Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 2018 Wisdom Teeth Removed

Aug. 26-Sept. 1, 2018 

Wisdom Teeth Removed

Hello Friends!

Monday Dd had all of her wisdom teeth removed

Well, to top off our rough August, it seems fitting to end it with Dd getting all four wisdom teeth removed. She literally was on the sofa for four days; miserable, swollen, bruised, and pitiful.  Of course, I heard from friends how easily other kids recovered from their surgery, but Dd was one of those that struggled with recovery.  She didn't get any real 'academic' work done this week!  But, she is healing up!!  Now she can meet back with the orthodontist about getting her braces.

Her jaw turned black and blue

Henry:

Our rescue dog, Henry, is still growing more and more comfortable with us; which is nice in some ways, but he has lost his 'roaming' privileges and is back on the leash until he can come when called instead of redirecting himself towards the road!!!  Nothing worse than a puppy seeing you, hearing you call his name, and then see him make the decision to disregard your plea's!  Dd has already taught him to sit, down, and shake!  He does the 'come,' but only when he feels ready to do so...typical puppy behavior, not a surprise, just something we need to work on for safety's sake.

Henry tears his stuffed animals into shreds of thread by the end of it; here are new ones for him to destroy

Walks:
We sure are enjoying our walks back into the woods around our house, under the guise of 'walking Henry!'  The old trails have been getting freshened up and cleared up as we walk each day.  I'm getting ideas of how to lengthen the trails so we won't have to do so many circles and loops.  I am thoroughly enjoying spending more time in the woods and luckily haven't seen one tick this year.  



Headaches and Migraines:
I went to the doctor this week complaining of a huge increase in headaches and migraines---instead of 1-2 weeks of issues I have had problems this entire month.  I'm afraid that Amitriptyline I went off was helping me more than I knew.  I still don't know if I can rally without it or if I need to reevaluate the benefits of this medication.  I hate to mess with body, but having 13 bad days out of 31 isn't a great score.  I'm tired of feeling awful.

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Van:
The repairman fixed the van and we picked it up on Tuesday.  For now we have 3 of 4 auto's working.  I'm hoping all three of these auto's will keep running for at least a month!!  I pray!

Some of our produce this year

Chickens:

It must be molting time of year again as the number of eggs has been down all week.  They are all doing really well.  I'm really working hard on getting as much fresh greens and weeds as I can since the weeks are winding down on being able to gather them.  I remember our first October here and it was feet and feet of snow!  

Garden:

The garden is doing really well; I just need more time and especially more energy to get the canning started.  Everything is growing well and coming along nicely.

A picture with ALL THREE cats in it!  That doesn't happen

My Bible Study:
I've been wrapping up the few pages left on Entrusted: A Study of 2nd Timothy, a Bible study from Beth Moore and begun a new one I saw on Amazon called Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story by Angie Smith.

Audio:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee : COMPLETED
(I've requested the movie from the library to watch next!)

Cooking:
A good amount of cooking this week---we bought lots of different kinds of soups, apple sauces, sorbet, and other 'liquid' foods for her first days after her teeth were removed.  On Friday, feeling better she made me some No Bake Cookies and tried eating some solid foods.  She soon realized that she had to stick to the liquid foods as anything solid, even cereal, went into her wound and caused problems trying to get it back out.

Music:
Piano one time this week

Fun Book:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Dd doing a good job keeping us supplied with No Bake Cookies this summer!

Movie:
Dead Poet's Society
I remember watching this movie in high school and feeling so motivated to Seize The Day and live a full life.  I'm not sure how Dd felt about it, but she said she liked it.  I somehow forgot that one of the main characters commits suicide---you'd think I would remember that key part!

Driving:
We scheduled Dd's driving test for next month, she only has her parking left to master.  She worked with Dh this weekend on her parking.  She has been doing almost all of our driving the past few months and doing really well at it.

Agnes

Next Week:

The church's Wednesday night children's church program, Olympians, starts back up.  I assume Dd will continue to volunteer to co-run the Games portion and I will continue to help with the classroom work. 

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Aug. 19-25, 2018 Truck home, Van in Shop, Grapes turn Purple, Shipshewana Trip & Play

Aug. 19-25, 2018 

Truck home, Van in Shop, Grapes turn Purple, Shipshewana Trip & Play

Hello Friends!

Oral Surgery Evaluation:
Monday was our long awaited evaluation at the oral surgeon's.  Dd needs braces and the first step is getting her wisdom teeth removed.  What a slow process, it took weeks to see the orthodontist, then another six-eight weeks to see the surgeon...  Surprisingly, they had a cancellation which made an opening for next Monday!  At least this way we won't have long to fret about it and we did fret!  We also went grocery shopping for all the foods on their list---soups, pudding, jello, sherbet, etc. etc.  I think Dd had fun picking out all her 'recovery foods!'  The orthodontist (who puts on the braces) won't be able to fit us in until mid-October!  I guess it is nice that this isn't a fast-paced process.  The upcoming surgery seemed like a little dark cloud hanging over our heads this week, as a result, we really didn't even pretend to get much academic work done.  



Henry:
With two weeks under his collar, Henry is adjusting nicely to his new home.  Last week Dh tried walking Henry without a lease on our paths out in the woods and he did very well.



 Now he can run, at full blast speed, around the trails and really get his energy bursts out while outside, which has been really good for him.  Dd has been teaching him all sorts of things--sit, down, come, stay, and she has started on "shake" for shaking his paw. 



 He is a very smart dog and doing so well.  He is afraid of our outbuilding/barn; it must have to do with the fact he was rescued from a Mennonite barn where he wasn't being fed or cared for, it must bring back bad memories. 



Truck/Van:
I drove Dh to and from work on Monday, as the Subaru was the only available running auto.  Monday night we took the van to the repair shop (45 min away) and left it to be fixed and drove the newly fixed truck home.  At least now we have two auto's running---only two more to be fixed before all is right in our auto world!  It has really been an amazing expense this summer; very overwhelming!  We were totally blindsided by all this; though the Lord knew!  I'm glad we haven't had to borrow or rent a car as we get the auto's repaired.  A friend at church actually offered for me to borrow her car; which was such a kind offer, one that doesn't come very often in this world!



Red leaves: fall 
As our pool continues to be empty, the hornets pleased with their numerous victories of running us off time after time this summer, the leaves have quietly started to change color.  Besides noticing red leaves on the ground I've also witnessed the gusts of wind pull whole blankets of leaves off the deciduous trees by the dozens.  It is unbelievable that fall has arrived already, but it so clearly has!



Purple Grapes:
A bonus of the fall arriving is that the same time the leaves started turning the grapes also turned!  One by one, the grapes are turning from green to purple.  They taste bitter still; but they are coming around.  Now, what do I do with them???!!!!



Chickens: Visit
Dh sells our eggs to a few people that he works with and I had been selling to one homeschool friend during our music classes in Grand Rapids.  She asked to come out to our little home after not being able to meet us during our shopping visits when we were in GR.  This was her first visit out to our house.  In the past, I would have to have my kitchen perfect, dining room table cleaned off, and much effort put into making our house look presentable, but the past ten years I've been slowly convincing myself that it is okay to portray myself for the imperfect person that I am and put down the facades.  It is hard for me, but I encourage us all to be real and honest and show each other that we are not perfect.  She really liked getting to meet our chickens and see my garden.  In the end she only had about 30 minutes for the visit, but it was nice for me to be a mini-hostess on Wednesday.

Green Beans: Garden
What a wonderful green bean kind of week!  Dh and I have been eating them almost every day!!  I've done a better job cooking them this year, in a way that tastes pretty good!  I'm glad to have fresh veg!  We are enjoying eating tomatoes and potatoes too!  With things being way too busy I just don't have time to post all our harvesting and processing this year---maybe in a few weeks.

Field Trip: Blue Gate Theater:Shipshewana, IN.
Our church has some field trips every now and then and before we adopted our dog I thought it would be a great idea for Dd and me to go on one of these trips.  Of course, between the time we signed up and the actual trip we adopted Henry!  It all worked out fine; Dh went in late and came home early so Henry wasn't alone for long.



Amish In Shipshewana (Shipsy"):
Our field trip is to a town that has a large Amish community.  The "Amish" are a group of traditional Christians that are similar to the Mennonite people.  They usually dress and live separate to modern people...limited electricity in their homes, most clothes are homemade and in dull colors, women wear hair coverings...  These are just some generalities that depend varying from person to person.  

The field trip was to Shipshewana, Indiana to the Blue Gate Theater to see a play-- Stolen.  

https://www.riegsecker.com/shipshewana/blue-gate-theatre/schedule/
The church van had recently died so we all divided up into small groups and drove in our own cars and met up there.  My migraine, a very nauseous one, started almost as soon as I got into Chuck's car.  I honestly had the worst day.  I forgot my nausea medicine and fought the urge to vomit ALL day, minute by minute.  I couldn't enjoy the buffet that I pre-paid for, but watched everyone else eat.  I managed to keep up appearances and only Dd knew I was ill.  

When we arrived we walked around the Amish town, going in a few shops and especially enjoying the music store.  Then we met back up with our group for the buffet lunch, which looked okay unless you were Gluten Free.  After lunch, we were lined up and taken into the theater for the play.  The play was an Amish murder mystery; which was ironic because the town we were in was a major Amish hub!  Lots of horses and carriages and Amish folks going about their business.



Our first eight years of marriage were spent in southern Indiana on Dh's family farm.  Our town had a fair amount of Amish families and the waiting room at my chiropractor was always shared with Amish families, so I am used to seeing Amish.  It was interesting to compare the Amish from Shipshewana (offer referred to as "Shipsy") to the more rural southern Indiana Amish, sort of a 'Town Mouse' and 'City Mouse' analogy comes to mind to me.  The Shipsy Amish were a lot more fancy, way less farm-looking, fancier clothes and shoes.  It was very interesting for me to compare.  I bet, for the Amish, it has to be very different just in living in a community with so many Amish as opposed to being in a small minority in the south.  The Bulk Store had dozens of carriages and you got a feel that the Amish here were really thriving.

Academics:

Bible:
Church and Sunday School

Dd and I did a "Blooming" pot of tea this week

Fun Book:
A Walk to Remember: Nicolas Sparks

Audio:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: In Process

This book is eleven disc's long!  So it will be a while!  

Driving:
The past few weeks Dd has been doing most of the driving and set her goal to master parking so she can take the Driver's Test and get her license.  She just has the two types of parking to get 100% comfortable with--the 'backing in' parking and parallel parking.

Next Week:
All bets are off for next week.  Dd has her wisdom teeth removed on Monday and she generally isn't a 'bounce back' kind of kid.  I've not been feeling well all month, fighting migraines, not sleeping well, and not feeling very well.  Next week is not going to be an academic week either, but things will start back up soon as her Grace co-op classes start on Sept. 14th!  Her plate will be very full when that starts!

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Aug. 12-18, 2018 Van Problems, Garden, Lexi Over, Dd Sleep Over -B-day Party: Hailee

Aug. 12-18, 2018 

Van Problems, Garden, Lexi Over, Dd went to Hailee's, and Migraines

Hello Friends!

For the second week, I fought a "cluster" of headaches and migraines.  This week I finally had a BIG migraine that was the climax of the cluster and broke the cycle.  I still did not feel good this week; really tired and run down, really unlike myself.  I saw on the news a flu bug was going around and wonder if I might have been fighting a little of that with my hormonal migraines? I didn't get much done and let Dd be as social as she could to keep her busy and happy.  Luckily, Dd had a full social schedule that kept her busy and helped to ease the withdraw from our friends in Indiana, while I was fairly miserable.   

Van:

The truck was already at the repair shop when Dh noticed the van leaking fluids.  He figured it was the power steering pump, and something about the 'boot.'  Last week, while we were in Indiana, Dh worked many overtime hours; enough that his boss told him to take Monday off.  He planned on relaxing or getting something done around the house when he noticed the van problem.  He ended up spending ALL day working on the van, until after 10pm. Dd did a great job of helping work on the van with him, and learned a lot, I'm sure.

 Each day he tried over and over to fix it and watched video after video on YouTube, but eventually, he figured out his diagnosis was wrong.  Turns out, it was the rack and pinion steering; which is a job for the repairman...but, he had already spent most of the week trying to fix the van on his own--time, equipment, and parts all down the drain.

Down to ONE car:

We actually own four auto's, but only the Subaru seems to be reliable!  The Camry has been in our garage over a year now. I had to drive Dh to work one day and the other's he took the car while we stayed home without.

Henry, the rescue English Shepherd

Henry: New Pup, Week Two:

We took Henry into the vet this week.  Henry has bad allergies and requires an expensive pill each day, of course! We went ahead and bought a whole bottle of the meds. Our vet won't let you buy Heart Guard until you've given blood for a blood test, so he had to give blood during the exam, and were able to buy 6 months worth of meds.  He is up to 44 pounds; which is ten pounds higher than his last visit with the foster family.  He did a good job; especially considering we had to wait an hour to see the doc. 



Walks:
I'm really enjoying our walks in the woods throughout the day, it makes me stop all my busy work and really appreciate all the blessings.  



Smiles and Wags:
Henry is now wagging and smiling at us.  It took the full two weeks for him to relax and feel comfortable with us, but now he is beginning to surface a little bit each day.

Our backwoods, and newly mowed trail (push mower!)

Mowing Paths:
 I've mowed some paths in the woods to take him on longer walks and cut down on the briers getting all in his long hair.  He still has to be brushed every day, but it isn't as bad with the mowed paths; if only he would stick to the paths!!!  He likes to wander around and explore; which leads to more briers.

Drying out this years remaining onions

Garden:
Doing very well and feeding us more each week as things are growing better without the intense heat and numerous bugs that were part of July.  August always seems better for gardening.

I put the hoop house over the onions to dry them out for a few weeks; protected from the rain and critters.

Chickens are all doing well; even Zeus with his seizures.  I'm feeding them lots of greens and taking great care of them!

Library Volunteer Party:

Dd invited Hailee to attend the Volunteer party with her.  It was a little party for all the teens that volunteered over the summer.  

Wed-Thur: Lexi

Lexi came over and spent the night.  They swam and had a good visit.

Fri-Sat: Hailee

Dd went to Hailee's birthday party; which was a sleep-over.  They had a great time and kept pushing back when she'd come home!  She eventually arrived back home at 6pm!!!

Dh has been continuing to design and build his workbench.

Academics:

Bible:

Church and Sunday School

Spanish:

3x this week: DuoLingo

Math:

Khan Academy 3x this week

Science:

Apologia Biology 2x this week



Art: 
Drawing and crocheting--Captain America bracelets

FUN Reading:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Music: Strings Group:

2-hour guitar lesson with a small group this week.

Physical Exercise:

Swimming with Lexi: 2 hours

Walking Henry: 7x this week 




Audio:
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee: In Process
This book is eleven disc's long!  So it will be a while!

Dd is doing a great job mowing this year.

Music:

Dd is still trying to decide if she wants to take music lessons next year or just focus on academics; at least for the first part of the year.  This is a really tough decision.

Next Week:

Dd needs braces and the orthodontist said we need to meet with an oral surgeon to see about getting her wisdom teeth removed before we can begin.  We meet with the surgeon on Monday.

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