Monday, April 25, 2011
Dear Friends and Family,
I’m in South Jordan, Utah. Today is my nephew, Caleb’s, 32nd birthday and my grand-nephew, Dominic’s 19th birthday.
Last Monday afternoon I made a large (18x13) cherry cheesecake and a double Ritz Cheese Ball for Empty Nester’s FHE. Then it was time to start cleaning. I did the kitchen/dining room, the family room, three of the bathrooms and all the dusting. Bob did all the tile floors and vacuumed the carpets and cleaned the fish aquarium. The house was presentable. Then I sat and looked at my “Su Bell’s 60th Birthday Celebration” book. That was such a memorable week and I am so thankful that we all took so many pictures and that Stephenie had the idea to put it in a book and that Dorias helped her. I have good kids. Then the doorbell started ringing. We had 8 people come to Empty Nester’s FHE: Don & Trish Ellestad, Clay & Doris Riley, Jack & Judy Sparks, Marilyn Gay and Gail Inman. Bob gave the lesson and then we had refreshments. The last of them left a little after 9. Our missionaries then came in and helped eat left over refreshments. It got up to 98° that day. Several wanted my recipe for the cheese ball so here it is:
RITZ CHEESE BALL—Dorias Marie Bell Swensen
2 pkgs. Cream Cheese
1 jar (2.25 oz) Armour Sliced Dried Beef OR 1 pkg. Buddig Turkey or Ham slices
OR ½ pound of very thin sliced Corned Beef from the deli.
A Bunch of Scallions (green onions)
Chop up meat slices and scallions. Mix together with Cream Cheese. Form a ball or put in a pretty bowl. Chill for several hours. Serve with Ritz Crackers
Tuesday was very laid back day. I had been sick during the night so didn’t feel like doing much. I just kept Bob company. Then it hit me again in the afternoon. I took a nice long nap until I needed to go up to the Church to babysit Bob while he had an interview. While there, I got a call from my doctor’s office with the results of my lab work the week before. My thyroid is out of whack so they need to increase my dosage. I was so excited. Maybe that will help my body thermostat regulate and my tiredness all the time go away. Then I stayed for our Relief Society Meeting. It was very enjoyable. The Rose family gave an account of their survival trek in the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas. Cindy just about died—she is NOT a camper nor hiker nor anything else. She wanted to go to the Bahamas for their vacation. But she made it. When I got home, I emptied all the house trashes and took the whole thing down to the street. The missionaries got home shortly thereafter so we visited until bedtime. When Bob got home, he said that Robbie had called him. The fires were getting closer to Mineral Wells and they were getting lots of ash fallout. They were evacuating the town of Palo Pinto.
Wednesday was Megan’s 1st birthday and my last temple day until May 11. The temple will be closing from today until May 9 for its semi-annual major cleaning and maintenance. Marsha and I had a wonderful day at the temple. Afterwards, Bob met us at Applebee’s in Weatherford for supper. When I got home, I worked on my computer a little and then visited with my missionaries. I went to bed shortly after Bob got home.
I got up Thursday morning, went to breakfast with just Trish at IHOP. From there I went and got my nails done, went to the post office, the cleaners, and to Walgreens. When I got home, I filled my pill boxes with three weeks of pills and then started packing. I’ve got it down to an art so it only took me a short while. Then I sat around and waited until it was time for Bob to take me to DFW on his way to SMU. I read on my Kindle while waiting for my flight to Utah. The flight was uneventful. Wendy (my niece) picked me up at the airport and took me to Grandma’s house. I was really tired so went to bed shortly thereafter.
Friday morning I got up and got ready to go to my niece, Lindsay’s, graduation from BYU. Wendy and Kerri (another niece) picked up Grandma and me. Steve (Bob’s brother) and his family were saving us seats at the Marriott Center. After the graduation, we went to PF Chang’s for a very late lunch. Shortly after we got home, Grandma (Bob’s mom) and I went to pick up some prescriptions and do a little grocery shopping. And then a little later we went to Walmart so I could buy me an iHome for my iPhone so I could listen to Pandora. When we got home, Grandma finished packing. I read on my Kindle until I got too sleepy and then went to bed.
Wendy picked Grandma up at 2am Saturday morning to take her to the Amtrak Station. I went and got in Grandma’s bed. I had orders to sleep with Lucy while Grandma was gone which I didn’t mind. Lucy is a Poodle that I’ll be babysitting for the next couple weeks while Grandma is gone. I got up around 8. Lucy did not want me to pick her up to get her off the bed—she’s too fat to jump. Finally I got her off and got her to go outside to do her business. Later Cookie called. She is in Arizona visiting Heather (another niece). She’ll be up here on Thursday to keep me company until Grandma gets home. After I got off the phone with Cookie, I read on my book some more. I finished “Extras” and then started the book called “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand. It is the story of Louis Zamperini’s life. I read on it until time for bed. Lucy did not eat all day long until almost bedtime. I think she’s going to lose weight while I’m watching her—she needs to.
I got up Easter Morning and went over to Wendy’s house for Easter breakfast. She made Marjorie’s Creamed Eggs out of the hard boiled and colored Easter Eggs. (Marjorie was Steve’s first wife and Nikki, Wendy, Kerri, & Glen’s mom.) We had a nice visit. Later, I came on back to Grandma’s. I didn’t know when their Church started so I didn’t go. Naughty me. I texted with Bonnie and Stephenie and then laid down to take a nap. Bob called me shortly thereafter. He was fixin to make Easter dinner for Charles’ family, Michael’s family, and Dan’s family. Dan was still in the oil field up in North Dakota, but the rest of his family was coming over. I went back to sleep when I got off the phone. Soon after I got up, I got a call from Jared Payne. His wife had invited me over for Easter dinner so he was just checking up on me. I got ready and left. They live in Pleasant Grove in a nice home. They have a great dog named Buddy. He is Cocker Spaniel/full size Poodle. Jared fixed a wonderful Easter dinner—he loves to cook. We visited a couple hours before and an hour or so afterwards. When I got home, Lucy was expecting Grandma. I’m sure she will get better in a few days. I read on my book until I went to bed.
The Texas Forest Service reports the Possum Kingdom Complex is 50 percent contained Sunday after burning 166 homes and two churches and 200 square miles of grass and woodland 70 miles west of Fort Worth.
Today is Monday and I would usually be having breakfast at IHOP right about now. Dan got home from North Dakota last night. They had a pretty violent thunderstorm at home last night. My phone kept going off with Thunderstorm Warnings so I shut it off. I hope we got enough rain to help the firefighters. AND I hope that the lightening didn’t start new fires. It is pretty here in Utah today. Lucy is still looking for her mommy.
Have a good week.
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