Rain and Bugs

Good morning! Yesterday we had rain much of the day and rain is on the agenda for today as well. At least it’s knocking the pollen counts down and providing some much needed water.

The full moon is approaching. In spite of our constant cloud cover the past couple of days it is obvious based on behavior that we have a full moon tomorrow. It’s amazing how these things work.

Well, in other news, I had the dubious pleasure of driving to Boston yesterday in the rain. It wasn’t bad, actually, because I was driving the Jetta and I had my phone with me so I wouldn’t get lost. I went to look at and test drive a 2000 VW Beetle. It’s red and it’s a really good price and a really good deal. Driving it is a lot like driving the Jetta. Today I have the dubious pleasure of going to Boston with Devon, Paul’s friend who works at a Whole Foods Market in Boston, so I can pay for and drive home the 2000VW Beetle. I’m sure it will still be red and a good price and a good deal. The PROblem with this is that I’ll be missing Seth and Joseph’s concert this afternoon and I won’t be able to bring them and Seth’s friend Riley home after the concert. This is Seth’s last K-3 concert. Such is life I suppose. I guess I should get used to it as I want to be a midwife and midwives attend births no matter when they happen or what they might miss because of it. In fact, the reason I’m going to get the bug is because Paul wanted me to have a car that will be dependable for getting me to Maine over the next couple of years.

Now I need to eat some breakfast and shower so that Laura and I can go pick up the red Prizm if it starts or at least the plates if it doesn’t start. Then she’ll drop me off at Devon’s on her way to work and my fun will have begun. Going in to Boston with Devon should be interesting; he is from Jamaica and drives a Prius (no comments today on ‘green’ cars).

So, have a good day!

Fummins

Good morning! It’s a smoky one at our house because the two strawberry rhubarb pies Laura and I baked overflowed and I forgot to clean up the mess before turning the oven on this morning for strawberry rhubarb muffins. The muffins may wind up being smoked muffins rather than baked muffins but they looked good going into the oven. We’ll see how they look coming out.

Meeting with the attorney wasn’t bad. We talked about the fact that the police report says that I "didn't realize there was a stop sign" which does NOT mean that I didn’t stop. We looked at the stop signs and went over what I would have done. Interestingly, she asked if I heard brakes screeching. I did not. I don’t think the guy used his brakes. Anyway, I still would rather have gone to kindergarten. Tomorrow is the deposition which she says should take about half an hour so I should be on my way out of Worcester by about 3:30 which will be just about perfect for getting Cedric to practice.

After my trip to Worcester, I put on a long-sleeve t-shirt and went out to plant things. I planted four rhododendrons down on the other side of the creek from Daniel’s grave. I planted three down at the bottom of the hill near the fruit trees. There are two stumps (well, actually four but one tall one and one short one in two places). Each group got a rhododendron and there are some rocks toward the road that got one as well. I planted two kinds of irises on/in the stumps as well as a blue flowering plant which I have forgotten the name of.

The bugs were terrible, which is why I wore long sleeves and jeans. Some of them bite and leave little blister-type owies. Depending on where they bite, such as the back of the hand or the ear, they really hurt. So, they itch like crazy but if you touch them they hurt like crazy. Not cool. Lavender essential oil does help with the itching so I am glad that I have some. I hope Paul doesn’t mind the smell because I smelled of it last night. I was starting to itch again this morning so it appears to last for 6 to 7 hours. If you are in bed.

Today Laura is going to help me rearrange things. We are putting the mattresses in the back room up against a wall and moving the piano from by the stairs to the back room in front of the mattresses. We are moving two bookcases up from the basement to the back room and I am going to fill them with books. Then I am going to attack my room. I need to find the syllabus from my phlebotomy internship. Yes, my B grade for that is still bothering me. With the B, my GPA is only 3.87. With an A, it would have been 3.955. Since the instructor said in class that the grade would be pass or fail, I am hoping that the syllabus agrees with that which means that people should either have passed or failed or, in the insistence of giving letter grades, an A or an F.

The muffins are done and they are pretty. They do not taste of smoke which is good; they are actually rather tasty and very good with a cup of milk.

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Happy Birthday, Papa! We think of you often (like all the time) and miss you and love you!

Today is a beautiful day if a bit warm (64° already), muggy and buggy. Today I get to meet with an attorney at the scene of our December accident. That should be fun and exciting. It will definitely throw my schedule off because there is no way I’ll be able to ride my 14 miles AND do Pilates AND take a shower in time to be there at 10:30 this morning. However, I am glad it is this morning and not this afternoon because this afternoon it will be warmer (and it’s always warmer in Worcester) AND there is soccer practice and Barre won’t be much warmer than we are.

There were some awesome clouds yesterday.

And that brings me to a pronunciation issue. Why don’t people in New England know how to properly pronounce things? I mean, look at Barre. How would you pronounce that? Bar? That’s what I thought upon arrival. But, no, it’s like this “berry.” Go figure. Petersham is “Petersam.” Worcester is “Wooster” or “Woosta.” Gardner is usually “Gahdnah.” Leominster  is “Lemon-stir.” And don’t forget to say it fast. And those are just ones near us. Crazy.

Seth doing what he does best: run.

Seth’s game yesterday was very good. They played well together and were well matched against the other team although they were a slightly older team. Seth is in the 9 and 10 year-old group. He and Will are still just 9 and most of the other boys are closer to 10 than 11. Most of the boys on the other team are closer to 11. Anyway, it was a good game with a final score of 4 to 6.

I like this picture.

I accomplished nothing on my list of things to do. Which was not so great but very life-like. Well, I take that back. I did get lots of laundry washed and dried. Now I have a ton to sort and fold. Yay. I should have put planting flowers on my list because then I would have gotten part of that done. I am hoping to finish today but am not holding my breath. With the bug situation, I’d really prefer to not go outside until about October.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Today

Good morning! It’s a bit windy out here and it looks like we might get rain at any time which would necessitate a trip out to rescue goats but otherwise, it’s not a bad day.

This boy! At least is snot is pretty which is not something most people can say.

Joseph has no school today because, like last Monday, there is kindergarten screening for upcoming kindergarteners. Everyone else is off.

This girl is nicely photogenic.

Seth has a soccer game this evening in North Brookfield. I think I may have mentioned that before but I need to keep reminding myself so I don’t forget.

Laura, Joanna, Amena, Cedric, Seth and Joseph.
Not thrilled to have pictures taken but this was such a nice backdrop.

On my agenda are fun things like cleaning the kitchen, laundry, attacking the bedroom, etc., etc., etc.

See? 

Yesterday was a nice day for a picnic until the rain began. Even then it wasn’t bad and we left before the rain began in earnest.

Just a pretty place. The world is full of them.

And that’s about it for today.

Have a wonderful one!

Good Morning!

Good morning! This will be short, I think, because there is much to be done this morning and only so long to accomplish it.

Cedric’s game yesterday was very good in spite of the fact that they lost 3 to 1. The fact that they got one point is something of an accomplishment as is the fact that they held the other team to three. At game time, there were only three players. Five minutes later there were only five players and the game began. The other team was happy that at that point our team was legal and could play the game and that they could put a full eight players on the field. One more boy finally arrived about 15 minutes into the game which was nice because the coach was then able to have a substitute. The boys on Cedric’s team were clearly tired for the second half because they’d been running so much but they did very well.

Sarah Trivett came over yesterday afternoon because her parents were going to Stake Conference in Ludlow. I couldn’t go because of Cedric’s game. Paul needed to be home for the rest of the kids (and you may recall that he doesn’t like going to Ludlow anyway). Joanna worked and Laura didn’t get off in time to go with the Carmack’s and didn’t have enough time to arrange another way down because she was working.

Currently, I think we’ve got a bunch of kids with allergies. They’ve got the nose, breathing, and coughing going on but they obviously are not sick. I’ve got the nose thing going on as well. I have some allergy stuff for kids I need to have them start taking. I am avoiding it because antihistamines tend to dry my whole body out rather than just the nasal area (which is what they’re supposed to do, by the way, since histamines work throughout the body) and I now know what ibuprofen does so I really just want to avoid everything like that.

I am going to do some baked fried chicken and potato salad for us to take on a picnic after church. If there is time, I am going to also make a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler. It is Stake Conference today but a first-time occurrence is happening today and it is being broadcast to the Gardner building. That is incredibly convenient because Gardner is only 15 minutes away as opposed to Ludlow at about 75 minutes away.

And that’s all she wrote for now. I hope you all have a beautiful day!

Good Morning!

Snowflake is milked; the dogs have been out for their morning romp and I have thus far detected no messes in the house. Everyone else is at least in bed, most still asleep. This is good. I was thinking about going back to bed myself but decided to do this first which probably means I won’t be going back to bed.

Today Cedric has a game at 4:30. I don’t remember where it is but I do remember it is somewhere we’ve not been so I’m going to have to find directions in order to have an idea of how long it takes to get there. Seth has a game Monday evening in North Brookfield. It isn’t far from where our friends, Jim and Karen Dusty, live so maybe one or both of them might be able to come. Seth’s first game of the season was cancelled because the field had ice on it still and a couple of days ago I got an email with the potential date of this Sunday. The coaches wanted to know yea or nay as to if each player would be able to make it so I replied nay

We got a package from Becky and Jay yesterday. There is a candle made from beeswax in the shape of a dragon and a bottle of dragon sauce and a couple packets of dragon tongue beans for planting (do you detect a theme here?). Also some honey sticks which we hadn’t had since we left Idaho and Twizzlers. I can live without the Twizzlers but the kids love them. And some $$$ to get something for Daniel’s grave. The plan was and still is roses so now the hunt will begin to find the perfect ones. We need blue and/or black and/or red.

School is over for me for the semester. Indeed, for the school. There still are some classes I wouldn’t have minded taking but it takes money and that is in short supply so I don’t think it will be happening anytime soon. Having been accepted to Birthwise Midwifery School, the goal now is to make it happen. I do qualify for financial aid still but a good portion of it is in the form of loans and I really would like to avoid that if possible. That being the case, finding a part-time phlebotomy job is on the agenda as is getting soap going. It is Farmer’s Market season and it is time to start visiting them so I can decide which ones I would like to sell at. I would like to do three a week I think. Until the boys are done with soccer, Saturday won’t be a good day for it but I can still scope some out. Depending on when, and where, games are next week I might go to Amherst and visit that one. In the meantime, I need to review which others are on Saturday.

School is not over for my Hubbardston Center School students. They have another month or so. Because we had so many snow days this year it will probably be the third week of June before they are out. That really does not leave much time for summer because it starts again the last week of August. Because I am out but they are in, I can go volunteer whatever day I want in kindergarten EXCEPT this week.

This week I have to meet with an attorney at the site of our accident in December of 2011. A woman is suing us for her medical bills (which is dumb because she has MassHealth so her bills all should have been paid—this leads me to believe that she just wants an easy $200,000 [she’s suing for $300,000 but you know the attorney gets 30%]). It appears that they’ve pretty much decided that I am at fault which is annoying because of course I do not agree. I guess that’s why I’m meeting with the attorney we’re dealing with at the accident scene. That should be interesting. Then, Thursday, I have a deposition. I think Paul does too but at this point, it’s a little unclear. I’m not looking forward to that because it’s at the office of the other attorney and, quite frankly, well, I’ll keep my opinions to myself for now and let you know later what I think and if I was right.

Right now, having spent 24 minutes typing and thinking about what I was going to type, I am going to wish you a good day.

Ever On

Well, I have ignored this for far too long. On with the story.

Seth.

Cedric and the brown baby.

Seth and the blonde baby.

Cedric.

We have had soccer games and soccer practice. Tuesday night (this week) we had a concert at Hubbardston Center School. Wednesday I had graduation practice. Thursday (as in last night) I graduated from Mount Wachusett Community College.

Life has been life-like and moves ever on.