Holidays are wonderful stay-in-bed times. I think I was the last to get up. I had made today's breakfast casserole last night, so Ken just popped it into the oven this morning. It was a hash brown, sausage, and egg casserole with cream cheese. It was delicious and everyone liked it. I liked it, too, for the convenience of not having to cook three separate things.We had a nice, peaceful of scriptures and gifts. There were lots of warm socks and slippers,
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| Warm tootsies! |
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| Like mother, like daughter, warm feet! |
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| Papa's Polar bear feet! |
long ties and bow ties,
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| Christmas ties |
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| BYU colors bow tie. |
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| Gold & black - fancy! |
games and books.
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| Can't go wrong with Pres. Uchtdorf! |
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| Something new to try! |
Dinner was good, except...I lost another crown! This was on the left side instead of the right. It's my oldest one and I've expected to go for a while. But two in one week's time! Guess who's got to make a call tomorrow?
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
The dentist office is closed today, but open tomorrow. Another day ahead of me of being super-careful.
A sister in our ward, who used to be my VT, then was my VT companion, and even came to Seminary occasionally my first year teaching (since she never got to go as a youth), passed away this morning. She's been in ill health for a long time and very frustrated with her limitations. While I'm somewhat sad, I'm also happy for her. She is free and can see to be her creative self again. I bet she's up in heaven telling her funny stories again!
My So. Cal. brain totally spaced on the winter temperatures as I went out grocery shopping in my usually-fine jacket. No coat, no gloves, no scarf. Brr!
Tonight we fed the sister missionaries Shepherd's pie (read: Christmas leftovers), salad and on-sale Christmas mini-cupcakes from Walmart. I know it's the second week in a row, but people are gone for the holidays, and they needed a meal...and a warm house to rest in!
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
If ever a day could start off badly, today did. I woke earlier than I intended and pulled on some clothes so I could take Jonathan to work. I sent him ahead of me to warm up the car; it's a brutally cold morning of 19 degrees that felt like half that.
The car wouldn't start; the battery was dead. Poor Jonathan had to brave the cold on his bicycle and was not happy. I went inside calmly, showered, and did the only thing I could think of: call my boss. She gets to the library around eight: would she come by on her way to work and jump my car? Gratefully, she did!
While waiting for her, Analiese and I had the great job of moving the car out the garage into the driveway so we could get the jump. The car wouldn't shift; being a modern electric car, without power from the battery and the ignition turned, then you can shift. But...we weren't down; we know how to read owner's manuals and found a way to get around it. Moved to neutral, Analiese sat in the driver's seat and kept the steering wheel straight while I pushed it out of the garage. We are smart and resourceful!
Ken had warned me during the weekend that the battery was going, so my next chore was a trip to Walmart to replace it. Ugh! Not cheap! That was followed by a squeeze into the dentist to put another crown back on. This wasn't as easy nor cheap an occasion as last week. They did cement it back in, but it's a temporary fix because it's wearing thing. The replacement will cost me over $500 out of pocket! Ouch! The End of the Year is expensive!
Work was mellow, compared with my morning. The heat wasn't working, so it was plenty cold inside. Oh, some people are off this week, including our FD Spanish-speaker. I got called up twice this afternoon, just to do that. Positively, I learned a new verb in Spanish: imprimir. "To print."
Thursday, December 28, 2017
It was a much better morning today. The car worked perfectly, even in the very cold morning. We had a tiny snow flurry mid-morning, but it wasn't enough to pile or stick.
Besides wearing my winter coat, I also took my sweater to work. The heat hasn't been working in the library and last night I actually got chilled. I could wear a long-sleeved shirt, but what if I got warm? I have to layer because I tend to get warm.
It was a very quiet, simple day at work. My boss brought cocoa packets, so she, Analiese, and myself had a nice cup of it during our break on this cold day!
Dinner was crockpot gingerbread oatmeal. It smelled glorious - it had a tablespoon of cinnamon and I hand-grated nutmeg in it - but tasted rather bland. I had to add more molasses so it would taste more gingerbread-ish. It was very nice and warm going down though!
Friday, December 29, 2017
It was a difficult night for me. I'm not sure if my body was trying to fight off sickness, or what, but I was up in the early hours in the bathroom while my stomach betrayed me. I finally got back to bed and slept, but still felt nauseous when I woke, accompanied by a sore throat.
I was careful, for the larger part of the day, having toast for breakfast and crackers with orange juice for lunch. Come late afternoon, I was feeling genuinely hungry, so I felt safe having the soup I'd planned for dinner.
I forgot today was pay day, so I ended up going to the bank on my short afternoon break. Only fifteen minutes, right? Nope, it was busy at the drive through, so I had to wait. Then, they couldn't "find" my account! I've only been going there for four years! Come to find out, one of the numbers on my account card is fading and it was misread. That was a long fifteen minutes!
Saturday, December 30, 2017
The time had come...to take down Christmas at the library. Sigh. Still, if the desk gal comes back from vacation and sees it all still up, she would not be happy.
What took me 20 hours to paint, took only 2 1/2 hours to clean up. I had a wet, soapy squeegee that I used to soak each painting (except Mr. Snowman - he gets a stay of execution until winter's end), let the solution sit for a couple of minutes, and then scraped it all off. It came off easily in strips. If it dried and was difficult, I put some more solution on it to soak and repeated. Quick and easy!
I spent the afternoon processing audiobooks for teens and children. It was a cavalcade of celebrities: one was written and read by Neil Patrick Harris, one had Kirby Heyborne as one of the readers in another, and David Tennant in a third. I wanted to listen to every one of them!
Ken came home this evening and decided to take me to dinner in Lawton. We had a nice Mexican dinner at Ted's of Escondido, where I'd never been before. I had a tasty grilled chicken wrap with grilled veggies in a cheddar-jalapeño tortilla. Plus they feted us with warm fresh sopapillas at the end for dessert!
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| On the wall of the restaurant - for Analiese. |
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| More cool decor! |
Sunday, December 31, 2017
The weather channel this morning read our temperature as 16 degrees, but feeling more like zero. There was a dusting of snow and a little ice on the roads outside. Not far into the morning came a message from the bishop: church is canceled. I imagine that Niles up in Alaska is highly amused by this.
So we spent a little extra time on Devotional. I referred to a January New Era article on good goal/resolution ideas for the new year. After that I did some planner work, Seminary organizing, budget planning, and just plain, good, old-fashioned thinking.
It was outrageously cold as the afternoon wore on to evening. At 6:00 p.m., we were looking at 17 degrees and the lowest guess for tonight is 9 degrees. The heat is going, the water is dripping, and the house struggled to hold in the warmth. The back of the house in particular was an ice box; as I type this, I have my coat and gloves on!
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