Life

Good morning! Bed sure does feel good some mornings. This was one of them. I went upstairs after I’d gotten up and put Amena’s lunch together because I heard something that sounded like an alarm. I didn’t think it was mine but went up to check anyway. My phone was under my pillow and it was so warm and inviting; it would have been very easy to get back in. I don’t know what was making the noise because there were no alarms going off.

Yesterday was a Wednesday. The morning was very low key with just some dishes, visiting with my mom, and getting ready for Mutual. The afternoon was a bit more intense. I made up five scenarios for service for the young men and women to act out and came up with thirty service-oriented questions for a Jeopardy-type game. I was just about done with all that when boys got home and then it was time to take Joseph to scouts which consisted of a trip to Gardner News. It was pretty cool. We had to stop at Staples to get some things for Young Women and then we were home. With Grandma’s help gluing, I got everything finished up for Mutual and then it was time to get everyone fed so that we could drop Seth off for scouts at the Pitney’s and then get me, Amena, and Cedric to church. Joseph got to stay home with Grandma.

I think the service scenarios went fairly well. The game went well other than the fact I left my paper with all the answers at home somewhere. When we left, I noticed the Jetta parked next to the green car and there was a box of stuff from Aldi’s in Joseph’s booster seat. Then I remembered Paul had a meeting at church at 7:30.

We got home and everything proceeded fairly much like it usually does on a Wednesday night when I don’t have to take everyone with me to church. Then Paul got home and searched through an expanding folder he had and gave me two applications for scouts. He said they are for Joseph and Seth for church and that they need to be filled out today and given to Dana Armstrong. Really? Joseph is still just seven and church doesn’t do Tiger Scouts so I wouldn’t think he can be signed up at church until he turns 8. Cedric can do church scouts now because he’s Boy Scout age and that’s what I’d planned on. Seth I would kind of just like to leave be for now because we’ve vacillated so much already. I do want there to be scouts at church, but I also want it to be cohesive and of value to the boys. If it’s up to us to save the charter, I don’t know if it will work.

In other news, I guess I complain too much about some things. And some people have a tendency to exaggerate. And today my mom and I are going to Webs.

Have a great day!

Room for Change?

Good morning! Yesterday was an okay kind of Tuesday. Mostly low key. This morning has been interesting. I got up at 5:00 and made sure Amena was getting up and woke Cedric up. He told me to pour water on him but there wasn’t anything upstairs to put water in and I wasn’t going to go downstairs to get something so I said, “Here’s some pretend water,” and I pretended to sprinkle water on his head. Then I went back to bed which is what I usually do.

I had an interesting dream in which all of my family was somewhere on a beach and we were camping, sort of, out of a trailer and storage building. There was a shelf of books and one of the books dealt with economics and I knew there was something in this particular book that I could see that would put an end to an ongoing argument we were having with someone. When I went to get the book off the shelf, it disappeared. I went back to where I had been to see if I could see it and I couldn’t. I went to where it had been and felt around but it was gone. I even pretended to take it off the shelf thinking it might have some spell on it or something, but nothing worked.

Then I woke up because my alarm went off at 5:55 which is when I usually get up to make sure Amena actually got up and is getting ready and often Cedric will actually get up then. This time I closed my eyes thinking how good the bed felt (in spite of a certain 7-year-old sticking his knees in my back) and apparently fell back asleep.

This time I dreamed that Paul and I had gone to the Dusty’s and that they had moved to a different condo that was similar to the one they’d been in but slightly different and slightly smaller. I was going to help Karen with a quilt. I’m not quite sure what I was going to help with but it was going to be a regular thing and I suggested renting a storage unit for classes and such. Then I needed to count some squares so we’d know now many to cut out because we were going to make a new quilt based on one she had. I counted 12 one direction and kept getting to the end the other direction and forgetting. The squares were small, about 1 ½ inches, and made up a boarder around the entire quilt. I just needed to figure out how many were needed for the top and bottom boarders and for the life of me, I couldn’t keep the number in my head long enough to multiply it by 12. I counted something like three times and then woke up.

I looked at the clock and it was 6:18—holy cow! How did that happen? Amena was almost ready to go so I hurried downstairs and got her lunch ready. Then I fed Kitty and Scooter and Amena left. I roused the boys, made rolled oats for Joseph and Cedric. Cedric got dressed before he came down and Seth got dressed before he came down to eat (I’m not sure what’s up with that). Joseph was taking his time with everything. I got lunches for the boys together and fed the goats. Joseph was still eating. He still needed to get dressed. At 7:30, he still needed to get dressed so I went upstairs to hurry him along a bit.

He came downstairs and I got a different coat for him to wear. He’s been wearing this brown jacket that really is just a lined sweatshirt. It’s getting old and worn and really is too small for him now but he loves it and only wants to wear it. The one I made him wear this morning is too big but still wearable and is fluffier and ought to be warmer. So, he’s all ready to go and the bus is at the end of the driveway waiting and he takes off up the stairs. What the heck!? He wants his brown jacket which I had already taken downstairs. I told him there was no time, the bus was waiting and he’d just better get out there. He did but one of his shoes hadn’t gotten put on so he had to do that. What fun!

Yesterday I did some laundry in the morning and took a shower. I need to do more laundry this morning to help the house warm up a bit. I built a fire because it was cold and then my mom and I went to PJs diner in Hubbardston to meet Liz who is a fellow doula for lunch. Lunch was nice and I’ll get to the gist of our conversation later. After that, we went to Walmart to get some yarn needles because it’s hard to darn socks without a yarn needle.  Amena got home shortly after we did and brought in enough wood to do three more burns plus there’s a little bit left. Not enough to start again and I think I’ll build another one this morning because it is not warm.

When the boys got home I made them do their homework which really didn’t take long. Seth’s consisted of a lot of division and redistribution. Redistribution is fine sometimes but generally I think it requires too much extra thinking to get the problem figured out. I am not in favor of all the extra crap they have to learn in order to learn how to multiply and divide. Once we got into a groove, Seth got his work done fairly quickly but it took a couple of problems to get into the groove and I think he’d have been done sooner if he just divided 81 by three rather than figuring out how to break 81 down to make it easier to divide by 3. I don’t hold back my feelings about this stuff either so I really hope that my boys don’t give their teachers a hard time because I realize it isn’t the teachers fault—it’s the ridiculously stupid system which is run by idiots who don’t even have degrees in education and were probably raised by idiots who don’t have a clue how the real world works.  Wow, a bit off topic there but I won’t apologize for a badly formed paragraph. I can probably blame it on my education, anyway.

For supper we had corned beef sans carrots because I didn’t realize we were out. Still, it turned out pretty good. We had a cocoa cake with mint frosting for dessert and I need to make some cupcakes today for Seth to take to school since his birthday was Monday and I keep forgetting to make anything. He wants the glass cupcakes. Off topic again. Anyway, the boys were well-behaved during most of supper and didn’t start acting up until sometime during the cake eating. More or less. When we were all done, it was time for bed which made the transition relatively painless.

So, visiting with Liz. She and I have a lot of the same thoughts and feelings. It seems that most of the women who have been in labor when she’s been there are induced. This means that they are tethered to an IV pole for the Pitocin drip. They’re already tethered to the IV pole because it seems to be hospital policy to hook up the IV in order to keep them hydrated. Sometimes cytotec is used for induction. If contractions have started already, Pitocin is used for augmentation. Either way, now they are tethered to the monitor continuously as well because with an induction, medical staff have to have a constant stream of information from the baby. What good is a doula in such circumstances? It is possible to unplug from the monitor for a time in order to use the bathroom or to do a few laps around the maternity ward but otherwise, they’re plugged in. Once pain meds have begun, they have to stay in bed and can’t even get up to use the bathroom (maybe this is only with an epidural and not with other forms of pain meds—have to keep my eyes open on this one).

The last three times I was in, I stayed in the room almost all the time, I stayed in the room almost all of the time, I checked in every half hour. For the first one I was able to collect warm blankets, ice and juice for mama but was only able to give her said ice and juice when grandma wasn’t there because grandma likes to be in control, I’m thinking. Mama didn’t want me to touch her—I offered. For the second one, I really didn’t do anything. Mama’s husband was there and he was doing a great job. It was fun being in the room seeing them interacting but I did feel like I was so much extra baggage most of the time. For the third, I offered to get things but they really were under control and really didn’t need anything while I was there.

I mentioned to Liz that I think the doulas should be paired up with the pregnant women in order to get to know them. It’s really hard for some of us to help someone when we don’t know them. It’s hard for some women to accept help from someone they don’t know. Liz mentioned that not everyone can do that; some of the doulas (a lot, actually) have regular jobs. I am aware of that but in the real-life midwifery world, there is this thing called continuity of care. The midwives don’t go off-shift. They’re there for the long haul. Not only that but you get to develop a relationship with your midwife. I don’t think you necessarily become best friends (although it could happen), but you get to know them; they aren’t aloof and I haven’t met one yet who has a condescending attitude (well, maybe one but I don’t know her very well and will reserve judgment).

Maybe I’ve been spoiled because even when I went to the hospital, I was there such a short time that there wasn’t time for the doctor to go off-shift. Other than that, I’ve had midwives, and a doctor, who were there. I saw the same person throughout pregnancy and the same person during labor and the same person for post-partum care. How can nurses and doctors changing shift be better than what I have experienced? In light of this, wouldn’t it be nice if at least the doula were a constant presence that didn’t change? Is the medical world so steeped in ‘the way it is’ that there is no room for change? I don’t know.

Have a great day!

Less School, More Family

Good morning! I’m going for the most inconsecutive entries. So far, so good.

Friday—I don’t remember what happened other than children went to school and I didn’t.

Saturday—we did some cleaning of the house.

Sunday—we had some changes in leadership at church. We also had Seth’s birthday party since his birthday was the next day (yesterday). He requested stroganoff, chocolate cake with white frosting, and chocolate ice-cream. That’s what he got. He made a pretty good haul, too. Pictures will be forthcoming but not today because I have to charge my phone first; it died in the process of taking birthday party pictures.

Monday—I went to the hospital because there was an induction and a c-section. I was late because I thought I could get a ride with Joanna because she had school and then she could pick me up after. Well, the Jeep wouldn’t go. So we had to take the green car. So I was going to be late but I ended up being even later. Had I been there at 7:00, I probably could have gone in for the c-section. As it was, I felt very unneeded due to the circumstances. Still, I checked in every half hour and I did as much knitting as I could with the yarn that I had and I did a LOT of reading. I now have less than 50 pages to go and I’ll be done.

This morning Seth was doing some pondering. He was talking about charging his truck (he got a really cool remote control truck from Zak and Joanna for his birthday) and out of the blue he said, “We only have five hours after school.” This is true.  Almost. They get out of school a few minutes before 3:00. Between 3:00 and bedtime, which at our house is 8:00, there are only five hours. Next he said, “We are in school for way too long. We should be in school for four hours so we can spend more time with our families.” I agree.

And with that, I will bid you good day. Have a wonderful one!

Longish Couple of Days

Good morning! Only a two-day wait this time. That’s good; not so  much to remember.

Wednesday was an interesting day. Hmmmmm. I’m thinking maybe we have quite a few interesting days. What do you think?

A few ties, anyone? There are over 200 there and these are not the only ones.

Anyway, Wednesday was an interesting day. Joanna got to school in the morning; Zak gave her a ride on his way to work and/or school. I knew I needed to pick her up but didn’t remember what time but thought it wasn’t a big deal because I could always call or text. Amena didn’t miss the bus. The boys got off to school. I looked for my phone. I couldn’t find it. It wasn’t by the bed or on the table or on the counter in the kitchen and those are about the only places I leave it. It wasn’t in Amena’s bed or on the small table by the brown chair which are places Amena leaves it. It wasn’t in Cedric’s bed and I remembered seeing him with it that morning (he’d gotten up really early and absconded with my phone to bed). I couldn’t call it to find it because for one thing, the house phone is still out of commission and for another thing, Amena had used it the night before and had the ringer volume turned off. So, I couldn’t call or text Joanna to find out what time she was out of class. So I emailed her. 12:15. Okay, no problem.

As noon approached, I got ready to go and at noon I went to get the key from the window where we keep the keys. It wasn’t there. I looked in the ignition of the green car. It wasn’t there. I looked upstairs to see if Paul had left it in a pocket but there were no pockets. I checked to see what jacket he had worn to work and it was the same one he’d had on the day before so there was no pocket and therefore no key. I emailed Joanna really quick and then went to the office and dialed Paul at work (it’s super easy—just pick up the phone and hit the button by his name—instant connection as long as he’s not on the phone and he wasn’t). I asked him where he might have left the keys. “Oh, that’s not good,” he said when I told him where I’d looked. “I hope I don’t. . . they’re in my pocket.” In Shrewsbury.  So here I am stuck with a car and no keys and a truck with a plow and no keys.

Paul called Adam and he picked Joanna up from school. He also came and picked her up and took her to work. Because I had no keys, I had no way to get anyone to church and even if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to bring them home because I needed to leave to go to Manchester to pick up my mother.

Paul called on his way home and after a conversation about finding someone to go with me or him driving up he called the Fuller’s to see if I could use their van. It’s been so cold that the diesel’s have a hard time because the fuel likes to gel sometimes in spite of the fact that it’s supposed to have an additive to prevent gelling. The green car I guess had been having trouble idling so Paul didn’t want me to drive it either. It appears that the problem with it was water in the fuel which I guess is a common problem when it gets cold. Anyway, the Fuller’s van was an option so Paul picked me up, we went to the Fuller’s, I left to go get my mother.

My trip was pretty uneventful. I found some good radio stations to listen to and heard lots of Journey, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick and a bit of U2 and a few others. The biggest problem there is that I couldn’t sing along because of this stupid cold that the darn dust in the bedroom gave me. Still, my ears do work even if loud volumes were making them crackle.

When I got to the parking lot that I usually park in to wait, I parked and checked my phone. My mother had sent me a message saying that they were finally boarding and that the flight would be in the neighborhood of an hour late. I checked before I left online and the airline said that it had already left and only seven minutes late. What was this hour baloney? I guess it was all about deicing. Anyway, she was scheduled to arrive at 9:38 pm and actually arrived at 11:00 pm. So guess what I did? I sat. And waited. And listened to the radio. I didn’t take anything with me to read; no knitting; nothing. Oh, yeah. Pretty exciting it was.

Finally, I saw a plane in the air (or a jet, depending upon how particular you want to be) and thought it must be the one my mother was on. I don’t know for sure that it was, but I think it must have been because there weren’t any others and it was the right time for her to have landed at 11:00. Still I waited. It takes time to disembark and collect luggage. Eventually I went to the airport and only made the loop once around (they don’t want you to park and wait) when she appeared in the cold. And it was cold. 5 lovely degrees.

The trip home wasn’t bad. She got to tell me about her flights and we got to stop and get gas. Pretty exciting. We got home sometime after 1:00. I helped her get her stuff inside and then we went to bed. Paul, amazingly, was not only in bed but asleep as well.

And that was that. I still haven’t fed the goats yet and they are beginning to complain so I will go do that and then be back to finish up about yesterday.

The goats have their grain and water and one armful of hay. They’ll have to wait for the other armful of hay for later.

Yesterday morning Amena got off, Joanna needed a ride to work. I called the hospital and there was a woman coming in to be induced so I did need to go in but I wasn’t going to rush and get there by 7:00. I met the bus on my way home from dropping Joanna off. I went in the house, got changed, asked Paul how to get to the Fuller’s (which was an interesting conversation) and left.

When I asked Paul about getting to Fuller’s, he had to give me all the directions. Go right out of the driveway, go right at the fork, left at the stop sign. When you can’t go any further, turn right, as you’re going up the hill, turn left, their driveway is to the right. Yeah. I knew all of that, I just wasn’t sure which left to take off of 2A which is what you end up on when you turn right after you can’t go any further (which is the second stop sign along that way) but what I said was, “I know. But. . .” To which I got the beginnings of a repeat which I didn’t need. So I said I needed to know which left and the answer was the second one. That’s all I needed.

I only had to wait a few minutes at Fuller’s and they dropped me off at the hospital. It was 8:30 when I got in and finished washing my hands ready to go. There was indeed someone in labor so at least I knew I wouldn’t be terribly bored. And I wasn’t. I did wonder if I was going to end up with a terrible headache like I did last time. I didn’t. I decided it is partially related to the vibes in the room because the family yesterday was awesome. Only minor cell phone use. Lots of joking with a liberal helping of sarcasm. A laboring woman who was just sailing through the beginning contractions that I’ve seen debilitate other women.

The boys had a pack meeting for scouts last night and I fully intended to go. However, I had to wait for Paul to pick me up from the hospital and therefore didn’t get home until 4:00. Joanna needed a ride to school. I needed to make supper and the kitchen was a mess. There was no way I was going to get everything done that needed to be including the feeding of the minions so I decided that I wasn’t going to even try. Amazingly, I felt so much better after making that decision. I was more relaxed, calm, and able to deal with slow children.

And I am learning when I can and cannot sign up for shifts at the hospital. And I am learning about doula work things that I suspected but am now coming to know.

And that is all for now. Have a terrifical day!

Long Time

Saturday

Good morning! Where does the time fly? It seems like this year just started and here we are with January nearly two-thirds over. Holy cow!

Yesterday I don’t think I really accomplished much. I went to Friendly’s and had lunch with Zak. I guess some of Joanna’s coworkers asked if I was Zak’s mom and thought it was awkward that I was her mom. I don’t know why everything has to be awkward but I guess it does. After that I went to Staples to get a few things for tomorrow and of course I didn’t have a list and so of course I didn’t remember everything I was going to get. Which means a trip to Staples or Walmart or somewhere today.

When I got home from my foray out, it was almost time for Amena to get home. She doesn’t usually cause much trouble on her own so it’s no problem when she does. The fun starts when the boys get home and she and Cedric start in on each other.

Amena ended up spending the night at the Trivett’s. Seth didn’t put his clothes away like he was supposed to before the boys watched a movie. I let Cedric make a ‘torch’ in the evening. It was a pretty low key afternoon and evening.

Paul and I went to Arisu for dinner which is nice because that’s where I wanted to go. We went to Aldi’s and Market Basket and came home. Pretty exciting. We talked about birth and his job and how unreasonable people tend to be.

In a few minutes the boys and I are going to the Cub Scouts can and bottle drive. It is just one of those necessary evils. I don’t want to go; I have a lot of things to do at home. However, it’s good for the boys to learn what it takes to earn money this way and it’s good for them, and me, to be more involved.

And I am afraid this is very short.

Wednesday

8:00 am

Good morning! I could mention the time flying again today but don’t think I will. As you can see, I actually wrote something Saturday but never posted it. It was just that kind of a day. I had a lot to do Saturday because I was scheduled for a doula shift at 11:00 that night. The boys and I went to the bottle and can drive and they actually had fun. It wasn’t that bad, really, other than I ended up holding signs for about an hour and a half. We haven’t heard yet how much was earned but when we left at 11:00 there were over 30 bags full of cans and plastic bottles and there were many boxes of glass bottles.

My afternoon was spent getting things ready for New Beginnings and finishing touches on my lesson for Young Women. I even cooked up some Oriental green beans for the linger longer. I wanted everything to be as ready as possible so that if there was someone in labor, I would be ready to go and ready for church when I got home. So, of course there were no women in labor. That was actually fine because it meant that I got to sleep. I was scheduled for yesterday also but there was another scheduled as well and she was okay with me not which was nice because when I signed up for it, I didn’t realize that there was no school.

Sunday was good. The lesson went well. Paul was going to go home and plow our driveway and then Ray’s after church. The bishop wanted to talk to him though so he did that. Seth and I were the end of the line for food (which was before Paul was done talking) and there wasn’t a whole lot to choose from by the time we got there. There were six crock pots of soupy things and most of them were down to scraping the edge, so to speak. There were quite a few rolls left but there wasn’t much in the way of deserts. I could tell by how many people there were and how much food there was that there wasn’t going to be enough. I really wish that the Gardner Ward could get with the program when it comes to linger longers.

The boys, Amena, Jessica and I stayed after to get ready for New Beginnings. We got chairs set up in the rooms we were going to be in, crepe paper streamers set up in the chapel so that people could only sit where we wanted them to, a yellow brick road laid out. It was all good until I wanted to take the cupcakes I’d made to the kitchen and discovered that the door was locked. Are you kidding me? I didn’t have my keys and I needed to be able to get in the kitchen so I went home to get my keys. They weren’t where I keep them. Then I remembered that I’d put them in my back pack Wednesday in case I needed them then and I hadn’t put them away where I usually keep them. They were at the church in my back pack! At least I remembered my planner which has my license in it so I was driving legally after that.

I got back to church and sure enough, there were my keys. Other people were arriving by this time (which was good because it was 4:30 and I do like to start on time). The boys had made an obstacle course in the gym. I told them they had to be responsible for cleaning it up because they were making it. I think they got help with the putting everything away but it did get done.

New Beginnings 2014. We have from left to right: Dorothy, Wicked Witch, Tin Man, Good Witch, Lion, music conductor, and Scarecrow. In the front, a very good prayer sayer. Amena had to fill in as the Wicked Witch and I think she did an excellent job considering how much preparation time she had (five hours?). Everyone did a very good job--I'm very pleased with how well it turned out.

The program went well, the refreshments were good, and we were done within the hour and a half that I had hoped we would. Clean up didn’t take too terribly long and I think we were home close to 7:00. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I will be back to tell you about Monday and Tuesday but for a bit I’m going to let Cedric watch an episode of River Monsters.

9:20 am

Well, the boys are just about all ready to go. Lunches ready. They’re all dressed. Breakfast has been eaten and cleaned up. Teeth have been brushed. Amena didn’t miss the bus but came pretty darn close.

Monday I decided that I needed to clean the bedroom. The reason for this was to find my Spanish book for Joanna because she’s taking Spanish this semester and the teacher is using the same book that I did. Anyway, I know I have the book. I thought maybe Laura had used it for something but she says no. I also thought that I’d seen it in the back room but three searches turned up nothing. I know that I’ve seen it in the bedroom but I don’t remember when exactly although I do remember two places. Anyway, I wanted to hang up a lot of clothes that have been lying around just piled up so I thought the most reasonable place to begin was the closet. Yeah. The closet. I took out of the closet approximately 25 pairs of shoes, 35 pairs of pants, I don’t know how many shirts (but it was a lot), and exactly 90 books. When I was in bed that night, I could feel my throat scratchy and dry and I’d been blowing snot all afternoon from the dust.

I took Sarah Trivett home (she’d spent the night) and stopped at Walmart to get some totes to organize the boys room somewhat. We took out of their closet the three drawer things that had toys in them and now the stuff is either in totes under beds or in the attic because it was dress-up clothes (dinosaur outfits, etc.) that no longer fit anyone. I would like to put a shelf in above the bar for hanging clothes and a couple of shelves on the side near the floor for books.

Yesterday I finished emptying out the closet other than a bunch of caps that Paul has on a shelf up above the hanging clothes. I found his breeches from when he did Revolutionary War reenactments and his British flag. They’re pretty cool. I was disappointed that his breeches were constructed with a sewing machine (except for the holes for lacing). Still, they’re pretty cool; hard to believe that he fit into them at some point in the past though. I’d love to see them on him. I also went through the sheets and determined that we really need a linen closet. And I hung up more stuff in the closet.

We had missionaries over for dinner and I was going to do potatoes with sausage, peppers, and onions but ran out of time so we had some rigatoni with spaghetti sauce that I cooked sausage up and added to the sauce. We also had Oriental green beans. By the time it was time to eat, I was feeling pretty ick. My scratchy throat was still around although not as bad and my nose blowing turned into a congested head with an occasional bout of snot blowing. Pretty exciting. I was also cold.

Once everything was settled down and somewhat cleaned up, children were abed, and I cleared off the table, I read a bit while I had a cup of tea and then went to bed. I was freezing by that point and didn’t want to read in bed because it would mean having at least a hand out of the covers to hold a book and I didn’t want to do that. I wasn’t particularly tired, but I certainly didn’t feel like doing anything and I wanted to be warm. Paul has been going to bed earlier the last few nights and he did last night as well but by the time he did, I was only slightly aware that he had. During the night Joseph came and got in bed with us and I do not remember that at all. I remember dreaming about Thor and thinking that Laura would really like that.

This morning we had a two-hour delay due to possible icy/bad driving conditions. We were supposed to get up to a foot-and-a-half of snow then it changed to 4 to 6 inches. We got all of maybe half an inch. Booyah! Snowball fight! Yeah, right. Amena still almost managed to miss the bus and if it weren’t for brothers out telling the bus driver that Joseph was coming, Joseph would have as well. 

Today is Joanna’s first day of classes this semester and I am supposed to pick her up but I don’t remember what time exactly and I can’t find my phone. It isn’t where I left it and I know that I saw Cedric with it earlier. I can’t exactly call it because the house phone is still out of commission and even if I could, the volume, thanks to Amena, is turned off. Hooray.

I feel better than I did yesterday but I’m pretty plugged up and I’m planning on making the bed and sorting ties. Maybe rearranging the area between the stairs and the fireplace since the tan couch is now gone and therefore out of the way. Probably folding some clothes. That is all. Well, other than enjoying the quiet which I am doing now. Which is good because I can’t hear much anyway because my ears are plugged.

Anyway, have a terrific day!

Full Moon (not really a good title but about as good as I can get right now)

Good morning!

I am glad that today is Friday. I am glad that there is school today. I am glad that Amena did not miss the bus. I am glad that my headache finally went away.

To everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, thank-you. It was a good day. Busy, but good.

I finished washing sheets (and bedding) for the boys and got their beds all made and did some other assorted laundry in the morning. Joanna and Zak came home in the afternoon and I remembered that my driver’s license was due to expire on my birthday which was Wednesday. I’d gotten a letter from the RMV stating that the information they had did not match the information that Social Security had and therefore I would need to take care of the discrepancy before renewing my license. I thought that I would have to visit Social Security before renewing my license even though I happen to know that the information they have is the same. Anyway, when Seth and I went out to get his glasses, we stopped at the SS office in Gardner and discovered that they close at noon on one day of the week and at 3:00 the other days of the week. We were there at about 3:45; out of luck no matter what.

Seth got his glasses. I was thinking about going somewhere else but I don’t remember where. I thought about going to the RMV but at that point it was 4:05 and even though we would have gotten there before they closed (I think), I didn’t really feel like dealing with them. So, we went home. Someone suggested that I renew online. I hadn’t even thought of that because I thought I had to go see Social Security first but I now thought I might as well give it a try. If it didn’t work, it didn’t work. If it did work, I wouldn’t have to worry about it and I wouldn’t have to go see anyone anywhere. It worked.

I emailed everyone in Seth’s scout den about rides and got no responses. I called Sharon Bessett, Joey’s mom, and she said that he has basketball practice on Wednesday afternoons and can’t go to scouts on Wednesday’s. So that was out as an option. Joanna was home so I just left Seth and Joseph home with her.

At church we got started at 7:05 which is a definitely an improvement over 7:15 or later. Only two girls were there before 7:00 and they were with me. We’d picked Sarah Trivett up because her dad accidentally took the keys to the car to work. I can totally see myself doing something like that. I had forgotten my keys to the church and hoped that someone was already there who had some. Amy Troop beat us and had her keys so we were able to get in. We got some yellow bricks made for our yellow brick road and then the Young Men were in charge so they all played soccer. Cedric was the star of the show although Emily and Drayton are pretty good. I’d like to see them all play outside. We also got pizza (the Young Men were in charge and they wanted pizza, I guess). Jerusha Peterman made a cake because it was my birthday and because it was Megan Bell’s birthday Thursday. Anyway, it was a pretty good evening in spite of the fact that I’d have been happy to stay home.

I finally got an email from one of the mom’s in Seth’s den. Only three boys showed up. I really think that Wednesday’s are not good. I can make Tuesday’s work. Thursday’s would be great. Wednesday’s just don’t work. At all. For me. And, it seems, for quite a few others. Ah well, such is life. At least we’re scheduled to go help with the can and bottle drive Saturday at 9:00.

Yesterday I was scheduled to go in to be a doula. I hadn’t written it in my planner but it was on the hospital calendar. I’m not sure why I didn’t get it written down but I figured I’d better at least call to see if anyone was in labor and, sure enough, there was a girl there. Figures. All the other times I’ve called in and been ready to go if someone was there, there wasn’t. This time, I wasn’t ready and there was. When I got up at 5:00 to wake Amena up, I stayed up and made lunches and fed animals for in case because I knew I wouldn’t have time if I waited until 6:00. I called at six and was told that there was indeed a laboring mama in. So I had half an hour to finish getting ready. Well, I didn’t make it. I got my shower taken and got dressed. I got the boys up. I told Joanna that I had to go to the hospital (she needed to be to work at 7:30). Amena missed the bus. Are you kidding me? She was up and ready to go and missed the bus.  I told her if she missed it there wasn’t anyone who could take her but she missed it and I knew that if we left right then we’d be able to catch it so we left and we caught up at the triplets house. I went home, Joanna and I left, and I was only seven minutes late.

And being at the hospital was once again an interesting experience and I learned a lot from just watching people. I’m not sure how much I can safely say; I know there is a lot I would like to say.

It might just be sufficient to say that really hate the fact that we are where we are today in the United States as far as birth and education are concerned.

Have a spectacular day!

473 Word Day (not counting captions)

Good morning!

Yesterday was an alright day. I didn’t get as much done as I might have but I got enough done for it to qualify as a productive day.

Still loving the food processer!

Cedric and Joseph got clean sheets; Seth will get clean today. I made a regular cheesecake. I had broiled catfish for lunch. Some laundry got washed, dried, and folded. I put one box of Christmas stuff in the attic and moved some of the boxes of Laura’s stuff and Daniel’s Legos around so I could fit the Christmas stuff. Because one of Laura’s boxes (and the two cases of paper) was kind of heavy and I could feel my back starting to hurt, I decided that was good for yesterday. Today I need to remember to call the chiropractor and reschedule the appointment that I missed last Monday.

Cheesecake ready to go in the oven.

I also watched entirely too much of Breaking Bad but it was at least partially when I was doing something else, like eating lunch, so I don’t feel too bad about it. In fact, I don’t feel bad about it at all. There is a lot of food for thought there. Many of the episodes now I remember watching, but I missed the entire first season and part of the second (I’m on the second right now). Very interesting.

I just thought this might make a cool picture.

I took Cedric to Walmart yesterday to get him some CO₂ canisters for his air soft gun and a tote to keep all his air soft stuff in. I wanted to get construction paper for making yellow bricks for Sunday evening. All they had was multi-color packs. I didn’t need multiple colors; I needed yellow. So I got four sheets of yellow poster board instead.

I liked the shadows.

Today I need to take Seth to get his glasses. They called and left a message on my phone Saturday. Monday I couldn't take him; yesterday I could have but forgot. Today I need to remember.

Amena didn’t get up when I went in and told her it was time to get up. I suspected that she hadn’t so I got up at 5:45. She still managed to get out in time for the bus which just goes to prove that 45 minutes she can do, 30 minutes she has a hard time with. Cedric is in the shower and Seth and Joseph are eating dinosaur oats.

Also up for today is a bunch of I don’t know. We have church tonight. Seth has scouts but I’m not sure if it is going to work or not because it isn’t at Pitney’s so I don’t know if anyone would be able to bring him home. Also, I don’t know if anyone will be home when he needs to be home. It is safe to say that scouts is up in the air for tonight.

And that’s about it for now.

Have a terrifical day!

Cucumber Man

Good morning! You get a real treat today: a story with illustrations by Seth.

I had a real treat for a dream: of Daniel. I know there was more to it, but the part I remember was all of us sitting around giving Daniel all of the presents we’d been saving up for Christmas’s and his birthdays because he’d been gone for a while. Laura had gotten him a pair of shoes and for some reason I could remember being at the store with her when she was getting them and the agonizing decision on which size to buy. As he took them out of the box, we could tell they were too small and when he held one up to the bottom of the shoes he had on, they were about half the size.

Once everything was opened, Daniel and Laura went in to another room where there were a lot of other children and began to play basketball with them. I had just sat down in a rocking chair to watch when my alarm went off.

Yesterday morning Jessica took off with Ryan college bound. It’s kind of funny how you miss someone being there while being glad to be back to your normal routine. Which is funny in and of itself because she didn’t disrupt my normal routine at all.

I'm really loving having a food processor again. It makes some things so much easier.

I made a chocolate pie and then a chocolate cheesecake. I was going to broil fish for my lunch but the cheesecake was in the oven so I had something else; I don’t even remember what it was. About all I accomplished otherwise was some laundry and dishes. Cedric got a ride to scouts with Beth and Dominic Rigero; it is very hard to take anyone anywhere when the Jetta still isn’t fixed, the truck is still gone, the bug needs repairs and the green car is in Shrewsbury. I think I get to go with Paul this morning and get the truck. I’m not sure if I’ll be bringing the truck or green car home. I’m personally hoping for truck because it smells better. No offense to the green car but it stinks; it smells worse than any other car Paul has brought home. I’m honestly amazed that he doesn’t mind the smell and thinks it isn’t as bad as it was.

The cheesecake ready to go in the oven.

Amena got up and ready and got out for the bus on time. I really don’t like getting up at 5:00 in the morning even if/when I can go back to bed for almost an hour before I get up for good. However, if Amena manages to get up and ready without missing the bus, I’ll keep doing it until she can do it on her own.

Cedric is just finishing getting dressed; he took a shower. Seth is playing with a Lego motorcycle and man. Other than that, he’s ready to go other than brushing his teeth.  Cedric just said he’d rather have a meat sandwich than a chocolate sandwich so I guess I’ll go make him a different sandwich.

He now has a meat sandwich.

Joseph is having trouble getting going this morning. He ate his cereal fairly quickly because it was dinosaur egg cereal but now he’s moving in slow motion. It’s 7:10 which means he has 30 minutes maximum to finish getting ready.

We are nearing a full moon. Funny how you can tell even when you haven’t been out to look at it because it’s been cloudy or you’ve been in bed.

Up for today is a bit of cleaning, a bit of cooking, a bit of whatever else I manage to get done.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy Seth’s story!

Cucumber Man

Supercumber is a hero and everyone on Vegie Planet loves him. He can fly two miles in ten seconds. He lives on Pitcherville Road 64. He has a wife and two children; one is Joe and Julie. His wife’s name is Audrey. He and his wife share a room and their children have separate rooms. He has a very neat house. He has a job and he gets lots of money. Just type in (don’t really type it in) supercumber.com.

Supercumber

Cucumber Man and His Family

Another Weekend in Review

Good morning! I woke up at 5:00 to get Amena and possibly Cedric up. I was somewhat doubtful that Amena would actually get up but she did. Cedric decided to opt for getting up at 6:00. No worries there; he really has no need to get up at 5:00. I went back to bed like I did all week last week but this morning there was no restful slumber for me; just thoughts and memories keeping me wide awake. So, I got up, got dressed and came downstairs. Scooter went outside to do her duty and came in for her breakfast which she hasn’t touched. Kitty came in long enough for me to get her breakfast ready and went back out to eat it. I put dishes away and was going to wash dirty ones but the water was still filtering and so there was not much pressure. I will probably try again in a bit probably after I get a lunch together for Amena.

I got them on, Becky. A bit hard to get off. BUT, they don't slip around when I'm in bed.

Yesterday was a good day. Not as typical as a Sunday might be but not bad. I did have a YW presidency meeting yesterday at 8:45 and everyone was there pretty close to on time which was very nice. We covered everything that we needed to and were done in plenty of time to get in for Sacrament meeting. We did decide to have future meetings on the first Sunday of the month. Well, not really; we decided to have them on Fast Sunday which does not always fall on the first in the case of Stake and General Conferences. In February, for example, we are having Stake Conference on the first weekend so Fast Sunday will be the 9^th.

Stake Conference really is not at a good time this time. We have a youth temple trip on Friday, January 31^st. On Saturday, we have the Polar Bear Derby which in the past has run from something like 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 or so in the afternoon. There is also a Fitchburg State University hockey game which Hubbardston has been invited to do a flag ceremony for. There are meetings in Ludlow that I should be there for at 2:00 I think and then one at 4:00 for everyone 12 and up. I really don’t understand the 12 and up meetings because that leaves no one home to watch the younger children. I’m not sure what we’ll do yet. Paul seems to think that the Polar Bear Derby should take precedence because the boys have always enjoyed it in the past. They may have but their mother hasn’t always and she’s always been the one who takes them. I think I wouldn’t be opposed to going until noon or something and then going away for meetings the rest of the day. Sunday is Scout Sunday and I’m wondering how it will be since it is also Stake Conference. I want the boys to get their patches for wearing their uniforms but how many other boys will be wearing theirs to Conference? I don’t know. We’ll see how it all goes.

In order to get to church yesterday with one vehicle, I took Jessica and Cedric with me and everyone else got a ride with the Fullers. That worked out pretty well. On the way home, Paul, Seth and Joseph went with the Fullers and I had Jessica, Amena and Cedric. That would have been fine if Amena and Cedric hadn’t decided to be difficult. Cedric got in one side and slid over to the other. Amena wanted him to scoot over to the side he’d gotten in. There are two things about the situation that neither one seems to understand. One, when you walk to one side of the car, everyone else has every reason to believe that you are going to sit on that side. Therefore, they act accordingly and walk to the other side in order to get in there. Two, if Amena had not made a big stink about it but had gone to the other side and just gotten in, the wind in Cedric’s sails would have been gone and there would have been no issue. However, Cedric often does what one would not expect and Amena never gives in without a fight.

It is now 6:00 and time to get Cedric up and lunches made. I will be back. Most likely.

It’s almost an hour later. Cedric is ready to go other than putting his lunch in a bag. Seth needs to wash his dishes and get dressed and put his lunch in a bag. Joseph needs to finish eating, wash his dishes, and get dressed. If these boys would return their lunch bags, it would sure be nice. Joseph does regularly. Seth and Cedric, not so much.

After church we had a late lunch. So late I think we should call it dinner. We had stake and baked potatoes and frijoles negros and corn that Paul cooked with sautéed peppers and onions. Paul being Paul, he wanted cake before opening presents so we had ice-cream snow-men cakes and then opened presents. He got a mine craft picture from Joseph that he is going to take to work and put on the wall. Amena gave him a box of M&Ms. I gave him an amazon.com gift card at the bottom of a box of individually wrapped pieces of a belly dancing costume. Making the costume was a lot of fun and it was definitely worth a few laughs.

Joseph wearing the belly dancing costume.

Cedric had a priesthood preview at the bishop’s house at 5:00 so he and Paul went to that. They got brownies and lemonade which sounds pretty good to me.

Saturday, Amena and I went to Leominster to the mall so she could use the gift cards she got for her birthday. She got a pair of pants and I think four shirts. We went to Joann’s but didn’t find a pattern that she particularly liked so we left and went to Walmart on the way home. I took her to the triplets’ house to spend the night. They’ve been going to the church their mom and Ken go to regularly so they were able to drop Amena off sometime around 8:30 on their way by.

I got the invitations done for New Beginnings so that I could give them to the girls who were at church on Sunday. I printed 12 and gave out 12. I should have had 13 but I guess it’s okay the way it turned out. I would like to take a Beehive with me to personally deliver two of the invitations to Beehive age girls in Gardner and Templeton. I’d really like the Beehive advisor, councilor and class president to deliver them but we don’t have an advisor, our councilor doesn’t drive, and we are between presidents at the moment. So, I think I’ll pick the nearest Beehive and go sometime when she can.

In the meantime, have a splendiferous day!

Short

Good morning! It is 45° warm and rainy outside. Inside it is warm with the sounds of boys playing with Legos in the living room. Paul is on his way to talk to Ray about the truck and the Jetta. Amena is upstairs. I am sitting at the table.

Amena got two gift cards for her birthday and one for Christmas. They are all for places at the mall in Leominster. If we have enough time, she’d like to go today. I am not opposed to that. One of the gift cards is for Joann’s and I kind of have to be there because it’s for one trip to Joann’s. Anyway, Paul asked me if I want to go with her just a few minutes ago. I said, yes. I’d like to be there to see what she’s getting. He said if she got anything she couldn’t have, we can just take it away from her which could be a responsibility-learning thing. Well, yeah, it could. However, I really don’t like the idea of a 14-year-old girl walking around the mall alone. I don’t care if it’s just Leominster. What kind of a parent would do a thing like that? Mind you, I’m not criticizing Paul in this; his parents certainly weren’t stellar and he was off riding his bike miles away from where he lived when he was 10 and his mother had no idea where he was. Maybe other parents would let their 14-year-old child go to the mall alone but I think it’s asking for trouble and I am not going to do it. Not happening.

In other news, I cut fifty pounds of soap yesterday and did a little laundry. I also made two lemon/lime pies. Amena, Cedric, Seth, and Joseph went to school and came home. Jessica was out with Ryan attempting to get some things straightened out for school. Joanna had work. Paul had work.

For supper everyone had leftover cheddar chowder except me and Paul because we went to the Soul food restaurant. I kind of wish I hadn’t eaten anything because I felt awful afterward. Oh, well. I told Paul he should pick since it was closest to his birthday. I’ll pick next week and I think we’ll go to Korean.

And that is yesterday in a nutshell.

As soon as I’m done here, I’m going to get a shower done and out of the way and then work on invitations and the program for New Beginnings. Hopefully Amena and I will be going shopping. If not, we will go next Saturday.

Have a fantastic day!

This is one of those days I don't feel like coming up with a title.

Good morning! It snowed during the night. Not much, really; just enough to give everything a coat of white. I don’t remember seeing snow in the forecast anywhere so I wonder where it came from (other than the sky). Our high for today is supposed to be 34° and snow is definitely in the forecast now. Not much, but I’ll take what I can get. Tomorrow we are supposed to have a high of 52° and a 100% chance of rain. I thought we were in the middle of winter?

It is half an hour later and the boys are all finally outside waiting for the bus that is usually here by now. Seth did his math homework but did not put it in his folder last night and we couldn’t find it anywhere. It really is a simple thing to put something like that away but so often it just doesn’t happen.

Yesterday was a quiet day at times. Jessica was out with Ryan much of the morning and part of the afternoon. Joanna was at work until Zak brought her home and then they left again. I got a bit of reading done and I ordered some soap stuff as well as some yarn. I didn’t really need it but I did need a new cable because mine broke and of course I had to get up to the amount to qualify for free shipping. About every ten orders, the money saved on shipping equals another order.

While I was eating lunch, I watched the first episode of the first season of Breaking Bad. I like it but not nearly as much as The Walking Dead. I’m glad the kids don’t like it because just in the first episode there’s a lot (all things being relative) of nudity and sex. I won’t be watching it when they are home, that’s for sure.

Last night when I went to bed Paul did, too. He would have gone in his office to see what there was to see on the computer (his laptop is too slow and freezes up a lot—I know it’s his laptop and not just the internet downstairs because I don’t have the same problem sitting at the same table) but we didn’t know if Jessica was awake or asleep (she was awake, we heard her talking on the phone later). He asked why I was going to bed so early; was I getting up at 2:00? Well, it wasn’t all that early to begin with, 10:00. And, no, I wasn’t planning on getting up at 2:00 but I do get up at 5:00 to make sure Amena is awake and getting up so she won’t miss the bus and Cedric likes to get up early as well. He actually requested that I dump water on him if I didn’t see him get out of bed when I went into wake him up.

However, at 2:00 in the morning, I did wake up. I had some of the worst gas rumbling around in my intestines that I’ve ever had and wondered if I’d be able to get back to sleep. I was and I decided that it’s time, once again, to take control of my diet and stop eating so much crap. It’s all too easy to eat when it’s everywhere in the house. I also need to drink more water, if you can imagine such a thing. It’s somewhat amazing how easy it is to stop doing something like drinking enough water and eating well to not. Human nature, I guess. Annoying all the same.

So far today, I had my rolled oats with ½ apple, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon molasses, ¼ cup milk. And I’m on schedule for water consumption. So far, so good.

Up for today is—life-like stuff. I need to call the chiropractor. I need to read. I need to cut soap. I need to do a little laundry which means folding two loads because there really isn’t much to wash at the moment. Unless I go searching for the dirty stuff which I might do at some point in time.

I’ve been reading The Complete Book of Pregnancy & Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger. It is full of little tidbits although so far what I’ve read is mostly review. I’m not complaining, review helps to keep it fresh and that is a good thing. It is interesting to note that about asthma she has this to say: “Severe and prolonged asthma attacks are more likely to harm the baby than the drugs that are used to control asthma.” Imagine that. I remember my asthma being the worst, at least until I had the acupressure treatment by Grandma’s friend Laura, when I was pregnant with Joanna. That is when Dan just about had an apoplectic fit when he found out I not only was in possession but dared to use an inhaler. From what I’ve learned since, untreated asthma can have severe effects on the baby. I’d like to take someone’s bronchial tubes and give them a good dose of inflammation.

Well, have a terrifical day!

Just Another Day

Good morning! Joanna needs a ride to work at 7:20 so the boys have got to be about ready to go when we leave so I know they won’t miss the bus. It’s another cold one out today; 9° that feels like -2° with an expected high of 26°. A good day not to miss the bus; a good day to wait until it’s almost there before going out; a good day to wait to feed the goats until I get back from taking Joanna to work.

Last night Joanna put a load of clothes on to wash because she needed some for work. Amena had a little fit because the jeans and hoodie she had on hadn’t gotten washed last time and needed to be washed this time. I went to bed because it was 10:00; Joanna was going to wait up until the clothes were done washing and put them in the drier. Amena got some bug in her bonnet that her jeans and hoodie HAD to be washed right away so as soon as the load Joanna put in was done, she put her jeans and hoodie in and started the load again. And got on my computer and wouldn’t get off. Joanna sent me a text and after the second one I went down to see what was going on. Amena had in the meantime stopped the washing machine. We have a front loader; you don’t just stop it. She turned the knob to ‘off’ and opened it after waiting for it to unlock and actually was putting the clothes into the drier. Really? They were dripping wet. Not just damp; they were dripping. I sent her to bed and put the clothes back in the washing machine and put it on to spin and had to wipe out the drier and mop up the floor. Amena certainly isn’t a bad child but she sure gets some strange ideas in her head. I guess it never occurred to her that sopping wet clothes might take all night to dry. Joanna was just incredulous that she hadn’t waited for another load of laundry to put the jeans and hoodie in—it isn’t like we don’t have other laundry. She didn’t even wear those jeans today; I didn’t notice the hoodie.

Yesterday morning and early afternoon I got my sewing project done. Now I can move on to some other things that I want to get done which will be fun. I’d love to say more about what I did but I can’t yet. I probably should have taken pictures but didn’t yet and everything is all wrapped up for Sunday.

Yesterday afternoon Joseph had to miss scouts because we didn’t have an operational vehicle in which to go. Hopefully he can make it up at home in the next day or two or so. Jessica, Amena, Cedric, Seth and I left as soon as Paul got home which got Seth dropped off for scouts early and got us to church before anyone else. Jeremy West and I talked briefly about where we think we are, where we want to go, and how to accomplish it. I really like that we have a lot of similar thoughts and ideas about how things need to be done. I like that he recognizes the need for scouting to be a stronger component for our boys and young men. I also like that they are going to at least going to have something for the 11-year-old scouts which they don’t currently.

We only had four young women there last night. I went prepared to talk about Personal Progress, to plan the upcoming New Beginnings, and to watch a movie. We took two bags of chips and Alicia Willard took two bags of candy for the possible movie. We ended up planning for New Beginnings and then coming up with ideas for activities for the coming year. We got lots of really good ideas; we’ve got some really thoughtful and insightful girls. When I got home, I had an idea for the theme for New Beginnings from someone who wasn’t able to be there so today my goal is to get it all arranged and organized so that invitations can be sent out and we’ll know what we need yet to do in order to be fully ready on the 19^th.

Right now I need to go supervise the boys. If Cedric’s lunch was in a bag, if Seth and Joseph had shoes on, if lunches were in backpacks, they would be ready except for jackets. I can deal with that level of readiness when I leave to take Joanna to work.

Well, it is now 7:48. The boys are off and Joanna is delivered. We had to wait a few minutes for the manager to get there and unlock which was fun. It’s so cold.

The goats are letting me know that they want their breakfast. I do, too. So, I guess it’s time to be off. Have a fantabulous day!

Another Day (Paul's)

Amena is off on time for the third day in a row. I don’t want to jinx it but I do like to acknowledge an accomplishment of this magnitude. The boys are in various stages of being ready; Joseph is eating toast, Cedric is eating cereal, Seth is upstairs hopefully finishing the dressing for school process.

Today is Paul’s birthday. He hasn’t ever told me what he wants for his birthday dinner and he never specifically says what he wants in the way of cake (he did say he wanted an ice-cream cake though) so there won’t be anything special today. One of the problems is that he didn’t grow up with homemade cakes and such and so he thinks the dross from the store is a delectable treat. He has finally stopped buying food items containing high fructose corn syrup but it is hard to change one’s palate.

Today is also a generally busy day, especially this afternoon. Joseph has scouts at school at 4:00.  Seth has scouts at the Pitney’s at 6:30. Amena, Cedric, Jessica and I have things at church tonight at 7:00 but I have to be there at 6:30. And all of this is completely dependent upon having a vehicle or otherwise arranging rides which for Seth will be relatively easy but for everyone else, not so much. We will see how it goes.

Today also is a half day for my students so I can’t count on getting a whole lot done this afternoon and must plan on getting anything done that I really want/need to this morning. We will see how that goes as well.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I got some sewing done in the morning and very early afternoon. Not much but some. Jessica went with me when I went to the church to help Kris Goguen and Diane Alexander with knitting two socks at once. Diane was late and neither one had all the needles they really needed to accomplish the task at hand but hopefully I provided some assistance. I know I got the socks I started a month or so ago from the double points to the circulars so it was productive for me. Jessica and I got there a few minutes early so we straightened up the Hymn books and picked up old programs and other little pieces of trash in the chapel. Jeremy West has the same habit Paul does of putting his check book in the slot for the Hymn books and it appears that he forgot it there last Sunday. I wrapped it up with a piece of paper and stapled it closed and wrote his name on it and left it somewhere in the church and later I sent him a message via Facebook letting him know.

We got home just after the boys did. Seth forgot his agenda at school. No one reported having homework. Cedric wanted to go to Paul Jepson’s house. He’d asked Paul if he could ride his bike over and Paul said he could. It was 5° that felt like -14°. I know that riding his bike over probably wouldn’t kill him and that if he was dressed properly he would be fine but I can also see someone along the way having a problem with it and making an unnecessary phone call and making my life more difficult so I said, no. Zak and Joanna ended up giving him a ride there and picking him up after dinner.

For supper/dinner we had artichokes, broiled cauliflower and left over ham. I had a scout meeting at school at 6:30. As I was ready to leave, Paul said I needed the registration so at least five minutes were spent looking for but not finding the registration. I am glad that the meeting did not begin on time because I would have been late. As it was, I was the third on there.

When I got home I discovered that Jessica had done most of the dishes. That is always a wonderful thing. It was 8:20 so boys had to be herded off to bed since they hadn’t been.

Once the boys were abed, I played Phase 10 with Joanna and Zak. That was kind of fun except that I won and Joanna got grumpy. She wanted to keep score so when she was writing the names on the top of the paper, she said, “Should I write Zak or Cutie?” She wrote “Zak AKA Cutie.” I told her she should have written “QT.” She said they do that but will write “QT 3.14.” Cute. Very cute.

Have a splendiferous day!

535 Word Day

Good morning! It is a bit dark out yet but it looks like it should be a pretty day. And that in spite of the fact that it is currently only 5° and our expected high is 11°. It is quite windy out as well and according to weather.com, it feels like -14°. I haven’t spent any appreciable time outside yet so I can’t confirm that but it is cooler in the house than it was yesterday morning.

My neck was feeling like I did something to it and I couldn’t think of what. I just remembered my little crash and burn yesterday morning on the ice. Oh yeah, that’s what did it. Although we did get some snow yesterday (just enough to make everything white) it didn’t last and what snow we already had pretty much was washed away by the warm temperatures we had yesterday (I think we got up to 56°) and all the rain. It felt more like spring yesterday than winter but we are definitely back to winter this day. At least there isn’t any ice for me to slip on today.

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. I went out and about with Joanna and Zak. Joanna wanted me to cash the birthday checks for Amena and Cedric that she gave them money for so they could go shopping. I also had one from Laura that I already spent on postage. Speaking of such things, have you sent anything recently via USPS? It isn’t cheap. Anyway, I also wanted to go to Walmart and get The Hobbit because I haven’t seen the first part of it but we didn’t see it anywhere. Joanna also needed to get her blood drawn.

I did get some sewing done. I’m working on something I plan on giving to Paul for his birthday. Other than that, a bit of laundry and changing sheets is about all I accomplished. Pretty exciting. Well, I did a book report for the doula program as well and I started reading a new book. I actually was reading the book I just started for the toLabor doula certification but sort of gave up on it at some point in time. I like having to complete a book report rather than just report that the book has been read.

Up for today? Not entirely sure. I’m not sure if Paul is going to go to work or work from home. If he works from home I might go to Diane Alexander’s. If he does not work from home, I won’t be going anywhere. This evening we do not have the missionaries for supper because the West’s signed up for tonight. That’s okay because this evening I have a scout meeting to go to at the school. I can probably get a ride to it with the Foley’s because they just live down the street. Hopefully the truck is fixed, or will be soon. Only having one vehicle operational is really not that great.

And someone got a crumb under my right ‘shift’ key which is rather annoying since every other time I want to use it, it doesn’t work. Grrrrrrrr. . . . . .

Have a spectacular day!

Sunday in Review

Good morning! It’s a bit foggy and wet outside but Amena didn’t miss the bus and the boys are well on their way to being ready to go so it’s a good one.

Yesterday Jessica, Cedric and I left early for church and no one was there and I forgot my keys. Jessica looked at her calendar and discovered that our presidency meeting was actually scheduled for next Sunday, the 12^th, and not yesterday, the 5^th. I’m still not sure how I missed that. I haven’t looked yet but it would be funny if I actually wrote it down on the 5^th rather than the 12^th. At any rate, we were early and Diana Chunn was as well. I did learn that because she arrived at 8:58 and the meeting was scheduled for 8:45 that we need to say that it is starting at 8:30 in order to get her there on time for the meeting.

Once we got inside the church, Jess decided that she needed to use the restroom and did so. She discovered that there was no water in either of the sinks and reported it to the bishop. As it turns out, there was no water anywhere in the building (except what was already in the toilets). Due to this set of circumstances, we only had Sacrament Meeting and then went home. That was okay but it really throws my whole schedule for the day out of whack. Cedric did at least get sustained and ordained so that was good.

For lunch we had ham with mashed potatoes and gravy, beets and corn. Paul had some pie for dessert. It is an four-berry apple pie which sounds really good but the crust looks disgustingly thick and I doubt from trying the apple and blueberry pies he brought home that I would like it. The apples in the apple pie were in huge chunks (think apples cut into eighths) and they were hard. The blueberries were nice and small which I like more than the gargantuan ones for pies but the filling was too sweet and otherwise bland. The apple filling was as well. I really have a hard time understanding how anyone can eat that and think it is good.

After we ate, Joanna got ready for work and Zak got ready to leave. Joanna doesn’t usually work on Sunday but one of the servers who usually gets the most hours fell and broke her arm and is going to be out for at least six to eight weeks. I guess someone else is out as well so people have to pick up the hours. Paul and Seth went out looking for discarded Christmas trees for the goats and Joanna got called in an hour early to work so I took her to work. We saw Paul and Seth on their way home with a truck full of trees. They were driving along the side of the road with lights flashing though so I kind of wondered what was up. When I got back, Paul was at the end of the driveway looking at something under the truck. He left though, so I didn’t know what he was looking at.

When Paul got home, he said that the drive shaft went which I guess means a u-joint went. He managed to limp to Ray’s and Ray brought him back. They got a new battery in the green car and jumped the van although it still has whatever problem it had. Ray looked at the Jetta and it was discovered that it needs a new starter. I guess there is a copper wire that connects it to the engine or whatever and it is supposed to be covered with plastic. The plastic is completely missing and the wire is not attached to whatever it’s supposed to be. In other words, a new battery would not make the Jetta go. In other words, the green car is really the only one we have that will go so it’s a good thing Joanna didn’t pick up a shift today because I wouldn’t be able to get her to work.

We did Family Home Evening and I sent Seth and Joseph to bed at 7:00. Their behavior indicated that they needed to go to bed even though they didn’t want to. Cedric had taken a nap. He was half lying on the table while he was eating so I told him if he was that tired, he could go take a nap; he did. He still had a few bites of mashed potatoes left but I figured he could eat them when he got up. He got up while Paul and Ray were out looking at vehicles and ate his potatoes as well as an orange and some chips and dip. Because Cedric had had a nap, he wasn’t really quite ready for bed so I let him stay up to read until 8:15 at which time he was sent off to bed.

Amena was working on homework (it’s amazing that they had two weeks in which to get this reading and homework done and they procrastinated until Sunday after 6:00 pm) and I was reading waiting for Joanna to call so I could pick her up. She was supposed to be off at 9:00 so we figured she’d be ready to go close to 10:00. She actually called close to 9:00 so I went and got her. Jessica was back but was sitting out in the car with Ryan. She was in when we got back and Amena was still working on her homework but she was about done. I wanted to finish the book I was reading, Spiritual Midwifery, but didn’t want to be rude while people were still up and talking so I was patient and I did finish.

This morning I got up at 5:00 to wake Cedric up so he could read more (he currently has a chapter and a half of the book he needed to read) and Amena so she could just get ready. That was fun. I made sure they were both actually getting up and went back to bed until 6:00. Cedric was in the living room eating and had already had some breakfast. Amena was just coming out of her room. I fed Kitty and got Amena a lunch ready. Amena ate some breakfast (one of the advantages to getting up early enough!). I got ready to take grain and water out to the goats. Amena was walking to the bus as I was walking to the goats. I told her to be careful because it was slippery, especially in front of the Jetta. I took another step and WHAM! landed on my back. I decided I’d go through the basement. Then I decided that they were only getting the one pitcher of water and grain for now because I was very wet.

And there you have it—our Sunday in review. Have a spectacular day!

Sleepover

Time stands still for no man. It is hard to believe that it is already the fourth day of the new year. And when does the new year become the old year? Oh, well. Such is life. It is a beautiful day outside in spite of the fact that it is very cold; currently 10°F (it was about 0°F when I went out to feed the goats) with an expected high of 22°F today. We’ll see how that goes.

So far this morning, I’ve emptied and filled the dish rack twice and it is waiting to be emptied again. I made pancakes and bacon for eight girls and then the rest of us. There are lots of extras because pancakes are easy to have warmed up. These particular pancakes have lots of protein in them because a single batch calls for four eggs, half a cup of cottage cheese, and half a cup of milk. I made five batches. Scooter and Kitty got fed as well and I fed the goats. I had to do a bit of shoveling where Paul plowed my trail yesterday and their water had a layer of ice across the top of the bucket. I’m not sure how that happened because the water itself was not frozen.

Yesterday was not bad. It was cold. Paul got the driveway plowed and then the van wouldn’t start and neither would the Jetta or the green car so he couldn’t completely finish. He eventually got the green car started and went to price batteries for it. Batteries are awfully expensive—which isn’t really a surprise because everything is more expensive than it used to be. However, I remember when you could get a relatively good one for $50. Now you can get a relatively good one for $90. So, we’ve experienced almost 100% inflation in the last twenty years.

All of Amena’s friends that were coming for her party arrived by 6:30. I got them pizza done around 7:00 and they only wanted one pizza. If they were boys, they would have needed at least another one, maybe two. Or more. They were loud but well behaved and warned that lights out would be at 11:00. Amena wanted to know why not 12:00 and I told her that I’d told one mother that we would have lights out at 10:00 or 11:00. Alli said, “It was my mom, wasn’t it?” Smart girl, that one. At 11, I went out and turned out the lights and one girl said, “If it’s time for lights out, does that mean we have to go to sleep?” Yep, that’s pretty much the idea.

At 2:00 I had to get up and use the bathroom so I thought I would check on the girls. Amena and two others were still awake (only one was a triplet) so I told them they might have better luck falling asleep if they stopped talking. When I got up to feed animals at 7:00, they were all asleep. Shortly after that Jordyn got up because she had to leave at 9:00. I got pancakes and bacon going and the girls ate at about 8:40.

Pretty exciting and amazingly everyone is still alive.

Have a great day!

Snow

Good morning! I just now realized that I forgot to say Happy Birthday!!! to my most favorite Auntie Deb. Sorry. I hope you had a good one.

It is a beautiful day outside here. Cold, but beautiful. When I looked it was a whopping 3°F here. But, it is white and there are tiny flakes floating around in the air. I think if it were a bit warmer, we’d’ve had more accumulation and our tiny flakes would be somewhat larger. It has also been somewhat windy so the roof of the screen house has relatively little snow on it and there are drifts all over the place—especially around the van and the truck.

Taken at 8:32 this morning.

Joseph is eating his breakfast. He just finished an egg and has another piece of toast. I think he ought not to have taken the second piece but, as is often the case, the eyes are bigger than the belly. Seth would eat two pieces of toast but didn’t want an egg. He really didn’t want to eat at all but I told him it was too cold outside to go out without eating something. Not completely logical, perhaps, but it did the trick.

Paul mentioned not plowing today but waiting until tomorrow. That would be great if not for the possibility of Joanna having to go to work this morning. She ended up not going yesterday because it was so slow due to the snow. Zak was here and he ended up not going for the same reason. I would also like to get Amena’s birthday party out of the way tonight and that won’t happen if the driveway isn’t plowed. I suppose we could plan on another time; we are going to have to do that or completely cancel her church friend party from last night.

The hot water is frozen to the kitchen. I put a heater downstairs to thaw it out but so far it’s still frozen. I had to shovel a path out to the goats which wasn’t hard because the snow is light and fluffy. Goats being goats, they, particularly Snowflake, stood in the way when I was working on a path for them to get out and to their water. Silly creatures.

Last night I had to get up and use the bathroom (I was having dreams about it). I noticed that the light was on in the boys’ room so I went to investigate. Cedric was not in bed but there was a pile of stuffed animals on his bed and there was a broom and everything was swept into the middle of the room. I went downstairs and there he and Amena were on the couch watching something. It only had six or seven minutes left according to Amena so I told them they’d both better get to bed when it was done.

Later, Joseph came to get in bed with me and said that Cedric was cleaning the room. I went to investigate and sure enough, the light in the boys’ room was on and Cedric was cleaning. He had all the dirty clothes taken care of, four or five bags of trash, and a pile of Legos in the middle of the floor. I told him to go to bed. He asked if he could put the Legos away and I told him that could wait until morning (technically, it was morning but I wasn’t going to point that out).  He’s still asleep right now. I told him he should come eat some toast and he said he was really tired. Imagine that.

In other news from yesterday, not much happened. I did a little laundry and a little cleaning. The dining room is in my sights for today, as well as the counter in the kitchen. And more laundry. Drying clothes really helps warm up the house which is a good thing, especially when it’s as cold as it is out today.

Julia and I were going to go visiting teaching this afternoon. I’m not sure that is going to happen. We shall see. In the meantime, have a splendid day!