I was dragged out of a deep sleep in the very early morning hours by a barking dog. It was the bark they use when they want to be let in or let out. Elsa doesn't do this bark, unfortunately, but every other dog I have had did. Sometimes, I would have to get up in the middle of the night to let them out. Then I'd lie down on a nearby sofa and sleep, waiting for them to bark to be let back in. Since no dog was barking for me, all that happened was a cortisol release, and I couldn't go back into my delicious sleep.
As I was lying in bed, I thought, "Is this bark universal or just in the US?" Do all dogs give the same bark for that in/out request? Weird. Has anyone written about this already? There must be some research on something so elemental.
I lay in bed, waiting for the alarm to go off, thinking I should just get up. Fortunately, I finally looked at the clock. It was 7:30. I had set the alarm for 7, and I had to be ready to go to church at 8:30 because Judy was going to the 9 am mass at St. Michael's instead of the 10 am at Holy Rosary. I got up, walked Elsa, made my smoothie when I got back in the house, showered, and played a little FreeCell.
Fr. Lio did the mass. I always love it when I see him. His best friend, Fr Steve, is no longer in his parish. Something happened, but no one knows what. I love Steve; he is a wonderful man. I hope he's okay. I also hope he hasn't done harm to anyone else or himself.
My back starting bothering me during mass. Maybe it isn't the shoes, back to the drawing board. But I'm not going back to my old worn-out shoes. They can't be good. It will be interesting to watch what happens now.
Many people came up to me to ask me how I was doing. Many more people know who I am than I recognize. I just go with the flow. All well-wishers are welcome.
I bought a ticket for the Christmas concert, a benefit for the church building fund debt, for $75. I don't know anyone who is going, but I'm bound to see someone there I know. Either way, I bought the ticket because I know that Mike wants me to do whatever I can to support the church.
When I got home, I saw that the Pergo was still here. I thought the guy who contacted me through Craig's list was going to pick it up last night. When I finally got around to contacting him, he said the plans were for Sunday night. The days get confused for me, particularly when I haven't been to school.
Elijah, Sariah, and Kingston came up at 11 am. Sariah said there was still something she didn't understand about long division. It took a little pulling to get the information out of her, but her problem was just the order of the steps. I went over it briefly and then turned her on to Khan Academy. I downloaded the video on long division. She watched it while I worked with Kingston, who is behind in reading.
I decided to work with him on the Carpenter materials based on word families. He was able to decode words but not remember them automatically. I worked on teaching him automatic recall. His visual working memory was in A1 condition. His auditory working memory was in the wrong place. It was easy to switch him over. Then I showed him how to save the information to long-term memory. By the end of half an hour, he read all of Sassy the Cat and most of The Little Lad. He is quick.
While working with Kingston, Elijah and Sariah were in the library alphabetizing books on the bottom shelves that I can't reach. (They found three more books. Yay! We only have nineteen more to go for the New Orleans Seminary.) When Kingston had had enough, we went into the library. I told Elijah and Sariah that he would be the best student of the three of them. Elijah laughed. I told him about his good focus and concentration and how quickly he picked up new procedures. Elijah said he had never seen it. I went and got the story for Kingston to read. He needed a little help but basically sailed through the 60-word story. The books he has been reading in class are shorter. Elijah and Sariah were duly impressed.
It was a 'find' day. I have been missing a telephone and part of one of my walking sticks since Sidney left. The phone was not a concern; I don't need it. But, not so with the section of the three-piece walking stick. The phone I finally noticed was sitting in clear view on top of the dog crate in my bedroom. As for the stick, Sariah picked up the one with the 'missing 'piece and assembled it. Guess what? It was nested in the larger part all along. A good day. Found books and lost items.
The one problem that Kingston did have was sounding out the words, identifying the phonemes. He got seriously stuck on was. What was the sound of the a? And what was the sound of s? It took a while for him to get it; he had to listen to the sounds in words, not reproduce some remembered lesson the teacher presented where she taught that a is always whatever. There are at least six (6) different sounds represented by the letter a in English. And that's just six that are regular. I'll bet a few additional sounds are floating around there besides. The one word Kingston couldn't get for love nor money was the word a, like in a book, a table, a boy, a girl, etc. He kept pronouncing it [a-n].
Yvette stood in her bedroom beneath the guest room while I walked on the newly installed carpeted floor. She said there was no difference. Yikes! Several thousand dollars later and considerable anxiety in making the necessary decisions and moving the furniture out, and no change. She said she heard the same noise downstairs that I heard upstairs. I had no idea what she was talking about. I didn't hear any particular noise upstairs. She came up and walked on the floor and showed me where the noise was coming from. On to plan B, or is it C?
Shivani called. We talked about the book; Shivani has offered to help edit my book. I told her I found her intelligence to be a problem. She said, "What?" She's so bright that she will catch on to things more quickly than others, even others with some background in the book's subject. Are there members of my intended audience who will benefit from repetition, one of Shivani's criticisms of Chapter 1? Shivani recommends that I provide charts and diagrams instead of more words. Don't see where that fits in right now, but I'm sure that I will see a way with her help.
We talked about problems we both have with people who have well-defined thinking patterns. They seem to think that their way should make sense to everyone. Mike was somewhat that way. The only thing I can say on his behalf is he married me. No one who wants to stay rigid in their thinking hangs out with me. I work with fuzzy boundaries. Two problems: when I speak, they think everything I'm saying is represents something rigid and definitive rather than possible, even perhaps likely. They also expect me to understand everything they say and do because, of course, it is clear. Shivani said she has similar problems with people.
I'm almost up-to-date on the blog—great way to avoid working on the book.
The Ford wasn't available this evening for B to drive his three grandkids home to the other side of the island. I lent him my Prius. When he came to drop off the key when he got back, I talked a little bit about how I was good and ready for the kids to move. I had made several comments to the young women in the past weeks.
When they were preparing their dinner, I said. "Today is the 6th month anniversary of her stay here. I think it is time to leave." She asked if I wanted them to leave tomorrow, sit could be done. I said I didn't mind if they did.
Yvette brought home the young woman home six months ago, saying she had no place else to live. Now, I made it clear tonight that I wanted them out as soon as possible. If this were a long term arrangement, I would be willing to work on smoothing out all the discomforts for them and me, but it's not. I don't want to invest that much energy in this relationship under the current conditions. This is not long-term. They are willing to go whenever. She said, "We can leave tomorrow if you like." I said, "I wouldn't mind." She also asked me if there were things that triggered these strong feelings. Yes. But no, I do not wish to share them. That's the whole point: it's not a long term relationship; I don't want to work on it. I may be kidding myself, but I also think it's time for them to move on; it's not good for them to rely on my largess.
I made it clear that it would be under different circumstances if they move back in the future. We would have to agree upon an arrangement that involved mutual benefit, and I would speak up sooner about my expectations. But it is not long term.
My Mike is very proud of how I handled it. I was calm, clear, and kind. At least I hope I was. When Mike was flat out in the ICU, and I got pissed at how some nurse treated him, he asked for the notebook and wrote," Gentle." God, I loved that man. He was the best. He worked on being his best.
I watched the last shows in the third season of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It's good.
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