December!

 

We are past Thanksgiving. On Thursday (Thanksgiving) we didn't have our normal banquet because Angela was working.

So instead we had it on Saturday evening. ALSO, we had a party for Kevin's mother in the early afternoon on Saturday. She turned 80.

She lives in Texas with Kevin's sister and family, but they kindly brought her up so there could be a party for her. It was fun. 

Kevin's sister gave us hats so that evening, some of us wore hats.

It was nice being all together.

We didn't get snow, unlike Michigan, where they got a bunch. We are supposed to get snow tonight. We will see!

When the big girls visited for Thanksgiving dinner, we had six cars in our driveway. Fortunately, we have a big driveway. We look like a used car lot :-).

A new book launched on Friday. Amazon continues to behave in a wonky fashion which is annoying. It is, however, entirely beyond our control so Kevin and I are working on being patient.

The big thing that is annoying is that Amazon isn't, apparently, sending out messages to our Amazon "followers." These are people who have said they WANT to know when a book launches, but we don't think Amazon is doing it.

There was some big computer glitch more than a month ago and maybe it is still getting sorted out? Maybe.

Anyway. It is beyond our control. I am being calm.

My left foot has been bothering me quite a bit. I think I strained some tendons on the top of the foot or something.

I am so grateful for strong kids who can carry things up and down stairs for me as needed.

Kevin was on a decluttering spree last week which was nice. He threw away a bunch of stuff. Our big boys are moving out in the next couple of months and will take away more stuff.

I like having open space. Clutter stresses me out. Also, I live in a house with 8 other people and need to be patient with other people's clutter.

December is upon us and Christmas is coming. In the midst of all the holiday hustle and bustle, I am going to try to keep my thoughts fixed on the Lord Jesus, who came as a baby, grew to an adult, preached, taught, and then died for my sins, and rose again from the grave.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Still November

 

A long, long time ago...

28 + years ago...

Kevin and I married! Which was and is awesome.

I was very slim back then and my finger was correspondingly thin. Time passed and I gained weight, and my fingers got fatter.

So, for a number of years now, I have not been able to wear my wedding ring. I wore instead a sapphire ring I inherited from my maternal grandmother as it was bigger.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally made time to go to a local jewelry shop and paid for them to resize my ring, and also fix the metal prongs that hold in my diamond, because they had rounded down through the years and there was a danger that my diamond would pop out.

So now I can wear my ring again! Hooray!

In other news, Sarah turns 15 this week. How did she get to be so big?? She really is very big in the height sense. 5 ft 10 inches. She also takes after many of her siblings in that she is very thin. She is only 110 lbs.  I assure you that we feed her early and often.

This week has been interesting because Joseph started his new job. This means that during the day, most days, we have only the younger three at home. It is definitely quiet.  So far he likes his new job.

Isaac is still hunting for an engineering job but he does have a temp job that pays reasonably well.

Both big boys are apartment looking and plan to move out in the next few months, though not together. They want to live alone.

So lots of big changes. BIG changes!  It will be weird with only five kids at home. But we also are confident the boys will thrive and mature by being on their own.

Mid November

 

We had a little snowstorm! It was a record for November 10th in some local places. I think we got at least 3 inches.

Rose and Daniel were super excited. They spent a lot of happy time playing in the snow.

Do you see the pale sun shining through the clouds in the picture above? Cool!

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday. He and I only barely stepped outside yesterday. It was a great day to be inside, enjoying the warmth. Lydia came over for dinner so we had 8 kids celebrating.

Lydia and Naomi have several cats, and one of them has been losing weight. Turns out he is diabetic! So now they are having to give him insulin shots twice a day. He is already feeling much better.

Let's see... OH! Joseph got an IT job!  It starts next Monday. So that is a huge answer to prayer.

Isaac is still working a temp job but he does have an engineering interview today. So we will see.

We launched a book a week ago and so far it has been kind of a dud. I don't think it is the fault of the book. Amazon got messed up which affected the launch.

Two things happened. First, we have a big group of people who like my books, and they are supposed to be told when one of our books is on pre order, and when one of our books has launched. By Amazon, I mean. As far as we know, neither email got sent out.

Also, the reviews got totally stuck. A week from launch, we have only three reviews. Other books are having the same problem. Amazon is HUGE and sometimes things go wrong. By this time, I expect there have been at least 100 reviews to the book, most of them so called "star" reviews, where at the end of the book, people have the option of just telling how many stars there are. The written reviews are always far rarer.  But by now there should be quite a few and at the moment we have three and the first one showed up only yesterday.

All of this is annoying but reality. We work with Amazon, which is gigantic, and there are algorithms and computer stuff and when it goes wrong, the author "suffers".

But we also are blessed by Amazon, because, hey, most of our money comes from Kindle Unlimited page reads! So I am working to just take the good with the bad and be calm.

I haven't written anything in several days (creatively, I mean -- a book, I mean) and my brain has been bouncing all over thinking about stuff.

I am going through a Chernobyl phase. There was a huge nuclear accident in 1986 and I am watching a documentary series and reading about it again because it is fascinating.

I FINALLY figured out one scientific detail which has been confusing me for ages. So that is nice.

I have also been making parallels in my head between our situation with Amazon and SNAP recipient with the governement. The shut down caused a lot of fear and anguish and we decided to donate a decent sum to a local food pantry to help out.

I assume SNAP will get sorted out now, which is a relief for those who are struggling with food insecurity and hunger.

There are so many families struggling who need SNAP. There are also a bunch of people being kind of stupid about the whole thing.

I have seen online videos, which seem to be authentic, where people with SNAP are buying tons of expensive stuff -- expensive meats, and lots of pricy frozen meals. Here's the thing ... if you are on SNAP, and cannot pay for your own groceries, you SHOULD use SNAP very very very carefully. If I were in that position, I would buy a bunch of long lasting things (like rice or canned items) so IF the government had a problem and SNAP stopped, I would have food stored in the pantry.

Now some people literally don't have stoves, I get that. So their situation is different from those who do have kitchens and stoves and still decide to buy pricy pops and expensive name brand chips and that kind of thing.

My mentality is very different, maybe especially because I have kids. If I was so poor I couldn't pay for my own food, I would be trying to stockpile and lots of people don't.

Lots of people probably do stockpile, too.

Maybe there are a just a few people with terrible habits, but I would guess that isn't true.

When the government comes through faithfully every month, it is easy to take it for granted. And then, when we have a 40+ days shutdown and SNAP is delayed, a lot of people freak. Some people are literally on the cliff of poverty so I do understand that it is really hard. But some people are definitely being stupid about how they have been using their "free money" for groceries.

We are used to having Amazon be helpful, and this time it has been causing problems with not doing what it should be doing. BUT, we have savings so we can weather having lower income than expected.

November

 It seems like a lot is going on.

Kevin and the kids closed the pool a few days ago.  It has been really chilly so definitely time!

A new book launched today. I hope it does well.

I finished a Christmas book a few days ago -- well, the first draft anyway. I have been writing a lot and my brain is a little fried so I am taking a break from writing in favor of tidying and decluttering the house.

That actually is very satisfyingg. Yesterday I went through a pile of old glasses we had. Seven of our nine children have glasses, and we purchase a new pair every year. I save the old ones, of course, in case the current pair has an issue and we need a back up.

That has happened so many times, by the way, that we needed a backup.

However, when I pulled my whole store out, and checked them out with the kids, I discovered less than half were of any use at all. The kids were too big, or their eyes had changed so much that the glasses were no longer useful. So I put all the spares in a bag and will drop them off at the library, where they have a box for old frames for people who need them. It is through the Lions Club I think.

So that was nice.

I also am going through spare shoes and once again finding a bunch that are too small for the kids, or no one wants them.

I love getting rid of things. I love it... so much.

So yeah, good week. Busy.

Late October

 

Rose is still small and cute. She made this wonderful magnet house.

This is from a week ago or so. Isaac got in the water like a crazy person. It was 66 at the time. BRRRR.

So we have bees living in our house. Joy. They have made a nest between a stone and the window frame. Kevin has been shooting poison foam at them, but what really is working is sucking them up with a Shop Vac. Great care will be taken not to open the Shop Vac any time soon.

What else is going on?

Well, a lot. A LOT.

Let's talk about jobs!  Isaac got a temp. job. It is not an engineering job, and he is still hunting for one, but he is working full time working on metal sheeting. It pays decently well. Not as well as an engineering position of course, but he wants money!

Joseph battled beauracracy and is getting unemployment while also job hunting.

Angela has been wearing herself out! She is also searching for an IT job but those jobs are hard to find and she has no experience, so she also went out and got a job to make money. She is in training at the same place Lydia works now. Lydia is a concierge and Angela is going to work as a server at the restaurant and also a dishwasher and table clearer.

It means kids are coming and going a lot. The house is quieter for sure with only four kids home most days.

Last week I finished my latest book. It is launching in early November. Also, Kevin has a bunch of work to do on it.

Also, I am 17,000 words into a Christmas novella. That needs to be done in a few weeks. Yes, I am writing a lot these days!

It is getting cooler. I like that given that I am post menopausal!

October

Sweet potato noodles! They look almost transparent when cooked. They are almost tasteless but they look gorgeous and I like to eat them with spaghetti sauce. Wheat is not good for my body. Or my body is not good for wheat. Anyway. Normal noodles don't cut it so I am happy about sweet potato noodles.

Kevin has been working on this table for literally years! He finally finished it. It is now a gaming table in our study.

Isaac found a snake! I think it is a milk snake. I think he or she is gorgeous.

Daniel and Miriam have played some chess. Miriam is far better as she is substantially older so I admire Daniel for taking her on.

We found a giant puff mushroom. It is safe to eat and Kevin cooked it up. I took one bite and oh it was awful.  Ugh. Not sure why. I was nervous. Probably eating mushrooms from one's yard is not entirely wise. But this was a monster puff mushroom and they are Ok to eat in terms of not being poisonous. This baby did NOT taste good.

I took the younger three to Wendys and they had Frosties and fries. Eating out is a special occasion for us so they really enjoyed themselves!

 

End of September now, really!

 

So our pool is chilly now. Like 74 or 75 degrees.  The days have been above 80 but at night it gets cold.

Isaac AND Daniel jumped into the pool a few days ago. They are very tough! 

I went in yesterday and just stuck to walking up and down in the shallow end. It was an unpleasant experience for a few minutes, but I got exercise. My upper body was dry so I didn't die from icy water.

It isn't that cold, of course. I am just a wimp.

We published a new book four days ago. It is doing reasonably well but not amazingly well. But reasonably well is good, and I am happy.

I love that Angela is driving now. It makes our lives much less complicated.

We have kids doing interviews and drug screens and this and that. So busy.

The world is still being sad. Yesterday some madman murdered four people in an LDS church in Michigan. Absolutely heartbreaking and horrible.

I am not dwelling on it or deep diving because there were children there and I don't want to know too much.

The Detroit Tigers did manage to crawl into the post season. They had a horrible end of the year. I am genuinely mad at them for blowing their huge lead in the AL Central. They will be playing Cleveland starting tomorrow in a Wild Card series. Cleveland was on a positive tear at the end of the year and beat the Tigers five out of six times in the last couple of weeks of the regular season.

Of course, they are more upset than I am about doing so badly:-).

It doesn't matter that much but I am still annoyed.

I sound annoyed a lot in this post. Sorry about that. Really, things are going fine all in all. Lots is still in the air with regards to jobs and stuff like that. I am frequently giving my uncertainties to God.

He is good.