Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Day 813


 

Day 813

 

I'm breaking in a new pair of glasses, which means I'm popping the migraine pills.  Oww...

 

I went to a new eye doctor last week and discovered that the insurance I am paying nearly $300 a month for doesn't have vision coverage!  I always had it before with Paul's insurance.  So, I had to fork out $92 on the spot to have my eyes examined...and now I'm looking for new insurance.  It's not just the vision coverage.  I got a letter this summer informing me that Wellmark will be raising rates again the first of the year and it could be as much as 23%.

 

I did need a new prescription so I ordered a pair of glasses and sunglasses.  2  1/2 years ago I paid $600 for 3 pairs of prescription glasses.  I had decided this time I was not buying a "fun" pair of extra glasses - just the basics.  And my basics came to $600 this time, which was more than I was expecting to pay for two pairs of glasses.

 

But, I was talking to my neurologist this week and he said it is very common for 40 year old eyes to get a little wonky for awhile.  But then they seem to settle down.  That's a relief.  The thought of having to pay this much money every couple of years was a bit discouraging.  I can see quite a bit better out of these new glasses so I know I did the right thing by buying them.

 

I have so much to write about and so little time to do it in!  Maybe I'll break this up into a couple of different posts.

 

My activities lately: Sara and her family came down last Tues.  It was rainy and cool that day.  But we had a nice time.

 

Thursday, Will started his classes at DMACC.  He's taking Spanish.  I asked him why.  He replied, "Well, I need to have a foreign language to transfer (to a 4 yr school)  in a couple of years."  I said, "Uh, what about the 2 years of sign language you took in high school?" 

 

"I took sign language?"

 

Yes, you took sign language...and it's on your transcript...sigh

 

Although, I imagine he will have more of a need for Spanish than sign language.  And, I'm not convinced he learned all that much off those videos I bought him.  I've since decided that foreign language is best done in a classroom setting.

 

But anyway, so far, so good for Will up there.  He was a bit appalled at how far he has to park to get a parking spot.  It's not like last year, where he could walk from his dorm.

 

Friday, I made fried chicken for everyone, which is a once or twice a year event because it's so messy and time consuming.  Then we all drove to Newton and saw Tim Hawkins.  We got there early enough that we had really good seats - for the cheaper, general admission price.  It was a good show, although, I wish I would have arranged a sitter for Ellie.  She was restless and too young to understand the humor on stage.  I just didn't think of it when I bought the tickets back in January.  And that would have saved me $22! Arien came, too, which made it extra special.  She has just seamlessly worked her way into our family, which is how it should be.  I hope it goes this well with all the kids' future spouses.

 

During the show, my allergies really began acting up.  It's that time of year.  I've been bothered, off and on, since the second week of Aug, which is when they always show up.  So, by the end of the show, I was kind of drugged up, to the point that Will that suggested he drive home.  I didn't mind.

 

The next day we all went to the state fair.  I've never been overly fond of the fair, but I'm not so sure it is completely the fair's fault.  If I'm honest, there were a couple of times Paul and I went alone and I had a marvelous time with him. 

 

But this time...not so much.  It got warm Saturday - not unbearably so, but uncomfortably.  I had to drive and find a parking spot - never fun.  I had three small children with me, all of whom had their own ideas of where we should go and how we should spend our time.  And my allergies...oh, the misery!  David was with me and was suffering with a nasty headache he'd had for several days at that point.  Ben was sneezing and shuffling along.

 

And it was a Saturday - the most popular day of the fair.  Every where I looked, I bumped into bulging, tatooed flesh.  There were so many people it was hard to look at the things I wanted to see.

 

Eventually, we did meet up with Will and Arien.  And they graciously volunteered (I'm quite sure this was Arien's idea) to take the kids for me for a little while so I could spend some time alone.  So, I did get the opportunity to examine the doll houses a little more in depth and at my leisure.  David was able to take off and see the rabbits alone.  And I was very grateful for this. 

 

Still, we ended up seeing very little of the fair (I am not  complaining) and at David's urging, I called it a day by late afternoon.  I don't have to do this again for three years!  Unless I go by myself or with a friend sometime - that would be ok.  And, I cheerfully remind myself, the next time I take the kidlets, they will all be 3 years older themselves, which will help, immensely, I would think.

 

Yesterday I drove out to Council Bluffs and Kathy and I spent the day together.  It was, as always, a day of refreshment.  I got home right at 10 and fell nearly straight into bed. 

 

I've been doing a lot of other stuff, too, but it's not interesting enough to record here.

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I finally snagged an eraser this morning for Lizzie.  I had last year's school supply lists, which I had been assured "they never change" when I went shopping for the kids last week.  Well, I bought the stuff and then discovered new, updated lists were available on-line.  I printed them out and discovered that things DID change!  This necessitated another school supply shopping trip.

 

It took me three stores to find a standard pink eraser for Lizzie.  Next year I'm buying everything in July.

 

Tomorrow night the kids meet their teachers.  They are alternately excited and nervous.  So is their mom.  But when I think about the alternative, of continuing to homeschool them...I just can't.  I cannot do it any longer.

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David's mission trip went well.  The last day of the trip before they headed home was a "fun" day for the kids.  They were taken to Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio, which I know quite a few people who have been there, but I haven't.  So, the day they were to go to that I woke up to my clock radio.  It was news time and the lead story was that of how, the evening before, a man had been killed at Cedar Point!  Ugh...not good for a mama's heart!  He did something dumb which caused his death, so it isn't like their equipment malfunctioned, but still...of all the days for that to hit the news wires!

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I've been making numerous trips to Pella lately (well, two a week for the past few weeks.  Since it's 40 min. away, it feels like numerous trips).  It takes a lot of little country roads to get where I'm going.  Every time I pass this Brethren church in Monroe.  It's a well-maintained, attractive building.  But what tickles me is the church sign that announces the name of their pastor.  With a name like that, I think his vocation was probably pre-determined!

 

Pastor Timothy Peter

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Will has been home a couple of weeks now.  He's been busy getting his room in order.  This week he bought himself a dresser and desk.  When the Littles realized he was planning to live with us and not take off, they were quite surprised.  I told them I imagine he'll be here until he gets married.  One of the kids asked, "Will we be invited to his wedding?"

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I need  to know what a normal little girl is.  Ellie is just...not normal, I don't think.  Last week I had two, back to back incidents with her that have me shaking me head.  One day, she ran screaming down the stairs to the main level where I was.  She burst into my room and cried, "Lizzie took a permanent marker and colored on my bed!"  Well, Lizzie did not do that.  Ellie took a permanent marker and colored on her (white, of course) bed.  She eventually confessed and was disciplined.

 

It wasn't two days later when both girls had neglected to finish their sandwiches at lunchtime.  So, I left them out for them to eat after nap time, as is my usual custom.  Ellie ate hers and a little bit later she came down the basement steps and said, "It is SO strange.  There were two sandwiches on the kitchen table.  I ate one, but now the other one is missing!"  I thought that was strange, too, but a lot of odd things happen around here so I didn't give it a whole lot of thought until a few minutes later Ellie approached me again and excitedly said, "Mom!  I was just looking behind the bench and Lizzie's sandwich is down there!"

 

A little background: More than a year ago Lizzie got caught stuffing her unwanted food in the little triangular space between the wall and the bench at the corner spot behind the bench.  I took care of it and it's never been a repeated offense, thankfully.

 

I looked, and sure enough, on the floor, was a peanut butter sandwich.  I questioned Lizzie and was pretty confident of her innocence.  It took a little bit but after awhile I was able to get Ellie to admit that she had planted the sandwich in an attempt to frame her sister.

 

Who DOES things like this?  What kind of diabolical mindset does one have to have to deliberatelly plot mischief for the sheer purpose of getting an innocent person punished?  What kind of monster am I raising?

 

How one earth am I going to break this child's iron will without a dad around?

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I took the kids to see the new Pixar movie, "Inside Out" a couple of weeks ago.  I've heard rave reviews of it and I'd heard that it was turning out to be an especially good tool for dealing with our kiddos that carry some pretty intense emotional burdens.  So, it was with a certain amount of anticipation that I hauled the kids out to the Jordan Creek theater and shelled out the cash for this.

 

Meh...should have saved my money and rented it.  I really didn't "get" most of the movie.  It required thinking at an elevated level and maybe that's why I had trouble.  I'm a very basic person, I guess.  I wasn't even quite sure of the main theme of the movie.  My best guess is that it is the idea that without sadness, we can't have true happiness, because we don't know what it is without the other.

Maybe. 

 

It's not a bad movie and there's nothing objectional about it all.  But I don't think it lived up to its hype.

 

Well, this is kind of an awkward place to end, but I'm breaking up all I have to say into two posts.  Not sure if I'll get the second one done tonight or not.

I'm guessing not.  I'm dealing with quite a bad headache from these glasses, still.  I'm starting to think the left eye isn't quite right.  I know the gal who did them today commented that if you don't get bifocals adjusted just perfectly it will cause the wearer untold misery.  Or something like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What I have learned in two years of widowhood:

• God is good - so, so good
• I am loved far more than I ever knew
• I have amazing, resilient children (I am reaping what Paul sowed into their lives)
• Darkness eventually gives way to light
• Strength and wisdom are mine for the asking
• I don't have to have all the answers
• God delights in carefully and tenderly mending torn-apart hearts

Psalm 73:26: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

ow with a certain amount of anticipation, although there are still moments when I am sick at heart to think that that future will never again include him, other than the quick glimpses I sometimes see in my sons. As much as hope is beginning to seep back into our lives, I am also accepting that, for the rest of our lives, we will be among the walking wounded, forever hurt and altered by Paul's early death. As sad as that sounds, it really isn't, though. Even scarred, life is still pretty beautiful.

What I have learned in two years of widowhood:

• God is good - so, so good
• I am loved far more than I ever knew
• I have amazing, resilient children (I am reaping what Paul sowed into their lives)
• Darkness eventually gives way to light
• Strength and wisdom are mine for the asking
• I don't have to have all the answers
• God delights in carefully and tenderly mending torn-apart hearts

Psalm 73:26: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




 

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