Birthday WOW (that's MOM spelled upside down)

           I know I make worse of situations inside of my head than how they really are – especially if I haven’t gotten a proper amount of sleep.  I know I shouldn’t be uptight and I know I shouldn’t dwell on what I can’t change – like missing dishes that have made their way out of the kitchen and haven’t been returned.  My imagination runs away with me and I get carried away – which reminds me this skit of Ernie returning a vacuum cleaner. 

        Often when I allow things to get out of hand the real life situation will have the opposite results and I find I have worked myself up for nothing.  Yesterday I had gone to the temple though Satan had done his best to keep me away.

 After the session had ended Richard and I continued to Ashland to collect Jaime to bring her home for the next four days.  She presented me with a cup that has an owl on the side.  She said it was for my birthday (which is today).  After lunch we hit a vintage store where Richard purchased a pin and a cute bag for me as well as a pig bank for himself. 

Before we pulled up to the house Richard stopped by the mailbox.  Inside was a card from Tony and his family.  That was cool.  Receiving the card right before my birthday.

When we arrived at the house the other three were in the room and were waiting for us.  Ally greeted me with “Happy Birthday, Grandma.”

            How did she even know it was my birthday?  Claire had baked brownies which she spread with a peanut butter frosting.  Ally had wanted one but Claire made her wait until we got home.  I hadn’t even noticed the banner hanging over the door.  

As soon as all of us were gathered in the room they presented me with a bag which I had assumed was from all of them, but the card in the bag was from Richard.  I pulled this gift out first and anxiously pulled out more in hopes of finding the other two wise men. 

I found a box of chocolates and a big foot paw (more chocolate) but no more kings.  

I don’t recall ever having received a Christmas ornament on my birthday before.  Before I was able to remove the ornament Richard told me that the other two kings were on each side.  Oh, wow!  What a cool idea.  I love it! 

  

spoiler alert: Christmas card this year has same pic

Claire told me my card and gift were in the kitchen.  Heavy brownies in the form of cupcakes.  Yum.

 Turned out to be a really great day which was totally opposite of what had been running through my head the day prior.  And I'm grateful that I was mistaken with my worked up thoughts.

Today I was presented with more gifts from one of my ministering sisters.  Garden stones, dishtowels. Another surprise.  Wow.  

In addition I have heard from all three of my sibs.  I received Shelly's card earlier this week.  We have emailed back and forth and she left a birthday wish on facebook (along with 25 others) and Steven texted a birthday wish.  Keith and Nat sang to me in voicemail and Tony just called with his troop and sang to me.  Life is good. 

    Our dinner for tonight will be along a Thanksgiving theme. What an awesome birthday 2023!

 

Well This Day Hasn’t Gone According To Plan

 I suppose it’s my own fault for having a “not exactly stressful day” but “not the way I would have done it day” and it isn’t even afternoon yet.  What’s up with that?

Pre-pandemic the Relief Society presidency would hold our meetings on Wednesday either at 10:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. depending on whether I had accepted an assignment to work at the school.  Meetings were basically arranged according to my schedule.  Ahhh.

Then came the pandemic.  It really didn’t matter what time or what day of the week our zoom meetings were.  Even before we had returned back to the two block meetings and held our meetings in person, we had somehow changed to Tuesdays at 10:00 am. which I hadn’t even thought about one way or another until just this very moment.

Yesterday I went to the pool for the first time in almost two years.  It had rained before we left and Roland had tried to discourage us from going.  But I knew Carol would be there.  Rain is different in Oregon than in Utah.  We don’t have lightening storms.  The pool is open when it is overcast or raining.  It’s a part of life.  Deal with it.

I had planned on going to the pool today as well.  One of the presidency says she plans on going to the water workout also but was unable to do so yesterday.  She had mentioned it the other day and I freaked.  I had forgotten!  But I then received messages from both her and the RS president that the meeting had been cancelled. 

“Oh, good,” was my initial thought but I do have some things address but did not wish to press the pres. as her brother is a victim of COVID and she was planning to go out of town to be with him.  We had a small messaging conversation before she changed her mind and said the meeting was back on for 10:30.    

Meanwhile Jenna had reminded me of some other commitments I had made – specifically taking her to the theatre and her friend to the high school.  Oh, yes.  I told the RS pres that I would need to drop Jenna’s friend off between 11:00 and 11:30.  Thus the meeting was cancelled again.  But I would still like to have a meeting.

So this morning I created an agenda for myself :  Forego the pool for this morning. Drop Jenna off at the theatre at 9:45.  Pay water bill (as I am headed that direction; I might as well continue) go to the post office to mail the Fathers’ Day Cards that Roland had created.

Carol had asked if I could meet at Soco which I thought would be yesterday, but it’s really today.  Since I’ll be downtown mailing the letters I may pop in at Soco just to say Hi.  Spend a few minutes before I return home to take Jenna and her friend to the high school – even though the school season has ended.  Ruth is eligible for a program that Jenna isn’t because of finances and education or something.  Both Roland and I have graduated from college and the program is geared to students whose parents don’t have college background – or something like that.  I don’t totally understand it – just know that Jenna does not qualify.

Sometime between six and seven this morning Roland informs me he wants the cards taken to the post office the minute it is open.  What?  My belief is that the mail is collected only once a day.  It will go out at 3:00 – but Roland believes there is another time scheduled for first thing in the morning.  I don’t think so.  But okay.  I will leave just before 9:00 a.m. so that I can hand it to somebody personally.  Got it. 

Though it takes only seven minutes to get downtown, Jenna and I left the house at 8:45.  She couldn’t understand why we were leaving one hour before she needed to be to the theatre.  I figured she would want to come with me and I wouldn’t have to stop off at the house again.  We could take our time.

She opted to stay in the car which was nice because then I didn’t have to drag my purse inside.  I just left it in the car with her and went inside the post office, handed the Myrtle Creek and “everywhere else” mail to the postmaster.  Returned to car.  Drove to the pool.  They were just getting started which meant there’d be no line.  I decided to buy a pass but thought it would be easier for everybody if there wasn’t a line.  I will start my pass tomorrow.

Returned to the car and saw class members lifting the water weights.  They looked like giant flyswatters from my point of view.  My eyesight has become so horrible without corrective lenses. Jenna got out of the car and took some pictures which I may post whenever she sends them to me . . .

I had time to pay the water bill before dropping her off at the theatre which worked out really great for me as I would only have to make one left hand turn instead of two.  Funny thing about the water bill – they come on postcards that have a fold.  Customer is supposed to rip at the fold and return with payment.  Only I never saw the part I am suppose to return.  My neighbor said she had the other part in her mailbox.  We are one digit apart and our mailboxes are on the same side of the street.  It hasn’t happened often, but we have gotten each other’s mail before.  Usually it has been the sender who was in error and not the post office itself.

I then dropped Jenna off at the theatre and knew I’d have at least 30 minutes before meeting my friends at SOCO.  I really had to use the toilet and figured that using one at my house would be more convenient than anywhere else and so drove home and started an email agenda which I still need to finish with.  I remembered that Roland takes his break at 10:00 and told him that I’d be taking the car downtown.  He said he wanted to go with me but I was going to meet my friends and hadn’t planned on having Roland there – though they seemed happy to see him. 

He ordered a burrito and the absolute worst drink that I have ever tasted.  I suppose it was somewhere between an energy shot and a beer.  He thought it would have more juices as it was labeled mango and passion fruit.  Don’t know whose imagination supposed it tasted like it resembled any kind of fruit.   Carol wouldn’t taste it as Roland had already had his mouth on the bottle.  But Jenna, Ruth and I had all tasted it and I think Ruth was even more grossed out by it then I was.  Jenna didn’t seem to mind and ended up drinking the rest – but more out of just not wanting to waist it rather than her low standards of food and drink.  I was willing to throw it out. 

Jenna reminded me that I had agreed to take her and Ruth out to the wild life safari but Roland has the day off Friday and I thought it would be great if he could drive us out there.  Jenna’s day didn’t go according to plan either.  I said I would take them to the safari.  But we’re each at home doing our own thing.  Though now that I’ve posted this, I will go hang out with her.

Belated Mother's Day

 I have tossed a few ideas around on what to post.  Meanwhile I received these in the mail.  Enjoy.

For the sweetest Grandma!
Happy Mother's Day!

Doesn't Rochelle have the most fabulous hand print?  I admire her creativity.

Another Expression of Gratitude

         Over the years Jenna has had many photos taken with Santa.  This one taken in 2010  is my absolute favorite and I don’t even know who took it.  

We had been living in West Valley for only a week and were still not familiar with most of the ward members.  I did not have my camera and someone waiting in line to take pictures of her own children offered to take some pictures from her phone and said she would send them to me. 

It is rare that anybody from my past has taken pictures for me promising to send them and 20 years later I am still waiting knowing fully well that they will never be sent.  But this sister – who was only visiting our ward and not a member of it - took three shots of Jenna and she did send them to me.  For that I will always be grateful.

Roland asked me to send it to him so he could use it for the upcoming Christmas card. 

He recreated this Norman Rockwell using family photos – though not everybody was able to make the card.  The one brother not in the photo complained about leaving him out.  

I told Roland that he would but have come to think of it as symbolic as Tony and Rochelle are always running late.  They could have easily missed the photographer taking the picture – or maybe they were the one’s taking it.  I had told Roland to put masks on all of our faces.  He obviously didn’t take my suggestion.  Maybe if he had Tony might not have complained.

 I think Roland’s sending out cards is helpful to some of those on the receiving end – especially this year.

Roland’s Favorite Gift

Whenever Roland has been approached by Jenna or the boys for whatever occasion (Christmas, birthday) they ask what he wants and he has always answered a homemade card – which Jenna did when she was younger.  But it seems a bit hopeless to make a card for someone who makes cards like these:

 

Christmas 2016

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2019

2019

I had looked for something to give Roland for Christmas and when I started wrapping other presents I realized that I might not have a gift to have for him on Christmas and quickly wrote this poem:

He thought it was great.  I was more surprised by his reaction than I was pleased as I had felt somewhat ashamed of not spending as much time on it as he believes I did.  I am happy that he liked it – or likes it rather.  He shared it with his mom over the phone.  She also thought it wonderful.  Okay.  Cool.  I seemed to have succeeded without really trying.  How awesome is that.

Because a single sheet of paper does not carry a lot in weight, I included a puzzle which was already in our possession.  I did it to add weight, but Roland didn’t remember having it and thought it was a part of the gift and we put it together Christmas afternoon.

I'm Grateful I Joined the Board

                Before I applied to the position of a library board member, my neighbor had told me that the library could close.  I did not want to see that happen, and wondered if I would have something pertinent to bring to the table.  As I was the only person in Myrtle Creek to apply for the position, I ended up on the board.  Two months later it was announced that the libraries would close by the end of March.

            The Friends of the Myrtle Creek Library formed at the end of February, I believe.  I believe there were over 30 people who attended that first meeting.  I was in awe. Where were all those people been nine months before when the library had asked for another board member?

            No one had really been against keeping the library open.  The opposition had been to the tax increase - at any amount.  People are tired of paying taxes.  It was just one more setback in an already tight income.  The bill didn't pass.

            The friends group had been created to find volunteers who would be willing to staff and train and whatever was needed to keep the library going.  We were able to open in July and were given opportunity to endorse the summer reading program.  I had volunteered to be on the committee and had recruited Jenna.  We both had a lot of fun with it.

            I'm afraid I haven't given a lot of time to the library once the program ended.  I have worked at the library (which, by the way, isn't even considered a public but rather a third-party library) as a substitute, but haven't been on the schedule since the summer reading program as I don't always know my availability every four weeks - although I can pretty much count on Wednesdays and Saturdays as days I cannot volunteer.  Fridays would be my best day, but seems to be an inconvenient day for almost every other person and is not open.  Neither is Riddle Library.

            Aside from the children's reading program, I have probably spent just as much time going to Riddle Library as Myrtle Creek and have cards for both libraries.  I obtained a Riddle library card in June when Myrtle Creek was still closed.  Roland had wanted me to check out some audio books to listen to when we had returned to Utah for Jeanie's funeral.  Riddle seems to have a bigger turn-out in the way of teen programs also, and so I have taken Jenna to those.  Myrtle Creek is open 5 days a week with 4 hours each day; Riddle is open 3 days with 5 hours each day.  I haven't been to Canyonville yet. I just learned that Winston has also reopened.

            We just recently had a meeting with the board members from before the library closed.  It seems weird that we would continue with that as we have biweekly members with all of the group who can/are willing to attend.