Year 5, February 7th-8th, 2020: Beep! Beep! Out of My Way!

Phew! Gym day again. And this time I told Abishai he couldn't cling to me, and thankfully he didn't. We got to gym about 10 minutes late, and I had to make a phone call soon after. One of my prescriptions still had refills on it, but the prescription itself expired. I had first gotten it last January apparently, but had started on half of a dose so I had extra pills and refills for that first few months. Well, the doctor denied a renewal when the pharmacy called her, but when I called and left a message, apparently she looked at my chart more closely and saw that I had seen her in December but will not see her until June, and since this is now an established prescription, she went ahead and renewed. Thank goodness! I was afraid I was going to play phone tag all day about it. So I'm glad that got sorted out.

Otherwise it was a quiet morning. It was a bit snowy, but the roads were clear and temps were cold, but not bitter. The traffic was slow moving sometimes, but thank goodness I have alerts on my phone about traffic. There was an accident on the high way we use for gym day and I was able to check the roads a couple of times before heading out and thankfully, the accident was cleared before we got to it. Smooth sailing to and from gym day! Home again for a quick bite to eat before I headed off to the dermatologist for a 3 month recheck. Everything went fine there as well. We are going to try a steriod on my melanoma surgery scar because it still looks a bit angry and raised. But get this, you have to be extra careful with the steroid because if it gets on other skin, it will cause it to thin out. I had no idea that it would do that. I guess that is the purpose of this steroid to help the scar becoming less, so maybe it will "eat away" some of the excess skin or something. I don't know, but I'll try it. My scar is still painful and more itchy than the rest of my winter dry skin. I also asked her about skin care routines in general because I want to make sure I'm teaching Keturah good habits. She still recommends washing a bit more than I do, but that's ok. And some kind of lotion for even slightly dry skin because it helps to close up the pores and not let dirt and germs get in. Well, you want pores to push out the bad stuff from within right? So I'm a little confused, but I understand where she's coming from. I do put on lotion on some spots after a shower. But I hate the greasy feel of any lotion or cream, so I don't do it every day. And always apply sun screen.

After the dermatologist, I tried to do a couple of things before dinner of french toast, cream cheese and berries, yum! Obviously kids did their homework and I checked that after dinner. They also all had their screen time while I was at the dermatologist. Abishai kept trying to watch Justin, so I had to distract him. Benaiah came home at 4:30, showered, and then went out to eat with Ava. They were supposed to have dinner at Cheesecake Factory, but it was 50 minute wait. So they bought cheesecake slices to go and picked up Jimmy John's to come back to our house to watch a movie. Smart move. Benaiah tried to beg to use our car again and we were like, no, the truck is yours, use it. His wiper broke two days ago, but Jared bought him new wipers, so he just needs to take the time to put it on. Meanwhile, as you'll see below, he came up with a unique solution! Yeah, that's it. I very low key day since I was out of the house for a good part of it. Tomorrow is a "get business and prep the house for a party next week" day and then a full day, including Monster Jam, on Sunday. I drove by the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts and where Monster Jam is, and I didn't see any big truck or Monster trucks. I'm a bit confused. I know they have a 7pm show Saturday night, so maybe they were pulling in later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. So weird. Because I think I drove past the stadium last year and did see some trucks or trailers. Huh. Anyway, it should be a lot of fun! And I will have finally made it to the stadium. I haven't been it yet! And then I will 4 for 4 of our major theaters and arenas for shows: the Farmers' Coliseum (old name but I can't think of the new one) at the IN State Fairgrounds, home of the Fuel hockey team; Old National Centre, the smaller theatre setting which is also booked with shows of all kinds; Bankers' Life Fieldhouse, of course where the majority of our concerts have been and home of the Pacers; and the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, and where a few competitions have been like the local high school marching bands. I guess I do get around town a lot. Lol. Can't call me unsocialized home schooler anymore, lol.

I think Ava gave Benaiah this book called "Snug" about dating your best friend and I think the other kids and I have read more of it than Benaiah has. But it's really cute! And this totally us!

Yup, it happens to us, too.

The only thing I don't have is a laminator. However, I do have some self sticking type clear paper stuff that does the same thing, lol.

Did you know that "forever" stamps cost $1.15 a stamp?! I bought three books of 20 stamps each so I could mail this thank you/invites to our IAHE convention to some state Senators and Representatives. I should have just gotten two, but oh well. I sent this off to legislators in the furthest north and furthest south districts because I highly doubt any families came from there for Capital Day when we first handed them out. And since my fellow IAHE volunteers already used them to send to the education and family services committees, and I had procrastinated and not sent them, I thought this was t he next best idea. Great stuff.

This is my young adult's version of a temporary solution. He used a drum stick, a towel and duct tape so he could keep a little 8 inch square area of his windshield clean on the way to school yesterday. Oh my. It worked well enough. Eek!

At least my kids are creative sometimes!

I gave Keturah this lazy Susan turntables I had in the pantry. And this is exactly what I hope she'd do, organize her stuff! Look at how pretty it looks!

So cool! Actually, her room is better organized for the most part. There's still a pile of stuff under her bed again, but at least I can walk through her room and she has a place on her desk/shelf to work and then on her toy box as well.

I didn't realize Keturah has a whole village of the Lego Friends series! Wow, our kids are spoiled! These aren't just the cheaper sets either.

The horses in the paddock were my aunts, given to me, and now Keturah is borrowing them from me. They aren't leaving this house, that's for sure. But they look nice with her barn! I get jealous sometimes of what Keturah has because I always wanted an American Girl doll and a stable for my horses. Blessed/Spoiled/Lucky, that girl is!

A friend sent this to me! This describes Abishai to a "T" lately!

On Saturday, the only person who left the house was Benaiah because he had a 9am to 4pm shift. Afterwards, he stayed in the rest of the evening since he had gone out with Ava the night before. What a chill day! And what a chilly day as it snowed off and on all day. Socks, our dog, could not make up his mind if he wanted to be outside or inside. He loves being out in the snow, but then, because he's nearly 10 years old, he gets tired and cold and wants to come back in. I think he also likes to escape the noise of all of us being home at once as well. So, we did our normal Saturday thing. Jared started working on a cup holder/book holder for in the new van. And I whittled down my to do list of getting the house ready for next Saturday's party, taxes (I've got one more thing to double check and then I'm done, thanks TurboTax), showers, the last bits of school work for the week and filming videos for the IAHE about my story and why I love convention. Well, I wrote some scripts for the videos but now I have to trim them down to fit into 5 minutes or less. Yikes! I'll put them in another blog post perhaps. I will need to my third video about a new merch line for the IAHE after I get the rest of my order so I can do a proper unboxing. Fun times!

Other wise kids played, walked around bored, ate food, watched screens, all the normal stuff. I suggested they play board games together, but they wouldn't do it. At least we all got to sit at the dinner table together. Those are rare and precious moments! And no one got mad either! That's a big win! Abishai played a lot of make believe today and ran around all of us calling us bad guys and such. He also had a fun time with his stuffed animals on our bed this morning. But otherwise, it was a pretty unremarkable day. Tomorrow is Monster Jam, so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that. I do know that their camera and bag policies are opposite of Bankers' Life. They are ok with video cameras and still cameras as long as the lens aren't more than 6 inches long (during games, I don't know about special events), but you can only bring in a gallon sized clear plastic bag or small see through bags and maybe a handsized purse. That's it. This woman doesn't even own a small purse like that! That's crazy! I've got some work to do to think that one through before we leave tomorrow. Quick lunch with Grandma and then off we go. The show starts at 3, so I figure we need to leave no later than 2. Eek! Grandma will handle transportation of the older kids in the afternoon and we should be back before youth group is over. It should be a full day! So I'm glad we took it easy today.

Snow day! But no one cared to go out in it except of the dog, who didn't know if he wanted to be inside or outside.

14 stuffed animals were brought to our bed this something so they could slide down Daddy's hip and have fun.

"This is my bed and I"m going to sleep here tonight!" Um, nope. This is Daddy's wad of stuff to help him stretch his back.

Dude, why the countertop? Because he's cute.

Socks likes Benaiah's new stuffed animal named Timothy.

Abishai kept trying to steal "Timmy" all day to hug him.  He really likes this little beaver! And at some point, someone tucked him into Benaiah's blankets.

This boy makes a lot of noise! Whatever floats your boat, buddy!

Classic. Except he said he bubbled (farted) in it before he put it on his head. I doubt that's true though.  Goof!

Tall boy had to redo all his Spanish assignments from the week because he still forgets to put a capital letter on the first word of a sentence. He also didn't read the instructions very well.

The problems of being short is that you if you don't look up sometimes, you won't notice certain things. See those white lines? Those are spider webs going from corner to corner above the sink in the big bathroom. Oi! And none of the tall people cared enough to take care of it. Whoops!

Poor doggy got left out in the cold. That's what happens when you ask to go out more than usual. Thankfully, that thick fur coat keeps the snow from getting to his skin and just brushes off.

Blurry, but they were watching "Wreck-It Ralph" and Abishai was weeping when the little girl's car was destroyed. He was very scared. Poor sensitive guy.

But when Miah got home, he got to be cheered up by a little wrestling time!

Feet are very useful for pushing.

Wiggly worm!

Justin's turn!

Justin said it didn't hurt to have a lot of Benaiah's weight on him and Daddy pushing down. Weirdos.

Doggy play time, too. Benaiah does care about us some of the time.

Aw, Socks likes to mouth the blanket with Benaiah's arm under it. Sweet.

Weekly bath for this one. He was singing and playing and washing. And when he lays down and stretches out, he reaches from end of the tub to the other! Stop growing up, birthday boy! Oh, and one of the first things we are going to use this year's tax refund on is this bathroom. From the piping and the constantly leaking faucet, to this horribly stained tub, to painting the walls and fixing the hole above the light, I'm done. This is by far the ugliest part of the house. I have tried everything on that tub and it keeps coming back. The floor and toilet is brand new, but everything else needs help. Oh and the second sink doesn't work either.

I bought that back brush from Bath and Body Works way back in the '90's when that store was wicked popular with my friends. Anyone remember the smell of cucumber melon? My sister loved that one! I love how Abishai actually likes to use it!

Daddy helped finish the job.

Daddy needs to shave but at least we now know where his "friar ring" is at. It's the same shape as his uncles. Sigh. There's no going back to longer hair now.

We got Keturah good!

The End