Ordinary Time

We had another relaxing day today. Well, the children had a relaxing day. I did laundry, went to the grocery store, and washed all the linens we used on Thanksgiving and stuck them in the freezer to iron later. The house feels a little bit more organized now. There were some highlights, though. First, D. made bread so we could all enjoy turkey-cranberry orange relish sandwiches for lunch. To my mind, these sandwiches are the real reason to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Second, I spent some time in my studio at the spinning wheel. I finished the blue merino wool I have been working on forever. All that's left to do is to ply it together, wash, and hang it to dry. I love how it turned out, and I cannot wait to see what it looks like plied together. The only downside is that I'm afraid it is going to make a very small amount of yarn. I also started the Blue Faced Leicester wool that I bought in October. It is beautiful with dark plums and browns. Right now I am spinn

I'll jump right in. We had a wonderful, drama-free, Thanksgiving. It was great to see extended family and catch-up. Cousins played, we had a bonfire, we ate a lot of food, and generally had a terrific time. As a whole, though, our family had decided that while holidays are wonderful, the day after a holiday is the best. Everyone is relaxed, there is nothing that needs to be done. There are usually a lot of yummy leftovers to eat.  Many people played many games over the course of the day. Out of the 8 pies M. made and the 2 pies that my sister-in-law brought, we have, as of tonight, just 2 1/2 pies left. I expect they will be long gone before the weekend is over. Speaking of pie... because our family is totally committed to pies of all kinds, I made turkey pot pie with some of the leftovers for dinner tonight. And then we had pie for dessert. Many of my children think that life does not get much better than that. It is hard to convince 14 people, 3 dogs, and 3 horses to

For these and all thy gifts of love, We give Thee thanks and praise. Look down, dear Father, from above, And bless us all our days.* Happy Thanksgiving from us to you. *One of the family graces that we say before dinner.

I just finished an excellent book which I found fascinating. It is called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. It is both a history of how scientists have studied food, and a critique of our current food situation. It is not always a comfortable read, but even so, I highly recommend it. "A hallmark of the Western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy. Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food; they also spend less than a half hour a day preparing meals and a little more than an hour enjoying them. For most people for most history, gathering and preparing food has been an occupation at the very heart of daily life. Traditionally people have allocated a far greater proportion of their income to food -- as they still do in several of the countries where people eat better than we do and as a consequence are healthier than we are." (p. 145) Of course, as someone who cooks nearly every meal we eat, making much of our food from

It seemed like a good idea when I planned it... children would happily create tide pools with rocks, sand, and clay while I baked nine dozen rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. The reality was a just a little different. Children did create tide pools with rocks, sand, and clay. I did bake nine dozen dinner rolls. They just didn't happen at the same time. What I didn't figure in were the last-minute errands that needed to happen before the rolls could be baked. I also didn't figure in R. having a melt-down which needed my attention in the middle of the rolls. G. is the hero of this story. She is my budding baker and really wanted to learn to bake rolls. So she was helping me, and I had just finished teaching her how to make the rolls and put them on the baking sheets when my attention was needed elsewhere. G., with some help from other sisters, made and baked the rest of the rolls. And they were done before dinner time, which doesn't always happen. Here are the tide pools

I wanted to share an instance from our school day last week. What I'm about to describe is not uncommon, but I thought it might prove useful to others. I hope everyone who hangs out here knows by now that trauma changes the brain. A very simplistic explanation is that these changes happen because the brain perceives the child to be in danger (which they sometimes can be), and orients the brain towards survival. This is great if, say, a lion is hunting you, it is not so great if you are living in a family who cares for you and loves you. Sadly, the constant need to be sure the lion isn't getting too close can overwhelm the brain, and it becomes the lens through which life is viewed. I was made aware of this... again... this past week while helping H. do her schoolwork. H. has been doing great work. She is managing far more than I had ever dared to hope even four years after she had been home. She's even diagramming sentences with everyone. I say this because school work

Today was my day to wash and iron tablecloths and napkins that I had been ignoring for months. There is nothing like a holiday coming to stop the procrastination. I got it done... three large tablecloths and 17 dinner napkins, but sometimes half the battle is just starting the task. Sometimes I feel as though my life is a backwards version of the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Instead of doing one thing and getting distracted by a new thought and doing that, I want to do one thing, but have to go backwards and do a dozen other things in order to begin that one thing I want to do. For example, as I said, today was washing and ironing linen. Step one was easy enough; throw them in the washing machine on my way out to the barn. It's not really the cleaning that is difficult... it's everything else afterwards. Linen should be ironed wet because it makes the job significantly easier. So I needed a clean laundry basket to cart everything upstairs to where the iron is. The trou

I'm spent. It's been a couple of week since I did everything that is in my weekly schedule. I'm out of practice! We will have 28 for Thanksgiving dinner. This morning some of the older children and I sorted out exactly how we will seat everyone. We have figured out a way, though 28 does seem to be our comfortable maximum. If we needed to add another person we could, it would just require a little more ingenuity. Because there's always room for one more, you know. Someone asked me for my baked apple pancake recipe. I can't fine the one I printed out years ago and use, but this one is pretty darn close. Apple Oven Pancake It's been a fun week of school. I say that tongue-in-cheek because it wasn't. One child was learning distance-rate-time problems, another child was learning long division, and everyone was learning about direct objects and how to diagram them. It seems some things just are not fun to learn. P. has been riding Java most of the week. She

I'm going to try something new. We'll see if it works, and you are interested. I get more questions about feeding my family than I do about anything else combined. Plus, I've learned that not everyone feels comfortable making menus, meal plans, and shopping lists. So, with that in mind, every Thursday, at least for a while, I will share our weekly menu and perhaps add why I chose a particular meal. Maybe by reading my thought processes for meal planning, you will pick up some tips. It will be Thursday since that is my weekly shopping day. The trouble with this particular week is that next Thursday is Thanksgiving. Obviously, I won't be going to the store. This means I have one of two choices. I could make this week short and head back to the store early next week. Or, I could plan for a slightly longer week, meaning heading to the grocery store a week from Saturday, because going anywhere near any store of any kind on Black Friday does not sound like fun. I chose the

I do not like to correct math exercises, and am always eager to off load the responsibility of correcting math exercises to the child as soon as possible. Inevitably, though, with each child, there is the moment when they try to use the answer key to do their actual work. It always makes me wonder a bit exactly how inept my children actually think I am. This morning, another child, whose name I will not use to protect the guilty, decided to try the answer key ruse. My first clue that something was off was that the child in question did the usually abhorrent math work without any fuss. My second clue was that when I asked how that child did on today's assignment, the child happily answered that the answers were all correct. Hmmm... how... unusual. I asked to see the notebook. Yes, indeed, there were all the correct answers, neatly written. For one brief moment, the happy thought flitted through my head that perhaps this child had suddenly had the urge to memorize the times tables

I got a lot done while I was at my Mom's house over the weekend. I went to the grocery store a couple of times, made meals (for four people... my sister-in-law's mom, who was also recovering from surgery, and sister were there for a couple of days until she was up to going to home), washed sheets and remade beds, helped my mom, moved the hospital bed out of the family room and got the room put back together, and even had time to sit and read and go for a walk. It felt so very easy, even though people kept telling me how much I was able to get done. It just didn't feel tiring. After having a couple full days at home to compare it to, I think I know why. It was the sheer lack of people. I tried walking from the kitchen to the living room at one point today, and I think I was interrupted with a request or question five times during that short journey. Did I even remember why I going to the living room when I got there? Who knows? I certainly don't. I know that to nearl

I got back home at about midnight last night. It was a wonderful four days with my mom. We got things organized, we made food, we did some shopping. It did my heart good to see her doing so much better and being more herself. I'm so glad I made the trip. Everyone at home fared well. The new medicine for R. seems to continue to be doing the trick, with the weekend for her being uneventful. J. did take everyone to the library over the weekend, and by chance happened upon the library's reindeer day. There were reindeer outside and Santa was inside. R. loved it. So now I've spent the day unpacking, getting caught up with school, organizing things, etc. I'm ready for life to get back to normal. And I'm more than happy to have what felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders be lifted.

I've made it to Arizona, and I am so happy to say my mom is doing much better  We did some grocery shopping, and started sorting out things in the house. Thank you to everyone for your prayers. We're going to have a good four days together.

We, R. and I, met with the psychiatrist today. Boy, did I like her. I left feeling very good about the appointment, and more importantly, listened to and believed. We aren't changing anything right now because she wants to see what life is like for a month with our new rescue drugs. It is always a relief to have to initial meeting done with. I feel as though I've told R.'s story to far to many medical types over the past several months. It grows old. Perhaps we can stop adding to our stable of doctors now. Wouldn't that be nice? In the meantime, at home, TM took the smaller types on a hike in the forest preserve with Kenzie and Aster. It was in the low 20's, but none of them seemed to mind. TM also took some (well, a lot) of pictures. He has sorted through them all and chosen the ones he likes best, with the instructions that I am to put all of them on the blog. So, following directions, here they are. L. (left) and G. Y. and G. L. and G. L.

It's turning into a series of days where I'm just not home, and when I am home, there are long lists of things that have to be done. Today I was gone for six hours to H. and R.'s neurology appointment. Their neurologist is not close, but the drive was made even worse by a snow storm which at least doubled my driving time. I don't enjoy driving in the snow, so was pretty beat by the time I got home. Sitting down for a moment to have a restorative cup of tea found me sound asleep, eating up the time I had planned to do some bill paying. When I managed to claw myself to consciousness, I realized it was time to feed horses, then make dinner, then have dinner. I delegated kitchen duty to the older children while I went to get the bills paid. But then there was also Y.'s Japanese project that she needed to do for her class tomorrow... a presentation board on an aspect of Japanese culture. She had chosen kimonos. The problem was, she had no idea exactly what a presenta

Some days there just doesn't seem to be much to write about. Because while I did stuff... folded four loads of laundry, took H. and R. to the hospital to have blood work done, cleaned up the kitchen (more than once), made three large recipes of instant oatmeal, made a bunch of instant cocoa mix, baked a gingerbread cake, and made dinner... none of it is interesting enough to write an entire blog post about.  So much of what I do in the kitchen is just second nature that I don't spend all that much time thinking about it. I make menus for the week, I write the list, I shop for the ingredients, I cook the food. It feels simple. But research (which sounds better than scrolling through my Facebook feed) tells me that it isn't simple for everyone. In fact, for many people it seems as though it is downright baffling. I used to post our weekly menu on a side bar on my blog. After a while, because I wasn't sure it was useful to anyone, I stopped. So here's my questio

Well this week has certainly been far better than the last. I am extremely thankful for that. Yesterday we got a chance to see if the new rescue meds for R. really work. I was waking up yesterday morning when I hear an all too familiar shrieking that boded ill. R. comes into my room complaining of her eye hurting and telling me she had a seizure. (The latter is unconfirmed, but behavior-wise, I was not doubting it.) She was quickly heading off the rails. I ask her to sit in the chair in my room so I can go to the bathroom, and this was almost more than she could manage, wanting to get up and run to where ever the most chaos could be caused. I give her the emergency medicine, and have her sit on my lap. Within five minutes she is back to being able to have a real conversation. I had asked P. and G. to do the horses for me, because I had no idea what life was going to be looking like. But after sitting on my lap for a while, we were able to get on with life as usual. This feels kind o

I shared this on my Facebook page, but also wanted to share this here because it's important. Really, really important. This was written by a good friend of mine (the one who had to move earlier this year and gave us her geese). Start to see the world from a different perspective. Wanting to be inclusive but missing the mark and not being inclusive end up with the same result. Good intentions don't really make a difference if the people you are trying to help aren't actually helped. Read it. It's good. How the Church Misses the Boat on Caring for the Least of These and What to do about it

G. and L. continue to crack me up much of the time. Neither of them is your typical ten year old; they are rather unique, even if there are two of them. Currently documentaries are their big love. They can't watch enough of them. Today they asked if they could watch the documentary we own about wonders of the ancient world. I'm pretty sure they have it memorized, but of course I said yes. An hour was happily spent learning about Stonehenge and the stone circles of Avebury. I have to admit that all I currently know about the stone circles of Avebury is from L. following me around this afternoon and telling me about them. She was a little disappointed that I didn't have more to add to the conversation. Later in the day, as I was doing something in the kitchen, L. starts expounding on her personal thesis of how the monoliths of Stonehenge were set in place. "I think that since Stonehenge was built in the bronze age, that the druids build cranes out of bronze and used

Today, at co-op, while I was waiting for children, I spent a couple of hours completing the child evaluations that need to be done as part of being enrolled in our state's program for disseminating Title V funds. (The shorter version is I had a lot of forms to fill out so we can keep four of our children enrolled in the state program which helps with medical costs.) It's a pain, but definitely worth it... even times four. I don't fill out forms well. I often dislike the options I am given to choose from when answering a question. Heck, I often dislike the question. People aren't standardized, and some of my children are even more not standardized. I gave up long ago trying to bend my answers to fit the form. My forms, when completed, will have many arrows pointing to a longer response than was asked for. I just don't play well with others. All of this is in explanation as to why, in a section asking about family members of the enrolled child, there is an arrow p

pictures of horses. (Taken by TM. They're too good to be mine.) Bristol Java Emmy didn't get her picture taken. It's probably just as well, since she is kind of a mess... muddy, burrs in her forelock, and she has twisted her mane into fairy locks.

There was no post yesterday because J. And I were doing this. It was a fundraising dinner for his school. I'm not sure you'll get a post tomorrow because I am still digging out from last week's "festivities". If we keep to our schedule, any single day doesn't feel harried, and there is down time built in. But miss a day... or three... and the process of catching up takes at least a week. Plus, during the catch-up week, there feels as though there is no down time. Even though I can get to the end of the day and wonder what the heck I actually accomplished, it must be something because not doing it causes full scale chaos.

Well, it's been a week. That's about all you can say about it. Dealing with psychiatrist's offices may just make me crazy. I have to fill out an online form and email it back to the office before we can even begin to discuss dates. I was having this conversation with the office while pulled over to the side of the road, desperately trying to catch up on my lost two days. I say that I'll get it done, but don't expect the forms today. The receptionist then tells me that as soon as possible is best, but I can do it whenever I wish, to which I sort of snapped back, "No, I cannot do it whenever I wish, as I have to work my children's schedules and current level of functioning." And I'm pretty sure that I am not the only parent calling to try to make an appointment with a pediatric psychiatrist who has no 'whenever I wish' in my schedule.  R. has still not settled from her stay in the hospital. She is all over the board in terms of behavior a