1st Game & Inflammation

Good afternoon!

Yesterday was another fun-filled and exciting day. My visiting teachers came over between 9:30 and 10:00 and left not long before noon. I left not long after they did to go run some errands in Gardner. I got shin guards and soccer socks for Cedric at John’s (Sports Shop?) and then got some notepads for myself and a notebook of graph paper for Cedric at Staples.

Then I went to the Landry’s so I could give Rebecca some money for working on a map for my story. She and her husband have two very cute little girls. That was slightly off topic but still appropriate in my book. Anyway, the map is pretty cool and it was nice visiting with her as well.

I got home around 2:00 so I had something for lunch, I don’t remember what, and it was about time for Amena to get home. I did get some laundry done and a little studying for phlebotomy. Not a whole heck of a lot else. Then it was time to go to the rec fields to walk while Cedric had practice.

I cooked some fish and sliced a cucumber for the minions to have for supper. Paul and I went to the former Mexicali Grill (it is now the Mexicali Fresh Mex Grill which doesn’t even make sense). The food is still good but I have to say, I liked the old menu (the physical thing, not what’s offered) better.

When we got home, I had to stop The Two Towers and send the boys to bed.

Today was Cedric’s first soccer game for the fall season at noon.

The things we make our children suffer though.

I made blackberry and maple walnut muffins for breakfast. Cedric picked the blackberries for the blackberry muffins and I wanted to use them before they got all moldy. There were only enough for a single batch which I why I made the maple walnut muffins as well. I made half without walnuts and half with. It just so happens that I love walnuts and they help with inflammation.

Cedric and Aiden waiting.

Which brings me to something else from yesterday. Carrie, the nurse practitioner at our doctor’s office, called with the results of my lab work. I do not have Lyme’s disease but I have been exposed to Parvo (our dog in New Mexico had it). Everything is pretty good but I have some inflammation and my rheumatoid factor is slightly elevated. Well, duh. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but I could have told someone that there is some inflammation in my ankles; that’s originally why I decided to take ibuprofen. She said that I could take 600 mg of ibuprofen three times a day to work on the inflammation but I’m thinking, ah, no. It also causes water retention. I think I’ll let the inflammation go away slowly (and how much slower will it be than it would with the ibuprofen if it takes three weeks, anyway?) by soaking my feet and ankles and walking. And it will be interesting to see how long it takes to go away this way. She, Carrie, was glad that I am doing something about it rather than not and said that many people won’t do anything. I looked up inflammatory and noninflammatory foods last night and decided that I should avoid and eat them, respectively.

Cedric is right in the middle.

Back to Cedric’s game. They played Hardwick in Hardwick. I am so glad that the boys played soccer this spring—I now know where almost every soccer field is that we will be playing on. It was near the Hardwick Coop so we stopped there and got some alfalfa pellets and crimped oats for the goats. While I was waiting for someone to come and gather bags for me, I was looking at the mineral and salt blocks. I should get one of them for the goats as well. But, I get ahead of myself again.

He is after that ball.

Cedric’s game was really good. Hardwick scored first but only because our goalie kind of slipped or something and gave it to them. They scored again and it was legitimate this time. I don’t remember if Hubbardston got their first goal in the first half or the second but they got it. They made another but it didn’t count because someone on the Hardwick team did something they weren’t supposed to so Hubbardston got a penalty kick. It would have gone right in if the nets were as high as they are in Hubbardston. Anyway, Hubbardston needed one more goal in order to officially tie the score and they did it! It was awesome! Cedric’s friend Dominic made all the goals, official and not. Good game. Good way to start the season. Because they tied, they don’t have to shave their head like they would have had they lost.

Henry, Cedric, Paul and Dominic.

And that is all for now. I hope you are all having a terrific Saturday!

Yikes!

Good morning! Children are off, dogs are fed, goats are fed, watered, milked and out for the day, Kitty is fed and just got a lot of lovin’ while I held her waiting for the bus to come and beyond since she was pretty into sitting on the lap and getting love.

I’m attempting to remember if anything terribly noteworthy happened to tell you about Wednesday and nothing is coming to mind. Some things happened, but they weren’t earth shattering. Just stuff like talking to Laura while going through the stuff that she didn’t get to. Joanna took Amena to church and they didn’t get back until 10:00. I found a good scripture for that: Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.” I told Joanna to change “God” to “mother’s wrath” and we would be all set.

Yesterday morning I drove the bug to Springfield. I guess I should correct that. While I have been driving through a bit of Springfield, my actual destination has been Agawam which is a bit south of Springfield. It is actually where the Six Flags is that Joanna took Amena, Cedric and Seth to. Anyway, I took the bug down and it didn’t exhibit either of the problems it had while Paul and I were out last Friday. I told the mechanic that maybe the bug doesn’t like Paul because he said he doesn’t like how far out the windshield is. We are hoping that it coughs while he has it so that he can figure out for sure what the deal is. Paul also said that the gas petal wasn’t responding either which I never had a problem with. We’ll see.

When I got home, there was enough time to get Laura’s box ready to go and talk to Joanna a bit. Yesterday was her first day of classes. She had English at 8:00. I think she would like it if it weren’t for stupid things like brainstorming. I personally don’t see the value of having to brainstorm. Not all of us are wired in such a way that we need it. Or maybe it’s that some of us are stubborn enough to come up with an idea and stick with it whether it’s a good idea or not. Or something. She’s supposed to have a computer with her for class so I guess I get to let her borrow mine. Hooray—so excited about that.

Anyway, I got Laura’s box ready to go and took it to the post office in Hubbardston on my way to pick up Joseph and Seth for their doctor appointments. The shipping was $34.72. Yikes! There is probably enough stuff to fill another box that size (it was a decent sized box, really, about the size of an orange box) as well as some books. The books can go media mail which is a lot less expensive.

By the time we were done with the doctor, it was late enough that taking the boys back to school would have been pointless as it would have been time to get on the bus by the time we got there. Neither of them had any homework since I took them away before school was over so I would expect them both to have some tonight that they wouldn’t normally. Seth had soccer practice at 5:00 and Joseph at 5:30. Everyone’s soccer jerseys came in except Seth’s teams. That’s odd. Team pictures this year are on Sunday which is kind of a pain. Last year they were on Field Day which is a Saturday unless it rains and there were some teams who couldn’t make it because they had games so I understand why they are doing it on Sunday but for those of us who don’t do things like that on Sunday, it’s a pain.

By the time practice was over, it was time to feed children and do the bedtime routine. Good grief. What a day. I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to but I did manage to accomplish a few and today is a new day; I expect to get a few things done today.

This year for lunches, I’ve been telling the boys what is at school and letting them decide if they want lunch from home. It’s been mixed. Today Seth wanted lunch from school while Cedric and Joseph wanted lunch from home. Amena always wants lunch from home which I think is silly because it looks like there are some pretty decent things for lunch at the middle/high school. Still, that’s Amena. I can feel a whole school lunch thing coming on so I think I’ll stop with that.

Have a fantastic day!

303rd Post

Good morning! This is going to be a short one because I need to shower as soon as the boys get on the bus so I can take the bug back to Springfield and bring the Jetta home. I need to leave by about 8:00 so that I can be home in time to take Seth and Joseph to the doctor for physicals. In spite of that, I’m going to attempt to get as much of the stuff I like to every day done because I really do need to study phlebotomy every day until I take the test and if I don’t write 1,000 words every day, it’s hard to get back into the swing of things. I need to get a box in the mail for Laura and the goats are already moved.

Have a splendid day!

One of Those Days

And a good morning to you! It is a lovely day thus far. The temperature is nice, the humidity doesn’t appear to be too high, the sky is pale blue and it’s just generally a good day. So far. Don’t want to hold my breath because I know how these things can be.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had neglected to pay the cell phone bill which I hate doing because I know it is my mother’s only means of telephone communication but when I don’t pay it every month, I have a tendency to forget when it’s my turn. And then I didn’t have enough money either so it was just really annoying. I paid what I had but it wasn’t enough to restore service and I was generally just in a somewhat grumpy mood. I thought to myself that it would sure be nice if some monetary boon appeared from the sky or something because I would also like to move forward with my website and soapmaking and the only thing holding me back at the moment is money (for registering my domain and purchasing a few supplies—I’m almost out of sodium hydroxide for goodness sake!). And there was the small matter of Cedric attending Nature’s Classroom. Not to mention the electric bill due and all the little miscellaneous things that children need like gym shoes and shin guards for soccer and etc. and etc. It just never ends. On top of all that we also have the truck and its going-to-be-huge repair bill and the Jetta that will be ready to pick up Thursday or Friday and the bug that needs to be returned for its further repairs when I go to get the Jetta. With all of this on my mind, I was in a somewhat grumpy mood when I went to work on the things that Laura didn’t get packed away or take with her. It just wasn’t going to work since I didn’t know what she wants to do with things.

So, what did I do? I went to check the mail. What did I find? A small boon. Well, a large enough small boon to take care of all the smaller things that have been weighing on my mind. It would be nice to have a really large one to take care of the larger things, but I’m quite happy to be able to take care of some of the smaller. Needless to say, I said a quick prayer of gratitude and my afternoon was much better than my morning.

Now, all children have been taken away by buses and I still haven’t had breakfast; a common occurrence on school mornings. My focus in the morning is getting children ready for the day. If I wait for them to be gone, my breakfast is more peaceful as well which is probably better for my digestion.

Seth didn’t bring home any homework or his agenda yesterday so I emailed his teacher (Mrs. Churchill who was Amena’s teacher in 4^th grade as well and Amena absolutely loved her) so that we can get right on this problem and hopefully turn it into the good habit of remembering EVERY day. She already responded (last night—wow!) and said that either she will remind him or she’ll partner him up with a ‘buddy’ whose responsibility it is to remind him.

Joseph got his homework done rather quickly. It was one sheet of math which he loves. There was on where he needed to write out his own word problem. Writing isn’t one of the things he loves so I offered to write it lightly for him to copy over; he took me up on that. He wanted, “I have 3 goats and 2 dogs and 1 kitten. How many pets do I have?” When I was done writing and he was almost done copying, he told me that he thought the numbers should be written out. I explained that they were written as numbers in all the problems he did but because he was writing a problem, he thought they should be written out. Silly boy.

Cedric needed to do a Me box today which was to include at least five things that define or explain who he is. He put in a small soccer ball, a basketball, a quarter, a piece of candy, and a Lego man. He also needed to have his name and its meaning. This is what we came up with for that:

Cedric

Gender: Masculine

Usage: English

Pronounced: SED-rik

Meaning & History:

Invented by Sir Walter Scot for a character in his novel ‘Ivanhoe’ (1819). Apparently he based it on the actual name Cerdic, the name of the semi-legendary founder of the kingdom of Wessex in the 6^th-century. The meaning of Cerdic is uncertain, but it does not appear to be Old English in origin. As Cerdic was a Saxon, his name could have been of Germanic origin. Cerdic may also be associated with the Welsh name Cedrych meaning ‘pattern of bounty’ (this is the one Cedric’s mother goes with because she loves Welsh history and all things Welsh). It could also be connected to the Brythonic name Caratacos. The name was also used by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the main character in her novel ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ (1886).

Pretty cool, eh?

Once Amena got home from school we hurried to Walmart to get her some gym shoes. I told her I didn’t care what she got but I would prefer something inexpensive to last until we could get to Marshall’s to get something good. As it turns out, they actually have a few good shoes there so she was able to get something to last for the school year. Unless her feet grow more. She and Joanna were the same size but she’s now almost a full size larger than Joanna. We got home just before the boys did which worked out just the way I wanted.

In the morning, Diane called and while we were talking, I did the water thing for my feet/ankles. I thought I’d mentioned something about that in an earlier post but I don’t see anything. I was talking to Walter Cyr, he’s the friend who is an orthopedic massage therapist, and he said that I should soak my feet up to mid-calf in water as hot as I can stand it for five minutes, then in ice-water for five minutes, then hot, cold, hot, cold for a total of 30 minutes. I did this. The water was so hot that it was nearly half an hour before I could actually put my feet in but until I could put them in and keep them in, I would dunk them in and then put them in the ice water. I am not sure what result I was aiming for but I know that for almost the rest of the day my feet/ankles didn’t hurt. I know that in spite of not walking as much as I was going to yesterday because Seth didn’t have soccer practice, my ankles were both almost normal this morning. Even now, two hours after getting up, they are still not bad. That actually is normal for my right but not my left. The knots are still there and are still tender but they aren’t swollen up. We’ll see how it goes today. I plan to soak them again and Cedric will have practice so I will walk. I also massaged them when I went to bed with frankincense (only three drops—that stuff is expensive!) and fractionated coconut oil. That felt good and might have helped as well.

Other fun things up for today are exciting activities like talking to Laura to go through stuff in the room so I know what she wants done with things. I think there will be three categories: store, mail, give away. Oh, and garbage. Talking to her will be nice, going through everything I’m not so sure about.

Other than that, it’s just the usual stuff that hadn’t been getting done because I was busy taking and picking up cars from the car doctor or taking a child or myself to the dentist or the doctor or there was no school. Should be an exciting day.  Have a spectacular one!

Short on Sleep, Long on Kitten

Good morning! It is a pretty nice day out. If we could only get a nice brisk wind to blow the humidity away we’d be good. Sunday afternoon I went out to take a look at the fruit trees to see what varieties we have, how much, and at what state of being ready it all is. The kitten went out with me and was frolicking and the dragonflies were out en masse. It was fun to watch both.

Yesterday was a very low key day. When Joanna and I got home, my feet/ankles hurt. I sat in the back on the way up and was able to sort of have them up and on the way home, I was in the front which was nice because the passenger side of the floor is always hot. Heat feels good on the ankles which is why I’ve been wearing socks to bed even though it’s been a bit warm for it and they make the rest of me too hot. I didn’t exactly go back to bed but I did lay down to give my ankles a break and read because by that time, sleep was gone.

I actually spent quite a bit of time with my feet up because not only did my ankles hurt, by midafternoon, my knees hurt as well. Taking an ibuprofen I wanted to avoid so I just lived with it. Walking around was better, standing in one place was murder. Last night I went to bed by 9:30 and this morning when I got up, both ankles were almost back to normal size and only slightly more sore than what I’ve come to expect. In short, only giving them six hours of down time at night and sleeping for 2 ½ hours does not work.

Seth spent the afternoon at his friend Riley’s house. He got to get in their pool and generally just had a good time. Cedric spent some time riding his bike. Amena spent lots of time in her room cleaning and doing whatever. Joseph spent at least an hour in the back room measuring things. He is really quite good with numbers.

Joanna went to work. Laura called on her way to Staples for an interview. Her manager from Leominster called a manager in Utah but the one in Utah wanted an interview. I think that’s a good idea. She didn’t let us know how that went but hopefully well.

Joanna gets to go get books today. Her classes start Thursday. Paul is going to work today. I have a list of things to do.

While the boys were out waiting for the bus, Seth came to the door with the kitten and asked me if I could go out and hold her because she kept following them to the road. I went out and sat on the steps for a couple of minutes and she soaked up the attention and I found out that she likes to lay on her back and have her belly pet. That didn’t last long because she is a kitten and she wanted to be off exploring. She had to check out a cricket that is under one of the pots on the stairs. Then she was off to climb a tree. While she did that I wound up a cable that was used for the goats but broke and had been attached to a tree. Then she was off into the forsythia. To a little kitten, that’s like a huge jungle. However, being a kitten, it doesn’t take her long to navigate it. She heard the voices of some boys and she had to investigate. I brought her back to the house after Seth gave her a good bye pet. She zoomed over to another tree and climbed up about six feet and then made it half-way down and jumped. After she’d been playing in the tall grass under that tree, the bus came and scared her so she zoomed off under the screen house. At that point, I figured it was safe for me to leave her out so I came back in to finish this up.

And so I will leave you for now. Have a spectacular day!

And She's Off!

Good morning! Hard to believe it still is. I went to bed at about 9:30 because I needed to get up at 3:00 to take Laura to the airport. Could I fall asleep? Not until after 12:30. I guess technically I didn’t have to go because Joanna ended up taking her Jeep because the bug developed a different issue (that might be related to the original one) but we three were going to go anyway so that one of us could drive around while the other of us went in with Laura to get her where she needed to go because today is the first time she’s flown. She’s in Chicago right now, boarded and ready for takeoff to Salt Lake. And misses us already. Can you believe it?

Yesterday was an okay day. We had burritos for lunch because Laura likes them and it was her last day with us until who knows when. Then I made a cocoa cake with chocolate frosting and froze the last of the ice-cream I’d mixed up for Joseph’s birthday party last week.

It rained earlier. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to more or not so I haven’t had Cedric take the goats out yet. I just checked. There’s a good chance of rain later so I think the boys can just take apples out for the goats.

And this is it for now. Have a wonderful day!

September--Already!

Good morning!

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. Paul split some wood, Amena, Cedric, Seth and Joseph stacked it. Paul mowed some grass but then encountered some mechanical difficulties causing me to wonder at what point do you give up on the old and get a new or at least newer. Laura and Joanna went to work. Amena and Cedric went out with Paul because Amena needed new gym shoes and Cedric wanted some new shirts. They came home with clothes but no shoes because they only went to Salvation Army and there weren’t any shoes that would work. Paul insists that the shoes he used (which there were some of) are good enough. In spite of the fact that he and millions of kids used them, they are no longer acceptable. So, a trip somewhere to get her something tomorrow is in store. Yay. Hear my excitement.

Seth wasn't happy to have Joseph in the picture,too.

The kitten was much loved. She was loved to the point of children almost getting in trouble because they could take her for a walk but not do work. Not good. She is awfully cute. She was on the swing set/fort thing that is between the house and the wood while wood was being stacked playing and napping. Children don’t understand that kittens need to sleep much of the time. She is still young and does not need constant stimulation.

Pretty cute kitten. Cute child, too.

I spent much time sitting with my feet slightly elevated or reading on the bed. When I was up and about, I was moving. My ankles both looked almost normal this morning although the knots are still there and are still tender. While I was sitting, I was working on patterns for the boys. They are all traced and cut out. Joseph’s waistcoat needed to be lengthened because the waist was a good inch and a half above his and the armholes were too small. So, that was taken care of. I didn’t compare the pattern to him yet so that still needs to be done before actually cutting fabric. I would have started doing that yesterday but the humidity was awfully bad and life in the house was somewhat miserable without the fan above the table on and the fan messes with my tissue patterns and I just didn’t feel like dealing with that so I didn’t. Cutting out will wait until probably tomorrow or Tuesday.

And that’s about it for that.

I have had something on my mind however. (When do I not?) There has been much talk of racism lately in the news and this is what I have been thinking of. Mostly, we hear about white/black racism and mostly we hear about whites being racist toward blacks. Forgive me for not being politically correct but at my house, political correctness goes right out the window and into the manure pile. I don’t really think that white people are white any more than I think black people are black. I also don’t think calling people African-American or Korean-American or anything else does anyone justice either. You are either African OR American (you can be of African descent but that does NOT make you a hyphenated freak), you are either Korean OR American (you can be of Korean descent but that does NOT make you a hyphenated freak), etc., etc., etc.

With that out of the way, what about black racism toward whites? What about white racism against other whites? What about African racism toward other Africans (because THAT is what brought about the ‘slavery problem’ that we are STILL dealing with today)?

I know someone who works her tail off to create more equality for women and families ‘of color’ (and if that isn’t a work of political correctness, I don’t know what is because I have never ever met anyone who wasn’t some color—even albinos have blood for goodness sake). What about the Jew who is prejudice against Italians and the French? What about the Italian who is prejudice against anyone who isn’t Italian? What about...?

And what about this whole fallacious idea of white privilege? That’s a bunch of political tripe if I ever heard any. As bad as the ‘of color’ drivel. Someone please tell me how I am better than someone else just because I was born into a ‘white’ family. Come on! That is such a load of crap.

Anyway, enough for now. The hour grows late and I have children who need to learn that it isn’t the color of the skin, it’s what is in the brain and what we do with it that matters.

Have a peaceful day.