Monday we woke up rather early. There was a load of scrap in the truck already that Daddy just secured with ties and then we ran it to the scrap yard. A second trip to the scrap yard happened after a quick run home and another filling of the truck. We were done with scrapping by 11 AM and back at the house. Daddy and I dropped Monkey off so that she could take a shower and grab something to eat and then he and I grabbed some chicken on the way to my 11:30 appointment. I was out just before noon. Daddy and I went and picked up six large boxes to help with the moving and then headed back to the house, where paint was loaded into the trunk and back seat of the car, and Monkey and I traded places. She ran with Daddy out to the new house to finish running some wiring and clean up part of the basement while I stayed home with the other campers and we did two days worth of school. Did we have to do two days worth? Nope, we could have just done one day. But, I figured we could get two out of the four school days scheduled for this week done and then I could either double up another day this week or pick school back up after Noni's scheduled visit for Wednesday. I folded a load of laundry, wrote out my notes for the blog, got both Peanut and YCJ off into the bath and the shower after lunch (which YCJ cooked), and then played a video game for a few minutes to calm my irritation... Yes, for very little reason this day I was irritated and I needed to calm down before I lost my cool. I talked to Daddy on the phone a bit and then I went and crocheted quietly in my room waiting on chicken to defrost so that I could make supper out of it ... possibly two or three suppers out of it. (10 pounds of legs and thighs go a long way when cooked properly.)
On Tuesday the adults were all up by 9:30 (Daddy and Monkey are both early risers and were "sleeping in" when they woke up at 8!) and the campers quickly followed. Daddy and Monkey went back out to the new house to do some more work while I stayed home with the younger campers to do some more school. We did two more days worth of lessons again! That finished out the lessons for the week and we won't be having more lessons until mid-August after we're finished moving (so the campers are getting a larger break of possibly double the time off in July and August, but we'll still do at least two weeks worth of lessons before the "new" school year begins in September.) Approximately 7 pounds worth of chicken had cooked in the crock pot over night while we slept, so I took each piece out and shredded the meat for two more meals (putting each half into two separate containers in the fridge) ... I'll be making chicken noodle soup with one batch of meat and chicken quesadillas with the other batch. ECJ did the breakfast and lunch dishes and then I ran a load of laundry. Afterwards I crocheted while ECJ worked on his coding and the girls worked on crafts and videos. Daddy and Monkey came home in the afternoon and I had a meatloaf ready for Daddy to put on the bbq to cook. Meds were passed out at normal times, bedtime rituals were done, and everyone in the house was asleep by 11 PM.
Wednesday!! Noni came out again and we were off to the inland beach that we went to two weeks ago!! We had the exact same lunch as we did last time, turkey or ham sandwiches with cheese and potato chips. We ate before anyone went into the water and Noni had brought four floatation devices with her that we blew up with her car adapter. The campers all had fun swimming and floating in the water. Noni had hurt her toe two nights before and didn't want to get into the lake and as for me I didn't think it was quite hot enough for swimming so we stayed out and chatted while the campers went swimming. Daddy even showed up about halfway through our time there and hung out and chatted as well! Afterwards Noni stopped by Meijer (a grocery and other store more expensive than Walmart) and we picked up a few things that were needed that I hadn't purchased in the last couple of weeks due to the upcoming move. We had a quiet night after Noni left and all of us were in bed by 11 PM.
On Thursday the girls, Daddy, and I ran out with a load of belongings from our shed (think kids bikes, tools, and yard equipment) to the new house. We unloaded everything into the garage and checked out the inside of the house, straightening a bit of a mess that had been left from all of the electrical work, before turning around and heading back home. But, we hadn't gone out until afternoon so we didn't make it home until supper time ... I threw together some chicken quesadillas for supper, passed out meds, did bedtime rituals, took a long hot bath, and watched some scary movies that we had in the house.
Friday we had a long day with an appointment for Monkey taking up the better part of the middle of the day. We didn't feel like taking a load of furniture out to the new house and so we picked up several different movies for the campers and the adults and just hung out around the house for the rest of the day.
The weekend was a bit packed with painting being done by the girls, Daddy, and myself at the new house on Saturday. We got two rooms basically finished and did some more cleaning and planning. Daddy and Monkey sanded the plaster walls in the kitchen to prep them for paint when they go back out there. The plan is to be totally moved in by this time next weekend. On Sunday we went to mass and then did a bit of scrapping followed by Monkey learning some basic mechanics from Daddy on our car. Monkey is currently planning on becoming a mechanic and Daddy figures it's time she start learning a bit while he supervises. The rest of the day will be spent with one more trip around the neighborhood looking for scrap, supper of fried bologna/egg/and cheese sandwiches, some crochet, and a few scary movies...
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Saturday the campers and I basically hung out together all day long. The weather was cooler so we went for a short walk, I went through all of my clothing, YCJ went through all of her clothing, we watched more of Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events, and had breakfast for supper. Peanut slept in bed with me again this night because Daddy was still on his road trip to bring Monkey back home from her excursions away from home. I will say that it is a VERY good thing that I have a king size bed because Peanut literally spun around in her sleep like the hands of an analog clock!
Early Sunday morning, we're talking around 6:30 AM, Daddy surprised us by showing up early with Monkey!!!! The whole house was up and excited to have them both home.... although ECJ did go back to sleep for a while because he'd been up the night before unable to sleep. Monkey, Peanut, YCJ, and myself walked to the store after doing a few things around the house to pick up some ingredients that I was missing for our chosen supper (sour kraut and sausage with mashed potatoes ... I had 0 potatoes in the house and I also wanted some melon). In the mid afternoon Daddy, Monkey, and I ran to the dollar store for a few items that were on a must have list that we'd run out of (remember that I don't drive), did a touch of scrapping on the way home, and when we got back two of the three of us took a nap for about an hour. Supper was at 6 PM, meds were at 8 PM, and everyone was in bed around 11 PM. It was a good, laid back, restful day.
Noni came out Monday morning with her cooler filled with goodies for a picnic lunch!!! The campers, Monkey, and I went with Noni to a nearby inland beach (please remember that Michigan is a peninsula surrounded by large COLD lakes, so when we say inland we mean NOT one of the Great Lakes)!! The lake was like bathwater, which meant that Noni and I actually joined the campers in the lake! Of course, we ate lunch and hung out for awhile before hand. Everyone had fun splashing, swimming, and wading. We were there for several hours and I burned on my back and shoulders even though I had sunscreen on ... yes, redhead curse. We then moved over to the other side of the lake where there was a nice playground and pavilion and relaxed, chit chatted, and hung out for awhile. Daddy showed up for a bit and hung around with us. I didn't write down what we ate for supper after Noni left... not that it's really all that important.
Tuesday Daddy, myself, and all three girls got up early and headed out to a house in another town about an hour and a half from where we're living currently. This is the house that we'll be moving to probably before the end of the month! We met a contractor there and then started cleaning the house. It's been sitting for a few years so it needed the walls and ceilings washed to prep for paint, the kitchen had been left a total mess, and we needed to take some garbage to the curb. So, we spent the majority of the day doing just that. After we left (half the house ready for paint and vacuuming) we went to a town here in Michigan called Frankenmuth to walk around, buy some fudge (ooo YUMMY! So, not on my diet!), and have a meal of Zender's famous chicken dinner family style. It was like Thanksgiving only with turkey and nothing ever runs out unless you don't want more of it. We did this to celebrate Daddy and my 11th wedding anniversary coming up this Saturday and to celebrate the buying of a house! We drove home and hung out for several hours with NOBODY going to bed anywhere near normal bedtimes!
On Wednesday everyone was up between 8 and 9 in the morning. Daddy and Monkey were going to go do some work for one of Daddy's clients to help with scrap. I stayed home with the younger campers and did laundry (we had three loads of laundry backed up because I hadn't done laundry pretty much all week!). I could have done school with the Cracker Jacks and Peanut, but decided against it for this week. We may not do school next week either, or we may take the entire rest of the month of July off to move. I sorted through homeschooling books, making sure that we were only moving what really needed to go with us. (I would end up sorting through them again.) ... the rest of the day was mostly unremarkable.
Thursday through Sunday we spent much of the time scrapping, finding the right hitch for Daddy's truck, and going back and forth to the new house getting things ready. I crocheted, the younger girls made videos, ECJ worked on his coding, and Daddy and Monkey kept busy doing work to the truck and scrapping.
Monday all of the girls, along with Daddy and I, got up early and got ready for our day. We had to run a load to the scrap yard first thing and then go to the bank. After the bank we picked up Peanut and YCJ (who are not allowed at the scrap yard because of their ages) and headed out to the new house to work on some things. We spent about an hour and a half out there cleaning the main living area and Daddy and I had to do some paperwork with the representative of the owner ... you know, all the wonderful paperwork that goes along with buying a house (we had to finish it up). After getting back home we left for a short grocery trip and to grab some movies from Redbox. The younger kids watched one of the movies after supper (which was S.O.S. ... or chipped beef on toast) and the adults relaxed in my room and tried to watch the three movies that we'd rented ... we ended up falling asleep after starting the first one three times (Daddy actually watched that movie and said that it wasn't as good as it was hyped up to be). Don't worry, the campers were in bed before the adults fell asleep.
So, Tuesday morning dawned with Daddy and Monkey heading back out to the new house. ECJ was supposed to go with them but he'd ended up staying awake way too late the night before playing video games and wouldn't wake up easily so they left him be. I woke up and drank a couple cups of coffee and ate a yogurt. The campers all woke up and had cereal before doing some basic chores. Then I whipped out our language arts and math books and we did two days worth of work this day. I scheduled out a week's worth of lessons for next week as well (though I'm not sure we'll actually do them next week or if we'll just fit them in as we can). ECJ helped tote out books to a donate bin we had outside, I listed some of our history books for sale on Facebook marketplace, and ECJ ran the vacuum really quickly. Peanut chose a cartoon to watch while YCJ worked on a music video and ECJ worked on his coding. After Monkey and Daddy got home I went with them to load up some scrap from a client. Supper this night was hot dogs and eggs. I'll have to start packing soon so that we can get the move accomplished rather easily. At least things are organized now. I spent the evening after supper (other than passing out meds and doing our bedtime routine with the girls) crocheting ... just working on a little project to help me relax.
Wednesday and Thursday nothing amazing happened. We didn't do school. We DID do some scrapping. We didn't go to the new house. The kids didn't do any book lessons. Life was pretty relaxing. I did crochet. Meds were passed out and sleep was had.
On Friday everyone woke up rather early. We had a busy day ahead of us. It started with the clean up of a camper being scrapped, loading of the truck with scrap, and then following a wrecker to the scrap yard that was towing our broken down old camper from a client. 3 loads of scrap really quickly all went to the scrap yard. The campers all hung out around the house while we did this. After getting those three loads done we spent the rest of the day relaxing because we knew what Saturday would hold...
Saturday we again woke up early (ish) and went to the client's property. Another load of scrap was put inside of the truck and taken to the scrap yard. Then the girls, Daddy, and I loaded up a trailer full of things and took it out to the new house in the afternoon. We had Wendy's for lunch (late since it was near three o clock) and I made just fried potatoes and mac and cheese for supper because we'd all eaten so late. On Sunday we didn't go to mass because we had to finish the job for our client. All garbage cleaned up out of the storage units and put into the trash, scrap brought home for Monday's load, then went scrapping and picked up three fridge's and a stove plus a bunch of little stuff. A fridge slipped and hit Daddy in the sternum and then came down on Monkey's arm causing some deep muscle bruising and a sprain. We came home and everyone took a nap which was followed by supper that Daddy made: bbq fish, butter noodles, and broccoli and salsa con queso! It was really really good! I'll be finishing this post now and will start again with notes tomorrow. So excited for our new house!!!!
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Monday rolled around and we thought about doing full force lessons ... instead we just did math. The reason behind this is that Daddy and I had several errands to run during the regular part of the day and some major scrap lifting to do (for a client) in the late afternoon. Math was literally all the planned out lessons that we could get accomplished. Does this mean that the campers didn't learn anything else on Monday? Nope! ECJ not only read his requisite hour of personal reading but also did several hours of coding practice and research. YCJ read her half hour allotted and then practiced putting together videos. And Peanut read her fifteen minutes with me and worked diligently on her crafting projects. After supper (pork chops, rice, and gravy) the campers all got their meds, got read to about Australia, and went off to bed.
Now, for those of you doing the same Give Your Child the World summer book club that are going, "Wait! This week is North America week!" .. Yeah, I know. BUT, we've already covered North America, the Middle East, and Latin America during previous weeks! I knew that we'd not be able to do the book club for the extra three weeks required and slipped lessons in with other lessons to make this work for us. Isn't homeschooling with freedom grand?!?!?! So, this week we're doing Australia and the Polar zones. And we'll be done with this book club a few weeks early, but will revisit much of it throughout next school year.
Tuesday Daddy and I took two trips to the scrap yard during the morning, followed by an oil change and new wipers for the car, new wipers for the truck, checking on the next scrap job for a client, and ran to the grocery store. While we were busy doing this the campers did a lesson of math each and did their independent reading. After Daddy and I had been home about an hour I cooked supper of hot dogs and eggs (scrambled together, really good if you ask us) and melon pieces. Peanut developed a headache from the heat and was given a Tylenol along with a cool damp cloth and sent to lay down for a bit to relax. I passed out meds, read some about Australia (in the room so that Peanut didn't have to get up), and tucked them all into bed... Well, except for ECJ who stayed up a bit later trying to figure out a problem he'd been having with a certain game by watching walk through videos on YouTube. Daddy, ECJ, and I were all asleep by 11 PM.
Wednesday, the fourth
of July, Independence Day!!!! We started out the day like any other day ... chores, breakfast, and so on. Then it was time to clean the car and load tools in the trunk for Daddy to take his road trip the next day. After that Daddy and I again ran to the grocery store (yes, that's three trips this week) because Daddy decided to BBQ supper and pick us up some supplies for while he's on his trip ... for those of you who don't know this is because I do NOT drive. That's right, I gave up my drivers license for a regular state ID years ago because I am no longer comfortable behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. There was a heat advisory in effect so we discussed options with the campers: we could go down to the riverfront and see the fireworks but we'd be walking there and back in the heat, OR we could stay home and relax with good food and sparklers. The campers chose the sparklers because Peanut gets headaches from the heat and ECJ didn't like the idea of taking such a long walk. YCJ would have been fine with either choice, she had pros and cons for each lol. We spent the rest of the day relaxing until supper time. Daddy made BBQ steaks and we had noodle salad and melon pieces to go with it. After supper, meds, and bedtime reading we went back outside and did the sparklers behind the house. Then, leaving three boxes completely untouched out of the twelve we'd bought, it was time for bed. But, we had a wonderful time together celebrating our nation's freedom!!!
On Thursday Daddy and I ran to the store really quick before he left for his road trip. Yup, Daddy had to leave for several days and was leaving me in charge of the campers until he gets back. This reminds me of when he was an over the road truck driver, but at least I know when he's coming home this time. The girls and I watched movies and Netflix all day long after Daddy left. Including six episodes (all that Netflix had) of a show called Wild Australia. I finally finished the blanket that I was making for my one niece who's birthday passed about two weeks ago (late birthday gift because I didn't get it done in time). And that was basically our day.
So, it's Friday and we've been a bit busy so far today. We cleaned, ate, did math, I crocheted a bit. The girls are almost ready to watch some more Netflix with me and ECJ is playing a game with one of his friends. I plan on breakfast for supper ... or chicken tacos (we'll see, I have the stuff for both laid out) and a quiet night at home with me working on some crochet projects. I hope that you've had a wonderful week and will have a great weekend!!
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Monday we pulled the camper that we were working on home after a small rain storm. We'd popped it up slightly while in storage and found some water... so, we knew where we had to fix so that it wouldn't leak anymore. The campers had already done their math for the day and so we called the school day over (schools around us are already out for summer but we school year round) and asked the campers to help us. Well... we got where it was leaking fixed and had it partially popped up while still on the truck to check for something... Daddy asked ECJ to get something out of the bed of the truck, ECJ jumped up on the back bumper, and the roof that we had just finished fixing started splitting from the rest of the camper! Daddy quickly moved it to a flatter area only to have the entire roof cave in right after we finished popping it up the rest of the way!! So, we spent the rest of the day tearing apart the camper so that it was only the bottom box and nothing else to take back to the scrap yard the next day. We also had to go repossess the camper that we'd sold because the woman kept coming up with excuse after excuse not to pay us when she'd promised. Sometimes you get burned when you trust people.
On Tuesday we took the old camper to the scrap yard and then came home and did math with the campers... After math we brought home the camper that we'd repossessed and spent some time cleaning it and repairing the damage that the people who were supposed to have bought it did to the camper. Life lessons were learned for everyone in the family (although Daddy and I were sad that we had to talk about how you can't trust everyone to keep their word yet again). While we were finishing up cleaning I noticed a caterpillar that was gray and nearly blended in with the dirt and sticks that surrounded it right before it climbed up one of the trees in our yard.
Wednesday and Thursday we did math, read a lot of books about Europe and England for Europe week in the Give Your Child the World book group that we joined. We read some about Ireland and how there's still religious problems between the Catholics and the Protestants there ... this made Peanut especially sad, she prays that they'll reach a peace sometime soon because she doesn't think that you should fight over religious beliefs. I happen to agree with her. We spent a lot of time outside and some time scrapping ... there was time spent doing individual projects and playing games. All in all both days were pretty normal for us.
Friday Daddy decided pretty early in the morning that we were taking the camper to the nearest state park and going camping for the weekend to celebrate his birthday! The camper got brought home from the storage unit and packed for the two nights that we'd be gone. ECJ decided that he'd like to stay home so one of our friends came over to spend those two nights with him (he's 16 and COULD have been left alone as we were only about fifteen minutes from the house ... but, he'd never been left alone over night let alone for two nights). Daddy, myself, and the girls left and went camping! We set up camp really quickly (we've had lots of practice with the putting up and taking down of campers over the last few weeks) and then Grandma and Papa showed up at the campground to give Daddy his birthday card!! We went for several walks, watched videos while it rained, and I crocheted quietly during those movies. Yes, we bring TV and DVD players with us while we camp ... especially when we know that it's going to be a rainy weekend! We tried to go to bed/sleep around 10 PM but there were so many mosquitoes that we were bombarded all night long! There had to have been at least 100 mosquitoes in the camper itself and so many more outside!
On Saturday morning, Daddy's birthday, we all woke up around 6 AM ... we'd only slept a few hours each thanks to the mosquitoes and grabbing some coffee it was discussed and agreed that we'd leave camp a day early. We were all tired and had realized that we much prefer tow behind campers or fifth wheels than pop ups. Besides it was scheduled to pour down rain for most of the day and we didn't want to be locked in the camper watching videos with mosquitoes bombing us every few seconds. We packed most of our stuff up and took the girls back to the house, woke up ECJ, and then YCJ made pancakes for everyone while Daddy and I tried to get the energy up to go back and take down the pop up. Around 9:30 Daddy and I did head back, check out of the park, and take down the pop up relatively easily. We have the process down to a science now! We took the camper back to storage, unpacked the truck at the house, and then settled in to ride out the rain with naps. Daddy actually spent the majority of his birthday napping and relaxing which is how he'd really wanted to spend it anyways ... we just weren't camping while he did so. That evening Daddy and I drove to meet up with a person we're doing a few scrapping jobs for over the next week or two. We tried to go look at the second job but the rain was coming down so hard that we could barely see!! We headed home, ate a late supper of rice with shredded chicken and gravy, and then all went to bed early! (We also weren't feeling very well thinking that we'd ended up with mild cases of food poisoning while camping.)
Sunday morning we woke up to more rain and a "lake" in our side yard. I ran to the store to grab some fish sticks and tater tots for the campers for supper (Daddy and I are either going to eat chicken sandwiches or eggs salad sandwiches). After getting home I updated this blog post (not publishing it until next Friday) and decided to crochet the rest of the day away other than the time that Daddy and I will be quoting the second job for scrapping tonight. Rainy days are best used crocheting, writing, talking to God, and relaxing in my humble opinion... I won't blog about the rest of the day because I'm not touching the computer again until Monday evening.
Monday again! Daddy and I woke up relatively early (but late for our usual wake up time) at 6:30 A.M. ... we had coffee and chit chatted while I jotted out the contract for the scrap job that Daddy had to do this week. We did a quick run to the store after waking up ECJ to take the dogs out and then Daddy and ECJ left to begin work on the scrap job. I took a shower, ate breakfast, and planned out this week's lessons in my planner. I woke the girls up and made sure that they ate breakfast before we did a few chores (some of which usually fall to ECJ to do) ... we brought up the trash cans from the curb, took the dogs out, cleaned the cat pan, and set up the coffee pot for later. We followed this by school lessons: this week it's The Prairie Primer unit study (we're going slow on this one and won't have it completed until probably December), talked about why it's never a bother to talk to God or ask Him questions, math, health with Eat This Not That, and began studying Asia for the Give Your Child the World book club since this is Asia week. After lessons were over the girls each wrote a letter to a friend, cleaned up the living room and dining room, and turned on Boxcar Children to watch. I ran the vacuum and then went to write a letter myself and work some on my crochet because I have to finish a blanket by Wednesday. But, before I began crocheting for the day the girls and I ran to the store (well, actually we walked) and picked up the things I needed to make potato soup for supper and some cereal. When we got back we ate lunch, a small off brand lunchable for each of us, and I played a computer game for about half an hour. I then crocheted until Daddy came home. We took a gentleman to the storage unit and sold the pop up camper and then came back home. I quickly got supper going (Potato Soup, recipe at the end of this post) and then crocheted some more. As a matter of fact I spent pretty much almost all night crocheting, pausing only to eat supper, pass out meds, read to the girls before they went to bed.
Tuesday rolled around again and Daddy and I lay in bed long past time to wake up. Quietly drinking coffee and relaxing the morning away. Then it was time for Daddy to go back to the scrap job he'd done half of on Monday, before he left with ECJ he ran me to the post office and then the gas station. After Daddy left the girls and I did school lessons, our regular chores around the house, and laundry (time to strip the bed Daddy and I sleep in and change the sheets out while running the comforter through the dryer to get rid of the dog hair). After lessons the girls watched some cartoons on DVD while I played my computer game for a bit and then went off to crochet. We went on a small walk after a lunch of leftovers and I went right back to crocheting while the girls watched some more cartoons. When Daddy came home he dropped off ECJ and picked me up, we ran to the bank and then the gas station, and quickly we got back home. There were several leftovers in the fridge from boiled eggs to chicken and potato soup ... not to mention the sandwich fixings. Everyone had a very eclectic supper except for Daddy and I who ate the same thing that we ate the night before: potato soup, butter bread, and melon pieces. We turned on Netflix to watch Forensic Files after we ate and I spent the majority of the night crocheting ... again only stopping to pass out meds and read to the campers about Asia. This night we read about the Philippines. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 11:30.
Just in case it isn't apparent in the upper two paragraphs ... ECJ not only worked pretty much all day long with Daddy both Monday and Tuesday, but he also came home did his chores AND his school work! He's working really hard to impress upon us that he is mature enough to get his learner's permit for driving later this summer/year.
On Wednesday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake! I had to finish the blanket before I left the house (or so I thought)... coffee, breakfast, and crochet all before the sun officially rose. I did not get the blanket finished in the morning. After looking at the forecast we noticed that it was supposed to rain all day, so Daddy called Grandma and Papa and rescheduled the BBQ we'd planned to have with them this day until Saturday. The campers woke up and ate breakfast about an hour and a half before Noni showed up. Could we have done lessons? Sure, but we try not to do five days of lessons during the summer usually (though this summer there will be more five day weeks than previous summers). Noni brought ECJ's new math book: Life of Fred Advanced Algebra ... algebra hasn't been friendly to ECJ in the last few months but we're hoping that he can get through both Advanced Algebra AND Geometry (Life of Fred again) before this time next year. He was less than thrilled to see how thick the book was. We went to eat at Wendy's with Noni and then went bowling ... ECJ won the first game and YCJ won the second game. I came in dead last both times. But, we had a lot of fun!! We stopped at Kroger on the way home to pick up some things like milk, cereal, and bread. I gave Noni a bottle of wine that I'd been given by Grandma and then Noni had to leave. I did a pretty quick scrapping trip with Daddy and then we picked up some pizza for supper (I'd taken out fish but neither of us felt like eating fish). The campers were excited by the surprise. After supper I spent several hours crocheting, again I stopped for meds, bedtime reading, and to stretch a bit. Everyone was asleep by 11:30 again.
Thursday morning I woke up at 5 AM and stayed awake again. More coffee, breakfast, and crochet before sunrise while listening to the Bible being read to me. After Daddy woke up we had a bit more coffee, woke up the kids and fed them, and then headed to the scrap yard to pick up what was owed us from the scrap job on Monday and Tuesday. Once we finished with that we ran to the auto part store and grabbed a new coil pack (spark pack) for the car and new plugs for it as well. We came home and Daddy gave all three campers a lesson in installing a coil pack and doing a tune up on a car. Once that was done Daddy and I ran to pick up a load of dirt, two yards worth, with our truck. Dropped that back at the house and grabbed the car and then went to Menard's for a few other items needed. Friday we'll be down at Grandma and Papa's house most of the day using up that dirt and other items to help them out. I came inside and played a bit of my computer game, then crocheted more while Daddy took a nap ... and finally cooked supper of fish and fried potatoes. I then continued to crochet until it was time to pass out meds, read for bedtime (moving on to Australia a few days early as we'd like to just finish off this part of the book club ... we'll be going over the same territory during the fall semester and into next spring doing one section at a time per month), and getting the girls settled for bed. I then crocheted until 10:30 PM and was in bed asleep by shortly after 11 PM.
Friday and Saturday we spent the majority of each of these days at Grandma and Papa's house building up the ground around the foundation and in the garden, spreading grass seeds, watering things, and doing some minor work in the basement. Both of these days were HOT ... like in the 90's dripping with humidity HOT. We made BBQ both nights while we were there: fish and veggie packets for Friday and ribs and corn on the cob for Saturday. When we got home Saturday evening (we'd slept at home on Friday evening as well) we discovered that our lawn mower no longer worked... so off to the store Daddy and I went and we bought our first brand new lawn mower in about a decade.
So, here it is Sunday afternoon and I'm finishing updating this blog post. We went to early mass at church today and then took a drive to look at a house (more on that in a future post). We ended the day with scrapping, supper from Taco Bell (too hot to cook, in the high 90's again today with humidity), and after a cool bath I crocheted for a few hours.
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Potato Soup:
4-5 lbs pealed and cubed potatoes
2 small onions diced
garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper
tbs butter
instant mashed potatoes
shredded cheese
water and milk
Prep all your veggies. Saute onions in butter right in your soup pot until onions are tender. Take off heat and add potatoes, seasonings, and water to cover potatoes. Boil approximately half an hour, or until potatoes are tender and falling apart. Turn heat to low and add milk to fill the pot 3/4 of the way full ... add instant mashed potatoes to thicken soup to desired thickness (you may end up having to add more milk). Serve with shredded cheese and butter bread if you wish.
Monday we woke up rather early. There was a load of scrap in the truck already that Daddy just secured with ties and then we ran it to the scrap yard. A second trip to the scrap yard happened after a quick run home and another filling of the truck. We were done with scrapping by 11 AM and back at the house. Daddy and I dropped Monkey off so that she could take a shower and grab something to eat and then he and I grabbed some chicken on the way to my 11:30 appointment. I was out just before noon. Daddy and I went and picked up six large boxes to help with the moving and then headed back to the house, where paint was loaded into the trunk and back seat of the car, and Monkey and I traded places. She ran with Daddy out to the new house to finish running some wiring and clean up part of the basement while I stayed home with the other campers and we did two days worth of school. Did we have to do two days worth? Nope, we could have just done one day. But, I figured we could get two out of the four school days scheduled for this week done and then I could either double up another day this week or pick school back up after Noni's scheduled visit for Wednesday. I folded a load of laundry, wrote out my notes for the blog, got both Peanut and YCJ off into the bath and the shower after lunch (which YCJ cooked), and then played a video game for a few minutes to calm my irritation... Yes, for very little reason this day I was irritated and I needed to calm down before I lost my cool. I talked to Daddy on the phone a bit and then I went and crocheted quietly in my room waiting on chicken to defrost so that I could make supper out of it ... possibly two or three suppers out of it. (10 pounds of legs and thighs go a long way when cooked properly.)
