I was going to do laundry today, but Rich told me not to go downstairs because Someone's Dog had pooped in the basement during the night and he was planning to shampoo the rug when he got home. So no laundry for me today, and I went to the library and out to lunch with Ruthann instead.
Last time I went to the library I couldn't find anything I wanted to read and ended up taking home only two books, one of which was the Jane Heller book and that thing was unreadable. Ugh, tripe. Today was much better and I got a big pile of books and so did Ruthann, and since we first read our own books and then read each others, we have enough books between us to keep us going for a while.
So I read one of my books, Deer Leap by Martha Grimes, and knitted a sock this afternoon. Then I decided to tear out the 6 inches of sock that I knitted and start over, in a different pattern. I cast on 60 sts and did K1P1 for 6 rows and then changed to K4 P1, which is my new favorite pattern for socks. I have about 3 inches done now.
And I'm back at work. But I had a letter from Rachel today and an email from Scott on Monday and posted both of them to their websites, so you can go read them.
PS Walked a mile with Kim. She got mad at me after the first block and stalked ahead of me in a pissy way for a block or two, then she got over it. I'm sick of her teenage attitude.
11:11 p.m. - 2003-04-29
Thursday, January 21, 2010
You took the word and made it heard...
Ruthann told me that she hid out in the library on Sunday instead of going to RS, because she went in late so she could miss the “Missionary Moments” reports, but when she got there, they were still going on, and she couldn’t bear it, so she left again! Hahaha, that cracks me up!! Those Missionary Moments are just an opportunity for one sister to do a commercial for the local rag she writes for, and for all of them to just pat themselves on the back for anytime they got to mention that they were Mormons in front of someone and to say how they just * felt * the person feeling the spirit. Ugh. Oh, am I too cynical? I could mention the missionary moment I had at Verna’s Yarn Shop this week when I told someone I was a Mormon and later I remembered that I had just used the “F” word at least 3 times just prior to that, when I was telling a story about work. Now *there’s* a moment!
Today was my day off and I just slept most of the day, so that was good, except that now I'm up at 3 a.m., so that's not so good. I do have a nice trashy book to read and some knitting to do, so I'm going to go do those very things.
The knitting is the fun little baby sweater that I bought a pattern for when I was at the Fiber Festival on Saturday. The book is something by Jane Heller, but I can't think of the title right now.
3:31 a.m. - 2003-04-29
Today was my day off and I just slept most of the day, so that was good, except that now I'm up at 3 a.m., so that's not so good. I do have a nice trashy book to read and some knitting to do, so I'm going to go do those very things.
The knitting is the fun little baby sweater that I bought a pattern for when I was at the Fiber Festival on Saturday. The book is something by Jane Heller, but I can't think of the title right now.
3:31 a.m. - 2003-04-29
Too many peanut M&Ms
Here's what I'm knitting now:
Socks:
1. Fortissima Colori stripes (red)
2. Forest Green Heather WE
3. Regia "Confetti" cotton
4. Silja Autumn varigated
5. Kroy Dk Blue Lacy pair
I have a couple of half-done sweaters sitting in baskets, but I'm mostly thinking about socks right now.
I bought that cute pattern for a baby sweater at the Fiber Fest yesterday, so I'll probably make that this week, just to try it out.
Diana called me at work tonight, but all I did was complain about everything, just like *Billy No-mates* - OMG, I'm turning into him! No, no, I'm sure it's just because I'm tired, and everything looks worse when you're tired.
After I talked to her, I felt bad for being no fun, so I wrote her an email, and since we had been wondering about it, I suggested some possible answers to the question, "What do Marilyn and Roger do all summer?" I hope that one doesn't get lost in neverland, because sometimes her server burps and she doesn't get mail - I wrote that one from hotmail and it would be lost forever! Diana, if you get it, send it to me so I can post it here!
10:46 p.m. - 2003-04-27
Socks:
1. Fortissima Colori stripes (red)
2. Forest Green Heather WE
3. Regia "Confetti" cotton
4. Silja Autumn varigated
5. Kroy Dk Blue Lacy pair
I have a couple of half-done sweaters sitting in baskets, but I'm mostly thinking about socks right now.
I bought that cute pattern for a baby sweater at the Fiber Fest yesterday, so I'll probably make that this week, just to try it out.
Diana called me at work tonight, but all I did was complain about everything, just like *Billy No-mates* - OMG, I'm turning into him! No, no, I'm sure it's just because I'm tired, and everything looks worse when you're tired.
After I talked to her, I felt bad for being no fun, so I wrote her an email, and since we had been wondering about it, I suggested some possible answers to the question, "What do Marilyn and Roger do all summer?" I hope that one doesn't get lost in neverland, because sometimes her server burps and she doesn't get mail - I wrote that one from hotmail and it would be lost forever! Diana, if you get it, send it to me so I can post it here!
10:46 p.m. - 2003-04-27
Fibrous fondlings
Today was the day of the Fiber Festival! I woke up at about 10 minutes to 2 in the afternoon and had to hurry over to the Festival because I was supposed to meet a friend there at 2. I know the woman taking tickets at the door, and she told me that Teresa had gone ahead and described what she was wearing so I could find her. I really appreciated that, as I am very bad at faces, and I have only met Teresa once before!
We wandered around, and admired the roving, but I don't buy roving because I don't spin. There is always tons of roving, (which is big clouds of unspun wool, FYI) because the Fiber Festival is put together by the Moonspinners spinning guild. There is yarn to be bought, though, and I did buy some. Not as much as I would have liked, owing to a cash flow problem. I had a credit card, and I would have used it, but most of the vendors are small sheep farms and don't take plastic!
I have been a regular at the Fiber Festival, though, so some of the vendors recognize me, and one of them was willing to take a check dated for a week from now, and I bought some wonderful sport weight natural brown wool, enough for a sweater.
Another of the vendors was a bigger one, who does accept Visa, so I got a copy of Vintage Knits, and I wanted some yarn that she had, too, but I got distracted and forgot about it until later, so I didn't buy the yarn. Darn it. Vintage Knits is a book of patterns based on actual patterns from the 40s and 50s, and I've been thinking of buying it for a while.
The other booth I bought from had mostly roving, in wonderful colors, but on one side they had a table with some sweaters made up, and one of them was a really cute baby sweater. The pattern was called Rambling Rows by Cottage Creations, so I bought the booklet for that. I like their patterns - they also wrote the Wonderful Wallaby pattern, and another one that I have made called Tunic for the Family. As I was writing a check for that book, a beautiful basket caught my eye! It was a thin, flexible woven basket that I've seen in some magazine recently and I've been wanting one, so you know I had to buy that, too. I just hope the cats aren't chewing on it as we speak, because it's the kind of basket they think is very tasty. I just thought of that, and I'm going to inspect it carefully in the morning, and some kitty butts will be kicked if there are any signs of chewing.
So that was the extent of my spending. I didn't see anything else that I couldn't live without, but Theresa and I met someone who told us about a yarn store in Rockford that we weren't aware of, so we'll be taking a field trip to check it out! That's two yarn stores that have opened in Rockford recently, where there haven't been any for years!
And now here I am back at work for a 12-hour shift. Ugh. I have something to read, and a sock to knit, but I'm really not happy about being here at all.
11:33 p.m. - 2003-04-26
We wandered around, and admired the roving, but I don't buy roving because I don't spin. There is always tons of roving, (which is big clouds of unspun wool, FYI) because the Fiber Festival is put together by the Moonspinners spinning guild. There is yarn to be bought, though, and I did buy some. Not as much as I would have liked, owing to a cash flow problem. I had a credit card, and I would have used it, but most of the vendors are small sheep farms and don't take plastic!
I have been a regular at the Fiber Festival, though, so some of the vendors recognize me, and one of them was willing to take a check dated for a week from now, and I bought some wonderful sport weight natural brown wool, enough for a sweater.
Another of the vendors was a bigger one, who does accept Visa, so I got a copy of Vintage Knits, and I wanted some yarn that she had, too, but I got distracted and forgot about it until later, so I didn't buy the yarn. Darn it. Vintage Knits is a book of patterns based on actual patterns from the 40s and 50s, and I've been thinking of buying it for a while.
The other booth I bought from had mostly roving, in wonderful colors, but on one side they had a table with some sweaters made up, and one of them was a really cute baby sweater. The pattern was called Rambling Rows by Cottage Creations, so I bought the booklet for that. I like their patterns - they also wrote the Wonderful Wallaby pattern, and another one that I have made called Tunic for the Family. As I was writing a check for that book, a beautiful basket caught my eye! It was a thin, flexible woven basket that I've seen in some magazine recently and I've been wanting one, so you know I had to buy that, too. I just hope the cats aren't chewing on it as we speak, because it's the kind of basket they think is very tasty. I just thought of that, and I'm going to inspect it carefully in the morning, and some kitty butts will be kicked if there are any signs of chewing.
So that was the extent of my spending. I didn't see anything else that I couldn't live without, but Theresa and I met someone who told us about a yarn store in Rockford that we weren't aware of, so we'll be taking a field trip to check it out! That's two yarn stores that have opened in Rockford recently, where there haven't been any for years!
And now here I am back at work for a 12-hour shift. Ugh. I have something to read, and a sock to knit, but I'm really not happy about being here at all.
11:33 p.m. - 2003-04-26
Why I'm a bad mother today
Last night at work I read all of the Older Entries in this journal, and was very amused by some of the older ones. One of them was written about this time last year and said that Scott was home from college and he was picking the mats out of Patsy's fur. I wish he was here now!
Kim actually spent quite a bit of time on the couch with Patsy today, brushing him and snipping some mats. I'm glad someone is doing it. Inger worked on it a little last weekend, too. Every little bit helps!
I am such a bad mother - I hurt Kim's feelings today, and even though I apologized later, she wasn't happy with me. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow. It happened when she was lecturing me about listening to songs with swearing and sex in them ("Take 54" - Harry Nilsson), and I told her that I love the gospel, but I don't want to never have any fun and laughs and listen to dull New Age music, which is what she suggested. She asked if I thought she was dull, and I hesitated, not wanting to say Yes, and she got upset about it.
Well, it's not that she's dull, it's just that she doesn't amuse and entertain me like the other kids did. She's just a different kind of person, and there's nothing wrong with that, I just miss having kids to talk to and laugh with. She's cool and interesting in her own way, though, and I appreciate that.
So other than that, not much happened today. We went shopping to buy a pair of pants for me to wear to work, since my favorite black ones have crotch rot, caused by thighs rubbing together. I bought two tops and a macrame belt for Kim, too, so you'd think she'd be grateful and let the "dull" thing slide. Hmph.
Oh, and Rich came home tonight! His dog was happy to see him, and so were we. He brought home a mug for me and a t-shirt for Kim, along with pamphlets about his fun trip to Universal Studios and a lei from a pool party. I wonder if he attended any classes at the conference?
I finished sock #1`of the *sold* pair, and I'm working on sock #2 tonight!
12:02 a.m. - 2003-04-26
Kim actually spent quite a bit of time on the couch with Patsy today, brushing him and snipping some mats. I'm glad someone is doing it. Inger worked on it a little last weekend, too. Every little bit helps!
I am such a bad mother - I hurt Kim's feelings today, and even though I apologized later, she wasn't happy with me. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow. It happened when she was lecturing me about listening to songs with swearing and sex in them ("Take 54" - Harry Nilsson), and I told her that I love the gospel, but I don't want to never have any fun and laughs and listen to dull New Age music, which is what she suggested. She asked if I thought she was dull, and I hesitated, not wanting to say Yes, and she got upset about it.
Well, it's not that she's dull, it's just that she doesn't amuse and entertain me like the other kids did. She's just a different kind of person, and there's nothing wrong with that, I just miss having kids to talk to and laugh with. She's cool and interesting in her own way, though, and I appreciate that.
So other than that, not much happened today. We went shopping to buy a pair of pants for me to wear to work, since my favorite black ones have crotch rot, caused by thighs rubbing together. I bought two tops and a macrame belt for Kim, too, so you'd think she'd be grateful and let the "dull" thing slide. Hmph.
Oh, and Rich came home tonight! His dog was happy to see him, and so were we. He brought home a mug for me and a t-shirt for Kim, along with pamphlets about his fun trip to Universal Studios and a lei from a pool party. I wonder if he attended any classes at the conference?
I finished sock #1`of the *sold* pair, and I'm working on sock #2 tonight!
12:02 a.m. - 2003-04-26
So the dog peed on the rug...
Since Rich has been gone to his conference, (where he has occupied himself with visiting Universal Studios and playing on the waterslide and soaking in the hot tub at his resort hotel, poor guy, those business trips can really wear you out), I have been taking concientious care of his dog.
This requires feeding, watering, giving it a morning arthritis pill hidden in a piece of cheese, and taking it out to potty in the yard 5 times a day. I have not neglected any of the dog duties, and how does the dog repay my efforts? That's right, it peed on the rug. I'm tired of having pets, and especially the huge worthless dog.
So I dropped Kim off at school this morning, and surprised her by pulling over to the curb to let her out of the car. I only did it because there was a cop right behind me, but I didn't tell her that. I let her think I did it out of love.
When I woke up this afternoon, I went to Verna's to buy a pair of size 3 bamboo double pointed needles (dpns). Today is her open class day, when anyone who wants help with a project can stop in and put 3 dollars in the pot and enjoy knitting (or crocheting) with whoever else is there, and get the help they need from Verna. I sat down just to be sociable and ended up staying for 2 hours because it was a friendly group of people today.
One of the knitters was a nurse from the hospital, and we knew each other very slightly. Another woman turned out to be looking for a job, and has switchboard experience, so we talked about the *very* available positions at the hospital switchboard, and then the nurse offered to buy the socks I was knitting, so it was a good time for everyone.
I feel more optimistic about the Fall Craft Show now - I had my doubts about whether anyone would be interested in buying my stuff!
When I got home I made dinner for Kim and then I took a nap for a couple of hours, but I had a weird dream that was very vivid! I dreamed that I was using a public restroom, and the doors were so low on the stalls that the women who were lined up waiting could see who was in them, and it was really embarrassing because Heidi T., who is the bishop's wife, and Saint Kimela, were both standing in line and looking down at me crouched on the toilet. That was just way too symbolic.
2:39 a.m. - 2003-04-25
This requires feeding, watering, giving it a morning arthritis pill hidden in a piece of cheese, and taking it out to potty in the yard 5 times a day. I have not neglected any of the dog duties, and how does the dog repay my efforts? That's right, it peed on the rug. I'm tired of having pets, and especially the huge worthless dog.
So I dropped Kim off at school this morning, and surprised her by pulling over to the curb to let her out of the car. I only did it because there was a cop right behind me, but I didn't tell her that. I let her think I did it out of love.
When I woke up this afternoon, I went to Verna's to buy a pair of size 3 bamboo double pointed needles (dpns). Today is her open class day, when anyone who wants help with a project can stop in and put 3 dollars in the pot and enjoy knitting (or crocheting) with whoever else is there, and get the help they need from Verna. I sat down just to be sociable and ended up staying for 2 hours because it was a friendly group of people today.
One of the knitters was a nurse from the hospital, and we knew each other very slightly. Another woman turned out to be looking for a job, and has switchboard experience, so we talked about the *very* available positions at the hospital switchboard, and then the nurse offered to buy the socks I was knitting, so it was a good time for everyone.
I feel more optimistic about the Fall Craft Show now - I had my doubts about whether anyone would be interested in buying my stuff!
When I got home I made dinner for Kim and then I took a nap for a couple of hours, but I had a weird dream that was very vivid! I dreamed that I was using a public restroom, and the doors were so low on the stalls that the women who were lined up waiting could see who was in them, and it was really embarrassing because Heidi T., who is the bishop's wife, and Saint Kimela, were both standing in line and looking down at me crouched on the toilet. That was just way too symbolic.
2:39 a.m. - 2003-04-25
And I did the dishes, too!
Day Two of driving Kim to school in the morning. The traffic in front of the school is stop and go in the morning as parents drop off kids, so when it stops in front of the door she likes to use, I tell her to jump out. Today she said that Dad usually pulls over to the curb, and I said I don't care what he does, get out. She just laughed and jumped out.
I went home and fell into bed, didn't even need my relaxation CD this morning to go to sleep. I woke up at 1:30 and went downstairs to turn on the computer and I talked to Rich for a few minutes as he was online with MSN messenger.
Later when I went back to check my mail, the internet connection was lost and I did the one or two things that I know how to do to start it up again, but they didn't work! AAUGH! I called our service provider and went through steps with the help desk person, a guy named Paul whose voice was vaguely familiar. As we worked together to get my connection back, we found that we knew each other from when he worked at the hospital as the night housekeeping supervisor. Apparently, computers have been his hobby. I only wish they had been his career, because he really wasn't helpful. He said he would have someone call me later who was familiar with DSL, but no one ever did! The bastards.
I left a whiny message on Rich's cell phone, and he called me back later and told me what to do, so YAY!! I got my internet connection back! He's my systems administrator.
I went back to bed for a couple of hours, and then Kim woke me up to drive her to YW. Ruthann works in the library on Wednesday nights, and she usually brings Kim home after YW.
I called Diana but my precious baby Neil (or maybe it was MPB Nick) said that she was visiting teaching, so that motivated me to make a phone call to the last person on my VT list that I haven't contacted this month. (I don't usually care about VT, but I have a new companion who is All About It.)
The woman I called, Sheri, has been on the diet that I started and then got tired of, for about 4 months and has lost 35 lbs, so we talked about that and she got me all excited about it again. It's the one that The Mommies advertise, and it has the relaxation CDs (it's hypnosis, people). So I packed the right stuff to eat at work tonight, and I'm going to make more of an effort to stay on it this time.
While I was talking to Sheri, I had a beep indicating that there was another call, but since I was *doing* my VT, I ignored it, thinking it must be a telemarketer anyway. Later when Kim got home, she said that Ruthann wasn't in the library tonight and she tried to call but there was no answer, so she got a ride home with someone else and told them I must be sleeping. So I look like a bad mother.
I'm working on a dark green heather Woolease sock on size 3 needles, which give me about 6 sts to the inch. I only have 4 size 3 needles with me, and I prefer to use 5, so I am faking it with a size 2 needle that I found in the bottom of my sock bag. I think I'll go to Verna's and buy another pair of size 3 bamboo needles tomorrow. I like the 6 inch length for these socks.
The pattern is a simple one that I saw on someone's knitting blog, and I adapted it for me. You do K1P1 ribbing for 6 or 7 rows and then K4P1 on the body of the sock. I just think it looks nice. The pattern I saw used a different heel pattern than the one I like to use, so I use my regular "Flat Iron" heel shaping, because I can do it out of my head.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I watched Monsoon Wedding and I really liked it. It was a nice happy movie, much like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I'm sure I'm not the first to call it My Big Fat Hindu Wedding.
11:32 p.m. - 2003-04-23
I went home and fell into bed, didn't even need my relaxation CD this morning to go to sleep. I woke up at 1:30 and went downstairs to turn on the computer and I talked to Rich for a few minutes as he was online with MSN messenger.
Later when I went back to check my mail, the internet connection was lost and I did the one or two things that I know how to do to start it up again, but they didn't work! AAUGH! I called our service provider and went through steps with the help desk person, a guy named Paul whose voice was vaguely familiar. As we worked together to get my connection back, we found that we knew each other from when he worked at the hospital as the night housekeeping supervisor. Apparently, computers have been his hobby. I only wish they had been his career, because he really wasn't helpful. He said he would have someone call me later who was familiar with DSL, but no one ever did! The bastards.
I left a whiny message on Rich's cell phone, and he called me back later and told me what to do, so YAY!! I got my internet connection back! He's my systems administrator.
I went back to bed for a couple of hours, and then Kim woke me up to drive her to YW. Ruthann works in the library on Wednesday nights, and she usually brings Kim home after YW.
I called Diana but my precious baby Neil (or maybe it was MPB Nick) said that she was visiting teaching, so that motivated me to make a phone call to the last person on my VT list that I haven't contacted this month. (I don't usually care about VT, but I have a new companion who is All About It.)
The woman I called, Sheri, has been on the diet that I started and then got tired of, for about 4 months and has lost 35 lbs, so we talked about that and she got me all excited about it again. It's the one that The Mommies advertise, and it has the relaxation CDs (it's hypnosis, people). So I packed the right stuff to eat at work tonight, and I'm going to make more of an effort to stay on it this time.
While I was talking to Sheri, I had a beep indicating that there was another call, but since I was *doing* my VT, I ignored it, thinking it must be a telemarketer anyway. Later when Kim got home, she said that Ruthann wasn't in the library tonight and she tried to call but there was no answer, so she got a ride home with someone else and told them I must be sleeping. So I look like a bad mother.
I'm working on a dark green heather Woolease sock on size 3 needles, which give me about 6 sts to the inch. I only have 4 size 3 needles with me, and I prefer to use 5, so I am faking it with a size 2 needle that I found in the bottom of my sock bag. I think I'll go to Verna's and buy another pair of size 3 bamboo needles tomorrow. I like the 6 inch length for these socks.
The pattern is a simple one that I saw on someone's knitting blog, and I adapted it for me. You do K1P1 ribbing for 6 or 7 rows and then K4P1 on the body of the sock. I just think it looks nice. The pattern I saw used a different heel pattern than the one I like to use, so I use my regular "Flat Iron" heel shaping, because I can do it out of my head.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I watched Monsoon Wedding and I really liked it. It was a nice happy movie, much like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I'm sure I'm not the first to call it My Big Fat Hindu Wedding.
11:32 p.m. - 2003-04-23
The longest 3 hours of my life
Rich got up at 2:30 this morning to leave for a business trip, so I had to get up at 7 to drive Kim to school. It was so cold outside!
When I got home, I took the dog out to potty and had to put on my mittens, because I was *freezing*! I went back to bed and slept on top of the covers, with an afghan over me, but I kept waking up, shivering, so finally I crawled under the comforter, and slept until noon.
I had to take Kim to her Spring Concert tonight, ugh. That's three hours of my life that I'll never get back. I took my knitting, and at the last minute I threw a book into my purse, too. I was so glad I did! Reading that book got me through the last hour and a half of the concert, and when Kim's orchestra had finished, there was one more group to sit through, but my head was pounding and I could not stay there one more minute.
I was sitting on the aisle, so I slipped out and went to the lobby, hoping to be able to find Kim, and there she was, just coming out! I begged her to leave, and she looked around for her teacher, but didn't see her, so she just left. She told me later that tomorrow she'll tell her teacher that I had a headache and forced her to leave. I bet her teacher didn't even notice she was gone.
So here I am back at work, and Kim is home sleeping in my bed next to the phone. She said she isn't afraid to sleep in the house by herself, but if she changes her mind, she can sleep at Ruthann's tomorrow and Thursday.
1:24 a.m. - 2003-04-23
When I got home, I took the dog out to potty and had to put on my mittens, because I was *freezing*! I went back to bed and slept on top of the covers, with an afghan over me, but I kept waking up, shivering, so finally I crawled under the comforter, and slept until noon.
I had to take Kim to her Spring Concert tonight, ugh. That's three hours of my life that I'll never get back. I took my knitting, and at the last minute I threw a book into my purse, too. I was so glad I did! Reading that book got me through the last hour and a half of the concert, and when Kim's orchestra had finished, there was one more group to sit through, but my head was pounding and I could not stay there one more minute.
I was sitting on the aisle, so I slipped out and went to the lobby, hoping to be able to find Kim, and there she was, just coming out! I begged her to leave, and she looked around for her teacher, but didn't see her, so she just left. She told me later that tomorrow she'll tell her teacher that I had a headache and forced her to leave. I bet her teacher didn't even notice she was gone.
So here I am back at work, and Kim is home sleeping in my bed next to the phone. She said she isn't afraid to sleep in the house by herself, but if she changes her mind, she can sleep at Ruthann's tomorrow and Thursday.
1:24 a.m. - 2003-04-23
Inger's here!
I was a little early for my hair appointment today, so I went next door to Ben Franklin and bought a ball of light pink heather Woolease and started knitting a sock on a set of size 3 dpns (they might be size 2, I didn't check) that were in my purse. I worked on the sock all afternoon, just because WE is pleasant to knit with and I liked the color, but I forgot to bring it to work with me. I have a Regia cotton sock in my purse that I can probably finish up tonight.
So I got my hair done, and my eyebrows waxed and now I'm glamorous again.
I made a roast in the crockpot today - I put it in the crockpot when I got home from work this morning, and when I woke up this afternoon my house smelled so good! I made a pot of rice and baked a frozen cherry pie, because Inger was supposed to get to our house around dinnertime.
She got here later than she expected to, so they had already eaten on the road, but I had a wonderful dinner and no one has eaten any of the pie yet.
Kim and Kate were upstairs giggling in the bathroom when I left. Some of Kim's friends are coming over to have a little Gameboy Gathering tomorrow, and I think we'll let the girls dye eggs after the friends go home.
Hmm, that means Someone will have to boil the eggs and buy some food coloring.
12:11 a.m. - 2003-04-19
So I got my hair done, and my eyebrows waxed and now I'm glamorous again.
I made a roast in the crockpot today - I put it in the crockpot when I got home from work this morning, and when I woke up this afternoon my house smelled so good! I made a pot of rice and baked a frozen cherry pie, because Inger was supposed to get to our house around dinnertime.
She got here later than she expected to, so they had already eaten on the road, but I had a wonderful dinner and no one has eaten any of the pie yet.
Kim and Kate were upstairs giggling in the bathroom when I left. Some of Kim's friends are coming over to have a little Gameboy Gathering tomorrow, and I think we'll let the girls dye eggs after the friends go home.
Hmm, that means Someone will have to boil the eggs and buy some food coloring.
12:11 a.m. - 2003-04-19
She's back!
I was writing an entry in my head last night at work while I read knitting blogs, but I never got as far as writing it in an entry. Hmm, now I can't remember what I was going to write it about.
I'm knitting:
1. The second sock of a pair of solid gray Opal socks; I'm down to the toe shaping, having knitted 3 inches of the foot in the car on the way to Chicago tonight.
2. The first sock of a pair of Regia Cotton variegated socks in bright pastels. I'm calling them Confetti socks because that's what they look like to me.
I'm watching:
This week I watched 3 movies from Netflix and two of them were terrible. I mean they tore a hole in the fabric of...that thing that Mr. Cranky used to say.
The first one was called Under One Roof, an indie film about a gay asian man living with his mom and grandma who falls in love with the guy renting their downstairs apartment. The acting was so terribly wooden that even the sight of many naked men did not entice me to keep watching this movie. Even the nudity was boring. I watched about 20 minutes of it and could not bear one more second.
So then I watched Diner, because I thought I had never seen it. It's a good movie, but I remembered later that I did watch it before. It was fun to see how young all of the stars look in the movie. Paul Reiser looks the same 20 years ago, so apparently he was born looking 40. It must have made him stand out in kindergarten, though.
I don't know what posessed me to get 40 Days and 40 Nights, because I remember thinking it looked like crap when it first came out. Guess what? I was right, it was absolutely terrible. I watched probably 40 minutes of it, maybe a little more, but finally I couldn't watch anymore. I turned it off and sat on the couch, knitting and watching the preview channel. It was better than the movie, and I mean both the story and the acting!
I'm reading:
Tonight I went to Chicago with Linda and Dave Ellefson and we listened to an audiobook that I brought to entertain us on the drive (2 hours each way). It was Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers. I love her writing, and this is one of my favorites because of Miss Climpson. Her handwritten reports on her detective work are hilarious.
I'm at work now and I'm going to read some of the Book of Mormon commentary on Brant Gardner's LDS Topics website. I'm really enjoying it and I read a little every night that I work. Later I'll go to the Project Gutenberg website and read a book online. I'm reading all of the P.G. Wodehouse books that they have on the site.
1:40 a.m. - 2003-04-18
I'm knitting:
1. The second sock of a pair of solid gray Opal socks; I'm down to the toe shaping, having knitted 3 inches of the foot in the car on the way to Chicago tonight.
2. The first sock of a pair of Regia Cotton variegated socks in bright pastels. I'm calling them Confetti socks because that's what they look like to me.
I'm watching:
This week I watched 3 movies from Netflix and two of them were terrible. I mean they tore a hole in the fabric of...that thing that Mr. Cranky used to say.
The first one was called Under One Roof, an indie film about a gay asian man living with his mom and grandma who falls in love with the guy renting their downstairs apartment. The acting was so terribly wooden that even the sight of many naked men did not entice me to keep watching this movie. Even the nudity was boring. I watched about 20 minutes of it and could not bear one more second.
So then I watched Diner, because I thought I had never seen it. It's a good movie, but I remembered later that I did watch it before. It was fun to see how young all of the stars look in the movie. Paul Reiser looks the same 20 years ago, so apparently he was born looking 40. It must have made him stand out in kindergarten, though.
I don't know what posessed me to get 40 Days and 40 Nights, because I remember thinking it looked like crap when it first came out. Guess what? I was right, it was absolutely terrible. I watched probably 40 minutes of it, maybe a little more, but finally I couldn't watch anymore. I turned it off and sat on the couch, knitting and watching the preview channel. It was better than the movie, and I mean both the story and the acting!
I'm reading:
Tonight I went to Chicago with Linda and Dave Ellefson and we listened to an audiobook that I brought to entertain us on the drive (2 hours each way). It was Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers. I love her writing, and this is one of my favorites because of Miss Climpson. Her handwritten reports on her detective work are hilarious.
I'm at work now and I'm going to read some of the Book of Mormon commentary on Brant Gardner's LDS Topics website. I'm really enjoying it and I read a little every night that I work. Later I'll go to the Project Gutenberg website and read a book online. I'm reading all of the P.G. Wodehouse books that they have on the site.
1:40 a.m. - 2003-04-18
Whine whine whine
Here's why I am a bad person today - Billy No-mates IM'd me and was whining like he always does, about the same old crap and I am just so sick of listening to it, because nothing I say, nothing I can do is going to change his life until he gets off of his tubby ass and changes himself!
So I tried to be cheerful and whatnot because I didn't want to get sucked into an endless spiral of how his life sucks and this town sucks and he hates his parents and his job and everything else that is conspiring to make his life terrible, because it's all everyone elses fault, the schools here, his parents, the people he works with, they are all making his life terrible and they have all made him into the boring little insecure person he is, and then he started whining about buying a gun, when I doubt that he can even afford a gun, having spent all of his money on porn, and I said, "Oh for craps sake, why don't you go to a chat room and have a meaningless cybersex encounter? It will give you something to do and some semi-human contact!" So then he went offline. The little bastard.
I feel bad about it that I blew him off, but he is sucking the life out of me, and Leslie, his only other friend, feels the same way. We suggest things for him to do, I've invited him over here to eat dinner and play games, but he just wants to go back to his apartment and mope around by himself, and I can't do anything to make his life better and I'm tired of being frustrated and BORED listening to him!!
I have spent plenty of hours whining about my life to other people, who have been kind enough to listen, and I have spent time listening to other people whine about theirs, and I don't mind, I don't mind listening to how miserable my friends are, and I am a good listener and a good cheerleader if your life sucks and you want to cry about it, but most people eventually get over it! They are embarrassed not to! He is not even willing to try to do anything to make himself happier, or if not happier, to at least get out of the house! I'm sick of listening to it!
Whew! I think I'm feeling better now.
9:16 p.m. - 2003-02-16
So I tried to be cheerful and whatnot because I didn't want to get sucked into an endless spiral of how his life sucks and this town sucks and he hates his parents and his job and everything else that is conspiring to make his life terrible, because it's all everyone elses fault, the schools here, his parents, the people he works with, they are all making his life terrible and they have all made him into the boring little insecure person he is, and then he started whining about buying a gun, when I doubt that he can even afford a gun, having spent all of his money on porn, and I said, "Oh for craps sake, why don't you go to a chat room and have a meaningless cybersex encounter? It will give you something to do and some semi-human contact!" So then he went offline. The little bastard.
I feel bad about it that I blew him off, but he is sucking the life out of me, and Leslie, his only other friend, feels the same way. We suggest things for him to do, I've invited him over here to eat dinner and play games, but he just wants to go back to his apartment and mope around by himself, and I can't do anything to make his life better and I'm tired of being frustrated and BORED listening to him!!
I have spent plenty of hours whining about my life to other people, who have been kind enough to listen, and I have spent time listening to other people whine about theirs, and I don't mind, I don't mind listening to how miserable my friends are, and I am a good listener and a good cheerleader if your life sucks and you want to cry about it, but most people eventually get over it! They are embarrassed not to! He is not even willing to try to do anything to make himself happier, or if not happier, to at least get out of the house! I'm sick of listening to it!
Whew! I think I'm feeling better now.
9:16 p.m. - 2003-02-16
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sickness nie unto death
15 May, 2002
Hi Mooks –
I talked to Erin today on MSN and she says that JD came to SLC to visit her! She said they went to Temple Square and also hiked up into the mountains and he loved it. I told her that you said Jason has only written to you once since you’ve been in Argentina, and she said that he tells her how much he misses you and that he writes to you all the time! That must be in his head.
She also said that JD broke up with Stephanie because he didn’t see a future with her and then she went psycho and started talking about him behind his back to his friends and to HEATHER, who reported it back to JD because they could not have a more twisted relationship. Now JD apparently wants to get back together with Stephanie because he misses her (or the frequent sex). What a weirdo. I think he is as much of a drama queen as Heather.
Dad has been really sick this week, so sick, in fact that he was talking about seeing a doctor, and you know that is very sick indeed. Well now I’ve got it and I had a miserable night!! I sneezed about 300 times at work yesterday and now my ribs are so sore I can hardly breathe, and my nose was running and running all night, and that and a fever kept me awake most of the night – along with the freaky delirious dreams I was having!
I napped on and off all morning and I vaguely remember getting a phone call from Karin, who was in Freeport, and I think she was hoping to come by and get some yarn to work on the sweater I’m helping her with, but I told her I was too sick. I didn’t even want to get up and pass some yarn through the door to her. Then later I had a call from US Cellular, wanting me to pay my bill and I told her I was too sick to get up and get a check to pay it over the phone and I would call later. She was a little testy about that!
Dad took the day off yesterday and today he went in this morning, but he came home and went to bed in the afternoon. I got up at noon and took some Advil about 12:30 and I couldn’t see how I could possibly come to work today, but there was really no one else to work. So Barb said she was staying until 4 today and I just stayed home until then. I laid on the couch and watched Scott play Zelda, and by 3:30 I felt almost human, so here I am. If I keep taking Advil, and don’t let it wear off, I should be able to work. …sigh…
So that’s pretty much all the news for today. If anything else happens, I’ll let you know.
1:42 p.m. - 2002-05-15
Hi Mooks –
I talked to Erin today on MSN and she says that JD came to SLC to visit her! She said they went to Temple Square and also hiked up into the mountains and he loved it. I told her that you said Jason has only written to you once since you’ve been in Argentina, and she said that he tells her how much he misses you and that he writes to you all the time! That must be in his head.
She also said that JD broke up with Stephanie because he didn’t see a future with her and then she went psycho and started talking about him behind his back to his friends and to HEATHER, who reported it back to JD because they could not have a more twisted relationship. Now JD apparently wants to get back together with Stephanie because he misses her (or the frequent sex). What a weirdo. I think he is as much of a drama queen as Heather.
Dad has been really sick this week, so sick, in fact that he was talking about seeing a doctor, and you know that is very sick indeed. Well now I’ve got it and I had a miserable night!! I sneezed about 300 times at work yesterday and now my ribs are so sore I can hardly breathe, and my nose was running and running all night, and that and a fever kept me awake most of the night – along with the freaky delirious dreams I was having!
I napped on and off all morning and I vaguely remember getting a phone call from Karin, who was in Freeport, and I think she was hoping to come by and get some yarn to work on the sweater I’m helping her with, but I told her I was too sick. I didn’t even want to get up and pass some yarn through the door to her. Then later I had a call from US Cellular, wanting me to pay my bill and I told her I was too sick to get up and get a check to pay it over the phone and I would call later. She was a little testy about that!
Dad took the day off yesterday and today he went in this morning, but he came home and went to bed in the afternoon. I got up at noon and took some Advil about 12:30 and I couldn’t see how I could possibly come to work today, but there was really no one else to work. So Barb said she was staying until 4 today and I just stayed home until then. I laid on the couch and watched Scott play Zelda, and by 3:30 I felt almost human, so here I am. If I keep taking Advil, and don’t let it wear off, I should be able to work. …sigh…
So that’s pretty much all the news for today. If anything else happens, I’ll let you know.
1:42 p.m. - 2002-05-15
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
18 May, 2002
Hi Mooks,
I just watched a terrible movie with Scott, it was so awful, even I was sick of it before it was over. So then Kim and I went for a walk around Lincoln, Saxby and Stephenson, then back to our house. I used my inhaler before I left the house, but I was still gasping for breath. It’s because I’ve been sick. Scott and Dad are still not quite well, too. They are both taking antibiotics, and they’re resting this weekend, including not going to church tomorrow, since it’s Stake Conference in DeKalb, and I have to work tonight, so we’re all staying home and sleeping in. Last week Kim and Scott both scheduled appts with the bish for after church today, but the secretary must have forgotten that it was conference today, so of course they won’t be meeting with him. Darn! We’ll have to wait another week or more now.
19 May, 2002
I just woke up and ate a Jello Pudding in a little cup. It was fat-free Devil’s food and it was very good. Dad did the dishes this morning and now he is frying chicken strips. Scott just got out of the shower and is wearing a sweater I knitted, and he’s putting on his karate booties, I think just to wear as slippers and keep his feet warm. Oh, Scott has a job at Newell, doing some kind of factory work, and he starts Tuesday. He got it through Spherion, which used to be Interim.
Scott has somehow managed to work his cat-charms on Zorro, who lets Scott dance him around and pet him now. Right now they are on the floor next to me in the den, sitting next to the heat vent (it’s a dampish, cold day), and Zorro is purring while Scott reads. Kim is practicing the harp, so it’s all peaceful here.
Scott was supposed to go see the new Star Wars movie this week with Preston, Seth and Natalie Johnson, but that was the night I had to take him to the ER for his ear and sinus infections, so he missed it. We might go as a family trip on Monday, maybe to a Matinee if there is one, because it’s cheaper!
Later:
Kim and I went for a walk and talked a little about her personal progress award goals. She is going to help do some cooking and meal planning this summer, and learn to bake bread. We talked about a story we would like to write, but we just have a few ideas, nothing major.
I have been knitting a few rows on the everlasting Nagano sweater today, mostly in an effort to get it off the needles so that I can go on to some other things. I noticed it felt kind of stiff and hard in some areas, and finally Kim admitted to spilling some “juice” on it, which I think means Schwan’s blue juice. I accused her of spilling milk on it, but she says she didn’t. Anyway, it needs to be washed! So I’m going to push myself to work on it more so I can finish it and wash it!!
Scott is playing Zelda in the living room and it’s just too boring to watch while I knit, so I put away the knitting for today. I’m also working on some cute socks for me and the other Dale sweater. I also got out the cotton sweater I started for you a while ago, the one with the big cable up the front. I finished the front and back of it and I need to do the sleeves. I’m thinking of knitting a short-sleeved cotton sweater for you like the ones (3!) I made for Kim. They’re easy and fast and look very cute! AND I saw them in the Eddie Bauer catalog, almost the same thing!!
Speaking of Eddie Bauer, I was thinking about ordering a dress and skirt to send you, but I’ll need to talk to them about it. I’ve just heard so many horror stories about mailing things to the missionaries in S. America, I’m very apprehensive about it.
Monday
20 May 2002
Boohead,
Scott went to his interview and drug screen for the job at Newell, so I am just sitting here in front of the computer, wasting time reading E! online gossip about movies and TV.
One of the things I read today said that the new Harry Potter book won’t be out until 2003, which is disappointing.
So I don’t have anything interesting planned for today. When Scott gets back we need to go buy cat litter, and maybe I’ll call Ruthann to see what she has planned. We still have a Netflix movie to watch – Good Will Hunting. I hope it’s crap, because we’re on a streak.
Later boo-
Mumsy
1:40 p.m. - 2002-05-18
Hi Mooks,
I just watched a terrible movie with Scott, it was so awful, even I was sick of it before it was over. So then Kim and I went for a walk around Lincoln, Saxby and Stephenson, then back to our house. I used my inhaler before I left the house, but I was still gasping for breath. It’s because I’ve been sick. Scott and Dad are still not quite well, too. They are both taking antibiotics, and they’re resting this weekend, including not going to church tomorrow, since it’s Stake Conference in DeKalb, and I have to work tonight, so we’re all staying home and sleeping in. Last week Kim and Scott both scheduled appts with the bish for after church today, but the secretary must have forgotten that it was conference today, so of course they won’t be meeting with him. Darn! We’ll have to wait another week or more now.
19 May, 2002
I just woke up and ate a Jello Pudding in a little cup. It was fat-free Devil’s food and it was very good. Dad did the dishes this morning and now he is frying chicken strips. Scott just got out of the shower and is wearing a sweater I knitted, and he’s putting on his karate booties, I think just to wear as slippers and keep his feet warm. Oh, Scott has a job at Newell, doing some kind of factory work, and he starts Tuesday. He got it through Spherion, which used to be Interim.
Scott has somehow managed to work his cat-charms on Zorro, who lets Scott dance him around and pet him now. Right now they are on the floor next to me in the den, sitting next to the heat vent (it’s a dampish, cold day), and Zorro is purring while Scott reads. Kim is practicing the harp, so it’s all peaceful here.
Scott was supposed to go see the new Star Wars movie this week with Preston, Seth and Natalie Johnson, but that was the night I had to take him to the ER for his ear and sinus infections, so he missed it. We might go as a family trip on Monday, maybe to a Matinee if there is one, because it’s cheaper!
Later:
Kim and I went for a walk and talked a little about her personal progress award goals. She is going to help do some cooking and meal planning this summer, and learn to bake bread. We talked about a story we would like to write, but we just have a few ideas, nothing major.
I have been knitting a few rows on the everlasting Nagano sweater today, mostly in an effort to get it off the needles so that I can go on to some other things. I noticed it felt kind of stiff and hard in some areas, and finally Kim admitted to spilling some “juice” on it, which I think means Schwan’s blue juice. I accused her of spilling milk on it, but she says she didn’t. Anyway, it needs to be washed! So I’m going to push myself to work on it more so I can finish it and wash it!!
Scott is playing Zelda in the living room and it’s just too boring to watch while I knit, so I put away the knitting for today. I’m also working on some cute socks for me and the other Dale sweater. I also got out the cotton sweater I started for you a while ago, the one with the big cable up the front. I finished the front and back of it and I need to do the sleeves. I’m thinking of knitting a short-sleeved cotton sweater for you like the ones (3!) I made for Kim. They’re easy and fast and look very cute! AND I saw them in the Eddie Bauer catalog, almost the same thing!!
Speaking of Eddie Bauer, I was thinking about ordering a dress and skirt to send you, but I’ll need to talk to them about it. I’ve just heard so many horror stories about mailing things to the missionaries in S. America, I’m very apprehensive about it.
Monday
20 May 2002
Boohead,
Scott went to his interview and drug screen for the job at Newell, so I am just sitting here in front of the computer, wasting time reading E! online gossip about movies and TV.
One of the things I read today said that the new Harry Potter book won’t be out until 2003, which is disappointing.
So I don’t have anything interesting planned for today. When Scott gets back we need to go buy cat litter, and maybe I’ll call Ruthann to see what she has planned. We still have a Netflix movie to watch – Good Will Hunting. I hope it’s crap, because we’re on a streak.
Later boo-
Mumsy
1:40 p.m. - 2002-05-18
Mother's Day
12 May, 2002
Dear Mookaburra,
I was so happy to get your call today! I wish I had gotten the email telling me to expect it, because I was very down, thinking that you wouldn’t be calling. It was hard to go to church, knowing that people would be asking if we were excited to hear from you, but fortunately, not too many people mentioned it. Sister McD was going around inviting people over to talk to David from a list he sent her of his friends, so after your call, Scott went to David’s house.
Ryan Hamer is home from his mission and apparently he is home a few months early, but was honorable discharged, so I don’t know what that is about. I’ll have to ask Shelley, I’m sure she’ll know. Preston Johnson is home and looking very heavy and older, I swear he looks at least 30; I didn’t even recognize him at first. Joel was at church today and he asked about you, and he asked Scott more later when he saw him at David’s. I’ll give him the URL for your website so he can read your letters if he wants to.
For Mother’s Day Kim gave me a hideous terrarium that she made on a field trip with her science class – it looks like a bottle of dirt! Scott made a very funny Mother’s Day card when he was helping Nancy with a primary class – it points out that mother spiders eat their young!
So we got a new Bishop and counselors today, Anthony Thompson is the bish, and Mark Hamer is the first counselor, Hugh Hardie is the second. We were spared the gushy Mother’s Day talks because all the incoming and outgoing bishopric people and some of their wives were bearing their testimonies.
I should have made a list of questions to ask you when you called, but I was pretty sure you weren’t going to call, so I didn’t. I feel like a bad mother for talking about myself so much, but I’m very excited about your baptism today, and it’s amusing that you and your companion dumped your investigators and are looking for new ones! I’m so proud of you, and I know you are doing an excellent job. How are things going with your neighbors?
Scott and I are being very lazy slugs. We keep saying that we’re going to get up in the morning and read our scriptures, but then we don’t get up until 10:30 or 11:00, and we don’t read our scriptures, we sit on our lazy bums and watch crappy movies. We have watched at least a dozen movies in the two weeks he’s been home! We’re terrible! We do put in a load of wash occasionally, and this week I am determined to paint the upstairs bathroom!
Kim is just being the most organized, conscientious little student ever, and she packs her bag and plans her homework in the cutest way. She is getting so cute, too, wait until you see her. When I take pictures of Scott in his suit next week, I’ll take a picture of Kim for you, too.
Scott and I are going to be making some sushi tomorrow. We found a few sheets of Nori in the cupboard, and we bought cucumber, avocados and crab. We need to go to Rockford and find an asian grocery so we can get more nori. Oh, today Sister West came up to me at church and said that her mother is coming to visit from Hong Kong and she said that when her mom is here she will invite me over for lunch!
Well I am going to pause here and finish this tomorrow. I’m at work and I want to read my book and knit. I’m making a pair of socks that I plan to give to Ruthann.
13 May 2002
Boobaby,
After I talked to you yesterday, I sent a note to my sisters, Sarah, Inger, and Diana, and also one to Kevin, to tell them I talked to you and he wrote back and told me about his weekend helping out at the Nauvoo temple. He is so darn cool! I’m enclosing a copy of his letter for you, and he says in it that he is writing to you. He’s a good boy.
I worked last night and it was long and boring. I finished the book I was reading, and one of the socks I was knitting, but I didn’t like the second book I brought, so I ended up playing solitaire for two hours until Nadine came in.
Scott is in the living room playing a video game, and he put a roast in the crockpot this morning so it smells great in there. He also went downstairs to put in a load of clothes. I hope he gets interested in getting a job, because I can’t believe he isn’t bored doing nothing. I want him to start painting the upstairs bathroom this week, so that will be a start.
Well things are so boring here that I haven’t got much too say, so I’ll just send this letter and Kevin’s. I’ll try to get out this week and have an adventure to make my letters more interesting.
Are you having any problems because of the economic problems in Argentina? Some of the missionaries in other areas are reporting food and money shortages!
Love you
1:34 p.m. - 2002-05-12
Dear Mookaburra,
I was so happy to get your call today! I wish I had gotten the email telling me to expect it, because I was very down, thinking that you wouldn’t be calling. It was hard to go to church, knowing that people would be asking if we were excited to hear from you, but fortunately, not too many people mentioned it. Sister McD was going around inviting people over to talk to David from a list he sent her of his friends, so after your call, Scott went to David’s house.
Ryan Hamer is home from his mission and apparently he is home a few months early, but was honorable discharged, so I don’t know what that is about. I’ll have to ask Shelley, I’m sure she’ll know. Preston Johnson is home and looking very heavy and older, I swear he looks at least 30; I didn’t even recognize him at first. Joel was at church today and he asked about you, and he asked Scott more later when he saw him at David’s. I’ll give him the URL for your website so he can read your letters if he wants to.
For Mother’s Day Kim gave me a hideous terrarium that she made on a field trip with her science class – it looks like a bottle of dirt! Scott made a very funny Mother’s Day card when he was helping Nancy with a primary class – it points out that mother spiders eat their young!
So we got a new Bishop and counselors today, Anthony Thompson is the bish, and Mark Hamer is the first counselor, Hugh Hardie is the second. We were spared the gushy Mother’s Day talks because all the incoming and outgoing bishopric people and some of their wives were bearing their testimonies.
I should have made a list of questions to ask you when you called, but I was pretty sure you weren’t going to call, so I didn’t. I feel like a bad mother for talking about myself so much, but I’m very excited about your baptism today, and it’s amusing that you and your companion dumped your investigators and are looking for new ones! I’m so proud of you, and I know you are doing an excellent job. How are things going with your neighbors?
Scott and I are being very lazy slugs. We keep saying that we’re going to get up in the morning and read our scriptures, but then we don’t get up until 10:30 or 11:00, and we don’t read our scriptures, we sit on our lazy bums and watch crappy movies. We have watched at least a dozen movies in the two weeks he’s been home! We’re terrible! We do put in a load of wash occasionally, and this week I am determined to paint the upstairs bathroom!
Kim is just being the most organized, conscientious little student ever, and she packs her bag and plans her homework in the cutest way. She is getting so cute, too, wait until you see her. When I take pictures of Scott in his suit next week, I’ll take a picture of Kim for you, too.
Scott and I are going to be making some sushi tomorrow. We found a few sheets of Nori in the cupboard, and we bought cucumber, avocados and crab. We need to go to Rockford and find an asian grocery so we can get more nori. Oh, today Sister West came up to me at church and said that her mother is coming to visit from Hong Kong and she said that when her mom is here she will invite me over for lunch!
Well I am going to pause here and finish this tomorrow. I’m at work and I want to read my book and knit. I’m making a pair of socks that I plan to give to Ruthann.
13 May 2002
Boobaby,
After I talked to you yesterday, I sent a note to my sisters, Sarah, Inger, and Diana, and also one to Kevin, to tell them I talked to you and he wrote back and told me about his weekend helping out at the Nauvoo temple. He is so darn cool! I’m enclosing a copy of his letter for you, and he says in it that he is writing to you. He’s a good boy.
I worked last night and it was long and boring. I finished the book I was reading, and one of the socks I was knitting, but I didn’t like the second book I brought, so I ended up playing solitaire for two hours until Nadine came in.
Scott is in the living room playing a video game, and he put a roast in the crockpot this morning so it smells great in there. He also went downstairs to put in a load of clothes. I hope he gets interested in getting a job, because I can’t believe he isn’t bored doing nothing. I want him to start painting the upstairs bathroom this week, so that will be a start.
Well things are so boring here that I haven’t got much too say, so I’ll just send this letter and Kevin’s. I’ll try to get out this week and have an adventure to make my letters more interesting.
Are you having any problems because of the economic problems in Argentina? Some of the missionaries in other areas are reporting food and money shortages!
Love you
1:34 p.m. - 2002-05-12
Frog guts
7 May 2002
Hi Boobutt,
I’m just home from work and I was trying to chat with Diana on MSN but I see she is set to away status, and I can’t get her attention. It was a long night – very boring – at work. I should be grateful for my boring job, but no, all I do is complain.
I have books and knitting, but all I did was sit and play Spider Solitaire all night. What a waste of good knitting time.
Speaking of knitting, Shelly Laws called me today and she is going to send me a box of sock yarn, and I will knit some of it into socks for her and her kids.
She said she’ll send me more yarn and I told her I’ll pay for whatever she sends me! Whoo hoo! More yarn! You know its not easy for me to find wool yarn in this area. Gunhilde had some yarn at the Fiber Fair that was a nice looking wool, but I didn’t buy it because I was trying to keep my expenses down. I hope my reward is that I get to buy yarn from Shelly for a cheap price!
Oh, guess who I talked to online today? Jason! It was amazing because I haven’t seen him online in a long time. He says he’s been frantic with classes and work, but the semester is almost over. He dropped one summer class and one Fall class, so he can relax a little. He says he hates English and Accounting classes, and he’s enjoying History, Psych, and Political Science. Oh, and he’s on the Student Senate. He’s planning to finish his bachelors and then transfer somewhere else for grad school. He said he hasn’t written to you in a while because he’s so busy and he knows you are focused on your mission. Whatever. I told him I’m in love with the movie, God’s Army, and he said he hated it, go fig.
I’m going to watch a movie before I go to bed tonight, but first Scott wants to finish watching a show about Rome’s emperors.
Kim is going Lake Le Aqua-na tomorrow with her science class, on a field trip. They are taking wine bottles with them to make terrariums. I think they would make some weird-looking terrariums, but okay, whatever. Today they dissected frogs in science and she said she just took the scissors and cut right into theirs (her and Caitlin are partners), and “There were a lot of eggs! We had to take out all those eggs so we could see the organs!” She was very excited and not at all grossed out. She said some other people were more upset about it and someone was crying. That is so pitiful, they shouldn’t make the kids do that! Anyway, she says she isn’t squeamish, but she’s a hypochondriac. She is hilarious!
Love you-
Mumsy
1:31 p.m. - 2002-05-07
Hi Boobutt,
I’m just home from work and I was trying to chat with Diana on MSN but I see she is set to away status, and I can’t get her attention. It was a long night – very boring – at work. I should be grateful for my boring job, but no, all I do is complain.
I have books and knitting, but all I did was sit and play Spider Solitaire all night. What a waste of good knitting time.
Speaking of knitting, Shelly Laws called me today and she is going to send me a box of sock yarn, and I will knit some of it into socks for her and her kids.
She said she’ll send me more yarn and I told her I’ll pay for whatever she sends me! Whoo hoo! More yarn! You know its not easy for me to find wool yarn in this area. Gunhilde had some yarn at the Fiber Fair that was a nice looking wool, but I didn’t buy it because I was trying to keep my expenses down. I hope my reward is that I get to buy yarn from Shelly for a cheap price!
Oh, guess who I talked to online today? Jason! It was amazing because I haven’t seen him online in a long time. He says he’s been frantic with classes and work, but the semester is almost over. He dropped one summer class and one Fall class, so he can relax a little. He says he hates English and Accounting classes, and he’s enjoying History, Psych, and Political Science. Oh, and he’s on the Student Senate. He’s planning to finish his bachelors and then transfer somewhere else for grad school. He said he hasn’t written to you in a while because he’s so busy and he knows you are focused on your mission. Whatever. I told him I’m in love with the movie, God’s Army, and he said he hated it, go fig.
I’m going to watch a movie before I go to bed tonight, but first Scott wants to finish watching a show about Rome’s emperors.
Kim is going Lake Le Aqua-na tomorrow with her science class, on a field trip. They are taking wine bottles with them to make terrariums. I think they would make some weird-looking terrariums, but okay, whatever. Today they dissected frogs in science and she said she just took the scissors and cut right into theirs (her and Caitlin are partners), and “There were a lot of eggs! We had to take out all those eggs so we could see the organs!” She was very excited and not at all grossed out. She said some other people were more upset about it and someone was crying. That is so pitiful, they shouldn’t make the kids do that! Anyway, she says she isn’t squeamish, but she’s a hypochondriac. She is hilarious!
Love you-
Mumsy
1:31 p.m. - 2002-05-07
Why I hate my job today
3 May 2002
Hi Mooks-
I have to work tonight and I didn’t have enough sleep today, so I’m not real excited about going to work. I was thinking of taking Scott’s laptop to work to watch a movie, but it’s one more thing to carry, so I didn’t take it last night, and I doubt that I’ll take it tonight. Maybe tomorrow, though.
Scott and I went to Blockbuster and rented some movies tonight. We got Grosse Pointe Blank, Vampire Princess (anime), Ghost World (teenage angst) and one more…ummm, I can’t remember the title. We already watched Grosse Point Blank, and Scott liked it! Well, it has hired gunmen, comedy, romance, what’s not to like? Kim is in the living room with Scott watching Vampire Princess right now, and Scott says it’s weird, but Kim says she is okay, not scared, so I hope she’ll be alright.
So here’s why I hate my job today, although I don’t hate it, I just think it’s kind of weird. And my boss is an idiot. He called me tonight to see if I had any suggestions for a gift he could give Jeff for doing such a great job. Hello? He’s babbled for years about how great I am and I always come through for him and if he’s ever in a position to do anything for me, he sure will, and then when he’s in a position, he not only didn’t give me the job I wanted, he is asking me to help him reward Jeff with a gift. And he said that he gave him a Staples gift certificate last time he wanted to give him something! You know what he gives me, right? That’s right, NOTHING! What an ass. Didn’t he think it might hurt my feelings to know that Jeff is getting a present? And I have news for him, Jeff knows he’s a spineless idiot, and doesn’t respect him for sucking up, so if he thinks he’s buying any love, he’s quite wrong. People are so stupid.
4 May 2002
Hi Baby,
I just watched a strange little movie that Andy loaned me. He didn’t tell me about it in advance, he just brought it in because he thought I might like it. I thought that was so thoughtful of him! It’s a movie that I wanted to see back when it first came out, but I never did. It’s called After Hours, and it’s a little like Wonderboys, in that it’s about a guy who keeps trying to make things better but whatever he does makes it worse. He meets a girl in a café in the afternoon, and it just leads from one thing to another, and all he wants to do is go home, but he can’t seem to get there. Finally he ends up where he started, sitting at his desk at work, and he’s been up all night and it’s been a nightmare, but he’s glad to be there. He’s bringing me a couple more movies to watch tonight.
I’m taking Scott’s laptop to work tonight so I can watch a DVD while I work tonight. I rented Ghost World yesterday and Dad made fun of it (“Ooh look Scott, a movie about two disillusioned teenage girls!”), but I want to see it and Andy said he did, too, so I’m taking it to work, and if he has time to hang out in the office he can watch part or all of it with me.
We rented a couple of other movies, too, but we have them until Wednesday, so I’ll watch them next week. Jeff loaned me Pump Up the Volume, which I’ve never seen but both he and Andy think it’s good, so I’ll watch it with Scott next week.
I’m really looking forward to talking to you on Mother’s Day next week. I’m all ready, got my phone card and everything, so I’m hoping to get something from you in the mail indicating a time and a phone number so we can call!!
I’ve got to get a new camera, since mine isn’t working. I want to take some pictures to send to you. Hmm, we’ve got that crummy digital camera I bought last year, it’s in Scott’s laptop case, so maybe I’ll get that out and take a picture of us for you. And the dog, too, who got a bath and a trim today and a new collar, too, that supposedly won’t mat up her neck fur as much.
5 May 2002
I slept until noon, got up for a few minutes and went back to bed, and got up again at 3. Rich and Kim are home, but Scott went with some other people from our ward to the student ward in DeKalb, so he is doing church twice. What a good boy.
I just talked to Joe on MSN and he is in Utah but Rondee came home for a couple of months, to work and get ready for the wedding. He isn’t happy about it, and he said something was an issue, but darn it, he wouldn’t tell me what it was! He probably just wants to be here too, because you know when he has a girl, they’re joined at the hip, but they have to save money and stuff, so he has to stay there and work. That’s what I’m guessing the problem is, anyway, because he wouldn’t tell me. Hmph! He said he’s flying every day, too.
So I took the laptop to work and watched the movie, but the sound wouldn’t go up high enough for both me and Andy to hear, and it’s hard to watch the movie unless you’re sitting right in front of it, so I enjoyed it, but he didn’t really stick around for it. Which is fine. It was an okay movie, not great.
Andy brought 3 movies to work last night for me to watch, and I still have one from Jeff, so I have plenty to watch this week!
Oh, we’re getting a new bishop next week. Everyone is assuming it will be Anthony Thompson, so it will be a surprise if it isn’t him. This is so exciting!
I wonder if Scott made an appt with the bishop today? He was going to, and then he needs to see the stake pres. and he can send in his papers!
6 May 2002
Ruthann and I went out this morning to the library and to Walmart, but I was just stumbling around in a coma because I took a sleeping pill last night and now I’m groggy. I got a pile of library books and drank a diet pepsi at Walmart, but I’m still sleepy.
We stopped at Happy Wok on the way home and got some General Tso’s Chicken, which I brought home and shared with Scott. He is laying on the couch in the den, watching Planet of the Apes.
Last night we watched The Player, about the film producer who accidently murders the screenwriter, and gets away with it. Scott says I owe him a movie now, so I promised to watch Dr. Strangelove with him later. We have a pile of movies from Andy and one from Jeff that we’re going to watch this week.
I hope to get a letter from you today, Boo. I didn’t get one last week, but I had two the week before, so I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. I really miss you though.
Love you
Mumsy
1:29 p.m. - 2002-05-03
Hi Mooks-
I have to work tonight and I didn’t have enough sleep today, so I’m not real excited about going to work. I was thinking of taking Scott’s laptop to work to watch a movie, but it’s one more thing to carry, so I didn’t take it last night, and I doubt that I’ll take it tonight. Maybe tomorrow, though.
Scott and I went to Blockbuster and rented some movies tonight. We got Grosse Pointe Blank, Vampire Princess (anime), Ghost World (teenage angst) and one more…ummm, I can’t remember the title. We already watched Grosse Point Blank, and Scott liked it! Well, it has hired gunmen, comedy, romance, what’s not to like? Kim is in the living room with Scott watching Vampire Princess right now, and Scott says it’s weird, but Kim says she is okay, not scared, so I hope she’ll be alright.
So here’s why I hate my job today, although I don’t hate it, I just think it’s kind of weird. And my boss is an idiot. He called me tonight to see if I had any suggestions for a gift he could give Jeff for doing such a great job. Hello? He’s babbled for years about how great I am and I always come through for him and if he’s ever in a position to do anything for me, he sure will, and then when he’s in a position, he not only didn’t give me the job I wanted, he is asking me to help him reward Jeff with a gift. And he said that he gave him a Staples gift certificate last time he wanted to give him something! You know what he gives me, right? That’s right, NOTHING! What an ass. Didn’t he think it might hurt my feelings to know that Jeff is getting a present? And I have news for him, Jeff knows he’s a spineless idiot, and doesn’t respect him for sucking up, so if he thinks he’s buying any love, he’s quite wrong. People are so stupid.
4 May 2002
Hi Baby,
I just watched a strange little movie that Andy loaned me. He didn’t tell me about it in advance, he just brought it in because he thought I might like it. I thought that was so thoughtful of him! It’s a movie that I wanted to see back when it first came out, but I never did. It’s called After Hours, and it’s a little like Wonderboys, in that it’s about a guy who keeps trying to make things better but whatever he does makes it worse. He meets a girl in a café in the afternoon, and it just leads from one thing to another, and all he wants to do is go home, but he can’t seem to get there. Finally he ends up where he started, sitting at his desk at work, and he’s been up all night and it’s been a nightmare, but he’s glad to be there. He’s bringing me a couple more movies to watch tonight.
I’m taking Scott’s laptop to work tonight so I can watch a DVD while I work tonight. I rented Ghost World yesterday and Dad made fun of it (“Ooh look Scott, a movie about two disillusioned teenage girls!”), but I want to see it and Andy said he did, too, so I’m taking it to work, and if he has time to hang out in the office he can watch part or all of it with me.
We rented a couple of other movies, too, but we have them until Wednesday, so I’ll watch them next week. Jeff loaned me Pump Up the Volume, which I’ve never seen but both he and Andy think it’s good, so I’ll watch it with Scott next week.
I’m really looking forward to talking to you on Mother’s Day next week. I’m all ready, got my phone card and everything, so I’m hoping to get something from you in the mail indicating a time and a phone number so we can call!!
I’ve got to get a new camera, since mine isn’t working. I want to take some pictures to send to you. Hmm, we’ve got that crummy digital camera I bought last year, it’s in Scott’s laptop case, so maybe I’ll get that out and take a picture of us for you. And the dog, too, who got a bath and a trim today and a new collar, too, that supposedly won’t mat up her neck fur as much.
5 May 2002
I slept until noon, got up for a few minutes and went back to bed, and got up again at 3. Rich and Kim are home, but Scott went with some other people from our ward to the student ward in DeKalb, so he is doing church twice. What a good boy.
I just talked to Joe on MSN and he is in Utah but Rondee came home for a couple of months, to work and get ready for the wedding. He isn’t happy about it, and he said something was an issue, but darn it, he wouldn’t tell me what it was! He probably just wants to be here too, because you know when he has a girl, they’re joined at the hip, but they have to save money and stuff, so he has to stay there and work. That’s what I’m guessing the problem is, anyway, because he wouldn’t tell me. Hmph! He said he’s flying every day, too.
So I took the laptop to work and watched the movie, but the sound wouldn’t go up high enough for both me and Andy to hear, and it’s hard to watch the movie unless you’re sitting right in front of it, so I enjoyed it, but he didn’t really stick around for it. Which is fine. It was an okay movie, not great.
Andy brought 3 movies to work last night for me to watch, and I still have one from Jeff, so I have plenty to watch this week!
Oh, we’re getting a new bishop next week. Everyone is assuming it will be Anthony Thompson, so it will be a surprise if it isn’t him. This is so exciting!
I wonder if Scott made an appt with the bishop today? He was going to, and then he needs to see the stake pres. and he can send in his papers!
6 May 2002
Ruthann and I went out this morning to the library and to Walmart, but I was just stumbling around in a coma because I took a sleeping pill last night and now I’m groggy. I got a pile of library books and drank a diet pepsi at Walmart, but I’m still sleepy.
We stopped at Happy Wok on the way home and got some General Tso’s Chicken, which I brought home and shared with Scott. He is laying on the couch in the den, watching Planet of the Apes.
Last night we watched The Player, about the film producer who accidently murders the screenwriter, and gets away with it. Scott says I owe him a movie now, so I promised to watch Dr. Strangelove with him later. We have a pile of movies from Andy and one from Jeff that we’re going to watch this week.
I hope to get a letter from you today, Boo. I didn’t get one last week, but I had two the week before, so I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. I really miss you though.
Love you
Mumsy
1:29 p.m. - 2002-05-03
Everybody was Kung Fu fightin'
29 April, 2002
Hi Mooks,
I went out with Barb to buy a retirement present for Lucille, and when I got back, Dad and Scott are in the living room watching a Kung Fu movie. Ugh. It’s loud, too, and I have PMS and the house is a mess from Scott’s stuff that is still in the living room (not all of it) and it’s just that time when I feel like the house is a big mess and it’s out of my control. I already told them when they are done watching the movie they have to clean that living room because I can’t stand it.
I’m working on finishing another knitting project because they feel out of control right now, too! I have too many ideas and not enough time or motivation to do them all. Today I’m going to finish the pink sweater I made for Kim two months ago. I’m down to the cuff on one sleeve and I’m going to do the other sleeve next and it will be finished. When it’s done I’m going to put away all the knitting stuff except what I’m working on right now. Which will be just socks and the Nagano sweater, I think. And I’ll put the sweater I barely started for myself into my work bag and keep it there. It’s a plain cotton sweater made with a yarn I like in a soothing color, and I don’t even need a pattern for it, so it’s the perfect work knitting.
Some of the Elders in other parts of Argentina are finding it difficult to work with all the political unrest. What do you think? Are you able to get groceries? Can you access your ATM account? I am going to put some money in it for you, but I would like to know that you can get it. I haven’t put in the check from Grandpa yet because I am still waiting to find out if you can get money that way.
David McD wrote me a letter today and said he would like it if Scott and I called him on Mother’s Day. Isn’t that cute? I bought a pre-paid calling card for Argentina – Buenos Aires that is for 400 minutes for 20 dollars! One of the other moms on the list told everyone how to get it! It sounds too good to be true, but I hope it works, because that is a bargain!! Be sure to send your phone number right away, because it takes up to two weeks to get a letter from you, and we need to get your number in time! Or you can call us and give us the number. I can’t wait to talk to you!!
We got a graduation announcement from Talia in the mail Saturday. I wonder what she is planning to do now? She is graduating with a BA in Literary Studies. Hmm.
I really miss you mooks.
Love –
Mom
1:27 p.m. - 2002-04-29
Hi Mooks,
I went out with Barb to buy a retirement present for Lucille, and when I got back, Dad and Scott are in the living room watching a Kung Fu movie. Ugh. It’s loud, too, and I have PMS and the house is a mess from Scott’s stuff that is still in the living room (not all of it) and it’s just that time when I feel like the house is a big mess and it’s out of my control. I already told them when they are done watching the movie they have to clean that living room because I can’t stand it.
I’m working on finishing another knitting project because they feel out of control right now, too! I have too many ideas and not enough time or motivation to do them all. Today I’m going to finish the pink sweater I made for Kim two months ago. I’m down to the cuff on one sleeve and I’m going to do the other sleeve next and it will be finished. When it’s done I’m going to put away all the knitting stuff except what I’m working on right now. Which will be just socks and the Nagano sweater, I think. And I’ll put the sweater I barely started for myself into my work bag and keep it there. It’s a plain cotton sweater made with a yarn I like in a soothing color, and I don’t even need a pattern for it, so it’s the perfect work knitting.
Some of the Elders in other parts of Argentina are finding it difficult to work with all the political unrest. What do you think? Are you able to get groceries? Can you access your ATM account? I am going to put some money in it for you, but I would like to know that you can get it. I haven’t put in the check from Grandpa yet because I am still waiting to find out if you can get money that way.
David McD wrote me a letter today and said he would like it if Scott and I called him on Mother’s Day. Isn’t that cute? I bought a pre-paid calling card for Argentina – Buenos Aires that is for 400 minutes for 20 dollars! One of the other moms on the list told everyone how to get it! It sounds too good to be true, but I hope it works, because that is a bargain!! Be sure to send your phone number right away, because it takes up to two weeks to get a letter from you, and we need to get your number in time! Or you can call us and give us the number. I can’t wait to talk to you!!
We got a graduation announcement from Talia in the mail Saturday. I wonder what she is planning to do now? She is graduating with a BA in Literary Studies. Hmm.
I really miss you mooks.
Love –
Mom
1:27 p.m. - 2002-04-29
Homecoming
28 April, 2002
Dear Mooky,
I am sitting in the den with Scott and Kim, who are watching Atlantis. Scott has already seen the movie, but it was without sound, since his roommate downloaded it from the internet. We watched God’s Army already.
Scott and Dad got here last night around midnight, and it was pretty thrilling! They didn’t unpack the car, they just brought in a few things to use for the night, and we talked a little, but everyone was tired so we went to bed. We slept through church today, and didn’t get up until 10:30. Even Kim slept in till 8. I guess when no one woke up for church, she thought it was a good opportunity to stay home, so she didn’t wake us.
So Dad had a great trip to Utah and enjoyed himself while he was there, driving around the area, looking at the Provo temple, hiked up to the Y on the mountain with Scott, and they went to Temple Square together before they came home. Dad shopped at the BYU bookstore while Scott was taking an exam, so he brought home a mug for my collection, a sweatshirt and a t-shirt for Kim, and some BYU socks (!) and a book for himself. He also got to look at the Beehive House, and he was excited about that because he saw it on America’s Castles, the show he watches on Saturday mornings.
Scott and his friends had a campfire the last night after exams, and then in the morning Dad picked him up and they finished loading his car and checked out. They left Friday night around midnight and slept in Laramie, WY, then got home last night.
Kim and I cleaned up the house and put things away yesterday, and we changed the sheets on Scott’s bed. I figure that those same sheets have been on his bed for more than a year. They were nasty old thin, worn, sheets, so I threw them out and we put clean sheets on his bed. We tidied up his room, too.
I talked to Karin today on AOL and she said that her mom and Kelly picked her up and she and Kelly drove straight through, so they got home early this morning. Those silly girls.
Kim is feeling a little deprived because she hasn’t been to Utah, so we are assuring her that if we can, we will drive Scott to the MTC and take her with us.
Scott got a book about preparing yourself spiritually for your mission, and it recommends that you live like a missionary for a month so you can get used to it. Get up early, study, etc. Isn’t that cute? So we have to plan our Cedar Point trip around his practice month.
He’s got an appt with the dentist for his dental exam tomorrow and then he just has to have an interview with the Stake Pres. and he’ll be ready to submit his papers!
So the cats are happy that Scott is here to love them and groom them, and Babs was so happy to see Rich, she was practically grinning. She would hardly let him out of her sight. That silly dog.
Later -
Kim and I just got back from a walk with the dog. We walked down almost to the hospital, not quite, and we turned around at Bidlow Park to walk home. I was just cold and tired of walking. I talked to Diana on the phone on the way down there.
Monday 29 April 2002
Scott is still sleeping. He stayed up late playing a video game on the PS2 called Oki, or something like that, and I watched him play until 1:30, but then I was sleepy so I went to bed. Dad is home today, too, because he wasn’t sure what day they would get back from Utah, so he took off work until Tuesday.
I was just sitting in a chair, weaving in the ends on a couple of things I have finished this week. One was the short-sleeved t-shirt for Kim. It turned out so cute, and fit perfectly, but she somehow broke a stitch at the bottom of it, where it was bound off, when she was trying it on, so I had to pull out a couple of rows and reknit them. The other thing I finished was a vest for Scott that started out to be a Shapely T-shirt (remember that pattern?) for Kim. When I got the body of it finished, the scoop in front was way too low for her, so I ripped out the tank shaping at the top and made it into a vest for Scott. It looks good, and maybe he won’t notice the slight shaping at the waist. Haha.
Yesterday I knitted a few rows on the Nagano sweater, and then I got out the other Dale sweater to work on, and I hated how it looked, so I ripped it back and I’m changing the design a little on the body. I ripped out about 10 inches – waaah! I’m kind of sick of all my knitting right now, so I’m just going to work on finishing some of the things I have started and then I think I’ll knit just socks and maybe mittens for a while. They’re small and they get finished quickly.
I’ll be glad when Ruthann gets back from her trip to pick up Nancy. They went to Oregon to visit Rebekah and they should be home by the end of the week. She left the same day Rich left, so I’ve been really lonely for the last week!
1:25 p.m. - 2002-04-28
Dear Mooky,
I am sitting in the den with Scott and Kim, who are watching Atlantis. Scott has already seen the movie, but it was without sound, since his roommate downloaded it from the internet. We watched God’s Army already.
Scott and Dad got here last night around midnight, and it was pretty thrilling! They didn’t unpack the car, they just brought in a few things to use for the night, and we talked a little, but everyone was tired so we went to bed. We slept through church today, and didn’t get up until 10:30. Even Kim slept in till 8. I guess when no one woke up for church, she thought it was a good opportunity to stay home, so she didn’t wake us.
So Dad had a great trip to Utah and enjoyed himself while he was there, driving around the area, looking at the Provo temple, hiked up to the Y on the mountain with Scott, and they went to Temple Square together before they came home. Dad shopped at the BYU bookstore while Scott was taking an exam, so he brought home a mug for my collection, a sweatshirt and a t-shirt for Kim, and some BYU socks (!) and a book for himself. He also got to look at the Beehive House, and he was excited about that because he saw it on America’s Castles, the show he watches on Saturday mornings.
Scott and his friends had a campfire the last night after exams, and then in the morning Dad picked him up and they finished loading his car and checked out. They left Friday night around midnight and slept in Laramie, WY, then got home last night.
Kim and I cleaned up the house and put things away yesterday, and we changed the sheets on Scott’s bed. I figure that those same sheets have been on his bed for more than a year. They were nasty old thin, worn, sheets, so I threw them out and we put clean sheets on his bed. We tidied up his room, too.
I talked to Karin today on AOL and she said that her mom and Kelly picked her up and she and Kelly drove straight through, so they got home early this morning. Those silly girls.
Kim is feeling a little deprived because she hasn’t been to Utah, so we are assuring her that if we can, we will drive Scott to the MTC and take her with us.
Scott got a book about preparing yourself spiritually for your mission, and it recommends that you live like a missionary for a month so you can get used to it. Get up early, study, etc. Isn’t that cute? So we have to plan our Cedar Point trip around his practice month.
He’s got an appt with the dentist for his dental exam tomorrow and then he just has to have an interview with the Stake Pres. and he’ll be ready to submit his papers!
So the cats are happy that Scott is here to love them and groom them, and Babs was so happy to see Rich, she was practically grinning. She would hardly let him out of her sight. That silly dog.
Later -
Kim and I just got back from a walk with the dog. We walked down almost to the hospital, not quite, and we turned around at Bidlow Park to walk home. I was just cold and tired of walking. I talked to Diana on the phone on the way down there.
Monday 29 April 2002
Scott is still sleeping. He stayed up late playing a video game on the PS2 called Oki, or something like that, and I watched him play until 1:30, but then I was sleepy so I went to bed. Dad is home today, too, because he wasn’t sure what day they would get back from Utah, so he took off work until Tuesday.
I was just sitting in a chair, weaving in the ends on a couple of things I have finished this week. One was the short-sleeved t-shirt for Kim. It turned out so cute, and fit perfectly, but she somehow broke a stitch at the bottom of it, where it was bound off, when she was trying it on, so I had to pull out a couple of rows and reknit them. The other thing I finished was a vest for Scott that started out to be a Shapely T-shirt (remember that pattern?) for Kim. When I got the body of it finished, the scoop in front was way too low for her, so I ripped out the tank shaping at the top and made it into a vest for Scott. It looks good, and maybe he won’t notice the slight shaping at the waist. Haha.
Yesterday I knitted a few rows on the Nagano sweater, and then I got out the other Dale sweater to work on, and I hated how it looked, so I ripped it back and I’m changing the design a little on the body. I ripped out about 10 inches – waaah! I’m kind of sick of all my knitting right now, so I’m just going to work on finishing some of the things I have started and then I think I’ll knit just socks and maybe mittens for a while. They’re small and they get finished quickly.
I’ll be glad when Ruthann gets back from her trip to pick up Nancy. They went to Oregon to visit Rebekah and they should be home by the end of the week. She left the same day Rich left, so I’ve been really lonely for the last week!
1:25 p.m. - 2002-04-28
TV turn-off week
25 April, 2002
Oh man, another day at work. Last night was wild, but I was looking forward to coming back tonight, just for the entertainment. This is TV-Turnoff week and Kim wanted to do it while Dad is gone, (you know he couldn’t miss an episode of Buffy), and it’s a little boring at home with no TV. Jeff loaned me a DVD of Dude, Where’s My Car? And I haven’t watched it yet because Kim is being so good about not watching TV, so I don’t want to be sly and watch it behind her back. I’m saving it for the weekend.
Dad took his laptop to Utah, so I’ve been talking with him online and just now I called to make sure Kim got home okay, and she is chatting with him. She just blew me off so she could talk to him because she needs both hands to type. Aww, she is so big. He’s got my cell phone with him, so I’ve been calling him on that, too. Today he was in Scott’s room, folding Scott’s clothes while Scott took a shower. It sounded so cozy and fatherly! Scott is feeding Dad on his meal card while he’s there, which I’m sure is the most Scott has used it since he’s been there! Tonight they are going to Kung Fu class together.
Today was Scott’s last exam and he’ll be checking out of the dorm tomorrow. Oh boy, I can’t wait until he gets home! I’m going to take some pictures of everyone to send to you. Scott has to get right to work grooming Patsy, because that cat is one big matted mess!
Speaking of Patsy, when I was trying to take a nap before work today (I’m exhausted from getting up at the crack of dawn to take Kim to school every day!), Patsy came over to the couch, jumped up by my legs and walked up my body to lay on my chest, where he proceeded to purr in a very squeaky way and get fur all over my face!
I bet the dog will be so happy when Dad gets home, too. I’ve been feeding her and letting her out to potty, but I’m sure she misses getting love and attention and constant petting. Her limping was really bad over the last few rainy days, so when Dad gets home he’s going to take her to the vet to see about getting some medicine for her stiff joints. Poor old limpy dog.
Friday morning, butt crack of dawn
26 April, 2002
Ugh, I drove Kim to school and then I went to the McDonald’s to drop off the bread I made 2 days ago in exchange for Hope taking Kim to her concert. I saw that Dawn’s car was there (David’s older sister) and I thought she might be sleeping (hello, it’s 7:30 a.m.!) but I tried the door and it was unlocked so I slowly opened it and said, Hello? And she was in the kitchen, so I gave her the bread and we chatted for a few minutes, but I am so half-awake, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
So today Dad and Scott are checking Scott out of the dorm and then going to SLC to look around because Dad has never been there, and then they will come home!! Kim and I are soooo looking forward to it!! I have dishes to wash and clothes to fold this weekend, but Kim and I can do that on Saturday when we can watch TV while we do it.
Last night Kim was a little bored, and she sounded a little resentful about reading a book all night, but when I suggested she could turn on the TV if she wanted to, she said no, she wanted to stick with it. I turned on the TV for a minute after work last night, but then I remembered it was no-TV week, so I turned it back off. Too bad that it’s no-TV week while Dad is gone, because I love watching TV in bed when he’s not home!
You should send us your phone number so that we can call you on Mother’s Day because it’s cheaper for us to call you than for you to call us. Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to talk to you!!!!
Love you –
Mumsy
1:22 p.m. - 2002-04-25
Oh man, another day at work. Last night was wild, but I was looking forward to coming back tonight, just for the entertainment. This is TV-Turnoff week and Kim wanted to do it while Dad is gone, (you know he couldn’t miss an episode of Buffy), and it’s a little boring at home with no TV. Jeff loaned me a DVD of Dude, Where’s My Car? And I haven’t watched it yet because Kim is being so good about not watching TV, so I don’t want to be sly and watch it behind her back. I’m saving it for the weekend.
Dad took his laptop to Utah, so I’ve been talking with him online and just now I called to make sure Kim got home okay, and she is chatting with him. She just blew me off so she could talk to him because she needs both hands to type. Aww, she is so big. He’s got my cell phone with him, so I’ve been calling him on that, too. Today he was in Scott’s room, folding Scott’s clothes while Scott took a shower. It sounded so cozy and fatherly! Scott is feeding Dad on his meal card while he’s there, which I’m sure is the most Scott has used it since he’s been there! Tonight they are going to Kung Fu class together.
Today was Scott’s last exam and he’ll be checking out of the dorm tomorrow. Oh boy, I can’t wait until he gets home! I’m going to take some pictures of everyone to send to you. Scott has to get right to work grooming Patsy, because that cat is one big matted mess!
Speaking of Patsy, when I was trying to take a nap before work today (I’m exhausted from getting up at the crack of dawn to take Kim to school every day!), Patsy came over to the couch, jumped up by my legs and walked up my body to lay on my chest, where he proceeded to purr in a very squeaky way and get fur all over my face!
I bet the dog will be so happy when Dad gets home, too. I’ve been feeding her and letting her out to potty, but I’m sure she misses getting love and attention and constant petting. Her limping was really bad over the last few rainy days, so when Dad gets home he’s going to take her to the vet to see about getting some medicine for her stiff joints. Poor old limpy dog.
Friday morning, butt crack of dawn
26 April, 2002
Ugh, I drove Kim to school and then I went to the McDonald’s to drop off the bread I made 2 days ago in exchange for Hope taking Kim to her concert. I saw that Dawn’s car was there (David’s older sister) and I thought she might be sleeping (hello, it’s 7:30 a.m.!) but I tried the door and it was unlocked so I slowly opened it and said, Hello? And she was in the kitchen, so I gave her the bread and we chatted for a few minutes, but I am so half-awake, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
So today Dad and Scott are checking Scott out of the dorm and then going to SLC to look around because Dad has never been there, and then they will come home!! Kim and I are soooo looking forward to it!! I have dishes to wash and clothes to fold this weekend, but Kim and I can do that on Saturday when we can watch TV while we do it.
Last night Kim was a little bored, and she sounded a little resentful about reading a book all night, but when I suggested she could turn on the TV if she wanted to, she said no, she wanted to stick with it. I turned on the TV for a minute after work last night, but then I remembered it was no-TV week, so I turned it back off. Too bad that it’s no-TV week while Dad is gone, because I love watching TV in bed when he’s not home!
You should send us your phone number so that we can call you on Mother’s Day because it’s cheaper for us to call you than for you to call us. Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to talk to you!!!!
Love you –
Mumsy
1:22 p.m. - 2002-04-25
How happy IS a pig in mud?
24 April, 2002
Hi Boo –
I got a letter from you yesterday and another one today and I am as happy as a pig in mud! The one I got yesterday was written after the one I got today, because in yesterday’s letter, you mention your happiness at having lights and I wondered what that was about, but in today’s letter was the story of the lights.
I am so glad that you are getting to know and enjoy your neighbors! It sounds like you have so many opportunities to share the gospel with them! I’m so proud of you, and Erin and Kevin are, too. I don’t know about Jason since I very rarely have contact with him on MSN and he NEVER calls me BACK! Oh, and Joe is an idiot who is all about himself and RONDEE. He has some serious mentionitis.
So have you bought any boots yet? Have you bought any clothes? I got a new Eddie Bauer catalog but I am wondering about trying to mail clothes. All the moms on the my missionary moms list are talking about the difficulty of sending packages and the high prices that are paid at customs to send things, so I hope you are able to shop over there. Do you have access to an ATM to get money from your bank account to buy clothes, etc? Grandpa sent us a check for 300 dollars to give you for spending money, and we didn’t put it in your account because we didn’t know if you would be able to get it out! Please let me know.
Oh my goodness, I have been working on a shortsleeved sweater for Kim for two days and it is the cutest thing!! I love it! I am using the pattern book I got at the Fiber Fair, the top-down patterns, and I want to knit everything in that book!
What yarn did you use to knit a baby cap? Have you found a yarn store down there? You could ask your neighbor, Joli, where she buys yarn for her crocheting.
Have you shown her your knitting?
Dad is in Provo now to pick up Scott. He left on Monday morning and spent the night in Ogalala, Nebraska. He was in Provo by the next evening and drove around looking at the town and the mountains because Scott was taking a 3 hour exam in ASL. Rich wants to hike up to the Y on the mountain, so they are doing that today.
Later –
Dad just called and he and Scott are up on the mountain by the Y. He said they can look down and see the Utah river. They are going back down now to get something to eat. Hmm, I’m hungry. What should I do? I could send out for pizza, but it seems a little selfish since Kim is home by herself without pizza.
Well, I’ll finish this later. I brought some knitting to work on, but I don’t have anything to read while I knit. Hoooooooo.
1:09 p.m. - 2002-04-24
Hi Boo –
I got a letter from you yesterday and another one today and I am as happy as a pig in mud! The one I got yesterday was written after the one I got today, because in yesterday’s letter, you mention your happiness at having lights and I wondered what that was about, but in today’s letter was the story of the lights.
I am so glad that you are getting to know and enjoy your neighbors! It sounds like you have so many opportunities to share the gospel with them! I’m so proud of you, and Erin and Kevin are, too. I don’t know about Jason since I very rarely have contact with him on MSN and he NEVER calls me BACK! Oh, and Joe is an idiot who is all about himself and RONDEE. He has some serious mentionitis.
So have you bought any boots yet? Have you bought any clothes? I got a new Eddie Bauer catalog but I am wondering about trying to mail clothes. All the moms on the my missionary moms list are talking about the difficulty of sending packages and the high prices that are paid at customs to send things, so I hope you are able to shop over there. Do you have access to an ATM to get money from your bank account to buy clothes, etc? Grandpa sent us a check for 300 dollars to give you for spending money, and we didn’t put it in your account because we didn’t know if you would be able to get it out! Please let me know.
Oh my goodness, I have been working on a shortsleeved sweater for Kim for two days and it is the cutest thing!! I love it! I am using the pattern book I got at the Fiber Fair, the top-down patterns, and I want to knit everything in that book!
What yarn did you use to knit a baby cap? Have you found a yarn store down there? You could ask your neighbor, Joli, where she buys yarn for her crocheting.
Have you shown her your knitting?
Dad is in Provo now to pick up Scott. He left on Monday morning and spent the night in Ogalala, Nebraska. He was in Provo by the next evening and drove around looking at the town and the mountains because Scott was taking a 3 hour exam in ASL. Rich wants to hike up to the Y on the mountain, so they are doing that today.
Later –
Dad just called and he and Scott are up on the mountain by the Y. He said they can look down and see the Utah river. They are going back down now to get something to eat. Hmm, I’m hungry. What should I do? I could send out for pizza, but it seems a little selfish since Kim is home by herself without pizza.
Well, I’ll finish this later. I brought some knitting to work on, but I don’t have anything to read while I knit. Hoooooooo.
1:09 p.m. - 2002-04-24
It's like thunder..lightening
4-18-02
Dear Mooks,
I came in to work a few minutes early because I was just sitting at home doing nothing, and it was hot and humid in the house. We’ve had really hot weather for the last couple of days, and today it has been raining. When I drove in to work, the sky was full of lightening. It’s supposed to cool way down this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it.
I was so happy to get your wonderful long letter yesterday! It was great, and I typed it in to the website right away. When I get your letters, I usually type the whole thing and post it, the exception is a personal note for someone, like the P.S. to give a message to Scott and Kevin. I marked the parts of the letter that you wanted them to read with an * at the beginning and end, and then I told each of them that you want them to read that part.
I wasn’t sure if Kevin ever checks his email, so I left a message on Jason’s cell phone, (and I’m afraid I was a little pissy about it, because he tells me to call him, and when I do he never calls me back!) and I left both my home and work 800 #s and said I had a message for Kevin. Later that night, at work, I hadn’t heard back from Jason, and didn’t expect to, so I went on the internet to look for Kevin’s phone number. There were two listings for Kevin Shea in the 618 area code, so I left a message with both of them, and Kevin called me back later. He said I must have talked to Erin, but I said no, I haven’t talked to Erin in a long time, and he said, oh, he had talked to her earlier in the day, but I didn’t question him about that, I just gave him the message from you, and he said don’t spend money writing to him, it’s more important to write to ME (very true). He told me about his broken finger, and how he got it at a party for some of the nurses he works with, and Alisha was with him but didn’t get injured, and I had to keep putting him on hold because I was working, so I let him go.
So today he wrote me a nice little email thanking me for giving him the message and said it means a lot to him. Awww. I still haven’t gotten any response from Someone’s Boyfriend. Possibly because I said I didn’t expect him to call me back, since he never f—ing does. Was that hostile?
Oh, you can write to your brother at home now, because Dad is going out to get him next week. The last day of school is April 25th.
Then today I got an IM from Erin who said that she had an interesting talk with Kevin yesterday in which he indicated that he is a little tired of Alisha, and admitted to having feelings for YOU. Just thought I’d let you know. I saved the IM conversation so you can read it later. Like in a year. …sniff… Erin also said that she talked to Jason yesterday but she didn’t seem very excited about it, and didn’t have much to say about it. You never say if he writes to you, in fact you never answer any of my questions! I’m still wondering what is the best way to get extra money to you?
Kimberly stayed after school yesterday for a Young Authors Recognition ceremony, and she got an Honorable Mention ribbon and a Harry Potter banner. She is taking it very well that she didn’t really win anything, but she’s a little hurt by it. She said tonight that she is trying not to feel jealous of Lauren, who won in the 7th grade. Tennille won in the 8th grade.
We put the dog on the leash and went out for a brisk two-block walk tonight. It’s pathetic how out of shape I am, but we are going to start walking more. Not that it will change anything. Ruthann is swimming in the mornings and using the weight machines at the Y, but I can’t go at that hour, and I am certainly not going to go by myself.
Ruthann and I went to HCC for our weekly manicures today, and I invited Kelly to come over and bring her boyfriend, who lives not too far from us, to watch God’s Army with me. I just got the DVD in the mail yesterday, but I was afraid it would be too hokey to watch by myself. Well of course she didn’t bring him over, I don’t know why I even ask her, she never does, and then she tried to deny that they do any smooching, like I’m going to believe that. I guess she thinks I’m stupid.
So I ended up watching God’s Army by myself and I loved it! I tried to get Kim to watch it, but no, she had to chat on AOL with Caitlin, so I just knitted on Scott’s Vest of Many Colors and watched it. It was great! It was better than the movie we saw on Monday, although that one was good, but this was better. God’s Army was written, directed, and produced by the actor who plays Elder Dalton in it, and he has also written, directed and produced the murder mystery, Brigham City, which I am dying to see, but it’s not being released on video until May or June. I pre-ordered it, and that’s when I ordered God’s Army, too. Some of the same actors from God’s Army are in Brigham City. They aren’t all LDS, which I thought was cool, in fact the one who plays Elder Allen in G. A. also plays a character in Brigham City, and he’s Jewish. I’m going to knit Scott a plain dark-colored v-neck sweater like the one Elder Allen wears in the last scene of G. A. (when he’s married) because he looked so very attractive in it.
I brought a book to work to read tonight, and I’ve got some knitting with me. Nothing I’m excited about. I started a bunch of sweaters a couple of weeks ago, and I’m realizing that none of them are what I want to work on. I want to do some plain, simple pieces that I can work on while I read. So I have to change some of my plans. The vest for Scott is something I have to do when I’m watching TV or a movie because it’s not complicated but it involves carrying 3 colors at a time and weaving them under each other, so I have to keep looking at it. There is one I started for myself, but I’m going to change it to eliminate the cabling in the front because it’s a complicated cable, not a simple one.
Oh and the t-shirt I started for Kim with the Dk. Green cotton-y yarn? The scoop neck was too low, so I ripped back the top and made it into a vest for Scott. It had the same amount of stitches as a vest in his size, and the broken rib pattern looks good in a vest. I’m doing another t-shirt for Kim with the cotton and silk nubbly yarn I bought in AZ that wasn’t enough to make something for you. It’s just a top-down v-neck that I don’t even need a pattern to make.
Oh my gosh, the weather alarm just went off in my office and my heart almost stopped! A severe thunderstorm warning continues for every county around until 1 a.m. I hope Barb got home okay. She usually calls me when she gets home if the weather is bad.
4/19/02
Well, Dad and I went to a play at HCC tonight because Andy from work (security) was in it. It wasn’t exactly a play, it was short monologues and scenes, and Andy did four pieces that he wrote, and they were excellent! He can really act! I knew he could write because he read a couple of monologues to me last week and they were SLAYING me – I was laughing so hard that I started wheezing and thought I’d choke to death; I need a new inhaler! Anyway his writing is good, and his acting is, too. I don’t know why he doesn’t move to Chicago and get involved in theater there.
So here’s the funny part, guess who was in some of the scenes? Jayelle! Before the play opened, some of the actors came out to chat with the audience members, and she was talking to a man in front of us and then I introduced myself and she started talking about the time she fell down the laundry chute! I told her you're in South America and I mentioned that you still haven’t gotten your book back! She said she read it again a couple of years ago. Hmm, she didn’t offer to give it back…
I had some knitting in my purse that I pulled out to work on during the second half, when the students did a one-act play, a version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, which was good, but not something I would have chosen to watch. After the show, the students came out on the stage and wanted to have a dialogue with audience members about their interpretation of the play, which was just the kind of pretentious stuff I would have liked to avoid, but darn it, we were sitting in the back and there was no way to get out of there.
We were all sitting in the bleachers that were set up on the stage, to make it a small, intimate, setting, so afterward Dad had to go under the bleachers to get my yarn.
When we got home it was 9:30, but Kim had her bag all packed to go to sleepover at Caitlin’s, so Dad took her over there and I stayed home and got ready to come to work.
Monday, April 22, 2002
Dad left this morning to bring Scott home from BYU! Yeah! I can’t wait until he gets home and can groom his hairy, matted cat! While Dad is gone, I have to get up early and drive Kim to school every day, ugh, and I had to arrange to trade a day with Barb so that I can take her and her harp to the concert on Wednesday night. I have to fit the harp into the SATURN!
I’ve seen God’s Army three times this weekend; on Friday when I watched it myself, with Dad on Saturday, and he loved it too, and then with Dad and Kim on Sunday.
Since I worked the midnight shift all weekend, I couldn’t sleep last night, so I ended up staying up until 4 in the morning! I got a lot of knitting done, so I’m just a few inches away from finishing a cute cotton top for Kim, using a top-down, seamless raglan pattern from a book I bought at the FIBER FAIR on Saturday.
That’s right, Saturday was the fiber fair. I think it was smaller this year, in fact I’m sure it was. But I saw the Mennonite kids and Adam said he had been looking forward to being beaten by you in the drop spindle contest this year. I told him you hadn’t been practicing anyway, and that maybe you’ll be back in time for it next year.
Mary Boeke-Hill was there and she was running around all excited because she had bought a mouse in a little cage and was going to name it Sophie. I suggested that, living in an old house and all, perhaps she could have just gone to her basement to catch a mouse, but she didn’t think much of that idea.
I bought some beautiful soft, fine, lama wool from Gunhilde, and she had some other yarn there that I was interested in, too, but I was trying to keep expenses down because of Dad’s trip this week, so I only bought the lama wool from her and some sock yarn and a couple of books from Susan’s Fiber Shop.
You should see the beautiful work Kim is doing on her non-fiction book project for one of her classes! She is so good at doing projects! She had good ideas and she just figures them out and does them! She has to make an alphabet book, using subjects from the book for each letter of the alphabet and she has copied pictures from the book, using the scanner, to make illustrations, plus she draws some of the illustrations, too. They had to make a poem about each letter, and she has done an excellent job. Her book is about the Mormons and the Pioneer Trail, and it’s so cool! A is for Articles of Faith, and she has a picture of the text of the Articles of Faith, G is for Golden plates, it’s a really cool project!
Well I’m going to stop so I can get this in the mail. I’m looking forward to my weekly letter…
Love you boo.
Mumsy
1:04 p.m. - 2002-04-18
Dear Mooks,
I came in to work a few minutes early because I was just sitting at home doing nothing, and it was hot and humid in the house. We’ve had really hot weather for the last couple of days, and today it has been raining. When I drove in to work, the sky was full of lightening. It’s supposed to cool way down this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it.
I was so happy to get your wonderful long letter yesterday! It was great, and I typed it in to the website right away. When I get your letters, I usually type the whole thing and post it, the exception is a personal note for someone, like the P.S. to give a message to Scott and Kevin. I marked the parts of the letter that you wanted them to read with an * at the beginning and end, and then I told each of them that you want them to read that part.
I wasn’t sure if Kevin ever checks his email, so I left a message on Jason’s cell phone, (and I’m afraid I was a little pissy about it, because he tells me to call him, and when I do he never calls me back!) and I left both my home and work 800 #s and said I had a message for Kevin. Later that night, at work, I hadn’t heard back from Jason, and didn’t expect to, so I went on the internet to look for Kevin’s phone number. There were two listings for Kevin Shea in the 618 area code, so I left a message with both of them, and Kevin called me back later. He said I must have talked to Erin, but I said no, I haven’t talked to Erin in a long time, and he said, oh, he had talked to her earlier in the day, but I didn’t question him about that, I just gave him the message from you, and he said don’t spend money writing to him, it’s more important to write to ME (very true). He told me about his broken finger, and how he got it at a party for some of the nurses he works with, and Alisha was with him but didn’t get injured, and I had to keep putting him on hold because I was working, so I let him go.
So today he wrote me a nice little email thanking me for giving him the message and said it means a lot to him. Awww. I still haven’t gotten any response from Someone’s Boyfriend. Possibly because I said I didn’t expect him to call me back, since he never f—ing does. Was that hostile?
Oh, you can write to your brother at home now, because Dad is going out to get him next week. The last day of school is April 25th.
Then today I got an IM from Erin who said that she had an interesting talk with Kevin yesterday in which he indicated that he is a little tired of Alisha, and admitted to having feelings for YOU. Just thought I’d let you know. I saved the IM conversation so you can read it later. Like in a year. …sniff… Erin also said that she talked to Jason yesterday but she didn’t seem very excited about it, and didn’t have much to say about it. You never say if he writes to you, in fact you never answer any of my questions! I’m still wondering what is the best way to get extra money to you?
Kimberly stayed after school yesterday for a Young Authors Recognition ceremony, and she got an Honorable Mention ribbon and a Harry Potter banner. She is taking it very well that she didn’t really win anything, but she’s a little hurt by it. She said tonight that she is trying not to feel jealous of Lauren, who won in the 7th grade. Tennille won in the 8th grade.
We put the dog on the leash and went out for a brisk two-block walk tonight. It’s pathetic how out of shape I am, but we are going to start walking more. Not that it will change anything. Ruthann is swimming in the mornings and using the weight machines at the Y, but I can’t go at that hour, and I am certainly not going to go by myself.
Ruthann and I went to HCC for our weekly manicures today, and I invited Kelly to come over and bring her boyfriend, who lives not too far from us, to watch God’s Army with me. I just got the DVD in the mail yesterday, but I was afraid it would be too hokey to watch by myself. Well of course she didn’t bring him over, I don’t know why I even ask her, she never does, and then she tried to deny that they do any smooching, like I’m going to believe that. I guess she thinks I’m stupid.
So I ended up watching God’s Army by myself and I loved it! I tried to get Kim to watch it, but no, she had to chat on AOL with Caitlin, so I just knitted on Scott’s Vest of Many Colors and watched it. It was great! It was better than the movie we saw on Monday, although that one was good, but this was better. God’s Army was written, directed, and produced by the actor who plays Elder Dalton in it, and he has also written, directed and produced the murder mystery, Brigham City, which I am dying to see, but it’s not being released on video until May or June. I pre-ordered it, and that’s when I ordered God’s Army, too. Some of the same actors from God’s Army are in Brigham City. They aren’t all LDS, which I thought was cool, in fact the one who plays Elder Allen in G. A. also plays a character in Brigham City, and he’s Jewish. I’m going to knit Scott a plain dark-colored v-neck sweater like the one Elder Allen wears in the last scene of G. A. (when he’s married) because he looked so very attractive in it.
I brought a book to work to read tonight, and I’ve got some knitting with me. Nothing I’m excited about. I started a bunch of sweaters a couple of weeks ago, and I’m realizing that none of them are what I want to work on. I want to do some plain, simple pieces that I can work on while I read. So I have to change some of my plans. The vest for Scott is something I have to do when I’m watching TV or a movie because it’s not complicated but it involves carrying 3 colors at a time and weaving them under each other, so I have to keep looking at it. There is one I started for myself, but I’m going to change it to eliminate the cabling in the front because it’s a complicated cable, not a simple one.
Oh and the t-shirt I started for Kim with the Dk. Green cotton-y yarn? The scoop neck was too low, so I ripped back the top and made it into a vest for Scott. It had the same amount of stitches as a vest in his size, and the broken rib pattern looks good in a vest. I’m doing another t-shirt for Kim with the cotton and silk nubbly yarn I bought in AZ that wasn’t enough to make something for you. It’s just a top-down v-neck that I don’t even need a pattern to make.
Oh my gosh, the weather alarm just went off in my office and my heart almost stopped! A severe thunderstorm warning continues for every county around until 1 a.m. I hope Barb got home okay. She usually calls me when she gets home if the weather is bad.
4/19/02
Well, Dad and I went to a play at HCC tonight because Andy from work (security) was in it. It wasn’t exactly a play, it was short monologues and scenes, and Andy did four pieces that he wrote, and they were excellent! He can really act! I knew he could write because he read a couple of monologues to me last week and they were SLAYING me – I was laughing so hard that I started wheezing and thought I’d choke to death; I need a new inhaler! Anyway his writing is good, and his acting is, too. I don’t know why he doesn’t move to Chicago and get involved in theater there.
So here’s the funny part, guess who was in some of the scenes? Jayelle! Before the play opened, some of the actors came out to chat with the audience members, and she was talking to a man in front of us and then I introduced myself and she started talking about the time she fell down the laundry chute! I told her you're in South America and I mentioned that you still haven’t gotten your book back! She said she read it again a couple of years ago. Hmm, she didn’t offer to give it back…
I had some knitting in my purse that I pulled out to work on during the second half, when the students did a one-act play, a version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, which was good, but not something I would have chosen to watch. After the show, the students came out on the stage and wanted to have a dialogue with audience members about their interpretation of the play, which was just the kind of pretentious stuff I would have liked to avoid, but darn it, we were sitting in the back and there was no way to get out of there.
We were all sitting in the bleachers that were set up on the stage, to make it a small, intimate, setting, so afterward Dad had to go under the bleachers to get my yarn.
When we got home it was 9:30, but Kim had her bag all packed to go to sleepover at Caitlin’s, so Dad took her over there and I stayed home and got ready to come to work.
Monday, April 22, 2002
Dad left this morning to bring Scott home from BYU! Yeah! I can’t wait until he gets home and can groom his hairy, matted cat! While Dad is gone, I have to get up early and drive Kim to school every day, ugh, and I had to arrange to trade a day with Barb so that I can take her and her harp to the concert on Wednesday night. I have to fit the harp into the SATURN!
I’ve seen God’s Army three times this weekend; on Friday when I watched it myself, with Dad on Saturday, and he loved it too, and then with Dad and Kim on Sunday.
Since I worked the midnight shift all weekend, I couldn’t sleep last night, so I ended up staying up until 4 in the morning! I got a lot of knitting done, so I’m just a few inches away from finishing a cute cotton top for Kim, using a top-down, seamless raglan pattern from a book I bought at the FIBER FAIR on Saturday.
That’s right, Saturday was the fiber fair. I think it was smaller this year, in fact I’m sure it was. But I saw the Mennonite kids and Adam said he had been looking forward to being beaten by you in the drop spindle contest this year. I told him you hadn’t been practicing anyway, and that maybe you’ll be back in time for it next year.
Mary Boeke-Hill was there and she was running around all excited because she had bought a mouse in a little cage and was going to name it Sophie. I suggested that, living in an old house and all, perhaps she could have just gone to her basement to catch a mouse, but she didn’t think much of that idea.
I bought some beautiful soft, fine, lama wool from Gunhilde, and she had some other yarn there that I was interested in, too, but I was trying to keep expenses down because of Dad’s trip this week, so I only bought the lama wool from her and some sock yarn and a couple of books from Susan’s Fiber Shop.
You should see the beautiful work Kim is doing on her non-fiction book project for one of her classes! She is so good at doing projects! She had good ideas and she just figures them out and does them! She has to make an alphabet book, using subjects from the book for each letter of the alphabet and she has copied pictures from the book, using the scanner, to make illustrations, plus she draws some of the illustrations, too. They had to make a poem about each letter, and she has done an excellent job. Her book is about the Mormons and the Pioneer Trail, and it’s so cool! A is for Articles of Faith, and she has a picture of the text of the Articles of Faith, G is for Golden plates, it’s a really cool project!
Well I’m going to stop so I can get this in the mail. I’m looking forward to my weekly letter…
Love you boo.
Mumsy
1:04 p.m. - 2002-04-18
Serendipity
15 April, 2002
Dear Rachel,
I just got out of bed after I worked the midnight shift last night, and I woke up at 1:30, when there was the sound of a car crash in front of our house! There is a car sitting on Judy’s lawn, and there are three police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck in the street. The car on Judy’s lawn is damaged, but not totaled, and there is a car parked across the street on the other side, in front of Jake’s house, that looks fine, but was involved somehow, because they are sitting there talking to the police.
The fire truck and the ambulance just left, so apparently they weren’t needed, and most of the neighbors have gone back into their houses now. Kim stayed home from school with a sore throat today, so she has had a little entertainment. It looks like the utility pole at the corner of the street was damaged somehow.
When I was missing you last week, I called the missionaries and invited them over for pizza (Papa John makes spinach pizza now, which is pretty good.) and one of them mentioned a movie about a missionary who leaves his girlfriend and goes to an island where no one speaks English. He said it was being made by Hollywood producers and had some people who were actors in other movies in it.
Then Grandpa wrote me an email this week that mentioned a new movie called The Other Side of Heaven. His note said:
I see there is a new movie out that must have been made for you and Rich. The other side of Heaven. A Mormon boy leaves his girl friend for his mission. He goes to a Island in the Pacific. To a village where only 1 person can speech English. Tell Scott not to go there.
So I looked it up on the internet and it’s showing in Rockford, so we’re going to see it tonight. I saw in a review that it was adapted from a book by the real missionary who served on the island, so I went looking for the book, and Amazon said it was out of print, but BYU bookstore has it in paperback, so I called Scott and told him to get it for me and he said he would.
(I interrupt this letter to give you an update on the accident – the damaged car is sitting on Judy’s lawn and an Alber tow truck just backed across our lawn to get to it, to tow it away. No problem buddy, you don’t need to apologize to me, just take a piece of lawn with you, okay? The last cop here just kicked a couple of pieces of that car out of the middle of the road and left them at the curb – thank goodness he didn’t have to bend over to pick them up, he could have injured himself.)
Now back to our story..
So then I called Ruthann to tell her about the movie, and she thought it sounded familiar, and she recognized the author’s name, and went to find the book on her bookshelf, along with a second book he wrote later when he was the mission president in that area, so I borrowed the books from her yesterday and read most of the first one at work last night.
And that, my friend, is Serendipity.
Later:
I just came home from Kim’s doctor visit and she does have strep throat again. We went to Walmart and bought her a pair of Capri jeans while we were waiting for her prescription, and then we came home and talked to a couple of the neighbors about the accident.
Next day, Tuesday
We went to see the movie last night, and there were a bunch of Mormons in the theater but since it was Colonial Village you know that the people sitting behind me talked through the movie. They were old people who had to state the obvious out loud when they saw it. People had small children there, too, the idiots. After the movie, when we were trying to watch the credits in peace, the old people behind us thought they were being funny and kept saying, Where’s the swearing? Yeah, where’s the swearing? Was that a movie with no swearing? And I muttered to Rich, Here’s the swearing, would you fucking morons shut up!!
Oh, when the missionaries were here on Friday, one of them said he’s got a buddy on a mission in BAS, his name is Greg Smith. So if you meet him, Elder Hatch says hello. Have you run into Marc Gibert yet? His mother finally got a letter from him and he mentioned throwing toilet paper in a bucket instead of flushing it, haha! The Elders who ate here also said that a couple of the Aquabats were LDS and their drummer was too, he plays with Blink 182 now. Or he used to be with Blink 182 and now he’s with the Aquabats, I can’t remember which, but I looked up the thing about the Aquabats on the internet, and it’s true.
So it’s just like summer here this week, I mean it’s been so warm and everything is green and it smells like summer. It was 80 yesterday! On Saturday, when I went to Ruthann’s to borrow that book, we went out to get a Diet Pepsi and just cruised in the car all over town, and people were out with their babies in strollers, or walking their dogs, because it was beautiful out!
Last night I was tired from working midnights so I went to bed early and that caused me to wake up way early today, but that’s okay because it’s a beautiful day and I don’t have to work.
Love you boo. Mumsy
12:49 p.m. - 2002-04-15
Dear Rachel,
I just got out of bed after I worked the midnight shift last night, and I woke up at 1:30, when there was the sound of a car crash in front of our house! There is a car sitting on Judy’s lawn, and there are three police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck in the street. The car on Judy’s lawn is damaged, but not totaled, and there is a car parked across the street on the other side, in front of Jake’s house, that looks fine, but was involved somehow, because they are sitting there talking to the police.
The fire truck and the ambulance just left, so apparently they weren’t needed, and most of the neighbors have gone back into their houses now. Kim stayed home from school with a sore throat today, so she has had a little entertainment. It looks like the utility pole at the corner of the street was damaged somehow.
When I was missing you last week, I called the missionaries and invited them over for pizza (Papa John makes spinach pizza now, which is pretty good.) and one of them mentioned a movie about a missionary who leaves his girlfriend and goes to an island where no one speaks English. He said it was being made by Hollywood producers and had some people who were actors in other movies in it.
Then Grandpa wrote me an email this week that mentioned a new movie called The Other Side of Heaven. His note said:
I see there is a new movie out that must have been made for you and Rich. The other side of Heaven. A Mormon boy leaves his girl friend for his mission. He goes to a Island in the Pacific. To a village where only 1 person can speech English. Tell Scott not to go there.
So I looked it up on the internet and it’s showing in Rockford, so we’re going to see it tonight. I saw in a review that it was adapted from a book by the real missionary who served on the island, so I went looking for the book, and Amazon said it was out of print, but BYU bookstore has it in paperback, so I called Scott and told him to get it for me and he said he would.
(I interrupt this letter to give you an update on the accident – the damaged car is sitting on Judy’s lawn and an Alber tow truck just backed across our lawn to get to it, to tow it away. No problem buddy, you don’t need to apologize to me, just take a piece of lawn with you, okay? The last cop here just kicked a couple of pieces of that car out of the middle of the road and left them at the curb – thank goodness he didn’t have to bend over to pick them up, he could have injured himself.)
Now back to our story..
So then I called Ruthann to tell her about the movie, and she thought it sounded familiar, and she recognized the author’s name, and went to find the book on her bookshelf, along with a second book he wrote later when he was the mission president in that area, so I borrowed the books from her yesterday and read most of the first one at work last night.
And that, my friend, is Serendipity.
Later:
I just came home from Kim’s doctor visit and she does have strep throat again. We went to Walmart and bought her a pair of Capri jeans while we were waiting for her prescription, and then we came home and talked to a couple of the neighbors about the accident.
Next day, Tuesday
We went to see the movie last night, and there were a bunch of Mormons in the theater but since it was Colonial Village you know that the people sitting behind me talked through the movie. They were old people who had to state the obvious out loud when they saw it. People had small children there, too, the idiots. After the movie, when we were trying to watch the credits in peace, the old people behind us thought they were being funny and kept saying, Where’s the swearing? Yeah, where’s the swearing? Was that a movie with no swearing? And I muttered to Rich, Here’s the swearing, would you fucking morons shut up!!
Oh, when the missionaries were here on Friday, one of them said he’s got a buddy on a mission in BAS, his name is Greg Smith. So if you meet him, Elder Hatch says hello. Have you run into Marc Gibert yet? His mother finally got a letter from him and he mentioned throwing toilet paper in a bucket instead of flushing it, haha! The Elders who ate here also said that a couple of the Aquabats were LDS and their drummer was too, he plays with Blink 182 now. Or he used to be with Blink 182 and now he’s with the Aquabats, I can’t remember which, but I looked up the thing about the Aquabats on the internet, and it’s true.
So it’s just like summer here this week, I mean it’s been so warm and everything is green and it smells like summer. It was 80 yesterday! On Saturday, when I went to Ruthann’s to borrow that book, we went out to get a Diet Pepsi and just cruised in the car all over town, and people were out with their babies in strollers, or walking their dogs, because it was beautiful out!
Last night I was tired from working midnights so I went to bed early and that caused me to wake up way early today, but that’s okay because it’s a beautiful day and I don’t have to work.
Love you boo. Mumsy
12:49 p.m. - 2002-04-15
Conference Sunday
7 April, 2002
Sunday night
Dear Mooksy,
Last night was the time change to Daylight Savings Time, so I ended up only working 7 hours, which was wonderful. I came home and went to bed, and when I got up it was almost time for the last session of General Conference, so we watched it on the internet while I knitted on your Nagano sweater.
Scott went to SLC on the bus yesterday and saw two sessions of conference right there at Temple Square! He went with some girls and they met some other girls there and they all brought food so they could have a picnic. Scott brought cookies. I’m so proud of him for being all brave and bold and finding a friend to go with! He had one standby ticket, and they were just 30 people away from getting into the Conference center for the first session, so they saw that one from the Tabernacle, and then he had a regular ticket for the second session, so he saw that one in the Conference center. He said that Pres. Hinckley came in twirling his cane and tapped a couple of people with it!
So guess what I’m knitting? I’m using the Shapely Tank Top pattern with the sleeve pattern, too, to make a T-shirt sweater for Kim. I’m having fun with it! I’ve actually started two of them, one in dark green acrylic that feels cottony and the other is with some cotton/silk blend Japanese yarn I bought in Arizona. There is really only enough of it for a tank top, so I’m adding the sleeves and some trim in white cotton. I think it’s going to be cute. I’m not doing the short-row shaping at the bottom, because I didn’t like how it looked when I tried it before. I’m just making a straight hem, but I am doing the waist shaping. The cotton one is just stockinette stitch, but the dk green one is a ribbed stitch and it looks cool. It’s a really easy stitch pattern called Broken Rib. You do K1P1 ribbing on Row 1 and then purl all the stitches on Row 2. You repeat those two rows for the pattern.
I talked to Erin (Baby Monkey Girl) online last night and she had just talked to JD on the phone, so she wanted to tell me that Heather is getting married next month! AND that Marshall and Detmer are going to share an apartment this summer! I thought that was cute. JD is going to share an apartment in town with “some friends”. I wonder if that means Stephanie?
Did I tell you that I’m in love with Georgette Heyer? I have been getting all of her books from the library and reading them while I knit. They are so good! I’m getting a lot of knitting done, too.
8 April 2002
Monday
Last night I couldn’t go to sleep, after 3 days on the midnight shift, so at 4 in the morning, I got up, washed my face and took a sleeping pill. As a result, I slept until 12 in the afternoon, although I did get interrupted once by a furious call from Sarah, who was mad at our mother.
I got up and had some toast and a diet Pepsi, and then Ruthann and Lisa came over so that Lisa could do a Mary Kay demonstration. So now I am wearing some makeup, and I am looking forward to washing it off.
After Lisa left, Ruthann and I went out for a Whopper from BK and then we picked up Kim and Tennille and gave them a ride home since it was raining pretty steadily, and it was cold.
When I got home I found a note on the computer from Jason, who must have been in the computer lab. It just said Hey Audrey, and he was already off-line, so I missed him. I called and left a message on his cell phone, but I doubt that he’ll call me back. He never does. Have you gotten many letters from him?
Kim is watching cartoons now and she is making some Uncle Ben’s Instant Rice Pudding with Raisins. Last time I went shopping I bought a few mixes, mostly brownie mixes so that she can do some cooking. I’m boiling some chicken breasts to make chicken noodle soup.
I’m still knitting the dk green t-shirt sweater for Kim, and it’s nice and relaxing. I got some movies from Netflix today, and I’m going to watch them while I knit, later this week. I don’t think I’ll have time tomorrow because I have to go to the store in the morning and make a casserole to drop off at someone’s house before work.
I talked to Scott last night, and he said that he went to visiting hours at the girl’s hall, intending to visit one girl, but when he got to her room, she had a bumper sticker or something that made a slur on Republicans, so he went to visit another girl instead. Hahaha!
Last night Kim and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle for a while. It’s one that I have had on the dining room table for weeks, and finally Bertha started working on it when they were here last weekend, and got a lot of the edge pieces together, so once she got it started, we have been working on it a little. After Kim went to bed I read for a while and then I called my Grandma to talk to her, and I worked on it a little more while we talked.
Yes, this is all just as boring as it sounds, but it’s what we’re doing right now. Maybe next week will be more interesting.
I love you, and I look for a letter from you in the mailbox every day!
Mumsy
12:48 p.m. - 2002-04-7
Sunday night
Dear Mooksy,
Last night was the time change to Daylight Savings Time, so I ended up only working 7 hours, which was wonderful. I came home and went to bed, and when I got up it was almost time for the last session of General Conference, so we watched it on the internet while I knitted on your Nagano sweater.
Scott went to SLC on the bus yesterday and saw two sessions of conference right there at Temple Square! He went with some girls and they met some other girls there and they all brought food so they could have a picnic. Scott brought cookies. I’m so proud of him for being all brave and bold and finding a friend to go with! He had one standby ticket, and they were just 30 people away from getting into the Conference center for the first session, so they saw that one from the Tabernacle, and then he had a regular ticket for the second session, so he saw that one in the Conference center. He said that Pres. Hinckley came in twirling his cane and tapped a couple of people with it!
So guess what I’m knitting? I’m using the Shapely Tank Top pattern with the sleeve pattern, too, to make a T-shirt sweater for Kim. I’m having fun with it! I’ve actually started two of them, one in dark green acrylic that feels cottony and the other is with some cotton/silk blend Japanese yarn I bought in Arizona. There is really only enough of it for a tank top, so I’m adding the sleeves and some trim in white cotton. I think it’s going to be cute. I’m not doing the short-row shaping at the bottom, because I didn’t like how it looked when I tried it before. I’m just making a straight hem, but I am doing the waist shaping. The cotton one is just stockinette stitch, but the dk green one is a ribbed stitch and it looks cool. It’s a really easy stitch pattern called Broken Rib. You do K1P1 ribbing on Row 1 and then purl all the stitches on Row 2. You repeat those two rows for the pattern.
I talked to Erin (Baby Monkey Girl) online last night and she had just talked to JD on the phone, so she wanted to tell me that Heather is getting married next month! AND that Marshall and Detmer are going to share an apartment this summer! I thought that was cute. JD is going to share an apartment in town with “some friends”. I wonder if that means Stephanie?
Did I tell you that I’m in love with Georgette Heyer? I have been getting all of her books from the library and reading them while I knit. They are so good! I’m getting a lot of knitting done, too.
8 April 2002
Monday
Last night I couldn’t go to sleep, after 3 days on the midnight shift, so at 4 in the morning, I got up, washed my face and took a sleeping pill. As a result, I slept until 12 in the afternoon, although I did get interrupted once by a furious call from Sarah, who was mad at our mother.
I got up and had some toast and a diet Pepsi, and then Ruthann and Lisa came over so that Lisa could do a Mary Kay demonstration. So now I am wearing some makeup, and I am looking forward to washing it off.
After Lisa left, Ruthann and I went out for a Whopper from BK and then we picked up Kim and Tennille and gave them a ride home since it was raining pretty steadily, and it was cold.
When I got home I found a note on the computer from Jason, who must have been in the computer lab. It just said Hey Audrey, and he was already off-line, so I missed him. I called and left a message on his cell phone, but I doubt that he’ll call me back. He never does. Have you gotten many letters from him?
Kim is watching cartoons now and she is making some Uncle Ben’s Instant Rice Pudding with Raisins. Last time I went shopping I bought a few mixes, mostly brownie mixes so that she can do some cooking. I’m boiling some chicken breasts to make chicken noodle soup.
I’m still knitting the dk green t-shirt sweater for Kim, and it’s nice and relaxing. I got some movies from Netflix today, and I’m going to watch them while I knit, later this week. I don’t think I’ll have time tomorrow because I have to go to the store in the morning and make a casserole to drop off at someone’s house before work.
I talked to Scott last night, and he said that he went to visiting hours at the girl’s hall, intending to visit one girl, but when he got to her room, she had a bumper sticker or something that made a slur on Republicans, so he went to visit another girl instead. Hahaha!
Last night Kim and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle for a while. It’s one that I have had on the dining room table for weeks, and finally Bertha started working on it when they were here last weekend, and got a lot of the edge pieces together, so once she got it started, we have been working on it a little. After Kim went to bed I read for a while and then I called my Grandma to talk to her, and I worked on it a little more while we talked.
Yes, this is all just as boring as it sounds, but it’s what we’re doing right now. Maybe next week will be more interesting.
I love you, and I look for a letter from you in the mailbox every day!
Mumsy
12:48 p.m. - 2002-04-7
Medievel Times
March 31, 2002
Easter Sunday
Dear Hermana Mooksy,
We just got back from little outing to Medieval Times with Grandma and Grandpa for Kim’s birthday. It was kind of fun, except for the large crowd! I didn’t mind eating with my fingers, except for the soup. I drank some of that and soaked my very crusty garlic bread in the rest so that it was a little easier to eat. That made it really good.
The knights are all very attractive longhaired men riding horses, and they had squires who were somewhat less attractive. It was the squire’s job to scoop up the horse poop of their knight with a pitchfork and drop it into a bucket to keep the sand clean. I wonder if you can work your way up from pooper-scooper to squire to knight. I think it would be an interesting job, and a great conversation piece; “So what do you do for a living?” “I joust at Medieval Times.” Of course, now Kim wants to be a knight at MT.
There were lots of cool things to buy there, not too overpriced, either, which surprised me! I really wanted to buy a jester hat for Scott, and I might have to see if I can buy one on the Internet because they were so cool! Yup, I just checked to see if they sell them on the Internet and they do! Well, I know what some people are getting for Christmas this year.
So it’s been a busy weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. They got here on Friday and brought a two-foot chocolate Easter Bunny for Kim, and the usual box of treats for the animals and us. They stayed a couple of hours and then went to the motel to sleep.
I had to work at 11, so I took a nap and then got up and watched TV with Kim until it was time for her to go to bed and me to go to work. When I got up on Saturday around noon, everyone wanted to go out for lunch, so we went to Alvarez for Mexican food. Then everyone else went to see a movie, but I had an interpreting job, which was fine with me, since I didn’t want to see that movie anyway. Dad and Kim went swimming at the motel in the evening, but I was tired from working Friday night, so I stayed home, got into bed with a book and my knitting, and called a friend to talk on the phone. It was fun.
Today we went to church. Karin’s younger sister Kelly was there because her boyfriend’s baptism was in our building after church, so she brought her knitting and sat by me. She is really having problems with her knitting – I wish I had more time to sit with her and work on it. I told her I would go to visit her and her mom on Tuesday at their house, so I’m going to take a movie to watch with them and see how her knitting is coming along.
I saw Heather R. too. I went to the Nursery to “help” Dad during RS, so while I was there, I went out to fill his water pitcher, and Heather was sitting on the couch with her mom and Olga J. She is thinking that she would like to move away from Freeport, and I suggested that she could go live with Jeanette in Michigan. Jeanette is looking for a roommate, but Heather is considering moving to Milwaukee to live with Jenny T. who is planning to go to college there. Which would probably be better for Heather, since they would go to the singles ward together and everything.
So now I am talking to Scott on MSN and he says that he went to Easter Dinner in the girl’s hall tonight. He also said that he didn’t get the little package I sent! Hmph! I mailed it Monday, and I can’t believe he didn’t get it yet, it’s not like he’s in Argentina! It has the new vest I knitted for him, the latest Dragon mag and some Jelly Bellies, in Kiwi and Easter Mix. I hope he gets it on Monday!
Monday
April 1, 2002
My eyes are itching!! I just got up and had breakfast and I’m sitting here at the computer reading my email like I always do in the morning and my eyes are itching A LOT! Ow, sweetie, ow, dahling!
So now Kim is starting to nag me about going out to look for a good price on a Gamecube. She got birthday money and it’s enough to pay half the price of a Gamecube, and since she’s been practicing her instruments pretty faithfully to earn a Gamecube I told her I would help her buy it now. I suggested that we look around for the best price and now she is dying to get started – she wants to start driving from store to store to price them and that isn’t the way I want to do it at all! My idea of comparison-shopping is to stay home and ask all of my friends to look for a good price, because some of them (notably Barb from work) are excellent shoppers. I thought I’d check the weekly sale papers, too. I can see that this might be a excellent source of much nagging from Kim!
So did you get your package from Grandpa yet? He says the P.O. said it would take a week, but I hear from the missionary moms list that it takes much longer than that! We want to know about it the minute you get it!! Grandpa was going to put some money in your bank account while he was here, but he forgot his checkbook, so he said he’d send a check for you when he gets home.
In the last week there have been some letters on the Miss. Moms list that say their sons are writing home saying that their mission presidents are asking families not to send packages. We haven’t gotten any official word on it, though.
Oh, get this, the Johnson’s are going to Arizona this week to bring Preston home from his mission. So that will be nice for them. Hooooooooo…. (sad monkey whine).
Scott will be out of school at the end of this month, and at the time that I am writing this, our plan is for Dad to drive out to Utah and bring him back. It’s a long drive out there for Dad, but Scott will be with him to share the driving on the way home. Grandpa suggested that Scott should ship his stuff home and fly back here, but Scott wants Dad to come out there so he can show him around the college and Dad says he can do that. I wish we could all go, but Kim will be in school that week.
Well I just don’t have much to say. I’ve been reading, knitting, working, you know, the regular stuff, but there is nothing newsworthy to tell you.
12:44 p.m. - 2002-03-31
Easter Sunday
Dear Hermana Mooksy,
We just got back from little outing to Medieval Times with Grandma and Grandpa for Kim’s birthday. It was kind of fun, except for the large crowd! I didn’t mind eating with my fingers, except for the soup. I drank some of that and soaked my very crusty garlic bread in the rest so that it was a little easier to eat. That made it really good.
The knights are all very attractive longhaired men riding horses, and they had squires who were somewhat less attractive. It was the squire’s job to scoop up the horse poop of their knight with a pitchfork and drop it into a bucket to keep the sand clean. I wonder if you can work your way up from pooper-scooper to squire to knight. I think it would be an interesting job, and a great conversation piece; “So what do you do for a living?” “I joust at Medieval Times.” Of course, now Kim wants to be a knight at MT.
There were lots of cool things to buy there, not too overpriced, either, which surprised me! I really wanted to buy a jester hat for Scott, and I might have to see if I can buy one on the Internet because they were so cool! Yup, I just checked to see if they sell them on the Internet and they do! Well, I know what some people are getting for Christmas this year.
So it’s been a busy weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. They got here on Friday and brought a two-foot chocolate Easter Bunny for Kim, and the usual box of treats for the animals and us. They stayed a couple of hours and then went to the motel to sleep.
I had to work at 11, so I took a nap and then got up and watched TV with Kim until it was time for her to go to bed and me to go to work. When I got up on Saturday around noon, everyone wanted to go out for lunch, so we went to Alvarez for Mexican food. Then everyone else went to see a movie, but I had an interpreting job, which was fine with me, since I didn’t want to see that movie anyway. Dad and Kim went swimming at the motel in the evening, but I was tired from working Friday night, so I stayed home, got into bed with a book and my knitting, and called a friend to talk on the phone. It was fun.
Today we went to church. Karin’s younger sister Kelly was there because her boyfriend’s baptism was in our building after church, so she brought her knitting and sat by me. She is really having problems with her knitting – I wish I had more time to sit with her and work on it. I told her I would go to visit her and her mom on Tuesday at their house, so I’m going to take a movie to watch with them and see how her knitting is coming along.
I saw Heather R. too. I went to the Nursery to “help” Dad during RS, so while I was there, I went out to fill his water pitcher, and Heather was sitting on the couch with her mom and Olga J. She is thinking that she would like to move away from Freeport, and I suggested that she could go live with Jeanette in Michigan. Jeanette is looking for a roommate, but Heather is considering moving to Milwaukee to live with Jenny T. who is planning to go to college there. Which would probably be better for Heather, since they would go to the singles ward together and everything.
So now I am talking to Scott on MSN and he says that he went to Easter Dinner in the girl’s hall tonight. He also said that he didn’t get the little package I sent! Hmph! I mailed it Monday, and I can’t believe he didn’t get it yet, it’s not like he’s in Argentina! It has the new vest I knitted for him, the latest Dragon mag and some Jelly Bellies, in Kiwi and Easter Mix. I hope he gets it on Monday!
Monday
April 1, 2002
My eyes are itching!! I just got up and had breakfast and I’m sitting here at the computer reading my email like I always do in the morning and my eyes are itching A LOT! Ow, sweetie, ow, dahling!
So now Kim is starting to nag me about going out to look for a good price on a Gamecube. She got birthday money and it’s enough to pay half the price of a Gamecube, and since she’s been practicing her instruments pretty faithfully to earn a Gamecube I told her I would help her buy it now. I suggested that we look around for the best price and now she is dying to get started – she wants to start driving from store to store to price them and that isn’t the way I want to do it at all! My idea of comparison-shopping is to stay home and ask all of my friends to look for a good price, because some of them (notably Barb from work) are excellent shoppers. I thought I’d check the weekly sale papers, too. I can see that this might be a excellent source of much nagging from Kim!
So did you get your package from Grandpa yet? He says the P.O. said it would take a week, but I hear from the missionary moms list that it takes much longer than that! We want to know about it the minute you get it!! Grandpa was going to put some money in your bank account while he was here, but he forgot his checkbook, so he said he’d send a check for you when he gets home.
In the last week there have been some letters on the Miss. Moms list that say their sons are writing home saying that their mission presidents are asking families not to send packages. We haven’t gotten any official word on it, though.
Oh, get this, the Johnson’s are going to Arizona this week to bring Preston home from his mission. So that will be nice for them. Hooooooooo…. (sad monkey whine).
Scott will be out of school at the end of this month, and at the time that I am writing this, our plan is for Dad to drive out to Utah and bring him back. It’s a long drive out there for Dad, but Scott will be with him to share the driving on the way home. Grandpa suggested that Scott should ship his stuff home and fly back here, but Scott wants Dad to come out there so he can show him around the college and Dad says he can do that. I wish we could all go, but Kim will be in school that week.
Well I just don’t have much to say. I’ve been reading, knitting, working, you know, the regular stuff, but there is nothing newsworthy to tell you.
12:44 p.m. - 2002-03-31
Night at the movies
23 March, 2002
Saturday
Dear Scott-
This has been a very lazy week for me. I haven’t accomplished one single thing! All I’ve done is sit on my butt and knit and read my library books! I’m feeling very guilty about that now. I also completely forgot about writing a letter to David this week, so when I got his letter today, thanking me for writing, I felt like a big rat for not writing him a letter!
David sounds like he is doing fine, but apparently he has a terrible craving for McDonalds food! He wants me to tell Joel to sneak him in some food on his Pday, but I’m not going to do that. He can just follow the rules like he should, and when he goes to Las Vegas he can go straight to a McDonalds and get some food and it will taste like heaven.
We are going to see Gosford Park today for our family movie experience. I hope Kim won’t be too bored, but I really want to see this one. I guess I could wait until it comes out on video, but this will be fun because we’ll be the only people in the theater. It’s been out for a long time, and it’s at Colonial Village now, that pit!
I just found out last night that Gosford Park is rated R, and at first I thought oh no, I can’t take Kim to that, but actually, it’s just for language, which she hears plenty of from me, and for some sexuality, which she sees lots of on TV, on shows like Just Shoot Me and Spin City, so I got over it. I wouldn’t have even looked at the box to check the rating if I was getting it in the video store, and I would let her watch it with me at home, so I don’t know why I have any reservations about seeing it in the theater.
Yesterday Kim was tidying up her room and she suddenly went downstairs to “get something” that she was acting a little sly about, but when she went by me on the way back to her room, I could see that it was just a ski glove that she had got from the hall closet. I asked her what she needed that for, and she said, “Nothing,” and I suggested that it was to protect her from the cats, but later I found out that she used the glove to hold a stick that she was throwing outside into the bushes beside the house. It’s a long, forked stick with an interesting shape that she found outside and has had in her room for about two years. You’d recognize it if you saw it. I think she brought it in after she used it to act out one of their scenarios with Erik or Cole.
I asked her why she needed a glove to carry it outside and she said because it was probably covered with bacteria! Umm, right, but it’s been in her room for at least two years, so why is she suddenly thinking of bacteria now? She had that filthy baby bird, probably full of lice, living in her room, flying around and pooping everywhere, and she thought that was adorable, but a perfectly clean stick is too nasty to hold in her naked hand? She is so weird.
And while we’re talking about weird, when I got home from work this morning, I said hello to Kim, who was watching TV and sitting in Zorro’s spot in front of the heat register, and then I headed upstairs to bed. Zorro ran up the stairs ahead of me, stopping once to look back over his shoulder, like Lassie, to see if I was following him! I said, “What is it, boy? A forest fire?” but then I knew what he wanted – and I was right – he ran into the bathroom ahead of me and waited by the toilet, because the lid was down and he wanted me to lift it so he could get a drink. That’s why all of our toilet seats have scratch marks on them, from Zorro’s claws! The other day I was using the toilet and he was pacing next to me waiting to get a drink and he actually bumped my butt with his head to try to get me off the seat! “Hey lady, what do you think you’re doing? I drink out of that!”
Later –
We just got back from the movie and a happy little trip to Barnes & Noble. I got a knitting magazine and a diet book, and Kim got a book, too. I saw a cute young boy, so I found Kim and told her how to flirt with someone in a store, and then we went to find him so she could try it out, but when she saw him she said he was old, and on second look, I had to agree that he was at least 16. Oh well, I’m getting old when all boys look about 12 to me.
I loved the movie, but Kim was bored and Dad was wondering when the car chases would start. It was wonderful, very British Houseparty Murder Mystery and the murder was very much secondary to the people, both upstairs and downstairs. I loved it and I can’t wait until it comes out on video so I can watch it again.
Next week we have to find something with action, though, because I owe Dad and Kim. Kim was really complaining when we sat there for the credit crawl – oh my goodness, she was even crying a little because she was tired and crabby about the whole thing. So we took her to B & N and then stopped at McDonald’s on the way home and she cheered up, but she’s tired, so she has already gone to bed.
Well, I’ll mail this on Monday. Love you.
Mumsy
12:44 p.m. - 2002-03-23
Saturday
Dear Scott-
This has been a very lazy week for me. I haven’t accomplished one single thing! All I’ve done is sit on my butt and knit and read my library books! I’m feeling very guilty about that now. I also completely forgot about writing a letter to David this week, so when I got his letter today, thanking me for writing, I felt like a big rat for not writing him a letter!
David sounds like he is doing fine, but apparently he has a terrible craving for McDonalds food! He wants me to tell Joel to sneak him in some food on his Pday, but I’m not going to do that. He can just follow the rules like he should, and when he goes to Las Vegas he can go straight to a McDonalds and get some food and it will taste like heaven.
We are going to see Gosford Park today for our family movie experience. I hope Kim won’t be too bored, but I really want to see this one. I guess I could wait until it comes out on video, but this will be fun because we’ll be the only people in the theater. It’s been out for a long time, and it’s at Colonial Village now, that pit!
I just found out last night that Gosford Park is rated R, and at first I thought oh no, I can’t take Kim to that, but actually, it’s just for language, which she hears plenty of from me, and for some sexuality, which she sees lots of on TV, on shows like Just Shoot Me and Spin City, so I got over it. I wouldn’t have even looked at the box to check the rating if I was getting it in the video store, and I would let her watch it with me at home, so I don’t know why I have any reservations about seeing it in the theater.
Yesterday Kim was tidying up her room and she suddenly went downstairs to “get something” that she was acting a little sly about, but when she went by me on the way back to her room, I could see that it was just a ski glove that she had got from the hall closet. I asked her what she needed that for, and she said, “Nothing,” and I suggested that it was to protect her from the cats, but later I found out that she used the glove to hold a stick that she was throwing outside into the bushes beside the house. It’s a long, forked stick with an interesting shape that she found outside and has had in her room for about two years. You’d recognize it if you saw it. I think she brought it in after she used it to act out one of their scenarios with Erik or Cole.
I asked her why she needed a glove to carry it outside and she said because it was probably covered with bacteria! Umm, right, but it’s been in her room for at least two years, so why is she suddenly thinking of bacteria now? She had that filthy baby bird, probably full of lice, living in her room, flying around and pooping everywhere, and she thought that was adorable, but a perfectly clean stick is too nasty to hold in her naked hand? She is so weird.
And while we’re talking about weird, when I got home from work this morning, I said hello to Kim, who was watching TV and sitting in Zorro’s spot in front of the heat register, and then I headed upstairs to bed. Zorro ran up the stairs ahead of me, stopping once to look back over his shoulder, like Lassie, to see if I was following him! I said, “What is it, boy? A forest fire?” but then I knew what he wanted – and I was right – he ran into the bathroom ahead of me and waited by the toilet, because the lid was down and he wanted me to lift it so he could get a drink. That’s why all of our toilet seats have scratch marks on them, from Zorro’s claws! The other day I was using the toilet and he was pacing next to me waiting to get a drink and he actually bumped my butt with his head to try to get me off the seat! “Hey lady, what do you think you’re doing? I drink out of that!”
Later –
We just got back from the movie and a happy little trip to Barnes & Noble. I got a knitting magazine and a diet book, and Kim got a book, too. I saw a cute young boy, so I found Kim and told her how to flirt with someone in a store, and then we went to find him so she could try it out, but when she saw him she said he was old, and on second look, I had to agree that he was at least 16. Oh well, I’m getting old when all boys look about 12 to me.
I loved the movie, but Kim was bored and Dad was wondering when the car chases would start. It was wonderful, very British Houseparty Murder Mystery and the murder was very much secondary to the people, both upstairs and downstairs. I loved it and I can’t wait until it comes out on video so I can watch it again.
Next week we have to find something with action, though, because I owe Dad and Kim. Kim was really complaining when we sat there for the credit crawl – oh my goodness, she was even crying a little because she was tired and crabby about the whole thing. So we took her to B & N and then stopped at McDonald’s on the way home and she cheered up, but she’s tired, so she has already gone to bed.
Well, I’ll mail this on Monday. Love you.
Mumsy
12:44 p.m. - 2002-03-23
Talked to Scott
17 March, 2002
Dear Mooksy,
We’ve been home from church for a couple of hours, and Kim had to stay for BYC, but she’s home now, too. Dad made fried chicken strips – hey is that milenesa?
It’s been a long week, since I had to work the 3-11 shift four days in a row, and I get darned tired of it. I have to work 11-7 tonight, and then have two days off, so that’s okay.
So we went to our weekly movie yesterday, and before that we had lunch at Café Mondo. They have big, delicious-looking sandwiches, but I wasn’t hungry, so I just had a bowl of soup that was merely tolerable. Kim had a homework assignment to make scrapbook of all the local politicians running the election to be held on Tuesday, so Dad took her to the library and downtown to gather flyers and whatnot, and they decided to eat at one of the little downtown restaurants. I had been hungry at home so I had a peanut butter sandwich and then they came home and wanted to go and eat, so I just went with them for fun.
Later we went back out for a movie, and we saw Ice Age. It was okay. It was no Shrek! There is another movie opening next week that we’ll go to, but I can’t think of the name of it right now.
Later:
So we’re just sitting in the living room tonight, watching the weirdest version of Snow White ever made. It’s very hallucinatory, in my opinion, and it’s got elements from other Grimm fairy tales mixed into it. I was not enjoying it, but then Scott called to say he had met with his bishop and had his mission papers in his hand!!
So he started filling them out over the phone, and it was fun. He can just go to Student Health to get his physical and dental exams, so that’s nice and easy. He is so funny, at one part he was filling out his medical history and he got to a question that asked if he has used recreational drugs, and he laughed and said he didn’t know that was a real phrase, he thought it was a “mom-ism”.
Now he is off the phone and going to a missionary preparation ward activity tonight, that he made the flyers for. He said that everyone liked his flyers, and he had drawn a comic on them. Hmmmm.
Tuesday
Yesterday was the lost day since I had to work Sunday night at 11 and went to bed immediately at 7 when I got home from work. I slept until noon and then got up and hung around the house all day, doing nothing. I knitted, read a book, and watched a movie in the evening with Kim and Dad.
The movie was Seems Like Old Times, with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. It was on HBO when you were a baby, and Dad and I used to watch it whenever it was on and we never got tired of it. So when Amazon said it was coming on DVD I ordered it. Kim didn’t think she’d like it, but she was laughing at it, too.
I was tired last night and went to bed early. So then I had an awful dream, and I recognize parts of it from that terrible version of Snow White that was on TV on Sunday! That show gave me nightmares! I dreamed it twice, too, because as soon as it ended, I dreamed it again. It was a re-run!
Last night I was talking to Kelly, Karin’s little sister, on AOL, and I was chatting with Scott at the same time, so I opened a chat window so we could all talk at once, and Kelly told us that Karin is engaged!
It’s a little embarrassing, because Kelly says she told me before, and I kind of think she did, but it was at the beauty school, while she was doing my hair, and I wasn’t really paying attention, because I remember catching the end of it, and being vaguely aware that she had told me something significant about Karin, and I was too embarrassed to ask her to tell me again. So I think she’s right, she did tell me.
Anyway, Karin’s mother is upset because she is engaged to a guy she just met, and it must have been this semester, because I got a letter from Karin when she first got back to school in January, and she said she wasn’t dating anyone. He’s a returned missionary, but he’s 24, and she’s 19, and he gave her a ring and a set of scriptures with her first name and his last name embossed on them. They’re planning to get married in August. Oh my goodness.
Dad thought that Scott might feel bad about it, but Scott is just happy to have her off of his conscience. Now Kelly says she wants to marry Scott, so she can be a Duede. That is so cute.
I have to go get a manicure, so I’ll print this and get it in the mail. Love you boo.
Mumsy
12:39 p.m. - 2002-03-17
Dear Mooksy,
We’ve been home from church for a couple of hours, and Kim had to stay for BYC, but she’s home now, too. Dad made fried chicken strips – hey is that milenesa?
It’s been a long week, since I had to work the 3-11 shift four days in a row, and I get darned tired of it. I have to work 11-7 tonight, and then have two days off, so that’s okay.
So we went to our weekly movie yesterday, and before that we had lunch at Café Mondo. They have big, delicious-looking sandwiches, but I wasn’t hungry, so I just had a bowl of soup that was merely tolerable. Kim had a homework assignment to make scrapbook of all the local politicians running the election to be held on Tuesday, so Dad took her to the library and downtown to gather flyers and whatnot, and they decided to eat at one of the little downtown restaurants. I had been hungry at home so I had a peanut butter sandwich and then they came home and wanted to go and eat, so I just went with them for fun.
Later we went back out for a movie, and we saw Ice Age. It was okay. It was no Shrek! There is another movie opening next week that we’ll go to, but I can’t think of the name of it right now.
Later:
So we’re just sitting in the living room tonight, watching the weirdest version of Snow White ever made. It’s very hallucinatory, in my opinion, and it’s got elements from other Grimm fairy tales mixed into it. I was not enjoying it, but then Scott called to say he had met with his bishop and had his mission papers in his hand!!
So he started filling them out over the phone, and it was fun. He can just go to Student Health to get his physical and dental exams, so that’s nice and easy. He is so funny, at one part he was filling out his medical history and he got to a question that asked if he has used recreational drugs, and he laughed and said he didn’t know that was a real phrase, he thought it was a “mom-ism”.
Now he is off the phone and going to a missionary preparation ward activity tonight, that he made the flyers for. He said that everyone liked his flyers, and he had drawn a comic on them. Hmmmm.
Tuesday
Yesterday was the lost day since I had to work Sunday night at 11 and went to bed immediately at 7 when I got home from work. I slept until noon and then got up and hung around the house all day, doing nothing. I knitted, read a book, and watched a movie in the evening with Kim and Dad.
The movie was Seems Like Old Times, with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. It was on HBO when you were a baby, and Dad and I used to watch it whenever it was on and we never got tired of it. So when Amazon said it was coming on DVD I ordered it. Kim didn’t think she’d like it, but she was laughing at it, too.
I was tired last night and went to bed early. So then I had an awful dream, and I recognize parts of it from that terrible version of Snow White that was on TV on Sunday! That show gave me nightmares! I dreamed it twice, too, because as soon as it ended, I dreamed it again. It was a re-run!
Last night I was talking to Kelly, Karin’s little sister, on AOL, and I was chatting with Scott at the same time, so I opened a chat window so we could all talk at once, and Kelly told us that Karin is engaged!
It’s a little embarrassing, because Kelly says she told me before, and I kind of think she did, but it was at the beauty school, while she was doing my hair, and I wasn’t really paying attention, because I remember catching the end of it, and being vaguely aware that she had told me something significant about Karin, and I was too embarrassed to ask her to tell me again. So I think she’s right, she did tell me.
Anyway, Karin’s mother is upset because she is engaged to a guy she just met, and it must have been this semester, because I got a letter from Karin when she first got back to school in January, and she said she wasn’t dating anyone. He’s a returned missionary, but he’s 24, and she’s 19, and he gave her a ring and a set of scriptures with her first name and his last name embossed on them. They’re planning to get married in August. Oh my goodness.
Dad thought that Scott might feel bad about it, but Scott is just happy to have her off of his conscience. Now Kelly says she wants to marry Scott, so she can be a Duede. That is so cute.
I have to go get a manicure, so I’ll print this and get it in the mail. Love you boo.
Mumsy
12:39 p.m. - 2002-03-17
Mostly knitting
7 March 2002
Dear Mooks,
This is the second day in a row that I woke up at 8:30! I am not happy about that! It just makes the day so long. Today I have a day off, so it’s nice that it’s a long one, I guess.
Later today someone from work is coming over to give me a Mary Kay facial. I was going to ask Ruthann to come, but she isn’t done with her mother’s funeral yet. They left yesterday to go to Oklahoma for the funeral and burial there. All of their kids are going to be there, so Ruthann is pretty happy about that.
Last night I was at work with Billy No Mates staying late in my office, looking up cars on the internet and I realized he really isn’t much fun. He was looking up the salaries of people in the administrative jobs at work, and some of them really do make a lot of money, but it was depressing me. He also told me that Mike really is planning to hire someone else for the job that he keeps acting like he would consider me for, so after he left to go home I called Dad and started crying about it, because it hurts my feelings that Mike keeps lying to me and yanking me around. Rich was actually helpful about it, by pointing out all the reasons that my job that I have is perfect, and he’s right, so I should just know that Mike is always going to lie to me, and not get excited about it.
So when I got up today I talked to Rich at work on MSN and told him that we need to go to the movies every week, even if we have to go to Rockford for one, because I need to get out and do something every week. I have just had such a long, lonely winter, I need something to do.
Later that night:
Well, Lisa came over and I had a little Mary Kay facial and put on a lot of makeup and concealer and stuff and after she left I took a webcam pic of myself that I will print at the end of this letter.
Tonight Rich had karate so I took Kim to Ruthann’s and we fed the cats and brought in the mail. Then we came home and she took a shower and I changed the sheets on my bed, then I took a very fast shower, because Kim pointed out that Dad would need some hot water for his shower when he got home, but I really wanted a shower, especially to get all that makeup washed off! I didn’t mention to Kim that if she didn’t take such long showers there would be plenty of hot water for everyone! After that Kim practiced the piano while Dad showered after Karate, and did the dishes, and Zorro kept hanging around in the dining room while she played the harp and piano, which delighted Kim!
Then Kim worked on her homework and I knitted a very cute baby hat. This morning Sarah called to ask for help with the hat she is making for a friend who is having a baby, and I said I would make one, too, so we could figure it out, and I worked on it all day and it’s adorable. I’m saving it in Sarah’s hope chest, because I HOPE she has a baby someday!
I just had an IM conversation with Scott. He found out that a nice girl named Skye, who plays the harp (!), sent him the mystery valentine, so now he needs to do something about it, but he is afraid. He also doesn’t want to start a big girlfriend thing. So I explained that he just needs to be a friend to her, and make some tiny contact with her every day, and that will be enough. I am expecting that if he does that much, it will either naturally blossom into romance or they will just be friends. He says he will wait for her after class tomorrow because she has a class right next to his. So that’s a start. She’s in his ward, so I told him to sit with her in church, too, which he says he can do, and I also suggested he should ask her to help him find the yarn store because he needs to go there to get his hat repaired. The one that you made him is undone at the top where it was gathered together and I’m sure the ladies at the yarn store will be happy to fix it for him.
I got a box of yarn in the mail today! I ordered some Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in a nice dark blue, not quite navy, to make a sweater for ME! I’m planning to make a tunic that is knit in one piece with some interesting construction details. I ordered that, and three more sweater patterns from the same company last week, and my knitting buddy in California, Jan, had ordered the same tunic pattern, so we are going to have a Knit-A-Long (KAL) and make the tunic together. We’re both pretty excited about it, and when we’re done, we want to take pictures and then doctor them in Photoshop or something so it looks like we’re both in the picture!!
I also ordered a booklet of patterns from Mary Rich Goodwin, an LDS woman with a son who went (and might still be there, for all I know) to Russia on his mission. She designs patterns from the top down with no seams, my favorite kind, and I had her first book but I gave it away and now I have ordered it again for myself and one for Diana. I ordered her new book, too, so I can make a very cute little peasant blouse for Kim to wear this summer. I have plenty of cotton yarn to make it with!
Well I’m going to go finish my book and knit on that hat, which is almost done.
Love you, boo.
Mumsy
12:36 p.m. - 2002-03-7
Dear Mooks,
This is the second day in a row that I woke up at 8:30! I am not happy about that! It just makes the day so long. Today I have a day off, so it’s nice that it’s a long one, I guess.
Later today someone from work is coming over to give me a Mary Kay facial. I was going to ask Ruthann to come, but she isn’t done with her mother’s funeral yet. They left yesterday to go to Oklahoma for the funeral and burial there. All of their kids are going to be there, so Ruthann is pretty happy about that.
Last night I was at work with Billy No Mates staying late in my office, looking up cars on the internet and I realized he really isn’t much fun. He was looking up the salaries of people in the administrative jobs at work, and some of them really do make a lot of money, but it was depressing me. He also told me that Mike really is planning to hire someone else for the job that he keeps acting like he would consider me for, so after he left to go home I called Dad and started crying about it, because it hurts my feelings that Mike keeps lying to me and yanking me around. Rich was actually helpful about it, by pointing out all the reasons that my job that I have is perfect, and he’s right, so I should just know that Mike is always going to lie to me, and not get excited about it.
So when I got up today I talked to Rich at work on MSN and told him that we need to go to the movies every week, even if we have to go to Rockford for one, because I need to get out and do something every week. I have just had such a long, lonely winter, I need something to do.
Later that night:
Well, Lisa came over and I had a little Mary Kay facial and put on a lot of makeup and concealer and stuff and after she left I took a webcam pic of myself that I will print at the end of this letter.
Tonight Rich had karate so I took Kim to Ruthann’s and we fed the cats and brought in the mail. Then we came home and she took a shower and I changed the sheets on my bed, then I took a very fast shower, because Kim pointed out that Dad would need some hot water for his shower when he got home, but I really wanted a shower, especially to get all that makeup washed off! I didn’t mention to Kim that if she didn’t take such long showers there would be plenty of hot water for everyone! After that Kim practiced the piano while Dad showered after Karate, and did the dishes, and Zorro kept hanging around in the dining room while she played the harp and piano, which delighted Kim!
Then Kim worked on her homework and I knitted a very cute baby hat. This morning Sarah called to ask for help with the hat she is making for a friend who is having a baby, and I said I would make one, too, so we could figure it out, and I worked on it all day and it’s adorable. I’m saving it in Sarah’s hope chest, because I HOPE she has a baby someday!
I just had an IM conversation with Scott. He found out that a nice girl named Skye, who plays the harp (!), sent him the mystery valentine, so now he needs to do something about it, but he is afraid. He also doesn’t want to start a big girlfriend thing. So I explained that he just needs to be a friend to her, and make some tiny contact with her every day, and that will be enough. I am expecting that if he does that much, it will either naturally blossom into romance or they will just be friends. He says he will wait for her after class tomorrow because she has a class right next to his. So that’s a start. She’s in his ward, so I told him to sit with her in church, too, which he says he can do, and I also suggested he should ask her to help him find the yarn store because he needs to go there to get his hat repaired. The one that you made him is undone at the top where it was gathered together and I’m sure the ladies at the yarn store will be happy to fix it for him.
I got a box of yarn in the mail today! I ordered some Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in a nice dark blue, not quite navy, to make a sweater for ME! I’m planning to make a tunic that is knit in one piece with some interesting construction details. I ordered that, and three more sweater patterns from the same company last week, and my knitting buddy in California, Jan, had ordered the same tunic pattern, so we are going to have a Knit-A-Long (KAL) and make the tunic together. We’re both pretty excited about it, and when we’re done, we want to take pictures and then doctor them in Photoshop or something so it looks like we’re both in the picture!!
I also ordered a booklet of patterns from Mary Rich Goodwin, an LDS woman with a son who went (and might still be there, for all I know) to Russia on his mission. She designs patterns from the top down with no seams, my favorite kind, and I had her first book but I gave it away and now I have ordered it again for myself and one for Diana. I ordered her new book, too, so I can make a very cute little peasant blouse for Kim to wear this summer. I have plenty of cotton yarn to make it with!
Well I’m going to go finish my book and knit on that hat, which is almost done.
Love you, boo.
Mumsy
12:36 p.m. - 2002-03-7
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