First week of February

We are entering the third full week of showering in the RV bathroom.  We thought we might be painting the bathroom yesterday but last week's weather put our repairman behind.  He has been applying dry wall mud to the walls in the bathroom and throughout the house and it is a multi-step process.  I did start painting the 13 sixteen-foot lengths of baseboard molding, though.  That paint is impossible to remove from my hands, though.  I guess I should wear disposable gloves for the last few.

I was able to prune two additional trees last week with Steve hauling about five loads of branches in the Element off to the mulch site.  We have had rain and snow melt today so neither of us will be venturing out in the mud for the next few days, though  

This photo below looks like we are back on our mission, right?  

I helped serve lunch at a Zone Conference Thursday morning.  It was fun to be back among a bunch of missionaries.

Friday, Steve and I traveled to St. Louis where we met Beckie, Emily, and Larkin at the History Museum.  Below is a photo of Steve and Beckie in front of a statue of Thomas Jefferson - who, you will remember, was the one who made the Louisiana Purchase that brought Missouri into the United States.   We have Thomas Jefferson tributes all around the state - another statue on the MU quad, capital city named after him.  The museum was beautiful - and free (thank you, city of St. Louis) - and we had a little lunch there afterwards.  Then, back to Emily's for a nap before the 3:00 temple session.  We returned to the Southerland's for dinner where we babysat the grandkids (and gave them piano lessons) while Emily and Joe had an early Valentine's day date.  

Saturday morning was a Days For Girls meeting.  We had a super turnout and we got quite a bit done.  We have a big push to get 200 kits ready to send with one of our members who will take them to Ethiopia during spring break the end of March.

I will close with a remembrance of our little snowman as he melted

Remodeling has begun!

This is what our main bathroom looks like.  Remodeling started last Monday and MAYBE it will be finished by the end of next week????  In the meantime, Steve and I are showering in our downstairs bathroom - the one I call the "boat" bathroom or "RV" bathroom.  It is SO tiny.  But, at least we aren't having to shower at Steven and Tamara's, right?  James Remus is doing this and most of the remodeling projects.  His older brother, Ricky, is also involved but not as extensively.  He has also been at the house this past week installing light fixtures and GCFI outlets in our bathrooms and the kitchen.  Regardless of the mess, I am so excited that the remodeling has finally begun.  

Other news of this past week is that Steve and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary on Friday, the 31st.  We gave ourselves new bath towels, Steve gave me a pretty plant, and we went to dinner both on Friday and Saturday.  Friday was Culvers and Saturday was at an all-you-can-eat buffet that featured ribs on Saturdays.  The ribs were fabulous but the buffet in general was very ho-hum and we probably won't go back - especially since it was also in Moberly area.  But, we had an Amish trip planned for the afternoon so we were already half-way there.  Going shopping at the Amish is always fun and this trip was MUDDY!  Remember all that snow we got last week?  Well, its melting made the dirt roads in Amish country just a mess.  We had to visit a car wash last night .  

I have eight fruit trees that need pruning and I thought I could do them all in one afternoon - HA!  I was lucky to get two done Friday afternoon.  I really cut them back this year.  And, we have SO many branches to haul away.  I had to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning to get my pruners sharpened for the rest of the trees.

The MU music department has a brand new building as of this semester.  It has been a LONG time coming (think decades) but it is finally a reality and the Civic Orchestra had their first practice in the instrumental music rehearsal room on Thursday night.  It is just beautiful.  

I had my second shingles shot on Friday morning (this is the newer vaccination that requires two shots) and I believe I had a worst reaction than the first one in October.  My arm was sore all day but, by the evening at Culvers, I was chilly.  I thought it was just the weather outside and my raspberry/cashew concrete but as the evening wore on, my chills continued and I realized I was having a shot reaction.  And, boy, it was a doozy!  I haven't had chills like that in over thirty years (because I haven't had the flu since I started getting flu shots in the early 90's).  We tried watching "The Slipper and the Rose" but we had to stop a third of the way in because I felt so miserable.  I piled on the blankets and went to bed.  A couple of hours later, I was burning up.  Steve gave me a Priesthood blessing and I was able to sleep peacefully the rest of the night and, happily, I felt better Saturday morning.  After we got back from dinner in Moberly Saturday evening, we watched "Groundhog Day" and, by the end of the movie, I started feeling achy again.  Today, I am fine.  

I will end with some photos of the plants I get to water every week at the Music Suite.  Some are ancient and massive!  In the first photo, you can see that the "trunk" has grown so long that it is dragging on the floor.  

And, a photo of our little snowman as he melts.  

 

Snow!

We woke up Friday morning to the fattest, fluffiest snow I have ever seen!  It was so beautiful.  And, it was perfect for snowman-building.  As Steve was shoveling the driveway, he observed that the snow was clinging to itself so much that a snowman was almost building itself so he just continued the process to make our Yankee-fan snowman....

I just love snowmen!  I also love the man who built ours - Steve!  We celebrated his birthday last Sunday evening with dinner and cake.  

The snow postponed our planned trip to St. Louis until Saturday and, aside from shoveling, we just stayed inside.  I finished stripping wallpaper and I patched up the chinked grout in our entryway.  The weather cancelled my Civic Orchestra rehearsal the night before, too.  So, I was able to do a lot of movie watching this week.  On Wednesday, Steve and I watched "A Dog's Journey" based upon the book - which we had both read.  Well, the movie was wonderful and tearful (in a good way).  We watched "Heaven Can Wait" Thursday night, I watched "The Mirror Has Two Faces" Friday afternoon, and we both watched "Mask of Zorro" Friday night.  I worked on Days For Girls stuff and assembling papers for taxes while watching.  

Our St. Louis trip yesterday was nice.  They didn't get as much snow as we did and, of course the roads were clear by the time we left.  We had lunch with Beckie at a McAlisters Deli, we attended the 2:00 temple session, and afterwards, we brought dinner (Walmart rotisserie chicken) for the Southerlands. Piano lessons followed and we were back in Columbia by 9:30 last night.  

We have had kind of icky weather all week.  As I look at my calendar, I am reminded that we also had a skiff of snow on Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.  But, we had our Days For Girls monthly meeting anyway since it had already been postponed from the Saturday before (due to weather).  And, it has been COLD!  I dread my heating bill next month.  

At the Music Suite, I have been doing (and I finally finished) inventory of the "gifts".  Oh boy, it was a 14 page doozy.  SO many musical doodads to be counted and then to find where they were on the list.  THAT was the challenge since none of them seemed to be identified in any logical or consistent manner.  And some of the items have been on the inventory for years if not decades.  Same with some of the music books.  Like being in a time warp.  

The Remus brothers are ready so home repairs begin next week - hooray!

Birthdays!

This past week of birthdays was kicked off on Sunday, January 12th by celebrating Melanie's (actual date was the 9th).  She loves this particular strawberry cake recipe that I have made in the past but it is a nightmare to construct (do a close-up on the photo below and you will see what I mean).  I think I have convinced Melanie to turn this recipe into a trifle next year.  It will still taste the same and it won't look like something out of a book by Dr. Seuss!

It was also the farewell dinner for our friend Patrick Layton.  He was the fellow who lived in one of our basement rooms for a week back in August.  He had just landed a job in Jefferson City and he needed a place to stay while he looked for apartments in Columbia.  But, now he has a new and better job in Honolulu, Hawaii that will start in February.  We are all very excited for him 

Steve and Kirsti celebrated birthdays on Friday, the 17th.  Quinn's birthday was Saturday, the 18th.  On the 17th, we had a major ice storm.  Freezing rain fell most of the day.  But, by the evening, temperatures warmed up enough to make the roads just wet so we were able to follow-through with plans to go to dinner with Steven and Tamara.  Their treat.  And it certainly was at Como Smoke and Fire BBQ.  

Below are photos of the ice.  The first two show the growth of the icicles.  And, in one shot, you can see how the ice weighed down the flag so much that it bent the holder.

Civic Orchestra resumed on Thursday.  We have a great concert planned with music from the stage and screen.  I finally get to play Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars!  Steve and I watched two movies this past week - one old on Friday: Everafter - in my opinion, the BEST of all the Cinderella movies and one new on Wednesday: The Two Popes which was VERY good.

On Saturday, I commenced the wallpaper removal in the house.  Happily, there is not much to take off.  One three-foot strip on a wall in the Noah's Ark room, one wall in the laundry room, and one border in our bathroom.  I got the first room done and I am a quarter of my way through with the laundry room and haven't started the border.  But, I am glad that it is not hard to do - just tedious.  Thank goodness for podcasts to pass the time waiting for the water to absorb in.

I will close with photos of my blooming Christmas cactus and a poinsettia from the church that I couldn't bear to toss into the trash.

Happy January 2020

This is my first blog of 2020 because we were in Indiana last Sunday visiting Julina, Alex, Stratton, and Shiloh.  We drove there Friday the 3rd and arrived in time to check into our hotel, eat dinner, and play a few rounds of King of Tokyo.  Saturday morning, we drove to Knightstown located northeast of Greenwood which is where the old high school gym was used for filming of "Hoosiers".  We couldn't go inside because it is still a functioning gym and there was a girls basketball tournament going on.  But we walked around and then walked around the small downtown and visited a few antique malls.  We got to rendezvous briefly with Shiloh at church on Sunday.  After meetings, we drove back to Columbia - with a stop in St. Louis at Emily's for dinner and piano lessons.  It was a very nice trip.   

Sarah and the pups left for Utah on New Year's Day.  It was so great to have her here.  She also drove to Indiana the weekend after Christmas to visit Julina and Steve and I got to take care of the "granddogs".  They were good doggies.

Let's see....what else has happened in the first twelve days of 2020?  I had a urinary tract infection.  All better now.  Christmas decor is down and January snowmen are up.  We acquired a hutch from Melanie Johnsen (she didn't have room for it when she moved into the Hanover apartments) and I am thoroughly delighted with it.  

Work at the Music Suite is now at the "real" schedule - three days a week.  Steve has started to do volunteer work every Thursday night at the Family History Center.  Melanie had a birthday and Elise and I helped her celebrate on the 9th with a few of her friends.  We gathered at Heather James home, ate carb-full food and watched "Ella Enchanted".  Steve and I went to St. Louis on Friday to attend the temple and visit the Southerlands.  After dinner, we watched the youngest three while Emily, Joe, and Noah got to finally see "Star Wars".  Our drive back to Columbia was slower than usual due to heavy rain all the way home.  This was the front runner of the freezing rain and snow that fell yesterday - keeping us home all day.  No worries - it was great to have a full day at home to putter.