Yup, birthday time for Mommy again! I had some plans that were low cost and not eating out because I would stress to the max if I went out to eat on this meal plan. So, I took Keturah to another $1 movie, "The Iron Giant" which is an old style animation movie about a boy befriending an alien robot, and the government wanting to destroy it because it starts shooting them in defense. Pretty straight forward story. Kind of boring for me, but, hey, it was a $2 date with Keturah. Then we hit up Toys R Us so she could spend her reading money and we went to the Thyme Market (kind of like Whole Foods and Earth Fare) to get a couple of things and look around. Thyme Market was just as I expected, expensive, organic, specialty foods. Lots of brands I have come to know and trust though. But nothing awe inspiring for this diet. Sometimes you just need to go see a store and what it has to offer to know if you are in a pinch and need something, you can find it. I did get plain, no oil, or sugar, probably made yesterday cashew butter ($6 per 1/2 lb), $6 jar of salad dressing by Primal (something, but I have heard that name before), baking soda instead of baking powder (oops!), a treat for Keturah out of the bulk section, and a big can of cold plain coconut water with pulp to drink on my way home since I can't stop at a fast food chain for a pop. Expensive. But at least I do have a few more options when I'm more on a paleo diet and not the ultra raw diet. Plus, they have all kinds of natural things like homeopathic medication and soaps and toothpaste, etc. Good to know.
Jared and Benaiah worked in the yard while Abishai played. Then right after Keturah and I got home, Grandma showed up to get laundry and Abishai for naptime. We had an errand to run later during naptime, so it made sense to have naptime happen at her house. I tried to bust a move on some phone calls and the Medicaid application. You would think that I would have all the legal documents all in one place at any given time so this would be easy, but no. They get scattered because each application for something requires different things. And this one requires a bit more proof of income now that it's more set in stone. I wish I could knock these things out in one chunk, but because running a home with little ones is chaotic, I just can't. My type A personality hates it though. I want to get the task done and off my list! I guess breaking it down into smaller tasks that can be crossed off would help. I did find a dog sitter for August, called the eye doctor's to see when we are due for an exam and if we needed to do that before going in to get Keturah's glasses (which we don't need to update it, so we will go in tomorrow!), paid some bills. Not bad for only being home for a couple of hours.
But something just hit me wrong when I was asked about birthday plans for tonight or were we waiting for Justin to come home and what not. Not any one's fault but my own self pity party. I really miss not being able to eat out for my birthday! And having chocolate! I tell you, I'm trying, trying, trying to change my perspective, but it's like I'm grieving. It's just food! Why is it that hard?! I used to have strawberry shortcake all the time on my birthdays. My mom would make the biscuits from scratch some years. And we would have cool whip on it. Now all I can have is strawberries. Or I'd have cheesecake or double chocolate cake or something. Big no no's all around. And I know there is no perfect timing to starting and stopping something like this. And I know I should be and I am grateful for food I can eat, like that $6 jar of salad dressing. And this blog isn't about me, but my mood can have a major effect on everyone. There's some other minor relationship skirmishes that also have affected me this week, and I guess it all just hit me tonight. Birthdays are never perfect. And they aren't always celebrated perfectly on that day, and that's ok. I did nothing for Jared for his birthday. And this isn't a big birthday. I'm just 36.
But, with God's help, I'll pick myself up. We had a nice dinner of homemade chicken potato soup that Benaiah helped me put into the crockpot this morning. Abishai requested a certain song by Lecrae, so I tried to find that on YouTube and when I couldn't find that nor understand the lyrics of his other songs, I went to my favorite white girl's hip hop, TobyMac, which led to kicking it out old school with DCTalk from 20 years ago which led to a little Michael W. Smith piano playing after I did the dishes. All of that helped me a bunch. The kids and Jared went into the garage and outside to ride bikes and Jared needed to sharpen his axe for Benaiah's work tomorrow. Then the kids came in and I watched Jared wrestle and tickle and flip them until they couldn't breathe. So, all is right at the end of the day.
It was a hot day, 90 degrees F, and fairly dry. Pretty typical for my birthday. Tomorrow is another stay at home day so I don't know what we'll get up to. I would like to take the kids to a splashpad at least but mostly to a mini water park at one of our local parks before summer is out. I don't know if they start closing them down at the beginning of August when school starts or wait until after Labor Day. I know PEI waited until kids were out of school and the air was warmer (July 1st) and closed right after Labor Day because it was already cooling off. Yes, school starts for some students in less than 2 weeks. Another contention of mine is that although we take 3 full months off (if not a little longer), we are forced to shop for school now while everything's on sale. I just don't want to think about it yet. I still have my projects to do that I know won't get done when school is in session for us. Hopefully I won't feel that way next year when we are really settled and I can relax more. I've spent 3 summers this way now, unpacking my stuff, in 2012, 2016, and now 2017. I can't wait to stay in one spot for awhile. Then I can do mini projects or get back to scrapbooking and crafting. And just relax.
Sorry this was long, but hey, it's my birthday. Lots of people of course said Happy Birthday on my Facebook wall, which is always fascinating because it reminds me that I have friends literally all around the world. From Missouri to NH to PEI to the Ukraine etc. Facebook does remind its users when other user birthdays are if they share that information (month and day only), and I always say Happy Birthday to each person on their day, so I don't mind that no one actually knows my birthday. I use it as a way to remember that person and pray for them and how they have been a part of my life. I've done a lot in 36 years, haven't I? Yup, I have. And I'm grateful.
 |
| Keturah spent some of her money on this bow and arrow set. Not the cheapest made, but it's more for looks than anything else. It's actually Rapunzel's set from the TV series. |
 |
| The boys, er, men, doing another project. I'm so grateful to have such handy men around! One is ambitious and one needs money. Score! |
 |
| Jared put the other plastic tire swing up, but Abishai can't figure it out and doesn't like it. The rope is bit stretchy, so if Keturah gets in it, it touches the ground. I think it might need some tweaking. |
 |
| Look at what I have learned and can apply to this situation! |
 |
| My birthday present I suppose: I clothesline! We don't have the special tension thing for it, so they used a carabiner for now. But it works! Now I need to get some non craft, i.e. heavier duty clothespins. I left the bucket of clothespins in Charlottetown for the next tenant. |
 |
| I have to stretch to reach it from the porch, but I think that I will most likely do it from the ground since they put it really low for me. If we redo the deck, we can always make it work better, too. You hardly see clotheslines anymore where we live here in Indiana, but almost everyone has them one PEI. Why? Because it's so windy and Islanders have to save money when they can because other things are so expensive! |
 |
| Jared brought home some brownies from the office and dressed them up for the kids tonight just because he can. But we pretended they were eating Mommy's birthday cake for her. Yes, I'm a bit jealous. |
 |
| Kind of like Bulk Barn, but not Bulk Barn. |
 |
| We did some Christmas browsing while we were at Toys R Us. I was looking for some deals to maybe save for Christmas but no luck. This would be a nice set to have, although it goes with a different line than what we have. |
 |
| Keturah LOVED these! I'm surprised she didn't actually purchase them. The gymnast set from the 70's that was my cousin's is in sad, sad, shape. Also on the radar is a cheap(er) homeschool during weekday mornings gymanstics class that is about 30 minutes away. Keturah would really, really love to do it again. I don't want to go out and drive an hr every week, but, the price can't be beat this time. And she has the talent. And I can take her with or without the boys since it's in the morning and not during naptime. I could always find a place to take them for that hr every week, too. Hm,.... |
 |
| Gary and Leah did get me a small, but very thoughtful gift that included this little gem off of a t-shirt from PEI. Yes, they have shirts and towels that they purposefully stain with the red dirt. Very unique! And yes, your clothes can get slightly stained but it's not that bad. Anyway, Leah packaged up some Larabars and Sea Salt in a little basket for me. Just a token gift because, well, they bought me a stove less than a month ago. I love that they do try to pay attention to my ever changing picky food needs, which again, I hate to burden anyone with, especially someone who has cooked in her own way for many, many years. But we all manage to adapt. So, thank you. |
P.S. 109 people posted Happy Birthday on my Facebook wall! I'm not usually about numbers, but some how, that makes me feel incredibly blessed and loved that they took two seconds to do that. (btw, I have over 800 FB friends, but this an excellent percentage!) Plus I had a handful write me a private message, including my sister Stefanie last night at 11pm. She was the first greeter for this year! Thank you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment