Weeks of November 7-14

 Sunday and Monday were so unseasonably warm that I broke out the sandals and shorts again.  

We had dentist appointments on Monday - all but Regina - and afterwards we headed to the mall to do some secret Santa shopping.  

Tuesday was election day, and Philip finally pulled out that janky tooth that's been stuck for m o n t h s.  Clare, Tess & Noelle had work, Gina was gone, and Philip was playing at Jase's, so Natalie and I got subs at Subway and drove over the mountain to get milk.  We heard geese flying south when we were unloading the milk.

Regina didn't make it to the dentist because Jeremy had to go out of town on Monday, so Sarah asked if Gina could come and stay to help absorb some of Layla's energy.  Good thing she did, too, because Monday Sarah came down with something and spent most of the day on the couch, weak and feverish.  

Wednesday Sarah brought Gina back and we had ninja in the afternoon. 

The second week gave us our first snowfall of the season.  Monday night the stores were mobbed because snow was in the forecast for the following afternoon.  I didn't expect it to amount to anything, but was I ever surprised on Tuesday afternoon, when small flurries turned into huge onion snowflakes that lasted for hours.  We ultimately got about 3 inches; it was enough for the kids to sled and build huge snowballs.

We did go ahead and reserve a spot at the campground for next summer, starting on May 1.  Andy is super excited about having a place to unplug and disconnect from everything and just relax by a campfire.  It's considerably closer to where he does a lot of his work, anyway.  The RV is finally running again.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Week of October 30

 Saturday and Sunday night, Layla stayed at our house.  Clare took her back home on Monday for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood, while we suited up for our own trick-or-treat night.  Natalie and Noelle went as Greg and Wert from Over the Garden Wall again.  Regina was the Plague Doctor, and Philip was a SWAT team member.  Mary Stans. went with us again, this time with a real hollow pumpkin on her head. 

 

Andy and the kids left the house and collected candy all the way over to Mam's, where I was waiting and giving out candy with Mam.  Mary and Regina were so blind in their costumes that Natalie and Noelle had to guide them every step of the way.  Kirsten and Joe brought the kids to Mam's, and trick-or-treated in her neighborhood.  Then everybody trooped inside for the traditional Candy Sort and Trade.

Tuesday was All Saints' Day, and we went to Mass at 7:00  at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and got Domino's on the way home.

Wednesday was ninja class, but we left early to head up to the swim shop in Lewisburg to get Regina and Philip practice suits.  Stingrays starts at the end of the month.  She's extremely excited; he's dreading it.  After ninja, we hit the mall to get Natalie some work clothes and shoes.  Scott asked her to start hostessing this week.  She's working Thurs, Fri, Sat.  

Not only is she doing the Spiderman hang, 

she's also doing the web-slinging thing

Wednesday and Thursday were unseasonably warm and sunny, house windows open and car windows down.  I even went to ninja with capris and sandals.  I'm not sure if I'm correct, but I always think of this warm spell as Saint Martin's Little Summer.  Apparently Saint Martin's Day is Nov 11, and a warm spell on or around then could be the Little Summer, or it could be Indian Summer, which is also kind of ambiguous.  The definition of Indian Summer is a few warm days after the first hard frost, which we have experienced.  So both?  Either?  Neither?  At any rate, I'm soaking in the warmth and sunshine.

I ordered a new set of firebricks for the wood stove, but they won't arrive until DECEMBER.  I was hoping to get them replaced while the stove wasn't in constant use.

Andy's second week of work has been interesting.  He's the guy from the water company now, the one who, among other things, reads the meters, bleeds fire hydrants, and shuts off your water.  There's a lot more to the job than I expected, and he's been enjoying it.

Thursday morning I sent Philip outside for some reason, and he came back in saying NOPE NOPE NOPE.  Our mighty hunter cat left two dead baby rats on the sidewalk.  One of them had its head caught in somebody else's mousetrap, and the other one was a mangled mess.  Nobody could be prouder of her than Andy.  According to him, this is her raison d'être for existing in our house.

Philip wiggled out a loose bottom tooth first thing this morning.

It's been about a month since Regina started using Miacademy and wearing the Fitbit.  The Fitbit has lost its efficacy, and she's back to sleeping late.  As for Miacademy, on the downside, the entire daily coursework takes her under 45 minutes, which I think is unreasonably short.  She has also been pushing it to later and later in the day, saying it doesn't matter when she gets it done as long as she gets it done.  I disagree.    On the plus side, she is spouting facts about the moon from her Astronomy course and learning new techniques in drawing, as well as bringing up new sign language vocabulary every day.

Friday is First Friday Holy Hour.  Saturday I know there's something I have to do but I can't remember what, and Sunday I have to drive Regina to Sarah's to spend a few days while Jam Bam is out of town.

Week of October 23

 This week kinda sucks.  All Regina and I have been doing lately is fight.  She answers back and challenges everything that I say, and COMPLAINS ABOUT EVERYTHING.  Nothing ever seems to be good enough.  Even the fall foliage this year is too orange for her taste.  She's doing that thing that most of my adolescent children  have done:  She's only happy when she's getting something she wants.  The rest of the time she's complaining.  

It wearies me so much that my patience is about worn out, but my reaction to her upset Noelle enough that she didn't speak to me for two days.  Theresa missed the deadline to register to vote, but when I asked her about it I touched a nerve, and we had a fight.  I barely see her.  I've been walking around choking back tears with a lump in my throat all week.  

Last week I didn't make an entry, but I wanted to note that Monday, October 17 was the day that Scott & Emily closed on their first house.  Tuesday morning Andy, Noelle, Natalie, Regina, Philip, and I went over with the truck and trailer and helped him move just about everything and clean up a bit at the rental house.  It's a beautiful old Victorian with high ceilings, tons of windows, and solid hardwood everywhere.  More info and pictures later.

Tuesday was the Halloween parade.  Sarah came up with Layla, and Kirsten met us there with the kids.

Wednesday was a full day:  After ninja class in Sunbury at 4:00, we headed to the high school to sign up Regina (and Philip) for swimming this year.  She's excited, he's dreading it.  Then we came home to wolf down a spaghetti supper that Andy prepared before running up to the VoTech for Open House.  We got to meet her teacher and tour the whole place.  We'll find out tomorrow if anybody won something in the prize drawings.  Regina has been talking about going there for Early Education, and she really enjoyed meeting the instructors and touring the classroom.  I also found out how much the beauty services are at Cosmetology, and I'll be calling there for a hair appointment first thing in the morning!

Oh!  Andy started working for the water company this week.  He even has a company truck.

Crunchy (Connor) ended the relationship with Clare on Wednesday, citing the difficulties of a long-distance relationship.

Guess I should have started off with our trip to the corn maze at Ard's in Lewisburg.  Natalie, Philip, Regina, Scott, Scarlett, & Emily came along.  It was a mild day and a lot of fun.

Getting back to my troubles with Regina, she frustrates me so frequently that I guess I don't respond to her very charitably.  I know she likes to feel included and we really don't do many things with just the two of us.  So on Thursday night after dinner, everybody who was home planned to watch a movie together.  I don't know where everybody else was, but I asked Regina if she wanted to go on a stealth snack run with me.  We sneaked out the front door and drove away with the headlights off so nobody would see us.  She and I had a blast filling up a cart with crunchies and dip.  

Friday we visited a local campground to investigate the possibility of keeping the RV there next summer.  It's not even technically running right now, even though Andy found someone to rebuild the transmission and help him install it this summer.  There's something wrong with the speedometer and how it shifts from gear to gear.  Anyway, we're planning to get chickens in the spring, so I'm thinking we probably won't do the campground thing.  The RV is pretty small with not much privacy, and the logistics of it are kind of complicated.  

I also took Regina to the VoTech salon to get her hair trimmed.  She had an amazing experience.  

It was also the Coal Bucket game, so Andy and Natalie went up to see Shamokin get their heads handed to them.  

Week of October 10

Thursday evening, our cat brought a live bat into the house.  The dining room door was open, and she came sashaying through the living room doorway with her prize, which she promptly released so she could play with it.  Fortunately for us, it didn't get far - only about two feet away where, against my most visceral instincts, I was able to trap it between the couch and a lap desk until reinforcements could arrive.  The reinforcements consisted of our intrepid husband/father and a pair of leather work gloves.  The bat, who was uninjured in the incident, was released after a short video interview. It didn't have much to say about the ordeal other than a few clicks.  

A brief investigation disclosed that the bat was in fact a Red Bat, which I didn't even know existed.  All I really know is that our generous cat is probably the way the mouse/vole, spotted in the living room last week, also gained access to our home.

I have spent many hours during the past four weeks working on a Top Secret Project which I am SuPeR ExCiTeD about and which will be disclosed in a future installment.  Too many of these hours have been post-midnight.  It's been rough.

Saturday, October 8 was the date for Mam Mam's Super Secret 80th Birthday Surprise Dinner at BJ's.  There were ~36 people in attendance, and almost as many for the brunch on Sunday morning.  Although Mam knew that her 4 boys and almost all of her grandchildren (94.1%) would be present, she had absolutely no inkling that her sister from Delaware and her brother from Georgia were coming.  Her astonishment was priceless!

Finally, Friday night was a big night!  After weeks and weeks, maybe months, Andy finally pulled out Philip's snaggletooth!  Andy's been giving Philip the countdown all week...by 9 pm on Friday night, the tooth would be gone, one way or another.  Andy had him working at the tooth for days, but it just didn't want to budge.  There was a bit of bleeding, but the deed is now done.

Also, today Andy finished the organization he wanted to accomplish in the garage andthe patio, as well as finally getting on the phone with Verizon to switch internet plans.  Since our income will be a bit more constrained for the time being, we have to ditch Service Electric.  The service is pretty darn expensive and it isn't even that great to boot.  If we're playing Jackbox, everybody has to turn off the wifi on their phones or else the laptop chugs.

Saturday of this week is a rosary rally at the Knights, followed by Regina's friend Ava's birthday at Knoebel's.  Regina spent Friday night crafting stickers to give her as a gift.

Week of October 3

 This week's big news was Tess's 19th birthday.

Tess and Jamison made the birthday cake - tiramisu.  It turned out so amazing that A) I actually ate a piece, and B) they made another one immediately afterward so they could share it with Sarah & Clare, who could not be with us.  Also to have more of it to eat!  They couldn't find any ladyfingers anywhere, so the first wan was made with shortcake shells, the second with Sara Lee pound cake.

We used one of those trick candles that opens up.  It would have been fine if it hadn't interfered with the happy birthday candles surrounding it.  Flames were dropping.  It could have been bad.  

Tess received a silver chain from Mam, because she was having a skin reaction to the chain she'd been wearing.  We gave her a PS4 controller.  Regina gave her a pile of handmade personalized stickers that we learned how to make this month.

Philip got sick again this week, but felt well enough by Wednesday to go to Ninja class.

Thursday we celebrated Mam's actual birthday with one of her favorites:  Andy's pulled pork.