Katie Ghersi

Jensen met Katie Ghersi at the birthday party of a mutual friend. They were talking about their respective summer camps. Katie said, "We do this at my camp". Jensen said, "We do that at my camp". Katie said, "We do this at my camp." Jensen said, "Me too!" It wasn't long before they figured out that they were both Mormon. Katie's family had moved to the area and hadn't been able to make it to church yet. Jensen invited her to ride with us and they have been great friends since. We, I say me, because I was in the Young Women's program at the time, had great times traveling to the church in Apopka every Wednesday.

Jensen wanted to have one last hurrah with Katie before she moves to Oviedo so she spent the night. I found out a secret about Katie. That girl has got a set of pipes. She and Jensen were in her room and having a sing-a-long and wow! I told her mom and her mom said that she doesn't like to sing in public. Well she should! I hope they have a chorus program at the high school where she is going. She needs to develop that talent.

The next day we went to Rock Springs. I forget how much I love Rock Springs. We went frequently when I was a young'un. I went there for Senior Skip Day. My best friend's friend had an old beater car and we all piled in and went. It was a lot of fun.

Danette and I used to take the kids there a lot when I had my daycare. It's nice because it has a graduated walk-in beach area for the little ones. They could swim without much assistance from us. There are two parts of the river, the rocky part, thus the name, and the clear part. The older, braver kids can go down the rocky part and we would take the little ones in their floats down the clear side. The older kids also like to look for sharks teeth or arrowheads.

Next to the beach, I think springs are my favorite body of water. I'd like to visit all of the springs in Florida. I should put that on my bucket list.

We had a great time with Katie and we are sure going to miss her. She's not going too far away so we will have to go kidnap her for the weekend.

Girls Night In!

Tonight at Young Women's the moms and the yw played a game similar to the Newlywed Game. This is what I found out about Jensen.

1. Her favorite food is cornbread, as in Grandma's. I guessed Chicken Alfredo.
2. Her favorite candy is Starbursts...I guessed Baby Bottle Pops.
3. If she had to cook dinner, she would make Mac N' Cheese... I guessed Pizza Rolls.
4. Her least favorite chore is doing the dishes. I got this one right! Everyone in this house hates doing dishes!
5. Her dream car is a punch buggy (VW), painted like a Bumble Bee. I got this one right!
6. He favorite place to shop is CVS...I guessed Kohl's because I was thinking clothes shopping. My favorite place is also CVS so I am glad we can enjoy that together.
7. The place she most wants to go is to sleep...I put the beach because before we answered she said that we wanted to go to the same place. I was confused. I didn't think she wanted to go to the beach because of the whole jellyfish incident. The place she guessed for me was to sleep at the beach. I guess to sleep is the place we both want to go. LOL!

I know a lot of her likes and dislikes I just don't know her favorites. I think it is hard to pin down favorites, there are so many choices. I also think favorites can change.

For the second game, we poured ourselves some M & M's out of a cup. However many we chose is how many nice things we had to say about our teammate. I chose 21 M & M's. We only got to share 3 things but here is my list of things I like/admire/love about Jensen.

1. She is funny. Oh man, she is funny. This is a requirement for living in our house, so she gets to stay. She has learned the humor skill very well.
2. She is a good friend. I've seen her interact with her friends and she loves and cares about them.
3. Jensen loves the gospel. She is always eager to learn and do what is right.
4. Jensen is smart. She does well at school. For 8th grade she earned a high school credit in science.
5. She is cute and beautiful. Sometimes I just look at her and am amazed at how beautiful she is.
6. Jensen is a mad trombone player. I am impressed that she picked the trombone to play and she does it very well.
7. Jensen sings very well. She won't sing in public but when she is at home, she belts it out.
8. Jensen has a sense of style. She puts her outfits together and they are cute and modest.
9. Jensen is a good sister. She loves her sister Madison and her brother Parker very much. She gets along well with both of them.
10. She is very loving. She still lets her snuggle with her at night and still gives us kisses good-bye.
11. She is very organized. I'll come home and the linen closet will be cleaned and organized.
12. She likes to clean, except dishes. One year for Christmas she wanted a cleaning cart. Santa didn't get it for her because there were other things to get that year and he didn't think she was serious. He thought it was just a phase. She expressed her disappointment and asked for it again the next year. Santa obliged.
13. Jensen loves all animals. If mother would let her she would bring home all of the strays. For her 7th birthday, she took her money and adopted Daisy from the Cat Protection Society. It didn't matter that Daisy had a bum eye. We turned it into something positive and said it was magical.
14. Jensen loves babies. If mother would let her she would bring home all of the strays. When I help out with Daniel Higley at church, Jensen laughs the whole time. He's so cute.
15. She is thoughtful. She knows just the right thing to say or do to make your day better.
16. She is creative. She likes all craft projects and does them well. Her specialty is the sculpy clay.
17. Jensen is a great missionary. She's not afraid of who she is. She does it quietly by her example but she also opens her mouth and invites her friends to church. All of her non-member friends know the church she belongs to and I think every single one of them hasbeen to church with her.
18. Adventurous. Jensen likes to try new things, go new places.
19. Jensen loves to read. I love that she loves to read because I love to read.
20. Laugh. You might think this is the same as #1 but it's not. Jensen loves to laugh. She does not have to be the only one who is funny. If you are funny, she will laugh at you also.
21. Obedient. Jensen always does what we ask her to do. Not perfectly but she is really agreeable and will eventually do as asked.
    

I'm glad I got to spend the evening with Jensen and get to know her better. I'm so blessed to have her as a daughter.

Literally, Great Niece and Nephew

I got to spend a few hours today with the greatest niece, Skye, and the greatest nephew, Cole. We played in the kiddie pool for a while and then Cole fell fast asleep. Ah! The life of luxury. Skye, Jensen and I watched, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Not really the season, but Skye had never seen it. I guess we could call it Christmas in July.

Skye is so smart. She read the title on the box and said she sounded it out. She said that when there was an "e" on the end of the word then that made it something. I said, "yeah it gives it the long "O" sound." She said, "yeah that." So smart that she knows those rules already and only a kindergarten graduate.

Their mom has just returned to school to get her degree in child psychology. I'm so proud of Dr. Larkin. Positive Affirmations. I know she will be successful.

Freedom

Jerry Leslie Sims

If you've read my other blogs, you know that I am not a huge fan of holidays, at least not the commercialism part. We didn't go to fireworks or to a parade or have a cookout but I do meditate in my heart the gratitude that I have for the American soldier. I am deeply thankful for their fight for our country and their fight against injustices brought to people of other nations. I am deeply thankful for all of the freedoms I enjoy.


My uncle recently joined Facebook and luckily has posted a picture of himself when he was a soldier in South VietNam 1971-1972. Thanks Uncle Jerry!

Last Day of Summer School

Today was my last day of summer school. One of my students rallied the others together and made this. I had even fussed at her to get to work, not knowing what she was up to. What a plesant surprise. I have really enjoyed teaching summer school. The students are really motivated for some reason. Cards like this make teaching worthwhile.

Salt Springs Sink

This is my project for the summer.

It is the sink cabinet from the Salt Springs cabin. I know, scary, huh? My idea was to buy a new cabinet or at least a nice used one. It was Lew's great idea to sand and paint this one because it is "retro."

Lew won... for now. I knew that even though Lew said he would do the work the task would fall to me. Just in case he really wanted to do it, I let it set outside for months and months refusing to work on it. I just couldn't stand it any longer. I want to be able to use our Salt Springs cabin for a place of respite so I took on the project.

The task seemed overwhelming. I sanded the rust. I went to Lowe's to find tools or products to make sanding the rust easier. I sanded some more rust. I washed off some of the rust. I scraped off some of the rust. I sanded more of the rust.

I used the sanding time as meditation time. I thought about what color I wanted to paint it. I thought about bright colors. I thought about white. I went to Lowe's and looked at the colors. Nothing jumped out at me. I was watching Oprah yesterday and Kirstie Alley was on and she did a segment called Ding Dong Decorator. She went into a woman's home and decorated it. She painted the bathroom cabinet black and it looked so cool and crisp. I had my color!

Since this task seemed so overwhelming I had to see some completion and know that there was an end. Jensen and I went to Wal-Mart and got one can of paint. I found a Rust-o-leum that is Hammered Black. The surface doesn't have to be smooth. I read the can and all of the rust doesn't even have to be sanded off! Of course, I have to sand most of the rust because I won't be able to sleep if I know there is rust lurking under the sink.









Jensen, Lew and I got one drawer painted so I could experience success. I think it looks beautiful and I am excited for the finished product!

Bucket List

I haven't even seen the movie, "The Bucket List", but I get the gist of it. A list of things to do before you kick the bucket. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and since "Write my Personal History" is on my list then I might as well write on my blog. Here is my list. Please don't judge me. If there is anything on the list that you would like to help me to accomplish, let me know. I you would like to accompany me on any of my adventures again, let me know.

These are in no particular order.

• Take an untethered hot air balloon ride
• Ride the human slingshot at Daytona (I already have plans to do this on my next birthday with Prissy since we share the same birthday and it's on her list, too.)
• Ride the Ferris Wheel at Daytona
• Go zip lining
• Learn to macrame (that's right, I missed it the first time around in the 70"s. Now i regret it.)
• Grow a garden and eat something out of it.
• Learn to the play the piano (just basics)
• Write my personal history (I'm doing it! Now I have to do all of my retro life)
• Digitize all of my photos, from which I will write my personal history.
• Obtain a concealed weapons permit.
• Obtain a motorcycle license.
• Be debt free
• Buy and drive a scooter
• Visit a nude beach (Don't judge)
• Fix my house and yard the way I want it. (This includes my room, which I want to make into a Moroccan boudoir. I need help with this one)
• Live as a minimalist
• Get a passport and use it!
• Go on a service mission.
• Learn to kayak and go on an overnight trip.
• Walk a labyrinth
• Meditate with a Buddhist monk.
• Go on a silent meditation retreat.
• Do work at all of the temples in the world.
• Earn my master's degree
• Earn my doctorate's degree
• Go on an overnight bicycling trip and sleep in my own shelter.
• Sing karaoke with Jean at her choice of venue.
• Rent a villa in Tuscany and wear a long, white flow-y dress
• Eat granola on a gondola in Venice.
• Get a henna tattoo
• Learn how to make a rag rug.

This is it for now. As i think of more, I will add them.