Um, yeah

Well, I started yesterday. I got five sentences done and then got busy with other things again. The story of my life the last few days. Well, the story of my life. Period.

Saturday I was going to take Cedric to his game, find him a ride home, take Seth to his game, find him a ride home, take Joseph to his game and come home before going crazy at home finishing up things for the Relief Society dinner. As I thought about this more, the logistics just did not make sense. I would be missing the last fifteen minutes of Cedric’s game to take Seth to his and I would only be able to watch the first fifteen minutes of his before taking Joseph to his.  Sigh. I found Seth a ride, stayed for all of Cedric’s and took Joseph to his. Had I known that Joseph’s game was going to start half an hour late, I think I would have stuck with my original plan because I’d only have missed the last fifteen minutes of Seth’s game which would have been better than missing the whole blooding thing.

Cedric’s game was okay. The first half, they just didn’t play as well as they did last year. It was almost like they were all afraid of the ball and expected to lose. Not good. The second half was better. There was some of the old spunk from some of the boys and Cedric did well. He bounced the ball off his head at one point (he told me later that it made him a little dizzy) and almost tackled one of the boys on the other team. He got called on it, too. Anyway, I like that kind of play—it’s fun and exciting and is the way games are won. And whoever says winning isn’t everything doesn’t know what the heck they’re talking about. I don’t know about you, but I’m not here to lose. The final score was 5 to 1. It’s only their second point of the season.

Seth told me that his team won 11 to 0. His coach emailed and said that he actually had to tell the boys to back off a little because they were doing really well and just killing the other team. He is very pleased with how well they are playing and is cutting practice back to just an hour rather than an hour and a half so it’s now from 5:00 to 6:00 Tuesday and Thursday. That’s wonderful because I’ll be able to get home earlier on Tuesday’s for supper.

Joseph’s game was pretty good other than the fact we had to wait almost half an hour past when it was supposed to start. I don’t know why they were running late but when we got there fifteen minutes early, the game before was still in the first half. When I thought it looked like they were done and we actually walked over to the field, it was only at the half. Holy crud, batman. Joseph did well. He was starting to get in there and gave the ball a few good kicks; great improvement from last year and even the first game this season.

When I got home, I made two apple pies, kolaskis, keugelis, and green beans with bacon. Saying it like that doesn’t seem like a whole lot. We got home from Joseph’s game around 1:30. I had to peel, core and slice apples because they were too soft for the peeler. Twelve cups. Which isn’t as bad as it might sound, but still takes some time. The kolaskis are basically dumplings with cottage cheese filling. Not hard to make but a bit time consuming. I got them going while the pies were baking. Once they were done, the pies were about done so I mixed up the keugelis, which involves grating a bunch of potatoes and the recipe calls for old ones which means they’re harder to grate because they’re soft. Once that was in the oven, I did the green beans and went out and cut wild sunflowers to take. While I was getting flowers, a Hubbardston police officer stopped by to talk to Paul about the Jetta tires. When everything was all ready to go, it was time to go so I went.

Cedric is #2 and you can see him running in this clip. Dominic got the goal.

I stopped at Julia’s to pick up some food that Bethany had left at her house but no one was home and I just didn’t feel cool about walking into her house with no one home even though the door was open and she later told me it would have been fine. I’ll remember that for next time, if there is a next time.

So, I went to church, took everything in, put flowers out on the tables, and waited. Next time I think they should say it is starting at 6:00 even though it actually is starting at 6:30. That way people will actually be on time. If I really put my mind to it, I could come up with a name of women who were there but I don’t feel like it at the moment. Suffice it to say that there were 20 or 25 there. There was food enough to feed at least twice that many. I wanted each table to have its own food but someone had to pipe up and say, “I think we should be able to take a little taste from all of them!” Another added, “Yeah, maybe put it on a long table.” Well, guess what? I was in charge, I didn’t WANT it on a long table. I wanted what I wanted because I’ve seen it done in other wards successfully and I’m tired of Gardner having a branch because-we’re-special attitude. Which isn’t always present but sometimes it’s nice to do things differently than they always are. I don’t believe in the whole ‘because that’s the ways it’s done’ thing. I’m here to tell you there is more than one way to skin a cat. In spite of my attitude, it turned out pretty well and the broadcast was very good.

Yesterday was an okay day. Church was good. Louise Nally, Diana Chunn, Alicia Willard and I were set apart. Jessica Adams left before we got to it and Julia was working so they’ll have to wait. After church we had leftovers from Saturday. I had left some home already and I brought lots back from church because there was so much food. There were so many pies that I didn’t even take mine out and brought them both home. There is less than one left now.

Today has been another fun filled, busy day. Cedric left for Nature’s Classroom this morning so I had to take him to school. The buses were being loaded with luggage from 7:30 to 7:45 and then all the 5^th graders got on and they took off just a few minutes after 8:00. I stayed until Cedric was on the bus and then came home. Paul was just leaving and when I walked in the house, I was assailed by—mess. Trista mess. I already  needed to get a casserole together to take to the funeral at church today and here was a huge mess for me to take care of. Trista had gone from the stairs to the livingroom sometime during the night and while I was gone taking Cedric to school, she completed the circuit going down the hall and back to the kitchen where the dog beds are by the fireplace. All along the way was blood and in the livingroom was a huge puddle of pee and a big poop—I didn’t know she’d been eating enough to have one like that.

I got out the mop and bucket and ammonia and put so much ammonia in the bucket that I was about to cry but I wanted to do what I could to get rid of the smell at the same time I got rid of the yuck. I had to take a break while I was working by the front door because it isn’t finished there—it’s just the stuff you put under tiles and seems like it soaks everything up pretty well. It took some serious scrubbing and I think it needs some more. While I took a break, I got the casserole in the oven and then finished the yuck clean up. Yuck. Is there another word I can use there? Grossness? It certainly wasn’t very attractive and those with weaker stomachs might have been so revolted that they might have lost the contents of their digestive systems. One way or another.

When the casserole was done, it was time to take it so I took it. I hadn’t been planning on staying and it’s a good thing because I didn’t have time to shower or brush my teeth and there were a lot of people there.

I came home, ate and showered and then washed dishes. Trista got up and wanted outside. I let her out and then came in to get a towel to help her walking but she did her thing and she decided it was time to rest so she did. I checked on her a bit ago and she moved into a shady spot. Of course, on the way to the door, she left a trail but it wasn’t too bad and at least she was able to do her thing outside rather than inside. I’ve got the back bathroom ready for a bath when she comes in. She needs one in the worst way.

And I believe that is all for now. I need to do something other than clean yuck, cook, wash dishes, and write blog posts today and it’s already after 1:00. Since Joseph has practice this afternoon and Seth has a den meeting, it’s time to move on and see if I can’t get something else accomplished.

Have a wonderful rest of the day!