Thanks for your help. I will get an extension in the mail asap. I realize that I should have filed sooner, but I am drowning here, and I have no help. My 20dd is having trouble with seizures and can't remember anything, so I can ask her to help, but I have to check and make sure she actually did it and finished it. My 17dd is severely ill and can't do anything for herself. She needs help walking and even washing and combing her hair. She's super smart, but so ill she can't do anything. My 14yo son is trying to carry the farm load, but some days his joints hurt so much he can hardly walk. My 12ds has back trouble and some days he is just flat out. My 9dd joints pop and hurt so much some days she can't make her bed or walk. My 7dd is starting to have trouble with her joints. I am trying to keep everything going, get everyone to doctor appointments (17dd sees a cardiologist 3 hours away), get diagnosis for everyone, run the house, keep up with the special diets and exercises, homeschool. There's just not enough of me. I can't even get my checkbooks balanced. I just don't spend anything. Sorry for the vent. I'm just scrambling to get things done. We leave Friday super early for my 9dd Make-a-Wish trip.

I don't have time right now to file my income taxes. It is all done except the section for medical expenses, but that is going to take some work. If I don't owe any tax and will receive a refund, do I have to file for an extension?

Dd is writing an essay on paper books vs ebooks. She has covered health aspects and comprehension/memory so far. She is looking for a third point. We remember reading somewhere that paper books were important because ebooks could be changed by the government or whoever else had access to the main copy. We don't remember where we read that, and we can't figure out what to google to find information on it. Does anyone know where we might look, or does anyone have a different idea for her third point?

Hannah's Make-a-Wish trip is at the end of this month. My 17yo daughter is in a reclining wheelchair and has severe allergies. We need to carry food for her to last the airplane ride and for a day until we find somewhere to buy her food once we get there. She will also have diphenhydramine capsules and diphendramine liquid because she will be on it around the clock while we are gone. What special things do I need to do to get her wheelchair on the plane with us and her food and meds?

We love traditions and look forward to them. We have a New Years party every year. Lots of finger foods. We watch a movie. At midnight we go out in the front yard and watch the neighbors set off fireworks. On birthdays, we have a small family party. The birthday person picks the meal and the dessert. On Mother’s Day, I get breakfast in bed, and we make stepping stones with the children’s footprint in it. Thanksgiving, we go to my inlaws. The two of them, plus my family, my mom and sister, and my sisters fiancé spend the day together. Christmas we send gifts to a family in need. On Family Birthday (our anniversary) we celebrate big. No school. Steven would take a day off from work. We have special food. We have an oak board where we measure everyone’s height. Presents for everyone. At the end of the day, Steven and I would get take out from Chili’s. On gift giving occasions, the person always gets JOY gifts. J is for Jesus, something for their Christian walk. O if for others. This is a gift to share with the family. Y is for yourself, and that is a personal gift. Also a book. Fourth of July we cook out and after dark watch the cities fireworks from our driveway. First day that fall is really here (it’s all nippy and you can feel it in the air), we sit out on the porch after dark and drink hot drinks. We get pictures in the bluebonnets every year (and have for the last twenty years). On Valentine’s everyone makes cards, pictures, or something for the others saying how much that person means to them. There is also something sweet and a small gift for everyone. Every Valentine’s Day, Steven would buy me roses. This year was my first Valentine’s Day without Steven. There was a vase of roses on the counter. The card said, “Dearest Mama, These roses are a present from Papa. Papa’s address has changed, and he can’t give them to you himself. But, we know that he still loves roses-and you. This is from him. Happy Valentine’s Day!†It was signed by all the children.

COTTON SOCKS! Or at least mostly cotton socks. I need white women's crew socks, and previously I would buy them at Walmart. I could find 80-90% cotton, but now all I can find is less than 80% cotton. More cotton is better, but at least 80%. Doesn't anyone buy cotton anymore?

Yesterday morning, I was ironing in the front room, near the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of our hens go squawking around the corner with one of our red cats chasing it. It took a minute before I realized we don't have a red cat. I yelled out to alert ds and went to look out the back door. Going down the driveway was a red fox with my hen in it's mouth.

Where can I get a sturdy bulletin board? All of the ones I can find locally are very thin and flimsy feeling. I'm looking for something about 3x3 or 4x3.

Ds wants to learn more about Ronald Reagan. Anyone have a favorite book?

When Steven was alive, part of our evening routine was an episode of Poirot. Dh and I loved Poirot. We were in Season 9 when we stopped watching. I can't bear to watch it without him.

http://anneelliott.com/

Praying.

Praying for you Amy. Done: breakfast devotions discussion of day with children finish working on bills and transfer money to dd account shred papers sort apples and set aside bad ones for pigs fill bird feeders boil beef for broth help ds fix waterheater write out January on dry erase calendar laundry take bulk to front check mail and pick up packages To do: put wheels on toolbox and fill with kitchen stuff grade last of schoolwork and make assignment sheets for this week bind three workbooks scan receipts clean out black refrigerator family meeting organize schoolroom name goat

Has your dd had Spanish before or is she just starting? If your dd is just starting, I would expect them to move slower through the lessons. Is this a private tutor or through a school? Dd did one semester at an online Spanish school before starting with the private tutor we now use. One thing she likes about the private tutor is they can hurry through things dd either already knows or picks up quickly. With the school, dd had to do every lesson as planned. After using the private tutor for two years, dd is in Spanish 4. 16dd has taken Spanish lessons from the same Guatemalan lady for two years. Dd Skypes with her twice a week for one hour each time and completes 3-5 pages of homework before the next lesson. At each lesson, they check homework, teach the new lesson, and assign new homework. The rest of the lesson is spent reading books in Spanish. They started out with Spanish nursery rhymes and easy Spanish children's books. Right now they are reading Heaven is for Real in Spanish. Every once in a while dd has a test. At first, the tutor would switch to English if dd didn't understand, but now they rarely use English. Dd has also picked up a lot of out of the ordinary Spanish vocabulary since we fought cancer for three years and spent lots of time in the hospital. Her tutor is also very into sharing the culture and sends dd videos of Spanish things to watch and explains all of the holidays and how they do things in Guatemala. The tutor is a stickler for pronunciation and will correct dd if necessary. They only occasionally use video because of connection problems. Dd loves her tutor.

Intentionality The last three plus years have been very difficult and fly by the seat of our pantish with Hannah having cancer, Steven having cancer, and then Steven passing away. Everything has been up in the air, and we never knew what we were going to be doing from day to day or even hour to hour. We ran through the years trying to put out as many fires as possible, as quickly as possible before something else could happen. This year I want to be "deliberate" and "with purpose". Intentionality means that we will have a routine and menu. It means deliberately setting aside time to read through the Bible, both individually and together. Intentionally choosing what to teach the children and how. Consciously creating a farm plan so we don't have to decide on the run if we want the goat we see on Craigslist. Purposefully setting aside time to visit the relatives, have fun, or whatever we want to accomplish. I told 16dd my word this morning. She loves to be creative, so I got this beautiful sign for my desk.

Our town is $2.18. Next town over is $1.89.

dd-purple dd-green ds-blue ds-orange and red dd-pink dd-pink

My mom is 67. Mil and fil are 69 and 73. They live near each other, about 45 minutes from us. Most of the time, my mil sees us for four to six hours once a week, and both mil and fil come for half a day every other week on the weekend. My fil will come by a couple of times a month to help out, this month it was to change out our water heater and today to take the trailer to the dump, and he stays for a while after the job is done. My mom comes every two to three months and stays for a few hours. We go to my mil and fil home once a month for a sleep over and once a month Sunday after church and spend the day with them. We don't go to my moms house at all because she has indoor animals, and we have severe allergies. My children, all six of them, intend for me to spend a lot of time with the grandchildren. They want me to take turns living with them and helping homeschool the grandchildren. Growing up, I saw one set of grandparents every three to five years because they lived in Georgia and we lived in Texas. The other grandmother, I saw every four months.

We do at least two loads per day, and that is if we don't change sheets, do extra projects (we live on a farm), and it's not raining (muddy farm clothes from chores). Everyone's laundry is done together. 19dd and I are the washers. Either dd and I or the little girls, 7 and 9, move things to the dryer. The four of us will check and see if it's dry and move it to my bed if it is. The little girls fold and put away all the laundry. Occasionally, 16dd will help the little girls fold, but she is usually too sick. The boys avoid the laundry and only check the dryer if they can't find something and fold if they are too sick for heavier work.

We try to eat lower carb most of the time, but we do have oatmeal for breakfast. One child eats differently due to allergies, but five eat the main meal. This is two boys, 14 and 11, and three girls, 19, 9, and 7. Right now, they are finishing supper. There were ten chicken legs (2 apiece), two huge heads of romaine with salad dressing of choice, one pound of carrot sticks, a pack of cherry tomatoes, an avocado apiece with salsa on it, two bags of frozen turnips and greens cooked in bacon grease, and one banana apiece for dessert. It looks like they may leave a little of the greens, but most of it is gone. I'll put the leftover greens in my frozen unrepeatable soup container. The boys will be back before bedtime, asking for a snack. A dozen muffins and a glass of milk would make a snack for the five and a pound of meat wouldn't make it at all. Breakfast for the five is fifteen eggs scrambled in butter, two servings of oatmeal apiece, sweetened with honey and either cocoa powder, blueberries, or raisins in it, and a glass of milk. We try to eat lots of produce, and I either make a lot of the meals salad meals, or I serve soup. Egg drop soup is filling and doesn't cost much.

Everyone in our family, including the boys and me, has their own cc family and different sets of things to go with it. The little girls, 9 and 7, play with theirs several times a week. The boys get theirs out once a month or so. I had mine out earlier this week playing neighbors with the little girls. 16dd has the most "stuff" to go with hers, including the car and camper. We do not have the cc house, but have two wooden dollhouses we use with them. This is one of the dollhouses we have. The other one is similar. https://www.etsy.com/listing/158774482/natural-wooden-dollhouse-toy-dollhouse?ref=shop_home_feat_3

I got some things done, but there is still a lot left. Mil and fil came by this afternoon to visit and stayed for several hours. They helped us non-stop the last three years with Hannah having cancer and then Steven having cancer. At times, mil lived with us and fil would come over every day. Now that Steven's gone and Hannah's off treatment, they don't have anything to do and so they are very lonely. Mil comes over once a week or so and fil comes over every other week. Things that didn't get done will move to Sunday and Monday.

Good morning! clean out rented stock trailer and return DONE take tire off of our trailer and get repaired put together quick shelter for new calves DONE unload hay and get it under cover take trash to front DONE feed store to pick up chicken waterers and feeders DONE Tractor Supply to pick up small pig feeder and flannel shirts (got shirts but they still didn't have the small feeders) Walmart to use gift cards to get hats and gloves post office order ds Muckboots with gift card straighten house DONE get out flannel sheets and winter comforters laundry DONE make menu and thaw meat for the next week lite school DONE movie

Do everything that requires moving, yourself. The dryer buzzes, go check it yourself. The phone rings go answer it yourself. Something forgotten at the dinner table, go get it yourself. Mail comes go get it yourself. Doorbell rings answer it yourself. I found that most of the time, I send one of the children to do things. I added quite a bit of movement to my day when I started doing things myself.

We have this one. It is super sturdy and holds a ton of clothes. http://www.homesteaddryingracks.com/store/p10/Homesteader_Drying_Rack.html