50th Birthday, Mothers Day, and other stuff
Thursday was my wife's 50th birthday. It is hard to believe that she is that old. She doesn't look it, but has the wisdom of a 50 year old woman. I just hope that I will be so wise when I reach my 50th in two more birthdays.
Anyway, I went to work that day because I had a users group meeting with IBI. I was able to get in a couple of hours of work and then went with Paul to the meeting at Associated Foods. One of the scheduled presentations did not take place because somebody didn't show up. Other than that, we were able to learn of some of the features of the product coming from IBI. There was a lunch and then I headed out to pick up the cake and the balloons for my wife. I drove those over to my in-laws home so we could have a party there later.
Dee Anne arrived home before I did (she was taken to lunch by Sister Lambourne). Soon after I arrived home, I handed her her present. It was tickets to the Sandy Amphitheater. The shows we will be going to are: Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Bands, West Side Story, Eclipse, Arrival: The Music of Abba (I may not make this one), Clint Black (this one was the mothers day surprise), the Bellamy brothers, Charlie Jenkins, and Jason Hewlett. I told her that this would be my birthday present as well as Fathers Day too, since I will be going with her. She said that she is going to take me up on that offer. She seemed to like this as a gift, and I thought it was a great gift. Anyway, I think we'll have some fun this summer going to these events.
After the kids arrived home from school, we headed over to the Wachs house. Of course the balloons and the cakes were there. We had dinner there instead of going out because Anne has a bad back and wouldn't be able to sit through anything. The food was good, and the company was good. Well, at least mostly.
My father-in-law got in on the Word of Wisdom and started to knock the Mormons saying that caffeine from any source is against the Word of Wisdom. I said that it was not. In the long run he pulled out a Doctrine and Covenants that was published in the 1960's that had a commentary included that I had never seen. He started reading from the commentary stating that this was scripture. I told him it was not, just the scripture was scripture and the other was opinion. He said that this was written by Joseph Smith and he was the mouthpiece of God. I finally showed him that the commentary was written by Hyrum M. Smith and another guy. He said that Hyrum was the father of Joseph, and I told him that he was the brother. He then said that he was close to him (which I agreed with). Looking closer at some dates I finally concluded that this wasn't the Hyrum Smith I was thinking (I hadn't noticed the M initial at first). I pointed this out to him after the fact. The problem was, this got quite argumentative. Zach and Meghan left at one point and we got things toned down and then Zach came back and said a comment that started it all up again. Melanie also got in on it, and that wasn't good for her mental health. Sometimes I just have to learn to shut my mouth up. It is just so frustrating to me when Rod takes things that are important to me and messes with them. My wife was a bit upset at me for not giving it up. I kind of screwed up her birthday and for that I was (and am) truly sorry.
Oh, Dee Anne got a warmer with some scents that replaces the idea of candles in the house. She'll get some good use out of that.
Friday was just another day. We didn't do too much but I was home with my wife. We did a little bit of shopping and then got home in time for the kids to come home. It was just a lazy day. Our son ended up going to the conference Center with some of the other young men and he is finally going to do the props in the Day of Celebration.
I received an email from work that said it was from Ray and Nina. Being that it was a memo from the president of my company, I decided I had better get on my computer to read it. I was able to VPN into work, but couldn't attach to my PC at work. I ended up calling Paul instead. He told me the basics of the memo, and then I was able to sign in and get it. It basically said that some people had been laid off from work and that Ray would answer questions on Monday and Tuesday about their actions. They also said that for now they are hoping there will be no more. So, it looks like I pulled through that all OK. It's always scary when you know of things like this going on.
I was to go on Saturday and take a few boys. I was called the morning of the thing and told not to pick up the Walker boys. My daughter was texted telling me not to pick up another, so now I was down to taking two boys. One of those was not home. I picked up Tom and we went to the Conference Center. I only stayed for a little while because they had enough vehicles without me there. I came home so I could do things at home rather than sitting up at the Conference Center. Of course, my daughter informed us that our son was supposed to be there as well.
A little later in the day on Saturday, Pam showed up with Zach (Anne was already at our place) so they could drop off some of his stuff while he is going to Germany for the summer. We had cleaned out our den so we could put his futon in there. I made some peach ice cream with our Vita Mix machine, and they all enjoyed eating that. It is a refreshing healthful dish of ice cream. The only reason I made it was because my wife was busy doing hair. She works so hard. I don't know how she does it because she is always tired with her fibromyalgia.
Sunday was Mothers day. Since I had already given my wife her mothers day gift, I only had to give her a card. However, I had decided to make her breakfast in bed. I had taken the dog out for a walk first because we had poison on the lawn to kill the weeds. We would water that in later in the evening. Anyway, I put together the Egg McMuffins. I made two types, sausage and Canadian Bacon. I went and woke my wife up with hers and then was on my way out of the bedroom when the smoke detectors went off. I stopped that and told my wife that at least I had woken her up pleasantly rather than with the smoke detectors which was how the kids woke up. They went off a second time. The only thing I can think of that set them off would be that I forced some English Muffins into the toaster for the fourth time when the toaster was too hot. I really didn't see nor smell any smoke, but it did add excitement to the morning, and it makes for a good story to tell.
Church went as normal, and then after church we went to the in-laws. I was warned not to argue with my father-in-law, but nothing ever came up there so it was easy. We had pizza over there and handed a couple of gifts around. We then went to the cemetery so Zach could put some flowers on his mothers grave. After all of this, we went to my moms house and just chatted with Glen and Shelly as well as my parents. The kids let us know that they were ready for some ice cream.
After arriving home, I set up our hose so my wife could plant some flowers on Monday outside. In doing so, I talked to my next door neighbor. I felt impressed to ask him about his job. He told me that he has been out of work since January. He doesn't speak English very well (as if I do) and it was a bit hard to talk to him. But, I was able to tell him of the LDS employment services and at first he was stand-offish because he doesn't want to be converted. I think I got through to him that it would not be for conversion, but to get him a job. I told him I would find out more about it. I still am waiting for a call back from one of the guys in my ward about this. He also asked me for some DVD's that he saw advertised on the TV. I have seen those advertisements and they tell them to call the 800 number or to ask your Mormon neighbor. With the language gap as well as he couldn't remember the name of the DVD, I was left to figure that one out. I did give him a DVD that we had called "The Testaments". I hope it had Spanish on it rather than just the subtitles, but I'm sure I'll hear of that at some time. Anyway, it was a good conversation that I had with him (even though communication is difficult).
Today, I went to the meeting that Ray had to answer questions. He was straight forward with the questions that were asked and told us what had led up to this (the economy being a key factor). He told us that he couldn't promise any more lay offs, but that we were at least taking a break (those were his words) from it. Of course, he is hoping it is a forever break.
I went to the LDS Distribution Center to see if I could get those free DVD's. They didn't have them there, but gave me the phone numbers that I needed to contact. I did call those numbers. In the long run, I am going to have the missionaries drop some off. I am still waiting for their phone calls too. It will be good if I can get this guy over to the church for the Employment Services. I hope I can help him in my own little way.
Anyway, I went to work that day because I had a users group meeting with IBI. I was able to get in a couple of hours of work and then went with Paul to the meeting at Associated Foods. One of the scheduled presentations did not take place because somebody didn't show up. Other than that, we were able to learn of some of the features of the product coming from IBI. There was a lunch and then I headed out to pick up the cake and the balloons for my wife. I drove those over to my in-laws home so we could have a party there later.
Dee Anne arrived home before I did (she was taken to lunch by Sister Lambourne). Soon after I arrived home, I handed her her present. It was tickets to the Sandy Amphitheater. The shows we will be going to are: Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Bands, West Side Story, Eclipse, Arrival: The Music of Abba (I may not make this one), Clint Black (this one was the mothers day surprise), the Bellamy brothers, Charlie Jenkins, and Jason Hewlett. I told her that this would be my birthday present as well as Fathers Day too, since I will be going with her. She said that she is going to take me up on that offer. She seemed to like this as a gift, and I thought it was a great gift. Anyway, I think we'll have some fun this summer going to these events.
After the kids arrived home from school, we headed over to the Wachs house. Of course the balloons and the cakes were there. We had dinner there instead of going out because Anne has a bad back and wouldn't be able to sit through anything. The food was good, and the company was good. Well, at least mostly.
My father-in-law got in on the Word of Wisdom and started to knock the Mormons saying that caffeine from any source is against the Word of Wisdom. I said that it was not. In the long run he pulled out a Doctrine and Covenants that was published in the 1960's that had a commentary included that I had never seen. He started reading from the commentary stating that this was scripture. I told him it was not, just the scripture was scripture and the other was opinion. He said that this was written by Joseph Smith and he was the mouthpiece of God. I finally showed him that the commentary was written by Hyrum M. Smith and another guy. He said that Hyrum was the father of Joseph, and I told him that he was the brother. He then said that he was close to him (which I agreed with). Looking closer at some dates I finally concluded that this wasn't the Hyrum Smith I was thinking (I hadn't noticed the M initial at first). I pointed this out to him after the fact. The problem was, this got quite argumentative. Zach and Meghan left at one point and we got things toned down and then Zach came back and said a comment that started it all up again. Melanie also got in on it, and that wasn't good for her mental health. Sometimes I just have to learn to shut my mouth up. It is just so frustrating to me when Rod takes things that are important to me and messes with them. My wife was a bit upset at me for not giving it up. I kind of screwed up her birthday and for that I was (and am) truly sorry.
Oh, Dee Anne got a warmer with some scents that replaces the idea of candles in the house. She'll get some good use out of that.
Friday was just another day. We didn't do too much but I was home with my wife. We did a little bit of shopping and then got home in time for the kids to come home. It was just a lazy day. Our son ended up going to the conference Center with some of the other young men and he is finally going to do the props in the Day of Celebration.
I received an email from work that said it was from Ray and Nina. Being that it was a memo from the president of my company, I decided I had better get on my computer to read it. I was able to VPN into work, but couldn't attach to my PC at work. I ended up calling Paul instead. He told me the basics of the memo, and then I was able to sign in and get it. It basically said that some people had been laid off from work and that Ray would answer questions on Monday and Tuesday about their actions. They also said that for now they are hoping there will be no more. So, it looks like I pulled through that all OK. It's always scary when you know of things like this going on.
I was to go on Saturday and take a few boys. I was called the morning of the thing and told not to pick up the Walker boys. My daughter was texted telling me not to pick up another, so now I was down to taking two boys. One of those was not home. I picked up Tom and we went to the Conference Center. I only stayed for a little while because they had enough vehicles without me there. I came home so I could do things at home rather than sitting up at the Conference Center. Of course, my daughter informed us that our son was supposed to be there as well.
A little later in the day on Saturday, Pam showed up with Zach (Anne was already at our place) so they could drop off some of his stuff while he is going to Germany for the summer. We had cleaned out our den so we could put his futon in there. I made some peach ice cream with our Vita Mix machine, and they all enjoyed eating that. It is a refreshing healthful dish of ice cream. The only reason I made it was because my wife was busy doing hair. She works so hard. I don't know how she does it because she is always tired with her fibromyalgia.
Sunday was Mothers day. Since I had already given my wife her mothers day gift, I only had to give her a card. However, I had decided to make her breakfast in bed. I had taken the dog out for a walk first because we had poison on the lawn to kill the weeds. We would water that in later in the evening. Anyway, I put together the Egg McMuffins. I made two types, sausage and Canadian Bacon. I went and woke my wife up with hers and then was on my way out of the bedroom when the smoke detectors went off. I stopped that and told my wife that at least I had woken her up pleasantly rather than with the smoke detectors which was how the kids woke up. They went off a second time. The only thing I can think of that set them off would be that I forced some English Muffins into the toaster for the fourth time when the toaster was too hot. I really didn't see nor smell any smoke, but it did add excitement to the morning, and it makes for a good story to tell.
Church went as normal, and then after church we went to the in-laws. I was warned not to argue with my father-in-law, but nothing ever came up there so it was easy. We had pizza over there and handed a couple of gifts around. We then went to the cemetery so Zach could put some flowers on his mothers grave. After all of this, we went to my moms house and just chatted with Glen and Shelly as well as my parents. The kids let us know that they were ready for some ice cream.
After arriving home, I set up our hose so my wife could plant some flowers on Monday outside. In doing so, I talked to my next door neighbor. I felt impressed to ask him about his job. He told me that he has been out of work since January. He doesn't speak English very well (as if I do) and it was a bit hard to talk to him. But, I was able to tell him of the LDS employment services and at first he was stand-offish because he doesn't want to be converted. I think I got through to him that it would not be for conversion, but to get him a job. I told him I would find out more about it. I still am waiting for a call back from one of the guys in my ward about this. He also asked me for some DVD's that he saw advertised on the TV. I have seen those advertisements and they tell them to call the 800 number or to ask your Mormon neighbor. With the language gap as well as he couldn't remember the name of the DVD, I was left to figure that one out. I did give him a DVD that we had called "The Testaments". I hope it had Spanish on it rather than just the subtitles, but I'm sure I'll hear of that at some time. Anyway, it was a good conversation that I had with him (even though communication is difficult).
Today, I went to the meeting that Ray had to answer questions. He was straight forward with the questions that were asked and told us what had led up to this (the economy being a key factor). He told us that he couldn't promise any more lay offs, but that we were at least taking a break (those were his words) from it. Of course, he is hoping it is a forever break.
I went to the LDS Distribution Center to see if I could get those free DVD's. They didn't have them there, but gave me the phone numbers that I needed to contact. I did call those numbers. In the long run, I am going to have the missionaries drop some off. I am still waiting for their phone calls too. It will be good if I can get this guy over to the church for the Employment Services. I hope I can help him in my own little way.
posted by Craig's Blog at 10:36 PM
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