April 2023 Newsletter

 It is approaching the end of April. The weather has begun to heat up a little: We had temperatures in the 70s for a couple days before it dropped back down and snowed a couple days ago. There are starting to be little buds on the trees and grape hyacinths have begun to appear in odd corners here and there. I'm ready for summer.

A countdown has begun: Steven has informed me I only have 11 more lessons to teach for seminary, ten if you consider that the last day will just be the assessment. I love teaching seminary but it gets harder and harder to wake up in the morning and be coherent enough to feel the Spirit at that time in the morning. 

I'm still working at JoAnn Fabrics. I spend most of the time at the register, but occasionally I have been assigned to the cut counter, which has given me more opportunity to become more familiar with where things are in the store. I enjoy working there; most of the people I interact with are very friendly and I enjoy talking with them about the projects they are working on. I'm only working part time, never more than 5 hours in one day or 20 hours in one week.

The most bizarre thing that has happened to me so far while working at JoAnn: One day a woman came up to the register pushing a cart holding a lamp and a large unfinished wooden chest. She had picked up another item in the queue and asked me how much it cost. I scanned it, and told her the price. She then told me she didn't want it, and that she didn't want the lamp either. She handed me the things she didn't want and I put them in the cart behind me that we use to collect returns. Then she reached into her cart for the chest and I expected her to put it on the counter either to purchase or say she didn't want it either... when suddenly she was racing out the door with it! I watched through the window as she hopped into the passenger side of a truck and the driver took off. Who knows what all was in the chest? I understand that the store loses an average of about $100/day because of similar (if not so blatant) behavior.

I've still got my Etsy shop, www.ladymsmenagerie.etsy.com, and I'm getting a sale every couple weeks. I've had fun taking and posting pictures and short videos on Social Media.

In March our family got to see "Something Rotten" at the Boulder Dinner Theater. We brought some of the menagerie with us for a photo shoot, and just had a fun time.

This Friday Peter will direct a one act play: "Happily Ever After", by George Halitzka. After he was an assistant director for the school musical, "Freaky Friday" in March, Peter was excited to direct a play on his own, and while I miss seeing him as an actor on the stage, I'm glad that he has had these opportunities to gain more experience. When he isn't at school, he is usually either napping or on the computer playing Minecraft, or watching YouTube videos (often about people playing Minecraft). It is hard to believe he is going to graduate from high school next month! 

Josh continues to work in tiling and refinishing bathrooms and the like. He seems to be enjoying it. When he isn't working, he can frequently be found on his computer playing games or looking at memes. If he's not on the computer then he is either at the card shop playing games, or at home organizing his humongous (in the thousands) collection of Magic: The Gathering cards. His collection of musical instruments has grown and he has introduced an accordion and a saxophone into the mix, which his brothers have been avidly learning to play. 

John is busy completing his junior year at the Colorado School of Mines. He is learning to play his bagpipes still, as well as the sax, accordion, trombone, organ, piano, ukulele....  I never know exactly what he is doing on his computer at any given moment - whether he is working on his icon editor or his compiler, doing school homework, or just watching videos or playing Minecraft. He frequently has his nose in a book.

Hannah is in Portugal, working as a waitress, trying to get all the paperwork together still so she and Moroni can be married. It sounds like it is coming together so hopefully next month? Steven and I plan to go, whenever it ends up being. 

Steven was elected to our HOA board a couple months ago. He is serving as treasurer and has gotten involved in the doings (and drama) of the community. He learned to solve a Rubik's Cube recently and has spent time practicing that skill. His back has been aching a bit the last several days... I guess stuff like that happens when you start to get old.

As far as my health goes, I'm tired. Like all the time. It's a struggle to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. Once I am moving and doing things I can usually run on momentum for a while and push through the tiredness. But eventually, or as soon as I sit down, relax, attend a meeting, or sit in a doctor's waiting room, then my eyelids get heavy and it is a real struggle to keep my eyes open and my neck up. Last week I had blood drawn twice in different attempts to figure out what is going on, but I haven't heard the doctor's take on the most recent labs, but nothing really jumps out as being the cause. They've eliminated my being hypothyroid (like I thought I was before they did the labs); I'm actually a little hyperthyroid by the numbers, so I should have tons of energy, but I really, really don't.