Gluten Free Bread, the Best Yet

I have been trying to use up my food before I leave and saw I had a bread mix I have never used.  In talking to Margot later I learned it was one she had sent me and I had not bought it at Albertsons.  It is the King Arthur Bread and Pizza Mix and costs $6.95 on their web.  Amazon has six boxes for $54 to $56 which is outrageous and changes from day to day.  It turns out though that it is the best I have ever made.  It is more like regular bread, not so dense and I even used Almond Milk and it tasted great.  Definitely will have to keep my Bosch mixer so I can make this again!!!!

 Incidentally, Bethany told me that in Utah I can find parts to my Bosch mixer so maybe I could get the blender replaced? 

I did try and make a duplicate bread out of the King Arthur gluten free flour but it was definitely not the same as this.

Carole and Janet

I am not exactly sure why Carole and I were exchanging pictures on this day but here they are.

 

Massey Garden

When I left my home in Lake Almanor I took down the hanging handprints of the Massey children and gave them back to Meagan.  She sent over and showed that they are now hanging in their garden!!!

 

Church during the Pandemic

I am not sure why I took this picture or if it did it accidently but I have enjoyed being able to listen to church without any problem on my phone because my hearing aids bring in anything I get on my phone such as books and this Zoom very clearly.   I can hear so well now with my Costco hearing aids.  I prefer to listen to church this way now all the time.

 

Easter Lilies and A Laugh

The Easter Lilies Meagan brought over have bloomed so beautifully.

The mess I made when I tried to shred and transfer the shredings to a garbage bag really made me laugh.

It was made even worse by the face I had on fuzzy sox that picked up the shreds and I had a trail all through the house!!!

 

Eden's Quilt

I have been letting family choose items I just cannot keep anymore as I will have no storage at Treeo.  There were a number of blankets up for grabs when the Massey children were there and Eden immediately spoke in a quiet voice.  "I would like that one." And it is perfect for her.  Here she is getting her report ready to share on her "Interesting Item" at school.

This quilt was a gift of a wall hanging when Richard and I moved into our Rancho Bernardo house or possibly the children gave it to me when we were still in the La Jolla house for the small middle bedroom.  I cannot remember which now  But it is beautiful and will look lovely on her bed.

 

Getting Ready To Move

This will probably be the size of my table in the new place in Orem as the oval would probably be too long, but this should be just fine!

 

I am a  little worried about using the single bed because Sadie has always slept with me and usuallyshe sleeps on the other side, but see how she pushed me to the edge last night.  I need to have her learn to sleep in a new little bed of her own.  That may be a challenge.  She is 8 years old.  There is only room for one single bed and I have two of them (electrric beds).  Carole would like to take the other one as she also needs to raise her legs occasionally an it is just very accomodating for an older  person to use an electric bed to raise what needs raising to be comfortable and sleep well or sit up in bed without hurting your back.  Just need to figure how to get it from Utah to Montana!

This shirt from my SBA days is so large, I am sending it to Goodwill.  Just had to take a pix of the beautiful embroidery on it showing the disaster I served on.  This is the one where I came home in winter 2004 in Lake Almanor and the berm on my driveway was so thick a ward member brought over his equipment to clean my driveway.  Next day he was riding his snowmobile and had a tragic accdent and was in a coma for a long time with a serious brain injury.  This changed his life forever.  He was a millionarire with ownership of franchises and flew his own plane and drove his own motorhome.  No more, but he did recover and retrained himself, but never 100%.  He  became a very humble man, who I dearly loved chatting with about his latest travels.  (His wife or brother drove.)  He has dedicated his life to temple service on his travels and sold their large luxurious house, plane, etc.  Changed his life but a very beautiful person with a different life and is financially ok, too.  

My furnace had just gone out, so I arrived just in time to have that replaced, too.

 

Sadie does love to sit and view her little kingdom,  a lot smaller than when we were in Lake Almanor but she loves to sit in the sun and enjoys it.

Easter Sunday, 2021

I had suggested to the family some time ago that everyone should come over after Conference on Easter Sunday.  The only confirmations I go immediatgely were from Meagan and Linda.  Maria and Johnny were going to Catalina to celebrate their 10th Wedding Anniversary at the place they had honeymooned.

So I cleaned the patio and lo and behold we had Linda and Gary with Craig, and all the James Hardy family and all the Matt Massey family so it was a fun Easter with Cafe Rio salad tacos and salads and goodies and easter eggs hidden for the little ones.  

But no one took any pictures!!!!!!  But here is my clean patio.  And more things got chosen that I cannot take with me....It was so fun to be together after so long doing the Covid thing.

 

Early Easter Morning

I sent Carole a picture of my Easter frock.  Ha I haven't worn a dress for so long, I cannot remember when.  But I wore the sweater with purple in it for Easter, although it may get too warm as it has been up in the 80s.

Meagan sent over this picture that had popped up on her phone.  I remember that vacation so well with Meagan at Park City.  It was a beautiful night for pictures at Temple Square.

The fountain is in the sun all the time so I put the water fountain back in for Easter.  Problem is it shoots all the water out so fast you have to keep refilling the water, but it is fun.

 

A Surprising Turn of Events

It is beautiful weather in San Diego and I am loving the springtime.  However, I have been troubled for some time and not satisfied with my circumstances and not sure what to do about them.   

We had such a challenge looking for a place for me to rent in the San Diego area.  Finding something suitable for Sadie and I, that we could afford, and was a reasonable place to live for an 87 old lady who has a dog.

Quite miraculously this place was found in Rancho Bernardo, where I had not even thought of living, and it was perfect.  So much light in the home, newly remodeled with a large covered patio and mature landscaping that had gardeners!  Even a fireplace!  And the real plus was that my furniture fit perfectly, room for every thing and to top it all off, room for all my books!!!!   Photo albums and etc I was putting online, etc.  It was a perfect location, very quiet and yet so close to everything I would ever want to go to.  I even found great medical just 10 minutes away.  My children were all within 20 to 30 minutes away.  Meagan and her family were just living down the freeway close enough to visit often. The ward was close and people had been wonderful to me.

So why was I not happy, why was it so troubling to me, why was was it stressing me out?  I was praying fervently for answers as to whether to renew the rental and if I didn't, where to go and why was I not satisfied with my situation?

And then one morning last week it was as clear to me as a bell.  Go back to Utah and live at Treeo where Jeanne is.  I could not believe the answer.  I never wanted to go back to Utah.  I loved living in San Diego after 21 years away.  It was perfect here.  I never wanted to live in a Senior Living Place, did I?  I don't think I ever did.  I loved my independence, my own home and yard.  This place was so perfect, why wasn't it right?  What was missing?  When I told my son later, he immediately said, "People".   Yes, I did not want to be alone anymore, did I.  I wanted to be able to see and talk to people and yet I did not want to live in my children's homes and I had all my stuff I wanted to take with me.  And then I realized I did not want to run a house anymore, it takes too much of my time, too much thought.  Why did I think I wanted to do that.  I really did not want to have to cook anymore.  I loved it when I was working for SBA and was living in a hotel where I was serviced.  And wouldn't it be fun to have one of my sisters in the same place and yet I could still have my own stuff? 

It all seemed absolutely correct, why had I not chosen this before?  I was so ceertain of the answer, I immediately called Treeo and was given a Ryan to talk to.  I asked all the questions and he gave me all the answers.  I then texted Linda and blew her away with my latest thoughts.  She was surprised but offered to go up with me to check it out.  I texted her back that I did not need to do that.  I was familiar enough with it and I knew it was the right thing to do. 

The next day Ryan called and gave me a virtual tour of the place and showed me rooms I could choose to live in on the first floor and have a doggie door and fenced area for Sadie, our own little patio.  Could he hold it to the end of June?  Not sure but asked and came back with the answer and arrangements to do so.  

Linda was concerned I was making my mind up too fast.  I texted Maria at 5 am and she came over and had lunch and I showed her the plans and, etc.  Both of them really thought it was a good idea, actually.  The same day James and Camber came over to take Kelsi to a track meet in Poway and me with them to watch.  I shared the news with them and they thought it was a great idea, too.  Although I must admit there was the thought that I had been neglected too much?  I assured them that was not the case at all.  Meagan was in Hawaii but I told her to call me as soon as she arrived home.  She also was blown away by the decision and was disappointed to see me go but, too, could see the sensibility behind the decision. The fuarniture I could not take was being spoken for, and I began moving items I could not take to one side of the garage.  And my mind was so at ease. 

Thank you, Lord, for helping direct my life, once again.

SBA Shirt 2003

After a Disaster was over there was usually a contest for designing the insignia for the shirt you could purchase as a memento of your experience on that disaster.  This was the one where I saw so much of Maryland and fell in love with the area.  The shirt was way to large and so I got rid of it but wanted to keep this memento.

This is the one I came home from in the winter time and my furnace had just gone out and I had a four feet high and wide solid berm in front of my house.

One of the elders in the ward brought over his machine and shovel and dug me out.  The next day he had a crash in his snowmobile and had a traumatic brain injury.  It took him months and years of recovery and learning to talk and walk again, totally changed his life.  He had to sell his airplane, changed the way they lived, sell restaurants he owned, etc.  But he remains a beautiful and humble man, whom I always loved hearing about their latest travels from.  Usually his wife or brother drove.  I do not think he could ever drive again.