The Latest Happenings

I had jury duty today. I really wanted to get picked. It was a trial to determine if this lady is competent to stand trial. My only chance was to get picked as an alternate, but I didn't. Oh well. Maybe next year.

I'm going to be a supervisor at work. I'm really wanting to stop delivering mail. It's getting difficult physically with my fibromyalgia so when my supervisor approached me about it I decided to do it. I'm glad I won't have to get sweaty anymore. Maybe I'll get nails again. I'll definately get new clothes!!

Brittany moved out yesterday. She put some clothes in a back pack and got on the bus and sent me a text message in the evening letting us know. She's in an apartment with a bunch of friends on the other side of town. This evening they all came over with a truck and got most of the rest of her stuff.

Now I have to clean my own house. Maybe when I start getting supervisor pay I'll hire a real house cleaner. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do.

Lawrence and I have been planting a lot of trees and flowers in the front yard and my garden looks great! I'll post some pictures when the plants get a little bigger.

In case anyone didn't know, Stacy moved back home a few months ago. So now she can get out of the storage room and have a bedroom. See, there's always a bright side.

Spring

It looks like my blogging has gotten seasonal. Since it is now spring, I show you what's been going on:

There's a new kid in town: Sydney Brooke Olsen born Jan 16.

Living and Dying

I'm listening to that song on the website that the Terry's pictures are on and there's one verse that reminds me of Grandpa Leishman:

"Now I'm old and feeling gray
I don't know what's left to say
About this life I'm willing to leave
I lived it full and I lived it well
There's many tales I lived to tell
I'm ready now
I'm ready now
I'm ready now to fly
from the highest swing
I had a dream."

To hear the song click the link at right - Dream by Priscilla Ahn
I only hope that the end of my life is as good as his.

Making Merry

The last few Christmases in the rental house I didn't like doing the decorating. It just wasn't fun in that dingy house. But this year it's been fun and exciting. It's taken a couple of weeks to get it all done and I'm now behind on my Christmas shopping. I know it will all get done somehow, so I'm not worried - yet.

We got a new tree this year. Lawrence got a great deal on it. It was half price. Way to go, Dear! We put it in the living room in front of the window, and as you can see it's all done in red and gold.

We got this tree when Grandpa Ellis passed away in January. It's what you might call "vintage". You have to put the branches in one by one and I guess they used to be color coded so you know what order to put them on in only there were no instructions and I thought I had them in the right order, but I guess not. But, I wanted to put up the good old ornaments that we've collected over the years so I put this tree up in the family room. This is where the presents will go and the fireplace is in here so it will be more nice and cozy when we unwrap our gifts on Christmas morning.

I just had to take a picture of the fireplace and mantel. I thought it turned out nice.

On Saturday we got the call that Grandpa Leishman has passed on. It seems the morning after his birthday party he was pretty grumpy that he woke up and was still here. The next week he wanted his doctors to take out his pace maker. They wouldn't do it. Last week he asked his son-in-law, Don, to give him a blessing that he could go. He did, and not long afterward he went. He was done, he was through. He asked the Lord if he could come home and the Lord said, "Yes". We will certainly miss him as we have been missing Grandma. Somehow, the world seems a little dimmer without them. How thankful I am for the knowledge of Eternal Life. How grateful I am to have known Frank and Nellie Leishman.

Giving Thanks

I wrot this blog in the car about 40 miles from Reno, but I'm just getting around to posting it. Better late than never, right?

We had a really great trip to Cache Valley for Thanksgiving, but more importantly to celebrate Lawrence’s grandfather’s 100th birthday. Can any of us imagine living that long? If I were guaranteed that I could live it like Frank Leishman, with my mind intact and my body functioning as well as could be expected for someone of his age, not having to live in a nursing home, I’d be ok with it. You’re never gonna find two people who are more loving, warm, humble, accepting, funny, gospel centered, fun, or hospitable than Grandma and Grandma Leishman . All you have to do is be in a room with their family to know this is true. I always felt like a blood relative at a Leishman reunion.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was just wonderfully delicious. Donnetta does a fantastic job with her Thanksgiving dinner. I am proud to say that although it would have been very easy to eat my self sick, I restrained my self. On Friday we went shopping “because that is what we do when we travel” according to Lawrence. It’s just that there are great stores is Utah that we don’t have in Bakersfield. We HAVE to go to Goessner’s and get squeaky cheese, root beer milk and other goodies. I like to go to Deseret Book and we usually go to the distribution center, but we ran out of time and energy and didn’t make it there. It’s so hard for me to get out shopping at home, that when we travel I have more time and energy to spend shopping so I like to take advantage of the opportunity.

Grandpa Leishman’s 100th birthday party was just wonderful and I got all overklempt. I should have worn waterproof mascara. They played a DVD that was taped previously of Gpa Leishman talking about his memories. One poignant story was of when his mother died young of blood poisoning from stepping on a rusty nail; of how her nine children gathered around her bed weeping as she passed during a lunar eclipse. Just as the sun passed over the moon the light of their lives was extinguished.

One of the cousins, Dana sang some of Grandpa’s favorite songs and she sounded so mush like Grandma Leishman (when she was younger, I’m sure) and she even sang some songs in a “duet” with some of Grandma Leishman’s recorded songs (she passed away this past January). That really made the tears flow freely.

One interesting fact: Grandpa’s brother, Norman, went to Scotland where the Leishman clan originated from. It seems a lot of the early Leishmans were doctors in the time when they use leeches for blood letting. Hence the name Leishman.

Grandpa has been that he wants to live until his birthday and after that, he would be ready to go. To which Lawrence’s Aunt Geniel replied, “It isn’t up to you”. That was quintessentially Geniel. As hard is it will be to let him go, I hope he gets to go be with his precious Nellie before too long. It has been a blessing and a privilege to have known him and Grandma Leishman.
As this is a season for giving thanks, I’ve listed my blessing at right:

Daphne, Dreams and Polka Dots

Amberly and John had a wedding to go to in Phoenix and no kids were invited so we had the opportunity to have her for a couple of days. She was too cute. We had lots of fun and it was hard to let her leave. Amberly made it worse by calling me up and directing me to a website where photos that they had taken previously were up for viewing. The link is to the left and is only available for 2 weeks. When you are on the site click on "enter site" then "clients" down at the bottom then type in "terry" for the password then click on submit. This really pretty song starts playing as you watch the slide show. I started crying lots of tears watching those beautiful pictures and thinking about how far away Daphne is. I love the song so I googled it and came across a great music video. Check that out, too. It really tugs at your hearstrings.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and everyone drive safely.

Why don't things happen the way they're supposed to?

I've been trying to post a video today. I've been working on it for 5 hours. Don't hold your breath. Sigh.