Tomorrow is December

Well, Christmas is coming and I'm finished decorating (although my deck lights are acting finicky) and my shopping and Christmas cards are done but I still have to wrap the presents and that's my least favorite Christmas "chore." I'm feeling semi-organized but that could change at a moment's notice depending on what else comes up for me to do. Right now I'm preparing a talk on the Holy Ghost for a baptism this week and my Relief Society lesson for next Sunday. It's on "Finding Joy in our Lives" with an emphasis on joy through service. I'm giving each sister an angel ornament to remind them to be angels to others.

We had an unexpectedly nice Thanksgiving even though both the boys went elsewhere (Joshua to Lily's mom's and Jeremy to a friend's). We invited two single sisters (one an investigator) over for Thanksgiving and really enjoyed spending time with them. One of them brought a "Frozen Lemonade Pie" which was absolutely yummy! It's made with frozen lemonade, sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream in a graham cracker crust and frozen. Try it, you'll like it. I made a really good layered jello/fruit salad (more like dessert) - Bottom layer: lemon jello mixed with pineapple juice, crushed pineapple, cream cheese and melted marshmallows; Top layer: raspberry jello mixed with raspberries. I also have found a wonderful recipe for brussel sprouts (if you like brussel sprouts and I do). You fry some bacon, take it out of the pan and chop it up. Then you saute the cut in 1/2 brussel sprouts in the bacon grease for a few minutes, add chicken stock, cover and let cook a few more minutes. You take the lid off and let the stock reduce and then add heavy cream and let that reduce. You serve with the chopped bacon. Just reading the recipe will make you gain weight, but man is it good!

Last week was very busy, rewarding, but also frustrating. We had 3 families in the ward that needed food orders so I got them prepared and to the bishop to approve and sign on Monday. Then, because none of the sisters have cars, I picked them all up on Tuesday to drive them over to the bishop's storehouse to pick up their orders. Two of the sisters (one was the investigator we had to dinner) were great but the other one wanted more stuff once we got to the storehouse so they kept asking me to approve one more thing. I didn't really want to because her order was already big and I knew the bishop didn't want her to get too much but it was hard to tell her no in front of all the people there (she probably figured that out) so I let her have what she wanted. And, although, her previous food order had been huge, she had made it last a long time so I figured she'd do that again. Anyway, I found out on Thursday that she and her husband had left town Wednesday morning to return to Utah and go "back to drugs." I don't know what she did with all that food (sold it, probably). It's very disheartening to try to help someone and have them take advantage of your generosity. I don't even know if it's the food that's bothering me as much as the time, energy, emotion and support the bishop and I spent on her. I know these things happen and I have to try not to judge the next person who comes along by what the last person did, but it's easy to get jaded.

We went to a financial advisor here in Eugene last week to have him analyze our investments. He suggested some changes that would be safer for us and make more sense for our stage in life so we've decided to take his advice and also let him handle our investments from now on. Tom Mills was great but we need someone closer so we can sit down with them and discuss things from time to time.

I didn't make it to church today because I woke up feeling pretty sick to my stomach. Once in awhile I have had that happen since my surgery, usually because of something I ate the day before (it was probably that "Lemonade Pie"). Anyway, I haven't felt too good most of the day - maybe it's just all the Thanksgiving "extras" I've been eating. I have to get back to my normal diet again. What's weird is, I always lose more weight when I eat like this. Thankfully most of the "bad" leftovers are gone now. Don ate 1 1/2 of the 2 pumpkin pies I made single-handedly in 2 days. He's the one that should have the stomach ache.

I'm going to take pictures of my Christmas decorations to post soon.