Weekly Review February 23 '18

I feel like I didn't get a lot accomplished this week--I'm not sure why. Here's the highlights of what we did this week:

Saturday: Seth had swimming lessons in the morning, as usual, and also as usual I cleaned the kitchen floor, worked on Cub Scouts with Seth, and Seth did some homework. Not as usual, I started working on our taxes. Sam was here visiting--he came on Friday evening. Our stake conference was last weekend so Frank had a leadership meeting that afternoon and we both had the adult session of stake conference that evening. Sam left to drive back home in the early afternoon because snow was predicted and he wanted to get ahead of the storm. It did snow, too. It started snowing not long after Sam left. By the time I drove to the stake center for my meeting, we had a couple of  inches of snow and it was a little hard to see the markings on the road. It didn't seem to be very slick, but I was a little worried what it would be like by the time we needed to head back home. However, it stopped snowing while we were in our meeting and the roads were actually more clear by the time we headed home. Meanwhile, the meeting was really good. We had Elder Wakolo of the Seventy visiting and he was a really good speaker. He really knows the scriptures! He was rattling off scriptures right and left without referring to any notes.

Sunday: Seth and I went to the general session of stake conference but Frank wasn't feeling well at all so he didn't go. His stomach was upset and he had a bad headache. They broadcast the meeting from the stake center to our ward building, so we were able to go to the meeting there. That was nice because it was a lot less crowded. The meeting was really good and Elder Wakolo gave another amazing talk and testimony. The rest of the day we just relaxed. I did some indexing and a lot of reading. I finished Dead End in Norvelt and read most of a book called Crispin Cross of Lead (another Newbery award winner--I finished it on Monday, and it was really good.) Frank rested a lot. He didn't feel well all day and he didn't feel great on Monday either but he was improving by then.

Monday: Seth didn't have school and Frank didn't have work because of President's Day. I helped Seth do some homework,  part of which involved doing a small science experiment with baking soda & vinegar:

I also got ready for the next day's den meeting by making these wolf ears (costumes for a skit):

Snickers went to the groomer and I got all the regular chores done. Frank got new tires for his car and we ran some other errands. Frank ended up doing quite a bit of work for clients. We had family night that evening, as usual.

Tuesday:  I volunteered at the school library in the morning. The rest of the day was mostly normal, except that it was very warm for February--we had temperatures up into the 70s!! When Seth got home from school we went to the park to do another science experiment which involved seeing how a person's weight affects how fast they slide down a slide. (We are doing these little experiments for homework, but they are also passing off part of an adventure for Cub Scouts. Nice to be able to do both at once!) That night we had den meetings--my group created a legend to explain "Why Wolves Howl at the Moon". Next week we are going to present our legend as a skit.

Wednesday: It was even warmer than Tuesday, with a high of 82! I am not complaining about that at all. It was so nice to have a couple of beautiful days like that in February. I took Snickers on a walk both days. On Wednesday morning I also took Snickers to the vet. The vet called us last Friday night to tell us about the results of his blood work and his urine test, both of which weren't good. He has blood in his urine again (which means he probably has another stone) and his liver enzyme numbers are back up again too. So on Wednesday he had his annual check up but he also had another test done on his blood which involved taking his blood, feeding him (he was fasting when I brought him in) and then taking his blood again two hours later so I had to leave him at the vet's for a while. We don't have the results of that test yet. He also has to have an ultrasound next week. (This is pretty much all the stuff we had to do last year.) He's on a new medication for his liver now and we are feeding him a smaller amount because he gained over 3 pounds since September.  I ended up having to go back to pick Snickers up right around the time the religion class starts, so I didn't end up going to the class this week. That evening I had book chat, where we discussed The Scarlet Letter. It was a pretty lively discussion. We also had cheese fondue and chocolate fondue (with lots of things to dip in them) which has become a tradition for the month of February. Now we are reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which I don't expect to be a happy book but I'll probably learn a lot from it. I've read the first chapter so far, and it's really good.

Thursday: It was a lot cooler than the previous two days, although it is still in the 50s so it's still pretty nice for February. We have had quite a bit of rain the last couple of days too. I mostly did the usual things but I didn't get a lot of extra stuff done because I spent my free time talking to Jared and reading to Seth. Please keep Jared in your prayers. He's doing okay but he is dealing with a lot of stuff. Seth and I finished reading The Lost Hero, which is the first book in the Percy Jackson follow-up series. It took us a long time to get through that book--not because we didn't enjoy it, but because we got distracted a lot and went for long periods of time without reading. We started the second book last night but only read a couple of chapters because Seth was really wired last night and wasn't listening very well.

Friday: Today I spent a lot of the day updating the budget. I was supposed to have my ukulele class this morning but the other lady who is taking the class with me couldn't make it so we decided to meet next week instead. I did practice the ukulele, though (as I have most days). I also talked to Tanner for a while today and he seems to be doing well. Frank and I went out to dinner tonight without Seth--it was nice to go on a date! Seth had a field trip at school today--they went to the Natural History Museum in DC. He had a good time. 

Frank had a busy week. He worked at his office most days this week and he had a lot of work to do for clients also. He had his annual review at work and it was pretty good. He has applied for a couple of positions at Marriott but the interviews won't be happening for a while. He has continued to be very disciplined about his diet and about exercising and he is getting comments from people that he looks thinner--especially people that he hasn't seen for a while. I don't notice the change as much since I see him every day but he does look a little thinner to me too.

I meant to work on our taxes this week but never got to them. Hopefully I will do better with that this coming week! I started reading another Newbery winner called The Story of Mankind. It is pretty long and I plan to read a couple of chapters a day until I finish it, so it will probably take a while. I have been preparing some things so I can start doing some of the assessments in the Disconnected Kids book with Seth soon. I have been reading some of my weekly letters from the year he was born to find out more information about his development as a baby, because I need that information for part of the assessments. It's been interesting to read those letters--my life was a lot more hectic back then!! It wasn't easy having older kids and a baby at the same time. I'd kind of forgotten that, and at the time I don't think I noticed too much--just reading about it now makes me tired!! I'm glad we made it through those days.

That's all I can think of to tell you about this week so as soon as the internet comes back up, I will post this!

Weekly Review February 16 '18

Here's our report for this week:

Friday: As I mentioned in last week's post, we had the Blue & Gold Banquet on Friday evening. It turned out really well, with plenty of yummy food, awards for the boys, and the slide show was a hit! Making that slide show was a lot of work, but seeing the delight of the boys as they watched it made it worth it. Plus, as I was putting it together it made me feel happy to see all of the things we did throughout the year. Sometimes I feel like we don't do much, but then when I see all the pictures from the various den meetings and activities, and think "Hey, we actually did a lot of cool things!" I really enjoy working in Cub Scouts--it is a lot of fun!

The tables all set up for the banquet. In the background, you can see the Cubs clustered around the television watching the slide show I put together.

The Cubs helped us (the den leaders) make these cute "campfire" centerpieces.

One of my "Bears" during the flag ceremony.

My other "Bear" during the flag ceremony.

All the Cubs (a few of them weren't able to make it.)

Boys holding up the cakes they decorated:

This one had a "campfire" made out of fruit roll ups and pirouette cookies.

 
This one had a campsite with large Bear cakes and graham cracker tents.

Seth's cake was decorated with trees, the moon, a large rock with a bear coming out a cave & a wolf on top of the rock, howling at the moon.

This "cake" was made out of rice krispy treats and as you can see it was in the shape of the Olympic rings.

 This cake had sprinkles on top, a light shining underneath, and it tasted delicious!  (Actually, they were all good--I had a little sliver of each one.)

For the dinner part, we had a taco bar which was a hit with everybody. After we got home from the banquet, we watched part of the Olympics opening ceremony before going to bed.

Saturday: We did mostly the usual things--Seth had swimming lessons in the morning. His regular teacher was sick so he had a different teacher, but he knew her because she's in our ward and we actually give her rides to church a lot. When we got back from swimming, Seth took a shower and I worked on some Cub Scout things with him. Then I took him to his friend Krish's house to play for the afternoon. Frank was gone all morning and into the afternoon doing work for a client. I did some Cub Scout planning and cleaned the kitchen floor and did some more patching of walls in the upstairs bedroom.

Sunday: We had church as usual and I did some indexing. After church Frank took a nap because he hadn't slept well at all the night before. I read to Seth for a couple of hours--we are still reading one of the Percy Jackson books (the first book in the follow up series). We are taking a long time to get through it because we aren't reading very consistently but we made quite a bit of progress on Sunday. It was nice to have a relaxing evening.

Monday: It was mostly a normal day with the usual Monday chores, but I was kind of having a nervous break down over Jared's health insurance situation (long story--basically, I was worried we were going to get charged $500 for the student health insurance plan even though he doesn't need it because he's covered by our health insurance). We finally got that worked out, though (with Jared's help) and we are not going to have to pay for the student health insurance. That day I also sanded the bedroom walls again--the places I had patched on Saturday. Frank had a follow up doctor appointment and they were very pleased with his blood sugar level, which is back in the normal range. They told him "just keep doing what you are doing!" He did finally get an appointment with the dietitian but it's not until sometime in March. For family night activity we played Clue and we had some Valentine treats. Finding treats that Frank can eat is a bit of challenge, but I am learning that not all sugary things are equal. Some treats have a lot fewer carbohydrates than others, so I try to find things that are on the low end of the spectrum. He can have sugar sometimes, just not a lot. He is still being really disciplined and eating mostly vegetables and meat.

Tuesday: This day was super busy. A friend and I went to the temple in the morning. We just barely managed to squeak into the 10:00 session, which was nice (usually I just miss the 10:00 session and have to wait an hour for the next session). The trip to the temple took all morning and into the early afternoon. Then I had just an hour or so to get all the usual chores done before I had to pick up Seth from school. I didn't get everything done, but I got most of it done. When Seth got home he had some homework to do and we had dinner before going to den meetings. For den meeting, my boys made dream catchers (we are working on an adventure about Native Americans). There is only one Wolf right now (I like to think of him as the lone wolf!) so he met with my boys. Since I only have 2 boys and one of them was sick on Tuesday, we actually had more leaders than we had boys. (There is one den leader for the Wolves, one for the Bears, and an assistant den leader who helps both of us.) Actually, the Wolf den leader just got released on Sunday and a new one was called so it was her first week as a den leader, also.

Seth doing homework:

Making dream catchers:

Wednesday: I did the usual stuff, including going to religion class. I also went to visit my friend Wanda and took her some Valentine treats. Her parents were visiting her too, though, so I only stayed for a few minutes. We gave Seth a card and some candy and Frank and I got each other cards. Frank also got me some beautiful flowers and some huge chocolate truffles:

I sent cards to my other boys, too, but since I forgot to put them in the mail until Monday, they probably didn't get them in time for Valentine's Day. Maybe they got them by today. I did get to talk to Scott that evening because he called me when he was on his way home from work.

Thursday: We have had a lot of rain the last couple of days and yesterday the temperatures got up into the low 70s! Wow, it was nice! I took Snickers on a long walk because you just have to spend some time outside if it is 70 degrees in February. I had a really busy day because besides all the usual chores, I also took Snickers to the vet and did some shopping for my friend Wanda (she needed a few hygiene items like shampoo but she can't get to the store right now since her broken hip is still healing). Snickers had to go to the vet because they wanted to do a urinalysis and some more blood work to see how his liver is doing and if there is any sign of any more bladder stones. We won't have the results from those tests back for a while but while we were there they also weighed him and he has gained over 3 pounds since September, so that is a concern. We might be changing his diet again. I have to take him in next week for a check up so we can figure out what's going on. (He was almost due for his annual check up anyway so it's just a little earlier than normal.) I am bracing myself for another big hit to the wallet. His annual check up is always expensive, and if there are any problems it gets even more expensive. Frank didn't get home until nearly 11:00 last night because after work he had to go do some work for a client. I went to the monthly RS Meeting, where we talked about the 5 Love Languages and had a chocolate fountain.

Friday: Today has been really busy too. I updated the budget as usual, but I also went to lunch with Frank and another couple in our ward. (We went to Golden Corral so that Frank had healthy options like salads to choose from.) Seth got out of school 2 hours early today so we went right from lunch to pick him up. I got to talk to Amy for a while today which was nice because we don't get to talk very often anymore. This evening I took dinner to a single lady who is a friend of a sister in our ward. This lady has been in the hospital so it is hard for her to cook for herself right now. It was a little challenging coming up with what to make her because she can't have salt, but I am getting better at cooking for people with dietary restrictions. :) The rest of us ate leftovers for dinner because a lot of things have been accumulating in the refrigerator. My produce drawers are always full now--I am buying a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables than I used to buy. I am starting to enjoy doing things like making stir frys from fresh vegetables. It does feel good to eat healthier! Today was pretty mild also and we got some more rain but tomorrow it is supposed to snow. Crazy weather! Still, I am not complaining because I prefer crazy back-and-forth weather to it being freezing cold for weeks on end.

I have been diligently exercising and practicing the ukulele on an almost daily basis. I have been reading quite a bit this week too. I haven't read any more of Disconnected Kids; I've been focused on finishing Dead End in Norvelt. It is kind of a crazy story, but I am enjoying it.

Frank got news at work this week which isn't the greatest, but hopefully it will turn out well in the end. They are doing a lot of reorganizing in the IT departments and everyone has to re-post for their positions and a lot of positions are going to be eliminated or moved around. Although his position may be eliminated, he still has the option to apply for many other positions so hopefully in the end he will still have a job with Marriott, although he may not be doing exactly the same thing. Of course, there is the possibility that he will be out of a job, though. So naturally that is a bit stressful but we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. The last time this happened, he actually ended up with a much better position than he had before so we can hope that this time things will end up okay as well.

That is all the news from our neck of the woods.

Weekly Review February 9 '18

We had another busy week. Here is what we did:

Friday: It was super cold and windy and I tried not to go anywhere unless I had to! Normally, that would mean just taking Seth to school and picking him up again but when Frank suggested that we go out for some dinner and then go buy me a new phone, I agreed. That's how badly I needed a new phone!! We are not going to be eating out very much because of Frank's diabetes, but he wanted to see if he could get something while eating out that would not be over his carb allowance for the meal. He did manage to keep under by ordering a salad and only eating a few of the chips they brought us for an appetizer. he said the salad was pretty good, too. Seth and I ate a lot more carbs than he did, but I am trying to eat fewer carbs too. After dinner we went to the Sprint store to get my phone--I had already looked online and figured out which phone I wanted to get. It IS nice, especially the fact that I now get all the text messages people send me. I just would have really preferred to keep the old one if it hadn't been for the text message problems it was having.

Saturday: Seth had swimming lessons in the morning as usual. He also had a second lesson in the afternoon, which isn't usual but it was a make up lesson for the one he missed last week when he was sick. I took him to his first lesson and Frank took him to his second lesson because I had a hair appointment scheduled. The rest of the day was busy helping Seth with Cub scouts and a project for school, cleaning the kitchen floor, and working for a long time on the slide show for Cub scouts.

Sunday: Frank had ward council as usual, but while he was there it started snowing. The forecast was for more snow, turning into freezing rain around the time our meetings started. Our bishop decided to hold only Sacrament Meeting so that people who weren't comfortable driving on icy roads wouldn't need to come. (One of the other wards in our building cancelled all of their meetings.) So we only had Sacrament Meeting and there were a smaller number of people there than usual but we still had a pretty decent group show up. It was nice to come home earlier than usual and have a long, relaxing afternoon / evening, although I missed going to Sunday School and Relief Society. Frank was really tired so he took a nap. I read a lot, and finished the book I was reading (Moon Over Manifest). I really enjoyed it. I did some indexing also.

Monday: The freezing rain changed to rain later on Sunday but then it got colder and all the water on the roads froze, so we had a 2 hour delay for school on Monday morning. It was mostly a normal day except I went to lunch with some friends to celebrate our friend Renata's birthday. That evening Seth worked on his project for school, which is about cells (plant and animal cells). He had to build a 3-D model of either a plant or animal cell, so I had him start on the model. I was pleasantly surprised that in a short amount of time (probably less than an hour) he had built the whole model. He seemed to enjoy himself, too! (He built it out of clay.) I was expecting that part of the project to take longer, so that was really nice. He had already done most of the written packet which was the other part of the project so that meant that he was almost done with the whole thing. Over the next couple of days, all he had to do was fix a couple of things he had done incorrectly, label a couple of diagrams, and become familiar enough with the functions of all the different parts that he can explain them clearly when he presents his project. The project was due today so it was nice to get done with it early!

Tuesday: This day was also a pretty normal day (and it was the only day besides today that Seth had a full day of school). Besides all the usual chores, I also worked on filling out Tanner's FAFSA and got it done. I started on Jared's FAFSA also, although it is highly unlikely he will be going to school the 2018-19 school year. I just decided it would be better to fill one out, just in case. We didn't have den meetings because we have the Blue & Gold Banquet tonight, but I spent all evening working on the slide show for the Banquet. It took a lot longer than I expected to get it done this year, mostly because I had a lot more pictures.

Wednesday: We got a little bit of snow overnight and in the morning we were getting freezing rain. The freezing rain was supposed to last until about noon, so school was cancelled for the day. I didn't have the religion class either, although that was because the teacher was out of town, not because of the weather. Seth only had a little bit to do for his cell project but he also has a lot of other work he needs to get done at home because he's not getting enough done at school. (Every five weeks, they send home all the things that he didn't get done and he has to complete them at home.) So I went over all of that with him and figured out what we need to do to get it done. He has to do a lot of "practical life" things which includes things like sewing, baking, housework, yardwork, and community service so on Wednesday Frank helped him make some muffins and on Thursday I had him do vacuuming and laundry. Anyway, Frank and I got the Walmart shopping done also and I worked a bunch more on the slide show. I got it all done except the music part, which I needed Jared's help to complete. Frank had his monthly PPI with our bishop that night.

Ice encrusted trees:

We had a pretty sunset that night:

Thursday: Mostly it was a normal day. Besides the usual chores, I finished Jared's FAFSA (I had to go to our storage unit to get out some of his financial papers in order to do that) and Jared got onto my computer that night and added music to the Cub scout slide show, so it is finished. Frank and Seth baked a cake which they will be decorating this afternoon--it's for the Blue & Gold Banquet. There was another 2 hour delay that morning because once again the roads froze over in the night and were very icy.

Friday: There was a normal school schedule today!! I don't feel like I've been very productive yet today, though. I woke up later than I usually do so I've been running behind my normal schedule. After I finish this post, I need to update the budget (there isn't a lot to do today, thankfully) and then I have my ukulele class this afternoon. After I pick up Seth from school, we will be busy getting everything ready for the Blue & Gold Banquet.

Frank has been very disciplined about his eating all week and his blood sugar levels are really good. He has also been doing light jogging every day (except Sunday) and he has lost about 7 or 8 pounds since he went to the doctor less than 2 weeks ago. We still haven't been able to get in to see the dietitian, even though we have left a couple of messages. That is frustrating, but in the meantime he has just been eating a lot of vegetables and some meat and other proteins, and avoiding things like bread, pasta, and sweets. He has had small amounts of a lower carb bread and some rice. Anyway, it seems to be working since he is losing weight and his blood sugar is back in the normal range. It has been a bit challenging for me to plan meals but hopefully that will get easier over time. I am noticing that the cost of groceries has definitely increased (mainly because we are eating more meat  and seafood than we usually do, and the leaner cuts of meat are more expensive) but Frank is not eating out for lunch nearly as much (hardly at all now; before he was eating out 3 -4 times per week for lunch) so hopefully in the end it will balance out somewhat.

I started reading another Newbery winning book this week called Dead End in Norvelt. So far, I am not very far into it but it is pretty entertaining. I have also been reading the book called Disconnected Kids (the one about treating ADHD) and I've made it to the part that teaches me how to assess my child. I haven't started doing the assessments on Seth yet, but the more I read this book, the more I realize how much I want Seth to have a more normal life than what he does now. The medicine he takes helps him focus and be calmer, but he is almost too calm when he is on it. He really isn't "Seth". Also, there are many social situations where the medicine has worn off and it's at those times that I can see how "not normal" he really is, when it comes to his behavior and being able to interact with other people. In the last few years I have somewhat come to accept that this is how he is and we are just going to have to cope with it / keep trying to find things that help him. But it really does hurt me when I see his behavior around his peers because I know his behavior is keeping him from developing good friendships. I worry a lot about his future and how he is going to get along in the world because he struggles with relationships, lacks empathy, and really can't seem to grasp that he is responsible for his actions. And yes--he can just be very difficult to live with sometimes! In the book, there are many testimonials from parents about the change they have seen in their children--dramatic change, in many instances. I am hopeful that we will be able to help Seth change, too. We did start doing the written assessments this week (just not the actual physical assessments of Seth yet). Frank and I, independent from one another, filled out a form with our observations of Seth's behavior, academics, physical health, etc. We did have some differences, but we mostly marked all of the same things. What we have done so far indicates that it IS very likely that he has a right brain deficiency, which means his right brain is lagging behind his left brain and therefore a lot of the connections between the two sides that should be there aren't there. It's going to take a lot of time to get through all of this stuff, but if we can help him change it will be totally worth it!

Just one note about Jared as I finish up--he called on Wednesday because he was having a hard day. It was February 7th, which is the day he went into the MTC last year. He was feeling pretty bad about being home instead of on his mission still, and worrying a bit about when he can go back, and also realizing that as much as he wants to go back, going back is going to be hard too. So please keep him in your prayers.

That is all I have to report this week!

Weekly Review February 2 '18

We had a pretty eventful week. Here is the daily summary:

Saturday: Remember that last week I said I was going to the temple on Saturday? Well, I didn't. Friday evening (late, almost bedtime) Seth started complaining that he had a bad headache and then he threw up! I knew if he followed his usual pattern, he would be fine in the morning but I had no way of knowing for sure. I was supposed to be going to the temple quite early, with a group of women from my ward so I decided I'd better not go. Although I was right about Seth--he seemed fine in the morning and he has been fine since--it turned out to be a good thing I didn't go because Frank was up until 2:00 am taking care of a computer problem for a client and then he was also gone almost all day doing more work for clients. That would have left Seth alone all morning if I had gone. I planned to go to the temple on Tuesday instead. On Saturday I kept busy cleaning the kitchen floor, the stove, and the microwave, plus a few errands and I also finished crocheting my scarf. I am happy to have finished that project and pleased that it turned out looking really nice. I cancelled Seth's swimming lesson because I wasn't sure if he was totally well yet and I didn't want him throwing up in the pool or something like that. Frank came home Saturday after talking with a friend and said he thought he needed to go to the doctor first thing on Monday. Over the last several days he had been having a bunch of things happen like his vision was getting blurry (he actually called and set up an appointment with the eye doctor a few days earlier), losing weight, and getting up in the night several times to go to the bathroom. His friend said "that sounds like all the symptoms of diabetes to me." Up until then, neither of us had made the connection that those things might all be related to one problem.

Sunday: It was a typical restful Sunday. I did some indexing and went to choir practice. We thought to ask the missionaries if anyone was feeding them and they said no, so we had them over for dinner.

Monday: Seth didn't have school. Frank didn't sleep well again on Sunday night. I called the doctor that morning and got him an appointment. Since his vision was really blurry and he hadn't slept much, I took him to the doctor (didn't want him to drive). Sure enough, he has type 2 diabetes. His blood sugar level was 9.5ish and normal is 6.0. The doctor prescribed a medication to help get his blood sugar down and gave him the information for a dietician--we have to call and schedule an appointment with her so we can figure out what he needs to eat. Basically, though, he needs to cut back on his carbs. He said we should be more worried about carbs than about sugar, although of course eating a lot of sugar isn't a good idea either. The good news is that this type of diabetes is not insulin dependent and can be managed very well through diet, exercise, and weight loss. As a matter of fact, the doctor said this type of diabetes is "reversible". If Frank loses enough weight and learns to eat the right foods he can basically be "cured". (I'm sure he will always need to be careful about what he eats and he will need to exercise and maintain a healthy weight, though.) The rest of Monday was somewhat stressful because Frank was feeling pretty rotten and we had a lot of trouble getting the things the doctor had prescribed. After we got home from the doctor, Frank tried to eat something (he hadn't eaten yet that day) and after one bite he got very sick to his stomach. It took several calls to the pharmacy and calls back to the doctor's office before 2 of the things he needed were called in and I was able to pick them up. The other 2 things we were not able to get until Wednesday afternoon--those were the things he needed to test his blood sugar level, because he has to do that twice a day for a while. By Monday evening Frank was still feeling nauseated (although he was able to eat a little bit during the day) and he also had a really bad headache. It just wasn't a fun day. I did manage to get the normal chores done and I also helped Seth do some things for Cub Scouts and do some work on a school project. We decided to bump family night to Tuesday, though, since Frank was feeling so rotten.

Tuesday: Frank was doing better than Monday, thankfully. I had planned to go to the temple but we got a little tiny bit of snow in the night and I guess the roads were slippery because school got delayed 2 hours. That meant that I probably wouldn't have time to get to the temple and back while Seth was at school. I was nervous about leaving Frank alone anyway, although he was doing better than the day before. He worked from home and I got all the usual chores done. One of my Tuesday chores is to plan the meals for the following week. So there I was, Tuesday afternoon, confronted with planning meals for a diabetic and having no idea how to do that! The doctor did send home a few pamphlets with us so by consulting those I hope I managed to plan some meals that are not too high on carbs or sugar. We'll see. We haven't been able to get in touch with the dietician yet, but I am planning to go with him to that appointment. In the meantime, Frank has an app on his phone that is helping him track his carbs and he is doing really well at staying under his limit (and eating less, in general.). He also started exercising a few days ago although he has to start out with pretty low intensity. After school, I gave Seth his medicine because he has a school project we are working on right now. It did seem to help him focus a bit and he didn't have trouble sleeping, so that's good news. We didn't have Cub Scouts that evening because it was a 5th Tuesday (we only have 3 den meetings per month, plus 1 pack meeting.)

Wednesday: Pretty much a normal day. I went to the religion class. Frank had work to do for clients in the evening. I worked on the slide show for the Blue & Gold Banquet for a couple of hours. I also went online to look at cell phones because I am going to give up and buy a new one. (My current phone is very unreliable about receiving text messages. Sometimes I get them, sometimes I don't.) Don't get me started on what a rip off I think phones are these days! I think I know what phone I am going to get, but I haven't made it to the store to buy it yet.

Thursday: I FINALLY made it to the temple!! Fourth time's a charm. It was lovely to be there again. The temple was a lot busier than it usually is during the day--I guess it's really starting to sink in on everyone that the temple is going to be closed really soon so everyone is trying to get there before it closes. There weren't a lot of men in my session (typical; most men work during the day) but there were so many women that there wasn't room for all of them to sit on the women's side. Even though the temple trip took most of the school day, I still managed to get all the regular chores done, helped Seth with his project some more, and worked on the slide show for a couple more hours. It's funny how that works. The principle that works for tithing / money also works for time!

Friday: So far I have just updated the budget today.

Throughout the week I have been doing some reading. I finished the book for book chat (The Scarlet Letter) and I started reading a Newbury award winner called Moon Over Manifest. I also started reading a book called Disconnected Kids, which Rachelle told me about. It's about a new way of looking at problems like ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc. The author has come up with treatments for these issues that don't involve medication and that really work. (I mean, that's his claim anyway but he does have a lot of research and studies that back him up.) Basically, he says that these problems are all related to problems with connections in the brain, particularly between the two hemispheres of the brain. In most cases, one hemisphere has matured far more than the other which causes the connections to get off. His treatment involves things that will strengthen the weak side of the brain so that it can catch up with the stronger side and the connections will be reestablished. I'm excited to see if the methods he describes will help Seth. I haven't actually got to the methods yet, though. I'm only in chapter 1.

I have also been practicing the ukulele nearly every day, for at least a few minutes and I am happy to report that I am making progress. I can sort of play 3 different songs. :)

I've had quite a bit of communication with all three of the older boys this week, either on the phone or through texting (or both). Tanner got a job with BYU catering, which is good news. All the boys seem to be doing well and I am enjoying having more contact with them. I miss them when they are gone!

Sorry I don't have any pictures this week. We've had a lot going on, just not photo worthy stuff.