Sore Throat and Silver Coins

This week has been crazy with the temperatures between 110-114 degrees.  I hate to complain about the heat because everyone knows it gets hot in Arizona in the summer, but the older I get the harder it is for me to deal with it.  I spent three days this week fighting a sore throat.  I spent two nights not being able to sleep because every time I tried to swallow it hurt really bad. I did everything I could to find relief. I used vitamins, antibiotics, essential oils, gargled with salt water and mouthwash, and just about everything else I could think of.  I was going to call the doctor but then it started feeling a little bit better. On Wednesday night the four of us kids went to Scottsdale and had dinner with Mom.  She has had a bag of silver coins hidden in her house for over thirty years that she wanted to divide up between us.  We sat around the table and each counted out our little coins while she kept saying, "this is so fun having you all here sharing these coins."  I guess when she and my Aunt Tenna sold my grandma's house, her accountant told her to buy silver coins with some of the money. When Dad passed away she decided it was time to get them out of her house.  My brother Len is getting all the paperwork done getting everything moved to the family trust so it will be easier when Mom is taken home to join Dad.  I hope she isn't in too big of a hurry to leave but I know 85 is a long time to live. It seems like everyone is leaving town for vacation this week. Two of my kids are going to California and I wish I was going too, but it isn't in the cards for me to go this year. I will just stay home and enjoy the beautiful weather we are having, besides it's suppose to cool down to 108 by Wednesday, I can't wait.

Survived the Heat and Fathers Day

I'm happy to say that I survived the heat this weekend and also Father's Day.  I've kind of felt stuck in a dark place since my Dad passed away and have been waiting for the sadness to leave. Sometimes I'm okay with it and then there are others when I wish I could give him a call and get some advice. We usually get together at my house with all the family to celebrate, but this year I told my sister I was done. Now that Dad is gone there isn't any reason to have such a big gathering. So I just had my kids make dinner for Rich and had them over. My brother Len picked my Mom up and brought her to church and had her for dinner and then we met my sister at the cemetery to visit Dad and put some flowers on his grave. I was surprised at how busy it was at the cemetery and there were lots of people who brought chairs and just stayed a long time there.  I wish Fathers knew how important they are to the emotional well being of their children, especially us girls.  My Dad and I were a lot a like and so it made our relationship strained at times. I knew he loved me, but there were times that he made me feel bad about some of my short comings, which has made some of my relationships with others hard. As he got older he became a much kinder and gentler person and told me many times how sorry he was for some of the things he did and said to me. It seems like I have some of the same struggles with a couple of my kids. As parents I think we try really hard to teach our children right from wrong and expect them to listen, but I'm reminded all the time that we were all given our agency to do what we want and I need to respect that. I'm trying to finish some quilts before I have my hand surgery next month. I'm making a My Little Pony quilt for Trulie because she thinks her quilts need to cover her from head to toe. I can't believe she will be four years old next week. Plus it's the 4th of July which means the kids will be back to school in four weeks from that.  The summer is blazing on and it looks like I'm not going to be going to the beach this year, dang it! That's okay I have plenty of stuff to do here, maybe they will take another quick trip in August.

Summer Is Here

Boy we knew this time was coming and it seems like the summer has come on really fast and strong. I just got home from running some errands and it's like a furnace outside.  I've spent the last few days trying to catch up on my ironing. It's hard standing at the ironing board when it's 112 degrees outside but I finally finished today. I got behind because we were up all night Friday delivering puppies, it's always a relief when they get here safe and sound and the Mom takes good care of them. We only have one left of the last litter and we have met some pretty amazing people who have come from Las Vegas, Denver, and we even shipped one to New York. I finally finished the baby quilt I've been working on for a friend, now it's on to the My Little Pony quilt I'm making for Trulie's fourth birthday on the 3rd of July. They have scheduled my carpal tunnel surgery for the 16th of July, so any sewing that needs to get done before that is what I'm working on now. It seems like everywhere I go there are reminders of Father's Day.  Since this will be the first one since my Dad passed away, I'm feeling a little bit worried about how my emotions will be by Sunday.  We always would get together with extended family but now we will just celebrate in our own individual families. I know Mom doesn't like change but she will just have to start a new normal without Dad. I worry about her being alone but until she gets tired of it and wants to make a change, she can do what she wants to. It can't be fun being alone day and night and I know she isn't eating much but at what point do we tell her she has to move? I don't think we can so until she decides she needs a change we will support her.

Green Pool and Sewing Room Move

It seems like it doesn't take long when the kids are out of school for things to get out of control. For two weeks Mindi and I worked really hard trying to solve our green pool problem.  We finally decided to drain it again and start over. If you get too much chemicals in it the water never clears up. So after we got all the water out and cleaned the tile, we filled it back up and I spent $150 on the chemicals to start it up and got some advice from the pool store. The pool looked amazing and blue and refreshing for about a week. After having fifteen kids swimming and a birthday party, the pool slowly started turning green again. I almost started to cry out of frustration. So Mindi spent another $35 yesterday, got some more advice and we are trying to solve the dilemma once and for all, but if we can't I may just make it into a large koi pond and forget it. I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to move my sewing room into the larger bedroom. With tons of material and five sewing machines it was getting to look like a room that would be on the show "Hoarders." On Saturday Rich and six guys moved the heavy 7 foot cabinet that holds my fabric on to the wall and now we are slowly getting things moved over. I didn't realize how much fabric I had, but you never can have TOO much fabric. I'm trying to get two quilts finished before I have surgery on my hand. It seemed like it was getting a little bit better, but I don't think the numbness and sharp pains are going to go away until I get it fixed. The thought of having surgery makes me sick and I know I have a few more that will need to be done if I'm going to stay out of a wheelchair, but until then I will just continue to shuffle around and pray for a miracle, which probably won't manifest in my lifetime.

Rich Is Back, Elder Perry's Funeral

Rich got back from Italy late Wednesday night so I've been trying to get adjusted again to having him home. I don't ever sleep very well when he's gone, so it's been nice to relax and just go to bed. He came home last night at around seven and said, "I'm going to bed." I knew if he went to bed that early he would be up at three and I was right. We woke up this morning to thunder and rain which is rare. I can't ever remember when we got rain in June but it's nice to have a few cooler days before the real heat hits. I watched the funeral services for Elder L.Tom Perry this morning, who passed away last Saturday from thyroid cancer.  I had some emotional moments as they took the casket in the Tabernacle. It brought back lots of memories of Dad's funeral in January.  When Spencer was on his mission in Chile we went to Salt Lake City and did a tour of the new Conference Center. While we were waiting at the bottom of the escalator, Elder Perry came walking towards us. It was so fun to see him and he was to tall, handsome and so nice. Rich's sister took some pictures of us with him and I'm going to try and find them to remind me of him forever.  My Mom always asks me what I think Dad is doing right now. She wonders if he misses us and wishes he were still here.  Then reality sets in and she realizes just how sick he was the days he was in the hospital and how he was so anxious to get out of there. That's what is so interesting about life, we never know when it's going to be our last day on earth. At the funeral this morning they talked about what a happy positive person he was. He thought marriage and family were the most important thing we have and how much he loved his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  He would always say that he had never had a bad day in his life. Wow, I wish I could have that positive outlook on life, it would make it so much easier to be happy, but that is something I struggle with everyday so I need to just be thankful for those moments that I have love and peace in my life, that's really all I want.

The Pirates Are Circling

I had high hopes of getting some big projects done while Rich is touring Italy. He will be home in two days so I'm frantically working hard to accomplish something. On Saturday I got a call from Ethan asking if I could come help them. Jenn was under the boat with the pirates closing in on her, so I went out to try and help. My job was to keep the twins alive and fold laundry while the others worked moving rooms around and trying to get some sense of organization in their house. I don't know how she does it with seven children. She has twice as many as me and I know the pirates were circling and dragging me down for many years. I changed diapers, fed babies and helped with laundry and I was pooped when they finally let me come home. There is wisdom in having children when you are young. Last week I spent two days in bed with the stomach flu and yesterday I had a headache from hell that I couldn't shake. At times it felt like my eye was going to explode, something I haven't experienced for a long time. The weather is finally getting hot so my pool is warming up. I am excited to start trying to exercise my hip and knee and hopefully get some mobility back, but sometimes I feel that's a lost cause. Today is Candi's birthday, so later today we may do something with her.  My kids are sure getting old and so are my grandchildren. Tayler turned fourteen on Saturday and spent a good part of her birthday helping her Mom. There is never a dull moment with things to do all the time, I guess it's good to be busy trying to improve daily.