Florida--Where old people go to die, and don't (Jerry Seinfeld?)

 

    This pretty much sums up our time here in Florida so far.  In order to catch up, I need to go back to the first of December.  On the first Saturday in December, I went to see the play Mean Girls in SLC and had a little issue with my car.  After the play, my battery was dead.  I had to call AAA and they really didn't take too long to come and jump my battery and then she told me her diagnosis tool showed I needed a new one.  She very efficiently replaced it down on the street behind the theater and then I took off for home.  This picture is of the construction happening on the Salt Lake Temple:

    Kara and Terry reported to the mission home and are now in Costa Rica working their tails off.  The mission has been minus proper administrative personnel and the work has been done (poorly) by the missionaries themselves.  They have spent their four weeks there untangling all the mess multiple people have done to the finances and missionary transfers, apartments, etc.  I can only imagine how crazy this must be driving Kara who is so much like her mom. 

    I had a job on the day of Moreland Elementary's Christmas program.  It was a crazy but fun day to sub.  The kids were dressed up so nicely and they performed their songs with vigor and adorable movements.  They had been well prepared and I got to watch Dax perform twice.  He then came home with me and decided it was the perfect time for a sleepover.  Audrey brought Gus and they had a great time.  I also went in one day for Dax's teacher and he didn't know I was going to be there, hence our selfie.  I also subbed the last two days before Christmas break for 3rd grade when kids were wound up and had difficulty focusing, but we got along OK. 

    I got the tree quilt done for Kristine and Michelle Hunt picked it up and delivered it.  As gifts for our neighbors and friends, I made shrimp dip with attached Ritz Crackers, and I think we made 13 stops (some got microwave popcorn instead).  I also hosted book club this month at my house.  We read From Humbug to Humble about what happens to Scrooge after the end of Dicken's tale.  The best part was we had a Zoom call with the author and she let us ask questions.  It wasn't my favorite book, but I liked hearing what the author had to say.  

    This gets us to Christmas Eve.  We had the traditional Swedish meatball meal and the Stoddarts and Murdocks and Sandra were all in attendance.  We played Spoons and Nurts and Mormon Bridge.  Matt did his usual wrapping job on the gift for the kids to open.  This time he also hid dollar bills between the layers so it required a more careful and slow unwrapping--like 10 minutes wasn't enough.  For Christmas I got two art pieces of James Christensen.  I love his realism and creativity.  I will replace these pictures with how they look on my walls when I get back to my house, but these are the ones:

The Widow's Mite

The Responsible Woman

    I took zero pictures on Christmas Day, but it was another nice day to be together and hear and see what the kid's got from Santa.  Quinn cooked prime rib and a tri-tip roast along with the popular pomegranate salad, crab Louise salad, and pies.  The Stoddarts had another family party to attend, so after they left, Quinn and I taught Matt and Katie how to play Rook.  

    Quinn got flu like symptoms about the middle of December and just as he was recovering, he was hit again with all the regular symptoms plus a cough and night sweats.  The Sunday after Christmas, we went to urgent care and he got some medicine for the cough, but we turned down the test for COVID.  It was not covered by Medicare and we didn't see that it would make a lot of difference in how he felt.  Now he wishes he had done it just to know for sure because when he read on the internet the symptoms of the Omicron virus, he had every one of them.  I'm sure he had it on Christmas Day because other family member's started to get sick.  I was only sick a day or two and I never got a cough, so who knows if I had it.

FLORIDA:

    Here is where I was going to begin writing about our trip to Florida (hence the title), but I am tired, so I will devote a new post to that.  Let's just say we are old and have no intention of dying, so Florida it is.  I will end with a pretty sunset.  What I liked about this one was how it turned the tops of the trees orange east of it (taken on the road by the driving range).