I Have Been Remiss...

January 25th I entered a regular post to my Blog. I didn't enter another until February 7th. That is almost two weeks without a blog entry.

Each time I sat down to write a Blog entry during that two weeks I searched my brain for the right 'title' for the post and couldn't find a title or the emotion to write. Sad...but true. February 7th I sat down and determined the best way to get back to my blog was to start one separate blog entry to fill with miscellaneous things (this Blog entry) and to go ahead an create the two full entries I knew I wanted to make.

When I began this Blog entry, I thought of the word 'remiss' and looked it up in my trusty dictionary I keep on my desk. The 3rd definition is the one that fits my feelings about not blogging recently. That meaning is: not energetic; languid; sluggish. That would be my feelings over the last few weeks. I can find many reasons for this feeling. Winter is really hanging on all over the place and it is particularly prolonged in Kentucky. I had bronchitis in December and Influenza A in January and it has left Claude and both tired and listless a lot of the time. We made three quick trips during that time and travel leaves one tired. And sometime, not all the time (thank heavens), a girl just gets a little blue and has to work her way through it. Even if that girl is 60 years of age.

February 7th I picked myself up by the bootstraps (figuratively speaking) and set myself back on course again. I did this by starting this particular entry and adding to it as I completed a couple of other blog entries I want to do about particular events. These are just tidbits that have happened that I want to remember and I'll let this be the 'tidbit' entry.

So here, in no particular order, are some of my tidbits of thought over the couple of missed weeks.

Got a great call from Katelyn Sunday, February 6th. She has been asked to give her first talk in Sacrament meeting on February 20th. She was so happy she was about to burst when she called to tell us. This has prompted Claude and I to make plans to attend her Sacrament meeting in Muskegon, Michigan to hear this talk. This allows us another opportunity to visit with the Michigan branch of our family again.

Wed, February 2nd, was my Countryside Homemakers meeting. I taught the lesson this month that is provided by the Scott County Extension office. It was on Green Cleaning Products. It was a fun lesson to learn about and teach. I was able to include a recipe for the veggie cleaner that Andie, my daughter, makes and a recipe for liquid soap that Bonnie, my mum-in-law, makes. It is great fun to go to the training to teach these lessons and then to present them to our own chapter. I have told our Relief Society president about this training and offered to share it with the Relief Society sisters in our ward if it is ever needed. I did that last year with the Osteoporosis class.

I did learn another very easy dessert recipe at Countryside Homemakers. Our chapter president make these delicious mint cookies. She melted the melting chocolate that comes in a block that you can break off sections of. Then she put a tiny bit of mint flavoring in that melted chocolate. Next she dipped a Ritz cracker in the chocolate so it was completely covered in chocolate. The chocolate dipped cracker was placed on wax paper to cool. I ate one of the edible wonders and it tasted exactly like a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. I am not kidding...it was just delightful.

At Church the members are now responsible for cleaning the building once each week. In the past, our Ward (congregation) has chosen to assign this to the auxilliaries and priesthood groups. They have determined this year to try assigning a few families each week to do this cleaning. Claude received an eMail that he and I, the Bolton family and the Durkin family were to clean the building this last Saturday, February the 5th. I called the other two families to see what time would work best for them. The Boltons could only clean Friday evening or Saturday between Eddie getting off work and then driving the kids to Louisville for a special fireside with the youth. The Durkins could clean either Friday evening or Saturday morning but only one of them could come either of those times. Claude and I needed to be able to get Papa and be to LaGrange by 11am Saturday to celebrate Bailey's birthday. We all determined to clean Friday evening at 6pm.

Claude and I arrived at the Church at 6pm. There was no one there. Neither of us has keys to the building anymore so we just waited in our car. After a bit Eddie and Bernie Bolton arrived in their car. They live across the street from the Church and have a key to the building. About that same time Kelly Durkin arrived. Eddie explained that they had friends who wanted to meet them in Frankfort Friday evening. To facilitate this, their family came over earlier and had already taken out the trash and vacuumed all the floors. This left the kitchen and the bathrooms for us to do. Eddie unlocked the building and then locked us inside to do our cleaning. This way, when we left the building would be locked. Eddie and Bernie headed to Frankfort to meet up with their friends. Kelly headed to clean the kitchen and Claude and I took the bathrooms.

I mention all of this because I was struck by the willingness of the Bolton family to pick a HUGE part of the cleaning process and tackle it as a family before the rest of us could come. How thankful we were for willing hearts and hands to get this done as quickly as possible. It was fun to work with Kelly in finishing up our cleaning duties. A big thank you to both of these families for all they did to make the responsibility as light as possible.

Tuesday, February 1st, I went to the Lexington Stake Center with Claude and Papa. They go there every 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday afternoon to cover a shift at the Family History Center contained in that building. I went with them so I could practice the organ for their 3 hours shift. I was to play the organ in the Lexington North Stake Center for a special stake meeting conducted by Elder David Bednar on Sunday, February 6th. I really needed time to practice. Even though this would not be the organ I would actually play, it would give me the practice of using the pedals and practicing the music on an organ instead of the piano. It was great fun and after 3 hours I was beginning to get the hang of it again.

After Claude and Papa's shift was over, Claude treated us to 5 Guys Burgers. This was Papa's first foray into 5 Guys Burgers and he totally loved his burger. Claude had the presence of mind to only buy one large fry. That was plenty for the 3 of us.

Claude attended the City Official's Academy at the Marriott in Lexington Wednesday, January 26th thru Friday, January 28th. This is training for recently elected City Officials that is done by the Kentucky League of Cities. It is excellent training. Claude has attended before. This time he attended at the Mayor of Sadieville. We have 4 newly elected City Commissioners. They each arranged their schedules so they could attend all the training. One is a mom with a little boy in pre-school. She had someone watch him for her. One works 2nd shift at Toyota. He came to the training and then went to work on his shift after that. One took vacation from his job to attend the training. We were so happy and pleased with these new commissioners dedication. Claude was so cute. He would come home and say, "All the kids were there again!!"  He was just very proud of these new commissioners.

Maybe I can stay on track now. This morning I woke up and to a beautiful scene. We had snow Tuesday and some flurries on Wednesday. It has stayed cold and the snow isn't melting. It was cold enough this morning that we woke up to ice on all the trees. It was just beautiful. The sun was coming up and shining on those trees. I took pictures but the sun was so bright it would caused lots of glare on the pictures. Sometimes it is just a gorgeous world that we live in.