Too hot!

OK, In my opinion 108 is too hot! It's ok for an oven to heat up, but not my car and certainly not the exterior air! It's stifling, nauseatingly hot! I'm not sure the air conditioner has shut off since I came home about 4 p.m. That's not good for our electric bill, not good at all.
Yesterday I got my nails done and a new perm, so today I have hair that looks like I've stuck my finger in a light socket or something. It will calm down, but tomorrow we're having our pictures taken - yikes!
Are you as sick of Michael Jackson as I am? Yesterday on the news there was 20 minutes of MJ funeral and etc. and 10 minutes of news - oh, and commercials thrown in there somewhere. We switched to BBC news and found out all sorts of things that were going on in the world, not mentioned on our national news. Since when is a strange person more important than national and international news? OK, so he was a great singer, actor, dancer, etc., but let's face it, a year ago people were ready to string him up as a pervert, etc.
I'll stop my gripe session now. Along the lines of gratitude - I'm thankful for big shade trees around our house. I'm so thankful to have been born in a free country. I'm grateful for my family here and there and everywhere. I'm grateful for modern communication - today I had calls on my cell phone from my sister and my daughter both checking about books I might want to read. That's so thoughtful and I do appreciate them thinking of me. I am thankful to have air conditioning. I can't believe the first pioneer wife who settled in this area without air conditioning (of course they hadn't been exposed to it) and it was still really hot and more dusty then than now I understand.
I just thought back to when we were kids living in Browns Mills, NJ. When we got hot in the summer we'd beg our dad to take us to the lake a couple of miles away. We'd take our dog along and a bar of soap. We'd all jump in the lake, soap up the dog and have a blast! Fun times.
Stay cool!

Temples

Good Evening! I'm excited because we're planning to go to the temple on Saturday. I love going there because I feel so close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. My goal is to be worthy to be in their presence and I can't think of a better place to assist me in reaching my goal.
I recently read an article in Church News about the Guatemala Temple ground breaking. The Central America Area President Don R. Clarke told the Guatemalan saints that the temple is being built because of their faith and challenged them to make their homes a temple that all who enter might feel the peace of the temple in their homes. Another great goal!
I've been having some blood pressure issues. In spite of being on medication, my BP is still dangerously high in my opinion. Tonight it was 166/85 with a pulse of 75. That's scary. I do see the dr. on Friday for follow up.
Well, off to bed to get ready for another great day!

Random thoughts on a Monday night.

Tonight I feel overwhelmed with the many blessings I've received. I think about the torment and hardship so many people are having and I do feel guilty that my life is wonderful. My only torment is separation from my extended family. Daughter is in NJ only 45 minutes from my sister. Other relatives I really care about are in PA and NJ and bff is in NJ, 1400 miles away. But I'm blessed because I get to fly home every summer for our family reunion and get to laugh, keep weird hours, and eat funky food - especially fried clams at the ocean! I miss the ocean so much. I love to hear it and watch the waves move in and out. I love the ocean when a storm has passed by.
I've made a little progress on my cleaning of room 3 on my plan, but had to interrupt so hubby and I could have FHE. We watched a Dorothy Sayers "Lord Peter Whimsey" mystery. OK, so it's not the major spiritual FHE that a lot of people expect, but we did follow it with a half hour of scripture study!
We had a visit today from the son of the couple who used to live in our house. In the 22 years we have lived here, the appearance of the house and landscaping is entirely different. He was rather polite, though, and said it looked "good." We always try to improve any place we have lived. We are always thinking of what plant would work in a certain location, or how to get rid of noxious weeds in our "lawn." I put quotes around lawn because we encourage anything green. I think that has landed us in trouble right now because we seem to be harboring a major yard full of ground cover which contains lots of burrs. We've got to get rid of it and encourage other green type stuff to grow which will be able to live in a semi arid location and won't cause us to have to coddle it to grow, etc. Suggestions are welcomed!

I love this Country!

Isn't this a wonderful time of the year? I love the flag waving, fireworks, picnic food - I love it all. Today at Church I commented that when we lived in Germany we were treated very well. Our neighbors were wonderful and we felt we had the same freedoms that we did in the USA. But when we returned to the US after three years abroad, the plane flew over the Statue of Liberty and I just sobbed to see this wonderful symbol of our freedom. I know our country is flawed, but that just means we need to study out issues and vote responsibly. We must preserve our freedoms so that we can continue to worship in the way our conscience directs and take care of our families in the way we know is right.
My daughter introduced me to a book series called The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I've really been enjoying the books which are very readable and entertaining. There is a quote toward the end of the third book "Morality for Beautiful Girls," which I just loved: "She was a traditionally built lady, after all, and she did not have to worry about dress size, unlike those poor, neurotic people who were always looking in mirrors and thinking that they were too big. What was too big, anyway? Who was to tell another person what size they should be? It was a form of dictatorship, by the thin, and she was not having any of it. If these thin people became any more insistent, then the more generously sized people would just have to sit on them. Yes, that would teach them! Hah!"
Oh, ok, I know good health dictates we need to put the brakes on gorging ourselves, but who are we to fight the gene pool about our size? I think about my grandmothers. Neither of them were obese, but they sure weren't thin by today's standards. My mother wasn't a small woman and only a few years prior to her death, did she get down to what most doctors would say was the right weight. She used to tell me that you need a few extra pounds to lose in case you get sick. Her reasoning was that when you get sick you always lose weight! :) I love these excuses so I can still have my evening ice cream and eat my Oreo Fudgees for snacks!
This time of year I try to deep clean through the house. Wash the inside windows, take down curtains, wash them, and put them back up. Also wiping down the wall paneling with those Pledge wipe things, clean the ceiling light fixtures, etc. So far I have 2 1/2 rooms done out of 8 rooms. I have four weeks until my trip to NJ, then when I return from NJ, it's time for Seminary and not much discretionary time left. Oh, well. I'll do my best and I suppose that will have to be good enough!
I hope all of you have great goals for this summer time.

The upside of living in the same town for 22 years is that you have friends you've known a long time. You can enjoy each other's company and feel at ease around them. The downside is that I love the adventure of going to a new place, meeting new people, and not feeling stagnant. This past week I've been sorting out my Seminary stuff and mentally preparing for a new Seminary year. I got all my "Mormon Ads" in scripture order so when we study a certain scripture it will be easier to find a photographic way to present the idea. I found three great Mormon Ads for Seminary, so I chose one of them and prepared a simple post card of invitation, then mailed these to each of the 9 prospective Seminary students this year. I only know three of the students rather well, two I haven't seen in a few years and the other four I've never met, so I have my work cut out for me - get to know these six young people who are away from Church for some reason. That's quite a concern to me since the teen years make a major impact on an individual's entire life.
Our grandson was pretty sick last week and has now returned to good health. Now his sister is sick with an ear infection and she's on antibiotics now. We love these kids so much and pray for their well being as well as that of their parents. I was a little sick this week as well, but I think I'm ok now. I hate being sick!
G.A. got a new suit this past week and he posed for me to take his photo. Wow!
The reason I wanted to call this blog "Senior Moments" is because it seems that everything I've been coming in contact with has been geared to 30-40 year olds. A book I'm reading indicated that 40+ was old! Yikes, I'm in major trouble.

I think I'm back!

I haven't posted in three months because the last time I tried, I was unable to get the wretched blogspot to accept normal typing, so I thought I'd been locked out somehow. In the last three months my bunion has been healing, but much slower than I expected. Now I understand why I was advised by others who have had this surgery that you should do both feet at the same time, otherwise you'll never get the other foot done. I'm so there and I so understand. I've purchased three pair of very comfortable shoes which I wear all the time. It's still difficult to wear sandles much because anything stiff over that incision just is too uncomfortable. I would still advise anyone to have the surgery if they're in pain as I was prior to the surgery. But realize that it will take, in my opinion, six months to a year to heal. When I had my knee replacement last summer I fully expected a long recovery. So with any surgery, just expect it to take awhile and if you heal more quickly, be thankful!
The most exciting thing this past week was to witness L & J being united now with three children - they got their two beautiful children from Haiti and they also got a bonus boy, so triple blessings for them. It was so emotional to see the conclusion of a three-year process!
The hardest thing this past week was to hear about our grandson being really sick and we're 1400 miles away and can't do any of the hand holding and giving physical support to our daughter - but we sent lots of prayers and text messages. Isn't this modern age wonderful? I was reminded of the many times when we were living in Germany and when our daughter got sick with asthma I was virtually alone in the process. I would scoop her up with a trash bag to puke into, put her in the little Fiat station wagon I had, and speed literally off to the hospital in Frankfort about 15 minutes away. One time I scooped her up, then proceeded to slide/fall down the wooden steps in our house and still get her to the bathroom before she got sick. I got her to Frankfort that time in 9 minutes flat with a stick shift car and a right arm that I wondered if it were broken because it hurt so much! At that time we didn't have a telephone in our house and could only write letters to our loved ones and get answers back. That's when I learned to be confident in my abilities and to be proactive in getting the medical care for our daughter. I did grow from the situation and am a better person today because of those difficulties.

It's a Wonderful Life

I've had a tough day and now I'm pondering about all the good things going on in my life. I feel so blessed to live in an area relatively free from the effects of war, I have the food I need and love to eat, I have shelter that is more than adequate for my needs, I have transportation and the means to put fuel in the gas tank (!), lots of wonderful friends as well as the best family in the world! Really, thinking about these things puts stupid concerns in perspective. Today I got so irritated after paying a bill online for the very first time, then thinking I did it wrong and all the angst that goes with that, then I just decided that I don't need to pay bills online and I don't really need to worry about a paperless world when I realized that I was still printing out the invoice to file away as proof that I paid the silly bill online! Go figure. I think perhaps I have finally reached the time in my life when I decided that at my age going green should cut me some slack! So I'm leaving the paperless world behind since I've discovered that I actually have as much junk laying around to file away so I can find it in the future. I know that this doesn't really make sense to the 30 somethings, but oh, well, it's a wonderful life anyway and we don't all have to be the same anyway. I love this modern age, though. I love getting email photos and cell phone photos, lots of phone calls and emails that tell me my family and friends are ok. I can't imagine living 1400+ miles away from my family and only getting a letter once a month! Yikes.
Re: my toe - the new soft cast is heavier than the previous bandage and it has ached a little today. Part of the healing process as well. I'll have to do my blog earlier in the day, I think, cause I'm too tired this time of day to think positive thoughts! The fun things to do in the future include my nephew coming for a visit this weekend (he's actually visiting his parents in their RV, but sleeping in our guest room). Then next month my daughter and the worlds perfect grandkids are coming and my sister is coming, too! So we'll be the vacation spot for awhile. Fun times!

Letting Go of the Rod!

I'm free, I'm free at last. . . or at least that what I'd thought I'd be saying! OK, Janie, I have to admit it hurt when the rod came out! No, the dr. didn't really lie to me that it wouldn't hurt, but somehow the rod got bent and that's what made it hurt! (Doesn't it give you a stomach ache just to think about?) Anyway, it's out and so are the stitches. My question, "Now can I take a shower?" Not yet. :( :( Major frowns from me. So besides a very ugly toe and a hole on the top of my foot, now it's wrapped in a "soft cast." It was really cold going on and will take until tomorrow to "harden." And I still can't get it wet. I return to the dr. on March 12 and then the soft cast will be taken off and I'll be able to wear my clunky shoes during parts of the day, but the ugly shoe the rest of the time. So a total of 6 weeks from surgery date before my foot will be almost healed. I'm counting on it 'cause Art and I are going to Albuquerque, NM, to see the petroglyphs there and I'll need to be able to walk a dusty path to the caves. If I can figure out how to attach a photo, I'll put a photo of my ugly toe - there are actually two - one from 2/23 and one from today. But I want to embed the photos so you don't have to look at that ugly thing unless you want to! :) Oh, the other thing I noticed is that this soft cast is heavy! Regarding the pain issue I've discussed in the past, the dr. said that as the nerves heal they will send a pulse of pain or discomfort. It doesn't last long, but sometimes it hurts so hard it takes your breath away, so to be perfectly honest, I can't say there is no pain. Any surgery is gonna hurt, but compared to my knee surgery last summer, this is nothing and I can handle it most of the time!

Beginnings

After emailing my five "bunion blogs" over the past three weeks, I decided to make it easier on everyone by creating a blog. Don't know how well this venture will go as I tend to procrastinate as well as get overwhelmed by my activities. I've been listening to the "Mormon Mom Podcasts," other blogs, and have subscribed to the daily Molly Mormon emails and came to the conclusion that the information I've been hearing and reading has been excellent, but geared toward 30-somethings, married, with children at home or in college, etc. Therefore, I decided that those of us over 50 need a voice! I'll put in my voice and y'all jump in and save me from my mistakes, ok? Our concerns involve health problems, visiting teaching challenges, our adult children, etc. (My husband just came inside from checking his winter garden and in his hand were two 2 inch carrots! That's winter here in very dry West Texas!)