Friday to End the Year

[Twins' Mom]

Today is the last Friday of the year and the end of Christmas week.

What's on your mind today? Weather? Planning for next year? Weekend plans? Family and concerns?

Do tell.

[Twins' Mom]

I think we had rain all night long and there are flood advisories and river flooding. Although the temp is 52 outside, dh had our gas fire going this a.m. and the house is stifling! I just turned on the a/c for a while and opened up a door to outside. Since it's raining, the ddog isn't going to go far with a door open.

First thing on my mind is straightening for dcleaning lady. After that I will figure out the day better. We're due at 5:30 at friends for dinner tonight. Thus begins a few days of intense socialization. I can't wait until next Wednesday when "normality" comes again.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

We're getting freezing drizzle now but it is not as bad as they forecast.

I slept really well. This is my first off day with nothing urgent on the immediate horizon so I think that helped me sleep better.

I'm not productive, though. In fact, unless my tea works magic I foresee a nap this morning once the laundry is going.

[LadyMaverick]

Yesterday's visit to the Y left me with sore muscles. I am trying my best to go slowly in getting back into shape. INCREDIBLY slow adding just a minute or a 100 more steps onto each exercise. Even so my body is telling me that I need to slow it down even more. Yesterday I walked the track to get my steps in, then did Elliptical and Recumbent Bike, floor exercises, swam 4 laps, then 15 minutes in the spa. Each one felt great as I was doing them but then a couple hours later my muscles were complaining that I overworked them.

Last night the decision was made for us to go visit DSon instead of his family coming here. We try to trade off who travels and it is our turn to go there. DSon wants us to see their new-to-them home. They aren't living in it yet and have had workers doing renovations for a couple months. I would like to see it. I would also like to see DGD8's horse. So we will travel there on Saturday. I'm not sure how long we will stay. We will have DS10 and DGD7 with us so it will take extra energy to juggle everything.

This morning is a light homeschool day. This afternoon I will take DMom to her doctor appointment to receive her new knee brace.

Last night I visited DMom to take her some things from the store. DMom had to make several attempts to get out of the chair. If DMom didn't have such an immensely strong will and stubbornness then she would be confined to a wheelchair. As her physical strength declines, I see it happening sooner rather than later.

>>Editing to add. I suspect I have a UTI. I called the doctor office and asked if they could test me when I brought DMom to her doctor appointment. They agreed to work me in. YES!

[Nancy]

I am up at done, journal done day planning done. Breakfast is over.
30* - 36* cloudy todays forecast.
Ripped out several rows of crochet prayer shawl to redo later mistake has been corrected yea.
A m meds done.

[Harriet]

Dd and I slept all night in our rooms and were fine without heat there specifically - we slept well, which may be because the rooms were cooler than any normal for us, but not disturbing. It could be that if the outdoor temperature had dipped through the night instead of rising slightly, we'd have had a different story. HRH reports that the heat on the living area side of the house really seemed to work hard through the night, but he was comfortable on the couch.

Hope you feel better soon, LadyM.

What am I thinking of? One thing is paying our taxes. That time of year.

Cleaning out from being gone all day yesterday, too. Dd did dishes but laundry was still waiting because she didn't know my plans and didn't know there was folding left in the dryer. that's underway. She decluttered, but mostly her own room since she felt pushed into there with all the work going on in the rest of the house. It just wasn't destined to be a productive day for anyone.

Weather - yes, I'm thinking. It is a mess - super rainy and dd wants to go out. She has hit a snag with her jewelry making and needs a particular finding. Also she needs to buy fish food (perishable) and the pet place and Michaels are close together. She wants to do some banking. I get her sense of urgency in the midst of creativity (and there's NO way she gets to go to a craft store without me), but gee it's icky and cold out there! Are we suuuuurrreee? (peering out window) If we do, HRH needs blood testing supplies again. We are just not up to speed yet about how quickly these things run out. I don't see how others keep up the way they do.

[LadyMaverick]

What am I thinking of? One thing is paying our taxes. That time of year.

Eeek! I'm so glad Harriet wrote this! I had totally forgotten about paying EOY real estate taxes. After reading this I went searching & found the bill unopened buried amid a stack of papers. I can write checks today and get it into the mail and it will be okay. My paperwork skills and habits are nonexistent and the lack of organization has me repeatedly almost making a financial disaster. *VBSigh* I am adding a yearly SHE card to pay the EOY real estate tax bills. Hopefully, this reminder will prevent similar happening next year.

It seems to be catching. DH has lost the church's checkbook. He is in a mild panic looking for it. The checkbook contains 5 signed checks but the checks require 2 signatures to be valid. DH has spoken to the bank about the missing checkbook and none of those 5 checks have come through.....yet.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ok, these posts remind me to go through the stack of mail that is unopened.

I did have payroll on my to-do list today.

Got a nice thank you from someone at the party. He is a resident here and said he misses him mom over the holidays and it was nice to be around people. (I don't know if he noted it, but I use many of his mother's glass dishes when I have a group in - he put them on the giveaway shelf and they are perfect for my entertaining.)

[DeeClutter]

Before I do anything else, wanted to remember to wish Mr & Mrs Norma a VERY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

[DeeClutter]

We got up rather late -Dh, DD and Dsonil all went to Trivia last night. I stayed home. I've just been hitting a wall by early evening and knew I wouldn't make it past 8pm -which is the time Trivia starts. I was up at 7 to take my T-med, but then dh wasn't up till nearly 9 & I got up when he was through in the shower.

We all went to breakfast in Auburndale and then dd and I went in to Aldi's. She picked up a lot of LED lights at $1.47 a box for campground's Christmas in July this year. I got a grab gift for our church party next year (has to be around $5 & I found a box of nice LED candles for $4.99). Picked up a couple of stocking stuffers for our dgks too.

DD and dh have taken the dogs to the dog park -as soon as you say "park", dpuppy is jumping straight up in the air. Believe me she needs to run off that energy. I got in about 2,000 steps walking down the road and back. Wasn't sure I wanted to go with them.

We've invited dbil/dsisil here for New Year's dinner. We were going to make lasagna, then decided while we were out to make a big pot of spaghetti instead. Just have to buy a few fixings. We already have Italian bread in the freezer. We've decided we REALLY like W almart's Italian bread -$1.00/loaf. So we buy about 4 loaves at a time and freeze it. We use it for sandwiches and everything. They make their own and it's perfect for us. And certainly couldn't be any cheaper. We hardly go to W mart any more unless we absolutely have to. I hate the fact that there's rarely any cashiers any more.

I watched 2 Christmas movies on H ulu last night -they're actually L ifetime movies -both very good like their counterpart, Hallmark. Sure we'll watch one this afternoon. Dh gave me a gift card to the movie theater here. We're going to go see "Mary Poppins Returns" early next week. DD's welcome mat set -has 5 inserts for different seasons -finally arrived today. Took 8 days from Jacksonville. Well, at least they came.