4 March, 2002
Hiya-
I got your letter today and thought I’d write a little more before I mail this. I asked Dad to buy some 80 cent stamps after work, so I hope he remembers. If you want to send letters to me to forward to other people, I don’t mind – I don’t want you to spend all of your money on postage!
Dad just called and said he has not forgotten to get the stamps. Good.
So Kim stayed home again today and I took her to get a rapid strep culture this morning. We haven’t been out of the house all weekend, so we had to clean a foot of snow off of the car and I didn’t have any mittens with me since I didn’t think I was going to need any in this warm winter so I took them out of my coat pocket the other day and tossed them into the closet. My hair was wet and freezing but I had a hat in my pocket so I put that on while I cleaned off the car and Kim was helping too, and wearing a beautiful pair of mittens that I knitted for her.
Apparently there is a lot of strep throat going around school right now, and Kim’s throat was very icky. We stopped at Wal-Mart after the appointment and got her prescription filled. We also bought her a pair of jeans, a top, a bra and some panties because she is growing and her stuff is getting shabby and small.
When we got home we made guacamole and ate that with chips while Kim read your letter out loud. Then I started typing it up to post at your website, and I tried to call Grandpa but his line was busy, so I sent him an email and told him to call when he gets off the computer.
He called in a couple of minutes and I told him that you were starving for peanut butter, so you can expect an emergency package in the mail soon. I also told him about the Gold Bond powder, mink oil, and Cadbury Mini-eggs. I didn’t ask him to buy that stuff before because I have been planning to do it myself, but I haven’t been out much this week, what with Ruthann’s family visiting and Kim being sick, so I thought if you were ever going to get anything, I’d better put Grandpa in charge.
We got the bugs okay, thanks so much. They were a little flat but otherwise in good shape.
I talked to Scott on the phone after church yesterday and he said he is going to be talking to the bishop this week about getting his mission paperwork started. My brave little man. He also says that his RA is a nice guy who is returned from a mission to CA where he spoke Laotian, and he’s a geology major, who is nice and smart. I told him to show the RA your picture and website. He wasn’t sure how to bring up the subject, so I told him to just say his mother told him to. He needs to go over there and pimp his sister!
So Inger forwarded an email from Aunt Marilyn this morning in which she tells all the reasons why Mother shouldn’t fly home from Arizona, instead she should take a 4 day car trip, which will be so much healthier for her than spending 4 hours in the air and being home the same day. Loons. Sarah was furious about it, which I expected, Inger is irritated, but I have become resigned. I just don’t care anymore. Let them drive if it will make them happy. It will save me time and money and aggravation, and if Mom ends up in the hospital, well, I don’t live there, so I won’t be expected to visit.
I got my new ball of Opal yarn from the sock of the month club and it is so beautiful! I can’t wait to get started on this pair! I am about two rows away from being completely finished with Scott’s new vest, knitted with some of the overdyed yarn from Gunhilde that we bought at Mary’s. It’s beautiful. I love that vest pattern.
Last night I organized my current WIPs – the Raisin (dark brownish purple) raglan sweater for me (another Gunhilde yarn), the Dale Gjensk sweater (maroon and bladk) and the dark blue wool tunic for you, like the one I made for Bertha. That one only has one cuff and the second sleeve to go to finish it. Downstairs I have the Nagano sweater, and I pulled another unfinished project (UFO) out of the yarn closet – a cotton sweater with a v-neck and a big cable up the front that I started for you a year or two ago. I am going to finish that too. I’m thinking of doing one like it in Woolease for Kim – I bought some pale pink WE to make a sweater for her; it’s the color of strawberry ice cream, the good stuff, not the cheap kind.
I ordered 4 patterns and yarn for one sweater last week, and I’m going to order two pattern books for me and one for Diana from Mary Rich Goodwin, who lives in Utah and designs seamless top-down sweaters that she self-publishes. I had one of her books before, but I gave it away, so I’m going to buy another copy of it and a copy for Diana, and then I want a new book she’s written, so I’ll order that for me, too. I’m really feeling the need to clean out and organize the yarn closet, so I’m going to give those crappy old textbooks of Dad’s to the Women’s Book Sale this year. We don’t have any place else for them and he hasn’t looked at them since you put them in that closet.
It’s snowing again. Big fluffy flakes. This is the most snow we’ve had all winter. And we got it in March. Sigh. I think I’ll put my gloves back into my coat pocket.
Well I have to go start cooking some noodles for spaghetti now. I had some sauce in the freezer that I got out to thaw so we’re having that for dinner. I was thinking of making Italian pie after I read your letter today! It got me thinking about Polenta , so I might have to make some tomorrow. I also have to make potato salad for Ruthann’s mother’s funeral, but I’m thinking I might just go buy some.
Love you bosky
Mumsy
12:32 p.m. - 2002-03-4
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Kim is sick
3 March, 2002
Sunday
Dear Rachel,
Well we finally got some snow! It started getting colder on Wednesday, and then on Thursday there were a few flakes, but on Friday it started really coming down!
It snowed all night Friday, and I was a little worried that Dee wouldn’t be able to get to work, but she did, so I was relieved! Barb got off work at 11, but she has a long drive home so she slept at the hospital. It kept on snowing all day on Saturday, and into the night, but it had stopped by morning, and when we woke up, Mr. Coleman had already come and cleared our sidewalks. I might get dressed later and go out and clear the steps. So we have about 8 inches of snow and it looks beautiful, but it’s quite cold outside.
Saturday Rich went outside to clear the steps and bring in the extension cord from the outdoor lights (which are still on the bushes, by the way), and then we opened the blinds and did a little cleanup in the house and went grocery shopping (driving on the snowy roads), so when we brought back groceries and then settled down in the living room, it was so cozy.
I’m in the middle of 4 days in a row off from work and it’s wonderful! I have been working a lot since Justine has been off with her bad back, and I was getting pretty crabby and sick of it. So this is just great! I don’t have to go back to work until Tuesday afternoon.
Kim has a really bad cold, so she stayed home from school on Friday, and she is taking Advil for a bad sore throat and headache. Last night I gave her Tylenol PM because she said she woke up in the night before and couldn’t go back to sleep, so after the Tylenol PM she fell asleep on the couch and we covered her up and left her on the couch all night.
We stayed home from church today, and talked about when she was little, and I told her about how Scott used to get mad at her and tell me she was lying, she was always lying but I didn’t believe it, and how it was starting her on a life of crime and she would end up smuggling diamonds in her diapers, and we had a fun time laughing about stories like that.
I’ve been having her change into clean pajamas and brush her hair and teeth every day, because you know that makes you feel better when you’re sick, and today I brought down a basket of bath stuff and clean pajamas and a towel for her, and sent her into the downstairs bathroom to soak in a bubble bath. I brought down some bubble bath, bath crystals, scented body wash, and some after bath body spray, so the downstairs bathroom will be just as heavily scented after her bath as the upstairs usually is. I gave her a book to read in the tub, too.
She is reading All Creatures Great and Small, about the vet in Yorkshire in the late thirties. She is finding it interesting, but gross. It’s an AR book, one of the ones she has to read for points to get a grade. She hasn’t read enough of them, so she got a couple of big ones, because you get more points for those, and now she is working on it. I’ll read some out loud to her later, when she’s back on the couch.
So last night I got a call from Inger, and she was furious because she just talked to Uncle Roger on the phone and she was just as frustrated with him as I was the last time I had to talk to him, so that amused me. Sarah and Inger and I have been taking turns calling Mom and getting information to convince her that she needs to fly back from Arizona instead of driving, and it was Inger’s turn to call. Well finally Inger asked to talk to Marilyn instead, and she thinks that Marilyn was much more reasonable and was really LISTENING to what she said. Hmmm, I hope it makes a difference, but I’m starting to doubt that it will. Dad keeps saying, “Just let them drive back, it will save the rest of you a lot of trouble”, and you know, I am so sick of all of those crazy old people that I agree with him now, but Inger and Sarah won’t back down. They are right, she will be sick and exhausted and probably have to be hospitalized again when she gets home to Michigan, but since they are not only insane but stubborn, I think we should just let them have their crazy old way and do what they want and then suffer the consequences. It’s making me mad just thinking about it all.
Okay, here’s some news – Inger finally got a check from the sale of their house in Florida, and she is using the money to buy a condo for Jeanette to live in. The deal is that Jeanette will live there for at least 5 years, and then they’ll sell it and make a profit. I know Jeanette is thrilled, although she hasn’t called me!
Inger is going to help her advertise for a roommate, but she can pay the first couple of monthly payments herself, so they’ll have time to find someone. That’s going to be so nice for her, because the roommates she has now are complete pigs and she has to do all the cleaning, especially after their drunken friends come over for parties, and there have been some very nasty messes to clean up.
Dad went to church by himself today and he said that David McD and his Dad gave talks on missionary work. So apparently it was David’s farewell. I wish I had known. He is going to the MTC in just 10 days! Dad said he only had two of the three nursery kids today, and both of them pooped about 10 minutes before class ended, so that was not pleasant. He also said he was expecting Kim to show up after YW to help with the clean-up like she always does, but then he remembered that she was home sick.
When Kim gets out of the tub, she is going to write a letter to you. I brought her letter-writing equipment downstairs in the basket with her bath stuff. Dad is having a nap, so I’m going to encourage him to write when he wakes up. I need to go to the P.O. on Monday and buy some more 80 cent stamps.
Oh, Ruthann’s mother died this weekend. It was Friday night. She has been going downhill for a couple of weeks, and Ruthann’s sister and their aunt, who is their mother’s sister, have been there to visit. They are having a little service here on Tuesday (thankfully, I have to work), and then they will all go to Oklahoma for the burial.
I can’t wait to get a letter from you! It took 10 days for your last letter to get here, and I hope mine are reaching you sooner than that! I don’t want you to be down there with no mail. Has anyone else been writing? Bertha says she writes every week, and I’m not sure about Scott. I know he writes but he doesn’t get the letters mailed right away.
Scott is supposed to be getting his mission papers from the bishop when he sees him at church, but the bishop hasn’t been there for a couple of weeks. Oh well, he’ll get them eventually. I just want him to get all the interviews and whatnot done while he’s still out there because he needs to do it with his bishop and religion teachers out there.
Love you boosky----
Mumsy
12:27 p.m. - 2002-03-3
Sunday
Dear Rachel,
Well we finally got some snow! It started getting colder on Wednesday, and then on Thursday there were a few flakes, but on Friday it started really coming down!
It snowed all night Friday, and I was a little worried that Dee wouldn’t be able to get to work, but she did, so I was relieved! Barb got off work at 11, but she has a long drive home so she slept at the hospital. It kept on snowing all day on Saturday, and into the night, but it had stopped by morning, and when we woke up, Mr. Coleman had already come and cleared our sidewalks. I might get dressed later and go out and clear the steps. So we have about 8 inches of snow and it looks beautiful, but it’s quite cold outside.
Saturday Rich went outside to clear the steps and bring in the extension cord from the outdoor lights (which are still on the bushes, by the way), and then we opened the blinds and did a little cleanup in the house and went grocery shopping (driving on the snowy roads), so when we brought back groceries and then settled down in the living room, it was so cozy.
I’m in the middle of 4 days in a row off from work and it’s wonderful! I have been working a lot since Justine has been off with her bad back, and I was getting pretty crabby and sick of it. So this is just great! I don’t have to go back to work until Tuesday afternoon.
Kim has a really bad cold, so she stayed home from school on Friday, and she is taking Advil for a bad sore throat and headache. Last night I gave her Tylenol PM because she said she woke up in the night before and couldn’t go back to sleep, so after the Tylenol PM she fell asleep on the couch and we covered her up and left her on the couch all night.
We stayed home from church today, and talked about when she was little, and I told her about how Scott used to get mad at her and tell me she was lying, she was always lying but I didn’t believe it, and how it was starting her on a life of crime and she would end up smuggling diamonds in her diapers, and we had a fun time laughing about stories like that.
I’ve been having her change into clean pajamas and brush her hair and teeth every day, because you know that makes you feel better when you’re sick, and today I brought down a basket of bath stuff and clean pajamas and a towel for her, and sent her into the downstairs bathroom to soak in a bubble bath. I brought down some bubble bath, bath crystals, scented body wash, and some after bath body spray, so the downstairs bathroom will be just as heavily scented after her bath as the upstairs usually is. I gave her a book to read in the tub, too.
She is reading All Creatures Great and Small, about the vet in Yorkshire in the late thirties. She is finding it interesting, but gross. It’s an AR book, one of the ones she has to read for points to get a grade. She hasn’t read enough of them, so she got a couple of big ones, because you get more points for those, and now she is working on it. I’ll read some out loud to her later, when she’s back on the couch.
So last night I got a call from Inger, and she was furious because she just talked to Uncle Roger on the phone and she was just as frustrated with him as I was the last time I had to talk to him, so that amused me. Sarah and Inger and I have been taking turns calling Mom and getting information to convince her that she needs to fly back from Arizona instead of driving, and it was Inger’s turn to call. Well finally Inger asked to talk to Marilyn instead, and she thinks that Marilyn was much more reasonable and was really LISTENING to what she said. Hmmm, I hope it makes a difference, but I’m starting to doubt that it will. Dad keeps saying, “Just let them drive back, it will save the rest of you a lot of trouble”, and you know, I am so sick of all of those crazy old people that I agree with him now, but Inger and Sarah won’t back down. They are right, she will be sick and exhausted and probably have to be hospitalized again when she gets home to Michigan, but since they are not only insane but stubborn, I think we should just let them have their crazy old way and do what they want and then suffer the consequences. It’s making me mad just thinking about it all.
Okay, here’s some news – Inger finally got a check from the sale of their house in Florida, and she is using the money to buy a condo for Jeanette to live in. The deal is that Jeanette will live there for at least 5 years, and then they’ll sell it and make a profit. I know Jeanette is thrilled, although she hasn’t called me!
Inger is going to help her advertise for a roommate, but she can pay the first couple of monthly payments herself, so they’ll have time to find someone. That’s going to be so nice for her, because the roommates she has now are complete pigs and she has to do all the cleaning, especially after their drunken friends come over for parties, and there have been some very nasty messes to clean up.
Dad went to church by himself today and he said that David McD and his Dad gave talks on missionary work. So apparently it was David’s farewell. I wish I had known. He is going to the MTC in just 10 days! Dad said he only had two of the three nursery kids today, and both of them pooped about 10 minutes before class ended, so that was not pleasant. He also said he was expecting Kim to show up after YW to help with the clean-up like she always does, but then he remembered that she was home sick.
When Kim gets out of the tub, she is going to write a letter to you. I brought her letter-writing equipment downstairs in the basket with her bath stuff. Dad is having a nap, so I’m going to encourage him to write when he wakes up. I need to go to the P.O. on Monday and buy some more 80 cent stamps.
Oh, Ruthann’s mother died this weekend. It was Friday night. She has been going downhill for a couple of weeks, and Ruthann’s sister and their aunt, who is their mother’s sister, have been there to visit. They are having a little service here on Tuesday (thankfully, I have to work), and then they will all go to Oklahoma for the burial.
I can’t wait to get a letter from you! It took 10 days for your last letter to get here, and I hope mine are reaching you sooner than that! I don’t want you to be down there with no mail. Has anyone else been writing? Bertha says she writes every week, and I’m not sure about Scott. I know he writes but he doesn’t get the letters mailed right away.
Scott is supposed to be getting his mission papers from the bishop when he sees him at church, but the bishop hasn’t been there for a couple of weeks. Oh well, he’ll get them eventually. I just want him to get all the interviews and whatnot done while he’s still out there because he needs to do it with his bishop and religion teachers out there.
Love you boosky----
Mumsy
12:27 p.m. - 2002-03-3
Dying in the desert
27 February, 2002
Hi Moosk,
I got your letter asking for Goldbond powder and Cadbury mini-eggs, but I haven’t done anything about sending them yet. I was, however, inspired to go buy a bag of Cadbury mini-eggs for myself and I am eating some at work as I write this. I am dying to have a can of Diet Pepsi, but in an attempt to avoid having to call that miserable witch Peggy, who is the ER secretary until 7 p.m., to give me a break, I am not drinking any soda between noon and 6 on the days I work. It is only 4:30 and I’m dying for a PEPSI!!
Kim had a half-day of school today, so she came home and got on MSN to chat with her friend Caitlin. They are almost like teen-agers, except that they are IMing about Cartoon Network instead of about boys. Kim’s Young Authors story went to the semi-finals, and she is very excited about that!! I haven’t actually read it yet, but I sent a copy of the rough draft to Aunt Sarah to read.
Oh, speaking of Sarah, I can’t remember if I told you this, but we are in negotiation with Mom to convince her to fly home and let us drive her car back to Michigan. She says that Uncle Roger can drive her, but when Inger went out there to visit a couple of weeks ago, Mom didn’t want to ask Roger to pick her up at the airport because he has chest pains if he has to do too much! Okay, so how is it going to be okay for him to drive all the way to Michigan?
She is also worried because she takes a diaretic (just like Bertha) so she has to pee a lot, and she thinks it will be easier to stop the car every time she needs to go, instead of toddling back to the airplane bathroom. Hello? I said, “Oh, so you think it’s easier to pull off the highway, find a gas station, get the key from the attendant, go to the bathroom, take the key back, get back in the car and drive back to the highway every time you have to pee? How is that better?” So in argument, she tells me about the woman (but it turned out later to be a man) who was arrested for using the bathroom on an airplane when the plane was landing. I said I hadn’t heard that, and she said I just don’t watch the news. Well I mentioned it to Aunt Sheila yesterday and she said it was a man, and the reason he was arrested was because he refused to sit back down and got in a fight with the flight attendants! Of course, then I have to think about how surly Mom gets when she thinks people aren’t giving her enough respect (“They all think I’m stupid!”), and I have no doubt she would end up walking through the airport in manacles, escorted by security guards who would be pulling her oxygen tank on wheels.
So later I talked to Sarah and we were both getting upset about the whole situation and what a crazy old lady Mom was being! We imagined the two of them driving across the desert, stopping every 5 feet for Mom to pee, and then when Roger has a heart attack in the middle of the empty part of Texas, they’ll pull over to the side of the road and he’ll die there and then mom will have to pee, so she’ll crawl out to pee in the sand and she won’t be able to get back into the van by herself, what with her oxygen tank and all, so she’ll just have to sit there in the dirt by the side of the road and expire and be eaten by vultures because they won’t even have a cell phone with them.
So Sarah called the airlines and got some prices and some information on traveling with oxygen – when she told Mom she was going to call and ask the airlines some questions, Mom said that would be fine, IF they would tell her the TRUTH! Yes, mom, the airlines are lying to you, just like the phone company. They’re all in it together, the airlines, the phone company, even the men’s room attendant at the White House.
Sarah collected the information from Mom and sent it to her on Monday, but no one has heard anything back from her yet. I’m sure she is just fuming about it all. Does she think we WANT to go out there and drive her van back? Does she think it’s fun for us? Because I have a newsflash for her, if she does!
So I posted the letter I got from you yesterday, and today I scanned your pictures and put a couple of them on the website. I saw Jason online in the computer lab at school, and he showed Denise, who works there, your site and the new pictures. We were both surprised that anyone would yell at a cute little monkey like you and chase you away!
I am eagerly waiting for your next letter, and I hope to hear about what the members are feeding you and about your roommates. Some of the other moms on the missionary list are saying that their kids have eaten cows heads, including eyes!! YUCK! Also, there was a letter from some boy in the Resistencia mission who wrote home that he and his companion were burglarized this week and lost just about everything! That is so terrible! So one of the other moms wrote about the time her son was robbed, too, and I know it happened to a friend of mine, too, so I hope that you will be safe!
I have been slacking off on writing letters to missionaries and old ladies lately. I only write to you, and then I don’t care enough about anyone else to change the letter around for them to read, so in the last month I only wrote a couple of individual letters. I am hoping to get back on track though, when Dave McDonald goes to the MTC. I think I’m going to make a mission website for him, too, because his parents are too computer illiterate, and also, according to Hope, she HAS a life (as you know, I do not. Oh, was that bitter?).
I started another vest for Scott today, and I ordered 4 patterns for some beautiful sweaters from a company called Cabin Fever. I ordered yarn for one of them in a dark blue called Blue Flannel. It’s more of that Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride wool. I love that stuff! I wish I had a source for it nearby, but I can keep on getting it by mail order. They make different weights and I’m thinking of ordering some in sport weight, and I would like to try some Cotton Fleece, which is a cotton/wool blend. Yes, I so need more yarn!! I do have quite a bit of sport weight that we got at Mary’s of the yarn that is dyed by that woman in Winslow. I wonder if she’ll be at the Fiber Fair this year? She’s the one who had the table set up for people to dye their own skeins last year. I still have Kim’s skein that I haven’t made anything with.
Oh your friend the Mennonite boy will miss you at the Fiber Fest this year, and you won’t be able to have a return drop spindle challenge! Well I’ll have to buy some yarn for both of us!
12:23 p.m. - 2002-02-27
Hi Moosk,
I got your letter asking for Goldbond powder and Cadbury mini-eggs, but I haven’t done anything about sending them yet. I was, however, inspired to go buy a bag of Cadbury mini-eggs for myself and I am eating some at work as I write this. I am dying to have a can of Diet Pepsi, but in an attempt to avoid having to call that miserable witch Peggy, who is the ER secretary until 7 p.m., to give me a break, I am not drinking any soda between noon and 6 on the days I work. It is only 4:30 and I’m dying for a PEPSI!!
Kim had a half-day of school today, so she came home and got on MSN to chat with her friend Caitlin. They are almost like teen-agers, except that they are IMing about Cartoon Network instead of about boys. Kim’s Young Authors story went to the semi-finals, and she is very excited about that!! I haven’t actually read it yet, but I sent a copy of the rough draft to Aunt Sarah to read.
Oh, speaking of Sarah, I can’t remember if I told you this, but we are in negotiation with Mom to convince her to fly home and let us drive her car back to Michigan. She says that Uncle Roger can drive her, but when Inger went out there to visit a couple of weeks ago, Mom didn’t want to ask Roger to pick her up at the airport because he has chest pains if he has to do too much! Okay, so how is it going to be okay for him to drive all the way to Michigan?
She is also worried because she takes a diaretic (just like Bertha) so she has to pee a lot, and she thinks it will be easier to stop the car every time she needs to go, instead of toddling back to the airplane bathroom. Hello? I said, “Oh, so you think it’s easier to pull off the highway, find a gas station, get the key from the attendant, go to the bathroom, take the key back, get back in the car and drive back to the highway every time you have to pee? How is that better?” So in argument, she tells me about the woman (but it turned out later to be a man) who was arrested for using the bathroom on an airplane when the plane was landing. I said I hadn’t heard that, and she said I just don’t watch the news. Well I mentioned it to Aunt Sheila yesterday and she said it was a man, and the reason he was arrested was because he refused to sit back down and got in a fight with the flight attendants! Of course, then I have to think about how surly Mom gets when she thinks people aren’t giving her enough respect (“They all think I’m stupid!”), and I have no doubt she would end up walking through the airport in manacles, escorted by security guards who would be pulling her oxygen tank on wheels.
So later I talked to Sarah and we were both getting upset about the whole situation and what a crazy old lady Mom was being! We imagined the two of them driving across the desert, stopping every 5 feet for Mom to pee, and then when Roger has a heart attack in the middle of the empty part of Texas, they’ll pull over to the side of the road and he’ll die there and then mom will have to pee, so she’ll crawl out to pee in the sand and she won’t be able to get back into the van by herself, what with her oxygen tank and all, so she’ll just have to sit there in the dirt by the side of the road and expire and be eaten by vultures because they won’t even have a cell phone with them.
So Sarah called the airlines and got some prices and some information on traveling with oxygen – when she told Mom she was going to call and ask the airlines some questions, Mom said that would be fine, IF they would tell her the TRUTH! Yes, mom, the airlines are lying to you, just like the phone company. They’re all in it together, the airlines, the phone company, even the men’s room attendant at the White House.
Sarah collected the information from Mom and sent it to her on Monday, but no one has heard anything back from her yet. I’m sure she is just fuming about it all. Does she think we WANT to go out there and drive her van back? Does she think it’s fun for us? Because I have a newsflash for her, if she does!
So I posted the letter I got from you yesterday, and today I scanned your pictures and put a couple of them on the website. I saw Jason online in the computer lab at school, and he showed Denise, who works there, your site and the new pictures. We were both surprised that anyone would yell at a cute little monkey like you and chase you away!
I am eagerly waiting for your next letter, and I hope to hear about what the members are feeding you and about your roommates. Some of the other moms on the missionary list are saying that their kids have eaten cows heads, including eyes!! YUCK! Also, there was a letter from some boy in the Resistencia mission who wrote home that he and his companion were burglarized this week and lost just about everything! That is so terrible! So one of the other moms wrote about the time her son was robbed, too, and I know it happened to a friend of mine, too, so I hope that you will be safe!
I have been slacking off on writing letters to missionaries and old ladies lately. I only write to you, and then I don’t care enough about anyone else to change the letter around for them to read, so in the last month I only wrote a couple of individual letters. I am hoping to get back on track though, when Dave McDonald goes to the MTC. I think I’m going to make a mission website for him, too, because his parents are too computer illiterate, and also, according to Hope, she HAS a life (as you know, I do not. Oh, was that bitter?).
I started another vest for Scott today, and I ordered 4 patterns for some beautiful sweaters from a company called Cabin Fever. I ordered yarn for one of them in a dark blue called Blue Flannel. It’s more of that Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride wool. I love that stuff! I wish I had a source for it nearby, but I can keep on getting it by mail order. They make different weights and I’m thinking of ordering some in sport weight, and I would like to try some Cotton Fleece, which is a cotton/wool blend. Yes, I so need more yarn!! I do have quite a bit of sport weight that we got at Mary’s of the yarn that is dyed by that woman in Winslow. I wonder if she’ll be at the Fiber Fair this year? She’s the one who had the table set up for people to dye their own skeins last year. I still have Kim’s skein that I haven’t made anything with.
Oh your friend the Mennonite boy will miss you at the Fiber Fest this year, and you won’t be able to have a return drop spindle challenge! Well I’ll have to buy some yarn for both of us!
12:23 p.m. - 2002-02-27
Sheep in the Big City -- of Rockford
23 February, 2002
Hi Mooksy,
This has been a pretty dull week. I went over to Ruthann’s on hmmm, was it Wednesday? She called and sounded pretty desperate for company, so I took some knitting and we sat at her kitchen table and watched the tail end of You’ve Got Mail. She is expecting her mom to die soon, so she is dealing with that, and not sad about it, because it will be a release for both of them.
Sarah and Inger and I decided that MY mom needs to fly home from AZ this year, so we are working on that plan right now. Sarah is investigating deals on flying Mom home to Michigan on an airline that will allow her to use Oxygen on the flight, so that is one part of the arrangement that is being made. The other thing that we have to work out is who is going to fly back to Michigan with Mom (not me!) and who will drive her terrible van?
My mother isn’t happy about the whole thing, but after the way she went downhill this fall when she went to AZ, we are insisting that she can’t ride home even if Roger drives the entire way. And she has made such a big deal out of Roger’s health problems, telling me that he can’t even drive to Phoenix without suffering chest pains, and a couple of months ago she was talking about the trip they (Gma, Mom, Roger, and Marilyn) want to take the Las Vegas temple, but oh, they will need a couple of days to rest up after a long trip like that (7 hours), I don’t see why she thinks the 3 day trip to Michigan will be better. She is such a nut.
Oh and get this, when Inger got back from visiting Mom in AZ last week, she told me that Mom is yelling at Gma all the time, which I have heard before, so I called her up and told her she can’t treat her mother that way. She tried to tell me how frustrating Gma is, and I explained nicely that we all have frustrating, lunatic mothers, but it is important to be patient and treat them kindly so that when they are lying in their coffins we won’t have to feel guilty for how we treated them. She tried to protest, and I insisted that many people have mothers to deal with, and finally I think she got my drift, that she is a crazy old woman herself, but we all try to deal with it and not yell at her! I almost feel bad about it, because I know it had to hurt her feelings a little, since she doesn’t see herself that way at all, but then I think about her being mean to Gma, and I can’t allow that kind of behavior.
So today Dad and I and Kim went to Rockford to Barnes & Noble. I slept until 1:30 this afternoon since I worked the midnight shift last night, and when I got up Rich was laying on the couch, making up a little song about his diarrhea! He had been complaining of it when I got home in the morning, but he had to go out to a Boy Scout Pow Wow at the church, so I told him to take some Imodium, which he did, but in the afternoon he was claiming it didn’t work. He wanted to go to Rockford, though, so we took a Harry Potter tape (Goblet of Fire) and we went off like a thundering herd of turtles, with Dad continuing to make up verses to his diarrhea song on the way.
We went to Michaels first so that Kim could get some supplies for a school project that would have been cheaper at Walmart, but I am always happy to look at the yarn and patterns at Michaels. I bought another skein of Aran natural white yarn so that I have enough now to make Dad an Aran sweater, and they had a bunch of knitting magazines there, so I bought two – Interweave Knits and Knit N Style. Neither of them is anything to get excited about this time, but still…
Then we went to B&N and Kim scored big there! She had 20 dollars from Harold and Bertha that they sent in her Valentine’s Day card, so she used that to buy the next two books in the Series of Unfortunate Events. Then she found another book in the Young Reader’s department that looks like a cool fantasy book about a young man whose father is a friend of Merlin the magician and the kid is named after King Arthur. It looks good, so I’m looking forward to reading it. Then as we were leaving the kids area, I spotted a book on the Featured table (which is where I first saw Harry Potter), so I grabbed that, too.
Rich didn’t see anything he wanted this time, but we got a Chicago paper because we want to plan an outing with Kim to see a play and a museum and stay overnight in Chicago. I also got a copy of the new Vogue Knitting, which has a beautiful cabled sweater in it, but sadly, it’s sleeveless! It would be possible to use the cable design on another sweater though, and add sleeves. It’s really pretty. I bought one paperback mystery, but when I got it home, I found that I had already read it, so that was disappointing, but I’ll give it to someone as a gift. Maybe Sarah.
Sarah has been knitting baby gifts for her friends! She is using some Debbie Bliss designs from one book that we both have, called Celtic Knits, and then she went to her LYS to buy a needle or something and ended up with another Debbie Bliss book that she is making some little fancy baby socks with!
I’ve been knitting hats from a cool pattern that I got off of the internet, but I think I’m about done making them now. It’s fun to do and very easy, too, so I”ve made 4 and given away 3. I also made that DNA hat for Scott from a similar pattern. I ordered a Norwegian – patterned hat online and got the kit on Friday so I worked on that last night and then did some more today. I can’t read while knitting it because the color pattern is too complex, but I can watch TV, sort of.
What else am I working on? I still have the blue sweater that was too big for Bertha, and I am halfway down the first sleeve. It’s from that Tunic for the family pattern. I have the two Dale sweaters, both languishing in their baskets, and a top-down raglan sweater that I started for myself just to have something mindless to work on.
Yesterday I ordered 4 sweater patterns from a site on the internet – all four of them are knitted circularly from the top down and come in largish sizes, so those will be fun to do. I’ll look for yarn for them at the Fiber Fair, which is coming up in April!! Whoo hoo!
Last night I had an interesting night at work. This is my weekend for the 3 midnight shifts, and last night was night 2 of 3. When I was about to start the reports, the computer system went down, and everyone in the hospital was calling to tell me, while I was paging the on-call person as fast as I could. We ended up with both Carole and Jeff coming in and staying most of the night, and for a while there was a maintenance man and an electrician here, too. It was pretty darned exciting, and I loved all the company.
Tonight there is still some fallout from the problems of last night, so I have a little extra work to do with the reports, because I couldn’t do the whole thing last night. The maintenance guy has to do some more work, too, so he’ll be around later.
Kim and I read some of All Creatures Great and Small tonight. She needs to read some books for AR points because she isn’t getting the grades she should be in that class. She picked out two big thick books that earn more points, but they are both written for a more adult audience. I think she will enjoy All Creatures once she gets started on it.
I fell asleep after we read that, and she went downstairs and colored one of those velvet marker posters that she bought at Michaels. It is a big picture of a dragon and she is doing a nice job on it. I saw it before I went to work.
Oh, she told me the other day she thought she was getting her (whisper) period (!) because she was having some pain in that area. I told her to take some advil, and then later I stuck my head into her room and said that when Aunt Fifi (wink) comes for a visit, I bought her a new package of pads. She looked a little confused when I mentioned Aunt Fifi, and when she finally got it, she said that if I had said she was having the painters in, she would have understood it! Haha! We read that in a British book and we both thought it was pretty funny, but I forgot about it. I’ll have to try to remember to use it.
Scott has spent a quiet week in the dorm. BYU had a break this week during the Olympics, and a lot of people went home, including his roommate, but Scott stayed and has been reading and playing video games. Some of the Olympic hockey games were played at BYU’s ice arena, and I tried to get him to go watch one, but he didn’t do it.
Kim wasn’t interested in the Olympics at all in at first, and I had to work 3-11 most of last week, so I have hardly seen anything, but Rich and I watched some ski jumping and speed skating, and some bobsled. We also watched some of the Ice dancing, and a little bit of curling – by the way, no one in IL knows about curling! Then on Friday night, Kim got interested in the women’s figure skating competition and she and I stayed up watching it until it ended right before I had to go to work at 11. It was very exciting, and there was ample opportunity for crying over it, too. Of course, you know what Kim wants to do now…that’s right, take skating lessons! We’ll see about that, but I’m hoping she loses interest in that, soon. She hasn’t mentioned it since Friday night, so maybe she’s over it.
26 February, 2002
I finally got a letter from you yesterday! I’m so happy to hear from you, and I can’t wait to hear more about the food and what you’ve been doing! I can’t believe those people who don’t want to talk you! Who wouldn’t want to talk to a beautiful little girl like you?
I talked to Scott on the phone last night and he has enlisted the girls in his FHE group to help find out who stuck the mystery valentine on his door. They made him promise that when they found out who it was, he would ask her out, and he said he would. Isn’t that cute?
I’m going out with Ruthann to the grocery store in a few minutes. That’s all I’ll get done today since I slept until noon and have to go to work at 3. I couldn’t sleep last night after I worked midnights all weekend, so at about 3 I took a pill, and finally went to sleep after I finished my book at 4!
Love you boo-
Mumsy
12:20 p.m. - 2002-02-23
Hi Mooksy,
This has been a pretty dull week. I went over to Ruthann’s on hmmm, was it Wednesday? She called and sounded pretty desperate for company, so I took some knitting and we sat at her kitchen table and watched the tail end of You’ve Got Mail. She is expecting her mom to die soon, so she is dealing with that, and not sad about it, because it will be a release for both of them.
Sarah and Inger and I decided that MY mom needs to fly home from AZ this year, so we are working on that plan right now. Sarah is investigating deals on flying Mom home to Michigan on an airline that will allow her to use Oxygen on the flight, so that is one part of the arrangement that is being made. The other thing that we have to work out is who is going to fly back to Michigan with Mom (not me!) and who will drive her terrible van?
My mother isn’t happy about the whole thing, but after the way she went downhill this fall when she went to AZ, we are insisting that she can’t ride home even if Roger drives the entire way. And she has made such a big deal out of Roger’s health problems, telling me that he can’t even drive to Phoenix without suffering chest pains, and a couple of months ago she was talking about the trip they (Gma, Mom, Roger, and Marilyn) want to take the Las Vegas temple, but oh, they will need a couple of days to rest up after a long trip like that (7 hours), I don’t see why she thinks the 3 day trip to Michigan will be better. She is such a nut.
Oh and get this, when Inger got back from visiting Mom in AZ last week, she told me that Mom is yelling at Gma all the time, which I have heard before, so I called her up and told her she can’t treat her mother that way. She tried to tell me how frustrating Gma is, and I explained nicely that we all have frustrating, lunatic mothers, but it is important to be patient and treat them kindly so that when they are lying in their coffins we won’t have to feel guilty for how we treated them. She tried to protest, and I insisted that many people have mothers to deal with, and finally I think she got my drift, that she is a crazy old woman herself, but we all try to deal with it and not yell at her! I almost feel bad about it, because I know it had to hurt her feelings a little, since she doesn’t see herself that way at all, but then I think about her being mean to Gma, and I can’t allow that kind of behavior.
So today Dad and I and Kim went to Rockford to Barnes & Noble. I slept until 1:30 this afternoon since I worked the midnight shift last night, and when I got up Rich was laying on the couch, making up a little song about his diarrhea! He had been complaining of it when I got home in the morning, but he had to go out to a Boy Scout Pow Wow at the church, so I told him to take some Imodium, which he did, but in the afternoon he was claiming it didn’t work. He wanted to go to Rockford, though, so we took a Harry Potter tape (Goblet of Fire) and we went off like a thundering herd of turtles, with Dad continuing to make up verses to his diarrhea song on the way.
We went to Michaels first so that Kim could get some supplies for a school project that would have been cheaper at Walmart, but I am always happy to look at the yarn and patterns at Michaels. I bought another skein of Aran natural white yarn so that I have enough now to make Dad an Aran sweater, and they had a bunch of knitting magazines there, so I bought two – Interweave Knits and Knit N Style. Neither of them is anything to get excited about this time, but still…
Then we went to B&N and Kim scored big there! She had 20 dollars from Harold and Bertha that they sent in her Valentine’s Day card, so she used that to buy the next two books in the Series of Unfortunate Events. Then she found another book in the Young Reader’s department that looks like a cool fantasy book about a young man whose father is a friend of Merlin the magician and the kid is named after King Arthur. It looks good, so I’m looking forward to reading it. Then as we were leaving the kids area, I spotted a book on the Featured table (which is where I first saw Harry Potter), so I grabbed that, too.
Rich didn’t see anything he wanted this time, but we got a Chicago paper because we want to plan an outing with Kim to see a play and a museum and stay overnight in Chicago. I also got a copy of the new Vogue Knitting, which has a beautiful cabled sweater in it, but sadly, it’s sleeveless! It would be possible to use the cable design on another sweater though, and add sleeves. It’s really pretty. I bought one paperback mystery, but when I got it home, I found that I had already read it, so that was disappointing, but I’ll give it to someone as a gift. Maybe Sarah.
Sarah has been knitting baby gifts for her friends! She is using some Debbie Bliss designs from one book that we both have, called Celtic Knits, and then she went to her LYS to buy a needle or something and ended up with another Debbie Bliss book that she is making some little fancy baby socks with!
I’ve been knitting hats from a cool pattern that I got off of the internet, but I think I’m about done making them now. It’s fun to do and very easy, too, so I”ve made 4 and given away 3. I also made that DNA hat for Scott from a similar pattern. I ordered a Norwegian – patterned hat online and got the kit on Friday so I worked on that last night and then did some more today. I can’t read while knitting it because the color pattern is too complex, but I can watch TV, sort of.
What else am I working on? I still have the blue sweater that was too big for Bertha, and I am halfway down the first sleeve. It’s from that Tunic for the family pattern. I have the two Dale sweaters, both languishing in their baskets, and a top-down raglan sweater that I started for myself just to have something mindless to work on.
Yesterday I ordered 4 sweater patterns from a site on the internet – all four of them are knitted circularly from the top down and come in largish sizes, so those will be fun to do. I’ll look for yarn for them at the Fiber Fair, which is coming up in April!! Whoo hoo!
Last night I had an interesting night at work. This is my weekend for the 3 midnight shifts, and last night was night 2 of 3. When I was about to start the reports, the computer system went down, and everyone in the hospital was calling to tell me, while I was paging the on-call person as fast as I could. We ended up with both Carole and Jeff coming in and staying most of the night, and for a while there was a maintenance man and an electrician here, too. It was pretty darned exciting, and I loved all the company.
Tonight there is still some fallout from the problems of last night, so I have a little extra work to do with the reports, because I couldn’t do the whole thing last night. The maintenance guy has to do some more work, too, so he’ll be around later.
Kim and I read some of All Creatures Great and Small tonight. She needs to read some books for AR points because she isn’t getting the grades she should be in that class. She picked out two big thick books that earn more points, but they are both written for a more adult audience. I think she will enjoy All Creatures once she gets started on it.
I fell asleep after we read that, and she went downstairs and colored one of those velvet marker posters that she bought at Michaels. It is a big picture of a dragon and she is doing a nice job on it. I saw it before I went to work.
Oh, she told me the other day she thought she was getting her (whisper) period (!) because she was having some pain in that area. I told her to take some advil, and then later I stuck my head into her room and said that when Aunt Fifi (wink) comes for a visit, I bought her a new package of pads. She looked a little confused when I mentioned Aunt Fifi, and when she finally got it, she said that if I had said she was having the painters in, she would have understood it! Haha! We read that in a British book and we both thought it was pretty funny, but I forgot about it. I’ll have to try to remember to use it.
Scott has spent a quiet week in the dorm. BYU had a break this week during the Olympics, and a lot of people went home, including his roommate, but Scott stayed and has been reading and playing video games. Some of the Olympic hockey games were played at BYU’s ice arena, and I tried to get him to go watch one, but he didn’t do it.
Kim wasn’t interested in the Olympics at all in at first, and I had to work 3-11 most of last week, so I have hardly seen anything, but Rich and I watched some ski jumping and speed skating, and some bobsled. We also watched some of the Ice dancing, and a little bit of curling – by the way, no one in IL knows about curling! Then on Friday night, Kim got interested in the women’s figure skating competition and she and I stayed up watching it until it ended right before I had to go to work at 11. It was very exciting, and there was ample opportunity for crying over it, too. Of course, you know what Kim wants to do now…that’s right, take skating lessons! We’ll see about that, but I’m hoping she loses interest in that, soon. She hasn’t mentioned it since Friday night, so maybe she’s over it.
26 February, 2002
I finally got a letter from you yesterday! I’m so happy to hear from you, and I can’t wait to hear more about the food and what you’ve been doing! I can’t believe those people who don’t want to talk you! Who wouldn’t want to talk to a beautiful little girl like you?
I talked to Scott on the phone last night and he has enlisted the girls in his FHE group to help find out who stuck the mystery valentine on his door. They made him promise that when they found out who it was, he would ask her out, and he said he would. Isn’t that cute?
I’m going out with Ruthann to the grocery store in a few minutes. That’s all I’ll get done today since I slept until noon and have to go to work at 3. I couldn’t sleep last night after I worked midnights all weekend, so at about 3 I took a pill, and finally went to sleep after I finished my book at 4!
Love you boo-
Mumsy
12:20 p.m. - 2002-02-23
Missing Mooky
20 February, 2002
Hi Mooooo-
I got a letter today, not from you but from the Mission President, and was it about you? Noooooo, it was about how the work is going forward and how the mail works just fine so the missionaries can’t use email and then there were some instructions on how often to write your missionary and what content is advisable. Oh my dog, I would rather get nothing in the mail than that. It just made me miss you. There was a short note you wrote to Dad when you got there and a picture that I scanned into your website photo album with a quote from the letter about how it looks like a hostage situation because of your messy hair.
I have been writing you twice a week, and I just hope you are getting my letters!! So far you haven’t said anything about them, so I’m hoping that I’m not just dropping them into a vacuum somewhere. Waaahhhh, I miss my mooky.
Especially with all the gnashing of teeth and wrenching of heart that has been going on this weekend over my lousy job, and Dad has been trying to listen and be helpful but finally he said, “Uh…how long do you think it will take you to work through this?” because he’s getting tired of it.
Actually today I am feeling much better, because last night I got all worked up over the situation again because of an email I got from Carol at work, who was telling me more about the person he hired instead of me (!) and then Dad actually was helpful and pointed out the reasons why I have a great job and he was not only right, he was supportive, and now I feel much better over it all.
Ruthann read your first letter from Argentina and thought you were being so brave! Hahaha! She doesn’t realize that you are big adventurous girl!
So I’m going to send this through the US postal service tomorrow along with a couple of emails from your friends, and a letter that Kim wrote and I hope you GET IT!
Love you boo
12:16 p.m. - 2002-02-20
Hi Mooooo-
I got a letter today, not from you but from the Mission President, and was it about you? Noooooo, it was about how the work is going forward and how the mail works just fine so the missionaries can’t use email and then there were some instructions on how often to write your missionary and what content is advisable. Oh my dog, I would rather get nothing in the mail than that. It just made me miss you. There was a short note you wrote to Dad when you got there and a picture that I scanned into your website photo album with a quote from the letter about how it looks like a hostage situation because of your messy hair.
I have been writing you twice a week, and I just hope you are getting my letters!! So far you haven’t said anything about them, so I’m hoping that I’m not just dropping them into a vacuum somewhere. Waaahhhh, I miss my mooky.
Especially with all the gnashing of teeth and wrenching of heart that has been going on this weekend over my lousy job, and Dad has been trying to listen and be helpful but finally he said, “Uh…how long do you think it will take you to work through this?” because he’s getting tired of it.
Actually today I am feeling much better, because last night I got all worked up over the situation again because of an email I got from Carol at work, who was telling me more about the person he hired instead of me (!) and then Dad actually was helpful and pointed out the reasons why I have a great job and he was not only right, he was supportive, and now I feel much better over it all.
Ruthann read your first letter from Argentina and thought you were being so brave! Hahaha! She doesn’t realize that you are big adventurous girl!
So I’m going to send this through the US postal service tomorrow along with a couple of emails from your friends, and a letter that Kim wrote and I hope you GET IT!
Love you boo
12:16 p.m. - 2002-02-20
Gossip
16 February, 2002
Dear Mookamunda,
I am making chicken soup with Matzo balls and thinking about writing a letter to you and one to Karin. I got a valentine from her in the mail today, not a letter, though, just a cool Harry Potter valentine with a note saying she loves our letters. When I write one back to her, I will send one to Elder Sanchez, also.
So I invited David McD to come over last night, and since he had already planned a game of Risk with some other people he was going to bring them, and I invited Jeff from work too. I was kind of dreading it after I planned it, because I thought it might be noisy, messy and not entertaining for me, only annoying. I also thought maybe Jeff wouldn’t like it, but he came over early and watched Galaxy Quest with me and Kim and Dad, and then he played Risk (we were a team since we didn’t know how to play. David ended up with only 2 of the 4 people that were originally planned on, so that was even better, because it was less people.
Joe Hardie and David Reid were both here, and it was actually fun. They picked up food from Happy Wok and brought it with them, and they also brought Spaceballs, which as you know is thought to be the funniest movie in the world – by teenage boys! We played Risk and it was actually kind of fun and I get how to play it now.
While we were playing I got out the newest hat I knitted and tried it on David, and Joe Hardie wanted it, so I gave it to him, but David Reid wanted one too, so I’m making one for him today. I hope to finish it tonight and wash it and give it to him at church tomorrow, but that might not happen.
When the game ended it was 1 in the morning, and Jeff went home because he had to go to work this afternoon to do something, but the other guys stayed and we watched the DVD of Karate Kid that I rented from Netflix. I’ve never seen it, and I rented it to watch with Kim but hello, it sucks, so I’m not going to show it to her. I hated it.
Oh, but while I was making some cookies for the party last night, I put in your CD of the songs from 10 Things I Hate About You, and I love it!! I have been playing it today while I was making the soup, and it is so great! I think I’ll rent the movie from Netflix and watch it, because I am remembering that I wasn’t that crazy about it, but thinking of the parts I remember, it was kind of good. So I’ll watch it and see.
I talked to Sheila online today, which was fun because I haven’t talked to her in a year or so. She says that Erica is taking Cadaver class (ewww) and thinking about taking the MCAT, which is the exam you need to get into medical school. Sheila said one of her breast implants has deflated so she has silicone leaking into her body and has to have surgery to, I suppose, replace it. Everything happens to her!
Sunday:
Inger and Katieboobah are in AZ this week, visiting my mother, and good luck to them, I say. They flew there on Friday and Diana got out of work early to pick them up, and then took them back to her house for a barbeque. One of Uncle Roger’s friends was also arriving in Phoenix that day, and was supposed to be getting to the airport a couple of hours later and then driving to Quartzite to stay a while. He was supposed to pick Inger and Kate up at Diana’s and he finally did, about 9 in the evening. Diana and TJ were going to take their kids and drive to Quartzite today to see how things were going and to see if Inger had a ride back to the airport tonight. Knowing the old people they are sitting around expecting Diana to do it, even though none of them has ever mentioned it to her, or asked if it would be possible. They’re crazy. So Diana is completely expecting to take Inger and Kate back to Phoenix with them tonight and see that they get to the airport.
Dad has a belt test today – black stripe, which is one belt away from black, so right after church he headed over to the Y for the test. Kim and I took a nap and now she is practicing her instruments. I am working on a hat for her, because I finished the one for David Reid and now Kim wants one.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Yesterday I got an email from Linda Hurd which resulted in a flurry of emails back and forth and then I got a letter from Bethany last night. I will send it to you through the post office mail, along with a letter that Kim wrote to you on Sunday.
Today I talked to Jason online and it turns out that he is being made to feel a little bit like a criminal by Erin and Kevin for dating, even though he is doing what you wanted him to do. He pointed out that he would have waited if you had asked him to. I said that you wanted him to gain field experience and social skills, and that you are happy and excited about the work you are doing.
Oh! But then he told me that his cousin Brian, the one who is a missionary in the St Louis mission, has met a girl who is in the Edwardsville area and they have plans to get together after his mission. Hahaha! Her name is Elle, and she must be a friend of Alexis, because Alexis knows about it and she is the one who told Jason.
I worked the 11-7 shift last night and I just got up so I have to go brush my teeth and call Ruthann. I miss you boo.
12:13 p.m. - 2002-02-16
Dear Mookamunda,
I am making chicken soup with Matzo balls and thinking about writing a letter to you and one to Karin. I got a valentine from her in the mail today, not a letter, though, just a cool Harry Potter valentine with a note saying she loves our letters. When I write one back to her, I will send one to Elder Sanchez, also.
So I invited David McD to come over last night, and since he had already planned a game of Risk with some other people he was going to bring them, and I invited Jeff from work too. I was kind of dreading it after I planned it, because I thought it might be noisy, messy and not entertaining for me, only annoying. I also thought maybe Jeff wouldn’t like it, but he came over early and watched Galaxy Quest with me and Kim and Dad, and then he played Risk (we were a team since we didn’t know how to play. David ended up with only 2 of the 4 people that were originally planned on, so that was even better, because it was less people.
Joe Hardie and David Reid were both here, and it was actually fun. They picked up food from Happy Wok and brought it with them, and they also brought Spaceballs, which as you know is thought to be the funniest movie in the world – by teenage boys! We played Risk and it was actually kind of fun and I get how to play it now.
While we were playing I got out the newest hat I knitted and tried it on David, and Joe Hardie wanted it, so I gave it to him, but David Reid wanted one too, so I’m making one for him today. I hope to finish it tonight and wash it and give it to him at church tomorrow, but that might not happen.
When the game ended it was 1 in the morning, and Jeff went home because he had to go to work this afternoon to do something, but the other guys stayed and we watched the DVD of Karate Kid that I rented from Netflix. I’ve never seen it, and I rented it to watch with Kim but hello, it sucks, so I’m not going to show it to her. I hated it.
Oh, but while I was making some cookies for the party last night, I put in your CD of the songs from 10 Things I Hate About You, and I love it!! I have been playing it today while I was making the soup, and it is so great! I think I’ll rent the movie from Netflix and watch it, because I am remembering that I wasn’t that crazy about it, but thinking of the parts I remember, it was kind of good. So I’ll watch it and see.
I talked to Sheila online today, which was fun because I haven’t talked to her in a year or so. She says that Erica is taking Cadaver class (ewww) and thinking about taking the MCAT, which is the exam you need to get into medical school. Sheila said one of her breast implants has deflated so she has silicone leaking into her body and has to have surgery to, I suppose, replace it. Everything happens to her!
Sunday:
Inger and Katieboobah are in AZ this week, visiting my mother, and good luck to them, I say. They flew there on Friday and Diana got out of work early to pick them up, and then took them back to her house for a barbeque. One of Uncle Roger’s friends was also arriving in Phoenix that day, and was supposed to be getting to the airport a couple of hours later and then driving to Quartzite to stay a while. He was supposed to pick Inger and Kate up at Diana’s and he finally did, about 9 in the evening. Diana and TJ were going to take their kids and drive to Quartzite today to see how things were going and to see if Inger had a ride back to the airport tonight. Knowing the old people they are sitting around expecting Diana to do it, even though none of them has ever mentioned it to her, or asked if it would be possible. They’re crazy. So Diana is completely expecting to take Inger and Kate back to Phoenix with them tonight and see that they get to the airport.
Dad has a belt test today – black stripe, which is one belt away from black, so right after church he headed over to the Y for the test. Kim and I took a nap and now she is practicing her instruments. I am working on a hat for her, because I finished the one for David Reid and now Kim wants one.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Yesterday I got an email from Linda Hurd which resulted in a flurry of emails back and forth and then I got a letter from Bethany last night. I will send it to you through the post office mail, along with a letter that Kim wrote to you on Sunday.
Today I talked to Jason online and it turns out that he is being made to feel a little bit like a criminal by Erin and Kevin for dating, even though he is doing what you wanted him to do. He pointed out that he would have waited if you had asked him to. I said that you wanted him to gain field experience and social skills, and that you are happy and excited about the work you are doing.
Oh! But then he told me that his cousin Brian, the one who is a missionary in the St Louis mission, has met a girl who is in the Edwardsville area and they have plans to get together after his mission. Hahaha! Her name is Elle, and she must be a friend of Alexis, because Alexis knows about it and she is the one who told Jason.
I worked the 11-7 shift last night and I just got up so I have to go brush my teeth and call Ruthann. I miss you boo.
12:13 p.m. - 2002-02-16
better late than never
5 February, 2001
Mooksy,
Well I never left my house today, but I think I talked to everyone in the world. Okay, everyone in my little world, anyway.
David McD – Has ulcers in his esophogus, and he has to eat a bland diet and take medication to clear it up and hope it’s better so he can report to the MTC when he’s supposed to.
Grandma and Grandpa – Their electricity has been out for a week – yes, 7 days! There was a bad snowstorm in the Midwest last week, and Kim missed one day of school, but apparently 400,000 people in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area lost power and some of them don’t have it back yet. They have their generator, so they can have enough hot water to shower, but not to do laundry or run the dishwasher. They can’t use their stove or their coffee maker, but they eat out all the time anyway, and they are able to watch TV, so they’re doing fine.
Sarah – She is going to be a bridesmaid sometime later this year, I think, I can’t remember when, and she gets to stay in a Scottish castle! Whoo! That sounds pretty cool. She also said that she has to start going to church because her and Chris are planning to move in together and eventually get married, and he wants them to be churchgoers so that they can raise their children in a church. Okay, so she is going to go to a Lutheran church, and see how that is, because that’s what he is. I suggested that Chris should have the discussions so that he would have background on her church, and she never really agreed to it, but I did ask why she didn’t want to go to our church? She said, basically, that there are too many rules and the people are too sappy. So I said that not everyone is sappy, and there are people like me, too! Oh well, whatever. I’m planning to start knitting some cute baby stuff for when she does have a baby.
Diana – She was home for lunch so I just reported to her on my conversation with Sarah and we discussed how there ARE people like us at church but it takes longer to get to know them because they aren’t the ones who run up to shake your hand at church and invite you to dinner when you’re new.
I talked to Scott on the phone yesterday and he was very happy because someone he knows is leaving his job as a chemistry research assistant, and that guy is going to recommend Scott for the job. That will be cool if he gets it, but I think he told me before that they usually don’t give those jobs to freshmen because they’ll be leaving to go on missions.
Kimberly called me at work tonight to complain about her friend Caitlyn. They have been having some little contests, one of them is a drawing contest, and Caitlyn keeps winning. So Kim was a little sad because she wants to find something she can beat Caitlyn at. I told her she is a lot cuter than Caitlyn. I should have mentioned that Caitlyn can’t play the harp either. Then she started babbling about Chester sitting on her lap and purring and how Chester was being adorable, so I told her to call me later and tell me if I got any email.
I finished the second pair of socks for Scott today and I have just one more sock left to finish and then I’ll mail him the three pairs of socks and the vest I made for him. I hope I get the magazine I ordered the other day so I can start working on the sweater for ME. I still have the two Dale sweaters to work on and the blue sweater that I made for Bertha but it came out too big so I’m finishing the sleeves to save it for you. I have plans to start something simple for Kim with some pretty pale pink WE, so I might start on that if I don’t get the magazine soon.
Later boo.
6 February, 2002
Well, this has not been one of the great days of my life, so far. We didn’t have any Diet Pepsi in the house when I woke up, so I drank a lousy Fruitopia for breakfast and then I called Ruthann to see when we were going out so I could buy some POP! She was getting ready to leave, so she picked me up and we went to the library and to mail a package to Nancy at Ricks, and Scott at BYU (we stopped at the Jelly Belly store first to get jelly bellies for them and then we went to the bookstore to look for the new Knitting mags, but you know they don’t have any there) and I never did get a pepsi! By the time we left the library, I was gagging for one, and Ruthann was fussing about the scrape she put on her new car, and then she wanted to drive through the car wash…oh man, I felt so dragged out and headachy, I just wanted to go home!
So then I got home and Dad had the van because his car was way low on gas, so I didn’t want to drive to the store in his car, and I just didn’t have the strength to go out again anyway! I spent some time sitting in front of the computer, first talking to my mother, that lunatic, and then being comforted by Diana, and then Dad came home with milk, bread and DIET PEPSI! Oh, is that not happiness?
So I am at work now, and it’s not too bad. Fairly quiet, actually, except that someone is trying to send a fax, and they’ve programmed in the wrong number so the CODE BLUE PHONE keeps ringing and I have to jump up and answer it!
I don’t have any interesting news to tell you. Grandpa sent an email this morning to say that they have electricity again, so Bertha is running the dishwasher and doing laundry. Barb called me this afternoon to say that Justine’s back has gotten worse, so she won’t be able to work at all for a few weeks! Well, you know what that means, we all have to work like dogs to cover her shifts. I am so tired of working with these people who are sick all the time!! I guess I should be grateful to have some work at all.
Haha, I just heard Kevin, one of the techs, out in the other room telling someone that after work he likes to go home and relax by watching the Simpsons. It makes the whole day better. I totally agree.
I hope you are getting these letters, let me know which works best, if it’s pouch mail, or email that gets delivered to the mission home? I just don’t know, but I think I’ve sent mail to each of them. I haven’t even done any old lady letters or sent anything to Beth or Todd, the other missionaries, in a couple of weeks. I never get letters back from them, or the old ladies, so I’m kind of tired of writing to them. I do send mail to Karin and Scott, and when David leaves for the MTC, I’ll send mail to him, too. Karin writes back and I know David will too. I am eagerly waiting to hear from you and I can't wait until we start getting your letters!
Love you boosk,
Mumsy
12:09 p.m. - 2002-02-5
Mooksy,
Well I never left my house today, but I think I talked to everyone in the world. Okay, everyone in my little world, anyway.
David McD – Has ulcers in his esophogus, and he has to eat a bland diet and take medication to clear it up and hope it’s better so he can report to the MTC when he’s supposed to.
Grandma and Grandpa – Their electricity has been out for a week – yes, 7 days! There was a bad snowstorm in the Midwest last week, and Kim missed one day of school, but apparently 400,000 people in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area lost power and some of them don’t have it back yet. They have their generator, so they can have enough hot water to shower, but not to do laundry or run the dishwasher. They can’t use their stove or their coffee maker, but they eat out all the time anyway, and they are able to watch TV, so they’re doing fine.
Sarah – She is going to be a bridesmaid sometime later this year, I think, I can’t remember when, and she gets to stay in a Scottish castle! Whoo! That sounds pretty cool. She also said that she has to start going to church because her and Chris are planning to move in together and eventually get married, and he wants them to be churchgoers so that they can raise their children in a church. Okay, so she is going to go to a Lutheran church, and see how that is, because that’s what he is. I suggested that Chris should have the discussions so that he would have background on her church, and she never really agreed to it, but I did ask why she didn’t want to go to our church? She said, basically, that there are too many rules and the people are too sappy. So I said that not everyone is sappy, and there are people like me, too! Oh well, whatever. I’m planning to start knitting some cute baby stuff for when she does have a baby.
Diana – She was home for lunch so I just reported to her on my conversation with Sarah and we discussed how there ARE people like us at church but it takes longer to get to know them because they aren’t the ones who run up to shake your hand at church and invite you to dinner when you’re new.
I talked to Scott on the phone yesterday and he was very happy because someone he knows is leaving his job as a chemistry research assistant, and that guy is going to recommend Scott for the job. That will be cool if he gets it, but I think he told me before that they usually don’t give those jobs to freshmen because they’ll be leaving to go on missions.
Kimberly called me at work tonight to complain about her friend Caitlyn. They have been having some little contests, one of them is a drawing contest, and Caitlyn keeps winning. So Kim was a little sad because she wants to find something she can beat Caitlyn at. I told her she is a lot cuter than Caitlyn. I should have mentioned that Caitlyn can’t play the harp either. Then she started babbling about Chester sitting on her lap and purring and how Chester was being adorable, so I told her to call me later and tell me if I got any email.
I finished the second pair of socks for Scott today and I have just one more sock left to finish and then I’ll mail him the three pairs of socks and the vest I made for him. I hope I get the magazine I ordered the other day so I can start working on the sweater for ME. I still have the two Dale sweaters to work on and the blue sweater that I made for Bertha but it came out too big so I’m finishing the sleeves to save it for you. I have plans to start something simple for Kim with some pretty pale pink WE, so I might start on that if I don’t get the magazine soon.
Later boo.
6 February, 2002
Well, this has not been one of the great days of my life, so far. We didn’t have any Diet Pepsi in the house when I woke up, so I drank a lousy Fruitopia for breakfast and then I called Ruthann to see when we were going out so I could buy some POP! She was getting ready to leave, so she picked me up and we went to the library and to mail a package to Nancy at Ricks, and Scott at BYU (we stopped at the Jelly Belly store first to get jelly bellies for them and then we went to the bookstore to look for the new Knitting mags, but you know they don’t have any there) and I never did get a pepsi! By the time we left the library, I was gagging for one, and Ruthann was fussing about the scrape she put on her new car, and then she wanted to drive through the car wash…oh man, I felt so dragged out and headachy, I just wanted to go home!
So then I got home and Dad had the van because his car was way low on gas, so I didn’t want to drive to the store in his car, and I just didn’t have the strength to go out again anyway! I spent some time sitting in front of the computer, first talking to my mother, that lunatic, and then being comforted by Diana, and then Dad came home with milk, bread and DIET PEPSI! Oh, is that not happiness?
So I am at work now, and it’s not too bad. Fairly quiet, actually, except that someone is trying to send a fax, and they’ve programmed in the wrong number so the CODE BLUE PHONE keeps ringing and I have to jump up and answer it!
I don’t have any interesting news to tell you. Grandpa sent an email this morning to say that they have electricity again, so Bertha is running the dishwasher and doing laundry. Barb called me this afternoon to say that Justine’s back has gotten worse, so she won’t be able to work at all for a few weeks! Well, you know what that means, we all have to work like dogs to cover her shifts. I am so tired of working with these people who are sick all the time!! I guess I should be grateful to have some work at all.
Haha, I just heard Kevin, one of the techs, out in the other room telling someone that after work he likes to go home and relax by watching the Simpsons. It makes the whole day better. I totally agree.
I hope you are getting these letters, let me know which works best, if it’s pouch mail, or email that gets delivered to the mission home? I just don’t know, but I think I’ve sent mail to each of them. I haven’t even done any old lady letters or sent anything to Beth or Todd, the other missionaries, in a couple of weeks. I never get letters back from them, or the old ladies, so I’m kind of tired of writing to them. I do send mail to Karin and Scott, and when David leaves for the MTC, I’ll send mail to him, too. Karin writes back and I know David will too. I am eagerly waiting to hear from you and I can't wait until we start getting your letters!
Love you boosk,
Mumsy
12:09 p.m. - 2002-02-5
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