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So, here’s the actual story. I love, love, love my flip phone. No muss, no fuss – it fits in my front pants pocket and I barely use it. If I drop it – no worries. No cracked screen, no worry about damaging it – it’s indestructible.

But around early December, something weird started happening with texts. If I was involved in a group text, the people’s responses would get split up coming to me and their message would be [DOWNLOAD]. If I replied, my message wouldn’t go through for hours. I was clogging the system.

Ugh. I was mad. I really, really dislike smartphones. They are one more rectangle that people are obsessed with, and I knew full well that I would get sucked into it like nobody’s business. I don’t like how they stick out of people’s pockets, and I don’t like how you have to carry one all around. Bah Humbug.

(I would also like to point out what a hypocrite I am, because I am always asking Lloyd if I can use his phone.)

So, we looked at options. Lloyd suggested an Apple Watch with a cellular connection, and that seemed like a good option. It has to be paired with an iPhone, but I can leave the phone at home (no dropping!) and still make calls and text. Not that I do much of either one, but today was a test run and it seemed to work just fine. I am so surprised that the phone function works.

My phone is an iPhone 12 mini, or as I call it, “green”. The Apple Watch was purchased through my insurance (Concordia Plans/Viatality) at a pretty significant discount. They want me to be healthier so they can keep all my insurance money, so it really promotes ‘exercise’ and ‘eating right’ and other terms like that. Apparently if I move around a lot, I won’t have to pay anything on the monthly plan. If I move around a little, I pay a little. If I am me….. I will pay the whole monthly fee.

So, there we are. When I get you loaded in my contacts, I may text you. Actually, text me. That will help out a lot.

I just am so tickled at the times when God helps me with foolish things. Today was one of those times.

I am getting a smart phone. I really thought that this shocking fact was going to be the headliner, but that will wait until the next post. Today, it is about the delivery.

I want to use an Apple Watch as my main communication device, so I got that first. It needs to pair with an iPhone, so Lloyd bought a brand-new one at the Verizon store. I balked at its unnecessary cost, so he took it back and ordered a used phone.

The delivery place was supposed to be our house on Tuesday, but that got pushed back to Wednesday. Then, since they needed a signature, Lloyd changed the delivery site to the CDC. Well, they don’t deliver to a different place that’s not in in walking distance.

*sigh* No phone Tuesday. No phone Wednesday.

I changed the delivery address to our neighbors, and left a note asking them to please sign for it. Thursday afternoon I got an email saying they couldn’t deliver it today and would try one more time tomorrow. WHAT??!? This was never going to work!

But……. I was done in the classroom…..and I didn’t need to work on the basement stuff just yet…….. so……… I told my director I was going to take a break.

I put out an all-call on our community Facebook page – “Has anyone seen the UPS truck?” I called the local UPS drop site in town and they said the truck had just been by. Using my powers of deduction, I jumped in my truck and drove west of town to a little community a couple of miles away.

……. I did not see the truck.

Coming back to town (swinging my head side to side as I passed every street), I turned back toward the CDC on 2nd street, stopped at the first stop sign (by Brent’s house, if you’re a Seward person) and guess who passed by?

The truck!

I was on that truck like stink on a dog. He stopped at another drop site and as he was gathering packages I parked right behind him, crept up and said, “Hi I don’t mean to scare you but I’m Lauren Sommerer and you tried to deliver a package to my house the past two days but it needs a signature and I’m wondering if I can get it from you?” He looked at me and didn’t even think I was crazy. “Yeah! Let’s get it!” I showed him my id, signed my terrible signature and……

I have a phone.

More to come.

To answer Brad‘s question, I’m just going to repost what I put in our communication logbook at work.

“Basement information: the north end is getting drywall next week so that it can be an indoor playground for inclement weather days. The area shaded in yellow shows where it will be. There will be a sliding accordion-style wall (the green line), with a door for exiting. All the things there need to be moved out, and Ron and Melanie have done an amazing job. The red box is where Lisa’s bins and the school-age supplies will go. There are a couple of items in the blue area for lead staff to look at. (Dress-up shelf, green chair, garden box.) Right now the big rush is clearing out the north end by Monday. In the coming weeks, lead staff will need to weed through the south shelves to make them manageable. – LS”

Thank you for your prayers for my Dad. My brother Mark has been with him for the past week – doing all the jobs and being amazing. Thanks, Mark! Dad is doing better, but continued prayers are welcome.

Life here is fine. There is a Big Thing happening at the center – a good portion of the basement is getting drywalled in a week, so all the stuff over there has to be moved. I’m not doing all the work (yay!), just helping out. Lloyd and I bought more shelves this weekend and I spent some time this afternoon putting them together. My big thing is combining shelf pieces to make more shelves. Don’t ask.

Boy, how long has it been since I’ve written something? A lot has been going on, but it’s been kind of busy and I’m not wonderful about writing things when they’re actually happening.

The most significant event is that I went out to Colorado for a few days. My dad was knocked down by a young associate at Walmart. She was in a rush and didn’t watch where she was going. He fell on his bottom and back and hit his head. Thankfully, he didn’t break any bones or get a concussion, but he’s in a fair amount of pain. He’s taking some pretty strong pain medication that makes it tricky to think, and it’s hard for him to move around. He’s a tough guy, but this is a significant event.

I went out to be his arms and legs. Fetching and carrying are just about the limits of my skills, but this was a good use for them. It was so good to see him, too. There is more I could write, but that’s all pretty private. See? That’s why it’s hard making these posts when they’re actually happening.

My flight out was delayed for crazy reasons, and so instead of arriving early afternoon on Saturday I got there at 9 PM. Half of my flight home was canceled also, but I was able to resolve that by getting a different flight back to Omaha instead of Lincoln. My brother Mark is supposed to fly out today, but he has already had flight delays on his end. Here’s hoping dad has a restful, peaceful time on his own without us there.

( So many typos! I used speech-to-text and didn’t edit. Whoops.)

Last week was long and tiring. Much of our college staff is still on Christmas break, so that meant extra time in the classroom, then trying to get things accomplished after the kids were gone for the day. I spent much of the weekend holing up and recovering, which was great.

Some not-great things happened. Lloyd’s Uncle Vernon went to heaven on Friday. He was 96 and lived a great life, but it’s still sad. The funeral is Tuesday and Lloyd is going to try to head down to Missouri for that.

Our furnace/ thermostat is giving us some trouble. Twice Three times now it has said it isn’t hooked up – which it is. The fix involves turning lots of electrical things off and on again, and maybe getting an expert over here.

There is one thing i accomplished that I’m proud of, and that is cleaning my closet. I did the Marie Kondo thing where I took EVERYTHING out and put it on the bed. I cracked up because I’ve said that I don’t have many clothes, and I really, really do.

I weeded through a fair amount of things that went to Goodwill, and put things back. I even did the thing where you put all the hangers on the rod backwards, and when you wear an item, the hanger goes back the right way, showing what you really wear. (I just did that with my shirts.)

Good job, Lauren! Now, somebody go buy me some nice pants. I don’t own any nice pants, and I really hate clothes shopping.