thursday night

Camille is screaming in her bed. She has been so fussy this evening, and usually when I put her to bed, she finds her thumb and goes to sleep. Wait, I think she's quiet. I really shouldn't be sitting here, I have to get clothes out for the 4 elementary girls, and ect. I have laundry to throw in the dryer, too. Aaron, 15, is doing the dishwasher for me. No matter how much effort I put into this place, I'm a day late and a dollar short. We have a childrens' book that every mom should read. It's called , "A Cow In The House", in which the wife starts fussing and complaining that the house is just too small, as she rolls out noodles....so her husband consults a "wiseman" who tells him to bring his animals into the house, one by one, and the little house gets more and more crowded. The wife realizes things could alway get worse. The husband is advised to start removing the animals, one by one. The house got bigger and bigger. Finally, the husband took the cow out of the house. The house was just the right size with all those animals out of the way! The wife can't remember why she fussed in the first place.....I find myself like that wife sometimes, and I really have to fight not to give into that spirit of discontent. Our house is just not big enough for us, and all of our stuff. Add the fact that with all my good intentions, I am not very organized, to say the least. I don't like clutter, but....I DO like clean floors, so I work on that daily. Anyway, I have to remember that I got through all these years without going crazy about these things, why go bonkers now?

Joesph is okay. It seems he suffers from migraines. The dr. checked him out, and questioned him thoroughly, and that was the diagnosis. I'm glad it was that and not something horrible. I was thinking brain tumor. I have two nieces, cousins, not sisters, who had childhood cancers, and both recovered and are doing well. I don't even want to write about this, much less think about it.

I did have a very enjoyable day with Joe today. He is the fifth child of 16, and kind of on the quiet side. He has always been gentle and creative. He draws and plays the guitar, and the piano. He doesn't like school. He and I just read the same book, Duma Key, by S.King, and are enjoying talking about it. After the dr. appt., we went to the store, then for some chinese takeout, then a stop at the Blockbuster. It was just him and I, with Camille. I love getting that one on one time with my kids.

My daughter, whose name is withheld because she'll kill me, has a tip for anyone who cooks out on the grill: put a towel on your head like you just came out of the shower, and your hair won't smell like smoke. She grilled burgers for us tonight, and boy those kids liked them! We cooked 7 lbs of burger, nice 90% stuff, and yum. We made 18 big burgers.....needless to say, no leftovers!

Paul took some kids to the library tonight, and some of the others went to the Youth meeting, and took Charlotte Claire. I was actually here alone with Camille (except for Aaron doing homework), and it went by too fast. Quiet for an hour!

We are enjoying some of the March Madness. I have no preference who wins, but some of the games are so close, it's exciting. We like to watch with the volume down....

We might be going shopping again tomorrow. There's a great grocery store 35 minutes from here, and we get the most good stuff for our money there. We also get 10cents off per gallon for every 50 bucks we spend. And we've had several free fill-ups, if that's any clue to how much we spend there....3 shopping trips this week....I need to be a better planner!