Thorough Thursday

[LadyMaverick]

Taking my first break of the day.

Today has been a typical Thursday - DGD5 to school, homeschool, eat lunch at school, DS8 recess with his friends, DS8 to speech therapy, me to do 3 hours of volunteering at school, get DGD5 from school. Next week will be my final volunteer time for this school year.

LadyM, when do you "finish" homeschooling for this year?

I made the decision a few months ago to do year round schooling. There was a slew of pro/cons to consider in this decision. The pro's won by a landslide. We take a week off every month, plus holidays, family members birthdays and we have 19 floating free days we use when needed. I do keep track of how many school days DS8 has done in order to meet the requirements of our state homeschool laws (must have 180 day or 1080 hours of schooling). He is currently on Day 160 of 3rd grade. When we complete Day 180 of 3rd grade we will start the day count back at Day 1 for 4th grade.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! I will have to pick up DD15 soon. Again, I hope there is no homework so she can help me at the grocery store. I have already done one easy errand and there is a LOL running. I am almost caught up on my home emails. Two DPCs are done, a third will probably have to be done next week. Tomorrow is scheduled. Yesterday was chaotic. I had to take a foster cat to the vet. All is ok, but she may have a food allergy. I had to clean out the hall closet when I spilled some things there. Bleah. I may have lost a shirt. There are some unknown yellow stains on one of my goto shirts. I liked it because it was a nice shirt at a $5 price, but I have certainly gotten my $$$ worth.

I've managed to annoy my mother again. She was going on and on about how great it was that my xSIL traveled with her boyfriend to Italy. Told me she felt so much better that there was a man around so my nieces and T did not have to worry about the pickpockets rampant in the area. I finally said I would rather have my wallet stolen than set an example like that and is that really what you want your granddaughters to see? My traveling companions may be ladies in their eighties, but we are LADIES. I won't be embarrassed if I see anyone I know in Hawaii. I can show DD pictures of my vacation without hedging around sleeping arrangements. In fact, if we went to Italy, the Pope himself could see our stateroom and no one would blush.

DeeClutter can put her coffee mug top in a ziploc bag with baking soda. If that does not work, remind me to repost Skunk Away.

[DeeClutter]

Just shutting down & unplugging my computer. Supposed to have some rain storms -we do need it!! DD and I are just getting ready to leave for Trivia. We'll be watching the Senators/Rangers game, Kathryn -and rooting for the Senators. They always turn on the hockey game for the 2 of us!

[Twins' Mom]

I am home again for awhile before dd and I take off for the Family Promise thing tonight. She also signed us up as the "Entertainers" for the evening, the folks that are there to help with or play with the kids, help with homework. etc. So in addition to sleeping over there, we need to be there at 7 p.m.

It is time to start to get dmom into a nursing home. I feel sad about it, but I think dbro has had enough. Apparently they've had some conflict also, and dmom has told dbro that he can leave if he wants (no one's keeping you here) and he told her he was leaving. So we talked and agreed that dbro should stay in the house and take care of the ddogs. So I need to get to work on that.... In many ways, life would be easier if she were in a nursing home - I worry about dbro's care at times.

Also stressed with dh. He's not a happy man today.

[blessedw2]

hi home again and tired to boot!

hi twins have fun tonight!
Yes it is hard! praying d mom agrees. Can she do an independent living or assisted living? Praying for things to work out!
I am sorry your dh is not a happy man today. I hope you leaving the house will give you a break. Praying he is in a better mood when you come back.
I find I let dh's stress become my stress. therapist said I have to work on not taking on other peoples feelings etc. best wishes

hi d elizabeth Hoping she doesn't have any homework.

hi d lady you had a busy day and yay that your final volunteer time for the school year is done next week.

d harriet hoping the rest of the week cooperates with you. Tell it to behave! so sweet and yes such wisdom from your green eyed boy. Enjoy the lollypop.

d lucy ((()))
also thank goodness the he wasn't injured.

great job on paperwork d harmony - I am so sorry about the pain - we are hard on floors too. The rug in bedroom sounds pretty

I made a l*st for tomorrows work in dd's room.

I was proud of her because she is one that keeps everything /change is hard for her but she agreed to let the painter take down her wall paper.
I have to get the room completely emptied by Tuesday when the painter and the floor person comes.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dee: thank you for cheering for our team instead of your state's team!

My day took another turn but this one was productive in a strange way. I hope I can get back on task.

I was on task in the afternoon and on a roll but when dh was done his conference call we walked down to pick up the parcel. I didn't want to break my productivity but I was desperate for a walk and some fresh air. The parcel turned out to be my new hard drive, not the wedding invitation. So it came on the 2nd instead of the 12th. I suspect a typo. I'm glad to have it, I'll start a backup tonight.

The auto club is next to the pickup point so I popped in there and got the maps and guidebook for our trip (leaving in 14 days and have done no solid planning.)

Then I stopped into the bank to deposit my 2 week old pay cheque, and into the thrift shop for the hanging file frame I need (no luck). I was starving but we walked past the bagel shop. A few doors down from that is a luggage store and I love window shopping there. They had a bright red (my particular shade) Tilley hat (that's the brand of hat I wear) in the window. A special edition for Canada150. I went in and bought one right away. Really impressed dh since I seldom impulse buy anything and never anything that expensive. I also have no need for another Tilley (I have an ivory one and a blue one plus my winter felt one.) I bought it just because. Although, to be fair, I wear a lot of red, in fact, I usually have a red headband on my ivory Tilley. So, I'm rather proud of the impulse buy.

We didn't get even a half block closer to home when I saw the Wellington Diner. They are in the middle of a rezoning fight and I side with them so decided to eat there to show solidarity.

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we were to go out then but it will be leftovers since dh's meal tonight was too large for one sitting. I'll have a frozen dinner. Which was my plan for tonight because, before we left for the walk I said I couldn't be interrupted by cooking a dinner since I was on a roll with the bookkeeping.

At dinner tomorrow, though, I had intended to have a long talk with dh, putting all the things he's been telling me about work into a big picture discussion. So we had that talk tonight and ended up coming home very late.

It was a fruitful discussion. In the past 2 weeks he's had a number of irons put into the fire and I was organizing them in my head, visualizing it on a map of the world, adding in his Africa work, our refugee work and our planned road trips in May/June (Eastern Canada) and August (Nebraska for the eclipse assuming your government manages to keep working as the founding fathers envisioned.)

So we started talking about Canberra, Australia. We might have to drop-in there while we're on the continent in January. Then to New Zealand where he brought me up to speed on his TWO clients in Wellington. Turns out the second one is doing the same project to NZ as is happening in Canberra so if both happens dh can leverage his work.

From there we went to Los Angeles and he confirmed that there is little chance of further work there. He wanted to go Ottawa next but I spun him across to Spain, then Norway and Brussels. Two irons in Spain, one each in the other two.

I confirmed that South America had nothing brewing, he updated me on TEMBO (he's just about finished updating the software in the resource centre's system and will send the updated system back over to Tanzania in a few weeks.)

Finally, we came back to Ottawa. He's just started a project here so he brought me up to date on that. He sent his first invoice to them last week, and they are already making payment arrangements so it looks like they'll be a good client. And, in the first 5 weeks of this fiscal year, he's already billed 50% of our total revenue from all last year. So things are looking promising.

On the walk home from dinner we picked up some groceries and then discussed financial strategy for leaving money in the company for travel to standards meetings and conferences, not just for this year but future years. So it was a very productive strategy meeting and I will bill the company for dinner since it was a business meeting.

Now I need to get back to work.

I'm thoroughly in trouble with my bookkeeping deadlines but had a wonderful, intentional, talk with dh about our business future so I suppose I'm living up to my opening for the day.

[Nancy]

98* outside according to my tablet h got AC going. Can you say thunder showers. Those are in our forecast Fri.

H vetoed the soup that he asked me to get last nite. I had foresight to see that coming have other options for dinner precooked sausage & it got a nod.

I felt puny this morning but felt better in the P M . Saw some cotton flying from trees could be the culprit.

Cooler air coming yea.

Snow in the mtns. Sat. 43* here then.

[Harmony]

Kathryn, I thought you guys were semi-retired?

We just stopped working for the night. We're both exhausted. More work on that proposal and emailed off. Occasionally I get a "vibe" from a customer. I have one with this lady. I hope we don't get this job.

I made a soft egg for dinner since my jaw is still sore and my gum mostly up where he gave me that mega shot. I can't chew on that side, my teeth don't hurt but biting together does.

I want a lollipop. I wonder if there's any pudding in the pantry?

[lucylee]

Thanks for good wishes for ds!
I thought about that too, Harriet, that something could show up later -- whiplash, neck/back injuries of some kind -- but ds seems no worse for the wear today. And dmom is glad for someone to drive her truck b/c she said she can't keep all her vehicles started enough to keep the batteries charged, LOL.
(She still has the 63 Pontiac, which she finally did sign over to duncle, but is now storing for him... the Corvette she just can't quite bring herself to part with... this truck she traded for with ds... and her Equinox -- the only one she drives except on rare occasions. I'm sure she can't remember the last time she drove the Corvette or the Pontiac, and I'm fairly certain it has not happened since ddad died. Duncle keeps them all running, but no one really drives them. And yet duncle is worrying himself about a 57 Chevrolet that she owns but has been stored at dcousin's house for well over 10 years??? Duncle is afraid dcousin will sell it without repaying her the $2000 * I think * that ddad paid HIS dad/other duncle, now deceased, for it.)

Oh well. That was definitely skippable.

Lollipops at the bank.

cotton flying from trees

(((Nancy))) Oh yes, IKWYM. Our courthouse square is covered with those trees, and at certain *non-winter * times of the year, it looks like it's snowing!

Kathryn -- your work/travel plans just make my head spin! LOL -- here we are, fretting over an 8-hr drive...

(((Twins))) (((BIG, BIG HUGS)))
I know it must be so hard to start the wheels in motion to move dmom... and so stressful with your dbro... AND your dh having a bad day...
(((BIG HUGS)))
BIG Ditto what blessed said about letting dh's stress become MY stress. Amen to THAT.

Elizabeth, good for you, speaking up to your dmom about the xsisil.

LadyM, I know you're glad to see the public school year come to a close. Even as you continue year-round schooling, it will be less hectic for you without the additional activities keeping up with the other school schedule. And I can certainly see the benefits of your continuing. I am sure it will help ds8 to eliminate that long summer break. They say so many children "lose" so much over the summer and teachers have to spend a lot of time reviewing and re-teaching every fall. Sounds like you are working in PLENTY of short breaks to keep ds8 from getting burned out. (And yourself too!)

It's getting chilly here, and we expect some cool nights this weekend. DDIL said she was packing warm clothes and cool clothes.

Today and yesterday have just been busy and stressful. Yesterday I was just so frustrated with dh... obviously he felt bad, but he just kept pushing himself with (IMHO) stupid stuff. Like, who cares if ALL the towels are washed before we leave? And why can't I just fold the towels however I want to and help him out, instead of having to fold them all EXACTLY like HE folds? OCD -- oh my goodness. I wish ddil would get HIM tested too...
* sheesh * So I was kinda irritable with him, to say the least, and we both were on edge all day.

Today has been better, I think, and he does seem to feel a little better.
I've been on the run all day --
* ds to dmom's (and squeezed in time for a bar-b-que sandwich with ds!)
* dgd back home, picked up dgs at school, b/c no carseats in dmom's truck
* bank
* drug store
* dbil's office (delivered dniece's graduation gift for this weekend)
* phone call, had to leave message, they never called back
* supper
* drove to next town to get dh's glasses
* stopped at dmom's to deliver whiskey for her to mix home-brew cough syrup. (DH tried it but got no relief, dmom is desperate.)
* got clothes ready for dh to pack for tomorrow

Now -- need to clean up the kitchen, read the paper, and * maybe * exercise. I didn't walk yesterday or today.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harmony: dh's definition of retired is to work when work falls in his lap and not worry when it doesn't. But he loves working on the ISO standards committees. This is not paying work, it is volunteer but high end volunteering (i.e. if he wants to resign from a committee he has to give a year's notice and if he doesn't attend meetings regularly, he can be sanctioned.) This has a cost, both in time (he often attends meetings in Europe or Asia by teleconference but that means getting up at 4 or going to bed at 1 or 2 a.m.) and money when he has to attend a face-to-face meeting somewhere. He also wants to attend the occasional conference to network and learn. His time sheets show that he puts in about 30 hours a week. This feels retired to him because he used to work 60. Now he can go to movies in the mornings he doesn't have conference calls. Or for long lunches at the bagel shop. Or come to walking club with me in the evening. Before he couldn't do that stuff because he was always working.

Because he has to keep the company in order to do the volunteer stuff (so that any liability is the company's and not his), my definition of retired is that he earns $20K per year in order to pay the accountants (we have to have two kinds due to the US returns we must file), insurance (many $$$$) and additional expenses (we have to high end internet and other tech stuff for him to do his work) as well as travel costs.

Losing a ton of money last year took us both by surprise, so after 10 years, when interest finally started to heat up in the ISO standard he co-wrote and now edits, people are finally coming knocking on his door for help implementing it. It took a decade for it to become the European standard for business documents and now it is required in all EC countries (before it was only in Denmark which is why he worked there for so long.)

Like you, because he isn't retired, I can't 'retire' since the bookkeeping, as little as there is, is my responsibility. Unlike you, though, this only takes up a small amount of my time because it is simple bookkeeping. All the rest is stuff he does (arranging contracts, invoicing, finding clients as well as actually doing the work.) I can't do any of that. I can only make the non-work parts of his life run smoothly when he's in demand. Which is why, during the move, I did the bulk of the work packing and unpacking. He had to work. And yesterday I had to take over helping NFD because dh had to work with a client.

Our long chat today was because I needed to make sure he understood he has limitations on his time and energy now that he's older and he can't do all the extra-curricular non-work things he's been doing if he is going to have so many clients again. I wanted to understand all that might be happening as well because he prefers me to travel with him. So I have to assess the risk to my lifestyle that more work will require and figure out my lines in the sand.

Lucylee: Depending on the routing, my travel in January will take between 35 and 48 hours from Ottawa to Perth! Perth is the antipode city from Ottawa, there is no further place I can fly to from here.

Oops, I ended up responding to posts instead of posting what I meant to say - I've completed all the bank reconciliations. The first 8 tasks are finished. Nine more to go! (And a garage sale and ton of other things between now and my meeting with the accountant on Wednesday so I have to keep working. Next up Credit Card expenses.