Catching up - 9/18 to 9/26

Friday, September 18, 2009

Another Parade and cleaning houses

We started the day out taking chairs down to where we wanted to sit for the parade. You have to get them there early to save a spot. Then, later we drove downtown. I parked the Toyota Previa in the railroad parking lot, but the police didn't think that was a good idea, so I moved. I don't know why he had to write my license plate number down though!

This parade only had wagons, people or horses. No motor vehicles. There were also marching bands from different schools in the area. After awhile the aroma got a little strong, but we saw a lot of very pretty horses.

After the parade I cannot remember what I did until I went to work cleaning houses. At 1:00 I stopped by the elderly lady that I help to see if I could come a little late. I gave her 2 zucchini that I got from our friend. She told me she was going to make a squash soup. Then I put a load of laundry in her washer and left for the other job. At that job, I cleaned 2 hours, then I returned to the other house and finished up her laundry and vacuumed. Her granddaughter came over with her husband and 2 kids. I'm sure they could help her with the laundry I didn't get done, as she had a lot.

We had just plain rice for supper, as I was too tired to cook. I didn't have any though, and just ate watermelon.

Susannah and Clemy spent a lot of their day with our friends. Clemy went on some rides and felt sick on the last one.

The 3 older kids ushered again. Tomorrow is their last day.

Tomorrow we clean the bank and the insurance offices tomorrow. If we all work together it won't take long.

Greg wants to go downtown to listen to some music with me, so I better go. Until tomorrow... Hasta Luego!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Working Together

I didn't get up till 9:00! After that I woke the kids up. Then I picked Greg up where he was working on our Dodge van. We went to the only good coffee shop in town. It was full of tourist wearing cowboy hats and boots. Some people were having pizza and beer for breakfast. We got 2 coffees and 1 big cookie to split. They have 1 free refill there and good coffee.

Despues... (after that) we went to do the "bank" job - cleaning job I mean. All 6 of us worked and we got out in an hour. Some of us worked less and waited for the others' to finish. After that I took Greg back to our van so he could finish working on it. Then, 4 of us went to clean the insurance offices. We got it done in 35 minutes. That's a record, but if you counted all our time separately, it's not as good as when Gideon and I clean by ourselves.

Now we are home. I'm doing laundry and going to REST.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

BBQ in our yard

Bedtime. We had 2 different families over for a BBQ today. We made shishkabobs. Mostly I have been eating a lot of fresh veggies and more fruit. But today we had meat. I made "pico de pajaro" salsa, which has to be made outside because of the hot chili vapor that gets into the air. It's made by roasting "chili de arbol" over a fire, or burner, and then putting it in a blender with salt, tomato sauce, and garlic. It turned out very hot and good.

It worked out really well having both sets of friends over at the same time. The 2 husbands knew each other from playing basketball together a couple of years ago. Their seemed to be enough in common with everyone for a good visit for all. There were 10 kids here altogether, and 6 adults.

I get Mondays off if I work on Thursday morning, then come back Thursday evening at the doctors' offices (cleaning). I like Monday off!

We are starting home school tomorrow. I have charts for the kids and we'll have a little meeting in the morning of our goals.... I got a really good Algebra 1 curriculum that will be coming in the mail soon. It was made for home schoolers and comes with a CD teaching and text book. If we really like it, I hope to get the same curriculum for Susannah and Clemy. That will have to come later though.

Monday, September 21, 2009

First Day of Homeschool (this year)

Today went fairly well. In the morning I slept in till 8:00. After we had eaten breakfast, I had a little talk with the 4 kids at home about what were our goals for the week. We are just going to stack the morning dishes, then after lunch Susannah is going to wash. Clemy puts them away before Susannah washes and maybe after and also wipes counters, puts food away and sweeps.

I gave everyone their charts. The boys went downstairs to do their schoolwork. I gave Clemy and Susannah some placement tests in Math. Clemy did her schoolwork on my bed and Susannah on the kitchen table.

I spent a lot of my morning sorting through school books and "stuff", trying to find places for everything. We only have 1 bookshelf and it is very full. I put some books under my bed also. After we get some remodeling done, we can put another bookshelf downstairs.

My brother stopped by to visit. While we were visiting Gideon offered to make spaghetti for supper. I really appreciated that because then I could visit with my brother. It turned out good. I did stop by the store and got some more spaghetti sauce and bought garlic bread. I forgot the salad, so we had broccoli with it.

The girls and Levi walked to the library, then I went to pick them up.

We are all going to bed early.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Anybody like Fried Green Tomatoes?

I am thoroughly exhausted. I got up at 6:40 and got to work at 7:15, which is quite late. Greg and I had coffee at home and I just didn't get out the door soon enough. So, when I get to work late I have to work smarter and faster. I got most everything cleaned before the first office person came. There are 3 rooms I cannot clean unless I am supervised as they have patient files in them. My friend Christy, who is an office worker told me her tomatoes were frosted last night. I had checked the weather report and it wasn't supposed to get that cold. But, my brother later told me that they take the readings and forecasts from the airport. Maybe it is warmer there.

When I got home, I checked our garden. All the plants had succumbed to frost. The fruit was fine, only the plants dead. So we picked all the green tomatoes, jalepenos and squash.

I spent a great part of the day cutting up green tomatoes and jalepenos to put on the food dryer. I also took the food dryer apart and cleaned it out as it hasn't been used for 10 years. I let it dry in the sun before using it. It still works great.

Homeschooling went fairly well, considering that I was busy with other things a lot. Susannah has forgotten a lot of her math she learned last year so she is going to have to review some. The new Algebra 1 textbooks and CD's haven't arrived yet. Clementina got a lot of library books, so when she gets her schoolwork done she likes to read.

Greg took Gideon to work with him. He is framing a house about 20 miles away. The boys will probably work with Greg 1 or 2 days a week still.

For supper I made fried green tomatoes with onions, eggplant and bacon. I also made cookies earlier. My healthy ones wouldn't hold together very well. They were chocolate chip with sesame seeds and wheat germ.

We haven't eaten yet and Greg just brought Susannah back from gymnastics so I have to go now.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Our Personal Testimony

I only have a minute to write. A busy day. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself. The Algebra curriculum came, it looks great. My meleluca order came. Home school went OK. I had to take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon because I got to bed too late last night and was tired today. Took Levi to the doctor today to have his thumb checked out. He slammed it in the door Saturday. I wasn't worried about it, but today I realized he could have severed his tendon and wanted it checked out. It is fine and will heal. I learned about how to check if a tendon is severed and how to wrap a bandage.

We went to church tonight. Upstairs in one room was the kids. In another room adults and the missionary challenge class. Downstairs the youth.

In the missionary challenge class he taught about how to write a personal testimony. This class is for Christians, so the writing would be about 1. Before I met Christ - what my life was like. 2. How I met Christ - what happened and 3. How my Christian life is going and what I have learned. We each spent 10 minutes writing an outline and then different people shared their testimonies. The pastor encouraged people to write a more detailed and then share it - perhaps with family, friends. He even suggested you-tube. I thought of my blogs.

I do believe as a Christian I need to share my faith. I try to share in a more natural way and intertwine what I say with every day life. But I don't think I have as much courage as some do at times, knowing others will disagree or find fault. I do want to be true to God in what I share and not worry about what people think of me. In some ways I think we should be concerned with how we share and try not to offend as much as possible. But sometimes that is inevitable.

Tonight, after church, there was a lady outside that came up to Greg and told him her story. Her 14 year old son got in trouble for what she said were minor things. They were going to send him to a group home, or a place for teens. A guy in a blue car that she didn't know showed up and told her son he would hide him and took off with him. That is so scary. She asked us to pray for him. His name is Stephan if you want to pray with me. I am really concerned for this kid. Who knows what kind of person took him away. Unless God intervenes she may never see her son again.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Getting our Computers Connected

In the morning I went to the Chevron gas station and had coffee with Greg inside. There was a policeman just leaving and Greg talked to him about the boy that I had wrote about last night. He was getting into trouble and was supposed to go to a boys home, according to his mom. She also told us that he got into a car of a man she did not know. I was really concerned. The police told Greg that about every 2 days she reports her son missing. He said she was "not all there". I feel bad for her. I wonder how people like her get to be like they are now. Was she always that way or did something happen to her?

It's getting difficult to write at night sometimes. That's when I like to write, but it's also family time.

Today has gone pretty well so far. I still got to work later than I should have, but working fast I got it all done in time.

I did the 1st Algebra 1 lesson with the boys. It comes with a 10-15 minute lecture on CD first. Gideon didn't want to do it, as it was too easy, but I told him we were all going to anyway. He missed 2, so I guess unless he gets 100 % he can't say anymore. It is a fun program with pictures.

I am utilizing the different subjects I have on the computer. We don't have one set "curriculum", so I mix and match different things. It's way more interesting that way. I am hoping to get some friends who have skills in different areas and ask them if they will teach a class.

Levi is a genius. He was able to connect all our computers together so I can use files off of the other ones and vise versa. He still has some bugs to work out, but now I can use the printer from my laptop, as long as the other computer is on. Levi said what he did was actually pretty simple, but it sounds quite complicated to me.

I am also using the "break timer" that gomedome made available when he was doing his blog.

I found a really basic Bible study online. It's free, and if you want you can send in the answers to the quiz at the end. Here's the link for it. It has different levels and looks fun.

Basic Bible Facts

Greg has been working long hours doing construction. His shoulder was hurting yesterday. I'm not sure construction is doing his body any good. Janitorial is less demanding I think. If we were able to get enough janitorial jobs then he would quit doing construction. But if I know him, he probably will keep doing it, because he likes it and if the job is there he will take it. I don't want to get more cleaning jobs than I can do on my own, or I'll be in trouble. We are not in the position to hire employees yet.

I need to go check on all the children.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Another Busy Day

I didn't get up till 8:00, which was very nice. In the morning I did Algebra 1 with Levi. Gideon wants to finish his Algebra 1/2 book and then he can catch up with Levi.

Levi's finger is getting better. It's still sore, but healing.

A week or so ago I paid a bill with Bill Pay with our bank. But, the problem was that the default account was my eldest sons' and had been closed for awhile. The bill was reversed and they suspended my ability to use Bill Pay. I called them today and almost got it straightened out, but got cut off. Finally, in the afternoon I went to our bank and "Tim" helped me get it fixed.

I cleaned one house in the afternoon for 2 hours. The other one I worked for 1 1/2 hours, helping an elderly lady with her laundry, vacuuming, mopping and visiting.

Susannah cleaned the fridge and made cookies when I was gone today. That is one job I do not like to do, and it is so nice when she helps with it.

When I was done I ended up getting U-Bake pizza, as I didn't have time to make supper. Then, the kids and I drove to our friends' (10 minutes late) to baby sit for their 3 kids. The parents had a date night with another couple we know. The other couple are the doctors where I clean offices. They had fun and a much needed date.

While we were at our friends', I left for awhile to take the clothes out of the elderly ladies' washer and hang them up. I hate leaving wet clothes in her washer, as she can't go down the stairs and has to call her son to help her. Or, worse, she will try to go down. She can hardly walk and I don't want her to get work. The other house I work at is a few blocks away, so I stopped by to get my check. I told her $25, when I actually was supposed to get $45. I was tired and wasn't thinking straight. So, tomorrow I have to go back and get another check. I don't want to let it go for a whole week.

I am very thankful for all the fresh veggies and fruits we were able to eat this summer. I wanted to go to the Farmers' Market tonight, but didn't have any time, so I missed out. They will still have at least 2 or 3 more before they close down for the winter. I hope next week I can go and get something good to eat!

Well, I need to get to bed. I will try to catch up on reading blogs tomorrow. It is getting difficult to find time to be on blogit. I am busy all day and then Greg doesn't want me to stay up late. So that leaves no time. But, it will all work out.

Susannah cleaned the fridge out for me today and also made chocolate chip cookies. Susannah cleaned the fridge out for me today and also made chocolate chip cookies.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

A Friend Came by Just At the Right Time

It's getting late, so I'd better write while I can. If I am not able to read blogs now I think I'll have time tomorrow and Monday.

I was very glad when we got the 2nd cleaning job done, as I didn't really want to clean today.

I felt a little down. I think I started getting in the wrong frame of mind, saying things like, "I don't have any friends here." Then I remembered Velda, but thought she was so busy all the time.

After that, Greg said he would take me out for coffee. Right about that time, Velda and Richard showed up and they ended up going with us. We had a very nice visit. God knew I needed them to come when they did.

They had some sad news to share though. One of the nice "kids" that worked at the coffee shop died about a week ago. I'm not sure how, but it could have been a drug overdose. There was one this last week with a guy about the same age - 23 -

About a week or so ago I was thinking about him and thought of praying for him. He seemed to be on my heart. Why he died, I do not know. Why I felt to pray for him, (as I don't even know him), I don't know. But God knows why.

I just got off the phone with my daughter in Mexico. She is doing good and I miss her.

I called the lady I worked for yesterday and told her I had said the wrong amount for my check. She's going to pay me the difference next week.

It is still quite warm in the day here, but at night it could get cold. I bring all my house plants in at night. I dug up my flowering cactus and hope to keep it alive all winter indoors. We might buy a grow light to keep our plants healthy.