Whisperings of the Spirit

Last week I wrote that I wanted to go to McDonalds for dinner.  For some reason, I just felt like a hamburger.  Here is the rest of the story.

I think I mentioned we met a less active teen who worked there-- visited-- gave her hugs.

Sunday that teen was at church.  She said, I saw them walk in, and I just felt something.  I decided I needed to come back to church.

Sometimes the spirit influences us... and we don't even know it.

It feels like Spring has Sprung

We have continued to have warm, wonderful days.  The risk of these lovely days... is hazardous weather.  Branson was struck by a tornado... along with other towns across the nation.  Fortunately, in Branson, it seems like the damage may not be too bad-- at least that's what the tourist conscious public officials are saying.

Our flowers have rejoiced in the lovely weather.  Daffodils are blooming their little hearts out.

 Our wild plum tree is a snowball of white.

 Our grape and large hyacinth are up and perfuming the air.  And we have some delightful unknown flowers. I thought they were dead... but this winter they poked their leaves out, and now they have fluffy blue and pink flowers.

Tuesday Tom had an interview with the Stake president, so we drove up to Springfield in time for dinner.  We had a nice drive together. I wish the interviews weren't on Tuesday-- Half of Half is CLOSED that day! Otherwise we would have left MUCH earlier to enjoy the shopping.

This was the week I made my airline reservations-- We'll go to Miranda's for her baby.  Then I'll fly to Deborah's and be there over General Conference weekend and return on the 10th.  I also bought tickets to fly to LA so that Mom and I and other siblings will go to Switzerland the first two weeks of July.  I am so looking forward to that.

The Main street house is done.  Done!  Ah, joy.  The "For Rent" sign is out.  We had an open house on Friday and about 7 people stopped by.  They were all complementary.  I, however, forgot to bring the camera.  Maybe next week you'll see the finished pictures.

I also spent major hours working on my website.  It's kind of up now.  I still need to gather more fashions and do a bunch more stuff.  If you love me, I'd appreciate your taking a look at it.  Let me know if you find things that are confusing, misspelled, awkward, etc.  Is the writing friendly and approachable?  Does the site look attractive?  Do you think teens will find it interesting?  I'd love your feedback.  www.TeenStyleU.com

Saturday we did a marathon outside event.  We weeded and tilled the garden.

We moved the chickens... who had been in the garden... to a new home around the outer garden fence.  We put up new fencing paralleling the garden fence.  The goal is that the bugs that fly around may be eaten by the chickens, and that they will dig and discourage the crabgrass from growing into the garden.  We'll see if it works.  It may be that the chickens get into the garden... and they are more destructive than pests.

While we were working on the garden, we let them out.  They wandered to the front of the house and proceeded to scratch away all the mulch around the flowers in front.  Ugh!  We scooted them back into the garden... but they became escape artists!  However, after we moved the chicken tractor and put them in the back run, they've stayed in place.

Of course, that was not enough work for a Saturday, so we also dug up a fruit tree growing too close to one of other ones and replanted it.  We bought two more peach trees and planted them, and moved a volunteer butterfly bush and planted it next to the garage.

You can't see the fruit trees all that well.  Fortunately, these are smart enough not to have blossomed out yet.

And I guess, that's about all the news for this week.

Fun with Polyvore.com

I'm trying to get fashions for my www.TeenStyleU.com website.  I just LOVE this  www.polyvore.com fashion editor.  You can choose colors and styles and it's awesome.  But... I can't figure out how to create affiliate links in it in my website.  Still, it's a lot of fun. You can try it out.

Our Winter just came... and went

It’s been a fun week.   I can’t say that we passed any milestones, but just getting through weeks is sometimes a victory.

Winter came.  With snow.  And was gone in a day or two.  Now we are back to spring like weather.  It really is delightful… especially since we finally had two days of winter.  For the one day, snow just drifted down.  I can tell you, the chickens didn’t like it.  They wouldn’t come out of their house.

I listened to a live call from AWAI and decided I needed to sign up for elance—a website from where you can get writing jobs.  Let me tell you.  It is no simple thing!  You have to first read all kinds of disclosures.  Then take a training.  Then sign up.  Then take a series of proficiency tests and put your resume up on your page.  I still have a ways to go.  Sometimes progress seems like slogging through molasses.

I have continued working on my Teen Style U website.  I’ve written more pages, and I’ve learned that I may be able to import a great device onto the website that will allow people to create their own styles.  I think I’ve finally chosen the theme I will use and my goal is to actually put the basic parts of the website together this coming week.  Again, the learning curve makes things go slower.

Wednesday I went to our young women and talked to them about color and body type and asked what they were interested in learning more about.  It was nice to know that they were interested in many of the things I’d planned for the site.  They also had great feedback on the questions of “Why be modest?” and “What is modesty?”  It was fun to interact with them.

It’s been fun to go and see the Main Street house progress.  I ended up choosing a darker stain for the floors than I would have liked, but it did a great job of minimizing the imperfections and the floors turned out quite nice.  The outside doors (to a storage area under the house) were dilapidated, paint-peeling, and barely opened or closed.  Those got fixed this will and WOW! What a difference new paint and straightened up doors make.

The side porch was stuffed full of scrap lumber, old doors, trim pieces, leaves and debris.  Slowly by slowly the stuff has either been cleaned up and incorporated into the house… or trashed.  This week we actually got to see the porch.  Whadda know.  It’s actually pretty spacious.  It needs painting.  But now, I can visualize a little table and chairs and people sitting out there for dinner.

Friday we left early in the morning to go to St. Louis.  First we met up with Clay to see the insides of our rentals.  We actually got there before he did and had a picnic lunch in Tower Grove Park.  It was sunny and seemed warm enough in the car… but with the wind blowing… it felt much colder in the park.   But it was fun to walk there for a few minutes.

We got to see all 4 of our rentals units.  Three are doing well.  One… she’s being evicted… and I really hope she cleans up as she goes.  It was not good.  We got rent statements and talked about selling one of the duplexes.

Then we went to the temple to meet our friends the Kelley’s.  We’d wanted to make the 2:00 session.  But it seemed unlikely.  We got to the temple just before two and changed clothes to our church clothes.  We walked in just about2pm.  The Kelley’s were waiting for us and visiting with a counselor in the Temple Presidency. 

He looked at his watch. “Did you want to make the 2:00 session?”  What?  We still could?  We hurried to dress and they held the session for us.  It was a tender mercy of the Lord.  That way we could do the 4:00 session as well.   Then we went to dinner.

We shared a motel room and talked until… I donno… after 10:30.  The next day, we got to the temple by 10 to go through a session with one of our ward members taking out their own endowment.  It was sweet to be there with so many friends.

We hated to part from the Kelley’s.  We had lunch together at Panera’s… and Guess what?  There was a Trader Joe’s in the same mall.  So we wandered there… and finally headed home.  It was a really good spiritual, friendship-filled two days.

Today church was good.  Focus is on sharing the Book of Mormon and doing temple work.  I like singing in the choir.  One of the speakers was a sister I’d visit taught before she was a member.  She’d really grown and changed through the years.  It was great to hear her story.  The second speaker was sick… so I was called on to share an experience I’d had that week. It reminded me of all the times we were in Kenya and were called upon to speak with no notice.

I fought a cold for part of the week.  I think I’m winning.

After church we had Bishops Youth Discussion at our house.  Having been gone for two days, we bought ice cream and chocolate sauce on the way home.  I think they come for the refreshments as much as for the lesson or sociality.  They are nice kids.

Now, Tom is off bishopricing again.  And I’m ready for a nap.

Art and Turkeys

On our way to Bentonville-- just down the road from our house, we came across a flock of turkeys!

 The Crystal Bridges Art Museum has a low footprint from the parking area. Most everything is on a lower level.

 I liked the reflection of Tom in the window.  Much of the  gallery looks out on nature as well.

 The arched copper ceilings let in light... and the inner center of the museum holding the fine art, also has an open ceiling to allow in the natural light.  It was a cloudy day, though, so we didn't see a lot of that natural light.

 I loved how they have created "lawn" paths as you walk further out.  The landscaping reminded me of Calloway Gardens.

 I think this rocky area will be filled with water... but it was not, today.

 Although it was near freezing, we walked up to a natural spring... then back to the car. All of the pathways, the benches, the landscaping had that natural... always-been-there look to it.  Very lovely.  I'd like to come back in the spring.

Crystal Bridges Museum

This was a good week.  On the work side, I spent a lot of time working on writing pages for my modest teen fashion website.  I finally decided on a domain name: www.TeenStyleU.com.  But it is not yet up.  I need to have about 20 pages before it can go online.  Right now, I have about …er…7.   I’m hoping Deborah will help with the webhosting.  And I have a lovely young woman helping with some of the coordinated wardrobes.

I met with our attorney about writing for his website.  He is just putting it up and there is lots to do.  I don’t know for sure that it will work out. As he says, this is hard for him, as he’s sure he can do it better than anyone else.

My sweet little ladies from Gift-Tiques decided to forego a website for the time being. “I just don’t have time to fool with it,” she said.  And she’d posting on Facebook, so her customers are seeing what’s new.  I knew I’d underpriced myself.  And I’d really been putting in a lot of time.  I realized I was happy with her decision when I burst out in a round of the Hallelujah Chorus when I hung up.  Maybe we will continue working together at a later date… and that’s fine.  But I’m glad to be free to pursue other things now.

The Church St. house rented. Yippee! The Main Street house is coming along.  Vanity installed last week.

Upstairs with nice view.

  Floors are next.  We think… cross our fingers… that the wood floors are salvageable. 

 Still.... from the outside... it still looks like a work in progress!

We never seem to stop working while we are home.  So Friday, I took Tom on a trip.  We traveled through Eureka Springs to check out porches on all their “painted ladies” to see what kind of porch we wanted on the Main St. House.  It was fun to drive around this old town with all its lovely architecture.

We also went to Bentonville to the Crystal Bridges fine art museum.  It was delightful.  The first gallery housed American Artists from early American history. There were some wonderful renditions of Indians. Each gallery proceeded with a later era.  I didn’t think to take pictures until we were into a more modern time, but it was delightful.  Tom said, “I can’t believe you got me into an art museum for 2 hours!”… And it wasn’t that bad at all.

 Above: Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell.  Love the strong arms.  Below. Pinocchio and some cute guy.

 This is a close up of a watercolor.  I have not idea how he did the water drops.

 This was an entire room made of marquetry--inlaid wood.

 What do you do with 9000 spools of thread?.. And why upside down? A crystal ball where the men are standing flips the image and you see... the last supper.

 For our jig saw aficionados, this art work is all made of part of jig saw puzzles.

 This self portrait was SO REAL!!  I could see the individual hairs on the head.

 For Sue and Steve- the old clock repair man.

 This piece of art played a piece by Handel when you stomped on the floor in front of the horn.

 I'll post photos of the museum in the next blog.  The design is a piece of art in itself.  It was a fun day.  I remembered once again that the richness of a piece of art-- in oil, in person-- is so much more than it appears in a copy.  We had a nice Mexican lunch/dinner before we started back home.

Saturday Tom attended the World Wide Leadership training.  I did a little thrift shopping, and made Jonathan’s pizza for dinner.  Now if I could only learn how NOT to burn my mouth on the pizza.

Today was Ward Conference.  Good speakers.  (Tom spoke.)  Good lessons. Choir sang… and it really sounded nice. (We have a new choir director and she’s demanding more.) A good day.

Happy February

In my attempts to get more organized, I first got a small notebook to write down my to-do list for the day.  I divided it into work related things and life related things to do.  But after a week or so of that, I realized I really needed a daily planner.  Some things I didn’t need to do TODAY, but I needed to remember to do them tomorrow or Wednesday. 

So now I can remember what I did all week.  And now I know why Cynthia doesn’t write letters.  It looks like the same thing every day.  BUT… you get to hear about it anyway!

Monday night we watched the DVD from the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  We saw some of “our” missionaries… and also how many of the senior couples that were new.  Ahhh.  Made us homesick!  We learned that Kisumu branch had 7 baptisms in December and that the little handful of members we’d nurtured in Nyabondo had 23 baptisms in December!  I’m sure it will shortly become an organized group.  It’s nice to know things are moving forward.  Some of the people we saw baptized are now preparing for missions.

I’ve been continuing to work on the websites.  I’ve solved some technical problems and banged my head against the wall… or the computer… over other, as yet unsolved problems.  I have connected with about 6 other people who are taking copywriting courses and we have decided to organize into a Mastermind Group.  Although we come from diverse backgrounds and locations all over the USA, I think we will be good for each other.  We have a nun who came out of the convent, a home-schooler from Oregon, a retired computer programmer, a videographer, a naturopathic practitioner.  It’s been fun!

Tuesday Miranda, Camden and Dan came to visit.  Dan went off to do work on Wednesday and we delivered Miranda and Camden to Dan in Harrison on Thursday. We did a little chatting, a little cooking, a little hair cutting.   Before...

 The first few snips:

 The last few snips.

The weather has been quite warm, so Camden delighted in going outside to play.  He liked watching the chickens… for a minute.  The play car was much more interesting.

Thursday morning was the second meeting of our Mastermind Group.  We meet on Skype. After that was done, I went and got some mulch.  I’d been wanting to mulch the front flower garden for months!  It has to be done in winter, because once the spring bulbs come up, it’s really hard to get the mulch in.  Well, those silly spring bulbs are poking their heads up!  So Camden, Miranda, Dad and I spread mulch, then we left for Harrison.

 The tulips poking their heads out.

After having lunch at an ok Mexican Restaurant, Tom and I went to Alde’s to shop.  Tom had carefully gotten out cash, as they don’t take a credit card and since our debit card acts like a credit card, the machine won’t take it.  Alas, the money got carefully put into a coat pocket that stayed home (since it was so warm.)  We discovered this as we were finishing up checking out.   They must have had other people do this before.  They suspended the transaction.  We found a local ATM (that would take our debit card) and were back in probably 5 minutes to pay and collect our groceries.

The Main street house continues to progress.  Some days, I don’t see a lot done—like when Ray is working on plumbing.  But this week doors got hung and trim got painted. The light went up in some of the rooms. Toilet got installed in the downstairs along with vanity, top and faucets.  Wow! It looks like a bathroom! Err… it will act like one, once the plumbing’s done and the water turned on.   We traded a local merchant the doors and the shower stall we didn’t need for the vanity tops.  It was a win-win situation.  Slowly, the amount of stuff around the house is diminishing and a nice looking house is emerging.

Mom and I have been chatting.  We’ve bought our tickets and gotten the travel insurance.  We’ve decided on the Swiss Rail passes we’ll get.  Deborah and Miranda are gestating nicely and I’ll go and visit them at baby time in late March and early April.  While Miranda was here, she researched places to see and things to do for the Family Reunion in Branson in June.  All… so exciting!!

Tom has been working on taxes.  Bless his heart!  He’s such a good man.  He’s kept busy raking leaves and doing all the odd jobs that need doing with rentals.  He goes visiting and has meetings.  It’s fun to see his love for the youth of the church.  After some really tough days, I think the drama of the ward is back on even keel.  Today was a good, spiritual fast Sunday.

Tonight I have an in-service training call for my Seminary and Institute teachers.