Januarys Gifts

Gifts from the last month:

~ that Andy is now mostly ready for his mission. Only a couple more things to buy, then packing and delivering him to the MTC in 10 more days.

~ that we were able to go with Andy to the temple.

~ that I got to spend some time with my two awesome grandsons. They are so fun, and cute, and different from each other. I love them so much.

~ that both Lisa and I are out of our surgical boots. Yea for surgery to fix things, but even a bigger yea for healing up afterwards.

Ummm, How Many More Days?

I'm losing track. It's not February yet, so I'm probably okay.
Andy's passport was approved and has been mailed to us. We'll probably get it Friday. I just ordered a second suit for him and we spent $100.00 on a good, nice looking pair of shoes. I taught Andy how to fold shirts today for packing in a suitcase. I did one, he did the rest. They weren't perfect, I really resisted the urge to "straighten them out a bit". He's going to have to do it on his own for the next couple of years so he might as well do it now, too.

It's been snowing today, really pretty flakes drifing slowly to the ground. I hear we're in for more. My foot is still getting better. One day I walk without a limp and then I limp for a couple of days. I'm very grateful for my handicapped parking pass. If I had to walk 1/2 mile every morning to get to work I would be hurting every day. I only have the pass until the 15th of February, so hopefully I'll heal up quick.

I've been using my exercise bike and am getting some sore leg muscles. I'd rather be walking. My big goal is to be all healed up by spring. I didn't get to hike last summer because of feet problems, but I'm going this summer. I will. You just watch me.

Start Your Day Right

I just saw this You Tube video from my friend Rebecca. (Thanks). It put a smile on my face. I hope it puts a smile on yours.

I was up very late. Just as we were going to bed (at about 12:30 am) we noticed 2 fire engines, an ambulance, an aid truck, and about 4 police cars, lights all flashing, pull up to our next door neighbors house. Of course we had to stay up and watch the show. There wasn't much to see. Mike made a call to their son and he said he was aware of the situation, but he never told us what that situation was. We were concerned as the neighbors are an elderly couple who've had a lot of health issues.

We finally figured that they must have had a small fire with lots of smoke. We saw them carry in blowers and then a lot of smoke went up the chimney and then stopped. They never unloaded their hoses or hurried in any way.

I've got to go to work now. I hope I can stay awake.

Made My List and Checked it Twice - 28

I came home from work and put my foot up on ice. Then I got out all the paperwork and wrote down everything that has to be done before the next 28 days are over. It was a long list. It made me schlump. I have so much to do I think I'll go take a nap.

29 Days to Go

Andy had 6 shots today, 3 in each arm. I had to pay over $200.00 for them to do it. If you're reading this and your child is under 19 I would recommend you go have the shots now! You'll probably only pay about $12.00.

We haven't done much else in the way of missionary prepping. I've had bronchitis and just haven't been feeling up to it. I really need to kick it up a gear or two though.

I just returned from my podiatrist where he checked out my toe progress. It still looks pretty bad. It looks like I have two big toes on my left foot. My second toe, the one that he fixed, is red, puffy, and floppy. He assured me that when the swelling ever goes down it will be much shorter and not as floppy. I really hate that floppy feeling. It feels like it is boneless, like a little vienna sausage stuck on my foot. Weird feeling.

Something I Wish I Knew 10 Days Ago

If you take your child in for an immunization booster 1 day before he turns 19 they get to pay the cheap prices. If you wait until that magic 19th birthday, then you pay through the nose. Dang. I wish I'd known.

Andy had his recommend signed by the Stake President tonight. Now we have to schedule with the temple.

It is cold cold cold. I am knitting my little buddy and very warm canine coat. I don't think the Santa coat will cut it after he gets shaved.
Hopefully I'm smart enough to make this thing. I'm definitely not a master knitter like my mother. But at least she close by if I get stuck.

New Clothes - 35 days to go

We finally talked Andy into trying on his suit for us. Of course I took photos, and of course he told me "don't put those on facebook". So I didn't. I put them on here instead. Don't tell.

He's lookin' mighty fine.



Joni and I went to Walmart tonight to pick up a few necessary items before the below zero temps start back up. While we were there we wandered down the mark-down aisle and found Oscar a very awesome coat. It was marked down 75% so we only paid about $2.00. What do you think?











Andy's passport and mission home papers sent out today. Wow, nothing is as easy as you think it's going to be. Yesterday we arrived at the passport office about 10 minutes after it closed. They changed their hours, closing earlier than they used to, because of the "increased number of passport applicants". Does that make sense to you. If you have more customers you shorten your business hours? Oh well, $100.00 poorer, but it's done now.

A Helpful Tip - 36

My son-in-law, Tyler, gave me this good tip.

Make sure that Andy takes only light colored washables.
his towel
his P-Day t-shirt
his sheets

and of course his regular missionary white shirts.

That way when he does his laundry, and throws in a red towel with the rest, he won't end up with a bunch of pink dress shirts.

Very good tip.

However I'd better make sure his dark socks are colorfast. I don't think his mission president would appreciate Andy dressed in a black suit and white gymn socks.

Not a good day at work. Can I just say I hate the new "My Byui". I swear, it better get better. It can't get any worse.

Not As Productive As I Planned.....37

Tomorrow I think we're going to take care of mailing a copy of his driver's license and driving record to the mission home in NY and send off the paperwork for his passport. I think I may push to have him get his immunizations caught up, too. And maybe have him run a load of laundry, just to keep his skills up.

Wow! I was ambitious wasn't I.
Today didn't pan out as well as I'd hoped. Andy was able to get his H1N1 flue shot (even though he was sick with it for 3 weeks in Sept/Oct) and had his passport photo taken. He filled out a couple of pages of paperwork and made a call to the New York mission home about another matter.

Tomorrow he will HOPEFULLY get the rest of his immunizations, submit his passport documents, and mail off the info to NY.

Things I would like to get accomplished this week:
Order a second suit from missionarymall.com
Order 2 pair of shoes from same place.
Have Andy scrub the bathroom "just to keep up his skills" :)
Start packing a box to send to NY with stuff he won't need in the Provo MTC.


On another front,
WORK WAS STRESSFUL!

Classes start tomorrow. I went to a "1 hour training meeting" that ended up being 2 1/2 hours long. They were teaching us how to use the new and improved system. Ha ha. That's a big sarcastic ha ha, not a laugh cause it's funny ha ha. The meeting lasted so long because the system kept crashing and we all had to restart. When I finally got back to my office so I could get everything done for classes, which start tomorrow, the power went out! It was out for almost 2 hours. I couldn't do anything. About the time I decided to go home 'cause I was being totally unproductive the power came back. Then I had to stay late to finish everything for the first day of class.

and I thought it would be an easy week. HA.

Missionary Prep - T minus 38 days

So much to do and so little time.

After Andy received his call to the New York South mission we kind of got lost in the Christmas shuffle and bustle. Now that the holidays are over I'm starting to feel the time squeeze. There is so much to be done. I counted everything up and divided it by 38. According to my calculations, if I do 395 things a day I'll make it. Ha ha, that's a joke. I'll bet I can get everything done if I do 39 things a day.

I can hear what some of you are thinking. "It's Andy's mission, HE should get everything ready."

You who are thinking those really loud thoughts have obviously never had a teenage boy. Of course in theory Andy will be doing the getting ready. But in reality it will be his mom who makes sure everything gets done. That's just the way these things work.

Of course we have a good head start on the job list. Andy picked up a lot of his clothes last week. He is now the proud owner of:
~ 1 two-pants black suit (and looks mighty fine in it, too)
~ 10 white shirts, half with short sleeves, half with long
~ 10 ties, assorted colors
~ 1 very fine waterproof overcoat with removeable lining. (Andy like this so much he wears it all the time now.
~ 10 pair dark socks (new and unopened ready for 2 years of hard wear and tear)

There are a lot of things we still need to get, but this is a good start. Andy paid for all the above items himself. I'm proud of him for working hard for the funds to do this.

Tomorrow I think we're going to take care of mailing a copy of his driver's license and driving record to the mission home in NY and send off the paperwork for his passport. I think I may push to have him get his immunizations caught up, too. And maybe have him run a load of laundry, just to keep his skills up.

The list goes on.........

December's Gifts

~ For Andy's mission call. New York, New York South, which includes the island of Bermuda. I am so glad for him. We only have less than 6 weeks to get him ready. I work better under pressure, so no problem. *grin*

~ That I was able to get my toe fixed. It's caused me pain and discomfort for as long as I remember. I thought I'd live with it for the rest of my life. When the podiatrist told me the fix wasn't that hard I knew it was time to get'r done.

~ That I was able to enjoy the company of so many of my family members during the Christmas season. I am so glad that David and Emily live close enough that I can see my two grandson's occasionally. I love those little guys so much!

~ That my baby boy turned 19. Wow, that makes me feel old, ha ha. I'm pretty glad he chose Texas Roadhouse for his celebratory dinner, too. It was yummy!

~ I'm grateful for so many things. I'm grateful for this new year. I've got high hopes for good things.