The J6 Journey: Year 4, November 5th-7th, 2019: Hither and Yon

Well, that was a full day at home. It was a kind of up and down day for me. Jared is off in one my favorite and memorable places, Franklin, TN, doing a conference with Gary tomorrow. I had no idea they would be so close to well, certain music people and their hangouts. I spent way too much time tracking down where I think I had been to and where they live, etc. And I couldn't find my scrapbook about a trip I did down there with a friend to be part of a movie, The Second Chance. Look for me next the redhead with big curly hair in the church pew near the beginning of the movie. That fact, combined with finally finishing up scanning all our personal letters back and forth in 1998-2000, and trying on some clothes I bought online that only served to remind me of how odd shaped I am now, nearly led to a meltdown. Sigh. Life can be a little emotional at times. And full of hard choices. Do I go through kid clothes or do I work out? Do I put a frozen pizza in so I can scan in a letter or do I make a full dinner? Do I do a full day of school or go looking for clothes that will fit me but I can't afford? Yeah, there's too many good choices. And sometimes, even when you make the right choices, life throws you another thing to deal with. Sigh.

Anyway, yes, the kids were fine today. There was a lot of laughs, a lot f nose wiping (yeah, there's a head cold going around), and a good amount of work done. Abishai even fell asleep quickly and on time and was tender towards Mommy. Keturah helped him on a Bible app and with Kinex. Justin got to yell at his gaming friends. Our packages arrived (a day late), and I put away the Christmas gifts. I got halfway down with Abishai's clothes, but I didn't get a shower. I didn't make phone calls. And dinner was crockpot ribs with leftover rice and a bag of frozen veggies. Two steps ahead, and one step back, sometimes three. I'm tired. I want to prove to Jared I can go to bed on time without him being home. That's all I got for today.

Just one of the gems I've found in our personal letters. Cheesy, yup. The message on the other side is even cheesier, but boy, is it awesome to remember. And it's awesome to reread all our words and realize that we say similar things today, but they have such a richer and deeper meaning 20 years later. Ah, marriage, one of the best things on earth!

Abishai ran our to see Daddy when he came home briefly before he left with Grandpa for a couple of days. In and out and a bit grumpy. Sigh. Jared said he was hangry.

Look, Mom, I made my face!

Daddy built the crane, and Justin made the bucket/lifter work. Then Abishai recreated the stories from the Cooper, the police car, videos he has watched for months!

Cooper, police car, Story by Abishai

Sweet! It's Cooper and Jake!

Far off in the distance, a house got framed today! And I thought I saw a garage door, but maybe it was an illusion. I was too lazy and too cold to walk down there to get a real picture, but one of the owners stopped by after work and took a few videos to share on Instagram. Yeah!

So...not...fair...Franklin, TN, where a lot of famous musicians work and create and live. I've been there!

The movie that I and a friend (well, we knew some others too) got to be a part of! Check out one of the first large church scenes and you'll see me next to the redhead with big hair.

Keturah showed Abishai how to use the kids Bible app. She had been grounded from screen time, and he had already had his, but I didn't interrupt them. It was too precious.

Abishai fell asleep almost immediately. He rolled over, grabbed my arm, and drifted off.

All snuggled up and waiting for momma to come back to bed later. I let him sleep with me sometime when Jared is away. I am going to let him sleep with me tonight because our room gets so cold! I need his body heat!

"You have flippers, and I have flippers, and they are flippin' useless!" - Penguins of Madagascar movie

I finally finished scanning into the computer all of the hand written and snail mailed letters Jared and I wrote to each other when we started dating! It only took me all year! It was one of those projects that overall, it takes a few minutes, but when you have printer problems and a slow computer or a slow brain, and you have 10 things to do for every 1 minute of life you have, yeah, it was put aside time and time again. But it is finished! I wrote probably 10 pages to every 1 of his. The letters were written from about April of 1998 to the summer of 1999, when I moved out to Indiana to start college and we could actually talk face to face. We eventually called each other a few times, wrote emails, and spent hours on AOL Instant Messenger. But this stack of real letters are the most precious of them all. Between these letters and three in person "dates" over 7 months, we secretly decided to get engaged. Ok, he slyly popped the question, but we didn't make it official until the next year and still waited another year to actually get married. Go us! When you have 1 family computer and you have to share it with 5 other people, hand written letters you can read over and over again become so much more precious to you than gold. Jared doesn't think so. He's not much for that type of romance and he's embarrassed by what he wrote. Yeah, I cringe at what I wrote, but I also remember those feelings and newness and boldness with great fondness. And now, they are in digital form and I have them on my external hard drive, backed up to snapfish, and on a couple of cd's, as well as on my laptop. I am certain to not lose them, right? And the real deals are near enough to me to grab in case of an emergency. I love it when a project gets done!

Poof! I have more space! Oh wait, I just added other things there. I'm not sure what to do with a clean desk anyway.

That love that was started more than 20 years ago brought about 4 precious children, and this one, is looking way too big in bed. He kept me company all night long and he kept me warm! The bedroom is 2nd coldest room of the house in the winter.

How on earth is he going to turn 5 in a 3 months? My little baby!

Wednesday was normal. I made some phone calls and putzzed on the computer in the morning. Jared and Keturah did their homework and we went over them. I got 1 dishwasher load done (start to finish), two loads of laundry (again start to finish) and Keturah and I each had showers. Grandma took Keturah to dance and I took Justin to small group. We dropped off books to the library and picked up my medications. I kept up with email and texts and messages, including ones from a very bored father in law, who couldn't work in the car while Jared drove because it was dark outside. Today was the last day of warmish weather. Tomorrow it will be in the 30's and stay in the 30's and 40's for the forseeable future. I was feeling a bit lonely today, so I hope to make some coffee dates soon. I'm thinking of a way to for Jared and I to get some time away as well. Anyway, all is ready for me to be down for the count and/or away for appointments over the next three days. First up, putting a crown on my tooth that had the root canal. Fun times.

The boys decided to have some fun today with something we haven't done in a long while. First they transferred all the balls into a movable bucket.

Then they dumped the bucket into the bathtub! They made sure the bathtub was dry and laid down a towel. They also put towels around and under the faucet because it leaks. A few hours later and the towels are soaked. We waste a lot of water per day. Good thing it's just a well.

Easy entertainment. There's no water in there. Just the balls.

Ready?! Set?! Go?!

Buried alive!

Wait, I see some limbs emerging!

There he is! Safe and sound!

Mommy, special delivery! I wonder what it could be?

Wait, it's alive?!

Boo! There you are!

The balls got dumped back into the bathtub and Abishai insisted on using the box for his screen time. Jared asked me to download the Bible app on the tablet and Abishai and Keturah have been happily going through it together. Yeah!

Look, Mom, I'm red!

Now I'm green!

Jared decided it was time to leave the green and red lights on instead of the normal white one. Maybe he's leaning towards Christmas already? Hehehe.

The men are on their way home. Jared is obviously driving. And it's dark, so Gary can't do any work or reading in the car. So,.....what does he do instead? Text us ladies every 30 minutes!

Woah, Benaiah came home and when I came around the corner I saw this. He then told me that he picked it up for his friends, not just himself. I hope they are paying him! Goodness!

Really?!

Yada, yada, yada, let's charge extra. Let's buy the water from the municipal for 4x the price so we can bolster their economy. What about the people buying it? Good grief, what a waste!

On Thursday, I got crowned! Well, my tooth did! Lol. I teased the family about it and said, "Now that I've been crowned, can I be called 'Her Majesty?' You call Keturah a princess, does that make me a queen? Lol." Some were amused, some were not. So yes, I got the crown put on my tooth today. I totally didn't understand the whole process though. I had no idea that Dr. Doug would file down my tooth to a tiny bit and then basically create a new tooth. So why did I even need to do a root canal? Just pull it and replace it! Weird! So he filed down the tooth and then took a bunch of digital pictures to digitally create the crown. Then I guess a machine shaves down maybe a piece of ceramic or whatever to that shape. Then they spend time fitting it in my mouth, shaving off bits here and there, so there's a snug fit. And finally, they take the crown and harden it in a heating device. They attach it with whatever sealant they have and use a special tool/heat gun to harden that and away you go. The process was fairly painless. I understand some are disturbed by the feeling of the drills, but it doesn't bother me. As long as there's not pain. And they didn't even have to stretch my mouth that much. But the crown feels weird. It's definitely tight in there. I'm going to leave it alone for a week or so and see how I feel then. We have our semi annual dental cleanings next month, so if I do need an adjustment, I'm going to wait until then and they said they can quickly adjust it. I have a feeling that it's feeling a little weird because it's spreading out the other teeth around it or something. Plus, it's not letting the rest of my teeth touch each other Again, I'll see how it goes and then call if I need to. Besides feeling weird, making me not wanting to eat with it, I have no pain. It's crazy to go from a sensitive tooth to barely a nubbin in 3 weeks time. Ah!

That all happened midday, so I was able to come home, clean up the house because the clutter was getting to me, go over homework, go through Abishai's long sleeve shirts, finish putting supper on the table (thank you crockpot once again), teach piano lesson, study for Justin's worldview lesson tomorrow, and put in a load of laundry. Phew! That was my day. The kids had Bible class with Grandpa and then did their homework. Grandma came by to watch them for a bit because it was going to be a long 3 hrs. They had their screen time and called it a day. Nothing too fun when Mom has appointments. I'm glad I get to leave them at home now for a little while and do not have to deal with them begging for things or wiggling. Speaking of wiggling, I could not handle Abishai's constant movement this morning. I don't find love and affection but Abishai's is just all over the place. I think the fbromylagia causes a bit of sensory processing disorder with it. I don't mind Jared's steady and still hands, but Abishai's chaoticness drives me insane. He's constantly moving unless he's on a screen or playing with someone. It's like controlling a brand new puppy, you can't! I know he just needs companionship, but on crazy days, I just can't do it all day. We'll see how it goes when I'm gone for longer tomorrow afternoon and evening.

On my way home from the dentist, I pulled into the SCS parking lot to troll Benaiah. He was already in his truck ready to drive away, but was able to tell me how made he was at his math teacher and that he was going to the church to take his frustrations out on drum sets and/or volunteering to help whoever was there. He also had rehearsal tonight for drums in the large sanctuary. Yeah! Jared had a normal day as well. I think he greatly missed his little guy. Ok, now I'm falling asleep again. Time to get things done!

Peek a boo Master of Mischief. Good morning!

Neighbor's house has walls!

Brrr, winter is upon us.

Boya was home for about 20 minutes. He also used his desk as a drum so he could practice for tonight.

Jared's "Green Goodness." Usually green goodness means a drink with kale, spinach, and every other green vegetable ont he planet. I should have known better.