Monday, October 26th, Claude and I both had appointments with Dr. Fine, our podiatrist.
My ankle has been very painful and I have been limping for a couple of weeks. In addition, I needed to have Dr. Fine catch up on my neuropathy issues. X-rays were taken. I simply have tendonitis in that ankle. An elastic support was purchased, as well as insoles for my sneakers. I am to use Voltaren and wear the elastic support all day but not at night and wear my sneakers all day. I will return in two weeks to see if this helps. If it does not, I will need to get one of those huge boots to wear. Ugh!
Claude had a good check-up. He explained about stubbing his toe on a chair at Junie's and wondered if it was broken. Dr. Fine simply assured him it looked straighter and he might want to do the same thing to the one he broke by stubbing it when we were in Tombstone. Poor Guy!
We followed out doctor visit by going across the street to Bojangles for a biscuit, a quick grocery run to get things for our dinner with the missionaries Tuesday evening and to the Post Office to purchase the stamps for 2027 Relief Society birthday cards.
While in Kroger, I sensed something moving that I thought was a display of some sort. When I looked up, it was moving toward me and turning. It was a robot. There was a sign on it which said, "Hi! I'm Tally. I check shelves for inventory." It continued to turn and move down the aisles. I went to where Claude was and had him check it out. Amazing. One of the store managers noticed my interest. He explained that, if you get close to Tally, it will make a whistle sound to alert you. Unbelievable!
When we returned home, I finished my draft of the November Relief Society newsletter. Then I completed my Blog for the previous week and labeled and stored pictures. I also cut out the pillows from Denise's shirts I had laundered. All is ready to sew. Claude went outside and trimmed the lilac bush so the trimming could go out with the garbage.
In the evening, we watched Psych.
We got our biscuit breakfast and drove to the car wash to get my poor car clean.
Then I cut out and stitched up six burp pads. They are not in my craft bag with the crochet thread to crochets edges around them for baby gifts.
Tuesday, October 27th, I started my day by making a banana pudding for dessert. We would have the missionaries over in the evening for dinner. I reviewed my newsletter draft and sent it to Jenessa Dymock, our president, to review before publishing.
The missionaries joined us at 6pm for dinner. We had one from our ward and one from the Pioneer Ward. They were on splits. We served them the Cranberry Chicken recipe Junie served un when we visited her in Utah. Claude also made a salad and we had the banana pudding for dessert. Here is the Cranberry Chicken recipe.
CRANBERRY CHICKEN
June Gulbrandsen Recipe
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
½ package of Lipton Onion Soup mix
8-oz Kraft Coleslaw Dressing (equals half a bottle)
2-4 pounds chicken breasts (I prefer to just use tenders)
Mix first three ingredients in an 8 x 13 pan. Add chicken and press down so it’s covered in sauce. Cover with foil. Try to seal the foil so no air gets out. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or more. (I overcook it so the chicken is so tender you can cut it with your fork.
Serve over rice.
At 8:20 we visited with Bishop Barber for the annual tithing declaration. It was nice to sit and visit with him for a bit. We talked about him and Jennifer's trip to Italy to pick up Rhett, their son who finished his mission in Italy. We talked about our experience in Italy. Just a nice visit about other things as well.
Katelyn posted this cute picture of Raelyn, our soccer girl!
Wednesday, October 28th, I woke up feeling a bit off kilter. At noon, Claude and I enjoyed have cereal for a very late breakfast. With the intermittent fasting, I don't have breakfast. Since Claude waited so late to have his, I had cereal for breakfast for lunch!
Then I set to work making all those pillows from Denise's shirts. There were 8 of them. I got six of them sown, stuffed and seamed shut, one sew and stuffed but needing a bit more stuffing and one only sewn because I was out of stuffing.
I wore my shoes all day long. It was killing me. I am truly a barefoot girl. Plus my feet hurt when wearing close-toed shoes. My sneakers are good Brooks sneakers but it it still tough on these poor feet. But I was obedient and wore them all day long.
I was finally able to connect with the neighbor behind us about having Jon come through their yard to be able to cut down three trees in our backyard. Hallelujah. Then I sent Jon a text with their phone number. He wants to be sure they clearly understand what he has to do so there is NO drama with this process.
In the evening, we watched the final episodes of the Psych series. We followed that with the Roy Orbison and Friends; A Black and White Night show we DVR's from KET. It seems they broadcast that in 2018. We have kept that one a long time but it is really good and we do enjoy seeing it. He has backup singers for this special like k d lang (wear a dress), Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Tom Waits, T Bone Burnett and J.D. Souther. It was KET's fundraiser video that year. Excellent performance and music.
Thursday, October 29th, I received word from Jenessa that the newsletter was good to be published Wednesday evening. My first job was getting the tweaks made as I received a new announcement and flyer.
Claude and I set out too run errands. We shopped at Kohl's to come close to finishing Christmas, at Lowe's to get more trim for the garage door, Walmart for more fiberfill to finish the pillows and ended our errands with dinner at 5 Guys.
When we got home, I called Betty Dixon, an old friend from GWRRA.
Our television viewing this evening was watching most of the Pole to Pole with will Smith series. I do love the lessons he learns as he visits these amazing places.
This day I tried my insoles with my Orthofeet sandals. Didn't work as well as sneakers but it would do for a change of pace.
Friday, October 30th, I spent my morning visiting Camille Klein. She is a friend from church.
My afternoon was spent clearing the DVR while Claude napped.
The evening was spent driving to Louisville. We met Andie and Michael at The Gaslight Diner for dinner. None of us had eaten there. Good food and we would go back. The reason for the drive was to go to Speed Car Wash. They were doing a Haunted Car Wash from 7:30 to 10:30pm. All four of us got in my car which need to be washed badly and Claude drove us down the road a few blocks to the car wash. There was a line of cars. We drove for well over a mile with both on-coming lanes of traffic full of cars waiting to get into the Haunted Car Wash. Well, it was a fun idea and we would have enjoyed it but we commissioned Michael to find us an ice cream place. Claude pulled to the side of the highway while Michael located Scoops and Stuff. Michael directed us on back roads to the ice cream store and we enjoyed some great homemade ice cream. Then we took Michael and Andie back to their car. It was a fun evening.
We got home in time to watch a program about Jimmy Webb, a songwriter, composer and singer. He wrote a lot of songs that Glen Campbell sang. He also wrote that really LONG song that was so very popular years ago named "MacArthur Park". His guests were Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill and Ashley Campbell, Glen Campbell's daughter. It was another great evening of music.
Katelyn posted these pictures of the kids at the school Halloween parade. Drew took Kennedi to watch. In order: Emelia, Joel, Kennedi & Drew, Kennedi, and Raelyn.
Saturday, October 31st, was Halloween.
We voted first thing. This time we went to the Sheriff's office. We usually go to the library. We are very grateful for this voting early thing. After we finished voting, we got a picture of us with of "I Voted" stickers. Hayden, our grandson, has been diligently posting a reminder to get out and vote for a couple of weeks now. He is very enthusiastic about his right to vote. He event got an Illinois driver's license so he could register to vote in Illinois and actually go to the polling place to cast his ballot. Since he has been in college in Chicago, he has had to do an absentee ballot by mail. We wanted to thank him for encouraging others to vote and to know his grandparents did vote.
Once home, I finished the two pillows. I took a picture of all eight pillows and sent it to Katelyn so she knew the project was done. Little mementos of the gramma Denise for her family and two for Christmas decorations. Nice.
I received an eMail that the flights I made for us to LA for our India/Nepal trip had been changed. The new flight would still go to Atlanta before flying to LA but it now only had a 50 minute layover in Atlanta. We had serious concerns about our luggage and us making it to the next plane. I changed that leg of our journey to still be through Atlanta but to have a 2 1/2 hour layover. Now we can walk to the next concourse and not worry about our luggage making it.
I was grateful to receive two packages in the mail with Christmas presents in them. Yippee!!
Claude made us a pizza and him some wings. We would hibernate in the living room watching television and not hand out candy again this year. This is the second year we have done this. It sure saves a lot of money on all that candy. Plus, we don't have to worry about eating lots of left over candy. We are officially to Bah-Humbug of Halloween.
Katelyn posted this picture of the kids and Drew going Trick-or-Treating.
Sunday, November 1st, was a great Sabbath Day. It was Fast Sunday. This Sunday we fast for two meals and donate the money we would have spent preparing those meals to be used to assist those in need. This Sacrament Meeting the members have the opportunity to come to the pulpit and bear their testimony. One brother was sharing his experience of watching their daughter learn to speak. She wants to talk and does so but is still developing her vocabulary. Sometimes she uses the wrong word or pronounces the word incorrectly. It is very amusing to him. But it made him reflect on Heavenly Father listening to us, His children. Heavenly Father understand our speech. I leaned to Claude and whispered, "Heavenly Father speaks Sandi!" He chuckled. I tend to use wrong words or names. Example: Nissa, Katelyn and Raelyn are names I use interchangeably. They definitely different people. I will catch myself sometimes and make the change. Claude will smile and say, "I speak Sandi!" It was a sweet moment and I love the thought that Heavenly Father speaks Sandi.
When we got to Sunday School class it was held in the back of the cultural hall. This allowed the Primary to practice in the chapel for their program next Sunday. This means we sit on folding metal chairs. Josh Rayburn came up to Claude and whispered something to him. Then he came back with two folding chairs from the Relief Society room. They have padded seats. Josh then went and got one for for Kitty Lloyd and switched her all metal chair for a padded metal chair. I looked at Jennifer Barber and said, "We are getting old!" We both laughed. This was indeed a kind gesture by Josh and we greatly appreciated him.
Lunch was Jimmy John's by us. How nice to have a Jimmy John's near our home. The lady at the drive-thru used to work at the the other Jimmy John's across town. She recognized us and was very happy to see us. Love that. This was followed by Claude's nap and my clearing the DVR.
Then I went to my laptop. I had to set up returning the extra OtterBox they sent me. I will take it to UPS Monday. Jensen/McKay Travel sent us a new Terms of Agreement document to be signed. I got that signed and printed for our travel folder. I received catalog that had items that would be good for Michael and Bailey's birthday's next year. I ordered those items. Then I texted back and forth with Hayden about his birthday present. He is traveling with work and I needed to be sure about sending him something.
It was a good day.
