Year 5, June 22nd-25th, 2020: Back to normal?

Ouch. I hit the wall. I'm sore. I'm grouchy and everyone better get out of the way.

It was a typical Monday. We got up late. I squeezed in a workout and a shower before my apointment and errands in the afternoon. The kids puttered. Actually, Keturah went over to Grandma's house to make freezer strawberry pineapple jam. Grandma teased Abishai and asked if he was coming to Grandma's house (or something like that). And then that got his little mind going. He wanted to go right then, but he hadn't had lunch yet. I was leaving an hour later, so I had him stay home with me and then dropped him off later. In the meantime, he got in his head that he was going for a sleepover. So he gathered all his things and piled them up ready to go. I told him not to bring anything for now because we have to ask Grandma first. Long story short, both he and Keturah played at Grandma's house all afternoon (Keturah did more shredding and worked on jam) and then were dropped off at 4:30. Jared had gotten home really early, too. I was still out and about because the poor doctors were way, way, way behind today. I mean like more than an hour behind! They are not usually like that. I could tell from the nurse and my doctor how sorry they were and they said they were trying to catch up from the Covid stuff. I had a good visit with my PCP. She was very happy about my new exercise routine and very encouraging about me not losing weight yet. She said that sometimes you gain the muscle before losing the fat. She was very inquisitive about how many times a week and if I was able to tailor it to me, etc. She was also very encouraging when I updated her on the cyst and all that as well. I know that I'll talk more in depth with my gynocologist on Friday, but I wanted to make sure my PCP was clued in as well.

Then I dashed back to the school to pick up the last weekly food pickup, and then to the library. I had also been to the post office before my appointment to get stamps to mail Benaiah's open house invites! Yeah! I still have some to finish up because I wanted to add some personal notes. But we are getting there! When I got home, everybody seemed hangry. It was a rush to feed everyone early because no one wanted to pull out the leftovers and get started. Sigh. I'm glad we ate early because then Jared and Abishai went out to play in the pool. Well, they couldn't play in the pool because the water had turned green! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not because Jared won't talk to me after I was upset at dinner. They decided to go play in the slip and slide instead. Then Jared and Abishai watched a part of a movie before Leah came to get Abishai for his sleepover. Abishai was very insistent at dinner about how the evening was going to go. Matter of fact, this is what I'm doing, take it or leave. Actually, he had no attitude. He was just leading and making decisions while adults were hemming and hawing. Wait to go little guy! So, all is quiet because little man is gone. Keturah is enjoying the chaise lounge that Grandpa gave her, making her even more of a spoiled princess. I think that girl has everything I could have dreamed of having. She doesn't know how good she has it!

Justin's off somewhere on the tablet or reading. I cuddle Socks for awhile on Benaiah's bed. I was on the bed because Justin and I were talking about how to arrange their room. I've been watching this short videos on Facebook about animals being rescued from very tragic situations. Like a piglet falling off the back of a truck or an abandoned mama dog in the woods with her three puppies. And then these foster people nurse them back to health and eventually they are adopted out. Some of the conditions of these animals is sick and frightening. But, they are heartwarming stories for sure. And it makes me want to take care of my puppy even more. I'm giving him as much attention as I can because someday, he won't be there anymore. And really, there is NO other dog so sweet and cuddly and special as Socks. He's better than my beagles. And pretty much every dog I've seen on a video or in person. His personality is unbeatable. From hardly ever chewing anything or peeing and pooping on the floor to never hurting the kids to staying as healthy as he is for a 10 yr old, goodness, yeah, best dog ever!

First set of open house invites are sent! I'm only sending them to family for now and asking if anyone wants one or a couple of wallets of Benaiah, to send them their address. I want to add notes in some of them, so that's why they didn't all go out in the mail today. But, finally, a moment I've been waiting years for: graduation open house! Ah! And the graduation ceremony is on Friday! Ah!

Matter of Fact.

Today's Prayer

Socks has more room to lie down in Keturah's room with the credenza gone.

Happy said that he wanted to give things that made people happy to his brother and sister. So he gave them juice drinks and snacks! Check out the video!

And what are these doing in my fridge? Coffee shots?! 150 mg of caffeine? Well, at least it's less liquid so you won't have to pee so much. Good grief!

Abishai made Keturah breakfast!

Justin came inside exclaiming that he is the best hula hooper of the family. Well, let's just see it then! Ok, not on the arm, dude, around your middle! And he did a great job and recovered! Check out the videos below.

Abishai wanted to hula hoop, too. He just held on to the hoop and spun around. It was so cute!

Nice throw!

Keturah helping Grandma make freezer jam!

More shredding!

Leftovers for pie!

Keturah making strawberry pineapple freezer jam with Grandma.

So many papers to shred! And Abishai got strawberry jam on his arm so Keturah licked it off.

Pretty accurate for your average student. Remember, they did take breaks and get up and down a lot, at least in my household.

Grandpa needed the space in his front room, so he gave Keturah this chaise lounge! What?! What a spoiled princess she is! Now she wants to get rid of the dresser and try to fit her clothes in the drawers of the new bunk bed. I think she's in for a rude awakening, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, outside, I heard loads of giggles. And this is what I found! Abishai loved it and could get out of it! Crazy!

Alley oop!

Run away from the splashing Daddy!

Can I get a drink? I think we've all done that many times!

Water going everywhere! And Jared used the water from the hose to move the soccer balls down the hill. So many giggles!

What Abishai thought he had to take to Grandma's house. He only took about half of it.

Movie time with Grandpa. Grandpa's shirt reads, "Retired pastors make the best Grandpas!"

Productive Day #2: Let's see. Worked out. Cleaned up. Took apart my laptop and cleaned the insides. Made pinecone bird feeders with little help from the kids. Fed us leftovers. The piano tuner came. Jared had Bible study. Called the Lego store to see if we could preorder some sets and still get this month's bonus. They had the bonus but they don't do preorders. Hugged Abishai because I miss him when he has sleepovers. Bugged Keturah by sitting on her lounge. Listened to her already memorizing Matthew 5-7 (she's a little late in getting started, but I think she'll catch up quickly). Wrote notes for a few of the open house invites. Answered several homeschooling emails and posts. Abishai played in the slip and slide. Failed to get the kids outside for longer on this gloriously breezy 77 degree day. Made them stay out there for 30 minutes before supper, even if they were just sitting and reading. Yelled at them for using my computer without permission. It's not their personal device! They need to ask! Quickly sorted some newer printed piano music that was piling up. Now we can find our favorites again and they are all stored in the bench instead of haphazardly on top of the pretty piano books on top of the piano. Yup. Oh, and last night we discovered the pool water had turned green, so Jared put some chemicals in it and siphoned off the nasty stuff tonight. Not sure if it's ready for the kids again or not. Whoops. Benaiah and Justin had a good tussle. And now I can't find my money pouch. Hm,....it may be in the car from after going into the library. I know I had it in my hands on the way out. I'll go look in the morning. That is all for this Tuesday.

Outdoor worship service. This should be interesting. Oh my goodness. I was just reminded of something! Jump back a decade ago to when we had an outdoor mini festival concert. Michael Tait was there I believe. And Zoegirl? I know they had an indoor concert at our church, but not sure on the outside. This was before the KP wing was added, too. And I got to drive members of Tait's band (he was by himself back then, not with DCTalk or Newsboys) to the hotel next to Cracker Barrel! Anyway, so outdoor worship, should be interesting! At least I don't think we have to stay in our cars for this one. I'm not so sure of this "drive in" concert thing. I did just watch a couple of interviews explaining just how hard it is to pay band members that are paid by the concert, not on salary, when there are no tours to be had right now. So, I get it, but I just don't have time to go see somebody on jumbo tron. Hopefully we will get to attend this with our small group though!

Ah! New paint splatters added to the infamous step stool. It needs a scrubbing, but I've had this stool for more than 15 years! We used it to paint my parents' apartment, 1 pink room, 2 blue rooms, the rest was tan. It's been with me for a very long time!

Abishai didn't want Keturah to go into the boys' room anymore, so he set up this trap. Well, this is the doorway between the kitchen and the fireside room. Hm,....

Justin made an awesome lunch for himself! Except, he had forgotten that he said he wanted a hamburger and I had it already made on the stove. Whoops!

I looked this up because I had a brilliant idea of buying one for our room and surprising Jared with it for our anniversary. It was only $50 and I think it looks great! But then again, I really haven't bought many fans in the past and I really don't have preference. This is why we will never build a house. Too many decisions. We don't have matching hardware from room to room, or really a preference. Price is the most important thing (and the right type of an item of course) to us.

Today's prayer.

What about the middle schoolers!? Sad face for them, but I'm glad the high shoolers get to hang out. I'm sure Justin will have a blast. I don't think Benaiah will want to go unless Ava wants to go. Boy is he at an awkward stage between leaving high school and finding a different thing to attend. Because he's not going off to college, he really has nowhere to go right now. And he can't volunteer at youth group as a leader yet. Hm,...

I heard water running and came outside to see Abishai "washing my basketball hoop to make it all new and shiny" and "cleaning the driveway." Just don't spray the van, whose windows are open!

It was his idea to get the ladder. And I allowed it because why not?

He pulled really hard to get the hose to go out that far.

We attempted to make pinecone bird feeders by first attaching a string to hang the pinecone from and then spreading sunbutter all over the cone. The sunbutter was 2 years old and was perfect for this application!

Justin made 4 of them, but with lots of grumbling and "where's a napkin, this stuff is yucky!"

Keturah did a few, but didn't like it either.

I ended up being the one to roll them in birdseed.

I also used the spoon to scoop it up on the sunbutter and pat it down a bit. It worked really, really well. And I think using sunbutter or another butter that doesn't have the sugar in it like regular peanut butter, will attract less ants.

My children abandoned the project.

They did go back outside thankfully. I love this kind of stuff. Justin did think we did it in Charlottetown though. So, hopefully they will remember this, too.

What we used: natural sunbutter without many added ingredients, no waste bird seed (it was the smallest bag and it made sense to have no waste), string, scissors, the perfect pine cones from our big pine tree out front, and a bowl to spoon birdseed onto the pine cones.

They come out pretty well and held a lot of bird seed! We spread it down the cone, not up inside it.

All these pics show where we hung them. I'm going to hopefully take more pics of the spots after the squirrels and birds get to them. We have very active squirrels, so I have a hunch they will get to them first. This is the big tree near the playground. I didn't get a pic of the one we hung where the humming bird feeder was. (We threw away the humming bird feeder because it had gotten gross. Those are easy to replace).

Smaller tree near the gate.

Take my picture with one, Mom! Although he didn't do much to help, he did help me hang them. I thought he would like to do the birdseed part, but nope, no interest. I give up.

Pine tree near the wood pile.

Pine tree near our bedroom window.

Front pine tree.

That white flowering tree in the middle of the front yard.

I'll hang it, Mom! And yes, he had grabbed the stool on his own and did this, too!

On to the next project, my computer. It was starting to over heat and I would have to put my little fan on it. The screen would slow down a bit and I could sense it was struggling. I had watched a video a few weeks ago of a store employee cleaning out old laptops that had been in very dirty places so I made the connection that maybe it was time to clean out the fan in my computer. I used to do that regularly in my desktop computer and  the fan was very easy to reach. The laptops in the video though had cockroaches and maggots (some were alive!) in them! Ew!!! I knew mine wouldn't be that gross, but yes, it had been two years since it had been serviced, so here I go. I couldn't figure out how to get it apart after unscrewing the back, so I used a YouTube video as my guide. This is what I found. What is this? Oh, this is the backside of my keyboard. There is a clear plastic piece there that I don't want to tear out, so I didn't get to clean this area. It took me a few minutes to realize that the brown stuff is some coffee I spilled last winter. Yuck! Thankfully my keys seem to work just fine.

Just about what I expected. Not too gross, but bad enough that it would affect the computer's performance. I spent the next 30-45 minutes carefully and slowly poking around  with a q tip and a dry microfiber cloth cleaning it. I also used some mini screwdrivers to get in the nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, a couple of those strip looking things come undone but I was able to find where they were attached, too and put them back. The big one I suspect controls the screen itself.

Yuck! I didn't want to pick at it too much, but I could the loose dust. Yes, I gently blew on everything, making sure my breathe was dry. I don't have one of those high pressured air canisters that you really should have so you can clean these bits.

 Tour of the Inside of My Computer
Clean your fan!
All Done! And She Still Works!

Ah, much better! And so much quieter! It's slightly warm as I'm typing but definitely cooler than it has been!

Looking good!

All put back together by yours truly! She's good for another year! She's already 6 years old, which is old for a laptop that is in heavy use. Jared has already gotten two new laptops in the 4 years we've been here in Indiana. I like my computer. She has a DVD drive which is rare these days because all movies and photos are digital or people use SD cards or USB drives and external hard drives. I like to put my DVD and CD's in to back up photos and I have some homeschool materials on discs as well. I also have an external DVD drive, too. They are becoming obselete, so I treat them with care. I don't use the mousepad or the touchscreen. I turn those off. This is my first laptop, too. I kind of prefer a desktop for more RAM and easier cleaning and switching out of parts. We'll see what happens when this laptop dies. For now, I'm using her carefully. Just as long as those kids quit jumping on when I need to get on! It's not a family device. It's my device. Both Keturah and Justin were looking at Legos and then using it for screen time when they weren't on the tablet. Yes, we switch devices around, but get off the devices! They are old and wearing out! Sigh.

Wednesday was another appointment and errand day. It started with the dentist again for Keturah and Justin for caps on their molars and a cavity filling for Keturah.  Grandma offered to take Abishai but Abishai wanted to come with us. I thought he wanted to snuggle me, but that is not what happened. In fact, check out all the silliness and frustrating parts of being stuck in a car while someone else gets their teeth worked on! Then, Justin held up his hand in the form of a C and said "A" and Abishai said, "Chick Fil A?!" Ok fine, yes, I was thinking the same thing. It was lunchtime. But first, we had to drive past Benaiah's school to see his banner hanging out front ready for graduation on Friday. Then I had to circle the block back around to Mocha Nut because why not? Let's get some coffee for this crazy day. Then back onto Southport road and up to Chick Fil A. Chick Fil A was super, super fast. It took longer for us to say our order than it did to get our food. At the last minute we added some extra chicken nuggets with the intention of dropping them off to Jared. Well, that turned into taking all our food into the office and having lunch with Grandpa, Ellen, and Daddy! Woot! Woot! What a treat! We've never had lunch with Grandpa in the office! Fun times!

Then home we went for screen time, check in with Benaiah, a little it of swimming, and my counseling appointment. After that, we had dinner and I took Justin to church for small group, blasting my '90's Michael W. Smith music for all to hear, lol. Home again, putter for a bit, and then Abishai and Socks joined me in the car to pick up Justin. Justin had preapproved this arrangement. It was a blast! Ok, I'm also on a caffeine high from drinking 20 oz of coffee mocha and 20 oz of cherry coke. Eeek! Oh, and the employee discount saved us $7 today at CFA. Then Justin and I got to thinking about when Benaiah moves away or switches stores and do we still get the discount? Then Jared said maybe Justin will be working there then, lol. Yup! Keep those discounts coming! Anyway, it felt so good to be out and about and with the kids. Tomorrow we get to be home again and I have to go back to my workouts. Boo! However, I did my measurements today and I lost a TOTAL of 4.75 inches despite gaining a few pounds (what's up with that?!) And I saw an IG post by an influencer that I forgot actually makes workout videos for Beachbody. So, I'm excited to look her up! And my friend will take me with her to see a local coach that is a Beachbody coach. I'm kind of sold on this, aren't I? There's a lot of variety and for the price of a gym membership, I have so much to choose from. It's a far cry from putting a DVD in and doing the same routine over and over again. So, we'll keep going. I did take progress photos but I couldn't find my previous ones, so that will have to wait. Whoops.

And now all is quiet again. Ava was finally able to go out after a long day with her family, so Benaiah is out with her. Benaiah was very disgruntled by that and the rehearsal and senior lunch this morning. Some of those kids are VERY two faced and the adults, mostly parents, refuse to see it or correct it. I can understand that. Just one more ceremony and he doesn't have to step foot in the school again or talk to his senior classmates again. He still has a couple of friends in the junior class, like Chase. It's like just wanting your last day of work to be over so you can finally move on. I'll try to stay calm, but I think Gary and Leah are going to overshadow that. This is why we got photos with Ali instead of doing it all on graduation night when he just wants to go home. Ava isn't even coming, although I would venture to say Mr. Nanney wouldn't mind if she sat with us. Sigh. We'll have dinner with Gary and Leah on Friday at their house before the ceremony and she can come to that hopefully. I don't want them to make an exception for her and then not for every other girlfriend or boyfriend. I'm sure some will bend the rules regardless. I'm sure the open house will be much more fun for Benaiah to see the adults he loves and youth leaders and to be Ethan and others. He still doesn't like many people at youth group, but it's a way different crowd that will come, mostly adults our age, who have watched him grow up. That's the goal anyway. We'll see. Almost there!

Trying to walk in a straight line at the same pace. If any class is going to mess this up, it's going to be this class. Sigh. Benaiah's learned his fair share of what NOT to do from these bunch of kids, sorry to say. Thank goodness the upcoming seniors are better!

Woot! Woot! I lost a few inches!

We have to wait in the car at the dentist instead of in the waiting room. Abishai wouldn't leave anything alone. Justin was so hot that he did away from the sun.

Looking at clouds through the sunroof!

Abishai's turn.

Good grief this kid!

Abishai wanted to put the windows up but I had locked them. So while  I was filming Justin, Abishai got in my lap, and turned off the lock, got back in the backseat and started to hit the up button. Hey, I thought I locked them! I did! And sneaky boy tricked me!

Chillin' at the dentist.

How Justin can fold up that small is beyond me.

Impromptu lunch at the e2 office! With Daddy, Ellen, AND Grandpa! Quite special!

Another beauty in ye olde flower garden.

I thought this was going to be bad, but the trailer looked really good!

Jared had siphoned off some of the junk last night so it was safe to swim again.

Bwahahahahaha!

Daddy, tell me all the countries! Ok, that's enough! (after about 3 of the states!)

Remember when I did this before, Mommy? Take a slow mo video of it!

Blocking the road so the bad guy can't get away. And they shoot out his tires!

Let's go get big brother Justin!

He barely fits back there, but Socks loves to go for a ride!

Awwww

Finishing up prayer time with his small group buds. Man, I thought Justin was tall. All these dudes are huge!

It's take your dog to church night! Well, not really, but it's fun when we can!

I miss being able to take Socks into the building at the college in Canada. Everybody loved him there. So, our dog has gone to church (again! I think he's been to a few places, but I can't remember exactly when.)

It's 9:30pm and Abishai is on his 10th wind of energy for the day. Just chattering away back there. Daddy came in and gave him a stern look and he scampered off to his bed so fast like a bolt of lightning. I'm cracking up just thinking about it! Caught!

Finally! A day that I didn't have to go anywhere! I still had stuff to do, but I didn't have to rush out of bed. Well, I did get up fairly quickly because yup, I had stuff to do. I tried a different workout from someone I've been following on Instagram but had forgotten that she was a Beachbody person. It was quick and I tried to give it my all, but I didn't feel like worked out. Back to my other course tomorrow. I just really needed to shower! Then life was all better. Keturah finally finished her math book (we both had forgotten about those last few tests), yeah! I carefully ironed Benaiah's gown for tomorrow. The fabric is cheap rayon and yes, can melt! It's a good thing I watched my mama iron all kinds of different things over the years! Benaiah doesn't think he'll need to iron his clothes tomorrow, but we'll see what Grandpa thinks about that. Tomorrow is graduation day! But more on that tomorrow. The others played inside and outside, and Daddy joined them in the pool after supper making it a whirlpool for them! So many giggles! Keturah made puzzles outside and I sorted toys. Justin mowed and missed all kinds of trimmings again. I kept up with homeschool emails, tried shakeology again, and drank more coffee because I'm tired! The mail finally came and in it was our application for Medicaid because it didn't have enough postage! Ugh! Now I have to call them tomorrow because it's past due. But our family picture canvas arrived, too! Benaiah went to work, came home and cleaned out his clothes, and then was off again to help Matt at church! Lots of steps forward, many more steps to take. We had a nice supper and now a little movie time. Tomorrow will be busy with another appointment for me, more mowing for Justin, more paper shredding for Keturah, graduation dinner with the folks, and graduation ceremony. Then on Saturday I hope to convince Jared to go to the used appliance stores to find a fridge for the garage. I've gathered a list of places, so that will be our starting point. One by one, that to do list I made a month ago is getting done! Woot! Woot!

I had no idea that sand and dust from the Sahara desert in Africa falls on us every year! Wowzers!

A: Mom! You have to take this picture! I made a bridge! Come see! Me: Ok, buddy, in a minute, I'm waking up slowly. Me after I see it: Buddy! Wow! You're a genius!

e2's Admin Assistant, Mrs. Ellen, a long time friend of ours, asked if I could use this griddle. Um, yes!  I'm tired of making pancakes in small batches! We got rid of our griddle in Charlottetown because we felt we didn't use it as much and/or it was getting old. Well, it only took 3 rounds to make 21 pancakes! Sweet!

Thanks, Mrs. Ellen!

Yup.

Ooo, I finally found a way to use the Shakeology Beachbody stuff! One scoop of the cafe latte flavor, one banana, no ice, and this blender! I was able to gulp it down in no time! Oh, and I made up the hack of using the rim of a canning jar on a canning jar to try to contain the mess. Well, I added the banana after I put the blender in and then couldn't get the blender out, so I still made a mess. Whoops!

See, I can iron!

Much better than it was. It's graduation day!

And I only took the griddle after I had thought about where it could go. I have to dip it under the bar, but otherwise,it fits perfectly! I had pop cans in this area before, and I really just need to drink them up (some of it is tomato juice) and not buy more.

You can't see her but Keturah took the lid of the dress up box to make some puzzles on and did them out on the deck because I told them to go outside. Very innovative!

Last time helping Benaiah purge his clothes! Actually, he purged them and did it in 5 minutes flat because he knows what fits and what doesn't, he was just too lazy to go through them. But I did refold things to put back in his drawer and went through the leftovers with Justin. Now we have half a garbage bag full of mostly old white t-shirts and such. One item down, now onto books, knick knacks, music gear, and electronics!  Oh, and I told them I would organize his things. I LOVE to organize so I don't mind. He now has a dozen hanging items, his work clothes, and everything else fits into the portable three drawer mini dressers I bought him. Moving anywhere will be breeze! No need for heavy furniture!

Jared created a whirlpool for the kids. I'm so glad he has decided to get in the pool with them. They need that Daddy time. The water is still kind of cold and the breeze was strong again today, so Abishai was done in about 20 minutes. And washing Abishai's swim shirt helped him not feel itchy with it on. Yeah!

So much giggling! Abishai kept being pulled by the "current" Jared created and loved it!

Jared, with his sensitive skin, actually got all the way in!

Aw, Justin was baptized 8 years ago yesterday! He wasn't quite 7 yet, but we wanted to do it before we went to Canada. Benaiah had been baptized when he was just a tad over 7 years old. And Jared was also 7 or 9 or something. I was officially 12 when I was baptized. Keturah has been through a baptism class and has obviously heard the gospel her whole life. She's just not interested yet. I'm hoping one of her CIY trips might seal the deal. It's hard because I'm not a very good example to her sometimes about why it's important to believe. Sigh.

One of the puzzles Keturah was working on.

He-Man and She-Ra were cartoons in the 1980's. I LOVED that horse! My mom even crocheted an outfit for my Barbie doll to make her look like She-Ra.

Oh my goodness! We searched and searched for 15 minutes for Abisai's water bottle! I was headed to my desk for the evening when I looked down and there it was! In the pretend refrigerator! I guess he wanted to keep it "cold." I'm not sure how he got enough to drink all day, but whatever! We found it!

What a goofy boy!

The End