Provoke Not Your Children

I looked up the word provoke yesterday afternoon on Meriam-Webster online. It is a transitive verb meaning:

1 a archaic :  to arouse to a feeling or action

   b :  to incite to anger

2 a :  to call forth (as a feeling or action) :  evoke <provoke laughter>

   b :  to stir up purposely <provoke a fight>

   c :  to provide the needed stimulus for <will provoke a lot of discussion>

   — pro·vok·er noun

Before that, I looked up a couple of scriptures. My search was for, “provoke not your children.” What I found was this:

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

And this:

Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Those both seem pretty clear to me. Parents should not provoke their children to anger. For one thing, it is very hard to learn self-control when you are being provoked. Not only provoked, but by one of your parents. Secondly, if we want our children to learn proper behavior, we ought not to provoke them. Thirdly, it seems to me that a provoker is also a bully and we don’t love bullies, do we? In fact, I think our natural tendency would be to fight back (although this is discouraged at school).

Why did I look these things up? You would ask.

It is because we had kielbasa with onions and peppers.

Yesterday was a fairly low key day filled with, as you might guess, sewing and school and that’s about it. The boys took forever to get their work done, well, that’s not really accurate. Seth got in and did his. Joseph was dragging his feet; for math we would discuss a problem, he would tell me what the answer was, and it would take him a full minute or two to actually write the answer down. That’s no way to get through the day. By lunch we were only half done and in spite of not wanting to keep at it, I knew we needed to.

At 1:00 I was looking at sitting with Joseph to make sure he got his work done and I was seriously contemplating not working on Laura’s dress. I wanted to start right after lunch to be sure I had enough time to finish what I wanted to do and that was just not going to happen. Fortunately, Joseph got through his afternoon work much more quickly than his morning and I actually got to start on the dress before Amena got home from school. Barely.

We took the goats out in the afternoon and I took a shower before working on the dress. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m not sure how I fit finishing school, goats and a shower in the two hours between noon and 2:00. Especially since I had to move all the stakes for the goats because Paul got some new stakes and cables. And I can tell you that staking out eight goats is not a fun job. They need a fence.

In the morning I also made bread because I didn’t get it done Saturday. The regular loaves didn’t rise as much as usual because I kind of forgot about it when it was rising in the oven so it overachieved which means it underachieved once I made the loaves. Still, I didn’t put in too much flour so they aren’t crumby.

Today looks like more of the same. I was going to get the dress done this morning until I started looking at it. The gussets didn’t come to the points they should have so I do need to fix them all so they do; otherwise, I’m afraid it would look funny and we don’t want that. So, it will wait until the boys have finished school. I think. I might just do it as soon as I’m done here.

Have a wonderful day!

Monday Morning

5:46 am

Good morning! I woke up before 5:00 this morning in anticipation of the alarm and I don’t think I went back to sleep. Once the alarm went off I did get up to see if Amena was awake (she was) and if Cedric wanted to get up (he said yes but his actions did not indicate such). I went back to bed after and even stayed in for about ten minutes after my 5:30 alarm but did not sleep.

I had some pretty interesting dreams. They were kind of zombie apocalypse only it seems that the zombies were pretty much dead. There were two major factions of people alive: the good ones and the bad ones. The good ones were constantly hiding and running and just trying to stay alive. The bad ones were constantly hunting the good ones. Not a good thing. But then the bad ones captured one of the good ones and they thought they were using him to as a spy against the good ones but he was actually passing information to the good ones. All kind of strange and far out.

One cool thing was that a family had managed to stay mostly intact (the father was no longer there but I’m not sure why) and their house was right in the middle of bad guy territory in a town. They’d managed to keep their house from detection and were actually something like a safe house. The mother was a chiropractor and the father had been a veterinarian. I think the son must have been something of an idiot savant because he didn’t seem to be mentally all there but he was able to save people when they were hurt, even helping to perform surgery. However, he was captured by the bad guys and they managed to find out about the house. The daughter wasn’t careful enough in a personal celebration and the bad guys managed to video her dancing around in her room. So the safe house was no longer safe and mom and daughter were on the run.

In other news, I actually did get to work on Laura’s dress Friday and Saturday. Putting gussets in seemed like such a good idea to add fullness to the skirt. I don’t know what I was thinking. Adding gussets to the skirt means adding seams to the skirt and I don’t know why I didn’t do the skirt first because I do know how quickly sewing nothing but long, straight seams gets not fun. I figured that each layer (there are only two, thank goodness) has about forty yards of seams because I’m doing French seams. Oh, boy. The organza layer is done. The satin layer is in progress. I had to stop at about 9:00 Saturday night because I really wanted to go to bed and didn’t want to start having problems. Today the skirt will be finished, the sleeves will be taken off and put back on, and the bodice will be attached to the skirt. Then I just have to sew on the lace and do the loops (which I need to get some crochet thread for) and hem it. The lace and loops I’ll get done before Laura gets here, the hem will wait until she is. And I really need a high enough ceiling for her to be able to stand on the table so I can do the hem but I don’t so I’m not sure what we’ll do.

In other news, I need to find food for Amena’s lunch. I didn’t get bread made Saturday because I was sewing so there is no bread that she likes (Paul did bring some rye home from the store but it’s disgusting—both because it’s rye [and therefore has caraway] and because it’s from the store).

6:18 am

And I’m back. I don’t think the lunch is much to write home about but it’s food and it’s not even bad food. Well, the chocolate candy might not be so great but it is edible. Currently she has about five minutes to finish getting ready because I am not interested in catching up with the bus and am even less interested in driving all the way to Barre.

Saturday for dinner we had chicken noodle soup. Seth and Joseph helped make the noodles. It had been so long since I’d made them. I know I hadn’t since we’ve been here and I’m not sure how long it was in Idaho since I had. A long time. I used all whole wheat flour and forgot to add salt. Next time, I should probably do half and half whole wheat and white and need to remember the salt. Paul liked the soup better without noodles but I think that’s because he has never really had whole wheat noodles and we didn’t cut them short—they were some of them longer than 12 inches. Some of us used forks for them. Still, making noodles is something I’m going to have to add back into our currently nonexistent weekly planning of the menu.

Cedric and Kitty chillin' on the front steps Thursday, April 23rd.

And Amena missed the bus. I will probably just stop writing when she finally managed to get her butt downstairs and will post when I get back from however far I have to go. She can’t really afford to miss any more school; she spend almost her entire week off doing homework that she should have done weeks ago. Some of it she had to wait to do at school so it isn’t even all done. I am not pleased.

In other news, I have some little baby lobelia’s and St. John’s Wort sprouted. That is exciting. Some arnica sprouted last week and that was exciting, too. I just love this stuff. I think everything that’s been planted has come up except some of the stuff planted last Tuesday and I need to check it. Almost everything is up. Plants are amazing.

The chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles.

And it’s ten minutes later and Amena still is not downstairs ready to go. Honestly, I don’t know what she thinks when she gets up; or rather fails to.

There really is more that I wanted to touch upon this morning. One of them was about parents provoking their children.

But now it is much later, almost time to start school, and there is no time. Have a spectacular day!

Cacophony

I just noticed the clock stopped at 5:54 this morning. It’s really a cool clock but there are times when I don’t mind a break from its chiming, if you can call it that, every half hour. Paul has quite a collection of clocks and most of them are very cool. He has mentioned that if he could afford to have them all fixed, he would love to have them all operational. That would be a cacophony and I would not be able to handle it. Therefore, I’m willing to just look at and admire the clocks. If they were all in working order, they would spend most of their time idle.

Yesterday, as is the case most days, I spent some time thinking. I have lots of time to think when I’m doing things like ironing patterns and laying them out to see how exactly I’m going to do whatever it is I’m planning on doing to/with them.

Yesterday I was thinking about how inconsistent people are. They tend to say one thing and do another. Or one person will say one thing that is supposed to apply to a whole group and then another will say something indicating something else. Thank goodness for good friends who are only a phone call away. I have family, too, of course, who can fill this roll but the thoughts yesterday needed one particular person. Thanks, Diane.

This is pretty cool. All the lines are from water collected around the edge that followed the path of least resistance when Seth started jumping.

I’ve been reading a lot about different aspects of female reproductive cycles and other pertinent topics. One project I’ve been working on is a chart of sexually transmitted infections (which is the fairly new, politically correct term and I only use it because some of them actually are infections and while some are diseases, they are passed from one to another by an infected individual). Guess what? You can say what you want about sexual freedom and protected sex but I’m thinking the only good way to prevent this stuff is abstinence and even that isn’t a 100% guarantee you won’t be infected. Yikes!

I’ve also been reading (as some of you are aware) about menopause and the cycles that women go through from birth to death (of which, menopause is one). In one book I’m currently reading about The Pill. Stay away. Stay far away. The Pill, whatever form you use, is bad news for your body. It typically, but not always, prevents a woman from becoming pregnant but it has other effects as well. I’m not going to take the time to discourse on it right now because it would take more than the few hundred words I want to use. If you are interested, keep an eye out for something in the near future.

Today is going to be a busy day. I’ve got Laura’s dress to work on. I’ve got an STI chart to finish (and I am going to do so today). I’ve got a book to read at least 30 pages of. I’ve got sister missionaries coming for lunch and the Petzold’s and Paul’s aunt and uncle (who will be here for the aunt’s funeral who died a couple of weeks ago) coming for dinner.

Just a little aside, did you know that if you move your right hand over to the left one key, you get judy instead of just? Interesting. That’s not what I was going to say but it is what I just discovered.

Yesterday Paul sent me a you-tube video indicating that we’ve, and I use that term loosely, been serving pasta wrong. When you drain and rinse the pasta and set it aside while you do the sauce and then dish up the pasta and then the sauce, that’s wrong. You should not drain, and therefore waste the cooking fluid, the pasta but keep it in the water and you should be preparing the sauce while the pasta is cooking. Then, you add the pasta which you scoop out of the water to the sauce. If necessary, you can use a little of the cooking liquid to the entire dish and if you want to add herbs and/or cheese, you do so to the pasta and sauce and combine all together.

Why is this interesting? Because I haven’t been doing it all wrong. Only partly. Until I moved here, I NEVER, and I do mean never, dished up my pasta and THEN my sauce. We always had them together and I thought it ridiculous to do it otherwise but that’s the way Paul did it so I started doing it here. I do drain my pasta, but have never rinsed it. Guess what? I’m going to start doing it my way. It’s a heck of a lot easier and actually makes fewer dirty dishes. So there.

Have a fantastic day!

Growing

Good morning! It is a lovely, sunny day here. Cool so far, there was frost during the night, at 37° and humidity at 76% with an expected high of 59°. So far, I’ve only seen evidence of life from animals and two children. And plants. the peas and garlic stayed outside all night last night and I’ve got thyme and other things sprouting.

Monday night we got a Tyler for overnight and most of yesterday. They played with Legos and outside and did their best to stay awake until the wee sma’s. Didn’t work. They were in the living room and because I didn’t have to get up early Tuesday, I could stay up later if I wanted to. So I did, working on soap stuff and reading. They were asleep before I went upstairs.

They were also awake before I went downstairs, but that doesn’t bother me. Cedric spent Monday night at his friend Chris’s house. His plan was to take some of his friends to see a movie so Joanna picked him and Chris up and then they went to pick up Zack and so I didn’t see him until late afternoon. Sounds like he had fun but was sleepy from his overnighter and had a hard time staying awake during the movie. Did he learn anything from this experience? Probably not.

My friend Margaret came over in the morning with her two boys. They had fun playing with the boys I had here and we were able to get some seeds planted. I filled up five more milk jugs (astragalus, dill, strawflowers, Irish lace, and yarrow) and ten egg cartons (with tomatoes and peppers). That was fun. We had a good visit and I got things planted that needed to be which probably would not have happened otherwise because I would have gone straight from breakfast and cleaning off the counter in the kitchen to soapy endeavors. Thanks, Margaret.

Garlic and peas.

Yesterday I gave away two bars of soap and sent gift certificates for two others. I also gave someone 25% off her order of soap. I posted a question on my soap Facebook page and everyone who responds, gets what they’d choose. The options are 10% off, 15% off, 25% off, free shipping, and a free bar of soap. I’ve been asked to provide coupons for grab bags at a fundraiser and I wanted to know what people would prefer. So far, the free bar of soap is gaining the most but I’m thinking people at a distance might prefer free shipping or 25% off. Go to Pitcherville Soap Co. on Facebook and let me know what you’d like. And while you’re there, like my page if you haven’t yet.

Baby thyme.

Today is going to be a wonderful day for making garden boxes. However, I really need to work on Laura’s dress more. I’m sure Cedric is going to want to go to the West’s but I really can’t stay there with him and if no one else will be there, I won’t just leave him. If I get enough done on the dress this morning, I might consent to taking him this afternoon because I can read. I have a LOT of reading to do and am running out of time for that, too.

Anyway, such is life. I need to do a post for the soap blog now so have a fantastical day!

Ducky Day

Good morning! It is a lovely cloudy day and we are supposed to get rain today. At least, weather.com says a 100% chance and it certainly looks it outside. Currently we are at 87% humidity so rain would be nice. We’ll see how it works out and how it affects Cedric’s plans for the day. Yesterday was beautiful.

This morning I woke up at 5:15 and my back was killing me (good thing I don’t have to be absolutely literal whenever I open my mouth or express myself using the written word). I know it’s my own fault because I haven’t been doing stretches or walking or anything like I know I should be and I have been doing a bit of reading and working on papers that require a lot of looking in the book while I’m typing stuff up. I supposed I could write it out and then type it but, you know, that takes longer. Maybe today. Still, my back hurt, so I told myself I’d do my stretches when I got up for good. At 6:18 I woke up for good and did my stretches after feeding the goats their grain. They still need their hay and pine branches but I have to put on long pants and a jacket and gloves and some kind of shoes with no holes (think Crocs here—as an example of with holes).

Why?

Because I was outside Saturday for less than 30 minutes moving Christmas tree skeletons and brush. It was a beautiful day and I was wearing capris and a short sleeve t-shirt. I woke up yesterday with a rash all over my lower arms and legs and neck. An itchy rash. When will I ever learn. I asked Margaret what essential oils were good for itching rashes because I didn’t remember and was too lazy to look it up and she said lavender, frankincense, and tea tree. So I got them out, added them to some coconut oil, and slathered them on. And they did the trick. One place on the back of my left hand is currently itching and the oil is upstairs by the bed.

I do wonder about this, though. I have had seasonal allergies for as long as I can remember. I didn’t develop asthma until I moved to Scott Valley and was exposed to freshly cut alfalfa on a regular basis. I never experienced contact dermatitis until I moved here. So what is the difference between the other places I’ve lived and here that walking in grass makes me break out in an itching rash? I’ve been exposed to poison oak before and it had no effect on me. Why now? Why grass? And, no, I’m not complaining, I just really would like to know.

Saturday Paul took the boys out to look for shoes and pants and said it would be a quick trip. I’m not sure he knows the meaning of those words. I’m not sure when they left but it was by 10:00. They didn’t get back until after 3:00. A quick trip means I’ll be back in two hours or less. He asked if I wanted to go and I said no. I’m glad I did because that would have driven me nuts.

Yesterday was pretty good. Kind of Sunday-like, you know?

And today is cool and cloudy and my goal for the week is to get Laura’s dress done. Not an impossible task by any stretch of the imagination so we’ll see how it goes.

Hey, Joanna, you asked about turkeys the other day. This morning, when I went out to give the goats their grain, I noticed that Kitty was watching something intently. When I was done with the goats, I saw what it was: I big tom turkey showing off his finery. He had some friends down the hill.

And, Laura, you need to get blogging. If you want to successfully market using social media, you need to be doing about three blog posts each week. They can be short, but they need to be done. You can do it! I have faith in you! Even just a quote or something small would work.

Have a ducky day!

Nice (as in no humidity) Day

Good morning! It is a rainy one which is just fine other than the goats being vocal again.

This morning I decided to check email and Facebook before I delved in here and I’m glad I did because I found this gem posted by Liz Stewart (she and my mom worked together for years in the currently politically incorrect Welfare Department):

“Grief never ends .... But it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith .... It is the price of love.”

~Author Unknown~

That perfectly sums up how I feel about Daniel, Papa, my dad, and others I’ve known and loved who have moved on. Without love, there is no grief.

Yesterday was a busy day but it did not include much driving around which was nice. It was a beautiful day and part of the reason it was was due to the lack of humidity although I didn’t realize that until later.

This is the window before the shelf-making fun.

In the afternoon, I built two shelves for two windows in the dining room so we can have more containers full of dirt for seed starting purposes. Currently, there are nineteen milk/orange juice jugs taking up residence. Of those, eight have actual plants growing in them. The others were just planted yesterday after the shelves were constructed and installed.

This is the window. I love that all these little seeds can use the sun.

In the morning, I did this and that, mostly laundry and dishes and moving boards to the basement to cut them and then cutting them in preparation of making shelves. I also thawed out some boneless pork ribs for lunch and while they were in the oven, the boys and I went to Gardner.

I needed to drop of a check for car insurance and then I’d promised Seth and Joseph drinks from the store and I wanted to borrow Julia’s cordless drill because I like working without cords. Those were all accomplished within an hour and there was actually time to spare (almost twenty minutes) when we got home.

Cedric was on his way down here. He would give Daniel some pretty stiff competition in tree climbing. Do you suppose it's genetic?

Joanna showed up. She had gone to work but they told her to go home because it was so dead so she came over. That was nice. She had lunch with us, which included the sister missionaries, and then took Seth and Joseph out in the Jeep. She ended up staying all afternoon other than when she went to get her hair cut and stuff to cook over a fire in the back field. I don’t generally like hotdogs but when cooked over a camp fire, they taste so much better. I even had a couple of s’mores and they were actually good (I don’t like marshmallows).

There was a pack meeting that we should have gone to but I was honestly not feeling like being around a lot of people so we didn’t go. We’re going to miss the last one because it’s on May 9^th and we will be going to Laura’s wedding and reception and such.

Right now I need to get Cedric a lunch together.

Lunch together, dogs fed, strawberry smoothie made for the boys. The really awesome thing about smoothies? You can put all kinds of stuff in them and the boys don’t seem to notice. Love it.

Yesterday late afternoon I decided to take the frosting I’d taken to church Wednesday night and that Julia took home after and alter it. It was pretty runny but I was in a hurry. Because it was runny, it was pretty perfect for adding cocoa to in order to transform it from vanilla buttercream to chocolate so that’s what I did. Then I smeared it on graham crackers and made sandwiches. I hadn’t made them for about ever and all three boys were quick to remind me of this fact.

Yesterday when I called Paul to find out who we are supposed to call about having a fire for cooking, he said that on his way to work, there were signs out indicating that the fire danger was high. I thought that was ridiculous so I looked online to see why it would have been. Reasons cited: lack of rain in the past few weeks (we’ve had some, don’t know where in MA hasn’t but I guess some places haven’t), wind (yeah, that one makes sense), and lack of humidity. Really? Lack of humidity? I had to look that one up too, and according to weather.com, the humidity was at 19%. Are you kidding me!!?? No wonder yesterday was such a nice day! Paul didn’t really want the fire to be in the field where we’ve had them before but Joanna and the boys had improved the pit. When I went out, I felt the grass and ground and yes, the dead grass on top was dry, but the underneath and ground were not. So, yes, the wind could have sent sparks into the dead grass, and yes, we could have had a grass fire and I suppose it might have spread if such a thing happened. But, having grown up around dry conditions all my life, at least compared to MA, I wasn’t too concerned although I do sometimes sort of attempt to be more concerned and feel for these poor people who don’t have a clue how to live in more natural circumstances.

Was that too thick?

This is the stuff memories are made of.

Anyway, while I was out with Joanna and the boys by the fire (Joanna took two four gallon buckets of water to have out by the fire, by the way), the school called to let all parents of QRMS 8^th grade students know that the buses should be arriving at the school by about 9:30. So I got the boys in the house and hopefully to bed and got in the car.

Not perfect, perhaps, but not bad. They didn't get rid of all vegetation around the rocks but did the dry, dead stuff from the top. 

And Paul called and was telling me all about the class he’d taken yesterday morning which seems to have had a lot of good information for selling soap via social networking. I couldn’t sit there and keep talking so I took off and the call was lost on the way to Barre while I was on Elm Street, or whatever it turns into before reaching 62.

I actually got to the school at the same time the buses were arriving so Amena and I were home an hour after I left. Pretty exciting. Amena didn’t really have a terribly good time but such is life.

Now I need to get the goats fed and watered.

Have a splendiferous day!

The Way it Rolls

Good morning! It looks so far to be a good one. The only problem with that is that these days are beautiful and mean that something worse is going to be here all too soon. I hate summer. I greatly dislike most bugs. I love the garden but that’s about it.

Yesterday. It was a day like no other. To begin with, the goats were being really vocal. Did I already mention that yesterday? Good grief! They’re doing the same thing today. I don’t know what’s gotten into them other than they must want more fresh food. I wish there was some for them. Too bad we can’t teleport them to Grandma’s yard. It seems she’s got some good stuff they could eat. At the rate things are going, there should be something for them soon but not today.

Joseph had a dentist appointment at 9:45. That means leaving by 9:15. We left a little early and got there a little early and he got almost right in and was out close to 10:00. We went home. Of course, we went home. What else would we do?

Joseph and one of his Lego creations. Pretty cute kid (did I really say that? Of course I meant child) even if he does need a haircut.

Once home, we made a lunch which consisted of ham sandwiches, chocolate bread with chocolate peanut butter, grapes, fudge, and juice boxes. Then we cleaned out the truck a little; enough for two boys to sit in the back and Julia to sit in the front and us to put some wood in the back. While we were getting ready, Joanna and Zak showed up to wash the Jeep. Joanna went offroading with the boys the other day and the Jeep got very covered with mud. So did Joanna.

Then we went to the bank, picked Julia up, and were on our way out of Dodge by quarter after 11. The trip was fairly noneventful. We were going to Everett which is northish of Boston but because it is so close, you cannot tell where one ends the next begins. There are quite a few cities in the area that just run together and make up one huge mass of humanity. I am so glad I don’t live any closer than I do.

I was quite surprised at how awful the road is that we ended up on. It was way worse than Pitcherville Road which is saying something. The guy I got the wood from was really nice and I got a good deal. The boards are all pretty nice; I got 100 14-foot 1-by-4’s for less than $200.

And of course Kitty. She loves to roll around in the driveway. You can see Misty's foot hair and nose up at the top too.

Of course, Paul emailed me some links for some others yesterday. One was for a total of over 300 linear feet of 1x5’s for just a few dollars more than what I paid. Other than the fact that that extra inch would have posed problems doing what I want to do, it would have been a good deal. Especially since it’s in Athol which is less than half an hour away. Another is for some free stuff that I might still look into for the future or for some that I can make closer to planting time.

The trip home was fairly uneventful. The only problem is that everything took a little longer than I was anticipating (and we left a little later than I wanted to), so we didn’t get home until almost time to go pick Cedric up from school so he could go to the West’s. Still, I took the truck home and got the car and picked Cedric up and took him to the West’s and went home.

Once home, Seth and Joseph helped unload the wood into the barn and then I had enough time to make some cupcakes since the official cupcake-maker wasn’t going to be able to make any. I also made frosting and discovered that I had an entire thirty minutes unencumbered before Joseph was picked up for scouts. Oh, my! What to do?

Dishes. I made a pretty good dent in the pile that had accumulated. Then it was off to church where I had to leave by about 7:15 in order to pick Cedric up and get to the school in order to pick up Seth and Joseph. Done and done.

Then it was home again, send the boys to bed, and go to bed myself.

Yeah, baby. What a day.

Guess what’s up for today? Nothing.

Ha ha.

School for the boys. A chart of STIs for me. A pack meeting tonight.

And that’s it. Relatively speaking, of course, because there are always more things to do.

Have a terrifical day!

Peanut Butter Balls

I forgot to mention this.

A few days ago, Seth and Joseph wanted to make peanut butter balls. No problem. Except we kind of never got around to it. Honestly, I hate making peanut butter balls and thought that I'd end up doing most of it so I wasn't too excited. But yesterday Seth remembered and I said, "Sure."

So I helped them measure 1/4 cup of honey.

And then 1/4 cup of peanut butter except that we had some cashew butter that needed to be used so we used that and only needed a very small blob of peanut butter.

And then 1/2 cup of powdered milk. And for those who might like pictures of this, I am sorry that none were taken of this part. If there is ever another time, perhaps. I do not remember if we added another 1/2 cup of powdered milk; Seth things we did not and I am inclined to agree with him.

The stirring was not fun. Seth's arms got tired. I showed him how to kind of mash it against the side of the bowl and that's when the spoon broke. That is also when I told him it would probably be best to just dump it all out and moosh it all together like play dough. That's what he did.

Then they made balls. Well, Seth made balls. Joseph watched (he did help with some of the measuring and dumping into the bowl) and pretended to eat the blob on the counter from which Seth was forming the balls.

It was a pretty tasty endeavor. And not likely to be replicated any time soon because it was decided it's more fun to eat them than to make them. I think Seth must be my child.

Pretty cute kitchen helpers, I'd say. Even when Seth is doing his best to not look that way.

Many Words (over time, of course, not so much all at once)

Good morning! Yesterday morning the goats were being really vocal and they are again today. I’m not sure why other than they probably want to get out and start eating grass and such. The only problem is, of course, that there is no grass to eat as of yet. Most of the snow is gone other than in sheltered areas or where there was more accumulation due to shoveling, plowing, or falling off of a roof, but there isn’t grass yet. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, they get to keep on eating hay, grain, and pine trees.

It seems that Amena isn’t having much fun on the 8^th grade trip. There are something like four busses and there are a bunch of groups of three or four students. I don’t know how many chaperones there are but they don’t really go out and about with the students from the sounds of it. Amena is in a group of four girls and only one of them is she really friends with. They are on bus 4. The girls Amena wanted to be with are on bus 1. The reason she is not with them is because of the little problem I mentioned some time earlier. Since then, things have smoothed out but groups were already decided upon and she felt bad if she left the group she’s in to go back to the other one (which only has three because one of them ended up not going). What fun.

Yesterday was a fun day. It was pretty normal and average until late afternoon. Earlier in the afternoon, Elizabeth called and wanted to know if there was any chance I could give her a ride to MWCC for a meeting she had been invited to for potential early childhood education students. Because of when it was, I could and still get Cedric and Seth to scouts. I called one parent but she didn’t answer and the other potential ride home for them I don’t have a number for so I hoped that I could talk to one of them once we got there because I’d have a few minutes before I had to leave.

It went like this:

Elizabeth’s meeting started at 6:00. That meant we really needed to leave her apartment by 5:30. So I figured I needed to leave home by 5:00. I left at 4:45 instead and got there about 5:15. That turned out to be a good thing because it takes a few minutes to get Maria in and everything settled. We left at 5:30 and got to the Mount right on time.

I got home and had about fifteen minutes before we had to leave to get the boys to scouts. We left, were the third car there, and had to wait so I could make the second and final payment for scout camp for the boys. Dominc’s dad, Bill, is the treasurer and also one of the potential rides home for the boys so I gave him a check and asked about a ride. He had Henry Foley with him so he said sure, he’d already be on our road so no problem. Whew!

Then I went outside and there was Ryan’s mom. She mentioned that she’d seen a call from me but not until late so I told her what it was about and she said she would have been happy to give them a ride. I knew she would if she could. We visited for a few minutes until Joseph had had enough waiting and then we left. Because we wouldn’t have been able to be home for long, we didn’t go home but went straight to the Mount even though it was a bit early to get Elizabeth.

I got to take a few pictures of the sunset which was very pretty last night and Elizabeth actually got out of her meeting before 8:00 which was nice. We got Elizabeth and Maria home and then came home, arriving right about 9:00. Cedric and Seth beat us home and Paul got home probably fifteen or so minutes after.

If I hadn’t been able to get a ride for the boys, my plan was to get Elizabeth, take her and Maria to our house with Joseph, go get Cedric and Seth and take them home, and then take Elizabeth home. It would have worked but would have been more driving and wouldn’t have been so good for Maria, I think. I know I was tired of sitting by the time I was done.

Today we have a busy day planned out beginning with a trip to the dentist for Joseph. This visit has been scheduled and rescheduled so many times I’ve almost lost count. Twice it was due to snow, once due to maintenance work at the office. Now it will finally happen. After that, we are heading over Boston direction to get some boards so I can make raised beds. I’ll probably have more to say about that but not now and probably not today. After that, I need to pick Cedric up at school and take him to the West’s so he can do some work. Then we have church tonight. I am not sure if Joseph has scouts; if he does, I’m not sure how that will work out. We will certainly find out.

Have a fantastical day!

Just a couple of PSs. First, this is the second page of my sixth ‘journal’. I write in these documents and then copy and paste them into emails for Grandma and blog posts for the rest of everyone. Each one I end at 100 pages. That means five hundred and two pages on this computer. Since I started doing this on July 31^st of 2012 and had a hard drive fry in November, there are more out there that I don’t currently have saved in a computer. That’s semi-crazy but seemed noteworthy.

Second, I believe I missed a birthday yesterday. Happy belated birthday, Diane. I hope you had a wonderful day. Thank you for being my friend through the years. (I need to talk to you, by the way.)

That is all.

More Life (with pictures)

This picture I took while walking on April Fool's Day. I think practical jokes can be funny but I generally tend to think that April Fool's Day is just a day like any other. It was a nice day for a walk and this is the swamp nearest 68 on Pitcherville Road.

This is from last Wednesday (April 8). It was also a nice day for a walk. This is the same creek I've taken many pictures of over the past couple of years. I love water. Mostly in solid and liquid forms.

I took this when I was making pie Sunday (April 12). I was cutting the tops off and thinking about how big they were and how in spite of the fact that it's faster and somewhat easier to deal with large strawberries, I really don't trust them. I mean, why do they all, with the exception of the two small ones, look as if they are really two grown together? That can't be a good thing. And they really don't taste quite right, either.

I decided to go for a little walk yesterday afternoon down by the creek (I'd already gone for a big walk up Birches, down Old Westminster, across Cross, down Ragged Hill and back down the bottom of Birches in the morning). I like the creek. Especially now when it has lots of water.

Kitty and Misty went with me. They were funny. Misty never did make it to the other side of the creek where I was but Kitty did.

Daniel's grave. It needs a LOT of work this year. Because Paul never cut the grass last year (never), I really couldn't go down to take care of the grave like I'd've liked to. Walking through tall grass gives me a terrible rash and makes breathing difficult even if I take a shower as soon as I go in. This year needs to be different.

The garden. Talk about a lot of work. I need to start now (except that it's raining) spraying the vinegar/dish soap/salt with water to kill all the stuff I don't want growing in there. And then I need to start digging up where I want to put beds. Should be fun.

Trappings

Good morning! I believe I have an uncle with a birthday today—Happy Birthday Uncle Robert! I hope you have a wonderful day.

I love mornings. For one thing, when I have to take Amena to Quabbin in order to leave on the 8^th grade trip, more radio stations come in better so the choices aren’t so limited. It just so happens that I got to hear some pretty good stuff this morning: Journey, White Snake, Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Steve Perry, U2. In fact, U2 was coming on while I was on Pitcherville and I was thinking, “Hmmmm, maybe I would like to go see them in concert in July.” On the other hand, think of how many people that would be. In Boston. Making noise. Yeah. Wouldn’t mind seeing them, not sure I want to go.

Then I got out of the car and the real reason I love mornings became very apparent.

I love listening to the world waking up. The natural world; I don’t think I would have any appreciation of the city waking up. I love to hear the water running in the creek and the birds; so many birds. The slow lightening of the eastern sky, sometimes orange or pink or just shades of blue, is lovely to behold.

These things make the lights on in houses (including this one) and the deadlines and general hustle and bustle of appointments and needing to get things done—the trappings of society—seem so superfluous.

Ultimately, it seems that the only things that are really important are our relationship with nature (including the creators of it) and family. Anything else is just. . .extra. Not even frosting on the cake; I think much of it is more like sewage.

Deep breath in. Hold it.

Let it go.

Ahhhhhh.

In other news, the midwifery skills workshop for this past weekend was postponed because I was the only person who wasn’t sick or had sick children. Such is life.

This is the first bread finished. I thought I'd make three loaves instead of two so that they would be smaller. It didn't really work. As you can see, these loaves are not small.

Because I didn’t get to go to New Hampshire, I made bread. Three kinds. And put the peels of five or six oranges in a quart jar and filled it with vinegar to try it out for cleaning and keeping bugs away. Yesterday I made lemon bars (they are actually more lime than lemon) and an apple strawberry pie.

The chocolate bread was started first (the two larger loaves, if you needed help) and finished last. I was experimenting because Paul brought a loaf of chocolate chocolate chunk bread home and said he likes it and could I make it. Well, I can certainly give it a go. I actually do not care for this bread but the boys (Seth and Joseph) love it and Paul likes it so we're good. The other bread is my current favorite. It's the almost no knead recipe Paul brought home that has beer in it. It makes the best bruschetta (I have no idea if that is spelled correctly) and I've got it to the point where I like it with 1 cup of whole wheat and 2 cups of unbleached white. The next step is 2 cups of whole wheat and 1 of unbleached white.

This morning I got up at 3:57 to be ready to take Amena to Barre for the 8^th grade trip. I told her we needed to leave by 4:30 so that we’d leave by 4:45 which should get us to the school right on time (between 5: 00 and 5:15) and it worked just right. We left at 4:45 and got to the school at 5:07.

The lemon bars that are 7/8 lime and 1/8 lemon. Turned out really well. I don't understand, though, how Paul can stand to eat the lemon filled donuts from the store but doesn't like these.

Trappings.

The apple strawberry pie before baking.

Speaking of trappings, she’s going to Washington, DC. While there are things there I wouldn’t mind seeing, I think I could happily live my life without ever going there. Crater Lake, on the other hand, I still would like to visit. With my family. Maybe there are letterboxes there.

The strawberry apple pie after baking. I used the recipe I got from Grandma for deep dish rhubarb pie. You don't have to roll out the crust and I used the food processor to mix it last night. Heavenly! So easy and so good. And made with all whole wheat flour.

Anyway, have a fantastic day!

No Title

Good morning! As I suspected, the past couple of days have been busy.

Tuesday we got some onions planted in milk jugs (four gallons) and I did some planning for the garden. According to my figures, I need twelve four by ten foot raised beds. A couple more than that would be nice so that even squash can be in raised beds but the twelve includes two for corn. I would love to plant a whole field of corn, sort of, but so far the rodents have had more of the corn we’ve planted here than the humans have. I expect the rodent population to be somewhat diminished by Kitty but there is no way she can get them all. The twelve is not counting any for the garlic I plan to plant in the fall because I figure by October there will be empty beds OR I will just plant it around the edges since garlic is a good thing to do that with in order to keep buggy pests away from the other plants.

Tuesday  evening was the Pack 12 Leadership Meeting. It was interesting and informative. And kept to about an hour. And funny, at times. Especially the comment made by one leader about eight years of diapers is enough. I had to laugh at that one. Eight years of diapers is NOTHING! One of the other leaders had to agree because he and his wife have six.

That got me to thinking on the way home. Bill Cosby said that if you only have one child, you are not qualified to know what it’s like to have children. I agree. Child does not equal children. Child is not plural. I would go so far as to say that having two children doesn’t really qualify you either because although having two is more of a challenge than one, almost everyone is born with two hands. It is when the third comes along that we begin to understand what it means to have children. And every one beyond that adds to the chaos (I do understand that having only one or two can be somewhat chaotic—I once had only one child and then, for a time, I had only two children) and changes the family dynamic in ways that people with fewer might be able to imagine, especially if they come from larger families, but do not actually know. By the way, I have great admiration for anyone who has more than I do. One of my favorite people has eleven and she is an incredible woman.

Yesterday was another busy day. It was an early release day (which I don’t mind but really wish they happened on Friday) and I really wanted Joseph and Seth to be done with school by recess time. Backing up a bit, I got up, washed some dishes, got the goats fed and watered, waited until Amena and Cedric were both gone or at least on the bus, and went for a walk. I needed to do that and would love to go out at 5:00 but it’s not light enough. So I went at about 7:45. It’s a good time, too, it just doesn’t give me time for a shower when I get back before school for the boys.

They did get done by recess time and I was able to shower. Julia arrived as I was cutting my toenails so I only got one foot done (the other had to wait until I was going to bed). Emily was a bit late but that’s the way it goes when you have a youngling (but imagine how it would be with two J). We talked about Laura’s reception since it is going to be at the West’s house. Just FYI, Laura, as long as someone is willing to help with last minute preparations (I’m thinking Aunt Becky—heads up—and maybe someone or two else) she (as in Emily) is willing to follow you around and take pictures.

While they were still here I cleared the table of school stuff and other odd and ends because I really wanted to get more things planted in milk jugs and made a sack lunch for Joseph. Joseph needed to be delivered to the Foley’s by 12:15 when Jack and a bunch of other cub scouts would be arriving on the bus. The plan was to eat lunch and get ready to leave on a field trip to Worcester at 1:00. Julia and Emily both needed to get going at that point so we all left just after Cedric was dropped off.

I came right home and Cedric, Seth and I got ready to go to see Furious 7 at the theater. Seth really didn’t want to go but I wasn’t comfortable leaving him home alone for three hours so he got to go. Since he saw the trailers, he now wants to go see a few other movies but so does Cedric. And, honestly, there are some I wouldn’t mind going to see. When we got home, I got the message that Joseph would be later than expected because the tour was still in progress. I don’t remember when he got home but I think it was between 5 and 5:30.

We all needed to be at church at 7:00 and Amena and I both needed to stop somewhere on the way. Since Walmart had what we both needed, we stopped there rather than having to keep looking for what Amena needed.

Church was good. Amena, Seth and Joseph all had fun. I’m not sure about Cedric. The rain that had started before we left for church had turned frozen by the time we were done. I had Amena and Cedric with me, Paul had Seth and Joseph with him. When everyone was home, Paul said that the roads were slick. I know they certainly had to potential to be—the car was covered with a layer of ice—but I didn’t have any trouble slipping on the way home so I’m not sure if he was referring to the roads in general or specifically on the way to church from work.

Once we were home, Joseph started talking about the field trip. He had such an attitude about going. He did not want to. I think he wanted to stay home and watch Chima or Ninjago with Seth but because Seth had to go to the movie, he didn’t get to watch much (he wanted to stay home and watch Chima or Ninjago). As I was leaving, I told him to have fun and he turned around and said, “I’m not going to!” Well, ha, ha. He had fun. He didn’t want to go to bed he was telling us so much about it. He got to bring home a couple of pieces of the cable that they make and he told us about a building inside a building (“like a tree fort inside”) and what they use the cable for and on and on and on. It was already late so I had to shoo him off to bed but I’m really glad that he had a good time.

Today is going to be another busy one, I think. It’s colder and everything outside is covered with white icy snow. Should be fun. I wanted to go out for a walk but I suspect, and will know once I’ve fed the goats, that the white is concealing the ice. I might have to start a fire early because it’s rather chilly in the house. Or do a bunch of laundry and some baking. We have the sisters coming over for lunch today and the Petzold’s for dinner. And I need to do Cedric’s lunch still.

Have a fantastic day!

Lots and Lots

Someone put a crumb of something under the 0 key. Very annoying.

Not much has been going on here as of late. Friday was Friday. Joanna and Zak went to pick Amena and Nick up from school and then they went bowling. Then Joanna and Zak dropped Amena and Nick off because they had plans with one of Zak’s friends and Amena and Nick hung out here. I played Phase 10 with them which was kind of fun.

Paul brought Chinese home because I claimed a headache. I actually did wake up with one and I actually did take something for it in the afternoon. It was just a constant nagging thing that didn’t want to go away and as much as I like the big-glass-of-water-and-a-nap thing, I don’t usually have time for a nap. By the time Paul got home, it was gone.

Friday morning I had a dentist appointment. Seth and Joseph got to go to Joanna’s while I did that. While we were gone, Paul left for work and took Misty with him. He left a note on my computer saying he had taken her but not why. Turns out he took her to a vet because she’s been scratching so much.

I don’t understand how a dog can have fleas but the cat and the other dog don’t. When we were in Bonners Ferry, the cats had fleas and they got in the basement and after we left, they proliferated like crazy. There weren’t any cats in the house at that point but the fleas sure seemed to like the environment.

Saturday morning it seems like something was happening but other than taking Amena to Gardner for babysitting, I don’t remember anything at the moment. Saturday and Sunday were General Conference and other than picking Amena up in the afternoon and missing the last half hour of the first session, I watched them all. Thoughts on some of the talks perhaps later.

Sunday being Easter, I did Easter baskets (they were actually gift bags) for the first time in forever. I actually don’t remember doing them before ever. When we were with Dan, we weren’t allowed refined sugar and couldn’t afford anything else. After that, I just don’t remember. I know that we haven’t done them since we’ve been in Massachusetts. Next year will be better because this year we only had chocolate rabbits, Cadbury eggs, malted robin eggs and bubbles. Hunting Easter eggs was good. Some of them were hidden really well and Cedric, as usual, got more than his fair share. Next year I think I will institute the idea of only being able to collect eggs that are the same color as your basket (or bag).

Sunday I was tired so I went to bed at 9:00. A little before 11:00 I had to use the bathroom so I got up and noticed the light was on in the dining room. Paul was still up working on a puzzle he’d gotten out. At 4:00 I woke up and had to use the bathroom again. Paul still wasn’t in bed and the light was still on downstairs. I went back to bed and got up again at 5:00 to make sure Amena was getting up. She was and Paul still wasn’t in bed and the light was still on downstairs. I went back to bed. Paul finally went to bed after that and I got up for good at 5:30. Amena got off in time to not miss the bus and Paul was up again by 6:30 and in the shower. He says he fell asleep at the table. Quite possible. I’m thinking the reason he gets after Amena so much for staying up so late (she often falls asleep with the light on in her room) is because he is unable to go to bed when he knows he’s tired. He has to watch just one more episode or read just one more chapter or find just one more piece and ends up falling asleep while he’s doing whichever one it happens to be.

Amena and I had a mandatory meeting for all 8^th grade students who are going on the 8^th grade trip to Washington, DC, next week and parents. That was downright exciting. It was over fairly quickly, though, which was nice. It was also nice to be able to talk to the principle about not being able to drop Amena’s luggage off on Saturday. I won’t be home and Paul would end up being late. Students who have conflicts are able to drop off on Friday afternoon which works out just fine.

Last night Paul beat me to bed and turned his light out before I did. Imagine that, eh? This morning I was up before him, which is normal, in spite of the fact that after my alarm went off at 5:30, I actually fell asleep again and didn’t wake up until 6:10. Fortunately, Amena was almost ready so all I had to do was get her a lunch together.

I decided it was time to get busy with Laura’s dress yesterday so I thought I would get school done with the boys in the morning and then do dress stuff after lunch until Amena got home. Good plan except Paul still had the puzzle out and it was taking up half the table. He didn’t go to work yesterday for some reason and when I wasn’t needed by the boys, I helped with the puzzle so it would get done faster and out of my way. It was done shortly after lunch.

My goal was for yesterday to get the loops done for the lacing of the dress. While I’m working on that, I’m thinking what a pain it is and how her bodice doesn’t have anything to hide the lumps that will be made by the cording the loops are made of and I would prefer there to be no lumps. So I stop and go searching online for other ideas for loops and ran across a couple of tutorials on how to make a laced up back when the bodice just won’t zip up. Wa la! Don’t know where my brain was, but it clearly wasn’t thinking straight because everything that I saw I’ve done, not necessarily all together for the same project, but still. . . . So, anyway, plans have changed and I think the finished product will actually be better although I have to admit that I’m thinking of other ways to accomplish the same thing. Why do the creative juices not start running until there is just more than a month left? Anyway, Laura, you should call or message me so I can get your input.

In other news, it’s time to get some plants started for the garden and finish planning the garden. In other words, lots to do today. Lots and lots. And lots. Have a fantastic one!

Such is Life (with pictures)

Taken this morning. It was very pretty.

Good morning! Not a whole lot of interest has been going on around here. Just school and stuff. More of the same on tap for today.

This is one of Joseph from January.

Yesterday, even though I knew it was Wednesday, I got it stuck in my head that it was Thursday so I went to the library to pick up my book and the library was closed. Silly me. And I went to get eggs and it wasn’t Friday (I don’t know what I was thinking—I read the sign but it just didn’t register). That was after I dropped Cedric off at Paul’s after Seth and Joseph and I got home from going to the chiropractor. Last night Joseph had scouts and everyone else needed to go to church. Jonathan Brinker picked Joseph up, I took everyone else to church and after I emptied all the trash cans, went with Seth to get Joseph. The door to the school was locked but a couple other parents were there as well and one of them called the janitor who opened the door for us.

Seth took this one of Kitty on March 10.

Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday) I started filling out the renewal papers for MassHealth and thought it would be a lot easier and faster to do it online so I set up an account and did that and was told I could go no farther because they couldn’t verify my identity. I could send a copy of my driver’s license and they could call when they got it to finish the process. Or I could just call and give the information to someone over the phone. I called. I gave a woman my name and address, etc., and was put on hold. For an hour. And then got a guy who asked for all the information again. And couldn’t tell my ‘s’ from my ‘f’. That was fun. During the being on hold and figuring out the s and f, I was filling out the paperwork and making copies (they provide enough for three people—I have six) and filling out. I signed it as I discovered that this guy ran into the same problem I did—my identity was verifiable so we could go no farther. So I wrote a letter and mailed it with the many pieces of paper.

Lego creation from March 17.

Here is my letter:

Pamela S Flint

64 Pitcherville Road

Hubbardston, MA 01452

March 31, 2015

MassHealth

PO Box 4405

Taunton, MA 02780

To whom it may concern:

Enclosed please find my application to renew coverage for myself and my family. If you need any further information, please feel free to contact me.

In the meantime, I must express what a waste of paper this whole process is. In spite of the fact that renewing online or over the phone is an option, the paper application is still mailed out. I would have been happy to use it as a fire starter this afternoon but found it necessary to fill out in order to mail it in. This is because when I attempted to renew online, I ran into the problem of the Federal Identification Proofing service was not being able to verify my identity (copy of the screenshot enclosed). That being the case, I thought I would call. After being on hold for an hour and repeating my information to two separate people, the same problem was encountered. Not only are we wasting paper, we are wasting time. Luckily, I was able to make the extra copies needed of pages nine through twelve of the application for the members of my family beyond three as well as filling out the entire form while waiting and listening so the time was not a complete waste for me. For the two people I spoke to, however, it was.

In spite of the fact that my time was not entirely wasted, is it really necessary to take four pages to find out information about one person? It takes two inches just to determine what race a person is. It takes almost an entire page to ask about income which most grade school students do not have. Would it not be possible to consolidate this information?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Pamela S Flint

Joseph's foot and a moose track in the back field on March 21.

Do you think it was nice enough? Did I make my point without going overboard? I also sent a copy of my license with a copy of the screenshot and a letter. It was much shorter and boring so I won’t bore you with it here.

More snow on March 27.

Today I have an IEP meeting at school about Cedric at 1:00. Should be fun. In the meantime, have a wondiferal day.

And another lovely sunrise March 31.