Odds and Ends

Yesterday Clyde and I made it to over $100,000 on Webkinz. Nothing happened. I wish it was real money and not Webkinz dollars. Oh well.

Yesterday they 'vacuumed' the parking lots at the apartment complex to collect all the salt and sand that is left over from out weather this weekend. They had an empty dump truck when they started and by the time they were finished they had to empty the truck once and it was almost filled again.

I am back at Sedona - working out every day and started back on my diet. I thought I would be more sore but other than my right kneed hurting (it really never stops) there hasn't been any other problems so far. I am glad to be back and starting to get back and shape and be more healthy again. However I was in really good shape a year ago when all this balderdash started!

My really good friend, MaryAnn Kohl is back in the hospital. She apparently has osteomyelitis (sp?) and now she is waiting for a bed at the Leahy clinic where they specialize in bone disease. She has been fighting this for 6 weeks. It is so scary! MaryAnn was one of the healthiest people I know and now she has had 3 surgeries in as many weeks (2 of those surgeries were actually the same week!). We just want her to get well and come back to us.

Yesterday we broke in to 90 degrees outside - today we haven't gotten beyond 59 and it looks like we won't. I loved the warm weather while it lasted. However everyone else here was complaining about how hot it was!

Tuesday's Book Review

I could blog about all the books I have read this week but I will only blog about the 4 major books I have read. When I was at Pam's she had 3 books by Susan Wittig Albert of a series called 'The Beatrix Potter mysteries'. It was such a fun read that I downloaded 3 more of the series and read them this week. They were "The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood", "The Tale of Holly How" and "The Tale of Hawthorn House". I enjoyed them immensely. As I stated last week, Beatrix Potter is the protagonist in these little fictitious mysteries. She always seems to be in the right place at the right time to save the day. The animals do talk but only to each other. In "The Tale of Hawthorn House" there was a mystery among just the animals. Jemima Puddleduck is sitting on eggs that are not hers - but whose are they? These are fast fun reads. Susan Wittig Albert has a new book in the series but I am not willing to pay $15 for it. I will wait for the price to drop.

The other book I read was "The Four Feathers" by A. E. W. Mason. It was an interesting book but I have decided that I can only read these turn of the century novels once in a while. I find them terribly annoying because of all the description in them. To spend 2 paragraphs on the setting of a table is a bit much. But back then the authors were not paid royalties like they are now. Most authors were paid by the word for their novel and then given a very small percentage of the book sales (between 1% and 3%) unless you really got a good deal. Those good deals were few and far between [Beatrix Potter was paid quite well - when they remembered to pay her!] Because they were paid by the word - the books tend to be large on frivolous words. This had a good plot but a sad one too. It was quite interesting to read. I have never seen the movie made from it so I cannot compare it. I have had 2 people tell me that saw the movie and read the book that the book was better. That is usually the way. If you want to read a story about British soldiers and their cruelty to each other - this is a great read. I suggest that you skip over some of the superfluous description, but read all the dialogue. You will enjoy it more (unless you are into wordy books).

Monday's Hero

I have been puzzling over which of my many heroes and heroines to do today but finally decided. My hero today is my husband, Clyde L. Bailey, III. Why did I pick him? Actually for a variety of reasons. Clyde and I have been married for 36 years and with his help, we raised four beautiful daughters that have become incredible wives and mothers. He is also the bishop of our Newport Ward. This is something at which he is doing a wonderful job. I know just a thimbleful of the problems that go on in people's lives in the ward. For the longest time (actually until it happened) I was worried that if he became a bishop, he would stew about the problems until he was sick. The Lord has blessed him to keep the problems of the ward at the Church and live the rest of his life as normally as possible. I am constantly hearing from ward members about how much he has helped them. The thing is - I haven't even known they were visiting him for counseling and advice. [My philosphy is a lot like Schultz on Hogan's Heroes - I know nothing! It makes life easier as the bishop's wife.] Clyde has always been a good provider. He has become a loving and attentive husband and father. The best role he plays though it that of grandfather. We now have 9 grandchildren. We dote on all 9! I never thought it was possible for us to love these spirits so fiercely but we both do. Our greatest desire is to be able to retire close to some of our grandchildren at least and be there for them like my grandparents were there for me. It is frustrating to Clyde that he has no where to do wood working. He is constantly coming up with ideas he would like to build for the grandchildren. But in this tiny apartment with no outside space of our own - that is almost impossible. Plus we have to fly to visit most of our family members and that makes it doubly impossible to bring items other than small gifts to them. I get upset occasionally because I desperately want to be by family. But Clyde keeps me anchored. Apparently we have a mission here in Rhode Island that we have not completed yet. I am grateful for Clyde's faith and strength in the Gospel. I can occasionally ride with him on his shirtails on days I just don't care anymore. Fortunately those days are few and far between now.

When I had my knee surgery last September, Clyde was so attentive and caring. A sister in the ward told me that it made him love me more because he could do service for me where I have usually given the most service to him. Whenever I have a DR's appointment that I don't want to go to alone - Clyde takes me. There are places that I still have a hard time getting to. That is because Clyde usually drives me everywhere. For the last 6 years I have had a chauffeur for most of my needs. I love that. It gives us time together and for that I am grateful. I love him very much and I am proud that he is my hero - not just today but always.

When Clyde and I go on car trips - we always check out audio CD's from the library so we can listen to a book as we go. We went to Pennsylvania last week to see Pam, Chris and Dutch. On our way there we listened to "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick. I had read this book a year ago last November and really enjoyed it. I wanted Clyde to have the opportunity of being able to hear the history of New England so I checked it out for us. It was even more fascinating to me the second time through. I was a little ashamed to be related to these Puritans and Pilgrims because of how they treated the Native Americans but then the tables flipped and you wonder if you even want to like the Native Americans. I thought it was interesting to hear about the city names and how they have been those names since the mid-1600's. Some names makes sense because they were named after the original settler or after the Indians. The British tended to name some towns after their homes in the British Isles and that made sense too. But the names like Seekonk, Swansea, and others - you just wonder how they every came up with the name and the cities were settled not too long after the Pilgrims got here. The book is a great history but does not read like a textbook. I recommended it a year ago and still recommend it today.

The other book we listened to was "Standing in the Rainbow" by Fannie Flagg. This was a sweet story and by someone that I have been curious to read but have never gotten around to it. Fannie Flagg read the book. She has a very southern accent and could mellow it or accentuate it as the characters needed. It is also a book that I highly recommend. It takes you from the late 1930's to the 1990's with a family and their friends. It was beautifully done.

A book I read while at Pam's was "The Tale of Hill Top Farm: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter" by Susan Wittig Albert. This was a really fun book. She kept true to the biographical facts (as far as I know them) of Beatrix Potters life but told a fictitious tale. I love the Rita Mae Brown books and Susan Wittig Albert wrote much the same way. They both give animals voices but they cannot be heard by humans - just among themselves. Usually the animals in both authors books solve the mystery long before the humans. This book was a light fun read.

I also read "Dawn" by Eleanor Porter. This book was so boring and so full of description of mundane things (that only turn of the 20th century seem to do) it was a hard book to get through. I see why her 'Pollyanna' books were the only books she is really known by. I suggest you don't waste your time on this one.

Monday's Heroes

This is always one of the harder things I do because I have so many heroes for so many reasons in my life. I finally decided who they were today simply by who I have been thinking about the most. That narrowed it down to one family - the Carpenters in Kerrville, Texas. David and Jodi are a wonderful loving and caring couple. They are fabulous parents to their three children. We had the wonderful opportunity of getting to know them 9 years ago when they came to Utah with our oldest daughter, Carianne and her husband Carl. Jodi was beautiful and pregnant with Sam at the time. It was a wonderful visit and we were so happy to get to know them and include them as part of our family. When people talk about someone being filled with Christlike love - then the Carpenters are the epitomy of just that. They have been a blessing in our lives and everyone else's who has the privilege of knowing. We love them very much.

Book Review

The First 30 days was a book that I downloaded quite a while ago. It was one that I curious about for many reasons. I am glad I read it but wish that I owned the hard copy on this one because it is a workbook and there are things that I would go back and reference. That is a little hard to do on the Kindle. It has to be one of the better self-help books that I have read.

I also read "Miss Theodosia's Heartstrings". There is not a picture of the cover for this one. It is out of print and probably should stay that way. It was a sweet story but after I read it I was actually having nightmares. Miss Theodosia had just returned from a trip in Europe and found a little 8 year old girl sitting on her porch with a baby in her arms. Miss Theodosia found herself suddenly in the whirl of the children next door. Their mother had gone to be with their aunt because the aunt had broken her leg. You do get caught up in the story and it is not until the very end that you realize that the mother has been gone all summer long! She left a 12 year old daughter, and 8 year old daughter, a 5 year old son and an infant son - all to their own devices while she spent time with her sister (the father had died just before the infant son had been born). I was telling a friend of mine the plot and she she said the mother probably had post-partum depression and had to get away for a while. I am not sure why this affected me so negatively. It wouldn't have even a couple of years ago - but suddenly it just devastated me. So, even though the book ends all happy and wonderful (the mother is returning the next day at the end of the book) it still really rubbed me the wrong way.

The English Governess at the Siamese Court was wordy and sometimes very hard to follow. I had read "Anna and the King of Siam" years ago and I think what they did was condense her rambling in to an actual story. I wanted to throw myself a party when I finished this book!

I finally uploaded a book that was not on the 'free' list today because I decided I had had enough of the rambling prose of the turn of the 20th century for a while. I will go back to the books I plan on reading from the 19th and early 20 century in a week or two but I need a break for a while and read something fast paced and fun.

Monday's Heroes

My heroes today are Cassidy and Christine Childs. We have pretty much loved them since the minute they showed up in the ward last year. Cassidy is cousin to Loren and Melinda Steck. We are not sure how the relationship runs but we do know that anyone that is related to that couple has to be wonderful and Christine and Cassidy are. They are the parents of two beautiful little girls, Grace (age 4) and Sophie (age 19 months). The girls have adopted us as their grandparents. This morning while Clyde was conducting Sacrament Meeting, Sophie yelled, "There's Grandpa!" It made me laugh. Then when I got up to lead the music she waved at me and said, "Hi Grandma." This would not have been bad except they were sitting in the back on the opposite side of the Church from where I was standing. Only a few people that know about our relationship understood what she was saying. Most everyone else was baffled because they know her grandparents are all in Utah.

Christine has been the ward hairdresser for the last 2 years. She has just lately had to give it up because she had not intended to have it go full time (plus a few people had their children trashing her house and not offer to help clean up). It will be hard for me to go back to my old hairstylist but I understand. Christine is also one of the counselors in the Young Women and does an amazing job. The YW love her and admire her. The most wonderful thing is they want to be just like her when the grow up - which is a wonderful aspiration. She is wonderful wife, mother and Church member.

I must admit that I don't know Cassidy as well as Christine but he is every bit as wonderful as his wife. He is currently in the Coast Guard and served a mission in Venezuela. They were married in the temple and are the kind of couple that you have no problem asking to speak about temple marriage or family unity. They are an amazing example of what young couples in the gospel should be like. I am so glad we have had the opportunity of sharing time and a close friendship with this young family.