Year 5, October 26th-28th, 2020: The Busiest Week

Five! Count them 5 appointments this week! Plus getting back into school after vacation. Actually, it went very smoothly. I got my first steroid injection in my melanoma scar this morning. I guess on Monday, it's peds day, so the office was extra busy. It was a zoo! I'm used to my mid afternoon Friday visits with less staff in the office and less patients. But, I smiled under my mask knowing full well how hard it is to control those little ones and everyone was doing a great job. I was a few minutes late anyway, so it didn't matter that it took longer. This is my "taking care of me" time! I used the numbing cream before I left right on time and thankfully it had not worn off by the time the doctor saw me. She poked me probably 20 times and it didn't hurt hardly at all. I bled a little, but that's normal for me. We'll do at least one more injection next month, and possibly again if necessary. She said she being pretty "aggressive" with the dosage and then when she was done, apologized for telling the nurse to draw up too much of the steroid. Whoops! This treatment should be fully covered and I probably won't even have a co pay for the visit because it's not a full exam or anything. It didn't take more than 5 minutes. I felt bad for the office in general but they all had smiling faces and were doing their best. It might be a university hospital, and my scar may or may not have been their fault, but at least this office has great beside manner! Oh, and I had to switch out my mask! Apparently the hospital doesn't trust homemade masks or whatever so you have to wear the disposable ones. They said I could just keep it and reuse it again. I go in a separate entrance to the professional side of the hospital but it's still connected by hallways.So, that was fun.

Abishai had screen time while I was gone, but I had Justin get him off at a certain time. Thank goodness I can text Justin again and he actually receives them! Justin did ok today, but he says he hates history and literature. I told him to hang in there until I can get through this short course on how the brain works I have him summarizing what he reads only because I'm not sure how else he can retain information. I do have him listening to an audio book for the literature part and I had him try to draw a picture of the scene. He only got a bit of it worked out, but since I had just enough time and clarity of mind, I was able to discern a bit more with him. We are working on "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathanial Hawthorne. I don't know if it's an appropriate book or even the best book, but I know it's a classic and hopefully will be worth picking apart more than we do other books. I think he's just frustrated that he has many different books going at once. I'm not sure how to help him on that. Maybe he's going to have to pick and choose with Grandpa which Bible study he does. Because I don't lecture, he needs to read a history textbook. He doesn't have to study for a test, so maybe that's the problem. Maybe he just needs someone else to extract information out of the book for him to focus on. Sigh. I can't do that. I think we both need to be patient because his writing course will be teaching him how to pull out information this week and this brain course I'm going to have him work on with me (or least I'll have him to take the little tests and see where he ends up and I'll assimilate the information for him). Math was a new lesson with new vocab words as well. AND he still needs to learn, overall, he's spending less time than his peers every day on school. 6 hr of classroom plus homework. He's got less than 6 hrs. And that's with him taking things slow. He sleeps for 9-10 hrs a night. His peers probably don't. That means, he has 8-9 hrs of other things he spends his time on, 2 hrs on video games during the day, 2-3 hrs of video games at night. Yeah, I think he's fine. 

Keturah was normal today. I think I had grounded her this weekend from screen time, but forgot about it, so I just let it go. Her sass wasn't that bad anyway. We managed to get a lot done despite me having another appointment at 2:30pm from home. It's just all about ME continuing to keep up a good pace. I don't feel too physical sore today and sleep ok and enough. "Mom, why do I have to brush my teeth?" "Because you have to stop the sugar bugs from eating your teeth." "But in heaven I don't have to brush my teeth!" "Well, we aren't in heaven are we?" Out of the mouth of kids! He has lots of questions like that. Oh, he and I read a good story about George Frederich Handel helping out some (fictitious) boys and getting them placed into his orphanage after they had been working for a bad guy. It used names of his famous works and places he was connected with. Anyway, "Hallelujah Handel," great story! 

All in all, it was a good day. A bit cool out and light rain, but I was too busy to really notice. Now I'm tired, but I have to do some copying for school and revisit the brain book. Oh, and watch a comedy special that is going live right now! Whoops!

No pain, no gain. Just a few pricks and some steroids to try to calm this thing down. Took the pic to see the difference later.

Weird to see Michael W. Smith as an emcee. All prerecorded, and not much from the comedians, but that wasn't the point. The point was to raise money for Rocketown, the club for kids and teens that meet physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

Since I've been a donor in the past, they sent me an advertisement in the snail mail! I of course already saw all the ads on Instagram and had already signed up, but that was cool to receive!

John Crist was ok funny. But when he explained how Michael W. Smith somehow got his personal number and reached to John when everything feel apart in his life last year, now THAT was awesome to hear about. Since I've watched most of John's comedy videos and a lot of his regular interviews, I could tell when he went from joking mode to his serious, passionate self. That was brave of him to share how it made him feel to have a bigwig (at least to us in our Christian bubble) reach out to some "internet famous" guy. Awesome!

They shared some stories of how Rocketown continued to reach out to families all year long.

And in the middle of that I saw that are new associate justice for the Supreme Court was confirmed! Hailing from our neck of the woods, graduating from the top of her class at Notre Dame, spending 3 years on the circuit court based here (I think at our state house I believe), having 7 children that are still school age and confidently surviving the rigorous grilling of herself, her career, her views, all of it, we have a new young (probably my age or even younger) Supreme Court justice. I'm so glad they snuck that in before the election. Well done! The face of the Supreme Court has changed drastically with 3 new justices in 4 years. That's unheard of! This seat was made vacant maybe a month ago when the previous woman passed away.  I watched the TV feed of the actual swearing in ceremeony held outside (brr) tonight, I think in front of the White House, and it took about 20 minutes. Trump had two coast on and Mrs.Barrett had short sleeves. I don't know how she managed not to shiver. Trump seemed very reserved, exhausted, and just at the end of his long day. He's just a man like you and me, folks, just a man. He's got limits, too. Anyway, I would have loved to be a successful woman like Mrs. Barrett. I wish my brain could think like that. I do my best with what I have. I try to hone my skills in speech and printed word. But I'll never have that academic intellect. It probably wasn't something I was designed for. But it's still inspiring to see these things happen, especially among all the negativity. Simple, yet historical ceremony that will be written down in history. Boom, done. Take that! Get 'er done! If anything, this President has gotten it done, for good, bad, or indifferent. I do appreciate that!

One of the board members/volunteers was also highly praised this evening and many recorded notes of thanks and praises for her, including Michael W. Smith's manager, Chaz Corrine (I think that's his last name).

The other comedian was Terry Fator, a ventriloquist who won the first America's Got Talent, and that works in Las Vegas. Pretty funny pair.

But this guy can SING without moving his lips! Like REALLY sing while Michael played from his home studio through Zoom. Obviously, some of the audio had to be scrubbed and edited because they were using Zoom, but even a lockdown and Covid-19 can't stop good things from happening. It's only taught us have to really use the technology we've had all along to produce some amazing things and to share the message far and wide of anything we want it to. I mean, I've always heard about Comedy for a Cause and the Rocketown yearly Auction. But have I ever been able to participate? No. It's definitely an introvert's/chronic health/lack of funds person like me's dream to be able to see things like this. I did see that the biggest fans were on the chat tonight after just getting back from a retreat at the Cove at Billy Graham's retreat center. I looked into going but for something like 2 nights and a handful of meals it was going to be over $600. No thank you. For in person concerts, q and a's, special devotional time, etc., it's a fan's dream come true. But there's a lot more I can do with that $600 per person that would benefit my whole family. Like buy an iPhone 11! It still hasn't come down in price yet! Someday it will, some day. I'm holding out for cyber Monday or something. Don't know yet. And our cash to be back in the bank. Anyway, interesting day. Great end to the night.

Tuesday, Apppointment Day #2. Socks' annual exam. The drive was longer than the appointment! We were in and out of there so quickly! But that's because Dr. Johnson at Parkside Animal Hospital knows his stuff (and charges a high price for it). Actually, it's because I got a year's worth of heartworm meds for Socks. Plus he had 2 shots and the heartworm test. Dr. Johnson did give us a 7 day sample of the dog equivalent of ibuprofen. He said to never give a dog the human version of ibuprofen. We are to try it for 2-3 days and if Socks' is more lively and gets up and down easier, than we know it works and it might be a good idea to keep going with it. Otherwise, just save the other 4 doses for emergencies. That's how good Dr. Johnson is. He finds way to save you money.  I did get a rebate card for the heartworm meds, too. But all told, $329.66 is what my final bill was today.  It's a good thing we were very cheap for the first several years of his life and just went to the F.A.C.E. clinic. But, Socks is still in very good health for his age. The doctor didn't mention anything out of the ordinary. And the vet tech recognized Socks, too, which means a) Socks left a good impression on them when he had his surgery last year b) the vet tech is still there and c) Socks is the best dog ever. Socks gained 1 lb, but that's nothing to be concerned about. I know the kids have been feeding him a lot of treats, so we can back off on that a bit. I will still feed him as much as he wants, but no more than 4 cups a day. Sometimes he only eats 2 cups or one serving. It just depends because he doesn't eat while we are gone or when there's a lot of activity because he's "on guard." So, that appointment is done. The vet hospital is about 30 minutes north of us, but it's right off the highway and not a bad drive during the middle of the day. Rush hour, well, that's the WORST part of the city for rush hour traffic. So I carefully plan and get a midday appointment so I don't have to go in early and I don't get stuck in traffic. Oh, and Abishai was my only helper today. He chatted up the vet tech of course. And he petted Socks all the way up to the vet and back down. Special buddies those two are. Keturah kept telling Socks that he was going on a field trip. Well, not a fun field trip, but further than he typically goes. I did use towels in the car on the seat and floor this time to cut down on the dog hair mess and I think it helped a bit. However, Socks was panting and drooling on the seat! Goof! 

I spent the morning in a moody state and didn't get to Abishai's schoolwork until after supper. And surprisingly, it went the same as it would in the morning. That's because he was the one who suggested it. We got home from the vet around 3:30 so it was screen time. And I was fine with that. I had told the other two that they could have screen time while we were at the vet but as soon as I got home, we have to do our CC and read aloud time we didn't do yesterday. And they obliged and didn't complain. We got through their individual work as well. And we had a current events civics lesson on the swearing in of the newly confirmed associate justice of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Amy Couney Barrett. I showed them a 15 minute video that was just the plain media feed of the swearing in. No commentary or news story, just the "raw" footage on YouTube. The rest of the 45 minute video was showing people taking their seats and then mingling afterwards on the front lawn of the White House. They did it outside so they didn't have to wear masks. So I talked about some of the comments I saw online last night like "Why didn't we get to elect her?" Um, because you elected your Senators who voted for or against her confirmation? That's how representation works. And that's what the Constitution says to do and we've followed it's procedures for over 200 years. Go read it for yourself. Only the Senate gets to question the appointed person for a couple of weeks and then vote yes or no. It was split by party, 52 for yes and 48 for no. Mrs. Barrett hails from Terra Haute, Indiana and the federal circuit court that is here. She was a judge there for 3 years but was first in her class and has garnered numerous accolades of excellence in her 48 years of life. She is a mother of 7 children, some adopted. All are under 18. So it's going to be quite the move to make from Indiana to Washington, D.C. during this season of Covid. It was a fast tracked confirmation but Mrs. Barrett kept her wits and poise throughout the whole thing. I was also able to explain to the kids that it's not that rushed since the President is still the President until January (at least). So he's well within his bounds to get this done. I was also able to point out just how tired President Trump looked. He was very wooden and I'm sure he read off a teleprompter or something. It was the end of a long work day I'm sure. I think it was 8pm when it was all said and done. President Trump is just a man, with faults and limits. So is Biden. And they both are in their 70's. Campaigning takes its toll. Both men are loved by God. They just have to seek Him. So, great current events lesson today!  The ceremony starts at about 25 minutes into this video:  Amy Coney Barrett's Swearing In Ceremony

Justin did start The Scarlet Letter today and did watch a video summary about it after he found the email I sent him a couple of weeks ago. I reminded him that we don't go in depth on every book. But we use an integrated approach that includes world history, American history, Civics, government, and right now, American Literature. I will separate them out to put on his transcript, but it all goes together. So, now and then, we go in depth with a book to practice analyzing literature. I'm not sure if I picked the right one, but we'll try. We'll figure it out. I will probably go over the Constitution sort of quickly for Keturah and then move into the rest of the history lessons around Christmas. I will continue to do government lessons with Justin as we move forward in history. We might not stop as long on the American Civil War. I think it's pretty cut and dry. There's 1,000's of great options for reading for that time period, but we don't have to do them all now. Same with the World Wars. Or the Civil Rights movement. Those things come in modern times a lot, especially with the civil rights issue. But no one talks about the actual Constitution and why and how our country was founded, so that's why I'm hammering that home. My children will not leave my house without at least knowing some of it. I mean, I had no idea what the procedure was for appointing a new judge. But I trust that they followed the right procedures, I listened to the sound bites, and I'm happy with what was reported. I saw the swearing in ceremony as a chance to pause and celebrate seeing some thing positive. Seeing someone with poise, rigor, incredible intellect, no drama, no scandals, something straight forward happen right now. Life goes on. Government is still working. Debates are being had. Judges are still judging on a daily basis. People are still going to jail or just getting out. It's not just about one Presidential race. There is a normal progression and it can be had without drama. That's a sight to behold these days.

Oh, and I won't be surprised if there are murmurs about Franklin Township going back to all distance learning if other districts do it. We will never hit stage 5. There will always be a mask mandate because of cold/flu/covid season over the winter months. Super frustrating. Lockdowns are on their way again, I just know it. And a friend sent me an article about the permanent changes that are happening in the churches. Jared claims I'm being bitter. Or rather he doesn't want me to be bitter. But I wrote to him and said that no, not bitter, sad. Sad that Gary's legacy now looks like this. Sad that our church is like a sheep following the fear mongering. Sad that many families have left and will never return. Sad that the pews are empty. I typed up 2 1/2 pages of my thoughts this morning because I woke up from a dream that made me cry and I kept repeating the same words and ideas and needed to get it out. Then he wrote a card (without seeing my writing) and then I wrote a note on my writing and left it for him to read. It's funny how this is how we communicated when we dated. We can't speak words to each other right now, but we can write. Not hopeless, but stuck. Gotta go through the muck and mire to get to higher ground.

Anyway, I've got a stupid digital song thing that Justin keeps playing on his phone stuck in my head. It was all played by a computer because no one can play that fast. But interesting video. I finished the day by going through my smaller clothes with Keturah and going through that random box of stuff for Justin. Keturah's reaction to my clothes from the 90's was, "Ew, bell bottoms and frills!" Not bell bottoms, dear, that was the '70's. No, we called them flares. These were my size 1-5 pants. Makes me sad and mad. And then, I found a few "too big"/maternity pants in the box. I tried them on and they fit perfectly go figure. I was 140lbs in 2017 when I labeled those pants as too small. And now I weigh 160 lbs. I weighed 165lbs when Keturah was born. Yup, I actually cried when I tried them on. I've become that person, crying in the dressing room. But it's done. I don't know what else to do with the weight. It wasn't a good day to discover that. Sigh. But my friend Debbie checked in, so I was able to text her back about how I was really feeling. I'm not the fat person. My weight doesn't affect my mind and soul. So I used to not think about it often. Now, it's a constant reminder if I look in a mirror. So I don't. I pretend I'm 140lb. But I'm not. It's not fair. It's a struggle. Let's move on.

So the day started slow but ended well, I think. And now I'm exhausted. We are home tomorrow except for Bible studies and a telehealth call with Justin' pedicatrician to make sure we are on the right dosage or meds. So, hopefully, we will get more bookwork done. Now I'm off to listen to The Scarlett Letter. Here goes!

I heard a bunch of cackling coming from the garage so I went to investigate. At least I know that Justin has friends and can talk in full sentences, lol!

Justin's nightly set up, including Socks at his side. He says it's not too cold yet. And I don't know how he sits on the concrete for 2-3 hrs every night. He's got blue light blocking glasses on.

Just for fun, I told Abishai to hug his doggy.

Always take random photos of your pets. Just in case something happens to them, if they get lost, or they die suddenly. You won't regret it.

Old man has a lot of white fur now on his head!

Socks and his buddy Abishai.

It's no fair that pants that were to big for me 3 yrs ago are now perfect size for me now. Wrong direction on the weight problem!

Two different kids with very different personalities have two very different styles of tacos. Keturah's is on the bottom and Justin's is on the top. Interesting.

I see my buddy on the back row and far away from the camera!

Aw, look at that little group of friends. And Abishai is sitting still and paying attention! Amazing and reassuring that he's going to be all right in a social situation without Mommy and Daddy.  Woot! Woot!

Wednesday, we finished school before 3pm! Although Justin was really grumbling that he has too much. Kiddo, you spent less than 6 hrs on school today. Stop it. I'm really lethargic today, but that's understandable. I'm not sleeping well and I'm to the point that caffeine won't solve it. But we made it too the end of the day with time to spare. I did forget one thing for Keturah, her writing, but that's ok. It's another dreary day outside, too. But the Beavers down the street got a puppy! And Ali's younger sister Kaitlyn will be having her baby in 6 days, yeah! We had a telehealth appointment for Justin and we increased his dosage again. Meanwhile, Zeta, yes, the 31st hurricane of the season, is hitting Chalmette right now. Of course I made a snide comment about, "Why do you live there when it's so dangerous?" and Leah had to correct me. I'm cranky. Let it go. I've always thought it was dumb to live in such a storm prone area. But, whatever. I'm tired of being stressed for them. It's their choice. They don't have to stay. Many have moved inlaid from all the coastlines. Whatever.

I just dropped Justin off at Bible study/small group and he JUST had his notebook in his hand. We get there and he doesn't have it anymore. Justin! Goof! I was going to be super early to my Bible study, so I drove up a different way to check out the new roundabout on Edgewood and Five Points. It feels and looks glorious! New sidewalks that could be extended someday, too. I was still going to be early and Adrienne has to drop off Devon at small group, so I came home to use the bathroom and try to type now so I can spend time with Jared later. After those long handwritten notes back and forth, and texting, and passive aggressiveness, the silence was too oppressive and the fight was too long and we're over being angry. Not over the topic(s) or discussion, but over being angry about it. Fighting makes you so exhausted. So, I hope to come home, wait for him to put Abishai to bed, and talk it out or just be together. I got some good hugs when he came home and we said sorry to each other. Sorry for being harsh, not sorry about our opinions. And that's exactly what I want. So, there's hope.

I mistakenly let Abishai have some video game time, not YouTube kids, mind you, just his video game. He set himself up here next to me. I told him he had to sit by me so I could monitor him. "Just one more round!" Oi!

I went to use my earbuds and noticed that they were kind of dirty. So I started poking around the edges. Then I noticed I could pry it apart and this is what I discovered! People, I clean my ears every single day! Ew! Yes, it's earwax. Yes, I cleaned it all out and carefully used alcohol because it was still sticky. Ew!!!!!!

Our neighbors, the Beavers, got a puppy!!!!! Adorable!!!!!

Uh, since I've been in my own funk and got frustrated the LAST time I tried to follow a hurricane that MIGHT hit New Orleans, I totally did not follow this one. Well, come to find out, we exceeded all 26 letters of the alphabet while naming hurricanes and storms, and are now on Zeta of the Greek alphabet. So, that's Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and now Zeta. And how can I type that all out without looking? Because I memorized the Greek alphabet as a youth AND that's what our math books use as names for levels. That means, Zeta is the 32nd storm this season! And it actually just went over Chalmette and New Orleans tonight!!!  Keturah is currently in the Zeta math book.

I can't imagine being in a storm, with no power and no a/c and it's almost November. Nope.

Shauna texted right as the eye was going over their area so I grabbed this screenshot. Then I had to go to Bible study. But I did get a couple more texts from them in our family thread.

Oh good grief.

Abishai was dictating what color he wants his NEXT treehouse to be. He's got big plans for his Daddy. Let's just let Daddy make it ready to be outside, then we can try painting it whatever color we want it to be.

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Very quick moving storm. That means it won't dump as much rain, so that means less flooding.

Storm will track due east, but it looks likes it's butting up against another low pressure on top of us, so that's why it's staying south. Fun volatile times for Halloween weekend.

Yikes!

Ouch, ouch, ouch! The monthly pain is to much this month! Like a 9/10. And nerve pain in the pelvis. Scares me to death knowing I have an ovarian cyst that could burst and polyps that could grow back. Headache, achiness, and general feeling of being unwell. Maybe it's low iron. Anyway, it's made me really show today, even after seeing the chiropractor. But I got my steam mop! Woot! Woot! Aldi's finally had them again so despite feeling crappy and not even knowing if it would be there, I drove the 2 minutes north past my chiropractor and there it was on the shelf! And it does work on carpet. It's not a shampooer, so it doesn't put down a lot of water and suck it back, and you can NOT use cleaner in the tank at least (maybe on the floor itself because it's just a mopping pad). Maybe the heat just sterilizes it? Well, I tested it out on unwashed floors and it seemed fine. The pad mopped up the dirt that Jared's boots left this morning. It does have a part that goes over it so you can use it on carpets so I "cleaned" a spot. Again, I don't know how it really cleans without soap, but maybe that's because you should clean your floors first. I'll have to look it up more. But it's now in my cleaning arsenal for only 40! They did have the handheld one a month or two ago and everybody seems to like it. So, maybe I'll get that next. Yeah for new toys!

But no new toys for kids who don't play for their old ones but refuse to get rid of them. Ugh, I'm tired of picking up toys or having them just beg for screen time. Abishai had to have his screen time early because of my appointment and he didn't understand why he couldn't have it at 3pm. Well, I didn't let Justin on either, which allowed us to do school late. Not their fault, but mine because I was slow in coming home and eating lunch. I didn't look at anything until 2pm. Which meant I still had Abishai's schoolwork to do. Thank goodness he's a kid that CAN work on school at any time of the day. I mean that's actually pretty uncommon. Everbody had to be patient but we got things worked through. Now it's 8pm and I still haven't listened to the Scarlet Letter, I still haven't touch my Bible study, and I wanted to listen to more of the brain training series. And Jared wants me to listen to something at 9:15. I don't know. I rushed my computer time last night so I could go to bed with him. I don't know if I want to do it again tonight at a certain time. I mean, I can listen and then come back to my computer like I did last night. But I didn't stay on much longer. We'll see. This is new territory for us. I keep telling myself I'll read my Bible study the next morning or afternoon and then poof, the day is gone. This week has been tough with all the appointments. And I have something every day next week, too! Mostly in the afternoon though. I feel like I can't give the kids' lessons justice when I'm away and I'm not in the mood to do school on the weekends. Sigh.

But today was a rough pain day. Really rough. I wish I could hire a nanny and substitute teacher for days like this. We ate pizza again for dinner. Jared myself a salad. I finally got to sit down with a heating pad. Finally. I just want to sleep. Abishai is all kinds of crazy all day every day. Owie! More nerve pain shooting everywhere! What's wrong with me! Sigh.

Justin got mad because he looked everywhere for his drawing compass and I found it in 2 seconds. Keturah was having trouble with her writing, and I had to explain it multiple times, so I hope she understood. She claims she doesn't know how the first try was exactly what was on the board of the lesson. Ahem. THAT'S why it took you so long at my computer, isn't it? Grrrr.....I'm sure she did much better. She understands the IEW method pretty well and she comes up with the "decorations" so much more easily than I do. That's why I didn't try to make them up with her. I gave her what she needed to do, where to put each kind of sentence (intro and conclusion paragraphs to a previously written essay), and she tried the intro. Tomorrow I will  have to look both at her stuff AND Justin's first real attempt at writing this year, blech. I hate writing. I hate editing. I hate helping them improve their writing. Blech. I could easily farm this out. And I sort of already did with this program, thank goodness. We will do our best and hope it's enough for them to do well in college. That's the plan at least.

Abishai, the genius, remembered that Sophia was 2 yrs old and he was 5 yrs old. Then he figured out that when he is 8 years old, she will be 5 years old. That means he figured out their age gap by using subtraction and then used it again with a different number! He also said when Sophia is 7, he will be 10! Genius! We have barely scratched any of this yet! So I know it's not me teaching him, it's just his mind working hard and fast like his little feet. Which makes it hard for him to do his handwriting because if he wiggles, his strokes wiggle. I am just trusting the process. I don't want to hold him back because he can't write well. I should make him do the circling on the language arts pages because that would give him a different kind of practice at least holding his pencil. I just don't want to fight him so I ask if he wants to do it or me. Hm,...maybe I should be making him do it.

I'm so tired. Fighting pain all day. Fighting the dreary weather. No pain meds are touching it. One slow, shuffled footstep in front of the other. I get done what I get done. School got done. I read aloud between 5 and 5:30pm but it got done. And then life moves on. The house stayed dirty. The boxes still aren't in the shed. I haven't found a box for the extra clothes. But that's ok. Oh, and I forgot to go to the library. Whoops. I guess I'll get fined on that book, too. Oh well.  I just hope I'm not sick, because that's kind of how I feel and my nose ran more today.  There's an achiness in my joints, especially my neck. Sleep would be best, I'm sure. Now I'm rambling. Now I stop.

Yeah, that Zeta storm was nastier than we had previously thought. Tore buildings right off their foundations and onto other buildings!

The two low pressures merged and now look at it!

I got totally confused again today. I thought this was Nora. Then, apparently it was Nora who said -n and then something about it being an embarrassing baby photo of her. Well, I thought -n was for saying "thank you" or something, and contributed the rest of what "Shauna" said in the text string to Shauna, and then I thought it was Shauna's baby photo. Well, at least Nora identified herself because last time I got mad with all the gifs. But typically, the -n comes at the end of an email or something. I guess Shauna hands the girls her phone to talk to other people. I typically show my kids something, like if someone said happy birthday, and then type that "keturah said thank you." I do NOT hand my phone to my kids. It's too expensive and I have too many things organized on there that I absolutely need and I don't have time to fix it if they mess it up. It's not their device. ANYWAY, it was Nora's birthday, so Happy 11th Birthday!

I might just want one. I wish they were zip ups!

Luke and Joel Smallbone texted that they were going to be on FB live to share snippets of their first full Christmas album that comes out tomorrow. Well, as I listened live to the live I decided I probably should get it, maybe even on preorder, so that's what I did. Well, it took me a bit to decide where to order it from and that's why I was late to school. It's going to be great, though!

Ah, that's "Wheal Leisure" or a building on top of the mine in the Poldark books. They filmed right on that ledge. Yikes!!!!!

I put on a bunch more spaghetti sauce and a bit more cheese but the crust was actually pretty good! I like to keep the crust a bit softer though, especially so I can toast it/bake it when I reheat it and not have it get too hard.

Not bad at all!

Abishai wanted to play in brown dirt with his trucks. Well, I wasn't about to give him the coffee he saw me pour into my coffee canister that is flavored and super expensive. So, I took out this instant coffee and it worked really well! Plus it's easy to repalce.

Still drizzling but at least the sun is trying to peak out.

I got so mad at the kids' antics during read aloud time that I banged my hand on the countertop on purpose like a gavel and gave myself a bruise!

Arm update: I think it's a tad better. Let me see if I can find the before photo although it will be in a different light.

There's still a bit of healing to do from the needle pricks themselves so we'll see.

Same photo as at the beginning of the post but here's the photo from Monday. I know I took some photos at some point, I thought about a month ago, but can't find them. Anyway, this photo is AFTER the steroids were put in, thus all the needle pokes.

The somebody was singing, "Let It Go," while she was vacuuming:

The End