Thursday: Fort Wayne

 Welcome to spring break... For the kids. 

Let's back up.  Ben and I had lunch today and it was really nice.  I got quite a bit of work done afterwards too, and that doesn't always happen in the afternoon. 

Ok.  Then I picked up Joshua, who doesn't think spring break starts until tomorrow.  Then I picked up Isaac, who had to wait for his teacher longer than he wanted and was a bit grumpy about it.  After a brief stint at home I dropped Isaac off at Rock climbing, went to the library, and then to karate.  I picked up Isaac, made him eat faster than normal, and we went to pick up Joshua from piano.  Phew.  I usually don't deal with piano, but otherwise it was a normal Thursday.  From piano we drove to Fort Wayne!

With the exception of I94, traffic was pretty light.  As I pulled off the highway I noticed a funny sound.  I've heard this sound before and last time my lug nuts were loose.  It acts really funny.  When I accelerate or brake there's no sound, but when I'm coasting there's a rattle.  Nathan reminded me that I had a lug wrench in the car, and we proceeded to check all the lug nuts.  Yup!  One wheel had several loose.  Not really dangerously loose, but not as tight as they should be, either. 

Nathan and I stayed up too late talking.  But the first night is always the best for catching up and I don't regret it, although I'm not the one who had to work tomorrow.

Sunday/Monday: life

Last night we were all watching a show with dinner and a large object was dropping into place.  You can hear it, right?  A booming *thunk*.  Well, a thunderstorm was going on outside at the same time and the thunder rolled at the exact same time as the large object dropped into place.  We all laughed because the timing was amazing.

Today was a pretty normal day, all said.  I was rather productive and got a bunch done, but not quite as much as I was hoping for.  As normal, as I walk through the house I see all these other little things that need to be done.  Sometimes I ignore them, but today I did several of them.  Individually they don't take much time, but together they do.

Saturday: life

It was a relatively normal Saturday.  Legos in the morning.  We did family game in the morning.  It was my turn to choose the game, so I choose one we had given to Joshua but that he didn't enjoy on the first play through.  I really thought that he was going to enjoy it, so I wanted him to give it another chance.  He said that he enjoyed it a lot better this time.

After lunch we went to the school play.  The students did a nice job and you could hear most of them, but at the same time the play was only ok.  We all agreed that last year's was better.  I'm hoping that Joshua will be interested in crew next year.

I've said it before this week but I'll say it again: I'm tired.  My brain is busier than normal this week and while I can get to sleep, if I wake up at the wrong time I'm awake.  I think I'll go to bed soon, which is earlier than normal.

Friday: hotel

Last night we, although mostly Ben, was working on some hotel reservations.  The hotel declined our credit card (multiple times, even after texting/emailing to confirm it wasn't fraud).  We tried the other credit card - same thing.  Ben eventually called the first credit card company, got it all sorted out, and got them reserved.

I got a call from the second card in the morning - is this fraud?  I called them back and got to talk to a real person and the conversation went a bit like this:
A: I just got a call about fraud but I'm pretty sure it was me and not fraud
Rep: what you were trying to purchase?
A: a hotel room in location
Rep: Oh!  Wow!  It was actually true.  A few months ago we had a whole bunch of fraudulent hotel charges from [that hotel or that location (I can't remember which)].

How weird is that.

Thursday: sleep

I woke up around 5am this morning.  It was far enough through the night it was somewhat close to wake-up time, so when my mind started going a mile a minute there was no getting back to sleep.

Like every Thursday, there is a lot of ferrying children around.  There was some extra waiting today and it was a bit annoying.  Oh well.  Everyone got where they needed to be.

Wednesday: pinewood derby

Today was a bit of a whirlwind.  I was expecting it though, so that did help.  Oddly enough, during my errands I often noticed how comfy my socks were and then I remembered they were new.  

Joshua had pinewood derby tonight.  His goal was to get the turtle award, which is the slowest car out of all the cadets.  He tried last year too and didn't quite get it.  This year he got it in spades.  His first two runs didn't even make it to the finish line, and then I think they made him loosen his tires.  The last run made it down, but it was still the slowest time that I saw.  He was very excited.

Tuesday: busy

Oh, it was a busy day today.  Work was a good busy.  When I brought the kids home though it got crazy.  It felt like everyone needed me and I was trying to get some of my own stuff accomplished.  Then a meeting.  Then dinner.  Then a bit more work...fun work, but work nevertheless.

I'm starting to wind down, finally.

Monday: a nice day

I got quite a bit done today.  Several of my items I could only get half done, but progress was made.  I had hot chocolate with Pat, which is always nice.

I didn't sleep well last night though.  Hopefully tonight will be better.

Here's the latest status on Joshua's box fort.  I did get a few small boxes and inner packaging in the recycle for tomorrow.  I think there are two large boxes that aren't being used in the fort, so I will probably try to get those disposed of Wednesday after the bin is empty again.  I don't want to put too much in the bin at the beginning of the fortnight though, because it needs to hold the normal recycling too.

Saturday: pretty normal

Today was pretty normal.  Legos in the morning.  Some chores.  Naptime.  Rock climbing.  Evening stuff.  We worked on Legos again after books.  Normally Joshua is required to go to bed after we read books together, but tonight I invited him down since we were all working on Lego sets.  I wasn't sure he would accept, because he's usually pretty tired, but he did!

Friday: boxes

Friday is clean the basement day!  Today I also had significantly more energy than yesterday, so I actually got stuff done.

I also made so much visual progress today.  Sometimes I make a lot of progress but you can't really tell.  Today I made everyone go into the basement when they got home so they could ooh and aah...and they delivered.

We have a large hallway between to small rooms in the storage room.  The hallway has slowly been getting smaller and smaller as we put more and more stuff.  Today I pretty much emptied that area!  It was my box collection storage area.  I took all my empty boxes and stacked them (instead of randomly dumping them) back by the other boxes.  I also got rid of many of the boxes and some random stuff.

However, the boxes I got rid of really just went upstairs so that Joshua can build with them.  He's currently making a ski-ball contraption.

To add to my good feelings, I have a plan forward.  That's been part of my problem so far is that I'm not always sure what the best thing to do next is.  Now that I've emptied some space, I have a plan on how to move around some shelving, add some shelving, and get another area all set.

Thursday: tired

I was crazy tired today.  

I did some morning chores; nothing all that exciting.  I got home from my errands, started drying the laundry, finished cleaning the kitchen and decided at 10:30 that it was a good day for an early nap.

I finally woke up at 1pm.

I had lunch and changed the bed sheets.  Then I sat back on the couch until 2:30pm.  I didn't really fall back asleep, but I wasn't doing anything either...besides wondering if I was getting sick again.  I know my body.  It doesn't just laze around for fun.  I can choose to sit and do something, but when I just sit it isn't a good sign.

I finally got up at 2:30 and did a few miscellaneous things until it was time to pick up the kids.  I was feeling better, but annoyed that I only had 40 minutes left.

Isaac and I went to Meijer to get some new shoes.  He's at an annoying size where there are about two sets of shoes that will fit him and we needed to hunt for them.  The youth sizes go, apparently, through size 7 but you can't find anything bigger than size 5.  The adult sizes start at 8 but you can't find anything smaller than 8 1/2.  Next time he needs new shoes might be annoying, or maybe we'll luck out.  Anyway, we found some that fit and he was happy with the colors.

Wednesday: conversation

 Isaac: I looked at the book for church.  I read the chapter but don't want to do the questions.
Amanda: oh?  why?
Isaac: It feels too much like ELA.
Amanda: *shocked*  What??  School is preparing you to use critical thinking skills in real life situations??
Isaac: ignores me

This image also came up in my *how things have changed* on my phone.  Honestly, they haven't changed that much.

I didn't get much done today, but I was expecting that.  I volunteered with kids' food basket, and that takes a chunk of my morning.  However, I did drop about five boxes plus some big items off at the Mission, so the basement again feels a bit less crowded...for now.  Other stuff did get done, but it felt like a slog.  Oh well.

Tuesday: boxes

Ben and I went through the shipping boxes that were in the backroom in case there were warranty issues and a thing needed to be sent back.  We got rid of a ton!  It's going to take a while to get it all through the recycle*, but in the meantime Joshua is enjoying using them for a fort.

Today a lot of my chores were dusty...and it was a bit annoying.  The basement clean-up that I did was dusty, cleaning the birdfeeder was dusty, rock climbing was dusty, and sanding a wall for paint was dusty.  I am glad not to have any dusty chores tomorrow.

*Unless I figure out a different place to recycle them

Monday: ghost light

My reading light has randomly been turning on in the evening.  I'll be reading in bed, not close to it, and it will suddenly turn on.  Ben moved all the wires as he was coming to bed last night, so we'll see if it happens again.

I got a ton of stuff done today.  Mondays I especially try to work on the to-do list.  I got through my normal Monday things and worked on several items that have been hanging around for a while.  Several of them are two step processes, but I should be able to finish them up tomorrow.

Sunday: final graham cracker creations

 Isaac made a bunny tower.

Ben made a bunny hospital.

I made a bunny sanctuary.

Joshua had made a really cool tower, but it fell over.  So he ended up with a bunny ruins.

Saturday: graham cracker creations

Today was the first day of graham cracker creations.  Basically gingerbread houses, but it is too busy and too sugary in December.

We also had some nice Lego time.  The cat was cute.  Joshua worked most of the morning on a roller coaster and most of the afternoon on the coolest dragon head.  I don't have pictures of it, but there is a light up mouth when the mouth closes, light up eyes, and projectiles when a scale is pushed.

Friday: Lunar eclipse, operation: clean the house

We all woke up in the middle of the night to see the lunar eclipse.  We went outside a bit before totality and stayed until a few minutes after totality started.  The weather was nice.  Cool, in the high 40s, but that's actually pretty warm for us right now.  I thought getting up was worthwhile, but Joshua was more on the fence.  Anyway, I enjoyed it and had a nice time.

The biggest problem is that Ben and I had a hard time getting back to sleep.  Still worth it.

I worked on the basement for a few hours this morning, finally getting a few locations vacuumed and stuff in its "final storage spot".  It doesn't really look much cleaner, but progress is being made.  I think I need to make a trip to get rid of the donations - it will free up some space in the basement and just make it look cleaner.

Also, happy Pi day!  Joshua was the only one of us that had real pie, but we had a lot of circle foods.

Thursday: rather boring

Today was rather boring.  That's not all bad, but not really fun either.

All the students show up for the exam.  I think there were a few other big exams that weren't allowing make-ups, so they had to be around.  Then they might as well come to my class too.

Wednesday: unexpected

We had some electricians come today.  They added a bunch of lights to the storage room, changed the light fixtures in the main area, and added a few plugs throughout the house.  I've been excited about the lights every time I've turned them on.  Also, the old housing were almond and the new ones are white and look so much better.

However, it seemed like someone was always in the location that I needed to be in.  But even with that I managed to finish a ton of things on my to-do list.  It was rather surprising.

Monday: mostly back to normal

Things were mostly back to normal today: Ben went to work, Joshua went to school, and I did my chores.  Isaac has been normal, or as normal as he ever gets, this whole time.

That all being said, it wasn't a very interesting day.  The weather is starting to warm up (low 50s today) so I didn't wear a coat.  I got my winter tires taken off and my all-season tires put on.  I didn't go to karate just to give myself a bit longer to get better - I'm close, but I'm not sure I'm exercise close.

Due to the snow day, my class ended up with a test the day before spring break.  I normally only have 1/2-2/3 of the students in class, and about half of the students that are gone are gone for reasons that they can't really control.  ("The baseball team is leaving early."  "My ride home is leaving two days early."  We won't talk about my feelings with this, because no one really cares.)  Anyway, I gave two alternate times for students to take the test so that we don't have to worry about it after break.  Well, I had one....one!...student sign up to take advantage of this.  I'm fluctuating now between wondering if the students completely ignored my communication attempts and will be gone or if everyone will actually be in class.  Stay tuned.

Saturday: still recovering

 The morning was pretty good.  I was feeling pretty good and Joshua didn't have a fever and was moving around more like normal.  We had an almost normal morning.

Late afternoon though, I started feeling gross.  Just tired and yucky, but annoying.  The days always start out so good and end so yucky.

In the morning we were building Lego and we watched Tornado slowly steal Ben's screwdriver.  Tornado always likes it a lot, but then whenever Ben would look at Tornado he would stop playing with the screwdriver and act all nonchalant.  It was pretty funny.

Friday: even better

 I actually did stuff today.  Sure, I've done stuff the past few days I've been home, but this was the first time I enjoyed doing the stuff and got more finished than just the minimum amount.  I'm still not 100%, but I'm probably at a good 85%.

We thought Joshua was on the mend but he had a fever again in the morning, about an hour after waking up.  He did, however, have a few dance moves after dinner so he was feeling at least a little better. He is still only whispering which is rather annoying.

vacation: Vespa ride

Vespa rides were one of the highlights of the week.  I glossed over them because I wasn't part of the riding, but the kids loved them.  And Ben let both boys drive by themselves for a little bit, which was *the best*.

 

Thursday: a bit better, a bit worse, eggs

 I felt a bit better today.  I felt a lot better this morning, but around noon I started to get worse.  It's "just" stuffy head and runny nose now though.  While it's very annoying, it's just a bad cold again.

Joshua, on the other hand, was doing a bit worse today.  He still had a fever this morning and can't talk.

Also, I wanted to note that I paid $6/dozen eggs yesterday.  I've heard stories of worse prices for a dozen eggs, but still wanted to note this extreme price for me.  I'm not sure that we'll be doing Easter eggs this year.  That's ok...we still haven't done gingerbread houses for Christmas.  We usually wait until about now to do gingerbread houses, but I keep forgetting to get the candy.  Hopefully egg prices will go back down and we can do Easter eggs in June.

Wednesday: a bit worse, lunch

I'll start with the health update.  I did the bare minimum today to keep the house running.  Ok, maybe a few things more, but not much.  I ran the dishwasher once, kept the laundry going, and got groceries.  I also changed the water filter in the fridge.  Oh!  I made applesauce for dinner, but it was a mistake.  After peeling the apples, I was ready to be done.  Then I managed to cut the apples.  I was really done at that point, but figured I could push through getting the rest of the ingredients in the pot.  I managed.  And then I collapsed into bed for a bit.  The rest of the early evening was...annoying.  But it's mostly like a bad cold now.

Joshua had a fever in the morning, so he'll be home from school again tomorrow, as expected.  Some of the day he wasn't great, some of the day was just ok.  His cough is still around, but better.

This morning I made Isaac's lunch.  It was exciting because it is the only school lunch I need to make for Isaac today.  A few weeks ago he said, "Mom, I'm sorry to say this but your lunches just ...aren't that good."  I was ecstatic!  I don't want to make lunches.  Furthermore, school lunches are free.  I'm happy to work my way out of lunch duty and told him that!

Tuesday: better, I suppose

Honestly, I felt a ton better today.  However, that only put me at about 75%.  It was enough to teach (with a mask)...but just barely.  I reached the last thing I needed to talk about with the second class and my voice was about ready to give out.  I went home early, attempted to take a nap, and finished required stuff for work.  My eyeballs felt like they were being poked by pins.

In other bad news, Joshua came down with this illness today.  It was so sad.  At one point he was walking around but it was about one step every five seconds.  Most of the day was bad but not that bad.  Unless he gets better faster than expected, he'll be out of school for the rest of the week.

Monday: a bit better, maybe

Well, I was glad that I didn't need to work today.  I brought the kids to school.  I brought Ben to an appointment...and it was nice and fast.  Then we came home and a took a nap until lunch time.  I ate lunch, emptied the dishwasher, partially filled the dishwasher, and then took another nap.  My cough has gotten a lot better, so I think that has helped with sleeping.

When I woke up I wasn't feeling great...it was the first time in several days that I was medicine free though.  I took all my medicine again and almost felt normal.  

So here we are.  Things are getting better, but in a weird way.  That's how these things always seem to go.  And even though I slept half the day I'm ready for bed again.

Sunday: a bit worse, maybe

Most of the day was worse than yesterday.  I slept semi-ok.  It took me a long time to get to sleep, but then only woke up a few times.

This morning, however, my back hurt whenever I coughed.  Or moved weird.  I took a nap during church. 

I didn't have as many coughs today though, possibly because I realized that if there is something in my mouth I don't cough as much.  So I had a bunch of cough drops.  I switched between Luden's (delicious) and menthol (un-delicious).  All afternoon I laid in bed, not sleeping.

Joshua made dinner tonight...he wanted tacos and I didn't want to make food.  I helped a bit at the end, but he did most of it.

Right now I'm feeling just a little bit slightly better.  I'm optimistic that tonight will go well.

Saturday: cough

Today the cold manifested more as a cough.  It's been a while since I've had such a cough...the problem is that I still have some stress incontinence and it's been a bit rough.

I took it easier today, but I still needed to be a Mom.  It was a bit annoying. 

vacation Monday: coming home

We had the morning in Florida, but just kind of bummed around.  It was a little rainy so no one wanted to get in the pool.  Also, the ducks had been put up so they weren't available to play with.  Ben and I were closely watching the weather as thunderstorms were supposed to roll through just as our flight was supposed to leave.

Joshua worked on a house of rocks.  The rest of us played a game.

We got to the airport and breezed through.  We always get there early because I'm very paranoid about airports and Ben kindly puts up with it.  At this point it looked like we would just get a little rain, no thunderstorms.  We got on the (hot) plane and taxied out - only to be the first one in line when they put a hold on take-offs to the north due to thunderstorms.  Oh bother.  Well, the weather cleared enough after waiting only 15 minutes and so we were off!  I ran the math several times in my head and while we might not have a ton of extra time to make the connection, it shouldn't be a problem.  I didn't anticipate any running.  

The flight itself was terrible.  The first 45 minutes had a bunch of turbulence.  Ben and Joshua, sitting in the middle of the plane, had a crying baby next to them.  Isaac and I, in the very back of the plane, dealt with some strong perfume and sitting right next to the lavatories.  But in the end, we made it at our scheduled arrival time!

Only to have the next plane delayed.

But we found a nice food court to eat dinner at, and everyone seemed to perk up with food.  The second leg of the trip was delayed several times, but in total only by about an hour.  When we were in Florida I said that I was hopeful we'd be home by 10:30pm.  We came in the door right at 11pm...but the kids were so, so tired.  Joshua's good part for Tuesday was going to bed Monday night.

Vacation Sunday: mini golf

 We went mini-golfing in the morning; there's a nice course with fun holes.

We had leftovers at home.  The night before we had all been given flowers as a garnish with our meal, and Joshua decided that he really enjoyed eating them.

After a bit more relaxing time Ben took the kids on another Vespa ride and we all went over for Gelato.

Then we got in the pool.  Joshua told me I had to get in the big pool at least once.   (While I often make it into the hot tub, I don't always make it in the big pool.)  Anyway, I was a Boring Mom and just walked in circles, but it's amazing how just walking in circles can turn into a fun game.  While we were in the pool Isaac was slowly getting ready to get in.  Joshua had this great quote: "There's Isaac! He teleported straight from one bathroom to the other. A portal potty!"

The last thing of the night was movie in the hot tub.  We turned the hot tub temperature down quite a bit though, so half way through the movie I got cold.  I got out and everyone else slowly followed.  At that point it was more comfortable to watch inside, so we finished it up there.

This picture was from Thursday, but I wanted to still share it:

Friday: nap

Well, I was hoping to get a lot done and instead I just got some done.  It wasn't a super productive day, but good enough.  I did take a 2.5 hour nap and Horizon joined me for most of it.

Isaac: 124 - 144 months

 124 months:

125 months:

126 months:

127 months:

128 months:

129 months:

130 months:

131 months:

132 months:  11 years!  (ten fingers + one toe)

133 months:

134 months:

135 months:

136 months:

137 months:

138 months:

139 months:

140 months:

141 months:

142 months:

143 months:

144 months - 12 years!