Friday, November 1, 2013

Morning skies:

Wait, are those cows in our yard??

James had another meeting at Horne Auto today.  This project he is bidding involves tearing out some concrete slabs in front of their entrance.  The snow gathers on this concrete in the winder and the concrete has begun to deteriorate.  The slabs will be torn out and then a heating system will be placed under the new concrete.  If the Horne's accept the bid for the heating system James will start the job on or around November 12th.

I did some shopping at Walmart today.  I got a gift bag for the four young women who finished reading the Book of Mormon.  In it I put a tube of fancy hand lotion and a huge KitKat bar.  I also wrote each girl a note telling her how proud we, her young women leaders, are for honoring her commitment to read the Book of Mormon.  

I called and ordererd two bean burros and two green chili burros from LaCasita and James picked them up.  Charlotte, our waitress, wanted to know where his "lady" was.  She is so funny!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

 Happy Halloween everyone!

The low this morning was 21 degrees, but at least there isn't any wind.

I love this quote by President Hunter.

I have discovered the Mormon Channel app for my phone thanks to my friend Karen Schneider.  Today I listened to an interview and song by Brooke White.  I also heard a story about a little boy names Ryan who is helping to raise money to build wells in Africa.  He started the project when he was 6 years old. Wow!

James had an appointment in town at 10 am today with someone concerning the Horne job.  I didn't go because I felt like I had too many things to do to get ready for our Young Women's Book of Mormon breakfast on Saturday.  Also I set a goal at the beginning of October to index 200 names and as of this morning I still had 67 to go.  I did finish!  I worked on a Maine cemetery project which was fun because the names were type writeen and therefore very legible!

James and I continue to read the Book of Mormon, a conference talk everyday, and we are re-reading Victoria Holt's "The Mistress of Mellyn."  When I was a teenager my grandma Strickland, Nannie, let me read her copy of The Mistress of Mellyn.  She is the one that got me started on Victoria Holt's books.  What do I like about them?  There is always a mystery to solve, some romance, which isn't too racy, and usually an old English manor to explore.  The Mistress of Mellyn contains all of these elements!

Max is learning how to cook.  This week he helped his mom make baked ziti for dinner.

Master Chef Jr. here he comes!

Guess who learned to ride a two wheel bike?

It's Miss Ruby!!

Since it's Halloween I wanted to post some Halloween pictures.

James and I took the left over candy from last night's Mutual 

activity to the Vernon Park where the Vernon School

was having a carnival.  While there we saw this monster:

Colter Hunsaker

Some more Halloween characters:

Michael the Fat Man, can dance!

 Halloween in El Paso.

Trick or Treaters,

Joshua, Evan, and Max.

Joe and friends, Carter and Cash.

 Max and Addy at the ward Trunk or Treat.
Max is a businessman and Addy is an angel. (She really is!!)

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

It was cold and windy today with scattered showers.  George Wallace came to help James get ready to level our road to put cinders down.  James is having problems with getting his tractor started.  A rat got into it and built a nest.  She (the term James used), chewed two fuel hoses in two and now the nest is soaked with diesel and Ms. Rat had to move out. 

George Wallace give so much service in our ward.  He told James about building a kitchenette and condo complete with satellite TV in his shop for an 85 year old homeless man.  The man's job is to watch George's place when George is gone.  They guy says he's never been happier.  George is such a great example of someone who gives Christlike service.

This evening at Mutual we taught the young men and young women how to index.  Blaine Curtis was our main go-to guy.  I, along with Diana Curtis, have been called on a five month mission to index 50 names a week.  She is the zone leader and I am the district leader and we have five missionaries called: Coty Iannoli, Kilee Hunsaker, LeeAnn Hunsaker, Shelly Applegate, and James.  Tonight I worked with Shelly and Trenda.  It was fun.  Afterwards we gave out these bags of candy that I put together.

Bags of candy for Halloween.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

I got ready for a visit from my visiting teachers today.  I carried boxes upstairs and downstairs, cleaned the floors and put out more Halloween decorations, including my favorite talking pirate picture.  I am calling him Hagoth.

Alicia and Colter Hunsaker and Diane Gillaspy arrived around 10 am.  They were here for over an hour.  As soon as they left James hurried me out the door because he said he was meeting someone at Horne Auto around noon.  We stopped at Lynda Tanner's and dropped off a book about how to handle adversity. 

James realized he wasn't going to get to Horne's in time so he called the guy who had been there for awhile and talked with him on the phone.  Well that was easy.  Now we can go on to the important stuff like LaCasita, Walmart and Home Depot.

James called Jason today.  He said he and his wife debated for a long time but they decided not to buy our house, mostly because the master bedroom is not separate from the other bedroom.  Oh well, back to the drawing board.

James had a meeting tonight at the stake center.  It was on the new youth curriculum for Sunday School.  Since he is now over the Sunday School he was one of the presenters.  It's funt to see his enthusiasm for the program!

Facebook Finds

Sheri got a great picture of this owl in our Chandler neighborhood.  

She said there were two, but the other one flew away.

Paul posted this picture of Joshua 

enjoying a butterfly.

Adam and Joseph at Lion King.

Monday, October 28, 2013

I took some great sunrise pictures this morning.

Clouds over Mt. Vernon

Let the day begin!

When I get up early in the morning to study I always open the dining room window and wait for the sun to come up.  On days when there are clouds I am not disappointed!

The Encourage Foundation called this morning.  They are sending my Enbrel on Thursday to Chandler, free of charge!  They will only do this for three months and then they will re-evaluate my statis.

It was a windy day outside.  James had a hard time riding the Razr back from the post office.  I took boxes downstairs and unloaded some books today.  I made three blog entries which took a long time because I had to download so many pictures.

We did not hear from Jason today, the neighbor who was interest in buying our house.  James says he will call him tomorrow.

Today for scripture study James and I read Mosiah 5-7.  I read Alma 51-52 for my personal study.  We also read Elder Funk's conference address, "Called Of Him to Declare His Word."  I like this quote: 

" As you live a virtuous life, you will feel a peaceful confidence in your standing before God, and you will have the power of the Spirit to be with you."

James watched part of Dancing with The Stars with me.  We loved the "Foxing Awesome group dance with Derk and Amber, Karina and Corbin, Brant and Pets, and Jack and Cheryl done to the song "What Does the Fox Say?"

Tonight's sunset and a tree I copied from Facebook

I love these Vernon skies!

I have a thing for trees with bare branches.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

James went to high council this morning and I went to our ward council for Diana. 

Sherry Swansey leaving the Church was a big topic of conversation in ward council.  The bishopric visited her this week and told her we still loved her and would like to see her at ward activities.  The bishop thinks she will be back, but I am not sure.  I certainly hope so.

Today in sacrament meeting the Primary put on their annual program.  This year it was entitled "I Am a Child of God."  In Sunday School we talked about temporal and spiritual self-reliance.  I could certainly do better in both areas.

In Young Women's Sandra Wilhelm gave a lesson on Christlike service.  It was really good.  Afterwards Shelly Applegate carried my bag to my car for me.  I love that girl!!

Kathy Crane was selling her salsa and jalapeno jelly out of the back of her car after Church.  The women were gathered around giving her money, and I was included.  That jelly is to die for!  I told her it reminded me of the money changers at the temple.  Tamara Applegate laughed and said she felt the same way.  We all joked about it but Kathy seemed a little defensive.

We had our green chili burros for lunch then it was nap time.  James went home teaching with Kendall Hall to the Hunsaker's and the Peeler's then came home and cooked pork chops for dinner.

We read scriptures and read two conference addresses and watched a Hallmark movie before going to bed.

Paul posted this picture of Joshua on Facebook:

General Grievous is in town.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

I had my oatmeal at McDonald's this morning then I went to Evan and Rowan's soccer game with Sheri and Kim.  I spent most of the game visiting with Addy and Ruby.  Tomorrow they have their Primary program and I am going to miss it.

While I was gone to the soccer game, James rented a U-Haul trailer.  I am so happy!  I hate those flatbed trailers we have.  Michael helped us load it up.  Speaking of Michael here are a couple of pictures.  One was posted by Sheri on Facebook and the other by his dad.

Once we were loaded we headed for home.  I let James go the Globe way because I was hungry for Burger House.  I got a bean burro and ate it right away.  I save my green burro for tomorrow's lunch.  James ordered two mixed burros and a green burro for himself but ended up with three green burros. 

When we got to Vernon we unloaded the trailer and then tok it to Harold's place in Linden to return it.  We came back home and unloaded the 350 cans in the back of James's truck.  We were exhausted when we finished.  I took a much needed shower and we settled down to watch a Hallmark movie and Elementary before going to bed. 

I found these interesting statistics on Facebook today:
"11 states now have more people on Welfare then than they do employed.  They are: Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, and Maine.  Last month the Senate Budget Committee reports that in fiscal year 2012 the average U.S. household below the poverty line received $168 a day in government support. (Food stamps, housing, child care, Medicaid, etc.).
Being on Welfare now pays the equivalent of $30 an hour for a 40 hour week, while the average job pays $20 an hour.  The mean income in America is $50,000 a year.