Year 4, September 23rd-26th, 2019: Home vs. Wastewater Treatment Plant (and Recovery)

Monday was normal.  Everyone slept in.  Well, not Abishai of course.  I was incredibly sleepy, and I did my best to read a book to him, but it took a lot of concentration.  Last night, I felt my ears filling up with fluid and my throat glands are swollen, so I wasn't surprised when I woke up with vertigo this morning.  Lately I've just been slowly getting up and once I'm up and equalized, I'm ok.  But my eyes were already struggling to stay focused and I was getting a headache, so I laid down mid morning to shut my eyes and listen to my Bible.  Abishai had a bit of screen time then and Justin started on his schoolwork.  Keturah got up at around 10:30, and of course had some attitude.  Her newest phrase today was that I make her mad because I don't give her what she wants. I fished out that she is getting what she wants at church on Sunday.  She was asking me for some special juice or other sugary thing for breakfast, and I said no.  I don't know if there's a deeper meaning to this, but it's something to consider. I don't give her what she wants (or needs? love? attention? etc).  But she settled down a bit after that and we made it through the day with a little bit less drama than last Monday.  Oh, except when she was trying to shift blame to me because the garage can't fit cars so how can she possibly put the bike away properly.  She's grasping at straws, that's for sure.

And although her chores were only done about 50% of the way, she managed to go outside for a bit and build a fort, and she was able to ride bikes with Jared this evening.  Keturah's school stuff was fine.  Justin's was, too.  We didn't finish until 4pm because everybody started late.  Then Justin had screen time and Abishai and I went outside to add accessories to Keturah's fort.  Oh she did not like that.  Part of me wishes I had asked permission, but then she would have said no.  However, we finally got to do what I've asked the kids to do for years: take the materials around them outside and create something.  And then Abishai played in the fort for 90 minutes while dinner cooked!  It was perfect!  Well, except Keturah wouldn't join in.  And then she tore it apart before I could stop her.  I'm glad I got pictures of it though.

The weather is perfect and we had the windows open all day.  I'm feeling exhausted and sore, so I'm not sure what that's about.  A lack of drive as well again.  I probably need more sleep.  I have so many projects to work on but no energy to work on them.  I'll give myself grace today because of the vertigo I had, but still, I have to find a way to work a bit harder first thing in the morning before I'm worn out from the day.  Onward to a new day.

I let Benaiah borrow my scrunchies and this is all he could come up with.  No kick back to Mom?  Thanks, bro.

The set is complete!  I love it!  I might not even buy real pumpkins this year.  I'll see what Aldi's has in stock this week for the front door. I'm trying to up my decorating game.

Benaiah's friend David Masengale had this on his Instagram! It's more stuff about this vsco girl thing.  Oh the stupid trends that are out there.  But at least I know about it! I'm a cool/hip/trendy/with it kind of mom!

It was time to work with Keturah on school and Justin and I looked everywhere for her!  She was hidden behind the corner of the garage, working on this!  Justin had started some of it, but she did a lot of work taking out the wheelbarrow to get long sticks to try to make a wall.  Now this is the kind of creativity I want to see!

Abishai and I added chairs, a table, a floor mat, "bowls and spoons" for food, and a fire.  Abishai even said, "We need a (paper) towel for the door!" What he meant was a beach towel.

Ready to make some "boy" food in the red bucket.  The green bucket had "girl" food and the blue bucket had tea to share in it.  I got him started with putting some leaves in the buckets and he literally ran with it!

The last of the flowers I'm afraid.  I pulled some weeds.  I know there's more growing under the black stuff, but I'm pretending it's not there.

Stirring the food.

Hunting and gathering more leaves for food.

Coming in through the front door.

Bare feet and in pjs, gathering leaves for stew.

Then, he got on his bike and went for a "leaf adventure" to gather more leaves!  He would ride down the driveway, get off his bike, pick up leaves, get back on the bikes and ride back up the driveway.  He did this at least a dozen times in the next 90 minutes.  And this is why he started zoning out at 7:30 and fell asleep within minutes.

The boss is coming back with food!

Blowing out the fire so we can go to sleep.

Night night.  Wake up, my partners!

Girl food in green bucket, tea to share in the blue bucket.

Justin came out and joined us.  Yeah!

Justin immediately got to work improving our campfire and making a grill for it.

Ta-da!

Now THIS is what childhoods are made of!

Boy food is cooking!

Daddy's home!  And he joined us in the fort!

Eating the food and then handing it back to Abishai.

Hm,....first of all, Keturah is wearing her other "new" sandals she's neglected all summer in favor of her flip flops because a nail from a board came right through her flip flop and hurt her foot earlier.  Second, is she actually problem solving and digging a hole so she can put up a pole to build higher walls?  She is!

See! You can do it!

Well, we managed to get everything done on Tuesday!  From school, to a little yard clean up, to the piano tuning coming, to showers, and some electronic time.  The day started out very slowly again, with the same reason, vertigo due to very fluid filled ears.  My throat hurts too.  I feel thirsty all the time, but I think it's my throat telling me it's sore. Great. And we have a field trip, small group, and dance class (and groceries) to handle tomorrow.  But at least we got to enjoy today.  The kids did stay outside for awhile today, yeah! And I made those fun phone calls to medical people to straighten out bills.  I also started a "honey do" list for Jared and/or the kids.  There are so many projects that are minor but feel overwhelming to me because I lack strength to do it.  Like cleaning out and putting away the kids' pool or the water table. Moving boxes or items this way or that.  There's nothing wrong with me being the boss and them being the labor.  I need to delegate more and be specific. And I can still be picky about how it's done, right? Maybe.

In order for Justin to still have some lights on while he's sleeping, Daddy made Abishia a tent over his bed. Smart idea!

All cozy for his screen time.

Trying to hide from mama in the way back.

Guys pulling the line in order to bury it in the neighbor's yard.  One guy was on our side of the fence, which is understandable and I'm so glad the dog wasn't outside at the time.

Digging the trench to bury the cable.

Drawing with chalk before Daddy got home.  Happy Fall Y'all!  I hope to add some decorations soon.

Aw, at least he wants to go to with Daddy while Jared mentors someone.

Justin made a pan cookie for his small group boys tomorrow night.  I helped a bit though. 

Perfection! (At least it looks that way since I can't eat it.)

Wednesday was chalk full of all kinds of fun stuff!  I dropped Abishai off at Jared's office, and then Grandma was going to pick him up from there.  Meanwhile, Justin, Keturah and I went downtown to both the Citizens Energy Wastewater Plant and the White River Water Treatment Plant (drinking water). They might not be high on your field trip list, but to me, it was fascinating.  First of all, a lot of things are automated at both plants, so there are not as many employees on site.  However, those employees, plus all the 100's of employees around the city, have incredible jobs that are full of: SCIENCE.  We talked about Biology, Chemistry, and Physics today.  It's amazing to me how many kids talk about going into the medical field or business field, but not many talk about going into History, or getting a degree in basic sciences.  There are all these jobs that require knowledge of sciences in order to understand how something works.  At the Wastewater plant, you need to know the difference between treating it with chlorine or UV light and that you can't mix the two.  It's also pretreated by microorganisms.  There's mechanics as to how the water is brought to the plant based on gravity and then some Archimedes' screws.  At the drinking water plant, there's similar things, but also different things like their filtering system uses a certain chemical that makes unwanted particles stick together.  You have to know how much chlorine, ammonia, and flouride that is safe to be in drinking water.  You have to know how much water is coming in, what temperature it is, if you need to add well water to it, why well water helps the river water, etc. These kinds of field trips always remind me that there's more careers out there then we really know and appreciate. It also makes me wonder, again, why there is unemployment.  I'm sure there's at least maintenance people needed. Human relations personnel, accounting, R&D, IT, etc.

The water treatment facility is 95 years old.  Imagine the man power needed in 1924 to remove sludge, open and close gates, constantly check things, etc. The grounds need to be maintained as well.  That facility also reminded me just how little trouble we've had with city water here (we are on a well right now, but we have been on city water in the past).  I can't recall more than 2 or 3 times that there was a boil water mandate, maybe 2-3 times where they told us not to water lawns, and it never tasted bad. It's quite literally a well oiled machine run 24/7 with rigorous testing daily.  Both of our tour guides LOVE their job.  They were well versed in their jobs, which includes all the steps.  In treatment.  It was neat to see how the water treatment plant takes water out of the White River (from Broad Ripple area) and then downstream the waste water plant treats their intake and puts it back into the White River. Both facilities were humongous of course.  A lot of it doesn't look pretty or isn't up to date decor wise, but like one guide said in their sample testing lab, most of their equipment is old, but it still works well, so why replace it.  They manual test and electronically test, don't worry. He also said that water bottling companies aren't held to the same high standards, so you never know what you are getting in those bottles.

Our tours started at 11 and we ended the field trip at 4:30.  We scooted back into our neighborhood to pick up Abishai, but because of miscommunication, we couldn't get back into the house because Jared had my house keys.  So, I ran Keturah over to dance class, drove to church to pick up house keys, went back to the house (Abishai was asleep by now so he missed all of this), got the cookies Justin made for his small group, dropped him off at small group, drove back over to pick up Keturah, and then finally drove back home.  I was driving for almost 3 hrs straight, ugh! None of us got a proper dinner either.  But I did get to drive on most of Franklin Township's roundabouts, including our own that opened up yesterday! But I drove too fast and rough and Abishai ended up throwing up in the grass as soon as we got home. Then I had to figure out how to get Justin home from group.  Thankfully, Benaiah answered my text and picked him up for me.  But come to find out, none of the students went to group because they were all at band practice or something. That means Justin had 4 youth leaders to himself!  He said they played video games, ate pizza and cookies, and just talked back and forth.  Crazy! No one usually gets that kind of attention in our ginormous youth group! Sweet!

But now we are all exhausted, underfed, and not ready to do anything but sleep.  We'll have to catch up on school tomorrow and play the rest of the day by ear.  I didn't get groceries done so I'll have to do that tomorrow, too. It was perfect weather to be outside near all the stinky tanks.  There was a nice breeze blowing and it was about 78 degrees.  I forgot sunscreen on myself, but I wore a longer short sleeve so my scar was covered. Plus the hard hat helped keep my face shaded. We walked lots and lots of steps, so probably miles.  We did get to bring in sack lunches, too.  The people were super friendly.  All of this is just another benefit of homeschooling.  What school group gets to get the "plumbers' tour" of wastewater and water treatment plants? None.  And yet, these two plants are essential to all of our daily life.  One reminder of course from the wastewater guy, don't put baby wipes, tapons or anything else not biodegradable down the toilet.  He said they found pants, underwear, and even 2 $100 bills! One person said, if it doesn't come out of your body, you shouldn't flush it.

Long, exhausting day, but it was worth it.  We met some new people, too.  Now onward towards the weekend.

Today was the national See You At the Pole event that started 30 years ago where students gather around their school's flagpole to pray for their schools, teachers, administration, etc.  I saw pictures from many of our areas schools on Instagram and here is Southside Christian School praying for it.

Probably the one and only time that Ava and Benaiah are allowed to hold hands at school.  Nice nearly matching shoes, too.

I found this on Facebook, beautiful, eh?  It's the outline of Michigan using the red leaves!

They let us take a few pictures at the wastewater plant, but not the water treatment plant.  Here is Justin and I's selfie.  Yes, he's really getting that tall!

Keturah in a hard hat.

This is why you don't put grease down the drain.  This is a completely covered tank with probably a couple of inches of grease, kind of dried up n top and cracked.

Here's the cleaner water after the big stuff and grease is removed.

Even cleaner water.

A dry tank at the wastewater plant.  They are doing a lot of maintenance on their 2nd primary tanks.

This is where the microbes are added.  They eat the nasty stuff.

Getting cleaner.

This is an ongoing project to build storage tanks underground of raw sewage for when we have big rain events especially.  Then the plant will catch up once the emergency is over.

Just a few old things on these plants.  When we lived in Beech Grove, our water was handled by the Indianapolis Water Company and the wastewater was dealt with by Beech Grove Waste Water/trash company of some sort. Citizens Energy bought out IWC in 2011.

Yup, good article!

We walked a TON today!

P.S. We also got to see a backwash procedure where they clean out the tanks and sludge.  Fascinating, but I think some of the chlorine became airborne.

Thursday. Oh my goodness, I am sore.   It took a lot of effort to get going this morning. I hadn't walked that many steps in one day in awhile. Plus all the driving, despite having Jared's backbrace in the car, always hurts me.  I don't know how my mom survived (oh wait she didn't really, did she) trucking us around town every day from 3pm to 10pm.  Well off and on, but yes, she made multiple trips to different activities every week.  Oh my goodness, I'm just like my mother, again! Lol.  Only on one day though, and every other day I have an appointment.  But this year, I'm spending maybe 30-60 minutes with Justin and 60-90 minutes with Keturah on one on one teaching time and my mom used to have all of us slated in 60 minute time slots where we would do the same thing, and she'd have to be done with us before the start of the afternoon activities.  Yikes! Why do I have to be so like my mom?! It's a good/bad thing for sure. Although, I can say I'm seeing doctors 100x more than she ever did, and I don't smoke.  Oh how I wish my mother was here to help with Keturah's attitude.  She did raise three girls that are all responsible adults.

Anyway, I do enjoy front loading our week with heavy schooling and then we can relax a bit more towards the end of the week.  It definitely helps this tired mama. I took Abishai outside and we blew bubbles and chased them for at least 30 minutes.  School was fine today. I went to my counseling appointment.  Then I stopped at Kroger to make new house keys after last night's snafu and I must have giggled the key at the wrong moment because now the new ones don't work in the door and there's a bit more that needs cut.  So I'll call the company tomorrow.  It's a little kiosk machine, so I'm sure Kroger doesn't actually handle it.  I did seem some interesting pumpkins there that I might get to add to the decorations I got from Aldi's tonight.  I stopped at the library and then came home.  Dinner was pizza and salad, and then we got a very light load of groceries. Justin stayed home because he had told his "semi professional" team on Overwatch that he'd be on at 7:30pm. I didn't have a piano lesson because I was supposed to go to the Christian College Fair, but Benaiah was scheduled for drumming at Shelby St. and had rehearsal and my friend and her daughter wasn't interested in going anymore.  After we put away groceries, both middle kids took showers and I made up roller bottles of the new blends I need for my headaches and scar. I did buy cheap, very small bottles so we'll see how it goes.  I don't tend to use up roller bottles, so hopefully I'll waste less this time.  It will save me from opening the sticky Myrrh bottle especially.  I don't know how or why, but Myrrh is so sticky! And I realized I'm out of Frankincense.  One simply cannot be out of that! If you don't know which essential oil to use, start with Lavender and Frankincense.

And now I'm just exhausted and hurting some more.  I'm done.

Our field trip crew.  Don't we look great in our hard hats?

Bwahahahaha! Benaiah does NOT follow this, lol.

He wanted to be near Mommy so he came in my room carrying his breakfast.

I wore out Abishai by blowing bubbles.  I had no idea that he was still into them.  But I love it when he asks for me to play and I actually have the time to do it.

The only problem is, between the grass, and possibly chiggers or mosquitoes, the poor kid now has a ton of red bug bites on his ankles and lower legs. He's not complaining about him, but the bug bites to swell up a lot like my sister Stefanie's do.  Poor little guy.

We found a new way to pop bubbles!  On our back kicking the air!

Laughing and giggling!

And, a banana phone:

Meanwhile, Benaiah just walked in at 10:45, 45 minutes after mandatory curfew by law because he just had to have macaroni and cheese from Noodles Company and had to go to Kroger to buy gifts for Ava.  Boy, you better not get caught!

The End