Another Short

Good morning. Yesterday was an okay day other than the evening. Sometimes teenagers are not my favorite people.

It started raining yesterday afternoon so the goats needed to go in. Snowflake is not doing well. In fact, I would say she’s on her way out. She may actually be gone when I go out to milk. This is very sad because she is a good goat. This is, unfortunately, or not, depending upon your point of view, life and the way it goes.

I found some pictures for you. This is Seth's Canadian. He was just going to be a LEGO person but he evolved. This was supposed to be in native costume but because he started out as a LEGO person, I guess Seth figured it was okay to simplify. I guess he's right.

I went to bed by 10:00 last night and I still didn’t want to get up this morning. When my alarm went off at 5:00, I went to tell Cedric and Amena that it was 5:00 and then I went back to bed. When my alarm went off at 5:30, I didn’t care and didn’t get up until 6:02. I went to tell Cedric and Amena what time it was and then went back to my room to get dressed. I need to check the doula calendar; I think I’m signed up for tonight.

I made Boston brown bread yesterday and it was interesting. I liked the previous brown bread. The Boston I’m not so crazy about. I’ll probably give it another try eventually but it has to have more salt in it. I don’t know how people can eat bread with no salt. The bread yesterday did have salt, but not enough. Yes, I realize I like salt. I realize other people do not like it as much. That’s fine. If I am going to take the time to make something at my house for my family to eat, I need to like it. If you make it for your family, you can leave the salt out if you’d like. Some things you can add salt to later, bread isn’t really one of them.

This is one of my projects for today. I need to get the garlic separated and get ready to plant them outside. I also need to plant the Egyptian onions Margaret Armstrong gave me. They've been living on a paper towel on a saucer in the kitchen window for more than a month, and doing well, but it's time to get them outside in the ground as well.

Seth’s last soccer practice was cancelled due to rain.

I don’t really feel like writing anything and I don’t think I have any pictures to add to this once I post it. Life is life and we’ve all been busy and we’re all alive.

Have a great day.

What does it say?

Well, good morning! I woke up to no electricity. I don’t know, or at least don’t remember, what Quabbin policy is when there is no electricity in an area of the district but I took candles up to Amena and Cedric so they can work on getting ready. The biggest problem in my mind is that I didn’t charge my phone or my laptop during the night so my phone is about dead and I have limited time on my computer. At least I have something.

It is times like this I would like to have a wood stove in the main part of the house because I’d be able to cook some rolled oats or make hot chocolate. As it is, I’d have to build a fire in the basement and if you could see the state of the wood stove in the basement, you would know that the electricity might very well be on by the time I even get everything cleared away that is on or too near it. I didn’t put all the stuff there and I don’t know where it is supposed to be. It is times like this that I wish I’d been here for the remodeling phase for the house. A gas or propane stove would be equally nice but would have required my presence during that phase as well.

Cedric gave me his report paper for PE last night. He got, as I expected, an A. A low A which is somewhat curious, but an A.

There really isn’t much to report from yesterday. Seth and Joseph did school. Amena and Cedric went to school. Joseph had scouts in the afternoon and won’t have any next week because there is no school on Tuesday. I went to Barre to pick Cedric up and he asked if he could watch a soccer game and that he could get a ride home with Ryan. I was slightly annoyed that I’d driven over for nothing but let him stay. Cedric and Seth had scouts but Cedric didn’t go. Amena wanted to go to Walmart between Joseph’s scouts and Seth’s scouts so I took her. I watched a doula webinar while she was in so my laptop was not charged enough to take to boy scouts so I took Seth, dropped him off, came home. While I was home, I took a shower. Then it was about time to go pick him up so I did.

The boys weren’t quite done when I got there so I went inside. Kathy Garland and Chris Barbera were talking in the kitchen area so I went there rather than hang out in the main room. Chris said, “She isn’t even wearing a Star Wars shirt.”

I stood up and held my arms up, “Take another look.”

She looked and laughed and said, “I love it!”

I was wearing my sweatshirt that looks like Chewbacca’s chest. It was pretty funny.

Up for today is more of the same. No scouts but church tonight.

I mentioned Monday change happening and I have to say that I am adjusting to the idea of some of the change but other parts of it I’m extremely apprehensive about because I know there is a potentially huge time factor involved and I really don’t have that much time. Homeschooling Seth and Joseph takes a huge chunk of time. I am able to get some things done while they’re doing their work but there are some things I cannot do because they do need help and guidance. Being involved with cub scouts as the Committee Chair takes a bit of time. Not a ton but an average of an hour or two each week and sometimes more. Finishing up my doula certification is going to take a few hours of my time although that will be done at some point in the fairly near future. Doula work takes some time, especially if someone is in labor during the shifts I sign up for and just because I sign up for the 11 to 7 shifts doesn’t mean that I don’t have to sleep in the morning if I go in which is more time. Midwifery studies take some time. I should be spending at least 16 hours a week on that which boils down to 5.2 hours each weekday (because I don’t do any on Sunday and Saturday’s are usually too crazy to get much done). Every second weekend of every month there are midwifery workshops I need to attend and that takes up my Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon. And then there is church. Soccer and cross country are about done but when they’re going, I have a boy to get to practice and games and another boy to pick up from practice or meets; that takes time. Milking the goats takes time and I do it every day.

So, basically, my weekends are full. My days require at least six hours of school between me and the boys. Add to that the other myriad things that must be done (I didn’t mention cooking or other household chores in my paragraph above), and I really don’t see how I can realistically add another hour or more of preparation for the change. So, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, it’s 6:26 and I don’t know if the bus is going to be here. Have a wonderful day!

And, Laura, have a spectacular birthday! Hard to believe it’s been almost a quarter of a century!

It would be easier to pick a title if I only wrote about one subject.

Good morning! Cedric and Amena are both having a hard time getting going this morning. I didn’t want to get up, either. I didn’t really want to go to bed last night, either, which did not help my not wanting to get up. I suspect that is the problem they are having as well.

Getting ready to put everything in Laura's letterbox.

I had fun cooking yesterday. After I found the brown bread recipe that I used (which is very good, even after spending too much time in the oven), I discovered that there are non-yeast version of brown bread as well. The two that seem to be most prominent are Irish brown bread and Boston brown bread. At least one of them calls for raisins so while I may try whichever one does, I will not be actually adding raisins unless I do to one half for Paul. I might try one of them today. The Boston recipes call for cooking the bread in molds which typically seem to be about 28 ounce to 1 pound cans. One I saw says to bake it, one gets cooked on top of the stove. This would come in handy for people who did not have fireplaces with ovens yet although I’m sure the early settlers did not have one pound coffee cans in which to bake their bread.

Up close of the jack o'lantern. I like the stamp itself more than the image you get after stamping. I'm not sure why but one of these days I might carve another one and replace it.

Yesterday afternoon after Amena got home, we went to pick Cedric up who actually ran more than a mile and was not ready at 3:30 like he thought he would be (so it’s a good thing we didn’t get there any earlier than we did or we’d have been waiting even longer). Once we had him, we went to Joanna and Lincoln’s to meet their new kitten. They aren’t sure if the kitten is a girl or a boy so the kitten doesn’t have a name yet. I looked and, quite frankly, I couldn’t tell. Pretty, though. And spoiled.

Ready to be locked in.

Seth had practice and for practice was a boys against parents game and I was actually mentally prepared for it this time. However, because my boys didn’t want to leave Joanna’s and were being somewhat twerpy, we left late and would have missed most of the game. Not to mention it was also a Meet the Doula night and I really felt like I should go so I would have had to find a ride home for Seth or be really late myself. I ended up being really late, anyway.

Ready to be hid.

The doula program is undergoing major changes. Meredeth stopped working at Heywood Hospital some time ago and she is who got the program going from its inception something like eight or nine years ago and had been working as a doula much longer than that. Now, Karen has resigned her position as the manager of the maternity unit and she was the push for the program from the inside. Not only was she the push, she was the organizer and scheduler and go-to person. Now there is still Paulette. I don’t know what her official title is but she’s like the head honcho over all the nurses. She is a proponent of the doula program as well but acknowledges that she does not know how it was run on a daily basis because Karen did all that. She is still willing to help the program move forward but already had a lot on her plate and with Karen being gone, has even more.

All of the necessary items for Alisha's letterbox. You can see we got new boxes. They are similar, but different. The same size, which I like. The next size bigger would allow for a larger log book but I am of the opinion that really isn't necessary. Maybe someday.

I think the doula program is a valuable asset to the hospital for those women who give birth there. For those of us, like me, who know there is a better way, it still seems overly medicalized. Doulas are great and do provide for laboring and birthing women options that would not likely be available to them, but they are volunteers with no power to do other than what they are specifically allowed to do. I will continue to do my part, and I will be more diligent than I have been for the past few months, but I do not know for how long I will do this. I think there are other options that might be a better fit for me and I think it is time to explore them.

Up close of Numero Uno.

Paul got home safely last night. I’m not sure when but I did notice he was in bed at some point in time. He said that Sunday it was in the high 80s and there were people with parkas on in Arizona. If so, the 51° or so we are expected to get to should feel nice.

Cedric got his report papers yesterday. I can’t really call them cards because they aren’t that any longer. And I shouldn’t say he got all of them because he only got four. I can’t complain about his grades in spite of a C in English. He struggles with that so any sign of improvement is good enough for me. He got Bs in Geography and Science and an A in math. Still to come are Art, Gym, and Spanish. I expect decent grades in each of those.

The moon was even bigger last night. Maybe because it was actually full? It was certainly beautiful, as well.

I won’t comment on Amena’s grades other than to say that procrastination does not pay and her tendency to want everything to be perfect leads to less than perfect grades because too often she turns papers in late.

Now I believe I will be off. It is almost time to watch for the bus and I have many fun things (and many not-so-fun things) to do today. And my Enter key still needs some work. My right pinky is getting tired of having to hit it so many times before it does what it is supposed to.

Have a fantastical day!

Too Cold to be Cozy

Good morning! My Enter key isn’t working the way it ought so sometimes when I think I’ve gone to another line, I haven’t. It is quite annoying.

In the barn this morning, I was thinking about a couple of things. One, dogs are still disgusting, I’ll explain my line of thought in a bit, and two, life is much more simple in a barn.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not what you would call a dog person. I always thought that I liked dogs, and, really, I still do. I especially like dogs that belong to other people. For example, the Vaniman’s have had dogs as long as I can remember and I love their dogs. I like dogs that live outside most of the time. When it’s cold out, yes, the dogs should come in, but generally, I think they should be outside more than in and I think that good fences are a must (or one of those collars that keeps them close to the house). Why? Lots of reasons.

For one thing, and I think this is true only for some dogs but I’m not sure why exactly (it might have to do with the fact that some dogs have hair that keeps growing, must be cut periodically, and doesn’t seem to fall out much, and other dogs have hair that grows to a certain length and then stops, but they shed) smell bad. I have never been a fan of giving a dog a bath and that has not changed.

Second, on the occasion a dog pees or poos in the house, they don’t use a litter box. If you have carpet, I feel sorry for you but at the same time, I don’t. If you have hard wood floor, like we do, all I can say is, I hope the dog doesn’t make a habit of it because it will eventually soak in and then I really feel sorry for you.

Third, and I realize that this is entirely dependent upon the breed and the individual dog, they are too dependent and needy and in your face and have nasty habits (like eating goat and cat poop).

Three is enough.

We currently have only one dog, Misty. She is some kind of spaniel and she has decided that I am her person. This is unfortunate for her because I will never shower upon her the love that Paul does. She is one of those dogs that needs a haircut periodically and could use a bath every week. She is always under foot and has to go and see what I am doing all the time. If I go to the basement and she doesn’t realize I’ve moved from the kitchen, she searches frantically for me until she has found me (which often means I’ve returned to the kitchen). She, being some kind of spaniel, has sinus issues which I understand is a problem with the breed. This means that when she eats or cleans herself, she has trouble breathing and she sounds awful; something like a pig only worse. She likes to pee and poop in the house. I realize that this is partly due to the fact that Paul has had dogs that pee and poop in the house for years. We’ve been here for seven years and I’ve been cleaning up the messes for that long and I know that they were happening much longer because there are three spots in the house where the floor is discolored from it.

In spite of all that, Misty does have a sweet personality.

Cats, on the other hand, have a purpose (catching rodents) and Kitty is very good at it. They generally take care of their pee and poop by either doing them in a litter box or outside and they generally cover them up when done. Joseph has mentioned that it would be nice if dogs did the same thing and I have to agree. I understand that some dogs have a purpose. Some still work on ranches and many are companions for their humans. I don’t know of any cat that regularly needs either a haircut or a bath.

Cats make better midwives because they will observe from a distance and only intervene when necessary whereas a dog will be right there in your face which is often not the best course of action.

Life in the barn is so much simpler. Life is all about survival. While there are alpha and beta animals, everyone generally knows their place in society and for the most part, life gets on pretty well. I generally like barns. I don’t care for our barn but it wasn’t meant to be a barn, it was meant to be a milking parlor and as such has a different set up. Even so, there is an area of the barn that I do like. That part is where the goats live. The goats are my dogs. Each has her or his own personality and each has his or her own way of approaching me. The girls all like to have their heads scratched, especially Snowflake and Goldilocks, and they like to come up and stand close, kind of like they do with each other.

It is raining today so there is a coziness to the barn that is not present even in the house. The house would be helped if there was a fire and if it was less cluttered; clutter to me does not equate cozy. There is no electricity in the barn which is fine with me. Considering the fact that my three youngest boys seem to have a certain affinity to fire, which might be genetic, I probably should not be okay with having a lantern for light but I’d rather have running water in, or at least near, the barn than electricity. There is a window right by the milking stand anyway, so unless it is completely dark, there is some light.

The fact that there are windows, with panes of glass, in the barn is a bone of something, I’m not sure contention is the right word, for me. Barns, in my opinion, should not have panes of glass in the windows; at least not where goats are able to get to them with their feet. Cows are okay with glass. Horses might be but I can see how they might not be. Goats and glass do not equal a good combination. Windows with wooden shutters would be fine.

My only problem with the barn today had to do with the dog. She doesn’t like to go out in the rain but she loves to go out to the barn with me. She loves to eat the goat poop that has managed to get in the walkway. She loves to eat the goat toenails I’ve cut off the goats. Today she felt that it was perfectly acceptable to poop in the walkway. Can I say yuck? Yuck!!! There is a certain smell to the barn that has a lot to do with goats. But to me it isn’t an unpleasant smell (until it’s hot and humid in the summer). Dog poop, on the other hand, is an unpleasant smell no matter the season or humidity.

Good morning! Well, that was yesterday and today I have not been out to milk yet. It isn’t raining, either. But I did just let a brown bundle of over-anxious fur in and she is dancing around acting for all the world like she expects me to feed her when she has ample food and water in her bowls. Silly creature. What she’d really like is to get to Kitty’s food.

A cool little waterway we hadn't noticed last time we visited. The potential near this thing for hiding letterboxes is great. The only drawback is how close to potentially many people it is.

Yesterday  morning I got a phone call that didn’t bode well for my calling as Young Women President. All I will say at the moment is that change is inevitable and sometimes we end up really loving things we think we’ll barely be able to tolerate.

Last night I was perusing Facebook and found a recipe for baked beans. It was an ah ha moment for me because this recipe says to use a bean pot. I’m not sure I’d ever heard of a bean pot before but the really cool thing is that I have not just one, but two! I’d used them for holding sourdough and Amish friendship bread starters but they are not airtight and the bugs got in and so they really didn’t work for those things. I am not sure if Paul knew what they were for because when we arrived here, he had them up on top of the fireplace (I’m not sure you could call it a mantel) sort of as decoration. Now that I know what they are and what they can be used for, I plan on using one today to make baked beans.

Mirror Lake from the south end. I don't know what it is about Massachusetts, and maybe it isn't confined to MA, calling ponds lakes. Okay. Maybe I spoke before I should have. I just looked up the difference between a lake and a pond and the difference is: a pond is a shallow body of water that supports rooted plants throughout while a lake is deep enough that light does not penetrate all the way to the bottom. Given this definition, it appears that a pond could have a very large surface area and a lake could have a very small area. Given the shallowness of the mountains around here, I'm really kind of surprised there is any body of water deep enough to be considered a lake.

Last night after I made this wonderful discovery about bean pots, I went in search of white beans. I could find black beans, pinto beans, even kidney beans, but white beans were being elusive. While I was searching, I found, of all things, a sprouter in a box from Kitty Rolfe. I hope she really meant to have it with the stuff she sent over because I’ve been wanting one and will certainly put it to use. I brought up a jar of mung beans as well and will put those to use probably today as well although it would be good if I can get the house a bit warmer first to encourage growth. I did eventually find white beans and put two pounds on to soak before bed.

While searching for beans, it did occur to me that it might seem odd to some that I would want to make baked beans while we have cans and cans of them in the basement. This is yet another reason why I should be more involved with shopping because I would rather make my own baked beans than have them in a can. The only advantage to cans is that they are already cooked. Beans are so easy to cook and/or bake that I really don’t see that slight advantage as much of one. I’d really prefer to utilize the space by having something I really like and would rather use.

The moon was big and beautiful last night. This is before it was dark, obviously. It was very pretty out and a lovely ending to the day.

Currently I am thinking that Amena is not going to make the bus. She wasn’t up yet when I just went up to tell her it was twenty-five after six and that she only had fifteen minutes in which to get ready. I might be surprised, but given that she now has ten minutes and is just getting clothes out of the drier, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Yesterday afternoon Seth, Joseph and I went letterboxing at Coggshall Park in Fitchburg. I wanted to take Amena and Cedric as well but figured that we’d be able to go to Joanna’s to meet her kitten and could call that Family Home Evening. The only problem with that is that Joanna texted and said that Lincoln’s friends were over watching the Patriot’s game. The only problem with that is that Sunday is often the only day we can all go anywhere together at the same time. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait to meet the kitten and we successfully found one letterbox (we are now up to 32) and planted two (we are now up to four). Today is supposed to be up to 51° and sunny so it would be a lovely day to go hunting for more. If the boys get done with school early, maybe we can go find some of the ones at Dunn Park that we haven’t found or some in south Gardner.

Amena did not miss the bus and now it is time for me to go pay attention to the goats. Have a terrifical day!

Short and Sweet

Good morning! There is a problem with having too many interests. A serious problem. I need to do many things that I enjoy doing and I want to do many things that I enjoy doing. I need to make some liquid soap and some lotion and I want to make note/log books. I’ve been talking myself out of the lotion and liquid soap just because they require me to be in the kitchen (why that is such a terrible thing is beyond me so don’t ask) rather than at the table. I think this is a quandary only during the time the boys are working on school stuff. It’s much easier to answer questions and give instructions if I’m at the table and can see what they need, etc. So, what does this mean? It means that right now is the time to be in the kitchen. What does this mean? I’ll be relatively quick today and probably will finish and post once we’ve begun school stuff.

This is the view from the oven.

Yesterday I printed out the clues for twenty letterboxes in Fitchburg, Gardner, Phillipston, and Princeton. Those in Phillipston are all along one road and were all planted by one person. Those in Gardner I grouped together according to location; there are three groups. Those in Princeton are at Wachusett. The one in Fitchburg is at Coggshall Park and I figure we can find it when we go to plant the two we’re planting tomorrow. Joseph and I looked for three out at Barre Falls Dam yesterday after scouts and only found one. One of them we know we were in the right place because we found specific things mentioned in the clues. The other we know we were in the right place because it’s obvious but we either couldn’t find the specific or the box is missing. I suspect it is missing but could be wrong. We did scour the area pretty thoroughly. At least we found one.

Our fire yesterday felt quite lovely in our chilly house.

I need to look for a couple of socks for my mother that she thinks she may have inadvertently left here. If they are here, I guess I’ll stick them in with her popcorn when we send it. Speaking of popcorn, does anyone want some? We have until Friday to sell it. If you want some and you are far away, I can email you what is available and you could send the money via PayPal.

That’s about it for now, I think. I will now get myself to the kitchen and begin working on lotion and liquid soap. Have a spectacular day! 

I'm Back!

Good morning! I am back!

What a past few weeks we’ve had! Wow! We’ve had lots of everything covering the entire spectrum from really wonderful to really heart/gut wrenching. I am so glad that our family grew by Lincoln and that Joanna found such a wonderful man to spend her life with. I am profoundly sad that our family will not get to meet, at least not in this life, the tiny soul that departed this life before birth. Still, if an unborn babe of just nine weeks gestation does indeed have a soul and is therefore a person, and I believe this to be the case, then our family in heaven is growing and Uncle Daniel is there to lend a hand and provide whatever is needed until the rest of us join them in a few minutes (I’m talking eternal timeline here).

This is a good place to take a picture, yes? Not that I really care what anyone else thinks, anyway. We will continue visiting cemeteries and taking pictures like this one.

When I took Laura and Blaine to the Manchester airport on the 11^th, which was a Sunday, everything went well even though I was very tired and even stopped in the parking lot where I will stop and wait for arrivals. I was thinking I might take a quick nap but after parking and stretching and getting a good drink, I felt pretty okay so I took off and made it home okay.

This has to be one of the most original headstones I've seen. I love it! As you can see, Seth and Joseph liked it as well.

When I took my mom to the Manchester airport yesterday morning, we left half an hour after when I left with Laura and Blaine but otherwise the trip was similar with the exception of my not being so tired. I don’t think the half an hour made a lot of difference, I think it was all about the lack of sleep I’d been getting before the first trip as opposed to that for the week before the second. Which was good because when I got home yesterday, Cedric was sitting at the table eating cereal and he and Amena should have been on the bus ten minutes prior to that. Amena was upstairs. I’d woken them both up at 4:00 and they each had the opportunity to set an alarm but fell asleep before they could do so. Amena woke up at 6:37 and woke Cedric up then. I ended up taking them to school so that was a lot of fun.

I love the flag and what it represents (the freedom part, you know). I love cemeteries. A flag in a cemetery is a beautiful thing.

Other than that, the day was semi-usual. Seth and Joseph did school. I looked at AtlasQuest at some point while they were doing their work and discovered that a new letterbox had been planted in Barre the day before and hadn’t been found yet. That was pretty exciting because we’ve never been the first finder before and potentially could for this box. Since we needed to go watch Cedric run for a cross country meet, I thought we could stop and find the box on the way and thus kill two birds with one stone. And so we did.

This is the start of the race. Cedric is in the dark grey sweatshirt behind the boy with the light grey t-shirt. To me, it looks like he's in a triple tie for 4th here but he insisted that he's in 6th.

Our weather has turned cold and my hands are reflecting this fact. I’ve got quite a few little cut-like owies and patches of red on the backs of my hands and fingers. Lotion helps if it is the right kind so that means I’d better get with the program and make some of the right kind because living with this stuff is not fun.

Coming up on the finish. He was 7th overall which is not bad but not the 4th that was his goal.

My poor mother had to live through a week of cold. Today is supposed to get up to 60 which means the house will be lucky to maintain around 55 so I’m thinking that a fire is in the future for today. Yesterday would have been quite nice out if not for the wind. All the trees are losing their leaves rather quickly because of it and today the leaves are already blowing in it.

The boys and I almost have two new letterboxes to go. They are for Laura and Alisha and are Almost Halloween (guess what her stamp is) and “...to Have a Child. Alisha’s stamp is a banner with “Numero Uno” written on it and a “#1” between the Numero and the Uno. You still have to guess what Laura’s is. At least until I take pictures and therefore take the guess work out of the equation. As long as Paul gives me my tape, we can get at least one of them ready to go today and maybe the second as well; it depends on if we use a container that we already have or if I feel the need to go get one. The box we found yesterday was actually a Talenti gelato container which we have quite a few of. They covered the actual container with black duct tape. Pretty clever. If we do something like that, I’ve got some very colorful duct tape we could use but I’m not sure that would really be the best option because if not hidden well it could potentially stick out like a sore thumb.

Seth had soccer practice as usual for a Monday and although he was about fifteen minutes late, I actually got to write over 600 words on my story. That was very nice. Especially considering that I won’t get to work on it tonight while waiting for the boys at scouts.

And, what is up for today? Well, school, of course, for the boys. I need to get to work on some school stuff as well. I did get materials and plans for the boys done for this week and the next two. Three weeks at a time is not bad. Six was a bit much. I think I should maybe aim for four next time because that’s almost an entire month. For November and December, it’s almost an entire two months. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ll probably work to get everything done up to the end of the year when I do it next time.

Other than that, Joseph has scouts this afternoon. Cedric will need to be picked up from practice. There will be no scouts for Cedric and Seth tonight because for some reason it has been changed to tomorrow night. Probably someone’s work schedule didn’t work. That’s fine other than the fact I will have to find a ride for them to and from because I really need to be at church before 6:30 and won’t be done until after 8:00.

A cool thing that happened this past week was on Saturday. Saturday was an extremely busy day. I wanted to have Joanna and Lincoln over for dinner while my mom was here and we picked Saturday. Then Lincoln’s work schedule changed so he had to work during dinner-time. So Joanna said, “What about lunch?” Lunch? Joseph and I needed to man the popcorn selling at the Post Office from 11:00 until noon and then I was supposed to hurry to church for a Super Saturday activity that actually started at 10:00. “What about breakfast?” Well, that would have to be no later than 8:00 because Seth had a game at 9:00 in Holden. I was ready to say nevermind to popcorn and Super Saturday when Joanna said that would work even though Lincoln didn’t want to get up that early. (I don’t blame him—if I didn’t have to get up early anyway and didn’t have a problem staying in bed, I wouldn’t mind sleeping in until at least 8:00 on a Saturday morning—it just never works for me.)

Friday afternoon my mom and I were going to go to Webs and drop Seth and Joseph off with Joanna but I was just tired of the constant going, going, going and so we didn’t go. Joanna came up with the idea of having them sleep over since she and Lincoln would be coming over for breakfast anyway, so I took my mom and Cedric with me when I took Seth and Joseph over. We all went to Walmart because my mom needed some nuts to snack on and Joanna needed to get some things for dinner. So I ended up driving anyway but not as much as I would have had we gone to Webs. And it was fun visiting Joanna.

Saturday morning I got up at six and got some things going before milking at 7:00 (which I need to do now so this will be ending shortly) and we ended up having breakfast sausage, applesauce, red velvet pancakes (from a box because Paul got them), sour dough pancakes, and chocolate chip pancakes. Seth was late for his game but only by about five minutes (I figure it took us an additional five to get down to the field). They were playing a team they’d lost to before so it was important to all of the boys that they win and they did! It was a good game and the final score was, I believe, 5 to 3.

We went home, Joseph and I changed into scout uniforms, Joanna and Lincoln took off and Joseph and I went to the Post Office. While we were there, an accident happened by the rec field but it was all cleared out by the time we left. When we got home, I got ready to go to church and my mother and I left for there. That was fun and then we went home. We got home by 4:00 and at that point, there was nothing left to do other than stay home and get things done.

And now I must get out and get the milking done. Have a fantastic day!

Tired

I really need to go milk but I really need to express how tired I am. Some of it is residual I think from not enough sleep for a couple of weeks to stay up sewing which is entirely my fault for not planning well enough ahead of time. Some of it is continual from the many things there are for me to do each day including picking children up at various times and places and making sure they get where they need to go and just general logistics period. I will be glad, for purely selfish reasons, when cross country and soccer are over. I am very glad that Seth and Cedric are able to do these things and that they enjoy them; I think it is good for them to have the added social interaction and a good reason to be physically active. I think that too much of a good thing is never good and I’m about at my limit of good.

Last night I was thinking about things and came to the realization that we really don’t do anything as a family. I know that as children get older and have more pulls on their time that it is more and more difficult to find times when everyone is home at the same time. I also know that it is critically important for families to spend regular time together and we just don’t do it. Going to church once a week and having family home evening once a week just doesn’t cut it.

Yesterday I had the boys leave Goldilocks and Twinkletoes in hoping that he would do his thing so that we can have kids in five months. I’m not sure he ever did; I know I never noticed anything more than a lot of tail wagging on her part.

Dogs are disgusting.

Yesterday Amena told me that there are a couple of girls in her grade who think Cedric is hot. Remember that Amena is in 9^th grade; Cedric is in 7^th. Audrey Jeppson overheard them and thought, “That’s Amena’s brother.” So she told Amena about it. Cedric is a good looking boy, no doubt about it. The fact that 9^th grade girls are taking note is disturbing.

And now I’ve got to get out to milk. With any kind of luck, I’ll get this posted so that everyone knows we, including my mother, are all alive and as well as can be expected.

Wow! That's all I can say about it.

Good morning! I’m sure lots of people had fun, exciting days yesterday. I know I sure did. It started at 3:29 am with a 34 second long phone call. “Mom, can you take me to the ER? Lincoln has to work.” Well, yeah, I can. I guess that’s why I went to bed with my clothes on (sweat pants and sweat shirt). I grabbed a few things like my inhaler and water and went to get Joanna. Lincoln called ahead and talked to the OB doctor so he’d know Joanna was on her way and when we got there, she got right in.

Joanna was pretty sure she was going to have a repeat D&C and that is what the doctor suggested. He did an ultrasound and she had a clot that was as large as a normal sized uterus. No wonder she was in pain. He seemed really nice and actually was very truthful when telling Joanna the possible consequences of another D&C. I really appreciated that.

Ultimately, both of Joanna’s trips to the ER are the direct result of the first D&C which appears to not have been properly done along with the fact that she did not respond to the medication she was given to help get everything out. I find that extremely annoying.

As soon as Joanna was able, we got to go home. We ate some breakfast and then I helped Joanna put soap into boxes and tie ribbons around as many boxes as she had ribbon for. Then she went to take a nap. I tried taking a nap but laying down made me cough too much so I sat up. I watched conference and did nap through some of it but got to hear enough to know there were some excellent talks and that I really want to watch them all again.

Joanna woke up during the last speaker and then started doing some laundry. I washed the dishes because if there is one thing I hate when I don’t feel great is dishes. Then, Emily West was going to be there to talk about pictures and Joanna was going to vacuum. I wouldn’t let her do that, silly girl. Besides, it’s been so long since I used a regular vacuum that it was actually kind of fun.

Emily arrived and then Lincoln got home. I’d decided to stay until it was time to leave to pick up Amena. She was supposed to be back to the school at 4:00. She called while I was en route and had to leave a message because my phone was being strange. I had to turn it off and then turn it back on before I could do anything with the touch screen. Anyway, her message was just that they were going to be there in about 45 minutes from when she called which was about 15 minutes before 4:00 so I was going to get to sit and wait for a bit. I was okay with that. The car would be warm from the sun and I was just tired enough that I would be able to have a little nap. And that’s what I did.

When I saw Amena walking toward the car, I didn’t recognize her at first because she was dressed all in black. She never dresses all in black. I asked her if she had any fun and she did not respond favorably. I asked her if there was anything good about the trip at all and she said, “The food?”

“Just the food?”

She considered for a few seconds and nodded, “Yeah.” After a pause, “The bus trip back was okay, too.”

Wow. I guess she won’t be going again. She said that lots of people complained and hated it but once they were on the way home they were all excited and talking about going back next year. Sounds about right. She wants to see if she can drop NJROTC before the end of the school year, though, so I know she won’t be going again. Unless she does something really strange and changes her mind before then.

While we were on our way home, Joanna called. This time, they’d tried to pick up the prescriptions that I dropped off on the way home from the hospital but only one of them was available. The other one, the one Joanna really needed the most, was not available at the pharmacy in Orange. It was in Gardner, though. Would I please pick it up in Gardner and bring it to her? Sure.

So I dropped Amena off, told Paul what I was doing, stopped at the bank to make sure I had enough money to cover it (more about that in a minute), and went to the pharmacy before heading to Orange again. This time the sun was in my face so that was completely different from my morning trip in the dark. I hadn’t had anything to eat since my late breakfast of two sausages so I got myself a bag of peanut M&Ms when I was at the pharmacy and ate half of them on the way. I dropped the pills off, Joanna gave me money to cover them, and I left for home.

Once I got home, I washed enough dishes so I could milk the poor goats and after telling the boys that they get to learn how to milk so that when something like this happens again, the goats won’t be left stranded. Right now it isn’t too bad because they aren’t giving a lot of milk but if they were, it would not have been good at all.

This prescription that Joanna needed was for nine pills. Misoprostol. It is expensive stuff. For those nine pills, they wanted $200. That is over $22 per pill. Can you imagine? Holy crap. Lincoln was able to talk them down to just under $75 and that is even pretty darn expensive. What on earth makes anything worth that much? I know the answer and I don’t like it and I really think it’s time to do something about it. That is absolutely just ridiculous and we, like sheep, just sit back and take it without taking any action to bring about change.

Since the goats were milked 12 hours late yesterday, I’m milking an hour late today. No, there is no logical explanation for this, it is just what is happening. After I milk, I will go move stakes for them and then I will do a few odds and ends sorts of things like laundry before I start sewing. Today we are taking a sewing (think snow) day for school and tacking it on to the end in May. I need to get these dresses done and since they aren’t yet, I want them to be by Wednesday. Joanna’s first, then the others. I want Joanna’s to be done today. There are plenty of things the boys can do to help get ready for Laura, Blaine, and my mom so it isn’t like they’ll be sitting around playing with LEGOs all day.

Have a splendiferous day! (And a huge thanks to all those who have kept Joanna in their thoughts and prayers—it means more than words can say.)

PS I was going to have some pictures for you but the cord for the phone has gone AWOL. I might add some later if I find it and some time.

A Better Deal

Good morning and happy October! Only nine days I can work on Joanna’s dress so guess what I’ll be doing today?

A couple of weeks ago or so Paul mentioned to me the possibility of either Amena attending Gardner High or being homeschooled if she continually misses the bus. Honestly, something does need to change because she’s missed it by so much I’ve had to drive her three times already and we’ve had to catch the bus three times as well I believe. That’s just way too much for this being the sixth week of school.

Yesterday I told Amena that I was not going to take her if she missed again because there was pretty much no fuel in the white Jetta and it would take too long to put it in and I just wasn’t going to, anyway. She was cutting it a bit close but she was moving along and Paul got up (he’s almost never awake before 7:00) and told her about either attending Gardner High or being homeschooled. I just thought, ‘Great, I think things are okay this morning but if that was me, I’d miss it on purpose now.’ You know, me being me. She didn’t miss the bus.

While the boys were working on school, I did some figuring that I’d thought about when Paul mentioned this plan to me but hadn’t taken action on until yesterday. I wanted to figure out exactly how many miles it is to these different places and about how long it takes to get there. This is what I found:

From our house to Quabbin Regional High/Middle School it is 13.7 miles and should take, according to Google Maps, 24 minutes to get there.

From our house to church is 7.4 miles which should take about 17 minutes.

From our house to Gardner high is 6.6 miles which should take about 16 minutes.

So, for a base, if Amena misses the bus, I have to drive 27.4 miles for a total of about 48 minutes.

If Amena were to do homeschool, she would be going to seminary at the church every morning so I would be driving 14.8 miles for about 34 minutes every day. This does not take into account the fact that I would be sitting and waiting for her while she was there unless I wanted to double the miles and time to 29.6 and 68, would have to change my milking schedule, and would not be here when Cedric gets on the bus. This would be 74 miles and 170 minutes (2 hours and 20 minutes) for a regular five-day week.

If Amena were to attend Gardner High, she would still be going to seminary at the church every morning but ought to be able to get a ride from there to school. She would need a ride home every day because although Massachusetts has school choice, if you attend a regular high school like Gardner, you have to provide transportation yourself. That would put daily miles at 28 and time driving at 66 minutes. This would be 140 miles and 330 minutes (5 hours and 30 minutes) for a regular five-day week.

None of this takes into account what would happen on snowy days when there might be school but our driveway might not be plowed. Amena would be missing seminary on those days as well as being late for or missing school unless Paul could either get up early enough to plow or show me how to do it.

I know I have a tendency to over-analyze some things but sometimes I think it is warranted. In this case, Amena missing the bus, even the three times this year I’ve had to take her all the way to school, is a much better deal. I emailed this information to Paul because I knew he would be interested even if he never mentions to me that he read it. Sometimes we have these incorrect perceptions of time and distance and until we really take a look at it, they remain with us. I know I didn’t realize that Quabbin Regional Middle/High School was less than 15 miles away. That’s like driving from McCloud to Mt. Shasta. That’s like driving from where we lived up Highland Flats to Bonners Ferry. Quite honestly, I thought it was more like 20 or 25 miles. And driving to the middle of Gardner, well, I really have nothing to compare that to. It’s like a hop, skip, and a jump.

In other news, school has been going pretty well for Seth and Joseph. They have been managing to get their work done pretty quickly which is nice for working on dresses.

In spite of that, I am behind on Joanna’s dress. Yesterday I needed to clean the dining room so that I could cut Joanna’s dress out and I managed to do so but it really sapped my energy. I think I need to keep track of what I’m eating and make myself eat more. Losing weight is great but I need to be able to function and if I don’t eat, I certainly won’t be able to do that.

Today I really need to get the library cleaned so I can use the iron and ironing board in there. I don’t want to have white skirt dragging on a nasty floor that’s been peed on by a dog too many times to count. Just yesterday she did twice. Once right after I’d emptied the mop bucket from mopping the dining room and once later in the day. I wasn’t pleased either time, especially since she’d been outside just before each incident and then came in and did that. She’ll become an outside dog if it keeps up.

Joanna and Lincoln are using 100 bars of soap as little gifts for the wedding. That’s pretty cool. I thought personalized labels would be nice so I did personalized labels for 20 different kinds of soap. When Seth and Joseph went over to see Joanna Tuesday, we took 20 bars of soap and their labels. I worked on the rest of the labels while Cedric was getting a haircut Tuesday after practice and again while I was waiting for Seth at scouts. When Seth and I got home, I finished them up. When Joanna came over yesterday, I printed the labels out and we went shopping for the rest of the soap. Pretty cool. Joanna says Lincoln thinks I should do one for him since I have some for other family members. He wants his to be Lincoln’s Leather Bars. I’m thinking there might be a market for that.

Right now I’ve got to get out to the goats before getting to work on other stuff. Have a fantastic day!