Just Another Day

It has already been a busy morning. And a very pretty one. I got up this morning at 6:30 even though I didn’t want to and milked the goat and took a shower and got Seth and Joseph going (Cedric is pretty good at getting himself going—very Daniel-like) and took Amena to school because there was a volunteer breakfast and student council members were invited to be there as well. We left at 7:20 so considering everything, I think we did well. The only problems are that Cedric did not get the goats out and Laura doesn’t think they brushed their teeth.

I sat with the mothers of Dominic (Cedric’s friend) and Andrew (Seth’s friend). I didn’t know that Dominic’s mom makes soap. That’s so cool! Anyway, Dominic and Cedric really enjoy playing together but neither one will invite anyone over to play. I told Dominic’s mom that I might have to put a bug in Cedric’s ear and maybe even dial the phone for him. I like his parents even though I don’t know them well. Andrew’s mom is in charge of putting together the teams for fall soccer and she took on the immense challenge of being in charge of the playground fund and is discovering all the fun it isn’t to receive a government grant. I talked briefly with Seth’s teacher about the fact that he said he did his homework at school yesterday and turned it in. I hope he really did—he has in the past so it is possibly. I also talked to Mrs. LaRose and I will be going in next Thursday and Friday to make sherbet. That will be so fun!

Seth’s soccer practice yesterday was good. I took the truck so that Cedric could take his bike so he could ride around while I walked and that was nice. I think the road is about half a mile long which means I walked three miles in an hour and 10 minutes. I need to pick that up a bit. Cedric stayed with me the first time around and then just kind of took off and touched bases as he passed me. Near the exit is a gazebo with tables and one of them appears to be broken. It was fun to ride up and over. Cedric spent as long as it took me to go 1 and ½ times around riding up and over. The last time around he stayed at the truck. It was nice walking but it was so muggy I think you could just about have cut the air with a knife. I’d already taken a shower because I cut my hair earlier in the day. I was so sticky after walking that another shower would have been nice but I didn’t do it.

I took Seth and Cedric to church and got Joseph. Amena and Joseph went with Laura. Laura took some papers for Meredith (positions for labor) and soap for the Wests. I got there with the boys and Amena told me she’d forgotten her papers for camp. The papers were supposed to be in two Sunday’s ago and today is the last day to turn them in. Laura gave me the papers and the soap and took off home to get Amena’s papers. I exchanged the soap for $10 and then told Joseph that we’d be going as soon as Tyler’s mom got there so I could give her the papers. We had to wait about 20 minutes but when she arrived, I gave her the papers and Joseph and I left. Laura still wasn’t back but we saw her on the way home.

Joseph had already eaten so I ate while he did his homework and then he got ready for bed. We went upstairs and read ten verses of the whatever chapter of Nephi laying on my bed (which is fun when there are only one or two boys with me). Then he brushed his teeth and went to bed. We were getting some thunder and lightning at that point but it wasn’t that close and it wasn’t raining yet. It was nice and quiet with Joseph in bed and no one else home. Unusually quiet—it doesn’t happen all that often.

Earlier in the day, I made sour dough bread and got the counter in the kitchen cleaned off. I sorted through a bin of assorted dry goods Paul has been collecting. There was granola, rolled oats, some pasta, some whole wheat flour, and a few other things. The pasta is still okay but all the grains and flours are/were dated 2007 and 2008 so they either got dumped in the garden, fed to the goats, or are going to be fed to the goats. Now there is only a bunch of candy, mostly M&Ms and Hershey Kisses, and some drinks of the sort to put in lunches for children to take to school. I also did laundry so that the washing and drying could be done before the humidity really hit (which it has). I think there is another load to dry but it’s going to have to wait until tonight.

Laura got home with Amena, Cedric and Seth close to 9:00 which is about average. Seth and Cedric hadn’t eaten anything for supper (other than s’more’s for Scouts) so they ate quickly and got ready for bed and hopefully brushed their teeth. The rain had started by then and it didn’t just rain, it poured. Heavily. And the lightning got close. It was bright and beautiful and LOUD. Then there was a thunder clap/lightning strike so close that the noise happened instantaneously with the light and at the same time we were without light and noise (you know, the kind that happens from the refrigerator being on—some people call it white noise). Wow. It was complete darkness other than the screen of my laptop and the lightning outside. Very awesome! I just love stuff like that.

I let Amena take a candle upstairs so she could read. I lit a candle downstairs. I called my mom to let her know that I wasn’t suddenly ignoring her (we’d been chatting via Facebook) or anything. I went upstairs because Seth was bothered by both the light and the noise of the storm. Cedric seemed to be fine and Joseph was actually asleep although he did wake up with the commotion in the room. There wasn’t really anything to do downstairs so I got out a flashlight and hung it from the door handle of the front door for Paul and then went upstairs to read after calling him. He didn’t answer so I couldn’t tell him there was no electricity or about the flashlight and he didn’t call back which is unusual.

He got home around 10:30 after sitting outside talking to a friend of his who lives in Arizona. He thought he’d be able to cook something to eat but had to settle for bread and cheese. We talked for a bit downstairs and then I had to go to bed. He went up as well since there really wasn’t anything to do downstairs and then we talked some more. I think we didn’t stop until about 1:30 when Joseph crawled into bed. I fell asleep shortly after that and the electricity came back on shortly after 2:00 (Paul told me and I could tell from what the alarm clock said).

And that is that. On the agenda today are exercise, folding/sorting laundry and a bit of cleaning. Fun stuff.

Have a wonderful day!