Hey look, here we are again with another late post. There's a perfectly reasonable excuse for it though - I started re-reading The Stormlight Archive and so most of my free time this week was spent reading Book One - The Way of Kings. I regret nothing.
I finished The Way of Kings Tuesday night and Words of Raidence hasn't come in from the library yet. So in this brief break I might as well update the blog.
The Monday after Thanksgiving has traditionally been a rough day. But this year it wasn't that bad. Normally I'm exhausted from traveling for Thanksgiving. But since we didn't go anywhere and we had such a laid back week I was actually feeling pretty good.
Brandon took care of getting the kids to school so I went into work around 7:30. I was the first one there. When I walked in I saw the office tree was all set up. This was my old tree that we used in 2017, 2018, and 2019. I actually bought this tree at a yard sale on Fort Rucker for $6. One of the best purchases I ever made.
On thing that helps me get through the Monday after Thanksgiving is to not make dinner that night. We went out to eat at Burger King. It was so fun to all be there as a family.
Derrick wanted to wear a crown.
And he talked all his sisters into wearing them too.
At 6:00 Brandon and the twins went to their art class. When that was over they went over to my friend Jenny's house. Charlotte is in a careers class and has to interview someone who has a career that she is interested in. Charlotte wants to breed animals like dogs and cows. Jenny breeds Golden Retrievers - and her dog had just had a litter of puppies a few weeks earlier. Charlotte had so much fun asking questions while holding puppies. Lydia had a great time too.
Tuesday morning Derrick had an orthodontist appointment. I was going to take him, but I was feeling like I really needed to get to Castle Therapy and straighten things out after the Thanksgiving Break. So Brandon took Derrick and I went to Castle.
Later that day I went to Aspen Grove.
Brandon actually was offered a job with the bus company the school district uses. At first we though it was a good, "in the meantime" type job. He'd get CDL training paid for by the company. But then we found out that he'd have to work for the company for a year or else he'd have to pay back the CDL training. That put Brandon in a bad mood. He was still going to accept the job though and went through the rigmarole to get his driving record and finger prints.
Finally I was like, "Brandon, this job is making you miserable and you haven't even started working there yet. PLEASE don't take this job just because you think you have to have a job right now. We are okay financially for the next few months. It's not time to just settle." So thankfully he turned that job down.
That afternoon I dropped Veronica off at theatre class and then went to the library. There were a lot of books on hold for me. But the biggest by far was The Way of Kings. I'd been debating doing a re-read for a while. The 5th book in the series would come out on Friday. I thought about just reading that one, but I'd been a little lost when I'd read the 4th book a few years ago. I didn't want to just jump into ths 5th book with only a youtube summary to guide me. Still reading 4 books that are each over 1000 pages felt really daunting. Who has time for that?
Turns out I do.
I'd spent a lot of time scrolling my phone during the Thanksgiving Break. And while I regret nothing about that I realized that I might as well use phone scrolling time for reading time.
Also I'd read the little Dawnshard book that is set in this same world and spent half the book trying to remember the back stories to some of the characters. If a little book made me feel like I'd skipped the homework how on earth would I survive Book 5.
Derrick had written a letter to Santa on Sunday night. He wanted to take it to the special Santa mailbox downtown. So I took him with me to pick up Veronica from theatre. We stopped at the mail box after we picked up Veronica. Here he is walking up the mail box.
That evening Charlotte and Lydia and I ran a couple errands and finished at the church so Charlotte could get a temple recommend. Jenny happens to be the bishops wife and while the kids were playing with the puppies the bishop had asked them if they wanted temple recommends for an upcoming baptism activity. Charlotte had been convinced. Lydia was not. (That girl isn't externally motivated AT ALL. No amount of guilt trips will ever work on that child.)
Wednesday was my day off and I started out with a rough idea of things I wanted to accomplish and then decided that I'd rather just stay in my pajamas all day.
So I spent time updating my blog and then started reading Way of Kings. And consequently I didn't take pictures for two days.
Charlotte had been tentatively planning to go to the temple activity that evening. But they had to meet at the church at 5:30 and she wasn't in the mood to do that so soon after school was over. So she didn't go.
Later that evening Brandon went to the church to set up chairs for a funeral. We had a sweet lady in our ward who had passed away just days before turning 103. They were actually having her funeral on what would have been her birthday.
Brandon set up chairs with three other guys from the ward. It was Joe, Brad, and Jeff. When I heard who was there I was like, "Oh that's the dream team!" I also might have called them "The husband's of Bunco." Anyway, they got the chairs set up fast and then spent like 45 minutes just talking.
I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Thursday. I was a little annoyed at Brandon for reasons that I can't remember now. I ended up spending a lot of time at work. But by the time I got back home things were better.
On Wednesday I'd asked on Facebook for help finding jobs for Brandon. My friend Marianne shared the post and one of her friends recommended applying for a garage door installation company. They said to go there and ask for an application since it wasn't advertised online. Brandon did that on Thursday and even met the owner. It was a good experience. So far nothing has come of it, but it made me happy that I'd asked because Brandon would NEVER have found that job with just online searches.
Friday was a much better day. I had a good day at work. My boss handed out personalized letters along with our paychecks. Most of the letter was the same for everyone. It talked about how 5 years ago in April of 2019 he'd had the plan to open a "small private practice" in Twin Falls. That's so funny looking back at how much this company has actually grown.
At the end of the letter, he put in a custom paragraph for each employee. Here's what mine said, "Finally, Valerie, I can't express how grateful I am for all of the major work you do for our team. Our growth would not be possible without your dedication, and willingness to continue to grow and accomplish so many things. Thank you for being so courageous in joining me on this journey when there wasn't a really clear idea of what it would look like. Our team would be so lost without your work. Thanks again."
So yeah, I was feeling pretty happy about that. He also included bonuses in everyone's paycheck. He allocated them based on how long we'd worked for Aspen Grove. And since I was the second employee five years ago I had a pretty decent bonus. Brandon and I have been talking about doing a refresh on the living room and kitchen. This bonus money will help with that.
That evening we went to the Christmas Parade Downtown. I was feeling a little sad about this parade. The past two years we've gone to Mary Alice Park for the parade. There's been free hot chocolate and cookies. More importantly there's been a fire. I've really liked that fire. This year Art who owns Mary Alice Park has been sick. So there was not little party at Mary Alice Park. I was like, "You mean I'm actually going to have to watch this parade this year?"
But it turned out fine.
Lydia had finished all the hats and scarves she'd been making. We were able to get a group picture of us all wearing our hats. (And I was so confused about what that grey blob next to Derrick's head. I finally figured out that it was the cover on the piano inside Mary Alice Park.)
Even though the park was closed we still went there because it's at the beginning of the parade route. It's a nice place to be since it's where the parade starts.
The parade had a lot of pretty floats.
It's fun to see them all.
Derrick gave up on his hat and put it on my head. Then Veronica added hers. I felt like that guy in the Caps for Sale book.
This one is hard to see, but those blue lights were wrapped around a robot that looked like Walle. Lydia had helped the robot club paint it when she was bored during Art that day.
Since we were so close to the start of the parade we were able to leave when the parade was done for us. That meant we were back home and warm before the people at the other end of the parade even saw the last float.
The kids watched some sort of Christmas movie - I read Way of Kings.
On Saturday we cleaned the house. Then we went to Hobby Lobby for Sibling Christmas shopping. I think this was the most successful sibling shopping ever. I'd increased the amount to $20 and so the kids bought really nice things for each other. Charlotte had Lydia. Lydia had Derrick, Derrick had Veronica, and Veronica had Charlotte. They drew names, but that's how it turned out.
Everyone wrapped their present so pretty and put them under the tree. Now Derrick is super curious about what his present is.
That evening we had our first annual Ginger Friend Night. Each of the kids could invite a friend over to make Gingerbread houses with. Veronica's friend Akeylah ended up not being able to make it. (She'd actually coming over today to do hers. But we had 3 other kids there. Aurora and Gwen came for Charlotte and Lydia. Derrick invited a kid named Tyler from our ward. Derrick LOVES Tyler. We ran into him once at the pool and Tyler had said, "What's up brother?" To Derrick and Derrick had been like, "Tyler called me brother!" But I wasn't sure how much Tyler reciprocated the friendship. So I was really happy when he said he'd come and when he seemed to have a good time.
I put the 8th grade girls in the living room because I thought they would be calm and not get any frosting on the floor. Well they didn't get frosting on the floor, but they were NOT calm. They were so loud.
The younger kids were the calm ones.
The kids had a lot of time decorating.
I took pictures of all the houses, but I'm not quite sure whose was whose. This is Derrick's - maybe.
This was Tyler's (I think)
Veronica's (I'm bummed that my finger took the flash, because this was actually really well done.)
Gwens.
Aurora's (She was very much a minimalist.)
Lydia's.
And here's the whole little village. Charlotte spent a lot of time just cutting hers out and assembling it. She wanted it perfect. She'd even paid for a larger one with her own money.
So she ran out of time to decorate. She finished her's on Sunday.
Sunday was a very busy day for Veronica. Earlier in the week the secretary for the ward young women's presidency texted me to see if the presidency could stop by and meet Veronica on Sunday afternoon. We had plans after 3:00 so she said we'd be their first visit at 1:30.
Then a few days later the ward executive secretary texted me to see if Veronica could meet with the bishop at 1:20. What made me laugh about that is that the executive secretary and the young women's secretary are married. I didn't say anything, but I was thought, "your wife beat you to it." So we set up an appointment for Veronica before church.
I was really happy about both of these appointments. Charlotte and Lydia started Young Womens in January of 2022 when things were still a mess from Covid. No one met with them. They were just kind of dumped into the program and expected to know what was going on. It was not a smooth transition. So this was so much better.
Veronica and I met with the bishop before church. This was my 3rd time there in less than a week. Which is a lot especially considering I've been kind of avoiding this bishop ever since he was called about 2 years ago. It's nothing personal. I'd just noticed I'd had an out of control Faun Response around priesthood authority and I was sick of the way I'd put on a big smile and act like I was so HAPPY because I was hoping to impress the bishop. I figured the first step in breaking that Faun Response was to just avoid the triggers. So I'd been avoiding the bishop.
But I guess we are moving onto Step Two where I try to interact with the bishop without trying to put on a show. It started last Sunday when I was called in to talk about a potential calling. I was so nervous leading up to that meeting because I was worried my faun response would activate and I'd get all weirdly deferential. But that didn't happen. I was just myself and very honest about the reasons I didn't think the calling they were considering me for would work. (Mostly it was schedule conflict issues.)
I'd figured that was a one time thing so I didn't even mention it on this blog last time. But then I was back there on Tuesday with Charlotte. And then back again on Sunday with Veronica. And each time I didn't slip into my faun response. And that is HUGE progress. So I guess I'm done avoiding the bishop now.
The bishop talked with Veronica for a long time. I could tell that her ADHD kicked in after about 5 minutes because she was wiggling like crazy, but she did really like the attention.
Church itself was good. This was our last time with the regular schedule for the year. Next week we are going to our friends church to see Payton as an angel in their Christmas play. And the next week there is just Sacrament meeting. The week after that is the 5th Sunday and so we won't be in regular classes. I can't believe we are this close to the end of the year.
After church Charlotte finished decorating her gingerbread house. It was so cute. Here is the front.
And the back.
The front again.
And look at this roof made out of cinnamon toast crunch cereal.
She even put powdered sugar on it to be snow. After all that work she put it on the shelf so we could look at it all Christmas.
At 1:30 the Young Women Presidency came over to visit with Veronica. They are excited to have her join Young Womens and she is so excited too. She's hasn't even been to Primary all year. She's been tagging along with me to Relief Society and to Derrick's Sunday School class. (I've been avoided adult Sunday school ever since what I call "The Hebrews Incident" last year. The book of Hebrews was taken widely out of context - it was painful to sit through. I tried going back once this year and it was still terrible. So yeah, I'm still hiding in Derrick's class.)
Anyway, back to Veronica. She is most excited for Girls Camp. I'm excited that all my kids will have their church activities at the same time most weeks. There was a period there where I was taking the twins to young womens, Derrick to boys activity, and Veronica to girls activity all on different days. It will be nice to have them all at the church at the same time.
At 3:00 we went across the bridge to Jerome to our friends Kerri and Nate's house for a cookie decorating party. I didn't get a lot of pictures because Derrick had my phone for most of the time. But her are some that Veronica decorated.
And one Lydia decorated (and ate part of)
And here's a picture of the party. Kerri and Nate just have one child, Payton. So they have a house that works great for 3 people. But for the party there were like 25 of us there. It was squishy, but fun. I love that they didn't let the fact that they don't have a huge house stop them from having a party.
We left around 5:00 and came home to make dinner. Then the kids watched something Christmasy and I kept reading. I was loving this re-read through The Way of Kings. The first time I read this book it took me nearly half the book to even decide if I liked it. It just took so long to learn the world, the magic, the story line, and a lot of other details. Plus it's really really depressing for a long time. The ONLY way I made it through was because I was listening to it as I drove from Alabama to Indiana to help my sister pack up my Grandma's apartment. If I didn't have that long solo car drive I don't know if I'd have ever got into that series.
But this time I've already put in that work. I knew all the characters and it was fun to meet them again knowing what would happen. I remembered the basic beats of the story, but there were so many details that were surprises. Reading that book has been a delight.
And you know what. I know this is a long post, but let's go ahead and talk about Monday and Tuesday while we are here.
Monday was a pretty normal day. Derrick had broken a bracket on his braces (thanks gingerbread) so I had to take him to get that fixed after school. But other than that the day was pretty run of the mill.
After everyone was home from school we went to Britt's house to pick up our costumes for the Living Nativity. It's happening this weekend which just feels crazy soon.
Charlotte and I found our costumes from last year. Lydia couldn't find her's so she picked a new one. Veronica found her's from last year, but I convinced her to try another one because it was looking a little short. Jokes on me - that new one was basically a mislabeled child's one and didn't fit AT ALL. So I had to take that back and get the old one anyway on Tuesday. Brandon found his old one, but decided to go with a different one.
That evening we went to the Middle School for Charlotte and Lydia's Christmas Concert. They played 4 songs. This one was called Bell and Buccaneers. It was their favorite.
Their teacher had rearranged seats after the last concert to give the 2nd violins a chance to play 1st violin parts. Somehow Charlotte ended up as a 3rd violin behind the violas. She was not happy about it. She kept saying, "I've over by Lydia and I'm so mad." I kind of teased her and said, "Wait, this is the first time I've ever heard you be mad about sitting closer to Lydia."
So it's hard to see both girls because they are both in the back. I could barely see them through most of the concert. But I was happy to be there supporting them.
Brandon, Veronica, and Derrick came too. Derrick likes to count down the songs in the program, but there was no program. So when the teacher said the names of the songs I held up my fingers and then put them down as each song was played. Derrick liked that.
When the concert was over I realized we should have planned some sort of treat. Ice cream sounded too cold. So I sent Brandon to the store to get whipped cream so we could do a hot chocolate party. We already had the hot chocolate and lots of toppings.
I laid everything out on the table.
Here's my hot chocolate.
I think this was Lydia's.
And Derrick's. (He doesn't really like hot chocolate, he just wanted the whipped cream and marshmallows.)
Lydia - oh wait I already said the one above was Lydia's. So maybe this was Veronica's?
And Brandon's.
And here's Charlotte's. Or maybe it was Lydia's. Shoot. All I remember is that one of the twins was took a really long time making theirs perfect.
While we'd been getting the hot chocolate out I'd noticed that there was another envelope in our mail slot. We don't have a mail box. We just have a slot where the mail is deposited right into our house. Derrick and I had already pulled the mail out before dinner. So it was odd to see another envelope there.
One of the kids went to get it and they were like, "Mom, it says it's from the North Pole." I took a look at it and yes it was addressed to us from the North Pole. When we opened it up there was two hundred dollars inside!
I kind of expected something like this would happen when I put on Facebook that Brandon was looking for a job. I tried to tamper it down by saying that because he qualified for unemployment that we were okay financially. But I suspected we'd probably still get money from our ward. (Last year had been the first time in a long time that we didn't get a gift from the ward.) I just didn't expect anything to show up this soon. Or this sneakily. Whoever did this was very good at getting to our mailbox when no one was around.
And whoever did this was also very kind hearted. Because things have been okay financially, but that doesn't mean it's been great. We have enough, but Christmas gets expensive fast - even when we are planning a smaller Christmas. This money immediately went to good use buying the last of the Christmas presents.
If you dropped off this money and you are reading this. THANK YOU!
I stayed up reading The Way of Kings because I finally made it to the big pay off at the end. It took 850 pages, but it finally got really exciting. It was very satisfying.
Tuesday was another pretty normal day. I spent a lot of time in the morning doing computer stuff. We've qualified for the Empowering Parents Grant again so I had to accept that. And then I worked on figuring out my insurance. I was planning to just renewing my existing coverage through YourHealthIdaho. I figured Brandon would have a job soon so I kept putting it off. But open enrollment ends on December 15th so I figured I should finally do something about all that. Since Brandon is currently unemployed we actually both qualify for Medicaid. So on Tuesday I took care the long phone call to get us added on to to kids existing paperwork.
Then I went to work and was so happy to see that 8 of my missing payments showed up. There was a whole problem with a small insurance company switching some things around in September and I've been trying to figure out how to get claims paid for months. These payments represented that I'd finally figured it out.
That afternoon after work I finished reading the last 75 or so pages of The Way of Kings. Brandon took Veronica to theatre so I could finish reading.
Then I picked her up. I stopped at the library to drop off the book. And then I went to get here. Here's what downtown was looking like as I walked over to the Orpheum from my parkin spot.
We didn't really have anything planned for the evening. I told the kids that we should go to the Orton Botanical Garden. I've wanted to go see their Christmas lights for years but I always think we should go later in the month. And then every year we do the Living Nativity and decide we never want to be outside after dark again.
So this year I wanted to go before the Living Nativity. The Orton Botanical Garden is where I took the Waterwise plant class this summer. It was really pretty to see it covered in lights.
The did a really good job with it.
Derrick wanted to pose with this wreath.
I liked the light up deer in the meadow.
You can barely see the kids walking in a line in this picture.
They all posed for this crazy picture.
Here I am.
and here are Brandon and me together.
Derrick had been about the only one who was interested in the plants besides the lights. He'd been reading a lot of the little name cards. So I made sure to show him this California Barrow cactus. It's not supposed to survive the climate here. So every winter they put windows around it to make it it's own little greenhouse. I think it's been growing for something like 10 years.
And that gets us caught up to today. It's Wednesday and so I'm off of work. I took Veronica to therapy this morning. She was so excited to tell her therapist about her play and her friend Akeylah. And this afternoon Akeylah is coming over to decorate Gingerbread houses.
I'm taking it pretty easy today because the Living Nativity starts tomorrow. It's fun, but it dominates our lives. We literally have "frozen burritos" on the menu for dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because it's just too complicated to figure out dinner on top of trying to get into our outfits.
Just what is a girl to do when she is a college graduate in economics; a wife to an aviation enthusiast; and the mother of four children age nine and under? I'm not sure, but I am trying to figure it out. Read along as I find out where I fit in the world.
