One Day Left

Tomorrow ends my week in the church nursery. I'll be glad to be done. I'm glad I'm doing it, but I think it's probably not the best place for me to volunteer next year. N and J are liking Loreto better now, so I'll probably sign them up again for next summer and volunteer for a week in the kitchen instead of the nursery.

I still had one of the teenagers out ill today, but there were three others (although one left early) so we had plenty of people. One of the teenagers today hadn't worked in the nursery yet this week, and I haven't seen her in years, but I knew her when she was nine or ten. She remembers us but didn't know I'd had the third baby (K). She was very, very good with playing with the kids. The others haven't been quite so good, nor have I.

N and J were hoping to go to float night tomorrow evening at the pool. It's only on Fridays. I haven't had the energy to do anything in the evenings, so I told them we probably won't go, but that I'd try to take them to the pool this weekend.

I think I'd better go get a bath so I can shave my legs just in case I find the energy tomorrow evening to make it to the pool.

Past the Half-way point!

My time in the nursery passed okay today. The one girl who was supposed to assist me all week was ill, and possibly could be for the rest of the week. I still had one of the teenagers from yesterday to help, though. When one of the coordinators saw me with just her hauling all the kids out to the playground, she rounded up some extra teenagers for outside (so we could just send in one kid at a time for bathroom breaks instead of us all having to go in) (yes, I asked if they had to go before we went out, but there was still one who suddenly had to go).

Later one of the girls in my group's mom who had been working in the kitchen stayed with us to help. That worked out well so that the teenager could remain in the nursery with the baby who was having a bottle and resting while the rest of us went to the gym to play with balls.

I like at least two other people working with me so that we can easily take a bathroom break or run and get something of find someone without having one person left alone with all the kids.

The boy who is one hit a lot of people and spent some time in the corner today. He especially liked to hit K. He's younger than she is but outweighs her by quite a bit.

We are getting bored with what's available to play with in the nursery. I'm glad we were able to use the gym for variety today.

I am glad I'm doing the first week, when the toys are all "new" to the kids. I don't know what the lady next week will do. They'll be pretty bored with the same-old stuff. I hope she's creative and loves doing things with kids.

Two more days left. I keep thinking if I volunteer for this again, I'll volunteer for kitchen work.

Two Days Down

I'm glad I've got these kids for the first week and not the second. They'll be very bored with the toys in the nursery by next week.

I learned another thing today. If I'd have given it any thought, I wouldn't have had to learn it through experience. It is to ask the potty-trained kids if they need to use the bathroom before we go out to the playground. Three of the four potty-trained kids got to be escorted back inside individually in order to use the restroom. Fortunately, we had no accidents.

The big three year old (almost to heavy for me to lift) who lied about wearing a diaper yesterday pooped again today. I got to change him again. No one else wanted to, and once again, I was the only adult there.

The eight-month-old baby was loved and adored by a pair of the teenagers. They fed him, held him, and everything, and changed his wet diaper. That was a relief for me since I just don't like such small children. It's very hard to manage the older children when one is tied up with a baby. Those girls really enjoyed having the baby there, and he enjoyed them, so it went well.

N and J had a slightly better time today. I was less nervous, too.

A box of vinyl gloves were waiting for me on the changing table, so I was happy.

One Day Down

I've survived my first day working about four hours in the church nursery. A few kids didn't come today, including the youngest, an eight-month-old baby. He'll be there tomorrow, though, and I'm not looking forward to it. Fortunately, one of the teenage girls helping just loves babies and will be delighted when he comes.

It went okay I guess. I've learned a few things.

1. Ask each parent as the kids arrive if they are three or under if they wear diapers. I had a three year old I thought might be the source of the poop smell, but I asked him if he was wearing a diaper, and he repeatedly denied it. I thought it would be rude and insulting to pull his pants out and look at his underwear when nothing was leaking through his pants. When several of us concluded he was the source of the smell, I gave up politeness and decency, and lifted the back of his shirt to peek down his pants, only to discover his diaper showing above the top of his shorts. The boy lied to me repeatedly! Yes, he was poopy.

2. Bring mailing labels tomorrow to make tags to label the kids and the diaper bags.

3. Check the hallway before venturing out to go to the playground. If classes are in the hallway, waiting to get into the sanctuary, wait until they clear out. Otherwise, the little kids might see their mommies in line and cry a whole lot when they can't stay with their mommies and have to go outside with me.

4. Arrange to have more latex or vinyl gloves brought to the nursery to use for diaper changing. It was a good thing I brought some of my own today. I've already sent an e-mail to the person I think might be able to make that happen.


Today we only had seven kids. Two were one, one was two (K), three were three, and two were five. We're adding a baby tomorrow and another that's probably three. I had three teenage girls to help so it was pretty easy. I'm not sure I'll have that many tomorrow. I think it will vary day-to-day. There will always be at least two of us, but I think I'm going to be the only adult. Next week another adult will cover the week. I'm glad I only signed up for one week. I think if the kids do Loreto next year, I'll volunteer to work in the kitchen.

N and J both hated Loreto. I'm not sure why. If they feel so strongly about it throughout the entire two weeks, I might not put them through it next summer.

Saturday

I was out in the garden, picking vegetables, the girls were in J's tent which is set up in the yard, and N was in the house, playing on the computer with his Webkinz, when he called out the back door that someone rang the doorbell.

N didn't know who it was because he's too short to see out the peephole, and I've told him not to answer the door if he doesn't know who is there.

I walked across the yard to the front of my house, and just before they left, we saw it was a friend of N's and his dad. N was so excited. He's missed seeing his friend this summer. We had his dad drop his son off for a couple hours. Then when he came to pick his son up, he took N and J, and they had a great time for hours at his friend's house. They even stayed for dinner, which I hear was grilled steaks, green beans, and French fries. I guess the three kids played together well all afternoon. J's been to their house before because they also have a daughter, who is in J's grade. Unfortunately for her, she is at ballet camp in North Carolina right now.

N's friend's dad has loaned me his hand-held GPS unit so I can see if I can figure out how they work, try a little geocaching, and decide if it's something I think I'd like to have. That was nice of him.

N's friend found one of our chickens' "hidden nests" while he was here. It had fifteen eggs in it. It was hidden under a rabbit cage. We had to dump the eggs because they've been out it the heat for who knows how many days, plus, who knows what nasty rabbit poop they have on them.

None, general rambling

I made a single layer round chocolate cake this afternoon with a ganache-type frosting. My neighbor, Mr. T, turned 56 today, so we took him a couple bottles of mead and the cake, sang happy birthday to him, and had cake. I had to keep the cake, though, because it needs to go in the refrigerator due to the type of icing.

At the neighborhood pool, Friday nights from 6 to 9 p.m. are "Float Nights." You can bring flotation equipment to the pool. We picked up three "noodles" earlier this week just for the event. I swear it was like PTA night at the pool. I recognized quite a few of the parents, and the kids recognized lots of friends from school. Kate was finally shivering enough that I insisted we leave after about an hour at the pool. It was late enough in the day, I didn't need to worry about her lack of sunscreen.

The kids are begging to go back to the pool this weekend. I wish I liked the water better. It's so much trouble to get them all in their suits and then to get the suits rinsed and hung with the towels after each swim.

Just Life

I was holding K and looking at Janet Evanovich's web site, when I realized K went limp. I popped her in bed. I'd been trying to get her to nap for a couple hours because she's been so fussy today.

The friend with whom K and I have lunch with every month or so had taken the day off work today, so she stopped by this morning. We loaded everyone in the car, and went through McDonald's drivethrough, so she even stayed for lunch. I haven't seen her since May. Taking all the kids to lunch at El Toro Loco just wouldn't work out.

Next week I'm working at the nursery for N and J's vacation Bible school (called Loreto at their church). I'm dreading it. I just found out today I'm supposed to keep the kids entertained. I thought all I had to do was watch them and assure they were safe and clean. Yikes! I think they will range in age from one to four. K will be there with me. I don't much like small children in a general sense. I hope it will go better than I fear. I think I'd better get some crayons and some coloring pages together. I got a bunch of 24-packs of crayons on sale at Walmart for 22 cents apiece at a back-to-school promotion. I think there will be about six kids. I think it will last three to four hours each day. I won't know for sure until I get there. Loreto lasts two weeks, but I'm only volunteering in the nursery the first week. N and J will be attending both weeks.

Lizard in the House

Yesterday the girls came and told me there was a lizard under K's bed. Yes, they insisted, it was a real lizard. J wanted to catch it herself, but I made her leave her room until we could get Mr. K in there to do it since he's a professional lizard-remover.

He got a few glueboards and put them places the lizard was likely to go, including the corner under the bed. We saw the lizard come out from under the bed, and Mr. K scared it back under the bed. It ran into the corner, and immediately was stuck on the glueboard.

We took it outside with a can of Pam (cooking oil spray), and sprayed the lizard a little, which released him from the glueboard with a little nudging. The lizard ran across the driveway and hid in the brush.

Fishing!

I spent part of the afternoon having a very good time fishing. These are the part of the catch I bothered to bring home. Their filleted bodies are sitting in water in my fridge. I'll cook the fillets tomorrow, and I imagine they'll be wonderful. J loves fresh fish, too.

I'm not sure why my fishing was successful today when usually all I get is small stuff I catch and release. Maybe it's because it hasn't rained in a while. Maybe it's because I bought Canadian crawlers to use as bait (nightcrawlers). Maybe it's because it was three in the afternoon but overcast. Even the fish that were smaller than these were feisty and put on a show, thrashing around in the water as I reeled them in.

I love fishing.

Home on a Saturday night

Like always! I think it's been well over a decade since I've been out on a Saturday night.

I did make it to the supermarket. Prices there are depressing. I've been very spoiled by all the years our country had been so wealthy that food didn't take as large a percentage of our income. Fortunately, the supermarket I use seems to be keeping the priced of dairy products down compared to the other stores. I can get a pint of half-and-half for $1.19 and a pint of heavy cream for $1.89 still. I'm not sure how long they'll hold out, though. Other stores have those things at nearly a dollar more.

It's bath night. I can still hear my girls up. If they don't fall asleep before I get in the tub, they'll come and talk at me while I take a bath. It's just not as relaxing as spending a few minutes reading a mystery in the tub while I soak. I think J might be "reading" a story to K.

Mr. K spent some time at one of our rental houses this morning. He evicted the tenant while I was on vacation. This house is a duplex, and it's about 30 minutes away. The front door to the house leads to two inner doors, one for each unit. He said the remaining tenant hasn't been keeping the main door locked, and someone has been coming in there and punching holes in the walls of the common area. I called the remaining tenant and tried to encourage him to keep the front door locked. It's hard to imagine that he wouldn't in the first place. I sure wouldn't want vandals hanging out in my foyer. This rental house is in a sort of cute little town. It's the only rental we have at which I don't feel a bit nervous about my safety, oddly enough. Maybe now I will.

I guess I'd better go get my bath if I'm going to be in and out of the tub before Mr. K takes a shower at 10 p.m.

I seem fixated on food

Here's my little hibachi sitting next to our charcoal chimney starter (which we use for our larger grill). I got the hibachi from my neighbor, Mr. T, while he was getting rid of stuff, preparing to move into the shed on the property. He sold it to me for $2. It had never been used, but it was sort of rusty and dusty. I haven't been able to figure out how to use the attachment that allows the grill to be raised. I just use it for hot dogs and other small things. It will barely hold enough food for all of us. I was able to do four hamburgers on it for dinner last night. I topped mine with a slice of fresh tomato from my garden and some cheddar. After dinner, I threw an eggplant on it and got it cooked and charred for a version of baba ganoush. Only K and I would eat that.

I cooked up a lot of garden stuff for lunch. I mixed zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, onion (from the store), garlic (from the store), banana peppers, a jalapeno pepper, a serrano pepper, and some basil, and cooked it all slowly in a pan. Then I served it over rigatoni for my lunch. Once again, only I will eat things like that. Even K wouldn't try it this time.


At the gym this morning, I saw an ad (but couldn't hear it) for a pizza promotion at the pizza place we usually go to. It's got me in the mood to order pizzas for dinner. I'll go pick them up myself, though, because there is a delivery fee, and I try to tip at least a dollar a pizza, and this special is for three medium pizzas. It's certainly worth the gas to get my own today.

None, general rambling.

The kids' friends came over for a couple hours this afternoon. I guess it kept them entertained. I have a friend with six kids, and the last two of hers are in the same grades as N and J. She dropped them off to play this afternoon. K ran around, trying to keep up with the big kids. They spent a bit of time on the computer, too, showing each other their Webkinz accounts.

I'm cooking a rabbit from the freezer for dinner. I'm making mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it. I think I'll run out to the garden and see if we have any green beans ready to add to the dinner.

Tomorrow is playgroup. I'll have to run out to the garden and see if I can round up any excess produce, because the ladies at playgroup will usually take my surplus.

I need to start buying school supplies for next school year. I noticed an ad for the first of the back-to-school sales in the paper last Sunday. School is barely out and its time to get supplies together again. Shopping for school supplies always makes me feel angry, bewildered, frustrated, and poor.

Plumbing Success (I hope)

We all made a trip to one of our vacant rental houses today. It's one of the two from which Mr. K did and eviction while I was on vacation. Fortunately, the lady left it quite clean. It's the one that took us forever to get rented last summer and Mr. K took someone who couldn't get the entire security deposit together, but he was so tired of trying to find a tenant he took a gamble on her. Then she never had the rent together, and he had to begin the eviction process several times, and she'd show up with money at the last minute. Finally, no money appeared. It's just as well, because had she stayed, we'd have had to decide it we'd be willing to renew the lease or just make it end.

Anyway, apparently the float ball in the back of the toilet (mine doesn't have one--different water cut-off mechanism) had broken off its stand because the plastic became brittle and broke. Mr. K watched the kids downstairs while I used a $10 part and was able to replace the feed tube and float ball mechanism. Once I had to get Mr. K to pull something apart because my hands weren't strong enough. Anyway, it appears, I was able to successfully install the mechanism, and the toilet is fine. I sure hope I'm right. It was much cheaper than having a plumber come out.

I also spent a little while cleaning out the tub, the mirror, and tidying up the floor so it will be one thing less Mr. K will need to do before we look for another tenant. Apparently, the evicted tenant took the towel bars with her, but left the piece attached to the walls where they connect. I have no idea what she' plans to do with the towel bars without the part that attaches to the walls. Also, she took the shower curtain.

As I mentioned, though, she left the place in very good condition otherwise.

No more sunscreen for K

Yesterday I took K to the pool, too, and discovered she's allergic to sunscreen, just like N. The thing is, she had a reaction to the metal oxide type that N is able to use with no problems. Fortunately, she recovered completely by morning. You can see where the sunscreen was put on thicker because she had more of a reaction to it. You can sort of make out the shape of my finger tips on her chest. As far as I know, it didn't hurt at all, but I still feel bad about it. I think I successfully put sunscreen on her last summer. I don't know what went wrong this year.

I had been keeping her pool visits to 20 minutes or less to not have to bother with sunscreen. I went for 30 minutes yesterday, so I broke out the sunscreen. I only put it a little on the places I thought she'd most likely burn. (I don't think she'd burn anyway in 30 minutes, but I didn't want to find out.)

Now I'll have to keep her in the shade all summer. She won't be able to spend much time at once in the sun. If this problem lasts, I'll have to explain it to her preschool and her school that she is NOT to wear sunscreen. They'll hate me for that because she'll be kept out of activities on field day. I don't know if N has outgrown his sensitivity because I only use the non-organic active ingredient type on him, which he's always been fine with.

A few weeks ago, K begged for a some moisturizer when I was getting ready in the morning. To humor her, I put a little on her cheek. I never made the connection, but I remember a few weeks ago she had a strange red blotch on her cheek. It must have been the day I did that. My moisturizer has sunscreen in it. It was the type that uses an organic chemical (not a metal salt) as its active ingredient.

Exhausting week

This is the second (and last) week of getting everyone up early enough to be at swimming lessons by 8:10 a.m. Tomorrow is the final lesson. I am so relieved. It's really wearing me out, and the kids are getting very cranky, but they enjoy their lessons once they get there.

We've been trying to do things each day after we are done with swimming lessons. Monday we went to Target so I could get more diapers and a new coffee maker (old one was leaking water on the counter after each use. The kids got some colored pencils, too.

Tuesday I went to a little shopping plaza near the gym where we got me a new air filter for my car, and looked in some of the shops, purchasing a few things at a place that sells salvaged groceries.

Today we went to the local Goodwill store and looked around. I ended up getting Jessica a new purse for dress-up play.

Tomorrow is probably going to be the most stressful day. We're going to the local Putt-Putt golf place with an arcade, and I'll buy the kids 100 tokens with a coupon and let them play video games until I can't stand it or we run out of tokens, whichever comes first.

Friday we won't have swimming lessons, but I'll take them to the local pool for a swim. Also I'll let them make cupcakes in the kitchen.

I haven't even thought about next week except for Monday, when we go visit a friend of mine with kids my kids like to play with. She also has chickens.

Leaflets three...

I've got a little poison ivy going on my forearm. There's a shot of it in my flickr pictures. Friday I put vinyl gloves on and pulled out poison ivy in the lawn and put it in a plastic bag for disposal. J plays in the lawn a lot, and she's allergic to it. Two summers ago, she had it three times, including on her face.

After clearing the spot in the lawn of tiny poison ivy plants, I went into a less controlled part of my yard and started pulling up poison ivy from next to a brush pile. This poison ivy was bigger and more viney. Three times some of it bumped my arm above the wrist where my vinyl gloves ended. Before I completed the job (which I still haven't completed), I dumped the bag of poison ivy in the trash and was in the house soaping down my forearm. The urushiol spent less than five minutes on my arm. I thought I had fifteen to twenty minutes to remove it, but apparently not.

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, I noticed some bumps by my wrist. Today they are more pronounced and are blistering. I suppose I need not add that they itch so much I'd like to chew my arm off.

I'm hoping Mr. K can be persuaded to spray the rest of the poison ivy in the yard with Roundup. I think I'll go buy something called Ivy Block to put on my forearms above the vinyl gloves the next time I get the wild idea to pull poison ivy.

Leaflets three, let it be. Leaflets three, not for me.

Independence Day

We had a pretty good Independence Day. We were going to cook out and have our neighbor (Mr. T, the one who lives in the shed) over, but it rained for a little while right when we put the meat on the grill. Mr. K kept the lid on the grill, and the meat cooked fine. We had to eat inside, though. I've never had Mr. T over for a meal eaten in the house before, but we have had him eat with us at the picnic table earlier this summer.

Anyway, Mr. T seemed rather tipsy at dinner. I don't think I've ever had a meal with someone drunk before--in college the drinking began after dinner. Anyway, while we were eating, he started describing some bad fish he and his buddy got at the supermarket one time, and how bad it smelled. It was all I could do not to fall on the floor laughing. All I could think of is what my mom would look like if someone dared discuss something so icky during dinner.

About an hour after dinner, we lit our bonfire. Mr. T came over (with three beers for the evening). We told stories, sang (poorly) some songs, made s'mores, did some shadow boxing, played with glow sticks, and Mr. K brought out some mead for the adults. Mr. K had a beer left unfinished at the end of the evening because he switched to mead, and I made some comment that he could save it for breakfast. I was mistaken; he started it just before I took the kids in to bed. He and Mr. K were to have put out the fire, but once I got the kids in bed, I came out and they were still talking by the fire. Mr. T was very drunk by that time, and I had Mr. K escort him back to his shed to make sure he made it home okay.

The kids took their glow sticks to bed. Unfortunately, one of K's leaked in the night. I got up with her when she was crying in the night, and I noticed a couple spots on her bed were glowing, as was the cuff of her pajamas. In the morning, I could see it was a lot of places in her bed, mixed in with the crayon she'd colored her sheets with last week.

K was up crying a lot in the night. I spent a couple hours getting up with her a lot before I gave up and just let her cry. Finally I just let her cry. I think she might be getting a cold. Today I'm dead tired from missing so much sleep.

None

Things are sort of getting back to normal. Mr. K came back from his business trip yesterday, exhausted. Tomorrow is supposed to be a holiday, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. K didn't work at least part of the day.

Tomorrow is the first day in four days that I don't have to get up at 6:30 to take the kids to swimming lessons. It is making me very tired. I do it again next week Monday through Thursday. Then the lessons are over unless I sign them up for another session.

Tomorrow is Independence Day. We'll have a bonfire in the evening if the weather permits, and make s'mores. We'll also grill hot dogs for dinner.