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!