Remiss, Repent and Retrench

It has been too long since I last wrote you to you. I was thinking, I did really well in keeping up a weekly letter when Colleen was on her mission and for a year after she was home. I need to retrench and get back on schedule. For a while, I thought nothing of notice was happening around here that you would be interested in. But in retrospect, all of that ‘nothing’ is what life is made of, it is the day to day, little issues and common events that shape our lives. Yes it is fun to read journal entries of big events, but don’t you yearn to know what a day in the life of someone living before your time was like? So I will tell you a bit of what is going on here in our little home.

Both Ian and Daniel decided not play football this year. Daniel because it is high school ball and he really doesn’t like to other boys who would be playing. Ian thought he’d like to get a job so he could drive and the season started in the middle of Colleen’s wedding and he would have had to go through the hassle of missing practices. Ian got his drivers license and still went to all of the home games he could. Shhh don’t tell anyone, but he failed the first time he took the driving test. Ian waiting to take his driving test.

The examiner did not see him check his mirrors when he was asked to change lanes, that is an automatic fail, they came straight back to the DMV office. Ian was disappointed and ticked. Most of all he feared the ribbing he would get from his family and school friends. Two weeks later, he passed."I passed!" This is the picture Ian wants on his drivers license.

Rick and Eric came on a working visit. They spent the few days they had cutting down trees, weed whacking, fixing toilets and installing kitchen faucets in G’mas house, etc. It was great fun seeing them. Their visit was just too short. While they were here, Nancy flew into So. California with Heather and her daughters. They went on a promised trip to Disneyland. Kira flew down too so she could play and show off her new daughter. I wish I could have gone down to play too. ☹ Ah well, responsibilities here prevented that.

Grandma is doing alright. She is getting less steady on her feet. A couple of weeks ago, I needed to meet Larry at the mechanic’s. He was dropping off his car after taking the boys to seminary and school. Grandma was just getting up when I told her I was going into town and would be right back, she said she would get dressed and wait for me to get back. When we got home, we found her sprawled out on the bedroom floor. She had lost her balance as she was removing her clothes from the closet. She tore the skin on her forearm, was stunned and unable to get herself up. That really shook us up. What if her injuries were more severe? What if…? No one was here to help her and she had to wait till we go back. It was only a short time, but…..We decided that we cannot leave G’ma all by herself anymore, it is too risky. Just this morning, it happened again. She was trying to be quiet, so not to disturb Lauren (who is home for Thanksgiving) and lost her balance while removing clothes from the closet and fell in the exact same spot. This time she fell on a stack of pillows that are normally stored on Lauren’s bed when she is not home. We joked that we need to have pillows all around the room. She went back to bed after breakfast because she was feeling kind of weak. She is doing much better now.

Dad is working four days a week. They cut his hours back- again. Last Friday, he went to the funeral of the wife of a former college who committed suicide. It was tragic. He said his friend was glad that he came, he was glad to have been there to support his friend.

I have not been busy with balloons. Just so you know when the economy goes bad the first thing that is eliminated is balloons. Do not despair, I have other things to keep me busy. My calling is the Enrichment Counselor in the RS Presidency. We had our holiday Enrichment Meeting last week. I have a committee but as you know, the buck stops with the one on top. My enrichment leader had a family crisis and then broke her arm; the sister who said she loves to decorate and wanted that responsibility, had a big test the next day and was not able to do anything; our budget was cut down to $63 (we are decorating for Christmas and serving dinner for forty) and the food committee chairman does not like to be in charge and said she’d love to make ‘a’ casserole; the sister who volunteered to do the program came through and built a beautiful manger scene- out of bales of straw. (FYI it is forbidden to bring hay or straw into the church building).

Our evening turned out just great. No, I really mean it, we ate well, the room looked good, we had a fine turnout and the sisters had fun. I worked really hard and kept it all in budget. I want to thank my girls for getting married and leaving me with so many wonderful decorating elements to work with. I used the bowls from Colleen’s, the fabric from Kira’s wedding and some I had from a balloon job, added pine cones gathered from the trees in the front of the property to make the centerpieces. I spent $2 on red beads. My connections at the Food Bank made the dinner affordable. I even found a cute crèche at a fair price for the on-time-door-prize. We had the sisters bring a wrapped ornament and played a silly game to determine who got what gift. They giggled and laughed and made me stop several times so they could sort out the problem spots. Larry brought G’ma in so she could attend the event. Many sisters made a fuss over her, she loved it!