18 May 2025

 AHH! Summer break is so close we can almost taste it!  It was a full week.  Felicity did a lot of "adulting" this week.  She's been working on her mission application and as such had a lot of appointments.  On Monday she had a dental evaluation and got a full set of X-Rays.  They cleared her of any dental problems and referred her to an oral surgeon for a consult on having her wisdom teeth removed.  In preparation for her medical evaluation next week she looked over her vaccine record and realized she was going to need a tetanus shot, so she and Dad went to CVS and got both a tetanus and COVID booster on Wednesday.  She saw the oral surgeon on Thursday and scheduled her wisdom teeth extraction for next week.  She happened to schedule it for the same day as her medical evaluation, so that should be fun.    She's only going to be home until the 26th of May at which point she has to be back in Thatcher for her last semester of beauty school; we're trying to cram a lot into a couple weeks.

Phil worked overtime on Monday and then his regular shift on Tuesday.  I was excited to get to the gym on Wednesday afternoon and boy was I soar when I was done!  It was great.  I've been out running each evening and just generally trying to keep up good habits.  I got to goal in March and then promptly gained some weight...so I'm working on figuring out maintenance.  Wednesday evening Helen and Felicity went to the movies to see the Minecraft movie.  Our new grass is coming in nicely and even though some evil critter ate some of my new sprouts a couple of weeks ago, I persevered, replanted, and am enjoying my little small-scale porch garden.  I have tomatoes, spaghetti squash, and various peppers almost ready to harvest.  Fingers crossed!

Phil worked on Thursday and I had a long list of things to do.  I picked up my sewing machine from Cathey's Sewing and Vacuum, I had dropped it off last week because my buttonhole setting wasn't working and they fixed it right up for me and it was still under warranty from my last repair.  I was glad to have it back as I miss it when I have to use my cheap back up machine.  I'm still working on the last of the trek costumes, a dress for Helen.  In the evening I went to see Arlo's 7th grad band performance.  It was fun, he did such a great job.  He switched to tuba this year from baritone at the request of his teacher and has really enjoyed learning a new instrument.  The concert was entertaining and I was sad to learn that the middle school teacher was going to be leaving; he's such a great teacher for that age group.  After the concert I treated Arlo to some Freddy's, he wanted to get onion rings and a pop.

I was grateful for a day off on Friday.  Felicity went out with Nana and spent the day.  Phil and I had dentist appointments at a new dental office.  I figured since we were scheduling Felicity it was time he and I go too.  I didn't like the last office I went to, so it's been probably 24 months since I last went.  I was worried they'd find a problem, but after a full set of x-rays, both Phil and I were free and clear of any cavities or other problems.  Yay us!  We are going back for a cleaning on Monday.  We had to take Jude with us and since he was fairly good while we had our appointments, we took him out to lunch when we were done.  We did our neighbor's grocery shopping and then picked up our own groceries before heading home.

Phil worked an overtime shift on Saturday morning and since Helen and Arlo were visiting their dad in Tucson I left Jude at home with Felicity and was flying solo for our turn to clean the church building.  I met another family there and between us did half the cleaning while two more families were coming in the afternoon after a stake primary activity to clean the other half.  I was done with my part in about an hour and then ran into town to run some errands before getting back home.  

Phil came home in the late afternoon and we went to an estate sale in Tucson where we bought some shelves for Phil's mom.  It felt like it took FOREVER to take them all apart and load them up on the truck, but they're really nice and the price was right!  And we had some adorable help. We stopped for a pop when we were done!

Helen's ASL teacher asked me last week if I would be willing to help her interpret for Graduation on Saturday evening. I agreed to help her, although she never called me back with details.  Nevertheless, I stayed on stand by and spent a couple hours Saturday morning practicing by re-playing Felicity's 2024 graduation ceremony and interpreting along.  It was rough!  Firstly, anxious teens giving speeches talk fast! Secondly there were a lot of words I had to pause and look up (words I shouldn't have had to look up).  I was a little nervous, so I won't lie, I wasn't too disappointed when she never called me back with details and I didn't end up having to help provide interpretation at graduation (although I felt bad she had to do it alone).  I guess she didn't get approval from the school/school board in enough time.  Maybe next year!  I should probably duck into the ASL class more often and practice with Helen's class, I miss getting to use ASL weekly.  Helen got to attend graduation with the band...playing "Pomp and Circumstance" over and over and over.

I did want to provide an update on my Mother's Day disappointment.  My dear sweet husband came home Wednesday morning after 72 hours at the fire station with a card and flowers and a new hoodie and cutting/light board (yay for new quilting/sewing tools!) from Amazon arrived Monday morning with my name on them.  So, well done him!  I may also have ordered myself a little something-something last week that I'm anxiously awaiting...I found a  serviced and working 1937 Singer Sewing Machine on eBay that had a hemstitch foot (so excited!!).  The hemstitch attachment essentially punches and then reinforces holes along the edge of fabric creating a decorative edge; that decorative edge can also be used to crochet into so you can add a crochet edge to blankets, burp clothes, anything really.   No modern machines do this (not this well anyway).  I'm so excited!  People charge crazy ridiculous prices for pre-hemstitched fabric and even more to hemstitch around your fabric.  OK, its probably an excessive "you don't really NEED that, but really WANTED that" item.  Isn't she pretty!?

We enjoyed church on Sunday, as much as one can enjoy church with Jude.  I actually taught Sunday School second hour.  I teach on the first and third Sunday of the month and the last time I taught was March 2nd.  We were on our anniversary trip March 16th so I had a substitute, then we had a fifth Sunday, then it was General Conference (no regular meetings), then Easter (no second hour), then Stake Conference (no regular meetings), so it had been a minute!  I think the lesson went well.  We discussed Spiritual Gifts for most of our lesson.  We had great discussion, I had 30 slides and only managed to get through 15 of them.  I enjoyed having Phil home on Sunday which has been a rarity with his overtime schedule.  My lovely ministering sister came over for a visit in the afternoon and that was great, who doesn't love some grown-up conversation time?

    

11 May 2025

 Monday was a milestone day for our family.  Helen had her road test for her driver's license in the afternoon.  We were afraid she wouldn't be able to keep her appointment because we realized that her permit had expired, but the MVD allowed her to test anyway.  Then, she lucked out again and didn't have to do the three-point turn--the infamous three-point turn that caused Felicity to fail her first road test.  Helen did great, she had a perfect score right up until the end.  The very end.  When she parked, bringing the tester back to the MVD, she pulled into the spot and was so excited to be done didn't pull all the way in...she was more than five feet from the parking block so she lost four points for that!  We do, however, have a newly licensed driver again.

 What do Jude's days look like as a feral kid with a work-at-home mom?  Pretty much like this:

Phil worked on Tuesday and after school I took all the kids to the thrift store.  Arlo needed some hiking shoes and pants for trek and he's also been in need of some Sunday shoes.  He's had a growth spurt as of late and has outgrown almost everything!  I'm hoping we can make do until back to school shopping.  And typical for a thrift store trip the kids had to find the most ridiculous shoes to try on.  Although this time they had Jude trying on the silly shoes.

We stopped for dinner on the way home!

I finished an apron this week to go with Helen's trek costume.  I'm under no illusion that white was a wise choice for trek fabric, but that's ok, its pretty...and has pockets!  

On Wednesday evening Phil and I took our moms out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse for Mother's Day.  I sometimes struggle with meaningful ideas for Mother's Day gifts and they both probably have all the little trinkets they'll ever need, so I instead opted for an experience.  We had a lovely time and we really enjoyed spending time with them.  Happy Mother's Day to two incredible moms and grand-moms.

Felicity had her last day of the semester on Thursday.  We are super excited to have her home for a few weeks until her summer session starts.  She'll be back in class at the end of May through July.  She moved many of her things to the Arrington's home where she'll be living over the summer (thank you so much!!) and the stuff she wouldn't need made the trip home with her.  I know she'll miss her friends and sweet roommate over the summer.  I'm so grateful she had such a fun first year of college.

Phil worked overtime on Thursday and Arlo went over to Nana and Papa's after school and worked with Papa in his garage on his reloading project.

Helen had her AP test on Friday morning as she is wrapping up her junior year.  Felicity had her first dentist appointment early in the morning as well.  She has to have a series of doctor's and dentist appointments before she can turn in her missionary application.  It went well, she doesn't have any current problems and the dentist was confident she could go without dental care for 18 months if she had to.  She got a referral to an oral surgeon to go over her x-rays and determine whether or not she will need her wisdom teeth out.  We have that scheduled for the end of next week.  She's still waiting on her passport to come in, but is pretty excited that things are coming along.

In the evening Phil and Felicity and I went to see Thunderbolts* at the theater, it was really good, Felicity and I enjoyed it.  Phil was awake for most of it.

Our Saturday was busy.  The goats have been getting out of their pen to eat my trees lately and I'm getting pretty tired of it.  Leota ate the tree I put over Maggie's grave straight down to the ground, I could have killed her.  Phil and I went to work putting up an electric fence around the top of their pen. The energizer has to charge for three days, so we won't know if its going to work just yet, but I'm glad we at least have a plan before they kill anymore trees.  I swear the ranch is always two steps forward (I plant six new trees) and one step back (a goat eats and kills three of them).

Felicity had the privilege of doing a friend and high school classmate's hair for her wedding Saturday.  It turned out so pretty.  Then she got to attend the wedding with a bunch of her show choir friends.  It was good to see them all together again, I know she enjoyed hearing how all of them spent their first year of adulthood.

Felicity also helped Helen do her hair and makeup yet again, this time for church prom.  She enjoyed a group date to dinner and prom hosted by our church.  They had it in Benson at the Red Barn Event Center.  They had a great time!

Jude came up to me at my desk Sunday morning blowing bubbles and his response to how that was happening was so Jude-typical it can only be described by a video.

Phil was back at work on Sunday.  Helen had an assignment to speak in Sacrament meeting and she did a great job.  Her talk was based on the address Covenant Women in Partnership with God.  She's such a natural in front of people, it was a pleasure listening to her.  

Other than the Mother's Day themed talks and classes in church, nobody in my house seemed to realize it was actually Mother's Day so the day passed like any other Sunday.  Jude's primary teachers helped him color and cut out a flower stem for a Tootsie Pop, he gave me the stem and the left-over wrapper.  If you recall last year I set up a mini vacation for my family so I could have a weekend of quiet, relaxation, and quilting at home for Mother's Day and my plan was ruined and I ended up spending the weekend alone with the kids at a resort/waterpark (pretty much the opposite of what I wanted)..I think I'm just going to skip Mother's Day next year.  I will say, however, towards the end of the day Arlo did hand me a crocheted chicken; it was cute, but all dirty and I asked where it came from and he admitted he found it on the side of the road while walking home last week and picked it up with the intention of giving it to me, so at least there was that.  Appreciation for my motherhood summed up in a dirty, roadside chicken and candy trash.

There are lots of good things coming up next week, its going to be busy with doctors and dentist appointments and end of year concerts and projects.  I can't believe the kids only have two weeks left of the school year.  Wish us luck!

04 May 2025

End of the school year craziness is in full force.  Phil came home from work Monday morning in time to take Jude to his last Sound Beginnings music class.  Jude had a great time as always.  I wish that we could have gone more often than we did this semester, but are grateful for the experience.  He'll be starting Lets Play Music in the fall and since the classes are in the afternoon after school we should be able to be far more consistent.

Tuesday was kind of a busy day, Phil worked overtime and while at work did a kindergarten fire safety presentation.  

I surged some material that the youth were going to be using to make rucksacks and in the evening I went with the kids to mutual where I helped them sew the rucksacks that they'll use on trek in a few weeks.  Even Arlo made one!

After work on Wednesday I had an appointment in Green Valley and Phil decided to come with me.  After my appointment at the spa we went to Boot Barn and he bought himself a new hat.  My goodness...isn't he a hansom!  He also took me out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, it was a great impromptu date night.

Felicity is muscling her way through the last two weeks of the semester.  She gets a little bit of break before returning for the summer session and then graduation from her cosmetology program in July.  Since she's planning to serve a mission after this summer she's not going to return to EA for the fall semester to complete her associates.  She hasn't decided if she's going to finish her associates after her mission or just use her cosmetology license to go straight to work.  She wound down from a stressful week by going to the Gila Valley temple with her sweet roommate on Thursday night; her roommate found out on Tuesday that she'll be serving a full time mission in Argentina!

We were happy to have Phil home for two days in a row this week!  Haha!  He's worked a lot of overtime so far this year, but we're almost at the finish line and we're grateful so much has been available.  He and Jude worked out in the yard while I was at work on Thursday pulling weeds.  Everything else threatens to die with the lack of rain we've had over the last couple of years, but not the weeds!  In the evening Phil took Helen to pick up her new glasses and take her out driving.  We scheduled an appointment at the MVD for her to take her road test next Monday.  

Friday was crazy hectic.  I had a hair appointment in the late morning so Nana agreed to watch Jude.  I picked Arlo up early from school since I had to have him to the church at 3:30 and I wasn't going to be able to get home in time to get him there.  He and Jude had a blast playing at Nana's.  She got them water guns and I heard that was fun.  Arlo camped out with the rest of the boys from the teacher's quorum in Madera canyon Friday night.  He had fun.  My hair appointment went well and was a relaxing bright spot in a very chaotic week.

Helen got up early Saturday to carpool to Madera canyon where the rest of the youth from our ward were meeting up with the teachers who were already there camping to do another practice trek hike to Bogg Springs.  They had fun although I heard the last little bit of the hike was steep.  

When they got home I worked on doing an alteration for Helen's friend Olivia's prom dress.  I took in the sides and adjusted the top so it would fit better and I replaced a broken zipper with a corset close.  I think it turned out pretty good!  

Helen and friends then went to two birthday parties, which had me driving all over Corona in the afternoon/evening.  I'm nervous for Helen to drive, but also really looking forward to not being her personal chauffer.  

Did I mention that Phil picked up an overtime shift on Saturday?  It meant that he worked 72 hours straight, Friday morning to Monday morning.  Our Sunday was quiet, but also productive.  Helen and I sat at the sewing machine for a few hours and I taught her how to make her own skirt for trek.  She did all the actual work herself, I just provided guidance and pattern interpretation.  Unfortunately the patterns I'm using for our costumes are really professional quality so they're not easy to understand, especially for a beginner.  Her skirt turned out so cute and fits her perfectly.  I made a bonnet to go with it and an apron I'm working on now. 

In the evening she and I went driving to practice for her road test tomorrow.  We practiced the infamous three point turn at the east side MVD.  She has it down pretty well, although I have to say the back up camera on the Toyota is pretty sophisticated and a little like cheating.  I also took her driving around the area where her test will take her.  We basically covered Golflinks to Broadway between Kolb and Harrison.  She did pretty well.  I give her a 70/30 chance of passing.  She did have a little trouble in the Wal Mart parking lot where we went to practice parking after and had her first run in with an angry driver.  She got in the way of one driver and then held up another and then I shrieked when she came too close to the bumper of a parked car while trying to make the angry driver happy.  There were tears.

Aside from a sewing lesson and a driving lesson, I put together a little shadow box of mementos to remember our sweet Maggie before calling it a day...and a week.