This Week

 A week ago, I finished my work on our latest book, Gallant Mr. Darcy, which will be published soon.  Kevin has been juggling all kinds of tasks involving the book launch but I am the Talent, and I don't deal with that stuff.

Kevin's job has also been demanding lately so, kudos to Kevin for managing everything!

So this week my brain veered from finishing the book to dealing with a bunch of little and big projects that had been allowed to lie fallow of late.

A big project involved our 5th wheel, which is parked beside our barn. We bought it 4 or 5 years ago, with the idea that it would be a little "cabin away from home.".  It was; when we still had very small children running around, Kevin and I would retreat there on date nights and watch a movie or just hang out together. Being 100 feet from the house was amazingly relaxing. Instead of hearing yelling and thumping of little feet, we just left the older kids in charge (yes, we did pay them for babysitting, though not a high hourly rate) and enjoyed one another's company.

Then Naomi lived in the 5th wheel for much of a year.  She had graduated from college but had a low paying job, and couldn't afford to live on her own yet.  But she could live in the 5th wheel, which she did.  She is an introvert and the sheer number of people in our house was not easy on her.  

Eventually, Lydia graduated and got a job, and they moved out, and are enjoying being on their own very much!

Oh, and Naomi got a much better job in computers.  Yeah!!  Praise God!!

Lately, we haven't been using the 5th wheel much.  We are in the hot tub enjoying one another's company, or we can watch movies in the basement or even on the computer without a lot of interruptions. There is a big difference between having a toddler and a 7 year old!  Rose is still very active and busy, but she can leave us alone when necessary.

So, we have decided to sell the 5th wheel, and this week the kids and I worked on getting the inside cleaned out and cleaned.  We had some stuff out there; not a ton, but some. Which means, yeah, I have to figure out what to do with all that stuff!

We had sleeping bags out there and the kids have decided that the living room is a fine place to set up a "tent city".  They have been having fun.

So yes, the inside of the RV looks good, and Kevin will clean up the outside a little, and we will try to sell it.  Probably we will find a buyer; apparently RV's are in hot demand right now.

I went through socks.  Ughhh.  Threw out some that were small or wearing out.  Matched a bunch.  Also found quite a few without mates.  

I went through some of my books and homeschool materials and set aside a bunch of stuff to give away. I posted the best of the lot on a local homeschooling group and a lady promptly said she would take everything. She homeschools and is a teacher at a private school so she said she could use everything.

I am hoping that this is the last gasp of winter. It is currently in the low 20's and we got snow yesterday.

  

Playdough

 On Sunday night, Daniel got very excited. He suggested that I make playdough and he use that playdough to make a topographical map on a cookie sheet, with the topography including a volcano.  Ok, I said.  Monday morning I made playdough, we colored it, he made the map, and voila.

It worked very well and he was rightfully proud of the whole idea.

Then Tuesday I made more playdough, so it has been playdough city around here.

Today they wanted me to make MORE playdough but I said no, enough playdough for now!  

So sweet and creative!

Cedar Ceiling in the Sun Room

We purchased a hot tub and installed it in our sun room last October.  We weren't certain how much we would enjoy it. Answer: we love it. Someone goes in almost every night, usually Kevin and me, sometimes the kids as well.

So yes, it has been great. Except that the increased moisture is making water droplets form on the ceiling, which caused the paint to bubble and peel.  Kevin, of course, was not going to stand for that kind of nonsense, so he prepared to put cedar boards on the ceiling.  And voila...

It is close to being done now.  It looks really good!

 

The two kittens/cats (still not full grown, but pretty big!) have been spending many hours inside as Kevin and Isaac pound and toil away in their sun room. Our younger kids think that is awesome.

Ice pictures

 We were blessed with a most unusual ice storm a few days ago.  Is 'storm' quite the right word? Probably not. We received freezing rain, but the roads were fine, probably because they were warm.  The trees, however, and the bushes, and the tall waving grasses, were coated in ice.  It was beautiful and amazing.

This effect is from the setting sun glowing red in the ice.

Seriously, it was like a fairyland!

Anyway, it has all melted now. Yesterday, it was 60 degrees outside.  It felt absolutely wonderful. Almost shorts weather!

Reading Rose!

 

Rose is really making progress on reading!

It is exciting to see.  She still isn't an expert, but has made significant progress in the last month or two. She can read parts of Frog and Toad pretty easily.

Today she tackled Green Eggs and Ham and did about a third of it by herself.  I keep bribing her by letting her earn toys when she reads!

So yes, it is so fun. Also, she adores being read to, especially Dog Man. I read to her almost every day and she is able to recognize more and more words in Dog Man.

Yes, my 9th child is almost there!!

Godliness with Contentment is Great Gain

1 Timothy 6

6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 

So yes, I have been thinking a lot about contentment.

I have usually not been a content sort of person. And when I say content -- I don't mean about money.  I like money for security (that is another problematic issue) but it isn't like I want a bunch of stuff.  In actual fact, we do have a bunch of stuff.  Our house is kind of stuffed.  I mean, given that 9 people live here, that isn't surprising, and the floors are clear and the stuff fits in storage but still...

No, I will not give into a decluttering frenzy right now!

Anyway, my lack of contentment ties more into this feeling that I have projects that need completed.  I have a great many things on my plate, of course, with homeschooling seven children and keeping track of clothes for said children, and making sure meals are made, and the house is cleaned.  And then there is the publishing business.  I am closing in on finishing another book and that's on my mind.

Every spring I have to jump through hoops for College Credit Plus, which is a glorious program wherein high school students can go to college with the credits being paid by the State of Ohio. It is open to homeschooled, but the process does require attention and collection of various documents.  If I screw up, we don't get any money, so that puts some pressure on me.

So I have not yet found a place where I work hard on what needs done, while also remaining relaxed.  I tend to be uptight because oh this needs to be done, and that needs to be done...

And I am NOT content, because I have this big project hanging over me.

The last few days, my back has been killing me.  This is something left over from my COVID days or something; one of my last COVID symptoms was a horribly sore back. Since then, I have gotten viruses at least twice where, you guessed it, my back hurts a lot.  I am pretty sure I don't have COVID or anything -- I think that when I get a virus, my back gets hit.

Today is better. Two days ago, it hurt a lot to sit down and stand up. So I spent most of the day sitting and ordering kids around. It was mellow.  In spite of the pain, I felt mentally at peace because I wasn't forcing myself to run around doing stuff.

So yeah, I have done a lot of things in this life because I push myself. BUT I also feel anxious about projects.  (That is much diminished because I am taking Lexapro, so part of it is brain chemistry.)

I still long to be content, while also working diligently on what needs done.

So I will pray about it, and work toward it.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Snow and Ice Storm!

 

It has been a pretty mellow winter with not much snow, but that changed this last week. This is the before pictures.

This is an after picture, though it doesn't show, of course, the ice under the snow.  The storm was last Thursday; we had sleet for hours and hours, followed by snow for hours and hours.  The end result was a lovely layer of ice underneath 7 or 8 inches of snow. The kids were enthralled.

The kittens thought it very interesting as well!  What is that white stuff??

Kevin made snow ice cream three nights running.  You mix snow and condensed milk and vanilla and voila!  In this particular case, Kevin also added blue food coloring.

The kids loved that!

So yes, all very exciting!  We didn't lose power so we just enjoyed it. Kevin, of course, ended up having to plow our driveway and that was rather fatiguing but it made great snow piles for the kids.

Naomi and Lydia both got last Thursday and Friday off, which made us happy. It was NOT safe out there.

There is still plenty of snow but now the plows have gotten the roads clear.

That is probably our last (and first) big snow of winter, but we will see!