Catching up

The past 9 days have been filled to the brim with activities and at night I am really exhausted and all I want to do is go to bed and sleep it off..............and sleep I do. 

On Sunday 2nd December we attended tithing settlement.  The Lord has asked us to tithe our income and that leaves us with the challenge to see what we can do with 90% of our income.  At tithing settlement we sit with our Bishop and report whether we paid a full tithe or not.  For some people the answer is no but for us it is yes.  It takes a lot of faith to pay 10% of your income but I have found over the years that I have been greatly blessed for obedience to this requirement. 

On Monday 3rd of December my friend Kitty came to do some scrapbooking activities.  She likes to make the paper boxes that I taught the beading group some time ago.  She also likes to make cards to give for Birthdays etc. So we made paper stuff in the afternoon.  Kitty's husband has contracted memory loss that has turned into Alzheimer's and it is a real strain on her to be the caretaker so her time at my house playing with paper stuff is a band aid of sorts for her.  On Tuesday for two hours my friend Bobbie comes and we play paper stuff again.

While we were in Maine, I put on 20 pounds weight and the doctor yelled at me for doing that.  He should talk; he is overweight himself.  So I have been attending Zumba classes 4 times per week and water aerobics 3 times per week and I have now lost 10 pounds - second 10 in the process of being lost.  I went to see him this week but he only barely noticed that I was minus 10 pounds.  He is a great believer in preventive medicine - e.g. he likes to prescribe medicines that will prevent cholesterol , blood pressure and the like but he ignores the fact that my numbers are within normal range.  (I do not take him up on his offer to take these meds) I have a friend who weighs about 400 pounds who lives on blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds and a raft of other meds that preclude her having to watch her diet.  It is nothing for her to always order a dish that has Alfredo sauce on it with an extra helping of Alfredo sauce on the side.  She has had a heart attack, her kidneys are failing, she is on oxygen and any kind of movement is extra effort.  It is sad to see what shape she is in - perhaps I should take her to see my doctor...............

At beading on Wednesday we celebrated the birthday of one of the ladies there.  She brought a Cheesecake............Yum Yum.  I ate a very small sliver of cake and really enjoyed it.  For the rest of the week I have been watching my food intake very closely so a small sliver will not ruin anything.  On Thursday I was taken to lunch to celebrate my birthday - almost a week late but it was the only time we all could be together - my friends live busy lives.  We went to Applebees and they have selections on the menu that are Weight Watcher Friendly meals and so I ate the Fiesta Lime Shrimp meal on the menu.

Friday night was Acker night.  A Mr. Acker left a large amount of money to the city of Prescott for use in maintaining a park and putting on a night to celebrate music.  Businesses downtown  open their doors to performing groups and for 2 1/2 hours the town is brimming with people walking up and down visiting the different stores and listening to the performances.  There are over 100 venues and in the short amount of time one cannot visit all of the performers.  They also had people performing Karate, Judo, Tai Chi, Clogging, Jazz Dance, Tap Dance, and free lance groups getting together singing carols or strolling the street caroling.  It was very festive all round.  We went early so that we could get a parking spot.  Bill was aghast that we should be down town 90 minutes early.  He has not attended one of these events at all since we lived here but I have been to them a few times.  We found a parking spot, then we went to Pasquale's for dinner.  It is a corner bistro that serves Italian and Greek foods -wonderful.  We took Andrea with us.  Her husband was performing in a small venue with his Jazz group.  We saw the group that plays the Caribbean style drums and when we were there they were playing a tribute to Dave Brubek - Take Five - one of my favorite pieces.  Brubek just passed away.  I saw him perform at the U. of Utah when I lived there.  We visited a store that had a flute group playing Dona Novis Parchem (I think that is how it is spelled) and the next place we went to they had a banjo and jug band performing.  There were rock bands and solo performers and singers and it was wonderful.  The Song of the Pines group was singing in the Hassayampa Inn vestibule.  These are a group of ladies who sing a capella and  it was really inspiring to hear them sing.  I was surprised to see one of the ladies from my Quilt Group in the ranks singing for us.  Our last stop  was to see Andrea's husband and his group.  On the way home Bill was grateful that he made the effort to go early, eat dinner and then walk around town to see the performances.  He had initially thought that it was going to be a waste of time, but we have some serious talent here in Prescott and the various performers provided a wonderful night for all of us.  Add to that the lights were all on at the courthouse and that really set the festive mood.  A friend of ours said that for years they had lights on the trees at the court house and then someone suggested that the lights be upgraded and tested to see if they come up to code and that was the downfall.  for a couple of years there were very few lights on the trees until the code was satisfied and this year they have loads more lights on the trees and the court house and it was wonderful to see.  Of course I am waiting for the ACLU to come along and sue the city for having two angels in lights on the building.  With the way things are going these days it should not take long for them to start waging war over this.

The Stake of the church that is situated in Prescott Valley had an item in the paper announcing that they had a display of Creche coupled with a concert of Christmas music.  Bill said we should go to it.  So on Saturday night we got ready and off we went to the church to attend.  They were having a Christmas Dinner at the time and then he read the banner on the front table and found that the concert was Sunday night.  We were a day early.................So we went back last night and it was very worthwhile.  The choir sang a variety of Christmas Songs and it was very comforting to hear.  They closed with the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.

so we now face a week of travel - going to Nebraska to attend the PhD ceremony for Jacob and to celebrate the Christmas season with the grandchildren.