Magical Monday

[Twins' Mom]

Yuck! Muffin is old - 11 years old - and doesn't have accidents but could eventually. I should keep that in mind!

I've taken care of the two phone calls and also talked to dfriend in FL that we will be visiting. While doing those things I've taken care of breakfast bar counter and nearly done the kitchen table and counters.

The "big rock" right now is laundry so I'll start a list of other stuff...
-sort and start first load of laundry
-make the bed
-throw on clothes and brush teeth and wash up
-walk the ever impatient ddog (feels like 14, temp is 24 now.)
-finish kitchen counter and table

[blessedw2]

happy monday!!! I just woke up oh my goodness wishing you all the best. i will be back soon.

[LadyMaverick]

I have seen those reports of dogs having accidents then the roomba spreading the mess. Each time I see those reports, I wonder why the humans didn't smell it. When our dogs have an accident in the house we know it because IT STINKS! DS10 has the most sensitive nose and he starts gagging at the smell. Even when dog accidents have happened in the middle of the night, the stink has woke us up. Our dogs only have accidents in house when they are sick so maybe that is the difference. Maybe the stink is stronger when they are sick.

I have renamed our roomba type vacuum to Rosie. Thinking of Rosie in the Jetson cartoons.

Our roomba type vacuum can be scheduled to automatically start but I prefer to start it manually. I give the kids a few minutes warning that Rosie is going to start cleaning which prompts the kids to scramble to get their things off the floor and put away. To me, THIS is the best part of having a roomba. Rosie is heading their way and she doesn't negotiate or procrastinate. Rosie requires them to take immediate action.

I decided to use one of our 5 monthly homeschool free days. This is the 4th day this month we have taken off homeschool. We have one more day left this month to take off from homeschool.

I need to switch to pen/paper for a bit. That process activates a part of my brain that I need to use to develop a plan I have rumbling around in my head. Once I get it down on paper then I will transfer it to digital.

[Twins' Mom]

Harriet, I could honestly argue either way on your question and I come back to the typical accountant answer "It depends" :

So do we stay with the firm we know, which would have all our records, or go with the preparer we know, who would have memory of us and our needs? The same decision has to be made for my late aunt's bequest/preservation property, but I would only advise on that decision.

If either is a complicated return it is best to stick with the preparer who doesn't have to familiarize him/her self with the return and the ins and outs again. It can be best to stick with preparer even if it isn't a complicated return if the preparer uses that familiarity to streamline return prep and charge you less than a preparer who isn't familiar with the return. OTOH, a new preparer can sometimes pick up things - tax savings, ways to streamline information retrieval - that someone who does the same thing by rote every year doesn't see. I'd probably go with the preparer that's been doing it, all things considered. I don't know if your returns are charged a flat rate or by the hour - sometimes a new preparer on a return can "blow up" the hours charged on a return and make it super expensive, but that could happen with a new firm also.

It depends, and it's one of those things - the $$ charged for it - that you don't know until it's done.

[Harriet]

With toddlers you can find surprise hidden messes of food as well. If out of sight under a table, etc., I suppose it would do a similar spreading job. Always we need to have "eyes on" our appliances, though. We've probably all "spread" something through a wash load because pockets weren't cleaned out. I, for one, was so glad to learn that wax-coated paper plates, when run through a dishwasher, don't leave waxy-ness or paper all over the place, and can be extracted in unattractive clumps. But I would NOT want to deal with that again.

Pens (also pencils) - I need to glean/thin out. I like that mugs can have a second life as pen caddies after their handles are broken. I have one that belonged to my paternal grandmother, for instance, that is very useful still and okay that handle is gone. Late '60s kitchen look she liked of colorful fruits and big yarn stitchery together. Says Japan on the bottom. It's not worth much to anyone but me and my pens, classic re-purpose-ing.

Yes, Dee, I'm reprieved from any hurry about Desk Day today since mail carriers are taking a holiday. Also January is a 31-day month, just a tad less rushed in general, especially for payroll at church. For February, I will think "prompt", lol.

Twins', thank you so much for taking the time - I knew it wouldn't be an easy answer. You gave me the thinking-points I need to consider.

Well, menu planning has turned out to be the order of the day. My new recipe book is now full of colorful small post-its across the top for page notations. I realized I hadn't even gotten to the "sides" chapter yet and kept finding too much to remember otherwise. I am writing in tiny print at the top of these with initials at least. Like "Q" is for quinoa, lol.

Helpful IP multi-task I learned - filled ours with 3 kinds of potatoes each of us like and even though some were cut to "match" sizes for cooking, the flavors did not mix. (Yay - HRH was suspicious the sweets would impart their flavor to the white potatoes, but since they are not immersed, it didn't happen.) That's a helpful shortcut to remember. Dd loved this and was taking her small golds out of the IP and snacking before I even knew they were cooled enough.

[Harmony]

Cold here. I would not be walking around in a zoo today.

I have 3 pencil cups. One is a gigantic mug DD gave me one Christmas that says Office Goddess on the front. Thought that was appropriate, but too big / heavy for coffee so I made it my pencil cup at my desk. We have one in the kitchen and one back here in the main office. I need to see what's not writing in them any more.

HaHa when DD & DSiL divorced, he asked if he could have the Roomba and she said NO!! He let her have anything she wanted. But that she wasn't giving up.

Usual stuff done around here. Laundry just beeped. Went with DH to his dr. appointment. Dr. said he was doing very good after his attack. He gets a stress test next month then won't go see him till October. Very thankful today.

Fireplace is going, every once in a while I go stand in front of it to warm up. Double blankets last night.

Saw on the news a snow plow doing a road did something wrong and dumped a load on the road below and it hit a car... I was just waking up so didn't get the whole story or know where it was...but it sure didn't sound good.

Guess I'll go make hot soup for lunch. I got a frozen container of chilli out to defrost, that'll warm us up tonight.

[DeeClutter]

Lots of school bus cancellations here.

Dh mentioned this morning that there were no cancellations of schools up home despite the fact there was continuing to be so much snow and very cold! Then we reminded him that today is a national holiday and there was NO SCHOOL. Know they're still continuing to get snow up there. Lake effect now and not THE storm I think. Know part of the thruway (90) is shut down up there because of 2 tractor trailers colliding on that snowy/icy road. It was shut down the length of it yesterday because of the snow (only to tractor trailers and buses).

Dh cut up the celery and onions for the cabbage soup while I did dishes. Now it's simmering away. I may wait till it gets 'done' somewhat to have my lunch. Dsonil won't touch it. More for the other 3 of us, say we! Made a huge batch so we can freeze some. Also cut up the remaining celery & put in freezer. Anyone know if it freezes well -for soups?

[Nancy]

I have been making progress here got to some dusting in the main part of the house, have two letters ready to go tomorrow. Swiffered the dinning kitchen area. Laundry is current & I have a plan for dinner. I had some broth was feeling a bit puny, still need to s2s. The sun is out and looks like a great day for walking the dog. Walk ed the dog around the block.

[CathyS]

Dh was extremely happy to come home to a huge bowl of hot soup. He is wearing his very bright orange hunting coat today. I guess he was doing some snow clearing at work. (Shoveling)

I just went through my library with a list from FB called the Dirty Thirty, which is a list of the most frequently banned books. I only have 13 of them. I told dh I have to go book shopping this week. I still have part of my Chapters Gift Card, and I have other sources of previously read books, including a senior's library where you can take one and leave one. IF I find any there, I have some books in my trunk I can leave. They only have fiction. I noticed that the author that they have the most of is Danielle Steele. I only have one book of hers because I don't really enjoy books that follow such a "strict" formula. You can almost count exactly how many pages before some anonymous handsome stranger is going to be ripping his/her clothes off. No thank you.

[LadyMaverick]

Also cut up the remaining celery & put in freezer. Anyone know if it freezes well -for soups?

I do this all the time because they seem to dissolve & disappear but the flavor is still there. I also do this with onions and peppers. I like having bags of them in the freezer that can easily be added to recipes. We use these frozen chopped vegetables in omelets, meatloaf, casseroles, soups, etc. I don't hide the vegetables from the kids but if they don't see them they don't notice how many they are eating.

My experiment with dehydrated spinach and bell peppers continues. The problem with dehydrated vegetables is they don't dissolve and disappear. And their taste is strong. I like them very much but I don't use much of the dehydrated vegetables in dishes that DH & kids eat.

Yesterday I made salmon patties. DH and the kids ate out after church so I made the salmon patties the way that I like them. I added loads of sauteed fresh, frozen & dehydrated vegetables to them. I went a little overboard with the vegetables and the mixture wouldn't stay formed into patties. So I made salmon scrambled. It may sound weird but it was sooooo good.

Today i used the air fryer to do chicken patties and garlic toast. This is a favorite of DH and kids. I'm eating leftovers from yesterday with a huge salad of baby lettuce leaves and tomato/pepper mixture.

I have 45 minutes before needing to be OTD to take DMom to her doc appointment. Today she is getting rooster comb shot #2 in her right knee. She is very pleased with the knee pain relief she has received from these shots. It has been a little bit of PITA to take them. This doctor wants to keep the process slow and monitor how DMom is doing so he does one shot at a time. This means it is an 8-week process to take the shots. Going to the doctor 8 times for the shots seems a bit overboard when I hear about others only getting 1 or 2 shots. But I can't argue with his methods when I look at the results