I Need a Title

Good morning! Right now I am really wondering why on earth I am in Massachusetts. Snow has been falling in the west and people keep posting pictures on Facebook from McCloud and in spite of the recent drought, I think I'd really like to be there. In the west, not necessarily McCloud.

Yesterday I was tired of being cold so we started the fire early, around 9:00, and kept adding wood until after 6:00. We managed to get the temperature of the house up from 52° to 59°. Huge improvement. I expect we'll do something similar today because it didn't warm up over night and while I don't like an overly warm house, I don't like the 50s much either. Well, other than on a summer morning; I like the 50s then. In fact, I remember an occasion when we lived at Oro Fino looking at the thermometer we had outside in the back yard one morning. It was 50° and I thought how interesting it was that in the summer that was quite lovely in the morning but in the winter it feels quite cold. Especially in the house. 50 degrees outside in the winter feels like a heatwave as we recently experienced here.

Yesterday was also an interesting day. Seth and Joseph have been working all day long and not accomplishing the things they ought. Wednesday they did not finish their school work so yesterday they had quite a bit of catching up to do. Yesterday they were at it until bedtime and each one has to finish one math lesson as well as do the one from yesterday.

Wednesday they wanted to know why they don't get half days when the public school, Quabbin anyway, students do. That's an easy one—because they can potentially get the work done in half a day and could have half days every day. In fact, during the first half of the school year, they did. Fairly often. One day they even got done by 10:30 because they wanted to go somewhere with Joanna.

Kitty is just a typical cat. She loves sitting on the hearth where it's warm.

The bus just took off with Amena and Cedric. I probably shouldn't say anything because I might jinx something, but we haven't had a missed bus since Christmas break. I like this. In fact, Amena has been ready and downstairs before time to go out almost every single day. I like this. I like it a lot. And I realize that by actually thinking this, let alone putting it in writing, is a dangerous thing.

Yesterday Amena needed to stay after school to work on a project for one of her classes that she hadn't been able to work on at school. The middle and high school have what they call Flex Blocks. During that time, students can do homework, work on projects, or whatever they need to do. So, typically, she would have been able to work on this project during Flex but because she needed to use the computer lab and it was being used during that time, she wasn't able to. That just means that Joseph and Seth got an almost hour long recess in the afternoon while I was gone.

I can tell that the temperature dropped from the 50s and low 60s we had in December—my hands have all kinds of little owies that soak up the lotion. I'm glad I have lots of good stuff for them. Also, the last winter we lived in Idaho, it was cold, colder than usual for that area, and Joseph got chillblains on his feet. Well, he's got them again now and he isn't enjoying them. Yesterday I had him put some of the wool socks I have that have shrunk too much for me to wear over his regular socks. He complained that they were still itchy and I told him it wasn't the socks. I think he could use some lotion, too. I think I should find out if there are any essential oils good for them and make some lotion with them in it.

In other news, I was looking up more information about Hudson and Greenport in New York. I am thinking more and more that Hudson is not what I want but Greenport could work. There still seem to be too many people around—you can't go far in any direction before running into a road or a house or something. One old house that I wouldn't mind borrowing is just too close to a Walmart Supercenter. I mean, a house that's been empty for approaching 20 years would not be a good thing that near civilization I'm thinking. It just seems to me that it would be an invitation for people who are up to no good.

There is another house that looks promising (I've been thinking that I might steal a house if it is old enough and is in an area that would work for what I want) but I wasn't able to find an exact location last night. I might have to change Susanna's ancestry just a bit if I do end up using something in that area because the land was originally bought from the Mohegan (or Mahican) Indians by the Dutch and if I want the house in my story to retain the history it currently has, it would almost have to have been built by someone who was Dutch. Or not. Always in motion the future, or in this case the past, is. (Yoda said that about the future, just in case you were wondering.)

The fireplace is still pretty warm. I just put wood in so we could start collecting bits and pieces of paper and cardboard for when we start it. I could bake bread if I'd've mixed some up last night. But I didn't so I can't and I don't really feel like making any right now. Although I could make more of the bread I made yesterday morning to go with the fish chowder I made for lunch (that turned out pretty good). On the other hand, it wouldn't be ready to bake for a couple of hours and by that time, I might want to have lit the fire. I don't really want to make bread today. I want to make a lemon pie and maybe a cheesecake. Not bread.

Right now I think I should be moving on to other things. Have a fantastic day!