Funeral, Fun, and a Fancy

So those three words don't actually really go together.  You would think.  But for today, there they are.

Saturday was the funeral for our neighbor down the street.  He was a year younger than us.  Died suddenly while they were on a vacation of a pulmonary embolism.  So sad.  We've done things socially with them. I dreaded the funeral.  I generally avoid them, but felt like I absolutely had to attend this one.  I was certain it would be a very long funeral, that couple has eight children.  And every one of them spoke, in addition to his wife.  And wonderfully - the funeral was just over an hour.  And was good.  All the kids (full grown adults with older kids of their own) did so well.  It actually was more uplifting than I expected.

We were sad to have missed the Bishop's Storehouse that day, though we know they can get along without us just fine.

Tuesday morning, we met with one of our finance guys.  It isn't easy to talk to them, feeling like our small nest egg is dwindling.  (Remember 2022 we lost 30% of the value - along with a lot of other people - just because of the markets/economy.  It feels grim.) But came away feeling at least a little comforted.  Better, also, because some of our funds will be on our way soon - have to pay for those water heaters, furnaces, garage door opener, etc.  Still waiting today for its arrival.  Hopefully it doesn't take too long.

Anyway, that afternoon, I was determined that we were going to have a spot of fun.  So off to the movie we went.  Courtesy of a theater gift card we received at Christmas.  Going on a cheap Tuesday discount day means we still have money left on the card that will almost completely pay for another Tuesday afternoon movie.  And I'm holding on to the free popcorn voucher as well for the next time.  I have very much missed our previous weekly movie tradition.  Not only was it fun to go to an actual theater, we saw a wonderful movie (Willy Wonka) that I wouldn't mind seeing again some time.  Yup, it was fun.

And the fancy?  Another project.  Yes, I know I've several "works in progress" that aren't yet completed.  And won't be anytime soon.  But I've had this thought in my head that I need to do this so I followed the thought and began the project.  Went to Joann's and got some yarn - had to get in on their yarn sale.  Started working with it and just hated that particular yarn.  So, back to the store last night after dinner in the dark (I'm still scared of the dark) and cold (the parking lot was so slippery)  to return that yarn and replace with better. 

New Stitch for me.

Also the fancy?  I'm learning a new stitch.  I've always dreaded and abhorred the never ending chain stitch to begin a crochet project.  This was a long, long chain (want to make a lap throw).  Hard to keep track of the triple digit numbers required to begin a substantial item. After three long rows, discovered somehow I hadn't kept track, the stitches were off and the pattern was all off / wrong. So, I'm learning the double crochet foundation row.  It's actually not that hard and looks fairly decent so far.  And is a huge improvement over the chain foundation. Now if only I can get the stitch count right.  It's kind of hard to do when making the pattern a different size than it's written. But I'll give it a good try and see where we end up. Seems like all the patterns I like are written for baby blanket size so there's some math involved to make it bigger.  And no matter how accurate I think my numbers are, I'm usually faking it somewhere along the line to make it look right.  

And I wanted to include this article here, I enjoyed it.  Perfection Not Required I like this perspective.  I'll never be perfect, but do want to be close to The Savior.

Tonight we have Hale - though my no-with-it side put it on the calendar for 7:30 this morning.  I'm looking forward to it.  The weather today has been lovely, though when we headed out for a walk there was black ice everywhere so we abandoned that endeavor and I read on the treadmill instead.

I'm grateful for something to look forward to (another movie, Hale theater, a new project and even some books from the library).  I'm grateful today for a bit of sunshine, my soul needed that.  And for the ability to try a new recipe for dinner.  Hope it's good and tasty.