outback takeout

Melanie will remember the days when we were good friends with the people that worked at Outback Takeout. We were working on the house and didn't have kitchen. We have some great memories of that kitchenless time.

In recent years, I have been less enthusiastic about Outback, but I received a gift card from my school for Christmas, and Doug and I decided to use it tonight between his sessions of Stake Conference.

I went to Outback as we had previously arranged at 5.15 pm. They told me that there was a 40 minute wait. That would never do! So I marched myself around the building to my good ol' buddies at the Takeout door. I ordered dinner for the two of us and 20 minutes later they brought it to Doug's car. He having arrived in the meantime. We drove across the street to Lake-Sumter Community College and found some tables and benches next to the library. We had the place to ourselves. It was nice to have that quiet time together this evening.

I think that it is entirely possible that this could become a stake conference tradition for us...at least until our new stake center is built!

to doug from byutv

Doug,

Wish you could be there as well. Lincoln & E. Pingree will be flying solo on this one but Cristobal Garcia, Church Public Affairs in Bogota will be hosting them so they don't get in trouble. It would have been wonderful to have you there as you're the one who "gets it" in S.A. Now the big news. Our scheduled launch is March 2nd! There were times I never thought it would happen. I will keep you posted and provide you a link to watch on the Internet. We have about a dozen cable companies signed up from the B.A. show from all over S.A. We have abou 20 more still deciding. Better than we had hoped for and getting better every day. You, brother, led this charge when nobody else could catch the vision. I know there were many frustrations along the way but it will all pay off on March 2nd. The dream of sharing the Restored Gospel with our brothers and sisters in Latin America in their native tongue is a fulfillment of prophecy and you, brother, were the instrument Heavenly Father used to bring it to pass. Thanks for never giving up on this cause! If your plans change and you can be here on March 2nd for the PLC meeting, it would be wonderful. Make sure you have a fitting journal entry on that day no matter where you are.

My very best and sincere thanks, Derek

doug's birthday present arrives

Doug has been insisting that he HAS to have a rocker to sit in my herb garden. I was not keen on the idea. However, on his birthday, I gave in and we ordered this glider that arrived today.

I spent the rest of the daylight reading on HIS glider. It was terrific!

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

silver springs

Silver Springs is one of my favorite Florida places. Each year I have had the opportunity to go there with my second graders. Today was equally beautiful and exciting, even though it is my third time attending the park. For anyone who wants to see "the real Florida", I highly recommend this experience.

We did have a little glitch on the way home when a fire broke out in the Ocala National Forest. We got sent on a detour that added an extra hour to the trip home, which was better than the parents who tried to take the same route we got there by and ended up getting home another hour after we did. Actually, it was quite humorous because Cherylyn called me on the bus on the way to the park. She called me nine hours later and asked me where I was...on the bus, I answered! For a second, I think she may have wondered if I spent the entire day on the bus.

elder and sister nelson

We had a wonderful experience enjoying the words of the Nelson's in four settings yesterday. First they spoke to the women of the 7 stakes in central Florida. Sister Nelson talked about turning corners in our lives and did a wonderful analogy sharing a horrific accident that she had in New York City. Elder Nelson talked about the Temple. He then gave us an apostolic blessing. It was incredible, and I just kept thinking how blessed I was to be sitting under the voice of that blessing.

Then we had lunch with the Nelsons. They addressed us in a more intimate way in that group, and Sister Nelson told us how the Tabernacle Choir prepares for conference. Yesterday was Dantzel Nelson's birthday and Wendy Nelson told us that Dantzel was a choir member for over twenty years. She did this to honor her, much to the surprise and delight of Elder Nelson.
How the Tabernacle Choir Prepares for General Conference:
1. attend the temple
2. fast
3. have a specific question that you expect to get answered
4. do an anonymous act of service that hurts a little bit (ie causes you some level of sacrifice)

We then attended a missionary meeting. Elder Nelson told the missionaries that it was probably the only time in their lives when they would be in the presence of 7 stake presidents, their mission president, the Temple president and an apostle. He also talked with them about service after their missions, promising them that their families would be extraordinarily blessed whenever they were on the Lord's errand. I have found that to be true in my life...albeit, sometimes it is harder to cope with that I suppose it should be for me.

Finally, we attended an adults meeting. Sister Nelson talked about deliverance. Elder Nelson talked about the Savior in extremely intimate terms. I found it very interesting that he said he would never call the Savior his Elder Brother because that was just way too casual.

this one is for tanner

who thinks it is NEVER COLD in central florida

...we covered the rosemary and shooter is sleeping inside!

father daughter dance tonight

happy birthday, love mom and dad

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence..."

I couldn't begin to write what you mean to us as a daughter and now as a friend. But I will say that our dreams came true because of you.

Happy Birthday Tricia.

my sweetheart

post valentine blog prologue:

The prophet has said that the church will help make bad men good and good men better. My husband has a corollary talent. He helps make bad ideas good and good ideas better. Since I am the idea person in the family (BTW not a position that I particulary relish, but I have gotten used to it), it is great to have that handy talent nearby.

post valentine blog:
For Valentines Day, my huband gave me bread and flowers. I was surprised and delighted!

Over a year ago, I was at Publix Grocery Store running in quick to get something and Melanie was waiting outside in the car for me. The man in front of me in line was buying what I will call a french stick, because that is what they called that kind of bread in England and the name fits better than whatever they call it here, which is why I can never remember what they call it here. And flowers. I thought, wow, that is really romantic! What a smart guy! When I came out of Publix and we were driving home I started to tell Melanie about him and she started laughing. She said that she saw him and thought the same thing! Now I have no idea about wine and roses, but for me it would be all about bread and flowers.

It turns out that Melanie talked to her dad and told him about the experience. He bought me bread from Panera Bread Company and flowers from Apenberry's for my garden. We had a wonderful day together. I am blessed to be loved by such a wonderful man.

happy valentines day!

from my house...

to yours!

governor crist thanks the lds church

Doug was invited to attend an event today with the specific purpose of thanking the church for their contributions of time and goods during the recent tornado episode.

saturday in the yard

While I was busy in the front yard...Doug was busy in the backyard hanging the shutters on the garage.

We had the lanterns burning, and I enjoyed gardening this afternoon.

they love me!

My first memories of TPing, of course, come from when I was a teenager. Our family had a fountain in the front yard and, in addition to TP, we also got our fountain soaped. After cleaning up the mess a number of times, my mother finally found a product that we kept in the fountain that kept the bubbles from foaming...much the chagrin of the boys who thought it was quite hysterical.
My next memories of TPing, come from my daughters, who inspired numerous attempts over the years, but my personal favorite was when the boys dressed in black and hiked into our guard-gated house in Meadown Run to do the deed. They showed up the next morning to help clean up and enjoy pancakes for breakfast.
Brianna woke up this morning with a call of distress "OH NO!" Someone has TPed our house. Doug and I thought it was quite humorous. Doug then said, "They love you," referring to my YW.
It was hard to get a good picture, but they did a reasonably impressive job that kept my busy for quite a while cleaning up and I did manage to fill a whole garbage can! There were cutout hearts everywhere! and even a roll of caution tape!

new beginnings

Hey Brianna,

I can't wait for you to come into Young Women's. I wish you could just come in now and not have to wait for your birthday!!!! It's good to see more girls coming into Young Women's. We need all the help we can get to beat the boy's. They have too many!! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better and working with you on your Personal Progress book. I can be your personal assistant. That is if you want me to? You are going to love being in Young Women's. We have really great leaders and they are really fun to be with. You will be a great asset to our YW group. You are a talented, sweet, funny and pretty young lady. I enjoy being with you. I hope you get excited about YW after tonight. And hope you had fun with us. Love ya lots

Tori

actually...

I gave my second graders a spelling pretest on Monday. I really enjoyed their creativity in spelling.
acsoly
acshuly
acltchley
asholy
acshully
acchuly
akushuly
acley
achley
aechley
acterly
ackaly
actually-one kid got it!
actculy
actuly

mormon helping hands

After 18 hours of organizing, they were expecting approximately 400 men. 545 men showed up to be a part of the amazing relief effort. It has been such a wonderful experience to see up close and personal how the humanitarian relief efforts of the Church are mobilized. Doug said it was an incredible day!

doug spends the day organizing relief

KILLER TORNADO:A SPECIAL REPORT
Dawn of devastation
Within an hour, storm leaves 19 dead or dying
by Jeff Kunerth
The killer storm started in the Gulf of Mexico and began its grim journey across the state at 2:30 a.m. Friday.While racing across Citrus County, it was relatively small. But that would change in Sumter County in less than 10 minutes. Paul Close, a forecaster at the National Weather Service in Tampa, was watching radar when the storm exploded.

"It went from a little hint of something to 'Oh, no!' " Close said. He issued a tornado warning at 3:02 a.m. Just 13 minutes later, a twister struck trees near Wildwood and quickly knocked roofing off a nearby gas station.From there, the tornado thrashed across rural landscape until it hit The Villages, the retirement mega-community that sprawls across Sumter and Lake counties. There, in the space of about 10 minutes, it killed at least six people in Lady Lake and 13 in the rural Paisley/Lake Mack communities about 25 miles to the northeast.

The weather service's preliminary estimates indicate the tornado was an F3 with winds of 140 mph to 160 mph, said meteorologist Dave Sharp of the service's office in Melbourne. And as it hopped and skipped across The Villages -- damaging or destroying 1,500 homes -- it showed awesome power."Everything just exploded." The storm flattened houses and mobile homes, downed trees and overturned cars from Lady Lake to Ponce Inlet, from Umatilla to New Smyrna, while four other powerful thunderstorms swept the rest of the region with gusty winds and heavy rains. The wind blew so hard across Interstate 4 that it picked up a tractor-trailer and tossed it atop another semi, stalling traffic for hours.Within the span of one hour, the storm damaged or destroyed an estimated 2,000 homes, caused more than $80 million in damage, injured at least 50 people, left 7,800 people without power late Friday and delivered tragedy to the families of the 19 killed.

"The most dangerous tornado scenario is a threat for killer tornadoes at night, and that was the case," said Sharp, the weather-service meteorologist.

the puzzle

For Christmas...

Tricia and Cherylyn gave us a puzzle from a company that makes the puzzle from your picture. They gave the company the picture of our house that was loaded on the November 30th blog.

The puzzle was huge...756 pieces. It took us a few days to put it together and we were all delighted with the result. After the holiday, Doug and I decided to buy an inexpensive poster frame and hang it on the third floor.

We went to Big Lots. We found a poster frame for 20 bucks. We came home and mid-project...Doug broke the glass.

(This may or may not be the appropriate time to mention that while doing a similar project at Tricia's house, Doug broke the glass on 3 John Deere pictures.)

He decided to call the local glass company to see how much it would cost JUST to buy the glass...20 bucks.
Since the glass company is further from our house than Big Lots, we went back to Big Lots and found another poster frame for 20 bucks. We came home and mid-project...Doug broke the glass.

If you are keeping track, we have now spent 40 dollars on our inexpensive frame and we still have no frame. Doug was frustrated and decided to leave the project until after his trip to California.

While Doug was in California, I went to Big Lots and purchased

THE LAST poster frame in the store for 20 bucks.

The past week, I have been busy cleaning and organizing the storage rooms on the third floor. I noticed a group of pictures that we have stored and one of them looks approximately poster size.

Which brings me to today. I told Doug about the aforementioned group of pictures with the aforementioned possibility. After bumping his head several times in the storage area, he comes upon the picture possiblity and momentarily thinks that there is NO WAY that it will work. I have sent him in there with a tape measure which soon validates my hypothesis.

We retrieve the "Spruce Goose" from storage and begin the disassembly.

SUCCESS!
I wish that were the end of this story, but it isn't, because, of course, I STILL have to go back to Big Lots to return the unbroken picture frame and recoup my 20 bucks.

So...to sum up our experience...we now have two frames sans glass, sans pictures that will get stored in the third floor closet until we can bear to throw away the forty dollars that they cost us. In the meantime, we will HOPE that they come in for something useful and we can feel better about the whole experience.