Conference, Decorations and Sage

 Most of us watched or listened to the Saturday morning session of conference. Jack had to leave for a special band practice, so he missed most of it. We had missed mowing the lawn that Tuesday so we decided we'll do it that day. I started trimming after eating lunch but then after Jack came home he did the mowing. He borrowed my phone and earbuds so he could listen to conference while mowing. He got to listen to it but I didn't. I am okay with that because I don't mind listening to it later and I love that he listened to it. The other kids were busy putting away pool toys since we are done using the pool for the year. It took awhile for them because they had a lot of air to release out of the inflatables. I also trimmed the rose bush and a tree branch that was hanging down low. I had to have Jack help me with that one because he's stronger than I am now. Curtis started work on tiling our shower. He spent most of the day doing that.

He's doing his cutting on the deck this time.

One thing I did the week of conference also was to finish painting the hand rail for the stairs. Curtis got it hung back up last week. 

I painted the hardware underneath to match the chandelier.

Conference was really good, as usual and I was quite surprised at how well it seemed Garrett was listening to it on Sunday, even after I had told him he couldn't watch Full House during the break and that he was found reading his Percy Jackson book instead during the 2nd session. I saw him reading and let him know that conference was on and a little later he came out and watched. Usually you'll see my kids sleeping. Curtis even slept. But every time I looked at Garrett it looked like he was listening, so I was definitely happy about that! The thing that stuck out the most in this conference was the last one where Pres Nelson's talk centered on the phrase "Think Celestial". I love that and I love President Nelson!

Last week I decided to try listening to at least one of the Saturday afternoon talks that most of us had missed since we were working, while getting ready in the mornings and while driving the boys to school. I like starting our day out with uplifting talks. I have also decided I needed to be a better example of reading scriptures. The best way to do that is to read my old set of scriptures I had when I was a teenager and doing it after I wake Garrett up and he starts eating. Curtis wakes up Jack earlier so he can shower first but then he comes up to eat. It's better for them to see me reading printed out scriptures rather than trying to read on my phone, because they usually can't see what I'm actually doing on my phone. It just looks like I'm doing other stuff. And to be honest, I haven't been reading as often as I should be. I do have to use my phone to look up the come follow me stuff for the week though, but I have my set of scriptures right next to me to do the reading from. Sometimes I will listen to scriptures while I'm working.

Alice got me in the mood to put Halloween decorations up. After cleaning up pool toys, she found the Halloween bucket in the garage and had me bring it inside. I spent Monday morning shopping at the thrift store and then Monday afternoon putting up decorations. It was nice to do some things I wanted and take a break from working.

Our front entry. 

I put Autumn and Halloween decorations up together.

The family room in the basement.

Family room again.

The decor in the window by the front door. Nikki had painted that pumpkin.

If it wasn't bad enough that we had thought we lost Coco last month, Sage ended up being missing for a couple of days last week also. The last time I remembered seeing her was Tuesday afternoon after I picked the boys up from school. She was wandering around out front while kids walked home from the middle school. I think she likes to get attention from them. She never wanders very far though and she always comes back the same day. I didn't think I had seen her that evening but thought maybe somebody let her outside before bedtime. Well, I expected that if she was outside during the night that she would be waiting by the sliding door in the morning. I kept looking out the windows and doors expecting to see her and saw nothing. I also looked all over the house and in the garage. It was very unusual for her as she does not wander like Coco does. Charlotte was getting sad by Wednesday night and I was a little worried also. Thursday morning I was thinking of posting about her being missing on the lost pets Facebook pages but I decided to wait. Thankfully, later that day I saw that someone made a post that they had found her and were looking for her owners. She didn't have a collar on and she's not chipped and yes she's skinny, but she does eat. It turned out that a girl walking home from school thought that maybe Sage needed help and she took her to her grandma's house in a nearby neighborhood. Her grandma is the one that made the post trying to find her home. I was so relieved though that she was safe and well taken care of until she was returned to us. I need to get our cats into a vet and get them chipped so that if anyone else finds them they can find out sooner where they belong.

After her little adventure.