A Calm Week Before the Storm...

Monday, January 19th, began a quiet week. A winter storm is on the way. Lots of buzz about that but I will make a separate post about the storm. I only had one appointment for me the entire week. That would be Wednesday. I set in for a week of accomplishing a couple of goals each day. 

Monday's goals were completing the Blog and labeling the picture for the previous week, getting the February Relief Society birthday cards ready, getting a great start of the February Relief Society newsletter, and posting and announcement about the upcoming Sunday Relief Society lesson on Facebook and via eMail. 

I had a lovely conversation with Katelyn. They have had so much snow in Muskegon that she did not have school for her work or her kids. This would continue through the week. Lots of snow. Later in the week, I would text with Todd, our son-in-law. I asked how much snow they had in Holton, Michigan. He said they had 18-inches on their roof. Uhg!!

I did my treadmill and crocheted three more Christmas ornaments.

Tuesday, January 20th, my poor hubby spent the day at dentist offices. He had to have a root canal. That dentist was in Lexington, Dr. Kelly. He came home and napped a bit. Then went to see Dr. Hollen, our dentist, to get the permanent filling in the hole. 

I made some Jello for Claude so he would have something soft to eat. I walked my treadmill. Then I crochet ornaments so that I only had 10 left to crochet. Whew!

Wednesday, January 21st, we had snow in the week small hours of the morning. The snow is a bit of a concern but the ice on top of the snow was the real problem. We had NO traffic on Paynes Depot by our development. There is usually always some traffic. The only traffic I heard was a siren on an emergency vehicle. Ugh!! Schools were closed because of the ice. I was concerned about this as my medical appointment was in Lexington at the St. Joseph Neurology. I called them to see if they were open. I had no desire to drive to Lexington and find them closed. They were open. Claude went with me. Once we were out of our development and headed toward I-64, the roads had been cleared and it was easy going to the medical office. After my appointment, we went to Firehouse Subs for our big meal-of-the-day. Claude had his first French Dip sandwich from the place. This is a sandwich he loves and he pronounced this one the best of anywhere he usually gets them. Yeah!!

After lunch, we went back the Kroger and Georgetown and cleared our grocery list to be ready for the coming storm. 

We had a quiet evening. Claude found an interesting video about being in your 70's. How your perspective changes. Before you are trying to get ahead in life with your work and family. In your 70's it is okay to have a slower pace. Not to fight every battle but to find the peace in the little niceties in your life. 

A person who lives in Sadieville posted this picture of the old farm that was purchased and turned into the housing development where we lived, Eagle Bend. This first picture shows the old farmhouse. The second picture shows the old barn that was just barely standing when we moved into this neighborhood. Ours was the 13th home built there. It was a lovely place to live and we truly enjoyed living there.

Thursday, January 22nd, I ordered the extended version DVD's of the Lord of the Rings series. They arrived. I took this picture and sent it to Hayden. His response was, "Do you think ya'll can sit and watch all three one right after the other?" I told him we would need to be sure we each had a charging cable for our devices but I was sure we could do it.

This was Raelyn's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page: "On this day 10 years ago, Miss Raelyn Jay Roper made her appearance. Our 1st great grandmonster. Wow!! She is a bundle of energy. Curious about all life has to offer. And hoping to be a police officer when she grows up. Look out world!! Raelyn is another year older! Happy Birthday and We Love Ya Bunches!!

Katelyn posted this picture of Raelyn's birthday cake. That lime green color of icing is Katelyn's favorite color. 

We sent Raelyn roller skates. Katelyn sent this video of her opening her skates. Very happy girl!

Claude had an ophthalmologist appointment in the afternoon. I went along and we plotted one more dinner out before the storm. That was at Applebee's. Then we stopped by Dairy Queen to pick up some sugar-free (well, sugar reduced) Dilly Bars.

I got three more ornaments crocheted in the evening. 

Friday, January 23rd, we awoke to a sunny but cold day. I looked out the window and marveled that years ago they didn't have weather radar so you could see the approach of a major storm. Looking out at the beautiful January day, I wondered how would they ever know to prepared for crippling travel weather when they started out with such a gorgeous day. Cold should be expected in January. 

Claude said, "Let's do one more biscuit run before the storm comes." I heartily agreed. The Jeep warmed quickly and we enjoyed our biscuit run tradition. 

Back home I started the laundry, cleaned our bathroom and walked the treadmill. 

Bailey called in the evening. She is at college in Campbellsville, Kentucky. They will probably get more ice than snow. Not good. She has stocked up on some food items in case she is stuck in her dorm for a while. They have already canceled their Monday classes and have hinted at canceling Tuesday and Wednesday. Bailey's roommate is a local and has gone home to weather the storm with her family. Bailey was invited but declined. There are many students who are not local and will have to weather the storm in their dorms. Bailey felt she should be there also. There may be several more talks with out girl this weekend. I suggested to her that she be our weather girl as the storm will hit her first and she can share with her parents and Claude and me the progress of it. 

This Facebook funny gave me a chuckle. I talk to myself all the time. I encourage myself, correct myself, all the feelings. Claude doesn't hear well, even with his heating aids. I truly don't think he is even aware I talk to myself so much. When I read this Facebook funny, it did give me a very big chuckle.

We are ready for the storm. Hopefully we won't lose power. We had lots of food and other necessities. Next post...The Storm.

Lord of the Rings Extended Edition...

Monday, January 12th, I awoke not feeling on my game. Felt like I was getting the flu. Achy. No fever but felt feverish. Decided I was not going to give in but try and accomplish some things as I could. By days end, I felt a bit better. 

I was able to get my Blog done and all the pictures taken care of. I also went to the Church website and set up to receive reimbursements directly to our bank account. 

Claude and I sat and decided about roadside assistance with our insurance. I have had it with OnStar and pay a huge annual premium for this benefit. However, I have only used it once and that was on my previous car. It felt like a lot of expense for very little benefit. We looked into how roadside assistance is for Claude and he is using some little thing with ATT attached to his cell phone. We see our future as more road trips and less over the big pond trips. We decided to put both cars on our car insurance for roadside assistance and not renew OnStar. Little decisions but it feels good to both agree on a course of action and take that course. 

Tuesday, January 13th, I awoke with a purposeful day in mind. I started with little things like filling my pill box for the next week, making the bed in the guest bedroom and walking the treadmill. 

Claude started his day with an early visit to our dentist. He had a tooth that was bothering him. Dr. Hollin took x-rays and determined she would refer him to Dr. Kelly in Lexington. Dr. Kelly would see him in the afternoon. Dr. Kelly would diagnose the need for a root canal. Ugh. Poor guy. He already has a post implanted and waiting for his February appointment to proceed with that implant. 

In between his dental visits, Claude took a nap. I used that time to watch some of my documentaries and delete them from the DVR. 

While Claude was in Lexington, I finished reading The Screwtape Letter by C.S. Lewis. It is an interesting book to read. It is told from the point of Screwtape writing to his nephew. Screwtape and his nephew are both followers of Satan and their employment and joy in life is messing up the lives to mortals. Screwtape is the senior in the effort and his letters are direction and criticism of this nephew and how he is handling the man who is his target. It was difficult for me to get started in this book again (I read it many years ago) because it is from the point of evil. I tend to read from the perspective of good. It seemed to end very abruptly. However, in the years since the book was first published, Lewis had written a epilogue. That setting is a banquet and Screwtape is the guest speaker. It is his final council to all the young tempters. I found that epilogue to be very interesting. 

Then I started The Book of Enoch. This is one of the apocryphal writings and is attributed to Enoch of the Old Testament. I did preface this reading by reading my scriptural accounts in the Old Testament and Pearl of Great Price. I also ready the Institute manuals on these chapters. I had this 'flash of intellect' that I will be okay reading The Book of Enoch if I look at it as reading The Iliad or The Odyssey by Homer with my background of knowledge about Enoch himself. 

I also started some chair yoga. 

Wednesday, January 14th, was another purposeful day. I started with a walk on the treadmill followed by chair yoga. 

Claude had a visit with his audiologist. The audiologist basically told Claude as he aged his hearing would not get any better. Very uplifting, don't you think!?

I spent time crocheting ornaments for 2026 Christmas gifts to the Relief Society sisters.

In the evening we started watching Psych.

My cousin, Sue, in Louisiana, posted a picture that sent me on a family history post for our family. I found a picture of a water pump and added it to Sue's picture of a child dipping water from a bucket and posted this for our family.

Family history lesson for today.

Mimi's parents lived in the country in southern Louisiana. They did not have running water or electricity. They did have a well in their back yard with a pump you had to 'prime' to get it to bring water up to the spout. Then you pumped as the water came up and filled your bucket. A bucket of fresh well water stayed on the back porch with a dipper. Everyone wanting a drink used the same dipper from the bucket to get their drink. Water was always delicious. If you needed water to cook or bathe with, you had to prime the pump and pump buckets of water depending on your need. Thought this water bottle generation might enjoy this bit of history.

Katelyn posted this cute interchange with Kennedi.

"Mommy Daddy wake me up and eat pepperoni. He didn't listen me. I used potty okay momma." 

"Momma I used potty and dadda not leave me alone."

"Momma dadda not leave me alone he wake me up."

Love this little nugget.

Yes her face is messy and honestly it's bath day so we will clean her up later right now I am enjoying snuggles and the conversation.

Thursday, January 15th, I did laundry and walked the treadmill. Then I crocheted. 

In the afternoon, we had a visit set with the Carter family. Laura is my BFF and her family is precious to us. Laura us recuperating from breast cancer. I was amazed she fixed us taco salads for a meal (Howard helped). It was so good to sit and visit with them. Howard is refurbishing a school bus for them to travel in. He had amazing plans he had created to do this. Jessie was very happy to share her visits with Bill Mecke, a meteorologist in Lexington and also the drum she got for Christmas. 

We came home to a warm house that felt especially good. It was a super cold day for Kentucky. I told Laura it was warm at her home and our home but in between it was brutal. She had been out for PT that morning and heartily agreed.

Friday, January 16th, I walked my treadmill while Claude went to his ophthalmologist appointment. Well, he tried to go to his appointment but they didn't have him on their records. They scheduled it for the next week. Ugh! So Claude went grocery shopping instead. 

This was the beginning of our three dates in a row. Georgetown Cinema was showing Lord of the Rings, extended edition. We purchased tickets for the first weekend they were doing this for all three days. The first movie "The Fellowship of the Rings" was set for 7pm. We had dinner at 5 Guys and then headed to the theater. The movies was 3 hours and 45 minutes long. 

Peter Jackson, the director, gave and introduction to the film. He shared that Viggo Mortensen went surfing before the filming of the scenes in the mines. He was hit in the eye by his surfboard. His left eye was swollen. He had to shoot all of that with the right side of Viggo's face. 

Peter also told that they filmed all three movies at once. Sometimes they had one day they were filming one movie and another day they were filming scenes from a different movie. They were very unsure about the way these movies would be received. They would all come out different years. They would have to remember that a scene they shot might not go public for 4 years. In the midst of this uncertainty, they were asked to provide a 30-minute finished clip of the movie for Cannes. The piece they shot was the mines scene. It got rave reviews and made them more confident in their efforts and the success of the finished product. 

Please note that Peter Jackson filmed an intro for each of the three films. I noted that in each intro he wore a Hawaiian print shirt over a t-shirt. 

We very much enjoyed the extended edition. Our grandson, Hayden, has been after us to watch the extended edition for years. We have owned the theatrical cut of these movies for years. It is our New Year's Eve tradition watching all three back to back. Hayden kept telling us we should watch the extended edition. We felt spending that money was a silly move as we were happy with our current situation. After watching this first movie, Claude sent Hayden a text apologizing for nor listening to him sooner and to let him know we were looking at ways to rectify the situation. Lesson learned: Sometimes grandmonsters know best!!

Saturday, January 17th, in the morning I walked my treadmill, did my ironing, scanned the returned Relief Society birthday cards and some picture Christmas cards. 

We had a 2pm viewing of the second Lord of the Rings movie: The Two Towers. Since the movie was early, we determined we would have dinner after and it would be a Chipotle. 

Peter Jackson did an introduction for this movie. He spoke of Christopher Lee and his death scene at the end of this film. It was determined it would not be a part of the theatrical cut. Christopher Lee was extremely upset about this and had harsh words for Peter Jackson. However, they made amends and ended up as great friends. The death scene is a part of the extended edition. The other thing he touched on was his love of war scenes. He was hands on with the Battle for Helm's Deep. 

You are not supposed to video this movie. Not an issue. However, I really wanted a picture for this blog. I tried at the beginning to get the title in a picture. However, the title is not displayed as it is on our theatrical cuts with which I am familiar. I missed the picture at the beginning of the film. I did manage to get this nice one at the end of the film. Note the Nazgul flying in the middle of the picture. Cool.

The extended version of the movie was 3 hours and 55 minutes long. 

Sunday, January 18th, we attended church in the morning. Parker Risher gave his return talk after finishing his mission to Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was one of the best return home talks I have heard. He talked about how the Lord had changed him through certain principles in his life: peace, love, humility. 

We had a 2pm showing of the last Lord of the Rings movie. We got a biscuit before church as our meeting starts at 10:30am for 2026. This would tide us over till dinner after the movie. That would be chili from Wendy's. Great on another very cold day. 

Peter Jackson gave his final introduction for these films. He took time this time to pay tribute to the actors and people he worked with who have passed away since the making of the movies. 

We are both very happy we did this together. The extended version are a lot longer but they clarify a lot of the story, especially if you haven't read the books, or, if you are like me, and have read the book but can't remember all the detail. Claude had not read the books and he totally appreciated the extra length of the film. Clarified a lot. This film was 4 hours and 23 minutes. 

A Week at Home...

That's right, no road trips this week. We had a week we could stay inside every day in our wonderful little home. We were looking forward to this little week. Claude said it was like a transition from the holidays to real life. However, this made for a 'weak week' in the picture realm. We didn't stay inside every day. Things happen and we took time to leave our little bungalow to take care of assorted business.

Monday, January 5th, I was able to get some things completed like the minutes typed up and distributed from our Relief Society presidency meeting Sunday evening, adding a budget page to our Relief Society lesson schedule (this was fun as I haven't worked on formulas in a spreadsheet and had to do a little research to remember some of them), and I was able to get our hotels and some potential restaurant sites for our travel in February and March. 

Claude had a nice conversation with Katelyn which I was able to interrupt to get ideas of Raelyn's birthday in January. Katelyn texted me a picture of the skates Raelyn wanted. She wants to learn to ice skate like her dad, who plays ice hockey. Drew told her she needed to learn to skate well with roller skates first. I was able to place the order through Walmart and have them delivered to Katelyn's home. Yeah!! 

I was also able to work with Steve, my brother-in-law, to get names straightened out for initiatory at the temple. 

We opted to go to Taco Bell for our dinner and enjoy quiet time in the evening. A good day. Things were accomplished without pressure to accomplish more than one has time for. I like that.

Tuesday, January 6th, was our second day at home. Now, I had some reading I wanted to do. This was a perfect week to take some time for that. I am reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. We will see a play on this book in March. I did not make it through the book. I did make it through most of it. 

I received a call from the eye glass shop in our ophthalmologist office. They had my second pair of glasses. I stopped reading and went to pick them up. Then made a stop at CVS to pick up some herbal medicine that is supposed to be helping with my poor feet. Score on this stop. The medicine was discounted and if you bought one you could get a second for free!! Yeah!!

We called Kris and Cordell to see how he is mending. He tried to lay on his stomach and it caused the incision on his knee to bleed some. It appears to be okay. He has strict orders to stay in his recliner. Bless his heart. This is so against his nature. I marvel that, as we age, it often seems the things we liked the most in life, are taken from us or restricted in some way. 

I enjoyed a text stream with my BFF Laura. 

Claude made me some sausage/corn chowder for dinner. Oh My Heavens! It was delicious. This is such a good comfort food on a cold day.

Another good day for our transition week.

Wednesday, January 7th, I do not know what happened to me but I slept in till 10am. I NEVER do this. Claude is quite capable of it. Not me. It was good to sleep though so I must have needed it. 

When I got up, I finished the laundry I started on Tuesday. 

The remainder of my day was taking down the Christmas tree. I did this with the intention of counting how many ornaments I have on the tree. I would take a bunch down, count them as I put them in the boxes, then make that many hash marks on a sheet. I missed one time entering the hash marks about I had 75. I gave up on counting the ornaments. I read an item on Facebook that said the average tree has 75 ornaments on it. Well, let me just state my tree has about 10 times that many ornaments. So many memories with these ornaments. I also have an order in which I take down my tree. All the ornaments come down first. There is an oblong box that I layer ornaments with paper between the layers. There is a metal can that I put all the handmade and soft cloth ornaments in. Finally there is a copy paper box with the 20 White House Christmas ornaments in it as well as a few others that have their own boxes. The White House ornaments I keep in date order. So I collect them as I take them off the tree. Then I sit and find the right ornament for the right box and put them in their respective boxes. Next the ribbon garland and the wooden bead garland are taken off. The ribbon garland I sit and wind around a spool. There are two spools of ribbon. Then the lights come off. Each strand of lights goes in a plastic grocery bag and into a box that just for all the lights. Then I take each branch off of each limb of the tree and carefully straight all the twigs so they are going the same direction and crushed together. These are kept in piles of the same size. This make putting them in their two boxes it takes to store them much easier and much easier to get out for assemble the next Christmas. I put the tree stand on the bottom of one box and the two center poles along the sides of the tall box. Then I places the stacks of branches in their boxes keeping the stacks together. The garland over the back door goes in. The tree skirt goes in. Whew, it is complete. I also took the Christmas wreath off the front door, brought in the poinsettias, changed the flag in the flower bed by the front door and got all boxes to the shed. Well, Claude helped with the two tree boxes. It took 5 hours to get all this done and put away correctly. 

All this effort gave Claude, (who boxed the exterior decorations and got them to the shed) and I the right to hamburgers for dinner. Burger King was our choice this time. Then we nestled in to eat out burgers and watch Star Wars Episodes 4, 5 and 6. 

While watching, I received a text from Jeannie Watson requesting help with Jamie Kumar's funeral. They serve a meal to the family after the service. We agreed to have Claude make funeral potatoes and rolls and I would help with serving and in the kitchen. We were very happy to be asked to help with this for the Kumar family. 

Thursday, January 8th, it was time for a little grocery run. That means a kick-start at Bojangles for a biscuit. As we drove down McClellan Circle to turn left on Broadway, there was a plethora of sirens close and in the distance. We definitely counted 3 ambulances, 2 fire trucks, a lot of police cars, a couple of trucks. They just kept coming. We turned the corned and went through the drive thru at Bojangles and they were still coming from all directions. We knew they were turning into the medical office section where our doctor's office and physical therapists office are located. We knew there was not room for all those vehicles. It is hard enough to find a parking spot. It is not uncommon to find people parking at the places you can drive through. We had our biscuits and watched Broadway as the traffic started to return. Then we went grocery shopping.

When we were home from grocery shopping, I checked Facebook and found this notice about all the commotion in the medical office park. This is the oral surgeons office that once helped Claude getting an implant. Their office is the last one on that side. Someone must have come down the opposite side (there is a median thru the office park with trees on it) and turned to go to this end office. Not sure how they got the speed to run over the curb, up the sidewalk and into the door of the office. Later reports told us someone was standing inside the office and was pinned in by the car. Someone in the office managed to extricate them. They were taken to the hospital and, amazingly, had no injuries. The person driving the car was trapped in their car until emergency personnel could get them out. They had to shore up the door until the building could be inspected for soundness of the structure. Wow!! That was not a good start to this persons day!

I spent the afternoon clearing some of my documentaries off the DVR while Claude napped. I was also able to set up a time to visit with Howard and Laura. In the evening, we watched Castle.

Friday, January 9th, was simply a lazy day. Got a few things done on my laptop. Also found the pattern to crochet the Christmas ornaments for Relief Society for 2026, I got three of them made before my right arm yelled at me to stop. Ugh! They really are red. They look orange in this picture. But, they are red.

Saturday, January 10th, we gave our day to Jamie's funeral. Claude made his funeral potatoes and rolls in the morning. We left for the church at 12:30. Claude left the food in the kitchen. Then we went to the chapel. What a treat this was. We saw so many friends from when we moved to Kentucky 21 years ago. Some came all the way from Louisiana to be there for Jamie. It was great to get hugs from everyone. 

When I got the program, I realized that one of the hymns chosen has sever verses. JennThey Squire was playing the piano. She and I agreed we should sing the first their that are imbedded in the music. The last four are after the music and we agreed we should do the 7th verse to tie the story together. I found Bishop Perkes and asked him to announce that we would sing those verses. This hymn was "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". Each verse tells the story of how someone was helped with a need. The 7th verse explains that the stranger giving this help was the Savior. Beautiful hymn. Very appropriate for Jamie. 

The other thing I learned was their would be a hymn sung at the cemetery. We were not planning on going to the cemetery as I was to work in the kitchen and help with serving and clean-up. Change of plans. We went to the cemetery and I led the hymn there. Then back to the church and Claude left me to do my part. 

So many kind and wonderful comments were made about Jaime. He was a large fellow with his ancestors being from India. He had a heart that was huge and cared for others. I marvel at the beauty of a funeral service. The coming together of family and friends. The kind words that comfort and uplift hearts that are a bit broken. The gratitude of a family for each little things done to make this day good for them. So much goodness at a very difficult time. The scriptures say there must be opposition in all things. A funeral give one a complete understanding of this principle. There was difficulty. Tears were being shed. Hearts were hurting. At the same time, there was so much positive energy, so much goodness. Opposites that confirm each other.

I called Claude to come pick me up when I was drying the last of the dishes. He took me to McAllister's for dinner. That Dr. Pepper was sooooo good. Then we headed home and put on our stretchy clothes and curled up in our recliners with our television shows. Another good, full day.

Sunday, January 11th, we awoke to a little snow coming down. However, our congregation is stretched out of a lot of land area. Some of our members got more snow and the streets were treacherous.

After sacrament meeting, I went to Primary to take pictures of all the sisters that serve in Primary. I want to also get pictures of the sisters that serve in Young Women's. I will do that in two weeks. Primary has two sessions. I finished part of the pictures and had time to sit in Junior Primary. A tiny little fella was to give the opening prayer. He may have been 3 or 4 years old. When he got to the front of the room, he automatically knelt down to prayer. Jenna Potter was the counselor conducting. She knelt with him and helped him to say the prayer. My heart melted. Usually the kids come to the front and stand with their arms folded. Everyone folds their arms and bows their head for the prayer. Clearly this little guy is from a family that prays and kneels by their beds. I always ask Heavenly Father to give me one 'cup filling moment' each Sunday. This was that cup filling moment. 

We had Jimmy John's for lunch. The man that manages Jimmy John's knows us by the Jeep. He told us he will be leaving in a week as he is starting a new job at Toyota. How nice to know the people well enough to sincerely share this lift changing point in time. Will miss his cheerful attitude and smiling face. His banter about the Jeep and his motorcycle rides. Happy he will have a job that may actually pay him enough to live. 

We had a quiet evening at home. 

Aubrey posted pictures celebrating 5 years of sobriety. That is a very worthy goal. Very proud of her for staying the course with this goal. These are the pictures she posted of her and Nelson, her child and our grandmonster.

This was a good 'transition week' for Claude and me. We started it with no where to be. We filled it with some important outings. Now, let's see what real life feels like again.

Happy New Year...

Monday, December 29th, was a complete your 'to-do-list' kind of day. Here is a bit of the list: laundry, Relief Society January Newsletter final draft to Jenessa for review, Hobos gift card for Nissa and Todd's upcoming anniversary, interior Christmas decorations down and to the shed with the exception of the tree and front door, ordered firefly lights for next year's exterior decorations, cleared the DVR of some documentaries. I enjoyed a message stream with Paul, our grandson. He is at a rough patch and it is good to keep in touch with him. 

In the evening, Claude and I watched the second Hobbit movie, "Desolation of Smaug", and finished the ham and funeral potatoes from Christmas. Yeah!!

Tuesday, December 30th, I had another of those wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night experiences. I went to my living room and curled up in my recliner and enjoyed my Christmas tree and its lovely lights. I do love this tree each year. It will have to come down next week but, oh, how I love it when it is up.

Since I had a prescription refill ready for pickup, we determined a biscuit run should accompany this errand. What can I say, we are always up for a biscuit run. Thank heavens Bojangles sells them all day. 

Jenessa gave me a couple of corrections to the Relief Society Newsletter. I made those and was able to post it on Facebook and via eMail to the sisters. 

Then I tackled some tickets to things we want to see. I got tickets for "Song Sung Blue" at the Georgetown Theaters. I also purchased tickets to two shows at the Lexington Opera House. The first is the Screwtape Letters. It is a play based on the book of the same name by C.S. Lewis. I bought the book for my Kindle so I can reread this book before we see the play. And, I purchased tickets in June for Spamalot. 

It was also fun to read the eMails from our young people serving missions around the world. Their vocabulary amuses me. Anyone they interact with as a member, contact or other missionary, that they really feel good about is GOAT (Greatest of All Times). That one I know. Many of their other terms, I really don't ever use. And those whose mission is in another language often drop into that language for a word or phrase. It is uplifting and fun to read of their experiences through their young, honest hearts.

Wednesday, December 31st, was New Year's Eve. We all should know by now that means a Lord of the Rings Marathon for Claude and me. We can't even remember how many years we have been doing this on New Year's Eve. Hayden made sure he was home from college so he could watch them with us. We drove to LaGrange and picked him up, went through a drive-thru at Chick-filA and picked up  dinner, then home and all got into our comfy clothes. We spread the counter with all kinds of treats from Hayden's list of possibilities and Claude's list of wants. We ate our dinner and started the movies about 3pm. 

We made it through all three movies again. We finished after midnight. I had my alarm set on my cellphone for 12midnight. Claude got the sparkling cider out and we had a toast for the New Year. Then we finished up the LOTR movies. Such good movies. So nice to have Hayden with us one more time. He is a senior at DePaul University and we aren't sure what next year will bring. Cherish the moments while we can. 

The Ropers must have let their little ones stay up. Katelyn posted this picture of Emelia, Kennedi, Joel and Raelyn for New Year's. How fun is that?!

Thursday, January 1st, and we awoke to a brand new year, 2026 here we come. 

My sister-in-law, Kris, sent me this for all their year with Cordell. He has Parkinson's. Has had it for years. He had knee replacement surgery during 2025. It has not gone well at all. He was back in the hospital for his 4th (if I have it counted correctly) surgery on that knee. He keeps getting infections. He got to Las Vegas for the National Rodeo Finals but was not able to attend one evening at the rodeo. He is our hero for how he has managed his Parkinson's all these years. He is working with this knee replacement with the same determination. But the struggle is real and it has been long. I think Kris found the perfect meme for Cordell and 2025/2026.

It has been really cold. I had this hysterical article come across my newsfeed in Facebook. It cracked me up. My vivid imagination could literally see iguanas falling from the sky. Then my imagination went to the Thanksgiving show from WKRP where they dropped turkey's from an airplane thinking they could fly. One must find the humor in this life we live.

At 1pm we gathered up Hayden and all his belongings and pointed the Buick to LaGrange. We had a nice chat with the Marx family. Then we headed back to Georgetown so we would not be driving in the dark. We would drive-thru Jimmy John's for a sandwich to take home for our dinner. 

Friday, January 2nd, we determined we would start 2026 with a real date. We determined Cattleman's Roadhouse for dinner first. I saw this stick in the ground as we went into Cattleman's. When we went back to the Jeep, I paused to take this picture. The world 'anticipation' came to my mind when I saw the stick. It is put near the curbs so that a snowplow knows there is a curb there when we have snowfalls. We have the bitter cold, just not the snow...yet. It will come. Anticipation!

Then to the Georgetown Cinema to see "Song Sung Blue". This is a true story of a Milwaukee couple who loved to sing and were good at it. They loved Neil Diamond and became a Neil Diamond tribute band. It stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Claude and I both really enjoyed the film. It made for a really great date night. 

Saturday, January 3rd, I declared as a totally lazy day for me. This frees me to do as I please with no guilt for not accomplishing something fantastic. This is definitely a retirement kind of thing. I don't know that I ever did that before retirement. I like being able to do this. I think Claude and I are still both in a holiday/vacation mindset. We are not really ready for reality to get to us. 

For our Christmas Stocking this year, the Marx family gave us this little book "The Kentucky Bucket List". There are 100 possibilities for seeing things in Kentucky. Each page has an item listed on it with a quote about the possibility. At the back of the book is a list of all 100 possibilities with a box to check after you have accomplished that possibility. Andie was thinking we may have already done a lot of them. Saturday morning, I read the book and checked the boxes I was sure we did. When Claude came in the living room to sit for bit, I explained to him what I need and that I wanted his input on a few of the items. I went down the list, told him the only I had confidence checking and asked him about the ones I felt we needed some credit but we honestly had not done exactly what the author suggested. And 'sleep in a houseboat on Lake Cumberland'. We have been to Lake Cumberland, stayed there for about three days, hiked in that area. We never slept on a houseboat. I feel we should get credit for enjoying that part of Kentucky even if we didn't sleep on a houseboat. I decided that we could get half-credit for those kinds of questions. When I finished the book and calculated our accomplishments, we had 46 full credit items and 5 half credit items. If you gave us full credit for all the items, we would have done 51 out 100 possibilities. I think that is pretty good. We not have some idea of things to do in Kentucky that we have not yet done. 

One of the quotes for one of the possibilities was something I had to share with my BFF, Laura Carter. It was a quote by Herodotus that said, "Older people shouldn't eat healthy food--they need all the preservatives they can get." Hysterical!

I checked Facebook after completing this task and a post my Michael Crisp came across my newsfeed. I clicked on his name because it was the name of the author of the book the kids gave us. I took this screenshot and sent it to Michael and Andie. Turns out this Michael Crisp is one and the same as the author of the book. He is a City Councilman in Georgetown. How interesting is that?! It is a tiny world. 

The biggest blessing of this day is that Cordell got to leave the hospital and will now try once again to recuperate from knee surgery. Prayers please!

Sunday, January 4th, has been another good day. I was able to be chorister for sacrament meeting. I do enjoy this. My arm struggles but it is good to have it do normal things. 

Parker Risher returned from his mission and we got hugs and chatted a bit before the meeting began. Oh how they grow and change when they serve a mission. 

Lunch was a Arby's. They have Mello Yello. They have the best BLT on delicious bread with shredded lettuce that I love. And, I top it off with an apple turnover. It is truly a great lunch for this girl. 

Claude got his Sunday nap that makes all the difference in his upcoming week. I watched and deleted some of my documentaries. Then I blogged and did my pictures. Tonight I have a Relief Society presidency meeting that is via Zoom. 

Good day. Good week. Great start to a new year. 

Doctors, Christmas...

Monday, December 22nd, was a day to catch up at home after our weekend adventure in Nashville. Laundry was done. I had a HUGE Blog entry and LOTS of pictures to take care of. Claude and I did go grocery shopping for the last half of the Christmas food. And, I was able to set up a Google Meets call for our three kids and us on Christmas day. I can be taught and learn new things. Good day.

Tuesday, December 23rd, Medical appointments started our day. My podiatrist referred me to a Vascular Surgeon named Dr. Abeti. His office is in Lexington. Claude drove me. We arrived early and sat in the car for about 15 minutes. As we sat, I looked at the sign above the entry and felt a little concern...On the left is the Vascular Surgeon office. One the right and connected is the Legacy Prothetic Clinic. Oh My!!

I didn't see Dr. Abeti. I did see the PA-C named Cara. She was very nice. I explained to her what I was seeing Dr. Fine for and the tests that had been run with the diagnosis of SFN (Small Fiber Neuropathy). Then I assured her I was not sure what Dr. Abeti was seeing me about. She explained about the major blood vessel coming from the heart, splitting in two at the hips so that each leg has a major artery going down the front, and then splitting into three about each knee and going down the calf and into the feet with the major one on top and an artery on each side of the calf and foot. My major arteries are 50% blocked. That is what the surgeon would be concerned about. She checked my pulse from top to the bottom of my feet. Since I don't have pain in my calves and thighs when I walk a lot, she is sure I am okay. To be very sure, she has scheduled me to come back in February to have an in-depth ultrasound on both legs. 

Next we were off to Georgetown. My first pair of glasses were in and I could pick them up. As I waited to get them, I noted again the ornaments on their Christmas tree. They are glasses made into a snowman. How cute is that?!

She brought out my glasses and I was very happy with them. It will take some getting used to, to wear them all day long. They are bifocals without the line. The vision to each outer side is a bit blurry. I did wear them all day. I am learning what changes I will need to make to adjust to them. It was great to sit in front of our television, click on the list of our DVR's programs, and be able to read the description from my recliner. Yeah!!

I must be easily amused. These two things came up on my phone. The first was on Facebook. Someone asking, "Do You Remember These?" Well, I surely do. Our old home in Shreveport, Louisiana when I was growing up had heaters like this type in each room. The one in our bedroom was smaller. We used to cut an apple in half. Cut out the core and fill the center with butter, cinnamon and sugar. Then we would put that on a plate in the front open part of the heater and let it cook. Yummy good.

On my phone I got this eMail from Jimmy John's. I found it amusing that they tracked the number of inches of sandwich I ate in 2025. Goodness. 

Andie and Michael picked up Hayden. We would have our young man home for the holidays! Yippee!!

Wednesday, December 24th, was Christmas Eve. I spent the morning making Sour Cream Cookies for dessert and a broccoli and bacon salad for dinner. As I sat down in our living room, I felt an impression to take a picture. Then I posted this on Facebook with this picture: "Sitting in my sweet living room. It is ready for Christmas. Family will fill it in a few hours. The smell of cookies and bacon mingle in our kitchen. I see Nativities collected through our years of life. Our tree filled with memories of all those years. It feels very good. Peaceful. Grateful. Humbled by so many blessings. May each of you find the Peace of Christmas. May you feel each little blessing in your life. Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

Jessie Carter called me in the afternoon. She got to visit with Bill Mecke, a meteorologist for a Lexington television station. She has been friends with him for years. She sent him a t-shirt for Christmas. He invited her to come to the station to watch a show. Her parents took her and Bill Mecke was wearing his t-shirt over his dress shirt. Jessie wanted to be sure I knew about this big moment in her life. So sweet to talk with her. 

The Marx family arrived around dinner time. We share pictures of our Zoolumination experience in Nashville. We had lasagna, broccoli/bacon salad and rolls for dinner. This is a break from our usually smoked brisket dinner. It was enjoyed by all. 

As we sat around the table, I opened my phone to these things I found on Facebook. We played through them.

Then we enjoyed taste testing all the different kinds of Goo Goo Clusters. 

Andie was tracking the movie Diehard's timing on her cellphone, so we watched the DVD of Diehard.

Bailey got a new camera for Christmas and was enjoyed snapping pictures of everything. It was a nice evening for Christmas Eve.

Katelyn loves Christmas Eve. She has a tradition with her family that they open a present which is their new Christmas PJ's and a new book. She posted this picture of her family on Christmas Eve.

Thursday, December 25th, Christmas Day, since we are older, including Hayden and Bailey, we don't wake up in the middle of the night to open presents because we 'just can't wait'. This year was particularly interesting. A few of us were up and about before others. This year we ate breakfast and then opened presents. Usually, it is the other way around. In fact, Michael had to wake up Hayden and Andie. 

Michael asked what each person's favorite Christmas movie was. Bailey quickly replied "Charlie Brown's Christmas". Then she set it to play on the TV. 

After, we opened presents. The television was set to a Charlie Brown scene for while we opened presents. 

The presents were separated and given to each person to whom the present was given. Then we went around the room opening one present at a time. Very orderly. The Marx family always does a stocking for everyone. They make one stocking for Claude and me. This year Santa managed to put each persons stocking inside a cloth cooler. Interesting! Those were opened first, then presents. 

Michael definitely won the award for best wrapping of a Christmas present. One strip taped to the outside of the box. We all had a chuckle over this. I truly appreciated this as my least favorite part of getting ready for Christmas is wrapping the presents. Way to go, Michael!

Bailey gave Claude a rubber duck for the Jeep.

Hayden got a Star Wars kit from Claude and me.

Claude purchase chocolate frog for all of us to share. They are filled with peanut butter. Bailey opened them for all of us. 

Andie got a necklace with her name and birthstone on it. 

Michael got a sweater from Claude and me.

Hayden got socks that say "don't disturb I am gaming'. 

Bailey got leggings in her college color.

Bailey gave Michael a great t-shirt. It says "Awesome Like My Daughter". He was very happy.

Bailey's Lego's set this year was roses.

Hayden received a Target gift card. When he opened it, he said, "Grocery shopping!" Yep, he is a college student.

Bailey got foot lets with cats on them.

This interesting gift from Andie to Michael is like a cup adapter for your car. His water bottle does not fit in her car cup holders. This will grasp his cup and can be adjusted to hold it tightly. Cool.

We finished opening present at 11am. That is when I had a Google Meets call set up for our three kids. We were able to all be together for about 1 hour. This was one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Left to right: Nissa, Jake, Andie, Sandi and Claude. 

We all agreed to clear the table and start the Christmas puzzle before dinner. Usually that is done after Christmas dinner. Michael and I went to work on it and by 11pm it was completed. 1000 pieces. 

Since Jake was not home to help with this annual puzzle project, I gave him a bag of Lindor truffles and a small Lego kit. Jake sent me this picture and called it the IKEA of Legos and was sure he had earned those Lindo Truffles!

Katelyn posted her traditional stairs picture of her family on Christmas morning. Starting on the left and going clockwise: Emelia, Ramon, Drew, Kennedi, Katelyn, Joel and Raelyn.

Friday, December 26th, we all slept in a bit. Some of us a bit longer than others. The plan was to fix biscuits and gravy. Michael got up and did his walk. We were going to have day in the high 60's. When he got back, we were not doing breakfast yet as some were still sleeping. He made his usual breakfast smoothie. Bailey found something to eat.

I received a message from Velvett Bossio. She was still sick. I asked if she needed anything. She said they really could use some Sprite and crackers. They have norovirus. Claude drove me as my car was blocked by the Marx van. We went to Walmart and I bought the needed food and some sparkling cider for our New Year's. We dropped the Sprite and crackers off on the porch for Velvett, Rachel (her daughter) and Alora (her granddaughter). I also left a crocheted Christmas ornament for Velvett and Rachel. So sorry they are still ill and hope our little grocery run helped a bit. Claude treated me to a biscuit from Bojangles before we returned home. Yum!

We returned home and Michael woke up the two remaining sleepers. By then it was really lunch time. I told everyone it was a clean out the fridge kind of meal. Some at roast beef sandwiches, some had tuna sandwiches, and others had ham sandwiches. No one starved!! 

Andie wanted to start the puzzle I bought for Christmas. It was purchased in Santorini and was a view of Santorini. We got a good start on it. Then the Marx family quickly packed up and left. 

In the evening, Claude decided it should be a Mel Brooks movie evening. More leftovers were consumed and movies were enjoyed. During part of the movie time, I worked a bit on the Santorini puzzle. 

Saturday, December 27th, we slept without an alarm. Yes!

I worked on the puzzle. Claude let the air out of the air mattress and I started washing the bedding that had been used. Then Claude went to work on his talk for Sunday. I continued working on the puzzle. 

We enjoyed more leftovers in the evening. Goodness. 

I finished the puzzle about 9pm. Whew!! As I connected strips, I had a problem. I connected across the top of the puzzle first. The bottom had a strip of pieces connected from side-to-side. The middle had a section that also connected to the top but did not line up with the bottom portion that was connected side-to-side. There was at least one piece width that was wrong. I searched and searched and didn't see anything that was wrong. I continued to add pieces to wherever I found a correct piece thinking that would help me eventually find the error. At last, I realized the error was where the middle connected to the top right of the puzzle. I rearranged those three pieces and then was able to move all the rest of the puzzle over so that top and middle and bottom fit together just right. Then I completed the buildings (a lot of white). Finally, I tackled all that blue water. The difficulty here was that pieces would fit but that wasn't the right place for them. Some other piece had to go in their place so they could fit somewhere else. After a good bit of rearranging, I finally got them all in their places. Cool puzzle. Two puzzles this Christmas is a great achievement for me. 

Sunday, December 28th, has been a really good day. It was our final Sunday of meeting at 9am. Next Sunday we rotate with the Georgetown Ward and will begin Sacrament Meeting at 10:30am. 

Claude spoke in Sacrament Meeting. He did a great job. 

We had a nice meal at 5 Guys. 

Claude got his nap while I watched DVR's documentaries. 

We have bad weather on the way. We decided sour 'ox was in the mire'. Claude took down the exterior decorations before the rain and snow come. He left them in the garage to finish boxing them up. I opened the shed and brought in the boxes for the interior decorations. I will take them down during the week. 

I have worked on pictures and blog and taken a call from Katelyn. Claude is watching Star Wars from the sounds I hear. I will join him. We have agreed to watch The Hobbit movies over the next three nights in preparation for our New Year's Eve tradition of Lord of the Rings. We will pick up Hayden and he will join us for it. 

We have had a very good Christmas and December. I do believe that getting Christmas ready by Thanksgiving gives us the best way to relax with whatever December throws at us. We are richly blessed.