Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Happy 40th birthday Ian.  He and Sheri drove to Cali spend the day on Salt Creek Beach with Elise Hird.

James and I planted our flowers this morning.  James planted and I cleared away weeds and rocks.  There are rocks everywhere.  Maybe we should have a rock garden. I took a picture of this twig sticking out of the ground because there is a bird sitting on top of it.  It seems to be her favorite "roosting" spot.

 For lunch I made chicken cacciatore from the Four Hundred Calorie Fix cookbook.  James loved it.  You are supposed to serve it over noodles but he opted to eat it without the noodles which made it more like a soup.

James was so tired from planting flowers this morning that he took a 3 1/2 hour nap and was almost late for his temple recommend interview in Show Low.  I went to a Relief Society activity with Kathy Crane this evening at the park.  It was a potluck and I took Tricia's strawberry salad with the homemade poppy seed dressing.  One sister liked it so much that she took the empty bowl and scraped it clean.  She didn't want any of it to go to waste.  Janie Huso, a friend from my former Show Low days, did a presentation on the flag for flag day.  We said the pledge of allegiance and sang The Star Spangled Banner. I was talking with Janie after the meeting and she was telling funny stories about her dog.  She says when she goes to the valley she always stops to get her dog a burger.  He loves Burger King and Wendy's but he refuses to eat McDonald's.  Janie has a house in Chandler where her son and grandson are living right now.  I used to buy shoes from her Mom and her Dad was a state senator.

After our Relief Society meeting Kathy took me on a tour of Vernon showing me where several families in the ward lives.  I am grateful to have a friend and Kathy is a good one.  She and her husband Chuck just planted their garden.  They have onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, and several different kids of peppers.  She is famous for her jalapeno pepper jelly.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Note to self:  "Never go in to the Show Low Walmart on a Monday.  It was insane.  At one point I was ready to leave my basket and head back outside but I had some groceries to buy and gifts for Ruby's birthday.  I have to be prepared to do all my shopping in one day because the store is so far away.  I love to shop for little kids birthdays, especially little girls.  I got Ruby a stuffed Hello Kitty, a Dora guitar, and a set of blocks along with some other little things.  I came home and put them in the pink "treasure chest" I bought her last week and they look so cool!  Carmen(James's sister), has made Hello Kitty fondant and will be sending it this week for Ruby's cake.  Her birthday is next Monday and we are having it at Sheraton Desert Oasis Resort in Scottsdale.  I can hardly wait.  I miss my grandkids!

I am a little worried about James.  He seems to have shortness of breath, dizziness and he gets extremely tired.  He takes long naps in the afternoon.  He has made some major changes in his eating habits and cut way down on his carbs because he wants to get healthy again.  I wish I could say the same for me.

Today while we were in town James bought some flowers and a lilac bush for us to plant in the front planters.  We have talked about doing a garden but decided it was too late this year.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

I wasn't sure if James was feeling up to going to church, but he was.  He hates to miss church.  Of course Jared went with us.  Judy Hunter and Dave Westbrook were the speakers in sacrament meeting.  Judy spoke on how to have peace in our lives and Dave talked about temptations.  Dave was in Iraq for 5 1/2 years and told some interesting stories about his experiences there.
The lesson in Sunday School was about Alma becoming the first chief judge.  In Relief Society Linda Tanner taught  lesson 11 from the George Albert Smith manual on revelation.  Sister Swansey, the new convert, told of an experience she had before she joined the church and was struggling with some word of wisdom concerns.  She was on her way to Show Low and was thinking about telling the missionaries she didn't want to give up her cigars, bourbon, and coffee when she heard a voice say: "You can do this."  She was alone in the car and she knew she hadn't spoken.  The experience was so profound she called her husband and told him she had received revelation.  She stopped that very day from smoking cigars, and drinking coffee and bourbon.  She said that coffee was the hardest for her to give up.
After church Jared had some lunch with us and did some laundry and was on his way back to El Paso.  I sent Tricia's birthday card with him.  He is going home to Frisco for Father's Day next week.  It will take him 5 1/2 hours to get back to El Paso.  I told him to call me when he arrived safely and he did.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

We played the waiting game this morning.  James was anxious to get out of the hospital but of course we had to wait for the doctor and an echogram.  When Dr. Memon came in he ask James to take 10 laps around the hospital corridor to try out his new stent.  As we were taking our laps the technician came to do the echogram so we stopped at four, but I am sure James could have done ten.  Dr. Memon told us we would be out by noon and he was almost exactly right.  Our first stop on the way home was Walgreen's to pick up a new prescription.  We went by the house to say our goodbye's to Stacy and Sheri and then we were on our way.  Jared is at the cabin waiting for us.  We stopped in Miami at the Burger House and picked up 6 green chili mixed burros, two for each of us, including Jared.  Jared is the person who told us about Burger House originally.  They have the best green chili burros on the planet.  If you get them with beans they are not quite as hot, so that's what we do most of the time.
It felt good to be back in Vernon where the weather is so nice.  Jared said he went on a Ranger ride to Green's Peak and was going to hike up but it was too windy.  Jared fixed us dinner: grilled chicken, grilled asparagus and a Caesars salad and sour dough bread.  Yummy!  Thank you Jared.
It was so nice to visit with Jared.  He showed me pictures of the two houses they are looking at to rent in El Paso.  They are both older but very nice with lots of room and each of them has a pool.  I liked the first one the best.  We watched some TV and went to bed.  James was very tired.

Friday, June 8, 2012

The third and final day of making cinnamon rolls.  This batch turned out the best yet, well at least they looked the best, I didn't actually taste them.  Right in the middle of making these rolls I got a call from James. He said he was at his cardiologist appointment with Dr. Memon and the doctor was sending him straight to the hospital.  He said he should not be having chest pains with the medication he is on.  They are going to do an angioplasty and possibly put a stint in.  I hurried and finished my cinnamon rolls which were for a dessert auction tonight at the Navajo Taco dinner to raise money for girls' camp.  I made arrangements for my neighbor Kathy Crane to take my c-rolls to the dinner.  I left Vernon around 1:30 and headed for Gilbert Mercy, the hospital where James was admitted.  I got there around 5:25 (made several stops) and just missed seeing James before they took him back.  Our family really came to the rescue today.  Dave and Terry gave James a blessing.  Lois, Dawn, Dave, Laura, and Terry stayed with him for about three hours until Stacy, Paul, Sheri, Kim, got there.  I'm just sad I didn't make it there in time to see him before he went in to surgery.  When the surgery was over Dr. Memon came in and told us he had a 99% blockage in an artery difficult to see, behind the heart.  Darrel, Stacy and I went back with Dr. Memon to the room off of the surgery room and he showed everything to us on video.  It was amazing.  Dr. Memon made the comment that someone is looking after James from up above.  We couldn't agree more.  This evening our friend from Del Rio 2nd, Judy Pargetter came by for a visit.  She stayed a couple of hours and helped me find bedding for the couch in James's room (Rm 2011) where I will be sleeping tonight.  Judy has been the caregiver for her husband for the past 2 or 3 years.  We love her.  She said she put James's name on 5 temples and Allen, her husband, gathered their family around and they all said a prayer for him.  We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day #2 of making cinnamon rolls.  This batch turned out much better than yesterday's.  I made sure the yeast was activated by checking the temperature of the water and putting a little sugar in the water.  You know the yeast is working if it gets bubbly. 

My other big accomplishment of the day was dusting all of the blinds in the house.  

Today is Harold & Vickie's wedding anniversary.  They were married one year after we were so it's #43.  I tried to call Vickie but it went straight to voice mail so I left a message wishing her and Harold a Happy Anniversary.

The most fun thing I did today was go on a Ranger ride.  James doesn't think I should go when I am here by myself in case something happens but I was getting cabin fever and needed to get out.  I drove about 12 miles to Gillespie Flat and did not see one other person.  It was awesome!  I love having the forest right in our back yard!

I came home and fell asleep watching The Finder.  James called me several times today and I called him.  I am so anxious for his return tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

I went to bed early last night so I could get up at 4am and do my gospel study.  At 7am James and I started out on a walk.  He went about half a mile or so and was in so much pain he turned around after sitting on the ground for awhile and went back.  I went 3 miles.  I was tired and sore afterwards so I took a bath in the jacuzzi tub. 

James heard from our attorney in the Norquay lawsuit.  We mailed him a 6 page information sheet regarding the job we did for them on Monday.  James wrote it out and I did the typing.  After looking at it they are pretty sure we will be able to recover some of the money they owe us.  It was the first time the attorney has been so optimistic.  James spent several hours today sending him copies of emails between him and Norquay.

I tried to make a batch of cinnamon rolls but the yeast didn't rise.  I determined that I didn't get it hot enough.  The rolls were still good but they were more of the consistency of biscuits than rolls. 

James left to go home around 6pm.  He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, he is working on cleaning off Nate's lot, and he needs to look at the pool.  There was a problem with it earlier in the week.  The pump went off.  Paul got it to working again but not before some algae grew.  He also needs to meet with Zaki about building his house.  I was sad when he left because he seemed sad and I could tell he didn't want to go. 

I was lonely this evening.