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. 

Christmas Week 2019

Christmas 2019 was all I could have hoped it would be.  It was so great to be with so many of our children again after a two-year absence. (although, having Kirsti, Ryan, Alice, and Sarah with us in Phoenix last Christmas was pretty awesome!)  We enjoyed a Bethlehem dinner on Christmas eve followed by the annual watching of Scrooge.  Sarah, Elise, Steve and I went to Rainbow House (a children's shelter) Christmas morning to cook them breakfast.  Due to the nature of the facility, the number of children in residence varies day by day and even hour by hour so that morning, we only had one 16 year old boy to feed plus two workers.  He was a real sweet kid and he wanted to cook the scrambled eggs.  Beckie drove over from St. Louis about 3:30, Tamara came at that time too but Steven had to work at the station so we didn't see him until 5:00.  Emily, Joe, and kids arrive about 6:15.  Since Christmas Day dinner was just ham and salads and all kinds of finger foods, we didn't have a "formal" sit-down meal.  Oh, Sarah's friend Aaron Barnard and our family friend Patrick Layton also joined us.  That evening, my musician heart was full as we had singing around the piano!  Noah, Lucy, and Quinn also played their Christmas carol assignments from piano lessons. 

The Southerlands and Beckie stayed with Steven and Tamara (Sarah and the dogs were in our basement) so we were able to all hang out together on Thursday, the 26th, too!  Again, poor Steven had to work.   But, he joined us as we had fun in the evening playing games.  During the day, Steve, Sarah, Emily, Beckie, Elise, and went to a mid-day showing of "Little Women".   

Bethlehem Dinner and reading from Luke

Elise and Sarah Christmas morning in "matching" shirts

playing celebrity

Other activities during the week:

Sarah and I and the dogs enjoyed a walk Monday morning.  We went along the Bear Creek and even went off trail a bit and found a shelter made by some homeless person!  Good thing it wasn't occupied at the time or, if it was, he/she didn't have a gun!!!!  Steve and Sarah and the pups went on a different walk Tuesday morning.

Steven, Sarah, Steve, Patrick Layton, and I saw "Star Wars" Monday night.  LOVED it! 

I have been feeding my friend Elizabeth's cat, Smokey, all week. 


The St. Louis family left for home Friday morning.  For lunch, Sarah, Steve, and I ate at Bankok Gardens Friday and then she left for a visit to Julina in Indiana for a couple of days.  Steve and I kept the dogs. 

They are good dogs but the current situation at our house has made caring for them just a teeny bit tricky because foundation work started the day after Christmas and the front yard is a muddy mess.  The weather was unseasonably warm all week, melting remaining snow and making the back yard also a muddy mess.  Plus, Lily has figured out how to escape from our fenced yard and the foundation folks have removed part of the fence to allow their equipment to get into the backyard.  Bottom line - every time the dogs go out, they have to be on leash and we have to dodge (sometimes unsuccessfully) the mud.  Oh, and on Saturday it rained!  I am SO excited to finally have this work begin because it is the catalyst for all the other work that will be done on the house.  I keep telling myself this as I dodge the mud and look at my destroyed front lawn and landscaping.  The first casualty was my tart cherry tree that was so faithful year after year in producing a huge crop of cherries.  There is lies next to our wooden nativity....

Below is one of the two holes dug in our garage.  See how DEEP it is!!!  We also have three piers in our front yard and two in the back.  Hooray for progress!

A strangely long week

....although, I should not be surprised when we have a start of a week with about six inches of snow and BITTER cold and end it with temperatures in the mid-fifties!  The first photo is last Sunday night.  And today, the snow is melted and we're all going around in shirt sleeves.

The snow was SO pretty, though, and we discovered that our little all-wheel drive Element does very nicely on snow.  I had a rehearsal last Sunday afternoon and I was able to just tootle right there and back with no problems..... well, I tootled at 25 miles per hour but with nary a skid.  I had to work at the Music Suite both Monday and Tuesday but beyond that, Steve and I pretty much hunkered down here at home.  We did more baking.  

Even by Thursday, there was still snow on the ground.  I looked out my bedroom window in the morning to see the following sight....

Yep, that is orange and red spray paint!  Dig Rite strikes again.  At first, I couldn't imagine why they had come by and then I wondered - could it possibly mean that our foundation work will start soon?  And, sure enough, Absolute Foundation Recovery called that afternoon to announce that they were coming the day after Christmas!  Hooray!  Wait.....the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS?????  And we have to have the part of the garage next to the house cleared of everything by then?  Well, it is what it is and we started last night by moving all of Sarah's boxes into the house so she could sort through them.  YES!  Sarah is here.  She arrived Friday night after her epic two-day drive from Utah.  Hooray for Vicki and Joe Southerland who let her sleep at their place in Aurora on Thursday night.  Below is Steve with the granddogs.  Never skipping a beat from a two-year absence, they are awaiting their nightly treat from Grandpa.  We don't have doggie treats any more but tortilla chips do quite nicely!

Yesterday, we had our annual visit to St. Charles.  Steve, me, Emily, Joe, Noah, Lucy, Quinn, Larkin, Elise, Beckie, Steven, Tamara, Sarah, Melanie and friends Aaron Barnard and Patrick Layton all came.  Weather was in the high 40's and we went earlier than usual since Beckie had to work in the evening and it turned out to be a perfect time. 

Here is Emily and Lucy visiting with "Ebeneezer Scrooge"

Here is Emily, Lucy, and Larkin in the attic of one of the shop buildings.  Most of the places along the street were built in the mid-1800's

 Larkin holding Aunt Beckia's hand.  She has forever linked Beckie with IKEA - hence the combo name.

Lunch was at an nearby McAllister's Deli where we ate and all showed our treasures we found during our two-hour shopping adventure in St. Charles.

Steve and I pooled our treasure-finding money and bought the galvanized tote on the table below.  I believe it was originally used to haul milk bottles.  

It was nice to let someone else do the cooking for Saturday lunch.  From Saturday the 14th to Thursday, the 19th - six days - we had guests at our house for dinner five different times!  Each night was enjoyable with good friends but, wow, that is a bit much!

Today was our ward Christmas sacrament meeting program.  Three short talks (all VERY good) with music before, inbetween, and after.  I was asked to coordinate the music a few weeks before officially becoming the music chair, thankfully, so I had time to put things together.  The Primary children sang first..."Mary's Lullaby".  Then I played in a trio with a flute and a piano - we did a lovely, simple arrangement of "The First Noel".  I accompanied a young women trio singing "I Heard The Bells".  This was a fairly sophisticated vocal arrangement but the girls were definitely up to the challenge.  It came came from an old book - a collection of holiday songs... some sacred, some secular...that my mom had passed down to me!  In fact, there are my mom's pencil markings in the arrangement so sometime in the late 50's or early 60's, she sang that very same song in church!  Pretty neat, I think.  The final number was Silent Night played on the piano and organ with a violin obligato.  Tamara played piano, I played organ, and the violin was played by an extremely talented violinist I just discovered in our ward.  We had a false start, though.  Tamara played the first two measures and when I came in on measure three, it sounded AWFUL!  Someone prior to the service had tinkered with the pitch selector on the organ and had moved it to a couple of steps higher than the piano!!!!!  I had to stop Tamara and adjust the dial and THEN it went without a hitch.  One time before, when I was the organist, I noticed that the opening song seemed extremely high and looked down at the pitch knob and, sure enough, it WAS set to a very high pitch.  From then on, I always checked the knob every Sunday.  But, it has been almost ten years since I have been the ward organist so I was not in that habit.  I am now!

We watched "One Magic Christmas", "Miracle on 34th Street" (the newer one), and "Elf" this past week.  Christmas gifts are all wrapped and cards are all sent.  Goodies have been delivered to neighbors and friends.  Time to sit back and just enjoy Christmas with family.....