Tackling Tuesday

Don't you just love appliances?  I think appliances are awesome.  I love that I can sit with my son and do school while the dishes and our laundry are being washed.  Even my meals can be cooking in my crock pot - if I remember to take the meat out the night before so it isn't frozen in the morning.  As my kids would say, epic fail.

The funny thing is, I checked the kitchen last night to make sure I'd taken care of everything.  I was satisfied that everything had been cleaned up, but I totally didn't think about the next day.  The first thing that I thought of when I woke up was, "I didn't take out any meat, did I?"  So there went that plan.

I went to the kitchen and looked at my meal plan for the next two weeks.  I decided I could make empanadillas, which are Puerto Rican style meat pies, similar to Jamaican patties but the pie crust is pastry dough.  My kids are never gonna complain when I make empanadillas.  They are E's favorite food.  He has mentioned it to me on multiple occasions.  Whenever I say we're having empanadillas, his face lights up.  I put the ground beef package in warm water while I made breakfast.  I've been having cereal and an English muffin the last couple of mornings; keeping it simple now that school is back in session.  I knew it was gonna be another busy day, so I prayed for wisdom and patience and got my morning started.

First up was music history.  There was a recorded review he had to listen to, then he took his unit exam.  He got 100%.  Woohoo!  Next was supposed to be his English live lesson, but it was cancelled.  Instead the teacher did a Q and A for kids who need help with their English thesis.  Since E's sister is an English tutor we decided it was more important for him to get caught up with his other classes.  He still hasn't finished his PE assignment, and he hadn't even started on science.  I decided he needed to do science next.  He says he hates science.  He enjoys the material, but it's a lot of reading, and kids with dyslexia read slower, so it takes him longer.  I usually read the material out loud for him because he's more of an auditory learner, so that's what we did.  It was really interesting stuff, on soil and soil formation.  He took the quiz at the end; he has an 80% so far, and there are two essay questions the teacher has to grade before he knows what his final grade is.  Two down, two to go, but it was lunch time.  Time to make the empanadillas.

I made white rice and black beans to complete the meal, then sat down to rest awhile.  I'd put some clothes in the wash, cooked, taught, and I needed a little break before continuing.  The break wasn't very long.  We got started on his Leadership final exam after lunch.  There were 3 review classes he had to listen to, and a review worksheet to work on, then he did his test.  He got 100% on the multiple choice, and now he has to wait to see how he did on the essay questions.  It was a relief to be done with that.  He worked on his PE assignment some more, but then it was time for exercising.  We hadn't run with our running group since right before Christmas.  The church had a service on December 23rd so no one was running, and December 30th I had my cousin over at the house.  The group runs on Sundays at the park across the street from our house, but I was sick the week before and this past Sunday was the funeral.  So I wondered how I was going to do any running when I'd been on hiatus for two weeks.  Well, I actually jogged quite a bit, and fast walked the rest.  It was over a mile when all was said and done, and I felt great.  Thankfully it wasn't too hot; it's a bit humid but nothing like the summer.  We're supposed to be getting a cold front sometime tomorrow, probably in the evening.  It'll be a welcome change from this weird weather we've been having.  It looks cloudy and dreary most of the day, it's hot and humid but we've only gotten rain in the early morning hours.  I appreciate the rain but I sure would like to see the sun a little more.

Back to the running.  We met up with the group and the pastor that leads the group came over and gave me a hug, expressing his condolences.  He asked how we were doing, and I told him we were fine, since we'd known for some time that Grandma wouldn't be with us much longer.  I have not truly grieved her death, because she was in so much pain during the last months of her life, that it's a relief to know her suffering is over.  But as he started talking to me about his own experience when he lost his father a few years ago, and I saw him get teary-eyed, I thought I was going to break down.  I know that Grandma is with Jesus and she is in the best hands, but I also know we loved her very much and she will be missed dreadfully.  I hadn't thought about it in that sense; all I could think was that I didn't want to see her living so miserably.  She'd always been so active, and suddenly she was in terrible pain and confined to a bed.  She is dancing with the angels now, and I'm thankful for that, but I have to accept that it's okay to grieve.

We came home and I quickly jumped into the shower.  I was sweaty and sticky, but also energized.  I hope that doesn't mean I won't be able to get to sleep!  I'd better make sure I take chicken out tonight before I go to bed.  Good night folks.