It's going to be a long day

Remember those old McDonald's commercials? The ones with the slogan, "It's going to be a great day!" Substitute "long" for "great" and you have it. I've been up since 3:30. It's about time for everyone else in the house to be awake, yippee. I have a million and one things to do today (in-laws are coming in tonight, late, among other things) and I really really need a nap. Why does my brain/body torture me by waking me up so stinking early?

What has been going on? Let's see...trying to get the house ready for Doug's dad & Rhea. Which it will never be, I'm convinced. Schooling, prodding recalcitrant children to do schoolwork, taking said recalcitrant children to appointments, yada yada yada. Life is happening.

The weather is on the cusp of beautiful. I'm having fun scrapping for Sarah's yearbook. I'm getting closer to being finished with Keziah's quilt. I have enough energy to make it to bedtime, most days. Life is truly good. Thank you, Father!

A new post

The problem with these "more daily" posts is that the titles are boring. Oh well.

Yesterday was a day which amazed me with its ability to make me tired. It was co-op day so I am on my feet all day anyway, but one of the other moms was gone. I ended up doing more work. And having a swollen belly by the end of the day. Not good. Every fiber of my being hurt, from the middle of my skull to my ankles.

But it is today, not yesterday, and I feel better. Yay! I realized though, that my in-laws are due in next week so I need to clean my house. Not my favorite occupation at any time but especially when the weather is nice outside. Why is it that I can't keep a clean house? Or even to make one in the first place?

Are the leaves turning where you are? They are here. I do love fall!

Sarah is getting her senior pictures done. Hard to believe, but my baby is going to graduate this year. I'm working on a scrapbook for her, as a yearbook replacement, since she doesn't have one. Maybe I'll take some photos of how the pages are turning out. When and if I ever finish them.

But that won't be right now because Kez is talking talking talking to me so I guess I need to stop typing and actually listen. Happy Thursday!

Good grief

So I decided last night that, in journals, as in life, you must live in small spurts. It is apparently not my time in life to write long, introspective anything. And so it is in blogging.

Today we are waiting for the gas man to show up and turn on the gas. So we can have heat. Because it's in the low 60's in my house. Because it's finally cool outside! Yay! Friend Husband suggested that we bake. I could bake. Or I could educate his children. But I can't do both. I probably could but I'm also at the time in my life when I'm not pushing myself to be Supermom any more. Was that a lesson I learned this summer? Perhaps. Perhaps I'm just lazy or my low self-esteem is kicking in. But I may make bagels later. I really want some bagels.

Hello out there!

Yes, it is me again, the Infrequent Blogger. Many times over the last two weeks I have sat here thinking of things to write down and then deciding not to for one reason or another. One of the ones which has been so very enervating is the twice-yearly issue with remembering my miscarriage. Seeing as I've blogged about this before here I'll not belabor the point. But that with all the drama we've got going on around here left me less than motivated to write anything.

One piece of drama about which I can actually speak is that I've had a bad case of bronchitis. I've spent hours and hours just sleeping. A nap every afternoon. It would have been wonderful if I didn't have to do it, you know? I finally went to the doctor whereupon I found out that I had bronchitis and a sinus infection. And I received the lovely news that I need to do the inhaler whenever I feel a cold or "upper respiratory event" coming up. Because I can now easily get bronchitis now and "lungs terrify" my doctor. (I laughed at that statement but she was absolutely serious.)

David has also been sick which makes him wheeze a lot more. We had a respiratory therapist come over, courtesy of our insurance company, and show us some things about how to help deal with his asthma. One of the things he gave us was a peak flow meter, which measures how much air he can blow out. I think. It's a tube you blow through and it makes a little marker come up and tell you how much air you're able to blow out. Which is important. Over the weekend that the man came over, he was blowing "in the green zone". This morning he was blowing "in the red zone". I need to get him to do it again so I can see what's going on with him and make another phone call to the doctor's office.

Yes, another phone call. Yesterday Rachel was playing with a stray cat and got herself scratched when she tried to pick it up. I called the doctor's office to ask them if we needed to worry about rabies. Three phone calls later, it was ascertained that we didn't. By that time I had figured it out myself seeing as I'd done the research online.

Let's see, what else. Oh yes, Monday a week ago I finished my "lady class". The twins called it my lady class because they wanted to come one time and I told them it was only for "ladies". What it really was was a class for married women to try to improve themselves within their marriage. It was a lot of reading and a lot of prep work. And a lot of standing up in front of people to make 90 second speeches. The last class of 12 was a "graduation" to which our spouses or interested friends were invited. It was a moving occasion, lots of tears. We each received a very pretty bracelet (I should take a picture of it) which was meant to signify various things about ourselves and the class. Our husbands were invited to put it on and say something about what the class has done for their marriage and the family. Friend Husband made the sweetest speech and I was just so touched. It was a beautiful evening. It was also a useful class wherein I learned a lot and was able to memorize some Scripture. For some reason, I have so much trouble memorizing Scripture. So I got a few down and that made me feel very good about myself.

Well, I've got to run. Now you see that you haven't missed a lot in the past 2 weeks since I last blogged. I hope you all are doing well and are hale and hearty. See you soon!

Knee-deep in the Hoopla

Life just got a bit more crazy.  Friend Husband has the next 10 days or so off from work. 

We've been having quite the time lately, as I will show you by my pictures.  My crisis du jour was the arrival of the homeschool evaluator at 9 AM.  I called her a couple of times in the last two weeks and was about to ask someone else to do it when she called yesterday.  Today was about the only day she had to do the thing.  Problem was, I wasn't ready.

Yes, I am a slacker.

So I stayed up late (for me) grading and got up early to enter grades.  About 30 minutes before estimated arrival time, the papers were still not in their neat little accordion files, ready to be shown to the teacher-evaluator.  This would be because I refused to do them last year and they rarely got done.  So I dragged the girls out of bed with a frantic, "Get up and get these papers filed NOW!" and put some actual clothes on, as opposed to the ones I'd slept in. 

Sarah didn't have as many papers to file.  She uses a spiral-bound notebook for both biology and history and she was the only one who'd managed to get anything filed ahead of time.  Rachel and Abby, on the other hand, basically had a year's worth of papers to file.  At that point, I was about ready to strangle them both for being such amazing slackers (apple doesn't fall far from the tree) but I was frantic about having something to show the evaluator.  As it happens, I needn't have worried.  And now I find this picture more than a little funny:

Rachel, attempting to bring order to chaos.

It's nice to have them have to deal with the consequences of their actions for a change.

So, the evaluation went well, despite the paperwork debacle and now all I have to do is to fill out all the paperwork that goes to the district.  Bleah.  This is the time of year when I miss living in Kentucky.  All Kentucky requires is a letter saying you're going to have them in school for 180 days and to teach them in English.  For Ohio, I have to give them a proposed list of books and sort of a scope and sequence.  It comes out to 6-7 pages plus the cover letter informing them that I'm doing it, plus the 3 pages of teacher evals.  I used to walk it into the district office but a few years ago they were so unconscionably rude that I decided to save myself the hassle and mail it in.  Registered mail.

Moving right along...

We had a lot of visitors at services this weekend due to the appointment of elders in our congregation.  It must be an amazing thing to have your son become an elder.  I can't even imagine the feelings.  Of course, right now it's all I can do to keep David from maiming himself and others around him.  I'll probably be dead by the time he's old enough to be an elder...if he lives that long.  Anyway, here are the families of our two newly-appointed elders.

And yes, Benjamin (3rd from the left) always does choose to be a total dork in all situations.

Look at the glow coming off Elizabeth...how angelic can you get?

Anyway, since one of the visitors was a woman who'd helped Friend Priscilla and I by quilting a quilt for her granddaughter (and we hadn't yet finished it), I kicked into high gear to get that puppy squared off and bound.  We finally gave it to the happy couple (two years married now) after Sunday lunch.  I think the bride was pleased.

The large view...the sashing and binding are denim.  You can't really tell from the picture.

So much has changed in just the two years since we started that quilt.  It's rather bittersweet to read the inscriptions on the blocks..

It seems like I've been doing a lot of things but I surely can't remember what else has been going on.  Oh, I finished the last Harry Potter book the night before last.  It was so good.  I'm sad that I've read through them all but they were enjoyable fantasy.  Time to find something new to read.

Here are a couple of other random pictures to round out my explanation of why I haven't been doing much online.  Friend Husband has a lot of grand ideas (like cleaning out the garage and tearing up carpet in the LR) so I doubt I'll be around much the next week or so.  I've got a lot of grand ideas like getting things ready for school, which starts back on 8/21.  I don't think that life ever really slows down.


Look who's doing the work here.



Ok, this one bears some explanation.  On Sunday, Zi's hairdo was sort of a bouffant thing with a hairband in it.  The teenagers seemed amazed at the poofiness of her hair and asked/hinted that it would be cool to see how big it was when I wasn't trying to pin it down some.  So I combed it all out and this is what it looks like.  Hannah pointed out that her profile looks a lot like Queen Nefertiti's and I concur.  She's very regal when she's not tired and whining around on her dad.

Ok, speaking of hair, it's time to do Zi's again and take a shower myself.  I hope y'all're all enjoying the waning weeks of summer.  We surely are here.  It's been downright chilly for August (highs in the low 80's) and the living is certainly good.  Hugs & misses!

August 5th and more questions

Yes, I'm going to play the innane, "What were you doing this day x number of years ago" game again. I'm stuck in a rut, I'm sure.

What were you doing on this date in 1978? I'm not exactly sure what I was doing aside from sweating out the end of summer vacation in Austin, Texas. Friend Barb and her husband Mark, however, were taking their marriage vows. Happy anniversary from the other side of the 'Nati!

What were you doing on this day in 1992? I was getting my ears pierced with my late, great MIL and taking the pregnancy test that would reveal that Sarah was on her way.

What were you doing this day in 1994? I have no idea what I was doing, aside from being very sick and pregnant with Rachel. Friend Sherri, however, was giving birth to her youngest child, sweet Tabitha. Happy birthday, Beetha!

What were you doing on this day in 2002? Sweet Luci's mom was giving birth to her. You can go wish her happy birthday at her mom's blog.

What were you doing on this day in 2005? Friend Husband and I spent the entire day packing and waiting to get on the plane that would take us back home after a whirlwind five days in Ethiopia. We were both exhausted and I was already feeling overwhelmed, and very anxious to get back home.

And finally (and not at all in order), what were you doing on this day in 1989? At about this time, I was driving to the far north of Austin (from the southern suburbs) to have my hairdresser make my hair an impenetrable helmet for my wedding day. I would drive back to my parents' house, take a tepid bath after everyone else in the house (including my two aunts, two uncles, eight cousins, sister, and parents) had bathed, then get ready for the 7:30 ceremony. Somehow we got through it all and here we are, 19 years later.

I am so thankful that God brought us together and kept us together when both of us would probably have given up. Through the smiles and through the tears, we've hung together. I can honestly say that I'm more in love with Friend Husband than I was on our wedding day. He's an awesome guy and I'm blessed that he chose me all those years ago.

Happy anniversary, Doug! And I hope and pray that we have many many more happy years working together!

Vast incompetence or what?

I have been working and working to get my garden into shape. Every spring I vow that this will be the year that I really keep the garden weeded and in good shape. And the year that I'll dig it under come October so that it'll be ready for spring planting. The fact that I have to work my buns off to get it done in the spring is evidence of the fact that I never keep those vows.

There are parts of the garden that are in pretty good shape, soil-wise and other parts that aren't. I've already dug and planted the parts that are in good shape and have been working all morning on the rest of it.

I am very tired.

My Mantis tiller is my best gardening friend. Friend Husband (my best friend overall) bought it for me a few seasons ago when I said that I was not going to continue gardening if I didn't get some kind of motorized item to help me with turning over the dirt every year. Friend Husband loves loves loves fresh tomatoes, especially those little grape ones. He also love loves loves me and knows how much I enjoy gardening, except for minor frustrations like having to spend 6 weeks digging it up to get ready for spring.

So he found me a Mantis tiller and I've been in love with it ever since. It occurred to me as I walked out of the garage with it today that I haven't given it a name as I have our other machines around the house. One car is "Estrella" and the other is the "Big Black Van" (a play on the Wiggles' Big Red Car). I decided this morning, before I even got to the garden enclosure, that my tiller's name was Hun. As in Attiller the Hun. Heh. Can you tell how tired I am by the lameness of that joke?

So what was I getting at? Oh, I was wondering if I was incompetent because it takes me so very long to get the work done (although it no longer takes me 6 weeks) or what is going on. Part of what's going on, of course, is the twins, homeschooling, rain, life, etc. Part of it is that time slows down when I get into the garden. I cannot get anything done quickly there. Every action is like a meditation. I had to edge along my brick pathways and dig out the clay there by hand to add to the pile of dirt that Hun would process and it took a very long time. I enjoyed it but niggling in the back of my head was the knowledge that I'd pay for it in some other way, like the girls not working diligently or the twins getting into a fight or dinner being late. I haven't even started on my inside chores for the day and I'll probably be too tired to do them when I finally come in. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make a good farm wife.

Friend Gina has recently been trying some new things in order to get ready for the next part of her life and sometimes I'm very jealous. There are times in every day that the noise, the dirt, the fighting, and my own sense of incompetence threaten to swamp my craft. I dream of doing something else, anything else. But when I force myself to come up with something else that's concrete and achievable, I am unable to. And I don't want to miss these precious days with my children, even when they drive me around the bend. I don't want someone else raising my children. I just want things to go easily for a change.

That's about as vague as wanting to do "something else". And about as achievable.

Musings from a tired and dirty woman who is about to go out and play in her big dirt hole.