Saturday June 17th, 1989
Our first morning at Pleasant Home as a married couple. The back story is mom and dad took the younger children: Ruth, Joan, Dan, Rachel and Karin on a camping trip all the way to Alaska and back. Mike and Diane were at Valparaiso University while Mike went to Law school there but they needed a place to stay for the summer. They moved into our house in Frontier Estates while Mark and I along with David, Philip, Ben and Rhoda (Sarah was not yet born) moved into Pleasant Home, the house on Baer that I grew up in. I only moved out of that house when I married Mark 10 years earlier. This is the diary I kept during those 6 weeks:
Our first morning we left our house in Frontier Estates and drove to a little restaurant called Marilyn's ate a wonderful breakfast quickly and were home by 7:30 am and started packing like crazy. I had the clothes and food packed into the van when Diane and Beth arrived. They dropped off kids and went grocery shopping. I loaded up the van with the kids and took off for THE HOUSE! Everything was just dropped off in the kitchen then picked up Beth M and together we cleaned church, top to bottom. When we got back I started cleaning out the cupboards and fridge and only then could unpack our stuff. Mom left a lot of food. Supper was taken care of. Mark came home for supper. We left the kids and took a walk. Came back and there was Timmy, Rhoda and Ben up on the porch roof. That really scared me. How can I lock those doors? We really scared them by explaining how dangerous it was to be up there. One hour later I hear Timmy telling Ben, "come on , we got shoes on, we're spose to step on the fire." Philip, David, Jr, and Tom were throwing paper airplanes from the attic window. They thought it would be a great idea to throw a flaming one. Sent all the Meister boys home and made David and Philip clean up the outside mess. I took away the matches AND lectured them some more. I hope mom and dad will have a house to come back to. NOW for a BED!
Sunday June 18th, 1989
Woke up at 2:00 am and heard Mark walking around with Rhoda putting her back to bed. I thought the family all came back because of a problem and were looking for empty beds. What a relief, it's just Mark. At 5:00 am the birds woke us up. No wonder mom gets up so early. Those birds YELL right outside the window! We heard the rooster crow. Had to get the Bibles to the jail by 8;00 am but Misty (our dog) started following someone at 7:45 am. I sent the boys out to look for her. Philip came back with her but David didn't. Got the Bibles there 10 minutes late. Oh well. Roy stepped down from the pulpit today. Chuck asked us to write him a thank you. Got home from church and slept until 6:30 pm made super and worked until 10:30 on the downstairs. It's getting there. 21 eggs today, one was a soft shelled double yolker. Philip ate it.
Monday June 19th, 1989
5:00 am, those birds! We sure don't need an alarm clock. I waited until 6:30 am to get up. Walked down to make coffee. I thought I had it all figured out, check it a few minutes later and nothing. No problem, it just wasn't plugged in. A few minutes later still no coffee. time to panic and go get my coffee maker but it's only 7:00 am and Mike and Diane are probably still sleeping. So I checked it over real well and found the problem 10 minutes later COFFEE! time to start on the upstairs. Halfway through the hallway, Wilma Honegger called. Mike's phone is off the hook and they were trying to reach him. I dropped everything, raced over to tell them but he'd already talked to them. Oh well. I picked up the bird and a bike, and a few other things I had forgotten. Back home to work. I finished Dan's room, Kristen's room and the hallway then came downstairs to a disaster. Nine kids loose in the kitchen. No cookies left, chips all over the floor, soda spilled all over the kitchen, toys taken out and everywhere. I sent them all outside but David and Philip. They were put to work to help clean up the mess. 311 (an apartment at Bridlewood apartments) called to complain that there were flies all over her apartment. I asked her to check her chimney. She called back a minute later to report a dead bird in her fire place and I have to come NOW. I go pick up the dead bird and throw it away. She had used an entire can of RAID on her apartment. I went back to work. I have to clean church at 6:30 tonight and made it back by 9:30, good time. Johnny was over visiting. Jr and Tom spent the night. 20 eggs today.
Tuesday June 20th, 1989
Jeremy's folks asked if I can keep him next week. (Jeremy was a foster child) I looked at the calendar and said yes. I wrote down the wrong dates. Here it is camp week and we planned on going to Valparaiso that weekend. I hope I can work something out. The boys were up at 6:00 am getting their chores done. I got a call at 6:30 from apartment 311, another bird in the fire place. I told her I'd be there at 11:00 am and hung up. She called again at 7;00 am, "how are you going to stop birds getting in!" I can't think very well before coffee and told her to put a cat in her chimney. She didn't like that suggestion. Any ideas? Time to start work. 9:45 am Beth H drove up to pick up David, Philip and Sarah K to take them to the lake. She has her 5 plus Joel K and 3 ducks. The ducks messed all over the van and the stench was awful. She jumped out and grabbed a towel to try to clean it up. Chad leaned out of the window and threw up all over the driveway. I ran around to help Beth and stepped right in the vomit. Meanwhile Misty and Saber (mom's German Shepherd) think they get to go too and jumped in while Saber tried to climb in the van. I pulled Ben and Rhoda and Misty out. Beth drove away and Ben helped me hose off the driveway. I don't envy her trip to the lake. I finally made my way over to 311 to get the bird out. The lady wasn't home but her son was. I chased the bird out of the chimney into her apartment. we got the bird to fly out of the patio door. Fern, the apartment lady wanted me to hire a chimney sweep. I told her I wasn't authorized for that. She left me a note telling me it really is very frightening and not funny! We got to the lake at 11:45 am. I beautiful day. Nathan got a lure stuck in his right arm. It really was in deep. We decided to use a plyers to get it out. Beth and Diane held him down while I pulled it out. Tanya supplied the plyers and band aid. Amy came at 1:30. She could only stay until 3:00 pm. I gave her a belated birthday gift, a raft. We floated around the lake talking and had a lot to catch up on. We got home at 5:30. Everybody fell asleep, the 3 boys are so tired I can't wake them for supper. I had to go after Misty again. She follows the walkers. I just chased 5 boys off the garage roof. One I didn't even know. The yards seemed filled with kids. Someone left Saber in the house while I was at the lake. No damage done. 21 eggs, 1 double yolker.
Wednesday June 21st, 1989
Last night I tried to read a book, by the 3rd page my eyes just wouldn't stay open. I woke up at 6:30 am and just stayed in bed and finished the book. We all got up and went out to work by 8:00 am so we could get chores done and go horse back riding. Finished the house by 10:30 and got both horses out. I decided to put a saddle on Blaze for the boys. It has been so long since I saddled a horse I forgot how to cinch it. It took me a while until I figured it out. By the time we were ready Beth H was here with all her kids. I rode Twinkle and gave each kid a turn on Blaze. Boy am I going to be sore. 2:45 pm. Diane left and took Jenny, Michelle, Amy Beth and Rhoda to spend the night. Beth H just took Justin home. I have the 6 boys here. They just came up from the creek covered with mud. They brought up a snake plus numerous crawdads and frogs which they put in the horse trough. I gave them a hose and told them to scrub off the mud before coming inside. Beth H watched our kids while Diane and I went grocery shopping. Beth M drove up and dropped off her 6. Poor Beth, 17 kids to try to keep out of the house. By the time we came home, she said she was tired of yelling, "OUTSIDE!" Maybe we will have them all trained by the time the parents get back. Time for me to get the laundry going. I'm almost done. It has been a hot and humid day in the high 80s. Later this week will be in the 90s. I hope the heat doesn't affect the layers. Mark and I took a walk through the cemetery tonight. We took Saber and Misty with us. Sent the boys up to shower. Up to bed at 9:00 pm. The boys lost their snake in the attic today. I think that is fair, why should I have the only house with snakes. (they lost one earlier in our house that Mike and Diane are staying in)
Thursday June 22nd, 1989
Philip and I had made arrangements to go horse back riding at 5:00 am today. I didn't sleep well. I think I was worried about not waking up on time. I was up and by 5:00 am dressed. I went downstairs to get my shoes on and then up to the attic to wake Philip. I poked and prodded but finally gave up on him. then I tried to wake David. He answered me with a yes but couldn't get up either. Andrew woke up but he didn't want to go. I went back to bed and slept until 6:30. Beth, Diane and Rhonda all pulled in about 7:25 am. We loaded up in Rhonda's van and took off. The garage sales weren't very good. Back by 10:00 am, made lunch and took everybody to the lake. we worked on patching rafts and then just floated. The whole time I kept thinking of all the work waiting at home. No wonder mom doesn't enjoy being here. I'm almost ready for Mark to take a second wife. Maybe the Mormons know something we don't. I never thought I was afraid of a little work, but this just doesn't quit. At least no one is bored. A call came in from A10. They want to know where his security refund is. I went to the shop tonight and couldn't find anything on A10 asked Mark and he knew A10 belonged to MB Land Trust which was something Uncle Wuzzie managed. Mark went knocking on doors tonight for 2 late payers. One paid, the other promised by Friday or Saturday. I can't find the book to show me who owes what for which apartment. I hope I can figure it out by next month. Diane called to see if I'll go garage saleing with her tomorrow. I can't spare the time, but will go anyway. Time to start on dishes. Lost the flyswatter, had to borrow one from Martha. 21 eggs 1 double yolker.
Friday June 23rd, 1989
Philip and I got up at 6:00 am to go horseback riding. We rode to the school and back. Diane came at 7:30 am. We shopped until 9:30 then stopped at K Mart then cleaned the church. WE came home to lots of kids. It was hot so I hooked up the sprinkler and let them cool off. I bought lots of comic books and lace at the sales today. All 6 boys were reading or looking at the comic books while I made some Sunday socks for Rhoda. For an hour at least it was quiet. I had all the boys help me feed and water the chickens. They formed a chain for the feed. 21 eggs today by 11:00 am. We went over our plans for camp and got our supplies together. That starts on Monday.
No rain, one good thing is the lawns don't need mowing yet. Mike's lake is going down fast. He is ready to move the pump to the other lake. I was supposed to bake 3 pies for the jail today. I cheated and bought pie crusts then bought cherry pie filling. It is much to hot to bake. Mark went to small claims court today for our renter at Fry. The lady has to move in 7 days or Mark is allowed to put all of her belongings out on the lawn. We sure need to get that rented. Misty is sure enjoying living here, she goes with us on our walks or when we ride the horses. By the end of the day she is beat. 9:50 pm, almost done, just have to figure out where the laundry goes. I finally finished and and cleaned off the dining room table. I'm getting there. I guess I can call Mark and tell him he can come home now that I'm ready for bed.
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