Wet!

This will be short but—Good morning! It’s a wet one out there.

Yesterday was a pretty good day around here. Class was good. Brought up some interesting ideas that I don’t want to discuss here at the moment because it will take too long. After class I was going to go to a PTK meeting but remembered that I was going to meet Tiffany at the library to work on our business simulation. We got that done.

Laura picked Cedric up from school and took him to his dentist appointment because she ended up not working due to the network being down at Staples so she couldn’t get her employee number. Hopefully soon—like today?

I accomplished everything on my list for yesterday in spite of the fact that I forgot that I needed to get going on my accounting homework for the week. The boys started cleaning their room and for the most part finished it this morning before school.

My walk this morning was two miles—I walked down Pitcherville to 68, which is one mile exactly, and back. Very wet. I really should have taken soap.

This is looking down the hill I already walked up.

One of our swamps. 

Have a wonderful day!

Time Will Tell

And what sort of a day will today be? Only time will tell. Currently it is relatively quiet as the bus has come and taken half of us away (half being, of course, a relative term), a quarter of us are still abed, an eighth of us just got out of the shower and the remaining eighth is sitting here listening to the dryer which has a pair of shoes in it.

Joseph couldn’t find one of his shoes so his morning wasn’t that terrific—filled with tears. Cedric and Amena are bearing away many dollars for music related things. Seth had a relatively good morning once he decided that he could actually wear a pair of jeans. Before that he couldn’t find any pants.

I am going to go get dressed to go outside and will likely be back once I am inside again.

This is one of the many potholes along my walk this morning.
It is full of ice at the moment and is a good example of what our tax dollars are NOT doing.

This is the creek I walked over.

This is the other side.

Well, I am inside again and it is about 45 minutes later. I had a nice walk of about two miles. I really wish sometimes that while I am not opposed to the idea of running that my body (mainly the hips that have been out too many times) would cooperate. Still, walking is in many ways better and I just have to go farther. Which means that two miles won’t be far enough but for today it will do.

I have class this morning and Cedric still has a dental appointment this afternoon and I forgot to send a note to school. If Laura is okay with it, I am going to have her pick him up from school and drop him off at MWCC on her way to Leominster. He’ll have to be bored for a bit before we leave but I’m sure he’ll live.

Have a wonderful day!

We Shall See

Good evening.

Friday turned out to be a pretty good day. I accomplished much that I wanted to including spending most of my remaining financial aid money. There was no school for my younglings due to the weather (we had about a foot) so it was not easy getting any school work done but I almost did all of that that I’d hoped to.

Funny thing about that—I started reading what I thought was the next chapter I needed to for Economics and then looked at the questions we need to answer and it turns out, I was reading the wrong chapter! It’s too bad, too, because the chapter I was reading I understand. The one I needed to I read yesterday and it’s okay but not as easy as the other. Not a problem, though, because it is all read as of last night and I’ll get the questions done tomorrow.

One of the things I wanted to do was pay the dues to join Phi Theta Kappa and I did that. The only problem is that the first meeting I can go to is tomorrow from 12:30 TO 1:30 and Cedric has a dentist appointment at 2:00. I cannot do both and Joanna will be at work and not able to go get him and bring him to the school. Laura might be able to get him and bring him but she needs to be at Staples in Leominster at 2:00 (she’s actually working tomorrow—Friday she didn’t due to the weather). We shall see what is to be.

My chiropractic appointment that I thought was Thursday was actually Friday and it was rescheduled due to the weather. I now go in on Wednesday. That actually turned out to be for the best because yesterday I ended up cleaning out the goat shed. I would not have been happy to go to the chiropractor one day and then throw everything out again by cleaning the goat shed. It hadn’t been done for about ever and there was a LOT of old hay and nanny berries and sawdust compacted in there and it was HEAVY. I really thought my back would kill me but it turns out that my legs are what hurt. I had a hard time getting to sleep because of them. Anyway, I got five cart loads of stuff out. Cedric and Seth dumped three in the garden and two in the driveway or whatever you call it down by the creek. Paul helped dump at least one in the garden and ended up losing a shoe in the snow.

Today Joseph had a talk in Primary. He ended up not giving it so I did it for him. This is what he was going to say:

I love my big brother, Daniel, and I know he loves me too. I know that he wants me to make good choices so that someday I can be with him again.

Sorry, caption is not part of his talk.
I just want to apologize because it's so small--
any larger and it just doesn't look good--all pixilated, you know.

Jesus Christ is my big brother too. He is everyone’s big brother. He loves all of us and wants us to make good choices so that someday we can all live with him and Heavenly Father.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I think it would have been good if he’d’ve said it but it turned out okay.

Next week, we do not have church in Gardner. For those of you who might not be familiar with our church, we have wards or branches (typically fewer people than wards), which are local geographic areas that meet in a fairly central location. Then we have stakes, which consist of wards and branches and kind of help out the wards and branches as needed. We have stake meetings every six months and call it Stake Conference. Next Sunday, we are having a special stake meeting. Everyone is careful to say, at church, that it is just a special meeting but some think that what is happening is a realignment of stake boundaries. It does happen sometimes as people move and populations change. It will be interesting to find out. I want to go. I don’t think Paul does. It is my understanding that Worcester has a stake meeting as well (we are in the Springfield Stake, Worcester is in the Boston Stake—what I’d like is if there were a Worcester Stake because it would be so much closer). Anyway, once again, we shall see what is to be.

And that is all for me tonight.

Somber Morning

Scooter deciding if she wants to go out in that or not.

Good morning. In spite of the fact that I know happiness is a choice, I’m struggling with it today. I found out yesterday that I only got a B for my phlebotomy internship. I also discovered that while I got the balance of my financial aid, it was not as much as it looked like it was going to be. This morning I discovered that my blogs do not qualify for advertising through Google so I’ll either have to start a new one or go some other route for that. The chiropractic appointment that I thought was today I wrote down as being yesterday and when I went the door was locked. Then this morning they called and it was today but because of the snow, they are rescheduling.

The tree in front of the house.

Laura and I went to the bank to have the papers I prepared for reissuing the bonds (or just sending checks) and discovered that each signature is $25. Well, quite frankly, I do not have $100 for four signatures at this point in time. I do not know when I will have. We currently have more bills due than we have income so it might be a while.

Down by the creek.

It is a beautiful day out. It is still snowing. We have more than six inches accumulated out there. Cedric and Amena are in the living room playing clarinet and saxophone. Seth is the only child who has ventured outside.

Snow on the rocks by the steps.

Paul and I went out last night since Joanna will be working this evening and Laura might be. As well, Paul needs to go to Gardner to the bank and to take care of some insurance business before he goes to work and he needs to plow before he leaves so it will be a late day for him. Right now he is procrastinating.

Seth: the only adventurer thus far today.

It was beautiful out last night. I really wish I’d’ve had my camera or my phone. Both were at home and my phone was languishing from a dead battery. On the way home, we got about half-way down Pitcherville Road when there was a snowplow ahead and it appeared to be stuck. We went around the long way via New Templeton, Cross, the end of Ragged Hill, and Birches. I think we’d have gotten home about two minutes sooner had we waited for the plow.

Seth attempting to get Scooter to go out for a walk.

Have a wonderful day!

Milk jug.

Boys and Homework

Good morning! Yesterday was an interesting day due partly to something that happened the day before. You are familiar with the fact that I have eight children. And even if you have never met them all, you probably can understand that they are individuals and as such have their own strengths and weaknesses. There are also forces working on us over which we have no control. People have attitudes and beliefs and they tend to act based on them. Often our attitudes and beliefs are shaped by others but, in the end, we are responsible for our own and only we can change them.

An article I read recently (http://www.today.com/moms/boys-classroom-behavior-impacts-grades-study-finds-1B8308131) indicates that boys may be hurting academically due to their behavior. I can tell you first hand that there is a difference between boys and girls and it goes deeper than any superfluous outward appearance. It’s deep. It is individual but it can be generalized because most boys have certain characteristics and most girls have certain characteristics. I know that the line seems to be blurry right now and that is the way it is but it is not something I am concerned with right now. I will, however, agree that while boys are boys and girls are girls, some boys have what you might call ‘girly’ attributes and some girls are tomboys. (And I never did understand why it was okay for a girl to be a tomboy but not cool for a boy to have a doll.)

Returning to the article, it bothers me that my boys may be struggling in part because they are boys. They are all smart. Daniel proved this by being on the honor roll and achieving good grades unless he didn’t care about something (such as English). Cedric and Seth and Joseph are smart as well. They don’t fit into the neat little square holes that the public school system has designed though. I’m pretty sure that Daniel was a circle and that Cedric is an oval, Seth is a triangle, and Joseph is a rectangle. I have never hidden my feelings about public school, which now I think probably hasn’t helped my school-age children who happen to be in public school. To this day, I do not believe that forcing children to read at an early age does them any favors. Cedric was struggling. He still is with reading but he is so much better now. I really wonder how much he would be struggling had I not put him in public school. Laura is an avid reader and I didn’t push her to read until she was nearing eight. Joanna isn’t an avid reader but she does read and I didn’t push her to read until she was nearing eight. Daniel loved to read and I didn’t push him to read until he was nearing eight. Amena loves to read and I didn’t push her to read until I put her in public school when she was almost eight. I hope I haven’t maimed my younger boys by putting them into a system where they are forced to learn to do something that they might not be ready for. Cedric is coming around as is Seth. But if they’d’ve followed the pattern of older siblings (I feel I can compare because one of their older siblings is a boy and followed the same pattern), they would have made a leap rather than the slow steps they’ve made.

Returning to the article, it still bothers me that my boys may be struggling in part because they are boys. And boys they are. If you know them, there is no mistake. And what one of them does, the others are likely to. And what one of them doesn’t think of, one of the others will. They can get along fabulously and the next minute they can be trying to kill each other. They are boys. Which isn’t to make excuses for them. It is still my job to be sure they grow up to be responsible, respectable, and self-sufficient.

Last year, Seth really struggled. I volunteered in his class and I saw that his poor behavior (and that of a few of his classmates—all boys, by the way) was mostly ignored. Until it was decided that Seth would take things. One day when I went in to volunteer, the schedule was messed up and the class was doing art in another classroom or looking at books because it was the Scholastic Book Faire. Everyone except Seth. It had been decided that he had taken some money from another boy. When I arrived, I questioned Seth and I believe that he did not take the money. From what I gathered, he had seen it and had picked it up but then had put it down and had not kept it. I do not think he handled the situation as he should have (we discussed that he should have given it to his teacher or another adult) but neither do I think he took the money. I know without a doubt that he did not bring it home and he did not have it on him (or in his backpack) when I was there at the school.

Last year I was called into the school because Seth and Will had traded notebooks and Seth had drawn an ‘inappropriate’ picture. I was full of dread and trepidation as I drove to the school thinking that I was going to see pictures of naked people or something along those lines. When I got there, Seth and Will were in the principal’s office and I was shown the ‘inappropriate’ picture. It had tanks and little stick people and guns. Not only did it have guns, they were firing at the tanks and helicopters. I almost laughed. Seriously? Guns? In a picture? Inappropriate? He’s a BOY for goodness sake!

Last year was a hard year for Seth. This year has been better. However, he developed this habit last year of ‘forgetting’ his homework. He has begun doing that this year. I got a phone call from his teacher saying that his homework hadn’t been done Monday. Tuesday he was supposed to bring home a letter about homework club but I never got it. I got another phone call Tuesday. Seth had told his teacher that the reason he didn’t do his homework was because I had gotten home late the night before and he said that I wasn’t home that morning either but they called anyway and guess what? I was home. I hadn’t been anywhere the night before either. And guess what else? He couldn’t do his homework yesterday because he didn’t bring any home.

I am not going to have him go to homework club when the problem isn’t that he needs help with homework from someone at school. The problem is that he needs to bring it home so he can do it AT HOME. It isn’t called ‘afterschool work,’ it’s called ‘homework.’

Anyway, such is life. As long as Seth brings his homework home today, it will be done. And although I have a chiropractor appointment this afternoon and will not be home when they get home from school (only because they get out early due to the weather which isn’t supposed to get any worse than it currently is), I will be home by 3:00 or 3:30.

I think there is more to this story than just the fact that Seth is a boy but that chapter will have to wait for another day.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day!

Do or Do Not

I sat down here to do this a few minutes again and then got sidetracked with laundry and then got sidetracked here rather than finishing the laundry. The laundry needs to be done so that I can have a shower and get ready for the day so I’ll be back shortly.

Okay. Clothes in the dryer drying. We are set. Or we will be as soon as they are dry.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I am loving Dr. Greenwood. I really wish that I’d’ve taken classes from him previous to this, my last, semester. Yesterday we had to write down three personal goals for Economics. Mine are:

Learning goal 1: I want to know as much about trade-offs as possible because LIFE is about budgeting time and I want to be the BEST soapmaking midwife EVER and in order to do, I need to effectively budget my time and resources.

Learning goal 2: I want to learn as much as possible about equilibrium—competitive equilibrium—because I need to know how much soap to make and how many clients to take and how much to charge.

Learning goal 3: I want to know as much as possible about financing because I don’t want to just meet the needs of myself and my family today, but forever (more or less).

You know what’s cool? On the paper we wrote these on, Dr. Greenwood has my favorite quote of all time: “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” –Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

In order to be the best midwife ever, what do I need to do? Well, it might help to apply for the program. So, that’s what I decided, yesterday  morning before class, to do. I didn’t get it done yesterday but I got the writing part done so now I just need to transfer the information to the application. Then all I have to do is find $50. Somewhere. Somewhere.

Right now my four youngest babies are gone. My second oldest son is being influenced by something that is not a full moon. So is my youngest daughter. Life has been rather interesting around here lately. I sometimes wonder exactly what it is that goes on at school because I know I don’t know the half of it. In spite of the fact that it is easier to send them to public school, I often wonder if it is the best choice.

Laura and Joanna are still abed. Paul is making his lunch. I am sitting here. We are expecting Elizabeth sometime in the next approximately 30 minutes.

Laura got a job! She went for an interview yesterday at the Staples in Leominster and was hired on the spot! So cool! It’s just part-time but it’s a job. She applied online (because that’s the only way to do it for Staples) for a job in Gardner but when she went in to the Gardner store to talk to the manager, she wasn’t impressed. I told her she should go to Leominster and talk to one. She did that last week and got the interview for yesterday and now she has a job. So exciting!

I hope everything is well with all of you and that you have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Good morning! It’s a nice day outside—some clouds but some sunshine. Funny thing about the morning, there’s a dusting of snow from yesterday/last night. Just like there was in Oro Fino the morning one happy little baby Daniel was born. Which brings me to this:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIEL!!!

We had a birthday party for Daniel yesterday which I already posted about last night and you should have gotten. Just in case, here is the link: http://mywindingroadtomidwifery.blogspot.com/2013/03/daniels-16th-birthday-party.html

I won’t add to what I already wrote there; I think it was covered well enough.

We had a good weekend. The Boy Scouts from church came over Friday and camped out in the back field. There were quite a few boys which was really nice. Neil Beaudette came over as well so he could spy on the Scouts with Cedric and Seth. I know the three of them and Joseph ate out with the Scouts Friday night but I don’t think they did much spying. They went out Saturday morning as well.

I let the four boys sleep in the back room and watch a movie. They didn’t fall asleep during that but they didn’t stay up much past making noise either so that was good. Saturday morning Neil’s dad called and we decided that he could pretty much spend the day. They had fun in and out. Out in the snow, in playing with Daniel’s Legos. Nick didn’t want to go home so he stayed after the rest of the Scouts had left. That was actually a good thing because he was able to make sure the fire was out.

Paul had taken the Jetta to be inspected and then called to see if I could bring the van RIGHT then. Ah, ah, ah…. I had these four little boys. I had Nick out in the field. Joanna had already left for work. Laura and Amena were out getting oil for the white car and going to the bank. What a quandary. I sent Cedric out to tell Nick to come to the house and left in the van. It turns out that the guys at the garage had said that they’d take people until I got there with the van so they were hoping that I’d get there soon. When I did, there were three cars ahead of me; Paul was in with the Jetta which had just gotten finished. I took the Jetta home which was interesting because the seat was stuck and I couldn’t get it to move forward. Paul’s legs are longer than mine so driving was interesting, especially considering that it’s a stick.

And that brings us to yesterday which was a pretty good day.

Today I have Economics and Seth, Amena and Joseph had or are having rolled oats. Cedric had already eaten when I came downstairs. I made tea for Seth and Joseph because Seth said his tummy wasn’t feeling well and when Joseph hears tea, he wants some too.

And there you have it.

Have a wonderful day!