I'm Back!!!

I’m BACK!!! It is going to be a chore gathering pictures from hither and yon and my documents are pretty much toast (unless I want to pay someone to retrieve them or I find someone who is capable and willing to do it for free) but I’m back in action. It will be nice to have an online presence again and be able to get done what needs to be rather than having to borrow Laura’s computer all the time (which she let me do anytime I needed to—she’s a good kid).

I’m also currently alone at the moment if you don’t count the canine girls who are snoozing by the fireplace. And the goats in the field. Joanna is at work. Laura is on her way to Worcester to have some dental work done. Amena, Cedric, Seth and Joseph are still at school. It is very quiet. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, I rather like it.

Much has happened; so much so that I am not even going to attempt to catch up with everything that has happened although I could look at my planner and give you an idea. I don’t think I will. We did have a nice Thanksgiving, though. There were the usual eight of us plus our missionaries, Elders Jones and Sanchez (he’s from Mexico), Jonathan and Elizabeth, Nick and Adam. A very full table we had but it was good.

For my marketing class, I have been working on a marketing plan for soap. I have the rough draft submitted to the professor for her to look at it and offer suggestions. I also gave Paul a copy so he could look at it. It was a lot of work but very enlightening and mostly fun. I’ll have more to say about that later.

This is going to be short for now because I have phlebotomy finals (clinical and book) to study for. The clinical is Tuesday and the book will be available online Wednesday. I’d like to do well and I’m looking forward to having one class out of the way. I did just want to let everyone know that we’re all doing well and haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

Briefly in other news, for those of you who knew her, my former mother-in-law, Marilyn Davis passed away early yesterday morning. She was an amazing person and will be missed.

Have a great day!

I'm Back! (Sort of.)

I have discovered that the time I spent writing for and posting my blogs did not take away from my day. Generally, it would take about an hour to write a post and get it all ready to actually post (including adding pictures) and email the text to Grandma and then email the link to everyone. I do not finish my day any earlier in the last few weeks than I did when posting almost every day. My conclusion? I need to remember to call the computer guy to see if I’ll be getting my laptop back soon because typing this in on my approaching ancient desk top (which I love, by the way), saving it to a flash drive (which I also love because it’s R2D2), and then borrowing Laura’s laptop to post, is for the birds. I do not know how regular I will be from now until then but I have got to better than I have. I miss it.

Wow. What do you all think of the election? I can tell you that Massachusetts does not have only Democratic voters and I can tell you that all of Massachusetts did not vote for Obama. I can tell you that I am extremely disappointed in how the elections turned out. In MA, I really think that Warren is all hot air. I am pretty sure she is nice hot air because someone I know thinks she is nice. But when you say that you have Native American ancestry just to get perks at school (Harvard, nonetheless) when you don’t, that’s not the kind of person I want representing me. She has been referred to as a “woman of color” (remember my post about that?). She is no more what we retarded “American’s” call a “woman of color” than I am. In spite of the fact that I like Scott Brown partly due to the fact that he was successful in helping us get our airline tickets refunded after the accident when we were unsuccessful, I do believe he would have been the better person for the job. His record speaks for itself, really.

As for the presidential election, I wish that Romney had won and yet I can see how it might not have been a good thing for him to. His running opened a lot of eyes and got a lot of people thinking about just what we Mormon’s really believe (any of you who are not one and would like to know more, feel free to ask—I don’t usually bite [key word—usually, ask my sister Becky]). I think it quite possible that had he been elected, anything he did that the general populous didn’t or that wasn’t popular (same thing?) would have been blamed on the church. So, maybe it’s for the best. There are other reasons it may be for the best but unless you want to ask me about specifics, I’d rather not expound on them at the moment.

As for Obama, I am disappointed he won. I know you do not all share my convictions, and that’s okay. I believe what I believe, you believe what you believe, I respect your right to believe as you choose and hope you allow me the same. Given that, I believe that Obama is screwing our country big time and I do not believe it is going to stop any time soon. I am not in favor of Obamacare. I am not in favor of his economic stimulus. I am not convinced that he is even a citizen. I do not believe that he works with the best interest of us, as a nation, in mind. However, life goes on. He won, even though I think it was not an honest win, and now we are stuck with the results.

The semester is winding down for me and although I am enrolled for the spring, I am ready to wind down my college career. I will not have a degree at the end of the spring semester but I will have completed everything I need to in order to transfer to another college or university for a business degree. I would like to get on with my life at this point in time which does not mean taking more classes. If I could afford to, I wouldn’t mind one or two but not a full load. I would like to be able to get the garden ready and plant early and keep up with it and not worry about where the time is coming from. I would like to be able to do more canning in the fall without it cutting into my schooling. As well, I would like to concentrate on my path to midwifery and getting my soap business up and running. Not to mention my family. I would like to be able to volunteer at school and not have to worry overmuch about what I could be doing for school when I’m waiting for boys at soccer practice. I would love to be able to take an afternoon (or morning) every now and again and go with Paul to the Boston Temple.

I will be back at some point in time. Hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, have a wonderful day (or sleep well)!

Catch Up, Part 2

And a good morning to you! It’s a beautiful sunny, if cold and windy, day here. Without the wind, it would be warm. Gorgeous day for soccer games. Joseph al ready had his. They lost yet again, 3 to 0, but had a great time in spite of the wind. One of the girls on the other team is really good which leads me to revise my former opinion that girls just don’t have what it takes. The girls on Joseph’s team are really cute and sometimes they really try but generally they seem to be interested in other things. Joseph is also cute but sometimes I wonder if he will ever grasp the concept of going to the ball. He likes to run around which is good but he often is running away from the ball (to protect the goal, so it isn’t all bad) rather than turning around to attempt gaining possession of it. I’m sure with time he’ll improve.

Joseph in the middle.
Not many pictures from this game; it was too darn cold.

Cedric busy bing cold.

Seth busy being cold.
He didn't even bring a sweatshirt so I let him have my jacket.

 

A little break there. It is now 10:31. Cedric and Seth went down with me to Daniel’s grave so we could plant some bulbs. We had six Mediterranean somethings and twelve Dutch irises. The Mediterranean things are planted along the side at the top where the sunflowers were planted and the irises are planted in four groups of three here and there. They’ll be pretty in the spring.

 

Riding Daniel's bike down.

From the front.

I just thought the clouds through the trees were pretty.



Planting the Mediterranian Bells.

More Bells.

Cedric working on some Dutch irises.



Seth working on some Dutch irises.



Watering.

More watering.

No more water.



Cedric taking off up the hill.

 We got three extra bags of potatoes last night to make the math easier thinking that we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding homes for them. This morning Paul went over the list to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anyone (we did once last year). If someone hadn’t made it to the list, the three bags could have been used to fill in but everyone was on the list. Paul called one family in Gardner he knows and they’re taking one. I talked to Luke and Will’s dad to see if they’d be interested in one and he said he’d talk to his wife. I’ll take a bag to Cedric and Seth’s game in the event that they do. When we got home, I called the triplets mom and they’ll take a bag which we’ll drop off on our way to the game. That was easy.

So, Monday there was no school and we really didn’t have a much worse storm than is typical. I did take Joanna to work and on the way home I stopped by the liquor store to buy beer so I could make bread. Laura wouldn’t go with me to do the honors so I just did it myself.

 Tuesday school was cancelled because they (they being the powers that be in regards to making decisions about school closures and those who are responsible for making sure roads are passable) weren’t sure when travel would be safe in the morning. Well. Travel was pretty safe in the morning. I took my laptop to the computer guy who lives about half-way between us and Hubbardston center. No problems. Clear roads. A two-hour delay might have been good but not an entire day off. I had class in the evening. Anyway, it was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm and perfect for playing outside which is what the boys did most of the day. Paul went to work and would have even if Blair called to tell him not to go in because there were some orders he needed to take care of and he knew he’d have a ton of work from Monday to catch up with.

Wednesday was Halloween. There was school. I had class in the morning. Joanna wanted to practice driving because she’d scheduled a driving test in Greenfield for Thursday at 2:00 in the afternoon. So, she drove us in to Gardner so I could visit Laurie Orzel briefly. Then she drove to her friend Shana’s house to pick her up because she has class at 11:00 also. Then she drove us up to the Mount and sat while Shana and I were in class. Then she drove us back to Shana’s house and I went back to Orzel’s to pick Laurie up and take her to church were there was a blood drive. She was successful at donating but I was not. This time they at least attempted. I got poked twice but they didn’t get any blood. Four phlebotomists looked at me and even the nurse came over but they had no luck. I’m not sure if I want to go through that again. I might once more and if they have no luck, I’ll just give up. One funny thing is that they told me that they tell people to double up on fluids for a few days afterward and it might be a good idea for me to do that for a few days before. Really? I had been drinking 100 ounces of water a day. 200 ounces of water? I’d be spending all the time I wasn’t drinking in the bathroom.

We went to Hubbardston for trick-or-treating. It’s a pretty huge thing and there are hoards of people for about an hour and a half. I’m glad we don’t live ‘in’ Hubbardston. Amena was a spy. Cedric was a soccer player. Seth was a knight. Joseph was a dinosaur. We met the triplets who were Thing 1, Thing 2 and Thing 3. Their brother, Wayne, who was in Daniel’s class, was just there for moral support for their mom who hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of days previous and really didn’t want to be there. It wasn’t bad but the walk a few feet and then stand waiting was killing my back. When we got back in the car, it actually popped which felt nice. Laura was going to a YSA activity so I took Amena and Joseph home and Cedric and Seth went with me to pick Joanna up from work.

Thursday morning I finished the case study that is due tomorrow and submitted it and then Joanna and I went to Leominster to borrow the Myler’s car for Joanna’s driving test. She drove to the church and practiced parking and three point turns in the parking lot and then we came home and had lunch before taking off for Greenfield. It is about an hour away and a bit smaller than Keene, NH, so if you remember how big that is, you’ll have an idea. It’s a pretty town with some really cool buildings. The RMV doubles as a visitor’s center and I told Joanna it’s worth the longer drive because you get right in. They only have three of the benches like Leominster has and Leominster has at least 15. The wait in Leominster is usually at least an hour. The average wait while we were in Greenfield was about 15 minutes. We got home in time for me to start cooking supper. The missionaries weren’t coming but I’d invited Ruth and Laurie and Jared. We had fajitas and they turned out good although I could have done more peppers. I think we’ll have them tomorrow after church as well.

Thursday was also Imani’s fourth birthday. I hope he had a good one and that our cards arrived in time and that his mother let him open them. He has some aunts and uncles (and a grandma and  a Paul) who miss him.

Yesterday there was school. I did the first part of my accounting homework online and then took Joanna to work and then took a shower. Then I took my marketing quiz for the week and got ten for ten which was very nice. I wasn’t sure about the last question and I could not find the answer anywhere in the book so I picked the answer that made the most sense to me and it was right. Can’t ask for more than that. Seth and Cedric had soccer practice at 3:00 as usual. I went to pick them up and realized I’d forgotten Seth’s shoes. I dropped them off at the rec field and then went home to get his shoes.

Gotta go again. It’s time to feed some boys so we can get to their game.

Well, now it is 5:17 and what an interesting afternoon it has been. Cedric and Seth’s team won their game, 2 to 0 again. Just like last week, it was a very good game. Seth got to be the goalie for the second half again and did a good job. The ball kept going back and forth and back and forth. The other team kept the same boy for goalie I think and he was very good. If they had two boys, they were both good. Today’s win was against Petersham and made their record for the season six wins, one loss, one cancellation. Not too bad. After the game, it being the last of the season, the boys got to go to Friendly’s for ice-cream. This worked out well for us because Joanna needed to go to work at 1:45 and the game got over just a few minutes before 1:00. She went with us as did Joseph. It was rather cold due to the wind and Joseph sat on Joanna’s lap for most of the first half. At half-time, he and I went racing around the walking path until the game started again and then he rolled down the hill on the side of the field until he realized Luke was there and then they ran around chasing each other and having fun. So, after the game all the boys on the team and their families who were there went to Friendly’s. The Halfrey’s paid for the boys and families were responsible for themselves so I only had to worry about Joseph because although I would have loved to eat ice-cream, I wasn’t interested in the calories. I’ve been really good and going out last night to eat didn’t ruin anything so I’m good and things are going well.

Kobe and Seth.

Seth.



My people identifiers are in bed so I may not get all the names right.
Paul, Cedric, Jacob, goalie Will.



Jacob, Seth, Will behind Seth, and Cedric.

 

Seth as goalie.
These pictures are completely out of order. Will was goalie for the first half, Seth for the second.

Paul and Cedric.

Paul and Ryan.

Seth and Will.



Cedric and Paul.

Will, Ryan and Riley in front. I'm not sure and Seth as goalie in back.

Seth waiting for action.

Cedric and I think Joe.

Cedric, Jacob, Mr. Halfrey (their coach and Jacob's dad), Will, Paul, and Kobe.

Seth, Jacob, and Paul.

Riley, Joe, Ryan, and Cedric.

Seth waiting for action again.

Joe and Cedric.

Cedric dancing on the sideline.

 

I think that's Ryan in the back. Riley is chasing the ball.

 

This is the only one I know is in the right place as it's the lineup at the end of the game.
Seth, Riley, Paul, Jacob, Cedric, Joe, Will, Ryan, and Kobe.
Excellent season. Can hardly wait for the next go around.

 

Back to boys. Seth and Joseph and Will and Luke have been wanting to play together for quite a while so just after eating ice-cream they approached Will and Luke’s mom (her name is Joanne) and then came to me. Since we were all agreeable, we came home so Seth could change and then I took them over to their house. They live very near the Pinecrest Lodge were Seth used to go for Scouts. I think I like their whole family; they seem like really good people. I know I like Will from working with him in the group I worked with last year at school. Cedric had been wanting to go to Jacob’s house for a while. He told me that when Paul goes over (Paul is the grandson of our bus driver), Jacob’s dad makes them practice soccer and he really wanted to go over and play soccer. Well, it seems that he talked to someone and it was okay with Halfrey’s so he went home with them. Seth and Joseph will be home probably between 6:00 and 6:30 and Cedric will be home sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.

Since Joanna has been at work and Laura left to do a photo shoot with some of her friends before going to bowl for a YSA activity and Paul has been gone all day delivering potatoes and running around, that means that Amena and I were home alone. Scary. Being home with no distractions and no pressing things to do, I took a quick look at the house and said to myself, “If someone is bringing boys here and happens to come in the house, yuck!” So I told Amena if she did a good job in the dining room I would give her a dollar or take her to get ice-cream next week, her choice. Amena always does a good job so she did that while I cleaned the entry and in front of the fireplace and the area between the two, including the table on which we have pictures of Daniel. We finished at about the same time and then I decided I would come upstairs and work on this. Now that I am caught up, I will make the bed, bring in goats and find something to eat. I am not sure if I will get this posted today or not but if I don’t, I will tomorrow.

Catch Up, Part 1

I can see the moon out the window. It is waning and very bright. I was going to just go to bed but now that we are home and I can, I am not falling asleep like I was as we drew near to home and were wondering if it would rain on the 1,250 pounds of potatoes and 700 pounds of onions we just got in Amherst. One more bag of either and we’d’ve had a full ton. Wow. That is pretty cool. It’s a lot of potatoes and onions.

There is no way I can catch you up on everything that has happened in this past week but I will attempt to get the highlights. Friday, my computer decided that it did not want to start. It would turn on but it would not move past the first screen that always pops up. This was not good. I had an accounting test I needed to take by Monday night and with two online classes and lots of information from my two not-online classes online, I really need a computer with internet access. Right now I’m typing this on the desk top I’ve had for years. Since before Seth was born so it’s getting up there. This works for some things. I can type them on here, save them on a flash drive, and then submit using the flash drive and Laura’s computer. It works. It isn’t a whole lot of fun, but it works. For taking quizzes and tests, I have to use her computer. We are both hoping that mine is back soon because it’s a pain for both of us.



Joseph and Riley (in the green).



Joseph, Luke, Eve, and Riley.
You may notice that it was rather a foggy day.



Joseph, Hannah (sitting), Trevor, and Liam.

Eve and Joseph running.

Luke, Joseph, Eve, and Trevor.

Luke and Josephh playing while not playing.

Eve (in the jacket) and Joseph saving the ball.

Joseph after the ball.

Saturday the boys had soccer games. Seth could not find his socks anywhere (turns up they were in the bedroom—of course; they were just found today—one under Cedric’s bed, one under Joseph’s dresser) so he had to go without. This meant he couldn’t play but he’s the one who couldn’t keep track of them so while I felt bad, I didn’t. Anyway, I figured he could use Joseph’s once Joseph’s game was done. That wouldn’t be until almost half-way through Seth and Cedric’s but at least he’d get to play some. The coach happened to have an extra pair of shin guards so Seth did get to play the first half but once Joseph was done, they traded. Joseph’s team lost 6 to 7 but it was a good game. They’ve definitely improved over the last few weeks. Cedric and Seth’s team won 2 to 1. Their coach really wanted to win because it was against the other Hubbardston team and they lost their only game when they played the first time. It was really a good game and Seth got to be the goalie for most of the second half.

Cedric.

Cedric in the center.
Ryan on the left Joe on the right.
Jacob Whitcomb on the other team behind Ryan.

Joseph, Jacob Whitcomb, both on the other Hubbardston team.
Cedric behind Jacob, Joe, Will (as in Luke's brother).

Cedric, Joseph and Jacob Whitcomb.

Cedric behind Jacob Halfrey. Andy on the other team.

Seth.

Cedric.



Goalie Seth.
He really wanted to be a goalie; Will's dad hates it when Will is because it's so tense for the parents.



Goalie Seth again.

Andy. Cedric.

Cedric in the front.
Thomas and Nick behind (and the referee).

Ryan, Joey, Seth and Paul (the bus drivers grandson).

Cedric and Paul.



Luke and Joseph playing while their brothers are playing.

Cedric.

We aren't sure who the adult is. Or the child behind Jacob Halfrey.

Goalie Will and Cedric.
Do you like the fog?



Seth before he and Joseph traded socks.

Unknown adults in the back.
Seth and Jacob Halfrey in front.
These pictures are backward. This one is first and chronologically go up from here.

Saturday afternoon Joseph got to go to Jack Foley’s birthday party. He turned 7 and was in Joseph’s class last year. He lives just up the road from us. The rest of us, minus Laura (who was working on a Halloween costume) and Joanna (who was working) spent pretty much the whole afternoon stacking wood. We got the row nearest the house done and worked some on the next row. We need to get four complete rows to make it through a bad winter.  Last year was an awful winter (because there was basically no snow—Mother Nature was mourning because there was no Daniel to play in it with his brothers and sisters) and not as cold as it should have been (which was only good because it made it possible to bury Daniel) and we only used a little more than about half of the wood (of which Daniel did most of the stacking).

Sunday was Laura’s 21^st birthday. Holy crud how time flies. It wasn’t that long ago she was a cute little Precious Moments doll. We had pizza and cake and I made ice-cream. It wasn’t a huge thing and I wish I’d made the cake but it was okay. She got some pretty cool things. A movie from Joanna, Red Tails maybe is the name? A bunch of knights and figures from the Lord of the Rings. A calendar. I don’t remember what else. After that we wrote on cards for Imani for Halloween and his birthday (which was yesterday) and got them ready to mail the next day.

Monday there was no school in anticipation of the storm that wasn’t nearly as bad here as was expected. I know it did some pretty serious damage in New York and New Jersey but all we got was more wind than usual and some rain, somewhat heavy at times. This, of course, meant that there were branches strewn all over but that’s pretty typical. Monday I called the computer guy and arranged to take it to him the following day. There was not school for me or the children so we all got to stay home other than taking Joanna to work. That was fun. Even Paul got the day off. The kids watched a movie in the morning and played with Daniel’s Legos in the afternoon. It was a day well spent from their point of view.


These are all taken Sunday, October 28 (aka Laura's 21st birthday).

This is my favorite.

The pink is gone but it's still pretty.

And that’s all she wrote for now. I’ll be back sometime but I don’t promise when.