Relief Society Retreat

Monday was our empty nester's family home evening. We shared things that had been impactful to us about general conference. It was good to be reminded of some of the instruction, topics, and themes. We were to bring potluck. I have been a bit neglectful about shopping and I looked around the house trying to figure out what I could prepare and take that was a main dish. Low on tortillas, both flour and corn. Didn't want a pasta dish that could get cold... so I ultimately settled on Macaroni and Cheese. I have a Martha Stewart recipe I like that makes a nice creamy dish. It was well received. 

We had more than a pan's worth, so I cooked a second pan that came in handy when Tom invited the new missionaries to dinner. One missionary had gone home due to sickness, so the new one came to meet the bishop. I had bought ribs, but I wasn't sure they would be enough for four. So I added the macaroni & cheese, apple salad, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes, and we had leftovers.

Tom has been working on the house by himself this week. He power-washed the deck and stained it. He painted the deck ceiling and that freshened it up a lot. He's been cleaning out the garage and getting it ready to paint. And he's done some of the touch-up. Some things seem so small, yet they make a large difference. Calking the top of the baseboard or filling in the nail holes and painting over the nails... each small thing adds to a finished appearance.

We saw our accountant and discovered we had underpaid the IRS this year. Ouch! Lots of money due. We promise to do better next year. We didn't think we'd made that much money, but I transferred some money from an IRA to a Roth IRA and so that created a taxable event. And my work has been more profitable and taxation is double on it since I have to pay self-employment taxes. I'm feeling justified in raising my rates!

I've continued to slog away at my financial book. It's been interesting to learn new thing. I also sent off proposals for two other jobs and it looks like at least one of those will come to fruition. I'm not in a hurry. I just don't want one job to end and have nothing going forward.

This was the week of focus on my Stake Relief Society Retreat. All the ends needed to be tied up. I got men to agree to help serve, and people to greet. I picked up paper products and food and cooked and baked. And I felt really blessed. I made three gallons of soup on Wednesday and all the 130 or so cookies on Thursday. I also made another gallon of soup, since the first batches were a scant three gallons.

I tried to get more information and patterns for Days For Girls. I signed up to be an individual sewer and finally got patterns, but by that time, I learned we had enough patterns. I had wanted to get machines so sewing could take place, but then, the simple items of the pads and the bags needed the edges of the fabric serged first, and I didn't have a serger. So we let the machines go. I simplified things and reduced stress.

This was the most stress free retreat I've done. I really think it's because I've been working on trying to trust the Lord more. I'm working on recognizing that I can't and should not do it alone. I need to depend on Him. And once I've done all I can, to trust that it will turn out just as it should-- perfect or not.

I was so grateful to Tom. He suggested we spend Friday night in West Plains and made the reservations. So he came up with me on Friday when I met with my counselors to decorate. He helped haul stuff in. The kitchen was not as clean as one would have liked, nor the refrigerator. So Tom stepped in and cleaned it all. Throwing out aged single scoops of ice cream in 5 qt buckets, and being wise enough to save the buckets. 

We took Deborah's lovely little crocheted hearts and tied them to branches for centerpieces. 

There were extras, so we made little heart trees for the chapel and for one of the teacher's rooms. It all was festive and we finished in about 3 hours, probably a record for us. Tom and I went out for Chinese. As I wrote my talk that night, he watched part of Lord of the Rings.

The Retreat itself went very smoothly. We got lots of complements on the food, the decorations, and the classes. The classes were great. Our theme was "create in me a new heart." One sister used the parable of the woman at the well to illustrate a change of heart and we discussed how and why it changed. Another spoke of trials and the need for a changed heart. She told of forgiving her abusive father-- both how incredibly hard it was and the weight that lifted from her shoulders when she did. And one teacher taught about how interconnected our mind and body are. That we speak words and they create our world and influence how we feel. She shared ways we can change our subconscious so we can be happier and accomplish those things we desire. And finally, the service project of tracing and cutting out part for reusable sanitary napkins really touched the hearts of the sisters. It felt like a gift from one woman to another, giving women in Africa and India a chance for schooling and delayed marriage through this simple way to control their periods.

The sisters loved the heart necklaces and were very appreciative. I was surprised that all the different colors were equally loved and chosen- pinks, reds, blues, purples, several shades of green and even the tan ones I thought boring were mostly gone. I made three orange ones and a vivid yellow one I thought no-one would like and all but one of them were chosen, too. How nice that we all enjoy different colors!

I sat on the stand at the beginning of the meeting wondering what to do with the little crocheted heart decorations after the meeting. Then shortly after that, one of the relief society presidents came and asked if she might borrow them to use for their ward activity in a few days. It was an easy yes, and everyone was happy.

It took about an hour to clean up. We shopped at Aldi and were home by 5. It was a great day, but I was tired. And it was really nice to have it be over. The only sad note, 3 chickens disappeared the night we were gone. Probably the afternoon as Barb couldn't find them when it was time for them to come in. Probably dogs. Sigh. I'm sorry they are gone, but also sorry it happened on Barb's watch.

Today is fast Sunday. My focus is no how to make fasting a joy. I decided to start with words. First, I chose to tell myself I don't "desire" to eat. Instead, I want to make this sacrifice for the Lord. Also, in this weakness of hunger, it reminds me of my dependence on the Lord. I ponder on the "living" water and the "living" bread. Can being fed by the Spirit replace food for at least a day? One of the quotes from Elder Bednar from yesterday came to mind. It said something like, conversion is our gift to the Father for all that he has given me. I like it because it lets me realize I have control over my conversion. It isn't something that happens to me, it's a choice I make. And President Jones (stake Pres) said he felt the Lord was far more interested in our efforts than in our results. It's nice to know that trying to do the right thing counts as if you actually succeeded.

General Conference

This week we were back to the grind. Well, we’re seeing the fruition of our work, so it seems enjoyable… but still hard work. Tom has done the lion’s share of the house renovations. He laid a good deal of the floor and has the sore knees to prove it. He has been victorious, though. The jeans have lasted through the renovation!

This week we finished the floor and installed the trim. My, it looks nice! We have a little paint touch up and then it’s on to the back porch and the garage. We got a lot of the mess cleaned out of the garage. Took the metal to the recycler, took reusable stuff to Salvation Army. I think we need to work on our measurements better. We had four boxes of tile left over… but had to skimp and use odd pieces to finish up the last little closet with the hardwood flooring. Since that color is not out of stock, except by mail order, it would have taken 10 days or more to get the final pieces. And we couldn’t order two pieces it needed to be a box. So Tom used his ingenuity and solved the problem

I buckled down and worked on my writing. I feel like it’s coming along pretty well. Research. Write. Research. Write. This week I learned about Certificate for Difference, leverage, and day trading. Next week it should be currency trading and cryptocurrency. I also talked to two other people- one wanting to promote Atari gaming and one his recycling building material site. I need to submit proposals to them.

Next Saturday is my Women’s Retreat. As I looked at all I had to do, I thought, you did not do a good job of delegating! Some of the things I chose to do because I could, some because I didn’t want to put a financial burden on my counselors, and some because I just wasn’t smart enough or fast enough to delegate. Sigh. So this week I will be focused on that. I need to make cookies for 125 women and three gallons of potato soup. I need to buy all the other food.  Here are the finished hearts.  Silly blogger won't put the pic in right.

Deborah helped out a lot by making hearts for decorations and my counselor and secretary are doing most of the decorating. 

I finished gifts for the teachers and counselors and the necklaces for all the sisters attending. I’ve made final coordination with teachers and with the ward set-up person. I finished the program and set it off to be printed. Phew. Maybe most of it’s done. Tom has agreed to come and help serve lunch and I got other men from the ward to come as well. I keep wanting a checklist for this meeting. I’ve asked my secretary to do it… but I haven’t gotten it. So each year I we muddle along. And I haven’t taken time to do it myself.

It’s past time to start our garden. We’ve just been so busy. I want to refresh it with fertilizer or horse manure. And now the asparagus is starting to grow. It’s time to weed and prepare the rest of the garden.

We lost our first chicken of this group on Friday. She was there at 6 and feathers by 8pm. We left to go to the Donkey Basketball game and didn’t close everyone in because this one chicken was still out. If I have to lose a chicken, I hope it’s the one who insisted on wandering places she should not be.

The donkey basketball game was fun. A lot of laughter and rooting for both sides.

Happy Day! Today in General Conference we heard the announcement of the Nairobi, Kenya temple! What a joyful day. It is a dream come true for many saints in East Africa. I expect this announcement will inspire many saints to put their lives in order and to do more research on their family lines to be prepared to take their ancestors to the temple.

At our ward conferences we have been hearing that those we do temple work for become our guardian angels. How wonderful it will be to have more angels guarding the faithful saints in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and other nations that will flow to the temple. Who knows? Perhaps peace will come to Somalia.

I loved listening to two days of General Conference. It was so uplifting. The overall message I received was that the world was in turmoil of the last days. We cannot avoid living in this tumult. We won’t change the world. But we can change ourselves. We can grow more spiritual, more Christ-like and more compassionate. We can have the Holy Spirit to be our guide. We can, from a depth of love, reach out to others to invite, guide, and correct so their lives may be blessed by Gospel Truths as well.

While we may not have peace in the world, we can have peace in Christ. Because of this peace we will rise above the trials of the world. It’s doing the little things, the daily decisions of prayer, scripture reading, Family Home Evening, keeping the commandments, and church attendance that step by step change our hearts and help us become like the Savior. I know for the longest time I thought the doing of these small things was the end in itself.

Only later did I realize they were just means to an end. The end is when we love as the Savior loves, speak as He would speak, think as He would think, and do as He would do. The more we open ourselves to his influence, the more we can change and become as he is.

I love General Conference because it inspires me to become a better person.

Hot Springs

This week Tom and I took a break from the work on the house.  Here are some pictures of the floors as far as they were finished.

The kitchen into the laundry room

The living room and hall

We snuck away and went to Hot Springs.  Actually, it was a writing retreat and I invited Tom to come with me.  He's such a good companion. He fixes me food and snuggles.

My goal was to get up at 5am and write until noon.  We fudged the wake up times a few mornings, but mostly I did that.  Then on Wednesday, I was on a roll and kept writing for most of the afternoon as well.  I got a lot done and it was a most productive week for me.

Tom read books and watched TV. We also went walk/running most afternoon.  And the first day out, Tom went looking for the Walmart. He found a Re-Store as well, and when he stopped, he found there were actually three of them in town. So in the afternoon on Tuesday, we went re-store shopping. We might have found a few more thrift stores as well.

One afternoon we went to down town Hot Springs.  We walked past the bath houses

 and down the promenade.

We visited some antique stores and drove up the mountain to the look-out at the top. We stopped at a rock store to admire the stones and buy a piece of quartz crystal for a friend.

The flowers and trees were further into spring 4 hours south of Mountain Home. Dogwoods and redbud were in full bloom. They have a wonderful flowering red bush. And wisteria hung on many trees and fences.It's fragrance filled the air.

We had planned on staying until Saturday, but there was a baptism on Saturday... and a wedding...

and a Relief Society activity and dinner and then the Women's session of General Conference in the evening.  So we drove back on Friday evening.

It was a busy Saturday.  Then on Sunday was Ava's ward conference.  I taught the RS lesson and did some training and went out visiting sisters afterwards.  Tom came with me this time. It was so nice to have him along. He hung out for the first training part. But after church he was in charge of a bishop's training, so I ended up waiting a bit for him.

The message was on family history and temple work. Of linking families together and our responsibility to be the strong links to our ancestors and to the gospel to keep our families strong. A member of the stake presidency talked of his mother doing family history work and writing family stories.  She said that families that stopped paying tithing... even good people who did good things in other ways... the next generation fell away from the church.  I think sometimes we don't see the influence of our actions until years down the line.

It made me want to stay strong and do all I can to keep my family strong.

Arkansas Fox week 3/19/17

My week continues to be divided into writing work and house renovation work.

On the house side, we finished installing all the tile. It really has more steps than I remember when I say, “Oh, let’s do tile!” First the hardy board gets fitted and screwed down every 8 inches. This means drilling a recess for the head in the hardy board then driving in the screw through tough cement board deep enough so the head is at or below level. Then you mix the thinset, let it set 10 minutes, stir again and glue down the tiles, making sure they are firmly attached, in the right position, and level with the one next to it on all corners and edges. Um. That’s perfection. We didn’t quite get there. Tiles need to be cut at corners, walls, around floor vents, etc. We had out-dents for stove, frig, and dishwasher that all made for extra tile cuts.

Then you wait about 24 hours and go back to grout. Again, you mix the grout and let it set. The problem is that at first the grout looks too sloppy. But by the time you’ve let it set and started grouting it becomes thicker and thicker. The thicker it is, the more work it takes to get it into the grout lines and under any tiles that don’t have the thinset all the way to the edges.

It’s easiest to go back pretty quickly and clean off the extra grout. The problem is that when the grout on top of the tile is soft, so is the grout in the seams— the stuff you want to stay there. So you can carefully clean, or go back and clean, or both. We had thicker grout in the dining room and it took probably 4 times going over that tile to get it all off. AND a lot of elbow grease.  Then 48 hours later the grout needs to be sealed, wiped clean and then sealed again.  A good set of knee pads is a must!

We had Miranda and kids with us all week. It was fun to have them around. Dan helped with some of the tile cleaning on Saturday and Miranda came over on Wednesday to help clean tile as well.

Thursday the plumber came back for the last time to install the sink in the smaller bath. It’s a pedestal sink and a little tricky, so it was nice to have him hook it all up. He was most impressed with what we’d done to the house. Then our realtor stopped by. He kept saying “Wow! This is really nice! The kitchen is so light!” We’re hoping all that translates into a higher price for the home when we sell it. We’ve invested over 500 hours by now.

So Friday we started on the bamboo hardwood floor. It was a snap. Literally. Easiest floor we’ve put in. I wish I would have done the dining room in this instead of tile! We probably laid 400 square feet in 5 hours. And that included cuts for the hall way that bends around two closets. On the straightaways I could lay flooring faster than Tom could cut the end piece.

Talk about never being happy. We look at the beautiful hardwood floor and say, “It will look better when the baseboard is in.” We have the three bedrooms to do in the hardwood and their closets. It all clicks together without any transition pieces into the bedrooms. Fortunately the flooring fits together well whether you are sliding the large “clicker” edge under the bottom of the one in front, or on top if the “clicker strip” behind it. So we don’t have to start north and go south. We can go down the hall north to south… and then enter a bedroom and lay south to north. Nice stuff! Sorry, no picture yet.

I got my glazed hearts back and I’m very pleased with them.

 You can see some the hearts with round bubble imprints on them where we actually blue dye bubbles and spread them on the heart. On te ones below, the glaze broke and settled into the grooves in a different color.

 I have the lace to make the necklace part and my neighbor Barb agreed to help me with that. For our Women’s Retreat we are also going to do a service project called Days For Girls. You can find out about it at daysforgirls.com. These are cloth sanitary pads and holder for girls and women in third world countries who cannot afford monthly pads. They are colorful and made so when they are hung on a line they look like wash cloths, not pads. They enable girls to continue in school instead of sitting at home during their menstrual cycle. It’s really a life-changing project. Here’s some info: https://www.facebook.com/dfgteamatchison/posts/1477567372521874

I have been making progress with my book. I’m starting chapter 10 of 15. However, I’m moving into less charted territory. These chapters discuss day trading of currencies and commodities. I need to learn before I can present well. I had worked with an agency and they were not forthcoming with payments. I thought, aw nuts, I’m going to get stiffed. But after a few emails I got a response saying, “Oh I was on vacation. Here is most of your payment. But we’d like you to be cheaper on this page.” I did go down in price, and I will do another job for them to see if we’ve worked the kinks out… but… it could be time to let this client go.

Miranda had hoped to go camping with Tom and the boys, but it was just stinkin’ nasty cold all the first part of the week. We had some snow flurries, but Sunday’s snow pretty much melted to just windy, cold nastiness. By Friday the weather started to warm up and the last few days promise spring. My phlox is liking it.

We had the missionaries over on Tuesday night. Then there were transfers so the missionaries stopped by on Thursday to introduce the new missionary. I didn’t invite them to dinner. I was a little crabby because I knew Tom needed to leave to go home teach and he’d delayed his shower thinking they’d be there any minute. About 40 minutes later they showed up. Just about when dinner was coming out of the oven. And they stayed…  Then I felt guilty for not inviting them to stay for dinner because we did end up with enough to spare. So we took them to dinner on Friday after we finished working on the floor and before Jonathan and Isabelle came to visit.

On Miranda’s way out on Friday, Tom took the morning off and they all went for a long walk in the woods near Rossi Park and then out to breakfast. Miranda, my wonderful delightful daughter, stripped the beds and vacuumed. While they were gone I washed the sheets and the three of us quickly remade the beds before they left. So they were ready for the new guests.

Jonathan and Isabelle were here to dig up some young trees from our back woods. They found 8 they dug out and took home with them to plant on their fence line. Apparently the lightning house is progressing will with drywall in and painting started. Once they left, Tom dashed over to the renovated house to mow the back yard and then off to Super Saturday with the youth.

We had a good day today at church with a lovely talk on listing to the Holy Spirit and on the blessings of family history and genealogy.

Which master am I serving?

I've been thinking about the hate and anger over political division in our country.  These strong emotions can become habits.  I wonder if this is what is meant when the scriptures talk about Satan binding us with silken cords that become cart ropes.  We get angry about one thing... and then another... and pretty soon we're mad all the time.

And I thought of the scripture that you can't serve two masters.  When we are angry, revengeful, envious, jealous, and don't forgive we can't at the same time tune into love, peace, hope, and happiness. It's impossible to be both or serve both masters at the same time. I always hated it when the scripture said we were serving Satan.  "No I'm not!"  But the negative emotions cause misery both to ourselves and to others.  Who is the father of misery? Whose work are we spreading?

Ak!  I hope that I can remember when I feel negative emotions and choose to act on them, that I am indeed serving a master I don't want to serve!

The problem is that just because I am aware that I have these negative emotions, I can't just wish them away. So what to do?  I thought about the mission president's wife's talk about gifts of the spirit.  She said there were many  more gifts of the spirit than were listed in the scripture. And we are told to ask for these gifts.

Her solution was to consider how her day went in her prayers each night. What had she done that was not right?  Was it a sin (rebellion against god) and therefore needing repentance? Or was it a weakness and therefore she needed to turn to God for help fixing it?

With a weakness, she needed to find the compensating spiritual gift. Suppose I yelled at my husband. What might be the compensating spiritual gift? Only the spirit knows the right one. It might be patience with his foibles. It might be gratitude for all the good he does. It might be increased love to see him as the Savior sees him. It's important to pray to discern the spiritual gift that is right for me in this circumstance. Then I need to seek it. I need to work to develop that gift. Then the enabling power of the Savior can assist me to overcome that weakness.

We are not to let our children fight and quarrel and serve the devil. Ah. Now I understand better. If they are causing misery to each other, they are serving the devil. I wonder if  helping them connect these dots and teaching them to pray for spiritual gifts could make for a more harmonious home.

I appreciated the insight I gained and thought I'd share it.

A week in Pictures

This has been a varied week.  I've continued to work on my financial book. Had some editorial revisions to do. They will make the book stronger, but they slow the forward progress of the writing. I am understanding more about some different areas, especially CFD (Contract for Difference) but I need to learn more about currencies and commodities.

I went twice this week to Marian's to work on my hearts for the Relief Society Retreat necklaces.  Here are the bisqued hearts.

And then the start of glazing hearts.  When I went back, I finished glazing all of them and loaded some into the kiln.

We continued to work at the house.  While the garage is somewhat cleaner than it was, with the hardiboard and much of the tile and flooring moved into the house... it still has a ways to go.

However, the inside of the house is progressing. Almost all the tile is laid and it has been grouted in the entry and bath. We needed to buy the kitchen/dining room grout and did that on Saturday.  Here is a picture of the outside of the house we have been putting so much blood, sweat and tears into.

Tom has been wearing his "old jeans" to work on the house. His goal is to be able to finish the house before he has to break out some new "old jeans." So this set has been patched a couple of times... but the holes are winning.

 Tuesday night I went to Ava for their Relief Society Birthday party. It was lovely. Sister Loveland, the mission president's wife spoke.  She talked about spiritual gifts and how we need to ask for them in our weakness.  When we pray, we should examine where we have not done well. Have we been angry or critical?  We need to look for the spiritual gift that is the antidote of this weakness and ask for that blessing. Perhaps we need to be more patient or to love more.  As we seek these spiritual gifts we can improve ourselves through the Grace of God.

Friday Tom and I drove down to Andy and Kera's. Bless their hearts, They postponed travel to let us come and stay.  It was nice to visit with them and the children. The next morning we drove on to Fort Smith to go to a baptism.  This is the baptism of one of the men Tom had met and talked to in prison. He had been waiting to be baptized for a long time.  His friend John, had introduced him to the church while they were both in prison.

 Jame's daughter Misty came to the baptism to support her dad.

 It was a great baptism. The speaker on the Holy Ghost said that we are imperfect in communicating. We don't do all that well with others, and we lack perfection as we speak to God.  Part of the Holy' Spirit's responsibility is to take our imperfect words and make them acceptable to God.  Then on Sunday, the 7th verse of "Pray is the Soul's Sincere Desire" reinforced that idea.

We went to lunch at Five Guys with James, John, their families and the missionaries. Good food and good visiting.  But we needed to head home. Miranda and family were coming to visit, and a snow storm was blowing in.

We stopped at Fayetteville to shop at Aldi's and when we came out it was sleeting. It was just above freezing and since it had been warm, the snow melted as it hit the road.  But as we got to Harrison-- about an hour from home, it started to stick on the roadsides.

 As it got dusk, the snow turned blue.

 Then, at the river, it was foggy and snowy and socked in.

The chicken coop netting on top of the fencing collected the snow like a blanket and folded it all into the coop. I think it took down part of the fence as the chickens were wandering around outside today.

 On the way to church today it was beautiful!  The roads were clear but the fields and trees were full of snow. Our poor willow was bent nearly to the ground.

I'm glad I took pictures on the way to church because by the time we got out, much of the snow was melted.

It has been nice to have Miranda, Dan and kids here.  They had friends from Broken Arrow come to church today who were vacationing in the area.  Their spring break wasn't quite as sunny as they had anticipated.  So we invited them over for dinner tonight. Someone had given Tom three loaves of bread. What on earth could we do with them?  So we decided to have lettuce tomato and bacon sandwiches... and burritos for the kids who didn't want them.  It all worked out well. Tom made brownies first for the youth who came for BYD (Bishops Youth Discussion) and then for our company.  I am blessed with a fantastic brownie maker!

It's been a good week.

More of the Same

This week was focused on writing and working on the house. I continued my routine of getting up somewhere between 5 and 5:30 I've been pretty successful in getting about 1000 words written for the book each day. I also finished up the last of the edits on the autoresponder email series.

I had accepted what I thought was a simple edit job for an agency working with a realty company for 4 web pages. I sent the first page off on Tuesday. He didn't like it. Wanted it more upscale. Sent a second one off on Wednesday. He didn't like it. Too upscale. He then sent me the layout of the web pages so I could see what they were looking for both with space and layout. And he sent a creative brief where the client told about their company. Oh. That's what you want. I thought, wouldn't it have been nice to have these right off? But it's my fault. I thought about it, but didn't ask. I thought it would be simple. So Thursday I submitted a third draft. That was acceptable. So I had until the end of Friday to get the remaining 3 pages in. I send them in by 1pm... and didn't hear anything back. I am assuming that meant they were okay or he didn't even look at them.

Arkansas has started a new verified driver's license. They said the old DR would not be acceptable for flight identification or entering federal building. I intend to fly, so I needed the enhanced DR. So I collect stuff to take in--passport, address verification, etc. I get there and wait about a half hour. In the past, there's been virtually no waiting at the Revenue Office. I get to the window. I'd brought a paycheck with stub. That was okay for one address. I had just been to the assessors and assessed a vehicle so I had the bill. No. That was not good enough. Did I have the stamped paid receipt? Yes. I ran to the car and got it. Did I have my Social Security card? um... no. Too bad.

So I went home and found my buried social security card and went back two days later. Wait. Go to window. Present passport and other stuff. She shows me the fine print on the bottom of the Social Security card. "For tax purposes only. Not valid for identification." It's the only Social Security card I've ever owned! She cheerfully explained that I could go to the Social Security office and request a card and wait three weeks or so for it to come in the mail. Or I could use the end of year statement from a 1099 or the SS itself. Oh. The ones we just dropped off at the tax accountant the day before.

So we call. All the wage statements do not have the entire SS number on them. Just the last 4. The only one with a complete number is the SS W-2. And the accountant said her husband had gone in with a trash bill. That was not accepted. It needed to be utility bill like electric, gas or water. But we only have electric, and that's in Tom's name. They don't make this easy. :(

So I will go pick up my SS form and try again.

Sadly this week Nathan decided to leave home live in his car. We hope that he's found another job and things go well for him. It may be an opportunity for him to learn real life skills.

We have put in long hours at the house. We got the larger bathtub surround in and tiled the floor. On Thursday we grouted it all and it looks great. Tom put down the hardiboard on the floor of the kitchen, dining room and laundry room. Even just a uniform floor looks better. Monday the tiling starts. We got the last set of cupboards painted and up and the medicine cabinet in the small bath rehung. For some reason, that was a job and a half--getting mollies and screws in the right places in the wall so it would be centered over the yet-to-be-put-in-place sink. If anyone ever takes it off the wall, it will look like buckshot holes in the back. Should have drawn a smiley face there as well.

I invited my RS presidency for a meeting and lunch on Saturday. We are preparing for our Retreat and I wanted to get approval for the potato soup and for what kinds of cookies I should be making. So I made up several batches. Since the theme is "Create in Me a New Heart," I wanted heart shaped cookies. I tried some spritz cookies. Not heart shaped and a little small. But I tried variations with chopped choc. chips (Still too large and blocked the holes.) Then I used a fluted tube opening which worked pretty well. And I added some peppermint which made the most delicious cookies. I also made sugar cookies and choc chip cookies you could cut out with a cookie cutter. They turned out pretty well. I wanted to dip them partially in chocolate, but I melted choc chips and it never got runny enough for dipping. So it got smeared on half. It looked okay and tasted very good.

Deborah and kids had come up on Friday evening. So she was a help with the baking and such. We tried mini chips and large chips with the cut out cookies. However, we ran out of time and still had three bowls of cookie dough in the frig by the time my meeting began. Nevertheless, we had plenty of cookies to sample.

Deborah came up to inspect her house. So Saturday after my meeting she and Tom went to look. They measured the kitchen and talked with the tenant about updating the kitchen cabinets, countertops and stove. It was well received. So sometime AFTER we are finished with the Spring Park house and Deborah has figured out the cabinetry they will install it.

I was impressed with how well Deborah's kids behaved at church. I don't remember mine being so obedient at that age. We had a great Sunday school lesson on pride and humility and being kind to spouses based on D&C 25-- the Lord's revelation to Emma Smith.