Merry Christmas!

This week was a bit odd. I spent the first part of the week racing to get my book editing done by the deadlines. It all needed to be done by Tuesday Dec. 20^th. Deborah was absolutely masterful at copyediting! She picks up on all the details I think are too picky… but are really essential for an excellent book. Is this a better word? What is the title of this person you quoted? This section switches from I to you to we too often. Can it be more consistent? Do you want Google or google? E-mail or email? % or percent? And then she makes it consistent through the book. I love it!

My financial guy with all the reports— 36 pages, 12 pages and 16 pages- was really in a hurry for his stuff. So I sent a draft and gave him the option of having it copyedited. But he was happy with checking it himself. And I think by that time, Deborah was, too. The business man with the millennial book had some fascinating and informative material about what makes millennials click and how best to work with them. He details his thorough hiring process to make sure they fit with the company culture and have the intrinsic abilities (likes talking to people if he’s hiring for a sales manager, or loves details if he wants an accountant). He hires primarily on these core values and company culture… then trains them to fit the job. And he has an over-the-top way of welcoming them their first day and making them feel valued and important. I hope his book gets the success it deserves.

After focusing on that for so many days, I felt I was less productive— at least writing wise— the rest of the week. I went back and cleaned out my inbox and sent responses and follow-ups to things I had neglected.

Wednesday Tom and I drove to Koshkonong, MO to a salvage store there looking for doors and a tub for our new renovation. They had lots of doors… just none our size. We found cabinets that would work when Deb decides to renovate the kitchen in her little house. And we found a tasty little café in Thayer to have lunch on the way home.

Tom spent a good part of the week demolishing one tub surround and pushing out a wall in the other small bath. I went out one afternoon and removed up to three layers of contact paper from all the cupboards in the kitchen and baths and took off door and drawer pull in preparation for painting them. 52 knobs!

I have become interested in cryptocurrency like bitcoin and other. And I have been doing some research and learning about block-chain and how it can help speed up transactions between banks, between stock traders, and other things like gaming. It’s secure, un-hackable, and eliminates the middle man such as the central banking system or stock exchange. I’m hoping my small bits (very small gambles) of money will blossom into fruitful investments. And if not, it’s been interesting.

We had planned on Deborah coming to visit this week and maybe staying through Christmas. But Ian got scheduled to work Friday, Saturday and early Monday morning… so it didn’t make sense for them to travel. And, in all honesty, I think her copyediting set back her time table a little bit as well. So suddenly, we were faced with a quiet Christmas.

We invited three neighbors over for Christmas Eve dinner. I made Turkey and fixings plus an apple and a pecan pie. We had a festive and enjoyable time. Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast and opened a few presents before going off to church.

We had a very nice Christmas program with some lovely musical numbers. I really appreciated that each part of the Christmas story came back to us and how we receive and accept the Savior in our lives. There was a lovely song about “No Room” that talked about no room in the inn and do we have room in our hearts for the Savior. And we got to voice our conviction that “God is not dead nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail the right prevail. With peace on earth, good will to men.”

We came home and had Christmas Eve dinner revisited and then opened presents. A nice collection of loot. I wrote some letters, took a nap, and then we went to visit some widows. They enjoyed our visit. Had some nice chats with siblings and kids. After munching on some peppermint bark, I had the strength to type this letter. Tuesday the calm will break as Miranda comes to visit. Then Jonathan’s family… then Andy’s family… Fun times ahead and we love it.

Babysitting

Dear Family-

This has been an intense week. Monday we prepared to go and babysit Jonathan and Kristy’s three youngest while they went to a wedding in Utah. That wasn’t necessarily the intense part.

I had committed to edit two books and three reports before December 22. At the time, it seemed a lot, but manageable. However the second book is very dense. It’s well written, if at times redundant, and on an interesting subject, it’s just that every sentence needs to be reviewed and checked to see if there’s a clearer, more concise way to say it. The type is 11 point courier in dense paragraphs. So while I think I’m making progress, I’m just sort of slogging through it. The guy with the reports manages to say everything in the most convoluted way… so that makes things interesting as well. And he keeps coming back asking if I can’t get things to him sooner. I promised the last report on Monday.

So while I was a Jonathan and Kristy’s I spent a lot of the time glued to the laptop! Last night I told Tom, phew, I just have about 20 pages on the last report. I should be able to do that in less than 5 hours. That didn’t sound bad. Then I thought, I have 9 pages on the book to finish (It has to go to Deborah for copyediting). I can do that in less than 5 hours. Oh… that means 10 hours on Monday to get them BOTH finished. AKK. Fortunately I think I can do each in an hour or two less, but still, a full day!

Tuesday before we left to go to J& K’s we got a text: “Sorry, the heat went out, the water’s not working and I’m sick. Really looking forward to having you come!” On our way, we stopped at Menards to get some tile. We had underestimated the amount we needed when we bought the last batch. We got to their new (rental) house about 2. Fortunately the pump people were there replacing the pump. They had a wood fire in the stove and things were nice and warm. With luck the part would arrive later and be installed in the heater.

At three we went to the old house to learn how to do the animals- making sure the pigs, cat, dog and chickens got fed. The cows and sheep were on their own. We had a chance to see the house and finally they are working and making progress. They took out all the charred wood and have reframed everything. They’ve ripped out their hardwood floor that was glued down. Apparently that was a job and a half.

The new house is smaller. It’s an older house with a bit of an odd floor plan. It’s been added on to a few times, but has new flooring and fresh paint. We chatted that night… and they got up very quietly about 3 am and headed to the airport. (Oh, and the heat was fixed by that night!)

The kids were well behaved and it was really fun to be with them. I worked with David on a writing project. Emily worked with Tom on a cookie project. We got them off to school on time, fed the animals, and I worked. Sometimes we fed us as well. I fixed dinner two nights and Tom had make-it-yourself burritos on one night. We did a little Christmas shopping and some exploring of Mt. Vernon. They have some very cute old houses! Some just itched for some fixing up!

Saturday afternoon, two things happened. One, Sister S. came to replace us as kid-watchers. So we left about 3 pm to return home. The second thing was that the weather changed. The temperature dropped below freezing with a freezing mist. It was in the low 20’s when we left and by this morning it was 13 degrees.

On the way home, we had light rain/sleet that froze to the windshield. We needed to be almost uncomfortably warm in order to keep the windshield defrosted… We also stopped to pick up new wiper blades, before we even left Mt. Vernon. They made a big difference! It was good to be home, sleep in our own bed, and drink our tasty well water.

Today I worried about the roads, but there was just the barest skiff of snow on the grass and the roads were clear. I sang “What Child is This” as part of a trio. I think it went well. Tom went caroling with the youth after church. It’s still chilly and a good day to stay inside.

Feeling Better

We all seemed to have survived the bug. Tom is back to working his normal schedule.  Nathan has been sleeping more, but I think he's mostly past the sickness.

Monday Tom and I drove to Hollister and then on to Springfield looking for flooring and other goodies for the new house. Hollister has a new Menards store. Tom had gone to one in Iowa and was impressed. It's like Home Depot but somehow feels more upscale with more variety. we found cement-board for the tile floor and tiles for the entry way and the kitchen, dining room, and laundry room. We also looked at exterior and interior doors and got two exterior ones for the garage and back door. 

We looked at Menards and at a hardware store in Harrison, and then drove to the ReStore in Springfield. They had a TON of doors, but not what we were looking for. They only had a small selection of tile. Some might have been nice, but there weren't enough of them. So we just bought a few bits of things at the ReStore and headed back to Menards for the things that we had liked. It pretty much filled the back end of the truck!

We wanted to stop at Aldi's for some groceries on the way home, which we did. But we were rushed. The Empty Nester's Family Home Evening was that night and we said we'd be there. But we could see we would not be on time. We also had to make sure the tile grout and bagged tile cement were out of the elements as rain was forecasted. So we raced home, backed the truck (mostly) into the garage, grabbed and wrapped our gift exchange items and the fudge Tom had fixed the night before and raced off. Tom thought the food would be all gone by 6:30 (1/2 hour late) but there was still food and they were just getting ready for singing Christmas carols. One sister brought chimes so 18 of us got to "chime" in during the songs. Then we enjoyed the gift exchange.

After we got home, we changed, drove the truck over to the new house and unloaded a gazillion pounds of tile, backer board and doors. It seemed like that set the tone for the race through the rest of the week.

Oh, we'd been watching Barb's dogs while she went to a show on Saturday and Sunday. When I went over to feed them Sunday evening, two were missing. So Barb came home that night to two fewer dogs. She, of course was distraught. I was less so as those silly dogs kept jumping the fence and getting out. And they were such a worry to her. It was dark and so I didn't go look. Monday I was gone. Tuesday I walked around our back pasture looking for them. Barb put up notices, notified the humane society, put it on the radio... and Wednesday someone called about two dogs sleeping in a ditch about 3 miles from us. I think they went too far and couldn't find their way back. But the nights had been below freezing, so I expect they were cold.

Tuesday I continued my massive editing jobs. I finished one book Wednesday and send it to Deborah. She worked on it for the next three days. Sad note. She edited through chapter 4 on Thursday. Then on Friday she could not find a trace of it on her computer. Not even the original download for the book! Poor dear. It was back to re-editing. We used Dropbox from then on. I've put in about 25 hours since I started these projects and I probably have the same amount to go by Tuesday Dec 22 when they are due.

Wednesday a friend's husband died. He had been bed-ridden for the last months. Tom did the funeral on Saturday and I lead the music.

Tom has been busy doing bishop things-- like funeral prep, tithing settlement, visiting sick members in the hospital, and meeting with members needing help. In between, he's been working on the new house. He gutted the bathroom-- at least the tub area. He fixed the bay window. Progress is happening, but slower that what he'd like. I went over Saturday for a little bit to help him with both of those projects. We put drywall up in the bath ceiling where he took out the old dropped ceiling. 

I was asked to sing in a trio on the 18th so I got the music and practiced some on that. Friday night was our ward Christmas dinner. I had volunteered to help serve and to bring two pies and 4 dozen rolls. Our poor RS president was stressed about the dinner and I wanted to help her. Tom went in a bit early and called to ask me to come in and help with prep. They actually had things pretty well under control, but I did spend about 1/2 hour stirring gravy to try to bring it to a boil. the pot was very large, and I don't think it sat on the burner very well. It was a lovely evening.

We decorated the house in dribs and drabs. That is, one day we got out all the decorations. One day we put up the tree. One day we put out nutcrackers and other non-tree decorations. The tree got lights. And finally yesterday, I put garland and ornaments on the tree. I was tired of all the clutter of stuff all over! Tom still plans to do outside lights....

I suppose that's a bit like my Christmas shopping. A bit here and a bit there and I really don't know if I have everything or not. sigh. Remind me next year not to take on two big projects just before Christmas. It's a good thing the books are interesting.

Today... I had a hard time staying awake today, even though the talks were good. We had a great Relief Society lesson on teaching using example, the scriptures, the Holy Spirit and love of the students to change hearts. Tom had bishop's youth discussion at our home after church. He offered them brownies, ice cream, grapes and bananas. The locusts took over... there was nothing left.

Beginning of the Yuletide Season

We cranked up our first fire this week in the fireplace, (as opposed to the more frequent leaf burning fires.) It's nice to have a toasty place to go. And it was especially needed this week as Tom and Nathan succumbed to the cold bug that someone gifted us with at Thanksgiving.

I think Tom's slept more this week than in the past month. He'd nap on the sofa in front of the fire. Then get up and move to snoozing in the rocking chair. Then try out the bed for a bit. I'm really glad that he did take it easy. I hope it helped him get better faster. Today (Sunday) he seems to be blowing his nose less and coughing less and the achy muscles and sore throat are gone.

Nathan, too, seems better. He actually got sent home from work on Wednesday because he was sick, but went back to work on Friday. And he spent several hours this week with Wally Arndt helping with a pole barn construction and then helping him with his leaf raking business. He hopes to continue helping out with leaf collection when he's not working his other jobs.

This week has been a combination of working on copywriting and working on the new house. I ended up with two editing jobs-- both if which wanted the editing done yesterday. So I have enough work to keep me busy until just before Christmas-- the deadline I gave them that I would have the work completed. I've roped Deborah into being my copyeditor to go through with a fine tooth comb and dot all the i's. So this week I've been working on the financial book. It's not bad. I won't make it perfect... it still needs to keep the author's personality, but it will be tighter and more focused.

Next week will be a business book on how to deal with millennials. I edited a page or two of his book earlier as a test. It's pretty good. He seems to have a good foundation on the matter and lots of personal experience. And is writing is pretty good, too. My web copy may have to be pushed back a bit to get these two jobs out the door.

This week we finally decided on wood flooring for the new house. Akk! What a deal. Do we buy from someone far away-- lumber liquidator or BuildDirect.com... or someone local? We finally went with Home Depot. We really wanted a floor that was easy to click together and we could try it out there. And the prices seemed to be in line with other options. But I did collect an impressive amount of samples before making the decision.

Tom dismantled the innards of the bay window to expose some rot that will need replacing. We got some water issues resolved with the help of a plumber-- too high water pressure, leaking at the water heater tank and the washer hook up. Tom went one day to find the heat not working. Gaa! It had worked fine the day before. He had me get the number for the HVAC people. Then he remembered a switch he'd seen under the house when he was putting a moisture barrier down there... What was it for? He turned it off. When he turned it back on, the heat came on. Simple Fix! And before the HVAC guys got out there to discover it.

We had planned on going on Friday to the Re-Store in Springfield and to a hardware store in Harrison to look for doors and other goodies....but Tom was really under the weather that day, so we stayed home. He felt poorly on Saturday too. It gave me a chance to log about 10 hours on one of my editing jobs, so it was okay for me.

We have had pretty nice weather this week. I finally got out into the garden and cleaned it up some. Tom took out the tomato cages and our giant (now dead) basil plant. Nathan single-handedly removed our arched cucumber and bean trellises. And I pulled some of the massive weeds that would have tangled the rototiller. Then it rained Saturday and Sunday. A lovely gentle rain. And cold weather is in the forecast for next week. So our outdoor work may be curtailed for a bit.

Today we had a good fast and testimony meeting. One person spoke about not just bearing their testimony once a month, but doing it frequently-- to the class they teach, to their children, to friends and co- workers. Just sharing the truths they know to be true. I want you to know that I know Jesus is the Christ. He is our Savior-- yours and mine. And he love you and wants you to be happy. This is a great season to remember Him.

Yesterday I talked with Mom and Sally and Kristy. Tonight we skyped with Adam and his family. It's always good to keep in contact with our loved ones.

Tonight we watched the Christmas Devotional broadcast from the Conference Center. It was a nice introduction to Christmas.

Thanksgiving Joy!

This week was all about family and Thanksgiving. Deborah and her children came up last Sunday evening… after they’d celebrated Simon’s 3^rd birthday. We lodged them in the suite. Hmm. It was nice to see how well the mini-split heated the room. It was warm and cozy.

Monday, about noon, Kera and her kids arrived. They took over the downstairs bedroom and spilled over into Nathan’s room (Matthew) and the library room (Katie and Aaron). Then on Wednesday, Jonathan and Kristy arrived… and late that evening, Andy arrived. We rearranged accommodations, giving Jonathan and Kristy the library room. Isabelle and Katie slept on blow up mattresses in our room. A few got tucked into the suite, and Aaron and David decided to be he-men and sleep in the treehouse. Ian arrived early Thanksgiving day. So we had 17 children (if you include Nathan in that generation) and 8 adults for a total of 25… plus two dogs.

I was surprised by how well everyone got along. Monday Tom and I finally closed on the 211 Spring Park house that had been held up by a title issue. After closing we went to the house and started doing some leaf raking. In the short time before dusk we collected 9 bags and created a HUGE pile of leaves. Tuesday Tom and I and Kera and a bunch of kids went over to rake leaves. Katie mowed and mulched or bagged leaves in back. I trimmed bushes. Tom, Aaron, Matthew, Sarah, and Emma raked and had fun burying each other in leaves.  They bagged another 46 bags of leaves.

Kera and I walked through the house discussing flooring, paint colors, trim color and a few remodeling jobs. The large laundry room has an awkwardly small ¾ bath and a weird place for the washer/dryer. Kera cleverly solved all our problems. All it takes is knocking out a wall, removing a floor-to-ceiling cupboard and moving a sink and a heating vent… And yes, we should paint the trim white and the fireplace. I hope it turns out as nicely as I imagine it will.

In trimming and weeding the overgrown landscaping I managed to come in contact with poison oak. I knew it was there, but with the leaves off, I couldn’t tell what was what. And it needed to come up. I thought the gloves would protect me. But, apparently not.

Tuesday we began the prep for feasting. I cooked a bunch of sweet potatoes. Kera made a huge batch of cheesy potatoes and some cinnamon rolls for Wednesday breakfast. I think that night we watched the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Wednesday we cooked a ham for dinner. But we also made chocolate truffle and tollhouse cookie pies. Deborah made a cherry pie. Kera premade the veggies and sausage that would go into the stuffing and more yummy rolls. Kristy brought two pumpkin pies and made a wonderful apple pie from canned apple pie filling she’d made that summer. It was delicious! The apples were already cooked down, so the pie was dense with apples and spices! I also made a blackberry cobbler for Wednesday’s dinner.

Tom had done some food shopping on Wednesday at least once. Then as it got closer to supper we realized we needed more things and Deborah headed off to the store. We kept calling her and adding more things to buy— Ice cream to go on top if the blackberry cobbler, corn syrup for the pecan pie (then we found some in the pantry), cranberry sauce— which I was sure I had in the pantry, but did not.

Of course it all came together just fine— both Wednesday’s dinner and Thanksgiving. We had invited our neighbor, Barb, over for Thanksgiving, but she called… just not up to it. She was probably right. The commotion of 25 people might have been excessive for someone who lived alone. We got an extra table and chairs. Kera suggested a great way to rearrange the living room furniture and turn the tables window-to-kitchen so we could fit two in side-by-side.

It was great. And when we weren’t eating on them, the children were playing card games or monopoly or coloring or creating iron-bead creations. The beads aren’t made of iron, they’re plastic. But once you set them into a design, you iron them together into one piece of plastic. For some reason, this is endless fun. And I now have a variety of circles, cats, fish, and odd shapes of colorful plastic around my house.

Adults played 5 crowns, watched a movie or two, read, chatted, tried out some shooting, cooked, ate, and relaxed.

Thursday night Andy headed home. Friday morning Kera took her kids to Silver Dollar City and then home. Jonathan took his three oldest to SDC as well and they had a great time running around with their cousins. Deborah and Ian went off to try their hand at Black Friday shopping. We watched their kids. A little after noon they packed up and headed home. Wow… down to Kristy and two little ones! Jonathan and his happy bunch if kids didn’t return until 11pm or so.

Saturday was Tom’s and my turn to clean the church building. Jonathan and Kristy and family kindly came along to help out, so it only took about an hour. We stopped by to visit an elderly church member and returned home. The Mt. Vernon Foxes left early afternoon, in time to check on animals before dark. They were great about stripping beds before they left, so we did several loads of laundry and have most of the beds remade.

Nathan kept busy with work a lot of this week. And he’s been going to the gym quite a bit. So we didn’t see a lot of him with all the crowd. However, he helped rake and mulch leaves along our fence lines.

Saturday afternoon we went on a double date with another church couple and saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was a good movie. Then we went out to a Mexican restaurant. It was nice to visit and get to know them better.  When we came home and went to enclose the chickens... we found two possums in with the chickens.  A little one in the coop itself and a larger one in the run!  We scooted the little one out and enclosed the chickens, letting the larger one find its own way out. Probably should have done them in.  If they know how to get in, they'll come back.  But we will set traps.

Today we had good lessons and good Sacrament meetings. The choir sang “Ere You Left Your Room This Morning, Did You Think to Pray?” It was a lovely arrangement and fun to sing. I’m working on making the Sabbath a delight. Tom helped out by making popcorn.

We are so blessed. It’s a joy to have so many family members who love each other!

Thanksgiving Joy!

This week was all about family and Thanksgiving. Deborah and her children came up last Sunday evening… after they’d celebrated Simon’s 3^rd birthday. We lodged them in the suite. Hmm. It was nice to see how well the mini-split heated the room. It was warm and cozy.

Monday, about noon, Kera and her kids arrived. They took over the downstairs bedroom and spilled over into Nathan’s room (Matthew) and the library room (Katie and Aaron). Then on Wednesday, Jonathan and Kristy arrived… and late that evening, Andy arrived. We rearranged accommodations, giving Jonathan and Kristy the library room. Isabelle and Katie slept on blow up mattresses in our room. A few got tucked into the suite, and Aaron and David decided to be he-men and sleep in the treehouse. Ian arrived early Thanksgiving day. So we had 17 children (if you include Nathan in that generation) and 8 adults for a total of 25… plus two dogs.

I was surprised by how well everyone got along. Monday Tom and I finally closed on the 211 Spring Park house that had been held up by a title issue. After closing we went to the house and started doing some leaf raking. In the short time before dusk we collected 9 bags and created a HUGE pile of leaves. Tuesday Tom and I and Kera and a bunch of kids went over to rake leaves. Katie mowed and mulched or bagged leaves in back. I trimmed bushes. Tom, Aaron, Matthew, Sarah, and Emma raked and had fun burying each other in leaves.  They bagged another 46 bags of leaves.

Kera and I walked through the house discussing flooring, paint colors, trim color and a few remodeling jobs. The large laundry room has an awkwardly small ¾ bath and a weird place for the washer/dryer. Kera cleverly solved all our problems. All it takes is knocking out a wall, removing a floor-to-ceiling cupboard and moving a sink and a heating vent… And yes, we should paint the trim white and the fireplace. I hope it turns out as nicely as I imagine it will.

In trimming and weeding the overgrown landscaping I managed to come in contact with poison oak. I knew it was there, but with the leaves off, I couldn’t tell what was what. And it needed to come up. I thought the gloves would protect me. But, apparently not.

Tuesday we began the prep for feasting. I cooked a bunch of sweet potatoes. Kera made a huge batch of cheesy potatoes and some cinnamon rolls for Wednesday breakfast. I think that night we watched the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Wednesday we cooked a ham for dinner. But we also made chocolate truffle and tollhouse cookie pies. Deborah made a cherry pie. Kera premade the veggies and sausage that would go into the stuffing and more yummy rolls. Kristy brought two pumpkin pies and made a wonderful apple pie from canned apple pie filling she’d made that summer. It was delicious! The apples were already cooked down, so the pie was dense with apples and spices! I also made a blackberry cobbler for Wednesday’s dinner.

Tom had done some food shopping on Wednesday at least once. Then as it got closer to supper we realized we needed more things and Deborah headed off to the store. We kept calling her and adding more things to buy— Ice cream to go on top if the blackberry cobbler, corn syrup for the pecan pie (then we found some in the pantry), cranberry sauce— which I was sure I had in the pantry, but did not.

Of course it all came together just fine— both Wednesday’s dinner and Thanksgiving. We had invited our neighbor, Barb, over for Thanksgiving, but she called… just not up to it. She was probably right. The commotion of 25 people might have been excessive for someone who lived alone. We got an extra table and chairs. Kera suggested a great way to rearrange the living room furniture and turn the tables window-to-kitchen so we could fit two in side-by-side.

It was great. And when we weren’t eating on them, the children were playing card games or monopoly or coloring or creating iron-bead creations. The beads aren’t made of iron, they’re plastic. But once you set them into a design, you iron them together into one piece of plastic. For some reason, this is endless fun. And I now have a variety of circles, cats, fish, and odd shapes of colorful plastic around my house.

Adults played 5 crowns, watched a movie or two, read, chatted, tried out some shooting, cooked, ate, and relaxed.

Thursday night Andy headed home. Friday morning Kera took her kids to Silver Dollar City and then home. Jonathan took his three oldest to SDC as well and they had a great time running around with their cousins. Deborah and Ian went off to try their hand at Black Friday shopping. We watched their kids. A little after noon they packed up and headed home. Wow… down to Kristy and two little ones! Jonathan and his happy bunch if kids didn’t return until 11pm or so.

Saturday was Tom’s and my turn to clean the church building. Jonathan and Kristy and family kindly came along to help out, so it only took about an hour. We stopped by to visit an elderly church member and returned home. The Mt. Vernon Foxes left early afternoon, in time to check on animals before dark. They were great about stripping beds before they left, so we did several loads of laundry and have most of the beds remade.

Nathan kept busy with work a lot of this week. And he’s been going to the gym quite a bit. So we didn’t see a lot of him with all the crowd. However, he helped rake and mulch leaves along our fence lines.

Saturday afternoon we went on a double date with another church couple and saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was a good movie. Then we went out to a Mexican restaurant. It was nice to visit and get to know them better.  When we came home and went to enclose the chickens... we found two possums in with the chickens.  A little one in the coop itself and a larger one in the run!  We scooted the little one out and enclosed the chickens, letting the larger one find its own way out. Probably should have done them in.  If they know how to get in, they'll come back.  But we will set traps.

Today we had good lessons and good Sacrament meetings. The choir sang “Ere You Left Your Room This Morning, Did You Think to Pray?” It was a lovely arrangement and fun to sing. I’m working on making the Sabbath a delight. Tom helped out by making popcorn.

We are so blessed. It’s a joy to have so many family members who love each other!

Ramping Up

This week seemed to accelerate.

Monday I started with a long list of tasks to do. I feel like I got far too few of them accomplished. Monday night for family home evening Tom and I watched the video from Elder Holland, Teaching in the Savior's Way. It was a very interesting video about modeling our teaching after the way the Savior taught-- with love, teaching the person, not the lesson, sharing stories, asking questions.

We've had unseasonably warm weather-- up to 80 degrees during the day. Really nice since the humidity is low. I went walking a few days and Tom ran most days trying to prepare for his race on Saturday. Tuesday evening I went to Relief Society where we had "speed frendshipping" which is like speed dating. We sat across from each other and asked questions and learned new things about each other-- even those we have been friends with for quite a while.

Wednesday was the day Zane was to be taken in to be neutered. Notice the tense of the sentence? We went out that morning to invite him into the cage... and found three large dogs on our back porch instead-- one of whom smelled like skunk. No cats in sight. They were the neighbor's dogs and perfectly happy to go back through the gate. The cats-- especially Zane-- were a bit more skittish when they arrived to eat.

Usually Zane lets us pet him while he eats. He did. Tom picked him up and put him into the cage. But before I could close the door tightly, he zipped out. Bummer. And for some reason, he was not eager to get too close again. Finally he came up to eat. I caught him... but didn't hold him tightly enough... and he broke away. That was the end. We called, cajoled, lurked and hoped. But when we opened the back door, he raced off. We had to call and cancel the appointment. This is a cheap spay/neuter clinic and they only hold it every 6 months. We'll have to decide if we want to wait until April, or pay more for a local vet. But first... we've got to get this cat happy at being picked up!

I fed the chickens more peppers this week. They seemed delighted with them... but their poop started smelling like peppers. And interestingly, when Tom broke an egg into cookie mix, the yolk was bright orange red. I'm sure we're getting lots of flavonoids... but the eggs still taste like eggs.

Wednesday I also went visiting teaching. I've been spending time preparing for the meals for Stake conference. This time the dinner was assigned to two branches. They seemed to have a hard time communicating. I was a little concerned they would over buy or under buy or not have enough people show up to help. I had also found out after I'd spoken with them that we needed to have a sit-down dinner for the visiting dignitaries, stake presidency and bishops and wives-- about 31 people. So I was trying do some of the work for that so the branches would not have an additional burden. And I needed to prepare lunches for Sunday for the Temple and mission presidents and their wives and Elder Costa, a 70 who was visiting. And we had some who were on gluten free diets and other dietary restrictions. GAK! That makes it harder. Thursday night I shopped to get everything I needed for both events.

That's because on Friday we were going to Silver Dollar City to connect with Deborah and her family. In Harrison there is a Maplewood Cemetery.  We've never taken that detour but it was still fall and I wanted to see the leaves. They were brilliant!

This was the beginning of the Christmas celebration. I have to admit, it was lovely to hear Christmas carols and to see all the beautiful lights. However, after an 80 degree Thursday, we had a 54 degree beginning of Friday and the temperature continued to drop into the low 40's as we walked around SDC. Man! I was not used to that cold! We saw "A Christmas Carol" and went on a few rides.  The kids took a ride in a mule drawn carriage.

We had such a good time, we left later than we'd planned and ended up getting home about 9:30. The problem? 

Tom had to be up by 5am for a race on Saturday. It was a big race--750 people and a benefit for Kenya. So how could he not run? There was a 5 K a 1/2 marathon and a marathon. Tom ran the 5k. I went with him to be his pants holder as it was 32 degrees in the morning and the river edge run made it cooler. He had a good run. We stood around and waited for the results at the finish line... freezing... and finally left. As we checked in at the cafeteria before we went home, they were giving the awards there. And we were in time to hear that he took 2nd in his age division. 

We came home and packed up and I even got in a 30 minute nap before driving to West Plains for Stake Conference. We had a great Stake Conference. One of the questions was: What obstacles keep me from building faith in Christ? What is my personal plan to build my faith in Christ? 

They also told us about a new video and advent calendar that invites us to spend the 25 days before Christmas remembering the actions of Jesus and doing the same things for ourselves and for others.

Monday we finally close on the house we put an offer on in September.  We started in on fixing it pre-closing.  Then there was a title issue and so we stopped and waited.  Now... just before the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas, it will close.  

We are delighted to have a houseful of kids from now until Saturday.  Deborah arrived tonight. Kera tomorrow evening.  The Jonathan on Wednesday.  Should be interesting.

Our Social Week

This seemed to be our week to be socially engaged. On Monday we sponsored the Empty Nesters Family Home Evening (FHE). We’d grown too large to hold it in a house… at least not our house. And we have a sister in a wheel chair, so the steps are a problem.

We got permission from the Stake President to hold the FHE at church. So Tom went over early to set up. We collected table cloths, napkins and paper plates. And set up more comfortable chairs. We had a nice turn out and a fairly well balanced pot-luck. We asked each person to tell about one lesson they’d learned from a General Conference talk, and I think that went well, too.

Tuesday Tom went down to the Calico Prison to talk to an inmate. We get regular letters now from some of them. Our first contact, John, is now out on parole and doing very well. Occasionally he’ll call and let us know how he’s doing. It’s got to be tough getting out of prison and trying to re-enter the real world. If you’re a sex offender or robber… who will trust you?

Some of the people in prison just bide their time and don’t learn and change. But some use the time to improve their lives and change their ways. Of course the proof is: Can they stick with the changes when they get out? Most of them don’t want to go back to the environment that got them in trouble in the first place.

Tuesday was Election Day. We’d voted early. It was nice. Then we could stop listening to the news! I find it interesting that the polls could be so wrong. Are they biased? Do they intend to influence opinion rather than just report it? In any case, Donald Trump will be our new president. I heard his transition team had someone black, someone gay and a woman. So I hope that he will be more inclusive than his campaign rhetoric seemed to indicate.

With the unhappiness about the Electoral College vote vs. the popular vote, it’s interesting to remember that Mitt Romney won the popular vote last time. But I still favor the Electoral College. It gives the mid-section of the country a little more control over the outcome. I remember when California changed the way it elected its representatives and suddenly northern California had no voice. I really don’t want to be ruled by California and New York.

Wednesday I worked on a website and finally submitted some samples to clients I’d met at bootcamp. Tom has finished up work at the duplex and at Deborah’s house. He worked some on preparing the garage at Rebecca’s house to receive a cement floor. That will happen next week.

Thursday our Elder missionaries left and for the first time in years we got Sister Missionaries in. We are delighted… but we’re not quite sure what to do with them. We need to figure out a way to get sisters to go out with them. What are the rules when they teach a single man? It will be a learning experience. We had them over for dinner on Thursday before Tom left to go home teaching. They had not even been to their apartment. We were a little concerned that the elders might have left them with no food, so we gave them some supplies. But the elders were good and they had enough to eat until preparation day on Monday.

I don’t know what I did on Friday. Writing, I assume. I’ve been wanting to get out into the garden, but have not. Now it’s finally getting cold. They predicted a cold snap and a freeze Saturday night, so I picked all the green cherry tomatoes… then it didn’t freeze.

We also had all these hot pepper plants loaded with peppers that we had no use for. I don’t know why we planted one… let alone six of them! But I had an idea. I tossed some peppers into the chicken cage and the next day they were gone. So Saturday I pulled up a jalapeno plant by the roots and tossed the whole thing into the chicken coop— tomato cage around it and all. The chickens had a grand time eating the leaves and a good percentage of the peppers. I wonder what their eggs will taste like! Since it didn’t frost, I’ll try tossing in one every other day or so and at least something will enjoy this part of the harvest.

Saturday Tom other youth leaders and the youth went out to do a morning of service. They raked leaves, cleaned gutters, moved dog houses and I’m not sure what else. They seemed to have a good time.

I went to the funeral of my hair dresser’s husband at 10am. I didn’t know him, but she is a sweetheart and he’s been ailing for a number of years. At 2pm Tom went to a funeral of a church member in West Plains. He’d been the trail boss (on horseback) for our pioneer trek two summers ago. Just a great man! Died of a massive heart attack with his boots on. A shock, but probably as he’d want to go out. It makes you stop and think what kind of legacy are we leaving behind? What will people say about us at our funerals?

Saturday evening we invited a young couple over for dinner. Tom wanted to meet with them and interview them and connecting with them had been hard. But food? Ah, that gets results. So we enjoyed dinner and then I went to my office to try to figure out how to connect my computer with our new printer, and Tom did his Bishop thing.

 In mid-summer Tom and I had changed life insurance policies. We actually started in April… but things work slowly and it was June or July before we finally got them in place and paid the annual premium. I was surprised then to get another bill for a hefty chunk of change for the renewal in November. What? Must be a mistake. After going back and forth with the insurance company and my agent… it turns out it was a mistake in that because they listed my age as 65, the policy was back dated. Since I signed the document… of course I read it all… I accepted responsibility. And it was past the 90 days to make changes. The insurance company should have let us know it was back-dated… but they didn’t. The agent should have caught the mistake… but she didn’t. And I didn’t. And the bottom line was that the agent could not in any way make up the difference from her share of the policy premium— it’s illegal. The only upside is that my policy will now have considerably more cash value at a faster rate than it would have. But we had to scrounge for the premium. Blah!

Nathan now is working at both Papa Johns and at TJ Max. He’s not getting a lot of hours from either of them, so he is still job hunting. He’s doing some studying and a lot of talking with Madalyn. I guess Madalyn’s parents are now aware that they want to get married this summer… and haven’t totally freaked out about it.

As a side note- Gray kitty aka Zane, has become more friendly.  He wants to be petted on his terms, but that's getting more frequent.  You can actually go up to him and pet him most of the time.  Good thing. He'd due to be neutered on Wednesday.  I wonder if he'll let us get close to him after that.

And I guess that’s about all the news from here.

Our Social Week

This seemed to be our week to be socially engaged. On Monday we sponsored the Empty Nesters Family Home Evening (FHE). We’d grown too large to hold it in a house… at least not our house. And we have a sister in a wheel chair, so the steps are a problem.

We got permission from the Stake President to hold the FHE at church. So Tom went over early to set up. We collected table cloths, napkins and paper plates. And set up more comfortable chairs. We had a nice turn out and a fairly well balanced pot-luck. We asked each person to tell about one lesson they’d learned from a General Conference talk, and I think that went well, too.

Tuesday Tom went down to the Calico Prison to talk to an inmate. We get regular letters now from some of them. Our first contact, John, is now out on parole and doing very well. Occasionally he’ll call and let us know how he’s doing. It’s got to be tough getting out of prison and trying to re-enter the real world. If you’re a sex offender or robber… who will trust you?

Some of the people in prison just bide their time and don’t learn and change. But some use the time to improve their lives and change their ways. Of course the proof is: Can they stick with the changes when they get out? Most of them don’t want to go back to the environment that got them in trouble in the first place.

Tuesday was Election Day. We’d voted early. It was nice. Then we could stop listening to the news! I find it interesting that the polls could be so wrong. Are they biased? Do they intend to influence opinion rather than just report it? In any case, Donald Trump will be our new president. I heard his transition team had someone black, someone gay and a woman. So I hope that he will be more inclusive than his campaign rhetoric seemed to indicate.

With the unhappiness about the Electoral College vote vs. the popular vote, it’s interesting to remember that Mitt Romney won the popular vote last time. But I still favor the Electoral College. It gives the mid-section of the country a little more control over the outcome. I remember when California changed the way it elected its representatives and suddenly northern California had no voice. I really don’t want to be ruled by California and New York.

Wednesday I worked on a website and finally submitted some samples to clients I’d met at bootcamp. Tom has finished up work at the duplex and at Deborah’s house. He worked some on preparing the garage at Rebecca’s house to receive a cement floor. That will happen next week.

Thursday our Elder missionaries left and for the first time in years we got Sister Missionaries in. We are delighted… but we’re not quite sure what to do with them. We need to figure out a way to get sisters to go out with them. What are the rules when they teach a single man? It will be a learning experience. We had them over for dinner on Thursday before Tom left to go home teaching. They had not even been to their apartment. We were a little concerned that the elders might have left them with no food, so we gave them some supplies. But the elders were good and they had enough to eat until preparation day on Monday.

I don’t know what I did on Friday. Writing, I assume. I’ve been wanting to get out into the garden, but have not. Now it’s finally getting cold. They predicted a cold snap and a freeze Saturday night, so I picked all the green cherry tomatoes… then it didn’t freeze.

We also had all these hot pepper plants loaded with peppers that we had no use for. I don’t know why we planted one… let alone six of them! But I had an idea. I tossed some peppers into the chicken cage and the next day they were gone. So Saturday I pulled up a jalapeno plant by the roots and tossed the whole thing into the chicken coop— tomato cage around it and all. The chickens had a grand time eating the leaves and a good percentage of the peppers. I wonder what their eggs will taste like! Since it didn’t frost, I’ll try tossing in one every other day or so and at least something will enjoy this part of the harvest.

Saturday Tom other youth leaders and the youth went out to do a morning of service. They raked leaves, cleaned gutters, moved dog houses and I’m not sure what else. They seemed to have a good time.

I went to the funeral of my hair dresser’s husband at 10am. I didn’t know him, but she is a sweetheart and he’s been ailing for a number of years. At 2pm Tom went to a funeral of a church member in West Plains. He’d been the trail boss (on horseback) for our pioneer trek two summers ago. Just a great man! Died of a massive heart attack with his boots on. A shock, but probably as he’d want to go out. It makes you stop and think what kind of legacy are we leaving behind? What will people say about us at our funerals?

Saturday evening we invited a young couple over for dinner. Tom wanted to meet with them and interview them and connecting with them had been hard. But food? Ah, that gets results. So we enjoyed dinner and then I went to my office to try to figure out how to connect my computer with our new printer, and Tom did his Bishop thing.

 In mid-summer Tom and I had changed life insurance policies. We actually started in April… but things work slowly and it was June or July before we finally got them in place and paid the annual premium. I was surprised then to get another bill for a hefty chunk of change for the renewal in November. What? Must be a mistake. After going back and forth with the insurance company and my agent… it turns out it was a mistake in that because they listed my age as 65, the policy was back dated. Since I signed the document… of course I read it all… I accepted responsibility. And it was past the 90 days to make changes. The insurance company should have let us know it was back-dated… but they didn’t. The agent should have caught the mistake… but she didn’t. And I didn’t. And the bottom line was that the agent could not in any way make up the difference from her share of the policy premium— it’s illegal. The only upside is that my policy will now have considerably more cash value at a faster rate than it would have. But we had to scrounge for the premium. Blah!

Nathan now is working at both Papa Johns and at TJ Max. He’s not getting a lot of hours from either of them, so he is still job hunting. He’s doing some studying and a lot of talking with Madalyn. I guess Madalyn’s parents are now aware that they want to get married this summer… and haven’t totally freaked out about it.

As a side note- Gray kitty aka Zane, has become more friendly.  He wants to be petted on his terms, but that's getting more frequent.  You can actually go up to him and pet him most of the time.  Good thing. He'd due to be neutered on Wednesday.  I wonder if he'll let us get close to him after that.

And I guess that’s about all the news from here.

Branson

This was not a diligent work week. It seems like the more I did the behinder I got.  And since I didn’t do a ton of writing stuff, I have lots of catching up to do this week.

I had a lot of butternut squash, so I made some soup. It actually turned out to be pretty good. I was taking some pictures of the squash and Athena decided to photobomb the pictures.

Monday Tom and I and another young member of the ward decided to do an “intervention” with a new convert who had stopped coming to church, fallen into bad company… said she didn’t like where she was, but wasn’t making a move to change. We’d wanted to do it nearly a week before, but couldn’t get all the participants together.

We drove to her work and met her as she came out of work (since catching her at home seemed impossible.) She is such a delight. I hugged her. We told her our concerns for her and invited her to our house for milk and cookies and to talk. It was a good meeting. She’d broken from the bad influences and with our reassurances she would be loved and welcomed, she agreed to come back to church. And she was there Sunday. I was so good to have her back. She’s a neat lady.

Tuesday, we packed up and left for Branson. We had three nights in a timeshare. We thought we’d lose out on the last night as we had to leave Friday evening. Umm as it turned out, we arrived a day early. I don’t know how I thought Tuesday was Nov. 2. Oops… but fantastic. They let us come in a day early so we didn’t lose that last day!

We had an enjoyable time shopping and wandering around. We thought we could go to Silver Dollar City… but they were closed all that week preparing for Christmas. Sigh. We did go to the Brett Show and enjoyed that. And when we were at Branson Landing, the fountain was putting on its lovely 7pm show.

We had agreed… in a fit of insanity… to a timeshare presentation. In an additional loss of mind we somehow came to believe that our family would have amazing fun and togetherness with the benefits of a timeshare. On the way home, Friday afternoon, we “came to ourselves” and realized we had a rich life and could continue to enjoy life without a timeshare and send off a letter of “right to cancel.” I do like the lifestyle dream… but not the commitment. The very nice salesman also indicated benefits the compliance lady said were not necessarily so.

Nathan seemed to hold down the fort pretty well while we were gone. He fed the chickens and the cats and mowed the lawn… or beat the leaves into submission. He’s working at both Papa Johns and TJ Max… but not a lot of hours at either place yet. He feels he’s moving forward with his goals.

We came home Friday night to attend a baptism of three very special people. One was very new to learning about the church. One had been attending church for about 8 months trying to get his life in order so he could be baptized. The older man had friends who had joined the church about 5 years ago and had gone from holding the church at arm’s length to finally embracing it.

The similarity was that they were all so joyful and so delighted with their new step. It was really special to see them radiate such feeling of happiness.

Then Saturday was stake temple day. 14 youth went to do youth baptisms. Tom drove up with a bunch of youth. One of our sisters also went to take out her own endowments and be sealed to her husband and child who had both passed on. So I drove up with three other people. In the endowment session 24 of the 26 people in attendance were from our ward.

Again, it was such a wonderful experience to share the joy of the sister going through for the first time and the warmth of being surrounded by friends and ward members through the whole temple experience.

It was a rich day for some of our ancestors: three baptisms, four initiatories, four endowments and four being sealed.

And today in testimony meeting we felt the love of the ward just enfold the new members. The one younger man had been considered incorrigible and a troublemaker through much of his youth and early adulthood. And now… he’s so happy and such a different person. Yes, he still has and will have problems, but now he has tools and gifts to help strengthen him. He has the Lord and the spirit to nourish him.

I love what the Gospel does for people. It makes me want to be a better missionary!

Recovery Week

Perhaps it was just a recovery few days.  After I got back from Bootcamp it took a few days to decompress. I spent part of a day reviewing my notes and deciding who I wanted to follow up with from Bootcamp.

I also had several emails and projects I’d put on hold while I was there that now needed to be dealt with. And of course I needed to record my expenses for tax purposes.

Tuesday I had a mastermind copywriting call.  Then I went to Midway to help Tom on the steps there.  He and Nathan had worked on them some last week— getting the deck in and putting up the basics of the stairs.  We added more support and did railings.  I’ll tell you, it’s a lot faster to envision it than it is to actually do the work.  Part of it is that we were designing it as we were building.  Still, it came out very nicely.

The picture doesn't show the 8x17 deck well. The steps are a good 3.5 feet wide.

Wednesday I had a call from a client I met at Bootcamp that seemed promising. And for the first time since coming home I took a walk. I had a great time feasting at Bootcamp on all the good food.  Unfortunately, a few additional pounds tagged along back home.  So it’s back to exercise and watching portion control.

Tom finished up the steps at Midway on Wednesday then turned his attention to Deborah’s house on Thursday. The carpet needed to come out of the two small bedrooms and we decided to put vinyl planking down instead.  Deborah bought it in Springdale and Miranda carried it here when she visited. Tom had ripped out the old carpet, but the floor was weak and uneven and needed a plywood overlay. So he worked on that.

Thursday was busy for me with some training calls and going visiting teaching.  Tom went shopping for materials for Deborah’s house than joined me for lunch with my writer friend Ammon. He is a WWII vet, a bit of a free thinker on religious matters, but wanted someone willing to speak at his graveside when he passed away. So he met with Tom to see if he would be willing to do that.  We shared a good meal and enjoyed Ammon’s rich stories about his life in Alaska, in the service, and other times.

Last week, Tom lost a bit of his tooth. He went in to his current dentist who said, that’s part of a porcelain crown. If I’d put it in, I’d replace it for free. So Tom went back to the dentist who installed it in 2012… and he agreed to replace it at no charge this coming Monday.  On Friday, as Tom was eating chips, the remaining 85% of the tooth fell off.  It’s a bit sensitive to cold, but hopefully on Monday they’ll put a temporary crown on it.

 Friday night Tom and I went to see the new Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise.  It was action packed and pretty good.

Saturday Tom and Nathan went to finish up the floor at Deborah’s house.  Nathan decided to take a look at the white river on his way home.  As he was going through a mud puddle… it ended up being deeper than he anticipated.  I took chains out and Tom hauled him out with the 4 wheel drive truck.

The car had water on the floorboards.  When it started it after it got towed out, water poured out the exhaust.. and nearly on our feed!

Nathan has been job hunting and had some interviews. It looks like he will start at Papa Johns and then perhaps work at TJ Max or maybe Harps. My goal is to have him start working on a free college math class so he can practice his study skills.  He mowed our neighbor’s large yard so she will come back to a leaf-free yard…at least for the next day or so.

Saturday evening we had a chili cook-off and fall festival at church. Good food (I took a pie.) and after games in the primary, the kids had a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot. There were lots of great costumes there. I saw a biker dude and thought, wow, we’re getting a lot of new people to these activities… then I realized it was a ward member who is a banker.

Today we had a great sacrament meeting and lessons. We have three lovely people who plan to be baptized next Friday. It’s exciting.

AWAI Bootcamp

This was a great week for me. I worked like crazy on Monday getting everything finished up so I could go to AWAI Bootcamp- my copywriter seminar. Monday afternoon I drove to Springfield and spent the night at a hotel. I had a 6am flight out the next morning. They had a park and shuttle, so I left the car there and took their shuttle to the airport.

The flights were uneventful. I was supposed to meet us with a fellow Arkansas writer in West Palm Beach at the airport. I was a little stressed out because we were about ½ hour late. But he was even later. Several other AWAI people were waiting for the shuttle. They delayed the shuttle waiting about 20 minutes for Steve (my Arkansas writer) to arrive and get his luggage. Finally we had to leave without him.

However, the joke was on us. As we waited for him, they added two people to the shuttle and a ½ hour trip took a good 1 ½ hours. He took a taxi and got to the hotel WAY before us!

 Walking on the beach with the seagulls

 The tan building is the hotel we stayed in.

I sat at the pool area and this little bird and his friends came to visit.

Tuesday was a get settled day. I walked on the beach and then chatted with a bunch of people at the hotel restaurant/bar. That seemed to be the after-hours gathering place. Made some good connections there. My roommate came in later that evening. Very nice, congenial gal from Kansas. A farm girl.

Wednesday events kicked off about noon and went non-stop from then until Saturday about 3pm. We had a short break to pack and an evening women’s dinner from 8-11:30pm! All this made for late nights and early mornings. Breakfasts started at 7 along with break-out sessions. Friday I went to mediation on the beach. It was really neat to be there at sunrise.

I was able to talk with some potential clients and get some action plans in place. We had great speakers. What I love about Bootcamp is that the skill level ranges from newbie to millionaire… and they are all approachable and friendly. The experts are genuinely willing to help out and chat. The clients are anxious to hire good copywriters when there’s good fit. And the instructors have tons of valuable information to impart.

Saturday-- after the conference was over and before our evening women's writers dinner, Lisa, my roommate, and I went walking on the beach and then down the street to do a little shopping. She said she took a picture of her feet in the Atlantic... so I did, too.

This was our group at the women's evening dinner

This is me with Lori Haller-- a graphic designer I've worked with, Lisa, my room mate, and a friend.

I kept up pretty well— trying to get to bed before 11 and up by 6am. But Saturday night bed at midnight and up at 4am for my 7am flight did me in. One good thing— we carpooled and one of the ladies called Uber. First time I’ve used them. The total cost for the 4 of us was $24, plus tip. A fraction of the $27 per person for the shuttle! I slept both legs of the flight home— or at least had my eyes closed dozing.

It’s nice to be home and I’m glad I had a very productive trip. Now off to implement all I learned.

On the home front: Miranda and family came to visit while I was gone. I think they had fun playing in the yard. Tom did a great job building a deck and stairs at the Midway duplex. Nathan is still struggling to get his feet on the ground and move forward, but we are starting daily planning and accountability sessions that I hope will help him keep on track.

Bootcamp Prep

This week was the last opportunity I had to get ready for my AWAI Bootcamp (Copywriting seminar) next week.  I really worked hard on trying to get all my projects finished up. I thought I was done with my Kenya water project website. Then some questions came up about duplicate material on the website.

I took a look at the website and they'd moved a bunch of stuff around. I said I'd take a look and make some corrections. Titi, the owner, said he'd do some work to. NOT! I was done. It was his "work" that had mucked up the whole thing.

So I wrote back and said if he wanted to continue to work on it, I was stepping out. It was of course, his website, but his way of thinking and my way of understanding didn't match and if he wanted to add his ideas to it, he'd have to do it on his own. Frankly, I was fine either way.

He came back saying no, I was the final word and they shouldn't have changed things around without involving me in the process. So I spent the time making corrections. Now, I hope it's done.

I also finished up some publicity for BotAlert, a technology that can discover bots in Twitter. Who knew that hundreds of thousands of users are really robot programs created to look like real people, influence their buying or voting decisions, and click on advertiser's  buttons to waste their advertising dollars. People think these bots tried to skew the Brexit vote-- and the surprise vote to leave the EU came because bots affected the polls.

I also finished some work on MealCheck, a technology that uses infrared spectrometry in a micro camera to "read" the food on your plate and give you the nutritional value and calories of what you are eating. A major US university is pioneering this one.

Monday I also attended a meeting with a focus group for the Calico Prison about fundraising to build a larger chapel for the expanded prison. It would need to be funded without state funds. A good meeting and I met some nice people. I will work on the website.

Tom worked at Deborah's Cotter house painting the kitchen back splash and fixing a few things. We thought the carpet could be cleaned... but apparently not. So Tom will take that out and put down vinyl planking in the bedroom(s). He also is on track to replace the second story deck on our Midway duplex and put in new stairs. This is a repair-as-you-go as opposed to new construction. And then new tenants moving into Rebecca's house want a cement slab in the garage instead of just dirt... so he'll try to get that done by the end of the month.

Nathan as been with us for about a week. We are getting adjusted to one another. He has been out job hunting and has helped around the house and mowed the pasture. He has also slept a lot and spent much time on the phone to his sweetie. However he seems amenable to doing things our way.  Good thing. We are old fogies and stuck in our ways.

I managed to get in some garden work, a haircut, and a massage. Massage felt really good. I need to do more research on companies that will be coming to bootcamp.

We've talked with most of the kids this week. Things seem to be going well with them. Adam's dental practise is flourishing with him making a goodly amount more each month than the previous owner... and collections are improving. Jonathan and Kristy are still in a holding pattern as they look for a place to rent. The demolition is mostly done so the construction should be able to get started after the remediation people spray the beams and other places to seal in the smoke smell. We are grateful for all our blessings.