Two Days

Good morning! Nice temperature here and the humidity has been less than it had been. I must say that I’m glad I’m not in Yreka right now because it is seven degrees warmer and three hours earlier.

I have come to the conclusion that we are not suffering from post-full-moon syndrome or anything of that sort. What we are experiencing is pre-August 2^nd issues. Behavior the last few weeks has often not been good. It hasn’t been terrible all of the time but it hasn’t been that great often and it has been escalating. I am not sure, in fact I am certain, that the boys even understand what the problem is so I guess it’s time to talk about it. And time to be more structured because that leaves less time for arguing and fighting and getting in trouble.

Yesterday afternoon we did end up going to Goguen’s. Linda Trivett called and was wondering if we might be going and I wasn’t sure. I knew that we wouldn’t today because the plan was to go to the Worcester Art Museum. So, we went. It really wasn’t warm enough to be playing in the water much. The water was cold according to Amena and even the boys weren’t in it very much at first. The wind was blowing enough to keep me cool enough to not want to get wet which was nice since I’d already showered. It was an okay afternoon. Amena and Sarah got to visit or play or whatever and Linda and I visited. The boys played and then started being annoying by throwing ‘seaweed’ at the girls and Cedric even threw some rocks. It was time to leave at that point so we came home. I’d wanted to stop at Staples on the way home but decided against it.

In the morning I listed the book that I’d been studying for phlebotomy on ebay. I figured I might as well recoup some of the cost of the book since I don’t really need it to study and although the information is interesting, I can find it elsewhere in a more readable format. Almost as soon as I listed it, it sold. I am now waiting for payment to clear before I actually send it. It went so fast, I’m sorry I didn’t ask for more money. Ah, well, such is life.

For supper we had kielbasa with onions, peppers and tomatoes along with parsley and basil from the garden. We also had a salad with tomatoes and cucumber from the garden. And pasta to go with the kielbasa. No dessert. I wasn’t in a baking kind of mood and didn’t have everything I needed to make ice-cream and didn’t really feel like doing anything else so I didn’t. Pretty exciting.

I did write more than 1,000 words last night and was to that point again where I’d like to write more but it was late and I thought it better to go to bed and read.

Today I’ve got notes to take, practice tests to take, stretches to do, words to write, a website to add liquid soaps to (although I’m thinking I should stick with the bar soaps for now until I have everything I need [think containers here] to make the liquid soaps, lotion, and lip balm), library to visit, and presentation to put together or at least work on so I can put it together tomorrow morning.

With that in mind, I will bid you farewell and hope that you have a magnificent day!

Boston Adventure

It is a pretty day outside and not too warm yet with a nice breeze. I was going to mention yesterday that while milking I saw a cardinal and then a red finch as well as lots of robins. I love birds.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I’d planned on taking Laura to Boston sometime before noon as I thought she’d said it didn’t matter when she arrived. Then she told me that she needed to be there at 6:00. Are you serious? Arrive at 6:00? So she called and said she could get there at 5:30 instead. 5:30? Really? Are we aware of rush hour traffic and taking two hours to get anywhere? So I did as much as I could before our scheduled departure time of 2:00 to get her there by 5:30. Was I happy about this? No, not really. No.

We took Cedric with us and had to stop at Radio Shack to get something that she ended up not getting because it wasn’t the cord that was the problem, it was the port on the camera. Then we needed to stop at Walmart. Since I needed to pick up the pictures at the one in Lunenburg, that’s where we went. So, I got pictures, Laura got her batteries, we got some water and snacks because we’d forgotten water at home and I wasn’t about to stop anywhere in or close to Boston for snacks. Then we were off. Sort of. For some reason, the app that I use for GPS was gone. I don’t like using Verizon Navigator because they want to charge for it. Laura’s GPS wouldn’t work because all she has for it to plug in is a USB. Actually, I guess she has an adaptor for it but it was in the glove box of the white car; didn’t do us much good there. Anyway, there is a port on the stereo in the bug but of course it wouldn’t work for her GPS because her GPS thought it was a computer.

Anyway, I told Laura to figure something out with my phone while I was driving from Walmart to route 2. She did, but it wasn’t quite working right so it was a bit strange. Traffic was okay until we got on 95. It was crawling. And then we got on 9. It was not good. I really had to use a bathroom by now. We stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts and they didn’t have a bathroom. So we got back in the car and kept going. We were looking for something that never appeared and eventually, we ran out of 9. Well, it isn’t like I could just stop so we could figure out where we were so we kept going. Eventually, we ended up on 93 north. Not the direction we wanted to be going in. And it went underground. I had to go really, and I do mean really, bad by now. So bad that I considered stopping on the side of the tunnel in which we found ourselves and using one of the alcoves as a toilet. But although there was one good place to stop, the rest of it was not good so we kept going. Laura called the sisters and they said we needed to take exit 18 but it was behind us. She got something working on my phone finally and we got off 93 in order to turn around and there was a school bus lot. I thought, “I can go between two busses, no problem.” But of course there’s a gate and it’s locked. There was a warehouse of some kind on the other side of the street with an alcove and a dumpster. That looked fine. I didn’t care. I pulled in, got out, and couldn’t move. If I moved, I was just going to have an accident right then and there. Great. Now what? Well, I did the only thing I could: I squatted down and went in my pants. Funny thing about that though, for as bad as I had to go, nothing happened. It did eventually, but the spontaneous leaking that would have occurred if I’d have walked to the dumpster didn’t happen squatting.

In spite of being wet, I felt much better. And, by the way, the fun of driving around needing to pee and having no idea where I was (other than in Boston). Looking at the map, I can see where we stopped. Cedric had to go as well but he went over behind the dumpster.

From there we were able to get back on 93 headed south and get off on exit 18. It wasn’t long, relatively speaking, before we arrived at our destination which was a good thing because by then Laura needed to use a bathroom.

Laura was successfully dropped off and Cedric and I were finally on our way home by about 6:30 (which is only about 10 minutes after we arrived—so much for getting there at 5:30). I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get home but we made decent time and were home at 8:00. Whew! What a day. I’d told Laura that getting there at 5:30 was going to turn this four-hour trip into a six-hour ordeal. I wouldn’t have minded being wrong but it was spot on. Wouldn’t have been six hours if we’d not have made a couple of stops on the way and/or we’d have had the navigation on my phone that disappeared.

When we got home, I changed and Cedric and I ate. We had family prayer and read scriptures. Then three boys were sent to bed and Amena went to bring in the goats. I had some ice-cream and sat down to do 30 minutes of studying phlebotomy. When I was done with that, I looked through the rest of the book and discovered that this book really has nothing to do with phlebotomy. It has to do with interpreting tests and so forth. Phlebotomists don’t interpret anything, they just draw blood and are aware of what tubes need to be used for which tests. Well, there is more to it than that, but interpreting tests in not in the scope of what they do. I went online and discovered some phlebotomy practice tests and paid for and downloaded them. What this means is that although this other book has a lot of really interesting information, it isn’t information that I will need to take the test so it was a wasted $80. Plus shipping. I’m thinking of listing it on ebay or Amazon. I won’t get the whole $80 back, but I’ll get something.

I did do my stretches in the morning and my stretches in the evening and I did my 2 minute plank challenge. I did not get any writing done and very little reading. So, an interesting day but not one I care to repeat.

Today along with the other things I have on my list, I want to examine the map and discover where we were when we were lost. It’s kind of fun doing that.

Have a terrific day!

Another Day

Good morning to you! Temperature is good, humidity is probably awful, sky is full of clouds, goat is milked.

Yesterday was a unique day. I was actually looking forward to Relief Society because it was going to be taught by our bishop and stake president. I didn’t actually read the suggested reading but I am familiar with part of it and read part of it. I had intended to read some of it during the Sunday School lesson. However, although Sacrament Meeting went pretty much as usual with a couple of digressions, things really took another path beginning at the beginning of Sunday School.

Seth.

Harry Shadduck wanted to talk to me about how my calling in Family History is going. It’s going well. He has to report to the Stake how Marlain and I are doing and he likes to be able to give them fact rather than anything else. Can’t say I blame him there. He does like to talk but he is one of those people I like to listen to because he’s had a very full life and he has been around for a while. I don’t want to call him old, because old is relative. He has seen a lot of years and I’m guessing he’s in his 60’s or early 70’s. He told me yesterday about his dad. He and his wife were Catholic for years and years. They joined the church 11 years ago and much of their family gave them a hard time. His mom died after what sounds to be a long illness and his dad was ready to go two or three years later. He said that his dad had decided to join the church and that they’d arranged for an ambulance to be at the church ready for whatever might happen and had arranged for the children to not be right around the font and for his grandson and himself to lower his dad into the font. It seems that he had emphysema and was on oxygen and in a wheelchair so these things were all necessary. However, he died the day before the baptism was scheduled.

Paul and Seth.

Anyway, we talked for most of Sunday School and when we were done, it was almost over. I saw Sariah in the hall and she said that Ellie was with Laura in the Primary room because Laura had been set apart as a missionary and had to have a companion. So, I went and waited for singing/sharing time to be over and then went to Laura’s class with her. That was interesting. She was pretty good with them and they are cute. One of the boys was visiting with his dad who appears to have some stake calling. The other two are regulars; one is a livewire, smart and vivacious and, according to Laura a bit spoiled (a youngest child), the other is a good kid, very solid and well behaved. So, I missed Relief Society and was reminded how I do not like Primary.

Strategy planning.

At some point in time, Jeremy West told me that he and Emily have kind of decided that they like doing reenactment stuff and they’ve been looking at costumes and have discovered that the prices are exorbitant. That’s true; I’ve looked at some in doing research for the story I’m working on and some of them are outrageously priced. He said that he knows I am a busy person and that my time is valuable but would I consider making costumes for them. Would I!? I would love to! The last time I did any sewing for others was years ago and I charged $10 an hour. He said they’d be willing to pay more than that. So they’re going to look at costumes and send them my way so I can look at them and determine how much I think I would charge. So exciting!

Cedric. Love the action on this one.

We had Chinese sausage, pesto and pasta, and tomato salad after church. That was all good. I was planning on sliced tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden but Paul wanted to make a tomato salad which is basically tomatoes and cucumbers with celery, onion, and whatever else. He said cheese but I can’t imagine cheese with that much tomato. Unless it was a really hard cheese, it would have turned to slime. He also said that the reason I didn’t want it in there was because I’ve never had a good tomato salad. That’s true. In fact, I think I’d never had a tomato salad. I like simple food, I guess.

Joseph. I like this one because Joseph really did slide down the slide, he just jumped up running right at the moment of the picture. Awesome.

We went to the park in the afternoon and the boys had a lot of fun running around. Cedric and Joseph got all sweaty and Seth was worn out. When we came home we had family prayer and read scriptures and then Paul and the boys watched a DVD that brought up some very interesting questions for Joseph.

I was washing the dishes and he came in the kitchen and said, “So, when Jesus was alive, black people were bad and white people were good.”

Whoa, I thought. This is something we need to correct. If you believe the Bible, which I do, then the Biblical account tells us, and this is what I told Joseph, that Adam and Eve had many children (the bible only specifically mentions three: Cain, Able and Seth but if from them sprang all of humanity, they would have had to have had many more than three boys). One of them, Able, was good and did what Heavenly Father wanted of him. Another of them, Cain, was jealous of the things that Able had and when Satan suggested to him that he kill his brother, he did. Then, because Cain was afraid that people would be angry for what he had done and would kill him, he was ‘cursed’ with a dark skin. So, in a manner of speaking, the curse was also a protection. If you believe in evolution, it makes no difference. Some people have different colored skin. Skin color does not determine goodness or badness.

A while later, Joseph came to me and told me that there was a family on the DVD and the dad was white and the mom and kids were all black. I then explained that when two people of different ethnic backgounds have children, the children are a mix of the parents. Sometimes they look more like one, sometimes more like the other. This was a good opportunity to ask if the children were bad. Joseph readily said, “No, they’re just kids.” So I pointed out that even though Cain made a bad choice in killing his brother, that does not mean that his children were bad even though they would have also had his ‘curse.’

While the boys were watching and then after they’d gone to bed, I was saving pictures from Facebook that I lost when my hard drive fried last year. I wanted all of the pictures that I’ve taken at Moore State Park so that Thursday I can have a slideshow going of all the pictures I have from there. Thirty-three I had printed and will pick up today but that is only a small drop of what I’ve taken. There are 421 altogether. Some aren’t that great, but that’s okay.

Up for today is a fun trip to Boston to drop Laura off. On the way there or more likely the way home, a stop at the Lunenburg Walmart to pick up my 33 pictures. Other than that, just the usual stuff that needs to happen.

Have a wonderful day! 

The Tweety Birds are Back!

Good morning. Just 10 minutes ago there was much fog outside. Now it has lifted to the treetops or beyond and we mostly have a cool, if somewhat humid, overcast day. I have decided that while I’m thankful we have an AC unit in our room, I prefer days when we do not feel the need to use it. Although I can hear the goats when they get vocal more through open windows, I also hear the birds and I miss that when I can’t hear them. They are what we miss with the AC going; the goats I still hear. Right now I hear Snowflake.

This was the screen of one of the windows when I came downstairs. Muy interesante, eh?

Yesterday was a somewhat busyish day. The morning was full of folding and putting away towels and a load of whites. Laundry is always exciting.

Because I hadn’t been successful at getting pictures ordered Friday, I wanted to be sure to do it yesterday. I stopped at Walmart in Gardner to see if their one-hour thing was working but it was still out of commission. I’d looked online at the fairly local Walmart’s to see which ones had photo processing and the website that Rindge did so I went there after Gardner. Well, they do have a photo center, after a fashion. They have two kiosks where you can do instant printing tucked away in their electronics center. Not what I wanted. Gardner has that. The price for 4x6 prints is not much more and might have been something to do but I also wanted 5x7’s and a couple of 8x10’s and the prices for them was substantially higher. The 8x10 price was something like double the 1-hour price. Not happening. I knew that the Lancaster Walmart was supposed to have a photo center and also knew it was more likely to actually have a photo center because it is a larger store. So, that was my next stop. Sure enough, they have a real photo center tucked away in the back corner nearest the main entrance so I did what I needed to do and was soon on my way home. I could have stuck around for an hour but since I didn’t take any money or a debit card, it would have done me no good. I can pick them up tomorrow on the way home from dropping Laura off in Boston.

Now it is time to take care of the goats and have one of the boys feed the dogs.

Milking was a new experience this morning. For some reason known only to her, Trista decided to go out with me. Well, Snowflake seems to be afraid of her so she didn’t want to get up on the milking stand. Of course, the others wanted out; they want grain always. She finally came out, but was going for the side of the grain bucket instead of through the stanchion and that usually means it’s going to get spilled in short order so I took the grain and goodies to dump in the black thing that I usually do once she’s ready to be milked so she doesn’t get twice as much as she needs and then took her back out. Trista had followed me into the goats pen, so she needed to come out but Snowflake got up like she’s supposed to and all progressed from that point normally with the slight exception of Trista licking out the bowl that I take the grain and treats for the non-milking goats. I am a bit annoyed with the amount of milk. I’m not sure why it’s declining but declining it is. She gets enough food and water. Maybe the excitement of having Trista out was too much for her today.

I found another mistake in the phlebotomy study guide. This time in the answers. I wonder if I should note all of these mistakes and write a letter to the publisher.

Joanna went to a Taylor Swift concert in Boston yesterday with Shayna. It appears that she stayed at Shayna’s after since she isn’t home. It would surely be nice if she would let me know what she’s doing. I really should report her missing one of these times and see what happens.

Nothing else much to report other than the tweety birds (robins) are back. They’ve been back but I haven’t heard them much. I’ve heard them this week and it’s very nice.

Have a wondiferous day!

Short One

And another good morning to you! When I woke up this morning, I thought it must be later than it was due to the blue sky visible and lack of cloud cover. Upon looking at the clock, I saw that it was not late and that I could stay in bed staring at a really cute boy who was curled up sleeping beside me. That was kind of nice.

Yesterday morning I went to Walmart to order pictures but the only way I could get them was instant which costs a lot more for the larger sizes. Their 1-hour machine was non-operational. I’ll check back today and if they still aren’t working, I’ll go to Rindge. It isn’t that far away so I don’t feel bad at all about going and there is no sales tax in New Hampshire. If I’d have known just a week earlier about this project, I would have had ordered online and had them delivered to me. However, when I looked, the earliest they would arrive is the 31^st and since I need them for the 1^st, I figured that would be taking a chance I didn’t want to take.

Amena is getting home today sometime this afternoon. It will be fun to hear her stories of camp because she’s sure to have some.

Yesterday was really, and I do mean really, ho hum kind of day. It rained all morning and some in the afternoon. The boys ended up taking the goats out after lunch rather than take them hay. Even though it rained some in the afternoon while they were out, it was very light and they didn’t complain at all.

I went to pick Nick up about 6:30 so he could watch the boys while Paul and I went out. They got to have BLTs with tomatoes from the garden. Lucky ducks. Jim Dusty came over and went out with us. His wife is in Ohio, I believe, because someone just had a baby. We went to Arisu which is the Korean place that we like. I think I like it maybe more than Paul but that’s okay because he likes the Mexican place in Leominster more than I do. I do hope, and really do think he does like, that he likes the Korean place more than I like the Mexican place.

When we got home, the boys were just finishing up Willow and Jim had a cramp in his leg so he came in and sat for a bit and drank some water. Then the movie was over and the boys went to bed. Jim left and Paul took Nick home. I sat here and wrote 209 words which doesn’t seem like a lot (because it isn’t) but it finished up a chapter nicely so I was good. It was late, anyway, and I really don’t like to keep going when it’s late and I’m tired. It is much better to read, as long as it’s pleasure reading and not something that needs to be retained, when tired.

In studying phlebotomy yesterday, I really have to wonder why there are some of the questions that there are. I was studying blood bank yesterday and quite frankly, I think most of what I read is stuff that would be learned by doing rather than expected before starting the job. Still, it’s there so it must be important for the certification exam so I’ll study it and hopefully it will stick.

I knew that Paul was going to stop at Price Chopper after dropping Nick off to get milk and I know that Paul cannot go into a store and ONLY buy milk so I knew that he would be bringing more home than just milk but I went to bed at 10:30 anyway. The light was still on when he got home but I hadn’t just gone upstairs to read, I had gone to bed (there is a difference, you know).

This will be all for now. Have a fantastic day! 

Roots

No waking up at a reasonable hour for me this morning. That’s what happens when I don’t go to bed until 10:30 and I can’t put my book down once I’m in bed. Terrible, terrible thing. Of course, I didn’t get to  bed until 10:3 because I was on a writing streak. As you know, my daily goal is 1,000 words, yesterday I didn’t start until the boys were in bed and then I was just on a roll. I did 1,522 and I think could have kept going but decided it was time to read.

Some of the flowers in front of the house.

Milk was up to the low end of normal this morning which is nice and partly the result of having moved them to greener pastures, so to speak. Today it is raining so they won’t get out so the boys will need to give them some hay. Speaking of hay, I think I need to look into alfalfa pellets for the goats. I was noticing that the hay we’ve gotten, while being a very good price, is not alfalfa hay. I don’t know if they even have alfalfa here. I haven’t seen any anywhere. It is almost embarrassing that I didn’t really pay enough attention to notice this for almost four years. Shame on me. Poor goats.

Cedric and Joseph taking the kids to be staked out.

Yesterday was an okay sort of day. My phlebotomy study guide book arrived. It looks like an inch-thick paperback book filled with multiple choice questions about phlebotomy. Should be pretty cool. I think I would like to also reread my phlebotomy textbook. I want to do well on the exam.

Tomatoes in the garden.

Broccoli in the garden.

Some of the basil.

Swiss Chard.

Banana peppers.

Hot cherry peppers.

Another type of basil.

Seth seems to be on the mend. Today he had his second dose of antibiotics. He still coughs some but not as much. He was pretty wiped out yesterday and took a nap in the afternoon. While he was eating lunch he just looked so pitifully tired. I told him it was perfectly acceptable to take naps when you don’t feel well. He almost looked relieved and went to the back room and fell asleep.

Peaches! We have some!!!

Linda Trivett called yesterday. Three times. The first time she wanted to know if I and my girls would be in charge of the dinner for the General Relief Society Broadcast which is the Saturday before General Conference which is the first weekend in October. Then she called back to make sure we had the right date. The last call was about next Thursday. There is a Relief Society meeting and she wanted to know if I would be able to help with that. They, the RS presidency, wanted to have five tables set up with displays of local day trips with general information about the place. Absolutely! I knew the place I wanted to focus on before we hung up. So, I know what I am doing for next week and I have an idea that I will probably go with for September. Cool beans.

Daniel's grave. In need of some work. More about this later.

Wednesday evening I went to bed somewhat annoyed and irritated. I knew that Paul was going to be bringing stuff home that would need to be brought in and put away. I know that he likes to do the shopping on his way home from work, and that’s great. There are only two problems with it. One, by the time he gets there, stores are sometimes low on or out of some things. Two, by the time he gets home, I am not in put away mode. It was after 9:00 and I just wanted to go to bed. I don’t want to put stuff away on good days and Wednesday evening wasn’t even remotely good. I ended up going upstairs anyway and reading until he got home. Then I came down, helped bring stuff in and put away what had to be and then went back to bed. I didn’t even read at that point I don’t think.

The basket of books I mentioned yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and apparently hadn’t slept off the annoyed and irritated attitude. So, when I was sitting here doing blog stuff and Paul came down and wanted the boys to eat, it just sat wrong with me. I don’t like it when someone pushes me to eat (or to do anything, for that matter). I really think that if we ate when hungry, we’d probably have less of an obesity problem in this country. Anyway, I was even more annoyed even though Paul was actually mostly just teasing and I knew it.

Phlebotomy study guide. The outside.

See? An inch thick.

Go ahead. Answer them and I'll tell you if you're right or now when I get there.

I spent most, well, all, of the morning in my annoyed and irritated mode and then finally went to take a shower. It finally hit me that the annoyance and the irritation were just the symptoms of the problem and the problem is that August 2^nd is creeping up on us. It is next Friday. And I miss Daniel as much now as I did then. Figuring that out was the best thing I did yesterday because it allowed me to address the problem and get over the attitude.

Right now Cedric is having cereal, Seth is having yogurt, and Joseph is having an apple with yogurt. Paul is going to have instant oatmeal. I’m not sure what I’m going to have yet. I am a little hungry but don’t want cereal or yogurt or an apple or anything. Maybe just graham crackers and milk. Joanna and Laura are upstairs.

And that will be all for today. There is always so much more that I could talk about but there just comes a time when I need to get on with other things. I could probably spend half the day writing about what happened the day before. The problem with that of course would be that if I did, there would only be half a day to write about and if that were the case, I might not be able to write as much. On the other hand, there are so many people in our family, I could probably write quite a bit anyway.

Have a spectacular day!

(996 words in less than an hour—not bad. And if you include these written after I did a word count, it's over 1,000—even better.)

Another Day of No Thoughts for a Title

The dogs are fed and everything is ready to go milk. The temperature outside is lovely (56°) and we are overcast. Damp fingers do not work well on the touchpad of my laptop. The goats are very vocal this morning.

I did call the doctor’s office yesterday just a few minutes after 8:00 which is when they are in, and got the answering service. The woman I spoke to said they should be answering the phone in five or ten minutes so I waited fifteen until I called back. We scheduled Seth an appointment for 10:30 so there was time to go work in the garden for 30 minutes before getting ready to go.

While in the garden, I noticed lots of cucumbers and broccoli and quite a few tomatoes almost ready to eat. I brought the broccoli in and had to go back out to get the cucumbers because I hadn’t taken out a bucket or anything to bring things in with. I am anxiously waiting for the tomatoes because they are so much better than the things from the store and they are one of the things that Paul thinks needs to be in the house at all times so he brought home a bagful last night. The problem, or one of the problems, with tomatoes from the store is that they look nice but they don’t taste nice. I have read that they actually inject the tomatoes with chemicals to improve the color. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if they also inject chemicals to improve the flavor. I would personally prefer to not eat tomatoes other than in the summer when I can have them out of my own garden.

The broccoli. Not the best pictures because I used my phone.

I had to pick off all the blossoms from the basil yesterday which was a terrible hardship. Because it is doing so well and there is so much of it, I thought that we could have pesto and pasta with Oriental broccoli and sliced cucumbers. That turned out good.

Cucumbers.

Seth’s visit to the doctor was pretty low key-ish. He actually was seen by the new physician’s assistant. I have absolutely no problem with that. PAs often give more information than do MDs and that is a good thing. Anyway, she listened to Seth’s lungs a lot and looked in his nose and ears and throat and felt his lymph nodes in the neck and shoulder region. She said that he did sound a bit crackly and so antibiotics would be her suggestion. She went out to get the book that tells them how much of what children need and came back and we had the discussion of allergic reactions to ampicillin. He did have one in April of 2011 so he has to have something else. That was figured out and she left again to electronically submit the prescription to the pharmacy and Dr. Vorderstrauss came in to take a quick check of his lungs and to ask if Joanna had gotten an appointment with UMass. She concurred that antibiotics for Seth is the right route for the moment (I’m glad we have some plain yogurt) and said she’d look in to the referral for Joanna because I didn’t know if anything had been arranged or not.

And now I am going to milk the noisy goat.

Milk production this morning was way down. Less than half of yesterday. I guess I really do need to move them to greener pastures. It is one of the things on my list and I’ll go do it when I’m done here or decide that I don’t want to wait and would rather get it over with.

Yesterday Joanna worked at the Tewksbury Friendlys. It seems that they are very understaffed at the moment and don’t have a general manager and are borrowing staff from other locations. Three from Gardner are helping out. Joanna says that they pay for gas to get there which is a good thing because otherwise it would do her absolutely no good to go. Bare minimum when the traffic is good the drive is 54 minutes according to Google Maps. Because 495 is currently under construction, both the distance and the time are increased because 495 is part of the most direct route. She wasn’t home yet when I went to bed and she’s still not up so I don’t know how it went yet. Today she’s working in Gardner for a few hours and then going to Tewksbury again for another few hours.

Yesterday afternoon, I took the boys to the library. We checked out a few books and Cedric really wanted to look at the movies so we got two: Willow and Iron Man. The latter is really scratched up so they didn’t watch it last night. They ended up watching part of Willow and will most likely finish it today. Paul has had a basket in the living room since we’ve been here and it’s always just been a catch-all kind of deal (like so many things here) so yesterday I had the boys empty it out and store library books in it. It’s just what we’ve always needed so they don’t get misplaced. I was also going to stop at CVS for Seth’s antibiotics but the lines were outrageous due to the time (5:20) so we came home and I asked Laura to pick them up on her way home from church last night.

Paul has been having fun at work. Blair has some choices of what to do with the company right now. One includes moving to New Hampshire. One includes having a guy come in and be . . . something. From what Paul has said I’m not sure if he’d be the manager or more like a CEO. One is to just keep doing things the way they’ve been. One would be working with a distributer. Or some combination such as moving to New Hampshire and working with a distributer. Or moving to New Hampshire and having the manager/CEO dude come in and take over. Paul says that he likes the idea of moving to New Hampshire but. None of the options are really that great. Working with a distributer means that it would be very difficult to make sales because the distributers would be selling to their clients. Which isn’t to say it would be impossible, just difficult. If the manager/CEO guy comes in, everything, including sales, will be in effect sub-contracted. Carrying on as they have been isn’t a good option either because there are days when Paul is so annoyed/frustrated/ready to throw in the towel it isn’t even funny. My solution is simple: convince the gun company in Montana that Paul is the best person for the job and move there. Good, yes?

I think that is about it for today. My list isn’t too long and it’s time to get to work on it.

Have a wonderful day!

I'll Let You Know

Good morning! I hadn’t really intended to get up quite this early but sometime the bathroom is calling and you really can’t resist. There are some pretty clouds out and the temperature feels pretty good at the moment. The dogs went out before peeing or pooping on the floor which is a good thing. I cannot begin to express how much I dislike cleaning up after them.

Yesterday. Well. What a day.

Joanna was going to take Amena to the church to meet her ride to camp but was stranded in the rain with no top on her Jeep. Silly girl. Laura ended up taking her instead. She got off safe and sound. She had a lot of fun last year and had really been looking forward to this year. She said that last year, a lot of the first year girls were so homesick that they cried. Amena didn’t. I am not at all surprised. It will be interesting to hear what she has to say about it when she gets home Saturday.

The boys and I cleared off the counter in the kitchen and Seth and Joseph helped to clean the washer and dryer. Cedric cleaned the downstairs bathroom. Seth and Joseph took care of most of the mess by the brown chair with some final help from Cedric. Seth cleaned the living room with minimal help from his brothers. Seth also cleaned their room.

I love the picture. This is from Comet Pond on July 3.

Most of that happened before lunch. After lunch I told them they could watch a movie for a break while having popsicles. I had intended to work on my story while they did that but sometimes I just can’t sit when I know there are things that need to be done so I finished the counter and started cutting apples for the pies I planned to make for dessert. Then I chopped rhubarb and that, of course, brought on an allergy attack because I thought of Daniel and the recipe I used is one I got from Grandma that she told me she made before Papa died so I was thinking of Papa as well. I had checked Facebook as well and Lisa Marcoux (the wonderful teacher’s aide in Joseph’s class last year) has a daughter who had a friend who just died and I saw a post about that and of course that helped bring on more allergies. My heart goes out to the family of this boy.

Three boys at Comet Pond on July 3. Cedric is always in the water.

Once I was done chopping rhubarb, I put the pies together. The movie ended sometime about then and the boys finished up a few odds and ends. We’d also folded and put away two loads of laundry. When the boys had done everything I asked them to, they went to play with Daniel’s Legos in the back room with the stipulation that when I called them out to take care of another load of laundry they had to come do it without complaining. When it was time to do another load and then another, they did so all was well.

When the pies were in the oven, I cut the ends off a pound of green beans and then cut up four bell peppers, a bunch of scallions and three onions for part of supper. Then I cut up eight pounds of chicken. The green beans were for Oriental Green Beans which is another recipe I got from Grandma (but have lost so I had to look it up online). They’re really good and you can use canned or frozen green beans but fresh are ever so much better.

Children and clouds at Goguen's on July 20.

So, for supper we had Bombay Kadai which two thirds of the chicken was used for. I cheated and used two bottles of stuff that Paul bought some time ago. It says it’s ‘cilantro & tomato cooking sauce.” It is really good even though it was a touch spicy for Paul. That one was Indian. The remaining third of the chicken and the peppers, scallions and onions were used with Peanut Satay Stir Fry Sauce which is Thai. It was good as well and more to Paul’s liking heat-wise. Rice rounded out the meal and lemonade that Laura made.

Seth and Joseph at Goguen's on July 20.

Cedric cleared off the table while I was in the shower and when Laura got home from taking some things to Salvation Army for me and stopping at Walmart for herself, she swept and helped Cedric put another leaf in the table and wiped it off. We were expecting the Spanish-speaking missionaries but they called and said something had come up and would it be okay if we got the English-speaking elders. I said it was and called Paul to let him know because we had something unique in mind for the Spanish-speaking. Anyway, it was all good. Except for Cedric’s behavior afterward which did improve after a serious talking to.

Clouds at Goguen's on July 20.

Last night I checked Seth’s temperature and it was a bit high. 100.45°. He hasn’t been improving like Dr. Worden thought he might so I am going to call this morning and see about getting him in today. Most of the time he seems okay but his cough has gotten worse and last night he was worn out. Noone is in the office until 8:00 and I know from experience that it does no good to call before or after hours because all you get is an answering service and I’m not really sure what good they are because all they tell you is that it’s before or after hours and if it’s an emergency, call 911 or go to the ER. So. That’s on the agenda.

In the meantime, have whatever kind of day you’d like—wonderful would be the best.

Lovely, Rainy Day!

Good morning! Temperature: 67°. Humidity: 97%. Chance of rain: 100%. Beautiful day! Love it! Only I need to go milk the goat.

I didn’t wake up quite as early this morning and when I did, there was this boy in bed snuggled up to me. Chances are that if Joseph is in my bed, even when it’s too hot, he is snuggled up against my back. He’s a cute kid. Last night he wanted me to get him from his room when I went to bed. I know he likes to sleep with us but I also know that he does not know that I don’t sleep as well so while I don’t mind him coming in, I would prefer it to be closer to time to wake up. It worked out that way last night which was nice.

I had to get up when I did because I looked at Joseph’s hair which is currently longer than his brothers. Which isn’t saying that it’s long because they’ve both had theirs cut within the last couple of weeks and I used the ¼ inch attachment. Thinking about his hair led to thinking about Cedric and Seth’s hair and because I’d cut Cedric’s a couple of weeks ago and Seth’s Saturday, I thought about shaving their necks and trimming the hairline. Cedric and Seth are easy to do because their necks smooth and round. Joseph’s is more like Daniel’s although not as extreme. There are a couple of muscles in the neck, I’m guessing maybe the Splenius Capitis, that were very prominent in Daniel’s neck. They made his neck hard to shave and it made it hard to trim the hair. Of course, thinking about that led to thoughts of the accident and I wondered about Daniel’s injuries. What were they? Do I want to see an autopsy report? Noone ever told me exactly what injuries he had; at least, if they did, I do not remember. Laura told me that when she was walking around the Durango, Daniel “looked like he was asleep.” Of course, continuing on that line of thought was going to cause an allergy attack and I could feel one coming on so I got up.

Now I need to go milk the goat during the current lull in the rain.

And, of course, I went out and it increased. Wasn’t too bad though. The kids are in the crate which they aren’t excited about but they have some grain and water and should be able to live through this ordeal.

Yesterday was a busy day. I went to the bank and picked up an application at Heywood because I’d seen a posting for a phlebotomy position. It turns out there were three additional listings there so I listed all four on the application. When I got home from that trip out and about, I filled out the application and filled out all the paperwork I needed to in order to apply to take the phlebotomy certification exam. I stuck that in the mailbox on my next foray out and then went to drop the application off. It turns out that the one I’d seen online was already filled but the other three were all good. Two of them were closing yesterday which is why I filled it out and got it back later in the day (before lunch, actually). I stopped at the library to get The Reckoning by Sharon K. Penman and I thought I’d look for the book that I’d had checked out in July of 2011 and which I took on our trip but never actually finished reading. When I called Grandma last week, she said that she had it and was going to read it. I thought it would be fun to read the same book so I was looking for it at the library. I couldn’t remember what it was called or who it was by so that was a problem. I did remember it was about a midwife but nothing came up in my searches. So, I got a different book about a midwife. It is a novel so we’ll see how it goes. I started The Reckoning last night so I’ll have to finish it first.

The plants inside and outside got watered. I moved three of the indoor plants out so that they could get washed. I’d like to take a few more out sometime during the summer so they can get clean as well.

Laura and Joanna went to work. Joanna in the morning, Laura in the afternoon. Paul went to work. Last Thursday on the way to work, Elizabeth told Paul that she was going to tell Blair that Friday would be her last day working at Freestyle. He was somewhat surprised when she came out from talking to Blair and said that she was leaving and wouldn’t be back. I guess Jonathan picked her up that day. Paul has enjoyed not having to pick anyone up on the way; he can drive south on 68 which is his favorite route to take. I haven’t really spoken to Elizabeth since but I guess she told Paul that she wants to go to school for early childhood development. I don’t know what kinds of jobs you can get with that type of degree but hopefully all works out well for them.

I went through my current story and wrote down all the characters in order of appearance. I also worked on the map and I think I’ve gotten everything worked out. That was kind of fun. I also 1,183 words. That was kind of fun as well.

I also emailed Birthwise. I had to tell them of my dilemma with Paul having applied for the job in Montana and one of my child watchers moving to Utah. If Paul gets the job, we will be moving and I will not be able to attend Birthwise. If he does not get the job, we may end up moving, but probably only to New Hampshire and that depended on a lot of variables. In the event he does not get the job, I would be able to attend but we won’t know until after classes start. Not having Laura here isn’t a huge consideration but having everyone else being a year older will make a difference if they have to be alone at the house for a few hours between the time they get home from school and an adult gets home. Amena will be 14 in December, Cedric will be 12, Seth will be 10 in January, and Joseph will be 7 in August. I left all of them home with Daniel when he was 14 upon occasion. He didn’t like it, whereas Amena would, but I knew that he was responsible enough for it. My concern with Amena is that she isn’t enough bigger or older than Cedric to make him behave. Daniel was.

Laura is taking Amena to the church right now to meet her ride to Girl’s Camp. Cedric is looking for something to eat. Paul is still upstairs. Seth has already eaten. Joseph is getting ready to eat. I am going to be off for now.

Have a lugubrious day! No, not really! Have a fantastic day!

Lovely Monday

Good morning! I can handle the temperature this morning at the moment (67°) and I’m not quite sure I believe that it is 98% humidity. If it was, I’m pretty sure I’d see something out there and I don’t. Tonight sometime after 8:00 we are supposed to have a full moon and it’s supposed to be another big one. If we have no clouds, hopefully I can get some pictures of it.

Yesterday was another low key day. We went to church, came home, ate, I took a nap, we had family prayer, scriptures, and Family Home Evening, we ate ice-cream, and went to bed. In a nutshell.

Amena wanted to be early because she was leading music again and wanted to get her spot by the organ. So I took her, Cedric and Joseph in the bug. Laura needed to drive because she wanted to leave after Sacrament meeting to go to Ludlow for a YSA thing so she took Cedric. Paul took himself in the Jetta when he was ready. Joanna took Joseph in the Jeep when she was ready. Four vehicles for eight people. A bit ridiculous in my book but when we wait for everyone, we are invariably late even if it’s only by five minutes. Some days that just isn’t acceptable. Like yesterday.

Sacrament meeting was good. We had Clayton Christensen as a speaker which was good. He is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and is in the Boston mission presidency. He told a story about knowledge that was really something. He told another one that was good but I don’t remember it at the moment.

Sunday School was good. Young Women was good. Yesterday was the last Sunday I got to fill in for a missing teacher. There were four girls which is one more than the week before but only one of them had been there the week before. Two were visiting and one had been gone with her family the week before. We talked about names and what it means to be a Christian.

And speaking of that, why are so many people afraid of religion? All over the place religious freedoms are being eroded and from what I’ve read, it isn’t that people don’t think we need religion; it’s that they are afraid of those who are religious.

Laura did leave after Sacrament meeting. After church, I left with Seth and Joseph. Joanna waited for Amena who had a meeting and brought her home. Paul wanted to talk to Clayton Christensen because he’s known him for years and used to meet with him regularly for one of his callings. Cedric ended up waiting and coming home with Paul. Pretty exciting.

When I got home with Seth and Joseph I started getting food ready. I’d taken some steaks out of the freezer before we left to grill. When I got home I realized that one of them said pot roast so I wasn’t sure if it wanted to be grilled or not. It wasn’t like any pot roast I’d ever seen and looked more like a really thick steak. Anyway, because I wasn’t sure about that, I took a package of pork chops out and defrosted them in the microwave. I collected some cucumbers from the garden as well as a head of broccoli. Two of the cucumbers got peeled and sliced and the broccoli got grilled along with the head I’d gotten at the Westminster Farmer’s Market last week. Then, because we needed to eat whether everyone was home or not, I started cooking the meat. Joanna left with Joseph to return a phone charger to Shayna and Paul got home not long after they left. I grilled away and left the pot roast to Paul who went ahead and grilled it. Joanna and Joseph arrived after we had started eating. When we were done, I cut up half a watermelon and the boys made short work of that.

Then I went and took a nap. I kept getting interrupted by boys who just had to ask questions but I did get to sleep. Twice. When I finally woke up, it was 7:00 already. I went downstairs and put some ice-cream on to freeze. We read a chapter and had family prayer and watched the video that I’d had the girls watch at church. Then we sang a song and had another prayer.

Amena and Cedric brought in the goats and everyone went to bed. The boys all slept in the back room. I cut up the other half of the watermelon and washed dishes. Laura finally got home sometime between 9 and 10 and Joanna just had to go out to talk to Shayna. I’m not sure when she got home but it was probably when the dogs started barking in the middle of the night.

When we were sitting at the table eating ice-cream, I looked at the phone and said, “California didn’t call?” Nope. Paul had had the boys call because Cedric wanted to go to Comet Pond. Comet Pond never happened. I didn’t think Seth should go because his cough isn’t getting any better and it really wasn’t all that warm by the time anyone would have gone.

And that is that. Laura and Joanna both have work today as does Paul. Laura doesn’t work until 3:00 so she is going to dye Amena’s air brown. Amena is going to finish getting ready for Girl’s Camp. I don’t know what everyone else is going to do. It’s not supposed to get too hot today—just in the 70’s. My list of things to do is long enough to keep me busy and has things on it that children can help with. Currently Seth is the only other person awake and up. The goat needs to be milked and the dogs fed.

Have a fantabulous day!