Finally did some Christmas shopping

I had my day all planned, but knew as soon as I got out of bed, those plans would likely not happen as I wanted. They never do. Sure enough, only some of them happened. I'm almost completely finished with my shopping. I have to pick up one more gift & it is set aside for me. Then the wrapping of what I did buy & delivery of the neighbor gifts.

I went searching for sayings to put on my gifts - rolls of gift paper & Mother is giving paper plates & Christmas napkins. I found a really cool blog, how does she? by Googling. The entry for the paper plates was found under 30 Neighbor Christmas Gifts Ideas.

Our Relief Society presidency brought Mother some paper plates & matching napkins in a Christmas theme, tied with a large ribbon bow. It has a cute little saying on it, but I couldn't remember what it was. Here is what I found at how does she?

A bit of "disposable" Christmas cheer! What could be better? No dishes, my dear!

Then for the rolls of Christmas paper, I don't remember where I snagged this from.We got a roll of Christmas paper a couple of years ago, I saved the cute little card that came with it. Of course, now that I need it, I can't find it.

"Wrap" yourself up in a wonderful holiday season!

And no wrapping. I HATE wrapping gifts.

Day 24

First Presidency of LDS Church

OK, tonight I'm going to try inserting a picture of the First Presidency of the LDS Church again. Left to right, President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor; President Thomas S. Monson & President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor. Is that Elder Scott behind President Eyring? Not sure. This would have been cool with last night's Attitude of Gratitude post.

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Nick's red Impala & my white Malibu, 11/23/10

Today I am thankful for great neighbors. John Donne's words, "No man is an island entire of itself ..." is so true. Our neighbor to the south of us came & plowed us out. We live in a great neighborhood.

Don took this picture looking out our front door. Look at the cool drifts around Nick's car.

A friend on Facebook said they are getting TORNADO warnings in Michigan. I've been hearing bad things about Washington too. Diane, a niece that lives in Seattle, said they got a foot of snow in 3 hours yesterday!!

We had a really bad blizzard yesterday. A blizzard is a snowstorm with winds in excess of 35 mph that lasts at least 3 hours. Don-Mike had to clear the snow off the kitchen window & big front room window at Mother's because they were plastered with snow. He said he cleaned them off so she could see nothing, as the visibility was nothing.

Don put opaque plastic on the kitchen window & I can't see out. I hate it, but yesterday the front room window was just like the kitchen window, only there wasn't any plastic on the front room window. We couldn't even see Balzars.

They closed the highways in & out of the valley, even in & out of town. The public transport buses didn't run yesterday & the kids had a snow day. Angela Nielson,  friend that works at USU didn't make it home last night. They closed the university at 2 & the buses don't run up here until 5 & 6, but the highway was closed. Luckily, she had a niece & nephew she could stay with. Don did not have to work yesterday, which I am so grateful for. No telling who he would have stayed with & would probably have tried to make it home.

The roads are still bad today. Nick wanted to get out today, he was going stir crazy, so we did. He took me to the $ store in Smithfield, about 20 miles away. It's really cold. It is 4° right now. Our house is really drafty. I'm sitting on a heat vent as I type.

Senior moments

I feel old, OLD!!! Today we got a wedding announcement at The Citizen for a couple who, although they are 20, I remember as children!!! I remember typing their Santa letters when they were in the 1st & 2nd grades.

I went to pick Mother up to take her to Logan for her protime (3.3). It took us a while to get out of town. Mother has fluid in her lungs & she needs the oxygen to help her breathe. She is always so short of breath. I put her portable oxygen in the car. I stopped to get her a drink at the Conoco & as we turned out on to State Street she asked about the oxygen. I said I needed to go home anyway, so we'd just go home & I'd turn it on there. As we turned off the highway onto our street I noticed Lady, our next door neighbor's black lab, crossing the railroad tracks heading to the highway. I said to Mother, "Is that Lady?" Mother said, "No, she's not skinny enough." Well, it looked like Lady to me. I stopped the car, opened the door & yelled her name. She didn't stop, nor did she slow down crossing the highway & cars were coming.

I got home & called the neighbor. The phone rang & rang. When he finally answered I said his name & then said, "This is RaNae. Is Lady home?"

And he said, "Who?"

And I said, "Lady, your dog. Is she around?"

"Well, I think she is. I just saw her," he answered. Then said, "Who is this?"

I said, "RaNae, your neighbor. Just now when I crossed the railroad tracks she was crossing the highway going north, up by where *** Smith used to live."

He said he'd go get her. I went back to the garage & was telling Nick about an incident that happened a week ago. A few minutes later, here came the neighbor back, herding Lady in front of his pickup. I saw him out in the driveway as I was leaving & yelled out to him, "Where'd you find her?"

He said that he'd found her up across the big intersection just roaming around. He also said that she had just lost her freedom. He was going to have to chain her up. A week ago, Saturday, she came up missing & they retrieved her from the pound about a week ago today.

When I went down to feed Mufasa, I noticed Lady in her kennel as I came back up. I would much rather see a dog in a kennel than on a chain.

Anyway, when I got here, I had no clue why I was here. I racked my brain trying to remember why I "needed" to go home. Finally, I just conceded that the neighbor's late wife was telling me I needed to come home to save Lady. I don't know why else I would need to go home so desperately & then get here & not be able to remember why.

I have tried all afternoon to remember what I needed. I have lots of senior moments but can soon remember what I had forgotten.

Lent, Day 40

The last day of Lent & tomorrow is Easter Sunday, Christ's resurrection. The time in the tomb is almost over. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'd never really thought of the meaning of Lent. I think I'll have a deeper appreciation of Christ's sacrifice for us. Perhaps I should watch The Passion of the Christ every Easter season.

Last night was a very rough night for me. I put my CPAP mask on & the hole had ripped bigger, air was just rushing out. So, I thought I'd try Mother's old mask, but I hate that mask. It hurts. So, I had no choice but to pull out the full face mask I got. I fought with that all night. This morning when Don got up for work, yes, he had to work today, I got up to put the salve in Prissy's eye, then hauled out the CPAP bag & pulled out all the literature on the mask. I messed with it for about an hour, got it to fit & laid down & went right to sleep.

Tonight we went to the grocery store & I thought it was 11, closing time, but it was only 10. I'm so tired & have such a headache. I'm hoping tonight is better.

I have my phone calendar set to chime 4 times a day so Prissy gets the salve in her eye. Nick has been a great help & Prissy's eye is starting to look better.

Today Eddie was standing in the door & saw Chris Garrett's big mastiff bite Colton Hull. Colton was over on Gwen's lawn & I don't know if the dog was playing or what, but Colton kicked at him. Chris called the dog home & put him in the kennel. Colton was crying, so I went over to Hulls & rang the doorbell. When Cindy came to the door, I told her what Eddie had seen. The dog had bruised Colton's shoulder, but it hadn't broken the skin. Like Eddie said, the dog is bigger than the kid. Matt was supposed to be watching Colton, but usually when Matt is "watching" Colton, Colton is wandering the neighborhood. I guess Chris was watching his dog too, he was in the driveway & the dog was roaming the neighborhood.

Colton said it was Spillet's dog, the people that lived across the street. They've moved & taken their animals with them. They were there today, but their dogs weren't. When we left Hulls, Eddie said Chris & the Hulls, Matt & Cindy, were yelling. I guess that's one benefit of being hearing impaired, LOL, you can't hear your neighbors yelling at each other.

Tonight when I went to feed Mufasa, I told him that was why I don't let him out. I can't control him & I don't want him wandering the neighborhood.