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!
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