Q’s up to bat. Whatta ya think of that?

Quincy played in her first game of her freshman year last night.  There was a stiff breeze from the straight north.  It was by far, not the worst game I have ever sat through weather wise, but I was still ready for it to end so I could warm up!  She played so well!  She spent her night on 2nd base.  At one point, she made a double play, and she had a few other outs as well.  She also had one nail biter where I guarantee you that if instant replay was a thing for high school ball, that girl was out!  :)  She had a couple of great at bats, and a couple of strike outs as well.  In the past, Quincy has played at pitcher or 3rd base.  I have seen her play shortstop a time or two, but I don't believe I have seen her play at 2nd before.  She did great!  I do love watching my kids do the stuff they love.  

Because I was cold, and they play double headers, and we are practicing social distancing, I had a lot of time to think.   I know the photo quality isn't great, but do you see my daughter's pants?  These are brand new!  They are already stained.  Our high school's team colors are red and blue.  Do white pants look very sharp with their uniforms?  Yes!  Does that mean we should choose to wear white pants?  Absolutely NOT!  White ball pants should not be a thing.  Ever!  It goes right along with white carpet (seriously this should not even be a thing), and white wrestling singlets.  I am sure that you understand the white carpet and ball pants are for cleanliness reasons, and the wrestling singlets....shiver.  I am all for less rules and regulations in life, but these should just be done for the common good.  

Need more

 

It’s Palm Sunday.  The beginning of Holy Week, and the start of a week of craziness for us.  Jim will be away at a conference, Chief will be going back to his house, Quincy has a couple of nights of softball games, we have multiple church events, added to the normal weekly stuff.   To say I am sad to see the weekend ending is a severe understatement.  I need more days in my weekend.  

This has been a very good/productive weekend though.   Looking at the week ahead inspired me to get a lot done.   Without proper preparations, we will not make it.   We got the house cleaned, laundry done, pets cleaned out, grocery shopping done, Easter supplies purchased and still had Sunday dinner.  

A few weeks ago, I made a terrible error with the chemicals in our fish tank.  The result was catastrophic.  Quincy and I did a complete water change and fixed everything.  This weekend we purchased a few test feeder fish.  They are what the kids are calling “sacrificial fish.”   So far, they are still swimming and seem happy.  Water problems solved I hope!   I have always had a weird love for goldfish.  Maybe because they are cheap, maybe because they are pretty, and easy to keep alive, but they make me very happy.   The kids are happy as well.  

I posted that parrots aren’t the best pets.  I know one that is worse, however!   This hedgehog!   She smells bad, has a bad temperament, and is a general a$$hole with her growling as grumbling warnings.  Quincy loves her though!   Today she even uncurled herself and let us see her face, a rarity!  

If you are looking for sweetness, the barn is the place to go for sure!   These babies are getting big!  

Mallory made the main dish for Sunday dinner.  We enjoyed hanging out, started on getting the pool ready, and dreamed of warm summer evenings floating around and relaxing. Just a few weeks to go!   The weekend always leaves too soon.  Wish us luck for survival with our sanity in place!   

Wrestling banquet and Down time

Quincy had her wrestling banquet this week.  Although it was not the usual affair with a dinner and dessert, it was nice to be able to recognize the kids for all their hard work this season. I can’t say enough good things about this program, the coaches, or how much I enjoy this sport.  I am proud of Quincy and her team.  They  were also the state champion academic team.  Pretty cool!  

Andrew passed his CDL test and had been working on getting through his training. This has meant for some different hours for Evie, and although she is easy going and mostly a happy kid, she was tired a couple of days this week.   She is good about getting her blanket and taking a nap!  

Also this week, Jim got his covid shot. He was super lucky and got the Johnson and Johnson shot, so he is done and fully vaccinated after one shot.  Getting closer to normalcy.   

The kids had Friday off school.  Quincy had softball practice and then asked to go fishing.  I said yes, but only if she would deliver some stuff to grandma’s house on her way.  That lead into fishing with Clayton and Rusty!  They had fun I think.  

Since the girls were off fishing, and Preston was taking a nap, I had the house basically to myself.  I decided to make my grandma’s twinkies.  It had been a long time since I made them, and although not difficult, they are time consuming.  I was happy to have a day to putter around the kitchen. I love to cook, I rarely seem to have time to do much more than basic meal making.   The kitchen is my happy place for sure.  I miss my grandma.  I spent hours in her kitchen growing up. She always had some project going.   Looking back, I think she was working, canning vegetables, making jellies and putting foods in the freezer. To me it wasn’t work, it was fun!  Maybe I wasn’t really helping her, maybe it was a pain in her rump having to trip over us, but she always made it seem like she loved having us there with her.   She always made everyone feel loved and welcomed.  

Little life lesson.  Parrots are not really the best pets.  Sure, they are beautiful and funny, they  are smart and some can be sweet.  This one isn’t sweet.  He requires a lot of time and attention.   He sometimes gets so loud it makes your ears bleed.  I think about rehoming him sometimes.  But overall, I like him, even though he is loud, and he bites, he also makes me laugh.  Maybe someday he will like me back.  It’s basically a battle of wills at this point, and although Jim would tell you I am stubborn, in this battle I am not winning.   

Why not?

I had a parent teacher conference for Saige this evening.  I had one for Harper yesterday.  Harper’s was via phone call.  I like that so much.  Saige’s was in person, and her teacher requested that she accompany me.  Saige asked to take Carlos along.  I made her promise to not put him down and then said “why not?”  Carlos enjoyed his little outing.   Both of the younger girls are doing great in school.  They are both above their grade levels, doing amazingly well, and neither one causes any classroom drama.  

Since the conferences were great, Saige asked if she could have purple highlights.  I said why not?  (For the record I did ask Jim if he was ok with purple haired children- something he has never really cared about.).  Saige and I made a stop at dollar general, and they did have some purple dye.  I wasn’t sure if Harper would want purple highlights or not, but when I asked, she said yes!  Of course, her hair is dark, so they aren’t quite as bright as Saige’s.  They look pretty though.  Quincy said absolutely not!  I say life is too short to not have some fun with your hair once in a while.  

Quincy was supposed to have her first softball game this evening. It was rained out.  She was actually sort of bummed about that.   Preston helped a friend install a sub tonight. He’s getting pretty good at this stuff.  

It’s a great day to do something fun.  

Much needed

Last week was an all inclusive vacation to my insanity.  I needed the weekend.  Of course, it went by too fast, but I do feel more positive and ready to face a new week.  Thursday night, Preston played on a dodgeball team for a fundraiser at his school.   He walked in the door and Jim asked him if his team won.  Preston responded with “we won in our hearts!”   Well alrighty then!  Sometimes these kids really do crack me up.  

Colin and Spencer came up for the weekend.  Colin told me that Spencer wanted to come do some fishing. I am positive that isn’t what she said, but I was happy to see them anyway.  Colin, Preston and Andrew spent the day fishing.  Spencer went for a little while, but then came back and hung out with Mallory, Madison, Evelyn and me.   My cousin Brenda came for a visit as well. Madison left for work, and Andrew and Evie ate dinner with us.   We had played outside all afternoon, and Evie ended up falling asleep in her high chair!   It was a fun day for everyone!  

We had 9 dogs at our house this weekend.  Our dogs are exhausted from running and playing.  Mallory attempted to get a “cousin” photo while she was dog sitting last night.  We didn’t even attempt to have 9 dogs sit together!  

We had Sunday dinner, and It was finally dry enough for Evie to feed her baby.   She loves this little goat!   He is a sweet little guy!   

Colin went through Manhattan on his way back this afternoon.  He sent me this picture.  It makes me so happy that they love being together.  

The younger 2 girls and I went shopping today.   Quincy needed some stuff for her ball uniform, but she was at work today.  She was actually happy with the stuff we picked out.  That doesn’t always happen with teenagers!   I didn’t get all of the errands done that I started out with, but town was a crazy place today and I wasn’t feeling it.  

This week, we return to the business of kids playing ball, games and practices.  We are ready now!  We can do this.  

One of them days

Jim had a colonoscopy this morning early.  We moved around our morning routine.  Preston agreed to drive him, Andrew met me in Carbondale, and Quincy agreed to get Saige on the bus and drive Harper to school.   We all got up early, had chores done and everyone was dressed, brushed and ready to go.  The plan was seamless. And then I turned onto our road to pick up Saige on the bus.   Quincy had made a decision to turn around in a field entrance below our house rather than just turning around on the road.  She also decided it would be amazing if she backed it on in there.  Yea....she missed.  It has rained about 3 inches in the last couple days.  I came upon her and she was pretty upset with herself.  The big problem was that I didn’t have time to help her, and everyone else was gone.  I dropped her off at the house, and told her I’d be back to help her.  She could just be late today.  Harper would also be late.  I came back.  I have literally towed dozens of vehicles out of ditches in my lifetime.  I wasn’t mad or upset with Quincy, but she was beating herself up over it.  We couldn’t find any place on this truck to hook a chain.  The whole thing is plastic, or weirdly placed.  I was clueless.    Luckily for me, I have a friend from my childhood who owns a tow truck service.  Jagger has saved our bits on so many occasions!   He even does it fairly cheap (because he knows I’ll be calling him more times than we can count in the future!).  I’m pretty sure I have paid for at least one of his kids college!   Really all that matters is that the truck is no longer in a ditch, Quincy was not hurt, Saige did not miss the bus, and the truck wasn’t hurt either.  All’s well that ends well.   Quincy then asked if she and Harper could just stay home today.  They haven’t really missed any days this year, so I let them.  They helped me entertain Evie while I shampooed the carpet.   Jim’s colonoscopy went well, Preston had no trouble getting him there and back, and he is feeling good, and resting comfortably.  This week needs to end though, because the adventures are starting to be a little bit annoying. 

The girls did have fun playing with Evie.  She got muddy playing with goats, Quincy fixed her hair, Harper did her makeup, and they all gave Poppy a hard time.   Madison may or may not have wanted to choke us all when she came to pick her up!   

Poppy has been binge watching the Rockford Files.  We are all hoping he finishes soon because there were a lot of seasons, and Rockford is only good in small doses.  Poppy thought it was awesome when Evie watched it in  what he thought was amazed fascination.  The rest of us thought it was stunned horror.  Whatever. She’s cute, she can do what she wants.   One more day until we hit a weekend. I am praying for a low key, easy going, no eventful occurrences day.