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!