Birthday Continued, Anniversary, and Living Room Update...

Friday, February 9th, big day for Claude and me. We got the Euros for our trip to Italy. It is getting closer!!

Saturday, February 10th, we would celebrate Miss Bailey's 17th birthday. We drove to LaGrange with a stop at Panera to pick up lunch for everyone. This was Bailey's choice. We enjoyed a nice lunch followed by ice cream that the Marx's provided. This year for birthday's everyone gets a fun t-shirt. Bailey is our first birthday in the adult catagory. (I will not get t-shirts for the great grandmonsters.) She was happy with her t-shirt. It was an Egyptian themed cat t-shirt. Bailey loves cats and she was Cleopatra for a project in elemnentary school. We had fun celebrating with Miss B and her parents. 

Sunday, February 11th, Claude and I got up early and traveled to Owingville, Kentucky to visit the Owingsville Ward. They were having their ward conference. The second hour the Taylor's, Service Missionaries in Kentucky, were the guest speakers. It was really good to see old friends and get hugs. Catching up on the biggies in their lives. I was able to bear a strong testimony about the Self-Reliance courses, particularly the importance of all take the Personal Finances and the Emotional Resilience courses. 

On the way home, Claude and I stopped at El Camino Real Mexican restaurant. I stepped out of my normal cheese enchiladas and ordered a California plate. It had rice in the middle and veggies and shrimp with a very light cheesy sauce over them around the rice. It was delicious. Way too much food, but very good. I may have found my new meal at this restaurant. Claude had a burrito plate and really enjoyed it. 

We received a package from Amazon that afternoon. We were not expecting anything. We opened the box and found a beautiful present inside.

It was an anniversary gift from Nissa and Todd. It was two pair of socks, one black and one white. They each have puppy ears on them. So cute. We sent Nissa and Todd a thank you text with pictures of their gift. Love my family.

Monday, February 12th, I completed the first draft of grids for our fall driving trip. We are planning to drive all of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. I made a grid for each state and included possibilities of stops in each state with information about the stop. Now, Claude and I could go over this information together and get a feel for taking this trip and what it might entail. 

I also finished making 50 granny squares and putting half of them into tree shapes. These will be the Christmas gifts from the Relief Society to all the sisters in the Elkhorn Creek Ward. I know it early in the year to get this done. I had been crocheting around baby burp pads. This is very hard on my thumb particularly because you must make the hole through two layers of fabric to crochet the boarder around. When I finish one, I have a dent in my thumb and it wears a callous. Really hurts the arthritis in the hand and thumb. So, I decided to take a break from burp pads and start on this Christmas project. 

Tuesday, February 13th, was our 54th wedding anniversary. We didn't buy each other gifts. Really, we get what we want and/or need when we want and/or need it. We agreed to take this day and just do things we wanted to do. 

I posted this to Facebook:

Walk through this world with me

Go where I go

Share all my dreams with me

I need you so

In life we search

And some of us find

I've looked for you

A long, long time

And now that I've found you

New horizons I see

Come take my hand

And walk through this world with me

54 year ago on Friday the 13th we started our journey. Claude Christensen is my eternal companion, the man I love going on adventures with, the other half of my brain as we age, my strongest support in the things I find important. 

Happy Anniversary Big Guy!! Let's enjoy this next year together! Love Ya Bunches!!

I posted these pictures. They were based on decades of married life. 

1. Our wedding day. Friday, February 13, 1970. I was 19 and Claude Christensen was 20. Look...no beard!
2. Coming out of the Logan Utah Temple to a beautiful snow storm.
3. 1st Decade
4. After 10 years we had our three children. Jake Christensen, Nissa Tyler and Andie Christensen Marx.
5. After 20 years our kids were still home but growing up. Nissa Tyler, Claude, Jake Christensen, Sandi, Andie Christensen Marx
6. During our 2nd Decade, we were headed into DC for the dedication of a statue to someone from Utah. Bought this beautiful dress. As we danced we came upon another lady wearing the same dress! I complimented her on her excellent taste!
7. During the 3rd Decade, Jake took this picture at the Iwo Jima Memorial while we had a picnic of Milanos. Jake was doing something at the Kennedy Center for college at Weber State University.
8. After 30 year, we were empty nesters. Andie Christensen Marx , Claude, Nissa Tyler Sandi and Jake Christensen.
9. Our 4th Decade on a trip to Hawaii. Haleakala National Park.
10. Our 50th Anniversary picture. Shaker Village in Kentucky.

We had a morning biscuit run. We then went to Lowe's to look at rugs. Claude feels we are at the point where we should have two recliners in the living room for us. I am opposed to this as I feel it is giving in and admitting we are aging. Plus, I really love the set up of our current living room and am not inclined to change that. We have had many discussions about this. I finally told him that we should spend our anniversary not buying, but learning about recliners to see if we could both agree on something. I even found where the Lazy Boy store is in Lexington. I warned Claude that getting chairs would start a domino effect of changing things in the living room. Claude suggested we start redoing the living room with the rug. He was right. The colors of the run will determine the cloth for chairs, etc. So, Lowe's was our first stop as that is where we bought the rug we are currently using the the living room. It was actually under the dining room table in our Sadieville home. Lowes had nothing on the floor. We decided we would check Lowe's online later. 

Cute aside story, when we got to Lowe's, Claude pulled into the military parking spot he likes so much. However, some veteran and left the driving cart between the parking spaces. Fortunately, the Jeep can go anywhere. Claude pulled the Jeep in. I suggested he get on that cart and drive it back into Lowe's. He did. He had a great deal of fun doing this. When we get to the scooter stage of life, Claude will do well.

We drove to Lexington to a Home Store with all kinds of things for your home. This is an enormous store. We looked through all their rugs and again found nothing we wanted. I really wanted the run to have some red in it. I love splashes of red in our living and dining room. Apparently, that is not the "in" color for decorating. This will not deter me. I will not let fashion dictate what makes my home feel warm and comfortable for me and Claude. 

We went to Montana Grill for our anniversary dinner. I love this place. So happy we found it. Bison nachos for my meal with their pickles to eat as you wait. Oh my. A bit of heaven. I asked our server to take a picture of us for the records. Here are Claude and me at 54 years of marriage.

Our final stop before returning home was the Lazy Boy store. We met Logan and he answered all our questions and was very honest about what we might want or not want at this portion of our lives. Claude had talked about going ahead and getting the lift kind of recliner that helps you stand up and get out of the chair. Logan said we really weren't ready for that. He talked us through electric versus manual. These chairs have remote controls that lift your legs, lean your back and raise just the head portion. Oh My!! The nice things was, I found a smaller one I liked and Claude found a big puffy one he liked. We can get them both in the same fabric of my choice to match the rug. And, they will both also be a rocking chair. We got all the info from Logan on the back of his card. We assured him we would come back after we talked about things a bit. Very informative stop.

Home we came with a stop at Cold Stone Cremery first. It was a great day and we really enjoyed being together and doing things to help us make some decisions. 

Wednesday, Febuary 14th, was Valentine's Day. We usually don't do a lot on this day because our anniversary is the day before. This day, I was up before Claude and went to Frank's for some donuts for breakfast. As good fortune would have it, these were just finishing being made. I took hot donuts home to my hubby. In the afternoon, Claude gave me some Lindor Truffles in a strawberry flavor. Very light and delicious. New flavor for this Lindor Truffle loving girl. I deliberately left my blood pressure cuff in this picture. The struggle is real.

We spent the afternoon going over the grids for the Route 66 trip. We whittled down some things we both agreed we didn't need to stop for. Then we plotted timing to see how long we thought the trip would be. We have set aside three weeks but didn't know if we would need that many. It was good to get a feel for this. I could now make one grid with what we had left and the days we thought we could make the trip in. Later we'll go over all this again and make a final plan. 

In the evening I did my online research for rugs. I narrowed the search to three. Claude and I reviewed them and picked one. I ordered it and they said it would be to our home by Friday!

Thursday, February 15th, haircut day for this girl. I love visiting with Jenna. She loaned me a pocket sized book to help with Italian while we are on our trip. 

Claude and I went to Jimmy John's for dinner. Then he dropped me at Walmart so I could see about my free pair of earrings for February. I picked a nice pearl set. 

In the evening I had Relief Society presidency meeting. It was to be at 7pm at Heidi Barney's home. Then Heidi sent a text at Silas, her youngest, tested positive for Covid that day. We moved the meeting to Jenessa's home at 7:30pm. I left our home giving me 20 minutes to get to Jenessa's home. Then I hit a traffic jam of epic proportions on Hwy 25. I sent text to Jenessa and to Claude and I sat in traffic letting them know what I was doing. There was a wreck and this road is one lane coming and one lane going. Nothing to do but wait it out. I did make it to the meeting and was not that late. 

As I returned home I received a video call from Katelyn about crocheting granny squares. She had diligently done one with three rows and was over-the-top happy. As well she should be. I was, however, driving home and had a hard time with the call. But, I was almost home so we talked till I got in my garage. Then I could look at the picture of what she had done on the video call. We looked at the things she did correctly and the places she did not do correctly. She had a better understanding of what she was trying to do. We agreed I would send her some instructions of how I make my granny squares. 

I went inside and promptly sat down and started a granny square. I would crochet a bit and then take a picture. I would text her the pictures, not more than three at a time, with the instructions for what I did in those pictures. I did this until I had the square finished. Hopefully it is helpful and not too overwhelming. 

Friday, February 16th, was a nice day at home. I updated that Route 66 grid and made it one grid with all the trip on it. Fred Myers called to talk about this trip. Fred is our biking friend. He actually took a motorcycle tour with about 50 people on Route 66 led by a man that did this every year for 20 years. Fred is going to send me his itinerary to go over. I will return it to him when I am through. I will compare his route, stops and timing with ours. This way I get an idea of somethings we might want to see I have not come across. We can better adjust the timing of our trip. It should be a great help. So, my file lies closed until I get Fred's information.

Saturday, February 17th, another wonderful day at home. We had snow during the night. Not a lot but enought to really cover the ground. The temperature plummetted from the 60's to the 30's during the day. Grateful we can stay inside. I swept and vacuumed. The doorbell rang. It was FedEx delivering our rug!! Claude and I moved the rugs around in our home.

First, I took a picture of the old rug in the living room. Remember, this was our dining room rug in Sadieville.

Then, I took a picture of the new rug. It will have to lay for a few days so that the wrinkles from packing and shipping around the world can have time to slowly fall out. We love the lighter color but it still has the reds I like so much.

We moved the old run back under the dining room table. The dining room table sat on this run for 17 years in Sadieville. It quickly found the spots in the rug where it once sat and fell right into place. 

We moved the rug that had been under the dining room table into Sandiland. This was the rug under the breakfast table in Sadieville. Nice addition.

We are now on our way to the next step in our living room...purchasing two recliners! Oh My Goodness. I cannot believe we are going to do this. They will have to be ordered and it takes a number of weeks for them to be made and shipped. I will have to pick out the right fabric from the two walls of fabric samples they have. I can do this.

I have almost completed the Christmas tree ornaments for Relief Society. I have found buttons in my old button box and they need to be sewn at the top of each tree. 

I have now started work on a baby afghan for a boy. It looks like it will be really cute.

A quiet night for us staying inside and out of that cold air.