December 9th and before and after

Well I suppose I should finish out the day for Saturday before I move on. 

I worked all of the afternoon and part of the evening on the curriculum because it was snowing and I didn't want to go out in it and I needed to get it done.  I was able to get several pages written on the media that are used for advertising and start on public relations before the night was over.  I worked so long on that that I did not feel like blogging that night.  Again I was tired.  Larry mostly watched TV that day but he may have been doing something on the computer.

I also spent some time on the phone texting with Nathan and Sara separately.  I am frustrated that he has received a 60% classification for somethings on his discharge and retirement but I really do not understand it.  Sara said that he has 100% for depression and speech.  I spent some time talking with Sara about the new place and suggesting that she get a lawyer to help her.  I talked to Nathan about how he liked the place.  He said it is okay but he really doesn't know what to think.  I said something about if he worked really hard he could go home eventually and he answered, "I have been trying to get better for a long time.  I don't know if I can try harder."  I felt bad after that because I know he is working hard and I forget that he has been trying so hard to get back anything that he can do.  I am sure it must be frustrating to be trying so hard and having so many problems to deal with.  Sara said that the new place is making him be more self-reliant, which is not bad, so I asked him if he could dress himself yet because I know they were working with that at the VA but he said that he can't dress himself yet.  Then he said that his place has its highs and its lows.  I feel so frustrated being here and wanting to help and not being able to do anything except try to understand.

Sunday's Snowfall

Sunday we had a wonderful Sacrament meeting themed "Come unto Christ"  Several people talked but the last Brother Foy gave an interesting analogy.  He told about how he had gone to Cancun with his wife after a lengthy recovery from a collapsed lung.  He said that they went out on the boat and they were going to go snorkeling.  He likes to snorkel and so when they stopped and they began to prepare when he got his snorkeling equipment he just jumped in without a life jacket.  He was having so much fun snorkeling that he didn't notice that the current was sweeping him away from the boat until the spirit told him to look up.  He was about a mile from the boat.  He said that he started to swim and he was still being pushed back.  He began to panic because he did not have his life vest on and so he said a prayer to Heavenly Father for some help.  Shortly after that he had a small boat pull up along side him and asked him if he needed help.  He said he did not know why but he just kept swimming.  So the boat left.  He likened it to sometimes we ask Heavenly Father for help but then we do not listen to his promptings and we try to do things for ourselves when it would have been easier to listen to the prompting and so what he tells us to do.  We often don't accept the help when it is given.  He eventually made it back to the boat but it would have been easier to get into the boat.

We are taking the Marriage and Family Relations class in Sunday School.  The lesson this week was on the Family Proclamation to the World and a talk that Elder Boyd K. Packer gave in 1993 entitled, "For Time and All Eternity"  We spent our time talking a about the proclamation and the timeliness of it's teachings.

In Relief Society we had a lesson on Joseph Smith from the writings and speeches of Lorenzo Snow.  It was interesting to me to realize that Lorenzo Snow had the opportunity to know Joseph Smith intimately and that he spoke so highly of his character.

Snow in the back yard, about a foot

We went home and fixed a quick lunch of our favorite Quesadilla's with fresh salsa and then our Home teachers came to visit us.  As it had snowed the night before we had to hurry and shovel some of the snow so they could get to our house.  We had not got up early enough to get it shoveled before church. We got about 8-10 inches.  I took a picture of the snow and posted it on Facebook in the morning.  After they left then Larry went to his Home Teaching Families and I spent about an hour shoveling snow on the sidewalk to the north of the house.  Our neighbor had used his snow blower on  the snow on the front public walk.  Later Larry came home and used the snow blower on the driveway.

I went in to find the story "The Gift of the magi" by O. Henry on the computer.  I had agreed to decorate a table about a story for the Relief Society Christmas Dinner on Sunday.  While I was working on it Nathan texted me and we talked for a while as I prepared the story to email it to Merrilee Morgan who was in charge of the program and the tables.

While I was talking to Nathan I remembered that it was Maggie's birthday and Nathan reminded me that it was my sister, Annette's birthday.  I tried to text Sara to Skype with Maggie for her birthday but she wasn't home so it never worked out.  Larry called Matthew because his birthday was on Friday and we had a good time talking with him about his birthday.  He said that they are having a party next weekend and going to have three TV's hooked up downstairs so they could play video games.  I always like talking to Matthew because he is so energetic.  Later in the evening Annette commented on my snow picture on Facebook and it reminded me again to call her for her birthday and we had a good talk.

At 6:00 p.m. we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on TV.  It had some really good talks.  I was especially interested in a story about how the song "Far Far Away on Judea's plains was written.  Apparently the author was asked by one of the leaders of the church in St. George to write a song for a celebration they were having in St. George for the holidays.  He prayed and tried to write a song but it didn't come to him for a while.  Then one night he was awakened in the night with the song and words in his head.  His wife held a burning piece of flannel over something for a light as he tried to write it out so he would remember it.  I had always thought that the song was just one of the traditional Christmas carol's so it was interesting to find out it had Mormon roots.

Monday we got up and did the usual routine in the morning.  When we got home from the Gym we ate lunch and then I started working on cleaning my desk.  It was such a mess that I had a hard time working on the curriculum on Saturday.  I found the theater tickets that Erick and Heather had given us for our birthdays.  I also found a gift check to Baskin and Robbins for $2.00 worth of something there. I also put several things in the DI pile and threw a lot away but I finally got my desk organized so I did not feel like I was working in a mess.

Nathan texted me again and we talked back and forth.  He was concerned that they wanted to give him a shot for blood clots in his stomach and wanted to know what I thought. He had told them they could give it to him when he was asleep and wanted to know if I thought that was okay.  I told him to ask them if it was safe to give it that way and if they really had to give it to him in his stomach because I have heard that is a painful way to get shots.

Kirsten did not want to do FHE this week and maybe for a while because she got a new job  and she works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in the evening.  So I got the idea that we could use our movie tickets and go see a movie for Family Home Evening.  We looked on line and Disney's Frozen was playing at the place where we had the tickets so we went to see that.  It was a good movie.  Very well done but it was not my favorite movie.  It had a good message about love that I appreciated.  It was an AMC theater that has the recliner seating so we laid back and watched the movie in comfort.

Tuesday I spent the morning looking for Christmas decorations that I could use to decorate the table for the Relief Society Christmas party.  I spent a lot of time going through boxes and running up and down stairs.  I found some things for the table and I also found some decorations to put out that are nice for Christmas but not a lot of work.  Larry and I decided that because we are going to Texas for Christmas we are not putting up the big tree.  We have a small tree about 2 ft high that I got out so I was not such a Scrooge.  I actually got as many points running around working on that as I usually do going to the gym.  So I got my exercise.  Larry went to the gym while I worked on that.

I took the things to the church at 3:00 pm and Larry came too to help the High Priests set up the tables for the dinner.  Then I went to see Dr. Flitten because my foot has been cramping up when I walk.  I have also had some callouses on my right foot and on a lot of my toes.  He cut part of the callous off on my right foot and my toes.  It didn't even hurt and gave me some cream to buy to keep on it.  He also put a pad in one of my shoes that has been making the callous under the inner sole and told me next time I buy shoes to get a half size bigger.  It felt a lot better when I walked on it after the Relief Society Dinner.  When I got back Larry had already set up the table for me so I didn't have to do much of anything.  Thoughtful husband!

When I got home we decided to go to Bowman's to get some bananas and my prescriptions that needed refilled and the cream he told me to get.  The cream was as much as all my prescriptions combined.

The dinner was great.  It was so much fun.  And I just ate the dinner so I had about 30 extra points for the day.  After the dinner Larry and I went to the gym so we were up kind of late that night.

This morning I got up at 7:00 a.m.  Larry was fasting for a medical appointment for today at 10:00 a.m. and he wanted to go to the gym early.  He left and I was coming but I ended up calling Mom and talking to her about Aunt Donna.  Merrilee had messenged me on Facebook that she was in the hospital for low sodium and then that they had put her in a care center at the Dr. recommendation for 10 days.  Mom and I had a good talk about a lot of things.  It has been good to have her live a little longer than Dad.  Dad was always the one that wanted to talk to us and I think it is helping me to understand her better and learn more about her family to not have him there to dominate the conversation.  Not that Dad was bad but he tended to be the one that talked all the time up until a few months before his death.

After that I got ready and went to the Gym.  I missed Larry because he had already gone to the doctor.  When I got home he came home within a few minutes.  I was surprised because besides the physical they had told him that he needed to talk to Dr. Flitton about his feet and get a stress test.  It made me realize that I am in better health than I sometimes realize.  Of course he had to do those things because of his diabetes.

After lunch I worked on the Marketing Curriculum until about 4:00 p.m.  Then my visiting teachers came to visit and we visited for about an hour.  I texted my cousin Merrilee to see if I could get her to go to Weight Watchers but she said she didn't feel well enough (then she posted she went Christmas Shopping that night on Facebook).  But that was okay with me.  Larry and I went to the gym.  Then we went to Baskin and Robbins with the Gift Certificate that I found.  It just happended that they have a two for one sundae promotion on Wednesdays so we were able to both get a sundae for $2.83 instead of $4.49 for one.  We got the Winter White Cherry Fudge with Fudge Topping.  It was heavenly.  Larry also got a scoop of Peanut butter fudge ice cream in his but I didn't want to ruin my sundae.

Thursday morning Larry had his appointment with Dr. Flitten so after the usual routine I  worked on the Marketing Curriculum while he was gone.   When he came home he said that Dr. Flitten thought his feet looked good.  His VA doctor said that his feet looked better than most diabetic feet that he has looked at so he is doing good.  After we had lunch we went to the Gym to workout.

In the afternoon we went to the Salt Lake Temple.  That way we thought we could get a parking place easier and we were right.  We left the house about 2:30 p.m. and got into a session by 4:00 p.m.  We were out of the session by 6:00 p.m. so we were able to eat dinner at the temple cafeteria and then we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  We got there about 6:50 p.m.  You have to be there about a half hour early or you loose you chance for a seat even with a ticket.  The program was a wonderful celebration of Christmas.  It was just a fun date afternoon with the temple and the concert. Larry and I had a great time.  As usual it was really cold on Temple Square and I was a dunce and only wore my suit jacket so I was really cold between buildings. I guess we should have taken some pictures but we were too cold to worry about it.  We are so lucky that Daniel is in the Bell Choir and can get us tickets.

Friday we went to our Employment mission.  It was pretty busy in the morning but in the afternoon it slowed down.  Frank agreed to have our last day as December 20th next week so we just have one more time working there.  We will miss the people there.  They kept telling us that they would not know what to do without us so it made us feel worthwhile.  It has been a good mission for both of us.

It was a dreary day all day and the moisture was freezing in the air and so it was kind of like light snow.  The sky was gray and white like it gets when it snows but it did not seem to be really snowing.

After we ate dinner we went to the gym for about an hour and then we came home and watched two shows of "Elementary"in Xfinity On demand.