My Weekly Letter ending on 1/31/2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Can you believe January is already gone?  There are only 11 more months until 2012.

Last Monday afternoon after all the missionaries left, I read some and then took a little nap.  When I woke up, it was dark outside!  I messed around on my computer some and then read in my Kindle until I went to bed.

Tuesday morning I did some housework then read on my Kindle until late afternoon.  That evening I decided to watch TV so I watched NCIS, CSI, the Mentalist and Castle.  I did get to talk to Bob several times during the day and Dorias called and talked to me on her way to San Antonio.  Jorge finished taking down our old barn and got it cleaned up out there.  He is such a good worker and a good man.

Bob called me Wednesday morning to let me know that he was on his way to Ottawa, Canada.  Wednesday was temple day.  Judy Sparks went with Sharon, Marsha and me.  We stopped off at the book store on the way.  I got two new CD’s and a book for Bob that he has been wanting.  I was Initiatory Coordinator for the day.  We had a steady stream of patrons which was nice.  When we got back to Weatherford, we ate at Appleby’s.  When I got home, I looked for a CD that I thought that I had, but couldn’t find it.  Marsha needed it for a class she was teaching Thursday evening.  Since I couldn’t find it, I downloaded it and burnt a copy for her.  I also found my picture of “My Three White Dresses” for her to use.  I looked at pictures for a while on my computer then went to bed.

Thursday morning when I got up, I started downloading old songs that we used to play when I was in school: “Alley Oop”, “The Witch Doctor”, “The Purple People Eater”, “Ahab the Arab”, etc.  It was fun.  I used the iTunes gift card that I got for Christmas.  Later Marsha came over to get the stuff that I got out for her.  I messed around with iTunes and my music for a while longer.  All four missionaries came in and fixed tacos.  Elder Collins was a chef before he was a missionary so he is a good cook.  I think my nephew, Jimmy, is better.  After they all left, I took a short nap then read in my Kindle until I went to bed.  Bob called me from Chicago around 8.  He was on his way home.  He said that Canada was beautiful, but cold and not the USA.  It was after 1 when he got home.

Friday morning Bob and I went into town to Bennett’s Office Supply and to Walmart and Subway for an early lunch and finally to Gibson’s.  When we got home, he worked on work while I ordered our quarterly prescriptions then read in my Kindle some more.  Dorias called and we talked for a long while.  I fixed supper and we ate.   I read a little bit more then Bob and I had a date night—at home.  We watched the movie RED and then watched Secretariat.  Both were excellent movies!

Saturday morning we had a Child of Record Baptism for three kids in our ward.  The problem was that they couldn’t find the baptismal cloths.  They were finally discovered in the trunk of the Spanish Missionaries’ car—wet and molded.  I washed and bleached them.  Luckily they came clean.  I talked to Bonnie for a while.  When Bob got home from the baptism, he cleaned the floors and I cleaned the bathrooms.  We discovered that wasn’t water on the floor between Sugar’s cage and the washer like we had thought.  It was liquid laundry soap! It looked like someone had actually just opened the spigot and let it run.  When we were finished cleaning, I read on my Kindle until we went over to Trish’s house in Brock.  She was having a foundation poured for an addition to her house.  Then we walked over to the back of their property with Dan to see the foundation that had been poured for his family a new house.  They will start trying to sell their current house as soon as the new one is livable.  We didn’t stay long.  It was 80°.  Not bad for a January afternoon in Texas.  We are starting to have to water our trees and such because they are starting to bud out.  The cold weather isn’t over yet.  When we got back home, I fixed supper then read until time to eat.  I finished the third and last book in the “Mark of the Lion” series by Francine Rivers.  They were excellent books.  After we ate, I cleaned up the kitchen then worked on some finances for Bob while he went to another baptism.  Afterwards I did the ward bulletin and the missionary calendar.  We visited with the missionaries some.  Elder Romero is being transferred back to Fort Worth.  We will be getting a new Spanish Missionary on Wednesday.  The two Tongan missionaries that broke our waffle eating contest last Monday are both going home.  They have served their two years well.

We woke up to dense fog and cooler temperatures on Sunday.  Bob got a new second counselor.  They released Michael Franco and put Steven Banks in.  He has sure gone through the counselors, but this is the first time that the Stake hasn’t taken one or he hasn’t moved.  Our meetings went well.  When I got home, I put a pot of stew on to cook for when Bob would get home.  Then I did the ward bulletin for February 13.  I then took a nap until Bob got home.  We ate and then he went back up to the Church.  I watched Law and Order until 3 this morning.  Eric called me while I was watching TV.  He is preparing to take his second CPA test next month.

This morning was cooler when I got up.  I actually got up about the same time that I always do which was remarkable since I’d stayed up most of the night watching TV.  I worked on my computer most of the morning.  A cold front is coming in this evening.  We might get an ice storm tonight.  We will see.  You can never tell about Texas weather.

Hope that you have a good week.

My Weekly Letter ending on 1/24/11

Monday, January 24, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

I didn’t accomplish anything last Monday, but I did have an enjoyable day.  I read on my Kindle all day long.  That evening I actually fixed supper.  When Bob got home from work, we ate then watched CSI-Miami and CSI-New York.  Both episodes were lousy.  We went to bed afterwards.

Tuesday Bob was gone when I got up.  I called Stephenie.  She is sure enjoying her Kindle also.  I then got ready to go to Relief Society.  We had a great turnout.  We learned about sprouting, about harvesting your own seeds for your garden, and about growing your own herbs.  Then we had salad afterwards—not salad from bags, but real green salads with everything but the kitchen sink in them.  They were heavenly.  When I got home, Gerin’s dad was here with him.  They left after a few minutes to go shopping for his mission stuff.  I then continued to read on my Kindle.  I love it!  Usually after a couple hours of reading my eyes start to get blurry.  But with the Kindle, I can just increase the font and keep on reading.  It is great!  When Bob got home later that evening, we had a nice visit then went to bed.

Wednesday was temple day.  Bob and I got up about the same time.  He got ready to go to Elbit then I got ready to go to the temple.  I bathed Sugar when I took my shower.  She is almost white again except for the pink topknot on her head.  I didn’t like her purple.  It looked dingy like you’d washed your black socks or jeans in with your whites—several times.  She is pretty and fluffy again.  I picked up Sharon and Marsha then we headed for the temple.  There was an accident or something on Loop 12 in Dallas so we took the scenic route to get there.  Thank goodness for GPS’s.  I wasn’t a coordinator that day—just a regular worker.  It was nice for a change.  We had a nice trip home again.  We stopped at Olive Garden for supper.  When I got home, Gerin was the only one home.  We visited for a while until Bob got home.  I went into the Laundry Room and discovered a puddle between Sugar’s cage and the washing machine.  We have a drain in the floor beneath the washing machine so I don’t know how bad it is leaking or how long it has been leaking.  Now we are debating if we get new ones or get the old one repaired.  Later I got on facebook and saw that an old friend of mine, Gary Cowan, was requesting me as a friend.  Gary was my first date, but I liked his twin brother, Larry.  They lived across the street from the Magill’s in Roswell.

It was 30° when I got up on Thursday.  The high for the day was reached after midnight that morning.  It was also my niece, Stacy’s, 48^th birthday.   I went to Lunch with the Girls at Joe’s Pasta & Pizza.  We had a lousy turnout, but the company that did go was fun.  Bonnie called me as I was going.  While there, Cookie and Dorias called me.  I read on my book all afternoon until I finished it and then started the sequel.  Both books are fantastic.  They are in “The Mark of the Lion” series by Francine Rivers.  The first book is “A Voice in the Wind” and the second book is “An Echo in the Darkness”.  I read until Bob got home from teaching his SMU class.  It was after 11.

Friday it was in the teens when I got up.  I made a new Sourdough Starter—the missionaries emptied my jar and washed it while I was in Houston a week or so ago! I don’t know how many years I’d had that starter going.  Anyway, it’s gone so I’ve started a new one.  I also did the laundry—the washer didn’t leak! The rest of the day I just read.  That evening Gerin packed up to move back with his parents.  He will be leaving for the MTC tomorrow then on to the Denver Colorado North Mission.  He is a good kid and I have enjoyed having him here for the past few weeks.

Bob had to go pre-record a lecture for this coming Thursday on Saturday morning.  He will be in Toronto, Canada on Thursday so can’t teach his class.  When I got up, I cleaned the kitchen and did a few other household chores, did the Ward Bulletin and then read on my Kindle.  Later that evening, Bob and I went into town, ran off the Ward Bulletin at the Church, went to Super Save and then came on home.  We ate supper, I read some more, and then I had to go back into town—I’d forgotten to get flour.  Bob didn’t go with me.  That was creepy.  I couldn’t believe all the weirdoes that come out at night.  I guess I’ve never noticed them when Bob was with me.  When I got back home, I read some more then went to bed.

Sunday morning I put a pork roast in to cook and then got ready for Church.  I went to Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School in our Ward then went to Sacrament Meeting in the Young Single Adult Branch.  Charles, Amber & Sadie came also.  Gerin was giving his farewell talk.  He did a great job.  Afterwards, Charles and his family came home with me.  Charles fixed lunch then I started some hot rolls, but they never did raise—I think it was too cold in my kitchen or something.  They helped me fix the rest of our evening meal.  Gerin came over to eat with us and to tell us good-bye.  After he left, Bob packed and left for the airport.  He was flying out to Alabama.    Charles downloaded digital copies of the last three trays of slides and two of my picture albums to my hard drive.  Amber helped clean up the kitchen.  After they left, I looked at my pictures.  One of the albums was when I was in junior high and in high school and the other was in 1972 when Dorias was born.  It was fun looking at them.  I talked to Stephenie and Bonnie on the phone.  Then I mixed up sourdough waffle batter for the 22 missionaries that were coming over today for lunch—20 cups warm milk, 20 cups flour and the starter.  After that I went to bed.

This morning I got up and cleaned my room then went to IHOP for breakfast with Trish, Dan & Tonia and two of their kids.  When I got home, I finished making the waffle batter.  The missionaries started arriving at 11.  I cooked waffles until almost 1.  We have two new winners.  Elder Carroll held the record with 4 ¼ waffles.  Now Elder Tauteoli and Elder Moli (both Tongans) 
  are the champions with 4 ½ each.  We had a sister missionary try to beat Elder Carroll, but she didn’t quite make it.  Afterwards most of the missionaries went outside and played football.  A couple stayed in and played pool while a couple more stayed in the music room and played.  They are having a ball.   

Well, I’m going to get this going.   Hope that you have a good week.

My Weekly Letter ending on 1/17/11

Monday, January 17, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

As I left you last week, I was at Stephenie’s in Tomball, TX.   After the kids and Evan went to bed, Stephenie and I played with her new Kindle that I got her for her birthday.  She loves to read and will really enjoy it.  Later we went to bed.

I got up Tuesday morning and took the three girls to school.  When I got back to the house, we (Stephenie, her three boys, and me) got ready and went to Sam’s Club, to the mall to find some new pants for Stephenie, and finally to Chipotle for lunch.  When we got back to Stephenie’s, I downloaded all those old slides to her computer, we watched them, and then I packed up and headed home.  When I got back to Weatherford, I stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought next year’s Christmas presents for the kids, got gas at Walmart, and then stopped by the Church to enter my visiting teaching report.  When I finally got home, Sugar was so excited to see me.  BUT she was purple and hot pink!  The missionaries had dyed her hair again.  She smelled like grapes.  I unloaded the car and then went to bed.  It was freezing outside!

Wednesday was temple day again.  I decided to wear make-up which I haven’t been wearing for the last long while.  Everyone complimented my hair which I hadn’t done anything differently, but didn’t notice the make-up.  I was the Initiatory Coordinator that day.  It was extremely slow at the temple, but it was a good day.  We ate at the Mongolian Grill when we got back to Weatherford.  I went to bed shortly after I got home.  I don’t know why going to Dallas wears me out so much.  I did get a call from Dan asking if he could come over and shower at my house on Thursday morning.  Their pipes broke.  He said he’d be over at 5am. 

It was so cold when I got up on Thursday morning—28°F.  I did not want to get up, but I did.  I met April Bird at Maria Calixto’s home to visit teach her.  We had a nice visit.  Afterwards I met Trish, Tonia, Seth, and Marilyn at IHOP for lunch.  We stayed and visited for a long while.  Tonia said that Dan did come over, but I never heard him and neither did Sugar.  After IHOP, I went and got my nails done at Miracle Nails then came on home.  All four missionaries were here studying.  I talked to all three of my girls and Bob at different times during the day.  That afternoon I updated my blog—added more pictures to some older blogs.  I also looked at my kids’ blogs.  Some of the kids are good at keeping them up and others aren’t.  You can link to the kids’ blogs through my blog at www.subell.blogspot.com. That evening I watched TV until I went to bed.  My iPhone locked up for about three hours so I wasn’t able to use it.  Finally Gerin fixed it when he got home. 

Friday morning I didn’t want to get up, but I did.  Bob called from Fort Worth.  He landed at 8am from Alabama.  He went directly to Elbit to work.  When he called around 10, he had had an interesting morning.  First of all he got on the wrong plane—correct destination, but wrong time.  When he got to Elbit, they had changed security badges for the 2011 year.  They couldn’t find his paperwork, but went ahead and gave him a badge, but it wouldn’t work to get into some secure areas that he needed in so he had to go back and get that fixed.  Then he found out that his car now needed a parking sticker at Elbit so he had to go out in the cold and find out his license plate number.  That is when he called me to get the license plate number of his truck since he does drive it there occasionally.  I was just going to get cleaned up for the day when Sugar heard someone at the front door.  It was the UPS man.  He brought me my new Kindle that I got with the money that Grandma gave me for Christmas plus a little bit more that I put with it.  Thanks Grandma.  I am really going to enjoy my Kindle.  So anyone out there, if you have some good books to suggest, let me know their titles and/or authors.  I then got ready and went into town.  I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond then met Trish, Tonia, Seth, and Corola at IHOP for lunch.  Afterwards I went to the Pure Water Station, dropped some cloths off at someone’s house and finally went to the Church to work on Visiting Teaching.  They were out of paper so I couldn’t run off the stuff that I needed to so I went home.  Bob was home when I got there.  After a while we went into town.  He dropped me off at the Church so I could print out that stuff (I took my own paper).  In the meantime, he went and dropped shirts off at the cleaners and went and picked up his electric guitar that was being fixed.  While there, he bought an amplifier for it with the money Grandma gave him for Christmas.  Then he picked me up and we came on home.  We were going to go to the movie to see “Narnia”, but I think he decided that he wanted to play with his guitar.  I didn’t mind.  He fixed supper, we ate, we cleaned up the kitchen, and then I worked on visiting teaching, I did most of the laundry and I read.

Saturday morning Bob got up and went to Elbit for a half day.  I slept in—of course.  Dan came over to barrow a Monkey Wrench to fix his water problem.  After he left, I cleaned up the kitchen and worked on Su’s Cookbook that I’ve been compiling for over 20 years.  I also did the Ward Bulletin and Missionaries’ Meal Calendar and got the 2011 lesson schedule for Priesthood and Relief Society ready to print off.  Later Bob and I went into town.  We stopped at the Church and I ran my stuff off while he worked on something else.  Then we went to Rosa's Café to eat and finished off at Super Save to do a little shopping.  When we got home, Bob and I made a Sheppard Pie for Linger Longer on Sunday.  I went to bed after we got the kitchen cleaned up again.

I hate to get up each morning.  I think I could stay in bed all day long—every day.  We have early meetings now this year.  Consequently, I got all the stuff done the night before so I didn’t have to do it on Sunday morning.  I need to do that even when we have late meetings.  It was nice to not have to do it before Church.  Anyway, our meetings went great.  Afterwards we had our Linger Longer Potluck Luncheon.  All that came really enjoyed it. When I got home, I called Bonnie to see how her first Primary day went as the new Primary President.  She did great as I knew she would.  She said that Jarom told her that she needed to be a little more enthusiastic.  I think that will naturally come for her.  I took a nap then read on my Kindle—“A Voice in the Wind” by Francine Rivers until we went to bed.

That was a rough night last night.  Sugar woke me up twice and she woke Bob up once to go out.  She usually sleeps through the night.  I had to get up several times to go myself.  Maybe that is why I am so tired all the time—I don’t get a good night’s sleep because I have to get up so often.  You’d think I was pregnant or something.  At my age I think it is something.  I might look pregnant, but I’m not.  Anyway, Bob went to work at Elbit in Fort Worth today.  I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I need to get dressed and get it done whatever it is.

Hope that you have a good week.

My Weekly Letter ending on 1/10/11

Monday, January 10, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

I didn’t do much last Monday afternoon.  That evening Bob and I went to Rosa’s Café for supper.  When we got home, Bonnie called and we talked for a while. 

Tuesday morning Bob got up, packed, and drove to the airport to catch a plane to Washington DC.  I got up and went to IHOP for our monthly Breakfast with the Girls.  We had a great turnout and a lot of fun.  On the way home, I stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Walmart, the bank, and the Pure Water Station.  I just piddled around at home for a couple hours then left to go to my doctor’s appointment with my Gastroenterologist.  When I stepped up onto the curb to the sidewalk at his office, I tripped and fell.  I skinned both knees through my pants.  I really hurt.  It took two hours for my appointment: one hour and 50 minutes waiting and 10 minutes with the doctor.  He put me on a new medication.  I can’t tell if it is working yet.  Later Gerin and I went to Rosa’s Café for supper.  Afterwards he went to work and I went home and watched TV for a little bit then went to bed.  I drank too much Diet Coke so I had trouble going to sleep.

When my alarm went off Wednesday morning, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Bob called me at 8—thank goodness.  I got ready to go to the temple then picked Sharon and Marsha up.  What a day!  Since I am on a new medication and it has to be taken at noon, I set my alarm on my iPhone for each day until I get in the habit of taking it.  Since I was at the temple, I turned my iPhone on silent or vibrate.  We have ongoing training and that day I had training on how to evacuate the building if an emergency occurred.  The training got through just a few minutes before noon.  I was just fixin to go into the ordinance worker’s dressing room, when a sister came out asking if I heard the alarm.  Everyone in the dressing room had heard it and they were wondering if they should evacuate.  I walked in and immediately recognized my iPhone alarm.  I thought that if my iPhone was on silent/vibrate, that the alarm wouldn’t sound.  I was wrong.  Thank goodness I walked in there at that very moment!  Then later I was walking and my toes on my left foot started hurting.  I thought it might have been from my fall the day before.  Then even later, I took my shoe off—there was a cough drop in the toe of my shoe.  Problem fixed.  There was a couple more things, but I cannot talk about them.  We had a nice drive home.  Jim met Marsha, Sharon, and I at On the Boarder for supper.  Afterwards he took Marsha home and I took Sharon.  I went to bed soon after I got home.

Thursday I just couldn’t get out of bed.  I was so tired.  I did talk to Dorias for about an hour and a half that morning.  I finally got up and went into town.  I went to Super Save and to Walmart.  When I got home, I got two large briskets in to marinating.  Later I went back into town to the Pure Water Station and got a countertop stand, a crock, and a 5 gallon bottle of water.  We are going to start drinking bottled water.  When I got home, I watched TV until time to go to bed.  I put the two briskets in the Crock Pot to start slow cooking.

Friday morning I got up and cleaned out two of my kitchen cupboards then got 10 pounds of potatoes in to cooking for potato salad.  Bob called.  He was catching an earlier flight home from Washington DC.  Gerin helped take down the Christmas tree and I got all that stuff put away.  I then finished making the potato salad and started hot rolls.  I talked to both Bonnie and Dorias that afternoon on the phone.  Later Charles, Amber & Sadie came over followed by Robbie, Beth, Lauren, Landon, Emma, & Eden; Michael, Karen & Meagan; Steven Davis (visiting from Maryland); and finally Dan, Tonia, Seth, Katie, Madison, & Reagan.  We had a nice dinner together.  Afterwards Charles, Amber, Michael, Karen, and Steven played a new game that Michael & Karen got for Christmas.  When they were done, we all watched most of the slides that Charles had digitized.  It was fun seeing the kids when they were much younger.  Later everyone went home.  Bob and I cleaned up the kitchen and then went to bed.

Bob got up early Saturday morning and drove to SMU to teach his class.  I got up later, packed, and headed out for the Houston area.  I got to Bonnie & Jarom’s house around 2:15.  We went to eat at Pho Saigon.  Afterwards they took me to show me where Bonnie works and where Jarom works.  When we got back to their place, we downloaded all the slides to Bonnie’s computer then watched them together.  We just visited the rest of the evening—they don’t have a TV.

Sunday morning we woke up to rain.  We went to Bonnie’s ward—Nottingham Country Ward in the Katy Stake.  Stephenie went to the same ward when they lived in Katy. Bonnie was sustained as the new......  Let’s go back about two weeks.  The Bishop called Bonnie and Jarom into his office.  He visited with them a while then asked them what callings they’d had in the past and what they would like to do in this new ward.  Bonnie told him that they had been in the Primary ever since they have been married, so she really didn’t want to work in the Primary, but she would do any calling that he wanted.  The Bishop dropped it and went on with their conversation.  About 15 minutes later he turned to Jarom and asked “Would you support your wife as the new Primary President?”  Bonnie just about died, but accepted.  I know she will do a great job.  It was interesting how she picked her counselors.  Since they are new and she didn’t really know anyone, the Bishop gave her a list of people that she could choose from—if she wanted to.  Well, she didn’t know the people on the list so she looked them up on Facebook and checked them out.  After Sacrament Meeting I went to Sunday School and Relief Society.  They have a good ward.  When we got home, we ate a snack then later Bonnie & Jarom fixed a nice dinner.  That evening we just visited.  Dorias and the twins got there around 8:30 that evening. We stayed up and visited even more.  We finally went to bed.

This morning we got up and got ready to go to Stephenie’s for her surprise birthday.  Bob called me from the airport.  He was on his way to Alabama to do some consulting.   Bonnie and Jarom drove in their car, Dorias and the twins drove in their car, and I drove my car.  We stopped off at H.E.B and picked up 36 helium balloons that we’d preordered plus two fancy balloons. We got to Stephenie’s house a little after 11.  She was totally surprised.  We had made arrangements for a sitter for Spencer & Nathan and Richard & Robert.  We kept Gavin with us.  After we dropped the boys off, we went to Saltgrass Steak House for an amazing lunch. It was topped off by decadent desserts which we did not need, but were so good. Stephenie was on cloud nine.  Later Bonnie and I went to pick up Taneal, Camie, and Danielle at school.  They were surprised that we were there.  The kids had fun playing with all the helium balloons.  Dorias fixed supper so that Stephenie didn’t have to.  After supper and everything was cleaned up, Dorias and the twins left to go back to Boerne and Bonnie & Jarom left to go back to Katy.  I stayed.

What a wonderful week and especially weekend!

My Weekly Letter ending 1/3/11

Monday, January 3, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

I can’t believe that it is 2011.  Wasn’t it just Y2K?  Where has all the time gone?

Last Monday evening we stayed home at Grandma’s in South Jordan, Utah with Cookie & Alton.  We ate leftovers then started packing to go back to the Great State of Texas.

Tuesday morning Grandma fixed us a nice breakfast then Bob, Sugar, and I headed out for Laramie, WY and Cookie & Alton headed back to Huntington, Utah.  We had a nice trip to Laramie.  It was a beautiful ride with all the snow. At one point the wind was blowing so hard that we had a ground blizzard, but it didn’t last long.  When we got to Laramie, we went to see Grandpa’s tombstone. It is nice.  We then dropped by Bob’s Aunt Pauline’s home for a minute then went to his Aunt Zella and Uncle Bob’s home.  They only live about two blocks from each other.  Aunt Pauline followed us over.  We stayed about an hour visiting.  Aunt Zella made us ham sandwiches and pumpkin pie to take with us.  We made it to Limon, CO before we stopped for the night. 

Sugar did much better that night in the hotel.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel then were on our way again Wednesday morning.  We stopped in Jacksboro, TX to see Charles and Amber.  They gave me a pair of nice warm socks and an iTunes card for Christmas.  They gave Bob a floating pen and a nice bank that counts the money in it.  While we were gone on our vacation, Charles had been digitizing our old slides.  He got three trays done—only about 13 more to do.  I am really excited to get these.  Later he will digitize all my picture albums.  We got back to Weatherford around 8:30 that night.  It was good to be home.  We met our new missionary.  He is Elder Stanworth from Delta, Utah.  He is a greeny.  He replaced Elder Burt who was transferred out.  We went through the mail and put some of our stuff away then went to bed.

Thursday was Eric & Angela’s 7^th anniversary.  That morning we got up and put more stuff away and started the laundry.  We found out that our missionaries are on foot now.  Elder Struhs lost his wallet just before we went on our trip and never found it so Elder Stanworth got permission to drive.  Last weekend when it was raining so hard, he had a fender bender in town with a Lexis.  He had only been in the mission field for three days.  Consequently, he can’t drive and they are teaching the lessons to the lady that he hit.  They will be able to drive again as soon as Elder Struhs gets a new driver’s license from Idaho.  Around noon Bob and I went into town.  We dropped off his old electric guitar to be cleaned, went by the water station to order a counter stand for a 5-gallon water jug, and then went to the theater in Hudson Oaks.  We saw “Tangled”.  It was good.  Afterwards we saw Heather Norwood with her husband and four kids.  We also ran into Greg Melven.  He officially retired from Lockheed on December 31 after nearly 34 years. He has lost over 90 pounds and is looking good.  He will be moving to Utah about mid January.  We then went to see “True Grit”.  It was also good, but we liked “Tangled” better.  From there we went looking for me an iPod Nano, but couldn’t find one so just came on home—everyone is sold out.  We decided to just use Bob’s old iPhone 3G as an iPod Nano.  It works.   I cleaned up the kitchen and finished the laundry.  I was working on my computer when Brian and Tawnya Payne came over to see us.  They were down from Lubbock, TX visiting Brian’s family for a few days.  Dr. Payne is doing his residency in pediatrics in Lubbock.  After they left, I went to bed.  The two Spanish Elders have spent the night here for the last week or so.  Not much missionary work is being done, because they have been hauling the English speaking missionaries around.

Dan woke me up New Year’s Eve morning.  Tonia was up all night—sick.  He wanted me to watch Katie and Madison while he went over to Trish’s to put a power pole in.  Don was home from the oil fields and Jack Sparks was coming over to help also.  He brought the girls over around 8.  I was NOT ready to get up!  I eventually put “How to Train Your Dragon” in for them to watch, then they watched the new “Karate Kid”.  In the meantime, Charles came over with a couple more trays of slides that he’d digitized.  I gave him the last 11 trays to take home and do.  He stayed til noon then went on home—Amber was on call at work and Sadie was with her dad.  I put “101 Dalmatians” in for the girls to watch until we stopped for lunch.  Dan came and got the girls around 2.  He stayed a while before leaving.  We had six missionaries show up just as Dan and the girls were leaving.  Everyone left around 3.  It was nice and quiet.  We thought about going to the movie again, but decided to just stay at home.  We watched TV until Bob got ready to go pick Michael, Karen and Megan up at Love Field in Dallas.  Their flights were running late.  They were supposed to get here when they actually left from Saint Louis.  I went to bed when Bob left.  You know what?  The New Year of 2011 got here just the same as if I’d stayed up.  Bob got home around 1:30am.

Trish woke me up at 7:13 to wish me a Happy New Year.  We met them at IHOP at 8:30 for breakfast.  Don was still in town so he came with Trish.  Marilyn came a little later.  The five of us had a good visit.  Afterwards we went to Walmart and then home.  The new road (B.B. Fielder) that runs along the South side of our new Church building is open.  It runs eat and west just past Hwy 51 (South Main) to just past Bethel Road.  Now we don’t have to go on the Frontage Road anymore to get to the freeway and to Lowe’s and Target and PetsMart and Best Buy.  It is much faster.  It will be interesting to see how it changes the flow of traffic around the new high school when school starts up again.  We put the groceries away then I worked on my computer.  I did the ward bulletin and made the schedule up for Relief Society and Priesthood lessons for 2011.  Later Gerin Wilde came over.  He has moved in with us until he leaves for his mission at the end of the month.  He goes to the Young Singles Branch and he works at our Walmart.  His family lives in Granbury.  He used to hang out here before Charles got married.  He is really a good kid.  That evening Bob fixed supper for Gerin and me.  Afterwards I cleaned up the kitchen and watched TV.

Boy it was hard to get up and get ready for our block of meetings at 9am yesterday.  We haven’t had the 9am schedule for five or more years.  Our meetings were good.  It was actually nice having them in the morning.  Steven Davis was there visiting.  He is coming over next Sunday for dinner—brisket, potato salad, hot rolls, etc.  When I got home, I watched TV until Bob came home.   We ate then Dan and his family came over.  They brought me an iTunes card and Bob a basket of 1940’s candy for Christmas.  They stayed for a couple hours until Reagan pooped her diaper and they needed to go home.  After they left, I stayed up and watched TV until 2 this morning.

I had a nice long talk with Stephenie on the phone this morning.  She is doing well and so are her six kids. She is such a good mommy.  After I got off the phone, Bob and I cleaned house for a while.  I miss having a housekeeper!  But Bob is helping me clean it, so I guess I can’t complain.

I’m going to close now—send this on its way—and post it to my blog.  Hope that you have a good week!