Three in One

This is just a random picture of Misty from November. She's kind of cute, eh?

9:35 Sunday morning:

Well, we are late for church, for one thing. I'm sitting here doing my best not to be annoyed because I get up, do what needs to be done, you know, like milking the goats, making sure some boys have some breakfast, etc., and then I take a shower. During this time, other people are basically laying in bed wiling away the time either in a book or asleep. Okay, fine, some days I wouldn't mind doing the same. Actually, no, I wouldn't. I don't like laying in bed—my back eventually starts to not like it. Some days, my back starts to not like being in bed while I'm still asleep and I wake up with it aching. Nothing major—getting up and getting moving around always takes care of it. But bed is not my choice of comfortable place to lounge around in. I'm still sitting here, doing my best not to be annoyed because it takes at least 15 minutes to get to church and in spite of the fact that I don't go for social reasons, I do like to go and I absolutely detest being late. For anything. Really.

Last night I had a dream. I am going to name names just because I don't see any reason not to. In this dream, I was visiting Bull and Brenda Chapman in New Mexico. Tanisha and her children were there as were Bull and Brenda's two younger daughters. Raven was not. In this dream, they had just moved into a new house and, oh, my goodness, what a house it was. The ceilings must have been at least ten feet high and at some point Bull and I were having a conversation about how nice that must be in the summer because the heat would all be up by the ceiling leaving the floor a little cooler. Winter might not have been so great but with the addition of a ceiling fan or two, and there might have been one or two that I don't recall from the dream, it wouldn't be bad—especially with the right kind of heat.

The yard was fantastic. It was very New Mexico but the garden was just incredible and they had almost everything you can imagine growing in it. There was a deck that didn't seem like a deck and a grassy area and beyond that, just what I remember all around in Escrito.

It was really fun getting to know the two younger girls because when we left New Mexico, Nevaeh was just a tiny baby. I got to hold her before we left but that's it.

Paul was in the dream and at one point we were outside with a bunch of other people and it was just so. . . I don't know, so just right. So New Mexico. So good to be there.

As evening drew on, there were a bunch of odd creatures that made an appearance and someone referred to some of them as ogres or goblins and someone began throwing things at them. I know that Paul was helping to keep them at bay and someone threw something at one that I knew was not evil. I apologized to him, he looked like a huge version of Blackie, and we all went inside.

Earlier in the day, I'd been helping with laundry and when I went to get a load of clothes out of the drier, they'd been taken out and the washing machine was empty as well. I thought that was odd, but just continued on with what I was doing.

Just before I woke up, I made a comment to someone that I just didn't feel like I belong in Massachusetts and that in my desire to live in the west, I wouldn't even mind living in New Mexico. Wow. That's saying something.

The interesting thing is that while we were living in New Mexico, I'm not sure that I was ever really myself.

Kitty helping the boys with school work Friday. Remember that helping, like all other things, is relative.

10:48 am Monday morning:

Good morning. I will probably, when I get around to posting a post, include my New Mexico dream because I will most likely get around to making more comments about it. In the meantime, Seth and Joseph have math that they did not get done from last week and they did not get it done Saturday and there is no school today so they are getting it done today and Amena has promised them each a Twix if they get done in a reasonable amount of time. I said that 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time and Joseph's is quickly running out. He has to blow his nose too much and he has too many fights with the chair he and Seth both like to sit on. I'm not sure why they like to sit on it and in many ways I wish Paul had never brought it home. It might be good upstairs by the desk in the bedroom, though, if I ever get the bedroom cleaned.

Anyway, I wanted the two boys to do their work separately, as in not at the same time, so Joseph is working on his right now while Seth is over at the computer in the library with Tyler who spent the night last night. Sometimes they work better if there are fewer distractions. Sometimes they make their own distractions.

There is a Martin Luther King, Jr., thing happening today in Fitchburg. It is supposed to be starting at 11:00 which is in five minutes. I don't think we're going to make it. Not just because it starts in five minutes, either.

A guy was supposed to come and look at the furnace because it's been dripping water for weeks. He was supposed to be here at 9:00 and he texted Paul who called him back because Paul doesn't text. I think he could have looked at the text. Maybe he did and just didn't think the information was pertinent to my life. The guy arrived about twenty minutes ago.

Then Paul is supposed to take the white Jetta to the mechanic in Westminster because the wipers stopped working Saturday when I was on my way home from taking Seth and Cedric to the scout swim at the fitness center. That was fun. Especially when it is winter and I have a real issue with a dirty windshield. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go with him. He's home for work today and it sounds like he expects me to go. I was hoping maybe he'd take it over and stick around while Hal looks at it.

I guess the reason the guy was late to look at the furnace is because the first house he went to this morning the furnace blew up in his face and set fire to the house. Fun times that must have been. Paul now has homework to do and the furnace guy has homework to do and they'll touch base this afternoon and see what will be happening next.

Also, I put a load of underwear on to wash so that I could shower and had to wait for the towels in the dryer to finish so I could dry underwear and that was taking forever. Now that the dryer finally finished, Paul is on the phone with Hal and I don't know if we're going to have to leave in the next few minutes or not. If yes, I'll do that and then shower. If no, I'll shower once I'm done helping Seth with his math since Joseph finished.

Seth is adding and subtracting fractions which is something that I've never been crazy about. Not on paper, anyway. When I'm cooking, it's one thing. When it's on paper, it's completely different. Why? I'm not sure other than the fact that it always took forever to figure out the lowest common denominator. Now it isn't such a big deal but when I was Seth's age, I absolutely hated it.

Currently, I'll be leaving to deliver the car as soon as Paul says he's ready to go. I actually told him to let me know when he's ready because otherwise I'll be sitting here forever doing whatever and helping Seth and Paul will end up being annoyed that the car didn't get delivered by noon (it's 11:28). It should be about time because it's been four minutes since I said it was 11:28. I think I'll stop this for now.

6:09 am today:

And today is a Happy Birthday to one of my favorite cousins! I hope you have a fantastic day, David. I'm looking forward to a trip west so we can visit one of these days. Keep a day open the end of July beginning of August, eh?

In case any one is wondering why I might be planning a trip west at that particular time, you can talk to Laura and Blaine. Also, if you want to know why it will be such an interesting time, you can talk to Joanna and Lincoln. I figured that having two girls get married in the same year might lead to two babies the following year. I didn't know this would happen but I knew it could happen. Well, guess what, it is going to happen. Not only the same year, maybe the same month. Not only the same month, maybe the same stinking week. We won't tempt fate more than that because I'd really like to be there for both and since one will be born in Massachusetts and is due on August 3^rd and the other will be born in Utah and is due August 12^th, things could get really, really interesting.

Yesterday afternoon was fun. You know. Sort of. I went through all the socks and matched up what could be and separated out all the soccer socks and shin guards. There is still a third of a basket of mismatched socks and some of them are too small for anyone. As I was going through them, I donated a few to the firestarting pile of papers, boxes, etc. Many of the mismatched ones will be added. I'll give it another couple of days to get all the laundry from everywhere a chance to get washed and then I'm done with this sock basket. Seth and Joseph both need new socks.

Last night once the boys were in bed and mostly quiet, which took almost forever, I started looking up colonial house plans. I know that I had some stuff printed out but I can't find it anywhere. I also know that I've had house plans drawn up for the story I'm working on right now but I likewise can't find them. They're kind of important due to the nature of the story and if I can't find them, I'll have to, get this, start over. The okay thing about this is that I actually learned a few things last night.

This is the Dover edition.

Likewise, I've been reading Child Life in Colonial Times by Alice Morse Earle. It was first published in 1899 so it's interesting not just in the subject matter but in the views of the author. She talks about things “in this century” and she's talking about the 1800s. It is something of a strange thought that this is now two centuries ago even though it is only, you know, maybe 120, 125 years ago. All things are relative.

Some of the practices they had during colonial times were somewhat odd. Some of the things they did which were considered healthy and good for children are decidedly strange. For example, she discusses some of the ideas put forth in the book Thoughts on Education by Locke and published in England in 1690 (on page 17 in Child Life). One such idea was that children should have their feet bathed daily in cold water and that their shoes should be thin enough to leak. She specifically mentions that this does not seem to have harmed Josiah Quincy who was subjected to being dipped three times in freshly drawn cold water in the basement winter and summer. It seems important to note that this occurred in eastern Massachusetts (probably in or near Boston and I know it gets cold in the winter).

Babies died at a much more frequent rate then than now and, really, I wonder how much of that is due to the practice of baptising infants when just a few days old in the sometimes subfreezing temperatures in the winter.

Anyway, interesting book. I have another one ready to go when I'm done called The Cultural Life of the American Colonies by Louis B. Wright. And I think I need to reread one about women's lives in the colonies because I didn't take notes and don't remember any specific details.

As is this.

Right now, after Amena and Cedric successfully got on the bus and I have just about drunk a cup of tea, I am about ready to build a fire. I honestly don't know how Paul has lived in this house at just 50 degrees for so many years. I actually don't know if he did but that lovely 63 degrees we got the house up to is now back down to 51 and I can't say that I'm liking it very much. Maybe he just feels the temperature differently. All I know now is that it currently is 11 degrees and our high is supposed to be 19 today. Yeah. That excites me. It doesn't help that it's windy and I can tell you that the prospect of going out to milk right now is not a very good one.

I think that for now, I'll finish this up and see about finding some pictures to attach and build a fire even if I don't light it yet.

Have an absolutely fantastic day!