paying job and so am back to Learn, Write, Market myself.  I did get a request to write for …oh… about $5 an hour.  I declined.  I’ve been learning about bottom feeders, professional rates, and “rock star” rates.  Professionals expect to pay a certain amount.  I need to know what that is.  Price too high or too low and it raises suspicion and doubt in the client’s mind.

The week began with hot weather. Next week is finally expected to be cooler.  We did have rain Wednesday, Thurs, Friday, and Sunday. Praise the Lord.  Not inches, but we are grateful for everything we get.

Tuesday we invited a single sister over for dinner.  She is a textile designer here taking care of her mom.  She expected to be here a short while, but illness has cropped up and so she’s been here months.  Lovely lady, and we had fun talking fabrics.

Wednesday we prepared for a temple trip and left Thursday morning.  We drove to Kansas City. Thursday was our stake temple day and Friday was our annual ward temple day.  We did two sessions on Thursday- noon and 5pm.  We had bread, soup, and salad at Olive Garden for dinner.  Our hotel seems to be in the midst of dining heaven.  There are SO MANY restaurants.  We could come for a year and never try them all. 

Friday we went back and served from 9-2:30. It is really fun to be in the temple with people you know.   We helped one sister be sealed to her parents.  What a sweet event. We dined at 5 Guys, and then headed home.

On the way we stopped at Gordon’s Orchard.  They had #2 peaches for $10 for 24lbs and nectarines for $8 for 24 lbs.  In a fit of insanity, we got 5 lugs of peaches and one of nectarines.  One and a half lugs are for Miranda… but I think my freezer will be full of fruit.

Saturday I slept in, and then did some gardening.  It was HOT and I was drained when I came in.  We still have tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and cucumbers.  I did get one more melon before the critters.  I pruned some bushes in the front flower garden. 

After collapsing and fiddling on the computer for a bit, I hauled my sorry behind to the kitchen and started on the fruit.  Sorted it all to ripe-for-jam, ripe-for-freezing, and not yet ripe.  Then froze (on a tray) and bagged 2 gallons of nectarines, two gallons of peaches and made three batches of jam.  Tom pitched in and that really helped.  No one had to coax me to bed!

Good day at church today.  I got my temple recommend renewed.  Good testimonies.  Good lesson on not murmuring in Relief Society… err, about accepting change in all areas of life and submitting to God’s will and not murmuring in all times and places… not just not murmuring in Relief Society.  Although likely the RS president would be glad of that, too.

Miranda’s coming next week to claim and can her peaches.  We’re looking forward to seeing Ethan and Camden... oh, and Miranda, too.