Fresh Friday

[Ramblinrose]

Morning y'all...

Didn't sleep well last night so I'm drinking my coffee in bed. Even the puppies are still asleep.

My day includes football and some Cmas undecorating. Slowly but surely it will get done.

After my nephew and his girlfriend visited I stripped and remade the bed... I always do that after guests leave. Did the same thing after my "kids" left on Monday. Decided to wash the comforter that goes with it yesterday. Took a while to dry but it looks wonderful.

Twins my son has been friends with R since they were 12 + 13. R was also a student of mine. The two spent weekends at my house while growing up and have remained best friends for over 20 years. I have an unusual friendship with R. I sign anything I send him YSM (your second mom) and I consider him my second son.

He will be my sons best man in April and recently decided he too will marry. It's gonna take place in Jan. I hadn't plan to attend but R sent me a very endearing letter asking me to be there for him. Then his bride to be that I haven met also sent her own personal note also asking me to come. How could I say no.

My son will be R's best man. So my "kids" asked that I share a room with them and that means more "me" time with them too. A win/win time for me.

Sending very merry birthday wishes to all. Off to start my day. Enjoy your day where ever it may lead you ...

[Harriet]

Thank you for well-wishes last evening, blessed. As of now, I do seem to be fighting off the bug, or whatever, and in fact didn't need the lozenges at all last night, which surprised me. Did have a Zicam meltaway before bed. I hope your meetings go well.

LadyM, yes, that is an exciting possibility. I have heard this type of thing before - there are some unusual digestive problems that strangely clear up during the time a person is on antibiotics for unrelated things. That would be counter-intuitive to most of us.

It was Ramblin' yesterday who reminded me of Debbie Reynolds starting out Good Morning, Good Morning. Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly joined in. My dd36 loved that movie moment very much and adopted that for her wake-up-the-children song. She has always liked Musicals.

I have always sung "Good Morning, Good Morning, the Sun Shines Today", which was my teacher-mother's go-to wake-up call, lol. A little more irritating song when you are asleep, which I used to my advantage.

HRH is having a no-good, very bad day so far. People he was counting on being in-office seem to be taking the day off, although they also took off Mon and Tues. Hmmm.. ... Also it's one of those days when everything he touches around the house seems to spill or fall or slip.

Happy Birthday Twins' Dad and Ken in Canada!

The 2016 Holiday Planning thread in our The Creative Home forum is a great place to "download" or "debrief" on the thoughts you'd like to remember about 2016's celebrations.

[Nancy]

Happy day to the bday boys, happy ann. To you who that may apply to.

We have an inch of new snow / slush. I have shoveled the driveway, deck, and trail out to the coop, and path on the patio.

I am trying to figure out what kind of colored pencils that came in an art kit. They did not have a name on em.

I looked up pasels on u tube as well.

Last evening before bed I spiffed up ths side table by the chair in the living room & dusted it.

Hens have been fed & got fresh water.

In a bit I will see if the turkey is thawed.

[Twins' Mom]

Dcleaning lady is doing her magic. Z was up early and went to work out.

I am going to walk with dfriend M this afternoon and we'll have lunch out first, so I have started challah to take tonight for dh's birthday dinner. Debate last night whether to take frozen cheesecake from the freezer or get a bd cake at P ublix, and I think we ended up with P ublix since Z is lactose tolerant. I may try to delegate that to dkids. DD will probably end up baking my challah this afternoon too.

This morning I finally took Chief's crate out of our bedroom. Flying white fur everywhere, so a good day for dcleaning lady to be here.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Making progress.

1. Realized one roast was just big enough so put the second back in the freezer. Am defrosting the first.

2. Dining table is ready to set - cloth is on, centrepiece is done.

3. Spare bedroom is now ready for guests. As is the living room and my bedroom. Vacuuming has been done except for the office.

4. Bin lids, which I sprayed and put out on the balcony, have been retrieved from the snowbanks out there and dried off and put away inside. I failed to note the wind coming up or that the chandelier was swinging. Thankfully I heard them banging around before a gust took them over the railing.

I'm done breakfast and have s2s, completing the important step of getting my hair styled. Feel human. Look better.

Just realized it is snowing again. That wasn't in the forecast. Our friends will have a rough drive here.

Next up:

1. order the toy chest (actually a padded storage bench but I'll use it as a toy chest)
2. Clean bathrooms
3. organize the papers on my desk into a stash & dash.
4. Pick up keys to guest suite downstairs
5. bake birthday cake
6. make up grocery list
7. go grocery shopping
8. work out the timing of dinner. We need to eat at 6 because dgs is now going to bed by nine (and his parents go to bed with him to max out their sleep.

[DeeClutter]

Had to think about this for a minute but then remembered how I used to wake our kids: Rise and GLIMMER! (instead of shine). Kids hated me doing that.

I've saved the treasurer's reports from last year as a template for when I get all his info this year. Printed it out so I can fill in all the figures and hopefully go easily from there. Fingers crossed as this the most difficult report to prepare. All mine are done -that I have. Still waiting on the minutes from the 2017 proposed budget meeting. I understand they're pretty long and detailed. There was some controversy over the budget which rarely happens. Ended up with 2 people voting against it. Strangely the dh of one (and they normally vote alike) asked that some of the expenses associated with a pastor be put back in the budget so they won't have to be added when we do finally hire a full-time pastor (probably 18 months - 2 years down the road). That was done and the budget approved that way. Also went in and changed around the Nominating Committee's report so that's ready to add new members/jobs.

Our dneighbor/friend from our campground just sent us a box of cookies. What a nice gesture. DD took a picture to send our DS-R's family and gloat a little.

It's cold here this morning but I don't think it will last too long - a day or two maybe. It's 33 degrees colder than it was yesterday morning here.

[helia]

Happy Birthday Twins Dad!
Happy Birthday Ken!

I really like Singing in the Rain. Sad news.

I think I only met 4 of my 6 goals yesterday. (1) The New Years card order is made. (2) I made DPCs and now have one appt. on the calendar for Lily and one for myself. (3) I jogged and skated up and down the hill in the arboretum right around sunset yesterday. And no, we were not alone traversing that hill. There were others out for a late afternoon walk. I don't think I'll jog the hill again until the snow has completely cleared; the center of the path was basically ice. There were dirt and/or snowy edges available most of the path, which made it doable -- but not the entire path. (4) I started reading for moms group. I need to start a computer file where I can record ideas/concepts. As a fun bonus, dh and I went out to a new to us Korean-ish restaurant last night. It was really good!!

I think deadheading will wait until tomorrow when it will be in the 40s. It's gray and snowing a little right now. Though I already have a lot on my plate for tomorrow. . .

Our kitchen is now back together, except for the backsplash tile, which we're still working on. We're thinking of a natural stone in horizontal narrow tiles. Our contractor really likes it. Dh tested all our samples by putting tomato paste on them overnight to see if they stained since we make a number of sauces that use tomatoes, and tomatoes stain brilliantly. One sample was noticeably stained. I think the one everyone likes wasn't noticeably stained. There was another sample that wasn't stained at all, but it's not as well-liked. The grout is another concern but our contractor says they can put sealant in the grout to help make it more washable.

Dh has already started moving stuff back into the kitchen, and I'll happily continue that process this afternoon.

Done:
- some of the morning stuff
- WW where I posted an impressive 3 lb. gain. I guess I can't just eat what I want all the time, but it was an enjoyable week. I went into this Christmas season at a lower weight then I have for the past 7 or so years, so I'm still doing OK. And I'm committed to regular vigorous exercise. But still. .
- other errands: Target, WF, bank

I think my main potential goals for the day:
x 1. Errands
2. Wipe down the inside of kitchen cabinets and drawers; they're a little dusty
3. Start moving stuff from the temporary kitchen downstairs into the kitchen upstairs.
4. Progress on reading and note-taking for moms group teaching
5. Welcome kids home from their ski trip; eat out with them?
6. Go to friends' home this evening to watch our Univ. football team play.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Items 1 - 3 from my list are done.

Many phone calls has organized the day.

I must leave here at 2 to get dd and dgs so need to see if I have enough time to bake cake.

[Nancy]

I prepped the turkey and it is in the oven now. House smells yummy now.
Walked with the dog around the block.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Cake is in oven.

Kitchen deep cleaned.

That was not on my to-do list - there was a mixer disaster and pineapple angel food cake blew up all over the kitchen, and me.

Thirty minutes later, I finished cleaning up. It flew over 8' away, where walls, windows and I didn't stop it from flying. My bibbed apron took 70% of it but my sleeve was covered.

Dh helped and we pulled out the rolling section of counter and he got the window cleaned while I worked on the mixer and the rolling counter. There will be a much smaller cake. I'll check the oven in a few minutes.

Washer is running with all the cleaning cloths plus my apron.

Something is wrong with my mixer and it will not start unless in the highest setting.