WEEK THREE

  July 1st, 1989

It's been 2 weeks! After breakfast Philip and I took the van to look for Misty. No Luck. I drove to the pound and filled out a lost dog card. I'm beginner to lose hope of finding her. I sent out ads in the Trading Post and Thrifty Nichol. I hope whoever has her will read one of them. We went to get everything cleaned up so we can go to John's land today. We had a little problem getting Jeremy's room cleaned. It finally came down to if  you are not done you can't go.  He didn't think I was serious until I started loading up the van twithought him.  Then he did pick up his room. We got to Beth's about 1:15 pm. We played horseshoes first, then loaded all the kids aand rafts into the van and went to the swimming lake. The kids really  had a good time. They played in the water until 4:00 pm. When it was time to load up Jeremy refused to get into the van. We started without him. I never saw that kid move so fast getting into the van. We went back to the mobile home where the boys went frogging. Ben and Timmy went sliding down the hill. Beth and I made arrangements for tomorrow. I'm taking the girls to Sarah's school so they can wear their new dresses then will bring them to the land for supper. She gave me some chicken to cook in advance and I'll add some of ours.  The boys are going to find night crawlers tonight.  We came home at 5:30 pm. Mark drove in after us and started all the boys on cleaning up the yard. He won't let them eat supper until it is done. Supper was at 6:30. mark got in the eggs today, 21. I sold 3 dozen to the neighbors. David and Philip are helping Mark at Frye. Nancy won't move so Mark has to get the sheriff out.

July 2nd, 1989

Everyone got up at 6:30 am this morning and hurried through their chores. They were anxious to get to Hardees. I only had a little trouble getting Jeremy dressed. We got to Hardees too early (about 8:00 am) and of course all of my kids were done eating by 8:15 am. We sat and waited for Jeremy until 8:45 then made him pack up the rest to take home. We stopped at the house, I'd forgotten to give him his pills. I think we are in for a bad morning. He wouldn't let me wash the jelly off of his shirt, he kept running around the table so I couldn't catch him. I'm still faster and caught him the scrubbed the jelly off. We stopped to pick up Jackie and Kristen then down to pick up Eldora. Jeremy fought with everyone in the van except Eldora. Good thing, she'd have wacked him. I took Rhoda down to Sunday School and Mark took Jeremy. By lunch time we had to  leave church. He was awful. We took Jackie and Kristen over to change then got everyone else home to change and get ready to go to John's.  We didn't get to their land until 2:15 pm as I had a lot to get ready to take out. John and Beth took David, Philip and  Ben and we took Jackie, Kristen, Jeremy and Rhoda. I think he is worse in a car. It was a long trip out. We played horseshoes and then swam until supper. Beth and I grilled the corn and chicken. I asked all of the kids to collect wood for the fire Some didn't want to until I told them, "If you don't work you don't eat." After supper we all went swimming again to clean up before going home. I ended up with 6 up front and just one in the back. Mark made everyone help clean  up the house before bed. Everybody was really tired and couldn't wait to go to bed. We were all in bed by 10:00 pm. 21 eggs sold 2 dozen to Ken.

July 3rd, 1989

I didn't get up until 7:30 today and I'm still tired. Ben got up earlier and had breakfast. David and Philip are the next 2 up then Rhoda but Jeremy is still in bed. He slept in Dan's room last night. I sure hope he didn't wet the bed. David told me he is going to stay in bed late because he (Jeremy) was up all night. I doubt that but it is 8:30 and he is still sleeping. I gave the master key to Kenny Albaugh to fix 314's air conditioner and I'm waiting for 322 to come with her keys so I can check her apartment. It all looked clean except for the dishwasher smells and the tub could use more cleaning. I just took her new address. 213 is supposed to come today too. I came back and started working on the upstairs. Cleaned all but Karin's and Rachel's room, they'll have to clean them. I keep the doors shut so no kids will go in. Came downstairs and sent 10 kids outside. They can mess up a house faster than I can clean. David finished mowing the front of the apartments lawns. I can't get him to mow the sides because Scott borrowed the push mower. I hope he brings it back today. I finished the mowing about 3:00 pm and remembered I hadn't paid for mom's camcorder and the deadline for that was the 4th. I called Mark and had him run the check to the bank. At 4:00 pm 213 came over with her keys. She wanted me to check her apartment. It was very clean. She had me sign a paper saying she deserved her security deposit back. Jeremy's dad called about 7:30 pm to say he was going to come pick Jeremy up. He asked if I would keep him next week. I said "NO!" he came about 9:00 pm. I was really tired and went to bed. 21 eggs, gave 1 dozen to the Carters.

July 4th, 1989

Mark and I got up early to clean church.  We were able to be back by 9:30 am and I put 2 more loads of laundry in and started packing. We were going to leave at 10:15 am when the van wouldn't start. Jeremy had left the rear defroster on in the van. I put it on the charger and we made it to John's at 11:15 am. We loaded the kids  up into the van and drove to the swimming lake. We swam for an hour and a half when the kids decided they were hungry. I made each of them 2 sandwiches and a bag of popcorn. At 3:00 pm Beth decided it was a good time to load the kids up in the pick up and go to Dairy Queen. We started down the road and Pepper and Saber started following us. They wouldn't go back so Beth stopped the truck and let them in too. We ended up getting 9 medium cones, 2 shakes and 2 ice cream dishes for the dogs. They licked their bowls clean so we poured some water in for them to drink. Drove back to the swimming lake and everyone jumped in to cool off. Including Pepper and Saber. We left John's at 5:45 pm to go home. As soon as we were home we ate some supper. Those of us that were awake, and tried to pack to go the the fireworks. I tried to dress the kids decent but they were so tired. We got to the Edgewood park about 7:30 pm and it was crowded. Mark let us out by the River Station and we walked. He went to park. We found a nice place to sit and spread our blanket out. Only then did I notice David's shirt had 3 holes and his shorts were ripped up the side. Philip, Ben and Rhoda's faces were dirty and their clothes didn't match very well (Like I could really tell that!). I cleaned them up as best I could but we looked like a pretty ragged group. We saw Jinny Hoerr, Rick Plattner and Tim Funk. I hope they didn't see us. The fireworks were great! The traffic home was terrible. We made it home by 11:00 pm and had to wake kids up to get them to bed. What a LONG DAY! 20 eggs.

July 5th, 1989

Mark woke me up at 6:30 am and reminded me I had to go with him to take dad's car in.  I reluctantly got dressed and went to the van. On my way out I discovered one of the rabbit hutches top was half on and half off and the black rabbit was missing. I followed Mark to Joe Marcarthy Olds and when we got back started searching for the black rabbit. I found Pepper eating it. There was fur all over the south yard. She must have put up a little bit of a fight. Beth M just called and asked me to watch her boys today. I need to leave now to get my shopping done before she has to go since I don't want to leave 7 kids on their own that long. I just found Mark's wallet on the bathroom floor so I will need to stop at the shop first. Today we finished the mowing. All of 823's yards and all of the apartment yards. Then I collected the change from the washers and dryers and paid the boys $2.00 each for the mowing. I think that's ok since I used to pay Joan for mowing. Mark wanted the garbage emptied out of the wagon today. I hooked up the cart and we pulled two full loads over to the apartment dumpster. Then of course Ben, Timmy and Rhoda wanted a ride in the wagon. At 2:00 pm it was time to eat lunch and start on the house. I needed to cool down first. Beth M came back at 4:05 pm to pick up the boys. We visited a little then I went in to start on the kitchen. Mark called at 5:30 pm and said he would be late so I put the fish back in the freezer and told the kids to just eat cereal. The boys saw the fan in the chicken coop start sparking and pulled the plug.  It shorted out. This is the second time that fan shorted out, once at our house. It was time to throw that fan away. Thankfully no fire! At 6:00 pm, Danny Blumel called and needed a place to stay and supper. We quickly straightened the upstairs and opened up Rachel's room. It was really dusty and the carpet needed sweeping. I hope the sheets were clean. I sure didn't have time to change them. He was here 10 minutes after calling. I put the fish on and took applesauce and corn from the freezer, that served with bread and butter will have to suffice. I felt a little bad that we didn't have anything for dessert but it has just been too hot to bake.  Mark came home around 7:00 pm and visited with Dan while I heated up his supper. He brought home siding samples for our house. He and  Danny went over to pick out a good color. Dad called right after they got back. Sounds like they are having a wonderful time. Mike and Diane stopped by and stayed to visit. Then since it was so hot and humid, Mike, Mark and Dan put in the 3 window air conditioners. This is going to be GREAT! We made arrangements to meet at Jumers at 6:00 am tomorrow and then it was 10:30 pm, past time for bed

July 6th, 1989

Up at 4:30 am to get breakfast for Dan Blumel. He needed to leave shortly after 5:30 am. We are going to Farmington today, so I told him he could have the house until we get back. He thinks he will be back around 3:00 pm. I need to sell some eggs, I have 6 dozen in the fridge now. I went to Diane's at 7:30 am and we stopped at 5 garage sales. I picked up a pair of shorts for Mark. Then came home and picked up my kids, Beth's kids and Diane and her 2 kids and off we drove to Farmington. (we were in a drought and John and Beth's land still had good lakes for swimming and fishing) We stayed until 4:00 pm then decided it was time to head home. We got to the mobile home and Beth M called. She asked us to leave her kids there. At least that is what Kristin said. She answered the phone. I had put Saber in the basement because it was so hot. When we got home he was no where to be seen. I hope Beth took him to Farmington. It wouldn't be good to lose 2 dogs here. Today my lost dog ad came out in the Thrifty Nichol. I sure hope whoever has her will see the ad and call. We went to Jumers for supper and were joined by Mike and Diane, Beth and Greg and Danny Blumel. Mike's beef tips didn't taste good so he had us taste them. then he asked the waitress for a trade off. All she would bring him was more cinnamon rolls. He had to skip the meat.  She didn't think that was a good diet and brought him some roast beef. After supper Mike Greg, and Danny went to the batting cage. Mark went down to work while Beth M and I cleaned the shop. Bernice forgot to leave the money. Beth said if she would have known there was no money we wouldn't have worried about getting it cleaned. I'm pretty sure she meant that as a joke, we all know Bernice is good for it. We finished at 9:45 pm. I came home to everyone in bed. Ben and Rhoda had to be moved since they were asleep in our bed.  21 eggs, I fixed a dozen for our kids for supper tonight and 6 for breakfast. Beth M bought 2 dozen.

July 7th, 1989

We didn't get up today until 6:30 am. Mark ate breakfast and then went to work. I came down and straightened up the kitchen then decided what to make for breakfast. Since Dan wasn't up yet I read yesterday's paper. Getting the evening paper is the pits. Who has time to read the paper at night? Now I'm always 1 day late. Dan didn't come down until 9:00 am. I fed him then we visited until 9:30 am when he left. Now I need to get the kids dressed as I need to clean church. I worked until 11:00 am when Beth M came to help. She left at noon and I left to go to Sears at 1:00 pm. I found Mark's birthday gift but that had almost used false advertising and I had to pay $30.00 extra. I sure hope he likes it. David came down in the morning with weed poisoning all over his face. He just isn't feeling well. How well I remember. His eyes are almost swollen shut. I brought my rabbits in about 4:00 pm and had turned on the air about 2:00 pm. It was high 90s outside. I left them inside in a box until 9:00 pm before taking them back outside but it is still very hot. While I was making supper, I put the spatula down on the stove too close to the flame. It caught on fire and I didn't know when I picked it up. The handle melted on the palm of my hand. I was glad to be near the sink. The kids thought it was funny because I was yelling ouch and jumping around. Needed to keep ice on it until 11:30 pm when I finally fell asleep. 21 eggs today. Diane bought 1 dozen cooked 1 and a half dozen for meals.