Last Leg?

He made it to Shreveport, LA last night.

Stopped just before midnight.

Made for a LONG day of driving.

But the roads were clear so that's good.

He has one last LONG day of driving

again today.

Depending on what time he left,

he will be home tonight some time.

YEA!!!!!!!

*******************

In other news,

we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner

last night.  They don't have the car this week

so I picked them up on my way home from work.

When we got to the farm they helped me

and we fed all the animals.

They are both from farm backgrounds

so were happy to spend some time

smelling the horses.

Rod stopped at the Dr. and got the stitches

out of his shoulder incision (basal cell)

and then stopped at Publix for some fried chicken

and fixin's and then to the feed store

for 5 bales of hay for the horses.

We were just finishing up feeding when he arrived

so we unloaded the hay and then went

inside for dinner.

I have discovered that eating "off plan"

isn't good for me.

I had some fried chicken, red potato salad,

coleslaw, cottage cheese with strawberries

blended in the food processor for desert

and a raging headache and upper GI discomfort

to finish up.

Yeah.

I guess that's it for me.

I've been eating clean all week and didn't have

any problems.

Guess it's an indication which way my 

body prefers I eat.

I'll just have to be careful when I'm out of town

and eating in restaurants.

Heading Across the Country

I don't have any pictures.

He was driving.

It was snowing.

He was watching the road.

He made it to Grants, New Mexico last night.

He got stuck on a highway for an hour or two

waiting for them to clear up a crash.

And there was some heavy snow in Salt Lake

as he was driving through.

But all in all he did fine.

So far.

They were predicting icy road conditions

starting at Grants, so he stopped there

at a truck stop to spend the night

and wait for the sun and the snow plows.

I think he'll be glad to get into Texas!

(Not to mention Florida - it's going to be 84 today)

Thanks for keeping him in your prayers.

I know it helped to keep him safe!

On The Road Again (Again)

Cue Willie Nelson.

Kyle is heading home.

He got his trailer on Saturday and got it all loaded up.

He kept out his TV,

bedding and stool.

Then realized he was going to have

to stay there for 2 more days

so unpacked his big chair.

This morning he got everything

all loaded up again.

In the snow.

Wearing Chucks.

(canvas sneakers for those without

young men hanging around...)

So his feet got COLD!

They were predicting 18 - 30 inches over night

so he was pleased to wake up to this

light dusting.

He said the highways are nice and clear.

It's snowing just enough to keep his

windshield wipers on their lowest setting.

Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

He should make it home by Wednesday or Thursday.

Just depends on how hard he pushes.

But for now...

He is 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Early Birthday Present

I got home LATE last night

from teaching school.

When I got home,

Rod had a wonderful surprise for me!

These were his raw supplies.

Here we are in mid production...

And here we are with my brand new

light fixture over the kitchen sink!

It is so beautiful!

And nice and bright.

I won't have any trouble washing my eggs now!

*And he used LED lights, so it's inexpensive

to run and puts out NO HEAT!

Which is awesome when it's a gazillion degrees 

outside and you're standing in the window 

and the afternoon sun is blazing through.

I LOVE IT!

(BONUS - it matches my new kitchen table!)

Gearing Up

I'm heading out of town.

Again.

Rod will be home though.

He has a list longer than his arm

of things he wants / needs to do

this weekend.

In all his spare time.

HAhahahahahahahahahahahaha

Anyhow.

I believe I already mentioned earlier,
we are having people over for 

Thanksgiving Dinner.

I don't normally do that.

Back in the olden days, the family

was almost all up in Gainesville

for the annual motocross races,

enjoying turkey under a tent

in the horrible,

hot and windy

or freezing and windy

November Gainesville weather.

I was always grateful to stay home.

And then we closed the shop

and we sometimes went to Tim and Angie's

house for Thanksgiving dinner.

But this year Jim and Sabrina have

plans to go camping up in the 

Ocala National Forest

for the long weekend.

We are going to have a Thanksgiving Breakfast

before they leave town.

Kyle is still in Utah.

He will be having Thanksgiving dinner with 

some friends who live out there.

Rod and I were going to just have a

nice, quiet, thanksgiving / birthday dinner.

Just the two of us.

But then he decided to invite a couple of

his Home Teaching Sisters who were

going to be alone.

And then he was talking to another friend

and ended up inviting him and his wife.

So it will be 6 of us for dinner.

I plan to spend much of this weekend

working on the menu / shopping list.

(My students have lots of built in - 

work-on-it-by-yourself 

kind of stuff this weekend)

(A 2 hour "mid term" on Saturday morning,
2 hours of "review" videos,

and a 2 hour "final exam" on Sunday evening)

Anyhow.

I'm pretty sure I know what I'm serving.

Just need to finalize it.

Most of what I'm making is 

Trim Healthy Mama compliant.

Although it's not Thanksgiving without Rhodes rolls.

So there will be those.

And I'll TRY not to eat more than a dozen.

Anyhow.

I'm super excited about it.

Today's the Day!

Today is the day the Parental Units

take possession of their new HOME!

SO EXCITING!

And to add to the excitement, the

Tour de Tucson

passes right up their main street,

so although that might make things

difficult on Saturday,

if they get everything done Friday

*as planned (hahahahaha)

Saturday could see them on the side

of the road cheering for all those

folks racing for the gold!

Meanwhile, on our home front,

things are cruising along smoothly.

We have tithing settlement tonight.

I'm teaching again this weekend.

Rod's arm is looking better.

*considering it looks awful...

The Dr took a HUGE hunk out of his arm

so there are LOTS and LOTS of stitches

and a nice little pucker at the top.

Mom would have made me rip it out

and start over if MY sewing had

looked like that.

But I guess you work with what you

have to work with.

He gets his stitches out tomorrow.

And then maybe it will look better.

For now it's pretty angry red.

But it isn't causing him much discomfort,

so that's good.

Speaking of discomfort...

we are having a bunch of people over

for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

RAMP UP my level of discomfort!!!!!

They are all good friends,

and we will have a good time.

But entertaining was a gene I wasn't 

standing in the correct line to receive.

Not sure HOW I'm related to the rest

of my family that rolls out the red carpet

at the drop of a hat without blinking an eye.

Thank goodness ROD has that gene.

I'm going out of town this weekend and

leaving it all up to him.

(hahahahahahahaha)

Happy Happy Friday!

This has been a weird week.

Speaking of weird.

That's a weird word.

I before E except after C

except as in WEIRD!

Sorry, lost control a little there...

So, it has been a little weird.

Good, but weird.

First, I was OFF this past weekend.

Now that is WEIRD!

(And my dreams this week reflected that...

I've been having nightmares every night

about teaching.

Last night I was teaching in a garage

and couldn't get any WiFi signal.

And later (after I woke up and then

went back to sleep) it turned out

it was a 4-day-in-a-row class,

which I can't teach anymore because

of my other job... but there I was!)

It's stressful.

LOL

Anyhow.

It was wonderful to get to spend the 

weekend with my darling husband.

We went up to the feed mill to get

a huge load of feed for the critters.

That's always enjoyable.

We took the horses for a ride in the woods

for the first time in nearly a YEAR!

That was awesome!

The horses did really well, especially

considering they are basically retired now.

Andy's arthritis flared a little,

but he still did really well.

We had a friend come over to show us

his Roku system and help us decide 

whether we should ditch satellite and go with

something else.

We got about half done putting up a new

gate in the back of the pasture

so we can ride the horses without

having to go out on the road.

(I don't love riding on the road, even though

the majority of people in our neighborhood 

are really friendly and respectful, still...

And it hurts Andy's hip...)

(And it's BORING)

We went to church, it was nice to see

all the people I don't get to see often.

I did lots of cooking so we had lots of 

food for the week...

All-in-all it was a great weekend.

Monday was back to work.

And then Tuesday Rod had some melanoma

removed from his arm.

No pictures.

You are welcome.

(grin)

We both took the day off, thinking we could

go riding again and finish the gate.

But he isn't allowed to lift, push or pull for 2 weeks.

So, no.

Instead, we relaxed.

(And somewhere in there we went to Lowe's

and bought a piece of really cool ceramic tile

that looks like a plank of old barn board...

we are thinking of using it to resurface our kitchen

counter tops..)

(We looked at it all weekend and then returned it.)

(We like it, but aren't anywhere near ready to do it...)

(I want to screen-in the patio first...)

WAY more bang for our buck!

Oh, and I took Rod to Waffle House (as promised)

as a reward for being a good patient.

He was a REALLY good patient.

It was pretty gross.

(I watched for a minute and then ordered

an electronic rat zapper on Amazon... lol)

(Thanks Reid!!!!)

Wednesday was back to work for both of us.

Except for some reason I didn't get any mail at 

the office, which meant I didn't get any work.

Which meant sitting all day trying to look busy.

How about NO!

I told my supervisor I had a "headache" and

she gave me permission to go home "sick".

Which was AWESOME!

Took Andy for another ride for about 45 minutes.

It was so nice!

And did more cooking.

And repainted our front gate people. 

They've faded really really badly,

so I painted them black.

They need another coat, but ok for now...

Thursday was back to work.

And this morning, here I am again.

I'm working this weekend.

So no more weirdness (and maybe no more

dreams to disturb my sleep!)

And THIS is what I'm having for lunch today.

(I've been 100% "on plan" for a couple of weeks

and am down 10 pounds!  YIPPEEE!)

From the bottom up...

Yummy sugar free Balsamic Vinaigrette

then a layer of shredded cheese

then a layer of real bacon bits

then a layer of fresh mushrooms

then a BUNCH of fresh baby spinach.

Is it lunch time yet?????

LOL

Daylight Savings Time

Now that the majority of my family lives in Arizona

and Arizona refuses to play the Daylight Savings Game...

I just wanted to share what you are MISSING!

Its AWESOME.

BTW - we are now only TWO hours apart.

Instead of the insane THREE.

So I'm only 2 hours ahead in my productivity.

Except for Rozann.

She's already up and doing amazing things

while I'm still in bed.

Sick.

Out Doors

With the approach of late fall / early winter

it's more tempting to go out of doors.

(it's tough to get excited about doing

stuff outside when it's a gazillion degrees

and a hundred gazillion % humidity)

But now that the weather is GORGEOUS...

It was the perfect evening for a ride.

Light breeze,

nobody else was out there,

the trails were nice and dry

and the horses were cooperating.

There were no flies until the very end.

(the mosquitoes etc came out as the sun

was thinking about going down...)

Andy needed some Bute (horse tylenol)

when we got home for his arthritic hip,

but he was in a good mood the whole

ride and even cooperated when he

got tangled up in a vine.

(Silly boy never lifts his feet when he walks...)

We weren't the only people enjoying

the great outdoors...

We were just WARMER!

Kyle got to experience

FRESH POWDER!

DEEP fresh powder.

And, of course, the Florida boy was wearing SHORTS!

He was the ONLY person to brave the new snow.

Said there were NO foot prints.

(that includes bears, mountain lions, etc...)

It was neat to be out there first!

This was his first experience with early snow.

And it was pretty breath-taking!

Quote

As you enter the patient door at my office

the receptionist has a large white board.

She likes to put an inspirational quote up 

every day.

This was our quote for the day:

Wednesday, Nov 2, 2016

"We should certainly count our blessings,

but we should also make our blessings count."

-Neal A Maxwell

I'm pretty positive I'm the only member here.

I know for sure she's not a member.

Which means she likely found it on FB.

Which is cool!

Speaking of cool, in the bottom left corner

she usually also puts a random fact.

Today's fact:

Did you know:

Polar Bears are left handed!

Huh, who knew!