Saturday Surprises

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Today is 'cleaning' day in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.

The streets are deserted because everything is closed. Surprise!

At 1p.m. things are allowed to open so we are going back to see the city centre hustling and bustling but for now, it is dead. And fascinating. We walked around for about 105 minutes seeing so much.

I'll write more after our second venture into the market.

In the meantime, keep your eyes opened for surprises. By definition, you never know when they are going to pop up or what delights you'll discover because of them.

Alternatively, you could declare a 'cleaning' day at your place and all other activities for the whole family can be put on hold while you clean. We are still trying to get our head around that concept - none of the South Africans on board had ever heard of such a thing.

[Twins' Mom]

At work early this morning - got here 8:15ish. Ddogs got me up at five and I ended up just staying up - at 7:30 I was debating whether to go back to bed or come to work, and here I am. I brought "lunch" of cheese sticks uneaten last night for supper.

Let's hope for all pleasant surprises today. I have some frustrating jobs going right now.

[Harmony]

Good morning!

Whole city doing a cleaning job? Interesting concept. Remember when each day had a chore assigned to it? Monday was wash day, etc. I think that was when these chores took longer to do. I recall one day was baking ...

We have it so much easier, don't we. No scruboards etc.

I'm not going to be doing much cleaning today. I had a difficult night. Was so overtired (who knows why?) I couldn't get into a good sleep, was only half-asleep / aware of my surroundings all night long, until about 5:00AM when I put the news on for a bit, then the cartoons and fell into a deep sleep for a couple hours watching bugs bunny!

I just typed DH's notes for something he's doing in youth group tomorrow. I am going to hang up 1 LOL I forgot in the washer yesterday in all the chaos. I might pay a couple bills. BBL

I just googled that old schedule: Monday: wash day; Tuesday: ironing; Wed: sewing; Thurs: market; Fri: cleaning; Sat: baking; Sunday: day of rest. Wow how different we live these days.

[Harriet]

Gee. Enforced cleaning? I think I would become rebellious. I mean, is everyone looking around making sure no one opens a door a little too early, I wonder. That would make me mischievous. I certainly am glad to hear the men aren't on the streets either!

Harmony, you're right - dh needs to figure out how to minimize trips and be sure to get the right thing, rather than have you go out on guess-work that might be a wild goose chase. As far as the closed-caption, HRH says it won't help my ddad since he wants to watch sports, and there is no person's face, just an off-screen commentator. HRH doesn't think my ddad can follow the game and read closed caption at the same time - I tend to agree. He's a good reader, but must have no distractions from the words, so I think it might work the other way, too.

Now that I see Harmony's comments on the cleaning day, I remember the stories of my dear aunt who married my uncle in England and came back home with him after the war. She was amazed to see so many homes with clothes hanging on the line after 10 o'clock and said that in her home town, any woman would be humiliated to have neighbors see the wash outdoors after 10:00. All chores were to be done, ready for company by lunch, otherwise a woman would be considered a slouch and the neighbors would talk about her! Housework was exclusively done in the mornings. If someone was caught doing housework in the afternoons, when visitors might arrive, they were not ladylike. Of course, she came to live in a countryside full of farmwomen and never saw that lifestyle again.

[bittersweet]

Housework all done by 10am?!?!? What on earth did they do for the rest of the day? I suppose if they were here, they could shovel snow...we've got a lot of it, and a nice wind to blow it into drifts everywhere! It seems that DS will not be going in to work today, but DH will still be going gaming with his friends. Lucky me will get to spend the day doing housework Of course, I'll intersperse the housework sessions with crochet or knitting or sewing or kitty cuddling breaks...LOL..so it won't be all bad!

In fact, I think I'll knit for a few minutes while I finish my coffee and watch part of the History of Ancient Britain series that I'm watching on YouT*be. After that, I'll get moving...

- downstairs litter boxes
- put away clean dishes
- reboot laundry
- change bed
- upstairs litter boxes

[OKay]

Most definitely a surprising day here! Announcement this morning via FB that DNephew is a father! A previous girlfriend that he dated a few times moved an hour away about 8 months ago. Two weeks ago she posted a picture of her new baby girl on FB. When friends saw the picture they thought it looked just like DSis (DNephew mother). DNephew contacted the girl and asked for a DNA test to see if he was the father. Results came back yesterday confirming he is the father. WOW! DNepshew is VERY excited.

[Nancy]

Surprised to see the mountains white w/ snow all around us today when I got up that plus wind has winter weather advisories up bummer all over the area. B-r-r!

Last night I was enjoying some books I got at the thrift store yesterday it's a good day to read after my exercise that is!

Kitchen looks good today yea!

[Harriet]

Goodness gracious, OKay, what a day for your dsister and family. Did the girlfriend resist your nephew's inquiries? I hope she welcomes him as a part of her life, and they can be a good team.

I've gotten Morning Daily Card done here. Egg breakfast for all. My ddad had a peach HRH didn't think he should have - thought it was too ripe to be good. But I think that's what my ddad liked about it.

Next up is mopping the kitchen floor.

Oh, everybody in my IRL is going to have to listen to this, poor things, for days, so I'll bore you with it, too! My fav show BBT has jumped 10 percent in the ratings. They beat the competition Thurs night, the first time that any show has outpaced "Idol" in 5 years. I have already watched Thursday's show 3 times to try to catch the nuances. They had a new set (probably a one-time thing) and I think the night could have been Emmy material for Simon Helburg's performance viewed through a lap-top screen.

[Emptynester]

Good Morning All. (11:35 so it is still morning.)

DH woke in a lot of pain this am but we have gotten on top of it now. Will wake up during the night for pain pill at midnight tonight.

Just spoke to Indiana and she is doing well. No results yet but she has her ducks in a row.

I need to get the house cleaned as I've let it go a lot lately. So first up is the kitchen. And then *IF* I feel like it - vacuuming.

TTFN

[Nancy]

Looked at the calendar and realized that younger 2 dgkids will be here over night tonight I think!
So I've messaged dd w a request for church clothes for them to have for the morning last time
they were in pj's and we could not do church the next day. Wish us well!