The Final Week? Maybe Not... July 7 - 13

 

Monday, July 7:  The morning went very well with the kiddos, and I am grateful for that because I had a sorry night of rest for the second night in a row.  But when I got up this morning, inwardly groaning, I made it a point to pray what I've found to be a very helpful prayer.  "I didn't sleep well, Lord.  I'm trusting in you that what rest I did get will be sufficient for what I'm called to do today."  And it was!  

I'd just finished lunch, Katie and Taylor were having theirs, when Cody came home.  "I'm in for the day," he told me. "But tomorrow, I definitely have a whole day's work."   Saying he's done is my cue to pack up and head home.  And that's what I did.  I debated picking up a bag of peaches, but I just wanted to go home.   I didn't really have extra money for peaches.  I reasoned that the season isn't over.  If indeed this week is my last (I am feeling doubtful) then I've got time to pick up peaches over the next few weeks.

At home this afternoon, I've done minor things.  Besides having to stop and greet the dog and rub the cat's belly, I swept floors, started supper in the slow cooker on high, and grated two zucchini that were starting to look a little bit beyond their best. I sat down to get the checkbook set up for our July payday.  Now I think I'm going to have a brief nap and call myself done for the day.       

Tuesday, July 8:  Yesterday afternoon, I did indeed take a nap.  I didn't sleep long, perhaps a half hour but that I could manage one at all is testament to how tired I was.  I am not a napper by nature.  I was back in bed by 8pm, and asleep by 8:30.  I won't tell you I slept all night long, but I had absolutely no issues going back to sleep when I did awaken.  I felt fairly well rested this morning.

And good thing I was!  Five-year-old shenanigans ensued today.  No real trouble but just two five-year-old children who were overcome with giggles and to whom everything was super amusing.  Honestly my greatest struggle has been the habit of one sticking out the tongue when reprimanded and that is not acceptable to me as I explained more than once.  Tomorrow, it shall be the corner when such behavior is displayed.  

At lunchtime, I was running behind putting lunch out for the children.  Henry was eating along with the two five-year-olds.  Well Mr. Henry screamed angrily at me when I took him up after he'd eaten...He didn't want to leave the dinner table while the others were still eating.  He'd eaten well but he kept looking at me to see if I was bringing him anything more, lol.  I asked Katie if, since he'd been eating baby food, he'd cut down on any of his bottles.  She shook her head No.  I said, "Well he's acting hungry about every two and a half hours.  You've got two choices.  We increase his food intake or up his bottles.  Since the formula is super pricey and he's getting the daily recommended amount, I think we need to feed him a little more."

I changed his clothing and let him play on the floor between the couches.  Not only does he capably crawl, but he can easily pull himself into a standing position and walk along the furniture edge.  And what's more the little monkey is letting go and standing on his own for a few seconds before he reaches out to get support.  I think he's going to be walking before we turn around. He's just about to turn 10 months old.  Not so very early for him to begin to toddle about.

I will say that by the time lunch was over today I was more than ready for quiet time.  And I was blessed to get some, too.  Henry took a long nap, and the two children were relatively quiet.    

The afternoon went along fairly well.  Bella is quite good in some respects.  She takes her quiet time seriously and doesn't spend too much time talking and playing.  She tends to lie in bed and actually rest if she doesn't go to sleep.  Caleb on the other pops like popcorn, in and out of the bed and room.  Both are very good at being helpful.  Bella cleans the room really well.  Caleb is happier if he's doing household chores, like sweeping off the steps or gathering laundry up for his Mama or unloading the dishwasher.  He's also big on helping in the kitchen and I will let him do very limited things to help.  Katie would prefer he not be in the kitchen at all, but that's her nervousness over him possibly touching a hot stove top or cutting himself with a knife.    

Cody told me this afternoon that yesterday they were both a little upset I'd left while they were in quiet time.  Bella apparently ran to the door when pizza was delivered shouting, "It's Gramma she's come back!" lol.  I told Cody that did my heart good to hear.    Both asked me today if I'd be back tomorrow.  And I will be, and on Thursday but I think from Friday onward they will have to get accustomed to seeing Gramma only on Sundays once more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Wednesday, July 9:  I'm so tired, I could crawl in the bed and go to sleep right now.  I could truly.  And it's not even 7:30pm.

It was a decent day with the children.  Bella and Caleb were fairly good.  I can see though that the 'togetherness' the two are forced to share just now is beginning to wear thin on both.  They truly enjoy playing together and have a great deal of fun between the two of them.  But they neither of them are used to having the other right there every waking and sleeping moment of the day.  They both crave that time apart and don't even realize it.  I think Bella is meant to go back to her mom's tonight and will return to Cody on Friday, but I'm not certain.  It doesn't always work out as planned.  

So, the children are beginning to bicker a little, play too rough, be tired, as neither of them knows when to take time out from one another.  They are now at that stage of play where it's fun to tease one another and they set out to tease each other until someone is upset.  A lot like some grown-ups I could name!

My time with the children is nearly up.  This morning when I came in, Bella said, "It's Gramma!  The Good Gramma!"  I laughingly told Katie I'm not sure who the Bad Gramma is but apparently me and Bella's Granny qualify as the good ones so that's something.  

Two more days and I'll be done with this leg of childcare. I can say honestly that sometimes I've been tired going into a day and tired-er coming out of it, but it's not been a terrible thing.  I appreciated the little boost to our income. It came at a time that is typically more than a little tight for us every single year and so it was especially helpful.

I've been looking back over the past five weeks and what I've accomplished during it.  Never mind house and garden, skip thinking of those.  But I have managed to change the way I grocery shop (cash basis now).  I topped up the tags/taxes account to the annual required amount.  I've paid off two credit cards.  We have topped up our vacation fund and are now assured of funds to take our annual vacation.  

I have discovered that I can do a great many things in small bites.  The house has stayed afloat.  John picked up and started doing some of the household chores I'd typically do and that was a huge help in keeping things going. I was wise with the time off I had. The flower beds are all refreshed, plants pruned, etc.  

Now I can begin something new in the yard.  I have two projects in mind.  One is to surround my patio with a mulched border.  There's going to be some expense tied to this but it's not insurmountable.  And I'd like to begin work on the flower bed extension so that it runs down the southern end of the house.  

I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of my summer.  I want to have morning coffee on the porch.  To go get seeds and try again to have flowers and vegetables now that I have time to putter at that sort of thing.  To start a new self-guided Bible study on the Holy Spirit.   To pursue new things creatively.

I am ready to start a Pantry/Freezer challenge for the rest of July if indeed this is my last week.  I want to do some minor deep cleaning.  I am ready to embrace my homemaking work once more and to do so joyfully.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Friday, July 11:  I got off a wee bit early yesterday afternoon.  I headed right to the grocery to pick up the cheese that was on sale (and loaf bread, half & half, crackers that were on sale, sausage and a package of grits, too).  That and some produce ran about $95.  Not unhappy with that.  I allot myself $120 per week and I felt I did well enough. But I have yet to find vinegar in that store.  I've been up and down all the aisles and can't find it anywhere!  This is the same store where I never located the aluminum foil until I wandered down the freezer aisle one day and there it was.  This store has some strange locations for things you'd think would be in another area entirely.

On my way home, it began to rain.  The weather this year has been unusually wet and rainy.  The temperatures are much lower as well. Yesterday afternoon, I watched temps run down from 94 to 73 in about 40 minutes time.  It rained some on the way home, but John had said it was a heavy downpour at our house.  Well, my goodness!  The ditches out our way along the main highway were full of water and it was running hard and fast.  I noted that the one low area of the highway was covered in water, so I quickly detoured up another road.  Two other cars followed me. The low spot in that road was covered in water as well but we all made it safely through.  We three turned onto our main road (not the highway and eased through more low areas.  It was when I got to my own dirt road that my heart quelled a bit.  

It looked like a dam had broken.  Water was not only rushing down our road but pouring across the road from the peach orchard next door.  The county thoughtfully filled our ditches not too long ago and when I called to complain they told me that our road was hardly worth their time or something along those lines...Well, had I not been so busy navigating the 12 inches of water pouring across the road at that moment I'd have stopped and taken a picture to ask one more time if they truly thought the ditches were so unnecessary and my complaints so trite.

I held my breath and powered through safe in the fact that, indeed, I was not going to be swept into a ditch since they don't exist.  At worst the water would have pushed me into the dump area which was also underwater.        

I made it just fine, came up our squishy yard to find we were a land of lakes at every level of the old, terraced field we call a lawn.

The children from the manor were here when I arrived. I was weary when I walked in the door, soaking wet from the rain and lugging groceries.  Immediately a cry went up, "We're hungry!"  Oh boy.  Fortunately, I'd noted a half price markdown on a cheese and salami tray.  I never buy those things, but I'd noted I had an Ibotta offer for the same item, so I grabbed it.  I was able to put that down before the children who happily got busy snacking on it, despite the fact that it was a Spicy tray. 

Just a quick note here to say that when I'm clipping digital coupons (I never had paper ones anymore), I always clip things that I don't buy just in case I come across such a deal as this one today.  That tray typically costs $15, was on sale for $7.50 and I saved another $1.50 using the Ibotta coupon.  There's plenty of snacks left in that tray.  Each of the children ate their fill of it.  

At 6pm I acknowledged that likely I'd need to feed them supper.  I had taken out two pork chops for our supper but there was no way that would do for two adults and three hungry (yes again!) children.  I used the bread I'd bought and some of the cheese to make toasted cheese sandwiches, sliced up apples, put out a bag of chips and a bag of cookies I'd bought a few weeks ago and tucked back out of sight.  Supper was ready and everyone ate without a fuss.

John had had the children since before lunch and they stayed here until nearly 8pm when Sam called and asked if I'd run them home and stay with them there.  I did so, then stayed to listen to him talk out his weariness from the day.

It was a long day for me but a longer one for Sam.  Y'all please pray hard for Bess.  Her mental state has deteriorated further, and she's sought a difficult form of treatment.  It's a scary and very brave step to take this route and may take months.  She's going to need every whisper and shout of prayer that can come her way for herself, counselors and doctors to tend to her mental health needs.           

I headed to bed after returning from Sam's somewhere around 9:30 I think.

I didn't rush to get ready this morning.  I took my leisure having a cup of coffee before I ever began to get ready to leave. And it kinda makes me angry because every morning I've been hurrying to get ready and doing this and that before I leave and do you know I left the same time this morning, having accomplished easily as much as always and yet I slowly drank a lovely cup of coffee that was fully hot the whole time I was drinking it instead of gulping it lukewarm between tasks.  But for sure, I'm going to make time to drink a leisurely cup in the future!  It made such a difference in how I approached the day overall.

Today Caleb played outside for a long time.  It was so cool and so pleasant outdoors, in the low 70's.  I'd driven over to work with car windows open and had to let them up because I got a bit chilly.  

Usually he plays in the water, but today he decided I was the Queen Mother.  He made me crown from some cardboard he'd found in Katie's gardening bag.  But he objected to being called Prince Caleb, so I dubbed him my most honorable and worthy knight, Sir Caleb, which pleased him, lol.  Go figure.    We didn't bother with schoolwork today nor with crafting.  He just played outdoors and when he came indoors, he lay on the couch and flipped channels on the tv, like any grown man might.  It drives Katie and I nuts, but when I got home this afternoon what did I find John doing?  Not lying on the couch but definitely flipping through channels!

Henry is eating more and more.  All week long he's screamed with anger when I take him out of the highchair because he knows that means no more food is forthcoming.  Today he must have gotten enough because his screams were short lived.  He took a bottle, rolled over and went to sleep!

This afternoon, Gramma nodded off when it was quiet time, too.  

More rain on the way home today and the yard as full of water as yesterday but thankfully the ditches and roads were not filled.  Temperatures this evening were back down in the low 70's.  The AC has only come on once since I've been home this evening.

I go back on Monday, and it is my hopes that after that, Cody indeed reminds them he has two weeks' vacation time he's put in for.  I told Katie Sam needs help with his three as he will be a student teacher this coming semester and needs me to keep his children for a few days prior to the start of school.  Hard to believe that school start date is only about 2 and a half weeks out.  At most I can do one more week with her and then I need to be home.  Fingers crossed Katie gets behind Cody and insists he take at least some of the time off.

Saturday, July 12:  Yesterday afternoon when I got home, I had to attend to some financial business.  A check had gone missing in the mail, so I put out a stop payment on it.  I'll reissue that payment.  I'd planned ahead for the holiday time frame and mailed it off extra early.  No luck.  Due date came and went and by the end of the week I was anxious about it.  It did not help to read about the issue of thievery within the postal service where employees are stealing checks and washing them.  That is such a slander to ALL the postal workers who faithfully and honestly do their work with integrity but for whatever reason the postal service is unable to catch the thieves and if they do seldom punish them.  Sheesh.  Anyway, the funds in our account would never be a boost to anyone's income but it would devastate us to lose what we have.

I also found an error in how my PayPal account had been set up.  Accounts had been switched from one payment form to another, and it was meant to be a onetime transaction.  Well, it never got switched back (personal error on my part) and I didn't catch it until the one source was very nearly drained.  Oops!  Sometimes it feels as though for every smart financial move I make, I make a step backwards elsewhere and it's generally due to carelessness in not immediately attending to something like this.  However, I will take no responsibility for the postal service losing mail.  That I cannot possibly control!

This morning, I popped outdoors...well not morning.  No, it was gone noon when I finally got dressed and headed outdoors.  I did not to go to work.  I just wanted to see what was going on in my little gardening areas.  Blooms are few and far between.  I suspect it's too much rain at present.  The tomatoes are flush with blooms.  I took a moment and planted a tomato cutting and some impatiens I'd rooted over the past week.  I emptied the compost.

I'd bought seeds to plant when I was in the grocery.  Things like Echinacea, zinnias, four o'clock flowers, cosmos.  In looking at the packets every single one suggests they are best planted in Mar, April or early May for my area and the echinacea says only in the fall.  I had read that I could plant each of these in July...I'm holding off until I can do a little further research.  I want to get some bean seeds and squash to plant for myself as well.  But not zucchini since Sam is keeping me oversupplied with that.  

I plan to spend the rest of the day simply puttering and mostly resting.  I made us a big lunch.  We'll have sandwiches for supper.  My puttering is mostly clearing up behind myself, so I have less to do tomorrow.

Sunday, July 13:  I'm tired.  I'm hot.  I've been able to get very little done today and for that I am deeply sorry because right now my body says "Done" and my mind says "Same".  It hasn't been a hard nor difficult day.  We got up at our usual hour to get ready for church and I managed to make the bed, load the dishwasher, put away clothes I'd folded yesterday afternoon, make breakfast, have a leisurely cup of coffee, wash the trash can after gathering trash and fed the pets.  Then we were off to church.

When we arrived today, I told John, "We're a bit early.  I think I'll get myself an iced coffee.  Would you like some hot coffee?"  He told me indeed he would that he hadn't had any coffee at all today!  Since he was up earlier than me, I assumed he'd had his usual two cups, but he said he'd never bothered to fix himself one.  I was so busy, I didn't ask if he wanted a cup, either.

After service today somehow, we kept stopping to talk to people.  There's a lot of that goes on in our church.  It's a large church but it acts small.  People mill about and talk to others before and after service.  Today we spoke with several people, some who approached us and some we approached.  

After service we headed over to pick up the missionaries' mail and I walked into Publix to get bread, cat food, lettuce (John's request was for 'regular' lettuce, which means Iceberg).  I picked up a few sales items and splurged on a pound of beef bologna.  At some point in every summer when it's hot, I like to buy a pound of bologna and plan for sandwiches.  That's what we had today when we came in.  It was nearly 3:30 before we got home with our groceries, unloaded them and sat down to eat.  

I especially dislike that now that we got to the late service, the fallout is that we eat lunch very late indeed on Sunday.  And often it means we skip supper entirely.  That means I often will start to get hungry just about bedtime and then instead of sleeping, I lie there hungry and planning endless meals I might make in the coming week, lol.  It's all rather ridiculous.  I'm just going to have to plan on a later supper!

I spent time after our lunch getting my financials straight and then I got all the missionary stuff sent off to them.  Finally, I began dividing and putting away the stuff I'd bought.  Mostly it was bread that I wanted to deal with.  I haven't really had time or energy to make bread in the last few weeks, so I bought bread on sale today.  The difference between a 16-ounce loaf of bread and a 12-ounce loaf is 2 slices.  Did you know that?  Neither did I, but I do now.

That pretty much has this week wrapped up.  Again, I am very hopeful that this will indeed be my last week keeping Caleb and Henry and occasionally Bella and Taylor.  I have deeply enjoyed this time for the greater part of it.  It's not been a hardship for me to give up the time.  My only anxiety about finishing this week is that I really do need to be able to help Sam next week.

And yes, I am ready to have a chance at my own summer now that the school year is upon us.  Part of not sleeping last night was due to the fact that I lay there planning the things I'd like to do, bake, make, etc. 

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