One Big Question

Where are all the Christmas blogs? I know you are having parties without us, but NO ONE has blogged about a party, a dinner, a gift, or even a holiday family fight. We're thousands of miles away, you know, and we would like to know what's been going on.

What about all you guys with little kids? I know you took pictures on Christmas and couldn't you post a few?

Happy New Year! anyway, even if you are a bunch of slackers.

Merry Christmas, Do I Know You?

Sunday, as we were just finishing lunch, the intra-apartment phone rings and the man downstairs says, "There is someone here with a gift for you." We like gifts so we said, "Sure, send them up."
We do a little spiffing up in the living room and wait, wondering who it could be. The phone rings again. Alan answers, listens, hangs up and says, "I guess they want you to go down to get it." I like gifts so I said, "Sure, I'll go."
I head down. When I get out of the elevator, I look for a familiar face. I don't see one, but there is a smiling face and it is smiling right at me. A little lady starts speaking to me and hands me a package wrapped in Christmas paper. I try to ask her who she is and why she is giving me a gift and if she is sure I am the person for whom the gift is intended. I wonder if she is delivering it for someone else and is making a mistake. She keeps talking.
I understand some of what she is saying. I know Natal is Christmas. I know para voce means; for you. She wants me to open the package and read the card, which I notice is a "Congratulations on your marriage" card. On the inside of it she has written a Christmas greeting. The puzzled lines on my face deepen.
She asks me if I am Catholic. I answer , No. I am a member of A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias. That seems okay with her and she continues wishing me Feliz Natal. The gate man at the front of the building is also taking part in the conversation. He assures me that she means for me to take the gift. I like gifts, so I take it. I thank her and wish her a Merry Christmas too.
When I get back in the apartment I try to explain to Alan what just happened. We decide he should go down and talk to the man in front and try to clear things up a bit. In a few minutes he comes back about as confused as I was.

Here are pictures of some of the gifts from our secret pal.

An embroidered tablecloth, with matching table runner and placemat.

Alan's favorite: a cover for the water bottle that matches the tablecloth and other things.
(Actually he is not a fan of covers for appliances. He says it's definitely an old lady thing.)

My personal favorite: The catholic charms and the St. Francis of Assisi, or possibly the Pope, key chain. We also got two apron/bibs for wine bottles and 3 nice dish towels, and a picture of the Helena, the gift giver.

I really don't mean to make fun of the gifts or the giver. After all, isn't giving what Christmas is supposed to be all about? I'm just a little confused about the whole thing still. I found out that Helena lives in the building just behind us. Apparently she just felt like giving something to someone and did it. She was just being nice. But I would like to know how she settled on us as recipients. I keep looking over at the other building wondering what apartment is hers. Has she looked in on us from time to time? Were we fully dressed? How did she know we have a round table or did she know? Is she looking back at me right now? Wow, this is almost getting creepy.

I better quit thinking about it and just try to think of something nice I can do for someone at this Christmas season. Thanks for the reminder, Helena.

Branching Out

Last Saturday we went out to Juazeiro. Our flight got in early and we had a few minutes to spare, so we stopped by to see how the new chapel was coming along. It is the first real chapel in the district. Here is Alan in his suit. He looks a little more dressed up than he used to when he was checking construction jobs in Idaho. He really doesn't have anything to do or say about the construction of the chapel. We were just interested in seeing it.


There is a lot of cement involved and they do a lot of it one wheel barrow at a time.

It's hot in Juazeiro. A lot of the construction workers were wearing big straw hats with a hard hat on top. Sort of reminded me of the children's book, "Caps for Sale."

When we got to Zone Conference the Elders were in a pretty good mood. They might have suspected we were bringing cookies or something.

This is the outside wall around the "chapel" in Barbalha. It is a house that was reformed to serve as a church for the branch that was just started there. There will be a new sign, I think. This one was taken from another city where they just got a new church. The elders cleaned it up and stayed up a little past regular missionary bedtime to get it put on the front of the building before church the next morning. I kind of hope there will be a new color of paint on the outside wall too. All the paint on the inside is much more subdued and church-like. It all looked really nice except the outside wall. I didn't know if I should say anything, but I just couldn't help myself. I thought this was a little too French-looking or Scottish-looking. French as is French's mustard; Scottish as in McDonald's golden arches. I didn't say that though. I just suggested they use one of the colors they had used inside. This picture didn't really capture the intensity of the yellow. It really is pretty bright, but maybe it will draw attention and interest and turn out to be a good thing. I don't know. Any thoughts on the matter ?

This is the outside of the house/chapel itself. Elder Monteiro is one of the missionaries serving there. He goes home next week, so I wanted to get his picture. Every one of the missionaries serving there helped with the work on the building this week.
I don't think the chapel would have been ready without them working their tails off. They even got some cuts and blisters to show for it.

They rented a keyboard to use until we are able to get one. The only thing it was lacking was a stand for the book, but Elder Hirata filled in nicely. Elder Peterson plays very well and I didn't hear him miss a note, even if the book wasn't perfectly steady.

A group shot of the 6 missionaries, the branch president and wife, the district president and wife, Elder's Quorum president and some cute kids. There were 57 people there counting us. Too bad I didn't get a picture of everybody. Not bad for a little group that started out with about 6 people. Hopefully it will mature and grow and be strong. With a lot of faith and work, I'm sure it will come to pass.

3D F.H.E.

Last night we did something we don't do that often; actually, two things we don't do that often. We went to a movie and we had F.H.E. Okay, we went to the movie for F.H.E. but still...

We went with a family that is very good to us, the Cabrals. We had been to their house for dinner on Sunday. They had their Christmas tree up and decorated. I added "and decorated" since there have been some years when I got the tree up, but it took me a few weeks, okay, one year it took me until Christmas Eve, to actually get it decorated. ( It's always those dang lights that cause me grief! )

The Cabrals had the Christmas tablecloth and napkins on the table and Christmas decorations all around. We talked about Christmas music and Christmas traditions and just worked ourselves into a Christmas mood, which, I might add is no easy feat when you have such strong associations of winter weather with Christmas. Anyway, they mentioned that they planned to go to Disney's new version of "A Christmas Carol" for Family Home Evening on Monday night and would we like to come. Alan evaded a direct answer for a few minutes, since he does not like to commit on such matters until he knows if he is going to "feel like it," but the Christmas mood was pretty strong and got the better of him, and we said,"Yes."

It took close to an hour to get to the theater. It's not so far away, but it was a really busy time of night and the traffic was crazy. I was afraid the traffic, especially the crazy motorcyclists and the road-hoggin buses, would cause a deep dip in the Christmas spirit we were in, but we passed a couple of our Elders on the street as we were going, and that brightened the mood again. We honked and waved, and a few minutes later they called us to see what we were doing in their neck of the 'hoods. I sort of felt bad telling them we were going to a movie, but I didn't want to lie, and besides that, we have a different rule book than they do.

The movie was really fun. It was the first time either of us had seen a movie in 3D and we were both pretty impressed. The movie has a lot of "flying through the air" scenes and "chase" scenes and "things jumping out at you" scenes, which were really great in 3D. The 3D falling snow was pretty fun too. I will caution you that it is dark and scary in a lot of the movie and I would not take little kids. I also watched it in Portuguese and didn't understand a lot of it so I don't know about language either, but I doubt they would take too many liberties with this classic Dicken's story. It was a good thing I was familiar with the story or I'm pretty sure I would have been lost. Andrea Bocelli sang a beautiful Christmas song during the credits at the end and it made it worth just sitting there for that part too, even though there wasn't any 3D action going on then. At least I don't think there was. Maybe I took my glasses off and missed it, I don't know.

Rotten Tomatoes only rated it 57% fresh, but I think I would give it a "thumbs up." But of course, I'm in Brazil and everything gets a "thumbs up" here.

It is probably a little early to say Merry Christmas, but Happy Thanksgiving and "God bless us, every one!"

Fact or Fiction: The Man behind the Mystery

Happy Birthday, I won't say which one, to my one and only. On this occasion I thought it might be fun to play a little TRUE or FALSE trivia game so you can get to know the man behind the mystery a little better.

RUMOR: His bare feet have never touched the floor or ground. (See above picture.)
Only partially TRUE. They have never touched the floor or ground since we have lived here and never never in any hotel we've ever stayed in, even if we happen to stay in a really nice one.

RUMOR: He loves surprise parties.
FALSE: He threatens me every single year. And not to burst his bubble, but I don't even consider it anymore; haven't for years.

RUMOR: He can play the William Tell Overture.
TRUE: He plays it using his teeth and a pencil. He can play other tunes too, but the Overture is the most impressive.

RUMOR: He hates kids.
FALSE, even though he did actually say that he hated kids just last week. BUT, there was a really noisy one that needed a diaper change, for quite some time, in the seat directly behind ours when we were on a plane last week. I excused his comment because of our situation. I know he really loves kids and is already planning some "Grandpa projects."

RUMOR: He loves watermelon.
TRUE, absolutely true, and on almost any given day, we have the rinds to prove it.

RUMOR: He loves Christmas and the Blackfoot Fair.
TRUE, and I think the love for the two are about equal.

RUMOR: He doesn't enjoy talking on the phone.
FALSE, He is on the phone all the time and if it is a sheep friend he is talking too, definitely don't wait dinner.

RUMOR: He loves going to movies.
FALSE: It's a rare occasion that we go to a movie, but if he does happen on to one he likes, he will buy it on DVD and memorize it (at least his favorite parts). Cases in point: Cinderella Man, Rudy, Hoosiers, Sea Buscuit and more that I can't think of right now.

RUMOR: His favorite song is "Moon River".
NOT QUITE SURE: It was his favorite for years, but might be getting the bump by "The Dance." Yes, the Garth Brooks one. (I realize our kids are going to wish I hadn't mentioned that. For some reason they find that embarrassing.) Maybe it is embarrassing, but it's a little endearing too.

RUMOR: He is going to hate this post.
PROBABLY TRUE: But he banned the surprise parties, so what else was I supposed to do?

Beggin' for Bags

If anybody has luggage they are thinking of tossing, please toss it our way. We are trying to round up some luggage to give missionaries leaving from the stakes in Fortaleza. Good luggage is expensive here, and it is hard for them to afford it. If anybody has luggage you no longer use or want, we could put it to good use.

If you don't have any you are getting rid of, please keep your eyes open if you go to DI or garage sales or other second-hand places. All we need is sturdy luggage that has some good use left in it. It doesn't have to be up-to-date or fancy or anything other than functional. When parents come from the U. S. to pick up their missionaries they can bring the suitcases down to us. The bonus is that we can have our kids (Rebecca, being the project manager) fill them with stuff we want. Did I say want? I meant need. That way you can accomplish two acts of charity with one suitcase.

Two elders have parents coming the first of December and Mom and Ellen are coming at Christmas, so we already have some carriers lined up. Post a comment or let one of our kids know and we will be glad to take your old luggage off your hands.

Thanks for your support!

I'd Love to See the Temple

In case you missed it in the first session of conference Saturday, a temple was announced for Fortaleza! We tried to look up how long it takes from the announcement to the ground-breaking to completion, but I think it varies a lot from temple to temple. Of course, we are very excited about it and so are the members here. We heard people were cheering and hugging and that there were other displays of emotion and celebration at the stake centers around the city when the announcement was made. We missed out on that because we were watching conference at home on the computer. We had our own little celebration; nothing elaborate, just a little Woot! Woot! and maybe a high five. I guess we North Americans aren't quite as demonstrative as the Brazilians.

Right now the members here travel to Recife to go to the temple. They hire buses and people go for about a week at a time. I have heard people say how grateful they are that they are only 12 hours away from a temple. (How spoiled did that make me feel?) On a really good day, you know one without any sheep or cows on the road, I'll bet I could have been to the Idaho Falls Temple in 12 minutes!

Anyway, it's exciting news and we just wanted to share it. The work is moving forward!

Killing Us Softly With His Song

We've been keeping the windows open most of the time lately so the breeze will flow through the apartment and we won't have to turn on the AC. It's pretty nice actually. When we first moved here, we couldn't imagine leaving the windows open because none of them have screens. We couldn't imagine that we could keep birds, flies, and bats, (spelled with one "t"; the kind that fly) out of the house. So far,none of these things has been a problem. The only problem we have is "sound drift" from the surrounding apartments that also have their windows open. We hear a phone ring and can't tell if it is our's or a neighbor's. Was that our doorbell or someone else's?

Well, our latest sound drift has been a saxophone. Ever since this started, we have been trying to figure out just where the noise music was coming from. Normally I sort of like the sax. I even bought a Kenny G or two back in the day, but this saxophone is NOT being played by Kenny G. My best bet is a 5th or 6th grader.
As best we can tell, he is working on the melodic scale and the first two lines of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. (It's never been a real favorite anyway, and the addition of squeaks and flat notes don't help a bit.) Who would have ever imagined that "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was not the most annoying song in the world for beginning musicians?

Last night the offender musician got brave. The sound was much louder and we were pretty sure he was out on his balcony. Maybe his mother made him go out there to practice and shut (or locked) the door behind him. We stared out our window long enough to see that other people were also coming to their windows to try to determine the source of the pain sound. One guy was even in the middle of brushing his teeth when he went to his window. We never did figure it out, but after 30 or 40 minutes, it was over. I will say that by the end of last night's session he actually got through the lines of "Summertime" hitting all the right notes and had cut the squeaks considerably.

Who knows? Maybe there is a budding Clarence Clemons right here in our neighborhood; or maybe we are going to have to start using the AC.

Hoe to the End of the Row

The title might make you think I am missing our garden and I am. Not that I really miss hoeing, but I do miss the great tasting veggies that are usually abundant this time of year. BUT that is not what this post is about.

It's about two of our missionaries that will be heading home in two days. They have been excellent missionaries: hard workers, obedient, got along with their companions, not obsessed with leadership positions, fun and friendly. The list could go on and on.

Tonight we attended a baptismal service for 2 families they have been working with the past little while. One couple has 4 children. The other family is a young couple without children. It was a very happy event. I was not only thrilled for the families, but proud of those two missionaries for working hard right up to the end of their missions. They knew how to hoe to the end of the row. If anybody out there is raising a prospective missionary, and I hope there are many that are, do him/her a favor and teach them that many times, the best harvests are at the end of the row, after you are already tired and tempted to quit. I hope I remember this myself.

One more picture: Two little cuties that were my BFsF after they found out about the Passion Fruit Tic Tacs I had in my purse. Aren't they darling?

Shopped 'til We Dropped

How did we end up buying all these shoes and flip flops when all we were really looking for was a brown blouse and some cream colored shoes for me and a pair of sandals for Rebecca? We really aren't sure. Things like that just happen sometimes.

Just for the record, they weren't all for us. Some were gifts and some were "orders" Rebecca had taken. Really, that is the truth.

We had made plans to go shopping with Claudia, the lady sitting by her son, Jared. When we got to her place to pick her up, we found out 2 more sisters and Jared had joined the party. We did some crazy driving out to a nearby town, Maraponga, where they have a fashion market. Because of the lack of sleeves or backs in blouses, and an abundance of plunging necklines we didn't buy much, but it was fun anyway. Claudia is a crazy shopper, always excited for a sign that says LIQIDACAO or PROMOCAO.

We found the displays and mannequins pretty interesting. This bright yellow one with a bikini on certainly made us take a second look.

This extra tall dude with white hair and a goatee was worthy of a snapshot or two we thought.
And our favorites were the "man"niquins, as Rebecca called them, that we saw. They were so broad and the heads looked way too small for the bodies. The store wasn't for cross-dressers or even for plus sizes that we could tell. They just liked big mannequins. We saw quite few in other stores too.

The day before Becca left, she made me go to one more store and try to find the brown blouse I needed to go with this cute skirt she brought for me. I really liked the skirt and didn't want to send it back with her, so I was glad she didn't let me give up. I finally found one that had a back, some sleeves, and no plunging neckline and it was even on PROMOCAO!

Alan's newest YouTube fave

I know some people think this is creepy, but Alan thinks it's great. I like it too.

Poor Little Fella

This picture is so out of focus, it is sad, but maybe not as sad as the story it tells.

This morning Alan says, "Millie, you've got to come here."

What? He hasn't tried talking to me like that since we were first married, 34 years ago, as of last Thursday, and I knew he knew better, but I went anyway.

He points to the door jamb, near the floor, and there I see a very dead, very squished gecko. We literally had to scrape him off. What are the chances that he would be right there when the door was shut? We don't know when it happened, but he was pretty dry, so I'm guessing it was at least a week ago. Poor little fella.

It gives new meaning to "getting yourself in a jam(b)." RIP

Mo' MoTab Please

I have never blogged about music before, because, let's face it, I'm probably too old for that, but, at the risk of being mocked by many of the younger generation that I am related to, I must say I really like the newest Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD.

I have liked gospel choir music ever since I was introduced to it in school choir at good ol' WJ. Back in the day, I think we could safely call the songs Negro spirituals. (I'm pretty sure that doesn't fly anymore.) Mr. Hansen must have liked "spirituals" too, because I think we performed at least one every year at the "Spring Concert." We really rocked the place with "Rocka My Soul."

I like American Folk music even more and Mack Wilberg is a genius at arranging, I think. The instrumental parts by the Orchestra at Temple Square really make some of the songs.

At first I thought there were a few outstanding favorites, but the more I listen to it, the more I like almost every song. There are a couple that have soloists that I am still getting used to. I like the singing of the male soloist quite well, but the shrieky soprano....well, let's just say I'm glad her parts aren't very long.

It is not enough of a problem not to buy the CD though. There is always the forward button and if you have to use it you are sure to find a great song just ahead.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

I have been waiting and waiting for a package Lucy sent the 24th of March. I had all but given up on it. Well, today, June 9th, it arrived. Yeah!
From the tags and stamps on the package I think it got held up in some sort of inspection. It looks like it arrived in Brazil on the 17th of April, so it arrived in the country in the usual time of about a month but the inspection held it up. I don't get this inspection stuff, because I know not every package gets inspected. But what's done is done and I am just glad it arrived.
Thank you ,Lucy, for the Easter things. I am excited to use them next year. Thank you, Grace. for the apron. Now I have an apron just like all the other hen and chicks. It was worth the wait!

It's War!

Lately I've been losing the battle against mildew during this rainy season. This pair of shoes is the latest victim. The light parts on these shoes are actually black. They are just covered with powdery light bluish /whitish mildew and yes, they stink.

Every few days when I walk in our closet I sniff out something else that reeks. Having never dealt with high humidity and mold before, I was caught unaware, but I'm fighting it now. I've been inspecting everything in the closet, even giving things the "sniff test." Gag!

The mofo, Portuguese for mildew, seems to strike rather randomly. An unaffected piece of clothing will be hanging right between two smelly ones. Shoes and leather belts are favorite targets for the mildew too.

I've washed clothes and taken clothes to the cleaner. I've tried fans, used lots of laundry soap and perfumed softener, and put things out in the sun (if it stays out long enough.)

Today Alan came home with some humidity absorbing packets, and I brought out the biggest gun I could think of....bleach. I'm wiping down every surface I possibly can. I only got through half the closet before I gave out today. There are a lot of shelves in there and when you do tops and bottoms and all the sides of drawers you can work up a sweat pretty fast.

But I will get back to it tomorrow. I have declared war and I plan to win.

P. S. If anybody has dealt with this enemy before and has any suggestions, I will gladly hear them. I need all the help I can get.

I Am My Mother's Daughter, I Hope

Yesterday when I found myself cutting off the burned edges of a cake, trying to salvage the non burned part to put in the freezer for future use if I get in a really desperate situation,I thought to myself, "This is something my mother would do." (You know you would, Mom.)

I'm glad she taught me to try to make the most of a bad situation and to be thrifty, and I hope I am like my mom in more ways than trying to salvage near misses in the kitchen. She is a great mom and grandma and just what I want to be when I grow up. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

While we are on the subject, I got a cute email I thought I would share parts of. These are questions about Moms that were answered by second graders. They made me smile. I hope you like them too.

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl/boy was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair.. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head

Is it Just Me?

Is it just me or does anybody else have a hard time remembering the last pan of cookies when you are baking a batch? This picture doesn't really show it too well, but my last batch, the ones on the right, are definitely good for dunking only. They are crisp, dry, sad cookies. I must have adult A.D.D. or something, because I can't tell you how many times I have done this. I've done worse, much worse, but I really needed these last cookies today to make just the right amount for a Zone Conference. UGGHHH! So do I make a whole new batch or just make the assistants have the "well done" cookies? I have enough to give them two actually, but I'm not sure if two borderline burned cookies are better than no cookie at all.

Okay, okay, I'll post something

I've been shamed into posting something on my blog. Becca gave me the "It's high time you posted something" lecture in an email today, so here is this gorgeous picture of me sporting my brand new "MOO-MOO" as Alan calls it. I'm holding a bottle of A & W, two packages of Girl Scout Cookies and a fly swatter that I look like I just got hid in the head with. All these things and a lot more were in the last shipment of goods we received just last week. It was great! (A shout out to Lucy Dahl for the use of her old burgundy suitcases she was going to take to DI. They have been to Brazil twice, loaded full of great stuff, since she gave them to the cause.)

I think the moo-moo is great even though Alan pretty much hates it. I know it is not the most stylish or flattering, but it is cool and that is what counts. Becca picked it up at Wal-Mart for me in case anyone is wondering where you can get one. She said they have plenty left.

We used one bottle of root beer for our FHE treat this week and made delicious root beer floats. We're saving this one for later. You have to ration these things, you know.

Russell sent us enough Girl Scout cookies that we have even shared a few. I don't know how many cases he bought this year, but we were glad he did his part to support the Girl Scouts of America again and share with us.

The fly swatter is great too. I've used it every day since we got it and many flies have rubbed their legs together for the last time. They probably have fly swatters here, but I had looked in 4 or 5 stores and couldn't find one so I just put it on "the list."

So thanks for the stuff. We're pretty well stocked again except for peanut butter M & M's. I had requested the Easter egg shaped ones because I swear, they are better than the normal ones. They were everything I remembered them to be. I was rationing them to myself, 1/4 cup a day. That was the serving size listed on the package. (I thought it was a little measly, but since I was rationing, decided to go with it.) There should have been 7 servings, but I don't know if the information was wrong, or if I got a package that was shorted, or if they meant there would be seven 1/4 cup servings if you didn't sneak in the package and eat a couple extra 2 or 3 times a day. All I know is they are gone.

Is There a Nurse in the House?

One of my main jobs here is that of being the mission "nurse." So far I've dealt with quite a wide range of problems...sprains, headaches, flu, kidney stones, ear aches, head lice, appendicitis, cuts, acne, live bugs in feet and dead bugs in ears, not to mention heinous rashes and some of the more unmentionalble things that come up in a foreign country. Now that I think about it, a lot of medical problems are slightly unmentionable. It has surprised me that I have actually been able to talk with missionaries about some of these things and still have them look me in the eye the next time I saw them. (I, also, try to maintain eye contact.)

At first I felt totally lost when the missionaries would call. I really didn't know much about health and medicine to begin with and I really didn't know the Portuguese names for such things. But then the first mission secretary put together a sweet little binder for me with answers to common problems that he got from the web md website. He thought he was so funny when he titled it, "How to Save a Missionary's Life." A few weeks later I got a really good information packet from the Church doctors in Sao Paulo that had even more info and the names of things in Portuguese. I use it all the time.

Now we have two doctors, instead of just one, that work out of Sao Paulo and help with health problems in all the missions in Brazil. One of them even speaks Portuguese and will call the Brazilian elders if I need him too. They are great. Their reports back to me even supply us with quite a bit of confusion and a little humor.

We have received quite a few reports addressed to our mission, but about missionaries that are serving in some other mission. Or we get reports with one of our missionary's names on it with a diagnosis for a problem he doesn't have. Last week I had to call one of our missionaries to see if he really had cut his finger and had stitches and needed pain medication. I hadn't heard a word about it before the email report came and I figured it was for an elder in another mission with the same last name. But the fact that the elder's first, middle, and last name were exactly the same as our elder's, I decided I'd better check. Our elder was fine. He hadn't been cut, or had stitches or need pain medication and didn't have a clue how his name got mixed up in it. I don't know what happened either. I didn't want to call the doctor and embarrass him.

We got one today that was ours though. All the information on it was even right. It was the "doctor talk" that made us laugh. Poor Elder X.....He has a small bean shaped lesion on the upper portion of his leg near the buttock...... We must be easily entertained or just a little sick, but the word buttock, gets us everytime.

Street Shopping: A Thing of the Past

Is this not the sorriest rose you ever saw? I was so bugged last week when I bought 3 from a guy on the street and this was the good one. There were people on corners of every major intersection selling flowers, mostly red roses, wrapped really nicely with some greenery. They even had little stretchy webs over the blossoms to keep them nice. (Sunday was a day to celebrate women and that's why the flowers. ) We were having guests for dinner on Sunday, and thought a flower might be nice, so I rolled down the window when the man selling them came by. I asked how much they were. He tossed one in on the seat and tells me it's $5. Apparently it wasn't his first day selling on a street corner. He knew how it was done. Five reais was a little high, but it did have cellophane around it and the stretchy thing. I started rummaging in my purse. I could not find a $R5. A $R10 surfaced and I think he practically grabbed it. He told me if I had 2 more reais I could have 3 for $R12 and he tosses two more roses on the seat. I wasn't sure I wanted to do that but you really don't have time to consider purchases or barter when you are at a stop light with a car or two behind you....especially when people use the horn so readily. When I got them home and unwrapped them, two went straight to the garbage can. The third one was almost holding it's head up, so I gave it a chance. By lunch time the next day, this is how it looked.
I have bought things from street vendors 4 times and been disappointed every time. I don't like getting "taken." I have learned my lesson. I'm officially through buying things in the street....unless something really good comes by.

Been there, Done that

Bold the items you have done:

1. Started your own blog (Becca had to help me)

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band (only a rhythm band and I got the sticks instead of the tambourine and I'm still a little bitter about it)

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity (Maybe just more than I thought we could afford)

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain(if Table Rock counts and I think it should if Lucy is counting the Rexburg butte)

9. Held a Praying Mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child (No, but considered putting some up for adoption, back in the day.)

16. Had food poisoning

17. Been to the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

20. Slept on a train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.....back in high school. (Yes, but only once. Haaaaaa)

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping (see Lucy's blog for details)

27. Ran a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language(Working on it)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Cooked over a open fire

47. Had your portrait painted....sketched actually

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (We were too cheap)

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China (truly amazing, I thought)

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (No, but have eaten more than my share.)

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Tied a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a Bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (only from an airplane, but it was a clear day)

80. Published a book(I'm not sure Parties from Scratch counts)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club (and vowed never to do it again at least twice.)

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Visited Italy

101. Fed chickens (I think Lucy added this one.)

102. Attended a sheep show (my addition)

I tag Myrna and Mardi and Merlene and Nancy ( I went with 4 because I don't know if Merlene and Nancy are still on the planet. It has been a while since they posted and the world wants to hear from them.)

Patience is a Virtue

Just a little update on my last post. I had told myself that as soon as I posted my rantings about being on hold forever that I would hang up the phone and try again another day, but I didn't.

I just started doing something else and after a while I finally heard a voice, a real human voice. It did have an Indian accent, but I could deal with that. I grabbed the phone and said hello, hello, but apparently the agent couldn't hear me. I kept trying... hello!....HELLO! He also kept saying hello and then he said, "I will hang up now. Apparently you are no longer on the line."

Alan could hear this because the phone was still on speaker. He said he wished he'd had a camera to capture the look on my face. I'm sure it was one of panic and despair. At that moment there must have been a divine intervention because I hit the TALK button. I didn't know why, I was just trying anything. That turned the speaker phone off, finally, and best of all the agent could hear me now.

Raul was great. He fixed everything. In the course of our conversation he asked me how long I had been on hold. I promise I didn't bring it up, he asked. By then it had been really close to 2 hours, but I said an hour and 45 minutes, just to give them the benefit of the doubt. He politely apologized and then said that he was going to see that I got an extra 30 days of virus protection for the inconvenience. Woot! Woot! I love free stuff.

Later I worked it out and I probably made a whopping 2.50 an hour by being patient. Oh well. At least I got the dishes done, some filing of pictures and had something to blog about. I guess it was worth the 2 hours.

P. S. I was going to try to find a picture on Google images to go along with this post, but when I went there it said that "using this site could damage your computer." It said the same thing on Yahoo image search and others in the list. Is that warning always there and I had just never seen it before? Has anyone else ever seen that? Do I have to call Raul again?

Freaking Dang it!

Freaking Dang it! is a missionary curse word combination I have heard one of the Brazilian elders here use. He is trying to learn English and this is what he uses to express his frustration. It makes me laugh every time I hear him say it.

But today I'm using it and I am not laughing because I have been waiting on the telephone for over an hour. It might be an hour and a half by now. I just had a simple question for someone about why Norton Internet Protection keeps sending me pop up things that say my subscription protection has expired and it doesn't expire until June 2009.

I really hate being on hold. This has gone on so long I feel like they put me on "mold." The "music" they have for you to enjoy while you pass the time is really getting on my nerves. It just isn't that enjoyable. The really sad part is that I decided to do the dishes and a few other things while waiting so I pushed the speakerphone button so I could hear it as I was working. I didn't want to miss it when the agent came on the line. Now I can't get the darn thing off speakerphone and the music is starting to bug Alan too.

So why don't I just hang up? Everytime I think I can't stand it anymore and I am going to hang up, a voice interupts the music to say, "We appreciate your patience. Please don't hang up. If you hang up now, it will increase your wait time as all calls are answered in the order they were placed."

Yes, I have it memorized, word for word.

I don't want to start over with this thing. I had already spoken to an agent in India who asked me all the initial questions before giving me this customer service number. Even though I had to ask her to repeat a lot of things I tried to be patient and nice because I understand a little about trying to be understood while speaking a different language and how frustrating it is when people don't really even try to understand.

Well, my patience is exhausted. The music track is cycling again and I just heard a really horrible instrumental rendition of "A Time for Us" for at least the 3rd time. I am through waiting. If a virus gets me, it gets me. I just can't take it anymore, freaking dang it!

The Party is Over...Way Over

We knew our way fun Christmas was over when, just a few days ago, Alan was eating the last cherry chocolate the kids brought down. Is that a sad look or what? But we had a great time with our whole family down here for the holidays. Here are a few pictures of how it went.

We were absolutely spoiled this year, not just because all of our family was here together, but they brought us 10 suitcases , full to the max, of mostly food items, that we had been missing.

The trip wore everybody out so the first day, I saw a lot of this.

The tables were turned this year. We were opening all the gifts......

The kids were looking on with hardly a thing to open. Sorry, kids.

Thanks for all the nice things you sent us. Dale and Angela sent Alan this sheep ornament and that put him in a festive mood.

We managed to have a really nice Christmas dinner with most of the things we usually have back at home and a few new things too.

As is usual during the holidays, we ate a lot. Our waiter took a picture of us after we finished a meal at the churrascaria. It is one of those places where they keep bringing you different meats to eat and you keep eating it until you are sick.

We all posed for a picture after a lunch we had with one of our elders that was leaving the mission a little ahead of his group. I was glad the kids got to meet him because he was a really great elder.

Of course we went to the beach. This beach has some pretty interesting colors of sand. I liked the contrast of the blue sea and the terra cotta colored sand in this picture.

We rode dune buggies along the shore and up into some sand dunes.

We had to stay out of the sun for a day or so after all day at the beach. Let's just say most of us got a little pink. So we played games, mostly a variation of Clue that Lee and Kim brought.
It probably doesn't look all that exciting to anyone else, but we had a really great time. I'm pretty sure it will be a Christmas we will all remember.