Guns, Motor Vehicles, and Cigarettes

Good morning! Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. Joanna went with Zak to work and they dropped Cedric off to spend the day and night with Nick and whoever else was going to be there. The only thing I managed to really do was make turkey chowder for supper and get the dishes done. Well, plus the usual feeding of the animals which isn’t much of an accomplishment but does help keep them alive.

Speaking of such things, the goats have a heated water bucket. They had a five gallon bucket but it died so now they are using the two gallon bucket. It works but is smaller and they need it filled every day rather than every other day. It’s kind of funny how it works. One day, I took a gallon out (I use a gallon pitcher because I never know how much I’m going to need—sometimes one gallon is enough and I wouldn’t want to lug more out there if it wasn’t needed) and dumped it in. By the time I got out with a second, they’d emptied the bucket so I took a third out. Yesterday, I took a gallon out and they still had half a bucket. Today, the bucket was empty but they were more interested in food than water so they only needed one more. Silly goats.

The turkey chowder turned out pretty good. I like it when it turns out, I don’t like it when it doesn’t. It’s a good way to use the turkey broth that gets generated when I boil a carcass after we have turkey and it’s a good way to use quite a bit of turkey if we have any left over. The only problem is that it doesn’t use all of the broth so I suppose I should get out the pressure cooker and start canning what is left so that we don’t waste anything. Yesterday, I just gave most of what was left to Scooter.

Seth and Joseph were pretty good. It’s amazing what a difference it makes not having one child here. Cedric and Amena just won’t quit once they get going at each other and it is something that either one of them could stop if they just made the decision to do so. I think it’s just a really bad habit they’ve developed that needs to be broken. Especially when it carries over to others. Yesterday there was a fairly brief time of Seth picking on Joseph. Not happening, boys. Anyway, it’s just different when one of them isn’t here; it isn’t just Cedric.

Today is a very pretty day outside with the sun shining and ice everywhere. It never got warm enough to melt everything so we’ve still got a layer of slippery ice all over the ground. The steps at least were deiced but not the driveway. We are supposed to be getting a big storm Thursday and Friday which might play havoc with Amena’s planned birthday parties. She is planning one Thursday night for her church friends and one Friday night for her school friends. I personally don’t like to cancel or reschedule so far in advance because the weather isn’t cut and dry. Even though a big storm is predicted, it might not be as bad as they say, it might not even happen. Only time will tell and I’m not willing to bet anything on a forecast of the weather. I probably should tell parents that if the weather is as bad as the reports indicate, we will reschedule but that we will make the call closer to time.

Tonight we are planning a candy and chip and dip extravaganza for New Year’s Eve. I think the plan is for four kinds of dip and at least two kinds of candy (I have to make more caramel—can you believe it?). To some that might not be overly extravagant but it’ll do for us.

Have you seen the blurb about gun control that goes like this: “Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars.”? For fun, I looked up the numbers. There are almost 29,000 gun related deaths in the US. This number includes suicide, homicide (including those killed by law enforcement but we won’t get into that right now), accident, and unknown reasons. Motor vehicles result in more than 40,000 deaths each year. Really? That’s food for thought. Here’s the real kicker: an estimated 443,000 people die each year from cigarettes. You know what’s really sad about that number? About 42,000 of them die because of second hand smoke. Do you see anything wrong with this? More people die from second hand smoke than do from guns. More people die from second hand smoke than motor vehicles. Why are we making a war against guns? One of the websites I looked at briefly (it wasn’t an academically sound source) said, “Gun empower people.” Gosh, really? Does smoking empower people? Does driving a car empower people? Another said, “One is too many.” Really? And one death in a motor vehicle isn’t too many? I can tell you from personal experience that it is. One death from cigarettes isn’t too many? Really? Another: “Some people think that gun control is the worst problem in the USA.” Are you bloody kidding me? I don’t think so. Let me reiterate that: I DON’T THINK SO. Did you catch that? No freaking way.

What is the matter with people? Personally, I think it’s in the first blurb: Guns empower people. You’re darn right they do. The problem isn’t in owning guns, the problem is that we, as a society, have lost our respect. We no longer respect each other, we no longer respect life. And everything is all about ME. Gun control is going to solve the problem of almost 29,000 deaths each year? Nope, don’t think so.

Have a fantastic last day of 2013!

Weekend in Review

Good morning! Only one day left of 2013. What will 2014 hold? Only time will tell.

Our weekend was tolerably decent.

Friday night, as you recall, the boys and I went to see a Worcester Sharks game. First time any of us had seen a hockey game in real life; the only other time I’d seen hockey is during the Olympics and in movies. It is very loud and for the first two periods, it didn’t really seem like anyone was paying much attention to the game. I could be wrong about that; just my general impression. During the last period, everyone was because it’s when everything happened. The final score was 5 to 2 with the Sharks winning. Very fast paced game with that puck and the players zipping around like nobody’s business. I think I like it but I think I like soccer better. If one of my boys played, I might like it more. We didn’t get home until sometime around 11:00.

Saturday was Saturday. I volunteered for the 3 to 11 shift at the hospital and I did go in. There wasn’t much for me to do so I went home. My goal for this coming year is to go in and stay in for all of my shifts. And wrack up more because I haven’t had a birth yet.

She got them all out in the same breath.

Jessica Adams arrived just about the time I was leaving. She is between semesters and needed a place to stay after spending Christmas with her family in Rhode Island. We’ve got the room and life is normally somewhat crazy around here so I told her she could stay here if she wanted. The brave soul accepted and is now upstairs.

He's looking excited, eh? Reminds me of that older brother of his . . .

Yesterday being Sunday was very Sunday-like. I needed to get to church early for a meeting so I took Jessica and the Jetta. When we got to the stop light by the church, it wasn’t working. When we got to the church, there was no electricity. National Grid’s website said that it would be back by 10:30 which would have been too late for church to start at 10:00 so we waited for the next update which said 9:15. Then as a phone call was being made to confirm that, the power came on.

My goal wasn't to catch good pictures. Did I succeed?

After church we had Amena’s birthday party. She wanted pizza and hot chicken so that’s what we had. I can’t believe that for so many years I only made pizza once in a while because I thought it was hard. How on earth did that come to be? I think part of it is that I would roll the crust out before putting it on the baking stone and that is something of a pain but otherwise, it’s not difficult and is so much better than those you buy at the store. The pizza yesterday slid right off the stone (partially) when I took it out of the oven and put it on the counter in spite of the fact that I didn’t want it to.

Amena's hand almost looks like it belongs to Joseph. Almost.

The Young Men and Young Women taught Primary during third hour as planned. Before that, though, in Sacrament Meeting, the bishop announced that the Relief Society Visiting Teaching Conference would be during second and third hours. No way, I thought. The email I’d gotten about it said only 3^rd hour. I got my phone from Amena and checked my old emails to be sure and sure enough, it said only 3^rd hour. Still, what if the email was wrong? The Young Women were prepared to teach 3^rd hour, not 2^nd and 3^rd. When he later corrected that announcement, I was very relieved.

This one isn't bad. Aren't they cute? (That's Zak, by the way.)

So, the Young Men and Young Women taught Primary during third hour and I think it worked very well. All the girls I spoke to had fun and one Amena talked to wants to do it every Sunday. I haven’t spoken to Kim yet to see what her take is on it, but from where I sit, it seems to have been very successful. I think we should do it again. March, June, August, and November all have five Sundays in 2014.

Does she look 14 now?

Yesterday afternoon and evening it rained. Sometime before midnight it also snowed, but just a little bit; just enough to soak up some of the rain and then freeze into a solid layer of ice everywhere. Right now it has warmed up enough that there is a steady drip from the eaves. It’s supposed to be sunny and relatively warm today before it turns cold again and we get more snow. Personally, it being winter, I’m all for the snow. All the weirdoes out there who don’t like snow can move to more southern climes and stop annoying those of us who like it. Or not. If you stay where there is snow, I don’t feel bad in the least complaining about the heat and humidity once summer comes and you can bet whatever the heck you want to that I’d move to a less humid climate in a heartbeat if circumstances would allow.

Right now I am going to be off. Have a great day!

The Day After the Day After

Good morning! Our Thursday was quite Thursday-like. Seth got to go to the eye doctor and have his eyes dilated. We changed eye doctors because the one we’d been going to won’t take our insurance for the actual glasses, I think I mentioned that earlier. Anyway, the glasses that Seth picked out are decent and fit his face and he likes them so going to Walmart isn’t absolutely critical but is something that we’ll be doing sometime because it would be very good for him to have a back-up pair.

Other than that, we had a quiet (ha ha) day at home. Paul stayed home to work. He actually went to the RMV to register the green car so it’s legal until next Thursday when it will need to have had an inspection. He said that the truck has an oil leak which is not a good thing. He’s been looking all over the place for a replacement Jetta because three body shops told him that the damages to the Jetta constitute it being totaled. I think he likes having vehicle problems because it gives him an excuse to look at/talk to people about cars. He loves cars.

Seth and Cedric took their new bikes outside twice to ride them. Currently they are down in front of the basement door which is going to have to change because the door gets used to taking hay to the goats and I am not going to climb over three bicycles every day to do it and I think it’s unlikely that any boys would want to and I am pretty sure that Amena won’t. Cedric went out numerous times to shoot things with his air soft gun. Joseph was pretty content to play with new Legos pretty much all day.

Tonight the boys and I are going to watch a Sharks hockey game in Worcester. I guess they have a Boy Scout night every season and tonight is the night. We’ve been told that they have fireworks (inside) after the game as well so it should be rather interesting. When I asked Amena if she wanted to go, she said no. Last night she said that then she said she would go but I didn’t catch that so I don’t think she’ll be going. Joanna has work from eleven something to 8:00 so hopefully Paul will be home around then to give her a ride home.

Yesterday I made bread so today we can have sandwiches. Other than that, about all I accomplished is a bit of laundry. Pretty exciting. Seth just brought down a Lego carriage and horse. Legos are amazing.

I don’t think I ever mentioned my phlebotomy test. It was pretty exciting. I wanted to be sure to be thirty minutes early for my appointment, which was at 4:45, because that’s what all my communications said to be so I left at 3:00. That allowed an hour to make a 40 minute or so drive because I didn’t know what the traffic would be like due to school getting out and the roads being less than ideal. I got to the place where the test was before 4:00 in spite of traffic and less than ideal road conditions and sat in the truck for a few minutes waiting until 4:00. I got registered and was in taking my test by 4:15. You are allowed 120 minutes for the exam and once you’ve gone through all the questions of which there are 80, you can review for about ever. I was not feeling very hopeful that I’d done well because there were a lot of questions about things that we never covered in class and that I didn’t remember seeing on any of the practice tests or in the book. So, I went through in less than an hour and then I reviewed. And then I reviewed. And then I reviewed. And then I reviewed a couple more times. And then I went through each question again and then just the ones I wasn’t sure about. Then I called it good because there was no chance of changing any answers. My preliminary results were: PASS. Whew! What a relief. I checked out and left and was home by 6:30.

My results were supposed to be emailed to me in four days. They were but I have yet to figure out anything other than the preliminary PASS and my score which I’m not particularly thrilled with even though there were so many questions I just didn’t know (I got 667 out of 999; the passing grade is 400). I was hoping to see the questions and answers but am thinking that is unlikely. At any rate, I can change my resume now to include a certification number. Hopefully that will make a difference.

Right now I need to get the goats fed so have a splendiferous day!

Aftermath

Good morning! All is fairly normal here in the aftermath of the great opening of stuff that typically occurs on Christmas. I probably shouldn’t jinx anything by saying that all is fairly quiet or that there are no violent outbreaks currently in progress so I won’t.

I need to do some fairly typical things today like laundry. It seems like every time it gets sort of caught up, the boys bring down about ten loads out of their room and someone brings down five out of the upstairs bathroom. It’s just ridiculous. There is always the eating thing that needs to happen. So far, only Joseph has had breakfast. We have plenty of leftovers for lunch and supper so that’s not a problem. We actually have too many leftovers. I think we’re set for at least the rest of the week.

Seth has an appointment with a new eye doctor today. My planner is almost always on the counter but now it isn’t so I have to go find it soon so I can see when the appointment is. I decided to go to a different one because the one we were going to only uses our insurance for the exam; no frames or lenses. In my opinion, that’s just ridiculous. It should be an all or nothing thing. My plan is to get Seth new glasses from this eye doctor because they won’t cost anything and then take him to Walmart for another pair. They won’t be free but they won’t cost too much and he’ll be able to choose frames that he likes (our options at the eye doctor will be limited). That way, we’ll have a pair for him to wear all the time and a back-up pair for in-case. Being a boy, we have lots of in-case times. I really like Walmart’s guarantee—if they are broken within a year, you get a new pair. We used that once for Daniel and probably would have again. We could have used that for Seth but when his glasses broke it was just past the year mark. He needed to go in for an appointment, anyway.

I found it. It was in the living room on the floor. Not a place I usually keep it but I remember setting it there. Seth’s appointment is at 9:45. We have plenty of time to eat and shower and whatever else needs to be done.

Now Cedric is doing his usual thing. He doesn’t quite do anything but teases like there’s no tomorrow and Seth and Joseph, in this case Joseph, respond by yelling and doing the, “Mo-om—Cedric’s doing such and such.”

Our Christmas was pretty good. I’m not going to even attempt recalling what everyone got. The Legos were a hit, as I expected. Joanna liked her corgi stuff. I really made out in the Star Wars department. Groovy. I’ll have pictures sometime. Maybe I’ll work on that while I eat in a bit.

It’s hard to believe that another year is almost gone. Five more days. Another year without Daniel. Another year of learning to cope with emotions and feelings that I never dreamed I would have to do. Another year of a forever changed family dynamic. A first year of not having Laura with us. We didn’t have a bad year; it was actually mostly good. I expect the next one to be about the same. You know the adage “There is nothing so constant as change”? Well, it is mostly true but there are some things that do not change; that never have and never will. Many, maybe most, things do change, but not all. That’s my food for thought for the day.

Adam and Kim came over yesterday. Kim (and her family) and I have a lot of similar ideas and feelings about how things are in the Gardner Ward. We agree that while the music was nice at the ‘Christmas’ party at church, it wasn’t very Christmasy. Quite honestly, for trying to remember what the Christmas season is all about, other than the music and the bowls of ornaments used as centerpieces, there wasn’t anything that really lent that kind of atmosphere to the whole thing. I wouldn’t mind seeing a real Christmas Party at church. In Gardner, Massachusetts.

The Young Men and Young Women are teaching Primary during 3^rd hour Sunday because the Relief Society is having a Visiting Teaching Conference. I have a few opinions about that as well but won’t get into them at the moment. The Young Women are awesome—we’ve got music and sharing time taken care of and at least one girl for the nursery and 6-7-year-old class. The rest of the girls can just help out with those. We only really need one Young Man and that is to help Jonathan with his class because Elizabeth will be in RS.

I am going to go for now. If I take much more time doing this, I’ll run out of eating and showering time.

Have a spectacular day!

Short and Sweet

Good afternoon! Well, Saturday was quite interesting and yesterday wasn’t bad.

Saturday morning we had to wait FORever for any boys to arrive. They all did between 10:00 and about 10:30. They didn’t all bring snow clothes so they were doomed to staying inside because at that point there was still snow everywhere. Seth built a snow fort out behind the trampoline and it was pretty cool although I didn’t get any pictures of it because I was busy making pizza for the boys. We ate pizza and did cupcakes and ice-cream that wasn’t frozen all the way and opened presents and then went to the theater.

Just in case you are wondering, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug isn’t bad. In spite of the fact that it adds a lot to the book (it would have in order to get three movies out of one book that was shorter than any of The Lord of the Rings) and changes some of what is in the book, it’s still fairly decent and worth watching. Worth reading the book to the boys too, though, so they know the original story.

After the movie, we waited for parents to arrive and take boys away. That was exciting. When we got home, we discovered that Seth and Joseph had taken one of the Lego people that came with the Lego’s that Cedric just got that morning outside and lost it. Absolutely wonderful. Joseph said that Seth told him to take it, Seth said that Joseph had it and therefore Joseph lost it. I told them they both should have known better and therefore they can get a new set and give Cedric out of it what was lost. Of course, that won’t happen until Seth gets some birthday money in January. In the meantime, I really wish they’d learn to leave things alone that don’t belong to them unless they have permission. I know it’s fairly normal to get into things—goodness knows my sisters got into my things—but it drives me crazy.

Yesterday church was pretty good. Louise Nally is no longer my 2^nd councilor; she’s now in Nursery and we get Jerusha Peterman. Sad to lose Louise but nice to have Jerusha. There is nothing so constant as change.

Today I was hoping to get a whole slew of things done, and I have accomplished a couple. I need to get some cream before I can do the candy parts so a trip out and about is in store shortly. Other than that, I really don’t have anything to report without going into a diatribe so I won’t because it’s two days before Christmas.

Have a wonderful day!

Goats What?

Good morning! After I had a nap yesterday morning, I felt much better although the headache didn’t go away completely until later. This morning I felt nauseous but I think that’s because I didn’t eat until almost 10:00 because Paul was bringing Chinese home because Cedric had Max over and Amena would have been the oldest one home and I just didn’t think that was a good idea. Remind me not to eat that late again.

I think I had all kinds of plans of things to say this morning but now I’m drawing a complete blank.

One thing is Cedric. Yesterday morning he didn’t want to eat breakfast. I could understand that because his class was having a Christmas party. Last night, he didn’t want to eat any supper. I could understand that as well, although for a different reason, because Max was here and had already eaten. This morning, he didn’t want to eat again. His reason this time? He doesn’t want to get fat. Are you kidding me? Anyone who knows my children knows that getting fat is not one of their worries. I don’t think any of them inherited my relatively slow metabolism. I’m kind of curious as to where the heck this is coming from because it isn’t from me.

Another thing is the goats. Did I mention the dream I had about them a couple of weeks ago? I don’t think I did and I’m too lazy to look. Actually, I don’t think lazy is the right word for that because it takes really no physical effort to look. In fact, I could just search for ‘goat’ or ‘goats’ or even ‘dream’ but I just don’t feel like it. Actually, in the amount of time it’s taken me to explain this, I could have found it but this has been much more entertaining.

So, this dream. We lived somewhere; not where we do now. More like the awesome house we lived in up Miner’s Creek in California. The house and the way it was situated was similar, but different. The kitchen was at the end of the house, there was a porch on the back, there was another level of house under the kitchen which meant the porch was several feet above ground. Behind the house instead of an orchard, there was a goat yard that came off the barn and to what would be the north if it was the house in CA, our vehicles were parked. One night we were all in bed but for some reason Paul and I had gotten up and were sitting at the table in the kitchen at something like 2:00 in the morning.

While we were sitting there, I heard this awful noise outside and of course, I had to go out to check. Well, something had gotten in with the goats and the three of them were in really bad shape. And I do mean really bad shape. I don’t remember which one was which but one of them was standing and had intestines hanging from her belly. One was on the ground and looked to be in about the same general shape as the one standing. The other was also on the ground but was really mutilated. Her back had been broken because her head and her tail were only about two feet apart and the bend wasn’t what you’d expect when they use their horns or teeth to scratch an itch. It looked like she’d been partly skinned and there was blood and bone and innards all over the place. I just stood there for a minute because there wasn’t anything I could do; the house may have been like the one we lived in in California but I knew we were still in Massachusetts and I didn’t have a permit to have a gun in the house so I was without means of putting my poor goats out of their misery. I turned to go back to the house and as I did, I noticed that there was another dead animal behind one of our vehicles. It looked dead but was really bloody and torn up and I didn’t have a clue as to what it was. I went in the house and woke up.

I decided that maybe this dream had a message and the message might be: get the permit. If something happens to the goats in the middle of the night, I have to be able to take care of them and right now, I can’t. You can’t just call people at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and say, “Um, yeah, something came and started butchering my goats. I need you to come put them down.” Yeah. I don’t think it would fly. Especially since I only personally know one person who has a gun. In Massachusetts. I told Paul about the dream and he gave me the money to go get the permit. Now I just have to go and do it which I keep managing to forget.

In the meantime, we’ve got these three goats. Snowflake, Goldilocks, and Princess. Princess is my favorite; she usually behaves and isn’t a pain in the whatever like goats can sometimes be. She also has something going on with her front knee joints. Maybe arthritis? Goldilocks is usually okay but has her moments. Snowflake is sometimes okay and has moments all the time. Actually, they all behave just fine right now because they have to stay in their pen due to the snow and we just go out and feed and water them and there isn’t much opportunity for them to misbehave. However, yesterday morning Snowflake started hollering. Cedric took out grain and kitchen scraps for them and they were quiet for a few minutes but then Snowflake started up again. I took out the clippings from the artichokes (I found four hiding in the back refrigerator) that I cooked for lunch and a pineapple that I cut up and they were okay again. But then Snowflake started up again. I took them hay, I checked their water, there wasn’t anything wrong or out of the ordinary but all day Snowflake was hollering.

This morning, I got up because Snowflake was hollering. I took them out grain and I filled their water bucket. I took them out hay, more than usual. And now, less than two hours later, Goldilocks is hollering. I don’t know what the deal is but that’s a sure way to attract predators and I can’t have a gun yet. Goats. One reason I really didn’t want part Nubian does. Unfortunately, they seem to be the most popular around here.

Have a spectacular day!

Double S Day

Good morning! I didn’t get to say Happy Birthday here to my most favoritist Aunt Julie because Joanna took off with my computer for a couple of finals yesterday morning but I can say it today!

Yesterday wasn’t much of a day. I mean, not much of great importance happened. Not much volume of anything, either. If you can use such descriptive terms for a day. I guess you can since I just did.

Joseph had an appointment for two fillings yesterday morning. His appointment was at 11:45 and he was out of there before noon. I thought we’d be there for a while because the last time he didn’t like getting the shot of Novocain and created quite a commotion. This time, he was in and out. Quite literally. After that, we went to return some things for Joanna in Leominster. I thought she got them at PetSmart but she actually had gone to PetCo. I’m glad I noticed that BEFORE I got in the store. Because we were over by the mall, we went to Panera for lunch and Joseph gives their macaroni and cheese a thumbs up. Then we went to Joann’s because I had some coupons and needed some fabric. Yeah, needed.  Then we went to PetCo and home.

The afternoon was afternoonlike. We had a pack meeting so everything that was going to get done needed to get done in time for us to go. Joseph really needed to be early because the Tigers were doing the flag ceremony but we were doing well to get there on time. At least we had some brownies to take.

After that, it was pretty much time for bed and then I made cupcakes for Cedric’s class. His birthday is Sunday and today is his class Christmas party and he’d requested the broken glass cupcakes that many of you likely saw on Facebook in October. I got the cupcakes made and frosted and got the ‘glass’ made last night but waited until this morning to put them together. I think they turned out alright. I should have stirred the ‘glass’ constantly like it said to because it turned out a bit yellow. I’m not a big fan of standing and stirring for endless amounts of time so yellow glass is what we have. The recipe also did not say to cook the ‘blood’ but it has cornstarch in it and it just didn’t look right so I stuck it in the microwave for two minutes. It was better but I put it in for another two minutes and it looked even better. Of course, then it was hot so I had to cool it off in the freezer. Much better. Not perfect, but better. I’m going to have to see about tweaking the recipe to make it look even better. I think using the juice from cherries for cheesecake would work well (Amena’s idea—a good one). Maybe even leave the cherries in for a good clotting effect.

This morning I was supposed to go in to be a doula but I woke up and kind of didn’t feel so great. I think it’s a combination of residual stress from preparations for my exam Wednesday and dealing with people in my family who have been coming down with something and just life in general. It got me to thinking this morning, though, about being sick and going to work. As a doula, I don’t feel like I’m essential personnel and so my absence might actually be a good thing if it prevents someone there getting sick. In past job experiences, I would go to work anyway, mainly because I couldn’t afford to take a day off. When I worked at the Welfare Department, I wasn’t in contact with the public much unless I was covering for someone downstairs. Otherwise, just coworkers were at risk. When I worked at Ocean State, I was in contact with the public all the time. I remember going to the library in Bonners Ferry once and there was a woman checking out beside me, Laura, Joanna, Daniel, Amena, Cedric and maybe Seth (I don’t remember if it was before or after he was born). She didn’t look like she felt that great and when one of the women working at the library asked, she said she’d just come from the doctor where she learned that she had strep throat and she just had to get a book. Really? I mean, really? Personally, if I go to the store, I don’t want to be exposed to something just because the cashier went to work sick. I don’t want my kids to be exposed to something at church because some child’s parents took him/her to church even though he/she is sick. Working in the medical field might be slightly different because there are instances where we actually need doctors and nurses and they ought to know what to do in order to minimize the chances of spreading whatever they might have. Still, I don’t think people who are sick should go to work unless they are absolutely essential and/or can completely minimize the chances of exposing others. Anyway, my plan today is to go back to bed once the boys have left for school.

Before I forget, I should probably tell you, in case you haven’t heard, that my initial results for the phlebotomy exam were PASS. What a relief that is.

And now I am going to share something that Cedric wrote:

Last Soccer Game

This soccer season we weren’t so lucky, we didn’t win every soccer game. There were eight games in all and we only won two of them, which really sucked. We won against Hardwick both times. the first time we went against Hardwick we got three goals, but the referee said that one of the goals was a penalty goal.

The second game against Hardwick we got three goals and they were all easy goals. So I’m going to tell you what happened in the second soccer game against Hardwick.

So, I woke up in the morning and went downstairs to eat some breakfast. Then I asked my mom, “What team are we going to go against?”

Then she said, “Hardwick.”

As soon as my mom said “Hardwick,” I yelled with a lot of excitement, “YES!” because I just had a feeling we were going to win and I had a lot of energy. In fact, I even drank a whole can of Monster, but all the energy went away just before the game had started.

I got to the game at the Rec Field: Hubbardston vs. Hardwick. I started doing some stretches and then passing the ball around with Jacob Halfrey and we waited until everybody was there. Henry got there, then Ryan, Coby, Aiden, Dom, Paul, then Ethan. Pierce was sick that day and Otto quit. As soon as everybody was there, we all huddled up.

“Okay. . . we need to win this game, it’s out last one! Dom, Cedric, you guys on offence. Coby, Henry, you guys on offence, too, and Ryan, Jacob, and Ethan on defense. Paul, you’re goalie,” the coach said with a lot of excitement and courage. “GO, GO, GO!!”

We got the soccer ball first, “Goalie ready? Goalie ready?” the referee asked each, and then he blew the whistle and the game started! I had the ball then I passed it to Dom.

“Dom!” Henry yelled. Then Dom passed the ball to Henry. Henry passed the defense and just like that he kicked the ball right in the goal, right past the goalie. Then the crowd shouted and clapped and the referee blew his whistle.

The referee got the ball and brought it to the center. I gave Henry a high five and then I asked, “Did you just do that?!? That was unbelievable!”

The coach yelled, “That is what I am talkin’ about!”

We went back to our positions hoping we could win this game. Now the other team had the ball. “Tweeeeet!” They passed the ball and then I ran to the kid with the ball, tripped him, the referee called it. Then it was a throw-in so the kid got the ball aimed and threw it and just like that I got the ball.

Then I dribbled it up the other side of the field by the line. I was about twenty feet away about to get a goal but their defense took the ball away. The coach was yelling at the other offense players for not going up with me so I could pass the ball to them. The other team got the ball near the goal and tried to get a goal but our goalie stopped the ball from going in. He drop kicked the ball to Dom then he passed three offence players. Then Dom passed the ball to me. I fake passed and so everybody baked off so I got by them and BOOM! I got a goal! “Yes!” I yelled. The whole crowd cheered with me.

Then it was half time. “C’mon, you guys bring it in!” the coach yelled. “Okay you guys, we need to keep this up and not let them score. Man, you guys are doing awesome, but you still could have got a few goals,” said Coach, excited.

Then Paul’s dad came over to talk to us. “You guys are doing awesome, but remember, if we don’t win, we won’t have a pizza party,” he said, sarcastically. “Since their goalie is too bad, we might have to help him,” he said, laughing.

The coach said, “Cedric, Paul, Coby, and Dom, on offence. Jacob, Aiden, and Ethan on. . .”

“Dee,” Jacob interrupted.

“Ryan, you’re goalie. C’mon, get out there!”

We got to our positions; the other team got the ball first. “Ready? Ready?” the referee asked the goalies. “Tweeeeeeet!” The team passed the ball. They were down were defense was, but Jacob punted the ball up to Paul where no players were on the field. Then Paul passed the ball to me and I passed to Dom where nobody was but the goalie and BAM! He got a goal. The whole crowd screamed. “Yay!” the coach yelled.

I gave Dom a hug and a high five. “That was awesome man, you should do that again!”

We got back to our positions and gave the ball to the other team. We all got ready and, “Tweeeeet!” They passed but Dom got it and he passed the ball to me and I passed to Paul. He ran up and kicked but the goalie ot it, but Paul kicked it again and it went in but it was a penalty kick. So the referee got the ball and put it about ten feet in front of the goal and, “Tweeeeeeet!” Whack! Paul missed and the crowd sighed.

The goalie got the ball and kicked it to one of his team mates and, “Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!”

“C’mon guys! That game was amazing but we made some errors and remember the pizza party is at noon at the Pizza Palace.”

Pretty cool, eh? Have a great day!

Not Just Another One

6:24? Already? I thought it was just 6:20 when I looked at the clock on the stove just before I opened this up. No way.  Amena is still in her room. Her lunch is ready. I hope she is almost ready because there is no way we can take her to school. More about that later if I remember.

Today is the day I get to take the ASCP phlebotomy certification exam. I’m not sure that feel ready entirely. I’m not sure I ever would. I am going to review this morning but no heavy beat-myself-up-if-I-don’t-remember-something studying. Should be awesome and groovy. Paul is staying and working from home today. I think he is planning on taking me down. More about that if I remember.

I have been missing Daniel a lot these past few days. Amena took responsibility for decorating the Christmas tree and that was fine. I don’t know if my memories of Daniel decorating are ever going to fade to the point that . . . well, to some point. I don’t want them to and yet I can’t do it. I think this is something that I really should let go of but I’m not entirely sure how. I’ve always liked Christmas to some degree or another. I was often disappointed when the children were younger because I wasn’t able to get them what I really wanted to but Christmas always turned out pretty well in spite of that. Now it’s one of the times when memories of Daniel weigh heavy on my mind and allergy attacks become several times a day occurrences.

It’s time to rouse the boys from bed. I think they were all hoping that school would be cancelled for today. Based on what has happened previously, it’s somewhat surprising that it isn’t cancelled, or at least delayed by two hours, this morning. It did snow more last night and the roads can’t be completely cleared off.

It’s kind of strange how the mind works. I was just thinking about snowy roads and then about McCloud where there was just one bus; everyone else drove or walked and there were a lot of students who walked. Quite honestly, I think it was kind of dumb to even want to drive from my house to the high school since it was so close—unless it was really foggy or snowing really hard, it was visible from my house. I think it took all of maybe five minutes to walk. From there I was thinking about parking at school if a person were to drive. I think when there were more students, more drove. The parking lot in front of the school was for faculty and seniors. I don’t remember if the paved parking lot behind that or the graveled one was for juniors. I remember walking to elementary school by the shop and the tennis courts and the edge of the graveled parking lot. Then there was a trail amongst a few trees, one was a pussy willow, and then there was a ditch just before the fence. The ditch was cool sometimes because in the spring there would be water running off from the melting snow. When I got to the middle grades, I would walk up and across the football field and climb the fence because it was shorter. When there was snow on the ground and it was solid enough to walk on, I could walk right over the fence. That was cool.

There are things I miss about living in a small town like McCloud. I really never did feel like I fit in but that was as much my own doing as anyone else’s. I certainly could have done more and could have been more outgoing. I had everything I really needed—my immediate family, my grandparents, and sometimes an aunt and a cousin or an aunt, uncle and two cousins.

There are things I miss about living in an even smaller town in Idaho. After all, how many elementary schools have cross-country skis for their second grade students? And, even though I was putting my 4^th grader, 1^st grader, and kindergartener in school after having homeschooled, each of them knew at least one student in their class from church which was nice and they all made other friends and if it weren’t for the fact that one of my girls had too much unwanted attention, life really was pretty good. We had a grandmother living with us and an aunt and uncle not too far away. Life really was pretty good. But not perfect.

Until we moved here, I’d never lived in a town that required six buses to take all the students to the local elementary school. And there are a fair amount who don’t ride the bus for whatever reason. There were a couple of buses for the school in Naples but that was something of a necessity because most of the students lived a distance from the school. We were four miles away and had to go a mile to get to the end of a dirt road for the bus. There were a lot of families whose children utilized that stop; I think there were at least six. Families. More than twice that many students.

I miss various things about most of the places I’ve lived. Mostly I think I miss things about McCloud and Naples. One thing I don’t miss about any place I’ve lived and one thing that annoys me about living here is the narrow-mindedness of people who have lived in just one place their entire lives; people who even though they may have travelled a bit still have such a narrow view of life that they can’t or don’t or won’t allow that things are different in other places or that the place they live isn’t the be-all and end-all of existence or that the rest of the world is actually different from how they perceive it to be.

Monday, Blair sideswiped the Jetta. I never got a look at it but Paul says that both passenger side doors were banged up and the mirror as well. He drove it to work yesterday and was planning on leaving early to get home in time to be here so I could drive the Jetta to the hospital for my childbirth education class. Class ended up cancelled but Paul left early anyway at 4:00. He didn’t get home until after 7:00. It was snowing and he got stuck behind a car on 68 going 20 miles per hour. On the last hill before the center of Hubbardston, the Jetta died. Because he was going uphill and had no speed due to being stuck behind a really slow car, he wasn’t able to finish ascending the hill. He’s not sure what’s wrong with it for this to happen because the sideswipe wouldn’t have anything to do with the engine. Anyway, he was on the side of the road and had one bar on his phone so he called Ray and asked him to come tow him to his garage. Paul said Ray was almost there when a police officer stopped. Paul said that he could either call a flat bed or wait three or four or five hours or have Ray tow him and be out of there in just a few minutes. It’s illegal to tow with a strap or rope but the officer said to go ahead and get towed; another other decision would have been folly with the driving conditions last night.

So, with no Jetta, we’ve only got the truck and the van running and the van seems to need something. Not sure what. The bug, I think I mentioned a day or two ago, has a busted fuel line. The green car needs a new battery. For now, the truck is our most reliable transportation and with the plow on the front, I wouldn’t want to drive Amena to school with it right now.

As for my test, Amena has Mutual tonight and I’ve asked Julia for a ride for her. If Paul takes me to my test, we really need to take the boys with us because they can’t stay home alone and even if Amena were to stay home from church with them, that’s not really the best option either because she and Cedric tend to fight too much too often for me to be terribly comfortable leaving them for more than a few minutes. I guess the options are to let me drive the truck down, which I’d rather not do, or take the boys and entertain them while I’m taking my test. I don’t like either option very much and the only other real alternative even less. Isn’t life grand?

Have a splendiferous day!

Another Day

Good morning! I really hate when I forget to do something that I really wanted to do and then it turns out to be a good thing that I didn’t do it. Yesterday I was going to go visit a couple of friends, Christine and Jocelyn, at Christine’s house and I completely forgot about it. It would have been a really fun way to spend a few hours. What did I do? Stayed home, studied phlebotomy, did laundry, studied phlebotomy, made the boys beds with clean (flannel) sheets and enough blankets to stay warm, studied phlebotomy, cut out two and a half patterns. Did I mention studied phlebotomy? The reason it turns out to be a good thing that I didn’t have so much fun but did study phlebotomy is that Quabbin has a two-hour early release today. It isn’t impossible for me to study when the boys and Amena are home, but it can be difficult. So, I’m glad I got lots done yesterday and today I might have to resort to a movie in order to get any done after they get home.

Well, that was short, eh? But it covers my day pretty well. At least until boys and Amena got home from school. I’d been wanting to make candy canes and yesterday we finally did. Sort of. I thought we could do it in two pots—one for the white, one for the red. Well, good idea in theory but in practice, not so much. The problem was, as you might expect, that the two pans weren’t ready to pour at the same time. I’d like to give it another go but we need more corn syrup before we do.

Today Amena got up, actually ate breakfast, and was downstairs at the table working on something for art when I got up. She got outside as the bus was approaching with no rush rush hurry hurry. The boys, on the other hand, are moving in slow motion this morning. It is understandable since it is -1° that feels like -1° outside. It is 55° in the house and it kind of feels like it. Long sleeves do feel good.

Other than studying for phlebotomy, I don’t have any set in stone plans for this day. I’ll most likely fold the two baskets of laundry I have ready to go. I’ll wash a load of towels and maybe something else if I can scare it up. Drying clothes helps warm the house up but other than towels, laundry is pretty caught up at the moment. That really is nice—laundry is not one of my favorite occupations. The only reason I do it is because I don’t like dirty clothes.

And that is about it for now. Have a terrifical day!

Stuff

Good morning! Saturday was busy with getting ready for the storm that was headed our way. The wood got covered with a couple of tarps and didn’t blow off until the snow came and now there is a layer of snow holding them down so that’s all good. I got the pots on the steps moved. Paul moved all the vehicles around to his satisfaction and in that process, the bug suffered a busted fuel line so I guess that it is out of commission until we get that fixed someday over a rainbow which is annoying because a new battery seemed to have taken care of the issues it was having before.

Yesterday was interesting. Because we had snow, church was not cancelled but was postponed until 4:00 and we only had sacrament meeting and then the baptism that was scheduled for after church. Paul was still plowing and the boys, especially Seth and Joseph, didn’t really want to go so just Amena and I went and not only were we late, we didn’t stay for the baptism.

I decided that I don’t like weekends. It isn’t because everyone is home although it is because everyone is home. It’s because the house doesn’t stay as warm. I don’t do as much laundry during the weekend as I do during the week which helps contribute to the cooler temperatures and the door is constantly being opened during the weekend which really helps contribute to the cooler temperatures.

I thought that since church was sure to be cancelled yesterday that we’d have time to make candy canes. Didn’t happen. Because church wasn’t cancelled but was postponed, we did family home evening in the morning which made our lunch late. We could have just done that in the afternoon instead since only two of us ended up going to church. Oh well. I did get two of the patterns cut out that I wanted to. I expect I’ll get the third cut out today and then between laundry and phlebotomy, I’ll maybe get some sewing started. That will be nice.

Last night I was on doula call but there were no laboring ladies for me to go spend time with and I never got any phone calls during the night so I was able to sleep. Maybe if I don’t get everything ready for the boys and Amena for lunch and me stuff to take with me there will actually be someone in labor. Not sure I want to try that method, though, because it would be pretty chaotic. While I was waiting for it to be 10:00 yesterday, I made cranberry orange muffins for today’s lunch so at least my time was spend productively.

Saturday the boys got their room clean and Cedric mostly cleaned the back room. I want to get this extra couch out of the house. If no one wants to take it, I think I’ll call Salvation Army to come and get it. I really want to get rid of a lot of the clutter around here. I’m not sure what that means exactly, maybe really piling stuff into the attic? I have to admit here that it is sometimes annoying when Paul talks about such and such a thing that he has (in the attic that he hasn’t even seen since he moved here) because I have given up so much in order to be where I am today. I have learned, mostly because I haven’t had a real choice, that life isn’t about things, it’s about people. The paper dolls and formal dresses that were my mothers and Christmas ornaments and scrapbooks that have been left behind aren’t what life is all about; they aren’t what’s really important. Life does go on without these things. Really. And, I’ve learned one thing from Grandma: if things don’t get sorted out now, they will when I’m dead so why not do it now. All of these really cool things that Paul has in the attic have meaning to him but unless they are a part of his life outside the attic, they will have no meaning to anyone else and therefore will just be some of the weeds that get cleaned out when the time comes.

Right now the boys are all in various stages of being ready. Cedric is pretty much ready. Seth is almost ready. Joseph just finished eating and needs to get dressed. Amena did not miss the bus. I think I would like to go back to bed. By the time I have the opportunity, I won’t want to, but right now it sounds really nice. I think that means that I really should go to bed a bit earlier so that when I get up at 6:00 I’ve had closer to eight hours of sleep than six.

Also right now I have a load of laundry in the drier and I want some hot chocolate. Have a fantabulous day!

And Another

Good morning! It is dark and cold out thus far. weather.com says we are 11°, feels like -4°. I can go for that. Not that I like it, just that I can believe it. I think I would like to do some research into trends and shifts of temperatures in the last 150 years. Not right now, of course, because I’ve got too much lined up for today; but sometime soon.

Yesterday was a day much like the day before. Instead of labeling soap, I delivered soap. I made bread and think I didn’t put in quite enough flour this time. I was just going to look at what I wrote yesterday and it isn’t here; I’m going to have to go searching for it (won’t be too hard) online. Good grief.

Yesterday evening was the concert at school but Seth is the only child I have playing an instrument and since he wants to quit and I had a presidency meeting, we didn’t go. I don’t generally encourage my children to quit something they’ve begun but in Seth’s case, it is hard enough to get him to do his homework.

For our meeting, we decided that having them in the evening just really doesn’t work. It takes time away from me being at home with my family and this week I would have had something going on every single night if not for the fact that the childbirth education classes Monday and Tuesday were cancelled due to road conditions. Also I pointed out that what we’ve really been having is ‘leadership meetings’ and that really isn’t necessary. The advisors can be there if they want, but don’t have to be unless specifically invited. That was a relief for Alicia.

Today will be much like yesterday. Lots of phlebotomy study, some hot chocolate drinking, some soap cutting (that I didn’t get done yesterday), and maybe some more bread making. Not sure about that yet. This evening is the Christmas thing at church which is different from yesterday. We just finished an entire loaf of bread.

Have a fabulous day!

More of the Same

The good news is that caroling went well last night. The bad news is that when I went in to check on Amena when I got up, her alarm was going off and she wasn’t awake. The good news is that Joanna’s paper is pretty good. The bad news is that she isn’t finished and it’s due in less than two hours. The good news is that it snowed more last night even if it wasn’t very much. The bad news is that when I went to check on Amena after feeding Kitty and getting her lunch together, she was still in bed. And so it goes.

A fairly accurate representation of my day yesterday: labeling soap (you can see some done on the left, some not done on the right, a glue stick and labels in the middle), studying phlebotomy (the index cards with rubber bands around them), drinking hot chocolate (the mug), getting the goat (the leash on the other side of the table), and children (represented by Amena's report card, etc., behind the candle).

Yesterday was full of exactly what I thought it would be and I managed to get everything done that I wanted with the exception of anything even remotely having to do with sewing. I won’t complain because it won’t do any good and there isn’t anything I can do about it and I did accomplish quite a bit. I expect more of the same today.

This will be short. Very short, actually. In fact, have a terrific day and I’ll hopefully be back tomorrow.

Kitty was helping sew a few days ago. Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone she was in the house!

Fun Times

Good morning! What a fun-packed day up for today: laundry, phlebotomy study, and soap. The soap will be somewhat tedious because it’s going to be labeling bars; thirty-nine of them. I should cut soap as well since I haven’t done that. And I should order some coconut oil and whatever other oils I needed to in order to make the rest of the soap because making the soap is the best part, selling it is the second best even though it sometimes means gluing labels on. Laundry is just laundry; never terribly exciting. There are a few loads to fold and a couple, maybe three, to wash and dry; a load of towels in the washing machine. And phlebotomy study; always a blast, especially when someone is home to hear me reading the cards over and over and over and over. And over. And over. Oh yeah.

Cedric building with the cool magnetic things that Bislita sent.

Yesterday was a fun-packed day. Amena got off with no problems which one might expect when she was up at 5:00. The boys got up and on their way with no problems although Seth was running in his somewhat typical slow motion. I’m not sure how to get that boy to get a move on; if you know of any tricks, let me know.

Bread rising last week. It's almost gone so I can make more today remembering to not overdo it with the bloody flour.

I was going to go to kindergarten in the morning to make gingerbread men but Paul decided to get hay for the goats. Since he was going to take the Jetta to work and had to take the truck to get hay and I didn’t know when he’d be back, I wasn’t sure if I should take the Jetta or not. Too late, I realized I could have taken the Jetta and left the keys in it and he could have taken the truck to school and left the keys in it and taken the Jetta the rest of the way to work. It would have worked but I didn’t think of it soon enough.

The artisan bread went really well with the . . .

Other than that, my plans for yesterday looked much like today except that I was printing labels. That meant making a new one for Papa’s Own in the new format and I also made a two-sided, 1/3 of a paper size thing that lists all the different soaps that I make, what I have right now, what will be ready in a couple of weeks, and what could be ready in six to eight weeks. That was kind of fun. Not enough fun to think that I should become a graphic designer, but fun.

. . .salmon and wild rice soup which is even thicker now and even yummier. Although I am the only one who thinks so.

I did go to Staples yesterday to get the paper to print labels on and I need to go to Staples today to get glue sticks because all the glue sticks I can find around here are in very bad shape; most of them are either really sticky but won’t stick to anything or too dried out to stick to anything. I like Staples and Laura says I should look in my email for some coupons because there should be some there.

Other than fun stuff like I’ve mentioned, I would like to also get some sewing done and I probably ought to make some cookies today so that Amena can get her homework done after school. We are going caroling tonight and everyone needs to bring cookies to take to those we sing at. I think I’m also picking up our last goat. So, basically, it really should be a fun day.

My childbirth education class was cancelled last night due to the weather. The teacher said she would drive in but didn’t want people to feel like they had to. I would have driven in but wasn’t going to if there wasn’t going to be class. Now we have two to make up. I don’t know when that’s going to happen but it ought to at some point.

It sounds like Obama didn’t make a terribly good impression with his antics at Nelson Mandela’s funeral. Cedric got a ride to scouts last night and the ‘selfie’ picture taking was one of the topics of conversation and from what Cedric reports, is not looked upon as appropriate behavior at a funeral by most of the boys (and I’m guessing their parents).

I just printed some invitations to a birthday party for Cedric and another page of labels for Creamy Honey Oat Bars. Cedric hasn’t really ever had a birthday party for his friends before and this time he is inviting four boys over to spend the night and go to see The Hobbit at the theater. We are planning on going Saturday at 12:30 because it’s only $5 per person rather than whatever the price is for showings later in the evening. This is what he wanted for his birthday so this is what he will get.

I don’t think I have much else to report for now so have a splendiferous day!

Catch Up

Good morning! I got up at 5:00 this morning to make sure that Amena got up and got the last paragraph done for an assignment she has due today. She needed to write a first draft and have that checked for wording—taking words out, replacing words, etc. Then she needed another draft that would be edited for spelling, grammar and punctuation. Then she needed a final draft. She was on the second one last night and it was taking her about half an hour to write each paragraph which needed to be a handwritten, double spaced page. I knew she’d never have time to write out the final draft so I told her to finish her last paragraph this morning and I’d type them all up for her. She’s not sure if typing them was something they could do but decided to go ahead because the rules have been changed a couple of times so why not?

I couldn’t find my glasses when I got up. I always put them on the nightstand in the same place and this morning they weren’t there. I looked all over the general area of the nightstand, under the bed, by the wall, nothing. I came downstairs and proofread Amena’s last paragraph and typed it up, went upstairs to print it out, went back downstairs, went back up to get a stapler, and found them on the floor when I stepped on them. Fortunately , I only bent the frame a bit and was able to bend it back.

The past week has been interesting.

Young Women in Excellence went well. While I think we could have done more in the decorating department, I think that what we had was good. Enough girls brought things to fill the tables and there were enough refreshments that I was encouraging some of the young men and their leaders to eat and/or take home anything that was left. That was Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon I had conferences for all three boys. They are all doing fairly well. Cedric is up to grade level in his reading now. Joseph is quickly approaching (I think he’s actually there but he is a somewhat lazy reader in that if he can get help, he’ll take it, even if he actually to sound out the words himself). Seth needs some improvement. I still think he’d do better if I were to homeschool him.

Thursday I made bread. Three kinds. Cranberry orange bread, regular bread, and an artisan bread I saw the recipe for I think on Facebook. I have been making bread on my own for about 25 years and finally figured out why my bread tends to turn out rather dry and crumbly—it’s because I always used too much flour. When I made bread before Thanksgiving so I could make stuffing, it turned out beautifully and I used exactly how much flour the recipe said to. When I made bread last Thursday, I couldn’t remember if I’d put in two or three cups so I put in another. Well, turns out it must have already been three and another cup was definitely NOT what the doctor ordered. It tastes alright but it’s crumbly. It would be really good for stuffing and it’s tolerable for sandwiches, but it does fall apart a bit too easily. Lesson learned on that score. The artisan bread turned out well. I made it to go with some salmon wild rice soup that I made for supper (I really like the soup. Paul is allergic to cooked salmon [he can eat it raw in sushi without incident but not cooked] so he can’t eat any and none of the boys or Amena like it much. It’s a good thing I do.). The recipe says that it makes really good grilled cheese sandwiches and boy! does it ever.

Friday I was at the hospital. It was my first shift during the day and I it was good to experience something different. The housekeeper is super friendly and nice. The nurses I interacted with the most were all very nice. Friday afternoon the boys brought home report cards and they all were pretty much what I expected although I cannot find them now which is not good because they need to be signed and returned.

Friday night Nick and Neal came over and the boys all camped out in the back field. Joseph never actually slept outside and I’m not sure that Seth did either. Cedric and Neal did but they were up very early and came in the house. At 4:30 I had to go downstairs and tell them to be quiet; they were playing a rousing game of Risk. That didn’t do the trick so I had to go down again and tell them to whisper. They were much quieter after that. Anyway, for their supper, I fixed them up foil dinners for them to cook on in a campfire and I think that turned out well. I gave them some bread as well. Nick said he thought it was store bread at first but discovered that it wasn’t when he tried some.

Sarah also spent the night so we had a rather busy night and Saturday morning. We also had Zak. For breakfast I did buttermilk pancakes, bacon and eggs. After breakfast everyone slowly left. Zak was first. Then Sarah. Then Neal. Paul took Nick with him looking for hay; they didn’t find any bales but Paul dropped Nick off. Then we were back to normal.

Paul wanted to get fuel and I wanted to go to Joann’s (I ended up with nine coupons for 50% off one regular priced item—awesome!). He dropped me off and then went to get fuel. I thought I was taking forever looking at fabric and deciding what I wanted. I didn’t have to wait in line long to get measured and cut and had a nice conversation with the woman who was after me. I didn’t have to wait at all in the checkout line. I did have to wait, about forty-five minutes, for Paul. He’d gone to a Market Basket and Salvation Army thinking that I wouldn’t be done yet. I think I was.

When we got home, Paul was in such a grumpy mood it was unreal. The problem is that when he hasn’t eaten for a while, and it had been since breakfast, he gets really grumpy. I finally realized that was what the problem was but not before I was in a grumpy mood myself. It wasn’t all that easy to get out either; it just seems not quite right that it’s okay for someone else to be a grouch but not me.

Sunday was Sunday. I was having trouble being heard but it was okay. We had BYC after church and for lunch we had a stuffed pork roast with leftover broccoli casserole and Oriental green beans. We watched some videos about church history and discussed them for Family Home Evening and then watched a movie by the same guy who did 17 Miracles called Ephriam’s Resue. It was good and dealt with some of the same people who are in Miracles.

Yesterday there was no school due to possible nasty road conditions. While we did get some snow during the night, it wasn’t much and the roads weren’t bad because it wasn’t all that cold. So we stayed home and did a bit of house work. I got lots of laundry done although you can’t tell to look at what’s left. I’ve got some to fold today and more to wash and dry.

The report cards are found! Yay! And the boys are in various stages of being ready to go. And it is just 7:07. And this morning I am going to go to 1^st Grade to help decorate gingerbread men. Ms. Mankowski said that there was a time when they’d do the whole thing as a class from the mixing to the baking to the decorating. Now they have to rely on someone to provide the baked cookies because they just don’t have time to do all the rest. I mentioned what I’d heard about teachers being given more to do without anything being taken away and she agreed. She actually mentioned that they are sometimes questioned about how much time they spend at recess; why do they need that much time? She said maybe because they’re kids and they need it? So anyway, I’ll be going in today to help with that.

I was going to say something else here but don’t remember what it was. I do think I’ll be off for now. Have a spectacular day!

What a Day

Good morning! Boy, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. I just wrote 1,058 words about some awesome, awe inspiring, faith building stories that I was privileged to hear last night. I would love to share them with you but I don’t feel that it is my right to tell them. It might just be good enough to know that miracles still do happen and I hope you believe that.

Busy day yesterday even though I cancelled Joseph’s dentist appointment. I was super tired in the morning and just didn’t feeling like rushing to get him there. I hope that doesn’t make me a bad mom. I’ll have to call to reschedule today.

I got a box of stuff ready to send to Laura and took that with me when I went out and about. I was going to take the truck until I noticed that the sticker has been expired for several months and I didn’t want to chance being stopped for that. I also didn’t feel like taking it to be inspected because it might have been a wait and don’t know what else needs to be done, if anything, for it to pass. So, I took the van.

I stopped at the dollar store first and got crepe paper streamers, plates, cups, napkins and two plastic table cloths. Then I went to church and set up what I could. I hung streamers from the basketball hoop at one end of the cultural hall and safety pinned them to the tablecloths I put on two tables I put under the hoop. They meet under it and form a wide ‘v’ with the top near the wall. I put two round white tablecloths on each table and a square (I guess you could say diamond) in the middle. Between the two tables, I put an easel with the Young Women logo. For the refreshment table, I put one white round tablecloth in the middle and a square (diamond) on each end. I also put streamers on it dividing the white from the color although my purpose was just to dress it up a bit. Then I set up chairs. I wasn’t sure how many people will be there so I started with twenty-five. I took some pictures with my phone; hopefully I’ll get them on my computer and into the blog.

On the way home, I stopped at Walmart. I was supposed to pick Joanna up after class at either 2:20 or 2:40. It was nearing 2:00. I didn’t want to go home and then have to drive back to the school so instead I drove to the post office in Hubbardston (which makes lots of sense if I didn’t want to drive home) and then to the Mount. I’d been there a few minutes when Joanna called and said she was already home.

Zak had been taking her to school when on Elm Street in Gardner, a person stopped on the street in front of them. The person behind the car that stopped that was in front of Zak slammed on their brakes so Zak did the same but nothing happened. Fortunately, there was no one coming the other way so he was able to swerve and avoid hitting anyone. They were both a bit rattled so they turned around and drove home, very slowly, and went to Ray’s. He said he could look at it today so they came home, got the truck, and took Zak’s truck back to Ray’s. Joanna asked if I thought she could take Zak home in the truck. I told her she needed to call Paul to make sure, but I was pretty sure he would say okay. She called, explained what had happened, and Paul said, sure but be aware that the sticker is expired.

I fixed a turkey pot pie for supper and gave Amena instructions for baking it. I put Cedric in charge of the fire. Joanna was still gone and she texted me as I was leaving that she was just going to go straight to class. I got the table cleared and took off for the childbirth education class. I had to drop a check and order form off at the Foley’s for a Sharks game later this month. I guess they do a special ‘Scout day’ and there will be fireworks after the game. Paul didn’t want to go and Amena didn’t so it will just be me and the boys. We’ll just have fun without everyone else.

Paul reports that the boys weren’t too well behaved and Cedric actually agreed with that. The boys never behave very well when the missionaries come over. I wonder if perhaps we should just not feed them for the next two Tuesdays that I’ll be attending the childbirth classes. I might see what Paul thinks about that.

For the childbirth class there were two expectant couples, both due in February with their first babies, and five of us new doulas. Other than me there was Stacy, April, Ericka and Violet. After class, Violet went home because she was tired (she’d been up since 4:00 in the morning—I’d be tired too [actually, I was, but not because I’d been up since that early]) and the rest of us stayed talking to Meredeth. This is when I heard the wonderful stories I’d love to share with you. Maybe someday.

Today is another busy day. I’m kind of looking forward to tomorrow because I have nothing scheduled. Anyway, I need to get a load of clothes on to wash so that I have clean underwear when I take a shower which I need to do relatively soon because I have a chiropractor appointment at 9:45.

Have a splendiferous day!

Mutual Respect

Good morning! It is cloudy here, foggy in spots, and icy. Supposedly we are at 30° that feels like 25° and humidity of 92%. I can go for the 30° but I’m not sure I agree that it feels colder although I’ve only been out to feed Kitty and the goats.

Yesterday I began the great push of reviewing for the phlebotomy exam. I rescheduled it from last month to this. The last day I can take it is January 8 so I can’t really push it out any further. I think I would if I could just because then I could go about this in a more sedate manner. I know most of the material so I’m not really too worried about it but I don’t like taking tests and I never feel like I’m as prepared as I could be and I haven’t done anything with phlebotomy since my internship which was in January (which isn’t entirely my fault). Anyway, I have about 900 flash cards that I made and they are in 54 bundles according to subject matter more or less. I’ve discovered that what works for me (for the most part) is to review one until I get all the answers correct, review another one until I get all the answers correct, review the first, review the second, review a third until I get all the answers correct, review the first, review the second, review the third, and you get the idea. I keep doing that until I’ve been at it for 30 minutes and then I stop and take a break. Except for the legal jargon, I did well yesterday.

Seth and Cedric both had scouts yesterday evening. Joanna and Zak took them which worked out really well because I was able to stay home and review rather than drive all over Hubbardston and review in bits and spurts. The timing worked out well because Seth’s meeting was on Hale Road at 6:00 and Cedric’s was on Old Westminster at 6:30. My plan, and what Joanna and Zak did, was to take Seth to his, drop him off, take Cedric to his, drop him off, go to Seth’s to pick him up, go to Cedric’s to pick him up. I had to sweeten the deal by letting them take the truck. Have I mentioned how happy Paul is to have it home?

Amena got up on her own again today and was out waiting for the bus. I really like how this has been working so far this week and I hope that mentioning that doesn’t jinx it. Cedric was downstairs finishing his homework when I came down.

Currently, I’ve got a slow Seth who got a bowl and cereal out but is now upstairs doing who-knows-what. Joseph is done eating and is dressed but is waiting for Cedric to get out of the bathroom so he can brush his teeth. Cedric is in the bathroom getting changed and has not eaten yet. Joseph had a dentist appointment this morning at 8:30 but I called and left a message saying we couldn’t make it. I’m still tired and I just wasn’t ready to rush rush rush to get us out the door in time.

Up for the rest of today is taking care of Sharks tickets, stopping at the dollar store to pick up some things for decorating for Young Women in Excellence which is tomorrow night but I really won’t have time to do anything about tomorrow, going to church and decorating, balancing my checkbook and writing a check or two. Add to that some phlebotomy review, three or four 30 minute sessions and you have my day. Also in there I need to make supper because we still have missionaries coming over even though I won’t be here. I will be at the hospital taking a childbirth education class for the doula program.

Right now is the fun part of the day when all of the last minute things are getting done so that all three boys will be ready for the bus when it comes. It’s amazing how different each day is—some days they’re all ready and are waiting for it, some days none of them are ready and it’s a rush when it arrives, some days it’s a mix of who is ready and who isn’t. Today Cedric is ready, although he did not eat breakfast, and Seth and Joseph are in various stages.

I didn’t get any reading in Spiritual Midwifery done yesterday because I was very tired when I went to bed and found it hard enough to struggle through the last chapter of Genesis. It’s amazing how the children of Israel went from being in the position they were at the time of Joseph’s death to the time when Moses was born. I realize a lot can happen in 400 years, but it is still interesting and I think it would be fun/enlightening/interesting to read about it.

Although I didn’t read any, I did some thinking about it. I find it rather interesting that the hospitals and doctors that the midwives on the Farm worked with were so open to midwifery and birthing at home. I think it is because the midwives approached them with respect and a desire to do what was right for the mother and baby. Because of this, the doctors were able to respect what the midwives were doing and a mutual trust developed. This is not the case in many areas. Over the years, a deep mistrust has developed because there are wackos on both sides who are unwilling to make any concessions. And who suffers? Women and babies and the families to whom they belong. I don’t see the overall situation changing anytime soon but I can do my part, however small it may be. As long as I don’t rip someone’s head off because they won’t listen, anyway.

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