Actually

Good morning. Sorry, I can’t muster an exclamation point at this point. Which isn’t to say that the morning hasn’t been or isn’t good, just that I can’t be excited about it.

There is a stack of thirteen number 10 cans full of things like popcorn, powdered milk, dehydrated onions, juice drink mix, and baking soda. Actually, the baking soda is in a plastic container which leads me to wonder if it is still good, especially as there is no date on it. They will make their way downstairs today. Except for the baking soda.

Joanna is eating ice-cream. Actually, I think it’s sherbet. Her birthday is Saturday. Sunday there is a linger longer at church and I asked Joanna if she’d like Hawaiian haystacks for her birthday dinner or something else. She said, with absolutely no hesitation, “Something else.” I said, “No problem, I wanted an excuse to not stay for it.” I don’t like Hawaiian haystacks. I have never liked Hawaiian haystacks. I cannot see myself ever liking Hawaiian haystacks. Don’t ever expect to eat Hawaiian haystacks at my house.

Laura is putting dishes away. It was her day to wash yesterday and I think all she did was stuff for milking. She got home late from church because the young single adults (YSA) were having a planning meeting for a Laura birthday/Halloween party. She is supposed to be going to work with Paul today so she won’t have time to today. She also needs to take the goats out which she actually just left to do. I don’t know if the dishes will actually get done because she also needs to get ready to go to work.

Paul just came downstairs. He is getting soup ready for his lunch. Joanna ate some for breakfast. He said he’s glad it’s about done because he’s getting tired of it. I made it Sunday and I have to admit that I made a LOT. I never know for sure how many people will be here on a Sunday to eat so I figure it’s better to have too much than not enough so I cook accordingly.

Class yesterday was alright. I’d taken a look at comments others had posted about the reading and thought to myself (who else would I think to?), “Did I miss something here?” There were comments on a chapter I hadn’t read because the syllabus said it was for next week. Well, we were supposed to read it but it’s okay if we didn’t; we can still do it for next week. That’s nice. In part of the reading (that I hadn’t done before class but have done now) it mentions building subways to and in Harlem and that the fare (I’m not sure if it mentioned what distance this was for) used to be five cents. One girl in the class mentioned that she used to go to school in Boston and that she would come home on the weekends. The fare for the train was ten dollars. The conversation turned to the interesting things that you see on the train and the teacher agreed; she likes to watch people. Then another girl, who went to school in Chicago for a time, asked if anyone else had ever seen someone openly masturbating on the train. Ah, no. That apparently isn’t something anyone in the class hopes to see on the train or anywhere. From there, the conversation got slightly worse until class actually started a couple of minutes later. Oh, the things you hear.

A 22-year-old man in Virginia (it actually may have been a neighboring state) was just released after having been caught having sex with a dead goat in his apartment. He had stolen the goat from a neighbor and the judge dismissed the whole case because “he hadn’t done anything wrong.” So, if you steal a goat, it is wrong. If you steal a goat so you can kill it and have sex with it, it’s not wrong. Am I missing something here or has the world we live in really become . . . strange?

The boys all had soccer practice. And that reminds me of something else. You may have heard of parents getting in trouble for allowing their children to play outside without adult supervision. You know, they might be abducted or molested or something equally bad might happen to them. Goodness, they might even climb a tree. Well, I don’t remember where this happened but a mother was charged with neglect for allowing her children to play outside while she was present. Seriously. I really wonder if I am missing something or if the world has become totally corrupt while I was napping.

Anyway, the boys all had soccer practice yesterday. I managed to get to the school to pick up Cedric and Seth from school earlier than ever since soccer started which made Cedric happy and was something of a miracle because I had no idea if they’d remembered their shoes and socks so I had to go searching for them. I found Seth’s but not Cedric’s and hoped that meant that Cedric had remembered. I also took water bottles because last time they didn’t have any and needed them. They had fun at practice. Cedric wanted to go when I took Joseph so, in spite of thinking he was nuts, I let him go. For some reason, I thought we needed to be there at 5:00 when practice doesn’t start until 5:30 so we were half an hour early. That was okay, Cedric had brought a couple of books and read for a while. Then we watched Joseph and then he wanted to go play on the playground. I let him. Then it was time to go and Cedric said the reason he hadn’t come back to where I was is because Dominic and Zack were there. That was fine.

Between practices, I’d started getting supper (tacos) ready. Laura had to finish. They, Laura, Amena and Seth, had eaten by the time Cedric, Joseph and I got back so we quickly ate and I cleared away the food. It was about time to go by then so we left. It was tons of fun sitting there when I’d rather have been home doing something else. I did manage to read the chapter for English that I’d managed to miss. I also got to talk to Elaine Shadduck who was there at 7:00 for a Primary Presidency meeting. She said she was tired because she’d been scrubbing floors all day and had to go to work in the morning so she was going to wait until 7:30 and then leave. One woman was going to ride with her but couldn’t leave on time because her husband wasn’t home yet as he’d gotten stuck in traffic resulting from an accident. Well, the Primary president finally showed up at about 7:25 and ‘had to run some copies’. Lacie, who’s husband had gotten stuck, arrived as Diana (the president) was walking in. Elaine had said that she wasn’t feeling very patient and I told her it was way overrated anyway. She was very annoyed because she had to drive the furthest and she was the only one on time. Diana and Bethany, who never showed up, both live in Gardner.

I  managed to get some of what I wanted to school wise done but not everything. The good thing, if you can call it good, is that one of the things isn’t due until tomorrow, one isn’t until Saturday and one isn’t until next Friday. So, it isn’t like there’s a hurry up rush; I just like to get things done so I don’t have to worry about them. Today I have five things on my list:

ACC LS
MKT peer review
ENG read posts
            respond
MKT group thing

That translates to the LearnSmart (which I think is dumb and a waste of time) assignment for accounting which is due next Friday [these are not in order of when they are due—just when I get them written down]). A peer review for marketing which is due Sunday (but because I don’t do school work on Sunday, I call it due on Saturday). Read posts for English and respond to those I feel so inspired to which is due by Sunday (ditto to the () for marketing). Finish my part of the group assignment for marketing which I need to have done by tomorrow so the group leader can compile so we can review Sunday (which should be interesting since I don’t do school on Sunday). And that is my day. Actually, that is my day school wise. I will start with the group thing for marketing and then do the peer review and then move on to accounting (because I want to get it over with and need to so I can get the actual homework done which is also due next Friday) before I do the English reading of and responding to posts.

Last night when Paul got home, he was not in the best of moods. He said that work had been crazy, that after today he might not have a job and if not, there would be no unemployment either and that I might have to drop out of school. Well, dump that on someone who has been feeling rather crappish for a few days, has been chronically tired for about a month, and has a ton of things to do and see what happens. I just sat there, thinking, listening when he gave further enlightenment, and then went to bed because I was tired and it was 10:00.

Having given these things more thought, I have a few thoughts of my own. First, a major part of the problem is that it seems that Blair has called suppliers and cancelled orders. Why he would do this is a mystery—you would think that he wants the business to succeed. But, people being people, you never know. However, working on the assumption that Blair isn’t a complete dolt and he does want the business to succeed, what might really be going on? Hmmmmm. Paul was talking to Steve when they found out that some order had been cancelled and Steve was just as surprised/shocked as Paul. Hmmmmmm. Unless these orders have been cancelled in person, might it possible that Steve has done it over the phone pretending to be Blair? He does not seem to care about the business. He does seem to care about creating havoc and chaos. I asked Laura if she thought him capable of acting on this caliber and she said, “Yes.”

If Blair has been the one cancelling the orders and there is no job after today and there is no unemployment because the reason there is no job is because Paul cannot handle the whole situation and quits, then we have some other things to ruminate. The first being the very real fact that even if I were to get a full-time job, taking in to account FICA and transportation, I would at best make about half what Paul is currently making. That is if I were able to find a 40-hour/week job which is very hard to do. Most places consider 32 hours to be full time now. There are other things to consider as well but that’s just the basics. Basically, my working would not solve any financial issues.

Dropping out of school, in and of itself, is an answer to absolutely nothing. I would be stupid to do that if I did not have a job and so I would not consider it unless I had a job. Quite frankly, having been in a slightly similar situation before, I would attempt to find a job which I could do part time until the end of the semester and then do full time. If I were working full time, someone would have to be here after school because, quite frankly, Cedric and Amena cannot be left alone together. It would not work.

Also, dropping out of school would, in some ways, be incredibly stupid as one of my classes is phlebotomy and I am almost guaranteed to be able to find a job doing that after I finish the coursework and do the practical in January. Once that is done, about the least I would make an hour is more than I could hope to make anywhere else. Also, if I were to drop  my other classes, I would have to pay for phlebotomy because financial aid does not cover less than half-time students. Realistically, I think the smart thing to do would be to finish school, at least this semester, and go from there. Not to mention I am meeting with Anji Church a week from today and who knows what that might produce.

I have to admit that when Paul said I might have to drop out of school, the first thought that went through my head was something like, “Heck no.” I think I may have worded it more strongly than that. Too much of my life has been spent living with a dictator who told me what I could and could not do. I am not willing to do that again. For a few minutes after he said that, I had to keep my mouth shut because I might have said something I ought not to have. My solution was to listen, to think, to go to bed, to pray, to go to sleep. Being the strange person I am and belonging to a religion that many think of as a ‘cult,’ I sometimes do as the apostles were encouraged to do, fast. (“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21; “And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29) Do I think this helps? Yes, I do, otherwise I would not do it. I am modifying my fast slightly in that I am drinking water; normally, I would not.

So, in other things, I am planning on going to Leominster today. I told Elizabeth that I would like to kidnap her and go to the Verizon store to maybe get a new phone and Joann’s because I have some really good coupons. I would like to look at some shoes as well. So, that’s the plan. School. No food. Shopping. Oh, and feeding the missionaries tonight. Should be a wonderful day and I hope that is what you have.