I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to November. October had been A LOT. Brandon's play had 9 performances. I took the kids to Utah. The kids and I had COVID. We threw the first annual dance party for Charlotte and Lydia's birthday. We celebrated a major holiday AND a birthday.
So I was very much looking forward to November. By comparison we have NOTHING planned for November.
I kind of thought everything would be amazingly better on November 1st. And it kind of was, but there were still lingering things from October that made their way into November and kind of messed things up for a while. But we'll get there.
November actually started out pretty great. I was able to get all the kids to school by 9 on November 1st and then I went home and cleaned all morning. At first I was kind of randomly putting things away. I got all the Halloween stuff out of the living room. Then I decided I'd focus on the basement. I remembered that I've wanted to watch the "Sins of our Mother" documentary on Netflix. It's about Lori Vallow. So I turned that on and watched/listened to it while I got the family room put back together.
It was a lot of work. I had to move furniture, and clean up decorations. When I had the family room back to normal I started working on the huge pile of laundry that had accumulated on the laundry table. There were rags, blankets, and sheets to fold. And so many socks to match. It was a huge project.
The documentary was a good distraction. I followed this story in real time and watched the Dateline special that came out a few years ago. But I liked how the documentary brought everything together and showed the timeline. It's nuts!
At 12:00 I went to work and got a lot done there. I was starting to feel more caught up. But there's so much to my job these days that I'm not sure I will ever feel completely caught up. For example, this was the first of the month. So on top of my daily stuff I also had to create statements for any client who was past due and mail the statements to the clients.
The kids came home and I found myself feeling really annoyed by them. It seemed like the family room was immediately trashed again. They just seemed super loud and super ungrateful. I'm sure they were acting fine, but from my perspective they were just annoying. I found myself snapping at every little thing they did.
I didn't sleep well that night. But on Wednesday I still got up and took care of all the things.
Everyone went to school on time. At the beginning of the school year I had Charlotte and Lydia walk to school on their own. But lately I've realized that it works really well to drive them to school and then go right to work. So that's our routine right now.
I dropped them off and then got a lot of stuff done at work. I went home and had lunch. Then I drove over to the CSI campus for Poll Worker Training.
I volunteered as a Registrar back in the 2020 election and always planned to do it again. But it's a big time commitment. I didn't want to do it for the "small" election in 2021 (plus I was in school that year.) This year I felt I had enough free time and it was worth taking off work. So I signed up to be a registrar again.
This training was different than the one I went to in 2020. That training had been held in the Fine Arts Building Auditorium and everyone spread out. This time we were in the large gathering room at the Science Museum. They had tables set up and we sat with the other registrars from our Precinct. I was at a table with a lady named Vonnie. (She's the second Vonnie I've ever met.)
The training covered how to use the laptops to look up names of registered voters and addresses so we could make sure they were in the right precinct. We also learned the rules about what people had to bring with them to register to vote.
It's a little complicated at first, but it makes sense the more you do it.
I was one of the youngest people there. There were two college aged guys who were younger than me. And there was another lady that was probably around my age. But most of the people were in their 60s or older.
It was a reminder of what a unique situation I have. I'm very lucky to have a flexible part time job. - I didn't even have to ask my boss for the time off to work as a registrar. I just sent him an email saying, "I'm working as a registrar again this year. I wont be here on November 8th." And he wrote back. "Okay." That's pretty great, and unique and I'm grateful for it all the time.
Also Brandon's schedule allows him to be home with the kids while I'm gone. Normally he goes to work at 6:00, but he was able to take off two hours of work that morning to help get all the kids to school. And he's done with work at 2:00 so he was home in plenty of time to be home with the kids that afternoon. Plus he has no problem with making dinner and putting the kids to bed.
Not a lot of women my age have the ability to completely check out from their work and home responsibilities for a day. So that's how I ended up being one of the youngest poll workers.
The meeting ended at 4:00, but I still had to drive to the county offices to pick up the supplies. I'd kind of assumed that Vonnie would take care of that. (She's done this for years.) But she had an appointment. So I said I'd do it. But I had an appt of my own so I knew this would be cutting it close.
I drove over to "County West." This is where the county offices like treasurer, assessor, and clerk are. It used to be a hospital. So there's a circular driveway that leads to the main entrance. The elections office people had all the supplies waiting our there. I just had to pull up and tell them I was from Precincts 7 and 9 and they gave me all the stuff that was labled 7 and 9. It was pretty efficient.
But I was still running a little late. Veronica had to be at physical therapy at 4:30 and I picked the stuff up at 4:15. I rushed home, but got stuck at a light on my way there. I called the PT office and told them we were running later. I made it home, told Veronica to put on her shoes, and then we drove to PT. We made it there at 4:40.
Then I got to just sit and relax while she did all her exercises. It was good to just sit.
When I got home I found that I was still super annoyed at everyone. It just felt like no one knew how to act like decent humans. Like someone would just let their coat fall on the floor and then someone else would come step on it! Everything was on my nerves.
I didn't sleep well that night either. My brain was full of intrusive thoughts. I felt like I was a terrible mom and that my kids were just falling apart. Life just felt really overwhelming and hard.
In the morning I got everyone off to school again. I was planning to go grocery shopping after dropping Charlotte and Lydia off at school. But I realized there wasn't anything that I NEEDED to buy that morning. So I decided it was a better use of my time to go back to sleep.
I slept until 10:30. That was really nice. I felt a little better when I woke up, but I was still feeling like things needed to change with my kids. They were just so annoying lately. One of the biggest annoyances was how much TV they were watching. I've never really been concerned about screen time. But lately the kids were acting pretty entitled about their TV time. The house was a mess, I was completely stressed, but they all were watching TV like it was their God given right.
We already had a rule that they couldn't watch tv until 4:30 on school days. They were good about waiting until 4:30, but then it seemed they'd be watching the rest of the day until bedtime at 8:00. At 8:00 Charlotte and Lydia would be like, "Oh I forgot I have homework." and then they'd stay up another hour doing homework. I didn't like this.
I started to think of alternative ways of doing things.
I went to work in the afternoon. Recently I've figured out a good work schedule. I work in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And I work in the afternoon on Tuesday, Thursday. It's nice to finally have that figured out.
After school I took Charlotte and Lydia to the orthodontist to have rubber band type spacers put next to some of their teeth. This was to make room for the bands that would go on the next week when they got their devises put on.
As we drove home I checked their reaction to a new idea I had about TV watching. I told them that I wanted to change things so they could only watch TV after dinner. I wanted to give them time to relax AND do their homework before watching TV.
They were actually pretty cool with this idea.
That night Brandon and I went on a walk like we normally do. I started out complaining about EVERYTHING that was bothering me. Then we talked through it all. The biggest thing we came up with was to tie TV watching to keeping the house clean. The kids would have to help do the dinner dishes and clean the living room before they could watch TV after dinner.
This would be a huge shift in how we do things. But it felt like a necessary shift.
We decided to tell the kids about the new plan on Saturday. We'd all clean the house really well on Saturday and then explain that they had to help keep it clean if they wanted to watch TV throughout the week.
Even though nothing had physically changed yet, it was so nice to have an actual plan. I felt so much more relaxed. That night I went to sleep around 10:00 and didn't wake up until Brandon's alarm went off at 5:00. I was so disoriented. I hadn't slept that well in at least a week.
Friday was our last dark morning of the year. Daylight Saving Time would end that Sunday and we'd have our light mornings back. I took this picture to remember how dark the mornings had been. This is at about 7:50 when I took Veronica and Derrick to school. For some reason Veronica laid on the grass for this picture. I think she was trying to show how much she wanted to be asleep at that moment.
I worked that morning. My friend Kaymie had more stuff that she'd dejunked from her house. She wanted me to come over and see if I wanted any of it. I told her I'd be there at 12:00. At 11:55 I looked at my clock and was SHOCKED that I was still at work. Most Fridays I usually spend about an hour at work. But here I was at 3.5 hours and STILL has stuff to do.
I finally got over to Kaymie's house around 1:00. We had a long talk. Kaymie has been such a good friend ever since I moved in. She lives around the corner from me. Her house is closer to the elementary school than mine, but she always drives her kids. She's usually driving back from the school while I'm walking back. She will always offer me a ride and I always accept it. She drives me home and we have a 2 minute catch up. Usually its the two of us just saying things like, "I'm so busy this week." It's our little time to commiserate. So it was really nice to have basically UNLIMITED time to talk on a Friday afternoon.
Then I went home and took care of accounting stuff for Brandon's business. Business had been booming! He'd had at least one customer every day that week. Most days he'd had two. We've had cash, check, and venmo payments flying every which way. It's been super exciting.
I was convinced to start this business when I found out how much the Twins' braces would cost. The business isn't paying for the braces per se, but it's covering other areas of our budget so we can afford the braces. Well the business, in its 4.5 months of existence, has brought in enough money to pay for a quarter of the total cost of the braces. Of course some of that money is staying in the business, but it's still encouraging.
The kids came home from school. We were all just pooped from the week. We had a quick dinner and then went downstairs to watch a movie. I'd checked The Music Man out from the library. That's the next musical that Magic Valley Rep is going to do so we wanted to watch it. That musical is LONG but overall the kids liked it. Charlotte and Lydia were both saying that they want to try out for the play with Brandon.
And look at this. I had this play poster up on the bulletin board in my office. When the play ended I took it home. Derrick put it up in his room. He's always telling me, "Mom, I love Guys and Dolls."
Saturday was a cold and rainy day outside. Which means it was a perfect day to focus on the inside of our house. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.
We vacuumed and swept the whole house. The kids cleaned their rooms really well. We did all the laundry. We got the bathrooms clean.
I was able to spend a long time on my bathroom. My bathroom has been a bit of a disaster for weeks. I've wanted to clean it, but it's been at the point where I knew that there were organization problems contributing to the problem. So I needed time to get organized.
I took everything off the shelves and the counter. (There was so much stuff on the counter.) I took everything out of the little cupboards behind the mirror. Then I figured out how to put it all back in an organized way. Kaymie had given me some little storage baskets and I realized that they would be perfect for keeping things organized on the shelves. I ended up grouping all the tooth care things into one basket, all the hair care things in another, and all the lotions into another. I used bigger plastic storage bins to hold my blow dryer and straightener. Another bin held a collection of random things. When I was done this all looked so much better.
I also went through the cupboards behind the mirror and threw away any bottles of old medicine. I was able to get those cupboards so much more organized. Then I went through the storage under the sink and got that under control.
By the time I was done I had a whole garbage bag full of trash.
After all that I was finally able to actually clean the bathroom. Whew.
I also cleaned up my bedroom. I had piles of stuff by my bed that had just accumulated because I didn't have better places to put them. I went through those piles and got things put away.
The week earlier I'd found this book case at DI, but I hadn't been able to do anything with it yet. I moved books up from the basement to put them on the book case. That freed up room on the basement shelves for the books that had been accumulating in my bedroom.
I'd found this shelf thing by a trash can on garbage day. I'd brought it home, but Brandon didn't have time to mount it until Saturday. He put it by our back door. I don't really know what I want to put on the shelf long term, but having a spot for Marcia's leashes is a GAME CHANGER. We used to keep them on the same hooks as the kids coats, but they always seemed to get lost or misplaced. This is such a good improvement.
After the house was clean everything felt so much better. Brandon and I explained the new clean up before watching TV rule to the kids. They were all like, "Okay." I'd been worried about how Derrick would react, but honestly I think that kid reached total Youtube Saturation while we were sick from Covid. I think he was looking for something different, but didn't know how.
The rest of Saturday was spent just relaxing. I had plans to go to the bank, drop stuff off at DI, and finally go to the store. But none of that happened.
Instead I watched Jurassic Park with the kids and fell asleep as soon as the T-Rx started attacking. Then we watched some episodes of the 90's animated X-Men TV show. We've been working our way though the X-Men movies. Our next one was going to be The Last Stand. They tried to do the Dark Phoenix story line in that movie, but botched it. I wanted the kids to see the animated version of the Dark Phoenix Saga so they could see how it was supposed to play out.
The cartoon was kind of a jarring experience for the kids. They were like, "Why is Wolverine wearing yellow? Why can Rogue fly? Why does Professor X have a huge hover wheelchair?" And the big one, "Why are their aliens in this story line?" But overall I think it was worth it.
That night after dinner we decided to watch The Last Stand. I hadn't seen that movie since it came out and I was so disappointed by it. This time I had zero expectations for it and it was actually an okay movie. But still such a wasted opportunity.
The kids liked it, but they also agreed with me that some things shouldn't have happened the way they did.
When it was over we watched the Pitch Meeting for The Last Stand. We all thought it was really funny.
Sunday was a relaxing day. We love our long Sunday mornings.
At church our Bishopric was reorganized. We haven't lived in a ward where the Bishopbric was reorganized in over a decade. In Alabama a whole new ward was created so that was kind of the same thing. But our kids have no memory of that. They all very interested in who would be the new bishop. I was telling them stories about how me and my siblings were going CRAZY when we found out my dad was going to be the bishop. He became the bishop when I was 11. He was 36. It's interesting to realize that I'm now older than my dad was when he became the bishop.
After sacrament meeting the Primary kids stayed in the chapel for their Primary Program practice. Derrick and Veronica have opted out of being in the program again this year. But they didn't have anywhere else to go during this rehearsal so they were a little disoriented. I stayed in the chapel with them and we sat in the back.
The chorister had brought a balloon on a long string. She put us in charge of the balloon. When the kids sang loud we were supposed to let the balloon rise up. Derrick and Veronica had fun taking turns with the balloon. It hit the ceiling many times.
When it was all over the chorister let Derrick keep the balloon. He was so happy.
I dropped everyone off at school and then went to work for 45 minutes. Then I picked up Charlotte and Lydia from school and took them to get shots at the doctors office. These were the delayed Flu and Covid shots. I'd been so anxious to get these done that I'd just scheduled the first available appt and didn't care that they'd have to miss school.
The doctors office is pretty close to the school so I figured I could have them back within 20 minutes, but I hadn't factored in time for tears. Both girls cried when they got their shots and they had puffy eyes when we left the doctor. Also Lydia said she'd been so nervous about shots that she hadn't eaten breakfast.
So we drove to McDonalds and I bought them cinnamon rolls. Then we went to the bank so I could drop off the wad of money I'd meant to drop off on Saturday. And then we finally made it back to the school. They'd missed all of second period.
I went back to work and got a lot done. Then I went home and worked on PTO accounting stuff. I got everything to balance. I LOVE doing that.
Derrick and Veronica came home from school and we went to the doctors office for their shots. The office has a bunch of different suites. Derrick goes to speech and occupational therapy in Suite D. Their pediatrician is in Suite A. Derrick got his flu shot in Suite F last year. This year we were going to Suite B. That's where I'd taken Charlotte and Lydia and they'd had a nurse from Suite B do their shots. But since Derrick and Veronica are under 12 they called over to Suite A to have one of the pediatric nurses do the shots. And the nurse was none other than Mrs Teresa.
Mrs Teresa LOVES Derrick. It started a few years ago when she gave him his flu shot and he said thank you and gave her a hug. She always asks about him when I bring in the other kids. Part of me wonders if she'd requested to do these shots just so she could see Derrick.
Derrick went first. He was so brave. His arm swelled after his flu shot 3 years ago so now we always do that shot in his leg. He pulled down his pants and hopped right onto the table. He got both shots with no problem.
Veronica was scared. But she did great. She's been so worried about these shots for weeks, I think she was a little surprised at how quick and relatively painless the actual shots were.
We went back home and Charlotte and Lydia had just got there. I took the twins to the Orthodontist because some of their spacers had popped out over the weekend. They got them put right back in.
Days like today are why I pick doctors, dentists, and orthodontists based on how close they are to my house.
We had one last thing on the schedule for the day. The school was having a fundraiser night at Pizza Pie Cafe. I was so happy that I didn't have to cook dinner. So we drove over there. The kids wanted to eat in this little booth. I sat at a table outside of it.
At first I was eating by myself because Brandon was finishing up with an RV. He joined us later. The night was fun, and the pizza was good. But I was exhausted.
I was talking to another teacher who I know through PTO. But our conversation was a little bit off. I couldn't figure out why until I was driving home. I realized she thought I was one of the 5th grade teachers. Derrick's teacher and I are doppelgangers. If you sat us down by each other you could tell the differences between us, but we still look pretty similar. When I'm in the school I'm always getting mistaken for this teacher. It's been happening for 3 years. The teacher that I'd been talking to is new to the school and teaches kindergarten. So she probably has only had passing conversations with the 5th grade teacher. When she saw me she knew I looked familiar. She didn't realize I was from the PTO and that's why I looked familiar. She thought I was the 5th grade teacher.
Anyway, when I got home I sent her a message basically saying. "Hey this is Valerie from PTO. I liked our conversation, but I think you thought I was that other teacher. I didn't want to make it awkward for you if you tried to have a follow up conversation with her tomorrow." She sent me back and text and we had a good laugh over it. We both agreed that we were just so tired we shouldn't have been trying to have conversations with ANYONE.
When we got home I had to pack my backpack for the next day. Tuesday was going to be the opposite of Monday. Monday I'd had muliple errands all over town. Tuesday I was just going to stay in one spot ALL DAY LONG. It sounded amazing, but I knew I needed to bring some things to keep me occupied.
So I packed my backpack with my laptop, a book, lots of snacks, and a project in case things got really slow.
On Tuesday I woke up at 6 and took a shower and ate breakfast. At 6:40 I left to drive to the polling place. It had snowed overnight, but it only stuck on the grass. The roads were clear.
I was assigned to Valley Christian Church which is my actual polling place. I'm glad I was assigned there. When I got there the Chief Judge was standing at the main doors. She was like, "Why are these locked?" I told her, "Well when I vote here it's always over here through these doors." I went over to that part of the building and those doors were open. We were able to start bringing in all our things.
I had the registrar laptop, a big bag of maps and signs, the Express Vote machine for disabled voters, and a table to put the Express Vote onto. The Chief Judge had all the polling booth tables and dividers, and the I-pads that they poll workers use. Someone from the county came and dropped off the printers for the ballots.
Other workers showed up to help get things organized. Vonnie was there and so was a third registrar named Sherri. Vonnie wasn't sure if we needed three registrars. But when she called the county about it they said they were trying to train a new group of registrars and to keep her there.
We got things set up and the signs out. I took a selfie with the signs on the doors.
But since that one was backwards I took another one.
We had people lining up to vote around 7:45. The first person in line was my neighbor Joshua. He's married to Chicken Liz. At 8:00 people could start voting. The line was almost out the door when the poll opened. And it stayed long for a while. I saw a lot of people I knew.
Idaho allows same day voter registration and so that's what I was there to help with. People would come to our table to register to vote. We'd check ID and verify their addresses. We'd help them fill out their voter registration cards.
We also functioned at the greeters. People would come in the doors and I'd say something like, "If you are registered you can go down to that table down there."
I'd requested a mail in ballot before I found out I was assigned to my own precinct. So I didn't worry about the mail in ballot and just voted while I was there. I think this was my first time voting with the printed ballots. I gave my ID to the worker who scanned my ID. That pulled up my voter registration on her I-Pad. She had me verify everything and then she was able to print my ballot. I took that to the booth and voted. Then I took it to the drop box. A lady asked my name and when I put my ballot in she announced, "Valerie Illguth has voted." She did that for every single voter that day. I guess that was a recent addition to the Idaho Election Code.
Things slowed down a bit around 9:30. The line disappeared, but there was still a steady stream of voters. It seemed like every time someone left another person would walk in the door.
I was able to see a lot of my friends and neighbors. My favorite was when Java/PTO Liz walked in. I haven't seen her in AGES. Her son goes to another school now and I can't make it to Bible Study anymore. Plus we are both so busy. It was great to catch up with her for a bit.
When things were slow I was able to read a little bit. I was in the middle of a Biography of Robin Williams. It was a really well written book.
I'd brought my own snacks. Other poll workers brought food to share and put it into the kitchen. Texas Roadhouse came and dropped off a bunch of rolls. So there was plenty of food.
We had a big line form around around 10:30 that lasted until 11:30. Oddly the 12:00 hour wasn't super busy. Then we had another rush around 1:00 that lasted until 2:00.
Brandon showed up around 3:30 to vote. I'd thought he'd bring the kids, but he was like, "We don't need that craziness here."
Things got really busy around 4:00 when the after work crowd started showing up. The line could have gone out the door, but it was such a cold day I didn't want people to have to wait outside. So I got up and started directing people to line up against the wall. There was a hallway of sorts that extended off the room we were in so I started sending people down that hall.
The Chief Judge saw what was happening so she directed the people to form three lines - one in front of each poll worker. We had those three lines for hours.
Us registrars were hard at work getting people registered. The most fun ones were the first time voters. We'd watch for them to finish voting. When their names were announced at the ballot box we'd cheer for them. That was really fun.
Around 7:40 things started dying down and we started cleaning up. There were a few last minute stragglers, but not many. At 8:01 the Chief Judge announced that the polls were closed.
I went outside to get the "Vote Here" signs. That morning they ground had been covered in snow. Now it was all melted.
All day long people had been tracking in leaves. I found a vacuum and vacuumed the whole room. Someone said, "We don't normally do that." I said, "Yes, but I'm going to." I didn't want the church janitor to have to come in and take care of all those leaves the next day.
Our Registrar stuff was cleaned up pretty fast. The poll workers had to stay and organize ballots, but I didn't have to help with that. So I was free to go around 8:30. I drove home and talked to Brandon about the day.
Wednesday was all about catching up. I was at work a long time on Wednesday morning.
After work I sat down with my laptop and put together the slide show for the Magic Valley Symphony that Friday.
After school I spent a long time just talking to the kids.
At 5:30 I took Veronica to Physical Therapy.
It was good to be back in the swing of things.
And guess what? The cleaning before TV thing was actually working. The living room and family room where still clean.
Also the kids didn't seem to miss TV. Derrick had discovered many of his toys. He and Veronica had fun with Walkie Talkies, his toy trains, and looking at books. Charlotte and Lydia were doing their homework before dinner. And the kids were helping with making dinner again.
This new plan was going very well.
On Thursday I dropped the girls off at school and then drove to Walmart. I had a few things I needed to get there, but I also just felt like wandering the store. It's been a long time since I felt like I had time for that. It was fun to just wander and pick up things we needed.
Then I did grocery shopping at Winco. At home I put a way the perishable food, but I left a lot of the other stuff on the table. I'm just so sick of all the food after picking it out at the store, putting it all on the conveyer belt, bagging it, putting it into the car, and then bringing it into the house. I just can't get it all put away. Brandon took care of putting it away when he got home.
I went to work for a while. I started feeling a little off at work and I wondered if I was getting sick. I was like, "I do NOT have time to get sick."
I ended up leaving work a little earlier than planned. I was going to pick up Derrick at the school for speech therapy. I just went there and parked and took a nap for about 30 minutes. I woke up feeling a lot better.
I picked Derrick up and we went to Speech therapy. While we were there his therapist called me back. She said that it was a goal evaluation day and Derrick had just passed all his goals. She said, "And I can't think of anything else he needs to work on." I tried to think of anything, but I realized that Derrick was communicating really well. I was like, "I can't think of anything else either!" So we decided it was time for him to graduate from Speech Therapy. This wasn't even on my radar so it was really cool that this was happening.
She printed off a certificate and put up some props for Derrick to pose with.
I kept thinking about when Derrick first started therapy and it seemed like he'd never say ANY words. And here he was talking and interacting super well. It was a good day.
That evening I went to the church to help with a Friends Giving dinner we were doing for Relief Society. It was such a beautiful evening. My friend Marilyn had set up two long tables in the Relief Society room. She decorated them super pretty. There were branches with berries (she said she cut them off the trees outside the church), pine cones, and pears. (She said, "I didn't buy the pears for this event, I've just been canning a bunch of pears.)
We had soup and bread and then cookies for dessert.
I was in charge of a little activity. I recycled by favorite list of "deep get to know you questions" and passed them out. We had the people in groups of four take turns reading their questions and then answering them. Lots of people told me how fun it was to have conversations based on those questions.
Here I am with my bowl. I had chocolate sauce covered with nuts and then caramel drizzled over the top.
Here's Charlotte eating hers.
And Veronica with her's.
Then we went to CSI for the Veterans Day concert. This was the first time we've taken the kids to a concert. Normally Brandon brought them to my dress rehearsals. But this one was a salute to Veterans and Brandon is a Veteran so I felt like it would be a good concert to go to. I thought the concert started at 7:00 so we were there at 6:45, but it really started at 7:30. I'm glad we got there early though, we were able to get our favorite seats way in the back.
Here we all are.
Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong (TWO! THREE!)
For where e'er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.
On Saturday morning Brandon got up early to go hunting with his friend Corky. Corky is in his 60s so their hunting is more like driving around looking for animals. But they have a good time together.
I stayed and helped clean up. I love these types of activities and I love this calling.
Friday was another busy day.
I had work in the morning and then I left to help with the Mustang Day Sale at the kids school. Mustang Day would end around 1:00 and I had to have Charlotte and Lydia to the Orthodontist at 1:30. I'd been stressing about how I would get the deposit counted and deposited to the bank in time to pick up the girls. I'd been considering taking the deposit to the bank during their appointment.
My plan for getting the deposit done quick was to stay on top of the money. Usually I show up at 12:00 and have a whole bunch of disorganized money to count. But this time I got there when it started at 11:00 and tried to keep things organized.
About 10 minutes into counting money I was like, "Wait! It's Veteran's Day. The bank is closed today!" So now I had a new problem. What to do with the BRICK of money that I'd end up with. I would be too big to fit into the night drop at the bank. I could leave it in the school safe, but that meant I'd have to come back for it. And I was NOT going to take that money home.
The solution was actually pretty simple. One of the co-presidents works for the bank we go through. She was there and I asked her if she could take it to her office. She said she could. So that solved that problem.
I got all the money counted and we had over $800. $300 of that was in $1s. $90 of it was in quarters.
I was actually running about 10 minutes ahead of schedule so I had plenty of time to pick up Charlotte and Lydia and take them to the orthodontist.
Today was the big day when they had their devises installed. These devises replace headgear. Everything goes on inside their mouths.
That night after dinner we had the icecream that Brandon had promised the kids if they were good while we went to a grown up Halloween Party. We'd had so much Halloween candy floating around the house that icecream hadn't sounded good until now.
Brandon asked me how much the tickets cost. I told him, "A Slide show." I get free tickets because I do the slideshow. (And I get my name in the program.) Actually Brandon would have got in for free anyway because he is a Veteran.
The concert was really good. They played so many fun songs that kept the kids entertained. Derrick got a little antsy and I had to take him out before intermission. But after intermission he did well.
At the end they played the Armed Forces Salute and Brandon stood during the Army song. I love how everyone stands during their branch of the Armed Forces.
And I love the chorus of the Army Song.
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong (TWO! THREE!)
For where e'er we go,
You will always know
That The Army Goes Rolling Along.
The Army has been rolling along without us for 6 years now. And that's actually a pretty significant amount of years. If Brandon had made it through flight school he would have been bound to a 6 year contract. That means that this is the year he'd be looking at getting out of the Army or signing up for more. Its an interesting thought experiment to think over the last 6 years and imagine what things would be like if we'd stayed in the Army.
The concert ended at 9:00 and Veronica was struggling. She was so happy to get home and go to bed.
I think we all were.
Derrick woke me up around 7:30. I'd told him we'd go to Toy Town after the house was clean so he was HIGHLY motivated to get the house clean. I was trying to tell him that we'd start cleaning when more people were awake. But he ended up saying, "I'll just start by myself! I'm SUPER strong."
So before I was even out of bed he was vacuuming the living room. (Which was easy to do because we'd kept it picked up all week.) Then he took the vacuum downstairs and did the Family Room. Then he started cleaning his room. And finally he did his bathroom job which was "Sink and Counter."
I was kind of in shock. I was like, "Who are you?"
The other kids got up and I had them help clean up a bit. All three girls had a lot of work to do on their rooms so that's where most of their time was spent. They also did their bathroom jobs.
So then we went to Toy Town.
My aunt Diane had sent birthday money for the twins. And since she hadn't sent anything for Derrick for his birthday she included some for him.
Charlotte and Lydia also had money they'd earned from cat sitting for a neighbor.
Lydia ended up picking out a huge stuffed Golden Retriever. I was like, "Why" But then I told myself, "Well it's cheaper than a real Golden Retriever.
Charlotte didn't get anything at Toy Town. She'd found a lego set from Walmart that she wanted. When we got home I ordered the set for her.
The kids went downstairs to watch TV and I started making Raspberry Jam with the raspberries I'd been collecting and freezing the last few months.
Here it is getting cooked down.
Brandon came home when the jam was about to go into the canner. He'd expected a stressed out wife and family. But instead we were all really content. He was like, "This was not what I expected."
Here's one of the jars.
I got the Jam canned and set it on the counter. All the jars sealed.
Doesn't that look amazing!
I went to take a nap just because I could. Brandon went down stairs and asked the kids, "What did you do to Mom?" They thought they were in trouble, but he was like, "This is the happiest I've seen Mom in a long time. Whatever you did, please do it again."
That evening we went on a "date." We went to Lowes to make copies of the house key for the kids and pick up mouse traps for the garage. Real romantic stuff.
Then we went to Fred Meyers mostly just to window shop. But we ended up seeing some hard to find Christmas treats so we bought those.
When we got home Charlotte's walmart order had showed up. I didn't realize we'd get it same day delivered. She was so excited. Its a Lego Friends theatre. She and Lydia have been playing with it all morning.
Brandon and I put the kids to bed and then watched Everything Everywhere All at Once. That movie is like a combination of The Matrix, The Butterfly Effect, and Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe. It was super strange but also super well done.
And look, we are all caught up again. And not only that, I feel like we are all back on track again.
Thanks for reading.
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