It can't be the last day of August!

Good morning! It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of August. I think my computer might be telling me stories because it can’t possibly be that late in the year. Can it?

There isn’t much to tell you about since I wrote yesterday afternoon. The afternoon was an afternoon. Amena got home and fell in love with the kitten. I left to go walk around the fields while Cedric had soccer practice and while I was gone, Seth and Joseph got home and fell in love with the kitten. When Cedric and I got home, Cedric fell in love with the kitten. His love is a bit more reserved because he was certain that something was going to happen to her during the night. Nothing did. She is in danger, however, of being loved to death.

Amena went to the Trivett’s in the afternoon to keep Sarah company while her parents went to the temple. Sarah came home with her to spend the night. I think they got here close to midnight.

Laura went to work yesterday morning but was home again before I got back from having my blood drawn. She was feeling kind of not terrific. If she’s not over this thing by Monday, flying to Utah is going to be a lot of fun for her.

Tory Ladroga came over to see Laura. They wanted to go hang out because Laura is leaving but Joanna wasn’t home, Amena wasn’t home, so Laura needed to stay because the boys were here. Paul and I went to the Mexican place that he really likes and only went to Aldi’s where there were no specials that called out to us so we went home.

I really don’t know what it is about this Mexican place that Paul likes so much. The food is good, but not spectacular and I don’t like anything on the menu well enough to have it more than once. Last night I tried some chipotle mustard chicken wings and refried beans. The refried beans are good. Paul wanted to know why I had the wings with bones. The wings without bones do have more meat but they also aren’t wings: they’re made with white meat. Anyway, they were okay. I’ve now tried three of their 41 flavors of wings. I guess I could go a few more times to try some others.

Even though Cedric got a ride to practice from school with Jacob’s dad, I went to the field about 3:30 to walk the trail. I figured I could go three times since that’s what I did the day before. It took just about the 30 minutes they had of practice which is okay. I figure the trail is about .44 of a mile. I might be off a bit but I think that’s pretty close. There is one thing I could do to make it longer and I might remeasure sometime. It would be pretty cool if it actually was a half mile.

Anyway, with the walking and going to bed early rather than sitting at the table, my ankles have been responding well. My right was almost normal this morning and my left was much improved. I think the knots even feel smaller. I don’t know if I’ll ever know what the deal is.

And now I don’t feel like writing any more. Have a spectacular day!

Cars and Cats and Blood

Good afternoon! I hope your day has been good thus far and that it continues to be.

Yesterday Joseph had his first soccer practice of the year. As we were walking over to the field, he said, “I don’t want to do this.” I think it was just the nervousness before the first practice speaking but I told him that now isn’t the time to back out. I wouldn’t have signed him up if he hadn’t said he wanted to play.

Cedric’s dentist appointment went well. He has no new cavities which is what every mother wants to hear. Our trip was fairly uneventful and I forgot to pick up the container that had cookies in it from Joseph’s teacher.

My trip to the doctor revealed nothing. My swelling ankles don’t appear to be from high blood pressure or from anything else readily ascertainable. I do wonder about blood pressure sometimes. If a person’s normal is low, wouldn’t normal be high for them? Mine is usually 106/60. Yesterday it was 118/72. For me, that is a bit high. For Paul, it would be heavenly. I did get to go have my ankles x-rayed and that was interesting and I got to go in this morning to have my blood drawn.

I didn’t know there was an x-ray lab in the Medical Arts Building. I wish I’d have known that before because I wouldn’t have wasted time going to the hospital. Even though they are actually part of the same building, if your doctor is in the Medical Arts Building, you can go to the lab there rather than going into the hospital which requires out-patient check-in at the front and then a long winding walk through several halls and then a wait in the lab area. Same deal with x-rays.

Anyway, when I got there, which was just a walk down one hall, up a flight of stairs, and a shorter walk down another hall, the woman behind the mirrored glass didn’t seem all that friendly. When I got back into the x-ray room, she was very nice. Then, when I was putting my shoes on (which takes, you know, a whole five seconds because they’re Birkenstocks) she asked, “Are you a midwife?” I was wearing my shirt that says “And on the 8^th day God created MIDWIVES.”

“No,” I answered. “But I’m working on it.”

“Do you think more women are actually having their babies at home?”

“Well, the statistics say they are. Still, overall, the homebirth rate is less than 1% so it’s hard to say.”

“Would you be doing hospital births?”

“No.” I explained about how in Massachusetts a midwife cannot attend both home and hospital births and that if a person earns her/his RN and then becomes a midwife and does homebirth, she/he has to relinquish their RN degree. She thought that was ridiculous and of course I agree.

“A woman should be allowed to choose where she gives birth,” she said (and again, I agree), “just like the flu shot baloney.”

She said that she thinks it is interesting that when you go to the doctor, you are able to opt out of things like flu shots and yet employers have the power to force you to get them. There is something really wrong with this, we agreed.

Needless to say, my first impression was not correct and it was actually very nice talking to her.

Cedric and Seth went along with me and Joseph to the rec field for Joseph’s practice. I walked the trail around the fields three times while Cedric and Seth played on the playground and ran around. Cedric wants to take a bicycle next time.

Interesting thing about walking yesterday, my ankle this morning wasn’t swollen by 8:00 like it was yesterday. I think walking is good for it. I also think that because of where the knots are near my right ankle bone and around my left ankle, they are affecting fluid retention because the fluid builds up first in the more distal areas. Only after they are poofy does the swelling climb. Interesting. And walking helped as does keeping my feet up. Interesting. Today Cedric is getting a ride from school to practice from Craig Halfrey who is his coach. I’m going to go about 3:30 and walk around the trail again. I like the idea of making this...whatever go away.

I went to have my blood drawn this morning. I arrived at the lab at 8:26 and there were three people ahead of me. It didn’t take long to get in. When I saw her put six tubes in the tube holder, I thought to myself, “Yeah, right.” I didn’t say anything though. The first three tubes were fine. The fourth she had to move it a bit. The fifth had to move a bit more. The sixth just wasn’t going to cooperate. I sure would like to try drawing my own blood. I know I have veins.

When I got back from that, I took the Jetta to Springfield to trade it for the bug. The Jetta had a real harmonic thing going on. The noise at times was something else—especially taking off from a stop and there were entirely too many of those. If I could keep the right speed going, the noise wasn’t bad. However, there were so many variables it was ridiculous (uphill, flat, downhill, slow people in front of me, stoplights and/or stop signs, pedestrian crossings, etc.). I made it in one piece and was very happy to drive the bug home. I know the guy said the turbo is history (junk, actually, because it was from China), but just new fuel injectors made a huge difference. I was able to accelerate going uphill! Heavenly! And it was so hard to stick close to the speed limit that I didn’t try unless I was stuck on 202 behind a truck (which was most of it). On route 2, I was tooting along at a very nice speed of roughly 25 over the limit listening to Def Leppard having a splendid time. Until I saw a State Police. He was going the other way though. However, because I happened to notice that he took an exit, I thought I probably should as well and did. Which was handy because it’s the one I wanted anyway.

Right now I am going to go check on the kitten that we inherited from the Yang’s. I think she’s a girl and she is very cute. White and black. And she loves attention. It’s too bad we can’t have her in the house but hopefully she’ll be fine outside.

Have a wonderful rest of the day!

2nd Day of School

Good morning! The boys are finishing getting ready for school. We’re trying lunches from home again. Yesterday I was disappointed with how much food came home so today they have less. Amena slept in. When I got up at 6:00, I thought that she was in the bathroom with the light turned on but it appears that it was Laura. I got ready to and went out to milk and when I came in to check on how things were going, Amena told me she’d woken up at 6:10 because she forgot to turn her alarm on. I got her a lunch ready with enough extra for her to eat some on the way for breakfast and she made it out for the bus in time.

Doesn't she look excited? I caught her yesterday when she got off the bus for a couple of pictures.

In the morning yesterday I made cookies to take in to Joseph’s class. I made the recipe that Joanna tweaked and while the dough is heavenly, the cookies are really flat with chocolate chip mountains and are a bit greasy. I think next time more flour and/or less butter are in store. I’m not in a cookie making mode any more though so it will be a while before that is pursued.

When I got to the school to deliver the cookies and drinks, I went to where Ms. Mankowsky’s classroom, it had transformed to a classroom for special needs children. I had to go back to the office and ask where I might find the right room. Both are now down the hall where the 2^nd and 3^rd grade classrooms are. Quite frankly, I think they’ve got a better classroom now which is nice.

When I got home from delivering cookies, Laura and I went to Joann’s. I had six coupons to use plus a couple that Laura had. I ended up spending more than I wanted to but saved about a third of the total price. I now have everything I need to make the boys their Colonial period outfits. Construction will begin once I have tissue paper to transfer the patterns to.

We got home just before Amena got home from school. I got to work filling out and signing the papers she brought home because I knew that the boys would all have more. I don’t know why they don’t have this stuff on file. Some of it I understand for updating purposes but some of it is just the same old stuff that I’ve filled out already sixteen times since we got here. Now it’s twenty times. Considering that each child gets all the same papers (with a slight change for middle school) and there are a couple that I only have to fill out once because I can put all of them on one, and there are something like seven or eight different forms some of them with multiple pages, that’s a lot of paper.

When the boys got home, I had more papers to fill out. I have finally learned that it is a good idea to just get them done the day they are brought home because then it’s done and over. It seems like they all had a pretty good day. Amena didn’t have a normal day because they spent about an hour and a half in their first classes handing out paperwork and going over student handbooks. Today will be more normal I think.

The boys just left on the bus. It was a minute earlier today. Cedric’s goal is to make sure they are all out ready to go so the bus driver doesn’t have to wait for anyone here. He’s a super nice guy and he does wait for kids when he knows they’re coming. It does make life easier for me because it means I didn’t have to run a poky child or two to school several times during the last school year but I do think they tend to learn better to be on time if they get left home a time or two.

The amarillys is beginning to bloom. I am not a big fan of orange, but this really is lovely.

We didn’t go to church last night because the Young Women were coming here to help clean and do some moving around of things in the basement. They did a great job and made lots of headway. In spite of the fact that I really didn’t want them to come because I hadn’t gotten any of the preliminary work done prior to their coming and because my left ankle was killing me, I am glad that they did.

Jenny Whitcomb left me a lovely potted plant with a package of Lindt caramel truffles and a sweet card. The truffles are perfect because while I like caramel, I won’t eat them all in one sitting like I probably would have if they were chocolate. Yesterday was an incredibly hard day for me missing Daniel and it means an awful lot to know that there are those who are aware. Thank-you so much. I knew that the anniversary of the accident and Daniel’s birthday and Christmas would be hard, but no one mentioned that the first day of school would be. Live and learn, eh?

Up for today Cedric has a dentist appointment at 11:00. I’ll need to go pick him up from school by 10:30. He has a lunch with him which is good because he will miss lunch time at school. At 1:3 I have an appointment to see the nurse practitioner at the doctor’s office. I decided to go without ibuprofen yesterday and I’m fine if I’m up and moving around. Standing in one place kills. Sitting with my foot down kills. Much of the day yesterday when I wasn’t busy doing other things, I spent on the bed reading or on my laptop because on the bed is the most comfortable place to be and my foot/ankle doesn’t hurt at all then. This morning my right ankle looked almost normal and just had a little lump where the knot is just below my ankle bone. Even my left ankle looked pretty good; the swelling was almost gone. Just in the two hours that I’ve been up milking, getting lunches ready for children, helping them get breakfast, etc., my left ankle has blossomed. It’s ridiculous.

Paul didn’t get home until late because he went shopping. He said that there is no turbo in the bug because whoever put it in, used parts from China and they go fast. A new one would be in the $1000 neighborhood. I laughed. As much as I would like to have it, I think I’ll do without. Especially considering that the truck looks like it’s going to be about a $1,500 fix. What the heck is up with the vehicle situation, anyway?

It looks like we’re having a serious mist or really light rain outside; it feels really humid. I think I’m glad I had Cedric not take the goats out because if they were out, the likely would need to come in and I likely would be the one to get to do that and I just really don’t feel like it.

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

First Day of School and Memories

Good morning! It is way too humid out. When I was out milking and helping Seth get the goats out for the day, the water vapor in the air was definitely thick enough to cut with a knife.

Today is the first day of school. Pretty exciting. Because the girls were being difficult this morning, I wasn’t able to get to the house in time to get a picture of Amena before she left. In fact, she was running a bit late because although she woke up early to be sure she wasn’t late, she then lay in bed for almost an hour and didn’t get up until I did at 5:45. The bus isn’t technically supposed to stop at our house but it did last year for Austin Stanley across the street. It stopped this morning as well which I think makes sense because there are three middle school students right here: Austin and his brother Adam who is in Amena’s grade and Amena. I am going to have lots of homework tonight because there is always lots of paperwork to fill out on the first day of school. Fun times.

Do they look excited?

Yesterday morning, Laura followed me to Agawam. The bug had some things going on that needed to be checked out and Laura didn’t have work yesterday. That was pretty exciting. I forgot to write one step down and so I kept going straight when I should have turned so then I paid attention to the GPS on my phone and we ended up taking a bit of a scenic route. On the way home, we went the way we should have gone. I am hoping that what’s wrong will not take long or be too expensive. Paul also needs to get the Jetta in for a couple of things. One is fairly easy but the other might not be.

Before we left, I put some beans on to boil and then soak so I could make beans for supper. When we got home, I drained and rinsed the beans and cooked up the hamburger and sausage and put everything together for chili beans. Laura made the cornbread while I was gone with Amena.

The pattern.

Amena had been wanting to take some Amish friendship bread to someone from school; I think she’s a teacher’s aide. All summer she wanted to do this and finally she got to yesterday. We left half an hour earlier than we needed to for her orientation and dropped it off in Rutland and then went to Quabbin.

The fabric (pre-preshrunk): Cedric, Seth, Joseph.

I was expecting something like the orientation Daniel had and in many ways it was similar but there was one huge, nice difference in that they didn’t shuffle everyone into the auditorium or high school gym or whatever it is for a few speeches before going to the classrooms. Instead, after picking up her schedule and some papers, we had almost half an hour to find the classrooms. The rest was very much the same with the sole exception being we got to spend fifteen minutes in each classroom rather than ten. I really was hoping that some of the teachers and/or classrooms would catch my eye from when I was there with Daniel but they didn’t. The only one that seemed familiar was the science teacher. Daniel had Spanish first and Amena has art first so I never met Daniel’s art teacher.

Anyway, the whole experience was somewhat bittersweet because I remember so much from being there with Daniel and I can’t help but think how nice it would be if he were here to be there for his sister. He would have made sure she was up when she wanted to be and I know that he would have tips and pointers for her. I did my best to tell her what I remember of what Daniel told me about lunch tickets and the library and lockers but that’s all at least two years old and I don’t remember everything that he said and he would have done such a better job than me.

I think I like Amena’s art teacher. She’s kind of crazy, like most good art teachers seem to be. She said that art is a lot of fun and that she expects everyone to do well even if they aren’t very ‘good’ at art. When a student misbehaves to the point she sends them out to the ‘hall of shame,’ she has them write a haiku poem about what they did and how sorry they are and in order to be admitted back into class on really good terms, a drawing of a butterfly is a must because butterflies make her happy. Also, they get to listen to music—her music which includes Duran Duran and INXS. If students don’t like her music, they are free to listen to something on their own device as long as they only use it for music and don’t share listening devices. I don’t know, I just think I like her.

The boys are off. The bus arrived late, as I predicted it would. The schedule said 7:33, it arrived at 7:39. It is always late on the first day.

I am going to be off for now because there are many things I would like to get done. Have a spectacular day!

Uneventful Day with a Twist

Good morning! It is too warm and way too humid this morning. It is so humid out that you can see it hanging in the air. Try about 96% humidity. Yuck. Actually, if you took away the humidity, the temperature would be okay.

Yesterday was a get ready for school kind of day. All morning Amena wanted to know when we were going to get supplies. I went with Laura to Staples after she got home and we got what was needed with a few exceptions. Seth still needs a calculator which I’ll get when I see one I like. Amena thinks he needs colored pencils but Laura has some he can have, a pencil box that I’m sure we have running around somewhere and if we don’t, they don’t cost much, and a black fine tip Sharpie that I think a blue one will work for but the list says black and we know how literal Amena can be. Cedric needs 3 holed graph paper and I think there is some upstairs. I  couldn’t believe that a 4 MB flash drive was on his list. I don’t even know if they make them that small any more.

When Laura and I got home, Amena wanted to sort everything out which was fine so she started doing that. Then I asked Laura if she’d be willing to take Amena and Cedric to get shoes. That way I could make supper and we wouldn’t have to go today.  She was willing although not excited. I can’t say I blame her for that.

Just as Seth, Joseph and I were finishing up eating, Paul called. The truck died on the way home from work. Could I look up Ray’s number? I did. Paul tried calling but there was no answer. Who was home? Me. Seth. Joseph. Oh. I called Laura and she didn’t answer but she called back and I asked her if she could drive by Ray’s and see if he was there. She did. She didn’t see any lights although his truck was there. She didn’t get out and walk around or knock so I went to see if he was there. If his truck is there, he is, so he had to be around somewhere. I got there, noticed there were lights on, knocked on a back door and then he walked around a motor home in the back with his dog. He’d been out walking the dog. For some reason his phone wouldn’t work so I called Paul with mine and he talked to Ray. I think Paul was hoping it would be an easy fix that Ray could do on the side of the road but Ray didn’t seem too excited about going to look. Soooo, Paul called a place in Sterling where he took the van once and they called a towing service and the truck got towed there. I got to drive down to pick Paul up in Laura’s car. That was pretty exciting. Even more exciting is the fact that the problem with the truck might be a fuel injector which is something like a $1,000 fix. Yikes. If it isn’t one thing, it’s a half dozen others. Or, in this case, just one really expensive thing. The bug already needs to go to Springfield today and the Jetta needs some attention. That means there is the van for Paul to drive to work. And soccer practice starts Thursday. Oh boy.

I didn’t do much yesterday other than laundry, going to Staples, and picking up Paul. I did spend a lot of time looking at patterns and clothes for the mid-1770’s and the medieval period. That was fun but not really the best use of my time. There is always so much that needs to be done. I did wash some of the fabric that I’m going to use for waistcoats for the boys. It needed washing before getting used in the worst way. Those I washed yesterday were both wool fabrics and they came from Salvation Army. Goodness knows how long they sat in someone’s stash without being washed. When I took them out of the washing machine, I thought I might have to rewash them but once they were dry (yes, I wash and dry wool in the washer and dryer—just not all wool) they were fine. I’ll get the third, which is a cotton upholstery fabric, done today. It doesn’t look like it sat for so long and doesn’t smell.

Up for today is a trip to Springfield. Amena has an orientation at the middle school. We have missionaries for supper. That should be enough.

Have a wonderful day! 

Fort and Party

Good morning! It is almost a perfect day out. I saw one mosquito, the ground is wet and there are clouds. Other than that one mosquito, today is what I would consider to be a perfect autumn day. The only problem with that is we are still in August. Global warming? Nah—global climate change. Wake up and smell the coffee people, before it goes extinct because we insist on growing it the same place it’s always been grown according to our very small memories and record keeping abilities.

These were the German's fighting on the American side. I like their uniforms and their cannon.

British soldiers up close and personel.

In other news, the world is surely ripening in iniquity. I read an article last night that reports that in many Wisconsin schools, 3^rd graders are going to be taught about masturbation. It culminates at the 6^th grade level when students should know the difference between sex, anal sex, and oral sex. Granted, individual school districts can ‘opt out’ but the precedence is there. I’m sorry if I seem backward to some, actually, that’s a lie. I am not sorry if I seem backward to some. I do not believe that it is the school systems job to teach my children about sex. It is my job. The opinion was expressed that if parents won’t teach the students, the schools have to step in. Are you kidding me? If the parents won’t teach their children about God, are the schools going to step in and teach them? Are you kidding me? It’s my job. It is my responsibility. And if the schools here start spewing this crap, my students will be coming home in a heartbeat.

I really wonder about the red uniforms. They stick out like a sore thumb.

Smoke rings from the cannon were really cool. Sometimes there was one from a musket as well.

In other news, Joseph had a good birthday party yesterday. It being Sunday, it was our family birthday party but it was good. He got Legos, he had chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice-cream. He had pizza. I don’t know why I’ve lived my life thinking pizza crust is so hard to do. Probably because of the kits that my mother used to get; the crust mix never did seem to want to spread out as big as it was supposed to. I’ve always rolled the crust out and it is a big mess and pain. This time I did what the recipe said—used floured fingers to mush it out over a greased baking stone (well, the recipe said cookie sheet—I love baking stones). It worked. Amazingly well. And it was so easy after that to spread out the sauce and sprinkle on cheese. Seth put the pepperoni on the first pepperoni pizza. Anyway, the birthday boy was happy and his complaining about having to wait to open presents has ended.

In the stocks.

Joseph wanted to lock him in.

He was attempting to escape--the left hand was on its way out.

Saturday we went to Charlestown, New Hampshire. There is a fort called the Fort at No. 4 near Charlestown where they sometimes do a battle reenactment. The fort is actually from the French and Indian war but it is my understanding that it was in use during the Revolutionary War as well. At the time first, it was actually a part of Massachusetts. For those of you who are able, here is the link for the website: http://www.fortat4.org/index.html. I got a pattern to make the boys breeches, a shirt, and a waistcoat. I think they’ll have their Halloween costumes, I’m just sad that they won’t be able to take any kind of gun (including a wooden one) as part of it to school. Grandma, I don’t suppose you’ve been hankering to make some knicker socks for three boys? Actually, I was thinking about it but it would take me for about ever so I was then thinking that I’d probably just end up getting them long socks somewhere. At least for now.

The birthday boy!

Seth got to help make a clay pot while we were there and we walked around and looked at lots of cool stuff. Paul met some of the guys he used to do reenactments with which was fun for him. He hadn’t seen any of them since he had his accident seventeen years ago. There was a ‘surgeon’ there. Actually, there was more than one but we only spoke to one. He had a set of foreceps there. He didn’t think they were period but still, once you’ve seen one pair, they’re unmistakable. He also had some leeches (Tootsie Rolls) and mentioned some reasons for bleeding that sound plausible and were not taught in my phlebotomy class. Because the cooking was done in iron pans and water was often collected in iron pots, there was a lot of iron in the diet which could lead to iron rich blood. In such a case, a therapeutic phlebotomy would be beneficial. Also, in the case of high blood pressure, it would have been sort of beneficial. The problem, as he mentioned, is that they had no way to measure blood pressure and they didn’t really know it was a problem. He did an amputation demonstration on Seth. Very interesting. I always knew it happened but didn’t know how. They’d put a tourniquet on above the amputation site, a rope tied somewhere below (wrist, ankle) and have someone hold the person. The flesh of the limb would be cut with a knife and would then be held back with some claw-looking tools by an assistant while the bone was cut with a bone saw. Then the flesh would be pulled down and the skin sewed up and hopefully the person would live.

The birthday boy's pizza.

And that is all for today. Have a fantabulous day!

Light Bulb Moment

Good morning!

Yesterday I made zucchini bread, Amish friendship bread, and chocolate chip cookies. That means I spent too much time on my feet which would explain why they, or my ankles really, felt awful last night. Still, I almost drank enough water yesterday and so this morning while my ankles don’t feel good, they aren’t as swollen. This morning I had a light bulb moment: swollen ankles (still not sure why but still have ideas) + ibuprofen (which causes water retention) = not a good idea.

Today we are currently planning on going to Fort 4 in New Hampshire. They do a battle reenactment on August 24^th every year unless it rains and it doesn’t much look like rain to me. So, I will leave you with this for now.

Have a spectacular day!

Almost Full Moon

Good morning! It is a nice, fairly non buggy morning out. However, milk production isn’t what it ought to be. I think I would like to go back to bed. I’m not sure why—it’s quiet, no one else is up, it should be good for...something.

Yesterday was an okay day. I wrote over 1,000 pages on the little paper on water and birth and don’t know how little it is going to actually be. I went through all of my books and there were six with really good blurbs about water and birth. So far, only the oldest says anything about the water breaking and the danger of germs and it even admits that not everyone agrees about how bad it is at home in a woman’s own tub. One of the books led to a very interesting sounding article but I can’t get to it online because I don’t have the proper authority. I need Joanna’s student ID so that I can access it online or I need to go up to the Mount and access it from there because I don’t have to have an ID to access it from the school. Too bad I can’t also print things out in the Honor’s Room now. Being a student definitely has its advantages.

I also wrote somewhat more than 1,000 pages in my story and decided to have Cailin and Hywel go ahead to Leinad. Currently, they’re on a barge floating down the Ylreveb River which pretty much takes them right there from Regrebmal. Cailin is having a dream and is about to wake up.

In other news, the glow plug light in the bug came on again, or rather started flashing at me again, on the way home from church Wednesday night so it needs to go see a Volkswagon specialist down south of Springfield. Since it’s hard to get there with Paul, I need to find someone who can go down with me and bring me home during the day. Yesterday would have been perfect in the morning because Laura didn’t go to work until 4:00 but Paul didn’t know to tell me until nearly noon by which time it was a bit late. We would have had to take the boys as well because not even Amena was home which would not have been terribly fun. Today might work if we left about now but I think I’d rather do it next week when there will be someone older home with the boys.

Nice almost full moon for a pretty awesome birthday boy, I think.

Joseph wanted to open presents in the worst way yesterday. It’s hard for a seven-year-old to wait. But last night Paul was gone, Laura was gone, and Joanna was gone. Wouldn’t have been all that much fun with so many people gone. I know Sunday feels like waiting forever to him, but I think it will be worth it.

Yesterday afternoon Dan called to tell Joseph happy birthday. Then Uncle Jay called. Pretty good for a seven-year-old. The boys wanted to watch Despicable Me so I let them and I watched it with them. It is pretty cute. We need to get Despicable Me 2 when it comes out.

Whoever heard of using the flash to take a picture of the moon? This one is with, the first is without.

I don’t know what’s up for today. Probably not much terribly exciting. Seth picked some peaches yesterday and they’re cute and pretty but don’t taste as good as the first ones we picked. I didn’t want to can any because they’re small but they are nice and they’d work well for just halving so I might go ahead and do some. I need to replenish those that we’ve eaten anyway.

And that’s it for now. Have an absolutely wonderful day!

Water Labor/Birth

Well, if it isn’t another birthday today! Seven years ago today Joseph decided to make his appearance! His birth was by far the best; being in the water was heavenly!

And that brings to mind my annoyance of last week when some friends were laboring with their first baby. A comment was made on Facebook about waiting (that’s what pregnancy and labor are all about, right?) and I said, “Go for a walk. Really. Or take a bath.” Then, “Well, mama, anyway.” The next comment was, “Once her water breaks, she can't take a bath. Showers, yes.” I have to admit that I allowed that to make me angry. Livid, even. Ask Laura. I was ranting. I had to shut my computer and walk away and remember that this woman had been brainwashed by the medical system. And, no, this is not an assumption as the rest of her comment was, “I know I ran the hospital's water bill up 900% when I had mine.”

So, it’s okay to labor in the shower in the hospital but not the tub if your water has broken. That’s fine, I guess, as long as the woman’s perineum doesn’t touch anything, like a birth ball or a shower stool or bench or chair. I mean, seriously? I wouldn’t labor in the hospital in a tub if my water had broken and it would be for exactly the reason they give: infection. But only because it’s the hospital and everyone knows that they are teeming with all kinds of nasty bad things that have the potential to kill you. However, if a bath is out of the question at the hospital after the water has broken, then so should be all vaginal exams. For the same reason. I don’t care if medical personnel use sterile gloves, you can’t tell me that those gloves come in contact with absolutely NOTHING. Do they live in a vacuum?

In taking a somewhat cursory look at what the internet has to offer regarding labor and birth in the water, the only website that cautioned against the use of water was very medical and the reasons it cited were somewhat ambiguous and leaned toward the uncertain line of thought that sounds like this, “I don’t know, laboring in the water? Giving birth in the water? How much do we really know about that? There haven’t been any studies done pro or con so we really don’t know anything. Gosh, the stories can’t all be good so let’s point out some things that might be bad.” Most of the websites I visited listed myriad benefits although one seemed to just be a blog-type thing that was asking for women to express negative experiences with water labor and/or birth. In all fairness, it isn’t for everyone so this blog was kind of cool. It gave the other side of the story from a laboring/birthing mother’s comfort perspective and that is a good thing. The scary medical crap is not a good thing because they don’t know much. No studies, you know.

Anyway, Joseph was born in the water. My water had broken. I labored in the water. I got out sometimes because I didn’t feel like anything was happening. During the infrequent internal exams, the midwife could tell that things were happening. It was an awesome experience for us.

Another anyway, I really think that I would like to write a paper about laboring/birthing in water. Just for fun, you know. Because I’m weird like that.

In other news, I didn’t get to use my computer much yesterday because I let Amena use it to get ready for the activity she was in charge of at church. Much planning and preparation went into it. It’s a shame that there were only six youth there and they didn’t have time to go to all the stations. I think it would work well for a larger, maybe Stake activity for the youth. Or, on a smaller scale, if there were fewer stations.

Still, I got the request for Daniel’s death certificate mailed off. I think when it arrives I’ll just plan on a huge major allergy attack because I can feel one coming on just thinking about it. Yesterday, while Amena was working on her stuff, I could hear Daniel saying to her, “You’re crazy.” He always had good ideas and they always worked but he put far less physical effort into them. He would have been a valuable asset to Amena in planning hers. Which isn’t to take away from her efforts; they are very different people, I just think Amena isn’t as flexible as Daniel.

I discovered a way to make gridlines appear on paint so I was working on Hywel’s cottage yesterday. I was actually using it as an excuse to not write anything because I’m sort of stuck. I decided to not have them travel from Regrebmal to Leinad and to not write about their trip home from Regrebmal. I am wondering if perhaps I should have them do something although if I do, I’m going to have to do something about the seasons because it’s almost winter and snow would be a very real concern. Although not as much in Leinad as it is so far south. Anyway, all food for thought. I need to write at least 3,000 words today to catch up for this very lacking week.

And now, I believe I will be off. I don’t want to use up all my words here. Not that I ever do.

Have a spectacular day!

Busy Day

Good morning! The bugs weren’t too awful outside. I didn’t get as much milk as usual because I went out earlier than usual which is good because school starts next week; one week from today, in fact.

An ibuprofen and Deep Blue (an essential oil blend from doTerra) did the trick for my ankles yesterday in that they didn’t hurt which was nice. Both wore off by evening though and it felt good to go to bed which I did earlier than usual. I think I went right to sleep after turning the light off, too. I’ve noticed that my right forearm has been hurting as well and that had stopped when I started doing Pilates. I haven’t been doing Pilates because of the state of the living room so maybe I’d better get on the ball and start up again and maybe both problems will disappear again. It certainly is worth a shot.

Amena and I went to get her glasses yesterday morning. We stopped at the bank to deposit milk money and to get the paper notarized. That was pretty exciting. I also wanted to stop at the West’s to see the baby (and her parents) but Emily had said they wouldn’t be home until 10:45 so we went back to Gardner to the library so Amena could check out a book (she ended up getting two) because it was still pretty early. I didn’t have Amena’s library card with me but I did have mine (and Cedric and Seth’s) so that was handy. We got to the West’s and Emily and the baby (I know her name but have to look up the spelling to be sure I’m right) weren’t home yet. As it turns out, they got stuck in the traffic on route 2 that Amena and I avoided because we turned off at the exit before it got bad and therefore missed their scheduled appointment and had to reschedule for 10:30 and at that point, Emily said, they (doctor’s office personnel) weren’t too interested in being on time but rather in taking their time. So Amena and I got to visit with Jeremy and a bit with Emily’s dad. That was kind of nice and certainly interesting. Amena got to hold the baby when she arrived and then I did and while I was holding her, she was a bit fussy but she was getting hungry and she filled her diaper. That’s always fun.

We got home close to noon and everyone had lunch. We did a little mattress exchanging and Laura and I started working on the living room. Joanna wanted the entire downstairs and front porch cleaned because Zack (her boyfriend) was coming over. If everything was cleaned to her satisfaction, they’d stay here for supper but if not, they would take off. I’m pretty sure that everything did not get cleaned well enough but he ended up staying. We did get lots done. Laura and I almost finished the living room. Of course that required moving a couch out and into the library area which means it’s a bigger mess to contend with because I’d really like to get rid of that particular couch as we do not need it. I’d really like to replace the couch that’s in there with a couple of easy chairs. Or maybe just the pink chairs that we moved to the back room. They’re nice chairs, just upholstered in pink and that could be changed. I think that we could discard a desk as well. There is one in Paul’s office, aka Laura’s room, one in our room, and one in the back room. That’s not even counting the one in the attic, the at least one in the basement and at least one in the barn. Anyway, the living room looks much better and has more room in it and just needs a little more done.

Because of all the fun we had with cleaning and rearranging and then the fun I had cooking supper, I didn’t get any writing done and didn’t manage to do much else that I usually would have. That’s okay. What got done needed to be and it isn’t like I won’t have time for everything else.

Paul said that when he showed up to work Monday, Blair said, “Why don’t you go to the beach Wednesday?” Well, the Beehives are in charge of Mutual tonight and basically, Amena is the one who has put most of the thought and effort into the whole thing so she wants to be at church tonight. If it weren’t for that, I’d be happy to go today. I thought that next Monday was an option but I guess because Friday is Michael’s last day, it isn’t because there won’t be anyone to answer the phones. I didn’t realize that was a problem. Maybe Paul didn’t either because it certainly never came up before. Anyway, if we could be home by six this evening, it would still be nice to go. Or if it would be possible for Amena to do her thing another night but I think being responsible means being there when you say you are so that really wouldn’t work too well.

Currently, some children need to be goaded into action so I’d best be off.

Have a spectabulous day!

Wondiferous Day

Another birthday today and way too many bugs out. Otherwise, a nice day out there and so far a good inside as well.

Yesterday we did not go to the beach. I’m totally fine with that and hope that next Monday is nice enough to go because it would be nice to go before school starts.

Yesterday we did finish stacking the wood. At this point, we have about what we had last year and while we didn’t freeze, we used a lot of the stuff from in the basement and we could have used more. The goal is four rows; we have about three. I wouldn’t mind having five just because that would give us a cushion in the case of a really bad (think cold) winter. We shall see.

On our way to Walmart to get Amena’s glasses, we stopped at Goguen’s to give them some cucumbers and they gave us some summer squash. Then we went to Walmart and when we got there, they were closed for lunch. Really? I knew that they had a strange time for lunch (2:00 to 3:00 pm) but didn’t remember exactly when it was. We found out. When we got her glasses there last year, the same thing happened but we were able to go get peaches. We didn’t have any peaches to go get this year so we went home. We got home before they would have been back from lunch.

I didn’t get any writing done. Well, one sentence. Then I decided to go through all of my handwritten notes and put them on the computer. That was kind of fun. I finished by doing a house plan of Hywel’s cottage in Paint; it isn’t to scale and I didn’t finish the upstairs because I don’t know what happened to the paper that had it on it and it was getting late so I didn’t want to go back and find the description of it. I imagine that will get done today and I might see if there is a way to do it to scale.

Today Amena and I are going to go get her glasses. On the way, I need to stop at the bank and get the paper to request Daniel’s death certificate notarized and deposit a milk check. On the way home, we are going to stop at the West’s so we can see their baby. That will be fun.

Other than that, we’ve just got the usual stuff on tap.

Have a wondiferous day!

Garden in the Goat Pen

Another lovely day. I wish it would rain.

My left ankle hurts and I’m not sure why. Well, I know why, because I did something to it. What I did, I do not know. Saturday night it was swollen but over the course of the night that went down. Last night it was again and it didn’t go down over night. Maybe it’s because I elevated my legs Saturday night but not last night (I really didn’t like the elevation).

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful Sunday. Church, food, chill. That’s about it.

Paul got a chocolate cake from Market Basket Saturday and some of us had some. I keep eating a piece, hoping I will like it and I keep not. I don’t know why I keep eating it. I don’t like store-bought cake. It didn’t really taste like chocolate and the frosting tasted like it had shortening in it. Which it did. The chocolate zucchini breads were much better and so far, the third one wins. I know I already posted the recipes and initial response yesterday but this morning I learned that Cedric liked the third one the best as does Laura. No verdict yet from Joanna, Seth or Joseph. Joseph said he isn’t sure.

We have a garden growing in the goat pen. It’s something else. There is a squash that I thought looked like a cross between a delicata and a butternut but I’m thinking maybe a delicata (my computer doesn’t like ‘delicata’—it keeps trying to change it to ‘delicate’—so I added it to the dictionary—seriously, where do they get this lack of words?) and pumpkin. There is also a melon plant and a tomato plant.

The melon plant. There actually are two but the other one is very small and stunted.

I’m not sure what’s happening today. There was some talk of the beach but I don’t really want to go if my ankle is going to hurt. Maybe next Monday will be a good day for it. I can hope. There is plenty to do otherwise. Amena needs her glasses, there is wood to stack. Old Sturbridge Village has $5 admission for adults this Friday and all children are free in August. Amena and Cedric have been to that and Seth will be going in the spring but I think it would be fun.

The tomato plant.

We found out last week that Cedric gets to be on the soccer team he wanted to be. I guess he’d been put on the other one but one of the players couldn’t make the practices on the team Jacob Halfrey’s dad is coaching. When he saw that Cedric was available, he grabbed him. Cedric is pretty happy about that. So am I. There are some good kids on the team and they seem to work well together. I haven’t heard anything about Seth or Joseph yet. There was an unofficial practice Friday that I sort of forgot about and there are a couple this week as well on Wednesday and Friday. I don’t see any reason why he can’t go Wednesday and the only reason why he couldn’t Friday is if we go to Sturbridge. Real practices start on the 30^th. I hope I hear about Seth and Joseph soon.

One of the delicata crosses.

Right now I’m going to be off. Have a spectacular day!

A lovely blossom.

The squash plant(s). Looking at the leaves, there might be two varieties growing in there.

Another Birthday Day

I have decided that there are too many birthdays in August. Thank goodness for Facebook or I would never be able to say Happy Birthday to anyone. Today, as most of you know, is my mother’s birthday. Yesterday was Jeannette’s birthday. We’ve got Becky and Joseph and who knows who else yet to come. All I can say is Good Grief!!! And...

Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Add to that all of the wedding anniversaries and it really is ridiculous. However, in spite of all this, August is still my least favorite month. That’s just the way it is and I don’t expect it to change. Just so you know.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, yesterday was a pretty good day. The missionaries came over and helped with wood some and taught Seth how to fry slugs using a magnifying glass. I wonder if that is a better way to die or if being sprinkled with salt is. Either way, I’m glad I’m not a slug around here because if they don’t die via one of those routes, they probably get squished. Remember the one that met its demise in my croc. Yuck. Anyway, most of the wood that Paul had up by the house has been cut and split. There is some that needs to be stacked and that will happen tomorrow or Tuesday. The good news is that when it is all done, we will have almost enough to last the winter. Another couple of Saturdays and it will be done.

Cedric picked some blackberries down by the creek. There are almost enough to make blackberry muffins so I’ll have to send someone else out to get more tomorrow or maybe this afternoon. Amena finished cleaning her room which mostly meant doing laundry yesterday. Laura had work. Joanna got home from New Hampshire and then went on a date with her boyfriend.

I made three kinds of chocolate zucchini bread. I did take pictures and I documented the whole experience and there will be a blog post about it probably later today. I was going to do it earlier but decided to wait to eat the stuff until this afternoon with vanilla ice-cream so you have to wait because we have to determine by taste-test which one is the best. We also need some pictures of them cut in order to compare the insides as well as the outsides. So, be on the lookout for that later.

For supper we had green beans sautéed with bacon and onion and grilled chicken thighs with wither hot wing sauce or some stuff called ‘fruit sauce’ that looked and smelled a lot like your fairly typical barbeque sauce. As I recall, the only fruit in the stuff is tomatoes. Pretty fruity, eh?

And I believe that is about it for today for now.

Have a wonderful day!

No Title Day

Good morning! Yet another beautiful day. Yet another day that puts me in mind of autumn rather than August, however. The broccoli in the garden has done splendidly and we’ve gotten quite a few cucumbers, and while we have lots of tomatoes, they are not turning red. I am beginning to wonder if they ever are. Paul said that one forecast he looked at indicated that it is supposed to be in the 80’s next week. I personally subscribe the idea that “I’ll believe it when I see it” or, in this case, feel it.

Joanna should be home from her camping excursion sometime today. Joanna being Joanna, that might mean 11:59 tonight. Laura has work. I believe Paul is planning on taking Amena out to look for shoes again today. One of these times they’ll be successful and find something she likes that fits. All three boys could use new socks and Cedric and Seth could use new underwear.

Yesterday was a fairly productive day in spite of forgetting to do my pm stretches. I did my morning ones and discovered that I like doing the plank before stretches rather than after. I sort of got caught up with laundry—only sort of because I don’t think it’s possible to completely catch up due to the nature of the beast. Laundry is kind of related to dishes.

I got lots of writing done and I have been thinking about why I like to write. More about why I actually do write. If I didn’t spend any time writing, I could spend more time cleaning house and anyone who has seen the house can attest to the fact that I probably ought to. If I didn’t spend any time writing, I could spend more time reading. That’s a tough one. But why do I write? Is it just therapy for myself? In a manner of speaking, yes. However, the story I’m working on now is nothing like Ana’s Story which most definitely was therapy. I would like to be a published author rather than an unpublished one but even that is a strange thing. There are so many aspiring authors in the world and I recently read a study that says fewer people are reading today for pleasure. I don’t remember the exact timeframe but today compared to whenever (it was less than 50 years), 9% fewer people are reading. That’s scary. What are they doing? Playing video/computer/whatever games?

Anyway, you might ask how much writing I accomplished and the answer would be 5,007. I’m pretty happy with that number.

When Paul and I went out last night, we saw my chiropractor. We went to the little Mexican place that Paul really likes and that I sort of like. They do more take out business than dine-in and the chiropractor got take out. That’s the first time we’ve ever seen someone that I knew. We’ve seen people Paul knows a couple of times.

Up for today other than what I’ve mentioned, I’m not sure exactly what is on tap. I think that means we could be in for an exciting day of wood cutting and splitting which might mean stacking as well. Time will tell.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day!