Beginnings of Soccer

I thought it would be nice to have some pictures before the first soccer games. In theory, it was a good idea. In reality, it would have been nice if I had been able to get Cedric and Seth to their game without getting lost.
Still, I think we have the cutest/handsomest soccer players around.

Pre-game picture on September 15.

At least Joseph looks happy.

 Joseph's team lost their first game which took place shortly after these first two pictures were taken.

There is a lot of standing in the U6 games.

And a lot of not quite being sure what to do. I can relate.

I think this boy needs to wear his glasses next time.

 

Number 7 is awesome!

Nice cone, eh?



Ah, some running action.

There it is!

I think I'll kick it!

Oh, yeah!

And again.

 At the end of Joseph's second game, the score was, I believe, 5 to 4 with Joseph's team the winners. Yay!

Seth is #5. Not doing much here but he was pretty good at getting in there when needed.
Still, as mentioned above, he really ought to wear is glasses.

That's Cedric in the center. It was much harder to get pictures of these two than of Joseph.
I'm sure more will come.

Cedric and Seth both played well. They made the first score but then the other team made two. That was the final score: 2 to 1. Their team won the game we missed and we're hoping for another win this coming Saturday.

Dry Weekend

Good morning! I rather neglected this for the last two days but here I am again!

Friday happened so long ago I don’t remember what happened. .  . No. . . wait. . .  it’s coming back. . . Okay. Here we go. Friday morning I finished everything I needed to do for the week school wise so I decided to take a few hours and be selfish. I sort of combined two patterns to come up with one I thought I would like better than the one (I should be adding pictures to this when I post it on the blog so hopefully it might make more sense—Grandma, good luck, I hope the words are adequate). Then I cut out and I think it is at that point that it was time for me to go collect boys for soccer practice. I took knitting with me and decided a nap sounded really good so I actually did a combination of the two which was nice. When we got home, I began sewing. Seth and Cedric helped cut up hot dogs for beans and hot dogs for their supper and I sewed. I managed to finish just as Paul and Laura got home so I quickly changed and we left. We went to the Thai place again. I wanted to go somewhere that had hot food so I could burn some snot out. I really poured on the hot stuff and it did some good which was nice. Tasted good too, which was also nice.

Saturday morning the boys all had soccer games in Hubbardston. Laura went with us. We all watched Joseph’s game until Cedric and Seth needed to go to their game. Joseph’s team won. Then Laura and I went over to watch the rest of Cedric and Seth’s game. They were ahead when we got there but the other team scored two points so they ended up losing. This week Joseph plays, as always, in Hubbardston at 8:30 while Cedric and Seth play in Petersham at 10:00. I think it takes about half an hour to get from Hubbardston to Petersham so we ought to be able to watch Joseph’s game and then hurry to Petersham for Cedric and Seth’s game. The rest of them are all in Hubbardston which will be very nice. Sometime this week I need to go to Petersham and figure out exactly where we are going in order to avoid getting lost.

Since Saturday was Joanna’s birthday, her manager wanted to sing happy birthday to her at work. She had two shifts Saturday and managed to leave after the first one with no singing. When she went back, she thought maybe everything would be okay but things were pretty slow so she asked if she could leave 15 minutes early. Her manager said okay but asked her to do something first. Then everyone was acting suspicious and started clapping (which is how the Friendlys birthday song starts) at her so she ran into the break room. They followed her and finished singing. Then they had an ice-cream cake.

 

Saturday night, we had quite a thunder storm. It wasn't on the weather report so we weren't expecting it but it sure did happen. There was quite a display of lightning and it poured. In the morning when I went out with the dogs and then to milk, the world was quite wet. It did not make a noticeable dent in the swamp though.

Yesterday, being Sunday, we went to church in the morning. There was a linger longer after but they were having Hawaiian haystacks and I don’t like them. Neither does Joanna so we came home and had fajitas instead. It took a while to get everything cut up and cooked. Before we left, I got Joanna’s cake frosted (I’d made a cocoa cake Saturday night as well as getting the meat cut up and rubbed) and it seems like I did something else but other than cooking the black beans, I don’t remember what it might have been. I’d signed up to take black beans to the linger longer and since we were the only ones who had, Paul thought it might be a good idea if we took some even though we weren’t staying so I made lots; some to take to church, and some to turn into Frijoles Negros which is basically black beans with onions, peppers, oregano, and seasoning. Very good but the name is not very descriptive of the end product.

Joanna got a cool cap from Paul. It’s camouflage with lights in the brim with three settings. Four, if you count ‘off.’ Also a Discovery Channel special about horses on DVD. Amena got her a little donkey figurine and a horse daily planner. Laura gave her a Taylor Swift CD. I didn’t give her anything because I didn’t have enough change so I’ll have to do that soon. Other than that, the only birthday card she’s gotten thus far is from Bislita. The rest of you who usually send cards need to get your butts in gear.

The rest of my afternoon and evening until it was time for family prayer and scripture reading was spent writing on the backs of pictures for Grandma and Paul’s step-mom, Irene. Grandma, please don’t feel bad that you are getting 13 to her 87. Irene hasn’t met any of us and this is really her first visual of us. Grandma, there is one of a rock (stone) wall. I can do others if you’d like more. My goal is to get them in the mail today. We’ll see how that goes.

Seth had to do the dishes and I have to say that he did a decent job in spite of a general attitude about getting them done.

Last night Joanna decided that her stomach wasn’t feeling all that great so she decided that she would not go to seminary this morning. I didn’t mind the extra forty minutes of sleep, I can tell you. When I got up, the canine girls and I went for our walk and then I accomplished the milking chore. It took a bit longer than normal because I took the camera with me and took pictures. That means that in the next day or two I’ll have a photo journal of morning milking for you to check out.

Thus far, Amena, Cedric, Seth and Joseph are at school. Laura and Joanna are upstairs. Paul is getting his lunch ready and has his breakfast sitting on the table. I am getting this done and then I will plan my day. In spite of getting more sleep this morning, I did not get more last night so I think a nap sounds like a really good idea.

Have a wonderful day!

 

PS Pictures will follow in another post. I need to get out and move the stakes for the goats and do some other things and the pictures are all either on my camera or phone so it will take a few minutes.

The Things We Learn

Good morning! If ever a day turns out exactly the way I think it will, I will probably die of shock.

This morning has been alright. When I took Joanna to Gardner there were actually a couple of decent songs on the radio. Way too much talking in the morning to make radio worth listening to in my opinion. If I want to listen to people talk, I’ll wake someone up or have a conversation with myself. Usually that would be more interesting and better quality than what you might hear on the radio. Before we left, Trista and Scooter wanted out so I let them. When I got home, they still wanted to go for a walk so we did. It was pretty uneventful. There are times when I definitely prefer frozen grass to really dewy grass though. Like right now; my toes are cold because my socks got wet walking through the really dewy grass in Crocs. I suppose I could wear other shoes but that would be a pain.

I did have to wash stuff for milking this morning which did not excite me. Milking was okay other than the fact we got less than half a gallon because, guess what? The boys were in with mama all night. I’ve already warned children that I do not want the kids down with their mother today. They are ten weeks old now; that is high time to be weaned. Not a bad time for eating, either, but don’t tell anyone I said so. The only advantage to letting them get bigger is that the heart and liver are. Unfortunately, so is the rest.

Okay, so now I’m trying to figure out what I did to get sidetracked on Facebook. I’m not sure unless it was to post about George and Fred. They’re cute little boogers but they’re getting bigger and it would be easier to deal with them if they were not here. If you know anyone who needs a couple of 10-week wethers, let me know.

Yesterday wasn’t a bad day. I got my part of a group assignment done for marketing like I wanted to before I left to go to Leominster. I tend to be a bit verbose for a marketing class. I suppose I could be more succinct but that’s usually rather tedious and uninteresting. When I took sociology, the professor said, more is better; you cannot write too much. She was talking about for essay questions on test. Now, for marketing, the professor says, short and sweet; say what you need to and be done. So sad.

After getting that done and taking a shower, I went and picked up Elizabeth. Our first stop was the Verizon store in Leominster. I wasn’t sure I was going to get a phone but thought I’d stop and see what they had and if there were any better, or at least as good, deals than online. We looked around and I found a couple that I like. Of course, the one I really like is the one I still can’t justify spending the money on, a Droid Razor Maxx. There was one that would have been free, a couple that had mail in rebates which ultimately made them free, and a couple that would have been less than $50. I had an LG Ally and really liked it (until it stopped working after being dropped too many times) so I was looking at LGs. There was one. It was one of the ones with a rebate. There were a couple of Samsungs. When the young kid who was working there was done with the guy he was helping, I riddled him with questions. He said that if you can get by without a slide out keyboard, it’s probably good because that’s the direction technology is going. I said that’s fine but when I’m outside and it’s cold, the touch screens don’t work with gloves on and sometimes my fingers are so cold, the touch screen won’t work then. Hmmmmm, point for slide-out keyboards until they figure out what to do about it for touch screens.

I ended up getting a Pantech Marauder. The only real difference between it and the LG that I was looking at is that the Pantech is 4G and the LG was only 3G. I don’t really give a whoop-de-do about that since we can’t even connect to 4G at the house but it’s brand new—only been out a couple of weeks, and I could get it for nothing after the mail-in rebate. Cannot complain.

Learned a couple of interesting things yesterday. Used to be that you could either not have insurance on your phone or you could. You had to get it when you got a new one but could cancel at any time. We all had insurance but cancelled it because the monthly premiums kept going up as well as the deductible. When we first got our phones, it was $5/month and a $50 deductible. I think it’s like $10/month (this is per phone, so it adds up) and a $100 deductible. Now, you can either not have insurance or you have two options for it. The first is the $10/month, $100 deductible for which you will get a refurbished phone if anything happens to yours. The new one is $80 up front for the entire two years with a $75 deductible and you get a new phone. Hmmm. Well, I would go for no insurance before going for the first option. The second one sounded pretty good. Without having the time to go out and investigate on my own, I decided to take him on his word and went for it.

That was just the insurance stuff. I also learned that the Gardner Verizon store, which I did not like was closed because, get this—they were dealing drugs! Are you kidding me? All I knew is that I didn’t like the guys who worked there. Some of you may remember the story of when I went and got Daniel a phone. I decided that one, he really didn’t need it, and two, I really couldn’t afford it, so I took it back within the 14-day period you can. They said, no problem, we’ll take care of that for you. A few months later, I was wondering why the phone bill was as large as it was so I went in and looked and BEhold, there is a phone there. It isn’t the one I got, it is another one. I called Verizon because I was done dealing with them at that point and got it straighten out and the next month’s phone bill was almost nothing but told everyone I had the opportunity to about them and their dealings. I also had seen the manager with his wife when I worked at Ocean State and thought was incredibly rude and machoistic. No man should talk to his wife the way he did. No woman should talk to her husband that way either. Jonathan went there when he got his phone and they were still as rude and unhelpful as ever. I told him I wouldn’t personally go there but he did anyway and he found out why I wouldn’t. I was not surprised when they shut down but didn’t know the full extent of why. Can’t say I’m completely surprised, that’s for sure.

We stopped at Joann’s and I got some thread and two pieces of fabric. My lovely coupons I could not use because everything I got was already on sale. So sad. When I dropped Elizabeth off, we decided that we need to do this more often. It was fun. I just love Elizabeth. I don’t know how Jonathan managed to snag her but I’m sure glad he did so I could get to know her. Speaking of Elizabeth, she said that the kid at the Verizon store was really good. He took his time, he answered all my questions, she was amazed because in New York, they just hurry hurry hurry to get you out the door. When we walked out, she said, “Where are the building?” I looked at her and then pointed around at the stores. “There they are, there are too many of them.” We laughed. Coming from New York, she said she just can’t get over being able to see the hills and trees. Before coming to the US, she grew up in Lima, Peru, so she really is a city girl and is really loving it here.

When I got home, I worked on my school work and helped Joseph get his homework finished. Amena made peanut butter balls and then did her homework. Seth and Cedric did their homework (Seth took a while just because he’s an expert at dilly-dally). Joanna went to Walmart and bought three movies. I said they could watch one as soon as homework was done. Amena wanted to watch “Anna and the King” so she did in the living room. The boys wanted to cuddle with Joanna on her bed so they watched “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” We had to have supper in there and family prayer and scriptures. Amena had started watching first so it finished before she had to go to bed. The boys had to pause theirs until tonight. They had to go bring in the goats as well and did not put George and Fred in the crate.

Paul and Laura got home. Paul’s day wasn’t too bad although he did not get to talk to Blair about the more serious things that have been going on. A few smaller things, yes, big, no. Hopefully today will be better and everything will get worked out. I was able to get everything done yesterday that I wanted to school wise which was very nice. Then I went to bed. Ha ha ha. Very funny. I was tired. I finished my work by 8:30 and then sent Paul some pictures of the Mercedes that I’d taken a couple of days ago so he can list it on Craigslist. That took forever; I probably should have taken my laptop upstairs for better connectivity. I finally got to bed and then I had to use the bathroom. And I read a little. And then I had to use the bathroom. I thought I was done and went back to bed. Then I had to use the bathroom again. I took a book with me this time and this time I was done so I went back to bed. I was so tired, I almost sent Joanna a message saying I wouldn’t be able to take her to Gardner in the morning, but I didn’t. I did fall asleep and slept well.

Today’s list of things to do is short. Three things long. Start accounting homework (which I’ve done already), check to see if the quiz for phlebotomy has been posted (it has not as of 7:30 this morning), and maybe retake the marketing quiz for chapter 3. Then, if I feel like it, I can get started on my reading for next week. Pretty cool and exciting. More likely, I’ll feel like cutting out some fabric and throwing something together. Cedric and Seth do have soccer practice so we’ll see how it goes.

Have a fantastic day!

Actually

Good morning. Sorry, I can’t muster an exclamation point at this point. Which isn’t to say that the morning hasn’t been or isn’t good, just that I can’t be excited about it.

There is a stack of thirteen number 10 cans full of things like popcorn, powdered milk, dehydrated onions, juice drink mix, and baking soda. Actually, the baking soda is in a plastic container which leads me to wonder if it is still good, especially as there is no date on it. They will make their way downstairs today. Except for the baking soda.

Joanna is eating ice-cream. Actually, I think it’s sherbet. Her birthday is Saturday. Sunday there is a linger longer at church and I asked Joanna if she’d like Hawaiian haystacks for her birthday dinner or something else. She said, with absolutely no hesitation, “Something else.” I said, “No problem, I wanted an excuse to not stay for it.” I don’t like Hawaiian haystacks. I have never liked Hawaiian haystacks. I cannot see myself ever liking Hawaiian haystacks. Don’t ever expect to eat Hawaiian haystacks at my house.

Laura is putting dishes away. It was her day to wash yesterday and I think all she did was stuff for milking. She got home late from church because the young single adults (YSA) were having a planning meeting for a Laura birthday/Halloween party. She is supposed to be going to work with Paul today so she won’t have time to today. She also needs to take the goats out which she actually just left to do. I don’t know if the dishes will actually get done because she also needs to get ready to go to work.

Paul just came downstairs. He is getting soup ready for his lunch. Joanna ate some for breakfast. He said he’s glad it’s about done because he’s getting tired of it. I made it Sunday and I have to admit that I made a LOT. I never know for sure how many people will be here on a Sunday to eat so I figure it’s better to have too much than not enough so I cook accordingly.

Class yesterday was alright. I’d taken a look at comments others had posted about the reading and thought to myself (who else would I think to?), “Did I miss something here?” There were comments on a chapter I hadn’t read because the syllabus said it was for next week. Well, we were supposed to read it but it’s okay if we didn’t; we can still do it for next week. That’s nice. In part of the reading (that I hadn’t done before class but have done now) it mentions building subways to and in Harlem and that the fare (I’m not sure if it mentioned what distance this was for) used to be five cents. One girl in the class mentioned that she used to go to school in Boston and that she would come home on the weekends. The fare for the train was ten dollars. The conversation turned to the interesting things that you see on the train and the teacher agreed; she likes to watch people. Then another girl, who went to school in Chicago for a time, asked if anyone else had ever seen someone openly masturbating on the train. Ah, no. That apparently isn’t something anyone in the class hopes to see on the train or anywhere. From there, the conversation got slightly worse until class actually started a couple of minutes later. Oh, the things you hear.

A 22-year-old man in Virginia (it actually may have been a neighboring state) was just released after having been caught having sex with a dead goat in his apartment. He had stolen the goat from a neighbor and the judge dismissed the whole case because “he hadn’t done anything wrong.” So, if you steal a goat, it is wrong. If you steal a goat so you can kill it and have sex with it, it’s not wrong. Am I missing something here or has the world we live in really become . . . strange?

The boys all had soccer practice. And that reminds me of something else. You may have heard of parents getting in trouble for allowing their children to play outside without adult supervision. You know, they might be abducted or molested or something equally bad might happen to them. Goodness, they might even climb a tree. Well, I don’t remember where this happened but a mother was charged with neglect for allowing her children to play outside while she was present. Seriously. I really wonder if I am missing something or if the world has become totally corrupt while I was napping.

Anyway, the boys all had soccer practice yesterday. I managed to get to the school to pick up Cedric and Seth from school earlier than ever since soccer started which made Cedric happy and was something of a miracle because I had no idea if they’d remembered their shoes and socks so I had to go searching for them. I found Seth’s but not Cedric’s and hoped that meant that Cedric had remembered. I also took water bottles because last time they didn’t have any and needed them. They had fun at practice. Cedric wanted to go when I took Joseph so, in spite of thinking he was nuts, I let him go. For some reason, I thought we needed to be there at 5:00 when practice doesn’t start until 5:30 so we were half an hour early. That was okay, Cedric had brought a couple of books and read for a while. Then we watched Joseph and then he wanted to go play on the playground. I let him. Then it was time to go and Cedric said the reason he hadn’t come back to where I was is because Dominic and Zack were there. That was fine.

Between practices, I’d started getting supper (tacos) ready. Laura had to finish. They, Laura, Amena and Seth, had eaten by the time Cedric, Joseph and I got back so we quickly ate and I cleared away the food. It was about time to go by then so we left. It was tons of fun sitting there when I’d rather have been home doing something else. I did manage to read the chapter for English that I’d managed to miss. I also got to talk to Elaine Shadduck who was there at 7:00 for a Primary Presidency meeting. She said she was tired because she’d been scrubbing floors all day and had to go to work in the morning so she was going to wait until 7:30 and then leave. One woman was going to ride with her but couldn’t leave on time because her husband wasn’t home yet as he’d gotten stuck in traffic resulting from an accident. Well, the Primary president finally showed up at about 7:25 and ‘had to run some copies’. Lacie, who’s husband had gotten stuck, arrived as Diana (the president) was walking in. Elaine had said that she wasn’t feeling very patient and I told her it was way overrated anyway. She was very annoyed because she had to drive the furthest and she was the only one on time. Diana and Bethany, who never showed up, both live in Gardner.

I  managed to get some of what I wanted to school wise done but not everything. The good thing, if you can call it good, is that one of the things isn’t due until tomorrow, one isn’t until Saturday and one isn’t until next Friday. So, it isn’t like there’s a hurry up rush; I just like to get things done so I don’t have to worry about them. Today I have five things on my list:

ACC LS
MKT peer review
ENG read posts
            respond
MKT group thing

That translates to the LearnSmart (which I think is dumb and a waste of time) assignment for accounting which is due next Friday [these are not in order of when they are due—just when I get them written down]). A peer review for marketing which is due Sunday (but because I don’t do school work on Sunday, I call it due on Saturday). Read posts for English and respond to those I feel so inspired to which is due by Sunday (ditto to the () for marketing). Finish my part of the group assignment for marketing which I need to have done by tomorrow so the group leader can compile so we can review Sunday (which should be interesting since I don’t do school on Sunday). And that is my day. Actually, that is my day school wise. I will start with the group thing for marketing and then do the peer review and then move on to accounting (because I want to get it over with and need to so I can get the actual homework done which is also due next Friday) before I do the English reading of and responding to posts.

Last night when Paul got home, he was not in the best of moods. He said that work had been crazy, that after today he might not have a job and if not, there would be no unemployment either and that I might have to drop out of school. Well, dump that on someone who has been feeling rather crappish for a few days, has been chronically tired for about a month, and has a ton of things to do and see what happens. I just sat there, thinking, listening when he gave further enlightenment, and then went to bed because I was tired and it was 10:00.

Having given these things more thought, I have a few thoughts of my own. First, a major part of the problem is that it seems that Blair has called suppliers and cancelled orders. Why he would do this is a mystery—you would think that he wants the business to succeed. But, people being people, you never know. However, working on the assumption that Blair isn’t a complete dolt and he does want the business to succeed, what might really be going on? Hmmmmm. Paul was talking to Steve when they found out that some order had been cancelled and Steve was just as surprised/shocked as Paul. Hmmmmmm. Unless these orders have been cancelled in person, might it possible that Steve has done it over the phone pretending to be Blair? He does not seem to care about the business. He does seem to care about creating havoc and chaos. I asked Laura if she thought him capable of acting on this caliber and she said, “Yes.”

If Blair has been the one cancelling the orders and there is no job after today and there is no unemployment because the reason there is no job is because Paul cannot handle the whole situation and quits, then we have some other things to ruminate. The first being the very real fact that even if I were to get a full-time job, taking in to account FICA and transportation, I would at best make about half what Paul is currently making. That is if I were able to find a 40-hour/week job which is very hard to do. Most places consider 32 hours to be full time now. There are other things to consider as well but that’s just the basics. Basically, my working would not solve any financial issues.

Dropping out of school, in and of itself, is an answer to absolutely nothing. I would be stupid to do that if I did not have a job and so I would not consider it unless I had a job. Quite frankly, having been in a slightly similar situation before, I would attempt to find a job which I could do part time until the end of the semester and then do full time. If I were working full time, someone would have to be here after school because, quite frankly, Cedric and Amena cannot be left alone together. It would not work.

Also, dropping out of school would, in some ways, be incredibly stupid as one of my classes is phlebotomy and I am almost guaranteed to be able to find a job doing that after I finish the coursework and do the practical in January. Once that is done, about the least I would make an hour is more than I could hope to make anywhere else. Also, if I were to drop  my other classes, I would have to pay for phlebotomy because financial aid does not cover less than half-time students. Realistically, I think the smart thing to do would be to finish school, at least this semester, and go from there. Not to mention I am meeting with Anji Church a week from today and who knows what that might produce.

I have to admit that when Paul said I might have to drop out of school, the first thought that went through my head was something like, “Heck no.” I think I may have worded it more strongly than that. Too much of my life has been spent living with a dictator who told me what I could and could not do. I am not willing to do that again. For a few minutes after he said that, I had to keep my mouth shut because I might have said something I ought not to have. My solution was to listen, to think, to go to bed, to pray, to go to sleep. Being the strange person I am and belonging to a religion that many think of as a ‘cult,’ I sometimes do as the apostles were encouraged to do, fast. (“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21; “And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29) Do I think this helps? Yes, I do, otherwise I would not do it. I am modifying my fast slightly in that I am drinking water; normally, I would not.

So, in other things, I am planning on going to Leominster today. I told Elizabeth that I would like to kidnap her and go to the Verizon store to maybe get a new phone and Joann’s because I have some really good coupons. I would like to look at some shoes as well. So, that’s the plan. School. No food. Shopping. Oh, and feeding the missionaries tonight. Should be a wonderful day and I hope that is what you have.

Wet Morning

Good morning!

I forgot to tell you about Paul’s little adventure Monday morning. He left work Friday. Part of leaving at the end of the day includes turning off his computer which would most likely be considered a normal thing to do. Monday morning, he went to Townsend to look at a log splitter (which is something of a misnomer because they don’t really split logs, they split rounds; round splitter probably doesn’t sound as good though). He looked. The guy posted on Craigslist that it ran and had no issues and wanted $1900 for a splitter that new would be $3200. Paul figured if it really was just a year old and really did run well, that was a good deal since it’s supposed to be able split a cord of wood in an hour. Well, it may only be a year old but the guy had trouble getting it started. When it was started, there was something not working right. Paul was pretty sure it was the choke and knew that it wouldn’t be too hard (or expensive) to fix so he talked the guy down on the price (he didn’t say how much) and dropped it somewhere for repairs. Well, it turns out that the problem was just the choke and it is waiting to be picked up. He got home for lunch and then left for work.

While Paul really did want the log splitter, he really wanted a reason to not get to work until after noon so that Walter would be there because he didn’t want there to be any fireworks, or worse. He got there and the first thing that he noticed was that his computer was turned on. He started dealing with phone calls and emails and was navigating between pages and noticed a strange window open. It had a list of all the websites he’d visited Friday. While it had a list, it did not have the times although it did seem to be in chronological order. The strange thing is that first on the list were some websites Paul knows he has not been to; someone else must have been there.

There were lots of phone calls (messages) to deal with and Paul spent lots of time doing that. Steve, in the back, wasn’t taking any service calls which means that Paul (I’m not sure if Walter gets them or not) had to deal with them as well. However, toward the end of the day, Walter got a call from a client wanting to know why Paul hadn’t returned his call. Well, Paul didn’t know the client had called. “Well,” says he, “I talked to Steve.” Oh, he talked to Steve. The only way he could have talked to Steve is if Steve took the call and the only way Steve could have taken the call is if he happened to be sitting at Paul’s desk. So, he was at Paul’s desk to take a call and to turn on the computer and to look at Paul’s browsing history. Hmmmmm, how often does he do this, anyway? Before Paul left, he changed his password which I think was an excellent thing to do. He called at 7:30 that evening from work. That is very late. I don’t think he’s been there that late before.

Yesterday he got to work and was worried because Walter wasn’t there yet. The accountant woman came and immediately upon clocking in when out to the back for another hour and a half long conference/cigarette break. Those of you who either do/have/know someone who does/have smoke/d, are hour plus long cigarette breaks normal? It doesn’t seem like it would be. Five or ten or maybe even fifteen minutes, maybe. An hour to an hour and half? Come on! Get real! It doesn’t sound like anything else of much interest happened though. Sha Nan came in at some point in time. She’d gone fishing rather than going to work and brought some tuna in. Paul brought some home and I get to play with it today.

Yesterday. I needed to get lots read and done and I thought I would have no problem getting it all done. Then Adam came over and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave. He took Joanna to work at 11:30 and then I got to reading and finished the management chapter before 1:00 which was my goal once I got going. After that, I thought I had an article to read and summarize for phlebotomy which I did (turns out it isn’t due until next week). Then I had other things to do which I started but did not finish.

In phlebotomy we got to draw ‘blood’ from a mannequin arm. That was interesting. I actually got blood. It isn’t the same as a real person; we may get to do that next week. The scary thing is that we get to draw each other. The arm was at the table I was sitting at so I got a good view of everyone and what they were doing and some of the people were putting a lot of force on the needle. I know it’s just a mannequin arm, but if that was my arm, I wouldn’t like it much.

Today, I have English. I have to get grain for the goats. I have much school work to do. I have tuna to play with and eat (I wish that I could smell for that). Cedric and Seth have soccer practice.

Today, I got about a quart of milk from the goats. This is due in part to the fact that they were in all day because it was raining most of the day and in part to the fact that Princess knocked the bucket over because she thought she would find food behind the goat shed, rather than in the stanchion. Silly goat. I didn’t call her silly at the time, though. Walking with the dogs was like walking with the dogs. It was wet and we went to see Daniel’s grave. It was also wet. I guess, after a day and a night of rain, things tend to be, well, wet. Amazing, that.

Yesterday, after I got home from class, I decided it was time to do something about this wondrous cold I have acquired. I know that oregano is supposed to help infections and the lymph glands in my neck were feeling a bit swollen and my ears were beginning to feel questionable. No sore throat yet but no desire to have one. All day I had an annoying cough and an even more annoying snotty nose. I was tired of the whole thing, especially needing to cough at class and not wanting to (I chewed three pieces of gum which works better for me than cough drops sometimes) and blow my nose and not wanting to. I did a lot of wiping. So, at home, I gargled with warm water and about three drops of oregano essential oil. Then I added about three drops to between a quarter and half a teaspoon of olive oil and slathered that all over my neck, up around my ears and in my ears. Instantaneous change. Not total improvement but now I could breathe and my neck didn’t hurt. I decided to use some Breathe as well (it’s an essential oil blend from doTerra that I got from my friend, Margaret Armstrong) which Amena has been using and that helped too (although not as much as the oregano). I sent Margaret a message and said the only thing I still needed to fix was my nose and she said they’ve used lemon for that. I did use some lemon and it did help. After my shower today, I’ll use some Breathe and lemon. I’m not sure about oregano because it’s really strong and I can’t smell myself at the moment but other people might be able to.

Currently, Paul just left, Laura is upstairs, Joanna is upstairs, I am in the dining room, and children are at school.

I hope you all have a splendiferously wonderful day!

PS I am glad your move went well, AD. Moving is for the birds but sometimes needs to be done.

Coffee Might Be Good

Well, the reason I really didn’t feel like get up and doing yesterday is because I just really didn’t feel like getting up and doing. I should have had a clue when I stood up and felt dizzy in the morning because that is definitely not a normal occurrence for me. I managed to get done everything other than reading a chapter for marketing so at least it was somewhat productive. And I managed to do fairly well on my accounting test (99.something). Today I feel better, but tired, and my head is rather full of snot and other wonderful mucousy stuff.

Jonathan came over yesterday because he needed to take care of some things via faxing. He called in the morning and said the bus didn’t get to MWCC until 2:10 and his faxing needed to be done by 3:00. I told him that was fine. I would go get him but I had an accounting test that might take up to three hours to complete (a couple did last semester but yesterday only took an hour and ten minutes) and that had to take priority. Arriving at 2:10 in Gardner would work anyway if we came straight to the house and he did what needed to be done. It did. When he was done, he needed to go to the bank so we stopped there on the way home. I didn’t really feel like driving to Fitchburg and back but I also needed to get things done and the best way for that to happen is with fewer distractions. People, even those we love, can be and often are a distraction.

On the way, we went on route 2 and I noticed that there was traffic backed up due to road work from Gardner to the exit in Westminster for route 2A. Keeping this in mind, I determined that I would take 2A all the way home rather than attempting 2. After dropping Jonathan off, when I got to the exit for route 2, the traffic on 2A was backed up clear across the overpass over 2. The traffic on 2 was backed up beyond the bridge. So, I stuck with my plan for taking 2A and I’m glad I did. Even though there was a solid stream of traffic on 2A, it was always moving and usually at a decent speed.

Today Amena, Cedric, Seth and Joseph have Open House at school. I have phlebotomy so I cannot go. Paul may or may not be able to get home in time to take them. This is when it would be good to have an aunt or uncle or grandma or even a sister with a driver’s license around. Of course, one of the sisters has to work and might not be able to take them even if she had a license. I have also been invited to attend birth classes by a midwife in Needham. It would be really nice to go, but I think there are enough tugs on my time as it is.

This morning I did not want to get out of bed but it was because I was tired. I did sleep well last night (it’s pretty nice having a bed with head and foot that elevate) so today should be an okay day, I just didn’t want to start it quite as early as I needed to. When I got back from taking Joanna to Gardner, the canine girls and I went out. Imagine my surprise when we were greeted by goats on the hill. Noone had let them in last night. I don’t know if I asked someone to or not (but realistically, I shouldn’t have to since everyone knows the goats need to come in every night) but they were out on the hill. I let them all loose and they went rather willingly into the pen. One of them sounds like she might have a sore throat (how do you tell if a goat has one?). There weren’t any scraps to speak of for them to eat so I took them some hay when I went out to milk. I didn’t expect to get much from Goldilocks on account of the kids having been with her all night and I wasn’t disappointed.

Today I have quite a bit of school work but mainly because I didn’t read my marketing chapter. If I get that done first, the day should go pretty well. There are a couple of things I need to get done for phlebotomy today before class, I think. I should probably check the syllabus to be sure on dates.

Paul has some onions and peppers cooking and the smell is getting through all the snot in my nose and it is good! It almost makes we wish I hadn’t sworn off fried food (fried foods give me terrible, sulfur tasting burps and awful, unhappy rumblings in the intestinal area). I suppose I should perhaps eat something although at the moment, I am not feeling terribly hungry. Maybe a cup of tea would be nice.

Speaking of tea, Laura has been cleaning Paul’s ‘office.’ She found a bag full of coffee samples from various hotels he’s been to. He always would collect them to give to a coffee aficionado friend of his. This particular bag he said he kept finding and putting somewhere where he would remember where it was and when Fitz came over, he wouldn’t be able to find it. This time, he said, “Maybe we should hold onto it until your grandmother comes again.” There’s a lot of decaffeinated though, and I said she wasn’t crazy about that. I have to say, even though you were only here for 10 days, Grandma, I miss the smell of your coffee in the morning. I suppose I could make some and use it to water the plants, but I don’t think it would quite be the same.

On another note, I finally got to Walmart yesterday and got some pictures printed. So, Grandma, as soon as I get them labeled, I’ll get them in the mail. I did get a package mailed off to you yesterday as well and they said it should get there next week. It’s a funny shape so you won’t be able to miss it.

Have a spectacular day, one and all!

Monday Morning

I thought we'd start the day out with this guy (or girl). Just the shell was about a foot long. We were on our way home from somewhere in April while my mom was here and stopped because none of us had seen a turtle so large on Pitcherville Road before. Laura said, "I found it comical that when I told it to wait so I could take a picture, it actually did so and then when I said, 'Ok, I'm done, you can go now,' it again followed orders. It was haulin! Now I know that turtles can actually get some speed..."

And so begins another week.

Do you ever wake up and take a look at the day and wish you didn’t have to actually get up and do? It isn’t as if anything today is terribly strenuous or that I don’t want to do anything I need to, there are just mornings when I just do not want to go out and milk. It doesn’t take long, 15 to 20 minutes from start to finish including getting ready and straining the milk, and then it’s over so I don’t know what the deal is but it is real.

Milking this morning was actually different from most. I’m not sure which boy put George and Fred in the crate but it was Cedric or Seth. Whichever one it was, he did not tie the door shut but instead used a thing for winding garden hoses on as a barricade. It didn’t work. I had barely gotten the scraps dumped in the trough for the girls when I hear commotion in the form of kids bleating and jumping against the fence. Oh thrill! Oh rapturous joy! Now what? My solution was to milk Goldilocks first which Snowflake did not like. That meant that Princess didn’t get to be second which she didn’t like. Not to mention the fact that when I let Goldilocks out, all three came along. Grrrrrrr. The bus came while I was still outside.

When I came in, I went upstairs to wake boys up. Ten minutes later, Seth and Joseph are still not dressed. Still not even out of bed. Neither is Amena. Ten minutes later, after spoiling Cedric’s breakfast plans, I go up again and stay to make sure a couple of boys actually get dressed. They both had gotten out of bed but had not gotten dressed. That took another five minutes. Now, breakfast is almost done and we have approximately eleven minutes until the bus is due.

Yesterday was a fairly typical Sunday. Church was pretty good. One of the speakers in Sacrament Meeting mentioned that his wife was born at home. That’s cool. I wonder why they did not have theirs at home. The Relief Society lesson went fairly well. I really didn’t infuse it too much with Star Wars although I did get some in there—it was the perfect topic: staying on the Lord’s side of the line. After church, I made cheddar chowder. I cut the vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onion and celery) and fungus (a portabella mushroom) up before church so I just had to cook the sausage and throw everything together. Still, because it was such a large amount, it took a while to cook. We had the CTR pretzels that Seth and Joseph had helped to make Saturday with the chowder. That was good. We had chocolate zucchini bread and milk for dessert.

I wrote a letter to Paul’s step-mom and got some pictures ready to go print for her and Grandma. That took some time. I also worked on a post I’ve been working on for about a week. Finally yesterday pictures were uploading at a speed that was faster than molasses in January. Paul took Jonathan out to visit a couple of people. I let the boys watch The Best Two Years which is good but when it ended, they started it again. It was generally just a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Today on my agenda I have an accounting test, reading an accounting chapter, printing and reading a couple of things for marketing and reading a chapter, making a couple of phone calls, and going to Walmart. I do NOT have English today as the teacher is Jewish and today is Rosh Hashanah. I’m not sure what chance there is of excitement to write about tomorrow but we shall see.

In the meantime, have a splendid day!