Year 6, June 28th - July 1st, 2021: Being With People, Without Leaving Your House

 Well, what a way to start the week. I didn't know it until I reached for my noon medications, but I totally skipped my nightly medications last night. That's why I had a horrible night last night that had me in tears. It was rough getting myself to get Justin to church to send him on his way to CIY Move, but we got it done. I had to help him, of course, because he doesn't pack as well as Keturah. "Justin, put the pillow in the bag. Use the space on the sides for other things so there's room for the pillow, like this." "Justin, did you remember......?" "No." "Then go get it." Oh, I just realized this is Justin's first Move without Benaiah. Interesting. There were 4 buses out front today, two for girls and two for boys. I don't know how full they really were, but things were busy. I didn't feel like they were super chaotic though. In fact, the east hall felt a tad empty. The class sizes are smaller I think, and I think the overall size of our youth group has shrunk. That's a good/bad thing. Check in was way easy with no meds and no encouragement cards. I went and spent some time talking to a friend and Jared took Abishai over to the office. Justin went off with his friends somewhere. I forgot to actually say good bye, so it was a good thing that Grandpa still needed to pray with him so I didn't have to go up to his small group alone and embarrassed. We got the job done and then I headed over the office. I had a pounding headache but refused to get the sumitriptan because it was my last one.

When I got to the office, I found Abishai laughing hysterically over cat videos with Mrs. Ellen at her computer. Apparently it's something they like to do together. Poor Mrs. Debbie was trying to concentrate and I felt so bad. We were trying to wait so we could wave to the buses as they left. I felt so silly and disruptive, but the women were angels about it. Finally I got Abishai to come outside with me to the car and wait there after I saw the kids were done eating their CFA lunch and were standing up with their groups ready to walk out. So Abishai and I reparked the car in a way that the buses would pass right in front of us. But it took a good 15 minutes before all the students were loaded up and poor Luke made about 5 trips to all the buses telling them something each time. Good grief. I told Justin to sit on the left side of the bus, the driver's side, so he could see us waving. I don't know if he did or not. Abishai and I almost got a sunburn sitting out there, though and it felt so hot, too. But finally they were all loaded up and ready to go.

Abishai was standing up through the sunroof and waving from there and the first bus gave him some great honks and waves. Awwww, sweet bus driver! I'm sure we were very embarrassing to Justin, but I wanted to take full advantage of this one because it was an early morning send off and I missed Keturah's. And Abishai is cute, so come on. No one can blame me for that. 

Then off we went to McDonald's to grab lunch. Keturah asked for a Big Mac meal AND a McFlurry and I said, um, girl, that's way too many calories. Just the meal. Abishai got the usual Happy Meal and I got a Big Mac meal without a bun. I said, "regular coke" and meant regular not diet, and the person thought I meant size medium, whoops. I didn't need all those calories anyway, so it worked out. But still. $20!!! For 3 people at McDonald's!!!! Good grief! Next time, dollar menu and NOT the meals. I wasn't even that hungry because I ate a big breakfast so I ate my burger for dinner. 

And then I laid down because I was so tired and my head was hurting worse. I took a nap while the kids started their screen time early. I had a chiro appointment today, so I set my alarm and it's a good thing I did. I did not want to wake up at all. Weird dream but I can't think what it was about. I took a sumitriptan and went to my appointment. Man, that medication works like a dream. And then having my treatment. I felt like a new woman for a little bit. But now I'm feeling really tired and a breakthrough headache is starting. I've been a little woozy today, too, and my ears hurt. Benaiah is sick with a fever and got antibiotics for what might be strep throat. Grandpa is really worried about him and texted us. And I'm like, if Benaiah needed help or was questioning what he should do, he would text us or call us. But he's fine. He made the decision to go to urgent care yesterday on his own. He knew what to ask for and how to give his insurance card. He knew how to go get his medication at the pharmacy once it was filled. He knows how to read a label and take his medication. And it's a medication he's had a lot and works well so he's fine. It won't harm him and he'll be over this illness in a jiff. I texted Benaiah and he said he's fine. Grandma and Grandpa are busy the next few weeks, but he's got Ava and us to take care of him. No big deal. He'll live.

Anyway, after the chiropractor appointment, I went to Aldi's for one thing, fairy gardens. Well, I came out with a whole loads of groceries. Got home, and put those away just before a quick thunderstorm. And then we pulled out and divided out all the leftovers and threw out all the bad fruits and veggies and things. Now the fridge is full of a variety of frozen things and ready to receive the Misfts box tomorrow. Ooh, I hope that doesn't come when I'm out at a little meet and greet homeschool group thing. I may or may not go. It's going to be hot and it all depends on how I sleep and if my headache stays away. I'm getting odd sharp pains in different nerves and it's so random. I do think an MRI and a neurologist are up next. 

After supper, Jared went back out to get my prescription which I had asked him to do before coming home but he had forgotten. Oh well, I could have gotten it tomorrow. The kids and I finished up chores like laundry and set the house straight. Keturah ended up doing all the vacuuming and sorting laundry and cleaning bathrooms today because I was out of it. I'll make it up to her this week. She'll do most of the vacuuming and dog brushing but I'll try to fill in the other gaps like I emptied the big trash can because it was full. Now it's going to stink from the rotten leftover veggies. We'll let it sit for now and probably put it out when it 's half full. We'll see.

Then I've been putzing and trying to write a blog entry for almost an hour but I keep nodding off! Time to finish up and watch something, maybe, and go to bed early.

Gotta wrestle extra for each day big brother is gone. Actually, in this photo, Abishai is reading a magazine and Justin is on his phone. It reminds me of all those photos I took of Abishai on Benaiah's bed and them looking at Benaiah's phone together. Although this time, it's with long arms and legs.

Boys Wrestling

I guess Abishai is anxious for Justin to go. Or, he just wants to go see Daddy and Mrs. Ellen and Mrs. Debbie at the office.

Way to go!

This time, we kissed!

Four big buses! Not as many as our biggest year, but still, what church has to rent buses to take their kids to a youth event? When I went to CIY, we had 2, fifteen passenger vans. And we could spread out in them. Well, I guess a megachurch requires mega transportation.

Ready and waiting. Practicing his wave.

Waving to the Buses on their way to CIY Move

And here we go, finally! They are off!

Beep! Beep!

We'll see you in 6 days!

I had Keturah take a photo of the pool water for me so I didn't have to go out and stand in the sun again (my migraine was that bad). It doesn't look too bad does it? There's bugs and a bit of cloudiness. But it could be worse. We're going to add some chemicals and clean it up a bit. I was hoping to do that tonight but we had a thunderstorm.

Yup.

Another day, and still in migraine mode. So we had to stay home. I'm still a bit sore, too, even after a chiropractor treatment. What gives? I just want to cry. And the last dream I had was a scary one of real brown bears getting into a house/storefront and coming after us. They weren't real big, but they weren't cubs either. Probably 1 yr old ones. But scary. I woke up in a panic, my face hurt, and my migraine was back. So I started off with 1/2 a migraine pill and 1 advil migraine. That did it for most of the day and then I tried two aleeve towards dinner time. Now I think the migraine is rolling around wanting to start again. Or I'm getting a rebound headache. I did spend a couple of hours on the computer this afternoon, but I've been on and off my phone, too. I tried to not go outside that much, but did a little bit to help clean up the pool and watch Abishai with his new sprinkler toy and to take photos of Keturah mowing for the first time. But I put a hat on. I just couldn't be out there long. It's awful. I'm so frustrated. Now I want to see a neurologist. But we have zero money until the house we invested in sells and we are still months away from that. So much for flipping several houses this year. But maybe hopefully by the end of the year. I don't know. It just makes me want to cry.

Moving on. Ok, maybe sort of moving on. Benaiah thinks he's really ill. He's not feeling any better so he's decided to go see Edwin tomorrow. Like Edwin is going to do anything more for him. Maybe they will run some tests to rule out certain things like Covid. I don't know. But I think Benaiah is being impatient. He's not giving the antibiotics enough time to work. He's only had the worst symptoms for two days. It takes a good week sometimes to start feeling better. And up to two or three weeks if you have a cough. I never ran to the doctor when they were sick like this. I was always a wait and see person because I wasn't going to waste time and money for a doctor to not do anything for them. And when I realized that they would get over it within the same time frame with or without antibiotics and I found out how taking too many antibiotics can mess you up, I stopped altogether. Nope. Not going there. Now, the exception is for myself because of how my melanoma scar got so infected. So if I have a surgery like that again, I will ask for a regular course of antibiotics as a precaution because a) I don't use antibiotics very often b) I respond to the most basic of antibiotics and c) I know how to regrow my good bacteria as soon as I can after a round of antibiotics. Anyway, he's just being impatient. He wants to get back to work. I get it. I do, too. And you just have to wait it out. Kid, you ain't dying. It's been two days. It hurts. I know what a sore throat and fever feels like. Dude, when I got through a nasty head cold/flu, it takes the whole week from first onset of a scratch throat through the runny nose stage. Oh my it lasts all week. As long as the fever comes down with medication and isn't staying at a constant 104 degrees, there's no emergency. And if your pulse is fine, oxygen levels are fine, and blood pressure are fine, no worries (if you have a monitor for them). Just stay in bed and sleep. Good grief. You aren't dying. I might be. But you aren't. My symptoms keep changing by the week and could indicate a number of things, even scary things, so I have no sympathy kid. But whatever, you go be an adult, go waste some time. Have fun. Learn your lesson the hard way. I'll go on with my day.

And my day contained spending as little time outdoors as possible and as much time in the darkest, coolest places as possible. I did work hard on my Bible study as soon as my coffee hit my system. I realized that the sermon was just on Ch. 4 but the Bible study was going to be on Daniel 4 and 5, and this coming Sunday's sermon was going to be on Ch. 6, and of course, that's the end of the series, because no preacher wants to tackles Daniel's actual prophecies in Ch. 7-12 because they sound like Revelation and they are hard to interpret and there's no easy application. Blech. But why skip over one of my favorite stories? When God writes on the wall with his finger? Oh come on! It's so cool! And then you can explain all the historical context! Did you know that Daniel served under 4 different kingdoms and the whole time that Israel was in exile, the whole 70 years? He lived a long, long time! So the book of Daniel actually spans a large amount of history of the area of Iraq, which was the Garden of Eden, and sight of the Tower of Babel, and Ur, and Babylon, Persia, Medes, Assyria, and eventually Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Turks, and then finally the Muslims, the Iraqis and Iranians, and who there's never been true peace in that region and for good reason? Yes, that's significant! And because we take the Bible in such piece meal fashion, we don't see the overarching story in it's historical context. Drives me bonkers. I know it's because we've studied it that way in school, but I would think I learned a bit of it in Sunday School, too, before that time, and in my own high school studies, I think. Anyway, I just remember learning and memorizing the "Mene, mene, tekel, parsin" words that God wrote on the wall with his very own hand and then Belshezzar being killed that very night by the Medes and Persians. And it was King Darius of the Medes that put Daniel in the Lions' Den, not Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Nebu was the one who put the three into the fiery furnance. But ALL of that was in the book of Daniel. Daniel is so rich with stories and then so rich with prophecy and no one ever does it justice! Ugh! But I'll give it my best shot tomorrow night.

Then I spent time this afternoon working on more IAHE group stuff and emails instead of the newsletter, which means I've now left the newsletter for tomorrow, last minute. Whoops. I'll have to start tackling it first thing in the morning. I have an online meeting at 1, and then I'll finish it in the afternoon. My bad. I'm not too crazy about this new schedule, nor am I happy that many people will be editing it because it kind of takes away the feeling that I have freedom to make it my own, but whatever. We'll see how it actually plays out.

While I was outside with Abishai, I noticed the grass near the deck and sidewalk almost looked too long already. And it will definitely be way too long in 5 or 6 more days when Justin is back and rested enough to mow it. So, I enlisted Grandpa and Daddy to teach Keturah how to mow. I had told Justin to teach Keturah to mow already since next summer Justin will be working in the real world and it will be Keturah's turn to mow the yards, but Justin has refused. Plus, Justin really does have a problem with the heat like I do. It's not fair to him to make him keep doing it. Keturah can handle the heat better. So after dinner, that's exactly what they did. She mowed half of the backyard! See! It's not that hard! A little background though. She is the same size and age I was when I mowed my parents yard for them because both of them were physically unable to do it, too, just like Jared and I are. I never begrudged mowing the lawn or shoveling snow or walking the dogs or making dinner or washing dishes or cleaning the bathrooms. I knew that my mom was busy transporting others to their activities. I knew they both were physically ill. And most of the tasks were keeping me fit and I was learning how to keep house and cook and I enjoyed things like shoveling snow or cleaning off my dad's car for him. The reason I don't like doing those things now is because it hurts my physical body so much. It wears me out. If I was a chipper and healthy 40 year old, it would be fine. It's my duty. It was what I was taught to do. You just do it. You don't complain about it. I really didn't complain like my children do. That's why it bothers me so much that they whine so much. My mom didn't nag me or have to tell me that we all pitch in to take care of the house. I just did. And when I left for college, my sister Stefanie took over a lot of the domestic chores and my brother Paul-Mikael did the mowing and shoveling. We had our turn. So I just thought that it's what families do. And it just has sort of worked out that way in our family unintentionally. So, as Justin moves into a real job, Keturah can mow. And then when Keturah is 16, Abishai will be 9 1/2 and she can start teaching him. Benaiah was 10 years old when he started, so it's not that unreasonable to get things started. There might an overlap of a couple of summers or something. And then after that, we'll have to hire someone until we have grandkids that are old enough. Unless a miracle happens and we can mow our own lawn again. Or we just let the back 40 grow out or something. Chores get passed down and you don't get paid for them. You work as a team. It wasn't quite even in my house growing up, but I didn't quite see that until I was a bit older. I was a team with my mom and dad more than I was a team with my siblings. I was told in church to be a help to my mom and dad. So I was. My mom got up early and took me to the barn 3x a week so I could shovel manure so I could ride horses. My dad went to work 2 hrs away so we could pay for horse feed and horse shoes and lessons. I knew that from middle school on. The least I could was wash dishes and floors and shovel snow. It just made sense to me. And part of the reason I was always so bitter towards my other sister Kristina because she didn't see that. She was gone to her gymnastics 6-7 days a week and didn't have enough time at home to help out as much. And when she was home, she argued often with my parents. There was a TON of other things that went into that at the time that I didn't know about that helps me understand the situation a whole lot better now, but at the time, I couldn't understand why she was being such a brat when such a ton of time and money was being invested in her and her gymnastics and she didn't seem to care. Anyway, that's kind of where I got my ideas that you pitch in and help your parents because God and church say so, and they need you to. And now, I see the benefits of it in a different light like they will know how to take care of their own house and it's good for them to have a work ethic and what else are they going to do with their time and it makes me feel better because I can't do it, etc. 

My biggest thing is that I want to surprise Justin because he works hard to mow the lawn despite his problems with the heat. And he's a great kid. He tries hard to keep his mouth shut. He's fighting hard against the hormones, but he needs to break out of them and find his identity. He needs the freedom, too, without feeling guilty of being mad or mouthing off. And who wants to come home to a big chore? And it also teaches Keturah to do something nice for someone else. Plus, she's spending way too much time on her phone on her bed and in her room. And she refused to get in the pool in her bathing suit with Abishai today and exercise. So, I'm killing lots of birds with one stone here. That's how I play this game. 

And because Keturah mowed today and she vacuumed yesterday, I did the inside chores. It just took me longer and I did some of them after dinner. Dinner was leftover steak from the grill. Oh how I love grilled meat, especially burnt fat! Yum! Steak fries in the air fryer and salad. Only 1 of the misfits veggie boxes came and I left it outside a tad too long. It was the berries and they dripped on my cereal boxes and made a mess. Ewwwww. The veggies come tomorrow. Which is fine because we had just enough veggies to make a salad tonight and rotate everything nicely. I'll have to make some meat or something tomorrow, but I'm not sure. I was surprised the potatoes were still ok as they have been sitting there for awhile. At least everything is up to date chore wise. I switched out all the hand towels and kitchen towels and towel napkins today, too. You would think I would remember to do that regularly as a routine but I don't. But no dishes and laundry to put away tomorrow. Maybe a rinse off shower before Bible study. I have to take back a bike seat cover to Aldi's at some point as well as pick up Justin's medication from CVS and maybe pick up some special deodorant for me. I'm praying I feel good enough to hang out at Wolf Run Park on Friday. I'm tired of saying no to all these fun play dates and swimming pools and splash pads. They only stay open for so long. I feel like my mom who wouldn't take us to the beach because she would get heatstroke. I need to remember to tell my doctor that. I never was mad at her for that. I just took it for what it was and was grateful when I got to go in high school during work camp or on now on vacations. I bought the toddler/little kid sprinkler for Abishai because I knew I couldn't get to a splash park this week and I couldn't invite friends over when I feel like this. I feel so bad for him. But he seemed to have fun nonetheless. I snuggled with him lots and we enjoyed watching some videos together. I keep thinking we should play board games or try a project together but then we don't. The kids get too much screen time. Sigh. Oh well.

Wow, that's a lot of writing for such a boring day. Eh, it could have been worse. We made it through. I just wish I didn't feel like crying all the time. I yelled at Jared yesterday when he yelled at me about not cleaning out the bad leftover chicken and vegetables from the fridge. I said something like having to make choices on Saturday between the IAHE project and cleaning out a fridge and then yesterday, having a raging migraine and dealing with nasty chicken was the least of my worries and he can dump it same as I can. And what does he do when he has a migraine? Sleeps for three hours. I got a 30 minutes nap and then I had to get up and do stuff like go to the chiropractor and then I got an almost full load of groceries all by myself. So, just leave me alone. I think he felt bad after that. I had asked him to get my medication and he had forgotten so he went and got it right after I said that. I didn't reprimand him for it and I could have waited until today. It actually was just the migraine medication and I couldn't have it until this morning anyway. But I'm glad he got it because I needed it this morning right away. No he's not fully healed, but I've been going through just as much as he has the last 6 months. It's just his stuff is finite and mine is not. He's pain level is a 1 and mine is at a 9. His doctor appointments will end for a time, and mine will be still at least once a month and expensive. It's depressing. Just remember that. Remember the pain you were in for 48 hrs. Now, that's how I feel many days of the month. And yet, I have to keep moving forward. Ok then. I don't care about nasty chicken sometimes. I have to make decisions like that all the time. Do I shower or do I clean out the fridge? Hm,...I haven't showered in 5 days, I think I'll shower, thanks. And since you won't let me keep the temperature at the level I need, I stink. So, yup, shower first, fridge can wait.

That's our life right now. Justin says he's busy and won't talk to me. I haven't seen him in any photos yet. Ok then. I guess it's good to be busy.

Look at this cool bug. It's a lightning bug just hanging out on the window!

A close up view of where he lights up!

And then I walked outside to get a photo of his backside.

I got the sprinkler where you stomp on a part and the spray gets bigger because it's all based on water pressure.

Sprinkler Fun 1

 

Love it!

Always on the run!

Trying to crawl through the sprinkler. He didn't make it, lol.

Maybe we should go to the art museum. The kids did study Van Gogh in detail this year! The art museum is hit and miss sometimes because the modern art that they sometimes display isn't always appropriate for children. Ok, older art, too. But this sounds fun!

I told her to go play with her brother. She said she got in the pool for a few minutes without her bathing suit on. Um, ok. But she needed to exercise, too.

Passing the baton of lawn mowing to Keturah. Look at her go!

I was her size and age when I started lawn mowing. I knew she could do it. The lawn mower is self propelled. Justin's going to be surprised and happy!

Go, Keturah, go!

Wednesday was a busy day on the computer. I had to get up and get going because I need to put the regional newsletter together. Then I had a meeting with the social media team. And I wanted to start a financial aid application. Did that third part happen? No. But it's going to rain all day tomorrow, so I will do that first thing tomorrow. My poor babies. Sometimes they don't get any of my attention. It did rain this morning, but it cleared up a bit this afternoon. I sent Keturah outside after my meeting to try to mow some more, and she tried, but eventually the mower gave out on her. I'm thinking she flooded the engine? I don't know. Daddy just told her to put it away. She did come in at one point and say that she doesn't understand why Justin thinks mowing is hard or takes so long. It's easy and fast if you do it right. And because I had a deadline today with the newsletter, she had to do all the cleanup from Abishai's messes and all the chores. I made sure to thank her several times for her help. It's hard to keep up with everything sometimes. 

But the newsletter got done and sent to the editors. Most of the group list is ready to be fixed on the website. The social media team meeting went fine with a few things discussed but nothing big or problematic to worry about. We won't be talking about virtual public schools anymore. And I got a clearer picture of who is allowed in both the main group and the group that I admin. And it was good to see different faces, too. Just in the last few weeks I've had meetings with the reps, with people doing the newsletter (including the communications team and reps), and now the social media team. And seeing Tara multiple times makes me smile anyway. Our leadership, our organization is set up in such a way that you just want to do your best and you want to over achieve for them. Why? Because you are allowed to take risks and fail. You are allowed to go for it and learn from your mistakes. Because of GRACE. GRACE makes all the difference. And then, I step into the other parts of the world and I'm sorely disappointed.

Benaiah went to see the family pcp today and was given a slightly different antibiotic with an extra kick to it to help with what they suspect is strep. However, the test for strep came back negative. The doctor on Sunday diagnosed him with strep based on symptoms and what his throat looked like without doing the test. He's been on the first round of antibiotics for 3 days. So now he's stopping that and taking this one, which is basically the same thing, amoxicillin, just with that extra kick of potassium something. I'm of the opinion that it's still going to last the full week, but that's based on my own experiences with similar symptoms and raising four kids and watching them go through infections with similar symptoms. I'm not a doctor so what do I know, right? 

I'm not a doctor, but I do have a love/hate relationship with them right now and I'm struggling with it right now. I did feel a lot better today with very little headache, but I, too, feel a bit achy, and weird, and off. I'm getting nervous and stressed out by these symptoms. I do have a doctor's appointment on Monday. Another $167 visit. So, I'll bring it up then. I just don't know. I think it's the new meds. But it's brand new symptoms and it's making me feel ill and unable to do much. Thankfully, it's going to be cooler on Friday so I can go to park day. But otherwise, I'm stuck inside and can't invite friends over. I was at first kind of miffed that some of the ladies backed out of Bible study tonight but I'm also glad because then I didn't have to pull myself together for it either. I was excited to share a fun chapter of the Bible complete with props. Oh well, They miss out. And I got to have all the fun rediscovering the stories. So I laid on my bed and rested and listened to my audio Bible. And lo and behold it was when the Israelites were conquered by the Babylonians! But it was from Jeremiah's perspective. He was the prophet left behind in Israel, while Daniel was the prophet in Babylon. Overlapping stories! That's why you just can't cherry pick a book of the Bible and study it! You've got to understand how it fits in with ancient history and how each book fits chronologically. Anyways, whatever. I'll share it another time perhaps.

Ok, onward. Perhaps I'll take a look at that financial aid app so I can be prepared to tackle it tomorrow. And I'm going to do some Abishai snuggling as well. He asked to do some schoolwork today and we didn't get to it. However, on or after July 1st, you can start counting school days, so, if he wants to do something, we can do it! Yeah for an eager student! I just wish I was a fun mom who could take them out more often. I just can't. And it's frustrating and sad. But at least I got some work done at home, too.

I let Abishai play one of my special rounds on my Yahtzee games and look at what he got! Three Yahtzees!

Abishai got a HUGE score! 367 points on my Yahtzee game!

I stole these photos from a public post on FB from our kids' ministry. There's my little guy at camp helping to create a poster about Noah's Ark. He wanted to draw a bat on it, but didn't know how he told us later.

Aww, of course he situates himself next to the young lady helper. His small group was a boy/girl group. They tried to make the groups all boys or all girls but I guess they had some leftover kids, lol. They had fun none the less.

I always appreciate getting a prompt thank you card in the mail. It shows that this young lady has been brought up well.

Keturah finished the off brand Lego set Daddy got her. Some of the pieces don't fit together well so she got frustrated a few times at it.She purposefully put it at Daddy's spot so he could see it. Awwww.

This is what I've been working on. Once you get at least the free log in to the website, you can access the list. It's been a beast to clean up but I only have two more people to hear back from.

Abishai wanted to attack Daddy when he came home.

It's a clone trooper attacking a droid!

Sniper, no sniping!

We have a blueberry thief! Abishai came into the bedroom this morning while I was still in bed and asked for blueberries. I said wait a few minutes and I'll get them. Then he goes back to the kitchen, eats them all, and walks back to the bedroom to show off what he did. Yes, the tub on the left had as many blueberries as the tub on the right. Good grief! Boy, you need to learn to share!

What a different kind of week it's been. I'm mentally exhausted. I feel like I've been with people all week, but I haven't left the house hardly at all. I've seen people on zoom. And I've "talked" to people through email and private message and on Facebook groups and texting. When I read emails and texts and messages, I actually hear their voices in my head if I know them in real life. I see their face and movements. And when I write back, I react in a way that I hope I would if I was in front of them. Well, I do much better in writing than if I was in person. I say much more, that's for sure. So, I feel like I've had a million and one conversations, especially today. Today, Facebook decided to blow up with lots of activity. Actually, we had an excellent discussion in the IAHE Marketplace, which I help to admin, about what we can do to make it better. And it most people were commenting "live" so there was a bit of back and forth, so I couldn't just leave it alone. Then there were lots of other notifications from other groups. It's been a very quiet week on these groups until today. So weird. I didn't have to respond to them all, but I like to check them all as part of my "rounds." I wrote a long monologue text to my sister, that took 30 minutes to write. I didn't eat my breakfast until 10:30am. I didn't shower until 11:30am. It was pretty ridiculous start to the day. And then I had a bunch of emails also to finish up the newsletter from yesterday and the women were diligently working on the group listings (they didn't have to be, but that's the kind of women I work with, God bless them.) Oh man, I am not cut out for the workplace anymore and all this back and forth! I do not remember if Crescent Project was this busy or not. I don't think I was really on different teams with meetings though. I kind of did my own thing. But anyway, I love my jobs but it was a lot and kind of unexpected today since I worked hard on it yesterday. I expected to work on stuff for us today and play with Abishai. Whoops. So, I told the ladies, I am taking off my IAHE hat at 5pm today and not putting it on for a good 24 hrs. Now, I might look at some things tomorrow afternoon during screen time, but I'm going to focus on the ladies at park day and whatever Abishai needs since he's been so patient this week. And then next week, it's play time as long as I'm feeling ok.

I finally felt myself today. I didn't have a headache or migraine. The other pains had subsided some, although I feel a bit of achiness and headache now that I've been up and about more and I went outside for a bit this evening. But I stayed in the shade and it was only 70 degrees. I picked out weeds and played a little basketball with Abishai. But my legs had that restless leg irritated feeling in them. Ugh. I'll continue the course with the iron and vitamin C for a long while yet, even if I drop the other restless leg medication on Monday that I think is keeping me awake. I do not mind taking more iron at all, or vitamin C. Not much tinglies today either. And I felt fairly clear headed. I got the financial aid app for Community Health Network sorted (ooo, they use that word in Britain a lot to mean figured out, I meant to keep a paper handy to record all the British words I want to use instead of American and see if anyone notices, lol). I'm just tired and want to be alone. And I want to clean up my house properly. Like sort toys and stuff. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon before Justin comes home on Saturday. I have dishes and laundry going tonight. Keturah will finish mowing hopefully tomorrow, too.

I had Keturah try to use the weed whacker tonight. Daddy said she did ok. But it took her 5 trips to see me as I was laying down on our bed for the first time all day to stretch my back to figure it out and I still had to go in the garage and show her how to hold down one button and the handle at the same time to make it go. No one showed me how these things work. I just use my brain and push things until it works. Good grief, girl. The lawn mower also won't start, so if she and I can't get that going, I'm having her walk over to Grandpa's to get his push mower. Or she has to beg Daddy to come home in the middle of his work day to get it done. I want it all done before Justin gets home so he can be surprised.

I also banned her from her room from 7-9pm because she didn't get up until nearly 11am. And she had her phone on her most of the day. And I hardly ever see her read anymore. And Abishai needed interaction, too. He had had extra screen time during my shower. He said he was going to play two rounds with good guys and then play rounds with bad guys, but admitted that he only played with bad guys. So, his punishment was that he couldn't play video games with Daddy tonight. Then he had 3 hrs of screen time this afternoon because I didn't know what else to do with him. He had spent several hrs at my heels begging for my phone so he could play yahtzee. Boy, go get some dice off the shelf and play yahtzee in real life! You go count up the dots! Good grief! I should have brought down the Dr. Who Yahtzee! Whoops! Ah, I just want to be alone!

I haven't planned anything for this holiday weekend. Gary and Leah are gone. I'm not sure what Benaiah's sickness status is. I haven't planned any meals. I wonder if should put Jared up to it. The 4th is actually on Sunday. I would assume we are doing fireworks with Smiths that day. But everyone also has Monday off, too. So, maybe we should do a meal with Benaiah on Monday. I'm saving some burgers for that. I wish my vegetables would come. I looked it up and I guess the box was damaged on Tuesday and so it was delayed but no word from the company, no email or text. I don't like that.  So I sent them an email about it.

Oh, I was asking Keturah a question and she texted back a GIF. Well, I was touching a few different things in the texting box and found the funny talking heads thingy, and found out how to make the funny videos Stefanie did for Keturah's birthday! Abishai thought it was hilarious to giggle and say poop and all kinds of things so we sent some funny messages to Justin and Keturah, and some nice ones to Daddy and Benaiah and Stefanie. He also liked picking out funny random GIFS to send to Keturah.She got annoyed of course. We didn't end up pulling out the school books because I was too busy. And no, it wasn't because I was on my video games! In fact, I haven't played all of them today! And it's already 10pm! Craziness! Maybe I should just do nothing all weekend. Hm,....

Jared had another follow up appointment with the nurse practitioner today and she said he can get in the pool because his wound is all closed up now. Abishai is excited about that! He also has permission to carefully do Keturah's baptism a certain way if she wants him to since he won't be taking on her full weight or anything and it it's still 3 weeks away, so almost 6 weeks after surgery. He will still all his other restrictions until then. He did go for an acupuncture appointment as well this week. He said that the NP said that the nerve sensations are normal as things are rewiring themselves back together along with the muscles. There might be some inflammation which is normal so keep with any of the meds he wants to use for that, and ice, or whatever is comforting, but nothing is red or angry or concerning. So, that's good. Just keep on until the final check in late July I guess. I wish mine was that easy.

Anyway, yup, gotta make some weekend plans I guess. At least I got outside for a bit. Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous. I can't wait! I can go outside and hopefully not get a headache! I'm going to bring my water and a snack bag and sit with my friends in person with no agenda and meet this new person that lives just up the road, and maybe I'll invite her over for tea! We'll see! Her 10 year old boy doesn't think he needs more friends, lol. We'll see. Maybe his mom wants more friends though. I hope a few families show up. It's usually slower come summer time. We'll see.

Oh and how can we forget, it was Canada Day! I almost did forget, so I put this little display out after midnight last night. Abishai really liked it and identified with it. And to be honest, I always forget how much red we have in the kitchen!

Abishai was digging in the dress up box and said, "Oh, we need to wear the Canada hat on Canada Day!" Awww.

And Abishai had another great game on Yahtzee today when I finally let him play a round. He begged and begged all morning but I had actually work I was doing on it. Way to go again little guy!

In the evening, we were outside, and we were talking about how big the rose bush was and Abisahi said, "Look at the bugs, Mom!" Oh, I had just brushed by them without even noticing! Japanese beetles! Ugh! These things eat everything and are so hard to get rid of! I grew up with them so I knew exactly what they were and I remember people putting those hanging bags in order to catch them. Ugh! Don't eat my bush! Abishai is so observant!

Go away bugs!

Oh wow, when did you guys grow up? These guys are really tall this year! Actually everything is really, really big. I think it's because we've had a good amount of rain and then some drier days but no long heat waves yet. Abishai also had fun talking to the bumblebees today. I had to tell him to back off several times because he was inching closer to them like they were his friends! It was cute, but I don't know if he's allergic! I'm glad he's much more interested in nature than the other kids were. I guess I'm doing a better job at keeping him interested. I talk to the bumblebees and all my plants. I don't know why. Well, I like talking to all of God's creatures. But plants aren't alive in that way, so I don't know.

My rose bush is out of control. Jared wants to trim it down to nothing again. I'm like, no, just trim it back to about half. What do you think?

I won't be buying it, but at least my favorite mining game acknowledged Canada Day.

The End