Home again safe and snug

I enjoyed the warm California weather while Arkansas was at 9 degrees. By the time I returned it was warming up again. Today it was 68 degrees. But this week it's supposed to get down below freezing again.

I enjoyed my time with Mom and I was so happy to see her improving before I left. She actually had enough energy to go into the kitchen and fix herself some tea. One of the things I love about Mom is that she accepts her situation with grace. She makes it easy for others to help her without either one feeling uncomfortable. She always finds things to appreciate and rejoice in and she keeps her sense of humor.

I realize all of us have the Lord's arms around us and are filled with his love if we will but take the time to feel and see it. He always wants what's best for us in the eternal scheme of things.

Kathy arrived Monday night and we had a short visit before Cynthia and Jim took me to the airport on Tuesday. It was an uneventful flight home and my sweetie was waiting in Tulsa for me. We visited with Miranda Tuesday night and got mobbed by the boys on Wednesday morning. They are such cute kids! We got off from there about 10 am. Stopped at Sprouts and spent money on healthy fruit... and not so chocolate covered fruits and nuts. We also stopped for a brief visit at Deborah's and arrived home about 4pm. Tom went off to meetings about 5pm.

Then Thursday we were up and out the door by 10am to take the missionaries to West Plains for a zone conference. The Relief Society was supposed to make lunch for them and I went to support my counselor. She did a lovely job of fixing lunch and the missionaries enjoyed it. Somehow I thought this would be a morning event. No.  It wasn't over until after 3pm.Then one of the missionaries was sick and needed to see the Dr... who is also in the stake presidency. So we went there and waited a little longer. We had a dinner appointment with some less actives at 5:30... and we were not going to make it home in time. When we called to push it back, we learned they had been trying to call us to postpone it to another day. That was a relief... as Tom was supposed to go Home Teaching at 7.

I thought I'd be able to delve into my work on Friday. I had taken the computer to West Plains and gotten my Heating and Air Conditioning newsletter finished and sent off. But no. Before I went to California we'd set up a day to go and inspect our rental properties. So we spent most of Friday off looking at our houses, plus Adam's and Deborah's. A few canceled and Tom will need to see them next week. For the most part, things were good. They were clean and didn't need very much fixed. Still, even with a non-working ceiling fan here and a clogged gutter there, Tom will be busy next week checking off all the things that need to be done.

Friday afternoon and Saturday I finally go to delve into the Motley Fool UK material. It was interesting looking at what might be of concern to the Brits. I've not spent time looking at their publications and stock selections before. Tom kept busy washing the car, pruning trees, and doing other essential things and he let me work all day.  He even made me dinner.

Today was a good day at church. I love singing in the choir and we are singing some wonderful pieces of music. I went to the gospel principles class and enjoyed learning about the gifts if the spirit- the gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, wisdom, knowledge, faith. and so on.  Then we learned about the value of studying the scriptures every day.

This evening we had our Home and visiting teachers come over and I have a phone call presidency meeting. I think I have finalized my ideas on the Women's Retreat coming up in April. Now I need to assign responsibilities and get the work moving.

Hope all of you have a great week!

Mama Week

I’ve had a very rewarding time with Mom. Last Sunday she felt well enough to go to church. But Monday brought the beginning of a decline. She just felt very weary and tired. We went to the cardiologist on Tuesday. She was still in atrial fibulation (A-fib- where the heart flutters instead of beating regularly) and they thought that could be causing her fatigue and being out of breath all the time.

They scheduled another Cardioversion on Thursday. Wednesday she slept a lot. We hoped that Thursday would bring a new lease on life. Her heart did go back into regular rhythm after just one shock. So that was good news. And she said her muscles felt stronger. However the medicine they put her on to keep her heart in rhythm did not agree with her.

Some of the side effects are fatigue, muscle weakness, ataxia (can’t walk well) and tremors. Mom had them all. By Friday morning she couldn’t get herself out of bed. We used the walker as a wheel chair with Mom sitting on the seat and me pushing her.

Robert with his pharmacy wisdom helped me understand the drug options. Basically all the drugs for this problem are in the same family and all will likely cause the same symptoms. Indeed, perhaps her fatigue last week was not due as much to the A-fib as it was to the drugs she was taking.  Cynthia called the doctor on Saturday and the Dr. on call said stop taking the med!

Mom said being on this medicine was worse than having the A-fib. She actually started improving by the evening. I got up with her the first few times she needed to go at night, but then she was able to wheel herself into the bathroom. And by this afternoon, she could push the walker down the hall to the living room. She’s still tired, but she can do a lot more for herself. So we are grateful!

Kathy will be coming on Monday evening and I will fly home on Tuesday.

Even amid helping Mom, I have been able to get work done. I finished my Heating and Cooling newsletter and sent it off. I wrote two article for my Executive Coach and got those off. I had two mastermind meetings online— missed one, listened to the other. I had a Skype call with Motley Fool UK- a financial newsletter company. We are in talks with my writing a sales letter for them. And I’ve done some work on some of the Start Up companies.

Thursday after Mom’s procedure, Cynthia stayed with Mom and allowed me to go off to the temple. It was a delight to be there. I was able to do an endowment plus some other work. And then Cynthia came over after her church on Sunday and I was able to attend my services.

I was able to get some of my church work done long distance. I arranged for missionaries to be fed at their interviews and updated my secretary. I called two of my ward Relief Society Presidents to give and receive information and sent a report to the stake president.

It’s awfully nice to see Mom doing better. Our hope and prayer is that she will stay in rhythm without the sickening medicine. Second best- she goes into A-fib, but it’s tolerable without medicine to make her ill. Third option, a procedure to burn the offending electric impulse places and then put in a pace maker to even out the heart beats.

She and I have both felt her encircled in the arms of Heavenly Father. Thank you all for your prayers.

Trip to Mom's

This has been an eventful week. A week ago Saturday as I was looking in the mirror, I thought, I can't go off for two weeks with hair this long. So I made an appointment to get it cut first thing Monday morning.  Then we left to drive to Miranda's. Deborah's family was sick, so we bypassed her... but managed to spend a half hour at 1/2 of 1/2 and buy two tops.

Miranda and Dan had a new project to do when Dan was removing trim in the entry way and broke a tile... one that could not be matched. So Tom did a little tile chipping Monday afternoon. Then Dan came home with some noisy... but very effective machine. In under 2 hours he removed all the tiles and smoothed the floor so it was free from thinset glue. I helped Miranda fix dinner. Then we went out to return the tile scraper gizmo, look for lighting, and eat frozen custard at Andy's.

Why look for lighting, you ask? They were debating on paint colors and needed to see the existing living room paint in better light. We had rearranged the living room so that more natural light came in and the paint looked good to me. After Tom added the new lighting on Tuesday, Miranda agreed.

Tuesday Tom took me to the airport and then went back to Miranda's to paint the hall and finish the living room painting. Not sure what else was on the agenda, but he left and came back home on Wednesday. Good thing.  Our cat/chicken sitter was leaving town on Thursday. Thursday Tom went to visit a former church member at the Calico Rock Prison. Then on Friday he went to the temple with a pretty large group from our ward.

I had an uneventful flight to Santa Ana. Sue and Steve picked me up and took me to Mom's. We had a nice afternoon and evening chatting. Sally came down for dinner and brought a great pot roast with veggies. Very tasty. Cynthia kindly hosted me for the night. It was that or Mom's sofa. Wednesday Sue and Steve packed and left.

Mom had been feeling pretty puny. The heart A-fib leaves her with little energy. Even the effort to get dressed leaves her needing to nap. But through the week I think her appetite has picked up and she's been able to do a few more things.

Thursday we went to get her hair cut. Then we stopped at an Asian market. I don't think I've ever seen that much variety of seafood in one place. And they had a whole aisle of tea... but no herb tea without any black or green tea in it. We ate lunch out at Jolanda's and then came home and relaxed.

Friday we went to her podiatrist appointment and did a little more shopping. Friday evening I made chicken Alfredo and it turned out pretty good. Saturday we relaxed. Cynthia and Jim came over and brought a tasty dinner. We worked to prep Mom so she could conserve her strength to be able to go to church on Sunday. Shower, clothes laid out. It reminded me of a Primary song: "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sundayyyy..."

I have been able to get some work done most every day. I pretty much finished up a website aimed at the universities so that they'd have confidence that this tech start-up group would be able to take their precious inventions and turn them into products that would help people and make everyone money. (They actually have several techs for kids that won't make money, but will really help disabled kids.)
I've had several calls with some of the business owners about how to get some publicity started for their products and some inquiries about writing short papers to attract investors.

I learned this week the Stake Relief Society is supposed to provide lunch for missionaries during their quarterly interview meetings. The first one will occur just a few days after I get home. I assigned it out, but will probably need to do more follow up.

Today- Sunday- Mom and I got her ready for church. She has been traveling in a wheel chair and I've been borrowing Cynthia and Jim's car. Cynthia very kindly showed me how to get the wheelchair into the car. It looked slick and simple when she did it. I've had about a 50% batting average. Sometimes it slips in... sometimes I have to manhandle it all over the place. Once it ended up on the seat. Another time totally upside down! Fortunately,I do a better job with the Mama in it. Perhaps by the time I leave I can add "wheelchair mastery" to my skill set.

We had a nice time at church. Many friends came to greet Mom. The minister said that we should not look to governments to solve our problems but should look to Christ and change our hearts to solve our problems. I thought that was a good answer for today's ills.

Back to Normal?

We've been home for the week... with no guests until Friday night. So things are kind of back to normal.  I got back to work with some of my writing projects. I finished some websites and don't have another in front of me.  I've been trying to catch up on some of the courses and programs I've purchased but not plowed through. It's slow going.

Tuesday we put away all the Christmas decorations.  I'd really enjoyed the lights of the tree. We had it on an automatic timer so they were on in the evening and in the early morning until the sun came up. I'd read my scriptures in the chair beside the tree.  I was surprised that it didn't take that long to get all the decorations down and put away.  The house looks a little emptier. We invited guest and the missionaries to dinner.  We had a lovely visit and they lingered longer than I had expected. They were less active and we invited them to church.  They were enthusiastic... but didn't come.

Wednesday we went and put in an offer on a house for Adam's irrevocable trust. It would have been a nice house, with little work needed.  We had to wait until Thursday to submit the offer because the first two weeks are reserved for offers by owner/occupied.  Alas. Wednesday evening Freddie Mac accepted an offer by an owner/occupier.  We will be considered if they fail to qualify, but there is also another offer on the table. So I'm not optimistic.

The Seminary teacher was out of town for a few days. Tom taught seminary on Tuesday morning and I taught the Wednesday evening class.  I was a little apprehensive since I don't know the kids that well, but it went quite well. There was good participation. I was just surprised. Some things in the scriptures I thought would be easy to comprehend, but the students struggled to understand what the scriptures meant.  Perhaps it's the line-upon-line learning... and I don't realize how much I've learned over time.

I was supposed to do pottery on Thursday with Marian, She called to say the heater had been on for three hours and the temperature in the pottery area was only up to 56 degrees so we decided to postpone it.  The weather has turned sharply colder.  Last night it was 18 degrees and didn't get above freezing all day today.  We don't have a good way to keep the cat's water from freezing. We worried about the cats and tried to tarp the chair they use to keep the wind blocked... but it didn't work too well. We do have a large plastic storage bin on it's side with a towel on the bottom that offers some protection.

We also ordered 28 baby chicks for us and three of the kids.  They cost $3.10 each after vaccination.They should be ready on April 12th and Tom decided it would be a fun trip to go and pick them up. (about 5 hours round trip.)

Friday Tom went to prison. We have two former members of the church incarcerated in the Calico Rock detention facility.  It took time and paperwork to clear him and Bro. O'brian to go as ministers and when they went they had a good visit. We have been writing to them and they were thrilled that people cared enough to visit.  When he came home he went and helped a brother move to a new location.

Friday my Relief Society secretary and long-time friend came down from Willow Springs to visit. She spent the night with her daughter Madison. We had tacos for dinner and watched the movie: Behind Enemy Lines.  It was a good reminder of the horrors of war.

Saturday I tried to get myself organized for my trip to Mom's.  Tom will drive me to Tulsa on Monday and I'll fly out on Tuesday. I wanted to organize some things to work on while I travel and while I'm there.  I also had a bunch of things I wanted to finish before I left.  I called all those I visit teach. I got some temple names ready to go. I finished the Relief Society newsletter and worked some on the RS retreat that will be coming up in April. I had purchased a Chrome notebook to use when I travel back in November.  Then I put it aside because it didn't have Word on it. But I wanted to use the light notebook as I traveled. Alas. I discovered it won't hold a charge. Bummer. Emailed NewEgg and we'll see what happens.

Today was a good day at church.  The talks were on turning our hearts to the Savior in Sacrament meeting and understanding the atonement. The Gospel Principles teacher called about 6:30 in the morning to say they had a sick cow out in the 18 degree weather and they needed to work to help it.  So I taught the lesson. It was fun. I like that class.  It was on repentance and we had good class participation.  Tom had Bishop's Youth Discussion after church.  He made them some tortilla wrap snacks and chocolate chip muffins.  I don't think they have any idea all the things he does for them.

Happy New Year!

It's been a Ho-ho-ho week.  I love it when kids come to visit! Andy and family came and stayed through Sunday. Deborah and the kids came up Sunday afternoon.  Then on Monday we said good-bye to Miranda and family. Deborah and children stayed until Wednesday.

We played card games and Monopoly. The kids played outside the first few days.  Then it rained and rained. So most of the remaining days were inside. Even when it stopped raining, it was cold and soggy outside.  I did get out some real water color paper and helped Camden and  Samantha learn some new water color techniques.  It was fun to pick up a brush again.

One of the neighbors was supposed to take care of Barb's dogs while she went on a trip.  But he flaked out just before Christmas.  So Tom and I took turns going over and visiting the dogs and feeding them and watering the plants.  They are good dogs, just big and sometimes overly friendly. While she was gone, Tom took the time to patch a few spots in her ceiling. There had been rain damage in the past.  It took several trips for adding more drywall compound to the edges and sanding them smooth each time. The dogs were always happy to see him.  He also mulched the leaves in her yard while she was gone and she was very appreciative.

Barb arrived back home on Wednesday and so was willing and able to do cat and chicken duty for us so we could go over to Jonathan's and Kristy's.We both had anticipated a fun, relaxing time together.  But, alas, the flooding of the basement changed plans. We arrived in time to meet them at Lowes to review their purchases to tile one of the basement rooms.  It's currently a food storage room, but it had been a children's play room and Kristy wanted it to look nice for resale value.

They decided on a lovely border design with a contrast trim and then a diamond pattern in the ceter section.  It did turn out to be very attractive... but it was not simple or easy.  Still, with tile, you only have one chance to get it right.  It is not the time to cut corners, skimp, or make do.  Tom and Kristy were the primary tile installers and they were very meticulous.  I was the gofer and Jonathan excelled at tile cutting.


We laid out and cut tile border pieces for the hexagonal part of the room on Thursday.  Friday we started in with the thinset "glue."

It has to be mixed 5 minutes with a drill and mixer blade, then rests for 10 min, then mixed again for 2.  If you don't get the texture correct... forget it... it can't be altered at that stage.  And it only lasts for 2 hours before it must be tossed and replaced.  Fortunately, Tom and Kristy were able to use up the 50 pounds of mixed thinset within the allotted time.  The border tiles were slow. When we got to the center section it went faster.

 Garen was confined to the main floor of the house.  But he was very interested in what was going on downstairs.

Still, when dinner time came around it was definitely quittin' time!  We were all sore and achy.  Isabelle had done a marvelous job of creating their traditional New Year's Eve buffet-- moved to New Year's Day due to the tiling marathon. We spent the evening munching and playing games.  I do think my presence at game tables is to make other players look good. We did not stay up til midnight.  But Kristy and the kids did.

Saturday they were back to tiling by about 8 am.  I worked with them for a while, then remembered I'd promised to help Miriam and Isabelle learn how to make the ribbon lace necklaces.  They both knew how to crochet so they were very fast learners. They made lovely necklaces and now can make more or adapt it to bracelets, headbands, etc..

We hoped to be gone by 1, but the tiling was almost done and Tom wanted to see it through. I packed the car as he finished up.  They planned to do the closet after we left.  And we talked them through the grouting process. They will have the other basement room carpeted.

We had a nice ride home checking out places where water was still standing and watching the lovely sunset.  We stopped at Andy's for an afternoon snack.  It was pleasant to be home in a quiet house. We still have Christmas decorations up... I like them.  Do I have to take them down?

Church was a spiritual feast.  We have had lessons this year on making the Sabbath a delight.  I've focused on trying to keep Sunday a spiritual day and not to work or silly things.  And I've tried to focus on the Savior during the sacrament and listen better to the talks and be prepared for the lessons.  Today as I was washing my hands before going into the chapel, I was reminded Ephraim's      Rescue, a movie of a faithful priesthood holder in the pioneer days who was a great healer.  Each time, he would wash his hands before giving a priesthood blessing.  He said, "We can't be 100% clean, but we can get as clean as we can." I thought how I could be cleaner as I enter the chapel for Sacrament. Could I have purer thoughts? As I washed my hands each Sunday, could I try to increase my spiritual purity.  If I enter the chapel just going through the motions, I'm only hurting myself.