Maybe My Clarinet Playing Is Not Quite As Bad As I Thought

It's been another busy week.  Friday night Vona and Niecy spent the night so Ashley and Justin could go see Penn and Teller.

Then Saturday we took care of Jackson and Bryn while Erin and Russ had a date night.

Jackson's always ready to play with bubbles at Nana's!

Queen Bryn:

All the kids came over for Sunday dinner.

The Chatwin family enjoying the weather:

Two little lovebirds:

Sweet little baby Vona:

Ivan getting in on some dinner action:

Beautiful Briana:

Busy Alex:

Grandpa with his shadow Bryn:

Emmett the aspiring IT genius.  I'm sure I'll be calling him in a year or two to resolve my computer problems:

After dinner the men started putting together the play structure for the backyard.  I mentioned that I'd have to find the instructions so they could get started and Justin suggested that they'd just wing it.

It was a good thing I was able to find the instructions because they indicate on average it takes 2 people 8 to 10 hours to put the thing together.  It may be a little longer than that in our case!  
None of the pieces were labeled, so Briana took it upon herself to get them all organized and labeled.

Which according to one reviewer would help tremendously in the speed of assembly.  I'm not sure how many pages of instructions were completed by the guys Sunday, but we've got a long way to go.  At least it's started!  It'll be so nice to have it up for the kids to play on.  Thank you my great sons-in-law for taking on this assembly challenge, you never know it could be a marriage saver! lol

Jackson helping the big boys:

Jackson doesn't think it's really necessary to put the whole thing together!


And maybe he's right!

Alex liked the looks of this activity, so he had to test it himself!

"Hey, don't leave me out!"

The 'girls' got tired of supervising and needed a break:

Grandpa tested the sprinklers over the weekend and found out there is a break in one of the lines.  I tested it to see exactly what problems we had then I called Roy the builder for Sumeer Homes who came over, looked at the lawn, didn't bother to try to dig under the ground to see where the line was broken and said the break wouldn't be covered under warranty because it looked like the grass had been run over.  He said he'd call the sprinkler company the following morning and that I should as well.  I called and left a message and when Amber called back she indicated she hadn't heard from Roy yet (surprise...NOT!) but that they'd be in our area on Friday and would come fix it.  Hopefully they'll get it taken care of for us today and won't try to charge us.  Got the water/sewer/trash bill yesterday too and it was $231 for a little over a month!  Whew!  But that DID include a one time $65 non-refundable initiation fee, and hopefully part of the other $166 is due to the break in the sprinkler line.  We were really spoiled in Yakima.  We purchased a house that was on well and septic, so we didn't have ANY water or sewer bills except when we had to pump the septic tank or make repairs on the well.  I'm trying to make a more concerted effort to not waste any water in the house.  Turn off the water while brushing my teeth, put some water in one side of the sink to scrub dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and then use this 'grey' water to rinse recyclables.  We'll see if it all pays off next month.  Trying to decide if we can shorten the time the sprinklers are on without damaging the new lawn and landscaping since that's where the majority of the water is used.

Tuesday we went to the zoo.  Erin, Jackson and Bryn picked me up and we met Ashley and Vona.

Mommy bought a train ride for Jackson.  He had his own private ride!

Ashley bought some bird nectar so we could feed the birds.  Crazy birds landed everywhere!

Jackson enjoyed feeding the birds and didn't even seem to mind when one of them pooped on him!

Nana had fun too!

Vona did NOT want to keep her hat on her head!

Briana and the boys joined us later after Alex's preschool was over.

Emmett deciding if he wants to get his feet wet in the kids area

No question for Alex!

 The Pascual brothers:

Cousin Choo Choo finally get everyone looking up at the same time with a pleasant expression and we get some random photo bomber! lol

Bryn likes her some sliding!

It was warm and humid!  We definitely got our exercise for the day with the girls pushing the strollers up and down hills.  Ashley and Vona left just after Briana arrived.  Erin was going to leave about then too, but Russ called.  He had a break in clients and was only 10 minutes or so away, so he met us and they stayed for a little while longer.

The Dallas Zoo is a nice little zoo.  They have a wonderful kids area with a petting zoo and quite a nice variety of animals throughout the zoo.

 Hiding out with Nana in the sheep enclosure:

The sheep were pretty skittish and didn't stay put for long!

Before we left Briana, Alex, Emmett and I took a ride on the Monorail Safari.  It's a guided tour on a monorail.  It's nice to be up above the animals and there are a few things that you get to see that you wouldn't on foot.

Riding the monorail:

One of the animals we saw on the monorail (can't remember the name of it):

Playing around in the gift shop:

SSSSSssssnakes! And some binoculars Alex was determined should be his!

By the time we were ready to leave for home rush hour was in full swing, so first we stopped at a nearby Dollar Tree since Briana didn't want to buy items from the expensive gift shop.  Alex was pretty happy with his cowboy hat and leis.

Emmett found his own set:

There were accidents on the freeway and we got a little lost taking an alternate route, but at least the boys were able to nap in the car while we were driving!  We stopped at Ikea on the way home so I could buy a crib which the nice Ikea employee strapped to the top of Briana's car for us!  Then we stopped at Costco to get some dinner and do a little shopping.  Didn't get home until about 9 p.m. and Grandpa was in bed, so I stuck his dinner in the fridge.  Headed out to Walmart (which is open 24 hours) to buy a mattress for the crib and return the items that I've been storing in my trunk that needed to be returned.  I got the mattress but the Customer Service counter closes at 10 p.m. and at this store they're not allowed to take returns at the checkout stands.

So Wednesday night I took care of the returns at Walmart along with all the other stores returns, bought some #3 reeds, got some groceries for our girls sleepover on Friday night, etc.

I was going to go to the temple on Wednesday but got diverted and didn't get there.  I'm making it my goal to attend every week since we're within 40 minutes or so of the temple now.  I hope that by attending every week Heavenly Father will bless Pops with a job in Texas real soon.  It is so hard to have him be stuck up in Washington.  I miss him and feel sad that I'm here having fun with the family while he slaves away for us in Washington.

I watched Erin's kids for her on Thursday while she went to a meeting.  You never know how Bryn will do.  This time she was totally fine the whole time Erin was gone.  Sometimes she gets very sad because her Mommy isn't here.  She LOVES her Great Grandpa though and likes to hold his hand and walk around with him, or sit in his lap, or have him watch her outside.

It's been my goal to practice my clarinet at least an hour every day.  I accomplished this 7 of the 9 days between my initial meeting with my new clarinet teacher Wes Hughes and my first lesson which was yesterday evening.  I am challenged by getting over the break, going from an A or B flat to B.  I will be concentrating on this between now and my next lesson next Tuesday.  It's a matter of my breathing which is a little weak from this darn sickness (bronchitis and ear infection) AND not having played clarinet in so many years AND I think changing from a #2 reed to a #3 the day before!  Wes has reassured me that this is a very common issue and it won't take me long to master it and then we'll be advancing rapidly.

Wes is a great teacher, very, very positive which is so important to me since I tend to be very hard on myself (unfortunately I passed that gene down to my girls!).  He was very complementary on my overall tone, my embouchure and the fact that I can remember fingerings since I haven't really played for over 30 years.  I'm very excited to have this opportunity.  My goal is to be prepared to audition for the Dallas Mormon Choral Organization when they start their program here.  Wes went online to research the types of music they perform so he knows what we need to emphasize in preparation.  He's a music major at UNT and his primary instrument is clarinet.  I'm his only student at present so other than his own studies, I'm his only focus...nice!  We're both very excited.  My patriarchal blessing talks about how I need to focus more on the beautiful things in life like good music and art.

Speaking of playing the clarinet, yesterday morning I was practicing in my room (my usual spot so as not to disturb Grandpa too much with my occasional squawking).  I sit on the bed facing the window.  As I was practicing a mockingbird flew up and perched on the windowsill.  He sat there for some time and then flew off.  A little while later a dove flew up and perched on the windowsill. He also sat there for some time and then flew off only to return a short time later with his mate.  They sat and listened to me for the rest of my practice time.  It pretty much made my day, that at least the birds don't think I'm too awful to listen too!  I tried to get a picture of the pair of doves but all I had was the camera on my phone, so it didn't turn out.  I joke that I hope the mockingbird doesn't start mimicking these early efforts or the neighbors may make me quit playing!

And speaking of being sick.  I'm still struggling with congestion and a clogged ear drum.  I've been on two different antibiotics, augmentin and zithromax which has reduced the congestion tremendously, but I'm still stuffed up and coughing occasionally.  I'm trying to take Sudafed twice a day now and drink LOTS of water to try to get rid of the rest of the congestion.  I started getting sick about 6 weeks ago about the end of February.  I haven't been sick like this since I was a kid.  I'm pretty sure my body had just had enough abuse (since I'd pretty much been working non-stop on preparing the house for sale, having a yard sale, packing, moving, unpacking, etc) and decided it's going to MAKE me slow down and it sure did!  I feel like I should be totally unpacked by now, but I'm not.

Tonight we're having a girls sleepover.  Erin, Bryn, Ashley, Vona, Briana and Bethany are all coming.  I'm making Hawaiian Haystacks and Ashley's bringing brownies, am not sure what the other girls will bring.  I'm just hoping for a nice relaxing time, enjoying each other's company.  We may paint finger or toenails, or watch chick flicks, or play games, or whatever suits our fancies!  Russ, Jackson, Ivan, Alex and Emmett are all going on a father and sons campout.  Then tomorrow I think we're all meeting up for Downtown Frisco StrEats Festival.  It's a music and gourmet food festival.  Should be fun.  I'll bring Vona home to spend the night with me when we're done as Ashley and Justin are going to a friend's birthday party.  We'll take Vona to church with us on Sunday and then hopefully everyone will come over again on Sunday for family dunch.

I'm super excited that I get to travel to Yakima in 5 days to see my honey!!  Love and miss him so much!!  I'll stay for a week.  The girls will take turns checking on Grandpa each day and making sure he eats lunch or dinner.  If they don't provide a 2nd meal all he'll eat is breakfast!  A few of the neighbors know I'm going to be out of town so hopefully they'll keep an eye out for him as well.

Another sleepover at Nana's

I got to have baby Vona over for a sleepover.  Ashley and Justin went on a date to see Penn and Teller, so Nana got to babysit Vona and Berniece.  She's such a happy, easy going little baby.  We watched 'The Wheels on the Bus' dvd and looked at books and played peek a boo, etc.  Vona LOVES Grandpa.  She follows him wherever he goes!  I overheard a bit of a 'racket' in his bedroom, so peaked around the door and saw him bending over Vona and playing a clapping game with her.  She's quite the little mimicker, so if you clap she claps, or maybe she started clapping and GRANDPA was the mimicker! lol  In any event, a good time was had by all.

For dinner we had penne pasta and steamed corn with cilantro.

That little girl knows how to make a Nana feel like a super chef.

She ate

and ate

and ate some more!

I think she may have eaten more than Grandpa did!  I'm pretty sure she would have kept eating until she made herself sick because Nana didn't have the heart to make her stop but fortunately we ran out of food!

And oh how she LOVED feeding herself!   Such a big girl.

After dinner cleanup we got her ready for bed.  Ashley and Justin usually put lotion all over her before putting on her jammies.  I used coconut oil as she's had some problems with skin rashes, in the morning we'll see if it helped.

Grandpa's sister Dora came to visit this afternoon.  She is in Houston visiting her granddaughter and family, so her granddaughter brought her up to see Grandpa.  They seemed to enjoy visiting with each other.  It's too bad Dora didn't come a little bit later in the afternoon, she would have gotten to see Ashley, Justin and Vona.

Tomorrow morning Erin's coming to pick me and Vona up to go yard sale shopping.  The Savanah housing development near hers is hosting a neighborhood yard sale.  I'm looking for a great deal on a crib for the extra bedroom.  Russ is planning on picking up our old double bed this weekend (that we'd given to Briana and Ivan who gave it to Ashley and Justin and bringing it back to our house if that isn't full circle I don't know what is! lol) to use in the spare bedroom.  So if I can find a crib we'll be outfitted with an extra double bed, a crib, 2 pack n plays, 1 futon click bed and 2 queen size hide-a-beds.  Hopefully that'll be plenty of beds for any sleepovers we might have!  And then of course there's always sleeping bags, and extra bedding for floor space!

2nd Sleepover (sort of) at Nana's and Officially a Texan

Jackson and Bryn came over tonight while Erin and Russ went to dinner and a movie.  We started the evening by blowing bubbles in the backyard which was a big hit with both of them.

 Came in the house after a while and the kids played while  I heated Bryn's dinner (Jackson had already eaten) then she ate while Jackson played and watched a Bob the Builder Movie.

Jackson wanted to watch some other show (something about eyes) but I couldn't figure out which one.  It wasn't a video we have and without knowing the name of it it's next to impossible to find it on Netflix (if it's even there).  They'd brought a Thomas the Train Engine DVD but he wasn't interested in watching it.  Bryn started acting tired so I put her to bed in the pack n play in the extra bedroom.  She wasn't happy about that, so I finally got her back up and the 3 of us watched Diego on Netflix until Mommy and Daddy returned around 11 p.m.

I got the paper I needed back from Darvin in the mail today to transfer the title from Washington to Texas so I was able to get the title and registration taken care of and then got my Texas driver's license.  I guess I'm officially a Texan now!

 Here are some pics of our house for our friends who've been asking for them:

 Still a work in progress!

 Abby sporting her new 'Thundershirt', hoping that it'll help calm her during the Texas thunderstorms!

Darvin Job Search Update

As I continue to mention to everyone I talk to, life will be heaven on earth when Pops finally gets to join us here in Prosper Texas!  During his time off from work in Yakima he has been very busy submitting applications for jobs in the greater Dallas area.  Unfortunately up to this point he has not met with success.  He's received a number of rejection letters from the different Baylor hospitals and nothing else...until he finally received an email night before last from one of the Baylor hospitals indicating they wanted to have a phone interview with him.  He told me he's applied at so many of the Baylor hospitals that he doesn't even know which one he's interviewing for!

His phone interview is this morning at 7 a.m. PST.  I have been praying constantly that he will complete the interview to the best of his ability and that he'll feel that he did the very best he could.  Also, that if it's Heavenly Father's will he'll be able to get this job.  Hopefully by the end of the interview he'll know which hospital he's interviewing for so he can send a follow up thank you letter.  I'm wondering if any of our 'connections' from Prosper have connections with Baylor, if so it wouldn't hurt to recontact them to see if they can put a good word in for Darvin.

In any event, even if this isn't the job he's going to get, this is progress and is one step closer to THE job!

First Sleepover...A Success!

Last night was our first grandkid sleepover. The first turn was taken by our oldest grandson Alex. He was VERY excited for a sleepover at Nana's although before Briana left he almost changed his mind. Nana accidentally ran over him, not once but twice in the kitchen. He was pretty upset about it and wanted Daddy! So Briana got on skype with the boys here and skyped with Ivan who was home eating his dinner, which Alex indicated was breakfast, because his daddy was eating eggs! Anyway, that was all Alex needed to decide that Nana wasn't really trying to hurt him and it was 'game on' again for the sleepover. I think Briana was a little anxious about leaving him (particularly since I still don't have a means of delivering him back home, just in case he had a change of heart).

  

But he did GREAT!  We watched Kipper on Netflix 

 while we ate popcorn 

and drank rootbeer floats. 

Abby chill-axed with us.

Bears also enjoyed watching Kipper on Netflix.

Alex was starting

 to get tired around 10 p.m. so we started our bedtime routine. Got our pajamas on and flossed and brushed our teeth, said our prayers and Nana sang him some nighttime songs.  He went right to sleep. Good thing he's a kid, because I had him sleeping next to me on my bed, which is only the box springs. I'd folded up a blanket over it and then he was in one of Nana's Lightning McQueen sleeping bags and had his blankey and his bears. I kept waking up every hour or so as he'd shift around, but he didn't wake up all night. In fact at one point he was dreaming and talking to his Mommy! lol

I kept trying to put covers back over him throughout the night. He ended up with the sleeping bag and blankets on the floor. He did hold onto his blankey all night long though! He woke up a happy camper ready to open the blinds on the window so he could see the sunshine!

Alex enjoyed helping Nana make pancakes for breakfast.
We read stories and played monster trucks after breakfast.

Cute moment of the morning: As Alex was looking at the photo collage looking at various family pictures, he pointed to Pops not once but twice and said, "That's my friend Pops!" So sweet!!!  What a heart-melting moment!!

We watched Monster Jam on youtube and then watched Barney and ate lunch in the media room. Uncle Justin, Aunt Ashley and baby Vona came a little while later and then Mommy and Emmett arrived later in the afternoon. After Vona arrived Alex had a little bit of trouble 'sharing' Nana. He gets a little louder and gets upset more easily and then wanted his Mommy. I'm sure as time goes on he'll get used to sharing Nana with his cousins.

We're currently watching and having a singalong with Barney, Alex, Emmett and Vona.

This Was The Morning I Was Supposed To Sleep In

This morning WAS the morning I was going to sleep in. Until the security system alarm started blaring...Grandpa didn't know if I'd remembered to take the trash bins to the street last night and went out to check without disabling the alarm. After disabling the alarm and assuring our monitoring company that it was just a false alarm, I TRIED to go back to sleep...oh well! On the positive side, we know the system works AND that it IS actively being monitored.

That kind of took the wind out of my sails and now I'm having a hard time motivating myself to get to work this morning. I really need to dig in to my office so I can see what type of a bookcase or storage unit I'm going to need to get for it. I want to make my office the 'vintage' room to display the vintage and antique items that I've inherited from our families.

We had a wonderful evening yesterday. I had the missionaries from our Prosper 2nd ward over for dinner. I made 'Signature Leftover Mini Pies', steamed corn and carrot/pineapple cupcakes and carrot/pineapple/raisin cake for dessert. These are a couple of great young men (Elder Jones and Elder Wilbur. Elder Jones is from Rigby, ID and Elder Wilbur is from Salt Lake City, UT. Elder Wilbur was born in 1986 so he's a 'non-traditional' missionary, he had a time that he wasn't active in the church. Elder Jones seems like he could be one of the new 18 year old missionaries. They are AWESOME young men with great spirits. I was grateful for the opportunity to host them. And yes, I'm crazy to invite company over less than a week since we started moving in, but I figured, hey, it'll give me an excuse to unpack a few more boxes before they arrive and a couple of young guys won't really give a hoot what my house looks like anyway as long as I feed them well. The evening was a success. They along with Grandpa and I liked the dinner and we had a great discussion afterwards. Bonus for me: my kitchen table is now officially cleaned off! ;)

I got the recipe for the Signature Leftover Mini Pies off Joyce Johnson's (Margaret's sister in law) facebook page. "Mix 1/2 c Bisquick, 1/2 c milk, and 2 eggs together for a base. (put about 1 tablespoon in each muffin cup) Top with about 1/4 cup of any "fillings" you want. - Cheeseburger, Pizza, BLT, Chicken and Veggies, etc.... You can mix it up in the pan (any meat should already be cooked) Then top with one more tablespoon of the "Bisquick Mixture" - and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. It's a great way to get rid of your leftovers! These can also be frozen! Just pop them into the microwave for a quick meal on the go! Recipe from Betty Crocker." I found that there wasn't quite enough of the base mixture for a dozen muffin cups, so I would recommend 3/4 c bisquick, 3/4 c milk and 3 eggs for the base. Also I found that 1/4 c was way too much "filling" I used about 2 tbsp per muffin cup and I added a little cheese on top of the meat mixture. As I mentioned, we all really liked these and the 4 of us consumed the whole dozen. Maybe THAT'S why I like our missionaries so much, they chow down on my food and really like it! lol

Grandpa and Abby are out in the backyard working. Abby's doing her best to keep the gremlins off our property and Grandpa is sifting through the grass to find and remove all the construction debris so that when it's time to mow the lawn it doesn't kill the lawn mower OR grandpa! Grandpa has taken ownership of the yard duties, which makes him feel good that he can be productive. I'm concerned about him working in the yard in the heat of the summer, so we'll see as time progresses. I just caught Abby digging under the fence. The fence guys had come back to shore up the dirt along the fence line, but they did a pretty crappy job. And normally Bear is the digger NOT Abby, so I'm afraid we're going to be in trouble once Bear arrives with Darvin! I made Abby come in the house and will continue to do that to see if I can train her not to dig. Otherwise we may have to resort to an electronic fence for the dogs.

I'm still hacking, coughing and sneezing with this nasty cold. Grandpa thinks Erin should take me to the urgent care that he went to and get some medicine. He says it worked for him! lol

Well, I guess I'd better get to work. Clean dishes to put away from the dishwasher, lunch to fix and boxes to unpack and go through. Ashley and Justin will be over early this afternoon so that Justin can help get Grandpa's computer and printer back up and running and Ashley can take me to Costco to load up on groceries before I head back to Yakima on Thursday. I'll fly up and will stay through Sunday (Darvin has Friday through Sunday off work) and then I'll drive my car back down to Prosper. Maybe I'll take a different route this time.

Moving...

WHEW, it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been a 'little' bit preoccupied! What with trying to get our household ready for a cross country move AND, getting Grandpa's household ready for a cross country move, AND getting his house ready for sale, AND driving a 16' Budget Rental Truck from Washington state to Prosper, Texas, AND unloading said Budget truck PLUS a 28' full ABF trailer and another 8' in a 2nd ABF trailer AND unpacking all of said belongings, AND playing with kids and grandkids...

ANYWAY, life will truly be heaven on earth as soon as Darvin finds a good job down here and is able to join us. I miss him and feel so bad that we're separated and he's stuck in Washington. In the meantime, I continue to work on getting settled in. The girls and their spouses have been diligent in coming over and helping us unload, unpack, set up electronic equipment, put up wall decor, etc, etc, etc! It has been a wonderful blessing to be down here with family.

The Johnson's were able to come help unload one night as did Rob Tovar and Bethany Hooks. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my family?!? So wonderful to be near them. I can't wait until we're able to have some family dinners with everyone. I was thinking that we should have a 'use every kind of cooking appliance' dinner, so we'd use the regular oven, crockpot, sun oven, bar-b-que, smoker, rice cooker, etc. I think it would be fun to see what kind of food items and cooking appliances everyone comes up with.

Justin got one of his old projection tv's set up in the media room, so last night we had a 'movie night' with the Rush's and Pascual's, the Chatwin's were too tired to come. Even Grandpa participated. We had popcorn and rootbeer floats and watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The Rush's spent the night over here a few nights and Vona is now totally comfortable crashing at Nana's for naps or overnighters. Alex wanted to spend the night tonight, but we weren't prepared (no extra clothes), so he'll spend the night Tuesday night and then Briana will come over after her class at the gym Wednesday and I may go spend the night at HER house on Wednesday night and then she can drop me off at the airport on Thursday. The Rush's have volunteered to come spend the week that I'm gone over here to keep an eye on Abby and make sure Grandpa stays well fed.

Little by little, day by day we're getting more and more unpacked. It's starting to feel like home! Theresa Burton gave me and Grandpa a ride to church today. Her husband Mike was one of the men that came to help us unload the 28' trailer. He brought Theresa over to meet us last night. He said as he helped unload the trailer he was pleased to find that we seemed to have a lot in common. He saw boxes labeled as scrapbooking and Theresa is a big scrapbooker and then saw some of Darvin's gun or hunting gear and he likes to shoot and then noted the medical supply boxes that we'd used to pack with so he inquired about what Darvin does for a living, it turns out he's the Director of National Accounts - Health Systems with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. He asked me to send him Darvin's resume and indicated that when his rep makes his visits to the local hospitals this week (I believe) he'll try to do some networking on Darvin's behalf.

Well I'd better sign off, I need to work on a Costco grocery list. Ashley's going to give me a ride there tomorrow. Also need to get our application for Grandpa's senior discount on our water bill returned tomorrow (we'll get the 1st 2000 gallons of water each month free). I signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner tomorrow night too. Kind of crazy to have them over so soon and while we're still not all the way unpacked, but no one else had signed up and I knew I'd be here now and was not sure what my schedule would be like next month. I'm going to make Signature Leftover Mini Pies and probably corn or carrots and mashed potatoes and maybe frosted carrot cookies. I'll try to take some time in the next few days to take a few 'during' pictures and add them later to this post.