God Be With You Till We Meet Again Shimai

It was a very long and stressful day yesterday. I got up to find Princess Four hadn't quite finished packing so I was shoving things here and there in a rush so we could get going. 


My sister showed up to say "goodbye" which was sweet of her. With visiting and doing some packing, we got out about 1/2 hour later than I wanted but we still were doing well on time but I always worry if the car has issues or there is traffic so I like to leave early. 

Princess Four looked so cute in her little suit / skirt and she wore the Asian necklace I found at a second hand store that I thought was fun. I think she wanted something to remind her of home. 

On our way out of town, we went to visit a sister in our congregation that was having some health issues and was in a care facility and we sang her a hymn before pulling out of town. 

Princess Five was packed in among the larger of the two suitcases. I don't think she minded as you can see the smile on her face. She had never been with me to drop any of her sisters off as she was young and worried about missing school for various reasons. It really isn't a big deal as basically, you just pull up, get the luggage out, give them a hug and drive off. 

Princess Five was voted the "mayor" of the youth city council and had things going on but last minute decided she wanted to go drop her sister off. 

Here is a link to the post where I dropped off Princess Two for her mission and she is saying goodbye to Princess Five.  

I was glad to have the company for the trip home so I am glad she chose to come as that is always a lonely drive contemplating not seeing them for 18 months. 

We let Princess Four choose where she wanted to eat lunch after our visit to Princess Two's office. She wanted some spicy Thai food. Who can blame her, she served a service mission to Thailand so maybe it was making a link between her service mission and this full time mission. Either way, we all enjoyed the food. I laughed when I got my "fortune" from the cookie. It said, "Faith is a law." 

I am not sure what the fortune was supposed to mean but I took it that I need to have "faith" knowing everything will be "alright" to quote Jimmy Eat World, "The Middle" song which we heard this week. 

Princess Five struggled when she had to say "goodbye" to her sister before we loaded up in the car to drop her at the curb. You can see the tears streaming down her cheek in the picture. 

Princess Four is all smiles so excited but nervous enough she couldn't really eat. She ate a little but hopefully she ate lots for dinner because she ate no breakfast and maybe got half of her lunch down. 
 
We were in a line of cars for 20 minutes to drop her off. It was VERY busy and crowded but the line of missionaries at the curb smiling at us as we pulled in was priceless. There was a cute sister missionary from New Zealand there to welcome us and escort Princess Four from the car and help with her luggage. 

They asked if they could take a picture of us so I allowed it as last time they said they couldn't as they didn't want them liable for the camera being dropped or anything so I didn't think they would take a picture but they did so it was great. 

Just as they took the picture, there was a bee that flew in front of Princess Twos face and we joked quoting the Drew Barrymore Cinderella movie, "There was a bee" that is so funny in one scene. I asked them to take another picture just to be sure. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed that the bee ended up being right where Princess Two's right eye is. It is exactly in her right eye. So weird how that happened. 

It was easier to let Princess Four head off than any of the others as I had company with me, I had Princess Two there who works near there so if there is any problem, I know she could help, and Princess Four is really ready and had sister missionaries there to help take her in. I remember the last thing I saw when I took Princess One in was looking in the rear view mirror at this petite girl walking away with a guy about 6'5" and she just looked so small and fragile next to him. I was grateful that there were women there to help her settle in. 


I know that she will be fine and be a wonderful missionary. I MISS HER already! 

A Visit To the Job Site - Princess Two's Secure

I am SO tired that I just don't have it in me to post much today. I will have to fill you in after I get some sleep. I didn't sleep much last night due to Princess Four being nervous and when I woke this morning, she had a little left to pack so we were a bit rushed. 
 
In the two years Princess Two has worked in the Human Resources Dept, we have never seen her office. We have never visited her. We have never seen pictures of her office, cubicle etc. I thought we should rectify that since we were going to be near there to drop off  Princess Four anyway. 

We had to go through security and get a large white "VISITOR" badge with the date on it and we had to sign in stating who we were there to see, what building they were in, what office they were in in the building and how long we would be there. 

I had a camera with me and they asked what my "plans" were with the camera and I told them I would only take pictures of her office and nothing else.  

Truly, I had NO idea how secure the area she worked in was until today. There are security gates and I actually had to "sign in." She had to come out and meet us and buzz us through the gate with her security badge which I didn't even know she had. Before we came, she had to "notify" them we were coming, who we were and why we were coming and they compared her notification against our answers I guess.

Glad to know she is safe at work! It was good to meet the women she works with but I didn't ask if I could post the pictures of them so I will just share that with them and not post it here. They, however, offered to take a picture of us in the office so that was fun. It was good to be able to visualize where Princess Two works now. I realize I can't just "stop in" for a visit though so that is rough but since she lives close to work, I can always visit her at home. 

My entire body is sore and I hope I will be up to sharing about Princess Fours big day in tomorrows post.

It's Official - Shimai Is Now a Missionary

Today was a good day. It was long and we are tired but it was a good day. I printed off the last pictures she wanted, went to the bank and basically got the last few things we needed. 

In TRUE Princess Four fashion, she is still up and repacking her suitcases which have been packed for a few weeks due to me "needing" to have it "off my list." 

But, it has been so long, she can't remember what was in them as she didn't do a "check off" list so it is after midnight and I am finding the last few things she may need and I am fading fast. I am using large font and typing as fast as I am able as I need sleep to make the long drive tomorrow. 
 
She met with our ecclesiastic leader at 4:30 today and he gave her a wonderful blessing which makes it very official that she will now be a "sister" missionary in our church for the next 18 months! 

We went to pick up the pictures at Walmart and the sunset was radiating in all directions beautiful colors but by the time we got into the car, grabbed the camera and drove to the other side of the parking lot, the color was almost gone. 

I asked Princess Four what she wanted for her last "going away" dinner. Would you believe "sushi" was the answer? We have eaten more sushi in the past three months since she has been home than in several years put together. She is SUPER excited to be able to go to Japan and eat it more often as it is something she really enjoys. 

We talked about maybe watching a movie for the last time tonight but by the time I typed up her last few things, printed off a few things, several people dropping off cards and giving her a bit of money to help her on her way, it was fairly late. 

People have been very generous in giving her some "get ready" money and since we spent $1000 on wool clothes, shoes, boots, glasses, contacts, etc, it has been wonderful since she needs $500 for a bike, $48 for a helmet, $200 in fees to get into the country, and $60-80 for bedding, I am VERY grateful to those who were kind and generous enough to share what they have with her so I can focus on the medical bills and house taxes due this month. 

Several people called or stopped over to say "goodbye" while others wrote on her "wall" and some, we were just lucky to run into like my nephew who works at the store where we picked up sushi for dinner. 

Tomorrow is going to be hard for both Princess Five and I but it will be SO much easier for me to drop her off as her older sister, Princess Two works at the office where we will be taking her to drop her off! 
 
What blessings are ours! So many blessings. You won't believe what song came on spotify as we were leaving for her meeting at 4:30 where she became an official missionary.....Yep, "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World! Here is a post about that song and there are many other posts where I share that it comes on just at a needed time to remind me God loves me.  

Here is a smattering of the pictures we printed to send with her and we are about ready to go. She dropped off "Thank You" notes and treats tonight and we head out in the morning! I'm gonna MISS that girl!          

Making Your Own Toilet Potpourri - A Happy Ending

Princess Four is leaving tomorrow for her mission to Japan. She goes to a training center for nine weeks to learn the language and then in January will be headed to the northern most island in Japan. 


She is ready to go. I don't know that I am ready for her to go. I am going to MISS her so much. As you can read in my blog over the past few months, I finally have been able to get some of the "to do" things off my list. Just this past week I finally felt that I was getting ahead on the list for the first time in a year or two.

She will be a great missionary and is learning the language already and I am very impressed with how much she has learned on her own. 

She told me that she would like some of the toilet potpourri spray as another missionary told her that it was wonderful on her mission as you never know where you will be when and to have that made her life better. 
 
I looked up the leading brand of poo, poop, pooh, potpourri spray and almost bought a bottle but then remembered that I have a shoe box full of potpourri oils from a clearance sell years ago and thought I would use them for a boutique craft or something and gave a ton of them away but ended up with that shoe box full. 

I put some in a small spray bottle with a little peppermint oil and it worked great as we just left it on the back of the toilet and you spray about five sprays in the toilet before going and it smelled wonderful! 
 
With that, I took some of the cinnamon oil and put it into a squeeze bottle which may be a little easier for a missionary as I would hate the spray bottle to leak in her bag. I saw a non-leading brand at the grocery store in a drop form so I figured I would try that. 

I put in half of the potpourri cinnamon oil and half olive oil and shook it in the dropper bottle and we tried it and it was great. I think I would use a cheaper oil like vegetable oil to cut the other oils down as you don't need just essential oils, it just needs a film of oil on the surface of the water to keep the smell down.
 
I did like the smell of the peppermint oil with the cinnamon but the orange and peppermint with cinnamon would smell like Christmas. 

Basically, the possibilities are endless as you can mix any smelling oil with vegetable oil and it would work. If you use a thicker oil in the dropper bottle you will need to shake it. I would suggest using a thinner oil like peppermint if you are going to use the spray bottle as the thicker oils can clog a fine tip.   
 
Any room freshener oil with the wick sticks would also work just stick it into a dropper or spray bottle and it would work and if it doesn't, just add some vegetable oil of some kind and shake it up and it would be fine. 

This is super easy to make and you can't really go wrong but I would stay away from the really flowery scents as it tends to smell like potpourri back in the 80's and the strong bathroom spray scents. I think they are too strong.

The video has the same information and I mixed the oils half and half with the cooking oil but like I shared, if you are using the spray, thinner oils are better. Citrus oils will keep the nozzle cleaner as it breaks down the heavier oils. I also think the lemon and orange smell cleaner as we tend to have those in household cleaners to cut grease anyway.

Feel free to ask questions and to use the bathroom freely! ;-)

A TRULY Unbelievable True Story

If I didn't know the person sharing this story, I don't know that I would have believed it. But, I KNOW the people involved in telling the story and have seen the evidence as presented so I can verify the truthfulness of this story. The characters are real, no actors were hired to depict the characters in the story and it truly is unbelievable. 

Many years back, a book series came out in many volumes and were very popular. My step-mother (only use the title to clarify as I love her like a mother) purchased and read the books. A family member in Hawaii, where she is from, wanted to read the set. The books were expensive and everything costs a bit more in Hawaii so her mother that lives with her (she is over 90 and going strong) boxed up the book set and sent it to Hawaii. 

Fast forward to about 5 years ago. They thought they would like to re-read the series so they contacted the relative in Hawaii asking if they would please send back the book set. They said that they never received the book and had never gotten or read them. 

My step-mother informed the family that she would like to read the set and if anyone had any or found any of the books at a second hand store, to please let her know as she would like to collect the set again and read it. 

She said after sending out the information, someone living about an hour away said they found a few volumes at a second store and purchased them for her. Other people found different volumes and she gathered the set back up. 

When the person that purchased several books of the set gave her the books, she opened them up and her name was in the front of TWO OF THE BOOKS IN HER HANDWRITING! 

Somehow, two of her set ended up in a second hand store in a store an hour from her home five years after the boxed them up and took the to the post office! 

Her only guess is that somehow the address label fell off the box and when they didn't report that it was "lost" not knowing that it never made it to Hawaii, the post office donated it as "lost mail" after a year or two to "good will" and somehow it ended up in that second hand store! 

Last year at Christmas, she was giving the set away and my sister-in-law wanted the set so I asked if I could just take some pictures to document the story and planned on blogging about it. Like so many other things, I took pictures and never blogged about it. When I was cleaning off SD cards for Princess Four to take on her mission this week, I found these pictures on one of the cards and figured since it is after 3 a.m. and I still have lots to get done for her to be able to be ready to leave on Wednesday, I had better do a short post rather than the one I had planned. Take it for what it is worth, but I thought it was an incredible yet true story that I would share. 

Kinda makes you think of the story, "If you love something, let it go, if it was meant to be yours, it will come back to you." I know it isn't talking about books but how weird is this story......

Good Laugh For The Day

I have lots going on this weekend. I have Princess Fives girls choice dance. I have a family wedding and reception with a 6 hour drive. Most importantly, it is Princess Fours last weekend home before she leaves for 18 months on a mission to Japan! 
 
With that, you can imagine I have lots to get done to get her ready to leave. We are trying to quickly get the last minute items done like printing off family pictures, getting rechargeable batteries for her speakers and camera, getting sd cards for her to send home with pictures etc.   

I am also trying to get last minute yard things done before snow and winter set in. I am not doing well with this last one as I have lots on my list but it is going to have to wait until after this week as I don't think I can get them done before she leaves. 

I have been getting more and more things done in the house at night when I can't work in the yard and am thrilled that I can finally get some things off the list. 

I cooked up something tonight and put the butter knife on the butter dish and it fell off and went down between the stove and the counter. I knew that one fell last month but I didn't have time then to get it out so I figured I would pull out the stove and get them both out. Imagine how funny it was when I found SIX knives beside the stove! 

I was very grossed by the four bread twisties and crumbs under the oven as I usually pull it out and clean under it quite often but as I was cleaning it, I noticed the red drips down the side of the stove and realized it was from the red pepper Portuguese hot sauce I cooked up last year around this time. Here is a link to that post. 

As I cleaned, I started thinking about what has happened in my life since I made that hot sauce in just one year. I had my mother living with me for months going in for blood work and blood weekly, her moving home, then her death, then cleaning her estate and right after that, elections, then pageants, a new grandson, Princess Fives accident, then Princess Four getting ready for her mission and my own health stuff with non-human parasites and gallbladder issues. 

I understood why my corners have "cobwebs" etc as life has been so difficult and busy this year. I REALLY pray that my life calms down some and that I can catch up on all the things that haven't been getting done for the past year. Today, I finally felt like I am getting things off the list rather than adding more to the list.

There are things still going on the list but I am actually crossing things off the list! It feels so good to be able to get through some things and get rid of things. I am hoping after my surgery and Thanksgiving, that I might feel good enough to start getting lots more off the list. Wouldn't that be a blessing! 

I am glad I could get my six knives back and clean out that disgusting mess, makes me sleep better tonight knowing things are getting better daily!

No Surgery and The Unmanageable Hair

As I shared yesterday, I have spent lots of time this past year at Dr.'s offices waiting. Today was no exception as we waited at least an hour to see the Dr.

Today was Princess Fives visit with the surgeon about her shoulder. She has been doing her own rehab for the past month as she had done everything the rehab place had for her and when she went the last few times, they had her do everything on her own anyways so she stopped going. She is doing really well as she has started dancing every morning with the drill team / dance team at school.

As you know she had to "sit out" for three months as the bouncing hurt her arm and just recently she has had "shooting" pain in the area where the nerve was damaged but she sees that as a good pain as she feels like the nerves are growing back in that area.

There is still swelling in the bump where she hit the door when it rolled on the drivers side and the bruising in that spot was there over a month very clearly and she hasn't had any feeling on the skin in that spot since the accident but she can now feel "tingling" and the shooting pains so she feels it is getting better.

The Dr. basically said he has done what he can for her and the rest is up to her as no surgery is needed unless there is catching, snagging type issues. He said the rest is up to her to continue working on range of motion and muscle strength.

Basically, she can do most things but when it comes to putting her hand on her hip, she has to lift her shoulder up and swing the hand in to the hip but she can do it. She can easily put her hand up towards the shoulder behind her and in front but she can't get the arm up like a square at the shoulder or turn it down making a downward square from the shoulder so it is the lifting the arm out straight at shoulder height and bending the arm up or down that is the problem.

If she lays on her back on the ground, she can't put it back like a pitcher getting ready to throw a pitch. She can however if someone slowly pushes it down on the square so he thinks she will heal but still said up to a year for strength, nerve and motion and maybe a year and a half but she is healing rather quickly so we hope it will all heal sooner than later.

As I looked over at her while waiting, the hair that was cut / shaved off at the scalp during the accident was sticking up and she said she has to spray the hair down with hairspray daily as much of her hair broke off at the ponytail lever or shorter during the accident as well as the shaved area so her hair looks frizzy all the time but I am grateful she has hair, is alive and can use her arm and isn't paralyzed! Her hair grows so quickly. It has been 3 1/2 months since the accident and it is over 2 inches.

Someone told a story at a conference I attended this past weekend about a teen girl her age getting in an accident and is in a wheelchair for life. TRULY I am SO GRATEFUL to God and all those her helped her in so many ways for her life and that I get to have her for more time. I will take the long Dr. visits, the cropped hair, the numb arm and all the rest to have her sweet smiling face in my world. I am BLESSED!