Trying to be spring

 By Monday, our snow had melted enough that I found three newspapers that we thought hadn't been delivered! And, the sidewalks were clear for our morning walk. There was SO much trash and I collected an unprecedented 32 aluminum cans along the route!

It was a pretty quiet week, overall. I baked Valentine shaped cookies on Tuesday, worked on finances, taught lessons and went to orchestra that night. We had sectionals and it was very helpful - The Grand Canyon Suite is kicking my butt. I decorated the cookies on Wednesday evening while watching Starfleet Academy and All Creatures Great and Small. That afternoon, I finished my last oil painting and packed up everything to make ready for my next artistic endeavor - felting. I dabbled in it over a year ago and I want to get back into it. Thursday Sally went to the groomer and came back beautiful!  Elise came into town that evening after English class. This was the last evening class until Ramadan is over and, by that time, Steve and I will be released from our service mission. It doesn't mean we are completely done with volunteering - we will still help drive people to and from English classes and other gatherings - but we won't be official missionaries. Elise joined us at the temple Friday morning and, while she and Steve hung out at the house in the afternoon, I drove around delivering Valentine cookies to people and collecting six tubs of black dirt from the nearby mulch site. Yes, it is almost time to start thinking about gardens again. Before leaving for the temple, Steve and I drove Fred to Schnucks so he could buy paczkis (a Polish donut) that are only available around Mardi gras/lent. They apparently are very popular because Fred got the last box. As we picked him up, I rolled down the back passenger window to tell him which door to use and the stupid window would not roll back up! Nothing we tried worked. So, I called Bates Auto as soon as we got home and we dropped the Kia off right away. It was fixed by mid-day and, evidently, the connecting wire had worked loose and Bates Auto fixed it with no charge! Amazing. Friday evening, before Elise left for Columbia, Beckie drove over (YES, since Tuesday, she is back to walking and driving and even venturing into work) to do her laundry since her landlord has not replace the dryer yet. While the clothes washed and dried, we watched Sneakers, an old Robert Redford movie with an all star cast that came out in 1992. Aside from that and an episode each of All Creatures Great and Small and Starfleet Academy, that is about all we watched throughout the week. Sigh!

Yesterday we had rain - all day - which we sorely needed. But, driving thirty minutes to UMSL to attend a cello recital put on by the civic orchestra section leader was not fun.  Although, the recital was superb and I am glad I went. Four other cellists in the section also attended. In the morning I was supervising the Kindness Begins With Me booth at another Grand Market. I am desperately trying to clear out the current inventory and sadly, we didn't sell very much yesterday. Why don't more people need tote bags and aprons???? After the recital, which was at 2:00, I had a cello student and then we fed the sister missionaries at 6:00. It was a LONG day. 

Today at church we had a lovely surprise. The daughter and son-in-law of Elder Patrick Kearon live in our ward and Elder Kearon walked into the chapel this morning. He had a rare free weekend, his wife was at a reunion with her sisters, and he decided to come visit Lizzie and Jonathan and their adorable toddler, Evelyn. There was time for him to speak at the end of the service and he is just an amazing person. 

Here is Beckie, Steve and Sally on Friday night...

  

New month

We thought Sally was better last weekend from her diarrhea but we awoke Monday morning to a huge bunch of messes in the living room.  It was worrisome so I left a message a Open Door (who provides our free veterinary care) right away. They do not open until 10:00 so I was already at the church for the Afghan Women's meeting when I got a return call saying that they had a vet there until noon if we could get her down there by then. I had to excuse myself from my responsibilities with Kindness Begins With Me and I drove home to pick up Steve and Sally and down we went. The good news is that her heart and lungs are fine and we were sent home with a five-day supply of medicine (antibiotics in a cocktail that I think also included some anti-diarrhea stuff) and some special prescription food (dry and wet) for her to eat.  The medicine was not fun to administer (Steve holding her and forcing her mouth open while I squirt the nasty tasting stuff down her throat) but it, with the diet, worked and she is back to normal poops. She threw up three times during the week and we are not sure what caused that but we haven't had any more vomiting since Thursday. 

Tuesday morning, my "exercise" consisted of me shoveling snow next to our turn-around in the back yard to give our car tires something to grip. Up until then, we had to back into our driveway from the road (hooray for back-up cameras!!!). The temperatures were mostly above freezing all last week and actually climbed into the 50's over the weekend so today, the sidewalks are clear and dry.....just many piles of snow still in the parking lots, along the sides of roads and in the yards. 

Wednesday morning the plumber came to address our leaking pipe in the downstairs bathroom.  It was caused by the pipe freezing and bursting. And, I was probably the cause!!!  We never had a frozen pipe in all the years we lived here but the bathroom downstairs was ALWAYS very chilly thanks to no heat duct and a hole in the ceiling where the shut-off valve was located that spilled down frigid air.  Just this year, I got a bit of insulation and I stuffed it up into the hole.  BUT, I put it the hole between the room and the pipe which left it exposed to the cold above without the benefit of the warmer air in the room to keep it from freezing. Sigh....That was an expensive mistake. I went to Home Depot Wednesday evening and bought a roll of insulation batting and Steve and stuffed it up into the hole as far as we could both ways (the space was right up against the back outer wall of the house which has several openings for the HVAC, cable, phone, etc. to enter and they were the cause of the cold air streaming in). We made sure the insulation is above the pipe leaving it exposed to the warmer air of the bathroom. We are also leaving the bathroom door open to the rest of the basement.  Whew - enough of all this.

Steve had his final follow-up appointment with his retina doctor and all is doing well with his eye. 

Thursday was groceries and many errands ending with English classes at night. Friday morning, Steve and I attended the temple and afterwards, we returned home to eat and nap and then we headed east to Indiana to spend the weekend with Julina and Alex. We spent Saturday helping put Christmas decorations away. Alex has a new 3D printer and he made us this...

            

I sewed up three small holders for Alex's phone and wallet that he can attach to the arm of his wheelchair.  In the evening, Julina, Steve and I watched Train Dreams based upon several recommendations. It was a very beautiful movie!  Sunday morning, we went to church with Juli and we headed back to St. Louis mid-afternoon.                                                                 

 

The Gift of Time

I was given the gift of time over and over this past week thanks to the cold and snow. The snow ended falling Sunday afternoon and we estimate we got between 8 and 10 inches. 

Steve and I shoveled snow throughout the day on Monday. We spent between 15 and 20 minutes each time and, after five shoveling sessions, we punched our way to the road and we got the car cleaned off. You can see that we also shoveled a narrow path to just beyond the deck for Sally to go and do her business. 

When not outside, I worked on finances, I sewed Days for Girls shields, I practiced the cello and I made a yummy turkey meatloaf that also had bleu cheese crumbles and basil and dried cherries. The combination sounds weird but it was quite delicious! As anticipated, I had no music students to teach. 

It was the same on Tuesday. Only the main thoroughfares were cleared by then so schools were cancelled for a second day. Because the civic orchestra rehearses in a public school, when there is a snow day, we don't get into the building to practice. The music for this end-of-February concert is mostly super easy for the cellos. Even our hardest piece, Grand Canyon Suite, has easy cello parts except for the fifth movement - Cloudburst. It is really challenging so I have been hacking away at it all week long. When I wasn't doing that on Tuesday, I finished the thirty Days for Girls shields and I did four Christmas pillows. I think I will give them away to neighbors and friends next holiday season. I also made a little Halloween pillow with some cute scraps I was given a while back. 

Steve had the time and energy to pack away his many nativities but the large one on the front lawn will just have to wait until the snow melts - who knows when that will be??? I finished watching Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark and I started the Temple of Doom. Steve and I watched the second Hunger Games movie - Catching Fire that evening. 

Wednesday morning, I was able to finally get back to some small oil paintings I had started in early October. I finished two and moved the other two along. That felt nice. It also felt nice to teach some music lessons that afternoon. In the evening, we watched another Starfleet Academy and All Creatures Great and Small. 

Thursday English class was cancelled due to the extreme cold and the side streets that were still pretty treacherous. I took Beckie to her doctor appointment in the morning and we did an Aldi shop after that. I brought the knee walker that Steve was using and it was very helpful for Beckie. Steve and I tackled Walmart that afternoon. By evening, everyone was pooped!

Friday and Saturday introduced two minor disasters.  We woke up Friday to many little diarrhea plops scattered around our bedroom (we sleep with Sally with the bedroom door closed). Poor Sally was unable to contain herself. We put her on a 24 hour fast and have been feeding her a bland diet of white rice, chicken breast and pumpkin in small portions throughout the day since then and I think she is on the mend. No more diarrhea and no vomiting ever....   The other disaster was discovered Saturday evening. We discovered a small stream of water coming from the downstairs bathroom towards the floor drain by the washing machine.  Somehow, a leak had developed from the turn-off handle for the outside spigot. It is located in the ceiling of our bathroom above two shelves of towels. It is a very slow leak that must have been going on for a few days because ALL the towels were just soaked - plus the rugs on the floor. I have a plumber coming early Wednesday morning and hopefully, they will just have to replace the valve? And, I guess we will find out then if it is related to the below freezing temperatures we have had for over a week. I would be surprised if it is because we have had similar conditions in past years with never a problem. From the photos you will notice a hole in the ceiling. It has been there since we bought the house. So, no real damage has occurred from this - just a lot of spinning out water in the washer and drying in the dryer.

Steve and I went to Beckie's Friday night to help her with her laundry (her facilities are down a very steep flight of stairs in the basement which she could never do on her own) and to watch Mockingjay parts one and two. We had only intended to watch part one but her laundry took a little longer than planned - her dryer would not heat so we washed everything and brought her wet laundry home to dry.

Saturday was Steve's and my 51st wedding anniversary. We celebrated by picking up supplies for Sally at Open Door Animal Sanctuary, taking Quinn to lunch at Culver's, buying new bath towels at Costco (note to self - NEVER, EVER EVER EVER go to Costco on a Saturday!!!!), and by watching Groundhog Day.  And finding the leak. But, overall, it was a great day, in spite of the bitter cold.  

Bitter Cold and Snow

The cold has been all week - temperatures in the single digits and wind chills in the negative numbers. I am SO thankful for a functioning heater!!!

The snow started up Saturday morning and it is predicted to fall all day today and end mid-afternoon! Here is where we are this morning...

It has been a rather quiet and fulfilling week. On Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I had one music student at 10:00 and then it was concerts the rest of the day. Steve and I attended a MLK memorial ceremony at 11:00 at UMSL because Noah's choir was singing. We attended another memorial at an LDS church in St. Charles at 6:00 because Lucy's choir was singing. I didn't get a photo of Noah's performance because it was so dark in the auditorium and we were asked to NOT take photos. I did get a shot of Lucy, though. She is third from the right in front. My cello student, Eliza, is second from the left in back.

Both choirs sang very well. I am so happy that Noah and Lucy are involved in singing as well as playing in the school orchestras.

Tuesday I worked on finances and I actually dusted for the first time in at least six weeks! I worked on Blurb books in the afternoon. I take all my blogs and upload them into a Blurb book - one book for a full year of entries. Somehow, my 2024 book was mostly deleted but, thankfully, I still have each blog entry available online. I just have the tedious task of moving them over into a Blurb book which I started doing that day. I also baked some gluten-free cupcakes and I had some leftover cream filling from an earlier cake and I experimented with inserting filling into the cupcakes. It worked!

Wednesday Steve returned to his doctor (well, actually the P.A. since the doctor seems to never have an appointment opening) because he was still having pain in his feet/legs plus he had developed a rash on his lower back. They did an x-ray and he has no breaks but he does have a form of plantar fasciitis. They drew blood and he does not have any uric acid in his bloodstream anymore (which causes gout). He DOES have shingles (the rash) but, since he has had a shingles vaccination (probably 5 years ago), it is not a bad case. In fact, he hardly even notices it but they prescribed a cream anyway. And, he was put on a dose of steroids for the pain he is having and, of course, that has made quite a difference. Hopefully when his round finishes up this coming week, it will have done enough to end any future foot/leg pain! While Steve was at the doctor, I went to my friend Mary's house and, with another friend Judy, we helped Mary and her daughter Tracie create some table decorations for Tracie's upcoming marriage February 7th. I had music lessons all afternoon and that evening, Steve and I watched the newest episodes of All Creatures Great and Small and Starfleet Academy. 

Thursday morning, for the first time in over two weeks, Steve felt good enough to walk! We went grocery shopping later in the morning. That afternoon, I bought a plane ticket for my visit to Arizona in April. Yay! That night, it was English class.

Friday the temperatures had dipped low enough that neither Steve nor I walked. We braved the cold only to attend the temple. That night, we drove over to Beckie's to watch the Hunger Games movie with her. She saw her surgeon on Tuesday and her foot is healing nicely. She is still not allowed to put any weight on it and she is pretty much home bound. But, she is in good spirits.

Yesterday morning, the snow started to fall. It is so cold and the air is so dry that it is light and powdery. Steve had to pick up his insulin in the morning and he said the roads at that time were not bad. But, the rest of the day we just hunkered down inside - only going out to let Sally go potty. I filled my day with assorted projects: baking a cake for Sunday dessert, practicing the cello, watercoloring February birthday cards, sewing, adding more blogs to my 2024 Blurb book. Steve was channel surfing in the afternoon and came upon the old 60's movie What A Way To Go and we both got sucked in, even though we had both seen it a couple of times. It is a  pretty fun movie and I loved all the amazing outfits that Edith Head designed for Shirley McLain. After dinner, we watched E.T.....this was again prompted by the John Williams CD we listened to on New Year's Eve. It has been at least twenty years since I have seen it - maybe even thirty years. To see little Drew Barrymore - she was so adorable!

Women's Group has already been cancelled for tomorrow and I can't imagine getting out to teach music lessons so I will have another "free" day  to fill. Love it!  

Of birthday boys and getting back to normal

Steve turned 73 on Saturday, the 17th and Quinn turned 13 on the 18th so we had a family dinner celebration Sunday evening at our place. Beckie was able to attend, thanks to friends Kyle and Micah who came up from Arkansas for the weekend to visit her and help with her recuperation.

not shown - Steve and Noah who were behind the camera. Emily made the snickerdoodle cake and I made shepherd's pie (per Quinn's request)

Beckie came home from the hospital last Monday afternoon. With the knee walker borrowed from Emily and Joe, she is able to scoot around her place with ease. I bought a shower stool that will fit in her antique tub and she had her first shower since the hospital on Wednesday. I stuck around just in case she had problems but she reported it worked great. She has to stay off her foot for three weeks and I am not sure if she will be able to go to work during that time. We'll see what her surgeon says tomorrow...

Steve has slowly been improving from his gout. I had an epiphany on Monday that we needed to drastically change our diet. Remembering what we ate during the month of December (beef, ham, pork exclusively) it is no wonder he had a flair up! Going forward, we will eat red meat only two times a month and consume chicken, fish and vegetarian the rest of the time. I also bought tart cherry pills that he is taking daily. We borrowed two knee walkers for Beckie with the idea that she would use one at home and one at work but, since she was not yet at Little Fox, I took one home for Steve and it was a great help all last week - certainly much better than the walker! And, as the week has progressed, he has been feeling better to the point that he is now walking without any aid, he is going down the stairs to the basement, we were able to attend the temple on Friday and he even helped pass the sacrament on Sunday! Now, he is not completely pain free but it is tolerable. 

I gave Quinn and Larkin piano lessons Tuesday evening before orchestra rehearsal. Boy, it had been a long time since their last one! Thursday evening was English class. I can't remember if I have reported that, since the first of this month, I am no longer teaching a class. I requested this so I could spend more energies with sewing projects for the ladies. I still drove two groups of women to and from class and will continue to do that going forward. And, instead of sitting around for that hour Thursday night, I participated in a zoom meeting for the food committee of our pioneer trek the stake is holding this summer. Yes, in spite of my 2026 goal of "Less", I am involved in another project! I signed up to do this this back in October when I was not considering doing "less", darn it! I think, after the first meeting, that I will continue to be a part of this committee but I am not sure I will actually be there at the trek in June. Maybe if someone provides an air conditioned RV for the support crew, I will reconsider???

Kirsti sent Steve a new BYU sweatshirt for his birthday. 

My gift was seasons 4 and 5 of All Creatures Great and Small on DVD. We caught the first episode of Season 6 this past week. Loved it, as usual! We also drove to Culvers for his birthday and enjoyed a delicious concrete. We also watched the movie Midway this week. While playing games New Year's Eve, we listened to a CD of John Williams music and he wrote the score to Midway. We commented that we had never seen the movie (made in 1976) so I requested it from the public library. It had an all-star cast (Henry Fonda, Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchem, Robert Wagner....) and it used a lot of actual footage from the war, which was cool. It was a typical war movie. Nevertheless, we didn't hate watching it 😄. We also watched the first episode of Starfleet Academy on Paramount+ this past week. Boy, it is going to be a good series!

Temperatures have been all over the place this past week. It reached the high fifties on Tuesday and I spent some time in the yard - still trying to close flower beds down for the winter. I finished trimming the iris back and I also cut back the chrysanthemums. Then, the thermometer plummeted and we have been positively frigid all weekend and into today. We even got a dusting of snow Saturday morning. 

I close with a shot of my little Christmas tree farm. All five were the same size when I planted them  five years ago. Weird how they vary in size now. The second from the right will be ready for cutting next year, I think...

 

A week of health issues

Beckie had surgery on her left foot Monday evening. The surgeon had to make an eight-inch incision to get all the infection out! Steve and I were able to see her after the operation. I had women's group all morning and lessons in the afternoon but Sarah and Emily were able to spend some time with Beckie mid-day. 

On Friday, the 2nd, Steve developed shooting pains in his left foot, centering around his left big toe. The pain continued all weekend and moved up into his leg. He was finally able to get a doctor appointment for Tuesday morning and it was diagnosed as gout. This is a first for Steve. And, in spite of prescription medicine that we picked up Tuesday morning and the tart cherry juice I bought on Friday and the heating pad, he has been miserable and pretty much recliner-bound all week. He uses a walker to get around! The medicine was for eight days and you can be sure he will be reporting to his doctor early next week about his progress (or non-progress, actually). 

Tuesday morning (earlier than Steve's appointment) I had bloodwork for a fasting lipid profile to check if my statin medicine was working and IT IS!!!  I am so delighted that I have a statin that I can tolerate and that is doing some good. 

Friday morning, I had a dermatologist appointment for my annual full body scan and I checked out just fine. 

Beckie has been in the hospital all week and was originally scheduled for surgery to close up her wound (which they left open and have been packing and dressing twice a day since Monday) on Tuesday, the 13th but yesterday, her surgeon informed her that her numbers were looking very good and she had the surgery this morning. I was able to be with her before and after this operation. The plan is for her to go home tomorrow sometime. 

I was able to visit Beckie every day this week at various times. She has also had plenty of friends up to visit her and when no one is around, she sleeps. She has not been able to tolerate the hospital food so friends and family have brought in assorted foods that sound good to her but she is also dealt with nausea for a few days. 

Elise came into town Saturday afternoon and she helped me get Beckie's car back to her home after we visited a bit that evening. We were met by Emily at the apartment afterwards and we did a some cleaning for Beckie. She had been so sick before she ever went to the hospital that she didn't feel like doing much around her place. Elise returned to Columbia this afternoon after another visit to the hospital.

So, most of the week, I have been driving - to Missouri Baptist Hospital, to doctor appointments, to the grocery store, to orchestra rehearsal for the first time in two months,  to English class Thursday night, to drop off my sewing machine for routine cleaning and other errands. Because Steve cannot get up and down the stairs, I have been doing a LOT of laundry - for us and for Beckie. Whew, what a week!

Below are photos of the cute squish mallow that Larkin and Emily brought to Beckie to use as a hugging pillow (I brought a pillow case the next day to put it in so it keeps clean) and of the plant and flower that we bought her.

Happy 2026

 This past week has been full of family time!  Julina drove over from Indiana on Monday to spend a few days with us. Beckie came over that evening and we had the best visit - Beckie, Julina, Sarah, Steve and me.  Tuesday morning, Steve and I picked up our Kia Soul that had been in the body shop for two weeks getting the back bumper fixed from when someone backed into me at the air pump at the service station. This was in early in October. Then we did a bit of grocery shopping. Julina drove over to Ballwin to spend some time with the Southerlands and to see Zootopia 2 with them. That evening, while Julina and Sarah had dinner at Little Fox in the evening, Steve and I watched Best In Show (I got from the library). It was amusing but a bit too crass for our taste. Wednesday we got up bright and early and drove to Columbia to spend some time with Steven, Tamara and Elise. Sarah and Julina got to meet Biscuit. We all had lunch at Flat Branch and then said our farewells (Tamara had a doctor appointment and Steven had to go to work) and drove back to St. Louis to celebrate a quiet New Year's Eve at home eating yummy snacks and playing games. We all went to bed before midnight..

We said goodbye to Julina early New Year's Day and then I spent the rest of the day putting away Christmas decor. We took a break at 11:30 to take Lucy to lunch at Panera. Emily and Joe dropped her off at our place when they borrowed our Honda Element to help haul pieces of a twin loft bed they bought off of Marketplace for an update of Lucy's room. 

Friday morning, the leaders of Kindness Begins With Me needed to purge the storage room in the church and which meant I needed to be there as a church representative while they worked. I had choir things to work on so I was happy to be there. I continued working on Christmas cards in the afternoon and Steve and I attended the temple in the evening. 

Saturday started out as a nice quiet day. I ran a few errands and taught a cello lesson and continued with Christmas cards. Sarah left at about 3:00 for Columbia to have dinner with Matt, a friend from high school and his new wife. About the time she left, we got a text from Beckie informing us that she was in the ER at SLU (St. Louis University). Back in early October, she traveled to Chicago with friends and with all the sight seeing, she developed a blister on her left foot. It got worse and worse and, once she got back home, she went to urgent care where she got high powered antibiotics and instructions on wound care. Her foot since then has been gradually getting better and better until the wound was about the size of a quarter in diameter. Three days ago, it suddenly got worse. Really worse so that she started running a fever, she had to leave work New Year's eve and she spent New Year's Day in bed sleeping and going between hot and cold in temperature. She got up to 102 degrees at one point. Saturday morning, she went to urgent care again and they told her they could give her another round of oral antibiotics and a wound care consult but they advised her that she should go to an ER since this wound looked pretty deep and it might have gotten down to the bone. So, Beckie arrived at the ER a little after two where they eventually took some blood but then, nothing more was done for her. She waited all afternoon and into the evening in the cold, drafty waiting area - still chilled with a fever, trying to doze. I packed up a ham sandwich and a blanket and joined her at about 7:00 and waited with her until about 10:00. She finally walked out at midnight after being ignored for ten hours!!! Of course, this ER is in the city where a lot of folks use it as their primary care provider so I guess we shouldn't be surprised. This morning, she went to a different ER - Missouri Baptist Hospital - which is NOT in the downtown area and which has the reputation of having a better ER and she was seen by a doctor within two hours. She had more bloodwork taken, had an x-ray and an MRI and was almost going to be sent home this evening until a foot specialist looked at the MRI and suggested she stay overnight - most likely to be put on IV antibiotics. Whew!  Poor Beckie - what a way to start the new year. 

We have a new church meeting time - 9:00 am - and I love it. This afternoon I had the best nap and I finished Christmas cards. Whew! And, I have been worried and checking my text messages with updates on Beckie.