A Couple of Days

Wednesday

February 10, 2016

6:39 am

Good morning! I got up and Amena and I covered a couple of lessons and Cedric finally got up and I put some laundry in the drier and more in the washer and then I had some granola while I read. Now the bus has come and collected Amena and Cedric and gone and Paul, Seth, and Joseph are all still abed. If not for the clothes washing and drying, it would be rather quiet which is nice.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. In one of the last books I read, Child Life in Colonial Times, the author mentioned that most journals are worthless when it comes to history because most journals are about the life of the person writing them rather than events happening in the world at the time. While I agree they might not be of value when discussing current events, I do think they have value as they give us a look at things that people thought were important enough to mention. Also, we can learn the history of the time period and put the writing in context and can sometimes glean little things that we wouldn't otherwise be able to. However, keeping this opinion in mind, I was wondering of what value my journals might be years down the road. Do I just talk about things happening in my life? Do I mention current events? If you read this in the QDB, you'll kind of have an idea of what I write about. I write about my life, the lives of my family, and other things as they pertain or are of interest to me or us.

I can tell you I haven't been writing anything about the current state of presidential hopefuls because there isn't a one that I feel good enough about to vote for. I can find something good about almost every single one, and there really are just far too many to begin with, but so much that I'm not comfortable with that would overpower any good. And, in all honesty, there are a couple I would not even consider. Ever.

Yesterday I did read an interesting article about how most people think that the only difference between voting for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton is how you feel about the person; how much you feel he/she can relate to you and vice versa. The reality is that while they are both Democrats, they have very different views and ideas of how things should work. That makes a lot of sense to me. And, just for the record, one of them is one of the two I would not consider voting for under any circumstances.

It is snowing. Little tiny flakes that indicate it is cold outside. Which isn't surprising considering the temperature in the house. It isn't cold, but it certainly isn't overly warm. At least it is warmer than yesterday. Yesterday morning it was very cold because someone had forgotten to close the chimney the night before. I thought Paul had because he'd gone downstairs after checking the fireplace but when I went to open it yesterday and found it already open, discovered that he hadn't.

Joseph is on his way down the stairs and I have laundry to fold. I will see what I can do about covering some current events in the future. Maybe. In the meantime, there is more laundry to wash and dry and fold because, you may recall, the boys cleaned their room and when you have three boys in one room and they clean, it means mountains of laundry that I'm busy with for a week.

Have a terrifical day!

Thursday

February 11, 2016

6:56 am

Today has been similar to yesterday thus far: filled with laundry. Amena and I had our seminary lesson, two, really. She and Cedric both were ready for the bus in plenty of time. I am sitting here with the sounds from clothes washing and drying and I have before me five piles of laundry from two loads already folded. I think I am ready to go back to bed. Paul and Joseph are still abed; Seth is up and about.

Yesterday at close enough to 11:00 to call it 11:00, Joanna called. Her Jeep died and Lincoln was going to give her a ride over here at 10:00 so she could get to the hospital in Greenfield to have her blood drawn at noon and for an appointment with a hematologist at 1:00. Did I have anything going on? No, not really. Could I pick her up and take her? As long as she was okay being late because we needed to get ready to go and as long as having her two youngest brothers with us was okay. Sure. So we left close to 11:30 and got her to the hospital about 12:35.

We sat out in the car while Seth finished up his math because that was all he needed to do in order for them both to be done with school for the day. Other than reading which we saddly didn't get done. When he was done, we decided to go in because there was a huge fish tank in the waiting area for blood draws.

Joanna was in getting her blood drawn when we got in and when she was done, she needed to get right over to hematology. We opted to wait by the fish tank rather than go with her.

When Joanna was all done, we went to Subway for lunch and ate on the way home. Joanna said she thinks it's ridiculous to pay $50 (her copay) to a hematologist in order to be told that she looks good and her blood count is good. I agree.

Joanna also said that a woman tried to cut in front of her when she was waiting to have her blood drawn. The guy came out and said, “We have two Joanne's. Which one is first?” The Joanne said she was but Joanna got up and said her name was clearly first and she clearly wrote Joanna with an 'a' so she said as much, mentioning as well that she had an appointment in five minutes. She got to go in first. Go, Joanna!

We got home just a few minutes before Amena and Cedric. Then Joanna took Amena to the RMV so Amena could take the test for a permit and go to Macy's because Amena had a gift card for there.

Amena passed so she has her permit now which is semi-exciting and they took absolutely forever at Macy's. They didn't get home until after 8:30. Then Joanna needed oil for the car (it tends to suck it up) and she was off for home.

This morning Joanna's plan was to drive to work and then the boys and I will take her home after which should be sometime in the afternoon. She's scheduled to get off at 2:00. That works well with our schedule for the day.

Yesterday afternoon Joseph complained that he was tired. He didn't eat all of his sandwich for lunch and went upstairs to bed not long after we got home. He got up long enough to get ready for me to take him with me to take Cedric and Seth to church but Cedric didn't realize it was Wednesday and didn't think he needed to go and was being really draggy so I left him home and told Joseph to go back to bed. He did. At some point during the night he came and got in bed with me and he came downstairs to let Kitty in but he's back upstairs now. Hopefully lots of sleep is what he needed.

This undershirt is very special and is actually one of two or three remaining. We bought it, and its companions, for Daniel when he was seven or eight and has seen action from him, Cedric, Seth and finally Joseph. He handed it to me yesterday and told me it is too small. We've been collecting clothes he's outgrown to give to a family we know at church whose boys are mostly younger than Joseph but this special shirt has seen so much use and is in such a state of having been born that I don't want to pass it along. Not to mention, it is one of the few things we have that has made it through all four boys. Special.

 

 

I guess you already know our plans for today. Currently it is snowing those little, tiny flakes indicative of very cold temperatures. This weekend it is supposed to be very cold. Amena said the high Saturday is supposed to be something like 10 degrees (Fahrenheit). That is too cold for me, thanks.

Speaking of cold, some people of opined that it's better to be cold than hot because there are only so many clothes you can take off. I would like to submit that there comes a point when it doesn't matter how many clothes you have, they aren't enough to keep you warm. Therefore, I don't think it's better to be one or the other but I would prefer from cool to slightly warm over either extremely hot or cold.

Have a fantastic day!