Yeah! We finally hit the upper 20's and lower 30's in Fahrenheit in temperatures today, Sunday! But it was still pretty cold! And it's supposed to be in the 50's on Thursday, and then back to the 30's. It's been a struggle to keep the house warm. I think the furnace is fine, but because the forced air goes under the house in the super cold crawlspace, the air cools off by the time it reaches the outer rooms, especially the sunroom. I've had to put two space heaters in the sunroom just to keep my fingers from totally freezing up. I only run them if I'm home, of course, and not at night. When my fingers and knees start to warm up, it's pretty painful actually. So, we've stayed at home most of the week because it's not worth bundling up to go out in negative temperatures if you don't absolutely have to. We did get groceries last night, and had church today.
Today was the first Sunday of the new schedule. Benaiah, Grandpa, Grandma, and either Jared or I will be pretty much be at church most of the day or at small group. Benaiah has the longest day, starting at 8am and going until 8pm, except for about 3 hrs in the afternoon for Sunday dinner and rest before the new afternoon service/practice for Crave (youth group) at 4 or 4:30pm. It's a good thing we live close! But Keturah and Abishai (and Jared this morning) missed out on all of it because Keturah was sick with the stomach bug. We kept Abishai home as well so he could have one on one time with Daddy while Mommy went to church, and because Abishai seems to have been under the weather most of the week. It's not a full blown cold, but he's not 100% either. He technically can go to church because he hasn't had a fever and no vomiting, and his cough is just a little one. Anyway, you should have seen how animated he was with Jared this morning, chatting away, "Daddy, you (come and) get me!" "Daddy, I eat goldfish!" "Daddy, I eat eggs!" "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" So they watched car shows all morning like Top Gear from the BBC and their newer US based version when the BBC kicked them out. Anyway, Justin and Benaiah are now at church with Jared. Jared is volunteering in the nursery at 4:30, and he and I will alternate Sundays on a regular basis, so one of us is home for Abishai's nap. Benaiah has practice for Crave, and Justin gets to go along for the ride until his small group starts at 6. Justin's worship time/lesson time is now on Sunday morning. He'll attend the 9:15 one, because he volunteers at the 11am service, but the worship service for middle schoolers goes both hours. We also have a new check in system, and I learned, that they included special letters in the identity tag like "a" for allergy and "L" for legal issues like mom and dad are separated/divorced and there's some tension there (among other circumstances I'm sure, with adoptive/foster parents, etc.) The Creek tries to be proactive instead of reactive.
All is quiet at the moment, but I'm sure the little guy will be up from a nap soon. Keturah is back in bed, and hopefully over the "staying close to the bathroom" part of her sickness. And I'm cruising the social media. I did get a lot done this week on my non school to do list, but it's back to the school routine tomorrow. I don't want to go back to school! I have to do one or the other, school or house projects. Especially with this bitter cold we have had, I have zero energy to do both. Plus, I've been on a sugar high/carb high since Thanksgiving, so I'm planning on doing a Whole 30 starting this week to regroup. I bought some new foods to try this time like Nutpods (coffee creamer with zero nasty stuff, no sugar, or sweetener, but made with coconut and almond milk and it's flavored by hazelnuts) and some avocado oil, mayo made from avocado oil and no sugar, and ghee. And we stocked the fridge with a ton of fruit and veggies and plain meats. I can't wait! No, I really can't wait because I've watching social media posts on it for the last month and have gotten some great tips, recipes, and ideas! It's just 30 days. Anyone can do that!
Some quick thoughts on small groups. We need one. Jared has his guy groups in the mornings. I see other adults and I chat through social media with lots of people. But we don't do life with other families, like BBQ's, football game watching parties, mom night's out, deeply knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses, etc. We haven't had one since we left for Canada, maybe a couple of years before that, too. I'm not sure who I would call in an emergency. And I don't have the social skills because I'm more at home than I've ever been. I can type until the cows come home, but when I'm face to face, I fail more and more to relate. I'm out of practice. And most of the women in my previous friendships have moved on. They say hi to me, but we don't share the same social circles, or even the same values at times, and I feel left out. And to form brand new relationships are hard for me unless we have a few things in common. We need a group that meets weekly and very consistently. And now that all are church activities happen on one day, we have many evenings free. I'd like it to be child friendly, i.e. kids can play in one room, and we meet in another. Anyway, it's all part of the process of reintegration, and yet, things are different, and I don't have the same zeal to go after relationships as I did when I went to PEI. I guess that means I am still healing from the deep wounds of leaving there. When people betray you, it hurts a lot and it's very, very hard to heal from and get over it and forgive them etc. At least it's been that way for me. I don't want to open myself up like that yet. Someday, but not yet. In the meantime, I'd like to get something started so I can make those healing steps of trusting people again. I wish I was further along in this healing process but I'm not. I'm sure some of you understand. I left my best friends on PEI. My BEST friends I've ever had. No one can replace those precious people. No one. You know who are. You who still read our blog. My friends are the people where I've actually been in their homes and they have been in mine. Friends who share a coffee or tea with, not just pass in the very large, empty (or busy) hallways at church where you can get easily lost. I know Jared doesn't necessarily feel the same way about this. He has found new friends here because he has intentionally done that. I've been too busy keeping the household going and moving twice and teaching kids that I haven't had time to really cultivate lasting friendships. People are too busy, too. It's probably just the stage of life we are in. But a consistent small group where I'm not the leader would be very helpful right now.
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| Ethan came to sleep over and Abishai had a grand time hiding from him under the bed! It's always a highlight of the younger kids' days when they can mess with big brother and his friend! |
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| Socks, too, loves the extra attention! |
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| Playing with a "lost friend." Benaiah had these snap circuits hidden away in his stuff for over 6 months. I'm glad the kids have access to them again! I was able to sort a lot of his things and condense the boxes a bit in the sunroom. I have more to go and he and I need to talk about a few items, but at least the project has been started. It can be finished up in a couple of hour some weekend. |
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| Everybody around here is complaining about the cold and the snow. Well, I do mind the cold. In fact, it has been awful for me. BUT, it has to be cold in order for the snow to stay! It's going to warm up this week but then our snow will be gone and all we'll see is brown grass and mud. Boo! This is a MUCH better view! |
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| I could see crystals of snow glittering in the light of the sunrise! It makes me miss PEI all the more! So many mornings looking out that big picture window and seeing the several feet of snow in the front yard all glistening like this. Gorgeous! |
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| Skip ahead a couple of days....I'm trying to get Abishai weaned off of screen time and his paci, so I'm trying to do more one on one hands on toddler/preschool activities like water color, play dough, games, books, etc. It's sometime easy for the littlest one to be forgotten in the midst of the busyness. I finally have a nice set of these "sewing" cards I've always wanted for the kids. I made a pretend paper set for Keturah, but they were flimsy. I got these from one of those boxes of free homeschool book boxes last year. I saw them today as I was looking for other materials for science so I thought I would try them out. And yes, Abishai can do them by himself! Not perfectly, but he can practice pushing the yarn through, finding it on the other side and poking it through another hole. He learned it under a minute! Yeah! |
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| Keturah, who was very sick to her stomach all day, was able to play with them, too, and in fact sewed up and unsewed about 2/3 of them. |
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| This little booger almost finished this "snake" before I could snap the picture! He's super strong! Some of our play dough is kind of dry and tough, so I'm surprised he got it all the way pushed through. |
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| Why is it that I have great hair days when I have nowhere to go? No product in this hair besides a Flexi Clip and freshly washed hair put up when wet. Most of the time I don't get this kind of wave, but I must have twisted it up just so that it did it on it's own. I love the volume and waves! |
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| Ok now, I said it was cold didn't I? Yes, 56 degrees in the sunroom one morning. 56 degrees!!! I'm so glad it's going to be much, much warmer this week. 56 degrees is fine for the outside, but NOT for the inside! I don't want to wear 10 layers of clothing inside because then it weighs me down and I can't get work done. It has also become restrictive and doesn't let me be aware of what my muscles doing, and therefore, I haven't been as aware of my fibro pain, so I'm all out of sorts. There are some people with fibro that are hyper sensitive to the weight of clothing or touch of clothing on their skin. I'm not usually too picky, but when I have to wear 3 shirts to stay warm and two pairs of socks plus slippers, it's too cold. I did bundle up well when I did go outside though. Warmth before fashion EVERY time because if I don't, I'm in major pain later. I love snow, I love looking at snow, and I don't mind being in it if I'm dressed properly, but it just can't be inside when I have work to do. |
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| Um, yeah, this was an Instagram post the other day. Someone else who has been gluten free for a long time commented and said they had never seen this! It says "sucrose syrup from wheat." Yes, what is that? But I didn't discover it until AFTER I ate one. So, not to be wasteful, I finished the box and will suffer the consequences (increased back pain) for the next few days. Grrr..... |
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| 4 little truffles from Alid's. Why did they have to ruin it with wheat? And Aldi's is so good about not using wheat products! Oh well, lesson learned. Stick with more expensive chocolate. |
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| Awww, this is the picture Nora colored for Grandma. I think there's some resemblance, in a very good way, there. |
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| Gary and Leah had invited a family from the neighborhood who had cleaned their driveway for them right before we came home on Monday over to have supper on Friday night and asked us to join them because they had young kids. I warned Abishai he would have to share his toys and he did very, very well, thankfully. And of course he brought out all the cars. |
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| What?! Coloring?! Both kids pulled it out like they do it every day or something. But if I ask them to color something for school, they groan. Well, at least they occupied themselves until our guests came. |
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| Abishai found a new playmate! This little guy will be 3 in Janaury and Abishai will be 3 in February, so if we both live here long enough, they will grow up together! |
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| Grandma got out the chair for the 3 year old's younger brother, but Abishai said, "My chair!" Abishai doesn't use it anymore, and the little guy sat on his mom's lap instead. But Abishai had to show us how big he is now in it! |
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| Playing a follow the leader dancing game down the hallway after they played with the bowling set. They had a blast! The oldest kid is a girl about 7 years old, but my middles played fine with her. |
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| He ate the ice cream from his cake and ice cream dessert, but left the cake. Then someone found jell-o cups and Abishai couldn't get enough! |
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| "Fwhips!" |
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| Can you lean more into Justin, dog? I think Socks didn't know what was what with people coming and going today. But he loves the colder weather and is constantly asking to go outside! I have to be careful though, because the law says dogs can't be left out too long if it's 20 degrees or below. Socks would stay out there forever if I let him! And when he's ready to come in, he comes right up on the porch to wait until we notice. I bet he misses the snow of PEI, too. We also changed up his food and he can't get enough of that either! I have to actually restrict him! I haven't done that since he was a puppy! Good call on Jared for getting him a different, but equivalent quality dog food! |
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| "Daddy, daddy, daddy, play with me!" "Daddy, get me!" "Daddy, watch cars!" |
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| So cold! |
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| Still cold! (Saturday I think) |
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| Finally! Back up in the 30's! And see that 51 degrees on Wednesday? Nice! Now we NEED to get to that ice tree early this week. We are supposed to get an inch or two of snow and maybe 1/10th of an inch of ice on the roads tonight, so school for Benaiah is cancelled tomorrow. It was going to be their first day of school since break. I'm glad they made the call early in the evening so we could all relax. But the homeschool kids don't get the day off because we need to start up again. Plus we have Pokemon' club in the afternoon IF we have healthy kids and the roads are clear. I'll make the decision in the morning. |
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