The end of February

 Well, we have no hot water again as of this morning.  Sigh!  I had hoped we could hold out until my dental work was paid off but I guess that is not to be.  I will be calling the plumber tomorrow morning...

Our Element went into the body shop on Friday morning (see previous blog about our rear-ending incident) and we are driving a Jeep Compass for what looks like about three weeks since some of the repair parts won't arrive until around March 17th!!!  It is kind of a surprise that it wasn't totaled, given the age and mileage on the vehicle.  But, given the cost of used cars these days, maybe it isn't such a surprise.  The rental is much smaller inside than the Element and Steve keeps bumping his head as he gets in.  But, we are glad to have it, for sure!  (and it is large enough to hold my cello)

We had another winter storm on Wednesday/Thursday that dropped about an inch of sleet.  Most of it has melted by now but the portion of our driveway that doesn't get much sun is still a skating rink.  It is supposed to get into the 50's today so I hope it will be melted by the end of the day.  Sally slips and slides whenever she goes out and it is a blessing that neither Steve nor I have fallen!

We had some fun outings this week.  Monday morning, President's Day, we met Emily and kids and Beckie at the zoo.  The temperatures were in the 60's and it was a gorgeous day.  Here we are at the gorilla exhibit.  We all went to our house for lunch.  

Friday morning, Steve and I ventured to the Goodwill Outlet located downtown.  If you are not familiar with the outlet, it is where all the Goodwill stores dump their unsold items.  It is in a huge warehouse room filled with large rolling carts loosely separated into "fabric" and "non-fabric" items and you buy things by the pound -  $1.30 per pound.  I want to make some t-shirt yarn and buying used shirts by the pound is the most practical way to go about it.  And, while we pawed through each fabric bin, wearing gloves, we also found other items like ties, a white dress shirt, and a St. Louis Blues t-shirt for Steve and a silk scarf, a white top, and an ugly Christmas sweater for me.  We went through probably about twenty carts out of the fifty or sixty that were there.  Here is my stack of t-shirts:

Saturday morning, we explored the Telephone Museum located in Jefferson Barracks (a former military installation just south of us that also has a national military cemetery).  It is in a smallish building that used to be officer housing back in the day and it is run by volunteer retirees from the Southwestern Bell Corporation.  Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable.  It is incredible how far the telephone has come in just my lifetime!  

Other than the above listed adventures, we had a fairly average week.  The winter storm started Wednesday and continued through Thursday but it was sporadic enough that the road crews were able to keep on top of clearing so Steve made it to his Thursday morning doctor appointment and I got to my final physical therapy appointment right after that.  The sleet did resume during my PT so I drove home very carefully and we stayed home the rest of the day.  We watched a movie that night - "Big Business" and it was every bit as funny as when we first saw it years ago.  

We had a young couple over for cookies and milk Monday evening and the husband is allergic to eggs and almonds so making cookies he could eat was tricky.  I experimented with gluten-free/egg free chocolate chip cookies and they turned out quite deliciously.  I used ground flax as my egg substitute.  Steve made an eggless funny cake and frosted it like a mint brownie.  He used wheat flour so I couldn't taste the results but it looked yummy.  

Friday evening, we were invited to dinner by Walter and Mary Bell who are in our ward.  They provided a fully gluten-free meal which was so kind and thoughtful.  

The St. Louis Civic Orchestra has a concert tonight so last night was our dress rehearsal.  It has been fun to play the music.  Steve and the Southerlands will be in the audience tonight.  Beckie might also be able to come.

What a week!!!

It has been quite the week.  Hold on to your seats and get ready....

Monday - Valentine's Day.  Here are photos of the roses from Steve and of flowers from our sweet neighbor's, the Alarcon's and especially their ten-year old daughter Giselle.  The bouquet was so large that I had split them up.  The yellow chrysanthemums are on a shelf that I had Ricky Remus install when he was here last week.  

Emily had a photo session in the morning so I drove over to hang out with Larkin and to take her to school.  

I had PT that afternoon (progress is being made, happily, but I will be glad to be finished.  It takes out such a chunk out of my day!) and Elizabeth Crippen arrived late afternoon.  She stayed overnight so we could attend the temple Tuesday morning.  Beckie joined Elizabeth and us for dinner and we played two good games of Scrabble that evening.

Tuesday -we woke up to no hot water!  And when I called the plumber, I was informed that first, a repair person could not come until a week from Friday!!!!!  And, second, our water heater is eleven years old and they don't typically repair units that old because the typical life expectancy for a water heater is 10-15 years.  So, we were looking at a new one.  They were able to send someone to measure and work out an estimate for the next day.  Oh, this was horrible news that just tainted the rest of the day.  We were considering showering at the Y because we have memberships (although we have never used them!).  I called a woman in the ward who works at the Y to ask her about the showers and their availability and she asked what was going on.  When I told her, she said "I am sending Ron (her husband) over right now to see what he can do".  Well, Ron diagnosed the problem right away - the pilot light was out!  And, now we have hot water again - HALLELUJAH!  Yes, we will need to replace it but this buys us some time to pay off our heater/air conditioning payment AND the dental crowns I have recently had.  Which brings us to...

Wednesday - and my new crown that was installed.  The procedure went smoothly, like the last one I had back in December, but having someone grinding and grinding down a tooth for what seems like an eternity is still nerve wracking.  I opted to listen to music via my phone and earbuds this time and I chose Beethoven's 3rd Symphony.  The first movement played as I waited for the Novocain to make my mouth numb so it was during the slow, dramatic second movement when the drilling actually occurred and it was the PERFECT soundtrack!  The next time you listen to it, imagine me getting my tooth drilled and you will know what I mean.  By the third movement, all the preliminary work was completed and it was time to await the crown-in-a-day machine to do its magic so I watched an episode of The Book of Boba Fett.   I actually never finished listening to the symphony.  This all happened during the morning while Steve did the weekly grocery shopping.  He took Fred along.  After all my mouth trauma, I spent my afternoon kind of taking it easy and, just as I was getting dinner ready, I got a call from Sam, the young woman who we take to church every week.  Her blood sugars were in the 500's and she needed to go to an ER.  Barnes is closest but she was afraid she would have a huge wait time there so I drove her to Mercy Hospital down south.  I initially thought I would need to stay with her but she seemed pretty chill with her emotional support dog, Blue, and she said I could go home.  Good thing as she was there for about six hours!  I stayed up and worked on finances while I awaited her phone call.   I finally got to bed at 12:30.  

Thursday - we had been having torrential rain since Wednesday evening as temperatures were dropping that morning but it was still just rain by my PT appointment at 10:15.  As I was driving home an hour later, though, the rain was turning to sleet and it just got nastier as the day progressed....freezing rain, sleet, and a tiny bit of snow.  So Steve and I just hunkered down at home.  Evening activities were cancelled so we watched "Akeela and the Bee" which was a delightful movie.

Friday - our winter storm event was over and roads were good again so I went to pottery late in the morning and had a lovely time.  I taught two lessons mid-afternoon and then Steve and I headed to pick up a few missed items from Aldi as well as to take advantage of a sale at Ruler after that.  It was on our drive home that we were rear-ended as we were stopped at a red light.  We got hit from behind and were pushed into the car ahead.  We sustained hardly any damage to the front of the car (and to the car in front of us) but our back bumper is banged up.  Happily, our tailgate and hatchback both open and close.  The car that hit us was probably going at about 30 mph.  It was driven by two young men, and they had insurance (not always the case here in the city).  It did not fare so well in the accident.  Both airbags deployed, the windshield was smattered, and the front end looks horrible.  It was a 2003 Hyundai and I wouldn't be surprised if it was totaled.  The boys looked un-injured and Steve and I just had a headache / stiff neck afterwards.  We called the after-hours nurse hotline and it was decided that we didn't need to go to an urgent care.  We filed an accident claim with Geico but being at the beginning of a three-day weekend, we have not heard anything from them yet.  Below are photos where you can see that we really didn't seem to sustain much damage.

Elise arrived later Friday evening to stay the night and to attend the temple the next morning.  

Saturday - Steve and I had our temple work in the baptistry so we left quite early.  Elise left a bit later  and we both finished at about lunch time.  We drove over to Emily's where I gave the kids their piano lessons and Elise, Steve, Emily, and Joe visited.  Lucy wanted to show me the piece she is working on in her school orchestra and then Quinn wanted to play Hot Cross Buns that he is working on.   Noah then pulled out his cello and played some of the music he is working on in school.  It was just wonderful!

And Larkin wanted to show me the bed she had created with her many stuffed kitties

 

We got back to our house at around 2:00.  Elise stayed for dinner but then left for home soon after.  Steve and I headed to the church even before she left.  Steve needed to chaperone a youth dance and I had a string quartet rehearsal that had been rescheduled from Thursday night.  All four of us are from the ward and are putting together a number for the ward talent show on March 5th.  

Today - Sunday -  was our first ward choir practice.  Not terrifically attended but I guess many didn't pay attention to the announcement that was made last Sunday regarding this week's beginning.  I have great hopes, though, going forward.  Steve and I caught the final episode of "All Creatures Great and Small" tonight with sadness.  It has been such fun to watch.  

Average week

This will be short and sweet because it was a pretty average week:  doing finances and going to PT on Monday; going to the temple on Tuesday morning and orchestra rehearsal in the evening; buying groceries on Wednesday; spending the entire Thursday in Columbia; going to PT again on Friday morning and teaching lessons (including starting a new beginning violin student); having a blast in pottery on Saturday and delivering Valentine goodies to those to whom we minister.  The end....

Well, I might elaborate a bit on a few activities....

I now have eight music students!  I still have the two on-line cello students in Phoenix and the two hybrid cello students in Columbia.  In fact, the two in Columbia got in-person lessons on Thursday when we were in town for Steve's doctor appointment.  My in-person all the time students are an adult cello student, an adult violin student, a teen cello student and a teen violin student.  I am supposed to start an adult piano student sometime this month (she had to get her piano tuned first).  This is plenty for my current life.

We had a nice visit with Steven and Tamara while we were in Columbia - they bought Papa Murphy pizzas which makes delicious gluten free options.  I had a brief visit with Elise and Melanie and Steve and I enjoyed lunch at McAlisters with Steve's former work colleague, John Dethman.  As always when we go to Columbia, there is a lot of driving involved.  Not just to and from but while in Columbia.  My cello students live about as south as you can get and still be in the city limits (in fact, Isaac is not in the city limits) and Steven and Tamara are as far north as you can get.  

I started watching the Boba Fett series this week and, after just two episodes, I  had to have Steven explain why it was worth continuing.  He convinced me so, I will.  The only movie watching Steve and I did was to see Calamity Jane, a Doris Day movie musical from the fifties.  I had heard someone say it was their favorite Doris Day movie so I checked it out from the library.  It was cute but I wouldn't call it MY favorite movie of hers.  

We had a woman from church over for dinner Friday night.  She moved to the area in the fall from Oregon and is working as a Vice President at University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy.  She is single and about the age of our older daughters and just a delightful person.  We also had Wendy Remus and assorted family to our house both Friday and Saturday evenings.  Wendy's son, James, has two boys by a woman who he later divorced.  She then gave birth to four other children and evidently, they have continued to be part of the Remus circle - mostly by Wendy babysitting them.  Back in January, this woman and her current boyfriend (and father to two of her children, I think) were driving north on Hwy 63 with her four children (but not James's two) and they were hit head-on by a person who was trying to kill himself by driving 100 mph the wrong way on the highway.  The children were not seat belted and were thrown from the car.  All, except three children, were killed.  All of the survivors sustained multiple injuries and the youngest, Natalie, was the worst.  She was not expected to live but miraculously, she did.  She has been in Children's Hospital here in St. Louis since the accident and Wendy, although not related by blood at all, has been the designated adult to stay with her. This is because Wendy is self-employed doing assorted free-lance sewing, etc.  Natalie has a private room and Wendy has been with her 24/7.  Occasionally, the blood grandparents and aunt come visit.  Anyway, Friday night, James and his two boys came from Columbia to visit Wendy and Natalie and they were able to take the little girl out of the hospital for an "outing".  Her first since her admission. But, since James had to work all day, he couldn't get to St. Louis until evening when all fun things are closed so they came to our house and we hung out in our play area in the basement. (hooray for our Lego bucket)  Natalie has had to completely learn to do everything again - including swallowing - but she is making amazing progress and is slated to be released the first of March.  Then, I got a call from Wendy on Saturday saying that Ricky was coming into town and they needed a place to sleep so I said "come on down".  Again, they didn't come until late and they left early this morning but it was nice to be able to help in some way.

Okay, this was longer than I imagined it would be.

SNOW!

We got snow this week!  The winter storm began Wednesday with freezing rain and sleet and just a skiff of snow but Thursday, a second wave hit and dumped about eight inches.  

Friday was COLD but bright and sunny and it was "dig out" day.  Steve very wisely said we should pace ourselves and do short bursts of shoveling throughout the day and, by evening, our entire driveway was shoveled!  Our neighbor, Fred, loaned us his "Electric Snow Shovel" which brings to mind a ridiculous image but, in reality, it is just a small snow blower.  It probably works better with lesser amounts of snow because, with as much as we had, it took about as much energy to push the electric shovel as it did a regular one, in my mind.  Now, a self-propelled one would be a different story.  Anyway, for the future, some research on snow blowers deserves some attention, I think.  Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday, Steve and I just hunkered down here at home - everything was cancelled anyway.  I wish I could say all I did was watch movies and drink hot coco but those days were pretty busy for me:  on-line lessons, two orchestra Zoom meetings, house cleaning, etc.  We DID watch "Deja Vu" Thursday morning but the rest of the time it was business as usual...

Steve and I celebrated our forty-seventh wedding anniversary on Monday!  We did some shopping in the morning (getting assorted cards at Dollar Tree, Valentine fabric for pillow slipcovers at JoAnn, small bottles at Hobby Lobby) before we had lunch at Golden Corral, which I am sure to most would be the lamest restaurant to go to for an anniversary.  But, I love eating there because there are so many gluten-free food selections.   True, the ambiance leaves a lot to be desired.  Sharing our anniversary meal with road workers in their florescent vests, really old people with walkers, and extremely overweight people (always at all-you-can-eat restaurants) is not the most romantic atmosphere but that is OK.  I would much rather spend money on a gift than on food.  (although, we haven't really decided what we are giving each other for this anniversary).  Later that afternoon, we rode our bikes to the Concordia Cemetery office (the cemetery just across the street) to get important information for taking photos of the tombstones for Billion Graves.  (which won't be happening until all the snow melts!).  That evening, we watched "Return To Me", one of our all-time favorite movies.  Hooray for our forty-seven years together!

Tuesday, we attended the temple in the morning and then we picked up Sam and all went grocery shopping in the afternoon.  We usually shop on Wednesdays but the pending storm required us to move it forward.  Of course, we had to deal with the entire population of Saint Louis as they prepared for being snowed in.  Happily, neither Sam nor Steve and I needed a lot of supplies so the expedition didn't take too long.  

We drove to Wal-Mart Friday evening after we could get out of our driveway and picked up the prescription we forgot to get on Tuesday and we also bought a new wall clock for my bathroom and a new pair of hair clippers as both decided to stop working.  

Saturday morning was our first shift in the temple baptistry.  We will work first and third Saturdays and those will be early start mornings as we need to be at the temple ready to go by 7:00.  Because of the recent snowfall, a few of the groups scheduled to come to the baptistry were no shows.  This was actually a tender mercy as it made our first day a bit easier.  Oddly, our replacements were an hour late showing up so we didn't get home until 1:30, very hungry and weary.  And Sally and Linus were very ready to get out of their kennel!  The rest of the day was pretty chill.  I taught a violin lesson and then practiced the violin a bit myself, I did some oil painting, and I made a delicious batch of gluten-free cinnamon rolls.  Steve had a youth activity in the evening that he needed to attend (which provided dinner) so I made my dinner of pancakes - YUM!  And I watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2.   It was a nice day.