Bathroom Remodel 2

It sure takes a lot of work before progress is really seen. I had no idea it would take so long to do all new plumbing, of course in my mind I was just thinking more cosmetic when it came to remodeling. Dennis was smart in thinking beyond that and wanting all new plumbing. I will be grateful for that in the years ahead. And...redoing the plumbing wasn't just confined to the bathroom. It included the half bath and laundry on the other side of the the wall, and the utility room directly underneath in the basement.

Dennis got some tile from his mom and dad when we were visiting them right after Thanksgiving. He got just enough for the floor and we have been trying to find something to go with it for the shower. We found one tile that sorta went, but the only thing that made it doable was the decorative squares and for just 20 pieces that would have cost over $140.00 and that did not include the so-so tile. He really wanted the tile he got from his dad, but realized it wasn't going to work unless he took a drive to Arizona. So today we looked at other choices and found something that we both liked.

We still have yet to settle on a wood floor for the hallway. Apparently it is not so important now as it was last week to know the depth of the wood floor. I don't understand all of it. Hopefully Steve knows what he is doing.

Can't wait to see what fun things they will work on today. From here on out I will actually see the "cosmetic" changes.

Bathroom Remodel

We have finally started remodeling our main bathroom. It has needed it for many years. It was time for the pink tub and pink flowered, peeling, wallpaper to disappear. We took it down to the studs, which was no easy chore because our house, being made in the 1960's has plaster over sheet rock with chicken wire at all the seams. Dennis did such a good job demoing it with some help from Steve and I. I wanted to help more, but I got sick that day.



Now Steve has been replacing all the old water and drain pipes with all new plastic lines. We got a bonus out of the deal. The utility room is directly underneath and in order to get to the pipes we had to take out all the junk that has been in there since we moved in. We also took down the make shift "sheet rock" some previous owner put up. Steve has moved the water heater and salt water tank to make the room much more functional. We have gained a whole new utility room with a lot of storage space.

Before too much more can be done we have to buy the shower fixtures and decide on what wood floor we want to go in the hallway. At first I thought deciding on what particular wood floor I wanted in the hallway was premature, but when they explained to me that in order for the tile floor in the bathroom to match up with the wood floor in the hallway, they have to know the depth of the wood floor. It has been impossible for Dennis and I to get together and decide on what we both like with our very different and busy schedules. I think tomorrow is the day to make many of these decisions. Now if we can find something we both agree on. Dennis seems to gravitate to the most expensive items, and our budget doesn't allow for that.

I am so glad we were able to redo the bathroom downstairs 2 1/2 years ago so we would be ready when it came time to do the upstairs bath. It takes some pre-thought to make sure I have everything I need to get ready for the day, but at least we have another bathroom.

I am so excited for it to be done and look gorgeous. Then we move on to the living room and hallway. The 80's look has had it's day and it is time for a re-do. I just hope I can stay sane with all the dirt and dust, clutter and upheavel that comes with remodeling.

Elder Patrick and Sister Jennifer Kaeron

Stake Conference was amazing. We went to both the Saturday evening and Sunday morning sessions. Elder Kaeron and his wife Jennifer moved here recently from England. They were awesome speakers. You could really feel the spirit in the room. All of the talks given were very good. I am so glad we went and were spiritually fed.

Where did the week go?

I feel like I have been in a whirlwind. This week has been plain crazy, but crazy in a good way. My typical routine has been like this:

4:45 am Rise and shine (Dennis has to leave for work at 5:45am)
5:00 - 5:45am Fix Dennis' lunch, make fresh squeezed juice, read scriptures with Dennis
5:45 - 6:15am Clean up Dennis' breakfast mess and juice machine, prayer
6:15 - 6:45am Exercise on the wonderful Cellerciser
6:45 - 7:30am Shower, do hair, makeup, and fix my breakfast
7:30 - 7:55am Eat and personal scripture study
7:55 - 8:05am Grab everything I need for the day and leave
8:05 - 8:30am Drive to BYU
8:30 - 1:30pm Train as a missionary - I am going to love this once I get organized
1:30 - 4:30pm Depending on the day Run errands, attend organ class, grocery shopping, shop for comfortable walking shoes
4:30 - 6:00pm Prepare, eat and clean up dinner
6:00 - 9:30pm Depending on the day: church cleaning, Class, Appt w/ Stake President, Homework for online school course, tonight is Cub Scout Round Table
9:30 - 10:00pm Prepare for bed
10:00pm DROP INTO BED to start all over again the next day

I have a sink full of dirty dishes because I haven't had time to wash them for 4 days. My floors are dirty and the furniture is covered with a thick layer of white dust. I have to not think about it so I don't go crazy, and I don't want to go crazy. The dishes will get done tomorrow (I could be doing them right now, but I HAD to check my weeks worth or emails and blogs), the floors and furniture will remain dirty until the bathroom remodel is done.

I think next week will be less busy than this one. I will have a routine more in place and won't have to be at BYU as much. Now I better go fix dinner or we won't eat before going to round table. I hope you are having a good relaxing week. Oh, by the way, have you thought about doing indexing for the church. It is a neat opportunity and pretty fun. Check it out here.

Baby, It's COLD outside

It's freezing cold weather like we've had these past 2 weeks that makes me think Dennis is right when he says we should become snowbirds once he retires. I have (and still do) resist him when he says it, but it would be much nicer than this freezing cold.

We were talking with some ward members while cleaning the church building tonight and they all have snow shoes and said we should get together and go. That would be SO fun! We have only used our snow shoes once since we got them for Christmas a year ago. I love the mountains and the snow and putting both of them together with some good exercise would make for an awesome experience. I can't hardly wait!

So the initial training for the Family History Center is now over. Tomorrow I start the month-long one on one tutoring with a mentor. I am so excited! We were shown all the new and most modern equipment to help people with their genealogy research. When there are no patrons to help, we can work on our own research. I feel like I have died and gone to Heaven.

busy, Busy, BUSY

I was planning on winter 2011 being a much slower pace of life than Jan 2010, but alas, it will not be. Last year I was so busy that I nearly became a basket case. When I was going through my journal New Years Day I was reminded how busy Jan - April was last year and I was tellling myself it would not happen this year. I was going to read and sew and do other crafty things that were relaxing. But what do you do when sitting in church and as the Bishop is reading a list of missionary opportunities, the Spirit whispers that this is for YOU. Two of the items from his list made me quite excited so I checked into them right after church. Now here I am not even a full week later and I have signed up and taken two of three training sessions to be a Family History Missionary at the BYU Family History Library. The other opportunity was to serve at the Provo Humanitarian Center sewing quilts and other items and whatever else needed doing there. It was not a hard choice for me because Family History is a love of mine. I have missed the time I served at our Stake Family History Library several years ago. I tried last year to get back on there, but the time slots they had available did not work with my already very busy schedule then. Now I have the opportunity to serve at the best library West of the Mississippi. I will get to know all the latest and greatest in Family History research, have access to maps, books, histories, microfiche, and all the other cool stuff they have and I can help other people with their family histories too. How cool is that!!! I am SUPER, SUPER, excited. So goodbye to the sedentary life of sewing and crafting, but HELLO FAMILY HISTORY! Can you tell I am just a little excited. Oh, and this is an actual mission. I have to fill out mission papers, have the Bishop and Stake President sign them and agree to serve two 4 1/2 hour days per week for at least one year. No problem, that is as long as the Bishop and Stake President sign the papers.

1-1-11

According to the Chinese, calendar dates with all the same numbers are supposed to be very lucky.

I don't feel that today has been lucky, but it has been a relaxed, low-key kind of day, which I think is what New Years Day is supposed to be. I always felt like New Years Eve and Day were the end of a long, busy holiday season. Hopefully 2011 will be a very good year for our family.

When I woke up this morning I didn't want to get out of bed. I just wanted to relish lying there without having plans, or to do lists to accomplish. I decided it would be a great time to write in my journal some of the good and not so great things that happened in my life during 2010. As I started writing, I realized that I couldn't remember everything or even most anything, that happened, so I started reading my journal to jog my memory. 5 hours later I had nearly finished reading through mid December (and had my memory jogged quite a bit) when Dennis came home early from rabbit hunting with Randy, Steve, Brian and Clay. I'm glad I don't have many days like this, but occasionally it is good to do absolutely nothing, except reminisce, ponder, reflect or meditate.

Here is what I came up with as the best and worst of 2010.
Worst:
1- Dad's death on October 16th.
Even though I have witnessed the Lord's blessings of peace and comfort and reassurance that this was His plan, it has still been very difficult. I miss dad terribly and have felt the hole that he left with every family party or get together. Even simple things like watching my mom leave our house on my birthday and get into her car alone brought me much sorrow. I can't even imagine what it is like for her.

2- The passing of acquaintances.
Several good people died this year that had an influence on my life. Kim Turner an employee of RMWC, the company I am the secretary for. He was such a nice man and I felt sorry for the terrible time he was having going through a divorce and decided that taking his own life was the only way out. Such a waste! Ed's brother Rex Kocherhans. Ed is my boss. I met his brother Rex while on the Stampin' Up! cruise a few years ago. Many of Ed's family went on the cruise and his entire family included Dennis and I in most everything they did. Rex was one of the nicest people and so kind to us. He sang in the Tabernacle Choir. He died suddenly from a staff infection. The saddest was the death of Mrs. Meibos, the mother of our dearest friend Jeanette Dunn. The Meibos and Dunn family have struggled this entire year in taking care of Jeanette's dad who has Parkinson's Disease. The have had someone by his bedside 24/7. At one point Mr. Meibos was able to go home and Mrs. Meibos was trying to take care of him as much as she could, but she fell one day and broke her back. During the surgery to fix her back the doctors cut her spinal cord which released spinal fluid into her brain and she didn't live too long after that. It was extremely sad to see Jeanette and her family suffer through all of this and are still taking care of her father 24/7.

3- Porter getting hit in the face with a baseball bat and having his cheekbone broken, and later breaking his arm at the growth plate near his elbow. Oh, how that poor little boy suffered.



The Best of 2010:
1-My sisters, mom and I growing closer together.

2- Witnessing firsthand the miracles from a loving Heavenly Father.
When dad passed away, I saw many miracles take place. I am extremely grateful for these.

3- Seeing Mark.
We hadn't seen Mark in over 2 years, and didn't plan on seeing him until next summer when Taylor gets baptized. He was able to come home for dad's funeral and it was SO GOOD to have him here with us.

4- Charlotte Mackley.
Another blessing in our life was finding out about Charlotte. With Dennis' life long learning disabilities and the several injuries I sustained to my head years ago, we both have been struggling with different issues. Charlotte is an expert in helping heal the brain and we have enjoyed our time with her. She is such a spiritual giant and I came away every lesson feeling so uplifted even though what we were doing had nothing to do with spiritual learning. It was because of another miracle in our lives we were able to afford going to her. Because of someone running into the back of me in the truck at a stop light we received a "payoff" from the insurance a year later to guarantee that we would not sue them, and consider the matter closed. In my book, the matter had been closed the year before. Heavenly Father certainly works in mysterious ways and blesses our lives so much.

5- Tyler's baptism.
I am so glad my children are raising their children in the gospel. I am so proud of Tyler for wanting to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

6- Starting an exercise class on the Cellerciser.
This was the hardest and most rewarding thing I did. I stress too much over things and often times feel so inadequate. This was one of those times. I loved every minute of exercising with my friends. I hated every minute that I allowed Satan to convince me that I was inadequate and could not make it work. Once everyone quit for their various reasons, I couldn't muster the courage to approach more people. Among some of the reasons were: I really needed a better space than the garage, with winter coming I didn't want to leave the car outside and have to scrape windows, and it would be freezing in the garage - too cold to exercise in. There is not enough space anywhere in the house. The basement doesn't have enough headroom to jump. I couldn't afford to rent space anywhere as I was not charging for the classes. It was amazing to watch the change it made in peoples lives, but hard because I could only commit so many hours a day to exercising, I am after all just one person and can only do so much. Friends couldn't always come to exercise on my time schedule, even though they loved exercising on the Cellerciser.

All in all 2010 was a good year, full of joys and heartaches. That is what life is all about. The important thing is what we learn from all these experiences. Some of the things I have learned are: *That people are important and things are not. *We will see our family again when it is our time to depart this earthly life, but we will not be able to take anything with us except our love, faith and knowledge. *Life is too precious (and too short) to carry grudges, hatred, or bad feelings towards others. *We get so much more out of serving others that we put into it. *Hatred is from Satan and fills the soul with darkness and emptiness. *Love is from God and is POWERFUL and full of light. *My faith, testimony and family are my greatest treasures.

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year!