Yeah, I know it’s been a while since my last entry but so much has happened in that time. My brother is doing great! So much so that he has moved into his own apartment that’s about a mile from my house. I still take him to his appointments and I check on him almost daily to make sure he’s doing okay and doesn’t need anything like food or anything else.

In the past, I let him tell me when he was low on his medications but on one occasion, he didn’t tell me until he only had enough for that one day. I had to scramble to get a hold of his doctor so he could get a refill request into the pharmacy for us. Since then I’ve learned my lesson. Now I count the days he has for each medicine then mark my calendar a week before he runs out so I can call in the refill to the pharmacy ahead of time. The pharmacist told me that during the winter months, calling ahead a week works best just in case the strong winds causes power outages which might delay processing.

Speaking of winter months .. it’s getting friggen cold here. We use our pellet stove to heat our home most of the time. About a week and a half ago while I watched the news, there was a report of an elderly couple who died in each other’s arms while their house burned down. Apparently, the chimney was clogged with soot and it started a fire in their home. That spooked me enough to use our gas furnace until we got someone to come out to inspect our pellet stove. I’m paranoid like that. I could smell smoke coming from the stove and that was something new for me so I sorta freaked and decided not to use the stove until it was checked by a licensed inspector. Hubby went outside with the inspector to watch and learn what to look for and how to clean out the exhaust/chimney. We are now using the stove again which sufficiently heats the entire house to a comfortable (not stuffy) temperature. However, we crank on the gas heat when we take our showers because the bathrooms are never warm enough.

Meg’s wisdom teeth are cutting through and she’s experiencing some discomfort so I made her an appointment for the dentist today and they said she needed to see an oral surgeon to have them all removed. The reason for the pain is because her wisdom teeth are growing in sidewards. Ouch!

Ooooh and Meg went and bought herself a car. She got her own loan and shopped for her own insurance. She pays an arm and a leg for her insurance but it’s good for her to know that she’s responsible for the finances so she’ll be more cautious when she’s on the road because she knows how expensive owning and operating a car can be. Our little girl is finally growing up. She was talking to my brother about finding an apartment or house to share with her friends. Then she added that she feels rushed. She looked at me when she said that and I replied with something like, “That’s not rush you feel - - it’s my foot kicking you out the door.” Then I laughed and she said I was being mean to her.

Kamalani is doing great in kindergarten. I attended her conference last month and her teacher told me how surprised she was with Kamalani’s reading. Our plan for her is to keep her reading at her level but also work on her handwriting and spelling. Right now she does this thing called brave spelling where it’s okay to mispell the word as long as she sounds the word out and tries to spell it on her own. The teacher said she’ll eventually learn to spell better. Her math skills are pretty good too. They do math problems when they have snack time. We’re all so proud of her.

I have a few more things to write about but it’s very late right now and I have an early morning tomorrow. I got a dentist appointment … oh joy!