1. Every year at our homeschool co-op, the kids bring in bags or boxes and then everyone shares a Valentine Treat. We opt to do something a little more crafty because everyone is kind of inundated with chocolate and goodies. This year, we made Valentine’s Day Bookmarks, and I think they turned out pretty nice.
2. Before I take it down this weekend, this is what our Valentine’s Dining room looks like right now! The organizers at the Pre-Cana Day let us take home the balloons and they have held up all week. Miss C. has enjoyed playing with them.
3. We gave our annual Pre-Cana Day talk on Saturday. I always try to change up a few parts every year to keep it fresh. This year I moved the part about getting ready for the wedding to the beginning of the talk, and Mr. Pete and I ad libbed a little towards the end.
4. A new part we added
5. Then that evening, we went to a homeschool dance and Mr. Pete got to dance with me, and his other girls.
6. Since Noah got his driver’s license, the laws have changed here in Ohio. Instead of requiring so many hours in a classroom setting, you can now take driving instruction online to prepare for the written exam. You still also need 8 hours behind the wheel with an instructor and a certain amount of time with a parent including 10 hours of night time driving.
I have been putting this off for Isadora – partly because I’m concerned about having a daughter drive, and partly because I want her to be successful on the written exam.
But for a few years, it has been because I couldn’t find her social security card!
In 2013, Mr. Pete took Gabe to get his driver’s license and so they pulled his social security card out of our lock box. A few moths later, Noah was ready to get his temps, but when I looked into the box, all of the social security cards and birth certificates were missing!
I was mortified. Some of those birth certificates, especially the one my mother got for me from New Mexico, would be very difficult to replace. But losing the social security cards was an even bigger deal.
It seems that little paper card is very important. You can’t get a driver’s license or state ID without it, but you need a driver’s license or state ID to get a replacement! It’s crazy.
When I couldn’t find Noah’s, I did some quick research and discovered that they would indeed take a Baptismal Certificate to the social security office and they would accept that as proof of ID – so I rushed down to our parish to get his certificate and then over to the Social Security office to get a new card.
Anyone who has been at the Social Security office knows that it must be the vestibule to the our circle of hell. The seats are uncomfortable, and very institutional. There’s no music, and the only art work on the wall is a portrait of the president. Let that sink in.
Anyway, we arrived at the SS office right when it opened but we were still 12th in line, which translated into a 40 minute wait. When we got up there, the social security clerk already had an attitude. When I told her that we were there for a new card, and presented her with the baptismal certificate, she curtly told me.
“We don’t take that.”
I told her that according to the web site, they did.
Two minutes later, I had what he needed to get his temps with a written explanation that his new card would be coming in the mail. The actual clerk never said, “Sorry,” or “You were “right, or anything. She just processed the new card, which is what I needed her to do – but there was nothing friendly about it.
So I was DREADING going through that again with Izzy.
Last spring, my primary client took a month off and I used the extra time to clean up my business office. Lo and behold, the missing documents were in a manilla folder, on a shelf, covered with some other books. Mr. Pete says I put them in there, but I think in his haste to get Gabe’s card, he just opened the lock box in my office and then put the envelope on the book case. It didn’t take long for other things to get placed on top of it. That’s the version of the story I’m sticking with!
7. I’ve been asked to perform in our parish’s concert of the 7-Last Words of Christ by Dubois.
The hardest part for an instrumentalist playing with a choral group is knowing when to come in!! Because 4 measures of rest in 4/4 time doesn’t mean a strict 4 beats per measure – there are usual ritards and artistic pauses. So if you don’t know the piece, it can be challenging. My solution to this is to listen to the CD until I know it all by heart. I also have the master score that I can look at so I can write lyrical cues in my part. It’s going to be a little challenging, but I’m looking forward to it!
