TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

Today was one of those days.  Monday, which I love.  Sunshine, which I love.  Cold temperatures, which I love.  Family Home Evening, which I love.  Dinner....is OK.  Actually I kind of love it too.  It is really fun to make something that everyone loves.  And I think we scored tonight on dinner. SK sat patiently for two hours chopping tomatoes.  We made about a gallon and a half of pico de gallo to top the macaroni and cheese.  This combination is such a hit.  I made three large 9 X 13 pans full of macaroni and cheese.  This is not a cheap dinner.  The macaroni itself is quite inexpensive, but the cheese alone cost around $10.  But I think it is worth it.  Homemade macaroni with toasted bread crumbs on top, baked to perfection, and then topped with any/all or a combination of:  pico de gallo, steamed broccoli, shredded carrots, sliced celery, green onions, crispy onions, shredded chicken thighs, bacon, pep...

If I had been writing a blog when I was growing up in Bountiful Utah, you would have been greatly amused by my Sunday posts.  I sometimes reminisce with my siblings about some of the entertaining and quirky goings on in the ward we grew up in.  There were several older people who gave us no end of delight.  There was one sister who was probably younger than I am now, who regaled us with her travel stories every fast Sunday.  Another older gentleman was hard of hearing, and bore a striking resemblance to Mr. Magoo.  But there were younger people as well, whose behavior was just odd. I must say, both the ward in Gilbert and the wards here have no entertainment value like the old days.  And it is wonderful.  Every meeting is a spiritual feast and by the time we get home on Sundays, we have been richly fed.  So as each Sunday evening rolls around, I wonder if you are getting tired of hearing about how beautiful the day has been. After Sacramen...

Dave and Deb stayed in a hotel about a block from here last night.  We stayed up too late visiting, and we were all tired, but they came over for a very impromptu and humble breakfast and we visited some more. This is such a amazing opportunity to serve with them.  I love the time we spend together, and am still in awe of how they manage to do so much for so many. After they left, I did house cleaning, organizing and several loads of laundry.  I'm dragging and ready to go to bed.  It was nearly 3 when I got to bed last night.  I talked with our son Derek for a long time as he rode through the desert between Las Vegas and Kingman.  It was a pleasant chat and I was so happy to catch up on his life. This evening as we were sitting in the living room around nine, our doorbell rang.  It was another heart attack!  I don't think I have ever had 2 heart attacks so close together.  It is such a sweet thing to do, and I am so grateful.  I wi...

We were off early this morning to inspect apartments, the first one an hour and a half away from Oxford.  We got to Reading right on time.  We visited with Elder Hill (our zone leader) and Elder Hozman, two great young men that we love.  They had had a very stressful and busy week, and though we could plainly see that the flat had been cleaned, it was a bit of disaster with things not put away. I gave them the lemon bars and told them how much we love them, and got their promise to tidy it up to standards by the end of the day. They played a song for me that they had composed.  Someone had given them an old mandolin and they had a guitar.  It was a great half hour with them, as we ran through all the safety rules. Then it was on to Basingstoke and the 11th floor of a highrise building.  The two Elders there another two great young men.  We delivered the lemon bars, the safety lecture, inspected all that needed to be inspected and go...

We got a call first thing this morning from a very pleasant fellow.  He was out front of the sister missionary flat, waiting to be let in so he could check out the very slow-moving drains in the bathroom.  We hustled over to be there while he fixed it.  The sisters had appointments and went out. It wasn't long before he got both drains moving nicely again.  The problem?  Hair.  I didn't even think about that, even though at one time we had three long-haired daughters living with us.  The bill was $150, which we paid with a credit card.  The mission will reimburse us.  The landlord was clear that this was a tenant problem, and I can see why. So we have another thing to talk to our young missionaries about when we inspect their flats.  I immediately ordered a nice little gadget that sits in the shower/tub/sink and keeps most of the hair from going down.  There are also products that will dissolve it, or something similar. The am...

Wednesday is our missionary district meeting.  We start at 10:30 and end promptly at 12.  The mission president has given us permission to fix the young missionaries lunch, if it is done in a half hour.  So I have to have it already before they get here. I cheated today....but so glad I did!  I had a bag of IKEA meatballs in the freezer, and two envelopes of their sauce/gravy.  You add water and cream, and British cream is wonderful .  I also had a bag of potato wedges, which I coated in a little bit of olive oil and shook in a bag of Ranch dressing mix, then cooked in a very hot oven.  I thought everything tasted excellent. I was basking in their exclamations about how wonderful everything was, until SK told them they were IKEA meatballs and gravy.  Oh well...sometimes I think his main goal in life is to keep me humble. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Elder Tshendabo and had the great and wonderful "Death by Chocolate" cake.  Even with a w...

Ahhh, another fine morning on the road.  We left at 7:30, with no sign of a sunrise anywhere.  It was dark and still in the parking area.  The town seemed quiet even though it was relatively late according to academic standards.  As we neared the equivalent of a freeway, it was plain to see where everyone was! However, we made the hour and a half trip in good form - until we ran into a major roundabout some 15 minutes out.  We went around it twice, and both times got off on the wrong exit!  Each time we shot off the roundabout like you jump off a spinning merry-go-round on an old playground.   And U-turns are almost impossible.  Taking the wrong exit can increase a trip by as little as 5 minutes (seldom that short a time) to as much as 30 or 40 minutes.  When there are as many as 5 exits, and 5 lanes going merrily around, the GPS is not a great deal of help.  Ideally, if you miss an exit, you can just keep going around until you get...