Thursday - Thoughts and action

[DeeClutter]

Just remember, LL, that begun is HALF DONE! Meaning that just the motion of the "start" is half the battle.

I've been puttering away here a little at a time. Just swept our bathroom (after cleaning the vanity top) and then did a quick mop. That room I can do. So now the bathroom's DONE.

Have to take dh up to dd's school in about 2 hours. He's going to the hockey game in Orlando with her. Both he and dsonil are going Saturday. First we're going to the next town to visit friends who are having a 'gathering' for several hours that day. But we'll probably go for about an hour or so.

Now my BS is way high. I think it's going to take a couple of days to settle down and get in a groove again. We'll see.

[Sadie]

Hello dear ladies,

Didn't go to work yesterday as I was getting ready to leave ddil text me to say she was going to start pushing.

So called in and after ddil called me a few minutes later to say Jason was there, we headed to the hospital.

He is so adorable, 8 lb 6 oz and 20 inches long. His dad was 8, 3 and 19 inches. Has red hair like his dad.

Got pictures which I'll post later. DH took photos of me and Jason, I took pics of Dh and Jason. Got to send pics to ourselves when we get a chance.

We stayed about 90 minutes and ddil said her family was coming over 2 hours after that so we left to give Dson and ddil some rest time between visitors.

Dson C made a blunder when he posted his photos of Jason to Facebook before parents had a chance to post theirs. Some ruffled feathers but hopefully they are calm now. C apologized. And Dson N, the new dad was trying to video baby's first bath and DH got a phone call, proceeded to answer it and talk with his booming voice through it. Oh well maybe one day they'll be glad to play that video with him talking but they weren't happy yesterday.

Going to head to shower, definitely got to work today

[Harmony]

Congratulations, Sadie! I have found all birthing times stressful, people doing and saying stuff that isn't wanted or helpful. Sometimes it is lack of communication with the new parents actually saying what they want from the people around them.

I am thinking about how I can get this house straightened out. Everywhere I look there is stuff to do. I am working on the kitchen now, but that means stopping to file papers, etc. I put a LOL in but that meant bringing in the loads I did the other day and getting them put away. I was running out of space and hangers.

Not feeling great, and I know it is my diet yesterday was off. I also didn't sleep well. I need to stop some time today and take off the down blanket, it is getting too hot. I wish I'd gotten my new blanket done.

Dee, hope your BS straightens out quickly and stays good. You've been through a lot.

[Harriet]

Joy for Sadie!

A big "thank you!" to Twins' Mom whose post was my first warning yesterday that the weather headed toward us was going to be a humdinger, with potential large hail. I changed some plans around and had everyone and everything tucked carefully indoors in some fashion before the storm.

In staring around the back yard for anything that could be picked up by wind, I even noticed some volunteer violas, Twins'! Teeny tiny blooms yet the same faces - I find that very interesting. Also, the first teeny ones are more versatile for pressing. Anyway, I clipped them and popped them between some pages of a heavy book right away - little tiny plants look healthy and I didn't lose the blooms to the storm.

I got the A,C and N thread up and then disappeared from here yesterday to ride out the storm with the 'puters shut down.

Today I rode with HRH to county offices with paperwork. Some crazy traffic, for sure, complex parking.
For someone who insists I'm in better shape than he, he sure does stride out through an urban setting. I could hardly keep up and the wind was cold. But sunshine followed us around. Actually we enjoyed it.

Disappointed to find that the computers were down. What a blow to realize we'd spent and hour and 15 minutes traveling, to get to a place they would turn us away! We waited a bit, but it was hopeless. He's got to be in this area tomorrow so this is a delay until next week.

[lucylee]

Oh! Sooo happy for all of you, Sadie!
Yes -- new parents' feathers are extremely easy to ruffle, LOL! Sounds like happy moments outnumbered stressful ones, so it's all good.

Thanks for the reminder, Dee -- I did BEGIN:
-- wrote three checks
-- got dh back online for email
-- started load of laundry (placemats, misc from last night)
-- Bible, breakfast, vitamins
-- walked away the pounds 15 min AND did "8 min in the morning" routine
-- tidied bed and started drinking water
-- talked to ddil on phone, confirmed that I can pick up dgs at school (ddil doing pre-job drug test today, eating w ds while they are in Next Town)


Next up:
-- s2s
-- s/s baths
-- vacuum master bedroom and bath

[Sadie]

Ddil text me to say Jason's cyst has grown bigger. Drs will be letting them know soon what needs to be done. Prayers please

[helia]

Yes, lynlee and I must be kindred spirits. Not everyone engages with me in spider discussions. I did poke around a bit and found there is a species (or a couple?) of forest-dwelling huntsman spiders that burrow and make trap doors from silk to catch prey.

Sadie, is it baby Jason with the cyst? I'll be praying. I can totally see those sorts of family dynamics happening in our family.

We went to bed around 10 pm last night and got up around 6, which was all too late, according to dh. He wants us to stay on an earlier schedule to help with the transition back home next week. Oh, next week.

Today will be a little different. Today is a rest day - no jogging since we're hoping to do a longer one tomorrow. Dh is going in to the Uni this afternoon, so I'll be driving on my own without his navigational help - through downtown. We're doing OK driving on the left side of the road , but we have to stay very focused. Our instincts if something surprises us are still right-sided, of course. We've had trouble passing people on the sidewalks because of that, actually. LOL! We haven't gotten my maps app to work here yet. Either we need to do that before he goes in or I will borrow his phone.

I think I'm going to go to the wildlife conservation park this afternoon while dh is at work. He's not so interested in that outing so a good one for him to skip. It's about a 35 minutes drive from the Uni. I'm hoping to get a souvenir for toddler J from their gift shop. She requested a stuffed koala. Tonight, we're having dinner with a family from our church here. I still need to figure out how long it will take to get there. They live north of the city while we're staying south of the city.

My back is sore. I think that's from running 3 days in a row and not doing my rigorous stretches. Or my back exercises. I'll do those this morning.

Goals for today:
1. morning routine, including exercises and stretches
2. work on switching a magazine subscription for dd18; I got it for her as a Cmas gift, but apparently I got the wrong one.
3. work on photos
4. drive dh to Uni without crashing; leave about 11:30
5. drive myself to the wildlife park without crashing
6. enjoy the wildlife at the park! Maybe I'll see a huntsman? LOL!
7. pick up dh without crashing, around 4 or 4:30. Maybe dh can drive home?
8. some down time at home
9. dinner with friends
10. I'd really like to give this place a quick vacuum, but when we're here, dh is constantly working and doesn't want the noise.

[lucylee]

(((Sadie)))

I s2s and cleaned the bathrooms, but I never got around to vacuuming. DH was tying up the computer room/hallway/bedroom w/a ballgame playing on the internet, so I couldn't close the door and do the den, and I couldn't do the bath & bedroom.
(I didn't mention this to him, so it's not like he asked me not to, I just know he is feeling so miserable, and I didn't want to disturb him.)

So... I ate some turkey & cheese on Triscuits... read some in the book I got at the library (a bio of Queen Victoria)... and then went to get dgs at school.
Went to bank & post office.
Back home... dilly-dallied w/my Xcel checklist, color-coding and other things that in the great scheme of things are useless... then found out it wouldn't print that way... * sigh *

[LadyMaverick]

Sadie - Congratulations! My prayers are with DBaby, family and medical staff.

without crashing....without crashing....without crashing

I know this isn't funny so I must have a weird funny bone. My grin got bigger each time I saw it in a sentence.
I can not imagine driving on the left side of the road. I think I will try it the next time I'm driving country roads just to get a teeny-tiny feel for what it would be like.

The 4+ hours at school went smoothly. The grade school principal tracked me down to discuss accommodations for DS8 to take the state test. While we were talking the school superintendent walked up and asked me if things were on track for DS8 to take the state test. Since the principal and the superintendent both sought me out, I know DS8 has been the topic of their conversations lately. We discussed the location DS8 will take the test (in SPED room). We discussed DS8 need to move and they agreed to DS8 moving, even standing while taking the test and also taking frequent breaks. I asked about DS8 wearing his over-the-ears headset. They approved that until I mentioned his singing. They vetoed DS8 listening to music while taking the test. The principal said "the music sound could bother some of the ADHD students taking the test". It was at that moment that I realized they didn't understand how loud and startling DS8 vocal tics are. I reminded them about his vocal tics and they asked about the frequency and loudness. I told them I have video of DS8 doing his school work and the tics happening that they were welcome to watch. To give them a quick idea of the sound I told them to think of how loud a squealing pig in the classroom would be. They then started talking about switching DS8 state testing date to a make-up date so he could be in the SPED room by himself (with SPED teacher and another person to monitor the test taking) I told them to work out the details of time/date/location for the state test and I'll have DS8 there.

My chicken nugget & potato log experiment was not as I had hoped. Mostly because of lack of salt. It is CRAZY how salty the store bought/or fast food nuggets & potatoes have. I added salt and added salt and ADDED MORE salt but they still seemed bland because our taste expectations to match the saltiness of "normal" nuggets and potatoes.

We are late leaving for roller skating. I needed to put my feet up a few minutes before doing another 3 hours of standing.

[helia]

Glad you got my odd sense of humor, LadyM. Yes, kind of serious -- but you also have to be able to laugh at yourself in a context like this. I can't tell you how many times I've hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal -- b/c not only are we driving on the left side of the road but we're doing that from the right side of the car, and the car controls are reverse from what we're used to in the States. This is kind of a coordination test. Dh and I are measuring our successes by the number of times we hit -- or don't hit -- the windshield wipers. Dh has ended up on the wrong side of the road twice -- not in busy areas, though. He's also driving more than me. We think we're doing better than our initial drives when we were here 9 years ago. Maybe something stuck in our brains from that time?

That's interesting about salt in nuggets and potatoes. I believe it. Wow, 3 more hours on your feet. You're strong!

#1 is completed, except for some qt, which I'll take next. It might be good to have some prayer time before I head out in the city. LOL!

We've figured out the maps app on my phone, so that will be helpful.