Today

Good morning! It is a blustery one, here. Wind gusts, bursts of rain, leaves, twigs and small branches strewn in the road; just a lovely kind of day that really seems out of place in June.

Although a wet day, a lovely day.

Today I don’t much feel like writing; I do feel like reading. The problem is that I don’t really feel like reading what I need to be. I have two chapters of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding which isn’t a bad book, and isn’t hard to read, it just isn’t what I’d like to be reading right now. There are SO many books and so little time.

Today Beauty and the Beast is out on DVD. I’m not sure I’ll actually get a copy today, but soon. Very soon.

Today Paul will be returning from the trade show he’s been at in Florida since Saturday.

Today I get to take a friend and her cat to a vet in Townsend.

Today I milked Zoey. I’m in the process of drying her up because she’s got a lump just anterior to her udder on her right side and I just noticed two days ago an odd little bump on her left teat. Time to dry the poor girl up. I didn’t milk yesterday, milked in the evening the day before, and the morning the day before that. After today, I’ll milk her again Thursday morning. Depending upon how she looks then, I may or may not milk again Sunday. And that will be it for now. I’m hoping a trip to a vet might be in the near future.

Today I worked on some sourdough bread. The starter has been just going crazy in the weather so I’ve been doing lots of sourdough stuff. Chocolate sourdough cake, sourdough English muffins (which I might need to do again today), sourdough bread, sourdough pancakes. There really is an almost limitless number of things that can be done with sourdough. I haven’t made sourdough biscuits for about ever; maybe I should do that soon.

Today Amena missed the bus. Not by much and she wasn't the only one. There were two cars ahead of us and she decided to chance it. Well, she made it because the bus drivers own grandkids (did I say that? of course I meant grandchildren) were late. While they were rushing to the road, a car pulled up behind me and another girl ran to the bus. I guess this was just the day to miss the bus.

Today I am tired. Yesterday I went to bed at a reasonable hour; earlier than I’d planned, actually, because my earbuds decided to poop out on me and they needed to be charged. I slept well all night and I woke up at my usual 5:00. I did go back to sleep until 5:30 and then got up. Actually, I think my eyes are tired. I need new glasses.

Today I am done for now. Have a fantabulous one!

Thus It Is

Good morning. My list of things to do today is very short. It has only seven items. The reason for that is because I do not yet know what the day looks like. I will proceed with my list as if I have nothing else to do and hope for the best.

I was waiting for Amena after work.

There are some problems with writing in a journal, electronic or not, with the sole intent of posting on a blog. One of those is that the mundane every day occurrences don’t get recorded. I have so many thoughts and feelings that just don’t get expressed because they are unpopular with someone in my family and probably with some of the people who might read my blog. And that is very sad because it means that I’m not really being me. Julia got her ear full when she was over the other day and I feel bad for dumping on her but it doesn’t seem to me that anyone else, with one exception, really gets it. Still, I should be writing things down somewhere and if not here (meaning the journal, not the blog), where? I don’t know. I do have some entries here, meaning the journal, that are not posted in the blog. And I keep this, the journal, on a password-protected flash drive. I don’t know.

This morning, however, I felt like writing and I almost have to wonder why. And some of the reasons why I won’t be posting on the blog and I’m not sure if I’ll even write them here.

Still, here I am.

We stopped at a cemetery in Gardner for some pictures of the sunset. This picture doesn't do it justice but I thought it was cool, anyway.

It has been a lot of fun watching Maddie. She’s getting so big and learning so many things. She’ll have her first birthday in just one month and ten days from today. Where has the time gone? And Elias is growing, too, but we don’t get to see that. And I miss it.

Anyway, Maddie has started waving good-bye and “Ma-ma-ma-ma” and “Da-da-da-da” have begun to take on meaning. I always listen for Joanna when she comes to pick Maddie up so that we can meet her at the door, and Maddie is learning to expect that. She’s started sucking her thumb when she’s tired but she tries really hard to avoid falling asleep. She just loves to talk and is very animated.

I am so looking forward to seeing together and spending time with her and Elias.

I have been taking a class called Starting and Growing My Business. It is part of the Self-Reliant Services of the Perpetual Education Fund of the church and it is fantastic. I was asked to participate in the class by the facilitator and I of course said I would. I’m pretty sure that he and those who know me very well who are also taking the class thought I’d use the information to do something with soap but that is not the case.

Maddie was having some fruit. I just love the expressions this girl makes.

Everyone makes soap now. I’m not going to stop making it and I might even sell at a Farmer’s Market again if I can find someone willing to work with me, but I’m not going to expect it to take off and pay my bills.

I decided to use the class as an impetus to finish my doula certification and begin working as a doula. My initial goal was to have the course work done and be ready to get my name out there by the end of the class. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would be able to because it seemed like there was so much to do. However, although there was a lot to do, much of what there was I already had at least begun so it was really just a matter of finishing. This week we will have our seventh (of twelve) class and it is theoretically possible I might have everything done by then.

She's so much fun!

At this point, I have only two assignments to complete. For one, I need to finish collecting client evaluations. I have one, two should be in the mail, one I can get done as soon as the two in the mail arrive. That just leaves the fifth which might be a bit more tricky, but I’m going to be optimistic. The other requires attending a breastfeeding class. Since the current unit I am working on for midwifery is breastfeeding, I contacted the director of the doula program and asked if completion of this unit would count and she said it would. So, I have much reading and some assignments to do. If I am able to get lots of reading accomplished in the next couple of days, it is possible. Perhaps not likely, however, since some of the reading is seven chapters of a fairly dry textbook.

Seven-hundred ninety words, a green smoothie later, and 2/3 of my bottle of water later, I believe it is time to be done with this and bid you adieu.

Have a fantastic day!

PS Guess what will be out on DVD tomorrow? 

What does my day look like?

Good morning!

At just a few minutes after 8:00 in the morning, what does my day look like?

Zoey milked and Goldilocks and Zoey fed. It’s a nice morning in the barn this day.

Foggy. And wet. And green. And wet.

Laundry. Piles of it. The boys (think Seth) cleaned their room yesterday. That means I have a mountain of laundry to wash and I’ve been working on it since yesterday afternoon/evening. The couch managed to get rather piled up but I’ve begun making a dent in that. The mountain is slowly shrinking as well so that’s all good.

Dishes. Do they ever end? Don’t answer that. I washed the food processor and thought, “When did I make those lemon bars? Last week?” Because, you know, it seems like that long ago. It was actually just yesterday morning and the food processor just kept not getting washed. Until this morning.

Ice cream. I cooked up a batch of ice cream a couple of days ago. That same day, we froze and ate half of it. Yesterday I was going to freeze the other half but it kept not getting done and not getting done so I did it this morning. Now the frozen glob of yum is in the freezer and the canister is actually washed in back in the freezer awaiting use in not less than 24 hours. We will consume the deliciousness later today.

Hot chocolate. I made some hot chocolate last night because I needed to stay up until the bread I was making was done. I usually start this particular bread before I go to bed and then finish in the morning. I knew I wasn’t going to have enough time this morning so I started it yesterday morning before I left and finished before I went to bed. And you say, “But that’s bread, not hot chocolate.” Yes, partially true. I made some hot chocolate last night and Seth saw it and I told him I’d make some this morning that wasn’t spicy. So I did. See, hot chocolate.

Yogurt. The other day Joseph was using sour cream for something and I mentioned that I don’t really like sour cream. I could certainly live without it. He said, “I like that stuff you make better than sour cream.” What stuff do I make? “You know, the stuff like yogurt.” Oh, that stuff. It’s called Greek yogurt because it’s thick and I sometimes use it in place of sour cream because it’s better for you and tastes better. However, because it is also a more lengthy process, I haven’t made any for a few months. I’ve been just using yogurt for smoothies and a little baking and for that, it doesn’t matter if it’s thick. So I decided to make some Greek. I made some the other day but didn’t let it sit long enough before straining so it mostly isn’t as thick as I’d like. The stuff right next to the towel got nice and thick and as I was licking a blob from my finger I remembered how much I like it. So, more yogurt this morning. Which added to the dishes, along with the hot chocolate, because I emptied three gallon jars with all this milk.

Garbanzos. I put some on to soak last night. This morning they got drained and rinsed and now are simmering away and should be done soon. I’m thinking I should have done more because I really just did enough to marinate in Italian dressing for salads and I really think I’d like to make some hummus. I guess that just means I’ll have to put more on to soak later today. Unless I forget or just don’t get around to it. But while I’m on the subject, why are garbanzo beans in the Mexican or Hispanic section at the store? I don’t remember that being the case anywhere else I’ve lived. It seems to me that they were in the bean section. Are garbanzos Mexican or Hispanic? If you know me, you know I don’t care, I’m just curious because I never thought of them as belonging to any one particular ethnic group.

Now I just have two questions.

One, why on earth am I even telling you this? I’m not sure but I think it has to do with validation. A few months ago I dared to mention to an adult in my life that I didn’t have any time to myself, you know, to be alone, to do something just for me. I was told, “Join the club!” And I thought? “Join the club? What are you talking about?” Because, you know, this day isn’t much different from any day. The specifics are not typically the same but the generalities are. I get up by 5:30 and I’m busy. All day.

Two, is that enough already? I’m thinking it is because the day is still young and there is much more that needs to be done.

Have a fantabulous day!

Last one for today.

Saturday

April 8, 2017

10:13 pm

I should be in bed but I really, really wanted some hot chocolate so I washed some dishes, plugged my ears in, and made some hot chocolate. I’m going to attempt reading shortly but wanted to write a few words beforehand.

This is a wheel (say, what?!) from an old mill along the Burnshirt River in Barre. All pictures in this post were taken along said river or the Ware Rail Trail on April 13. Do you see the evidence of beaver? We also saw a frog but he (or she) didn't show up in the picture.

First, let me briefly tell you about my evening. I’ve been working with the boys to get them in bed by 9:00. It has been a real struggle in past months and there have been nights when I’m on my way to bed not before and often after 10:00 when one or more of them has been perusing the kitchen for a snack or making that one last trip to the bathroom. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve done better at having dinner ready for them as close to 6:00 as possible. That gives enough time after to get some things done. It isn’t perfected and there are some nights when we don’t eat until 7:00 but there are some nights when we just browse. Dinner time is a work in progress.

Still, we’ve met with a fair amount of success in three boys in bed by 9:00. Cedric has had a couple of nights when he stayed up later getting help with homework. Last night I don’t know when they were in bed because I didn’t get home until after 11:00 but the night before, they were in bed by 9:00. Tonight, I was leaving at 8:00 to pick Amena up in Hardwick. Seth and Joseph actually wanted to be in bed by 9:00 so I set the timer for 8:50 with instructions to turn the timer off, brush teeth, and get to bed since I wouldn’t be back yet by then. When I got home around 9:15, not only were they in bed, they were asleep!

Beaver dams like you wouldn't believe! There were four although you can only see two here.

Now let me tell you about my day yesterday. It was LONG, but good. I got up at 5:00 to make sure Amena and Cedric were getting ready then went back to bed and got up for good at 5:30. I made smoothies but no hot chocolate because both Amena and Cedric left the Thermos-type containers they use for it at school. I made bacon cheddar chive muffins so there would be some ready-made food in the house while I was gone. I milked and took care of the goats while the muffins were in the oven. I showered and got ready for my day including two 5-gallon (which are never completely full) containers of fuel in the car (that was before the shower).

I gave Seth and Joseph instructions for the day and then took off at about 8:10 am. After approximately five hours and forty-four minutes of driving approximately 253 miles, one prenatal, two postpartum, and one initial visits (which took at least an hour each), a quick stop at Chipotles for dinner (very late at 9:30), and a couple of hours of paperwork, I arrived home at about 11:30 pm. LONG day. But good.

River debris made for interesting ripple patterns.

Let me tell you about Wednesday. It was a good day, as well, although different. There were two postpartum visits that day which required a bit of driving as well but not as much as yesterday although we visited two states rather than all in one. The really interesting thing about Wednesday happened on the way home. Katie got a flat tire. It wasn’t in the greatest spot but not the worst, either. She has AAA which is nice and we basically just got to sit and wait for a truck to come. While we were waiting, I espied a tree that looked like the perfect candidate for a letterbox. It looked like it had a hollow at the base with a large rock guarding the front. Finally, I said, “That tree is calling to me. I need to go take a look.” And I opened the door to get out.

Katie said, “No, you can’t go.” She explained, “I’m afraid I’ll get hit while I’m in the car. It’ll be like one of those reports you hear when the person survived because she felt like she needed to get out of the car. I’m getting out, too.”

She got out and I was on my way up the hill to the tree when she spotted the truck and it was time to get ready to leave.

Sometimes I just have to wonder what might happen if the choices we make were different. What if I’d just have gotten out of the car and gone up the hill? What if I’d driven to that appointment as I’d considered doing so I could plant a couple of letterboxes on the way home? It might be a silly game but it’s an interesting silly game nonetheless.

When I got home, I had taxi duty to do. Amena to pick up in Orange so she could leave her car to be worked on again and then to take her to work. Cedric and I had a mandatory meeting for the DC trip which is next week. Then picking Amena up from work. When I got home for good, it was around 8:00 and I had a headache because my water consumption was far less than it ought to have been. I had some tea and lots of water and by 9:00, the headache was almost gone.

Then Paul got home. As soon as he walked in the door, the headache was raging again. I washed a few more dishes and then decided I’d had enough and went to bed. The boys, as you may recall, were already in bed.

I laid in bed attempting to get comfortable but my head was not having anything to do with that. It was up and down to use the bathroom (all the water and tea had to get out), and then attempt getting comfortable again for about four hours. At 1:30 I got up and looked at my phone hoping it wasn’t too late because I still wanted to sleep. It wasn’t too late, but my head still hurt. Still, that was the last wake up until just before my 5:00 alarm went off. The headache was almost gone at that point so I went back to bed, I think, until 5:30 at which time I got up to do smoothies and hot chocolate because at that point, only Amena had forgotten her Thermos-type container at school.

They were not happy to have this taken but I wanted to compare it to one we took by the same sign last year or the year before.

And there you have a few interesting days. I was going to drink hot chocolate and read Darth Plagueis and listen to Billy Idol or Journey or something but this is taking longer than I thought it would so I’m going to call one cup of hot chocolate and almost 1120 words good for the night. Especially since it’s way past my bedtime and it doesn’t matter how much I’d like to sleep in, it never happens. 

Another month almost gone since

Friday

March 31, 2017

6:07 am

Good morning. My headache Monday was gone relatively soon. I had a cup of tea, some water, and then was fine. I also made sure to keep hydrated throughout the day because I knew the following day would be a long one and I did not want a headache all day while travelling about.

Tuesday was busy. First we went to Boxboro. While there, we got a call that a client in South Hampton was in labor and she is a fast one. That was fun. After mama and baby were all settled in, it was back to Haverhill for another appointment. I think there may have been something scheduled after that but I don’t remember for sure. If there was, it was rescheduled.

Wednesday was busy. Appointments way up in New Hampshire and Vermont and then diving down to South Hampton. There was a little break because one had to reschedule but then there was that appointment that had to be rescheduled from the day before. So, yes there was another one.

Both long days. Tuesday, I left the house by 7:45 because I needed to meet the sister missionaries to give Sister Chavez the log of soap she’d helped make (she watched it be made and paid for it which is huge help some days) and have her write in my missionary journal because she left us this week. She was only here for six weeks; I hope she gets to come back before she goes home.

The moon was really big and pretty. This is from April 10 (very early in the morning), when Cedric needed to be to the school between 5:00 and 5:15 am.

Katie was running late so I got a little reading done while I waited for her. The church parking lot is a good meeting place when we go east. Anyway, that day, I didn’t get home until after 9 pm.

Wednesday I had to milk early because I needed to leave no later than 7:00 which is when I’ve been milking as of late. I got to Katie’s five minutes later than I wanted because I left the house at 7:03 and there were a couple of slow moving vehicles in my way. It was another long day but I was able to get to Gardner in time to pick Amena up at 8:00 when she got off work.

Yesterday was a lot of catch up with Seth and Joseph. Seth had done some of his math but Joseph had done just about none of his. We got to have Maddie in the morning and early afternoon so Lincoln and Joanna could run some errands including a new phone for Joanna because hers was wigging out and being unpredictable.

Maddie is just getting cuter and bigger all the time. Do we notice these things in our grandchildren more than we do in our children? I am thinking that we do although those darn children just don’t stop. Maddie is almost an accomplished crawler which means we really need to clean house. She’s getting super good at giving hugs and loves animals. Joseph and I took her out to see the goats yesterday. Goldilocks didn’t come out but Zoey did. Zoey was curious about Maddie and Maddie was curious about Zoey. I wish we had some kids; I think Maddie would love to play with them soon.

Joseph wonders what kind of vehicles they might use without wheels. We decided it must be hovercraft of some kind. Or a sled. This is also from April 10, but obviously much later in the day.

My plan for the afternoon was to go get Cedric from school, stop at the library to drop off movies and get new ones, go to whichever town it is that we go to for Seth’s eye doctor (the one I thought was in Lancaster but discovered it is actually Leominster, I think) and get Seth’s new glasses, and then come home and relax. It is good to have plans but it is good to be flexible.

Cedric said he wanted a ride before Lincoln and Joanna were back for Maddie and I didn’t want to take her. Then Diana Chunn stopped by for a quickish visit. Then Lincoln and Joanna got back with a new phone. I just love Maddie’s reaction to seeing either of her parents. She is a pretty happy and smiley baby but when she sees one of them she just absolutely beams! It is beautiful.

Cedric ended up going to Jacob’s and wanted to be picked up first at 5:30, then 6:00. Seth, Joseph, and I went to the library at about 4:45 and I figured that we’d take care of the whole movie swap and then head over to pick him up. That worked out pretty well. When we got home, I cooked rice and sausages for dinner because they required very little thought.

No glasses for Seth. The morning, however was pretty busy. Amena wanted me to take her to Joanna’s so she could pick up her car. When I’d picked her up the night before, she said I could take her then or in the morning. I’d already been in a car for hours Wednesday evening so I wasn’t really in any mood to be in a car for another hour. I don’t mind getting up early and I didn’t have to get up any earlier than I normally do. The problem is that because Amena was making the arrangements, I thought that she would have made arrangements with Joanna and/or Lincoln for the keys to the car. When we were on our way she said, “Did you call Joanna to tell her we’re coming?”

Um, no. Not my deal, dude.

So she called. And woke them up. They put the keys on the porch so Amena wouldn’t have to knock on the door and make Lucy bark. When Lincoln and Joanna got here with Maddie, we were talking about the morning and Lincoln was understandably annoyed that they’d been woken up when Amena could have talked to them the day before to arrange to have the keys on the porch already. Or something. Like, she could have been patient and then Joanna and Lincoln could have dropped the car of when they brought Maddie over. Amena had her plans all laid out but just forgot to keep everyone else in the loop. A common enough problem, I guess, and one we all need to work on to some degree or another.

When I got home and showered, I put two containers of fuel in the car and three in the house. Then we started on school for the boys.

Today the world (the northeast) is afraid of the storm that is coming and is going to drop anywhere from 3 inches to a foot of snow on us between now and tomorrow morning. Quabbin decided to go for an early release today and from comments I saw on Facebook last night, they aren’t the only school district around to do so.

In a few minutes, I will go milk and take care of the goats. Then I’ll shower and then the boys and I will go to get Seth’s new glasses. Then we’ll do school and see how the day progresses from there. Paul gets to go have another procedure done to/for his kidney stone. It is quite likely that all members of my extended family to whom he speaks on a more regular basis that he does to me or I to them know more about what is happening than I do so I won’t bother to tell you more since that’s all I know anyway and you probably know more.

Have a fantastic day! 

It's a good thing some people have hard heads...

Good morning. People around here can sleep through anything. It’s kind of interesting.

Last night I had a pile of towels on the floor in front of the upstairs bathroom. Last night I neglected to put the dog in her crate.

This morning I got up at 5:00 to make sure Cedric was awake and getting up to get ready for school. I knew the towels were there but did not know the dog would be, although I suppose I should have because she has a penchant for sleeping on dirty clothes. I did not turn any lights on because I like to avoid lights when I’m just getting up in the morning. If I have lights on, I usually have my eyes shut. No lights this morning.

Kitty and Maddie in the backyard on April 10th. I think it is safe to say we all had a good day outside that day.

Towels, dog, dark. Bad combination.  I tripped and fell and hit my head on the bookshelf between bedroom doors. I also landed on my left upper thigh which is going to have a bruise because I’m not sure where my arnica is. I need to organize my stuff.

Anyway, I had to change some clothes because I also often use the bathroom when I get up at 5:00 and I needed to today. Perhaps needless to say and perhaps TMI, I kind of didn’t make it to the bathroom. I kind of just went when I landed.

Pond at Lake Wampanoag Wildlife Sanctuary in Gardner. Joseph, Seth, Maddie, Tyler, and I went with the Brinker family for a Cub Scout hike on April 22.

So, I changed, got a washrag to see if I was bleeding (I was), and went to look up signs and symptoms of a concussion (my head hurts but no more than my leg and I have no other signs so I think it’s all good). Then I decided to see if I could somehow see through my hair to my scalp. I was successful. There is a gash there and although it’s about an inch and a half long, it isn’t gaping so I just held a washrag on it until I went outside to take care of the goats and then I just put a hat on (thanks, Grandma) to hold the washrag in place. No problem.

I did decide to not go to my business class this morning. I will read the material and do the activities and report to my action partner. And I’m sure we’ll have no trouble at all eating the chocolate zucchini rum cake I made to take.

I think this cutie pie had fun. I forgot the pack so I had to carry her so thank goodness it was only 1.26 miles and she is less than 20 pounds.

Still, I really, really, really want to go see Beauty and the Beast again today and Joseph and I should go to the Pack Meeting tonight.

At any rate, Cedric is the only one who heard anything that went on in the hall. Along with everything else, I also knocked over a folded fold-up table. And later, Joseph is the only one who noticed my bloody washrag on the table. He is also the only one who asked if I was going to my class. Yay for 15-year-olds who were already awake and observant 10-year-olds.

I took a shower after taking care of the goats but did not wash my hair. Currently the day is almost like any other. And yet very unlike any other. In other words, it’s uniform in its complete uniqueness.

I hope you have a uniformly unique day!

Sweetness

I’m sitting here long enough to finish my smoothie and possibly tea. Then I’m off to the shower because I don’t like living my life in pajamas—or the sweat pants and shirt that pass for pajamas.

Speaking of smoothies, I met with success this morning in making a single-serving-size. Most mornings one is not enough because Paul, Amena, Cedric, and I almost always have one when I make them. Seth and Joseph sometimes do. That means I can’t just do it all in one go. That means I usually have to do two. The problem is that when I do that, I usually have extra left over the next day which means I don’t have to make quite as much but it’s sometimes hard to gauge. Anyway, I just needed enough for mine this morning for the second one and I actually made just the right amount.

Paul went to the hospital Friday to have his kidney stone blasted so he’s been pretty sore since then. Sore and sleepy. In spite of that, he really wanted to go shopping Saturday (I still hold with my opinion that he’s addicted). He did not go to church yesterday. In fact, when I left, he was in bed asleep. He’s supposed to call the doctor today and find out what is going on because they apparently didn’t give him any discharge papers.

Seth went on a scout camp out for the weekend and can’t keep his story straight as to if he had fun or not. I think he mostly did but there were a couple of things that were annoying. Such as the behavior of one of the younger scouts. Or maybe two. He did bring home an interesting story. He said, and I hope this is a joke, that Mr. Carrignan is going to step down as Scoutmaster next year and that the principal of Hubbardston Center School would be filling that role. If it is not a joke, Seth has my permission to quit scouts. Maybe not quit altogether, but certainly not continue with Pack 12. I hope it is a joke.

Tyler came over Friday night and we kept him Saturday as well. I think it was good for him and Joseph to be able to have time with Seth gone. Seth and Joseph are inseparable and it is good for them to have activities that don’t include the other upon occasion.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening with Katie. There was an interview first which was lovely. Seriously. I love meeting people who are invested in having a good pregnancy and birth experience; people who are invested in giving their child the best beginning they can. Any time I begin to doubt myself and this path I have chosen to be on, I just have to think about all the amazing women and families I’ve met and I know it is right.

This is perhaps the sweetest gift I have ever received from someone to whom I am not related. It is the footprint of a sweet baby girl and a clear quartz crystal necklace. 

After the interview were two postnatal visits. Those are amazing things. Especially for first-time mama’s, the transition to motherhood and becoming a family of three (or more) is just an incredible thing.

I got home late—after 9:00—and almost everyone was in bed. Which is good. Once I did a few things, I went to bed as well and thought I was going to have to plug my ears in because Paul started munching away on some cereal and I can tell you that that is very loud when you want to get to sleep. I decided to attempt slumber without the aid of music in my ears, and was successful.

The only problem this morning, well, two really, was that I woke up with a headache. I rather thought I would because I didn’t have nearly enough fluids yesterday (hence the tea, which is my second cup) before a shower this morning. It wouldn’t have been that bad because I’d been really good Saturday with water and tea and hot chocolate consumption but Friday I’d been awful. Still, it is interesting that as soon as I left the bedroom to use the bathroom, it was better. When I went back to bed before waking up or checking on Amena and Cedric, it was bad again. Then when I left the bedroom to wake or check, it was better again. When I went back to bed for my extra 25 minutes, it was bad. Then I got up for good and it was better. I wonder if it’s the bedroom or laying down. I don’t want to experiment right now so I’m afraid we might never know. I do have my suspicions, though.

The other problem is that Amena missed the bus by about 30 seconds so we had to play catch-the-bus which is always a load of fun. It was raining (still is now) so naturally I turned on the wipers. Once we caught the bus and I was almost home, the wipers decided to stop working. I’ve got no time for this crap, let me tell you.

And now my tea is just about done and I’ve managed to fill up a page I’m going to be off to shower.

Have a wonderful day!

Cars and Driveways and Dreams

This is still the same day but tomorrow morning Amena has an appointment at 8:00 am with an oral surgeon in Worcester so I’m not going to have much time in the morning and I might not have much time in the early afternoon if she gets right in and it doesn’t take too long. So, I’m going to talk about the driveway.

Yesterday Amena went with Lincoln and Joanna to get her first car. That’s a pretty big deal, in my book. It is my belief that it will make my life much easier because I won’t have to perform taxi services for Amena anymore. If she misses the bus, she can drive to school. She can take herself to and from work. If she needs to stay after school to work on something, she can do it. If she wants to go visit someone, she can. It won’t matter that I won’t be home; she’ll be able to do what needs to be done and I won’t have to worry about finding or helping her find a ride. Believe me when I say I am totally and completely okay with her having a car.

Amena's new car from the shovel path. There is room for another car.

She got home yesterday and parked in the driveway. She and her brothers went to bed.

Paul got home. He called me while he was outside still to let me know there was a car in the driveway. “It’s Amena’s,” I said.

“Oh. Well, she’s going to be blocked in.”

“That’s okay.” She wasn’t planning on going anywhere until after school anyway because it still needed an inspection.

“I’ve got groceries. I can’t bring them all in.” He isn’t supposed to lift anything heavier than ten pounds.

This one I took from the driveway by the mailbox. I suppose it probably looked much different in the dark. Especially to someone who admits his night vision is not good.

“Are they perishable?”

“I can bring almost everything but not…..” I didn’t hear what the not was. “I just don’t want it to freeze.” Understandable. It was supposed to get down to 27° last night; I’m not sure it did but if not, it was pretty close. This morning I went out to see what didn’t get brought in and it was a gallon jar of pickles. There’s so much vinegar and salt in those it would take colder temperatures to freeze it; they were fine.

He came in and I already knew he needed to eat because he was grumpy. That’s the way it works. He expressed doubts and misgivings about Amena having a car, especially in light of the email from her teacher a few days ago indicating that she was failing English.

It is very hard to talk to him when he is in one of these hunger induced moods. Nothing is good enough and I always make excuses for the children. I try to listen to what he’s saying and respond as best I can but I’m afraid I fail because, as I mentioned, nothing is good enough.

He said that she needs to learn how to park and that if people want to park, they need to shovel so there is room because “there isn’t any room to park down there.” I admittedly hadn’t gone out to see exactly how she parked but I knew where I parked the white car and I knew that when he left for work, he moved the silver car to the other side of the white one so he could take the blue one. Even with an additional car, there should have been plenty of room. I did go out later to get something I’d left in the car and it didn’t seem to me that there was any lack of space or that more shoveling really needed to be done. Of course, different people do have different perspectives.

Anyway, just a rather unpleasant late evening.

I went to bed once I had submitted an assignment for Third Stage Management and took (and got 100%) on the quiz for that unit. It didn’t take long to get to sleep because I was tired.

Just before my 5:00 alarm went off, I had a dream and I'm pretty sure in was very influenced by the verbal exchange before I went to bed.

We had moved into a different house. It had a long hallway and all the bedrooms were off it. Amena had just painted her room so that it was white at the top by the ceiling, blue at the bottom, and they blended together a little higher than half-way up the walls. It looked really cool. There was one room that was a cluttered mess and from the looks of it, the mess wasn’t anything that belonged to me, Amena, or the boys and it didn’t look like anything that would be Paul’s either.

I was out in the garden one afternoon (that looked very much like the one we had in Greenview the summer before Laura was born) and was picking some carrots and asked Amena if she could get one particular one for me. It was out of my reach and I think I had Maddie with me. Amena said she couldn’t get it because she had zero specific gravity. I have no idea if that actually means anything but in my dream, it meant that she was pregnant but was probably going to lose the baby. I wasn’t about to tell anyone else, though, even though I wanted to at least tell Joanna and Laura.

Later, we were in the house and Paul was upset. He was really letting Amena have all kinds of heck about getting a car. He said that although she may have earned the ability to get the car, that didn’t mean she had earned the ability to drive it. I don’t really remember Amena saying anything but she was certainly getting angry and she ended up leaving with Lincoln and Joanna who were both at the house. My mom or Laura was there as well, but I’m not quite sure which one it was.

At that point, I needed to use the bathroom and if I have to in a dream, it means I have to for real. My alarm went off and I got up. Amena was already in the shower so I went downstairs to use the bathroom. I made sure Cedric was awake and then I went back to bed for a few minutes.

Due to the nature of the dream, there was no way I was going to get back to sleep so I got up for good at 5:20. I started the whole smoothie and hot chocolate morning routine and waited for Amena to be done in the bathroom.

I did want to tell Amena about this dream because she figured so prominently in it so once she was dressed, I did. When I told her she was pregnant I said, “And that wasn’t the worst thing,” and she made an entirely appropriate face which is somewhat beyond description. That was funny.

Other than the strange dream, it was a pretty good day. The boys got their work done pretty well. We started reading a book for science about Marie Curie. The introduction wasn’t that exciting even though the author attempted to add some humor.

Seth and I did do a bit of shoveling. It was so nice out that the three of us agreed it was too nice to be inside.

When Amena got home, I went with her for the inspection. The car failed but she ought to be able to take it to the place she got it and they ought to fix it for her. If not, she now knows what she can do about it. Then we went to the credit union and then home.

Seth had scouts tonight and is all set to go on the campout this weekend. It sounds like fun to me and I need to remember to email someone something about that.

And now it’s time for me to get myself to bed so I’ll be off and hopefully this will be posted in the early am tomorrow.

Have a terrifical day!

A Bit of Catching Up

My last post was written the day before a huge blizzard was expected. Now we are a week post huge blizzard.

That Sunday Paul stayed home, Cedric had spent the night at Jacob’s. I was going to pick him up at 8:00 like I usually do Sunday morning but I wasn’t home at 8:00 am. He stayed at Jacob’s until around 5 that afternoon. Seth and Joseph got a ride to church with Jeremy West. Amena wasn’t ready in time and thought that if Cedric didn’t have to go to church, she shouldn’t have to, either. At least, that’s the story I heard. Her version was similar but she’d planned to go with Joanna to look at a car so she left sometime between 11 and 12.

I got home relatively early. The labor ended with a placental abruption and trip to the hospital. I did not go to the hospital but did go home. I had to milk a poor Zoey and feed and water the goats. Then I took a shower. By the time I felt sort of human, it was pretty late and so I didn’t get to church at all.

I like to take the leftover wax and make new candles, if you recall. Sometimes it wrinkles up and looks really cool. This is from the 15th I think.

Monday not much happened. Because of the expected huge blizzard, school was cancelled for Tuesday and a two-hour delay scheduled for Wednesday. Because of this, many plans were made for sleeping over here and there. Cedric went to Jacob’s. Amena and a friend went to another friend’s. I warned both of them that if roads weren’t good Tuesday evening, I wouldn’t be picking anyone up. Of course, they were both okay with that. I think roads were possibly passible by the time it was five or six but it was dark and the driveway wasn’t plowed or shoveled and I wasn’t going to go out and do that then.

Tuesday morning I got up at 4:30 and shoveled enough to get the white car out of the driveway. My plan was to pick Amena up in Hardwick at 5:30 and Cedric up at Jacob’s at 6:00. However, it took longer to shovel than I realized it would so I started almost 15 minutes late. The roads weren’t bad, except in Barre, but they weren’t good enough to drive very fast so it took the whole 45 minutes to get to Hardwick. By then it was 6:00 and it took about 30 minutes or so to get back to Hubbardston. Still, even though everything was slower and later than I’d wanted, it was still pretty okay.

All five boys playing Risk. Ryan was actually just playing with the pieces but still, it was pretty cool.

Tyler and Ryan spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights here so we still had four younglings around. They had a two-hour delay as well, but their mother decided to let them skip school. I wasn’t even going to attempt having Seth and Joseph do school work with Tyler and Ryan acting as distractions so we had two days off school.

Paul almost didn’t go to work Wednesday but ended up going after all. The roads were pretty decent by the time he left.

I think there was something up Thursday and something up Friday but they were so long ago I don’t remember for sure and I just finished printing out my planner for this year this morning so needless to say I don’t have anything written down for them. Lame, I know, but it’s what I’ve got so it’s what I’m going with.

Friday night Seth and Joseph stayed at Tyler and Ryan’s and Cedric was at Jacob’s so when Maddie arrived Saturday morning, only Auntie Amena was here. That was okay. And, actually, Amena and I went to Friendley’s to meet Joanna and get Maddie because Joanna was running late. Amena drove Joanna’s car and Maddie home so, like most Saturday’s, she could drive Joanna’s car to work.

Is she not the cutest? This and the next are from Saturday.

Maddie is super cute, as always, and we always have fun with her when she’s here. She’s getting so big!

She's getting really good at picking up small objects and getting them to her mouth. These small objects were food so it was all good.

Sunday was an interesting day. There were three prenatals I wanted to go to but I felt somewhat sick to my stomach with a bit of diarrhea thrown in so I ended up not going. Amena wasn’t ready to go when I was and Cedric was being difficult and basically refusing to go so they were left at home. Paul hadn’t been sure if he was going to go to his meetings or not but ended up leaving in time to get there only a few minutes late.

Going back just a bit, Paul and I were asked to help chaperone a dance at church Saturday evening. We ended up not and that’s an interesting story in and of itself. I might elaborate another time.

Paul instead went shopping even though he didn’t have to. That is kind of part of the same interesting story so perhaps more another time.

Amena and I went to Hardwick to pick up a friend so she could sleep over (which is partly why Amena wasn’t ready to go in time on Sunday). We also picked Cedric up from Jacob’s on the way home. We got home close to 11:00. Joseph was still wandering around, Seth was in bed sounding a bit like he’d like to be asleep. Paul was in his chair. By the time I figured this all out, it was 11:00 and Paul said he’d asked Seth to bring in groceries half an hour ago. At 10:30? Really? Yikes! That’s really when I figured out that Seth was half asleep. I decided to just bring stuff in myself and mentioned on my way out that I’d told the boys to go to bed at 9:00. I got the perishables put away but left the rest on the couch in the living room.

Then I went to bed. I think. I’d wanted to go to bed as soon as I got home from taxi service but that didn’t happen. I’m glad that I don’t have to get up at 5 or 5:30 on Sunday mornings.

Sunday afternoon, Seth and Joseph helped to varying degrees to make lemon bars, lemon pie filling, lemon poppy seed muffins, and lemon sherbet. Except that none of them were exclusively lemon and some were exclusively lime. Still, good stuff, you know? We had tacos for lunch and I made hot chocolate for dinner. Except for the intestinal problems, it was an okay afternoon.

And that gets us almost caught up to date. I was going to do that but I think it might happen later. Not now.

Have a splendiferous day or week or year or whatever!

If you think it is cold in the house...

This is from a week and a day ago but some of it I felt needed to be out there so that events coming up make more sense.

March 13, 2017

8:14 am

If you think it is cold in the house…

…go spend some quality time in the barn with the goats.

If you think you already feel like crap and want to live on smoothies and tea all day…

…go out to the barn and remember that you need to move the huge round bale of hay to get to the remnants of the last one from last year before it’s only good for bedding. While you are doing that, make sure you breathe in lots of the dust from the hay so that you are assured of coughing and possibly having an asthma attack.

Good morning. Other than the cold and feeling like crap, which I can’t really admit to because everyone else either feels worse or has other things going on, life is okay. Not fantastic or even great, but okay.

My smoothie is good, albeit cold, and my tea, which I have to share with Kitty, is hot. Actually, it is no longer hot. It was hot before I went out to milk. Now it’s tepid at best. It is still good, though, and my smoothie is still cold. It’s 50 degrees in the house. Not much that is warm is going to stay that way for long. At least, well, never mind that thought.

In other news, Paul went to the doctor last Tuesday because he was having some pretty good pain. The doctor sent him in for a cat scan. That revealed a rather large kidney stone (9 mm). Heywood in Gardner sent him to UMass Memorial in Worcester. He had a stent put in Thursday evening after laying in the hospital all day Wednesday and most of the day Thursday. Friday morning his boss picked him up and took him to work where he worked for a bit. Devon brought him home Friday evening.

Tuesday Seth, Joseph, and I went to see the LEGO Batman Movie. It was worth the watch. It was funny and even has some good life lessons. However, while at the theater, my phone slipped off my lap onto the floor which apparently caused the screen to become unresponsive to touch. Paul called me at some point Tuesday but I couldn’t answer. My phone went nuts with calls and texts Tuesday evening; I could see who was calling and texting but I could not answer or respond.

Joanna finally let me know what was going on with Paul via Facebook Messenger. I went down to Worcester and ended up waiting for Paul at the wrong hospital for about an hour. That was fun. I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten dinner and was thirsty so I got a bag of CheezIts and a bottle of water. $4. Good grief. I was there so long because Joanna was under the impression that Paul was leaving via ambulance from Gardner when she spoke to him. He didn’t actually leave until much later. Finally, the girl at the information desk was able to tell me he’d arrived but at the other hospital. Great. I had to pay $3 to get out of parking there and then go park at the other one which would also cost $3 to get out. And then, I felt like my presence was pretty useless. There wasn’t anything I could do. It was late, I was tired, he hadn’t been seen by the urologist, no one knew yet what was going to happen. So I left. With $3 for parking and a debit card for fuel.

Wednesday was a busy day with taxi service. I went to get the boys from Joanna’s because they’d stayed there overnight because I didn’t know where I’d be or what was going to happen. I mean, the first report I heard about Paul was kidney failure. A stone, while painful, looks a lot different than failure. So, a trip to Athol, which was nice because it’s always nice to visit with Joanna and Maddie and Lincoln (he was only there for a few minutes before we left). Then I needed to pick Amena up from a friend’s house in Oakham. That wasn’t too bad; it wasn’t really much longer than picking up from Quabbin. Then Amena had work. While she was at work, I went to Leominster so someone at the Verizon store could look at my phone.

This is looking down the stairs. One trail to the left going to the barn, one to the right going toward the end of the driveway where the cars are parked. You can't really tell by the time I took this on the 18th, but Hubbardston made the news for snow accumulation. In the driveway we had between about 6 inches and almost 2 feet.

At some point during the day, I’d left my phone in the car while I went in the house; it was useless to me, after all. When I went back to the car, the phone was vibrating. It wouldn’t stop. When I took it in to the store, the first young woman I spoke to asked if I’d dropped it in water (um, no) because that was a sign it had been. Great. I retained my phone and waited until someone was available. When I handed it to the young man who would be helping me, he first managed to get the vibrating to stop. He didn’t think there were any signs of water damage and said it was still under warranty so if I was willing to wait, he could get me a replacement sent within 3 to 5 days. Well, what is a person to do? I agreed.

This is the trail heading to the barn.

Saturday my replacement arrived so I activated it and got the old one ready to ship back. I need to drop it off at Staples today sometime. Paul wanted to go shopping once Joanna and Maddie were on their way home. I thought he was nuts but whatever. I went with him. I hate shopping with Paul because he tends to like to stop at five hundred different stores.

We went to Aldi’s for milk. We also got a few other things. Not as many of the things I’d like to have gotten but not as many of the things he wanted to get. Then we stopped at Big Lots. I’m not really sure why because all we did was see if they had any graham crackers discounted. We didn’t need any. Then I walked to Market Basket while he drove. There we mostly got fruit for smoothies. Pretty exciting. Lastly, we got diesel in the containers and gas in the car.

This is the trail heading to the end of the driveway. It looks a lot different now.

On the way home, Paul informed me that he would not be going to church the next day because he overdid it. Well, imagine that! I could have gone shopping by myself. Except that I couldn’t have because he doesn’t really have a budget and wouldn’t have been able to tell me what the dollar limit was for the day.

Just before I went to bed, I got a call from Katie. A client was in labor. So I got ready and drove north into New Hampshire. The only problem with that is that I put the wrong address in the GPS and by the time I was half an hour away, I had to pee so bad I was seriously examining the side of the road for likely places to stop. But I was so close, I never did. Then I realized I had the wrong address. Then my phone didn’t have a strong enough signal for Waze to work so I had to rely on the GPS. By the time I got to the house, I had to go bad. Holy cow.

And then there was yesterday. Which is a tale for another day because I need to get some things done and get school going for the boys. 

Of Water and Dams and Stupid People

The month is approaching half over and I’ve yet to post anything. Not due to lack of writing anything, I just haven’t felt that what I’ve written is something I care to share with the world. It has been an interesting month, to say the least. I saw a meme on Facebook to the effect of, “January was a trial, 2017 starts February 1.” Yeah. No. I didn’t think January was that bad but February hit with a vengeance.

Yesterday, Oroville, California, was evacuated. For the first time in several years, the snow and rain has been plentiful. Reservoirs have filled to above seasonal norms. This is a good thing. In order to have room for future flooding, water has had to be released. I remember when I was 14 or so going to Shasta Dam to see water flowing over the dam. It was incredible.

The problem with Oroville is that the spillway developed a huge hole. Releasing the amount of water necessary was not really possible because even less than that would have, and did, make the hole even larger. So, water began flowing over the emergency spillway. There was a basin with a road running to a recreation area which acted as a dam of this. That was not only breached but the road was washed out. The parking area was under water last night in video I watched and water was flowing down from that area as well. Not a little, either.

As I watched this video, I read some of the comments people had made and went to bed wondering that people can be so stupid. So ignorant. So thoughtless. So rude.

“We should just give California back to Mexico.”

“This is all your stupid governor’s fault.”

“If you weren’t taking care of so many illegals, you could afford to fix your dam.”

Just a small taste.

Really? I’m not sure what the actual numbers are but one report I saw said that nearly 200,000 people were evacuated. Another said over 188,000, which is pretty close to the first. A lot of people. The roads were packed with people leaving and traffic was moving slowly. People had to comment about that, too, and give their unwanted and thoughtless advice. There were, however, also quite a few comments to the effect of, “Leave politics out of this, we’re talking about people here.”

I guess we’re so polarized right now that we don’t care about people unless they agree with what and how we think. “I’m a Democrat, you’re a Republican, you can go to hell. It’s your politics that has caused this.” And vice versa. We are all human; we all bleed red. Why can’t people wake up? Why can’t we be kind to one another? Why can’t we care that people and animals die in situations like this and that we should be asking what we can do to help rather than tear down?

I have relatives, albeit somewhat distant, who live in that area. I have quite a few relatives buried in cemeteries in that area. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not afraid or ashamed to state that I am from California. Northern California. On my mom’s side, I’m fifth generation Californian and I’m completely okay with that.

But I wanted to mention something regarding the comments people were making such as “We should just give California back to Mexico.” Or that we should just let the state secede. Think about that for a minute. Just think about it. Do you see any problems with that? The state admittedly has some money issues that are related to politics. However, everyone who lives in the state is not responsible for that. I currently live in a largely Democratic state but that doesn’t mean that I am a Democrat or have liberal leanings. It means that I live in a largely Democratic state. The fact is, I have somewhat liberal conservative leanings but that really is beside the point.

What if California were no longer part of the United States? Hmmmm.

Do you like milk? Cream?

Do you ever eat almonds or grapes or lettuce or strawberries or tomatoes or walnuts?

Do you eat beef?

Do you use hay at all?

How about wine? Do you like that?

Try this for size, 99% of the walnuts consumed in the US are grown in California. 95% of the garlic is. 99 % of artichokes consumed in the US. 95% of the celery. The milk and cream industry in California in 2015 was $6.29 billion. Grapes—do you eat those?—$4.95 billion. Flowers—ever give someone flowers?—$1.08 billion.

Do you get the idea?

Sure, give California back to Mexico. Go ahead. Better yet, let the state secede. And when either of those happen, and you are hungry because that salad or that steak or that bottle of wine or those grapes or whatever-the-heck-it-is that you really, really want costs five times what it does now, think about it.

Better yet, get your stupid head out of the sand and wake up. Smell the roses, or coffee, or whatever.

Be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

No Words

I was perusing Facebook earlier and saw one of those posts that you never want to see. The feelings come flooding back and your heart aches for the family who will be, indeed already are, aching. Joseph said, “Why are your eyes red?”

My eyes are red because there are no adequate words to describe the feelings I have.

Another day, it is sometimes hard to believe how quickly the time passes by, the feelings are still present. As I was on my way home from picking Amena up last night, a Creed song was on the radio. It wasn’t the one I’ll post here, but it reminded me of this one. “Children, don’t stop dancin’; Believe, you can fly. . . away. . . away. . .” and “Although I hurt, I must be strong, Because inside I know that many feel this way.”

The other day, I was going somewhere, to pick Cedric and Jacob up from the school, I think, and I was listening to the radio again. Listening to the radio is difficult because I’m kind of picky about what I want to listen to and although many stations play what I like, they don’t always. So, it’s a crap shoot as to if I’ll hear something I actually want to listen to. It does happen. And this particular day, this came on. I’ve listened to this before and I’ve cried because some of the words perfectly describe how I feel. “I love you, I’ve loved you all along, And I miss you, Been far away for far too long. I keep dreaming, You’ll be with me and you’ll never go…”

On this particular day, I was thinking about how Daniel might feel. I know he has an eternal perspective now that I don’t because I’m still here and he isn’t, but when the song came to, “I’ll forgive you…” it was like Daniel speaking. That was powerful. It still is. I needed that because there still is, and might always be while I’m alive, a piece of me that can’t forgive myself. I know that there is a reason for everything and I do not believe in consequence. I know that I don’t know everything but I know that if I do everything I need to, I will be able to be with Daniel again. If I did not know this, I would “stop breathing (because) I don’t see you anymore.”

This morning while I was looking for that video to share with you, I ran across this one. I had never watched the official video because I like to think I don’t have time to just sit and watch videos; most of the time I really don’t. Still, I watched this and it’s almost perfect. The girl goes through life seeing her father at all these important milestones but it turns out that he really wasn’t there, she was seeing the ghost of what could have been. That is something that I, and every other parent who has a child graduated from mortality, must live with every single day. In spite of what I believe and know, I still miss what could have been.

Yesterday I asked Cedric how Nick is. Nick is Jacob’s brother. He got cancer and has been fighting the fight but is losing. Cedric said, “He’s bad; he can’t even move.” Amena reported that the friend of a friend said that he might not make it through the night two nights ago. Yesterday on Facebook, his mom reported that he’d be earning his angel wings soon. My heart aches.

More Words (and Pictures)

Good morning. Yesterday was one of those okay days that was really ridiculous. One of those days when you see someone with only two children and you think they’ve got it easy.

Today is Seth’s birthday. Because Amena works this evening and Paul has a hard time getting home at a reasonable hour, I asked Seth when he would like to have his family party. He said Saturday which is completely fine. If it’s the choice of the person whose birthday it is to celebrate on a day other than the actual day of birth, I’m completely okay with it. If it is chosen because it’s easier for those who might want to be there, I’m not so okay with it. His choice; completely okay.

Paul likes to do birthdays on Sunday because everyone is home, blah, blah, blah. Only problem with that is that I hate doing birthdays on Sunday just because it’s convenient. That’s why we have three day weekends and I wrote letters to my representatives about that many years ago. I can understand why, I just don’t like it. And I probably won’t ever like it.

Because Seth said he was okay with Saturday, I told Cedric that he could spend the night at Jacob’s because that’s when he’s having his birthday party.

Because I said Saturday was the day, Paul said, “I’ve got meetings for Stake Conference.”

What? Really? The first time since we’ve been here that you’ve decided to go to the meetings on Saturday? Hmmm. I guess I should really work on my Jedi mind reading skills.

Because I said Saturday was the day, Amena said, “But I wanted to go to Nick’s after work.”

Well, that’s a huge surprise. We can make all kinds of deals to get to his house for birthday parties for his cousin’s but your own brother doesn’t even rate? Right?

My solution is this: Amena can go to Nick’s after work. Paul can go to his meetings. Paul can pick Amena up on his way home. Problem solved.

Will they like it? Probably not.

Do I care? Not at this point.

***

Maddie baby. She's the cutest little girl around, let me tell you. She had eaten all her pears and had some milk and still thought she'd give her book a chew, too. This is from the 21st.

I wasn’t going to make hot chocolate for Amena and Cedric this morning because a couple of days ago, Amena made a big deal about the fact that I’ve made a big deal about the fact that she didn’t wash the thing that she takes hot chocolate in but I’ve never made a big deal about Cedric not washing the one he uses. I went ahead and made hot chocolate anyway, and told Cedric that if he wanted some, he’d have to wash the thing. I don’t even know where he put it from yesterday so there’s no way I could wash it. Amena at least put hers in the sink but I didn’t wash any dishes this morning. So, there’s hot chocolate on the stove getting cold. I’m sure Seth and Joseph will be happy to have some once they get up.

***

Kitty was helping me read. She's a big help, as you can see. From the 23rd.

The water here usually doesn’t taste very good in the morning so I’ve developed this habit of drinking a cup of tea when I get up. I’ve run out of all the ones I like and I went through everything that’s here and tried something that seemed promising yesterday. It wasn’t that great so I went through the shelf that Paul has his tea, etc., on. I didn’t find anything that I wanted to try because although there are some I like, they are meant to be made by the quart as iced tea and that’s not what I want right now. Although, now that I think about it, I could just make that much and drink it hot. A quart isn’t really that much more than I have to begin with. Well, you know, sort of.

What I did find was two open boxes of Truvia. That’s the stevia sweetener that Paul likes to use. There were five or six unopened boxes as well. Most of them were hiding and he looks for things about as well as some children I know so I guess it’s natural that he would think there weren’t any which is why he bought some a month or few ago to take to work. There were two opened boxes of Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate hot chocolate mix. There was a Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup still in its wrapper that bugs ate through. There was an open and partly used box of lasagna that had had bugs in residence.

I ended up emptying four boxes and there is now actually a bit of wiggle room on that shelf. I also ended up trying some of the tea that there had been two open boxes of. I know that Laura liked it when she was here (that tells you how long it’s been around and the scary thing is that there is some tea here that has been here longer than I have). It’s okay but I’m not a big fan.

***

The clouds were really pretty yesterday with the layers and sunlight. There was an even more incredible view toward the west but by the time I got to the school in Barre, it wasn't as amazing so I didn't take a picture.

Yesterday afternoon Seth and Joseph got to go to the church for games and a possible movie as a kind of birthday party for Seth. They both reported that they had fun which is always nice to hear. I dropped them off and went to Barre to pick Cedric and Jacob up. Then I was home for a bit before going back to church to meet Katie.

Cedric texted earlier in the afternoon asking if he could spend the night at Jacob’s. On a weekday night? I don’t think so.

On the way home, he asked if he could play soccer on Sunday because there’s going to be a tournament at Clark University in Worcester and Jacob is going. Jacob’s mom is supposed to have emailed me information about it. I haven’t even looked at my email since early yesterday afternoon so I don’t know what the details on it are.

I asked Meredith if she could give Seth and Joseph a ride home because my plan was to be out with Katie and Erin for a prenatal. She was able to, yay!, and the boys traded the snow stuff that Tyler left here Tuesday for my rubber boots that he accidentally wore home that day.

Katie texted at some point in the afternoon to say they were going to leave an hour early to go to Korean. I was welcome to go or meet them at the appointment. At first I thought, “Korean? Is that a new client or something?” No, dope head, it’s a kind of food. An hour early still gave me time to pick Cedric and Jacob up so it was all good and I got to the church, which is an excellent meeting place for many of our destinations to the east, a few minutes early. When Katie pulled in, there were two cars behind her so I thought I needed to hurry and get in her car so they could get by (I think they could have if I’d have thought about it). When I got in, she said that Christiana, Katie’s daughter was going with us and would sit on the stairs during the appointment and that Erin was in her car, and Erin’s friend was in her car which is why there were three cars. Katie was in the lead because she’d have me and I’d be able to tell them which exit for the Korean restaurant.

That was a blast. Really. On the way there, I got to listen to Christiana talking about group chats and it was amazingly similar to Amena’s discussions about group chats. When we were at the restaurant, Katie retold the story of a parrot that one client has who likes to choke himself; absolutely hilarious.

I got home at a reasonable hour not too much after nine, and Paul got home not long after that. I thought I was going to get all kinds of reading done but I didn’t. I did get a few pages, but not nearly as many as I wanted to. Paul brought home one of those huge avocados that is almost ready to eat. Sometimes the pits are so big you get almost no actual avocado; I’m hoping this isn’t one of those.

Today Seth and Joseph have dentist appointments so we’ll do that and read a few pages of The Fellowship of the Ring and I’ll get some reading done and I’ll make ice-cream and maybe Seth’s cake. Seth isn’t happy about going to the dentist on his birthday and both boys asked if I could reschedule. Their appointments have been rescheduled and forgotten too many times already so I didn’t. If I had, I’d be going with Katie and Erin to a prenatal in New Hampshire for a client I haven’t met yet who is due in March. Next visit I’ve got to go.

Anyway, that’s that. Have a terrific day.