August 17, 2014

We have managed to keep busy for the last few weeks.  Dad has been helping Cathi in her basement and working in our yard.  He has gotten a lot of pre-winter stuff done like trimming the irises down and putting blocks in at the front gate where the grass doesn't want to grow.  He has trimmed the climbing rose and painted the front fence so it's pretty again.  He has weeded everything in preparation for putting mulch on all the beds.  It looks really nice now.  He also means to trim the apricot tree soon now that it is finished producing.  The peaches are coming along nicely now. 

We have picked gallons of blackberries and maybe a dozen tomatoes.  Our tomato plants haven't been happy this year.  They are short and slow to produce fruit.  I think they missed us while we were gone. We have one cantaloupe that is growing well.  The rest of the vine is not doing much.

I have helped Cathi at school get her room ready for the year.  She wanted to do a Dr Who theme but couldn't get the materials in time so she went with the Hawaii/beach theme again and it's really cute.  She has a beach umbrella over each set of  desks and a palm tree on the wall along with the rest of the wall decorations.   I think the kids will be really impressed and think it's a fun room.

I decided to get my eyes checked and go to the dentist.  It has been a long time.  The eye dr said I have a slight cataract that is causing some vision problems and there's not a lot to do about it till it gets really worse.  But my prescription isn't significantly different than it was 10 years ago and that's good news.  And when I went to get my driver's license renewed last week I passed the eye test better than I had the last time so they took off the restriction that made me wear glasses when I drive.  I think that's pretty awesome!

I wanted to see the dentist because I was having some pressure sensitive issues on one side of my mouth.  I dreaded going because I figured it was going to be crown time back there.  But the dentist said it was just tension problems and I should stop clenching my teeth and it would go away.  And it has.  I guess the tension and anxieties of moving all that stuff to Texas made me clench.  It's much better now that that is all settled and nice.  That was on a Thursday.  That Sunday a piece of tooth broke off and it really WAS time for a crown.  It was a pretty intense experience that I am glad is over.  After 2 hours I wore a new temporary acrylic crown home and it broke in pieces the next morning as I had breakfast.  Darn!  So  I went back to get another.  So far it's doing well. I have been really babying it. 

The other morning I woke up while it was still dark with pain in my thumb and wrist.  It really hurt.  I could hardly use my hand.  I called the dr and got in to see the nurse practitioner that morning.  She gave me a prescription for a six day supply of prednisone.  After the first day the pain was gone.  That is really awesome stuff!  I was really happy to go from not being able to move my hand without a lot of pain to totally pain free in a matter of hours.  Considering the side effects of the medication I stopped taking it as soon as I felt better.

A couple weeks ago I went to a special movie with Cathi, Lisa and Grace.  They got tickets to a luxurious theater showing Guardians of the Galaxy.  Jer had no desire to see it so I was really glad to get to go with them.  I had told Cathi that I wanted to see it after seeing that Colin was so very impressed with it.  So Lisa's friend works at this place and got us tickets.  It was really nice with big cushy leather seats and any kind of food we wanted to order.  We had chicken nuggets and watched the movie.  The theater was really nice but the movie wasn't what I had expected.  I was expecting something like Star Trek but it wasn't that.  I'm glad I saw it but I don't need to see it again. 

Heather came home from work Friday in a real mood.  She said she was finally finished with the traffic between here and work and she's ready to move NOW.  So she has been looking online at apartments for rent in Salt Lake.  We went up with her today and looked at some that she saw online and chose one that looked nice.  When we got back home it wasn't listed anymore.  So she will still keep looking.  But there will something come up that will be just right for her.  We will keep praying for her to get in the right place.  She needs a friend in the area and a warm, caring bishop and/or ward.  Those are really important to her.  We can't see those things as we look at places, but Heavenly Father knows those things and will guide her.  In apartments, she is looking for covered parking and hopefully a storage unit.  And naturally, she needs pet friendly. 

This next week we are looking forward to my birthday and Jared's open house and farewell.  Should be a nice week.