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Matt and Megan didn't have
school today. The middle and high schools were off to free the staff
for parent/teacher conferences. The elementary schools were
open, however, because they were closed two days last week for the
conferences. I had to work, of course, but got to sleep in just
a bit later. Megan went to work with me. She likes to ride
along on the bus and today I had a trip during the day that she went
on, too. It was a nice day together and we got to have lunch out
and take a nice long walk around Ethel Lake in Derry. Megan
enjoyed seeing the swans, geese and ducks as well as some very large
carp.
I had to meet with Megan's
team of teachers after work. It was pretty much the same thing I
hear every year....lovely girl, pleasant, helpful, etc., but
unfocused, unorganized, undisciplined, unmotivated and the biggie,
assignments not done. One thing I noticed is that all of the
male teachers were very positive and encouraging while the female
teachers were all negative and discouraging. I wonder why that
is? Anyway, I came away with a real sense of having them behind
the efforts I make at home now that we've talked and are all on the
same page. Hopefully, we'll be able to reign Meg in and help her
to focus on what she needs to be doing. The teachers are all
bending over backward to help her get her work done so if she fails,
it is really her fault.
I lost another piece of my
temporary filling. There isn't much left at this point, but I
have to hang in there until the 22nd. This past Monday I had two
teeth prepped for crowns and temporaries put on. I had to go
back to work and the dentist ran out of time to prep the third tooth
so is planning to do it when I go back to have the permanent crowns
put on the other two.
Matt found two eggs today.
Those are the first in a couple of weeks, at least. We put
lights in the coop a week or so ago and are feeding them a higher
protein feed so maybe they'll start laying again. Sure hope so.
Beautiful weather today.
It started out cold with frost, but warmed up to about 60 this
afternoon with lots of sunshine until early evening when it started
clouding up and raining.
November 12
All of the schools were
closed today so I had the day off. I'd planned to sleep in, but
woke up with Tim and couldn't fall back to sleep. I didn't want
to wake the kids up so sat and read for a long while. Once she
woke up, Megan wanted to cook breakfast. She made pancakes and
did a pretty good job. We really didn't do much at all this
morning. It was cold and rainy, one of those days that makes you
want to curl up somewhere.
After lunch we did go to
Wal-mart. I canceled a layaway we'd made back in September.
Most of the things I had in it for the kids' Christmas weren't going
to work any more. I had asked them to make me their official
Christmas wish lists earlier this week and found there really wasn't
any overlap at all. I found a beautiful print fleece that has
Cardinals and Chickadees on snow-covered pine branches and a
coordinating creamy yellow fleece. I bought a yard and a half of
each and plan to make my Nana one of those no-sew blankets from them.
It will be big enough to cover her if she lies down, but not so big it
can't be a lap robe. If it turns out well, I am going to buy
something more colorful and make Megan one, too. She has been
asking.
Matt quit his job at a
local Italian restaurant earlier in the week. It really was a
miserable place to work so we told him it was okay....as long as he
got serious about finding something else right away. He isn't
really doing that, but I did get him to apply at Pizza Hut while we
were out. It took him over half an hour to fill out the
application. I'm not sure how many pages were in it, but he said
the last four were all math problems!
Tim had another bad day at
work. Seems like there are more bad days than good on this job
site. Anything and everything that can go wrong does just that.
The excavating company alone has ripped out the water lines four
times. They've made a lot of other mistakes, too. I asked
why the company couldn't just fire them and Tim said it was because
it'd be too hard to find a replacement in the middle of the job and
also because at this point the excavating company is responsible for
all the mistakes, not the company Tim works for.
November 13
Tim had to work today, but
I did manage to sleep in until 7:00. The house was so cold!
I couldn't believe Tim didn't notice. He is usually very
sensitive to cold. I guess maybe he is getting less so since
we've been keeping the house a bit cooler than we used to.
Anyway, a quick check showed we still had plenty of fuel and the pilot
was lit. Beyond that, I don't know what to do, so called Tim.
He told me how to disconnect a couple of wires and reconnect them to
reset the starter. About 20 minutes later, right after I got a
good fire going, the furnace started.
The kids and I spent the
morning and part of the afternoon doing the cleaning and laundry.
I wanted to get everything looking good before our friends, Dave and
Helen came. Their daughter stayed with Matt and Megan
tonight while we went out to celebrate our 20th anniversary. The
actual day is this coming Wednesday, but we most likely wouldn't have
time to go out during the week so decided to go out this weekend.
We went to a local place called Halula's that's been around for years.
We all had the steak and lobster pot, which is a specialty. Mm-mmm,
they make the best steaks! We drove to the mall and walked
around there afterward and I was able to pick up two Christmas
presents for Matthew. By 9:00 all us old fogies were ready to
head home, because we're all used to getting up early and going
to bed early. We sat around talking at the house for a
while and enjoyed a piece of the pumpkin pie I had ordered from
the high school band.
Four eggs from the chooks
today.
November 14
Woke up to a cold house
again this morning. Tim checked everything and discovered the
tank was freezing up so he got it thawed and now has a light shining
on it to give just enough heat to keep it thawed. We didn't seem
to have that problem last year, but sure did the year before. I
suggested Tim build some sort of protection for it so it doesn't keep
happening. He agrees that is what we need, but heaven knows when
he will find the time. Probably not until next weekend.
Tim and I sat down and
wrote out checks to pay the bills first thing. I hate doing
that. Always seems like there's more going out all the time, but
at least it's done until the next payday. We did get a bit of an
unexpected windfall in the process. Tim was looking for a paper
that I knew I had seen the day before on the dresser in our room.
We couldn't find it anywhere so I thought maybe it had fallen down
behind the dresser. It had, but when we pulled it out I also saw
paper sticking out from underneath. It turned out to be the
check my mom had written to us last year for our anniversary.
Oops! I talked to Mom and she said to go ahead and deposit it so
that's a bit extra we hadn't counted on.
I had thought to work on
the kids' bathroom today. It needs a good bit of brightening up
and sprucing up. I bought a double roll of a sage green gingham
check wallpaper last week and wanted to get the trim painted and the
paper hung today. Tim and the kids painted the trim after
breakfast, but the paper never got on the walls. It was such a
nice day that we decided to take some time to go to all the Christmas
stores to look at trees. We are looking for a much slimmer one
for the livingroom, plus it's fun to see all the creative ways they
decorate the trees. I think we found the tree we want.
It's even pre-lit which is a big plus. Everyone hates putting
the lights on (or taking them off) so I usually end up doing it
myself. Guess we will get that out of the next pay.
Megan asked to go to Best
Buy while we were out. She still had a gift card from last
Christmas to use and found a Sims game for Gamecube. Tim looked
at digital cameras, Matt looked at components to rebuild the old
computer so he can take it to school with him next year, and I drooled
over a pretty fancy oven that had a smooth cooktop, the oven down near
the floor and a big drawer that pulled out above the oven that was
actually a microwave! What will they think of next?
There is already a refrigerator that has a plasma television in the
door and one with a computer in the door. What we came home with
was the 2005 version of McAfee Virusscan. Much more practical
and now we can use the internet freely.
Matthew talked us into
having a late lunch at Nopalito's, a newer Mexican restaurant not
far from home. He had been there, but the rest of us hadn't.
It is very authentic and the food was delicious! I had the
Mexico City platter that was one each of beef, chicken and cheese
enchiladas and rice. Matt had a quesedilia (I know I spelled
that wrong) and flan. Tim and Megan had the tacos. Megan
is the only one that didn't like it. She likes her homogenized,
Americanized Taco Bell food. She did like the chips provided on
every table. They refilled the basket as often as she asked and
she really liked their salsa, which was pureed so she didn't have to
deal with chunks.
Tim's foot was bothering
him by the time we got home so we didn't work on the wallpaper at all.
He doesn't remember hurting it and it doesn't hurt when he walks on
it. It's just some times when he bumps it the pain spreads over
the top and bottom of his foot and lasts a while. There is no
swelling. I want him to see the doctor because it was
obvious it was pretty intense pain, but he isn't much for going
himself, even though he always insists the kids and I go. He
took a long nap while I installed the virus program and the kids
played Megan's new game. We spent the evening taking turns
playing on the computer and watching television.
Eight eggs today. I
think the girls are back!
November 15
Brrrr! No snow, but
COLD! The temperature outside the kitchen window was only about
25 degrees this morning and I had to scrape a thick layer of frost off
the car windows before work. This is the first really heavy
frost we've had and it was so pretty out on my bus route this morning.
The sun shining off the frost on all the trees and grasses made
everything sparkle. There's plenty of sun predicted for the
whole day so the temperature is expected to reach the low to mid 50's.
Today is errand day for me.
I have to go to the bank and go about paying the bills that I can pay
locally. I also took care of the chickens this morning.
Feeding them is supposed to be one of Matt's chores, but no matter
what we do he just refuses to be real regular about it. I try to
always check, but we're thinking that his irregular times maybe be
putting stress on them and affecting the laying. So, looks like
I'm going to inherit the chore.
Here's a good autumn recipe
I found (and tried):
APPLE COLESLAW
2 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1 tart red apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup poppy seed salad dressing
2 tablespoons sour cream
Toss together cabbage and apple. Combine
dressing and sour cream, mix well and toss with cabbage mixture.
Chill.
*Really good served along with kielbasa and
pierogies
Carpe diem!
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