Wednesday: book

I'm listening to an audio book, as normal.  It's not a very good book.  One of those, "I did something wrong so instead of fixing it I'll just ignore it."

Anyway, one of the quotes is when the main character is saying how she needs to get out more, but her favorite activity is reading.  'And reading, by its very nature, is a solitary activity.'  Honestly, this person is doing it wrong.  My favorite way to read is next to someone else.  Yes, can be solitary but it doesn't have to be.

Other things interesting things that happened:
1) The humidifier people came.  They said there was one small mechanical value that they opened and they changed the programming so that the humidifier works independently of the furnace.  The humidity in the house is already up to where we want it.

2) I removed the piece of flooring between the kitchen and dining room.  It popped up a day ago and it was a trip hazard.  I glued it once before, but as I was looking at it again it was really beat up.  So I took it all out and will get a new piece tomorrow.

3) Ben and I went out for dinner while the kids were doing church things.  It was lovely.

Tuesday: snow

This morning we opened the garage and there was a surprising amount of snow.  Ah, well, that happens.  The drive to Hope was pretty bad.  I texted Ben to make sure that he had also gotten to work ok.  

Ben said the following, "The conversation in the car was: [Dad says almost anything]. Boys respond: "And that's why we should have had a snow day!"

To be fair, it really should have been a snow day.  I think the snow started too late to call it though.

There was a new alcove up...there were really interesting routes and the kids talked about them a lot.

Monday: PT

I went to PT for the first time in a while today.  My shoulder got messed up in December, I think from too much grading.  How dumb.  Anyway, it feels a little bit better and I have a special stretch because of my special scoliosis.  

I also made baked oatmeal for dinner.  I have three cartons of eggs in the fridge.  I opened two and saw this:

Good thing I have three cartons.  Although I don't think that carton was full either.

Sunday: an odd sad

It was an odd day today - there is a sadness due to Jennifer's death and the normalcy of everyday life continuing on.

Isaac and Joshua went outside to play in the snow.  (Yesterday I went out to snow blow and there was so much more than I expected!  I was expecting about three inches, but there were at least 5".)  Isaac ended up shoveling the driveway so that they could make a snow chair.  The snow wasn't good enough for a snowman but is was good enough to pack with slight pressure.

There have been more birds at the bird feeder.  The kids really get a kick out of the bird butts.

Saturday: ending sadly

Most of the day was lovely.  Isaac is working through a final exam for math and making better progress than I was hoping for.  We played some games.  We put together some Lego sets.  We laughed about the bird butts we see on my new bird feeder.

And then this evening I got an email from Hope saying a student had died in an accident.  More surprisingly, I knew this student.  We actually spent quite a bit of time together last semester and the world was a brighter place with her in it.  She was so full of joy that it was a delight to see her.  And while I never expected to see her again, I will still grieve.  As the email said though, we will grieve with hope. (1 Thes 4:13)

Friday: Operation: Clean the House - Laundry room

I finally got back to Operation: Clean the House!  I had started the laundry room in September and October.  I thought it would take two Fridays worth, but I finished in about an hour and a half!  Huzzah!

Here are the pictures, because that really is what helps understand what's going on.  The big things that happened, besides a general cleaning, is that I cleaned very well behind the washer and dryer.  I removed a cabinet door.  I also reorganized the upper cabinet in October and have been enjoying the new locations of stuff.

Next up?  The storage room.  I was going to wait until the end of Operation: Clean the House, but it's gotten really bad.  

Thursday (and Wednesday): life

 Yesterday:

Ben: What are you having to drink [for dinner]?

Amanda: I have a mountain dew in the ...laundry.

Ben: Um...oh, so you do.

On my way into the house I grabbed a mountain dew from the fridge.  But then I didn't have enough hands while taking off my coat so I dropped it in the clean laundry basket.  It wasn't anything I had ever been expecting to say though.

Today:

It went pretty well over all.  However, I was trying to make a video for my graders and it took me three times.  The virtual meeting kept stopping without notification and then my laptop died.  I was pretty annoyed by the end.  But I think I have a full instructional video now.