May Daze

Not such an exciting week.   That’s okay.  Steady is good.   

I spent a bit of time researching judges and then we voted in the primaries on Monday (ahead of the Tuesday rush.)  The one thing I miss about California is the sample vote booklet they’d send out ahead of time—all the issues, the pros, the cons.  In Arkansas, you have to research it yourself.  I expect it’s in the newspaper, but we don’t subscribe to that.  We decided not to vote for the incumbent accused of bashing in someone’s car window and demoting the person who ran against him last time.  But the judges—there’s really not a lot of information to go on.  None of them had signs hanging over their head saying: “I make liberal decisions,” or “I make conservative decisions.”  But their decisions MATTER.

I finally got Dwolla resolved and got paid, YEA!  It’s kind of slick.  They take 25 cents from each transaction over $10.  Nothing if it’s below that.   If you keep your money with Dwolla, its pooled with other funds—so maybe they make money holding on to our money.  I didn’t keep it there. I moved it to my bank.  And I have a new website to write up for Complete IRA.  This one is a do-it-yourself solo 401k plan.

I visited with Jacqui on the phone about MoldRX4U.com and working on a joint venture.  It sounds positive.  And I have found some other businesses that I want to connect with.   Thursday, after my mastermind meeting with other copywriters, I decided to take the plunge and sign up for the copywriter’s Boot camp in Del Ray, FL in late October.  I certainly hope that by then I’ve earned enough $$ to pay for it.

Wednesday I went to the home of my new friend and played with clay.  It was lots of fun.  Wow.  One quickly realizes what a rank beginner one is and how much there is to learn.  I brought some clay home to work with.  I made a coil bowl.  It bears strong resemblance to “happy hands a home.”  But I prefer to call it “rustic.”  What I find very appealing is the work she did pressing different kinds of leaves, flowers and seed pods into the clay.  I love mom’s vase like that.  I came home all excited about the many possibilities… she even has an old kiln that could be refurbished and used.  But as I pondered my priorities, I decided I really just wanted to be a “clay-mate groupie.”  I didn’t want to do ALL the work and put in all the time and take it seriously.  Whatever would I do with all the clay things I made?  So I think I will hang on her shirt tails and maybe buy a little clay here and pay for the use of her kiln (and hope my poorly made stuff doesn’t blow up her stuff.)  Maybe I’ll make Christmas presents for the next 10 years…

Friday we went to the open house for one of our graduating seniors.  It was a lovely time to visit Ashley and other church friends.  And the food was mighty tasty, too.  Tom went to the graduation that evening.  One of our 9^th grade friends who got to play with the high school band to replace the graduating seniors- commented on the eternal nature of Pomp and Circumstance.  She said she sure hoped they changed the song before she graduated!

Saturday morning, Tom went out with the missionaries.  He called at about 12:40 to let me know that the wedding we thought was at 2 pm, was really at 1—and he was 30 minutes away.  So I met him at the Baptist church and it was a sweet wedding.  Again, we got to mingle with church members we don’t usually get to see. 

Then in the evening we gathered at a members home to progress on the ham radio thing.  Those of us who weren’t “hammies” just went there for the food.  We chatted about our small things, while those who took and passed the test discussed ham radios, base stations, antennas and other such things.

When we got home, close to 9pm, Tom reminded me of Sunday’s Linger Longer after church.  We organized the left-over brownies and congo squares Tom had baked for  Saturday’s dinner, and I made some pasta salad.  It was a long day.

Sunday we had a good sacrament meeting.  I taught Relief Society.  It was an easy lesson—President Uchtdorf’s talk on “The Merciful Obtain Mercy” from April General Conference.  I had good audience participation so I think it went well.  One of the sisters said she managed to stay awake.  High praise, I figure.

After we visited and gnoshed on some tasty salads.  The kids made quick work of the brownies and congo squares.  And now it seems like nap time. ZZzzzz…z….z

I’m glad it’s done

This is one week I’m glad to have over. It was overshadowed by the imminent Seminary Graduation that I was in charge of.  But let me begin at the beginning.

Monday Evening we had an empty nesters FHE.  It was fun!  This time people actually brought parts of dinner and they added hamburgers and such.  We sat outside, even though they have a lovely house and we got to tour it.  We learned what each person had done in their “before Mountain Home life” and how they ended up coming to Mountain Home.

I had a great time playing on my new tablet… until it broke.  It just froze up.  Bummer.  And after I’d figured out how to download free Kindle books, too.   NewEgg was good and sent me postage to ship it back.

I’m finally getting paid for some copywriting, and they wanted to pay through Dwolla.  Never heard of it.  So I spent time checking out this competition for credit cards.  Kind of a cool way to transact business.  Any two people who have Dwolla accounts can send or receive money for 25 cents a transaction.  So I set up an account and linked it so the money will go to my checking account.

We did normal things—worked in the garden. We have three zucchini almost ready to eat.  After all those jokes about a plethora of zucchini (Why do people lock their car doors in August?  So they don’t come back and fine zucchini in their front seats.  Why did the children of Israel complain about the manna?  It tasted like zucchini.) We’ve had failed crops for the last several years.  So I look forward to these.  My little herb garden is still…well... very little.  The plants are tiny.  And we have a nocturnal skunk that moseys by and digs in the gardens—for grubs I presume.  Tom caught it in the headlights and we watched it waddle off.  But it leaves little holes in the compost.  Worse, the pushed over dirt buries my little plants!

We’ve talked about reupholstering the dining room chairs for a while.  The problem is they are dang complex to do and thus, disgustingly expensive.  However as we’ve waited, they’ve not gotten and less ratty or any cheaper.  Alas, just the opposite.  So we hauled off a chair and a cushion and chose the fabric.  I hope we are pleased with the results.  I’d like to get my little metal framed rocker/recliner reupholstered, too, but it will cost twice that of a new chair.  Sigh.

On the copywriting front, the good news is that I got paid.  And I got another assignment that should bring in nice money.   I wrote some promotional pieces for Thieves directed at property managers who have mold or odor problems.  I need to figure out how to disseminate it.  And I want to link with a scientific website that has all the facts.  I haven’t done as much with my teen Style U website or my Writing4Income.  But one of my African friends asked about how to write and make money, so he and I are doing a writing course to help him learn to write for NGO’s or charitable organizations in Kenya.  I figure they always want case studies or good stories about how they money is being put to good use.  A thousand shillings per story would be good for George and $12 is cheap enough for most charities.

This was the last week of Seminary for most of the units I oversee.  Theoretically they were supposed to have identified all the qualified graduating seniors (completed all 4 years) or those who had finished 1 or more years of seminary and were graduating.  However, some still needed to turn in make-up work.  Some had years from a different location that they had not tracked down.   They needed to have worthiness interviews.  I had to ask people to speak, to sing, to lead music, to play the piano, to hand out the diplomas, to stand and congratulate their students (bishops) to help with refreshments, to clean up, to make sure the building was open… and a zillion other little details.  AKKK!  I finally got the last of the information and the program typed up (mostly) on Friday.  Saturday I worked at printing them off.  Somehow we got the church machine not to work anymore, and I had to finish the job at Staples.

Saturday night we had some couples over for dinner.  Tom had gotten his Ham radio license and three of the people we’d invited were also new ham operators.  So they talked radios and such and had a good time.  I made Rebecca’s Tortellini with zucchini.  I really think we need to do a family recipe book volume 2—for all those tasty new recipes.

Sunday the youth reported back on the Cultural Celebration and the Kansas City Temple dedication.  Wow!  Great talks.  They talked about how the jumbotron—the large screen—was down on the floor for repairs… and then could not be raised. It took up most of the auditorium floor and so they couldn’t practice.  Finally, all 3100 youth went to their knees in prayer.  Shortly thereafter, the jumbotron went up.  Another talked about how there were lots of challenges, but it was all worth it. That great blessings require great sacrifices.  She said how being in the presence of the prophet of God was so awesome.  The youth also sang some of the songs from the Cultural celebration.  It was really neat.

After church Tom spent time acting as Solomon... or trying to.  He says, you have two parties and they both say such opposite things about the same situation.  Where does the truth lie?  He did get home before we needed to leave for Springfield and the Seminary Graduation.  He is amazing.  He hauled in stuff, set up the refreshments tables and chairs, handed out programs, found the Stake president (15 minutes before we started) who had yet to sign the diplomas—and in all ways was a wonderful resource.  While I made a few mistakes, the program went well.  Great speakers.  Good singing.  And we had enough refreshments.  We were the last people out of the building.  I hope we closed it up right.  We got home before midnight.  A long day… but a good one.

The Book of Mormon

Last fall in Stake Conference we were challenged to give a Book of Mormon away. As I prayed about it, I came up with a list of 5 names.  One was a person I didn’t know well, but she’d asked about my mission.  The second was my hair dresser, Diane.

We often talk about religious things when she cuts my hair, and I’ve referred a few other church members to her as she’s good and inexpensive.  So I gave it to her.  Next visit, I asked if she’d read it.  No. she hadn’t had a chance.  Next visit, I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to push her.  Then, at church, then next Sunday, I ran into Pat, who also uses the Diane.

She relayed this story.  She’d gone to get her hair cut and was chatting and the hair dresser brought up that I’d given her a book.

            “Oh, what book is that,” Pat asked.

            “The Book of Mormon,” said Diane.

            “Have you read it?” Pat asked.

            “No,” said Diane, “But I have it on my night stand.”

            “I did that, too,” Pat said.  “I had the Book of Mormon on my night stand for 5 years.  Then I finally read it!  And I thought what a waste.  I’d wasted 5 years letting it just sit there.”

I thought of the tender mercies of the Lord.  That Diane had not put the book on the mantle or on the book shelf, but on the night stand—exactly where Pat had placed her book.  And that the church member who had gone for the hair cut, was the exact one who had waited so long to read it, and regretted that.

Two weeks ago, I had also felt that I needed to give the 3^rd book to Jessie who works in our bank.  We’ve chatted many times.  She went through two bouts of cancer.  I like her, but I was hesitant to talk religion in front of others as her desk is near other people.  When I went to open my LLC account with the lady at the desk next to her, when she asked for ID, I pulled out my Kenya Alien resident card and asked if it would do—it WAS a photo ID.   She said no… but it did create a little conversation about our mission.

After, I went to visit Jessie.  I asked if she’d followed our blog much while we were in Kenya.  I know she did some.  I asked her if she’d like to know WHY we chose to serve a mission.  I asked about her religious back ground and found she was Episcopalian, going to the Cowboy church... but that one of her daughter’s best friends had converted to Judaism and so the daughter often spent the Sabbath with her friend.   I asked if she would be interested in reading the Book of Mormon, and she thought it would be nice to read it with her daughter.

I was excited that she was interested in reading it.  Monday I took her a Book of Mormon.  Again, I didn’t want her to get negative reactions from those around her.  So I decided to gift wrap it—after all, it was the best gift I ever got.   When I walked up to the bank—she was just walking out the door for lunch.  So I was able to give it to her privately.  Another tender mercy of the Lord.

I love it that through my fears and worries, each person I’ve offered a Book of Mormon has been interested and accepting.  You’d think I’d feel more comfortable about doing it now.

Happy Mother’s Day to Me

 This has been a good week.  Nothing earth shattering or different, but routine can be nice.

Monday we had the missionaries over to dinner.  We invited our neighbor Barbara as well and had a nice religious discussion.

My goal has been to be more diligent in keeping up with our garden.  Tom’s been a big help in weeding and watering.  It’s fun to see the tiny flowers on the potato plants and the bright orange trumpets on the zucchini.  Beets are nearly ready to pick and spinach is impatiently bolting.  When I pause to rejoice at the weed-free garden, I’m reminded: Five months to go.  We’ll see if July or August shows the same pristine garden.

I spent the week working on the  Seminary Graduation.  There seem to be all kinds of last minute letters and emails going in and out.  Suddenly they want to know which students read all the scripture assignments for the Old Testament this year.  AKK.  Every reading?  I had a speaker drop out.  My music person then was speaking, so I needed a new piano player.  Last night I had a vivid dream of everyone all prepared for the graduation ceremony to start… and I suddenly realized I didn’t have the diplomas.  I suppose it was a good thing.  I DIDN’T know who was responsible for getting the diplomas. (I do now.)

We went visiting teaching.  I finally got the paperwork to move forward on my “Checkbook IRA” so I visited the bank and set it up.  I really didn’t do all that much with writing this week.  Guess I’ll have to get busy for next week.

Thursday we had the propane tank moved from the Midway duplex to our back yard.  It’s a 500 gallon tank and the truck just hoisted it off and set it gently down in exactly the same place.  The man was quick and good.  We wanted to call and praise him, but as he signed the delivery form BO I was a little hesitant to say that B.O. did a good job.  However, when Tom called, we found out he was really Bo… much better.

We had the upstairs tenant move out of the Midway duplex so Tom was out there this week painting and fixing up.  We got stain to re-stain the steps and walkway to the unit.  We also bought some flowers for our front garden Saturday  We planted 36 Vincas and one geranium. 

 Tom also had some young women out to earn money for camp.  They cleared brush and picked up limbs in the pasture.   Then they primed the inside of the tree house.  It looks much brighter.

We had the gift of two  2-year-old peach trees.  They were about 5' tall and looked healthy.  We planted them.  They are suffering from shock.  I hope they make it.

We went out to lunch at a Thai place.  It was Delicious!  I was a bit hesitant.  Tom asked it if was Thai hot or American hot.  The man (clearly Thai) said, “It’s only a little bit hot.  If it was Thai hot, no-one could eat it.”  And it was savory and tasty.  We’ll go back there.

More and more I’m looking at this political campaign in terms of what is best for society.  I think we need to ask ourselves what do we want society to be like.  What kind of culture produces that kind of results?  Then work to reward those qualities that will help society be that way.

A Brookings Institution study said for those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and marry before they have their first child, the probability that they will be poor is 2 percent. But, if those things are absent, 76 percent will be poor.  So instead of lamenting the great divide between rich and poor—let’s change a cultural mindset to encourage those qualities that will lead away from poverty.

Today was a great day!  I had a delicious breakfast made by my sweetie.  I taught a Sunday school lesson to the 12-13 year olds and that was fun.  We had big cookies (made by the bishop and the young women on Wednesday… and a few more batches Saturday night).  Chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies.  I got cards from  Tom, Mom, Rebecca and children, Adam and Savannah, and even a cute one from Edward Jones. 

Tom made Cherry Chocolate cake and Tacos for dinner.  And I got a 10” android tablet with keyboard docking station for my birthday/mother’s day.  Now I need to figure out how to use it.

The weather was lovely today.  The road curled past pink, purple, and white wildflowers. Trees spread the shade of peace. It’s a joyous day.

And the Beat Goes On

 Monday I got in a good day’s work.  I completed my 401k auto responders package and sent it off.  I also got the documentation for my checkbook IRA and spend dizzying hours reading all the legal print. Argh Matie!  It’s enough to send you over the brink!

Our favorite property manager in St. Louis has left for greener pastures.  Clay was a really good guy.  He went out of his way to help both the tenants and the landlords.  We will seriously miss him.  We had already decided to put one property up for sale. It was in a “transitional” neighborhood when we bought it, but things shifted… unfortunately for us… the wrong way.  Now we’re thinking we may just sell them both.  I love the architecture of the area, but not the upkeep.

The lovely weather has pulled us outside. I’m trying to be a better gardener than in the past.  I’ve weeded and watered.  I’ve sprayed the roses suffering from black spot and fed them. I should have started the spraying schedule weeks earlier… but.  Tom tackled the fire blight on our young pear tree and he’s been faithfully watering all the new trees.  I need to deal with the caterpillars on the grape leaves and nip in the bud the crawlers on the broccoli.  The warmer weather has induced many of our plants to grow.  I’ve been able to pluck lettuce, spinach, onions, and we feasted on asparagus earlier in the year.  The peach and pear trees have a few infant fruits and the grapes and blackberries are festooned with blooms and new berries.

Thursday I went in the van to the St. Louis temple.  It was a great trip.  I will miss that temple as we transition to the Kansas City temple. It’s always fun to ride with others and chat on the way up and back. And the sessions were peaceful.  I’ve decided I need to do a better job of arranging to take my own family names.  There is a sweet spirit when you do that.

While I have more copywriting work coming, I decided it was time for me to venture out. I’ve been learning about joint ventures or affiliate marketing.  So I approached two people.  One to add value to my TeenStyleU website and another to promote Thieves as mold remediation for my Young Living business.  I had contacted the Thieves people last year with no response.  This time, I decided to write the letter like sales copy—what are the benefits to them.  I got a response within a day!  It was guarded, but a starting point.  I think we will be able to work together.  It was empowering to have both respond and both seeing the value to them of working with me.  I LIKE this stuff!

I have been working on Seminary graduation.  I have to plan speakers, music, walking in, refreshments, and printed programs.  Eeek.  This has never been my strong point.  Today one of the speakers canceled with the excuse he’s moving to Arizona before graduation. Hmm. I guess it’s valid.  As I was thinking this morning, I know the church is true.  A lot of things can go wrong and get messed up and everything still works out okay.  I hope I can avoid the messing up part… and get the “working out okay” part.

Kathy and Steve came to visit for the weekend!  We are so delighted to see them.  It’s just nice to be able to relax and visit.  I did inherit a nice family.

Our youth have been working for months learning dances for the Cultural Celebration to take place Saturday night before the Sunday dedication of the Kansas City Temple.  It’s involved a lot of work and a tremendous amount of coordination!  Tom has been close to much of it.  Toward the end, the kids and leaders were all tired.  They went up Friday night for a fireside and spent all day Saturday rehearsing before the evening performance. We went to the ward building to see the Cultural Celebration.  Wow!  A grand production.  You could tell a lot of work had gone into the theme, the dances, and the singing and musical performances.  Getting 3000 youth together in one arena is amazing.  I loved the prophet’s blessing on them.  I enjoyed the toe-tapping music.

Today was the temple dedication.  What a spiritual event.  It was a reminder of the full circle of the church in this area—from being driven out, to being welcomed back.  Both the Kansas and Missouri governors toured the temple and presented declarations of commendation to the church for the lovely temple.  I’m grateful we were able to attend—even from a distance.

And that’s our week and I’m sticking to it.