Year 6, February 1st-4th, 2021: A New Beginning?

 We started the new week off with more new snow! So, we went sledding instead of doing read alouds today. The kids whined about shoveling the driveway again, but ghee whiz kids, who do you think shoveled snow for years and years for his and her parents? And then until you were big enough? And then in Canada? Yes, us. It's not that bad, and if you want to go sledding, well, you have to unearth the vehicle. So they did. They all got their school work done fairly promptly and we left around 1pm after a good solid lunch. It was VERY cold and WINDY, but we managed to stay a little over an hour at the sledding hill. It was a bit muddy, but because it was still really cold, it was also an icy kind of mud so we didn't get as dirty as last year. Justin tried out every part of the sledding hill, while Keturah stuck to the front runs mostly. Abishai's favorite was the back side run where he slid down on his behind. It was shorter but still fast, and a shorter climb. His jacket was filthy! That's the run that someone usually builds a huge snow ramp at the end and you go flying and hit your tailbone on. Justin figured out how to go down with his legs in the crossed position and as he flies up, he uncrosses them and lands on his feet! He even taught some younger boys that method. They still crashed a few times and one poor fella said he wouldn't do it again after getting his wind knocked out of him. I'm grateful I was the one at the bottom of the hill and could coach him through instead of his overly anxious adult that appeared at the top after he was up and going again. But that's another story.

Keturah petered out first and sat by the car for the next 30 minutes. Justin followed suit about 15 minutes later. And the ONLY thing that finally stopped Abishai was the promise of screen time back at home. He was literally climbing the smaller hill inch by inch so slowly at that point that I knew he wouldn't make it back down and up again. What a champ though! Even when he went super fast and super far and/or wasn't ready. He came up smiling every time and stayed on his sled! He even went down head first one time! When we got home, I had them come through the garage and put their outerwear straight into the washer. It wasn't as gross as last year, but it was still pretty icky. We really only have one good day to go sledding each year. That's why I didn't mind Abishai going down on his behind and potentially ruining his coat or snow pants. He'll out grow them before they are really worn out. Keturah ended up wearing Benaiah's/Justin's older winter boots. Justin wore Jared's camouflage boots. Abishai had his normal winter boots and so did I.  Normally Keturah could wear mine, but I of course needed them this time. I'm glad we had that other pair out and ready.

Meanwhile, Jared stayed home. He was up from 2-6am again and couldn't sleep. We are right back to where he was pain wise and sleep deprivation that he had with the gallbladder. Poor guy! And yes, he lost a bit of weight and ended up within 18 lbs of my current weight! Oh my word! Great for him, very, very bad for me! Very depressing for me. Maybe that happens when the wife is overweight and the gentlemen is stick thin, but wowzers. I used to less than half of Jared's weight. It's not even remotely funny. It's sick and it's unhealthy and very, very worrisome for me. Friday is my doctor appointment, so I'm hoping for some progress there. Meanwhile the orthosurgeon called in for an MRI but they can't schedule it until the insurance improves it which could take anywhere from 24 hrs to 2 weeks. Scary stuff to think about it being 2 weeks away. We just don't know what to do next except try to survive each day. It's very depressing for him. Of course he's sort of working from home again, too and tries to get up and down and eat regularly. He even shaved today because he's going to see the acupuncturist maybe tomorrow to work on his leg knot again. It was expected to come back. These things never got fully away. The knot is bothering him just as much as the spine is. He stopped taking the steroids, too. I'm sleeping on the couch until further notice. I'll have to pull out the couch bed eventually but Abishai has his little tent picnic going on there right now. Perhaps tomorrow we will sort it all out. (There I go again with a British phrase! I even heard Keturah say "cuppa" tonight because she often listens to stories with a more British tone to them.)

Dinner was salad and hamburgers. I ran cleaning tablets through the garbage disposal and the washing machine. Then I laid down in our bed to rest my back and the boys played "soccer" in the hallway! If I wasn't trying to beat Ron Hittel with this week's mining map, I would have taken a video of all the cackling. Oh my word those two! Abishai was beyond tired from sledding of course and everything Justin was doing was cracking him up! And all the bubbling, too! Laughter, after all the bickering those kids do, is a good medicine! So, it was a great start to the week. Now we just wait and see what the rest of the week brings!

Link to today's videos:

Winter Sledding at Southeastway Park 2021

Chickens? In the basement? Michael W. Smith was talking about how there's chickens in his basement that will eventually end up at Ryan, his son's, new house and how they are building a chicken coop in the freezing cold today. Hilarious! These is what musicians do when they are bored I guess! Well, Luke Smallbone bought some cows, so, who knows!

Abishai saw that my feet were uncovered this morning, so instead of pulling the blanket down over them, he put pillows on them instead. And then he checked and saw that the bottoms of the feet were still uncovered, so he grabbed my sweatshirt from the floor and stuffed in the hole between my feet and the couch. What a caring little boy I have!

Got another inch of snow last night! Just like we would have in Charlottetown at least a couple of times a week. But in Charlottetown, no one panics or shuts down school. Maybe a delay. But most of the time, I would say, "I didn't even realize it was going to snow" because it wasn't a big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal. But I think all the media has made this storm so much bigger because there's no other sensational news right now. Yes, the new President Biden is making some humongous changes, but the left is very happy, and the right is very unhappy. We knew that would happen. In fact, I'm sure the tweets about immigration will start cropping up more and more by Jared because I did see something about that today. So, let's focus on a normal sized winter storm, with 12-18 inches for NYC. They have them every year. I guess the same could be said if you live in Florida and worry about hurricanes. But here? An inch? And parents are wondering if kids' school will cancel? Good grief! Did these parents grow up with no real winter weather? Oh, and I saw that the weather people also commented that we haven't seen any 50 degree days in January or now in February and mostly like won't see any for awhile. Someone commented, "Well, are we really expected to have 50 degree days? It is winter, you know." And I guess that there's only 4 winters in the last 50 years where there hasn't been a 50 degree day thrown in there somewhere. Interesting.But from a girl who lived in the land of winter in NH and Canada, cold and snow SHOULD be on the ground from Christmas through at least the end of February. Maybe we would see a peek of the ground. But we'd still have huge piles of snow from shoveling in March. So, yup, snow is to be expected! No more snow coming down this week, but it's not supposed to warm up at all, so it should stick around a bit longer.

I have to rest, Mommy, before I can read any more!

Oh, I spy that Grogu came to learn to read today, too! And Auggie's Grogu went with him to the dentist and got his teeth brushed as well. So cute!

Now, Mommy, I'm doing par cor and the floor is lava, watch me!

First new dishclothes (I call them rags like my mother did), in 20 years! I did soak the pure red ones in warm water with soap and they did bleed color a ton. I put them in the wash load of the kids' winter gear, which is almost entirely dark colored, and thankfully, didn't see any more bleeding onto the fabrics. I'll still be careful though for a few more washes. The white ones didn't seem to bleed though.

The hill was muddy but icy enough to get a ton of speed and fly off the bumps of snow people made. We had a good enough time of it despite the cold. And our sleds of 3 years stood up well.

They went really far, too!

Another dad was very impressed by Abishai going down by himself and as far as he did without crying or being scared. And Abishai remembered that compliment and told Daddy at supper!

So big! He did try to carry the sled up all by himself and did get it up most of the way.

I'm pretty sure this tree was still standing the last time we were here last year. It's possible that it was two years ago that I'm remembering that it was standing. In any case, yikes!

The only double ride they did. They went slower because their feet were dragging.

The back hill was fairly fast until Keturah and Abishai dragged their feet on it when they went on their behinds instead of on a sled.

Perfect hill. So many sledding runs. Lots of room. There were several other families there. Some came and some went while we were there. Moms were all bundled up and freezing. Dads were showing kids how to snowboard. Kids grew tired easily. Everyone will sleep well tonight.

Headfirst! And no one fell off their sleds today. Yeah!

First attempt at the back hill.

Cross your legs and then uncross them after the bump throws you into the air. Then land on your feet or run forward once you do until you catch yourself.

Abishai's favorite run of the day. Perfect speed. He never went over the bump. He didn't have to carry a sled back up. And it was a shorter hill to climb.

Mommy, heads up! That's actually a snowball in the air being thrown at me!  You little imp!

Instead of trying a sled down this side, Abishai tried to slide on his bum, then roll, then just walked down, lol.

This run ended up in the trees!

His face was cold so I told him to get a face mask. Uh, I think that's the one I use when I go to IU. Whoops. I'm sure I'll find another one.

Abishai had discarded his hat and Keturah had discarded her gloves, so I stuck them on a tree. Then Abishai was confused and worried when they weren't there anymore. He remembered!

Bitterly cold like Canada. Ok, the wind chill there is way, way worse on some days. But it's very cold for here. I made sure to have my tights on and some heavy duty layers. I even put my sweatshirt hood over my hat. I'm sure I looked stupid, but who cares. My fingers did alright, even when I took my gloves off to take photos.

Just my annual stroll down the path behind the hill. Gotta love hearing the crunch of snow beneath my feet and the stillness of the woods in wintertime. I love it! I'm just not brave enough to do it often.

Just a little grove of trees in Indiana, between farms.

And here's how you do it! Sit cross legged on the sled.

Then spread them out when you're in the air and boom, you land on your feet!

Sliding, sliding, sliding....

...and stop! Lol.

He was fine. He just rested for a second.

Justin teaching the other boys how to do it.

The before photo didn't happen, but look at how cleaned up this area looks! Since I managed to get my printer to work through wifi with my new computer, I tucked that usb cable far away and then pushed the power cable back some. I took out the other laptop's charger and put it and the laptop in the new computer bag for now. And the piles are half of what they were. Some are now on the floor, but a new file box comes on Wednesday and that's where all these files will be going.

Widescreen mode is awesome. Our snowy backyard.

And our snowy front yard.

Gorgeous sunset. Makes me miss our Charlottetown ones.

Need for Speed with wet roads and snow!

It was only appropriate to let Keturah finally have the Unicorn Strawberry hot cocoa bomb tonight in celebration of going sledding. I had her warm up the milk and pour it into the mug.

Pop!

Melted chocolate!

Stir that in, young lady! Don't eat it straight up!

Where do I begin?! 2am! I was finishing up a 4 part mini series about David Copperfield starring none other than Daniel Radcliffe, Ian McKellen, and Maggie Smith. This series was produced in 1999 literally 2 years before they all starred in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Pretty cool! Anyway, I was finishing up the series when Abishai came in saying his lights had been turn off again. I think somewhere along the line, Jared had pushed the timer button and we need to reset it. Anyway, I put him back to bed and then finished my episode. At about 4:45am, Jared comes hobbling out to the fireside room asking if I had gotten his text. No, I don't hear texts in my sleep, so next time, maybe call? Well, he was in so much pain that he wanted to go to the ER. Now, I already got chastised for this, but we decided he would go by himself. He was going to the Community Hospital, South, which is a good 20-25 minutes away for one thing because Community is where the ortho surgeon is. And it was wicked cold and I was half awake. I don't do well when it's frigid outside. We had no idea how long he'd be there or if he'd get admitted and all that. I had a dentist appointment at 11am, too, plus kids and school. Yes, Jared is important, too. I would have driven if I knew he couldn't handle it or if he wanted me, too. He was protecting my health and time by driving himself. Someone said if he was in that much pain, then he's a danger to the road. Jared is the best driver I know and he knows his limits. If he can drive 13 hrs straight from New Orleans and 24 hours straight to PEI, I think he knows when he can't drive anymore. He did end up getting a prescription for nsaids, oral and a gel to rub in, and Valium, which is another step above the hydrocodone but just enough to get through until the MRI can be done and possible surgery scheduled. Who knows how much that ER visit is going to cost, but when all is said and done this year, we are already over the deductible I'm sure. I'm just going to let it be what it is. 

I woke up to Abishai coming in to say hi and Jared making his breakfast. Then I heard Keturah put the dog outside. 30 minutes later when I got up, and told her to bring the dog in, she discovers that she had left the gate unlatched or something yesterday after she got the sleds, and Socks was gone! Jared stopped cooking and left to do the first round of searching. I then did my usual and asked Leah to start looking. I was in pjs, I hadn't eaten, I was already sleep deprived and couldn't think, and it's wicked cold out. My adrenaline was a mess and I didn't feel good. Leah ended up taking Keturah with her and they went up Thompson and in and out of neighborhoods for another 90 minutes. I got on the NextDoor App, then the Franklin Township chat, then my own personal FB page, as well as texted the neighbors. Finally at 10am, I called and cancelled the dentist, again, and told them just to put me on the regular schedule and don't worry about putting me on the cancellation list. There's too much going on right now and I can't predict anything right now. I don't have an appointment until April but I don't care. My teeth are fine. They've been properly taken care of now for 20 years, missing one cleaning isn't going to hurt them. Anyway, I did that and then I took a turn in the car. Thankfully, I thought I heard barking just as I was getting out to the main road so I came back down a side street. And lo and behold, just as I came up the hill, I spotted him, inside someone's fenced in back yard that butts up to the empty lot near the stop sign. I quickly (and boldly, but also felt really badly about) parked the car on the street, walked up a person's driveway, and to the back gate of this house on the other street behind us. Thankfully, it was unlocked or maybe the person who lives there unlocked it for me. I wish I could find a way to thank the person, because that was the safest thing they could have done. I'm not sure why they didn't text Jared, but that's ok, too. I tried to leave a thank you on my edited posts saying I had found them, apologizing for trespassing, too. I had to warm up my car and scrape with the little scraper since the kids didn't leave one of the brushes in my car yesterday. I have no idea how both large scarpers got in the van, but they did.

When we got home, I texted everybody and updated all the social media. Then I rested (a bit too long) on the couch under a warm blanket. Abishai and Grogu came to snuggle me. And then Abishai farted so big right with his rear on my belly and we both had to get up and let the foul smell escape! He thought it was hilarious of course! By then it was like 11:30am, time for lunch! Ugh! I wanted to shower or do school with Abishai. By the time Abishai went in and out with the dog and I shuffled everybody else through lunch, it was 1pm, AGAIN. I pushed ourselves through read alouds, checked the kids' math, and then did school with Abishai. We finished about 3:30pm and I headed straight for the shower. I hadn't showered in days and my hair was frizzy yet greasy and I felt so gross and smelly. Just get out of my way, I want a shower! But I don't always have the 30 minutes to shower. I just don't. Sigh. Such is my life. Then it was 4pm, so I thought, oh, I could try to make phone calls or type of the blog, or work on the regional newsletter. Nope. I took too long on email and social media, I barely had enough time to sit down with a couple of my devotional books. Ugh. Then I had to figure out dinner and get kids off electronics and all that. I'm exhausted. I need to work on my volunteer stuff. I did start some emails and got some replies before I got on here to blog. I don't know when I'll get the newsletter done. I was the one so eager to do it, and now with all this health crap, I don't have the time to play with it, AND do taxes, AND do a birthday party, AND prepare for surgery. AND get groceries by myself, AND go sledding. SO, yup, it will have to be put off. I mean taxes can be put off, too, but I'd like to get through the basic parts so I have an approximate figure to use on paying all this medical debt and household needs and possible sports for the kids. Ugh, that's another phone call/email I need to follow up on. It's only Tuesday and I'm feeling the anxiety of not getting enough done between 3-5 pm. Or 9-11am, which is when I tend to putz around taking a mental break. So I need to get my phone numbers ready and questions to ask so I can pop those into my schedule tomorrow when I have a few extra minutes. But I also have more appointments and Bible study to go to, which I haven't prepared for. I wanted to work on understanding the commitment thing from the church. ugh! Too much to do, and not enough brain space! Which is why I'm going to see more doctors. But when I do, there's no time for the fun field trips AND regular school work. Yup, I'm exhausted.

Now that I've ranted, yes, today was our Monday apparently. Jared seems a little better after getting a chiropractor adjustment and another acupuncture treatment. He's going again to the chiropractor on Thursday and then acupuncture on Friday. It's $50 for chiro and $120 for acupunture. So, even without the ER, it's going be $340 for the week. There goes the whole HSA amount for this pay period and I haven't paid IU in a few months. But do I have time to sort that out? Nope. Not until the weekend and then I have several of this projects. Good grief. Something has to give. 

So, that's that. Tomorrow is a new day. Maybe I won't stay up so late. Maybe I'll eat more vegetables instead of mints tonight. I might switch my vegetable box to every other week. I'm working on increasing my veggies, but I'm not quite there yet. Or maybe downsize to a smaller box. And I need to learn to eat veggies at every meal. That would be helpful I just don't want to take the time, since I barely get in a bowl of oatmeal and two hard boiled eggs, or a Evo hemp bar and coffee for lunch. We'll see. We'll see. Can I got have my me time yet? Nope. Not yet.

This is not a big deal to anyone but me. BUT, I finished the weekly mine in under 6 hrs using a different method (use all my powerups at once, plus, yes, I had bought one), and I had focused solely on it for about 1-2 hrs. I've never done it that way before! Sweet!

Ta da!

As you can see, my average is 3-4 days. We usually have 6 days to complete it.

Mommy, watch what I can do on the trampoline! It's all ice and cracks under my feet!

Just rolling around, digging up ice and writing in the snow.

Look, Mom, I found ice!

Time for our weekly produce box. He said he knew how to use scissors and although it took a bit, he got it done all by himself.

Big helper in the putting away of groceries, including the veggies.

He knew exactly where to put them all.

Then I hit another milestone! I've been stuck on getting enough gems for this mine for months! I had to build up some other mines first. I decided to go through all the levels until I had built up enough gems. I replayed Levels 1-89 (I'm on 105) before I got it done! Phew!

Building a new fort! Just don't leave it where I have to pull out the couch bed please.

Yes, I play 8 out of 9 of these multiple times a day. Why? Control. I can control what I do in these games. There's a predicted outcome. There are algorithms. And they are fairly mindless. I can disappear in them and feel calmer. Do I spend too much time on them? Yup. Does it look like I'm always on my phone even if I'm not playing them? Yup. I could do better, but all in all, I won't get rid of these silly phone games. They are grounding and a comfort when nothing else will do.

Looks cozy for a bout 20 minutes. I've gone back to being a baby Christian and needing someone else to form thoughts for me, plus, the short attention span.

The most interesting beets you've every seen. Not your typical variety, but a striped kind, like striped candy. But they tasted like beets. I like that are weird and different varieties in this veggie boxes. The supermarkets don't carry these less known varieties.

Abishai's dinner was salad, potato cake, and mac and cheese. Yummy combo here I see!

Well, I woke up this morning from a dream and was positioned on my right side like I am normally in our bed and totally felt around for Jared's arm, which sometimes is under my pillow when I snuggle. Gosh, I miss sleeping in our bed. We are connecting throughout the day now that he's got his pain a tiny bit more under control, but it's still awful. He's working from home. We are waiting on approval for the MRI on his back and it could take another week or so, so we are investigated a clinic that does cash pay. I'm a little nervous about all the financial end to all of this, and I don't know how to pay these things up front. I'm used to paying medical stuff like this on the backside. I mean I pay for the chiropractor and massage and counseling, actually, none of them were ever more than $50. These $125 charges for acupunture add up really, really fast. And I just don't know where all are money is allocated at the moment. We had an influx of money because of Covid help. We had an influx of money and then outflux of money but some left over or something for this extra mortgage for the house flipping. (We really needed another account for that). And then the monies that are in the HSA vs. the monies in savings for taxes and insurance. Too many things to keep track of. Where's my t-accounts???????? That's an accounting term, btw, but it does help because if you take a sum out of one, there's a matching one in the other and it's by income or expense like in a budget, and not the bank accounts themselves. So, I guess we need to look at a big picture budget or something. I don't know. But I am overwhelmed by it because I haven't had time to look at it.

I don't have time, because I'm always waiting on a child to finish up or get their stuff or get up in the morning or something and therefore the school day drags on because I'm standing there twiddling my thumbs not knowing if I should go start something or not. Ugh! Lunch took 90 minutes to process everybody. It's not good. But some of us are ready at 11:30. It's Justin we are usually waiting on. I think I've got to enforce the 12 noon rule and if he has homework to finish, it can be afterwards. Somehow I have to help him learn to cut himself off according to the clock. All this flex time isn't preparing him for the real world. And I'm losing precious hours every day waiting for Abishai to finish playing or Justin to come out of his room. So, today, I did make a phone call. Some would say, phone calls only take a few minutes, so why is it so hard to get them done? Um, this one took 30 minutes and Abishai wanted to interrupt me several times. That's why I don't like making phone calls with kids around. And I don't always have a continuous block of 30 minutes to do that phone call. This is why it's a bigger deal to me than it is to most. It was about getting a new psychiatrist, but now I have to go sit in some clinic somewhere and just hope they call my name early enough in the day so I can do an intake consultation or something. Like I have time for that! Why not an actual appointment?! I totally don't understand our medical system right now. Not at all. And she couldn't find my insurance on the list. Ugh!

Anyway, I did get to see the chiropractor today, and man does it always work like a charm. Just when I start to think I'm feeling tight and off, I have an appointment the next day, and wham, I'm back to being in a lot less pain. And I think the CBD is also helping a lot, so I'll keep taking those pills, too. They only time I take pain medication for the fibromyalgia is when I've slept wrong or I'm going to be at a museum all day. I don't do it around the house. I take pain medication mostly for the headaches.

It was much warmer out today than I thought it was going to be. I should have sent the kids outside. I pumped gas without a coat on (it was 35 degrees but I was going through a hot flash, so, I was fine) and same with recycling. The recycling bins were much bigger this time and only halfway full! Woot! Woot! One less chore to worry about. Perhaps I'll make a library run on Friday on my way home from the gynecologist. That will just leave passport and groceries for Saturday.

I did take Justin to church for small group and I actually went to Bible study. It was important to me to talk about Sunday's sermon because there have been some major changes to making a commitment to the local church. There's a list of expectations now for both the church and the "partner." There's a statement about either party terminating the relationship. It's basically a contract, very detailed, and I am really not ok with it. Thankfully, my friends also had some questions about it, so I wasn't alone. It was good to be back with these friends. Oh wow, I just realized it was the original 5 of us! That's why it felt good. No offense to the others, but yes, the 5 of us who live in this neighborhood. I also had spent some time writing out my objections and checkmarking the parts that I agreed with or I thought the Creek does do. I'm just afraid that if I try to hold the Creek accountable, they aren't going to listen, because they've never listened to me. I'm sure some of things have been done before, like maybe signing a statement of faith and doctrine, like you have to be baptized to be a member. And the membership classes we had I thought were based on the basic tenets of faith and doctrine, the history of the church or who the leadership team is, what are the facilities, those sort of things, and I thought it was much more informal than this new document they are asking us to sign. They are wiping away the term "member" and everybody gets to start over. No grandfathering into the commitment. Maybe call it a rededication of vows sort of speak? I'm sure this isn't sitting well with a lot of people, especially those of us who have been members for 20 or more years. The expectations are large and I think inappropriate to new believers. What are the benefits of becoming a partner? Holding leadership positions? Elitism. I understand believing the same beliefs and doctrine and understanding that yes, in leadership, you are held to a higher standard, and part of the commitment to be a partner is to participate in leadership or a ministry, same as always. Why does it have to be so rigid and formal? And you're saying that if you don't like what I put on social media, you can call me aside and put me before the elders, and discuss it? No thank you. My social media isn't your business. And there's no grace there. None. No three strikes and then you're out. No chance for resolution or reconciliation. If you don't agree with the elders and leaders, you're out. And their opinions feel way too narrow to me. So, no, I'm not going to sign this partnership to the local church deal. I'm a member of the global Church. My Christian friends, mentors, encouragers, teachers, preachers are all over the world. Even the Scriptures that were used have meant to me in the last 8 years the global Church, with a capital C, not the local church. I understand it's good to be in community with those around you. I do not fit the demographic of the Creek. Maybe in my race and location. Not in my income, education, children's education, and view of the world. I want the freedom to come and go. I can't commit right now unless I'm all in. I haven't been all in since we left almost 9 years ago, and even then, I committed myself to the advance of the global Church, and God's Kingdom all over the world, not locally. It's not where my heart is. My worldview is bigger than that. So, that's where I am on that. It was a great discussion. We'll see what next week brings. 

So, I guess we made some progress today. Abishai took the assignment I gave the older kids to use their Legos or whatever to build me a Civil War scene pretty seriously, so he and Daddy built it while I was gone. It's a long 3 minute video, but it's worth watching. Daddy had to convince him that they didn't have certain types of weapons in the Civil War. But a few modern inventions like a camera did make it into the scene. He didn't create a specific battle, but just the fact that he did what I was asking the others to do was encouragement enough to me to maybe ask him to do some things in the future, like if one of the assignments is to act out a scene or eat a certain food. He needs more of the hands on that the older kids already got. He is listening as well as he can be for his age and picking up on stuff. This is why I teach real history, even the not so fun bits, at a young age. They can understand more than we think. Normally, kids in school would call about community helpers or I have no idea, but not real historical events until state history in 4th grade. Ok, I just looked it up. All the things that are listed are already incorporated into our daily living, like talking about where we live and what roles we play and taking care of the environment. That doesn't need to be an official part of the school day. 1st grade, same thing. 2nd and 3rd, same thing. Man, that's a waste of time! With classical education, you can go through all of world history 3 times before they graduate and build upon understanding from previous years. Geography, state history, communities, economics, worldviews are all wrapped up into one thing for us. Ok, then. I'm glad I haven't followed that since Benaiah was that young. We did do a formal curriculum then, so I'm sure we went through those things. But in 5th grade, we switched to the Classical method with our history curriculum and the younger ones just followed along. Abishai can remember names like Napoleon. He might not remember who he is or what he did, but the name will be familiar with him. And he has thoroughly caught on to how slavery is bad. It's not lost on him at all. So, yes, I will continue MY educational methods of repeating world history at least 2 times with each child. I'd like Keturah to follow along the next time through, but she'll be in 8th grade and then high school, so I might make it more of a review and have her read a few of the books Justin read. I might not go such in depth with American history like I did this time around since I'm pretty sure she's going to remember some of it. I will put it on her transcript and make sure we review it, but we won't make it too intense. Just think of it as her taking AP classes in middle school. When she graduates, she will have the same knowledge as Justin, but done a littler earlier than he did. And then I will do it again, slowly and carefully, with Abishai when he's that age. That's the beauty of homeschool, you can teach what you want, in any grade you want. And I love it!

And another reason to homeschool of course is so YOU relearn everything over and over and YOU become better educated. It's so fascinating! Like how in February 1862, Ulyesses S. Grant and the Union won the battle at Fort Donelson where we went over Christian vacaiton, and then two months later, he and the troops were in Shiloh, directly south of there on the southern border of Tennessee, and Fort Donelson could have easily been a staging point for all their needs, and in a Confederate state. The Union won the battle of Shiloh. And then learning about Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose father was a minister in Boston, but then moved to the midwest (Illinois?). Harriet wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was incredibly important at the time it was published in the 1860's to show the rest of the nation just how bad slavery was. And it was because of an extreme outspoken abolitionist (a lot of abolitionists didn't like him) that attended her father's church in Boston and his influence that rubbed off on her that she wrote such a fantastic book! We live here in the midwest. We are in the middle of it's most important period of time in history. And piecing it altogether is so fun!

And that's all I got. The caffeine is wearing off. I don't know if all the photos actually downloaded, so here goes.

I'm tired of being their alarm clock. Wake up!

There's an Abishai in there as well. Justin keeps turning off his alarm instead of hitting snooze. Justin!

Bwahahahahaha!

He's surfing!

He made a captive audience of stuffed animals to sing songs about Jesus to them. He wanted his friends to believe in Jesus, too. Out of the mouths of babes.

Please listen to Abishai's explanation thoroughly. It's 3 minutes long.

Abishai's American Civil War Battles Scene

You'll have to watch the video to get the full effect. But, there's a random "scene" in the American Civil War. Daddy helped him and made sure the weapons were appropriate for the time period.

My box came broken! Amazon! It says "fragile" and it still got beat up and cracked. Hmph

I'm so exhausted and I never left the house today! I went to bed way early last night because I was falling asleep watching whatever TV show I was watching. I don't even remember what it was now. I woke up with a headache and some kind of sore in the roof of my mouth that might have popped or just some loose skin, I don't know, but it's been bothering me all day. It's just been non stop all day, making circles around the same few feet of space from one task or kid to the next. I started off the day figuring out the medical expenses and where our bank accounts are at, and as I suspected, we overspent. I overspent. We have no HSA money left, so any medical expenses will have to be put on the credit cards. I was actually able to increase the limit on our oldest credit card that had been hacked down to a very small credit limit back when I used it for my mom's funeral expenses. It took three months for the life insurance to come in so I could pay the credit card and in those three months, I lost a lot of my credit score, and they slashed the credit limit. And it's a good thing I did that today because Jared is right now at a cash only lab getting the MRI he needs. It's $850 in cash. Eek. We are bleeding money, folks, bleeding money. And I had forgotten to prepay the Indiana taxes, too. We are $1,000 short in what we should have saved for our annual and biannual bills. Not good at all. And I have no idea when I'll get around to doing the taxes with Abishai's birthday next week. I'm about to throw a PMS tantrum, too. In fact, I just want to be done with everybody. I wanted to lay down after supper since I didn't get to this afternoon but Jared had to leave and I had to play a round of a stupid arcade style video game with Abishai. I loathe those kinds of games because the buttons do opposite of what I think they should do. It's not my thing at all. And the TV is too far away, so I can't tell what is what. "look for the red light, Mom." Um, I can't see anything anywhere, never mind a red light. I haven't touched any Bible stuff today, either. I wrote a couple of emails about sports we might get into. And one about the church's new commitment thing. But I now have heartburn and the menstrual headache is returning. I just want to relax ok? I stood in the kitchen for over an hour cooking dinner. Taught school of course. And fretted about what tomorrow's appointment is going to be like and how to get there. And Abishai has complained twice about his stomach, right in the middle. So my immediate thought is oh no, not the appendix. I don't have time for this and I have to get to this other appointment. I guess if push came to shove, Daddy could take him since Daddy is still working from home, which is another issue altogether. I'm glad he can handle his own medical stuff, like the phone calls, but sometimes I just wish he would go to work and get out of my hair. And I just want brownies. Or cookies. Or cake. PMS.

It was cold, windy, and rainy/snowy outside, so no one went outside. Read alouds and school time went ok. I always feel like we don't do enough of the fun stuff. I tell them to do a hands on project and expect them to start on it immediately but they are never motivated. I have to break it down for them. Ugh. I can barely do that for myself and I don't have time to help them like that. Daddy's turn? I don't know. And I have to find time to get groceries, which includes getting Abishai's birthday stuff regardless if we have the party or not. So I guess I need to focus on that next week and not taxes. Now that I know that we cannot use anymore money from the checking account for medical things, that helps. We have to use credit cards or HSA, whichever is available. And as soon as the new HSA money is dumped into the account tomorrow, I have to pay one of the bills I'm behind on. I might give them a call as well, but I don't think I can get to that tomorrow. And then I have to figure out when to get to this walk in clinic evaluation thing, getting up early, and waiting for who knows how long. Sigh. Hopefully tomorrow will give me some direction as to what my next steps are. I'm praying that we will discuss what the nurse was hopeful about, hormones and medications and such. I'm hoping she's not just another regular doctor who can't think outside of her training. I don't know. My head is spinning.

Taxes can wait a few weeks.

The IAHE newsletter can wait a few weeks.

I need to focus on the birthday boy, that's all I want to do.

These unknowns are so draining, and now the whole church commitment thing is throwing me off. I need to brush it aside and forget about it. No one is pushing it down my throat. I can be a late adopter or not at all, no problem. I just don't want to face my in laws about it on Sunday.

I just want to be done with the day and vegetate. Is that ok? Maybe. At least Jared's therapies have given him some relief. And he could go do the MRI by himself because he's not using narcotics or sedation. I just need some freedom. So why do I think signing the kids up for sports is a good idea right now? I don't know. Because I'm tired of seeing them loaf around the house. Where's that graphic about staying up late so you can have control of your time again? The one about revenge? Cause that's what I want right now. Now go away.

I did make a great root vegetable roasted dish with olive oil, oregano oil, fresh cilantro, salt, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, onions, and baby broccoli. That was worth waiting for. Rice and salmon with some kind of preseasoning on it. Provence something? It was ok. Kids didn't like it. It had a zing to it but not bad.

A Johnson recipe. Leftover mashed potato, mixed with an egg and fried like a pancake in oil. Yum! These actually stuck together this time because I was patient with them. I'm NOT a patient cook, that's for sure.

The daily wrestling time.

Abishai finished his math book today! Remember, with these books, we only do enough pages until they've mastered the concept. So, we definitely skipped a bunch of pages! He's excited to start his next book!

When I read the certificate of completion to him and it said, "Psst...don't forget to thank your teacher," he immediately said, "Thank you, Mom." And then he ran to tell Keturah to thank her teacher, too. Lol.

Yes, I'm very glad. I just find it hard to deal with from my end and when I can't make forward progress. I don't get to take a break from my employers when I'm sick. I have to charge ahead or the family is left in the lurch. And nothing bothers me more than an unkempt house and a bunch of people hovering not knowing what to do next or bored.

The End