Sunday comfort

[helia]

Loved your blog photos, MT!! Was the yellow barrel cactus there before, hidden in the overgrowth? How did you know how to trim back the agave - or is it sort of obvious? I love the yip yip Martians! Those were among my favorites on Sesame Street (is that right?) when I was a child! I was going to contribute to their cause - but I got sidetracked and never came back to it.

Glad to hear of a take-charge female lead in a 1940s film, Harriet!

My cold is a little worse today. My stuffed up nose is keeping me from sleeping well. .. .

I'm going to call my parents now. I'm trying to figure out with them a good date for their 50th wedding anniversary party. The issue is that their anniversary is June 10, which is a hairy time for our family. Right now the party date is set for June 17. However, I found out yesterday that dh is at a conference in Hawaii June 11-15 and doesn't think he can get back before June 16, maybe June 17. June 10 doesn't work: Ds graduates June 6, dd13 graduates (8th grade) June 8, dd13 goes with her school grade to Washington DC, leaving at 5 a.m. on June 11 (it would be a hard turn around to drive home for 6 hours Sunday night, June 10, and put her on a bus at 5 a.m. Monday, June 11th) and returning June 15, wee hours. (Technically the night of June 14). I need to be in my parents' town a day or so beforehand to help with the last minute details - and we live 6 hours drive away. We could make June 3 work, though dh has a conference June 5 - 7. I was pretty insistent he should be at his son's graduation June 6. He agrees, just hadn't been thinking of it at the time he agreed to the conference. I just hope dmom isn't offended by our schedule quandaries. We could make June 17 work, but it is not ideal. It would be hard on dd13, getting her off the DC bus at 1 a.m. and hopping in the car for another long drive a few hours later. Plus, dh may not even make it. Probably TMI.

[Harriet]

((dMoses)) Twins' Mom, so this surgery will be very early in the morning first thing? Forgive me but could you tell us again what area the vet is concerned about?

It has been pouring rain all day, and we were lucky not to be soaked by the time we got to church. Sort of a damper (maybe just on me) for the service, then. It was communion Sunday.

The lady who teaches one of the adult SS classes asked dd13 to be her "reader" of scripture. I know it is just a make-work thing that is completely unnecessary. There isn't a person in that class who can't read as well as dd13 and they would certainly be surprised to hear they "need" a 13-year-old brought in to read "for" them. So I really don't know what to do with this. It's an obvious attempt to find something-anything for dd to do during SS hour now that she is the only one left in her age group and there is no more class. Also an attempt to get me to come back to SS, but it's already getting extremely tough for me to just make the church hour - I've missed several Sundays in a row up until today. The way dd used to get to SS was for me to drop her with her class, and come back at church hour. And now after scripture reading, dd would be sitting in an all-adult SS class for the rest of the time, probably just watching the time until I got back so she could beg to go home. It's not making sense.

Kally has posted "Coming Out of Lurkdom" in Across the Cafe Table.

[Twins' Mom]

Should have posted more details about Moe, Harriet - just realized that I didn't. At his wellness ckup on Friday (out of the blue) what I had thought was a fatty lymphoma turned out to be very concerning for the vet. She commented that the outcome was likely not good and that Golden Retrievers are a "tumor factory" and seem to have a predisposition to cancer. So he is scheduled for surgery in the morning to find out just what the mass is. We'll just have to see; I'm trying to stay calm until we know more. He seems so healthy it's really surreal to process.

I'm glad I've been home today. We have a fire going and soup on the stove.

[helia]

Will be thinking of you and praying for the vet visit tomorrow, Twins. Where is the mass? How old is Moses? The fire and soup sound so cozy. . . .

Well, dmom was pretty low-key re: a June 3 date vs. June 17. The conversation was pretty short as she got interrupted by a friend at the front door. I'm going to call their church next week and see if they have any rooms available June 3.

Wow, that is a hard issue with SS and church, Harriet. Your church must be much much smaller than ours. I think there are about 15 kids in dd13's grade who come regularly. Probably more on the rosters. Our church has the 7th and 8th graders together in a middle school SS class, so probably about 30 kids altogether. I know the 5th/6th grade class runs 30 - 40; dh and I taught that class every other year for 3 years. Unfortunately, for dd13's year, most of the kids are boys. It was a year top-heavy with boys, but that makes the few girls pretty tight with each other.

I took dh's place in Toddler 2 room during the service today. It was fun! We had about 8 or 9 tots. I think there are many more on the roster, but this was a comfortable sized group. Dd16 was in there with me.

I'm actually not feeling that great. I rarely get sick, so it's kind of. . . .odd. And annoying. bleh. The girls want tamales for supper instead of soup, so I'm getting those going. Dfriends S and R should be here soon. I don't really feel like being social tonight, but they're pretty low-key.

[helia]

WELCOME to jquandt88 and Bernice!

[jquandt88]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. I got home from Church and realized that I was dead tired. Made DH take me to lunch and I've been quilting ever since. planning on getting some housework done, but I'm not sure it's gonna happen today.

If I get the kitchen in working order I'll consider it a good day.

hope everything go well for the rest of you. I'll soon get a little more in tune with the conversations and add some comments myself, but for now I'm just getting to know you all.

[Harmony]

Okay, going to post, sure hope I don't mess things up again!

Hello Bernice, and welcome jquandt88. Nice to have you both with us, look forward to getting to know you both.

Harriet, you mentioned Edison; he is very big here with his summer home down in Fort Myers and big parade of lights every year celebrating his achievements. I've been through that place a couple times also his workshop; very interesting.

Lilac, here's crossing my fingers you get a buyer quick! quick!! That's a very low real estate percent. Here it is 6 - 7% and noone will budge on that. Also, we offered the seller portion of that to any realtor who would bring a buyer, but I guess they get in trouble with their brokers for doing that, because that cuts the broker out of the money. One of the reasons we couldn't sell.

Twins, so very sorry about Moe. Wishing for a good outcome despite what the vet said.

Church wasn't as comfortable as it could have been...after the service I ran to the supermarket and bought a boatload of groceries (trying to maximize my time and gas expense) and I put the meat, cold stuff in the cooler with ice I'd brought along. Then I went back to pick up DH from youth group, and at least I had him with me as we went in to unload all those groceries. Sometmes he doesn't help and it's a lot of work by myself. Lot of rushing around, not sure I want to do that again.

Had a nap after all that, big cleanup in kitchen after trying to use rotisserie for a chunk of meat we had (which didn't work so well as it came out very red in the middle and filled the house with smoke at the end and set off fire alarms ). Generally a PITA with lots of cleanup...

Other than that I've been sewing a bit. DH is a bit dismayed at the time this is taking me, figuring like he does with a work job, that I would not be enjoying the progress along the way.

[Harriet]

Didn't mess up a thing, Harmony. All fixed. It was bittersweet's fault, I think. (Looking around to see if she hears me ) She mentioned calling herself a twit in Focus and somehow this has resonated with lots of folks (me in the post Harmony accidentally quoted and Kally in Across the Cafe Table, too). In fairness, bittersweet WAS rather profound, even with the twit part. (ducking and running)

Amused to think Mr. Harmony is worried about you having to quilt so much. (smile) Well, honestly, there is some validity to that. But mostly that's like saying you have to eat too much ice cream.

helia, a small church on a cycle without children, yes. There were only 2 other girls at dd13's age - or anywhere close - and they were sisters. When that family stopped attending, well, that was it. We have about 5 children in the younger-elementary age group - none of them older than 3rd grade I don't believe. Any child older than dd13, well, they're in college! It's such a shame. When ds26 was a young teen in this church, he was in a group of about 8 or 9 who went through many years together, to church camp, etc. It's wonderful what your dd13 has there at your church and I know it's beneficial to her.

Enjoyed another chapter reading with dd13 tonight, sharing the duties back and forth. Since it never stopped raining, she never got to ride her bike today, the first in a while that she hasn't done her self-guided therapy. It's the hens I feel sorry for - they must be bored.

[Lilac]

Harmony, the going rate is 7% around here, but business is so slow that they are desperate enough to take half of that. They figure that if someone else sells one of their properties, they only get half. So by "offering" to help us sell it, they are making the same amount as they would get just for being the listing agent. I don't really want to go that route but if this doesn't work out with the first guy who seems to really want it, we may have to do that.

[lucylee]

Hello, hello!!!

Yes... it IS after 1:30 a.m. here... and yes, I DO have to be at school tomorrow. Apparently I am in total denial.
It's just a workday for teachers, though -- no students. I think I'll manage okay.
We have had a VERY hectic weekend. Gone all day Saturday for college basketball... then church today... dbil's birthday "party" @ dinlaws' tonight... then dh, ds, ddil, & I went to late movie... then I had to do a load of laundry when we got home... so I'm just now winding down. I have also graded a BUNCH of papers this weekend, and I did another load of clothes this afternoon. AND got my nap in, too.
On the bad side... it's been a couple week since I've had any "face time" w/dparents. I talk to them on the phone at least every two or three days, but I know my dad, especially, likes "face time" -- so I always feel guilty about that when I've let this much time get away from me.

Welcome to Bernice, Kally, and jquandt88!

(((Twins))) Hope you get better news tomorrow from the vet.

Church. That's a tough spot for dd13, Harriet. I'm wondering how long we can keep up this split service we're having. Traditional service is averaging about 55-65, contemporary about the same, I think... but except for ds & ddil, I am probably the youngest person attending the traditional. That's pretty sad -- no one under 50, you know. But there are a good number of couples in the 55-65 age group. More than I expected, really. Maybe it will all work out. Today's attendance was not a good sampling. Cold & VERY rainy when we started out this morning. Rain has stopped, but it is still cold!

Hope you feel better by the time you read this, (((helia)))!

Ooohhh... I am so glad we are not trying to sell a house, Lilac! I agree, the realtor you liked best sounds like a good guy... but oh my goodness... I had not realized they were sooo aggressive. Actually, dmom sold real estate for a while. She was NOT sooo aggressive, which is probably why she went into accounting soon afterwards.

Well. I suppose I should sleep for a little while before that alarm clock goes off. * sigh *