Good Intentions

Good morning! I was going to write yesterday, I really was. I even took my laptop with me to church and then to the Carmack’s. In spite of that, I just never really had any completely free time (other than a few minutes that I filled with a silly youtube video on the ten mistakes in the original Star Wars trilogy) so I never got anything written.

Saturday morning we stacked wood for fifteen minutes. We could have a lot longer but I still get more actual work out of everyone in a timely manner if we do a set amount of time rather than set amount of wood stacked. We’ll be doing more today, probably fifteen in the morning and fifteen in the afternoon unless everyone votes to do thirty in the morning and nothing in the afternoon. I’m kind of in favor of that but will let the kiddos decide.

Saturday Sunset.

I made a Zucchini Rum Cake to take with us to the Goguen’s. Amena, Cedric and Seth each asked numerous times when we were leaving, what time it started and my answers were always the same: “It starts at 2:00 but it isn’t like we’ll be late if we don’t get there until 4:00.” “We’ll go as soon as everyone is ready, including me.”

Half moon Saturday.

We were ready to go sometime after 3:00 and as we were leaving, Paul said, “When are you going to unload the truck?” Well, why didn’t he mention that when we were stacking wood? Why wait until we are leaving? I drove off but thought it would be nice if we actually got it unloaded before going so we turned around and the truck was unloaded in just a few minutes by a willing Seth and Joseph who wanted to get it done so we could go and a grumbling Amena and Cedric. Cedric really didn’t do a lot but once Amena got going, she was steady. When it was done, we were off.

A dock-full of children (mostly) watching the fireworks.

When we arrived, there were a few people there: Bethany Price with her girls and I think four other children, Ben and Michelle Rhodes with Anthony, Clair and Jay Cabanillas, some people I have seen there but don’t know their names, and it seems like there were some others but I don’t remember right now who. I know the Carmacks showed up and the Armstrongs, Beaudettes, Kings with Jessica, Troops with some visiting family, Trivetts and Adam with all of Meredith’s offspring (well, other than Amy), Dotys, Sarah Goguen and her two cute little ones, Petermans, Diana Chunn, and that’s all Joseph and Cedric can help me think of. Quite a few people.

This was at the neighbor's to the north.

Paul never showed up. We had talked about going to Fitchburg for fireworks; I do like the fireworks in Fitchburg and we’ve gone a couple of times. The offspring were all willing to leave and go but were also quite content to stay so that’s what we did because when I asked Paul when we needed to leave to go to Fitchburg he never answered and he never called. We’d’ve had to take two vehicles anyway and I was really quite content to not drive anywhere else than home. He did end up going out for milk and eggs and got some food at the little Mexican place he loves.

Pretty cool, eh?

Because we got home so late, no one took showers Saturday night and I think only Amena and Cedric had them yesterday morning. I guess we know who needs them today sometime before bed.

Yesterday morning we had a Young Women presidency meeting. Only Jerusha and I were there. I knew that Jessica wouldn’t be able to make it but thought that Diana had said she’d be there when I talked to her Saturday. It wasn’t like we had any big, grand things to talk about. We did discuss the fundraising idea that Marlain had for the Family History Conference that we’re working on. I like the idea but don’t want to limit ourselves to one unproven fundraising activity. We also talked about activities for this Wednesday evening; I completely forgot that the girls who are going to Youth Conference have to leave early enough to get to Ludlow by 4:00 am to catch the busses that are going. In light of that, I think those who are going can be excused from Wednesday night activities. We also talked about a service project for the fifth Wednesday. Again, I completely forgot that the girls will be gone to camp that week so we really don’t have to devote any energy to it.

After church we had steak and grilled chicken with salad. I made brownies with chocolate peanut butter to the Bishop/Youth Fireside at the Carmacks. Because I was going to be gone with Cedric and Amena, Seth and Joseph wanted to go to a park. They asked Paul and first he said they had to pick up all the dirty clothes from the floor in their room. Seth hurried and did it with a little help from Joseph. Then he said they needed to call Dan. I had Seth call his cell phone and then his house phone and there was no answer on either so I had him leave a message on his cell. Then Seth and Joseph left with Paul to go to a park.

Five minutes before I needed to leave with Cedric and Amena, Dan called back. He talked to Cedric for a minute and then wanted to talk to me. That’s always a mistake. He should always preface any conversation with, “You know how I am not capable of trusting anyone. . .” Because he isn’t. He got papers from the attorney to sign so that Paul can sign things on this end because I can’t. Well, simply put, Dan doesn’t trust anything or anyone and he’s not convinced that there isn’t something funny going on so he talked to an attorney out there who wants him to fax the papers so he can look at them and verify that nothing hanky is in the works. Well, the job he has, he can’t just get off and go fax things so it has to wait until he can. Therefore, in spite of the fact that I’ve told him nothing suspicious is in the works (which doesn’t make any sense since I’m at the top of the list of people he doesn’t trust), he thinks he’ll get the papers signed and returned in a couple of weeks. Good grief. He always has to take a relatively simply thing and turn it into a huge quagmire of difficulty.

The sister missionaries asked if I was going to the Carmack’s and if so if they could get a ride. Since I was taking Amena and Cedric, that meant there was room so I could take them so of course, I said yes. I’d been there I think three times before and I looked at google maps and it didn’t look any harder than I remembered. Then, to make sure I didn’t make any wrong turns, I used the GPS. It took us on a rather convoluted journey and wanted to take us on some roads that aren’t maintained. I was in the Jetta. I wasn’t about to try that so we turned around and it still took us on a rather strange journey. Still we made it and weren’t more than five minutes late.

The fireside was nice and pretty well attended. I got to visit a bit and then we needed to leave so we did. On the way home, I took the route I would have taken if left to my own volition and decided that I’ll never use the GPS to get there again.

Today I’m hoping to hear from someone at the council level about how to register Seth and Joseph for Scout camp this year. I did hear from Chris and I can either send her the check for Cedric to go or can wait until Wednesday when she’ll be at the library next. If I get it in the mail today, she might actually get it tomorrow so I might do that. I am also going to visit Gardner so I can order some new glasses at some point. Lots of other things need to be done; we’ll see how they all go.

Have a fantastic day!