Two weeks in April

On Tuesday, April 11^th, we released our Trissy from her aged and sick body to go to heaven.  The huge tumor on her hip had grown so large so quickly and it had developed an open wound that would not heal.  She died surrounded by as many Lambsons as could be rounded up – Steve, me, Elise, Steven, Tamara, and Sarah.  Add a vet and a vet-tech and you have one crowded room!  And, while Trissy had the mildest, sweetest temperament, she was also rather strong willed in some things (unable to be consoled during thunder storms, always escaping under the back yard fence to wander the neighborhood) and her stubborn streak showed up at her death.  She did not like having to lay down on the examination table and having her paw confined while they inserted an IV for the anesthesia over-dose and she caused it to be pulled out with only half the dose going in.  They had to insert another IV in another paw for the rest of the dose but it was not enough!  She was calmed down by that time, of course, but her strong old heart was still beating. It took a third IV in a third paw to finally release her.  Oh, Trissy!

Steve giving treats to the dogs the night before Trissy died.  You can see the bandage on her rear end.  Even, then, she was up for her nightly tricks for treats.

That same week was full of Easter Cantata rehearsals (Tuesday and Thursday night) and the performance on Friday night.  The music was beautiful – as always.   Well, there was that one song that sounded like a Klezmer band that I thought was kind of goofy.  But, overall, the music was fun to sing, it was enjoyable to sing next to Steve in the back row, and I think the performance went very well. 

We were in St. Louis Easter Saturday – to celebrate Lucy’s 6^th birthday and to work in the temple.

Larkin got some grandpa time while

Emily set up for Lucy's birthday party

Lucy and Quinn hanging out

Easter Sunday was quiet.  Sarah was driving back from a last-minute trip to Idaho to take Kevin Moegling out to college, Steven and Tamara were with her parents, Emily and Joe and kids stayed in St. Louis.  We did have Beckie join us, however, and Elise and Melanie. 

My Sundays changed two weeks back.  I was called to work in the nursery for the last two months we will be here!  It is a pretty easy gig because the parents of the cry-ers stay with their kids. 

Steve and I tackled the garage four days this past week.   We did it in quadrants – the tools in the southwest quadrant one day, yard stuff and cleaning out the old refrigerator another day, the camping equipment the third day, and sports equipment and other miscellany the last day.  All of our stored stuff is now occupying the northwest part of the garage.  Elise is coming on Tuesday to help us re-organize her storage in the northeast part of the garage and Beckie’s things will be moved to St. Louis on May 1^st.  Throughout the week we made numerous trips of all our unwanted junk to assorted donation centers around town.  Good thing we still had the truck.  But, we won’t have it for long.  We found a new vehicle for us – a 2003 Honda Element – and we have a buyer for our truck!  

Jason and Denise Black.  We are letting them check it out the next few days and hopefully we will make the transaction by the end of this coming week. 

Speaking of transactions, we officially signed the lease for the house with Elizabeth on Friday.  And, speaking of houses, we got a call from the Phoenix mission office on Thursday informing us that we will be living in the home of the Johnsons – the current missionary office couple whose places we are taking.  They purchased a home in Surprise a few years ago – they are snowbird types – and, we guess when they decided to serve a mission, they requested Phoenix because then they could live in their winter home?  Anyway, the cost difference for renting a brand-new two-bedroom apartment for us and having to furnish it vs. renting the Johnson’s furnished home was nominal (although I am sure they are giving the church a price-break) so we will be spending the next two years in a beautiful, four-bedroom, three bathroom home in Surprise, Arizona.  Check it out on Google maps!  15359 W. Columbine Dr. Surprise, AZ  85379

I love April

I have thought this more than once this past week.  And, the redbud time in April is the best!  The fruit trees are starting to pop open and many of the non-fruiting trees are just beginning to get tiny green leaves.  Lilacs are starting to bloom.  Daffodils are just about finished and tulips are taking their turn. 

We had quite a few rainy days earlier in the week – which I don’t mind – and then yesterday was the perfect day of temperature and sunshine!  I had a make-up cello lesson in the afternoon and while I was teaching, the mom went to Gerbes to pick up supplies for a cookout and she said it was like a battleground at the hamburger bun section.  I guess everyone else had cookout in mind, too. 

Not us.  Our ward had a youth fundraiser event last night including a spaghetti dinner, silent auction, and variety show.  Proceeds went to scout and girls camp this summer.  Steve and I were quite involved.  We donated items for the silent auction:  Steve’s was four dozen home baked cookies.  Mine were three of my nicer houseplants.  And, we performed in the variety show.  I twisted Steve and Steven’s arms and we played a trio (baritone, trombone, and I resurrected the saxophone) of Americana-type tunes.  And, the dinner was almost completely gluten-free:  they had gluten-free pasta, the salad was crouton-free, and the dessert was root beer floats. 

We did savor the beautiful day yesterday by taking a bike ride on the Grindstone Creek trail. 

It was just beautiful.  Numerous hawks soared above on the thermals and we spotted a herd of deer.

On my pre-mission/pre-moving checklist this week I purged clothes and sorted them into different piles:  donate to charity, pack and store, wear until we leave, wear until we leave AND during our mission, wear on our mission.  It is kind of confusing. 

We have had frustrations with our internet connection all week.  It has gone down FIVE times in seven days.  And these are not quickie phone calls to set things right.  First of all, just finding the internet help phone number was a pain because phone books are a thing of the past.  (Hooray for smart phones)  Then you have to go through a series of automated responses before even getting to a live person. And, CenturyLink has help centers in the Philippines so the first two times the live person was half a world away from me.  The third time we had problems was sort of a break through because, after being on the line for over an hour with the help desk, Steve (it was his turn) finally said “we have other obligations and we have to go” and they gave him a number to call when we returned.  Well, that turned out to be a DIRECT number to a REAL person who sounded like they were in the United States so the next two times, fixing the problem was much faster if not still very annoying.  A REAL repair person is coming Monday to look at the situation but I am seriously considering switching internet providers for the last two months we are here….

Brrrr – it has been cold and rainy all week.

  But, I am grateful for the rain!  And the weather hasn’t stopped the spring flowers from blooming.

 This past week was Spring Break so it was a rather quiet lesson-wise for me – but not for the two music teachers now using the basement.  Trissy and Sadie have always been a part of my music teaching:  barking to announce their arrival (Sadie), greeting them at the door and escorting them downstairs (Trissy), hanging out at my feet during the lesson (Sadie), or sleeping on the couch (Trissy) so this week has been rough on them.  Steve actually caught Sadie barking outside the closed door of Elizabeth’s studio – she thought it was me teaching!  We finally had to install a baby gate at the top of our stairs so Trissy and Sadie would not go downstairs every time a student arrived.  So, in spite of car-parking issues and confused dogs, I believe having three music teachers at the house for the next six weeks is going to be fine.

Steve and I saw “Beauty and the Beast” on Tuesday and we LOVED it!  We loved the original and this was just as wonderful.  I loved the new songs, too.

Aside from some glazing, I am finished with pottery until we get back from our mission.  I tried my hand again at making tiny pots and here they are…..  The tallest is not more than four inches.

Tamara, Sarah, and Steve helped me tie all four t-shirt quilts Friday afternoon at the church.  I finished up the edges yesterday and they are finally done! 

Our BIG day was Thursday when we drove to St. Louis to hang out with Julina, Alex, Shiloh and Stratton as well as with Emily, Quinn, and Larkin at the Museum of Transportation.  The time with the Smiths was way too short but so glad we got to see them at all.  

Whenever we go to St. Louis and attending the temple is in the plan, he always dresses for the temple. Rarely does he go casual and dress for the temple later.  

This is in one of the oil cars

We have been called to serve in the Phoenix Arizona Mission!

I read it and laughed – because of the irony.  I KNOW Arizona.  My father was born there.  My mother was raised there.  I traveled there at least once a year while I was growing up to visit my sister and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins there.  My parents retired there.  My older brother, my older sister and my younger sister all live there.  I also laughed because, really?  Of ALL the places in the world where we could have been called, Arizona???

But, you know, serving a mission is not about me and Steve but about helping move forward the work of the Lord.  It will be a continuation of what we have done here in Columbia, Missouri the last few years and we won’t have to learn a different language or deal with weird non-gluten-free food. 

And, the more I thought about it, I realized I will have the opportunity to get to know better and to fellowship family members that live out there.  Two summers ago when I flew out to Phoenix and orchestrated some mini Fraedrich cousin and Young cousin reunions – this is simply a continuation of that effort.  And so I believe my parents in the spirit world had a strong influence upon this call to serve in Arizona. 

Finally, Steve and I are not planning for this to be our only mission.  Senior missionaries can request specific mission assignments but for our first, we said “we’ll go wherever we are needed”.  NEXT mission, though, I am requesting Nauvoo or Kirtland or Palmyra!  And maybe for a third I will request being a temple worker in someplace exotic, yet English speaking. 

Our big white envelope arrive on Saturday.  And it was completely unexpected even though I had been anticipating all week that it would come any day.  That’s because on Friday, I called the Salt Lake mission office to ask if senior missionaries had the capability of tracking their call on-line like the young missionaries could.  The sweet little lady I spoke to said no.    She did look up our names and told me that our file was still on the doctor’s desk and that was the last step before sending it to the Quorum of the Twelve for assignment.  She reminded me that it takes 5-6 weeks for a senior couple to be called, mostly due to medical considerations.  So, after that conversation, I expected our call to arrive the week of Easter.  Plus, on Saturday, the Southerlands came to visit so Steve and I were a bit distracted during the day.  Emily and I went to the Women’s Broadcast that evening leaving Steve and Joe to feed and put the kids to bed (which they did very efficiently).  Steve didn’t even check the mail until after the kids were settled in bed and he noticed the big envelope was from church headquarters but his first thought was “NOW what medical issue needs to be resolved?”  He opened it but only part way.  When he saw the enclosed handbook, he realized “oops, this IS our call and I better wait until Jeanne comes home”.  When I did, however, Sarah and Joe were chatting at the table, Steve was puttering in the kitchen, and I immediately went to work finishing my t-shirt yarn project at the kitchen table, joining in the conversation.  It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later that I went to the bedroom where the mail was laying on the bed that I saw the envelope.  I came back into the kitchen and whispered in Steve’s ear “why didn’t you tell me???”  As soon as we could subtly get away, we went back to our bedroom and that is when we opened up our mission call.  And, then I texted the kids.  And, because it was past our bedtime, we went to bed.  But, of course I couldn’t sleep!  SO many questions rattling through my brain.  Including the BIG question – did that sweet little lady from the Salt Lake mission office lie to me?????

 Our basement rooms are completely bare.  We finished that project this past week.  

Elizabeth and Carolina have moved their things in and began teaching yesterday afternoon.  Our basement storage is filling up.  

We had a Russian dinner Monday night with Steven and the Vornholt family.  Molly was my cello student for over five years and she is now a sophomore at Grinnell University studying Russian.  Her mother, Julie, and I get together nowadays on a monthly basis to chat and do needlework projects.  Also in attendance were Molly’s sister Catie and her brother Jack.  We had borsch, meat kabobs, a Russian potato salad, and a Russian version of fruit shortcake for dessert.  It was delicious and fun.

I am learning a new thing – how to crochet a rug with t-shirt yarn.  You cut up the shirt into strips and use a huge hook and you can crochet pretty rugs that are sturdy and machine washable.  My project is to make a yellow and white one for our bathroom.  I made this plan way back in the fall before we even started thinking of a mission and I bought the shirts at that time.  So, now it is one of those loose-end type projects I am trying to finish before we leave.  (like the t-shirt quilts which I will report on next blog).  Thankfully, it is a portable project – now that the yarn is all prepared – and I think I can easily finish it before June.  Oh, that reminds me – we report to the Missionary Training Center on Monday, June 5.  

some photos from Sunday evening.

Music and good eating

I packed up my music studio this past week.  All that is left is some furniture I don’t want and the piano and couch that will go to Emily.  I had a lot of my old textbooks that I just don’t want any longer so I decided to revive the Amazon bookstore I created a few years back to sell some of Sarah’s textbooks, Sarah Jeanne Books, and list them to sell.  Surprisingly, they are still worth some money. In fact, less than four hours after listing all of them, I had my first sale!

Two of my cello students are from Jefferson City and their district music festival was on St. Patrick’s day.  Since I am their accompanist, that meant Steve and I had a reason to have lunch at Oscar’s Diner in Jefferson City that day.   Their gluten-free patty melt (get it?  Patty melt on St. Patrick’s?) is decadently delicious.   

Since I had a music textbook to ship, and because we had a half hour until I was to accompany my first student, Steve and I walked to the Jefferson City post office right across the street from the capital building. 

  It was a lovely early spring day and the post office was up the hill from the performing arts center giving me a chance to work off that fattening lunch I’d just had.

This was one of the cute buildings we walked past.  Not something you would expect to see in the midwest, right?

Thursday and Friday evenings were spent rehearsing and performing in The Armed Man – A Mass For Peace.  Below is a link to one of the pieces – Sanctus. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dIOLbwZJDs  

The cello part was pretty simple.  In this piece, you can hear the cello line – rhythmic underlying notes.   

Here is another link to one of the other numbers – Hymn Before Action

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN1yssJK29I   

It was fun to play and I got paid a small amount. 

On my way to my car in the parking garage, I took this photo of Jesse Hall lit up for St. Patrick’s day.

 

Speaking of….. I love the food of St. Patrick’s day.  I didn’t grow up eating corned beef and cabbage.  It wasn’t until Steve started working at the law library.  His Irish co-worker, Diane Collins, hosted St. Patrick’s Day dinners at her tiny apartment.  She invited anyone from the library staff AND their families to come -  so we packed up our kids every year and went.  Corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes, and green pistachio pudding was her regular menu.   Her apartment was a booby trap of breakable knic-nacs  to keep the kids away from.  AND, we all had to watch out for her evil, insane cat, Katrina!   Fun memories.

Then, you have the off-shoot of the corned beef:  The Reuben sandwich.  I had never eaten one of those until a co-worker brought some one night while I was working as a unit clerk at the hospital.  How could sour kraut be on something so delicious?!?!   I got to enjoy two Reuben sandwich dinners this week.  Mmmmmm

I went to my doctor on Monday to discuss my blood pressure – which is just higher than it should be.  She changed my medicine and, so far, I can’t see much of a difference.  In fact, it is even higher.  Sigh.  Aging stinks.  But, at least I am not turning 75 which is what my friend, Katherine Eschrich did on Saturday.  Here she is with her cake.  

Here are all of us who joined her at Cheddar's for lunch to celebrate with her.

And the word on our mission is.....

....nothing yet.  Getting all our medical information has been the major hold up from the get-go.  First, there were some blanks on our medical forms that both our doctors forgot to fill in.   Those had to be taken care of before even submitting everything to Salt Lake.  Then, once our papers were in the senior missionary office, we got a call from the medical department asking for the date of Steve’s kidney stone and for three consecutive days of blood pressure readings from me.  Tracking down the kidney stone incident was a bit tricky.  Steve was able to determine that it happened after he had been made bishop which gave us a start date of 2005.  But our on-line medical records didn’t go back that far and requesting written medical records is fairly time-consuming.  Our journals were the next source only Steve’s journal is done on the computer and the years 2005 to about 2009 are currently lost to us – they are stored on a crashed external hard-drive that we hope sometime in the future to have technology able to unlock such things.  Thankfully, I keep an old-fashioned hand-written journal and, after delving into two and a half year’s worth of entries, he was able to learn that his kidney stone happened on November 28^th, 2007.  Anyway, we called the senior missionary medical department two weeks ago on Monday, February 27^th to give them this information thinking all was well.  Imagine our dismay when Steve got an e-mail from the senior missionary medical on Saturday, March 4^th stating that they were still waiting on his kidney stone date!  Sigh.  So, we called again last Monday, the 6^th with the information and now we HOPE all the paperwork is in order and that we should receive the big white envelope in the next week or so.

On the moving front - Steve and I have stored away all the stuff from the sports room.  I also consolidated the food storage we have in the closet in the family room to make shelf room for storing packed items.  I am impressed with how much food we actually have stored!  Over a year’s supply with many things.  Beans, wheat, spices, and more.  We also have two small freezers of food to use up.  After a discussion of home-made freezer strawberry jam, I was able to use up the rest of our frozen strawberries and make two batches of the stuff with Beckie on Thursday morning.  There are still frozen blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries that I will make into regular jam in the coming weeks.  I re-potted a couple of plants for giving away.  (I want to keep the pots they were in) 

 

I will start packing up my studio this coming week.  I feel confident that we will make the March 25^th deadline to have all three rooms empty for Elizabeth and Carolina to teach in starting on March 27^th. 

Beckie got a job working as a server where Kyle works.  She is in St. Louis this weekend and maybe for much of this coming week for training.  Here she is reunited with Kyle's dog, Luna.

She rented “Arrival” for us all to watch on Monday night.  That was a fascinating movie.

Steve and I took my friend Julie Vornholt up to the Amish stores Saturday morning.  

I went to Elizabeth Crippen’s home Thursday afternoon to work on crafts.  I was hired to play in an orchestra for The Armed Man concert on March 17^th and I had a rehearsal Saturday afternoon.  It was nice to play cello again.  I have been spending my Tuesday evenings rehearsing with the stake Easter cantata. 

We celebrated Tamara’s birthday last Sunday.  

Beckie made a delicious Mexican feast!  

Both Sadie and I got haircuts this past week.  Here she is pre-haircut.  It takes both Steve and me to do her haircuts.  He holds her and pets her and I clip furiously away.

  

Not much to report this week

It was a quiet week in Lambson-land.  The highlight was Beckie's amazing dinner she prepared Wednesday:  grilled ahi tuna steaks, ratatouille with a balsamic reduction sauce, smashed baby potatoes.  Oh, it was so delicious.  Beckie loves cooking shows and, this past week, she introduced me to the Great British Bake-Off.  I crave cake after every episode!

Steve and I got to see "Lion" at the theater on Tuesday.  What an amazing story!  We checked out a new taco restaurant on Friday for lunch - it was pretty average.  Friday night, we watched a documentary called "Escape Fire" about the American health system.  It was very interesting.

I went to pottery.  We served in the temple on Saturday. We rehearsed with the MMCO on Monday and with the Easter cantata on Tuesday.  I pruned roses on Friday.  Steven and Tamara's T-shirt quilt is almost done - hopefully tomorrow night.

Steve has started to dismantle his sports room.