Laraba's Blog
Monday, August 18, 2025
Mid August
Friday, August 8, 2025
Early August
It is still very hot which is nice for the pool. I love water temperatures in the mid 80s. So so so nice.
About a week ago, Angela took a big, ugly, Security Plus test and PASSED. This is the same test three of her siblings took, and passed, so now she has Security Plus certification.
She turns 18 this month and will be able to get a job in IT. So she is going to be job hunting. She also will be getting her driver's license, we hope. So lots of grown up stuff for our girl!
That Cyber Truck is not hers. They just found it in a random parking lot! Ha ha!
Tree frogs keep climbing up our umbrella near our pool. This dude fell off the umbrella when I opened it. He is handsome. Or she is handsome.
This week school started but it was super mellow. Younger three kids did fine.
I also worked really hard on my latest book. It is very long, like 110,000 words. I am almost done with editing it.
I will be glad when it is done. I am always glad when I am done. So glad. So so so so glad.
It won't be published until next month.
Thursday, July 31, 2025
Very End of July
I haven't posted in two weeks, I see.
Tomorrow is August!
I like summer a lot, but I am not mourning that autumn will soon be upon us with cooler temperatures. The end of June and all of July were hot, and we have also had a lot of rain. The grass is very excited. Our pool is like swimming in warm bath water. SO warm. I have been swimming every day almost which is good for my joints and all that.
Today and tomorrow highs will be only in the 70s, but then it will heat up again. I do like the seasons. I don't even mind winter all that much anymore, which is a change, because I used to be cranky about cold temperatures.
Now that I am post menopausal, I get hot very easily so am super thankful for air conditioning!
Last week was full of doctor and dental appointments. We had dentist visits for four people, and orthondontic checks for three kids, and I had a trip to a gastro surgeon. That proved to be useful as I discovered that I have an anal fissure, not hemmorhoids. It is healing but still painful. Annoying that something so small could be so uncomfortable.
I don't think I have a high pain tolerance, though. So that is part of it.
Anyway, this week has been much more mellow. I am on Epilogue 2 of my latest long book so almost done. That makes me happy.
The younger three kids start school next Monday. We always ease into it slowly so it won't be a heavy work week.
I hope to have the new book edited by the end of the next week and then I can pass all the other work off to Kevin like making a cover and marketing and stuff. He is a total boss with that kind of thing.
That is about it!
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Younger Kids in Michigan
Last week our younger four children went to Michigan to spend the week with my parents and their cousin who is a little older than Rose.
Friday, July 11, 2025
Three Birthdays
We have started birthday season. We have zero Kendig birthdays in January, February, March, and April. Then the remaining eight months have 11. It is kinda silly but it is what it is!
Daniel had a birthday in May.
My baby is growing up!
Lydia also has a June birthday. Rose's due date was ON Lydia's birthday, but since Rose was a repeat C section, she was born a week earlier in June.
There are no July birthdays, two August birthdays, no September birthdays, one October birthday, two November birthdays and then we finish out the year with three December birthdays!
I am not a "big party" kind of mom at all, but we always have a cake and presents on each child's birthday. The December children are close to Christmas but we always celebrate their individual birthdays!
Sometimes I am in awe that I am blessed with so many wonderful kids. Often I am in awe.
I have a friend whose 10th child is due next month and I do miss the baby days, but I am also mid 50s so too old for babies. This season is awesome too!
Saturday, July 5, 2025
Very warm pool!
Our pool is super nice right now! Usually there is a little bit of a shock getting into the water but not now. It is probably 85 degrees in the pool. We have been doing a lot of swimming, or at least the kids have.
I continue to be a lifeguard when the younger kids are in the pool. They can be reckless and silly.
My kidney stones still aren't doing anything unpleasant. I have an appointment to see a specialist next month. Earliest appointment I could get.
I have another minor medical issue which is annoying. I am trying to be grateful for medicine and health care. I AM grateful.
Kevin is a very well rounded person, way more than I am. I have numerous areas where I am completely clueless. I am also really good at some things, of course.
Anyway, Kevin LOVES to be efficient. We are talking about our heat pump (which also provides AC) and it is 20 years old. Probably will need to be replaced soonish, and when it does, we need to decide how much to pay for efficiency.
Kevin has a big project now where he is wrapping various pipes in insulation in the basement to prevent leakage of cold air. Our upper floor, especially our boys' room, is often rather warm in summer. The AC doesn't quite manage to keep it chilly enough. It is the farthest away from the heat pump and piping. Plus there are three boys sleeping there so yeah.
So Kevin is buying insulation and wrapping pipes and twisting and contorting to get to the pipes and it is all very admirable.
I am sure it will help.
What else?
Naomi broke up with her boyfriend. They were going together for four months and came to the mutual conclusion that they aren't compatible. I liked the guy quite a bit, but totally agree that there were areas of incompatibility that were serious enough to cause a break up.
It is wise to use intellect when making decisions about romance. I keep hearing about people with MAJOR differences who stay together and it isn't a good idea. Marriage is hard enough without some epic disagreement about life. It doesn't have to be anything moral, either. It can just be about major preferences. Like I probably would not have married Kevin if he had said he really wanted to live in New York City. I am not a big city girl. Kevin and I have a lot in common and that has definitely made married life easier for us.
It is hot. It is July. It is good.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
My Body is Broken (Not Really)
I like the Lord of the Rings movies from a couple of decades ago. In the second movie, the Two Towers, a king named Theoden gets beaten up by baddies and expires dramatically in the arms of his niece, Eowen. Before he dies, he says, "My body is broken" which is a far more elegant way of saying "I'm dying" than it could be.
Anyway.
I have kidney stones. Joy! I had a CT scan yesterday and kidney stones! Three!
I am not in pain from the stones I don't think. I do have massive lower back pain but I am pretty sure it is from not stretching and sitting strangely a lot.
I went to chiropractor this morning and got adjusted and I think it helped some. My body is fractious about me sitting strangely and not stretching. So I need to work on that.
Re the stones, maybe they will pass normally. Best guess is that I have had them off and on for more than six months now.
I watched not one but two Titan submersible documentaries in the last week or so. Fascinating and crazy making. The guy in charge, Stockton Rush, was arrogant and stupid. He was also rich and well connected and had an authorative tone AND had a degree in engineering so he should have been smarter.
He wasn't a materials engineer. Not that you had to be to know that they were headed for complete collapse of the carbon fiber hull, which did of course happen, killing Rush and four other people. Carbon fiber is NOT a good material for the ocean depths! It is light and cheap, though.
Wow, the stupidity! The arrogance, the hubris!
For some reason I am noticing "people dying in stupid ways" the last couple of weeks. The news is full of info about three men who jumped over a waterfall in ... California, I think... and didn't come up. Rattlesnake Falls. I mean, they drowned.
The waterfall was pushing the water down and so they couldn't get to the surface. Some crazy gifted diver managed to retrieve all three bodies which was noble of him.
Last but not least, a 24 year old wing jumper died in the last few days. Wing jumping is insanely dangerous.
Stockton Rush was quoted as saying that all of life is risky and if you don't want to take any risks you might as well just stay home and never leave the house.
But that is a false argument, I think. There are risks and there are RISKS. Jumping off 50 foot waterfalls is super risky. Wingsuiting is risky. Ignoring signs that your carbon hull is failing is suicidal.
Life is definitely not entirely safe, ever. Riding in a car can result in a crash and death. But car riding or driving (when one is in charge of one's faculties) is way safer than diving 13000 feet to Titanic, or wingsuiting, or leaping off of waterfalls.
Speaking of cars, our Angela is learning how to drive. She drove me to and from the chiropractor today and did a good job.