Year 6, July 12th-15th, 2021: The Other Minions

 So, while Mommy and Daddy were away by themselves, what did the other minions do? Let's see:

Monday, as reported to us by everyone. I can't remember as it's already Friday. But I think they had a pretty normal routine. When Grandma came over in the morning, she brought over some biscuits from Wendy's I think.  I do know that Abishai did sleep over at Grandpa's house on the couch that he picked out in the front living room. However, he had a hard time going to sleep because the TV was on. He was told to turn the other way, but then he defiantly used his arms to prop himself up and show that he could still see. He did eventually doze off. Benaiah said he seemed hot and sweaty when Benaiah went to bed, so Benaiah put one of his box fans on him. Their house has seemed quite a bit warmer than ours lately. I'm not sure why. Grandma slept on the couch at our house so that Keturah and Justin and Socks could sleep in their normal spots. In the morning, she went back to her house to cook breakfast.

On Tuesday morning, I know that Grandma went back to her house to cook blueberry pancakes as promised. Abishai was up when Benaiah left for work. Abishai ate his pancakes with Grandma and Grandpa. Then Grandma packed up the leftover pancakes and she and Abishai went over to the our house to wake up the teenagers around 10am. I'm not sure if Grandma let Socks out before she left to go to her house or Keturah let him out when she woke up. I'm sure he was fine either way. At some point during the two days, they all went to the library and got some books. Keturah got a ton of books that well, aren't my favorites to let her have but whatever. I had signed them up for the summer reading program but got so engrossed in my own projects and didn't take the time to figure out the digital only format of the library reading program so I have no idea if we would have gotten any points or not. It's not like we stopped reading anyway. Abishai got a huge bag of Star Wars books of course. They were both proud of their long receipts. Grandma likes to get the printed receipts of books she checks out. I would find that confusing. I just go online and do everything there because it's constantly changing. I renew all the things that are due or due soon and then it rearranges itself all nice and neatly. Anyway, to each their own. Oh, and they got Wendy's 4 for 4 for dinner because we were running behind coming home that day.

They were supposed to have Carter and Madison come over to play, but something about having a quieter time to play or something came up with them, I don't know, but they didn't. Abishai was all ready for them to come over. He had put away all his favorite cars up on his top bunk in his travel car case. I'm assuming all went well for two days because we didn't hear a peep from them. Actually, no one even bothered to call in to say good night and we were in the middle of having such a good time that we forgot to call them! Wow! I didn't even think about it until now, 5 days later. Whoops! I guess that's a good thing when your kids are old enough and mature enough and secure enough in your love that they know you'll be back and your having fun and they will be fine for two days. Yup. We were all fine and good. Ok then.

Wednesday, Mommy was back, so everything was back to routine. Mommy cracked the whip and made sure people were up and eating their veggies and doing their chores. Ok, Grandma did that, too. No surprise there. I had to get right to it and work on some medical paperwork, but that was done faster than I thought it would be. I wanted to catch up on my video games, too, but that didn't happen. And I totally forgot that I probably should have taken a full shower today. Whoops. Instead I started on the full blog for our trip. I can't work on it now just because I need to have a clear head and I no longer have one. That's something I can only work on in the afternoon. Abishai stuck by me pretty closely today. He wanted to go outside and play but Justin was mowing in the backyard and wouldn't let him. Justin decided to mow shirtless today to see if it felt cooler and he said it was. He also gets annoyed that he feels like a swamp and that he gets so sweaty and pimply on his arms. He looks so weird and yet muscly out there with no shirt on, lol. He wears his headphones, backpack and tablet to listen to music. Weirdo. Why his phone won't suffice, I don't know. 

Keturah woke up very moody and needed a sign across her chest that read, "Moody, stay 6 ft away." or "Avoid at all costs." She was all smiles for the grandparents though when we went over for my birthday supper. I worked on the birthday getaway blog instead of taking a nap, while the kids had screen time. Then I sent them to Grandparents' house early while I finished up my final thoughts. Benaiah said not to come early just after I had sent them, so I'm glad I didn't go with them. Jared came to our house first, so I drove over with him. 

Birthday supper was pork steak, tater tot casserole (Leah handmade the gravy so it wouldn't have gluten in it), regular salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs, and strawberries with gluten free angel food cake, and whipped cream all mixed up into one mixture kind of like "shortcake" for dessert. I walked in and everything was ready to go. It was a bit chaotic. I walked over and handed Benaiah some mail and explained to him what it was for. And then turned back around and people were impatiently waiting for others to get drinks. Ok, I came at 6:03, hold your horses. I came bearing gifts, ok, let me distribute them. No one has anywhere to go until 8pm tonight. Then when I was getting my water, I accidentally dropped it on the floor near the water jug. Thankfully, it didn't break. Ok, hold on, I had to clean that up. Now we can pray. Now I'm the last one through the line to get food. Ok, I sit down. I finally start eating dinner. I tried to enjoy dinner and find ways to butt into the conversation to tell about our last two days of fun. Ok, Benaiah, shut up so I can talk. No, really, let someone else, talk. Hey Justin, let's talk about you going shirtless while you mowed today. Ok, that conversation didn't go anywhere. Hm, let's, see, what else can we talk about. Ok, let's talk about how moody Mrs. Teen was today. Ok, that's no good because Grandma won't stand for negative talk. Get shut down again. Ok. Tell Benaiah under my breath to ask me how the concert was/what I did on my birthday. He claims he didn't know about the concert. Grandpa asks what venue it was at. I couldn't remember the name of the school. Jared tries to finger spell it out. I still can't remember it because I don't do sign language. And Grandpa should remember because we just told him 3 weeks ago and he said he was going to call them and talk to them to figure out what's going on down there because they partner with e2 and he's supposed to speak down there soon. But he didn't. Ok. Breathe. I don't have time to talk now anyway. Everybody is done eating except for me. I'm trying to cut and eat my steak. But Leah's brought out dessert. Uh oh. Hold on a minute. Birthday girl isn't ready yet. I'd like to enjoy my steak and it takes me time to chew. I can't do this all at once. Pay attention to multiple conversations. Figure out what to say. Chew my food. Ah! I give up! I'll eat half of my steak and put it away for later I guess. Pick up my phone take a photo of my cake. And the flowers I was supposed to see but I wasn't sure if they needed to be presented formally to me or not so I didn't look directly at them yet. Then I sit back down and wait for the dessert to be brought to me as we sing like we normally do after the rest of the dishes are taken off the table. Ok. Here goes. Song done. Blow out candles. Now some are mad. Well, birthday girl is slower than molasses. Can't help it. Rushing isn't my style and can't be. ADHD brain means slow down in real life. That's why social media works. I can think before I type. Ok, eat and talk more. Ok, Benaih takes over conversation again. Now it's starting to get closer to the time Justin needs to leave. Let's quickly open gifts. Nice tea towel with a horse on it and bath fizzies from Benaiah. Thanks. Gift card and $40 in ones from Gary and Leah, nice! And yes, 40 red roses from them as well. Yeah! I probably didn't seem grateful enough because I felt on edge and ready to explode from being rushed and not really heard and having to listen to Benaiah talk about work again. Needed a quick exit soon. Finish up some business things, gather up children, leftovers, and stuff. Thankfully Benaiah stepped in to help get Justin to church (I think he was going to Ava's). And we went home. I dump stuff on counter and in fridges and go to put my pjs on and have a long talk with myself. No one needed to hear what went down in that talk. It was ugly. Very ugly.

Wowzers. Some things just can't be predicted. Some things can. And some days, well, you royally screw up. Whoops, we all messed up this evening big time. Loads of miscommunication and hurt feelings. All around. Different expectations and outcomes. We all need more grace and forgiveness. I just don't know how to accept or give it. or what to do next. We've got a lot more socializing to do over the next few days, so it will be an early night for me. I had a very rough night with heartburn last night. I'm not making any changes tonight with it. I'm too tired to do much else here on the computer. Way too tired. Bummers. I do have some work I could do. Not tonight.

Time to wake up, King and Queen.

Innovation wit the oatmeal canisters and the Linocln Log roof pieces with my old belt. I poured the oatmeal of one container into another another and then had to leave it on the counter because the lid had to be rinsed off and dried. Well, Abishai got into the oatmeal and poured himself twice as much as we usually give him. And what do you know but he ate nearly all of that oatmeal dry! Crazy!

Always playing nearby.

Lots of steps on Monday and Tuesday.

Shirtless Justin mowing the backyard.

Thanks Abishai, as least one of my kids cares.

Leah said the gluten free angel food cake took nearly a dozen of egg whites. Yup, one reason I never used the mix, lol.

Wow! 40 red roses!

Yummy!

Thursday was good, and then I wasted the afternoon. Stupid me. Abishai and I met some new homeschoolers at our favorite playground, Southeastway. These first time homeschoolers had younger kids and live closer to us than any of our other homeschool friends, so I am hoping we become good friends with them. I don't know if I can keep up with them though. They seem to want to do some pretty cool stuff! They are definitely planners! Yeah! They seem to want to take these friendships to the next level already. That's exciting! Two of them are neighbors, so that's pretty neat. Super friendly people, that's for sure. Now I'm in a tough spot because I'm meeting all these wonderful people and I'm going to have to decide who I'm going to have to settle on spending the most time with and fitting into our personal routine once school starts. I think some might do less when their school years start up, too. So, we'll see. 

Abishai was a little hesitant about going, and wanted me to play with him, but he did find his groove a few times with the kids. At one point, he was the BIG kid and had to be careful not to go too fast or hit a little one in the face with his feet as he was dangling from above, lol. One family had some older kids that have similar interests as Justin, so I'll bring Justin along next time just so the older kids don't feel lonely. But one of those boys also plays well with the younger kids, just like Justin, and doesn't seem to have a problem with it and can turn on and off his maturity no problem, just like Justin. It's so neat, especially since up until this year he was a public school kid. That says a lot about his parents' parenting style. So, hopefully we'll get to know them a bit more and help them out with homeschooling things. It's hard when you bring home the older kids. The transition to homeschooling and knowing what to do and grades and transcripts, that's tough. So, we'll see how we can get them going.

Then we came home, and I kind of crashed. Not really hit the wall, but I didn't want to do anything. We ate some lunch. I fought with Keturah and Justin about the lawn chore. And then I finished reading The Force Awakens book to Abishai. He wanted to snuggle under a blanket with long sleeved pjs on and I was like, nope, I'm having a hot flash dude. So I tucked it under my legs. I kept almost dozing off. It was tough going for a while. Once we were done, he went off to play. I went outside to inspect the yard. Sigh. I am so tired of monitoring the law chore. I just don't understand why they can't do what they are supposed to do. It's the same thing every single week and we spend 2-3 days arguing about it. Just do it! So frustrating! Oh, and Keturah broke the outdoor broom today. And then at supper, she broke one of the corn on the cob holders! Why? It's kind of funny but kind of not that she is notorious for breaking things.

So, I was done with the world. I just didn't want to get off my couch once I laid down. I didn't go to sleep though. I could have. But I didn't. I just played video games and tried to listen to my Bible chapters and got caught up with that. Now, I'll have to stay focused the next two days to get caught up. I slept ok last night, so I don't know why I feel so tired and weird. Then we had leftovers for dinner. Keturah helped make salad while I went through all the produce and organized it and either cleaned something off to be eaten tonight or soon and what can wait a couple of days. And I cleaned up the pantry, too.  Wow, I can see the pantry floor! That's a miracle!  We made a nice big salad. Everything is good to go for awhile. Meanwhile, Justin ran over to Grandpa's house to mow really quickly before some big storms came through tonight and tomorrow. It's pouring rain tonight, lots of thunder, lightning and wind. Tomorrow, too. We were supposed to have park day with our other friends, but now they want to meet at the board game place. Ugh. I wanted to stay home all day and work. I need a shower. Grrr. We'll see.

See, Mama never can have a "do nothing" kind of day. She must always work or she'll get even more behind and she'll never get caught up. There's always more to do. Sigh. And all Mama wants to do is sleep. Good night.

I'm on a balcony, Mom!

Keturah lopped off this tree's branches. Whoops!

Storms coming our way!

Everybody, pick up anything in the yard that can blow away. I'm not chasing toys across neighbors' yards. Here it comes! The men finished mowing just in time, too.

The End