A Much Quieter Week (except for potty training)

Not a whole lot happened this week. Shocking, I know!! I  mean, things happened, but nothing crazy or exciting. It was just a pretty regular and non-frenzied week. 

**Correction from my last post: In one of the photos showing the fire damage surrounding my Dad's property, I mentioned that everything was covered in retardant. But it wasn't. He said that the red color was caused by the smoke filtering the sun's color. ALSO: The fire came within 300 feet of their home. And CalFire had also started a back burn about 60 feet from the house. WOW. That is too close!! Dad and Michelle have spent this week putting things back together, along with building a new mailbox.

Monday: I pulled weeds out in one of the gardens, ran some errands, and then I got a huge package on the front porch! It had my new barstool chairs inside! I quickly assembled them and put them in the kitchen. They look great!

And here is the finished product.

Tuesday: I got things ready throughout the day for a Young Women activity at my house later that evening. Not only did we end up making a double batch of no-bake cookies and then delivered them to 40 people, but we also needed to recognize a few summer birthdays within our young women's class that had been previously neglected.

As I left the grocery store late morning, with a few of the girls' favorite candy bars, and then headed to Zurcher's Party Supplies to get some balloons, Kylie called!! YAY!

She had a little flood in her house due to the washing machine not cooperating properly. Water went all over into her bedroom and she only had 2 towels to mop everything up! Poor thing. I told her to get a few more towels and that I'd reimburse her. :) She seems to have a good landlord, thank goodness, who is on top of things and sends fixer-guys promptly whenever there is a problem. 

She also reported that she is finding homes for all the kittens. She was originally attached to the white kitten, a girl, whom she named Nala. But then she also fell in love with one of the boy kittens, a grey tabby, whom she named Milo. Some problems arose with a couple of the kittens missing their mommy too much, and subsequently began nursing on themselves or on each other. While keeping them as separated as she could, a man called one day asking if he could adopt the white kitten. He said he wanted to name the kitten NALA. Whaaaaat?!? Kylie immediately decided that this was meant to be, since the kitty was already named Nala. What a coincidence! So now she just plans to keep Milo. 

She is doing a great job overseeing the family zoo, the house with its occasional issues, and the yard and gardens. She also made a new friend when a young lady came over to adopt a kitten, and they made some plans to get together and hang out this weekend. I'm so happy for her! I worry about her a lot while she's alone over in Italy. :)

In between my preparations for the young women to come over in the evening, I had a chance to push "Belle" on the backyard swing. What a treat!

Also on Tuesday, Abby started a new dance class! She is such a ballerina and dancer in her heart, and dances everywhere she goes. If I ask her to help set the table, she dances her way back and forth to set out the dishes and napkins. If I invite her to come check the mail with me, she is dancing her way out to the mailbox and back. Even if I ask her to use the potty before we run an errand, she dances her way down the hall to take care of business. :) So she is very happy with her new class, and counts down the days until her next class, which is on Tuesday mornings. 

Wednesday: I did some peach preserving and baking in the kitchen. I'm still working with some of our peaches, and mid-week I decided to slice some up for both freezing and dehydrating. First, I rinsed all of them, then sliced them up all skinny and pretty. After soaking them in a solution of water + fruit fresh (a powder to help retain a fresh color), I drained them and let them dry off on a stack of dish towels. 

I placed some of the slices on parchment paper to freeze individually first, then I put them in a ziploc bag all together to go in the freezer. I arranged the rest of the slices on dehydrator trays to be dried overnight in our food dehydrator out in the garage. 

Abby helped me a little bit, but got hungry rather quickly, so she stopped to eat an apple. :)

Thank goodness I had a little bit of "Fruit Fresh" leftover in my pantry! I used the rest of it all up and now there is no more to be had in the stores around here! I still have more peaches, but we are just trying to be expeditious by eating several of them each day. I had an idea this weekend to make a peach-rhubarb pie, since I need to harvest my rhubarb again. But I still haven't done anything yet . . .

I also made a quadruple batch of mini-meatloaves, some for immediate baking and some to freeze for a later date. I used half ground turkey and half extra lean ground beef. It's the same recipe that Jacob brought home from school when he was in the 5th grade and we've used it many, many times over the years. I like to add shredded carrots into the mix, because it is tasty and adds extra fiber. 

**I like to bake them at a higher temperature, like 400 degrees, for about 40 minutes. Maybe my meatloaves aren't as mini as the recipe intended, ha ha. But my way works, nonetheless!!

We also had some zucchini and yellow squash to use up, donated from a neighbor's garden. Rather than doing the usual roasting or sauteing, I found a new recipe to try. It was DELICIOUS!! It had Parmesan cheese as well as Gouda cheese in the mix. 

Here is the recipe:

https://www.smalltownwoman.com/zucchini-and-yellow-squash-au-gratin/

Thursday: I cleaned out the flower bed right by the front door. I spent most of the morning working on it, listening to music as I dug, clipped, and bagged up the weeds and perennials that needed to get a haircut before winter settles in soon. 

Just as I was finishing up in the dirt, my mother-in-law texted, letting me know that Dad was out of surgery. She was worried about how to get him into the house from the car, once he was released from the hospital. He had a small surgery performed on his right hand, to fix a couple of his fingers that had been stuck in a somewhat curled position for some time.

I left shortly thereafter to assist her, and together we got him into the house and tucked into bed. He was still quite groggy from the anesthesia. For some time after the surgery, he was disoriented to the point that he didn't know who he was and was a bit agitated at the staff. It's very normal for some people to have this kind of reaction as the anesthesia is wearing off. I remember when I worked for Dr. Elison, an oral surgeon here in Idaho Falls. Some people would wake up very agitated and even hostile. Some would wake up very emotional, crying and sobbing. And some would wake up and be so silly. The girls who assisted Dr. Elison would even get marriage proposals! 

Dad Harmon is such a trooper! Here he is, resting comfortably in his bed.

And here he is with Scott, 2 days later, feeling much better! His bandages are off his hand, and he was even able to open the front door when we stopped by! What a tremendous surgeon who took such great care so that my father-in-law could recover so quickly. :)

That same afternoon on Thursday, I had a check-up at the doctor's office. I had called to schedule a visit in order to get refills on my prescriptions and thankfully they were able to squeeze me in. After they took my blood pressure, the nurse told me to strip down and get into the carefully laid out hospital gown. She started getting out the supplies for the dreaded "annual exam". 

I quickly stuttered something like, "But, I didn't realize that I needed to have THAT done today! I thought I was just coming in to talk." I offered a few more nuggets of logic to defend my position, and she ultimately just shrugged and said that the nurse practitioner that I would be seeing typically likes to do a head-to-toe exam and that I should still dress down anyway. Sigh.

After I obediently did as I was instructed, Scott texted me as he was getting ready to leave the high school. I told him I was naked and sitting in a doctor's office. He immediately texted back, "Where are you? I'll be right there!" ha ha ha ha

As it turned out, the nurse practitioner and I just talked the entire time. I didn't even need to change into the hospital gown at all. How sad.

Soon after I returned home, we walked over to the grassy area across from the church (just around the corner from our house) for a WARD SOCIAL!! Our ward council decided that even though we are trying to be careful and cautious in large group gatherings, that a dinner social would not only be fun, but doable as well. 

We took two neighbor boys (that belong to Ben and Kim Parkinson) with us and had a great time! Some of the leadership in the ward acted as food servers and they had everything very carefully organized on the serving line so that the only thing I had to touch was my plate and then just carry it along. The servers asked if I wanted this or that, and then they would serve it onto my plate. They were all wearing masks and gloves and offered friendly conversation as we went along. 

I had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and fresh fruit. I declined a roll and any dessert. :)

We brought our own camp chairs to sit in. There was a really good turnout! I would guess that a little over 100 people came to the dinner. People sat in family groups or in small clusters, and it was just so nice to see friends and neighbors that we hadn't seen in a long time! Many of them were seeing Scott for the first time in over a year, too! It was a great dinner and was so fun to visit with everyone!!

When we got home, we saw that my sister Melanie had sent letters to Abby and Gwen. She had even drawn a very beautiful drawing for each of them on the back of their letters. Abby was able to read 99% of the lengthy letter all by herself! I recorded her reading it out loud for my sister, so that she could be a part of the fun. She later told me that it made her entire week!

Gwen and Abby holding up the drawing side of their individual letters:

Friday: I started out by doing my morning exercises as usual, sometimes joined by either Abby or Gwen, or both. This time, Abby was my exercise buddy. Here we are doing leg lifts together.

For the rest of the day, I mostly just did stuff around the yard again. I mowed the lawns, I pulled some weeds, and I tinkered here and there. I did something that some people would call "mean" to my strawberry plants. But it was for a good purpose.

About 8 years ago or so, I noticed that my hundreds of strawberry plants were not producing as heavily as they had previously. It was somewhat pitiful, actually. I did some research to see if there was anything I could do to save them, and I found a few articles that university faculty had written as part of their agricultural programs. The information proved to be very helpful, actually, even though it was pretty extreme! 

The articles suggested that at the end of the season, I should either mow down the row of plants (by lopping off the tops of the plants) or use mulching shears to do the same thing, essentially snipping off the tops of all the plants. The object is to send the plants into survival mode. It definitely worked! The following summer, the strawberry plants went berserk, producing tons of strawberries - much to my astonishment! Many of the strawberries were teeny tiny, and some were oddly shaped. But the effect had worked. And for the past 8 years, they have produced very vigorously. Until this summer.

Knowing that this harsh treatment had yielded positive results previously, I had the confidence that I needed to do it all over again. So on Friday, that's what I did. I used my large pruning shears and whacked off all the tops of the plants, and then Amber helped to rake them all up and toss them in the garbage can. 

Gwen wanted to help me too. I think it's because she loves tasks that involve some level of destruction, ha ha.

We listened to some fun dance music while we worked, and the girls hung out and played in the yard with us. 

Gwen sat on her portable potty from time to time. :)

Let's talk about potty training for a minute. It's a necessary part of a child's development, that's for sure! And, depending on that child's personality, you'll either have a relatively easy time of it, or not. Gwen is an interesting child! She is so fun and silly, but very stubborn and gets tunnel vision often. Meaning, she focuses on something she either wants to do or doesn't want to do, and WILL NOT VARY from that. If she feels compelled to do something, she will reject the idea altogether. It becomes a power struggle.

So, if we make her an offer like this: "Hey Gwen, it's time to try to go potty again. Would you like to sit on the little potty or the big potty?" - it has a higher rate of success with her disposition type. But if we just say, "Okay Gwen, it's time to sit on the potty again. Hurry and go sit on your potty!" - she'll reject the idea, thinking that she is just fine in not going at all.

So far, she is mostly just learning how her body works. Amber has her running around sans underpants, so that Gwen can pay better attention to her body and yes, it is much more noticeable when pee is running down your legs versus having a diaper to catch it all for you!  

I try to be as helpful as I can to support both Gwen and Amber during this potty training journey. It is very hard for me though! It's one thing to be the PARENT that is trying to potty train in your own house. It's another thing for your CHILD to be potty training your GRANDCHILD in their own home, while you support them from afar. It is far different, however, for your child to potty train your grandchild in YOUR home!! Sometimes I just want to go on a long vacation, and when the potty training is over and a successful routine has been established, I will come home, clean my house from top to bottom, and be spared all the details from the inevitable accidents. 😉

But being here and seeing things firsthand, I tend to cringe when an accident occurs, mostly because I want things to be clean and sterile. I am also at a stage in life where we have bought more expensive things, like rugs, and new furniture, etc. And it's harder to be "zen" with an accident that has taken place on my stuff, ha ha. 

I am learning to be more patient. And I am learning that stuff is just stuff, even though it is hard for me. I just want things clean 100% of the time. But it will be a while until that is the case, and I just need to be okay with that. I am trying . . .

Saturday: We woke up to rain and much cooler temperatures. While I would have loved to just stay in bed all day long, Scott talked me into getting up and moving. We tossed around a few ideas on what we could do on a Saturday, like what projects we could work on together. Ultimately we ended up painting.

The idea started out smallish and innocent enough. "Let's just paint above the kitchen sink", because Scott was home and could take down the light fixture for me and put it back up when I was done. But then it turned into, "Well, since we're painting here, we might as well paint over the stairs today, too." I've been needing to paint over the stairwell, but didn't want to try to wrangle a steep ladder in such a precarious position without his wisdom and support. 

So we ended up painting above the kitchen sink, as well as the trim above the stairs, and halfway down the walls, plus the trim work at the bottom of the stairs and around the game closet. I chose not to do the bottom half of the walls going down the stairs because so many people were home and needed to go up and down regularly, including two little girls. I didn't want the wet paint to turn into a disaster! I'll do that bottom section another day when the girls are asleep or otherwise occupied.

Me, just getting started over the stairs.

Amber wanted to give it a try, too.

Next, we added a second ladder for a separate area that needed trim work, resting it in a very interesting spot. It ended up being very stable, even though it looks crazy!!

Scott was my behind-the-scenes support throughout the day. He not only positioned the ladders, and tested them out first, but also handed me paint brushes, or freshly dipped roller brushes over the railing. He also helped clean everything up at the end and put everything away. What a good guy!

Finally, at the end of the day on Saturday, we dressed up and headed out to go to two wedding receptions. The first one was in Rexburg, to share in the celebration of our best friends' son, Cameron Garner and his new wife. They were married civilly back in March when the temple was closed due to COVID-19, and only had a small gathering of immediate family in attendance. But yesterday, they were able to be sealed for time and all eternity in the Rexburg Temple, so they had a wedding reception to celebrate with all of their family and friends. 

Our friends, Rich and Andrea Garner, with Scott and me

It was freezing outside because of a crazy thunderstorm that had just charged through, minutes before their back yard reception. In Idaho Falls, we had hail and torrential rain that was flooding our gutters and spilling over in Niagara-Falls-fashion. But everything quieted down soon enough, and the reception survived! 

After we enjoyed visiting them for a bit, we headed south toward another reception, but stopped in Rigby first to check in on Scott's dad. When we arrived at the location in Idaho Falls for the second wedding reception, not a soul was in sight! We drove home and I texted the bride, one of Benson's friends, to be sure that I had the correct address. As it turned out, something came up during the week leading up to the wedding, she said, that caused them to make the difficult decision to not get married. I'm not sure what happened, but my heart was sad for her. She is such a sweet girl. I just hope all will be well in time. She apologized to me, saying that her mom was supposed to get a text out to everyone to let them know, but somehow I had slipped through the cracks. 

It's okay though. Because we got home at an earlier hour, it allowed us some time to get into our pajamas and watch t.v. until we were too sleepy to keep our eyes open anymore. And THAT was a good Saturday, people. :)