SO IS IT FALL?

Monday, September 18, 2017
We had a raucous thunderstorm last night and an actual gully-washer this morning. By the time I left the house to pick up Analiese from Seminary, the house was surrounded by a swamp! Driving to the church and back was tricky because the water came up through almost both lanes on each side of the street. The corner where I turn to come home at Broadway and Navajo was completely covered!

I guess this means no house painting today. Rats!

I got my birthday package from my bestie ME today. I didn't care that it's really for tomorrow...I needed the boost NOW! Seven books, a journal, a biscuit cutter, cute mini kitchen tools and two mint truffle bars later

...I felt so loved! By the end of the day, I'd read a snippet of nearly every book!

On account of the rainy day, I made some chicken and rice soup (a new recipe). This is the first "soup of the fall." It smelled and tasted great.

But one batch didn't make much, as demonstrated by Jonathan who had three bowls!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
It is my birthday today. I am now old. 50. Half a century. Brother.

I started today with a 5:30 alarm because I was subbing in the Altus Ward Seminary class this morning. Yes, Analiese finally had a Seminary lesson from her mother. She said I did fine. One of my old students complained about their current teacher, but I reminded her that everyone has a different teaching style and has much they can learn from! I certainly don't want to get into that kind of an issue! The current teacher is called and set apart for them now, not me. I have my own class to deal with, thank you very much!

Analiese gave me a necklace as a gift that she's made at the family reunion in Oregon.  It is very pretty. Jonathan gave me a nice picture from for our most recent family photo and a large bag of pistachios. Ken texted me birthday wishes and said we'd do something next week. Plus I got phone calls, texts, and Facebook greetings from many friends and loved ones. Thanks, everybody!

Wednesday, September 20, 2017
It was another extra-early morning today to sub in Seminary. We had a great discussion that nearly everyone contributed to at the end. I like that!

Analiese is enjoying - for the most part - her EPIC high school classes. Today she had to do a slide presentation on Ancient China. She was very interested and involved in learning about it and in assembling her slide show.  She likes to be creative. Sound like anyone you know?

She made French toast for dinner tonight. She did a good job and it tasted great. She added a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, not going overboard. She's become quite the little cook!

Coming home from the library, I was treated to quite the light show. No thunder, no rain, just clouds filled with lightning headed east. Jonathan texted me on his way back from Lawton that he had a good view of it!

Thursday, September 21, 2017
Not having to get up at 5:30 made 6:00 almost feel like sleeping in! Since I still had to leave with Analiese a little earlier to let her teacher in. I still had his keys.

For my class today, I was able to spend about twenty minutes over the phone trying to help a family operate the online Seminary site. I think the mom got it by the time we finished. I hope so - that family has two of my students!

I finished cataloging all the books I had on my cart this afternoon. This left me time to start sorting withdrawn books by genre again.

Friday, September 22, 2017
I had an utterly delicious "lie in" this morning. You may not think 7:30 is sleeping in, but to me, it was the height of luxury! No alarms. Sweet!

I took Jonathan over to the Highway Patrol office and then to the Tag Agency (think DMV, only much better) to get him his driver's permit. He has to have that for at least thirty days before he can get his license. He happily drove home. Then a little later he drove me and Analiese to Burger King for lunch. It's attached to the EZGo gas station at the end of town and they've been doing a renovation on it, so the place, including the parking lot, is a mess. That's okay. It was good practice for him.

The remainder of the day was filled with laundry, Seminary study, and dinner prep. Jonathan had purchased me a copy of "Hocus Pocus" because ever year I'm looking for it online around Halloween time. So I indulged myself this evening in ushering in the Fall by watching it.

Saturday, September 23, 2017
I knew I was down a person due to illness at the library today. That left three of us to hold the fort. Fine. We can make that work.

Except...FD2 decided not only to be coming back late from lunch (I had okayed a little bit late), but NOT COME BACK AT ALL! Her father called fifteen minutes after she was supposed to be back, saying she had problems (car?) and he was going to check it out. I told him she HAD to be back here by 1:00 p.m. After the call, I heard nothing for the rest of the day (yes, she has a phone).

This threw everything off. I watched the desk so FD1 could have her lunch (under the assumption that FD2 would have been back long before the other one returned). Then I ran home (unfortunately it left her alone at the library, but what was I to do?) for ten minutes to pick up Jonathan from home so he could help me with the Lego builders group at 3:00 p.m. That was the only break I got!

I was so exhausted by the end of the day! However, I was so extraordinarily grateful for Jonathan's help. It was really cute watching him help a little boy

(the group was ages 3-7) build a "house." I think a little hero-worshiping was going on.  The activity was successful and we had six kids. Here's a showcase of all they worked on (the apple tree in the middle was my contribution!).

The Women's session of General Conference was tonight. I was too tired and my feet hurt, so I didn't want to go over to the church. Analiese was okay with that. Thank goodness for BYUtv! I did enjoy the conference, just even more in my own home on my sofa!

Sunday, September 24, 2017
There was a Linger Longer after church today. Someone decided to bake brownies in the oven during the last hour of church. The Relief Society room is only a few doors down from the kitchen. It was an excruciating hour!

I took a salad. With me working (especially as crazy as yesterday was), I just don't have time for making anything complicated. So I made taco salad, more of a kid-pleaser, but still healthy. I even "made" my own dressing by mixing Ranch with salsa. Hey, it tasted great.

The sister missionaries came by for water refills this afternoon and got to meet Ken. Yes, I actually do have a husband! They were cute, as usual, calling me their best friend. I truly am a friend to the missionaries, with all my heart!

WORKING ON GETTING BETTER

Monday, September 11, 2017
After two days of peace in my lower GI, we're back to square one. The stomach pain is back, along with the headaches, weakness and dizziness. Are we back to last Wednesday? I REALLY need to be over this!

The sister missionaries came over this afternoon to see me. One, because I wasn't there Sunday and they missed me. Two, because one is being transferred on Wednesday and wanted to see me one more time. They are so sweet and their spirits energize me and my testimony!

There was a bat flitting around our backyard this evening. Since this has been such a summer for bugs, I wasn't too surprised to see it. If I'd know they'd come around, though, I might have put up a bat house for them! As it was, I saw a neighborhood cat staring at it, too. I chided the cat, "You leave that bat alone, hear me?"

Tuesday, September 12, 2017
This is getting soooooo boring. Shall we recap?

• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Body Ache
• Diabolic G.I.

I have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow at 2;30. Not that I really think he'll be able to do much. I probably just have to ride it out...but it's sure a big wave!

I tried to go to work. They kicked me out and sent me home and are waiting to hear what the doctor says tomorrow. I really need to work, but apparently a third personal has fallen ill. They're just a bit nervous.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

My G.I. was all bark and no bite last night. Which meant it kept me up for a bit, but it was painless.

Since my doctor's appointment isn't until 2:30 and I need to do whatever I can to feel better, so I went back to bed and slept for four more hours. Being that I'm sick, this can't be a bad thing.

Eating-wise, I had a protein shake for breakfast and a banana with Powerade (change-up, it was on sale at Walmart) for lunch. Right now the thought of crackers makes me nauseous.

At the doctor's they made me wear a mask

until results came back from the flu swab test. It was only a ten-minute wait, but I felt very self-conscious. It came back negative, so apparently that meant I wasn't contagious because they told me to take off the mask. The doctor figures it's a virus and he can do nothing for it. Rest and fluids. What I was already doing. Ride it out. Sigh.

I did go to work for a few hours at the library tonight. I was feeling tired and ragged by the end. But at least I could work.

Thursday, September 14, 2017
I actually felt better today. Still a little tired, but everything else has gone away. I am tentatively positive about this. Erring on the cautious side, I took a short nap.

Analiese needed clay for a project for her art history project. Why don't they give me a heads up so I can assemble what I need BEFORE the day of the project. I had to borrow some Playdough from the seminary closet. If there wasn't any there, I would have asked the HL if she had some. She has every craft supply imaginable!

I worked the whole day today with no more fatigue than a normal day. Everyone said I looked better from even yesterday. Cross your fingers, knock on wood, whatever. Things are looking up!

Friday, September 15, 2017
This is the first day in a couple of weeks that I haven't had a nap. We'll see how that affects me.

It's a very busy day. I had more Seminary stuff to work on because I'm subbing in the Altus class for two days next week. I've decided that one of those lessons will also be used for my online live class on Monday, doing double-duty and cutting down on prep work.

Jonathan had behind-the-wheel lessons this morning, but after that we went to Walmart to get stuff for tonight's dinner and to (try and) get paint for Monday (YAY!). They didn't have the light base for the color I finally chose, but I called Ken and he picked it up at the Chickasha Walmart.

The sister missionaries came over for dinner, one of them being new. I made pork chops with apples, Amish noodles, salad, and totally-from-scratch chocolate cake (with Jonathan's assistance). We haven't had a nice sit-down home-cooked meal in a while so we appreciated it!

Saturday, September 16, 2017
I started my work day doing some machine/technology/computer inventory in preparation for an audit next month. I did it out front and on the floor for that hour before the library opens so I wouldn't be in the way of patrons, especially since computer access is one of our more popular options. There's still the back, the offices, and the garage to be done, but like Rome, this won't happen in a day.

I feel completely justified/vindicated. This past week, having sold all the genre boxes on the table on the floor, the library staff got generic boxes of books and put them out. Not a one of them moved. So this morning I replaced them with my genre box collection and sold nearly all I had - about six or seven! In ONE day. We have so many books to get rid of, we have to sell them and my way works. Though now it means I need to sort some more. I kind of ran out of what I had.

Sunday, September 17, 2017
At the last minute, before leaving for church, I was asked to sub for the Primary chorister. I grabbed a piece of posterboard, some yellow star sticky notes, and some little stickers. The Primary is getting close to having their program, so I did a review, writing each song on a star. Then, while the kids sang, I gave them stickers to place around that corresponding star. It worked really well for the Junior Primary, but only so-so for the Seniors. They tend to get cynical about singing time the later we get in the year.

However, the best part was in Senior singing time. Our last song, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me," is very spiritual. I asked them to sing their testimony, especially at the chorus. Oh, the Spirit was so very strong! "I know He lives! I will follow faithfully! I give my heart to Him. I know that my Savior loves me!" It literally made me weak in the knees, it was so powerful!

But I did sing my voice out. After church I was squeaking. You can't say I don't put all my energy into these things!

TMI...but if you really want to know...

Monday, September 4, 2017
Labor Day: no Seminary + no work = Sleep in! I did, too, deliciously, until 8 a.m. My day is made already!

Jonathan and Analiese helped me with my Seminary social discussion this week by debating Marvel vs. DC comics. It was silly and fun. I hope the kids enjoy it.

Ken had help with the house this afternoon from a brother in our ward and his father-in-law who was visiting from Mexico. This meant we got to practice our Spanish, something Ken adores. The FIL was pleased to have a conversation he could understand. He was very sweet and I spent some time practicing and chatting with him. Especially as he came in to beat the heat; temperatures have rising lately.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Today was a video lesson day for Seminary because of Labor Day yesterday (Did I say "day" enough for you?) I had eleven students, so that wasn't too bad, considering.

Analiese had to be at the library at nine this morning to take a pre-ACT test. This was to see how she stood and where her weaknesses lie so they can work on it for her to take the real thing next year. Her teacher said it would take her four-five hours and she wasn't to get upset because she probably hadn't encountered too much of it - especially science and math. Well, she completed the test in under two and a half hours and aced everything, including science, excepting math and even that wasn't too bad. She was so relieved and I was happy for her. She won't have to do too much extra study to prepare for it. I think she is going to do well in high school and adjust quickly to college, when the time comes.

Let's see...at work I unpacked five boxes of books (about 72-75 total), cataloged six more DVDs plus some large-print books, re-organized my book label collection, and helped my boss go over the book order inventory list. Busy day.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017
I had a rough night. I spent most of it in the bathroom with horrific stomach cramps.

So this morning I awoke feeling rather flat. Like a zombie, except zombies wouldn't feel dizzy, headache-y, and have the need to be near a bathroom at all times. This meant that after Devotional, I went to bed and slept it out as much as I could until 11 a.m., when I got a shower with the intention of going to work.

By 11:30 I realized that wasn't going to happen. The zombie feeling wouldn't stop and I still had a very close relationship with my commode. I reluctantly called in sick.

And spent the rest of the day on the sofa or in bed. I ate toast and crackers and drank a lot of water or Gatorade. I vegged out until I dragged myself to bed for the night at nine, praying for a better day tomorrow.

Thursday, September 7, 2017
I slept through the night with no nocturnal toilet visits! I was a little tired, but there was no dizziness, headaches or cramps!

To be on the safe side, I took a short nap in the morning. Then I jumped in the shower.

Like a stalker, waiting in the shadows for its victim, it hit me. I am grateful that my toilet is but mere feet from my shower. I groaned, but took some medicine, crossing my fingers that this was just a final shot.

No such luck. I was ready to walk out the door to go to work when it hit me again, this time adding the cramps back in. What am I supposed to do? I called my boss...again. Apparently there's a nasty stomach bug going around and lucky me found it.

Back to bed for a three hour sleep (really too long to call a nap). Veg day #2 - no bueno. 😖

Friday, September 8, 2017
Today's illness analogy is brought to us by the Great Plague. I am waiting to see if the death carts are going to pick me up and cart me to an unknown mass grave. However, I am not to the point of blaming rats yet.

I continue to feel dragged out. I thought I'd try to get a pedicure I really needed. I hadn't been ill in the night. So I went, no problem. Decided to go get gas since the van was nearly empty (those prices were enough to make anyone sick to their stomach!) and that was okay. Well, as I got back the house, a Pepsi truck was on the road in front of my driveway and I was feeling hungry. My stomach was saying it's hungry, so I figured a small trip to McD's for a late breakfast sandwich with OJ. Right, some real food!

BAD IDEA. It didn't take 30 minutes and I was home and sick all over. Stomach is stupid. I hate crackers and Gatorade.

Saturday, September 9, 2017
The last time I was overtly ill was yesterday morning. No stomach cramps, either. Just fatigue and dizziness and my left eye keeps twitching?  I'd missed so much work, I figured I go in, work quietly and gently (not too fast or eager) in the back, rest on my lunch break and make the day go okay.

I lasted three hours. I made myself last three hours. By then I had stabbing upper stomach pains, felt dizzier and wanted to sleep. My co-workers said I looked like death and persuaded me to go home. Which I did after a Walmart run for - you guessed it - more cracker and Gatorade...with a little soup thrown in for good measure. I even went home and ate some of it. It sat heavily for a while but, no rejection.

Then I slept. And repeated the last few days ritual. This is boring, but I haven't been able to do much else.

Sunday, September 10, 2017
Progress! I had a banana for breakfast.

I threw up the white flag of defeat today and only left the house to drop the kids off at church. It's been the bed or the sofa all day. Ken came home to find me groggy from the latest sleep-fest. I still have stuff to do, sick or not. Like this blog. Pray this thing goes AWAY!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR JOURNAL DISAPPEARS...

Monday, August 28, 2017
Still not feeling super awesome. But that doesn't matter. Mondays are too busy to be sick.

Like my online class, every Monday at 6:00 a.m. Today I had fourteen students, including one who listened over speaker-phone. Luckily the siblings pair up on the computer, so I don't have fourteen screens to try and make heads of.

Ken and Angel Cousin worked outside again; sanding and weed-whacking. The time has come to select pains and get ready to paint the house. I'm really praying we can get this house on the market before the end of September!

Before sending Ken back to Chickasha, I cut his hair (reality: clippers) and made sure he had another piece of his birthday pie, cuz goodness knows, if he left it, one of the child-locusts would devour it! I'm proud to say, he really enjoyed it.

THE REST OF THE WEEK.
Confession Time: I generally write in my journal during the week and transcribe most of it into my blog come the weekend. Well, after Monday, my journal went missing and I wasn't feeling well enough to really search for it. And I don't play catch-up - if I didn't write down Tuesday on Tuesday (Wednesday on Wednesday, you get it), I don't go back. As tired and not feeling awesome as I was this week, this means everything is kind of a blur. But I'll try and give some highlights.

Tuesday I muscled my way through all of my book orders (about 30) so that I could spend the rest of my week at work sorting through withdrawn books to put them in their genres to sell. We sold all seven boxes I put out last week and I interpreted it as a good sign. We have to get rid of them, there's no room for them and they're either going to fall over and knock somebody cold or crowd us out to where we have nowhere to move. Or they could catch on fire, which is my own personal anxiety nightmare. Plus, I know the HL is pulling more books and we've got to have a place for them! Aack!

Wednesday, about halfway through my work day, I received a nice surprise. the LD had seen my desk chair leaning over drunkenly (note: the chair, not me) and decided I needed a new chair. So she sent me out to a local office furniture place (yes, we have one) to pick one out. Me! Pick out my own chair! Their money, my chair! Sweet! I don't think I even took half an hour. They delivered to the library while I was on my dinner break, and I came back to my new sweet seat.

I wrote the LD a nice note, I was very grateful...me and my back!

Thursday, I had another reprieve for my back in the name of Jonathan. His bike tire had gone flat earlier in the week and he'd have me drop him off to work in the morning. Then, he'd walk to the library at the end of his shift and come home with me on my dinner break. Yesterday, I'd had him move a few boxes for me. Today, I made plans...and so did my boss! We moved a bunch of boxes (not just books, some computer equipment), to which I rewarded him with a large soda from the gas station down on the corner. Even the LD was impressed with his willingness to help.

Friday I got my haircut first thing in the morning. I should have taken a picture (but didn't) of the little rings that formed on the floor immediately after she'd cut them off. It's amazing how much my hair curls. Now that it's shorter, the curls don't get pulled out as much. Looks better, not so dragged out.

I also took Jonathan to get a new innertube for his bicycle. I guess this means no more library manual labor. Pity. I was enjoying it!

I chose a paint color for the house, too, though I didn't start loading those 5 gallon buckets onto my cart just yet. The color is the one here on the bottom: Bonjour Beige (tres chic!).

It is close enough to the original color; just a little darker, but will fade in time. I'm good with color so I feel good about that.

Saturday I didn't even mess with boxes of books, instead I focused on two boxes full of DVDs that HL and my boss found in the garage on Thursday (with Jonathan assisting). Apparently the movies had been donated THREE YEARS AGO and HL had stashed them there with the intention of merging them into our cataloged collection out front. Yeah. So I started in on them. Out of 150-200 videos, I got cataloged...12. Yep. It's not so easy as you might think. If I can pull the information off of them from a collective library website, that works nice and smooth. But only two did that. The rest I had to do original cataloging...which means from scratch. That takes a bit of time, especially since I haven't done a whole lot of them before and I still go a little slowly.  It's a long term project, with books in between.

This was where I found my journal: On the end table, by the sofa. Not even really covered up. But apparently I hadn't looked very hard. Hey, at least it's found!

Today (Sunday), I felt well enough for all of church, with just a tiny headache at the end. Ken had come up from Chickasha last night, so we were all able to go together. It's been nice to have the whole day together.

BUSY WEEK AGAIN

Monday, August 21, 2017

We made it! We survived our first day of seminary. I had eleven students attend with minimum difficulty. My PowerPoint worked fine and I even showed a video. Progress! Yesterday was just like a really, really bad dress rehearsal.

The problems aren't over and I imagine the next few weeks are going to see us working on and ironing out tech issues. I've already had four phone calls and two emails about stuff today. Connectivity to the learning site is one of our biggest challenges.

I picked up Analiese from her Seminary class (which I heard went smoothly) and we went for a walk before returning home. I think I'm going to need these times to help me decompress!

Ken worked outside alone today; Jonathan had to work. But Analiese used her glasses (courtesy of the library) to watch the eclipse. I was surprised how well they worked, even through cloud cover. We only had a 73% totality, so we watched some of the other places on nasa.gov on YouTube to see what 100% totality was like. It was pretty cool!

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Walking with Analiese this morning, I actually got bit THROUGH my clothes! And both kinds of "skeeters" were out: the small boys and the King Kongs which are 5x larger. Ugh! Okay...tomorrow - repellent!

I think we're making progress in Seminary. Most of my communications today had good news or at least positive thinking. OKC South Stake has called another online teacher to take some of my load - that is very good! More families are connecting and successfully getting online. And these kids are amazing! Already I'm getting testimonies, experiences, enthusiasm and humor from them. They, for the most part, seem to genuinely want to make this work. I think this is going to be a wonderful experience for them in spite of all the bumbling of we adults.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

During our morning walk, Analiese and I passed through the middle of the city park. Besides lots of toadstools - all the moisture this summer has brought out the fungus - there were so many robins! We must have seen thirty of them at least. I imagine they are here in response to the increased insect population. Go robins!

At work, my boss brought back from the Hollis library seven boxes full of books for me to remove from the system. I spent a good bit of time just organizing three boxes of Western paperbacks.

Those will be popular for our book sale. But my desk was covered!

Actually, there were more before I remembered to take a picture!

I spent four out of my first five hours going through most of them. After that, my eyes were tired and I needed a break!

Thursday, August 24, 2017
I am really enjoying my interaction with my seminary students. They are very perceptive and their desire to be close to the Lord is strong. One student had me in tears as I read of his desire to have faith like Nephi's. It's only the first week - this is going to be awesome!

Analiese and I didn't get very far on our walk after class because I took a step and ping, twinge, PAIN! I do not know what I did, but my left ankle did not like it. I tried to walk it off and hope it would click back into place, but we ended up going back to the van and home.

It was still tender by this evening, so I was careful walking on it at work. Which ended up with me sorting books by genre, removing them from the system, and boxing them up for sale. Today they sold two boxes of my Westerns from yesterday!

Friday, August 25, 2017
With hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico (prayers for Texas!), we were expecting some weather. But by the time Analiese and I left for Seminary, everything was dry...no rain, no storm. Until we got to the church building where it immediately started to rain. Good thing my rolling box (for my laptop) has a lid!

We didn't go walking today, but it wasn't due to the rain. Instead, we went home to get ready to go to the EXPO center for Children's Day at the Jackson County Fair. We volunteered to hold rabbits so kids could come and pet them. What a sacrifice! I think I held at least five rabbits

Brown mini-rex on my lap

(we'd swap them out occasionally to give them a rest) and I lowered my blood pressure by several points. I hadn't seen my Rabbit Club friends in a while

My friend, Valerie, grooming her lion-head rabbit.

, so that was great, too.

It poured heavily while we were at the fair, so we slogged through the mud (literally, a morass), me worrying that my minivan didn't have the umph and traction to get out of a mud-and-gravel parking lot. We ran some errands at Walmart and then headed home. I did lots of boring chores for the rest of the day, but also made my husband's birthday dessert - Chocolate Cream Pie - from scratch (well, I didn't make the crust). No pudding here! Ken doesn't like pudding. This was a custard, with eggs. I think he's going to enjoy it. I'll serve it with some real whipped cream on Sunday.

Saturday, August 26, 2017
The weather has cooled some and you won't see me complaining. Analiese says Fall is here, but I'm not quite ready to admit to that!

Besides being Fair weekend, it is also Rodeo weekend. For some reason, the city scheduled both for this weekend. So as I was leaving home to go back to work after lunch, I had to find a different way to the library. The Rodeo parade was coming down Broadway. People lined the streets watching the parade. Darn, I had to work!

Apparently, I am ready to be considered old. AARP reached out to me today.

The kids thought it was hilarious.

Sunday, August 27, 2017
I woke up with a headache and general malaise this morning. I took the kids and my salad (for the Linger Longer following) to church, stayed for sacrament meeting (the most important), and then went home. They walked home afterwards. I slept for 2 1/2 hours and felt a little bit better.

But I needed my energy and enthusiasm back because, after Ken got back from Chickasha, we were going to celebrate his birthday. It's actually tomorrow, but he'll leave to go back by mid-to-late afternoon. So we had his dinner, gifts, and dessert today instead.

He just wanted nice sandwiches, so we bought some meat and cheese from the deli and some good quality bread. I had Analiese make his favorite "onionless" onion dip, I purchased Senorial sangria soda and, of course, we had the decadent chocolate pie with freshly-made whipped cream.

He loves being home with the family and resting, so he was very happy today. We spoiled him, too, because he deserves it!

THIS GUINEA PIG HAS FALLEN OFF HER WHEEL

Monday, August 14, 2017
I was rather ill last night, so I turned off my 6:00 a.m. alarm (last time I can do that for a while!) and slept in until 7:30. Oh, well, it was a little better.

Ken & Jonathan worked with our angel cousin puttying and patching the outside. While they did that, Analiese worked on her pre-lessons and I tried to do laundry, figure out my grocery list, and work on Seminary stuff. Plus, the RS secretary (coincidentally angel cousin's wife) came over to interview me for the RS newsletter spotlight for September. Whether or not I did any of these things well is questionable.

I start teaching Seminary next Monday, so this week is dedicated for preparing for an orientation online on Sunday and my first online lesson Monday. I've been looking over my student list and, so far, I have fourteen enrolled. Getting the word out to them about everything starting has been a challenge.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Two nights of thunderstorms, showy lightning and a lot of rain. At one point I woke up and heard it, but I went to back to sleep effortlessly.

Right now, managing household duties and necessities while trying to understand the inner workings of the online seminary site, is a difficult balancing act. Which is more important? They both are! It makes me more tired just thinking about it.

I've been working with the CES secretary and the Lawton Stake seminary coordinator today trying to figure out how to reach these kids and their families to let them know Seminary is starting and how to get on the website. I've joined a Facebook group about the site, which just opened in July, this is how new this all is. We're all learning here. The group is to help us understand things to do on the site and is also a forever for questions about it.

My boss is off this week on her vacation. Her grandson is in town and she's busy spoiling him. Cute kid. It makes for a very quiet work week for me, though.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017
We're being inundated with insects at the library with insects. All kinds, many I can't identify, but mostly crickets. The today I caught one staring at me from the top of my wall calendar. Seriously. Luckily, nature is assisting us in their removal somewhat. Someone found a lizard/gecko (?) near the children's section the other day. It was so tiny, we put it in our little terrarium, gave it some water and dry crickets (not off the floor, purchased) and made it a little home. I call it Reader, a very appropriate name! Look at his striped tail!

At this moment, I have sixteen enrolled online seminary students, with at least three more pending. There have been more requests, but I think we need to cap it at twenty. As it is, this is going to be an interesting challenge. My head is swimming, quite literally.

Thursday, August 17, 2017
The storm we expected last night didn't come, thank goodness. They were talking big hail, etc. Instead, we got a little wind and lightning.

Not a good morning for me. I had taken my morning pills and vitamins and was sipping on my chocolate protein shake when all of a sudden I felt dizzy and very nauseous. I slowly made my way to the bathroom (nothing) and went to bed again...at 7:30 a.m. I slept for three hours. It helped, some.

I feel like the cat in this children's book I cataloged.

More phone calls and emails about Seminary today. Now enrollment stands at nineteen - with seven more waiting to get in. Apparently Salt Lake called our secretary about the enrollment numbers - the ideal is fifteen! We had no idea we'd have this large of a response. It's a little late to call and train another teacher, but maybe we should consider two classes next year!

Friday, August 18, 2017
It seems a shame to get up at 6:00 a.m. on my day off. But by next week, it will still be a Seminary day. Oh well.

As it was, I wanted to get up early anyway to work outside and beat the heat. This time I remembered to apply insect repellent to keep from becoming a mosquito feast. I started using the edger until it ran out of the plastic thread. I couldn't find more in the garage and probably didn't know how to replace it anyway. So I got out the gallon pump sprayer and made up a batch of herbicide. I sprayed weeds in cracks in edges, using it all up. Then I went inside to take a shower because the poison had touched my legs and it felt like they were burning. Seems like it might be effective.

I took a little reward nap following that and then spent the rest of the day trying to organize myself for Seminary. I fixed up my binder, cleaned up around my desk, and made sure all of my downloads were done for orientation on Sunday and my lesson on Monday. Other than enrollment issues, which I'm not fretting over because the buck is passed to the secretary, I feel pretty ready. I also felt good that I'd accomplished so much in my day.

Saturday, August 19, 2017
It's Saturday. You'd think I wouldn't get any calls about Seminary. You'd be wrong. Being part of a pilot program is a very intense experience. These next few weeks are going to be telling. I'll keep you posted.

Work was its usual Saturday - quiet and slow. I cataloged some audiobooks (CDs_ and two large print books. After lunch, I filled out a return report on ten books we're sending back to the bookseller, plus I downloaded OCLC records for our launchpad (orange) tablets that we're (eventually) putting out in the children's section. Yep, that's my day.

On my lunch break, I saw the kids only briefly before they headed out with the ward youth to the temple. Analiese was going to do baptisms...I gave her some family names!

Jonathan was going to be priesthood assistance.

That means I'll be home alone after work.

Sunday, August 20, 2017
Church was very "in synch" with my Seminary situation right now. Two talks were on applying the scriptures in our lives and the RS lesson was about the Book of Mormon. I cam away with more thoughts for tomorrow's lesson.

After church, my friend Elaina came over to help me make a wire "tree of life" - including the iron rod! I was so excited to do it (very jazzed about teaching the Book or Mormon) and she was so patient with me. Besides making the craft, we worked at "making" our friendship.

The time was well spent and is well cherished. And see how it turned out!

Online Seminary Orientation...was a disaster! Despite my preparations and multiple notifications, only four students showed up. Some others tried but had technical difficulties. I had plenty of those, too, and my training taught me how to get into the video conference, but not what to do once I got in there. It was so awful, I felt so disheartened. This guinea pig is exhausted from spinning needlessly (or needfully) on her crazy wheel. Please pray that tomorrow's class goes better!

TRICKY TECHNOLOGY

Monday, August 7, 2017
Now we're rising at 6:00 a.m. Though I hear Seminary is pushed back another week. Well, we might as well get over it and be up and doing.

Ken and our angel cousin are working on the porch this morning. This is a much louder job than the windows were. When I left to go grocery shopping, they had completed building a brace of wood to hold the porch up as they worked on it. I should have taken a picture then, but thought I could get it afterwards. Nope. When I returned, it was gone. They'd finished much faster than expected, even though one side had been really bad. It was a wonder the thing hadn't come crashing down on us before. Now it definitely won't! That's some sturdy workmanship!

The kids and I went to a ward member's home for a barbecue and welcome home to the brother who just got back from a Middle-East assignment. Analiese swam, but Jonathan and I socialized. That is, until the mosquitoes came out and started feasting on me. Time to go!

Tuesday, August 8, 2017
It's been hard for me to get up so early lately. Even though I arose at six, I was back in bed after eight for a nap. My body just needed it!

I have received my church online seminary training invitation email. My boss isn't quite finished with my laptop, but that was good because we learned today the computer requirements that she would need to make sure it has so that things can run smoothly. I tested the site out on my computer at work and it worked...at first. When I tried to get back in, it didn't recognize my username. I guess I'll just have to try it at home.

There are plenty of books on my cart today. I just may be able to stay busy this week. 😁 The new FD2 is now working her full schedule, so I'll be available in the evenings and Saturday to assist as needed.

Wednesday August 9, 2017
Still so very, very tired, but I couldn't afford a nap this morning. I really had to get online and start my training, even if it had to be on our old (and slow) desktop.  But, alas! I had multiple problems. Not only could I not access my course, I couldn't even get into my lds.org account. I did everything I could think of (including new things I've learned from my boss): I tried different browsers, cleaned up the histories of said browsers, reset my password TWICE, cried, and prayed. Finally I resorted to calling the OU Institute Secretary, who's supposed to be my tech support person on it (she's learning it alongside of me, but I was hopeful). She had me call another person, who sent me back to her (I must have been a royal pain in her day), and we went back and forth with phone calls and email. We got it all straightened out just as I needed to leave for work. In fact, I was a couple of minutes late, but I wasn't leaving until the issue was resolve. Which it was, in main part, thanks to her.

At least it meant I didn't have to stress about it while I was trying to work today. I had plenty of library work to do and, since my boss will be out tomorrow, we had things to go over.

Thursday, August 10, 2017
I spent a lot of time this morning studying the online seminary training courses. My head is spinning with ideas and questions. I feel like a week's preparation (all I have left) may not be enough time!

My boss wasn't at work today, but up in OKC for a doctor's appointment for a family member. I had enough to do, but it was sure quiet and isolating. The full-time FDG (Front Desk Gal) came back on her break to visit, rather than sit in the break room and later came to do some book repairs on the desk in the way back. I think she was trying to keep me company.

Friday, August 11, 2017
Jonathan, Analiese and I left the house at 7:30 this morning. We stopped in Chickasha for a moment and then headed to OKC. Jonathan & I both had a day off and I really wanted to go to the temple before I started Seminary. This was a very last-minute decision because Jonathan didn't even know he had today off until yesterday!

We go rained on as we headed that way, but all was sunny and clear as we reached the city. We stopped first at Chick-fil-A for lunch

(Yes! I had my peach shake!

) and then went over to the temple.

Attending the temple is so therapeutic. You don't need to have an earth-shattering experience; in fact, those are very rare. Mainly, I come out of the temple reset...like all of my nerves are back in place and soothed and all is well with my soul. If I could attend more often, I'm sure my anxiety would be much less.

Saturday, August 12, 2017
It was raining as I left the house for work. You'd think I'd leave the house with a jacket. Nope. It's a moist sauna outside. Not jacket weather.

I have a bunch of large prints books on my cart today. But I didn't get a lot done.  My boss came in today with my laptop and to tell me about some stuff I may need to take care of while she's off of work next week. She taught me how to receive book orders. I won't be in until Tuesday, and orders usually come in on Monday, so we'll see what shows up and if I can take care of it!

Sunday, August 13, 2017
Nice meeting today. We had ward conference, which means we had visitors from the stake and some of them spoke. The bishop spoke about families, covenants, and ordinances. He had some great points about planning for your family for the next covenant they will make. The stake patriarch bore his testimony and the stake president spoke. All great.

This afternoon at home...oh, boy. I did my first video message via email to my students-to-be. They say check your ego at the door when you teach Seminary. Too easy with this one. I do not like having my picture taken and doing video is even worse! But I'm supposed to do it regularly - no just for the weekly video conference lesson, but during discussions, assignments, etc. I'm to be as available and physically visible as I can. All it does for my ego is tell me to lose weight!

Still, it's getting exciting, figuring this stuff out. Probably the most difficult thing I face is the three-stake situation. I not only don't know the kids and rub elbows with them on a regular basis, I don't know their parents, and their bishops. See, we're all supposed to work together. This will definitely be challenging for me.