Last Day of February

Good morning! Check this out:

Hubbardston, MA        30°

Bonners Ferry, ID        32°

Yreka, CA                   43°

Dublin, Ireland              39°

Lima, Peru                    72°

It’s not really that interesting because Dublin just messes it up. I suppose I could take it out but it’s fun to say to Laura upon occasion, “Hahaha! We are actually x degrees warmer than Dublin!” It doesn’t really happen that often, at least when I’m on the computer.

Yesterday we had a two hour delay. I noticed from a Facebook post that someone I know whose daughter is in Amena’s class and son is in Seth’s class and is a teacher, that there are after school activities on two-hour delay days. So, if there are ‘after’ school activities, why can’t school start then? And why on earth are activities before school called after school activities? I am not really complaining, I just think it’s rather curious. I mean, most bus drivers are safe drivers, right? If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have the job. So, wouldn’t it be safer to have just a few out rather than a larger number of parents? Seems kind of strange to me.

It was, weather wise, a crappy kind of day yesterday. It snowed in the morning, which was great, but then turned to a mix of snow and rain, which wasn’t so great, and then just turned to rain. Not just any rain, either, but ginormic globules of liquid precipitation. It was something. Our driveway turned into a slushy mess and Pitcherville Road was not much better. 68 was okay and the roads in Gardner were alright. I did notice that Gardner had no school at all yesterday.

All activities at church were cancelled due to inclement weather and I, of course, had a few words to say about that at home. I’d been out in it. Laura and Joanna had been out in it. It wasn’t bad, except our driveway and our road, and wasn’t supposed to get worse that I was aware of. I figure everyone must be pretty wimpy and must need to learn to drive. Seriously. Joanna was annoyed because she turned down a couple of people when they asked her to take their shifts because she was planning on going to church.

So, I let everyone watch a movie while I did homework. Then we read a couple of sections and had prayer and the boys went to bed. Then Joanna went to talk to her manager and see her friend. Then Amena went to bed. Then Paul got home. Then Laura got home. Then I went to bed and Joanna texted me asking if she could stay at Shana’s house and I said yes. I was so tired that I didn’t even journey to Middle Earth.

Economics was quite interesting yesterday. The group that presented was very good. A large group—six members. A good group—they all did very well. Only one guy and I think he was the best. After their presentation, they had a game and it was good. They had some questions. We wrote our answers on a paper and if we were right, we got to shoot a rubberband at some targets they drew on the board. They’re called elastics here (which I find strange because they aren’t elastic, at least not the kind I use for sewing; they are stretchy, though) which fit in with their chapter which was about elasticity of demand and supply.

Yesterday was an okay day. Nothing much out of the ordinary happened. Management was good. We were divided up into five groups of two for the rest of the class which will mainly consist of a business simulation game. Tiffany and I are partners which she is happy about. She said she was hoping we would be. I told her it’s a good thing I did my name change then because otherwise I would have been partners with Jessica. Jessica probably would have been happier with that than who she got but I’m sure it will all work out just fine. I think it will be alright being partners with Tiffany because we both seem to be get-it-done people.

Today is Management again and we need to take laptops because we will be working in groups pretty much the rest of the semester. Cedric and Amena have dentist appointments this afternoon. I am thinking about having Laura go to school to pick them up. That way I can come home after class and have something to eat without having to either hurry so much or be late to their first appointment.

Other than that, I have nothing out of the ordinary to do. Just a typical list that looks, at the moment, like this:

MGT finish reading Ch 4

            find chiro #s

            call chiros

ECO read ch 7

ACC work on homework

Pretty exciting. I hope you have a wonderful day!

A February Tueday

The bus is supposed to be here right now. Since timing the arrival of the bus is not an exact science, it would be interesting to make a chart and see how often it arrives at what time. That would be a good project for someone taking statistics. Or just for fun.

Yesterday was an interesting day. It started out, as one might expect, sleeping in bed. Sometime between 11:30 Sunday night and 4:00 Monday morning, Joseph crawled into bed. At 4:00, Seth did. Being sandwiched as I was between two boys and needed to use the bathroom, I wondered if I was going to get any more sleep. Seth finally asked, at about 4:30, if I would walk down to the bathroom with him because it scares him when Trista barks. I did. He went back to his own bed then and I pushed Joseph over and went back to bed. I didn’t sleep much and not until sometime after 5:00. Between then and 6:20, I slept enough to have a strange dream but I don’t remember it at the moment other than it was strange.

Then it was time to get up and make sure everyone was getting ready for school and all that fun morning activity. Joseph didn’t want to get up but when my alarm (phone) begins to crow (yes, like a rooster), it is time to get up and it did. Breakfast consisted of cereal and cinnamon rolls. The bus came and took my four youngest babies away for the day and I got ready for school.

The front steps needed to be shoveled so I did that while I was calling Scooter. She can’t see and the snow seems to make her confused as to where to go so she needs to be called. Constantly. Otherwise she won’t know where to go. As it was, she tried to go to the right of the steps which did not work. Paul said that there was a layer of frozen snow on the Jetta when he went out to quickly plow the driveway so I went out early to get the snow off the red car. It wasn’t frozen by then and came off rather quickly and easily. Before I did that, Joanna went to the doctor and work. They told her she’s hard to get a hold of. Well, not really, unless she’s at work and they cancel her appointments without tell her.

I went to school and on the way there thought to myself that everything was good—my paper was in my binder which was in my backpack and I had my book and water and it was a presentation anyway so I really didn’t even need the book. Then I got there and walked in and up to class. I got my binder out and realized it was the wrong one. Seriously? Oh my gosh! So I went up to Dr. Greenwood and asked what happens if we bring the wrong binder. He said it wasn’t a problem since he knows I’m a good student. So, I’ll take it in tomorrow with the next one. Unless it snows so much tonight (supposed to be up to one foot but I’ll believe that when I see it) that there is no class in which case I’ll take it next week. I’m hoping for tomorrow.

The presentation was good. There was an interesting article in the New York Times about the Obama’s and the Jackson’s (as in Jesse, specifically Jr.). I certainly won’t go into any detail but basically, while Obama was rising, Jackson was falling, and the two families did know each other, seemingly rather well.

After class was a luncheon for any honors students who wanted to attend. It is time for recertification of the program so there was a committee of honors faculty from other colleges. They had lots of questions to ask and just generally wanted to know how we felt, as students, about the program, what changes we might like to see, what works well for us, etc. It was interesting. There were only seven students and three of us were ‘nontraditional.’ I thought that was rather interesting.

Then I came home and worked a little on school stuff and the interrogatories for Paul. I don’t even know if he’ll want to send them in—he seems to care very little for such things. I was tired because I hadn’t really slept all that much so I didn’t accomplish much in the way of schoolwork and in doing just a little accounting I allowed myself to be very grumpy.

We had beans for supper and the boys were not exactly acting very well so I was very ready to send them to bed (it was a full moon yesterday so I suppose I should have been expecting it). We read a couple of sections and did not have any dessert or treats and I sent them upstairs to brush teeth and get ready for bed. Then they played for a while before actually being sent to bed.

Paul got home and only had three bags of groceries. That’s something of a miracle. I am still attempting to convince him that if a good deal is something that we do not need, will not use, or something we already have a lot of, it isn’t a good deal. To me, if it means that in two years I’m going to have to cut freezer burn off it, it isn’t a good deal. I understand where he’s coming from—he’s been without food before and he loves food—but that doesn’t change much. A good deal still isn’t always a good deal.

I was still tired so after looking at a few things for Management and feeling like my head was swimming, I went to bed. I did not delve into Middle Earth either but went right to sleep. Probably before 10:00.

This morning there was a beautiful sunrise but the camera and I missed it. My four youngest babies are already off. Paul is eating breakfast and reading news articles online. Laura and Joanna are still abed. I am sitting at the table with a cinnamon rolls and cup of milk along with my water. I’ve been slacking on water intake and decided that it will improve today. I have about six ounces to finish by 9:00 to be on track.

I hope you all have a spectacular day!

Beautiful Snowy Day

The trees with sunshine.

Trista rolling in the snow.

Rocks in the garden wall.

The screen house.

Climbing rope.

The same tree in the front yard I've been taking pictures of.
I like that you can't see the neighbor's house so well in this one.

I was hoping for the sparkles but I like it anyway.

Amena called me to her room this morning to ask what the wire was in the trees.
You can see it really well here.

Fairly well here.

And here too.

Here are all three.

And this looks like a kite caught in the trees.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the wire/string.

The back field.
You can see the wire here as well.

Snowy Sunday

Well, I was going to write later in the day and tell you all about yesterday and today but there is no church because people in New England are wimps and even though they mostly grew up here, they don’t know how to drive in the snow. I don’t give a Fig Newton if there is snow. Bring it on! Quite frankly, if they can’t drive in the snow and plow off the road, that’s the way it goes. Survival of the fittest. Oh, yeah, it’s not about that anymore, it’s about everyone winning.

The tree in the front yard. This was taken about five minutes ago as were the next pictures.

Yesterday, being Saturday, I didn’t expect to get any school work done. I surprised myself by not only finishing a chapter for Economics but finishing the homework as well and starting our next presentation which isn’t for a few weeks yet. I also started on my accounting homework. So, not bad in that department.

 The boys played outside and cleaned their room (I wonder if they’ll ever really finish) and played with Lego’s and watched Mr. Bean with Paul. Joseph got his hair cut and all the boys either bathed and showered. We had ice-cream after lunch and hot chocolate while we read two sections in the D&C. Joanna went to work. Laura went to Amherst (to see a GUY!—oh my gosh!). She was going to go to an activity after that but it was cancelled so she was stuck at home with us.

The rocks by the front steps. There is snow out there, but not that much.

This morning we woke up to snow. It wasn’t that much and it had stopped by the time I got up. Paul joked that church would be cancelled and I said, “No way.” Everyone was in the process of getting ready, about half of us already were, when we got a call saying that church had been cancelled. I still said, “No way! Seriously? For this?” There were less than six inches. And there’s barely more now than there was then (a mere hour ago). Excuses include: some roads aren’t plowed (a good thing, in our case, because it actually improves it); the parking lot at church might not be plowed. I don’t know what the real reason is but whatever it is, it is LAME!!! Good grief. Paul said, “Well, people just don’t know how to drive in the snow.”

I said, “Well, didn’t most of them grow up here?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, there’s no excuse.”

“There isn’t much you can do about stupid.”

Okay, point there. But I’d be willing to bet that percentage wise, more people in Siskiyou County, CALIFORNIA, know how to drive in the snow than in New England (or at least Massachusetts).

The front steps and part of the driveway (and an onion skin).  Being snow, I like it, but there just isn't that much there.

So, what is on the agenda for today? Probably movies. Playing in the snow. Reading (I’m in The Return of the King). Wasting time online. I wouldn’t mind doing homework but there really isn’t any I have to do so I don’t see a reason to break my no homework on Sunday to do something that doesn’t have to be done. Maybe knitting although I’m done with Nick’s dwarf hat and I’m not sure I’m ready to work on socks. I do have something else to work on so maybe. A puzzle?—I have two Star Wars ones that haven’t been done. Something, I’m sure.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day!

Grey Day

Good morning! Not so pretty out today unless you enjoy overcast. 30° here in Hubbardston. 32° in Bonners Ferry. 31 in Yreka. We’re all pretty close, eh? 36° in Dublin. 32° in Beijing and today is the last day for that location. Not sure what we’ll chose next. Maybe, since Elizabeth will be visiting her family next month, we’ll try Lima, Peru. They are at 73° at the moment.

Yesterday I accomplished absolutely nothing on my list of things to do. We did clean some including library, dining room and living room. The green couch in the library is just about empty of things that do not belong on it. There is a sleeping bag and a pillow and a box and bag belonging to Laura. Es todo. No mas. Muy bueno. Amena cleaned around the TV which was very needed because her brothers keep setting up shop there and they NEVER put everything away (almost, but not quite, and the not-quites add up over time). She decided to go through all the DVDs as well and put them all away in an organized manner. The only trouble with that is that she didn’t finish before it was time for her to leave with Joanna last night.

Will and Luke came over around 11:30. We had lunch at 11 so the boys would be done with that sort of thing and would be able to get right to playing. They wrestled in the back room (Luke proclaimed our house ‘awesome’) and then went out to look at Seth’s fort and then came back in and played with Legos and then went back out to sled and play in the snow and wander in the woods. In amongst all that stuff, they had hot chocolate with giant marshmallows and vanilla ice-cream.

Right now Laura is in the shower so she can go to Amherst. We won’t get into the why she wants to go to Amherst at the moment—it’s a longo tello. After that there’s some other activity she wants to go to so she’ll be gone pretty much all afternoon/evening. Joanna is abed as is Amena. I’m not sure when they got home last night but it was after 10:00. Actually, it was after 10:24 because that’s when I stopped reading and turned out the light. Cedric is washing yesterday’s dishes. Seth is outside with the gloves that Joseph wants and Joseph is at the table being annoyed because I’m not going out to tell Seth that he has to relinquish the gloves that Joseph wants. Such fun life can be at times. Paul is reading something in the news and Joanna just came downstairs. Scooter is lying on the floor and Trista is on the larger dog bed. The goats were chewing on Christmas trees the last I looked.

Have a wonderful day!

Time Lapse

Big time lapse here. It is a beautiful day out in Hubbardston, MA, and 21°. We are colder than anyone else on our list: Bonners Ferry, ID, says 34°, Yreka, CA, says 25°, Dublin, Ireland, is 36°, and Beijing, China is 32°.

This week has been a wonderful week off for all children. It would have been a really wonderful week if I’d’ve had the week off as well. As it is, I had Monday off for President’s Day and that’s it. Because I’ve had class, I’ve had homework. Because children have had a wonderful week off, homework has been a dicey proposition; it sometimes is easy to get done, it often is not.

In spite of having a fun-filled week, I’ve managed to get a few things done. Letters written and sent, chapters read, interrogatories answered (but not sent—that’ll happen today), quizzes taken. It’s all been fun. And I wish there was a font that indicated sarcasm.

Up for today is homework, sending my interrogatories and beginning work on Paul’s, and having friends over to sled on the hill.

Yesterday Joanna had an appointment at 9:20 with the hematologist she’s been seeing. They called last week, on the 11^th, to confirm this appointment. She went to have her blood drawn Tuesday. Before she went, the doctor’s office called and told her she needed to go in that day. She said she couldn’t because she didn’t have time. The woman she was talking to didn’t listen and kept insisting that Joanna had to go in. Finally, Joanna said, “Fine, but I won’t be there, I don’t have time.” When she got there yesterday, they told her she didn’t have an appointment and that she’d have to come in Monday, the 25^th. So, they just cancel without letting you know, expect you to be able to change your schedule at the drop of a hat, and it’s just ridiculous. I really should go with her next time. I should have gone with her yesterday.

Wednesday my Economics group presented and it was pretty good. I might tell you about it in more detail later but for now, I want to get busy with other things.

Have a wonderful day!

President's Day (or, the 49th Day of the Year)

Good morning! Once again, it is a beautiful sunny day out. Lovely temperature out there as well—a whopping 10°. Bonners Ferry, ID, has us beat by 15°, Yreka, CA, has us beat by 11°. Dublin, Ireland, is 45° while Sydney, Australia, is 73° and Moscow, Russia, is 20°. We just got rid of Sydney and Moscow. Tomorrow we’ll have something different.

Saturday Joanna was the first girl home. She agreed to go pick Amena up when she arrived at the church. At 10:00 Amena’s ride called and said they’d be there in about an hour. The reality was that they didn’t arrive until 11:40. And then they went to Wendy’s for frosties. Laura got home about five minutes before they did at midnight. No wonder I didn’t hear anyone get home—I was asleep long before they arrived.

Yesterday was yesterday. We went to church. The heat was working. It seems to be all or nothing most of the time and yesterday was all. It was so warm Paul was falling asleep. The girls stayed so that Laura could go to choir practice and the boys, Paul being one of them, and I came home. We had lunch, including some of the chocolate cookies with mint frosting that Amena made as her talent to take to the thing she went to Saturday. Then, we decided ice-cream was in store so I made chocolate ice-cream. Then, because we knew the ice-cream would be cold, I made hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was done just in time to have some as soon as we were done eating ice-cream. Good timing.

The boys and I watched a cartoon version of White Fang and then they watched, because Cedric wanted to, the second The Work and the Glory. Amena, Laura and I played Clue while they watched and Joanna was anti-social upstairs. All in all, a pretty good day.

Today I have an accounting test which should be fun since there is no school for any children. I don’t have school today either but do the rest of the week and they don’t. Should make for an interesting week.

Anyway, have a fantabulous day!

I've Decided to NOT Give This a Title

A tree in the front yard (the one that has purple lights on it).

The tree by the screen house with the sun behind.

Down by the creek through the garden.

Good morning! We woke up to some fresh snow this morning which was very nice. It was snowing for a while, although not very much. Now it has warmed up (all the way to 31°) enough that things are looking a bit soggy in spots. Bonners Ferry, ID, is coming in at 28° currently which is actually three degrees warmer than Yreka, CA, at 25°. Dublin, Ireland, is 55° and Sydney, Australia, is 68°. Guess where I would not want to be?

Yesterday Joseph was the Scientist of the Week and he made, at his teachers request, ice-cream. I got to go in and help which was a lot of fun. We used the recipe that I will stick in at the end of this which does not call for any cooking because we wanted something that could be mixed up and frozen immediately. It turned out very well and I’m pretty sure that everyone liked it. Joseph certainly had fun.

I went in about 10:30 so that we could mix it up and start it freezing just before they went to lunch. While they were at lunch, I did some studying of the spread sheet and power point we have as examples in Management. When I got to a part that I felt I needed to be able to concentrate on more fully, I read The Two Towers. After lunch, everyone got their snow clothes on and went out to play in the snow and when they came back in and got out of their snow gear, it was time for ice-cream. One of the boys said, “It’s like dessert for lunch!”

Thursday in Management we had out presentation. We were definitely the guinea pigs. Dr. Greenwood sent Tiffany home because she was sick. That was fine other than the fact that she wasn’t there and didn’t see how it went and therefore didn’t understand why we would want to change who is presenting what. The fact is, the slides she was going to present, Dr. G wants only a brief mention: “This is the history of Netflix.” Click. Next slide. She hasn’t done anything to get off that easily. Likewise, Amy’s part was very short. I thought Jessica’s was about right. Mine was too long and we didn’t get to Steve’s. Tuesday we don’t have class because there is no school Monday and Tuesday we do Monday’s schedule. That means two Economics in a row and no Management until Thursday. Thursday we get to watch/listen to the other group present and then the following Tuesday we get to have another go. After watching the other group, I think we’ll have a better idea of what takes how long and can at that point better split everything up.

Valentine's Day roses from Paul.

Close up.

Currently, Paul has Cedric and Seth out shopping. Both boys needed Sunday shoes. Seth is trying to convince someone that he needs cowboy boots. I’m not sure where it’s coming from but the other day he just announced that he needed cowboy boots. And a hat and etc. Good luck with that, I say. Joanna is getting ready for work. Amena is upstairs doing I have no idea what. Laura drove to Barnes & Noble where she was going to meet a couple of Carmack’s on their way to Weston which is over near Boston for a YSA thing. Joseph just went upstairs and Amena was actually in the bathroom and is now thinking about making cookies for an activity she wants to go to in Ludlow this afternoon. I think it’s in Ludlow.

Aunt Julie, thanks for thinking of us last week when we were having that ‘blizzard’. It really was nothing worse than anything we experienced growing up in McCloud even if it was a bit windier; certainly not more snow. I think Grandma got it right when she said that there just aren’t enough people in the Mt. Shasta area for storms to make the news like there are on the East Coast.

AD, your purple yarn sounds delicious! I love . . . whatever color you said it was.

I am going to be off for now. Have a wonderful day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a beautiful day it is outside! 29° here in Hubbardston, MA, 27° in Bonners Ferry ID, 28° in Yreka, CA, and 48° in Dublin, Ireland. I think I should make that Dublin temperature a random thing. Try 28° in Moscow, Russia.

Well, yesterday was, as usual, an interesting day. The trip to Worcester with Paul to get the Jetta was fairly uneventful. He got me from the repair shop to 146 or whatever the highway was and from there it was a piece of cake but only because I’d been down there so many times last month. The excitement happened once I was about 50 feet from the east entrance to the driveway. I heard a thunk, which isn’t a big deal considering the state of our road, but then a dragging sound. I had no idea what it could be but figured that I was close enough to home to just drive into the driveway as usual (which means the west entrance to the driveway). It was the tail pipe. It was still attached in the front but the wire that was holding it up in back gave out. Laura put it back up last night after we got home from church.

As soon as I got home, I showered and got ready to go to school so my Economics group could go over our presentation. Only Bev and I showed up. She said she’d seen Kyle and he said he wouldn’t be able to stay but we have no idea about the other two. We discovered that my slides do not work quite the way I wanted them to. I have them set up so that more information is added on the click and when I do it on my laptop, or on the computer at school, it works fine. Using the remote clicker at school it did not work fine. I get too much information all at once. I could deal with this but would rather not so Bev is going to sit by the computer and click it for me when I need. I think it will work out alright.

After that, I went to the ABG meeting and it was just a club meeting. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I think I might continue to go just for the heck of it. Two members of my Management class are in it as is one of the women in my English class from last semester. They’re having a bake sale next month for St. Patrick’s Day that might be interesting. Yesterday there was pizza involved. Anyway, it’s kind of a way for me to get out of my box, so to speak, which is a good thing.

As you know from yesterday’s post, there were four children home when I got home. While not expected, it was okay. We got Valentine’s done which meant I had to get a list of kiddos in Joseph’s class because I never saw one (I’m sure he brought one home but I don’t always see everything because he likes to empty his folder and backpack in unusual places and then his papers trickle over to the table and often get waylaid). That wasn’t too difficult because I am friends with his teacher on Facebook and have an email address for Will and Luke’s mom (and a phone number). I figured a two-pronged attack would be good and it was perfect. Luke’s mom emailed me a list.

We had leftovers for supper and then headed out to church early. Partly because I wanted to get there early to get the kitchen cleaned, partly because I was expecting to meet someone to work on family history at 7:00, and partly because I didn’t have time to do anything at home and wanted to be doing. Church was good. Everyone had their usual activities and I helped the Young Women with family history. I didn’t really do much but I do need to find out some information which is good because I need to know it for myself as well as for them.

On our way home we noticed that Joanna was still at work. We got home and I sent everyone to bed. Then I got to work on the presentation that we are to present today in Management. Our group leader was sick and not going to work on it. The girl who was working on it had other things to do including take care of her daughter and other homework. She was stressing out because she hadn’t gotten her baking done and etc. I worked on it. I took what had been done, which was a combination of everyone in the group’s efforts minus one who had only just discovered that the reason he couldn’t do anything on his computer at home was because he only had PowerPoint Viewer. He got everything done that he needed to, and then some, on the computers at the library in a relatively short amount of time spanning two days. He posted it last night and all I had to do was click and drag it from what he had done to the one that was the work in progress. After that, there was just some going over for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and rearranging. The big problem was that once I was about done and ready to save, I had a problem with the program and lost everything that I had done. I needed to redo everything. I was not excited. I was on my way to bed with thoughts of dealing with it this morning when I thought, “Nope, it’s only 11:35, if I don’t do it tonight, it isn’t going to get done in time.” So I sat down and did it. Amazingly, because I’d just done it and was familiar with what I was doing, it went much faster the second time and I was done not more than an hour later. I posted the finished product at 12:46 along with a message and went to bed.

It is good to start the day with a good attitude and be willing to take whatever comes. If you can do that with a smile, so much the better.

Today is another day. What surprises will it hold?

Are you kidding me? Seriously?

Another day! What adventures will it hold? It could hold many wondrous ones, only time will tell.

I will not comment on the State of the Union speech last night. I prefer to not mar my day yet. Having said that, you might have a good idea of what I think anyway and so any further words may not be necessary.

This morning I believe the plan is for me to go with Paul to Worcester to get the Jetta. He’ll go to work from that point and I’ll come home. I do not have Economics today but those of our group who can are meeting at school to go over our presentation. At 12:30 there is an Alpha Beta Gamma meeting that I am going to go to. They’re having a Valentine’s pizza party which I am not particularly interested in but I’ve been meaning to go for a while and keep forgetting. I am remembering today.

Yesterday was, as usual, an interesting day. I went to class and our group went to the library to work on our presentation. I took some tea tree and lavender oils to Jonathan who was there after his class while waiting for the bus to take him home. Our presentation made fairly good headway while we were at the library for two hours.

3:01 pm

A bit of a time lapse there. I went to school and did what I was planning and when I came home, there were voices in the boy’s room. I was not expecting to hear voices. I guess it had been too long since I looked at the school calendar and I had forgotten that today was a half day. That was a bit of change.

I brought home The New York Times from today and yesterday. As I was walking in the house, I was taking a look at today’s. The headline is Obama vows push to Lift Economy for Middle Class. How does he propose to do this? Get this—by raising the federal minimum wage. To what? Get this--$9.00. Are you kidding me? Seriously? No flippin’ way, man! What is that going to do? I’ll tell you what—the same thing as this Obamacare bullcrap. It’s going to  make employers so they can’t afford to hire as many people. Those who get to keep their jobs will be making more, sure, but what about all those who will either lose their jobs or won’t be able to get a job? Seriously?

Do you follow this? I just lifted it from the slides for my Economics class. I think all the stuff is right on the slide I need to give credit where credit is due. Just in case, here’s the citation: Hubbard, R. Glenn., and Anthony Patrick. O'Brien. Economics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print. And it’s from page 107.

So, do you follow this? The equilibrium wage is at W₁. At that wage, equilibrium is at L₁ which stands for the number of workers per year. If we have a minimum wage, which we do and which is represented by the black line on the graph, the demand for workers goes down (the blue line) because employers are not able to pay the same amount of employees they formerly had. If you want me to get into the increase of supply of workers, you’ll have to email me. The point simply is that an increase in minimum wage is going to result in a further decrease in the number of employees an employer is able to pay. Some will argue that the benefit to those who remain employed is greater than the loss to those who lose their jobs or are unable to find work. I do not agree.

The only thing I can say is, maybe instead of pretending to worry about the middle class, Obama should take an Economics class.

In other news, the power point that should have taken one person four to five hours to finish, is apparently too much for my group. I do not think we will be able to present tomorrow because I really do not think that it will be done.

That is all. I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

That's All

And a good morning to you! Joseph is relieved that there is not a 2-hour delay this morning. In spite of the fact that everyone is dressed and Cedric has eaten and brushed his teeth, we appear to be moving in slow motion thus far. I think it has to do with no school Friday and then a weekend and then a late start yesterday.

Today even if I do not have class, I will be going to school to meet with my nefarious group. Our power point is supposed to be DONE today and it isn’t. I realize that the day is not over but if it were me, I would have had it done yesterday if it were due today. The girl who is putting the power point together said to start stressing after the due date if it isn’t done. You know the people who say if you aren’t 15 minutes early to church, you’re late? Well, that’s me. I like to be early wherever I go and I like to have my assignments done ahead of time. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that they get done, but I like them to be.

Yesterday saw my accounting homework finished. It isn’t due until Friday. Now I have to wait until Saturday for the test to be available. I will most likely take it Monday because I do not have class due to its being President’s Day. I can sit the boys in front of a movie or set Lego’s in front of them to keep them quiet for a couple of hours easier Monday than I can Saturday so that is most likely what I will do.

Yesterday I also began working on my Marketing Plan. That is going to be fun but is going to take some work because I want to be sure to get it right. It isn’t due until the end of April but of course I’d like to get it done before then so I can take it to the guys in Leominster I went to see before I started writing it. It would be nice to find some funding for the whole soap thing because right now there is no money for anything other than what we really need.

And that’s all I have to report.

Pictures from making bread Saturday:

I got the yeast jar out of the refrigerator only to discover--it was EMPTY!!!
Call out the Coast Guard! We can't proceed without YEAST!!!
Oh well, that is why I buy it in two pound bags and keep the bag in the freezer. It  was soon filled up and we were on our way to having some bread.

All the dry ingredients are here: flour, salt, sugar, yeast.

Now we've got the oil in there as well.

And now the very warm water.

Here it is getting mixed. Still had to add some flour but those pictures didn't look a whole lot different from this one so this is all you get.

In the bowl ready to rise.

After about 40 minutes.

It was rising in the oven above the fireplace. It wasn't warm enough to bake it but it was good enough for rising (actually, it was a little too warm but it did get the job done).

This is what it looks like inside the oven above the fireplace. There were two loaves in there but I forgot about taking pictures until I'd already taken the other one out. I supposed I should maybe have cleaned out the ashes.

All done. Not perfect, but not bad. I hadn't made 100% white bread for over 20 years and only did this time because I was afraid to try grinding wheat because I think I may have fried the motor. I will have to be giving it a try one of these days soon. If I do white again, I need to remember to turn the oven down because I thought it turned out a bit too crusty.

Recipe:

Ingredients

6 to 7 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons yeast (regular or quick-acting)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)

Directions

Mix 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast in mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil and warm water. Beat for one minute on low speed, scraping bowl as needed. Beat on medium speed for one minute, scraping bowl as needed. Mix in additional flour, one cup at a time, to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in greased (or oiled) 2 1/2 quart bowl; turn greased (or oiled) side up. Cover and let rise until double, 40 to 60 minutes. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Punch down dough and divide into halves. Let rest 5 minutes. Form each half into a loaf and place in a well greased loaf pan. Let rise until double, 35 to 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 425 degrees (I'm going to try 400 next time). Bake until deep golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped, 25 to 30  minutes. Remove from pans. Rub with stick of butter if desired and cool on wire rack.

That's all there is to it! Have a great day!

Snow. And Life. That's all.

Good morning, one and all! What a lovely cloudy, snowy day! We have a 2-hour delay this morning and are surrounded by schools not open. To the north, Gardner is closed. To the south the Worcester schools are closed. To the east, Boston schools are closed. A bunch of freaking sissies, I tell ya!

When I was growing up, we didn’t have snow blowers about which to complain that we’d been out all day with blowing snow. We did have a wood shed a goodly distance from the house and had to shovel a path out there (and THEN had to bring in wood but that’s another story). We had to shovel the driveway to the garage. Even though it was short, if the plows had gone by the berm had to be gotten out of the way. If the plows hadn’t gone by, the berm would have to be gotten out of the way once they did. There was a path to shovel out to the gate and then out to the road and again, there was a berm to go through. When I was in maybe first grade, it snowed. It snowed about two feet. The roads had been plowed but there was still lots of snow on them. There was still school. My dad walked with me and we walked the long way (on the road) because there would have been even more snow. I remember that his boss met us about half-way and gave us a ride the rest of the way. He had a Jeep—Joanna would have liked it other than the fact it was from the late 60’s or early 70’s. Now, an inch of snow and BAM! No school. Wimps.

Amena thinks it would be cool if it snowed so much that everyone had to stay at school. I think it would be really cool. Literally. Because I think if it was that bad, there would likely be no power and that would mean no heat and no food. Quite frankly, I think the idea is cool to Amena but the reality would not be anything like she imagines.

Yesterday the forecast said that it was supposed to snow this morning and be sunny this afternoon. This morning the forecast says it’s supposed to rain all day until five or six this evening. It’s always interesting to see what actually does happen.

I have no Micro-Economics today. Dr. G is out sick today and will not be on campus Wednesday. I really was kind of hoping that it would be Strategic Management he wouldn’t be there for because that’s the class with the group that isn’t getting anything done. My Economics group is ready to go. We were just going to go over our presentation today after class (those of us who could stay) and then present Wednesday. Such is life. I am going to call our Management group leader this morning and find out for sure what the heck is going on.

Currently, there are two boys chomping at the bit to go outside. There are still 10 minutes until the bus will be here at least. Kids. Joseph can’t wear any mittens because they’re too big or too small. I’m not sure what his criteria is for a perfect fit but apparently we don’t have it. Oh. My. Gosh!!!

Anyway, the day today looks like a snowy day of doing accounting and probably some reading and hopefully working on a power point for Management. I will print out my marketing plan for soap and start looking at that because I need to do a spread sheet for it and then a presentation. That will be fun so I want to get everything else out of the way. Besides, I need to practice on something and our presentation for class is a good thing to practice on. I’m glad I did the SPACE Matrix on the spread sheet and then the presentation because now I have a better idea what direction to go in for my own.

For now, I believe that I will be off. Have a wonderful day!

Lunch

Pork. Thin sliced.

Eggs. Beaten.

Bread crumbs. Seasoned. Italian.

Dipping the pork into the eggs.

Dipping the pork into the bread crumbs (actually, shaking of excess crumbs).

Getting fried; side one.

Getting fried; side two.

In the pan ready to go in the oven.

And, of course, since they got to wait to go in the oven and didn't come out until everyone was home from church, I didn't get a picture of them all done.

Snowy Walk

because I can't call it a ski even though I was on them.

The drifting around Joanna's Jeep was pretty cool. There was bare ground under there.

The philodendron we planted on Daniel's grave.

Snow on the tree. Pretty cool, eh?

The monkey bridge.

My trail down the hill.

The snow woods.

A stump around which the drifting was pretty cool.

You can sort of see it better here.

Obviously, these are not in order because this is my trail up by the barn at the beginning of my walk.

Drifting in front of the plow.

Drifting on the side of the house in front of the vehicles. Joanna's Jeep is just to the right.

More drifting. It's just cool, you know?

The tree in the middle (almost exactly) is near the stump I took pictures of. If you remember back far enough, you might be interested to know that that stump is one of the ones with the cool fungi I posted pictures of during the summer.

The back field from by the barn. It looks like the tarp came off the cement mixer.

One of the Christmas trees down by Daniel's grave.

The Christmas trees.

The monkey bridge again up a little closer.