The Substitute Teacher

        Just over two years ago, we moved to Myrtle Creek.  Less than three months I had been called to be a primary teacher - specifically for the sunbeams.  At the time I had heard there were four children in the class.  The most that I ever saw was three.  Usually it was just Emily and me.  It took her about five months before she warmed up to me.

         The following year, I had her cousin Hayden.  Unless there were visitors, he was my only pupil - until they brought Christopher in.  He had turned three in February.  He was in sunbeams for five or six months before the year ended.  The primary president decided to move him up to CTRs along with Hayden so that I could teach team Danny's class - the Valiants.

          Danny was not present for the first two and a half months.  Being able to return has been a gradual thing.  In March and April she was there for an hour and eventually worked up to three.  Between her parents and grandparents, Danny's time is spread as a health provider it seems.  She seems to be in and out and had asked me to teach.  But the CTR instructor has been out as well - traveling, I think.  The primary president had asked me to teach the CTRs as she is more able to find a sub for the older children than the younger ones.

          Last week there were only three: Christopher, Hayden and a visitor named Glen.  Class was not much different than it had been in sunbeams.  Hayden still felt the need to be in charge.  And Christopher was all over the place. Very different from Valiants.  A different use of time.

          When both classes met for sharing time and singing time, I sat in the front row with Glen, Christopher and Hayden.  A stake visitor sat with the Valiants. When Christopher announced he had to go potty (for the second time) I took his hand and escorted him out. 

          I noticed the instructor class was going on.  It's been so long since I've been to one, I'd forgotten.  I really enjoy the instructor classes and wanted to attend.  With only 20 minutes remaining, I opened the door for Christopher and told him to return to his seat, and I went next door to feel inspired.  I need that class!

          I had to return to the primary room to gather my bag of books - which Hayden was holding.  (Remember he thinks he's in charge) and the primary president told me that Christopher had been asking for me, which totally surprised me.

          Last week I read lessons from both CTR and Valiant as I didn't know which class I would be with yesterday.  Danny had indicated that she would not be there. I wasn't certain if the CTR instructor would be there or not.  Turned out she was, but then is gone for a month.  It sounds like Danny could be as well. 

          I teach primary sometimes.  I'm there whether I teach or not.  I am still head chief for the activities committee for Relief Society. We meet possibly four times a month.  I still don't know many sisters.  They used to do a mingle once a month but were told to stop.  Members really liked it and felt that it promoted missionary work.  But they were told to stop.  When I returned to Salt Lake and had gone to my former ward, they announced that they'd be having a mingle.  I wonder why the more geographically challenged one was told to stop and the one in West Valley seems to have an okay?  Weird.

Making Progress

             The service team came on Wednesday and remained for a good part of the day.  They came on Thursday but did not stay as long.  An electrician came on Friday and added electric tape to chewed area - Roland could have done that - and there wouldn't be a bill . . .

            Jenna and I went to the laundry mat yesterday.   I knew I'd need to do laundry before Wednesday but have a commitment to the library on Monday and as Tuesday is a holiday and the laundry mat may be closed, I decided it needed to be done yesterday.

          Roland stayed to water plants and other gardening.  We gave Jenna a choice and she went to do laundry with me.  I'm happy that she made that choice as I had forgotten the detergent, and later realized I did not have enough change in quarters and so went across the street and wrote a check for twenty dollars over my canned good purchase (I had felt obligated to purchase something.

           Jenna is a great folder.  She really was a tremendous help.  After we returned home, she to Roseburg with Roland.  I put clothes away and made our bed without the extra blanket.  Neither Roland nor I have slept well because it's been hotter in the house than it has been outside - even he has had the covers off from time to time.    

           Roland had opened the front door and had the fan going into the house and another sending cool air into the hall - which was fine for about an hour after we returned.  At 5:00, it started to get to warm.  Roland had already blocked the back room - if you would call it that.  I don't think it's large enough to define as a room.  More like entry-way space really.

            We decided to try the air conditioner.  Two seconds after I shut the front door (literally) there came a knock.  How could anyone possibly be that close to the door and I had not seen him?  He had come to take another reading.  He said the area had dried in the back and removed the fans and other device that been hooked up for the last four days.  He'll be back tonight to recheck Jenna's room and hopefully will be able to take away as well.

            She still won't be able to move in right away.  I don't think she realizes that drying out the moisture is only one step in the process.  She's expecting that they'll have her boxes (boxed up room) returned the minute the fans are pulled out from her room.  They won't be.  The hole in the wall still needs to be repaired.

           I'd love it if Jenna would be responsible enough to go through each box item by item and discard what she doesn't need.  I could do homework while she is going through boxes.  Realistically I will have to go through them with her - reminding her the less items she keeps, the easier it will be to maintain her room.

            After two nights of sweating and not sleeping, I slept with the air conditioner on last night and the switch hadn't tripped!  I had forgotten I had moved the extra blanket.  Roland said that he had been cold last night.  He probably didn't sleep as well as I.

            I have to prepare a lesson to teach the CTRs.  I was teach teaming with Valiants, but the CTR teacher is out of town currently - and so are half the primary children.  I've started many a post of my position in primary but have not completed - there are actually many thoughts in the works that never get posted.  Somehow they no longer seem important enough to post.

             

Learning Excel

When I was working at Swire Coca Cola

Roland and I felt I should be staying home
with the boys.
In February, I said I would be leaving in April
My last day would be April 15th.

In March I was asked to take a class in

Excel.  It didn't seem to matter that I
was leaving. 
It was a fun class - different program than what
I had at home, but I could adjust.
It was nice.

I was grateful that I had been given that opportunity

and keep notebook as well.
though there were many things I learned
that I would never use personally
there seemed to be some that would benefit me
at the time.

Now I am taking an Excel class
again.
I am floored at how much information
can be created in
Excel. 
We are barely just touching surface with
this class.

It is fun to learn and create.

Next week will be my last week for 
these two accounting classes and 
then I will be starting something new

No Room For Jenna

            Have you ever felt inconvenienced by a situation, but later on down the road, you realize that inconvenience was/is a blessing?  It’s even more awesome when you can recognize the blessings in the process of being inconvenienced.  I can see the blessings;  Jenna sees the inconveniences that become more inconvenient to her with each passing minute.

            I noticed when I mopped the floor in the back room, there was a nasty splotch that wouldn't remove - a stain I hadn't noticed before (I'm actually not all that observant) nor had I noticed the floor had gotten softer.  I had just chalked that up my own aging and slowing down.  It seems like each time I did laundry, moisture would leak out between the walls and the floor.  Oh . . . . that is not good.

             Roland contacted our insurance company to find out just what is covered.  On Wednesday, they sent out a team (I think there were a total of seven that had come and gone throughout the day - mostly grouped together.  I think I counted only six at one time) and had taken a picture of the floor while the washer and dryer were still intact, but it is my only picture of the floor before it was ripped out and the back door has been off limits ever since..

            One of the lucky souls had the opportunity of crawling under the house to look for beneath damage.  He brought out the mummy remains of a cat.  He said it wasn't bad.  Surprised that ivy continued growing underneath.  Those viney plants are like weeds.  They are forever growing.

             We had told Jenna to clean her room before they arrived.  We are always telling Jenna to clean her room.  Now it is off limits  – but not like the back room is.  There is a hole in her wall and a fan on the floor.  On Wednesday  a worker packed 21 boxes filled with items from Jenna’s dressers and under her bed.  Those items included shorts that she hadn’t bothered to put away.  Too bad.

            It felt like there were 15 people in the house yesterday – removing items from her walls, dresser drawers, they removed her bed and dressers.  Most of her room is now in a storage facility in Winston.  It seems weird that I had mentioned the government invasion from E. T. and then we have a company come into our home to "set up shop".  We have seen more people coming in and out of our house in the last two days than there have been in the entire time we’ve lived here.  They all seem like young kids – the same age as my boys.  All working together.  All skilled in different areas.  It’s actually kind of impressive.

            Initially we had called a plumber – who still hasn’t gotten back to us.  And then Roland called the insurance company and they sent out the crew who tore up the floor and are drying out the mold.  Roland had always said that Jenna’s room smelled bad.  I can’t smell.  Even now with the open walls and floor and the fans set up in Jenna’s room and the laundry room.  Our house looks like it did when we first moved in.

            But instead of drawers on the back porch,  there are five with Jenna’s clothes inside our tub and a suitcase in the bathroom and she is sleeping on the couch thinking about things she might need from her room – knowing exactly where they are – or were.  Only a fan and the carpet padding.  No furniture.  The stuffed animals were left in her closet and two items remain on her wall.  That’s it.

            We did lose power in the back half of the house twice now.  It’s happened before – but usually it’s been the front of the house that’s gone out.  I wonder if the fans are on generators. 

So what are the blessings?

            We aren’t out of town.  We had already changed our plans for August.  The work may not be done by then.  We had our hottest day on Saturday.  Wednesday was at least 40 degrees cooler.  40 degrees!  The cool breeze was nice as we have been unable to use the air conditioner – perhaps all summer. 

           I didn't notice any unbearable heat until last night.  The temperature says 59 degrees outside right now, but there is not breeze.  It's quite hot in our room.  If I try running the air conditioner, it will just trip the switch again.  I am sweating like I have just run a marathon. 

         The water damage could have been so much worse.  It's the dry season right now and that will help our house to dry quicker.  I’m hoping this will be a major teaching moment for Jenna.  I’m not even worried about the finances right now.  Also a blessing.

If Dead is the Look they were Going For, They have Succeeded

          Though I have had a small hand and say in making funeral arrangements, I have not had the opportunity of having to find a mortuary nor have considered every financial expect.  Before either of my parents had passed, there needed to be a record of what funeral home to contact should they expire.  My dad lived out his final days at Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah.  Ironically, he had also been born there (or so I was told) but at that time it had been called Cottonwood Maternity Ward and wasn't the full blown hospital where he had died.     

          Mom had used a local mortuary as a contact I’m guessing because it was familiar territory as it had been used by other members of our ward.  Before mom passed, Corey had made arrangements for Premier Funeral – though none of us had heard of it before, it really does seem the most economical way to go. 

          Premier doesn’t offer a chapel or a show room in which members can walk around and look at caskets.  They offer a catalogue – which I suppose doesn’t go over well with some people, but Corey and I were fine with it.  Premier has a lot to offer – for one thing the body is embalmed right away – at least where it is possible. (autopsy would be an exception)

          Jeanie was already gone when the paramedics arrived.  Possibly before she fell- or why she was falling.  Her mother said that seven clots had been found in her lung(s) and not just one.  I don’t know what shade she was when the paramedics arrived or how pale she must have gotten in the morgue.  It feels a bit morbid wondering. 

          I was not impressed with the makeup job - but I have no idea what of Jeanie's facial condition when she arrived to the mortuary.  Perhaps they had done a marvelous job with the "canvas" given - I just didn't see that.  Mommy and Daddy had looked so natural, so peaceful, as though they were sleeping.  Jeanie looked like a corpse – like in a really low budget movie when everything looks fake.  It appeared that she had jaundice underneath the make-up.  It was hard seeing her like that.

          Biff had never been involved with any plans concerning funerals – except when we had asked him to be a pall bearer at my mom’s.  But that was the extent of it.  He had never gone to look for a casket or a burial plot.  I’m sure the funeral home they went through was the same one his in-laws had used when they had buried their other two children.  It was right next to – perhaps even part of the cemetery.  I think Biff just went along with what they wanted.  What did he know?  They had been through it before.  Roland and I have both gone through it, but we weren’t there.  We weren’t involved with the decisions or give advice or hold our son’s hand.

          I don’t know that his in-laws would have felt comfortable using Premier as they had the viewing in one location and the funeral in another.  The mortuary was in a familiar place where family and loved ones had already gathered.  They would have had to make arrangements for another chapel with Premier. But I think they would have saved a tremendous amount of cost.

          My son, Randy, had set up a fund for Biff and his daughter – a plea to help pay for expenses.  The goal was to hit 5,000.  3,000 had been raised in eight days by 62 different people. I cried every time I would see donations being made.  I know there were many who knew Jeanie personally, but still many that did not know her at all.  Some hadn’t even known Biff for that matter, and that touched my heart.  My nephew, Brian, was the first to contribute to the cause.

          I don’t know how many chapels and "comfort" rooms the funeral home offered.  I would guess at least seven.  It felt as if there had been seven different viewings all scheduled for Sunday night.  Perhaps there had only been four or five.  We had to pass them all in order to get the room where Jeanie and family were waiting.  The lines were long.  I’m sure that is why they had put us at the end.

          When mom died, we had her at the Relief Society room in the building where she attended church.  We were there Friday night and the mortuary took her away and brought her back the following morning and then we moved into the chapel. Premier had driven her back and forth.  I'm not knocking the full blown centers but am in favor of using Premier again.  They did an awesome job for us.  I was overwhelmed by the amount of traffic involved with Jeanie.  I never felt overwhelmed with Premier.  The situation was always calm and respectful. 

Enjoying Riddle

       The school library will be open three times during this summer.  Yesterday morning was the first day and I took Jenna to return the books we already had and trade them for something else. We had also stopped by Soco to have a meeting with the committee for the  Children's Summer Reading Program.  Jenna asked me if I'd take her to the library in Riddle which was also on my agenda, but it does not open until 3:00 on Tuesdays.  We returned home before we went to Riddle.  I took care of some school work.
       Jenna had wanted me to present my Costco card at the library for identification.  I've had it for over seven years.  The picture is of both Jenna and me.  She had really wanted to be in the picture that day, and I was just going to have her stand in front of me, but the man who'd been waiting to take my picture said that we could both be in it.  I like the picture so I keep the card.  Jenna and I both look very different now in real life.

      After we arrived in Riddle and went inside the library, the librarian told us that there was an activity outside.  We went to the pavilion where the drama coach of Riddle High was conducting a session for eight teenagers who had shown for the activity.  Jenna found one of her friends at the activity.  They both seemed to enjoy themselves.  I took a few pictures with my cell phone.  I have cropped out the other kids as I did not ask permission to post them.

pretending to brush her teeth

the instructor had teens pretend they were walking

in various situations

the last two are mirror mirror.  

Jenna had so much fun hanging with her friend after the activity, she forgot about the library or reporting the other books she read.  We may return tomorrow.

Tired of Waiting

I HATE waiting

I Despise it

Waiting for the plumber

to return my call

Waiting for Tony and Rochelle

who often don't show at all

Waiting for Roland to

follow through on plans

Waiting for City Council and

board members to make a

decision about the libraries.

Waiting for the show to start

Waiting for someone to answer

Waiting for the question

Wasting time waiting while

watching Aunt Jean play with

the dog. 

Waiting for dinner

Waiting for the rest of my family

to get up on Christmas morning

Waiting for the mailman

Waiting in line

Waiting for law enforcement

Waiting for the results

Waiting at the doctor's office

Waiting for the cars to move

Waiting on tables to customers

oblivious to a busy situation

Waiting for the snow to be plowed

Waiting for the temperature to drop

Waiting for the food to cool

Waiting for the car

Waiting for a broken

heart to heal