Snow!

We got a bunch of snow mid February. I've been the shoveler because Don's working and Rebekah's schooling, and hey, it's outside!  We've had a few that weren't too bad and I ended up helping out my neighbors (he has a bad back and she has a bad heart). On one occasion a neighbor a few houses down came out and helped me finish their house. I love good people! 

Then came this storm. It was crazy. I got bundled up to go out and shovel but I had no idea. We got massive amounts of snow! This is the front of our driveway right by the garage. I think I shoveled three rows. It doesn't look as extreme from this picture but that's got to be a good foot deep (or more) of snow. And it was freakishly cold!!! I ended up going in to recoup and warm up. 

I was worried about doing our neighbor's home but she texted me and told me they were hiring someone to do their driveway. She suggested I could hire them too. I actually thought about it and looked into the price. They wanted $40! No thank you. So out I went again. 

Half way through Rebekah came out to join me. Crazy how much snow we got! 

This was the first time I could see actual individual snow flakes. They were perfect in design! And so sparkly! I tried to capture it with the camera but this is the closest I came. 

I had to go back in another time to warm up. Rebekah and I ended up drawing pictures for her art class. Then I went back out to find the neighbors across the street clearing the last of our driveway with their snow blower (man I got to get me one of those). I was ever so grateful! The snowplow came through and pushed all the snow from the road up against our driveway so there was wet heavy snow piled high there. Have to admit I was concerned about being able to get that area done with my back and so I gratefully thanked them for their help. After they were done I cleared out the left over snow and went back to the garage to take a picture. 

We got one more snow storm after this but it was pretty light. I was able to do my area and our neighbor's. However, I ended up pretty mad: the people who snow blowed their driveway drove their truck on their driveway to push the snow to the side and it ended up leaving huge patches of ice on their driveway. It was very slippery and it was cold enough I couldn't chip it off. I was worried about them slipping on the ice considering their garbage and recycling cans were right next to the ice. Don got more of it off and the garbage came so we moved the garbage back up to their garage so they wouldn't have to get out on the ice. Eventually it warmed up some and I was able to get the rest of the ice off. But seriously people! If you're going to charge people who have needs a lot of money for something they cannot do their self, at least do a good job and don't leave more problems behind. I should call and complain. 

So we've had our winter complete with snow, ice, and cold. Bring on the spring!

Valentine's Day

 For some reason I procrastinate things like that require poetry or decorations. Which leads me to Valentine's Day 2021. I bought the gifts and treats way early but the poem didn't happen until very late. It was so late and I had a massive headache so I called in back up. Uncle Michael helped with a few lines and we came up with this limerick. The next morning it dawned on me the last line should read, "She'll grow taller than mom, Thankfully!" Ah well. The other line works too.  

Rebekah's Valentine's Day set up. 

I also had a little something for Don as well. 

Sunday morning I had one happy girl. 

Daddy added the hand drawn and colored I love you bear. Very impressive. Rebekah liked that his fur looks like fluffy hair. 

She was also excited about the chocolate. But who isn't?

The bear wasn't the only thing Don drew that night. Got to love it!

Later that day.... I think she had more than half of the candy eaten before noon. 

To end the evening Rebekah worked on Mine Craft and made the following:

Some Excitement

One day after a plethora of errands alone I came home, made lunch for Rebekah, sat down to eat with her and noticed an odd sound coming from our living room closet where the water heater, water softener, and heater are located. I checked on the sound and the water softener display was blinking a water droplet sign on the side. I figured maybe the water softener got mixed up on time and it was replenishing itself so I walked away. It was still making the noise a few minutes later so I got up to check on it again, for I recently made the goal to be aware and listen to promptings more, and this time noticed the carpet in front of the closet had a wet spot. I called Don over who also thought it was the water softener and unplugged it but the sound kept going. As I looked around more I noticed the ground under the water softener was wet. Something was leaking.

At that point Rebekah lost her mind so while I went to help calm Rebekah Don went in for further inspection. Through Rebekah's drama I heard sounds coming from Don that only meant things were in fact escalating. He quickly called the plumber who plumbed the house (Mr. Buddy) only to be told he couldn't come but gave names of 4 people to call. 

Don asked me to call the plumbers but Rebekah was crazy. So I suggested she call grammy. While she was on with grammy I called the list of plumbers while Don tried to turn the water off. No one answered and when I called again to leave messages I was told by automation "the mailbox is full." So, thinking of plumbing trucks I've seen, I looked up and called their number and we got on their list. 

Meanwhile the inside shut off didn't work. Don went outside to try and turn the main water off. Towels were everywhere and not enough. At this point I had the thought to check Rebekah's closet to see if the water was getting in there. It was worse than I had imagined: the water leak had shot a hole in the wall in  Rebekah's closet and was spraying water at great force. 

I worried that Rebekah - who was still extremely emotionally distraught but was still on her call  with grammy - would find out about the damage happening in her room and go ballistic. Good news there though: grammy was able to keep Rebekah calm while I made the calls and found the water leak in Rebekah's closet. 

Back to the closet trauma: my first thought after making sure Rebekah was busy was to tell Don but then survival kicked in and I got something to collect the water spray. By the time I got back to the closet with the bucket Don had found the water line and was turning it off so I caught very little water. I ran outside to tell him he got it off, couldn't find him, so I told Rebekah to tell daddy the good news thinking that might also help to calm her down. 

When I came back into Rebekah's room I noticed two things. 

1) In the corse of preparing for the move Rebekah had claimed a large plastic container in which to pack her toys. In the process of moving and getting things cleaned up I had downsides her closet (first blessing) and had put that empty container right by the now empty wall in the closet. Somehow even being closed on top (it had an attached lid that closes in on itself) a large amount of the water had collected inside. 

2) The massive water spray was directly focused on Rebekah's bathrobe. 

I took both outside and was amazed at the amount of water each held. 

By this time one of our neighbors had noticed our plight and came over to see if he could help. He had much empathy but not much help. However he went to tell another person in our neighborhood who came over to help as well. 

Also during this time Don had told Mr. Buddy (he was still on the phone with him) that I had made an appointment with Peterman Plumbing to come out. Mr. Buddy apparently freaked out a little, told Don to cancel the appointment, changed his plans, and told Don he was on his way. 

Now that the water was turned off my thoughts turned towards the resale of the house and how we do not want to buy new carpets. I started calling ward members to see if I could find a wet vac. The neighbor that was there gave me a number of a store that rents them but they were closed until 3 pm. It was around noon and I didn't want the water to soak in that long. I finally got a hold of a lady in the ward that had a wet vac and she told me to come and get it. I grabbed Rebekah (who had about an hour before she had to be back on a live meeting at school) and we went to go get the vac. 

On the way we discussed all the blessings. Rebekah had told me she prayed to stop it and it didn't stop. I directed her thinking towards all the great blessings that made it not so bad. 

    1) we were home and  caught it very early (cannot imagine what would have happened had we all been at mom's or something).

    2) Don got Mr. Buddy on the phone pretty close to immediately and he changed his plans to come help.

    3) the plastic container that collected so much water.

    4) the bathrobe that collected so much water. 

    5) a friend that has a wet vac for us to borrow so the water doesn't soak in for several hours.

But Rebekah continued to asked why God cause bad things to happen. I suppose we all get that question at some point. I attempted to explain that we live in an imperfect world; because of that imperfect things happen. God doesn't cause them but he allows them: so we can grow, so we can have empathy for others, so that we can help each other. 

By the time we get back home with the wet vac (and a fan the lady gave us that I didn't know I'd need) Mr. Buddy was there, has assessed the problem and was going to get the tools to fix it. 

But now I think things are settling down when Rebekah informs me she has to use the bathroom. So I call Miss Judith, our beloved neighbor who lives mostly in New Hampshire but here sometimes. I asked her if we could use her bathroom. She gave us the garage code and graciously sent her son over to give us the key. Add that to our list of blessings. 

We we got back from that I started in on the wet carpets. 

Mr. Buddy also came back around the same time and started in on the repair. Apparently it was a bad ring. How a bad ring causes that much of an issue I don't know but I'm a musician not a plumber. He gets it fixed, turns the water back on and we're good to go. 

Rebekah has calmed down enough to finish her school but had decided to skip the group play zoom she had planned with the girls in the ward. I messaged all the moms to explain why. I wish I could take all the anxiety and worry from my little girl. However, I took great comfort for as I cleaned the carpet I heard her singing, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done."

At this point I knew I was not cooking the dinner I had planned. Don graciously took the Bee to pick up take out while I kept working with the wet vac. I eventually called my big brother Joseph to help me understand what kind of a result I should be looking for, having never done this before. He mentioned I may have to pull the carpet back so the pad could dry. Ugh. I did NOT want to go there. I kept working until I got it pretty dry - to the touch it was damp but not wet. Drier than when you have carpets cleaned. 

The lady I borrowed the wet vac from had the foreknowledge to send me with a fan. I had no idea we would need one. Don actually wanted more fans so I sent some texts around and another member of the ward came through. 

After a long while Don and Rebekah came home with food: a hamburger for the Bee and some Chipotles for me and him to share. The man even came home with guacamole on the side - all for me. 

Then we let the fans run, ate dinner, had "ice cream Friday," informed the Bee that she would need to sleep in the playroom since we were leaving the fans on overnight, but she was so traumatized she ended up sleeping with me.

What a day. 

Most of these pictures are after the event:

Hole in Rebekeh's closet 

Where the leak came from

The infamous "bad ring" next to a good one for comparison

Some of the many towels 

The bathrobe and bin from Rebekah's closet

Video of us emptying the bin - got to watch this if only to see the Bee use finger quotes

And last but not least, me with the water vac

February Begins

Don and I share the same doctor. We do this so I can go with him, force him to face health issues, and let the doctor decide what battles I should fight. For example: Don has a little bit of a soda addiction, so the doctor suggested he go to diet soda. This is him being obedient. 

While we were at the doctor Rebekah and grammy took on my weekly sheet washing chore and my monthly flip the top mattress chore. I hear it was all Rebekah's idea and I couldn't be more proud. 

The house prep continues with mom doing some touch up paint work. Rebekah wanted to help. 

She does quite well and grammy is a great cheerleader! 

Don's also a good helper as well. 

Although we've been pretty quiet about it, we did finally tell people here that we were moving but no one in Pendleton besides mom knows. However, right before Christmas Don had a friend asked if there was any chance we might be moving back to Pendleton and recently I got a text from someone in Pendleton asking we were ready to move back yet. So, we decided to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. The response has been extremely favorable. We are quite touched. 

This is Don telling his good friend (the same that asked in December if there was any chance we would move back). I missed the first part because I thought I pushed record and didn't, however here's the last part. Notice the happiness on Don's face. 

Every so often I'll look at my picture library and find surprised like this:

And speaking of Rebekah, the valentines she sent out has started to arrive. Uncle Michael got theirs and sent this picture.

Rebekah quickly asked me to text uncle Michael to make sure Pepper didn't eat her valentines. But not before uncle Michael sent me the following, followed by a quick "just kidding."

Abby also sent us this picture with her and Toby's valentines. Got to love that Rebekah remembers the dogs. 

While we were at the doctor's office, our doctor (who only works one day a week with patients so he can spend the other 4 days on research in another job) told us that by the end of the year they are estimating only 30% of the population will be vaccinated. I have to admit I was somewhat horrified. I'm so ready to be done. My thoughts turned to the Bee. She has grown out of a mask that a friend in the ward made for her. They had free ones at the library and she has grown out of that one too. So I returned to the friend and asked if she meant it when she said let me know if you need another one. She made the following puppy mask. It's reversible - the opposite side has puppy paws. 

While scrolling facebook I discovered my amazing brother is returning to principalship after working in the district office a director supervisor of secondary school. He will be returning to Kearns High School, the high school we all went to as kids. He's pretty excited. I know he will do great things. 

Sometimes I get frustrated with unmade beds and clothes on the floor. And sometimes I channel the frustration into creativity: 

Uncle Michael sent me a picture saying, "someone got a bath this morning." 

I sent him a picture back saying, "Rebekah did too..." 

Grammy is working on a blue blanket for the Bee. Looking good so far! 

I'm somewhat obsessed with solar lights around the outside of the house so when I saw this I knew my love for solar lights and owls was complete! However both Don and Rebekah didn't quite see the vision. Very sad. 

Rebekah likes filters. 

Have to admit she's pretty cute as a puppy. 

I sent those to uncle Michael who sent back the following:

And also the following. Got to love a fun uncle. Rebekah said Pepper's picture was the best and made her laugh. 

One Sunday we decided we needed brownies. Rebekah decided they needed to be mint frosted. Mel's to the rescue and a few hours later we had the following:

And finally, with the move I've been going through old papers and so forth. I found this gem:

We had more family zooms

And thanks to the virtual world of Facebook and groups about American History Books, I was able to chat with an author and tell him how much I liked his book. He was posting to plug a leather bound copy of his book. I replied how much I liked the book. He in turn REPLIED! Made my day. I had to tell my good friend about it and I also told Don. I'm pretty sure both of them thought I was crazy and that the author was just happy to have the knowledge that some read their book but - I had my first chat with a published author! Go me! And seriously, it was a really good book. You don't usually find a lot of information about those five presidents up to Lincoln. 

January Books

This was about the election of 1800 but also the events coming up to it. I liked the fact that I couldn't tell whether John Ferling was more of a Jefferson or an Adams fan. Other main characters were Hamilton and Burr. Recommendable. I'm so impressed I'm planning on looking up more of Ferling's books.  

 

This was a pretty good history of the great depression. I learned a lot about FDR's New Deal, Wendall Wilkie, events up to WWII, thoughts of the "forgotten man," etc and so on. I learned not everyone was excited about FDR's New Deal; many thought it was the beginnings of socialism. Ironically my thoughts went to how many times in history, from Adams / Jefferson to Jackson to FDR to Trump we thought this was the end of America as we know it. And yet here we still continue. Guess we've been extremely lucky, blessed, or what not. 

Middle grade fiction about a girl with a sensory processing disorder. Also about a mom who is struggling to meet the basic needs of life. All in all a good story. However I wish more middle grade fiction would show books with parents that are doing a good job. 

This was a pretty good read, however most everything from Joseph Ellis is recommendable. I'd probably read his grocery list and rate it highly. Many thoughts and quotes from Adams, like how history goes in 12 year cycles till it reaches its apex than it falls. Very interesting. Had me wondering what Adams would thing about today. Also Ellis puts forth the idea of a monument to Adams across from the current Jefferson monument so they can in turn cast shadows on each other during different time periods of the day. Also while we are on the subject I find it intriguing that Adams, the only president who had no slaves, his wife grew up with slaves and yet they both decided not to continue the practice, is one of the least celebrated. He deserves better. Officially team Adams. 

This book about how a boy handles the life he is given and influences others to handle their's was a thing of beauty. Very poetic and worth while. Highly recommendable. 

It's amazing how many Americans went to Paris to become more - educated, refined, etc. It's McCullough so it's worth reading, although listening too is another matter (I'll admit I never think he should read his books - he only read the first part of this one so there's that.) Not my favorite of his but still good. 

I listened to this years ago and thought it might be worth another glance. I remember being blown away with how much I felt I learned after listening to this. I was hoping I'd have the same feelings this time. Either I have learned much since I read this or I picked up everything the first time. Either way I was less enamored this time around. Still it's Joseph Ellis. He's one of my favorites. 

Junior fiction about a princess under a "curse" and a runaway boy. Fun, light and enjoyable. Nothing life altering but entertaining. Think I'll get the Bee to read this one. Wish me luck. 

A friend suggested I read this one many years ago. Many months ago I noticed it was available on audio book so I got in line (estimated 24 weeks). I finally got it and started even considering this was the same author of Code Name Helene of which I was not a fan. I was even less a fan of this one. It was completely awful. No saving grace. Giant waste of time. The Secret Wife and The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul are much more recommendable if you want Romanov fiction. 

My friend from England suggested I read this book about the Tudor time period. It turned out it was a murder mystery with a total of 4 deaths by the time it was over. Apparently I'm not a big fan of murder mysteries, although I've only read one other: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. But it was well written and gave me a sense of what life what like during the early 1500's. Still, I prefer my characters not murdered. 

An interesting insight to George Washington. This is my first on Washington and I will definitely read more - although the next one I have on my holds is over 900 pages so I'm somewhat daunted. But back to this book. I find it interesting that several authors point to his religious nature and several others point to his non religious nature. So many ideas and versions of a history that is sometimes to veiled and ambiguous. I enjoy Joseph Ellis, his insights and retelling of history. Very recommendable. 

Junior fiction about the Russian occupation of Lithuania (pre WWI). Focuses on the Russian attempt at book banning / burning to destroy a culture. Enjoyable mainly because it is about a subject that isn't too overdone (at this point if I read another WWII historical fiction I may scratch my eyes out) nor is it a subject many know too much about. To top it off it's written pretty well too. Very recommendable. 

There are Fredrik Backman books that are good and some not so much. My favorite is A Man Called Ove. This is a close second. Very well done fiction about how we wander the surface of the world and don't look to see what's really going on underneath the surface. Very highly recommendable. 

Junior fiction about an autistic girl trying to make sense and function in the world she was given. The Challenger mission is also a big part of this book, however it's less about the accident and more about how it parallels what's going on with the main character. It's good. I would recommend it for the more mature junior fiction reader. 

Junior fiction about preteens finding their way and parents struggling to find their way too. Remarkably intriguing - totally lost track of time and ended up finally putting it down one night after 11 pm which is only bad because when I do sleep it's usually pre 1 am stuff. Ah well. Totally worth it. 

Junior fiction about adapting to school, making friends, etc and so on. Pretty good. 

This is a modern author trying to be Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte. I'm pretty old fashioned and therefore would rather read Austen and Bronte but there are some that will think this is easier or just as good. To me it was so not. Also a little much - especially at the end. My opinion: just tough it out and read Austen. You'll thank me later.  

A horrifying account of our (America and Russia) nuclear histories and how we are still dealing with the after effects. It may keep you up at night. I've read a few books on some of the nuclear effects in Russia and this book goes along the same way, however this is my first information of what has happened here in America. I should probably read more into it, if I can make myself want to delve into it more. 

Middle grade fiction about a girl looking for a stable family situation and how she learns the way to have a friend is to be a friend. It's pretty good.  

I hesitate to form opinions on just one author's account. This one is pretty opinionated, therefore I've checked into the author and she seems to have written much on the first ladies and also has several degrees including a Masters in Mass Communications and a PhD in American Civilization so there's that. The book is very pro Lady Bird and presents Johnson as only being successful thanks to her cleaning up his messes. I've read some on Johnson and he doesn't come off too well anywhere, however this book presents him worse. I came away wondering if he had some type of bipolar tendencies. Either way, this book was interesting and well written. Recommendable if you have any interest in American history during that time period. 

Middle grade fiction that was rated high so I considered it for Rebekah but you know me; I had to read it first. It was completely benign but almost painful to get through. Maybe if I read the first one first (I think this is book 5) I would care more about the characters. As it was, this just fell flat. I don't say this too many times but this one would fall under Not recommendable. There's definitely better stuff out there. Like Once Upon a Marigold for example. Read that one instead.