Tidbits of Thought...

I'm back to the busy schedule and Blogging definitely takes a back seat when that happens. Thought I would share some random thoughts in no particular order...that fits my life pace right now.

Tidbit #1:
Bailey called me the other night. She is a Daisy. That is the pre-Girl Scout organization. That means she needs to get people to purchase Girl Scout cookies from her. If you know me, you know I started a tradition many years ago of ordering the favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie for each of our family members. On their birthday they know that one of their presents will be a box of their favorite Girl Scout cookie. This means I order a lot of Girl Scout cookies, 19 boxes to be exact. I was truly happy Bailey, our youngest grandmonster, would be the beneficiary of this largess this year. Andie alerted me she wanted Bailey to do the talking and ask me about ordering.

Bailey called and we said our hellos for a a bit. Then she did ask me if I wanted any cookies. I told her I needed a lot and then told her I needed 19 boxes. Bailey quickly said, "You can't!" I told her I really needed 19 boxes. Bailey said, "You have too much!" I didn't know where to go with this. Not what I expected. I reminded Bailey I needed that many boxes for enough to give everyone a box on their birthday. She assured me she didn't want me to 'run out of money'. Bless her little heart.

I talked to Andie again and wanted to be sure I had not hurt Bailey's feelings. It turns out Bailey had already spoken with Michael's grandmother before me. She had also walked a few blocks in their neighborhood that day. While talking to me she found a container of markers she hadn't used in a while on the top of the counter. All these things combined and she was sure I was ordering too many boxes and it would cost too much money. The end result was my eMailing Andie my cookie order to go on Bailey's order form.  We ended the conversation with Andie saying, "I can't wait to tell her father that she was trying to down sell!!"  Michael is a sales person extraordinaire. That would have been a fun moment to watch.

Tidbit #2:
While watching the television one evening after having lots of rain during the day, I noticed that stream of weather warnings running across the bottom of the television screen. One came up that stated, "Flood Advisory in Bath County".  I definitely think that  was worth a chuckle.

Tidbit #3:
My parents 64th wedding anniversary would have been January 9th. That is a big mile marker and the first anniversary since my mother passed away. I called Papa that day and was very happy he was doing fine.

Another note in this same vein, Papa made a day drive with a friend from Church. We brought Tiny out to our home on a Sunday evening and kept her until Monday evening. When Papa came to pick Tiny up Monday evening he was so happy to see her and she was extremely happy to see him. Before Papa even sat down after coming in the front door he was already telling me about his feelings without Tiny being in the house with him. He told me that Tiny just fills his time and thoughts. Without Tiny there, he begins to dwell on mom and how much he misses her. He is missing her more as each day passes. He assured me he feels this is a normal part of his adjustment to mom's death. But Papa was sure happy to have Tiny back to care for.

Tidbit #4:
I'm back into preparing Institute lessons and teaching again. I totally enjoyed the break over Christmas and New Year's. It was great to be able to be home more and to do some things on my long term to-do list. But now it is time to immerse myself in the New Testament. We had 10 young adults at our first class. Many of these were new students. We had a good lesson and set the pace for a good class for this semester. We'll be studying Acts through Revelation.

Saturday was my first Seminary and Institute Inservice for this semester. It was a really good 2 hour training period. It feels good to leave these meetings eager to try new teaching techniques and polish up ones already learned. Sometimes you can leave thinking, "Why did they ask me to teach this? I can never teach like these people." It just feel super to leave uplifted and ready to go for the next month of lessons.

We were also blessed with another excellent CES Fireside. CES stands for Church Educational System. Every few months a General Authority speaks to all the youth in the Church between 18 to 30 years of age. The broadcast can be viewed at the church via satellite, by streaming video on your computer, or, as I like to watch it, at home on you own television in your comfy clothes via the BYU channel. This time it was Pres. Dieter Uchtdorf.  His talk was titled "What is Truth?" and he did a masterful job of teaching us. I have asked all the young adults who were able to view this broadcast to come with their favorite quote or impression to share this Thursday. I'm anxious to hear what touched each of them and why, and for all of us learn together.

Tidbit #5:
The digital world continues to confound and amaze me.

Katelyn sent her old Nook for Papa to use while sitting in his chair. We loaded it with Solitaire and the scriptures. He tried to use it some but didn't get the hang of it. I took it back last week to see if I might be able to use it. I was playing at the breakfast table with it when Claude came home and walked past me. He just shook his head. He went to our bedroom to get comfy and then to his office. I kept playing with downloading manuals I would want to have easy access to for Institute, Sunday School and Relief Society.

Now...let's go back a bit. While ordering a new keyboard for my laptop (that is an entire OTHER tidbit!!) I had to have a Pay Pal account set up to us my credit card to purchase the keyboard. I set up the Pay Pal account but was very uneasy, as I usually am, with giving out my credit card information again. Before leaving my computer that night, I checked to see if the charge for the keyboard was on my credit card statement. In doing this I found the charge pending and three other charges that made no sense. Antennae started to pop up that someone was trying to use my credit card number. I hurried upstairs to check with Claude about these three other charges to be sure he made them and they were legitimate. When I asked about the charge to Amazon for a tidy sum, he kind of winced and assured me it was fine. I told him it was a pending charge and hadn't gone through yet. He assured me in a tone that said, "Please don't ask me any more questions about that charge," that it was a legitimate charge. I left it at that and waited until the next day to check the credit card again.

Return to Tidbit #5...When Claude left his office he came back to the breakfast table and laid a box on the table and said, "You might as well have this."  I carefully opened the box and out came a Kindle Fire HD. Oh my goodness!!!  Claude had purchased it through Amazon and wanted to load it all up and have it ready for me for our anniversary next month. I was definitely taking the wind out of his surprise on many levels. What a great husband. I wasn't ever planning to purchase any kind of a tablet for myself and thought I could have made Katelyn's old Nook work just fine. Now I was blessed with a great surprise from my hubby and way ahead of our anniversary. Claude did take it back and set it up for me. Then he and I picked out a couple of games for the grandmonsters to enjoy playing on it and a couple of games for me to play.

I took it to Church Sunday for the first time. I did not take my paper scriptures. I must state that it was the hardest thing I have done in a long time, to walk out of my home on a Sunday headed to Church without my paper scriptures. I looked up at Claude as we left to get in the car with only my purse and my Kindle inside it. I didn't have to play the organ so I didn't have to carry music. I just looked at Claude and said, "I truly feel like I am leaving something at home that I will need."  He just chuckled. He has become accustomed to only carrying his Kindle with all the books he needed downloaded to it. He perfectly well knows the emptiness, or maybe I should describe it as the lightness, that you feel when you don't carry all your books you are used to toting around.

I did fine until I got to Relief Society. I tried to open the manual for that class and it had not been downloaded. I thought that wouldn't be a problem as it only takes a couple of minutes to download and install. However, the signal from the WiFi at the church is not strong enough to reach the Relief Society room so I couldn't download it. I just closed it and put the Kindle back in my purse. As I sat there it finally occurred to me, I had also downloaded all those books on my cell phone. I quickly got out my cell phone and sure enough I could follow right along on it.

My motto for all this digital mania is "that which does not kill us makes us strong".  And, I'm happy to note that I'm beginning to know which charger goes with which device so I can set everything to charge each evening.

Tidbit #6:
The Keyboard...not the piano one...the laptop one.

My backspace key popped off my laptop keyboard. I do believe I posted about that in November or December. A wonderful man at Church noticed my Facebook post about it popping off and the Geek Squad telling me they could fix it but I would have to leave my laptop with them for two weeks. Yuk!!  Bless Trent's heart he immediately started checking into laptop keyboards on the Internet. He commented on my post that he could help me if I wanted him to.

Trent and I messaged back and forth and I got him the information he needed to find the right keyboard. He found two purchase options for me and sent me the links. I determined the one I wanted to purchase and set up that Pay Pal account I noted in Tidbit #5 and ordered the keyboard. When it arrived I messaged Trent and told him it was in. We set up Satuday after my Institute Inservice for me to drop by their home and he would put the new keyboard in for me.

He did a great job and it was very interesting to watch him work. Trent assured me I would NEVER have to worry about this keyboard coming off this laptop. He said he has never seen that many screws to keep a laptop together before. I had noted him carefully taking out screws and lining them in different places on their dining table so he would know exactly where to go for the right screw for the right place when he put it all back together.

I got home and turned on the laptop. When I started to use it I noticed the difference immediately. The old keys were a slick surface. The new keys are a rougher texture and they feel a little higher and more solidly placed over the computer. I don't think I'll ever pop one of these off with my speedy typing and a long finger nail.

How grateful for friends that can do these kinds of things. Thanks Trent for taking so much of your time to research and then help me fix my little computer problem.

Tidbit #7:
Two of the ladies that I visit teach have had birthdays in the last two weeks. One of these ladies is a young mother with three little ones and her hubby is in Bolivia. The other is divorced and has no family that calls or cares for her. Each of these ladies I took bright yellow flowers to on their birthdays. One got gerbera daisies and the other got tulips. I was pleased at the joy each of these ladies had in those bright yellow flowers. It just seems there is something delightful in receiving flowers when you are female. It may work the same for men but I'm thinking not quite as much. Their eyes filled with a tear or two as they each expressed how they loved getting flowers and how long it had been since anyone gave them flowers. This is an important lesson to remember.

Long ago I heard a story, can't remember where or when, but the story remains in my memory. A woman's husband died. Several months later it was the date for their anniversary. A friend remembered that date and spoke with the lady about it. She expressed the thought that her husband had always given her yellow roses on their anniversary. The thing she would miss so much that day and that she really wanted would have been the yellow roses. Her friend saw all the need from not having her husband and opted to give her something more practical. The lady was truly grateful for the gift, but the yellow roses would have filled the ache in her heart.

This story came to my mine as I tried to determine what to give each of these wonderful ladies. They could have each definitely used something more practical in their lives as they struggle with not enough income to cover needs. But I shall never forget the joy in their faces and eyes as they received bright yellow flowers on their birthdays.

Tidbit #8:
I should Blog more frequently and these posts might be a little shorter. That may not happen though with life busy again.