Working Our Way Back to Normal

On Monday I got out for the first time since breaking my arm 9 days. It felt good.

I was feeling better, and since I was sort of sick of sitting in my chair looking at this dresser, I rearranged it and posted on IG for the first time in more than a week.

Then I had Dad bring up a box to take down the Valentines decor and put up spring decor. 

On Tuesday Ann drove me to an art class at Kim's house.

We had a lot of fun.

Here's the whole gang.

Here are a couple of the crafts we did.

That night Davin and Bri took us out for Sushi as a thank you for watching the kids the week before.

Darby was also included in that thank you meal.

On Wednesday I went back to work for the first time. In the afternoon, Dad came in to cover for me while  I went to see the Orthopedist, for another X-ray to make sure that my arm was healing.  I loved his doctor socks, with pills and pill bottles.

Home again on Thursday I put together a St Patty's display and was happily surprised to see the rainbow show up just in time for pictures.

On Friday we met up with the Summers in Highland, and went to the airport for our little trip to Florida.

Cafe Rio at the Airport.

Dad thought it was fun to shop at Publix for the first time.

Seeing Becca and Brady's Airbnb was fun too. This is the Toy Story dorm that sports 4 bunked double beds.

Here's Becca with Cam.

The hot tub and pool were great too.

Reagan in the pool

Cam is at the stage where she loves climbing stairs.

Here are William, Mac and Spencer playing in the arcade upstairs.

Sunday morning breakfast is Micky waffles.

Then we all went to church, and met everyone at the temple afterwards.

Everyone pretended to be asleep, because back in the day, Emily used to tell everyone to pretend to be asleep whenever someone came into the house, when she was a teenager.

So while waiting for her to arrive we struck a pose.

Van did the best 'imitation'.

Then when they got there we had a great laugh, and took some pictures.

Cam looks so cute in the dress we bought her in Mexico. 

Temple #61 

Back at the condo it was time to swim

Pool time was great  

 

Slower Than Sludge

So its another week... unfortunately, this one was full of pain for me.  But gratitude too, for all the things that could have been worse, but then we'll start with this Silhouette of George Washington.  I was surprised that I had never noticed it before.

As always, I'm on instagram, and its fun to see cute pics of Charlie.

Tuesday after school we got Davin and Bri's kids again  Darby had them over the weekend,  But that night Nenna got sick, so Dad took her home Wednesday morning, where Darby met him, so she could watch her again, as we ...

We went to Mosida that day. It was my first day out since my fall the previous Friday.  Dad and I attended our second training there.  Here I am with a couple of other broken people.  Brother Jones was in a wheelchair at the previous training, and Ron Crump is getting over his knee surgery. (at one time all three couples lived in the Park Ward)

Just for fun, this is the map of the trek site, 22 miles in total.

This is going to be our official picture, though not too flattering.  Alas, humility.

After the training we headed to the surgeon who would look at my X-rays to see if I needed surgery.  He walked into the room and saw us in our pioneer garb with our missionary name tags, and said, "Well, no good deed goes unpunished." a quote from Wicked, my favorite play.  Its also a misunderstanding of God's plan for us.   Our experiences here are not a reward or punishment for our behavior, they are opportunities for growth.  Honestly the painful arm has given me a deeper understanding of, and greater compassion for the hand cart pioneers of the Martin and Willey companies.  BTW, We noticed the family name Crossley in our studies of the Martin and Willey companies this week, and are wondering if they are Dallas' family.

Anyway, the doctor said he would recommend against surgery.  Yeah!

Nenna had been sick again the night before, so on Thursday she stayed home from school with me.  I think it was a blessing that Kathy had asked me a few weeks before to trade that day with her for one later in the month. It left me home with Nenna, as Dad had the temple that day.  Here she uses a laundry basket as a table to eat her breakfast in my room.

Later I went out and sat on the balcony for a while.  It was amazingly warm.  Sitting in my recliner gets old, and then I wander around the house looking for other places to sit, just to break things up a bit.

Dad did help me to get set up to work on sorting things for my taxes.

In later wanderings I found Adi in the guest room reading Dad's pictures from his Facebook account last year.

and speaking of social media, I saw that Edie, on the right, is out to dinner with Carol,  her friend since elementary school.

Then she posted a high school picture of the two of them.  How fun is that?

On Friday I found the umf to make cookies with the girls.

Eli stepped up and made us all macaroni and cheese for dinner.  He even shared his secret ingredient for creamy mac and cheese. Then we all watched Murder She Wrote. The kids said they loved it, I guess they also enjoy watching Columbo, with their  Mom.

Meanwhile Charlie was wining awards 

Way to go Charlie.

Saturday was Mom and Dad Perkins 70th wedding anniversary,

And to celebrate Dad took the kids to the aquarium.

Looks like they had a great time.

Nenna even found the Little Mermaid in the fairy tale book she's been reading here, even though the aquarium didn't have any.  Then we watched some You Tube videos of Aquariums that do have mermaids. 

And I loved this exotic dancing girl picture of Charlie.

I've found it hard to attend this week, so my dreams of plowing through piles of books during my convalescence have vanished.  But here's the two I've been chipping away at. 

 

This afternoon Dad and I went to be set apart for our mission, by the two counselors in the Stake Presidency. 

Becca's family came to support us.

Then we shared a simple super, 

Here Titan shows off one of many flags he made from Duplo.

Madi matches the Valentine's decor, I hope I'm up to putting it away tomorrow.

Then, Dad moved the clock for me, because the opened doors of the cabinet hide its old spot.

Perfect!! Then he took off to attend a Family History meeting, as part of his calling in the Elder's Quorum, where he happily ran into a former Finnish missionary he knows. 

While he was gone Tami Jaynes and her girls came by with brownies, for 'that lady who broke her arm'.  I'd born my testimony and the girls found it interesting.  The Jaynes are wonderful, their Dad is my current favorite as a Sunday School teacher.

We had a lovely visit.