Misunderstandings

Today I received an email that surprised me somewhat. Here it is, with the names removed for privacy's sake.

Dear Sisters…As you may or may not be aware, Sister _____ ______, a recent convert to the church, and her husband ____, participated in a “Renewal of Wedding Vows” ceremony last Saturday. This was a very special day for them. Unfortunately, members of the ward, including me, were unaware that they were invited to attend and celebrate this day with them. Because of this misunderstanding, no one from the ward was there. In an effort to give support to her we are having a surprise get-together tonight. Sister ______ ________ is hostessing and we will gather at her home at 7:00 (or whenever you can make it!) Her address is:

We had known about the wedding, but we not issued a formal invitation, which I thought was necessary for attendance. The husband discussed the invitations with another member of the church while visiting us at our home, and it was clear that we were not formally invited. Now I've received a phone call to come to this party tonight. I think the couple is okay, but they've had some problems in their marriage, and I can see a pattern of careless spending that can sabotage their relationship.

I also didn't care for the husband's handling of a few things where we were concerned. I guess I just resent it when someone is treating me like I just fell off a turnip truck. I know they spent a lot of money on this vow renewal, money they could not really afford. She bought a $1000 dress. Well, she said it was originally $4,000. I can think of so many other things that money could buy.

I'll be there, and I'll be nice. I'll even bring brownies. I just don't understand how people could not know they were invited, when the couple sent out invitations. I guess I'll find out more at the party.

Someday when DD gets married, we are having a big open house with an open invitation to everyone we know.

So, how you doin'?

Alone in the house at last

No DD or DH right now, and it feels good. DH will be home in about an hour, if traffic is good.

I'm supposed to be writing a summary for the 3rd episode of Hell's Kitchen, but I'm slacking at the moment to post something about yesterday.

I took my friend C to visit teach another member of our church, who I will call S, for the first time last night. We got there around 7 PM and I was greeted at the door with S handing me the phone. It was a call from the RS President Jane, who wanted me to drive C over to church after our visit teaching appointment so C could learn how to knit. I knew about the knitting class, and had participated last time, but I've decided that I can make better hats with the knifty knitter and why waste my time trying to count stitches. I know I am not good at that kind of thing. I'd rather sew than knit, and if I knit, it will be with the knifty knitter. The hats look so nice and it only takes an hour to make one while watching the tube.

So, C, S, and I had a nice time talking. C is recently widowed, in her 40s with 2 teenagers, a boy and a girl. S, the lady we were visiting, is divorced with 3 grown children, lives in a townhouse with 2 cats and 2 dogs. Her place was nice, but had no backyard. It's one of those piggyback townhomes. It does save on heating costs, to have someone living on 3 sides of your house. We talked for almost 2 hours, and then C and I went to our favorite Chinese carryout for food. I hope Jane isn't too mad at me for not joining them in the knitting class, but we were having such a good time talking, and I really wanted to get to know S better. She and C are both single and are going to the church's single activities. C needs more friends, and it will be good for her to have a network of singles. I told them the story of how I got together with DH. Ahhh, memories!

I had a good time and the chinese food was delicious!

We're home from our camping trip.

It has been 6 years since our last camping trip and 2 years since our last family vacation. It was also the maiden voyage for the Aliner, which was nice to sleep in. DH and I slept in the camper - with him on the dinette side and me on the sofa side. We didn't take a television this time and probably won't the next time, though I am tempted to take the tiny 5" black and white one just in case we are that bored. I think I am taking along some board games the next time. There is one old one called Facts in Five that is fun, but I've never taken the time to teach it to DH and DD. It's fast and really fun. I might have to look for the game Encore on Ebay. It's about music lyrics and how many you can remember. It's not available in stores anymore.

We ate all our meals in the campground. We grilled hotdogs on Friday night, with baked beans heated on the campstove. I used Bush's baked beans with some added lemon juice to tone down all that sweetness. They are really good that way. I just used juice from one of those plastic lemons. The family loves them this way.

On Saturday, we had a big breakfast of hominy, black pepper bacon, eggs (I use the Omega 3 kind), and toast. I put some of my breakfast away for Sunday morning, because we would leave early that morning, with no time for cooking.

Saturday night we had cheeseburgers cooked on the grill with carrots, chips, sodas, and tomatoes. DH asked for more baked beans, but I had only brought the one can, thinking that everyone would not want them 2 nights in a row. Next camping trip - more beans. I'll also be sure to pack a lighter to combate the resultant methane emissions.

Saturday after breakfast, we drove around the battlefield, stopping to look at the Eternal flame, which has been lit since 1938, when Roosevelt dedicated it to the civil war veterans. It is a nice monument. We basically just stayed in the vehicle the rest ot the time, and went to the National Military Cemetary. I wanted to show DD the family plot next to the Military cemetary. Some of my ancestors were buried there in the Evergreen cemetary. I haven't been there since 1988, so I was surprised to see some people had been added to the graves above my family's plots in 1992 and 93.

We heard a band playing and saw some of the museum. I bought a few post cards to send to peeps who have sent me cards. The museum included lots of artifacts from soldiers, buttons, belt buckles, bullets, letters, guns, rifles, underwear, uniforms, etc.

Life is just a bowl of cherries

Right now we have 3 huge bags of freshly picked cherries in our fridge. We were invited to pick cherries at the home of a church friend. His tree is really loaded, but most of the cherries are at the top of the tree. It was fun, and we all love cherries. I think I will be freezing them, but I need one of those cherry stoners. (Not code for anything).

I really love this friend and his wife. They are in their 70's and have a nice little rancher in a quiet and pretty neighborhood. It was inexpensive when they bought the house 40 years ago, but it is really expensive now. They have 3/4 of an acre and the yard is lovely.

I'm also getting the van ready for our camping trip. Since the Aliner is so small, we are letting DD sleep in the van. DH put curtain rods up and I've come up with curtains. Tomorrow I will be installing them and checking out how they look and what I need to do to tie them up out of the way when we are driving in the van. I guess I should take pictures of the whole thing.

17 Years!

So DH and I are celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary by going to Red Lobster tonight. Our actual anniversary is tomorrow, June 10th, but we have lots to do tomorrow to get ready for next weekend's camping trip, so we are going out tonight.

I am going to try to post here more often, instead of only once a month. At the same time, I will be spending more time doing some temple work. We'll see how it works out.

Free stuff and new stuff

Okay, Monday morning I spied a gas grill alongside the road as I drove DD to her early morning class. I saw that it was a Weber, and DH and I have been talking about one day buying a Weber grill because Webers are made to last. I dropped DD off, then picked up the grill and put it in the van. Thank goodness I had the space because one of the seats is out of the van.

When I came home, I told DH that I got him a Weber for Father's Day. He couldn't believe that I found a free gas grill, until he looked outside. He said he could fix it up and get new parts. It might cost about $100, which is cheaper than buying a new one. Anyway, our old gas grill burns stuff, so I am looking forward to better gas grilling with this thing.

I bought DD a new camera. It was only $31 plus 5.99 shipping at the Shop at Home Network. It is a 3.2 megapixel with video mode that has sound. She had been using her old camera for video and it didn't have sound. She's a happy camper, and I will let her take most of our vacation pics. Right now, she is interviewing people from that early morning class to make a video yearbook. Their last day is Friday, so I get to sleep in starting next week. Oh, boy!!! We are looking into getting her a bigger SD card - the biggest she could use is 512, and it takes more than an hour of video.

I have made our camping reservations for the Niagara meet, as well as Father's Day weekend in PA, and the week following Niagara in the finger lakes region of NY. I can't wait! I have to fix the van for curtains because DD is sleeping in the van, while we sleep in the Aliner.