Tina, eat. Food. Eat the FOOD!

Without giving any details, Sariah told me Acadia only tells us the good stuff and that she has had some challenges.  How do we know what to pray for? Just bless Acadia / Sister Roser (depending on my mood).  I  glad she recognizes and shares so much good and I can see that she is really helping people change their lives for the better.  But I do sometimes wish I knew what is really going on.

No progress on the kitchen yet.   Thomas is communicating with the cabinet maker who wants thousands of dollars in actual paper money cash.  Thomas says it is not illegal.  I am going to either have to make many multiple trips to the ATM on many different days or drive to Davis where my brick and mortar is.

No progress on the cat, either.  She refuses to eat the expensive wet cat food which is specially formulated to help with urinary tract health whether or not I put the laxative in it.  Joseph's cat is willing to see that it isn't thrown out.  Felicity will nibble at the expensive special formula dry food.  Velox likes it, too.  Felicity has not had any unfortunate episodes since her doctor visit, but as she usually goes a good while between, that doesn't tell me anything. 

I  drove a sister (Noreen)who lives in a group home to see her fiance who is in a health care facility a couple of times. 

At our Relief Society Leadership Training Thursday, they had us turn on our Family Tree apps on our phones and do Find Relatives Near Me.  My!  we are almost all distant cousins.  Except Miriam.  My phone said she is not related.  lol  Something about how her phone is set up, I don't know.  We also did speed friendshipping.  We are supposed to apply that to ministering.  It isn't that hard to try to get to know people.

Thursday was also Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I am no good at that.  I wore a black skirt, white blousy blouse and a maroon headscarf.  I also tried to make a Treasure Map pizza.  Tip:  add the landmarks after baking.  Olives did ok, but ground beef rocks, cheese X, and broccoli trees melted and/or sank.   Andrew recognized what it was supposed to be and got a tickle out of it.  He is also pretty good at talking like a pirate.  I suppose I should practice because I think Disney cruises always have a pirate night.  And I do want to go on an Disney Alaska cruise!

I didn't make it to the temple Friday which turned out to be a good thing because the gal that signed up to take Noreen to visit her fiance that day forgot and it turned out to be one of the times I drove. 

Debi hosted a Baby Shower for Bethany Saturday and Sariah came down from Vancouver!  I ended up staying all afternoon after the shower just visiting.  The Hinds kids had folded a bunch of paper airplanes in different colors which Debi hung around the room.  No silly baby shower games.  Debi had purchased several plaind white onsies in different sizes and we decorated them with fabric pens.  Much fun and pretty cute.  (And if they are not cute, put other clothes over them, anyway)

Bethany's boss and his wife gave her this cute bomber's jacket for baby - probably when he's a toddler.

Favorite Facebook meme today:  Next week was exhausting!

Delores, one of the sisters I minister to went to the emergency room today and  will be staying at least overnight at Mercy General.  She turns 87 Tuesday.  I made she her ministering brothers know.  Just as I was about to leave to go visit her after dinner, one of them called to say that he and his wife were about to go over.  I will go visit her Monday.

the cat's meow

Tuesday Andrew made me a delicious breakfast for my birthday.

 I donated platelets at Vitalent (formerly known as Blood Source) where they rang bells, sang to me, and gave me a balloon. I watched episonde 1 of season 6 of “Downton Abbey”. Now I want to watch all of all the “Downton Abbey”’s again. The “Downton Abbey” movie will be out in little over a week. I will probably wait fo see it, however. Maybe even wait for Costco to sell the DVD.

Miriam and Teresa took me to lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! I had a very good cheese burger. Miriam got us the Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake which was totally amazing and big enough to share. We each ordered cheesecake to take home and eat later. Mine? Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. Delicious!

Lunch was late and plentiful, so we didn’t have the (relatively inexpensive) steak I had bought for dinner. The guys had not had the fine lunch we did, I figured they could scrounge for leftovers. Teresa brought some Macaroni & Cheese Mix IN A BOX and Andrew was EXSTATIC! It was weird. He put hot dogs in it. Maybe something else. That’s what the guys had. We watched “Downton Abbey” season 1, episone 1. I do like that show!

Wednesday I took my cat to the vet. Every now and then she cries and cries that she is in pain and then defecates on the floor, not the litter box. And eliminates a few more times scattered about. Such fun for her and for us to clean up. It starts out pretty normal looking, gets runnier, and sometimes there appears to be a bit of blood. Then she will seem fine for days. And it happens again. So she went to the vet. X-Rays, various tests. $615. Her skeletan looks good. No sign of arthritis. No apparent bowel obstruction, although the large intestine tapers a lot at the end. But she has bladder stones. Doesn’t make sense that they would cause her symptoms. They called me later and said they need to do another test on the urine. Another $160. The vet is going to consult with some specialty pet food company. In the meantime, I am supposed to give her Metamucil twice a day. So far, no real answers just good-bye lots of money.

The stupid cat is refusing her medicated food. Canned chicken. She looks at it and turns away. I knew she would not go for tuna. Joe’s cat, Velox, appears out of nowhere when you open tuna, but Felicity will ignore it when you give it to her. (I give them the juice) I think she used to eat some, but I am not sure.

Thursday I went to the people vet. Blood draw and blood pressure check. Better than last time which were bad so they had me come back after a month. Still need to do better, but improved.

Friday the 13^th. Teresa and I did a few initiatories. No, not 13, only 5 each. The Hinds family and David and Teresa came over. I was a little sad that Debi, Lucas, and Molly, and Ben and Bethany couldn’t come. But that meant that we had 13 people. Unfortunately, not all at once. Hinds had to leave before David and Teresa arrived. Played with horeshoes, walked under a ladder, ate Lucky Charms and other lucky food – pulled pork, lentil soup, black eyed peas soup, carrot coins. Both Hinds and DT brought donuts. Round foods are lucky. Round like money. Hinds also brought fortune cookies. After the Hinds left we watched a Freaky Friday movie. (There are 3 different ones. I checked all three out at the library and we more or less randomly picked which to watch. Very entertaining, but not as good as “Downton Abbey”)

Years ago, I gave Benjamin and Bethany gift certificate to Sacramento Escape Room. Then later I gave David and Teresa certificates. Finally, Joseph and Andrew. Today the six of them went. Had a great time, but failed to escape.

Meanwhile, Miriam and I went to Relief Society Souper Saturday. Workshops on soups in Instant Pot, Emergency Preparedness, self massage (with lacrosse balls), and flower arranging. And ate soup. Lots of soup.

But not quite enough. I had taken our leftover lucky soups, Teresa sent some soup, and, of course a few other sisters brought soup. Also bread and desserts. But guess what we are having for supper tonight (still Saturday).

The intrepid non-escapers planned to watch “The Avengers; End Game” after the escape room. A couple of them fell asleep. So we watched “Downton Abbey” episode 2. THEN the watched End Game. Still on as of this typing. I really like “Downton Abbey” much, much better. Not an action movie fan. I did sort of like “Captain Marvel” which we watched a few days ago. For the first part of the movie, I was frankly bored. Then I got somewhat interested. It was pretty good. Not as good as “Black Panther”. But I like “Downton Abbey” LOTS better.

of tiles and smiles

I could have been on a Disney Cruise to Alaska this last week with my eldest daughter and her family, but I have major home work to get done here first.  My son-in-law Tom is my job boss and main worker.  He and a couple of his kids tore up the treacherous tile in my kitchen to replace the flooring.  He is getting estimates for me to consider replacing the cabinetry at the same time.  Once we do the kitchen, I also need to replace a water damaged walls and ceiling in our family room.  When the most important repairs are done, we will see if I have any money left  to go on a cruise, hopefully in a couple of years.

A highlight of my week was that Sariah took time in the middle of her cruise to phone me just to chat! Her husband and daughter were on a hike.  Her in-laws were doing something else.  She had a little time before they went on a whale watching excursion and she chose to talk to me.  Made me feel special and loved. 

Despite The Patch being a construction zone, I am having family over Friday for a Friday the 13th party.  We will  walk under a ladder, toss horseshoes and pennies, and eat lucky food.  Did you know that for Spanish culture Tuesday the 13th is unlucky and for Italian it's Friday the 17th?

De-tile

Do not believe that retirement means a quiet life with plenty of spare time. I wonder now how I even survived when I was working full time. I still am daily grateful 1) to be out of the toxic environment my office had become. 2) to not have to have an alarm every morning, in fact, almost any morning. I naturally wake up relatively early and my first deadline is Family Prayer at 7am. Usually I am up and dressed before then, but sometimes, I am just up. LOL

I am able to go to the temple more regularly, donate platelets, and, although you may not believe it in light of my recent neglect of you, do a little better at ministering.

We are finally working on replacing my kitchen floor! Which means my home is a demolition / construction zone. I had intended to sort, declutter, and organize in preparation for moving everything out of the kitchen, but I have problems - mental and emotional. Every time I went to the task, I hit a mental / emotional block and just could not do anything. Finally, my job boss son—in-law just came and started moving things whether or not they were sorted or organized. For the last week, Tom and his crew, two of my grandchildren, have been taking out floor tile and trying to get up the cement that failed to hold it in place. Tom is a man with ideas. So now we are waiting for estimates from a cabinet maker for me to consider re-doing the kitchen a little more completely. I have not been very happy with the cabinets from HD that the men from our ward put in a few years ago. The problem was not those kind men, but rather sub quality cabinets. I am not doing the physical work, but I need to be here for the most part. I hope it is all done before General Conference, but will not be too surprised if it is not.

We used the Rainbow to "vacuum" up dust and such.  When I went to clean the Rainbow, I realized that the "dust" was from the cement like grout holding the tiles in place (more or less, mostly less).  Mixing with the water in the Rainbow catch basin, the dust remembered its cement qualities.  I had to scoop and scrape it out of the basin and hope that I cleaned the machine well enough.  

I have been wanting to road trip

but this isn't quite what I had in mind.

 

Weeds, laundry, a little planning.  That was Monday.

Tuesday I donated platelets and bought groceries.  While donating, I watched "The Bucket List"   a couple of old guys with nothing in common meet in the hospital where they are told they have months to live.  Except for language, a really good movie.  Of course, it is more fun to work on a bucket list when you are really rich or have an incredibly rich friend. LOL. Do you have a bucket list? I have never made one, but have sometimes thought somewhat along those lines. 

I have been blessed to do things that I never dared to dream of.  My kids sent me to Washington DC, which I know you've been, but to me it was an impossible dream.  They got me tickets to go meet David when he finished his mission in the Washington DC South Mission (really mostly Virginia).  We traveled around the mission visiting his people and spent time in the nation's capital.  I loved it!  and would love to go again.  Thanks to my daughter Sariah and her husband Ryan, I have been to Boston in the fall (Veggie Tales).  Fantastic.  Sariah took me to Disney World.   And my aunt Robin treated me to two weeks in England, Scotland, and Wales.  I never thought  I would travel  and see these wonderful places.  

There are a lot of places I would like to see and things I would like to do, but I haven't made a list.  And I don't know if I will (make the list or do them).  Sometimes I hope the Lord lets us see things and places after we die.  Will He let us do some tourist bit?

Wednesday was a potluck at Holly Foell (fell). She is one of my ministering (to) sisters, our stake RS President, and a really nice person.  I altered a recipe from the Six Sisters Menu plan.  Started out as Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Pasta Shells, but I was slightly bored.  I added spinach (because I like to add spinach to almost any casserole type dish) and red pepper.  Made it look and taste more interesting.  To my surprise, I found out (after she left) that one of the sisters at my table is one of the Six Sisters!

I met with an author and local celebrity for some super secret squirrel stuff on Thursday.   A Christmas present, but I am not saying now.  Had a charming visit. 

Then I had a couple of days where I spent a lot of time on the road.  Friday I took Joseph to work, back tracked to pick up Andrew at home, then went to the temple.  What I like to do is some initiatories and the 10 o'clock session.  But the back and forth thing ruled that out.  Since I was sleepy, I opted to just do initiatories Friday.  I love the blessings and it much easier to stay awake!  I took Andrew home again and went to an Open House (and lunch buffet) at Advanced Health Care of Sacramento where 3 guys from our ward work - our Bishop's counselor (and husband of the Six Sister) is director,  my ex-cousin-in-law works in the office, and one young man the age of some of my children (forgot which) is a nurse.  Fancy, nice place.  I wish Miriam could go there next time she needs a rehab/recovery stay, but it is not for people on Social Security and MediCal.  Jon, the director, said maybe we could work it, but I doubt it.  No need yet, but she will be having surgeries sometime in the future. Back home to get Andrew again and take him to Deseret Industries to look for pants.  I think he found 2.  I bought about 6 tops.  I think we spent almost the same amount of money.  Then I collapsed.  Raid the fridge for leftovers for dinner.

Over 470 miles for me Saturday helping my daughter-in-law bring things home after cleaning out her now angel mother's home in Utah. Teresa and David traveled far more, especially Teresa who traveled around 850 miles. Teresa drove her brother's fully packed car from Manti, Utah. He needed it in Magalia by 2 to get to work. David was worried about her doing all that driving alone, so he invited me (5am Friday morning, hoping to leave around 7, but it was more like 8) to help intercept her.  We went to meet her in Nevada, but missed her (due to phone problems resulting in lack of communication) and gave chase to Donner where David relieved her and she rested in my car. On to her brother's in Magalia, California where we left the Prius and picked up a trailer full of more stuff that her brothers had driven out. Then home. But DT had to go out again because we were unable to fit all the stuff from the Prius into my car. Fortunately, brother was at work close to Sacramento, not still in Magalia. Long day. Beautiful weather and lovely drive.

Today, Sunday, Sadie is going home.  Her mom credits me with finding their new rental house.  I happened to see a mention on NextDoor, passed it on to her, and she moved in yesterday.  They are in our ward.  So she will be in church today, come here for Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner (she says there is NO food in the house yet, so I am saving her life.  I said, you haven't had my cooking yet, it might be the opposite)  and Sadie will go back to her family.  She will be so happy!  (unless, of course, my cooking does off her mom, but I haven't killed anyone YET)