Year 6, September 27th-30th, 2021: Blast of Heat

 One more blast of heat, but it doesn't feel like it because the humidity left. Yeah! We were busy inside getting after the books of course. We made it through all the bookwork, Grandpa's class, chores, mowing, trimming, extra stuff, screen time, fighting, dinner, etc. But, it felt a little chaotic and a little less efficient thatn I had hoped. And I couldn't keep my mouth shut to save my life. I really should have not let them have TV until their chores were done but the purpose was to see how they squeeze it in in their own way and both Keturah and Justin did it, but barely. I asked Justin if he needed a flashlight in order to finish mowing it was so dark when he came in. There's nothing else to report about. I'm thinking a need to plan a hike but I'm not sure. Maybe with Mrs. Kelly and Kya. We'll see. Or maybe just Mrs. Kelly and I need to go for a little hike. That would be fun. We'll see. I just don't want to go out in the woods alone. But I don't need a kid who will whine the whole time either. Hm,....

All new cars in our collection thanks to the neighbor. Lots of police cars!

Ready for action!

Time for transportation.

Abishai's secret way of unlocking our bedroom door is to find a car with a long fender (tail) and then you can fit him in the indent in the doorknobs (it fits a penny for comparisons. The doorknobs are probably as old as the house.

Aww, chubby cheeks! So sweet and quiet. Keturah was always good at napping!

Truth

So I went back to the original post and found the photos in the IG post above and saw that Keturah was in all three photos. Can you spot her in all three photographs? Hint, she's not wearing the same color shirt as everyone else since she didn't serve yesterday.

Cool clouds this evening as Justin finished the mowing that he started on Thursday or Friday I believe.

Everybody got up late this morning, ok, the kids and I, so we nearly ran behind schedule. I got a phone call this morning, too, which was fine, but made me feel rushed in teaching Abishai. We managed to finish ok. Then it was time already to take Socks to the vet for his annual exam. We got all his spots checked out and basic stuff done like heartworm, rabies, distemper, etc. He's got some heart arrhythmia going on, so we put him on some medication for that. When you add that to the cost of his heartworm and his anti inflammatory medication, he's now hovering around $160 a month to maintain. Ouch. That's not bad all things considered, but he's starting to cost as much as me. The vet said he would be more considered about the heart if Socks was younger because it would shorten his lifespan, but at this point, Socks would die of something else first and the medication is just to slow down the progression of any heart disease so that it won't be the thing to kill him. Everything else looks good, including the fatty tumor on his belly that I had found. So, no surprise bills there. Nearly $500 for the visit though. Ouch. But worth it. He's good to go for now. They even printed a new name tag for him, I think because it has his rabies number on it. It has his name, my phone number, and their info on it, as well as a number below that which I assume goes with the rabies info. So, that's cool. The other one was pretty pitiful.

After that, I was too tired to do any readalouds and my hips were bothering me, so I caved and the kids had screen time before chores. Then I took them to Wendy's for supper. I dropped Justin and Keturah off to finish their extra chores while I took Abishai to pick up my prescriptions and gas. Pretty easy. Recycling bins were full, so I only put a couple of things in the bin. I did save $0.20 on gas with my Kroger card. I wish Abishai could pump gas, but not quite yet. Then we headed home. I let him on the PS4 to play video games until Dad got home and I read aloud history to the other two. I need to find a better routine with history in particular, but our whole homeschool schedule, but in order to get it all in, and still do coffee dates and doc appts, sometimes, school has to be done in the evening. We still learned about the Great Depression, some economics about the the 1980 global financial crisis and the logical tatic of repetition. Fun stuff to send kids off to bed with, right? Hey, they will just to be ready for night classes, right? I didn't like night classes. I don't think well at that time. But I didn't have a choice. I'm glad I finished my degree right away because it would have been impossible now. 

And just like that, it's 10:30pm and the day is at its end. Sigh.

Throwback just a few years, lol. At least one of my kids likes to take selfies with me!  What a cutie!

Truth

Abishai had asked if he could lay down on the bench at the vet's office way before we even got there meaning he has such a great memory. So, of course I let him. Keturah wasn't happy about it and kept trying to sneak a seat, but I told her no because she had been sitting all day.

The miles per gallon you get when you drive on the highway 3x a week and that's most of the driving you do. Not bad at all. 345 miles for a 16 gallon tank.

The only way to get another Johnson on Instagram is via another ministry, lol. Nice one! Different set of books via renew.org. It's not the last book Gary is ever going to write. I may or may not know when and what that will be. Ssshhhh, Mum's the word, lol.

Someone paraphrased this in a post today and I thought it was pretty cool. I guess it's an educational debate or theory going around I had not clue about and can be interpreted in different ways. In the context of the post, however, we were using it to described self directed learning. I think you could also apply it to mean the homeshcool journey where you start out by teaching them directly and as they get older, they take on more of the responsibility of learning, which is a more accurate description of how I view and carry out education.

Wednesday was a bright and sunny day, and again fairly warm at 80 degrees, unseasonably warm in my opinion. The kids and I were early to ASL lessons and I actually didn't have to push them to get ready for once. Abishai and I stuck around and did most of his school lessons which helped us later in the day when we got home. The other kids and I read through the last lesson for the week and then Abishai and I finished just in time for normal screen time. Then it was time for a quick supper of leftovers and off to drop Justin to small group and a much needed grocery store run. And then dash back to drop off groceries at home. Keturah and I put them away while Jared and Abishai picked up Justin. We only put away the perishables as it was getting really late and I was so tired from the day already and my hips were still hurting. I was in a lot of pain actually from many things and ended up going to bed early without watching TV. That means the computer was shut off before midnight! Wow! That must tell you how much pain I was in and how exhausted I was! Lol! I actually did get 7 hrs of sleep and I'm writing this on Thursday night, lol. Plus, I wouldn't be able to share this wonderful footage with you all of the finally catching the mouse in action that has been stealing the food out of Socks' dog dish! Oh yeah, I totally got him in action! Just a little field mouse. And the whole corner is now nicely baited and ready for Mr. Mousy to show up again. And after we catch him, I'll be putting a cover on the dog food dish at night so this doesn't happen again. And then mice will probably show up in the pantry again. Ah, life in the suburbs. 

"Mommy, I have my own method. Let me show you." Ok, let's see it. Ok, that works. just do it now. I'm so glad I read Sally Clarkson's book about the out of the box thinker because this kid is the most out of the box thinker I have ever known.

Working hard now at ASL lessons so he doesn't have to later at home.

Oops! I got my first "help" from Abishai on his paper! Lol! I think every one of the kids has writen this on their pages for me at some point. I didn't even say anything of that though to this one and he knew what to do. Misspelled it of course, but hey, it's funny!

In Hollywood I believe at the primiere of the "Jesus Music" movie. All my childhood music standing in a row there. Great stuff. For King and Coutnry's Smallbone with sister Rebecca St. James and Michael W. Smith (blue jacket) with Amy Grant (red dress), next to Toby Mac and Michael Tait of DCTalk and now again Newsboys, and what's his face from I Can Only imagine fame. Fun stuff!

Thursday started out alright with a nice hot shower, and then things were a bit chaotic for a little while. Then Kelly and Kya came over for the afternoon and we had a nice chat. We had a quick supper again, Jared went to Jim's for Bible study, I helped Abishai with a project, Keturah lounged, and Justin had his screen time. The End. Lol, Pretty much. Nothing new to report. Holding steady, I think. 

I went to find mouse traps and look what I found! The box was open in the drawer they were in and the mice had helped themselves to their own poison! Bwahahahaha! No wonder we hadn't had anything in the pantry for awhile. A taste of their own medicine, literally! But the box smelled so bad! Ewww! Yikes!

You just have to watch the first 15 seconds of this video to see Mr. Mouse. Eww!

 

 

 

 

Me all the time, less the nails and makeup of course. Can't stop thinking about the last conversation I had or the topic that is bothering me the most.

The End