Lists

A few lists have inadvertantly come to my mind lately. I don't know why, but I feel like sharing them for those of you out there that are so painfully bored that you would subject yourselves to them. Here they are:

Things I hate to do: (this list came to mind because I found myself mentioning several things recently on different occasions that I hate more than "cleaning the toilet," which I really don't mind, by the way. Also, these are in no particular order. I just numbered them for fun).
1. Wash dishes- For some reason, this is the most boring job in the world to me. Maybe it would help if there were a window in front of my sink.
2. Put away laundry, especially on hangers. I don't mind folding it, but there is something about hanging it that just seems so tedious to me.
3. Matching socks I know that this goes along with number two, but it deserves a number all its own. Every other item I fold can stand alone and requires no thought. Socks, on the other hand, require that I actually think while folding laundry, which is just wrong. Arthur likes his socks stacked one on the other and folded in half. He says turning them over stretches the elastic. He is right, of course, and I too hate to have slouchy socks. It's annoying to always have to pull them up. However, I'd rather deal with that than have them shuffle around in a drawer and always have to look for the match. Oh well, to each his or her own. I fold his the way he likes them and mine the way I like them. There's no point in fussing over it. Arthur would also like it if I would wash each type of item individually- towels in one load, jeans in another, shirts in another, and so forth. He says it would make it easier to sort and put away, but I say, variety is the spice of life. If I had to do an entire load of socks without any reprieve, I would lose my mind. Actually... it may already be lost. (Anyways, I'd rather sort when I fold since I have to handle every garment at that point anyways. I have a divided hamper, so I sort colors, whites, and denim as things go into the hamper and leave it at that. Any more is just a complication).
4. Packing and Unpacking- I hate them both equally, well, almost. I may hate unpacking slightly more, because it requires that laundry be done. See numbers 2 and 3.
5. Making phone calls- I would much rather deal with any problem either through e-mail or in person. If I deal with it in e-mail, it has the advantage of being able to reread and edit before I send it and the added bonus of avoiding the discomfort of direct confrontation. If I deal with it in person, I get the advantage of seeing the other person's body language and them seeing mine. Also, silences are far less uncomfortable in person than on the phone. There's usually some other distraction nearby. On the phone, if it's a business call I have to make, there are the long periods of waiting before being handed off from one person to the next. If you are so fortunate to finally make it to the person that you need to talk to, and if you are lucky enough to get someone that speaks reasonably good English, they may be able to fix your problem. OR, they may need you to check back with them later, which means starting the whole awful cycle beginning with the person whom you do not understand and who seems to be convinced that they are clearly understanding you.
6. Going back to the store to get the one item that I forgot I needed- I'm something of a tightwad with both my money and my time, and this is a waste of both. I do not enjoy spending time alone in the car, so this seems like the ultimate waste of my time and that 3 something a gallon gas.
7. Waiting for something to load on the computer- see the explanation in number 6

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Things that are worth it to buy the name brand:
1. Poptarts- I don't buy these often, because bread and oatmeal are so much cheaper, but when I do, I never, ever, ever buy generic. I like the brown sugar and cinnamon ones, and the name brand is the only one I have found that is really worth eating unless you are exceptionally hungry and there's just nothing else to be had.
2. Shoes- a good pair of shoes is soooo important. I hate achy feet. They can ruin a whole day!
3. Brown Sugar- I WILL NOT bake with the cheap brown sugar. I always buy C&H. The generic brands do not melt well in recipes and just aren't worth buying. You might as well us granulated sugar, because if you put that cheap stuff in a cinnamon roll, it will come out just like granulated. Nothing beats the flavor and texture of good brown sugar.
4. Toilet Paper- One ought not to skinch on toilet paper. One's bottom will not appreciate it. No one likes rough, transparent toilet paper. Do you want to pay for your children's therapy?
5. Tea- Arthur and I drink about a gallon of decaf. tea a day. For pennies more than it would otherwise cost us, we get to enjoy our tea very much. There is no point going through a lifetime of mediocre tea when you can have the good stuff for pennies more a day. I know that, over the course of a lifetime, those pennies add up, but for my three or so dollars a year, I will pay the price to love my tea. Good tea is important to one's sense of well being, especially if one is me. We're talking about quality of life here! One can live without good tea, of course, but if such a simple thing brings joy into your life and the lives of those you love (namely, Arthur), what is a few pennies?
6. Shortening- I have only recently discovered this. Crisco brand shortening is better for you than most generics, because it has no trans fat. Also, my cousin who does cake decorating says it works significantly better in icing.

Things that you are better off buying the cheapo version:
1. Milk- Here in Troy, Aldi's milk is generally considerably cheaper than Wal-Mart's, but it tastes oh so much better! Their cheese is better too, but at most stores, I would recommend buying the name brand cheese over the store brand. Bad cheese is waxy, yuck!
2. Eggs- An egg is an egg is an egg, so unless you are buying organic, what's the point? You will not convince me that the name brand chickens lay better eggs than the poor little generic chickens with the boring looking coop.
3. Butter- similar argument to that above... I have tried several brands of butter (real butter), depending on what was on sale, and they all taste like butter. Margarine, on the other hand, is a different story. Each tub has its own unique taste.
4. Printers- unless you're wanting something really high tech for pictures or something, get whatever has the cheapest ink. Eventually, they all turn on you, so what's the point. My most expensive printer turned on me a lot quicker than my cheapest one!
5. Dogs- The cute little mutt in the parking lot is cheaper, healthier, and just as friendly a companion as that pedigreed pooch. :-)

Things that make me smile:
1. Seeing my husband walk in the house- This most definitely ALWAYS makes me smile. :-)
2. Cookies- Who can argue with that? It makes me especially smiley if the cookies are homemade.
3. Singing in church- I love music and church music especially makes me smile. I love to listen to all the different voices, old and young singing together. There are few if any other places where you can hear so much diversity from one group.
4. Going on a walk on a sunny day.
5. Going on a walk on a rainy day, if it's not to cold.
6. Seeing all of my family.
7. Visiting with old friends.
8. New babies- Wait a second, does anyone know any old babies???
9. Whistling- I don't know why, it just does!
10. Seeing someone else smile almost always makes me more cheerful... So spread some cheer!

Kristyn's Christmas Cantata

This was the end of Kristyn's performance. This was probably the third or forth time through the song. :-D

At long last... Part II

So sorry... I know calling something "part 1" strongly implies that there is a "part 2," and I intended that there would be. I guess I've just been too busy living my life to stop and write about it, so I will try to briefly (somewhat) catch up now.


We took off from Troy the Friday evening before Christmas. Arthur told his boss that he would be taking Monday (Christmas Eve) off. Apparently, the carpenter's union does not consider Christmas Eve as big of a holiday as Labor Day. Yet another 6 hour drive and we were at mom and dad's house. We opened presents with my parents on Saturday morning. Tony and Brenda and their kids came down to open presents with us. Tony is what I call my "almost brother". He moved in with us when I was 5 and lived with us for about 3 and a half years. He lived nearby and worked for my dad until just a few years ago. Sunday morning we went to church and ate dinner at my Grandma Jane's. The original plan was to have Chrstmas with Arthur's relatives on Monday morning, but there was a change of plans because one of his aunts had to work, so we headed up to his grandparents' in Independence, which was about an hour away. We opened presents with them that night. Tony and Brenda had told us that we could stay at their house if it was too crowded at Arthur's grandparents. There was quite a crowd, so we headed that way. When we got there, the house was dark and empty. They had thought we decided against staying there, so they decided to stay at mom and dad's one more night. :-) I have other relatives in town that probably would have put us up for the night, but it was really late, and we didn't want to wake them. So, we headed back to Arthur's grandparents. We got there just in time to see his mom pulling out. In the few minutes we'd been gone, his grandpa had had an episode with his pacemaker, so they took him to the hospital for the night. They found a place to squeeze us in and we went to bed. The next day, we had Christmas dinner there, then headed back to OK to my grandma Jane's house. Arthur and the guys played paintball at mom and dad's house while we wives sat inside with the babies and chatted. We had Christmas at Grandma's with all my mom's side of the family that Monday night. Of course, it was kicked off with a huge supper. I was sooooo full of yummy Christmas food after two big meals in a row! We had to come back to MO Christmas day, because Arthur had to work the next day. It was kind of weird not to go to my Grandpa Don's house at all. We usually went there the day before Christmas Eve. Most of the family got together with his wife and two daughters on New Year's Eve, but again, Arthur had to work, so we couldn't be there. We did have a nice little New Year's Party here with friends and family.


Anyways, the weekend after Christmas was the big Schaper Christmas- for which we made yet another 6 hour road trip. As long as I can remember, that has been the highlight of my year. I was really looking forward to it this year, since we couldn't go down for Thanksgiving. It's funny, even as a kid, knowing that there would be fewer presents there than anywhere else I went for Christmas, I still looked forward to it all year. It's not that I don't enjoy the other gatherings. I really do, but this gathering is special for a number of reasons. My dad is one of SEVEN children. One of those seven, Uncle Steve, is the dean of a high school dorm. We all gather there every year on the weekend after Christmas (we used to gather at my Aunt Ruth's house, but we outgrew that long ago. The last few times we were there, people slept all kinds of places, scattered on the floor all over the house). Some of my cousins I see a lot of, but other's I only get to see at weddings, funerals, and family gatherings like this. At the family Christmas, we get 2-3 days to do nothing but enjoy each other's company and catch up. There are kids roller skating everywhere, running races, and playing school. (There's usually over 80 people in all). There is food EVERYWHERE! There are basketball games, volleyball games, and football games. There are puzzles, scrabble, rook, monopoly, and catch phrase. Did I mention there's a lot of GREAT food? There is the state of the family address, which is every bit as long as the state of the union address. My grandma used to do every single bit of it, but in recent years, we've mixed it up a bit. Two of my cousins did it a year ago and did it completely in rhyme. That was impressive. This year was really neat. Someone from each of the seven families came up and told about all of their family. You see, the State of the Family Address is where they tell a little bit about what each and every family member has been up to in the past year. It's a way to get a quick update on everyone, even the little bitty guys. This year we heard about successes in school, music classes, plays, birthday parties, new jobs, new boyfriends and girlfriends, new spouses, new babies, and all sorts of other great things.


After that comes another one of my favorite parts. We have our own little Christmas program. All the kids say their parts from their church or school programs or sing a song or share some other talent. For instance, one cousin plays the harmonica. Another is great at guitar. One little cousin, Kristyn, sang Away in a Manger again and again and again. :-) She kept getting lost, so it went something like this, "Away in a Manger no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head, the stars in the sky no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head," and so on. We also exchange presents. Grandma and Grandpa get something for everyone, and everyone gets something for them. Other than that, we each draw a name and buy something for that person, so everyone generally gets about two gifts. Overall, we just really enjoy each other's company. I don't know many other families that spend several full days and nights together a couple of times a year and actually enjoy it thoroughly. It really helps keep us all close. I know I could depend on any of my aunts, uncles or cousins if I ever needed them. We're a family, and that's what it's about. Brett, Mom, and Dad Justin, Lindsey, and Brenda
Tony, Brooke, and Sami Grandma Rogers and Chig



Valerie, Lance, and "Mom Baber"
Uncle Nate always plays the part of "Santa Claus."
He tells all the little kids who to take the presents to, and they deliver them. Aunt Diane, Grandma, and Aunt Naomi wathcing Dawson move blocks
with his new tractor. Jenna had too much fun. Aunt Della holding Megan and telling about her family. Kristyn and Hailey are
showing everyone how much the Albert Schaper branch of the family loves each other. :-) Nathaniel and Dawson are enjoying their Christmas Dinner
Kyle and Mandy brought baby Ava the day she came home from the hospital.
Here she is, obviously enjoying her very first family Christmas. Wyatt borrowed his Uncle Brad's paddle to play ping pong with his Papa Nate. Noah worked hard to pull Nathaniel, Shayla, Kaycee, Kaitlynn, and Kayli on this sheet.
One of many Monopoly games
Dawson, Wyatt, Jenna, Nathaniel, and Noah posing for the camera Who knew that foosball was a spectator sport? My Dad and Uncle Steve working on what seemed to be one of the world's hardest puzzles. One of many Rook games Jared enjoying his Papa Steve's famous mashed potatoes and gravy

The Quick Christmas Catch-up Pt. 1

Sorry about the long delay on this post. It's harder to keep up with this site than I thought it would be. :-) Anyways, here's a brief rundown of our Christmas. The first part is the hard part to write. The good part will come in my next post.

Some of you may know that my Grandpa Don (on my mom's side) was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer. By the time they caught it, it had already spread to his lungs. He was visiting my uncle in Alaska when he began having problems. The doctor there suspected pneumonia and thought he ought to be sent home where he could go to a hospital. (There's just a clinic where my uncle lives, and the doctor only visits from time to time. Between times, they have semi-trained personel who call for advice when they cannot help the patients). Anyways, he was bad enough that my uncle was afraid for him to travel alone, so he flew with him as far as Seattle, and my mom met him there and travelled with him the rest of the way home. They took him straight to the hospital in Tulsa from the airport, and he was diagnosed with cancer there. Arthur and I were able to make the trip to Oklahoma twice before he passed away. I was glad for the time I got to spend with him, but I wish he'd been awake and alert more when I was there. He passed away about a week and a half before Christmas. He had insisted on going home the day before, so they took him in an ambulance. My mom said in her entire lifetime, she never knew her dad to profess to be a Christian. However, he did a lot of soul searching and praying in the hospital, and before he died, he told her he had gotten saved and was ready to go. It's amazing how God works. His whole life, he was unable to profess Christianity. When he was in Alaska, before he got sick, my uncle told him, "Dad, I just feel like I need to tell you this, and I'm not sure why. You know, you can be saved if you want to. I'm not a preacher, and I don't know a lot of things, but I do know this. You have to trust and obey. If you do those two things, you can be saved. I just felt like I needed to tell you that." My grandpa said, "Don, I'm glad you said that." As far as I know, that was the extent of the conversation. Later, in the hospital, my grandpa asked my uncle if he was still preaching. At first, Uncle Don didn't remember, but when he did, he said, "Trust and obey, Dad." My grandpa was not normally a singer, but while he was drifting in and out mostly asleep, he was singing and saying something about "Hallelujah." Then, just before he left the hospital, he told my mom he was ready. The funeral was on Monday, December 17.

Arthur and I went down for the weekend. Mom and Dad were still out of electricity because of the ice storm. There was a LOT of damage. Fortunately, Dad's old generator for his welder had broken when he loaned it to someone, so he bought a new one just before the snowstorm. He was able to run the entire house on the new generator. He said the old one never would have handled the job. The drawback to generator life: 1. The gas it guzzles is EXPENSIVE right now!!! 2. It gets turned off at night. I guess it's not all bad... I had a good excuse to cuddle for warmth. :-) It was a hard weekend, but I'm glad Arthur was able to get off work to go with me. It was a looong drive back after the funeral on Monday, and Tuesday morning came all too soon! We had one weekend trip over and two more still to go!

The Un-Post

Warning: This is not really a post. It is a little blurb informing you that I will try to actually post something later this week. I have lots and lots to write about, some things that are very happy, some things that are not so happy, but there will be a post!

Since you last heard from me, I have lived a very eventful existence. :-) If you know me at all, and I think most of you do, you know I can be prone to somewhat clutzy moments... Okay, I can be VERY clutzy! (As those of you who fished my phone out of the toilet can verify). Since my last post, I burned myself on the oven rack (If there is a hole in a pot holder, I will find it), severely sliced my finger on glass (thought it was paper and grabbed it really firmly), caught a towel on fire (I set it too close to the electric burner. I hate electric burners. I'm ready to get back to a gas stove, though it may be a long time), and glued my finger to a toilet, and that was just in one week! Umm, yes, I did say that I glued my finger to a toilet. It is a sad strange story. Lest you all go crazy with curiousity, I guess I'd better explain that one now.

Our toilet handle was broken. To be more specific, the rod running from the toilet handle to the internal flushing mechanism thingy was broken. Did I just use "mechanism" and "thingy" in the same sentence??? Anyways, while Arthur was at work, I got very tired of dealing with the lid to the tank sitting on the counter, and I was tired of having to stick my hand in the tank to flush. I understand that the tank is filled with only clean water, but I still don't like it. Anyways, I thought, hey I have had to be more creative with scraping together crafty teacher projects at the last minute than this job will require, so I scoured the house for something with which I might temporarily repair the rod until our landlord supplied us with a replacement. I found toothpicks and electrical tape. Seemed like a good idea. It would have been if the break had been on the straight part of the rod, but it was right on the bend where the rod and the handle connect. (If you will lift the lid on your toilet tank, you will see what I mean :-) ) Anyways, the toothpicks and tape did not keep it solid enough. It would bend when I pushed the handle, so it was not going to work. Just then, I remembered that I had some superglue. Again, it seemed like a good idea. It was not. It might have been if I had taken into account that the nice runny superglue runs down hill very quickly and is not very visible on a damp, white, plastic rod. I applied the glue, put the two pieces together, and held them very tightly for a long time to make sure it would stick very well. It did. I had been careful to hold the rod far from where I applied the glue, but as I said, it was very runny. My thumb and first two fingers were stuck VERY tight. I could just barely reach the sink from where I was stuck, and I got the soap and wet a washrag. I spent a full half an hour soaking and gently pulling with my left over toothpicks. I couldn't reach any phones, so I was pretty well on my own. 30 minutes of my day, gone, but boy was I happy to be free to move! I was really happy that I didn't damage much skin too. Just a tiny spot on my thumb. The handle worked really well, though..... for 6 or 8 flushes.

That was a long un-post. In case you were wondering, our landlord came by on Tuesday with our new part, and the toilet flushes better than ever! Yippee! Anyways, hopefully you will hear more from me next week, and I hope to have pictures!

Sucking up the Christmas Cheer- A "Tinsel"lating Tale

I have always wanted to have a real Christmas tree. My mom, on the other hand, always said they were a pain and a big mess, and I thought that was a rather Grinchy idea, and I decided that when I had a home of my own, I would have a real Christmas tree. I have also always loved tinsel. My mom let us put those tinsel "icecicles" on our tree one year, but she never let us do it again. This also seemed rather grinchy to me, so this year, I asked Arthur if we could have a real tree, and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a nice big package of tinsel. Saturday afternoon, after he finished duck hunting (they brought back 16 ducks), Arthur took me to a Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. It was great! There was a Santa guy there (that Ho-ho guy, as my cousin's little boy used to say) who told kids to be good because Jesus wanted them to love everyone and be nice to people. There was also FREE hot chocolate! I could NEVER pass up free hot chocolate! Anyways, we found the perfect tree, and Arthur sawed it down.
Here is Arthur posing with the tree. He is making sure everyone sees how I am torturing him by dragging him there :-)
Here I am with our tree. My wonderful hubby sawing down our tree.
We invited Bob, Shar, Elise, and Bob and Shar's two foster kids over to help decorate the tree. Well, the guys watched the football game, and the rest of us decorated. They had a great time. There were a few branches that were a bit weighed down with ornaments, but overall, they did a good job of spreading them out. Also, I don't have a tree topper yet, so we put a little teddy bear on top for now. I ended up getting some more of that snowflake garland too, so it looks a little better now than it did in the pictures. Arthur popped some popcorn, and Shar brought oreos, so we had some great snack food. The kids, especially boy B., loved the popcorn popper! Shar, Elise, and I played some Candy Land with the kiddos. They were sad when it was time to go home (maybe just because they knew it would be bedtime when they got there), but we did all have a good time!
What I discovered while decorating is that tinsel is a very messy thing, which is probably why my mom wasn't that into tinsel, but it is a wonderful little bit of Christmas cheer, and I love seeing it on my tree, so I was not concerned about the mess. (I would recommend to anyone contemplating using tinsel on their tree that you do NOT wear a nice staticky sweater. My nice staticky sweater made sure I was nice and tinsely)! Between wrestling the tree into the house and into the tree stand and all the decorating, there was a LOT of stuff on my carpet. However, I had the utmost confidence that my vacuum cleaner could handle it. My Bissell vaccuum cleaner will pick up anything, and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a good vaccuum for a reasonable price. So, I whipped it out and proceeded to clean! It did a great job of picking up the tinsel and pine needles. However, when I swept under the tree, it did a great job of sucking all of the tinsel off of the lower branches as well! It looked very interesting with loads of tinsel on the higher branches and none at all on the lower couple of layers of branches. I searched around the house for loose tinsel on the floor (it did not contain itself to the living room... it roamed freely around the house as if it were all open range) and swiped some from the back of the tree to balance it back out a bit. I guess I should wait until we take the tree down after Christmas to vaccuum directly under the tree, or I will run out of my bits of Christmas cheer before I even finish buying all of the presents! Maybe my mom was not Grinchy, just a bit more practical than my romanticized ideas of Christmas allow me to be. :-) Even with the mess though, I think I will always love tinsel. I might have gotten carried away playing with the different effects on my camera, but I think you can see the tinsel better on the sepia picture.
I also finished my stockings! Yey! I think they turned out really cute. I bought some cross-stitch tread and plan on sewing our names onto them. I do not cross-stitch, but I like stitching the names with that thread as opposed to the single strand embroidery thread. They were really easy to make. I love iron on paper! I just cut the shapes out of felt and ironed them onto the fabric. The actual stocking fabric is felt also, but I got it off of a large bolt, whereas the decorations are cut from smaller squares of felt from the craft section. I stitched the two sides of the stockings together with a long running stitch using cross stitching thread. I stitched two ribbons together for the border at the top and ironed it around the top border of the stocking. I folded over a small piece of ribbon and tacked it down to the inside corner of the stockings and voila! Today, Shar and I made about 200 sugar cookies. That was fun. She is taking them to her teen Bible club tonight. They will get to decorate them and package them to deliver to people in the community. I may have to stop by during kids' club and take a few pictures. In case you're curious, it takes 15 cups of flour and 6 sticks of margarine to make that many cookies. :-) It also takes 3 cups of powdered sugar and about 4 cups of granulated sugar. That ought to spread some Christmas cheer, even without the tinsel!

Thanksgiving Chaos!

We've been busy lately. Arthur is working in Illinois, which means that he leaves here before 5AM and doesn't get home until about 5:30 PM. :-( That has seriously restricted the time available for us to do ANYTHING! It's dark when he leaves and dark when he gets home, and since we get up so early, we don't want to be out too late, so we don't get out much. I know, I said we've been busy, and so far, this post makes it sound like we haven't been doing anything, but we have! Thanksgiving day, Arthur got up at 3AM and went duck hunting. It was SNOWING when he left! Yey! When he got home, he had to go put straw on his mom's outdoor plants. (She was gone to Minnesota to be with the Baber family for Thanksgiving). Meanwhile, I baked cinnamon rolls and cooked some green beans to take to my cousin Shar's house, where we had our Thanksgiving meal. Thanks, Shar! I also made a stocking. I still need to make one more, and when they're done, I'll post a picture here. I wanted something cute and creative for our stockings, so I decided to make our own.

Arthur had to get up and go back to work on Friday, and I left the house shortly after he did to go Christmas shopping, so by the time he got home from work, we were both VERY tired. While he was gone, I packed up to get ready to go to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, and we left as soon as he got home and got the car started (which was acting up AGAIN). Before a previous trip to Oklahoma, my car refused to start. Arthur replaced a battery (as my dad recommended), unreplaced the battery as he had got the wrong one, replaced it again, unreplaced it again since that turned out not to be the problem, and several phone calls to my dad and two trips to O'Reilly's auto parts later, replaced the starter, which seemed to fix the car. We made a trip to OK after that, and the car started acting up again. My dad said it was probably a fuse problem. He also said one of the belts needed replaced. My car is falling apart! When we got home Arthur said I should not drive the car until he could replace the belt and the fuse. If the fuse acted up, the car could refuse to start, stranding me, and if the belt broke, it could overheat, stranding me, so I have been busily driving over curbs in Arthur's truck while he drives the old beater he bought to get him better gas mileage to and from work.

Anyways, back to Friday afternoon. Arthur had got off a little early, because the whole crew wanted to be with family for the holiday weekend. He went to pull the car around to load it, and it wouldn't start! He had bought fuses so as to be ready the next time the fuse blew (they think a wire or something keeps hitting it). He put the new fuse in, but realized he'd got the wrong size. (We hate dodges. Nothing is standard)! Our neighbor drove up about that time, and he happened to have a fuse in his truck that fit, so we borrowed that, loaded up the car, and got on the road about 4:30. When we got almost to Nowata, OK, roughly an hour from home, it was snowing a LOT. The road was warm enough that it wasn't particularly slick except on the bridges, which are many around there, but the snow was falling so fast that visibility was only about 10-15 feet. Long story short, we were going 30 in a 65, even with no other cars on the road, which, if you know my husband, is NOT normal procedure for us! As we turned toward Oglesby, the snow lightened up, and we were able to resume a relatively normal speed. We got home around 11 or so.

Saturday morning, Arthur and my dad went to winterize one of our rent houses we recently purchased in Ochelata. They are trailer houses. Arthur fixed one of them enough to be liveable, and we got it rented the same day we finished cleaning it up! The other one will require a lot more work! After winterizing it, they worked on my car, replacing two belts, I think. After a scrumptious dinner at my Grandma Jane's, the guys (Arthur, Uncle Tony, my cousins' husbands John and Dustin, and my brother Justin) went to Mom and Dad's house to play paintball. We ate again at Grandma's that evening, and then Mom, Uncle Tony, and I went to see my Grandpa Don in the hospital in Tulsa (more on that another time). We got home kind of late, and Justin, Arthur, and Sami'O we playing Justin's Wii. Mom and I joined in, and I won a game of bowling! I tried boxing later, and Justin made fun of me! :-P

Sunday morning, we went to church in Ochelata, had dinner at Grandma's with my family and Uncle Tony and Aunt Shug, then packed up and headed home. End of story? Not quite! We were almost to Oglesby, when Arthur was going around a curve and nearly didn't make it. I looked at the spedometer and saw that he was only going about 35, not nearly fast enough to have that much trouble turning a corner. We heard something hit the bottom of the car and the ground, but I thought it was probably gravel from skidding around the corner so hard. Arthur said, "What just happened?" He decided that the power steering had gone out. The fluid had been low before, so we thought maybe the power steering fluid had leaked out. We stopped at a gas station and got some, but when he started to refill the fluid, he saw it was full! He got back in the car and tried to start it. It didn't turn over, so he replaced yet another fuse and tried again. This time, it started, but it was so hard to drive on the curvy road that we stopped again and called my dad. He told Arthur to check the belt, and sure enough, it was GONE! We drove all the way back to Missouri, on those curvy country roads, with no power steering. VERY irritating! So, I am still running over curbs in the really long truck.