Wednesday 5 x 5

[LadyMaverick]

I'm taking a break from my plans for the day and working on the church laptop. The lady who uses it is not the most computer literate. She absolutely hates Windows 10 and blames the entire worlds problems on it. :0 ANYway, I'm doing a bit of troubleshooting on the laptop and so far what I'm finding is not the OS fault. It hasn't been updated since February because she doesn't like to do updates. Well...... **Big Sigh**.....IMHO, then don't complain when it isn't running right. ANYway.... I've got a big long list of updates in the queue to be downloaded and installed. After those are done and a reboot then I'll see how the laptop is running and check the error logs for anything that doesn't look right.

Homeschool went so good this morning. We accomplished an astonishing amount of assignments. It's like DS10 brain went into hyperdrive when he knew school was only lasting 2 hours.

DH is spending most of today cooking dinner for the church family. DSis had planned on doing the cooking but her basement is flooded from the storm. DSis has hired a business that brings in equipment to remove the water and dryers. DSis wanted to stay with them while they are working at her home.

I got both kids signed up to attend a day camp next week. I have several more day camps in mind for this summer.

C*rp. We are in another tornado watch with a storm heading right for us. If it doesn't fall apart it will be here in about an hour. Go away!

[blessedw2]

put potting soil in the planters
cleaned the doors from the garage to the garden
looked at shed to see how to get it down. calling someone for hire (depending on the $)
trimmed the tulips down
cleaned out the fire pit.

[lucylee]

Not cuop yet, but my 5x5 6x10 is like this:
1. [ ] bank
2. [ ] post office
3. [/] vacuum (so far I have finished the floors in the main area of the house)
4. [ ] clean bathrooms
5. [ ] change sheets
6. [ ] exercise

In addition, I have
* s2s, done Bible reading
* gotten dgs showered and launched him, ds, and dh on their way to the SEC baseball tournament
* changed vacuum cleaner bag and filter (I change the filter annually and thanks to my 3x5s, I knew it was time!)
* called and left a message at the local private Christian school asking for info re: their pre-k program (with ds/ddil's blessing)
* contacted A mazon re: a phishing phone call I got -- lady confirmed that the number that called me was NOT an A mazon phone number
* emailed dfriend re: heart doctor that her dh and mine both used, who retired this month -- we are comparing notes about who to transfer to

DS got dgd signed up this morning for testing at the public school pre-k where we soooo much want her to go, but it is really up in the air as to when/if she will get in. They will test to see if her Juvenile Arthritis has created any "cognitive or physical delays" that would qualify her for the "non-typical" designation in their program. In the meantime, as ds said, it never hurts to have more information, so when I found out another friend of ours/theirs was going to the Christian school pre-k, I thought it might be good to just find out how expensive they are and what their policies are. For instance, they may not even accept her this year since she won't be 4 until November. The public school has a 3-yr-old class and a 4-yr-old class. Sooo.... just waiting to learn more here.

The reason my deadline is 10:00 pm is because I don't expect dh home before then. DDIL and I, and dgd, are going to get supper when ddil gets home from work, and then * I HOPE * I will be able to enjoy some quiet time alone before dh returns. I soooo seldom have the house to myself. I love dh, and we get along very well, but it is always nice to have a little time to oneself, you know?

LadyM... ooohhhh how I wish I had you close by to do updates on my desktop computer. I don't like to do them either -- it seems like Every Single Time I install an update, something goes wrong! EVERY TIME!!!

Oh, (((Harriet)))... obituary writing... after my fiasco with ddad's, I am kinda scarred for life! Y'all remember -- I completely forgot to include my step-dgmother. And now I realize, a dfriend IS a Rev. Dr. and I probably did not give him that title in the obituary. Of course, I may not have mentioned him at all. All he did was the music for ddad's service -- making sure the recorded music and photo slideshow ran smoothly during the visitation time before the service.

One more ta-da for the day, so far: dgd has gone to the potty THREE times without any prompting from me, and she has stayed dry in between times! Progress! (She does need my help when she goes, because she has trouble pulling up her pull-ups, even when she is NOT dressed in a one-piece romper that requires basically undressing every time! Shaking my head... ds was in charge of dressing her this morning!)

Waving to you all -- must not let myself get lost in the screen again -- must return to vacuum cleaner!

[LadyMaverick]

Updates continues on the laptop. So many were needed so it is taking a while with multiple reboots.

Meanwhile I'm sitting in front of the TV watching the live coverage with storm chasers, meteorologists with their radar and latest technology as well as coverage from helicopters following a tornado headed this way. I'm also watching the live feed of a storm chaser as well as following 3 twitter accounts giving live coverage. At this moment it is a "disorganized tornado". I hope it doesn't get its act together!

I've talked to DH and he is watching. We discussed where he could take cover. I think he is out of the pathway of the supercells. I've talked to DMom and she is awake and aware. DMIL is still in the hospital so she is safe.

The school 5 miles from me have put the school kids in storm shelters and not releasing them. This has been a big issue with strong emotions because the storm shelters are only big enough to hold the kids. Because of this, they shut the door and lock it. The parents are not allowed into the shelter. The parents and children are separated. I can understand both sides.

editing.......
my favorite word of the day is disorganized. We had a disorganized tornado pass us. ~~~waving goodbye to it~~~

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! The dentist wasn't so bad - no crown replace and only one small cavity. Not pleasant, but not budget busting either. The database I am doing most of my queries on was down temporarily this morning, so I was able to get some requested Food Bank report mods done. I have contacted the insurance company because I realize that my bumper is pushed in on the right side. I'm worried about Briggs, but he has a followup visit next week. We have our yearly training stuff that needs to get done before 1 June. Unfortunately, so does this report.

Kathryn: What does Konmari say about boxes?

Maybe CathyS's DH's tooth nerves are like my foot nerves, they just don't send the pain messages.

[Nancy]

I watered. Got meal prep.
Handled, mixed up the hb patty indgredients and made up the patties and
got them frozen. Will have pizza burgers for dinner.

[blessedw2]

rah rah rah to everyone

[LadyMaverick]

The storms have left my area. I don't know how many tornadoes were on the ground - guessing around a dozen (official reports will be out tomorrow). They were little tornadoes (EF2) and hit rural areas.

The kids church has canceled services tonight due to the weather so I had to scramble to get food prepared for the kids to eat. I made one of their favorite dishes - Mac-N-cheese. DGD7 told me "This is so delicious! If I didn't get full then I would keep eating it forever!"

The church's laptop is STILL doing updates. This isn't a slow laptop but there are so many updates to apply. Many require rebooting before they can finish installing so the next update in the queue can start the installation.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

LadyM: updating laptops takes forever! Ds used to line up customer's laptops and go from one to the other to the other to make better use of his time. I set the laptop needing updates, next to me at a 90 degree angle and let it do its thing with me glancing over at it instead of it being my focus. Otherwise, I'd spend the whole day being useless.

The carpets arrived and one of dh's committee members stayed and helped us get them in place. They look perfect. I'm very relieved. We had to lift one of the china cabinets (thankfully, the smaller one) in order to put it under so that had to be emptied. I've dusted the shelves but I think I'll put most everything straight back in. Right now it is all on the table. We were very organized. First, we made the table as small as possible and pushed it as far as possible to the side of the room. Then we laid the underpad (the guys lifting the table while I pushed it under to get it in place.) Then the guys lifted the table while I rolled out the carpet. Twice. (We had to make a major adjustment to position.) Then we pushed the table back to the centre and unloaded the china cabinet so it could be lifted and the carpet and underpad pushed under.

Then dh and I put the old carpet away in the locker for now and I posted it for Free to my kids and other FB friends.

Then we tidied up the wrapping paper, cleaned up ourselves and then went out to dinner because we were exhausted.

When we got home, we adjusted the living room carpet so I'll only have to trim one side of the underpad, then put the recliners and other small furniture back.

I still have to put away the glass and china, then we can make the table its normal size and bring all the chairs back into the room.

Then I'll vacuum.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Elizabeth: you asked about Konmari and boxes.

Basically, she likes everything to be sorted like-with-like and if possible stored standing up. So many things are put in boxes so they can stand up (for instance, I have a small box with USB sticks in my drawer, all standing up.) Boxes are used to hold items on shelves so you can pull out the box and reach in. Or to subdivide drawers so your socks will stay in their section, for example. All my scarves and shawls are now folded and standing up in a box on the shelf in my wardrobe so I can just pull it out slightly, look in and choose the one I want. Before they were all hung up on a scarf hanger in the closet and I couldn't see them all at once without having to shove the rest of the clothes to one side along the rod. I find I'm grabbing shawls more often now because they are easier to see and grab. Before, I'd end up grabbing a sweater.

When doing the Konmari process, you are encouraged to save every box and container you come across and gather others (I've been saving cereal boxes.) Then you cut them down to fit perfectly within your drawers and cupboards. At first, you'll likely have a pretty ugly array of boxes but once you are finished and know exactly what you need, you can either buy new (IKEA sells lots as well as Michaels or dollar stores) or you can cover up cereal boxes with contact paper, or material you've found during the Konmari process. For instance, I have a pair of silk PJ's I love, but will never fit again and aren't good enough to give away. I've saved them for now, to cut up the material to cover or line boxes when I do my clothing. That way, the item I love will still be useful to me, just not in its original format.

Dh had a pretty jar of jam from Tanzania that he finished up. We washed out the jar and he uses it for his seeds he adds to his daily breakfast. The label was soaked off and I'll use it to decorate a box at eye level in the breakfast food cupboard so dh will see it daily and be reminded of his times in Africa.

It is the little touches of re-purposing things that bring us joy that make this a more successful process for me. And the more I see what I have, the less I feel I need more stuff. I'm just happy enjoying what I already have.