It's Saturday

Linking with Kathryn once again for what I imaging will be the last time this week.  Tomorrow is the day we've been planning for...cruise!!  Lots of packing and preparing to do today.  In the meantime here's a short review of yesterday and a preview of today.

Hmmm, yesterday, what was yesterday?  Mike and Madi both had dentist appointments.  I did a little History with Madi, a little reading about northern Europe with Jake.  There was a point for a little while when the whole family was in the kitchen (actually that happened for a little while in the evening too).  Late morning Madi and I went to pay her traffic ticket.  Jonathan took Jake to Target.  Mike was at a meeting.  Madi and I picked up pizza for lunch, the boys brought home soda and we had a little party.  The Duggars joined us on the TV.  Then Madi did math, Jake did a little more school work, Jonathan talked a lot, and before we knew it it was time for Madi to go to work and Jake to go to band.  I sat in the car line during band listening to the Busted Halo show.  Then took Jake right to theatre.  While he was at theatre I went to the Verizon store and got my upgrade.  My 2 year old iphone 4 was on it's last legs.  Now I have a fancy 5S yay!  This week in review with new phones and pedicures is not at all typical of a normal week, it just happened that a week in my life also fell on the week before the cruise.  Mike and I were scheduled to house manage for the current main stage show at the theatre at 6:30.  The show is A Good Old Fashioned Redneck Country Christmas.  I convinced Madi to dress like an usher and help us out.  Good thing because as of the time of the house opening I only had two ushers and one of them was brand new.  I was supposed to have 6 or 7.  I pulled Jake from where he was sulking upstairs because he really didn't want to be there, and he sat people in his athletic pants and Aeropostale tshirt.  Finally three more ushers showed up 35 minutes late.  I quickly put them right to work.  Jonathan had been working on tech stuff there since about 4, and he and Jake decided to just go home and not stay for the show.  The show was pretty cute and touching.  It is a nice short show (my favorite kind of nonmusical) and we were all home (and back in the kitchen) before 10:00.  Then I got in bed and watched the end of Forrest Gump.  The end.

Today we are packing, and cleaning, and I personally have nowhere that I have to be. 

Thursday on Friday

For the second night in a row I closed down a coffee shop.  (both times I was drinking tea)  Now it's Friday morning and I'm not sure I'll remember all the things that were Thursday, so I'll just try to hit the highlights.  I made pumpkin chocolate chip scones for breakfast.  Jake had borrowed the steel drums so even though he didn't have band in the morning, we had to be there bright and early to return them.  Jake and I made the first trip and some of Jake's friends came out to help him with the second round.  Then I waited a pretty long time because Jake sorta forgot he was a homeschooler and did the middle school hang out in the court yard thing.  He's really got the best of both worlds that kid!  Apparently he and his buddies were discussing changes to Sesame Street (no more Big Bird because kids are afraid of him?  no more Burt and Ernie because people thought they were gay?), I'm not sure any of this is true, but it makes for riveting middle school conversation.  By the time we got home Madi had already left for her art class and Jonathan and Mike were already in Orlando (separately) (Jonathan had brought a broken light from the theatre to the lighting place and Mike had a meeting.)  Jake did some (I use that term loosely) school, I tutored, then for lunch we headed to chick fil a for our mother-son bookclub.  (ie Julie, Tiffany, Jake, and Joe eating chicken, fries, and milkshakes discussing Doll Bones, a pretty creepy book.)  Tiffany took a picture, but it's not appeared on her blog or instagram yet, so it won't be here either.  Madi met us there after her class and had lunch with Hannah.  Then it was back home for a little while, Jake to band, a quick stop at the library (where I saw a friend and we were asked to be quiet), and then I got a pedicure as part of operation prep for cruise.  Then it was home again for another quick stop, made myself a grilled cheese, ate it in the car, and picked up Jake from band/extra steel drum band.  Jake and I then headed to church where he had choir and I have a group thing.  The room we usually use for said group thing was occupied because there was going to be a symphony concert last night at the church, so we found something else.  I got to use my newly minted key to one of the church buildings, I guess I can effectively say we spend a lot of time there, since we actually now have our own key.  The keys to the kingdom so to speak.  Anyway that ended and it was off to another night in a coffee shop with friends.  Solving the world's problems takes a lot of time in a coffee shop and a fair amount of tea.  When the place was closing and we were sent away, we spent about 45 more minutes talking on the sidewalk.   Jonathan was not working last night, but had gotten hooked up by Amanda (theatre director by day and Tinkerbell who flies from the castle by night) to spend the evening shadowing the tech crew of the fireworks display.  I stayed out late talking because I knew I was going to be up late waiting for Jonathan anyway.  He actually got home before I did, and he was so excited about his night he talk talk talked about it for a long time.  Then finally it was bed and a little Big Bang Theory.

Twenty nine years ago on November 13th my closest friend at the time took her own life.  I think it's not an exaggeration to say I've thought about her every day for 29 years.  I didn't say this out loud to anyone all day yesterday, but I felt like it wasn't right to not memorialize it in some way so there's that.

You can read about other people's Thursdays here.

Wednesday, another day, another blog post

Today I again got up around 7:30.  I had pumpkin chai tea to drink (and a pumpkin muffin to go with it).  Jonathan had to be up and out the door for an earlyish class.  Madi and Jake had to be up and out the door because it was St Vincent de Paul food pantry day.  Madi and I did read a chapter of history though.  We always toss Chemistry under the rug cause... CHEMISTRY!  But we always make history a priority because we both like it  (I was going to say love, but let's not get crazy!)  Mike was again working from home for the morning.  I spent a little time trying to get the loft to not look like the pig sty that it is (I have a long way to go), we moved a bookshelf from the loft into the corner of our room now known as Mike's office.  I started looking in my closet as a pre-packing experiment re: upcoming cruise.  I am missing a dress.  Where could it be?  I tutored from 9:45-11:45 and also touched up paint on that outside shelf.  (lots of shelf things today) 

At 11:45 I brought my student home and went to meet my friend Pam in the park for a picnic lunch.  Pam has cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma) and is preparing for a bone marrow transplant.  (Pray for her and my brother Rob {stage 4 melanoma} they share a birthday, different year.)  From the park, I stopped in at the library.  I checked out a couple of Norway books for Jake, Uncle Tom's Cabin for Madi, and a young adult (kids?) book for myself, Savvy. 

When I got home Mike was on his way out the door, Jonathan had been home and gone again, and Jake and Madi had just gotten home and were eating lunch.  Very soon it was time to bring Jake to band because early release Wednesday means band is an hour earlier.  I sat in the car line listening to the Busted Halo Show on the Catholic Channel and checking social media.  I also read the latest issue of the local made by kids for kids magazine.  Madi has a picture in the photo contest.

When we got home it was just after 3:00.  I encouraged Jake to get something like schoolwork done for a little while, but of course when boy next door rang the bell, I told Jake he could go out and play.  Packing food for people in need for 4 hours and then an hour of band will be school for today (and an hour of religious ed tonight too!)  I noticed that one of our many pumpkins was getting a soft spot, so I cut it up and popped it into the crock pot.  We already have two large containers of freshly cooked pumpkin in the refrigerator.  While I was doing that, Madi had me quiz her on vocabulary words for her art class (she is dual enrolled at the local state college taking Sociology and Art) (She has an art quiz tomorrow).  I also made her a grilled cheese because her "lunch" was carrots and pretzels and she will not be home until 8:00 tonight. 

Now it is 4:30.  In an hour Jake and I will head to the church for a meeting about an upcoming fundraiser for Pam.  (maybe Jake will do some schoolwork then)  Then I will teach 9th grade religious ed.  As soon as it ends I will head to Starbucks where Mike will take Jake from me and I will visit with one of our first friends from here who now lives in Colorado, but is here helping her elderly mother. 

Again, no pictures.  I am due for an upgrade on my phone and desperately need it, but I have to make the time to go to the Verizon store.  My current phone camera is pretty bad and only works about half the time.  I definitely want a new phone before the cruise...maybe tomorrow.

To read about other Wednesdays go to Team Whitaker.

Tuesday on Tuesday

Well this one should be a little easier because now I'm going to write about Tuesday and it is still Tuesday.  This morning I also got up around 7ish (maybe closer to 7:30).  I had hot chocolate/coffee and attempted to race Mike in a #1 (easy) Sudoku.  In my attempt to actually beat him (never happens) I messed up and scrapped the whole thing.  I ate a piece of sourdough toast, and got Jake started on his math.  I know it's Veteran's Day but we have all kinds of "days off" around here, so some school was going to get done.  Did History with Madi (we're in the 1850s right now and were reading about abolitionists).  From 10-12 I tutored (still in my jammies) while intermittently yelling at Jake to get something done.  Jonathan (whose college classes were canceled for Veteran's Day) was talking to him too much.  While my "tutee" (as in the girl I tutor) was working on math I quickly slapped some paint on a little shelf that we garbage picked this summer.  It is going in our front yard with some plants etc on it.  I did my lesson plan for my 9th grade religious ed class.  I like the curriculum we are using, but it is planning heavy and not the kind of class that it read aloud and answer questions.  Jake got some map work and some spelling done.  Madi went to the gym and did some Algebra 2.  Jonathan joined the college honor society that he was invited into.  Mike worked from upstairs (interestingly enough also still in his jammies...ssshhh).  I showered, ate lunch, and debated whether to go shopping for shoes that Jake needs (Kohls coupons) and some food (Aldi coupon) (there are 5 Aldis around here, but all of them about 30 minutes away).  Opted to go to the farther Kohl's because it was near an Aldi where the coupon would definitely work (might not have worked at the slightly closer one).  Madi decided she'd like to come too.  This trip would bring us near Plato's Closet and she had some clothes to sell to them.  Drove to far Kohl's (Madi read Chemistry on the way) (Jake may have done some Language Arts).  Found exactly the shoes Jake needs for his band concert (that we will miss...cruise) and his Christmas Tour performances (that we will see), even on sale the shoes were NOT CHEAP.  Walked to the checkout area only to find every other person in the greater Orlando area to be in line in front of us.  Apparently Kohl's wasn't expecting that extra coupons plus a federal holiday would mean more people should have been scheduled to work!  A nice manager (Janice) told a group of us in the back of the ridiculous line that we'd get an extra 10% off.  $5 off plus $10 off plus 20% off plus 10% more off made the cost of the shoes almost reasonable.  Time was getting away from us as Madi needed to be at choir at 4 and Jake to theatre at 4:30, but we made an executive decision to drop Madi at Plato's closet while Jake and I would run into Walmart to exchange a too small shirt that he got for his birthday.  A Walmart fan I am not, but somehow I find it easier to go into other Walmarts than I do my local one.  Well sadly even though we had the shirt with the tag that says Walmart, the customer service lady informed us they did not sell that shirt at that Walmart and therefore we could not exchange it (or just get credit).  No shirt for you, Jake!  We will now look for a Christmas angel tree with a 10ish year old boy who needs a new shirt.  While we were striking out at Walmart, Madi was striking out at Plato's Closet.  It was going to take them at least 45 minutes to get to her clothes.  45 minutes we did not have.  On to Aldi.  We were successful with our coupon from there and stocked up on staples (ketchup and tortilla chips) and got food for church Thanksgiving baskets.  No time to get all the way home and for Madi to get to choir, so I had to drive Madi right to choir, come home and throw the groceries in the house, have Jake pick up his script, and get him to theatre (with not a minute to spare).  Decided to stop and get my eyebrows waxed (may have actually let them do my upper lip too, but I'll never tell).  Then tried to go to the library (fail...duh...federal holiday).  Back to the church to pick up Madi.  (also tried to get the mail...again...duh!!)  Visited with Mike for a few minutes while he, Madi and I ate leftovers.  Talked to my father for Veteran's Day.  Sat down to look at blogs.  Mike left for a meeting at the theatre.  Made a couple phone calls and texts trying to make sure Jonathan was going to be bringing Jake home from the theatre.  Found the links about the week in the life posts and spent the last hour blogging about yesterday and today.  Mike will be at the theatre for about 2 more hours, but all kids are home safe and sound and I'm going to read, possibly watch TV (still not caught up on DWTS and there's a new Duggar episode on tonight), and I will be going to bed early.  During all of this I've had hundreds of conversations with Mike and the kids, they have involved theatre, church, Disney, and a myriad of other topics.  At one pint this morning Jonathan said something to Jake and I answered him from two rooms away.  Jonathan said, "mom, you have ears like a hawk," and Jake replied, "no Jonathan, you just have a mouth like a howler monkey."

To read about more Tuesdays go here.

Monday Monday

I am (perhaps foolishly) considering joining some bloggers for a week in my life series of posts.  This week won't necessarily be normal (mainly because there is no such thing for us), but it may give a snapshot of what normalish might look like around here. 

We're supposed to start with Monday, that requires me to recall yesterday.  While it is no problem for me to tell you what I wore to my 8th grade graduation (or all of the birthdays of my 8th grade classmates), remembering yesterday will be a little bit of a challenge.

Hmmm.  Let's see.  Mike mostly worked from home yesterday (gotta love the new job).  I got up at 7ish.  Had some coffee/hot chocolate and a pumpkin muffin, took Jake to steel drum band (middle school, Monday mornings 8:00), called my mother on the way home to say hi (next Monday morning she or Jonathan or Madi will be doing the steel drum run because Mike and I will be on a cruise).  (pretty sure that sentence was more than long enough even though I don't think I really ended it) 

Did History with Madi, talked to Mike, may have done some laundry, and then it was time to go pick up Jake.  Did some school with Jake.  We are 'in Norway' in Exploring Countries and Cultures.  Jonathan (who had worked until about midnight the night before) got up and played a homemade Norwegian game with Jake (I think it's called fox and geese). 

If I continue doing this for everyday this week, I will definitely need to do it the day of because I'm sure I'm already forgetting stuff about yesterday.

Anyway, at some point Mike asked if I wanted to go out to lunch (yes), so I finally took a shower and got ready.  First we went to the bank to cash in two very old savings bonds.  One was from my First Holy Communion in 1978, the other was from our wedding in 1994.  The 1978 one was a $25 bond now worth $87!!  (cool huh?) The 1994 one was $100, now worth $110 (not nearly as cool).  Either way...cruise money!  So after the bank, Mike ran into the theatre for a minute.  We attempted to go to a newish BBQ place by the lake...closed Mondays.  We ended up with Italian (well actually I think it's Greek).  We split a salad and a calzone.  It was raining and pretty chilly when we came out.  We went to Walgreens to pick up a few things including travel size toiletries (did I mention we are going on a cruise?) 

When we got home, Mike left to go into the local office of his new company for  a few hours, and I really can't remember what I did.  I might have spent some time on the computer and did a little bit of laundry and dishes.  At 3:00 I took Jake back to the middle school for regular band.  I came home to start making some cookies, visited with Madi, Jonathan, and Chloe for a little while, then went back to get Jake (long car line).  Jake had asked for permission to take his steel drums home for a few days, he plays a triple, so he had three girls helping him carry everything to the car.  We now have a triple steel drum in our family room.  I brought Jake right from band to theatre, and came home to finish making the cookies (pumpkin chocolate chip).  While they baked, I folded laundry and watched some of Dancing with the Stars from last week and the week before.  I had known who went home, but didn't see some of the dances.  Mike came home and we ate left over chicken (he had some salad too).  Then it was time to get Jake from theatre and head to our Arise Together in Christ group at church.  When it was already past time to go, I remembered I needed something resembling dinner for Jake.  Microwaved hot dog (terribly bad I know) to the rescue.  Picked up Jake, said hi to Madi (who was on her was home from theatre), and we drove to church.  Half way there we got the text that Madi was home (always a relief), and then when we were about 2 minutes away I got a call from my brother.  Early on in the conversation I told him I only had a few minutes because we were almost to a meeting at church, but he was so talkative, I ended up standing outside talking to him for about 15 minutes.  My 40 year old brother has stage 4 melanoma, he has been terribly sick, but is doing remarkably well right now.  He's been driving the car, raking, grocery shopping, cooking and doing dishes.  From March until recently he was unable to do anything but go to the doctor and lay on the couch.  Please keep praying for him, the prayers are working.    I joined my church group already in progress.  We were discussing the gospel of John.  I wasn't the only one who brought cookies, it was almost like an impromptu cookie exchange.  While the adults (and my two year old Godson, Kolbe) meet in one room the kids meet (bang and make loud noises) in the room next door.  Last night they ate a lot of cookies too.  When we got home every kid was home, I read for a little while in the tub and went to bed. 

It seems crazy that anyone would be interested in reading this, but as a person who loves reading about other people, I'm going to post it.  You can also go to Team Whitaker for links to more Mondays.

Popcorn, meatballs, and cookie dough balls

Not sure if that title will have anything to do with what I might say on here, but it would adequately answer the question, "what's cooking?".  We are having meatballs (and some kind of pasta) for supper and they have been cooking most of the day in the crock pot.  I made cookie dough balls for the first time in a while today and they are nestled nicely in the freezer, but I keep finding myself over there grabbing one or three.  I hear Jake popping his second round of popcorn as I type this.  After 4 plus years of having braces (yes seriously, he wasn't even 8 when he got them), he got them off yesterday.  Yes he ate popcorn frequently with braces, but now he can do it guilt free. 

I'm tired.  Madi was in a car accident Sunday and it's aged me ten years.  She is fine, her car, not so much.  Mike's in contact with all the appropriate insurance people etc to figure out what happens next. 

Jake, Madi, and some friends performed at a local elementary school this morning.  It is one of the few local schools that they've never performed at before.  It went really well and they had a little Q and A afterwards.  The first question a little girl asked was, "How can all of you sing so beautifully?"  Later a little boy asked Kirk (a 14 year old boy who had sung the love song that Jake also sang in Dear Edwina) if he always has trouble getting the girl.  It was so funny!  Kirk responded that breaking into song doesn't always work to get the girl, but it's worth a try.  A group of little boys with autism sat in front of me and one little boy who sat quietly and kept to himself the whole time moved his arms (as if directing) all through Jake's solo (Naughty from Mathilda).  Good thing it was such a good morning because I feel like we've not really accomplished anything else since then.

Madi is currently at rehearsal for the Florida Theatre Conference which is this weekend.  Jake went to band (and is now eating popcorn and watching Back to the Future 2...if pressed I could come of with some educational points to that movie), I am teaching 9th grade religious education tonight, so all those things should count for something.  Madi and Jake are also eagerly awaiting parts for Once on this Island, auditions were Monday and Tuesday.  It is pretty much our whole family's favorite musical.  It will be Madi's third time doing it and Jake's second. 

Could this post be more boring?  Probably not. 

Madi, Jake, and I are on a pretty big Duggar kick right now.  We eagerly watched Jill and Derrick's wedding (and I cried) and last night was Ben and Jessa's engagement (cried again!).  We know that in real life Ben and Jessa actually got married on Saturday and we mentioned it a few times throughout the day.  Yes, a little obsessed.  The other night when I couldn't sleep (due to Dear Edwina songs shouting in my head) after prayers didn't work, I resorted to try to recite all the Duggar kids in order.  I can mostly do it, but like the presidents, I get a little jumbled up in the middle.

Jonathan is at school right now taking an astronomy test.  He currently has a 4.0 college GPA (with 30 credits).  He's got 15 more credits this semester, but is feeling like it will be the end of the 4.0.  He has been invited into Phi Theta Kappa a collegiate honor society with special benefits and scholarship opportunities so that's pretty cool.

I keep leaving this blog to check facebook and see if parts have been posted yet.  I know it is very unlikely since Amanda is actually directing the rehearsal that Madi is at, she will most likely not be posting parts at the same time, but I can help it, I have to keep checking.  Madi was the lead when they did this show 6 years ago, but she really really wants it again, and I really really want it for her.  Jake would be happy with either one of two "Gods".  Actually, they'll both be happy eventually with whatever they get, but they'll be happier (and happy faster) if they get what they want.

Jake's band class is back to the afternoon (but will change back to the morning shortly).  I often sit in my car in the car line (that has already formed before 6th period starts) listening to the Busted Halo show on the Catholic Channel.  I might be as obsessed with those people as I am with the Duggars.  When I was little I thought Sonny and Cher were my parents' friends and Chastity was my BFF so this kind of thing is nothing new for me.  When I was middle school age I was genuinely obsessed with The Guiding Light, so as you can see my taste has gotten considerably more innocent and humble.  Actually in 3rd grade I distinctly remember writing sentences for my spelling words that were about the Guiding Light... "Vanessa and Ross are friends" for example.  These days when I give Jake a spelling test I often use Seinfeld references.  "George asked, 'is she socially awkward?' "  Actually last week one of his words was 'maul' and my sentence was, "Don't maul the deer you jaguar."  which made us both laugh a lot.  Too bad the humor probably won't transfer so well on here ;). 

I think it is officially time to get the pasta cooking, I've wasted enough time today, and parts are still not up yet.