Year 6, April 9th-11th, 2021: Rainy Weekend

 Late nights = headaches. Adjusting to new glasses = headaches. Headaches = unproductive day. I could not get my butt in gear today at all. I had no big plans or deadlines or motivations and what I did have, their timings were unclear, so I had no idea how to fill my time. The kids went to Grandpa's house for class at 9am because he had to get on the road to Illinois by noon. I don't usually do school with Abishai on Friday, but in my mind, because the kids were occupied, I would be occupied by that and didn't think to plan what I should do with the hour I had. So, I did nothing but play this new game on my phone. I think I got the game to a place were the "tasks" lasts for hours, so I have to wait for awhile. I probably should just delete it. But I know I won't for at least a little bit longer. I did read the first day of our new Bible study on Gideon. It's going to be just as good as the Elijah study. I managed to get kids fed and to park day at 2. And then home again to make supper, which Jared come home just in time to finish the cooking. But a friend took our van to put the alternator in, and it didn't come back in time for him to take Abishai to karate, so I had to do it. That means, I told him plainly, he was in charge of cleaning up the pans. Not sure what he did with his 90 minutes, but it wasn't cleaning the pans. Oh well, he'll do them tomorrow. My head hurts too much. 

So, with being a bit lost in my head today thinking about nothing in particular, and lacking all motivation, I at least tried to put some ideas down for tomorrow so I can be more productive. Oh, I did have to bring Jared some meat for his salad at lunch. I just forgot to bring the library books with me or load up on recycling to drop them all off at the same time. Whoops. And now that silly cortisol test will happen next week because I didn't get it done this week. I say silly because I know my cortisol is going to be way off. I ordered some supplements for Young Living that say they help with it, so I'm waiting for those to come in as well. But now they are totally revamping the website and ER program, so who knows what's going to happen with that order. I'll be reduced to a customer instead of a distributor or brand promoter, so I'm not sure what that will mean for my discount. If my discount becomes less, I will not be happy. We'll see. It might be time to let that go as well. I need to look at all my supplements and see if I can cut anything. I think I've been spending way too much on everything. I love my special food products, too. Sigh. But if each bar costs $3 and a tiny thing of coffee creamer is almost $5, I need to really, really consider cutting back. I did run out of the coffee creamer, so I made a big order because there was a new flavor I wanted to try. I should be good for awhile and there's no sugar and no sugar substitutes, no stevia, and it's whole 30, paleo and keto friendly. So, if I got on a stricter diet, I should be good to go. I just like the sweeter coffee almond milk creamers from the store that a bit higher in calories (10 cal vs 30 cal). Anyway, again, I need to probably run some numbers.

But, I just remembered, I do have some bigger Saturday projects to work on and I could have read more tomorrow. Bummers. I wanted to mulch tomorrow, but this morning it said it would rain. I'll have to see if that's still true or not and adjust accordingly. I have indoor projects that need attention as well and the kids have lots of homeschool videos to watch, too. I get to this point in the school year and I just don't want to do any more book work because it's so nice outside and I want to shoo them out. Thankfully, we only have 6 more weeks and they are almost done with math and writing. History is winding down as well. I'll keep going strong with Abishai for as long as he can tolerate, maybe even going a bit longer since we only did 4 days of paperwork instead of 5 days. But I counted 5 days because we do other things on Fridays like park day. I don't want to loose too much over the summer with him and it keeps him occupied for a bit every day. But, then again, I have my own projects to do, so I don't know. 

Time to eat the pretty eggs!

It feels so weird to put a phone cord in and out of your hair! It stayed in pretty well while I slept but it did stretch out a lot because I put it in pretty tightly. So, we'll see how long it lasts.

Um, time to check the electrical wiring again! Sigh. I only had ONE appliance going when these sparks happened. The toaster oven is plugged into the power strip with the coffee maker and milk frother but I rarely have them all on at the same time. It's just easier to have them on a strip so I don't have to plug and unplug them. Plus, that leaves the other plug open for the mixer or waffle maker, which I use less often.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner? It doesn't matter. Justin will drown it in milk and eat it. He said, "Well, at least I have a high metabolism!" Yes, and you and Abishai, eat all the sugar that ends up at our house, ok? Because the rest of us can't handle it. Sigh.

I went a little overboard. IF I used them exclusively, it would 13 weeks. Maybe, lol.

Newest flavors! Cotton candy! And the coconut macaroon and toasted marshmallow is so yummy!

Perfect for 99% of the diets and allergens and sensitivities out there.

10 cal for these because there's NO sugar and NO sugar substitute and NO stevia vs. 30 cal. of the much sweeter flavored almond milk creamer from Aldi. But also, 3 times the price.

I was trying to cut up fresh herbs for the chicken tonight and I realized we had this mortar and pestle! Perfect! Because I heard somewhere along the line that you need to cut or grind up herbs to bring out the oils and such. I'm enjoying using fresh herbs because they have some much more taste!

 Rainy, rainy Saturday. So we couldn't do the mulch. However, we found other things to do inside like cleaning the oven and finding my summer stuff. Praise the Lord that I was smart enough to buy a new pair of jean capris and had just bought a new pair of long shorts last summer! The shorts were pretty loose and big last year, but fit this year. I also have one other pair of jeans I forgot about as I was working though my stuff. But that's it. Oh, and some pull on black and corduroy pants. I have the linen pants, too, but they were a little tight and even after just a few wears, the thighs were starting to show wear and tear. And that's all I got that fits for pants. It's pitiful. It makes me so fustrated! I'm glad I have something to wear and I'll be fine, but I even had to put away some of my favorite summer shirts because I know they will be even smaller this year than they were last year. I get tired of pulling out clothes that are too small, trying them on, having to take them off again, etc. That's why I was procrastinating a bit. My arms are tired from doing that project though, hanging and rehanging clothes back and forth to Keturah's closet where my off season clothes are stored. Oh, and I found more hidden clothes of hers in the closet. She wanted to deny it.

 And she wanted to argue about her math and IEW and all that today when we were finishing them up. "I'm not doing school on Saturday." Well, you'll do it on Monday, then. Justin, too, was struggling. We've had over a week to write this critiques over this wonderful book with loads and loads of nuances and questions to ponder like "Can a white Northerner, marry a Southern girl during the Civil War?" "How can Union and Confederate soldiers meet in the middle of a river and swim together and trade goods in the middle of the night and then fight each other the next day?" "Why are Union generals so mean and Southern generals treat you like peers?" I wish I could explain more to them but there's so much in there! They just wanted to sum it up in as few words as possible. No, I want some details and explanations of what you thought about it, good or bad, or whatever. Zoom IN, not OUT. Good grief! This isn't our first rodeo on this type of thing!

I woke up with a headache as well. And really needed a nap. I got a short one but Justin was being loud on the TV. Abishai played board games with Daddy and then he had extra screen time during Jared's early in the day nap. I was just done finding one more thing to clean and I'm exhausted. I did work on looking through my glasses correctly, but still, the headache is there. I'm going to call on Monday to see if I can go in and get things adjusted or if I need some tips and tricks of wearing these bifocal type lenses. I thought this was going to be a miracle pill and instead it's made my eyes worse. Or maybe my eyes are weak. So I've been unmotivated because of it. But we got some things done at least and didn't have to go anywhere. Jared stayed out late last night at his friend's and I was in bed before he was. I wasn't asleep yet so all his back and forth to do this or that in the bathroom or fix the blankets or stretch before going to bed was just as long and annoying as my routine is to him. I was trying not to be bitter about it, but I finally said, "Good grief! Be done!" Friends are important, but could I get some loving here, too? As in, can we spend some time together talking? Seriously. At least he made it up to me today with the oven and playing with Abishai. Tag teaming works well when you both are tired and you are both physically hurting. 

Tomorrow is somewhat normal, although we have to drive Leah home from church because Gary had to take her car to Illinois because his wouldn't start. And then youth group starts up again. Yeah! Time to get to bed on time!

I was reading through some Twitter things or Facebook or whatever and found these couple of funny moments. Prince Philip died yesterday at age 99. A lot of people were being mean and saying, "Who cares? He lived a long life of privilege." Good grief! They were married for 70 years! There's got to be some massive amount of grief that the Queen won't show much of, but I'm sure it's there. I was reading some of the tributes and he does have an interesting story being born in Greece or something. Just leave them alone. They are people born into position, sure. But some are and some aren't. There are struggles in both camps. God bless the Queen!

This particular photo has the Queen smiling wide because it's Prince Philip under there trying to be funny and surprising her. THIS tells me that they still had a decent relationship. I say, "Aw, that's so sad, 70 years, wow!" if it were the Queen and Prince or great grandmas and great grandpas in my friends' families. It doesn't matter. Against all odds and scandals that the Royalty has had, these two stayed together throughout it all. And if you know anything about any of the kings and queens of old, that's a very, very, very, rare thing. Anyone remember the 6 wives of King Henry VIII? Life is to be celebrated no matter who it is. Maybe I'll catch a bit of the funeral proceedings in the coming days.

Look who made it to Instagram! Ok, this was at Rascals Fun Zone Keturah told me, when they were winning tickets, but maybe they were just happy to win tickets or something. Keturah is easily recognizable because she wears that hoodie everywhere! I'm glad we invested in it at the little souvenir shop that was in our hotel right outside of Washington, DC.

The cuddliest puppy we know!

Because it rained all day, I convinced Jared that we could tackle the oven together. Actually, I just went ahead and started it so he kind of had to do it. I wasn't trying to force him into it but we've been talking about it for months and I'd been telling him that I really need help with it. So, I put the baking soda paste down after scrapping what I could. Oh the goo in there is awful! You can tell we use a lot of oil on things. Ew! And then Jared started the scouring part.

Jared spent several hours on the door alone and managed to get it completely off, too, so he could get inside it. His back is still not adjusting well to his steroid injection, so I told him to not continue with it after supper. We'll try again tomorrow. I wish I had maintained it better from the beginning but I got caught up in moving in and finding our way in life. It was brand new scratch and dent very basic oven 4 years ago. We just never tried to clean it. It doesn't have a self clean feature. But it's been giving off this smelly gas, and then giving us an "F1" signal or something so I figured we'd better clean it and see if that's the issue before we call an expensive repair person. I looked up the F1 thing and it says to call a repair person. So, we'll see if this helps or not.

I also had the privilege of soaking these in the bathtub with Thieves cleaner for several hours. They did scrub up very nicely and I went over the toughest spots with a steel wool pad. The worst thing was to clean up the tub afterwards.

Here's the clean version. And ignore the stains on the tub. I'm not trying to really clean them anymore. We will get a new tub eventually. We will be getting a new faucet when we get the water pressure tank replaced, so that's one step in the process. It's just a tub surround. We replaced one back in Beech Grove house, so I'm not worried about the price and instillation much. I am worried about what it looks like underneath all of it. Did they cover up a nasty tub? Is there mold? I am not looking forward to that!

Rainy Sunday. Whoops! I published this without finishing this main blog part! I mean, the photos tell a good part of the story, so hopefully I won't repeat much. Church was normal. Because Leah didn't have a car, someone else picked her up and took her to church for 9am. Then us 5 went at 11. That means Keturah didn't go to the 9am middle school service, but only attended the 11, and Justin and Jared both watched the 11am service on their devices because they were both serving at 11. I sat in my now favorite spot in the balcony as usual. I walked in and out without a mask on. I think people were avoiding me, but I think as the weeks go on, I'll get used to it. It's so strange that we get used to something so quickly and then feel almost naked without it. And it's weird for me to not "obey the rules," too. I felt like I needed to sneak around. But I survived. We had a lot of rain today, too, which hampered my plans for clothing, so it was kind of a hectic morning. The sermon and song service and all that was normal. It looked the service was filling up more and more with people, so that's encouraging. Dan even used the word "influencer" in the sermon, so you KNOW we have finally made the full transition from one generation to the next now. I'm sad about it, but that's how it goes. I miss my "gray haired" people, but thankfully, a few of them are still around. We definitely still need mentors, even if my generation is in the hot seat right now. Our senior pastor Dan is actually 2 years younger than me and his kids are only 3 yrs and 6 months old. A lot of the staff is now in their 20's and 30's and just having their kids, too. A few our closer to our age and a bit older with kids graduating with Benaiah or Justin. Besides the elders, I can't think of anyone on staff in their upper 50's and 60's that I interact or see often. Maybe a couple of behind the scenes type of people. And we have a staff of what, 50(?) at our church? And you wonder why it's difficult for me to "listen" sometimes? Lol, do you want to be bossed around by a youngin' with less experience? Ok, ok, staff is staff. I just find it interesting these days. But I'm trying to be neutral in my thinking at the moment. I'm surprised I didn't get upset because the message and maybe the new sermon series is on serving, again. but I'm more confident about where I am and what I'm supposed to do, at least this week I was, lol. It's going to be on the book of James, a favorite among Christians because it's easily applicable. Sigh. We'll see if I learn anything new. I did learn some Greek though this week, so that's cool. And he showed a photo of ancient and modern day Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. 

Anyway, lunch was ok. Gary was gone of course. The conversation was ok until I was corrected a few times and my buttons were pushed. I was done eating so I left the room. And Benaiah doesn't seem to think I've taught him anything, but you know, everything else is fine. Actually, it's not fine. It's not fine that he thinks that way, but I've been told to ride out the storm and wait until he realizes that it isn't true at all. But it's hard because the other "good kids" have already recognized it, hug their moms, come home to their moms on breaks from school, and I only get 1 hr of my kid and he's yapping about how he's learned this or that and wait a minute, I taught him that! And how can he explain things to his grandmother and she actually listens to him but I say the exact same thing and she doesn't believe me or tries to correct me or something else. Yeah, it was one of those Sundays. So, I typed up my complaints to my sister and showed them to my husband then tried not to ball like a baby. And then I listened to "my people" and listened to lectures on health freedom, read some stuff about ADHD, and listened to "Up From Slavery." And finished the oven cleaning after Jared was done. I dropped the kids off at youth group and Jared picked them up. I distracted myself on YouTube too much last night, so I'm trying to finish this up the next day. 

Otherwise the kids did their normal routine with screen time in the afternoon. Oh, I guess they were packing some snack bags for the kids in public school doing their standardized testing, so Keturah and Jared jumped in to help and Abishai gave everyone high fives when they finished their packets. They were late coming home, but that's a great reason to be late! 

And, I took my cortisol testing medication, so I headed to bed on time. Yeah for me! Thankfully this medication doesn't interfere with any of my other ones (I triple checked) and I have no idea what it actually is for normally, but I think it's like taking the fruity sugary drink when you're pregnant to see how your body handles it to see if you have gestational diabetes. I guess they just see how your body reacts to it and thankfully, I don't have any upset stomach or sleeplessness or pain or heart palpitations, so to me, I'm happy. The blood test will tell me what it tells me. I'm not hopeful that the doctor has anything to suggest if it's not a good number, whatever that is. I'm moving on to a neurologist and osteopath but taking a break from doctor appointments at the moment now that the going to the Israel deadline is off the table. I feel so much more relaxed that I can still deal with this weight issue on my own timing. I haven't given up, and I'm doing the Noom thing sort of, and I'm trying to make better choices and occasionally get on my bike. But the stress of losing weight by a certain time so I can wear clothes that I bought last year and dealing with the ADHD and anxiety all at the same time is gone. I can take time to rest between thinking about each thing. That puts me at peace in and of itself. I don't do well with deadlines anymore I guess. I'm too used to making my own! Like how I was grumpy trying to get everyone out the door for church yesterday. We had a deadline, and I'm the only one who watches a clock and makes the rest of the household hustle, which annoys me and makes my routine longer when I have repeat myself and check mark off not only my list but theirs as well all within 90 minutes. It's not pretty and it's one reason I love homeschooling. I still do similar things but the routine is longer. And my dwaddling and their dwaddling isn't as impactful in the overall day. That's why I hate morning appointments. My favorite time slot is 3:30 or 4pm. I'm usually done with school and have time to put on shoes and go. And then sometimes I can get back in time to make supper or I usually have a plan to pull out leftovers at 5:30. I'm at my most wakefulness then, too. A morning appointment is ok, but an early afternoon appointment interrupts school so I have to fiddle around with the rest of the week's schedule. So, I'm not excited to get up super early and get my blood drawn at 8am. It's a timed medication so I have no choice. That's why I've procrastinated. But I was in a determined mood today to get some things done so here goes.

Not sure why Jared tweeted these two photos today because he didn't leave any comments, but there ya go. From this.....

...To this.

Abishai drew his first picture of people today at Sunday School! And someone wrote down his name and he copied it onto his picture! They probably think he's "slow" but he's not. We've taken it slow on purpose. Great job! This is a picture of Abishai and Daddy.

I almost didn't find Keturah because she's not wearing her Washington DC hoodie! She was happy to have 9 square AND gaga ball out today. They met in the chapel for their music time. And I saw that the cafe was open. Yeah!

Keturah told Abishai he could join in, so he did.  That was kind of Keturah to let Abishai play with them. He did try!

I trimmed the drawing a bit and framed it. I had Abishai present it and he said, "Happy Sunday, Daddy!" And now Daddy has been instructed to take it to work. We'll see if that happens.

Ain't she a beauty? Ok, There's still a lot of stains. But that's to be expected when cook lots of things oil. I have got a splatter screen that goes on the bottom rack, NOT the bottom of the oven. Bummers! But Jared and I tagged teamed and in about 6 hrs, over the course of 2 days, we got it done. So, now we just have to maintain it better. 4 years of abuse without a single cleaning. I am the worst house keeper sometimes! But I knew I couldn't tackle it on my own. God created a weekend of rain so we were forced inside. So, I choose to work on the oven, and then Jared followed me. We had talked about him helping me, so it was a passive aggressive move. But look how clean in it!

The End