Monthly Archives: November 2009

Hubby gave me some time to do food preparations by taking the kids outside to play soccer and football all morning. We had all the usual fixings and everything was made from scratch this year. I taught the Imp how to prep the turkey and make gravy, since those were the only things she hadn’t done yet. (She has enough experience in the kitchen, that she could probably pull off the whole meal with very little supervision! She is a huge help.)

After our meal, Sarge and the Gremlin cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes, and put them away.

Then, exploring the woods behind the house was on the agenda. A logging trail was found that led to several other trails before dumping out into a clearing by a road. Evidence of hunters was found, so our exploring party stayed clear of that area. We checked rifle season in this area and decided to stay out of the far-back woods until it is over. Yikes!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Kiss your spouse, hug your kids, and reflect on all God’s blessings.

We have returned to our normal school schedule and all is well again.

This week we planted 25 little pots of seeds and they have already started to germinate. We plan to try a winter garden this year. I’ve started about 10 plants of romaine lettuce, several bunches of scallions and about half as many bunches of leeks. I’m also trying to start up an herb garden with basil, oregano, parsley, and fennel (all these will make awesome Italian seasoning). I’ve got the space to start growing our own garlic too, but haven’t got the cloves yet.

Today the boys and hubby worked in the yard, clearing the back wood vines off the fence and burning the overgrowth that they cut down. We hope to reclaim the land behind our fence. It is ours, but it is pretty heavily wooded and overgrown. That will be our winter project. While the boys did this, the Imp and I made bread. I have a new recipe to try and we ran out of homemade bread a couple days ago.

Got to get back to the family, we will work on my truck after lunch…..it needs new seals and bearings.

Two more days under our belts. We are slowly approaching normal. Laundry is caught up. Floors are vacuumed and I am almost rested enough to bleach all floors, wipe down walls, and steam clean our couches and carpets. (Maybe by Saturday, I’ll have the energy.)

I spent yesterday grading assignments that were completed during our illnesses. While we (adults) were ill, we had healthy children moving ahead in math and language books if they were able to be rambunctious. (Reading is never an issue with the boys and the Gremlin is already well into The Lord of the Rings book that he picked up “just for fun” while we were all recuperating. I swear, that child devours books!)

Sometime while we were all sick, our box of school books arrived from Sonlight. (Yay, box day!) Since we were too sick to care, we hauled it to my office and there it sat. Last night we opened it up and poured over all the books and titles for the year. Box day is HUGE at our house! All the kids gathered to go through the books and help me color code them (by school year) for our personal library. We organized all the books and added another shelf to our library. On Monday we will begin our new materials. Sarge is very excited because he has been begging to get into WWI and WWII in depth, for some time now. I was happy to see several old classics that I remembered reading in junior high.

I’ve got to get my crock pot started. I’m making a hearty sirloin stew with veggies for dinner. If there’s time I’ll make up a loaf of homemade Peasant Bread to dip in it. Yum!

Went to family practice doctor, he felt a lump at the site that hurts and sent me to the general surgeon. (Insurance changes in January, so any surgery needs to happen before the change.)

General surgeon had a cancellation and called me on the way home from 1st doctor. I changed directions and went in. He felt the lump but considers that normal for 3 c-sections and 3 other surgeries. He definitely found the point where it hurt! Ouch. It’s either pulled or popped, but he can’t tell which without more tests. Thursday we go to get a CT-Scan using two different contrast dyes. That will show if anything popped.

We are praying it is only a surface or scar tissue tear that won’t need repair.

Today was a very good day…..nobody threw up!

-Imp threw up again
-Sarge is feeling better and color is back. Hopefully he will stay good
-Hubby is doing much better, but has been stressed with taking care of us, he needs to rest more
-I’m past the fog and finally feeling somewhat human today. I think all the coughing ripped open my old hernia repair. Going to the doctors to have it checked today.
-Gremlin is doing great

We will all be resting. Hubby will try to go to work tomorrow.

The Imp is throwing up again. Not sure if she relapsed.

Hubby slept a lot yesterday and is feeling a bit better. He is very stressed out about all of us.

All I can do is sleep. Coughing is worse, so I sleep in the chair. It seems to help.

The Gremlin is feeling pretty normal. He is a big help with the laundry.

Sarge was helping too, but got pale and queasy, so he’s resting again.

Nights and days are beginning to blur together. Both Hubby and I are now sick. He didn’t get it as bad as the rest of us, so he is taking care of us. We sleep in shifts. He canceled his business trip to help me and the kids. I am so glad he’s here. I’m on Tamiflu but cough is getting worse. I keep waiting to feel better, like the kids did after a couple doses. So sick…so tired….maybe tomorrow.