Reunion Preparation

We're almost there. It's a good thing we have company from time to time because it gives us the incentive to really do some deep cleaning. Part of our family will be here Thursday and we are so excited to have them come. All five of my kids try to visit us at least once a year, but most of the time they come separately. That's probably a good thing since our home isn't large enough to have them all at once. Occaisionally one of them will come to see the Anderson group. For those of you who might not know (and I can't imagine anyone not knowing by now), that is Sue's whole family. There are 11 of them altogther, including the grandchildren and 10 of them are coming. Karin's husband, Bob, couldn't get off work this time. Sue keeps telling me that we should wait until they go to do the house cleaning, but I just can't imagine doing that. As long as we are able we will continue to do it. It is so nice to go into any of the bedrooms and look at the mirrors, they just sparkle so. Dick really did a great job on them. All of my wardrobes have mirrored sliding doors. I know they are passe but since we have had our home (and it was new when we bought it) for 22 years, it is no wonder they are out of style. Still we like them as it does make the rooms look quite a big larger, so we aren't likely to change any of them as long as we are both alive.

Dick is off to the church for his regular Tuesday night evening with the Bishopric. I seem to find this a great time to do my blogging. I just can't seem to find time to do it more than once a week. It's a great way for me to keep track of all my doings though because I am not so great at journaling. I found an old diary from 1981 that I posted almost every day in and I find it is so much fun reading back over that year. It was the year that our youngest daughter went on her mission to Austria and a lot of the time was preparing her for it and seeing her off. It was a very happy time for us as you might imagine. Dick was not a member of the church then, but he didn't seem to mind financing Jayne on her mission, with my help, as I was working too. It was so great having her there and getting so many letters from her. We had planned to go meet her after she was finished and tour Europe with her. You can imagine how disappointed we were when our Stake President said that we couldn't travel with her until she came home and was formally released. Of couse we found out later that we could have, as lots of parents have done it. Still, it was good to have our very spiritual daughter return and try to convert Dick. They used to have talks that would last half the night, but it still didn't work. He was so stubborn and does he ever regret that now!! He feels he could have been a better influence on our only son, Rich, who is totally inactive and now says he is an agnostic. It is sad, but all we can do is pray for him, which we continually do. Since he is marrying a very strong active Catholic in August, I don't think it is likely he will come back to our church and he has made it very clear to Stacy that she musn't expect him to attend her church either. We'll see. I think I would rather have him go to the Catholic Church than no church at all.

Well, that is enough about church. Needless to say, it is a big part of our lives now and I am not sure what we would have done without it. We probably would have been among the group that gets very bored because they have nothing to do with their time.

Incidentally, I cannot take Methadone either as I found out I was allergic to it too. Still it was great for two whole days. I was pretty free from my pain, but on the third day, I started to itch all over my body. Funny thing, I didn't break out in a rash, but I just about went crazy. It still itches a little bit so I'm not likely to take it again in the near future. Oh well............

Dick and I made a double batch of Carmel Corn today. It is hard to keep from scarfing it all up. Sue has tasted it. In fact, that is a funny story. When she was here the last time when Rich brought Stacy to meet some of the family, I had made quite a bit of it and she was convinced she wouldn't like it because her Mother in Law used to make a similar kind that was really chewy and stuck to her teeth. She hated that, but when she saw how it was going over with everyone else, she had to try it. What do you know, she found out she loved it and soon she was scarfing it along with everyone. That is why we made a double batch this time. Those of you who haven't tried my recipe, you can go back and look it up. Everyone who did try it, has made subsequent batches of it rather frequently. So you see, it does come well recommended.

I have decided I am not going to edit these posts, because that is usually when I run into trouble and I am not even going to go there when Dick is not home. I don't like trouble even if he is home, so will beg you all to forgive typos. It just isn't worth it to me to make it perfect. Til next Tuesday evening,

Love to all,

Darlene