Well the good news is that it looks like rain! Thus, it is supposed to be something like 8 or 9 or 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. Yay! No rain yet, just clouds, but it is supposed to be on its way.
The other good news is that I have a washing machine now. This is important and relevant today because both of my boys got sick in the middle of the night and I was incredibly grateful that I was able to just strip the icky sheets and blankets off of beds and toss them in the washer and didn't have to deal with the smell permeating my entire house until I could get to the laundramat. And then this morning when I had more sheets and blankets to wash it wasn't a big deal to just throw in another load.
My boys are strange though. They both are acting as if they are perfectly well, except perhaps they are a little cuddlier than normal. They both love being cuddled normally though, so it is hard to tell if there is really a difference. Victor will come up and say "Mom, you take care a me, peas?" By this he means for me to pick him up and hold him for a few minutes. At least he is polite, I think we're finally making headway in that department. He'll actually say please and thank you and you're welcome without prompting more than half the time.
I found a DVD of Charlotte's Web at Walmart the other day and because it was in the 7.50 pile and I had been thinking of wanting to watch the cartoon ever since I saw they remade it into a movie I decided to get it. The babies enjoyed it, Victor especially likes piggies. So we started reading the book together too. It is hard for Colin to sit for any length of time, but Victor likes it when I read and Becca actually understands. I am glad, it is a good book and I like those old movies and stories. I need to get some more of them. I found the Little Bear books at a library sale. I remember reading them when I was tiny. They are divided into chapters and everything, so they are really meant for beginning to read. We're getting closer. I guess I could have put Becca in Pre-K this year. I don't know that I am ready for that yet....
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
I hate playing catchup
I really ought to post since I haven't in a REALLY, REALLY long time, but it is so hard. I've gotten very tired about things. Not that I am really tired, but everything seems so tired, so done. Lack of enthusiasm is all it really is, probably stemming from the warm. Plus the baby seems to be determined to make its presence known. Ugh, I don't think I've been able to eat a decent meal without getting ill in a long time. The first trimester it was of course I just felt ill, but since then I just can't eat more than the smallest amount at a time or I just feel sick for the next 6 hours or so. Annoying. But I figured that baby knew what baby needed. Then went to the doctor and had lost weight. They weren't happy. Next month was the same deal, but the ultrasound showed baby weighing a pound instead of the normal 13.5 oz, so that is a good thing and I'm not worried. Just annoyed.
I still haven't seen many ants or bugs since our friend came and sprayed for us. I am so grateful. I'll see one or two on occasion, not many, but I sweep dead ones up off the bathroom floor whenever I sweep, so I know the spray is still working.
My cake class went okay. I was happy with how many people were there, not too many adults, but then the Activity Days girls all came in because they were supposed to tie quilts and their leader had forgotten the yarn, so all of a sudden I had an extra 9 young (mostly 8 and 9 year old) girls. Ugh. It was miserable. I don't think I am going to be doing anything like that again any time soon.
I'm still struggling a little with teaching Becca's class. I know that they class needs me, those poor little kids haven't had a constant teacher for a long time and there are a couple of the children who really need some extra help. Our ward is sort of partnered with another deaf ward. We have our sacrament first, but then we both meet for our Primary and Sunday School and such at the same time, then they have their sacrament meeting. It is an interesting idea, but makes sense, so that the hearing children of deaf families have an opportunity to go to our Primary and have a little more exposure to speech. I have 2 boys in my class that belong to the deaf branch, and while I know they understand me, they are very quiet and need to be drawn into conversation. I'm very proud of one of the little boys who seems to have come a long way even in the past month toward talking more in class and sharing time. But I suppose I am a little selfish and I miss having time to meet with other adults. I really don't see anyone all week except the babies and Jon. Especially now that Colin is in nursery I miss that I could be in Sunday School or Relief Society WITHOUT CHILDREN! You know it has been 4 and a half years since I was able to go to meetings without a baby to take care of? Not since Becca was born. Victor was born the week she went into nursery and Colin the week Victor went in. I have a couple months this time, and it is hard not to wish I could get to take advantage of them and get to know some of the sisters in the ward. So like I said, I feel a little bad sometimes and get awfully lonely alot, but I know that those little kids need me, or at least someone to take care of them, and I guess the Primary has had trouble finding good teachers. So I'm it. Aw well, there are worse things, and I'd rather them have a teacher. I can do without. Maybe it'll be better once we get visiting and home teachers.
What else has been happening. I finally got my texas license so I can legally drive again. I think you're supposed to change it within 30 days of the move, so I haven't driven since the end of May. Not that I mind too much, and Jon usually has the van at work, so it isn't a big change. Took quite a bit though. My social security card got put away in some unfindable place during the move, so we went and applied for a new one of those (45 minutes), then we went to the DMV and that was a horrible mess. You stand in line to get to the information booth. There they ask what you are there for and check to see if you have all the documents you'll need. Then you get a number and sit and wait. When your number is called you go stand up along a way in order and wait for your turn at the counter. There really weren't all that many people in front of me when we got there, maybe 2 dozen or so. We sat and waited for 1 1/2 hours. Ugh! The people behind the counters were just chatting, chatting, chatting, taking their time and wandering around. I suppose I don't expect them to hurry hurry hurry all day, but it seemed a little disrespectful of the time all the people who were waiting had given up to be there. We took the boys in for a well-child doctor's visit the other day and it was the same thing. We were there for 2 hours. We waited in the waiting room for 25 minutes, then an additional 45 in the examination room. Yes, it was an hour and 10 minutes after our appointment before the doctor came to see us. I wasn't impressed. I understand being behind, but that was ridiculous. My doctor's office has been the same way, having to wait half an hour after your appointment before you get in, but I liked the doctor, so I decided I'd deal with it, and get early in the day appointments before they get behind. But I didn't like the boys' doctor or his staff, they weren't very friendly, so I think we'll find somewhere else.
Let's see, what else. We had the storm come through, but we are on the far side of town and didn't get that much rain and hardly any wind at all. It was just a rainstorm, and not even a major rainstorm at that. But it felt good to be prepared. Texas has had 2 storms hit it already this year, it would be really bad luck to get a third, but September is the busy season for hurricanes, so we'll see. I'll just be sure to keep adding to our first aid kit and preparedness stuff. I got a bunch of potato pearls from the Home Storage Center the other day, which is great. I like them better than potato flakes and they don't take milk to make them either. THey don't last as long, so they don't work for long term storage, but they'll be good just to make for dinners. They aren't quite as good as homemade, but close enough that I'll make them to avoid having to heat the house up while boiling potatoes!
We finally found a nice dresser for Becca's room. I had to look for a long time to find something close to what I wanted for what I wanted to pay. I wanted to get one of the 6 drawer low-boy style dressers, but I saw this on Craigslist and loved it. Plus it was only 40 dollars, which is a long way from the 100 or 120 I was just about reconciled to having to pay to get anything like what I wanted. But this is a lot nicer quality than I would have been able to get for that price. And it was from a nice clean house in a nice area, so I wasn't worried about inviting bugs to my house. The bugs make it nearly impossible to do alot of shopping at yard sales. You never know where those things are hiding. There are some things I definitely could live without, and bugs are one of them.
I still haven't seen many ants or bugs since our friend came and sprayed for us. I am so grateful. I'll see one or two on occasion, not many, but I sweep dead ones up off the bathroom floor whenever I sweep, so I know the spray is still working.
My cake class went okay. I was happy with how many people were there, not too many adults, but then the Activity Days girls all came in because they were supposed to tie quilts and their leader had forgotten the yarn, so all of a sudden I had an extra 9 young (mostly 8 and 9 year old) girls. Ugh. It was miserable. I don't think I am going to be doing anything like that again any time soon.
I'm still struggling a little with teaching Becca's class. I know that they class needs me, those poor little kids haven't had a constant teacher for a long time and there are a couple of the children who really need some extra help. Our ward is sort of partnered with another deaf ward. We have our sacrament first, but then we both meet for our Primary and Sunday School and such at the same time, then they have their sacrament meeting. It is an interesting idea, but makes sense, so that the hearing children of deaf families have an opportunity to go to our Primary and have a little more exposure to speech. I have 2 boys in my class that belong to the deaf branch, and while I know they understand me, they are very quiet and need to be drawn into conversation. I'm very proud of one of the little boys who seems to have come a long way even in the past month toward talking more in class and sharing time. But I suppose I am a little selfish and I miss having time to meet with other adults. I really don't see anyone all week except the babies and Jon. Especially now that Colin is in nursery I miss that I could be in Sunday School or Relief Society WITHOUT CHILDREN! You know it has been 4 and a half years since I was able to go to meetings without a baby to take care of? Not since Becca was born. Victor was born the week she went into nursery and Colin the week Victor went in. I have a couple months this time, and it is hard not to wish I could get to take advantage of them and get to know some of the sisters in the ward. So like I said, I feel a little bad sometimes and get awfully lonely alot, but I know that those little kids need me, or at least someone to take care of them, and I guess the Primary has had trouble finding good teachers. So I'm it. Aw well, there are worse things, and I'd rather them have a teacher. I can do without. Maybe it'll be better once we get visiting and home teachers.
What else has been happening. I finally got my texas license so I can legally drive again. I think you're supposed to change it within 30 days of the move, so I haven't driven since the end of May. Not that I mind too much, and Jon usually has the van at work, so it isn't a big change. Took quite a bit though. My social security card got put away in some unfindable place during the move, so we went and applied for a new one of those (45 minutes), then we went to the DMV and that was a horrible mess. You stand in line to get to the information booth. There they ask what you are there for and check to see if you have all the documents you'll need. Then you get a number and sit and wait. When your number is called you go stand up along a way in order and wait for your turn at the counter. There really weren't all that many people in front of me when we got there, maybe 2 dozen or so. We sat and waited for 1 1/2 hours. Ugh! The people behind the counters were just chatting, chatting, chatting, taking their time and wandering around. I suppose I don't expect them to hurry hurry hurry all day, but it seemed a little disrespectful of the time all the people who were waiting had given up to be there. We took the boys in for a well-child doctor's visit the other day and it was the same thing. We were there for 2 hours. We waited in the waiting room for 25 minutes, then an additional 45 in the examination room. Yes, it was an hour and 10 minutes after our appointment before the doctor came to see us. I wasn't impressed. I understand being behind, but that was ridiculous. My doctor's office has been the same way, having to wait half an hour after your appointment before you get in, but I liked the doctor, so I decided I'd deal with it, and get early in the day appointments before they get behind. But I didn't like the boys' doctor or his staff, they weren't very friendly, so I think we'll find somewhere else.
Let's see, what else. We had the storm come through, but we are on the far side of town and didn't get that much rain and hardly any wind at all. It was just a rainstorm, and not even a major rainstorm at that. But it felt good to be prepared. Texas has had 2 storms hit it already this year, it would be really bad luck to get a third, but September is the busy season for hurricanes, so we'll see. I'll just be sure to keep adding to our first aid kit and preparedness stuff. I got a bunch of potato pearls from the Home Storage Center the other day, which is great. I like them better than potato flakes and they don't take milk to make them either. THey don't last as long, so they don't work for long term storage, but they'll be good just to make for dinners. They aren't quite as good as homemade, but close enough that I'll make them to avoid having to heat the house up while boiling potatoes!
We finally found a nice dresser for Becca's room. I had to look for a long time to find something close to what I wanted for what I wanted to pay. I wanted to get one of the 6 drawer low-boy style dressers, but I saw this on Craigslist and loved it. Plus it was only 40 dollars, which is a long way from the 100 or 120 I was just about reconciled to having to pay to get anything like what I wanted. But this is a lot nicer quality than I would have been able to get for that price. And it was from a nice clean house in a nice area, so I wasn't worried about inviting bugs to my house. The bugs make it nearly impossible to do alot of shopping at yard sales. You never know where those things are hiding. There are some things I definitely could live without, and bugs are one of them.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Is it naptime yet?
It is amazing how busy you can get without even trying. 2 weeks ago, I wasn't actualy bored, but I didn't have any commitments really, not besides trying to vacuum and clean constantly to keep the bugs and the children under control. I actually am enjoying that vacuuming the house is becoming part of the going to bed routine. It means that the house has to get clean just before bed, which means that it is likely to stay in that state for at least 12 hours. If I vacuum otherwise, the rooms are only likely to stay clean, well, long enough for the vacuum to leave the room. Seriously, I've cleaned the entire living room and vacuumed and as I come back from vacuuming the bedrooms the living room is a mess again. Sigh. I suppose the babies just want to have fun.
But the last couple weeks got busy. First I got to prepare my first lesson for my class, which went well. It was a lesson on the Good Shepherd and the manual had lots of good ideas for stories and activities for the children, but that meant a good bit of preparation. And I had to try to keep that preparation away from Rebecca as much as possible so she got to have a surprise in class too. It was an interesting class. Very quiet for 4 and 5 year olds. Very quiet. There are a couple kids in the class that are going to need to be treated carefully and need to be drawn out a bit more. There is one girl in particular who seemed to be a little skittish, and I think I'll need to be a little careful of her feelings and work to make her stay focused on the lesson, and yet enjoy it. Interesting challenges.
Meanwhile, every month there is a cooking group and the leader was going to be out of town and needed a sub at almost the last minute. I volunteered and am going to do a mini cake decorating class tonight at the church. Nothing major, just little things, but it'll be fun I think. The difficulty was that I had been hearing that these cooking classes weren't highly attended so I was thinking half dozen people, maybe up to 10 if interest was great, but I wrote and asked to be sure and yesterday heard that it is hard to estimate, but to plan for 10-15! ugh. I don't have that much frosting. Oh well, I'll do the best I can and if there are that many people it'll just not be quite as much hands on as I wanted, and people will have to share.
Tomorrow Jon is going to work from home in the morning because I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Then Friday morning there is a breakfast and flag-raising at the church bright and early. And off course I need to get the Relief Society newsletter done, but unfortunately, I don't have any good information for it, since I don't go to Relief Society anymore and haven't been getting answers to my emails. Frustrating.
It is now a quarter to 11 and I am ready for a nap. Aw well. Leftovers for dinner here we come! (poor Jonathan, he took the leftovers to work for lunch, so that'll be 3 meals in a row.)
But the last couple weeks got busy. First I got to prepare my first lesson for my class, which went well. It was a lesson on the Good Shepherd and the manual had lots of good ideas for stories and activities for the children, but that meant a good bit of preparation. And I had to try to keep that preparation away from Rebecca as much as possible so she got to have a surprise in class too. It was an interesting class. Very quiet for 4 and 5 year olds. Very quiet. There are a couple kids in the class that are going to need to be treated carefully and need to be drawn out a bit more. There is one girl in particular who seemed to be a little skittish, and I think I'll need to be a little careful of her feelings and work to make her stay focused on the lesson, and yet enjoy it. Interesting challenges.
Meanwhile, every month there is a cooking group and the leader was going to be out of town and needed a sub at almost the last minute. I volunteered and am going to do a mini cake decorating class tonight at the church. Nothing major, just little things, but it'll be fun I think. The difficulty was that I had been hearing that these cooking classes weren't highly attended so I was thinking half dozen people, maybe up to 10 if interest was great, but I wrote and asked to be sure and yesterday heard that it is hard to estimate, but to plan for 10-15! ugh. I don't have that much frosting. Oh well, I'll do the best I can and if there are that many people it'll just not be quite as much hands on as I wanted, and people will have to share.
Tomorrow Jon is going to work from home in the morning because I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Then Friday morning there is a breakfast and flag-raising at the church bright and early. And off course I need to get the Relief Society newsletter done, but unfortunately, I don't have any good information for it, since I don't go to Relief Society anymore and haven't been getting answers to my emails. Frustrating.
It is now a quarter to 11 and I am ready for a nap. Aw well. Leftovers for dinner here we come! (poor Jonathan, he took the leftovers to work for lunch, so that'll be 3 meals in a row.)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Still warm, but at least wet
It has been an interesting time since I wrote. My ants? Well I became slightly obsessive in vacuuming. Seriously. I vacuumed the living room completely at least twice a day, sometimes 3 and the rest of the house at least daily. It seemed to have worked though. They just disappeared on Friday. No goodbuys, no nothing. Just left. This week I got a little tired and lazy and it had been 36 hours since I had vacuumed and one came back. Just one. Bit me on the heel. Didn't sting me, just bit. He got squished. Pretty cruel I suppose, but I don't want him reporting back to his fellows.
It was great to have Jon back home, but it makes it hard to want to do chores. It is much easier to sit and watch TV when someone else is sitting too. When he wasn't home anytime I sat down I felt guilty, like there is something else I ought to be doing. Like putting away dinner or one of the things on my to-do list. I don't think I sat down for more than 5 minutes at a time the whole week he was gone.
Sunday was hard though. They called me into the Primary 2 weeks ago and Sunday they had me sit in on the class I'm going to be teaching. Becca's class. Ugh. Not that I don't like 4 and 5 year olds but I hang around them ALL DAY EVERY DAY. It is going to be kinda hard for me. I was really enjoying my time in Relief Society and Sunday School and I was REALLY REALLY looking forward to Colin going into Nursery and getting a couple hours every week without any babies. Since all the babies are 18 months apart both Becca and Victor went into nursery the week after I had a new baby. So it has been nearly 4 and a half years since I've gone to class by myself on a regular basis, Jon takes a baby occasionally, but usually they are mine. So that was a hard loss for me. Not that I don't like teaching in Primary, I enjoy working with kids, really I do. I just really enjoy time with grown-ups, and I don't get much of that. I'm just kinda selfish I guess.
The Relief Society did ask me to do their weekly newsletter though, which was really nice, mostly that they thought of me. But more than that, I really enjoy it. And it keeps me in touch with everyone and everything that is going on. Which is the point of the newsletter, to keep everyone in Primary and Young Women's aware of what is going on. Plus it is something they can send to someone who isn't able to come to church much. Our ward is a really strange ward. It is huge, numbers-wise, but the number of people who actually come to church is tiny. I was talking the the Relief Society President the other day and she said that they figured once that if they split the entire ward and sent every active Melchezicek Priesthood holder home teaching by himself, he would still teach 16 families. I guess Visiting Teaching is about the same deal. So they've had to do some creative solutions.
Still working on getting our 72-hour kits finalized, I couldn't decide what to get for dinners that I knew could be safely eaten without heating. So many things say you need to heat before you can safely eat them, but I was glad to find out after research that anything Hormel or Campbells makes is safe without heating, so that will be finished after our next grocery list. The ward got together and we got a large order of 55 gallons water barrels, so I have a really good supply of water, or at least I will once I fill it up. One gallon at a time. My next project is to scan all our important documents onto a CD (encrypted of course) and put it in our 72-hr kit, so we have copies if they are ever needed. The Relief Society actually had an activity this week where they went down to someone's office and borrowed the scanner for the evening and had people sign up for time slots and bring their documents to scan. The ward donated the CDs and the Molens donated the use of their scanner at his office. I thought it was a good idea, but I have my own scanner, so I left the spots to someone who might need it more. Plus it is still too warm to go out much, though it at least rains most afternoons now. That's at least something.
It was great to have Jon back home, but it makes it hard to want to do chores. It is much easier to sit and watch TV when someone else is sitting too. When he wasn't home anytime I sat down I felt guilty, like there is something else I ought to be doing. Like putting away dinner or one of the things on my to-do list. I don't think I sat down for more than 5 minutes at a time the whole week he was gone.
Sunday was hard though. They called me into the Primary 2 weeks ago and Sunday they had me sit in on the class I'm going to be teaching. Becca's class. Ugh. Not that I don't like 4 and 5 year olds but I hang around them ALL DAY EVERY DAY. It is going to be kinda hard for me. I was really enjoying my time in Relief Society and Sunday School and I was REALLY REALLY looking forward to Colin going into Nursery and getting a couple hours every week without any babies. Since all the babies are 18 months apart both Becca and Victor went into nursery the week after I had a new baby. So it has been nearly 4 and a half years since I've gone to class by myself on a regular basis, Jon takes a baby occasionally, but usually they are mine. So that was a hard loss for me. Not that I don't like teaching in Primary, I enjoy working with kids, really I do. I just really enjoy time with grown-ups, and I don't get much of that. I'm just kinda selfish I guess.
The Relief Society did ask me to do their weekly newsletter though, which was really nice, mostly that they thought of me. But more than that, I really enjoy it. And it keeps me in touch with everyone and everything that is going on. Which is the point of the newsletter, to keep everyone in Primary and Young Women's aware of what is going on. Plus it is something they can send to someone who isn't able to come to church much. Our ward is a really strange ward. It is huge, numbers-wise, but the number of people who actually come to church is tiny. I was talking the the Relief Society President the other day and she said that they figured once that if they split the entire ward and sent every active Melchezicek Priesthood holder home teaching by himself, he would still teach 16 families. I guess Visiting Teaching is about the same deal. So they've had to do some creative solutions.
Still working on getting our 72-hour kits finalized, I couldn't decide what to get for dinners that I knew could be safely eaten without heating. So many things say you need to heat before you can safely eat them, but I was glad to find out after research that anything Hormel or Campbells makes is safe without heating, so that will be finished after our next grocery list. The ward got together and we got a large order of 55 gallons water barrels, so I have a really good supply of water, or at least I will once I fill it up. One gallon at a time. My next project is to scan all our important documents onto a CD (encrypted of course) and put it in our 72-hr kit, so we have copies if they are ever needed. The Relief Society actually had an activity this week where they went down to someone's office and borrowed the scanner for the evening and had people sign up for time slots and bring their documents to scan. The ward donated the CDs and the Molens donated the use of their scanner at his office. I thought it was a good idea, but I have my own scanner, so I left the spots to someone who might need it more. Plus it is still too warm to go out much, though it at least rains most afternoons now. That's at least something.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Ant Farm....
Ugh. Went into the living room mid-morning on Tuesday and there was a nice line of ants crawling along the edge of the entertainment center. I had seen one or two for the couple days previous in random places around the house and had been making a concerted effort to keep the house vacuumed and swept, but alas, it was too late. So I got out my vacuumed and vacuumed up all the ants for the next couple hours-annoying the babies completely. They abondoned their post by about 1, but were back the next morning, and the scene was repeated. Luckily, they don't seem to go beyond the entertainment center and haven't even tried my kitchen or the dining room, but I've been keeping everything spotless, so I don't know why they are here at all, there isn't anything for them to eat. But I now have a vacuum full of ants that I need to figure out how to get rid of without getting bit.
Yep, that is the clincher, these aren't those harmless black ants everyone has in their house in summer. These are biters. Well, technically they only bite you to grab onto you while they sting you, like a bee, over and over again, injecting this poison into you which causes this burning feeling-thus why they are called fire ants. Pleasant huh? I called the office to get some help on how to get rid of them, especially since usually they are outside pests and the best treatments are to try to kill the whole nest. And the exterminator will be here on Monday. Not too bad. So I just have to keep Colin and the rest away from the entertainment center until them, not easy, because Colin REALLY like buttons. Ugh, Ugh, and double Ugh.
Yep, that is the clincher, these aren't those harmless black ants everyone has in their house in summer. These are biters. Well, technically they only bite you to grab onto you while they sting you, like a bee, over and over again, injecting this poison into you which causes this burning feeling-thus why they are called fire ants. Pleasant huh? I called the office to get some help on how to get rid of them, especially since usually they are outside pests and the best treatments are to try to kill the whole nest. And the exterminator will be here on Monday. Not too bad. So I just have to keep Colin and the rest away from the entertainment center until them, not easy, because Colin REALLY like buttons. Ugh, Ugh, and double Ugh.
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