good news

The good news is the tractor is fixed, and the even better news is John was able to do it himself for all of $30. It just needed it's hydraulic filter changed. Crazy that it needed it again so quickly though, as supposedly the dealer did it before we got it 3 weeks ago. But, we found out that bush-hogging on steep hills can clog it up for some reason. And that is mainly what John has been doing with it, so he decided to go buy the filter and try that first before the local dealer came out and charged us a service call - not to mention the filters are not covered by warranty. Soooo glad he was able to fix it himself. Now fingers crossed that there is nothing else wrong. LOL Yesterday we also dealt with our missing bale spear. Long story short it hasn't been shipped yet (duh) and UPS wouldn't take it because they were trying to load it already put together, so now they have boxed it in 2 boxes and it met the weight limit with 3 lbs to go! Yikes! So UPS will deliver it up our big hill and then John will have to put it together (hopefully no big deal). John also signed paperwork for the new John Deere 4x5 round baler yesterday, it is supposed to be delivered to our house on Wednesday afternoon, and they will then take our trade-in one so we don't have to haul anything. Yay! John finished working on the tractor in time to get Ash at the bus stop, so I went on into town to run a few errands before my Chiro appointment at 5p. I managed to make it to the YMCA after my appt actually to sign up Asher for Flag Football. The coach is supposed to call today with more info about practice times/game times. Very exciting as this is all new to us (organized sport) for Ash. It will add to the already busy evenings but I think it will be a good thing. Speaking of busy evenings. After I got home, an electrician came out to evaluate our grounding issue that we have. One of our GFCI outlets trips every time there is a slight thunderstorm, even if we don't lose power. Plus, as most of you know, several of our appliances have been fried - the deep freeze, washer, dryer and we are having issues with the motherboard on the hot tub, not to mention the 3 different internet satellite "radios" that have been electrified since we have lived here. So looks like we will have 2 extra grounding rods installed and we are looking at putting lightning rods in 4 places on our roof. While the electrician was here, I got Asher started on his homework. Yes, I said homework. In Kindergarten. I knew it was coming, just didn't know what to expect. For this week, he has to practice the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee every night on a worksheet, plus write his name. He also has to learn the words "I, am" by Friday. He has these little flashcard type things and his name one is laminated so he can practice tracing it with a dry erase marker. A side note. The dry erase marker he brought home was so cruddy. The writing was all worn off and felt gummy and the tip was bent. I was like, what the heck? I sent a brand new box of dry erase markers as part of his school list. This is what happens with "community supplies". Nothing I bought, with the exception of his binder and folder, are really "his" - and the only reason those are his is because I mentioned to Mrs Hughes at Open House when we brought all the supplies that he picked his favorite color, blue, and she said "Oh then you will want to keep it with you and send it in his backpack". The community supplies is frustrating to me honestly. I see the big picture, but really. I want him to have nice new tools not crud. I told him to tell Mrs Hughes you have dry erase markers at home, and he said "well she sent one home with everybody" so I dropped it. I am going to make Ash a little school box for at home with pencils, dry erase markers, scissors, etc so when we do homework he can get the little box out and have the things he needs at his fingertips. Anyway. He also has a little booklet called "Cat and Dog Go To School" that is like a first reader. It says, "I am Cat. I am Dog. I am A. I am B. I am C. I am D. I am E." We practiced reading through it several times. He was very excited when he realized that he was "reading" although it is still a work in progress. He kept wanting to say "I am a Cat" and I had to explain that you have to read the sentence (not just memorize) and say it exactly as it is printed. And he wanted to spell instead of read, like "I a-m C-a-t." But once he got the hang of it he was very, very excited and asked if we could read it again tonight. He has a monthly reading log where we have to write down the books we read, the date we read them, and who read to him. In his agenda (the agenda is a spiral notebook type thing with policies/rules, calendars, pocket for notes to teacher, etc in it, every student has one) Mrs Hughes usually writes a sentence or two about his day, then I have to sign that I saw it. And if I want to comment back, I can. I asked about speech evaluation last week and she said she was sending a follow-up email to the speech teacher so we will see what comes of that. Asher is doing better I think in slowing down his pronunciation. And we are not letting him get away with saying a word incorrectly, like "danana" instead of "banana". Also for homework this week - OMG! - we have to make a "me" bag. It is a lunch sack with pictures, clippings, etc on the outside all about him and his family. Then we have to put one thing on the inside. So we will be working on that this week. He has to present it on Friday as well as have a "quiz" on recognizing "I, am" and writing his name - he has been able to write his name for a year, but in all caps. So he is having to re-learn so to speak how to write it A-s-h-e-r. Whew! After all of that he helped me make a quick spaghetti dinner and we really had a nice evening together (Allie had gone to bed and John was raking hay). The time flies though and before I knew it, it was 8:45p and his bedtime really should be 8 as he gets up at 6:30a. Hard to get it all in already and we are only a couple of weeks in and haven't started football yet! I am getting a taste of what this is really like, lol! My back is doing remarkably well. I feel even better after my treatment yesterday. Glad I am going 3x this week and then we will see from there. Those adjustments feel sooo good, it is like my body is all together instead of mismatched. LOL Not sure what Allie and I will do today. I think try to get some stuff done around the house, change sheets on the beds, laundry, etc. It is supposed to be hot and sunny all week so maybe we will do the pool when Asher gets home? We'll see. I still need to get Allie a life vest before I take her back to the pool. Also today is Farmer's Market day and Asher specifically asked for more peaches. So I might just run into town and do that as well as a quick Wal-Mart run (ha, is there any such thing, especially with a 1 yr old???)