happy birthday billy

William James, my brother, is 47 years old today. My sister and I stopped to visit him today, and wish him a happy birthday. There are seven siblings in my family, and it has been a while since we have all been together. We are going to try to do that sometime soon....

I have had such a headache today....I was out in the cold wind a bit, and that made it worse....even ibuprofen didn't help very much. I made a nice cuddly warm dinner tonight, and but when you have a headache, everything is different....we had:

about 7 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, placed in a pot of: one can cream of chicken soup, one can of cream of celery soup, one 12 ounce jar of Heinz chicken gravy, and one can of chicken broth. The chicken was frozen, so it had to cook for about 3 hours....when it was done, I cut the chicken up in small pieces, and returned it to the gravy.

7 -8 pounds of white potatoes, peeled, quarterted, boiled, add: a stick of butter, one box of garlic herb mashed potato buds, and some milk.....

2 one pound bags of green beans, microwaved.....

2 cans of cranberry sauce....

4 boxes of Stovetop chicken stuffing, 2 in each glass baking dish, browned up in the oven.........
The chicken and gravy is good....very low in fat, too. We had enough left that we may be able to have some for dinner tomorrow night. That is because Sam and Aaron went for Chinese with their friends, and Margaret was at a friends house for dinner. And M. and Ben weren't here. That left only 13 of us. I know, still a table-full, but without some of the big eaters....

I haven't done very much today. Like I said, when you have a headache, things are different. Miss Camille was up several times last night, then Charlotte Claire was up early this morning....I changed her diaper, gave her a bottle, and put her back in bed....and she went back to sleep....but I was wide awake....just as I started to doze again, Camille was up again....I am not complaining.....this can happen even if you have 2 or 3 kids.....things are a bit harder when you are tired.....I kind of get used to it.....

I am thinking of an early start to bed tonight. I still have to get out clothes for tomorrow. Paul is taking tomorrow off, so I probably will be a bit busier. He works so hard, he wouldn't want to see me sit around on the computer, would he?

I have a doctor's appointment for Jonathan and Camille on Tuesday, which Paul also has off. It is Veterans' Day, and also Benjamin Paul's 20th birthday. Now that makes me feel old........

When Ben was born, I only had Emily, 3 (almost 4), and Abigail, almost 2. I had just gotten my driver's license the month before he was born. (I had my permit several times, and did know how to drive....but our car was a standard, and I just never learned it....)....anyway....one week before my due date, I went into the hospital with contractions....and got sent home.......I tried to take a nap at home. My mother was there to watch the girls.....my contractions continued, and got stronger and rougher.....Paul was helping my mom give the girls dinner...they had oranges for dessert.....when he came over to see how I was doing, I shooed him away, said he smelled like oranges.....my mother said, "Time to go to the hospital!".....and he was born an hour and a half later...8:30 pm, 11/11/88....he was so pretty. I remember right after he was born, he just looked and looked at us, like he was totally recognizing us......and he had reddish hair....which is sort of strawberry blonde now.....he was so cute. And he was small....he was only 6 lbs., 3 ounces. I remember worrying about it, and worrying to the dr. about it. He said, "He'll grow".....and he has....he is 6ft.1 now.....very slim and tall.....and not around very much, which is hard for me. He smokes, and has his friends, and his girlfriend, and his job delivering pizza, and he goes to college, commutes. He is nice and respectful and polite, but not around enough. The kids really love him. The years have just gone by too fast.......he has always been independant. When he was three years old, he could pick up the living room and vacuum. Seriously. He turned 4 when we were building this house, and he always went to the building site with Paul, and helped. He loved construction, trucks, football.....I must admit it is painful to have him grow up and not need me anymore. He calls to say where he is and what he's doing, and tells me, "I love you, mom.".....and I tell him I love him too......He is not a bad kid, but I do my share of praying for him.....I would much rather him be around more, and converted, too.....

I don't know why, but Charlotte Claire is still up. Paul is going to put her to bed now. I am lucky he helps so much. He usually tucks the 4 younger ones in....ushers them in, helps them brush teeth, and says their prayers with them.

Tonight, I expended alot of energy doing a job that I didn't even know existed. A few of the kids said they smelled something awful over near the nice red couch.....so, Emily looked underneath, and there was a leaking sippy-cup, with milk in it......so, we pulled the couch all the way out, and I cleaned it up.....and of course, we found all kinds of bonus stuff: hair elastics, barrettes, matchbox cars, socks, one pair of undies, some dollhouse stuff, papers, a few pennies....how does this stuff get under there? It was like a party for the little kids, as they scrambled to claim ownership of the Barbie shoe, or the necklace.....when it was all cleaned up and vacuumed and the couch put back, I felt like I had accomplished something.