Diary of a Homemaker's Week: October Glory

Saturday:  Who are we?  We had all of yesterday evening alone and so far, all of today as well.  Our 'date' day to the tire place was at least pleasant, thanks in part to the fact that I brought along my book and John started talking with a group of men who had a regular old gabfest.  Since it was a four hour wait, I'm glad he found some company.  I had mine in my hand, lol. 

We left home without eating.  John looked amazed when I asked at 10am if he'd like for me to get him something to eat. "Are you hungry?" he asked, as if that is an unheard-of thing.   And this from a man who can barely wait for me to rise in the morning to tell him what's for breakfast!   

Given the wait we then embarked upon, I'm glad I suggested I go get something because we didn't leave until 2pm and I was just as hungry then as I'd been when we arrived.   I can't imagine how much hungrier I'd have been if I hadn't walked over to McDonalds and gotten us a breakfast sandwich. We headed to Perry and had a lovely little lunch at our favorite restaurant.  I'll thank you again, Liz, for that treat!  It was lovely and really appreciated given my hunger today.

I ran into Kroger to pick up Gramma's Fried Chicken, milk for Caleb and the 99c sale priced 18ct.-eggs...well they would have been sale priced but doggone it I forgot to load the coupon to my card, so shame on me.  Even so, the non-sale price today was right at what I've paid for them on sale of late.   And I'm stocked up on eggs.  Go me.

Sunday:  Last night, I went to bed and waited for John who came in only moments later.  He walked into the bathroom and came right back out, "There's no water."  I'd only just been in a moment before and water was running then.  Now we had none.

For my money, I'd rather the electricity went out than the well.  We don't have running water then either, but it's the power company's trouble to get the electricity up and running again.  I just have to suffer and wait it out.  When the well is on the blink, then the adults in this household and Sam is rousted from their respective beds to stand around in the dark outdoors discussing why the well isn't running and guesstimating what various repairs might cost.  I just grabbed the ant spray and headed outdoors with it as I was sure the ants had been in the contacts again.

No.

Friday night, it was so quiet here, with no AC running and John listening to TV through his earbuds, that I became aware of the pump coming on and going off. I started timing the number of minutes between what I thought was the well priming itself and it was coming on about every 12-13 minutes then shutting off again.  I found out from the video John watched last night about how to make the repair that this was a sign the pressure switch was going out.  Now I know.  

It was determined that we needed a new Well pump pressure switch which could be had at Lowe's for about $50 more or less.  Lowe's opens at 7am.  It was now 11:30. Everyone went back to their respective beds, and we prepared to face the need to go repeatedly to the bathroom or acquire a drink of water from the now flush less and waterless facilities.

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John was at Lowe's when they opened this morning.  

I made breakfast for Caleb, Katie and myself, tried to drink a cup of coffee but dropped something in it which sent it splashing over the counter, went to the cabinet to grab a bottle of water and discovered that I had none in three bottles and when I checked the fridge there was one bottle left on the shelf. Apparently, thirst had hit someone and the water I thought I had last night when all this happened was a pipedream.  Or perhaps it was used to make the coffee water, though I'd also prided myself on the fact that the coffee maker and the backup water pitcher beside it were full...sigh.

John came back and waited for Sam.  And waited and waited and waited and started getting more and more antsy.   

While John was getting antsy, Caleb was feeling full of himself and showing out.   I was running back and forth between being John's listening ear and indoors to see what Caleb had gotten into this time.  

I texted Sam to ask if he was going to be able to come over anytime soon.  "No one's texted me to ask me to come!"  I texted back, "Oh.  Well please could you come help your dad?  He's threatening to have me help..." "I'll gather the kids up and be right there..."  lol Everyone knows that John and I don't do that sort of work together.  It never ends pretty.

I started lunch and put extra on for the added folks.  Millie and Isaac are the sorts to be hungry every thirty minutes.  No need to suppose they wouldn't want to eat lunch even if they had just finished breakfast.  John and Sam worked on the pump and within 15 minutes we had running water once more.  

Sam and I sat on the back porch while the children finished eating.  He'd had a visit from a man who was researching his family line and felt that Sam's might tie in (same last name and similar relative names) might be connected.  They offered to pay for him to do a DNA test to see if they could pinpoint whether his family line ties in.  I discussed the little research information I could remember on his direct family line.  

I packed up food from lunch for Sam and Bess to have later.  When he and Katie had left, taking children with them, John and I had lunch.   I cleaned up the house which most certainly needed it.  There are jobs I haven't done, but I gave myself a hard hour to work like crazy and do all I could and then John started to vacuum so between us we did pretty well.

It has not been exactly a restful weekend, but it's been a full one.

Monday:  Up early this morning.  It was cool enough to make me want to put on long pants and skip the thin cotton capris.  I really enjoyed my coffee, too, sitting in that sunny corner of the kitchen.

I started a new reward system with Caleb today.  I bought gold stars about a week ago. I drew squares on a sheet of paper and told him I'd give him 1 star for going potty and going. The reward wasn't just the gold stars, which he's loved sticking to his sheet.  When he gets five stars, he can have five marshmallows.  

Now here's where I made my mistake.  I said Marshmallows and didn't designate that I meant the freeze-dried ones that are Lucky Charms shaped.  So, when he had his first five stars today, I took him to the snack cabinet, picked up the Lucky Charms marshmallows and Mr. Caleb said, "No... I want the real marshmallows..." which of course are big marshmallows. I told John, "Tomorrow I'll go to town and buy MINI marshmallows."

When I got him up from quiet time this afternoon, he told me he was tired.  He looked tired, too.  At supper tonight, I noticed he kept playing with his eyes.  He looked like he was wearing monocles, using his fingers to circle them.  "I'm holdin' my eyes open!"  I offered to put him in his pajamas, and he refused.  "I gotta talk to my Mama!"   When Katie came home, I found him standing on the back step waiting on her to get out of the car, still holding his eyes open, lol.

He was sound asleep within five minutes of going to bed.

Tuesday:  When we returned from Target pick-up last night, Katie and her friend came to the door to help us get things indoors.  We watched the rest of the animated movie "Red" with them and then chatted until 10:30. At that point, I was worn out.  The couple had gone outdoors to sit on the porch.  John went out and told them we were headed to bed.  I'll say one thing, when we say we're going to bed, Katie's company immediately gets ready to go home.  I think that is a very sweet thing to do.  We're not by any means hurrying him away.  We just want to be polite and not simply disappear without a word.

This morning, when I got up, it wasn't quite as cool.  Caleb was dressed in a red t-shirt and blue shorts.  This week he's been dressing himself.  Yesterday he wore a broadly striped brown and blue polo shirt and paired it with a pair of Madras Plain shorts that had a blue and brown stripe in the plaid, though the predominant colors were orange and black.  

This morning, once housework was done in a lick and a promise manner, Caleb and I took off and went shopping.  Once I have a pantry list, I can't wait to get it knocked out.  I had seen a sale sheet for the discount grocery, so I knew their costs for some of the items. I decided I'd stop at the local store and price things, then determine where I'd do my main shopping after that. 

Caleb was good as gold all through the trip and behaved very well indeed.  He had assured me at our last grocery that he was hungry and then told me that Skittles would help...Well he got some Skittles, but he readily gave up the bag when I asked and ate a banana, too.  A bag of candy easily lasts him weeks.

I noted on the way home that the golden rod is now fully in bloom and so beautiful.  Whole fields of it are here near home.  Today I was almost distracted by how well the road signs match.  They are apparently painted 'goldenrod' themselves.

I'm not doing well in the cooking department this week.  I've worked my menus from memory mostly, but our meals thus far have been misses rather than hits.  Last night's supper entree was good, there just wasn't quite enough.  I should have had an additional side or even two.  And now I think of it, I had other items on the planned menu.   John and I stopped and got a hamburger on the way home last night. That is something we've never done if we've already eaten.  When I came in, Katie was eating again, too.  Her friend had brought in a sizable dish of Jambalaya for her to take to lunch, so she sampled a portion of that.

Tonight, John was encouraging Caleb to eat.  He took a bite of the main course and John said, "Is that good or what?"  Caleb replied, "Or what." John has never cared for the meal we had tonight and eats it only under duress and threats.  I wasn't so thrilled myself. As for Katie, she's just left to go get Pho with her boyfriend...and that's after trying to eat supper here.  Sassy Cat got most of it.  She's the only one that hasn't complained.  Phooey!  I love to cook, but I love just as much to have others enjoy it and so far, I'm losing on that score.  

Wednesday:  I'm finished sobbing in the kitchen.  Truth, I am feeling very emotional for a variety of reasons, all of which are outside influences and not inside ones.  Caleb was concerned enough to leave him snack and come put his hands on me in a gesture of compassion. John sat down and listened to me sob out my reasons for feeling as I do.   It's all within me and the things outside myself were mere triggers, not people bent on making me feel the hurt I feel. It is mostly that old inner critic, The Censor, that lives within my own head.  One does tire of it, I can say that for sure.

And in explaining to John how I felt, I used the word 'tired', a word John has come to loathe hearing because I am use it so often, so quickly to describe how I feel.  I am tired, but it's not a physical weariness.  It's completely an internal feeling of tiredness.  I'm tired of me, I'm tired of that Censor, I'm tired of feeling that 64 years into this life I have made little headway in being a better person.  I try to explain this to him, but he hears that I am exhausted by the life we lead.  Another burden to carry as I struggle to determine a better way to explain my feelings, my reason for tears to someone who clearly does not understand.

I think I'm just going to have a cup of coffee and distract myself with my book.  

Thursday:  Never did distract myself...Caleb however did distract me.  I was putting finishing touches on our supper when he let out a scream and there proceeded a good two hours of him periodically screaming and writhing in pain.  He said his tummy hurt and it certainly must have because he's really not a dramatic child when it comes to pain.  We were frightened nearly out of our wits but not so much that we didn't immediately put all our years of experience into action.

John gave him a thorough exam.  He had no fever, wasn't feeling nauseous, had a soft abdomen.  He didn't have pain in any other area, just his tummy.    I got the heating pad out and we applied gentle heat hoping that would help relieve the pain.  No.  He begged for his Mama to come home. I texted her and asked her to find pear juice.   

When we found nothing would bring him comfort, I called Bess, who came simply at my command, "I need you to come here."  No explanation required for that dear woman to show up moments later.  She immediately went into action as this is something her own children suffer with.  She did her own exam, told me to get warm water and coconut oil, encouraged Caleb to sip it and had him move his legs as though he was riding his bicycle.  

Even in pain, that little boy was literal..."I can't.  My bike has flat tires," he told her.  I might have laughed had he not so obviously still been experiencing pain.  Bess lay down with him and snuggled him until Katie came home, then brought over a mild gas reducing pill.  Caleb must have found some relief as he merely whimpered and dozed after that.  He refused to eat or drink.

About 9 last night he woke and began crying.  It was obvious he was still in pain.  At 10pm after talking to the pediatric nurse on call at the office, he was taken to the ER per nurse's instructions.  He finally got some relief and immediately acted like himself, full of chatter and interest in his surroundings.  Katie came home with him just before midnight.  She's suspecting some lactose intolerance side effects. Given that he begged to eat cheese no less than three times in one day and even helped himself at one point, it's possible.  

This morning, he's had no discomfort, has been himself.  The adults are all dragging but the boy is acting like a proper 3-year-old.  

After watching him eat a full breakfast and drink Pineapple juice, he ran off to play.  John and I sat and looked long at one another and then finally admitted our fears last night and the awful medical scenarios we had playing out in our heads, none of which proved to be fact, praise God.

Needless to say, we're taking it very easy today...Though I doubt Katie is.  She got up and dragged herself off to work.  I expect she'll fall into bed tonight and be glad of the opportunity to make up her lost rest.

Friday:  A busy morning under my feet.  I am sitting in my chair with my feet up and feeling quite done.  And I can be.  Supper is waiting in the fridge to be baked.  I'm keeping that meal simple tonight with a Mississippi Slider Chicken Sandwich and chips, Watermelon and cookies.    Bread and bagel and Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal cookies are cooling on the counter.  The dishes, laundry and floors are done.  We're done.  It's now officially time to enter into the weekend.

It's been a good week this week, despite the scare we had with our wee boy.  Tomorrow I have the children from across the field.  I've no clue what I mean to make for lunch tomorrow.  I'll probably send for hot dog buns and just make it buns, lemonade and chips for that meal as well.  Easy peasy, pleasing to the children.

How was your week? Productive? Quiet? Busy? A surprise?  Do you have weekend plans?  Tell us in the comments what you've been up to.  And come back again on Sunday when we start a new week to see what this homemaker plans to do then.