Thursday Showers (I'm being hopeful, here)

Good morning! It is a cool, overcast day here with the possibility of thunder storms. I’m not sure I believe the thunder part but rain, maybe. Joseph had to go upstairs and put on a long sleeve shirt because he thought it was too cold with his short sleeve t-shirt. I think it feels good.

As is fairly typical, yesterday did not turn out quite like expected. Joanna did have work. Laura did go to work with Paul (and is officially on the payroll so I guess Blair likes her work—Paul reported that the guys who work in the back say she’s better than Adam [don’t tell him though]). Adam came over and took Amena, Seth and Joseph swimming to Goguen’s with him and Ryan. Because Joanna was planning on taking Cedric to eat at Friendlys and there wasn’t enough room in Adam’s car, Cedric stayed home with me and watched the first half of the seventh Harry Potter movie (which happens to be Amena’s).

I made two cheesecakes in the morning; one plain and one chocolate. I took lots of pictures, I’m not sure why, maybe just because I think it’s fun or something. In the afternoon I washed dishes for Seth. Sometimes I like to do the dishes so I can give the sink and stove-top a good cleaning and that is what I did. Cedric and I finished the ice-cream that was left so now it’s time to make more. I need to get more cream before I do that, though, and I’m not sure when I’ll be stopping at a store—I generally don’t like stores.

For supper we had ham cooked with pomegranate sauce and macaroni salad so I spent part of the afternoon working on that. The ham turned out really good. Paul picked up the pomegranate sauce in a store in Worcester I think which has odds and ends and never the same thing twice. The good thing is that he likes to shop at a place called Banana Joe’s where they have a deli and sell vegetables and fruit. He got three boxes of pomegranates last year and I ended up juicing about one box. Soooooo, I have a few jars of pomegranate juice (I turned one into jelly and it is really good) that I could use for ham (or whatever else I feel like—I wonder what it would be like on a turkey?). The macaroni salad turned out pretty good as well. Paul says it’s so lousy I shouldn’t let the kids have any more of it. I looked a recipe up online and it called for ¾ cup of sugar (can you believe it?). I doubled the recipe and tasted it and decided it did need some sugar but I only put ¼ cup in the whole thing and that was almost too much. The recipe called for a bell pepper which I left out and optional pimentos. We had a jar of them in the fridge so I took one out (they were cut in half) and looked at it and said to myself, “This is no pimento. This is a red bell pepper.” It’s absolutely ridiculous what people try to pull over on the general public.

Joanna got home and left with Cedric. Adam got home with Amena, Seth and Joseph earlier than I thought he would (which turned out to be because he had to drop Ryan off with his mother). We ate and Paul and Laura got home earlier than Paul normally does (the phones usually start ringing at 5:00 which makes leaving before 6:30 or 7:00 sometimes very difficult) so that Laura could go to institute at church. Joanna brought Cedric home because as it turns out, there were no Cub Scouts at church yesterday because the new scoutmasters didn’t quite get all of their paperwork done and the den leader wasn’t prepared to take over at such short notice. So, Joanna drove her scooter to church and Amena and Laura went with Adam. Paul worked on the foundation for the chicken coop—there is just one side left to do and then pour cement in the cinder blocks—until the bugs got too bad. Actually, I think what happened is he disturbed a new nest of yellow jackets or hornets (we have far too many of them and our official killer of them is not able to do the job any longer). While everyone else was busy, the little boys (one of these days Cedric will no longer qualify as one of the ‘little’ boys—what a dreadful day that will be), watched one of the Ice Age movies. I hung laundry outside and folded some inside (which was amazingly exciting).

Today Laura is going with Paul again. Slightly funny story there. Blair asked Paul (because he’s afraid to talk to anyone else) what Laura’s availability was. Paul said, in effect, “Well, she’s about to start working full-time as a waitress at Friendlys.” That’s when he put her on the payroll. I guess he thinks there’s enough to keep her busy even if there isn’t anything to do out back. Joanna is working. She wants a ride today because it’s supposed to rain when she’s supposed to go to work and when she’s supposed to get off. That’s fine except we’ll have to take the Jetta and Cedric, Amena and I have dental appointments at 11:00; because Joanna will be heading to work and Laura will be gone, I’ll have to take not only Cedric and Amena but Seth and Joseph as well. That means there won’t legally be room for Joanna as well. Should be fun. I also need to stop by the doctor’s office to get a paper and then take it over to the Mount. Should be a fun filled and exciting day. Especially it looks like it might be spitting outside already. It is.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day and accomplish all the things you hope to.