We came home to no internet. I called on Saturday and the final step was to reset the modem. Still didn't work. But I got something that popped up on the computer saying "knock, knock. Let's connect." First try didn't work. But on Monday I tried again and ... it worked! So once again we are in the land of the living.
We got a signed contract back from the Stephens... so we for sure have tenants in the house when we are gone. They will not come until after we leave, so we won't have a turnover time. However, Tom has written out detailed instructions on everything from chicken care to generator... so I think we will be good.
The first of the week was spent running around doing all the things that had been hanging while we were gone. I got my new glasses... and later in the week Tom ordered a new pair. I picked up things from the cobblers and dropped off new items to be cleaned or fixed.
Tuesday, I had an appointment to schedule a colonoscopy. Bahh.. not my idea of fun. I also got my hair cut. We planned on having our friend, John over for a missionary lesson that evening, but the weather turned cold with a little ice... so we put it off til next week.
Tuesday, Jim, Cynthia's hubby, went in for arthroscopic heart surgery. It didn't go as planned. It punctured an artery and ended up in open heart surgery. They resolved the problems in the heart, but Jim had a lot of bleeding. He has been in ICU since that time and only now (Sunday) is he slowly coming out of a medically induced coma. Our prayers have been with them both. We've appreciated Cynthia's daily updates.
It will be a slow recovery for Jim with weeks spent in the hospital before going on to rehab. What a shock it will be for Jim. He assumed he'd wake up Tuesday evening with the procedure over... and now it will be close to a week later! All your prayers are invited as well.
Wednesday I spent a good bit of time on the Chad promo. I also had teeth cleaning and they found a small cavity. So I need to return to have that filled. That evening we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and then Tom went to his Wednesday night Young Men's meetings. He has also been spending time putting together self-reliance classes. We have facilitators for most of the classes, but he needed to get books and get them distributed and get the names of people in the classes to the facilitators so they could schedule the classes. It took some time.
Tom also spent much of the week working on the downstairs of our midway duplex. This is the one where the lady with stinky cats decided she'd rather fling cat feces all over the house and leave... instead of cleaning up the mess and staying. Our manager and her husband went and cleaned up most all of it and ripped out the carpet (only had it in the bedroom). Tom came in and finished wiping down walls and baseboards. Then he painted it all with a fresh silver-gray paint.
Thursday we went to the attorneys to set up power of attorney for while we are gone. We are also trying to finish getting the last of our accounts into our trusts and with the correct beneficiaries. And we're trying to get the last of the tax stuff done so it all can be signed and such. We finally reconnected with our language coach. We developed a training plan to help us learn the language in an orderly manner.
In the afternoon, Tom went out to lay vinyl planking in the bedroom floor. I had someone coming over to help with a website... but we really didn't have everything needed to move forward. So after she left, I went out and helped Tom finish the last half of the floor. It looked nice! We celebrated by going out to dinner.
This week my goal was to work on the Chad promo and try to get that well moved along. I did a new middle-of-the-promo outline and sent it off. Got back comments and did some research of facts, charts, expert quotes, testimonies and other kinds of proof that will support the things I say. Saturday I spent time starting to put it all together. It always seems to go slower than I think it should.
I was a bit reluctant to set aside the Chad promo on Friday. But Tom wanted to drive to Bentonville to see Katie and Aaron compete in the regional swim competition. So we left about 10:30 and drove to Deborah's and visited with her for a little while. Then we went on to the swim meet. I'd forgotten just how noisy they are! It was very much fun to see Katie win in her division and see Aaron shave so much time off his races. I think both had improved since the last time we saw them. Russellville Girls took the regional meet and the Boys team came in second place. So proud of them!
The meet went from 3:30 to nearly 9pm. I had been fighting a cold again... or still. And by the end of the meet was feeling a little under the weather. Fortunately Tom drove the nearly 3 hours home and I slept part of the way. Also, it was a long time from our 12:00 lunch of PB&J in the car until a 10 pm dinner at McDonald's. Perhaps that's why it tasted so good! We got home at midnight. Crashed. And slept until 8am.
Saturday Tom worked around the house and I focused on the Chad promo. It's been a bit chilly here with lows in the teens and 20's and highs mostly in the 30's. We had a warming trend and Friday got up into the 60's before Saturday night's freezing rain.
It wasn't bad enough to put ice on the streets, but Tom had to scrape off a lot of ice from his windshield before he could drive to church. And the back steps were slick as snot. Today I still had a cough and a runny nose. I went to church and sang in the choir, but then came home. With all the sickness going around, I figured I really didn't need to spread more.
In Sacrament, we had some sweet talks on teaching children by example when they are young and on how small things can make a big difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment