Ambiguity

Sunday I went to Sacrament Meeting because Don said the choir was going to sing. It was a new song, And the Father Will Dance. Both Don & Don-Mike sing in the choir. Since Don & I are the ward librarians, we spend class time in the library & I always take something to do in the library, because it gets boring sometimes.

Sunday I had grabbed a notepad to make some notes for next year's DUP. I am the captain for the next 2 years & I want to send a letter to all of the members of our camp. The first speaker was Abbey Child. Abbey is a senior in high school & the youngest child of Robert & Karen Child. I have known Karen since she was a baby. I remember her dad getting up in Fast & Testimony meeting telling about her being born. She says she is sure it was her younger brother Forrest, because I would only have been 5 when she was born. But Karen has been our visiting teacher & now we are Karen's visiting teachers.

Anyway, Abbey was talking about things her mother has taught her. She said her mother has taught her the four CTR's.

1. Choose the Right
2. Choose the Redeemer
3. Choose to Read
4. Choose to Remember

I thought how profound they were & had to write them down. So, I wasn't prepared to take notes. I did have a notepad in my lap, but needed to find a pen or pencil, anything to write it down with, barring sticking my finger with the safety pin in the handle of my purse & writing it in blood. After I found the writing utensil, I hurriedly wrote 3 things down, but didn't get the fourth R written before I had forgotten it. I listened to the rest of her talk, then after she sat down, I wrote a note to Don, "What was the fourth R?"

He thought a minute, then grinned & said, "Remember." Argh!! He was right! It WAS remember! I could have taken his answer as telling me to think & remember what it was, rather than, "Here is the answer, 'Remember.'"

It reminded me of  a joke I heard recently of a blonde trying to find out what the texting acronym IDK stood for. She asked everyone & always got the same answer, "I Don't Know." Rather than understanding that was the answer, she reached a breaking point & cried, "That does it! Nobody knows."

Another time I had read a trivia question that I wanted to share. I KNEW Don would know it. I take things very literally - sometimes. I asked Don, "What is the #1 quoted line in movie history?" Again, he thought a minute, grinned & said, "This could be taken two ways, but, 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'"

Life goes on

I entered a comment on one of the blogs I follow & then needed to type two words to prove I am not a robot. It used to be one word & now it's two, sigh.

I am definitely not a robot. I went to the doctor the other day & when the nurse took my blood pressure it was 153/80. Wow! That is high for me. My blood pressure usually runs 110/60. The nurse asked if I had a headache. I responded with yes, quite a bad one. Well, she said, that's probably the reason. I took my blood pressure medication that morning, but my blood pressure seems to be running a bit high lately.

Four of the many cars at our house.

Tonight it ran a little high as Nick & Don-Mike decided to have a face off with their cars.The cars are, left to right, Don's car is the dark green Pontiac; Don-Mike's cars are the 2 middle ones, the bright green Camaro & the dark blue Trans Am; Nick's car is the bright red Corvette. The race tonight was between the Camaro & the 'Vette.I didn't realize they were going to do it until Amber voiced her concern & then I had this very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. OMG!!! Yes, that is just what they were going to do. How stupid is that? It's Sunday night & it's after dark. The cops are out patrolling on Sunday night. And what happens if they get in a wreck?  What if an animal darts out in front of them?? What happens if Don-Mike is killed or injured just before he gets married & Amber is a widow before she ever gets married?

There is a more than one reason I relate to Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley's mom from the Harry Potter series. But the big one is I've always had a fear of my sons dying.

The guys got back, Don came in & said the Camaro won. Oh great, I sarcastically thought, just what Nick needs.

Earlier tonight the captain from my Daughters of Utah Pioneers camp called. They are going to call for nominations from the floor again on Tuesday to see if they can get someone for captain. I thought that was the day the new officers were supposed to be sworn in. Why didn't she just come out & tell me when we supposedly had our nominating committee meeting that she didn't want me to be captain, instead of telling me they are going to try & get someone to be captain Tuesday. I do not even want to be in this camp anymore. If it weren't because Mother has another year or two before she has been a member of the DUP for 50 years, I'd drop out now. I was so upset I wanted to sit there & cry. Oh well, I had supper to finish fixing. I almost scorched my gravy though. And I took my glasses off & set them down on the table in the car port & couldn't find them. Don found them when he went out to get the report of the race.

I just want to sit here & bawl. Oh, well, the dishes have to be done & life goes on.

Saturday, Dec. 11

Now, it really is Saturday. I posted last night at 1 a.m. I went to bed at 2, after reading my scriptures. My feet were SOOO cold, I couldn't go to sleep, so I "wrote" a talk in my head & the next thing I knew it was morning.

I felt so good today, I overdid. We went to Logan & shopped. I got the Christmas gifts for DUP at the Dollar Tree in Smithfield. We ate at Big J's in Richmond. When we got home, we took the DUP gifts over to Mother's, showed her & then I left them there.

I bought Christmas stockings again, only this year I filled them with wrapping supplies like adhesive tape, tissue paper, scissors, little gift bags & a pretty fluffy bow with matching ribbon. As either a personal gift, or something they can re-gift, I put in door knob hangers with bells. The Christmas stockings were satin, one silver & one gold. For the silver stocking I bought silver bells, silver tissue, silver gift bag & purple scissors. For the gold stocking I bought red & gold.

Don & I changed the beds at Mother's & I changed the dressing on Mother's leg. The wound looks really good. If it looks as good tomorrow, I'll go for the dry bandage & let it dry up.

I was so tired, I came home & lay down for a nap, from which I woke thoroughly chilled. Don had fixed toasted cheese sandwiches & tomato soup for supper. I have such a wonderful husband.

Quick update

Have I mentioned lately how I dislike Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP)? Luckily, it's not as bad as it has been, simply because I'm almost through with the secretarial duties.

Tuesday was our first meeting of the season. A couple of years ago, I asked that our meetings be changed from Monday to Tuesday because I work on Monday. Well, two of our numbers work on Tuesday at the temple. So, Tuesday, it was proposed we move our meetings back to Monday. I was just going to sit there & let them change it, then Mother & I wouldn't have to go. Jean Carter spoke up & said, "RaNae, you have to work on Monday don't you?" Jeanne Cutler, our captain, confidently said, "Oh, you can come on your lunch hour." I said I don't get a lunch hour. Anyway, we had a brisk discussion on it. I said they could change it to Monday & I could take off long enough to pick up Mother & take her to meeting & pick her up. I said I lay pages out & then I'm the last one to see them before the editors sign them off. If I fall behind on my part of the production, it slows everything down. I stay until 8 p.m. or until the paper is done.

Again, it was stated no lunch hour & no breaks is illegal. I simply stated I am glad to have a job. If they were willing to have their meeting earlier, 11 a.m. on either Monday or Tuesday, I'd be willing to try it. Why can't they come on Wednesday or Thursday? Neither one of those days was even suggested. So, it was decided to leave it on the second Tuesday of the month. Mother & I don't even want to go anymore. Why accommodate us?

I talked to Beth Gunnell, this year's secretary, on Saturday & explained I have not felt well all summer. I have had very low blood pressure, diarrhea & extremely fatigued, we are facing foreclosure on our house ... I just laid it out. I also told her I didn't want anyone to know about the foreclosure, I hadn't told Mother.

Today, since our foreclosure notice was published in the paper, I finally told Mother. Jeanne Cutler had already told her on Saturday!! It seems Beth had called Jeanne as soon as she hung up with me, who immediately called Mother & told her. Argh!

Run, run ...

I had a Little Gingerbread Man day today. The Gingerbread Syndrome is where a day is jam packed with things to do. One of those days when you put a whole week's running into as short of a space of time as you can.

I had to work today. It was a normal Tuesday morning with a twist. The day after a Monday holiday is a pure adrenalin rush. Trying to finish pages that have been left specifically to absorb the holiday weekend's repercussions. Well, this weekend, there weren't any. No accidents, no late breaking news. We had saved 2 pages for sports, only needed 1 and a half pages & even then they weren't "full" pages to fill. So, a couple of fillers went in from Fish & Game. On the page saved for obits, three births that came in over the weekend, a missionary return that just arrived this morning & the Preston School District's announcement that President Obama's address will be taped & shared in the Preston High School library at 6 p.m. Thursday night for any parents & children wishing to view it, were inserted.

In the high school library, no less. I told Don I'm going just to see what subversiveness the president of the United States would share with our school children. I probably won't need to go early either because they're holding it in the high school library, which isn't as small as the old one, but isn't very large either. It reminds me of Nazi Germany, withholding stuff from school children, or shall I say brainwashing the school children. What does this teach our children???

Nick came in at 11 a.m. to talk to me. He couldn't have come at a worse time. Deadline for the paper is at 11 a.m. & I still had 2 pages to go. It's not my deadline either, it's Courtney's deadline & she still had to work on them after I let them go.

I left work at 12:15, with the work baskets uncleared. I had to go over to Mother's, get something to eat & be to DUP by 1. I had not called Nick back, so I called him. He wanted to talk to me. I came home to talk to him. I told him I had to be to DUP by 1, pick up Mother at 2:30 & she had to be to her doctor's appt. in Logan by 3 p.m. I also told him that I'd call the guy he's been trying to get hold of later.

I left the house at 12:55. There was no time to go over to Mother's & get the flag (she's the parliamentarian for DUP) or get either of us anything to eat. I went right to DUP & was a few minutes late. Then I remembered I needed the minutes from May to read. I went out to the car to get them & couldn't find the binder, grrr.

I left right at 2:30, got over to Mother's & she was ready, including the portable oxygen tank. I was pulling out of the driveway when I remembered I hadn't grabbed the inhaler, the discharge notes from Logan Regional Emergency Room from Thursday, Sept. 3, or the 2 new scrips. I went back in, grabbed those & we took off again, 10 minutes late. We had 20 minutes to get to Logan for her 3 o'clock appt. Obviously, we did not make it.

I have detailed Mother's doctor's appt. on her Caring Bridges site. After the doctor's appt, we went to Juniper Take Out for something to eat. Don called to say he was home while we were still sitting at the table. Mother loves shopping at the Dollar Tree in Smithfield, so we stopped there.

Nick called when we were in Whitney, angry because I had told him I'd come home after DUP to call the guy for him. I don't remember telling him when I'd do it, I said later. I distinctly remember telling him my schedule.

We got home & I gave Mother her steroid pill & her antibiotic, gave her an inhaler treatment, found the orange roll Beth Gunnell had sent home from DUP & put the salad, also from DUP, in a covered bowl in the fridge. I cleaned her bi-pap mask, & filled the humidifier for the bi-pap with water.

From there, I went to the grocery store & shopped for supper & got some soda pop. Something I had been yelled at by Nick between work & DUP for not having any. I gave him $5 & told him to go buy his own. He didn't.

I came home, fixed supper & just now remembered I forgot to put my skirt & jacket in the dryer. I thought of it when I went out to the freezer to exchange the 2 cup container of chicken for the 1 cup container. I had called Don & asked him to get a container of chicken with a purple lid out of the freezer. He got a blue lidded container out. It was still frozen, so I just exchanged them, but didn't take time to throw the clothes into the dryer.

Yesterday, on the way to the wedding, I was looking at my navy blue flowered skirt & commented that there was enough cat hair on the hem to knit a new cat. I looked a little further & found a big smear of dried cat poop on the hem of my skirt. I considered how I could get it off & decided to leave it. But, after fingering the cat poop, I didn't want to shake hands with anyone at the wedding either, know what I mean? Once we got to the wedding chapel, I hurried in & washed my hands, but there were no paper towels or hand dryer to dry my hands on. I had to dry them on my skirt.

When we got home last night, I just took my skirt & jacket & threw them in the washer, thinking I would put them in the dryer this morning. Well, it didn't happen. I hope I remember in the morning.

Monday

Well, here it is Aug. 3 & the calendar still says July. Still have 4 pages to do tomorrow on this week's paper, but that's because I took an hour for lunch. I ran over to the DUP training seminar, stood in the doorway of the chapel long enough to hear Carolyn (Smart, president of the Franklin Company) talk about writing our own family history, got a peek at her father's diary on the table in the foyer & picked up a handout she had laying on the table. Knowing I had errands to run & they were going to have a musical program, I left. When I got back, they had broken out into departments & Beth Gunnell, from our camp, had picked up my secretarial packet. I tracked her down, in Carolyn's class. I wanted my packet sooner, not later, LOL. I'm going to hit the ground running this year in DUP.

After the meeting, Debra Baldwin came over to The Citizen. She wants to do a historical column each month in The Citizen. Rod was getting ready to turn her down, I could tell. My computer is just to the side of Rod's desk. His desk faces the door, my desk faces the wall. I turned around & said we already had the 3rd week of the month set aside for DUP & she could have it. They had told me that I could only have 350 words, but I didn't remind him of that. I suggested keeping it within 500 words. I asked Debra if she was outreach for the county, but she said she is outreach for the LoPine Camp & works for USU teaching Islamic history or something like that.

I'm excited that she did. It wasn't the best timing because Monday is a production day. But if she'd have waited & come in or call, he'd have turned her down out of hand. This area is so rich in history & it's being lost. He suggested pictures to go with it!! How cool is that?

As far as laundry goes, nothing happened on that front. I did get some errands run during my lunch hour. Yes, I took an hour. I don't know how long it has been since I did that. Picked up the rabies tag for Mufasa, paid McKenzie Law Office, got a sandwich at Subway & ran a couple of empty pill bottles over to Preston Drug to have refilled.

According to the computer clock, I have 1 minute before the witching hour.

Moving in May, 5/18

Did I move today? or shall I say, "Did I MOVE today?" It's Monday, did I walk around the block, did I walk across the street or up or down the street? No, sigh, I moved from my desk in the editor's office out to the desk in the computer room, back & forth all day. From 9:15 to 6. Up & down at least a million times. Why doesn't my butt muscles get tired of the standing up & sitting down? Maybe that's why my hips & back hurt every Tuesday & Wednesday & I feel like I just can't move. Who knows?

I also walked across the parking lot to the South Stake Center & ate lunch with the DUP at their annual Jubilee. It was a nice lunch.

I was going to go to bed "early" tonight, but I started reading April Rose's mommy's blog & it looks like I may get to bed "on time."

G'nite

Pickups, walking & babies

Here is Nick standing in the "new" driveway by his '69 pickup today, about 15 to 4. I'm glad it wasn't blurry. So many of my pictures turn out blurry.

This was a farm pickup & he found it out in Whitney in a field, sitting there rusting. Not sure what was wrong with it. He & Don-Mike fixed it up & he got a lot of years out of it. He traded it, plus some cash, for the Corvette, which they are now trailering home.

One of the T-tops blew off the 'Vette & the owner stopped, picked it up out of traffic, called Nick & told them to get off at the next exit. They did & he returned the T-top. They put all of the loose stuff in the camper shell on Don-Mike's pickup. They took Don-Mike's "new" diesel pickup.

On to walking. A friend had a link on her blog for a blog named Little April Rose. April's mommy has a link to Kayleigh Anne Freeman. In reading the condolences for little Kayleigh, I ran across a link, out of the thousands of comments, that intrigued me, Random Thoughts of a Great-Granny Grandma. See how blog browsing just kind of snowballs?

I read one of Great Granny's posts & thought it was interesting. It kind of summed up my day today:

1. Tell us how you sneak exercise in when you can't "get to they gym" or "the treadmill is broken" or whatever. What do you do at work/around the house/etc. to move more?

I certainly tried to be creative today. I knew I wouldn't have time for a straight 15 minute walk. I tried to get through work by 11:30 since we had DUP this afternoon & the books were being audited. I knew we would need to eat lunch. I parked out in the farthest corner of Stokes parking lot. For the local people, it was where the pink Victorian house used to be on 2nd South. I walked across the parking lot & down to Lewiston State Bank. Once I got my money, I walked down to the deli, opposite end of the grocery store & bought a couple of 3" sandwiches, a small bag of chips, a small macaroni salad & a small cherry pie for lunch. Back out to the car.

This evening, after supper at ChesterFried Chicken, we went back to Stokes to see if they had some postage stamps. I wanted to mail the DUP audit to the company secretary. However, I still have 42¢ stamps. The post office was closed because by now it was after 6 p.m. The post office used to have a vending machine, but no more. We went there & I walked in, only to find a metal sign over the wall where the stamp vending machine used to be. Stokes only have 44¢ stamps. I had Don park out quite a ways from the entrance & walked in & back out.

When Mother discovered that we were looking for 2¢ stamps she said she had some in the cupboard at home. Sure enough, she did. So, I took one & got the audit in the mail, woo hoo!!

Then, this evening, I walked down to feed the dog. Don walked with me & he watered the dog while I got the food out of the shed. Don had to make a special trip to the grocery store last night for dog food. He got the 50# bag. Now, tonight, I see the cats are almost out of food.

The second part of this was:

2. Let us know how your week went. Let us know your goals for next week. Not your long-term goals, just your goals for next week.

If you follow my blog, I let you know how my week went almost every day, LOL. Goals are to continue to walk daily, make the bed daily. One of my big goals for this week was to get MY wash caught up. I needed undies & socks. Undies washed, folded & waiting to be put away. Socks washed & in the dryer. I'm hoping I won't have any orphan socks. I have 9 orphans. I really wish I could find the mates.

Now, back to Kayleigh, April Rose, & Baby Jonah. Jonah is my cousin Loraine's grandson. He was born at 24 weeks gestation in September 2008. Loraine's dad, Jim, told me about a blog that Tanya & Dave were keeping of their baby Jonah. I started following Jonah's blog. I checked it morning & night. Dave & Tanya are sometimes very late in updating it & I couldn't go to bed without checking the blog. I was having a hard time sleeping back then. Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle night &, almost without volition, start praying for Jonah.

Now that I'm off the femara, the new CPAP helps too, I'm sleeping better. But one blog leads to another & now I have a whole list of blogs to check. My main ones though are Jonah, Kayleigh & April Rose. I have my blog list set so that those blogs that have new entries rise to the top, like cream, LOL.

Tuesday, May 12

OK, maybe I have to renege on my comments yesterday about DUP. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Yes, I was as unorganized as I thought. Yes, I was nervous ... very. I even took my sweater off & sat there in my tank top with my "funny" underwear hanging out. But it was warm ... my inner child was having a field day with the matches. But ... the audit went ok. I came out with the right amount.

One of my friends, Jean, had a hitch hiker. She brought her husband Glen's pickup truck to DUP. I asked her to take Mother home, while the DUP finances were being audited. When they went out to get in the truck, a little stray cat that has adopted them, jumped out of the back of the pickup, across the street & into the middle of the block. After Jean took Mother home, she went home & she & Glen drove back to where we had DUP. Jean walked through the backyards calling the cat. It didn't come. Now she's worried about the poor cat. At least she didn't kill it.

Mother said maybe the cat would go home. Well, Jean lives on 4th South & 4th West. Beth lives on 2nd South & 3rd East. That's a long way for a little cat to go. We had a cat that I gave away when we were moving from Woodruff. I wasn't going to make the same mistake with the Woodruff cats that I made with the Grace cats. Just abandon them. I gave Miss Piggy & her kittens away. We took them to a ranch about 15 miles up Monte Cristo. One day, a few days later, I saw a black cat dead on the side of the road almost to the Mountain Fuel Subdivision. I know it was Miss Piggy because there were no houses, ranches around. She was almost home.

Anyway, speaking of pickups. Nick & Don-Mike went to Rigby this afternoon to trade Nick's '69 pickup for a Corvette. It's mid-'70's, they think. The guy doesn't know what year it is. I have a picture of Nick's pickup on the flat bed, perhaps I'll share it later this evening. They are trailering it up. I really liked that pickup. It was classy, but it wasn't a 'Vette, sigh, so therefore, not classy enough.

Another manic Monday

in a long string of manic Mondays, sigh. Don woke me up this morning when he left at 7. I went back to sleep & woke up at 8:30 &, of course, was late for work.

I am thankful for a loving, helpful husband. He fixed dinner, picked up dog food & fed the dog. I worked another 11 hour day. It was nice to come home to a warm meal.

Tomorrow should be worse than today, ugggg. I have to work in the morning & then I have to go to DUP. I wish, wish, wish I had not volunteered to be the secretary of our camp. I need to have my head examined.

I did walk today. Only 10 minutes, but it was 10 minutes. I walked from Big J's, where Nick & I had lunch, back to work at The Citizen.

Tuesday, April 14

Today is Mother's 83rd birthday. Yup, she was born April 14, 1926. Interesting thing is, Larry found her birth certificate says April 15. Yet her parents always celebrated her birthday on April 14.

Lyola Holden Chase is coming today from New Hampshire. They have been friends since they were 6 & 7. Lyola is 11 months older than Mother. I've been trying to think how I can get Mother back to New Hampshire, but New Hampshire is coming to us.

Another work day, another DUP day. I've begun to dread DUP. I guess it doesn't help that I'm the secretary & I'm not doing a very good job of it. I spent hours last night typing up the minutes. I printed them out this morning & they are crappy. Don-Mike doesn't have a word processing application on his computer. I don't know if Don does or not, but Don uses his computer. I don't really like to kick him off of it. Besides, it is right inside the front door & it is cold. So, I used Notepad & every time the line word wrapped it double spaced. I'll take them to work & retype & reprint them after I'm finished with my work.

We have to cut our hours by 7 percent since they can't cut our pay. Yesterday I worked from about 9:30 to 6:15. Last week I worked until almost 9. I definitely cut my hours by 7 percent from last week, LOL. If it was 7 percent of 12 hours, that would have been 50.7 minutes. So, 7 percent of what? I don't even know how many hours Kelly schedules us. It might be a good idea to find out.

Lent, Day 18

Last night Don told me, "Well, it's official. I have the cold everyone's had." Well, tonight I can say the same thing. I have the fever to go along with the cough & stuffy nose. Of course, it didn't help that I didn't get to bed until almost 3 a.m. I found an advance copy of The Wednesday Letters in a box at work yesterday. I've looked in that box before, hoping to find one. I could never find a stopping place, so I just read until I was finished.

Today was DUP & I hacked & coughed. I had a Fisherman's Friend cough lozenge in my purse, so I took that out & used it. Yuck, it sure made the refreshments taste bad. I was naughty, I hadn't had a meal all day & was STARVED, so I ate all that sugar. Easter egg chocolates, frappe, cake with yummy pistachio frosting, sigh.

Anyway, I took a nap after DUP on Mother's couch. It was so HOT, I was sweating. Now, I just know that it was the "crud." I'll take my evening meds, some ibuprofen & probably another Fisherman's Friend, **shudder*** & head to bed - early.

Lent, Day 17

I hope I'm numbering these days right. Monday, March 16. I had a pretty good day at work except I got a migraine with a visual disturbance. I was lucky in that my blue fleece jacket was in the car. I've been carrying the ibuprofen around in a pocket of that jacket. So, I took some & had to wait about 15-20 minutes for it take effect. I finished the paper at 5:04, that is a record. I said I was nervous, afraid I'd missed something.

Ok, here it is 10:15 & I was going to type up my DUP minutes for tomorrow, but I couldn't find the book. Mother says I need to leave my book over to her house.

Let's see, since Sunday is not technically part of Lent, I didn't go to bed til 12:30. I took some ibuprofen & used some Zicam before I went to bed, so at least I didn't suffer for an hour before I got up & took it. I just suffered for 20-25 minutes before I went to sleep. I woke up at 7 this morning, but then went back to sleep & didn't wake up til Nick woke me up at 10 to 9. Don was supposed to wake me up, but he got up late.

Run, run as fast as you can

The Little Gingerbread Man Syndrome has reared it's head. I've had a busy few days working, caring for my mom & trying to keep up with Nick's current obsession, a 1977 Chevy Corvette.

Don-Mike told him tonight that if he expended HALF the energy on other projects as he has in trying to get this Corvette, nothing would hold him back. He may not have worded it like that, but my brain is on low battery & beeping at me.

Today, I had to be to work at 8:30 a.m., I worked til noon, ran to the grocery store & picked up some Campbell's tomato soup. It was cheaper to buy the small cans than the big cans. The small cans were on sale. I bought 7 cans & some milk. I came home, opened the soup & prepared it in my crockpot, then spent 15-20 minutes looking for the lid, murmuring & muttering the whole time. Never did find the lid, grrrrrrrr. Did I mention that DUP starts at 1? I grabbed a metal Dutch oven lid for the crockpot. Meanwhile I spilled Nick's cold cereal. It was sitting on the table with the plastic inner lining not folded down & the flaps open & it all ended up spilled. Next, I knocked the Cinnamon Toast Crunch off. The flaps were at least folded down on that & I didn't lose any of the cereal. Did I mention that DUP starts at 1? The Reece's cereal is still sitting out there not picked up, grrrr. I forgot about it.

While I was looking for the glass crockpot lid, I called & ordered bread sticks, ran the soup over to Jeanne Cutler's for DUP, & then over to Mother's to pick her up. She decided she wasn't going to DUP. Back to Pizza Villa to pick up the breadsticks. Over to Jeanne's & the soup was still COLD!!! What do you expect in 20 minutes? I expected hot soup.

We put it in a large bowl & stuck it in the microwave. Jeanne had a nice big glass lid to fit on a nice big Corning ware bowl. I told Jeanne as we were working on the soup that I'm almost 60 years old & I'll always be a flibbertigibbet. She told me I need to stop trying to do too many things at once. I laughed. If I haven't learned how to manage my time by now, I never will.

DUP got over at 3, Mother had a doctor's appt. in Logan at 4. Off to the doctor's appt., but first I plugged in the crock pot at Mother's because there was enough soup left over from DUP for us to have for supper. When I plugged in the crock pot, I discovered Jeanne's nice big glass measuring pitcher was still in the crock pot. And then I remembered I'd left the flag at Jeanne's. We made it to the clinic in time.

Home from the doctor's, I dished some soup up for Mother. We had eaten the leftover breadsticks from DUP on our way back from Logan. Good thing we didn't have to be home by a certain time. There was a 5 car pile up by the Hyde Park Maverik light. Traffic was backed up for miles. Reminded me of rush hour in the Salt Lake metro area.

By now, my phone was on "low battery" again. Second day in a row that's happened. Shows how much the phone has been used the last 2 days. I called Don on Mother's landline & asked him to call Pizza Villa & order more breadsticks.

I picked up the breadsticks on my way home, Don-Mike & Nick brought the food in from the car. Mufasa hadn't been fed & so I needed to feed him. With all the fresh, new snow we'd had an avalanche off of the old garage. It, of course, landed right on the back step & the snow hadn't been shoveled. Someone, probably Don, had just walked through it. My legs are short & I can't take the big steps & I fell down, kerplunk. My butt is still wet. It must have taken 5 minutes to get up. Off to the dog kennel. I had taken so long, Don came to find me. He saw me coming, turned around & walked back into the garage. I asked him to wait & help me through the avalanche. By the time I was back to the house, I was sobbing with exhaustion. Nick told me I needed to go to bed. Bed? At 8 p.m.?

So, now it is almost 3 a.m., & I have another full day tomorrow. What was Jeanne's advice? Stop trying to do too many things at once? The Little Gingerbread Man Syndrome is alive & well, until my body crashes from exhaustion again.

February already

The second Sunday in February no less, also Feb. 8.

I received a legal, also known as a public notice, at work (local newspaper) yesterday. It was for a meeting set for the second Monday in March, also known as March 2. I laughed over that, then decided I'd better see if it was saying what I thought it said, so I grabbed the lady that had numbered that legal for me. She laughed too & said that I would probably be calling on that first thing Monday morning. I said I didn't think I would, I don't like the guy that submitted it. Now that was petty & I knew it, I'll definitely be calling Monday morning.

We found out last Sunday that Mother has a compression fracture in the middle of her back. Our neighbor, Paula Gordon, told me that Instacare is open 7 days a week. Mother has been so miserable. It's because of that fall she had Jan. 10. Why it took so long to surface I don't know. But she didn't feel like going to get her hair done today. She hasn't had a bath or a shower for about 4 weeks now. The doctor at the wound clinic doesn't want her getting her leg wet. So, she's just had "spit" baths, I call them.

Mother spent most of the day crying. Nick went to check on her this morning & she asked him to send his mother over. Don-Mike had told me when he came this morning that she was "terrible" & wouldn't let him fix her any breakfast. And she didn't want Tim (Brother Golightly) coming today, she didn't want to have to get up & answer the door.

Don-Mike wanted to know why Tim would be coming today. I said he wouldn't be coming today, it was Saturday. So, then he wanted to know why Tim would be coming tomorrow, it wasn't Fast Sunday(1). I told him that the priests(2) had skipped Mother last Sunday when they were taking the Sacrament(3) around to the shut ins. I had called Tim & he had promised to bring her the Sacrament this week. If I remember, I'll remind him tomorrow.

Brother Golightly is in the bishopric(4) & I guess he's the one that takes the priests around to administer the Sacrament to those who can't make it to church. They do it once a month on Fast Sunday.

Tonight I fixed chili at Mother's. OMG, it's the worst chili I've ever fixed. Nick wouldn't come & eat because chili didn't sound good. It sure did to me, but I have felt like crying ever since I ate. I think the big problem though, was the whole package of sugar free chocolate peanut clusters I ate on the way home from Smithfield. It wasn't nearly as good as the real thing. The chocolate was so sweet & I felt like sicking up even before I ate the chili.

I went to Smithfield to the dollar store to buy some mugs for our DUP(5) camp meeting. We were supposed to have the meeting at Mother's on Tuesday, Feb. 10, also known as the second Tuesday in February, but we were worried about parking. Mother lives on the main highway into town & there is basically no parking unless we park in the street & the drain clogs up right there. That's where Don-Mike lost his new phone the first of January, trying to unclog that drain. We didn't want the ladies getting their cars hit or having to wade through the water. My friend, Jean Carter, said she'd just park out by the canal & hope someone would come along & run into her car like someone did Don-Mike's on Christmas Day & then she could get a new car, LOL.

I told her we'd already changed the venue & we are having it at Jeanne Cutler's. She doesn't live on the main highway, she lives on a corner & has a double driveway. Even with snow there is ample parking. I just won't get behind Beth Gunnell this time. We had meeting at Jeanne's in December & I told Mother to wait for me. I would go move the car because I had parked behind Beth & Beth wanted to go. I told Mother I would come back in for her because I had some stuff I was going to pick up. She says she didn't hear me. I even told Ray, Jeanne's husband, to tell Mother to wait for me. Well, Beth hurried Mother out & was bringing my stuff & dropped my spaghetti ladle on the cement in the driveway & broke it. I was so upset & in tears, not because of the spaghetti ladle, even though it was brand new, but just because I was feeling overwhelmed.

We've been told we can't serve lunch or a meal, just refreshments, at our DUP meetings this year. Well, I have diabetes & I can't have the sugary stuff unless it's sugar free. I decided long before I knew I had diabetes that I wasn't going to serve "refreshments" anyway when it was my turn to be hostess. I was going to serve tomato soup & little triangles of grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup is red & we're having it Valentine's Day week. Now, I know that other things have carbs & you're not supposed to have lots of carbs either. Mother wanted to serve punch & cookies. She's co-hostess.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this for months & finally decided I'd better get the soup mugs. Well, they had some really pretty mugs, but I was going to have to buy 12 & that was $12. I was feeling that I really wasn't being very economical. There are other things I NEED & I only WANTED soup mugs. I decided I'd pull up my big girl pants, swallow my obsession with pretty soup mugs & use styrofoam cups. I could get a package of styrofoam cups for $1, a package of pretty Valentine napkins & matching cups for water for $1 each for a total of $3. Besides, I wouldn't have to wash styrofoam cups or even find a place to store them once DUP was over.

I'm going to get some cans of Campbell's family size soup, milk & buy some cheesy breadsticks from Pizza Villa. I'll make the soup up & put it in the crockpot & it can heat while we have our meeting. Maybe Don-Mike can order & deliver the breadsticks for me, if he doesn't have to work.

I still haven't written up the minutes for the last 4 months, argh! I'm the secretary of our camp.

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Footnotes:
(1) Fast Sunday - Generally the first Sunday of the month & because we "fast," or go without food, it certainly doesn't seem to go very quickly or fast.
(2) priests - young men who bless the Sacrament
(3) Sacrament - could probably be likened to communion in the Catholic Church
(4) bishopric - the bishop & counselors
(5) DUP - Daughters of the Utah Pioneers

Rockets red glare

Francis Scott Key penned the national anthem in the "rockets red glare," as the battle raged around him. I am typing this as Don-Mike & Nick are yelling at each other. The battle is truly raging around me. I'm glad Mother is not here. This truly upsets her. I have my hearing aid turned off. I can still hear the raging. I am grateful I am deaf in one ear. It's times like this I wish I were deafer than I am.

Nick's zodiac sign is Taurus, the sign of the bull. He is bull-headed & right now he is a raging bull, LOL. Trying for lightheartedness. Don-Mike is Cancer, the twins or as the website I'm giving you the link for says, the crab. There is definitely 2 sides to this young man.

I took Mother to Instacare today after DUP. It was really funny. The medical assistant that took us back to the triage room looked SO familiar. I kept staring. I apologized & said that she looked so much like my cousin's daughter. She laughed & said, "That's because I am." It was Krystal, Jenni's oldest daughter, Luana's granddaughter. After Krystal left the room, Mother bemoaned the fact that she can't see. She asked me who she looked like, I said she looked just like her mother, even down to the dimples in her cheeks. Except she has dark brown hair & her mother is blonde.

They were all so nice there. The doctor was this cute little girl. I know, if she's a doctor, she's not a little girl. But such a sweetheart & petite. I said to Mother, I'd certainly go to her if she had her own practice.

Mother has been concerned that the lump on her thigh is a blood clot. Her leg is bruised all the way around her thigh & down into her calf today. The big lump is still there. So, I asked the doctor. She said no, it was a surface lump & where Mother is on coumadin, it wasn't likely to be a blood clot. I said that Mother's INR level has gotten so low that sometimes she's had TIA's, little strokes. They took Mother's protime & did some blood work. Her INR was high, 3.8; her hemoglobin was low because of all the blood she lost. They were concerned because Mother's protime was so high. I said it wasn't that high. Therapeutic level for Mother is between 2.5 & 3.5.

The doctor told me I should've taken her to the ER & had her leg stitched. I told her that I didn't take her to the ER because Mother doesn't like the doctor's up here. Her skin is so fragile that stitches won't stay in. I guess they could have used butterfly bandages, but I didn't think they'd believe me.

Anyway, they took x-rays of her chest. First time I had seen a chest x-ray of Mother. You could certainly see the wires they'd wired her chest shut with after the open heart surgery & the pacemaker & it's wires.

Instacare is in the same building as Dr. Carlson, Mother's primary care doctor. The Instacare doctor walked across the foyer & talked to Dr. C about her protime level & hemoglobin. He said that her cardiologist follows her protime. Dr. Larkin, I-care doc, said to have the INR rechecked Monday. We'll have it done Tuesday because that is the day that Mother has the CPAP followup with Dr. C. We have her INR checked before we go to Dr. C.

Nick's been on one all day & Don didn't make things any better when he authorized Don-Mike to be on the Verizon account & not Nick. grrrrrrrr.

I woke up late & prolly wouldn't have woke up when I did, if Nick had not awakened me. He asked me what time I needed to be to work. I said I needed to be there at 9. He said that it was 9. I jumped up, grabbed my clothes & was almost dressed when the editor of the newspaper called to see where I was. I told him as soon as I put my pants on & took my meds I'd be there. Then my supervisor wanted to know what my problem was. She's already warned me that it doesn't matter how long I've been there, I can be replaced, sigh. Well, I have news for her, when they replace me, they'll have to pay the new person more than I'm making! The last 2 people, that I know of, make more an hour than I do. The next time the government raises minimum wage, I'll finally get a raise. I mentioned that to the business manager & she said, "We'll see." I said, "No! I'll see. The next raise will make minimum wage more than I make an hour." She said, "Oh."

Then Don was huffy when I mentioned that the dog hadn't been fed. I told him that I had not done my weekly hard drive back up at work because I would have been later than I was picking Mother up for DUP. We go to lunch on DUP day, because the new DUP captain has ruled that there will be no lunches at meetings, only refreshments. And, of course, refreshments always means sugar. So, next month, when it's our turn, mine & Mother's, to have DUP at Mother's house, we will serve tomato soup in mugs & little triangle grilled cheese sandwiches, LOL.

Tuesday is not a day that Mother gets a home-delivered meal. And, like this morning, I'm usually running late & don't have anything to eat in the morning.

Right after DUP I'd taken Mother to Instacare, came home & taken long enough to heat Mother's supper up. I stopped at the grocery store & came home. Don got his outdoor stuff on & I told him to wait, I'd walk down with him. We walked out of the garage & I couldn't see because it was so dark. I mentioned a flashlight & he said he was ok. I said I wasn't. He huffily told me to go back & get a flashlight. I told him I'd be glad to when I dug myself out of the snowbank I'd fallen into.

Then, Nick decided he didn't like the soup I'd made tonight. I gave him 3 options that he could fix himself. Don-Mike told him there was garlic bread. I'd cut generous hunks of garlic bread - 2 soft inner pieces - which is what Don-Mike & Nick like.

So, I'd been running all day. I was grateful Don watered & fed the dog. He's done that for me the last 2 days. Tomorrow, I'll make a conscious effort to feed Mufasa earlier in the day, before the vet visit. Tomorrow is a vet appt for Prissy. If I had another cat carrier, I'd be able to take Sammy with & save an office visit. He has been in a fight & has a bad eye. I'll try for Friday afternoon for Sam.

Food

I took the chicken & Alfredo sauce from Amy's & brought it home. She told me I could have it. So, it was really thick. I thinned it out with some milk, heated it up & put some linguine with it. I like linguine a lot better than fettucine, but can never remember "linguine." When I send Don to the store I tell him I don't want fettucine, but the one thinner than that. He'll tell me linguine & the next time I want linguine, I can't remember it. I think I must have a mental block where that's concerned. I had to stop & think when I started typing this. Nick really liked Amy's Alfredo sauce, but I noticed he still put a lot of ranch dressing on it. At least it wasn't catsup. Mother puts catsup on everything, shudder.

I went to Ogden this weekend to a scrapbooking seminar. It started Friday evening, but I was too tired to drive down after spending Thursday night in the sleep lab with Mother at Logan Regional Hospital. I kept falling asleep at work on Friday & then at the computer Friday night. I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. Friday & woke up at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. I left as soon as I took my meds because Nick was obsessing about something & I wanted OUT of here.

I still had trouble staying awake while I was driving. I stopped in Dry Basin in Sardine Canyon, & got out & walked around. I stopped at Wal-Mart in Brigham City. I got to the checkout stand & couldn't find my money. I had stopped at the bank & withdrew $50. I thought that would give me enough to buy gas, some goodies & still give me $20 to spend at the vendor booths at the seminar. Anyway, no money. That gave me an adrenalin rush & woke me right up.

I called home & no one could find my money. I know it's in the house somewhere. I had paid DUP dues from the money the camp members had given me. I kept $77 & hadn't taken care of it Friday. It was still in the car. Whew. There was one check for $22 & the rest, $55, was in cash. I've been spending that. I'll have to replace it when I find my money.

While I was gone, Don-Mike fixed the "green baize" door. I thought they were going to get a "real" door, but they didn't. Don-Mike took a piece of plywood & put hinges on it & a handle several months ago. He also lined the inside of this makeshift door with a green piece of fleece & a piece of a blue blanket. The door that separated the staff from the family in Victorian England's big houses was lined with a fabric called baize to keep the sounds of the kitchens & behind the scenes activities from filtering out to the "family." Baize typically came in green, so it was called the green baize door.

Don-Mike took a handle & fixed it so that the door latches. There is still a crack that you can see out, so Don said they'd take some cloth or plastic & put it down that seam on the outside of the door. I have a roll of plastic that has been laying in the doorway between the kitchen & the front room for a couple of years. Yes, I said years.

Almost quit today

We kept having obituaries and weddings come in. We had a death notice from an accidental shooting of one of the community's prominent citizens. Mike Kunz, a businessman & city councilman, was cleaning his gun at his office down town this morning. It discharged & killed him. We also had an obituary. And then 2 weddings. Amy, job share partner, accepted one & had to jump the weddings, but turned the second one down. It was too late, there was no room.

Amy was so overwhelmed from weddings & obituaries & death notices that when I asked if the obituary was Mike's obit or a new one, she told me it was a new one. I asked who, she said someone from Whitney. She's new in the area, the names don't mean anything to her & I know this. Whitney is too close to home. I go to church in Whitney as part of the Whitney 2nd Ward & our ward shares the building with the other Whitney ward. I was positive it was someone I knew.

Then I found out that they had redone the obit page, page 9, and had started obits on page 5, the social page. Well, they (not sure who, but I'm assuming Rod, Bob, Kelly, Jessi & Krysta) shoved pages 5 & 11 through without me even seeing them, & checking for style. Pages 8 (DUP) & 9 (OBITS) were redone & sent to Bear River Publishing without me checking for style. I wanted to see page 9 with the new obit. They refused to let me see it. It was already gone, there was nothing I could do. I absolutely lost it & had a temper tantrum right there. I wanted to read the new obit. I wanted to see who it was. No one was telling me who had died. I was so upset.

Krysta handed me the page. I saw that it was Josie Winward. She was 101. Her daughter Gayla was in the same grade in school as I was. Josie has a daughter Renee & the husband's name is Rene. How strange is that? In reading the obit, I also noticed that all but one of the obit pictures were not the requisite 4 lines down from the name. That's ok, who's going to notice but me & Abby, maybe Necia. Amy either doesn't know or can't remember that little tidbit.

They ruined my DUP page, absolutely ruined it. I had a terrible headache. I thought I was going to have a stroke. I can't get that angry & upset.

Then they did pages 5 & 11 without me seeing them. They did an obituary & Mike's death notice on page 5. You don't put obits on the Social page, but if you get them late & have to pull something, you pull the filler articles anyway. Page 11 was the book signing of the guy that didn't like the last article we ran.

OK, something positive did come out of this. I finished by a little after 10 p.m. & don't have to go back in the morning. Woo hoo! I do have to go back in tomorrow afternoon & do Jean's personalized children's stories that I was supposed to have done a week ago. She came in today at 4 & wanted them. I was so stressed. Kelly came in the editor's office & then turned around & left.

He had upset me before the obit fiasco by telling me to get back to work. I was out in the bookstore using the classified ad computer showing Nancy Cale the blog for Baby Jonah. Jim was there & he & I had been talking about Jonah. Nancy Cale wanted to hear about him. She couldn't comprehend a baby so tiny. I thought Kelly had come in to tell me to get back to work. Jean said she guessed she'd better go & not come in on Monday's.

Kelly told me later he had come in to tell Jean not to come in on Monday's & bother us. But then decided against it. I'm glad he told me, but I was still upset. I was so ready to just gather up my stuff & walk out the door.

I'm still considering it.