Chicago and other updates

A fortnight ago, S and I spent a Saturday with our new friends the Thompson's. We all started the morning off at 9:30 am, and spent the entirety of it waiting 2.5 hours at the church so the boys could donate blood to the red-cross, (which is something I do NOT plan on ever doing) me and needles, we don't get along. Tip: never be a "walk-in" for blood donations. With husbands in tow minus 2 pints of blood, we FINALLY began our 3 and one-half hour drive to the Chicago temple. S and I supplied the Garmin, and the Thompson's supplied their car; which is a good thing because driving through Chicago is not on my list of fun things to-do, but I thoroughly enjoyed the views from the back seat. The future temple trips we make will be to the Detroit temple which is only 2 hours from Kzoo, even though it's not our assigned temple district (which is Chicago, and it involves much less traffic (so we hear). It was a long day, we didn't get home until after 11 pm. I never again will complain about having to drive a meager 60 miles to attend the temple!

So, while in Chicago, what did we see? We saw:

The Sears Tower, the Chicago city sky line, homeless people, and LOTS of cars. I even saw a car with a UTAH license plate and a young couple dressed up in Sunday-best (I was elated, they had to be Mormon! It's been such a long time since I've seen a UTAH license plate of Arches Nat'l Park.)


Proof that we really visited the Chicago Temple.
The Chicago temple's architecture reminds me of the Las Vegas temple.
And Yes - that is a picture of a billboard - but not any billboard, it's a billboard of the most wonderful salt: Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt. Let me stand a minute on my soapbox -I mean Saltbox-: Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt is a definite staple in my culinary regime. The salt-flavor it adds to food is much better and more subtle than plain old table salt. If you are COOKING with table salt, stop now, and repent! (The only time table salt should be used is at the table and for baking.) It's definitely salt for "pinching" and applying. If you've watched foodnetwork - it's what the chefs do. I can't quite put my finger on it (ha ha), but there is something enjoyable about pinching coarse salt out of a salt cellar and sprinkling it over a pan of cooking food. Are you persuaded yet?

Back off of my salt-box; Anyway, did you know that Morton's salt comes out of Chicago, or at least that is where the Morton's Salt company resides - hence the billboard. It's true, I looked on my box of Coarse Kosher Salt, and yep, it says Chicago, Illinois on it. Excited over a salt billboard is very silly, I know.

Now for the other news:

Last Friday I got a job, working as a receptionist for a job staffing agency. The only downfall is that it might not be permanent, but it's a job and I took it. I began working on Monday. It's weird being a working-woman again. I miss being at home and taking care of the home-fires.

Last Sunday we were moved into another ward's boundaries. The nice thing about it though is that all our friends from our old ward got included in the same boundary lines, so we won't have to make all new church friends over again - there will be a little familiarity when we go to church. We can certainly expect some new callings now.