Year 6, January 18th-21st, 2020: New Ways!

 Yippie! I've moved enough stuff over to my new laptop and I'm now blogging from it! Yeah! Oh how nice and smooth this keyboard feels. And it has all it's buttons! Woot! Woot! I feel so grown up doing all those things transferring everything over with little fuss. Yeah for me! 

Ok, I got a little distracted putting laundry in and watching a YouTube suggested video. Then I had to figure out why the videos/pictures weren't fully downloaded.  It look like they might be stored in the iCloud perhaps unless I tell them to fully download. I have to have them fully downloaded before they will upload. So, I might have to work out a few kinks there. But the iCloud photos and videos are synced with this new computer, so I can do my normal routine with them. One little tweak at a time. I created a folder for all the photos that seemed to have downloaded from the iCloud but I've already used. It will just sit there for now, and really, I could just delete them because they are fully backed up. Then I created an identical folder to the last iCloud folder I made so I can keep going with my routine. I'm sure I'll add some folders for documents, but I might now. I just need to pop that SD card on over and save all future documents to it. And eventually delete them all from the other computer (what was left on the hard drive) when I'm feeling brave. Same goes for the photo folders. There's some other folders, like of certain photos I find on FB, that I'm saving in a special folder for their graduations. I used to download more photos to my actual computer instead of via the iCloud because I would scroll FB more that way. Anyway, again, little tweaks along the way.

So, Monday. It started out late. Jared didn't leave for the office until 9:30 but he did leave! Almost 5 weeks at home. Between Covid-19 quarantine from Benaiah's Covid to Christsmas break to still feeling ill the last two weeks, Jared has been home for 5 weeks! No wonder Abishai is so used to it and attached to Daddy. From being put on leave at MCC and then moving, to then moving into the condo, and then the house, and then last year with being home under lockdown, and now again this last month, Daddy's been home a lot and it hasn't financially impacted us one bit, thank goodness! Praise the Lord! I was ready to get him out from under my hair. When he was up and about, he was a distraction. And he couldn't work much from home because he was still in a lot of pain. He did say that he got a lot more work done in the quiet of the office today, but of course, there's so much more to do. Always more to do. He was the only one in the office today. Debbie will join him for a bit tomorrow, and then Gary will drop in for a couple of hours on Wednesday to do a filming. He'll probably stay longer on Thursday and Friday. Leah's quarantine is officially up on Thursday (or Friday according to some of us), so that's close enough. She is feeling pretty much fine. And she was asking why does it even matter. Because non symptomatic people are still contagious. That's why it's spread so much. There's a lot of non symptomatic people. Anyway, we are almost through. And then we don't have to worry about them as much. Some say you are still going to have to get the vaccine although you already it, which is nonsense. Sure, you could still get the mutated gene that will be prevalent next year, but then how good is the vaccine now if it's based on the original virus? It's always a long shot. That's why we don't do the flu vaccine. Again, I'm not doing it. This is ridiculous.

Anyway, I just realized that I got a new phone and a new computer all in the same month! I'm feeling pretty spoiled! I have to have the right technology just like anyone else in order to do my work, right? Sweet!

Ok, back to the morning. I get a 9 am phone call from the ob-gyn nurse at barrington who had permission to share the ultrasound results with me. Well, I talked to a different nurse when I called back, but something excited happened. I mentioned that huh, the cyst has changed, my uterus is fine, then why am I still gaining weight. The nurse went through a series of questions, pretty much related to menopause, and when I said not to most of those, and we were going to change the reason for my appointment this coming Friday from ultrasound results to possible hormone issues, she said that there is an ob-gyn at another location that deals with that. The ob-gyns at this location don't try to solve that problem as much. The nurse said that this ob-gyn will look at all the reasons for weight gain, hormones, the cyst maybe, my medications, etc. So, we made an appointment with this other doctor who specializes in this kind of thing for  2 1/2 weeks from now. I'm so excited! Finally! Let's talk about these hormones and what's really going on! Why can't I lose the weight? All the things! Hopefully we'll run some tests and eliminate some things. So, yeah! That made it a much better Monday!

Then I did school with Abishai and had to eat lunch before I could take my shower, but oh well. Abishai did great at school for the most part, even counting the "the's" in the paragraph before reading it. He zipped through writing "W's" so he could have some screen time while I was in the shower. The others also finished earlier than I expected, so they had lunch also while I was in the shower. Then we spent the next two hours going over history, mostly, and starting on economics for Justin. We are going to read the parts of the Richard Maybury series that we have, which is most of them. It's a series of letters written to his pretend nephew in 9th grade. The first book is called, "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy" which is the main one on economics. I'm sure I'll find other things I need to add to it to consider an economics course, but I'm not too worried. I read this book myself as a high schooler and I think even in a college econ class. Besides inflation/deflation, supply/demand, and cost, I really can't remember all the economics topics. So, sure, I'll do more research to make sure I'm covering enough. I just feel like it's such a business topic, and we should introduce it, but I'm not sure how important it is to a high schooler. I did throw it Benaiah's way during high school but I'm not sure he read it. He had a regular government/economics class. We'll see. 

Then it was onto screen time and a video call for me. Then I made Jared a simple chicken noodle soup he asked for and he said it was very good. I'm grateful I had just the right ingredients on hand, including fat free chicken broth. He said he ate some Chick Fil A or McDonald's breakfast this morning and felt ok, so maybe adding some more fat in his diet would actually be helpful again. He did pick up his normal lunch food from the grocery store to have at the office. Chicken nuggets, frozen fruit, chips and salsa. Yes, he's weird. We don't do deli meat sandwhiches around here. They aren't filling enough. My stomach doesn't tolerate deli meat for whatever reason. Too processed I guess. I can do all kinds of regular meat (not shellfish) and do just fine. Weird, I know. But yeah for getting back to a regular diet!

The rest of us had leftovers for dinner. Then Justin ran around with Abishai for a solid 15 minutes and there was a lot of giggles. Abishai had played on Overwatch for that 1st hr this morning, and then had two hrs of regular screen time, so Daddy and him only played one round of Star Wars: Battlefront. Baby guy was very tired. He played hard all day, worked hard at school, ran around with Justin, and worked hard on his Lego building. Meanwhile, Keturah walks into the kitchen right after supper and says, "Hm, what can I eat that has sugar in it?" Girl, march straight back out of the kitchen. You had plenty for supper. She could have at least waited an hour or so. Sigh. I'm super full and ate too much and then put on clothes that are too small for me and I now feel huge and pregnant and look pregnant. I hate this so much. Abishai is excited he gained another 1lb, and every ounce that I gain makes me want to cry because I'm not doing anything to cause it! At least not diet wise. Super frustrating. Super disgusting. Anyways,....

Back to other realities, quiet week this week, normal week, full of normal activities like Bible studies and Grandpa class. Maybe I'll get some more phone calls done on Tuesday. And a bit more changing over of computer files. For now, I'm leaving my old computer under my new one in case I need something. So far so good.

Oh no! You know it's going to be a bad Monday when you just want to skip it altogether! Whoops! The bottom calendar says the right date though. And it was actually a very good Monday.

Good-bye, Daddy! Fingers and waves! We haven't done that in 5 weeks!

And I also haven't been able to increase the thermostat to 74 degrees in 5 weeks either, yippie! Now maybe my toes won't freeze!

Great quotes found on the web today. And we actually talked about some abolitionists like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglas today in our history lesson. It was MLK, Jr. day.

He already had a big bowl of oatmeal, so I let him finish off this ice cream. Then for lunch he had chicken nuggets and a jelly sandwhich. For dinner he had mac and cheese and a big bowl of veggies. And he had plenty of snacks in between.

Woot! woot! Abishai hit 41 lbs! Daddy said I should have wrung him out and THEN weight him again. (The saying goes, 41 lbs soaking wet, lol).

Daddy wanted little guy to know that he put his special new Hot Wheels cars with his other favorite things at the office.

Another great quote!

No regular mail, but Amazon delivered my new laptop bag! Ain't she pretty?! $25. Not bad! And it's a bag, not just a sleeve, so I can carry it separately.

I picked the one with wider front pockets so I could fit these things in it. I really only move my laptop if I'm traveling and I typically bring these along, too, so I can keep up with photo uploads and such. Not sure if I can do that in Israel. Probably not wise.

It will be a bit thicker than some, but it feels great!

Yeah! A real schedule! An actual live "this is the plan" schedule for the whole semester! Yeah!

My kids will have a social life again! And have to wear real clothes!

Curious homeschooling mama that I am, we were reading about when Abraham Lincoln's family moved from his birthplace in Kentucky to his growing up homestead in Indiana, so I just had to look it up to see how close we were. Well, we totally should have visited both places in our travels the last couple of years! I'll have to make it a point to do it! The Indiana homestead is right near Holiday World theme park, so that's easy to do. And the birthplace is straight south of Louisville, so easy enough to do on our way to NOLA next time or even to Nashville, TN. I can't believe we've had all these opportunities and have never done them! It is three hours to get there, so it wouldn't be a good day trip for me alone. Our book also metnioned Levi Coffin's house, which was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and is located straight east of us near the Ohio border. That was already in my plan to visit it this semester. I didn't recognize it the last time because I had no clue it existed in Indiana. But now I know because my friends had been trying to plan a trip there for the last year!

I brought the cactcus out of my room again and then had bought this cilantro plant(s) to see if I could keep it going, so Abishai has been very eager to water them. You can over water them, so we have to be careful. It doesn't take much to help them understand how things grow.

Mom, take a picture! Ok, sure! Cuties!

You can't have too many photos of this puppy dog. He's so cute!

From scratch chicken noodle soup for the Mr. Gallbladder guy. Boxed chicken broth, plain boiled chicken (in separate pot so less fat goes into the soup), carrots, a bit of onion, scallions, a couple of potatoes, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic, and some basil. Put spaghetti noodles in the pot about 10-15 minutes before serving. And done in 45 minutes! Jared said it was pretty good. It could have been 3 servings easily, but he made it about 2. Well, I feel very accomplished. I didn't have a recipe. I just took what we had and boom, soup.

Daddy's home! Let's run out in our bare feet on the ice on the sidewalk! And then carry groceries in for dinner. Smart guy! Or not.

The soup kept cooking as I was trying to keep it warm and most of the liquid got absorbed. Jared prefers soups with less broth, so this works for him just fine. I'm so proud of myself!

Abishai said that he made this to look like a museum where this armor is on display behind glass.

These three police officers are not police officers. They are robbers in disguise discussing their plan to steal the armor. How the kid figured out what bricks to stack so the helmet fit over it well, I have no idea. He's too smart for me!

Here she is, all fired up and read to go! Should I nick name her? The old ASUS can be "Old Bessie." I sometimes called it that, or "Old Girl." So, what about this sleek new one? I don't think I want to put any stickers or anything on it. I feels so chic! "Sweet Betty"? We'll see. It doesn't really need a nickname. But we are going to be best friends for the next 7 years right? That's how long I made the ASUS one last. And it's still doing fine. Old Bessie has a few more years left in her. The salesman at Best Buy was amazed at how we've kept her alive for 7 years. Laptops last an average of 3 years, which, is what has been Gary and Jared's experience. But they are on theirs more than I'm on mine. And they carry theirs everywhere. Mine acts like a desktop. At least I can now pick it up without worrying about it turning off in a heartbeat because the battery died. Yeah! It's the widest screen on the laptop market, too, a 17 inch. So, both my iPhone and my laptop got upgraded and both got physically bigger. It's so nice! I'm so spoiled! If only we could trade in our bodies (here on earth) for younger, newer ones! I'd be all set!

It's been a long day, and it wasn't the kids' fault. They actually behaved better today. No, I was super emotional. I went to bed crying about my weight and woke up with the same thoughts. Then I decided to reduce my anti anxiety medication because I think it's part of the problem with the weight. I probably should have waited to do that until at least the weekend. I waited too long to start supper and then had to rush around, got hot, tried to finish a project, kids were in the way, there was grease all in the sink, etc. etc. I just wanted to lay down by myself after supper to calm down, but lo and behold, Mr. Ray of Sunshine refused to leave me alone. Honestly, I don't think we could have lived without our Abishai. I'll say it over and over again, God knew EXACTLY what He was doing when we didn't use protection that ONE time and Abishai was conceived. God knew I would need a piece of Canada with me. God knew we need an enneagram life of the party #7. God knew we needed a very happy, very fast, very strong, yet extremely compassionate and smart little boy. He's like a puppy dog who knows when you're out of sorts Abishai came into my room and started to lay down next to me and snuggle. Then he got up to get his weapons. Then he when up to get his blanket so he wouldn't fart in my bed. Then I tooted. Then he blew his bad, hot breathe over my shoulder into my ear. Then I pulled up Instagram filters and we were BOTH rip roaring in laughter! Mr. Sunshine. Always. Ok, he can be quite vicious, too, but not for too long. He pat patted my shoulder, and a little close to the backside, so I told him the hip is ok. I had to show where his bony hip was (he laughed at "bony") and then I tickled him there. He laughed so hard he almost peed his pants, twice! His favorite Instagram filter was the one that makes your mouth extend out and look huge. Oh, the giggles! So many giggles! And that sweet little warm hand. I'm never going to be able to let this one go.We might have to live with him and his family forever. I don't know, but he better not live too far away.

And then there's the oldest. And let's just say, when he finally texted me back today, after radio silence for days and days, he doesn't seem to need me for anything and won't communicate anything because he doesn't think he has to. I guess in some ways he doesn't. But it it's not fair, and it's not right, and it's not honoring your parents or even respecting another person's questions. So, that just takes the icing on the cake today. I've not been able to gradually let him go, or even have to nudge him out of the nest. No, it feels like it's taken on a whole new level of detachment quite quickly and quite frankly, I hate it so much.

The project I tried to work on last minute before supper was supposed to be one of those 15 minutes projects that will now turn into days. I was trying to switch some clothes around in my dresser to make them more accesible. Because of my "hoarding" and because of Jared's need to use my scrapbooking desk as a real desk all these months, I had moved my scrapbooking bags in front of my dresser and can't open two of my drawers. I never moved the bags back, but maybe I will now. Point is, I was overstuffing my drawers for the 1,000x time (because I have no walk in closet like most people I know), I broke a big dresser drawer. Great. Now I can't put things away and my pjs will still get dusty and sit out for at least a couple of days while Jared attempts to fix the drawer with wood glue. If I hadn't gained so much weight, I wouldn't have to be standing there figuring out what doesn't fit and I wouldn't have had to buy so many new clothes, and I wouldn't be fighting with a dresser right now. It all goes back to my weight. Which is always with me and now literally in my way. And I have to think about it multiple times a day because I have to decide what to eat. And on and on and on it goes.

I did get the PCP's called today for referrals to the other psychiatrist's office. Justin's PCP got his referral done, mine did not, at least that's what it sounded like on the phone. So now we wait for the psychiatrist's office to call me for an appointment. Funny enough, I have a phone appointment with the previous psychiatrist next week and Justin has a phone appointment with his PCP, too. If I had known that, I would have waited and talked to the PCP directly. Now I'll have to back pedal and explain myself. Poor Dr. Pryor. He's such a great guy. I'm not trying to undermine him because he's done such a great job so far. I just need the right people to jump through the right hoops so Justin can get accommodations and this other office has a case manager, psychiatrists, and psychologists, so maybe we can get that done. Sigh. And then I got the bill from IU Health, and it looks like I have two different accounts with them, so I will need to give them a call to see what's really going on. There's always something to do with health stuff around here.

I can hear the wind kicking up outside. I haven't looked at the weather forecast for days because I haven't needed to. It's winter. It's cold. There's always a chance of snow. Not much more to it. Oh, that was the other thing I did. I officially made Abishai's birthday party on his birthday at our house as normal and invited our homeschool playgroup. Now to decide on cake and treat bags and games and such. I know some households have already had Covid and some have not. I guess I'm just pretending Covid doesn't exist. I didn't even look up if there's a maximum gathering mandate. Hm,....better check on that. I haven't heard of anything changing though.  Ooooo, they HAVE been updated. I can't remember what the last mandates were, but the most current one from mid December said that no gatherings more than 25 people. Eek! We should be ok, but I'm not sure.  I wonder what homeschool co ops are doing or are they under the school laws? Not my place to know at this point. BUT, it's good to know if there is a big gathering of Bible study people or for Gary and Leah's small group, or whatever. Oh, and there's travel restrictions as well. The most recent update on Jan. 15th says that if you travel to Kentucky or Tennessee or a number of other states, you are supposed to quarantine for 14 days. Um, that could be an issue for Gary to consider because the number of states on that list might increase, not decrease. We have seen the Christmas spike from all the traveling I'm sure. So, who knows. I guess I just didn't care anymore about the details and figured businesses were the ones in charge of keeping track of what to do. It's not my job to say they are following a mandate or not. I've just been using common sense. Well, whatever, I still have a life to live, so I'll make each decision as it comes up, as to whether or not I will personally follow all the mandates or not. I'm certainly not going to put up with much more after most get the vaccine. But we'll see. For now, I have other things to put up a stink about, so I've moved on for the most part.

And now I must move on from the blog. So much for an earlier bedtime. I'm sure Jared is already wanting to go to bed. Sigh. 10:30pm. A bit too early yet for me. I need my escapism into a TV show for just a little bit.

My "Misfits" order came in! It's something like 50% (on average) off the retail price for organic produce delivered directly to your door weekly, biweekly or monthly and you get to choose what's in your box. This cost me less than $40. I think that's pretty good. Because it's produce that can't be sold in stores or whatever, there's a few bruises and everything is at it's peak. I don't mind. I just want to eat a different variety than Aldi's has to offer. I'm tired of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, romaine lettuce, and the usual variety of zuchinni, celery, rainbow bell peppers, etc. I miss getting things like rutabagas and I don't always think of it when I'm running quickly in and out of the larger grocery store. So, here goes. I want to eat more veggies, so I don't expect Jared or the kids to even try any of the newer kinds. I've got stuff like bok choy, eggplant, and swiss chard. I guess the rest isn't much different than we would normally eat. I just threw it all in this fridge since it was empty and I can keep track of the oldest produce vs. the newest produce better. Abishai helped me unload it from the box.

Just one example of how Abishai sets up his own little playing spots around the house. He had one in every room today.

I attempted the sheet pan method of roasting a variety of vegetables together. I was in a rush and only had vegetable oil on hand. So I used way too much of that, and some salt. I'll do better next time. This isn't my first attempt at roasted vegetables. It was ok. It's actually time for a grocery run so I'll add some olive oil to the list. Or maybe a spray kind of olive oil so we don't waste so much.

The room is too full and the dog is too big apparently.

Justin, come and get me! *insert cackling*

You're going to get got!

Yes, I probably need to give away clothes, too, but I wish and am jealous of those who have a walk in closet. I have this dresser and one full closet worth (half of our closet and half of Keturah's). It's just not very easy to use this way so I was trying to switch things around a bit and not have clothes sitting on top of other boxes getting dusty when.....my dresser drawer broke. And I was trying to do it right before dinner so I would feel more accomplished about the day. Now I have to wait until Jared fixes the drawer. Grrr.....

But this face makes it all the better. He's like a dog in that he can tell what mood you are in. I was very angry before supper and just wanted some alone time. But he wouldn't let me have it. Jared was at Bible study, so I was his only entertainment. He snuggled me. He "pat patted" me. He made me laugh by blowing into my ear. He's so precious.

Mommy, I need my baby Yoda blanket to be in the photo!

PROOF that I CAN pay all my credit cards off at once! I've been using the debit card more because I don't want the credit card bill to get so bad again. However, the whole point of the Amazon Card is for the points, soooooo, I'm sure I'll go back to using it more frequently in a bit. We have some unusual amounts of funds floating around that need to be put where they are supposed to first before I spend them all. It's a good thing I stay home. Oh wait, Amazon. And Lego.com. Yup, as soon as I took that photo I bought a Lego set that had been on backorder for a month or so. I bought the same set for Abishai and for my nephew, which I had been planning since I found out about this brand new set. So, it went on the debit card. The 0's look so pretty! The Kohls and Old Navy cards won't be used for awhile. The Nature Conservancy card has a few smaller recurring bills on it like our child sponsorship and it has a tiny credit limit. It's the Amazon one I'm using like Gary uses one for air miles. I put all big bills on it (like car insurance) and then turn around 2 minutes later, transfer the funds to the right bank account, and pay the credit card. Now that I'm up to date on all the credit cards, this should be easier to do and keep it looking neat and clean. I'm pretty proud of myself for my self control. I spent the money that was meant for the bathroom remodeling on Christmas instead, so we don't have any leftover debt from Christmas. Again, I feel very good about this.

Side note: I need to title my posts better. I was looking for some photos of Viking Fest to show Abishai and luckily, that's what I had titled it, so I was able to easily access it. Sometimes it's hard to remember when certain events occurred. I think I'll look into tagging my posts somehow to see if that helps me.

So, why does a good cry make you feel so much better? I wept for over an hour last night. I was ready to go to bed on time, but part of the tv show I'm watching had some gut wrenching crying in it and story lines, and combine that with a whole lot of other things from the past 5 weeks and well, boom, I cried. I didn't want to wake Jared up because I knew he still isn't sleeping well and he can't get better without sleep and I NEED him to get better. Ugh, but what if he doesn't get much better? I can't go there. I have to trust that he will because single parenting sucks. I woke up with a horrible eyebrow/nose bridge headache but thankfully Aspirin Migraine took care of that. I'll be asking for a prescription next time I'm in the doctor's for the next strength up from OTC migraine medication. Anyway, I wrote a long, long message to my sister and then sent to Jared as well. I texted Benaiah and we are going to chat hopefully on Sunday after Sunday dinner (I'm hoping/assuming we will be back to that again.) 

Since I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted, I stayed away from social media today and President Joe Biden's inauguration. I did find out that our state legislature (and most state legislatures) took today, if not the whole week, off because of threats of violence from the thugs from two weeks ago at the national Capitol building. I didn't see any major reports of unrest though. I did watch our friend Brenton from Canada tweet about it. I guess he and Jared would both watching it this morning. I didn't want to take the time to make the kids watch it, but if I find a good replay video, sure, I'll show them. We watched President Trump's inauguration 4 years ago together and did a lapbook on it. I'm figuring Abishai will be more ready to watch it in 4 years than today. But it did happen, we have a new president, and to be honest, I think we can all rest in peace for a bit. I think President Biden will restore order and be a "do nothing" president, a place holder between Trump and whoever is next. And that's ok. We'll see how it plays out. President Trump didn't even stay for the inauguration. He left for Florida yesterday. VP Pence was there, and then he and his wife flew home to Indiana this afternoon, where it sounds like they will retire for awhile. They've got grandchildren to be with. If I as Pence, I would be thoroughly relieved that I won't have to deal with Trump on a daily basis and clean up after him. Maybe in time Pence will win some of his reputation back and slip into retirement quietly, doing all the cool ceremonies former VP's and Presidents get to do. It's time to rest, that's for sure. 

And that's what we did. We did our normal full routine and all went as normal. I figured out a couple of things this afternoon and then had some quiet time, almost falling asleep right at 5pm when I needed to make dinner. Dinner was corned beef hash with eggs, corn muffins and a variety of raw vegetables. I think I'll go to the grocery store after Keturah's dental appointment tomorrow so she can help me. But we'll see. I'm meeting a friend for coffee at 8:30am, so I might be too tired. 

This story goes that Abishai accidentally peed his pants and since he's been doing that on occasion (because he doesn't want to interrupt his playing), I decided to put some of his underwear under the sink in the bathroom so we don't have to disturb Justin while he's doing his homework. When I did that, Abishai saw the bubbles and sneaked one of the bottles out. He showed me the bottle halfway across the house as we sat down to do schoolwork. I promptly said no, but that we could blow them during bath time. Justin had complained that Abishai stunk like pee, so into the bathtub Abishai went. Well, you would have thought this kid was still 2 years old. He squealed and giggled and jumped like crazy! Only now he's 2 inches taller! I'm glad he had a few minutes of giggles though.

Big brother won't admit it, but I think he liked blowing bubbles for a moment so I could take the photos. And ignore the nasty bathroom. We haven't fully tackled that remodel project yet.

He takes that thing wherever he goes when it's his screen time. Fun fact, I have done this myself late at night, when I'm snacking on chocolate. I'll close the door so no one hears me, too.

Oh, so now after 6 months of it sitting under the puzzle table you decide to get it out to play with it again. I thought we were done with it. I guess not! He wanted to make a jungle scene since we had read about the Amazon jungle again today and he had learned about cheetahs in one of his kid tv shows. I like how he's lined up all the characters in color order. They are in line waiting to go through their "training."

Abishai quotes of the day:

“I hope there’s books in Heaven.”

“Kids run to their mommy’s and daddy’s when the go to heaven.”

“I can’t wait to meet the disciples!”

“I’m going to tell Jesus that I don’t know much about the Bible.” 

Thursday - I'm so tired! I got up earlier than normal to chat with a friend and all went well. She's used to that time, in fact she had dropped her kids off at school first, lol. Then I came home, collected my thoughts and had a bite to eat and took Keturah to her dental cleaning appointment. No cavities! That's 3 for 3 this time! Yeah! We then hopped over to the Lego store where she made a mental list of all the things she wanted. I nearly bought a few things myself but thought it would be better for Abishai to see these things first. Then we drove to the grocery store and got a $300 load of groceries. We stopped at Chick Fil A for some late lunch (yes we bought the boys some too) and then the library before we came home. And I put away the food. My back hurts. My head hurts. I can't think anymore today. So, the kids did do some schoolwork, but I haven't checked it. Abishai did eventually get some breakfast and lunch but also had 4 hrs of screen time. I rested on the couch watching interesting videos for 90 minutes. I felt a little bit better when I got up, but there's no way I can do much tonight thinking tonight. I'm ready to watch a couple of shows and go to bed! I had a melatonin last night to help me fall asleep sooner as I was actually in bed at 11 knowing that I would have to get up earlier. I can't say I had more energy today though. And I don't plan on changing my whole routine, but I think the melatonin might help me fall asleep faster and keep me in a deeper sleep. I was reading about how people with ADD have different sleep schedules and I totally identified with them about the super late nights and later mornings. So, we'll see. Bedtime needs to stay consistent, too.

So, the house is a bit of a mess. I have no idea what was done for school. But we have food in the fridge. I couldn't come up with anything for dinner but everyone had expected something to be on the table at 6pm and I said, "Well, I guess I do hold the household together don't I? I'm really needed around here and you can't live without me, can ya?" I had figured out what I was eating. I didn't tell them to figure out their own food, but they know the routine. So I told them all that if I'm not in the kitchen starting supper between 5 and 5:30 as they are doing chores than they need to be asking if I need help. They can't just assume I'll make dinner and then all of a sudden look up from their screens and it be there. Ok, maybe that's a bit much. I should warn them more on days like this. But I was making a point. The world does revolve around me because I make things happen. And I'm always under appreciated. Enough about that.

I'm just tired. I need a break already. Tomorrow we're home but I have to catch up. Not sure on Saturday but I was going to work on the passports and Abishai's birthday stuff on Saturday, maybe even go to the party store. 

Gary is back at work and feeling good. Leah has spent the last two days on the couch feeling light headed. So the kids will do virtual Grandpa class tomorrow and we won't have Sunday dinner on Sunday. Bummers. Hopefully Leah won't get sicker. Jared is still having a lot of trouble with his sciatica, so he's still not sleeping well and he's grumpy. "He'll feel so much better after he gets the gallbladder out." Well, his digestion has improved a bit, but not all the way. I guess he can function and go to the office again, so that's some progress. But I don't know what he wants to eat every day and every day could be very different. Just a bit of my food frustration. Would someone like to meal plan for me? Sigh.

Time to get our sleep on! I'm hoping by trying the 3mg, I won't be so zonked the next day.

Groceries by myself (with Keturah talking incessantly and correcting her the whole time), equals CFA treat for 3 pm lunch/dinner for everyone! Oh, and since no one had cavities this month, too!

The End