Year 4, January 28th-February 1st, 2019: Living in the Ice Age

Well, folks, we have entered a new Ice Age!  With highs in the teens and a below zero windchill on both Tuesday and Thursday, and a high of -1 degree Fahrenheit on Wednesday and -40 degree Fahrenheit windchill on Wednesday, more than 500 schools, univeristies, churches, organizations, etc have canceled all their events and will stay closed as of Tuesday evening.  I'm sure more will be added in the morning.  Benaiah's school was canceled, Justin's Bible Bowl practice was canceled, Keturah's basketball practice was canceled, and we are awaiting news on Benaiah's leadership group and D group (they both just go canceled just now).  I left briefly on Monday morning for my counseling appointment, but the plan right now (on Tuesday night) is that I will not set foot outside the door from Monday at noon until Friday at 10am.  That's right.  I'm a hermit and I love it! Jared bought a few groceries today to tide us over.  I called him this morning and asked, "Are you up for a challenge and stretching of creativity on food?"  We had lots of leftovers and I did discover more meat in the freezer.  There's just a lot of "in case we are out of our favorites" kind of food in the pantry, so, it's time to work on clearing that out again.  It's mostly carb based, so, we'll see.  We are low on fruits and veggies, but that's ok.  We won't starve, that's for sure.

But we might get on each other's nerves.  Man, Monday was tough.  With my appointment being early in the day, and having a long, hard Sunday, Monday was as rough as ever.  Tears, yelling, school not finished until 8:30pm.  Oh....my....goodness.  It's a good thing that I heard my friends say on Sunday evening at our homeschool parental support meeting that their kids "hate" school, too.  I'm so not alone in this.  I don't understand it, because I have always loved school, but eh, at least I'm not doing it all wrong, right?  Oh, that's what happened, Keturah woke up with another stomach ache, which I think is a stress/lack of sleeping thing.  But I made her keep forging ahead, at a lower rate than normal, but I wasn't going to let her lounge around all day.  I'm feeling crappy with this sudden drop in air pressure and temperature.  I mean, I'm having the worst fibro flare I've had in a very long time.  And having the space heaters on constantly messes with my senses, making me feel funny.  And I am so sore and cannot move well at all.  And I've got a touch of vertigo because of the change in air pressure.  I feel like staying home I could get a ton of stuff done, but nope, not like this.

Monday was also hard because we had so many interruptions during the day.  From the appointment, to texts from family, to dealing with health insurance, ugh!  I was on the phone at least 45 minutes calling first one company than another with the health insurance thing.  Then I got a text from Shauna about when she's coming up to help with her mom's estate.  Then my brother texted and said the transmission in his van went out.  Oh, and I started the day texting a friend whose children go to Benaiah's school about some developments in the children's relationships with one another.  I was so over these interruptions that I declared I am no longer answering non emergency phone calls and texts from 9am to 4pm.  Fixing insurance issues typically is NOT an emergency.  This one was kind of because they had taken out a certain amount of money from the e2 bank account and we needed to make sure it was for the right policy.  It ended up being a miscommunication between the two companies.

Are we ready for this sub zero high (not including this windchill?) I don't think so.

Good grief.

Cutest Lego ever!

And that's what I feel about Monday's too.

"Bubbling" as we call it cracks Abishai up all the time!

Tuesday was better because we dug into school right away and did our together work first.  Then I was free to putter and Abishai seemed happier to just play with his toys AFTER having his screen time.  Usually I make him wait until the afternoon, but then he's begging for it all morning.  The other day he even asked me if I was going to do school with the others "so I can have my screen time."  Dang.  Now I've associated school with the screen.  Whoops!  He's so cute though because he took the tablet to his bed to lie down and also so we don't hear it.  He's only on YouTube kids and I told him to stick with the TV shows, not the unboxing toys videos.  I actually think he understood what I meant.  I can check the history of the app to see what he did watch, but he's pretty smart.  The kids could have done more work on their projects this afternoon, but I didn't push too hard because I really do want them to have some down time.  We finished the day by watching a cartoon movie about Mohammed.  It definitely put Islam in the best of lights and is geared to a Muslim audience.  But it's interesting to see and talk about it.  You actually didn't see Mohammed in the movie, but heard his voice or saw the scene from is perspective.  It was kind of weird.  And they said that Christianity and Islam are like two light beams coming from the same source but landing differently on the ground.  Alrighty then, crazy talk.

One last thing, Abishai has learned how to use the "realize" as in "I realize that (this or that thing does this or that thing in that way, etc)."  It's so adorable!  He says it more like "I wheelize."  He said something else like that today and I can't remember it now.  But it was along those same lines.  He's so smart!

Time to bring out the face mask!  Grrrr!!!!

The trash bags were just hand me down clothing I needed to go through.  I think this picture was taken because he was using them as a seat OR he was begging for screen time and the TV buttons were up on the shelf.

Reading happens a lot around here.

We watched a movie about Mohammad and it was obviously geared toward Muslims.  They wouldn't show Mohammed at all.  And it showed Islam in a very good light and compared it to Christianity.  Very eye opening but we were able to point out the differences. 

Yikes!

This kid has a heart of gold!

Wednesday was the day the temperatures dropped below freezing and the windchill was -40 degrees F.  Yes, colder than PEI most winter days.  Most schools, universities, churches, and even Aldi's closed!  It's THAT bad outside.  Benaiah was home, and will also be home tomorrow because it's not supposed to warm up until tomorrow afternoon by a few degrees.  Some schools are doing "e learning" which I think is the students and teachers might interact using their tablets they get from school or something.  Maybe if they do that then they don't have to tack on days at the end of the year.  I need to find out more about it, because it sounds like a like bit of online public school.  Or even home schooling, like when Grandpa teaches the girls their Bible class every week.  Hm,....One parent even said they like "e-learning days" and I wanted to say, well, if you like your kids home and learning, why not home school?  If you like having your kids home, why don't you have them home?  It's a question I won't ever understand.  My e learning kid didn't get up until noon and then talked to his friends, played video games, and maybe got to some homework, I don't know.  Benaiah did not interact very much with us.  And that's ok, because it means we did our normal thing.  No "polar vortex" days for us.  I felt a little bit better and made it through cleaning the dining room ceiling fan and 4 bags of clothes that were given to us on Sunday.  Now the unwanted clothes are in the van ready to take to gym day on Friday.  I did not need them cluttering up my house for more than a week.  I'm about to clean out my iCloud now that I got a 2nd external hard drive for my computer, yeah! But this cold weather has me beaten up and down.  All activities were canceled tonight as well.  Staying warm as much as we can, making do with the food we have.  All part of life.

School was ok, and I'm glad we read together in the morning.  That seems to be helping, too.  Abishai gets his screen time and then doesn't bother me the rest of the day asking for it.  I don't waste time puttering but get my work with them done first thing.  And then they can go at their own snail's pace to finish out their independent work.  Keturah had a bout 4 hrs, and ended up doing it closer to 6 hrs because she took too many breaks.  I had to wait until after dinner to go over their homework.  We'll get it someday, that procrastination doesn't work.  And funny thing is, "cras" means later in Latin, which is in their vocab list this week for Latin.  The mailman brought Benaiah's vibrams today and Jared bought heavy duty insect repellent, a sun hat with neck cover, and new dress shoes from Meijer last night for his India trip.  All in all it was a decent day.  And we stay home tomorrow doing the same things.

No, this isn't for a snowstorm.  It's because it's bitterly cold outside and people here won't wear the proper gear.  So, they cancel everything without a single hint of snow on the ground.

Oh my goodness.  And that's without the windchill.

Even PEI doesn't always get that cold.

And this is why the fibro flares.  The drastic change in weather, especially temps, wreck havoc on my body.

No joke.  I lived in fear that my heaters would break.  I stayed out of the sunroom most of the day that day.

Justin and Abishai had been snuggling on the couch with Abishai's blankets.  So Justin made a fort for him during read aloud time.

Tent diving? I don't know but seeing your gangly teen son's skinny legs hanging out like that is quite comical.

Ice on the inside of the glass door!

Scratching at the ice!

Brotherly love.

We stayed home from noon on Monday until mid afternoon on Friday.  It's been a long week.

What do I always say?  Oh yes, if it's going to be cold, there better be snow on the ground!  Come on, Indiana!

Jared noticed a hawk eating a mouse or something small in the neighbor's yard.  Look just above the hood of the truck in the middle of the picture.

Thursday was more of the same.  Actually it's Friday now and between Thursday and Friday, I've fallen into the worst fibromyalgia flare I've had in years.  I had taken a dramimine on Weds night to ward off the vertigo, so I was sleepy.  Abishai and I fell asleep on the chair together!  And on Friday, I had to will myself to move just one baby step at a time.  Thankfully, the teaching part of the week is on Mon-Weds and then I just have to follow up on Thurs/Fri/Sat.  Timing Keturah is helping tremendously.  Having her sit at the dinning room table is also helping.  Since she sits towards the back of the table, she's in a corner and Abishai's back and forthness doesn't get in her way, not in the same way as him jumping on top of Justin on Justin's couch.  So, she got her boombox back today and she is officially down with her being banned from electronics and sweets.

So Justin and Keturah's end of the week was a little more relaxed.  We didn't go to gym day because there was some snow on the roads.  And it's a good thing because plans changed quickly in the afternoon when I had to pick up Benaiah from work and get groceries without Jared, who had to finish up stuff at work before their big trip.  The kids were ok with it.  I then had to spend the morning rearranging the rest of the day because I had things to pick up and drop off.  Sigh.  I paid medical bills and ordered Abishai's birthday stuff because I somewhat figured out our tax refund.  We are still getting a refund!  And Indiana's tax is now just about even!  Your best scenario is not that you get a big refund but that you come out even in the end.  Why let the government use the money that you could be using and investing more wisely all year?  I've just been so nervous about not having taxes withheld because we are "clergy" and have exempt status from social security.  But, because we have 4 kids still at home (yikes, that might change when Benaiah becomes 18, I'm not sure though if being a college student counts, eek!) and we make under a certain amount, we get the child tax credit and that is where the refund comes in.  Anyway, it's still a bit of money that we can really use right now.  God has blessed us with a raise and a change in health insurance that will better cover the cost of all my medical treatments, including chiro and osteopaths, maybe even counseling.

But to finish off the week, now Benaiah and I are in a heated debate over his new college class.  This tug of war between who has the final say and who is in charge and who is the one guiding and how much to speak into a situation is exhausting.  It's just not the way I pictured the end of his high school years to go. The up side is that I know exactly how I'm going to handle Justin's high school years.  There's just a lot of deadlines and a lot of balls I have to juggle and just when I think every single one of them is up, several of them fall at the same time.  And stressing out causes more pain.  But the weather is going to warm up back to more normal winter temps, so that will definitely help.  Jared will be gone for 9 days to India with Gary, so there's a lot more to think about and do.  We all will need more patience.  Ugh, that reminds me, I need to find a ride for Benaiah to get home when he works late on Monday and Tuesday, ugh.

On Thursday, Shauna and Everly got to see Mandisa and the Newsboys at Winterjam!  It's kind of interesting that they get to see the tour during it's 2nd weekend, and we'll see the same exact tour on the very last weekend of their 10 week run!  10 weeks of 4 nights in a row, 3 nights off equals 40 shows! Crazy!  And this time they are doing it "in the round" with the stage set in the middle.  It can be a logistical nightmare for sound and light crews but every seat in the house is a great seat!  Yeah!  Plus Everly's friend got them some kind of special seating and backstage pass stuff.  We'll see what they actually got up to!

Woah!

Every time we lifted the lid Abishai would growl at us like Oscar the Grouch.  It worked out well during read aloud time because the sound from the tablet was muffled.  He's got a pillow for his head in there, too.  Again, is this a bucket for balls or a "special delivery" cart for Abishai?

Snuggling with Momma.

Taken not 5 minutes later.  We were looking at birthday stuff and I guess I was scrolling too much and he just nodded off to sleep!  So I took advantage and napped, too while the house was quiet.

It's not every day that the 4 yr old sleeps in your lap.  Awww....

We were out for about an hour.

Somebody likes his canned drinks too much.  Don't worry, it's actually more like 3 days worth.  I tried one of those special Mountain Dews today and the extra chemicals in them made me sick.  Ugh.

Socks is not supposed to be on the couch, but every now and then we catch him up there.  I can't blame him.  The floor is full of toys or a kid running through and it's hard as a rock.  The poor "70 year old" dog needs a soft place for his achy bones.  And he looks so peaceful!

Pitiful doggy eyes.

Neither Jared nor I had the heart to tell him to get down.  He did get down a few minutes later though on his own.  Sweet doggy.

Abishai didn't want to get pizza on his pj's (which he wore to the store again today), so Daddy had him put on shorts.  Yes, he ended up being cold when we watched the Grand Tour show, but our little tarzan looks pretty cute though.

Abishai is going to miss Daddy wrestling time.

Bad picture, but he was looking out the window waiting on his ride to the movies.  He was going with a special friend who is a girl who shall not be named,.....yet.....and yes we approve and it's so fun to watch!  They went to see Aquaman.

Tarzan, feral child, stir crazy one.

"Flip" is something Justin's favorite YouTuber says, so he wrote in wood with the Rune alphabet.  Oi! So much for British history!

"I'm a scary Viking!"  Bwahahaha!  Goofball!  Although I LOVE the Vikings.  They were a tough breed, but they are my ancestors.  They fascinate me how they lived in the way up north and traveled to America way before anybody else did.  And Norse mythology is pretty cool, too.  That's why Thor has always been my favorite Marvel Avenger.  The accent gets me every time, and because they still do the whole King of Asgard thing.  I think I get my determination from my Viking roots.  Or not.  I just like them.

Ok, TGIF, for sure.  Good night.