Wednesday, headache? I wonder why?

No Spend, Hubs ate the last of the chili.  I have everything to do chicken enchiladas just need to cook the chicken.  Well actually take it out of the freezer.  Have no idea what to cook.  I know I can do a salad.  But I am too washed out to think about food right now.

     Yesterday went great other than I was exhausted.  We finished and arrived back at the studio at 3:15 laid the floor taped it and then classes started at 4:00 I teach at 4 and I was so tired.  When I got home at six I just wanted to put my pj's on.  I made hubs grill me a steak I had picked up really marked down and we shared it and then I just vegged on the sofa until I went to bed early for me.

     I have now been off antibiotics since last Thursday and feel like I am going right back into an infection.  I have a terrific headache that I felt coming on last night but than what did I expect after yesterday?  This morning it is pretty bad.  I just took a couple of headache formula Excedrin if that does not cut it, back to the Doctor.

     I am starting on Mary Poppins choreography tonight and I want to get  as much done as possible before spring break.  So I have 4.5 ours with the older girls and  3 hours with the younger.  I think I can get a lot finished in that time and then threaten them to practice over the break.  Which they won't do but I can pretend.

     I had such an outpouring of help from parents yesterday and it was great.  The dancers were awesome.  The students that watched were very polite and intrigued.  It was just a very fun day, although long, I was super proud of my students, they make my life worthwhile.

     I really need to concentrate on costumes and get those ordered and make lists.  Arghh! Don't want to think about it right now!

cont:

     When Nels would return to the flat he would have maybe a precious hour to work quietly on a radio or clock.  He loved his work and seemed to never have enough time to really study anything new.  There were so many industrious inventions that Nels found fascinating.  One of the jewelers gave him an electric iron that was not working.  He could not wait to take it apart and figure out how to fix this small machine.  He found sewing machines boring.  They were so simple, very necessary but simple.  Nels loved electricity, he loved how it worked and what it could do.  There was just never enough time to really work on things that intrigued him.  There was always a dirty diaper, a ruckas among the younger boys, laundry, food, money.  All the things he had to worry about.  He tried to put his frustrations out of his mind and concentrate on what he could do and not the things beyond his control.  This was something that Millie was much better at than he.

     Nels could hear Millie  coming up the stairs with Peter in tow, the other three boys would arrive home in about a half an hour.  The little ones had been up now for at least and hour and he was anxious to get on with his day before it became too late. Spring was coming and the days were getting longer, more time for him to collect work, and forage farther from the neighborhood.  The younger girls were playing quietly on the larger bed.  Not the usual state of affairs.  Millie came in and they all clamored for her attention, climbing down and running, dancing, pulling at her until they had all been sufficiently kissed.

     She put down her books and hung up her coat, then pulled out of the icebox the cold oatmeal she had put into a square loaf pans that morning.  Heating a skillet with a bit of butter she sliced the oatmeal and fried it on both sides until crisp.  Then she either sprinkled it with sugar or poured a bit of light molasses over the slices.  The children ate their snack and as they finished the younger boys would arrive whooping and stomping up the stairs.  They never did anything quietly.  Millie could not wait to get into a larger flat.  There were times she felt so confined and surrounded by noise, she kept these feelings to herself.  There was nothing to do about their situation than to make do and make do she did.  She fed her brothers slices of toasted oatmeal and either coffee or milk depending on their preference and then gave Nels a verbal list of what was needed from the shops as he rushed out to pick up his messages from Mr. Strom and go on his rounds as he called them.  Dil would go with him to help carry and keep notes. 

     Oskar was bookish and immediately would get the younger two boys up to the table to study.  English was a hard language and even though the children had all been taught from a young age they still struggled.   Violet would join them learning her alphabet and numbers, both in Swedish and English.  Millie would try to get a little studying in as she could with the constant interruptions of the younger two girls.  Oskar was a big help to her and the fact that he loved to study made her evenings easier.  He seemed better at keeping the younger boys on task.

     Millie was anxious to get to her sewing machine, to work on a new dress pattern Nels had been given when he had fixed a machine in a neighborhood south of the building.  It had been a nice apartment and the owner of the sewing machine had told him to take the box of patterns with him as he went out and to dispose of them for her.  He was so excited to get home that day, knowing that Millie would be thrilled going through the box of modern patterns. Nels was able to collect so much that was thrown away by others.  It was sometimes like Yuletide when he came home. Nels had found many mechanical toys in the refuse piles of these better homes. He would clean them up and fix them for the younger girls.  They had a box of things to keep them busy.  Millie kept this box up high on a shelf and it was taken down during the evenings to distract her younger siblings while she tried to get dinner and a little time for herself. The younger boys helped get dinner started while Millie sewed for a few minutes.

     Oskar was counting out potatoes, and Whilhelm was scrubbing them in the dish tub. Oskar  then sliced the top off beets and Whilhelm scrubbed those clean as well.  Millie put the beets and potatoes in different pots to boil.  When the beets were finished she would pull off their skins and she would boil either eggs or fish in the deep red water.  The eggs would come out bright pink and so would the fish flesh.  Sliced beets, potatoes, sliced eggs, fish and bread were often an evening meal. They did not have the variety of food they had in the old country but what they had was plentiful, Nels saw to that.  He worked very hard and although they had come to America with a nest egg as the American term went Nels would not touch the money from the old country it was for the purpose of educating all of them.  He had made his mother a promise. Sometimes Millie and Nels fought over the use of the money, but what Millie lacked in patience she made up for in other ways.  Millie could get more done in a short amount of time than most people.  She just intuitively knew how to schedule and proceed in a task to make the best use of her time.

cont:

Out My Window:  It has rained for 4 days so I think we are in for some good weather.  Everything is greening up and it is wonderful.

Have a great and productive day!

Kim