Filling in the Gaps...

There were two things said by our Mini's when we had family here in October. I don't want to forget these cute quips by the Mini's. 

Quip #1 was by Hayden. Hayden and Bailey were having a discussion about teaching Raelyn to brush her two teeth. The discussion turned to teaching Raelyn to spit while brushing her teeth. Hayden to Katelyn (Raelyn's mother): "You should let me do that. I have been spitting like a hillbilly for weeks!"

Quip #2 was by Bailey. She was yelling down the stairs to Hayden, "Hayden, we need to preparate the tub!" That is a new word for the dictionary, I am just sure of it.

Next I want to fill in other things that happened since November 30th:

Wednesday, November 30th was a busy day. Jon Steiner, the CEO of Kentucky League of Cities wanted to come out and meet with Claude, tour Sadieville and just have a chance to get to know Claude better. We had a lovely visit. Then Claude took Jon on a tour of Sadieville while I finished up lunch. When they returned we ate shrimp gumbo (my mother's recipe) and had lemon cake for dessert with no icing. I tried to make a pudding cake but the cake mix already had pudding in it, so I didn't add additional pudding. I should have. When I tried to take the cooled down cake out of the bundt pan part of it stuck to the pan. I had not planned icing the cake. I was just going to sprinkle powdered sugar on it. I didn't even do that. I told Jon it was my humble cake. We all enjoyed that light cake very much. We gave Jon an ornament I make for certain people each Christmas and a small jar of crabapple jelly. He was happy and had a good visit getting to know Claude and Sadieville a bit better. That day I also took Papa to the nursing home to play music for the residents, attended tithing settlement with Claude and taught Institute before coming home for the night.

Thursday, December 1st Claude was gone during the day so my day was filled with bringing boxes up from the basement and putting decorations out through the house. Then I started to decorate the tree. I got the tree up and pulled out the first string of light to put on the tree. It did not work. Pulled out the second string of lights to put on the tree. It did not work. Okay, that old saying, "Third times a charm..." is not true. It didn't work either. Now I am seriously sure I will not get that tree decorated with lights which means I can't do all the decorating in one day. Shoot! I did put the other three string of lights on the tree and they worked fine. But I would have to get more lights before I could finish decorating the tree. 

Friday, December 2nd I went to Georgetown to replenish Papa's banana supply so he could get through the rest of the weekend. I was going to do some cleaning but determined I would scoop Papa up and go for a car ride instead. We put his few food items away and we loaded in my car and away we went. We found our way back to Stamping Ground and completed the ride we tried to finish once before. I found the error that caused us to get back to Stamping Ground too quickly the last time. I turned on Graves Road instead of Gaines Road. This time we made it all the way to Gaines and then looped back and forth through the countryside until we got back to Papa's. He loved every minute of it. I stopped at Walmart and purchased more lights for the tree. Claude was trying to get the exterior lights up and needed more for the exterior as well. When I got home I finished our inside tree and helped Claude get the outside lights done before it got too dark. 

Saturday we had Stake Conference. Claude had leadership meetings in the afternoon. I went with him and picked up the four items I needed. Then tried to get out of the madness that is Hamburg Pavilion, a shopping area in Lexington. It took me 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. I was ever so grateful my gift shopping was totally complete and this was just a few items we needed that I could take time to get while Claude was in meetings. 

Sunday was the final session of Stake Conference. The Church has started broadcasting this live meeting to Owingsville and Beattyville so they don't have to drive in to Lexington. Claude was asked to go to Owingsville and preside at that meeting. We absolutely love going to Owingsville and were happy to get that opportunity again. In the evening we went to St. Matthew's, Kentucky. This is a community right near downtown Louisville. The Mayor there invited Claude to attend their Christmas party as Claude is the President of Kentucky League of Cities this year. It was a nice event. Good food, chance for Claude to meet some of the other Mayor's who also attended this function. The drive in the cold rain was not fun between Sadieville and Louisville and returning. But the event was nice. We got back home and played the Church's First Presidency Christmas Devotional we had set to record while we were gone. That was an excellent way to end our Sabbath.

Monday, December 5th I got Papa's groceries and cleaned his apartment and visited with him some. Then I hurried home to finish my Institute lesson. Normally I do the writing up of the outline on Sunday evening. This time I was reading and studying during any free moments I could find over the weekend. So by Monday evening I had read and studied everything. But I still had several hours work to get it all outlined as the Spirit directed. 

Tuesday the 6th I had my doctor's appointment with the ophthalmologist. I still have 20/20 vision from a distance. Up close, I can still use my little reader glasses. Yippee!! So very grateful for that. I dread the day I have to have glasses with a prescription. I shall greatly miss having glasses stashed in lots of places in case they are needed. I'm sure it will happen at some point but for now I am very happy with my readers. 

Wednesday, December 7th was that very full day with meeting Claude and rushing to LaGrange to see Bailey perform in the PAC Christmas play. Then back to Georgetown to take Papa to the nursing home followed by a quick dinner with Claude before going to the Church for tithing settlement and then teaching Institute. 

Thursday the 8th was Papa's turn to see the ophtalmologist. He has cataracts still on one eye that qualify for surgery. The other eye is not quite there so that Medicare would pay for it. That eye compensates so Papa isn't really aware that he could see better if he had surgery. Dr. Richardson doesn't want to give him a prescription for new glasses since his prescription would drastically change if Papa decides to have cataract surgery. Papa doesn't want to deal with surgery. He is reading less and less. Dr. Richardson asked him if he could see better would he read more. Papa assured him that was not the case, he just doesn't want to read much anymore. So, we wait until the next exam unless Papa determines he wants to try the surgery. Dr. Richardson assured him he could come anytime and they would set him up to take care of the one eye. After leaving Papa at home, I went to Valorie's to give her a birthday gift. Every year I take her a box of lemon Girl Scout cookies. I have done this since I was her visiting teacher many years ago. I also gave her for Christmas that year little slips of paper, one for each day of the year, with a quote on it that uplifts or makes one laugh. I took her a Ziploc bag with the quotes for 2017 and an ornament. She was so happy to have someone tell her Happy Birthday on her birthday. Then I had a stop at Walmart to pick up the non-perishable items on the grocery list along with a few items I needed. Dinner was at Burger King before driving to LaGrange to hear Hayden play in the band. I pulled into the driveway just as Claude was pulling into the garage. Goodness!

Friday the 9th I received a text from a friend when I woke up. Her grandson was supposed to drive her to Georgetown Hospital to get a mammogram. She is the friend that has battled cancer and how has to have a mammogram every 3 months for a while to watch for any recurrence. Her grandson's truck broke and he couldn't take her. I assured her I would be there and take her. I left her at the hospital and went to visit Papa while she did her medical thing. Worked out great for both of us. Friday afternoon I went to City Hall at 3:45 to complete our part of set up for the Polar Express. Claude joined me about 4:30 and the Library people showed up at 5pm for their set-up. We finished Friday's Polar Express at 8pm. Claude and I went to Hardee's for a bit to eat. I had only had a bagel and that hot ham and cheese sandwich was surely made by angels.

Saturday morning Claude had a meeting at 9am and we both had Seminary and Institute Inservice at 10am. Both meetings were at the same building. I went in with Claude to his meeting and sat in the car to crochet until time for my meeting. We both meet at the 10am meeting and left at noon. Back to Sadieville for a couple of hours before time to set up for the Polar Express. By 8pm we were finished with the Polar Express and we decided, since Hardee's worked so well the night before, we would do a repeat performance and dine there again. The angels were still making hot ham and cheese sandwiches and once again it was divine.

I share all of this because December is just a very full month. I had all my Christmas shopping done, I made all my ornaments in October, I had all those ducks in a row because at 66 years of age I have learned that December will always fill up no matter how well prepared you think you are. Things will come along and need to be done. 

Now, I am learning to do a fun kind of crochet. It is called Tunisian Crochet. It uses a long hook that looked like one knitting needle but one end has a hook on it like a crochet hook. When you do this crochet it looks like you knitted the article instead of crocheting it. I have practiced making the stitches and now moved on to making a cowl scarf. It will have lots of mistakes in it but it is a good practice piece and I am totally enjoying treating my brain to some new thinking. Once complete, I will post a picture.

One last tidbit. We were challenged as teachers of Seminary and Institute classes to pick one of several Christ-like Attributes and study it and determine how we might implement that more in our lives. The attribute I chose to study was courage. I wanted to record a quote that was included with the material. It was found on an old Baptist church sign. "Courage is fear that has said its prayers." I really love that quote. Hope those who read this will as well.

That about fills in the gaps until next blogging session.