New Flooring and Carpet

Somehow I thought this week's post was already written and published. Nope, it's Thursday and my brain had wrapped up last week like a present. Which considering we practically moved our entire house again in less than a week, is not hard to believe. Sunday afternoon I took the little girls out dressed in cute outfits for some outdoor photos at the park. So many folks complemented me on how cute the girls looked. Josie was so not a fan of working as a model for me. Guess it's the age, she is acting like a two year old these past few days. A few moments after we walked in the door my phone rang. It was Carlos, the carpet guy. He wanted to start our flooring job early the next morning. I looked around and felt somewhat overwhelmed, the weekend of cleaning caught up with the post-cleaning play sessions. After dinner we rushed to get the bottom floor prepped for new carpet. We shoved decorations, books, toys, lamps, decorative carpets, etc into the garage. The kids were model helpers! They especially loved emptying out all the food storage from the closet. Strange! I know! I suggested we quit with only a 1/4 left but the kids finished up the job on their own.

I completed the remaining preparations early the next morning, apparently early for Carlos meant after 10 am. The carpet went down relatively fast, that was completed before Evelyn went to preschool. Carlos and Manuel prepped the tile floor with some patching compound to bring the grout lines flush with the tile face and smooth out any bumps. They got 2-3 coats of compound on before the kids got home. We could not get the floor wet so decided it was best to eat elsewhere, Amelia was over the moon to eat out at Noodles and Co. Next day the guys laid down the laminate wood flooring right over the tile. It was a more time consuming task taking most of the day. What a difference it all made. Once again no water on the floor for 3 days, especially the first 24 hours. We opted for cheap dinner at Costco, I'll spend $15 on dinner for 7 people most any day. Eating Keto style meant ripping off cheese and pepperoni and chucking the crust. For me the hardest day was the carpet in the upstairs. That meant I spent all morning shuffling bedding, beds, furniture, and clutter from room to room while the guys worked. I was dead tired. Felt like a wuss since I did not really do much, well, compared to Carlos and Manuel. That evening was quite a scramble getting beds sorted out, sheets and blankets back on beds, and stuffed animals on the proper beds. I suddenly decided that the cute desk, corner piece, and dresser in the girl's room had to go. The set took up too much space in a really small room. A couple days later a nice lady bought the set for $120, we helped load up her truck and waved that furniture good bye. Amelia was not happy since Jen painted the set for her.

Thursday was a glorious morning! Fresh, clean floors. Ahhhhh! Since all the furniture was moved around I took the chance to rearrange the dining area and the family room. I moved the couches to block the view from the front door area in the family room. Maybe the couches will hide all the toys Evelyn insists on playing with. In the dining room I added the table leaf to extend the length. Josie will sit at the table now with us. Not the best arrangement but could not figure out any other way to fit everyone around one table. The kitchen cabinets now clash horribly with the new floor (heh, heh, heh!). Hoping to paint the cabinets cream one of these weeks before it gets too hot. I best hurry since this week was a steady 80 degrees each day. I think winter is now over. I better get my coffee table and cabinets painted within the next month before the 90 degree weather comes back. Amelia met with a new Orthopedic surgeon for updated x-rays after her surgery last May. Her hip and joint look amazing considering the extent of her disease. The left femur head is deformed now, flattened like an oval instead of circular. We were delighted to see that the joint healed densely and does not appear to be fragile! We don't have to go back for another year! Hoorah. I bought a cute TV stand with a much slimmer profile to put under the TV. We bought the item from a lady living in an over 65 community. The little girls caused quite a stir! All her neighbors came over to ohh and ahh! The girls did not mind the cookies and lollipops one bit. After dinner I had a lovely stake music training for Primary choristers. Honestly, I did NOT want to...at all. Once the meeting started I was so, so glad to meet all the other ladies in my same calling and gain an instant support group. The Stake chorister gave us all laminated poster boards, huge glasses for a prop, and a visual aid for February's song. One sister related the most amazing story about the song "I am a Child of God."

Sister Randall described the process of writing the words to the song:

“I got down on my knees and prayed aloud, pleading that our Heavenly Father would let me know the right words.

“Around 2:00 a.m., I awakened and began to think again about the song. Words came to my mind. … I immediately got up and began to write the words down as they had come to me. Three verses and a chorus were soon formed.

“I gratefully surveyed the work, drank of the message of the words, and returned to my bedroom where I knelt before my Father in Heaven to say ‘Thank you!’” (in Karen Lynn Davidson, Our Latter-day Hymns [1988], 303–4).

A few year later, President Kimball (in the Quorum of the Twelve), heard it sung at a conference in Nevada.  On the way home he spoke with a member of the Primary General Board and told her how much he loved the song.  However, there was one word in the song that made him concerned.  He asked if Sister Randall would consider changing 'Teach me all that I must know' to 'Teach me all that I must do'.  She gladly accepted the change.  A fourth verse was written later and is only published in the Children's Songbook.

After Sister Randall wrote the words she sent them to Mildred Pettit to put them to music.  She also wanted the music to be just what the Lord wanted and was able to complete it in less than a week.  She had the melody figured out very quickly and then the two women worked together on the chorus.

When President Kimball was the prophet, he had a meeting with Sister Randall and Sister Pettit and they expressed to him how wonderful the process had been in writing that song.  They both had felt inspired when writing the lyrics and the music.  Sister Pettit couldn't believe how quickly the music had come to her for it.  President Kimball then paused and told them that one reason it had come so quickly to them was because we sang that song in Heaven.  Our spirits recognize it.

I had big plans to get the house back in order, the garage disaster sorted out and put away. Justin's body had divergent plans. He caught a nasty man-cold Thursday night. He sent me a 9-1-1 text while I was in my meeting. I came home to find him in bed and Amelia trying to get Josie into bed. That kid is a good soul. To his credit he had quite a fever and the dreaded chills all Friday. Evelyn was happy to have someone lodged on the couch for her to play with. Evelyn and I went to run errands during Josie's nap. We priced out the cost of replacing the dead radio and monitor in the van. Evelyn helped me shop for Josie's birthday present at Toys R Us. I loved our little girl date. Evelyn's favorite game is trading stories about astronauts and outer space. Can you tell what her preschool theme is? Getting her to go to school is not as appealing anymore. She cries and clings most of the time when I drop her off. It must be a show since she beams smiles when I pick her up.

Saturday morning I ripped hot electronic devices away from hot hands. Much complaining ensued. I MADE the kids play at the park instead. Several other families were there to play from the ward. The kids loved every moment. With us out of the house Justin got a nice, quiet nap.

We got the food storage closet back to rights Sunday evening. I can do the rest bit by bit on my own. Once again the kids were super helpful for a moment, this time I had to carry it all because sliding the buckets on the new floor was not an option. Justin was feeling a bit better so he helped me wrangle the mountain of white buckets back into the closet. This time I fought for and won a couple more feet of closet space. I filled the bottom on our bed space with all the no 10 cans and mylar bags that were in the closet.

Josie is testing her boundaries. She is very opinionated about getting dressed and diapered. She is opinionated about going to bed. She is opinionated about NOT sharing toys. She is opinionated about her food. This week she barely ate anything other than nutella sandwiches and cookies. She loves to tell me her food is blech. All these kids of ours are growing up way too fast. God help us, the terrible twos are here 2 weeks early.

Oh yes, I almost forgot! Last week we had a meeting about Phillip with the psychologist, her assistant, the speech pathologist, his reading teacher, the special ed teachers, and Mrs Epstein. The purpose of our meeting was to determine if Phillip should receive special education privileges. We all had so many good things to say about Phillip at school while taking Dyanavel. He made a complete 180 turn as a student. All the other concerns we had about comprehension and such went away. The psychologist was blown away by Phillip's depth of vocabulary and understanding of large words most 2nd graders don't use. As a team we decided to just keep Phillip on a speech IEP through next January. We could include special considerations like extra time on tests/assignments, extra homework time, and leniency in him asking for assistance when needed. His teacher could tell the day(s) we forgot his medication! I did not realize how much the medication was helping him. Makes me so happy to watch him gain confidence in reading, writing, and math since starting school after the break. Way to go Mr Phillip!

Sunday, the one Sunday I was slated to talk in Sacrament meeting, I had to attend alone. Justin stayed home with Josie. I was so flustered I arrived at church 45 minutes early! Go me. Justin was quite confused as to why I was leaving so early! I guess starting church at 10:30 is a bit strange. Sister Judy sat with the kids. Amelia sat on the stand in the choir seats since the choir also performed. I spoke on the blessings of the Book of Mormon. The best topic for any Returned Missionary. Good times. For music time we played musical UNO, singing all the versus of "I am a Child of God." The kids sang each verse 3-4 times without even a complaint. Nice that a game goes so far to entertain them.