Family Update March 2013

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted anything ... let alone an update ... until a family member contacted me to see how we were doing.

It has been a cold, dreary winter - and everyone has been sick, some more than others.  Most of the plans on our "to do" list went to the wayside.  I've not even been posting much on the Eagle Nest (Homeschooling) blog, and with major policy changes at Amazon, I quit doing the posts for Kindle's as well.   So, all 3 of my blogs have suffered.   Instead, I've been reading historical novels, searching through for books that are appropriate reading for the girls history curriculum.   Otherwise, I've been suffering from a extreme inability to stay focused on any task.  I know the problem is a combination of high stress over the past 5 years (I've not posted most of our concerns and problems) combined with exhaustion from not sleeping well for the past 3 years.

Our days have run together so badly, that I cannot even begin to tell you what exciting things have happened ... Kendra's birthday party, the week Dad felled a dozen trees, and putting up a clothesline are among the tops of the lists.   Oh, and a 3 day "day camp" about American Heritage ran by Frontier Girls.  Exciting stuff!   And Tim is back at McDonald's.   He said he would avoid it as long as he had any other option open to him ... so there you have it.   He's been back almost a week now - manager in the town up the road from  us.

LaRue has declared herself "Auntie V's girl", and she spends every minute she can upstairs.  Aunt V doesn't mind letting Rue sit on the floor playing with toys or reading books or watching a movie, and it sure makes schooling Joel much easier and faster.   I have been doing some school work with her, but need to get into a routine of doing it several days a week, and not just hither and thither.   Focus just seems to elude me some days, and coming from someone who has always been able to accomplish a task and focus when desired ... this has been frustrating.   Rue is now 3 1/2, and in spite of no formal daily schooling, she knows all of her colors, shapes, counts up to 12 objects, adds items that she sees (if I put 3 chips on her plate, she will ask me for 2 more so she has 5 - but she cannot tell me that 3 + 2 = 5), knows most of her letters upper and lower case on sight, knows the sounds of about a third of them as well, and she knows how to run most of the tv/vcrs in the houses.   Last night, she even tried her hand at putting toothpaste on the toothbrushes.   So, I'm not overly worried about her schooling.

Joel is approaching 8.  I can't even comprehend that.  I still think of him as 4 or 5, and so it doesn't seem possible for him to be so old.  So much has happened to us since his 4th birthday.   He is reading at a late 2nd grade/ early 3rd grade level ... if he's paying attention.  We have him in a routine that leaves nearly an hour every night for him to read in bed, and with the library books and the 5 shelf bookshelf in his room, he has lots to choose from.   His favorite books are science and math subjects.   He finished his math for 2nd grade back before Christmas, and has been doing whatever review papers or games that I can find for him to do.  Last week, we went ahead and installed the Switched on Schoolhouse 3rd grade ... and I think I'll just have him doing that everyday from now on.  He reads Science books from the library and Christian Liberty nature readers daily, and Friday's are Experiment days.   History is with Aunt V, and they are studying Maps right now and the plan is to cover American History and State studies over the next few years.   God blessed us with a set of curriculum books through the death of our beloved pastor - the man who officiated our wedding.   For Bible, we have been using a Devotional book for boys and memorizing the focus verse every day.   Also, we started in the Rod and Staff 2nd Grade English book, and he does spelling and penmanship daily.

Vannan is approaching 16 ... another shocking number.  She has been working hard at sewing, helping with the horse therapy, 9th grade schooling, violin lessons and playing in church, and learning to run a household.   She has a long way to go, but she is determined to pass up her older sister if she can.   She is working on getting in a garden, but the weather and sickness and other duties have made putting in a garden this year difficult.   She is also looking at selling out her remaining rabbits, as they are really too small for meat rabbits, and they are not selling well.   Her asthma has been bothering her more of late, we think it is because cats are sleeping in the insulation under her room.  Not much we can do about that.

Kendra just turned 18.  She was telling everyone, I'm 17, but I'll be 8 soon. .... yeah, that's about right.   How somebody with an IQ over 130 can be so immature ...  but that's Kendra.   She does have a lot going for her.   She is usually the one willing to get up and help me with a sick sibling in the middle of the night, and she'll kill the bugs or take them outside, as well as many other tasks.   But she is still working through 10th grade (almost done .. but still).   Tim purchased 4 year plan books for both girls, and I put her few remaining 10th grade and all of the  11th grade lessons into the same year.   Once we got it all written down, it was easy to see that if she applied herself just during school hours, she could probably be finished with school in about 18 months.   She would rather write books.   Publishing "Do You Take This Quest?" is long overdue, which she claims is due to her computer dying.   She has been babysitting for Aunt Ruth, and has saved up nearly enough for a new computer, maybe by the end of April.  She is looking for others to work for as well, she is good at cleaning and babysitting, and does a great job of reading to kids and the elderly.   I think she would make a wonderful companion for an older lady, visiting in a nursing home or in a home, but so far, there have been no opportunities arising.   She has been checking into a few colleges - but I'm not sure how serious she is about any of them.   Right now, she would much rather take courses online.   No boys around here either ...  people actually ask about that.   Kendra just ignores it.

Tim is back at McDonald's.   When the reffing season ended "early" ... as in he didn't get the extra 2 weeks of tournament games, or very few of them.   Overall, the last month was disappointing, and with the steady increase of food, gas, insurance, water, and electricity ... there just wasn't as much left as there have been the last few years.   Occasionally, one of the dozens of job applications that he sends out nearly every day does come back with a nibble, but there are few and far between.   Tim will be celebrating his 29th birthday for the 20th time next month.   The high lights of his week including his radio show on Sunday nights and preaching on Sunday and Wednesdays (when it is his turn).

Me ... I've been in a fog lately.   I wouldn't call it depression exactly ... but being sick, stressed, not being able to get the house organized, the whole car accident stuff hanging over our heads, not getting the right vitamins and foods ... it just has all snow balled into a dense fog in my brain.   Between the near constant low grade pain and night mares, I don't sleep as deeply as I need to at night.  Otherwise, I guess I'm doing pretty good - I've lost over 10 lbs, and I'm able to walk a mile or so again without feeling tired.


Everyone else in the family seems to be doing great.   Nobody is sick and nobody has anything dire hanging over their heads ... at least that I know about.   Mamaw is doing great in the nursing home, though Papaw is still informing everyone just how expensive it is to keep her there.   We visit every 2 or 3 weeks, not long stays (as the room is so tiny and there is no place to sit down), and she always seems to be clean and well fed, sometimes her conversations even make a little sense.   She loves watching Joel and LaRue talk about things outside her big window.   Papaw enjoys the visits the most, though I worry about him driving back and forth and being home alone.  At least he gets several healthy meals a day at the nursing home.   But I don't think he's getting much of any of the "cleaning" aspect of living home alone.  

As far as I know, nobody is expecting anything ... babies, cars, houses, or anything else.  Nobody is moving, nobody is sick or facing major surgery (outside of knees).   No trips are being planned, no vacations are being taken, and no job changes.   All of the kids are getting  older, of course, and April will see Nephews turning Joshua 4, Matthew 8, Aaron 10, and Grub 1A 11, and nieces turning Allison 2 and HL 8, as well as Tim's birthday.  Back in March, little Paul turned 3.  Ruth and Paul celebrated 16 years of marriage.  And nieces turned C 3 and KL 19.

I STILL need to update and fix my calendar for this year.   I am so far behind on my "to do" list.

Today we hope to go through the pantries and figure out what we have that needs to be used up.

We did the refrigerator a few weeks back.   I'm tempted to post what was in it ... not food - mostly condiments and vitamins and medicines and baking/seasoning packs.   In fact, less than 20% of the items was "food" ... and we listed 14 open jars of jams and jellies - all a different flavor.   Most of those came from other people's refrigerators - Dad's and friends who cleaned out their own frigs.   But it was shocking.  Bread and jam have become a common breakfast and snack since then.   So... is anyone actually curious as what "lives" in my refrigerator?