Year 7, March 14th - 20th, 2022: Time to Fix Things...or Not

 Monday - Gentlest of Mondays

- The weather was gorgeous! 65 degrees and bright blue skies! I got to step outside and brush the dog for a bit. Thankfully, his skin wasn't irritated but he did have a lot of dandruff. I expect to see a lot more hair falling out in the next few days now that I've stimulated it again (it had been three weeks, so he did shed less actually) and it's time for the spring shed. I didn't feel any new spots, but I didn't feel every bit of skin.  I only went heavily on his head and shoulders.. I went lightly down his back and hindquarters, but will go in deep next time I get a chance. I was supposed to be brushing him more often because I wanted to be more aware of his bumps now but I haven't had the time. I'm grateful that the only change I've seen is that the dandruff increased. He hasn't been uncomfortable or itchy or irritated. And the actual shredding has decreased, so maybe we were overbrushing him. I don't mind doing it as long as I'm sitting down and I know it helps me to be outside, as long as it's after dinner and not during the chaos time. So we'll see if I can get a new pattern established.

- But otherwise, it was a quiet day. Justin and Jared were off to work as normal. Keturah and Abishai and I did school as normal. Abishai and I started around 9:30 and although there were a couple of times I got sidetracked, I managed to pull us back in and we finished without too much trouble. And we got to do one of my favorite lessons of all times: The Trojan Horse! I remember doing this one with Benaiah, Justin, and Keturah when they were 10, 7, and 4. It was one of the first ones we did this with this history series that was hands on. And I had the perfect parts for it! And I got to do it again this time, too, as you will see it below! And Abishai was just as excited about it as Justin was 10 years ago, so that made me super happy! I did discover that I had read the Children's Homer to Justin and Keturah 5 years ago, so now I only have the real Odyssey and Iliad for Keturah to read and I'm not sure I want to put her through all of that. I would have to go digging for a real copy anyway. And our history book splits up this lesson between the Trojan Horse part and the study of the author, Homer, because the setting of the story and when the author lived is 100 years apart. She puts Bible characters in between them. So we'll start reading some of the books about it, and then read a bunch of Bible stories, and then finish up with Homer's life and touch upon Greece before finishing the school year. And then we'll dig more into Greece in the fall. That's kind of a weird way to end the school year for us, but that's where we are at this year. Oh well. At least we got to do the Trojan Horse! Eek!

- Then Kellie came and dropped off Kya for the afternoon/evening. She was going to stay longer but had some work at home to finish. Bummer! I had some questions to ask her, but oh well, perhaps another time. I wasn't feeling the greatest anyway. I just kind of rested the rest of the day. I did a load of laundry, pulled out leftovers for dinner, made sure Abishai was ready for Tang Soo, kept up with email, found a pair of Jared's Vibram brand toe socks for him, and did the misc household stuff.

- Jared said that he and Mike will take the van to the mechanic tomorrow. So, yeah, thanks, Mike, for your help! He has a car trailer thing that he can use to tow it down there so Jared doesn't have to attempt to drive it. Praise the Lord! Then I can get Justin from work and then we can get to our appointment.

- Just have to keep putting one foot in front of another. Oh, and Happy National Pi Day 3/14/2022!

This was on Instagram and talked about how 10% of Canadians aren't allowed to leave their country because they are not vaccinated. That's right, not only can't we go into their because we are not vaccinated, they can't leave. Vaccine mandates are still in place in some parts of the world.

We had snowflakes on Friday. We will hit 70 degrees on Wednesday. This is Indiana.

My mom and dad bought me this model horse almost 30 years ago. It came with skeleton and major organ parts for me to put together. I never did put it together, although I have all the parts in a box. It's an entry level model. I was going to be a veterinarian. I'm sure Keturah would love to mess around with it now. However, it has served us extremely well when demonstrating how the Trojan Horse worked when the Greeks wanted to infiltrate the city of Troy to get back Helen in Homer's Iliad. I used it in 2012 with Benaiah, Justin, and Keturah and we even built up a city wall with Legos or duplos or blocks or something on the coffee table that is now in the fireside room. The kids were 10, 7, and 4. It was the first hands on demonstration I had done with them from the new history series we started that year that we were doing altogether. And it was a hit then and it was a hit with Abishai now! He was so excited to get his clone wars minifigure guys to put in there! It will make even more sense to him after I read more of the story to him in the coming weeks. I shared this photo with Benaiah and showed this horse and Lego set up to Justin and both of them hesitated like they didn't remember. Good grief, don't break my heart, you two, please remember these kinds of lessons with fondness! I made the effort to be more hands on with you guys when it's not my teaching style. Anyway, I love it! And I love the Iliad and Greek (and Roman) myths and gods and all the things so I enjoy this volume a lot. Plus it has all the Old Testament stories and prophets. But, enjoy this Trojan Horse for now.

Socks, do you have to take up the whole door way? Why yes, yes, you do, and we will miss it when you don't anymore. You are already too quiet for my taste anyway. He didn't even get up when Justin got home. Oh my puppy, don't go too soon. Stay with us for a lot longer. One more month and he will be 12 years old. Time to celebrate!

I got the autographed cd I preordered in the mail today. It was released on Friday. So far, so good. It's all their typical style, so easy listening for me. Decent lyrics. Aussie accents. Pop. Bit of a beat. And of course I love their signatures. It was shrinkwrapped, which is weird, because even with the signed ones, they are typically shrinkwrapped again. But as typical, the plastic case is broken. I don't think I own that many plastic cd covers that are intact, lol. Full lyric booklet with all the words, though, which you don't always see these days. Now, fingers crossed that I can get this and the precious cd's actually synced to my phone. I wish I could remember the right procedure! And/or I wish they'd sell the cd and digital rights in the same bundle or if you buy the cd, you get the digital for free just like people do with DVD's. Somewhere I could download more easily to my phone directly without using iTunes. I might have to rip the music directly to my computer, bypassing iTunes, and then uploaded directly to my phone. I don't know. But new music is always a good thing! I offered to let Kya nad Justin to it, but they weren't interested.

EWWWWW, it's a good things this isn't real!!!!! It would make a great April Fool's joke though!

And he's been saying it ever since. Thanks, dear.

Tuesday - Letting Loose

- Well, there you have it. I let it fly. The words I mean. On Facebook. Oh my friends aren't happy. I made some enemies today. But I kind of needed to let my mind roll and let it all out there. First it was just a meme from my friend (the one adopting children from Ukraine) that was about Ukrainian children in a bunker and if they were really worried about Americans and their gas prices or not. Obviously, they are not. There was a ton more shelling today all over Ukraine. And a second reporter died and his photographer was severely injured. This time they were from Fox News. The previous reporter that died and the photographer hat was severely injured were from originally from the Wall Street Journal and are now independent or something. That was on Saturday. So, I got some backlash from other Americans about how their children are poor and can't get enough money for gas and food despite working multiple jobs and such. And then, why would I want our troops to go over there and fight for the Ukrainians and would I want my boys to go over there. Etc. So, I just wrote a long heavy handy response. I said, because I am now a global person and I don't consider myself just an American and yes I'm well aware of the age of my boys and I would be proud of them if they went in either capacity and I would gladly give up anything more here at home to send more money over there and I've been thinking about that all day, actually. What else can I do financially to give. The unknown right now is the van repair, which we just dropped off this afternoon, so I'm hesitant at the moment. But I'm so tempted to just go ahead even before that and send more money. Something, anything. I cannot stand this war. And I cannot stand that NATO and our President just stand by and watch innocent people die. And I cannot stand that now, just like in the World Wars and many other wars, we stand by and watch because it's not our war. I can't understand it when I teach it and I can't fathom why we let the bad guys live. I am a warrior in that way.

- Then the other topic came up after Jared and I's appointment today when we stopped by 1/2 price books. I hadn't been in the store in 12 years. It's been remodeled a ton. I was doing fine until I walked down the main aisle a bit. And then, to my right, was a display of overtly Wiccan material about witchcraft, spells, crystals, and other spirituality things like tarot cards, mindfulness, palm reading, etc. And not only that, it was right next to the Christian self help books and fiction books. All kind of lumped together as spirituality. And you have to walk past both sections to get to the kids' section. Which means, my children have walked past this. And, it's exactly at a teen's eye level. And I got the creeps like I always do around Wicca stuff. I can't stand it. I didn't want to explore the bookstore anymore. It was time to leave. I couldn't believe that Leah or Jared shop there regularly. How can you support a store that openly puts this stuff out there? But that would be the pot calling the kettle black because you can find it all on Amazon, too. So, do whatever with that. All I could think of though was angels and demons having a knock out fight right there in front of me in the aisle. And that I wanted to leave. I can't stand being near stuff like that. It's too much for me. So, of course this all started a debate with a Native American friend defended her culture and if I had hated witchcraft, do I hate her culture, too. I tried to explain the differences between learning about her culture and spending time with her, and not agreeing with her and that it is black and white for me. I cannot participate in it at all. And I said this is why we do not get into Harry Potter at all.  Witchcraft is just a no go for me. And it hit me in the face tonight. And I know that kids in the public school are very open about it. And I know at least one person on my FB that has practiced it. And I know I've probably bumped into others who have also investigated it. It's not something to mess with. It's a real religion and it's absolutely 100% against God. And the other things aren't really to be fooled with either. Meditation and mindfulness were also lumped in there as well, and since I had just had a conversation defending them to the other extreme, I mentioned that and said it the opposite way, that can be used for evil as well. And then around the corner were the other things about tarot cards and oiji boards and talking to the dead and all that. And the energies and chakras, that's all mysticism, Hinduism, and Buddhism type of stuff, again, other religions, which, some don't think is absolutely evil, but to Christianity, it is. Scripture says, if you aren't with me, then you are against me. End of story. And it hurt to see my Native American friend hurt. I try hard to reach out to people. And I was able to write that I respect her and her people and I would absolutely hang out with her and trust her. But her faith practices are wrong according to my faith. And especially with Wiccans, I would have to limit our exposure to them, but I would still hang out with them and get to know them if we had the opportunity. I don't want to isolate myself completely. But people need to be aware that these books are not ok. Being exposed to this material and pretending it is on the same level as the Bible, is not ok. It will never be. And I hold to my convictions, even when I sound harsh. It's reality. I'm not a pussy foot Christian. I try to be sweet, but when it comes down to it, I stand my ground. 

- And so, that is how I have ended my day, saying many words, and upsetting some people.

- The kids and I had a perfectly normal and wonderful day. Jared and I had a good appointment. The van got to the mechanic thanks to Mike's flatbed trailer. Now we wait and see what the price point will be. Tomorrow is a new day and I'll get to stay off the internet. Thank goodness.

Ok, wait a minute, former VP Mike Pence AND his wife were IN the Ukraine?! Goodness me! Can we just get this man elected already? People say he was Trump's puppet, but really, the VP position can be a hard one because no one really notices you. Anyway, I would vote for Mr. Pence in a heartbeat for many reasons and today, I found a new one.

The songbirds were insane this morning!

Abishai, Keturah, and I talked through our emergency plan when the sirens went off. We had just heard the regular practice siren on Friday, so this one seemed really odd. I just looked it up thinking that it might just be an extra one and yup, there it was.

This is the meme that caused that whole dialogue about first world problems.

Keturah offered to make me a salad since she was making herself one when I didn't know what I wanted to eat for lunch. And I said yes! Great job, Keturah! Thanks!

Yeah for friends who have trailers! Time to get the van to the mechanic!

Ooo, other homeschoolers ask about these kinds of things all the time! Now I have some books I can recommend! I didn't buy them though. I'm sure the local libraries have them.

The controversial display out in the open on an endcap at eye level with pre teens and teens and any child on their way to the children's area. This isn't right in my book.

Foreground, Bibles and Christian Bible studies. Background: display about crystals and spells and Wicca and tarot cards and mindfulness and other things. Something isn't right.

Wednesday - It's a Beautiful Day!

- Today we went to ASL and did a bit of homework, but it was hard to sit still! So as soon as we got home and had lunch, we went outside! 70 degrees and blue skies! Yes, I'm that person whose mood is affected by the weather. Gloomy days make me gloomy and sunshine days make me happy! Jared loves rainy days. I don't know why. He thinks the sun is going to dry him out or something. I don't know. And Justin hates the heat. I did get some pushback from the kids today. Abishai said, "I'm allergic to the grass!" Well, we have told him about his allergies and yes, we think he is sensitive to grass and pollen. But that's no reason why you can't go outside and get used to it or take a bit of medicine and just go outside anyway. Jared and I are still go outside despite our allergies. Keturah's excuse was her feet were sore from roller blading yesterday. Justin said he needed to do homework and had other priorities. Plus he was going to sit outside tonight when he small group was going to go eat at Chicago's pizza. Well, they did that but then went over to the high school gym to watch someone play volleyball, so no, they really didn't stay outside.But whatever, teenager. Be grumpy. 

- Tomorrow our homeschool friends decided to meet up at a park so we will join up with them. I don't know if we will see them again on Friday for gym day or not but I kind of think not. I'd rather then stay home and start cleaning up and getting ready for spring and summer while it rains for Friday and Saturday. But we'll see. Homeschoolers know how to get out and about and enjoy the weather. Stark contrast to the public schoolers. Yes, I said it again.

- Otherwise, I'm still huffy about the world's antics. My friend forgave me for my comments about religion yesterday and actually wasn't annoyed. She just gave her perspective. Sometimes I get along with more tolerant non Christians than I do intolerant Christians. But I saw more stuff on the Ukraine again today and I still bothers me to no end. Putin targeted a theater that where 1,000 women and children where sheltering and directly bombed it. No one can get it to it to help them. He doesn't want to occupy Ukraine. He wants to destroy it. And our government just wants to send weapons but not troops. And everybody on both sides political sides is ok with it but me and I don't understand. So I get mad. And I need to drop it. Back to my reality over here. But I like to delve into crisis. It's my jam. Then I can ignore the boring stuff in front of me. Anyway, enough about that.

- We didn't do much else today. Just played outside knowing that the rain is coming and it will cool down again. I was going to do some work in the flower beds tomorrow, but now we have a park day, so I guess that will wait. 

- Evening routine the same, sort of. Jared took Abishai to Tang Soo. I made Justin drive in Franklin Township rush hour traffic to Chicago's Pizza to meet up his friends. And then I had pfun on the Michel W. Smith zoom call. Now I'm tired and worn out and have nothing left to talk about. Good grief. I'll check up later.

 

When your dog gets photographed by the Amazon delivery person. Whoops. No wonder Socks was barking like a maniac! I didn't realize the front door was open! I have no idea if the glass door was latched or not. It's a good thing he knows not to push on it. Poor Amazon person! I mean, I'm sure they are used to it, but still. What a ferocious beast!

Jared was charged with fixing this shadow box frame but it actually came apart worse when he tried. But look who gave this to Gary and when! It actually was only 16 years ago! Keturah works for Renae S. now. Sweet!

Here's what is in the shadowbox. I guess they collected political buttons over the years. I think there was some kind of joke with the Gary for President one. But I definitely want to be the one to inherit this lot. How cool is this stuff?! And yes, I am a fan of the Bush's.

Um, yes! President Zelensky of the Ukraine as Captain America, um, yes!

Gorgeous day outside! Bright blue skies! But I can't look at this and not be reminded about what the skies in Ukraine look like right now. Gray and full of chaos. Missiles. Fire. Smoke. Screams. Day or night. I am thankful for the peace in mine. But I will pray for the chaos in theirs. And for anywhere else in this world for chaos reigns. This world is not our home.

My baby is safe at home in his sandbox and played out his stories for 30 minutes without a care in the world.

We are hopefully getting a new pool this year, so this really can be the new sandbox. I'm so excited!

Hello, toothless!

I didn't realize his face is a bit rounder when he smiles. This photo reminds me of Benaiah's.

Sliding like a penguin.

Nice day for scratching those itches on the dry grass.

Just a reminder that the Enneagram was popular at some point in the last 5 years and I still consider myself a 6 with a 5 wing and this is what it looks like.

Grandpa found Benaiah out in his hammock in Grandpa's front yard. I then texted back and said, "Why didn't you tickle him?" And Benaiah immediately texted the whole text string, "Don't you dare!" Oh, yeah, you are on that same text string. Sorry. And Keturah had passed up the oppurtunity of tickling him when she skated passed him on her online skates. I'm just glad he was enjoying the weather without being prompted. It had been hard trying to convince the other 3 to go outside today.

 

Thursday - When Stew Makes You Cry

- Why can't tomorrow be Saturday? I need it be. I'm done with the week. The chaos in my head is raging. I have way too many thoughts. I need some quiet. I need to be away from people. And the internet. Away from podcasts and the news. But I want to know what's going on. I have FOMO. I want to learn it all. But my head is full. I need time to digest it. To do nothing. And today wasn't enough time.

- We had a park day with our homeschool friends, although it was only Thursday, because it was gorgeous outside. So we won't go to gym day tomorrow. We'll do more homework and chores and things tomorrow. That means we only had a little bit of time for park day and I had to run Abishai to Tang Soo. But I also had to pick up Justin. And the van was ready to be picked up. And email had to be picked through. And sometime I had to eat. So it was busy. And I just wanted to do nothing. But I did everything. And I'm tired. Emotionally, mentally, physically tired. But I have to work tomorrow to finish up school. And put together a to do list so I can stay on task. Maybe I should do that tonight. It will make me feel better.

- After park day, I was feeling a bit deflated, and then it hit me. Some of the best parks we've had were at that park, Southeastway, and it was with this crew, plus others that have since moved away. People like Angie and Autumn, and Randy and her boys. I can hear there voices in my head when we sit there now. And I can see their kids running back and forth to us. And just like the dynamics change when members leave, so has our homeschool Friday group changed, especially without those two somewhat louder ones. They were both louder, and yet, once you got to know them, they were actually pretty chill. Goodness, I miss them. I miss them alot. We do ok without them. But they brought a lot of laughter and stories and thoughts and knowledge to our group. And the kids added so much to our kids friendships, too. I think it's why we've struggled so much this year so far. We can't really replace them, but we haven't found anyone that will join us consistently enough that jives well enough. I mean, we have Kellie and Melissa, and that has helped some. But it would be good to have 1 or 2 more, that are a bit louder even. Sigh. Why do friends have to move? It's not fair.

- We did bring Socks to the park, and Kellie brought her two dogs. After the a bit of growling, they pretty much left each other alone. And they behaved themselves. Socks got a bit warm and I should have had some water for him, but he did ok. I brought him today because it wasn't beastly hot yet. I was hoping the kids would walk him more but they were just interested in talking. Abishai had a good time making new friends his age. We couldn't stay too long, but it was just enough I think.

- Like I said, we only got a bit of schoolwork done, so we'll finish it tomorrow. It's supposed to be cool and rainy the next couple of days. And I got a late start to the day, and Keturah got an even later start to the day. Let's get to bed early so we try to combat Daylight savings time, shall we?

 - Abishai quote of the day: "There's one of me in a week because I'm 7 and there's 7 days in a week!" Well, at least he's putting two and two together that there's 7 days in a week! It's all about those odd connections. Love it!

He's getting so big!

Teens, hanging on swings, just talking and being so grown up.

Someone was super hungry. He ate the whole large piece of pizza tonight and ust left the little pepperonis he didn't like. Good for him.

One more Abishai learned tonight was a side roundhouse kick.. Nice form body! He had tons of energy running down to the paddles though.

Aw, he just couldn't get up over this high jump. But he certainly tried!

That was quick! We haven't had much rain, but these grew quickly!

Blooms already? I think these need to grow a bit bigger first. Hm,...

Friday - Close All Tabs?

- I wish I was a computer that could just close all tabs at once. But I'm not. I do tend to freeze up when there are too many tabs open, however. And today, I just wanted to stare at a blank wall and think about nothing. Don't try to put any new information into my brain today. No podcasts, no articles, no Facebook, no people, no lyrics, no books, no nothing. Like I've been taught about kids, they get to a certain point of the year and they literally run out of RAM and you can't stuff any more information in them. You have to stop the school year. They need to let their subconscious process the information and assimilate it. And that's where I'm at this week. Too much information was front loaded this week and I had no time to fully switch gears and assimilate it before the next thing happened. And my CPU burnt out. And now I just need to stare at blank walls because I'm "loosing my stuffin's" as my friend Kellie says. 

- The kids wanted to get together today and I was being indecisive so Kellie made a decision and hopped in the car and came anyway. I'm glad she did. I wanted to be alone and not on my best behavior in front of a friend, but I actually didn't need to be alone. I needed to process. Kellie is good for that. And she shares with me that makes me feel normal. So I feel better. And I'm happier to know the kids still got to see each other and I didn't get in the way of that because I'm in a mood. That's not fair to them. So, I'm much better now. That, and I took a shower. The weekly shower where I actually wash my hair. Someday I'll wash up more than once a week again. Summer is coming and I'll actually want to. I'm not sweaty enough right now. But that's another story. 

- The day started with Grandpa reminding us about Bible class. Justin thankfully got on first at 9. Keturah was grumping about sleeping in but um, getting up at 9 is sleeping in for 95% of the world, plus she's slept in until 10 and 11am all week, so there's no room to gripe. I was hoping for a no contact with the outside world type of a day, but oh well. Keturah opted to use zoom, so she did. Grandpa was at home though. Abishai also wanted to use zoom. That means, he had to read his entire Bible story TO Grandpa and he DID! Oh, I was so proud of him! Do you remember in the summer and fall when Gandpa was wondering when Abishai would learn to read (although Abishai could read simple words just fine)? Fast forward 6 months and Abishai has learned most of Abeka's "special" sounds and can read I'm guessing on a 2nd grade reading level. See, Grandpa, trust the process, and trust me, who has taught the other 3 how to read very well. There was nothing to worry about. Abishai was never actually behind either. Not at all. It wasn't even that something needed to click. We just hadn't gotten to those blends yet. Abishai is even reading magazines and books on his own already, so he's getting in extra practice, too. So, Grandpa class got done and then it was back to finishing what we didn't do on Thursday.

- We finished that, but it was slow going. And finished history. I took my shower. Then Kellie and Kya came. Then Kellie left. Abishai trolled Kya and Justin. I made spaghetti and meatballs. Jared arrived late. Jared played a round or two with Abishai and put him to bed. Then he took Kya home. He read with Keturah. Then normal bedtimes for everyone else. Huge thunderstorms predicted tonight. Jared had secured everything last night from the downspouts to the sandbox. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain all day, so we'll catch up with more indoors stuff tomorrow. Taxes, budget, talking. Maybe a movie. Maybe I'll cross stitch and listen to some podcasts on health and not listen to stuff on Ukraine. Or find something non political related but about just about Biblical teaching. Or again, just homeschool related but not the politics associated about it. Just the mechanics. I don't know. That's my problem. I don't have a to do list with deadlines. I'm a bit lost. I still can't wrap my head around what needs to be done. Maybe I can do that tonight while I'm still awake enough. 

- Here comes the storm and Jared and Justin aren't back yet. I hope Justin isn't driving. He usually drives back for the practice. And he needs practice in the rain, but this is really, really stormy out there. lightning, thunder, downpours. On the dark back roads where there are lots of pot holes is not a smart place for a new driver to be. Sigh. Praying them home safely.

I see the blooms on the daffodils but the stalks are so small this year! I guess we haven't had much rain. But these seem unusually small.

Hey look! Trojan Horse was in my crossword puzzle today!

Reading to Grandpa via Zoom, although Grandpa is literally a few 100 yds away in his house. Technology!

We went outside to check on the sandbox and Daddy had already properly covered it before the rainstorms. But Abishai thought he just had to have the goggles on because they looked cool. And yes, he's skirting my rule of using your own shoes and boots with socks by wearing Daddys' oversized waterporoof boots. Ewwww.

Saturday - Not Rainy, but Gloomy

- Gloomy outside, so what can we get done inside? Well, it wasn't planned but I did go ahead and look for Jared's missing white toe sock because I felt I had enough energy to bend done and move things around in the bedroom. It wasn't there. It's been missing for well over a year, so I'm done looking for it now. He'll have to use his new pair of white ones he got two Christmases ago. Oh well. And, there were a ton of Socks' hair dust bunnies, so, I went ahead and vaccumed all of those. I have no idea how we get all those tumbleweeds when he's not in our room that much. So, our floor and under the bed are now clean again. So much dandruff and dust and dog hair collects in our room. There's not even that much floor space. I just don't know how it gets there, but it bothers me a ton. So that's done.

- Then I finished my mini project of cleaning up the half bath little shelf. The kids moved their toothbrushes into the big bathroom, so I'm the only one who does it in the little bathroom anymore. So, it was a good time to clean out that shelf which was full of toothpaste droppings, unused, but out of the package so they are now dirty kid floss picks, old toothbrushes, etc. Now I have just my stuff on one side and stuff that guests might find handy on the other side. Ah, it feels good to have an area that is ready for guests. I might start the big bathroom not next weekend because I will start the IAHE newsletter, but probably the week after perhaps? Because I'm chomping at the bit to do it. But today I had to finish the taxes and send those out because I have less than a month to finish them. Yikes!

- Jared was late coming home last night because he went to Home Depot. I knew he was buying a cedar plant to took some salmon on, but the bill was much higher than that. I though, oh no, I hope it's for some nonsense project and I didn't want to be even more mad at me. But then he called Keturah to help him and wouldn't tell the rest of us what they were going to work on. But I have a sneaky suspicion that it is a target for Keturah's bow and arrow. That would be awesome if Jared fulfilled that promise on time. He's getting better and better at following through instead of procrastinating, but I will probably always be doubtful of his ability to get things done in a timely matter that don't have a set deadline.

 - The taxes got SENT today! Wahoo! And the amount is right in the middle of our average refunds and our highest refund, which was last year. So, I'm crossing my fingers it's all correct. I double checked all the funky W-2's and hoping that this "astounding" new accountant of e2's knows what he's doing and this is the final rendition of what paychecks and W-2's really should look like and how HSA's should be handled and other benefits. And, I put all the other weird things like those government handouts in the right places so they can't blame me if it's weird. I went through every screen that showed up and double checked. And then off it went. Now, the hard part is convincing Jared what we will do with it once it's in the bank account again. Because it went so horribly wrong last year and we still really didn't settle that argument. Maybe it's my turn to go withdraw cash and set it aside for the bathroom repairs. And then pay off as much as we can of anything else or put it in retirement or whatever. I don't know. Emergency funds somewhere. Because inflation is high, interest rates are going up, and I'm not a happy camper about any of it. 

- The day ended blah after that. Jared made food for the kids and himself after he took a nap without a word to me. I made my own supper and tried to get rid of the pain in my back. My back and hip nerves have decided to go all haywire to the point of putting me in tears again. And now I'm tired from a late night and working hard this morning and the emotional exhaustion of hard relationships. But, tomorrow is another day, and I have a plan for tomorrow and the week and I am caught up and ready to go. My piles are smaller and I can get to the next little project or big project. I even bought a little mending thing kit off of FB advertising so I can mend my wool socks and possibly my jeans with some fun stitching work. I'd like to go work on cross stitch while I watch a TV show because I'm even caught up on my video games, but we'll see. My puzzle is too complicated and fustrating especially at night and I don't want to lean over because of my back. And I could try to listen to something, but I also might fall asleep. We'll see. I could sleep right now at 9pm as well. I'm that tired.  Hopefully the sun while shine tomorrow.

 

It's clean! If I can convince Jared to buy an actual towel rack so we can stop hanging the towel over the edge of this door that is supposed to close and seal off this little shelf, then I can just take off this door. It's such a small thing, but $20 is $20 plus the frustration of putting it on the wall. I know, but Jared hates doing these things. And I'm not handy enough to do it without messing it up. Plus he ws going to try and build something for this bathroom and I stopped him. I just want a hanging one like I have for the kitchen towels. Simple. White. Nothing special. Sigh.

Guest side has individually packaged glass wipes, kid floss picks because they were free and they are individually wrapped, plus adult floss (adult floss picks are in the cupboard, and lotion.

My side has the nail clippers, my toothbrush/paste, and water cup which gets shared way too much between Abishai and I but whatever. We hardly ever get sick.

We finally let Socks have that big peanut butter jar. We were hoping he would lick it for hours and he would stick his whole nose in. Nope. He licked the inside rim for about 2 minutes and then walked away. What?! You love peanut butter! So I've had this empty jar on the kitchen counter for at least two weeks waiting for all of us to be around to watch him lick it and he doesn't even want to? Punk! Whatever, he's actually my very good boy who knows how to stay clean. Can't blame him. It's his personality. Food is not a top priority. Taking care of his pack is. Goodness I love this dog so much! 24 days until he turns 12!!!

Abishai and I have been shooed away multiple times. Keturah was about to tell me what they are making when I asked but Daddy shushed her. Alrighty then. Have fun!

I gave Abishai the chalkboard eraser and had him erase the shamrocks (although technically St. Patrick allegedly used them to explain the Trinity so they are a Christian symbol, too) so we could put up Easter things on the board. And then I had him decide on what to put on the board. He drew the crosses, including Jesus' cross being higher than the two "criminals" (he's so cute when he says that word!). I'm not sure what the two people are. Maybe it's Jesus talking to the criminal that went to Heaven with him about the one who went to Hell. I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Abishai tomorrow.

It's Gary's birthday tomorrow! And we get to have lunch with him on his actual birthday AND we have an actual gift, which is highly unusual for us. So, the kids didn't understand that we actually have to wrap a birthday gift and write a card. Well, we did it all in one. I had Abishai write on the outside of the box. I don't own any birthday wrapping paper because well, I'm horrible at giving gifts and just use gift bags.

Wahoo! I got it done finalized and sent today! Praise the Lord! It wasn't that complicated. I just need the few hrs last weekend to get it all entered and then a clear head and like 30 minutes this week to finalize it this head to feel confident enough to send it. Definitely not that complicated. Thank goodness. Plug and chug.

Sunday - New Beginnings? Or Failed Old Things?

- It was a good day for many things. Not so good day with a few things.

- It was Gary's 66th birthday! So we had fried chicken and cheesy potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, pink stuff, and deviled eggs. Oh and a variety of desserts. Then Leah had a special gift for him - a piece of metal from the grating of the Mackinac Bridge that was saved when they changed all of that out in 2017. And it looked like a cross! Pretty cool! They could have driven over that piece whenever they drove up there over the years, including when we walked over the bridge. So, how fun! And then we had our gift as well. And Aaron and Shauna had sent a card home with Leah. Gary's younger brother Mike called him briefly while we were there for lunch, and I'm sure Ron, his older brother would have called him, too. So, that was normal and fun. The rest of the dinner conversation was fine enough.

- Benaiah said he's doing fine in school and balancing getting good grades and spending a decent amount of time on his classes while spending enough time with friends, Ava, and church stuff. He says it's not anything he already doesn't know, but I'm sure there's bits and pieces that are knew to him. He'll be fine. He's got it handled. Now I have to handle Justin's Ivy Tech stuff for next stuff. It should be intersting. I have a very open week this week so it's on my agenda to work on it now that our taxes are done. One thing at a time.

- The weather was gorgeous for the best day of spring. 55 degrees and warm in the sunshine. If only the insides of our hearts and our home were warm and growing. Instead, we continue to be cold and hard hearted and stubborn and name calling and ugly towards one another, and I'm just talked about the adlts in this house 

- So I was glad to escape to a different location for the early evening. I took Keturah and Justin to Kya's youth group, which ended up being where a lot of our homeschool friends go to. It's at New Palestine Bible Church at their old facility. I actually watched both Indian Creek's 9am service and then this church's 10am service and they both have solid Biblical teaching and worship. So, I was happy to hear that. Kellie's pretty pleased with it and has been attending there in the morning and she's ready to jump right in with both eat and go to a woman's Bible study and all the stuff. So that makes me happy. And of course Jared is against any of these things. Justin did alright and Keturah well, she just acted as normal just watching everything. I need to teach her to not lean on her personality as a crutch. Justin said it was a pretty good sermon by Pastor Rex during youth group time and the kids were engaged in the talk. So, that's cool. And the kids can go back next week if they want to and then it's back to regular programming in a couple weeks after that.

-Oh, and then they will go back to our youth group. And then we will have another time of prayer and praying that mature Believers where I cry out to God for wisdom clarity of thoughts because it's only March and I'm not doing anything right now. We'll see. Jared wants to argue about it, but I want to take it slow and see how this youth group does things.

- Our youth group is on break because Franklin Township schools are spring break, which I find absurd and all have found absurd. Not everyone travels and you are leaving vulnerable people at home for two weeks. Not a good idea. But whatever. I'm not in charge and you don't' want to hear from me. So I wipe the dust of my sandals on my way out. And that's that. Because I know when and where I'm wanted and when and where I'm not.

Shauna sent this heated shawl home with Leah for me. I think we had talked about it before, but happy very early birthday present to me! It is perfect for those extra cold nights at my desk!

Keturah got to light Grandpa's birthday candle.

Leah had a bunch of leftover desserts so that's what everybody had for Gary's birthday "cake." So he just had one candle to blow out this year instead of 66 candles he really needed, lol.

Nearly 12 hrs of sunshine on the spring equinox. I wonder if tomorrow will get us closer to the 12 hr mark. We are at the end of the time zone though, so that might mess us app a little on the time marker. It was also a balmy 55 degrees today.

Dinner of champions, fig newtons and goldfish.

The End