Weekly Review June 29 '18

Let's start with a health update. I'm doing a lot better than I was last week. However, I'm not completely better yet, which is a surprise to me. I thought I'd be 100% healthy by now. I took it easy Saturday and Sunday. I went to church just long enough to take the sacrament, mainly because I was still coughing a lot and still had slightly red eyes, and I didn't want to share my germs. (I was pretty tired by the time I got home, though.) By Monday I was back to doing most of the things I usually do, and I have continued to do that all week, but I still don't feel great. Earlier in the week I still had a nasty cough and one night I ended up sleeping on the couch because I didn't want to keep Frank awake with my coughing. The cough has mostly gone away now, which I am grateful for. My eyes have continued to improve every day also and yesterday they were almost back to normal--so much so that I didn't even have to "unglue" my eyelashes in the morning. However, late yesterday I noticed they were getting "cloudy" again and they got a little red. They are still like that, so my eyes have had a bit of a relapse. Other than that, I feel pretty well except that earlier in the week my sore throat came back and it still hasn't gone away. It was really bothering me on Wednesday night, but it is still pretty sore today. No fever, though, and in general I am not as tired and mostly feel okay. I also am not very congested anymore, so that's nice. So hopefully my sore throat and goopy eyes will go away soon.

Meanwhile, Jared wasn't feeling really great on Sunday. He still went to work at Chick fil a on Monday as usual, but by the time he got home from work he had almost completely lost his voice and he wasn't feeling well at all. He was supposed to work at both the Keys and Chick fil a every day this week, but he had to call in sick for the rest of the week. He is scheduled to work at the Keys tomorrow evening and he will probably do that because he is feeling quite a bit better now, but he has definitely had the same illness that I have had (although I didn't lose my voice like he did). I'm just glad that he is getting better quicker than I have. On Tuesday when he woke up his eyes were slightly red and goopy. Fortunately, they never got as bad as mine did. But he has had a lot of congestion and a cough and headache and general body aches. Yesterday his voice came back, though, and he said he was starting to feel better. (He could only whisper for a couple of days!) He still has a pretty nasty cough, though, so not the best thing when you are working with food!

Anyway, enough of all that. The good news is, Seth and Frank have escaped catching the same thing--at least so far. Hopefully they will never catch it. I guess I'm not going to do a daily update for this week. I don't think there is much to say anyway. As I mentioned, I took it easy on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't make it to our self reliance group meeting on Saturday, but we had another one on Wednesday evening and I did go to that one. We only have one more meeting. Between all the different vacation schedules, we won't all be in town at the same time for the rest of the summer! But we are going to keep in touch with emails and text messages to continue to support each other through the rest of the summer. On Saturday they finished the last of the 10 chapters in the book, as well as going over 2 foundational principles. Then on Wednesday we went over 4 more of the foundational principles. We will have one more meeting the week after next to finish up the last four foundational principles. Our meeting on Wednesday actually went really well. We had a great discussion, and everyone mentioned what a great program this is, how much it has helped them, and how inspired it is. So even though we aren't going to be able to complete the program as it is intended to be done, I think it has still been very helpful for all the participants.

I finished reading The Phantom of the Opera on Saturday. I really enjoyed it. Then, of course, I had to watch the movie again! I'd forgotten how good it is. I missed choir practice and a song performance on Sunday; I was sad about that. I could not have sung, though. Not much of a voice, and I probably would have had a coughing fit in the middle of the song! I did go to church a little bit early to meet with the lady who is in charge of Cub Scout day camp because I have been working on the records for that and she wanted to go over a couple of things. I need to tweak them a bit, but I am mostly done with them.

I did better with supervising Seth this week and he didn't rot his brains on TV and video games all week. He still got some screen time every day, but only a few hours. He had to eat breakfast, take a shower, and help me with chores each day before he could have his screen time. He spent more time staring at a screen than I would have liked, but that is because Jared was home and not feeling well enough to do much besides watch TV and play video games, so he spent a lot of time watching Jared play. But he actually didn't have a lot of screen time of his own. He has played with Legos some and he has been reading a lot. I decided that we should do our reading together in the mornings also and that has worked out well. We are almost through reading The House of Hades. I didn't remember to give Seth his medicine every day this week and I have really been noticing the difference between when he is medicated and when he is not. He can certainly be more of a challenge when he is not medicated, but he is also happy, creative, and funny when he is his true self. I don't like how subdued he gets when he is on his medication although of course it is definitely helpful when I need him to focus and get something done. On Tuesday he was helping me clean bathrooms and he was actually having fun some of the time. I assigned him to clean the walls of the shower and the tub, and as he was splashing water on the walls to rinse them off, I could hear him saying "And here comes another cleaning tidal wave!!!" Later on he said to me "Mom, if there were a town called Cleanington, the statue of the founder would look like this.":

Who knew cleaning bathrooms could be so fun?

Frank had a very busy week with his business. He has been gone a lot of the day every day doing work for clients. That's good, since it means income coming in. He says in between he has been applying for jobs still. He has an interview tomorrow but so far nothing else has yielded much fruit yet. He hasn't had much time to work on his office at all and since a lot of the work he's been doing for clients has involved buying new computers and setting them up, the basement is still a disaster and now there are several extra empty boxes stacked up down there. It's starting to look like a warehouse. Hopefully he will have a little more time to work on his office this week.

I was able to make it to den meeting this week. We had to hold it somewhere besides the church because it was an election day here and the church was being used as a polling place. We had den meeting at the other den leader's house but only two of the boys were able to come. (Usually, we only have four.) They decorated cups for displaying little American flags and we made (and ate!) two nutritious snacks.

I ran a lot of errands this week; a lot of them yesterday. Seth had some library books due so on Monday Frank and I took him to the library. There is a new one in Walkersville, so we went to that one. I took Jared to the doctor yesterday, mostly so he could get a note for returning to work. The doctor also confirmed that he has the same thing as me--not strep, a virus. Apparently it's been going around. Yesterday I also went to the vet to pick up more medicine for Snickers (he's on a liver support medication for the rest of his life) and I took Seth to pick up his new glasses. (Frank took him to the eye doctor last week; I probably forgot to mention that.) The glasses were actually ready for pick up on Monday but I kept forgetting to go get them. He picked them out himself and they probably wouldn't have been my first choice but I actually think they look pretty good on him.

(He loves this iguana puppet that they have at the eye doctor.)

I also picked up prescriptions for Frank and made way too many trips to the store because we kept forgetting things.

To our surprise, the new radiator for my car came in on Friday and they got it fixed on Friday too so we were able to get my car back late on Friday. We ended up taking it back in on Tuesday because some fluid was leaking and they had to replace one of the clips that holds the radiator in place. In between when we dropped it off in the morning and when they finished with it, Frank had to make an emergency trip to a client's, so I didn't have a car. My friend Marinda came and picked me up and took me to the car repair shop so that I could get my car.

I went to religion class on Wednesday and I enjoyed doing that again although I kind of sat in a corner away from other people since I didn't want to get anyone sick. Frank took Seth to the dentist for a check up / cleaning that day. Jared and I were both supposed to go too but we had to postpone our appointments because we were sick. They didn't want us in their office with our symptoms! Unfortunately, they are really booked so I had to reschedule my appointment for the end of September! Jared will be back at college by then so he doesn't have an appointment at all now. However, they are putting both of us on a list and will call us if there are any cancellations. Hopefully Jared can get in before he leaves and hopefully we will both get in before the end of July, because that is when our insurance coverage ends (unless we decide to do Cobra).

I think that is mostly what we did this week. Along with all the regular chores, that kept me very busy. I didn't feel up to exercising yet but I will try to start doing that again next week. I did start practicing the ukulele again and I have enjoyed that. I also finished reading the book about brain balance (the thing that I'm hoping is going to help Seth with his ADHD). I still need to finish a couple of assessments with him. Right now I am keeping a diary of all the things he eats every day and noting his behavior because according to the book, many kids with ADHD also have food sensitivities which can affect their behavior. I have to do this for 7-10 days. Then we are supposed to eliminate anything from his diet that seems to trigger bad behavior, as well as several other things that are common problems--including gluten, soy, eggs, and dairy products! I'm not sure what he would eat, honestly. We're supposed to do that for at least 4 weeks. I'm willing to give it a try, but I'm definitely not going to be doing that while we are on vacation, so it's going to have to wait until we get back.

Today we had Seth's friend Tate over to play for a lot of the day. He is my friend Marinda's son (remember she took me to pick up my car earlier this week?) They are moving tomorrow to Louisiana. (They are a military family; they moved here 2 years ago and they were supposed to be here 3 or 4 years but sadly their time here got cut short.) The movers came and took all their stuff on Wednesday and they have been "camping out" at their house without much entertainment, so I offered to have Tate come over today since I'm sure he's been pretty bored! Seth enjoyed having him over and they played together very nicely. He is a sweet boy who never causes any trouble. When his family came to pick him up this afternoon, we had to say our goodbyes. They are a great family and we will really miss them! I'm sure we will keep in touch, though.

I also got my hair done this afternoon. The lady who cuts my hair said a lot of her customers have come in complaining that they have been sick for a couple of weeks with symptoms like mine, so I guess something is going around.

That is really everything I have to say this week!

Weekly Review June 22 '18

It is a Friday afternoon in the summer, but it doesn't seem like it to me. I feel like I've lost track of time because I've been inside and haven't gone anywhere all week. Plus it's raining, so it doesn't look like a typical summer day. Sorry if I whine a lot in this post. It hasn't been an easy week, as you will see as you read. There have been some good things, too, though. Here's what we did.

Friday: After I picked Seth up from school, we went over to pick up Jared from work. We got milkshakes at Chick fil a to celebrate that it was the last day of school. We also went to Walmart so Jared could get a card for Frank and we did a few other errands. After we got home, I made a pan of brownies because I had volunteered to help provide brownies for all the men in the ward for Father's Day. Jared had to go to work that evening and Frank was working at one of his client's place of business a lot of the day. I dropped Jared off at work so that I could have the car to go to a baby shower for one of my friends. The baby shower was fun. Frank called me while I was still there to let me know he was almost home, so I had him stop at Jared's work and I met him there so that we could leave the car there for Jared (he was getting off work pretty late) and then we came home together.

Saturday: Very busy day. Frank took Seth to swimming so that I could participate in a service project that our ward was doing. For the service project, we had joined forces with a couple of other local churches to clean up a lower income neighborhood. Besides picking up trash, weeding, and mulching, the bishop's storehouse had also donated several boxes of canned goods to distribute to people who needed it. Those will be distributed this weekend, but part of what we did last weekend was we sorted all the food into bags so they will be ready for the distribution. We got all of that done and then we did weeding and mulching in a playground area. I didn't stay for the entire project, which included lunch, because I had the self reliance group at noon. Here's a few pictures I took at the service project:

When we got to self reliance group, we decided to only go through one chapter instead of five, because one member of our group couldn't come and Frank had to leave early because he had to go back to help one of his clients some more. So with the usual reporting and going through a foundational principle of self reliance, we were there for a little less than two hours. The plan is to have another long session tomorrow to go through the remaining 4 chapters, although the same member of our group can't come again so maybe that will change. I guess we'll see. Since I ended up having more free time than I anticipated, I worked some more on Cub Scout records, cleaned the kitchen floor, and in the evening after it cooled down a bit I mowed the lawn. Frank finished the work he needed to do for his client. Meanwhile, Jared went to a YSA activity with Jessie and he was gone all afternoon and evening.

Sunday: We gave Frank some cards for Father's Day and he got promises for a couple of things for his office in the future. One of those things is we are creating a sign for his office door with his business name on it (PB Networking). We want to create a logo and we ran out of time to get it done in time for Father's Day. I helped with a Primary class the last hour of church so that the male teachers could go to priesthood meeting, where they also gave them the brownies and other treats. We hurried home from church because Frank's sister, Dawn, and her husband (Mike) were coming over for dinner. Mike's dad lives in Delaware and they have been here visiting, so they drove over for the evening to see us. We had a nice visit with them and I think it helped me to not feel too sad about missing my dad. On Sunday I realized that I really wasn't feeling too well. My throat and head both hurt a bit and I noticed I was coughing a little. My neck and shoulders felt achy too. I had too much to do, though, so I mostly ignored how I felt.

The rest of the week:

By Monday, I couldn't ignore not feeling well anymore. I woke up with a full blown sore throat, head ache, fever, and body aches. What, again???!! Didn't I just do that 2 weeks ago? This nasty cold has been a lot like the last one--only worse. I have spent a good portion of the week lying in bed thinking about all the things I ought to be doing, but not feeling well enough to do them. Ugh!! It's been the worst. I haven't exercised at all this week, or practiced the ukulele; I've barely done any of the basic household chores and none of the cooking. (Frank has had to do all of that, with some help from Jared and Seth.) I had to skip out on den meetings (the other den leader had her husband come help), I missed my religion class as well as a Relief Society activity last night, and the temple trip Frank and I planned for today had to be cancelled (again!) too. At this point, I am just hoping that I will be well enough (and not still contagious) so that I can go to church on Sunday. (Even if I weren't sick, the temple trip would have had to be postponed anyway for two other reasons...more on that later.)

Frank convinced me on Tuesday to go to the doctor--we wanted to rule out strep throat, since I had a really sore throat and a fever (although the fever wasn't too bad and went away after the first couple of days).  Since Seth had been coughing quite a bit for a few days and when questioned he acknowledged that he had a sore throat too, we decided to have him go to the doctor too. Our doctor thought we both probably had a virus, but since my throat looked worse than Seth's he decided to do a strep test on me just to make sure. The test came back negative, but I don't regret going to the doctor because if I hadn't I would have spent this whole week wondering if I should have gone. At least when I was feeling rotten all week I knew that an antibiotic wouldn't have helped.

On Wednesday, I woke up with my left eye red and goopy. By late afternoon, I realized that my right eye was also starting to bother me and by evening it was red and goopy too. By Thursday morning, my left eye had improved quite a bit but my right eye was a lot worse. It got very swollen, in addition to the redness and discharge. The swelling seems to have gone down now but both eyes are still red and there's still discharge although it's diminished. I don't think I will be wearing contact lenses anytime soon. (I did some reading online about "pink eye" and I have all the earmarks of the viral form of pink eye, which also can't be treated. You just have to wait it out, and it can take weeks.) Meanwhile, I have once again become very congested, I'm still coughing, and just in general I'm very tired and feel a lot better if I am horizontal instead of vertical. At least my throat doesn't hurt as much as it did at first. I didn't sleep well at all on Tuesday night but the other nights I've managed to get a fairly decent amount of sleep. So what did I do all week? Not much! You'd think I would have got a lot of reading done or something but I've felt very restless and it's been hard for me to focus on one thing for more than an hour or so. I did do some reading, though, and I'm over half way through The Phantom of the Opera, which is the book we are reading for book chat. I read my scriptures every day and I played a few games online. I somehow ended up watching youtube videos about BYU football, which led to videos about "college football miracle finishes", which were actually really good. But overall, I felt bored and unproductive and guilty that Frank was having to do all the work around here. I did take a shower every day, which I consider an accomplishment!

Frank and Jared gave me a blessing on Wednesday night and that felt great. I cried quietly through most of it because I felt so loved, and such a connection to Heavenly Father. But for whatever reason, it hasn't been His will that I be healed quickly. I guess there is something else I need to learn from this experience. One thing I have been reminded of is that I am very, very fortunate that usually I am so healthy! It is so rare that I get sick, and even more rare for me to be sick for an extended period of time. I take good health for granted most of the time. This is reminding me that I should be grateful for every day that I feel well and am able to do everything that I need to do (even if I don't enjoy some of those things, like cleaning bathrooms!)

Okay, so enough about me! Frank spent the week taking care of me, doing all the shopping, cooking and a lot of household chores (as already mentioned), job hunting, and doing work for clients. I feel like he has had a lot of work to do for clients, which is good of course. He ended up having to drive down to do some on site work for one of his clients again today (one of the other reasons we couldn't go to the temple). The place that he had the phone interview with last week contacted him again to schedule an in-person interview, which for some reason they want to do on a Saturday (not tomorrow, next Saturday). Anyway, it's good that they are interested enough to do another interview. Other than that, he has continued to apply for jobs but hasn't seen a lot of progress yet and I think he's discouraged about that. So keep praying for him! On Wednesday evening when Jared had my car it started overheating so on Thursday Frank took a look at it. He thought maybe there was a small leak somewhere but after adding some anti freeze and driving around a bit he realized that it was leaking a LOT of antifreeze so he decided we'd better get it into the shop. It turns out that there is a large hole in the radiator, which means the radiator needs to be replaced. It's not going to be cheap. Also, apparently no one stocks the radiator my car needs so they had to order one and it won't be in until tomorrow or Monday. So we are a one car family until then. (And that is the third reason that we couldn't go to the temple today, since Jared had to work and going to the temple right now is at least an 8 hour trip, assuming there are no traffic problems.)

Jared has not had to work in the evenings this week because the Frederick Keys have away games. Besides that, Jessie and her family went to the beach Tuesday morning and won't be back until next week, so we have seen a lot more of Jared this week! He worked his usual shift at Chick fil a on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. He didn't work yesterday because someone else really needed to have Saturday off, so Jared agreed to switch shifts with him. So he will be working tomorrow too. Jared applied to transfer to BYU and on Saturday night he found out that he has been accepted!! Wow! We are very happy for him, and life is going to be quite a bit easier for us to have both he and Tanner at the same school. Yesterday he registered for classes and found a place to live. Places to live are pretty slim pickings at this point, but he found openings at the Glenwood, which is where Frank lived the semester before we got married. Hopefully it is a decent place and hasn't gotten a lot worse since Frank lived there (I do know they have renovated it since then, at least, which is good since Frank lived there 26 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long!) On Monday evening Jared went to YSA family night, which included swimming, but other than that he has been home in the evenings. I like Jared and I have enjoyed talking to him more! :)

Seth has continued to cough, mostly in the mornings, but otherwise he seems to feel fine. He went to the carpool boys' house to play on Monday for several hours and he went to Renata's house to play with her son Samuel on Wednesday for a few hours. He also went to 11 year old scouts on Wednesday night (Jared took him; that's when the car started having problems). Yesterday we had Samuel over to play for most of the day. Renata had to to work, and she had asked me last week if Samuel could come here for the day. Of course, I didn't know when I agreed that I would be sick, but since I had Jared and Frank both here to help me and she didn't mind him being here while I am sick (I kept away from him!!), we had him over anyway. He was no trouble at all, and he and Seth played nicely all day with Legos and video games. Since I've been sick all week and Frank has been busy looking for a job, doing work for clients, and doing most of the work I usually do, Seth pretty much got to rot his brains on TV and video games all week. I guess one week won't kill him!!

I was feeling a little better yesterday and today I have been a little better too. I was able to get the budget updated today (at least I can do that sitting down), but that wiped me out quite a bit. Since I've been typing this post, I've noticed that my eyes are not bothering me as much and they don't look quite as red so hopefully I am on the way up! However, I doubt I'm going to make it to self reliance group tomorrow. As long as my eyes are red and I'm coughing, I should probably stay away from people! It's just been really surprising to me how long this virus is hanging on. I can't say I feel significantly better today than I did on Monday. Here's a few pictures of my eyes, though. The first one was taken yesterday and the second one was taken this morning. (I am horrible at selfies, by the way. I have no idea how people manage to do that!):

 

Don't you think they are looking better? (You actually can't see how red they are. But I'll spare you the really gross close up pictures.)

I am grateful that Frank and Jared have been around to help me this week, that Seth isn't in school anymore so we didn't have to get up at a particular time most mornings, that I didn't have anything really, really important that HAD to be done this week, and that the car broke down at a time when we are able to manage with one car much better than we normally would (Seth doesn't have to go to school and Frank doesn't have to go to work.) See, I'm looking at the bright side!

It seems like we have had a lot of rain this week. It has rained most of the day today and we have had a few thunderstorms on other days--one on Monday was really heavy. It was really hot at the beginning of the week, with temperatures in the 90s and humidity 90% too. I have barely stepped outside the door all week, but the few times I have (to let Snickers out) it felt pretty yucky. Now it is not so hot and rainy so it feels more like spring than summer. Crazy weather!

Now it is time for dinner (which once again, I didn't cook) so I should wrap up this post and go eat. (Although I don't have much appetite. I have been like that all week. I do not feel nauseated, thankfully, I just don't have much of an appetite. At least that means that hopefully I have not gained 10 pounds this week, lying around and not exercising!) We're looking forward to seeing everybody next month! I hope you are all happy and MUCH healthier than I am!

Weekly Review June 15 '18

Today is the last day of school here. I am so glad!! Honestly, I think I look forward to the end of the school year more than Seth does. I will start this week's post with the promised photos from last week. Here are photos from Pack Meeting:

And here are a couple of photos of the new carpet in the downstairs bedroom (office):

This week has been fairly busy. Here is what we did:

Saturday (9th): Swimming lessons (of course) in the morning for Seth. This was also the first day that my new self reliance group met. I convinced Frank to come to it, too! I'm glad Frank came because two of the members of the group ended up being an hour late (partially due to traffic) so it would have been just one girl and the other facilitator and I for the first hour if he hadn't come. Because this group is focused on finding a job, it is recommended that we do an accelerated course where we meet several hours at the beginning to get through all 10 chapters in the book, so that they can learn all the job seeking skills quickly and start using them right away. There are several options for doing this; our group chose to meet for 5 hours the first 2 weeks. So on Saturday we met from noon to 5:00, and we got through the first 5 chapters of the book. We will meet for 5 hours again tomorrow, but after that we will meet for only about an hour for the remaining 10 weeks. (To learn a foundational principle of self reliance and to review / practice skills.) Obviously, it was kind of a long day but I was really impressed with the materials and the job seeking skills that were being taught. If I were looking for a job, I would definitely use those skills--I can tell that they will work!! I think Frank was glad he went, too. I'm sure he will be using those skills in his job hunt. That's mostly all I got done on Saturday. Jared helped me clean the kitchen floor after we got home. He didn't have to work so he stayed home with Seth while we were gone (he spent the morning at Jessie's house).

Sunday (10th): I can never remember much about Sundays. Jared went to Jessie's house for dinner after church. I spent the morning reading scriptures and doing indexing, as usual. Jared and I both went to choir. It was a relaxing day and I always appreciate that!

Monday (11th): It was mostly a normal Monday with the regular chores and preparing for Tuesday's den meeting. I kept very busy doing all of that. Frank helped me with shopping and he also picked Seth up from school, took him to the library to renew an overdue book, and later he took Seth to his swimming lesson. (He had a make up lesson for the one he missed a few Saturdays ago.) Jared had to work that evening, so we did most of family night on Sunday but we got some donuts for a treat and played a game that evening. (Jared worked every day from 6:00 to 2:00 at Chick fil a, but he also worked at the Frederick Keys every evening except for Wednesday. He doesn't have to work tomorrow at all.)

Tuesday (12th): Again, the day time was a normal Tuesday--I just did the usual chores. In the evening I had den meeting and Cub Committee meeting, and Frank met with the bishop (his monthly meeting). For den meeting, we had an outdoor activity which included setting up a tent and making s'mores (except we had to make the s'mores in the microwave in the church kitchen, since we can't build a campfire in the church parking lot!)

At dinner time, Seth complained that he had a bad headache and afterwards he got a blanket and curled up on the couch--not normal behavior! I wondered if he was getting sick. When I got home from my meetings he was still complaining of a head ache and feeling cold so I took his temperature and it was 100! He was super sad that he had to miss school the next day because he missed some book report presentations by some of his class mates. (Not sure why he was so excited about that--go figure!) I was more concerned that he was coming down with something that would keep him out of school for the rest of the week and I knew he'd be really unhappy if he missed the last day of school. Plus, I knew he still needed to finish his book report!

Wednesday (13th): Seth still had a headache and a slight fever so I kept him home from school and he rested. I did the normal chores and went to my religion class, as usual. It was nice that Frank could stay with Seth. We kept Seth home from 11 year old scouts that evening as well but by then he was feeling a lot better and his temperature was back to normal. I had book chat that evening, which I always really enjoy. We discussed the book 7 Women and the Secrets of their Greatness, and now we are reading The Phantom of the Opera. Frank started moving his office into the downstairs bedroom, with the help of Jared. That is going to be a process to get it all done, but I'm glad he has started! Right now the downstairs is a disaster but once he gets rid of a lot of stuff and moves everything else over, it is going to be really nice, I think.

Here's how his office looks right now:

Here's the area outside his office, which currently is stuffed full of things that either need to go into the office, or need to get thrown away. He claims he is going to throw most of it away. I hope so!!:

More computers, and a few other things that are not office related. They are things that need to go in the closet (located behind the door you can see in the picture on the left) but, as you can see, the door is currently blocked so I can't put those things away yet.

Here is all the other stuff that is still in the old office area. Frank says a lot of this is going to be thrown away too. I sincerely hope so!:

Hopefully someday soon, this area will have a desk for me and a table for my sewing machine, plus storage for all my craft stuff.

Here is the new light Frank got for his office:

Thursday (14th): Seth was able to go back to school and he seems fine now. He finished his book report and will be doing his presentation today. I did the usual chores, which included shopping at Walmart. Frank came with me to help and he also picked out a light for his office, which we installed when we got home. I went to lunch with my friend Rebekah. We were going to go to a Korean BBQ place but when we got there we discovered that it had gone out of business so we went to another restaurant instead (which turned out to be a BBQ place also, just not a Korean one). Frank was contacted by a company that morning and they set up a phone interview for that afternoon. They are considering him for multiple positions so we'll see what happens there. He felt like the interview went well.  Seth's teacher asked if I would be willing to clean and organize one of the sets of classroom materials over the summer, so when I picked him up from school we brought that home with us too. (It's a material called pin maps, and Seth really likes to work with them so I think he will enjoy helping me organize it.) Frank and I went on a walk before dinner and it turned out to be longer than I anticipated. My feet hurt a lot afterwards because I wore sandals instead of good walking shoes. It was nice to be outside, though, because it was a sunny, warm, breezy day. We've had so many cloudy days lately that I really enjoy the sunny ones when they come along. That evening Frank did some work for some clients. When he got back, I took Seth to Walmart because he needed to get something for school today (it would have been nice to know that when I was at Walmart earlier in the day!) We read a lot that evening too.

Friday (15th): I took Jared to work this morning because Frank is going to be gone most of the day and I need a car for a few things. Frank is doing work for two different clients today, which includes making a trip down to one of the locations which is a few hours away. I haven't been terribly productive yet today but after I finish this post I will get the budget caught up. Hopefully I will finish that before I have to go pick up Seth from school (they get out two hours early today). His class had a breakfast this morning and they also wore their pajamas.

I feel like I've been pretty lazy this week. I didn't have a lot of free time, but I feel like I didn't use the free time I had very productively. I did make a list, though, of all the different projects and other things that need to be done so when I have some free time I will look at the list and work on something! I also worked on creating records for Cub Scout day camp this week. I have continued to exercise daily and I also practice the ukulele most days. Frank is back to exercising every day too (he took a break when he wasn't feeling well last week.) Frank is still working on his resume and he is trying to contact at least a few places every day. I think he is feeling a little bit better (not quite so down) but he still worries a lot more than I do. So please keep him in your prayers.

I've enjoyed all the emails going back and forth this week about the reunion, and we are really looking forward to seeing all of you next month!!

Happy Summer!!! 

Weekly Review June 8 '18

It's been a busy day so I am just now getting to this week's post (it's nearly 9:00 pm here). I will try to keep it brief! I don't have any pictures this week but we did take some tonight at Pack Meeting--Jared has the camera with him, though, and he isn't home yet, so I will post the pictures we took tonight next week. Here's what we did this week:

Friday (June 1st): You may remember that I wasn't feeling very well when I wrote last week. Well, I kept getting worse as the day went on so I didn't get anything done besides the blog post. I stayed in bed and tried to get some rest (I took a short nap in the afternoon) and generally got really bored because I didn't feel well enough even to read very much. Jared had to work at the Frederick Keys that evening and we thought maybe the game would be cancelled because it was supposed to rain, but he did end up going into work. He did get off about an hour and a half early because a thunderstorm was on the way and they decided to end the game early. Frank and Seth went up to the campout (although they didn't spend the night) so I was alone for most of the evening. Not long after they all left, I decided to take my temperature because I thought I might have a fever and sure enough--my temperature was 101. Well, that explained why I felt so terrible. I tried to read a little and I watched some things on my laptop, including the "Be One" broadcast celebrating the 40th anniversary of the revelation on the priesthood, which was really good. Jared got home shortly after I started watching that and Frank and Seth got home before it ended and Seth watched a little of it with me. Jared made it home shortly before the thunderstorm hit, but Frank and Seth didn't get home until shortly after it started so they got soaking wet getting into the house. The front foyer area got pretty wet too because the top part of the screen door had been left open and Jared didn't think to shut it. Frank had to get a bunch of towels and clean all that up.

Saturday (June 2nd): I was hoping I would feel better and maybe I did a little, but not much. I spent the day in bed again. Seth didn't have swimming because I had told them he wouldn't be there when I thought he was going to be camping out. Then when the 11 year old scout camp out got cancelled, I thought about calling to say he'd be there after all but by then he also wasn't feeling well so I decided to just leave it alone. As it turns out, he probably could have gone, but that's okay. Jared swept and mopped the kitchen floor for me and he worked again that evening. I don't know what everyone else was doing all day.

Sunday (June 3rd): I was starting to feel better but I still wasn't great. I debated a bit about whether or not to go to church. I wanted to go but by then I was in the coughing stage and I didn't want to get other people sick. Besides that, I didn't want to put my contact lenses in (it's really not a good idea to wear them when you're sick) but I didn't have my glasses back yet so I knew I'd be blind. It's pretty awkward when you can't tell who people are (until they get a foot or so away from you)! So in the end, I decided to stay home even though I was sorry to miss church. It was probably a wise decision because I got some rest and even though I was doing better than before, I was pretty wiped out. I did read scriptures and things like that which was nice. Everyone else went to church and Jared went to Jessie's house for dinner afterwards.

Monday (June 4th): Jared was at work early, as usual. He worked from 6:00 to 2:00 at Chick fil a every weekday this week but the Frederick Keys had away games, so he didn't have to work in the evening at all this week. I think he enjoyed the extra time off. I was up and about again on Monday and trying to get caught up on some things although I still wasn't feeling great (just a lot better than before). I had a follow up appointment at the eye doctor so I had to put my contact lenses in. The good news was, when I got there they told me my glasses were ready (they weren't supposed to be ready until today) so I got to bring them home with me and I was very happy about that! I have been wearing them all week as I have been recovering from being sick. The new lenses are "progressive" lenses, which means there are three different focal points in them--one for distance, one for closer up (such as computer screens) and one for really close up / small print (such as my phone or a book). It takes a little bit of getting used to and I am still adjusting to them but I can definitely see close up stuff better with them than the previous lenses (I had to take them off to see anything close up). The contact lenses are also much better when it comes to seeing things close up, so I am happy about that. Other than the doctor visit, it was just a usual Monday with the usual chores, plus a few extra things (like paying bills) that I didn't get done last week when I was sick. Frank was home and he helped me get things done, which was nice.

Tuesday (June 5th): This was mostly a normal day for me; fairly busy. Seth had field day at school and he seemed to have a good time and came home slightly sunburned. Frank had a phone interview which went really well and they said he is very qualified and will definitely be advancing to the next round of interviews. I got to talk to Liz for a couple of hours that afternoon which was really nice--I don't get to talk to her enough! We did not have den meetings again (three weeks in a row--I've been so spoiled) because of Pack Meeting tonight.

Wednesday (June 6th): Mostly the normal stuff like grocery shopping and the religion class. Frank started feeling sick--same symptoms as me; rats!! He had a meeting that afternoon with the people helping him with his resume. I took Seth to the 11 year old scout meeting and while he was there I went back to the store to get a few more things that I realized I should have got earlier. Most of those things were for Seth for a school camp out that he was going on the next day.

Thursday (June 7th): Frank still wasn't feeling great (still isn't), but thankfully he seems to have caught a much milder version of whatever I had so he hasn't been flat on his back in bed. I had to get Seth to school as usual (with a lot of extra gear) but I didn't have to pick him up after school because his class was on a camp out. Originally, Frank and I had planned to go to the temple that evening. Since we didn't have to pick up Seth from school that afternoon, we could leave here in time to get to Philadelphia for the 6:00 session, and since we didn't have to get up to get Seth to school in the morning it wouldn't matter that we'd be up really late driving back from Philadelphia. (It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive, if the traffic is good. But usually the traffic isn't good, so it can take much longer.) Anyway, we had to give up on that plan since I was still getting better (still tired and coughing) and Frank was starting to get sick. We just didn't think either of us was up to a 8+ hour temple excursion! It was a bummer, though, because now we won't be able to go to the temple until sometime after Seth gets out of school. (The times they have sessions at the Philadelphia Temple are VERY limited and do not work at all well with our schedules, especially with the long commute time added in). We could have really used some peaceful time in the temple, but hopefully we'll be able to go in a couple of weeks. Anyway, I kept pretty busy on Thursday with all the usual things like laundry and vacuuming. After Jared got off work, Jessie came over to hang out with him and she stayed and had dinner with us which ended up being very late (for us--about 7:00) because we had some issues with the oven. It seemed really quiet without Seth here, but we did enjoy spending some time with Jared and Jessie.

Friday (June 8th): Today has been very busy too. I had things to do to prepare for the self reliance group which starts tomorrow. Getting the budget updated took a long time since I had two weeks' worth of things to get caught up on (plus I got interrupted a lot). The carpet installers came this afternoon and installed the carpet in the downstairs bedroom. It looks really nice, but I forgot to get a picture before it got dark so I will have to take one and include that photo in next week's post also. Seth's class got back from their campout at 2:00 and dismissal on Fridays is at 2:30, but right around 2:00 I got a call from the school nurse saying that Seth was in her office because he had just thrown up! (He threw up right after they got back to the school from the campout). So I went to pick him up a little early. This wasn't good news because we had Pack Meeting scheduled for tonight and he was supposed to get his Arrow of Light (plus his Webelos badge, which he earned months ago but we've missed the last couple of Pack Meetings, and a bunch of other adventure pins. I was hoping he just got car sick, but he did throw up again right after we got home, so it wasn't looking too good. I gave him some soda, though, and after an hour of drinking very small  amounts of soda at 10 minute intervals, he felt better and wanted some chicken broth. The chicken broth stayed down and he was able to eat a little bit of macaroni and cheese too. After taking a shower he felt better and he really wanted to get his Arrow of Light, so we decided he could go to Pack Meeting (although we kept him away from other people as much as possible). He did fine and seemed to be feeling a lot better before that was over. Seth and his friends Tate and Henry all received their Arrow of Light awards and they all "bridged" into Boy Scouts too. The Webelos leader was in charge of refreshments and he didn't show up, so there weren't any refreshments but Frank suggested we should get Seth some ice cream on the way home to celebrate. Maybe that wasn't a good idea, but he ate his ice cream cone and he was fine for the rest of the evening and now he is in bed asleep so maybe he really was just car sick. By the way, Seth did say he mostly had fun on the campout although his stomach wasn't feeling great most of the day today. They went hiking and played in a creek and tie dyed shirts and made s'mores and other fun things. I believe that was the first time he ever spent the night away from home without us (besides maybe staying with Scott at his home a few times). We were wondering how he would do and we were half expecting a call last night saying he wanted to come home (or even a call saying he wasn't behaving, since he has had a lot of meltdowns lately) but we didn't get a call and we were happy about that.

Frank seemed to keep fairly busy this week. He helped a few people in our ward with computer problems, worked on his resume, and did some work for clients. He hasn't had a lot of interviews yet but he is trying to get his resume polished up before he applies for a lot of jobs. A couple of different friends from the ward took him to lunch or breakfast this week which was nice. He had some drama with his church calling this week and he wasn't very happy about that but he's surviving. He helped me with some of the work I had to do and it is nice to have him around but of course we both hope he won't be home for a long time.

I finished reading the book for book chat, which is called Seven Women and the Secret of Their Greatness. It was a quick read and very inspiring. I enjoyed it a lot. Seth and I are still reading House of Hades and enjoying that book too. I am also reading The Story of Mankind, which is a Newbery winner (the very first one, as a matter of fact). I didn't get much done on any other projects (crocheting, for example) because I was just trying to get the basics done this week! I am feeling a lot better than I was and even the coughing has almost completely gone away, though, so next week hopefully I will be more productive.

Now it is after 10:00 (I got interrupted a few times) so I will post this and go to bed.

Weekly Review June 1 '18

It is the first day of June, but it's kind of hard to believe. Mostly that's because the weather this spring has been so strange and lately with all the rain it has seemed more like March / April than May. This last week the humidity has gone up a lot and we've had some hot days, too, so it has felt closer to August on some days (except not quite as hot). However, more often than not it has been cloudy, gloomy, and rainy. The sun is out today (for the first time in days) but there's a chance of thunderstorms tonight and it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. There is at least some rain in the forecast every day going forward. At least we are not worrying about a drought right now! We're also grateful that we haven't had to deal with any flooding, since we keep hearing about flooding in other places, including Ellicott City, Maryland which had a second devastating "1000 year flood" on Sunday. (The last one was only 2 years ago.)

Today I am not feeling very well and I am trying to work up the energy to update the budget. I decided that sitting up in bed writing a blog post on my computer is less taxing, though. Plus I can stay under the covers which is good since I am really cold, especially because the air conditioning keeps coming on. Here is a summary of what we did this week.

Saturday (the 26th): We ran from one thing to another all day, it seemed. Seth had swimming and later he went to a birthday party. We had all been invited to another birthday party for a sister in our ward that was at the same time, so Frank dropped Seth off at his birthday party and then Frank and I went to the other party. Sam decided to stay home and Jared was gone down to Washington DC with Jessie all day. The party we went to was a surprise party and when we got there the guest of honor was gone--and didn't arrive for over an hour! By the time she got there (she WAS very surprised), we needed to leave soon to pick Seth up from his party. So we left shortly, but promised to come back. We took Sam with us to pick up Seth because we also wanted to buy movie tickets to see Solo on Monday, and Sam can get the tickets at a great discount because he's in the military. When we got to the party to pick up Seth, they weren't done, so we bought the tickets and then went back to pick up Seth. Then we dropped Sam and Seth off at home on our way back to the other party. We enjoyed visiting some more and eating some "lunch" (at about 3:00 pm). By the time we got home from the party, it was getting close to dinner time and I still had things to do, such as cleaning the kitchen floor, wrapping Seth's presents, and helping to gather up day camp forms from all the families in the ward who are sending their sons to day camp this summer. In between swimming and the parties, I also did some Cub Scout stuff with Seth and helped him get some homework done. It was just a busy day overall and I was ready for a day of rest!

Sunday (the 27th): I was having my usual leisurely Sunday morning, reading scriptures and such, when my friend Renata called me because she needed some help. Her daughter had a dance recital that day and she was trying to get her ready and Renata was having a difficult emotional day (her husband died very unexpectedly 9 months ago so some days are understandably hard for her) and she just wasn't sure how she was going to get everything done. It would help her a lot to have her other child, Sammy, out from under foot for a while so she brought him over here to play with Seth for a couple of hours and Jared and I dropped him back off at his house when we were on our way to choir practice. When Renata called, I hadn't even taken a shower yet, so then I had to really hurry!! It all worked out, though. Church was nice but I missed Sunday School completely because the Cub Committee Chair and I were getting all the day camp forms organized so they'd be ready to hand in at a meeting that evening. I wore the blouse that I had shortened to church and I got lots of compliments about it, so I am glad I managed to fix it (although honestly, I made it a little short--it would probably be better if it were about an inch longer, but that's okay.) When we got home from church I had to finish dinner and eat quickly because I had to be at a fireside at 5:40 (we don't get out of church until 4:00) and I had to stop on the way to pick up a couple more day camp forms. There was a thunderstorm going on and I got a little wet but mostly managed to avoid being outside during the worst of it. The fireside was to kick off the next round of self reliance groups. I'll be honest, I was secretly hoping that no one would be interested in starting a self reliance group at the beginning of the summer and thus I wouldn't have to facilitate a group right now. There definitely were a lot fewer people at this fireside than the one last fall, but a lot fewer facilitators showed up too. Actually only 7 facilitators were there (out of about 60 in the stake). They ended up forming one group for each of the four areas and I ended up with the "Find a Better Job" course. (This might be beneficial to Frank, actually, and he did think about going to the fireside and joining a group but he decided not to. He may still come to my group sometimes, I think.) The good news is, I am co-facilitating with a good friend of mine from our ward. Our group is very small--only 3 people. We are going to meet on Saturdays at noon, which doesn't seem like an ideal time but we chose that one because all the other groups wanted to meet at 5:00 or 6:00 on Sundays, and with our church meetings not getting out until 4:00, that sounded like a nightmare! I was really hoping to avoid Sundays this time around because last time I discovered that wasn't the best time for our family. I think Saturdays in the middle of the day are going to be kind of a pain also, but we'll see how it goes. I am glad to be doing this with a friend and since I have a co-facilitator it is okay that I will be out of town at least two of those weeks, and I can also skip some other weeks if I need to (and so can she--we'll cover for each other).

Monday (the 28th): Memorial Day and Seth's 11th Birthday! I had the usual laundry and such to do. Frank did the grocery shopping for me. We went to the movie (Solo) at 10:15, so we didn't have a lot of time in the morning to get things done. Frank made blueberry muffins for breakfast (Seth's request) and Seth opened his presents before the movie. We were going to the movie as a special birthday treat for Seth. A few weeks ago, I suggested to him that since he has so much stuff already, maybe he should consider getting fewer presents and instead we could spend some of the present money on an experience that he would enjoy. To my surprise, he agreed to this idea and chose to see the movie. He still got plenty of presents--a video game, a movie, a card game, a Lego buildable figure, and a Lego set. He was happy with everything and never once has mentioned all the other things on his list that he didn't get.

After we got back from the movie, Sam needed to get home so Jared drove him home while I baked cake and cupcakes and Seth built his Legos. Frank played Book of Mormon Battles with him too.

That evening we got pizza for dinner (Seth's request again) and later we had cake. Jared missed the cake part because he went to YSA family night. (He decorated the cake, though.)

(For those of you not acquainted with the game Minecraft, that is a "creeper" on the cake.)

Tuesday (the 29th): This wasn't the best day. It started with Jared calling in sick instead of going to work, which worried Frank and I because he's been doing that so much lately. He said his stomach hurt a lot and it probably did, but we want him to learn to get up and go to work anyway. He stayed in his room most of the day and didn't eat much but we both think he probably could have managed to work if he'd tried. Then we had really bad morning with Seth. He remembered that morning that he wanted to take his "timeline" into school that day to share (it has one picture on it from each year of his life) so we hurried to print up a couple of pictures to add to it (he didn't share it the last couple of years). For one of the years, he said he wanted his "picture of me sitting on the speeder" (we took the picture at Disney World last summer). There were actually two pictures of this event, and Frank and I chose the one we thought looked better but as we were leaving Seth saw it and said he wanted the other one. We didn't have time to change it at that point and he had a major tantrum and cried all the way to school. And I cried too because I couldn't believe how unbelievably selfish and rude he was being, after Frank and I had spent the morning getting the timeline put together for him (I hadn't even had time to eat breakfast yet). He was also bringing in cupcakes to share which I had made the day before. No thank you for any of that! Just a meltdown because one picture wasn't what he wanted. It is hard to explain how he can get this way sometimes. I know it sounds like he is just spoiled, but it goes beyond that, and it is very discouraging to me. That was just a day when all the different challenges--worries about kids' behavior and choices, worry about Frank's job--just seemed like too much. Seth was calmer by the time he got home from school, but we had to spend some time that evening getting ready for a camp out and he wasn't incredibly cooperative for that either but we managed to get through it without too many more explosions. I mowed the lawn that evening because it wasn't raining for once! Seth started getting stuffed up and coughing that night, and I wondered if he was getting sick.

Wednesday (the 30th): Seth didn't sound really great, but he didn't say anything about wanting to stay home from school so I didn't bring it up. He had a field trip that day to the Earth Space Science Lab and he was looking forward to going to that. He seemed to be fine when he got home (although still stuffy and coughing a bit) and he made it to 11 year old scout meeting that evening, where he was able to show that he was ready for the camp out. (Even though by then they had decided to postpone the campout, which was scheduled for this weekend, because the forecast was for thunderstorms all night and rain the next day). Showing that he was ready was one of the requirements he needed to pass off. By the time we got home from the meeting, Seth admitted that he wasn't feeling very well and by then he was losing his voice and he said his throat hurt a little. Meanwhile, I spent the day doing some shopping to get some things he needed for the camping trip (this was before I found out it was postponed), going to the religion class, doing a little crocheting, and the regular chores.  Jared went to work and afterwards he went with Jessie and some friends to a state park called Cunningham Falls to go swimming, even though the weather wasn't very great. It was warm, at least, but it was cloudy and there were supposed to be thunderstorms. It turns out that the storms came in later than predicted, so they were able to swim and do the things they wanted to do and it didn't start raining until they were on their way home.

Thursday (the 31st): Seth wasn't feeling terrible, but he wasn't feeling great either so I decided to keep him home from school so he could drink liquids and rest. Although in a way I was glad the campout was postponed (since Seth wasn't feeling very well), having it postponed presented a new problem. Going on the campout was going to pass off the last thing he needs to do to earn his Arrow of Light, and he and two other boys are supposed to be getting that award at our Pack Meeting, which is scheduled for this coming Friday. So now what should we do? After discussing it with the other two moms, we decided to have a campout of our own at a different location where they would be in platform tents, so they wouldn't have to worry about getting all wet. (The dads are going with them.) So on Thursday there was a lot of emails going back and forth to get that planned. That was the other reason I kept Seth home--I wanted him to be able to go on this campout (or at least attend the evening portion, which will also fulfill the requirement) and I figured he would be more likely to be able to do that if he had some rest. I kept him home today too for the same reason. He has not improved dramatically but he isn't getting any worse either and overall he doesn't seem to feel too bad. In between all the emails / planning, I got all the regular chores done. Frank was gone all day at work--he had some meetings to go to and after work there was a social gathering that he decided he'd better go to. Then there was a bad wreck on I-270 North that had all the lanes blocked, so he just decided to stay at work until all of that cleared up. There was a big thunderstorm, too, which didn't help with the traffic situation. By late afternoon / early evening, I wasn't feeling too well either. I think I have the same thing Seth has, only worse--congestion, runny nose, coughing, headache, chills, and slight sore throat. I feel worse today than I did last night. Hopefully, whatever it is will be short lived. I didn't see Jared much yesterday--after work he went to Jessie's house for the evening.

That brings us to today (June 1st), but I think I've already covered today since I haven't done much yet. This is Frank's last day of work. He's still feeling pretty bummed about the whole thing but yesterday when he was at the social gathering after work he got a couple of phone calls from some of the places he has applied to so that is encouraging.  Some of them are actually Marriott positions so he may end up back at Marriott for all we know. As part of his severance package, Marriott is paying for him to get professional resume help / advice, so he is working on getting his resume polished up. We are somewhat hopeful that something will come up soon.

I did a lot of reading this week in between everything else. Seth and I finished The Mark of Athena, and now we are reading the next book in that series, which is The House of Hades. There is only one more book after this one and then that series will be finished. I'm not sure what we will read after that.

I've made it a week without my glasses but I am really looking forward to getting them back in a week! I wear my glasses a lot more than I used to. The new contact lenses seem to be pretty good. However, my eyes seem to get infected a lot more often they used to do, and it seems to happen more often when I wear contact lenses more often. (This is one of the main reasons why I wear glasses a lot more than I used to.) So I've been trying to be careful about how much I wear my contact lenses but when I don't have another option I obviously end up wearing them more. One of my eyes has been slightly sore / feeling like it might be getting infected for days and now that I'm sick I don't want to wear my contact lenses either. So it will be really great when I can get my glasses back.

That is everything I have to report this week. Thank you to everyone who is fasting for us this Sunday! We will be remembering all of you in our prayers, as well.