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!