Thanksgiving 2009

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year. All the kids (Nissa & Todd, Andie & Michael, Jake), all 5 grandmonsters (Katelyn, Paul, Aubrey, Hayden & Bailey) and Papa joined Claude and me for a wonderful and very full weekend. Everyone arrived by Wednesday evening, November 25th. Claude smoked a brisket during the day so everyone could have a really, really, really good sandwich for dinner. Bedrooms were assigned via eMail so everyone knew where to head when bedtime came. Our home felt full and warm with all the family tucked carefully in all the rooms. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, started with Andie's Oatmeal Bake recipe for breakfast. We made 3 kinds - Banana Walnut, Blueberry and Cinnamon & Sugar. While breakfast was being prepared Claude, with Katelyn as his trusty assistant, got the turkey in the smoker. It would cook all day long.

We had time to visit with each other in a face-to-face format. I am truly grateful for eMail's and cell phones and Blogs and Facebook updates. But the very best is still a face-to-face visit. The picture below is Andie & Michael on the left and Todd & Nissa on the right at the breakfast table.

Grandmonsters played. Andie brought Hayden's Puzzibits and they occupied a lot of the morning for little hands as well as those pesky adults. Michael made Hayden's name and it graced the dining room all weekend. There were wooden Christmas ornaments to color with markers. We'll put a picture of each child in the ornament they colored and date it for their family Christmas tree this year.

Paul showed Papa what he had learned on his guitar since they last saw each other. Papa keeps a guitar at my home. This gives Paul a guitar to play without having to carry one back and forth from Michigan. Paul has really learned a lot of new runs and chords on the guitar. After working with Papa for a while Paul just walked around the house playing the guitar. It gave us the feel of being in a Mexican restaurant and having someone playing while they walked around.

Hayden did his T-Rex imitation. Please note that he has 2 fingers pointed on each of his arms he pulls up to be like T-Rex's little short arms. He is also walking on his toes. When he is Alisaurus (this could be spelled incorrectly) he has 3 fingers pointed while he walks on his toes. Both dinosaur imitations are accompanied by LOUD roaring noises.

The adults played dominoes and watched ball games. They tried to catch a nap only to find they made a perfect gargage and highway for toy cars.

After Papa arrived we had all the male members of our family take a seat in the living room. Each was given red sweat pants. The picture is of Jake receiving his red sweat pants. We called them their Thanksgiving Pants or Turkey Pants. In giving them, a reference was made to having something stretchy to wear to be comfortable on Thanksgiving day.

The history of the red sweat pants goes back early in our marriage. Claude bought a pair of red sweat pants. He wore them and wore them and wore them. When they would wear out he would buy another pair. He currently has 2 pair (one of which has GWRRA down the leg in white lettering). When the kids were younger, our family all sang in the choir at Church. Choir practice was in the evening. This meant we would go home, have dinner and naps if we could. Then we would head back to the Church in the evening to practice with the choir. Claude would have gotten into comfortable clothes (i.e. red sweat pants) while we were at home. The fear of his kids was he would not change before going to choir practice. They would be utterly mortified as he would walk into the Church in those red sweat pants, white socks and his dark shoes. We have made fun of him on many occasions because of his wearing red sweat pants all the time. So this Thanksgiving we thought it high time all the male members of our family started their own red sweat pant traditions by us providing them with the first pair. (Nissa just called to say they were back in Muskegon. She said the first thing Todd did when they got home was put on his red sweat pants and with a happy sigh say, "I have stretchy pants!") Bailey wanted to go outside. She is really and outdoors child. Paul was more than willing to accompany her. It is just great to live in a place safe enough to let them go out and roam and play without having to hover. Paul has tons of energy and carried Miss Bailey piggy back for a lot of their running up and down the hill. They checked out all the areas of the back yard with Bailey running to see how things were in different areas on the hill. Paul was right behind her to be sure she was okay. It was just precious to watch these little cousins enjoy each other. When they finished with the back yard, I watched Paul get down on all fours and Bailey climb up on his back, put her little arms around his neck and up Paul went on his hands and feet and ran up that hill like that. What a pair. Then I asked Paul if he thought there was enough air to fly a kite. He hurried into the toy room and found his kite and out to the empty lot he flew to try and get that kite into the air. Bailey was running along trying to jump up and catch the kite. Paul did get it to fly. Later, after they were inside, the wind came up like we might get a storm. I asked Paul if he brought his kite inside so it wouldn't get ruined or blown away with a storm. He hedged on a reply. I asked him if anything was the matter. I assured him it wouldn't be a problem for me. Then he managed to confess that while flying the kite it blew into one of the sycamore trees. He showed me out the breakfast room window and there, way up at the top and definitely out of reach, was Paul's kite.

For lunch we polished off the brisket and I made tuna salad for sandwiches to be sure there was enough sandwich fixin's. We had Thanksgiving dinner then about 5pm. In my Countryside Homemakers group, my neighbor, JoCarol Wilson, taught us how to make placemats out of old greeting cards. They were going to make them out of Christmas cards but I wanted to make a placemat for each of my grandmonsters. When we set the breakfast table for the 5 kidlings, we put their placemats out. Each was full of pictures of the grandchild. They ate on them all weekend long.

Then it was time for the blessing and to have a very filling meal. Someone took this cute picture of Hayden during the blessing. It may not be a reverent thing to do but what a treasure of a picture!!! He was so proud of how you are to put your little hands together. He said at St. John's pre-school some of the kids put their hands under the table and some put their hands on top of the table when they say prayers. But they all put their little hands together like this.

Then we did our best to make the wearing of the red stretchy sweat pants a good thing. Katelyn made the green bean casserole. We had Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Roll for dessert. We also had spiral cut ham. The left over turkey and ham would make great sandwiches for the next couple of days. After dinner we made sure we got Papa's hair cut. Hayden loves to help with this. This time he seemed to really notice that Papa has a bald head. He just kept patting the top of Papa's head. When Junie, Neffie and I were little girls, Papa loved for us to comb his hair. He had hair back then. In those days there were no car seat or seat belt rules. I remember on family vacations or road trips we would sometimes stand in the back seat and comb Papa's hair while he drove. There is also that funny story of when Mimi and Papa were first married. One day Mimi was combing Papa's hair and she put pin curls in it. He was dozing as she combed his hair and didn't realize what she did. They had someone come to the door, I believe it was the missionaries, for a visit. Papa woke up and answered the door not realizing he had a head full of pin curls. I think Papa was enjoying Hayden's little hand on top of his head just like in those days when his girls were little and would comb his hair for him.

Aubrey was wearing a little necklace she had crocheted out of black yarn. She must have talked with Papa about it. Next thing I knew they were in the basement. Aubrey knows I keep my crochet hooks and knitting needles in the footstool in my family room in the basement. She had Papa down there so she could find a crochet hook. Then we asked Papa his favorite colors. He said blue and pink. Okay, the blue didn't surprise me but the pink sure did. I took Aubrey back to my little storage dresser with the yarn and we picked out a nice varigated yarn with pinks and blues in it. Then Aubrey and Papa sat on the sofa in the family room and Aubrey made Papa a bracelet. Somewhere in all her talking she managed to get him to decided to take her for ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Aunt Nissa got to read stories to Miss Bailey.

Friday, November 27th started way early for a few of our group. Andie, Michael and Katelyn went into Georgetown at 4am for Black Friday sales. I came out and slept on the living room sofa when they left so I could hear the monitor and get to Hayden and Bailey if they woke up. They had some real success in their shopping. I have to say that if I were EVER to get up that early to go shopping I better come home with something in hand that I feel REALLY good about purchasing at a GREAT price. Andie and Michael are really good with the bargain hunting though. Michael had a system worked out for them getting through the checkout lanes and to the car and back to shop again. They used coupons in addition to the sales and really did well. I'm sure Miss Katelyn learned a lot about using your money to the best of its dollar value. We had cereal for breakfast. Then we enjoyed a leisurely morning getting showers and watching grandmonsters play and watching a few shows on TV. Then we all loaded up in 3 cars and headed to Georgetown to visit with Mimi. Papa was notified what time we aimed to arrive and he was at the nursing home waiting for us. This was a great opportunity to get some pictures with the kids and their families with Mimi and Papa. Mimi's face lit up when we all came strolling in across the room. She doesn't know any of us but she loves to have company. Claude didn't come in because he was full of cold and coughing. This is not a good thing to bring into a nursing home. Michael visited a few minutes and then had Claude drive him over to Kohl's to get a few more things he and Andie saw and later determined they needed. This is why Claude and Michael are not in this family picture. It was a really nice visit. Hayden and Bailey walked with me around the room to say hi to the other residents. Then we were off to Cici's Pizza for lunch and to play in the game room for a bit of an outing.

When we finished lunch, Nissa, Todd and Jake headed to Frankfort to Buffalo Trace Distillery. My Michigan family love the bourbon scented candles. The other two cars headed back to Sadieville in time for the mini-Marx's to have their quiet time.

While the Mini's rested I pulled out the gift bag craft for the ladies. Katelyn, Aubrey, and Paul were the first to learn how to make these cute little gift bags. When we had our Relief Society Presidency Retreat in October, Phyllis Beaman had this for a project for the ladies on Friday evening. I just loved making these little bags. On my way home from the Retreat I stopped at Michael's and bought a big tablet of paper and some brads and a couple of rolls of ribbon. A few weeks later while shopping at a Joann's Fabric I bought a 2 for 1 tablet of Christmas paper and a paper punch. When Nissa got home and Andie woke up we showed them how to make bags. We made bags all afternoon. It was great fun. Thank you Phyllis for this fun project! Michael also purchased a Monopoly Game and we enjoyed a round of Monopoly. Hayden and Bailey have invented a new game. We were introduced to this game in our living room. We brought all the bed pillows from upstairs and all the throw pillows from upstairs and put them on the living room floor. Then Bailey and Hayden busily arranged them into the circle full of pillows. This my friends is 'the lily pad'. Then you just run and jump around on top. Before I knew it Hayden was saying, "Watch what I can do Ma?" Then he climbed up on the sofa and pretty soon his tiny frame was flying through the air and landing in the middle of the pillows. What fun. When all the lily pad fun that could be had was done, we put all those pillows away.

Then we slowed the pace a bit and Uncle Jake watched dinosaur shows with Paul and Hayden. The Marx family has a series of BBC documentaries on the dinosaurs and throughout the weekend we all improved our knowledge of these magnificent creatures from eras gone by.

Paul and I ended the day with the mixing up of gingerbread batter. We had a goal in mind. It was to make a tree out of gingerbread cookies in the shape of stars. I bought the kit several years ago and have never made the little tree. Paul was ready to try it and eager for the sugar of the cookies and icing I am sure. The recipe on the instruction sheet inside said to make a double batch of the gingerbread recipe. May I just say that is a LOT of dough. And it really doesn't take a double batch. Paul did all the stirring of the batter and I did the kneading. We were both covered in flower and dough. The instructions also say not to grease the cookie sheets. That was a BIG mistake. As the cookies cooled they stuck right to that cookie sheet. We saved as many as we could and finally determined we would re-bake the broken ones the next day. This never happened. We just ran out of time. But it was great fun making that dough with my grandson. And Paul was really happy to take his cookies home with him to Michigan even if they never made it to tree shape.

Saturday was a stay at home, get laundry done before you have to return home kind of day. Grampa Claude started us off with bacon, eggs and Buffalo Trace pancakes. Yum. The guys watched ball, played dominoes or Monopoly, I'm not sure which because they were downstairs using the card table and I was upstairs. We got Paul's hair cut. We cut Aubrey and Katelyn's bangs. We gave Hayden a haircut. And the grandmonsters made Pitter Fudge. Thank you Bill and Tami once again for this fun recipe. I also bought the Left, Right, Center game and the kids and I played it a couple of times.

Lunch was tacos with hard or soft shells, Spanish rice, and 7 layer bean dip with tortillia chips. Thank you Rebecca Smith for the 7 layer bean dip recipe. Papa came out and had lunch with us. Then he took Katelyn, Paul and Aubrey in to Dairy Queen to make good on his deal with Aubrey. The mini-Marx's headed to their beds for quiet time.

Michael brought over his Corn Hole game that Andie gave him for his birthday. It is painted in Washington Redskin colors. In the evening we took the corn hole boards and bags out to the back yard just as it was starting to get dark. Michael gave us instructions and started us off with 2 teams and we had a little Corn Hole tournament in the back yard as night fell. It was great to be outside. If you've never played Corn Hole, it is similar to tossing bean bags except there is one hole and the bags are filled with corn. This is a big thing in Kentucky and I think it could become a tradition in our family. Thank you Michael for sharing your game with us. Todd and Michael were the ones who actually got the bag in that little hole. The rest of us could get it to land on the wooden frame. Claude brought home 2 cigarette stands that are to be placed on the streets in Sadieville. They needed to be painted in a fun way. We left both our cars out of the garage and he spray painted a base coat on these plastic cigarette stands. He moved the stands to the work room in the basement for the kids to paint once the base coat was dried. But we didn't get our cars back into the garage. Saturday evening Bailey figured out the garage was empty. She has never seen the garage with no cars in it. What a great place to play. The tractor was fair game to climb all over. She road her tricycle around and then ran in circles. It is amazing what a 2 year old can think of to do that is fun for them in an empty space. Andie brought up the scooter boards that Claude made for them. Bailey rode them and then gave WahWah a ride. Pretty soon Hayden figured out they were in the empty garage and he too found it a fun place to play. He showed us how he had been taught to play on the scooter board. Then Aubrey came out and showed Hayden how they taught them to use it at her school. Claude eventually even opened the door in the ceiling and lowered the stairs that go to the attic. Who ever knew what fun an empty garage could be.

This morning was departure morning. I made muffins and we had more cereal. Cars were packed up. Rooms were checked to see if anything was being left behind. Everyone was encouraged to take whatever food they could and would take with them. Then all going back to Michigan in Nissa's car gave and received hugs and kisses all around, loaded themselves into that full car and away they headed to Michigan.

I cut Andie's hair, Claude's hair, Bailey's bangs, trimmed Michael's hair and finished straightening out Hayden's hair. Whew!! I still have to cut Mimi's this week before we go on our trip. Hayden got a bath. Michael loaded the car. A little after noon the Marx mobile headed down the road to LaGrange. (This picture is Bailey putting hair clips in Claude's hair while I cut it.)

The house is quiet, things are back in order, the pictures are off the camera and I'm catching up on my computering. It has been a wonderful family weekend. How grateful I am for these moments in time. What a blessing to live close enough to be able to have these opportunities. How nice to have a family that loves each other, is patient with each others differences, and genuinely enjoys each others company. For my family I am forever grateful. I close this blog entry with a few pictures of snuggles this weekend.

Bridal Shower...

Saturday morning (November 21st) I attended the bridal shower for Holly Walker soon to be Mrs. Seth Kravetz. I was very impressed with all the work that Seth's mom and 2 sisters did to make this a wonderful shower for Holly. The shower was held in the Relief Society room at Church. One of his sisters, Marissa, is a photographer. She had all the sepia toned pictures of Seth and Holly strung on a wire across the room and placed on the tables. They had white table cloths on round tables with white table toppers on them. Each table had a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon in the center. Seth's other sister, Chelsea, decorates cakes. She'll actually make and decorate their wedding cake. She made a beautiful chocolate cake and decorated it for our dessert. We played a game to begin. One the wall was an 11 x 17 picture of Seth. You were given a sticker that was like someone had blotted their lipstick on clear paper. You were blindfolded and were to try and plant a kiss on Seth. Everyone who wanted to participate took a turn and Holly got to go last. Then we were served a wonderful lunch. I had not eaten breakfast and was really expecting a punch and cookie thing for refreshments. I was very pleasantly surprised to find we were served lunch. We had tossed salads and soup in bread bowls. You had a choice of Italian Wedding Soup or Loaded Potato Soup. I picked the Loaded Potato Soup. We played another game where they had Holly sit in the front. Each of the attendees were given a sheet of paper. Chelsea had a basket with different kinds of candy. Holly would pick a candy out of the basket and think of a sentence about Seth using the name of the candy. While Holly did this we each thought up a sentence about Holly using the name of the candy and wrote it on our paper. They were going to make a book with these sentences for Holly and Seth. After this game we were each given a balloon full of air. We tossed them around so they were all mixed up. Then we each got a balloon and sat on it to pop it. If the paper inside the balloon was a picture of Seth and Holly you got to pick one of the candy's as your prize. The last game was to see if Holly actually knew Seth well enough to marry him. Marissa had 17 questions they had previously asked Seth the answers to and recorded them on their lap top computer. Holly was asked a question and had to guess what Seth's answer would be. After Holly gave her answer we watched and listened to Seth give his answer on the computer. If Holly was wrong in what she guessed Seth would say, she has to put a HUGE piece of bubble gum in her mouth and chew it. If she was right, she didn't have to put another piece of gum in her mouth. Holly did really well and answered many of the questions correctly. But she answered enough wrong till she was chewing one big wad of gum by the end of the game. Then we ate cake while Holly opened presents. Each guest was given a little bottle of Purell like lotion before eating the cake. Each guest was also given a quart jar with hot chocolate mix in it and some marshmallows and some mints. The theme for the shower was 'Around the Clock'. Your invitation came with a time in it. Your gift for the shower was to be something Holly and Seth could use during that time of the day. My invitation had 12 Noon on it. I printed all my salad recipes on fun paper and put them in plastic sleeves. Then I bought a notebook with colored circles decorating it and I purchased dividers that matched the notebook cover. I have all my recipes in 3 big binders and I thought this might be a fun beginning for Holly's recipe collection. Then I got a large clear bowl that you could make a salad in and 4 clear glass bowls you could use to eat your salad in. So my gift was salads for lunch. It was a very nice shower and I truly appreciated the love and care and effort Seth's mother and sisters put into this shower.

A Sense of Community...

Since I'm doing this a 2:00am I must say 'yesterday' was Sunday. After stake conference Claude and I hurried out to Sadieville. Our little town was putting up Christmas lights. Several of the people on the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance were there and we had a great time decorating the old railroad depot which is our City Hall, the caboose and the pavilion. Claude and I had putting lights in the tree duty. Last week he purchased a really cool tool that helps reach high to put lights on things without having to use a ladder. It is a pole that you can telescope out to different lengths. I has a gripper claw like thing on one end and a handle on the other. You set the pole for the length you need to reach the height on the gutter or tree or whatever your reaching for. Then you grip the string of lights with the gripper part and reach up and get the lights where you want them and let go of handle and 'voila' the lights are in place. We put the strings of lights on 4 of the trees by the pavilion. Then it was time to put the lights on the gutter on the front of City Hall. Now the versatility of this little lighting kit things really comes in handy. You attach clips to the strings of icicle lights. The clips have a little circle with has grooves in it. You take the claw off the end of the stick and it has a plastic end that has grooves like a screw. These fit into the clip circles and you twist a bit and they stick screws into the clip circles. Then you can reach up with that stick and push the clip onto the gutter. When it is set, you unscrew the stick from the clip and there you have it. We found it still helped to have someone on a ladder to get the string of lights to turn so Claude could screw the stick to the clip circle. In a matter of about 3 hours we had all the garland, lights, and bows our little town could possible need. The little train is out in front on the railing at the depot (City Hall). There are wreaths in all the right places and candles in the windows of City Hall. We won't officially turn on the lights until December 1st. As the process was winding down I wandered over by my hubby and told him, "If just feel so good to be part of a little community and do community things." It was a totally positive experience and was great to share it with those who live in our little town of Sadieville.

TGIF...

Today was my final day of substitute teaching early morning seminary.What a fun experience it has been. Years ago Claude gave me a gift. It was a small picnic basket. It was the kind where you have two handles that come up over the lid. The lid was not wood though. It was a cloth top with a gingerbread recipe on it and it was filled with polyfill and has a lace edging. The basket is just a really cute way to serve cookies and things. Today was scripture mastery day in seminary. The kids teach the class and the teacher just brings the goodies for the end of the week. I baked one of my favorite recipes. It's called "Old Fruit Cake". I got the recipe many years ago when we lived in Denver. It makes enough batter that you can cook it in a dripper pan. It stays moist forever. The purpose of the recipe is to use up those quart bottles of fruit you canned and didn't eat. The fruit is still good but it is getting old enough to start to change to a darker color. You just blend the fruit up and use it as a base for making the cake. Then you don't lose that good fruit you bottled. I didn't have a quart jar of fruit to use but I do have gallon bags of apples I froze for pies that I haven't used. So I thawed one of them out, blended up the apples and it makes a quart of fruit. Then I make the cake using those apples. For today's purposes I made 24 little mini-muffins for the seminary class and 3 little round cakes for giving to others. I took my little picnic basket to put the mini-muffins in to serve to the kids. They were totally enjoying the mini-muffins. One of the young women looked at my basket and said, "That looks like Little Red Riding Hood's basket." Speaking faster that I should I said, "That would make my hubby the Big Bad Wolf!!" We got a good chuckle out of that. Today Papa is at an elementary school in Georgetown with Jake's big sombrero on his head singing 'El Gato' with Debra Kumar. She volunteered to do this for a music appreciation day at the school. Debra will be dressed in full Spanish regalia. She will perform this little number several times throughout the day. She asked Papa because she knows he just loves little kids so much and thought he might enjoy this experience. She and Papa have been practicing him playing the guitar while Debra sings and tells the kids the story about this cat. I would love to be a fly on the wall while this is going on. I'm just so happy that he was included in Debra's little sharing music with the kids. That was so sweet of her to think of him. He has enjoyed the experience of practicing. I can't wait to hear how the actual performance has gone. Last night, Claude, Lisa, Barbara and I all met at the Louisville Temple for a session. It was just so nice to be there and enjoy the peacefulness of the temple. I marveled again as we were driving home that in my 40 years of going to the temple and as many times as I have gone I still learn something new each time. I am grateful for that opportunity to put life on hold and enjoy the sweet peace that you feel in that Holy Place. Now I'm off to get some of my handwork done for Christmas. Tonight Claude and I must catch up on TV. Andie alerted me to 2 shows on Public Television night before last about Alzheimer's and I taped them. Yes, we do not yet have DVR so I put in an old VHS tape and taped those shows. Last night while we were at the temple Claude taped a CSI and The Mentalist. Tonight we should have a Numbers to watch on TV as well. So I'll be doing lots of needlework and TV watching come this evening. For right now, Claude is out cutting the grass one final time for the year (has to get it even he says) and I'm going to work on my 'to do' list for Thanksgiving, Christmas and our trip. Here is the cake recipe in case you might like to try it: OLD FRUIT CAKE:

4 cups sifted flour

2 teas. cinnamon

2 cups sugar

1 teas. nutmeg

1 teas. salt

1/8 teas. cloves

1 quart old fruit. Blend in blender. Add 1 cup Wesson oil and 4 teas. soda. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add nuts and bake in dripper pan for 1 hour at 375 degrees.

Bambi's Friend Flower...

This morning I pulled up into my spot at the school parking lot. It is on the back side of the 9th grade building. The cafeteria is there. I thought I saw something moving besides the janitor collecting trash from the cans outside the building. I looked again and sure enough there was a skunk. But it didn't look quite right to me. Then I realized the entire top of the skunk was white from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. His little feet and belly appeared to be black everything else was solid white. I always thought skunks were black with white racing strips down their body. This little fella waddled up the bit of a hill in front of my car and across the little road to the trailers. He went under the walkway for the trailers like he was trying to get under the trailer. This trailer is right next to the one I teach seminary in. I had a minute before going inside to set up for my class so I pulled out my lesson plan and reviewed it. Then I closed up things in my car and got out to go inside. I realized that the male teacher from the trailer under which the skunk had journeyed was out of his trailer and walking toward the direction of my car. I got my stuff gathered from my car and asked him if he saw the skunk. He assured me that was why he came out of his trailer and was following it. I following him across part of the parking lot and sure enough, back alongside the 9th grade building was the little skunk trying to find something. This teacher and I determined we didn't want to be in it's path as it came back our way so we both headed to our respective trailers. When I entered Ms. Rice's classroom, I told her about my skunk siting. She told me that some time back a skunk got under the trailers next to hers and sprayed everything. They were weeks getting the smell out of the building and actually had to move the class into the main building for a time. As my kids left seminary I warned them all to watch out for Flower!!

Relief Society & Mimi...

Every year our Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has 2 general conferences. They are held in April and October. They each have 5 sessions. There is a Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening Priesthood session, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon session. Many wonderful talks are given at each session. Then the following month (May & November) these talks are printed in the Ensign (Church magazine for the adults). Our ward Relief Society (women's organization) issues a challenge each May and November to each of the ladies in our ward to read all the conference talks. When we are finished we report that we have accomplished this goal and for our efforts we receive a BIG chocolate candy bar. Today I finished reading my conference issue of the Ensign and sent an eMail to the 2nd counselor in our ward Relief Society to let her know I did this. I also included this little note to Amber about my experience today with my mom as I finished my reading: Hi Amber, I just wanted you to know I finished reading my conference issue of the Ensign today. I had a sweet experience I thought I might share with you. After teaching seminary this morning, I visited my father to practice music for us to sing Wednesday at the nursing home. Then I went to the nursing home to sit with my mom. Today she was very unresponsive. I’m between crocheting projects which I usually do while visiting with her. She loves watching my fingers fly and will usually talk a bit. I had my Ensign in the bag I carry to the nursing home so I pulled out the Ensign. I had Sis. Thompson’s talk and Pres. Eyring’s talk left to read. I turned to Barbara Thompson’s talk and put my arm around my mom and started to quietly read her words about ‘minding the gap’. When I finished I said, “Mom, wasn’t that a great talk?” She simply said, “Yes!” like she understood every word. Then she bowed her head to take a bit of a nap. I call this one of the tender mercies of the Lord. A clear word or thought is just a blessing. I turned to Pres. Eyring’s talk and started to quietly read it to her about the legacy of Relief Society. I can’t explain the energy passing between us. If you were on the outside looking in you would have thought mom was asleep and I was reading quietly out loud. But from my chair the words were clear and powerful. I pulled out my pen and as I read I underlined thoughts that spoke to me like: …when speaking of the Relief Society sisters in the beginning Pres. Eyring said, “Their feelings of charity come for Him through His Atonement.” …when speaking of dealing with adversity in the early days of the Church he said, “Their determination born of faith to serve the Lord and others seemed to take them not around the storms of life but directly into them.” …when speaking of the Saints in 4th Nephi he quoted, “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” …and at the end of Pres. Eyring’s talk he spoke of the legacy of Relief Society being passed on with these words, “Just remember that the legacy is passed from heart to heart.” I sat there with my arm around my mom who served as a ward and stake Relief Society president and we just spoke heart to heart. It was tender and memory making for me. I’ll cherish those few minutes and when times are rough with and for my mom, I’ll remember reading that conference talk and us speaking heart to heart in a way we cannot speak now with our voices. Thanks for challenging us again to read this Ensign. I would have done it even without the challenge but I’m grateful for Relief Society sisters that challenge us with powerful, testimony building opportunities. Thank you! Sandi Christensen I love a life filled with good moments and experiences.

Win, Place & Show Colonel Style...

Today my hubby took me on an adventure!!!

We drove to Louisville to Churchill Downs. It was a new, and what promises to be annual, Kentucky Colonels event. We arrived and parked in the Longfield parking lot. Then we pulled out our tickets for the day and headed into Churchill Downs. I have never been to Churchill Downs. This was a nice affair. Dress was business casual. The dress code was set by Churchill Downs because of the rooms the Colonels would be using. There were 1,952 people attending the Kentucky Colonel function. These guests came from 29 states, Canada and Scotland. We used the Trophy Room, Skye Terrace, and Millions Row on Level 4 & 6. Claude and I were on Millionairs Row Level 6. We were assigned to table 61 with 3 other couples. I forgot to take my camera. Didn't even think of that being something I should think about. So what pictures I have I took with my little cell phone. The lunch was a really nice buffet. We arrived right about noon. They were just playing the National Anthem prior to the first race of the day. It is always moving when a huge banquet room full of people stand with their hands over their hearts and a trumpet plays the National Anthem in a clear tone. Our table had a lovely centerpiece with flowers in a Kentucky Colonel bud vase. Claude and I got to bring the vase home. At each plate was a pen and a nice stone coaster with the Kentucky Colonels on it. Claude and I did lunch first. I had not eaten and it was time to enjoy a morsel or two of food. I had potato salad, tossed green salad, roasted potatoes, vegetarian jambalaya with dirty rice, turkey and a roll. Claude picked our desserts from the dessert table. He had a bread pudding and I at a chocolate brownie with a side of cooked apples. The food was good. Our table was quiet. I did learn that the Brown's were from Lexington and the Eckler's were from Dry Ridge. Mr. Brown did some kind of work on a house in Sadieville and was aware of the Eagle Bend development in which we live. When the second race was won, we went outside of this Millionaire's Room to a terrace and watched the race from way up high. This was my first view of the race track itself. The Winner's Circle for the Kentucky Derby is right in the center of this picture.

It is always fun to watch a race. Even with my limited knowledge of horses I still find it a thing of beauty to watch them run. The first race we watched as we ate our lunch on the many monitors around the rooms. There are monitors everywhere. The line the walls. They bring the horses out and let them walk the track with the jockey on their back before the race begins. During this warm up one of the horses got away on the track. It was like watching real cowboy action to see one of the Churchill Downs horsemen run after and grab that race horse by the halter and pull him in. That horse reminded me of the Alaskan huskies we watched in Fairbanks. These huskies were just so eager to run they couldn't get them attached to the harness fast enough. This race horse was headed around the track as though someone were on his back and he was really running the race. Claude said, "He is sure to be the winner." Since no other horses were joining him and he was running alone, I'm sure Claude was exactly right. However, they did scratch him from the race because of his outburst. Even thoroughbred horses have to obey rules of conduct. The picture below is of the second race of the day from the Millionaire's Room terrace. This was the 6th floor of this building and the highest view you could have unless you went to the roof.

The fifth race of the day was the Kentucky Colonel's race. We stayed for seven of the 9 races and then headed for home. As we left we stopped to check out the rest of the facility a bit. As we went down the escalator we found this beautiful blown glass replica of Churchill Downs. The light coming through the window behind it made it and interesting thing to take a picture of. But each of these figures and the stands are all blown glass. There are blown glass race horses running the track and everything. It was a beautiful display.

We checked out the eatery area. Then we went out front to see the paddock area. This is where they walk the horses prior to their race.

It was a wonderful afternoon. The food was good, the weather was wonderful for being outside on that terrace, Claude and I are awful at picking who we think might win. Fortunately we don't have to worry about either of us gambling away the family home. Not gonna happen. But it is a fun afternoon to watch these magnificient animals. The jockeys are WAY to thin. I was amused that one of the races was won with a jockey that was 1 pound over in the weight of him and his saddle, etc. on the horse.

Having never been to a horse race in my life, I find it interesting that this year I was able to attend races at Keeneland in April with Claude and Katelyn and then again today at Churchill Downs. Way Cool!!!

And I made it to Friday...TGIF...

This has been a good productive week. Last week I spent several days sick and it was just great to have a well week I could fill as I was able, needed and wanted. I was invited to teach early morning seminary this week and next week. What a treat!! Our class meets in a classroom at the high school. It is one of the trailers (we called them shacks when I was in high school 40 years ago...really...I can't believe it was 40 years ago!! I graduated in 1968 so it was really 40 years ago. Oh my goodness. But I digress...). It is called a club and a teacher sponsors us. The teacher is Ms. Rice. She teaches Spanish. She is not LDS and sits at her desk working for the lesson time. She is a wonderful young lady and makes you feel very comfortable using her space. This year the kids are studying the Book of Mormon. For those who view this blog who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), the kids go to early morning seminary all four years of the high school experience. Each year they focus on a different book of scriptures. They do Old Testament one year, New Testament one year, Book of Mormon the next year and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History one year. For kids in an area not highly populated with LDS kids, they usually meet at the church for 'early morning' (translated - before school starts) seminary. Some kids have 'home study' seminary if they have too far to travel or only a very few kids to attend. Kids in really populated areas attend 'released time' seminary. Their class is held in a school room or an actual seminary building on the campus of the school. They have to use one of the extra credit class times to attend. Throughout my life I have taught 8 total years of early morning seminary. I taught 3 years when we lived in Denver (New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History). Then when my kids were in high school I taught again for 2 years (Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants/Church History) and then in our last few years of in Maryland before retiring I taught for 3 more years (Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Mormon). Then for 2 years I was the Stake Seminary Advisor. This means I helped the Church Education System person over all of our seminary classes with the classes within our stake. I mainly focused on helping the teachers with ideas to learn the 25 scripture mastery verses the kids focus on each year in the scriptures they are studying that year. I also tried to come up with a major combined event for all the seminary students in the stake. We held one at the Washington, DC Temple Visitor's Center and one was a big scripture mastery event at our Stake Center in Germantown, Maryland. I have had 2 favorite callings (opportunities to serve) in the Church. Teaching seminary was one of them and leading the kids music in Primary (kids 3-11 years old) was the other. The hardest calling I have held in terms of time and hours was seminary. But the spiritual strength gained from daily concentrated study of the scriptures and doctrine is almost indescribable. It can give you the highest highs to begin your day. So when Alicent Manwaring asked if I could substitute for her for a couple of weeks, I couldn't have said no. I just love being with these youth and studying the gospel. On top of that the kids are in the Book of Mosiah for their study and I was asked to teach chapters 18 through 29. What a great book to teach from. So many, many wonderful lessons. I enjoyed making a reader's theater one day out of the reading block. I had the kids tape to their foreheads the name of the character they were reading, each one got a script with their part highlighted and we read the chapter as if we were in a play. Brittney really got into her part. When we were cleaning up to leave I noticed that Niamh still had her name taped to her forehead. We got a chuckle out of her possible wearing that all day. After we read the play, I had them each write a 5 word quiz about the content of the play. Then we took turns asking questions and having the others answer. They had to give the scripture reference the verified their answer. Josiah was a great question writer. The kids each have an assignment in their class. It is with pure delight I watch them come in and take over their assigned tasks. Since this is a school room, the 1st one in always takes the chairs off the tops of the desks. Ms. Rice has let Alicent have a bit of her closet to store their notebooks, scriptures and hymnbooks in. I loaned Alicent my CD's of all the hymns. The kids pull this stuff out and set it on a back table for those who come in late to quietly get and take their seat. They have a chart of each person's turn to pick and lead the music. They also have a chart for each person's turn to give a devotional. There is a secretary to make sure the chart goes around for reading each day in their scriptures and to gather attendance records. There is a president to make sure the beginning of the meeting is conducted and prayers are asked for the opening and closing of the meeting. When everything is done they set to putting the classroom in order for Ms. Rice to teach Spanish. I have enjoyed watching them perform their simple tasks and wondering if they understand it is preparation for leading organizations at Church and running their own families in the future. Of course I am old and look at it through different eyes but I appreciate very much the order and care they take with their classroom and the way it functions. So, this week I've been up at 6am each morning, out the door at 7am and home by 9am. These are better hours than the last time I taught early morning seminary in Maryland. I was up at 4:30am then, out the door at 5:30am. Home by 7:45am. Off to work by 8:30am. Home by 6:30pm. Yes, these are much better hours. Wednesday was a fun day for me. Claude had training in Covington, KY about managing grants. He was gone overnight and returned Thursday afternoon. So after teaching seminary Wednesday, I headed to the Dairy Queen in Georgetown. They make a really good biscuits and gravy. I love biscuits and gravy. So I took myself out for a quiet breakfast. I also carried the last of my shopping catalogs to finish going through. I created a list of the Christmas presents I would order from them. Then added that to my Christmas present grid. I must explain about 'grids'. I make a Word table and fill it with whatever I'm working on. I call them my grids. My family has a lot of enjoyment about Mom's grids. I have one made up for Thanksgiving when the family will all be here with days of the week at the top, then rows for breakfast each day, lunch each day, dinner each day, snacks/treats each day, and activity possibilities each day. I make them for Camp Christensen, I made one for Andie & Michael's wedding. They just help me get through things that require lots of different trains of thought at once. They let me list lots of possibilities with the understanding not all of it will get done but you'll know what the possibilities are and can make choices rather than spending time thinking of choices. They are placed on the fridge and then everyone is on the same page with regard to food and activity possibility and even treats that can be made for that day. After my breakfast and with grid in hand, I was off to Lexington for a day of shopping to try and finish up Christmas shopping. This is early for me to have Christmas this close to finished. But we have all our family here for Thanksgiving. Then a few days after they leave Claude and I are headed on vacation for the first couple of weeks in December. This leaves before Thanksgiving to be ready for Christmas. So I'm getting it done early, much earlier than usual. It went to Target first. Then I enjoyed walking Fayette Mall. It was a good thing to do. I now don't feel so bad that I really don't get to this Mall very often. I like to look but I'm really getting to a point where I just go to get what I need, not to shop. So many of those stores just don't have anything of interest to me anymore. Then I found the fabric store. Then back to Georgetown to Walmart. Then to CVS to pick up a prescription. Then to the nursing home to sing with Papa and visit Mimi. Then with Papa to visit one of his single sisters that he Home Teaches. Then I headed home. Got the garbage out, walked my treadmill, got my shower, and came downstairs to work on Christmas stuff and watch 2 TV shows before bed. Whew...it was a full day but it was just a great, fun day. Last night Claude and I went to the Friends of Sadieville Renaissance (FSR) meeting. They had election of officers and I'm now the official secretary/treasurer. This group has been functioning for about a year now. Their main focus is to restore some of the historic buildings in Sadieville. I've blogged about the Mt. Pleasant Church and school. Last night we discussed another old home with a store attached that we are looking at taking on as a restoration project. The home was actually built the year before Sadieville became an actual city. It is part of the old railroad community that was here and is the origins of Sadieville. Claude also told everyone last night that he is going to run for Mayor in 2010. So everyone keep your ears open as I share over the next year the run for Mayor of Sadieville by my hubby, the Honorable Claude J. Christensen. Really, Claude would make a great mayor. His heart is in the right place with regard to maintaining Sadieville's history while also preparing Sadieville for the future. He is willing to study and learn and work at he job. He'll put the time and effort into making a great mayor. And he is an honest man in a difficult world. I told him that I would not need new dresses to be a Mayor's wife but I might need a new pair of blue jeans!! So, I'm off to work on Christmas, then get a hair cut this afternoon, then visit some friends in Georgetown tonight. Saturday we are headed to Louisville for a Kentucky Colonel event.

Oops...It's Been A Week Since My Last Post!!!

Last Monday evening Claude and I went to a reception for a new Republican candidate for Kentucky's House of Representatives. We met him at the Republican picnic several weeks ago. His name is Ryan Quarles. He is a young man with several college degrees and lots of experience helping other candidates get elected that we think highly of. It was a very pleasant evening, met some other people in our community, enjoyed Ryan's remarks and left feeling really good about him as a candidate. There was another politician there names Stan Lee. He was a guest speaker. I totally enjoyed listening to this man talk. He has a beautiful southern accent. I'm from Louisiana so I can tell you ,as a southern girl, that some accents are beautiful and some are, well, not so beautiful. Stan Lee's was very pleasant to listen to and he had a good sense of humor. As he finished I leaned over to Claude and whispered in his ear, "He could do a great job playing Rhett Butler!" Tuesday, November 3rd - Claude and Papa spent their afternoon at the Family History Center. I spent my day at home getting a few more things ready for Christmas. Wednesday, November 4th, I was supposed to spend my morning with the Countryside Homemakers Club I belong to. I had all my gear ready for a craft project we were going to learn how to make. I had my green beans ready to get up early in the morning to fix for a side dish for lunch with these ladies. I had my bag packed for visiting Mimi at the nursing home and singing with Papa in the afternoon. I even went to bed early Tuesday evening so I would be rested. THEN IT HAPPENED...during the night my throat kept getting worse and worse. I just couldn't believe I felt so awful. Lots of aches and pains. I got cough drops and took them throughout the night but by morning I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I crawled out of bed and telephoned Papa that I would not be singing that day or spreading whatever germs I had around a nursing home. I called JoCarol and told her I wouldn't be at Homemakers club. Then I headed back to bed. I got home late and checked eMails and did my computer puzzle for the day. Then I drug this tired old body back up the stairs and crawled into my bed which I deliberately did not make just in case I needed it again. I took a great nap and spent the rest of the day just taking it very easy, drinking lots of liquid and resting. Thursday, Nov. 6th was more of the same. I knew I needed to be well by Friday. We were heading to LaGrange for Hayden's 5th birthday. So I stayed down and only got up to do a few more things on the to do list. By Thursday afternoon I was much better. Claude went to Vernon's, a friend here in Sadieville, to borrow his trailer. Friday, Nov 6, was Hayden's 5th birthday. Claude attached the trailer to his Jeep and we headed into Georgetown. Papa had a very old iron bed frame. He has had it in his extra room. Papa tells me that this bed frame was given to him and Mimi by his parents when they got married. It belonged to his parents before that so we are not sure how old it is. Mimi's parents gave them a mattress and box spring. That started their furniture when they were first married. Papa had me ask Andie if she wanted it for her spare bedroom. Currently Andie and Michael have a futon they use for a spare bed. Claude has helped Andie and Michael get the concrete in their basement etched, then cleaned, then painted. Andie is setting up a big playroom down there for the kids and having the futon in the basement makes a nice place for an adult to sit when in the basement with the kids. So we were going to put Papa's bed up in Andie and Michael's spare room and move the futon to the basement. In addition Papa decided to give away his chest of drawers from this spare room. So we needed Vernon's trailer to get all this stuff to LaGrange. Papa helped us load it to the trailer and we were off to LaGrange. Claude pulled the Jeep and trailer across Andie and Michael's lawn and into the back yard. Andie had taken the kids to a playdate that morning and was not home when we arrived. We were comfy in their living room when we heard the garage door open. I went into the garage and the mimi-Marx's were about ready to burst. They knew we were coming over on Saturday but they didn't know we were going to actually get there on Friday and spend the night. Spending the night is a very big deal to Hayden. I helped unbuckle the kids from the car seats. Hayden was a flurry of words. So many things to catch up on since we last saw each other. One of the cutest things he said was, "Ma, today is my birthday! I'm 5 years old!!!" Then he took his pointer finger and thumb and made a tiny little measurement gesture and concluded his thought with, "And my brain grew THIS much!!!" He was so excited to be 5 years old. We got the kids in the house. Andie was watching Preston, a little friend of Hayden and Bailey. Pretty soon Preston's mom came to get him to go home for his nap. Claude and showed Hayden and Bailey the Jeep was in their back yard with a trailer attached to it. The kids helped unload the trailer by carrying some of the wood slats to go in the bed frame to hold up the box springs. Then they set to playing in that trailer. Claude eventually showed them how the back went up and they were in a little box. Then I climbed into the back of the trailer and sat down and the kids sat down in my lap and beside me. Claude got behind the wheel and we did a couple of laps around the Marx back yard. I really thought Hayden was going to burst as we moved around in the back of the trailer. I know kids on the farm do this in the back of trucks all the time. But not so much for kids raised in the city. So it is a huge treat and lots of fun.

We played until time for quiet time. I was reading Hayden a couple of books before I left him alone for quiet time. We were sitting on the floor with our legs out in front of us. Suddenly the little guy stretches out his leg and says, "Ma, do you know what that it?" There was only the briefest of pauses and then he said, "It is the leg of a 5 year old!!" While Bailey finished her nap and after Hayden had enough time for quiet time, Andie took Hayden out and Claude and I watched the cake to take it out of the oven when it was done. Then we had playtime with Bailey while Andie and Hayden were gone. Andie took Hayden to get his own library card for his 5th birthday. He and Bailey love books and the library so this was a real treat. They also stopped at a toy store in LaGrange and got an orange school bus for Hayden and a wooden garbage truck kit.

When Michael came home he went right to work helping Hayden put together his wooden garbage truck. Hayden sat quietly beside him and played with the pieces as they were finished and occasionally helped with the working of the screwdriver.

It was a fun evening with the Marx family.

Saturday, Nov 7th, was the day to have Hayden's birthday lunch and open presents. Papa was invited out for lunch and opening of presents. Andie got up bright and early and started to frost the cake.

Recently Hayden and Bailey have grown to love the Magic School Bus shows. Hayden originally wanted a shark cake for his birthday. Then he changed his little mind and wanted a Magic School Bus cake. Thank heavens he has Andie for a mom. She loves making cakes like this and she can create the detail that is so important to her little guy. Andie had a recipe of how to make a school bus cake. Hayden found a picture in on of his Magic School Bus books that was exactly how the cake detail should look. Andie set to work combining the two and created a most wonderful Magic School Bus caked for Hayden's 5th birthday. She iced that cake for 3 hours if she iced a minute. We were all very impressed with her accomplishment on this cake.

I told Andie when she was working on this cake that I had always felt good about our birthday tradition with Nissa, Andie and Jake. All of my cake baking was done from scratch (more an economic factor) except for their birthday cake. They were each taken to the store and allowed to pick out the cake mix of their choice and icing. After looking at Andie's masterpieces over the years, I'm still happy with my tradition for my kids but can see that a lot more can be done if one has that talent and patience.

Lunch was barbeque. Yum. We learned that Miss Bailey Marx loves ribs and you better keep your hands out of the way when she is eating them. She has quite an adorable barbeque face mess when she is done.

After lunch Hayden got his cake and tried to blow out those candles that keep relighting themselves.

Then we retired to the living room to open presents.

I'm just including 2 pictures of Papa with the kids. He enjoys these times with great grandbabies so much. Bailey was trying to check our heart beats. Amazingly this was done around one's stomach and Bailey never put the monitor thing in her ears. In the picture of Papa and Hayden, I'm not sure what just happened. But I loved their expressions. Yes, Hayden is in his pajamas. He wanted a pajama day on his birthday celebration day. Now, really, is that too much for any of us to ask?

Saturday afternoon Claude and Michael took the trailer to get a few sheets of sheetrock to put on the walls over the insulation in the basement. Then they spent their afternoon cutting and putting all that sheetrock in place. At one point Claude came upstairs to go out to the patio and trailer where they were cutting the sheetrock. You could hear Michael diligently hammering away in the basement. As Claude walked past Andie and I he said, "We have another Jewish carpenter!" Such fun.

I forgot my camera so I have to thank Andie for sharing all her pictures with me. What kind of Gramma is it that forgets a camera when going for a visit on a 5th birthday???

Sunday, Nov 8th I visited the Winchester Ward (congregation) with Lisa Adams, my counselor. We had a perfectly wonderful Sunday morning in Winchester. The lessons taught and the talks given were all very well done and so uplifting.

I dropped Lisa at her home and then hurried back to Georgetown to see if I could catch a bit of choir practice. Our choir is singing at stake conference in a couple of weeks and I need all the practice I can get. I made it for the last song and that was a good one to be there for.

Then I visited my mom at the nursing home, straightened out her clothes, and made sure she was tucked in for a nap before dinner.

Sunday evening I spent working on Seminary stuff. It was a good day.

Papyrus Brought Me Here...

In Georgetown we have an outlet mall (small and starting to flounder) that I have a few stores I have enjoyed shopping in. I'm beginning to see some of these stores close. There was a KB Toy Outlet. That is now gone. There was a movie theater. That is now gone. There was a Carolina Pottery store that closed but the Peddler's Mall moved in and that made the Peddler's Mall closer to where I live by a couple of miles. So that was good. A week or so ago I went into the Paper Store, another of my treaured little places to shop. I noticed signs taped on the doors and windows and around the cash register stating the store would close the middle of November. Sigh...I really appreciate this little store. They sold note cards 20 for $4. They were not in boxes, they were in a display shelf and you could get 3 of the thank you kind and 3 that were for birthdays and 5 that had flowers on the front and 1 with cats for Barbara's birthday, etc. You just picked out the 20 that fit your needs, took them to the register and the nice person checking you out would count the cards again then give you 20 envelopes for the cards. It was a great way to get cards without purchasing an expensive box of cards. I would get my 20 cards and as they dwindled down I would head back to the Paper Store to replenish my supply. Now, sometimes I do make my own cards with my Create a Card software. That is fun to do but having a supply of little note cards in the gossip bench upstairs was just the best. Claude has even learned they are there with address labels and you just pick out what works best and get an address label and you are ready to correspond on whatever. The other thing they sold that I regularly bought was really nice heavy wrapping paper in 72 square foot rolls for only $6. There was a really nice selection of all types of wrapping paper. I always bought wrapping paper at the Paper Store. I determined I needed to stock up on supplies before the doors to this wonderful little shop close. So today, after visiting mom and practicing music with Papa, I headed to my Paper Store one last time. I headed for the notes cards first. Then I noticed the percentage off sign over the cards. But the 20 notescards for $4 sign is now gone. In it's place is a $.23/card label under each row of cards. I reach in my purse for my little notebook. Quickly I tried to see what that meant for savings. I multiplied my $.23 times 20 cards (this made them more than they had been before the sale). Then I added my my 10% + 10% + 5% off to get 25% off (That may sound silly to some of you but I can do that in my head still faster than on paper.) Then I subtracted my amount off from the new amount for which the cards now sell. I was still going to have a savings and I knew I wouldn't have time to come back to the store before it closed so this was the best savings for which I could hope. Next I counted out 5 stacks of note cards in varying styles for everything from birthdays, to thank yous, to weddings, to funerals, etc. I had 10 of some kinds and 5 of a couple and 20 of one kind. I had them neatly arranged in stacks of 20 cards each. I also picked up several rolls of wrapping paper and headed to the checkout counter. The young man behind the counter asked me if I was ready to checkout. I assured him I was. Then he tells me he doesn't any more envelopes for these 100 cards I wanted to purchase. So my almost 60 year old brain starts to process again. I knew I had a box of the little envelopes you can buy at Office Depot for when I make the cards with my Create A Card software. I was sure these notecards would fit in those envelopes so I told him I still wanted to purchase them. He asked me how many cards I had as he was picking up the first of my stacks. I had taken the sets of 20 cards and turned each set a different way so it would be easy if they wanted to count them again to just count groups of 20 cards. He takes the 1st stack of 20 off the top and scans with the scanner and rings up 20 cards. Then he takes the next group of 20 and scans for 20 cards. Then he realizes that the stack of 20 cards might have 2 kinds of cards in it. So he looks at me and says, "How many cards did you have here?" I said, "I really don't know. I'm sure there were 4 or 5 sets of 20 cards each." Then it dawns on me he needs to ring each set up because they probably have different codes for the different kinds. So I show him how they are all in 2 sets of 10 for the most part and that would equal the little stacks of 20 cards. Except for the one that has 20 in it and another stack that had 10 and then 5 and 5 to equal the 20. The poor kid looks at me at says, "How many did you have total?" Now I'm not sure what total he wants, the grand total or the total in each stack. So I try to clarify by asking if he is talking about the grand total of all the notecards or the total of each of the stacks. He leads me to believe he is talking about the different types of cards in each of the stacks. So I calmly reach over to the notecards and separate the stacks by the kinds they are. Then I show him visually that there are 10 of these, 20 of these and 2 little stacks with only 5 in each of them. Clearly now he is more confused than ever. He says, "Did you have 2 stacks with 20 of the same kind?" I pick up on the fact that he probably wants to not have to reverse any more out of his register than he needs to so that the codes and amounts in the register are correct. So I carefully show him that there is only 1 stack where all 20 note cards are the same. The rest are all 10 each except for 2 little stacks of 10. By now I can also confidently tell him there are a grand total of 100 cards. Now he blows my almost 60 year old mind by taking the cards 20 at a time and scanning them not worrying about any code on them whatsoever!!! At this point, I don't really care how he scans them as long as I only pay for 100 notecards at the discounted price. But I'm beginning to feel like I'm in some type of notecard shell game and I'm on the losing end of the game. I'm wondering if this is meant to wear me down so I don't care if I get a discount. The kid just regroups the cards into 5 stacks of 20 cards each and rings each stack up as 20 cards not worrying about a code. I mean REALLY!!! the store is going out of business. They aren't going to order any more cards so why are codes that important anyway. I'm sure they just want to sell all they can for as little reduction as they can. Fortunately the 2 ladies behind me with the cute little round girl were very happy people. They were purchasing the little girl a stuffed bunny and she was in imagination heaven playing with that bunny while they waited patiently behind me in line. I'm feeling good I got what I already felt was a good deal for even more of a discount. It was an interesting experience. The good thing is that this young guy and I didn't lose our tempers we just kept on trying to get it so we both understood each other. I'll miss this little store. Wonder what will take its place???