Dear Kids,
          Dad is doing better every day. He was able to come to Salt Lake with me on Wednesday and help out with our piano class nursery. We usually have Nora’s and Donna’s kids in there, plus one or two others, so we absolutely have to have somebody in there supervising. Dad usually sits by the door to prevent escapees. The piano class itself is still growing, and I’ve marked 31 people on the roll in the last month. We only have 24 keyboards, and we can’t expand any farther than that, so we just have kids double up, or tell them to come earlier next week. I really appreciate Donna and Nora helping out as teachers. If any of you know anybody else who would like to teach piano in a really crazy setting, please send them to me! 
           Dad has enough energy to help out with serious project now, like working in the basement. He can’t lift more than ten pounds, so we have to work creatively. I decided to finish our big walk-in closet myself, so we’d have a place to store things when the drywall guys come. I bought sheetrock at Home Depot on Monday, and Tom helped me load it in through a basement window. Tom also loaned us his contraption for lifting sheetrock to the ceiling and holding it there. It’s the craziest thing I ever saw: there are pulleys and a big wheel with a handle and bars that rise up. I didn’t totally understand it when Tom showed me how it worked, but Dad caught on. So I cut the sheetrock and Dad worked the machine. Then he used the drill driver to put in the drywall screws. I forgot how much fun it is to build a room, and I love the smell of joint compound when it’s drying. We need to put the windows in our stairwell before the drywall guys come, but when I ordered the windows, they said it would be 6 to 8 weeks, because we need them tempered. So, in the meantime we’re going to finish our storage room, too. Maybe we’ll do even more. Nothing’s more exciting than finishing a basement! 
           Oh, yeah, working in the yard is exciting, too, but we’re finally having winter again. It’s snowing this morning. The poor little trees that I planted are nearly dead now. I’ll know better next time.
          Love, Mom