April ALSO went out like a lion...

We had about 3 inches of snow at our house yesterday morning – unbelieveable! I know we really need the moisture, but I am SO ready for warm weather. Thank goodness it is now May, and winter is behind us!






















We had a busy month again – aren’t they all? We started off with Randy’s birthday on the 2^nd and we went out to dinner that evening. Then Tyler and Heidi came over Sunday morning and we celebrated with the family then. (Heidi works afternoons and evenings on the weekends, so we did it in the middle of the day before she had to leave.) That same weekend was General Conference, which we always thoroughly enjoy. What a blessing to have living prophets on the earth – especially in these ‘perilous times’.

On the 5^th I started my classes for my Master’s degree. One course only lasted 3 weeks – it was an Orientation class that guided me through the different pages and areas of help that are available on the school website. It covered such things as communication with your professors and Student Services, essay and paper writing, student resources, plagiarism (it’s a lot easier to check for that when you submit papers online), and how to join in on the discussion board since that is part of the grade. This was taken consecutively with my first regular course, Human Resource Management, which is 8 weeks long – as are all the rest of my courses, which I will probably take one at a time. I have 2 chapters of reading each week, 10 multiple choice questions, 2 essays and at least 2 postings on the discussion board. I try to have everything completed and turned in by Friday so that I don’t have to think about it over the weekend.

Randy was out of town for work a couple of times last month. He spent one week in Topeka re-certifying as a Supervisor for Asbestos Abatement through a company that he used to teach for when we lived there. Then yesterday he taught a half-day class up in Spokane, WA on the Nebraska Asbestos Regulations (a company up there has a roofing job in Nebraska). While he was in Topeka he got to see a lot of his family (he was actually there on his brother’s birthday) and he spent some time hanging out with Jesse, who seems to be doing well. Ingrid and Jeff just happened to be going through there that week on their way back from Florida, so he got to see them, also.

Heidi and Tyler are through with their classes for the semester. I think Heidi is taking the summer off – she works a lot of overtime at the zoo as an armed security officer. But, Tyler will continue through the summer with his college courses. He was planning on going camping this weekend – but I’m not sure if he did or not. Ingrid got to ride along with a couple of women from her ward in Colorado that were coming up for Women’s Conference, so she visited with us for a couple of days. That was really nice. Dylan got his Patriarchal blessing – it was wonderful. He’s been getting more hours at work, but a lot of early mornings, which he’s not fond of.

I advertized our tennis wall online for free to whoever wanted to come and get it, and I got a couple of phone calls in the first hour! We are going to finish off our fence on that side, and it was in the way. I cleaned out my pond, refilled it, and got the waterfall and fountain going again. I love the green grass, tulips, daffodils, and blossoms. I realize that the seasons are necessary, and are symbolic and teach us many things, but I could live in spring and summer indefinitely!

Life is still good, even with lots of obstacles...

WARNING – this blog contains a lot of rants and raves. Proceed at your own discretion…

I am really glad that March is over. And not just because April is finally, really, spring – March just wasn’t a real good month for me! And it is going out like a lion –it has been snowing since Wednesday morning with a total of 3-5 inches of snow expected. At least temperatures have been warm enough lately that I know it won’t last long.

Last month I visited the dentist 5 times in 3 weeks. The first visit was just a regular check up. No cavities – YEA! But, I had knocked the corner off of one of my molars that already had some filler-stuff all over it. So, the dentist decided that it would need a crown. So, I went in one week later to get everything drilled smooth and prepped for my crown (1 hour office visit). It’s really hard to get me numb, so I had to get a shot 3 times, and once the dentist accidently poked my lip with the needle. He was mortified. They took a mold and put a temporary crown on it. Just 3 days later they called and needed me to come in to get ANOTHER mold done for the dental technician (30 minute visit). Eight days after I got my temporary one on, it came off (Saturday night) and I waited until Monday morning to go back in and have it re-glued (15 minute visit). It came off again on Thursday night, but since I was going in the next morning, I didn’t worry about it. So, I went back in that Friday to get my permanent crown put on. The dentist STILL had to drill a little bit off of my tooth to make the crown fit right, so I had to get numbed up again (30 minute visit). My crown seems good, but my jaw has been getting caught and popping since then. It does this every once in awhile, but it’s been doing this several times a day! UGH! I really like this dentist, but I have had enough for awhile!

Let me preface the next few items by saying I HATE talking on the phone... A week and a half ago I was helping my mother on some New Family Search stuff – she was on her laptop, and I was on mine. I tried to see the names I had ready for Temple work, but for some reason, it wouldn’t come up. Within a few hours, I found that there were a lot of things that wouldn’t work. I brought up my anti-virus information and in red letters it said that I had a virus warning that needed to be taken care of. I tried to click on the “FIX” button, but it wouldn’t let me. After messing with it for awhile, I finally called the number for customer service at my anti-virus company (Deluxe Shield – don’t EVER get this!!) and was on hold for 20+ minutes, and then as I was talking to someone, got cut off and I realized it was 8:30pm in the eastern time zone and they were closed! Did I mention that he had a very thick accent and I could hardly understand him? I was pretty grossed out, and I just didn’t have time to mess with it on Sunday (they have shorter hours then), so I tackled it again on Monday. Meanwhile, my poor laptop that I’ve only had for less than 6 months wouldn’t come up at all. I figured out how to go in to where it let me go back a few days and recover it from that point. I was pretty glad that I could do that and it worked just fine for everything. But, unfortunately, I still had the virus (trojan fake-something) and by the evening it was back to not coming up at all. I tried to recover it by going back a few days even earlier, but it wouldn’t work this time. So, on Tuesday I called the anti-virus company again. After going over everything, he finally decided that all my files were corrupted and I could recover it back to like it was when I bought it, but I needed to have recovery discs which didn’t come with my computer and I hadn’t burned any. So, I called several computer stores in town and nobody had them. I finally brought up the Hewlett Packard website and got their phone number. I tried calling them, but got cut off 3 times before I could even talk to a person. Out of desperation I finally decided to order online, although there are so many products that I wasn’t positive that I ordered the right discs. Instead of standard shipping, I chose the shipping that would get here in 3-4 days.

A few days later my discs arrived and I called the anti-virus company back. They could not find my name or email information, so there was no record of my problem or our previous conversations, so I had to start at the very beginning. (sounds like a song…) After explaining everything again and trying all the things that he tried to get me to do to it, the guy I was talking to put me on hold and when he came back he told me he had to inform me that there would be a charge for what we would do. I said No, their anti-virus software (which I have paid for) had let the virus onto my computer and I was not going to pay them to take it off. After a few seconds the line went dead – he had hung up on me!

So, I called Hewlitt Packard again and this time I did NOT get cut off. I talked to a lady that had an accent, but I could understand her most of the time and she didn’t have her repeat herself too much. I told her my predicament and because my laptop is still under warranty, she could help me out. She told me it would really be better to do this from the computer and not discs because they may not be the right ones. :o( She was able to get me back to the recovery part and even to save most of my files. This took a lot longer than was expected (over 5 hours, not just minutes), so I asked her a few questions about what to do once the files were all recovered and then got off the phone. It took me a lot of time to get everything back to how I want it, but my laptop is in working order again and I only lost a few files. Obviously, this time I have put different anti-virus software on it…!

The book for my first class (Human Resource Management) has arrived and I have read the first 3 chapters – it’s pretty much like Greek to me. My class doesn’t start until Monday, but I can go online and see that I have a discussion board (answering a question with info that leads to more questions and answering another question, etc) or an assessment (?) every week, and take the final exam (which I have to have a proctor for). ...Pray for me! I also got an email telling me I needed to go to the website for my school loan lender and log in to see new information. I went to the website, but it wouldn’t let me log in – I couldn’t remember if I had a user ID or password. I usually write them down, and I didn’t have any information, so I’m not even sure I had an account set up. So, I had to call them and once again, I got someone with an accent! Plus, we just didn’t communicate at all. Finally, after a long time, I thanked her for her help, declined to answer survey questions, and I got my user ID and set up a (new?) password. When I went in to see the information, it said that my loan was already approved (which I already knew), but the amount that they are sending the school is more than twice what I need. So, I called them back and found out I needed to talk to someone at my school because they are the ones that let them know how much money to send. So, I called the school, got an answering machine, and left a message. Several hours later I got a call back and eventually got it straightened out. They were going to send me extra living expense money that I would have to pay interest on – no thanks.

My car is making a stange noise in the front axle-area and I can feel vibrations in the floorboard, so I’ll have to take it in again tomorrow and see if my mechanic can figure out what is going on…

And finally, something positive - Randy and I went to the play “Dirty Rotten Soundrels” Tuesday night in Orem at the Hale Center Theater. The script was very close to the movie, although this production was a musical. We thoroughly enjoyed it – the story, music, and actors were all really good. This theater is quite small, in the round, and we were on the front row. I actually got my foot touched by one of the actors – that’s how close it was. We’re going out to dinner for his birthday tomorrow night and the kids are coming over Sunday between Conference sessions so that we can celebrate.

The rest of my family is doing pretty good – Randy’s website (music and sculptures at randymundy.com) is up (thanks, Amanda!), Jesse has plenty of work hours and found his lost dog, Tyler is finishing up another semester at school this month, Heidi is getting some physical therapy for her back problems, it doesn’t look like Ingrid actually has a hernia although she IS allergic to her dog, Jeff has extra remodeling jobs, and Dylan has been getting a lot more hours at work and has an appointment to get his Patriarchal Blessing.

I am super excited to listen to and watch the prophet and apostles at General Conference this weekend. What a great opportunity this is. Our world is good - :o)

In like a lion?

The weather on this first day of March is wonderful and spring-like. Doesn't that mean that the end of the month will be horrible?

I’ve had a cold since Tuesday. It started out with a sore throat for a couple of days, then I got really congested. I had a really hard time breathing a couple of nights – even with Nyquil. But, I got to lay in bed most of Saturday and I took it easy Sunday, so I think I’m on the downhill side of it. I’m still coughing, I might be developing a sinus infection, and my voice is an octave lower than normal, but I’m starting to feel better! I shouldn’t complain, though, because I’m healthy most of the time.

I mailed our tax returns in 3 weeks ago – next year I think I’ll send them online – I’m just a little slow with new technology! But, we will be getting refunds on both federal and state (if I did it right!) and we’ll put the money in the bank for Dylan’s mission fund. I’m finally paying my monthly bills online, although I don’t have them automatically deducted from our bank account – I have to keep SOME control!

We had a wonderful Valentine’s Day and both Randy and Tyler got me flowers – Yea! I love having fresh flowers around the house. When I get them in February, it helps me look towards spring.

Saturday night we went to see a 4-piece group (violin, guitar, clarinet and accordian) playing tango and opera pieces. They were all really good musicians. There were also 4 dancers that did the tango on about 5 or 6 songs. I’m sorry – but I think Randy and I could have done it. They were just really dramatic and the women kicked their legs sometimes – But, the music was great.

I made a doctor’s appointment for last week to get my hand-trembling looked at, but they had a problem with our insurance, so I had to cancel and I’ll have to find another doctor that accepts our insurance. It’s been trembling for the last couple of years whenever I try to write (seriously, you’d think I was 100 years old to look at my writing!), so I’ve finally gotten fed up with it and I hope there is something that can be done.

The kids are all doing good – Jesse is kept pretty busy with work, in fact he’s probably going to quit the job at Bosco’s because it’s interfering with his other work, and he thinks he can easily get 40 hours a week between Ramada Inn and The Row House restaurant. Ingrid has not been feeling well lately, but has still been able to go to work. She went to the doctor today and will get results from all the tests, but she DID find out she has an umbilical hernia from lifting one of the kids at the daycare last week! We're talking surgery within the next 3 weeks. Tyler, Heidi and Dylan have gotten together several times to watch the Jazz games on TV. I love that my kids are such good friends as adults!! Tyler and Heidi keep busy with work and school and Dylan has been getting more hours at work, although he’s talking about finding a second job. I got him some beginner piano books at the D.I. and he’s been reviewing what he learned in band about music theory and teaching himself some piano. Heidi got her foot run over and had to deal with a crazy lady at work – read about it on her blog. www.adelheide414.blogspot.com Tyler has been checking out reports about the earthquake in Chile – he filled a mission in Santiago, so he’s familiar with a lot of the areas that got damaged. I hear the temple in Santiago is OK, but the angel Moroni lost his trumpet! www.kcsg.com/news/local/85731387.html

I haven’t started a master’s program yet because I need to use federal funds and the program I was interested in is too new – it takes about 2 years for a new program to get FAFSA approval. So, I have switched to an MBA with emphasis in marketing. Not exactly what I wanted, but hopefully I can learn how to market Randy’s sculptures so that he can actually make money from them. (He's currently in the process of making a mold for his George Washington.) I start April 4 and it’s all online so I can do it from home.

Guess that’s it for this month – hope you all enjoy St. Patrick’s Day – if that’s even a holiday that you celebrate!

Six more weeks of winter?

So, I heard something about PETA wanting to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robot for Groundhog Day – amazing.

We’ve had snow on the ground all winter, but it doesn’t seem to be as overwhelming as it was last year. Maybe it’s just that the sun has been out a lot more, but I seem to be surviving so far. Only 6 more weeks of winter – Yea!

Randy got all the tests back that the specialist had done to find out what’s going on with his kidneys. Diagnosis – everything looks OK, but he should see the specialist a couple of times a year just to be sure!! What??!! So, he still doesn’t know why his feet and hands tingle and feel like pins and needles are poking him, but this doctor still wants to see him, just to be sure. Ugh.

Jesse has a new job at a Ramada Inn in downtown Topeka. He’s working the graveyard shift a couple of nights a week. He’s at the front desk running reports as the night auditor. Tyler has started a new semester of school working towards his graphic art degree. His work is the same, and I imagine installing satellite dishes for internet connection is pretty cold this time of year. Heidi has also started a new semester towards her 2^nd degree – this one a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. This semester she is working the swing shift at the U of U. Dylan just dropped his Badmitten class at SLCC today. There weren’t very many people in the class, and no one near his expertise level, so he wasn’t learning anything and certainly wasn’t being challenged at all. His permanent retainer is giving him some trouble, so he has to see the orthodontist this week.

Ingrid and Jeff just refinanced their duplex in Florida, so they will have much smaller payments and will be able to save a lot of money. Heavenly Father always blesses us when we are doing our best - their interest rate is lower than when they started this long process! We got to visit them last month and it was wonderful. Randy had some safety meetings in Denver, so I went along.

Once we got out of Salt Lake, we left the yucky inversion that was making the valley really smoggy and the view of the mountains was great.

We spent a couple of nights with them at their place and attended their church meetings.

Then we also spent a couple of nights in a downtown hotel, since Randy’s work was paying for it.

It had a great view, except for all the buildings that were in the way!

We spent a lot of time getting to know their dog, Ginger – she’s real cute. OK - she looks like Jar-Jar Binks to me... but cuter.

Their Durango wouldn’t start one day, so Jeff had to take it apart. It started right up when he was finished.

I attended an ICS (Incident Command Sytem) meeting a week ago and there will be one this month, also. These are in preparation for an earthquake disaster drill in March for the City of Herriman (our neighborhood is involved in this even though the city limit is 2 blocks from us). A representative from Utah Task Force One will be coordinating it.

I finally got around to doing something with our bathroom that is on the main floor. I wallpapered the walls and put a border at the top.

Randy put a new towel rack and tp holder on the walls. I hope to replace the faucet sometime in the future. I’m still looking for a picture for one wall, but my Book of Mormon Timeline is there for now. People can read it if they have to spend a long time in there!

I took the Blazer into the shop this morning (Monday). It was squeaking so loud in the front end that people could hear me coming from a block away! They were able to fix it by the time I picked Connie up. I guess they had to replace a ball joint. I’ve had to have a few things fixed lately, but I’m amazed at how well it runs even with all the mileage I put on it.

Lastly - CSU has finally received my college transcripts and graduation information, so I can start graduate classes as soon as I secure a school loan and send them the money! I'm excited.

I guess that’s it for this month. I hope all the sweeties have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

2010 Here We Come.....

I haven't blogged in over 2 months, but now that the holidays are behind us, I guess it's time. Last month was busy, as usual for December. I cleaned the church, gave my Mom a perm, had Randy put some body in my limp hair, attended our ward's Christmas brunch, attended Randy's work Christmas party, sang at our Stake's Christmas Night of Music, had the car worked on, took special treats around to the neighbors, visiting teachees, and home teaching families, attended the temple several times, sent most of our Christmas cards by email and the rest by regular mail, finished Christmas shopping (I had MOST of it done in November!), attended a Christmas party at a friends, and sent birthday, wedding and anniversary greetings to several people! Even with all the busyness, we were able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and we were amazed at all the blessings in our lives. Randy even had several weeks of really bad Meniere's disease symptoms, but was still able to join in most of the festivities.

This Saturday Randy and I are flying to Denver. He has Safety meetings and we will get to visit with Ingrid and Jeff for a few days. My wonderful family members are going to make sure that things go smoothly for my mom and sister while we're gone. I'll try to remember to take lots of pictures!

One Holiday down, two to go...

Well, Halloween is over and we have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. I really enjoy the holidays and the holiday spirit, and hopefully this year I'll stay on top of all of it!

Last month seemed just as busy as always, but it seems like there's not as much to write about - I don't know why. Anyway, General Conference was great as usual and I can't wait to get the Conference edition of the Ensign so that I can go over all the talks. I realize that they are published on the internet already, but I'm old, so I don't like to read online! I like to be able to highlight and mark them.

I finished my CERT class and got my certificate in the mail. I can now legally assist emergency personnel during an emergency - in fact, I'm expected to. We are to take care of things at home first, though.

We attended our nephew Jacob's wedding and luncheon one Saturday, which were very nice. That night Randy played at an arts festival with his blues band.

We attended a dinner for the High Priests in our Stake and the speaker that they had afterwards was great. He is one of the counselors at the new temple, and he was so funny. He could have been a professional comedian if he had chosen another route in life. Funny, yet spiritual - wonderful qualities.

I took a tour of the new hospital that is about 5-10 minutes from our house. It is beautiful. It opens for public use tomorrow. That's where we will go now for emergencies - although, hopefully we won't have any!

Randy attended our Stake Conference Priesthood session downtown in the Conference Center. Our Stake was invited to attend there at the Conference Center for our Sunday morning meeting, but we elected to just go to a meeting house broadcast near here instead of fight the crowds. It was enjoyable. That afternoon Randy and I drove up the canyon to see the changing fall colors and I snapped a few pictures.

Guess that's all for now. Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have SO much to be thankful for that it is hard to know where to begin counting blessings.

Aaahhh. . . Autumn

Well, the last day of September brought us only the 4th measureable snowfall in that month since records have been kept here in Utah. It stayed mostly in the mountains, although it snowed at our house but didn’t stick. The weather is supposed to warm up a bit again after today, but we are definitely into Fall.

At the beginning of the month we celebrated Dylan’s 18th birthday! I have no more children – they’re all adults now. That must be some kind of milestone.













Then we celebrated Mom’s 91st birthday in the middle of the month.















Randy has completed his sculpture-mold class and has cast 2 statues of Christ from his mold. He painted one white and the other has a bronze-look. He will take them to display at an art festival on Oct 10th where his blues band is playing. Hopefully he will be able to start selling them. He’s doing one of Joseph Smith, and he already has George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John Lennon. He wanted to do a whole line of music icons, but they have to have been dead over 75 years or so in order to not have to pay exorbitant fees for making a profit on their ‘likeness’.

I have been attending a CERT (community emergency response team) class that is taught by representatives of the fire department. It lasts for 7 weeks and upon completion I will be certified to assist emergency personnel in an emergency. So far, we have had an overview of the CERT program, learned fire safety, and had 2 classes on medical operations. Over the next 3 weeks we will cover light search and rescue operations, disaster and terrorism psychology, and have a disaster simulation where we will use all the skills that we have learned.

I helped Randy build a brick mailbox to replace our old one (green - on left). Neither of us are brick masons, but I think it turned out pretty good. I didn’t protect my fingers at first, though, so I have raw skin on a few of them – ouch.
The capstone was so heavy that it took Randy, Dylan, and two of his friends to move it and place it on top.

My clothes dryer has stopped heating and the heating element and thermostat are both good – so we may have to call in a repairman – ugh.

Jesse has started working at a downtown restaurant called “Row House” that is the nicest restaurant in Topeka, along with his other job. We hope this goes well for him. Tyler is still plugging away at work and school. Heidi moved into an apartment that is halfway between our house and the University of Utah to cut down on her drive-time. She will get a roommate down the line, but is enjoying all the space for now. Ingrid and Jeff are doing the same except that Ingrid got a raise - YEA! Dylan is still trying to find work – he thought he was going to do painting here in town, but he may end up moving to Topeka and doing roofing for his uncle for awhile.

During the last month I also cleaned the church building, cleaned the temple, attended 3 wedding receptions, weeded a few yards for friends, gave Mom a perm, took part in an emergency drill for our city, had the sister missionaries over for dinner, attended the temple several times, and watched the General Relief Society broadcast.

I am excited to watch the General Conference broadcast this weekend. I am always thrilled to listen to the inspired words of our prophet and other leaders, and I feel that there is nothing else in the world that I could be doing during the Conference broadcast that would be better for me or is more important. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am so thankful for the restoration! (PS - after Sunday - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk will blow you away!!)

Happy Birthday this month to Jacob, Zach, Adam, Paige, Ethan, Becky Parry, Jared and Jason! Happy Halloween to all!!