Facebook Post

I imagine during this time there is stress on all the food banks throughout the country. I love that my friend, Gail, who has the Larry H. Miller groups task force at hand, is now sponsoring a massive food drive. If you take food to any one of their businesses, you can drop off your donation and get a treat in return. My two grandsons- Parker and Josh  (Josh- my missionary grandson is spending the day with us!!!) - went grocery shopping with me (masks in place!) and dropped them off at the MegaPlex theaters- where we received two big buckets of movie popcorn! My favorite! Monday David and I will do a delivery route for the Food Bank. Parker is living with us for the summer so I think it would be good to take him along- it always helps us to count our many blessings. Also, this past week, my close group of girlfriends (my bucket group) sewed about 1,000 masks for the 5 million mask project that the Church and the State and various organizations are doing as well. More masks being sewn this week. (I'm not a sewer anymore so I'm their cheerleader!) https://www.deseret.com/…/lds-mormon-church-coronavirus-cov…) I love communities coming together for
the greater good. This is my "little good news" for today! And did I mention the sun is shining?

More Meme

There’s a fine line....

There is a fine line about accepting the reality of now and accepting the fine line of insanity....

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness.  Look at your 3 best friends.  If they're ok, then it's you.- Rita Brown

"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane."
  ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS

 


I have been babysitting my grand turtle Browser for a couple of weeks.  Brooke and Tanner are selling their home and he just took up too much room.  I love turtles.  Usually.  But I have noticed that Browser spends his day eating or sleeping or banging his head on the walls of his home.
 

I'm so seeing myself in Browser....
 

Some days I'm just fine.  Other days I think I will die of the boredom of it, the loneliness of it, the uncertainity of it, the frustration of unknowns bouncing around in my head- I miss normal.

This past two weeks has been so hard.  Just a mental and emotional battle every day. So much is going on, all of which is out of my control.

 

We decided for sanity purposes, yesterday we would have Sunday dinner with T & T's family.  The weather has gone from cold to the high 70's or above.  It was the most beautiful day.







Still no hugging but BBQ cheeseburgers and potato salad.  T and T made homemade French fries in the Air Fryer.  Rylee's friendaboy came (home from 6 months in Brazil.)  We got out all the yard games and it felt so good to hear laughter!  And to see people playing.  Have I mentioned that my grandson Parker is living with us for the summer?  I think he liked the diversion as well.

Warm cookies with ice cream and homemade hot fudge on top. Dessert.  But the real dessert was family.

Ahhh, sanity.



 


(I just realized that one reason Browser keeps banging his head on the wall is because he's trying to tell me his name is Bowzer!  Duh!)

Really?

I ordered toilet paper online about 6 weeks ago. It finally came yesterday!  I think it was made for a family of elves!!!! I placed a roll next to a regular Charmin...

Happy Birthday, Chef Valene

Several months ago, friend Karlan (which I might mention her husband Mark was recently assigned to be the LDS Business College's Vice President- soon to be called Ensign College) and I began planning a surprise party for Chef Valene (since it's a BIG one).  We had lots of great plans.

Then the pandemic hit.  And we have all been in isolation.  And we're all pretty sick of it.  Yet cautious.

So we had a "little" celebration surprise.  Just 7 of us.  Mary Gunderson had it in her backyard (she lives across the street from Valene- Mary's husband just died suddenly right before this pandemic hit).  They arranged big chairs in a circle, 6 feet apart with a head chair and decorated arch for Valene.  Fern (one of Valene's besties) picked up boxed salads from Kneaders and Cari Sieverts had a fabulous cake made.  Karlan and I made gift baskets for everyone with Poopourri (it stinks to have a birthday during Covid!), t.p., a mask, a bottle of water, treats (I put in pistachios as well since Valene is like a squirrel with pistachios-lol) and lemoncellos, another favorite.  We made Valene another basket of goodies full of "old age" gifts- i.e. large print Suduko, a razor for the hair on her chinny chin chin, etc.  I put M and M's in a cannister with a sign-

                 Prescription for One of Your Age
Take a handful of Red for CRS- Can't Remember Stuff
Take a handful of Green when your skin seems saggy
   (although you keep referring to it as "relaxed fit."
Take a handful of Blue when you cough or sneeze-
   and your radiator leaks and your exhaust backfires.

We went around the circle after eating and everyone shared their favorite Valene stories.  We laughed and cried.  I think she was touched.

I love having my journal on blogger.  Up in the left hand corner is a blog search and I can type in a name- Valene in this case, and up comes everything I've ever written about her.  I edited the entries and printed them and bound them- and gave Valene a gift called "The Book of Valene."  It was full of wonderful Valene stories.  She told me that she read them to George all night! It was at least 50 pages long!

Valene and I have shared our daughters (who actually brought us together when we went to see Brandi and Jenny at Rick's College for Mother's Week)- shared our love of cooking (Bon Appetit), and inspiration (Bucket and Michael Wilcox classes)- girlfriend trips to California almost yearly and to the San Juan Islands, Lake Powell trips with our husbands and friends, St. George girl's trips, temple trips, garden stores and lunch! We "witness" to each other- meaning, when she has thrown a fabulous wedding for one of her kids, we call the next morning and I witness to her every detail of the wedding so we can share it all together.  We witness events and feelings and sorrows and lots of laughs.   We used to even go bird watching together which brings me to a funny story I shared-

Monday, August 31, 2009

Pheromones....

What do all these pictures have in common?

Probably my friend, Valene.

A few years ago, there were many commercials that featured a cologne from France that was full of Pheromone Concentrate.....a natural substance that the body secretes to attract the opposite sex. I guess our bodies must put out many scents that we can't detect but animals can.....

 At our "French" lunch at Janet's on Thursday, we were rolling hearing Valene's latest "animal" episode. Animals attack Valene. I thought it was an isolated incidence when several years ago, we went bird watching at the marshes at the Great Salt Lake....and the terns started dive bombing Valene's head! I have shared it several times here but not one bird came after me (of course I was a moving target, rolling around on the ground laughing....)...but they kept kamikazing her. Well, apparently this isn't an isolated story.... animals are naturally drawn to her and in a not-so-nice way.

Recently she and her husband were enjoying the gardens at Temple Square. An older couple walked by with their dog on a leash. Valene said they walked by....then the dog stopped, looked back, did a double take at Valene then starting growling, snapping and barking- trying to pull away from his leash. Going nuts. The older couple was horrified since "their dog NEVER acted that way before."

Returned With Honor!!!!

After an unusual last few weeks, quarantined in the Texas Dallas mission, Josh's return date was moved up by 3 months.  So hard for him not to be able to say goodbye to all the people he has grown to love but understandable under the circumstances.  We, at our end, were soooo excited!

We love this wonderful boy who has the gentlest heart.  I ADORE him so much!  He came home on Wed. and was having a drive-by on Thursday for his friends and Ward.  We didn't want to wait and have to share him so we had Ryan do a drive-by at Brandi's house- which is on the way home from the airport!  It was so wonderful to see him....so HARD not to hug him!!!!  Almost everyone made signs and Brandi got balloons and I got neon bracelets. Brooke and Tanner brought Twisted cookies and we brought some Krispy Kremes.  A party separated by 6 feet (except immediate families).  I think he was surprised and happy!

Thankful for this sweet boy that learned of God's great love for him and in turn, shared that love with the people in Texas!

Easter

This year Easter has been different but also wonderful.  Quarantine separates us from many traditions but has enhanced others.  The weekend before was General Conference- which I will share thoughts about later- with an invitation to fast again on Good Friday- as part of a world wide fast for our dear world and all those affected by Covid-19 in all ways.  Going into Easter, with similar thoughts of the first Passover- where people were basically quarantined because of the plagues in Egypt and saved by putting blood of a lamb over their front doors as the destroying angel passed by.  We ask not just for saving from this pandemic but also that the Savior's atoning sacrifice also saves us today and always.


Sadie Jo Jo- had to make an entrance in her best Easter outfit.  She's such a hoot and Jeter looks so cute in his bunny ears!

Brandi and Doug and the kiddos Egged us on Easter Day.  We looked for eggs on our front yard- finding one empty to represent the empty tomb.  We love so much our kiddos making Easter meaningful in their lives and ours.

One of my favorite courses of study is Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler's Don't Miss This series.  They have one for Easter from a book that Emily has written- complete with an Easter Nativity-that is like an advent and each day you forcus on a different person involved in the Easter story.  I had just read that morning about Mary Magdalene (which was what my Grandma and Grandpa James were going to name my mother but neither they or the doctor knew how to spell Magdalene so they named her Mary Maxine!)  Mary was of course the first one to the tomb- met by the gardener angel who declared the tomb was empty.  In this Easter advent, they talk about rebirth and spring.  Emily's son served a mission in Serbia and one tradition, where religious meetings were forbidden was one night a year, all the Christians would dye red eggs.  It was the grandmother's job, during this process to bare witness of Christ.  The next morning, the people would go from home to home sharing their eggs and say, "He is Risen." to which was answered, "He is Risen indeed."   

So, Marci and Heidi brought me a red egg (that they dyed in onion skins- brown chicken eggs work best)- and then asked me to Facetime them during dinner to share my testimony.  They recorded it to share with missionary Josh.  It was so special for me to be able to do that on Easter.

And can I just say, "He is Risen.  He is Risen indeed."

Because it is so unique, this year, here are two Easter Memes as well.

Epidemic

In 1907- my 16-year-old grandmother married her husband, Willie Sparks, age 21.  They lived and moved around Oklahoma and Kansas and back to Oklahoma.  Money was tight for everyone during that time and this young family was trying to make ends meet.  In Oct. 1918, Willie was 32 years old and in just a few days two of his sons would be having birthdays.  He and Mary were anxiously awaiting the birth of their 5th child.  Willie, unfortunately happened to be a part of the great flu epidemic of 1918.  He was taken to the hospital where he soon died.

Now my Grandmother Mary was 27 and had 4 small children and one soon to be born.  Four weeks after her husband died, she gave birth to their 5th daughter. 

My grandfather's name was George Ernest James.  He was born on August 11th, 1887.  That date of August 11th is a favorite in our family- my parent's got married on August 11th as did David and I and also my niece, Lisa and her husband, Frank.  George married a woman by the name of Leota Allen on January 29, 1909 (also a favorite date- my birthday)  They had 4 daughters- their ages from 2 to the oldest, 8- when Leota caught the flu in 1918 and died.


I cannot imagine how these two people survived their loss and grief- and found work and took care of all those little kids!  My grandmother would take in washing at 4:00 in the morning, washed on a washboard with a tub of water heated on an old wood range and iron all day and then cooked  at a café  at 4:00 p.m. until midnight.  Grandpa, then living in another town,  did every job imaginable to stay afloat.  He and my grandmother met a few years after the loss of their spouses and combined those 9 kids and added 5 more to the bunch- the first son dying at birth.  My mom, Maxine was part of that last crew.  I remember hearing stories of how poor they were- often sleeping in a tent or a chicken coop with chickens in the room (to keep the chicks warm.  Baby chickens always gave her the shivers.)  The Great Depression followed on the heals of the flu epidemic.


I have been thinking a lot about my ancestors during our own pandemic.  How different our circumstances, how different our times.  Yes, the virus is scary and thousands of people have died.  We are told to quarantine at home-in our lovely heated homes with hot and cold water- all that we could want and clean sheets on our beds.  We have food galore and have the opportunity to pick up "take-out" at our favorite restaurants.  We play on Facebook and post meme jokes about the pandemic and how we are all surviving.

It's hard to feel sorry for ourselves.  Yes, this is a horrible virus and it has literally shut the world down and will affect my family forever. Forever. But it makes me ache for those throughout the world who suffer even as my ancestors suffered- all the time, without hope.  Hopefully this pandemic will be the catalyst for change as we develop more compassion for all those who suffer.

I'm thankful for relatives that made it through such difficult times- and carried on to provide the makings of generations to come.  So when I complain about boredom and monotony and isolation, in my heart I really know how blessed we are in the middle of the storm.  Thankful for the peace the Lord gives us every day.  Thankful for family that is my greatest joy.  Our kids have made music videos, dance videos, dropped off treats and groceries, Facetimed, brought meaningful Easter treats and checked on us daily.  We have felt so loved and full of their watchcare.  That's probably what kept my grandparents going through all their difficulties- it is the love of family that carries us through these dark and difficult times.