Mid-point Monday

[Lilac]

On Saturday, dh tackled the electrical issue again. He found that when he put the face plate on, it was causing a wire to loosen and it worked it's way loose. That was causing the trip. It is fixed and we didn't have to pay an electrician for something so simple. This week dh is going to start painting the 12 drawers. He wants to get them done and back in place, so that he'll have more room to paint the 16 doors. We are so close..............

Dgs12 has a 5:30 basketball game tonight. His season is getting close to being over.

I had a dental appt for a 6 month checkup and cleaning today. This gal does a great job. The last one rushed through it and didn't do a good job at all. I love freshly cleaned teeth.

Dh grilled burgers Saturday night and they were so good.

Tuesday through Thursday we are to have highs in the 70's. Then Friday the high will be 48. The time change is less than 3 weeks away. Once it changes, it seems like spring is around the corner. Although we have had some doozy blizzards in March after having warm weather.

[LadyMaverick]

Home from lunch out at a local resort and enjoying the beautiful weather (bright sunshine, gentle breeze & the mid-70's) with a short hike at our local wildlife refuge. On the way home, we drove the back roads by a lake and ran into an old friend. He wanted us to come see his new boathouse. This is his 6th boathouse over the last 40 years. He keeps getting bigger/better one each time he changes. I loved the calm quietness of being on the water without being in a moving boat. I prefer the solid feeling of the houseboat instead of bouncing across the water in a boat. On the way home I told DH "You know.....if we sold that land that we never will use....it would pay for a boathouse that we would use". I'm not sure that is true. Or that I even want to do it. But it is fun to consider the idea.

DH and DS8 are busy cutting down about a dozen trees in the back yard in preparation for putting up the new fence. Most of the trees are fruit trees (apricot, several peach trees, fig, pear, cherry, etc) that will be right up against the new wooden fence. We decided last night to take them out now instead of waiting until they ruin the fence and then trying to remove the trees without doing more damage to the fence. I told DH to also take out the grape arbor and the multiple grape vines. I could trim the grape vines back away from the new fence, but it will be a constant upkeep to keep it away. The people who planted all these fruit trees put them along the edge of the back of our property. When it was only a pasture there, the location was fine. But now they are in the way of progress. It is sad to see them go but on the other hand, it will be a clear space to create a new landscape design.

[Nancy]

I have land scape design to consider here as well when we are done with the bush removal. I have kidN for a bit more time then if weather holds prune back suckers that were under the bush that is my "assignment". I did 2 rounds on that and it is looking better in the back of this big bush.

Dinner is done wraps with shredded meat I had frozen for later was excellent tonight.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Nothing to report here.

Spent ages online this morning, mostly writing a long email to my sister.

S2s

Put fresh sheets on the bed and ran the washer and dryer (but still have to fold the sheets.)

Spent 45 minutes on the phone with my sister.

Drove over and visited with dgs for about 90 minutes. We wore the little guy out so didn't get to go for a walk, he fell asleep nursing. Dh had him first, then we both lay on the floor with him while he did tummy time, then I made him sit up for a while until he was looking tired of that, and lay him on his back on a wedge pillow and sang and read to him. He loves funny sounds so the barnyard books were most popular. He also love actions songs that touch his body (Happy and you know it, Itsy bitsy spider, Bicycle built for two.)

Got home and I took a walk to get outside. Listened to a podcast.

Came home and played games on the computer while listening to the end of the podcast.

Surfed the internet.

I'm still well short steps for the day so we'll walk over to the pub for supper. It feels counter productive but it is the best I can do for tonight.

I'm feeling exhausted. I think it might be the weight of all I'm putting off. Or I have Harriet's sleeping disease.

[helia]

No errands today. Just as I had arrived at my first stop, Walgreens, dh called and wanted me to head home to respond to an email from his secretary re: our visas/travel authorizations. So, I went home and did that, scanned passports, gave her info. I also started the process of withdrawing our visa apps from the Australian gov. website, but it took me a while to figure out the process. I did get my form filled out -- but not scanned and uploaded. I'll do that tonight and dh's as well.

SO. . . .dh's secretary teamed up with the big U's travel agency to accomplish in less than an hour (and with just $30) what I have not yet accomplished despite investing $112 plus 3.5 hours of info gathering and filling in information online and 2+ days of waiting. . . .The upshot -- we now have travel authorizations approved for Australia!! I feel so relieved that is done. Now, to get all our ducks in a row in the next 2 days before we leave.

I did get in a jog, but only 3.5 miles b/c messing with the visa/ETA (electronic travel authorization) issue took so much time today. It was a great jog; I felt great and went a bit faster than usual. I also was well-prepared for Hebrew class this evening. I also have some things ready for the mail. I had forgotten there was no mail today, though. Tomorrow. . .

[DeeClutter]

Glad that was taken care of, Helia!

Met our friends for lunch. It's a really good place to eat and it was BUSY! We had planned to sit on the patio to chat after lunch but it was full. Found a really nice park on a lake about 2 or 3 blocks away and spent another 2 hours there. I finally had to say I was really tired and we all left. I was unbelievably tired actually. Got home about 3 and spent the next 3 hours in the recliner dozing. Went out for a short walk after that. Luckily my BS was only 95 before dinner so was in good shape. Tomorrow we're meeting another couple there from up at our campground.

On my way to bed now. Hoping to sleep now that I spent all that time dozing.

Did call the Dr's office today to ask them to correct my prescription for thyroid med. They sent it the first time on the 9th. I've been taking 2 of my pills each day so they won't last long at that rate. I also left a message for the Dr to call me about maybe going back on my diabetes pills. The kidney dr -whom I was told the decision rested with him- said my Primary would have to decide that. But if kidneys are okay (and he has released me) then I really don't see the reason to stay on insulin. May be a while before I hear from him however.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Had dinner out so that got me close to my 10K steps. Walking back was tricky, the melting snow had formed puddles and temps dropped below freezing so there was lots of ice. Both regular and black (which is harder to see so very dangerous.)

Got home just before 8 and started in on the noisy housework at 8:05. Finished that by nine and then mopped the floors. I haven't dusted yet, may put that off until tomorrow. Have put bleach in the stained toilet per the superintendent's instructions. He says it will come right clean. I'm not convinced but I am to leave it overnight so have closed the lid and put the brush on top so that whoever gets to it first in the morning will take care of it. (This is the office bathroom so no need to use it through the night.)

Next up I'll fold laundry and then put the water in the radiators top passive humidifiers. I've already started the vapourizer in the bedroom.

Edited to add: the laundry is folded and containers topped up. Also wound the clock but need to move it back in time because it is fast and I need to wait for 10 minutes to do that.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm supposed to be doing planning but glanced at the headlines as I tabbed over to Google Calendar.

Lynlee: Wow, the news from Melbourne is sad. I hope it holds that no-one on the ground was killed.

[helia]

The saga continues. . . After 1.5 hours poking around on the website and others, dh and I were unable to figure out how to submit our visa withdrawal forms. We followed the directions carefully to the point where there's a list on the web site of documents to attach -- but this form is not on the list, though many other forms are. And we couldn't type something in. We can submit by email also, but no email address could be found. There is a phone number. I finally gave up and sent the forms to dh's secretary so she could work her magic. In the meantime, my visa was granted. I now have both a visa and a travel authorization. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. . . .

Moral for us: next time, just let dh's secretary do it from the beginning.

I looked up the news, Kathryn. Yes, sad. I hope fatalities aren't too high.

I'm going to bed. I'm going to try not to think about visas anymore.