Just Words

Good morning!

Yesterday was a lovely day. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it was quite lovely.

The morning was filled with school work. We’ve been neglecting the reading of Laura’s story, Nightfall, so we read yesterday after other things were done. We actually have less than 50 pages left so as long as we keep up, we should be finished sometime next week. Then we need to keep bugging her about getting the next one finished.

Ages ago I told Paul that I like Shredded Wheat. I do. It and Grape Nuts are two of my favorite cereals. The only problem is that he always buys the mini-shredded wheat type cereal and I’m not as fond of it as the big biscuits that you have to break up. Not only that, but he usually gets the frosted kind. That would be tolerable if they weren’t also flavored. I am not even remotely interested in blueberry or strawberry flavored shredded wheat. That’s for people who think they’re eating something healthy and can’t handle the stuff plain. I have discovered that if I take a bowl of plain bite-size Shredded Wheat and let it soak in the milk for a bit, which is odd because I generally greatly dislike soggy cereal, it isn’t too bad.

We have discovered that a good routine for the goats is to feed them their grain in the morning and make sure they have lots of water and then put them out sometime in the morning. Following this schedule, Seth, Joseph and I put them out during a break in school and it serves many purposes: getting the goats out, getting fresh air, getting a little exercise. The biggest problem is that the grass is still so short that I have to move the stakes quite often. So far, I’ve moved them all once and three of them at least three times. I’m also learning that I don’t want to have kids in October or the fall again—spring is much better.

In the afternoon, Joanna stopped by quickly to drop off a movie that Joseph had requested. While he and Seth were watching it, they reported seeing a mouse. Kitty wasn’t interested in catching it I think because she’d already had a mouse and a bird outside. I lectured them about not leaving food and crap all over the floor and couches because that attracts mice and continued about my reading and test taking.

Then they said they saw the mouse again and I decided it was time to take action. I got the broom and started sweeping. First I pulled out the love seat and swept behind and under it. Then I tipped it back to make sure the feet were clean and pushed it back where I like it to take up residence. Then the chair. Then the lamp stand and the tree. Then the green couch. I basically swept everything into the middle of the room while they put stuff away. The only thing that didn’t get a good cleaning under was the blue couch. All of this was taking place while Cedric was over at Paul’s house. When I was done with sweeping other than the blue couch, I went to take a shower. Then Cedric called, ready to come home, so I went to pick him up.

When Cedric and I got home, Seth and Joseph were almost done picking up the stuff from the pile so I just had to sweep up the remains. Before that, however, Seth and Joseph reported that they had trapped the mouse under a box. Great! I ripped the flap off a cardboard box and slipped it under the box and dumped the mouse in the toilet and away it went! We got rid of the mouse and now have an almost cleaned living room.

For dinner we had stroganoff that I made with some taco flavored hamburger that Paul brought home and salad. Paul is always bringing home things that I really wouldn’t cook with, like this taco hamburger, so I have to think of ways to use it. The flavor isn’t the same as what I come up with and is almost vinegary. I don’t really care for it. Anyway, we didn’t eat until 7:00 because I didn’t really start cooking until 6:00 and the salad was fine (because I only put tomatoes and cucumbers in with the lettuce—I’m not sure what to think about the fact that Paul likes to have more other stuff than he does lettuce, does he  not like lettuce?) but the stroganoff tasted too much like the meat. Not a big hit. Paul does like it, though, so hopefully he’ll make it disappear.

Paul got home just as we were finishing dinner. He left early because he had the class that he’s been going to on Thursday mornings. He got home early because he’s not feeling well. Still, he was hungry and had seconds of stroganoff. My plan had been to do prayer and scriptures as soon as the table was cleared off and since Paul was eating, we did them at the table. Worked out really well because when we were done, it was time for the boys to brush teeth and get ready for bed and then it was only two minutes to 8:00 so I sent them to bed.

And they went. And they weren’t up and down and up and down. Seth and Joseph were noisy for a few minutes but I didn’t even have to say anything to them and the quieted down and by 9:00 I only got an occasional disturbance from Cedric bringing some clothes down he wanted washed and Amena who decided she needed to clean the bathroom upstairs because Sam is coming over this afternoon to sleep over.

I had a brief conversation with my mom on Facebook and a slightly longer one with Sam’s mom, also on Facebook. I was listening to music from Middle Earth on Pandora and, get this!, working on one of my stories. It was wonderful.

I did fill up the goats water bucket and took it out to them. It was very nice outside. The goats were making their going to bed noises and the frogs in the swamps and around the creeks were singing up a storm like they are wont to do. There was some kind of a bird in the back of the house somewhere that made a kind of croaking noise every few seconds and I heard a turkey gobbling from the woods. Except for the fact that it was quickly growing dark, and was already quite dark in the woods, it would have been a perfect time for a walk.

So I went in the house, finished the dishes, and went on adventures with Hywel and Cailín while I had a cup of hot chocolate and then a cup of tea. It was very nice. And I got 1,699 words written. The only downside is that I didn’t go to bed until 11:00 so I wasn’t ready to turn the light out, so to speak, until about 11:30. Still, a pretty good day.

Have a fantastic one today!