Stake Conference...

This last weekend was Stake Conference. For those who read this that are not member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, stake conference is held twice each year and all 8 congregations in our 'stake' boundaries come together for their meetings. For this stake conference we had a visiting general authority. His name was Elder Paul Pieper of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy.

Claude had priesthood leadership training Saturday afternoon at 4pm. I went in with him. We had a very early dinner together. Then I dropped him off at the Church.

I then drove over and visited Mimi for a bit. She loves having my purse to play with. I always feel funny saying that in that way but she does enjoy holding and moving the purse around or just holding it close on her lap. I actually pulled out an old purse and wrote her name all over it. Papa was going to give it to the nursing home so Mimi could have a purse to use to keep her hands busy when we aren't there.

After visiting Mimi I headed to the Dollar Store to get the paper supplies for Katelyn's graduation Open House. Then to Walmart for some binders. I also scored a pair of capri pants to wear around the house. I have an old pair that is really showing it's age and found a pair just like them with which I can replace the old pair.

Chores done I headed back to the Church for the evening session for the adults at 6pm. When I got there Claude explained, to my horror, they were going to call speakers from the congregation. I suggested we go for an ice cream run. We were not called to speak. We had a wonderful meeting. Followed by a run to the Dairy Queen. That's the thing about ice cream, you talk about it...ya gotta do it.

Sunday morning had us leaving early. Our ward choir was singing and they were going to run through things at 9am before the meeting was to start at 10am. I don't get to practice or sing with our choir often because of my travel on Sunday's with my calling as stake Relief Society president. I was assured by my hubby and the choir director that I could do these numbers and had sung them in the past so I should participate. Now, in the first place is have a problem with coming and singing with those who have taken the time to be at all the practices and have sung these numbers before. These good people have done what needed to be done to be prepared. It just seems wrong to me to sing when I haven't 'paid my dues' so to speak. Plus people seem to think I can just read the music and sing it and hear it without a lot of practice. Really???? I was always the pianist and not the vocalist. I have an okay voice but I don't hear the notes like some people do. I read from a page and my fingers go there. Many people have developed an ability over the years to see the note on the page and know what it should sound like (pitch and all) in their heads. Me...not so much. I love to sing, don't get me wrong. I always dreamed of being able to sing solos and such. But my lot was playing the piano or organ for others to sing and that is what I have done all my life.

I told Claude and our choir director I would try these songs. I got to the choir seats and the first piece he pulls out is a number that is really fast, lots of words said very, very quickly and lots of notes going up and down and all over the place. That was it. I could not and would not flub up the entire spirit of the meeting by trying to do that number. I gathered my purse and scriptures and headed back to the congregation seats to sit with my father. Not gonna do that number.

James, the choir director went through the song with the choir and then assured me they were not going to sing that one. They would do the other two I was told originally they would do. I assured him I would sit in the congregation with my father. Thus began the struggle. James stopped practicing with the choir and came to where I was sitting with everyone watching and tried to get me to come back up to the choir seats. Oh my goodness. I thanked him politely and said 'no'. He finally went back up and finished his rehearsals. Then he challenged Claude in front of everybody to have his wife listen to him. Claude assured him I only did that when I wanted to. But then Claude came back to the bench and proceeded to beg and plead and promise me things like lunch, vacuuming services, clothes, etc., etc., etc.  I assured Claude I was going to sit right there by my father through this session of stake conference. As it neared time for him to go back to the choir seats, he quietly reached down and got my purses and scriptures and headed to the choir seats. Can you believe that??? I couldn't. I succumbed and took my place in the choir seats. The choir did sing two numbers that I struggled through.

After the choirs second number everyone left their seats and headed to places their family had saved for them in the congregation. Well, Claude and I had no saved seats. So we stayed in the choir seats. I'm a decided alto (often I sing tenor) and so my seat was behind the piano. Claude left his in the bass section and came and sat with me.

This session also had people called from the congregation to come forward and bear their testimony. We were not called. There were some very sweet thoughts and feelings shared during these testimonies. The people called were from the youth age to the senior age.

The Elder Pieper stood to take the last hour. He spoke for about 45 minutes. He is an interesting person to listen to. He just got back from living in the Ukraine where he served as a mission president I believe. His paying job before that had his family living in one of the 'stans' as Claude called them when he was in the Peace Corps. Claude visited Kyrgystan. There are several other countries in that area that all end in 'stan'. Elder Pieper and his family lived in one of them and I can't remember now which one, Usbekistan or Kasakstan (spelling is probably really butchers on all the 'stans'). His family and one other were the only LDS (Mormon) families in the entire country. Elder Pieper also grew up on a farm in Utah in a family of 11 kids. So his stories and experience are varied and very interesting.

Anyway, he spoke for about 45 minutes, then he said he felt impressed we needed a break of some kind. He felt the kids might be getting restless. So he had all the young men and boys up to high school senior age come to the choir seats. Uh oh...Claude and I are sitting in the choir seats. Claude looked at me and he nodded at the piano bench. We both moved quietly over to the piano bench. Then all the choir seats filled to overflowing with young men and boys. Then Elder Pieper had them sing hymn number 270 "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go". There were two fathers from our ward in the choir seats with their boys. One of the sons was just too young to know how to read even and his dad was holding him and helping him. The other young man has autism and the dad held the book and his son grinned and tried to sing along. Claude observed a older brother pointing to the words so his younger brother would know which words to sing. One young man standing by us couldn't find the page. I found it for him and he sang right out. He accidentally closed the book and tried to find the page again. He thought he had the right page, but he didn't, however he was singing the right words. Our bishop's son was grinning so big at me he couldn't hardly sing. Then he would blush bright red. It was an extremely moving bit of time.

There are three verses to this hymn. The first verse ends with "I'll go where you want me to go." The second verse ends with "I'll say what you want me to say." The third and final verse ends with "I'll be what you want me to be." Here are the words to the chorus of this beautiful hymn:

I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,

Over mountain or plain or sea;

I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;

I'll be what you want me to be.

I needed Kleenex. Tears flowed freely as these young men sang out so beautifully on a totally unprepared hymn. It was a moment dictated by a prompting of the Spirit to Elder Pieper. It was a moment full of the Spirit because of these young men's voices and their very presence.

It was a great meeting and a great stake conference.

We came home and I started to work some more on a slideshow of Katelyn's life for her open house. Saturday and Sunday were good days.

Yesterday I started the laundry, cleaned a bathroom, helped Papa get his prescriptions straightened out and picked out songs for Wednesday at the nursing home, and worked on the slide show.

Bonnie gets here Thursday, the Marx family gets here Friday, and Jake gets here Friday. I've got tons to accomplish before anyone arrives. So I'm off to keep things a movin'.

TGIF, and TGI Saturday...

And we hit the weekend with a full plate...again.

My mum-in-law will be here in a week. When company comes I really try to get things done ahead so I can enjoy their visit as much as possible. So Friday was spent trying to get computer things in order as much as possible.

I got another Blog entry done. Yeah me!!

I managed to get my Relief Society newsletter completed as much as can be done. Now if anything else comes in to be included I can just add it and send it. Yeah me!!

Papa came out with his new prescriptions. He uses a mail order drug system and it takes a bit to get the first ones going. I tried, in vain, to get these two new ones added. But they only want it faxed from Papa's doctor. This just means Monday I must go in and visit with his doctor to get them to assist me. I'll have all the papers filled out as much as I can and just stand there until they get the faxing done. Oh boo-hoo!!

On the upside, Papa had blood tests run on his doctor visit and they all came back 'normal'.  Yeah him!!

I got my software loaded on my new computer. It came with a two month trial service. That ends the last day of May and I don't want to be loading software with Bonnie here so I went ahead and completed that project. Yeah me again!!

In the evening we went to Sadieville for their MusicFest. The Friends of Sadieville Renaissance did this once each month last summer to raise funds for the FSR. We sell food at City Hall and have karaoke in the Waring Pavilion. It is just fun to see the community come out and enjoy the music and have a bite to eat and visit with each other. We're a small community and it is helping me to learn who more of my neighbors are.

This was the first MusicFest for 2010. It turned out to be a 30% chance of showers evening. That 30% managed to find its way to Sadieville on several occasions. This hampered the attendance a bit. But Merle was a diligent DJ and kept the karaoke going. We had the food inside the depot, except for the funnel cake lady and the grill. We served and cooked food between showers. It was a delightful evening.

Our police officer came and warned us of a major storm headed our way. There had been reports of a tornado touching down as this storm passed through one community. He suggested we close early. It was only about 30 minutes or less until the end so we hurriedly started the clean up process in the Depot. Cindy went up the street to the pavilion to warn Merle and the group singing with him about the storm. Bless their hearts, they said they would take responsibility for themselves. These are die-hard karoake singers. Eventually the lightening got really strong around us and Merle packed his stuff in his van.

Just before we all left, Richard came down to the Depot (City Hall) in a state. He lives over the little Baptist Church by Waring Pavilion. Someone managed to enter his apartment above the Church and ransack it. They took cash and his pain meds (without their container). His door was locked. The robber had gone up a hidden stairway only someone that knew the Church would have known about. In my mind, they had obviously done this before. They left credit cards and a checkbook. They only took cash and pills. We were all sick about this. It is hard to imagine why people get in a position they would do something like that. Our police officer was right at hand and he went to check out the situation and make a report.

Saturday I committed to work on a slideshow for Katelyn's graduation open house. I have all the pictures of her from my computer and CD's in the presentation. Then I started scanning pictures in my photo albums I haven't scanned yet. This is a good thing. One of my long term goals is to get all my photo album pictures scanned before they change colors completely. This will be a bit of that long-term goal accomplished.

What fun it is to travel back through the years of our oldest grandmonster's life. It is going to be fun to get this done but I have a lot of hours ahead of me to finish it. I'll work on it some more this afternoon.

Then Claude and I headed into Georgetown for the late afternoon and evening. This is our stake conference weekend. Claude has priesthood training meetings at 4pm. We went in earlier and had dinner at Arby's. Then I dropped him a Church and I went to visit my mom. After visiting mom I got a few shopping errands complete and then headed back to the Church for the Saturday evening adult session. It was a good session. Then we went for ice cream before heading back to Sadieville.

I received an eMail from Miss Katelyn requesting pictures of Claude and I before we had kids. There aren't a lot of these kinds of pictures. I sent her everything I have saved digitally. I tried to explain that Claude and I only met 1 year prior to our marriage. He was really engaged about 10 months of that time to someone else. Then we were only married 13 months and 13 days until Nissa was born. I also explained to her that we didn't have digital cameras in those days. You had a roll of film with 12 or maybe 24 pictures on it. You took until the roll was full, then you sent it off to be developed and early on that took about a week of time. Later it could be done in days or as you waited. How quickly technology has changed. At any rate, I'm sure some of those pictures Katelyn will get a kick out of...her grampa in fatigues and no beard, Claude and I in cap and gown like she will be in a few weeks, our wedding picture, etc.

The beauty of my having a laptop is that I could take my computer to the living room upstairs and my box of CD's with pictures and work on it in the same room as my hubby. Yeah for the new computer!!

Now I'm up early and ready to see what fun I can fill my Sabbath with.

A Day Long Date...

Yesterday Claude and I had most of day away from the house and together. Most of the time we have two cars for a reason. We are both headed in opposite directions. But yesterday was a perfectly wonderful day with the two of us doing things together with the Jeep being our carriage of choice for the day.

Claude heard about a class on 'social networking'. It was lunch and training at the Georgetown College Conference Center. That was our morning project together.

Claude headed to City Hall in Sadieville to take care of business while I got ready to leave. I had it in my head we needed to leave at 11am. I was wrong...can you believe that. We were to be in the car and headed to Georegtown at 11am. Because of my miss cue there I called Claude at City Hall at 10:40 and said, "Don't you think we should be leaving now?" He assured me it started at 11:30am. I checked my calendar and he was right. Oh the humanity!!! So I headed downstairs to get a bit more computer work done before he came home to pick me up.

Now, I have several projects I'm trying to complete before Bonnie arrives next week and I got immersed in one of them and completely forgot what time it was. I heard Claude's footsteps upstairs when he returned. I just kept on working until I heard this bass voice call down the stairs, "It starts in 13 minutes...think we should go?" Oh my heavens, now I was wrong two times in one morning!!

I ran up the stairs and got in the Jeep and we headed to Georgetown knowing we would now be late. As we left I realized I left my 'crackberry' charging on my desk in the basement. I really missed the little thing. I'm more attached then I thought I was. So now I would spend a full day without my new little friend.  Is that the third thing I did wrong in one morning???

We were a few minutes late to the center. Everyone else was eating. We quickly got our food and found at spot a table in the front. The lunch was great, a big sandwich on a croissant. I LOVE croissant sandwiches. I bet peanut butter & jelly would even be more elegant on croissants. They even had a pickle spear that was the kind of pickle I like best. We ate quickly to catch up to where everyone else was at.

When we sat at our table I asked everyone if they watched 'Criminal Minds' Wednesday evening. No one but Claude and I had. We found it amusing that the night before training on 'social networking' the premise for Criminal Minds was the criminal used social networking to lure his victims. By-the-way, there was NO training on this concern during our session. However, they did have a quote from the TV show. Criminal Minds starts with a quote and ends with a quote spoken over the pictures of the show by one of the characters in the show. This was one of the quotes used Tuesday evening on Criminal Minds, "The Internet is the only thing man has created that he doesn't understand." Hmmmm...

We were informed:

• There are at least 200 social networks worldwide and more added all the time.
• Facebook was started in 2004 by a college student (Mark Zukenberg) in his dorm room. It was originally only accessible if you had a '.edu' domain in your eMail address.
• The fastest growing group using Facebook is 30+ years old now.
• We spend 3,000,000,000 minutes a day on Facebook.
• Facebook is the most mainstream of the social networks.
• Facebook is the largest website for uploaded pictures.
• MySpace is really where all this started.
• 1 in 4 Americans is on MySpace.
• There are 50,000,000 mails sent a day on MySpace.
• MySpace is now owned by Rupert Murdock (I'm thinking Eagles singing Dirty Laundry, one my favorite songs of all time, here)
• The bad thing about MySpace is that it opened being public to everyone, no real controls when it started.
• In February of 2009 they found and removed 90,000 known pediphiles from FaceBook.
• LinkedIn was a site I knew nothing about but it turns out Claude has used it since his Peace Corps days.
• LinkedIn is more of a professional person/company site.
• LinkedIn was founded in 2000 and has 40,000,000 members.
• LinkIn is a great free way to market yourself for a job and your company.
• The information on LinkedIn is ALWAYS public.
• LinkedIn is a great place for a non-profit to be.
• Twitter tells people everything you do using your cell phone or the Internet and only 140 characters.
• Georgetown College has someone that Tweets each play of their games.
• They spoke briefly about Digg and Blogs.
• Problems with social networking are: Identity theft, Predators, Cyber-bullying, Posting of embarrassing photos and comments (once something is posted it NEVER goes away), and the release of sensitive corporate data.
• We should ask ourselves before we post anything these two questions: 1) Can a stranger find private information about me? and 2) Is there anything you don't want your employer or grandmother to see?
• They spoke a bit about corporate usage of social networking. Even a CEO having his own spot on FaceBook should be monitored before he posts.
• There were obviously several people in Human Resources there who were interested in the affects of people's Facebook (and other accounts) and using that data in hiring situations. Hmmmm...I never thought of that one.
• Norton/Symantic has identified several scam concerns when using social networking: chain letters, cash grabs, websites to click on and the site is actually a mechanism to troll for your personal data, and hidden charges.
• Remember that the employer owns what comes from their site and on their time.
• There are libel cases pending in the Supreme Court for statements made on people's personal blogs.
• The Library of Congress is archiving all public Tweets from Twitter. There are 50,000,000 of these each day!! (I'm thinking Dan Brown is writing his next novel on the Library of Congress and Tweeting. Really.)
• We were cautioned to go to spokeo.com and check our own name to see what information has been pulled and is out there about us and available to everyone. There are websites like Peoplefinders and Peoplesearch that collect your personal data and display it for others for a fee. They also get public records from court houses about your home, etc. One man in the audience suggested we also google our home phone number and be amazed at what we find.
• We were cautioned to check our Privacy Settings in FaceBook regularly. You may have them set the way you want, then you get a note from FaceBook that says they have made a change or upgrade in how they do things and that could pop your Privacy Settings back to default and not what you selected. Check the privacy settings regularly.
• We were told to have a junk eMail account for ordering things that can't be tracked back to your kids eMail if the family all uses one eMail account.
• Parents should all be aware of togetherville.com where parents can check what their kids do and say on the Internet. Not sure how that works but it was very strongly recommended.

It was a good class. Claude and I were happy with the meal and the training.

Then we hopped in our bright yellow carriage and headed to Frankfort. Our destination...Buffalo Trace Distillery. We wanted to add a case of rootbeer at our home and we needed candles for Jake and Nissa.

Then we headed to Lexington for a meeting Claude had in the afternoon. In preparation for this time together, I printed possible big trips for us in the future. I had about 7 or 8 possibilities. As Claude drove I read them in 'date for trip' order. We talked them over and narrowed it down to 3 possibilities. Claude carried them in with him to his meeting and had a minute to review them before the meeting started. I stayed in the Jeep with the windows down, enjoying a nice clear day and a Spring breeze, and read my Ensign.

Claude was about 1 1/2 hours in his meeting. I enjoyed the quiet reading with no phone or ability to do anything else or be distracted in any way. I need that every now and then because I seem to have no ability to create that setting myself.

When Claude came out he had picked the one he felt best about. I agreed. Now we just need to put that plan in motion.

Then we both agreed we should complete our day together with dinner and dessert in Lexington at someplace we don't have to eat in Georgetown. We settled on BD Mongolian Grill. It was a great meal. Then we headed to Coldstone Creamery for an ice cream dessert. Yummy!!!

We got back to Sadieville about 6:30 in the evening and then settled down for an evening in front of the TV. It was a great date day together.

I'm Happy About...

As I drove home from Georgetown yesterday afternoon, I noticed that all the candidates I voted for (whether they won or not) have removed their signs from the sides of streets and highways.  I like that. That is a responsible citizen. I did notice one other who was out picking up their signs. Now, I know that signs are expensive and it might just be a financial thing. But I truly appreciate them clearing up after themselves.

The entrance to Eagle Bend has been chock full of political signage. We have 3 homes for sale on our block right now. You really just couldn't tell they had 'For Sale' signs because they were the same size and shape of the 'political candidate' signs. Kind of ached for these home owners a bit. It is not an easy thing to sell a home this far out in the country. So for several weeks their 'For Sale' signs have not really helped advertize for them very much. Now you can tell there are 'For Sale' signs at the entrance again.

I remember us helping Andie and Michael get ready for a yard sale before they moved from Maryland to Kentucky. We made the signs to put up and covered them in plastic because of a rain concern. Then we placed them at specific intersections. But we made a map and knew where we put them. As soon as the yard sale was over, we were able to retrace our steps and pick up each of those signs in their neighborhood. I'm sure others appreciated this cleaning up after ourselves.

Claude and I are headed to a training class about 'social networking' today. It is a lunch training at Georgetown College. This after watching a new 'Criminal Minds' last night where the killer used 'social networking' as the premise for his murders. I hope they teach us things that are responsible and don't teach of to fear this type of end to our 'social networking'. I stayed away from Facebook and Blogs for a long time. Now I'm grateful for keeping a better journal with my Blog and for finding lots of friends from way back in our past history on Facebook. We've shared marriages, births, deaths, and just catching up on Facebook. For all of it's possibilities of negative things, there is a lot of good that can happen by a quick note to friends. If I learn some really new and interesting facts, I'll share them on my Blog.

One last thought...a quote in a talk we heard at the Scott Education & Community Foundation on May 4th: "A life without dreams is a nightmare."

Whew!!! Time goes by fast...

It seems like yesterday that I wrote on my blog and it was really seven yesterdays ago.

Last Thursday was the graduation ceremony for Hayden. Claude and I got up way early for us (we are retired, remember) and headed to La Grange to St. John's Pre-School. We were to meet the Marx family there. We found our way just fine and arrived just before the Marx van got there.

Joyce flew in the night before. Joyce is Michael's step-mom and we really were happy to get to visit with her again. It was especially nice that her visit was at Hayden's graduation time.

Michael took Hayden to his classroom. Andie, Bailey and Joyce came into the sanctuary where the actual graduation program would be and where Claude and I were holding seats for them at the back.

This is a fun little graduation. They actually have blue caps and gowns in little people sizes for these youngsters. They all meet in their classrooms and come in with their teachers. Hayden's teacher, Miss Amanda, gave birth to Claire the night before so another school official walked in with his class. Hayden is 2nd from the left of this picture with a big grin on his face.

Introductions were made. Announcements were made of who couldn't attend and for what reason. Thank you plaques were given out. The kids sang some songs. Then the kids all went to rows on the side and sat as classes. Each class was called up and the kids came one at a time to the front. They stood with the teacher and received a kids version of the Bible. Their parents could come up and take a picture of them receiving this Bible. Then the parents took their child back to their seats.  Hayden is the 3rd child from the left on the front row of the singing picture.

Hayden was very happy with his new Bible. We got a family picture or two of him with Joyce, Claude & me, and his family. The picture of Hayden with Claude and me is just hysterical. I have our Bailey pinned between my legs. The object was to get a picture of Hayden with Claude and me. Bailey seemed okay with me trapping her between my legs. I just find it a particularly amusing snapshot of our Bailey at the age of 3. I've learned to appreciate a photo as a moment in time. You can see how happy Joyce was to be with Hayden for this special moment. 

After the actual graduation everyone went to the gym. They had hot dogs and popcorn and snowcones for everyone. There were games and lots of fun to celebrate this big day in these little ones lives. Michael assured Hayden this was the first of at least 5 graduations in his future.

Then we headed to Casa Marx, the ladies and kids in the Marx van and Claude and Michael in my car. The boys were off to get barbeque for lunch. We had a nice lunch together. The kids played a bit. Claude and I gave Hayden a solar system kit for a graduation present. Hayden helped me pop it together and he totally loves it. The planets move around the sun and, with his love of all things to do with space, this was a great gift.

Everyone took a nap except for Michael and me. Then Claude and I left about 5pm. We had tickets to see Wicked at 7:30pm. So we headed out to find Lynn's Cafe. I think that is the right name. It is a really fun place to eat in Louisville. I saw it on the Today show or something some time back and made a mental note to try this unique restaurant at some point in our future. Andie had been with friends and enjoyed it. So we headed to find Lynn's Cafe. We had a great meal. We decided to have me get a salad that looked good to both of us and Claude got a sandwich (bacon, lettuce and fried green tomato) that looked good to both of us. Then we shared them. The food was great. The atmosphere was over the top fun. Two trees in the middle of the dining room. Mannequin legs on the walls in 60's style and color pants, bold colors of paint that is different on each surface, lamps hanging upside down over tables. The lamp for our table had men's ties covering the lamp shade. Just a really fun place to eat with good food.

Michael helped me get Google Maps on my Blackberry while we were at their home. I put in the new beginning and ending locations and got us a map to follow to get into downtown Louisville to Whitney Hall. It worked like a charm. I called Michael from the parking garage to thank him. Now we need to put this feature on Claude's Blackberry. It's free and is a great item to have at hand.

We were early for the play. Stood in the lobby for a bit. The smell of the pecans, cashews and almonds cooking in sugars and cinnamon filled the entire theater. We didn't eat any but boy did it smell good. I can eat my weight in nuts prepared that way.

Now I'm going to rant a bit. I left my Blackberry in the car. Claude had his but he turned it off before we ever entered the theater. Before the play started they made the usually announcement in loud tones to turn off all hand-held devices. During the entire performance the idiot next to me had his PDA out and playing with it. Be it a game or checking eMail's and Facebook. I'm not kidding. The only time it was off was during the intermission. Really people...can we not do without these wonderful devices for the length of a performance. That bright light is very distracting to me and I'm sure it could be for those performing on stage as well. I've sat beside people in other performances who actually videoed the entire performance when specifically told that was violating laws before the performance began. About the only reason I can see for these EVER being checked during a performance is if you have a dying relative and you left the thing on stun so you could get a notice if you had to run. Now how often is that going to happen. Chances are if death were that close you would be with them and NOT at the performance. We must learn to not be so addicted to them.

I can't remember Friday. I know we were home. I'm sure there was rain. But I also know we didn't have a dinner to go to. I know I was going to sleep in a bit to catch up on some rest but that didn't happen. I'm remembering something now...oh yeah...I spent the entire day typing addresses into my Blackberry from my Palm Pilot. I did finish the addresses and worked on the memo's while we watched something silly on TV in the evening. I have finished everything being moved and have officially stopped using my Palm Pilot. I spent Monday evening deleting stuff off the Palm Pilot. Now I am officially only using the Blackberry. I better get good at it quick!! It definitely lessens the weight of my purse!!

Which brings me to Saturday. The Friends of Sadieville Renaissance (I'm the chairperson now) has a beautification committee. Claude got a grant for the city to make a butterfly garden and a rain garden in the City of Sadieville. Cindy and Detta went to the nursery and picked out the plants. The beautification committe picked a date for this group volunteer effort of planting. Armed with plants, dirt, volunteers, tools and gloves, we went to work to build these items to beautify our little town. Omer and Virgil set to work with the tiller. They had two new beds to dig where there was dirt before. The ladies headed to the planting beds on each side of the Waring Pavilion. We pulled out poison ivy and weeds. I'm feeling the poison ivy since Monday on my arms. Then we started to turn the soil and clear out the spot for the butterfly garden. Claude sorted plants according to the diagram of where things were to go. We ended up creating the butterfly garden at the City of Sadieville sign, putting in the rain garden plants in the ditch, planting dogwood trees beside the caboose, planting new plants in the lamp posts in front of the caboose, and planting climbing plants around the storm drain. We are all agreed that if these plants grow like they should Sadieville will have the prettiest storm drain in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. We did pause briefly for a little lunch and conversation. Other than that, we worked constantly to get our project done. Next Saturday we are all meeting again to put the mulch on top of all of these projects. Stuart Hughes, our County Magistrate is helping us get the mulch. What a team effort. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun as well.

Here are a few before and after pictures. Remember, these are new plants, they have to grow up and fill their spaces. They are also native plants to Kentucky that can tolerate the climate and the very, very, very poor soil conditions.

First...the butterfly garden around the City of Sadieville sign:

Second...the rain garden in the ditch:

Then we have the storm drain...soon to be prettiest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

 The last pictures of just of the flower beds in front of the caboose, the dogwood trees on the back of the caboose and Waring Pavilion with the flower beds weeded.

 

We finished our day knowing there was rain in the forecast and concerned the little plants by the storm drain might float away. I know several of us keep driving past to be sure all plants are staying in their assigned and proper place. After all the flooding a few weeks ago, this concern is totally justified.

Saturday evening was the Scott County Republican Dinner. It was a biggie this year. Our US Senate race is particularly of note. Trey Grayson and Rand Paul were the viable Republican candidates. Rand Paul has won that Republican nomination. They were both to speak at this dinner and the news was set up to do a live streaming of the evening. We were invited to sit at Stuart Hughes table. There were two other couples. This was a delightful evening. The conversation at our table was great. The food was simple and good. There was one speaker for the evening who was a candidate for the US Senate. He had to be 105 years old. He was just delightful to listen to. He could have made a great stand-up comic. We all just enjoyed him.

Sunday was a very full day. I was to visit the Owingsville Ward with my secretary, Barbara. We met at Lisa Adams home where we left Barbara's car. We had a wonderful visit with the Owingsville ladies. This is just a very friendly and warm congregation. I marveled at their efforts to assist those who were flooded completely out of home and business during the huge floods earlier this month. Their area was hit particularly hard. Even though some of the sisters sitting there lost businesses, they were still at the service opportunities to sort donated items to give to others. Just a great outpouring of love. As Barbara and I left to drive back to Lexington, it started to rain again. We just shook our heads and said a little prayer in our hearts for these good people.

I determined to also pop in to visit the Lexington 1st Branch. They are a young single adult branch. We have a brand new Relief Society president in this branch and I just wanted to be sure she was doing okay and answer any questions she had. This is always a fun unit to visit. They are full of energy and their calendar is always full of things to do together. Such fun.

Then I headed to Georgetown to visit with my parents while Papa fed Mimi. Then Papa and I went back to his apartment to plan the musical program for today.

I finally headed back to Sadieville after an 11 hours day away from my home. It was a good day and full of positive, cup filling experiences.

Monday was an at home day. Laundry was done for Claude and me and for Papa. Computer work was caught up a bit, not completely, just a bit.

Yesterday I finally got the hair cut I've been needed for 3 weeks. I also voted. I also signed new signature cards for the Friends of Sadieville accounts at our bank. Participated in my monthly conference call for LDS Family Services training. Then I spent a good bit of time at my computer getting ready for Katelyn's graduation in a couple of weeks. I'm making a slideshow of pictures of her life to display while we all have an openhouse after the graduation ceremony.

Today I'm catching up on this blog, wiping out the inside of the oven I cleaned yesterday, heading into Georgetown to sing with Papa and visit Mimi. Then I'm coming home and crashing. I just love crashing. I'll probably work on the slide show a bit more. 

I feel like that song Sonny and Cher used to sing..."The Beat Goes On!!"

'Y'ittle Things...

I just love that our Bailey puts a 'Y' in the place of an 'L' when she talks. There will come a day when she does not do this but for now I find myself hearing some words as Bailey would say them and it just sounds good. So I title my blog entry for today 'Y'ittle Things...

First...a scripture comes to mind:  "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." (Doctrine & Covenants 64:33)

I kept noticing 'y'ittle things in my day yesterday and then again this morning.

A 'Y'ittle Technology:
Yesterday I spent 1 hour of my morning adding more addresses to Outlook on my computer. It got me into the D's and that felt good. Didn't have a lot of time to devote to this mammoth project but it felt really good to know I had done another hour of it.

A 'Y'ittle Worry:
I wanted to see my parents yesterday. I called Papa about 9am to see if he wanted to practice music and have some lunch together. I got no answer but wasn't concerned because I know he usually goes to the Pavilion around that time for his morning walk. I tried to call again about 11:15 but still got know answer. I left a 2nd voice message and continued with my morning. I got myself ready and headed to Georgetown. I drove to the nursing home figuring I would visit with Mimi and Papa while Papa was feeding Mimi lunch. Papa's car was not in front of the nursing home. Now, I began to be concerned. It wouldn't have surprised me if he just didn't think to return my phone call. But I knew he wouldn't miss lunch with Mimi unless something was wrong. Images of him collapsed on the floor of his apartment raced through my mind. I turned around and headed to his apartment. When I got there his car was not in the driveway. I went in the apartment and no Papa. Tiny was happy to get a chew stick, but no Papa. I checked for his car and it was not in the garage. The answering machine was still beeping indicating he had not been there to get my messages. Back to the nursing home I headed. I went in and finished feeding Mimi her lunch. The CNA said Papa had called to say he wouldn't be there. Hmmmm...  About 1pm I got a call on my cell phone from Papa. He had taken the missionaries to do their exchange of companions that morning. He had been to Lexington and to Louisville and that was why he was not there. I told him I was finishing feeding Mimi and I would like to take him to lunch. He was happy with that idea.

A 'Y'ittle Dining:
I drove back to Papa's apartment and picked him up and told him I was hungry for Arby's. He said that was fine with him. While standing at the counter looking at the menu, I knew I wanted a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. That's my meal at Arby's with a soda and no fries. Papa said, "I haven't eaten a hamburger in so long. I really would like a hamburger." Papa wears false teeth and some things are just too uncomfortable to chew. I told him they don't have hamburger patty burgers at Arby's but they do have a sandwich that is made like a hamburger only it has roast beef in place of the burger patty. I pointed the three choices out to him and he picked the one that looked the best. I assured him they had plastic forks and knives and we could cut it up if he couldn't bite through it. I gave him his drink cup and he went to fill it. While he was gone I added an apple turnover for each of us. They gave me my cup and I went to fill it. Papa found us a table and then he waited for our order at the counter. He was able to eat that roast beef burger. It was a little thick but he made it through it. He was delighted with his apple turnover. The rest of the afternoon he just kept commenting about how 'good' that meal was. It was a 'y'ittle meal, not very expensive, but he meant a world to Papa and as a consequence of him being happy, I was happy.

A 'Y'ittle Planning:
After lunch I drove us to Johnson's Funeral Home. We were going to be sure we had the last of Mimi's funeral arrangements paid for. We met with Tony. He pulled our file on Mimi's funeral and we reviewed exactly where we stood. We were able to pay for all the final pieces of that cost. It felt good to us to have that completed. I made sure a couple of weeks ago we had her clothing all ready. It may seem morbid to some but to me it feels a bit more prepared for 'whenever' with regard to my mom. I know when the time comes that she graduates to the next level of our existence, not having to worry about these arrangments will make the process a 'y'ittle easier.

A 'Y'iddle Music:
When we finished at the funeral home, I drove us back to Papa's apartment. We pulled out the tablet to write the program on, the books with the words to the songs and Papa picked one of his guitars to practice with. We had a 'y'ittle bit of our afternoon picking the next set of songs for us to sing and running through them to find pitches and determine who would sing lead and who would sing harmony. Now Papa could spend some time that evening picking out his songs to sing solo and what to play on the harmonica and mandolin. A 'y'ittle more ready for singing this afternoon. Earlier in the day when I entered the dining room to feed mom one of the ladies looked up at me and grinned really big and said, "Are you coming to sing today?" She was just eager for us to sing for them. It's a 'y'ittle thing that is not very professional at all but is truly enjoyed by the residents at the nursing home, by Papa and by me.

A 'Y'ittle Time to Myself:
We have two graduations this year. Hayden graduates from Pre-School this Thursday. Claude and I will head over early tomorrow morning to witness that major event in a 5 year olds life. I wanted to get him a 'y'ittle graduation gift. Being closer to Lexington while visiting Papa, I determined I would head to Barnes & Noble to check on an item Andie told me about that Hayden would like. This is fun for me. I really don't trek off shopping by myself often. I needed some embroidery thread (and since Walmart determined that is not an item they care to stock anymore) so Michael's was another stop and they are near each other in Lexington. It was pleasant to look for the item for Hayden and then browse through things a Michael's. A crafty girl likes to do that every now and then. I actually only got two things of embroidery thread and 3 Sudoku books and 2 Mathdoku books. But it was a 'y'ittle time to do something I wanted to do for me.

A 'Y'ittle Time with the Hubby:
I headed back to Sadieville and found my dear hubby stretched out on the sofa watching old sitcoms on TV. We discussed dinner possibilities and determined to take the easy route and use up hot dog buns we purchased when the Mini-Marx's visited. Claude made us some killer chili dogs. We sat and had a 'y'ittle bit of dinner together and caught up on each of our days.

A 'Y'ittle More Computer Time:
Then I spent the remainder of my evening working on more names in Outlook's contact list. I'm all the way up to the 'H's' . Not a lot, just a 'y'ittle, but it once again feels good to get that accomplished.

A 'Y'ittle Money:
And finally this morning as we were starting our day, Claude said, "I have a 'y'ittle check for you to sign." I said, "What did we get a check for?"  Claude said, "It was some class action law suit I signed us on."  I said, "How 'y'ittle is this check?"  Claude said, "Two dollars and fifty cents."  At which point I lost it in laughter. Having worked with finances I know it probably cost them more in labor and product to print that check for $2.50 than it is worth. Such silliness. I assured Claude I think we only added weight to the lawsuit for whoever made the big money out of it. But it is fun to start the day with a 'y'ittle bit more money. He said we could have a bite to eat on our day in Louisville on the checks he and I each got for $2.50 each.

A 'Y'ot of Rain:
Now we are having big thunder and lightening storms this morning in Sadieville. I'm going to close this blog and do my 'y'ittle jigsaw puzzle on my BellSouth homepage. Then I'm going to type in a 'y'ittle bit more into my Outlook software so I can get it all to my new 'y'ittle Blackberry. Then I'm going to pull together my stuff for my 'y'ittle presidency meeting this evening.

And now to paraphrase my starting scripture..."By 'y'ittle and simple things, great days are brought to pass."

Mother's Day 2010...

And for Mother's Day I got...another thing to learn how to use and to fill full of information. I've been using a wonderful Palm Pilot we bought before we retired 5 1/2 years ago. I love my Palm Pilot. It contains my life in a nutshell but it is really wearing out. So Claude took me to the AT&T store to get a new Blackberry.

We checked the 4 models they had and found the things each had and didn't have. I'm not really an impulse buyer. I had been in and looked at them before by myself. Claude carried one when he worked for the Peace Corps and has one again. So I was sure of the purchase just not which one to get. I told Ashley, the sales person, that I wanted to think a bit so we would grocery shop and be back when we were finished with a decision.

Well, we delivered Papa's laundry first. Then we went to Taco Bell for lunch where we talked about it a bit. Then we went back to the AT&T store and purchased me a Blackberry.

While we were going through the purchase process, I was looking out the window that is the outside wall of this little store. Claude's Jeep was sitting there. I watched a little bird hopping up on the bumper and then climbing into the grating. I told Claude he may have a nest being built in his Jeep. He assured me it is because a Jeep is a bug magnet. It is not streamlined and literally every bug in it's path is attracted to the front. He said the bird was having a 'bug buffet'. The sales people, Claude and I got a chuckle out of this little bird being so busy.

Now, every time I've gotten a new cell phone they have assured me you can take the phones numbers off the SIM card and transfer them to the new phone saving you LOTS of time. I'm here to say...Not So Much. It transfers just the name and one phone number, not all the miriads of information I feel necessary to tadk onto each phone number. I'm going to be spending lots of time transferring data manually. I did let them try the SIM card thing, but it still just gave me names and phone numbers. They don't sync with the other information I have. Plus my Palm is old enough the CD that you load the syncing software with is out-of-date and they don't have an upgrade. So there is no way to transfer my Palm Pilot info to the new Blackberry. I'm diligently typing things over. I'm happy doing this because it affords me an opportunity to set up things the way the Blackberry and Outlook have them instead of the way Palm has them. Plus I'm cleaning out some old data that I really don't need anymore.

Then we did the grocery shopping and headed back to Sadieville to finish preparations for the Mini-Marx's and Andie to visit.

I did spend part of my afternoon downloading Microsoft Outlook for my computer so I could use it with my Blackberry like Claude does.

Andie and kids arrived Friday around 5pm. This gave me time to play a bit before I went off to a function I was invited to. They brought their butterflies they have been raising. Andie wanted to set them free here but it remained too cold and too windy all weekend to set these little beauties free. We did feed them oranges and flowers, etc.

Friday evening I was invited to the Sadieville Christian Church Ladies Dinner by Detta Wilson. Every year the men prepared and serve and clean up a nice dinner for all the ladies of the church. I was looking forward to this opportunity to visit with the ladies in our community. 

The dinner was in the basement of the church. We were seated at tables with a beautiful centerpiece of tree branches with little apples and hats and flowers glued to them. The theme was about hats. We had a nice salad at our place to begin our dinner. Then the men served us fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. If you didn't have the piece of chicken you wanted, you just raised your hand and the men would bring you a different piece. They also brought beverage as you wanted it. They cleared the tables as we finished eating and then served us our choice of several desserts. I had a cheesecake with strawberries on it. After dinner we headed outside and upstairs to the sanctuary for the program.

A guest speaker was there and she was a delight. She talked to us about the hats she has worn throughout her life and how they represent her life. She started from babyhood and went through being a gramma. It was really entertaining and fun. Then Detta shared a few stories. Then we were free to head for home. I was really happy I was invited to this event and totally enjoyed myself.

The Mini's were in bed when I got home so we had adult swim. I purchased some Lindor's Truffles and we had a couple. I brought my new laptop upstairs and started the process of typing in the Palm Pilot contact list while we watched TV.

Saturday morning we got up and I fixed cinnamon toast, scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. After a filling start to our morning we called Papa and invited him to join us at Evan's Orchard to watch the kids play in the playland there. Then we all loaded in Andie's van and headed down the highway to Evan's Orchard.

We took Hayden and Bailey there last fall. All the schools were having field trips there for their Fall Festival, so the playland was really full of kids. This time the day was cooler and very windy and the only other kids were for a little child's birthday party. So we had lots of opportunity to play with the things Hayden and Bailey wanted, when they wanted, for as long as they wanted.

Hayden's favorite thing by far is the huge rubber tubes that sit in tracks that you stand in and walk. As you walk the wheel moves down the track. He got his timing back really quick on this toy and could get just before the hay bale buffer at the end of the track and then he would slide down on his back and roll around as the tube finished it's run down the track. He was aided by the strong wind that would really push him as he went toward one of the ends. The first picture is Hayden pushing against the wind to one end of the track, the second picture is of him standing inside and walking the tube to the end of the track. The third picture shows how he learned to let the wind push the tube while he walked back to the other end of the track. He knew where it was about to end and he would slide down and roll inside the tube and laugh as he finally hit the hay bale buffer. 

The wind was so strong at times that it blew the big tube out of it's tracks and across the grass in the playland to the field where they will plant corn. In this picture Andie is rolling the tube back to the track with Hayden inside.

Bailey, on the other hand, was all over the playland. Here are a few of the things she did while Hayden enjoyed playing in the huge wheel. She started out in the hanging tube that is under the big slide. Then she was off to the tire maze. In the next picture she is yelling, "Help me! Help me! I want to swing!" As soon as Claude got there she was off and didn't swing at all. Across the playland, past where Hayden was absorbed in his tires and tracks, to the hay bale maze. Then back past Hayden to the hill of dirt with ropes to pull yourself up and let yourself down. Then she found the tubes that were standing on their end. Andie lowered her into one. Claude assured me we may have found the place to pin down our little angel. The animals were not out yet with the exception of two rabbits in a pen. Andie took Bailey over once. Later in the morning Bailey went again to check on the bunnies. One was in the corner of its pen. Bailey managed to get her fingers through the wires so she could touch it's little cotton ball shaped tail. As soon as she did, that little rabbit hopped to the middle of the pen under their cages which sit above ground. Bailey was saying, "Come back yiddle bunny, come back."

And what would Mother's Day weekend be if Mom didn't get into the action a bit. Andie had some fun with her kidlings as they played with this big tube in the track. Hayden and Bailey are pushing her while she stands in the tube. I'm keeping the one where she fell down for myself. Then Andie was pushing Hayden and Bailey felt she could help by pushing Andie. The last one is Hayden in one tube and Andie in the tube on the track next to his. 

After a while it was time for us to rest for a bit and have some lunch and something to drink. Evan's Orchard has a little cafe and we had hotdogs and rib-eye sandwiches. The kids were especially careful this year not to let their food get near the two dogs that live on the property. They are quite happy to clean up anything you drop or let lean away from your chair.

Then it was back to the playland for one final round of play. This time Hayden and Bailey both headed for the tire maze. In the center are four tires filled with dirt. Some of it had settled and Hayden found a little place that needed to be refilled so they diligently set to bring little handfuls of dirt and filling up this hole.

Then Bailey found some pebbles in the dirt and proceeded to make a nest out of the dirt. Then she put the pebbles on top for eggs. Then she tried to sit on the nest.  Hayden helped her form her nest again and then helped her try to get the dirt to stay in place while Bailey is sitting on the dirt nest. Then Hayden lost it and really started to laugh when Bailey stood up to see what happened to her nest and couldn't understand that sitting on dirt causes it to collapse. Andie is in the background of that picture laughing while she gets a picture too. When it was all said and done, Hayden had to make another nest and try sitting on it just to see what all that fun was about.

 

We ended our morning of play at Evan's Orchard with Claude swinging Hayden and Bailey while they were in the hanging tube under the slides. Bailey and Andie made one final screaming trip down the tall slide. We headed back to Sadieville cold, tired and very well exercised.

Bailey does have a tender, nurturing side. I found one of my turtles under the rug in front of the TV. The rug was the closest thing to a blanket Bailey could find. She is really into 'kissing things better' also.

We had a great visit with the little ones and Andie. It is just always nice when the grandmonsters are around. Love their little hearts they wear us out but in the best way ever.

Andie was going to go with me Sunday morning to visit Mimi. However, Hayden was running a slight fever when they got up so she headed home to LaGrange and chose not to share whatever germs he may have with the residents of the nursing home.

I dropped Claude off at Church and headed to the nursing home Sunday morning to visit with my mom a bit. This was a tender visit. One never knows how many Mother's Days with her there will be on this earth. I have several friends who are at this same point with their moms right now. I knew I was emotional but thought I was really under control. Fortunately Mimi was in her room in her bed for her morning nap.

She woke when I came in the room. She mumbled some things. I sat on the side of her bed. I brought my scriptures with me and I sat there and read out loud from Jeremiah. She would say something every now and then and I would pause and listen to her. As it neared time for me to leave, I closed my scriptures and just sat with my hand on her face. She grinned at me and I grinned back.

Then she looked at the wall by her bed. Hanging on that wall is a beautiful picture of my parents that was taken at Olan Mills. Mimi was looking and talking to that picture a lot. I'm glad it is hanging there for her to see. I know her vision is blurry and she can't wear glasses to fix that but I know she sees that picture and it seems to bring her comfort.

I told Mimi "Happy Mother's Day" again. Then I told her that the rest of her family would love to wish her a happy Mother's Day but circumstances don't make that possible now.
But I told her that her daughters and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren all love her very much. She smiled as I said this, almost like she understood what I was saying. Then I said, "Does that make you happy?"  She smiled again and said, "Yes."

There is no earthly gift I can give to my mother now that she would understand or appreciate. No object she could hold or look at. But that moment was the best she could have from her kids and I just feel like she understood we all loved her and wanted her to know she was appreciated as the mom of our extended family as well as my mom.

I went to my car and wept. Just a bit to ease that lump in my throat. But not enough to ruin my make-up as I headed back to Church for Relief Society.

Mother's Day is an interesting thing to me. I often struggle with it as a holiday that is celebrated. Not that mothers don't need to be honored and remembered. But I've always felt strongly that, if I'm not treated well every other day of the year, one day of flowers, candy, dinner and gifts will not make all the rest okay. I have a family that loves me and I love them with all my heart. I'm truly blessed that way. I had one more Mother's Day with Mimi on this earth. I'm truly blessed. It was a good Mother's Day.

Nissa and her family called and left me a Happy Mother's Day singing message. Jake called and we talked again for a long time. I spent a good deal of time typing things into Outlook to sync to my new Blackberry. Life was really good for me.  I am a blessed lady.