Fireworks and some relief

Tuesday morning was my followup appointment with the chiropractor, who just returned from the US. I made sure to take some ibuprofen when I got up, and I also applied heat via a microwaved rice sock just before leaving the house. When I got to the office, she checked me out a bit and then tried to adjust my lower back. Unlike before, this time everything moved! She said that it sounded like fireworks. When I got up, for the first time in almost two weeks my spine didn't feel out of place. I am not out of the woods entirely, but this was a huge step forward. I continue to apply heat every couple of hours. David Perego came to Taco Tuesday and brought me several more of the rice socks, so I now have some at home and at the Institute.

Dee walked down to the open market below and to Conad to get some produce. As has become our new habit, we left early to prepare for Taco Tuesday, which makes things much calmer. There was a decent turnout -- not huge -- including two Anziani who had never been before and were quite delighted. Ugo brought a bunch of guacamole, which is always a treat.

 

 

After the lunch, Ugo had everyone help clean up, and they did a great job. I did most of the dishes, but they carried everything into the kitchen and cleaned up the room. We need to do a better job of asking them to help, since they are willing and it makes them appreciate what we do even more. At 3pm we had our student council meeting, with Anziano Mansell (Anziano Smith was in Napoli for the day to work on his permesso), Joyce, Maria Jose, Sheyla, Ugo, and us. It was a very productive meeting, planning all the activities for October, with everyone actively contributing.

Mid-way through the meeting, Jenna Perego's dad showed up for a while. They are here in Rome to visit the Peregos for about ten days, after visiting their mission in Manchester (they finished an 18-month senior mission there in the spring). We know her parents a little bit from having attended Ugo and Jenna's wedding in 2000, so it was good to see him and catch up.

Samuel showed up with his new laptop to work on his Pathway class. I helped him with a couple of computer things, but he wanted help with how to submit and check homework assignments. Never having done Pathway, I really didn't know how, but Joyce was willing to help him out, which was very generous of her.

Sam, Joyce, and his "new" Thinkpad lapt

Because Ugo was there for his evening Institute class, we were able to leave early, getting home about 8:15pm. The Balzottis had a package for us, so I went to get it and drop off my blood pressure cuff, which the mission home is buying from me. I bought it a year ago right after arriving (having collapsed on the plane), but haven't used it much recently, so it was nice to find a good home for it.

I had time to start analyzing the mission cell phone bill, which is far higher than it should be. I entered all the data into a spreadsheet and got it sorted in useful ways. In the next few days I hope to write up some conclusions and recommendations on how to save the mission money while getting a better plan, especially for the senior couples.

As usual, there was some drama back home in South Pasadena, this time over my father-in-law's hearing aids. He has had horrible hearing for years, but before we left he had found some hearing aids that actually worked. However, he stopped using them because they were "too expensive", since there was a regular doctor visit involved. We were all thrilled at how well they worked, but he still won't go back to using them, even though he could very easily afford it. Sigh.