Monday, January 31, 2011

Busy and exciting weekend. Spent Saturday working with Rick and a friend, it wasn't the most profitable financially, but it was fun and we got to know one of the Sisters in our Branch better, not to mention we were helping out some other Branch members and their son. It's kind of a long story and something that we had hopes might work into a more regular job, but it probably is going to be more of a one time thing, we'll just have to wait and see.

This was a weekend of a lot of big changes for our little Branch of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints here on St. Croix. The counselors in the Branch Presidency were released and Rick was called as the First Counselor in the Branch Presidency, he was NOT released as the Elder's Quorum President and will function in both callings. The Branch Mission Leader was called as the Second Counselor and he will also function as both the Second Counselor in the Branch Presidency and as the Branch Mission Leader. It should be interesting. I know it will be challenging for Rick but I'm sure he's up to it. there are many more changes that will need to be made in the Branch and I'm sure it will be a slow process, but also sure that it will come about "in the Lord's own due time". It's amazing how things can work out when we do all that we can and then turn them over to the Lord.

Rick is still looking for work, he has now officially been out of work for a month, money is running out but strangely I'm not too worried, I know the Lord has provided a job for him, we just have to find it. One of the sisters at church told me an interesting story about faith this past Sunday, I'm pretty sure she doesn't know much about our jobless situation but that she was prompted to tell me to have faith and hang on, and know that the Lord is mindful of my needs. I know in my heart that this is true, but I surely did need to hear it said out loud.

Talked to Rachel yesterday and Macy is doing a lot better, that's the really good news, then the not so good news is that their truck is broken. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's going to be expensive to fix (when isn't it expensive to do car repairs), hope that it won't be. The kids could really use a break.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Busy, Busy day getting ready for work tomorrow. We'll see if it all pays off. Tired and need to get up at 5:30am, so I'll have to write more tomorrow or maybe the next day.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Just a quick post, it's late and I'm tired but want to record that Miss Macy is doing a whole lot better. Talked to Rachel twice today and even got to talk to Macy before her nap and although she is still a little "droopy" and seems to have a low grade fever, hopefully the crisis is over. I am so grateful and relieved.

Spent a couple of hours "working" today, it's a little intimidating, overwhelming and exciting all at the same time. It will be challenging but that's a good thing. I'm anxious to get through all the red tape and get started, but for now I'm going to bed, I'm tired.
Macy was really sick yesterday, temp of 106. Rachel had to take her to the clinic twice to actually get them to do something for the poor little girl, who was limp as a dish rag. Anxiously waiting to hear how she is doing this morning, hopefully the antibiotic that they gave her began fighting the infection last night and she is on the mend. This is when I hate being so far away, not like I can do anything that her mother can't, but I just want to hold her and know that she is OK. Praying for her complete and speedy recovery.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

OK, so I'm looking for the miracle and guess what; I got a job. Yeah, me! This should be interesting. I'm actually pretty excited, it will allow me to make my own hours and my own success (or failure) but it will be a challenge. There won't be immediate $$$, so we still need a regular job for Rick, but the possibilities are endless. I'm going to remain positive and pray that tomorrow will bring yet another miracle and a really great job for Rick. It CAN happen. Keep praying!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Tried to post last evening and couldn't get onto the Internet, oh the joys...

I was pretty excited yesterday, some of us at church saw a miracle. We are being asked by the Mission President to make a lot of changes in our little Branch, some of the changes are pretty drastic and hard, for me at least, to wrap my head around and realize how they are going to work. About a week ago our Branch President agreed to the changes and although he is a little unsure of what will actually happen he seems to have the support of the Branch and a decision was made to forge ahead. One of the promises that the Mission President made to us, just one week ago, was that if we embrace the Lord's plan the Branch will start to grow again. Normally, in a Sacrament Meeting, on Sunday morning, we average about 30 people in attendance, yesterday there were 61. Now some folks weren't too impressed because 20 of these people were visitors who were on the current cruise ship attending the island, but I still say it was the miracle we were promised, who is to say that next week won't bring another 20 visitors and so on and so on. Also, if you do the math the attendance of "regular Members" was at about 40, that's an increase of about 30%, not bad, I would say.

When I realized that not everyone saw this a a miracle and a promise being fulfilled, I thought about the times that I saw the glass half empty instead of half full, and felt that I need to work harder to always be positive. It seems especially important now that we are back looking for work. Rick has now officially been "out of work" for three weeks and it's beginning to take it's toll. I keep trying to be positive and motivate him but it's not easy. There isn't much out there at this time of year, the one prospect I keep talking about with the Territory is a good on, but nobody expects that they will be ready to hire before April, I just keep praying and hope everyone who reads this will pray for them to speed up the process or for Rick to find something that can work for us in the meantime. I need to keep reminding myself to look for the miracle that will happen here. Prayer is a must!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Another one of those days that was starting out to be a pain in the neck and turned completely around and was a truly pleasant experience. Met with some folks that we really didn't know too well and were pleasantly surprised at their concern and caring for others, not to mention their genuine honesty and integrity. It is amazing what we don't know about people and can't tell without spending some time with them. This experience makes me want to slow down and spend more time sincerely getting to know people around me and to surround myself with good folk.

I was thinking today about what I am doing here; here on St. Croix, here on the planet, here at this particular point in time. A few months ago I was asked exactly why I thought I was here on St. Croix and I clearly knew the answer; "I am here preparing for exaltation", after all isn't that what this life is all about, preparation for the next. Since the next life lasts for all eternity and this life is only a speck in the grand scheme of things we had better pay attention. This life is no time for wasting time and constantly being distracted, it is not time for dilly dallying around meaninglessly, we need to be about the important things. What are those important things? I believe they are relationships. First our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, second our relationship with our Family, third our relationship with our fellowmen, especially those we have some stewardship over and finally our relationship with ourselves. You have got to start with the man in the mirror each day, so you had better learn to love him.

When I look into the eyes of my sweet little granddaughters I know that God lives and that he loves us. When I think of all the choice people he has sent into my life, I know that he wants me to have meaningful relationships from which I can learn and hopefully teach. When I am reminded of the people whom I have had some stewardship over through out my life I know that I have been granted exceptional opportunities.

Earlier this evening on FaceBook I saw a picture posted by my late Godson's brother of himself and his two brothers, taken at his father's retirement party and I was reminded how much I love and miss Michael, but almost immediately I also had the Spirit bear witness to me that Michael's life was not lived in vain and that in his own way he was also preparing for Exaltation and all Eternity. I also knew in that instant that Michael lives today in that next life, where he is continuing to learn and prepare for Eternity. It truly was a sweet experience to know that without a doubt and to have it witnessed to me without even asking. Sometimes the veil is so thin that we can almost see into the next life and know that our loved ones are there.

I wish for all of my friends and especially my family to know of the truthfulness of these things and I do know that they can have that same witness for themselves, if they will just pray and ask. I wish for them to have the comfort of the Holy Ghost in their lives that will encourage and help them to prepare for exaltation, where we can all return to live with God our Heavenly Father and each other. I know with every fiber of my being that this is true and I pray that they(my Family and friends) can all know it too.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Not much to say and I really don't feel much like blogging tonight, yet somehow I feel as though I should. I hate to let too many days go by and not write anything.

Having to work a little harder each day to not get worked up about the job situation. Trying not to worry about what we will do for $$$ come February. Holding fast to the knowledge that this is where we should be and that there is a job out there for Rick. Actually, he has a very good prospect for a job with the Territory. It's on a project that he is very familiar with, one he has set up and done before when he worked for the County Government in Colorado, but they probably won't be ready to actually hire anyone until April. Of course, Rick is trying to convince them that they need him sooner and truly he could be of a great help to them, but we'll see how that works out. I'm not sure what we will do in the meantime. Trying not to think about the meantime. You have just gotta love these faith promoting, testimony building experiences.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Today was starting out to be, at the very least, what I would call a blah day, if not a completely yucky one. It started out with a dental appointment. This appointment was supposed to be for impressions for the new dental bridge that I need in the upper left side of my mouth, I was planning on cancelling the appointment because I do not have the money needed for the new bridge and then on Tuesday the temporary crown fell out, so I had to go. I was figuring that they would charge me for re-cementing the temp back in and that only puts me a few dollars further from paying for the new bridge. Well, when I went in the dentist found that there was a hole in the original temporary crown, so they considered it faulty, therefore they gave me a new temporary and did not charge me to re-cement it, that was some good news.

Then this afternoon Rick and I had a somewhat painful discussion that hopefully resolved some issues that crept up over the last few months. There were some things that we both needed and wanted resolution and remedy to, but neither of us seemed to know how to get there. It feels like maybe we have made it and are on the road to some long term solutions. Seeing that the idea of this life is to work toward perfection, we've got to keep trying, even though that's a long road for me.

Then this afternoon, when Rick went to get the mail, my Kindle came. I am so excited, it's like Christmas all over again. At Christmas time I asked everyone who buys me presents to please not get me anything but purchase an Amazon gift card with what they would normally spend so I could buy a Kindle. I extended this request to my birthday, because even when I got enough to purchase the Kindle there are books to buy. Everyone was so generous at Christmas that I had enough to buy the Kindle and I ordered it Dec 31st but it took this long to get here (apparently they were pretty backed up). I am so excited, I downloaded my first book, Water for Elephants, and have begun reading, I am so excited. I love my new Kindle and can't thank everyone who contributed to it enough.

Don't I feel foolish for letting myself start this day on a "down beat". I do feel very blessed and not just by the material things.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Some of my basic sinus problems seem to be catching up with me, as I feel like I'm getting or at least trying not to get the flu. All I wanted to do today was sleep and I did, for a good part of it. Went to the pool later in the day to work out and although it was hard, it did seem to loosen up some of the congestion in my chest. Going to bed early and take it easy, trying to lick this thing before it takes too much of a hold.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Back to the islands and intermittent computer connections, so my post from yesterday Sunday was actually very late Saturday night, after midnight, so it looked like Sunday. On the "real" Sunday I couldn't get on the Internet, is that clear. If this keeps up it's gonna get confusing, anyway.......

Sunday morning was our Caribbean Area Conference from SLC, it was really nice to have talks that were tailored specifically of us and some of the problems, benefits and differences that occur here in the Isles of the Sea. You could really feel the love and concern from the leaders of the church. Sometimes we really struggle with different things here on St. Croix, but it's at times like this, when I know that our Heavenly Father knows our struggles and that he has a plan for us, I know that everything will be alright.

Last evening we had a meeting with the Mission President at the church, it was billed as a "Devotional" but it was really more like a "Fireside". President Alvarado is so kind and loving and concerned about the St. Croix Branch that he brought his whole family to share with us some changes that are going to take place here and to have a "Family Home Evening" with the Branch to show us an example of what we should be doing. It was marvelous. Any doubts or concerns that I may have had about the changes that will be taking place in the Branch are completely gone, I know that this is an inspired program and that it will help us to grow and include more people within the Gospel. I'm actually excited for the changes to take place so we can start moving forward.

A little worried about Rachel and the problems that she is having with her back. I hope that she can get some relief soon and something that can be more permanent, so that this problem does not keep reoccurring. The good news is that the "little girls" are feeling better and seem to be on the mend. Now if Mom can get there, they should be doing good. All I can do to help, is to pray and both Rick and I are doing that.

Since today is a Holiday, Martin Luther King Day, Rick will be real limited in his job search, he has a few contacts to make after lunch and then we are going to the beach. Can't wait.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

What a beautiful day is was today. I have been fighting with my sinuses since we came back from Idaho. I think I got all dried out there, slowly they are getting back to normal but I have had a lot of sinus headaches and they are miserable. I had to work hard to not let the one that started shortly after I got up this morning, ruin this nice day.

We are having a Caribbean Area Conference of the church this weekend. Today there was a broadcast meeting from St. Thomas with our Mission President as the main speaker. He is such a dynamic man with an incredible spirit, just hearing him speak today, I knew that things are going to change for the better here on St. Croix in our little Branch. Looking forward to the session tomorrow, broadcast from SLC.

Had some great understanding today in a discussion with Rick about how some people try to motivate with guilt and how it's up to us to not let that into our lives and not be motivated by others mean or unthinking acts. It's hard for me, I try not to let others make me feel guilty, knowing full well that I am in control of me and they can't make me feel guilty, only I can make myself feel guilty, but more often than not I succumb. Then I am so disappointed in those who have burdened me with this that I want to never see them again, I know that's not how it should work and I have to be better, stronger or whatever it takes to not let mean people lay their disappointment in themselves and their lives on me. Prayer will probably help.

Tonight we saw an exceptional movie "Charlie St. Cloud". I highly recommend it to everyone.

Friday, January 14, 2011

I knew I should not have mentioned Rick's horrible haircut and NO, I am not posting pictures and YES he still wants me to cut his hair, at least that's what he is saying now, the truth will be told in a couple of months when it has grown out.

Well he had a favorable job contact yesterday, there is a lot of follow up that will have to go along with it, so once again it's a wait and see process. I am sincerely hoping for a lot more seeing and a lot less waiting because we are going to be running out of money at the end of the month, but I am trusting Heavenly Father with this one and I'm not going to get worked up. I just have to keep saying that over and over. Due to the fact that we are already seeing a path opening up and miracles happening, we just need to stay the course, due our part and let Heavenly Father due His.

Trying real hard to conquer my fears and replace them with love. That may sound strange but I have been introduced to a new concept that "fear is an absence of love", particularly us allowing our Heavenly Father to love us. There seems to be a lot of truth to it, at least for me, so I am practicing the theory. It sure does feel good not to be afraid.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

This morning blog is working out much better for me, but these are the events of yesterday that I'm blogging about. I had an uneventful day, actually one of those days when you just feel sort of blah or numb. I suppose that there really is a lot going on in my life and when it all catches up with me, it's a little overwhelming, so I just shut down for a day or two.

I did spend some time on the phone with a good friend last evening. Her breast cancer has reoccurred and she is contemplating her treatment. It is absolutely heartbreaking for me to think of her going through this. The decisions are monumental and life altering, I admire her strength and determination to get through this and get on with her life. Unfortunately, this particular girl has had so much heartbreak in her life, I'm not sure how she carries on, but she is my hero and an example of "enduring to the end".

Our current crisis of Rick being out of work seems minor by comparison to the problems so many others are facing. Rick is off to a meeting today with one of the Territorial Senators hoping to talk to him about a position with the government. I know he could help them with several projects they have in the works, I just hope they will see it that way too.

Have I mentioned that Rick currently has the worse haircut he has had in the 33 years that I have known him. A bear chewing on his head could have done a better job. You'll never guess who gave him this current do, yeah, it was me. We were doing OK, and I thought it looked good, when he insisted that I make the top shorter. He complains that it grows out too quickly, I tried to explain that I could keep it trimmed up but nooooooo. He's being very kind to my feeling, but then he doesn't look at it on a regular basis the way I do. Oh well, I am reminded the rate at which our hair grows in this climate and the amount of hair that he has, but I wish it would hurry up and grow out. Maybe I can do better next time.

For a month while I was in Idaho I kept seeing television ads for a new show starting in January. It's called "Off the Map" and it looked interesting, so I decided I wanted to see the premier. It was on last night. It's a prime time ABC TV show, but because there really aren't time delays here it didn't come on until 11PM, but you know me, I stayed up to watch it. The show itself might be kind of good, but the commercials were driving me crazy (this coming from someone who has not had commercial television for the past seven years), so I'm not sure I'll be tuning in regularly. Paying the price for that late night this morning,m but I did sleep six hours straight with no nightmares, after the last week or so that's quite an accomplishment for me.

We are in some crazy weather pattern with little storms passing over the island a few times a day, not too bad but the drop in pressure is driving my sinuses crazy. I think I got dried out in Idaho and now I'm experiencing a lot of sinus pressure each time a minor storm passes by. Headache now, so I think I'll go back to bed and try to sleep it off.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

So, last night no wake up and can't get back to sleep cycle but, I had nightmares, can you believe it nightmares. I mean I woke up crying. For the past ten years I hardly ever dream, I think it's because since my cancer treatment I don't sleep very well, so I never get into that deep sleep where you dream. Yes, supposedly that would mean that for ten years I'm walking around sleep deprived, maybe that's my problem in a nutshell.

The rant for the day is people who lie. You know those people who believe that there are such things as little white lies, the kind they use to motivate people to do "the right thing", or at least the right thing in their mind. When will people ever get it into their head that "sin is sin" and there is no such thing as a white lie or a little lie and untruth is and untruth no matter what you motivate people to do. And why are you needing to motivate or would it be manipulate someone to do something anyway. I do think motivation is good but it really seems to come from a more internal source than an external one. Manipulation is a whole 'nother ball game, it is an attempt to take away someone's agency and that is wrong, wrong, wrong. Well I'm glad I got that off my chest.m It isn't easy to be honest in all things but, it's worth it.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I'm thinking that maybe I should post in the mornings instead of waiting for night when I can't stay awake. Not sure what's wrong with me lately but, I wake up at 3 am and can't get back to sleep until about 6 am and then getting up by 8:30am is hard. I drag myself through the day and by 7pm I am ready to crash. It's about all I can do to cook dinner, clean up and check a few things on the Internet and I'm out like a light and then up again at 3am.

Actually last night was a little better, but probably only because I was utterly exhausted. Rick thinks I'm suffering from some "unconscious stress" due to his lack of employment. I think he just can't stand it that I am not really stressed about it (like he is) and he is trying to make me stressed out.

I have been reading Marianne Williamson's A Course in Weight Loss, in which she talks about having to turn the things that are too big for us to handle alone, over to Heavenly Father. I am finding that it is so true. I am also finding that as I turn these things over to him, I really don't have to worry about them anymore. Of course, I still have to do my part, like with the weight loss, but it is so much easier if you let him carry the burden. Interesting concept, actually something I have known for a long time, but only recently put fully into practice in every aspect of my life. I sure do hope I'm getting better at this thing called life.

Rick does have a few options on the employment front, but there doesn't seem to be much out there or maybe he is too stressed to really pursue it the way he did last summer. Either way I'm not getting involved. I have found out after more than 30 years of marriage, Rick likes nothing better than a good fight and he will fight over anything from the trivial to the enormous. I generally get suckered in because I think it's my job to help him, what I have learned is that the best help I can be is to stay out of it and simply to pray for him. Unfortunately, I think this only makes him angry, now he has nobody to fight with and punish because he doesn't have a job. Oh, the viscous web we weave......

Still haven't downloaded our pictures from the Carnival Parade. Looked at them in the camera and they aren't too good. We were facing into the sun and behind so many people that we didn't have a really good angle to shoot from. Also, the return on my camera isn't too quick, so some of the shots that we set up had moved on by the time the shutter actually clicked. I'll try to get a few on but, it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Great Day. The parade was great. Did not stay for the whole thing and too tired tonight to post much. More tomorrow I promise. Had to prepare a Sacrament Talk and a Lesson for Relief Society. I'm really tired. Signing off.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Wow, I love this place! This weekend is Christmas Carnival on St. Croix. Apparently, all of the islands do Carnival at different times of the year ( I assume so as not to overlap, normally Carnival is is conjunction with Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) anyway today we went to the Children's Parade, it was a lot of fun. The kids are great a real excited, all of the schools have Steel Pan Bands and they are all terrific. Some of them have the more traditional marching bands, all in all we had a great time.

Tomorrow we are heading out early to the Adult Parade, we are told that this is where they have the elaborate costumes and of course, more music. The sound track to the islands is incredible. Most of the music has a real heavy beat and sounds more African than anything else, of course there is a lot with a Reggae beat too. Can't wait until tomorrow.

Thursday night we had a nice dinner with some friends. It really helped for us to feel like we are back at home. Thursday afternoon one of my friends called and said she read the blog about Rick being out of work and offered to lend us some money, I was surprised by how deeply that touched me. I know that no one is having an easy time of it right now and I was really moved that she would offer to help us out. Hopefully, Rick will get back to work in the next week or two and we should be ok.

Things have been spectacular for us since we have been back, except of course, for the job thing, but even that will probably work out for the best, after all we knew that it was coming to and end shortly, just thought we had a few more weeks.

I'll try to post pictures of the parade tomorrow.

Well here it is for those of you who wanted the Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe:

Crock Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
3 cans (14.4oz) crushed tomatoes 3 cloves of garlic(finely chopped)
2 Tbsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 containers (15oz ea.) ricotta cheese 2 cups grated mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan 12 lasagna noodles
5 oz (about 6 cups) baby spinach
Note
I used regular table salt, not kosher and part skim ricotta and whole wheat lasagna noodles, also I couldn't find the small (15 oz) size ricotta so I bought one 32 oz.
Directions
In medium bowl combine tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper. In a separate bowl mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.

In the bottom of a 5 - 6 quart slow cooker spread a thin layer of the sauce, top with 3 of the noodles (breaking to fit as necessary), spread about 1 cup of the sauce over the noodles and layer with 2 cups of the spinach and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese mixture. Repeat twice more with the noodles, sauce, spinach and cheese mixture. Top with the remaining 3 noodles, sauce and the 1 cup of mozzarella.

Cook on low, covered, until noodles are tender - especially in the center of the lasagna - about 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
Note
I cooked mine for about 4 hours(my crock pot is about 30 years old) and then inserted a knife in the center of the lasagna, it went in real easy so I knew the noodles were cooked tender. This is real yummy, and super easy, so I hope you enjoy. Rachel and I got the recipe from the Oprah Show it is from a cookbook by Jerry Seinfeld's wife. If it's good enough for Jerry...

Wednesday, January 5, 2011


Finally got back in the pool today. The weather has been so cool (yesterday I had my sweatshirt on) and I have been having so much trouble with my sciatic nerve that I didn't want to get in that cold water and have everything lock up on me. "Decided it was now or never and it actually felt a little warmer today. It really felt good to work out and be back in the pool. I probably won't be able to move tomorrow, feeling some of the sore muscles tonight but it's that good kind of ache.

Rick made some Internet contacts this morning and a few phone calls but nobody is working this week so it is hardly worth his time to out out and try to see people. After our foray to the pool he helped me put together the Crock Pot Lasagna for dinner and then we went out to Fort Christiansted. There is a charge to go into the Fort so we just walked around on the grounds and read all of the informational placards. Then we went to The Buccaneer resort and walked around a little, just to see what was there. It was a good simple outing and after my work out in the pool probably about as much walking as I could take.

The Crock Pot Lasagna was delicious and now we're just settling in for a quiet evening. I am enjoying Rick's company and not sure what I will do when he goes to work full time. This last job really only took half a day most days so he was around a lot, I don't suppose we will be that lucky this time around. Doesn't really matter we just need work.

Been thinking a lot about my little granddaughters Macy and Rozalyn, yesterday and today was their Mom's days to go back to work. It's only two days a week but I still wish they were safe at home with Rachel. Hope getting back into the swing of things wasn't too hard on her either.

Working on an interesting course that I'm taking. It's directly out of a book and really pretty good. Forcing me to face some of my "demons" funny how we don't really like to do that, it is helping me to feel better about a lot of things in my life, like my inability to have any contact with three of my grandchildren. The course is designed to help you turn all problems, worries, fears and the like over to Heavenly Father. It's not easy. I'm fairly successful at turning things over but then I want to go and pick them up again. I keep reminding myself of the Saviors words to lay our burdens at his feet and take up his yoke. I have to keep working at this.

OKAY, some humor. Rick has been agonizing over the loss of his miniature pocket knife. He left it home when he flew to Idaho (TSA made him throw one just like it away a few years back on a trip to California) and he barely put it back in his pocket when he promptly lost it. He has been working on some plats that he finished up for some people in Idaho and has had them draped over the coffee table in the living room for three days, mentally I was giving him one more day to mail them off or put them away and low and behold tonight he moved them and there was his pocket knife under the plats. I gave him points for admitting where he found it instead of saying that it was deep in the recesses of the couch or some other place where it would be harder to find. Moral of the story; Put your things away, all of them.

One more picture of Baby Rozalyn, I can't help myself.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011





Not much new today. Rick hit the bricks again looking for work but, because the Christmas Holiday doesn't end here until after Three Kings Day "Epiphany", nothing is going to happen before next week. All the government offices are closed and most of the businesses are shut down also, he keeps, trying but probably the best use of this time is to catch up on reading and enjoy a little extra vacation.

Funny I am not as worked up about this whole mess as I think I should be. I even tried real hard to get myself worked up and I feel so strongly that there is something just around the corner for us, that I'm having a hard time being too freaked out. This would be a good thing, right?

Did get out and do a little shopping today, produce and fresh fruit and things like that. They need to be bought every few days around here. The weather remains cool, I even had my sweatshirt on this morning. Rick said I'm a real Cruzan now.

Since this post is so short, I'm gonna try the Christmas picture thing again. Hopefully I'll post a picture of Rachel's beautiful tree with Macy doing her best Vanna White, then there's one of the three girls in their Christmas jammies and one one Macy ripping into a few presents and the finale is of Papa and Rozalyn, I hope!

Monday, January 3, 2011

I didn't post yesterday, just took a complete day of rest. Seems like I'm having hard time catching up and getting back in sync with the time difference,same thing happened to me the first week to ten days in Idaho. Anyway...brand new week the first in the New Year and we are out of work. Rick's boss called him this morning and told him that; "since the job had gone way longer than expected (his contract was up Dec 1 and they never signed a new one but just went on the honor system) and they were almost done (probably still another month to six weeks to go) and they got by for ten days just fine without him, they decided to save the money and let him go early." Thank you very much. It would have been nice to have some warning, but they probably really didn't know that they could do just fine without him until he was gone. I had a nagging feeling about this and had been encouraging Rick to get a hold of his boss all last week, he did call when we got back but then he just waited for him to call back (hopefully they will pay him for the two days he did work last week, no guarantees because he has no contract).

I'm a little upset, but it's Rick's MO to not do anything until absolutely necessary, so now he has to find a new job. He's out looking as I write this. I had been encouraging him to be trying to set something up since about October 1st, so he had a job to go to, but it was a little hard because he really didn't know when this one would end, but once they wouldn't sign a new contract, December 1st and just wanted to go along until they were finished, I told him to look harder and if something came along he had no obligation to stay on, having no contract and all. Anyway...that's all water under the bridge. Hopefully he will find something soon, because we have no reserve to get us through much more than January. Coming back from this trip and all. He has one paycheck waiting for him (he's picking that up today) and then if they pay him for the two days he worked last week, and that's it.

I'm just going to have to have more faith and pray harder. After the absolute confirmation we got while back in Idaho that this is home and where we are supposed to be, I will now have to put that to the test. I do wish Rick had been a little more assertive when he told them about the trip and asked if it would affect his job, but once again that's all hindsight and no sense in worrying about it now. I feel like I should be more upset about the whole thing, but I just can't seem to work up the steam and I suppose that's a good thing. Nothing to do now, but look for work and hope for the best.

Saturday, January 1, 2011


It's 1-1-11, I get a kick out of writing that. What a perfect first of of any year we have had today. We slept late, I didn't get out of bed until almost 10am, of course I was up earlier (but not by much) but I got back in bed with a book. Rick made pancakes for breakfast, then we got ready and went to the beach. He took my to the beach at Shoys, it's close to home and was a really nice little beach, he had been there with the youth from church while I was away and was excited to show it to me. We had a pleasant bob in the ocean and a nice soak in the sun, a great new New Year's tradition. Came home so Rick could see the end of the Penn State Football game and I visited with a friend on the phone while making the traditional Pork and
Sauerkraut New Year's dinner, It was yummy. We had marinated Pork Tenderloin, with Cherry Compote, Scalloped Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, Red Cabbage Kraut, with Garlic Bread. The Key Lime Pie is yet to come, need to make a little room for that.

As promised I'm going to post a few pictures from the trip to Idaho. I never get this right so you can figure it out for yourself, but you will see a Picture of Macy with Santa, Papa with Roxalyn, the Thorp's beautiful tree with Macy doing her Vanna White, the girls in their matching Christmas Jammies, Macy comtemplating the Stockings and ripping open a few presents. Enjoy, we sure did. Okay, so I'm not that good, but here's the picture of Macy with Santa, will try the others in another post.