The J6 Journey: Year 5, February 21st-23rd, 2020: Finally Back To Normal

Beep! Beep! Beep! That was not the sound of my alarm going off this morning because phones have other soundbites you can use for alarms. However, it just might have been because when it went off at 7:42 (I have no idea why I had originally set it for 7:42 months ago, but I just left it there to use because it's kind of odd), I quickly remembered that I should have set it for EARLIER because I had an 8:30 appointment! Yikes! Poor Abishai didn't know what was going on as he tried to crawl into bed and I was trying to rush out of it. Thank goodness the gyno is only 15-20 minutes from home. Yikes! I got there in time and was back home by 9, just in time to leave by 9:30 for gym day. And yes, we were actually there at gym time on time and we were there before everyone else, included the employee that usually opens the gym for us! Alrighty then! We only had a handful of families today, despite the clear weather. The temps were in the upper 20's, so not bad either. I think everyone was tired from last week. But the usual suspects were there. Abishai played for most for most of the time, although he came looking for a snack about halfway through. Once he was replenished, he didn't want to leave when noon came. I was able to show Molly the new IAHE merch that I finally found the other day and share some of the old magazines with friends, too. Then it was a mad dash home because well, I just wanted to be home and warm.

Back to my gyno appointment. Yes, the cyst has shrunk from just over 6cm to 5.5cm and the fluid build up on what they think is my Fallopian tube on the left side has also decreased in size significantly. Dr. Durfee was very pleased and originally wanted to just schedule a follow up ultrasound for 6 months. But then I told her about the Israel trip, and we moved it up to 4 months, or in June. She seemed pretty confident both things would go away on their own since they aren't causing me any pain at all. I'm still nervous about going overseas with it, so we'll see what it looks like in June. We will buy traveler's insurance of course and it's not like Israel is the worst place for medical care anyway. We will be praying that it will go away on it's own. And I haven't been taking any special medication or essential oils or creams. My body is just taking care of itself I guess. That is if you don't include the couple of pounds I gained. My blood pressure was a bit better at 128/82, so that's improving. It's amazing how there are long term affects of taking medication. I will never take hormonal medication again. In fact, perhaps the oral contraceptives caused the cyst to increase from last June to December. Who knows, but I'm avoiding them, even if they are recommended during menopause. Nope. My mom didn't use hormones, I'm not using hormones. Moving on.

The afternoon seemed like a blur because kids were trying to get my attention and do their schoolwork, all while arguing about everything again. Good grief! I have a major headache and my left neck and shoulder are all out of whack because I didn't properly stretch this morning. Now I'm tired and I'm not sure what to tackle first. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can focus on all the crap behind my desk and/or reading/listening to a book to help Justin and prepping a new curriculum for the week. Hopefully Jared doesn't have his own stuff to do tomorrow. We'll go grocery shopping towards the late afternoon as well and have pizza for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I didn't have time to put my mom's recipe for stew in the crockpot (although I had thought about doing it last night and keeping it in the fridge overnight to start up first thing this morning, whoops), but I knew that stews are one of the easiest things people make in the instant pot. I looked up a recipe around 2pm so I could time it well. Although the instant pot was as full as it is allowed to go, it still took 40 minutes for it to become pressurized. And then another 40 minutes to cook. So, it's definitely not something that can be done if I get home at 5 or later, unless we are ok with a very late supper. It did turn out exactly how it does in the crockpot, so note to self, if I forget to do it first thing in the morning or at noon for the crock pot (putting it on low in the morning or high at noon), I can still make it happen later in the day in the instant pot. That's pretty useful and helpful to know. Same goes for roasts and things I'm sure. And I'm not sitting over a soup pot stirring it on the stove and burning it, because I'm sure it would take less than an hour that way. Pretty easy cleanup. My instant pot is smaller than the crockpot, but I only had to leave out one potato that I cleaned off. I could have squeezed it in, but I was pretty nervous. But oh my, even after letting it "slow release" (basically letting it cool off on it's own) for 17 minutes (I should have completely turned it off or not let the "warm" feature be on), when I let out the steam, it sputtered EVERYWHERE! And it's greasy, too. Blech! Lesson learned and no one got hurt. The counter got cleaned though. Even Abishai ate all the potatoes and stew meat and a bunch of the broth! He's getting so big because he did the same with the chicken soup I made, too! And I thought for sure he wouldn't be interested in either one. Yeah!

And did I tell you that I'm no longer buying bread? No one eats it. I can't have it, Jared can't eat yeast, no one makes toast or deli sandwhiches or pb & j's. So, I'm going to try not to buy bread for a few weeks and see if we miss it. Or maybe I'll keep a small loaf in the freezer because it's really easy to defrost a couple of pieces carefully in the microwave and or leave it out on the counter for 30 minutes. So, there's that.

Yup, Benaiah got up at 9 to go have breakfast at Ava and then the went to Old Navy where he got a new hoodie, but soft and cozy, for $15. Ava got some expensive overalls, but Benaiah said she looked super cute in them so he urged her to buy them. I forget his exact wording, but it was so cute of him to say it. I don't think Jared liked my overalls, which I wish I had kept, and I had kept for 15 years and got rid of them in Canada. I had a denim pair and a khaki pair with long legs and shortalls. This is why I have a hard time getting rid of things! Because the trends come back! Now wide leg pants are coming back again. Just when I finally get a pair of skinny jeans. Oi! Now Benaiah's off to work again. He said he didn't want to go because they either have to have a pop up store or they are catering for the FC Singers (choir at the high school) competition/performance tonight. That's a lot of extra work. I told him if he wants the fun parts of being an adult, he has to do the adulting thing of working. Now go, out and do!

And Abishai fell asleep in Jared's chair waiting for him to get back from Jim's house. He went over there to help him set up his shed now that it's the renos are done. He said he had some great conversation with Jim, so I cna't knock him for that. It's just that I don't feel good and Keturah knocked Justin in the back of the head because he told her to brush her teeth and she was already in bed and I didn't want to get up to tell her. And Abishai wouldn't leave anyone alone. And Justin was on the phone with Eli playing phone games after having 2 hrs of video game time. No tablets and no individual games tomorrow. The End.

Yup, I hope to give some of this away. I don't reach for it because pea protein still doesn't agree with me. Sigh.

Somebody is way over in Saipain along with Mr. Danaker. Lucky peeps. But I'm sure he's loving hanging out with kids that are the same ages of his grandkids. #37 days

Always be kind, not demanding.

Yeah! Except that they only shipped 2 instead of 3. So I emailed them and they said that it's the warehouse's fault. I'm not so sure of that, but they said the package shipped today. Hm,...

Just a reminder as I was pulling this out to show someone online that I found a bunch of other readers that would be great for our study of the colonies, but I don't know how to add them to our studies. Maybe a review in the summer? I just have so many great things my mom left me to use!

I took just a minute to get these photos before going to my appointment this morning. The crystals weren't there when I got back.

The stats are looking better!

Yes, I breezed through the very long article attached to that. As I explained, I wanted a natural birth, not a home birth, as those are technically illegal on PEI. There are no midwives or birthing centers on PEI. I would gladly have used a birthing center that was near a hospital or been at the hospital for the last couple of hours at least But who knows. sometimes being constantly monitored is a good thing, even with an excellent history of easy births behind you. We were extremely blessed that nothing went wrong. I didn't know the position of the baby, or the cord, or any details at all. That's now scary to think about as I look back. Yikes.

Aw, the sun was coming in at just the right angle to get Baby Boy's 5 yr old fingers and mine together. He's getting so big and so capable, even when he thinks he needs to be carried into the house.

The stew before it was cooked, so pretty full pot.

My Young Living ER order came. I've been with YL for two years now! Wow! Plus I finally have cedarwood, which was a freebie this month. And I'm trying out all the Thieves things.

Young Living ER order unboxing Feb 2020

Laundry soap because I'm tired of being itchy, cough drops because I already use thieves diretly on my tongue when I'm sick and I gargle with it, Thieves mints, and hand soap refill which I've had before. That's it. That's 100 PV or about $120 worth of product. #younglivingisexpensivebutitlastsforever

Somebody had a good time today.

The end product of the stew, same as always.

Saturday was VERY normal. I worked on projects, Jared worked on a project (and took a nap), and we went grocery shopping. I got some major planning done for Justin's high school transcript stuff and I pulled all of the Kindergarten materials I had and reorganized them. I also reorganized the preschool stuff and I'm going to try to ease Abishai into some new routines, like playing and coloring during Keturah's read aloud time, which will eventually become his as well. She started to listen to read alouds when she was 4 after we moved to Canada, so I know we can do it. He's been playing while I read aloud the last week or two. And then I'm going to try to get him to do a page of something in one of his books. I think I'll pick a couple of pages for him to choose from. Maybe some games as well. Now I wish I hadn't gotten rid of the Kindergarten curriculum piece but oh well. We'll see. Maybe I'll have to make a prize chart to get us started. Or coins in a jar. ooo, maybe I need to get out my "rails" that talk about habits. Yup, that's what I'll do. Speaking of books, I tidied up my "to be read" shelf. Yikes, too much! But at least I have more of an order to it. That led to going through the papers on my desk making sure they are there for a reason and putting the rest of away.

After that, I took a 30 minute walk with an audiobook! It was hard to concentrate the whole time because the reader doesn't have the most interesting voice. I hope I pick up information this way so I can knock out two things at once. It was very windy and my face feels a little burned. I forgot sunscreen, too. Oh well, the walk is done and now I'm exhausted and sore. I need to do that almost every day to be reading for the Israel trip. But now I'm super sore, especially after lugging groceries and putting them away. I already had started the day so incredibly stiff with my shoulders feeling like they were jammed into their sockets and forward. I also had incredibly vivid, intense dreams that I can't remember now! Oh well, waking up like that HURTS in all the wrong places. Now that I can take my mornings a little slower, I will have time to stretch properly.

Ah yes, a wide open schedule ahead of us feels so good! We have no obligations today, so putzing around at our own paces felt good. I didn't even have to check homework! Bonus! But now I'm tired. I'm tired of all the bickering that happened at home and at the grocery store. Even Abishai was acting up and Jared had to take him out of both stores we went in. Ugh. He ended up staying up until 10, and fell asleep on Daddy's chair waiting for Daddy to come home from Mr. Jim's. Daddy and Mr. Jim brought over some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Legos" b/c Mr. Derrick won't build them. They aren't even open! So we cleared off the train table and the boys got to work for a little bit. I got some reading done, too. I'm going to wrap this up though because I can't seem to put two words together. Let's see if the photos will job my memories.

Oh, and I had the kids pick up sticks in the yard to earn some money and/or pay for treats at the grocery store. They did pick out some food treats. We were in and out of Meijer and Aldi's in record time.

Thanks to a friend for all the new toys! We didn't let Abishai open them all but he had fun with what he did have! TMNT Lego!

It's always fun to get these little mass texts. It's a "select group." It came about when I subscribed during the concert so that I had a chance to meet them in person that day. Then they changed their phone number and let us know. And now we are the first ones to get news. Pretty cool! The secret had to do with who they are touring with this summer.

Saturday entertainment.

Justin, too. Abishia put all the minifigures on the Falcon so that they were fighting.

Definitely healing. No more bandages. The ground outside is drier, too, so I don't have to worry about dirt getting under the nail as bad.

My "catch all closet" before

After. I have to move three book boxes, but that's ok. It just becomes a closet for the toys that need to go into the shed.

Books all lined up instead of on top of each other and ruining the spines.

A few less papers.

I finally dismantled the diaper bag fully. Look at big he is in his old bib! He wanted to try it on! I can remember when I had to roll up those sleeves! I saved it for painting though.

Ta da! The new van doesn't have an area between the two front seats for coffee cups and misc. stuff. So Jared made one! Wow!

He made the holes specifically for his current cups since he drives the van. He needs a more upright posture for his back. Also, the back portion is for his books that he takes back and forth to school.

Wow!

It even has a hidey hole in the bottom!

Our new neighbors close on the house next week! The driveway is poured, the port a potty is gone, and there's only a few more things to finish. Yeah!

It looks beautiful and suits the neighborhood! They did a great job designing it to be a little more modern but not to stick out like a sore thumb. Ah! So exciting!

Gorgeous day! 50 degrees, a bit of wind, but perfect for a brisk walk. Two laps around the neighborhood equals 30 minutes for me. I'll increase the speed and lap hopefully as I go. Maybe I'll even jog!

Ta da! It fits perfectly! Sweet!

Books and toilet paper (kleenix).

The kids were impressed with how high my pizza ballooned in the toaster oven. Pizza night after getting groceries because I'm too tired to cook. Poor Keturah was like, "It's not fair, I can't eat it. I can't dairy for a month." Yup, she's learning the hard way that food sensitivities suck! Justin just called it a "pillow" pizza.

There's something life giving about getting back to routine and actually spending time with your spouse on a "lazy" Saturday and Sunday with no extra obligations,....ah....naptime....talk time....The hamster wheel of life can be so life draining. I'm glad it's something we've worked hard to run away from. I keep asking Jared to take me on a date like Benaiah does with Ava and he said, "When? We don't have time!" And it's true, the last 3 weeks were hard on us. But all is well again and we have space in our schedule to breathe, exactly how we like it. Speaking of the young lovers, they went out to eat on their own at Red Cactus today, and guess where Leah, Jared, Abishai, and Justin ended up? At Red Cactus, too! Benaiah didn't mind too much because typically we say hi and then leave them alone. I got two different stories though about the encounter. I guess Abishai did say hi to Ava and told her about his fries and chicken nuggets and vat of yellow mustard. But, that was after he threw a fit because Benaiah was in the same restaurant as he was. Oi! Keturah and I were at her KP worship team rehearsal. They asked for parents to volunteer not really to "help" but just in case something were to happen, there would be extra hands to help. So we weren't at lunch today.

Rehearsal was fun to watch. I love sitting on the sidelines and watching my kids interact with their friends. I saw Keturah smile, laugh, and converse! I also got to witness her dance moves for the elementary side of KP, and if she practiced just a tad more and/or took classes or watched YouTube videos, she could easily be a great dancer! She's got more rhythm than her mother, and a bigger ego and "Of course I can do it, MOM." attitude, too. But hey, let's celebrate the good stuff, right? Mrs. Alison did tell the kids to smile and keep their hands lifted high, not just in front of them, and I knew right away that Keturah needs to work on that stuff. I spent the first portion of their actual practice time trying to raise my heartbeat by dancing with them and walking in a big circle at the back of the big room of KP elementary. I did some squats and arm circles and things as well. I knew I probably wouldn't get a walk in when I came home, so I wanted to get something done. I've been inspired by a young lady on Instagram who is a few weeks away from her second baby but continues to work out. She sometimes has to split her 30 minute workout between morning and evening because of her work schedule, and she definitely modifies a lot and goes slower than the actual videos she uses, but that's ok. It's really inspiring to me to see someone did it consistently, even if the workout isn't done perfectly to a prerecorded program. She's very sweet, too. Anyway, so I did that and then we went over to the KP preschool side, I laid down to do some stretching. I honestly didn't care what others thought. Everyone was pretty engaged and I was at the back where the kids couldn't see me. I needed to stretch because even walking around the block in my regular shoes, not tennis shoes, can put me in the wrong posture. Or, I am just weak. We'll get there. The stretching felt great though.

Now I'll back track to the morning. Morning went great. It was warmer outside, so I wear flats today, which didn't exactly help while I exercised, but it wasn't too bad. I knew the sermon was going to be on Worship, our first priority on our new church wide mission and vision stuff. During the singing portion, it hit me that some of the things we were singing about, like the resurrection, I'm going to be at those places where it all happened in Novemeber. Or at least in the vicinity. I'm not even there yet and it's blowing my mind! Which made me think of how Gary is encouraging us to take this pilgrimage very seriously and study the Bible well and the places we will be at. Well, I'm not good at that and one reason is because of distracting things like YouTube, Instagram, and phone games. Since I pretty much knew where Dan was probably going to take the sermon, that worship isn't just about singing or going to church, but living a life fully devoted to God and every action is an action of worship, I started to tune out his words. Instead, my act of worship today was to take the time and unsubscribe to YouTube channels I typically am deleting some, if not all, of the videos when the notifications come to my email. Same goes for Instagram. If I'm scrolling past and never pausing, what's the point? I don't care what Jared or others thought about me in that moment. It was still time with God doing something God honoring, i.e. getting rid of some of the distractions. And it felt empowering and great to take a few minutes to do that.

Ok, after KP worship rehearsal, we came home for a bit. It was naptime! I had no idea I was so tired! I crawled into bed and snoozed off and on, depending on how and when Abishai kept bursting into the room talking about screen time. I got a bunch of sleep after Jared left for nursery duty. I did not want to get out of bed. But about 5 pm, I knew the kids needed to be off electronics and get some dinner. What I didn't realize was that I had left my keys in the van, which was now at church. And Benaiah had just left with the spare key on his ring for my car. Whoops. So Jared had to dash home so we could get the kids to groups on time. They did, but they bickered the whole way. Like "We need to buy x amount of granola bars so we can have a pizza party. I don't want to take the orange food pantry bag in." Oh good grief! Go to group and learn how to be self LESS would ya? They had also argued this morning over rolls, again, and whose they were. I later said it's my fault for demonstrating how to hoard food because I was protecting my expensive food, but in reality, if someone ate it, who cares? Could I get over it? Yes! So get over it! On the way home, I started brainstorming some ways we could do some random acts of kindness and/or what our service project in April could be. The whole church is supposed to go out and do random acts of kindness on the Sunday after Easter instead of going to service. So, I'm going to see what people in our group have thought about so far. More on that another time. My kids needs some tangible, physical ways of helping, not just "throw money at the problem/let's gather supplies for IPS and food for IPS (public schools) and socks for the homeless" kind of service. Actual physical labor. Hopefully we can come up with some things soon. Again, I've been inspired by a YouTuber. And those are the kind of YouTubers I will continue to watch.

Then Jared and I puttered in kitchen talking and hanging out I guess you would call it. He then built another Lego set for Abishai and I fiddled on my phone until it was time to get the kids. We didn't want to build all the new Lego sets because Abishai didn't care of his firehouse set very well. Daddy put the sets up on high shelves and Abishai managed to climb the shelves without toppling them. He's also being very sneaky and playing hard to get on purpose. Not good. Jared and I riled him up a bunch before his bedtime, too. I hope he sleeps well tonight! Meanwhile, I waited 20 minutes for Keturah and Justin to get their act together to leave church while I sat in the parking lot and watched Benaiah walk Ava to her car, totally ignoring his siblings. Oi! Oh well, we all got home safely. That's what matters.

Lightbulb! I'm going to find and wear my special Change Your World coat! Now, where is it? Eek!

THIS KID!

Keturah has friends.

Dancing away!

They were practicing to a video of themselves actually doing the dance and Keturah was in it!

I say this all the time and talk about how a "beginner" pilot has already logged 1,000 hrs. Our culture has such a short attention span that they never get past the beginner stage to mastery. Even I struggle with sticking to the task now.

Lego time! This kid, at 5 years old, can follow instructions!

Matthew West song! I'm really thinking he's the new Michael W. Smith for me. He and his wife love to share on social media so I feel like I "know" them and his songs are great!