A Day in the Life of the Kelleys

I woke up today and saw smoke.  I thought at first it was the neighbors burning their trash next to our back wall again. But it wasn't that.  It is the slash-and-burning in South Sumatra that is causing a haze to settle over the city and my lungs to feel like they are constantly inhaling smoke and ash, which they are, I guess.

I stumble toward the kitchen, thinking only of my cup of coffee.  Must...have...coffee... When I am intercepted by my dear son S who is wide awake and ready to tell me about the new story he is working on.  It is a longer story than I anticipated.  I sit down and think about my coffee.  When the story is complete I finish my trek to the kitchen. Ahhh! Coffee.  Starbucks...Dark Sumatra.  That's what I am drinking.  Hazy Sumatra is what I am breathing.  I take my coffee to my room for my prayer time.

Check email, check Facebook, get dressed, unlock front door, pull out breakfast for the boys ("pull out" is code for boxed cereal, as opposed to a healthy cooked breakfast), take a pill for the headache and sinus ache from the smoke inhalation.  Really, I'm not kidding.  Eat breakfast.  Chat with a friend who caught me on Facebook.

Now it's 8 O'clock and my two dearies and I begin homeschool.  We do Bible, history, science and Indonesian together and then they work on their own for the other subjects.  They are very good students and good at working independently.  I am close by for consultation.  While they work I whittle away at my enormous email inbox.  At break we go to the upstairs veranda and the boys skate and skooter and I don't do either one.  I relax on the chair and drink water so that I can breathe easier.

Ibu W comes to work.  She is wonderful and helps me so much.  Because she cleans and hangs the clothes to dry and irons, I am free to do school with the boys.

We stop for lunch and then back to work.  Ibu W leaves while we are finishing up school.  When we are done, it's off to the grocery store, stopping to check on drum lessons too.  They say we can start next month.  The noise levels of our house will soon rise about a million decibels.  I'll enjoy the rest of this month while I can!  On the way to the mall we pass...a new McDonald's being built nearby!  Woohoo!  Cheers explode in our car.  It has a real live no kidding drive thru!  It is not open yet, but we will be a frequent customer when it does.  Off to the grocery store to pick up food for the week.  Kris is gone to a conference this week, so I am making easy to cook food.  Not that I make difficult food, but I pick all the easy ones when I am single-parenting it.

On the way home I pull off on the side of the road at a tambal ban.  These are handy guys who have an air-compressor and will air up your tires for just a small fee.  Mine is worse than I thought and he ends up patching the hole, all right there on the side of the road with 18 wheelers and a zillion cars whizzing by just inches from the car, all for two bucks.  During all of this S is in the car singing to himself and J is outside of the car jumping around on an old tire and trying to make friends with a stray dog.

Back at home, the boys help me unload.  Then J wants to go bike riding. S wants to stay home.  So  J and I take a quick bike ride.  It is fun.  I have not ridden a bike in ages.  I bought a bike used for a good price.  Gears?  What in the world are those?  Hand breaks?  Good grief, it HAS been awhile.  My bike growing up had peddles and wheels, and a seat.  That's about it.  This is too fancy and is also some kind of crazy sport bike.  I'd like a cute one with a basket and streamers on the handles please.  Oh well, here we go.  Hope I don't crash.  I didn't.

Coming back to our house, my neighbor gets to talking to me and invites me in.  J goes back home and I go to visit my neighbor.  This is super exciting because I have been trying to make a friendship with her and it keeps falling flat.  We exchange numbers and I am so happy.  As I return home my other neighbor hollers a greeting to me.  What is up with these ladies FINALLY wanting to make an effort?  I've been trying for a year for goodness sake!  Aha, maybe they realize we are gonna stick around and now they are ready to be friends!  Great, I am too!

I glide into my house on cloud 9, I hope things go well with my two neighbors.  I've already been praying for them for a long time.  Dinner, what to cook?  I decide on taco salad which is a family favorite.  We eat dinner and watch kid shows on TV.  I don't love the kid shows, but I love the two kids who are watching them!

Later I chat just a bit with our oldest son who is away at boarding school.  He's doing good and made a good grade on his test yesterday.  Way to go A!  I talk to Kris on the phone.  He's cut his leg and is taking antibiotics to try to fight infection. He was not able to attend the afternoon part of the conference because he had to elevate the foot to keep the swelling down. Pray that his leg heals quickly so that he can attend the conference.

The boys and I read a chapter out of The Twenty One Balloons and called it a day.  Eddie the cat joins them in their room.  Lights out at the Kelley Home!