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.
******************************
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.
***************************
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!
***********************************
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
*****************
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?"
**********************
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?
*************************
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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